Highlights From SCI FI Mag Feature
Hope you all got a chance to go out and get your copy of SCI FI magazine, featuring your favorite horror/comedy Love In The Time Of Monsters! First of all, I’d like to clarify that contrary to popular belief, that is NOT me on the cover of the magazine:
I was too busy producing to be involved in such a long shoot, obviously.
The article turned out great! Author Jeff Berkwits did a fantastic job previewing the film with humor and making you really want to see the movie. Here’s some highlights from the article:
“Uncle Slavko’s House of Horror, Humor, and Heartache”
“Doug Jones had a right to be upset–the minute Meryl Streep announced the Best Actor winner earlier this year at the Academy Awards, the renowned genre star knew his chances of receiving that accolade for his latest film role were nil. It didn’t take a rocket scientist to realize the members of the Academy weren’t likely to honor an actor for playing Abraham Lincoln two years in a row.”
“For me, there’s nothing better than rampaging costumed performers”, says (Matt) Jackson. “In fact, that was one of the major drawing points as I read the script. Sure, monsters are awesome, but monsters in costumes? Now that’s funny and terrifying!”
Our favorite Paula Rhodes quote made an appearance too: “The world’s first…Rom-Zom-Mon-Com”
Another crazy fact about the article is that the feature appearing directly above it covers the TV show Granite Flats, starring our very own Gena Shaw (Marla). How randomly awesome is that?! All the more reason to pick up your copy today, available at newsstands everywhere. Do it!
While you’re at it, like us at facebook, twitter, and youtube too! Lots of news coming up; be the first to get it!
We’re in SCI-FI Magazine!
Awesome news: We are in the new issue of SCI FI Magazine! On page 12 (and 13!), you’ll find a really nice interview with Doug Jones and Director Matt all about Love In The Time Of Monsters, under the headline “Uncle Slavko’s House of Horror, Humor, and Heartache”. How cool is that?! It’s our first appearance in a major print publication, and we could not be more excited. It’s also nice to be featured in a magazine that claims it’s “Your Guide To This Summer’s Blockbusters”; you gotta dream big, right? Here’s the cover:
The issue went on sale yesterday, June 11, and will be on newsstands in North America until August 13. SCI FI has a circulation of approx. 50,000, and can be found most anywhere major magazines and books are sold in the US and Canada (Barnes & Noble, Hastings, Books-A-Million, comic book stores, etc.—even Frys!)
Go pick up your copy today! You don’t want to miss it! (Special thanks to author Jeff Berkwits-you did a great job!)
And don’t forget to subscribe to the blog, so you can get all the sweet updates coming your way this summer. It doesn’t hurt to like us on facebook, twitter, and youtube either!
Dear Old Hollywood Interview
It’s been an exciting week here at Love In The Time Of Monsters HQ! First we had Matt’s awesome interview with our colorist Sean Stack for the Digital Production Buzz Podcast (listen here if you missed it! Matt comes in just a shade before the 6:00 mark). In addition, I was lucky enough to be interviewed for the Dear Old Hollywood Blog, written by the talented Robby Cress.
I was featured in a segment called “Talking Old Hollywood”, where Rob interviews “writers, filmmakers, fellow bloggers, artists, historians, or pretty much anyone who is interested in classic movies will have a chance to highlight projects they are working on, share a little of their background and discuss their interest in old Hollywood and classic movies.” I guess I fit into that category somewhere, and I was honored to participate. I talked a lot about LiToM and my favorite classic movies to boot. Give it a read here, and let me know what you think!
And while you’re at it, don’t forget to find us on Facebook, Twitter and Youtube. Lots of cool updates on the way, and you don’t want to miss them!
Lookit Me, I’m on the Radio!
Or rather, “Listen to me, I’m on the radio”…
Anyway. Tonight I’m doing my first live internet radio show! AHHH! Super awesome, right? If you can’t tell, I’m pretty excited.
So it’s a podcast about all aspects of filmmaking called Digital Production Buzz, hosted by Larry Jordan and Mike Horton. On the docket tonight is the role that color played in the post production (or Post-Post Production as I like to say) of Love in the Time of Monsters and the ins and outs that went about getting that special look. On the show with me tonight will be our fantabulous colorist, Sean Stack, who will hopefully be doing all the heavy lifting regarding the technical aspects of just how he did what he did.
It ought to be a very informative and otherwise awesome segment. Make sure you give it a listen, if not tonight live (at 6pm PST!) than at your leisure by heading over to their homepage and finding the link (it’s really easy to find, I promise).
Lemme know what you think!
Uncle Slavko Sighting
I was on the NYC Subway, and look who I found?
That guy is everywhere!
Publicity
Our friends at Alpha Dogs not only assisted with our (amazing) color and post process, they also helped us with publicity. Julie L. Leibovitz helped us come up with a groovy press release and here is the (first) result: A website called creativecow.net gave us some GREAT coverage. Lots of detail about the process of color grading, and how excellent it was working with Alpha Dogs. You get some cool pics too! Check it out below:
————–
(Burbank, California–May 29, 2013) Zombie bigfoots have taken over AlphaDogs in the comedic/horror film “Love In The Time Of Monsters.” Directed by Matt Jackson., this outrageous tale of love follows two sisters as they travel to a cheesy tourist trap and battle toxic monsters dressed in bigfoot costumes to save the ones they love. While violent and scary at times, the premise of the story is about sacrifice, courage, and forgiveness.
When it came down to finding a post-production facility that could be trusted to deliver the vision the filmmakers had in mind, Post Supervisor Katrina Reiniers-Jackson looked no further than AlphaDogs. “I had a previous experience with AlphaDogs, and from that I trusted that they would do a great job with our movie,” said Reiners-Jackson.” An ample amount of preparation was given to the project before the post-process was started. AlphaDogs colorist Sean Stack who was in charge of color grading on the film comments, “Thanks to Katrina and Matt the project arrived well-organized and ready to start color grading.” Detailed documents with screen grabs were provided along with a description of the look the filmmakers wanted to achieve. This gave Stack the opportunity to get a head start on color grading some of the targeted setups before the color session with Director Jackson. “I really liked the fact that they had taken time to prepare for a color session in this way,” said Stack. “When we were ready to set the looks on the first day of color grading, the session went very smoothly and I was able to move forward quickly in grading the film in its’ entirety.”
Color played a vital role in telling the suspenseful, yet humorous story of zombie bigfoots traipsing through the dark woods of Northern California. The color choices used in a film are important for both the plot and subtext of the story. Skillful selection of color palettes were used in Love In The Time Of Monsters to set the mood with cooler darker tones creating a feeling of suspense and fear, and bright pink and yellow shades bringing out the comedic side of the story. Stack’s “eye for color” and proficiency with the most subtle details brought out the ambiances in the film with even the most difficult scenes. Stack comments, “The humorous and scary plot had several scenes that were shot in a forest in the evening, so footage was dark to begin with. My challenge with these scenes was to lift the dark areas up so the detail could be seen, yet avoid making the footage grainy as a result of pushing the shadows too far. The 4444 ProRes media had enough extra color information so that the subtle shadows were available to be enhanced just enough so we could see what was going on, yet it still looked like late night in the woods.”
Editor on Love In The Time Of Monsters Todd Zelin, prepared for the final online by organizing the ProRes4444 timeline sequence before delivery to color. Stack then broke the film into six parts scaling down the full duration of the film into 20-minute segments. This allowed the files to open quickly, with better performance in the color application. “Our setup at AlphaDogs for this workflow is top-notch and the results are consistently fantastic,” said Stack. Near the end of the color grading process, sixty-five visual effects shots were delivered that Stack then edited into a separate sequence carefully matching all the clips with color looks that were already set for the picture earlier during the color grading process. Stack comments, “Often, clips that go through After Effects to create visual effects return with gamma shifts in the color. Those need to be corrected in the final sequence so they match similar scenes that had no effects.”
For over 10 years, AlphaDogs has been earning loyal clients by providing both a collaborative and friendly work environment, with Love In The Time Of Monsters being no exception. Reiners-Jackson sums it up best by saying, “AlphaDogs really went above and beyond and helped us through the post-process with our film, offering advice and support when needed. They were a pleasure to work with. Every time I walked in the front door I was greeted warmly by everyone, and that kind of atmosphere is a rarity in this business. I would use AlphaDogs again for my next project because I trust the team there.”
Love In The Time Of Monsters is Directed by Matt Jackson and Produced by Andy Gunn and Allison Vanore with TBC Films.
To learn more visit:
http://www.loveinthetimeofmonsters.com
For fan information and daily updates visit:
https://twitter.com/uncleslavko
About AlphaDogs:
Founded in 2002 by acclaimed editor and colorist Terence Curren, AlphaDogs is an independently owned post-production facility located in the center of Burbank’s Media District. AlphaDogs’ skilled team brings a dynamic combination of creative talent and technical expertise to clients’ projects. Paying extra attention to detail, AlphaDogs prides itself on delivering the quality of a large post-production facility with the personal attention of a small boutique. State-of-the-art editing bays, color correction, audio mixing, motion graphics, visual effects, production offices and equipment rentals are available. Since 2003, AlphaDogs has been giving back to the post-production community through its Editors’ Lounge series of discussion panels and product demonstrations. To learn more visit
http://www.alphadogs.tv
and
http://www.editorslounge.com
.
Where Did That Year Go?
Precisely one year ago today, we packed everybody and everything into two RVs and began the trek back down to LA. We had completed the 3 week Northern California adventure known as principal photography, and we were ready to head home! I remember driving most of the way back, and being totally “in the zone”; I think that was the fastest 13 hour road trip ever. Mind you, we still had an additional scene to shoot in downtown LA (!) on Saturday, so we couldn’t completely collapse. We basically went from this:
to this:
We Ain’t In Gasquet Anymore…
And I can’t let this anniversary go by without telling one of my favorite LiToM stories. Basically if you’ve seen our trailer, you’ve seen the crazy head rip that happens in the movie. We knew that Scotty and Carrie had prepped this great effect, and eveybody was really excited to see it. It appeared on the schedule about halfway through the shoot, and there was a lot of anticipation for the big moment amongst the cast and crew. However, independent film being what it is, we ran out of time the night it supposed to go down. Since it didn’t need to be shot at any particular time, we just moved it to the next day… then the next…. then the next. We never could seem to get to the dang head rip! Finally we just decided to make it the last shot of the entire shoot, the ultimate “Martini Shot” to end all Martini Shots. (That’s movie set terminology for ”last shot of the day” because the next shot is going to be in a shot-glass, or a Martini glass, for more refined tastes)
We may have been in the middle of the woods, but somehow we got the needed provisions!
We finally got to the big shot around 10pm on the last day. Everybody crowded around the camera and giant plexi-glass barrier we had protecting it. The Patrick Creek Lodge provided us with champagne and everybody had a glass ready to go. The shot went off great (In fact, it was so nice, we did it twice!) Matt, Mike and I did a quick toast thanking everybody for their help, and we were done.
After the final shot of our great northern adventure!
Honestly, that’s when it all started to sink in: we had done it, we actually pulled this crazy thing called Love In The Time Of Monsters off. Unbelievable. A lot of work was still left to do, but we freaking did it.
On the trip back, Matt shot this video blog in the back of RV that kind of sums up our feelings. It also has clips from the martini shot in it as well. I’ve really been enjoying going through and watching these behind the scenes videos again. Ben Turner did such a great job with them, you can find them all on our youtube page! Here’s the “Matt” Episode:
Now, can I get that year back? That went by WAY too fast! Seriously though, thanks for sticking with us through it all. The blog is more popular than ever, along with our facebook and twitter pages. Can’t wait to see what happens this year…
