Sunday, September 2, 2007

Behind the Scenes [Spoiler Alert]

In post production there were a few shots that didn't get to make it into the final copy of the movie. So, I'll post screen captures of a couple of scenes that didn't make it. Later on, I'll also post more behind the scenes, including our work on the gun shot to the head. The whole movie was editing with Final Cut Pro, and the special effects was done using After Effects.

This first shot is of actor Chris Stamm, as he turns into a zombie. As you can see the shot is washed out, and not very zombie looking. He did have make-up on, to kind of bleach his face, and make him look pale. We were thinking, "He just turned into a zombie, he wouldn't look that much different". I thought it would be fun to make him look more like a zombie, just to see what could happen.

As you can see, it looks a bit better than the original. We faded in the zombie like skin, and also manipulated his eyebrow, and the corner of his mouth, to kind of sag down when he turned. It's barley noticeable. There is also a lot of colour correction going on, and on top of it all a nice green filter was applied. Giving it a little more of a cinematic look. I wish this scene had made it in to the final cut, but we may use this feature in the upcoming flick. We'll have to see if it can work. Heres rough footage of the rendered scene:



Next shot that didn't make it in, was where our actor Jay is working the water pump. This was our first day of filming, and a lot of mishaps happened. The battery ran out, forgot some equipment, and we were always leaving bags, cars & other materals in the shot. On top of that, some of the shots came out way way to bright. The sky was completely white in one shot, and no matter how much colour correction you did, it just didn't look right. So we threw in a sky in the background.
You can tell that it was way to bright. Even with some colour correction on the sky composite the actor is still a bit to dark. Unfortunetly theres not too much you can do with that, if you brighten the dark areas anymore they look like crap. Overall the rough render didn't come out to bad.



There are a couple more examples of scenes like this. One we had problems with cars being the background. Some we were able to take out, others we weren't so lucky. Just consider them the unfortunte few who turned while driving, forever doomed to be behind the wheel. So, in the future I'll post some more of those clips for you. Well, that's about it for today, enjoy!



Saturday, September 1, 2007

Last Days DVD

Well, most of you have seen it already, but this is the cover! Minus the $10 text.



Beautiful, yes? Well now you, yes YOU can own your very own copy of "Last Days". It chock full of low budget goodness. Check out the crazy blooper reel, or witness the zany directing style of Dean Rocha with the "Director's Journal". Wonder how we popped a zombie's head? Check out "A closer look at the cheap ass spfx" featurette. Last, but not least if you feel like watching the movie for a 2nd time, why not check out the video & audio commentary! Cool right? So, what are you waiting for, click the "Buy Now" button, and purchase a DVD via PayPal secure payment! Only $10!

Alternatively, if you don't have paypal, and live locally just drop me a line and we can arrange a delivery.

Friday, August 31, 2007

Welcome



I decided to make this new blog for our viewers. Myspace was starting to suck, I couldn't edit or add anything to the main page. Only the blog. So, hopefully you folks will subscribe by e-mail and stay updated that way. The DVD will be for sale soon, here, and I'll post a blog on myspace. Though, for future reference, bookmark this site.