DreamStalker Films

OK, so it’s been a busy few weeks and it’s only going to get busier, so I will try to put up another post after the next couple of days of shooting, but it’s possible nothing will be up until after the 48 hour film competition that DreamStalker Films will be participating in October 9-11th.

That being said, here’s the rundown of what has happened the least couple of weeks.  We wrapped principle photography on Slayer Wars 2, as I posted last time.  Unfortunately, due to some technical problems with a few shots, we had two more nights of pickups on that final scene.  Good news is, the rough cut is now looking really good and feels like the whole thing is really coming together now.  Officially Slayer Wars 2 is in Post Production and I am continuing the visual effects on the Caldrin and Jedu scene currently as we move aggressively into Production of Slayer Wars 3.

On Saturday 9/19, major preparation for Slayer Wars 3 finally happened after seven years… I cut my hair.  As many people know I was originally growing out my hair for Slayer Wars 2, of course this is when we were going to start filming in 2004!  So now there are flashback scenes that need to be placed in the second film, and very pivitol ones in the third one that connect all three films together.  So, I needed my hair cut back to the way it was 10 years ago.  Do I look 10 years younger though… judge for yourself.  Here’s a rough edit of the first part of the haircut special feature I’ll be putting together:

Filming on Sunday, 9/20, we shot the final two sequences for Slayer Wars 2, flashbacks that had to be added to the Slayer Wars 3 schedule.

Continuing later that evening, we shot the first night of flashbacks that take place during the first film.  Some of these shots were direct replacements of ones I wanted to cut back to from the first film, but as there was a major casting change from the first film to the second and third, we reshot.  I also took the opportunity to expand on some moments that bugged me from the first one, and hopefully anyone who’s seen the first will laugh at these expansions.

Here are some comparison shots:

Buffy did you change your hair?

Jedu-Khr, your hair looks great, but what about that second chin?

September 26th, we shot the final night of the flashbacks.  More expansion of events from Slayer Wars 1, and some new experimentation on shooting that I hope works out the way I intend.

Another haircut is in store next for me.  This will happen this Friday (and yes more footage will be added), as I have intended for Jedu to be bald (a little Lex Luthor, I know) in the final film.  Now that the flashbacks are done, onto that we go.  Day 3 and 4 will include a Graveyard, Jedu’s Hideout, and the final shots for Jedu’s Nightmare.  Contact us if you want to help or get a part in Slayer Wars 3 or the upcoming 48 hour film project (shooting October 10th).

Principle photography on Slayer Wars 2 is complete!  After nearly a year of shooting the first of two Slayer Wars sequels, the last scene, which is actually one of the first scenes in the movie, has finally been filmed.

It was one of the most complicated scenes to set up and shoot for several reasons and kept getting delayed over and over during production.  Namely, we needed a specific costume that the entire scene was based around, a dress.  The dress, along with some other costumes, were set to be specially made by a friend a couple of months before production began, but in the end did not come due to some health issues over the past year.

Plan B was to have Chrissy Palmer, our new Darth Empiric, put together the custom dress.  Unfortunately due to several circumstances she had less than a week.  We got her the pattern and materials but found out too late that the pattern was not going to work.

Plan C: Chrissy ran to Savers and bought several options and came by my place for me to choose.  So finally, with 48 hours to spare, we had a dress.  I sent Chrissy back to make a black sash for said dress and went back to scrambling everything else together.

Though, as usual, we did not have as many extras as I would have hoped and many of them were the same people we have used several times, thanks to Shannon Griffith (Buffy) and Laura Rappleye (Laura Luv) we were able to have a couple of new faces to this opening scene.  Thanks to Aaron “Fenyx” Clatone, Dori Perry, and Morgan Williams for showing up for the first night in front of the camera, and to all our regulars thank you for your continued support in these projects and putting up with all the drama (much of which comes from me directly).

Filming went really well for the most part and I appreciate everyone’s patience as there was quite a lot to get done and this was our first use of the new Dolly (thank you Derek!).

After capturing and reviewing briefly the footage on Sunday, I discovered that one shot we missed and two more were not usable.  So, on very little notice, Shannon, Matt Torrez, and myself ran back up to the set and did those pick ups.

I have edited about a third of the scene now and it looks really good.  Thank you all!

Moving forward, Slayer Wars 3 is ramping up for production.  Derek, Shannon, and myself met with Scott Kos (our music guy for all three films and Symon in Slayer Wars 2 and 3) and Eric Kask of Fume Entertainment (another local fledgling film company that will be joint producing Slayer Wars 3) on Sunday to begin breaking down the script for Slayer Wars 3.  We have nearly all of our locations figured out, a rough idea on casting new roles, and a list of costumes we’ll need.

The first official day of filming for Slayer Wars 3 (we have already shot the opener and half of another scene) will be on September 20^th, beginning with flashback sequences that take place between Slayer Wars 1 and 2, and some more elaborate looks at the end sequence for the first film (things that happened that we had not originally seen).  This is first on the docket as I’ll be cutting my hair down to the length it was in that first film to do these scenes, then, I will be shaving it all off, Lex Luthor style for the bulk of Slayer Wars 3.

Stay tuned for more news, photos, a new trailer for Slayer Wars 3, and site changes!