DreamStalker Films

Welcome back DSF fans!

Today have a couple of things to post.  First, we have just completed our newest short film, “99 Problems…”  This was our second annual two-week film project.  You can see the details on the production and requirements on the page for the film by clicking here.

Sadly, our second piece of news is that this last week we lost a member of the DreamStalker Films’ family.  On October 30th, Monique Reddy passed away.  Nicki, as she was known by her friends, was a wonderful friend, a talented dancer, and an amazing photographer.  She was a long time supporter of DSF and was the Still Photographer on the “Who Are You?” Amoric video.   A few of her pictures from that shoot appear right in the video (which you can see here).  Additional photos from that project can be seen on our Facebook, here.  In addition, she also knit the yellow hat in the video and did Shannon Griffith’s makeup.

Nicki touched the lives of everyone she knew and will be greatly missed by everyone here at DreamStalker Films.  I have dedicated “99 Problems…” to Nicki and included a short tribute to her at the end of the credits.

Although a more accurate title for this post would probably be “This is the end of principle photography for Slayer Wars 3,” I opted to go for the line in the Slayer Wars musical number we just shot on the last shooting day for the final installment to the trilogy…

So after 30 official shooting days over the course of two years just about everything has been shot for Slayer Wars.  Only a couple of very short pickups (no re-shoots,  a very rough cut has already been reviewed by the main cast and crew!) remain.  Next part of the process is  finishing the rough cut and moving onto looping.  Looping will start with recording a master version of the musical number with Scott Kos, musical composer for the series.

"Slayer Wars" Pretzels

R2-D2 Treats

Last weekend we celebrated the wrapping of the trilogy with a party that included some themed treats and the rough cut of the movie (basically missing one scene that has not been put together.

Up next for me will be completing the pickups and working on coloring the official poster.

"Slayer Wars 3" Poster Sketch

On October 22nd we start the second annual DreamStalker Films Two Week Project.  Last year the result was “Laptops’ Revenge” so hopefully this too will be a great addition to the DSF library.

Ta-Dah!

Our short film for February’s A3F 48 Hour Film Competition is finally officially completed and online.  The film was semi-completed and turned in for the competition on time, but since I felt the film was not completed I insisted on completing it before posting it.

I finally had a day to work on it this weekend and got it all finished.  You can see the film below and read all about the production on it’s permanent page here.

Well, I think the headline there pretty much covers it.  Be sure to check out the music video right here while you can (this may be a limited viewing, more on that to come).  After you check out the video be sure to check out the main page for this project for details on the production.  Don’t forget to swing by amoric.com and check out more of their music.

Big news for those who have not heard… “Laptops’ Revenge” will be premiering at the Phoenix Comicon this Saturday at 11:20am.  Come by and check it out and stay awhile for the Q&A with local filmmakers at 12:20pm.  I will be there with members of the cast and the producers.

Xander Benzer, Scott Kos, Peter Haverson, Jason Lippencott, Nick Benzer, and Shannon Griffith on the set of "Laptops' Revenge"

If you can come a bit earlier our friend Kane Black will be premiering his short “Fashion Assassin” at 11:08am.

Be sure to drop by Zach Reddy’s Paleocomics and Emma Lysyk’s Em2a Cartoon booth (759)  They are both very talented and in addition to selling their own work they will have a small supply of DreamStalker Films Vol. I DVDs.

DreamStalker Films Shorts Volume I

While in the exhibitor area be sure to check out Anti-Hero Brand Press (booth 681).  Artist John Chihak and Agnew will be there selling his work.  We had the pleasure of sitting in the booth next to this talented guy at last year’s con, so if you see him tell him we sent you.

Other than that we are running full force towards finishing Principle Photography on Slayer Wars 3.  We should be wrapping in September.

In the meantime, watch for completion of the long awaited Amoric video “Who Are You?”  Hopefully that will be soon now that we have a final cut of the song.

After that I’ll finish up “Fair Seasons” so it can be posted here.

The last half of the year will be occupied with shooting our untitled Steam Punk film and hopefully starting a limited webseries version of “Reunion”.

Hope to see you all at the Comicon on Saturday!

As many of you may already know, DreamStalker Films just completed our third 48 Hour Film Challenge for A3F.  But more on that in a bit.  As I look at our site it looks like once again I have gone too long without an update… So here’s what’s happened so far for DSF in 2011:

How the Production Assistant tells the Director to shut up.

In January we completed a very long day of filming on Slayer Wars 3.  Special thanks to Chrissy for all her hard work in her return as “Darth Empiric” despite being very pregnant (she delivered a healthy baby girl less than two weeks after the shoot) and to Shannon for sticking through it most of the day despite being sick.

Chrissy Palmer as Darth Empiric

I have just completed the final cut of the “Voice” version of “Laptops’ Revenge”.  There were a few shots that just incredibly slowed the pacing (and this version was already a lot longer than my Director’s Cut) and I wanted that fixed before submitting it to any festivals.  I am burning copies of that to go out for submission to Filmstock and the Phoenix Comicon Film Festival next week.

A couple of weeks ago we met with Ryan Lunt and offered him the job of Propmaster for our upcoming Steampunk project later this year. Ryan has already created some amazing and original things and we look forward to working with him on this project as well as possibly creating more original DSF props in future films.

Last weekend we took on the A3F 48 Hour challenge again, as I mentioned earlier.  This time we spent more time in pre-production for “Fair Seasons” than we have in the past.  This was primarily due to needing to get costumes together and props (not to mention preparing the cameras and equipment for shooting in the rain).

Ryan Lunt creating wings for "Fair Seasons"

It was a cold and wet shoot but we all got through it.  Thanks to the actors and crew for sticking it out.  Unfortunately, due to the lateness of when we started (and me leaving the ND filter active on one camera) we had some rather dark shots toward the end.  Despite this, we finished filming and had all the footage captured by 8:00pm.

Before going to bed at 4am, I completed the rough cut and began compositing.

The Four Seasons in the rain.

Beginning again at 8am Sunday morning, I was off to finish visual effects while Derek Lookingbill ran Unit 2, re-recording all the dialogue for the film (as our original audio was plagued with planes, traffic, and annoying kids).

While Scott Kos composed music for the film (blind as he had no internet that day) and Shannon Griffith and Alanta Noel drove to pick it up, I finished compositing and editing as much of the new looped audio as possible.

At the time I had to stop in order to get it rendered and burned to a dvd in time to make the deadline I was less than halfway through adding the looped audio (and what was done was far from perfect), had not done a final mix, no sound effects were added, and the soundtrack was very haphazardly added.

Spring Vs. Winter

So, needless to say, we don’t consider the film finished and will not post it here until it is completed.  The film did not make the top 20 for the competition, as expected and did not premiere at their event.  I’ll post it as is here after it is finished.  Expect it in a few weeks (minimum), because I need a little break and I am currently brainstorming ideas on the Steampunk project while working on a draft for “Reunion”.

Hey everyone, it has been awhile since I’ve had a chance to update the site so, I thought I better do it now before I get too busy again.

First, a general company update: DreamStalker Films is now a two camera film company! We now have two Canon GL2’s. The nice thing about this is we can record multiple angles (like close ups on two actors) at the same time. Hopefully, after we have a second tripod this will further help us cut down production time. It has already saved us some setup time and allowed us to quickly go from a tripod to a glidecam shot.

Now, onto the updating on our short films.  Has everyone taken a few minutes to watch our newest completed short, “Laptops’ Revenge”?  If not, now is a good time as I have gone back and corrected some of the issues of the last version to create my director’s cut.  Also, at several suggestions, I have created a brand new alternate version of the film, with audible voices for the laptops.  Be sure to check out both and let us know which version you prefer (so we know which one to send out for competitions).  Vote for your favorite by either sending an email to dreamstalkerfilms@gmail.com with either “DIRECTOR “or “VOICE ” in the subject line or giving a thumbs up to the one you like on YouTube.

Our other short film in production is a music video for the song “Who Are You(Spooky)” by our friends, Amoric.  I have just completed a very loose cut of the video and will be doing a final edit once Amoric has the newest recorded version of the song all ready to go.

Shannon Griffith in the Amoric video "Who Are You (Spooky)"

Two shorts shot on film nearly a decade ago are still being worked on.  The fanfilm, “Fall of the Sith,” is slowly acquiring finished lightsaber f/x, while sound effects are being done for “Schoolyard Ninjas” (both shorts were written and directed by Jay Montoya).

Now for updates on our features, Slayer Wars 2 & 3… that’s right each sequel to DSF’s very first film has a runtime long enough to be considered feature films.  Now, maybe everyone can understand why it is taking so long to film these (and how incredibly long it will take to finish the visual effects)…  SW2 has been through two rough cuts (and is about due for another) and is slowly getting lightsaber and force lightning f/x added. Also, if you look at the Slayer Wars 2 page, you can see that I have finally completed the poster for the film. (For artists wondering it is Prismacolor markers on Bristol paper)

Meanwhile, since my last update, another two days of shooting on SW3 have been completed.  With this, we have added a new set for the film that we should be finishing up with at our next shoot (in November, I hope).  We also added a new castmember, our friend Kane Black.  Kane is a local filmmaker and actor and we are happy he agreed to join DSF for our final fanfilm.

Kane Black as Kwon the Ninja Jedi

Going forward, the bulk of the rest of Slayer Wars 3 will be filmed over the next year at our new place starting sometime after the new year.

Additionally, we still have two more deadlined short films to complete before year’s end (one with a one week deadline, one with one weekend).  If you are interested in being in or helping with any of these projects, please contact us.

Also if you or anyone you know is looking for post production film experience (especially in visual effects but also in editing or sound) and especially if they have experience, please contact us.  We are in need of those that can do visual effects and cgi.  This is a good opportunity for anyone going to school looking for work experience to add to their resume.

That’s all for now, expect another update sometime in January.

Welcome back fans!  It’s been quite awhile since I’ve had a chance to update the site so there’s a lot to go over.  First, I am proud to announce our second completed short film of 2010, “Laptops’ Revenge”  is now live!  This project has pretty much consumed every waking moment (not already consumed by my day job) for the last couple of weeks.  It was a difficult pre-production and the most complicated post-production I have ever had to do on a deadline.  So thanks to everyone for their patience on this, and thanks especially to the entire cast and crew that made the actually shooting of the film fast and painless.  Watch the video below and  check out the full page for the film here.

Second, I’d like to update everyone on the Slayer Wars 3.  In June we shot the last external day sequence for the film and the last night of several that it took to complete the Zombie Onslaught of the VSJ HQ sequence.  I’d like to thank everyone for both shoots, but especially for coming out and shooting in the very, very hot day (especially little Beverlee for enduring the heat under the dreaded Jar Jar mask for much of that time).

Completion of these shoots marked passing the halfway point in the shooting of the entire film.  We have since been on hiatus on this project for two reasons.  1) To give us time to complete some quick short films before the end of the year.  2) To allow the hot Phoenix summer to pass the hottest months.  3) Finally, to give us some time to figure out where our sets will be for the last half of the production schedule (we’re still working on this, but I think we have some good ideas).  We should be going back to Slayer Wars 3 hopefully by mid-September to complete at least one of the sets that takes up the bulk of what is left.

Additionally, I have continued to work with local band, 49 ‘Til Midnight.  I recently videoed 3 songs for them at their studio in Tempe (You can see the A Camera footage on our YouTube page).  I recorded A and B Camera footage and hope to have those all edited together to make a full video for each of the three songs soon.

Next up for shooting, a short shoot for a video of the Amoric song, “Who Are You (Spooky)”

Keep checking back and become a fan on Facebook for all the most up to date info from DreamStalker Films!

Welcome, DreamStalker Films fans!  We have a brand new section on the site for Music Videos/Performances.  The section has been set up to showcase local bands and composer’s works filmed by DSF.  We’ll be adding music videos that we will be producing for artist Scott Kos, composer of most of the DreamStalker Films.

Now, however, we are proud to announce live performances by local AZ band, 49 ‘Til Midnight, available on our website.  The first 3 songs from their 6/5/10 show are now live, check out the new 49 ‘Til Midnight page on DreamStalker Films here and be sure to check back on the site soon for more songs from this show!

Welcome back everyone!  It’s been quite awhile since I’ve had any updates here so we could get everything prepared for the Phoenix 2010 Comicon May 27-30.  Here are the DreamStalker Films’ details on the event.

Firstly, DSF will have a table for the entire Comicon, located at the Phoenix Convention Center in the Vendor Room, table T120 (look for the DreamStalker Films banner).  We’ll be showing the DreamStalker Films DVD Reel with all of our completed films, trailers, and special features on a small T.V.  We will be selling copies of the DreamStalker Films Shorts Vol. I DVD ($5 each), DSF logo T-Shirts ($20 each for S, M, L, XL, or XXL -Small pictured left as modeled by Shannon Griffith and the logo above), and DreamStalker Films logo car decals ($5 each, pictured below).  Additionally, the first 10 people to buy any item will receive a free copy of the original Slayer Wars: Uber-Special Edition.  Don’t worry if you’re not one of the ten, everyone else that buys anything will receive a ticket for our prize drawing that will be on the last day of the Comicon when we’ll be giving away another ten copies of Slayer Wars!

While you’re there sign up for one (or all) of our e-mailing lists so you can keep up to date on everything DreamStalker Films is up to and volunteer to help out with upcoming projects!

Secondly, on Friday, May 28th, at 1:43 pm, DreamStalker Films’ most recent film, “The Family That Decays Together…” will premiere at the Phoenix Comicon Film Festival!  Be sure to check it out, and then, feel free to stop by the DSF Table and talk to the creators about it (and pick up your own copy of the film on the DreamStalker Films Shorts Vol I DVD )

Finally, a Slayer Wars 3 update:

Last weekend we had two more nights of shooting on Slayer Wars 3 that went extremely well.  We got more great footage for the Zombie Onslaught of the VSJ HQ Scene and it’s really coming together now.  I’d like to thank everyone who came to be extras and help out this weekend (especially the whole Noel clan, Morgan, and Matt who made up our zombie cast this weekend and made it easy for me to fill up each shot with zombies).

Our next shoot will be on Sunday, May 16th, 7PM.  This will be a short shoot (I hope to wrap by 9) that will allow us to get the last shots we need with Jake, which are only a few but at least one is going to be rather difficult and is important to get right as it’s the whole reason I wrote the scene.  So, any of our principle actors that can show I hope to see you there, and we’ll also need at least a few zombies, so anyone else that can come would be appreciated, whether they have played another role in the film yet or not.

The shoot after that is planned for the morning of Saturday, June 5th, which we’ll be filming the scene that will be at the very end of the film.  Tentatively I am thinking of also filming that evening in what would likely be the final night for the Zombie Onslaught scene.

Alright, that’s all for now (isn’t that enough?)…