I remember when King Kong came out in theaters in 1977. I convinced my dad to take me. It was Christmas in New York. A line had formed around the block! I was really nervous that it would be sold out by the time we got to the ticket booth. As we shuffled slowly around the block I spotted a poster of Jessica Lang in the gigantic ape's hand. Kong was touching her breasts. Panicked, I told my father that I knew for a fact that that scene wasn't in the movie, as if I had some Hollywood insider connection. Years later it dawned on me that was probably the only thing my father was excited about. It certainly wasn't King Kong.
For me, I sat there in the theatre in the dark, and I lost my mind. Something connected. Something big.
The Idea of filming short horror films of the classics came to me about three years ago. The idea was to step out from behind the computer and start to look at films as a whole, instead as an animator. As an animator you fixate on a shot, and labor over it for weeks until a stack of people approve it, and it gets into a movie.
I decided to start by shooting all of my favorite monsters: Vampire, Wolfman, Zombies, the whole gang. I started with vampires in "The Cellar", my first film produced by Fewdio. It was shot in one weekend. Returning to Tippett Studio, I began working with Chris Morley and Hans Brekke. Together we started Ghostbandits, and filmed my second "Salty Dogs." We are currently working on my third film. Hellbound.
This is for the amazing group of people who have been busting their asses helping me to make this film.
Randy
Chloe Deng and Tara Tinsley
It was always the idea to make the two female leads be both incredibly beautiful but also very different from each other. When I watch the footage it is hard for me to know who to look at, as they are both so striking. I could not have been luckier to have these two for Hellbound. Tara is a great musician in her own right, as well as being funny, bright, and quick.
Chloe is a total pro. I can't begin to tell you the hoops that she has had to jump through for this film. She is quirky, fast, and smart. Chloe shows up to film and takes it very seriously. Not a bad way to spend your weekends being in the woods with these two!
The Ghostbandits
Chris Morley
When I returned to work at Tippett Studio I knew that I would need to put together a crew if I was to keep shooting my list of short films. One of the many things that separates Tippett Studio from most other VFX houses is that Phil tends to hire people who are film makers and not just people who need day jobs. Most of the people who work at Tippett are in some fashion, creating their own projects on weekends. With this in mind I was hopeful to find people willing to spend their Saturdays filming. To fill my director of photography gig, my brother, David, (a compositor at Tippett) directed me to a guy named Chris Morley. Little did I know....
Chris Morley is a powerhouse. He quickly became one of my closest friends and a real partner in creating this kind of work. For one thing his talent in photography is only matched by is ability to composite pictures for film. Chris has an eye like no other, and a real crazy work ethic. Chris will stay up all night if it means getting it right. I have had the most fun working with "C-Mo!" It's one thing to have talent by your side, it's another thing if the talent is like a brother. We fight over shots, when we have to. I know the sound C-Mo makes when things aren't working and the sounds he makes when they are. To the untrained ear it sounds the same, but trust me it is very different.
Every bit of success that I have had filming on both Salty Dogs and Hellbound can be directly tied to Chris Morley
Hans Brekke
Have you ever met a Viking? I have. It is as disarming as it is awe inspiring. I sit next to Hans Brekke at work, and for a long time we worked together as animators, first, on Cats N Dogs 2, then on "New Moon" and "Eclipse." Hans is one of the best animators I have ever met, and underneath that gentle smile is a pure Viking. A man who could roast your children on a spit and somehow you would be thankful to share the meat with him. One day while working I realized that Hans would be an awesome leading man. A schoolboy crush came over me and I think I may have blushed when I asked him if he would be the hero in Salty Dogs.
Since then Hans and I have been nearly in separable. Hans threw himself into filming and took what we were doing by storm. I have found that animators have the natural talent for acting as that is all that we do, we just do it a frame at a time. Hans is not just an actor. He is instrumental in the vision of the film. Hans will quietly wait until the scene is over and then suggest the greatest thing you could imagine. Sometimes it is something so outlandish that it takes you some time to see the genius of it. The greatest lesson I have learned to this date is from Hans: "Never say no." Think about what people tell you, because sometimes it's mountains of gold.
THE CELLAR
" I know some guys who are looking for a ghost."
Was the line that got me interested late one night at a party. "They're looking to do a CGI ghost for a short film!" She yelled at me over the music. That was the first time I heard about Fewdio. Somebody was friends with a thing called Fewdio. Fewdio was about to drop the bomb on the web. A shitload of shorts, for the fun of making them. JOHN CRYE, PAUL HUNGERFORD, DAVID SCHNEIDER, KIRK B.R. WOLLER, DREW DAYWALT.
Sounded awesome to me. In return for a ghost, Fewdio would help me produce and shoot a short.
Now I had lived in a place in Berkeley owned by this fucking nutbag of a man. This guy had that disease that makes you collect and live in your own garbage. I won't get into it but let's say that I know what Fred Sanford saw when he looked around the back yard. Anyway, the laundry room made your scrotum hurt with fear, There was a boarded up crawlspace that you couldn't get me to go to save all of the children on earth alive right now.
That stuck in my mind. That place. Also, I had met a great guy a long time ago who was actually studying to be a priest but after a tragedy in his family he turned away from religion. That stuck in my mind. I figured that that could be a good setting for a vampire story. The last and greatest piece for me was a vampire bat.
I saw a documentary about how vampire bats scrape the skin of a cow and then lap the blood up. You can not get more awesome then that. A blood water fountain.
I have always loved the character of Nasferato, as most of the time Dracula looks like My Cousin Vinny.
poster art by David Link
I have three brothers. Gary, Chris, And David. We came out of the womb soft. All of us. And we stayed that way. But the level of art and creativity that came out of that one house is a force to recon with. I'll get into that shit later. But I do want to say That David is a "mad man" at design. and over the years he has toiled over all kinds of hair brained ideas of mine. David did the end credits to both "The Cellar" and "Salty Dogs" as well as some badass posters.
That's why they call him "D-Money"
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