Make-Up Test

We had our official make-up test on Saturday. It was a rousing success.

Liz looked horrifying...which is a good thing. And she proved to be worth her weight in gold (which in today's market, is no small amount) by donning a sticky track suit and milky contact lenses, and then gamely rolling around in fake blood for the rest of the day.

In short, she's my new favorite person.

But enough of my yammering. Let's get to the goods!


Steve and Cris making Liz perty.


Veiny goodness.


Steve in action! I love it.


This is what cleanup looks like around these parts.

Oh My God...Clothes

So, I've doled out a considerable chunk of the expenses to our fine make up artists (who keep coming up with amazing sounding gags by the way) and they're in the early stages of molding putrid veins for our lead.

Lucky them, I've also hired them as the wardrobe department. And, I got a picture of Karen's wardrobe today:



Ahhh...movie magic.

Tomorrow, I have a meeting with the producer Mariano and the DP Richard. We're waking up at the crack of dawn to check out our locations in Long Beach and La Habra and create a shot list that will attempt to make the filming of the (many) scenes a lot easier to accomplish with only 2 days available for shooting.

Love from me to thee,
MM

It's Congagious!

Woke up today covered in sweat. Feel like pooh.

On the bright side, we have our locations and actors. On the downside, all this typing has worn me out. Back to bed...see y'all soon.

XOXO
MM

Oh My Blog

This filmmaking business if tiring work. And I haven't even stepped on set yet.

We had our first production meeting! Go team.

We have an actress:
Liz Fenning
We have a producer:
Mariano Rueda
We have a director of Photography:
Richard Kim

Up next, auditions for the other roles.

And on Sunday, we go location scouting. I'll post some pictures!

But now...I sleep.

Coming Soon...

As you may have been able to tell, there hasn't been much to report of late. However, our makeup effects wizards wrap the feature they're working on in one week. After that, it'll be meetings and updates galore.

Also, the much anticipated blooper reel will be making an appearance soon. You'll see just how incapable I am in front of a camera.

On top of that, I'll be posting up to the minute information about cast, crew, and locations.

But while you wait, why not look at this picture. It's what I saw when I typed "funniest picture on the internet" into google.

The Front Page

First of all, thanks to everyone who pledged today. Welcome to the blog...if you're indeed reading it.

Second, thanks to all the previous pledges. Wouldn't want you to feel left out. I still love you all. Very much.

We're 30% done. That's 10% per day. That's insanity!

I got a story for y'all. And the blog is the perfect place to post this.

Let me start at the beginning. In march of 2010, I went to Indiana with Clive to assist him at the Horrorhound convention. It was one of the most incredible times of my life. While there, Clive was being filmed by documentary filmmaker Joe Berlinger (Metallica: Some Kind of Monster, Paradise Lost, Etc...) for his new documentary. Well, Joe had a production assistant by the name of, oh let's call her Abby. I was super green around the gills, and I'm more than certain I made an ass of myself in front of Joe, Abby, and pretty much the whole documentary crew.

But, either I'm not as annoying as I think, or Abby has a terrible short-term memory because, and brace yourself for the Shyamalan-like twist ending, today I found a message in my Kickstarter inbox from Abby. She has since parted with Joe (they're still on great terms) to forge her own path and now works at Kickstarter! You may have noticed that The Sickness was on the front page of Kickstarter.com. Well...now you know why.

Small world.

Report: There is Nothing to Report.

Just put a batch of names in to the lovely couple that runs Clive's site. Everyone who donated should see their names on the list very soon.

Everyone welcome the new pledges. (Sounds like opening day at a fraternity. Or so I've been told. I'm not exactly the fraternity type. However, I digress...) We hit the $2,000 mark today. Pretty wild stuff.

Aside from that, there has been no progress on production. But, stay tuned for the Kickstarter video bloopers. Fun for you. Torture for me.

Fun fact: More than ten people a year are killed by vending machines.

Zombie Apocalypse: Day 1

Dang. 24 hours in and we have $1,302. Am I pleased? Absolutely. Do I expect every day to be like this one. No way.

But, honestly, if this was all the money I got, I'd still be a happy man. I'm touched. You all are incredibly generous and it warms my heart. Who the heck am I that you all should pledge your hard earned money? But the outpouring of good vibes has been incredible.

As far as production goes, today was a mad dash, but we've welcomed a very talented DP (That's Director of Photography, for you dirty minded folk.) to the family. Here's a link to his website where you can watch his reel:

Richard Kim

And now, in the spirit of the film, I leave you with a zombie joke:

What do you call a zombie in a tuxedo?
Black, White, and Dead all over

Heeeere's Karen

So we're live. I'd be lying if I said I didn't have trouble sleeping last night.

And Suddenly...

My heart is racing. As you can tell by the gap in posts, we didn't Kickstart as soon as we had planned. There was a waiting period I was not aware of. But that period has ended, and suddenly I find myself hovering over the three choices my life has brought me to. Here's my POV:



I guess, as Elvis said, it's now or never.

Verging on the Verge

Trying to set up this Kickstarter thing-a-ma. S'not as easy as it looks. Got the video today. Love it. Uploaded it. Love it. Set up all the rewards for pledge. Twice. I accidentally closed the tab once. That was a treat. Now I'm no hold with my bank trying to confirm my account. They close in 12 minutes. So, we'll have a kickass Kickstarter sometime within the next 24 hours. While I wait, I might as well upload an unused photo from the poster photoshoot.



We tried several poses, but I know, Cris made the right choice in the end. You can see all the work she did too. Pretty cool stuff. Thanks Cris! Thanks Stef! You guys are troopers.

On The Verge

Saw the first cut of the pitch video today. Not bad, if I do say so myself. And that's me responding to watching myself. I'm a tough critic. Like mostpeople Ihate the sound of my voice and pretty much all of my mannerisms. And to watch myself living and breathing and generally existing is never easy. It's hard enough actually existing. Now I gotta look at it? Blech.

However, I digress. Let's start over.

Saw the first cut of the pitch video today! The lovely and talented Brandon Mahlberg (Awesome Website Here) did some pretty funny stuff. After our little meeting, I went to the Seraphim office and got some stuff did. Hellraiser comic. Horror anthologies. Candyman videos. The usual. Wink.

Anyway, I'll be heading back to Pasadena tomorrow to view the (hopefully) final cut. And if all goes according to plan, my mug will be up on Kickkstarter this very day. Kind of exciting. And a lot nervous making. Stay tuned for bloopers! They have profanity in them.

The Sickness Gets a Production Blog!

It's the movie's first blog! It's the filmmaker's first blog!

This was a big weekend.

Friday, I was working so I had my adorable fiancee buy the track suit for the movie poster at a store in the mall which shall remain unnamed. We kept the receipt.

Saturday, she got all gussied up and we took the photos. I sent them to our lovely and talented makeup artist/graphic designer Cris Alex.

Sunday I received the first version of the poster. Here's the first version. Pretty damn impressive right out of the gate if you ask me:



After a quick tinkering with fonts and dimensions we came up with something I think is pretty great.

After doing a dance of joy, I drove to Pasadena, Ca where the cozy Mahlberg Studios is located. Mr. Mahlberg and myself decided to ditch the original Kickstarter video where I sweat and flub my lines in front of the camera for 5 minutes. We went with what you now see. Friendly. Intimate. Seductive. Or so I hope. I can't tell if I was being funny or just plain creepy. I guess I'll find out when we go live.