Last year I was hired by Digital Thunderdome Studios as the production designer for a series of three videos for the band Suicide Silence. Combined they told a terrible story of horror and revenge. The director Scott Hansen has released a new version of all three videos, edited together as one narrative, so now its kind of a short horror film, which is awesome. Almost as awesome as using human teeth as set decorations.
I’ve never been a part of a production that had so much post-production work and such heavy visual effects. Which means I didn’t do much in terms of production design, but that also meant I was on set doing other things, like moving lights around, or moving heavy objects, or waving leaf blowers at actresses while they hang upside down from wires. You know, Hollywood stuff.
Thanks Digital Thunderdome Studios, and MESHUGGAH for letting me come do my thing! Also, thanks for letting me be one of the hooded figures in this one.
Remember how the other day I mentioned going to that men’s prison over and over again for videos? Once you find an amazing location, you kinda want to keep coming back to it? That’s why I keep leaving my car keys at my wife’s house*.
“Enjoy the Silence” features an abandoned factory complex that we’ve filmed at previously for two completely different Kataclysm videos. Surprise! Bet you didn’t know both “Killshot” and “Defiant” were both filmed in the same location! That’s the magic of production design.
This was completely different from what I normally do and it was an awesome experience. Instead of being scary and edgy, this was fun and whimsical. First time as a production designer doing a period piece. And yes, the 80’s are a period. Sorry Boomers. And Gen Xers. And probably Millennials. You all feeling old yet?
Third time is the charm with that men’s prison as we returned there one more time for another video (the first being for Magg Dylan and the second being for EX DEO) and since there wasn’t much for me to do in the way of production design, I ended up getting wrangled to do a bunch of acting. Unlike my usual “blink and you’ll miss it” cameos, this time I chewed up the scenery while everyone go to see what I’d look like as a corrections officer. Or as a prison guard, if you wanna be a dick about it*.
It was an honor and a privilege to work on (and star in) this amazing indie horror film. Now I get to share the news: The film will be released in theatres on September 10th of this year, and then four days later it will be available on VOD. Sign up for the mailing list at www.badcandyfilm.com to find out if it’s coming to a theatre near you. Thanks to everyone who supported us from the beginning.
A few weeks ago I learned that the band Kataclysm had a side project called EX DEO, and I only found that out because when I started decorating and dressing the set for the last music video I worked on, the lead singer showed up and I was all like “oh hey I know you!” and then it was off to the races.
Oh if you clicked the thumbnail and watched the video already I probably should have told you it’s kind of a gore fest, so oopsies.
That being said, it wasn’t just bloody, it was a bloody good time. We not only returned to the men’s prison we had filmed a previous video for, but I got to work with some people I haven’t been able to see on set in years, and some people I get to see on the regular. It was a great shoot. An amazing amount of work got done in a very short period of time, and it all came out looking wonderful. Once again thanks to the cast, the crew of Digital Thunderdome, and EX DEO for letting me come do my thing.
Also the rest of the cast and crew were awesome but I’m terrible with names so I’m sorry I didn’t list you. Just know that I’m really looking forward to working with each and everyone one of you once again soon. Also congrats to John Wells, Autumn Read and Steve Gregory Wallenda II for nailing such strong performances.
Fun fact: This small town in Georgia has a treasure trove of amazing locations for making videos like this, but if you think I’m gonna tell you where this place is, you’re nuttier than a Christmas fruit log.
Success is a waste of time unless you’re sharing it with other people. Once you get up those first few steps, reach behind you and pull your buddies up. Otherwise, what are you really doing?
I was invited to sit down and talk with Spider Baby the host of Spider Cafe for a long format interview of my career in terms of my growth and transition from theatre to film. I’m not going to spoil the discussion for you, but if you’re into Haunt Attractions and/or horror movies, you’re going to want to check this out. Not only do I talk about how I got where I’m going, I talk about my love of the craft as a horror fan, and I share some of my secrets of success.
Thanks again to the fine folks at ROTN Reviews, and their lovely lovely community.
Up until my recent work on the feature length film Bad Candy, this was the most epic production I had worked on. Three massive music videos, joined together to tell the narrative of a family’s circle of murder and vengeance. And I got to be a part of it, so that’s awesome!
There’s a lot that happens in these videos, so multiple views are needed to catch all the details I crammed into the backgrounds and sets here. I think my favourite bits involved the fake teeth scattered on the workbench.
A lot of people were involved, and with all that talent in one project, we knew it was going to come out just great. Pretty brutal footage though… which maybe I should’ve said at the beginning, so my apologies if you watched this at work and you just got fired. My bad.
This was another video project where I had such a great and amazing time. It seems like every shoot I do with Digital Thunderdome I’m always having a good time. It’s because it’s such a healthy and positive environment, and there’s always some great opportunity to find some sort of new creative challenge each time. I’m also always lucky to work with a wide range of really talented people too. DTS has strong leadership that builds incredible teams.
Anyways, here’s some behind the scenes footage, more of which you can find in my portfolio over on my website at Bad Seed FX.
There’s quite a bit going on here in the video, but let me tell you a story about the mannequins.
The idea in my head for the video was that the guy in it was a tortured artist, tormented by past relationships. So each mannequin had three screws or nails embedded into their hearts (to represent the Three of Swords tarot card, which signifies hearbreak and personal loss.) Also, each mannequin looks slightly different from each other while keeping the same theme, in order to make them look like an all-girl super-group like Destiny’s Child or TLC.
So that’s my story. Great shoot that resulted in an excellent video. I love how everything turned out, and again I got to carry on the fine tradition of throwing a bunch of fake blood on my half-naked friend out in the cold woods, which I think I ended up doing like six times over the course of the past year.
Catching up on the big stack of neat stuff on my desk, here’s a post to a music video we worked on that was just released. Lots of great looking people in this, and the sound stage was at Silver Scream FX Labs, which if you ever manage to find yourself there, be prepared because not only is it am amazing special effects workshop, but it is without a doubt one of the best museums dedicated to horror I’ve ever seen in my life.
Anyways, enjoy the video, I gotta get back to updating my portfolio and my production design website. Have you seen it recently? There’s a lot going on there. I’m behind by like two videos and a feature film. I’m slaving over a hot keyboard right now.
Fun fact: I’ve got a “blink and you miss it” cameo in this one. Can you find me? Take a screen cap and send it my way and I’ll ship you a one-of-a-kind prop from one of the sets I’ve worked on this year.
Speaking of small apps reminding me of stuff I’ve done and also music videos with horror themes, here’s one I was the production designer for a mere five years after that last one I posted about here.
As a matter of fact, I even talked about it in my latest email, and you’d know all about the differences and things in common between both productions if you’re subscribed to it…
Oh, and here’s a fun fact: This video came out just as everyone was on their way to raid Area 51. Anyone remember how that went down, or did we all get hit with that memory flashy thing from Men in Black?
Oh hey and if you want to see more pics of this set, visit my production design website at www.BadSeedFX.com.
Into The Fray 