Invasion Update May 2014

by Torey Haas

It's been awhile since our last update (almost four months!), and although things may have seemed quiet we're actually right in the middle of one of the most exciting times during our lengthy post-production process. Before I get to that though, let's talk about our premiere. We teased on our Facebook page a few weeks back that we'd announce our release date soon, and while we do have one picked out I don't want to announce it (or the final, kick-ass design of our poster) just yet because I'm working on getting that announcement covered by a horror news website (keep your fingers crossed). I will say though that while Halloween is easily my favorite holiday it's going to be especially awesome this year.

For those of you who aren't filmmakers one thing you may not know is that post-production is easily the longest part of a film's creation; in fact I'd estimate that it's easily 75% of the total work (and possibly even more for our FX-heavy movies). That said, we're finally starting to see the light at the end of the tunnel for Invasion, and the reason these past few months have been so exciting is that it's the first time where Invasion has actually started to look like a real movie. That may seem like an odd statement, so let me go into a little bit more detail about our status.

Currently, the primary team working on Invasion consists of myself, Quyen, Hsiang, Tricia and Jay. Tricia is working on the final remaining make-up and creature effects (most importantly Z'athax, Invasion's stop motion-animated, fireball-throwing 'last boss') while Jay is editing our behind-the-scenes documentary. Quyen and Hsiang are working on the sound and music respectively while I'm simultaneously color-correcting and creating visual effects scene by scene. What does all this mean? Well, as an example this is what Scene 58 in Invasion looked like as shot:

Colors are flat and lack contrast (the Blackmagic camera shoots this way, known as RAW, to maximize color information and thus creative possibilities in post), there's a weird fake head in the background, and while you can't hear it the sound completely sucks (trust me on this). Now here's the same shot with color correction and visual effects:

As you can see there's a pretty big difference. The colors pop, we can clearly see Jake's severed head behind Allison, there's a cool 2.35 letterbox crop and everything sounds great (again, just take my word for it). It takes a fair amount of work to get here though; scene 58, which runs a little over 30 seconds, took over eight hours to complete, and that's not including the time Quyen (and Hsiang) is putting into the audio mix. Of course, some scenes take much less time while a few others (such as the final fight with Z'athax) will take much, much longer, but overall we are getting close to the end of this long journey.

A few other quick updates: anyone who knows me knows that I am not a fan of CGI in horror movies, but apart from the fireballs and glowing eyes there is one major CGI effect in Invasion: Allison's mansion. We couldn't afford to shoot at a real Southern plantation, so instead we shot here:

We chose this place because of its porch (and also because it's on my parents' property and we didn't need a permit) since I knew we could just replace everything else with a 3D model. Here's the preliminary test comp:

Obviously there's a ton of work to do but it's still pretty exciting to see this start to come together. This was actually from the first day of shooting (I think it was our very first shot if I'm not mistaken) and I imagine a lot of the crew was confused as to why we were shooting at this place. Fix it in post, indeed! For the record, Invasion will contain no CGI creatures- all of our monsters were either live on set or stop motion models.

The Invasion video game: We posted some concept art from this on Facebook and this blog several months ago, but we haven't said too much about it since then... well, it's definitely happening!

This is a beta build, and it's several months old on top of that, so please excuse the quality. The game designer would probably prefer if I didn't post this video, but I did want to put something here other than a screenshot to prove we're actually doing this; being a huge gamer (especially 8- and 16-bit) I just think it's the coolest thing. The final game will be playable in a web browser (and possibly Android devices if we can figure out a decent control scheme) and will feature Allison and Jake as playable characters in addition to Desmond. We're going to use it to help promote the movie once we get closer to our release date since we're going to need all the help we can get in that department (marketing a movie is at least as difficult as making one).

Desmond's webisode: Greg bugs me about this almost every day, and it is most definitely still coming; it just keeps getting pushed back in favor of working on the feature film. But we will release it to further help with the marketing for Invasion closer to our premiere.

So that's where we're at! I do have to wholeheartedly apologize for the constant delays; I thank you all for your patience and continued support, and please remember that we're not a major studio, or even a minor one. We're a group of friends who decided to band together and shoot a feature film and who are now working all hours of the night beyond our day jobs to finish it up and bring it to you. Stay tuned for more updates, and as always thank you for reading!

Invasion Update January 2014

It's been a while since we've posted about Invasion of the Undead, and that's because we're still in the not very glamourous process of editing that we've been in since we wrapped back in August. We're getting close to a picture lock though, and we've even begun creating a few of the visual effects (the most time-consuming part of post-production for us) for the sequences that are locked:

It takes a fair amount of work to go from this...

... to this. 

While we've shot a few FX pick-ups, we still have a significant amount left to complete. We'll continue to shoot these throughout the ongoing months.

One of our pick-ups required a bird to land on a specific branch for
an FX gag where it is killed by a Son of Z'athax. This took hours.

In addition to the pick-ups, we also need to shoot our 'invasion' sequence; during a climatic moment in the movie a dimensional barrier is breached and undead creatures appear all over the world (think this scene in Ghostbusters when the containment unit is shut down and ghosts appear throughout the city). This sequence is going to be a lot of fun as it will feature characters and locations from past MonsterBuster movies (and maybe even a few surprise cameos from other independent films).

Editing has also begun on our making-of documentary, and it is going to be HUGE. Virtually every actor and crew member on the film has agreed to an interview, and we'll shoot these throughout January. We've also captured every significant moment of Invasion's production on video, from our first script reading in August 2012 all the way to our final day of shooting a year later. The documentary will easily be a feature onto itself... it may even be longer than the movie!

Our Making-Of Documentary will include the familiar faces...

... and some not quite as familiar but equally important.

Here are a few other Invasion-related updates:

• Desmond's webisode: Our much-delayed third and final character webisode is currently in the hands of our sound designer and music composer. Our webisodes were meant to promote our Indiegogo campaign, and since we've missed that boat by a wide margin we're planning to release the webisode immediately once the audio is complete.

Coming soon!

• Our official poster: Our equally delayed poster is in the final stages of coloring.

• The video game: Our promotional Invasion video game will release alongside the movie's premiere. It will be a classic 16-bit style platformer playable in a web browser (we're hoping to get it on Android-based devices as well but can't make any promises yet) where you'll guide Desmond, Allison and Jake through the mansion for a confrontation with Belle.

Desmond battles Archlarvae and a Son of Z'athax in this concept art for the video game.

So, when is the premiere date? Well, with everything that remains to be done we can't realistically announce a date that we could possibly keep, but we are all working as hard as we can to get the movie done. Trust me, we want to see it even more than you do! Post-production is the longest part of making a movie, and please be patient with us as we move forward. A year ago we launched our Indiegogo campaign for Invasion, and now we're inching ever closer to the finish line. Thank you for your constant support, and as always, thank you for reading!

Fred Grant's Metroid!

by Fred Grant

The Metroid fan trailer was both a chance to adapt a beloved video game into a live action story and an opportunity for me to stretch my directing legs by taking on a very effects heavy project. Knowing that the look of Samus was one of the most important aspects for the film's success, I sought out the help of Sean Michael Patton, an experienced costume designer/creator, to come up with a Zero Suit that was to both of our likings. I wanted Samus to maintain her sexy girlish figure but also look more tactical and military-appropriate while in her Zero Suit.  Finding the right actress was also a challenge, and Josefine Mikuta, a model/actress from Denmark (and who will represent Denmark in the 2013 Miss Earth Pageant) was eventually cast by Keyla McClure to play Samus Aran.  Shooting took place over one afternoon at Crawford Media Services. When Josefine went into wardrobe with Sean and hair/make-up with Christine Nguyen and came out as Samus Aran, the transformation was incredible. 

Josefine tries on the Zero Suit for the first time.

98% of the production was shot entirely on green screen, and almost all of the backgrounds and effects were created during post-production, which is why the short trailer took so long to be released to the public. Anthony Baker, a local Atlanta CG artist, was in charge of creating and rigging the “Power Suit”. We actually had to alter the design of the Power Suit so that Samus could fit into it since the Nintendo version was physically impossible. Kevin Ridgeway did an amazing job modeling Ridley, combining multiple versions of the creature from several different Metroid games together for a realistic and frightening appearance. Torey Haas added his creative touch with his stop motion Chozos. All of the visuals were wrapped up magnificently with sound design by Quyen Tran and narration by Marie Barker (Invasion of the Undead's Allison). While the Metroid Fan Trailer has been on my personal YouTube channel for a while now (I was initially using it to promote the Indiegogo campaign for my first feature film Dekiru) it is now officially on the MonsterBuster channel.

We had to modify the Power Suit design so it could accommodate an actual human body. 

Modeling Ridley!

Overall, the Metroid Fan Trailer was a big learning experience because it showed me where I was as a director and where I needed to improve. If you like it please check out Dekiru!

BABY BABY Music Video Now Live!

Our music video for BABY BABY's "You Can't Spell Conch Without the 'CH' is now up on our YouTube channel!

A variation on Lord of the Flies with elements from The Karate Kid and Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (check out the radioactive pig man), this video was shot back in August on Jekyll Island shorty before we wrapped Invasion of the Undead. With most of our resources tied up in Invasion, we had limited crew, a shoestring budget and no permits whatsoever to pull off what was a pretty epic story line for a music video. Torey wrote the script (from a concept by Grant and Fontez) and directed the video, while Eric (Invasion's assistant camera) and Tricia stepped up as cinematographers using both the Blackmagic cinema camera and a 5D mkIII. Propmaster John Holbrook made all of the DIY weapons seen in the video (the sea shell spear and knuckles were especially rad), and Greg Garrison designed the fight choreography (he's turning more and more into Desmond every day). The enemy tribe are all performed by MonsterBuster regulars/crew members- that's Nathan DeRussy, Guy Smiley himself, sans make-up as the enemy leader, with Fred, Jay, and Eric rounding out the rest of the tribe. Fontez, Kyle, Grant and Colin of BABY BABY were all a blast to work with- you may see them making a cameo in Invasion as we shoot some pick-ups later this November.

As always, thank you for reading and Happy Halloween!

The Invasion Teaser Trailer is Up!

by Torey Haas

My favorite scene in Star Wars Episode IV is the cantina scene. While the creatures themselves were fun and cool, what I really loved is how they each had extensive backstories that were later developed in Star Wars stories, novels and comic books. Every creature was a character, and whether this was planned from conception or just a byproduct of the series' success doesn't diminish how fun it was as a fan to learn that your favorite creature who only receives a few seconds of screen time actually has an entire life that brought him to Mos Eisley.

We originally pitched Invasion of the Undead as Big Trouble in Little China meets The Evil Dead, and while the lighthearted tone and crazy effects are definitely reminiscent of John Carpenter's '80s cult classic, I now think it's a little more accurate to describe Invasion as Star Wars meets The Evil Dead due to it's strong good vs. evil element, the fact that it's the first of a planned series of films (keeping my fingers crossed!) , the hero's journey that Desmond undertakes throughout the series, and finally its emphasis on characters. This final element is what the teaser and this blog post are all about; every character in Invasion is important and has a story that will be explored in later films, shorts and hopefully even video games and comics (again, keeping my fingers crossed!). Some of the characters highlighted in this teaser may only be featured for a scene or two in Invasion, but they are all huge components of our growing MonsterBuster universe.

Anyway, I really hope you enjoy the teaser and thank you once again for your support. Making this movie has truly been a dream come true for us and I'm excited to finally share this first glimpse of footage. We will release a more traditional trailer once we get closer to the film's release (we're still aiming for a late 2013 premiere but it's very likely to move into first quarter 2014). This trailer will definitely feature more effects and stop motion creatures than this teaser.

Oh, if you're wondering what game Desmond is playing when he is first introduced it is Nomolos: Storming the Catsle, a homebrew NES game by Gradual Games. They were gracious enough to allow us to use footage from their game in Invasion, and if you're into retro video games definitely check out Nomolos- it's a ton of fun.

As always, thank you for reading!

Thank You All!

Jay, Tricia and I with Lloyd Kaufman, president of Troma and one of our biggest inspirations.

by Torey Haas

This past weekend MonsterBuster went to DragonCon. We didn't go to promote anything (although Sean Patton, Invasion's costume designer and the owner of SMP Designs, did showcase a rough cut of our teaser trailer) but rather just to have fun, and it occurred to me that one thing that may not be apparent from reading this blog or looking over our Facebook page is that all of us are close friends in 'real' life. Sure, we are a legit company (I have the LLC paperwork to prove it) but we are first and foremost a group of friends who all just happen to love filmmaking, and during those few weekends when we aren't shooting you can still find us together playing video games, going out to eat or just generally hanging out.

At last year's Atlanta Zombie Apocalypse!

During production on Invasion there were many times when I'd look around at the crew and smile at the faces gathered there. I'd see Eric, one of my oldest and best friends dating all the way back to high school, fumble to get a lens for Nick, my current DP and a former undergraduate student at GSU who would talk to me for hours on end about cameras and visual effects during my shifts working at the video equipment check-out lab. I've only known Katelyn, our AD, a relatively short while, but we became almost immediate friends following our introduction through our key grip (and her boyfriend) Kevin, who I have fond memories of slacking off with in German class back when we both went to Georgia Tech. Whenever Nathan would stroll by in full make-up I'd have to remind myself that this was the guy who once threw himself into a tree for my short film Troll Picnic, and that amazing make-up rendering him unrecognizable was of course created by our creature creator Tricia, who like Katelyn I've only known for a short while but with whom I had an immediate connection with (she's pretty much my bff). Quyen, our sound guy, has been a staple on MonsterBuster sets since Crowscare back in 2011, and of course I can't forget Jay, aka Da J-Man, who is a close contender with Tricia for the title of bff despite his tendency to sleep on film sets, much to the annoyance of our production manager Lori.  Marie, Invasion's lovely leading lady, would often crack jokes with Dylan, who's tied with Nathan for being the most upbeat and agreeable person I know (I haven't asked him to throw himself into a tree yet, but I'm certain he'd do it). Most of the time while thinking about how great all of these people are I would often be distracted by Greg with some annoying actor question... Greg of course plays Desmond, and since First Date he's been the Bruce Campbell to my Sam Raimi; he threw himself into a bookcase, shoved his head through drywall, and performed other crazy and unsafe stunts all for the sake of making a movie, and he suffered only one minor concussion throughout all of it.

All of these people are not only my crew but also the best friends I've ever had, and that's not including some of the more behind-the-scenes MonsterBuster people like Hsiang-Ming, Fred and John, or the people who couldn't be a large part of Invasion because of other projects like Keyla and Ricky. There are also many other people, who, while not necessarily part of MonsterBuster, have still been extremely supportive of us and with whom I hope to continue working with in larger roles in the future- Bonnie, Emma, Gary, Jeremy, Brandon, Melissa, Eddie M., Eddie R.,Tony R., Tony H., Rachel, Sara Beth, Matt B., Ariel, John R. Will, Christine, Caitlin, Josh, Corey, Sean P., Sean H., Elizabeth, Matt W., Matt M., Breanna, Nick A., Alan and Sue-Ellen all come to mind, but if I didn't mention your name please don't be offended! It's certainly not intentional. The point of me writing all of this is that I am just extremely thankful for this opportunity; I've gone from being a wide-eyed ten-year-old watching Ray Harryhausen movies on Monstervision to running an independent production company alongside the greatest people I've ever known, and I couldn't possibly feel more blessed.

Our premiere is still a long ways off, but what I am honestly most excited about for that night is just to stand alongside all of my best friends on stage and to introduce the movie that we all made together. I don't know if Invasion will be successful (in the financial sense, at least), but I do know that we are all working as hard as possible to make the best movie we can, and I hope that it is just the first of many feature-length movies we will make together. Eric, Nick, Katelyn, Kevin, Nathan, Tricia, Quyen, Jay, Lori, Marie, Dylan, Greg, Hsiang, Fred, John and the rest- I love all of you guys!

Troll Picnic! Circa 2007.

This picture, taken after we wrapped First Date, always makes me smile because it's the only time I've ever been lifted up by a group. Note: the Castlevania tattoo on my arm is not real.

The final day of shooting Werebum in 2010. (Or is that 2011?)

The original Invasion teaser trailer shoot from January 2011.

Jay Holloway's Crowscare, the most horrifying killer scarecrow movie ever made.

Man, we're a bunch of nerds.

Jay Holloway's Werehooker, our last short film before Invasion.

Oh, and that Invasion teaser trailer I mentioned earlier will debut soon, I promise! I'm making a resolution to not announce specific release dates until they are 100% locked down (if you read over this blog you'll see that we frequently change release dates, and that's something I definitely want to avoid doing in the future) but it is virtually complete barring a few minor sound and FX changes.

As always, thank you for reading!

Invasion of the Undead is WRAPPED!

This past Sunday was our FINAL day of principal photography on Invasion of the Undead- it's been a long journey (we've been planning this movie since MonsterBuster's inception back in 2008) but the footage is now in the can and ready for post-production! Okay, okay, there's still numerous FX pick-ups that remain to be filmed but the vast majority of the movie is shot.

We closed principal photography with a lengthy flashback scene that explores the origins of the monstrous threat in Allison's mansion. This scene showcased two extremely talented Atlanta actors- Candace Mabry and Andrew Puckett (of the local indie folk band The Pucketts)- and was shot with a RED Epic courtesy of our friend Tony Reames, director of the upcoming zombie short Welcome to the Bubs.

Our sword fight choreographer Alan J. Sanders cameos as Drake Hillstead's doomed sword fighting instructor.

The beautiful and talented Candace Mabry as Belle, Drake's ill-fated wife. Candace was an absolute pleasure to work with and her scenes with Andrew are some of the most dramatic in the whole film. 

Andrew Puckett as Drake Hillstead, the human incarnation of Invasion's main villain. Much like Nathan, Andrew is one of the creepiest guys around while the camera's rolling but incredibly nice and personable once filming stops.

Drake vs. Alan! We love sword fights.

Eric Davis returns as The Mummy, arguably the most powerful creature in Invasion's menagerie. You'll see much more of him in the sequel.

This shot, captured with an 8mm fisheye on the Black Magic, took eight takes to get right. It was totally worth it.

Now that production is wrapped our first priority is getting our teaser trailer up for everyone to finally see what we've been working so hard on since last April!