TRUCKS AND MONEY 07/26/2011
 1920s era truck, owned by Bill and Eloise Nyman. HELL ON WHEELS Thanks to the wonderful generosity of Bill and Eloise Nyman, we now have a 1920s era truck that will be used in a couple of shots of the movie. This will help immeasurably in lending authenticity to this period piece. The shots that it appears in will be flashbacks, all of which are going to be in grainy sepia tone. To give you an idea, to the left is the truck with a sepia tone effect applied. I can't tell you how grateful I am for the Nymans' help and involvement. MONEY, MONEY, MONEY The crowdfunding site for the movie is finally live! We went with Indiegogo, as they seemed the most flexible. We hope that we can reach our goal of $5000, as it will cover the most expensive parts of the production. In particular, the construction of the sets and the demon are going to be expensive. If you follow this blog, please help out by either contributing (ANY amount helps) or passing it on. The more we get it out there, the better chance we have of reaching our goal. The URL is: http://www.indiegogo.com/Never-A-Good-One?a=25473&i=addr THE BIG TEASE We've had a short teaser trailer up on Youtube for awhile now. Recently, it was revamped and added to the fundraising site. We quickly discovered that it's tough to make a trailer without any footage! But, I think it came out pretty good: The music in the trailer is by The Woodbox Gang, off the I'VE KILLED MEN album. It's called S. GLENN YOUNG. I really like it's creepy tone. Until next time!  Add Comment AND THE RACE IS ON! 07/23/2011
 Sean Leonard, Editor Extraordinaire Photo by Larry Frank BAD NEWS IS GOOD NEWS Well, it's been awhile and a lot is happening. First off, we have a change in personnel...kind of. Our Director of Photography, Sean Leonard, is a busy guy. For the past month or so, he has been working in Los Angeles. He called me one day with some awesome news: He had been offered a position to work on a feature film! After I congratulated him he dropped the other shoe: The feature was scheduled to be shooting during the same time as NAGO. This was a real blow, as I REALLY wanted Sean to work on my movie. Then, true to his nature, he said that he didn't feel right taking the job while he was obligated to my film. I laughed and said, "Who am I to stand in the way of you landing a big job on a REAL movie?" I told him that it was fine...it was awesome that he landed such a cool gig. Sean said that he still loved the project and still wanted to work on it. So he asked, "Can I edit it instead?" SCORE! While I have always admired Sean's cinematography skills, I am in AWE of his editing skills. I honestly believe that Sean is the best editor I've ever met. Up to this point, I was unsure of who to approach for editing...and NOW I have the best editor around! I can't wait to see what he does with the footage. One thing's for sure...it's gonna look great!  DPJack Lipke IV. Photo by Larry Frank. Stepping up from Camera Assistant to the newly vacated position of Director of Photography is Jack Lipke IV. Jack grew up in the production world, his father having a long career in television. Jack has shot numerous projects for filmmakers in Bellingham, including jobs for Darkheart Visions, Revolutionary Productions and Hand Crank Films. Jack's eye is going to be a huge asset to NAGO!  Jack gears up for a typical shoot.  Jessica Francis trying on her serving wench costume I'M GOING THROUGH CHANGES We recently were able to gather some of the main actors together and head over to meet Michael Watters at Melody Hall. Michael has an amazing collection of costumes and props and has been providing both to film and stage productions in Bellingham for years. Michael took notes on the main characters and how they dressed, measured the actors from head to toe and began to collect individual pieces of wardrobe for the shoot. We are incredibly lucky to have Michael in our corner as our Costume Designer.  Sue Mattson, Line Producer. Photo by Larry Frank. WHILE WE'RE AT IT Since we've been looking at different team members, this might be a good time to keep our earlier promise and meet some more NAGO crew! Sue Mattson's enthusiasm and tenacity are evident when you look at a typical project for her. Recently, she arranged to shoot a short film in a local restaurant and needed to get insurance. The insurance covered more time than she needed for the shoot....so she went and shot a trilogy! As Line Producer, there's not a whole lot for Sue to do prior to production...but when the cameras start to roll, she's gonna be busier than the proverbial one armed wall paper hanger! This is where she gets to put her organizational skills to use...and gets to yell at us! =)  Mr. Birger himself, Dann Warick! Photo by Larry Frank You don't have a good movie if you don't have a strong lead. That's where Dann Warick comes in. I met Dann when I was doing makeup for Sean Leonard's ASPECTATOR. Dann had been cast as the lead in this twisted tale of voyeurism, actually playing two roles. I was immediately impressed with his acting ability AND his dedication. For ASPECTATOR, Dann had to endure extensive special effects makeup, being stripped to his waist, bound with leather straps, have an apple stuffed in his mouth, squeeze into a small wooden chest, have fake blood splattered all over him and whatever else Sean decided to torture him with. Through it all, Dann maintained a great attitude and delivered an excellent performance. Since then, I've worked with Dann on a couple of commercials and it's always been a positive experience. I'm greatly looking forward to seeing his take on Charlie Birger!  Now THAT was a party!  Scot White, Emissary From Hell. Photo by Larry Frank Scot White has a background in theater acting, but, more importantly, he's a bartender. As such, he has to act the entire time he's at work. One face for this customer, another for that one. I know Scot from working with him at The Skagit Valley Casino and when it came time for me to look for my Stranger/Demon/Emissary From Hell, one name and face popped up: Scot. Scot has been teased a little. Every time he tells a friend that he's going to be playing The Devil in a movie, they invariably respond with "Oh, you'll be perfect for that!" And...they're right! Don't let that grin fool you...there's a demon in there, I'm telling ya! Scot's going to do a great job on this! =) Next time around, we'll look at some MORE folks who are working hard to bring NAGO to life.  Ravel, wrapped in duct tape! Photo by Jen Walker Owen. METAMORPHOSIS "What happens when two grown men wrap a teen aged boy in duct tape?" "You call the police?" "NO! You start the process of building a DEMON!" Early on, I decided that I wanted an extremely thin actress to play the demonic form of the stranger. The key word here is THIN. The demon is meant to be cadaverous, emaciated and very zombie like (as far as it's body is concerned). I didn't really think of using a male for the demon, as I couldn't readily think of any really thin guys. I was starting to worry as my first two attempts at securing an appropriately shaped actress ended with dead ends. Then Ivan Owen suggested using Ravel Boyce, a 16 year old boy. Genius. Ravel has just the right build, can do some weird things with his arms, is not claustrophobic and has no problem being encased in a rubber monster suit. The first step in changing Ravel from a normal teenager into a decaying demon from Hell involved wrapping him in plastic and duct tape. He showed great bravery as Ivan and I wrapped him up and followed that with cutting him out of the shell with a combination of scalpels and scissors. This duct tape shell will be stuffed and used as a body form dummy to build the creature up on.  Ravel sporting a look made popular by The Tin Man. Photo by Jen Walker Owen.  Twins. Photo by Jen Walker Owen. As creepy as these pictures may be, rest assured, Ravel is going to be far creepier when he gets into full demon gear! That's it for now, but some new stuff will be coming soon! Until then, have a great day! Down At The Ole' Watering Hole 06/27/2011
 I recently had the pleasure of being a guest on THE WATER COOLER podcast. Falling under the umbrella of The Ruse Films collective projects, The Water Cooler is hosted by Ruse head man, Dean Pizzoferrato, a friend from my Vegas days. I've had the pleasure of being on The Water Cooler before, as well as the other Ruse podcast, REEL MEN RADIO. But this episode was particularly special to me. It was to spotlight NEVER A GOOD ONE. In the past, we've had problems with doing these podcasts via Skype: delays, glitches, weird feedback. This time, however, we were pleased with Skype's performance. The audio was very clear and there were no delays. As usual, Dean was a great interviewer and I had a great time "hanging out" with him and going over the project. I've always considered The Ruse as family and these podcasts are like visiting with old family members that you haven't seen in a long time. Stephen King once wrote that every writer has someone in his or her past who gives them "permission" to pursue writing: perhaps a teacher or relative who reads that first story and tells you "That's really good!" or laughs at the funny parts and cries at the sad parts. For me, it was The Ruse who gave me permission when they acknowledged my early attempts at filmmaking and welcomed me into their family. If you get a chance, please check out this and the other episodes of The Water Cooler and Reel Men Radio, at: therusefilms.com Click on the Podcast tab and scroll through the podcast goodness. Or go to The Water Cooler directly at: http://feeds.feedburner.com/TheRuseFilmsWaterCooler While you're there, check out the rest of the site as well. If you look closely, you might even catch the first version of Reel Men, which was a video podcast that I was a co-host of, along with Dean and Ruse Film member Edwin Colon. And if you watch VERY closely, you might even figure out "The Ruse." Enter THE TEAM! Chapter, The First 06/26/2011
Welcome back! Since everyone's roles and jobs have been clearly defined, I think this would be a good time to do some formal introductions. So, without further ado:  Langley West working on Myriah Train's makeup for SIX GRAND. WRITER/DIRECTOR: LANGLEY WEST Hailing from the rolling hills and backwoods of Dongola, IL (thus, I am a Dongaloid) via Las Vegas. I am a Visual / Practical Effects artist with an adolescent zeal for bad horror films. This is my first time directing...let's hope we make a GOOD horror film! Let me say that I HATE talking about myself. I've never been good at tooting my own horn so I'll keep this bio short. I attended The Art Institute of Las Vegas, pursuing a degree in Visual Effects and Motion Graphics. I love effects work of any kind, but am particularly fond of the "old school" of practical effects: stop motion, miniatures, SPFX makeup, traditional matte painting, etc. I am on a personal crusade to help bring stop motion back as a viable creature tool...an alternative to CGI creatures. I'm not saying that one is BETTER than the other...just that BOTH need to be utilized as tools for the modern filmmaker. My motto is: The worst day making a movie is better than the best day at any other job. I really believe that. Actually, let me say that if you want to know about me, then go back to the beginning archives of this blog. That will say more about me than anything else will. Enough about me....moving on!  Producer Mike Domenic Barbero. PRODUCER: MIKE DOMENIC BARBERO To be successful in the film industry, one needs to have a lot of ambition and talent. Mike Barbero has these qualities in spades. Mike gave me my first film job in Washington. I had just moved here from Las Vegas and within 2 weeks, I saw a Craig's List add for a SPFX Makeup Artist. A short time later, I was slinging gore on the set of SIX GRAND, Mike's gritty tale of bad people doing bad things. I was immediately struck by the professionalism of Mike and his crew, as well as the dedication. We put a lot of long hours in on that movie, but Mike put in the longest. That was 2 years ago and I've had the pleasure of working on a number of Mike's projects, eventually becoming part of his Dark Heart Visions (Mike's company) team. Web content, music videos, short films, television commercials and feature film work, this guy does it all. He recently established the Whatcom Filmmaker's Co-op, a central place where members can come and use the studio, equipment, greenscreen, etc. as well as having access to a database of local actors (another of his projects). Mike was the driving force behind Dark Heart's clothing line as well. As a producer, the best thing about Mike is that HE KNOWS EVERYONE! Check out Mike's stuff at: www.darkheartvisions.com  Director of Photography Sean Leonard...and coffee. DIRECTOR OF PHOTOGRAPHY: SEAN LEONARD I also met Sean on the set of SIX GRAND. He was doing double duty, shooting and editing. When I saw his footage, I knew that this was a guy that I wanted to work with. Sean has a great eye and everything that he works on looks great, whether it's due to his superior camera skills or his editing chops. I've had the pleasure of working on a couple of projects with Sean, including his "Lynchian" study on voyeurism, ASPECTATOR. Sean is also working on a documentary detailing a summer spent living on a dollar a day in Guatemala. In addition to his mad skills, Sean is one of the nicest guys you'd ever care to meet. A kind and gentle soul, with a penchant for the weird...which makes him a perfect choice for working on a movie about murderers and demons. Check out the amazing footage from Sean's stay in Guatemala at: onedollaraday.weebly.com So as not to overwhelm the reader with sheer AWESOMENESS, I'll be restricting these bios to three at a time. For now, let us just say that I couldn't be more pleased with the team we've gathered. Everyone's enthusiasm for the project is amazing and I'm lucky to have each of these folks in my corner. Next time, we'll meet three more!  Completed demon maquette. DEMON CONCEPT LOCKED! In a previous post, we saw the early concept prototype for the demon design. Since then, the concept has been polished and locked. Changes include the wider cheekbones and the addition of another row of teeth. I'm hoping that we can maintain the translucent look of the teeth in the full size piece. In the meantime I think he's looking pretty cool.  Detail of the back of the demon. Demons, Titles and KY Jelly...Oh My! 05/27/2011
 Early demon conceptual maquette. Photo by Larry Frank. The 2nd production meeting for BUT NEVER A GOOD ONE was scheduled for 6:00 p.m. on Wednesday, May 25th. Shockingly, it was raining. Despite the assault of the elements, stemming from the Gods raging in battle on high, the intrepid band of BNAGO team members fought their way to the Dark Heart/Whatcom Filmmaker's Co-op office...and brought reinforcements! (Mental note: We need more chairs!) With each addition to the team, I can feel the whole becoming stronger and stronger. Individually, artists can be fragile beings...but together, they become a force to be reckoned with! New faces included Jack Lipke IV as our Assistant Camera Operator. Jack is a great Director of Photography in his own right and will be working closely with DP Sean Leonard. Very excited to have him working on this project! Wearing the hat of Production Still Photographer is Lawrence Frank III. Larry is using his Canon EOS 7D to help capture some of the behind the scenes images...including this meeting. He's already shown that he can do a great job of taking photos on the fly, while staying out of the way. D.K. Reinemer, as one half of the improv comedy team DK and Morgan, is something of a local celebrity. Besides being one funny guy, he's a good actor as well...and has agreed to play one of the reporters in the flick! BTW, D.K., if you are reading this, I think you're great...despite what Morgan says about you =) The newly re-named Nicole Carter (she recently got married to our Production Designer Bryce) will be handling craft services...and her first mission involved bringing coffee and still warm chocolate chip cookies to the meeting! This lady can COOK! I've had the pleasure of sampling her foodstuffs on a number of occasions and it's always been amazing. We may not end up with a lot of money for this shoot...but the food's gonna be awesome! I need to express my thanks to my lovely wife Yahtil at this point...in her efforts to keep her hubby healthy, she was quick to swoop in and confiscate a cookie or two that was headed to my mouth...in exchange for tacos! =) Speaking of my wife, she is on board as the Script Supervisor, or, as we like to say at home, the Script Monkey. She'll be in charge of continuity, tracking a myriad of details and minutia that might save us from embarrassing moments later...so we won't have to hear a viewer say something like, "Why was Charlie missing a finger on his left hand in one scene, and magically had returned in another? It's a bloody miracle!" As Script Monkey, Yahtil is demanding a set of monkey ears and a tail. I'm on it, dear!  The universal sign of choking. Photo by Larry Frank. Once we all got settled in, we got down to brass tacks. Right off the bat, Producer Mike Barbero dropped some welcome news. One of the biggest worries for me on this project has been the costumes. Taking place in 1920s rural America, it DOES require period costumes. Fortunately, Mike was able to get Michael Watters on board. Michael is heavily involved in local theater and has a variety of costumes available to us that will be perfect. While this will still leave some costume elements to be made or found, Michael's inclusion takes a weight off my shoulders. Additionally, Mike has been able to secure all the equipment that we'll need. Thanks Mike! DROP THE BUT! No, this is not some kind of code for a sexual or drug practice. Allow me to explain: From the beginning, the occasional person would ask me about the title. "Why does it start with 'But?" The short, cop-out answer is that it's from Charlie's direct quote, "I've killed men, but never a good one." I didn't want to call it I'VE KILLED MEN, because of the Woodbox Gang record...also, the point is NOT that Charlie's killed people...it's about HOW he sees that. Having said that, I have to admit that I'm a sucker for titles that are pulled from the middle of a sentence or thought...basically, I have a fetish for titles that begin with prepositions and conjunctions: and, but, and so on. Why? I don't know. So a few people have come to me and said that I should drop the "but." That NEVER A GOOD ONE is a better title. It came up yet again prior to the meeting. So, I put it out there....and it seems that I'M the ONLY person who liked the "But." I think that a good director surrounds himself with people who are smarter than him...so I concede. The project is now known as NEVER A GOOD ONE. As it turns out, EVERYONE had been bothered by the title and were waiting for opportunities to delicately bring it up with me. Who am I to argue with a roomful of smart people? A new title it is! This does NOT mean that the website title is gonna change, though. And if I continue to use the acronym BNAGO, please bare with me. It has a better ring than NAGO. =)  Sean looks like he's in trouble. Photo by Larry Frank. DEMONS!!!!! Then it came time to unveil the early concept designs for the demon. I felt that I had nailed a good design for the demon ON PAPER. But often, a three dimensional representation of that initial drawing will show that there are elements that work great on paper, but not so well as a physical object. Toward that end, I usually make a small foam sculpture of the drawing. I like using the foam, because it gives a fast, rough idea of the thing will actually look like without spending a lot of time and material on it. In this case, I saw right off the bat that I wanted to change the basic shape of the head, raise the nose and decrease the jaw size (I initially wanted to give it a severe under bite that would result in teeth jutting out when the mouth is closed. On paper that looked fine...in the maquette, I thought it just looked silly). We passed it around and we all put our two cents in. In addition to the above changes, we decided we'd like to see even MORE pronounced cheek bones. We wanted to give it a more triangular shaped head, keeping the skull like feel, but less human. We all liked the lack of eyes ("Creepy!"), the burnt flesh feel and the nodes along the top of the head. Somehow, we started discussing how the addition of slimy stuff like KY Jelly to a sculpt helps to bring it alive. Nicole pointed out that KY makes EVERYTHING better!  Early demon conceptual maquette. Photo by Larry Frank.  Yahtil's reaction to Nicole's KY Jelly theory. Photo by Larry Frank. I explained how there is going to be an actor wearing a demon costume and essentially an unarticulated mask for long shots. However, a separate mechanical demon head is being constructed for closeups. That's where Ivan comes in. Ivan explained how he can rig a hand operated mechanism to the back of the demon head to control the jaw and how he can rig a cable controlled device to make brows/side nodes move under the foam latex skin. While I like the human side of the story, I have to admit: my main reason for doing a project like this is to BUILD MONSTERS! Turns out, that's what Ivan's excited about too =) The next step in the creature design is to sculpt a more permanent maquette bust that reflects all the changes and more accurately represents the final project. Watch for that soon! SHOW ME THE MONEY!!!  A true producer, Mike perks up at the mention of money. Photo by Larry Frank I updated everyone on the progress of the crowdfuning sites. For those who don't know crowdfunding is, here's a brief run-down. In the past, when you needed funds for a low budget film, you either maxed out your credit cards and went into massive debt (I talking to you Kevin Smith, you lucky bastard), or you sought out investors to fund the film. The problem with investors is that you normally were trying to secure large amounts of money from one or two people who would see the project as an "investment:" something might give them a return. That's a tough sell. However, using the powerful tool of the internet, a couple of sites have sprung up that take the more realistic route of "crowdfunding:" essentially casting a WIDE NET, getting A LOT of people to contribute a LITTLE bit of money each, not so much as monetary investment (which suggests a return), but as a contribution to a worthwhile work of ark. It allows the viewer/donator to take part ownership of the product. By offering them perks, such as a credit or copy of dvd, etc., they get a little something extra and have the knowledge that they helped to produce something cool. The two main crowdfunding sites are Kickstarter and Indiegogo. I am cutting a short "teaser" promo video to include on the crowdfunding sites. I've found that the projects on these sites that have some video tend to do better than those with just descriptions and photographs. I just needed one more element to complete the teaser. I needed to have a basic representation of the demon to add to the end of the teaser. Toward that end, see below:  Scott White, mild mannered bartender. Photo by Larry Frank  Emissary from Hell!!!  I demonstrate the size of the demon's breasts. Photo by Larry Frank Overall, it was another successful meeting. Everyone seemed to enjoy themselves, further tightening the bond as a team and a lot got covered. Actors Scott White and Dann Warick were both given some material to go home and research, in an attempt to gain greater insight to their characters. Rick Farr, originally slated to play Guard #2, got a promotion of sorts, to the larger role of News Photographer. The role of Prop Master was given to Bryce Carter. As the Production Designer, Bryce is not only responsible for set construction, but the "look" of the set as well. This includes the use and management of props. He is already assembling his department's team! This was to be the last of the "Pre" pre-poduction meetings. From here on out, the meetings become task specific, going over certain things with certain people, monitoring progress, identifying problems and dealing with them. The September shooting schedule is fast approaching and we have a lot to do! As the old song says, "We've got a long way to go and a short time to get there!" But with this team, I know we'll succeed.  Dave approves of the demon's breasts. Photo by Larry Frank Tune in next time, when we take a look at individual team members and check out their mad skills! You'll see why I'm so excited to have this team. Until then.... Langley A Caustic Acoustic Cacophony 05/23/2011
 Sometime around 2001, I returned to Southern Illinois and lived for a short time in a tiny little town called Desoto. It rests on Highway 51 a few miles north of Carbondale, home of Southern Illinois University. While I was a Desotian, I discovered The Woodbox Gang. They were a band hailing from Makanda, an even smaller town (population 400) that rests in a "holler" called Vulture Valley, right at the entrance to Giant City State Park. Thanks to the local community radio station, WDBX, I heard some amazing music coming from these guys. I promptly went to the local section in the record store and picked up 2 great CDs: TRASHCAN AMERICANA and WORMWOOD. I still listen to these albums as frequently as I did when I first bought them over 10 years ago. From the haunting TERMITE SONG to the sing along silliness of IF I HAD MY DRUTHERS, I was hooked...and still am. When I got to see them play live, I became a disciple. It really was like a religious experience. You must understand, even if I wasn't from Southern Illinois, I would love this band. The lyrics are clever and the musicianship is amazing. It's hard to pin a label on these guys, as well. In write ups, I've heard it described as "trashcan americana, death folk, creepy country, cow punk, etc." My favorite was "y'all ternative." Whatever. I just call it "good shit." As mentioned before, something about their music literally SCREAMS Southern Illinois. In 2003 they were approached to provide the soundtrack to a documentary about Charlie Birger called THE LEGEND OF CHARLIE BIRGER, which was produced by WSIU. The result was the album I'VE KILLED MEN. While the documentary was cool, I always thought the songs were more suited to a dramatic telling of Birger's life. I was so pleased to hear the same sentiment expressed by Alex Kirt, one of the co-founders of the band. Shortly before my recent trip to Illinois, I was able to contact Alex via Facebook (I guess social networking sites are good for SOMETHING) and flat out asked if I could meet with him to discuss using some of the songs off I'VE KILLED MEN for BNAGO. Truthfully, I expected to either be ignored or to be told that the rights were all tied up and that it just wasn't possible. I was very pleased and surprised to read Alex's reply. He said that he'd be happy to meet with me during my visit. He also said that the band owned all the rights to their songs. I was ecstatic, to say the least.  I met with Alex the night after my mother's funeral. It had been a long hard day of tears and heartache, and I almost canceled our meeting. However, I expected it to be a short visit of dry business talk and thought that it might prove to be a welcome distraction for a short bit of time. Instead, I was invited to sit and drink a beer in Alex's studio and we talked for a few hours. As a fan, I was very excited to be sitting and speaking with such a talented musician. This is the guy who largely brings some of the unique sound to the band, playing such diverse instruments as banjo, didgeridoo, washboard, etc. Ultimately, Alex was very interested in the project and agreed to let me use the 3 songs I wanted for the movie. Specifically, I'VE KILLED MEN for the opening titles, S. GLENN YOUNG for the demon sequence and DEATH IS COMING for the credits. I couldn't be more pleased. This is the music that I've had in my head playing over these scenes for a long time. If the music wasn't there, it wouldn't be the same project at all, in my opinion. I'd like to thank Mr. Kirt for his time, his hospitality and his interest. For anyone interested, here are some links related to The Woodbox Gang that you might want to check out. The first is their website, where you can purchase CDs, etc. http://woodboxgang.homestead.com Coincidentally, I'm not the only filmmaker working on a project that involves The Woodbox Gang. The Gang's front man and leader, Hugh DeNeal ran into some legal trouble a while back, resulting in a nearly 3 year stint in Leavenworth. Using the title of one of Hugh's songs, a couple of guys are making a documentary about Hugh, called CONFIDENCE MAN. Check out the trailer: Finally, check out Woodbox Gang's live rendition of Vernon Dalhart's THE HANGING OF CHARLIE BIRGER: Tragedy 05/21/2011
 I took a shuttle from the Bellingham airport to Seattle and boarded a Southwest 737, bound for St. Louis. The 3.5 hour trip was pleasant and I alternated between sleeping and reading. Unfortunately, the Budget rental car place took forever. Once I finally got behind the wheel of the little Chevy Aveo, I realized that I wasn't going to make it to my parents' house by 7:00 p.m. as originally planned. After talking on the phone with my wife, who was on a computer guiding me to alternate routes to avoid some fairly extensive roadwork (thank you, Sweet Pea!), I called my parents' to let them know that I was running late and not to worry...when my father told me that my mother had passed away a few hours earlier. The air left my lungs as if I had been punched hard in the chest. I had to pull over. She had passed away sitting in a chair while I had been flying somewhere over the American prairies. She was 79 years old, had been married to my father for 63 years and was the most decent, sweetest human being I've ever known...and my siblings and myself were blessed to have her as a mother. I will not use this blog to discuss the immeasurable sense of loss this event has left me with. I will only comment on what effect it has had on the making of BNAGO. Needless to say, the passing of my mother changed the entire tone of the trip. However, I WAS able to accomplish the BNAGO related tasks that I had set out to achieve on this trip; namely the acquisition of music rights and background plates. I will discuss these items in the next few posts. The last time I spoke with my mother, she said something that brought me to tears. While I never doubted the love or approval of my parents, they weren't ones to often speak of such things. I sometimes thought that they thought their youngest son was a little strange, interested in weird things that they really couldn't relate to. They loved me...but didn't "get" me. But, the last time I spoke with my mother, she very plainly said, "I am proud of you." It didn't really matter if she "got" me or not. She was PROUD of me. It is to the memory of Donna Esther Sichling (Maiden) West that I dedicate this film. The Wheel Turns 05/13/2011
 The first production meeting was held at the Dark Heart Visions / Whatcom Filmmakers Co-op office, on April 29th at 6:00 p.m. I have to confess, I was a little nervous. While I had been talking about the project for some time, this would be the first time that it was officially rolled out to an entire group of some of the (I hoped) key players. What if they didn't get along? What if they had a completely different view of the project? What if they just thought it sucked? As it turned out, my fears were unfounded. Everyone was excited to be part of the project and all the personalities meshed perfectly. The main purpose of the meeting was to get to know each other better, ascertain whether the people that I had picked wanted to be involved at all, give an overview of the project and its background and assign key roles to everyone. Copies of the script were distributed and everyone got to tell us their background and what their strengths were. We discussed the realities of the budget and fundraising options. It was a good, fun meeting, with everyone contributing great ideas. The following is a list of everyone in attendance and the job assigned to them. Later, I'll be making individual posts for each of them, highlighting their respective skills. I'm very excited to have each and every one of them involved. LANGLEY J. WEST (Hey, that's me!) WRITER / DIRECTOR DOMENIC ("MIKE") BARBERO PRODUCER SUE MATTSON LINE PRODUCER SEAN LEONARD DIRECTOR OF PHOTOGRAPHY BRYCE CARTER PRODUCTION DESIGNER IVAN OWEN CREATURE ANIMATRONICS DANN WARICK ACTOR: CHARLIE BIRGER SCOTT WHITE ACTOR: THE STRANGER DAVE HUSS ACTOR: BILL, THE GUARD RICK FARR ACTOR: GUARD # 2 As can be seen, many other roles still need to be filled. Again, I have a wish list for many of the spots, and can only hope that my choices will be as excited about the project as the rest of us are. As we broke for the evening, there was a buzz in the air. I couldn't have been happier. The following morning, I was scheduled to fly to Southern Illinois to hopefully secure some music licensing, get some background plates, do some research and visit my parents. I had not seen them for 4 years. The last time had been at my wedding in Giant City State Park. My wife and I had been attempting to get me there for a visit for quite some time and I was greatly looking forward to spending a week surrounded by the world that was my childhood.  Southern Illinois State Troopers, circa 1920s A Life's Ambition, Part II 05/13/2011
While my love of cinema never waned, I grew to realize that my dream of being a filmmaker would probably go unrealized. I settled for being a life long fan and focused on other aspects of my life. Over a period of several years, I became a martial arts instructor, a casino security officer, a correctional officer, a husband and father. Throughout, however, I still maintained my love of movies and my fascination with the filmmaking process. Much of my childhood had been spent living in the rural countryside of Southern Illinois. My playground was a world of forests, bluffs and swamps. At the age of 18 I moved away, coming back to visit my parents as often as I could. For a brief time, I returned to Southern Illinois, where my son was born. But, I found the old adage "You can never go home" to be true, and most of my adult life was spent elsewhere. Southern Illinois began to take on a mythic quality in my mind. It was a magical land, full of strangeness and unusual history. It had a primordial quality that I found difficult to describe properly. I became enamored with my former home and researched its history, stories and legends. I found that the area was even more special than I knew. My research led me to a book called MURDER IN LITTLE EGYPT, a true crime story by Darcy O'brien. In the opening chapter, O'brien gave an overview of Southern Illinois' violent history and perfectly put into words what I had been trying to say about the area for years. I also discovered Gary DeNeal's excellent book on the life of Prohibition gangster Charlie Birger, A KNIGHT OF ANOTHER SORT: PROHIBITION DAYS AND CHARLIE BIRGER. It was also during this period that I discovered the music of a Southern Illinois band called THE WOODBOX GANG. Their songs fairly dripped Southern Illinois, possessing a calamitous quality that explored the dark side of rural life. When I was in my 30s, I guess I experienced my "mid-life crisis." I realized that I wasn't happy with my career choices and that life is too short to not pursue one's dreams. Technology had progressed to a point where filmmaking was something that could be accomplished by anyone with a video camera and a computer. Way behind on the technology curve, I decided to return to school. I pursued a degree in Visual Effects and Motion Graphics at the Art Institute of Las Vegas. Despite the fact that I was twice as old as most of my classmates, I found myself surrounded by like minded individuals who inspired me and led me toward the realization of my dream of making movies. By the time my wife and I moved to Bellingham, WA, I had already worked on several film projects, providing effects and fight choreography to an independent feature film, several shorts, countless school projects and video content for the web. I had worked as a video editor for a Las Vegas television station. I was thrilled when I moved, as I found that Bellingham had a thriving independent film community. Before long, I was working on projects in our new home in the Pacific North West. While I was still in Las Vegas, I become obsessed with the idea of making a movie based on the life of Charlie Birger. I began writing a feature length script, but found that I was missing an important element and was unable to capture it. That's when I decided to make a short based on my favorite scene from the script: Charlie's last night. I had written in a supernatural element which did not fit in with the rest of the feature length script, but served as an excellent piece by itself. It reminded me of the stories I had read as a child in the pages of CREEPY. That proved to be an epiphany. I realized that I could combine my obsessions. Using Southern Illinois as a common background, I could film the stories that I had always wanted to shoot. This meant that I would have to secure the rights to the stories that I wanted. This led to another round of research. By the time I was done, I had a fully formed plan. I would create a semi-fictional version of Southern Illinois, which would serve as a backdrop for select CREEPY stories; sort of my version of Castle Rock or Twin Peaks: a strange place where stranger things happened. Before beginning the process of obtaining story rights, however, I wanted to make a show piece to serve as a calling card. This became BUT NEVER A GOOD ONE. While it may sound overly dramatic, this project truly IS my life's ambition. It's the culmination of things I have been dreaming about for decades. I only hope that I can do it justice. And I hope that making it will be an experience worth sharing. A Life's Ambition, Part I 05/13/2011
As a very small child, I fell in love with cinema. Movies became my life and I'm eternally grateful that my parents really didn't place any limits on what I watched. The first films I can remember seeing were the fantasy films of special effects master Ray Harryhausen and the classic Universal horror films. My favorite time of the week was late Friday night, when Chicago's WGN (when it was still a regular channel) aired Creature Features. While the monsters in these films frightened other children, they became my friends. Was a fan from Day One. I can even trace my dislike of politics to my love of fantastic cinema. I can distinctly remember looking forward to watching ONE MILLION YEARS B.C. I even cut the listing out of the T.V. GUIDE and taped it to the front of the refrigerator. For two weeks I marked off the days in drooling anticipation, my imagination filled with the promise of Harryhausen's stop motion dinosaurs. Imagine, then, my crushed disappointment when the movie was pre-empted by the coverage of the Watergate hearings. I couldn't believe it! How could they allow this to happen? There were DINOSAURS, for Pete's sake! Ugh! My love of cinema continued throughout my childhood and I eventually became aware that PEOPLE actually MADE these films. People actually got paid to made movies! I knew then that I wanted to be a filmmaker. More specifically, I wanted to be a special effects artist. I didn't just want to make movies...I wanted to make monsters! While I eventually grew to love and appreciate all types of movies, I kept a special place in my heart for monsters and horror films. I fantasized about making my own monster movies. I read everything I could find on filmmaking, which wasn't much. In those days before the internet, it was difficult to find material on making movies. But that didn't stop me from dreaming. In addition to movies, I developed a love of fantastic literature. My shelves sagged with the weight of science fiction and horror novels. Like most kids, I also enjoyed reading comics. However, unlike the other children, I didn't care much for superheroes running around in their colorful tights and underwear. I loved the horror anthology comics that were being published by Jim Warren at Warren Publications. With titles like CREEPY and EERIE, these comics filled my mind with iconic images and stories. When I read them, I imagined that I was filming them. I was constantly thinking of ways to translate the horror on the pages to celluloid. The same publisher also put out FAMOUS MONSTERS OF FILMLAND, a magazine dedicated to horror cinema. Needless to say, I was a collector of these magical pages and poured over them until they were falling apart.  Creepy, Issue #79 |
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