Thats pretty much how I describe my continual trysts with synchronicity.

So I get on facebook and I “friend” a lady named Bianca Barnett,
a perky horror actress that I found via another “friend”, Debbie Rochon.

Well, long story short, I see where she has a contest to help her find her ideal role.

No rules, just be creative.  Right up my alley!  But oh snap, the contest ends at midnight that day!
Again, right up my alley!

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I am going to be doing alot this year.  Alot.

I can see where I have have been way over-thinking alot of things when it
comes to the micro-cinema scene.  I sat down and started watching what is out there
on the market.  And I realized, well, I realized that I have a whole lot to reconsider.

And that is a good thing…

You ever work on something for so long, toiling and grinding, that you sometimes thing you will never get there?
Well, the time for all that hard work, all the studying, effort and endless nights of learning, learning and learning are finally paying off.

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So with a brief lull before we begin filming The Cthulhu Key, I have been working on an animated project.
It’s no big secret that horror and sci-fi are my favorite genres, so with Cthulhu Key covering the horror, I started outlining
a story for a web series set in the future.

AstroNoir.com is the home for this series, and if you care to check it out, you will see some of my initial character designs
and test animations.  I am working on streamlining the whole 3D pipeline, and considering this is pretty much a one man show
at this point, that is pretty much my focus.

It’s an ensemble cast, set in a future that while not full on dystopian,  is still rather darker than most mainstream sci-fi.
I guess thats the “Noir” in AstroNoir…

Promo art

So I have found a lot of great sites,  forums and businesses that I think have helped me get to the point I can actually make a movie.

I keep up with a few blogs, some updated regularly, others not so much. But one thing they have in common, is that when it comes to digital filmmaking, they are definitely the sites that believe in “teaching a man to fish” so to speak.

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So I realized that I have been so busy the past 18 months or so, that I haven’t had any real *fun* time.

Now don’t get me wrong, working on music videos and horror film projects is a blast, but sometimes I just need to
get away from the computer and unwind.

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Hard to imagine it’s been 100 posts.
Preproduction on The Cthulhu Key: Legacy is moving along great.
Five of the roles have been cast, and we will hold a casting call
for the rest of the roles sometime in the middle of January.

I know I haven’t been updating as often as I should, but frankly, I have been buried in the writing and re-writing the script.
Lewaine is a great help in bouncing ideas off of, and she is providing alot of great energy in streamlining and amping up the
intensity of the story.

So for now, I will leave you with a couple of photos from the work bench.

a hand copied codex infernium and the Lovecraft tarot

some props and tools

As usual, my favorite time of the year is flying by.  I have been reading a lot of books on scriptwriting, and a book about using the Tarot as inspiration for writing.

Of these books, I have found that Save the Cat and Tarot for Writers synch up great as both inspiration and technique.

My current production, The Cthulhu Key, is created using a composite of the methods from those two books.
I have created my own Tarot spread, slightly modifying the Tarot for Writers spread.

Using this modified spread, I was able to completely fill out my Save the Cat scene board in an afternoon.

That’s 40 scenes outlined and laid out.

I am not going to go into theory of Tarot here, but regardless if you believe in the paranormal, the symbolism of the Tarot married to the structure from the Save the Cat beat sheet can open cascades of creativity.

Go get a Tarot deck, and find something that looks cool to you
(The Dark Grimoire Tarot (English and Spanish Edition)),
then get the book (Tarot for Writers).

Read, practice, write, repeat.

in video!

SO I have been working like crazy to get The Cthulhu Key: Idol Thoughts up and running.  That means every aspect of the story and how the film will look
has to be decided up front.  Now, in the video circles there is a long raging debate about how to get the “film look” onto video.

Without getting too very technical, there are alot of ways to simulate that look on video, and one of them is shooting with 35mm lens.
After doing alot of research, I went with the Jag35 Pro and after spending a little time getting to know it, I am very happy with my results.

the Jag35 Pro

I will post a link to the Jag35 footage as soon as it’s uploaded.

So I don’t think I have communicated how utterly awesome a little lady I have.  Not only does she serve as an excellent sounding board, she doesn’t mind
me and my chaos basically taking over half the bedroom.
She also built my desk, and I don’t mean she screwed together some fiberboard Ikea crap kit.
No, she made me a huge Command Center.
and she’s hot…

So here are some of my badges of nerddom.