I have been on a real prop making binge lately.  This is one of the last of the props for the HorrorHouse project.

What we have here is the beginnings of the Cultist Priestess mask.  A little foam board, a sharp knife and here we are.

The sigil design is one from our friends at Propnomicon.

It still needs painting and some more detail, but its a good start so far.

I am expecting to have some more teaser pics ready by the weekend.

So I have been kicking around alot of Lovecraftian imagery lately, and you all know I found some great prop making sites, ( Propnomicon and Propping up the mythos, I am looking at y0u)

So here is my Deep One in a bottle.

You know, I have a pretty amazing wife to let me keep stuff like this on the bedroom shelf…

A quick FX test shot for the HorrorHouse Project.

I fired up Maya and rendered out a quick shot of the tentacles,
to see how well they would integrate with the test footage I shot of the bedroom.

The animals are Lewaines…really

Things are moving quickly, and I hope to have the trailer online this weekend (the first weekend in May).
The script is written, and about half the shots have at least a basic storyboard done.
I will post more of that workflow here this week.

Cthulhu!  Come on down…

Ok, so the HorrorHouse Project (thats the project name, not the movie name!) is based on the Cthulhu mythos.
With what I have to work with, my film is going to be psychological horror than say, some zombie/vampire/alien/whatever gore flick is popular at the moment.

I have read most of Lovecrafts work, and while his prose can be hard to deal with, he knows how to set atmosphere.  And that is what I am wanting to see in my movie.

The prop here is the Idol of Cthulhu.  It started out this morning as a 1lb block of Super Sculpey that I have been lugging around for 4 years.  FINALLY, I make something with it.

This guy causes all sorts of fun in the short film.

So I spent Sunday making some props for the HorrorHouse Project.

I decided I wanted to try to make this short using things I already had in the house, to not spend any money on this.

I had came up with a plot, so I had a good idea of the key props I would need.  While I didnt have them exactly on hand, I did have the material to make them.

First up is a time worn journal from a 78 year old Antartic expedition.

This is just an old softcover journal I had gotten a few months back. I textured the cover using a paper towel, lots of white glue and acrylic paints I had on hand. A little bit of an ink wash to shade it, then some light dry brushing to bring out some texture and detail.

The sticker on front is from Propnomicon, a great resource for Lovecraftian horror props.

So I have been doing alot of stuff lately, from shooting video to more graphic design and web work.
Throw in a little Warcraft now and again, and I have been staying pretty busy.

But I felt like I was in a rut.
That I haven’t done anything new in a good while.  And I haven’t done much work on my pet film projects.
Just  felt like I had to get everyone around me pumped and on board about shooting a horror film.
I guess it’s easy for me to see, cause I have it all in my head.

So I wrote a script for a feature length horror flick that I think would be pretty good.  But while the story was simple, and I could do all the fx on my pc, the costuming would be very intensive and I don’t have access to any sewing skills right now, so I shelved that for the time being.

I then had another idea for a WW2 horror film, and that screenplay is being written now.  I think it will be a great story.
But I still want to make something, a horror short.
It will give me practice in the total workflow, from shooting to editing to fx to mastering the final cut.

I wanted to challenge myself, to push my boundaries and shake off my funk I have been feeling,
so I thought ok, lets do it, lets shoot the horror short.
But lets make it more challenging (as if writing and directing a short film isn’t challenging enough!).

So I decided I would film the movie in the house, using only people in the house, with props made from things already here.
And make it a good scary movie, not a cheesy one.

I know, its a big challenge, but I will finish it.
and I will blog all the details here.

Ladies and Gentlemen, I give you, The Horror House Project.