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 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…

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.

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.

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.

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.