Zorg and Andy - The Blog

Zorg Lives!

2011-07-16T23:02:00.023-04:00

We're back! It’s been awhile since we’ve updated the site, but we wanted to give you an update on Zorg and tell you a bit about what's next for us.

First, Zorg is showing at another film festival! It will be playing at 7:00 pm on Friday, August 5^th at the Gen Con Indy Film Festival. The screening location is the Council Room at the Westin Hotel. We're excited!

We also have a couple of free five-day passes available for Gen Con. If any cast and crew are interested in attending, just let us know by emailing Quentin, Paula or me, or leave a comment here. First come, first served, so get those requests in! We hope to see you there!

Secondly, Netflix is still considering carrying Zorg, so any subscribers out there can help us by saving the movie to your queue and rating it. Thanks in advance!

Finally, we just want to again thank all of you--investors, cast, crew and audience--for all of your hard work and support over the years. I can't tell you how much we've appreciated it.

Quentin, Paula and I are busy at work on our next opus, so be sure to stay tuned for more information. Our new film is titled Night of the Mangler and it's a comic mystery set at a giant pumpkin festival.

Nothing says "blockbuster" like giant pumpkins!

Take care and be sure to stay in touch!

Famous Monsters Screening Info!

2010-06-23T20:57:00.004-04:00

Just wanted to let you know that "Zorg" is showing at 5:45 pm on Saturday, July 10th in Director's Row 3 at the Wyndham Indianapolis West. Get there early and meet and touch one of our intrepid producers!

The official FAMOUS MONSTERS CONVENTION will take place over the weekend of July 9-11, 2010 at the Wyndham Indianapolis West in Indianapolis, Indiana.

"Zorg" at Famous Monsters!

2010-05-15T23:32:00.008-04:00

"Zorg and Andy" has been accepted to the Famous Monsters Film Festival! As a kid, I used to read every issue of Forrest Ackerman's Famous Monsters of Filmland, so it's pretty cool we're involved.

The festival is part of the Famous Monsters Convention, which runs from July 9th through the 11th in Indianapolis.

Details to come!

Pig is a Super Hero!

2010-05-13T23:28:00.005-04:00

Like you didn't know that. But now we have proof! Jen's obviously gotten herself into a bit of a scrape at the museum again, but thankfully Pig is on the job.

God only knows where poor Andy is. Guess we'll just have to wait for the sequel to find out.

Montengo, that magnificent bastard, sent this to me the other day from an artist named Becca. Check out some more of her fantastic work here.

Thanks, Becca! And, as always, many thanks V. Z.!

Netflix members! We need your help!

2010-04-02T18:31:00.007-04:00

“Zorg and Andy” is now listed on Netflix as a future release. To get Netflix to make “Zorg” available for rent now, we need to show there’s demand for it.

So, to all of you Netflix members out there, please save “Zorg” to your queue by clicking here. After you sign in, just click on the Save button. That’s all there is to it.

And if you've already seen the movie, we’d love it if you left a rating and review.

We need all the help we can get to spread the word, so if you can tell friends, family and acquaintances, we’d be forever grateful.

Thank you all for your help in making “Zorg and Andy” available on Netflix!

366 Weird Movies 2009 Yearbook!

2010-03-18T22:28:00.009-04:00

366 Weird Movies has just released its first annual collection of reviews in print (which includes a nice writeup of "Zorg"), which you can purchase here.

Help support the site dedicated to the belief that every day (including leap years) should have its own weird movie!

"Zorg Day." Yes, I like the sound of that...

Freesound!

2010-02-04T11:21:00.005-05:00

Freesound.org is a huge collection of free, royalty-free sound effects that we used on "Zorg." Highly-recommended for the indie filmmaking crowd. They just put up a nice post on their blog about us. Many thanks to Bram, who runs Freesound!

If you skip to the end, there's a discount mentioned for "Zorg" DVD's and digital downloads ordered through Film Baby. Check it out!

We Made Sonic Cinema's End of Year Movie Review!

2009-12-31T13:57:00.005-05:00

Brian Skutle at Sonic Cinema calls "Zorg and Andy:" "a goofy and hilarious indie comedy about phallic statues and ancient occults that is like a Matt Groening cartoon done in live-action…as zany as a "Simpsons" episode with the production values of an Ed Wood film- the result is the type of high-concept comedy we don't see much anymore."

Many thanks, Brian! Check out the other films on his list here!

You can order your "Zorg" DVD or digital downloads here or here!

The All-mighty, Yet Benevolent Zorg ™ wishes you all a very happy New Year! All hail me!

Nothing Says "Happy Holidays" Like...

2009-12-11T18:43:00.004-05:00

An official "Zorg and Andy" thong! Celebrate the season in style!

And be sure to visit the "Zorg and Andy" Store for all of your other fine clothing and accessories needs!

Happy holidays from all of us here at Zorg Central!

Pants and Kidneys: Film Festival Report

2009-11-22T21:37:00.006-05:00

Thanks again to the Wet Your Pants Comedy Film Festival for showing "Zorg." We had a great time, we met some nifty people and we hopefully helped some kidneys. We do so love the kidneys.

Also, they gave us a gift bag. And snacks. As independent filmmakers, we consider it a good day when we don't get slapped. So to receive not only approval but swag? Well, we're going to be friends forever.

In addition, people finally got the "Baal State University" joke. Hard to ask for more than that.

Don't forget, people: love your kidneys. Because they love you.

"Zorg" on Amazon!

2009-11-20T19:11:00.004-05:00

We're excited to announce that "Zorg and Andy" is now available for digital download or rental on Amazon's Video On Demand! For the low, low price of only $4.99, you can watch "Zorg" online, or download it to your computer, TiVo, or iPhone!

And for those afraid of long-term commitment, we offer the "Zorg" rental for only $1.99! After which, no doubt, you'll fall madly in love with the movie and wonder how you've managed to live all these years without a "Zorg" DVD, and you'll rush furiously to Film Baby to add it to your collection! Trust us, it'll happen just like that.

And don't forget that if you rush furiously to Film Baby before the end of the year, you can take 10% off the already incredible how-can-we-go-that-low-volume-volume-volume price of $9.99, by using the discount code "thatsalotofbeetles")!

We're all about offering choices here at Zorg Central. And now there's a "Zorg" to fit every budget! So, see "Zorg" today! Or tomorrow! Just see it and keep Zorg happy!

See "Zorg" on the Big Screen!

2009-11-20T11:58:00.006-05:00

Just a reminder that "Zorg and Andy" is playing in the Wet Your Pants Comedy Film Festival tomorrow, Saturday, November 21st, at high noon. Tickets start at $8. Come out and see "Zorg" and a lot of other great comedies, all in support of the National Kidney Foundation. Nuvo has a great article about the festival's history--check it out!

Nothing says "Happy Holidays!" like Zorg!

2009-11-15T21:16:00.005-05:00

Looking for that perfect holiday gift? Look no further, Zorg fans! How about copies of your favorite cult movie for friends, family, acquaintances and complete strangers?

Through the end of the year, we're offering 10% off all "Zorg and Andy" DVD sales, and 20% off digital downloads, both through our partners at Film Baby.

To get your discount, at checkout just enter the code:

thatsalotofbeetles

Beat the holiday rush and order yours today!

"Zorg and Andy:" satisfying all of your gift-giving needs since 1973!

"Zorg" on Demand!

2009-11-12T22:20:00.005-05:00

We're happy to announce that "Zorg and Andy" will be available for digital download and rental through Amazon Video On Demand, beginning November 30th! A digital download will be priced at $4.99; a price has yet to be set by Amazon for the rental.

More details to come!

Festival Update!

2009-11-12T19:42:00.007-05:00

Just wanted to let you know that "Zorg" will be showing at Noon on Saturday, November 21st. Tickets start at $8, and an all-day pass goes for $20.

Come out and see some great films and support a wonderful cause!

"Zorg" - Kitschy Goodness!

2009-11-12T18:52:00.005-05:00

Fatally Yours says, "'Zorg and Andy' is remarkably fun...a film reminiscent of the drive-in creature features of the 1950s: A little over the top, a little silly, and that time tested formula of idyllic Americana up against something truly arcane... With more than a few laughs, a lovable cast, and a brand new reason to fear your college economics professor, Zorg and Andy gets my seal of approval."

Many thanks to Michael Varrati!

Order your copy of "Zorg" here!

Another Festival for "Zorg!"

2009-11-07T16:27:00.008-05:00

We're pleased to announce that "Zorg and Andy" will be shown at the Wet Your Pants Comedy Film Festival, showcasing the best independent film comedies from around the country, while raising money for the National Kidney Foundation.

The festival is being held on Saturday, November 21st, 2009 at the Carmel Community Playhouse in Carmel, IN, show times and ticket prices still to be announced.

Come out to see "Zorg" on the big screen and help support a great cause!

Another Great Review!

2009-11-06T15:21:00.003-05:00

This one from Sonic Cinema:

"Writer V.Z. Montengo and director Guy Davis take 62 minutes to do what some filmmakers can’t do with 92 minutes- make a high-concept comedy that’s funny and engaging, not to mention original."

See for yourself--buy a copy today!

Read the rest at the Sonic Cinema site. Many thanks to Brian Skutle!

Three Out of Four Cigars!

2009-11-02T12:13:00.003-05:00

Rogue Cinema's review of "Zorg and Andy" says, "'Zorg and Andy' is one of the most innovative indie comedies I've seen in quite some time." And, "It's quirky and odd and laugh out loud funny...and, in the end, I'm pretty anxious to see if Andy has another adventure in him."

Many thanks to Brian at Rogue Cinema! Sequel anyone?

Latest "Zorg" Review -- Rated 8/10!

2009-10-30T13:58:00.005-04:00

Here's a sample:

"'Zorg and Andy' is a fantastic microbudget comedy, a perfect marriage of cheesy exploitation, silly science fiction, and brainy humor. Davis and crew should be extremely proud of their accomplishment; these insanely talented individuals have somehow managed to pack an absurd amount of fresh, well-executed material into a breezy 60-minute package, a feat that's even more astounding when you take into consideration their complete lack of funding. Which just goes to show that the only tools required to craft an entertaining motion picture are talent and dedication, plain and simple. Imagine that."

Read the rest of the review at Bloody Good Horror (many, many thanks, Todd)! And then consider going here to buy a DVD!

Zorg will be pleased if you do (and you really, really want to please Zorg)!

Kudos to "Zorg" Musicians!

2009-10-22T18:49:00.004-04:00

From The Movies Made Me Do It review: "The "soundtrack music" was what really stood out, though. Several... bands were used, and all put in great performances. I'd recommend looking into the works of Kevin MacLeod, Twizzle, Coconut Monkeyrocket, and Otis Fodder."

We recommend it, too! Many, many thanks to our fantastic musicians for letting us use their tunes!

"Zorg" Reviews Spreading Like California Wildfires!

2009-10-20T13:45:00.003-04:00

Cinematronica's excellent review of "Zorg and Andy" has been posted to 366 Weird Movies, a site that celebrates "the cinematically surreal, bizarre, cult, oddball, fantastique, psychotronic, and the just plain WEIRD!!" We're honored!

"Zorg" Now Available on Film Baby!

2009-10-19T20:48:00.008-04:00

"Zorg and Andy" is now available for purchase through Film Baby! DVD's are only $9.99 plus s/h. And a soon-to-be-available digital download will be a mere $4.99.

Tell your friends, tell your neighbors, email everyone in your contacts list--"Zorg" has arrived and you should buy a copy! Maybe two copies! Maybe...well, you get the idea.

Another Review!

2009-10-17T17:07:00.009-04:00

"Zorg and Andy is a low-budget feature with a lot of what makes independent movies so intriguing; the glorious smacking of ambition."

"Run, don’t walk! to the internet to catch this light and fast b-movie surprise!"

Read the entire review here and remember, "Zorg" will soon be available through Film Baby on DVD and digital download. But in the meantime, just send us an email and we'd be happy to ship you out a pre-release copy for the low, low price of only $12! You can't beat that with a fertility idol! So, what are you waiting for? Get your copy today and don't anger Zorg!

Many, many thanks to the fine folks at Cinematronica and 366 Weird Movies for taking the time to review our movie!

"Zorg" DVD Sales!

2009-10-01T23:04:00.006-04:00

We're extremely excited to announce that "Zorg and Andy" DVD's and digital downloads will be available for purchase soon, thanks to our friends at Film Baby!

Unfortunately, "Zorg" probably won't be live on the site until near the end of October, and it's come to our attention that quite a few people (with, it must be pointed out, extraordinary taste in cinema) would like to have a copy of the movie in time for Halloween (in one lovely case, in order to be able to replace "Attack of the Killer Tomatoes" with "Zorg" as the featured movie of the evening).

On so many levels, we can't begin to tell you how happy this makes us.

Fear not, "Zorg" fans! We have DVD's available for purchase right now, in plenty of time for all of your October festivities!

Just send an email to northanger@cox.net and let us know where you'd like us to ship your order, and we'll get it right out to you. The only downside is that we can't take credit card orders until our Film Baby account is up and running, so you'll have to pay for it the old-fashioned way and send us a check for $12 per copy ($10.00 for the DVD, plus $2.00 for shipping and the requisite handling) to:

Guy Davis
5415 E. McKellips Rd, #67
Mesa, AZ 85215

We know you're good for it, so as soon as we get your email, we'll send Zorg on his way to you.

Because no one should have to celebrate Halloween, or Leif Ericson Day (or any other day in October, for that matter), without a copy of "Zorg" close at hand.

Get yours today!

A View from the Inside

2009-09-27T20:15:00.003-04:00

As you can see, the audience is clearly not rioting. If there's another definition of a successful screening, I don't know what it is.

A few observations: The audience actually laughed quite a lot. Even the ones who weren't directly related to the production. A couple of rows in front of us, there were two women who were clearly there in some professional capacity and as the movie unspooled I could see them getting more and more into the story. It was gratifying.

The biggest laugh of the night? Guy's sound design during the final chase sequence, where the soundtrack music is synced up with the opening and closing of the stairway door. Guy, who cut enough jokes in post-production to make the writer weep tears of blood, got the biggest laugh of the night with his editing.

Thanks, Guy.

And congratulations, you big lug. It was awesome.

Zorg Has Arrived!

2009-09-26T23:16:00.003-04:00

Our deepest thanks to everyone who turned out for today's screening at Tromadance! We had a great turnout and no one was seriously injured as a result of watching the movie!

And many thanks to our new friends at the historic Strand Theatre for their wonderful hospitality, and of course, to the fine people at Tromadance and The B-Movie Celebration!

This handsome lad is Ev, Ben Weatherston's son, who obviously has exceptional taste in films. You can check out some more photos from today's screening on our Facebook page.

Thanks again, everybody!

Quentin Dodd Interview!

2009-09-25T15:30:00.000-04:00

Check it out here!

"Zorg" Arrives Tomorrow! Finally!

2009-09-25T13:34:00.004-04:00

You've grown to love them! You'll miss them when they're gone! It's the final "'Zorg' at Tromadance Film Festival tomorrow, September 26th, 12:35p, at the Strand Theatre, showing for FREE!" reminder message! Tell your friends! Tell your neighbors!

We also want to let you know that we'll be selling factory-fresh "Zorg" DVD's after the screening. Hell, just ask us and we'll even sell them before and during the screening! For the shockingly low, low price of only $10 a piece, you, too, can take a little Zorg home with you! And don't forget--they make wonderful presents! Buy two! They're small!

Tickets? We don't need no stinking tickets!

2009-09-23T23:20:00.005-04:00

Two days until Tromadance! Free admission to all screenings and panels (and "Zorg!"). But, it's first-come, first-served, so remember to get there early!

Meet Lloyd Kaufman! Maybe! Tell him about "Zorg!"

Tromadance Update--Free Admission!

2009-09-22T01:29:00.003-04:00

Apparently, admission to all Tromadance films, panels, parties, and events is strictly on a first come, first served basis.

So, what are you waiting for? Get to the Strand Theatre early to see "Zorg and Andy" FOR FREE on Saturday, September 26th, at 12:35pm!

And be sure to say "Hi" to The Pig for me!

Our First Review!

2009-09-22T00:54:00.003-04:00

"Gleefully Silly!"

"Utterly Ridiculous!"

"It's 'Scooby Doo' Without the Speech-Impeded Great Dane!"

Read more at The Film Yap!

The review starts off a little rough, but in the end, "Zorg" wins over even the coldest reviewer's heart!

"Zorg" Screening Information!

2009-09-19T14:47:00.006-04:00

"Zorg and Andy" will be showing at the Summer Tromadance Film Festival (part of The 3rd Annual B-Movie Celebration) in beautiful Shelbyville, IN, the new Mecca of independent film!

When: Saturday, September 26th, 2009

Time: 12:35 pm

Where: The Strand Theatre, Shelbyville, IN

Tickets: $6, available at the door and here.

Come out and support "Zorg!" He'll know if you don't!

"Zorg" Gets a Facelift!

2009-08-18T12:43:00.005-04:00

Stop by the newly-redesigned "Zorg and Andy" site. Revel in that new website smell!

For cast and crew, let us know if you have any updated bios, pics, projects or links you'd like us to include. Thanks!

And many, many thanks to Quentin for doing an incredible job putting all this together! Zorg won't forget all of your many sacrifices, Quentin!

B-Movie Celebration Guests Announced!

2009-07-31T12:12:00.014-04:00

The B-Movie Celebration has announced its lineup of guests (their website hasn't been updated yet, but we wanted to give you a preview). Come out and meet the man who made (at least part of) "Monster A Go-Go!"

We also wanted to let you know that we're scheduled for a Q&A session after "Zorg" screens. More details to come!

B-MOVIE CELEBRATION SPECIAL CELEBRITY GUESTS:

Legendary Troma founder LLOYD KAUFMAN

B movie maven JIM WYNORSKI

Cult movie king FRED OLEN RAY

Iconic scream queen KAREN BLACK

The Godfather of Gore, HERSCHELL GORDON LEWIS

"Zorg" Preview!

2009-07-27T16:22:00.003-04:00

Watch the first three minutes of the movie!

Zorg commands it!

What to Wear, What to Wear...

2009-07-20T18:56:00.007-04:00

May we suggest the Zorg and Andy Store--for all of your fine clothing and accessories needs.

Nothing says style like Zorg!

The Official "Zorg and Andy" Trailer!

2009-07-17T22:27:00.004-04:00

Enjoy!

"Zorg" at B-Movie Celebration!

2009-07-14T21:35:00.021-04:00

We're pleased to announce that "Zorg and Andy" will be shown as part of the 3rd Annual B-Movie Celebration, running from September 25th through the 27th at the historic Artcraft Theater in Franklin, IN, and at the Strand Theater in Shelbyville. Advance tickets are available here.

As soon as we get more information about when and where we'll be screening, we'll pass it on. In the meantime, please help us get the word out about this amazing festival and check out the incredible lineup of classic films below.

From their press release:

"The B Movie Celebration is an event unlike any other. Part film festival, part educational symposium and part circus. Over sixty classic B feature film films will be shown, including 'Forbidden Planet", "Night of The Living Dead" and "Death Race 2000". Appearing at The Celebration will be Troma Studio founder Lloyd Kaufman, B Film Legend Jim Wynorski, Director Fred Olen Ray, Herschel Gordon Lewis and numerous other practitioners of the B movie art form."

FEATURED FILMS:

Abby
Black Christmas
Black Horizon
Blacula
Chopping Mall
Creature from the Black Lagoon
Cyclone
Dark Star
Dire Wolf
Dr. Goldfoot and the The Bikini Machine
Forbidden Planet
Gas!
Godzilla King of the Monsters
Grand Theft Auto
Halloween
The Hideous Sun Demon
Hollywood Chainsaw Hookers
Horror of Dracula
I Was A Teenage Frankenstein
Ilsa She Wolf of The SS
Invasion of the Body Snatchers
Journey to The Sevenh Planet
Knightriders
Leeches
Lost Empire
Ma and Pa Kettle at Waikiki
Meteor
My Bloody Valentine
Night of the Comet
Night of The Grizzly
Phantom Empire
Piranha
Planet of The Apes
Puppetmaster Toulon’s Revenge
Q
Quatermass and the Pit
Sorority House Massacre
Surf Nazis Must Die
Tales of Terror
The Birds
The Crazies
The Day of the Triffids
The Dunwich Horror
The Fly
The Good The Bad And The Ugly
The Raven
The Silencers
The Thing from Another World
The War of the Worlds
Them
They Saved Hitler’s Brain
This Island Earth
To Sleep with a Vampire
Toxic Avenger
Tromeo and Juliet
Westworld
Zombie

And Zorg and Andy!

The Latest in Teaser Trailer Technology!

2009-04-03T12:13:00.004-04:00

Ladies and Gentlemen...Andy and the Beetles!

A New Trailer!

2009-03-16T19:15:00.008-04:00

Because you can never have enough trailers.

The Post You Were Wondering if You'd Live Long Enough to See!

2009-03-10T13:41:00.020-04:00

After only a mere three years in post, "Zorg and Andy" is finally complete! Hard to believe, I know, but it's true (check us out here, it's right there in black and white).

We've got a lot going on right now, including a website redesign that will be up soon (check back often!), and the creation of a press kit and promotional materials.

We also have a new Facebook page, thanks to Scott. Drop by and say hello!

And I want to let you know that we have a new teaser trailer up, both on Facebook and Youtube. More trailers are in the works. Let us know what you think!

See? I told you there was a lot going on.

Our plan in the coming months is to continue to submit the movie to festivals, as well as begin sending it out for review. Assuming said reviews are spectacular, we'll be posting links to them soon! Unspectacular reviews will be rewritten and then posted.

Regarding DVD's, initially they'll only be available for sale at festival screenings, but I imagine we'll start self-distribution sometime later this year. And once that happens, we'll need everyone's help to get the word out.

Of course, all cast and crew members will receive a free copy of the movie, so we'll be sending out an email soon to make sure we have everyone's most recent address. Timeframe to get those out should probably be in the next month or so. But, I appear to be timeframe-challenged, so bear that in mind.

And finally, we want to start planning for that long-awaited premiere! Details to come (and we'd love to hear any of your ideas, too)!

All for now. Thank you all for your patience and continued support!

Guy

Two Pieces of Good News

2008-12-19T13:56:00.003-05:00

Guy reports that he has gotten the flying insect effects working. I assume this means something other than him filming himself with cardboard wings and coat-hanger antennae, spinning around the room shouting "I'm a bee! I'm a bee!" then overlaying thousands of tiny copies onto the beetle-room scene.

Why is this good news? Because the bug effects were our final major post-production hurdle, and now there is very little standing in the way of this film being actually done.

Before Guy speaks up, let me add that any other existing post-production hurdles he might mention are now officially minor ones, easy tweaks that can be finished in an afternoon. I declare it to be so.

The second piece of good news? We (meaning Guy) have begun festival submissions! The pebble of "Zorg and Andy" has been kicked over the edge of the glacier, sure to become a massive, devastating avalanche! Run for cover!

Season's greetings, everybody.

Shuddering, we adjust our typefaces

2008-10-31T14:59:00.006-04:00

In designing the opening credit sequence, we've experimented with an array of styles. An early option was to roll the credits over a series of illustrations that explained the backstory. Sort of like this:

We decided against it when it became clear that we'd actually have to come up with a backstory to do this. Never explain what you don't have to.

So we thought about the classic Saul Bass look:

Or, more likely, this:

I think we've settled on making the typography do the majority of the heavy lifting when it comes to visual interest. Here's one of our prototypes:

With a little color and motion (in the strict Northanger tradition of tasteful restraint), I think they're going to look terrific.

Finally, since I seem to be piloting the blog ship straight in YouTube Shoals today... Motorhead!

EXT. KUNGSBADEN MUSEUM -- DAY

2008-10-24T14:25:00.002-04:00

I think our motto is a big improvement over the one that's really there: "Try to scrape by with a C."

After coming up with a title for this post, I was going to mention that once we had moved beyond the infamous third draft of the script, we didn't have any exterior night shots in the movie at all. Then I zipped through the rest of the effects reel and realized that we still have tons of nighttime exteriors. Just no nighttime exteriors with extended chase scenes.

Effects Shots March Forth. Like Zombies.

2008-10-17T13:36:00.004-04:00

The eerie swing in the moonlight. Not the middle of the afternoon.

Chemical-fog toxicity will claim the lives of dozens of lab assistants this year alone. Please give generously to the gas-mask fund.

Clicky-clicky

2008-09-29T14:47:00.009-04:00

According to the most recent dispatch from his Cave of Agony, Guy is "officially two-thirds of the way through" with the movie. This means two-thirds of everything--effects shots, color, sound, licensed music (thank you, broad-minded composers of the internet!)--is done.

We're down to details now--little things like bugs crawling along walls, and, most recently, Colette's last name. Those of you who remember the script might recall that hardly any characters had last names. Andy had one because that character was actually a refugee from an unpublished novel and his name didn't require any additional creative thought from the deeply lazy screenwriter. Dr. Harpax had one because, come on, how do you come up with a name like "Dr. Arabella Harpax" and not use the whole thing?

But Colette needed a last name because her name was going to be under her college ID picture on the deliberately-non-brand-name data-storage thingy that Andy is clicking through on the screencap above. So we had to think one up. In the end, she became "Colette D'Ampton," in homage to Hugh Grant's star-making role in the greatest movie of all time. (Anyone wondering where the inspiration for Dr. Harpax's frothing-at-the-mouth liturgical speech came from should watch the end of that movie.)

This attitude toward character names can also explain something a few of our sharp-eyed cast members pointed out during filming: the fraternity boys all had names (Chad and Troy) while the sorority girls had to make do with numbers (Sister #1, Sister #2, etc.). Aside from (or in addition to) latent sexism, this was because the sorority sisters had mentioned Chad and Troy by name before they showed up, so when the screenwriter got to that point in the script, he didn't have to stop to figure out what they should be called. Because no one referred to the sisters by name beforehand, there were no ready-made names for them, so he didn't come up with any. See "deeply lazy screenwriter" above.

Northanger Productions: Since 2004, more than you wanted to know about the creative process!

And the Award for Worst Blogger of the Year Goes to…

2008-09-06T23:31:00.003-04:00

I think we all know who it goes to, don’t we? Sorry for not posting in awhile. So much for New Year’s resolutions (which I always felt were vastly over-rated, by the way).

Not wanting to pull anything, I’m easing back into the blogging world with a quick update:

Just finished color-correction and effects for the first half of the movie. Besides figuring out a way to create a digital beetle that walks, unfurls its wings menacingly and flies into the camera, I feel like we're in pretty good shape on the rest of the effects work.

Bold Pronouncement: my latest revised schedule (Ha! I laugh at schedules!) has the movie pretty much completed by Thanksgiving. Of 2008. This year. Really.

We’re also in the process of finding replacements for a few songs that we couldn’t get the rights to. Apparently, some musicians want to be paid. Upfront. In money.

And last but not least, we’re on IMDB now, thanks to Scott, who submitted our listing. There’s not much detail yet, but it’s still great to see.

Thanks again, Scott! You’re the best!

Back to the beetle!

More Actor Updates!

2008-06-12T17:43:00.006-04:00

Just getting back from a two-week vacation (to San Francisco, which was wonderful, by the way) and headed out on another trip next week (what the hell, it’s summer), but I wanted to quickly share more actor news I've come across:

First, Trevor wrote to say he’s appearing in the Buck Creek Playhouse production of “HONK! The Ugly Duckling Musical,” which runs from June 6th (as usual, I’m late) through the 21st. Trevor plays the role of the villainous Cat, so get your tickets and cheer him on!

Trevor also said he’ll be performing as “The Man in the Yellow Hat” in the upcoming Curious George production at the Indianapolis Children’s Museum, running from July 5th through August 10th. Way to go, Trevor!

Then, I saw on Scott’s website that he has a guest role on an episode of Comedy Central’s “Mind of Mencia,” which airs on June 18th at 10:30pm (9:30pm Central). Now seriously, how cool is that? Congratulatons, Scott!

And now, back to my previously scheduled vacation!

My thumbs have gone weird!

2008-06-02T11:21:00.006-04:00

On a personal note here, I can't help but notice that our cast seems to be getting better and better looking, while I, increasingly, resemble the cast of "Withnail & I."

Them:

Me:

By the time this project is finished and we've all reached our seventies, they're gonna look awesome. Must be an actor thing, I guess.

The Metamorphoses of our Actors Continues

2008-06-02T11:06:00.003-04:00

Continuing with the trend of "Zorg and Andy" being a catalyst for radical personal transformation, we're pleased to present a new headshot, a new bio, and a new professional name for Kate Rudd, our "Jen."

===

Kate Rudd was born June 30, 1980, in coastal Western Michigan. As a child she loved entertaining friends and family with characters and impersonations. She performed with her high school drama group and loved acting, but after graduation planned to pursue a career in music. After the birth of her second daughter in 2003, Kate decided on impulse to travel with her five week old infant to an island for her first film audition. While unsuccessful in obtaining a part, she was fascinated by the experience, and became thoroughly bitten by the acting bug. Soon she was cast in a local play, and felt certain that she had found her vocation. Immediately she began balancing auditions and study with raising young children. Film roles in "The Dread," "Zorg and Andy," and "Stick in the Mud" followed.

Most recently, Kate represents LA-based motion picture company Safe Harbor Productions in Michigan. While she is thrilled to gain new experience as a producer, acting continues to be her pursuit and passion.

www.KateRudd.com

Scott Ganyo is Talented and Hard-Working

2008-05-14T11:50:00.005-04:00

And handsome, too! All of which you can see for yourselves when you peruse his updated bio and headshot.

As soon I as resolve an issue with our web hosts, you'll be able to see his bio on the cast page, but I'll post it below so you don't have to wait. Why should you suffer?

===

Born in North Dakota to a Presbyterian Minister, Scott Ganyo started his career on the stage. His big break came when he joined the Actor's Theater of Indiana for their production of Forever Plaid. Nuvo Magazine called Scott's performance "impressive" and the Indianapolis Star raved that he "sings like an angel."

Scott soon turned his focus to film and quickly landed his first role in Woodworks Films' Open Mic'rs . Supporting roles followed - most notably the award-winning Foxxy Madonna vs the Black Death where Scott played Gabriel, a hit man who learns that a virus of biblical proportions was to to be unleashed on the masses. It wasn't long, though, before Scott's strong work and reputation lead to his being consistently cast as the leading man. His everyman and family quality lead to great roles in Kate Chaplin's First They Came for..., Jakob Bilinski's Shade of Grey and countless television commercials. Not afraid to explore new acting territory, Scott has taken on roles as diverse as a drug addict, a priest, a serial killer and even The Caped Crusader.

Trained at the Phoenix Theater, Millikin University, and ComedySportz among others, Scott is one of the most driven, professional actors working nationally.

http://scott.ganyo.com

Revenge of the Cacti

2008-04-11T13:27:00.011-04:00

So, I've started in on our visual effects and spent yesterday digitally removing Saguaro cacti from the opening shot of the movie, a sunrise over a mountain ridge. Those miserable cacti had been bugging me for awhile, so I was glad to finally be rid of them.

The opening scenes are supposed to take place in Southern Turkey (for reasons which elude me at the moment) and when we filmed this shot, we didn’t see that the ridgeline was littered with big, beautiful Saguaros until later when we got the footage into the computer (the mountain was pretty far away and we were zoomed all the way out).

The main problem with having big, beautiful Saquaros littering that ridge is that Saguaros are only found in the Sonoran Desert and every time I saw the shot, all I could see were those damn cacti, which kept screaming out to me “Not really Turkey! Ha!” Or something close to that. Whatever it was that they were screaming, it was mocking and unpleasant.

So, I chose this moment to take a firm stand on behalf of realism and decided that either Turkey or the Saguaro had to go, and (for reasons which elude me at the moment) I picked the Saguaro.

I should mention now that we here at Northanger sometimes take a more casual approach to realism and confess that we--Quentin, Doug, Ben and I--actually filmed this shot at sunset at a state park near my house, which on a side note, was crawling with tarantulas. Big, angry tarantulas that appeared, to me at least, to be engaged in a rather complicated flanking maneuver to cut off our only exit. The desert at night kind of creeps me out. I think it’s because I watched “Them!” (about giant mutant ants in the desert; still one of my favorite 50’s sci-fi/horror films) when I was 8 and I've never really gotten over it.

But, I digress.

Anyway, after managing to escape from the spiders, the plan was to reverse the shot in Final Cut, so it would look like a sunrise. Which surprisingly worked out fine. Sometimes realism is overrated.

Back to cacti removal. I exported a frame from the sequence as a TIFF, erased the cacti in Photoshop, then imported that back into Final Cut to use as a background plate for the matte I made. Pretty simple. Really the only challenge was that as the sun rises, the sky gets lighter and looks different from the sky in the still image. So I used Final Cut’s 3-Way Color Corrector to adjust the color of the background sky as necessary.

It was at this point that my first-ever Final Cut program crash occurred. A quick, spinning beach ball of death, followed by a crash report. I’d saved my project file right before the crash, so I didn’t lose anything. But, it does give me some concern, coming as it does right after my upgrade. Coincidence? I think not.

I rendered the sequence out and made a couple of tweaks where the background image didn’t quite match the lightening sky of the original clip and then exported that as a Quicktime movie to replace the original shot, which should now be fine for importing into Color. “Should” being the operative word there.

The matte isn’t perfect, but it’s good enough to move on. The important thing is that there are now no Saquaro cacti growing mysteriously in Southern Turkey.

We’ll just forget about the program crash and blame it on the cacti.

Maybe Black and White is the Way to Go

2008-04-07T13:36:00.005-04:00

Over the weekend, I used Final Cut’s Media Manager to transcode a test sequence from HDV into ProRes HQ. Seemed to work fine, so I’m starting in on my first project file. I’ve got a few simple visual effects to do (in the first few reels at least) and after I finish those, I should be working in Color fairly soon. As opposed to working on the effects for the entire movie and then doing color correction, I thought I’d work on the effects and coloring for each reel. I don’t know why, it just seems like the thing to do.

After transcoding to ProRes, I’ll also be working on prepping my sequences to send them into Color. As you can imagine, having never even opened Color before, I’ve been going through the manual a bit lately. I’ve discovered that, to say the very least, Color is a little finicky about how you prepare a project for importing. For instance:

Color hates long projects. No problem, I’ve already split up the movie into ten minute chunks.

Color hates it if you have more than one video track in your project. Again, no problem, as I’ve pretty much already done that.

Color hates it if you have transitions. It says it doesn’t, but some users say it does, so I’m getting rid of them. I’ll put them back in after color correction.

Color hates subtitles. Okay, so no subtitles. Again, after sending the project back to Final Cut, I’ll stick them back in.

Color hates speed-changed clips, or still images. We have both, so I’ll be exporting those (along with any composited clips, to avoid the dreaded multiple video track problem above) to self-contained Quicktime movies, which will replace the original clips and theoretically make Color happy. God knows, I want to make Color happy.

Color apparently hates it if you’ve basically done anything at all to alter your clips. Now, this is a bit of problem, since I’ve done quite a bit of altering on the clips. Like flipping all of them 180 degrees, since the original footage is upside down due to the Redrock Micro35 that we used to shoot the movie.

I’m still checking on this point to make sure, but there seems to be a bug in the latest release of Color (which, joy, I have) that doesn’t like to have any motion effects and starts doing bad things to the footage in order to punish it.

At this point, you may be saying to yourself, “Gee, Guy, maybe going to Color really isn’t all that hot of an idea.” You may be right. Hopefully, there are enough benefits to the ProRes conversion alone, that the upgrade will be worthwhile. That’s what I’m telling myself, anyway.

Should Color turn out to be too difficult to use (shock!) or if it just decides to self-destruct one day, I do have a Plan B--a program called Magic Bullet Colorista, written by Stu Maschwitz who runs the most excellent ProLost site.

But, I just feel like I should give Color a try first, you know? I mean, it’s just sitting there, free in Final Cut Studio. Why not use it, right?

Sometimes, free software isn’t so free, is it?

Method aside, here’s one example of some of the color correction work I’d like to do on the movie from another extremely informative post on the ProLost site. It talks about a certain look for skin tones that has, for good or ill, evolved in American feature films over the last few years.

Upgrade Progress

2008-03-31T13:14:00.001-04:00

Finally got around to the Final Cut Studio 2 upgrade on Friday. Before that, I’d been contacting the other musicians whose music we used in the temp track to see about licensing their work. I’ll tell you more about that later, but the artists have been so incredibly helpful--some even offering to rework their songs a bit so we can use them--that I just wanted to quickly thank them all now for their time and support. You’re all amazing!

The upgrade went smoothly. I started with a fresh install of the OS, did all the system and firmware updates, then installed Final Cut Studio and a few other essential programs. Technically, I’m not quite done, because I’ve still got to install the Matrox MXO utilities, and then calibrate the display I use with it. Some people have reported problems with the Matrox drivers, so I wanted to make sure that the system was stable otherwise, before I added that to the mix.

The movie is divided up into seven ten-minute segments, each of them in its own project file, because all of the Final Cut Studio apps seem happiest when working with projects about this length. So, I opened my first ten-minute project file in Final Cut 6, which converted it from a 5.1.4 to a 6.0.2 project.

A few little glitches: the opening shot of the movie is a sunrise shot, but we actually filmed a sunset and reversed it in Final Cut—after the conversion, the reverse filter wasn’t applied for some reason, although the speed changes I’d made to the clip were; I’ve altered the framing on a lot of shots, and some of those changes didn’t stay; other little oddities. There may be other problems I just haven’t noticed yet, but so far these are easily fixed.

So, upgrade complete! Pretty much, anyway! After fixing any problems and converting to the ProRes codec, it’s on to effects work and then into Apple Color for the first time!

Exciting! Kind of!

Scientists Agree: Twizzle Does, In Fact, Sizzle!

2008-03-25T12:41:00.015-04:00

I’m overjoyed to tell you that the Seattle-based band Twizzle is letting us use two of their tunes in the movie! We can’t thank the incredible duo of Sir Mildred Pitt and Spacecake enough!

Honestly, I was terrified about contacting them, because I’d fallen so completely in love with the songs and if they said no, I was going to be devastated. Really devastated. And sad. Really sad. In fact, between you and me, I’m so in love with the songs and so averse to being really devastated and sad, that if they had said no, I probably wouldn’t have taken the songs out at all, and would have moved to Kazakhstan and sold the movie illegally on street corners for 300 Tenges apiece. I know what you're thinking: 300 Kazakhstani Tenges sounds like a lot of change. Believe me when I tell you, it’s not. It would be a hard, dangerous life and I’d have to move often and quickly, as the Kazkhstan Secret Police doesn’t take kindly to that sort of thing. But, that’s how much I love these songs.

[Edit: The Legal Department of Northanger Productions would like to take this opportunity to state unequivocally that at no time did Guy ever seriously consider engaging in copyright theft or any other illegal activity. We won't let him. We promise.]

Thankfully, Twizzle just agreed to let us use the songs, and none of that happened, so I’m pretty happy with how everything worked out. Although the more I think about it, the fine citizens of Kazakhstan may quite possibly be our target demographic.

The two songs we’re using are “Falling,” from the 1999 album “Soda Fountain,” available (for free!) on Comfort Stand. And “Don’t Geddup,” from the 2007 album “S’Prise Inside.” Listen to some tracks from the album on the Twizzle website, then run out and buy it here!

But, wait! That’s not all! Mildred has another band, Library Science, and the latest album is available here! And here! And of course here!

And don’t forget “The Bran Flakes,” Mildred’s band with Otis Fodder. A new album is being released this Summer!

And if you order right now, they’ll include this ABSOLUTELY FREE!

See you at Hansen’s! I’ll order you some mayonnaise bites!

A Brief History of “Zorg” Upgrades

2008-03-23T22:28:00.009-04:00

I know what you’re thinking: Two posts in a day and three within a week from Guy! Something’s terribly wrong! Any second, it’s going to start raining frogs!

Not to worry, it’s all part of my post-audio, delayed-onset, procrastinator’s New Year’s resolution to blog more consistently, which like so many of my past resolutions, of course leads me to massively overdo said resolution, ending in total burnout before the research-based conclusion that one simply needs to repeat any activity for 21 days for that activity to be habituated.

But that won’t happen this time! And I'm going to start exercising, too!

And what better blogging material to share with you than my latest post production dilemma?

Basically, “Zorg” post is, sadly, a history of working with HDV on a Mac (yes, it’s been that long). My first editing computer was a Powerbook G4, running Final Cut 4.5, neither of which could really effectively edit HDV. Well, I gave it a good go, though, using a program called Lumiere HD (now irrelevant and out of business) to convert my footage to a lower-resolution format for proxy editing, until I discovered a rather severe audio drift problem. Ugly. My next computer was an Intel iMac, running Final Cut 5, which did offer native HDV editing and did a great job finishing the rough cut, until it wasn’t able to cope any longer with audio work. My latest computer is the 2.66 GHz Mac Pro, still running Final Cut 5.1.4 and has been up to all tasks, wonderfully stable, without even a program crash.

So, why throw all that good Karma away and upgrade to the latest, greatest version of Final Cut Studio yet again, you ask? Well, Apple has come out with two compelling reasons. The first is Apple ProRes, a new codec that offers a larger colorspace to work with, meaning that if we convert our existing HDV project to ProRes HQ (the high definition flavor), we’ll be able to take advantage of a far superior format to work in for both visual effects and color correction. Which would mean a better-looking final product. In theory, at any rate.

By the way, since I seem to throw the term “color correction” around quite a bit, if you’re interested in seeing what a dramatic difference it can make, check out this post by visual effects pro Stu Maschwitz on his ProLost blog.

Speaking of which, the second good reason to upgrade is Apple Color, a dedicated color correction program that ships free with Final Cut Studio. On the downside, it looks massively complicated, has a steep learning curve and appears to be fairly finicky, judging from the posts on the Apple support forms pleading for help. Nevertheless, again, using it should provide a better-looking final product.

Hard to learn? Buggy? Sign me up!

So, I’ve been wrestling with this decision for a couple of weeks now, trying to weigh the advantages of my beautifully stable system and staying in HDV versus the risk/rewards of upgrading, when I ran across this thread on Creative Cow. Exactly what I was looking for. Seeing the differences in the HDV and ProRes footage sealed the deal. Tomorrow, I’m wiping my hard drive with a clean install of the OS, then installing my shiny new copy of Final Cut Studio 2.

I’ll keep you posted on the upgrade.

Otis Fodder!

2008-03-23T18:06:00.003-04:00

I first heard of Otis when Quentin forwarded me a link to the awesome Comfort Stand site, a Net Label that Otis founded dedicated to offering free music. We were both completely blown away by the album “Two Zombies Later,” which Otis not only produced, but contributed a tune to. We were so blown away that we used most of the album for our temp soundtrack!

I emailed Otis shortly after finishing the audio to ask if we could use some of his work in the final film. Fully expecting to have yet another restraining order slapped on me, I was pleased when Otis wrote back to say that we could! He’s as nice as he is talented. Simply put, we love Otis!

“Two Zombies Later” was a revelation for me and I'm now a confirmed exotica fan. You should just really do yourself a favor, stop whatever you’re doing right now and wander over there and take a listen.

I’ll wait. No problem.

See? I wouldn’t steer you wrong.

Check out Otis’ website, and also listen to his other band, “The Bran Flakes,” where he performs with the amazing Mildred Pitt (who we’ll be talking more about in the coming days).

Happy listening!

Famous Last Words!

2008-03-18T20:57:00.002-04:00

I’m done with audio! Yep, it only took me a scant year to finish that phase of post-production.

Geez.

I can’t begin to tell you how happy I am to have that behind me. There were times I wasn’t really sure if audio editing was going to end. Ever. Maybe I’d already died and just didn’t realize it yet and this was hell and I’d be laying in footsteps by hand for eternity.

I suppose I should explain “laying in footsteps” a bit. I choose to explain this, as opposed to the deranged fantasy of already being dead and eternally punished. Anyway, sounds that are created to accompany the on-screen actions of actors, like footsteps or the sound of a door opening, are called Foley effects. And they’re usually created in real-time by a Foley artist on a soundstage watching the movie. So for example, if an actor walks across a room in a film, her footsteps would be rerecorded later by a Foley artist mimicking her actions, wearing similar shoes and walking across a similar surface, trying as best as possible to match the action on the screen.

But, we didn’t have a Foley artist or a soundstage, so I used Foley effects from the free (and royalty-free) sound effects libraries that I could find: the 5,000 + effects that come with Apple’s Final Cut Studio and two online libraries, the amazing Freesound Project (http://freesound.iua.eupf.edu), which I made extensive use of and can’t thank enough for its mere existence, and Soundsnap (www.soundsnap.com), which I didn’t use as much, but which also has some excellent recordings.

Which leads us back to footsteps. After locating the right sound (sneakers walking on a wood floor, for instance) I would then chop that clip up into individual steps and place them to sync up with the actors’ movements. Which doesn’t seem so bad the first, oh, hundred times, you do it. But, after adding footsteps to the whole movie…well, let’s just say I think I would have been better off building my own Foley stage. Next movie maybe.

“Things We’ll Do Differently on the Next Movie!” is going to be a rather lengthy future post.

To be fair, there were some parts of audio work that I really loved. Mixing, for example, although it would have been a lot easier with some sort of control surface (I just used a mouse and set keyframes where I wanted to make changes in volume, panning, etc.). And sound effects were a lot of fun to put together. There’s a camera flash sound that I particularly like that was made by putting together the sounds of an instamatic camera, a gas stove lighting, an Uzi, as well as a few other effects.

While I’m thinking about it, there are a couple of fantastic sites focused on sound in movies, if you're interested: www.filmsound.org, in their words, “dedicated to the art of film sound design,” has tons of great information and links; and www.filmsounddaily.com, which has some very nice interviews with sound professionals, as well as awe-inspiring (to the guy who used a mouse) pictures of real audio post facilities with their beautiful, enormous mixing consoles that I desperately want for my very own.

Next movie…

Bad Pig, Good Pig

2008-01-07T09:59:00.001-05:00

Bad Pig

Good Pig

Sometimes it's hard to tell the difference. Hope you all had a felony-free holiday season.

Imagine Some Audio Here

2007-12-18T09:17:00.000-05:00

I know you can't hear the audio mix from a screen capture, but trust me--it's fabulous.

Our heroes

Zombie finishing school

Trevor Fanning in Assasination Attempt!

2007-12-11T15:05:00.000-05:00

Funny, most of us assumed it would be Nick.

In all seriousness, Trevor Fanning, who played Pete for us, writes to announce his new show:

--

Sondheim's Most Controversial Musical, ASSASSINS, Shoots Its Way Into The Hedback Theater for a Limited Run by Lowbrow Productions

Indianapolis, IN, December 14 – 30, 2007 — Stephen Sondheim's musical, Assassins---the dark-humored, poignant musical about nine of the fourteen Presidential assassins throughout American history---will be presented for a limited run this December in Indy at the Hedback Theater, 1847 North Alabama Street. Sondheim is an American stage musical composer and lyricist, one of the few people to win an Academy Award, multiple Tony Awards (seven, more than any other composer), multiple Grammy Awards, and a Pulitzer Prize. He has been called the greatest writer of American Musical Theater and Assassins is no exception. Some of his greatest successes have been "Company", "Follies", "Into the Woods" and "Sweeney Todd", now a major motion picture. Mr. Weidman co-wrote the book for the Broadway revival of Anything Goes. A former editor of National Lampoon magazine and a writer for television's Sesame Street, Mr. Weidman's first theatrical venture was another collaboration with Sondheim, "Pacific Overtures."

Assassins is based on an idea by Charles Gilbert, Jr., with music and lyrics by Stephen Sondheim and book by John Weidman. The musical evokes a fraternity of Presidential and would-be assassins across a hundred years of our history (including John Wilkes Booth, Lynette "Squeaky" Fromme, and John Hinckley, Jr). and climaxes in a surreal sequence where the assassins convince Lee Harvey Oswald that his act is the only way he will connect with them, history and the world. The cast includes many Indianapolis based actors including Eric Karwisch, Bobbi Bates, Scot Greenwell, Amy Reynolds, Triston Ross, Michael Davis, Trevor Fanning and Dean Reynolds. The production is produced by Doug Johnson, Nick Carpenter and Brian Noffke. Direction is by Brian Noffke. vocal direction by Brenna Campbell, and musical direction by Larry Bonebright.

Assassins will run December 14-30, 2007. Show times for Thursday, Friday and Saturday will be at 8pm; Sunday will be at 3pm, (except Sunday, December 16 is at 4pm). The production will be held at The Hedback Theater, home of Footlite Musicals. 1847 N. Alabama St. Indpls, IN 46202. For reservations please call 317-523-7462 or visit www.lowbrowproductions.org

Ticket prices are: $15.00 for reservations, $18.00 for walk-ins, $15.00 for students and senior citizens.

Lowbrow Productions is an Indianapolis based company. We strive to facilitate theatre, music, film and video arts productions of the highest quality to entertain, challenge and enlighten in order to bring positive change to the community. Assassins is the perfect inaugural piece because it dares the audience to understand the right way in order to achieve the "American Dream" and examines success, failure and the questionable drive for power and celebrity in American society.

"Nothing quite prepares you for the disturbing brilliance of Assassins" - New York Times

"Dark, Demented humor, as horrifying as it is hilarious" - Associated Press

"Intelligent and thrilling musical Theater. Dazzling in its originality" - Theatreweek

--

If you're in the Indianapolis area, check it out. After all, Trevor would go to your show.

Remember, send us your announcements. northanger (at) cox.net. That's us.

Audio Update!

2007-10-30T16:56:00.000-04:00

Let’s see, when I wrote last, I think I said something like, and I’m paraphrasing a bit here, “I promise to give more regular updates on our progress.” Given that was written about three months ago, I clearly have a lot to learn about the wondrous world of blogging. I am managing to beat my previous record of seventeen months between updates, so that should count for something, don’t you think?

I just wanted to let you know that last night I finished the audio work on Scene 45 (where, after having lost Zorg again, Andy and Jen decide to find Dr. Harpax). Overall, I’m about three quarters of the way through the entire movie. So, the end is in sight! Although psychically damaged from the experience, I’m pretty happy with how the final mix is turning out, and am resisting the tremendous urge to turn the remaining scenes into a silent film in order to be done with it.

Actually, I’m expecting to be done with audio editing by mid-December. Famous last words, I know. Anyway, it’s a nice thought.

Back to editing!

Talk to you soon!

Geniuses!

2007-10-19T09:50:00.001-04:00

Our director and cinematographer are geniuses.

Pig and Man, facing the future.

Just beautiful. The movie is full of shots like this. They're geniuses.

Everybody Loves the Pig!

2007-10-09T14:28:00.000-04:00

The Pig makes a public appearance!

Just like it's not really David Prowse (or James Earl Jones, for that matter) in the costume when Darth Vader helps open up a new multiplex, this was a Pig interpreter wearing the iconic helmet.

You can tell because he's not eight feet tall.

If we'd been thinking, we would have stencilled "www.zorgandandy.com" on the back of the Pig's blazer. Live and learn.

One more thing: Our Pig interpreter would like to comment on how well Nick Kraynak, the True Pig, did in the costume. That thing's impossible to see out of.

Meet Katie Rose - Again!

2007-09-24T21:47:00.001-04:00

Katie Rose, who played the short-tempered, ill-fated graduate student Jen, has a new bio. (Inexplicably, she rejected the intern-provided bio, which suggested, among other things, that she was a former fire fighter and kung fu instructor.)

This is Katie, in her own words:

Katie Rose lives in scenic Grand Haven, Michigan with her daughters Willow & Ginger. When not on nighttime walks or at the library, they love hanging out at home with their two goldfish, Tolstoy and Nemo Fishie.

Although acting is her true vocation, someone has to pay for the pricey upkeep and appetites of those damn fish..so, Katie occupies herself with various creative consulting/writing work and dubious business ventures.

Check out Katie Rose as 'Cindy' in The Dread alongside Ellen Sandweiss (of Evil Dead fame) and rising star Sally Pressman ('Roxie' on Lifetime's hit Army Wives). Most recently, Katie performed a lead role in Stick in the Mud, an independent short produced by One Story Pictures, slated for festivals in 2008.

The Old News Page Admits Defeat

2007-09-13T22:47:00.000-04:00

All right, folks. We're acknowledging our limitations. We're moving our news page over to a real blog site. What does this mean to you? First of all, we'll be putting our updates on the new blog instead of this page. That link is:

zorgandandy.blogspot.com

You'll want to subscribe to the new RSS feed on that page, too. Otherwise, you'll miss out on things like Ben's new bio (a real one, not written by a sarcastic production intern), more upcoming tech essays from Guy, and V.Z. Montengo explaining how he came up with the script.

The new blog is also easier to update (unless there are piranhas involved, it could hardly be more difficult). So if you're a member of the "Zorg and Andy" family and have a new project, let us know. "northanger (at) cox.net" That's us.

I'll repeat myself: please promote yourselves here. We love you. We want the world to love you, too.

Guy's been showing me big chunks of the movie with the audio mixed and the temp music tracks, and it makes we weep tears of joy. It reminded me again of what a great job you all did. Tears of joy, people.

The Northanger Edit Room -- With Pictures!

2007-08-18T15:06:00.000-04:00

Guy writes:

Warning #1: Major geekdom to follow. The following may put non-geeks into a persistent vegetative state. Many apologies in advance.

I thought some of you might like to know what sort of equipment we're using to edit "Zorg."

Because, you know, I'm a geek.

We've recently upgraded to a 2.66 GHz Mac Pro with 5 GBs of RAM, an ATI Radeon X1900 graphics card with 512 MB RAM and two internal 500 GB SATA hard drives. I edit on Final Cut Pro 5.1.4.

I told you it was going to be geeky.

Note the little-used and forlorn iMac in the corner of this picture? This was my previous editing computer. Sometimes it's awkward in the editing room, having both machines with me, clearly favoring one over the other. Relationships are so complicated, aren't they?

The iMac really is a nice machine if you're on a budget and it did a remarkable job of handling the processing demands of HDV, until audio editing managed to break its will to live. This one is the 17", 1.83 GHz model, with 2 GBs of RAM and a 250 GB hard drive. I used external firewire drives for media (and now use those for backups).

Warning #2: If as a geek, your further sub-classification is "Apple Geek," you may just want to skip to the next section.

Connected to the beautiful Mac Pro are two--well, let's just say that they're monitors, okay? They're monitors made by a company other than Apple. There. We'll leave it at that.

Okay, they're Dells. I said it. And they were a lot cheaper than the Apples. But, let me tell you, when those babies are on and you're sitting there at night, umbrella drink in hand and wearing something pretty, bathed in their beautiful, overwhelmingly huge, dual 24" glows, they're a wonder to behold.

See that little box sitting under the monitors? That's the Matrox MXO, an amazing little gizmo that among other things can turn an LCD monitor into an actual, pixel for pixel, high-definition monitor (assuming of course, said monitor has a resolution of at least 1920 x 1200, which, you know, mine do). This will be critical when we start color correcting. It's also a lot cheaper than a real high-definition monitor. To learn a little more about it, check out this review by Shane Ross, an editor in LA from his very informative blog.

For sound, I use a combination of ancient Sony headphones and a set of bottom-of-the-line, M-Audio Studio Pro 3 near-field speakers (picked up at a CompUSA store-closing sale). When I take the headphones off, there are all these little bits of disintegrating, no doubt cancer-causing foam that flake all over my head and desk and clothes.

No expense is too great for the fine folks at Northanger!

"What the Hell Has Guy Been Doing All This Time?" Or, "Shouldn't We Have Had a Premiere By Now?" An Update From Guy

2007-07-24T15:00:00.000-04:00

Guy writes:

In order to dispel some particularly nasty rumors from a certain disgruntled screenwriter named V. Z. Montengo (more on this in a later post), I want to take a moment to state unequivocally that a) I'm not dead, b) I have not been committed to the Pennsylvania State Hospital for the Criminally Insane, nor have I, c) run off with Northanger funds to some banana republic where I am currently engaged in the "Import/Export" business. Instead, I'm here to report that since the end of filming "Zorg"-and for those counting at home, that would be the last seventeen months-I've been alive, free, in-country and in post-production on our movie.

Not that there haven't been those moments when I haven't occasionally wished for the blessed release that only death could provide. And there certainly have been times-especially recently during the bliss that is audio editing-when I've felt what little grasp I had to begin with on my meager sanity slowly loosen its hold. But overall, I'm happy to report that editing on the film is proceeding nicely. "Proceeding nicely," as in, "Boy, that glacier sure is proceeding nicely, isn't it?" Still, progress is progress!

I've frankly done an awful job of keeping all of you informed about what I've been up to and here and now beg for much forgiveness. Never forget the motto of Northanger Productions: "We're Sorry." From now on, I vow to do much better at updating you, so expect to see more regular posts from me about where we are in the process overall and what I'm currently working on. I also further promise that those posts will be much shorter than this one.

By posting, I'm also hoping to alleviate some of the tremendous guilt I've been feeling about contributing absolutely nothing to this site. It's time I did something around here to help Quentin out! By the way, Quentin has done an amazing job creating the "Zorg" site, not to mention producing almost all of its content as well. Thanks, Quentin! You're the best!

And so, on to a brief update about what we've been doing since March of 2006 and where we are now. To date, we've gone through three computers used to edit the film, as well as two major software upgrades. We shot the film on HDV, which was a relatively new technology as we entered post. I think at the time, there had only been one or two other features produced in the format, so editing-especially on the Mac side as it turned out-was a bit problematic as we resolved a host of workflow-related issues. But resolve them we did, and logging and capturing of footage took place during June and July.

We also had some additional shooting to do. In September of 2006, Quentin, Ben and Doug flew out to Mesa, AZ (not coincidently, my home) to film the opening scenes at a local archaeological dig site (with much remote assistance from Paula, Marco and Sally). You can read more about Mesa Grande and the wonderful members of the Southwest Archaeological Team who maintain it here. I think the results are fantastic and we couldn't have done any of it without the tremendous assistance of Dr. Jerry Howard, who is the Curator of Anthropology at the Mesa Southwest Museum and who overseas the Team. Thanks for everything, Jerry!

In October, I flew back to Indiana, where we (Quentin, Paula, Ben, Doug, Sally, Bill and David) got some pickup shots at both Earlham and Wabash. The group agreed that we vastly preferred the term "pickup shot" to "reshoot." Scott also joined us for an afternoon of close-ups and a little ADR work.

The rough cut of the film was finished in December of 2006 and clocked in at 63 minutes (that's without beginning and ending credits). Given that Montengo's script was right around 90 pages--and that the general rule of thumb is that each page represents a minute of screen time-you may be beginning to gain some insight into both why Montengo hates me and why writers in general drink to excess. But, as I said earlier, we'll get into all that a bit later. For now, let's just say that the film has a certain energy to it and moves along at a brisk pace.

Quentin's notes on the rough cut arrived in January, 2007 and I began going through the changes. Since March, 2007, I've been working on audio-cleaning up dialogue, adding sound effects and music. This has been by far the most challenging aspect of the production for me, mainly because each one of these disciplines-dialogue editing, sound effects work, music editing, mixing and all the rest-is an art unto itself and requires years of experience and talent to do well. But one of the joys of indie filmmaking is that you do a little bit of everything. In the process, I've learned a lot of humility and developed an incredible amount of respect for the people who do post-production work professionally. From picture editing to final color grading and sound mixing, their contributions are immense and we hope to be able to hire some of them on future productions!

On the music front, Quentin scoured the web and old, dusty record shops for music that we could use in the film. He found a wide array of genres that could have potentially worked, but the one that seemed to click for both of us is called Exotica. Quentin posted a link to some of the music we're using in an earlier post, but for another sample, click here. Right now, we're using the music as a temp track for timing and feel, but we're very hopeful that we'll be able to license the actual tunes for the finished film (one of the many things on our to-do list).

At the moment, we're about a third of the way through audio editing, and I'd hate to try to guess how long the rest will take. I keep thinking my momentum will pick up a bit, but that hasn't happened yet.

Assuming for a moment that one day the audio process will be complete, next up will be working on the film's visual effects-we have about sixty shots in all-and finally, color correction, which will give the film a unified look. And then on to trying to sell the thing! And, of course, that premiere party we're all looking forward to.

I want to thank you all again for all of your hard work on the film, and for your patience in seeing it finished. And I promise to keep you posted on our progress.

Hope you're all well and happy!

Guy

Meet Julie Deitrich

2007-07-01T14:56:00.000-04:00

Please welcome Julie Dietrich to the "Zorg and Andy" family. Julie has generously provided the voice-over work for Charlene Ross's answering machine message, which sets the whole darn movie in motion.

At this point, some of you may be asking yourselves, "Has Julie really suffered enough to be a member of the "Zorg and Andy" family?"

Has she stood half-naked in the snow while Guy and Ben discuss lighting? Has she been glared at by Wes for mishandling the boom? Has a light fallen on her? Did she share a house with the crew? Has she Touched the Bugs?

Well, consider this: in high school, Julie went to the prom with one of the producers, an event at which said producer thought it would be amusing to wear a beret.

Oh, yes. She's suffered. Welcome aboard, Julie.

We Welcome our New BOCATEK Overlords!

2007-05-23T14:55:00.000-04:00

Hosting for this site is now generously being provided by BOCATEK. We are very grateful.

This means that we're now able to provide an RSS feed to keep you informed as we race toward completion of our magnificent postproduction process. Sign up for our feed and never miss an exciting update again! Isn't that great?

How do you sign up? There should be a little orange or blue icon up in your browser's address bar. Click it, and something should happen. (Look, we're not rocket scientists here. If that doesn't work, we suggest checking Google or harassing a knowledgeable friend.)

Once again, the "Zorg and Andy" family would like to express our sincere thanks to the people of BOCATEK. They're not just technologists, folks, they're patrons of the arts!

We killed another one!

2007-05-09T14:54:00.000-04:00

As we speak, the post-production team is installing a new computer to complete the sound mixing. Guy's rich, multi-layered audio sculptures have proven too stressful for the iMac, which has refused to cooperate any further. So now we'll be using a shiny, powerful Mac Pro, which will definitely never give us any problems ever.

For those counting, this will be the third computer we've gone through on this production. I'd like to think this is some kind of record, but Peter Jackson probably killed more than that every time he made an orc sneeze.

The temp-tracking is really turning out well. For an idea of the direction we're going with music, check out this excellent recording.

Looks different, says the same

2007-04-15T14:53:00.000-04:00

A new look for the site. iWeb, though lovely, harshed our buzz quite a bit when it came to making additions and upgrades. We're now managing this thing in glorious plain HTML, they way they used to do it in von Stroheim's day.

Details, and the devils therein

2007-04-02T14:14:00.000-04:00

We continue to stride boldly through the morass of post-production, applying our finely-tuned critical faculties to the painstaking process of audio mixing. We love our jobs!