monster

monster village

2011-07-14T17:39:00.000-07:00

So rendering is taking as long as everyone said it would, despite all my finger crossing. The good news is, we are close to finishing up the film. And by close I mean I can now count the remaining tasks on one hand. In the meantime, Rich cut a 2 minute behind-the-scenes montage video. The footage was shot on day two of filming Monster at Pitt Lake, and includes many of the cast and crew. Enjoy!

Monster - Behind the scenes from deborah on Vimeo.

Trailer

2011-05-07T20:37:00.000-07:00

Monster: Trailer from deborah on Vimeo.

Score!

2011-03-29T20:07:00.000-07:00

Studio kitty. He head-butted me every time he saw me. very cute.

My idea for the music was sparse, resonating, scary and a little bit tribal. I am lucky that my step-sister, Lisa, married the talented cello player Shanto Bhattacharya, and he agreed to compose the music and play cello. Everything about the score is what I heard in my mind when I wrote the script. It seems to me his work on this film was preordained.

Shanto and Jesse played the music while they watched the film and occasionally peaked at the sheet music. The exciting part of recording live instruments, rather than composing on a computer, is that happy accidents are able to happen. The music sounds fresh and organic.

Shanto asked his fellow band mate in Fond of Tigers, Jesse Zubot, to play violin and record /engineer the music in his home studio near Squamish, Canada. It was a fun day watching these guys work. There was a healthy dose of respect and strong synergy between the two of them.

Jesse performed one violin bit in a single take. I was impressed, it was the first time Jesse had ever read Shanto's music sheets. After each bit he played he had to run back to the recording room to listen. Both guys looked exhausted at the end of the day, but they did an amazing job. I am really proud of their work.

In this video Monster's composer/cello player Shanto Bhattachara, score sound engineer/violin player Jesse Zubot record the score and me watching. Recorded by Rich on his iphone very quickly, so it's a bit wonky and grainy.

Monster Behind the Scenes: The Score from deborah on Vimeo.

Check out Shanto and Jesse's band out, Fond of Tigers, nominated for an independent spirit music award and this weekend they won the Juno for best Instrumental album. Yah, Tigers! way to go!

Creating the Monster

2011-03-17T19:11:00.000-07:00

A sneak peak at the Monster's frightening choppers!

This fantastic render was sent to us from Monster's Texture/Material Artist, Peter Hogan after he had completed the mouth and eyes. Peter digitally painted and sculpted the outer layer of the model. This is going to help make the Monster look as life like as possible.

The coolest and most challenging aspect of this film is making the CGI monster come to life. It's an incredibly huge amount of work and we are very lucky to have the team that we have working on it. I work in the animation industry so I was lucky that I could approach these talented folks and ask for their help.

The look of the Monster was thought and dreamt up by Deborah and Rodrigo Segovia . They then took their ideas to Andy Poon, the Monster designer. Andy spent about an hour doodling at the table and before we knew it the monster was born into the 2d world.

We needed to figure out how to execute all of this in the actual shoot. I needed some guidance so I asked local filmmaker, Zach Lipovsky for help. Zach was also one of the judges for the Hot Shots contest . Zach jumped on board and helped us create a plan of attack so things would run smoothly on set and in post. On set, Zach came on as our Visual Effects supervisor and captured our HDRI's that we needed. He took pictures of a mirrored ball on set to record the light of the real world. This makes it easier for our lighting artist to match the cgi light with the real world light. Zach also created the necessary practical effects such as the Monster's footsteps.

After the shoot we quickly passed the torch over to the animators and the rest of the visual effects team. At that stage the model was completed by our modeler Colin Robinson. I love how Colin made those teeth look imperfect. So cool.

The rig ( the monster's skeleton) is what the animator's use to animate the Monster. It is a very complicated process and requires sharp problem solving skills. The perfect person for this was animator and FX artist Melt van der Spuy Melt jumped on board early in the game and created the rig for the Monster's body. During that time Melt had a baby girl! At that time Melt had to step down but left us with a really good rig and got the ball rolling for the animation.

Monster's animators are Nathan Thomas, Jackie Koehler, Melanie Vachon and Sanghoon wes lee. All very strong and talented animators. Deb worked closely with them as they blocked out their shots and pretty soon they were ready for a facial rig.

We had to find another rigger...quickly.

Lucky for us Monster's FX/Rendering artist David Poirier was working with FX artist Brendon Marklinger at rainmaker. Brendon jumped on right away and completed the facial rig,weights and worked out some of the bugs. This was a huge help for all of us and it kept the momentum going. To our delight, Brendon also agreed to help David out with the lighting and rendering.

After the animators blocked out what Deb wanted they polished their shots into priceless little gems. After months of hard work, the animator's gave the monster a soul! A very special thing indeed.

Now we face another mountain to climb. David and Brendon grab the torch and head into the next challenging phase.

They will be creating simulated FUR, lighting and rendering the Monster at 2k resolution. Right now we are looking at about 10 to 16 minutes per frame for rendering time and we have about 1500 frames in total to render.

As each shot is rendered we pass them over to our lead compositor, Keath Ling . Keath will be making sure the Monster fits into the live action plates so it looks as if the monster belongs in that world. Keath is gathering up a crew of compositors in the next week or so to help out. If we get accepted to Cannes we will need a strong team of compositors to finish by May.

This has been like film school. A film school with a Visual Effects class lead by some of the industries brightest.

~rich

Editing

2011-03-16T13:27:00.000-07:00

It's been almost a year since the film was shot and now we are about a month and a half shy from completing the film.

As soon as the shoot was complete Graham Kew stepped in as our 1st Assistant Editor, set up my project,synced up the footage to the sound and assembled all the takes for each shot making it very easy for me to focus on the editing right away.

After a day or two I finished the assembly. Deb and I poured ourselves into it, scrutinizing over every cut and every frame. We started to get very close to finishing before the fall but in August I was diagnosed with cancer.

Life knocked us off our feet. I was facing 12 weeks of intense chemo therapy and Deb and I had no choice but to put the film away for a few months. I eventually came out of chemo therapy, beating cancer and normal life resumed. All engines were a go...

In no time we were both back to it and working on the editing again.

Having a lot of time away from the film really gave us a fresh pair of eagle eyes. Every time we would announce to one another that we were done we would catch something in the corner of our eye and begin editing again. Deb had a really specific pace in mind and once I found that pace, everything else seemed to fall into place.

We showed it to a few people to get some feedback and it helped tremendously. For the most part our little test audience gave us a gauge of what we could get away with and most importantly what we needed to improve on. So a big thanks to everyone who gave us their honest and critical feedback!

The film is finally cut the way the film wants to be cut and the monster is alive!

~Rich

movie poster

2011-01-21T19:10:00.000-08:00

Post production work is coming along. The CGI monster is near completion, the edit is almost locked and we are counting down our last weeks until we are finished. Its very exciting!!

I realized the time has come to design a poster. I did some research on movie posters with monster in the title. There are lots to see and I thought I would share.

The first two I expected to find.

I love these retro posters, they're funny and creative.

There were some sexy monsters.

Two monster balls

A foreign monster

Some kiddie monsters

and some scary monsters.....

Vancouver Observer

2010-06-28T09:38:00.000-07:00

There is a nice interview in the Vancouver Observer this week. Click here to read.

Doug Hutchison, Jodelle Ferland, and director Deborah Burns. photo: Stuart Robinson

Great Friends Helping Out

2010-06-26T12:09:00.000-07:00

The background performers are normally the unsung onscreen heros, but in this case many of them are also my friends and family. You can actually see the same folks peppered though-out my earlier films.

Good friends Stu Robinson and Odessa Bennett flew on a red-eye from Calgary to help us out. This married couple has made the most of cold Calgary days by creating this body of work: http://www.flickr.com/photos/insomniaart/sets/. Stu takes the photos and Odessa styles them. So, when I realized that I needed Odessa's help with costumes, and no one else would do, they flew out (no questions asked) to do costume supervision and to take photos of background and behind the scenes. Below are some of Stu's photos.

Odessa trying to make Lottery Man's hair behave.

This is Daniela Agosta. As well as doing background she designed the amazing costume for Hannah, played by Jodelle.

This is local actor BK Singh Rakhra he plays the first villager to draw lots. BK is a great guy to work with and judging by his resume I am not the only one to notice.

This is my good friend Shannon Blakeman. I know that waking up at 5am to stand in a cold windy marsh on a Sunday morning was not her idea of a good time, so we told her John Cusack was going to be there. ;)

Seriously, Shannon has been a really amazing support for me with all my films, whether it be doing art, storyboards, background or lending me her apartment...she is always involved and giving her best.

This is my bff Rodrigo Segovia, in real life he designs movie sets and he is my design partner for "Monster". He is the brainchild behind the look of the monster, which was later made a reality on paper by Andy Poon.

He also has an uncanny ability to play wind instruments. He often tells people that he is the 'whistling champion of Mexico' ....and I am sure if there was such a title he would hold it.

The shofar is crazy hard to play — in fact many on set tried and all failed, making him the natural choice to play The Horn Blower.

This is Diego and Triana Segovia, Rodrigo's nephew and niece. Triana did some acting when she was really young and was in a film I did 7 years ago. Now she is all about horses.

Diego is a big fan of Monster and asked if he could add two dead weasels to his costume. See them hanging over his shoulder.

Indra Isita, also one of Rodrigo's nieces, is natural talent on camera.

The is my sister Lisa Marie Whitaker with son Oskar. Lisa has done background in other films for me, but in reality is a holistic nutritionist and runs a B+B with her husband on Bowen Island: www.oceanlightcottage.com

Here is Oskar being cute. When I called action, Oskar would sing...when I called cut, Oskar would stop. Later I learned that he was 'la, la la-ing" Beethoven. I guess having a musician father has its benefits.

In the background is Shannon and Indra. In front, just off camera is Joe Beauchene, then Marian Buechert, Ella Puolitalpale, Daniela Agosta and Dave Abustan. This scene took all day for us to shoot, except for the little ones who were only in the master shots. They did an amazing job.

This my friend Melanie Greenaway and her son Leif. Melanie designs exhibits for a living — this might actually be her first acting gig. http://www.doubledaredesign.ca/
She got wrangled into doing background when she donated cash to monster at http://www.indiegogo.com/Monster-a-short-film and received a day on set. So double thanks to Mel for all her support.

Monster article in the Tricity News!!

2010-06-23T23:19:00.000-07:00

Cast and crew of "monster" on day 3 at Golden Ears Park. Photo by Stu Robinson
http://www.bclocalnews.com/tri_city_maple_ridge/tricitynews/entertainment/96925869.html

Thanks to all the producers!! Everyone has done a great job.

Thanks to Timo Puolitaipale for shepherding the film through production and for showing off his fund raising skills at indiegogo. http://www.citizen11.com/Blog/Blog.html.

Thanks to producer, Raj Uppal for helping to pitch Monster to the Hotshot judges. The article suggests that Jodelle Ferland found us...but in fact it was Raj who pitched the script to Jodelle and won her over. http://www.theendoftheday.ca.

Thanks to the Hotshot executive producers Paul Armstrong, Aaron Houston and Ed Brando. Ed (superstar) organized equipment and crew; and drove his ATV to run equipment, cast and crew to set. Looked like he was having fun doing it too. Paul and Kat were on top of all the PR...I even heard rumours of ET Canada somewhere on set.

Thanks to Marilyn Thomas, our hotshot co-producer and champion of Monster from the very first script read. She gave a lot of energy on set — I think I even saw her working as a grip.

While not technically a producer, Jon Joffin really deserves a big producing thanks too. He did more than just cinematography; he secured amazing camera equipment, helped to find top-notch camera crew and turned our Deluxe sponsorship into something a bit more special.

Thanks to my favorite producer (and husband) Rich Johnson. http://www.richjohnsonstudio.com. Rich worked day and night to produce this short film. There was no task he was afraid to tackle or limits to what he would challenged himself to do, which includes producing the post-production and that illusive CGI Monster. I will be blogging about our fantastic animation and CGI team soon. :)

Shooting the Monster

2010-06-14T18:34:00.000-07:00

Ed Araquel came out to take still photos www.edaraquel.com. Here is a sample of my favorites!!

From the left Indra Isita, Jodelle Ferland, Doug Hutchison and Dave Abustan. This is taken at Grants Narrows in a wet marsh, where we set up the dolly and got some beautiful footage thanks to the camera crew: d.o.p. Jon Joffin, camera operator Brian Johnson, 1ac Jos Oman, 2nd ac Lunk Barlow, 3rd ac Cristian Cretu, Gaffer Vince Laxton, Key Grip Reid Cohoon, electrical: Michael Edillor, Ryan Petey, Zach Steele, Dan Holt and the Grips who carried a whole lot of stuff in three days: Dan Holt, James Burke, Derek Lalonde, Jinx Moore and the volunteers from VFS and Capilano. I hope I didn't forget anyone...let me know if I did. The collaboration of everyone's work has resulted in stunning results. Cant wait to show everyone — but first the monster needs to be animated. (more on that soon)

This is the Lottery Man...he decides who will feed the monster. The costume was designed by the talented duo Jayne and Ray at enigma aracna. Inside this scary mask is my amazing husband and partner in 'Monster', Richard Johnson. When he wasn't acting on set, he along with my mother-in-law Ruby did all the catering. It was a 'monsterous' task and they did an amazing job.

Here is Jodelle Ferland and Turbo at Golden Ears Park — both competing for cuteness in this shot. Jodelle is a true superstar. Not only is her acting superb, but she is simply the coolest girl. I don't think there is much that can shake her — not even a swarm of tiny blood sucking mosquitoes. Cant wait to see her in Twilight.

thank you monster crew

2010-05-29T16:02:00.000-07:00

We wrapped one week ago and I think I am finally feeling normal again. Thanks to all the crew who put in so much time, dedication and creativity to make this short film happen. Our last night was a long one, with the pressure of Golden Ears Park shutting the gate for the night and locking us in the park. That wouldn't be so bad, but there is a monster out there!!! In the end I got all of the shots needed and our amazing crew packed up and got the hell out before being eaten.

I have about a billion things to blog about right now and I am trying to choose what first. So, how about starting at the beginning.

Ed Brando, brought in his trailer for costumes, hair and make up. In the first picture Jodelle and her mom are leaving the makeshift star trailer.

There was a 15 minute walk between where the trucks could park and where we were shooting. Ed also brought his ATV to set to shuttle people back and forth to set. And then we had pick up trucks taking the equipment - a little bit at a time. The crew worked soooo hard and they were amazing.

This picture was taken from the trucks. We had to go all the way to that grove of trees. On a narrow dyke road. One pickup truck almost went into the water, but the guys got it back on the road.

There was lots of wild life everywhere. We saw beavers, eagles, cranes and all kinds of birds, including this family of Canadian Geese.

We all had a really good on set, even though it was a lot of work on a grey wet day.

In the foreground is Doug Hutchison getting his makeup by Steph Miramontes, our key makeup. To the left is Marilyn Thomas and in the left background is Paul Armstrong (both Hotshot producers). To the right with red hair is Odessa Bennett, Wardrobe Supervisor and me (the director) and Stu Robinson, set photographer. All of these photos are courtesy of Ruby Johnson.

Turbo!

2010-05-11T21:57:00.000-07:00

We have a third star that has yet to be introduced, Turbo! This adorable lady bunny will star as Hannah's faithful buddy. With no acting credits to her name, I think the pictures below prove that she is a natural talent in front of the camera.

Cute. Pretty dam cute. I hope the monster doesn't eat her . : \

shofar, so good!!

2010-05-10T14:17:00.000-07:00

My friend Cara took me to Temple Sholom to buy a Shofar, which is a Jewish Horn made of an animal horn. In the movie, the horn will be blown when the lottery is won. I wanted it to be really powerful looking, but those Shofars are expensive. I could only afford a tiny little shofar that looked more like a tabacoo pipe than a horn.

While I pondered how deep in dept I want to go with a 3 second scene, Cara simply asked the shop lady if we could rent it. The next thing I knew I was getting it on loan (re:free) with the promise I donate to the Temple when I return it. So I borrowed a big one!!

It's really hard to play; its like blowing a trumpet. Listen to the sound here: http://www.piney.com/sonsshophar.au.snd

Phrygian Cap

2010-05-10T13:49:00.000-07:00

Who knew that there was symbolism attached to the pointy cap? I just read an article on the Phrygian Cap. Apparently, the cap signifies freedom and the pursuit of liberty, and is an important symbol in world history.

Phrygian Cap from the Roman Empire above. Below, our handsome villager wears a similar cap - or in Canada "the toque". Also, notice the similar down cast look to one side; he's thinking freedom.

Beard Contest - calling cast and crew!

2010-05-07T14:05:00.000-07:00

Had a visit with Doug Hutchison (playing Walter) to see how is beard is coming along. Looking good Doug!

I challenge all FUR GROWING CAST and CREW (including producers) to see who can grow the biggest beard! (not including Doug so don't worry.) Biggest beard wins a "shaving kit" on shoot day!
Post your pics (here) if you have time and introduce yourself to the monster fans and keep on top of the race! ( this also ties in with Canucks playoffs... so...)

The beard race is on boys!
~r

Wind and Rain and more Wind

2010-05-07T09:32:00.000-07:00

It true, everyone was wind blown and rained on. However, I'm confident that it will be sunny, warm and calm on the shooting days. If not, we will post some wicked pictures of the grips holding stuff.
Starting on the left is Timo Puolitaipale our Producer. Check out his projects at: http://www.citizen11.com. Next is Jon Joffin our DOP, who just earned a Leo nomination for his cinematography on "Alice". That's me on the end (Deborah Burns, Director), pictured moments before sliding down a muddy hill on the back of a slug.

In this picture Jon is wondering if we could bring in a boat for the camera.

Jon has a hefty list of cinematography credits http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0423632, complete with nominations for a Primetime Emmy and an American Society of Cinematographers. We are dam lucky to have him.

Last Years Hot Shots Film makes it to the Leo Awards.

2010-05-03T20:44:00.000-07:00

Congrats to Jodelle Ferland on her Leo nomination for "Everything's Coming Up Rosie", the 2009 Hotshot Winner.

lottery-man-concept-art

2010-05-02T20:36:00.001-07:00

lottery-man-concept-art, originally uploaded by Rich Johnson flickr.

This was a sketch of the lottery man costume by Jayne from Enigma Arcana

Enigma Arcana

2010-05-01T09:10:00.000-07:00

Our 'monster' designer Andy Poon hooked us up with Ray and Jayne at Enigma Arcana. These two amazing artists have over 20 years experience doing costumes, break down and props. We are super lucky to have them design and construct our big costume: the lottery man. Here is a sneak peak...

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Wait till you see the mask and the finished touches in this incredible costume!!! This is just the beginning stage of it. While at our last fitting Ray and Jayne gave amazing tips and advice to our costume designers Daniella and Nicky. They have so much experience and are being so generous with their time and knowledge.

They are also making all of our props and breaking everything down to look thousands of years old. They call this "break down". We gave Ray a brand new outdoor lamp and two weeks later he gave this back to us...

We gave him a perfectly fine chair and he broke it down to make it look a thousand years old and a part of the forest. He made it look like its going to crumble into pieces. You wouldn't know to look at it but I could sit on it and not worry about it falling apart since Ray added metal rods inside the legs... how freakin cool is that!

photos are from our new iphones. Camera on iphones..suck. better pics next time.

Actors and costumes!

2010-04-22T01:34:00.000-07:00

Last Sunday both of our Lead Actors Jodelle Ferland and R. Douglas Hutchison got themselves fitted for their costumes. So I had a chance to introduce both actors and take some pics as they were being fitted.

Jodelle Ferland, what can we say? Jodelle has risen the bar for this film. Her inspiring and complex performance in Terry Gilliam's Tideland blew us away and is a must see!!

Jodelle's most recent film is The Twilight Saga: Eclipse, soon to come out this summer. Her resume rolls to the floor and it seems to keep growing. She is very, very busy and yet she still has time to do our little short. How cool is that!!?

R Douglas Hutchison getting his hunting garb fitted. Doug has been growing out his beard for us for quite some time now and we are very very lucky to have such a dedicated actor! I have worked with Doug over the last ten years and it has always been a pleasure. I always learn something from Doug.

Doug's ability to give a natural performance,his sensitivity and his patience are gifts that any director would die for. I can't wait to see him in action again!

The clothes Deb brought back are so cool and seeing them laid out on the couch reminded me of the colors and texture this film is going to have. It's very well thought out.

Deb wanted a lot of natural looking wood and fiber for the villagers tools and baskets. I think she did an amazing job finding a vision for the look of the villagers.

And now our talented costume designers will be taking Deb's vision and bringing it to life and into being.

Costume designer, Nikki Brown taking off a sleeve from one of the sweaters that Deb brought back from her trip to Mexico. These will be used for "Hannah's" leg warmers.

Here are our awesome costume designers!!!

Nikki Brown

and Daniela Agosta

Both have been so positive and passionate about what they do. We are blessed to have them on board. These two are hard at work designing and constructing all of the costumes for us. It's a biiiiig job and both were up for the challenge!

I should also mention that one of the "main" costume's is being created by ENIGMA ARCANA Lots more coming! Stay tuned!

Wiki page

2010-04-19T14:07:00.000-07:00

Okay this is turning out to be harder than it looks. I began a wiki page for facts and boring stuff....mostly so all of us producing can be on the same page. It looks ok but if I try to search it...it doesn't actually exist. Anyhow if you are the type to like to read about facts and stats this is the page for you.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/User:Monstermovie

Hannah and the Monster sneak peek!

2010-04-06T22:09:00.000-07:00

The amazing Artist/Sorcerer, Colin Lorimer, just handed me gold today. Beautiful storyboards for the sequence when Hannah Meets the Monster in the forest.

As a result of this amazing sorcery, he has also given us two great images we can show you without giving too much of the story away!

Check out Colin's work here..
www.alarmclockproductions.com/

and his blog here...
www.lubbert-das.blogspot.com/

-rich

indigogo

2010-04-06T15:36:00.001-07:00

If you want to support our film please go to www.indiegogo.com/Monster-a-short-film.

rethinking locations again!

2010-04-06T15:24:00.000-07:00

We had one more location to visit before we decided. In Pitt Meadows there is a place called Grant Narrows that has a grassy meadow and lots of mountains. I really loved it here. It was quiet, there was no signs of civilization to ruin my shots and lots of mountains in the foreground and the background. In the photo above we will shoot our villagers. Rodrigo Segovia, our production designer, is designing a few village buildings in CGI, which will be composited into this scene later. The picture below is the location for the bunny trapping scene. I love all the tall grass and mounds of grass....hope we don't lose the bunny in there!!

Check out more Grant Narrows and Golden Ears location photos at: http://www.flickr.com/photos/48988284@N06/

the never ending location scout

2010-03-02T23:49:00.000-08:00

I am feeling pretty good about Minnekhada Park on Pitt River. Its close to Vancouver and its seems to have most of the features I need for creating a village like community. The tough part of scouting this location is finding a wide open area that doesn't have signs of our modern world. My ideal location would be Manning Park, but it is just too far away for a day shoot. Minnekhada Park is good but it doesn't have the steep mountains I envisioned. Perhaps if it is a clear blue skied day we can comp a few mountains in.

here are some shots of Minnekhada Park. There are some nice details.

Funny thing happened on the way to the market....

2010-03-02T12:02:00.000-08:00

I found costumes! I recently went to my friends wedding in Playa del Carmen. While there I tried to stop thinking about pre-production or checking my mailbox everyday to see if the Canada Arts Council had recognized my brilliance yet and awarded me money.

I was finally relaxing and enjoying the Mexican heat when I discovered this store (pictured left) that featured hand-made alpaca wool clothes from Chiapas. I was attracted to the bright coloured sweaters hanging in the door and went inside. I didn't take a photo in the store, but inside I found neutral coloured ponchos and taupe capes that looked very much like what I had envisioned for costumes. I spent the next 2 hours rummaging through wool toques, scarves, ponchos and blankets (in the heat) trying to dress my villagers. I finally left empty handed because I realized I needed to sketch a few things out, calculate who would wear what and more importantly, there was no way on earth I could carry 12 wool costumes down the street and hail a cab alone.

I returned a few days later with my friend. An hour later he left dragging one big bag and me another. I felt a huge sense of relief knowing I now had every costume for all the villagers. Or at least the base for the costume, and they were cheap. I could never have found the quality in Vancouver for the price I paid.

The ladies in the store were giggling at me as I slowly loaded up my purchase on the counter. I ended up buying all the toques. I cant explain why I originally decided that the men in my village need to wear extremely tall pointy toques...especially since these would need to be hand-made. And I hadn't signed up a gung-ho costume designer yet, so tall pointy toques were just a fantasy until I found my toques in this basket (pictured left). Or maybe the toques found me?

I now have a costume for everyone in the villager. I was so excited when I got back to my hotel room, until I tried to pack them into my suitcase. I managed to get half in my bag, but I had to buy a second one for the rest. It also didn't occur to me that I would have a weight restriction on the flight home. Wool weighs a ton. I started to sweat it out when I saw some poor lady in the airport with all the contents of her bags spread out all over the floor. She was randomly picking things to toss out, just to get her weight down. The price was $20 for every kilo over your limit. When my bags went on the scale I was totally freaking out. It started to feel like my great bargain was going to turn into a fortune in cargo weight. But then the airport guy says, "don't worry about it" even though I was over by a few kilos.

Now at home I need to start gathering up and making the missing details of the costumes.

2010-02-19T11:45:00.000-08:00

The biggest design element for "Monster", besides the CGI monster himself, are the costumes. There will be about 12 villagers who need to look like they are part of a unique community living some time in the future where there is no technology. The big question with this concept is how rustic do I go. I am not interested in a serious tribal look, although this would be the most believable for a community with no modern technology at all. On the other hand, I need to steer away from complicated machine stitching and modern details.

When I picture the villagers in my mind I see rustic outfits that suggest an Eastern European gypsy meets Main Street crafter. I imagine details like woolly leggings, capes and toques, layered with belts, leather bags, scarves and baskets. In my imagination this works. When I say it out loud, apparently it starts to sound like a lot of work. That is what I have been hearing from costume designers in town. Apparently it’s going to be a big job, with lots of crew sewing and fitting and creating details. The biggest problem with getting costume designers to commit is that the film industry has been dead due to the 2010 Olympics, and they are ready for a paying gig.

On a good note, I did get a commitment from Enigma Arcana to design the main costume piece. Check out flickr to see their work http://www.flickr.com/photos/calamity/sets/72157594336455204/. I took inspiration for the ceremonial lottery costume from a medieval black plague doctor. The costume will be a combination of bone mask and fur cape. The character stands about 7 feet tall. This frightening entity holds a bag full of white monster teeth for the villagers to draw from. The first person to draw a black tooth wins the chance to feed the monster. Preliminary sketches are fantastic and I know I am in safe hands with this costume.

The above images are inspiration photos I used for pitching. I don't love the cow bells in the bottom one but I really like the head piece and the addition of fur.

Scouting at Grants Narrows

2009-11-25T16:46:00.000-08:00

I'm in search of the perfect wild meadow, so its off to Grants Narrows at Pitt Lake. Here are two beautiful shots I found on the internet. Its looks fantastic, but why is there so much water. We'll see soon enough.

monster steps!!!

2009-11-04T20:27:00.000-08:00

I will be doing my last budget alone. Thank god!!

Its an exciting development for the project, as we now have Timo Puolitaipale as producer on Monster. We had a great meeting the other day and I really feel like I have capable hands to help me make this film great.

He comes in at a really great time. I got a call from Canada Arts Council with positive feed back. They also asked me to upgrade from the emerging artist to mid career artist category....which means submitting a new budget. Just when I thought I was done with that thing, its back! But its all good. I can now add up to 40k more to my budget (which is crazy). Luckily I am not on my own with the budget revisions and it will now look professional. At any rate it will look much bigger.

On the design front, Andy Poon is almost finished with the monster designs. Ya!! However, the monster's appearance will remain top secret until the curtains draws on opening night. All I can say is he is scary as HELL! I don't know how Andy sleeps at night after rendering such an atrocity.

Next step is to start serious location scouting. We need an idyllic valley framed by mountains and forest, and we need some fairytale style forest trails. Turns out the UBC Endowment Lands are full of restrictions and rules and a hefty insurance fee. (Yet, it was so pretty). Anyhow if anyone has ideas, I am all ears!

~d

locations, locations

2009-10-18T23:23:00.000-07:00

Did a bit of location scouting in the Endowment Lands around UBC today.

Andy Poon the amazing conjuror!

2009-10-17T15:42:00.000-07:00

left to right ( Deborah, Andy, Rodrigo)

The other night we had our first big step for Monster! He was born. ( into our 2d world) . Deb ( Director, writer) and Rodrigo ( prod designer) talked with Andy Poon ( Lead Designer, Conjuror) on what the vision was for the Monster. Andy listened intently to them both, looked over the reference material and rough drawings sketched by Rodrigo. After about a half hour of that. Andy just started to draw.

Andy drew, and drew.

He kept on drawing as we watched him in awe. he asked us details of the shoot, offered us contacts to more people that can help us with the film. he was very generous. he drew, we watched him and he asked us questions. It was kind of like getting our tea leaves read.

Rodrigo watches Andy draw.

After a bit of scribbling, Andy, like magic, conjured him up right there in front of us with pencil and paper. A sense of relief and excitement came over us. Monster was born.

In a couple of days Andy sent us his final versions of the monster with well thought out changes and additional details.Andy finalized the 2d sketch in a matter of two days.

Andy has offered to supervise the Monster as it is going through the cg pipeline. His talent, experience and care for this project is a great asset for the film and we are very thankful to have him on board.

I wish I could show the monster off but we can't show him until you see the film. :( sorry...

-rich

We Are Winners!!

2009-09-24T12:12:00.000-07:00

Last night we went to the Celluloid Social Club, where the HotShot winner was officially announced. And if you haven't guessed by now, it was me! Or should I say it was "MONSTER"!!

I was speechless.....literally.....but I did manage to blurt out something, I think. This is a very exciting time for me. We have an amazing actress to be our lead, Jodelle Ferland, and I have a really supportive film crew taking shape.

For now, I'm tackling the worst part of all....funding packages. Canada Arts Council deadline is just a week away, ugh.  Need to write something about myth, ritual, media and control. Thank god for the 'big brain' shelf at Happy Bat's Video.

I guess I should stop procrastinating.

-d

Roar

2009-09-22T21:33:00.000-07:00

Roar roar roar. Roar roar roar roar roar...roar.

Roar
-Monster

Where did the Monster come from

2009-09-09T20:09:00.000-07:00

This summer I had more time than usual to look around for inspiration. Much to my surprise I found this angry troupe of monsters cruising through the grass. I couldn't get them out of my mind. They were definitely up to something bad, something only monsters would do. But I couldn't help wonder if they were aware that I could squish them with my flip-flops. Then I got thinking, maybe it's me who is mistaken. Things aren't always what they appear. Look at the glow in the leader's eye. If you see this bunch, I suggest you let them pass.....

—d

the disenbodied creative spirit of genius

2009-09-08T20:40:00.000-07:00

Since i don't have cable, I watch lots of ted.com. One that stuck with me was with Elizabeth Gilbert talking about where creative inspiration comes from.

My favorite part is her story about Ruth, now in her 90s, who has been a poet her entire life. She grew up in rural Virginia, she would be out working in the fields and she said she would feel and hear a poem coming at her from over the landscape. And she said it was like a thunderous train of air. And she said it would come barreling down at her over the landscape. And she felt it coming, because it would shake the earth under her feet. She knew that she had only one thing to do at that point, and that was to "run like hell." And she would run like hell to the house and she would be getting chased by this poem, and the whole deal was that she had to get to a piece of paper and pencil fast enough so that when it thundered through her, she could collect it and grab it on the page.

And other times she wouldn't be fast enough, so she'd miss it and it would continue on across the landscape looking for another poet.
-d

dont let this happen to you kids

2009-08-21T22:50:00.000-07:00

In a time before I ever heard of Hotshots, I wrote "monster". My husband, Richard, strongly advised that I polish the script before it was read by anyone. But at that stage, who was going to read it? I kept asking him, who are these "people" that are going to read my script? The truth is I have lots of scripts and no one is reading those. People just don't come to my house and read my scripts. I told him, when we shoot this, I will add all the details everyone will need.

Then in a moment of spontaneity (one week later) I submitted "monster" to Hotshots Short Film Competition. Then even more unexpectedly we moved from Yaletown to Main Street. My mind was 100% on moving and Telus (those bastards) for not hooking us up for one entire a month.

So one day while using a computer at the Kingsgate Mall Library (thanks again telus) I discovered an email from HotShots. At first glance I thought it was spam, but then it clicked that I had been short-listed.

Now cut to me two weeks later in the ANZA club (I'm in the green skirt in the middle) attending my first cold reading session. This involves having several actors read "monster' aloud to an audience of at least 45 people. All I could think was, oh my god, these are the "people". I sat there listening to my script, and it was horrible. It turns out the good parts never made onto the paper, they still lived in my head. I did the only thing I could, I avoided eye contact with Richard and I downed 4 or 5 Smirnoff Ice.

Needless to say re-writes began the very next day.

-d