May, according to the Zombie Research Society, is zombie awareness month. It’s already the 10th, so if you’re behind I recommend sleeping with one eye open - starting now. Wear your grey ribbon (perhaps you have one you can recycle from other awarenesses such as Diabetes, Brain Cancer, and others).
Secondly, there is a band from Paris called Zombie Zombie - it’s trance music - get it?
And visit the blog for an upcoming DIY (as yet untitled) apocalyptic zombie film combining narrative fiction and contextual zombie-expert interviews… by Michael Frank of Rochester, NY. I met Michael in January in frozen Buffalo, NY and look forward to his feature.
And last but not least, this Studio 360 clip on zombies was sent to me from Sam Zimmerman in NYC:
During my sabbatical I am taking a creative writing class. Oh yes, I’ve been moving the brain in new and mysterious ways, highly recommended. I may one day need to write a play about philosophical zombies and sock puppet identities, for example. Perhaps it will be a musical, featuring bands of ukeleles. I am stockpiling skills.
And speaking of that marketing success, Dawn of The Dreadfuls, the prequel to Pride and… is coming hot on its heels next month, following the “post-script prequel” trend haunting all manner of horror lately. The cover for Dawn… is above.
Although there are manyzombiesockmonkeys out in the world, my dear dear friend Kelty in Vancouver sent me this prize specimen for Xmas - how could anyone not love that precious face, at least from a safe distance? Thanks Kelty!
In the second week of November, Adam Murray and I transformed my apartment at ASU into a temporary recording studio.
Mattresses formed a sound booth (above) while the bed held instruments (below). We screamed, hissed, moaned, and played auto harp and guitar here. Plus the aforementioned celery snarfing.
We set up a nice little work station (above) while the rest of the room was a mess (below).
Sometimes we played nice (above), sometimes we argued over my “illegible” notes (below), and sometimes technology was not our friend (way below).
Zombies vs Vampires is a video installation featuring two videos projected on opposite walls where zombies and vampires stage a dramatic Western-style showdown at dawn in the desert, amidst photographic murals that wrap the gallery in local desert imagery: cacti, mountain, rugged terrain, contemporary ghost towns, and graveyards. This work was created with a wonderful cast of locals in Tempe, Arizona, including 50 actors, 4 videographers, 1 photographer, 10 make-up artists, and 1 sound designer.
Very special thanks to Bluemedia for their generous in-kind printing of a 100-foot wide photo mural.
Today I shot a stop motion animation with the help of John Spiak, Alison Sweet, Cory Weeks, and Julie Ganas at a swimming pool in Phoenix. Apparently I was killed by a band of vengeful potted cacti, my body dumped in the ice cold pool.
Luckily I was reincarnated in time to record and edit the audio track for the zombies in Zombies vs Vampires with Adam Murray. It’s 1:30am, we’re still at it.
Below we are recording sounds for zombies munching on limbs (celery and tapioca), and vampires sucking blood (orange). Adam made a temporary sound recording booth in my apartment using the mattress - which is fine since sleep is a distant memory:
Fun shots of vampires and zombies getting me - staged before heading out for taping in the desert this weekend, photos by Steve Gittins.
Make-up artists, videographers, photographer, and actors were in top form this weekend when we filmed Zombies vs Vampires in Tempe’s Papago Park.
Both shoots went super well - with warm weather, clear skies, an almost full moon, and no police, though a few hiker families watched the zombies in action this evening from the sidelines. One park ranger came by and thought we were a church group (!?) or a band, but he liked it so John Spiak invited him to the Nov 10th opening
We begin taping Zombies vs Vampires in two days and everyone is honing their skills.
Ed turns Aron (above - note Ed’s latex mummy mask work in the background) and Angie transforms Fatima (below) into ghouls.
Zombie Aron:
Zombie Fatima:
Wendy prepares a zombie pyjama (above) as I mold Roxy’s vampire fangs (below).
Rehearsing vampires move in for a closer look.
Vampires (above) and Zombies (below) face off in rehearsal.
Another emergency location-scouting trip, as the sweet desert sun slides away.
