Closer...

Work on the secret project continues and I am so close to finishing principle photography. Just one more sequence left and then it's on to some effects shots, music and sound effects. Above is the kickass Bryn Kristi. Love that shot.

Truly a kitchen FX shot - on my kitchen floor! For this meltdown effects, I used turkey lunchmeat for peeling flesh, lemon pudding for the goo, pearl onions for the eyeballs and even tomato skin for lips, all on a plastic skull. Gross and fun!

Meanwhile, word from the editor is his work on BLOOD CREEK WOODSMAN should be done by the end of this week!

I still have one shot I want to reshoot for DRIFTER. Just need to make all of the arrangements for it.

Real life is pretty busy these days, but I'm hoping to have more news about these three projects before too long.

Roger Corman Real Mayonnaise

Work on the secret project continues - shot the last two weekends and got some great, weird stuff!! A few pics...

2013 End of the Year Wrap-Up

2013 was a hell of a fucking year, marked by highs and lows. Tragic deaths in the family and a horrible car accident for me have taken their toll on me and on the 'ol movie stuff.

However, in looking back, I did get quite a few things accomplished, and that's kind of what this wrap-up thing is for: to help me rise above the grindstone every once in a while and see what's been accomplished and appreciate it a little bit.

I got set up with a new computer, Final Cut Pro and a new HD camera earlier this year - and boy have I used the heck out of them.

Lots of movement on BLOOD CREEK WOODSMAN. My buddy John Bowker proposed making this way back in 2009, with us splitting the work (him writing and editing and me directing and co-producing with him). But years later, the movie sat waiting in line behind another project John was editing. Our old pal Mike Hegg offered to help put it together so I spend many weekends at his place last year helping get that movie cut together. The process continued into 2013.

I cut a 4-minute sizzle reel and two trailers together for BLOOD CREEK WOODSMAN, plus recorded and made a video for a BCW song on a dare. Made cool masks for the pickup shots and had the BCW trailer shown in front of The Circle, a Portland-shot short film, at the Hollywood Theater. Created character frames for the end credits and looked through all of the footage again and cut together a blooper reel. Designed poster for BCW World Premiere, and held that World Premiere at Crypticon Seattle 2013!

I recently visited Mike again and we got through a lot of the final tiny audio and video tweaks, so now he is just working on some color correction and the plan is to get some DVDs made and hold some more screenings because this will be a fun movie to watch with a crowd!

I did an extensive interview with Scott Phillips for Cheese Magnet that was a lot of fun. Thanks, Scott!

I finished work on re-issuing three of my very early projects, DIMENSION OF BLOOD, MONSTER IN THE GARAGE and CRIMSON HEATER, designed packaging and got DVDs made, and even made two special edition VHS versions for collectors!

My horror short SUPERSTAR was featured at the 2013 Mid-Valley Video Festival in Salem, Oregon and a photo of me with Floyd Sumner, Sophia Maria and Rob Merickel ran in the Statesman Journal newspaper! Snazzy! Not only that but it's in near constant rotation over at online indie channel http://blackflag.tv!

Starting in the spring, I wrote, produced, directed and shot a new horror movie, DRIFTER with some old and new friends. I currently have it all edited with a kick ass sound track by Steve Sessions (who also scored BLOOD CREEK WOODSMAN) and only a few things left to finish it up! Also edited together the behind-the-scenes featurette already! More news soon!

Had a great time at the Crypticon Seattle horror convention, including the World Premiere of BLOOD CREEK WOODSMAN and posted the usual huge Crypticon trip diary.

I set up a new blog to showcase a bunch of cartoons I did back in college of the college paper: Cheese Sandwich! I scanned 100 of the suckers, but only have a few posted - that's something to get back to in 2014.

I set up a TUMBLR page as a spot to throw snazzy photos: http://skullfaceastronaut.tumblr.com

After many, many hassles and technical issues, I finally got my horror shorts compilation BENEATH A DEAD MOON together. It was great to be able to showcase several old shorts that never really got much distribution as well as a few newer ones. Designed the packaging, got some DVDs made and held an incredibly fun premiere screening of it in early November.

In the late fall, I began work on a new movie project. It's weird. It's super weird. It's hopefully only going to be a few more months before it's all wrapped up and I'll start talking about it...

So what's in store for 2014? I don't know. Movie stuff. Ongoing physical therapy stuff to recover from the car accident. Another Crypticon Seattle. I'll try to update the blog a little more. Hopefully more fun, less death, less stress, less crap.

I am so very lucky to have such great friends and have had such fun people come into my life making these wacky movies.

So lucky to still be here.

Lucky and thankful.

Very lucky.

Very thankful.

Here's to 2014.

Beneath A Dead Moon World Premiere!

Had a fantastic world premiere for BENEATH A DEAD MOON in Salem, Oregon. Tons of people showed up, much beer was drank and everyone seems to have a swell time!

BENEATH A DEAD MOON Pre-Order Packages!

COOL MONSTERS AND HOT CHICKS! I mean, let’s be honest, that sounds like fun, right?

BENEATH A DEAD MOON is a horror anthology chock full of werewolves, psychos, vampires, mutants and even bigfoot, plus lovely ladies and plenty of blood! Six scary shorts plus a little behind-the-scenes & bloopers segment and a Bonus Short: The Eyeball of Fear!!!

From now until October 30, 2013, you can get a pre-order the BENEATH A DEAD MOON dvd in three ways:

1) THE BASIC: nothing fancy, just pre-order the Beneath A Dead Moon DVD for just $12 (shipping in U.S. included)

2) THE BLOODLUST PACKAGE: - Beneath a Dead Moon DVD plus a copy of BLOODLUST 2, the vampire story and art ‘zine that first featured “Tainted Blood” as a short story back in 2000 (NOTE- limited to 6 - only 6 copies of this zine left! Black box on the cover not included - see photo below!) - just $15 (shipping in U.S. included)

3) THE BEETLEMANIAC  PACKAGE - ONLY ONE AVAILABLE! Beneath A Dead Moon DVD plus the actual Beetlemanic monster head mask and hands! This is the one-of-a-kind hand-crafted (and I know ‘cause I made it!) Beetlemaniac monster head worn by actor Luc Bernier in the movie! Plus I’ll throw in a copy of the Bloodlust 2 zine as well. Critical that you email me first to reserve this one-of-a-kind package. $59 (shipping in U.S. included)

To pre-order, email me first (due to the limited # of packages) at fandcproductions@yahoo.com, and then pay via paypal to fandcproductions@yahoo.com or send check or money order to Joe Sherlock, PO Box 856, Corvallis, OR 97339

---

THE STORIES:

Nowhere to Hyde: Hank has a homemade lab in his house and retreats there to escape his boozy, nagging wife. He is recreating a potion he's read about in the diary of his grandfather, Dr. Jeckell. But what he turns into is not at all what he expected. And then there is a strange visitor. Starring Warren E.B.B. and Rob Merickel. Written by Kevin Lindenmuth, directed by Joe Sherlock.

Dark Bite: Robert J. Olin plays a nerdy office worker meets a mysterious woman in red and begins dabbling in black magic with the help of a book of spells. Felicia Pandolfi co-stars. Written by Belinda Alexandra, shot by Joe Sherlock, directed by John Bowker.

Tainted Blood: This short tells the tale of a future war between vampires and humans and the lengths that each side will go to to win. Sexy and bloody, it stars Robert J. Olin and Toni Draggon, and was written by John Bowker. Directed by Joe Sherlock.

Superstar: Sexy Krystal gets a tattoo, but the tattoo artist she owes for the work is getting fed up with her excuses...and things are getting intense! Starring Sophia Maria and Robert Sumner and Sabrina Larivee. Written by Steve Sessions and Joe Sherlock, directed by Joe Sherlock.

BeetleManiac: Helen has a blind date with Andre, who grosses her out with his tales of is work with insects. Then things get really buggy! This is a reworked edit of the version featured on Truly Dreadful Tales, with new footage. Starring Isabelle Stephen, Luc Bernier and Kerri Taylor. Written by Joe Sherlock, directed by Isabelle Stephen and Luc Bernier.

Scent of the Sasquatch: Ranger Cody faces Bigfoot when his girlfriend and pal are put in peril! Starring Bryn Kristi, Dale Wilson and Sabrina Larivee. Written and directed by Joe Sherlock.

BONUS SHORT: The Eyeball of Fear: See stupid teens hacked up in the woods by a crazy mutant eyeball in this poorly-dubbed (on purpose!) chunk of craziness!

All this plus a behind-the-scenes/bloopers featurette

The Bloody Can of Inserts!

I took care of a couple of insert shots for DRIFTER yesterday. One was of a soda can hitting the ground and then getting splattered with blood. I got the lights set up, the microphone on a boom pole and my camera all set. I mixed up a small cup of blood (dark karo syrup, chocolate syrup, red food coloring), did a little logo-cover-up work on the can with a marker and set everything up. Camera rolling, I walked over to the other side of the garage, filled my mouth with fake blood, dropped the can and then spit the blood all over it.

I reviewed the shot on the camera and......I didn't like it. DAMN!

I moved the camera up and in a bit, got the paper towels and bowl of water and cleaned up all the blood. Back upstairs to the kitchen where I had to get the ingredients out again and make some more blood. Back downstairs to do it all over again. Drop the an. Spit the blood. Check the camera.

I loved it!

Cleaning up the blood all over again. Turning off the lights and putting them away. Turning off the mic. Brining the camera back into the house, hooking it up to the computer, capturing the footage, dropping it into the movie timeline and fine-tuning it.

Man, that is a hell of a lot of work for one shot that lasts a couple of seconds.

And that's why I need to remember to try and minimize these types of insert shots on my next big shoots. It seems like a time-saver - let's take care of the actors and get them done and out of here and we can just take care of this inanimate object shot later.

BUT....

If you take care of the shot right then. you already have the lights set up, the boom set and the camera there. You also have some crew to help you with the shot and hopefully clean up as you move on to the next scenes with or without actors. Plus mentally, it's easy to procrastinate that simple insert shot just because of all of the set-up/clean-up/break-down involved.

If you are really pressed for time, it makes sense, but if possible it's nice to try and get everything shot on set during the big shoot, just so it is done and you've got help with it.

Meanwhile, in hopes of raising a little bit of money to help pay for the latest DVD duplication, I pulled these VHS gems off of my shelf and am offering them for sale - $6 each including shipping in the U.S. If you are interested in anything, drop me a line at fandcproductions@yahoo.com

---

Updated DRIFTER Trailer!

Was finally able to coordinate a shoot with an actor for a couple of small but important pick-up shots yesterday. Dropped them in and it all looks good! Just a few more insert shots left, some sound effects and reviewing the music one more time.

Also finished putting together the behind-the-scenes featurette!

Updated the trailer to work in some of the new shots plus use the actual score music instead of temp music. Enjoy!

Slowly but Shirley....and Stop Calling Me Shirley

Well, on a personal note, I had my first Physical Therapy appointment today and hope that over the next 12 weeks I can get rid of this pain and have the energy and drive to wrap up the many projects that are all so close to wrapping up!

Moviewise, I did have a shoot last week to take care of three scenes for DRIFTER. Funny bits here and there, great help in carrying equipment and such and I'm happy with the resulting scenes, which I dropped into the movie the next day.

Up next is two more bits with an actor, then 5 little insert shots, then the opening credit sequence. Really happy with how it has turned out and can't wait to set up some screenings. Have almost all of the behind-the-scenes footage imported in as well and hoping to have time this weekend to work on that for a DVD extra.

BLOOD CREEK WOODSMAN is in Mike's hands right now - a few final video tweaks, then audio work, some video image work, updating the end credits and it should be done. I've completed the behind-the-scenes/interviews featurette, but need to travel up to Mike's to look over all the raw footage and pull together a bloopers reel. After that will be scheduling a director's commentary recording and then we should be ready to at least make some cast/crew DVDs and start exploring distribution avenues.

BENEATH A DEAD MOON is still sitting on the sidelines, having been pushed there when I started working on DRIFTER. The good news is that each segment it pretty much done and it's just a matter of me making the time to import them all in, throw them in a timeline, do up the end credits and put together a DVD with the behind-the-scenes featurette on it. My plan right now is to try CreateSpace for this anthology of new and old horror shorts.

More news in the near future about a special event in October and hopefully a few screenings I am working to set up. Stay tuned!

Break in Blogging

Have been offline for a bit due to being injured in a car accident. Truly a miracle that my wife and I were not hurt worse. We are OK and will heal. Car did what it was supposed to do to protect us. We are blessed and are moving on.

Meanwhile vicodin and ice packs are my new best friends.

Movie and other stuff is on hold. But fear not, I am itching to get back to it all - so many cool things to finish. Cool things to screen. Cool things to start.

See y'all in a bit.

CHEESE SANDWICH!

Back in college (and for a while afterwards) I was the editorial cartoonist for the Oregon State University student newspaper The Daily Barometer. I also did some one-panel humor cartoons for "Montage," which was the weekly entertainment insert that ran every Friday. They were called CHEESE SANDWICH. I also ran a bunch of them in my self-published zines. Now I am sharing them on a new blog:

  http://joesherlockscheesesandwich.blogspot.com

I have 100 of them scanned already (scanned them years ago with the intention of doing something like this and am just getting around to it now) and am setting them up to post one a day.

Enjoy!!

Salvage Video

Several weeks back I stumbled upon a guy who was taking his massive VHS and DVD collection and opening a video rental shop in a Texas town. I'd always thought it would be swell to own a video rental shop. He seemed to love cult movies so I thought I'd help him out with a bunch of my wacky horror titles to add to his store shelves.

He got the package and made this swell video! What a nice guy!


Salvage Video is located at 310 S. Washington in Livingston, Texas. You can check them out at http://salvagevideo.com or on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/salvagevid

Dr. Squid on Tumblr

Set up a Tumblr page last night at:

http://skullfaceastronaut.tumblr.com

Threw a bunch of fun photos in there. Plan to use it mainly for photos and maybe some trailers and such. I like the clean format if I still to that content.

Still plan to keep up this blog as a place to put progress updates and the like.

HALFWAY? ONWARD!

Well I can't believe that 2013 is almost half over! I have so much to do! Here is what's happening…



Been watching BLOOD CREEK WOODSMAN and making fine-tuning notes. My buddy Mike Hegg is working on sound and color correction. I just realized that while I had started putting together a featurette based on the behind-the-scenes camera we had on set, I should really go through all of the main camera footage to pull out any good bloopers. I am sure there were many. So, will be slogging through that soon. Just a lot of footage to go through.



I am working on scheduling that last bits of DRIFTER to shoot - a couple of conversation scenes, some insert shots and a phone call scene. In the meantime, I started working on editing together everything I'd shot for the movie so far and….well, I got on a roll. So now everything that has been shot so far for DRIFTER is roughly edited together. And it's pretty damn sweet, if I do say so myself, which I just did. Really anxious to shoot what's left, cut it in and then dig into sound effects and music!



Hoping to get back to finishing up BENEATH A DEAD MOON later this summer. The parts are all done, it's just a matter to putting them together, authoring a DVD, getting some copies and setting up a screening!



Got my PayPal account set back up so added bunch of buttons to the Dr. Squid store - check it out! http://www.skullfaceastronaut.com/drsquid/order.html

Going to see RUSH at the end of July with my son!

I'll try to post more frequently here, but then again, that means I gotta get more of this stuff done!!!

Onward!!!

Crypticon Seattle 2013 Trip Diary!

Hey kids! I posted my fun photo-filled trip diary from this year's Crypticon Seattle! Check it out at http://skullfaceastronaut.com/drsquid/crypticon2013/

DRIFTER Trailer!!!

BCW Premiere, DRIFTER progress

Been pretty lame on blog posts, but that's just 'cause I've been crazy busy with stuff.

I finished shooting the inserts for BLOOD CREEK WOODSMAN, drove them up to Mike's place and we imported and dropped 'em in. Another trip to get the music all finished up. It was a late night, but I am really happy with the music - an original score by Steve Sessions. Also watched the movie with about 5/6 of the sound effects done, made notes for a few more tweaks. Got a whole bunch of photos cropped and 'shopped for the beginning of the end credits sequence.

Need to get the above poster set up as a PDF so I can get some copies made to put up at the con as well as some fliers to hand out.

Meanwhile, I have finished all of the DRIFTER shooting, save for 2 conversation scenes, one half of a phone call scene, a shot of a car driving down the road at night, and a couple of blood splatters. So pretty darned close. I have 7/8 of the footage already imported into the computer and just finished a DRIFTER trailer that I am pretty darned happy with. Will get that posted online sometime next week. Really hoping to get DRIFTER all wrapped up and out on DVD by the end of the summer. More news as it comes together.

BENEATH A DEAD MOON has been pushed to the side for the moment, but I hope to get that out on DVD sometime later this summer.