SCREAMFEST 10

Despite all of the silence, clearly the work behind the scenes still continues rigorously. We hope to see everyone there.

Location: Mann's Chinese Theater, Hollywood Blvd., Hollywood, CA
When: 2:30pm, Sunday, 10/10/10

Festival

Sept. 7, 2010
After carefully reviewing your film, we are excited to inform you that “Death and Cremation,” has been accepted in our Feature Film Category to screen at the 2010 Bel-Air Film Festival. Your film will be screened on Tuesday, 10/19/10, at the UCLA James Bridges Theater at 6:00pm. The Competition was esp...ecially tough this year, as we received more submissions than ever. We are very proud about the program this year and are honored that you have chosen the Bel-Air Film Festival as a place to showcase your work.

Group shot of some cast and crew.

Some familiar faces in another group shot at the Fox Studio's premiere event for Death And Cremation, August 26th, 2010. It was a great success and a lot of fun too.

Website

If you don't know, now you know - deathandcremation.com is officially up! Go check it out and tell us what you think. Right now we have the teaser up, but a full trailer will go on too soon! Tell us what you think after you check out the site!

-J

New idea

No names on this to spell wrong. Just check out the art and tell me what you think. Possible poster idea.

Thoughts?

-Justin

Thank you!

I've been so busy that I not only haven't blogged in forever, I haven't even had the time to thank everyone involved. So here goes - THANK YOU! The footage looks really great and I can't wait to have a cut to show everyone who worked on it. At the end of this month I would like to show some of you that worked on the movie a few scenes cut together. Until then, send out the good vibes to me in the editing room.

-Justin

Photo Gallery: Jeremy Sumpter

Photo's by Monica Lee. MonicaLeePhoto@live.com

D&C's BRAD DOURIF

Proprietor of Stan's Funeral Home and Crematorium, Stan doesn't care so much about running his business, but when he meets Jarod, a special bond develops and we see a warmer side of Stan.

Brad first gained wide acclaim for his role as Billy Bibbit in One Flew Over The Cuckoo's Nest in 1976, earning him a Golden Globe Award for Best Acting Debut, a British Academy Film Award for Best Supporting Actor, and an Oscar nomination for Best Supporting Actor.
Brad is known today for the role Grima Wormtongue in The Lord Of The Rings: The Two Towers and is the voice Chucky the killer doll in the Child's Play film series. Brad also co-starred with Gene Hackmen in 1988's Mississippi Burning and was a series regular on Deadwood.

A few quotes from Brad (though maybe not heard on the set):

I am good when there is something central about the character. There is always a human theme I attach myself to. I am really looking for something that is moving or enlightening or something with depth as an actor. I look for these kinds of roles.

There is nothing wrong with horror films. Their existence has definitely had an impact on me. It is important to have scary demons in our world on film. We have them in the world. That is why we are afraid, it is nice to have a visual and to have a confrontation with it.

Photo’s by Monica Lee. MonicaLeePhoto@live.com

Cinematographer - Akis Konstantakopoulos & RED ONE

The RED ONE was used to shoot D&C. You can learn more about the camera at http://www.red.com/cameras/

Shown is one of the two RED's D&C had for filming. Akis shot for the A unit and Simon Baechler was the B unit cinematographer.

If you are wondering what is so revolutionary about RED, there's a fairly simple reason for that: this is the first digital video camera that has a resolution comparable to 35 mm film, with great color range. At its core, the camera uses a Mysterium CMOS sensor: The physical resolution of this monster is 4900 x 2580 pixels, for a total of 12.64 million pixels.

Photo by Monica Lee. MonicaLeePhoto@live.com

The INTERVIEW

Bill & Shelly Weaver, are interviewed by Detective Matt Fairchild regarding their missing high school daughter, Lindsey. Shelly is played by Staci Keenan and Bill is played by Daniel Baldwin.

Photo by Monica Lee. MonicaLeePhoto@live.com

Martha's & Jarod's Trailer, about to shoot week 1

They say a picture is worth a thousand words, well here's a bunch of pictures squeezed really really close together and looked at really really fast, with sound too, kinda like a movie.

Everyone's in a little trailer in Montebello, it's the 2nd week of July, 1st week of shooting, it's very hot, the lights are on and no air conditioning. Jeremy Sumpter, Jarod, and Debbon Ayer, his mom, Martha, are going over their paces.

Round Table

Wednesday July 15, Winnetka.
Some crew members taking a break between scenes talking with one of the main cast member's about past films. From left, Brad Dourif, Gabriel Villanueva, James Cooney, Tiago Mesquita, Justin Wragg, Simon Baechler, Eshwin Dhir, Ken hedrick, Anthony Ngyuen, Elle Favorule, Seth Laird, and Katie Bowman.

They're all very busy, but once in a while you have to lounge around a bit.

No Rest For The Weary

Wednesday, July 15, in Winnetka, the day after Malibu. Justin is wrapping up location for David's house, taking a moment out of his grueling schedule to perform yet another directorial duty, a photo op. On his left, Daniel Aldema, Exec Producer and actor, who hosted this day of shooting at his home. And on the right, Exec Producer Ken Hedrick. That night, everyone headed to a commercial alleyway a few minutes down the road to lens the next scene, Lindsey at Hot Dog on a Stick. More on that, but much later.

D&C Suffers First Fatality, Production to Resume

Thanks to everyone for being so patient during this difficult time as we move to recover from the tragedy that took place on set the other week. As most of you know, we suffered a fatality. The coroner's office has ruled the incident an accident and everyone has been cleared of any wrongdoing. While Rick will be sorely missed by all, the production will carry on. We dedicate this film to his loving memory. Rest In Peace, Rick!

Photo taken by LACSD Coroner's Office.

Dark and Foreboding? Mmmh...what lies ahead? I wonder (evil laugh).

It's been nine days since a blog, that's how busy our production crew is. I'd like to introduce myself to everyone and say thanks for joining the blog and I'm sorry so much time has passed without any updates. We'll try to stay on top of things for you. I'm Ken, Exec. Producer and partner of AJI Productions. Justin is working hard everyday, running rehearsals, taking meetings with various departments, (Art, Special FX, etc.) and scheduling to name just a few. His wife Karen, doing everything she can to assist him and help keep him sane and on task.
There are many facets to the business end of creating a feature, there's certainly enough work to go around.
I pitch in every chance I get to help lighten the load, from location scouting (Stan's home, the secluded forest dirt road above, Stan's station wagon), script revisions, acquiring extras, catering services/equipment, and providing investment opportunities that go to help meet the needs of last minute expenses.
We're looking forward to welcoming Tiago in from Belgium, Davide in from Italy, Simon in from Switzerland, and Eshwin in from Canada, later this month for their important contributions. I want to thank in advance, everyone attached to the project for their commitment to making a difference and look forward to meeting and spending some time with all of you.

~Ken

They want fx

Here is a photo of our special fx supervisor (Dean Jones) in action. He's worked on everything from Star Trek the Next Generation (as you can see in the photo) to Pirates of the Carribean. Check out more of his stuff at amefx.com...he even has two Emmys, but who's bragging.

-Justin

Location, Location, Location

Checking out this place tomorrow for a potential home for Stan. I love the color and cluttered feel it has. Wondering what anyone else thinks...leave a comment and let me know. If you haven't read the script...just check out the earlier posts related to Stan. He's a one of a kind guy.

Got a ton of stuff going on now...much more to come soon.

-Justin

Page one...again

Well, here is page one again for everyone to see...except now live and in color! We are busy working on every aspect of the film now...but I wanted to post this for all to see. Great work from Dave, Saida, and of course Eshwin...really impressive stuff guys.

-Justin

It's getting there

The art department is cracking away, and there are urns and other things being fabricated as we speak. They are a talented group, Isabelle, Briton, Anthony, Andrew, and Tracey, and we know that before they finish they have a ton of loose ends that they'll tie up. It's great knowing they're on it. Here now, tonight, what's going on is there's a lot of work that still needs to go out before bed, and there are meetings from 11 to 3, meaning there's not going to be quite as much sleep as I'd like, but then I guess I wouldn't have it any other way. Okay, it's 3:24. Coffee or sleep.. that's the big call.

I'm Ross, and I'm working on the film too, helping to put together the right parts so we're ready to go in a month from now. This is my turn on the blogozone.

Prepping a film is not that hard. You just have to be organized and ready for whatever comes your way, taking into account what the budget is and how the schedule will be a factor in all decisions that you make between now and the end of prep as well as the end of the shoot by estimating the key elements at work including cast, crew, locations, bank fees, rehearsals, special effects, hard drive space, foreign sales and the current state of the marketplace, on set supervision, shot lists, artwork and art department personnel, computer applications, and all of the other elements that can influence a shoot like changing minds, unanswered emails, interest rates, health concerns, pet allergies, business cards and expense sheets.

True, there are other factors that could be added to the list, but there are none that will convince me that there is anything less than pure relaxation that comes from a nice two months of prep.