Back Burner Blues aka Getting Back on the Movie Musical Horse

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Sadly, it’s been over a year since I last updated this blog. A lot has happened since then. Primarily, the musical got put on the virtual “back burner,” because I was hired to direct the short film, Foodie.

Foodie was one of the  biggest films I’ve ever worked on. It had an over $3,000 budget based on a successful Kickstarter campaign. It had the most actors I’ve ever worked with on a film and in one scene(involving 9 people at a table.) It had the most practical special effects I’ve ever had in one of my films. It had the most location shoots of any of my films. There were a lot of firsts on this project and I think it turned out really well.

We’ve already been accepted to 5 film festivals so far and we won our first award, 2012 ConCarolinas Short Film Festival Award for Best Original Fiction. Lots of great stuff happening around our film Foodie. We’re waiting on word from other festivals any day now and we’re also working on a DVD to sell. Of course, all the work surrounding the film does have it’s price. My musical movie went into a limbo state because of it, but I’m back on track again and I’m writing more stuff for it and songs are being created. The Phoenix has risen and I hope to have something finished and ready by the end of the year if not sooner.

Even cooler is that I had a brief chat with Anthony Michael Hall while at the sci-fi/fantasy convention, Dragon*Con, last weekend.

I met Anthony Michael Hall in the Celebrity Hall at Dragon*Con.

He has a new production company and I talked to him about my musical. He’s interested in knowing more about my film as well as my previous projects, so I’ve sent off information to him this week. I’m excited about the prospect of working with him on my movie. An 80′s icon who I grew up watching in such John Hughes classics as Sixteen Candles, Weird Science and The Breakfast Club.

They sky’s the limit as they say and I think there are some great things in store for this project. I feel blessed to be working with so many talented people and to find opportunities to bring my ideas and projects to fruition. Some days it makes me want to break out in song. ;)

Obsessive Poster Disorder

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The Style A poster to my head exploding horror short, Bursters!

Not only am I a big fan of movies but I’m a big fan of movie posters as well. I worked in the movie theater business for many years and I have boxes of posters to show for it. I’m most proud of my purchased collection of a few classic movie posters such as an original Star Wars: A New Hope, Raiders of the Lost Ark, Evil Dead 2(signed by Bruce Campbell), Batman(Tim Burton version), Aladdin, etc. I love the marketing side of filmmaking as much as the filmmaking itself and a good poster can do a great deal for making your movie known and remembered.
Since my film Bursters I’ve made it my mission to make sure my films have a good poster. I’m really tired of seeing people on the independent side of film dropping the ball when it comes to the one sheet. Most of the time they create a hastily assembled montage of heavily photoshopped images. Something a 12 year old could do on their Macbook.
You have to put as much creativity into your marketing materials as you do your movie, because many times the marketing materials are the first impression about your project. I’m extremely proud of the work that went into the poster for my short horror film, Bursters(see above.) Brian Eckes and Paul Styron did an awesome job with creating an image that is stylistically both very cool and creepy. There’s a layer of mystery to what the film’s about. You want to know what’s causing the blood in the eye.
We also did a second Style B poster that showed a female’s eye with a reflection of blood splattering in the eyeball(see below.) I love it!

Bursters Poster Style B

Brian Eckes hit it out of the park again with my most recent short horror film, Flush with Fear. We went for a more minimalistic approach using black and white for the poster. It’s pretty kick-ass, if you ask me(see below.)

Flush with Fear Poster

Of course, now with preproduction planning happening with my B-movie musical, the poster is big on my mind. This time around I wanted more of a painted image for the marketing angle. Something in the realm of Frank Frazetta. A few months back I contacted an artist I came across while checking out the art exhibit at Dragon*Con. I was totally blown away by his artistry and imagery. I think he’s even done art for some Magic: The Gathering cards. I really wanted him to paint the main image for my B-movie musical poster.

We conversed a few times via email about cost and what he could deliver for what I could offer. The only issue was he was his wife was about to have a baby and he was really busy with other projects, so he wanted me to contact him back in a few months to follow-up. I finally got back with him this week but as luck would have it, he’s not taking on anymore freelance work due to his new addition to the family. Bummer!

This happens all the time in filmmaking. A director has his or her eyes set on a specific outcome whether it be with actor choices, crew choices or poster choices and it doesn’t turn out the way he or she expects. We all make sacrifices. As much as it disappoints me that I couldn’t get this particular artist, I’m still very determined to create an awesome freakin’ poster for this film. I guess I’ll have to comb the art gallery again this year at Dragon*Con for the future artist of my B-movie musical one sheet. I’m up for the challenge.

Writing The Songs That Make The Whole World Scream!

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My handy dandy idea notebook! Can't leave home without it!

The hardest part about writing a musical has to be the songs, especially when you don’t have the know how to compose the music for them. When writing the outline for the story, I had mapped out where I’d like to have songs and what these songs might be about and the type of music genre they cover. In the process of writing the script, these song ideas might morph into something similar or totally different to fit the story.

The first song I attempted didn’t really depend on the main story. It was the theme song. It gives some basic concepts of the prestory elements, so we understand the underlining evil force that’s at our doorstep and how it got to this point. It’s also a song that I hope will be catchy enough to help me win people over to throw money my way. I want it to be a selling point.

I’ve been working with some talented people to bring this song to life. Although I wrote the lyrics, I have no idea how to formulate the music involved. I have an idea of what I want but I need people who are more talented in the realm of music creation. I originally tweeted and facebooked my need for musicians to help with my song creation. A guy I know, Kevin Darbro, responded and I gave him the lyrics and let him come up with some tunes to back it up. Originally, I wanted something like an 80′s power ballad, but then we went more for an 80′s pop song.

I then needed someone with a voice who could bring attitude and power to the lyrics. I asked Christy Johnson of the rock group, Dreamkiller, and she agreed to sing the theme. She recorded her voice to the track and even though it was more of a test of her voice than a final track, I would’ve been happy to release the song as is. It was that good.

I was pleased with what we had created so far, but I wanted to take it further. I wanted something that could be more of a dance track, so I threw the music and voice samples to my good friend, Rick Burnett. You might know him from more for his camerwork and f/x expertise in the web series hit, Modern War Gear Solid(which also stars my lovely wife, Alena Koch.) He helped me create a kick-ass song for my short film Bursters and he’s currently working on a dance mix of the theme for this film. I’m extremely excited to hear what he comes up with.

One of the things I wanted to do with this picture is make it not your traditional musical. I wanted to incorporate many types of music you wouldn’t normally hear in a musical like a techno song, an 80′s rap song or a hard rock song. Music you might jam to and rock out to and possibly sing along to.

Dr. Horrible’s Sing-A-Long Blog was a big inspiration for me to make this film. The story of a superhero villain fighting his way up the evil food chain was something you didn’t normally see in the world of musicals. Plus, it had a lot of great songs with fun lyrics.

That’s what I’m trying to achieve with this project. It’s my main objective. I want the songs to be fun. There will be songs about all kinds things in this movie. Many of them humorous but hopefully all will keep the audience entertained.

I recently finished writing the second song for the feature and I’m really happy with how the lyrics turned out. It will be a different approach than the theme song, and I’m already looking into another music contact to bring that song to life.

I’m excited about this part of the process. The songs are such an integral part of the movie as a whole. The acceptance of my film could hinge on how these songs are received. I hope people will be as happy with the songs as I am. I can’t wait to hear them all fully realized.

The Journey Begins…

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Photo by Camden Watts(Twitter: @cammicam). http:www.camdenwatts.com

Well, actually the journey has already begun, because preproduction on this project is already in full swing, but for the sake of documenting the process, this is the beginning.

What is the journey? Well, my name is Christopher G. Moore and I’m making my first feature film. Not only will it be my first feature but to add an extra challenge, it’s also going to be a B-movie musical. I figure if I’m going to do this thing, then I need to pull out all the stops.

Over the past three years I’ve had my short films screen at festivals all over the country. I’ve met some of the most talented people you could ever meet. I’ve learned so much from having to be creative, when you have no budget but plenty of passion. Now’s the time to put on the big boy pants and take a feature film for a spin.

This blog will be your viewmaster to the slides of my filmmaking journey. I’d love to fill you in on every detail of what I’m doing or thinking or feeling. I’ll try to share pictures, videos and music as we move along in the process and reveal more information about the story and characters. You’ll get a behind the scenes look at all the pieces of the puzzle needed to make our first feature-length film.

Of course, this journey won’t be easy. I’ve got to find funding. I’ve got to find people who believe in the project. I’ve got to figure out how to create songs, even though I don’t write music. It’s all a learning process.

I know it’s going to be a labor of love and I hope you’re willing to join me on this journey. I’ll let you be the Sam to my Frodo. :)

So please share this blog with others!

Comment below if you have anything to share!

Follow me on twitter(ilikefilms) and hear my thoughts in 140 characters.

Email me at “cinemafuel @ gmail.com” if you’d like to share your own stories, ask me questions or if you’re interesting in helping make this film possible. The more people who know about this, the easier it will be to find money to finance this sucker.

Thanks for reading this and I look forward to sharing more info in the future.