Final Master of Chicken DVD

It’s been months in the works, but the final master of the Mad City Chickens DVD is almost complete. It all started with the observation of people’s reactions to the film at film festivals and screenings. We learned what worked and what needed trimming. The re-edit of the documentary has been an ongoing process. So much so that no one (other than us) has actually seen the final version (the last edit was just completed about two weeks ago).

Bringing evetthing together and editing the special features for the DVD has been another part of the work. We shot over 40 hours of footage for the documentary (which has a running time of approximately 80 minutes), so we are quite happy to be able to include as extras interviews and footage that couldn’t make it into the film because of time constraints. In addition, new footage was also shot as part of the Making of Mad City Chickens featurette. Over an hour of extras will be on the DVD including deleted scenes, chicken tips, trailers, an alternate beginning, and more.

In addition to putting all the clips together, editing, color correcting, audio adjustments and such, we’ve also been authoring the DVD (menus, audio tracks, still images) and creating the artwork for the DVD cover, label and insert.

It’s literally been years in the making, but we’ll be putting the finishing touches on everything in the next few days. If all checks out, the master will be sent off to the replication house. Look for the official DVD release in early March!

Second Scarlett Johansson Promo Clip

Some time back Robert put together a Scarlett Johansson promotional clip for WYOU Community Television in Madison. Re-working some of the original footage of Ms. Johansson along with a number of sound bites from programs that appear on the station, he has now created a second station ID promo. Watch the new video here.

Mad City Chickens reviewed in Touch the Soil magazine

When asked by the editor of Touch the Soil magazine to review our Mad City Chickens film, David King, the regular “book” reviewer for the periodical admitted that he wondered whether he was up to the task. After all, there was the question of if his TV and VCR even worked after being left untouched in the corner for the last five years. But they did work and he was up for it.

We like nothing more than to hear positive reviews about Mad City Chickens. But there is a contingent of folks out there who have all but given up on watching films, even films on subjects they might enjoy. Over the past three years, we’ve heard more than one diehard chicken owner or backyard gardener tell us, “I don’t watch TV and I don’t like movies!” As filmmakers, this makes it pretty difficult for us to reach our target audience, especially when our documentary on backyard chickens gets lumped into the same category as the latest over-budget Hollywood action film.

Yet, we chose to use (and have fun with) the most powerful medium on the planet--motion pictures. And there’s nothing more satisfying than to get a positive review from someone who would rather be out in his garden than sitting in front of a TV.

Thanks for the review Dave. Now shut off the TV and get back out to your garden!

You can read Dave King’s review in the current (Jan/Feb/Mar 2009) issue of Touch the Soil.

February 3rd at the Victoria Film Festival!

The Victoria Film Festival has announced its official 2009 line up! Mad City Chickens is scheduled to screen on February 3rd at 7:00pm. For those of you in the Victoria, BC area, tickets are now on sale and can be purchased through the VFF website.

Milwaukee Sound Stage

Tashai recently attended the grand opening of RDI stages, a brand new film sound stage located in Milwaukee. The facility consists of two separate buildings making up (6) individual studio spaces. The largest sound stage is available for rent to the filmmaking community.


“Each building is clear span, with 35-ft. ceiling height. Together they offer a total of four ’sound-dampened’ stages – the largest is 4,800-sq. ft., 5,000 amps, a two-wall cyc, dressing rooms, production offices, editing rooms, conference rooms, a working kitchen, overhead doors and cranes.”
~Excerpt from Reel Chicago.com Dec, 16, 2008.


On hand for the opening ceremonies were representatives from local production and rental houses including one that was showing off the the new Red One digital camera.

...and for the “real” film lovers, the Arri.

Also present was film and TV actor Tony Shalhoub, who is originally from Green Bay, WI. You may know him from Men In Black, Spy Kids, Paulie, or Monk, among others. “Hi Tony.”

Mad City Chickens now on IMDb

The Internet Movie Database (IMDb) is the largest online database of information related to movies, television, actors, production crew, and more. In many cases, the information goes beyond simple title or press credits to include complete cast and crew credits, uncredited personnel, production and distribution companies, plot summaries, memorable quotes, awards, reviews, box office performance, filming locations, technical specs, promotional content, trivia, and links to official and other websites. Furthermore, the IMDb tracks titles in production, including major announced projects still in development. The database also houses filmographies for all persons, cast and crew, identified in the titles (Wikipedia).

We’re happy to say Mad City Chickens was recently invited to be listed on IMDb. Come check it out. More info to be added soon.