Zombie Commercial #1 Completed

"Our selection wakes the dead!"

It's Halloween and the perfect time to post our recently completed Zombie TV commercial for the Reptile Rapture pet store. The 15 second piece is the first in a series of three consecutive spots that will play on Charter Cable and AT&T U-Verse. This one has already begun to air--strategically placed during such shows as AMC's The Walking Dead. View it online via our youtube channel.


Screen captures...

Production Company: Tarazod Films
Director: Robert Lughai
Story: Tashai Lovington and Richard Allen
Cameras: Robert Lughai, Michael Haven
Editing/Digital Grading: J. Puc Zotterdeet
Makeup: Craig Meyer, et.el.
Zombies: Colin Cameron, Bryan Fay, DW Wanberg, Kellsie Wyman, et.el.

Mad City Chickens at the Vermont International Film Festival

MCC will be screening at the Vermont International Film Festival on October 27th at 4:00 pm. The venue is the cool Echo Lake Aquarium and Science Center, 1 College Street, Burlington, Vermont.

Two More "Chickens" Screenings in British Columbia

British Columbia continues to be good to our Mad City Chickens documentary. The film returns to Canada
on October 25th in Cranbrook. The public screening begins at 7:30 pm at the College of the Rockies--Cranbrook. Then on the 26th, MCC can be seen in Kimberley, also at 7:30 pm. The showing is being held at Centre 64, 64 Deer Park Avenue.

Both presentations are sponsored by the Wildsight Kimberley/Cranbrook branch.

MCC Screening in New Hampshire

Public Screening of Mad City Chickens this coming Wednesday, October 24th in Laconia, New Hampshire. Sponsored by the Lakes Region Food Network, the documentary will play at the Prescott Farm Environmental Education Center, 928 White Oak Road.

Movie starts at 6:30 pm.

Prescott Farm Environmental Education Center 

Mad City Chickens Returns to Maryland Tomorrow

On October 20th, a public screening of our documentary Mad City Chickens is being presented by the University of Maryland Extension. The film starts at 2:00 pm. The showing will be at the U of M Center for Educational Partnership, 6200 Sheridan St., Riverdale, Maryland.

Finishing Touches on Zombie TV Commercial #1

Early this morning, Tashai and Robert headed out into the forest to shoot the one remaining piece of footage still needed to complete the first of the Reptile Rapture zombie commercials. The TV spot starts with a hand rising out of the ground...Tashai's hand to be exact.

She did her own makeup and scar work...

Laying on the forest floor, Tashai placed her hand up thru a cardboard box covered with pine needles and leaf humus. The total length of this particular clip will be no more than 1 second on screen.

Digital grading and a few additional sound effects still need to be added, but we hope to have the commercial completed in a couple of days and on the air by next week.

Motorcycle Short Gets Name

Our short motorcycle film we shot last year is now very near to a completed final cut. We've been referring to it as the Requiem Ride or Motor Mike project, but it never told us its true name until a couple days ago. It's a three minute film with three distinct chapters. So it's only fitting that it has a three-word title...

BEAST. BIKE. BEAUTY.


Mockup of a possible title plate...

Other than minor adjustments to the timeline, all that remains is the digital grading color correction. Once completed, we begin our festival submissions.

Rain Delay - Production Stalled on "Just God" Project

Today was going to be our first day of shooting on the short Just God. The weather didn't cooperate, however. We'll reschedule and see if it's still possible to get these outdoor scenes in before the snow flies. If not, it'll have to be spring.

Edit Near Completion on Motorcycle Short

It was exactly one year ago today that Tarazod Films, in collaboration with Exchange Productions (EP), completed production on a short narrative film with the working title of Requiem Ride. Not long after, Robert laid down a rough cut edit on the timeline, and the project seemed to be progressing. In reality, that's where things stopped. The film had potential, but something was missing. Did we need more footage? A change in story? The answer was not apparent at the time. The project was shelved, and we moved onto other things.

Two days ago at the suggestion of long-time supporter Colin Cameron, Michael Haven of EP met with Robert to discuss the possibility of finishing the film. Now a year later, everything feels fresh again and the edit has begun in earnest. Other than a few seconds of time-lapsed photography, there's no need for additional footage. No story change is required either. The magic is back and we hope to have the edit completed by month's-end so as to begin film festival submissions.

To more accurately reflect the essence of the film, the title will be changed from Requiem Ride to something else. Not exactly sure though what that will be.

Scouting Assassin Scene

One of the early motivating scenes in the Just God project involves an assassin pulling up to a house in her BMW, then walking up the drive to do her job. We locked down the location for the shoot this past weekend and will film October 14th.

Car pulls up to this curb...

Assassin approaches on driveway to enter house from rear....

Location video...

Window Dive-Thru Test

October 13th will mark the start of production on Nicholas Wooton's Windmiller Media (formerly Spilling Latte Films) comedy short, Just God. The scene we hope to shoot is of "God" jumping out an upper story window.

The idea is to have our actor dive through a sheet of break-away glass set upright on the ground, landing on an air mattresses. We were discussing how the stunt should be performed--more as a fall-through or as an actual dive.

Test shots of fall vs. dive. The dive won out.

Zombie Shoot Success!

Our 3-part zombie commercial for the Reptile Rapture store took a huge step forward yesterday with a successful shoot on Sunday afternoon and evening. We've lots of stills and video clips to go thru but here's just a few pics for now.

Opening forest scene...

Craig Meyer applying makeup to actors Bryan Fay and DW Wanberg; Colin Cameron zombie arm...

Robert discussing shot with zombie Bryan Fay and second camera Michael Haven...

Parking lot shoot from the rooftop....

Michael Haven on "steadicam"...

In the store...

Photos by Colin Cameron

Reptile Rapture TV Spot #1

We recently completed this first of four TV spots that we're producing for Reptile Rapture. This initial commercial is a straightforward 30-second promo for the store, emphasis on the quality animals and abundant accessories.

ZOMBIE EXTRAS NEEDED

Zombie illustration copyright Keith Hillson.

This coming Sunday, October 7th, we will begin shooting a 3-part TV commercial (each 15 seconds long) for the Reptile Rapture store in Monona, WI. The finished pieces will air on Charter Cable, probably during Animal Planet and other related shows.

We're looking to have 100+ people (18 years or older) to partake as the living dead, zombies who are being drawn to the store. Must bring a valid drivers license. No children on site. No alcohol allowed. You will be responsible for arriving in costume, ready to go in your own zombie makeup and ripped/torn clothing.

Start time is 4:00 pm sharp. Shooting will take a couple of hours. Meet at Reptile Rapture, 6416 Bridge Rd., Monona/Madison. Please RSVP by email only to: reptilerapture@gmail.com