"Beast Bike Beauty" Screening Tonight

Our short, Beast Bike Beauty, screened tonight at the Madison Independent Filmmakers Meetup. Received some good feedback from the group with insights into a couple things we hadn't considered before. It's always nice to see how a room reacts to a project and to hear afterwards how certain scenes worked (or didn't work ) for individuals.

Another Public Screening of "Beast Bike Beauty"

Tonight's meeting in Madison of the Wisconsin Screenwriters Forum featured a special screening of films produced by its members. Our Beast Bike Beauty short was among the selections to be shown.

In addition, Nicholas Wootton brought along the latest version of Just God for another test screening. It still needs work, which we already knew, but we're getting closer.

Public Screening of "Beast Bike Beauty"

The High Noon Saloon film screenings tonight in Madison were well received. Five films played in all including our short Beast Bike Beauty. Filmmakers on stage for the Q&A after the screening. L-R: Robert Lughai, Bryan Royston, Jeff Blankenship, Joey Broyles, and Ben Wydeven.

Photo by Karla Siemering Bryant.

"Beast Bike Beauty" part of July 27th Film Screening

Beast Bike Beauty, our collaborative short with Exchange Productions, will be part of a film screening at the High Noon Saloon in Madison on Sunday, July 27th, 7:00 pm. Our showing is just a small part of the event which is being organized by Ben Wydeven of Makeshift Media Group.

The other movies include:

• Makeshift Media Group's A Hot Summer Chill
• JC Films' Hostile Possession
• Living Storm's Killboy and Krash
• Project Famous' Burn the Money

More details at the facebook event page: https://www.facebook.com/events/829625267056133

BBB a Success at Driftless Film Fest

Our short film Beast Bike Beauty screened today at the Driftless Film Festival in Mineral Point, Wisconsin. The crowd was responsive and laughed when they were suppose to...success!

Beast Bike Beauty at Driftless Film Festival

Our short film, Beast Bike Beauty, will be screening at the 2013 Driftless Film Festival. The movie starts at 11:00 am on Saturday November 9th. The location is the historic Mineral Point Opera House in Mineral Point, Wisconsin.

Image via Mineral Point Opera House.

The filmmakers, Michael Haven and Robert Lughai, will be present for a Q&A after the screening.

"Cheat In Photoshop" Book

In our film, Beast Bike Beauty, we made a tombstone within Photoshop and then composited it into the cemetery scene with After Effects. We learned how to create the face of the gravestone from a tutorial in Steve Caplin's terrific book, How to Cheat in Photoshop CS6: The Art of Creating Realistic Photomontages. ISBN: 9780240525921. Highly recommend it.

Beast Bike Beauty now online

Lost in the darkness of his own depression, our protagonist hits the road on his motorcycle, only to discover more than expected at journey's end.

Now online, our 2012 narrative short, Beast Bike Beauty, is a collaboration between Tarazod Films and Exchange Productions. Directed by Robert Lughai. Starring Michael Haven with Tashai Lovington. Music by Brandon Beebe.

Official selection of the 2013 Wildwood Film Festival.

Posted on Tarazod Films Youtube Channel.

BBB Premiere at 2013 Wildwood Film Fest

Our new short narrative/comedy Beast.Bike.Beauty. premiered Saturday afternoon at the Wildwood Film Festival in Appleton, Wisconsin.

Michael and Robert had a good time with the audience Q+A after the screening.

Robert...

Michael...

After the fest, we had dinner and drinks with several of our filmmaker friends to discuss the movies we saw and to hear their honest feedback about Beast.Bike.Beauty. Left to right: Michael Haven, Petrina Giese, Nicholas Wootton, Colin Cameron...

There was no shortage of spirits at the home bar where we all gathered.

Photos by Colin Cameron.

This was only the second time BBB has screened publicly. (The first was a test showing at the Froth House in Madison back in December 2012.) Sitting amongst a large audience is so damn helpful in learning if your edits actually work. The vibe of the crowd is palpable with the ebb and flow of the story.

At the December showing, we failed to elicit the big laugh we wanted at the film's climax. So we made the necessary adjustments and this time it worked. The crowd got it!

Now after today's Wildwood premiere, our group seemed to all agree on a few final edits that would help BBB hit it's stride. Michael and Robert will tweak it one last time before calling it finished.

Wildwood Festival Poster

Our short narrative film Beast. Bike. Beauty. is premiering tomorrow at the 2013 Wildwood Film Festival in Appleton, Wisconsin. Here's the festival poster...

Beast Bike Beauty accepted into Wildwood Film Fest

Our new narrative short, Beast Bike Beauty, has just been accepted into the 2013 Wildwood Film Festival.

WHEN: Saturday, March 16, 2013

WHERE: Fox Cities Performing Arts Center
               Kimberly Clark Theater
               Appleton, Wisconsin

SCREENING TIME: 3:00 pm block

Both film producers, Robert Lughai & Michael Haven will be on hand to do a Q&A after the screening.

Test Screening Beast.Bike.Beauty.

Tonight we had the first test-screening of our newest short, Beast Bike Beauty. Part of the Froth House Flicks, it was a local filmmaker showcase held in Madison at, of course, the Froth House.

Good response and feedback. Now we just want to tweak a couple edits but liked what we saw.











Mike and Robert join a few of the other filmmakers at the end of the screening to do some Q&A.

After the showing, the filmmakers and guests mingled. From L-R, Robert, Janet Kjelland (worked on the Mad City Chickens crew), Colin Cameron (acted in Mad City Chickens, acted & co-produced for Strindberg's Assistant), Veronica Harper (acting in our upcoming Just God), Michael Haven (co-produced and starred in Beast Bike Beauty).

Photos courtesy of Veronica Harper.

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.

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.

Requiem Ride

Winters in Wisconsin can...and often do...suck.

Hardly ideal conditions--particularly for filmmakers looking to do something other than another ski movie. So when the weather is sunny, warm and pleasant, as it has been here for the past week, it's imperative to shoot while the shootin' is good. This is just what we did.

For the last three days, filmmaker Michael Haven of Exchange Productions joined us here at Tarazod Films in yet another collaborative movie effort. What we needed was a script that could be captured in just one day.

So both Mike and Robert conspired together and came up with a short story, a tale of loss and renewal and a pair of wheels. The script, storyboard, and shot list were all completed by Sunday evening, and shooting on Requiem Ride would begin early Monday morning.

The movie stars Michael as a motorcycle-riding dude without a reason to live. There's also an appearance by Tashai at the climax of the film.

While we'd hoped to be completed in one day of filming, things took longer than expected. Another shoot day was added today, and by this afternoon, the movie was in the can!