I've seen amazing character actor 'Michael Q. Schmidt' (qv) getting into more and more off-the-wall and strangely delightful projects... but I was quite pleased to see him in the latest project from San Diego's Quixana Studios in the lead role of a Zombie Film Director fighting the odds and undead-nature to create film about and with fellow zombies FOR the 48-Hour Film Project. Hence the title's cute nods to the festival itself, the number of fully made-up zombies acting in the film-within-a-film, and the disgusting flesh-eating habits of the zombies themselves.
In understanding the requisites for entering the 48-Hour Festival, and in a bit of judicious questioning of a few key film personnel when I attended the festival screenings of June 27th, it seems that staffers from Quixana received their character, prop, line of dialog and genre assignment at 7:00 PM on June 1, 2012, retreated to their studio facilities, and spent the next 7 or 8 hours creating a script based upon those requisites. With no-doubt little sleep, they then called upon their collective of acting talents and began shooting the film before the sun had risen on June 2. This required their skilled team of make- up artists and costumers to create and outfit over 40 uniquely different zombies before the cameras first rolled. Lead by chief director 'Victor Ciccarelli' (qv) and his team of directors, these "zombies" (as well as a few humans-as-food and humans-as-pets) shot their film in less than 17 hours after having been first given their assignment. When a local San Diego news agency called Ciccarelli at 11:30 AM on June 2, and asked permission to tape some of his production processes as part of an overall report on the many films being created that weekend for the festival. They were shocked and surprised when Ciccarelli told them "gee, we'd love to have you come by, but we just wrapped our last scene."
Again, amazing. I wish to applaud both the speedy creation of a world where zombies are the dominate species and humans have been relegated to the roles of being food or pets, and how that world was made to intersect with our own through a mockumentary about this group of zombies struggling to make a film to screen in our present day. An in- depth article elsewhere on Quixana's efficiency as a production company is certainly worth consideration.
I predict that now removed from the time restraint of having to present a very short film in a very short time-frame, Quixana may take additional shot-footage and bring a slightly longer and more fleshed-out director's cut to future horror fests. Looking forward to it.
40 Ate, indeed. Well done. - Barney Brewer
In understanding the requisites for entering the 48-Hour Festival, and in a bit of judicious questioning of a few key film personnel when I attended the festival screenings of June 27th, it seems that staffers from Quixana received their character, prop, line of dialog and genre assignment at 7:00 PM on June 1, 2012, retreated to their studio facilities, and spent the next 7 or 8 hours creating a script based upon those requisites. With no-doubt little sleep, they then called upon their collective of acting talents and began shooting the film before the sun had risen on June 2. This required their skilled team of make- up artists and costumers to create and outfit over 40 uniquely different zombies before the cameras first rolled. Lead by chief director 'Victor Ciccarelli' (qv) and his team of directors, these "zombies" (as well as a few humans-as-food and humans-as-pets) shot their film in less than 17 hours after having been first given their assignment. When a local San Diego news agency called Ciccarelli at 11:30 AM on June 2, and asked permission to tape some of his production processes as part of an overall report on the many films being created that weekend for the festival. They were shocked and surprised when Ciccarelli told them "gee, we'd love to have you come by, but we just wrapped our last scene."
Again, amazing. I wish to applaud both the speedy creation of a world where zombies are the dominate species and humans have been relegated to the roles of being food or pets, and how that world was made to intersect with our own through a mockumentary about this group of zombies struggling to make a film to screen in our present day. An in- depth article elsewhere on Quixana's efficiency as a production company is certainly worth consideration.
I predict that now removed from the time restraint of having to present a very short film in a very short time-frame, Quixana may take additional shot-footage and bring a slightly longer and more fleshed-out director's cut to future horror fests. Looking forward to it.
40 Ate, indeed. Well done. - Barney Brewer