Death Rattle

2006-09-01T22:14:00.000-07:00

I jsut talked to Scott last night. He is back in LA working at Almost Human, sounds like he is working on some cool stuff and will hopefully have some time to work on some zombies and maybe find us some money to make the movie next summer. I am still up in Alaska helping to put the finishing touches on the comedy that I produced this year, and half way working on a sequel to a documentary that we did in 2004. Most likely we will only end up with a half an hour or so for the sequel so it will make a cool special feature for the DVD. Speaking of DVD's, with winter coming up it is the perfect time to get some dvd's and stay the hell indoors (at least up here), and if you are looking hit this guy up.....

He has the best stuff out there, and I am not getting a kickback or anything, just a fan of what he does and the service he provides and I figure if more people buy from him he might be able to get more strange stuff that I can buy from him.

And keep your eyes open for Poultrygeist in theatres maybe near you and maybe in November. From what I have heard from people who have seen it it is a masterpiece.

2006-02-05T22:22:00.000-08:00

I was looking through an issue of Look Magazine (I was stuck at Borders and had already read all the good magazines on the rack), and they had a short article about Troma. There was a picture of Lloyd and a bunch of other Troma employees in the office and one is wearing the gloves we worked on for Poultrygeist and the puppet head we made is peeking up from behind Lloyd. Then I was watching the Seduction of a Nerd dvd and in Lloyd's intro there was the puppet head again. It reminded me that I hadn't touched this blog in a long time. I posted that I was back and to stay tuned for more, and then nothing really happened.

We finished up the stuff we were working on for Poultrygeist, did a bit more for Death Rattle, and tehn Scott packed all his stuff in his truck and drove to LA. He is down there working in a shop doing FX on a bunch of stuff for movies and maybe a TV or two. As far as I know they don't have a website or I would throw up a link so people can check out the stuff they are working on. I haven't seen any as I have been stuck in Anchorage working and producing another movie, but what I have heard about sounds cool.

I produced another college comedy shot in Anchorage on HDV. It is about 75% edited right now, then we will get some work on a couple music rights things and send it out to festivals. Maybe we can get some money for some more movies out of this one. Check out the rarely updated blog for that one at The Beekeeping Blog.

I've learned a bunch working on this movie and I think that will end up making Death Rattle a better movie in the end. I haven't talked to Scott for about a month now but he was still going to try and come up and film this thing this summer. Maybe we will have it finished before Poultrygeist after all.

What would an update on here be without another picture to slow the loading down. Here is one of Scott from the end of the summer shortening his life by sanding some fiber glass sans real protective gear....

....And We're Back

2005-08-27T14:01:00.000-07:00

It has been over a month now since I last updated this blog. We have still been working on the movie, but we have had a lot of other stuff going on.

I went on a road trip to Vegas and Back. Spent some time in Seattle, Portland, LA, Vegas and probably the highlight of the trip Astoria, OR. For those who don't know, which is probably most people, Astoria is a small town on the Washington border where for some reason they have filmed quite a few movies. Kindergarten Cop, Free WIlly, one of the Ninja Turtles movies,

Short Circuit, and most importantly

Goonies. So while not updating this site I checked off one of my life's goals and visited the Goonies house.

When I got back into town Scott was working hard and finishing up his stuff for Poultrygeist.

After a couple days we got it all finished and sent it to Buffalo.

Since then we have been working on the script and planning the movie. And then Scott went to California for a wedding/vacation. He just got back last night so expect another update soon with more on what is currently going on with Death Rattle.

2005-07-13T01:12:00.000-07:00

I don't have any pictures to slow down the loading times with this update, but I felt like I should put something up since it has been over a week. We have been extremely busy for the past week. Scott has been working in the shop trying to finish the Poultrygeist stuff, the Joey Fender stuff, and working on our stuff. We also finished a rewrite of the Death Rattle script. Scott is going to get to writing the last two scenes when the Troma stuff is done, and then we are going to make a few more monsters and start shooting.

The muscle suit for Poultrygeist was mailed out today, and a Chicken Head puppet should be going out tomorow. I will try and get a couple pics of it before it is packed and put them up here. Maybe then Troma will put our link back up on their site.

We are also still looking for anyone interested in helping with the movie in any capacity, send an email to DeathRattle@USA.com .

Dave

Anyone Going to Forest Fair

2005-07-01T21:48:00.000-07:00

If anybody out there is going to be going to the Forest Fair this weekend try and find this booth and buy something

It is Beqa, the Death Rattle costume designer's, booth. Lots of cool "girly clothes" that she made. Go to the food area and hang a left under the More Booths sign.

Dave

2005-07-01T21:31:00.000-07:00

A few nights back I went over to the shop and helped Scott and Bogdan pour the foam for the Poultrygeist body suit.

I would have some pictures of the pouring and bolting together of the mold, but it can be a pretty messy and hectic process. After letting the foam dry we started breaking the mold open...

A little over an hour later when we had the suit out of the mold and the main part of the body taken out...

We spent another 30 minutes trying to get the arms out.

After a couple hours and a couple quarts of sweat we finally pulled this out. Now Scott has to paint it up, put a few more finishing touches on it, and send it to Buffalo.

2005-06-25T20:10:00.000-07:00

I was just visiting the website for Poultrygeist and I noticed that they added a link to this blog. So anybody coming in from the Poultrygeist page, welcome to the production Blog for Death Rattle a zombie movie being shot in Anchorage, AK this summer. Scott Fields who did some work on Citizen Toxie and the Tales From the Crapper reshoots wrote and is directing the movie and doing all of the FX. In addition to the movie and a music video, Scott is making some pretty awesome stuff for Poultrygeist and we will put pictures up on here or on the picture page as much as possible with our busy schedule.

Dave

2005-06-25T19:41:00.000-07:00

The past week has been crazy. This is really the first time that I have had any time to get some pics online and get this blog updated. Between promoting a screening of one of my old movies, working in the shop, and getting ready for Land of the Dead I have only been home long enough to sleep. As a result this might be a big update, and I will also be updating the picture page as time allows.

Glassing the body suit for Poultrygeist.

The finished mold.

Once the mold for the body suit was finished, Scott sculpted and made a mold for some zombie chicken eggs.

We spent Wednesday night making this guy for the Midnight show of Land of the Dead.

Scott in the Hydraulic Zombie Suit and Bogdan in the Skeletal Suit outside of the theatre at midnight.

The skeletal zombie, the second full mask zombie that has been made for Death Rattle.

Dave

2005-06-14T20:36:00.000-07:00

It's been a while since I updated this thing. Scott and Bogdan have been working in the shop, making zombies, masks for a Joey Fender music video, and some awesome stuff for Poultrygeist, Troma's next movie.

Here are some pics of what we have done since the last update.

Scott and Bogdan made a half body cast, which Scott used to....

sculpt a suit for one of the movies.

Tonight we are going to glass body, so I have to run. I will put up more pics of the progress in the next couple days.

Dave

Checked Out

2005-06-08T01:00:00.000-07:00

A couple days ago a movie that I produced about two years ago was shown at 2 in the morning on the KYES Channel 5 in Anchorage and around the state. The movie was shown without the permission of the station at a time when nobody thought anybody would be watching. It turns out that people were watching and the writer/director, who also happened to work at the station and put the movie on the air, was fired the day after his last day on the job after numerous complaints about the language. A story ran in the Anchorage Daily News (Click Here To Read The Story) and as a result we have been interviewed by three newspapers and were on a very popular local radio talk show. What does any of this have to do with Death Rattle you might be asking? With all of the publicity from this movie, we are going to try and raise awareness of the local moviemaking scene and find actors and crew. People seemed to be very interested when we were selling the DVD, so hopefully this will make moviemaking in Anchorage a little bit more known. Or maybe not, either way it was a crazy day that I thought was interesting enough to post on here.

In Death Rattle news, the full body was finished up today. it looked pretty sweet from what I saw and I will try to ahve some pics up on the pic page asap.

Dave

The Website

2005-06-07T00:13:00.000-07:00

I added some links at the top under the title and to the right for the PICTURE PAGE and the brand new MESSAGE BOARDS. I am still in the process of adding more pictures, and hopefully I will be caught up tomorow or wednesday. Go check out the message board and let us know what you think of the site so far.

Dave

Back in The Shop

2005-06-06T01:40:00.000-07:00

We were back in the shop again tonight finishing up the full body cast. We finished it up in a couple hours and Beqa was back making some cool costumes for the movie. Thanks to Ian for coming in again today and staying later than you said you would be able to. Here are some pics of the process and the shop

A few of the molds and casts that Scott and Bogdan have made recently.

The full body waxed up and ready for mud and fiberglass.

Putting the resin on the second half full body cast tonight.

And here is a link to a picture page that will be up and running pretty soon. I added a couple pictures, but my internet is running slowly and I need to get to bed. There will be more up tomorow.
http://community.webshots.com/user/zombiemovie

Dave

The Shop

2005-06-05T17:22:00.000-07:00

We spent most of last night working in the shop building a zombie body for the movie. Scott and Bogdan have been working a lot out there and last night was really the first time they have had a lot of help so we have to say thanks to Monty, Ian and Randal for showing up and helping out. From L to R- Monty, Randal, Scott, Bogdan, and Ian. With a waxed and ready body cast. We were there until the sun came up a little after 4 and had a lot of fun.

Also in attendance last night was Death Rattle's costume designer and radio station finder Beqa.

I am heading back over to the shop in a little while to see if I can help finish up the body and take some more pictures. We are going to be in there quite a bit until we start filming the movie, and if anyone out there reading this is interested in helping out send us an email at DeathRattle@USA.com . No experience is necessary, Scott can teach you everything you need to know and it is usually a lot of fun.

Dave

2005-06-05T16:56:00.000-07:00

Death Rattle is an independent zombie movie that is being produced in Anchorage, AK this summer. Scott Fields is writing and directing and doing the makeup and FX. This site will attempt to chronicle the making of the movie and everything that happens after that. We will try get as many people involved in the movie to post on here, whether it is Scott, or Bogdan Shepard the FX assistant and a lead actor, David Turnbull the producer, or any of the other cast and crew positions that will be filled in the coming weeks. Keep checking back for updates we will try to put them up as often as we have anything to report on.

Dave