Retro Poster Love

Official poster for The Bloodfest Club. Printed size is 27x41.The one project that keeps giving me more and more fun stuff to do is The Bloodfest Club, and to continue that streak we just did a cool poster design. Somehow this project keeps sending me back to the world of John Carpenter again and again... which I don't mind one bit. This time, I referenced movie posters for flicks like The Thing to capture that simple, yet aged quality. Of course, once all the pieces were in place, I added some texture to give it that aged and weathered look... which I love.

I'm just keeping my fingers crossed that the Bloodfest boys keep bringing me fun stuff to do. It all started out as a little website job, and since has blossomed into a myriad of things. For example, you can see (several posts down) the trailer that I provided some original score for, as well as the final mix. It's one of those things that I love about word of mouth... I had scored some projects their editor had worked on, and he threw my name out to help with the music (it also turned out that an old band of mine had played shows with the lead actor's previous band... another connection). Somehow I got the word that they weren't happy with the mix of the trailer, so I offered to give it a stab. They liked it.

Before I forget, I wanted to share an alternate idea for the poster. One that I think we all liked, but it just didn't quite fit the vibe exactly right. Check it out. I've got a weak spot for that white logo on the red (and I've never been opposed to neatly stacked and justified text)... but it doesn't scream 80's horror as effectively. 

So that's pretty much it. Nothing ground-breaking, but a fun project nevertheless. I'm excited to share that the short film sounds like it's getting close to release, so keep your eyeballs peeled. 

From The Farm To The Bag

This has got to be, hands down, one of my favorite projects in a while. The short story here is that Innova is a brand of all natural, real-good-for-your-pet food, and they've just started stocking the food at Petco... so they wanted a fun little video to promote this idea of "from the farm to the bag", so I worked with Brighton Agency to create this animation: 

Working with a few of the cool kids over at Brighton, we came up with the general concept, wrote and recorded the song, scripted and storyboarded the visuals, and then I animated for a few weeks. With a super short deadline, we cranked hard on this to get it to come together, but even still it was a great time. It kept me up late at night and had me up early to start working on it again each day, but even at the end, I was still laughing at how the carrot dances. He's a pretty bad dancer, since I used myself as the basis for his movement.

I'm going to be putting together an epic tutorial (let's hope epic wasn't too big of a word to use there... we'll see) on how all of this was put together, as it's a great example of how the Adobe Creative Suite can work pristinely with itself in the right circumstances. This stuff started in Photoshop or Illustrator, went to Flash, and then was smooshed together in After Effects... and later edited in Final Cut Pro... although I would probably opt for Premiere to edit now. Oh well, the chain is broken. Still, I learned a ton of cool tricks and would love to share them.

Anyway, more to come on this later. For now, enjoy the video.

The Dealership Finale

The season one finale approaches... it premieres May 7th in LA, and then it will proceed to hit the internet like a muffled White Castle fart (I mean that in a good way). I don't want to go into it here, but is it not extremely disconcerting that White Castle smells almost exactly the same after it has been digested? 

Sorry... mega-digression there. Anyway, the point is that I designed this fun new poster for the guys as a giveaway at the premiere. 

Actually, that's not the point at all... the REAL point is that I scored the episode and It's a doozy! It's an 80's horror score, which means it's oozing with old-school, John Carpenter style synths (apparently that's the big thing right now... I seem to be doing a lot of it!). You can keep your eyes out for a little behind-the-scenes video on the making of the score when I get a chance to paste it together, but for now you'll just have to wait with anticipation. 

When this beast goes live, you'll be able to catch it at www.dealershiptheseries.com... and in case you missed the rest of the episodes, you can watch them (plus gobs of bonus clips) right there. Enjoy. Oh, and sorry for mentioning White Castle farts.

UPDATE: The beast is live. Cheque it out below.

Something Evil...

The official trailer for The Bloodfest Club was released today... and I'm extra excited, because I was asked to help bring it all together. I scored the first half of the trailer and also mixed the whole thing. It was a lot of fun (it's not every day I have the challenge of making alien squeals sound good), and this trailer really shows off what a cool movie these guys have created.

I got a message that the music for the opening of this trailer just wasn't falling into place, and they were looking for something that sounds like a classic John Carpenter score... so I jumped at the chance to get involved. I mean, who can pass that up? I sat down and studied for an evening... got a little sidetracked with Escape From New York, but who can blame me? The result is pure 80's goodness. 

Their website is www.bloodfestclub.com (read more about the making of that here)... you'll find links to their Facebook, Twitter and all the other good stuff there. Please show your support if you have time. Long live local film!

Sill Obsessed With 16 Bit

I am a sucker. Furthermore, I am a sucker for those good ol' 16 bit graphics... so I periodically make myself fancy desktops out of maps from my favorite games. I've posted another Zelda desktop here before... but this one is my favorite. It's 1920x1200 because I love you. 

Click here to download full resolution image

I have always had a great deal of love for the third Zelda game, even from a design standpoint. Being a pretty geeky kid growing up, I thought about that from the moment I first laid eyes on this beast of a game. As far as Super Nintendo games go, this one remains my favorite... and I'd say every few years or so, I end up replaying it just so I can enjoy it all. The artwork, the music, the gameplay... all perfect.