NEEDS MORE BEAUTIFUL COLOR!

Don't be deceived by the lack of activity on the blog, friends. That's all about to change. Part of the reason things have been quiet on our end is that we've been working like mad to finish up the film. Believe it or not (I know we can't), but the end is not only near, but in sight!

In fact, just last Friday (Nov. 4), we sent the film out for color correction. A few people have asked me just what that means; color correction. Well, quite frankly, it means just as it sounds. It's the process of getting all the scenes to look similar throughout the entire film. For example, our main cast of survivors wear the same clothes for the duration of their journey, and different lighting can make Dustin's grey jacket look a little more blue, or lighter, or darker. Color correction provides a consistency from scene to scene.

We are also using color correction as a strong, visual device in the film. Well, more so than usual. Some know this, some don't, so I am going to "spill the beans" now. There are two timelines in Dead Weight. We call these the present and flashback timelines. The present timeline is the post-outbreak time period, when the world has moved on. The flashbacks show the relationship of our two main characters, Charlie and Samantha, before the outbreak. Adam and I discussed early on that these two timelines needed to look completely different from each other. To achieve that, we did two things. First, we set a color palette for both. All wardrobe in the present timeline consisted of dull, earthy colors: greys, browns, darker greens and blues, etc. In the flashbacks, our characters wear brighter, livelier colors: reds, oranges, yellows, light greens, etc. As you'll see in the raw footage (the trailer contains NON-corrected shots), this worked successfully. However, there are aspects we can't fully control, and we wanted to push the feel even more so… enter color correction. The images in this entry contain a pairing of the same frame twice. The first is the original, raw colors, with the second being the graded frame from our DP, Travis, worked on to give our color correction guy a starting point. Hey, speaking of this magical color correction guy, who the hell is he?

It's my pleasure to introduce the most recent addition to the Dead Weight family, Mr. Derrick Carey. 

Derrick's another super talented cinephile from the Fox Valley, and when the thought of bringing someone on board for color correction, Derrick was the first person I thought of. Derrick's had a great year for film thus far in 2011. Just this summer, the documentary Derrick edited, Screaming In High Heels: The Rise and Fall of the Scream Queen Era, written and directed by Jason Paul Collum (another cinephile from Wisconsin), premiered at Flashback Weekend. Screaming showcases the career ups and downs of three fantastic (yet typically screaming and scantily clad) ladies; Michelle Bauer, Linnea Quigley and Brinke Stevens. If anyone picked up the badass Slumber Party Massacre box set that came out last year, Derrick also edited the documentary on there (another one Collum wrote/directed), Sleepless Nights. Also this year, right before Derrick started working on Dead Weight, his most recent endeavor was Oshkosh's very own Swamphead (released through his Rabid Child Films), one Derrick edited and produced. We premiered this one at the Oshkosh Horror Film Festival, and the packed house went nuts over it. If you like your horror to be dirty, sleazy, vulgar, and bloody, Swamphead is up your alley. Think early Hershel Gordon Lewis mixed with 80's Troma. 

Derrick's stepping right out of the swamp and into the cold, vast world of Dead Weight, and we couldn't be any happier to have him on board. Just yesterday I saw the corrected opening scene, and just when I thought the image couldn't look any prettier, Derrick proved me wrong. 

Oh, and I should point this out, too. The title of this entry, Needs More Beautiful Color!, is a little nod to my painting professor from college, Li Hu. Li was not only one of the kindest and most talented people I have ever gotten to know, he had one of the best taglines ever. "It's pretty good… but I think it needs more beautiful color!" Ask any of his students, he always said that. But, you know what? He was always right. So, Li, don't worry, we are giving the film more beautiful color! I promise. 

WORDS ABOUT MONEY, AND AN INCREDIBLE COMMUNITY.

There is one thing that both John and I have come to terms with, independent of each other, but through a similar progression of thoughts and life decisions. We will never be rich. We will never be anything more than hard-working, lower-middle class kids from the Midwest. We’re just fine with that. Our minds work in a similar fashion, our motivations and desires are similar, and all of it coincides with a lifestyle that puts others before our selves in almost every aspect of our lives. This, of course, creates a problematic situation when it comes time to fund an independent film!

Despite our good fortune of having so many gracious friends to donate their time and energy, there is still a need for money to make art, particularly film. The goal of a filmmaker is to create a believable universe where their story exists. It is so much more complicated than just giving people words to read in front of a camera, you need to breathe life into the world in which these characters live. To do this, you need money. Bottom line, we needed money.

 I’m not going to give you a grocery list of expenses from our budget, determined in pre-production, but the total of that list was high (by our personal standards). For this we needed to turn to others in order to raise some cash. We debated doing the entire Kickstarter thing, and decided that their fund raising system wasn’t something we wanted to use for Dead Weight. It was important for us to raise the money independently. Pride? Maybe, but we're prideful assholes, at least we can admit it.

If you take a look at the list of executive producers on our newly approved IMDB page, you’ll see a whole list of names in the full list of cast and crew, some of those people are executive producers. These are a few of the people who have faith in our concept and believed in our ability to make it a reality, and a few of the people are in a financial situation that enables them to support us. All of these people are responsible for giving us the chance, and without them we wouldn’t be here, nearing completion on the film.  These folks are all individuals that have come into our lives in a variety of ways, and there is one in particular I want to focus on in this blog post, Nancy Cremer.

Jon Kitley wants you to join the Kryptic Army.

Our relationship with Nancy is a perfect example of how supportive the community of horror fans really is, and that is the primary reason I wanted to share the story of our history with her. Nancy has only known us for a very short time, but the way by which she has come to know us, as John has highlighted in his comments below, is a very common story in the history of Dead Weight. I've spent the last decade of my life working in the music industry, more specifically independent music. So when I first became exposed to the horror film community I was shocked by how positive and excited people were, how willing they were to bend over backwards to support independent artists. It really threw me for a loop, after my spirit was so broken by the music industry. I thought film would be worse, boy was I a fool. That's really the catalyst for my writing this blog post. There are some incredible people out there involved in the independent film/horror communities. Everyone involved in Dead Weight that John met over the past six years or so, and eventually introduced me to, they're the cream of that very group of people. I have the most sincere appreciation for many of them, and I feel honored to be involved in this project with them.

John and Nancy were first introduced by way of The KrypticArmy, which is sort of like a horror film viewing club run by Kitley’s Crypt, very fun times. In late 2010 They bonded over a discussion regarding Nancy’s first viewing of Carpenter’s The Thing. John and Nancy then met in person during a convention called HorrorHound in Indianapolis during March of 2011. John shared the story of Dead Weight with a lot of folks that weekend, Nancy amongst them. 

Pre-production on the film turned to production and Nancy came to know us both personally, witnessing our devotion to this project. Eventually she made the decision become one of the sources of financial support that we so desperately relied on to make our budget a reality.

This is one of the key things I personally love about the path we’ve taken with this film. Every dime we raised was due to the personal relationships and personal histories we have with our executive producers. I can’t imagine this sort of support coming from any other community. The horror community is something that continues to amaze and inspire me every step of the way. Without people like Nancy, Dan & Mel Lowin, Dan Kiggins, Aaron Christensen, and rest of those that John has connected with in the horror community over the last few years, we could never do this.


Dead Weight is fundamentally a child of the horror community. It will always be a horror film to us, despite how much it leans in the direction of drama and suspense most of the time. It was founded in horror, and brought into existence by the love for horror.

Dead Weight actor Aaron Christensen with executive producer to be, Nancy Cremer. HorrorHound 2011, a fateful weekend.

FULL TRAILER & THEATRICAL POSTER RELEASED

Last night we had a photo exhibit in Oshkosh featuring photography by Mary Manchester from the first week of production back in April. It was an incredible evening, with a huge turn out. We have a lot of support and excitement coming from the local community, and we're very grateful for that.

So, here is the full trailer & theatrical poster that we premiered last night. Enjoy & share!

DEAD WEIGHT: THROUGH A STILL LENS

Producing a film is a long, tumultuous process. It takes an immense amount of preparation and can sometimes seem like an insurmountable task, especially when produced independently. “Though A Still Lens” takes us behind the production of Dead Weight, a feature-length film written and directed by Oshkosh natives Adam Bartlett and John Pata and produced by Lee Marohn and Dan Kiggins. It was filmed in and around the Oshkosh area during twelve days in 2011. The film tells the story of Charlie Russell, following him on a journey to find his girlfriend, Samantha, in a world destroyed by a biological outbreak.

Early on in pre-production, the filmmakers knew they would want someone to document the filming process. To achieve this they brought on longtime friend and accomplished still photographer, Mary Manchester. Over the course of the initial week of filming in April, and first day of May, Mary took over 1,300 photos of every aspect of the production. “Through A Still Lens” is a photography exhibit that showcases a small portion of these images, all favorites personally selected by the filmmakers and Mary Manchester. The exhibit premieres at 6:00 PM on October 1st, 2011, at the New Moon Café at 401 N Main St., Oshkosh, WI during the October Gallery Walk. The photos will remain on display throughout the month of October.

During the exhibit there will be a new trailer for the film premiering, alongside the unveiling of the film’s theatrical poster. Many members of the cast and crew will also be in attendance during the exhibit premiere.


Facebook Event Page

STANGAAR THE MIGHTY

This past week there was a string of emails that passed around some cast members and production team about one very important subject. Stangaar the possum. Producer Lee Marohn was inspired to write a song of victory on the subject. I'll try and summarize this story, the freeing of Stangaar, in the most concise way possible, bear with me here.

The third day of filming there was a terrible blizzard that more or less destroyed our plans to film a very important scene at the original location. After nearly two hours of failed attempts to make it work we admitted defeat to the Wisconsin April weather. We spent the next hour and a half at a gas station in Pickett warming ourselves and generally increasing morale amongst the cast and crew. One key factor to this was the acquisition of one plush possum, who informed actor Aaron Christensen of his name via telepathic message. This was easily the most identifiable and critical turning point in our week. We went from our lowest low to our highest high in the matter of a couple hours. Found a new location, moved on, and everything turned out far better than we would've been able to manage under any other condition. Seth Frank, freer of Stangaar, we are forever indebted to you.

Without further delay, we are proud to present "Stangaar The Mighty," by producer Lee Marohn.

(Note: Must be sung by a mixed choir of children and axe-wielding Vikings)

He came to us one Tuesday morn
When things were looking grim
His goodness spred unto us all
And now we cherish him.

Stangaar the Mighty
Stangaar the Bold
Stangaar inspired us
In the chilling April cold.

Stangaar joined our little crew
And things have turned out great
What did we do without him
He's the hero of DEAD WEIGHT.

O, Stangaar the Mighty
Stangaar the Bold
Stangaar inspired us
In the chilling April cold.

Stangaar, official mascot and source of limitless energy.

STILL IN THE FOG...

Lead actor, Joe Belknap, graces us with another heartfelt blog, this time recapping the final week of filming Dead Weight: 

We’ve wrapped. Dead Weight has wrapped.

Man, that sounds so weird.

I hesitated awhile before sitting down to write a second blog exploring the final days of filming. I felt like I wouldn’t be able to help but just repeat what I already expressed back in April. I’d just be echoing myself. Spinning my wheels.

But maybe that’s okay. Maybe gratitude is a subject that never tires.

That’s a good thing, too, because I find myself, for the second time, gushing with gratitude after my final week of shooting Dead Weight. For the second time, we were surrounded by supportive, dedicated humans. The whole process of creating Dead Weight has been dependent on people who have been willing to do just about anything to help us out. We had those people the first week of filming, and, boy howdy, we had them the second week, too. Please allow me to offer a guided tour of Oshkosh (and surrounding areas) as I introduce to you a handful of new friends:

When in doubt, talk about Rush at The Reptile Palace.

Thanks to Marlo and the Algoma Club. Have you ever been given a ten minute warning that you would be “fast dancing” to Weird Al without the aid of adult beverages? Really? Never? Yeah, well, if it ever does happen, I can only hope it’s at a place as classy as the Algoma Club; a historic building with a really beautiful interior.

Thanks to Collin and the staff at Benvenuto’s. I’m not sure if you’ve ever had pasta and wine (well, juice) at 9 in the morning, but I have and it’s awesome. What a friendly and accommodating staff. Everyone there was so willing to participate in what we were doing. And mints! They have free mints!

Thanks to Beth and The Reptile Palace. Everyone there was ready to roll the second we arrived, and I think it might end up being one of the best looking scenes in the film.  I didn’t even care that my Schplatz tasted a lot like water.

Thanks to Joseph and the Ramada Plaza in Fond Du Lac. When the hallways prompt conversations about Alanis Morissette tattoos, you know you’re in a place of magic.

Thanks to Matt and Spark Advertising in Neenah. Can I please work and live in your building? Please? I’m really good at, like, drinking coffee and getting other people coffee. Do you need someone like that, maybe?

Patiently awaiting her man at the Outagamie County Airport.

Thanks to Kim, Pla and the Outagamie County Regional Airport. Yeah, that’s right. Dead Weight filmed in an airport. You know, the place where the planes live. I mean, geez, it’s like we’re really makin’ movin’ pictures here!

Thanks to Michelle and the Paine Art Center and Gardens. What a beautiful garden and an absolute perfect location for what we were filming that day. I was so getting my Thoreau on in that place.

Thanks to Adam and Cari for letting us take over their house for a night. We’re not always the most convenient bunch to have around, what with our lights, camera and action hubbub. Hope we didn’t wreck up the place too much. (Special shout out to Mocha and Extra Foam! I willy miss you, you wittle wabbits.)

Thanks to Jason, Big D, and Cranky Pat’s in Oshkosh. Man. What a place to wrap. Certainly a bittersweet night, but I had some of the best pizza in the state to help me cope. Eat away the pain, Joe. Eat it all away.

And, of course, thanks to John, Adam, Travis (director of photography) and Mary (actress extraordinaire).  I originally intended to detail my admiration for their hard work here, but I think I’ve already exhausted readers with the length of this blog. For now, I’ll withhold those sentiments… for now.

Everyone else we worked with the last week of filming- those who gave us access to locations, extras (holy hell, did we have some radical extras), food prep folk, the incredible Lance, Lee, Cole and Seth, those who came around for minor roles that have a major impact - you’re the lifeblood of this film. We’ve fed off your enthusiasm and encouragement. We’ve taken your own dedication as inspiration. You made what we were doing so much easier, and so much more fun. Thank you.

There’s still so much work to do, though the bulk of my own work is complete. The long and exhausting days of trudging through the schizophrenic Wisconsin weather with my friends has passed; the late nights of filming into the ridiculously wee hours of the morn are over.

But I know I’ll miss it. I already do. When you get to spend that time with the people I have, you just can’t feel any other way.

We’ll premiere early 2012, and it’ll be a party, baby.

You comin’? 

-Joe Belknap

A nice (yet incredibly hot and humid) afternoon at the Paine Art Center (with wonderful company).

SPOTLIGHT ON THE CREW: COLE GARROW

Once again, we take some time to put the spotlight on an incredibly dedicated individual, who was with us most of production, Cole Garrow. I have known Cole since high school, but this was the first time we ever worked on a project together. Cole was essential to have on set, he worked hard whenever you needed him to, and was able to make others laugh with his odd comments and jokes. When you are facing stress like we had during production, being able to laugh and smile is key.

Let's turn it over to Cole and hear what he has to say:

I never thought too much about what it meant to be 'dedicated' to something (especially the more intangible things, like the production of a movie) until after the first couple days of helping to shoot Dead Weight. The work wasn’t hard, but the weather was demoralizing and pure shit. I'm a bit glad I didn’t have to show up for the blizzard day... What I realized after getting out of the second day of shooting and once the feeling started to come back to my face and toes was that I was really interested in/dedicated to seeing this project through for its own benefit and for everyone else involved. In the process of helping out on an awesome project; I made some friends, got my first case of windburn, had some good laughs, set up a tent for absolutely no reason, discovered the world of film making and enjoyed some tasty sandwiches/wraps (thanks, Cari!).

My favorite parts were: Manning the boom, being Travis' helper, the last night of filming and making inane references to Mr. Show and Tim and Eric with Seth. Stuffing dummies was no slouch, either, but that doesn’t compare with the Bag Hutch® (right, Seth?). Throughout my involvement (but especially on the last night, Seth and I were like a two-man-grip-army), it felt like I was making a difference. Don’t get me wrong, I make 'differences' all the time, but this one felt like it had value. I was happy to help, happy to meet all the wonderful people that I did, and happy to have my work appreciated. Granting I'm still alive, and still within a reasonable geographic proximity, John and Adam, you have a dedicated grip. Thanks for letting me be a part of the magic...

...“CAR!!”

-Cole Garrow

Cole takes Joe's "crazy" lunch order.