Yes, we actually live here.

This weekend I climaxed all over my apartment. I started off nice and slow in the living room, then as the pressure built up I moved into the bedroom where I sprayed the end of the movie all over the walls, the bed, the floor, the bookshelf…the place got pretty coated. A mixture of rage, hurt, betrayal and blood oozed off the set this weekend in what was the last of the shooting we will be doing on the main set (Shannon and I’s apartment). There is still one weekend left of production, but that will be taking place in the films only other location. I’m looking forward to a change of scenery and tone, and I think everyone on the crew is as well. We’ve been closed in together on the same set for two months and people are ready to stretch their legs. My production beard is now frightening my girlfriend and she expresses fears that tiny trolls might have found refuge inside it. But shaving will have to wait, as I’ve made it this far. Don’t want to jinx it. One more week and I will finally go in with a miniature machete and hunt down those beard dwellers.

Tom Devlin pumping the blood on Lo.

Tom Devlin was on set this weekend! For those unfamiliar, he is the brilliance behind my make-up effects. He created the demons in Lo and the gore in joshua. When I make a horror film, Tom is my right hand man. Normally I’ll see his blood-stained face every day of production, but this time it was odd having him on set, which made me realize what a different kind of horror movie I was making. There are not  many effects involving make-up, but instead we’re packing the screen with mood and creep factor. That’s not to say that Tom’s work won’t shine! There is one thread through the story where you’ll see the Devlin magic loud and proud…but no spoilers for you!

Sarah Lassez faces her ghosts.

So here we are. The main story has been shot in its entirety. I’m sitting here writing this, looking back, but it’s all a bit of a blur. We busted our asses for two months and I feel in my heart we did something very awesome, very different and very special. After next weekend I will hit the editing and fall in love with the project all over again. It’ll be a tough job sifting through the performances and choosing the best, as we got so much good stuff! So I guess I should just close this blog down until next week when I can say we are officially done, and I can spill the rest of my guts out on the table.

Much Love

Travis

Discussion: leave a comment! »

This weekends shoot was a bit eerie in tone. It was the first weekend that we scaled production down to just two days instead of three, and their was a lack of urgency in the air. We are a mere two weeks away from wrapping the production and this weekend was devoted to grabbing a few pick up shots and also shooting a series of singles used in montage form . Not a lot of heavy lifting and certainly not a lot of beefy scene work. The important thing here will be to not let that mood roll into the final weeks. They are arguably the most intense and difficult. The climax! The story we have been telling is about to burst like a pimple on a sasquatch. By that a mean a pimple so satisfying to pop that it can’t be real. S, yeah…I’m ready to splatter this bitch all over the mirror.

I have a lot of work ahead of me this week in preparation for the last two. Not much to really blog about so instead I will leave you with some behind the scenes pictures. Enjoy them and I will be back next week having one half of the final leg completed.

Welcome to the set!

Our challenge has been to make a very small space seem open and cinematic

Our producer, Galy Bloom, and mascot for TDI, Raimi!

My actors listening respectfully to my notes...or maybe a light blew up.

Sound man, Aaron Gaffey, stands (lies) in for the actor so Dp Shannon Hourigan can light the shot properly.

I love this new lens! i mean, look at it!

The key to indie filmmaking genius is to always be tired and fully bearded.

Hooray for directing movies!

Oh, great. A movie about starving artists. How...starving artist of you.

Discussion: Read 3 Comments »

I often forget that I am shooting a feature film in my apartment, surrounded by neighbors who are not shooting feature films in their apartments. “Dude, why the fuck are you banging on my wall at 12:30am? Trying to sleep? Don’t be a pussy. I’m making art.” That’s the thought that jumps into my head when my actor is singing his guts out and the angry pounding begins. This being both a horror movie AND a musical you can probably imagine just how many weird sounds are floating through my walls. I’m surprised the police haven’t arrived yet. Lot’s of screaming, both argumentative as well as murderous. Door slamming,  high note hitting good times. But I can’t blame my neighbors for getting a little grumpy, especially this late into the game. I will just have to get creative with t he schedule and not do such dramatic scenes so late at night.

Weekend 6 was good. A few bumps in the road but nothing unclimbable. What truly amazed me this weekend was the fact that we shot scenes that occur in the climax of the film. I was looking back over my storyboards remembering all the act 1 and 2 stuff we shot. Seemed like a lifetime ago. Here we are on the fast track to the finish line.  There are 3 more weekends of production and all are scaled down to just 2 days instead of 3. The final weekend of production will be a bit of a treat. We are renting a house in the desert to shoot the secondary story line of the film. It involves heavy make-up effects and lots of fun bits. So our tiny crew will finish up this movie and then crack open a few bottles of celebratory suds and rock the desert proper. It will also be the first drinks Shannon and I have had in the 2 and a half months we will have been at this. For those just joining us, we vowed not to touch a drop of booze until production was wrapped (we really like booze, so this is big for us). We look greatly forward to accomplishing our first feature together and then tipping back our first drink together in ages. The moment will be sweet.

I’m so excited for the world to see this movie. It still has a long journey ahead of it before that happens, but when it does I promise you all something unique, fun, scary and heartfelt. Long live the independent spirit!

Much love

Travis

Discussion: Read 1 Comment »

Travis Betz and Sarah Lassez discuss character

When I was writing the script to The Dead Inside, there were moments in which I needed to span time without actual dialog between the characters. To do this is actually quite simple. You write a montage. A series of smaller scenes that promote a length of time and help push the story forward. I knew while writing these select scenes that they were perfect for the final experience of the movie, but were going to suck my ass to shoot. What I love most about the production side of movie making is watching a juicy scene unfold right in front of me. The shot looking beautiful as the actors give just the right performance. This can sometimes lead to a motion of me rowing a little “air boat” with my arms, which is really just excited energy forcing me to flap about like a crazy person or I’ll explode where I stand. The first half of this weekends shoot was void of this happy and invisble boat. I had tied it to the dock the weekend before but it must have come loose and drifted away because there was little to no air rowing at first. Close up shots like, breaking eggs, stirring batter, choosing dresses from closets, putting on jewelry…wider shots of vacuuming, watching television and making the bed…while necessary they just don’t invoke the same passion as a hearty scene or musical number.  It’s a tedious process and I could not have been happier when it was over late Saturday night. It was then we finally got to see some real composition and acting come together. It was then that just the right wind blew and my little boat rocked itself back to shore.

Creepy things are on the rise for our lovers

Sunday was by far my favorite of the weekend. We started out with a few smaller scenes before we delved into one of my favorite musical numbers of the movie. One scene we shot required another actor…the ONLY other actor in the entire film and he is shot from a distance and out the window. I had asked a neighbor in my apartment building if he would be interested in doing it for us and he was happy to help, but when I knocked on his door a half hour before the shoot he was not there. So, like any good indie director (and egomaniac) I threw on the wardrobe and put myself in the film. It’s always nice to step out from behind the camera for a few minutes and do something different. I had fun in a Hitchcock sort of way. After the scenes we set up for the musical number DOOMSDAY! We had toe-tapping good time with the number as I chose to shoot it LO style. Spotlit actors in a black void. The song has a tango-y duel-like  drama to it, so I think the tone we set was perfect. I’m getting a little itchy trigger finger to edit it right away, but I am trying to put the film together in as much of an order as I can. The footage looks great though.

Dustin Fasching laments through song as his girlfriend deteriorates

Out of 10 original songs, we are down to just 3 left to shoot. We’ve come so far, and even though there are still weeks ahead of us, it feels like things are starting to wrap up. I was going through the behind the scenes footage last night, clearing room off the camera, and watched over our first weekend of shooting. It was almost surreal. I felt like we were all children having their very first slice of pizza. We had no idea it was going to taste so good, but some unknowning being somewhere and at some point in time decided that bread, tomato sauce, cheese and pepperoni equaled oral orgasm. Now here we are with almost half the pie gone. We’re starting to get full, but refuse to stop eating cause it’s so tasty! That’s my metaphore for the week.

Discussion: Read 2 Comments »

I thought today I would address a topic that amuses me: Everyone’s a critic. Ever since the internet has been public, the everyday, “I-tie-my-shoes-like-you-but-don’t-get-the-big-bucks”, Joe and Sally’s of the world have had a voice. They are able to comment, reply, blog and scream about any damn topic they feel. Finally their opinion can be heard. In my world, this voice is most prominent in movie criticism. Being an independent filmmaker, I spend a lot of time on sites like IMDB, Netflix, Rotten Tomatoes, Bloody-Disgusting, Shock-Till-You-Drop…and many others. I love to immerse myself in movie news, and what the average person has to say about film. I enjoy watching people both defend and trash movies. It’s like a train wreck of a reality show sometimes when you find message board threads with people verbally abusing each other over their opinion. All is fine and dandy until…it’s your film!

Directing my actors in my demon love story, Lo

I learned very quickly to take all criticism with a grain of salt. When my first feature, joshua, was released on DVD in 2006, the very first review I ever got regarding my work was from bloody-disgusting.com, and it could not have been more glowing. I was on cloud 666 (that’s the cloud for horror fans) and already rehearsing my Academy Award speech. Shortly after that review, some “jack-hole” (as I referred to him at the time) commented on the review talking about just how awful my movie actually was. Every scathing word he wrote heated up the cauldron in my stomach. To top it off he decided to bash some of the shots in the movie I was most proud of, saying that I did these pointless shots just because I could. By the end of the ego-popping, hate letter I was so worked up that I hit reply to this uneducated dope (my view of him at the time) and wrote: “You’re damn right I could…and I did!” Or something like that. Basically I made a jackass of myself and lashed back, giving him all the power and making me look like a whiny little filmmaker. I regretted it immediately and since that day I have never responded to a negative comment again. I learned that if I took these words to seriously then I was a  fool and should quit making movies. This faceless person who hated my movie had the right to his opinion. Now sure, some people can be harsh or mean just to be mean, but every minute I let that get to me is a minute wasted. I make unconventional movies. I do this because I am not interested in the re-hashed drivel that passes for entertainment these days. I like to challenge myself and my audience. I want to tell stories in a unique way that will leave an impression on people, wether that be good or bad. In short, I make movies that some people hate and some people love, and that’s pretty damn cool.

Ward Roberts sits for the duration of the movie

So, making a movie that takes place entirely in the confines of a circle on the floor, with a man and a demon doing very little other than talking the whole time is gonna make some people angry. Since the release of my movie, Lo, yesterday, some of the sites are already buzzing with negativity as well as supporters. I thought it would be interesting to bump some of the criticism up against each other, because such vast difference in opinion interests me and fuels me to make more cool flicks. THE GOOD are quotes from people who loved the film and took something unique from the experience (and NOT written by friends). THE BAD are quotes from people who didn’t hate it, but saw some flaws (all written by friends…kidding). THE UGLY are quotes I scraped off the bottom of the hate barrel. All do an excellent job, I feel, of making me pay the price (good or bad) for making something I truly believe in. thus is art. Thus is awesome!

The Good

“Lo is the kind of movie that has cult potential. Think The Rocky Horror Picture Show.”

“The story ends on a surprise note of genuine emotion which I found to be imaginative and moving, giving the entire film an unexpected resonance that lasts through the fadeout.”

“If you’re looking for a raucous horror comedy with lots of mindless action and gore, LO will probably bore you to tears. But if you can tune into the cockeyed vibe that Travis Betz is going for here, you may find yourself having quite a rewarding time knocking around inside this impressive indy flick’s freaky little head.”

“Creative, unique, quirky and initially comedic, Lo shows Travis Betz’s writing ability and the film will likely be seen as a stepping stone towards more expensive and elaborate productions.”

“Writer/director Travis Betz was wise to focus on dialog and makeup effects. Both are terrific, and setting the majority of the narrative in one small, claustrophobic location amps up the tension in the game between human and monster.”

“Jeremiah Birkett’s Lo manages a surprising range of emotional expression under the mask. His performance is specific and layered.”

“Bare bones storytelling at its very finest.”

“Needless to say, love it or hate it — and I’m guessing some of you may find my love for it suspect — this is one unique flick.”

“Betz stretches the limits of what can be done technically and in terms of production design on a modest budget while providing for independent filmmakers a stellar example of how to assemble a quality, technically proficient film with largely convincing special effects on a limited budget.”

“Roberts is one of those rare actors who can play both extremes of the emotional spectrum, sometimes in the very same scene.”

The Bad

“Shot on a micro-budget Lo seems, at times, like too much of a play.”

“Lo” is a modern variation on the “Faust” story and has its clever moments, but ultimately its reach way exceeds its grasp.”

“Every time the film returns to the aforementioned flashbacks, it pretty much sucks all the air out.”

“Distinctive but felt to me like it dragged even at just 80 mins.”

The Ugly

“WOW! First horror film, that put me to sleep.”

“How can such a strange movie get even 1 good review?”

“WTF? This movie was excruciating. I absolutely despised the fact that it wasted my time.”

“A little piece of advice, unless your desprate dont watch it.”

“I cannot understand how anyone with an IQ above that of a rhizome could possibly enjoy this improv dreck. It succeeds only in making demons and hell, well, just boring.”

“This movie sucked. PERIOD. everything was just stupid. actors sucked. story sucked. lighting sucked. props sucked. you sucked.”

“Simply the worst movie EVER.”

“It was more like A Christmas Carol with a $5 budget. Waste of time.”

“This is one of those movies that tries to be clever by poking fun at itself and the genre. It fails. Its low budget, poorly filmed and over-acted.”

“Dumb. Its dumb. Sorry not funny, just dumb. Oh sorry, its boring and dumb. So boring its dumb and so dumb its boring.”

In conclusion: Everyone’s a critic and always will be. Either roll with the punches or get out of the game. And now it’s time to make more movies!

Much Love

Travis

Discussion: Read 6 Comments »

If you keep up with The Dead Inside blog then you remember last Friday we ended up chasing the sun and then lost the ability to record sound. It was an awesome day in Hell, and one that Friday seemed to get off on because he decided to do it again (not sure why Friday is a dude).  On the schedule was a big musical number that required a psychiatric hospital bed. My Executive Producer, Jessica Petelle, secured us a kick-ass, old-school, nut-house bed with large white head and base boards. It was perfect. Our producer, Galicia Bloom, rented a truck and drove forty five minutes to the medical rental house. When the bed arrived I was a bit surprised at how large, heavy and WELDED together it was. We got it off the truck and carried it into the hall of my apartment,

Sarah Lassez captured by the beautiful cinematography of Shannon Hourigan

panting and sweating like it was the first time we’d ever used our muscles. When we got to the first set of stairs it was quite clear that this white monster of sleep was not going to fit. It wouldn’t even angle around the corner. I stood there for a long moment cursing the God’s of art. Then we packed it back into the van and sent Galicia back. Fortunately the gents running the place offered us the same bed disassembled. When she got back we were able to carry it up the steps piece by piece and put it together in the room. That worked out swell, if not for the fact it ate up a good portion of our day. When we finally did start shooting, we did about 7 takes of a master shot of the scene…then realized that the actor was not wearing the arm sling he was supposed to in the shot. Those are the dangers of shooting a feature film with no script supervisor. Everyone has to pay attention at all times to continuity. So we slung him up and re-shot. After that the day got better and we finished the song. Unfortunately by then we were out of time and not able to shoot the second scene I wanted to get done.

Bad things happen to good characters

Saturday and Sunday made up for it though. We got some really great stuff on Saturday including the scene we missed Friday. Sunday was also productive as we were able to reach back and grab a scene we missed a few weeks ago, as well as shoot one of the hardest songs in the movie. We knocked em all out pretty quick and I was very pleased with the results. I cut the crew early so people could go watch the Super Bowl and Shannon and I actually got a Sunday night off in well over a month. The weekend (even with the Friday hiccups) was a huge success.

We are now at the halfway point and things are seeming much less daunting. The finish line is actually in site and the footage we have gotten makes me squirm with delight. I’ll be happy to have my apartment back, but I’ve gotten use to living on set. Lights and C-stands have become part of the furniture and gels can make awesome coasters! This week I hope to really dive into some editing and really see how this movie will cut together. Once again I’d like to thank all those who simply read this blog, as it’s a great way for me to wrap up the shoots in my mind and move forward in order to deliver to you something original and fun! The Dead Inside is going to knock your socks off…so be sure to wear socks.

Much Love

Travis

Discussion: Read 2 Comments »

Dearest friends, family and fans,

I am so very excited to write this blog. This particular blog. A journey that started almost three years ago is coming to an end, and I would be the happiest filmmaker nobody knows if you would join me on this moment. That movie I made, the comedy about the demons in love called LO, is being released nationwide on DVD this Valentines Day weekend!

Got a Netflix account? It’ll be there. Gotta Blockbuster account? It’ll be there. Amazon, BestBuy and hundreds of other outlets and online services will have Lo. True, I am asking you to support my film. The more you rent, buy, rate and review the more opportunities will open up for me as a filmmaker. That being said, I am not just asking you to blindly support. I truly believe that you will enjoy this movie. It is unique from anything Hollywood is putting out and embodies the true spirit of independent filmmaking. It is funny, odd and even touching. Try something different this Valentines Day and explore the idea of love through the eyes of those who live in Hell. Once you do, let me know what you think!

Here is a trailer for the movie. It comes off looking more like a horror film here, but do not be fooled. The distributor asked me to cut it this way in order to better sell it to the bigger chains who did not know how to market a demon love story.  After you’ve watched it, check out below for some ways in which you can help support this little love of mine.

A few ways to help support if your bored and totally awesome:

1. Rent/Buy the movie. Put it on your Netflix or BlockBuster queue or pre-order it from Amazon or Best Buy. This will show the companies that there is a demand for it. I will supply links to all below.

Netflix: http://tiny.cc/Lo7HD

BlockBuster: http://tiny.cc/dqDDK

Amazon: http://tiny.cc/JOMzX

BestBuy: http://tiny.cc/f7Eha

2. Check out our page on IMDB. Every click to that site raises our STAR METER, which is a good thing. If you like chatting on message boards you can do that here as well.

IMDB: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1047490/

3. Spread the word. Tell people about it. Blog about. Make videos about it. Whatever. Every little bit helps.

4. Rate the film on the sites mentioned above and leave reviews. WARNING: Please do not do this blindly or just to be nice. I am not a fan of fake reviews. If you truly have something nice to say then compose to your hearts content. If you hated it and need to tell the world, then I give you the same advice. Write that review! Good or bad. There should always be balance. To much of a good thing is ALWAYS fishy. Netflix, Amazon and IMDB are great places to write reviews on.

Finally I will leave you with a couple early reviews of the film that I recently discovered. I was tickled blood red to read them, especially since they come from unbiased sources.

Hk and Cult Film News: http://hkfilmnews.blogspot.com/2010/01/lo-dvd-review-by-porfle.html

Blog Critics: http://blogcritics.org/video/article/dvd-review-lo/

The Spooky Brew (horror blog post labled us the #7 best horror movie of the decade, even though I wouldn’t consider us straight up horror): http://feeds.feedburner.com/TheSpookyBrew

Discussion: Read 4 Comments »

Sometimes I look like this on set

As I was driving to Taco Bell last night around 12:30am, I couldn’t help but think that driving delirious was eerily similar to driving drunk. The only real difference is that one is legal. We had wrapped about forty minutes prior, but should have shot for another hour. I decided the rest of the shots would have to wait when we filmed an entire scene (three times) in which I never once caught that my sound man (Aaron Gaffey) was taking up a portion of the right frame. I made peace with the fact we were in no shape to continue on and called it a night.

Pennywise from Stephen King's, IT. Started off scary, ended up a spider. Sigh.

It was a long, as well as physically and emotionally exhausting weekend on the ghostly set. In every production there’s gotta be at least one day that makes chewing on tin foil seem like your favorite thing to do. Friday was that day for us. Friday’s beast stepped through the door with balls the size of ____ (insert large fruit joke here). He was ready to shoot the shit of of things. The day started with a full on musical number that I thought would look cool completely done on a steadycam. With movement galore I set out to de-virginize myself with the hand-held stabilizer. It was harder than I anticipated and soon my arm was reminding me that I really didn’t have a lot of muscle mass. Shots took much longer than I had hoped and we ended up taking a generous amount of takes due to focus and movement issues. Because of that we were quickly losing daylight (which was important since we were shooting at the windows and we have no way of mimicing daylight through them due to the fact we are on the 3rd floor). So by the time we finished the number the sun was going down and the light had change considerably. While I am confident the shoot will cut together, there will be a lot of work in post to match the lighting from shot to shot. But whatever. We got it done and it will be swell. So we decided to move forward with the day. We had two scenes to shoot, and scenes require sound. Any movie-goer will tell you that sound is good in scenes. Go ahead, ask any movie-goer. So we set up for the first shot…but wait! The sound recorder isn’t working. It’s picking up nothing. Just white noise. Lovely. Gaffey fiddle’s with it for almost an hour. Tech support is also no help and stops talking to us because he’s “driving in the middle of a thunderstorm”. We’re at a loss with no real options but to cancel the rest of the shoot and hope that we can get the issue resolved by morning.

Audry 2 from Frank Oz's, Little Shop of Horrors. Best singing space plant monster ever.

Saturday’s beast slammed out of the gate, grabbed Friday’s beast by the shoulders and decapitated it with a single upper-cut. It then generously gorged itself on Fridays blood before taking a monster size shit down its neck-hole. My hero. Sound was back up and running (faulty XLR cable) and everyone was on top of their game. We started the day with another musical number. This time things went smoothly. We even got to play with some blood which is always a joy. After the song we moved in to one of the scariest scenes in the movie. I was nervous going into this scene because it really had to be handled right. The end result had to be terrifying and I had no clue what to expect. Just a few shots in and my mind was breathing a sigh of relief. It was looking amazing, and one of the shots even made me jump! The day ended later than usual as the scene was meaty, but we rocked it.

Pumpkinhead from Stan Winstons, Pumpkinhead. Bad-ass, revenge laced monster.

Sunday’s beast walked through door with a sleepy confidence and shook Saturday’s beastly claw. “I’ll take over from here” it snorted. The shoot the night before left everyone in a bit of a foggy state, but it worked perfectly for the tone of the first scene we shot. After that, energy returned and we set up for one of the more emotionally draining scenes in the movie. Lots a tears and dark truths revealed. The actors both had to really bring their A game to this scene and that can be a very nerve-racking thing for a director. There’s a careful balance of making sure they are able to get into the right mindset and knock out a great performance while also trying to make the scene technically awesome. The more shots you compose the more time passes and the more the actors lose the intensity. So it’s a tricky dance, but one that is well worth the results when done right. That being said, we succeeded. I got my shots and the actors brought what they had and even a added a few extra spices I didn’t know was in their rack. Nice work lady and gent! After we chewed the scenery on that lovely scene I decided that since we still had some time we would try to get some fallen brothers we’d left behind in the madness of previous shooting days. We quickly knocked out a bedroom scene and then moved into the office…and this is where this blog began and the shoot came to a crashing end. Everyone was drained. The shoot had to stop.

Here I now sit. Monday morning at my desk job. I’m oddly considering a second cup of coffee, which is very uncommon for me. I sit here pondering a question, and that question is this; what unknown universe am I living in, where my days off are spent at work?

Much love

Travis

Discussion: leave a comment! »

Dustin Fasching plays frustrated photographer, Wes

Things started to get a little dark this weekend. I had almost forgotten we were shooting a horror movie because all the upfront scenes are so much fun, bookended by a couple toe-tapping musical numbers. But last night we met a ghost…and those cheery, sing-songy voices became choke-hold whispers. I’m really loving the evolution of shooting this movie, and it’s nice to be going in order (for the most part).

We’ve shot for seven days now and two musical numbers are in the can (yes, yes…it’s HD, but “in the can” is such a great phrase. It simply HAS to survive), as well as most of the first act. The actors are thrilling me in their roles as the artistically blocked Fi and Wes and I couldn’t be happier working in such an intimate environment. Someday I’d love to work with more money, but I’d always like to keep things small.

Sarah Lassez plays the spunky novella author, Fiona Cella

It’s an odd thing, writing these blogs. I’m not sure how much to really say about the movie, as I always love to keep a bit of mystery surrounding the story. I guess it’s best to drop little teases and talk about my experiences on set. Every night when the shoot is over, Shannon and I are zombies with smiles. That’s the best way way I can describe it. We are dead to the world from a very long and hard day, but are always bursting with excitement at all the cool shots we got. The fortunate thing about shooting only weekends is it gives me the week to start editing the footage. This allows me a good idea of what we are doing right and what we need to fix.

The shooting schedule has been a bit like a naked nerd in a jocks locker room. All seems fine for awhile, but suddenly my ass is stinging from the wet towel that kissed my cheeks and fled. Some scenes go smooth, but others hit me hard then eat up at my time quickly. In the end, we are only slightly behind schedule as we were able to make up many scenes this weekend. We do not wish to rush the project as we want it to look its best. I sacrificed a lot on my last feature, Lo, due to time restraints. This time I am making sure I get the shots I want and giving the actors enough takes to shine their best (Acting, however, did not suffer in Lo…I just didn’t get all the shots I wanted).

Sound Master Aaron Gaffey hanging in the bath tub with banana-eating Travis Betz

It’s funny how some things have just fallen into place in the last minute. We were shooting a big musical number on Saturday that requires a podium. We thought that we had one secured until late Friday when I was told we did not have access to it. I did not want to push the shoot for the number because the schedule is already very packed and we were not ready for any of the other numbers or scenes. I had all the extras lined up and ready to go, as well as the special effects make-up artist. I had to shoot it Saturday. On the day of the shoot, Shannon came back from taking out the garbage and said that there was a slender bookshelf that looked exactly like a podium just sitting in the hallway a few doors down. I checked it out and it was pretty damn perfect. I knocked on the door, but there was no answer. I came back an hour later, but still no answer. That perfect podium/bookshelf was glaring at me…giggling. “You can’t be so perfect, so timely and so twenty feet from my door. I hate you lonely book case/podium.” So I did what any true indie filmmaker would do…I took it. CALM DOWN. I left a note with my apartment number and phone number and explained the situation. If they had any problems they could personally punch me in the face. So I took it. A few hours later I quietly returned it to the exact same dust outline in which I took it. My note was where I left it. The perfect crime. Life is funny like that sometimes. Thanks for the podium good sir in #304.

So we now have four days off…well, four days of no shooting. We’ll still be working hard to prep weekend threes shoot. Side note: I also swore off all alcohol until we wrapped production. Haven’t had a drop in twenty-two days. We anticipate the shoot will go to the end of February, so I’ll be clear-headed for two months. It’s tough not to crack open a delicious beer after a long shoot, but it’s a great personal goal and a healthy one as well. But I tell you this, the minute I call cut on the martini shot (the last shot in a movie), I will pour some liquid brown straight down my throat in celebration of a job well done.

Hope you all enjoyed the weekend two wrap up. Stay tuned for more fun stuff!

Much love

Travis

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Fuck vampires. Screw werewolves. Frankenstein can suck my left testy while the mummy can slobber on the right. Zombies can take a long drag off a short pier and aliens can go to Hell (cause they’re not in the bible)! Now don’t get me wrong, I love each of these creatures dearly. I’m a horror fan after all. But if we’re talking scary…if  you want to know what kind of beings make my blood freeze…it’s ghosts.

Strange since most tales, legends and theories of these entities leave them pretty much harmless to the living. So why am I so afraid of a wispy outline in which the worse they can do is watch me sleep? Perhaps it has something to do with my fear of death…or better put, my fear of AFTER death. Zombies are just reanimated flesh sacks. The former tenant has been evicted from the body long ago. With ghosts it’s a whole other story. They still represent the actual person. The human being who walked the Earth, had dreams, fell in love, shared laughs. That same human being is now dead, but lost. Tormented. Wandering about, often confined to certain walls. Confused. Scared. Lonely. I guess if I believed in Hell (which I do not), then being a ghost would be just that. It’s you, but you’re missing the essential elements that made you you….or something like that. A concious being who can no longer feel joy or love, (we ain’t talking Casper here folks) but longs for both. Something that remembers who it was, but now is only what it is. Tormented and trapped.

Ghosts are like a mirror from the future. They have haunted my world to show me my reflection. They are a constant reminder that one day I will not be here. They are the sad that infect the happy and they can never be killed. Every day they grow in numbers, and they always will. If ghosts really do exists then you’re probably sitting on one now.

Vampires, werewolves, zombies…sure, you don’t want to bump into them. But to me it’s not what these monsters can do to you that’s terrifying, but what they can turn you into…a fucking ghost!

Much love

Travis

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