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

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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.

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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.

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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

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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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About two and a half years ago my girlfriend hopped on a jet skiing kangaroo and relocated herself from down under, sweetly planting herself into our lovely one-bedroom apartment. At the time I was in the final post-production stages of my latest film, Lo. She was hot off the Melbourne gallery scene where she showcased and sold her photography. It seemed we had both eaten a lot of dirt and were preparing to shit out pearls…but we didn’t. Instead we found that we really enjoyed living together and because it was the beginning of our new life, we took some unintentional time off our art forms. In a way, the excitement of living together for the fist time replaced that gnawing need to create. It was a very full experience and one that not only required a lot of time but was at its best when fully immersed. So art would have to wait. And it did.

Present day. A knock at the chest. “Hello? Who’s there?”

A couple years went by and the two lovers formally known as artists decided it was time to get back to doing what it is they did. Create. Easy-as-pie…Commando war-zone pie. We tried (oh, we tried) to get back on our game. Shannon longed to figure out a new series to photograph, while I sat down at my computer a number of times only to hack up some of the worst drek I’ve ever written.  What the fuck happened to us? It was as if our muses had long packed their bags and hopped aboard a moving train. She was gone. Dried up. Never to return? Sweet Jesus!

Lo was, at the time, doing the film festival circuit. Shannon and I traveled to a few cities and I showed off the movie I was inspired to make three years prior. While the acceptance we received was very positive, I still couldn’t figure out how to get re-inspired. Where the hell did that Muse go and who was she fucking?!? I’ll kill um both!

Boston Underground Film Festival. We eat, we drink, we screen Lo. When it’s all over we head up to New York City for a few days of adventure. There we were in Shannon’s favorite city when she is smacked in the face with a terrible cold. She spent most of our time in NYC in bed. On the last night of our trip, we were both sleeping soundly when I was awaken by one of the creepiest sounds I have ever heard. A moaning. NOT the “Oh yes, right there. That’s the spot you animal!” type of moaning. This was the, “Hello, travis. My name is the Devil” type of moaning. And it was coming right out of my sleeping girlfriends mouth. Inhale. Moan. Inhale. Moan….

At first I dismissed it as her having trouble breathing due to the cold. We arrived back home in California and I forgot all about it…until that night. I was awaken once more buy the moaning from the night before. Only this time a little louder. Only this time a little creepier. For almost a week I endured this. Some nights I would watch her sleep and moan and the thought (the serious thought) went through my mind that she might be possessed. There were nights it spooked me so bad I had to sleep on the couch.

Finally it stopped. Both of us were relieved. Then…a knock at the chest. Can you believe who it was? Both of them. Standing there! As if they had never left. Shannon took hold of her muse and I hugged mine. Together, in beautiful harmony they whispered, “ghost possession musical”. I sat down in front of the glowy screen that had been giving me such pains. I sat down and attacked the keyboard that had forgotten how to string a sentence. I sat down with my inspiration intact. I sat down and wrote, The Dead Inside.

Cheers to the final day of pre-production. Tomorrow Shannon and I step behind the camera and begin, what I am confident is, a very long and inspired lifetime of creating.

Much love

Travis

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I felt a bit guilty last night when I went to bed leaving Shannon (my cinematographer/lover) still working hard on the set of THE DEAD INSIDE. She had been busting her ass all day getting things ready for our Friday start date. I too had been working very hard but in a slightly different way. I couldn’t focus on a single task in front of me because I was mentally exhausted.  Two days until we go to camera and there is one fraking sequence I just can’t wrap my head around…and it’s the one we need to shoot first!

I’ve tried everything. I even took a walk at 11:30pm last night to clear my head but it did me no good. Now I am starting to think I may be over-thinking, which is just as deadly. The problem is I have the crust, I’m just lacking the filling. I see the scene in my head but the execution is off at the beach or something cause I can’t find it. To quote my own movie, “I type, I read, delete and think. Please tell me God’s of art…” It’s a funny little thing when you write an entire movie about the horrors of inspiration and then experience the fuck out of those horrors.

All that being said, I’m super excited to start shooting. It’s been almost three years since I’ve shot a feature and I could ask for no better experience than to work with woman I love most on a musical horror. We’re making something special because we are making this together, and it’s that fact that allows me to breathe a little easier about the haunted sequence. I know that even if I show up to set with no clue how to shoot it, we’ll figure it out right then and there and it will be awesome.

Now if you will excuse me, there’s still a few shafts of hair sticking out of my head that need pulling.

Much love

Travis

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Can ghosts shit their pants? I mean even if they were wearing pants they would be made of the same paranormal goo that the actual ghost was made of. So if one were to believe that a ghost could even (or need to) take a shit, that it would fall right out its ghost ass and through its ghost pants. But even then, the shit would be a ghost as well, so shouldn’t that fall straight through the ground, out the other end of the Earth and on into space?

Well, I’m not a ghost, but I am shitting my human pants a little, because this is the last week of pre-production on my ghost possession musical, The Dead Inside. It’s not that I’m scared. I’ve made three features before this. It’s just I always get this way right before a shoot. All the last minute details. All the money we don’t have but desperately need. The gnawing doubts about artistic choices. It’s enough to force the poop from my ass and into my jeans. I guess we should just call it an all encompassing energy.

The Dead Inside begins official production this Friday. From this point on you will be getting these blog updates on the status of the film, along with photos and video to wet your whistle. I hope you’ll enjoy the journey as much as we will. I can’t tell you how excited I am to start 2010 off with such a bang! The test shoots we performed on Saturday proved that we will, in fact, make a great film. I look forward to sharing it all with you, and then one magic day in the near future having you watch the dream in its entirety.

So here we go. Ghost turds be damned, this is gonna be a wild ride.

Much love

Travis

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With my feature film LO finishing its run on the festival circuit and heading to DVD in 2010, it only makes sense to make another damn movie! I’ve done a horror film, JOSHUA. I’ve experimented with a love story in SUNDAY. Then I squished the two genres together with my latest, LO. Looking back over my filmography, I see no reason not to continue the trend and try something completely different! I am here to officially announce pre-production status on my next feature film, The Dead Inside. A ghost possession musical.

The Dead Inside is a story that explores the dark side of inspiration. Wes and Fi are lovers whose creative muses have all but vanished from their lives. When Fi begins to show signs of schizophrenia, Wes does everything in his power to help her get better…that is until Fi’s true affliction decides to introduce itself to both Wes and the world. Fighting against her possession, they rediscover inspiration in the grimmest corners of their situation. Their muse has returned, killing Fi from the inside and haunting Wes with each passing breath.

The film will contain ten musical numbers composed by the brilliant Joel Van Vliet, and will star Sarah Lassez (Mad Cow Girl, Lo) and Dustin Fasching (Onsie, The Break Dance Kid). Shannon Hourigan (Bartokular, Black String Theory) is our all powerful cinematographer. Principle photography begins in late November.

So…here we go again! I’ll keep everyone posted on the progress. This is going to be one hell of a bad ass flick!

Much love

Travis

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