It's just a non eventful, unedited clip, but we wanted you to see how we're using post production to bring our humble little sets to life. We've gotten a lot of footage shot so far, and while we take a break from filming over the holidays, we thought we'd start editing and adding VFX to what we have so far.
No, no! Not that. That's from Harbinger Down, but I thought I'd do a gag gif for studioADI while I was at it, because they've been so nice to our production, providing us with animatronic tentacles, and all. (I thought it was funny.)
"So, what's coming in the new year?" you ask! Well, I personally have been taking some art commissions to subsidies funding for the film, therefor we do have more money to continue shooting our next round of scenes. After that, I have an idea that I'd like to run by you. I'm thinking of bringing the Indiegogo to a close and doing one last Kickstarter for finishing funds.
...
...
Wait. Why would I want to do that, when I'm still able to collect funds from our successful Indiegogo? Well, the reason really comes down to public perception. I've been told by many people that at a glance, our campaign looks like a successfully funded one, that doesn't need or even isn't open to more contributions. Of course, if you spend a little time on our page or any of our social media, you can tell that neither of those things are the case, but I can't blame people for not spending more than a few seconds looking at what amounts to one in a sea of crowdfunding pages.
I think that a new Kickstarter campaign along with a brand new trailer (maybe even an "leaked" scene) with new footage and improved FX could be just the thing to generate new excitement for our movie. What do you think?
One final note before I go. I've been told by one of our contributors that the messages I've been sending them through Indiegogo's messenger service have not been reaching them. If you have pledged and not received a personal message from me, please accept my apologies and let me know by contacting me through thequantumterror (at) gmail (dot) com because I want you to be able to communicate with me at all times and know that I am grateful to each and every one of you.
So, from all of us to you, we want to say Merry Christmas, Happy (belated) Hanukkah, whatever else you might celebrate, and a happy new year.
“The most merciful thing in the world, I think, is the inability of the
human mind to correlate all its contents... some day the piecing
together of dissociated knowledge will open up such terrifying vistas of
reality, and of our frightful position therein, that we shall either go
mad from the revelation or flee from the light into the peace and
safety of a new Dark Age.”
~ H.P. Lovecraft
It has been mentioned before that The Quantum Terror's cash of creatures are more than just your run of the mill beasts that maim people for kicks, but rather metaphors that speak of the burdens that everyone living in or modern society must bear. For many people who have a cursory knowledge of H.P. Lovecraft, the name evokes images of slimy, tentacled monsters devouring hapless victims, while leaving the survivors to cackle with mad laughter, which in turn dissolves into hysterical tears from the encounter. It's a fair enough generalization, but in this day and age of Cthulhu plush toys and role playing games, I fear that the true implications of an alien terror so vast, so complex, contradictory, and foreign that it causes people to go insane, has been lost on most, especially since we have already encountered such a being. No really, we have. It didn't come from a fallen meteorite, beneath ancient ice, or the briny depths, but from that alternate dimension that is the collective human consciousness.
“I think the
point is to make us despair; to reject our own humanity, Damien: to see
ourselves as ultimately bestial; as ultimately vile and putrescent;
without dignity; ugly; unworthy.”
~William Peter Blatty,
The Exorcist
Human beings greatest strength is that even in the most cut throat of times, when this Trojan horse in our collective has cased so much destruction, good people can be found who inspire hope and rally others to strive for improvement. Historically, these people have risen above the clamor and shown their fellows the way, not through deception and despair, not through coercion and censorship as so many are want to do these days, but by example, so that we can right the wrongs, or at least rebuild with the intention of doing better next time.
However, each time this entity returns stronger and more determined then the last, a Hydra like insidious worm akin to that which gets into the brains of cows, causing them to turn in circles until they drop dead or rabies infecting a pack of wild dogs so that they turn on each other. It finds what matters to us most and digs in, driving us apart until we are so consumed with the weight of it all, that we eventually give up and let ourselves fall to ruin.
Amazingly, I've found that it is this Equestira Girls: Rainbow Rocks song, entitled "You Didn't Know That You Fell" that illustrates this point quite perfectly with its lyrics, but instead of a Siren's song dividing us, it is the cacophony of the dilapidated media and politics, that is perpetuated minute by minute courtesy of social media. We've all been assimilated into it. Indeed, it can't exist without us and the people who profit from it are working hard to make sure we never leave.
What? You were expecting a giant naked lizard man with an octopus head? While that image is definitely more fun for horror movies, it is those same movies that have ensured that if such a being were to really manifest in our world, our brains will have already been prepared for the image and recognizing the enemy. We'll be ready to fight.
However, this being is far too clever to do something like that. Instead it has attacked us in a way most people never have thought possible, and therefore we would not be able to protect ourselves against, so readily. Rather than overwhelming us with sheer alien incomprehensibility, it overwhelmed us with the incomprehensibility of our own inner world, taking our desire to be moral creatures and hitting it dead on. The younger generation of our current populous has suffered the worst from this attack, because they do not come from a time before everyone carried a device with them that constantly inundates everyone with information and misinformation, 24 hours a day. However, having that frame of reference is not a sure fire inoculation. We were all taken off guard.
Those of us who grew up before the iPhone and Androids never imagined that there would be a worse perpetrator of this deluge than the TV, which we could easily walk away from to continue on with our daily lives. Now we're always plugged in, wherever we go, and so are the mechanisms of our culture. It gives us information on tap and at the touch of a little screen, grants us the capacity to learn things and see places without traveling, but it mixes that great privilege, which no one wants to give up, with superficial things and tells us that no person should be without them. At breakneck speeds it shows us threats and atrocities both real and manufactured for manipulation, and gives us such conflicting information, rewritten history, edited events, propaganda, people arguing, condescending to each other, accusing everyone of racism, holding grudges for things that happened before any of us were born, telling them they're evil for eating meat, not having solar panels, thinking differently then them. It tells them that the environment is being destroyed, terrorists are killing everyone and it's our fault, the economy is crashing, our government is being controlled by corporations, you're greedy for opposing new taxes, the color of your skin invalidates you (or if you're black and you agree with a white person, you're a coon.) your typos invalidate you, your bills are overdue, and on and on and on, and this is coming at you all the time, and the big message is if you're not thinking about it, caring about it, trying with all your might to do the right thing, fix all the planet's problems, and not offend anyone, then YOU are what's wrong with this world. Dare to present another point of view and you will be blocked, ganged up on, ostracized, and labeled a troll. It's passive aggressiveness with all the aggressiveness of World War III. Pass it on. Of course, feel free to absolve yourself when you do. Everyone else does. It's enough to drive anyone to madness in a way that puts any cosmic horror to shame.
And so Cthulhu has risen. Or maybe it's more like the Orwellian bullet to the head (read 1984 to get that reference) wherein here comes the self appointed master to tell you that all of this free will is really what's ailing you. "What you need is to put us in charge." they tell us, "We know better than you. Never mind that we're the ones that built the pyre and fanned the flames." and when we're all beaten and crazy from it all, and agree to their devil's proposition, Cthulhu will have consumed us completely.
However, unlike the writings of Lovecraft, there is still hope. When enough people learn to question what they're shown, to know when to tune things out, to seek knowledge through the world that the information highway does not show them, but rather go back to experiencing what our five senses show us, we will once again be able to take our lives back from this horror. First we'll have to learn not to fear the cuts and bruises that both our egos and physical bodies will have to endure, to be happy this way. We'll have to learn to live with different points of view and accept when others don't always agree with ours, and also accept that this might not mean that they're bad people. We'll have to be aware that there will always be others willing and wanting to hurt us and be prepared to defend ourselves against them, but we will do it with courage and integrity, rather than crying to some imagined savior, who is really just a salesman or aspiring slave master, minus the tell tale tentacles that would otherwise raise a red flag.
All of this will be in The Quantum Terror. Don't worry, it will be subtle. We know you don't go to the movies to be preached to, like in this article. I'll leave that to James Cameron when he releases the next Avatar movie.
As some of you may know, I'm not only the director of The Quantum Terror movie, but I'm also the host of a practical effects focused podcast show on LeglessCorpse.com known as The Practical People. With my friend's Shannon Shea launch of his Kickstarter for The Phantom Harbor, Chad Armstrong (founder of Legless Corpse) raising money for his film Deimosimine, and of course, The Quantum Terror continuing on with its Indigogo, it seemed only natural to get everyone together on one show to talk about our projects. Unfortunately, Chan got struck down by a 104 fever and had to miss out on the show, in favor of going to the hospital, but we were joined by Fright Hype host Mike Hickey, for a fun conversation via Google Hangouts. Enjoy our episode.
We're very proud to say that our leading lady Kristin Cochell
has a new interview in IndieActivity.com where she talks about her
acting and her various roles, including The Quantum Terror. You can read
it by clicking here.
Meanwhile,
we're working on a lot of different aspects of the film, in between our
principle photography. Today includes a meeting with our head of
miniature effects, HEATHER LOWE and sifting through dailies so we can start making rough edits of what we've shot so far.
Known for her combination chalk art, cosplay, photography pieces she
creates around her two daughters, Heather's work has been featured by
sites like Moviepilot, Neatorama, and has even earned a spotlight from George Takie.
She's also the author of The Sunny Side Blog,
a painter, master of arts and crafts, and quite frankly, her creativity
knows no bounds. Check out more of her work, by clicking HERE.
Heather will be taking on the construction of our miniature sets,
which include tunnels, strange rooms, and alien environments. Her eye
for detail, knowledge of materials, and love of horror movies make her
the perfect person for the job.
More great news is on the way.
For those of you who have contributed to our "voice of evil" pledge level on our IndieGoGo
we are slowly getting around to checking out what you've recorded. Bear
with us, as the process of bringing this all together is a meticulous
one. Also, a couple of you on that pledge level still haven't sent us
your submissions. Don't be shy. The time is now.
As always, thank you!
-Christopher "Moonlight"
Don't forget to follow us and repost the stuff we post on...
I hope everyone had a fantastic Halloween. Ours got off to a great start with our local paper The Hays Free Press doing their second story on our production, which you can read by clicking HERE.
However,
things did get a bit hairy soon after that, with severe flooding in our
city, where we're shooting. Everyone is okay and we soon got thing
straitened out, but check out what our tunnel looked like in this
aftermath video.
We've had some weather here, which is going to set us back a little, but never fear, here's a sleep deprived Christopher Moonlight to explain. #QuantumTerror #elnino #texasstorm #Lovecraftian #floods #PracticalEffects #practicalfx #ChristopherMoonlight
Posted by The Quantum Terror on Friday, October 30, 2015
Still we managed to enjoy our Halloween, and I even took time out to make a tutorial on my costume, which you can watch here.
Yes,
that's a DIY Alien chestburster puppet made using household materials.
No, I don't consider it movie quality. All movie quality materials are
of course dedicated to bringing The Quantum Terror to life.
You can get the full scoop on building baby aliens on Moviepilot.com where I go into more detail about the inspiration. Click HERE to read it.
Back to work! Tomorrow,
I meet with my miniature set builder as we continue to move ahead with
production, but as usual, we're counting on you to help let people know
that our Indiegogo is still open and accepting contributions.
A moment behind the scenes with The Quantum Terror. Figured we better post this before the Star Wars trailer drops and all else is completely overshadowed. #QuantumTerrod #BTS #StarWars #practicaleffects
Posted by The Quantum Terror on Sunday, October 18, 2015
Yes, it's happening! This Sunday we got back on set for our third day
of shooting. Things went really well, largely due to our collection of
great talent, combined with a lot of storyboards that were drawn out,
ahead of time.
Here are some photos from the day, that we rather like.
As you can see, we're having a great time.
A quick update from today's The Quantum Terror film shoot. The cast and crew are working really hard, as Christopher Moonlight will show you.
Posted by The Quantum Terror on Sunday, October 18, 2015
Recently we gave a set tour to the Zombie Life Podcast show, who interviewed us extensively while they were there. We're really pleased with how it turned out. Give it a listen...
We're moving along, but we still need your help. Please share this stuff as we post it, and let people know that the Indiegogo is STILL OPEN
and can receive pledges. We have about 7 more days of shooting to do,
and every little bit helps. We've still got great pledge rewards
available, from coffee mugs to screen used FX pieces. If anyone is
interested in becoming an investor, please email me at
thequantumterror@gmail.com to learn more.
So, Zombie Life Podcast came out to the set of our film, and gave Jenna Green and I our most comprehensive interview yet. We hope you'll take the time to listen to it in its entirety, as they really captured our intentions.
