David Matheny Film

MY STEPDAD'S A FREAKIN' VAMPIRE! Release date!

2011-08-08T17:16:00.000-07:00

My Stepdad's A Freakin' Vampire! will be released on DVD 11/22/2011 through Level 33 Entertainment!

DEPART FROM ME (revised)

2011-05-27T19:30:00.000-07:00

DEPART FROM ME (revised) from David Matheny on Vimeo.

This is an updated version of Depart From Me. In this new video, Douglas Edward updated the sound design, I fixed some color correction issues and I shortened a few cuts. I had to do this because it's been bugging me for almost a month.

Behind "Depart From Me"

2011-05-19T23:22:00.000-07:00

To see Depart From Me the short film, go here: http://www.vimeo.com/23516052

Like most independent films these days, Depart From Me was made on a low budget. Roughly $700. I'm not so sure that's even considered low anymore. Anyway, I wanted to take some time to let everyone know what kind of equipment and software I used for the film and what we spent all that money on. If anyone has any questions about the production of Depart From Me, shoot me an e-mail and I'll try and get back to you as soon as I can. damatheny@gmail.com

I guess I'll start with the money. There really wasn't anything that we really needed to buy besides the set and lights. The lights were from Wal-Mart and cost about $70 for the fixture and the bulbs. They were just really cheap fluorescent lights. We also bought lumber, cloth, buttons, batteries and cement. By the way, NEVER use actual cement on walls if you want that kind of look. The walls in the video weighed about 300 pounds. Most of that weight was the cement. It really sucked moving it around.

CAMERA AND LENSES

I filmed Depart From Me with a Canon 7D DSLR camera. I shot mostly 1080 24p, but for the slow motion I had to use 720 60p because the 7D doesn't allow you to shoot slow motion in 1080p. I used a Canon 28-135mm IS zoom lens for all the moving shots because of the image stabilization. I would also use a Nikon Nikkor AF 50mm f/1.4D that I bought from Overland Photo Supply for shots where I needed a shallower depth of field. The only thing that sucks about using Nikon Lenses on a Canon DSLR Camera for video is the shakiness. I had to use a lens adapter to attach the Nikon lens to the canon body. The adapter doesn't allow the image stabilization to work in the lens. So I had to keep the camera locked down on a tripod for all the Shallow DOF shots. Bummer. I used the marvel cine picture style you can download here. This picture style allows you to capture more color information, so you can manipulate it more in post-production.

GEAR

I used a super crappy tripod I bought from Wal-Mart because I couldn't find my Bogen, which totally sucked. I also used a really crappy skateboard dolly that I built about 5 years ago. It's similar to the picture above, but not near as well built. The thing barely moved. We had to put a ton of WD-40 on the wheels. To fix the shaky movement from the tripod, I would rest the camera or tripod on pillows. It absorbed a lot of the shock. For other shots I would have somebody push me and I would just hold the camera steady. The tripod and the dolly are the only two things we used. We didn't have sound, so a microphone wasn't needed.

LIGHTS
I used 4 fluorescent lights that I bought for $15 a piece at Wal-Mart to light most of the set. To light the monitors inside the laboratory I used those same lights and just put them behind the plexiglass. I also used a 6" battery powered fluorescent light for the woman scientists face.

POST-PRODUCTION
I do all my post-production with a Mac Quad Pro with 8 gigs of ram. It really gets the job done. I edited it in final Cut Pro. For all the visual effects I used Adobe After Effects CS3. I also used Video Copilot's Optical Flares and Action Movie Essentials 2 for some of the fire effects.

The Music of DEPART FROM ME

2011-05-14T15:55:00.000-07:00

I asked Douglas Edward, the composer of Depart From Me to write a few words about the score. I'm really excited about this post. Working on music with Douglas is always something I look forward to when I make a movie. He's a super talented dude. I think he has some great things to say about the score and composing music. Here you go!

Depart
From Me Score by music-49

"Hi my name is Douglas Edward and I am a composer for Film and TV. Dave Matheny asked me if I would answer some questions for his blog and I thought it would be a fun way to talk about my favorite subjects: Music and Film!

I first met Dave after he contacted me through myspace. Over the course of a couple of years, we worked on The Scientist (which was a finalist for best film score at a film festival in 2008) and My Step-Dad's a Freakin' Vampire! (which recently acquired distribution and will be out this October). The interesting thing about those films is that we never met each other in person until the scores were already finished. We didn't know what each other looked like until he drove into town for the scoring session to Step-dad!

Now that those films are behind us, we started working on Depart From Me. This film was an interesting project to work on for a composer because the film expresses many layers of emotion without a single line of dialogue. The film also gave us several options as far as the music goes. Since I knew Dave had originally shot this as a music video for a metal song, we both talked about how an edgy, dark, distorted type of sound would be great for the film. However, we quickly decided to change gears completely and create a score that accented a subtle emotional undertone that otherwise had gone unnoticed. It's a great example of how two completely different elements, that being music and video, can come together to create something that neither could do on its own. It was a lot of fun working on the score for this film!"

"Writing and producing music on a low budget is always challenging. Luckily, the sound we wanted for this film was intimate enough that a large number of players wasn't necessary (nor had to be faked with orchestral samples). I am a huge advocate for using microphones and live instruments in scores, just like a director uses a camera and live actors. So I played a lot of what you hear musically live, including the viola solos and vocals towards the end (which were pitched up to create an eerie sound). Even the electricity sounds were recorded live (they are the sounds of my dad sanding a floor with an electric sander). There isn't much else I would do for this film if I had a larger budget. The only thing we considered is using a children's choir instead of my voice for the vocal section."

"My advice for aspiring composers is pretty simple: Learn everything you can about music. From writing parts for any instrumentation, playing as many instruments as possible, running your own recording sessions, knowing how to work with microphones as well as midi, and most importantly knowing the value of being sensitive to picture in every sense of the word. For the more advanced composers, I would suggest that emotion is always more important than being technical. For the new composers, you must know technique before you can properly yield to emotion (in other words, ignorance is not bliss). I don't mean to sound arrogant- I remind myself of these things every time I write a new score."

_____

Douglas Edward is a festival award-winning composer and classically trained Violinist and Pianist. He has scored many productions, including ABC's Ghostbreakers (hosted by Joey Greco from Cheaters), SyFy's Meteor Apocalypse (starring Joe Lando from Dr. Quinn), and The Boys of Ghost Town (co-starring Danny Trejo from Desperado). Douglas has performed live and in studio with many bands/artists including Bill Callahan, Flickerstick, Calhoun, and Clinic. His string arrangements and performances have aired on TV shows including the WB's One Tree Hill, MTV's 16 and Pregnant, and NBC's Chuck. He currently writes music for media while based in Los Angeles.

For more information, visit DouglasEdward.com

DEPART FROM ME from David Matheny on Vimeo.

DFM original footage

2011-05-11T21:38:00.000-07:00

FOR THE FINISHED VERSION OF DEPART FROM ME SCROLL DOWN TO NEXT BLOG ENTRY
DFM Original Footage (no vfx or color correction) from David Matheny on Vimeo.

For all you filmmakers and vfx junkies, here is the short film Depart From Me without anything done to the footage. So no vfx or color correction. I tried to keep the editing the same, but I couldn't find some of the original shots so there might be some blank areas. And the audio might be a little off because I accidentally uploaded a variable frame rate video to vimeo. But you'll get the idea.

DEPART FROM ME (short film)

2011-05-09T23:57:00.000-07:00

DEPART FROM ME from David Matheny on Vimeo.

It's been a while, but finally, here it is. Depart From Me. A short film that was originally a music video for my brother Jon. It kind of evolved into a short film over time. This was my final project as a student at Avila University.

I'm putting together some cool special feature stuff that I'll post in the next couple days.

"Depart From Me" Production Photos

2011-04-26T21:42:00.000-07:00

I've finished a new project about 2 months ago. I'm super excited to release it in the next couple weeks. In the mean time, here are some production photos to check out.

What I've Been Working On

2010-12-06T12:39:00.001-08:00

Here is a still from a music video I've been working on. It's something that has been in the works for a long time. I filmed it about 5 months ago, but haven't really found the time to work on it seriously until now. It's looking really cool and I'm hoping to have it done by the end of the year.

As soon as it's done, I'll post some visual effects breakdowns and production photos to kind of explain how it was made.

AOF FILM FESTIVAL

2010-07-20T18:57:00.001-07:00

Thursday morning I'm heading off to Pasadena, California for the AOF FILM FESTIVAL. I've never been to California before so it should be interesting. With me will be the star of MSFV, Lahcen Anajjar and good friend, Buddy Blackman. The whole trip will be covered on my twitter. I haven't used it much before but it'll be on FIRE starting thursday afternoon.

If anyone will be in the area, MY STEPDAD'S A FREAKIN' VAMPIRE! Will be screening at 10pm on Sunday, July 25th at the Regency Theater in Pasadena. You can get your tickets at www.aoffest.com

MINIATURES

2010-05-17T21:21:00.001-07:00

I love miniatures. It's something that I've wanted to get into ever since I started making movies. Here is a photo from my photography final at Avila. The set took up my whole entire living room. It consists of a black sheet, matte board cut outs for the hills and the 12" astronaut is standing on limestone from my dad's front yard.

EVERYONE LOVES MONSTERS!

2010-05-05T14:07:00.001-07:00

One of my favorite parts of making My Stepdad's A Freakin' Vampire! was working on the monsters. It was so much fun starting with a hunk of clay and seeing a creature take shape. It was also one of the only times while making the movie where I had some peace and quite. I could put on some John Williams and go to town sculpting for hours. Very peaceful.

I ran across these photos as I was cleaning up my hard drives. I just thought I would share them with you. It's hard to believe these were taken over two years ago. It makes me want to start sculpting again.

"STEPDAD" UPDATE

2010-04-01T14:09:00.000-07:00

"Stepdad" has been accepted to the Killington Film Festival in Vermont! Also, Stepdad won two Gold district student Addy's. One for Animation and one for DVD packaging. Next up, nationals.

PACKAGING

ANIMATION

The Bare Bones film festival is coming up shortly. I recently found out that "Stepdad" is nominated for Best Horror Feature, best ensemble cast and I'm nominated for Auteur of the Year! The film is playing on the 23rd and 24th of April. I will also be on a panel with other Auteur nominees on the 23rd.

MSFV UPDATE!!!

2010-03-11T13:09:00.000-08:00

I just received and e-mail stating that MY STEPDAD'S A FREAKIN' VAMPIRE! is an official selection at the BARE BONES FILM FESTIVAL! Shortly after reading that e-mail I got another one saying that I'm in consideration for Auteur of the Year!

The Festival takes place April 15-25. Should be awesome. Can't wait to go!

ADDY'S and other awards!!!

2010-02-21T19:35:00.001-08:00

Last I attended the regional Addy's here in Kansas City. It was my first time attending and i have to say it was quite AWESOME! What an amazing ceremony. "Stepdad" took home two student addy's. One for Animation and one for DVD packaging.

DVD PACKAGING

CREDIT SEQUENCE (ANIMATION)

"STEPDAD" also took home Honorable Mention for Best Feature at the Black Swamp International Film Festival and was the pre-night show for the Kansas International Film Festival. Two honors that I should have posted a long time ago.

7d test footage

2009-12-10T21:12:00.000-08:00

So I had some free time last week and decided to go out and shoot a few things with the new Canon 7d. I'm hoping to do some more tests this weekend and post them, but for now here are these clips.

The Canon 7D is a DSLR camera that can shoot video. It shoots 1080 24p footage. It is highly compressed, but for the price I couldn't resist. I had to pick one up.

This first clip is some stuff I shot with the green screen. Overall I'm very pleased with the way it turned out. I wish I could show it to you in better quality, but youtube will have to do for now. If you want to see it in HD on youtube then click here.

This next clip is made up of a couple random shots that we shot in the studio after we finished up the green screen. For a higher quality version click here.

So far, I think the canon 7D rocks the casbah. For a $1900 camera (with lens) it doesn't get much better. I'm really hoping that I can get in the studio this weekend and actually film a scene. The goal is to record behind the scenes special features so people can see how it was done.

I GOT A NEW CAMERA!

2009-11-16T18:09:00.000-08:00

REVIEW COMING SOON. I'm super psyched about this camera. For those of you who don't know about this camera, it shoots HD video, 1080 24p! I can't wait to do some tests with it. I'll be checking out some features such as slow motion in 720p mode, chroma key and just how the picture quality looks in general.

A BRIEF HISTORY

2009-11-15T20:38:00.000-08:00

For those of you who don't know me, my name is David Matheny and I like to party. I also like to make movies. I just completed my newest movie a couple months ago and I consider it my first real movie. When I say real I mean a movie with a budget and real actors and it's something I can sell. It's entitled MY STEPDAD'S A FREAKIN' VAMPIRE! It's adventure/comedy/horror. The title is pretty much self-explanatory.

Also, I recently switched to this blog, and since a lot of you didn't read my last blog, I'm going to be posting some interesting videos and such that I made a while back. Here's one to start!