Stricken-Matt Sconce

Matt Sconce

Matt Sconce

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Stricken is showing at Action on Film Festival in Long Beach at the end of this month. It has been nominated for Best Horror Film of the Year, and Best Sound Design. I am very excited!
Check out the updates and such here: http://www.strickenthemovie.com

Look down one post to find the production Journal.
 
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Production Journal

Production Journal

[FONT=Haettenschweiler, sans-serif]Production Journal [/FONT]​
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7/10/06​
Rehearsals are going extremely well. The actors are phenomenal and the script is coming to life. All of the make-up and special effect objects were ordered today. We have the many different knives, the neck wound and liquid latex, etc. to put it onto Mario, and the foundation and powders coming. The next step is to get all of the wardrobe in order, and double check the locations to make sure they still are set to go. Also, the shooting script will be written and a rough storyboard will be drawn up soon. The amazing composer, Leo Gardini, will be scoring the film, and it seems like the M35 adapter will arrive in time for the filming so the depth of field will resemble film.



07/25/06
Storyboarding is coming along nicely. I have had some crew join the team. Our first movie "Nine to Five Ninja" was accepted into a festival called "Action on Film Festival" in Long Beach. This opens the door for "Stricken" in next years festival. They garauntee entry the following year you are officially accepted. I updated the Cast page with the actor's pictures. They are an amazing group and I am so excited to film this amazing story. The special Effects Make-up arrived and is great! The two knives have also arrived. The one for Close ups and the non-razor sharp one (plastic) for slashing joy. All locations have been secured and approved. I will have lighting tests done before the first day of filming so I can plan and diagram them to save time the day of the shoot. The 31st is the rehearsal with the Cast for the restaurant scene (which is the largest scale scene). I am excited about it. We have already had over 500 hits on the website and I have not even began promoting the film. It is looking good. Story boarding is progressing rapidly. I feel like I am really making this my own art. With the actors I have, it will be brilliant! My 35mm adapter arrived yesterday and it will give us the depth of field we need to raise the final quality of the movie. We now have depth of field like a 35mm camera. It changes everything when shooting with DV, so I am experimenting to master it before the shoot. Here is a still from what I shot today. Also, below the still, is a video clip shot with the new adapter. It is of my dog's puppy training classes and has my lovely wife in it. Definitely more cute than scary, but it is all part of testing the equipment for production so I will put it up.
On a sad note. Brett "Our Father" is going through some medical things right now. We are recasting and Ken White will play the Father. Brett is great though, and will be in future productions.


08/04/06​
The Camera is all geared up to go. Here are some images of the setup. It is the DVX100B with LCD display and Micro35 adapter with a Nikon 50mm f/1.4 lens, and it works wonders!
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We now have a Follow Focus added to the above camera. It will be amazing, and be a huge help in pulling focus. Jessica Williams just joined the Stricken team on Wardrobe, and has provided us some amazing oufits for the actors. Everything is turning out nicely. Chad Orrin has joined the team as our continuity expert. he is a pro at seeing the details no one else notices. he will be a huge help in the restaurant scene. He is also lending us the Black Cloak the Father will wear. Our Dress Rehearsal for the Restaurant scene is coming up on Wednesday, the 16th at 6:00pm. We will have cameras rolling so I can evaluate the footage before the actual shoot on Friday. We have been doing more lighting test. Below are two samples of tests we have done. Next to the samples are the two knives we are deciding on. We have the neck wound, liquid latex, spirit gum, blood, etc, and I am excited to see how this all comes together. I will keep you informed!​
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08/14/06​
Here is a lighting test of the hallway.
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08/16/06​
About the shoot tonight.----The rehearsal Shot went well. We had a snafu with the owner of the place and he told us his workers were overtaxed and that we could not be there unless we got one of them to stay for the many hours of the rehearsal to "Lock Up" I thought he would let us lock up when we were done. but nope. So, then I ended up paying a worker 20.00 an hour to stay for us. "Ouch!" and It looks like it will be a long shoot on Friday night, and I will be paying her then too. She definitely deserves it for staying there the whole time, but it is a big hit on my "non-existent" budget.

Raw grabs of the Restaurant Dress Rehearsal can now be ​
found in the Media Section of this site.


08/18/06​

Tonight is the first night of shooting. the shots are now lined up by lighting changes. I have to drive around and pick up food today to make it look like people have actually been eating in the restaurant. I need to pick up some soda as well for their glasses, and I will probably order a Malt and use the empt cup for a prop. In and Out will supply the Burger and fries that are dropped during the scene. I will probably buy 2 burgers. I made about a quart of homemade blood for all the scenes. I have a fellow DVXuser coming to record some behind the scenes footage as well. Below and on the media site are two grabs with the tentative Color Grading on them. They give a nice film and cool feeling to the shots. This is what I think night in a horror movie, in a cafe will look like.
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08/19/06​

The Shoot tonight went amazingly well! It ROCKED! Check out screen grabs in the Media Section.
 
Production Journal-Cont

Production Journal-Cont

08/19/06​
I am now preparing for the Oakhurst Psychiatrist office shoot. More grabs in the Media Section!

08/22/06​

Time for the last shoot at Master Dave Johnson's House. More grabs in the Media Section!​


08/23/06
The last shoot is done! Production is a wrap! Now we move into Post production! Stills are up in Media section!​


08/23/06​

Well, we got the footage loaded. Ken "The Father" and I stayed up until 10:00 am to make sure it was safely loaded into the computer. I will begin editing the rough cut today. More images will come up in the media section, but probably will lessen for a while as I pour into this project. I will go put two stills up now though.

08/25/06
Well, I just got the first cut together, and I decided to see how "Scary" the film actually was. I wanted to inspire chills and a feeling of "Oh Crap". I put the Music From Halloween behind it and sat down to watch it this morning. I knew what was coming and by the end, I had massive chills and a tear of "Oh Crap" in my eye. I am VERY pleased. Now just for the pickup shots, Color grading, sound editing, final cutting, ADR, and figuring out if I want to use noise reduction. (I am trying to decide if I want a Smooth clean look or slightly gritty). See ya guys!



08/25/06​
The first cut is edited and I showed it to a friend. They were so scared, they needed to turn on the lights afterward. I think the emotional impact I was going for has been reached! It is exciting. Some production Behind the Scenes stills have been added to the media section coutesy of Dave Johnson.


08/30/06​
[The Final Cut has been completed and Leo has the movie and is working on the Score as we speak. It is so exciting!! I will let you know when more has happened!


08/31/06

Behind the scene photos uploaded to a flash file.

Watch it here
WATCH BTS SLIDESHOW


09/07/06

I am done dialogue sweetening and now am putting in the ambient atmospheric noises. Leo Gardini has come up with a theme for Stricken and he will get it to me for perusal shortly. He has also spotted the movie which means marked the points where the music changes. I have put more stills in the media section. These are color graded! Enjoy, and I will write again soon!


09/12/06

I have been working on Noise Reduction in the video! I am busy makin' this thing look beautiful!

09/20/06
I am working on the Behind the Scenes and Blooper Reel. The DVD Menu is almost done.


09/29/06​
Some amazing progress. I had a friend and sound engineer work on the audio today and it sounds NICE! Also, the score comes back from Leo today so the movie can finally be put together. See some AMAZING Color Graded grabs that are new in the media section!


10/3/06​

Stricken is Finished!!!!!! The Cast Party is Friday the 13th at our place. Call us to get directions! We will be watching the movie on our 50 inch LCD Television! It is a Potluck so bring food or something and show up at 6:00 pm.
Due to Stricken being finished, somethings will be removed from the wbesite, so it will be under construction a bit.

10/6/06​
Stricken has been showing in a pre-screening at the DVXuser forums for indie film makers. It is not competing, just showing. It is well received and I wanted to post some quotes from some of the amazing film makers over there!

"It's the only one that gave me chills and goosebumps. Very good Job Matt and crew!" ​
-Aram Bauman


"Stricken is a great short." -Brandon Rice


"Yeah, let's just say I'm kind of glad you're not in competition." -Mark Harris​


"Super beautifull Glow on everything. I love it. LOOKED GREAT." -Timur Civan​


"Every shot was a masterclass in filmmaking."​
-jpbankesmercer


"...truly a masterpiece..."-John Lahanis





10/11/06​
The Trailer for Stricken is Finished and is up on the front page of the site. The cast party is Friday the 13th.


07/09/07
Stricken has been accepted into the Action on Film Festival in Long Beach California.

It has been nominated for Best Horror Film of the Year at the festival, as well as Best Sound Design.​

Local news is preparing to cover this.
 
MATT! I saw it was nominated and I'm really excited! Smuggler's was nominated for two awards too! I'll be at the awards show, hope to see you there!!
 
I just ordered some business cards to pass out at action on film festival to advertise my showing of Stricken. here is the front and back. They are glossy.

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BACK:
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I am so excited! All of the lead actors in Stricken will be coming to the awards show and dinner! It will be extremely fun. No matter if we win the award for best horror film of the year, it will be an amazing experience. It has also inspired me to make Stricken into a feature. I am 1/12 of the way done with the script.
 
msconce said:
I am so excited! All of the lead actors in Stricken will be coming to the awards show and dinner! It will be extremely fun. No matter if we win the award for best horror film of the year, it will be an amazing experience. It has also inspired me to make Stricken into a feature. I am 1/12 of the way done with the script.
Click to expand...

Cool Matt! I'll be at the awards show as well! I'll be lookin' out for ya!:thumbsup:
 
Hello, all.
Aaron, thanks about the knife. That blood was made extra red so when I darkened the blood in post it would look correct. It was corn syrup, Hershey's strawberry syrup, chocolate syrup, and a few drops of blue food coloring.
Nathaniel check out the movie short here.

I am moving along on the feature script. It is fun focusing on a slower moving feature script than a fast short. I am learning about character development and dialogue...Woohoo!
 
Well, I have been getting posters printed for Stricken to use at Action On Film Festival. Wow can that be expensive! I have also been working on the Feature and I find it hard to slow my short film mind down to the pace of the 2 hour movie. It is definitely working but I have to constantly tell myself to slow down. I was on Page ten and already was showing the creature thing....yeah....that won't work. Slowly, I am getting the feel for this. I am writing about 5 pages every hour if I can just sit down and write. I am using Final Draft 7 to write this and its autoformat capabilities really help the time be used well.
 
Yay! My posters look great! I had them printed locally and mounted on some resilient hard backing. I will be using them to promote Stricken at the festival. It is coming up in 4 days!!! I am excited.
 
Well, after buying the posters, I am not living to high on the hog either....they are pricey!

The festival starts tomorrow! We are driving down tomorrow morning and will then promote until the showing with cards, posters, and possibly even someone in the cloak with a rubber knife.....haha! I'll let you know how it goes! We are nominated for best sound design and best horror film of the year, so here's hoping.

On another note, I am 31 pages into the feature script on final draft 7.
 
Nice work! I'll see you there Matt! Sadly, I won't get to be at the showing, as my film, SP Live, will be showing at the same time... how inconsiderate of AOF to schedule it like that! :) hehe J/K
 
Stricken wins Award

Stricken wins Award

Hello! Stricken just won Best Sound Design at the Action on Film Festival. We were also nominated for Best Horror Film of the Year. Here are some pictures from Friday and Saturday of the Festival. It was amazing to have almost the entire cast there! I miss them!
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My Dad and I


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The founder of AOF Fest, Del Weston, with me and the award.



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Some of my awesome actors



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I love these ladies



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Alyssa is a pleasure to work with



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Alyssa was the young version of Stephanie in the Movie



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Me with my posters



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Mario and his wife are beautiful people



I look forward to when I can turn this thing into a feature. I think I could do it for 50,000-100,000.

I'll update when something happens.
 
Looking forward to hearing more about your feature version Matt! great seeing you again this year! It's becoming a tradition, haha!
 
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