DEADLANDS 2: TRAPPED 2009 UPDATE (Dist. and More)

[DjfunkmasterG]

Well, it has been a while since I have updated everyone about Deadlands 2. So here it goes.

The re-edit is going smashingly well. I am 95% complete on the re-edit and have trimmed a lot of fat from scenes to make the cut a lot more tighter and have better flow. I haven't deleted any scenes perse, just re-arranged them for flow, or omitted shots to make them move faster. I have also included brand new never before seen footage. Stuff, those who attended the premiere and festival screenings or have done reviews haven't yet seen. Lets just say I added an additional zombie attack I was originally going to leave on the cutting room floor. (I will point it out in the directors commentary)

I have also changed the ending a bit, while it still ends close to the same way as it did in the work print version, I am re-working how it flows.

I have also composed 3 new tracks for the film, one in collaboration with Brian (LouCipherr), the other 2 on my own. I have done a fusion mix of Synth based sound with orchestral arrangements, and Piano blurbs for two of the tracks, and the third is a club based track for the bar scene.

DISTRIBUTION - We have had a few offers for distribution for the film in the last few weeks. One I flat out turned down as they wanted to do strictly web based streaming. Another I am currently waiting to see the contract, and the most recent just finished watching the screener and we are hashing out details.

MPAA RATING - Deadlands 2 will be rated by the MPAA. Both the distributors I am talking with now want to get it rated and feel the cut how it stands now would receive an R with no problem, so that would be cool, and it makes me feel easier knowing that my recut will get the R as well because I actually tamed some of the gore down, not so much that I cut it out, but I just cut it differently so that you get the same impact and length of the scenes as I had envisioned them, just in such a way that it won't make the conservative MPAA scowl at the zombie violence in the film.

THEATRICAL RELEASE - One of the distributors wants to do a 10 theater theatrical release with the film in major markets (NY, LA, Miami, Baltimore etc) They are aiming for an early October 2009 theatrical release, and want to push the DVD out October 20th or 27th 2009. They wanna use the theatrical showings as an advertising campaign.

WORLDWIDE RELEASE - This will get a Worldwide release. One of the international distributors has asked for multiple markets and to include theatrical with it as well. I guess overseas they low their low budget horror and these films seem to do well. He was very excited in talking about the possibilities of what it can do in the overseas market.

ONE LAST SCREENING FOR THE FILM - I am going to arrange another screening for the film in Hagerstown, which will be the completed version of the movie. I will post more details once they become available.

Hope these updates keep you guys interested until the movie gets released. Sorry for the delay, but with the economy turning to shit the low budget distributors are drying up, so you have to have you A game on even the microbudgeted stuff like Deadlands 2 in order to get picked up. The days of Troma quality DTV Mini DV films are drying up fast. Infact if Deadlands 1 were the film I was looking to get distribution for the most likely stance woul dbe, no thanks, but the upped quality in terms of the overall production has helped bolster Deadlands 2 in the indie zombie genre.

[capncnut]

Good luck with that, I hope it all goes well, son.


Sorry for the delay, but with the economy turning to shit the low budget distributors are drying up, so you have to have you A game on even the microbudgeted stuff like Deadlands 2 in order to get picked up. The days of Troma quality DTV Mini DV films are drying up fast.
Damn f**king shame. You can't beat a good indie flick.


And Lloyd Kaufman rocks! :cool:

[DawnGirl27]

Best of luck, DJ - good to see you still have some options.

[MinionZombie]

Blimey, a significant news flood there Deej.

All sounds rather spiffing to me. Excellent work! :cool:

[DjfunkmasterG]

UPDATE 2/16/2009 -

The re-edit is going better than expected. While I cut out about a minute of existing footage from the movie, I have also added, 3 new scenes not seen during the theatrical version/promo copy.

Brian and I have also been hard at work on a brand new score for the film. While not every song has been replaced, about 65% of the music is brand new and much more cinematic.

We have also found a Distributor. While I cannot say who it is yet, I can tell you the DVD will street October 13th World Wide.


More news to come to in a few weeks

Gary

[Mike70]

UPDATE 2/16/2009 -

The re-edit is going better than expected. While I cut out about a minute of existing footage from the movie, I have also added, 3 new scenes not seen during the theatrical version/promo copy.

Brian and I have also been hard at work on a brand new score for the film. While not every song has been replaced, about 65% of the music is brand new and much more cinematic.

We have also found a Distributor. While I cannot say who it is yet, I can tell you the DVD will street October 13th World Wide.


More news to come to in a few weeks

Gary


best of luck gary. the only thing that the snippets of deadlands 2 that i've seen have made me feel is a burning desire to see the whole film.

um, where's that working copy at again?:cool:

[MinionZombie]

We have also found a Distributor. While I cannot say who it is yet, I can tell you the DVD will street October 13th World Wide.

The intrigue heightens further. :)

Some right tidy news there Deej, noiiice. :cool:

[DjfunkmasterG]

Thanks.

Took today off from editing because I felt like re-arranging my studio around. I was going to work on the film, but said I have busted my ass on it lately so a day off is ok.

Literally thinking of taking a mid-afternoon nap. :p

[DawnGirl27]

Congrats on finding a distributor, DJ! Hope you had a good nap - you deserve it! :p

[DjfunkmasterG]

Thanks Dawn, however, we are back to square one. The Distributor and I couldn't see eye to eye on how the film would be dealt with in terms of release.

While territory was never an issue, format, and advertising became a sticking point. Mostly, they were hoping to double dip everyone on a Blu-Ray release later on, and I was against it saying if the BR could not street day and date with the DVD I wasn't interested in doing a Blu-Ray release. I hate when distributors double dip fans, unless the newer version contains some extra features, but in this case they wanted to release same thing on Blu-Ray at a later date.

Also advertising came into play, in that they only wanted to do a viral WEB campaign, and I said well I pretty much dot hat already, what about print advertising?

Sell Sheets
Ads in Horror Mags
etc.

No word was received back on those issues so I felt and they agreed we should just part ways.

No Biggie, I am in talks with another distributor who is just patiently waiting for me to finish the new edit.

Gary

[DawnGirl27]

Glad you stuck up for your (and the fans) best interests. Best of luck to you with the new distributor. Editing going well?

[MinionZombie]

Blimey Deej, I can certainly say this about you, you stick to your guns (in the best sense). :cool:

I trust you got my email regarding notes about the ending?

[DjfunkmasterG]

Glad you stuck up for your (and the fans) best interests. Best of luck to you with the new distributor. Editing going well?

Editing going pretty well, I have stepped back quite a bit this week as I am sick again... surprise. :D I expect it to be another 4-6 weeks. I was watching what I had edited together so far and I actually trimmed another minute off the movie, so now it is clocking in at around 82 minutes, give or take.


Blimey Deej, I can certainly say this about you, you stick to your guns (in the best sense). :cool:

I trust you got my email regarding notes about the ending?

Yes I stick to my guns. While some say i go over board with wanting to be involved in the business end I say well it is my way of keeping the Distributors in check so the release doesn't end up half assed and screwed up.

I am very protective over my work, love it or hate it, got to make sure a Night 68 doesn't happen. Plus if they don't want to come to my terms, screw'em I will find someone else.

My terms are not overly outlandish.

Blu-Ray on Street Date, otherwise no Blu-Ray release
I want say on the artwork, not final approval, but I want input
Control of which features appear
How the films is marketed and advertised. I don't want it marketed as a full blow Zombie Horror Film, becuase that is not what it is, the film is a Zombie Action/horror film. Done in the vein of an Action film, with zombies and some horror elements. Nothing worse than a misrepresented film.

Got your notes, will be fucking with that this weekend to see how it works. so far a majority of the ending is changed around from the original release.

[DjfunkmasterG]

Hey everyone, I come with another UPDATE.

As of 3:56pm EST 03/16/2009 I have finished the films re-edit, except for two musical pieces I need to work on with Brian (LouCipherr). At this point the picture is 100% locked. The film clocks in at 84:32, which makes it 30 seconds shorter than the original version, but contains over 2 and 1/2 minutes of footage that was never edited at the time of the original cut.

The film also contains a newly composed score. I replaced over 70% of the films original score to make the film darker in mood. the pacing is nice and tight, and the sound mix is coming along nicely. This time I opted to do a straight 2.0 Channel mix as opposed to a 5.1 which the original version had.

Brian and I are getting together this weekend to work on the two musical pieces, and after tht I just need to drop them in and render it all out.

I will do a small self release of the film through my website, and I will offer to purchasers both versions of the film + the soundtrack for probably $20.00

So essentially you will be getting a 3 disc set:

Disc #1 Directors Cut (New Edit)
Disc #2 Original Cut
Disc #3 CD Soundtrack of the films score.

I expect to do this small release around Late June early July. I will keep you posted as things develop.

Gary

[MinionZombie]

Kick ass dude. I rather look forward to getting a peep at the new cut. :cool:

Sounds like you've really been in there tinkering away like a demon. :)

[DjfunkmasterG]

Pretty much man. I am actually rendering out a cut right now to watch tonight. I think I pretty much have done all i can at this point to cut the movie to the best possible version available.

I am hoping the change in music score will help with some of the uneven moments. I am also glad I went through the film again as I found many poorly framed scenes, and I explain what i mean.

Deadlands 2 was shot open matte, meaning I used nothing to block the view in anyway shape or form. Doing this allowed the camera operators room to move around while shooting. In post production I made my mask (2.35:1) so the film has the cinema scope feel. When the Dp would frame a shot I always said remember to allow me room for masking, meaning don't go in too tight on the subject. If they go in to close You end up with weird framing, case in point a shot of Chris the theater manager trying to get Casey's attention. the shot was too tight, so in the re-cut I went with an alternate angle to take the extreme close-up out of the mix.

this type of shooting style is done with Super 35 quite a bit, DAWN 04, SHAUN, and LAND were shot Open Matte Super 35, and then framed in post production. To do it with a DVX100 you shoot in full frame mode, basically shoot with no letter boxing, and then just apply your mask (1.85:1 or 2.35:1) in post production. In fact all of the Pirates movies were done this way as well.

Now most people would say, well then you shot the film in 4:3 and it is not true widescreen, that is a yes and a no. Yes we shot 4:3 but allowed the room on set to allow a 16:9 anamorphic output in post production. Sony Vegas is one of the few editing programs that can let you mask your 4:3 footage and export it to 16:9, true anamorphic. You did get a hit in PQ, but, in the case of Deadlands I am making a $6,000.00 zombie flick with an action shooting style, set at night, shot on DV... Most of the quality is hit right from the get go, the loss to 16:9 output is minimal, and that can be saved by not having a huge amount of compression when rendering.

In all actuality you should only shoot 16:9 and export 16:9, but in this case it was something tested a while ago and it works well, and I am happy with the result.

[MinionZombie]

Sony Vegas is one of the few editing programs that can let you mask your 4:3 footage and export it to 16:9, true anamorphic.

One of the things I really like about Vegas. :cool: I was talking about that ability in Vegas to a dude I was working with last year, and he uses some other kind of software, but he couldn't get his head round editing in 4:3 (but filmed with widescreen cropping in mind), cropped to 1.85:1 or 2.35:1 and then rendering out a true 16x9 file.

[DjfunkmasterG]

With a DVX100, it is best to shoot 4:3, or no letterboxing as this will give you the best resolution possible. Then when you apply the mask you won't lose a lot of resolution compared to shooting letterboxed and then masking the Letterbox footage.

[DjfunkmasterG]

And one step closer we come...

Tonight (Saturday) Brian and I finished the last musical piece needed for the movie, now it is just a matter of getting into the film, making a few cuts and trims to sync it up all nice and pretty, then onto the final sound mix.

Brian and I watched the latest cut today and we both agree it fixed just about everything that needed fixing. The New score really helps push the movie along, and we don't run into downtime problems like the earlier cut.

I expect to make the few needed cuts and trims tomorrow to fit in the new song, a few more color correction spots to fix and then final sound mix and DEADLANDS 2 is done. I expect to be able to send out review screeners by April 15th 2009. Not much longer now, and I am glad you guys have been patient while we have pieced this puppy together. I think once you see it you will agree the wait was worth it, especially when you get to compare it to the original cut.

[MinionZombie]

Cool stuff dude.

Plus, it's better to take your time but produce quality, than to rush and it all not to be worth it, you know.

Kick ass. :cool:

[DjfunkmasterG]

DONE DONE DONE.... Basically have to watch a version, again... LOL, but I think it is pretty much finished. :D

Goddamn, only took 18 months to produced, edit and finish.

[DjfunkmasterG]

Screened the movie tonight in prep for the April 18th screening. Two small audio issues to fix, but Goddamn if this newer edit doesn't kick all kinds of ass.

I mean even after spending months re-editing it I was amazed at how well the film turned out, especially for the money spent.

Once the screening on the 18th is over I will start prepping the self release versions so people can buy them up. I really feel Deadlands 2 is a winner of a film.

I remember the last time I prepped DEADLANDS 2 in its original cut form, went to the theater on night to watch with the projectionist and I fell asleep watching it, tonight stayed awake and loved every minute of it. I kept thinking... I actually directed this, and it turned out kick ass.

[DawnGirl27]

Good for you, DJ! You worked your butt off and I'm glad it turned out even better than you'd hoped.