The Day Before

Tomorrow we shoot Day 02 of Zombie Undead. While its the second day of filming its the first full day for Zombie Undead. Also first dialog and first special effects. Its gonna be a big big day! One good thing though its all internal so don't have to worry about the weather. We've got a big shot for a machete in the head so that's the one we need to nail. Chronologically that's the first zombie shot so its got to count. Nothing more to do now apart from wait .. see you tomorrow.

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Script Rehersals

For a while we have known the principle cast members so the time for script re-throughs has come. This is a great part of the film making process its the first time you get a physical representation of the project. It comes to life before you as what once were words are now actions, feelings and emotions. Even at this early stage what actors bring to the table is enormous. They breath life into the characters and transform the script into a film.

The initial read throughs concentrated on the three leads - Jay,Sarah and Steve. Kris led the session with movement and action taking second stage to the cast finding their characters and seeing what works and what doesn't within that. We skipped over action scenes to concentrate on the words and their delivery. A big smile was never far off my face today as this great cast tweaked out some great aspects from a great script. It was great to see Barry's depiction of Steve with its restrained comedy delivery. The interaction between the cast was great to see with each bouncing off the others to create, even at this stage, a fluid dynamic.

We picked up some on errors such as Jay referring to Sarah by name even though they haven't been introduced. Previous to this we had trimmed and condensed plus combined and removed a superfluous character. Also a characters lines were increased as there role shined and benefitted from more lines.

Awesome work people!

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Frank Cast

The last major character was cast today in the shape of Rod Duncan. Although not one of the main three leads it is a substantial part and the character of Frank carries the movie in the middle section and required an actor who could provide gravitas to the role. And Rod has this in spades. Rod came to my attention a while ago and after meeting him in person i knew he could do the job.

In addition to acting Rod is a respected author. If you haven't checked out his work yet then what are you waiting for - The Riot Trilogy.

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Sarah Cast

Goresome news. The role of Sarah has been cast. Several weeks ago DWE and Barry Thomas posted an add in Shooting People requesting a female lead. From the start we made prospective applicants aware that it was a non paid position and that we would prefer a local actress. As the film will be shot across a period of time we envisioned problems with cast and crew travelling long distances. After a few 6 o'clock starts to travel across country to film blood and guts all day then a long journey back, the enthusiasm may wane.

After sifting through the replies Kris settled on a couple of likely prospects. Through emails and phone conversations the best candidate appeared to be Ruth King. Ruth has a history in theatre and was keen to move into film. Only one problem - she lives in Manchester and its a fair trip from there to Leicester. Many discussions ensued over the weeks and a decision took time. However Ruth's sheer enthusiasm for acting and the project, her impressive acting ability and her positive attitude really won us over. So welcome on board Ruth!

Everyone involved in this kind of low/no budget film needs to be really into the project and Ruth certainly is. We went with our gut instinct and are convinced this will work out.

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Location Secured

Its in the bag! Phewww. After months and months of meetings and discussion i've nailed an awesome location - Leicester De Montfort University. The University has given us the green light to use several buildings as locations for the film. One is an awesome Victorian construction with high ceilings and wide corridors. This is a massive step for the project and things will begin to fall into place now.

Thanks must go to the number of people within the organisation who have helped Zombie Undead secure this location - Martin Hargreaves, Mambia Sambhi, Dave Paget, Chris Wyatt, Emma Ward and Marie Basford. There were more people than this even involved and this goes to show the amount of networking and work needed to source a location.

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Location News

The confirmation of a location is getting closer. I dont want to count my chickens but i'm pretty confident with this one. Looking back i've put in a helluva lot of work to get this far so fingers crossed.

The invaluable lesson i've learnt is you have to network, network, network. You need as many contacts as you can. No-ones going to give you something on the first meeting so be prepared to persevere, smooze and spend ridiculous amounts of time to get what you want.

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Dark Waters Entertainment

Today i'll introduce you to Dark Waters Entertainment the production company behind Zombie Undead. DWE was formed as an umbrella for the creation of Zombie Undead. Its primary job currently is to see the feature through to market place. Alongside this the company is currently developing a feature film script which will commence production early 2009.

The company has also started a music video arm. Our mission statement here is to create cinematic quality videos for tv consumption which will convince record labels of your credibility. You need to differentiate yourseleves from other bands and a distinctive video can help you do just that. If you are a band wanting to make your mark then contact us through the website.

The DWE website acts as a portal for anything horror based; news, reviews and interviews. First off in the interviews is role playing maestro Zombie Ed.

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