The Wretched Novelization

Full Noon is currently on hold (as is the way with my projects), but the novelization for The Wretched is finally out for the world to see.  Check out Amazon today to get your copy of the paperback or the ebook.  As a bonus, if you get the paperback, you get the ebook for free!  Head on over and get yours today!

Full Noon, Update 1

As promised a couple of posts ago, I'll be using this blog to keep the world updated on the production of Full Noon.  So: preproduction is underway on Full Noon, a comedy/horror feature film written by myself, my girlfriend Felicity, and her two friends Leota and Ashley.  I'll also be directing, while my co-writers will star.  We've got a script, we've got a budget, and God willing, we'll have a movie this summer.

We're currently in the early stages of securing funding.  A grant/pitch contest didn't pan out, so it looks like Kickstarter is in our future.  Until that happens, I'm going through and storyboarding the film, which is what a responsible director does anyway...

Be on the lookout for future updates, including our fundraising demo and trailer.

Mint In Box: The Trailer

I realize now, as I'm about a week away from release, that I should have been blogging my whole experience with making the short film Mint in Box.  Springing from one mass brainstorming session in May of 2016, this film marked not only my return to filmmaking (my first passion, even above writing), but also my most ambitious project to date.  What was meant to be a ten minute quickie ballooned to over twenty, and that was even after I cut an entire scene.  Another first: my first deleted scene.
To do some catch-up: This is the story all about how Salman's life got flipped upside down.  Let me take a minute--just sit right there--and I'll tell you all about how he committed unlawful seizure.  Written for three actors--myself in the lead, brother Caleb as my kidnap victim, and girlfriend Felicity in a secret role, the film was ambitious and, dare I say it, funny.  In retrospect, I probably shouldn't have cast myself in the lead, at least not while I was the only qualified cameraman.  Having to set up framing and then jump back in, hoping the shot was in focus was a huge pain.  Also, having to work around everyone's disparate schedules--Caleb lives in Texas, Felicity damn near in Arkansas--meant that we only got a few shots with everyone in frame, and most shots were done solo, giving the work a rather disjointed feel.  Finally, sister Aubri--the tentative composer--dropped out of the film late in production, forcing me to scramble for music.  Fortunately, the very talented Eric Meyer stepped up, and so this is my first film to feature an original score.  Overall, I think the whole thing worked out.
As I put last minute touches on the film before release, please enjoy this trailer cobbled together from the deleted scene and pieces from the rest of the movie:



And finally, for some of the behind-the-scenes content I should have been blogging all along.  Here is a before and after shot from scene 7, showing the glaring mistake of a script left on my leg, followed by the cleanup.  This is but a number of FX shots that went into the film--all but one of which were the result of carelessness on my part.  Oops...

Clarity...

Fisher Price presents: My First Music Video!  Yes folks, I've done a lot of filmy things, and now I've done a music video.  A friend of a friend from film school was looking for someone to tackle their cover of 'Clarity,' and I thought, why not?  Filmed in scenic (?) Riverside, California.  Best of all of this, though, I'm now a tag on someone's blog: http://trevordmerrill.tumblr.com/tagged/hezekiah-bennetts