Finding Props

The past few days we have gone on massive prop searches. If you have read through the list of things that we have been looking for in the previous blog posting you can get an idea of the difficulty we have had at locating these props!

Searching for Props

Our search for props led us to the house of my girlfriend which was built buy her great grandparents in the early 20th century. In back of this house was a shed which still contained many old tools and objects which were just what we were looking for! The family was more then happy to part with many of things, as they were either unusable,unneeded, or they just plain didn't know what they were! We were very excited to take the donated items and quickly loaded them in the back of my car.

Gotta Love Hatchback Cars!

While looking through the shed for items we found that the shed would most likely work really well as one or even two of the locations in the movie! Since this location is fairly close in town and the family very open to the idea of us shooting, the shed may very well find its way into our movie!

Discovering a Location

Since I didn't have my camera with me, all these photos were taken on my cell phone, which despite being a little grainy did the job just fine! Its always nice to have resources like that always on you!

Until Next time,

Nathan Rigaud
First Assistant Director for "Harvest of Horrors

Recently

The last few days have been some busy ones! Progress has been made and some road blocks have been hurdled, but, we continue moving forward!

Looking Ahead

Some very exiting news has been the donation of both a work bench, for us to use to make puppets and other various props on, and a work space where we can work on and store all of our art department goods!




Carrying the Donated Workbench

If you are interested in knowing how you can help us on "Harvest of Horrors" please look through this list and see if perhaps you have something you could donate fore our use!

FOAM!
ping pong balls
Sculpting tools
farm tools: mucking rakes, horseshoes, turnip knives, bear traps, corn sickles, slashers, cattle brands, large-toothed saw blades, scythes
chainsaw
metal buckets
metal wash basins
milk barrels
wood rain barrels
bass guitar
wooden crates
oil lanterns
wagon wheels
foam pumpkins
catapults and/or trebuchets
bushel measure bucket
peck measuring bucket
spades
hoes
pitchforks

In addition to gathering various donations and working on the numerous art works for the film, Stig has been busy practicing the stunts! Rehearsing all the stunts before hand conserves the time we spend on set and allows for the performers and crew to know what exactly has to be done to do the stunt safely.

Checking the Weapons

Practicing with the Gun

Getting the Sheath Moves Down

Thank you for checking in!

signed,

Nathan Rigaud
First Assistant Director for "Harvest of Horrors"

Harvest Diary 2,3

We are currently working on a way to post the video diary entries to the website directly but until then they will be posted in the blog!

Harvest Diary 2



Harvest Diary 3

Until next time,

Nathan Rigaud

First Assistant Director for "Harvest of Horrors"

The Search Goes On

As the search for the perfect locations continue we are coming close to possibly closing a deal with a local farm outside of Denver. It is unfortunate that the farm is not perfect for all our needs, because the owners are extremely friendly and very happy to help us out with our movie. However, the corn and pumpkin fields are perfect for what we are looking for and we are also looking at using a few of their structures for locations as well.

Out By The Corn

Outside the Haunted House

Besides the corn and pumpkin fields, we are looking at shooting some of our scenes in their Haunted House area, which used to be the farms old homestead, where they generally put on an event every October. Director, Stig Plantell, decided that some of the textures were perfect for the film and we are looking forward to capitalizing on the opportunity to shoot there. The biggest difficulty will come from redressing the set and monitoring safety for stunts that we do, because of the tight space and somewhat debilitated environment. However, these things are easily addressed and we are sure to get some great shots out of the Haunted House location.

Happy Couple

Textures

After we looked around in the Haunted House for awhile we were given a guided tour through the pumpkin and corn fields where we were told about how the crops were grown at the farm. It was a very educational experience and a great tour that isn't normally offered at such places. Information like this is helpful for the film because it helps us bring the world that we are creating to life since we have a deeper understand of the elements we are placing in it.

Guided tour

Pumpkin Patch

Overall it was a great experience for everyone,especially Stig's son, who had a great time looking at the animals and riding the tractors!

Stig And His Son


Gavin


Some other exciting news is we received our first donation, from a couple of UCD college students, who generously gave $3 dollars! We were very happy to receive this donation, as every dollar given helps us purchase the materials we need to make a great movie! If you would like to give a donation you may visit www.Harvestofhorrors-themovie.com and click on the Donate button! Your donation is greatly appreciated!

3 Dollar Donation!

Until Next time,

Nathan Rigaud
First Assistant Director for "Harvest of Horrors"

"Launch, Chuck,Catapult,Trebuchet,Cannon"

The Harvest draws closer every day as our crew continues to establish all that will be needed to make this years crop the best!

Today I received some concept art from Alex Gray, a fellow friend and film maker who agreed to help us out by creating the siege weapons for the pumpkin soldiers!Concept art is highly important because it allows for the Director to get a feel for the prop and approve its look for the film before money is spent on its development. Once necessary tweaks to the concept and made approved the item is sent into production.

Catapult and Cannon Concept


Trebuchet Concept

I knew Alex would be the perfect person for job! His creativity and attention to detail, paired with a dedication to do great work makes the addition of Alex to the Art Department a valuable complement to the rest of the team. I feel that Alex's work ties in very well with the feel of the film and will add an extra level of production quality to help make our film look fantastic!

More updates soon!

Nathan Rigaud
First Assistant Director for "Harvest of Horrors"

Location, Location, Location!

Today Director Stig, Location Manager Jeremy, and myself met to review and talk about location photos that Jeremy took on his recent scouts. The location that we shoot at is important for many reasons. One of the biggest reasons being that it plays a huge role in the over all look and feel of the film. Finding the right location is extremely important and something we will be taking much time on to be certain we have exactly what we need!


Reviewing The Locations

One thing that some people don't realize is that a location represented in a movie is generally a combination of many real locations that are stitched together by editing and art direction to create a unified overall feel that reflects the vision of the Director. As such, we have been scouting many locations and will most likely end up taking certain barns or fields from various ones.


The Director's Vision


Checking Every Aspect

Half way through our meeting we became inspired to actually go out and visit some of the locations first hand and talk about certain details. We quickly packed up our stuff and hit the highway to visit a couple historical museums in state before they closed.


Old Kitchen Stove


Every Farm Needs Some Chickens

On our trip we found some places that would be perfect to shoot and quickly went to gather the contact information for them. In some places we were greeted with friendly people looking to help tell a great story, while others we were stopped and escorted off the premises by unfriendly anti film making historians uninterested in even hearing our ideas.


Discussing Terms

As the search for locations goes on, our time grows short, but with great people on board like Jeremy Gee, we are sure to have the perfect setting for our tale of heroism, brotherly love, and pumpkin massacring!


Location Manager Jeremy Gee

Signed,
Nathan Rigaud
First Assistant Director for "Harvest of Horrors"

The Harvest Diaries

Today Stig and myself met with two new crew members,John Potter, who will be coming on as puppet master, and Chris Dodge who will be assistant production manager.We are very excited to have them both on board for this wild ride of a movie that we will be making!

You can learn more about what John and Chris will be helping us on by checking out our first "Harvest of Horrors" video Diary entry! We will be making more video diary entries as we work so you all can get a sneak peek into what goes on behind the scenes to bring this movie to life!





Make sure to check back to the site often for more video,web,and blog updates!

Signed,

Nathan Rigaud
First Assistant Director of "Harvest of Horrors"

Making some Pumkins

Recently, for Director Stig's Birthday, we got a few crew members and friends together to begin work on some of the pumpkins that will be part of the film.

Just getting started

We began by placing clay onto carved foam cores that Stig cut out.We then smoothed out the clay to form the basic shape for the characters.

Bob Working On His Pumkin

Stig Carving Out The Character


It took many hours to complete the smoothing process, but with it complete the pumpkins are ready for sculpting.

Prepped For The Hard Part


Even with all the work we were able to complete we still have massive amounts of art work and characters to build for the film! Its a time consuming, but ultimate rewarding, task that will help bring to life the grand vision of the film.

Job Well Done

Make sure to keep checking back for more updates on the progress of "Harvest of Horrors"!

See yalls around!

Nathan Rigaud
First Assistant Director for "Harvest of Horrors"

Website Updates

I recently added a few things to the website: http://harvestofhorrors-themovie.com/, the most important of which is a direct feed to the blog. You will now be able to view any and all updates to this blog from the comfort of our new "News" page on the website, which should be up and running shortly.

I have a few more things planned to make our website the best it can possibly be. Stay tuned for that.

If you notice any problems with the website (missing or malfunctioning links, missing images, ect.), or have a suggestion for how I might make it better, feel free to email me at joe.fallenangel@gmail.com.

Joe Unrein
Webmaster, harvestofhorrors-themovie.com/

Under Construction

Welcome to the Harvest of Horrors Blog! I'm currently working to get the blog set up and looking great, to be posted onto the Harvest of Horrors website!

www.Harvestofhorrors-themovie.com

Once this blog is up and running, it will be your source for current news on the progress of the films pre production, production, and post phases, with updates from various crew members!

We are looking forward to sharing all the exciting news about the film with you and hope that you all will check in often to see what we are up too! Let the "Action-Packed, Six-Gun-Slingin', Samurai-Sword Swingin', Orange Goo splattered, Punk-a-Billy romp through the pumpkin patch" begin!

Signed,
Nathan Rigaud
First Assistant Director for "Harvest of Horrors"