NEW ITEMS at the Flaming Death Stockroom!

More items are now available for purchase in the Flaming Death Stockroom! Never before released DVDs for "Luke & Leia" and "Connect More" are now for sale as well as new clothing items. Check them all out!

Flamecast #015: He Lived Long and Prospered

This month we remember Leonard Nimoy on his passing into the great unknown.

Don't forget to e-mail us at fdp@flamingdeath.net with this month's Hot Word of the Month.

CAST & CREW CALL!

If anyone is interested in helping out on the film "The Audition", let us know! Head on over to the webpage for "The Audition" on the top menu. From there, you can view both the cast and crew pages, and any position without a name is still up for grabs. Just reply to this same posting on Facebook or e-mail fdp@flamingdeath.net and tell us what you're interested in doing. Good luck!

Website Updates

I've made a few additions to the website with the addition of The Audition material. More will be on its way as we round out the cast and crew, so stayed tuned!

Star Wars fan film: The Audition

Time to get serious about the next film, The Audition. I created the outline for it last month, but a few scenes need to be scripted out. I was initially going to ad-lib them, but I think some tighter structure is needed. As with the other films, I will not only be writing but directing, producing and editing as well. I'll even be making an appearance, myself. Here's hoping this isn't a multi-year endeavor like our previous films. I'll also be locking down locations in the next couple of weeks. Hopefully I can get casting completed during this time frame as well.

Let's make a movie!

Flamecast #014: Oscars or (The Unexpected Topic of Poo)

Join Todd and Superstar Travis as they discuss this year's Oscar nominees, the latest movies and television, the state of our Star Wars fan film, and poop (twice!...unless you also count Travis' movie review). Don't forget to e-mail us the Hot Word of the Month at fdp@flamingdeath.net!

Flamecast #013: 2014 Flamecast Holiday Party

Join the Flamecast crew for some festive fun as they engage in some friendly competition. Just head on over to the Flamecast link for your present. Happy Holidays to you all!

Flamecast #012: The Flame Awakens

Todd and Superstar Travis discuss the new Star Wars teaser trailer, the Doctor Who season finale, and other topics of geek culture as Flamecast gets uploaded a tad late for November. Included is the new Hot Word of the month contest, so listen and win! Just e-mail the Hot Word to fdp@flamingdeath.net and win a free Flaming Death Productions t-shirt.

Cast and Crew Wanted

We're gearing up for filming "The Audition," our latest Star Wars Fan Film endeavor. We do need some help, though. Cast and crew openings will be announced soon for those who are interested, so stay tuned!

2015 Star Wars Fan Film Contest

It's official. We're in pre-production for our next short film!

Star Wars Fan Film Contest webpage

Flamecast #011: Two Troops and an MIA

Flamecast is back but missing a tardy participant as we delve into television, movies, and the 2015 Star Wars Fan Film Contest. Click on the Flamecast link for episode #011.

Flamecast #010: The Threeeeeeee Amigos!

It's a combo platter as Todd, Travis and Matt all get together for the milestone Flamecast #010. Listen closely to win our first contest giveaway! E-mail fdp@flamingdeath.net with this month's clue.

Done!

It's complete! The move over to the new web host is done. Now maybe I can work on the next Flamecast. :-)

Under reconstruction

I was notified last week that my free web hosting site is going to start charging a monthly fee, so I've been looking at alternatives. The current site is actually cobbled together from three places: Doteasy.com for flamingdeath.net hosted content, Blogger for the blog posting, and Podbean for the Flamecasts. Ideally it would be nice to get everything under one with the design freedom that I have under Doteasy, but I think in the meantime I'll just find a suitable replacement for Doteasy. So, you may experience a disruption of service over the next couple of weeks as I switch, however both the Blogger and Podbean pages will themselves be available. Any news will be posted on the FDP Facebook page.

Flamecast Theater

You may have noticed a new addition to the menu up above. Flamecast Theater is an idea that I've been shooting around recently, and I'm going to be taking some steps in the future to bring it to fruition. Stay tuned!

Flamecast Live Bookmarks Feed!

Flamecast is available as a Live Bookmarks feed! Head on over to http://flamingdeath.podbean.com/feed/ and click on the 'Subscribe Now' button. It will add a link in your browser's bookmarks toolbar if you have it set up to show RSS feeds.

Flamecast #009: High School Reunion

In this episode, Matt and Todd lament the ides of summer, feel disappointment from Transformers, and have their own high school reunion in the form of yearbook recollections. Click over to the Flamecast section to hear the latest podcast!

Caretaking

Just like a garden gets its weeds and needs some extra care, this website needs some cleaning up here and there, too. Either the browser updates have reinterpreted my HTML files incorrectly, or the files have been corrupted and need some updates. I'll try to get to those later today. In the meantime, listen to a Flamecast (or eight of them). :-)

Flamecast #008: The Return

We're back! After an extended leave of absence, the new Flamecast is up and ready for your listening pleasure. In this episode, Travis and Todd catch up on the six month absence. Click on over to the Flamecast section!

Argh....

Okay, so I've been way behind in getting updated Flamecasts recorded. I did have one almost ready to go had it not been that I got through the entire conversation and found out that it didn't record properly. Blah. I'll try again here soon, so have faith.

You may have also noticed that my Star Trek related site is no longer listed. I'm killing off that site once and for all. I am, however, going to reboot the Action Trektion portion as a side project of this site and reshoot the pictures for better quality. Something else to look forward to!

Delays, delays....

The next Flamecast will be a bit late due to out-of-state basketball tournaments and classes/homework once again. On the bright side, I have some new audio equipment on the way for recording in better quality! Sound mixer, new mic, mic stands....

Flamecast #007: Happy Hobbit-days!

Yes, open up your Christmas present! It's the return of an all new Flamecast as Todd and Travis sit down to talk about Christmas gifts, The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug, Stan Lee, and more! Head on over to the Flamecast page and download or stream the long awaited gift. Merry Christmas to all!

Website issues

Ugh...it appears some of the website HTML files have become corrupt. I noticed the flamingdeath.net index file a while back and finally have it fixed by just re-uploading the file, but now I see that there are others that are messed up. Maybe this would be a good time to remove my Star Trek based site since I haven't updated in a long, long time (other than the Sci-Fi Party announcements, of course).

More Flamecasts coming soon

Sorry for the lack of Flamecasts. It's been quite a busy few months that don't look like they'll let up until December when my classes end for the semester. I'm hoping to return to a month-to month basis when time once again allows.

Flamecast #006: Return of the Matt

Matt Spielman makes a return to Flamecast in a discussion about high school and movies we've recently seen. Check out the latest Flamecast! Recorded 9/1/2013.

Flamecast #005: Cory Anderson

In episode #5 of Flamecast, we welcome a reluctant Cory Anderson to the mic to talk about our adventures in past productions. Head on over to the Flamecast page to listen!

Flamecast #004: Travis Buckmeier

In this episode of Flamecast, Todd and Travis talk about Star Wars, Star Trek, high school, and... oh yeah, some Flaming Death Productions projects as well. Click on over to the Flamecast section and check it out!

A look back

The official Star Wars Facebook account posted THIS YOUTUBE LINK earlier today with the following: "Tasked with creating their own short films, our fans did not disappoint. Check back over the next week, as we will be adding more past Star Wars Fan Movie Challenge winners to this playlist!"

Do you think ours should have been included in the years they were released? Granted, "Yoda's Treasure" was a first attempt. I felt pretty good about "Luke & Leia", though.

Flamecast #003: Chris Marler

You've heard from his better half. Now hear from the man himself! This Flamecast we talk with the man who brought us An-Win March, the Adult Customer, and gratefully loaned us Mr. PVC Man for a death-defying leap. Welcome Chris Marler! Links to the podcast are once again up above and over to the left.

Flamecast #002: Tina Marler

Flamecast #002 is up and ready to dig into your ears like a Ceti Eel from Wrath of Khan! Click on one of the links to get the new podcast featuring a chat with the one and only Jedi #5, Tina Marler.

And...we're live! Flamecast #001: Matt Spielman

Yes, podcast #001 is up and ready! It's a chat with Darth Smiley himself: Matt Spielman! Go ahead and click on the link to the podcast page, either from the banner on the left or in the menu up above. Enjoy!

Web Host Switch

After doing some investigating, it looks like I've been short-changing myself after all these years on the web hosting service I'm currently using. Only a 100MB storage limit? Blah. I can do much better than that elsewhere. There will be plenty of room for podcasts if I make the switch. I could even host each one of the films there as well and not have to worry about storage or bandwidth. So, look for this change to come soon because I would really like to get our first podcast out into the public.

Yes, I said soon!

The first podcast is in the can! However, I've run into a snag in hosting issues since my webspace doesn't have the capacity (I could have sworn I had more than 200MB of space!). So as soon as I can find a site that's decent and cheap enough, you'll be able to listen.

It's always something....

Coming soon: Flamecast!

Yes, it's been a long time since there has been some updates here. I've had a blurb over on our Facebook page every now and then, but soon there will be some semi-regular additions to the website. Coming soon will be our very own podcast, the FDP Flamecast! The plan is to start out having a different guest on each time as we discuss our history and film-making experiences. The guests will consist of former cast and crew members. Once we go through the list of people, we'll see where it takes us. I'm planning on getting the first Flamecast recorded sometime in the beginning of February, so it shouldn't be too long after that we'll have it posted. Stay tuned!

The Light Stand

Yes, I haven't forgotten! A third item in the series of FDP equipment, the light stand was created from scratch in September of 2006 for use in the production of Luke & Leia, and used again for Connect More. Inspired by Chris Marler's Mr. PVC Man, it is made from 1" PVC pipe and attachments, a modified extension cord, a photo umbrella, some fluorescent light bulbs, and a modified camera tripod. Ah yes...back when PVC was cheaper than it is today, but isn't everything?

The Clap Board

A second picture in the series of FDP equipment, the clap board was created from scratch for use in the production of Connect More back in October of last year. Made from a 1"x1", some plexiglass, 1/4" plywood, black and white paints, and a few odds and ends, and there we have it!

New camera

I meant to post this a while back, but I purchased a new camera for future filming. This is the Canon Vixia HF R10 Dual Flash Memory Camcorder. It's a pretty nice camera. Its first true test will be an informational film I'm working on for the Mayo Clinic Health Information Management Services department. Yes, now I won't have to borrow anyone else's camera anymore!

Connect More is live!

Head on over to the Flaming Death YouTube channel! It's now also in the Connect More downloads section right here on the website.

A few changes

Ugh...obviously the latest version of Firefox doesn't like my scrolling movie menu that should be at the top of the page here. If you're looking at it in Internet Explorer, it's still there. I'm going to have to work on that later. Blah.

I was also informed by Facebook that the FDP group page is going away if I didn't convert it to the new group style. Since I've been wanting to change it to a "community" page anyway, I started working on that page and it's now viewable. Make the switch and join the community! I'll update the left-menu Facebook icon here on the site in the near future.

Finished!

I'm burning a few DVDs for the cast and crew of "Connect More" as I type this. Yes, it's finished!

Connect More is almost done!

Yes, it's been a while, but I finally have the voice-overs finished. All I need is the final product shot and then we can call it done!

Editing

Primary editing for Connect More has gone great! The footage is everything I'd hoped for. Just need the final product shot and a couple of voice-overs, and we'll be finished.

Updates for Connect More

We have the final "box shot" as well as some photos to show you, plus I updated the crew listing. No, the movie isn't up yet due to time constraints, but I plan on editing over Christmas break. Patience!

It's a wrap!

Filming on "Connect More" went great today! Still promo shots will be posted in the near future. A big "THANK YOU" to the cast and crew!

Filming for "Connect More" on November 6th!

That pretty much says it all, huh? The actors are ready to go, and the crew is being assembled. I sent out a few invites to a select group of people, but depending on the response you might still get one if you haven't already.

New logo?

Anyone out there who is graphically gifted who would like to help design a new Flaming Death Productions logo?

NEW CASTING CALL

Okay, since I'm really having a difficult time tracking down a Vader costume that's affordable or any people that have one, I'm leaning back towards using the Darth Maul type character. This means I will be needing someone to fill that role. Of course, it would consist of wearing the black and red makeup, plus a black robe (which I have), black gloves, and a black shirt for under the robe. That would be about it for what's on camera. I'm going to post a notice on the Facebook group as well. Give me a shout back if interested.

I'm looking into using a different camera and sound recording equipment than what I've used in the past, so there will be a slight delay there while I get that aspect organized as well as the film crew. As it looks now, I would guess that the soonest we could shoot would be as soon as mid-July although I know summers get pretty busy for people.

FHS Class of 89 20 Year Reunion slide-show now online!

For those of you who didn't buy a DVD yet, here's your chance to revisit the glorious 80s during our time in FHS. Just follow the link in the menu up above.

YouTube

Just did a few updates to the FDP YouTube site. And while you're there, please subscribe!

Blogger header

Yeah, you may have noticed the new Blogger bar right underneath the filmstrip menu. It came with the migration Blogger did to eliminate the FTP publishing of its blogs. I guess it's not too annoying just as long as the color isn't something like fluorescent pink.

Casting call!

If anyone knows of a person that has a great Darth Vader costume that would be willing to co-star in the forthcoming short film "Connect More", let me know! Once we get that taken care of, everything else will fall into place fairly quick.

Problems, problems, problems

For those of you following me on Facebook, you've already heard the latest news that my video cards died on two of my computers within the past two weeks. Combined with the fact that the townhouse I'm in is moving me out into another one across the street, and it means more delays for Connect More. Hopefully we'll be able to work something out soon.

Vader and some Star Trek Online news

While I'm sure some of you are wondering about the progress on Connect More, I don't have much to tell other than we're looking at getting another Vader other than the one I thought we would get. The search continues there. But in other news, a few of us are getting together in the new MMO of Star Trek Online. If you're interested in joining up, fire me off a message. So far there are three of us from FDP, but we'd be open to more once you pass the initiation (which may or may not involve Lake Minnetonka). ;-)

Updates

I did a few updates to the FDP website today. I removed the left hand side frame where the links were to incorporate it into the rest of the main page so they scroll along with everything else. Also new is a Flaming Death Productions history page. This will save me a lot of time so I don't have to write the history over and over when new people ask about the origins of FDP. Yay for me!

Yeesh...

Looks like next year's Star Wars Celebration V will be held in Orlando, Florida from August 12 through the 15th. I guess that means I'll probably pass on yet another one of these... unless we somehow manage to get in as a finalist in the Star Wars Fan Film Contest.

Acting roles for Connect More up for consideration

I've had one audition so far for the Jedi role, and I'm considering getting someone from the local 501st Legion for the Sith role. I also have the perfect person to perform the announcer if he so chooses to accept my forthcoming invitation. This is looking to be quite the project!

So far it's looking like we'll be shooting sometime early next year, perhaps January or February depending on when everyone can get together. I also have a couple of locations in mind, but I need to do a little more investigating before making the final choice.

Script is ready....

Okay, I do have a finished script. I finally got around to revising the one I had since I was creating the first one from memory. Between games on Facebook, LOTRO, and a busy summer, it's about time I get back into the swing of things.

I'll be sending e-mails out to people soon regarding their participation in this one. It'd be nice to get a few more volunteers, though, just so I have some choices available.

The Price is Right? I hope so!

Argh! I think I finally have the price of DVDs in the Stockroom at the correct price. Turns out that the shipping was $0.17 more than what I was charging, but that should now be fixed. I also upgraded my PayPal account to a business account while I was working on all this.

New DVD: Class of 1989 20 Year Reunion

For those of you who went to Fairmont High School and graduated in 1989, this is the new DVD I created for the 20 year reunion which was this weekend. Yes, there is a charge of $4.25 per disc, but it's only for the cost of materials and money transfer fees. Just click on the link to the Flaming Death Stockroom either in the menu along the top of the website or in the link on the left hand side. While you're there, you can also purchase Flaming Death t-shirts or DVDs of our first short film, "Yoda's Treasure".

Atom Contest

Winners of this year's Star Wars Fan Film Contest have been chosen and are viewable at http://www.atom.com/spotlights/starwars/challenge/. I haven't seen all of them yet, myself, but I have seen the winner of the George Lucas Selects award, "Star Wars Retold". Good stuff!

Next up: "Connect More!"

I'm looking for people interested in being either in front or behind the camera on this one. For the actors, I need two male leads. One will be a Jedi which could be similar to Ewan McGregor's Obi-Wan, but that's flexible and not definite. The other will be a Sith wearing Darth Maul-like makeup. Also needed will be two camera operators, a boom operator, an audio recorder. Other jobs may come up as production gets closer. So, fire me off an e-mail if you're interested!

*sigh*

The folks over on the message boards at TheForce.net have discovered who the finalists for the 2009 Star Wars Fan Film Challenge are, and unfortunately we didn't make the cut this time. So, it's back to the drawing board for next year's contest. Voting for this year's awards begins on July 1.

Here are the finalists for the 2009 Star Wars Fan Film Challenge:

Bad Day for Vader
Blasted Behavior
Death Star Over San Francisco
Emperor Palpatine and the Attack of the Copyright Infringement
Glen Eisley Glen Mos
Jedi Camp
Knights of the Old Republic: Revan
Lord Vader's Trial
Mark Valley vs Drew Mazanec
No Love for Wampa
Saber
Star Fury!
Star Sports Theatrical Trailer
Star Wars in a Notebook!
Star Wars: Cinemagic
Star Wars: Retold
Sudden Remakes 1
SW Episode XVI: Family Dysfunction
The Closet Unleashed
The Fate of the Duel
Where Are They Now
WTF Star Wars

Deadline arriveth!

The deadline for fan film submissions at atom.com has come. Now we wait for word on whether the film gets a nomination or not. Public voting begins July 1, so I'm assuming we'll hear something within a month. Cross your fingers, say a prayer, sacrifice a small animal, or do whatever you choose to do to bring us luck!

Class Reunion Project

As a side project, I'll be creating a slide show for the FHS Class of '89 20 Year Reunion. I created something similar for a reunion of sorts for the early 90s InterVarsity Christian Fellowship group a couple of years ago, but unfortunately that was one of the projects lost when my portable hard drive died. In any case, if you're from the class of '89, send me some photos to use! Just e-mail using the link on the left side of this browser window. The larger the resolution, the better. I can handle just about any file format that's out there, so no need to worry about that. For those of you who have posted photos on FaceBook, it would be nice to get those sent to me as well since the photos there have, for the most part, probably been shrunken down in the posting process and wouldn't retain their quality if increased in size. I'm putting a deadline at or about July 17 so as to give me enough time to work on this. Thanks!

New Link

After wanting to do it for quite a while but always forgetting to do it, I added a link to the U.S.S. Red October website on the links on the left hand side of the website. Since I sometimes refer back over to that site, it seemed... well, logical.

Also, only 8 days left until the Fan Film Contest submission deadline over at Atom.com!

Take 2 w/ short intro

It's been suggested by a couple of people that I shorten the credits at the beginning, and I'm starting to agree. I'll keep the longer version up, but I think I'll cut an abbreviated file and upload that for use in the contest. I'll get that done tonight.

"Luke & Leia" now online!

I've posted the movie over at YouTube and Atom.com. I'll have a streaming link in the "Luke & Leia" portion of the website in just a few hours. Enjoy!

SUBMITTED

Since I'm having thoughts of moving the party to the 16th, I decided to upload the movie to Atom last night. It's still in the processing phase, but it should be available at some point today. In the meantime, I'm going to get it rolling on YouTube as well while I can. It shouldn't take me too long to get that set up as long as I find the time to do it while I'm here at work. I'll send out a link at some point today. So, I guess that makes today, April 29, 2009, the world premiere day of "Luke & Leia"!

SUCCESS!

After screwing around with the film quality over and over to try to get the file size under 100MB as dictated by Atom.com's submission guidelines, I ended up using a converter to convert the good MOV file over to a WMV file which came in at less than 60MB! I was thinking of submitting it to Atom.com tonight, but I think I can wait a week and a half so that it coincides with the premiere at the party on May 9.

Quick Update

After playing around with the editing tools again, I decided to use the original footage of Abbie and use a still shot of Shawn and Chris as the transition piece for her to get off of the camera before the booth shot again. I know this may not make sense to anyone right now, but maybe it will when the film is released. I just wanted to let it be known that Abbie is still getting her 5 seconds of fame. ;-)

Some people have received their release forms via e-mail or will be in the next couple of weeks. If you could send the signed forms back ASAP, it would be much appreciated.

Last Edit, then Paperwork

I received the restaurant background photos from Chris over the weekend, and they look great. However, the green screen shot I took of Abbie is not cooperating well. It's far too pixelated around the edges against Chris' background pics, and I cannot smooth them out enough to make them decent. So, after all this time, I believe I'm going to have to replace that shot with a backup shot. Sorry Abbie! I should have this step completed very soon. I am having a difficult time getting the master AVI file working with Windows Media Player, though. I think I finally have it figured out, but in the meantime I'm going to go with a Quicktime file which I tested yesterday. Fortunately, Atom.com allows uploads of a few different file formats, mov files being one of them. Now to try to figure out how to get the file size down to 100MB or less without losing too much quality. Expect the premiere of the film to be at my 18th Annual Sci-Fi Party with online access to follow shortly after.

Next up is getting all the paperwork in order. Atom suggests signed contracts for actors, owners of locations, and music rights holders. I wish I would have noticed this before so this could have already been taken care of, but then again I should have expected it since I heard about what people went through the last time when I was trying to submit "Yoda's Treasure". According to their site, they say to submit the film anyway and will notify me if they need copies of any of the forms. That should give me a little time to get everything in order.

End of principal photography!

Abbie's shot is finished! We used the green-screen and will be adding in the background sometime soon, I hope. Once that is completed, the film is DONE and ready to be uploaded for the 2009 Star Wars Fan Film contest. Then it's on to the promotional materials.

Shirts are here!

The t-shirts are now in! I'll be getting the Shirts already ordered by people to them in the very near future. I do have a small inventory built up now, so people who want to purchase one can now received their shirt within just a few days. In the future, I may go to one color printing. It would save a few dollars per shirt, and I'm thinking of adding something besides just the logo but I'm not quite sure yet. That would make the current shirt a discontinued collectors item, so be sure to get one while they're still around! ;-)

Good news & bad news

The good news: the animated FDP logo is alive once again! Instead of trying to extract it from my backup disks and risk over-filling my hard drive (which I guess wouldn't have happened, but I didn't know until after the fact), Matt extracted it from his backup disks and e-mailed it to me over the weekend and I promptly inserted it into the movie.

The bad news: SodaNation, the group who gave us the song "Computer Life" to use in the film, has disbanded. We'll still be able to use the song, but I was going to promote them a bit in the credits.

What? Almost done, you say???

Since Shawn was taking up all of my LOTRO time today, I continued editing the movie from this morning. I now have the majority of it completed. Abbie's reshoot is the only major item needed. Other than that, I have to grab the Flaming Death animated logo from backup disks. Then it's finished! Yes, Matthew, you're voice-over is no longer needed! Turns out that the boom mike noise blends in with the background ambiance sound file I'm using, so it's all good. I'm going to change the film from color to black and white, but I haven't made a solid decision on that yet. I'll have to create one of each and compare them.

And oh... by the way, Happy New Year!

Shirts ordered

T-shirts have been ordered! I put in an order for two small, two medium, four large and four extra-large shirts last week, so I should have them in a couple of weeks. One medium and two extra-large are now spoken for. I do have one extra-large from the first batch on hand right now, however.

The first two minutes and 17 seconds of "Luke & Leia" have now been edited. I'm going to try to get everything done this weekend with the exception of the items that need to be redone. Looking good, though. I have it in widescreen format now as well.

Editing, shirts, and more

After a minor little setback, I was able to start the editing process over the weekend. One thing I did notice that was previously NOT seen was that the boom mike got into the shot. I haven't gone through all of the video to see how many times it makes an appearance, but hopefully I'll be able to crop that out. If we had filmed in letterbox format, it wouldn't be an issue. However, I believe the program I'm using can accomplish that task as well.

We also have Abbie's re-shoot coming up at some point soon. At some point we'll have to get Matthew's short voice-over recorded, and then a photo shoot for promotional purposes (DVD cover, etc.). I haven't picked a time frame for the photo shoot yet, but Matthew and Mitchell should start thinking of what days are free for them in the first quarter of next year if at all possible.

Flaming Death Productions t-shirts: who wants one?! You know you do! Hehe! I'm going to be submitting an order in at some point soon, and if the facility I go through still has a minimum order number then I need seven more shirts to order that haven't been spoken for. I could go and order the rest and sell them later on, although it would be easier on my finances if we could get enough to cover at least half of the full order. If you've been a part of the cast or crew in either "Yoda's Treasure" or "Luke & Leia", I'll sell them to you at cost plus shipping only if needed. Just a little bonus for being part of the FDP gang.

Annnnnd if you haven't noticed yet, FDP is now on Facebook! Just do a search for Flaming Death Productions and we're listed there.

That's it for now. Thank you for reading the mega-post!

Movie progress?

Since it's been asked, I thought I would address the question of how the movie is coming along. At this point, I have each of the individual shots ready to be edited together except for the scene with Abbie that needs to be re-shot, the music, and any files needed to edit the thing together. I would have been further along in the process and completed the majority of the editing already if it wasn't for two things: 1) busy weekends, and 2) Lord of the Rings Online's expansion pack "Mines of Moria". Poor excuse, I know, but it's addicting. I just have to sit myself down at some point and tell myself "You ARE going to do this today." Unfortunately, today isn't one of those days since I'll be out of town. Maybe I can find some time tomorrow.

Maybe. :-P

Congratulations!

A little late on the news here, but congratulations go out to a few Flaming Death Productions people. Wade and Amanda Wolkenhauer had a baby boy, Paul Arthur Wolkenhauer, on October 20. In addition, Chris and Tina Marler had a baby girl, Emma Ruth Marler, on October 25. Feel free to send any congratulatory messages via the e-mail button on the left side of the web page, and I'll make sure they are forwarded on to the happy parents. :-)

And now for something completely different

Just a little promotional plug here for Kevin Smith's latest.

Sci-Fi Party and other news

For those of you looking for the website for my 17th Annual Sci-Fi Party, head on over to http://flamingdeath.net/scifiparty/.

In movie news, the beginning shots for "Luke & Leia" were filmed on August 24. So far it looks like I'll have one voiceover for Matthew to do, and unfortunately we have to reshoot Abbie's close-up. Hopefully we'll be able to do that at some point in the near future and then we'll have all filming complete.

In other news, you may have heard that Don LaFontaine has passed away. He was the BEST for voiceover work in movie trailers, commercials, etc., and was most recently seen in a few Geico commercials. R.I.P., Don.

Flaming Death Stockroom updates

I made a few changes in the way the Stockroom operates. All orders are now tied into PayPal, and it's pretty slick. For some reason, the donation button in the left menu isn't working properly in IE but works with Firefox, so if you're having issues when donating and don't have Firefox then just use the e-mail button and let me know so we can circumvent the issue. There's a couple other tweaks I need to make, but I'll save that for another day. Off to bed!

Sodanation news

"Computer Life", the song featured in "Luke & Leia", is getting its own video, and they've got photos from their video shoot. Check 'em out!

Updates & other progress

First of all, I've added a lot of updates to the Luke & Leia site. Pictures, cast, crew,...well, see for yourself!

Second, I've finished downloading all of the footage obtained so far and created clips from it. The next step will be editing the clips into a meaningful and flowing scene. The sound needs a little work, but that's to be expected. The good news is that almost all of it turned out great. There was only one line that will need to be a voice-over piece which compared to Yoda's Treasure is a vast improvement (which had the entire first act redone in voice-overs). I also have Sunday the 24th lined up for filming the intro scenes with Marshall, so I'll have all my footage before the end of the month barring any problems.

How it went

Sunday, I started downloading the film footage from Saturday and got as far as Marshall's lines. So far so good. I'm hoping that I didn't forget anything while filming. I might get Matthew and Marshall together again for a photo shoot, though. That should be easy enough to do locally. I should have thought of that while everyone was together on Saturday. Actually, there are a few things I forgot on Saturday, but they're nothing that can't be worked around. Like I intended for Marshall to wear his hat backwards and be chewing gum. Not too important, but the backwards hat thing I can do in the intro to the movie which I have yet to shoot with him, plus we can do it in the photo shoot as well. I also had intended for someone else to run the camera. It's a bit messy trying to find each take since I just kept the camera rolling in some spots, but it's workable. I'm planning on getting the rest of the shots downloaded by the end of this weekend.

Ouch!

Matthew Carlson, one of the two leads in "Luke & Leia", had a little accident last night on his skateboard ("I fell on my face"), and it is more than likely going to leave him with a nice black eye which he can mostly cover up with his long hair. Alan (his father) looked at it this morning, and it wasn't bad (yet). Swollen a tiny bit, too. If nothing else, maybe I can work it into the script. And no, his character won't be attacked by a wampa in the first act to account for his injuries.

I also received a call from Marshall last night to confirm Saturday's plans, and he informed me that the person that we were thinking of using for a waitress is having her wisdom teeth out so she will be unavailable for filming. Must be the time of year for yanking out teeth! My daughter Shelby lost two of her baby teeth in the past week, and my youngest daughter Savannah lost one of hers just last night!

We do have a second camera for Saturday (courtesy of Wade), but I want to use it as a behind-the-scenes camera instead of one of the main cameras. For one thing, it doesn't have an audio input jack and must rely on an internal mic. Second, I'd like to film everything that's going on to catch those funny moments that aren't always right in front of the main camera. It'd be a nice supplement to the finished film up on the website.

In other news, after taking a look at the options I had available in PayPal, I added a direct link in the left-side menu to a PayPal donation page for Flaming Death Productions. I'll take a look at maybe getting the Flaming Death Stockroom set up with PayPal as well, but that'll be a little ways off. I'm assuming most of my time in the near future will be spent working on the editing of "Luke & Leia" instead once we have footage.

All set!

We're less than a week away from filming now! It looks like we're out one camera operator, but I'm sure we'll be able to find someone to fill in for that job. As for the wisdom teeth issue, Marshall has agreed to step in if Mitchell isn't up to it. Matt has his plane tickets, so I'll be picking him and his camera up Friday evening. Everything is finally coming together, and after two or three years of planning this thing it almost seems surreal.

It's always something....

I was informed earlier today that one of my leads, Mitchell, is having his wisdom teeth taken out August 8, the day before the shoot! How this will affect filming is yet to be seen, but I've asked if his brother, Marshall, might take his place. If all else fails and we can't get someone to fill in that role, I have an idea for alternates but I'd rather not think of that right now. Think positive! Do, or do not! There is no try!

Confirmed!

August 9 is now set as the date to film "Luke & Leia"! We'll be shooting at the Chula Vista restaurant in West St. Paul, and it's looking like we'll be starting somewhere around 8am. On top of this great news, Matt, my partner in crime, may also be here all the way from Michigan for the shoot! Not only that, but we'll also planning on hitting the Star Wars Exhibit at the Minnesota Science Museum in St. Paul to fulfill a perfect day.

Yesterday I met with Mitchell, one of the two leads. We briefly went over the script, chose the proper wardrobe, and viewed the Kevin Smith short film "The Flying Car" for character observations. The extra role of waitress or waiter will either be filled by Mitchell's "significant other" (sorry... I can't recall her name!), or by Marshall (Mitchell's brother). I hope to meet with Matthew, the other lead, in one of the weekends leading up to the filming date.

In other news, I'm hoping to set up a small booth next weekend at our huge garage sale to present "Yoda's Treasure" to people and sell a few DVDs (at cost, mind you!). This will be a test of what we could do at other events in the future but on a smaller scale.

Updates!

Yes, there's been an update! I now have music that will be used in "Luke & Leia" from the band Sodanation in the downloads section of that film's website (although it's not exactly a download but streaming audio instead). There is also a link there to the band's website where you can hear the full version of "Computer Life" with vocals. Many thanks go out to Charlotte and of course Sodanation for use of this song which was exactly what I was looking for.

So, once again I'm going forth on the "Luke & Leia" project with the other two actors I had in mind for the main roles. Matthew Carlson is from Rochester, MN and is the son of a friend of mine way back from our college days. Mitchell Fratzke is from New Prague and is one of my twin nephews. I also have three roles up for grabs including a waitress and an elderly couple. I may have someone in mind for them, but I'm open to suggestions so give me a shout if you're so inclined. As for the location, that's up in the air at the moment until I can contact Chris and Tina Marler. Hopefully I can get that predicament handled soon.

This leaves us with a tight filming schedule. I'm hoping for August 9 to work otherwise we'll be looking at sometime in September for the earliest date after that.

Somewhere in this busy year I hope to get my annual Sci-Fi party scheduled, too.

DOH!

It seems I've lost all contact information for the Marlers since they've moved! So, if either of you two are reading this (crossing fingers), please give me a call or e-mail.

*UPDATE* I got a hold of Chris yesterday. Thanks Chris!

This year's Sci-Fi party

Some of you have questioned me about it during the past couple of months, and yes, I will be having my annual sci-fi party this year. I just don't know exactly when it will be yet. I have updated the webpage, though, at http://flamingdeath.net/scifiparty/.

This would also be a good opportunity to do some planning for L&L. By then, things should have settled down for me as far as the housing crisis goes, and I should be more available. However, then we hit the problem of getting people together again for filming. Just can't win....

I've also decided to keep the Google advertisements on the site. It's not making me any money... well, I take that back. It looks like I made two cents this past week! Anyway, it gives the site a certain level of credibility, in my opinion.

Blah....

Looks like the Google advertisements aren't doing a bit of business for me at all, so I'm considering taking them down in the near future. It was a good idea, but we just don't get high volumes of traffic here to make it worthwhile. Any thoughts? I guess they do make the site look a little more busy and official though.

Second, it looks like any forthcoming projects are again on hold. With the Marlers moving shortly as well as myself, there are just too many uncertainties to deal with.

Third, Atomfilms has announced their deadline for this year's fanfilm awards: May 27. Details are right here. Unfortunately, I don't think we'll make it in time if L&L gets off the ground before then.

Lastly, I got rid of the falling snow here. After dealing with this winter and no heat in my car, I'm ready for ALL snow to leave. I don't even want to spend any more time in the Misty Mountains in LOTRO because of all the snow there. Bring on spring!

Let's get rolling!

Hey all,

Okay, it's about that time to get serious about making this "Luke & Leia" movie we've been talking about for two years. ;-)

First, I'm sending this posting in an e-mail to quite a few people who were involved with "Yoda's Treasure", a couple of them (Chris and Travis) who will actually be on screen, but the rest as candidates for camera-work and other technical aspects behind the camera and perhaps extras. If you're interested in joining the crew, reply back ASAP so I have an idea of who's all going to be involved.

Second, after having an idea of who the crew will consist of, I want to try to get us together at least once for a pre-production meeting. That means I need two dates from people that they're available, the second date being the shooting date. I'm guessing that an early morning would work best with Chris' restaurant and everyone involved rather than waiting until after close, but Chris…if you could let me know which one is best, I'd appreciate it. So, to reiterate, I need two open dates from people, so the easiest way to get this is to tell me all of your open weekends and I'll compare them all to get the magical two dates.

Fifth, I have yet another film idea, this one unwritten as of yet, that I would like some feedback on to flesh out a good story. We can all discuss this at the pre-production meeting. Matt, you could join us via Teamspeak for your input as well since you already know what I'm thinking of here.

That's about it for now. Check those calendars! :-)

P.S. Yes, I can count. I meant to do that. However, it's a good hint on what that new film idea is. ;-)

Merry Christmas!

...and Happy New Year!

(and a happy birthday to meeeeeeeeee!)

New to the site: Google Advertising

After a discussion with my sister-in-law, I checked into putting up some advertising through Google AdSense. I figure if it brings in any money, I can use those funds to pay for the domain name charge and keep the website operational that way. The way that the ads are chosen is from taking key words from the text on this webpage. Since there's been a lot of talk about the shirts recently, it is finding ads that deal with that subject matter in some way or form. So, if I start talking about Lord of the Rings Online: Shadows of Angmar every day, we'd probably see ads for Lord of the Rings Online if Turbine is still promoting that way. Anyway, here's hoping for some advertising income!

Oh, the irony of it all...

Two days after I sent the "Luke & Leia" script to the two people I was going to use in place of Travis and Chris, I get an e-mail from Travis saying that he's finally coming back to Minnesota. So, I made the decision to go back to using Chris and Travis for the film. Maybe we'll get something done by year's end.

Recasting and FDP Store news

First to the store news. I have it pretty organized the way I want it now except for the graphic ad on the main page here and a better store name to sprawl across the main store page. I'm open to suggestions on what we can call it besides the Flaming Death Productions Store or FDP Store. FDP just sounds too much like FDS to me, and we're not selling feminine deodorant (or at least not yet). Heh!

Second, I've finally decided to recast "Luke & Leia". After two years, I just decided that it's time. I have two people in mind for the leads, but I don't want to put any names out here until they're locked into place. Preliminary negotiations are looking favorable, though. SO... watch this site for the latest updates! Yes, we're finally going to make another movie!

The "Yoda's Treasure" DVDs for sale!

I don't have everything in the store worked out yet, but I did make up a page for ordering the "Yoda's Treasure" DVDs. It's located right here until I organize the store and set up the side-bar links. At $7.50 a DVD with USPS Priority Mail shipping included, it's not too bad of a deal, don't cha think?

The store is open!

Yes, you're not hallucinating! I finally gave Lord of the Rings Online a rest tonight and got the FDP store up and running. We're only selling the t-shirts at this time, so that's all you'll see for now. Hopefully we'll include more products at a future date including "Yoda's Treasure" which itself would only be sold at cost due to copyright restrictions. If you have any other ideas that we could use for items to sell, let me know via the e-mail link here on the site.

In other news, the filming that I though would take place this summer has been delayed. (Surprise! Surprise!) So, now the contest begins! Who will make it back to Minnesota first? Travis (in Nevada) or Matt (in Michigan)? I'm placing my bets on Matt. hehe!