The Journey to Harbinger Down - Part 2
How a Kickstarter Funded Practical Effects Movie Changed My Life
In part one of this story, I talked about the launching of the Kickstarter campaign for studioADI’s first feature film Harbinger Down, directed by Alec Gillis and starring Lance Henriksen helped me regain my career focus at a time when I was feeling very lost. My narrative left off at the movie reaching its funding goal and I promised you I’d talk about what happened next but in order to do that, I have to back peddle just a bit because this part of the tale requires some overlap.
As I’ve said before, this wasn’t just a movie to me. This was a compass placed in my hands, pointing me to true North, a direction I knew I wanted to go but because of all the upheaval in my life, I was no longer able to find it. With the Kickstarter came regular updates that weren’t just Alec and Lance talking about what a great movie they were going to make but also included new behind-the-scenes videos, showing some of the techniques they used to make the pitch trailer on a budget. The clips showed them doing amazing things that because of their limited amount of money, didn’t always include materials and tools that were out of my reach.
DIY Monster Making
Right off the bat, seeing that a little latex and bubble wrap could be rolled up to make such a cool-looking tentacle and that using magnets placed in them could make them move, using other magnets from under a table, opened up infante possibilities. I already knew about reverse photography but seeing it used in action by experienced pros was also very exciting to see. It was at this time that I started to truly realize that it didn’t matter what I put in front of the camera or what it was made of, as long as I could trick the viewer into believing that what was on screen was what I wanted them to think it was.
Plastic Easter eggs becoming ship rivets and instant mash potato flakes becoming snow, all in such a small enclosed space, meant that I could convert almost any material into anything else my own movies might need, in the confines of my garage. It was like being given permission to disregard everything I was told before about what was or wasn’t possible. As long as I wrote my stories around what I could fake and didn’t get hung up on it, I could throw my hat in the ring with the rest of them.
My daughter and I started trying out some of the stuff we saw from the campaign almost right away and my notions seemed to track.
Creature Design Team
Something more direct happened, as well. In a show of gratitude towards the street team I had pulled together for promoting the crowdfunder, we were all invited to contribute our own creature designs to the film, with the caveat that like with any design team, most or all of what we did probably wouldn’t get used directly but would serve as one step in an organic process, where the finished design didn’t happen until it ended up on set.
Everyone had a stab at one or more of the perpetually mutating monsters described by Alec, using different mediums.
Tim Ponzuric and Jason Cope showcased their excellent pencil work while Rich took to rendering his vision in 3D. I personally took this as an opportunity to do something a bit different.
I admit that the ideas I had in mind were quite different, not only in terms of the story concept but how I would approach creating the design. I saw it as another opportunity to not only contribute to the project but test out what I was learning and see if I could work out how the designs would be executed for the movie. You can see a breakdown of what I came up with within this video.
What I discovered was that my solutions were probably a little too low-budget for what would be expected from a major special effects company like ADI but that the big-budget versions of them would be more expensive than Harbinger Down as a production could front. However, Alec was kind enough not to lay claim to the unused concepts I had come up with, so I am still free to use them in future projects and I think I have the know-how to pull it off.
For example, after having years to think about it, I know I could absolutely recreate some variation of the uncoiling hold creature, using packing tape and latex, while using my compositing skills in programs like After Effects to add in puppeteered creepy-crawly legs and tentacles. Properly captured against green-screen, an actor's face could be composited on top of such a fabrication, completing the illusion of a human horrifically mutating into something other.
Coming soon in part three, I’ll write about how things started to slowly improve for my family and me in Texas when we moved to a bigger house outside of Austin and I began taking steps to make The Quantum Terror while filming for Harbinger Down kicked into high gear.
If you missed part one of my story, be sure to read it by clicking HERE.
Don’t forget that you can watch Harbinger Down for free, right now, on Amazon Prime, iTunes, and Tubi.
Order The Making of Harbinger Down, here: www.tinyurl.com/makingharbingerdown
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