Crowdfunding, The Revenge of The Devil Bat
I would like to start by saying that this film has a truly modest crowdfunding campaign goal of 750 dollars. Please take a moment to drop by their page and see if you can contribute something. This will be my interview with one of the film makers behind the making of the sequel to the public domain film The Devil Bat. I have just done a post on public domain films so I will not cover much about the subject here except to say that public domain films are films that were not properly copyrighted or the copyright has expired. Here is a quick look at what their campaign is about before we begin the interview.
The first part of this interview will be conducted with Cedric Crouch, I hope to ask the Director a few questions before the campaign ends. And here is a link to the campaign before we begin.
http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1586906037/revenge-of-the-devil-bat
First question. Is the goal to just produce the best possible sequel to The Devil Bat or are there any dream of bringing back PRC?
-We are pretty much just concentrating on Devil Bat. Our company Swamp Picnic Productions, has plans to do movies with a variety of themes and genres. We don't plan on just working with/relying on ideas from PRC. The PRC stuff is great but we don't want to become "a trick pony" solely basing our projects of past ideas.-
Did you consider trying to shoot your movie using a similar time table to the original film? Shooting it in under a week?
-That would be nice and quick but it's not really possible with the other actors schedules. In fact production is stretching out over many months due to actor availability and filming many important scenes in different states. We are probably going to wind up spending a week just in travel time to Maryland, West Virginia, Texas, etc.-
Would you ever attempt to shoot a movie with the kind of time restrictions that were in place back in the PRC days?
-Yes we would. Director Ted Moehring and myself did the last movie "Invasion of the Reptoids" in approximately 7-9 days. We had a few delays due to bad weather effecting the filming of the outdoor scenes but the total shooting time was pretty close to what PRC had.-
You are doing a sequel to a public domain film that you seem to love. Would you have gone the fan film route if the film was not public domain?
-I can't speak for Ted but I myself wouldn't want to do a fan film. There are too many issues with releasing something like that. The copyright owners are usually not receptive to something like that getting released. Our chief crew member Ron Fulmer (Captain Ron Productions) actually worked on some fan films that were removed from youtube due to copyright issues.-
You mentioned that this film established the rules for most of the horror movies that followed it. What do you think of modern horror films? The wave of torture porn horror like Saw and Hostel? The endless series of found footage films and haunted house, haunted kid, haunted box from a yard sale movies?
-I myself like some of the newer movies but mostly those with interesting plot elements. I'm pretty tired of seeing lost footage and torture porn. I think those are pretty played out by now. Some more recent movies I enjoy include El Superbeasto, Cabin In The Woods and the Hatchet series. To me they bring some freshness to the horror genre yet still pay tribute to the past. I'm sure Ted will have a lot to say on this matter.-
People who read my blog know that I am the biggest Hitchcock fan. He said that the problem with most horror movies was that they were all about walking props that showed up every fifteen minutes to kill someone. He said that he had never done a horror movie, I would argue that if The Birds is not a horror movie then what is it. What directors do you look to? Who do you pattern you film making style after?
-This is another question geared more to Ted. I myself appreciate directors such as Lucio Fulci, John Carpenter, Ed Wood and Ray Dennis Steckler (who Ted and myself had the opportunity to meet before he passed away). Carpenter is a big inspiration since he also does a lot of his own soundtrack music (I myself am a musician and have done soundtrack work for most of Ted's movie projects). I also like Stecklers "no budget, just make it anyway" approach to film making. If he could do it, we can do it!-
What are your goals concerning this production?
-Our goal is simply to make the best movie we can. No self aware humor or intentional cheesiness just a good tribute to a movie we used to watch on tv horror programs like "Doctor Shock" when we were young and impressionable.-
The thing that I find most impressive about your production is the cast that you have put together. Finding a quality cast for a low budget film is right up there with funding as the hardest thing that most film makers have to deal with. How did you pull your cast together?
-I have to credit that all to Ted. He is an expert at networking and seeking out talent.-
A question about the original film. Bela Lugosi is an icon, is it a bit intimidating to write and direct a sequel to a film that he carried?
-Ted is a huge fan and said the script practically wrote itself. I'm sure he will be able to elaborate more on this.-
Of course I am assuming that this a direct sequel to his film and not to the follow up film?
-It is intended to be a sequel to both the original film and the sequel "Devil Bats Daughter".-
Okay I suppose the last question should be about post production. Post is the most over looked part of film making. Should you reach your goals did you plan how you would market and release the movie before you started to shoot?
-Some though was given to that because distribution is very important. You could make the greatest movie in the world but if no one sees it it doesn't matter. Swamp Picnic has several other movies already released so that track record combined with the great cast should ensure that some company will put it out.-
Thank you Cedric for taking time out of your schedule to answer my question. I look forward to interviewing Ted before your campaign ends. Now I would like to take a moment to highlight some of the cast members that you have assembled for this production. Gary Kent, Lynn Lowry and George Stover.
I would like to start by saying that this film has a truly modest crowdfunding campaign goal of 750 dollars. Please take a moment to drop by their page and see if you can contribute something. This will be my interview with one of the film makers behind the making of the sequel to the public domain film The Devil Bat. I have just done a post on public domain films so I will not cover much about the subject here except to say that public domain films are films that were not properly copyrighted or the copyright has expired. Here is a quick look at what their campaign is about before we begin the interview.
The first part of this interview will be conducted with Cedric Crouch, I hope to ask the Director a few questions before the campaign ends. And here is a link to the campaign before we begin.
http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1586906037/revenge-of-the-devil-bat
First question. Is the goal to just produce the best possible sequel to The Devil Bat or are there any dream of bringing back PRC?
-We are pretty much just concentrating on Devil Bat. Our company Swamp Picnic Productions, has plans to do movies with a variety of themes and genres. We don't plan on just working with/relying on ideas from PRC. The PRC stuff is great but we don't want to become "a trick pony" solely basing our projects of past ideas.-
Did you consider trying to shoot your movie using a similar time table to the original film? Shooting it in under a week?
-That would be nice and quick but it's not really possible with the other actors schedules. In fact production is stretching out over many months due to actor availability and filming many important scenes in different states. We are probably going to wind up spending a week just in travel time to Maryland, West Virginia, Texas, etc.-
Would you ever attempt to shoot a movie with the kind of time restrictions that were in place back in the PRC days?
-Yes we would. Director Ted Moehring and myself did the last movie "Invasion of the Reptoids" in approximately 7-9 days. We had a few delays due to bad weather effecting the filming of the outdoor scenes but the total shooting time was pretty close to what PRC had.-
You are doing a sequel to a public domain film that you seem to love. Would you have gone the fan film route if the film was not public domain?
-I can't speak for Ted but I myself wouldn't want to do a fan film. There are too many issues with releasing something like that. The copyright owners are usually not receptive to something like that getting released. Our chief crew member Ron Fulmer (Captain Ron Productions) actually worked on some fan films that were removed from youtube due to copyright issues.-
You mentioned that this film established the rules for most of the horror movies that followed it. What do you think of modern horror films? The wave of torture porn horror like Saw and Hostel? The endless series of found footage films and haunted house, haunted kid, haunted box from a yard sale movies?
-I myself like some of the newer movies but mostly those with interesting plot elements. I'm pretty tired of seeing lost footage and torture porn. I think those are pretty played out by now. Some more recent movies I enjoy include El Superbeasto, Cabin In The Woods and the Hatchet series. To me they bring some freshness to the horror genre yet still pay tribute to the past. I'm sure Ted will have a lot to say on this matter.-
People who read my blog know that I am the biggest Hitchcock fan. He said that the problem with most horror movies was that they were all about walking props that showed up every fifteen minutes to kill someone. He said that he had never done a horror movie, I would argue that if The Birds is not a horror movie then what is it. What directors do you look to? Who do you pattern you film making style after?
-This is another question geared more to Ted. I myself appreciate directors such as Lucio Fulci, John Carpenter, Ed Wood and Ray Dennis Steckler (who Ted and myself had the opportunity to meet before he passed away). Carpenter is a big inspiration since he also does a lot of his own soundtrack music (I myself am a musician and have done soundtrack work for most of Ted's movie projects). I also like Stecklers "no budget, just make it anyway" approach to film making. If he could do it, we can do it!-
What are your goals concerning this production?
-Our goal is simply to make the best movie we can. No self aware humor or intentional cheesiness just a good tribute to a movie we used to watch on tv horror programs like "Doctor Shock" when we were young and impressionable.-
The thing that I find most impressive about your production is the cast that you have put together. Finding a quality cast for a low budget film is right up there with funding as the hardest thing that most film makers have to deal with. How did you pull your cast together?
-I have to credit that all to Ted. He is an expert at networking and seeking out talent.-
A question about the original film. Bela Lugosi is an icon, is it a bit intimidating to write and direct a sequel to a film that he carried?
-Ted is a huge fan and said the script practically wrote itself. I'm sure he will be able to elaborate more on this.-
Of course I am assuming that this a direct sequel to his film and not to the follow up film?
-It is intended to be a sequel to both the original film and the sequel "Devil Bats Daughter".-
Okay I suppose the last question should be about post production. Post is the most over looked part of film making. Should you reach your goals did you plan how you would market and release the movie before you started to shoot?
-Some though was given to that because distribution is very important. You could make the greatest movie in the world but if no one sees it it doesn't matter. Swamp Picnic has several other movies already released so that track record combined with the great cast should ensure that some company will put it out.-
Thank you Cedric for taking time out of your schedule to answer my question. I look forward to interviewing Ted before your campaign ends. Now I would like to take a moment to highlight some of the cast members that you have assembled for this production. Gary Kent, Lynn Lowry and George Stover.
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