THE UNDERGROUND RAILROAD IN METAMORA: Upcoming Screenings

THE UNDERGROUND RAILROAD IN METAMORA Documentary will soon be showing in the GIANT SCREEN THEATER at the Peoria Riverfront Museum.

Click HERE for upcoming showtimes and to purchase advanced tickets!

THE UNDERGROUND RAILROAD IN METAMORA [Trailer]

 Check out the Trailer HERE!

HAPPY HALLOWEEN 2022: Behind-the-Scenes of "NIGHTMARE" Montage

HAPPY HALLOWEEN 2022!  I have already "released" several deleted scenes and the entire movie now but previously no behind-the-scenes content.  Back then we didn't document a lot of behind-the-scenes because we only had one camera for the most part.  We did however shoot a little bit naturally between takes, and some even by accident.  So I have pulled together a bunch of these snippets, scraps, and a few bloopers and created a nice little glimpse behind-the-scenes for my first feature length film, NIGHTMARE!

Check it out HERE!

John Ronane: In Memoriam

John Ronane,  85, of Eureka passed away at 7:49 p.m. Wednesday, May 15, 2019, at his home, with his family by his side.  To me, John was a mentor.  A mentor who not only pushed me to pursue my dreams but also helped me get on the right path to do so.

I first met John at the end of my Freshman year of high school during a Spring Extension program.  His wife Carole, was teaching a course on film making and brought him in to talk to us about his wide range of experiences in the  Film/TV business.  He actually wrote a short screenplay for the class titled Summer Lesson, which we were given the task of turning into a short film in only 2 days.  We chose to use the first day for production and then spent the whole second day editing at my house.  I still remember him showing up at the end of the first day while we were shooting the finale.  It was a bit nerve-racking having him on set but at the same time I felt honored.  The guy had lived and worked in the film business.  Something I wholeheartedly wanted to be a real part of someday.  As seen in the photo above - John, Phil, and I were discussing our shot list for the scene.  I remember him talking to us like we were fellow artists, collaborating, and not just telling us what we needed to do.  We felt like real professionals that day!  We shot in on Hi8 and VHS-C and cut linearly in my bedroom with a VCR and a VHS Camcorder - mastering to VHS.  You can check out the final film HERE!

After this project I began doing end of the year SCHOOL VIDEO YEARBOOK'S, which his wife Carole oversaw but gave me an incredible amount of artistic freedom.  These videos actually ended up being pretty extensive and even feature length.  They played at the Senior Awards Assemblies at the end of my Sophomore, Junior, and Senior years.  John actually showed up to these screenings.  Afterward we would discuss the videos and he would mention little details that he noticed.  After a years worth of work it was awesome for someone to actually point out some of these details, which to most may seem minor but actually took a lot of thought and energy to execute.  It charged me up and inspired me to keep pushing myself.

I have not seen him or Carole in several years but have kept in touch off and on through social media since graduating high school in 2003.  They set my sights on Columbia College Chicago way back in 2003 when I was about to graduate high school.  They even recommended a move to Los Angeles - way before I ever thought that it was a real possibility.  Without them I'm not sure where I would be right now.  I will always be grateful to him and Carole for believing in me and pushing me to pursue my dreams!

John's memorial website is available at www.deitersfuneralhome.com, where condolences may also be sent to the family.  Memorial contributions may also be made to the American Cancer Society.

LOGO BEHIND-THE-SCENES: PART I (ZIM HOME VIDEO)

For the last few years I have sporadically been working on updated production logos for various "entities" within our movie making universe. We have created many production logos since we started making movies back in the 1990's.  So I thought it might be fun to look back at some of the old versions and then dig into the process of making the new ones.  The first to be discussed will be the Zim Home Video logo.  Zim Home Video was the name of our first production banner, and remained our primary for several years.  We often created co-production banner's as well when other people would be co-producing a project with us.  So we also have several off-shoot production banners that we have made as well.

The early versions of the logo were often simplistic. Usually they consisted of text on white paper or words appearing on a dry erase board. We made several different versions early on because at the time we didn't have the ability to edit anything. We were shooting our movies in scene order. So every time we made a new movie we had to shoot a new version of the logo at the start of the tape. This gave us the freedom to theme the logo to its given movie, which allowed for more creativity. A few of the Alternate Zim Home Video versions contained Magic Wands (In reference to my old Wanna-Be A Magician Days), a Mini Godzilla (A creature that was often used in our miniature city animations), and even Power Ranger's Zord toys (For our Kid Rangers movie).  In 1997/98 I produced a version which had the letters mold themselves out of a blue putty substance on my bedroom wall. This version of the logo was used for many projects over the course of several years. The next version was shot as live action - featuring me opening "The Movie Closet" door, raising a slate marked "Zim Home Video", and then clapping it.  This version of the logo was only used a few times.  I'd actually completely forgotten about it until I started digging in the archives for this post.

Around the year 2000, we rebranded the production side of things as Z3 Films Productions and Zim Home Video became solely our distribution arm.  Around this same time my friend and producing partner Levi Obery produced a few versions of the logo for us.  A few years later upon moving to Los Angeles I created a new version, which was black & white with TV glitches.

Now here we are, it's 2019 and while I was producing several other production logos (most of which will be discussed later in this series) I was inspired to revisit this logo.  This newest incantation is a conglomeration of several of the logos of the past.  The text has been hand painted.  The color scheme is based on the 2000's version, which was partially inspired by the very first version.  The VHS glitches homage the prior version and also our early days, when every movie was being shot on VHS.  The rest is just inspired magic.

Stay tuned for Part II: @LUNAREYLA!