{"id":239,"date":"2007-12-19T21:23:25","date_gmt":"2007-12-20T03:23:25","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.micro-film-magazine.com\/cublog\/?p=239"},"modified":"2014-09-06T14:59:34","modified_gmt":"2014-09-06T20:59:34","slug":"qa-du-c-u-ed-glaser","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.micro-film-magazine.com\/cublog\/?p=239","title":{"rendered":"Q&A du C-U: Ed Glaser"},"content":{"rendered":"

\u201cNow, They\u2019re Playing with (Micro-Budget) Power!\u201d
\n<\/strong>An interview with Ed Glaser of PRESS START<\/p>\n

by Jason Pankoke<\/em><\/p>\n

While the consumer tools of this millennium have opened the floodgates for home-based movie production, it can be argued that the rendering of digital characters and environments in cobbled-together basement studios has a ways to go before measuring up to big-league work. Of course, it means that your friendly neighborhood money-impaired auteur<\/em> must rely on traditional methods to get what he wants, for the most part. It also means that said auteur<\/em> should not be afraid to embellish a little elbow grease on the low-cost factors that often get wiped away by that digitized Hollywood artifice \u2013 character, pacing, nuance, location, and story, story, story<\/em>.<\/p>\n

Champaign filmmaker Ed Glaser<\/strong> and his team have taken this truism to heart with their latest Dark Maze Studios<\/strong> project, PRESS START<\/strong>, stocking up on the aforementioned qualities while incorporating visuals that illustrate its videogame aesthetic without overdoing it.\u00a0Yes, nods to famous titles of the Eighties and Nineties pile up over 100 minutes like a horde of space invaders eager to please, but\u00a0PRESS START<\/strong> also holds its own as a micro-budget original which avoids the hairy pitfalls that have thwarted many a licensed mega-budget adaptation.<\/p>\n

Although I rarely play today, my brother and I spent numerous adolescent hours parked in front of the early consoles and computers: Atari 2600<\/strong>, Apple IIe<\/strong>, TRS-80<\/strong>, ColecoVision<\/strong>, Commodore 64<\/strong>, Amiga<\/strong>, and a rinky-dink monochrome number from Sears<\/strong> \u2013 damn right<\/em>, Sears! \u2013 that was our first. My favorite coin-ops included Tempest<\/u><\/strong>, Centipede<\/u><\/strong>, TRON<\/u><\/strong>, Galaga<\/u><\/strong>, Ms. Pac-Man<\/u><\/strong>, Robotron 2084<\/u><\/strong>, and Time Pilot<\/u><\/strong> (even though I still<\/em> can\u2019t get past the first @%#*#&@ fleet of UFOs; ask Jeff<\/strong> at Exile on Main Street<\/strong>) while LED \u201ctable top\u201d editions of Defender<\/u><\/strong> and Turtles<\/u><\/strong> came along on family trips. The last 2D time-waster I owned was an Asteroids<\/u><\/strong> clone called Maelstr\u00f6m<\/u><\/strong>, installed on my Apple Performa<\/strong> from college. It\u2019s been that long<\/em> since I regularly tripped the pixel fantastic.<\/p>\n

So, as the half-generation behind me overdoses on Nintendo<\/strong>, Sega<\/strong>, and Xbox<\/strong>, I fondly recall the old-school amusements even though the graphics weren\u2019t sleek and the game play not too sophisticated. PRESS START<\/strong> is analogous to those early videogames with its colorful production design and amiable sense of adventure and humor, but it also lays down plenty of in-jokes for the converted and an archetypal quest for those simply looking for a good yarn. In other words, it\u2019s pretty rad.<\/p>\n

Think you can\u00a0handle the many twists and turns of Dark Maze?<\/p>\n

If so, then read on, McDuffee\u2026<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

Jason Pankoke:<\/strong> We\u2019re grateful that you could take some time out of your busy schedule to entertain this fifth-ever original interview for C-U Blogfidential<\/strong>. There\u2019s really no other place to start than with PRESS START<\/strong>, the just-released project from your company, Dark Maze Studios<\/strong>. Given that your prior work has been in the thriller or horror genre, how did you settle on a videogame-inspired adventure for your first feature-length movie?<\/em><\/p>\n

Ed Glaser:<\/strong> I had actually been interested in doing a videogame parody movie for several years. I think the idea hit me after rediscovering some of the games from my childhood in college and playing them again with friends. I thought it would be a lot of fun to make a movie in which an ordinary guy suddenly finds himself in a videogame world where every game convention, clich\u00e9, and absurdity is just daily life for its inhabitants. So I kept the idea on the back burner until I could find a writer who could turn my half-baked concept into an actual screenplay.<\/p>\n

JP:<\/strong> The basic idea seems to reference two of the earliest video game-themed movies ever made, from my own Eighties childhood \u2013 TRON<\/strong> and THE LAST STARFIGHTER<\/strong>. What do you feel Kevin Folliard<\/strong> contributed that made your original idea workable as a screen story, and where might it differ from similar attempts that your audience might be familiar with?<\/em><\/p>\n

EG:<\/strong> PRESS START<\/strong> is actually quite unlike TRON<\/strong> or, similarly, the CAPTAIN N<\/strong> cartoon series in that it\u2019s not about someone who gets physically sucked into a videogame and we never say the word \u201cvideogame\u201d or the names of real games. No one in the movie says or thinks, \u201cHey, this is just like that level in Super Mario Bros.<\/u><\/strong>!\u201d because to them, there\u2019s no such thing.<\/p>\n

Imagine you\u2019ve never played a videogame before. You put in your cartridge or disc for the first time, turn it on, and \u2013 if you\u2019ll forgive me \u2013 press \u201cstart.\u201d The character you control only has your knowledge, an understanding of how real life works but not how the game works. Now imagine you\u2019re that protagonist. You\u2019re suddenly dealing with a lot of very strange things: the ability to carry countless objects in your pockets, eating food off the ground to regain health, and the ethics of walking into a random person\u2019s home and stealing their stuff. That\u2019s the case with Zack, the main character in PRESS START<\/strong>. He\u2019s just woken up to the weirdest day in his life, and in that respect it\u2019s actually a little more like The Hitchhiker\u2019s Guide to the Galaxy<\/u><\/strong>.<\/p>\n

When I asked Kevin to write the screenplay, this really was the only guideline I gave him. From there, he created the story and all the characters in it. He\u2019s a big fan of videogames as well, so he was great at taking all the logical absurdities of games and making them fodder for the script. He\u2019s got a real love for the games that\u2019s often lacking in other, more traditional videogame adaptations. And on top of that, he\u2019s a very talented writer and an extremely funny guy.<\/p>\n

JP:<\/strong> In the ongoing railing against Hollywood\u2019s creative bankruptcy, one of the more current developments has been the wholesale substitution of pop culture references for actual humor, going so far as to spawn an entire subgenre of comedies dependent on it: SCARY MOVIE<\/strong>, EPIC MOVIE<\/strong>, DATE MOVIE<\/strong>, etc. It sounds like the attempt with PRESS START<\/strong> is to tell an archetypal \u201cstranger in a strange land\u201d story where the strange land just happens to be fashioned with \u201cvideogame logic.\u201d Would you consider the approach you took to the material as a loving nod or parody, as in your prior film NIGHT OF ANUBIS<\/strong>, or did you push it into absurdist territory?<\/em><\/p>\n

EG:<\/strong> I\u2019m not sure if any of those things are really exclusive of the others, although PRESS START<\/strong> isn\u2019t really absurdist. It\u2019s obviously a loving parody, and I think there\u2019s a fair bit of winking at the audience, but it\u2019s more than merely an excuse to string a bunch of videogame jokes together. It\u2019s a smart screenplay with a real story and compelling, quirky characters.<\/p>\n

\"Josh<\/p>\n

JP:<\/strong> You winked at us right off the bat when you released the early publicity photos of your leads in costume. We easily recognize the characters from any number of digital adventures \u2013 the ninja, the space warrior, and the wild-haired Martial Arts expert \u2013 and hope that part of the enjoyment factor will come from how the movie plays with our expectations of them. Maybe we could talk more specifically about the scenario, which pits the trio against a sorcerer and other assorted ne\u2019er-do-wells.<\/em><\/p>\n

EG:<\/strong> The premise is classic videogame material. An evil warlord has conquered the world and it\u2019s up to a young hero and his companions to defeat him. In our case, the warlord is the dastardly yet insecure Count Nefarious Vile. Zack, Lin-Ku the ninja, and Sam the space hero must collect three magic relics that will allow them to enter Vile\u2019s fortress. Each relic is in its own \u201clevel,\u201d guarded by one of Vile\u2019s minions, a \u201cboss.\u201d If all goes well, they\u2019ll ultimately confront the final boss \u2013 Vile himself.<\/p>\n

JP:<\/strong> Your crew has gone to great lengths to capture this \u201cvideogame sense\u201d in the physical world using standard production elements such as costumes, props, and lighting. You obviously don\u2019t have the budget to go off the deep end with CGI as in SIN CITY<\/strong>, BEOWULF<\/strong>, or SKY CAPTAIN AND THE WORLD OF TOMORROW<\/strong>, but modest computer effects did creep into the show which is appropriate, given your concept. To what extent have you doctored up the movie digitally in post? You have gone so far as to create partial (the \u201carboreal foe\u201d in the woods) and complete (the little yellow floating guy) characters for your actors to play off of\u2026<\/em><\/p>\n

EG:<\/strong> Well, I kept the green screen stuff to a bare minimum, as I didn\u2019t have the resources to really do it as well as I\u2019d like. However, we actually have a remarkable number of digital effects in the movie \u2013 more than you\u2019d expect from something with a budget as small as ours. Our visual effects guru, Rod Contreras<\/strong>, managed to work miracles for us, creating the exterior of Count Vile\u2019s mountainous lair, the talking tree, Zippy (the cute yellow familiar), a slew of blast and beam effects, and a whole lot more. [These elements were] key to achieving that fantastical videogame look.<\/p>\n

JP:<\/strong> Did you have to come up with creative blocking for your actors so they knew how to move through a set or interact with characters that weren\u2019t physically there?<\/em><\/p>\n

EG:<\/strong> Not as much as you might think. The most important thing was that, for the most part, the camera couldn\u2019t move, in order to make Rod\u2019s job as straightforward as possible. Beyond that, it was mostly a matter of a little careful positioning \u2013 for example, making sure no one was blocking where the tree\u2019s face would be \u2013 and some creative editing to make it seem as if there was more interaction then there really was. For many of Zippy\u2019s scenes, we had a practical version of him for the actors to look at which was animated over later.<\/p>\n

JP:<\/strong> The classic eye-line prop is the \u201cmonster-on-a-stick\u201d they would use on the sets of Ray Harryhausen<\/strong>\u2019s films, where they would just stick a monster face with eyes on a piece of cardboard and glue it to a stick. A (presumably bewildered) stage hand would then be asked to menace the actors when they\u2019d roll film.<\/em><\/p>\n

EG:<\/strong> The monster-on-a-stick is indeed a classic! Unfortunately, we couldn\u2019t afford the stick\u2026<\/p>\n

JP:<\/strong> So, we should probably introduce the main cast and crew of PRESS START<\/strong> to our readers. From what I can tell based on the prior Dark Maze\/Mobled Queen<\/strong> productions that I\u2019ve seen, you work with a unique group that hasn\u2019t\u00a0really mingled with other movie teams from the area.<\/em><\/p>\n

EG:<\/strong> I think our group is a unique one in great part because of the demands of this kind of low-budget movie-making. Over my past few films, I\u2019ve formed sort of a core group with the interest, availability, talent, and endurance to do this kind of thing. That being said, there are a lot of \u201cnew\u201d faces in PRESS START<\/strong>. That\u2019s actually been one of the really exciting things about this movie \u2013 working with a fantastic new bunch of people.<\/p>\n

Joshua Stafford<\/strong> plays \u201cZack,\u201d and I actually worked with him about six years ago on another comedy\/parody project. He\u2019s brilliantly funny and a very talented martial artist, which were key assets for the role. Plus, he\u2019s a huge videogame fan, so there was truly no one better suited. Martial Arts ability was important for all the main heroes. That played a big part in casting Lauren Chambers<\/strong> as \u201cSam\u201d and Al Morrison<\/strong> as \u201cLin-Ku\u201d [who\u2019ve] also done a fantastic job.<\/p>\n

\"Lauren<\/p>\n

Our villain, \u201cCount Nefarious Vile,\u201d is played by the hilarious Peter Davis<\/strong>, a theatre professor at the University of Illinois<\/strong> who has done a great deal of professional acting on stage. In fact, he recently worked with Steppenwolf<\/strong> in Chicago, the theatre company co-founded by Gary Sinise<\/strong>. Peter is a brilliant actor and I was extremely fortunate to have him in PRESS START<\/strong>. I had the chance to direct him a couple of times on stage when I was a theater student, but those were much smaller, shorter projects.<\/p>\n

Of course, writer Kevin Folliard and production designer Meagan Benz<\/strong> are familiar names to anyone who has seen my previous movies as are actors Andy Dallas<\/strong> and Ben McDuffee<\/strong>, both of whom have roles in PRESS START<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

JP:<\/strong> It\u2019s always a boon, I\u2019d imagine, when you can count on a repertory company to be behind you on film projects. You also have a good sense for creative casting in key and minor roles, such as having professional magician Dallas play an evil mentalist in the DEAD BY DAWN<\/strong> duo and horror merchandise queen Jill Van Voorst<\/strong> play a cop in NIGHT OF ANUBIS<\/strong>.<\/em><\/p>\n

This time, you\u2019ve one-upped the concept of \u201ccameo\u201d to an amusing degree. Producers of direct-to-video movies are usually hard-pressed to hire B- and C-level actors for minimal roles so they have an excuse to put their (known) name and (semi) recognizable face on the video box art. PRESS START<\/strong> features a bunch of cameos by people who are better known for being heard rather than seen, or being seen in a highly digitized disguise. I guess that\u2019s the blessing and\/or curse of working in the videogame industry, huh?<\/em><\/p>\n

EG:<\/strong> That may be true to some degree, though probably no more so than voice acting for cartoons. But, yes, I was very fortunate to get a number of videogame guest stars involved in PRESS START<\/strong>. We have Daniel<\/strong> and Carlos Pesina<\/strong>, who played \u201cJohnny Cage\/Scorpion\/Sub-Zero\u201d and \u201cRaiden,\u201d respectively, in the original Mortal Kombat<\/u><\/strong> games. In fact, they were pretty much the pioneers for digitizing real actors in videogames. It\u2019s still a bit surreal for me that they\u2019re in PRESS START<\/strong>; MK<\/u><\/strong> has always been one of my favorites and I never expected I\u2019d actually be working with anyone involved, particularly the people who played my favorite characters!<\/p>\n

Voicing the talking tree in the movie is Arin Hanson<\/strong>, who was the voice of \u201cBruce Banner\u201d In Marvel Ultimate Alliance<\/u><\/strong>. He\u2019s also a well-known videogame satirist himself. He\u2019s created a number of animated parodies of games for MTV<\/strong>\u2019s THE HOLE<\/strong>. Not only does he voice the tree in PRESS START<\/strong>, but he also did several characters for our animated Web cartoon series, PRESS START: BONUS LEVELS<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

In fact, we\u2019ve had several videogame guest stars in the BONUS LEVELS<\/strong> \u2018toons, which has been a real thrill: John Turk<\/strong>, who played \u201cSub-Zero\u201d in Mortal Kombat 3<\/u><\/strong> and MK Mythologies<\/u><\/strong>; David Humphrey<\/strong>, who was the original voice of \u201cShadow the Hedgehog\u201d in Sonic Adventure 2<\/u><\/strong> and Sonic Heroes<\/u><\/strong>; and Robert Belgrade<\/strong>, who was the voice of \u201cAlucard\u201d in Castlevania: Symphony of the Night<\/u><\/strong>. What\u2019s really exciting is that they\u2019ve all had a lot of fun doing it!<\/p>\n

Having all these actual videogame actors involved, who have been doing this just for the fun of it, really speaks volumes about the project, I think. Despite its miniscule budget, this isn\u2019t just some haphazardly-made fan movie. It\u2019s something truly unique and exciting.<\/p>\n

\"Josh<\/p>\n

JP:<\/strong> Part of that uniqueness is due to the BONUS LEVELS<\/strong> cartoons you just mentioned, a creative meld of movie promotion and original entertainment that presumably doesn\u2019t rehash events from the live-action version. You\u2019ve been posting these on-line for some time now; how were you able to turn out such a prolific amount of animation in short order?<\/em><\/p>\n

EG:<\/strong> The short answer is that it was a combination of \u201cdivision of labor\u201d and \u201ccut and paste.\u201d We took a very Filmation<\/strong>-esque approach to the BONUS LEVELS<\/strong> cartoons, steadily building up a library of stock art and animation that could be reused in multiple episodes. [Filmation is best known for its early Eighties television series, including HE-MAN<\/strong>, SHE-RA<\/strong>, and FLASH GORDON<\/strong>.<\/em> \u2013 ed.] Kevin\u2019s drawing style was intentionally simplistic to make the process as fast as possible, since we had a schedule for releasing them.<\/p>\n

We knew we couldn\u2019t have the snazziest looking cartoons on the \u2018net \u2013 and indeed, Kevin was teaching himself Flash as he went \u2013 so we had to excel in other areas. Kevin\u2019s scripts were fantastic, and I can truly say that we have hands-down some of the best voice acting of any Flash cartoon or series.<\/p>\n

Doing cartoons was completely new for us, but I was keen on approaching BONUS LEVELS<\/strong> as seriously as any other production. Kevin would write the episodes, we\u2019d revise the scripts, and then I\u2019d gather and\/or hire the voice talent and direct the recording sessions. Then, I\u2019d create the sound mix and send it off to Kevin to animate [in Chicago]. Kevin would send me the rough cuts, I\u2019d make notes, and we\u2019d keep tweaking until it was all set.<\/p>\n

I say that Kevin\u2019s artwork is simplistic, but it\u2019s also very quirky and I think that\u2019s what makes it work so well. The \u201ccheapness\u201d of the animation probably prepares people for the low-budget-ness of the live-action movie!<\/p>\n

JP:<\/strong> I\u2019d describe the animation quality with the more forgiving phrase, \u201crough around the edges,\u201d since to me they play like \u201cFractured Fairy Tales\u201d versions of the games on the early home systems like Atari 2600<\/strong>, Intellivision<\/strong>, and ColecoVision<\/strong>.<\/em><\/p>\n

EG:<\/strong> Absolutely! And by simplistic, I certainly don\u2019t mean \u201ccrude\u201d or \u201cchildish.\u201d But rather, when it came down to a choice between adding lots of detail and actually getting everything done in time, it had to be the latter.<\/p>\n

JP:<\/strong> Before moving on, we can\u2019t forget to mention one additional contributor \u2013 Jake Kaufman<\/strong>! His rousing score adds an epic sweep to PRESS START<\/strong> that many indie filmmakers would die for. Tell us what it was like working long-distance with a musician that made the leap from videogames to movies on your project.<\/em><\/p>\n

EG:<\/strong> Jake is phenomenal. Working with him was a breeze, actually, because we were on the same page the whole time. Thanks to some modern Internet marvels, the distance was never really an issue. We went over a rough cut of the movie via Skype<\/strong>, one of those on-line voice-chat programs, using a video of the movie instead of a Webcam. That\u2019s how we plotted out all the music cues. It was a blast because we\u2019d often have the same ideas, or I\u2019d suggest something and he\u2019d try it out with his keyboard that was hooked up to the computer. It felt very high-tech. We\u2019d keep each other posted via e-mail, instant messages, or Skype.<\/p>\n

Jake was the perfect choice for scoring PRESS START<\/strong>. He\u2019s a brilliant and versatile game composer with a great sense of humor. I became a huge fan of his after hearing his really clever remixes of existing game music, and I was floored by his original work. In fact, Contra 4<\/u><\/strong> is worth checking out for his music alone. You\u2019d never know Jake hadn\u2019t done a film score before because he just nailed it from the get-go.<\/p>\n

\"Peter<\/p>\n

JP:<\/strong> Jake recently visited C-U for the first time when Dark Maze double-premiered PRESS START<\/strong> with a DVD release in September and a big-screen event at Champaign\u2019s Virginia Theatre<\/strong> in October. What has been the general consensus so far, and what kind of exposure are you hoping to give the movie in the coming months?<\/em><\/p>\n

EG:<\/strong> The response has been amazing. The reviews have all been extremely positive, and even the people who bought [PRESS START<\/strong>] expecting it to be bad changed their minds after watching it. It\u2019s been very rewarding.<\/p>\n

We\u2019ll continue to screen PRESS START<\/strong> at as many venues as we can, particularly gaming conventions. In fact, we\u2019ll be showing it at MAGFest<\/strong> (Music and Gaming Festival) in Virginia in January. In the meantime, more BONUS LEVELS<\/strong> cartoons are coming!<\/p>\n

JP:<\/strong> Sounds like a plan. Now, if I remember correctly, you folks originally had a horror story in mind for your first feature-length project before you settled upon PRESS START<\/strong>. What became of that?<\/em><\/p>\n

EG:<\/strong> It was basically a priorities thing. The horror flick sort of got moved to the back burner once I discovered that PRESS START<\/strong> was finally doable. Plus, the horror movie wasn\u2019t particularly feasible at the time. If it helps bridge the gap, though, PRESS START<\/strong> does have a few zombies!<\/p>\n

JP:<\/strong> Didn\u2019t NIGHT OF ANUBIS<\/strong> have a bit of non-mummy, living dead action as well? I remember Jill getting swarmed by \u2026<\/em> something \u2026 while the main characters escaped\u2026<\/em><\/p>\n

EG:<\/strong> Yep! That was my first attempt at a NIGHT OF THE LIVING DEAD<\/strong>-style zombie battle. The ones in PRESS START<\/strong> are much more cartoonish, though.<\/p>\n

JP:<\/strong> Maybe it was a canny decision on your part to go with a project that had much less of a filmic legacy preceding it, which hopefully will call more attention to it. Besides, we\u2019ve had enough zombies shuffling around here lately. Bloomington<\/strong> had its LATE AFTERNOON OF THE LIVING DEAD<\/strong>, Taylorville<\/strong> weathered a ZOMBIE MOVIE<\/strong>, and townies in the C-U \u201cscene\u201d have been working on an underground monster mash called DUCKMAN VS. ZOMBIE<\/strong>. Even THE TRANSIENT<\/strong> features a \u201ctracker zombie\u201d named \u201cSpot.\u201d<\/em> Eek!<\/p>\n

EG:<\/strong> That has a lot to do with it and it\u2019s another reason I\u2019ve gone away from the genre. It\u2019s virtually impossible to make a low-budget horror movie that stands out these days; rental stores are flooded with awful direct-to-video horror titles. I may come back to it once I have something original to say.<\/p>\n

\"Ben<\/p>\n

JP:<\/strong> Dark Maze has now produced a bunch of projects in relatively short order: PRESS START<\/strong>, NIGHT OF ANUBIS<\/strong>, the \u201cMarathon of Fright<\/strong>\u201d with DEAD BY DAWN 1<\/strong> & 2<\/strong>, and some prior short films. How far do you think your micro-studio has come since you started, and what do you think the future holds for it?<\/em><\/p>\n

EG:<\/strong> I can truly say, all modesty aside, that we now have a better camera.<\/p>\n

Seriously, though, it\u2019s come a long way. Each movie has been a big learning experience. I\u2019m not sure if there\u2019s really a good way to quantify our progress, but I think it says something when a few years ago, no one knew about us and now thousands of people are watching our cartoons and on-line message boards have topics about PRESS START<\/strong>. We\u2019re certainly not in \u201cthe big time\u201d yet, of course, but I think that PRESS START<\/strong> is by far my most exciting project to date and I\u2019d like to do much more with it if there\u2019s enough interest.<\/p>\n

JP:<\/strong> At the least, you will probably have a bottomless well of funny titles to choose from for sequels: PRESS START AGAIN, PRESS START XIII: GAME OVER, PRESS START XX: ZIPPY\u2019S REVENGE\u2026<\/em><\/p>\n

How did you get interested in filmmaking and what keeps you going, even on the proverbial micro-budget?<\/em><\/p>\n

EG:<\/strong> I think my interest started with MYSTERY SCIENCE THEATER 3000<\/strong>. I\u2019d watch all the terrible movies on that show and think, \u201cGeez, I could make better movies than that<\/em>.\u201d So, I picked up a video camera and gave it a shot. I fell in love with movie-making and just kept at it. It doesn\u2019t earn me a living but I\u2019m doing everything I can to change that.<\/p>\n

JP:<\/strong> Casual surfers of the Dark Maze Web site might wonder, then, what exactly the original CABINET OF DR. CALIGARI<\/strong> and ROBOT VS. THE AZTEC MUMMY<\/strong> are doing there. While the latter certainly has a dubious reputation as one of the cheaply dubbed Mexican programmers from the late Fifties, the former has a long-standing status as an early classic from German Expressionist cinema. You probably aren\u2019t pulling an MST3K<\/strong> on them nor are you a public domain label, which means\u2026<\/em><\/p>\n

EG:<\/strong> Well, THE CABINET OF DR. CALIGARI<\/strong> was part of the \u201cMarathon of Fright\u201d event\/DVD we did a few years back. It\u2019s a re-scored version that I put together with Steve \u201cAcrylic Flames\u201d Wentzel<\/strong>, who has done the music for a few of my movies. It\u2019s an industrial soundtrack which I feel evokes a lot of the same emotions as the movie\u2019s visuals and compliments the film really well. CALIGARI<\/strong> is one of my favorite films, so it was a fun project to do.<\/p>\n

ROBOT VS. THE AZTEC MUMMY<\/strong> was actually created as an episode of a local television show called THE NOCTURNAL JOURNAL<\/strong>, a sort of \u201cCreature Features\u201d show like Elvira<\/strong> or Svengoolie<\/strong> but, in this case, featuring a comedy trio [called] The Captain, Willy, and Chester<\/strong>. It\u2019s not quite MST3K<\/strong>, but the movie breaks regularly for reactions and skits from the three poor souls subjected to it. AZTEC MUMMY<\/strong> premiered at the second \u201cMarathon of Fright\u201d in 2005 and never quite found its way to DVD. I\u2019ll probably be finishing that up shortly.<\/p>\n

JP:<\/strong> I remember going to the 2004 \u201cMarathon of Fright\u201d when you premiered DEAD BY DAWN 2<\/strong> which, of course, references THE CABINET OF DR. CALIGARI<\/strong> in its storyline and the more contemporary EVIL DEAD 2<\/strong> in its title.<\/em> [DEAD BY DAWN<\/strong> was ED2<\/strong>\u2019s original subtitle when it was first released in 1987. \u2013 ed.] I liked how MoF echoed the lost tradition of the \u201cmonster show,\u201d where theaters would show double- or triple-bills of monster movies with cartoons and have real live people shambling about in costume.<\/em><\/p>\n

EG:<\/strong> I\u2019m fascinated by people like Sandy Frank<\/strong>, Joseph Levine<\/strong>, K. Gordon Murray<\/strong>, and all those folks who brought over foreign monster movies in the Fifties and Sixties. Even though it was before my time, I lament the loss of the way monster\/horror movies were made and presented back then. That\u2019s part of why I wanted to do a \u201cmonster show\u201d thing with the DEAD BY DAWN<\/strong> movies.<\/p>\n

\"Andy<\/p>\n

JP:<\/strong> Although you guys didn\u2019t break out a Dracula or Frankenstein\u2019s monster, you at least had Andy Dallas in devious \u201cDr. Krauss\u201d mode doing magic tricks which was still cool. Maybe that\u2019s one thing we should talk about \u2013 your working relationship with Dallas. What does he bring to the Dark Maze table?<\/em><\/p>\n

EG:<\/strong> Andy brings a great deal, actually. In addition to his acting and performing talents, he has frequently lent us his skills as a special make-up effects artist, assistance with set construction, and general business-savvy advice. He\u2019s even used his talent as a magician to make a number of practical effects possible. Moreover, he graciously allowed us to use warehouse space at Dallas & Company<\/a><\/strong> to film key scenes in several of my movies. He\u2019s been immensely generous and genuinely enjoys being a part of all this, which is a real thrill. Without him my last several films, including PRESS START<\/strong>, would not have been possible. I can\u2019t thank him enough.<\/p>\n

JP:<\/strong> Dallas is an interesting presence in local movies precisely because you don\u2019t see him often in front of the camera. His poise gave some needed heft to the deviousness going on in the DEAD BY DAWN<\/strong> duo. You should seriously work up a project that places his interests in illusion and magic in the forefront and takes advantage of his innumerable props. Is it any mystery as to why he plays \u201cthe Shopkeeper\u201d in PRESS START<\/strong>?<\/em><\/p>\n

Since we\u2019re back on the subject of technique, let\u2019s talk a bit more regarding the tools of your low-budget trade. I\u2019d like to learn about the basic equipment that your team used for the production and post-production of PRESS START<\/strong>. You haven\u2019t mentioned \u201cthe workplace\u201d as of yet, so I\u2019m presuming that the \u201cstudio\u201d component of Dark Maze Studios is completely established on the side.<\/em><\/p>\n

EG:<\/strong> Well, the \u201cstudio\u201d \u2013 at least, for post-production \u2013 is a 10-by-10 room in my apartment where I\u2019ve crammed in a computer, studio monitor, microphone, mixer, production libraries, reference books, and much more than should really fit. However, thanks to the miracle of digital filmmaking, it\u2019s not completely impossible. No towers of film cans, Movieola, tape decks, enormous mixers, or anything like that. It\u2019s where I did all the editing, dubbing, and Foley work, plus all the recording for the BONUS LEVELS<\/strong> cartoons.<\/p>\n

On the set, which was anything from Allerton Park<\/strong> [near Monticello<\/strong>] to a garage or warehouse with a set made of 8-by-4 Styrofoam walls, I used a Panasonic<\/strong> three-chip digital video camera, tripod or cheap rigged \u201csteady-cam,\u201d and a few cheap work lights with gels taped to them. It really doesn\u2019t get any less fancy.<\/p>\n

JP:<\/strong> The producers\u2019 commentary track on the PRESS START<\/strong> DVD reveals a lot of the tricks that were necessary to make a shot happen, particularly in dealing with tight spaces or open areas with undesirable elements (houses, parking lots, etc.) lurking just out of camera view. I thought the funniest example had to do with the tent dialogue scenes, apparently the first ones shot for the movie\u2026<\/em><\/p>\n

EG:<\/strong> Yeah, those were all done in my apartment. It was winter, so there was no way it was going to be shot outdoors around a campfire as originally scripted. So, we pitched a tent in my living room and lit the scene by waving a light behind an orange gel to give the impression of a campfire. Many of those shots are framed so that if you moved the camera just a few degrees, you\u2019d see my television set, sofa, and DVD collection. However, by adding some outdoor ambience and the crackle of the fire to the sound mix, you\u2019d never know!<\/p>\n

JP:<\/strong> The footage looks pretty good, no matter how spare the tools you used. Given the \u201ccomputer culture\u201d basis behind PRESS START<\/strong>, did you ever pause for a moment during production and wonder how in the world you were going to pull off this movie using blood, sweat, and duct tape?<\/em><\/p>\n

EG:<\/strong> I think you just described virtually every moment of every day making the movie. I\u2019m not sure there was a single aspect of it that wasn\u2019t almost completely daunting. Everything from costumes and props to locations, music, and visual effects were a matter of, \u201cHow on earth are we going to do<\/em> this?\u201d The answer was that I was fortunate enough to have an absurdly dedicated group of people who shared my vision and were determined to make it work no matter the odds.<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

F I V E & O U T
\n<\/strong>Tell us, Smilin\u2019 Ed:<\/p>\n

\u2022 What you\u2019ve made:<\/p>\n

\n

HUNTED<\/strong> (2002)
\nA 20-minute horror short loosely inspired by Edgar Allan Poe<\/strong>\u2019s \u201cThe Tell-Tale Heart<\/strong>.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n

DEAD BY DAWN<\/strong> (2004)
\nAn admittedly poorly-done update of THE CABINET OF DR. CALIGARI<\/strong>. However, it was made with a lot of heart and a wonderfully evil performance by Andy Dallas.<\/em><\/p>\n

DEAD BY DAWN 2<\/strong> (2004)
\nAn exponentially better sequel to the above, featuring an even more wonderfully evil performance by Andy Dallas.<\/em><\/p>\n

THE CABINET OF DR. CALIGARI<\/strong> (2004)
\nNot my own film, of course, but a rescored version of the 1919 classic featuring a new industrial score.<\/em><\/p>\n

NIGHT OF ANUBIS<\/strong> (2005)
\nA Roger Corman<\/strong>-esque mummy adventure movie set on a university campus.<\/em><\/p>\n

THE NOCTURNAL JOURNAL: ROBOT VS. THE AZTEC MUMMY<\/strong> (2005)
\nComedy trio The Captain, Willy, and Chester host the cheesy 1959 Mexi-horror \u201cclassic.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n

PRESS START<\/strong> (2007)
\nMy first feature film, a videogame parody.<\/em><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

\u2022 Which do you like best \u2013 film, video, or digital:<\/p>\n

\n

High-definition video; it\u2019s wonderfully cheap and the quality is phenomenal these days. Even though I\u2019m still working in standard definition\u2026<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

\u2022 Where is your geographical preference \u2013Champaign, Urbana, the UIUC campus, or beyond city limits:<\/p>\n

\n

For outdoor stuff, usually beyond city limits (e.g., Allerton Park) or campus (e.g., Japan House<\/strong>). There\u2019s regrettably not a lot of really exciting architecture in Champaign-Urbana. Indoors is really whatever the script calls for, but for building sets from scratch I can\u2019t beat the Dallas & Company warehouse in Champaign or a good garage\u2026<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

\u2022 Who or what interests you in the realm of contemporary filmmaking:<\/p>\n

\n

Robert Rodriguez<\/strong> (SIN CITY<\/strong>, GRINDHOUSE<\/strong>), for taking Roger Corman\u2019s budget-conscious approach to filmmaking and making it an asset rather than a hindrance. And, because his films rock.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

\u2022 Apart from your own movies, the one underappreciated gem that you think people should bend over backwards to check out is:<\/p>\n

\n

GODZILLA: FINAL WARS<\/strong>. Currently the last in the Godzilla franchise, it is perhaps the greatest action movie ever made. There\u2019s not just giant monsters duking it out better than in any previous film, but also Kung-Fu fighting, Kung-Fu fighting on motorcycles<\/em>, space battles, great characters, and Ultimate Fighting contestant Don Frye<\/strong> in a role that could make Arnold Schwarzenegger<\/strong> or Sylvester Stallone<\/strong> jealous.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

Interview conducted August-December 2007 via e-mail.<\/em><\/p>\n

All photos courtesy of<\/em>
\nEd Glaser\/Dark Maze Studios.<\/em><\/p>\n

Web Source: Dark Maze Studios<\/em> [http:\/\/www.darkmaze.com\/<\/a>]<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"PRESS<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

CUBlog Interview No.5 \u00a9 2007 Jason Pankoke<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

Back to the fore, McDuffee\u2026<\/a><\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

Visit the Interview Index<\/a><\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

Return to Home Page<\/a><\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Interview with the director of PRESS START and numerous other Dark Maze Studios films.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[21],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-239","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-qa-du-c-u"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.micro-film-magazine.com\/cublog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/239","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.micro-film-magazine.com\/cublog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.micro-film-magazine.com\/cublog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.micro-film-magazine.com\/cublog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.micro-film-magazine.com\/cublog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=239"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.micro-film-magazine.com\/cublog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/239\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.micro-film-magazine.com\/cublog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=239"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.micro-film-magazine.com\/cublog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=239"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.micro-film-magazine.com\/cublog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=239"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}