Bombdotcom Productions

Mark Andrus, Jon Fairbanks, and I wrote Terror Drives a Van on the set of Hopscotch Hotshots in 2004, with the intent to shoot it in 2004, in time for Halloween of that year. When we missed that deadline, we said to ourselves "2005, then." But 2005 didn't happen. Nor did 2006. Then, toward the end of September, Enoch told me that we could totally do it this year. Initially, I laughed and said "No, we don't..."

"Yeah, we could totally do it this year."

When something's been gestating as long as three years, it begins to feel like a pipe dream, like that awesome themed party you were totally going to throw in your junior year of high school that still flashes across your mind in your twenties. Hell, it would be a good excuse to invite Sarah Wilson... née Smith, now. Suitably, then, when the camera was rolling and I had my face covered in white makeup, it was something of a surreal experience.

The shoot was even more rushed than we'd intended. The part of the werewolf was written for Patrick Svensson. While out location scouting for the project, Patrick got a call that his wedding date had moved up... and now conflicted with our shooting date. That Sunday, he'd be moving to New York. So, in turn, we pushed up our shoot date by a day.

Thus, on the eve of Patrick's wedding day, we got dressed up like a vampire and a werewolf and commenced a ten-hour shoot. In the rain.

Utah's funny like this. As we get into Autumn, the days are nice, cool, and sunny. It truly makes for some of the best weather we get during the year. But that's only during the weekdays. I wish I were exaggerating, but I've observed the pattern this year: the only bad weather comes on weekends. As Enoch and I drove down to Provo, we saw the clouds coming in over the mountains. It was going to rain. And most of our shoot was to be, by necessity, outdoors.

But we made do. I wish I had a picture to post of Enoch sharing a wildly flapping poncho with the camera, sitting uncomfortably in the back of Andy Whittaker's truck as we drove down University Avenue.

I am not an acting powerhouse, but it was concluded that I pretty much had to play the vampire: it was part of the original plan, and I more or less had the look for it. So, I was trying to direct and act at the same time, a challenge that I managed, but not one I'm inclined to tackle again. Midway through the evening, I had a dreadful realization: I was losing my voice. It was the beginning of a week-long illness, with queasy digestion, miserable fever, and pounding headaches. By the end of the night (3:00 a.m.), it had crested. We shot the last bit of my dialogue mere minutes before my voice was nothing but a hoarse whisper.

Most fortunately, for the very last bit of the night--some of the most complicated shooting we've ever had to do--the rain let up right before we arrived on location. Even more fortunately, the second shoot the following week was completely rainless, abating a few hours before we shot.

The title of this post is a misnomer, though. Despite the rain, the disease, the tiredness, and the minor drama that has tactfully been omitted from my account, we actually had a pretty good time. And it doesn't really matter whether or not we had a good time, anyway. What matters is whether or not we got what we needed to get. Which we did. Expect to see a completed Terror Drives a Van before too long.

Labels: Terror Drives a Van

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Addendum

Posted on November 22, 2007 by John D. Moore

Obviously we missed Halloween for the release of Terror Drives a Van. The film is currently held up in post-production. We expect it'll be done by the end of the year. Just in time for the spoooooooooky New Year.

Labels: Terror Drives a Van

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This Halloween, Beware

Posted on October 17, 2007 by John D. Moore

Be careful out there on the roads this October the 31st, because this year...

Patrick Svensson as a werewolf; yours truly as a vampire; a host of others play their prey. Post-production began in earnest today.

Labels: Terror Drives a Van

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Production Wrapped

Posted on October 14, 2007 by John D. Moore

Last night, we finished principal photography for our Halloween horror-comedy short, Terror Drives a Van, which was originally written over three years ago during the shooting of Hopscotch Hotshots. We have a large cast in this one, calling on a large number of our regular actors. Gashler Media again lent us production equipment, which enabled us to actually make our night shooting work.

Labels: Terror Drives a Van

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Brand New Game

Posted on October 12, 2007 by John D. Moore

Greetings, poetry lovers! If you've been here before, you're probably noticing how different it is (unless you're now on a subsequent visit after the relaunch). If you haven't been here before, you're probably noticing something else entirely. What that is, I cannot say.

At any rate, the website has been completely reformatted and retooled. News posts are now going to chronicle development of projects, not just the all-too-infrequent release announcements of new movies. This is also going to be a team blog, so other members of the Bombdotcom Productions staff can more easily contribute content.

So, beyond the cosmetic, what's new around here? First off, we've uploaded all of our work onto a YouTube channel, the videos from which can be seen on the individual film pages. Downloads for most movies are still available, but the modes of media distribution on the Internet have changed since we initially started making movies three years ago. Please do feel free to rate and comment on the videos on their YouTube pages.

Additionally, a new animated film, The Frog Prince was completed and released a couple months ago. That's now here.

Currently, we have three projects in production and post-production. Stills are available for The Interconnection of Mr. Daily, a Joseph Schlegel-penned project that should see release by the end of the month, and The Importance of Tolerance, with some more news related to the latter available on my personal blog. There's also some tantalizing plot details regarding our three-years-in-development Halloween film, Terror Drives a Van.

Over the next few months, I'm going to figure out a way to get online some of the additional content that was produced for all of our 2004 productions, including commentary tracks. Stay tuned.

We've been dead for a while. But now we're moving forward and not looking back. Isn't that nice and inspirational?

Labels: Terror Drives a Van, The Importance of Tolerance, The Interconnection of Mr. Daily, Website

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