Down to the wire  for our SIFF deadline!  Can we do it?   We don’t even know.   It’s going to be a photo-finish, so we’re crossing our fingers.   Keep the positive vibes coming.

Thanks to the quick work of Steve Quimby of www.bentpennies.com and Arthur Grant of www.livingpaintstudios.com, the Visual Effects are wrapping up on time!   The Visual Effects are a major part of finishing TBOZ, so we thank Steve and Arthur for their hard work.  Still on track to World Premier at SIFF!

We have submitted TBOZ to SIFF!  Now we’re just jamming on the sound and the last visual effects of the film so that we can make our SIFF deadline.  If SIFF accepts us, then the World Premier of TBOZ would be at SIFF!  How cool is that?  We’ll keep you updated as we wrap up the final stages of this beast!

Oh how it’s been years since we started this project….and yet…we’re still not done. Now I know you’re saying, “Dude, you said you’d be done by Halloween” well you’re right, we did in fact say that, no lie in that– and we had our hearts set on really doing that, alas it was not to be. What’s new right? Well here’s the simple fact of the matter, if we all didn’t have full time jobs, kids, newborns, and so on (we’ve had at least TWO production babies on this project), we’d have been done a year ago and would be touring this film with all sorts of film fests and screenings, how exciting!

So here’s where we stand as of today. The film is fully edited, most of the special effect digital shots are complete, I believe there are a few shots that have yet to be completed. Which raises this point, if you’re an After Effects wizard, we’d love to put you to work, for free naturally. Just send us an email through our contact page and we can fill you in on the rest. The score is also coming along nicely, although we’re still trying to figure out the best place to squeeze in a theremin, it’ll happen, but I’m not saying where yet. The rest of the audio work for the film is the last sticking point we have yet to conquer. We’ve got very capable hands on the project, but those capable hands are going to be touring Eastern block European countries for the holidays and therefore unable to make any real headway on the film until 2010. Sooooo add all of this together and looking to my magic 8 ball I say we’ll be done in time for Summer, maybe sooner, March at the earliest….again we’ll see. But seriously, if I’m writing this same note to you in a year, something horribly HORRIBLY went wrong along the way. Therefore, barring the Mayan calendar coming to an end early and a cataclysmic fiery finish to the world as we know it, the next update I write to you will be giving details saying we’re done….or something really really REALLY close.

Meanwhile, if you’re really hungry to see something new, might I suggest you google search for our Director of Photograpy, Dave R Preston, check out his blog for an extra zombie treat….you just might find the completed opening credits to our film.

Have a great Thanksgiving, and now I’m off to eat a dead beast!

Dang…I hate to write this, but sadly it looks as though TBOZ will have to pull from the Washington Grown film festival. Major bummer here at zombie HQ these days, we had hope, potential, a wing and a prayer. Looks like it just isn’t going to happen…yet. We may still have some footage we’re ready to share with the world instead, but the actual film just won’t be at a ready state. More details as events warrant…..stay tuned.

I know I know, we’ve been telling you for months…no wait…YEARS  that we’re close to putting this beast in the can and releasing our little zombie child into the world, hopefully to rave reviews and praise…as opposed to a viking funeral. But this time I mean it, we really are close. Pretty much all of our film reels are locked, again meaning that there will no more editing done on the film, that’s a huge step for us. Right now several video wizards from around the globe are lending their talents to polishing some of our special effects and making sure everything looks extra cool. Audio designers are slaving away to polish and add the all important sound effects and re-record some of our actors lines. Our composer is furiously scoring away to create the perfect atmosphere for the film. It’s almost time to start planning our world premiere….We’re currently slated to have a soft premiere in October with the Washington Grown film festival at the Grand Illusion theatre in Seattle. Good lord willing and the creek don’t rise, this could actually happen……we hope! Stay tuned for more!

A few short weeks ago we here at TBOZ headquarters started a little poster contest. The concept was simple, we supplied a little inspiration with pictures from our gallery and a movie trailer and gave the artists of the world carte blanche to create a poster for our little film. All said and done we wound up with 19 entries from all across North America. Our eyes popped out our sockets when we realized what some of you came up with. Amazing. We knew voting was going to be tough, furious, and passionate. Kind of how i like my women….er….something. Anyway, it all boils down to this, two winners; a public choice and a producer’s choice. But the fun doesn’t stop there. Because it was so damn tough to choose, we’re going to try and include all of the artists artwork on our DVD whenever that gets released. And, because movies often have more than one poster, who knows, as money allows perhaps there will be other printings….Seriously, that’s how much we loved everything that was sent in. A big thanks to all who submitted their art and gave this a whirl. So then who are the winners? Well it breaks down like this. 

The Popular Vote Winner comes to us from Dario Vavassori of Seattle WA:

Dario Vavassori

The Producer’s Choice winner comes to us from Jacob Bridger of Vancouver BC:

Jacob Bridger

If you’d like to view all the entries again you can do that by clicking on this link. And again, a huge thanks to all of you who poured your time, blood, sweat, and souls into the art for this project. To you, we are greatly in debt.

So a few weeks back we began a contest to create the most kick ass artwork for our little film. Specifically we were looking for art for our official poster. And let me tell you…you guys and girls have blown our minds on a handful of your entries. So, now it’s time to vote on which poster will be the fan favorite of the bunch. Remember at the end of the contest there will be two winners, a fan favorite and the producers’ favorite. But, at this rate we may have a number of runners up….to that end, perhaps the art makes it onto the DVD? we just don’t know yet. 

So here’s the deal on voting:

•  The poll will be open for 8 days, including today Tuesday the 12th. 
• Make sure you get all your friends to vote for you. (advertising your entry is encouraged)
• To vote you’ll want to go to this link 
• That translates into http://www.thebookofzombie.com/voting.php

Regardless of how this all shakes out, congratulations to all the artists who’ve submitted their work. You guys are all amazing. We can’t thank you enough for putting in your time and effort to this contest. It’s fans like you that keep us going!

So, with the upcoming release of our little film. We here at TBOZ central thought it might be cool to make a movie poster. And, we thought it might be even cooler if we got a fan to design the thing. So that’s exactly what we’re doing! We want to see what you, the zombie fans, are capable of creating about The Book of Zombie. It’s a creative carte blanche if you will. Impress us, wow us, make us laugh. It’s totally up to you! But we want to see what you’ve got.

Here’s what you need to know:

1)All Submissions must be received by May 5th 2009

2)All entries become property of The Book of Zombie (DMZ Entertainment)upon entry. However, the poster entry may be used in the artist’s portfolio.

3)You must own or have permission to use all images and materials included in your poster.

4)The film’s title “The Book of Zombie” must be included in the artwork.

5)Size must be: 27” width x 40” Length. Minimum 300 dpi/ppi. CMYK color.

We also suggest you add a tagline as well. for example:

• A New Testament of Zombie Horror
• The Congregation is Hungry
• Human Donations Are Welcome
• All Hell Just Broke Loose
• They Want To Eat You For Your Sins
• Zombies: Missionary Style

We also encourage you to look at the still shots in our gallery and watch the trailer for inspiration regarding the look of the film. You have our permission to use those images in your creation.

Once You’ve got your poster done go to this link to submit your entry.

or go to: http://www.thebookofzombie.com/poster/

Voting will take place in early May via the website. At the end of voting on May 19th there will be two winners, The Producer’s Favorite and the Fan’s favorite. From there we go to press with one of them….We hope. So get out your paintbrushes and charcoal pencils and get to work already! GO!

Greetings from the undead! Just a quick update on where your favorite zombie film stands…or as the case may have it, happens to be lumbering….Reel #3 of 7 is now officially locked, again, meaning there will no longer be any further video edits made, (that is until someone decides to re-cut this beast in 20 years for an extra ridiculous DVD release just to make extra money, NO I’M NOT BITTER ABOUT THAT!). Just a few more of these suckers to go and we’ve got ourselves a pretty slick and sick little flick on our hands. I can almost smell the charred flesh and brains now!

Post production audio is also coming along nicely. Our man Zoltan is slaving away night and day to come up with some of the most disgusting, stomach turning sounds you’ve ever heard. And, get this, some of our audio post production will be performed in Mumbai India. Not only are we local zombies, we’re now international baby!

More exciting than being international, We’ll officially be finished shooting everything we need for the film in a few weeks. We’re planning to shoot a bunch of special effects, things exploding, arrows flying, bullet head shots, you name it…we’re doing it. Now, I know what you’re saying “Dude, I thought you guys finished shooting everything two years ago, what gives?” Well you’re sort of right, we did, but we also discovered that some things would look even better if we re-created and re-shot some of our gore, thumbs into eyeballs and what not, you’ll just have to wait and see. It will be tasty!

In other news, one of our video wizards and men of many talents, Dave, is currently putting together our very special intro and credit sequence, think amazing animation. In fact, here’s a tiny sneak peek at one of the preliminary shots.  By no means is this anywhere near finished, but it’ll look totally awesome by the time he’s done!

Finally, I also know you’re wondering “Dude, when the hell is this thing going to be done?” Short answer, mark your calendar for June 5th. We’re hoping to screen this thing at this year’s Crypticon Seattle!  Now, some of us here at Zombie Central are calling this a “test screening.” Personally, I’d like to believe it’ll be a finished product. Time will tell.

So, how’s that for an update? That’s a lot to wade through….I know. It was worth it though right? I thought so!

Stay tuned and stay undead for more updates soon!