New Music Video and More to Come!?

A Music Video Marathon?

Ill start off this blog post by reminding you that I have been making music videos casually now since the very beginning of 2011. Two years ago "EP Studios" was dreamed up and in that time I have created 3 official music videos. Not that big of a deal you say? You're correct. It really isn't that big of a whoop...but I'll tell you what might be...

Mid-September 2013 I received a phone call from a representative of the Atlantic Film Festival inviting me to participate in a music video production contest. Unfortunately, I was selected as a runner up contestant and because of only having a week's notice, I was forced to decline do to a business trip. This, needless to say was a great honour and disappointment all rolled into one! 

A few weeks later, unrelated, a man named Jason Lane called me regarding the creation of a music video for his son, Zackary Lane. Zackary is a talented young musician and could potentially be on a rise to some degree of exposure and success. This excites me because Jason has asked me if I will be able to produce approximately one music video per month of the year of 2014. How can I decline?

This period of my life represents what could be a potential launching point of my success as a freelance music video producer. Stay tuned...

"Say Something"- Music Video

As mentioned above, I was recently asked to make a music video for a young local artist named Zackary Lane. Below you can see the first music video that I have produced with him! 

I hope you enjoy this video. Here's a fun fact. The concept for the video came to me pretty much on the spot when Jason asked me what I had in mind. The idea came from personal experiences that I have had in my life.

That's it for now!

Richard Malenfant

"The Answer is 42!"

Hindsight is 20/20

Emerald Express In Review

Yes...ish. Emerald Express, the short film that was written and filmed last summer is now up on youtube for everyone to see! If you haven't watched it yet I suggest you do so now (see link at bottom of post). From this point forward I will be talking about what my thoughts are about the short film and how it turned out. So aka, SPOILER ALERT!!!!!!

Emerald Express (link)

Ok! From this point forward I will assume that anyone reading this has watched Emerald Express and has noticed a few things about it that are questionable.

As the main force behind completing the project and having been responsible for so much of it's production I will refer to myself as the "Project Leader". I wrote the script, came up with the plot behind it, invented characters, came up with locations, planned camera angles, filmed everything, and more. Other people were involved of course, I have have to give credit to everyone who helped organize volunteers, do makeup, help with the scene planning, etc.

But generally speaking, Emerald Express was my baby and as my first time pulling off a filmmaking project of this scale, I learned a lot! Ultimately, I am not 100% satisfied with the short film. If it isn't obvious to you by watching it, I'll let you know that a lot was left out. A good example of this is that all of the audio is missing! Like WTF man?? NO AUDIO WTF!!!??? How R we supposed to follow da plot????

I know! And it was a hard choice to make...but the fact was that a lot of the dialogue in the script was never really meant to mean much and when we started to film, it was all we had. In fact, originally, the "script" was just a few hand written pages describing the scenes where Shale is running from the zombies and has to eventually turn and fight them. But then the questions started flooding in...who was this guy? Where was he coming from? How did he get here? And the biggest question of all; Where did the zombies come from???

What had started in my head as a cool 3 min zombie video quickly spiralled out into a world of made up characters and fake backstories and events. It had to be deeper! It had to make sense and impress people! After doing a bit of research I managed to find something that could link Moncton to the rest of the world in a unique way. I wanted the story to take place in Moncton for a real reason that people could actually look up themselves if they wanted to! And I found it! The Emerald Express undersea intercontinental communication cable. It wasn't perfect, but it was a tether that could put Moncton on the map in a fictional setting. The idea was relatively simple. This communication cable, scheduled to be built in RL (Real Life), could be the keystone to my zombie movie's plot!

Moncton act's as a first point of contact for this cable and therefore in a global perspective is an important target for any military force with the intension of attacking North America. The zombies themselves came next. I wanted the zombies to be a new kind of weapon. The idea is that in a future war, a zombie-bioweapon exists and is dropped into cities that represent some significant strategic value. Moncton, being the landing for one of the worlds most advanced communication cables definitely made the short-list.

Ok, so now I had an interesting backstory and a plausible explanation for all of this shit going down in the near future. Now I needed a plot to carry my "Running Man" (As "Shale" was originally referred) through the story and ultimately to the climax of him kicking some zombie ass! There needed to be a reason for his heroics. The supporting characters of the two un-named soldiers were then invented. Originally the soldiers were actually a group of civilians that are stranded with Shale. It was written that he would attempt to save their lives by drawing off a large group of zombies away from them. This idea was tossed for a new idea that perhaps the character of Shale would be the only survivor of the attack, and represent the only person who was naturally immune to the virus. The two soldiers were added to give Shale someone to save. This is where things got messy. Who were these "soldiers"? Where did they come from? What are they doing there? And even though they were originally written as "good guys", in the end it only made sense that they were in fact soldiers of the enemy. This would explain why we knew so little about them while they seemed to be so prepared. The soldiers were written with the mission of "reconnecting" the Emerald Express and Shale would agree to help them to do so if it meant a free ride out of the city. Unfortunately, the scenes had been filmed and it was too late to try and go back and change the characters lines...so I said screw it and took out all the dialogue! WAhahaha

Lesson: When making a movie...make sure it works on paper BEFORE you start filming!!!

In the future we may release a version of the film either with dialogue or subtitles as well as fix a continuity error at the end of the short film involving the magical re-appearance of a certain back-pack...

Anyway, if you liked the short film and were wondering why it turned out how it did, I hope this answered some of your questions. If you want to ask me about it feel free.

Cheers,

Richard

New Upcoming Effed Productions Originals, Emerald Express Final Cut and FILM FESTIVALS?!

Good Evening, Everyone!

I have a few things to cover on the Agenda (Yes I know, it has been a while, sorry!)

Off Topic!
Richard, and I has set a new goal as to go to the gym frequently, and more and more each day we seem to see results and become stronger than we have ever been! #toughasnails
What we usually do first is go for a run, and let me tell you, we have been running for longer durations almost every time we do so, and the feeling feels awesome to just go to the gym, work yourself to the limit and then feel good about it!

...Ok moving on to the more important topics at hand.

Effed Productions Originals
We have some new EP originals that I would like to discuss, one being "Chez Busters", I'm not sure if I wrote a previous blog about it, or Richard or what, but I'm not sure when this short is going to be thrown down, may have to add more dialogue or maybe change a few things to get the project up-and running!

Another is my Working Title, "Cookies of Misfortune".
Funny story on how this came to be. Well me seeing as how I am still working at a Grocery Store and still trying to acquire a job in my field of study...well we had a demo lady come in and demonstrate some new Chinese Food products and had some fortune cookies for everyone to take, and most of them did not even sound like a fortune, this was mine "You have an excellent source of Honor" like wtf. A co-worker of mine and I were thinking, well what if these cookies had bad fortunes, and I said to him, that would be awesome for a video idea, so I gave a shout to Richard and we ventured to the nearest Tim Hortons (With our Effed Productions Script Books of course) and began throwing down ideas in what I think would be a hilarious video for all audiences! More news to come on that!

Emerald Express
Richard has been dedicating his 'Life' to this short video, and I will give him full 100% credit for the creation of this. I loved acting in it, (minus the hours of BS lol!), and I'm sure Mike, Jordan...and the zombie crew loved acting in it as well! and earlier today, Richard had shown me the almost completed project, which is looking excellent, also the final project of Emerald Express should be up on YouTube by sometime next month, so excited! AND to make things awesome Richard also is going to be submitting this Effed Productions Short Film in 2 festivals, one being in Halifax, NS and another in New York, USA! How cool is that?! Which means We're going to have to grab Mike and Jordan, suit up and look like Sharp Dressed Men if we want to impress at these Festivals. The one in Halifax is in September this year, and the festival in New York...I am not too sure, I'll have to check with Richard again but details to come! I have edited our Effed Productions YouTube Channel so our feature video is our Emerald Express trailer, and shared it on Facebook on my personal channel, and the EP channel. My goal is to get support from all our friends, fans and family so we can set the ball in motion!

I think that pretty much covers all that I would like to share (I'm sure there is more) and we will definitely not be going anywhere! Stay tuned and we will keep you all updated on the finalization of Emerald Express, and when exactly these festivals are taking place, I will see you all on the flip side!

-Shaun

Emerald Express Zombie Short Film

One night stand

It's been a while since we actually worked on a short film. If you don't count "Anima" or "Don't_Pan|c" due to their lack of dialogue, then you might actually call Emerald Express our first official short film. And did we ever jump in with both feet!

The story takes place in Moncton NB, Canada, a small city serving as the router hub for the Transatlantic Communication Cable known as the Emerald Express. The city was target  due to its lower population of only about 140 000 and its strategic significance as a military communication relay and is now overrun by the victims of a terrible chemical weapon that attacks the brain effectively turning people into flesh-eating zombies.

I won't get into the plot to avoid spoiling the story but this film is meant to be both artistic and a fast paced action/ horror flick.

This weekend we filmed the two biggest scenes. In total about 50 people got involved with the production including actors, hair and makeup, recruiting, zombie extras, security etc. It is by far the largest scale project we have ever taken on! Here are some screenshots taken from the first shoot:

At the end of both nights 50 people went home and had the best showers of their lives!

Stay tuned for more updates,

Richard

Time to HAMMER DOWN!

EP Studios' very first official music video production has been publish on Youtube and Facebook. What does this mean for us? Well it could make or break our reputation basically...if the video is a flop, we may never do another one again! Check it out for yourself and be the judge:

Hammer Down (Offcial Music Video)

New Post

Newstuff

As crazy as it sounds, it looks like things are looking good for EP Studios. What started out as a somewhat experimental branch into the music video niche, has turned into two music videos and at least two more planned for production before spring! Not bad for a guy and his camera! Why all the success? Well its probably because im basically doing the videos for free...

"OMG WHAT DID HE JUST SAY!"

Yes, free. Tell your friends, tell your mom, tell your local record producing acquaintances...EP Studios is a non-profit filmmaking organization. Any money made either goes into purchasing better equipment...or donation. That's our word...period.

Happy New Year!

Richard

The cutting-room floor

Still-Hunt

A few days ago Emily St.Pierre, Writer and Director of "Still-Hunt", began posting 5 min parts of the short film on youtube. In total the short film ran about 16 minutes over 3 parts. As a video editor myself, watching the full length version I thought of ways to streamline the short to fit a ten minute length that would work with youtube. In the process I think I reinforced the found footage feel of the short (particularly at the intro).

If you compare the original short to the EP version you will also notice a huge change in the look of the film from a colour and lighting standpoint. Hopefully these changes help to make the film more immersive to the viewer.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N5tS3amjmCg

Thats it for now. Next thing to watch for should be an Effed Production called "Chezz Busters", that I believe we will be filming in November if the opportunity shows itself.

Cheers,

Richard

Chezz Busters, Careers, and a lot of Studying

The title says it all. That's right folks We have a new title in our hands, careers are thrown down and studying is a pain!

Chezz Busters:

Unfortunately, Were still in the making of Chezz Busters. It is basically about two homeless bums, with lots of hair, chezz, and greasy clothing. There is one man, who looks like an FBI agent and he is enraged by the homeless bums in his town...and he really hates chezz

Careers:

Richard now has a career with Teratech, which is great, he went to school for Electrical Engineering and hes now in a career which does that, and gone for weeks at a time training. Film production may be a long wait, or may take some time to film and put up as expected. Mike is working part time now, trying to pay off his school so he can go back to school and get back into working up to his career.

Lots of Studying:

As I said before, the title says it all...I've been studying my tushy off to become a Correctional Officer/Police Officer...who would have thought there was 8 books, a police manual, and shit piles of corrections notes just to become one?

That's about all there is right now for a quick update, Richard had the just of it last post, and I'm just letting everyone know what we've been up to, if our fans our worrying about us.

Til next time, Caio,

Shaun.

RQC and Notre Damed?

Rage Quit Corner

A new segment in the EP word, RQC, will shortly become a frequent media review series local to Moncton. We might talk about Movies, Games, or even radio commercials! Why is it called Rage quit corner? Well you'll just have to wait and see!

Untitled Short Film Project

This one really came out of the blue to be honest. New Yorker Emily St.Pierre, studying in Fredericton, has decided to work with the EP team to produce a 30 min horror film. The short will be shot in Notre Dame NB this September.

Our Part in the production process was heavy in the script development area as well as pre-production organization of the film. We will also be involved with shooting the film as well as acting in it. So far it looks like the post-production will be handled largely by Emily herself.

Thanks for tuning in,

Richard

Someday isn't a day of the week...

EP Studios Music Videos

Some time around March or April I put ads on Kijiji Moncton to promote our temporary free video production services in the community. I was shocked at how many local bands and artist responded to the ads. A local country/rock band called Crossover actually hired us to do a zero budget music video for a song called "hammer down". A formal voluntary service agreement was created and signed by both parties and production commenced.

After weeks of waiting it became apparent that the video would have to be put on hold while the actual music track was recorded. And I'm still waiting...lesson learned.

Don't sign onto the video until the music is recorded!

Also, I have learned that the scope of the video projects is important to discuss. A band willing to put time into producing a music video should be willing to invest themselves and their money into the project. I am seeing that people don't seem to take free services seriously enough to get respectable results from to make it worth the effort. In many cases, procrastination and loss of interest have proven to be the better of this production group. Perhaps throwing an investment in can encourage more commitment.

Making the Change

Shaun, Mike and I are at delicate stages. Very little time and energy is still being put into video production. Although Mike and I made a parody of High Stakes earlier in the summer, it was removed due to the fact that it gave away plot points and scenes in the original short film script.

It seems that all of our current projects are in development Hell. Perhaps one day when we have re-gained the position to organize ourselves to return to Effed Productions, we will continue our passion in film. Until then, Shaun must commit to an education, Mike may commit to building a family and I must commit to a career in industrial electronics. God help us...

Peace out,

Richard

EP Studios? And upcoming projects.

New name, same great taste!

Hi, once again it has been a while since there has been an update on this blog. Obviously there hasn't been much activity to speak of. It looks like things wont change too much until after Winter exams haha. Anyway, I want to talk about our recent decision to change our logo!

A while back, the idea popped into our minds that perhaps it is possible to make some money through small media production projects in the maritimes. Obviously this is easier said than done. But the basic plan was to begin by improving the credibility of our small-time production group and slowly raise our status to potential production partner!

Our target market? People that want to express themselves in the form of video media but lack the skills needed to do it themselves and also lack the budget to hire expensive professionals! And trust me, they are expensive! After working at a local studio in Moncton I learned that working to high broadcasting standards is very expensive and time consuming. However, but working to lower standards that are appropriate for online media the time needed to produce good results is much less as well as cost of production.

Our product? Inexpensive media production. Short films, music videos, company promos, advertisements, etc. The system works. Currently we are in the stages of compiling more resources for higher quality productions such as better tools and new special effects.

But what about Effed Productions!?

EP Studions is simply a new branch that originates from Effed Productions. Both production branches can co-exist. The "Effed Productions" youtube channel will be home to all of our EP Studios work and Effed Productions work. So not all of our future productions have to live up to the high standards needed to raise our credibility.

Ok, but how will you get credibility? The challenge in generating a name for yourself is that you must at first be willing to do ANYTHING to get started. In our case, we are willing to offer our video production services to anyone for any video production purposes (not including pornographic productions), for free! The theory is that the more we can get out there, the more people will see us and the more likely it is that we will be identified as a media productions solution!

And now our feature presentation.

Over the past few weeks the EP Team has been cooking up a few brand new scripts that may hopefully showcase the new benchmark in our production standards.

Untitled 1 - A short film that actually takes place 100% in a perfectly unlit, pitch black locked room. What can the camera see that the eye does not?

Aftermath (working title) - A new script in production about a few twenty-year-olds that get in trouble with the law when one of them is apparently framed to have murdered someone. This one will keep you guessing until the end!

High Stakes (revisit) - After years of postponing this production we think we may have finally found a good shoot location. A man is tested to the limits of his life in High Stakes!

Thats all I can say for now, check back in a few months for updates.

-Richard

"The Answer is 42!"

...AND we can cook!

EP Update:

Well, the past few weeks have been quite interesting. We are now nearing the final weeks of summer vacation and that means EP's already limited video production time will be shrunk even more. Last week was vacation time and thus good times at 6 Flags New England were being had as well as some good old yard party style fun in the states! Upon return came the inevitable bonding time of playing Firefight and Nazi Zombies for 7 hours a day before finally rounding up some camera gear and filming Cooking with Metal (which I will mention later).

Now that it is time to be heading back to work we have been slowly easing into a routine of shift schedules that may potentially work for one last EP release before the end of summer. No promises (I'm sure you have learned your lesson) but High Stakes may be just around the corner.

For those of you who may not know, High Stakes is an original EP script for a short film that was written by Shaun Fleming originally as a short story. The synopsis roughly follows the line of a typical interrogation scenario in which two characters interact with each other in an enclosed, isolated setting. I wont go into details but from what I remember there are only two characters and the style of the story feels somewhat gritty and dark.

If an appropriate film location can be established there is a good chance that film will be made this summer.

Cooking with Metal

As I mentioned above, we have recently released a new video called "cooking with metal". For some of our oldest fans the title might sound familiar. The reason being that cooking with metal was one of the three original EP video scripts ever conceived of back in 2008.

Originally written by Shaun to be filmed in the Culinary lab as BMHS, the video's location, concept, and general nature where all compromised in an early attempt at making the video in 2008. The original, which went into "the abyss" was never released due to poor entertainment quality. Three years later, we have casually re-approached the idea and more cleanly executed it. The video is below.

Well I hope you still enjoy what we have to show you, we know it isn't a whole lot but it's what we've got...

...for now.

-Richard

Double Shifts

Well, it has been a while since the last post but a lot has happened since then.

Postman

I (Richard) am now an official intern at the Postman Post-Production Studio based in Moncton. Because of this I work pretty much 70 hours per week or more...because of my real job at Needs...

Anyway, it is really cool and exciting for me but it also means that video production for EP has basically gone down the toilet.

:(

Don't Panic

Speaking of EP videos, a new one was posted today called "Don't Panic".

Yes, it is the same Don't Panic that was dreamed up by Shaun and I back in '08. Sorry it took so long to get to you but if you want to check it out here is a link:

That's all for now.

-Richard

"The Answer is 42!"

June bugs!

Well today I saw my fist June Bugs of the year...and other than thinking of how they like to get stuck in my hair or make love with my eyes...they reminded me that summer vacation is near!

With school coming to an end in June and the Mike back in Moncton for the summer, its almost time to start talking about videos.

New members of EP

Although nothing is official, we might be working on a few projects in a few weeks with some new faces to EP. As was planned last year, we will probably be making an AR2 video sometime this summer along with a DON'T PANIC as well as some other short films.

Most recently talks of producing a type of viral/health video have been happening for a local nutritionist that wants to "do something off the wall to send a message". I'm excited to get to work on this project when I get the chance after finals in June.

Speaking of school, we will all be headed back in September except maybe for Shaun who may be working again but were not sure what he's up to. I haven't even talked to anyone in weeks and am very lonely having to go to school all the time :(

Basically keep your eyes open for future videos as always!

Richard

Two movies for the Price of One!

Hey, everyone!

We'd like to share some good news and some bad news with ya...Bad news first? Ok, well here goes. Richard and I no longer wanted to participate in the Doritos viral video since we always leave that to the last minute, so we came up with an idea, and thats where the good news comes in.

Two movies are currently on the way to the official EP Youtube channel as we speak, one movie called Night Runners, and the other, Andro1d. You'll understand soon enough, I do not want to spoil it yet! You may actually enjoy them!

Recently, we've gotten some hate mail from people on our fun cover of Megadeths song Dialectic Chaos, and from our AR2 from the abyss videos. I do not tolerate with hate mail, so I put them in their place and tell them off in a polite manner. Hate mail reminds me of people who sit at home all day with nothing better to do with their lives and rate fun movies, like just do what I do, dont comment on them at all.

Here is one of our comments, from the Abyss AR2 video which offended me:
"you have started puberty go get a fucking job shit dick"

But enough of that, check out our new vids when they get posted up! Please no hate mail, you can dislike, but if anyone says something nasty, I wont hesitate to say something back :)

That's about it for this blog, adios!

-Shaun

New Unidentified EP Short? And another Dorito's Video?

While trying coming up with idea's to create a Viral Video for Dorito's, Richard and I had a weird idea to come up with an exclusive EP short, it's no serious short, but its probably, how you say effed! We're not going to release further details on that matter since it is a suprise!

Also, we have plans for a second video to submit to Dorito's, the first one, is most likely going to be scraped, but we may still use parts of it. That one could be also a suprise, but here's a hint:
"Dorito's FireStarter"

That is pretty much it with the blog this week, keep in touch, stay tuned to our EP Youtube channel, and look for our videos in the 'Not so distant future!'

Peace
-Shaun

Dorito's Commercial: Round 2

Richard and I are back to our shinnanagins once again, when we enter the Doritos Challenge for the second time!

Last year, we had a great idea, but not enough time to complete it, so we came nowhere near the win, but this year, we could have a chance, and if we succeed we could win up to $250,000! yes that's right quarter of a million!

We are filming this Friday, it's Wednesday now, and we have til March 21,2010 to have it entered so we still have lots of time to create a spectacular video.

Also if we win, not only do we win a big chunk of change, but our video will be used as a commercial and the flavour we chose will be sold on the market!

So EP fans, root for the best, hope we win and we'll be forever grateful!!

-Shaun

Random Update of Love

Greetings!

We just posted recent activity on to our next serious EP projects.
High Stakes (Spring/Summer 2010)
AR2(2011)
Don't_Panic!(2011)

Also, if you still haven't forgotten, we have shirts up for grabs if anyone wants to purchase this lovely item! We have Sm, Med, Lg, X-Lg shirts, so come and get yours today! Most proceeds go towards the IWK foundraiser, which we plan to donate each year! 2009 wasn't a successful year in sales so we could not afford to give to charity :(, Sorry.

In other news, EP's History has been updated, so if you want full coverage on how we came to be, stop by our channel via YouTube, and read the full discription if you got nothing better to do on a lazy day.

Really not much else has been in progress lately, Richard is back in school since the Holidays are over and Mike has ventured back into the depths of Toronto to aquire a degree of being a Youth Pastor. That's pretty much it for now, sorry it's not a big post, but it is one I suppose. Ciao.

Love,
Shaun

Entering a New Decade

Happy New Year!

We have a strange new responsibility upon us to remember not to put 2009 on the page anymore because it is now 2010! You must also ask yourself...will you be saying "two thousand-ten" or "twenty-ten"? Personally, I think twenty ten has a nice futuristic ring to it.

If anyone remembers, last year Effed Productions made a monetary donation to the IWK with the goal of doubling the size of that donation this year. However, with insufficient t-shirt sales, very little filming activity, and no profit to show for the year. A large donation is unlikely. Maybe next year.

Film Projects

This year was our least productive one (of two) in the history of EP. Of every project that was planned for production over the summer, none were completed. Largely, this is because of other more important commitments...jobs, school, girls, you know...Anyway, we saw this coming, and were not too surprised. If all goes as planned, EP should be more on the ball by next fall.

Project status:

Don't Panic- posponed

AR2- cancelled

High Stakes- Un-started

Recent Uploads

The Sound Of Music

Yes, the hills are alive! As Oktobre comes to its chilling end the excitement of Aussi-floyd and Megadeth grows greater. But it isn't just local concerts that are stirring the pot for EP members these days.

Recording artist Mike Glendinning and EP are joining forces to create a great short film/ music video called "Don't Panic". The film had always been thought of as a kind of short film with music to help add emotion to the story to sort of compensate for a lack of good acting or a real script. Currently in process is the development of the OST (Original Sound Track) that will be played in Don't Panic. So for Mike and I have only begun to play the track out but so far things look promising!

TTFN

Richard