The Hunted

Tuesday, July 28, 2009

Con Job 2

Still trying to recover two days after a crazy weekend at the 2009 San Diego Comic Con running around in full HALO armor trying to shoot the latest episode of The Hunted, "Con Job 2". It probably didn't help that I had no sleep and a nagging cough going into the weekend, now my voice is all but gone and my cough makes me sound like an 80 year old man.

But damn, the footage is lookin awesome! Thanks to everyone that came out and did an fantastic job - our booth babes Kimberly and Chelsea, Andrew Helm, Mike Coleman, Chris Fields, Nick Hiegel, Liz Mclelland, Kerry Glover, and Jess Cail for handling everything from camera to production and everything in between. Thanks also to Gillian Horvath for putting us up in her swanky hotel room, and to New Deal Studios for loaning me their bitchin HALO costume - thanks Matt!

There's already a few great shots online thanks to Mike Coleman and Kimberly Fox:
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=129387&id=708386513
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=96463&id=714571121

There's still one more scene to be shot with our mystery celebrities, and hopefully I'll be ready to start editing soon afterwards. If all goes well with my system upgrades, this will also be our first episode shot and edited in HD!

Monday, July 20, 2009

The Hunted Youtube Contest Results!

The results of the first $1000 Hunted Youtube Contest are in!

Let me start by saying that this was an extremely close competition and I want to thank all of the entrants for their hard work. I know firsthand what it’s like to put together an episode from the ground up – rehearsal, production, editing, craft services. It ain’t easy to follow though and finish a film. Ask anyone in Hollywood. And anyone who can pull that off deserve some serious props!

OK, so who won? I know you want to cheat and jump down to the bottom of this (if you haven’t already done so), but first I want to thank all our judges for coming out to the screening and taking the time to carefully consider all of the entries. Translation – don’t blame me if you don’t agree with the outcome. Our panel in attendance included Hollywood professionals: Writer & Executive Producer Gillian Horvath, Director Bill Malone, Stunt Coordinator Jeff Pruitt, Swordmaster Anthony DeLongis, VFX Supervisor Ian Hunter, Writer / Critic Abbie Bernstein and Script Coordinator Kerry Glover. For full credits, check out http://thehuntedtv.blogspot.com/2009/05/youtube-contest-judges-announced.html

Remember that episodes were judged based on several criteria including acting, action, story, production value and comedy, and while there were episodes that had the best scores in a select category – most notably “Fuzz Meets Fangs” for action which caught the attention of our stunt coordinator Jeff Pruitt, and “EDEN” for production value which really impressed our director Bill Malone, but in the end, it was the episodes that averaged best in all categories that made for the best overall Hunted episode!

FIRST PLACE
Don’t Try This at Home
Kendall Wells, OR

SECOND PLACE
Evolving
Ann Coccagnia, LA

THIRD PLACE
The Ultimate Weapon
Jason Wong, LA

All entries along with the winning episodes can be viewed online at http://www.youtube.com/user/thehuntedtv

For official stats, check out http://www.thehunted.tv/winners.html

Thursday, July 16, 2009

The Hunted - Youtube Contest Deadline!

Hey gang, the $1000 Hunted Youtube Contest draws to a close and it looks like we'll have about a dozen entries for Saturday's screening.

The entries are from all over the country and like Youtube itself, some can be considered hit and miss, several of them are quite good, and a few just blew me away.

But check them out for yourself. The episodes are online at:
http://www.youtube.com/user/thehuntedtv
on the top right hand side playlist.

We'll be looking at Youtube ratings and comments at Saturday's screening, so let us know what you think. Winners will be announced early next week.

Unfortunately, we were not able to secure a panel at this year's San Diego Comic Con, but The Hunted will still be at the convention and we're still slated to attend this year's Vampire Film Festival in New Orleans in October.

Sunday, July 12, 2009

The Hunted - Generations

Mark Bedell, director of the Maine Academy of Stage combat provided us with a very funny episode for the Youtube Contest called "Generations", which involves his stage combat class being overrun with vampires.

The episode has come under some controversy, however, since it features Mark doing a sword fight with a baby strapped to his chest!

The fight is well choreographed and the child is completely safe, but there are those uneducated individuals out there who don't quite get the magic of movies. I have offered my testimonial as a professional Hollywood fight choreographer, but they have been pressured by individuals who will remain nameless to remove their episode from the contest, which is a shame because it's well done and damn funny!

For more info on the episode, see Mark's page here:
http://www.maineacademyofstagedcombat.org/somepeoplejustdontgetit.htm

Saturday, July 11, 2009

New Contest Judge - Ian Hunter!

Co-Owner of New Deal Studios, Visual Effects Supervisor, and Indie Filmmaker, Ian Hunter (http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0402843/) has graciously agreed to step in to replace contest judge Matthew Gratzner who will be out of town for the judging.

Once again, the contest deadline has been extended to July 16 with the judging held on July 18th and the winners announced soon afterwards.

There are only a handful of entries so far since most episodes have decided not to post until the last minute. You can find the episodes online at http://www.youtube.com/user/thehuntedtv under the contest playlist.

Saturday, July 4, 2009

The Hunted - Contest Deadline

Due to the amazing work being done on the YouTube contest episodes, the contest deadline has officially been extended to July 16 to allow folks a few extra days to make their episodes as badass as possible! Judging will still be held on July 18 with results announced soon after.

Saturday, June 20, 2009

Youtube Contest Photos!