“I’m currently watching a silent movie on a television inside of an insane asylum that may or may not be IN MY MIND…”

Ben Gilbert’s review of The Darkness 2.

Perhaps you’ve seen the ads all over the web this week for The Darkness II, the horror game from 2k Games and Digital Extremes. The story of The Darkness (in comics and games) concerns an ancient evil from another dimension that aligns itself with a mob hitman. There’s some hints of Lovecraftian ideas [...]]]>

Perhaps you’ve seen the ads all over the web this week for The Darkness II, the horror game from 2k Games and Digital Extremes. The story of The Darkness (in comics and games) concerns an ancient evil from another dimension that aligns itself with a mob hitman. There’s some hints of Lovecraftian ideas there, so it feels right that my film, The Other Gods, has a role in the new game.

The creative director of The Darkness II reached out to me several months ago to see if it would be possible to license The Other Gods for inclusion in the game. Of course, I said “yes.” Apparently, players will have the option of watching (or ignoring) the entire 5 minute short in the game world. I’m assuming it appears on a video monitor or movie screen in the game — I haven’t played the game yet, so I can’t be more specific. I hope to share some screenshots online soon.

This has been quite a year for The Other Gods — it played at the Museum of Art and Design in NYC, as well as two screenings in Buffalo and a surprise appearance at the Halloween edition of Rochester’s Emerging Filmmakers. Not bad for a film that premiered in 2006 (or 1924, depending on which version of events you choose to believe).

Find out more (and buy the game) at http://www.embracethedarkness.com

? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ?

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After many weeks of false starts, I finished work on my animated promo film for the “Another Hole In the Head” horror film festival. Some time ago, Eric Ringer contacted me to see if I could do something for the horror arm of the San Fransico Indiefest. Sure, I said I’d love to… but [...]]]>

After many weeks of false starts, I finished work on my animated promo film for the “Another Hole In the Head” horror film festival. Some time ago, Eric Ringer contacted me to see if I could do something for the horror arm of the San Fransico Indiefest. Sure, I said I’d love to… but finding the time was a challenge.

In any case, the zombies got done over the weekend, and now you can see the final result. I was working from a specific storyline that Eric had in mind. I made a couple changes to simplify it, but I’m pretty happy with the result.

Stay tuned to http://www.sfindie.com for tickets and more info in the coming months.

Animation by Mike Boas. Music by Alec Jenkyn Williams.

So I spent this past Labor [...]]]> When Aaron Vanek asked me for an animated promo for this year’s H.P. Lovecraft Film Festival event in Los Angeles, I knew I couldn’t resist. I also knew I was in the middle of about 12 other projects and I’d have to carve out the time to do it.

So I spent this past Labor Day weekend hip deep in Flash animation. I reused some cartoon heads from an abandoned Lovecraft short (I may get back to it some day), but all other tentacles, rats, and gravestones are new.

If you’ve been watching my social feeds, you’ll know I’m in love with the work of British animator Cyriak. His use of loops and editing was an influence here.

I also took the opportunity to play with textures and color modes in After Effects. That’s something I’ve been doing in my still work lately, and it’s a fun challenge to apply it to the flat images from Flash.

Music is by Alec Jenkyn Williams.

For tickets and info on the HPLFF in LA September 11, 2010, visit http://bit.ly/hplffla

The last two years, I’ve taken part in the Rochester Movie Makers Summer Shorts Challenge. Two summers ago, I helped with a film called X-Girlfriend, and last year worked on The Wingman and Virgin Fang.

This year will be my first time directing a summer short, one called [...]]]>

The last two years, I’ve taken part in the Rochester Movie Makers Summer Shorts Challenge. Two summers ago, I helped with a film called X-Girlfriend, and last year worked on The Wingman and Virgin Fang.

This year will be my first time directing a summer short, one called “The Interrogation” written by yours truly. In the writing phase, I decided to keep my characters and locations to a minimum to make it easier — especially since one of my characters is ANIMATED.

I’ve been wanting to try a live action / animation combo project for a while now. The process will be similar to how films like Who Framed Roger Rabbit or The Phantom Menace were shot. I’ll have an actor on set playing the cartoon character, and we’ll shoot his scenes two ways. One version with the actor, one without. That way I’ll have a performance to mimic in the animation phase, but I’ll also have a clean shot to use when I want to composite the character in. (No, I won’t be doing motion capture. That’s overkill for what I have in mind.)

It was a fun script to read to an audience, which is what went down at the March meeting of Rochester Movie Makers. We read 15 (!) screenplays that night. When everyone voted and the dust cleared, it turned out I was the winner of our script competition. It doesn’t mean the movie itself will be the best, but it’s nice to be loved.

Soon I’ll be finalizing the cast, crew, and picking some dates to shoot this thing. At the same time, I’m working on designing props and the cartoon character known as Mad Monster.

Read the latest version of the script here.

After looking through my blog archives, it turns out I never posted here about the H.P.Lovecraft Literary Podcast. (It must have slipped my mind when I was posting over at Unfilmable.com back in December.)

Listening to the podcast is like reading Lovecraft with sarcastic (yet intelligent) footnotes. What turned me on to [...]]]>

After looking through my blog archives, it turns out I never posted here about the H.P.Lovecraft Literary Podcast. (It must have slipped my mind when I was posting over at Unfilmable.com back in December.)

Listening to the podcast is like reading Lovecraft with sarcastic (yet intelligent) footnotes. What turned me on to it was episode 22, which covers “The Other Gods.” Hosts Chris Lackey and Chad Fifer dig deep into Dreamlands lore to review the story… and the short film I released through Subterranea Entertainment.

They’ve got a great understanding of Lovecraft’s work, and I was thrilled to hear their thoughts regarding the animated film.

So crawl over to hppodcraft.com to listen online.  Or get obsessive like me and download every episode and listen on your iPod!

When Mike Schneider, director of the Night of the Living Dead: Reanimated project, asked me to contribute a featurette to the upcoming DVD release, I was afraid I wouldn’t have the time to do so. Well, last week I gathered strength and put together a 6 [...]]]> We all like going behind the scenes, right?

When Mike Schneider, director of the Night of the Living Dead: Reanimated project, asked me to contribute a featurette to the upcoming DVD release, I was afraid I wouldn’t have the time to do so. Well, last week I gathered strength and put together a 6 minute tutorial on interpretive rotoscoping.

Rotoscoping is an animation process that involves a lot of tracing. For NOTLD:R, I changed my style up depending on the shot — and sometimes that meant tracing 15 pictures a second with my Wacom stylus.

In this video, you can see some of that process, albeit sped up to make it more interesting.

Interpretive Rotoscoping for NOTLD:R from Mike Boas on Vimeo.

The following video clips show the animation, then [...]]]> Now that I’ve completed three scenes for the Night of the Living Dead: Reanimated project, I thought it might be cool to show my cartoon shots next to the original movie footage. You’ll see where I applied faithful rotoscoping and where I deviated from the original acting.

The following video clips show the animation, then side by side comparisons with the original live action scenes.

NOTLD:R Don’t worry from Mike Boas on Vimeo.

NOTLD:R Here he comes now from Mike Boas on Vimeo.

NOTLD:R Down in the basement from Mike Boas on Vimeo.

Lo and behold, I’ve finished the scene. The leering, lurching Bill Hinzman zombie attacks Barbara, she screams, and Johnny leaps to the rescue. It’s only 14 seconds, but I think I put in more hours on this [...]]]> It was a marathon session tonight. Just me and my Ustream channel and a few friendly observers.

Lo and behold, I’ve finished the scene. The leering, lurching Bill Hinzman zombie attacks Barbara, she screams, and Johnny leaps to the rescue. It’s only 14 seconds, but I think I put in more hours on this section than the last one, if possible.

All in all, my method is pretty… methodical. George Romero is a director who uses a lot of cuts and handheld work, which means time intensive roto.

Enjoy the scene below. I’m sending it off to director Mike Schneider and going to bed.

Roto is tedious. I’m doing sketchy work, but every 2 frames. That’s 15 times a second. Per character. Now my wrist hurts.

To prove it, I actually recorded my work habits with a webcam today. [...]]]> Same section as last time, but now Johnny has lip sync, the zombie is properly rotoscoped, and so is Barbara.

Roto is tedious. I’m doing sketchy work, but every 2 frames. That’s 15 times a second. Per character. Now my wrist hurts.

To prove it, I actually recorded my work habits with a webcam today. See my Ustream channel for two hours of NOTLD:R Roto work.

Really, it’s boring. Don’t bother.

But, you can enjoy the animated result below:

But… I wanted to get this test [...]]]> Weeks later, I’m back on this “Night of the Living Dead: Reanimated” scene. I’m jumping around a bit, so Johnny still needs lip sync. The Hinzman zombie is a junky placeholder — I’m thinking of rotoscoping him in that shot. There’s also a severe lack of Barbara there.

But… I wanted to get this test up to show what I’ve been doing with Johnny. He’s probably the most fun character to draw so far. Something about the horned-rim glasses, I guess.

Behold, the latest trailer! If you [...]]]> All this week, while I was focused on animating a few scenes, Mike Schneider was thinking about the big picture. He was getting all the pieces in place for a relaunch of the Night of the Living Dead: Reanimated website, along with a new trailer for the project.

Behold, the latest trailer! If you watch closely, you’ll see some of my animation.

Exciting! It sounded fun and easy. I just worked on the first few seconds for a couple hours, but I don’t even have [...]]]> I heard today about a short scene early in the movie that still needed attention. It’s about fourteen seconds of action in the cemetery featuring Barbara, Johnny, and the Bill Hinzman zombie.

Exciting! It sounded fun and easy. I just worked on the first few seconds for a couple hours, but I don’t even have lip sync yet.

Well, it’s still fun, but it always takes longer than I think. Anyway, here’s what I have so far.

My half rotoscope / half flash puppet method is very time consuming. If I’m called on to do some more orphan scenes (which I’d [...]]]> Here is the completed animation for the 49 second section I’ve been working on. The deadline for content is the end of this week, so I’m sending my files off tonight.

My half rotoscope / half flash puppet method is very time consuming. If I’m called on to do some more orphan scenes (which I’d love to do) I’ll be using a different approach.

This latest test features Ben making a phone call. More difficult than you might think!

When I’m done [...]]]> Here’s some more work from that same scene for Night of the Living Dead: Reanimated. My style is changing from shot to shot because I’m playing around, having fun. When finished, the whole movie will have a patchwork quality, so I don’t feel the need to stay consistent from shot to shot.

When I’m done with this sequence, I may move away from rotoscoping and do something with a cartoon look.

Jason: The Rebirth from Mike Boas on Vimeo.

H.P. Lovecraft’s The Other Gods, which previously had a home in the “demented” area of the media site, has a new address at http://www.awntv.com/videos/the-other-gods

There’s plenty of other great independent animation at AWNtv.com, so head on over [...]]]> The AWN’s media website has changed its name to Animation World Network Televeision, or AWNtv for short.

H.P. Lovecraft’s The Other Gods, which previously had a home in the “demented” area of the media site, has a new address at http://www.awntv.com/videos/the-other-gods

There’s plenty of other great independent animation at AWNtv.com, so head on over and check it out!

The AWN Media Center is a new, comprehensive online video portal devoted exclusively to animation and showcasing the work [...]]]> “H.P. Lovecraft’s The Other Gods” is now featured on Animation World Network’s “That’s Demented” channel. AWN is a website catering to animation artists and fans worldwide, and I’m happy to be a part of their website.

The AWN Media Center is a new, comprehensive online video portal devoted exclusively to animation and showcasing the work of independent filmmakers from all over the world . When I submitted “The Other Gods,” I wasn’t sure what category it would fall under. “That’s Demented” seems like a good match.

To see mine and other “freaky, fun, and frightening flicks,” visit http://media.awn.com/popup/thats-demented

A NIGHT OF HORROR is a new film festival premiering in Sydney, Australia this coming March. In their call for submissions, they specified three entry categories: general horror, animation, and adaptations of H.P. Lovecraft. So I had to enter, didn’t I?

Today I learned that THE OTHER GODS has been chosen to screen [...]]]>

A NIGHT OF HORROR is a new film festival premiering in Sydney, Australia this coming March. In their call for submissions, they specified three entry categories: general horror, animation, and adaptations of H.P. Lovecraft. So I had to enter, didn’t I?

Today I learned that THE OTHER GODS has been chosen to screen at the festival. The organizers received 180 short films from horror filmmakers in 20 different countries, so it’s rewarding to know my film made the cut.

To learn more about A NIGHT OF HORROR, visit http://www.anightofhorror.com or check out the Myspace page at http://www.myspace.com/nightofhorror

For you residents of Rochester, NY, “The Other Gods” will be screening as part of the Little Theatre’s EMERGING FILMMAKERS series.

Come out for a night of short films Monday, February 26 at 9 PM. The Little Theatre is at 240 East Ave, Rochester, NY.

Find out more at http://www.little-theatre.com/emergingFilmmakers.php

The interview is featured in episode nine, now online (in three parts) at http://poc.graveworm.com

To listen, visit the POC site, [...]]]> I recently had the pleasure of speaking with David Powers, who hosts a podcast entitled “Podcast of Circadia.” We had a great time discussing writer H.P. Lovecraft and the challenges of adapting his work.

The interview is featured in episode nine, now online (in three parts) at http://poc.graveworm.com

To listen, visit the POC site, click each link and download the MP3 files to your computer. If you use iTunes, the POC feed is http://poc.graveworm.com/pocrss.xml

H.P. Lovecraft’s The Other Gods has been selected to play at this month’s Tromadance Film Festival, presented by Troma Entertainment.

As someone who has read and re-read Troma president Lloyd Kaufman’s books on filmmaking, it’s a thrill to be part of this festival devoted to the independent spirit.

The 8th Annual TromaDance [...]]]>

H.P. Lovecraft’s The Other Gods has been selected to play at this month’s Tromadance Film Festival, presented by Troma Entertainment.

As someone who has read and re-read Troma president Lloyd Kaufman’s books on filmmaking, it’s a thrill to be part of this festival devoted to the independent spirit.

The 8th Annual TromaDance Film Festival will be held from January 22nd to 27th 2007 in Park City, UT.

http://2007.tromadance.com

Hey, it’s not a runaway viral phenomenon, but it feels good anyway.

Check it out and leave me a comment if you so desire!

If you love Lovecraft and can translate (accurately) into Spanish, French, Italian, or German, we need your help! If you’d like to donate your time and expertise, please write [...]]]> As the Special Edition DVD of The Other Gods takes shape, a vital component is lacking… We’d like to include subtitles for non-English speaking persons.

If you love Lovecraft and can translate (accurately) into Spanish, French, Italian, or German, we need your help! If you’d like to donate your time and expertise, please write to us at info(AT)maddogmovies.com.

Not sure if you can take on the whole project? It’s a short film, so there’s only about 25 lines of text. Check it out here:

The Other Gods – English text
(Right-click and save to your computer.)

During my weekend in Portland for the H.P. Lovecraft Film Festival, I spoke to a few people who would be missing Sunday night, the night my short was playing. The last night of any film festival usually has less attendance, since many film-goers cut out for travel reasons or out of sheer exhaustion. I [...]]]>

During my weekend in Portland for the H.P. Lovecraft Film Festival, I spoke to a few people who would be missing Sunday night, the night my short was playing. The last night of any film festival usually has less attendance, since many film-goers cut out for travel reasons or out of sheer exhaustion. I steeled myself for a “light” attendance that night.

Instead, the main theatre was mostly full as usual! Not sold out, but a respectable crowd of a few hundred. Now I had a new concern: could I avoid hyperventilating as the film played before so many sets of eyeballs?

Well, I survived. “The Other Gods” was received well. My colleagues all had incredibly supportive things to say.

Thanks to everyone at the festival for a great experience. I loved every minute of it, and I hope to attend next year.

See the Mad Dog Blog for more about the festival.

Visit YouTube to see it yourself.

I received a “telegram” from the festival announcing the utter horror the projectionist suffered at having seen the film, which was a [...]]]> It’s official! After many delays, work on “The Other Gods” is now complete. Not only that, the film will be screening at the 2006 H.P. Lovecraft Film Festival in Portland Oregon.

I received a “telegram” from the festival announcing the utter horror the projectionist suffered at having seen the film, which was a real nice touch. (Click the pic below for a close-up view.)

I’m quite thrilled, and will be attending the festival to represent the animated short and hobnob with other Hobb’s End lurkers.

See you in October!

It’s rewarding to even be considered for such a list, [...]]]> I was quite pleased to open my email this morning and find a message from Sergio Gaviño, who writes for Spain’s CineFantastico.com. He informed me that Jason: The Rebirth was ranked number three in their article on the 12 Best Fan Films online.

It’s rewarding to even be considered for such a list, which contains such notable fanfilms as Troops, Grayson, Batman: Dead End, and World’s Finest.

Here’s their fanfilm rundown:

12) TROOPS
Kevin Rubio, 1997

11) CATWOMAN: COPYCAT
Collin Blakeston, 2006

10) FIGHT OF THE UNIVERSE
AMDS Films, 2006

9) FAST TIMES AT HERO HIGH
Kyle Peck, 2003

8 ) BATMAN LEGENDS
Aaron Schoenke, 2006

7) STAR WARS: REVELATIONS
Shane Felux, 2005

6) LOBO PARAMILITARY CHRISTMAS SPECIAL
Scott Leberecht, 2002

5) WATCHMEN: PAGE 5
Bryant Hodson, 2005

4) BATMAN: DEAD END
Sandy Collora, 2003

3) JASON: THE REBIRTH
Mike Boas, 2003

2) GRAYSON
John Fiorella, 2004

1) WORLD’S FINEST
Sandy Collora, 2004

If you want links to each film, or you read Spanish and want to see what they’ve got to say, visit CineFantastico.com

Visit www.fanfilms.net

From Fanboy Theatre:

“This short is meant to fill in the gap between Firday The 13th 1 & 2 and it does just that. Using an scratchy and loose drawing style with a limited color palatte really gives [...]]]> A careful search of the internet has yielded a couple more reviews of “Jason: The Rebirth.”

From Fanboy Theatre:

“This short is meant to fill in the gap between Firday The 13th 1 & 2 and it does just that. Using an scratchy and loose drawing style with a limited color palatte really gives this film an eerie feeling, and Mr. Boas even uses actual music from the original Friday The 13th films adding more to the overall coolness of the short. Very brave, very unique, and a damn fine Fan Film. I would have liked this short to be a tad longer, but sometimes in the world of Fan Films that can become a bad thing and ruin the finished product. Nope, this one is definitely a keeper, Awesome stuff!”

And here’s some thoughts on franchise animation from VisibleH20.com:

“I found this (Jason Animation) inventive and fun. I hope that someday we will see much more animation for such works. Perhaps many such works that are awaiting new creative juices to flow, should be animated until better scripts and or creators are at hand. Take The Batman, for instance, the Cartoons continued with or without the live action movie. It took ten years or so for Batman to Return.”

Lastly, I see that “Jason” is listed with other F13 fanfilms at scabboy.net.

As I get into promotion mode, I’ll be putting plenty of new text and images there. For now, there’s a selection of artwork from [...]]]> I now have an online gallery at the Animation World Network Showcase website. People who have never heard of me can now stumble onto my member pages over at AWN.

As I get into promotion mode, I’ll be putting plenty of new text and images there. For now, there’s a selection of artwork from Jason, The Other Gods, and my Animatus projects.

The big question seems to be… do I write my bio in first person or third person? How pretentious am I, really? I like to think Mike Boas is without ego.

View my own and other galleries at http://showcase.awn.com

Peter Sciretta writes:

“The animation is better than you’d expect, with a style of its own”

TDavid writes:

“That washed out green/black texture for the fanfilm has its own dark flavor to it. This is actually much better than [...]]]> Cinematical.com has been running features on fan films lately, and “Jason: The Rebirth” made the cut.

Peter Sciretta writes:

“The animation is better than you’d expect, with a style of its own”

TDavid writes:

“That washed out green/black texture for the fanfilm has its own dark flavor to it. This is actually much better than I thought it would be.”

I suppose the trick is to keep people’s expectations really low, so they’re pleasantly surprised with the film itself…

Read the story at http://www.cinematical.com/2005/06/11/fanfilm-jason-the-rebirth

“Yours and Rupert Takes Manhattan were winners. Yours screened on a 10 foot screen facing Hollywood blvd. all night (looped) on Thurs. night a ‘coming attraction’ for the weekend. It was a cool spectacle.”

So [...]]]> The “Friday the 13th” 25th anniversary celebration was a big success. I heard from Eben, convention head honcho:

“Yours and Rupert Takes Manhattan were winners. Yours screened on a 10 foot screen facing Hollywood blvd. all night (looped) on Thurs. night a ‘coming attraction’ for the weekend. It was a cool spectacle.”

So I’m imagining unsuspecting passers-by walking down Hollywood Boulevard, being subjected to my strange little cartoon. Pretty wild. This sort of response makes me want to get my next shorts out to festivals as soon as possible.