What Do I Know?

On February 17th we held an Investor’s ball for Raymond Did It at Kryptonite Bar in Rockford. We were fortunate enough to have the talented Hans Rupert (http://www.hansrupert.com/) in attendance, and he was kind enough to shoot a few pictures of the event.

Cj Alms, Phyllis Galisath, Tina Manning

Travis Legge, Kyle Hoskins, Tim Stotz fielding questions about the film.

Tim Stotz, Kyle Hoskins, Robert Williams, Phyllis Galisath, Travis Legge, Tina Manning

The investor’s ball was quite a success and we were able to forge some relationships with Rockford area businesses and creative people in order to help facilitate the production of Raymond Did It in June.

We are still seeking funds to close the gap in our financing. Parties interested in investing and becoming a producer on Raymond Did It are encouraged to email me at raymonddidit@gmail.com and indicate your interest in investing in the subject line.

If you would like to support Raymond Did It but do not wish to invest in the film, you may donate via the Raymond Did It site on Indiegogo or via the paypal donate button on our films page.

Thanks to all who came to the investors ball and who have shown support for Raymond Did It!

I would also like to take this opportunity to thank our latest contributor at Indiegogo: Cerebusthe2nd!

More news and updates soon!

Greetings ans salutations,

As I mentioned in my previous blog, circumstances have delayed the release of Memoirs of a Stinky Sofa. Fortunately, my partner and post-production guru Tim Stotz seems to have recovered from his terrible case of Captain Tripps, and we are hoping to have Memoirs of a Stinky Sofa out within the next week, with the long-awaited Kept hot on its heels.

Thanks so much for your patience. While you wait, visit our films page to watch the trailers for Memoirs of a Stinky Sofa and Kept.

Thanks,

Travis

So as my readers may know, I am an avid twitter user. I’m a tweet-a-holic. I practically LIVE on twitter. So, it’s no surprise that I have made a few REALLY awesome friends, in short 140 character-or-less bursts.

I have also been fortunate enough to come into contact and forge friendships with a large number of people whose work I genuinely respect. If you have read my blog or follow my twitter, I’m sure you’ve seen me go on at great length about the incredible Joke and Biagio (@jokeandbiagio on twitter) and the help they have given me.

I have been fortunate enough to also forge a friendship with Julie Keck and Jessica King (@kingisafink on twitter). Despite the fact that we live less than 100 miles apart, and the ladies even waved at my hometown as they drove by on their way to Egofest recently, we have yet to meet face to face, or for that matter, even speak on the phone. The entirety of our communication has been confined to that social media site that I keep referencing, yet I count them as friends and I have the utmost respect for their work.

So, when they tweeted a link to watch their short film Snow Bunny via streaming video I knew I had to watch it. I even tweeted to tell them as much.

I promised the ladies a review of the film. Given how busy I am of late, that was kind of a boneheaded move on my part, and with the chaotic hell my day became while trying to make simple travel arrangements to New York City (a story for another blog. Short version: FUCK expedia.com) I almost forgot.

But as I said, I count Julie and Jessica as friends, and you don’t forget your friends.

So I offer my review below (which will likely be shorter than the rambling preamble. Leave me be. Its late and I tend to run at the mouth). You may think with all my talk about friendship and such that this review will be biased. Hell, you may be right, but just as you don’t forget your friends, you also don’t bullshit them, so I will try to be as honest as possible in my reflections on Snow Bunny.

Okay really starting the review now.

Snow Bunny, the just-under-thirty minute short film from King is a Fink Productions, is a glimpse into the life of a seemingly normal American family. The film explores the marriage of Dean (Jeremy Price) and Abigail (Marci Ackerhalt-Price). Focus shifts from their playful,  sometimes resentful banter, to their strained and challenging interactions with their children, Mandy (Naomi Trinidad) and Delilah (Lia Trinidad).

One of the finest elements of this film is the realism with which the family’s interaction is portrayed. King and Keck capture the swelling tension of a father whose patience is being tested perfectly, without compromising the story by leaping into high drama. As any parent can tell you, a simple afternoon drive with two children can generate heart-attack inducing stress. This is conveyed flawlessly in the film.

The children’s performances, though brief, are spot on. Each moment with the children captures the essence of a child’s-eye view of the family dynamic through plot and dialogue, and in one particular scene that view is literally conveyed by the skillful cinematography of Jessica King.

The dialogue in the film is real and intense in its lack of intensity. Simply put, the characters in Snow Bunny talk the way people talk, which is an often overlooked element in a screenplay. It is all too easy for a screenwriter to fall into the trap of trying to cram as much witty dialogue into their character’s mouths as possible (not that I would ever be guilty of such a thing…;)). King and Keck avoid this trap and make every word spoken in the film believable and real.

There were two elements of the film that fell a little short for me. I felt that some of the conversations could have been edited a bit differently and the pace was a little off in some spots. This is mostly during the conversation between Dean and Abigail in the second act of the film. The realistic dialogue almost makes up for the pacing being off, but there are a few spots in which its slightly jarring. I also felt that Jeremy Price’s performance as Dean left a little something to be desired. Having extremely natural dialogue to deliver, he still came off on occasion as if he were reading the role rather than being it, to borrow a term from my acting teacher. This becomes slightly more apparent when his performance is weighed against that of Marci Ackerhalt-Price, who is brilliant in the role of Abigail. Price’s expressions and body language in the film were excellent, but his performance seemed to slip whenever he was called upon to speak.

The climax of the film is disturbing yet comforting in a bizarre way. I won’t spoil it for you, but it is probably one of the most tense moments I have witnessed in a short film. I adored it.

All told, I think Snow Bunny is an excellent film and I highly recommend it. Despite my few criticisms, I found it a truly enjoyable way to spend 26 minutes, and it was well worth the price of admission!

You can watch Snow Bunny online OR order it on DVD at https://www.indieflix.com/film/snow-bunny-30390/

Thanks,

Travis

Hello,

I regret to announce that despite our efforts, Memoirs of a Stinky Sofa, the third installment of the Couch Trilogy, will not be released today as planned.

As my friends and followers on twitter may know, my grandmother passed away last Saturday. Due to her illness, I was summoned to Wisconsin to say my final goodbyes. I came home to an impressive backlog of Raymond Did It related work and a very ill effects supervisor.

I got the Raymond Did It work caught up (or as close as I am likely to get between now annd, say, the film’s release) and Robert J. Williams and I gave the sequence for Memoirs a final pass. After soma audio fixes, and a tweak or two, we locked video and audio, with two exceptions:

1. There is one missing digital effect.
2. There are no credits on the film

I passed the film in this state to our effects guru (and all around partner o’mine) Tim Stotz, withh about 36 hours to release deadline. Unfortunately, tim is in the throes of a horrible respiratory infection, and despite his best efforts at resting, recovering, and medicating the crap out of himself, has not yet returned to fighting shape.

Given the nature of the situation, I can’t say for sure when Memoirs will be online, but I am certain we will have it online as soon as is reasonably possible. right now my hopes are that my family is okay dealing with the loss of my Grandmother (don’t worry overmuch, for the most part, we are) and that Tim recovers quickly.

In the meantime, you can watch Skeet Shooting, Jimmy’s Basement, and the trailer for Memoirs of a Stinky Sofa online at our FILMS page.

I apologize for the delay.

Thanks,

Travis

I am proud to announce that Joey Grimmett of Rockford’s own Kaotic Krew has just joined the Raymond Did It team. With over 14 years of experience doing haunted houses, live events, and theatrical FX makeup, I am incredibly stoked to have Joey on board for Raymond Did It!

Below is a small sampling of Joey and the Kaotic Krew’s work.

Welcome aboard, Joey.

Also I would like to take this time to thank the following people for their contributions to Raymond Did It on indiegogo

john_peterson13 for his Fan Plus Contribution

zythia13 for her Friend Contribution

vaygh for his Fan Contribution

and JeanneVB for her Fan Conrtibution

You guys are helping make Raymond Did It possible!

Thanks,

Travis

Ladies and Gentlemen,

I am happy to unveil the design for our theatrical poster. I am thinking when we come to DVD we may do alternate covers, like Comic Books often do. One DVD with this cover and one with the Stu Mintz art. Art by jason SSG of RPG Productions

Hope you enjoy!

Have a Happy, Bloody Valentine’s Day!

Hello all!

I am proud to present the first teaser poster for Raymond Did It.

This teaser poster is designed to pay homage to the great EC Horror comics of yesteryear, such as Tales From the Crypt and Vault of Horror. As a lifelong fan of those classic comics, I thought that it would be appropriate to give a tip of the hat to one of the greatest horror art forms in American History with our little film. I hope you enjoy!

Art by Stu Mintz

Plastic Age Productions is proud to announce that Elissa Dowling (Nightstalker, Dread) has joined the cast of Raymond Did It!

Elissa will be playing the role of Paige, the icy “leader” of her group of friends. Paige is cruel and manipulative to her friends and loves only herself. Everyone else, she tolerates.

Elissa is an incredibly hardworking actress with over 40 horror movies to her credit. Coming hot off of the heels of  After Dark Horrorfest IV, and with several films already in production for 2010, we are overcome with joy to have acquired such a hot and in demand talent.

For more information and updates please keep an eye on http://blog.aegisstudios.com

Official Raymond Did It website: http://raymonddidit.aegisstudios.com

Hey all,

Today, I’m doing something a little different. I have invited Kyle Hoskins, the fine young actor set to play Raymond in our upcoming slasher film Raymond Did It, to write a guest blog.

Take a look at Kyle’s thoughts on playing a slasher:

Good morning, evening, afternoon horror lovers. My name is Kyle Hoskins and this fall you will come to know me as your friendly neighborhood slasher, Raymond. This is not my first time participating in a Travis Legge brain child. I was most recently in his zombie short “Kept” and prior to that I was the lovable loser ‘Dexter’ in “Skeet Shooting”.

Obviously this latest role is a bit of a departure from the victim or from the comedic lead, this role provides its own unique challenges. I always wanted to be a villain in a movie, I rooted for Darth Vader, I thought Hannibal had a good point, Freddy Krueger was just misunderstood. So when Travis asked if I wanted to cut people up on camera I couldn’t possibly say no.

However, this wasn’t exactly what I thought I would be doing when I dreamed of standing side by side with Vader on the Death Star. I always pictured myself as the insidious evil genius, the manipulative psycho, but Travis couldn’t possibly make it that easy.

My usual prep for a movie, the way I get to know a character, is I find a piece of him that I have in myself and than I form his personality around that. Playing a developmentally delayed killer is not the easiest head to get into but I’m making my strides.

I think the key to understanding any villain is to realize that they don’t think they are the villain. Raymond feels totally justified in his actions, he is pissed, he is slow, and he isn’t going to take it anymore. The wonderful thing about this villain in particular, I feel, is that he is driven by love. Raymond loved his brother and I feel that the source of his rage isn’t that he was wrongfully punished but that no one else was.

We might want to distance ourselves as much as possible from the guy with the knife but the truth is he is so much more like we are than any protagonist. If put in the same situation who among us wouldn’t consider taking our bloody revenge? Raymond doesn’t come to the conclusion that it’s killing time because he doesn’t have the mental faculties to understand that it’s wrong…he comes to that conclusion because he is human.

Aside from understanding the character’s motives the other obstacle you have as an actor is to genuinely portray any distinctive traits your character may have. The hardest part about this is going to be playing someone who is developmentally delayed and not have it come off as fake or insulting. The key to all this, however, is that Raymond is a child. He is an angry child who lost his brother. As long as I stay focused on that I am confident that I’ll be able to create a murderous, yet sympathetic villain for you all to love and fear.

-Kyle

You can see some of Kyle’s previous work at http://www.aegisstudios.com/film.html

Thanks,

Travis

The official Raymond Did It website is online!
Visit http://raymonddidit.aegisstudios.com to see the first teaser image of Kyle Hoskins as Raymond!

In the coming weeks there will be new and exciting content uploaded. In the meantime, enjoy the teaser!

Aegis Studios is also engaged in fundraising for Raymond Did It. If you are interested in donating to the project please visit us on indiegogo. If you would like to consider investing in the film, please email Travis at raymonddidit@gmail.com with your intent to invest in the subject line.