A place for those who "Trust the Fungus"

Hey all, I just wanted to drop a quick "shameless plug" about a movie I worked on and it's premiere date.

Well, starting tomorrow (Sunday) at 9:00pm on the SyFy channel, "Fire From Below" premieres.

I helped film this movie in Indiana back in late 2007. I helped with props, camera work, and set dressing. I even appear in the film as an extra!

It was my first professional outing for filmmaking since I started working with a camera. I have done fan films and small indie stuff for years but nothing like this.

I got a real taste for Hollywood working on the set and it was a real eyeopener for me. Filmmaking is not all fun and games, it's alotta hard work and dedication.

So if you can, check out the film or Tivo it for later. Post here on what you think about the movie. The critics have already slammed this movie, heh heh...but I'm going to like it regardless.

Check it out: Fire From Below airs tomorrow night on the SyFy channel!! 9:00pm!

http://www.syfy.com/movies/originals/in ... pageid=119

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1137455/

Nice! That's awesome dude. I'll have to see if I can catch it sometime. Makes me wish I had a DVR, lol. And yes, I totally agree about the "hard work and dedication" part of filmmaking--I've made a few fan-type films myself, and it took a lot. And don't worry about people slamming the movie...on this board above many others, it should be apparent that there's something to appreciate in every film

I refuse to call it the 'SyFy' channel, it's always gonna be the "Sci-Fi" channel, changing it to 'SyFy' was a bad attempt at being 'hip.'

Yeah, "Sci Fi channel production" screams "avoid at all costs", but knowing you were involved is enough to get me to at least record it. I'll try to watch it sometime and provide a review, focusing on the areas you worked on.

MerrittTheFerret wrote:I refuse to call it the 'SyFy' channel, it's always gonna be the "Sci-Fi" channel, changing it to 'SyFy' was a bad attempt at being 'hip.'

They changed it because they didn't want to be identified with the wrong "demographic"... That is, the "nerds who live with their mom" demographic. No lie... Said exactly that in interviews.

Thats cool you worked on a movie thats going to be on TV. I'll try to watch it, 9 is the same time new Family Guy and my other shows are on.

Well I just finished watching the movie for the first time...and I was impressed.

Overall, I liked the finished film. I was expecting much worse. My family and friends watching the film with me thought it was horrible. Hard to follow...and had bad dialogue. But the locations, national guard, and props were great. Having two black hawk helicopters fly in over your head is really something when you are trying to hold down the camera equipment to keep it from being blown away.

Here are some qucik fun facts about my experience on set:

* I appear on screen when Gen. Cook and Jake walk in the Mining outpost office building. I'm the guardsman standing next to the enterence on the right. I was originally supposed to walk/cross in front of the camera as it trucked back into the scene. But I kept missing my cue so I was just told to "stand there" and do nothing.

* I appear 4 to 5 times in the office building in the backgound while Gen. Cook is talking with everyone. There were not enough soldiers for that scene so they had me walking "loops" in front of the camera. I ususally have a different object in my hands for each pass to make it look like a different soldier for each shot.

* I was on set for all cave and warehouse shots (Drake mining station). The first shot of the Indiana shoot was the interior shot of everyone in the helicopter. That was just a dark room with a OD green painted rug for a backdrop. The paint wasn't even dry when they started shooting. The last shot of the Indiana shoot was the scene with Jake and his friends jumping into the underground river.

* parts of my parents bedroom set (lamps, end tables, alarm clock, etc.) end up in the film. Used for a bedroom scene with Jake and his wife. Jake turns on my lamp to wake her.

*I armed all of the countdown timer shots. Nobody could get the countdown timer to work right. I worked and worked to get that to count right, it was by sheer luck we got the shots we did. There were 3-4 nukecases for the film including one hero prop. My camera was attached to all close up shots and I "think" my finger was shown arming the bomb in one of the tight close ups.

*For the last shot in the film. Jake and friends come over to meet the army guys and group hug. Notice how dry Jake is from just exiting the lake (two shots filmed in two different locations). The director is calling for more "water" to be dumped on Jake as he is too dry. It's the end of the filming day, it's starting to rain, no one can find water. I have a bottle of water left over from lunch left in my stuff so I run over to Jake and empty the bottle over his head and shirt. It wasn't much but it made the shot.

*my main jobs included: pulling focus on actors, helping unload reload film, using the clapstick, writing (bad) film usage reports, errand boy, setting up viewscreens for the DP and Directors, switching lenses, moving cameras into position, minor shot directing (one or two shots for B camera).

Thats pretty much it. Come it think of it...It must have been a Sorbo movie marathon on SyFy that day, 3 Sorbo movies back to back. This film will eventually make a "straight to DVD" release in the future. I'm getting this movie regardless...it's priceless in my book.

I will definetly have to put this on my Netflix or buy it if it's a reasonable price. When I watch I'll see if I can spot the stuff you pointed out.

Update:

The film has just been released on DVD.

Amazon Fire From Below DVD Link



It prolly won't be too long before you start seeing it in stores.

Whats Fire From Below about?

1upmushroom wrote:Whats Fire From Below about?

A really bad yeast infection?

I'LL GET MY COAT.