Experience the Many Dimensions of Nightscape

As diligent (and patient) readers of this blog know, the film will be supported by a series of ancillary products. The most immediate releases inlcude an original novel, a video game and the film's soundtrack. I'll go into greater depth on each of these endeavors as their street dates near. In the meantime, here's a brief overview:

Nightscape: The Dreams of Devils

This original novel has its origins in the first unproduced Nightscape-related screenplay I wrote. The book concerns three high school seniors who gain unwanted paranormal powers. They have to uncover the source and purpose of these powers in order to prevent the collapse of earthly reality. The book features two characters from the film, though in decidedly different guises. What makes it possible for one of those characters to appear is revealed in a climactic twist.

Despite the ages of the book's main characters, it's not a young adult (YA) novel. It's a work of literary horror intended for a mature audience. The question at the heart of the book is: What does it mean to be human?  It’s darkly philosophical in the tradition of H.P. Lovecraft and shouldn't be confused with standard paperback horror. The main protoganist, Case, is a 16-year-old math prodigy with a particular fascination with the mathematics around infinity. His mathematical obsession is intimately tied to the nature of the story's supernatural threat.

The book includes a bonus short story, "Auto-da-Fé, American-style," which serves as a direct prequel to the film. It will be available on October 9th in both print and eBook editions from Amazon and other retailers.

Nightscape: Phantom Fast Racing

In this free iOS action-driving game, your goal is to outrace a nefarious phantom car through a series of rural burgs in a tricked out El Camino. The phantom car slows your progress by transforming hapless bystanders into tentacled monsters. You can evade or destroy these creatures using a variety of power ups, including a nitro boost, a spike drop, a demon-killing pistol, and a flamethrower. Your pursuit is further hampered by the ever-dogged police. With three difficulty settings and 15 levels, the game offers 16-bit-style fun for casual and hardcore gamers alike. Look for it starting September 25th on iTunes.

Nightscape: Original Motion Picture Soundtrack

Composer John Morgan Askew outdid himself on the film's spaghetti western meets retro-80s score. He's scored a number of indie films, notably, Calvin Marshall (2011), and worked uncredited on HBO's Deadwood. While I'm not above bias here, I think this soundtrack represents his best work yet.

John had this to say about the experience of making it: “[David] Edwards created a unique world for his film Nightscape so the score needed to not only support this in sound and feel but also needed to be an additional, tweaked, layer to the setting and the story. In the end, a very industrial palate was developed by recording percussive car sounds for drums, 8-cylinder engine idles for drones and, by good luck, some random chain scrapes and tool squeaks from a machine shop became key melodic tones throughout.  These created sounds with a blatant hat-tip to Tangerine Dream and Wendy / Walter Carlos made for some pretty weird score!”

The soundtrack consists of 20 tracks and clocks in at nearly 60 minutes. In addition to the original score, the soundtrack includes the garage rock song, “Save Yourself (Cuz No One Else Will).” This track, performed by Monster-Sized Monsters (fronted by the film’s lead actress Emily Galash), ties directly into the prequel short story included in the book. The soundtrack also contains the catchy Casio-inspired theme from the iOS video game.

The soundtrack will be available in both MP3 and limited edition CD formats via a number of online retailers, notably, Amazon, CD Baby, Google Marketplace and iTunes. The suggested MSRP is $9.99 for the digital version and $11.99 for the CD. I anticipate pre-orders will be available starting September 18th.

Pretty exciting lineup of tie-ins, eh? Look for our ads in upcoming issues of Rue Morgue, Shock Cinema, Scream and Screem (yes, two separate genre mags with nearly identical titles) and help spread the word. The Leviathan is heading your way...

Breaking the Silence

The Leviathan is finally headed your way ...

I apologize to faithful followers of Nightscape for my prolonged inactivity on this blog. These last months have been a test of patience for me, too, while I've struggled to coordinate the work necessary to finish the picture. I'll leave the trevails of post-production to another post (or several). The news that counts is this: I'm proud to announce the world premiere of Nightscape at the Montreal Comiccon Horrorfest. Nightscape was one of 15 films selected by the festival as part of its initial feature film lineup. The festival, which runs from September 14^th through the 16^th in Montreal, Quebec, will showcase a total of 30 features from around the globe.

(A curious aside: As it happens, one of the guests of honor at the Montreal Comiccon is Gunnar Hansen, famous for playing the cannibal Leatherface in The Texas Chainsaw Massacre. Early in Nightscape's production, I signed a pay or play agreement with Mr. Hansen's management team for him to cameo. Unfortunately, the film's final budget precluded us from becoming a Screen Actors Guild (SAG) signatory, so Mr. Hansen was compelled to drop out. Much to my relief, he did so gracefully and without holding me to the entirety of the financial penalty he could've demanded. I hope to thank him for his generosity in person.)

 I’m pleased to bring Nightscape to a large, enthusiastic genre audience at the Montreal Comiccon Horrorfest. After nearly two years of work, I’m anxious to know how it plays. It’s not a paint-by-numbers horror film. It’s a smart supernatural thriller that relies more on character and atmosphere than gimmicky jump scares.

 There's still much to be done before we master the film. We're still shy a few digital effects shots. And we continue to refine the sound mix and color. But it's safe to anticipate a master by the end of the month. At the same time, I'm prepping the release of an original tie-in novel, an action-driving iOS game, the film's spaghetti western/retro-80s soundtrack, and an original radio play/podcast. Yes, these next few months will see a veritable onslaught of Nightscape swag!

Now that the silence has been broken with a big huzzah, you can expect regular (well, at least weekly) posts on the film's festival run as well as my other Nightscape-related ventures. Thanks for sticking with me. Here's where it gets good...

Art of the Title

In the script stage, I tentatively planned on integrating Nightscape’s main titles into an early street race scene. When it came time to shoot that scene, however, we were unduly rushed. It entailed some complicated staging, made more time-sensitive by the short summer night (the sky grew noticeably lighter about 4am), so we couldn’t frame the opening shots to accommodate titles and ensure we had the right coverage for it. So much for my original idea. That left me with either moving all of the credits to the end of the picture à la Star Wars, or alternately, developing a standalone title sequence. After some deliberation, I opted for the latter.

My first-rate cinematographer, Patrick Neary, and I toyed with the notion of creating a title sequence ourselves. Our first thought was to capture scads of wrecking yard footage and then re-work it in post, combining errant car parts with organic elements. Then I arrived at the notion of creating a motion-graphic version of this idea. I imagined it as a classic Saul Bass sequence with a horrific twist. This notion called for someone with significant graphic software skills, so I opted to hire out the creation of the titles. Title design is its own unique art form and I wanted to make sure we started the film with something shockingly different to announce the film’s creepy aesthetics.

Using the oh-so-informative Web site, Art of the Title, I made a list of potential title designers and contacted my number one choice: Kurt Volk, a graphic designer for Robert Rodriguez’s Troublemaker Studios. He found the title concept intriguing and wanted to work on it, but ever-escalating demands on his time precluded his involvement. He was, however, kind enough to recommend Ian Albinson, none other than the founder of Art of the Title. Fortunately for me, Ian was available and interested. Shortly after he accepted the gig, he proposed going back to the original live-action title concept, showing a series of techno-mechanical images tied to the film’s bête noir, the phantom car.

Since then, Kurt’s worked up about eight iterations of the title sequence and is near to finishing after about three months of work off and on. He and his collaborators have done an amazing job. The 90-second sequence features hand-designed titles (created by Jon Contino) over strangely affecting images with recognizably automotive origins. He gave the sequence an exceptional dynamism by not only putting the titles in motion, but also making them transparent as they approach the viewer, providing glimpses of the next image in the sequence before its fully revealed. As noted previously, the capper was the music. My composer, John Askew, surprised me with a fantastic main title theme. (To be clear, I wasn’t surprised the score was fantastic, but that John created a score at all. I’d long planned to use a pre-existing song from an obscure mid-70s band for the sequence. But when securing the rights to the tune became problematic, John offered his own take.)

Now, all that remains is a few finishing special effects touches and the sequence will be complete and ready for output. Another element put to bed on the way to a final master…