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Charlotte Film Anarchists coming to Queen City on May 31st.

CHARLOTTE, NC — It’s hard to believe that the Charlotte Film Anarchists mastermind group has come together so quickly in the span of one week. The brainchild of Ghost Trek creator Michael Plumides and MVP maestro J.T.McRoberts, the CFA open group on Facebook already boasts over 750 members consisting of actors, directors, musicians, writers, and artists. The swell in support shows that the filmmakers in the area want to get together with others that are being proactive about making movies in the Charlotte area and beyond. This mastermind group will give everyone a chance to not only learn from others who have had success in the industry but to talk to their fellow filmmakers who are currently struggling to see how we can all help each other. The best part is that it won’t cost anyone a dime to attend.

Sieze the day after the leap! Continue Reading…

Charlotte Film Anarchists meetup coming to Cosmos May 31st!

Get the full rundown after the leap.
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Charlotte Film Anarchists plan first meeting in May and more on Mutantville Mondays.

Welcome back to another weird and wild Monday on the Mutantville Mothership. It should go without saying by now that it’s been a busy weekend for the Mutantville Players. Post-production has been ongoing for several projects including G.H.O.S.T. and Tales From Mutantville and we are set to shoot the final scene for Muticia’s Movie Morgue tonight! Tonight’s shoot will be interesting as it features a live musical performance from Absolute Zero with band members Brent Bowers, Todd A. Britt and Jeremy Mullis. The biggest event of the weekend was the sudden announcement and subsequent launch of the filmmaking mastermind group the Charlotte Film Anarchists.

The Charlotte Film Anarchists is a group founded by Ghost Trek creator Michael Plumides and MVP co-founder J.T.McRoberts. The goal of the group is to provide Charlotte area filmmakers a chance to come together for a mastermind group once a month and talk to like minded individuals in the NC film industry. The Charlotte Film Anarchists is in no way meant to replace the existing group Charlotte Film Community – but rather to supplement it by giving actors and filmmakers that want to be more proactive a chance to meet and talk with others that have the same goals in mind.

What sets this group apart is the fact that there are no membership dues and no meetup fees. We are all struggling filmmakers that have to put so much of our own individual resources into our productions that at the end of the day it doesn’t always work out where we can scrounge up additional fees so we can simply meet and talk with our fellow filmmakers. Kill The Music author and Ghost Trek creator Michael Plumides started the ball rolling by finding a venue that would allow us to meet once a month to do our best to create positive proactive filmmaking partnerships.

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Know Your Shots, Speak With Film Lingo and Be Cool

Do you understand the words that are coming out of my mouth? Ever been on a set or around filmmakers and it sounds like their speaking another language? Are you learning about film making and want to learn some universal terms to help describe what type of shots you want to shoot? Well in this first installment, I’m going to talk about some common film lingo and define it. So let’s get started!

Let’s talk about shots. The shot of Catherine Trail and Jodi Essex above from Family Fiend would be considered a “two shot“. I’m a fan of two shots because you really get to see the interaction between the actors in the scene. The challenge is using it for really long dialog shots, because both actors have to nail it. Although you can always get a two shot then jump in for close-ups.

After the leap we’ll learn the lingo for character shots! Continue Reading…

Johnny Brento’s JuJu – Black Magic

This week I thought I’d take the opportunity to promote an upcoming project for my friend, bandmate and fellow MVP’r, Jeremy Mullis. About 8 months ago Jeremy shared his first attempt at short film with me, shot on an extremely low res camera and loosely edited. He called it, “Black Magic.” Even with the technical limitations, I found the concept interesting and encouraged Jeremy to expand the story beyond a single character in the original and to put it into proper script format. In short, he’s done that and is ready to put the people and resource together to shoot the film.

Speaking of the high concept, here it is. A young man, seeking to become powerful & rich, obtains an ancient demonic manuscript and attempts to summon a hellish demon to do his biding.  He gets more than he’s bargaining for.

Here’s where you come in. So here are the facts as I know them. The film will require a cast of 3 actors and as many crew members as we can find to lend a hand. Two males & one female who can portray 17 – 22. The shoot should entail a single Saturday or Sunday once the locations are secure. The casting will be via individual reads either. This would be a no budget project, so there would be no pay to any participants, but you would be helping out an awesome guy who’s always been quick to help out on all of our projects.

As of now there’s no schedule as the final tweaks are still being put on the script. Jeremy hopes to shoot within the next few months. If you are interested in being a part of “Black Magic” either as an actor or a crew member, shoot Jeremy Mullis via facebook.

Hopefully, you all will have another rocking MVP week!

5 Networking Tips for Independent Filmmakers

This week I wanted to talk about something that I think some filmmakers miss out on. Networking! Unlike what some people think…it’s not synonymous with butt kissing. I think it is very important to get out and meet your peers. I spoke about this some in my last blog post about supporting other filmmakers. Meeting other filmmakers, supporting them, learning from each other can be very valuable. This is where helping others can also help you as well. If you volunteer on another set and see some equipment used you may not have used before or see a cool thing done behind the scenes or meet someone you become friends with or find new actors to work with, it’s worth it.

Networking has really helped us spread our circle of friends. We now know lots of actors, producers, directors, crew, editors, etc… Here are a few tips to assist you on your journey! After the tips I’ll discuss where to use them.

Check them out after the leap!
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The Blair Witch Project (1999)

The Blair Witch Project is the focus of Classics Corner this week. If you’re not familiar with The Blair Witch Project then I’d have to say…WHAT? WHAT? WHAT? It’s about 3 film students that visit Maryland to make a film about a local legend. They went into the woods (never a good idea) to look for the Blair Witch (oddly enough not that girl from the Facts of Life). They never came back. So a year later the footage was found and compiled and made into a movie.

One thing I like a lot about this movie is how it was marketed. It was genius. I ran into people for years that argued that it was real. Of course these people should go look up the actors online and see that they acted in other movies after they “died.” For most people this is pretty tough. This film had a ton of buzz around it when it was released. According to IMDB, the estimated budget was $60,000 and it grossed $248,639,099 world wide…which I’d say is a pretty good return on investment.

The Blair Witch Project was produced by Haxan Films. The film was directed by Daniel Myrick and Eduardo Sanchez, who wrote the film as well. The film stars Heather Donahue, Joshua Leonard and Michael Williams.

Learn more, see the trailer, clips, interviews, etc… when you click the “continue reading…” link!
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MVP Announces Cast for “Indigo Child”

We are pleased to announce that “Indigo Child” is Cast

Father Connor McLennan – Matthew Ewald

Matthew Ewald will lead our ensemble cast in the role of Father Connor McLennan. A veteran actor with a great deal of experience and a veritable ton of charisma, MVP is thrilled to once again host Mr. Ewald in a Mutantville production. Experience has shown his  professionalism and preparation to be absolutely second to none.

Anna Bartlet – Vanessa Ore

We’re thrilled to have Vanessa Ore portraying Anna Barlet, the nurturing mother of the Indigo Child from the title. Vanessa has appeared in many  feature films  as well as local and national commercials.

Amelia Bartlet – Kayli M. Tolleson

It’s a great boon to our project to once again have the talented Kayli Tolleson on board as Amelia Bartlet – The Indigo Child.

Sheriff Carl Kimrey – Steven Tucker

Steven Tucker has been a primary Mutantville Player for several years now. He brings a ton of enthusiasm for each role that comes his way and is a real boost to the entire cast. We look forward to another brilliant performance from Mr. Tucker as Carl Kimrey.

We are fortunate to have found an amazing supporting cast in the follow roles:

Judy Bartlet will be portrayed by Tina Short

Russel Bartlet will be portrayed by  Eric Cook

Joe Farmer will be portrayed by Jason Wheeley

Beth Farmer will be portrayed by Jackie Wheeley

Zoe Farmer will be portrayed by Cori Wheeley

I am very excited to work with such an incredible group of actors. It’s going to be tremendous fun bringing “Indigo Child” to life with you all in October.

Brent Bowers

Writer/Director
Indigo Child

MVP Announces Cast for “Scarecrow At Midnight”!

Mutantville Productions is proud to announce the spectacular cast that we have signed to bring you the Scarecrow At Midnight portion of the Tales From Mutantville anthology.  We have an amazing line up of actors from far and near coming to join us at the Myers House NC this October as we bring this little tale of Halloween terror to life!

Be sure to follow our progress on the Facebook fanpage for Tales From Mutantville!  And don’t forget to hit the “like” button for everything you see!

Katie Bearden leads the way as “Sonia Ward”.

The amazing Matthew Ewald will visit North Carolina once again as he  gives life to the role of “Sawbones”.

Michael Sharpe joins MVP at long last to bring the role of “Daniel” to villainous life.

Janice Wyatt will play the mother of our young heroine as “Sarah Ward”.

Jeremy Bonham lends his talents to cast as he plays the brother “Charlie Ward”.

Local maestro Tommy Allen Taylor joins the cast as “Grandpa Derby”.

Young ingenue Meghan King will play the part of “Young Sarah”.

Seamstress turned actress Angela Pritchett will play the part of “Megan”.

Stuntman and all around badass Coty Galloway will play the part of “Robert”.

We will have a nice tribute to the our location at the Spookhouse as Tara-Nicole Azarian will reprise her role from the amazing Halloween tribute film “Judith” as the “Trick-or-treater”.

Jack-of-all-trades Michael Ruff will join the cast as the stunt double for “Sawbones”.

Thank you all for joining us on what is sure to be an amazing adventure.  Welcome to the Mutantville Player’s Club.

G.H.O.S.T. Team Gets Back To Where They Once Belonged!

Mutantville Productions is headed back to the set this week as the new shooting schedule for “G.H.O.S.T.” begins in earnest!  Principle photography was completed in November, pick ups were filmed over December, and the first assembly was completed over the winter holiday.   After the first cut came in at a healthy 47 minute run time  – producers Brent Bowers, Geo Blalock and writer/director J.T. McRoberts decided to invest in shooting some new scenes to expand the short film into a full length feature.  After weeks of heavy work on the script for new scenes – the pieces are set in motion and MVP is on it’s way back to the set.

This week – we stop at a local bookstore where the fans will have a chance to meet and greet the one and only G.B. Cunningham from “G.H.O.S.T. “  Actors Dave Tunik and Davis Osborne are excited to head back to the set to bring the new scene to life.   Filming on these additional scenes will continue through the few months and is expected to conclude in April.  Keep watching Mutantville.com for your up to the minute MVP news!