Do you hear the song Ring Around the Rosie in the background? Oh… yes. How unsettling.
Enjoy this extra eerie moment with Anne Yatco!
FUN FACTS
1.) It took her about 40 minutes to do her makeup
2.) She shot her film in her apartment (her husband Zach was gracious enough to be her DP).
3.) And as for the title of the film, yes, it’s meant to refer to the Spanish Flu.
It’s like she had pandemic on the brain or something…
Today for Gothtober DAY 15 we’ve got quite the wild interlude with Lori Meeker! Follow along with Lori as she uses her wits to do some hunting in the big green forest! Here are some words from the filmmaker herself:
There are a whole lot of creepy crawlies that roam in the forest. Bats, bugs and the occasional Sasquatch top the list, but have you ever heard of a Chipalope?
Inspired by the legends surrounding the California Redwoods and a little roadside attraction called Confusion Hill, comes a new story all about this little horned woodland creature.
This tale is a part of a larger universe called Welcome to Meadowlark Falls, a theatrical experience that creates the feeling of a Hallmark Christmas movie and puts YOU at the center of it. Honoring the genre, and spoofing it too, our friends at Meadowlark Falls General Store create a story filled with Christmas, cookies, love and a Chipalope here and there.
This year we are offering a limited amount of an at-home experience that is sure to set your holiday season off right. Check out more at welcometomeadowlarkfalls.com and find us on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter under the same name. Merry Christmas…. er uhm I mean HAPPY HALLOWEEN!
Have you ever wanted to learn how to paint? Look no further than Martini and Bob Rossi, where your martini gives you the liquid courage needed to paint a haunted masterpiece sitting upon a hill! All you need are some paints, some brushes, nothing fancy, and some kind of thick paper, and you’re already there!
Now… funnily enough, people have noticed that there’s an uncanny likeness between Bob Rossi and our good friend, Liz Hogan. Understand they are NOT the same person, but wouldn’t it be weird if they were long lost cousins or something? They both have such creative DNA. Huh. Weird. Oh well.
What is great love, the kind of love that lasts a lifetime? Christine and Marilyn were partners and shared a life together that radiated a sweetness of spirit.
Christine is an animator, a professor, a teacher, a mentor. She and Marilyn were together for over three decades. Marilyn passed away this year, but in this piece, you can hear her voice, as a bold singing pumpkin, ready for its moment. And you can see the love in every pen stroke of this animation that Christine built.
Rest in Power, Marilyn, please leave the light on for us, we’ll be partying with you before you know it.
One of the perks of being Head Candy Corn of Gothtober is the occasional “quality control” delivery of baked goods. Yuki dropped off a sample of her Pumpkin Spice Latte Cake… and WOW that was delicious and there is none left.
As we all scream inside our hearts and eat our feelings, why not do it in quality style? You’re gonna want this recipe, it’s the perfect treat to cram into your face while watching debates and preparing for the 2020 election. It’s also got a nice ribbon of espresso winding through it, so you’ll be able to get lots done after eating some of it.
Visit DAY 10 on the Gothtober Calendar!
It’s one thing to deal with quarantine, and then it’s another thing entirely to suffer a broken heart during quarantine. It’s a double dose of crap sandwich. It’s a challenge to prevent hardening into a perpetually pissed off burnt little pebble.
Ugh. How to process.
We start with some charming ukulele strums from Tom Moose. The animation is sweet and loving… and then everything just like… explodes. But is that all? Nope. We asked Sibyl about her film and this is what she had to say:
Sibyl’s Words: There’s so much happening in the world to be angry about. I’ve lost whole days to rage in the past few months. Sometimes the anger feels great, adrenalizing and powerful, but it’s also exhausting and leaves my heart hate sick.
What’s helping me are revenge fantasies. Creative acts of vandalism. Riots of righteous joy. Making this stop motion gave me a way to express my fury and leave room for my silly little heart to do what it can’t seem to stop doing – loving you and this stupid world we’ve made.
Turn your lights down ALL THE WAY, and turn your speakers up, so that you can experience California’s Crystal Cove and the Malibu State Park, among other points of interest, and you can hear Paul’s song as the camera saunters.
“The American people have witnessed what is the greatest failure of any presidential administration in the history of our country”
K A M A L A H A R R I S
“8 months since we’ve been in the same room
8 months of destruction and gloom
8 months since I gave you a hug
8 months…. WTF”
P A U L Y G.
We WILL be together again, but boy… right now… this sucks.
I don’t want to give away anything in the film, but since hiking and walking is one of the things we CAN do during quarantine, visiting the spot where Paul filmed DAY 9 makes a great day adventure! Check it out and plan your adventure!
Considered the recreational crown jewel of the Santa Monica Mountains, Malibu Creek State Park has over 8,000 acres of rolling tallgrass plains, oak savannahs and dramatic peaks. It’s no wonder many call it “The Yosemite of Southern California”.
Gothtober DAY 8!
From Downtown Los Angeles, in ghostly form, it’s THE HONEYLABS!!! If you’ve a hankering for some well known tunes from one of the most celebrated song duos of yacht rock fame, you’re in for a treat! Follow the Ghost Detectives to solve the mystery of what’s going on with Sarah Smile! Starring Linda Santiman and Nancy Kissam, these two play aspirational apparitions on a quest for better supernatural communication skills!
So how did they go about making their Gothtober piece? All is revealed:
We know you used a LOT of Hall and Oates songs, were there any you left out, or is there one that is your favorite Hall and Oates song of all time?
We did not use “She’s Gone!” That would have worked here too!
Where did you shoot your movie scenes?
We shot around the Bradbury Building downtown, my favorite DTLA building because of Blade Runner!
Did anyone bug you or try to get in the shot or ask you questions or try to bust you for a film permit?
This guy cleaning the courtyard in back said we couldn’t film on the steps of the building behind it because of its famous location. But we filmed all around it.
One guy came around the corner and thought Nancy and I were mannequins in our vintage hats! We startled him a bit when we moved!
What did you make the puppet sticks out of? Popsicle? Chopsticks?
Puppet sticks were rulers I stole from school because I’m a teacher. I intended to return them but then Covid. So yes, I guess I stole them.
They’re BACK! Julia Marchese and Teri Gamble, aka, The Horror Movie Survival Guide podcast hosts, go over a little bit of horror history by talking about Renfields! Do you know what a Renfield is? Well this is your education for the day.
If you like this good time ditty, check out allll the great podcasts from Horror Movie Survival Guide about any and all horror flicks old and new!
Was there ever a dream you had of people riding through mountain terrain on gravity-defying electric mouse vehicles? I had such a dream, sometime in the 90s. I told my college chum, Cristin Pescosolido, all about it! Our High Priestess of Gothtober, Cristin, has used special effects magic to give us a glimpse of just how REAL this dream could look.
Here is Cristin’s account of creating this lively futuristic scenario:
“This was made entirely in blender and unreal engine 4 over the last three weeks.
I had never used either package before, so the learning curve was steep.
The modeling, texturing, and animation was done in blender. The shading, particles, lighting, and landscape was done using UE4.
There is still a bunch of stuff I need to figure out, like reflection maps, audio (the mix output from UE4 is still experimental in the version I was using) and why my particles didn’t render in every shot.
But hey, it was a huge amount of fun, and I did a lot of writing of my own materials, something I’ve never done before. Blueprint is fun, and I can’t wait to learn more (and maybe dig into c++ instead of blueprint inside UE4).