Stoner space ships

Some of the early alien space ship ideas by CGI artist Robert Rossoff.

THE IDEA FOR A MOVIE

The initial spark for musing Night of the Alien was simply a not so simple question.

“What if you picked up a hitchhiker, dressed like a B-movie alien, who claimed to actually BE an alien, and never once let up on that schtick?”

Taking it a bit further...

“What if this ‘alien’ was constantly spewing out universal truths and did something ‘kinda’ magical?”... kinda

Would you be driving around some crazy person, or might this ‘person’ actually be... an alien?

Hmmmmm.....

FINISHING IN FEBRUARY

Is there an upside to making a movie on a budget of air? Well, there’s no crushing deadlines or ‘investor’ telling you what you can and can’t do, so can just let the creative risk taking fly... as one is able.

Downside? Well, there’s no investor keeping you on a crushing deadline so the flick can actually get finished as your services ‘donated’ continually keep getting doled out according to time and convenience.

Thus, a little production can get frustratingly stuck in the purgatory of waiting... a few more music cues here, bit ‘o audio sweetening there, more mixing, new van sound, roto scoping, digital face beatifying, final screening ready outputting...

Thank god this coming February the clouds finally appear to be opening to the heavens, putting that final completion clearly in sight.... or is it?

Thus far every set back been a some sort of blessing, so?

Fingers crossed...

Danny, hoarder or collector?

What some folks might consider garbage, Danny considers a windowsill wonder.

The Bieber Theory

A middle aged plain as can be English woman, living alone with a cat named Pebbles, or is she?... Plain as can be...

There better singers than Susan Boyle? Sure.

But the right story, at the right time, with some viral exposure, and talent... equals phenomenon... sometimes...

Anyone can blow up at anytime...

Ask that kid from Canada... making youtube videos... and then....

The speed of exposure... can’t argue with results...

More on the Music

Eric Wolford, AKA DJ Wolfie, explains his thought process and state of mind for scoring Night of the Alien’s clothing store scene.

The Kardashian Theory

Doesn’t matter what one does, if anything. The masses just gotta know who the heck you are. That’s it! Oh yeah. This, is the society in which we now live.

Exposure trumps content, makes sense, right? Who isn’t enchanted by the antics of Snooki? Google Snoo... and then... it knows... even before Snoop Dog... SNOOP DOG!

Is the secret to success really just as simple as having nothing more than a kinda gross, yet engaging personality plastered all over a cable reality show? Maybe.

What would Ted Williams, that homeless dude with a rich golden voice, STILL be doing if not for that viral video?

Yes, it’s true. The surest way of making it is putting every effort imaginable into getting your brand out... worrying about any actual content... well, later. Brand recognition, those talented folks able to pull that one off are entertainment’s true heros.

Content without exposure is like clapping in the forest, if no one’s listening... are you really clapping? If no one’s noticing, are you really entertaining?

the CGI guy

Robert Rossoff chats about his thoughts on creating the CGI for Night of the Alien as well as his approach to movie making. Robert's visual effect credits also include Star Trek, Shrek, and Alice in Wonderland.

DOIN’ THE LIMBO

Waiting.... to see where and when this flick is gonna screen. Yeah, there’s still be a bit ‘o posting yet to be tweaked, but nothing that can’t be rocked once there’s a call to action.

This is fursure the roughest stage of makin’ a movie... Getting a gang of creative types bonded for long hard hours of throwing down hard core. Wrangling semi-exotic locations and gear. Not a prob... Making sweet music, finding and clearing bitchen tunes, a bad ass opening title sequence, roto scoping and compositing till the cows come home. Done that.

What we can’t do is know the tastes of all those gosh darn festival programers, of which one will say “Why this is the movie I’ve been looking for”. He or she is there... somewhere... sipping a pikes roast, watching the clouds go by, sleeping in.

So we wait. For that next chess move...