In the Spring of this
year Project: Torchwood learnt that Gareth David-Lloyd would be starring in a
zombie movie, this filled us with great interest given that Gareth’s Torchwood
character Ianto had featured in the Torchwood novel Bay of the Dead by Mark
Morris which involved zombies. Although
we haven’t as yet been able to chat with Gareth over his role as Jacob Fitts,
we went one better and spoke to the two guys who put the idea together and made
the film, Robert Palmer and Michael Weiss.
(Gareth David-Lloyd with
Gunner Wright and Rory Zacher at Black Canyon of the Gunnison National Park)
The synopsis for the
film tells of Jacob Fitts and his crew Mason Riley and Adam Levine heading out
to the Colorado Rockies to film their 113th Episode of I Am Alone, a survivalist television
show. Jacob is to be left to fend for
himself for 7 days while his team head into town to shoot footage and interview
townsfolk. But a viral outbreak is
spreading rapidly across the globe.
Unaware of this news, Jacob continues to shoot his television show but
at the end of day one, Jacob is attacked and bitten by an infected person.
As the virus spreads
through the town both Mason and Adam have to fight the infected to save their
own lives...
The film is due for
release in 2014 but whether it makes it to the UK remains to be seen. But here’s hoping!
Hi
guys, could you introduce yourselves and your part in making the film, and
about your background, how you got into filming and how many other productions
you’ve been involved in prior to I Am Alone? How did you guys all meet?
Robert: Michael and I met way back in 8th
grade in middle school, we realized early on we had a shared love of late
80’s/early 90’s cinema. Although, we were pretty young, our film knowledge was
pretty well versed. This love of film viewing eventually led to filmmaking.
Much through high school Michael and I made many short films, with little to no
understanding of how films were actually made. We remained friends after
college and eventually found ourselves on the west coast pursuing our dreams of
being filmmakers alongside our idols. I Am Alone has brought our professional
experience to our personal projects.
(Michael A. Weiss with
Robert Palmer)
I’m
currently playing a zombie in a local produced film, it’s put together for a
charity close to the writer/director’s heart and it’s all good fun and I’m also
on the production team so having an opportunity of being both sides of the
camera as it were, it’s fun to see something start at the beginning and have an
input in the film.
https://www.facebook.com/groups/52187602706/ Infinity Films check us out!
Robert: Any production is an undertaking but
for most no one wants to know how the food gets to the table they just want to
eat it. Making a film is very similar, we all enjoy the end result but no one
knows the steps it took to get it there. Everyone should try to make a film
once in their lives…
How
did I Am Alone begin, who thought of the idea and how long did it take from
storyboarding to actually putting together to apply for funding?
R&M: Both our background began in reality
TV since moving out to Los Angeles but we both followed different paths as our
careers continued which eventually converged on I am Alone. (Robert) remains a Reality TV producer working
on shows like Extreme Makeover: Home
Edition, Gene Simmons Family Jewels and countless other shows. Michael
segued from reality TV into Commercials and film production to pursue a career
as an editor. Michael has been part of some of the largest commercial ad
campaigns of recent years, working with clients Apple, Pepsi, Burger King &
Hyundai. And working alongside directors like Michael Bay, Derek Cianfrance, Stacy Wall & Mark Coppos. However,
our passion for filmmaking never waned and several years ago we realized we
could merge professional and personal genres to create a unique horror film. In
2010, Michael edited and I directed and produced an award winning short Film “People
of Earth” that screened all
over the USA. People of Earth, was a great jumping off point for us and with all
the excitement we wanted to challenge ourselves with our next project.
(2013 Kickstarter)
I Am Alone grew out of that desire to push
ourselves. Early on, the idea began as a horror film video diary, but as the
story developed we realized we had a great opportunity to push the boundaries
of both Reality TV and horror films.
We knew we had a
different story on our hands. In early 2011, the first draft of I Am Alone was completed. We believed
the story structure was something we could film ourselves with financing help
via Kickstarter. Kickstarter had
gained much popularity in early 2012, we ran our first Kickstarter campaign
which ended after 30 days we didn't make our goal of 25k. We had learned some
incredible lessons the first time round. Undaunted by the outcome, we knew we
had to keep pushing forward, believing what we have is truly different. We
regrouped and planned our second campaign for mid 2013. The second time around we
went into the Kickstarter campaign even more determined. In April/May 2013 we re-launched
our campaign with an amazing team behind us.
In the midst of the campaign,
we were fortunate enough to get mentioned in the May 17th, 2013 issue of Entertainment
Weekly discussing Kickstarter. We also held a zombie walk and kickstarter
party in the Town of Montrose, Colorado where we were going to shoot our film.
Well over 300 people turned out to meet and greet us. Nearly 100 people of all
ages dressed as zombies.
We weren’t done yet, towards
the end of the 30 day campaign we were able to secure Gareth David Lloyd as our Jacob
Fitts. Gareth was the final piece of the puzzle and it all fell into place
after that. We reached our goal 4 days ahead of the deadline. We had raised our
25k in less then 1 month and now I Am Alone was truly a reality.
Article: Link http://popwatch.ew.com/2013/05/09/kickstarter-backlash/
(Cast and crew of I Am
Alone)
Although
zombie films don’t often require a major storyline, an infection and then lots
of blood and gore, does your film offer a different twist to the regular zombie
blood fest?
Robert: Zombie films historically cantered
around the undead ravaging a location and a group of mismatched people who must
band together and defeat the undead masses. The premise has been beaten to
death (pun intended). Zombie films have been so saturated as of late that the
average filmgoer, Netflix-er… immediately assumes all zombie films are subpar
to the bigger budget films, which in truth really isn’t the case. So, when
Michael and I wrote the script we understood that our film had to differ in
some way and we realized this story was about the characters, the infection
cause would be far less important then the characters dealing with a “real
life” scenario. One of the key ideas was to limit the amount of people in the
story. The focus wasn’t going to be on the zombies, the focus was going to be
on humanity. I Am Alone couldn't just be a title; it had to tell the audience
what the theme was. Although for all you
horror fans we have some bloody good scenes.
How
does your film differ from every other zombie film out there and is there ever
a risk that your film covers something already used in another film, current or
otherwise, and how do you combat that if it happens?
Robert: Few films if any, and believe me I’ve
watched almost every zombie film I could, before we set out to shoot I am
Alone. I was only able to find a few films that deal with the transformation
aspect of a zombie film. Dawn of the
dead (2004) has a very small subplot regarding transformation, Colin (2008) from the UK tells the
zombie story from the zombie’s perspective but not exactly what we were going
for. We knew we needed an amazing actor such as Gareth David-Lloyd to portray Jacob
from both a living breathing charismatic Reality Show host to whatever he may
become at the end of the film. We weren’t going for the standard sixty - second
change over in most TV and films use. We
wanted it to be about a slow heart-breaking decline of a man. That's how we
know we’re different. Few zombies’ films
ever try to deal with the impact something like this would have on you or those
you love.
(Gareth)
How
difficult or easy is the process for applying for funding and do you have to
reach certain criteria for it, and if you don’t reach the funding level can you
reapply, or still use what funds have been donated? Can you explain the
process?
Robert: Funding any film is a challenge; few
people actually know how difficult it is. Most films never make it passed the
funding stage, since they never make their funds. Most studios only release
about 12 films a year and they have money.
So imagine how difficult it is for everyone else out there trying to bring their
project to life. It’s nearly impossible. I can’t say enough about the crowd-funding platform and Kickstarter. For the first time, an artist can reach out to
your market audience and collectively you can bring a project to life. With Kickstarter,
it is a “winner take all model.”
Meaning, if we don't reach our goal we lose it all, which was the case in 2012.
When we re-launched we knew we had to start from scratch. There is nothing more
vulnerable as an artist fundraising on a crowd-funding site, if you fail, you
feel like you fail alone, but when you succeed… Everyone who supported you is
part of the process. We owe everything to our Kickstarter supporters all over
the world.
What
cameras did you use for the filming?
Robert: We knew early on into pre production
I Am Alone wasn't going to be shot as a standard narrative film. This film was
going to fall more into the “found
footage” genre so we had lots of cameras we could use. The style of the
film required a special eye and we were very lucky to land Adrian Sierkowski as our Director
of Photography. Upon first meeting him, I knew we were onto something. He
understood exactly what we were going for with the style of this film.
(Adrian Sierkowski with
camera)
Lots of hand held cameras, lots of security cams to show us a “real time” look to this infection and
how technology could be used to track its destruction. The “towns” cameras would be telling the
story as much as our cameras would be. We shot on at least 4 different cameras
(not in every scene) We used a Panasonic
GH2, Canon XA-20, Gopro’s and cell
phones. We knew the cameras would almost have to be a character as much as
the actors and locations would be.
(Gareth wearing canoe
cam with Robert Palmer)
I read somewhere that you got the use of someone’s land specially to shoot the
entire film; did you have any issues with local wildlife? And
were they ok about you etching the name on the tree?
Robert: When Michael and I wrote I Am Alone
we had no idea where we were going to shoot this film. We simply wrote what we
wanted to see. We knew finding a location would be a serious challenge but as
it happened it all fell into place. I had mentioned my location dilemma to my softball
team and as it happened my teammate/friend Chayson
Bean showed me several photos of a Cabin on a mountain and few other
pictures, probably less than 10 total he just happened to have on his phone. I
couldn't believe what I saw. A place I had never seen, looking nearly identical
to what we had written. It seemed impossible but there I was staring at it. After
discussing the location with Michael we put the wheels in motion to scout this
location at some point in the future. We finally went out to Montrose in mid 2012 and immediately
knew we had to shoot our film there. The scenario was unmatched and the people
were amazing. The Beans/ Leonard Family
were gracious enough to allow us to shoot on their land at Cerro Summit when the time was right.
(Courtesy of Rick
Bresett - Gareth on the Cerro Summit)
The Montrose area had so
much to offer, mountains, rivers and everything in between. We connected with Suzette and Rick Owen owners of The Wild Bunch Ricer Ranch who also
allowed us to use their property to use any locations we needed. It was
incredible for us to have so many people want to be part of this unique
film. All parties signed off on our
production and our locations were set. We had our locations, our actors and our
crew in place. A rare thing to happen on such a small budget.
As we got to know the
land up on Cerro Summit we all learned the property has been in the Leonard
family for nearly 150 years and as we explored the property we noticed lots of
names carved into trees from over the years. It was a story of the past, and a
story of our future. We didn't allow just anyone to carve their name, it
represented us all. It wasn't our intention to deface a tree, it was our way of
leaving our mark we meant nothing more than to remember our time on that
mountain at 10,000 feet. Few people
will ever know what that was like.
Was
all the filming in Colorado or were you shooting in various parts of the
country?
Robert: I Am Alone, began filming in Los Angeles In mid July 2013, we had
elements we needed to film for our Colorado
portion.
Colorado was the perfect location for us to
tell our heart-breaking story of isolation. The Colorado shoot is also integral
to the remaining scenes we need to shoot back in Los Angeles, in the coming
months.
How
many make-up artists did you have working on the set and how long did it take
to complete the amount of zombies you had for the walk? Did any of the zombies
muck in with the make up to help out?
Robert: A film with our budget, we knew we
had to be specific with our zombie intentions. We had enough experience shooting
two Kickstarter videos to know what we would have to deal with out in Colorado.
The major challenge would be to be prepared enough to keep the zombies bloody
and our vision in tact. Those duties fell to our fearless make up team led by Rachel Sanchez who recently became a
Montrose local but trained and worked in LA for years. She brought on her close
friends Grace Fong and Laura Morton to help make up zombies.
(Make up team - Laura
Morton, Rachel Sanchez, and Grace C. Fong)
I assured them this
wasn't going to be a typical zombie film and looks we’re familiar with. This
was a story of the first hours of the viral outbreak; this was about blood and
lots of it. The deteriorating skin that we associate zombies wasn't our focus. As
we got deeper into the story the amount of zombies increased and Rachel was
able to bring on more local talent in the Carles Sisters… Carri and Candice. The team of 5 dealt with upwards of 120 local zombies. It wasn’t an easy
task but they “killed it.” The zombies looked amazing. Rachel and her team of 4
took on the task of making zombies and they succeeded.
What
was the hardest part of the shoot?
Robert: We knew one the hardest parts wasn’t
going to be the filming; it wasn't going to be the make up… It was all about
the locations themselves. We filmed on Cerro Summit and The Wild Bunch River
Ranch two amazing distinctly different locations, each with their own filming
challenges. Cerro Summit was a major challenge since the singular road to the
cabin was literally 15 minutes up a gravel road to man made cabin run off a
generator. The cast and crew were absolutely amazing; they took this journey all
in their stride.
The cabin was referred
to as “base camp” that was at around 9,400ft
but most of our filming was on the actual summit up a steeper rockier road
at nearly 10,500 elevation. I don’t
think many films on any budget challenge themselves to that level (literally).
Cerro summit was a spectacular
location and we barely touched the 3000 acres we had access to. The hardest challenge
was getting our cast and crew up and down the mountain as well as our gear as
safe and sound as we could. We were always fighting weather and we actually won
that battle most of the time, but a few times it affected us. The Wild Bunch
River Ranch was amazing; it wasn't nearly as high altitude. They had river
access and amazing views and it was much easier for us to film there.
If it wasn't for our fearless
security team from Accurate Intentions
lead by Rick Bresett and his amazing
team, with all honesty we’d never have been able to traverse the Colorado
wilderness and make the film we wanted to do. They made what was going to be a
tremendous challenge for us.
(left to right/Front
Row) David Frank, Melissa Clishe and Bobby Morgan. Back row is Rick Bresett and
Randy Bresett)
What
is it about zombie films that you always get a good response at from people
wanting to be a part of the filming, did you ever have to turn people away or
were you happy to take as many as you could for crowd scenes?
Robert: Michael and I knew a zombie film for
our first major project was going to be a tall order, so when we wrote the
script we wanted to make sure the zombie film fans got their money’s worth. We
didn't know how we’d get people to play zombies so we wrote the best story we
could and let the pieces fall as they may. Once, we saw our turnout at the
zombie walk last May we knew we could put our worries to rest. As filming got underway we learned people from
all over Colorado were coming out for days at a time to participate. It became
one happy family. Friends and Family flew in for this once in a lifetime event.
Michael’s friend Joe Orwan flew in
from Virginia and my sister Rachel
flew in from Philadelphia for a few days to participate. And by participate,
they were put to work.(laughs) Those who participated both on camera and off
have memories for a lifetime. We know, we do,
(Candice Carles)
Since
World War Z there appears to be a change in the zombie, it runs a lot now,
whereas before they merely walked slowly and made a lot of noise, have you
added any of this to your film, such as faster zombies?
Robert: Zombies shifted from shambling to
runners in 28 days later. In my opinion, as technology became faster somehow
the undead too needed to became faster. With faster information, I think people
would be able to deal with any sort of epidemic slightly quicker. At least
manage to get information spread quicker much like the infection itself. That said
what if technology didn't work… What then? I Am Alone deals with that question first hand.
Technology was a key element in how we shot our film but not its interconnectivity.
A cell phone app and utilities can still work as long as battery life is
present but communication would not. So a phone becomes nothing more then a
digital multi-tool. As our story our zombie transition our zombies were
recently dead/transformed so they would be more active but not necessarily
runners like recent films, just more “active” and as the infection spread less
survivors would be around to quench their blood lust. Fast zombies have their
place in horror films as do the slow moving. This is a fairly new debate and
will go on for years to come but as cine-philes we like to stay true to the
Romero slow moving zombies.
When
you began casting for your movie, did you know who you wanted for the role of
Jacob Fitts and his team?
Robert: Casting is essential to any Film and
ours was no different. When we wrote I Am Alone we didn't have an exact model
for who Jacob was. We wrote him as an American but in the back of our minds we
felt we could have fun with casting.
(Gunner Wright with Gareth
David-Lloyd – Mason and Jacob)
We knew our lead
characters of Jacob and Mason needed to be both equally strong
and compassionate but two very different people. So Michael and I did extensive
research for months for whom we wanted for these key roles. We had watched an
amazing film called Love (2010),
which starred Gunner Wright in a
mostly singular role, and he was immediately on our radar. We started to chart
our course for which actor we wanted in these roles and set out to try to get
them. In July 2012, I happened to attend the Fright Night Film Fest in
Louisville Kentucky. I was there to promote, screen my short film People of
Earth. I was there for the duration of the film festival and I happened to meet
Gareth there. As a fan of Torchwood
and Doctor Who I was pleased to know
Gareth is one of the most down to earth people I’ve ever met. We talked several
times over the course of the festival and I left him a copy of my short film. Weeks
after the event we chatted, he had viewed my film and enjoyed it. We discussed
future projects and I Am Alone was brought up. I explained to him the status of
the project and we left it there. Michael and I knew Gareth would be such an
amazing Jacob. He’d bring so much depth to the character but we didn't know if
we could get him and or if he was even interested. As any project we had reached out to other
actors across the world, we wanted to make sure we covered our bases but we
always came back to Gareth and Gunner. Both had read the script and agreed to take
this adventure with us. And now after filming the Colorado Portion, We couldn't
see anyone else in these roles. They both made it their own and gave everything
to these characters and It shows in every frame they’re on screen.
Will
this film become part of a festival run or will it be available for all to
watch especially in the UK?
Robert: We’re in the early stages of editing
and we still have much more to shoot, so it’s too early tell what our official
marketing strategy will be. First, we will be screening at any and all film
festivals around the world. Then we are planning on a theatrical US/UK run (if
possible) as well as the rest of the world. Finally, video on demand as well as
streaming sites like, Netflix, Amazon Prime, Lovefilm, Blinkbox and any
streaming sites.
Will
there be a sequel to this or do you have another venture lined up?
Robert: We will be heavily involved in I Am
Alone for the foreseeable future. We’re eyeing an August 2014 release and once
we get this in the can, we’d love to continue to explore the I Am Alone
universe. Michael and I have discussed future ideas/plans for our characters
and adding a few new ones, but we’ll wait till we finish this one first.
I
think there’s something far creepier when a child is heavily made up in zombie
make up than an adult, but something we’ve seen on the set of Bad Blood is that
the kids love to get involved in horror films, did you have a lot of kids join
the zombie walk in the film, or were they in separate parts of the filming and
is there as much call for kids in horror films as there is over here?
Robert: There is a history of scary kids in
Horror films… The Exorcist, The Omen and so on. It’s always tricky
as a filmmaker to work with children, children and animals aren't the most cooperative.
But we knew while in Colorado we wanted to have everyone participate and most
of the time the parents were more excited to be involved than the children. The
town of Montrose came out in force, we had children of all ages come play
zombies, they weren’t scared, they listened and most importantly they were
scary.
(zombie kids)
Where
did you find that freaky baby model chewing on its own foot, I almost screamed
when I saw it in your photos on Facebook? That’s worse than Chucky! *shudders*
Robert: “Zombie
Baby” as we affectionately called it was first brought to our attention
during the late hours of the zombie walk last May. A local brought it to show
us and it was a hit. She told us she had received it as a Christmas present of
all things. “Zombie baby” was quite popular at the zombie walk and it was fun
to see it back out during our wrap party.
(Robert Palmer with
zombie baby)
Fans
Questions
Kirsty
Price: How difficult is it to apply make up for people who can’t sit still?
(referring to Gareth)
Robert: We were fortunate to have shot the
most of Gareth’s scenes in order, to limit the amount of time he’d spend in the
make up chair. Our makeup team were brilliant and Gareth was at ease for the
duration of the daily process.
Corinna
Kalthoff: It's not a very original question, but being a huge fan of zombie
movies (and games) in general, I'd really like to know: Were your ideas for the
project influenced by any other zombie movies? And if so, which in particular?
Robert: This is a great question, as a
cinephile we tried to find inspiration from anywhere we can. We envisioned I Am
Alone as a character film rather than a zombie genre film. So we set out to
study films like Into the Wild, Monsters, Love (which
happened to star as yet casted Gunner) The Walking Dead, Dawn of the Dead (both versions) Carriers and The
River (TV series) which came out after we had written I Am Alone, it
was nice to see what they’d done.
If you want to know more
about the film, about the synopsis, about the cast and crew then visit:
It’s been a fabulous
insight into the making of a horror film.
Be sure to visit their Facebook Page, as they’re releasing a teaser
trailer on Halloween and you wouldn’t want to miss it.
Special thanks to Robert
Palmer and Michael A. Weiss for the interview and the use of the photos from
their Facebook and website Pages, including Gareth on the Summit by Rick
Bresett. We wish you all the best with the film.
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