It was a strange day because we arrived early and were kind of rushed into the screening room. Later on we noticed people walking around with “Filmmaker” badges. I was little peeved I was never offered a name badge.

The upset feeling growing in my gut was soon relieved by the fact that people started approaching me and complimenting my on my film Mr. Buttons, which had screened earlier in the day at the festival. Despite the fact I didn’t have a badge, people still knew it was my film. How the hell did that happen? Oh, maybe by the fact I brought the doll from the film with me

Throughout the day I also kept hearing buzz that my film was going to win an award. I blew the talk off as hype and tried not to get excited about it. The festival came and went and that night at the awards ceremony they awarded me Best Horror Film in the Open Division for Mr. Buttons.

Everybody around me was excited. I took the stage and rambled off a few words that were filled with appreciation but also laced with a little of my own cocky attitude. I know the film is good, I have a ton of reviews saying the film is good. Festivals all over are picking up the film and people from Comic-Con are still asking me when they can buy their own version of the doll. Now the film has earned me my first award as a filmmaker.

I am taking this victory with a grain of salt. Yes, the award looks good on my filmmaker resume, but I’m trying not to let it go to my head. My family and friends keep telling me “You Won! You Won!”, but I find it hard to smile about it.

I know that deep down inside I can make a good film, and that if somebody actually gives me some money to make a film, I can concentrate more on directing rather than sound quality, lens flare and the hot light wedged between my legs while I’m laying on the ground balancing a camera on a stack of books for that perfect shot… I’m keeping my fingers crossed and wondering who else I need to prove myself to so I can get a real movie made

Mr. Buttons would like to play...

We had a cast party and film premiere for everybody at Activity Road Studios. Almost everybody showed up and we had a great time. The DLP system in the screening room was pretty killer and it was inspiring to see Mr. Buttons working his magic on a big screen.

Most everybody raved about the film, now we’ll see if any festivals accept it.

Photo courtesy of 3Quatermoon.

Mr. Buttons - Movie Poster

I am very happy to announce that Mr. Buttons is complete! Peter has presented all of us with another killer score – pun fully intended – and a new layer of visual effects really helps to pull it all together.

I’m working on a cast party in March and there are a few festivals that I will submit this one too. Other than that, people will have to wait until Tales from the Carnal Morgue is out to see it.

Vanessa and Mr. Buttons share some quality together in the asylum.

The first few pieces of music have been arriving from Peter!

I have to say he has done another outstanding job with this one. I wanted a kind of “music box” sound and he nailed it!

I have also completed the color correcting for the film and I have begun to add some small tweaks here and there. Often Peter’s score inspires me to make a few changes at the last minute. Hopefully everybody will appreciate them.

I have turned the film over to my composer, Peter, and he is going to start working his magic with it. While Peter is working on music I’ll be adding the last few sound effects and color correcting the film. We’re going have a private cast and crew party the minute the music is added.

Lisa applies makeup to C. J.

We spent a few hours filming at Tecolote Park this morning. Lisa, our effects person, worked some more of her makeup magic. I won’t tell you what we filmed, but let’s just say it was a disgusting, bloody hell of a good time. After this morning’s festivities, I am pleased to say that Mr. Buttons is 99% completed with principal photography.

I have three more shots to grab later in the week – but that’s all folks. I have already started to edit the film and it’s coming together nicely. The new camera we have is capturing some nice images, which I’ll start posting soon.

Dave discusses makeup with Tony and Vanessa

We invaded my friend Roger’s apartment today to film the final scenes of the film. We had a lot of fun and despite the fact the scenes are filled with emotion – a few dirty jokes here and there really helps to lighten the mood.

We spent the night rehearsing the scene so things flowed much smoother when we actually had the cameras rolling.

I’m very excited about some the footage we captured today – despite the tree trimmers and screaming kids outside – I think we will be able to salvage most of it and turn it into a good film. I also had the pleasure of working with a new makeup artist today. It’s always good to have a makeup artist in your back pocket because when you’re making horror films like these, you never know when you need some one who is very skilled at realistic makeup applications.

After the filming was all over we went out to celebrate a day of great shooting with dinner at the Cheesecake Factory…mmmm.

Dave films Acasia through the flames

We had the pleasure of filming some flash back sequences today.

We also did some pick up shots for a few puppetry effects.

The actress we worked with today was really nervous as this was her first role in a film, but she performed great. Within minutes we had her laughing, playing with fire and hugging  Mr. Buttons.

Dave applies some tears to Alicia and Grant

We wrapped up our final scene with our child actors today. The kids have been a real pleasure to work with! We swoope dinto the cemetery where I’ve film some previous footage for Slaughter Disc and we shot our scenes.

We also have another talented actress who has joined our cast to play the role of our Witch. If everything goes according to plan from this day forward we should be looking at a January premiere for this one.