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Halloween
Horror Picture Show 2013 Review Sections
01. Forward
recap: The demise and the rise of the support of independent film in Tampa
Bay.
02. The
Gay and Lesbian Film Festival and Shelby McIntyre’s UnBanned. Propaganda?
03. Supporting
independent film in Tampa Bay.
04. Halloween
Horror Picture Show 2013 Review.
05. Meet
and greet at the film festival Lobby for the Halloween Horror Picture
Show 2013.
06. The
Halloween Horror Picture Show 2013 Film Festival Event Scorecard.
Halloween Horror Picture Show 2013
Meet and greet at the film festival Lobby for the Halloween Horror Picture Show 2013
Upon
entering the Tampa Pitcher Show, I noticed the sign declaring that they
were celebrating 30 years, and agreed that it did indeed look like it
was a venue from the 80's. It was also dark.... Too dark. Once inside,
my eyes had to adjust, because it was bar-dark (well, maybe because it
was also a bar, because the main lobby had, well, a bar. Not that it mattered
that much to me, though, because I don’t drink. I’m good like
that). I looked to my right, and noticed a few people standing around,
much like the tiny number at the 2008 HHPS at the Beach Theater. Of course,
being a film festival, well, I quickly realized that, just like HHPS 2008,
most of the people there were watching movies in the actual theater (Unlike
myself, who prefers to interact with people. It is hard to interact with
people when you are watching movies; a reason that movies are poor choices
for dates, as an example).
I noticed a table promoting an independent film (I’ll have to add
it here, later, because I should have been taking notes and I am going
by memory. I am also writing this on a laptop without an Internet connection,
so I can’t look it up, and don’t even think about bringing
up my smart phone and its connection, either, because it is slow, and,
besides, it is busy playing electronic dance music for me as I write;
one thing that the Samsung Stride does well, at least). Rick Danford was
perched along the north wall with his nephew, eating (and the food looked
good. Although I did not have enough time, and all of my money was allocated
for buying DVD’s, it seems as if the Tampa Pitcher Show has good
food. I will have to go back just to eat there and try it out). Joel Wynkoop
had a huge table in the west area of the lobby near the restrooms. I greeted
everyone, and we talked. Poor Joel had lost his voice, and I felt bad
for him. It was cool seeing Wynkoop again, even if I had to endure those
God-awful John Miller films that he had been in recently (Vomit Soup,
anyone? Seriously, that was the title of a John Miller trash film, and
people tell me that he threw the film together. I am thinking that he
threw it up, too - Ha.... I made a joke with two meanings! Nice. That’s
what we need, John! Before you continue making more pure independent film
trash, John, you need to realize that good films tell a story, with characters
and a plot, and are not just there as a vehicle to shock and offend people.
Maybe you should go get drunk again; maybe you will make a better film
that way. The irony here, however, is that John is actually a talented
writer. He just chooses not to apply his talent, and, so far, he is, in
my educated, experienced opinion, the worst independent filmmaker in the
history of Tampa Bay independent film. Terrence Nuzum makes better films,
IMO, and that is hardly a compliment for either of you! Chris Woods, IMO,
is a talented filmmaker who has gone off the deep end for teaming up with
John Miller; some of the films that he has put his name on have hurt his
credibility as a filmmaker. I suppose that is a showcase example of the
professional judgement, or lack thereof, that Chris Woods, IMO, possesses.
Woods, come back to the light, and start making films, again, which are
worth making and watching! I do not think that Miller is doing you any
favors. Woods films such as Bleed (as redundant, drawn out, and repetitive
as Bleed is), To Live Is To Die, White Lie, Pop, and Spaventare are all
classics, and among the best independent films ever made in the Tampa
Bay area. It’s just so sad to see him influenced by Miller and his
demented “vision” of independent film. Sad. So sad. It’s
a tragedy). Joel, you are a good guy for using your talent to help out
less fortunate aspiring filmmaking wastes like Miller, IMO. I respect
you for that. You are more charitable than I, because I will never help
those guys out, especially after referring two actress/ models to Chris
Woods (Harmony Oswald in The Quiet Place in 2006, and Sarah Bray in Spaventare
in 2009). As a matter of fact, they are banned for life in my book, a
book which probably will become the future independent film scene and
community in Tampa Bay; forever on the outside fringes looking in, and
praying for the ghost of Christmas Guzzo to come and help them and to
bring back the Tampa Film Review, which would be hopelessly outclassed
and unable to compete if they ever tried; their hoped Tampa Bay indie
film savior, IMO, turning out to be the Tampa Bay indie film antichrist,
unable, and despite their claims, unwilling to help independent film at
all. They brought it upon themselves, and, indeed, have no one to blame
but themselves.
Some people aren’t too bright, and make the wrong choices. They
sell themselves short, or out, in the process, too, and never really make
it as filmmakers. How many of these wannabe’s actually make a living
in independent film? Enough said.
Although they had confirmed on Facebook that they would be attending,
Roderick Colbert, Andy Lalino, and Marcus Kempton were not there (proving
that Facebook is useless in many cases). Neither was my friend, actress
Melanie Robel, who had told us that she could not attend this year due
to a prior commitment (Hey, you make the time for what is important to
you. These events don’t exactly pop up overnight. I often schedule
time off weeks in advance so that I can go to events). Still, even in
her absence, people spoke highly of Melanie, and she was “there”
in a sense because she was acting in one of the films that were showing.
A film that I did not get the chance to see because I spent most of my
time talking to people.
And talk I did. I met some cool people, too. I talked to Rick Danford
and Joel Wynkoop a lot. I even met model Shana
Kampf, who I found out a few days ago, months after the event, was at
the Halloween Horror Picture Show 2008 film festival five years before
I met her. Of course, I did not know that because she was there on the
other day of the film festival, which seems to be the day that most of
the people attended, and it is one of the many problems with film festivals
and other events spread out over several days (I will write more about
this problem, which was discussed with Venessa Baez over Facebook a few
days ago in reference to the Tampa Bay Comic Con, which is an event spread
out over several days, in the September 2014 issue of Frontier Pop! Don’t
miss it......). Shana was an interesting girl, and had jewels implanted
on her body (the parts that were visible, such as her lower back. Don’t
go there. I wasn’t really looking her over, and the twinkle of the
jewels were obvious. I respect women, and don’t try to look at areas
which are not normally visible, or private. Besides that, I am a professional
photographer, and a damn good one with lots of character references and
experience. If I wanted to see a woman naked and wanted to photograph
that, there are plenty of willing models out there, and all that I have
to do is to ask. I have actually turned down women, most of them professional
models, who wanted to take it all off for my camera, mainly because I
wanted to save them from themselves, because they did not know of the
risks and did not really know what they were getting into. To the present
time, for the past 14 years as a professional photographer, I have never
photographed a model without clothing, because I chose not to. Hell, back
in 2007, when Andy Lalino’s Horror and Hotties film festival had
that bloody T-shirt contest, I was the only one there who did NOT take
pictures of it, because I did not feel right about it; not that there
was, or is, anything wrong with what was going on, but it wasn’t
my thing. Chris Woods was there with me at the time, and even he was shocked
that I refused to take pictures of it. I will be writing an article about
this in a future issue of Frontier Pop, as this is a complex subject.
At any rate, one reason why I have never shot high-risk photography work
of models over the years is because of what I do as a business. You see,
models book me to photograph them and to develop their portfolios, and
a modeling portfolio photographer’s main purpose, i.e. their job,
is to make the model as marketable as possible, which, I have to say,
is shooting them in a family-friendly style. Of course, parents of aspiring
teen models also book me to photograph their underage kids, which are
usually teen girls, so there you go. I do a good job of it, too. Did you
know that, in 2002, when I worked with teen models Lowie Narvaez and Roxanne
Kowalska, both of whom later starred in the independent short film “The
Pledge”, that they were 16 and 17 years old when I started working
with them, respectively? Although I was not the first professional photographer
with whom Rox had worked with, I think that I was the second, and I was
the one who got her into modeling, as before she worked with me she was
only a teen actress. Lowie was already a model when I started working
with her, the irony being that Lowie later told me, after Rox had started
modeling in Dillard’s advertisements, that she thought that Rox
was a better model than she was), which was something that I had never
seen before, as it went well beyond tattoos and piercings; her body art
looked cool, though. Trendy girl, and I can see people doing that in the
future when they implant wearable technology into their bodies and become,
literally, cyborgs.
At any rate, the few times that I went into the actual film festival,
I took pictures. I obtained some great shots when the house lights were
up during the Q & A sessions and announcements. Shots that filmmakers
and the attendees would have killed for. That is, after all, my job. One
of them, at least.
Oh, and I bought stuff, too. I got some great deals, including a rare
film that you can’t get anywhere else. I bought a DVD copy of a
VHS transfer of Marcus Koch’s rare independent film “ROT”
from Wynkoop. I also bought a DVD of the completed independent film “The
Web Of Darkness” from Danford. I no longer have to watch The Web
Of Darkness as an unfinished film on a bootleg VHS tape that original
editor Chris Woods gave me, or as a poor quality video file which someone
else leaked and uploaded.
I also wanted to get The Uh-Oh Show, but, at $20.00, it was too pricey,
and I was running low on cash at that point.
Now we get to the parts that some may not like. What didn’t I like
about the film festival?
Well, first, there is the fact that I could not experience the whole thing,
and that I am usually kicking myself after the fact because I recognize
and identify opportunities that I missed. That’s all me, though,
because one person can only do so much, and as far as those opportunities
go, I get better with each subsequent event because I DO recognize and
learn from previous mistakes made.
Second, and I have been complaining about this for years, is that there
were no swag bags available for the DVD’s and other items for sale
by the vendors. Why? Why? There weren’t even plastic bags from the
local store. Buying anything at any of these events is a pain in the butt
because it is difficult to carry all of this stuff around.
So, that’s it. Halloween Horror Picture Show 2013 was more of a
social event for me, as I seem to miss the point that it was a film festival.
I had fun, however, even if I was too short-handed to cover it like I
had wanted to.
I can’t help but wonder what I could do differently, however. First,
scout out the location. Second, prepare more.
How? Well, I am about to reveal my plans.
I first realized this back in March 2007 when Scream at the Wall had a
video crew covering Andy Lalino’s Horror and Hotties film festival.
They showed me how to properly cover an event without actually showing
me, as I learned by watching them.
When covering film festivals and other events, I will, eventually, do
so with a crew of at least three. One person needs to run the camera,
one person, the on-air talent, needs to do the interviews, and one needs
to watch and review the films (for film festivals). Ideally, the team
should be at least four to six, with four being a still photographer in
the mix.
For now, though, I am doing well, and doing it cost-effectively, just
doing it myself; I can even get by on the film reviews by buying the films
which are shown at the film festival, which frees me up to talk to people
instead of watching films there which I can watch later. Teams are coming,
though.
Oh, and I am also getting Tampa Bay Film branded swag bags to hand out
at the film festivals. That will solve at least one of my major issues.
This concludes my coverage of the Halloween Horror Picture Show 2013 film
festival. I had fun, and that’s the main thing that matters.
I can’t wait until Halloween Horror Picture Show 2014, which I have
a feeling will be the best, yet.
NEXT: The Halloween Horror Picture Show 2013 Film Festival Event Scorecard.
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