Now Showing at Leo's Video

Just a quick note to point out that the "Beast" is officially on the rental market.
There arent a lot of video rental stores left in the world, and those that are left lean towards the specialty and boutique markets.  "Beast of Bottomless Lake" has found a home in one that quite simply could not suit it better: Leo's Videos in Kelowna.
A substantial portion of the film was lensed in Kelowna, and we met Leo himself while we were at the Okanagan International Film Festival - which he was valiantly working like mad at.
If there was only one DVD rental outlet in the world where "Beast" would be at home, it is Leo's.

The Beast's New PAL

At long last...

Have you ordered a PAL DVD version of The Beast of Bottomless Lake?

Well expect to see it in your mailbox soon!

We recieved our order of PAL DVDs yesterday and they will begin shipping over the next week.

We are delighted that this has finally come to fruition.  The technical differences between NTSC and PAL versions slowed down the process of getting the DVDs ready, but the good news is that the DVDs will be going out with th complete set of features that the NTSC discs went out with - indeed with slight tweaks (dare I say improvements?) that we will include in future batches of the NTSC DVDs.  (If you happen to  have the original NTSC discs, don't fret, the tweaks are truly slight... we'd probably have to point them out to you for you to notice the difference.  It is simply a matter of our perfectionism and pride.)

So the Beast will soon be seen in places like Britain, Australia and Japan...

Hooray!

Congratulations are in Order...

I have been remiss.
The Beast... DVD release party at Denman Place Cinema has come and gone and I have been too distracted to comment upon what is now behind us.

By all accounts it was a great night.  Over two hundred people showed up - the biggest single location audience for the movie ever.  While it made for an only half full theatre, it made for a very full lobby - and considering the heat of the evening, that was as much as anyone would have fairly desired.

We ended up adding one late-addition short film to our roster for the evening on short notice.  20 Minutes of Oxygen a music video by The Darkest of the Hillside Thickets - a Vancouver band that has a song in Beast....

20 Minutes of Oxygen was directed by the editor of Beast..., Mike Jackson. Mike also edited and did the effects on the video and it was shot by our Director of Photography Naim Sutherland.

Following the screening of the shorts, we took an intermission where everyone was treated to a great set by The Pucks, who have two songs in the film.  (they played both in their set.)  Lots of excitement in the room through intermission.  The short films were extremely well recieved and it almost seemed as though the response from the audience got better with every film... which I am somewhat hesitant to admit, as a short film I wrote and am featured in was the second one shown of six.  The buzz in the lobby about the films was great as everyone clamoured to get their vote for the audience choice award into the
box. 
The Pucks rocked out - and how can you not rock out with a tuba?  People enjoyed the wine (and audience choice award) sponsor's product - Township 7 wines as well as the beer alternative (who didn't sponsor us so it wouldn't be fair or right to name them).  A French documentary crew doing a film about independent film in Canada showed up (they were following Beast... cast member Fabrice Grover) and shot the event and interviewed me.

Once all the halftime hoopla was over, everyone returned to the cinema for the main attraction.  Craig, I am told, said all kinds of nice things before the film started - I wasn't in the theatre at the time (there was SO much to be done).

The film, as always, spoke for itself.  Everyone enjoyed themselves.  Many people walked away surprised by the quality of both the production and the depth of the plot.  We sold a lot of DVDs.

Once the main feature was over we drew for the 50/50 draw (I must admit I'm not sold on 50/50 draws... I don't win even close to half the time.) and other door prizes and then announced the winner of the Township 7 Audience Choice Award.  And here is where congratulations are in order.  The winning short was Death Wish, directed by Chad Costen.  I didn't think it was appropriate for me to vote, but if I did it would have been for Death Wish.  (The film I was involved in wasn't eligible... because I was involved.)  I had picked it as a favourite as it had been chosen as part of the shorts program at the Missisauga Independent Film Festival for this year.  MIFF was where Beast... won it's first festival award on it's festival circuit pilgrimage last year.

The tiniest (and cutest) audience member.

We have a similar photo of them at the
Provost Pictures launch.

MIFF is finished now for this year.  I am sad to say that Death Wish didn't win it's category.  However, the feature that caught my eye when I looked at what was being screened this year, Feature Presentation (yes, that is the film's name) ended up taking the mantle from us as the Best Feature.  Congratulations to them.  Wear it well.  I hope I get a chance to see it somewhere someday.

DVD Sneak Peek

Here is a sneak peek at the main menu animation for the Beast of Bottomless Lake DVD.



Pre-orders for DVDS are already open: http://www.provostpictures.com/TheBeast-DVD.htm


With the official release date being July 15th 2011.

If you are in Vancouver, there is a DVD release party and screening at the Denman Cinema on the 15th....

DETAILS    &     TICKETS

So what exactly IS on the DVD?

Hey, I am glad you asked. I'm pretty darned happy with the package we've created, and I'm itching to boast about it.

Of course the movie is on the DVD in full resolution and in the unbranded equivalent of a major stereo format.

Deleted scenes including:

     - The original end of the film.

     - A sub-plot line revolving around the character I played, Stewart.

     - A secret insight into the background of Lesley Morgenstern.

     - More of Stewart at the police Station.

     - Neville's encounter with a very frightening creature (played by my niece, Kaz).

     - Several extended sequences of Neville absurdity.
     - A nod to Canadian film royalty.

Two commentaries:
     - One featuring Craig and I having a lot of fun talking about the process of making the film.
     - One hosted by our star, David Nykl, featuring a discussion with the Science Advisor on The Beast of Bottomless Lake, Stan Orchard (who was one of several scientists involved as experts in one of the most famous Ogopogo sightings, "The Chaplin Film.") and Daniel Loxton, editor of Jr. Skeptic Magazine and a big fan of cryptozoology.  They discuss the history of Ogopogo sightings and other cryptozoological oddities, the relationship between ambition and science, the role of pseudo-science in society and of course just how accurate (and innaccurate) the science in Beast is.

Three 'making of' featurettes:
     - One highlighting the course of one entire day on the set of The Beast of Bottomless Lake.
     - One showing the highlights and hi-jinx from over 24 hours of behind the scenes footage that was shot during the filming of the movie.
     - One that is guaranteed to be the highlight of the bonus features.  I can't even say much about it, as to tell anything not only spoils one of the great moments in the film, but also ruins the surprise of one of the most ironic things that could have (and did) happen to us while we were filming on Okanagan Lake.  If you've been to a Q&A session with us you may have heard about this.  Otherwise get ready for some great footage of the best behind the scenes story we have about making The Beast of Bottomless Lake.

There will be other additional behind the scenes footage released on YouTube in the coming months, but the best will always only be available on the DVD.  The purchasing page is now live.  So go order your copy today.

The DVD Approaches....

The Beast of Bottomless Lake DVD is imminent.


Much of last week - between Stanley Cup Final games - was spent tweaking audio levels on commentaries and picking fonts for chirons in the featurettes. By now everything is out of my hands and we are working on plans for the release party while the manufacturing is completed.

If you are in the region (of Vancouver) on July 15th and you haven't had a chance to see The Beast of Bottomless Lake on a big screen this very seriously could be your last chance.

The party will be at the Denman Cinema starting at 7:30. We will be screening five short films that we have selected from a heap of entries and giving away a prize to the film that the audience deems the best.


We will announce the chosen short films in a day or two.

Also there will be music by The Pucks who have two songs of their CD Martha in The Beast of Bottomless Lake.

There will be door prizes, 50/50 draw and of course beer and wine and popcorn.

Tickets are available at the Denman, online at Stubmatic or if you happen to know one of us, we have tickets available too. They are $15 in advance and $20 at the door.

DVD Pre-orders

It was going to happen eventually - you knew it.

We are currently working on the extras for the DVDs with the intention of having them available for purchase in late June.

What do we have planned for the added features?

(With the necessary disclaimer that any of these planned items could fall through before we get to the final authoring of the discs for any of a variety of reasons.)

We are working on two separate commentaries.  A whole bunch of deleted scenes, including an alternate ending.  Several short "making of" featurettes.

We do not yet know the sticker price on the DVDs as it in part is a result o the cost of making them - which of course we are not finished doing... and as with the cost of Mastering tapes, the price of DVDs is unstable right now due to trickle down from the fact that Japan is where most DVDs are made.

As soon as we have the price fixed we will make orders available on our website, but for now, you can do us a big favour by letting us know if you would like a DVD - the closer we can match our demand the better we can price the final product.  Send us an email at ogopogodvd@gmail.com and give us an email where we can let you know the details as they come in (IE. When DVDs are available we'll tell you precisely how to secure your order and how to pay.)  If you can also let us know how many DVDs you would like and the format (NTSC, PAL, or even Blu-Ray).  We will assume NTSC region zero on all orders unless specified otherwise.

And for those of you in the Vancouver region, we have plans for a DVD release party which should be a lot of fun!

Our First International Screening

It was pointed out to me last night that I had teased in my last post, some weeks ago now that we had news upcoming.

Well I can confirm it now - I could have confirmed it about a week ago if my head was screwed on straight!

As you can probably guess from the posting title, Beast of Bottomless Lake is going to be seen but it's first international audience in April.

At Olamot Con in Tel Aviv.  It is a science fiction convention in Israel.  And here's the kinda wild part... they are making Hebrew sub-titles, which we get to reuse at our leisure.  So as unusual as that is, we get to include a Hebrew track on our DVD, all in the service of more people getting to understand our funky tale of ambition gone awry.  Unfortunately, it doesn't help me understand more than the limited English text on their webiste, but hey - the want our film!

If you are in Tel Aviv for Passover (and let's face it, it isn't entirely out of the question that some people might be), check out Olamot Con and The Beast of Bottomless Lake!

Where the Wild Fans Are

This weekend was VCON - if you haven't been reading the past few posts.  And it was a lot of fun.

We got started a little later than expected but it was all well and good as everyone hung in there until we got going.

The screening was well received.  David Nykl arrived just as the film was beginning and he and I sat at the back of the house quietly amusing ourselves with an analysis of how the various jokes played.  There were a few responses that fell outside of what we are accustomed to.  One of the oddest I can't say without giving a spolier - so I won't - but I will say that there is a sequence of Star Trek jokes including one that really has to be paid attention to... typically only one voice in a theatre will laugh out loud at it, but this time it was the whole room.

The Q&A after the film was probably the most rollicking we've had - the fact that there were about ten of us from the film involved in it certainly helped.  We got it on video, so when we can perhaps we'll post a few choice bits.

As I was taking names for the DVD list (people who want to know when and where to get the DVD when it's available (if you happen to be one of those, say so in a comment and we'll work something out) one of the attendees mentioned that she'd come all the way from (not intending to directly quote Counting Crows) somewhere in middle America just to see the film.

I looked down at her name tag, suspecting (correctly) that I knew the answer.  One of the most regular commenters on this blog - Rosie AKA Rosehawk - possibly the world's biggest David Nykl fan had come all the way to VCON to see the film.  I thought that was pretty cool.

She had also brought one of our CafePress shirts for everyone to sign... which we did later up in the hospitality suite.

It was a lot of fun.

More press has come from it already and there will be even more soon - look for a post in the next couple of days.

And the folks at VCON suggested they could hook us up with some other conventions... so keep your eyes out if you are in other Sci-Fi convention worthy cities!