The story of how this one came to be is interesting. Of course, I only know it from my own perspective. In spite of being credited as a producer, I was never on set for this particular short. Jillian created this as a student film project while attending Wichita State University. Shot in 2022, Jillian and I had already met on the set of PERSONAL HISTORY and were in the midst of post-production sound when she shared the link with me. I was impressed for sure. What I saw was about 90% finished and that's where the project stayed for the time being.
This was initially conceived as the first part in a series of short films. About a year later, she created what would be the second chapter in the story. Caitlyn and I actually helped out on that set and it was a very fun experience. Jillian had laid out her plans for what the arc of the series would look like, but I suggested something with a slightly larger scale, a feature film. Around 2024, we talked about a strategy for the feature version and whether the previously shot shorts would be a part of it. The highlight of this film was its visual execution. Jillian and Amie collaborated extremely well to pull that off. There are very few elements of the finished version that feel blatantly like a student film, though those elements do stick out. I suggested releasing the first short as a proof of concept to apply what works and what doesn't to a feature version. While working on BRIMSTONE TERRACE last year, we occasionally made time to work on a little extra post-production for this. It's maybe 20 seconds shorter than what I originally saw. I also needed a few touch ups in sound and color. Other than that, it was a quick easy process. Our festival run proved very useful in giving Jillian the feedback she needed. All of that said, don't expect the feature version right around the corner. It is still in very early development as a potential future project. The context doesn't hurt though. We'll see what the future holds there. - Tyler
0 Comments
BRIMSTONE TERRACE
Next up, we've been making a few small steps forward with some supplementary material for our newest feature. Earlier in the year, I completed work on a short companion comic book called A FRIEND FROM HELL. It was written by Jamie Zin and tells a fun little side story, taking place before the film. There will be more news about that in a couple months. In the meantime, we just recently released the original soundtrack for streaming. It's available on Spotify, Apple, YouTube Music and a couple other spots. We're working on also sorts of bonuses for when the film is officially released. ETSY STORE Finally, earlier last month, we created an Etsy store as a hub for all of our physical copy sales. After years of being exclusive to conventions (which we haven't attended in years), you'll soon be seeing blurays of our films and paperbacks of our comics available to buy online. The first release is an old favorite. The Dog Park: Volume 1 is now available as a paperback. That won't be the only item for long. Some of the things I've mentioned in this very post will be up in the coming months. Keep an eye out for updates. I promise I'll actually write some. - Tyler Hello all! As is tradition, we kick off the year with a blog post going over every project we have. I'll try at least. As expected, 2025 was a pretty busy year. 2026 will involve you getting to see the results of all of that work. BRIMSTONE TERRACE Let's get the big one out of the way. This took up a majority of our time last year and now it's heading out into the world. Our little sneak preview in Kansas City back in November went really well. We scored the award for Best Animated Feature while we were there. That was nice of them! It's going to be a minute before we hear about any further screenings, so right now the film is cryogenically frozen until the time comes. One thing we can show you in the meantime is the trailer! Not right this second. Like, next week! We'll be doing a live stream on our Twitch channel where we are all going to hang out and watch it with you. Doesn't that sound fun? It's happening Tuesday the 6th at 7pm central. Be there or be square! Or watch it the next day when we post it. Do what ever you want. I'm not the boss of you. PRELIMINAL REFRAMING This short film also had a screening in November and it also went very well! Here's the thing: it's screening again in a couple weeks at the Old Times Not Forgotten Film Festival. The fest is January 17th - 18th in Derby, KS at the Derby Plaza Theater. I actually popped by last year and it was pretty fun. Can't wait to pay them another visit.
Hey everyone! Yet again we found ourselves in a string of months with non-stop updates that piled up until we reached this point. This might be one of the most exciting months we've had yet and you're about to see why.
Just a brief update as we check in for July!
The biggest news is that A COMPLEX HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES will be screening at the Tallgrass Film Center on Saturday, June 19th at 3pm. The show is free to attend, so come out, see the film, swarm Chris (who will be present). In the meantime, as a promo, we released a video with Chris giving five film recommendations that pair well with the themes of his documentary. You might be able to tell when we shot this one...
Other than that, not a lot to report. Still doing monthly streams. We are fulfilling our promise to marathon the original BRIMSTONE TERRACE web series on Twitch. That will also take place on the 19th around 7pm (central). After the marathon, a few of us who were involved with the original will be chatting about the experience and how it differs from the upcoming film. Should be fun. Maybe a little embarrassing. Who knows.
- Tyler
Hello everyone!
I almost did a good job keeping up with updates during that campaign. Now it’s almost the end of June and there’s a lot to say. BRIMSTONE TERRACE The campaign ended in May and we received a decent amount of help. I’ll take the opportunity to extend another thank you to everyone who helped! Before it ended we released a behind the scenes video featuring many of the voice talents from the film. Oh look! Here it is!
We also did our first Twitch stream in quite a while. David Young, Jillian and I were joined by special guests Tori Kamal and Melissa White for a stream counting down the final hours of the campaign. It was a lot of fun, we showed off a few animatic clips and ended up promising a few additional streams if we hit certain goals. We did in fact hit a few of those goals and now we will be streaming a marathon of the original 2013 series in July and we’ll be doing a cooking stream featuring segments of our upcoming Brimstone themed cook-book in August. We also did one last weekend where we announced a bunch of the updates you’re about to read. All this to say, there is a lot going on over on the IC Twitch channel. So I dunno. Maybe follow it or something to get notified when we’re live.
On the production side of things, we’ve been making major strides. Animation is complete! We are now onto the compositing phase, while Jillian revs up for the sound mix. As of last week, I actually finished compositing the first act. So we’re making very good progress. Hopefully that holds up. PRELIMINAL REFRAMING Speaking of Jillian, she recently completed work on a short film of her own called PRELIMINAL REFRAMING. It is an experimental narrative, sort of sci-fi leaning short and may be a piece of a larger idea. We’ll be digging into release possibilities for that in the coming months. A COMPLEX HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES Great news for any Wichitans wanting to check out Christopher Strong’s documentary feature! We will be screening at the Tallgrass Film Center on July 19th. Tickets will be available soon, so keep an eye out. Chris will also be in attendance, so be sure to bombard him with questions when the movie is over. Not during the movie. That would be rude. I think that does it for now. We have a few more things on the horizon that we’ll be sure to let you know about. After a sizable gap, of course. Wouldn’t want to keep this blog updated frequently or anything crazy like that! - Tyler
It’s Alan’s first night in Hell and he’s getting surprise visit.
Check out the first clip from BRIMSTONE TERRACE and consider supporting our Indiegogo campaign!
Hello all!
As mentioned in previous posts, we've been working crazy hard on our animated film BRIMSTONE TERRACE this year. Recently, we launched a crowdfunding campaign on Indiegogo in order to raise funds to finish the film and begin distribution. We also want to give you a chance to get involved and get some neat perks. Including blurays, books, vinyls and more! You can take a look at our pitch video to see us gab about it. Honestly, I think it does a pretty good job of painting a picture of what we're wanting to accomplish with the film itself. In a few days, we will release the first clip from the film! We just finished putting it together last Sunday and I can't wait for everyone to see it. I recently screened it at an event in Kansas City and I was pleased with the response. Stay tuned to our social media over the next month to get updates and visit our campaign page to learn more! - Tyler |
