UPDATE

P.S.

Thank you to all the handful of faithful followers of the blog. There is probably less than ten of you out there and your offers of help are deeply appreciated.  Some truly amazing  offers!

The actual response to the “teaser” on U-tube and on the Paragon blog has been minimal in “number of hits”. Just not a lot of interest. That has been disappointing , but the film is 37 years old now (1975) and I guess that is to be expected.

If I had my drruthers I would make a 45minute edited version of the original Paragons Paragon and shot a 45 minute sequel with the original actors.

A script is already done. All the important players are still alive and well. It would be a unique movie and a fun convention film package. Actors years older struggling with age, and no make up needed.

In order to do that I would buy a new computer along with sound and video  editing programs and fix Paragon myself.

Would I take a chance on re-mastering the original from the super 8 mm film? I am not sure? However the odds are against it turning out ok and favor the money going down the drain on a conversion that fails.

Eliminating  the original actors voices in Paragons Paragon, dubbing in new voices, and new sound track is not an option. It just would not be the same  movie to me. I think 45 minutes of occasional hard to hear actors voices and a loss of humor scenes, and some of story line would be a better option than new voices. At least a good size chunk of the movie could be seen.

THANK YOU ALL

The blog is in a “holding pattern”. I am flying around in circles not sure about what I might do with it. At the very least it has supplied material for interested parties about Paragons Paragon.That was its main purpose.

IF YOU ARE A NEW PERSON TO THIS POST;  go the end and then go forward from there. You will see mostly Star Trek “Paragons Paragon” material  and how it evolved.

IF YOU ARE A REGULAR VIEWER; tell me what you might want to know about or see. Other than the 1hr.20min. Paragons Paragon movie.

OK,  SO WHAT MIGHT STILL BE IN THE WORKS?  I still want to make a 20 to 30 minute edited version available on the blog.  When will it happen? I haven’t got the slightest idea. Just keep checking in every  couple of months or so. I may have a third blooper already  converted, but am not sure about it.

NOT ENOUGH RESPONSE FOR THE VIDEO CLIP how to do it IDEA to pursue more of them. However any of my regular followers that want to have something posted, or articles that you want me to write about,  all you have to do is ask.

THE BEST THING FOR ME ABOUT THE BLOG has been meeting new friends and connecting with old ones. All of whom  I will make a point of meeting in person soon.

Your friend

John

TWO ARTICLES IN ONE:

Wallaces articles are the perfect “let’s get started” projects. They are presented in a manner very much like the olden days Cinemagic magazine would have  done , if  it had video capability.

I am pleased that he has allowed me to share his talents with you. He was mentioned in my July 7th. 2012 post. I  once again recommend that you visit his web site as it is filled with delights at: stopmotion.moonfruit.com

CAMO FILM

FIRST IS HIS VIDEO LINK ARTICLE   “BUILDING BALL AND SOCKET ARMATURES”

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F70ahqD_tBY

SECOND  IS PHOTOS AND ARTICLE ON: STOP MOTION MODEL FABRICATION

STOP-MOTION MODEL FABRICATION: A SIMPLE BUILD UP METHOD

 Make a stop motion foam dragon 

Here is how I built my Monoclonius stop-motion model, using a ball and socket armature made in the manner described in my video.

The first step is to cut a sheet of cotton bunting into 1/2″ wide strips. Tightly wrap the armature with this bunting like a mummy. Glue the loose ends down with rubber cement. This bunting serves two functions:  Protection for the armature, as well as a anchor on which to glue the the foam rubber.

Now, glue on bits of upholstery foam with contact cement. Don’t worry if you glue on a piece that is too big, it can always be trimmed down later. Keep doing this until you have a rough general shape.

For facial, neck and leg muscle detail, unroll a cotton ball and pull off a small swatch of cotton. Using a brush dipped in liquid latex, simply brush the cotton onto the upholstery foam. Shape with the flat end of a small screw driver.This is great for building up around the eyes.

Glass eyes from a taxidermy supply, or glass doll eyes are the best choice. On this particular model, I used wooden macrame beads.

The teeth were made of scrap balsa wood, cut to size and glued into the mouth with contact cement. The horn was made in a similar fashion and attached with rubber cement. This is later strengthened by a coating of liquid latex.

To finish the feet, cut into the foam with small scissors to make the channel between the toes. Sculpt the toes by rounding off the foam with scissors. The back of the foot can be built up with cotton and latex.

The bony structure around the creatures neck was cut from a cardboard cereal box. Wood glue was applied to the cardboard shape and a piece of regular gauze bandage (from a drug or dollar store) was glued to the card board. When dry, flip over and repeat for the other side. With both sides try, trim down with a pair of pinking shears to give the edge a jagged look.

To skin the model, I used the same type of gauze bandage, cut to shape and glued on with contact cement. Just tack it on. When you have the model covered with gauze, brush liquid latex onto the gauze. I found that only one coat was necessary because I liked the texture of the gauze.

When dry, paint with acrylic paint. Another variant is to mix in a small amount of liquid latex into the acrylic. It’s up to you. I have found that acrylic without the latex works just as well.

Keep in mind there are many ways to construct animation models and this is just one of them. Feel free to experiment and come up with your own variations.

Good luck and keep animating

Thank you Wallace.

Signing off for now,

John

ENJOY NEW  OLD BLOOPERS

Sorry about the delay in adding new post articles.  So let this current post be a fun trip back in time. The scenes will give you a good idea of where and how  everything was filmed. You can see the cafeteria was right next to the  bridge and if you look close at other clips the basement becomes very apparent.

We fooled around a lot and tried to make the work schedule into as mush fun  as we could. Sellek and Kirk were the biggest hams. They constantly tried to top one another by being the person to get the last funny line in.

See the Cafeteria trick we pulled on two high school members of the cast.  Larry Cosentino and Micheal Sacks.

See grown adults make ridiculous faces.

And more silly faces Hey Ka Passa.

Lets not forget our Doctor

Or our bored Engineer (Jim Grey) blowing dragon smoke out the sides of his mouth.

And it never hurts to have a pretty girl in a short skirt now and again

 I found myself with extra film that I had to run through the camera so I put the camera on a tripod and did my share of silliness. This included a short version of the ” Soupy Shuffle”.  The shuffle is a sideways dance that was done by Detroits’ own Soupy Sales on his tv show that was for kids at lunch time. I , like many kids, would rush home from school ( a one mile walk or run in this case) to gobble down my lunch and watch as much of his half hour show as I could before running back to school. I hated eating in the school cafeteria. It was like a punishment to me when it rained and I had to stay at school for lunch. Times have changed for kids,  haven’t they.

SO HERE IT IS. THE NEXT VIDEO BLOOPER . HOPE YOU ENJOY IT.

ALIEN  SPACE CRAFT IN MICHIGAN

( model by Ted Rae)

In Rochester Michigan I am setting up a forced perspective (photo below)  for the scene when the Alien first lands on the planet to retrieve the zoo specimens from the big mother ship seen later in the film “The Alien Factor”. Directly below this top photo  is the actual result of this set up.

(Please excuse the images the scanner isn’t working properly)

The vertical stick is holding the white space ship up.

Forced Perspective result above off view screen

NEXT ARE  SOME ACTUAL FILM CLIPS FROM FOOTAGE OF THE ORIGINAL  ” LEMOID CREATURE “THAT WAS NOT USED IN THE MOVIE

 The creature was supposed to be a ” “ghost like”energy thing that goes from invisible to visible at the end of the movie.  The reason for the “ghost” idea was so that it could be a double exposure which would keep the special effects simpler and less expensive to do. Britt McDonough did the armature, creature and the original special effect battle.  I ran  his version (which was on on a short version of the movie) for friends and relatives in order to raise  extra money necessary for our 35mm print.

Don somehow got Ernie Farino to do another version of the Lemoid  battle. Ernie had already done  the title credit  sequence.

(Ernie Farino’s Lemoid )

   Britts Lemoid was replaced. I do not think that was very fair to Britt and I am embarrassed that I did not fight to keep his version. Sometimes “right” is more important than “might” , or in this case a product made by a more experienced person. Yes, Ernie’s is pretty cool. However, I never asked Britt how he felt about what happened.  Maybe he was totally in favor of doing the switch and it never bothered him? I know it would of bothered me!

I might have some footage of Britts  original version , but like all this material in my blog  it is someplace in storage. I’ll keep my eyes open for it in my good ole pile of goodies. It is only available on certain Alien Factor DVD’s  as part of an “extras” package.

HERE ARE SOME MORE FILM CLIPS OF BRITTS LEMOID IN ACTION

ERECTOR SET ARMATURE

OK,  I am just tossing this armature photo  in . I think the armature  is one of Britts and it might even be for the Lemoid. I honestly can not remember.

Here is Britt with some of his other creatures. He was a great guy to do movie projects  with. We worked well together. As noted in previous articles; together we built the mother ship model, did lobby cards in his darkroom, and he was our cameraman. He used his Bolex  Rex 16mm to shot the movie.

KEEPING WARM

Since I am on the topic of Britt here is a neat photo of how he had to keep the camera warm by wrapping it in a blanket. Baltimore had one of their coldest winters that year. He is shooting a scene that takes place just before the mayor(Dick Dyszel)  gets killed.

Speaking of COLD here is HOW MONSTERS  STAY  WARM in the woods before they attack. That is Larry Schlechter in his Infrabrice suit. It was kind of a hard shell paper mache type suit.

KEEPING RESTED

Our ladder that we used for high camera shots  came in handy as a leaning post for a tired Zagatile.. The creature  suit kept me warm, but my fingers got pretty cold. Monsters were not allowed in houses so they toughed out the cold. Just kiddin.  The truth is it simply was too much trouble to walk on the stilts back to the house, or get out of the suit, so I just waited for the next camera set up most of the time all by my lonesome.

HOW A ZAGATILE  LEARNS A NEW WALKING PATH

Don is about to take my hand and WALK me out of one area and over to another. The stilts, besides being tough to walk on,  had  feet  that weighed about ten pounds each.(the feet were constructed over ski boots)  When I walked I could only see out of slits in under the Zagatiles eyes (half moon slits) which limited my vision to  right in front of my toes at best. It was almost like being blind.  The eyes of the Zagatile were marbles that blocked most of my vision.

John,

Thanks for coming to my blog and if you want to learn more about me you are welcome to visit my carpet repair web page cosentinocarpet.com

John,

*

 “HOW DO YOU MAKE THOSE GUTZ?”

  by Thomas Berdinski

Hi, I’m Thomas Berdinski

And for my contribution to the Paragon’s Paragon blog, I decided to answer the
question I am asked MOST often at every horror convention I attend: “How
did you make those intestines?”

 But first let me tell you a little bit about myself. I am a“do-it-yourself” movie maker, handling everything from lighting to monster make-up.  I grew up a Super 8 filmmaker and was inspired by CINEMAGIC magazine and “The Alien Factor”.  I am also a Trekkie, and enjoyed the early articles and photos of “Paragon’s Paragon”.

Although a lifelong horror/sci-fi fan (and a part time movie maker)  in Michigan, I have become best known for my 2009 low-budget homage to European horror, “The Italian Zombie Movie” and two new shorts “The Giant Rubber Monster Movie” and “Noirmageddon- A Mark Anvil Thriller”.

My movies are available on Amazon; have won a  awards at conventions, and have played on TV shows including Midnite Mausoleum.

My upcoming projects include an ambitious homage to 80’s alien invasion movies and a new zombie feature.

EDITORS NOTE FROM JOHN

YOU ARE ABOUT TO SEE A REALLY GREAT SERIES OF GROSS ZOMBIE VIDEO CLIPS DEMONSTRATING  WHAT THIS ARTICLE IS ABOUT: “GUTZ”. 

THE SCENES WOULD PROBABLY BE CONSIDERED  R RATED  BY SOME PEOPLE, SO IF YOU ARE SQUEAMISH  AND DON’T HAVE AN OFF BEAT  SENSE OF HUMOR  THEN WHAT CAN I SAY?

SORRY BUT MOVIE GUTZ ARE GROSS!  BE FOREWARNED: DON’T WATCH!

( Just foolin almost last  chance to not look )

( OK this is your last chance not to look )

(OK , So go ahead and look, the suspense is killin me;  It’s dark where I am writing this, what’s that smell?, I think something just bite me? Aragggh. JC)

<<<GROSS MOVIE CLIP>>>

So, how did we make those intestines?

 Well, the truth is, they are REAL intestines, in a sense; made from stuff you can buy at your local grocery store and any butcher who makes his own sausages.  The cost will vary but plan on about $25 per adult torso.  Here is our recipe:

Ingredients:
•       Natural sausage casings (artificial casings work, but don’t look nearly
as good)
•       Gelatin (unflavored)
•       Kool-Aid (unsweetened)
•       Optional modifiers such as coffee grounds, hot cocoa mix, bread crumbs,
etc.

Utensils:
•       Quart+ sized bowl for mixing the gelatin; should be able to fit in your
sink
•       Ladle
•       Turkey baster without the rubber bulb
•       Funnel
•       A large bowl or bucket with ice water

Step 1:

Soak the casings in warm water for a few minutes to soften them up.

Step 2:

Cut the casings into pieces about 2 feet long and inspect them for large holes.  Run cold water through the casings by carefully opening one end and holding it under a faucet to allow water to flow through it. Verify that there are no large holes by looking for water squirting out the sides of the casing.  If there are large holes or rips in the casing wall, throw it away.  It will not hold the gelatin.

Step 3:

Make your gelatin mixture.  Follow the directions on the pack. Add color as desired. For example, for healthy looking intestines mix in some cherry unsweetened Kool-Aid.  For decaying looking intestines use coffee or cocoa mix.  We’ve made green, blue, yellow and purple intestines too!  Note that a quart of gelatin makes about 2 intestines, depending on the amount of leakage.  Bread crumbs make good filler and also add variety to the texture.

Step 4:

Fill a large bowl or bucket with cold water.  Keep it nearby. Add some ice if necessary – The colder the better.

Step 5:

Filling the casings.  Place your gelatin mixture bowl in a plugged sink.  Thread a casing onto the turkey baster and tie a small knotat the bottom end.  Put a funnel into the top of the turkey baster and add your gelatin mixture using a ladle.  Do this over the bowl in the sink. As the casing fills, it’s a good idea to let it lay in the bowl with your gelatin mixture in the sink.  If your knot comes undone while you’re filling, you won’t loose your gelatin down the drain.

Step 6:

Tie off the other end of the casing and place the intestine in the bucket/bowl of chilled water.  Because these are real intestines, water easily passes through the walls via osmosis.  Floating them in cold water reduces water loss and speeds the setting of the gelatin.

Step7:

Place in the refrigerator for a few hours… Over night is better.

Step 8:

Drain water, snip the excess casing from the knots on the ends and “serve” al dente!

The recipe above was actually ‘invented’ by my frequent collaborator Joseph Tardani.  Joe has been “behind-the-scenes” making movies with me since we were about 8 years old.  We made our first (unfinished) zombie movie when we were about 12.  I think that was when Joe first began experimenting with this recipe.  We like to boast that in IZM, we used gallons of blood and MILES of intestines!  It probably isn’t too much of
an exaggeration…  Very few photos of Joe exist, but he did play the lead zombie(s) in IZM.

<<<JOE AND CAITRIA PIC>>>

FINALLY A FEW WORDS OF WARNING!

1) Depending on the type of gelatin or Kool Aid you use, these intestines
can smell very sweet but don’t be fooled – They are raw, uncooked sausage
casings and should not be eaten.

 Always wash your hands after handling them

2) Use unsweetened Kool-Aid and gelatin when possible.  This will extend the “life” of your intestines.  When kept refrigerated, our “unsweetened” intestines would last about two-to-three weeks on average.  We had one batch mysteriously last for several months!

 Always rinse the intestines in cool water when you’ve finished, and store them in a sealed tub in the refrigerator.  Large Tupperware tubs work well.

3) If you use the sweetened stuff, be warned: It tends to ferment quickly, creating some very nasty odors.  Sadly, this was lesson we learned at the expense of our actors…

You saw  a scene from IZM with a disembodied head talking from the trunk of a car.  The trunk was a prop we built where the actress simply poked her head through the bottom of a large box that we then decorated with carpet and the gory stuff.

Unfortunately, the day we shot that scene was the day the intestines decided to go bad.  We did everything we could to cover the odor, ultimately adding Pine Sol to the gut pile to make it somewhat bearable.

Also, we shot a scene where a zombie spilled his guts onto the face of our hero.  Sadly, this was another day that the intestines fermented.  We couldn’t use Pine Sol this time since the guts were hitting him in the face, so the actor just had to tough it out.  It was awful – I mean, can you imagine being hit in the face over-and-over with wet intestines that smelled, literally, like flatulence?

Well, I guess that’s all for this installment.  Maybe John will ask me back again.  Maybe he was too grossed out by all this talk of intestines and flatulence. In any event, thanks for your interest – Now, GO MAKE SOME INTESTINES!

(JC says sometimes it is fun to get grossed out and Thomas you are definitely asked back !)

To contact Tom, learn about their DVD specials, see trailers, read reviews, view upcoming convention schedule and more:

Noirmageddon Trailer

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i7YUjpA-w4o]

Giant Rubber Monster Movie Trailer

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JJB4VNMi5g

Italian Zombie Movie Trailer 1

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dnyTfAxL7dg

Italian Zombie Movie Trailer 2

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A3I7wfjSvX8

FACEBOOK: Thomas Berdinski
FACEBOOK: The Italian Zombie Movie
FACEBOOK: The Giant Rubber Monster Movie
FACEBOOK: Noirmageddon – A Mark Anvil Thriller
FACEBOOK: House with a Morgue
EMAIL: diretto@italianzombiemovie.com
WEBSITE: www.italianzombiemovie.com

MORE INFORMATION ON BEHIND THE SCENES ALIEN FACTOR

The   photos were taken directly from the video #4 demo. In the upcoming articles (posts) I will be using actual photos that will be clear whenever possible.

CORPSE FOR ALIEN FACTOR

I stayed in Baltimore, Maryland area about three weeks while we shot most of the creature and special effects scenes for Alien Factor. As each film day drew to a close the next film days schedule was revealed.  We had to be very flexible about the schedule and able to change it at any moment. For example one evening I was given the assignment to have a zombie type dead person ready for the next days shoot.  Ok, get me some cotton, latex, a blow dryer, a glue gun for the teeth, old doll with some hair, and a Styrofoam head for wigs and away I go. Presto chango one dead guy in the morning. It really wasn’t pressure. It was fun.

ZAGATILE

ZAGATILE  (ME ) GETTING SHOT

The thing is I really was getting shot!. Look at this above  frame  closely, and this scene   in the movie. I am flinching and I ain’t acting. That gun was not supposed to be shooting pellets , but it was. Wax bullets!  The first one hit me in the stomach ,which was made of thick rubber  and it bounced off. The second shot got me in the shoulder. I yelled out at them to “Stop, something is coming out of the gun”.  “Something is wrong”!

When you watch the movie the Sheriff never aims the gun at me any more after this above camera angle shot. Some of the shots are done without the gun being seen. He was all shook up that he could have done some real damage to me.

When they helped me out of the monster suit, their was a hole in the Zags arm, and a hole in my tee shirt, and a hole in my arm with a wax bullet stuck in it. I popped it out. We put some iodine on it . Went to the drug store and asked the druggist what to put on it and he gave us some medicine.  I was fine. Probably couldn’t do that kind of thing now-a-days.

FORCED PERSPECTIVE

BIG SPACE SHIP CRASH

Britt McDonough ( not sure how to spell his name ) and I put this one foot long model together at his moms house. We used Celuclay for the ground the ship  skidded across. Celuclay is a form of  ground up paper machee type stuff.  The rear end of the ship  is an electric tooth brush holder. Boy it is fun to come up with this kind of stuff. There is a photo of us in a previous blog article (titled BOO! ) of mine  setting it up outside in the snow at Gunpowder State park in Baltimore, Maryland. ( I am on the left )

The movie scene above is another forced perspective with the actors off to the right and in the distance. The  cameras f stop has to be wide open for depth of fields  focus to reach from (in this case) one foot to a couple of hundred of feet away where the actors were. The two “planes” merge as one image on the film. It is a neat illusion.

INNER MAN

FINALLY THE “INNER MAN” ( Kiss me you fool)!

He is so named because he is like a man with his outside skin stripped off. I made it pretty  much anatomically correct. I did not wear this suit. You had to be pretty skinny to wear it. The idea was that the bulk of the suit would make it the size of the actor who played the Alien. I did not want the suit to be bigger than the actor, thus the skinny person in it and a shirt over the Alien and he was the same bulk as the actor.

Well that’s all for now the next article will continue with more Paragon things or  maybe other projects I worked on or a contributor article ?.

Thanks for coming!

John

p.s.

 NEXT WEEKS BLOG ARTICLE WILL BE FROM:

THOMAS  BERDINSKI  of fame for such delicious movie treats such as “The Italian Zombie Movie”

He has promised to answer the most asked question he gets at Horror Movie Conventions

Any idea what that question might be?

“RESURRECTED GRAVEYARD HAND” by BLAKE POWELL

Hello, my name is Blake Powell and I have been making movie and video projects off and on since the late 70’s,  I was a big fan of  CINEMAGIC  magazine and of course John Cosentino’s articles. These days I shoot and edit a television horror host show called Midnite Mausoleum.  Hope you enjoy my  “Resurrected Graveyard Hand” video. You will find details and photos  about the making of it  presented below the link to the video.

DEMO HAS 3 PARTS:

FIRST: SOME OF THE MAGAZINE ARTICLES I DID.

SECOND: A REPEAT OF VIDEO #1 THE FOUR MINUTE SHORT TEASER.

THIRD:CLIPS FROM ALIEN FACTOR ,  MOST OF THE THINGS THAT  I DID OR ORGANIZED.

THE PLAN

My intention is to show behind the scenes and making of things photos related to the Demo video while waiting for the 18 minute adjusted sound clip of Paragon to be prepared.

Also during the wait and forever thereafter  there is  : THE ARTICLES BY “YOU” THE READERS AND SUPPORTERS OF THE BLOG.

The first one  is already done.  It was  done by Blake whom you will meet very soon in an upcoming blog article that contains a short video by him and great photos explaining how he shot the video. Now onto the  current demo video and the article about it.  My video will help newcomers to Paragon quickly about my beginnings.

PART ONE: MAGAZINE ARTICLES

I wrote  many articles with some being “How to do it’ and others were simply stories about what occurred during filming. If you’ve read my posts, then you have come to know some of my stories.

My  method of how to present a how to do it article has been copied by others for many years. I left no stone unturned and told exactly what to do and where to go for supplies and even the cost.

It took me one year to develop better sentence structure, but when I got it I got it! My cousin Larry helped me re-learn sentence structure. Who whould’ve  thunk I would’ve needed English skills? Certainly not me in high school or college.

PART TWO A REPEAT video OF THE SHORT  PARAGON TEASER.

It is there because it came that way when I had the transfer made so I could run it on the blog. The fewer the edits the less it cost me. So please bear with it to get to the Alien Factor material.

PART THREE IS ABOUT “THE ALIEN FACTOR” MOVIE

ALIEN SPACE SHIP

This miniature space ship  was made by Ted Rae. I took it and the “Inner man alien” that I made out to a friends property in Rochester Michigan and set up a “forced perspective”. Look close and you can see the man in the center of this clip photographed off the blogs movie.

It was raining when we filmed the above  scene and the motorcycle thing below.  Everyone thought we would have to go home. However I remembered that in a light misty rain the drops can not be seen on film and told them no problem. I hoped that I was right. I was!  No one ever noticed who saw the movie.

MOTORCYCLE ACCIDENT SCENE

The cycler is my brother Rick. He was our Richard S Kirk in Paragon’s Paragon. Notice it is dusk in the movie and he has sun glasses on to be “cool”. “CooL” is a word that has managed to stay “cool” even in this day and time.

The Michigan film material lasts, from the Alien spaceship and Alien transforming, up the the blue ray that heals the girl. It  was an “AD ON” time extension.  The reason is because the finished movie was too short , not long enough in minutes.  No distributors  would look at it. And it also needed to be blown up to 35 mm from the 16 mm that it was shot in order to spark interest.  Money talks and you know what walks. The blow up cost almost $ 15, 000 dollars.

The movie was dead in it’s tracks. So  I wrote an “insert” scene , rented equipment, and had a private showing  in Michigan of the short version to raise the money for the blow up which came from friends and relatives.

BLUE  RAY ALIEN HEALS ACCIDENT VICTIM

This was a simple double exposure. A hole was cut in a black poster board and a solid piece of black cardboard was slowly moved to send the beam down at the girl. It was done blurred and out of focus. It was done in our back yard.

Back in the day! The effects could not be viewed until the film was processed overnight. If  the effect failed then it had to be done over .  It was like shooting at something blind, and waiting to see if you hit the mark the next day or not. Nothing like shooting video now a days.

Well this is getting kinda long so I’ll talk about some other Alien Factor shots taken off my blog video on an upcoming post article after Blakes article.

John

John

YOU ARE THE COMING ATTRACTIONS

“Come and join us and let the Paragon blog be a corridor to imagination”

VIEWER PARTICIPATION ARTICLES AND VIDEOS

If you have been following my Paragon blog then you may have noticed that little by little I have introduced material about other projects besides Paragon.  Once I got involved with doing the blog I actually started to really enjoy it and the people who write me about it.

I love sharing this space with other people. The projects are interesting and encouraging. Hopefully this not only will be a place for Paragon’s Paragon, but for others to meet and congregate an learn of each others projects.

“Inspiration begets inspiration”

Not only with the articles/videos be diverse but they will have the flavor of the old Cinemagic magazine that I used to write for many years ago.  Tip on how to do it, or how it was done. Funny stories that come from doing film/video/art/etc. I see this as an “any medium” place to be seen or to  share and learn. From beginners to advanced.

I do admit it is an experiment. Time will unfold the layers of this endeavor in whatever manner it sees fit.

Let the call go out. If you would like to be a part of this then let me know. My email address is

cosentinocarpet@gmail.com

However you can also make a comment about this post and the idea on the Paragons Paragon blog.(below)

Paragons repairing is a slow moving project and therefore it gives me the perfect opportunity to share the blog and make it a meeting place for creative minded people. There will still be Paragon articles and that 18 minute video in the works, but there will be other interesting things in this blog.

One new article by a fan  is done and two others are in the works. Please do not feel that you can’t write (I’ll help if you need it). If you can’t take photos then ask someone to do it for you. Please do not feel that your projects are too amateur (let me decide). Life is full of risks.  Everyone has to start someplace.

I will be the first to have an article and video about some of my other projects . It is the thing I have been calling a “demo” video that I made years ago. In a future blog post article I will share some of my very first attempts at film making during grade school and high school years. They are pretty bad and disasters but I keep trying.

Sincerely,

John