A Long Awaited Mechazoic Production Update
Boy, has it been some time since we first announced Mechazoic last September! While we haven’t shared too much, there’s been so much happening behind the scenes. To make up for the relative silence (see our Instagram (@mechazoicmovie) for some fun bts), I (Eddie, hello!) will give you all a breakdown of what’s been happening since we announced!
Maggie Roscher, dressed as out protagonist in her mech pilot suit on our screen screen set.
Saturday, 09/23/2023
We shot a tear-jerking hospital scene and the complete opening of the film in the underground facility of the United States Temporal Defense Division.
Baron Brooks and Janet Scanlon in our hospital set.
The hospital scene was breath taking. Janet and Maggie absolutely brought their A-Games and blew us all away. I even got teared up. Janet and Maggie's chemistry was truly undeniable and I was so happy with every performance given. Here are some raw (not colored) stills!
Sunday, 09/24/2023
We shot at what might be the coolest location I've ever gotten the chance to shoot in. We were given an airplane hangar for the full day and we shot some breathtaking sequences that were, yes, totally inspired by Top Gun.
Me (Eddie Possehl) watching/directing our big airplane hangar scene. Ben Aili is one camera. Our Cadets are played by (from left to right) Alex Larson, Archi Mitchell, Melanie Lee and Danielle Vineski. In front of them stands Liam Cole and Baron Brooks.
We used swift, sweeping motions to bring a blockbuster feel to such a grand set (we even got some planes taking off in the background!) We also shot scenes at Mia's personal workspace, where she makes her decision to step into the Epsilon Unit for the first time.
The wonderful Maggie Roscher doing… something on our warehouse set.
I was genuinely blown away by this location and what we were able to accomplish with it and it ended up looking amazing on camera.
But what was next?
At this point, VFX have begun their mountain of work and I was getting prepped to fly to the Big Apple itself in late October to film on-the-ground footage of the city! I hope to utilize this second unit filming day to bring shots that'll have a CGI mech and dinosaur, grounded into reality.
Sunday, 10/22/2023
From October 18-24th, I took to New York City to film with our Second Unit and film civilian reaction shots reminiscent of Sam Raimi's Spider-Man films and Man of Steel.
The grand-scale titans we're working with won't feel as real and genuine if we can't showcase the real world being affected below them. With the help of Jeremy Cascamisi and Younis Alzubeiri, who helped gather his team based in NYC, we were able to capture some beautiful shots in the lively and colorful city of New York and the landmarks surrounding it such as the Staten Island Ferry.
The scenes we captured are beautiful (regardless of how low-quality they appear on the website) and, dare I say, some of the best in the entire project. I'm insanely proud of everything that got filmed, and I'm so excited to see how they cut into the main cut and work with our CGI.
From then to now.
The conclusion of our Second Unit work in New York marks the end of all photography on the project, which means it's all post-production from here on out.
We ran into SO MANY issues when it came to VFX. Our CGI Artist, Nero Omar has a life of his own, so, understandably, life got in the way. Our progress from here may not have been as dazzling as the very bright New York City, but we've be doing some amazing things from that moment to now that I'm so excited to share with you all. But, as of writing this, we only have a select few shots left and the goal is to have the film finished early next year!
Thank you all so much again for supporting us. I can't describe how much it means to us all that you were willing to donate to help us accomplish our goals. It's an unreal feeling of motivation and one that I'll carry with me onto the next stage of production!
-Eddie Possehl
