December 24, 2004
It's been a while huh?  Been busy around here, still working on some things for A Joker's Card, a Green Lantern project, Dead Planet: Dead Before Twilight, and a couple of other things.  Also, make note of a few holidays around this time of year, enjoy the celebration of any or all. Bill of Rights day (December 15th), Hanukkah, Christmas, and kwanzza, look into them, very interesting origins.  Anyway, a big MERRY CHRISTMAS to anyone and everyone.  We've had a blast this year on all the jobs, with everyone we've met and hope that 2005 is even better.

November 10, 2004
So, got back from Pittsburgh last night and am dead tired.  Had a sleep deprived weekend due to the work that had yet to be finished for a student film that was shooting this past weekend.  I was mostly handling technical assistance, molding and casting duties, Don and Kelly were handling most of the work on this project.  I can't give away any of the story, but it does involve 3, or was it 4, aliens.  The days ran together, so I'm not sure of when we did what, but I think this is correct.  We cast a couple full head masks, after molding just about everything on Friday. Don cranked out a full sculpture that matched the first he had done while I molded the hands, he molded the head, then we cast up a few copies.  On Saturday I molded the first sculpture, cast another couple sets of hands and a mask.  Don painted those up, put the hands together, and we got out to the set.  On Sunday we did something, not sure what, probably slept a little.  Yesterday I ran some foam for a puppet version then got out of Pittsburgh.  I just got a few pictures over here, was too tired to take many more.  Don's cranking out a puppet version of one of the aliens this week, but I can only assist over the phone, and sadly I won't have any pictures in the near future since this weekend I'm back to "acting" for the remaining pickup shots of A Joker's Card.  I'm also working on some digital stuff for AJC and it looks like the Dead Planet prequel short is underway as well.  I added a few pics to Don's page and one to Kelly's as well.

October 18, 2004
HEY HEY HEY, A Joker's Card marathon weekend is over.  We filmed Thursday, Friday, Saturday, and Sunday, well, the crew did, I got to skip Thursday. I actually wrapped up my pre-production duties late Thursday with the completion of the pouches for nightwing's gloves at about 3 in the morning.  Friday's call time was early for me, especially lacking much sleep, but I managed and was rewarded with many takes in the hot tub and some soaking time after that scene was shot.  A little car trouble in the evening, but nothing serious.  Saturday was the really fun stuff, the nightwing fight in the warehouse, along with lots of cold fingers noses and toes, but everyone pulled through.  Sadly, we ran out of time for a large portion of the fight and will have to schedule another day, from what I understand we got most if not all of the wire work done, so that's a plus.  Sunday was a much easier day with only some alley scenes and a lesser fight being shot.  I'd just like to apologize again to the fine folks at Talkies for denting their wall.  I've uploaded some pictures from the shoots here, but be sure to visit the official site in the days to come, since they will be adding other pictures as they roll in.  There are already a few frame grabs in the forums.  In all, I'd say it went frighteningly smooth and was more fun then I would have thought for such an ambitious project.  From what I've seen so far I'm pleased with my work, the self criticism of my acting will have to wait until I see it.  For now, that's all I have, time to kick back and get some sleep, then back to work on everything else I was putting off until the shoot wrapped.

-Tom

October 13, 2004
Hell, we've been lax about updates lately, haven't we?  We'd like to welcome "Big" Al Tuskes back to northern Ohio and wish him well with his position at Precinct 13 Entertainment  

Now, honestly, we haven't been slacking off, just busy.  

Tom's been busy with last minute stuff for A Joker's Card and another film.  

Don's heading up the team for a student film down in Pittsburgh, Kelly already helped out with some of the lifecasting and Tom's going to pop down to help out on molds and running some foam, insane gas prices permitting.  Wally's doing whatever Wallys do this time of year, actually haven't talked to him lately, he's just busy with life's day to day obligations, and he better be working on something really cool for Halloween.

We've also been having some computer problems, so PLEASE be patient if it takes a few days to get back to you on the e-mail front.  

September 20, 2004
Twisted nightmare weekend, what to say?  It was a blast as usual.  We have some pics over here, as well as a little review (very soon).  Check it out if you care to.  

We are (again) officially casting for Lunch or Death? see info here.

September 16, 2004
Everybody coming to twisted nightmare weekend tomorrow?  If not, you had better reconsider and make it out on Saturday or Sunday.  

September 14, 2004
So, The nightwing costume for A Joker's Card is just about done, I think. Tom's sculpting a "backup" mask and has to do a few alterations, but it's almost there.  The batarangs are molded, and the first has been cast.  He may also be building a freeze gun, but that's up in the air right now.  Very excited to finally see Bigfeet this weekend at TNW, been about a year in the making, so I hope it lives up to all it's hype.

The last component for the Pneu-hits is in the mold curing now, it's just a matter of throwing them together.  Time permitting, a video will be shot showing them in action before the convention.  The convention...ah, that time consuming beast that we've been working on feeding.  The last of the display items and other goodies are being finished up in the next day.  It's going to be an absolute blast, be sure you're there!

August 26, 2004
Well we're hard at work on the pneumatic bullet hits, the "squib" replacements.  Great successes to date, a few more bugs to work out, then we'll be showing them off, putting them up for sale, and possibly renting them out soon. Stop by the table at twisted nightmare weekend, there's talk about raffling one off.   That's more of a side note really, since we're working on 2 short projects right now, still trying to wrap up a couple things for Johnny Wu's A Joker's Card and now some things for another Head2Head short, tied into Dead Planet.

Talking to the organizers of TNW, the wonderful Robyn Griggs, it's going to be great this year, and sounds like it's growing even at this late date.  

Don's working on several things, Wally's still M.I.A., Kelly's headed to England for a vacation in the near future but will be back for the con, and Tom's got some things besides the pneu-hits under his beard (seriously, look at that thing, think a family of birds moved in!)  We'll be looking for you at the convention.

Finally, I spoke to Ken of Residential Light and Magic, Bigfeet is about done.  It'll be out at TNW.  

August 16, 2004
So, since everyone always wants a cheap alternative to "squibs" I've been working on it, and have some pneumatic bullet hits ("squib"/microdet stand-ins) about 85% done, they're looking good so far.  They'll probably be unveiled at the convention, but it's still uncertain if there will be an official demonstration or just some random showing off.  I still have to talk to Robyn about it.  I've decided to build a puppet for the convention, just because I feel like wasting money I don't have. Another fun thing we're toying with is a scavenger hunt to win some prizes, be sure to be there Friday!  Just a quick update, a working manually operated prototype is WORKING!  This is not an insect sprayer, this is an actor operated, self contained, albeit a little on the bulky size, pneumatic "squib" replacement.  Would anyone like to see a picture?

July 22, 2004
I've been doing some props for local films, nothing new, just more of the same.   I picked up the wetsuit for A Joker's Card the other day and as soon as it stops raining it'll get painted up and ready for some promo pictures, also, the nightwing mask is underway.  Since I'll be shooting behind the scenes video of myself, you'll have a chance to hear me blab endlessly about what I'm doing.  I know there are many fan films out there right now, so I hope I can shed some light and help them out.  We're also hard at work trying to get some compressed air bullet hits built so we can do gunshots without pyro licenses.  Along those lines, we're also seriously talking to Robyn and the other fine folks who put on the Twisted Nightmare Weekend convention about doing a demo of various methods for low budget bullet hits, but it's still in the air.

Don's got a new sculpture underway, and seeing it first hand while down in Pittsburgh last weekend.   I wish I could add some pictures, but it's a little early still, sorry.  I'll also mention, since I'm here, that Don FINALLY got my "new" foam oven up here to Cleveland.  (For those interested, and looking for one, it's an Alto-Shaam model 750-S)

Wally needs a little direction, so we're all going to beat him up and make him do something.  

We have a new addition to the CFX "family", check out the about us page.  

July 1, 2004
Well, it's been a while, huh?  Been busy with this and that, you know how it goes.  We hooked up with MDI again, this time we're doing some work on A Joker's Card.  It should be a blast, I know I'm working on some cool treats for the true fanboy in all of us.  

Made some new props, some pipes, and some baseball bats, you can see some pictures over in the samples area.  Apparently missed out on a huge job, but hey, no hard feelings, it happens. That's about it for now, I know, there should be more, but there isn't just yet.

May 17, 2004
Well, just got back from another shoot with Robert Banks.  I got to see the footage shot way back in November on Friday, and I have to say it looks great.  We did some pickups today to tie things together, and with one or two more shoot days, shooting should wrap up very soon.  I added some behind the scenes pictures over here.

May 3, 2004
The Stranger is all wrapped up, premiered and looks AMAZING!  Went to the wrap party yesterday and finally got to see it, Andy and Aidan did a fantastic job on this film.  They are now officially graduates as well.  I speak for all of us here when I say CONGRATULATIONS and best of luck guys.  Don did a great job when I couldn't make it down there.  Overall, I'd say this is one of the best projects I've been involved with to date.  If they manage to get it online I'll be sure to get a link up on the site.

February 8, 2004
Wrapped up some of the FX shots for The Stranger.  The Tentacle and the hand looked good, at least to the naked eye, how they read on film is another story, but the directors said they looked good, great even.  I also made a boo-boo, when trying to run the video tap into a mini-DV camera that has one jack for AV in and out or head phones, make sure you set it correctly.  I thought we'd have some great video tap footage but then I went and goofed up.   Oh well, live and learn.  I did manage to get a couple clips of other things with my still camera, but there's no sound.  No footage of the WWII battle scene, I couldn't make that shoot due to a close friends father passing away.

UPDATE:  I added some clips of the tentacle to the site.  The first clip shows the general movement of the tentacle, and the second shows some horseplay.

January 27, 2004  
Well, big news, we changed hosting! which should take care of all the downtime we've been experiencing.  That is also the reason the site has been down for almost a week.  Does anyone read this stuff?

We have a guestbook now.  You can use it to let us know what you think, ask questions about stuff, or let us know if you'd like to see a tutorial over at the Crazy lou section of the site.  Use it.

Twisted Nightmare has some great things going on with it, hop over to the site and see for yourself.  It should be back bigger and better next year, but it's still very early.  The Cleveland FX guys had a chance to get some pictures taken with some of the other guests.

 

We're working on The Stranger right now, actually we're almost done with our part of the shooting.  It hasn't been nearly as fx heavy as the last one, but it has some fun things going on, and is a great script.  We got to build some cable controlled stuff, which is always fun.  I'll get pictures up soon, and maybe even some video clips.

Besides that, Tom's still casting for Lunch or Death?  (Looking for an older woman)

Anyone is welcome to contact us for more information in the mean time, or to have a look at the page above.  

Don's working a haunted house in Pittsburgh, go check it out
 The scarehouse on McKnightmare road.

Wally's working on some new sculptures for some small busts, and as always, making teeth.

Twisted Nightmare has some great things going on with it, hop over to the site and see for yourself.  It should be back bigger and better next year, but it's still very early.  The Cleveland FX guys had a chance to get some pictures taken with some of the other guests.

Twisted Nightmare Weekend, a fun horror convention in the Cleveland Area