Your new film Terror
in the Skies - in a few words, what is it about?
Terror
in the Skies
is about the centuries worth of sightings by
average people of extraordinary things in the sky over the state of
Illinois. Or to simplify that somewhat, it’s about giant, winged
creatures not known to actually exist yet that are somehow being seen
none-the-less.
What
drew you to Terror
in the Skies' subject matter in the first place, how did you even
learn about it? I was drawn initially to the stories coming out of Chicago of a
Mothman-like being, but once I started diving into that particular story
I found all these other accounts of sky-born creatures that captured my
imagination. I believe the Lawndale incidents of 1977 and the Alton
sightings from the 1940s were what really intrigued me about making a
movie like this. What can you tell us about your research
prior to shooting Terror
in the Skies? I spoke with a number of researchers and investigators leading up to
the making of the film, along with various eyewitnesses. We originally had
four witnesses lined up to appear in the film but lost two along the way;
something that isn’t all that unusual for us.
How would you describe your
directorial approach to your story at hand? Well, on this one I found that the bulk of my “directing” came in
to play very late in the game. We had Zac Palmisano and Santino Vitale
handling the cameras on this one so it was my job to just make sure
everything ran smoothly during principle photography and then do the heavy
lifting story-wise in the edit. Honestly, at this point (8 movies in) the
primary crew all kinda know our job and the look and tone of the film are
all we really get into creatively. It’s very much a collaborative
process when it comes to working with Zac, especially. Do talk
about your interviewees in your movie for a bit!
Well, the film belongs to Troy Taylor and Loren Coleman who act as
guides through the whole story, as well as through the geography of the
state. They’re both authors and they both were born and raised in
Illinois so they were decided on pretty much from day one as being the
main “characters”.
Outside of them you have cryptozoologists like Ken Gerhard and
paranormal investigators like Allison Jornlin and Tobias Wayland along
with authors Chad Lewis and Kevin Nelson. They are there to help explain
what is a very widespread, unwieldy subject.
Then our eyewitnesses are Kyle Danhausen and Jeff Beyers. Both have
seen distinctly different types of flying cryptids but the experiences
affected their lives in a way that still resonates today.
What
can you tell us about the shoot(s) as such, and the on-set atmosphere?
This was by far the easiest shoot we’ve had. I’m not sure why that
is other than the fact that we shot two of the interviews in Point
Pleasant prior to the principle photography shoot in Illinois. That kept
the workload low in terms of shooting interviews which tends to be the
most intense part of one of our shoots. But, the actual shoot itself
consisted of a lot of driving from point a to point b and really trying to
capture shots that were not just unique or beautiful or scary but that
were evocative of the state of Illinois itself.
The only shooting we did after we left Illinois was back in Ohio where
I filmed the opening prologue. That scene was done in about a day and a
half of filming and I’m really quite proud of how it turned out.
You
are very objective in Terror
in the Skies, propose many different explanations for all the
flying creature phenomena of Illinois - so what do you think is the most
likely cause for them all?
Oh personally, something like a thunderbird is very believable to me.
We see examples of gigantism in known animals and even human beings so why
not rare occasions where a bird might also be born that is abnormally
large? As far as pterodactyls and the Mothman… I have no idea. I WANT
them to be real but they make no sense scientifically. However, we don’t
know everything and the point of the whole dang movie comes down to the
fact that we don’t know everything and should set out to find new
discoveries so I won’t just write that stuff off. Especially when very
believable witnesses are claiming to encounter it. Do talk about audience and
critical reception of Terror
in the Skies? The response has been phenomenal. To be totally transparent, this was
sort of a passion project for me, and one that I assumed would have very
little success financially. Due mostly to the fact that the subject is
under-the-radar for most people. That hasn’t been the case though and
it’s shaping up to be one of our most successful films to-date. I’m
really happy with the way the film turned out and the response thus-far.
And it’s just getting started! Once it widens to Amazon Prime the
audience will be much larger than it is now so we’re excited to see how
that audience reacts to it. Any future projects you'd like to
share?
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We begin filming On the Trail of UFOs in a couple weeks in Nevada and
Arizona. That project will be out in Late 2020. Our next film is called
MOMO: The Missouri Monster, and it’s a drive-in homage to 70s Bigfoot
films, while also being a very straightforward documentary. Your/your movie's website, Facebook, whatever
else? smalltownmonsters.com
and facebook.com/smltownmonsters
Anything else you're dying to mention and I have
merely forgotten to ask? Not really. If people like our
stuff they can be a part of it by helping fund our films on Kickstarter
each year around February. The 2020 Kickstarter will be our five year
anniversary so it’ll be a big one! Thanks for the interview!
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