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Interview

Owen Mulligan p1

Owen Mulligan from Deadfi productions is the maker of the short horror movies Pumpkinbane and Midnight Roadkill. He is planning on making a feature length movie on extraterrestrials for around $4000 in 2013. He makes movies with high production values with little equipment and money. He just gathers the right people for a film, then goes out and makes it. His movies can be seen in horror movie festivals and on Youtube.

READERSVOICE.COM: The cinematography in your short horror and ghost movies is very good. What are some techniques or tricks film-makers could use to make low budget movies look excellent?

OWEN MULLIGAN: Thank you, I would say learn the basics of cinematography. Frame each shot to have depth so it doesn’t look flat and make it look interesting with lighting, shadows, and color, etc.

RV: I read that for your forthcoming feature length movie Extraterrestrial Activity you had a budget of $3ooo. If that’s still the case, how can you make it for so little? Do you use DSLR cameras?

OM: The budget has been raised to $4000, and I’m shooting with a Canon XA10. The budget works because I wrote the screenplay around a micro-budget and also the movie will be done POV style, although it’s not found footage. This makes it very affordable to do but also serves this particular story very well. My shorts have taught me how to make movies really cheaply.

RV: When writing Extraterrestrial Activity, did you just come up with a what-if premise and run with it? What was the hardest part about writing it?

OM: The original premise came to me early in 2011, but I later dumped that premise and developed a whole new one with all new characters. The overall story is now vastly improved and it’s character driven. The hardest part of writing was all the research and making each scene feel realistic while moving the story forward in an exciting and unpredictable way. This isn’t a bunch of teenagers running around in the woods like idiots.

RV: When you had the casting call on August 16, in Burlington, Vermont, what happened exactly and how do these work?

OM: We had a great turn out. We did one in July and another one in August and then called back the top contenders in September. We now have a great cast that I feel can pull this off.

RV: Will you be filming on weekends and how long will the filming schedule go for?

OM: Any day of the week is open to us with all involved, but it will most likely be two consecutive days a week for a month. This is possible due to the style of the movie and because I chose actors with very flexible schedules.

RV: Where will you be filming the movie, and what permits do you need for location filming?

OM: I’ll be shooting in Vermont but exact locations cannot be made public. We won’t be needing any permits because the locations are private.

RV: How did you create the creatures in Midnight Roadkill and Night of the Vampire, and will you be using the same methods in your feature?

OM: Those creatures were very difficult. Makeup took hours, to say the least. I have to thank this great body paint known as Blithe Spirit. I’d be lost without it. Although, I’m using all new makeup and methods in my feature.

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-copyright Simon Sandall.