There's 1 day to go and over $101,000 has been raised. Many people deserve thanks, but none more than THE FANS. Each and every one of you has been a part of making this happen! Since slapping together the original ThanksKilling, we've received (and discovered online) a lot of REALLY AWESOME FAN-MADE ARTWORK. Today, we want to share some of our favorites with you. If you've got an artistic bug yourself, you can always submit your masterpiece to info@thankskillingmovie.com. Until you finish your own, enjoy these!

This has got to be one of the coolest:

Here's some edible artwork... Yes, that's a birthday cake!

This is hand painted on canvas! Unfortunately we don't own the original, but whoever does is one lucky bird.

Here's another that's just plain AWESOME! In fact, this sinister and haggard look of Turkie is something we're straying closer toward with parts of the sequel.

Love the dark, grungy, bloody look:

I hope this one was done during class of some sort and the teacher yelled at the student artist. Sorry student, but now the teacher knows about ThanksKilling - and it's all about spreading awareness!

This inspires us to share the lyrics to the beloved "Best Friend Billy" song: "And now you've gone and left me... you were my, my best friend (my friend). You got killed by a turkey... who's not, who's not my friend (he's not my friend). Oh Billy, Billy, Billy... you were my, my best friend. We were meant to be best friends forever... but now you're... a dead best friend."

This one's great because we're actually making this happen! Those of you who pledged $50 or more... well I'm sure you're aware of the fact that come November 2012, you'll own your very own... Gravy Flavored Condom.

This was an amazing looking and mouth watering cookie cake pic sent to us from a group of fans who worked in a bakery:

This one's a little small, but I'm guessing someone's wrist was sore after crayoning (if that wasn't a verb, it is now) the shit out of this:

Another delicious looking desert. Why can't people send us the actual cake?! Oh well...

And now for an actual fan pic! Meet Squirtman Jim, based out of Columbus, OH. Here he got ThanksKilling stars Chuck "Dead Body Guy" Lamb and Ryan "Darren the Nerd" Francis to autograph a poster at a convention they attended. 

And last but not least, ThanksKilling promos in action. First, some of the lost turkey flyers someone posted in their office! Hopefully an office for PETA... 

Lastly, a REDBOX got tagged with a ThanksKilling sticker so people get distracted while searching through all the other shitty movies out there. Gotta love property damage promos!

If you've got anything cool, send it over: info@thankskillingmovie.com

Hey friends,

Kevin here. First off I want to say congrats to everyone for getting this sucker funded. This is something WE all did together and we couldn't have done it without you. We mean this from the bottom of our hearts - thank you all so much.

Now comes the fun part. The actual making of the movie. So without further ado, I would like to take you on a short tour of the visuals that Jordan and I had in mind for TK2. We've always been big fans of 70's and 80's films and we want to incorporate some of the techniques they employed back then. But don't be fooled - this won't just be some 80's style remake - we still want to add a modern flavor to give the movie a very unique style. 

Here are some of the techniques we plan to use:

MATTE PAINTINGS: 

Back in the day, Matte Paintings used to literally be painted on a huge piece of glass and then superimposed and incorporated into the live action footage. While we don't need to that anymore because of the invention of computers, we still want to keep the painterly and surreal effect that those old paintings created. This will also allow us to extend sets beyond the restrictions of reality and our budget. A great example of the style we're going for is this image from 1947's "Black Narcissus" painted by Walter Percy Day. He was the matte paintings master of his era and we will never be able to reach his genius, but you get the point. 

MINIATURE SETS:

We'll only be able to do one or two of these but we'll pick our spots wisely. The idea here will be to again give the world of TK2 a surreal feel. If one of our sets is a miniature it might give the whole scene a warped perspective and things won't quite feel right. That's exactly what we're going for. Here is the intro scene to "Tales from the Crypt" - the shot leading up to the house is all a miniature set and it just has an awesome funkiness to it. 

That whole intro is actually referred to almost daily in our TK2 conversations. Those interior sets are inspiration for what we want the production design to look like.

REAR SCREEN PROJECTION: 

This is the technique used in old car driving scenes when it looks like the car is not quite moving. Well that's because it's not. A screen is placed behind the parked car and then projected with footage that was shot beforehand. The footage is usually just the exterior world passing by. This is done to make it look like that the car is actually driving. "Austin Powers" did this a lot to help achieve the feel and look of old James Bond films. Check it out: 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jxZQL_Is0mE

SCENIC BACKDROPS:

Same idea as the matte paintings but this time its a physical piece on set. These are large paintings that are placed and lit to "hide" the fact that its a set on a stage. Just one more tool to give a bigger and stranger feeling to TK2. Check out the weirdness created by the backdrop in this frame from 1977's "Hausu". Knowing that this is clearly a set and a backdrop gives this scene such a magical feel because you know its not real. Also, if you're in to weird-ass movies, I suggest you give this movie a watch. Look for the trailer on youtube.

ANAMORPHIC LENSES AND FLARES:

Now picture those techniques used in conjunction with some more modern ideas. We will be shooting on Anamorphic lenses at 2:35 aspect ratio. Those lenses are famous for creating lens flares like the ones in JJ Abrams' "Star Trek" or in every Michael Bay movie ever made. Don't worry we won't be getting all Michael Bay-ey on you, he does it way too much. We won't. But imagine old-school backdrops or rear screen projections mixed with anamorphic lens flares. 

Here is an example of those flares on a rap music video I shot:

LIGHTING AND COLOR PALETTE:

The lighting and color palette will also be a huge part on achieving a unique look for TK2. We want to use colors that weren't quite seen back when they were applying those techniques. Purples, blues, pinks, neon greens etc. Here are some good reference images:

So that's it... For now. This is just the tip of the beak. Hope this gets you excited for what we have in store for TK2. I'll leave you with some of my personal work. Feel free to comment, criticize and leave your ideas in the comment section below. 

Here is my 2011 cinematography reel:

Here is some links to some of the stuff I've shot for FunnyOrDie.com:

Steve Carrell Movie Poster Contract

Don Cheadle Sacks West

Michael Vartan Maximum Turbo

Puppet High

Jemaine Clement's Kieran Vollard

Hope you enjoy,

Cheers,

Kevin

THANK YOU, THANK YOU, THANK YOU! 

Imagine we're all in the same bar on a Monday night. We "ting" a glass loud enough for the room to hear (as if that's actually possible, pshh) and begin a toast:

3 months ago we could only hope this crazy dream would be met and here we are, completely shocked and ecstatic at what's happened this afternoon. EVERY SINGLE one of you helped the project get to this point, and WE ALL did it together. The emails, Facebook messages and comments, and overall support we've seen was not expected and has become a huge inspiration to work harder on this everyday. Cheesy speech, we know... but it must be said, and it's the truth.

CHEERS!

A promise to the fans - this turkey will be succulent, juicy, and deliciously stuffed with tasty surprises! It should be kinda sorta funny and maybe a little bloody too. 

THANK YOU EVERYONE! We hope you got a few laughs along the way,

Jordan & Kevin

PS - the updates aren't over! We still have a lot of cool stuff to overload you all with. 

We've saved one of the best updates for one of our last...

In horrormovielandworld, there's a bridge (figurative bridge that is) between a monster on the page and a monster on screen. Sometimes that's a person, nowadays often a computer. But absolutely one of the MOST CRUCIAL roles on the set of a classic horror film is the key special effects artist and his or her team.

Every memorable horror film gets this right and without a great fx artist, you are doomed. A great one will take a script to the next level with such a unique voice that their work becomes instantly etched into your brain. There is not a doubt in our minds when we say this: We found that guy.

Troy Smith, special effects mastermind, will head up the dept. on the ThanksKilling Sequel and serve as the lead creature designer. 

Based out of Pennsylvania, Troy attended Tom Savini's Special Effects Make-Up Program. He got his start working in Los Angeles on the toys for Army of Darkness, Chronicles of Ridick, and other established toy lines. It was in July of 2007 that we first met Troy (virtually that is), after finding him through Craigslist while in search of crew for the original ThanksKilling. Troy came onto set and absolutely killed it with the little money we had and ambitious effects requests. The "tiny face" Turkie wears at the door, Billy's chest explosion, and Darren's gruesome death are all straight from him.

Troy shares our belief in utilizing old-school techniques to create practical characters and effects as opposed to digital ones (we ain't got that kinda $ anyway!). Yes, ThanksKilling and its sequel are mainly rooted in comedy, and what's funnier than a talking puppet? Exactly.

One of his biggest and most time-consuming tasks will be to re-create the film's signature villain: TURKIE. Turkie's return is inevitable, however only one of the rubber heads made for the first movie remain. Here's a concept sketch Troy did for Turkie (redesign):

Planning to stay true to the design and look of Turkie, it's important to nail his image but make him a much more intricate puppet overall. We hope to bring him to life through cable manipulation, making his eyes, mouth, and brow capable of movement on set. Think of how much more powerful the humor of his one-liners will be if he's able to grin and snarl while spitting "fowl" language!

Troy has a huge amount of work ahead of him, but we couldn't be more excited to have him back on the team. Troy Smith has what it takes to go on and be just as accomplished and respected as the great special effects artists of all time. This is just the beginning...

Check out more of his work below, welcome him back, and drop us a comment to let us know what you think of using practical effects for the movie! THANKS EVERYONE!

Kevin here! Without repeating what Jordan said about Craw Lake (the same struggles apply to this movie as well), I wanted to share my thesis film from Loyola Marymount University with you all. It's entitled An Occurrence at Chihuahua City. Here's my account:

It must have been about 2 years before I made this movie that I remember going back to Portugal where my Dad had recommended I read some of Ambrose Bierce's work.  I love the macabre and the paranormal and Bierce was infamous for his very morbid and ahead-of-his-time short stories.

So, naturally I listened to my Dad's advice and bought Ambrose Bierce's collection of short stories. They were all phenomenal 3-5 page tales, but what really started to interest me most was Bierce's personal life...

• In 1913, in his seventies, he packed up and wandered into Pancho Villa ruled Mexico to join his army. A year later he was never seen again and what happened to him remains a mystery to this day.

And that's just what I chose to make my thesis about - the fictionalized accounts of what happened to Ambrose Bierce after he wandered off into Mexico. Bored yet?! Well it's a western with cowboys and aliens and sweet CGI! Oh wait wrong window… Sorry 'bout that.

The title was inspired by Bierce's famous story that later became the Twilight Zone episode, An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge. The episode is fantastic and I recommend everyone watch it.

You may be asking - wait a minute Kevin, don't you want to shoot, not direct? Well inquiring mind, now I do yes, but not back then. I was trying things, figuring out what I wanted to do. I figured you would enjoy seeing what the minds behind ThanksKilling were doing back in school. For class credit that is.

Oh and by the way, we were editing ThanksKilling while working on both our thesis films. Somehow we found the time to manage both, AND graduate on time!

Anyways, here it is, hope you enjoy. I'd love to hear your thoughts in the comment section below!

Great news! Kickstarter is currently featuring ThanksKilling on their home page! It cycles through with various other projects, but pops up under Narrative Film quite frequently. Hopefully a lot of new folks who don't know anything about the project will give it a gander. 

Thank you everyone for helping us make this happen. And thank you Kickstarter!

Growing up, I LOVED horror films. I couldn't get enough, often times staying up late watching Friday the 13th marathons, or begging my parents to let me watch the gory ones that my older brother Mike kept rubbing in my face that he'd seen (Dead Alive and Meet the Feebles were two I was "banned" from watching). Years later, when I first moved to Los Angeles, I read online about a film festival called Los Angeles Screamfest. Hearing there was such a thing as a festival that catered to horror movies was a dream come true. I immediately bought tickets and attended the "student horror films" program on a Saturday afternoon in October of 2005. When I left the theater, I said... I want to have a short film of mine play here!

As a junior in film school at Loyola Marymount University, we had to make a 16mm short film, non-sync sound (no dialogue or audio recorded on set). Kevin and I were already friends by this point and were both huge Stephen King fans. We began discussing his novellas, which led to ideas for my short, and eventually led to a script about a father/ daughter pitted against mysterious creatures of some kind. We wrote draft after draft together, and I eventually convinced Kevin to shoot the movie, now entitled Craw Lake, marking his first work as Director of Photography. 

After a hectic three days of shooting in the cold and rain, an escalating crew size (we had two units - all students), spending WAY more than ever expected ($16,000), and being stressed out of my mind as a 20 year old first time director in charge of a crew of 30+, we miraculously ended up with a movie that, for the most part, resembled what we had intended. That same year, I'll never forget the phone call I received in September of 2007: 

"Congratulations Jordan, your movie has been accepted into the Los Angeles Screamfest"! 

Craw Lake didn't win any awards there, but I didn't care because I was so excited just to have set a goal for myself, and have seen it through to the end. And for Kevin as first time Director of Photography? He won Best Cinematography at the Film Outside the Frame festival for his work on Craw Lake. 

This is a completely different kind of movie than ThanksKilling and at 10 minutes long, it cost a lot more to make. It's not perfect by any means, but like we continue to say: the ThanksKilling Sequel, which you have all graciously donated to, will have a much, much higher production value than it's predecessor. We won't settle for less and can't wait to get started!!! Hope you enjoy Craw Lake:

We'd love to know your thoughts, so feel free to drop us a comment below! Some of you may have recognized Bella Thorne (the little girl in Craw Lake) from her hit show Shake It Up on Disney. By the way, anyone pick up on where "Crawberg" originated?! All the best,

Jordan & Kevin

MIKE + BRIDGE, the viral-video making comedy duo and slick minds over at, well...  SLICK GIGOLO, will lend voices to new characters in the ThanksKilling Sequel!

Mike Litzenberg and Bridge Stuart write, produce, direct, star in, and edit all the videos they release through their production banner and popular website SLICKGIGOLO.COM. 

These guys are the definition of do-it-yourself, shooting everything for pocket change, on their own time, and out of sheer passion and ingenuity. Their hard work hasn't gone unnoticed however, as the two have seen incredible success with their videos, some of which you'll probably recognize... We Are Douchebags went viral upon release, reaching over 1.2 MILLION views. One of their latest videos, George Lucas Strikes Back, approaches 1 million views, and is a must watch for every Star Wars fan out there (so, all of us). 

Kevin and I are so gosh darn excited about the team we've been able to assemble thus far! It's only going to get better and better, with more announcements coming soon! Bla bla bla, alright, here are the videos you want to see:

Not all men are created prequel...

We all know a douchebag or two and chances are they're parodied perfectly in this:

Check out SlickGigolo.com for more awesome videos or visit their Facebook Page!

WES & TONY, the comedic and artistic geniuses (and really good looking guys) over at AMAZINGSUPERPOWERS.COM will create a brand new animation sequence for the ThanksKilling sequel! Tony punched up the original ThanksKilling script and the duo created the infamous "Crawberg" flashback:

Adding to their awesomeness, Wes & Tony will be at the San Diego Comic Con this week promoting their site and handing out free high fives. Seriously, all jokes aside, Kevin and I respect the hell out of these guys and are stoked just to share their work with you.

Head on over to AMAZINGSUPERPOWERS.COM (or their Facebook page) to check out their hilarious comic strips, and show those guys some support! Below we've attached one of our favorite panels (new ones can be found every Mon, Wed, Fri) of theirs for your enjoyment.