Horror in the Valley

The monstrous seeds were planted in Riverside.

As a boy, Max Weiland would listen to his brother, Erik, scare him to sleep with tales from H.P. Lovecraft, a renowned horror writer of the 1920s pulp fiction era.

Max loved the stories and would be frightened as his brother would shout "Look!" and point at luminous eyes passing by his window. Though the eyes only belonged to deer passing by, their eyes lit by reflected houselights, the effect still chilled him.

A Dream Begins

Max eventually brought his love of horror to Colorado State University (CSU) in Fort Collins, where he studied philosophy.

While at CSU, Max met several other like minded creatives. The group shared a goal of creating their own film and discussed it many times during their college stays.

The friends made several college film projects, but still held the goal of creating a feature film.

The dream was alive, but after graduation the friends each went their separate ways.

As one might expect, the group wandered individually to the hub of the film entertainment industry, Los Angeles.

Though working at different places and positions the group reacquainted and began to work on a project.

That project was an adaptation of an H.P. Lovecraft short story, "The Statement of Randolf Carter."

Though originally a short story, Weiland fleshed "The Statement ..." out to a 50-plus page script his friends agreed was feature film length.

The finished script, now titled "The Vision of Sonia Greene," excited the group of friends who then began organizing money, equipment and talent.

Max remembered his childhood days in Riverside, and the beautiful scenery the area offers, and decided to do some filming in the area.

Eventually the 10-man crew, which came to consist of the original friends and some talent from L.A., made their way to the Valley for 14 days of filming.

Filming

Showing up as the crew is shooting, one sees large panel reflectors and a scurry of crew surrounding the focus of the filming.

Director of Photography Jordan Lanham pivots and rolls his large digital camera down a rail as actor Andy Steinhauer walks by during an establishing shot.

Director and Producer Max Weiland watches the result through a monitor and comments on staging and pacing to the crew.

There are comments made to the actor on how he should react and where exactly he should step as the scene is reshot several times, each beginning with the click of a clapperboard.

"Scene 81, take three!" is shouted as First Assistant Cameraman Rogelio Mosqueda snaps the clapperboard.

"Camera rolling!" is reported by Lanham which is shortly answered by the command of, "Action!" from Weiland.

As the actor emerges from a cabin and walks by, the camera is rolled slowly and steadily down rails and is turned slowly to remain trained on the actor.

Eventually the crew is happy with the result and the camera, its frame, reflectors and crew move to another location where they set up for a shot with audio.

Pauses and Restarts

After setup at the new location, the crew figures out where talent will be and how they want the shot to look. Crew members stand where the actors will eventually be so that Lanham can judge the framing for the shot.

Marks are laid on the ground to indicate where the actors should stand or move towards during the scene.

Actors are fitted with hidden microphones and head for their marks.

Actor Brad Herman begins sketching for the scene as Andy Steinhauer enters frame from behind.

They deliver their lines as sound is checked and staging is altered.

Eventually shooting begins.

No sooner has it begun than it is stopped. A four wheeler has driven by, creating an unwanted background sound.

The scene is shot and reshot for what seems like a dozen times, but a consensus is finally reached that "That's the one."

Local Support

Weiland and his crew have been shooting around the remains of the old smelter in Encampment, on surrounding mountains and on family land in the adjoining town of Riverside.

The crew even got permission to film some scenes in the Bear Trap in Riverside, the Kuntzman Market in Encampment and a currently unoccupied portion of the building which houses the Whistle Pig bar in Saratoga.

Of the community support, Weiland said, "Everybody in this town has been just open arms-like everybody here has been super excited."

Apart from community support, even Mother Nature helped out. Weiland added that, "Contrary to every expectation, the weather has cooperated," saying that during outdoor shooting there was wanted snow on the ground, but that it had not actually snowed during those shots and the weather remained pleasant enough.

When asked if he had contacted the Wyoming Film office, he said that because his budget was so low it would not generally qualify for assistance.

Shooting Monsters

The story is about a wounded god who is bleeding down a mountain. That blood is affecting local flora and fauna leading to weird results and some of the locals have developed strange rituals in worship.

Part of the effects shot include logs with eyes and grotesque babies. Weiland said part of his goal is to shoot as many practical effects as possible and not use too many computer generated effects.

Getting it Wrapped

After shooting 14 days in the Valley, Weiland and crew are set to return to L.A. for another 7 days of filming.

After that comes the post production work, which involves putting different scenes in the correct order, editing, adding sound effects, putting any visual special effects in, adding sound tracks and foley work and creating and installing titles and credits. When asked how many days that would take, Weiland replied. "Months, months, months."

Post production is an expensive process and, though Weiland has managed to finance the shooting to that point, he said he planned to start a Kickstarter fundraising effort in March to polish off the film

Premieres and Showings

Weiland hopes to have the film done for entry into the September FantasticFest in Austin and also plans to premiere "The Vision of Sonia Greene" in Colorado and several other genre film festivals.