This month witnesses the 3rd Granite City Comic Con, so it's pretty safe to say that we here at 5D are about excited as it gets....... which believe me is very, very excited! (We really don't get out much).
5D has been lucky enough not only to have attended both of the events since its inauguration in 2015, but also to do so at the result of a gracious press invite from the good people at GCCC. This has meant that not only have I been able to indulge my geeky & nerdy self to my hearts content, but also have been able to meet & talk to some of my favourite people from past & present pop culture.
For example at the first GCCC I spent a wonderful 20 mins in the company of legendary character actor, Shane Rimmer - what a lovely man! You can read the blog piece in which he talks about his roles in Thunderbirds, Star Wars, Dr Strangelove and James Bond here at
If that wasn't enough for me (which it wasn't) I was also thrilled to be able to talk to the legendary Alan Grant (he of Judge Dredd & Judge Anderson fame). If you can put up with my usual "tell me just how fab you are" line of questioning, then you can read the piece at
Last year's event was even bigger and better with a new venue at the DoubleTree by Hillton Hotel Aberdeen Treetops and this time spanning two days. This upside of this was being able to spend time talking to actor Robert Llewelyn (he of Red Dwarf fame), to get to meet some old & new friends and also attend a host of incredible events. The highlight of said events was attending the Star Wars panel on day one. The only downside was that because it was a two day event there was some serious explaining to she who controls the 5D finances just how much one had spent on sci-fi swag........ and believe me, it was a lot!!!
For those who have attended the first two events, all agree that GCCC is Aberdeen's original and best pop cultural event featuring special guests from Comics, TV, Film Gaming, Geek Culture and Cosplay. The team pride themselves on introducing people to the artists and writers involved in creating all of our favourite heroes and villains.
They aim to bring exciting attractions and sights to Aberdeen including, cosplay competitions, independent retailers and publishers, activities for all ages and a whole lot more.
This years GCCC is winding up to be the biggest and best yet for die-hard fans and casual geeks alike.
The Competition bit
Therefore 5D is delighted to be able to offer 2 weekend tickets for the 3rd Granite City Comic Con!
The weekend tickets (normally worth £25 each) allow you general entry at 9am Saturday 20th and 10am Sunday 21st May, to Granite City Comic-Con 2017
To win the tickets just answer the following question;
Where in Aberdeen is Granite City Comic-Con 2017 taking place?
To enter simply go to the competition section on the 5D website at www.5d-blog.com to submit your answer and please state if you want one or both weekend tickets.
The winner will be drawn at random on Sunday 14th May - Good luck!
This article can also be found via the 5D website www.5d-blog.com. There you can find a veritable feast of blog articles, news items, pictures and and other mouth-watering salutations to the gods of the geeks and the nerds. We have now inherited the earth, you know.
The website currently gains in the region of 1500 hits per month and the blog articles separately receive in the region of 5000 page views each month.
In addition the 5D website now has PayPal Donate button. Any donations kindly made will be fed directly back to help with a podcast materials, competition prizes and other general costs etc. If you wish to contribute to the exciting growth of the website & blog then we here at 5D headquarters would be eternally grateful. If you would like your contribution to be acknowledged publicly then simply send a message via the website’s contact section and we’ll send you some love!
If all that was enough to entice to 5D land, should any of you fine people out there wish to advertise on the 5D website then have a look at the offer below.
Good grief! Was it really two years ago when I first wrote of my great pleasure in announcing that 5D was to be collaborating in helping to publicise the production of an Independent horror film from Portugal, INNER GHOSTS ? Well it seems that it was.
If I remember correctly, part one of the grand 5D plan was that over the next days, weeks and months I would be bringing you information about the filming of INNER GHOSTS itself (which began in April 2015 in Lisbon).
The second part of the 5D plan was that as time progressed it would hopefully see me being able to let loose some nuggets of interest and excitement about the post-production and subsequent release of the film. The final part of the 5D cunning plan would feature the subsequent crowdfunding campaign which would no doubt include some rather mouth-watering contribution incentives.
But before I go any further let me push your way a short synopsis reminder of the plot;
"HELEN is a brain researcher trying to develop a revolutionary therapy to treat degenerative brain diseases like Alzheimer’s. To prove her theories, she needs to run cognitive tests on ghosts: beings who apparently can act and remember without the need of a physical brain suggesting that unresponsive patients whose brains are too damaged to function can be accessed, somehow, through their living souls.
After the death of her mentor, Helen finds an apartment inhabited by benign ghosts who agree to be tested. The problem is Helen renounced her gift 15 years ago after the loss of her daughter when she made a vow never to contact the other side again.
Things change when an artist called ELSA begs Helen for some spiritual training hoping to get rid of a demon who has been haunting her for many years. Helen reluctantly accepts it unaware of the demon's true goal: finding her.........triggering a set of events that will bring Helen face to face with the demon she has known all along. After so many years, two enemies are about to meet for the last time, showing us that revenge is a dish that’s still boiling hot........"
Well it seems that part one of the plan has been fully accomplished with the filming now complete and along the way a few snapshots of behind the scenes goodies and information provided by yours truly. Well, yes they were given to me first by the filmmakers - but in the time-honoured tradition of my desperately hanging onto to the coattails of more talented individuals than myself, I duly passed on the material and pretended that I was heavily involved in the process.
INNER GHOSTS is produced by Bad Behavior, a film company created by two self-confessed hardcore horror aficionados whose intention from the very beginning was to work to produce a body of work that would not only rival the classics of other European and American horror, but would also see Portuguese horror at the forefront of a new vanguard of classic horror. The film makers in question are;
Paulo Leite, a Brazilian/Portuguese (writer and producer) trained at the prestigious European Producers Workshop from the EAVE (European Audiovisual Entrepreneurs). Paulo has nearly 20 years experience in the TV and film industry. I also know that Paulo works some ungodly hours, a fact that I can testify to first hand after holding a Skype conversation with him at 1 in the morning this weekend!....... Slave driver.......
Gabriel Augusto (producer) has over 10 years of marketing and branding experience for a number of prestigious Portuguese companies. .
Joalo Alves (director) is a multi-talented writer, illustrator, designer, animator, and VFX artist. After four years working professionally in animation, he wrote, directed, and pretty much everything else, the short horror/western BATS IN THE BELFRY (2010). The animated short did a worldwide festival run that lasted four years, and won several awards (MOTELx, Fantasporto and others) and was sold to Fearnet.com before getting a theatrical release in 2013. INNER GHOSTS is João Alves' first feature.
As yet I have no idea if Gabriel or Joalo also like to hold conversations with their team in the early hours of the morning. What I do know is that they are about as confident an anybody I've ever met in the Indie film world that they are into a winner with this film. Of that they are absolutely certain.
The confidence of which brings me on to the final part of the original 5D plan mentioned at the beginning of this piece, namely the crowdfunding campaign. The Kickstarter campaign has now hit the internet. So before I give you a few details about a genuinely mouthwatering crowdfunding drive, let me share some of the words with you from the team themselves about the motives behind the crowdfunding;
WHY A KICKSTARTER CAMPAIGN?
"We wrote, developed and produced INNER GHOSTS because we love horror and we love the people who love horror films. Film is an expensive medium. It is much less expensive than it was 20 years ago, but still quite expensive if you really want to do it right. We are now in sound post and from the development until now, we were able to make every euro count. We took the project as far as we could go with what we had.
Now we are thrilled to bring the project to the best community in the world: horror fans! You are the reason why we are doing all this, and Kickstarter has some of the best horror fans in the world! That’s why we are asking for your support. That’s why we are opening our film and ourselves to you.
Sound matters! The film turned out too good. We need a sound post that will make it justice. We will need real music. Real ADR. Real foley. Real sound mix. Real deliverables. So you will get not just the best horror story, you will experience the best film. We want you to experience INNER GHOSTS as true horror fans should!"
Looking at the campaign page it is clear to see that the INNER GHOSTS team have attempted to pack as much value as possible as early as possible. Now I'm not just saying this, I'm really not, but this campaign does exactly what it should do, something which many other campaigns that I've seen do not - and that is to ensure prospective 'lower end' backers get excellent swag for their limited financial outlay. All too often some campaigns have the odd little treat for those who want to do their bit but lose out on some genuinely good stuff. This campaign is different - because the amount of nice tasty rewards is consistent throughout.
Having said that, there some STUNNING rewards for those fabulous big bucks backers who feel like giving a little more with things such as remake rights, sequal rights and the role of Franchise producer...... I kid ye not!
So I implore you do go along to the Kickstarter page and pledge a little bit for what I sincerely believe is a great crowdfunding campaign for what is going to be a great piece of cinematic horror.
The technical stuff..........
Title: INNER GHOSTS
Producing Countries: PORTUGAL / BRAZIL Genre: SUPERNATURAL HORROR / DRAMA
Length: 90 MINUTES
Language: ENGLISH
Locations: LISBON / CASCAIS
Cast: CELIA WILLIAMS, ELIZABETH BOCHMANN
IRIS CAYATTE, NORMAN MACCALLUM, AMANDA BOOTH
ANA SOFIA LEITE, PATRÍCIA GODINHO, JOÃO BLÜMEL
Director of Photography: MIGUEL SALES LOPES A.I.P.
This article can also be found via the 5D website www.5d-blog.com. There you can find a veritable feast of blog articles, news items, pictures and and other mouth-watering salutations to the gods of the geeks and the nerds. We have now inherited the earth, you know.
The website currently gains in the region of 1500 hits per month and the blog articles separately receive in the region of 5000 page views each month.
In addition the 5D website now has PayPal Donate button. Any donations kindly made will be fed directly back to help with a podcast materials, competition prizes and other general costs etc. If you wish to contribute to the exciting growth of the website & blog then we here at 5D headquarters would be eternally grateful. If you would like your contribution to be acknowledged publicly then simply send a message via the website’s contact section and we’ll send you some love!
If all that was enough to entice to 5D land, should any of you fine people out there wish to advertise on the 5D website then have a look at the offer below.
"For thousands of years there has been another dimension that sits parallel to ours. This place is full of dark unnatural creatures, some of which have crept into our own myths and legends ... Dystopia!
Over many years, the Dystopian legions have been desperately seeking to tear down the veil between our worlds and at times have been able to penetrate the veil to torment us in our dreams, hunt us when we're alone, attacking our minds, bodies and souls.
The Desomites and their legions gather in the deep of Dystopia to break down the veil forever and lay down eternal suffering and torment to our world.
An ancient race of humans known as the guardians have been defending the human dimension against these supernatural forces across the ages.
Blessed with stronger abilities than most, but through the millennia their numbers are dwindling..."
.... And so goes the introduction in the first of the Dystopia Graphic novels, the reading of which provided as near a visceral and energising graphic novel experience as I've had for some time, more of which I'll talk about shortly. However before that, and while my regular reader ponders whether I actually know what 'visceral' means, let me give you a little background on this incredible venture. While you're reading the next bit, on a totally unrelated note I'm just away to look for a dictionary...........
The Dystopia Graphic Novels originate from the creative mind of UK based horror aficionado, Jaye Adams. It seemed to me immediately that Jaye and I are kindred spirits when it comes to sharing a love (some may say obsession) with horror. Not only that, but our love of the genre meant that it inspired us to create something from that obsession. In my case it was attempting to occasionally succeed in putting a coherent and correctly spelt sentence together on my website - in Jaye's case it was to create a new company Dystopia RIPjust a couple of months ago, and begin creating apps specialising in the horror genre. If that wasn't enough for the clever so and so, she then plans to create a whole range of different apps including games, VR, graphic novels, social apps and news apps for the horror community. Not that I'm jealous or anything, but bloody hell Jaye, let the rest of us mere mortals achieve something worthwhile too before you conquer the world!
The first two major apps Jaye has published as part of the Dystopia RIP range are Dystopia Horror Graphic Novels Episodes 1 & 2. While these are currently available as separate apps and only for IPad, she's focusing on the next updates to these over the next few weeks to adapt them for IPhone usability and to merge them into one app before Episode 3 is launched.
So intrigued was I about the concept of Dystopia RIP that I decided to see whether Jaye's plethora of talents also included being able to withstand some legendary piercing 5D interview questions. See what you think......
Q) Can you give a brief outline of the Dystopia story so far?
A) Three young girls have gone missing and Max Dresden, a detective, is leading the investigation. One of the girls is found brutally mutilated and Max starts to unravel that the murderer is not like his usual un-subs. Max stumbles upon a dark dimension that sits beneath ours, full of monstrous creatures and demons that are bleeding through to our dimension and an ancient legend that this battle between worlds began thousands of years ago. He hunts a vampire, who he learns committed the gruesome acts on the girls but what is coming is far more insidious.
Q) What are the influences in regard to the plot/characters?
A) Being a big horror fan, particularly of supernatural creature storylines, the overall plot I designed is probably a creature feature cocktail of many things I’ve enjoyed watching and reading over the years. When my partner and I (Jonathan Corner) really started to drill down into key individual storylines for each of the episodes, structure and characters, we definitely found inspiration from several places on what we wanted this to be. We liked the idea of the lead character being a detective like in the Grimm TV series and the Deliver Us From Evil movie because we liked the realism of how someone in this type of job could stumble upon strange occurrences and murders that the creatures of Dystopia will undoubtedly inflict.
Although there are several races of creatures that will feature throughout the story, we didn’t want to go as far as the likes of the Grimm TV Series or Buffy The Vampire Slayer, for instance where every episode surrounds a story about a different monster from the previous episode. Like Penny Dreadful, we wanted to build bigger storylines that focus on a particular monster across a few episodes before moving the storyline on and moving the monster featuring in the storyline on. I loved writing the legend of how it all started in episode 2 and I definitely had the Underworld 1 movie introduction monologue in mind when I wrote it!
Q) The story so far has a nice mix of animation/voice/3D art and sound effects - will this remain the format as the story progresses?
A) We like the mix of this format and chose this so we could give our audience a dynamic experience. A nice blend between watching horror and reading horror and so we do plan to keep the format the same but this might not work for people and so will consider adapting in the future to what people feel isn’t working. However, we do plan for our next major updates to the app over the next 3 weeks to be to make it usable for IPhone as well as IPad and we’ll be amalgamating episodes 1 and 2 before we release episode 3 so that all future episodes will be accessible within one app for users.
Q) What, if anything, can you tell us about the future Dystopia plot?
A) Well…As I mentioned earlier we have designed the storyline to build over time and it will unravel some huge twists and sub plots…even a prophecy! Currently the only monster Max has encountered is a vampire but there a quite a few more other Dystopian races that will feature throughout the storyline. We have designed at a high level a further 16 episodes with planned scope for at least another 16!
_______________________________
In all honesty, reading these first two novels was a hugely enjoyable experience. The fact that the images from the story, some of which are included here, were deemed as too adult themed to include on the AppStore app page quite frankly as more then enough to interest me in the first place. Horror is meant to frighten, to shock and occasionally, to offend if it is to live on as an authentic genre and not fully succumb to what the likes of Amazon et al regard as being 'acceptable horror'.
The story quite clearly takes its influence from a range of classic horror narratives and this is no bad thing as the team take these themes, weave a nice contemporary texture and interlace t all with a fabulously eerie and atmospheric soundtrack. There are a number of genuinely 'shock to the system' moments that pounce upon the reader in a number adrenaline-fuelled surprise attacks. The dialogue is crisp and moves the narrative nicely along without detracting from the stand out moments of horror.
It will be interesting to see what direction Jaye and the team take in future instalments in terms of the mix of experiences. I felt that most things worked very well; the mix of speech and written dialogue is good, and the overall sound effects are incredible. I was less enthused by the interactive element involving the solving of the puzzle/game, however that could be more a reflection of my personal reticence to such things.
Whether or not this form of story telling is the future, well for me is irrelevant because in truth it serves as another exciting medium for telling stories of genuinely exciting horror. I thoroughly enjoyed the whole sexy, chilling experience and I have no doubts that you will do too.
It's early days yet for Dystopia RIP, but I foresee a hugely successful and exciting horrific future ahead. I shall certainly be going along for the ride!
But don't just take my word for it, check a little preview out for yourself.
You can find the Dystopia Rip website at dystopia.rip
This article can also be found via the 5D website www.5d-blog.com. There you can find a veritable feast of blog articles, news items, pictures and and other mouth-watering salutations to the gods of the geeks and the nerds. We have now inherited the earth, you know.
The website currently gains in the region of 1500 hits per month and the blog articles separately receive in the region of 5000 page views each month.
In addition the 5D website now has PayPal Donate button. Any donations kindly made will be fed directly back to help with a podcast materials, competition prizes and other general costs etc. If you wish to contribute to the exciting growth of the website & blog then we here at 5D headquarters would be eternally grateful. If you would like your contribution to be acknowledged publicly then simply send a message via the website’s contact section and we’ll send you some love!
If all that was enough to entice to 5D land, should any of you fine people out there wish to advertise on the 5D website then have a look at the offer below.
Once again something has come along to add that extra layer of excitement to this here blogger's nerdy existence, because 5D is thrilled to announce a link up with 8fifty2torials.
Who? I hear you ask - well let the good people tell you themselves....
"8fifty2torials produce spoken tutorials that Cover 2D Animation, 3D modelling, VFX and Web Development. As well as developing our own tutorials covering Basic, Advanced and General topics, we are a community driven channel that creates tutorials based on viewer requests.
Schedule:
Tuesday - 3D
Thursday - Animation
Saturday - 3D
Sunday - Animation"
Since launching their Youtube channel just three short months ago they have garnered over 400 subscribers and have had at the time of writing approaching some 40,000 visits to their various tutorials - For example, part 1 of their 'How to model a 3D car: Lamborghini Huracan'tutorial alone has had nearly 11,000 visits at the time of writing this article.
Now, I'll be honest, much as I admire the work 8fifty2's animation and modelling - cars aren't really something that float my nerdy boat. It wasn't until I had a better look around their channel that I found some work that well and truly made sure that my nerdy boat is floating - namely the tutorials on how to model a Boba Fett helmet - very, very nice. It was after watching one of these tutorials and seeing the finished product that I decided that it was time that 5D muscled its way in on some of this 3D action.
After much negotiating, pleading, begging, sulking and tears (from me) we here at 5D will be periodically collaborating with the good people at 8fifty2. This relationship will take the form a few occasional musings from yours truly on some of the various offerings to be found on their YouTube channel - hopefully there are more than enough enticing Sci-fi and horror offerings to catch my attention for some while.
In addition to 8fifty2 have also agreed to collaborate in the latest 5D competition (with possibly more to come in the future). On Monday 17th April 2017 the first of five tutorials will go live on the 8fifty2torialsYoutube site, and through each day of the week a subsequent tutorial will take the viewer through the process of building a 3D model of the famous Star Wars AT-AT.
THE COMPETITION
8fifty2 have generously offered up an original print of a Star Wars AT-AT as a 5D competition prize.
Not only will the winner receive an A3 size glossy print of the image you see below, but picture will also be personalised with whatever text the winner wants included in the final product - not bad eh? The text in question can be absolutely anything you want - it could be your name, or somebody else's name with a message if you want to send it as a present. It can be anything, as long as you keep the message relatively clean, more or less inoffensive and hopefully unlikely to get me into any trouble with the law authorities.
For the chance to win this wonderful piece of original art just answer this one question; What was the alternative tutorial choice to the AT-AT?
All you have to do then is go to the 5D website at www.5d-blog.com, scroll down to the competition section and submit an entry - make sure you include your email address. The winner will be chosen by one of the 8fifty2 on Sunday 30th April. Good luck!
You find find the YouTube channel for 8fifty2torialsRIGHT HERE
The 8fifty2torials Facebook page can be found RIGHT HERE
You can also follow them on Twitter via their handle@8fifty2
This article can also be found via the 5D website www.5d-blog.com. There you can find a veritable feast of blog articles, news items, pictures and and other mouth-watering salutations to the gods of the geeks and the nerds. We have now inherited the earth, you know.
The website currently gains in the region of 1500 hits per month and the blog articles separately receive in the region of 5000 page views each month.
In addition the 5D website now has PayPal Donate button. Any donations kindly made will be fed directly back to help with a podcast materials, competition prizes and other general costs etc. If you wish to contribute to the exciting growth of the website & blog then we here at 5D headquarters would be eternally grateful. If you would like your contribution to be acknowledged publicly then simply send a message via the website’s contact section and we’ll send you some love!
If all that was enough to entice to 5D land, should any of you fine people out there wish to advertise on the 5D website then have a look at the offer below.
