July 2006 Archives

:: This week we interviewed Gina from El Swarro Productions! ::

Why did you first become interested in the Haunted House/Horror Business?
My husband grew up a huge horror fan and wanted to one day make a low budget horror movie. Well, we started playing around with doing one minute horror scenes as practice and then the idea hit us. Making stock Haunted Attraction commercials for businesses that don’t have huge budgets was a great idea! We have made 9 of them so far and they are big hit!

What previous jobs have you had?
I have been a cameraman and an editor.

What job do you do right now? Is the Haunted House/Horror Job your full time gig?
Yes and No. I own Elswarro Productions, which specializes in video work for extreme sports, military training, indie films and for the last 3 years, haunted attraction stock commercials.

How long have you been in the business?
Video biz…..6 years
Haunt biz…..3 years

How did you start?
I received my training in the Marine Corps. That’s right, I was in the Marines for 6 years! My job was a combat cameraman…..although, I really didn’t see any combat. Ha! Ha!

So lot's of people like to video their Haunted House and most of them are really bad. Now I'm not being critical. I didn't go to film school or anything and I don't know about lighting a scene. But people, I do know your home hi-8 camera and a flashlight aren't the way to go.

There are people you could hire to film your Haunt in the industry and I am sure plenty of videographers would love to charge you an arm and a leg to do it,but it still might look bad. You want an example of how to do it? Check out this clip from an Austin, TX Haunted House:

Kinda long and the music is funky but the characters look awesome!

- iamlegend

So you missed Transworld and HauntCON this year. Hell you even missed Ironstock. Well you haven't missed KC Creepfest. At least not yet. Here are the details:

KC KREEPFEST is once more upon us. This year's fest will be held in Harrisonville Missouri, aprox. 30 miles south of Kansas City. Friday night will be dinner and the movie "Snakes on a Plane". Saturday will host demos, games, a BBQ lunch, a flash mob in costume, followed by a costume party. Sunday will feature a make-and-take web-shooter project, and a catered breakfast by CandyMom and the Middle of Nowhere. For more information, including a map, directions, and the full schedule of events, view the KC Kreeper Web Site.

Sounds cool. Anyone going that wants to Blog?

- iamlegend

Got an email yesterday about a new Web Site for Haunters going up. It's called HauntSPace. Looks like a MySpace clone but focused on people who own, run or act in Haunted Houses. Not sure what the benefit of this Web Site is since their are already about 200 Haunted Houses active on MySpace. And a lot of vendors have their pages on MySpace as well.....

- iamlegend

One of the nation's biggest and best attractions is going belly up this year. Well more like retiring. This 20 year old attraction will be closing it's doors this year. According to the article: " Like a network executive pulling the plug on a sitcom at the height of its ratings, Cydney Neil will close Rocky Point Haunted House after its 2006 season. Neil said Monday the event has reached the end of its natural life, and she couldn't possibly sell "her baby" to another fright master. She plans to go out with a bang and then give her progeny a proper burial."

"The 26th and final season will feature a "Pirates of the Scaribbean" attraction, which replaces a "Lord of the Rings" set, in addition to its mainstay sections. They include a slasher wax museum, Freddy Krueger's neighborhood and a haunted mansion. The season begins Sept. 1 and closes Halloween night, but Rocky Point will reopen in May for "Scream Break," a two-week run of the haunted house, and a big funeral."

Pretty cool that it got picked up by some major newspapers in the state of Utah.....anyone go this in the past?

- iamlegend

Hey All,
If you missed it, Ironstock was one of the biggest conventions in the Haunted House summer season. Standing only after HauntCon and Transworld overall. We weren't able to get a reporter to go but we were able to get some cool photos. You can check them out here. If you went to the event please le us know and we can have you write a review....

- IAMLEGEND

Hey All,
After that long weekend I just wanted to make sure that you all knew that the 4th Annual Rocky Mountain Haunters Gathering is coming up from July 21st-July 24th. You can check out their schedule here. and their main Web Site here. Good stuff and looks like a good time! Maybe someone can Blog from the event for us? Any takers?

- iamlegend