Frequently Asked Questions
Actually, questions are never asked about Zombie Creek, but if they were, it's imagined these would be it...
Where did the idea of Zombie Creek come from?
Really, the basic idea was thought up on the spot when the comment was made "I wonder what you could come up with as a full length movie for SIFF." The response was "Little does anyone realize if I did that it would be a movie about a mad scientist solving a zombie apocalypse caused by aliens with cow plants. Oh, and it would be a love story." It was really the most ridiculous combination of things that I could come up with using The Sims 3 at that moment.
Why are you promoting Zombie Creek as a B-movie? It's zombies, shouldn't that fall under horror?
Because it is first and foremost a B-movie. B-movies are their own genre. You don't see Sharknado being billed as science fiction or horror. Even the director, Anthony C. Ferrante, acknowledges that it's B-movie that is part horror and part comedy. Yes, it was made to be a comedy. It takes a certain kind of skill to make a movie on a low budget, and when you do this, and when people like it, they tend to either overlook or embrace all the mistakes that are made. It adds to the campy-ness of it. Zombie Creek is supposed to be ridiculous and believe me, making B-machinima isn't as easy as it looks.
But yea, B-movies have a life of their own. Look no further than The Rocky Horror Picture Show or Mystery Science Theater 3000. B-movies have their own place in pop culture and I wanted to make one. I don't want it to be seen as horror or a zombie movie. I want it seen as a B-movie.
But yea, B-movies have a life of their own. Look no further than The Rocky Horror Picture Show or Mystery Science Theater 3000. B-movies have their own place in pop culture and I wanted to make one. I don't want it to be seen as horror or a zombie movie. I want it seen as a B-movie.
Aren't you worried people won't get it?
Absolutely. I've already had one "critic" tell me, after watching the trailer, that it looks stupid and he won't be watching it. Yea, there are going to be people who don't get it and others that are going to look at it and think that I screwed up big time editing. It's easy to refilm and edit things to get rid of errors, like that car in the background or the changes in the time of day. It's much harder to record things and edit them together where that stuff is there, and where it doesn't look like it was done on purpose, and leave it there.
If people think I screwed up and was slack in editing, I can't change that. If someone has never watched a B-movie I can't change that either. They defiantly won't get my The Brain That Wouldn't Die reference in the lab. It's a chance I'm willing to take.
If people think I screwed up and was slack in editing, I can't change that. If someone has never watched a B-movie I can't change that either. They defiantly won't get my The Brain That Wouldn't Die reference in the lab. It's a chance I'm willing to take.
You said originally that you were going to do it in The Sims 3. Why did you change your mind?
I was actually talked into using TS4 by a friend of mine. I did put up protest because I couldn't do certain things with TS4 and he offered up solutions that not only work for me, they add to the B-movieness of it all. Speaking of which, the exaggerated mannerisms that come with the emotion game mechanic work great for a B-movie. Can we say 'over-acting'?
But TS3 has zombies and TS4 doesn't...
Two words. Custom content. The tired walk style works well enough for zombie shambling. It's not like there wasn't other aspects, even using TS3, that I would need custom content for. Besides, do you realize how little control you have over zombies in TS3?
Are the voices mechanically generated or did you use voice actors?
I used voice actors.
I know there are mistakes and some of lines aren't delivered as well as they could be. This was something I really struggled with while editing all the audio. Voice actors, even those that do this sort of thing as a hobby, want to know when they screwed up and they want to fix things. I have said from day one that I was making a B-movie and Zombie Creek doesn't pretend to be anything else. This is why I decided to use messed up lines. It adds to that feel of classic the classic B-movies that were used to break in new actors and actresses.
I know there are mistakes and some of lines aren't delivered as well as they could be. This was something I really struggled with while editing all the audio. Voice actors, even those that do this sort of thing as a hobby, want to know when they screwed up and they want to fix things. I have said from day one that I was making a B-movie and Zombie Creek doesn't pretend to be anything else. This is why I decided to use messed up lines. It adds to that feel of classic the classic B-movies that were used to break in new actors and actresses.