JJ Chalupnik • Artist Portfolio: "ZOMBROS"

"ZOMBROS" is a short film about 2 best friend zombies living in the wilderness. Their friendship is put to the test when they must outsmart a crazed zombie hunter. Written and Directed by Frankie Mendoza and myself, and Produced by Lanly Le. We wanted to do something fun with the idea of zombies and thought it would be interesting to tell a comedic story from their point of view. We made the film initially for Campus Movie Fest (CMF) for their 3D competition. We ended up filming 2 versions. One version using their very crappy Panasonic 3D camcorder, and a second version on my Canon 7D. We are currently in Post Production for the 7D version of the film, (it looks 1000 times better) which we plan to send to festivals and just have fun with. These are the production stills from the shoot. We shot quite a bit in just 2 days, over rugged terrain and other major physical setbacks. HUGE thanks to Mr. Ken Keene and his family for letting us stay and use his cabin to store our crew and equipment. We couldn't have done any of this without them. We had a lot of fun working with everyone on this and I can't wait to get the final version out there so we can send it to everyone. Thanks for viewing! :)

Frankie and Kim. They had to work their tails off to get our actors zombified. It definitely took its toll on the first day. We were exhausted.

Kevin Rich. He was our 7D camera operator. He was basically on his own, collecting all the shots as we moved forward with the alternate camera. We knew the footage wasn't going to be good coming from the Panasonic 3D cam, so we made sure to get a backup of every shot with the 7D.

The Keene family. I could say a home away from home. I have known them since high school when I took a media class with Ken. He quickly became one of my favorite mentors and a close friend.(below) In addition to being totally awesome and letting us crash at their cabin, Ken was also our "hunter" character.

Frankie and Kim pulled all-nighters on that first day, getting the actors prepped for the shoot. Time was against us, because in the canyon you don't get direct sunlight for the whole day. Once it goes behind the mountain, it gets dark fast.

We used a coated latex resin that we peeled and painted to look like flesh.

Lanly was very busy up to the shoot. Acting as our Producer, she filled many hats, making sure we had snacks, keeping things together, and helping piece together the project. She was also our camera operator for the Panasonic 3D version of the film. It is too bad too, because she is a wonderful photographer, but that camcorder just doesn't help at all.

Much of the story took place in this beautiful open meadow near the creek. Watch out though, the place is littered with spider nests.

A group picture with some of our cast and crew. We had some good fun, despite the busy day!

Frankie and I had a discussion about whether or not to muck up the eyes and teeth of the "Zombie" characters. It might have been an interesting idea, but we decided not to because we didn't want to lose their human quality.

Mo and Xavier - Our zombie best friends.

Frankie - immediately after we got back from day one. He passed out and started snoring right way!

I'm discussing camera position with Lanly and Kevin.

Easily the hardest part of the shoot was lugging equipment up and down this hill, in high elevation. I know I was sore for a few days after the shoot.