History Continued

In November 2005, Martin made an off hand comment about a Rugby player whose last name was Te Whare, which translates form Maori to English as 'The House'. Soon comments such as 'The house always wins' and 'Bring down the house' were being thrown about with wild abandon. From this humble beginnings Te Whare and Te Furious was born.

Te Whare and Te Furious was conceived as a blaxploitation film, and was going to be presented in the form of an Action Trailer. Not only did this allow us to fit in as many ridiculous lines featuring the term 'House' as we wanted, but it also allowed us to be flexible with the story and shots being used. We filmed intermittently from November 2005 right through to July 2006. Skim Milk was on board from the get go, and really got into the swing of things with our Blaxploitation epic. His flair for music really stood out in the fantastic Te Whare soundtrack. Te Whare and Te Furious was an excellent learning experience for us in many ways, utilising numerous new techniques. We had never really shot an action film before, and had never done fight scenes, which raised all sorts of issues. In addition we were shifting to a new manual camera which we had to learn to use. Most significantly we began using an extensive array of post production techniques which surpassed anything we had done in the past. From digital colour grading, to compositing muzzle flash, Te Whare and Te Furious had the lot. As our visual climax we featured a shot of an exploding train station, which featured the fantastic matte painting of newcomer Mike. We were so impressed by the matte paintings that an entirely new sequence with a car racing across a dam-top was made for the trailer to take advantage of what Mike had to offer. Te Whare and Te Furious was heavily publicised (although it wasn't planned that way) and ended up getting two awards at the 2006 Mothra Film Festival. More information about the making of Te Whare and Te Furious, including a production diary, shots of the matte paintings, and publicity photos, is on the Te Whare and Te Furious page. More information regarding the 2006 awards night is here.


2006's Te Whare and Te Furious



In April 2006 it was mooted that we enter the 48Hours Furious Filmmaking competition. Strangely the crew agreed that entering was a good idea. The competition rolled around in late May, and the Bus of the Undead crew were given the genre of puppet. Our entry was Hank Nova: Galactic Defender, a retro sci fi serial pastiche. The sets and puppets were fantastic for a 48 Hour effort. Skim Milk put in monumental effort and came up with an astounding soundtrack for the film within the competition time frame. Sadly technical issues in the final hour culminated in the film being about 10 minutes late for the crucial 48Hours deadline. Despite this set back, Hank Nova was a fun short to make, and everyone was able to really get in and have a go. The crew were resolute to have another go in 2007 and do an even better job. More information regarding Hank Nova, and the entire 48Hours experience can be found on the Hank Nova page.


2006's Hank Nova: Galactic Defender



On top of the other film projects, 2006 also saw the release of our very first documentary entitled Get Rich or Roll the Die Trying. The topic of our foray into the world of documentary was tabletop war gaming in Dunedin, and revolved around the 2006 SouthCon tournament. We shot extensively at the tournament and conducted a number of interviews with competitors. Unfortunately the sound quality coming from the on location footage left a lot to be desired. The use of subtitles became an unfortunate necessity. Despite lacking in the sound department, we were rather pleased with how the whole thing looked. Our use of inlaid images worked well and helped emphasise the scope of the event. The work of Skim Milk was once more featured, and the credits sequence we created won 'Best Credits' at the Mothra Film Festival. The film was well received and featured as the last film to play on Thursday at the 2006 festival.


2006's Get Rich or Roll the Die Trying



2007 is shaping up to be a big year for Bus of the Undead Films, with a number of projects in the pipeline.

Check the coming soon section for more information on our upcoming films.
For info on our 2007 48Hours entry, head over to the Eye of the Beholder page.
Don't forget to check out the page for The Gentleman's Guide to Gangsterisms.
Finally, keep your eyes on the news section for more updates on our Untitled Zombie Project.