Beat Down Boogie Weekend Shoot

Hey hey everyone! So i've returned safe and sound from the confines of Greensboro, North Carolina to present you all the crazy wacky pics I took from the weekend shoot! Now I wish I had video and stuff to show ya (though I do have some behind the scenes video of what's up, though I probably won't release it out of respect for the director) but at the least I took a ton of pics, and also the promo pics should be out within the next week or so and I'll post those up once they are.

So how was the trip? AWESOME! I had a ton of fun in a hectic 2 day straight shoot which basically involved Shawn and I getting off the plane, heading to eat breakfast, then heading right into fighting. I actually did a pretty good amount compared to Shawn, merely because he was battling a cold at the time and sadly couldn't do too much simply because of that fact. Actually after eating, he had to stay in and get some well needed rest. Eric and I on the other hand, went over to a nightclub to do some fighting near a stage, then went upstairs to a VIP lounge of sorts to do some indoor parkour chase and fight some more near a bar. Afterwards, we picked up Shawn, ate at another bar, and then went into another private area and fought in there. Finally, we capped the night off doing green screen tests and other promo looks for motion graphics which the director will use in the teaser trailer.

On our second day, we woke up and headed out to a still being constructed office building and got into some cat burglar outfits and helped do a fight between Eric and Matt Sumner, who plays one of the main cat burglars. Shawn and I were merely standing in for the other 2. After their fight, Shawn and I got ready and had our little quick exchanges with some local martial artists, and I had to actually "act" haha well not really. Just mostly say a quick line to use. After some fighting and me getting beat up by women with bats and 4 inch heels, we headed to a junkyard facility that's used a scrap metal/metalworks art gallery. There we fought some more in the mud (as it had been raining previously on friday quite frequently, which made the floor muddy) and ended the night back at the director Micah's house for some promo photo ops which was GREAT. We worked with the photographer of Dogs of Chinatown, Justin Reich, who does some amazing compositing on photoshop and will again do promo work for Beat Down Boogie. If you'd like to see some of his work, you can go here: http://www.justinreich.com

After modeling for a while and getting free headshots, Shawn and I just talked to Micah for a while then got some rest, left early as hell in the morning, and took 2 planes to get back home. And now I'm here! haha. After some rest and relaxation, I upped the pics and now am writing this blog. So yep, that was my crazy weekend over in NC. We were actually supposed to do some outdoor fighting and chasing, but because friday ruined all of that, we had to move to 2 diff indoor locales which was still cool, but not what Micah wanted. Overall, I had a ton of fun meeting all the locals, working with my great friend Eric Jacobus, and fighting. Though Shawn, Eric, and I all agreed that we should have fought more! haha. But oh well, it was a quick trip anyway and we were all glad we did it. In the end, we got copies of Dogs of Chinatown which I just recently watched (it's pretty awesome!) and we made some very good friends while being out there.

So hopefully within the next month or early next year, the teaser trailer will come out but the promo pics should be out within the next few weeks or so. I'll post up more news once it becomes available, but hopefully in the end this is what helps us get the budget we want and soon enough next year, we can start shooting!

Now I'm off to rest up a little more before starting my day. I hope everyone has been good! Check out the pics in the Beat Down Boogie Promo Shoot album. There's a ton! Hope you enjoy!

--Manny