Every film, no matter how big or small, is a labor of love. Revelation Trail is no exception, and the filmmakers’ labor of love certainly paid off. Zombie-western film Revelation Trail is currently available on DVD, video on-demand, and digital download thanks to a distribution deal with Entertainment One. Revelation Trail's journey from story to screen has been seven years in the making with
John Gibson served as Revelation Trail's writer, producer, and director. Gibson and his family call
Gibson's cinematic ventures date back
to his middle school and high school years. “My background in filmmaking goes
back to middle school, when my friends and I would make cheesy stop motion
videos with our action figures,” said Gibson. “It then progressed to high
school…where we continued to make cheesy stop motion movies. However, it was in
high school that I began making videos for classes whenever possible; if I
could figure out a way to shoot a video about a book instead of writing a book
report, I would totally do that instead.” His appreciation for filmmaking
continued into college, where he was active in his college's film club while
studying to be a high school history teacher.
Revelation
Trail’s initial spark came seven
years ago when Gibson received a phone call from a friend. “About seven years
ago---that’s nuts to think it was that long ago—my friend Blake Armstrong, who
at the time was working post production on reality TV in LA, called me to say,
'let’s make a zombie movie,'” said Gibson. Gibson, however, did not immediately
jump at the bait. He had just completed production on a zombie-centric short
film in college, and although he enjoyed the project, it didn't quite leave him
wanting to jump back into creating another zombie film anytime soon. Blake then
convinced Gibson that his zombie idea was much more than just another film
featuring the brain guzzling undead. “Blake elaborated…it wasn’t just a
“zombie” film. He wanted to make a zombie western, a very novel idea at the
time (keep in mind, too, that in 2007, zombies were still relatively not in the
mainstream of pop culture like they are now). My interest was piqued, but I
offered the idea that instead of making a zombie movie set in the west, we
should create a western film that happened to have zombies in it as a
backdrop,” said Gibson.
Film is a multifaceted and
collaborative medium. However, all the various aspects of a film rely on one
thing – the script. This is the root of a film. Without a solid story, the
entire spectacle collapses. Gibson began the writing process for Revelation
Trail back in 2007. He looked to classic western elements to help guide his
writing. “As we set out to create a western, we began gravitating towards many
of the tropes of the western that worked so well. The hero with no name. The
changing frontier (except in this case, it wasn’t mechanization or the
telegraph that represented change, but the zombie horde). Zombies served simply
as a catalyst for our characters to quickly, and unwillingly, begin their
journey in the film,” said Gibson. He also drew inspiration from a collection
of films spawning the zombie and western genres. “Influences at this early
stage of writing really came in the form of Unforgiven
and Dawn of the Dead, with a dash of 28 Days Later. We avoided mimicking
these films, but they definitely were older cousins to Revelation Trail with regards to tone,” said Gibson.
By 2009, Gibson had a shooting script
finalized, but was missing one major factor in a film production – funding. “We
ended up shooting three marketing trailers, based on the script, and floating
these around online (and using them to ensure investor funding). We also used these to build up a pretty hefty
fan base on social media, and to get some really good early press from blogs
and internet sites in the early days of the project,” said Gibson. The Revelation Trail crew then spent the
next two years securing funding for the film. The pre-production process kicked
off in May 2011, in which Gibson spent time gathering crew members and working
out the logistics of shooting the film. “Most of my crew were former students
from Northern Kentucky
University , with my makeup supervisor
being Bud Stross of Fort Thomas
(and co-owner of the Dent Schoolhouse). Many of our talent and additional crew
were actually people that I had worked with while at Murray State
University . It was a
merging of my two worlds,” said Gibson.
Principal photography was split up into
two sessions – a summer shoot and a winter shoot. Gibson and crew began
shooting for two weeks in July 2011 at Mullins Log Cabin in Berry ,
KY, the Old West Festival in Batavia , OH , and Copper Canyon Ranch in Hopkinsville , KY.
The crew then used funding donated from a Kickstarter campaign to complete
their winter shoot. While at the helm of the production, Gibson approached his
directing duties without a specific style in mind. “I don’t know if it
counts, but does curling up in the fetal position while stuff burns down all
around you count as an adequate directing style? No? Crud,” said Gibson. I’ll
let you in on a secret – Gibson’s directing style wasn’t too different from
many directors, even some the industry’s most successful filmmakers.
By December 2011, the film's production
process was officially completed, and the crew was ready to jump into
post-production. “All told, development was about five years, preproduction was
two months, production was 21ish days, and postproduction was another year and
a half. There were only about four or five of us working on the color, effects,
sound, editing and score, and so it was definitely a very time consuming
process,” said Gibson. All their hard work paid off when the film was premiered
to five sold old screenings in April 2013.
Revelation Trail then
landed a distribution deal with one of the best companies in the industry,
Entertainment One. “After we had many successful screenings, we began
reaching out to distributors. We had a list of about 40 distributors, split
into tiers. We’d email them and send screeners if requested. Many times, we’d
just hear a “not interested” even without seeing the film. Other times, they’d
like it, but it wasn’t their thing. Finally, we were approached by one of our
top tier distributors, Entertainment One, who called us the day they saw it and
wanted to go into a partnership,” said Gibson. Once they had the attention of
Entertainment One, the work didn’t stop. The filmmakers then needed to work
with the distributors to create a product ready for mass consumption. “That
began an 8 month process of negotiations, tweaking the movie for quality
control, getting insurance, an MPAA rating, and many, many other things that I
never knew about. And now, we’re sitting here with the release having just
happened, and I’m a different filmmaker as a result. I’ve learned so much about
the distribution side of things, which is proving helpful as we work on our
international distribution,” said Gibson. The film is now
available for purchase on DVD, online streaming, and also can be found
on-demand with Time Warner, Comcast, Cox, and Brighthouse. The DVD contains
many special features, in which viewers can gain behind-the-scenes access to the
film’s production process.
Making a film is no easy feat. There are a lot of moving
pieces that are constantly in motion, and if one aspect of production goes awry,
the entire shoot can be jeopardized. Even for the most experienced filmmakers, it’s
easy to see how a production can be overwhelming at times. Gibson and his crew were
forced to face challenges head-on to successfully create their film. “Most
challenging: taking all the aspects that make a feature tough enough (long
hours, massive amounts of resources that have to be managed, fundraising,
little sleep) and add in the elements of nature (heat, cold, insects) with a dash
of psychological stresses and factors. For good measure, add the unexpected:
props breaking on set, actors getting ill, and even losing a crucial shooting
location, a historic fort, just a few weeks before production. I half jokingly
tell people that I lost ten years of my life working on this project for just
22 days,” said Gibson.
Like any good challenge, the struggles of the production
process were balanced out with rewarding experiences. For Gibson, the rewarding
aspects of Revelation Trail’s production process have been multifaceted.
“The biggest, though, is having gone through this experience with a band of
brothers (and sisters), who saw this production through all the above mentioned
challenges, formed some tight bonds, and are now joyously celebrating the birth
of their dreams with the movie’s release,” said Gibson. Additionally, the film’s
challenging aspects have allowed Gibson to personally grow as a filmmaker. “I’m
a more confident filmmaker, and better storyteller, because of those folks and
their support,” said Gibson. “And, I have a thousand war stories I can now
share with my classes (which is also rewarding to me, and hopefully beneficial
to them).”
Gibson has some solid advice to pass on to other local
filmmakers. His advice is simple: be
cool, be a good person, and observe always. Okay, the advice is actually much
more complex than those three statements, but it doesn’t make it any less
important. “To elaborate: don’t show up on set, or approach the director or
other filmmakers, with an ego and thinking you are the greatest gift to cinematic
history. Be cool. Be willing to learn from others, to collaborate, to feel good
about your own abilities, but also willing to keep your ego in check and
understand that filmmaking is a collaborative effort, not a bragging
competition. And by being good to others, you develop a reputation as a
respectful and great person to have around on set. And not just set life…people
look at you as someone they want to be around in general, and with production
crews so often times coming back to the same people for different jobs, you
want to be known as a good person. And observe. Get on a set. Start low if you
have to, working as a PA or runner or any number of entry level positions. And
learn what each person is doing on set. Because some day, when you are a producer
or director, these are the same positions you are going to be relying on to
make your vision happen, so you need to understand (and fully respect) what
their job entails,” said Gibson. What’s great about Gibson’s advice is that it
can be applied to any endeavor. “Be cool. Be a good person. Observe always,” is
a mantra that can benefit any person in any stage of their personal or professional
life.
We haven’t seen the last of Gibson and the Revelation Trail
crew. Gibson is currently taking all the knowledge gained from making
Revelation Trail, and using it to work on the film’s sequel. “A sequel to
Revelation Trail is in the works right now, with photography taking place in
Summer 2016 (fingers crossed). We are getting resources in place, so long as
funding comes through,” said Gibson. Check out the Revelation Trail website to
find out all the latest news of the film’s production as well as how to order
or download your own copy of the film.
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