Hi All! Here's the menu design for my film on DVD. This is where I've been...

Just thought I'd share the menu design with everyone, say Hi. This is where I've been lately, busy trying to FINALLY fisnish my last film. It is now, for all intensive purposes, completed. The DVD buttons have changed and the DVD itself is now far more indepth and packed with trailer, outtakes, director bio, photo gallery and DVD credits.

Chuck; First of all; I missed you! Now, I know I am basically computer stupid. How do I access this? Can I access this with WEBTV? I want to see the "fruits of your labor. . . . "
This has to do with the Jaws DVD update, right?????



Darlene

I edited your post Chuck so that the image will show up.

It looks very good design wise... I guess the story is some bloody dark tale... If so, you have certainly managed to convey the atmosphere

"Telling Nikki Goodbye" was my last project I started (and completed). After Kathy left and was in that accident induced coma, I moved back to Jacksonville from Orlando where she and I lived. I was feeling very angry towards her and one day, a month after moving back, I was talking with my long time friend Chris (22 yrs) who had this story. That day I uttered words that he might regret hearing; "Lets make it".

We co-wrote the script between November 1994 and July 1995. During the spring of 1995 I did the casting and rehearsals and we began shooting on weekends everyone was free in July. Everyone worked for free and most of the shooting was night shooting. Chris and I worked full time jobs and some nights, on a Friday, we'd shoot all night until sunrise and was up 24 hrs. Most times though, we scheduled shooting for a Saturday so it wasn't so hard. It took from July 1995 until March 1997 to complete all the shooting of the primary script. But, then in reviewing the story, several of us agreed that there needed to be a subplot added that we could tie into what was already shot and be it's own story too. So, in April I cast Helen (I've mentioned her before, my other ex, now best friend) in the subplot script and we shot that from April 1997 through July 1997. Then, we decided to go back for one day in October 1997 and shoot a few more scenes. So, now after 2 1/2 yrs the shooting was done. The tapes sat in a box collecting dust until July of 1999 when a window opened for Mike (who is also in the film) to edit it and we did, finishing in October 1999. But, the original music scoring wasn't completed until January 2000. So, now the film was edited and the score complete, but the music now had to be "married" to the picture. And the window for THAT didn't open until several weeks ago. And, we just finished it today in fact.

The story of "Telling Nikki Goodbye" is about this man, John, in his late 20's and his first love/live in girlfriend Nikki. She leaves him, wanting something different out of life and having ONLY been with him for 9 years, she leaves him and moves in with her bestfriend Celeste, while secretly seeing his bestfriend, Jake, w/o him knowing it. Another reason, aside from her curiosity to other men as having only been with him, was her concern over a medical condition that he had and her worries over being forced to "care" for him as he got older and his condition worsened. Eventually, she moves in with Jake, his bestfriend and during this time his obsessiveness of her prods him to begin killing other ladies that he sees as "Nikki" when he looks at them. His way of purging her from his system (In much the same way as making this film allowed me to purge Kathy and the pain from our breakup).

Now, in the subploat, a completely seperate unattached storyline, Janet (Helen) is a young 20 yr old whose abusive father has ingrained in her the search for the ultimate pleasure/pain combination. Her roommate, Arlene, advises her boyfriend, Mick (played by Mike) to "kill her...kill her and she'll be yours". Of course, Janet's cringing desire is too much for him and it is causing a strain on their relationship. Well, Janet and Arlene have this odd relationship as well, where they will play voyouristic games when one brings another guy home.

Well, one of the men Arlene brings home for Helen to watch her be with is John, who kills her, seeing Nikki of course. This leads Janet to believe him to be the man to fulfill her ultimate desire. She hides Arlene's corpse as to allow her time to pursue John, secretly watching his own exploits.

John finally learns of Nikki being with Jake and goes to Celestes to find out where they now live, killing her in the process and then covertly beaking into their house and catching Jake cheating on Nikki with another woman. He kills both of them and the murders and the sudden realization that Jake was cheating sends Nikki "over the edge". She knows who killed them and, still having a key to Johns house from when they were together, goes in and slices his throat while he's sleeping, avenging.

Cut to the end: Janet is in a crowded bar where she is, for the first time, supposed to meet John. Sitting across the table is Nikki, with a box on the table. Janet doesn't know Nikki, so pays her no mind. She is too busy scanning the crowd for John. Then Nikki is suddenly gone from the table, leaving the box "for" Janet. Janet, curious, opens the box and looks in. To quote a famous movie "What's in the box?"

BLACK: END CREDITS!

Now, TNG was to be a feature length shot-on-video movie, but Mike and I were VERY critical of the story and acting (since everyone worked for free, many weren't prefessional talents and it showed) and we hacked 30 solid minutes out of the finished film, leaving the final running time at 1 hour. It's too short to find distribution, so I am completing it for myself and everyone that devoted so much time. Besides, I never leave a project unfinished (anymore. A promise to myself I made long ago). So, 7 yrs after that first day I said "Let's make it" to Chris, it is finally completed.

The DVD is packed with bonus material though. There is a trailer (preview) that was cut for the film, which includes behind-the-scenes footage and deleted scenes that didn't make the final cut. There are bloopers of funny crack ups by the actors. A director Bio. A still-photo gallery, DVD credits and a temp track version of the film (which is the music Mike added to the film to see how it looked with music for pacing BEFORE the original score was added).

It is on sale for $24.95 + 3.95 S & H affective immediately. I will, eventually, have a website up which will list a clip from it and other films I have made and offer them all for sale. It is a slightly high price for a DVD, but producing it indipendently makes the overhead a lot higher at making each DVD as appossed to the Hollywood machine.

On the DVD menu shown above, thats John (J. Allen Brown) firing the gun on the right and Janet (Helen Stophel) on the left. Just to let everyone know who those two characters are.