Cast Interviews with Mercedes Rose.

It is a bright and sunny day here in PDX. As I sit here at my computer, I look out at the river and it reminds me of the GREAT cast interviews we did a few weeks ago with the lovely Mercedes Rose using this same river as our backdrop! The first of three interviews is now live on the Animus Cross Website. Look for the new button on the main page.

Thank you again for the wonderful interviewing, Mercedes! It was a lot of fun and we hope to involve you more in future Animus Cross endeavors. Check out Mercedes' online radio program, The Quasi-Glamorous Life, the ups and downs living as a working voice-over talent and actor.

Also, please check out the Animus page on the StoryGas blog. StoryGas is, "a place on the web for people who work in, and fans who watch, online drama... " Here you'll find lots of online shows, some you've probably not been watching, but might want to check out!

A big thanks to Harold Phillips and Dave Steen for all their hard work in recent days. We'll get there, I'm sure of it!

Take care and I hope it's sunny where you're at!

-A.L.

A Family Affair

Part 4 of Animus Cross, "Hell Runs This Way" is now in the hands of Troy Gunter, our sound designer. Dad (Dave Steen) is hard at work on the new site. Speaking of dad, episode four will be the premiere of his character.

It's never easy having crew members double as main characters in a story, especially when one of those crew members is the only other guy in your grip\electric\camera department! One of my only regrets during the shooting of Animus was that we didn't have a designated still photographer or behind-the-scenes camera. I would have loved to capture Dad and Jason running stingers, setting lights, building dolly track, moving generators, swapping P2 cards and choreographing the many camera moves, all by themselves for the most part. We were very lucky to have Joe Aimonetti visiting with his camera!

It's a good thing we didn't have an on-set wardrobe person. They would have been pulling their hair out watching dad do all those things in costume, just before stepping in front of the camera! Of course, Jerry was doing the same thing; coodinating stunts and special fx while in full costume. At least his wardrobe was a lot more rugged and held up to all the abuse.

When I speak of wardrobe, I have to give so much credit to my mom, Cindy Steen. She was amazing! She helped me keep track of all the costumes and even found time to sew a shirt, a vest and Sarcous' leather tunic! When it comes to leather clothing, the high prices are definately reflecting all the labor put into each peice. All said and done, I think we spent less than $200 on the materials to make the tunic. The time mom put into it would have jacked that price up considerably!

I don't think you can tell from this post that this production was a family affair, can you? :P Not all the family was blood however. I've been very fortunate in my career to meet folks who have become family through the trials of production. I think we added some more on this show too.

Thanks everyone for a great time. I can't wait to get back on set!

-A.L. Steen