MUTAGENIC STUDIOS INTERACTIVE

Lady Terminator has been ACTIVATED!!!

2012-02-29T08:54:00.000-05:00

Erin returns as a kick-ass death machine ready to slaughter all of humanity. This image took a crazy amount of time in Photoshop to create but it was a lot of fun!

Rocket Girl!!!

2012-02-28T11:20:00.000-05:00

The incredible Kristen Demelo as Rocket Girl. This was an attempt to create a retro space girl poster similar to Barbarella - ray guns and UFOs!

A Trio of Erin shots!

2012-02-26T17:41:00.000-05:00

A couple more shots from the UV series we shot with Erin last week! She looks amazing!

And, as an added bonus we're putting up a really horrific shot. Erin came up with the idea of doing a Mexican Cartel Decapitation. We love a challenge so we got to work coming up with the image. We love the fact that Erin comes up with the most twisted ideas - people often think we're the 'gore guys' and are really into horror but in reality it's actually down to the twisted ladies we collaborate with!

To Serve and Protect

2012-02-25T10:22:00.000-05:00

Asia returns as the last line between the law and chaos.

The Oracle

2012-02-24T11:53:00.000-05:00

The amazing Erin returns under a coat of chrome paint!!!

Dayglo Demon

2012-02-22T07:09:00.000-05:00

As promised, here's the first of many shots of the stunning Erin Weatherall from last weekend! We love Erin, she's such an amazing lady! This shot was accomplished using gold chrome body paint, fluorescent acrylic paint and a large UV light.

Love Doll from Babylon Smith

2012-02-21T19:27:00.000-05:00

The amazingly beautiful and talented Kristen Demelo as a Love Doll in the upcoming Babylon Smith graphic novel. Working with Kristen is a blast - she's a chameleon who can literally change characters with a wig, a bit of makeup and a sexy outfit!

A Blast from the Past!!!

2012-02-20T19:15:00.000-05:00

This is a shot of Erin from 2007. Erin was the first model we ever worked with and there's a lot of her throughout our galleries. We just shot with Erin again and it was like we never missed a beat. Lots of laughs and lots of fun were had by all. Watch this space as we will be posting lots of new work with Erin in the next while!

Another Skraven shot!

2012-02-17T09:42:00.000-05:00

Another Heavy Paint image featuring Skraven! We're not sure where this character will appear but we're definitely thinking he needs to be the badass in a future graphic novel.

The Return of Black Rose!

2012-02-14T18:05:00.000-05:00

The return of Black Rose, one of the Elite Regulators that works the same mean streets as Babylon Smith. Asia Barclay is mad, bad and dangerous to know! This summer we will be unleashing the world of Babylon!

Morgan has a Devil Inside!

2012-02-13T19:13:00.000-05:00

Here's the first image from our latest shoot with our friends Morgan Melancholy and Annika. More to come! And, as a bonus - here's a quick image from today using our Heavy Paint Tutorial.

Heavy Paint Style

2012-02-12T12:43:00.000-05:00

We're currently writing up a series of tutorials on how we achieve the various artstyles and looks for the images in Photoshop. This image of Skraven is the result of a 'heavy paint' tutorial. It still needs a few tweaks but the basic painted look is in place.

Skraven the Bounty Hunter

2012-02-10T19:27:00.001-05:00

Tim done up as Skraven, a ruthless bounty hunter who prowls the wastelands. Skraven wears the face of his greatest rival as a twisted form of tribute; a way to honour the man who destroyed his own face and almost bested him in battle.

PROP BUILDING - MUTANT STYLE!

2012-02-10T12:30:00.000-05:00

PROP BUILDING – MUTANT STYLE!

We finally got a bit of time to do some prop building for an upcoming character shoot. We took a bunch of toy guns and basically massacred them with a hacksaw, a pair of pliers, some gorilla glue and some matte black paint. The end result was a lot of swearing, stuck together fingers, a number of band-aids, more swearing and a couple of what we think are pretty awesome looking guns. We will be adding a bit more detail to them with some wear and weathering and probably a few accessories but they will do for the initial test shooting.

If anyone has any toy guns (preferably revolvers) or interesting pieces they’d like to donate to the Mutant cause please fire us an email. We’ll make sure to drop you a credit if we use it in any of the upcoming photos and artwork.

Graphic Novel Art Styles

2012-02-02T08:07:00.001-05:00

As we roll out our various projects this year and plan for future books and comics, we spend quite a bit of time experimenting with different art styles and Photoshop techniques. Currently, we are honing in on a digital paint style for a couple of upcoming graphic novels. Tim is dressed up in character and we shoot a number of test images and then apply a range of processes until we have achieved an 'illustrated look' to the final image.

Here's a couple more variations:

I Saw Pussy!!! with Kristen Demelo

2012-01-31T11:50:00.000-05:00

The absolutely fabulous Kristen Demelo is someone you don't want to mess with! This shot is a sequel of sorts to the 'Lick My Saw' collaboration we did with The Richard which is currently hanging in the Rue Morgue House of Horrow.

Babylon Smith - Fire Dancer

2012-01-30T19:50:00.000-05:00

You never know what you're going to see when you head into the heart of San Angeles. This is a Fire Dancer from one of the more popular clubs. She is a Gen-Sim, specially designed to have translucent skin and is able to generate glowing energy within her body.

Hey! We're on a Spanish Comic Blog!

2012-01-26T23:46:00.001-05:00

We came across this the other day. It's a Spanish Comic Blog that shows a comparison of our work to some comic artwork. Some of the references are bang on the money. We did indeed create a series of images based on the work of European artist and film director Enki Bilal and we did a version of Warren Ellis' Desolation Jones. And, yes we did a version of the Joker (ours is a lady!) The other ones aren't the sources that inspired the work but it's flattering none-the-less!

http://charliecomicart.blogspot.com/2009/12/fotos-con-talento.html

Savage Astronaut - Tolrok, Ruler of the Wastelands

2012-01-25T15:35:00.000-05:00

It's Tim again under the latex. Here he is playing the character of Tolrok, a rather nasty alien creature that commands the wild and wretched wastelands. He will be appearing in the Savage Astronaut series in the upcoming Mutations Magazine. You can read more information on Mutations on the PROJECT page.

Savage Astronaut - Mr. Neeman, King of Las Ragas

2012-01-25T12:13:00.000-05:00

That's Tim under all the latex. He's playing the part of Mr. Neeman in the Savage Astronaut series featured in the upcoming Mutations Magazine. Mr. Neeman is the lizard-like king-pin that clawed his way out of the swamp to become the most powerful business man the savage world has ever seen. You can read more information about Mutations magazine on the PROJECTS page.

Behind the Scenes - New shooting space!

2012-01-23T08:51:00.000-05:00

It's not a massive space but it's great to now have a dedicated shooting area. And, what better way to celebrate than to do a shoot with the amazing Olexandra Pruchnicky! Here's a behind the scenes shot from an upcoming project.

Chris Carroll joins the Mutant Army!

2012-01-22T20:23:00.000-05:00

We're excited that author and fellow madman, Chris Carroll has joined our team! Chris will be handling the editor chores on MUTATIONS magazine and he will be adding his creative efforts to some of Mutagenic's upcoming projects. We want to send out a massive welcome to Chris!

Moon Maiden's Lament

2012-01-19T15:04:00.000-05:00

The beautiful Asia Barclay as a lost and troubled Moon Maiden.

Censorship: The Twisted Tongue and the Laws of Disorder

2012-01-18T11:11:00.002-05:00

With the Internet black out in defiance of SOPA and PIPA, I thought it would be appropriate to post another article from my days at Studio Probe. This is twenty years old but when it comes to censorship, time doesn't make any difference.

CENSORSHIP: THE TWISTED TONGUE AND THE LAWS OF DISORDER
Written by Timothy E. Bacon

A NIGHTMARE VISION

“This is something that threatens the position of the establishment of any establishment, and therefore they will oppose it, will condition people to fear and reject or ridicule it.” (William S. Burroughs)

The Moral Majority. Silent censorship. Big Brother. Media censorship. Government censorship. Book bannings. Book burnings. This sounds like the basis for some Orwellian nightmare vision, or perhaps the plot for a dystopian science-fiction film, but in reality, this is no vision, this is our world today. Censorship is a disease that is as deadly and contagious as the Black Death in Medieval Europe, or as lethal as AIDS in our modern society. Censorship has touched, warped and in some cases even eradicated all forms of media and the arts. Nothing is safe or sacred in its path of righteous destruction. Books, films, music, speech, photography, etc., have become helpless victims to this infectious strain called Censorship.

HIDDEN AGENDAS

“What’s regarded as impotent can be allowed freedom; what’s potent must be harnessed and mutilated.” (David Cronenberg)

Censorship is nothing new, it has been around for hundreds of years. Political ideology, philosophical thought, creative writings and art have all suffered from someone else’s hidden agenda. Some forms of censorship are loud and noticeable, such as the public banning of an author or an artist, other forms are less obvious, like the political censorship used in World War I, as a method of dealing with propaganda material. In general, censorship is defined as “restricting or denying information to people who need or want that information.” A censor (the person involved in censorship) is defined as 1) a person authorized by a government or other organization to examine and, if necessary, change books, letters, motion pictures, etc. to ensure they contain nothing obscene, libellous, politically dangerous, etc. 2) a person who exercises supervision over the morals or behaviour of others. 3) a person who likes to find fault.

THE ULTIMATE CENSORSHIP

“Silence is the most dangerous thing.” (Salmon Rushdie)

In 1989, the Mullahs of Iran decided that “The Satanic Verses”, a fictional book by British author Salmon Rushdie, was blasphemy, not art and performed the ultimate censorship; they placed a price on Rushdie’s head. It is a terrifying example of censorship, but, by no means, is it an isolated one. Writers such as Socrates, the Greek philosopher, Lucan, the roman poet and Maxim Gorky, a Russian author, were all killed because of their spoken or published words. Killing is an extreme way to silence a writer, other methods have proven quite popular and unfortunately widespread. The number of authors whose work has been banned or burned is beyond count. Confucius, Dante, Martin Luther, Voltaire, James Joyce, Hemmingway, Erich Maria Remarque and John Steinbeck are just a few, whose words have blackened under the match of censorship.

“We are most anxious that individuals and small groups don’t impose their standards of morality or their standard of outrage on the majority.” (Malcolm Buchanan)

Book bannings have been levelled against writers such as Truman Capote “In Cold Blood”, William Golding “Lord of the Flies”, Joseph Heller “Catch 22”, Aldous Huxley “Brave New World”, George Orwell “Animal Farm” and “1984”, Mordecai Richler “The Apprenticeship of Duddy Kravitz” and Mark Twain “Huckleberry Finn”. The reasons for such bannings have been as varied as the writers themselves. Arthur Miller’s play the crucible was banned because as one person pointed out it was filled with “sick words from the mouths of demon-possessed people.” The Indiana State Textbook Commission attempted to remove the book “Robin Hood” from a school curriculum, on the grounds that Robin Hood was a communist because he was robbing the rich to give to the poor. Recently, a Canadian Jewish group attempted to ban William Shakespeare’s “The Merchant of Venice” on the grounds that the play spread anti-semitism; the Jewish character of Shylock in the play was a greedy, heartless moneylender.

The practice of book banning does not end with adult oriented material; a number of children’s books such as “Mary Poppins”, “Dr. Dolittle”, “Charlotte’s Web” and “The Wizard of Oz” have also felt the sting. The world of present day literature does in fact parallel the basis for the science-fiction novel, “Fahrenheit 451”, which deals with a society in which books are regarded as evil and must be destroyed. Perhaps, one day this book will find itself at the top of a pile of burning books.

THE SANITIZED WASTELAND

“Censors tend to do what only psychotics do: they confuse reality with illusion. People worry about the effect on children of two thousand acts of murder on T.V. every half hour. You have to point out that they have seen a representation of murder. They have not seen murder. It’s the real stumbling block.” (David Cronenberg)

Television has become a sanitized wasteland, pre-packaged and safety sealed for your protection. It is the source of both information and entertainment; it also one of best examples of censorship in action. Everything that is shown on the small screen must pass rigid and inflexible censor boards. Documentaries, news hours, sitcoms and dramatic shows are all carefully gleaned of any offending words or images. Aside from social censorship, the television also offers a breeding ground for military or political censorship. Vietnam was the first “televised war” broadcast into American homes, the footage was usually a couple of weeks behind the fighting and what Americans saw was the tiny amount of information allowed by the government.

The 1990’s brought us the latest in high-tech, up to the minute warfare when the Gulf War became the hottest evening’s entertainment. The footage claimed to be shot as it happened, the public was getting the whole story sandwiched in between ads for personal hygiene and nasal spray. In reality, the Gulf War brought a supreme example of censorship to the forefront; like the propaganda machine of World War I, the public only saw footage that was in favour of the American fighting force. Massive bombing raids destroyed only military targets, the news never made mention of the innocent civilians killed. We never heard about American soldiers killed by their own troops in so called “friendly fire”.

Television, unlike a lot of other mediums, does not deny that they practice censorship. Prior to the screening of a theatrical film the words, EDITED FOR TELEVISION appear across the screen. If a show is deemed unsuitable for a younger audience, a warning to that effect will be broadcast. An area of television that is now under close scrutiny is the music video. Performers such as Madonna, Mitsou and Motley Crue have all had videos pulled from the airways due to their sexual content. Exposed breasts and genitalia have sent shock waves throughout the television audience and demand for more stringent measures is rising.

ANIMATIONS OF MORALITY

“Actually, the stations will tell you that the majority of these cartoons were scrapped because of excessive violence. I’ve never understood that. A realistic show is allowed on the air, yet, a cartoon which couldn’t possibly be mistaken for real life is too violent for viewers.” (Darren Stevens)

Saturday morning cartoons went under fire several years ago amidst allegations that they were harmful to children because they contained excessive violence. Animated characters such as “Wile E. Coyote” and the “Road Runner” disappeared from the television screen, their short cartoon life drawn and quartered forever. In fact, if you turn on the cartoons these days they no longer resemble the stories of yesteryear. They are now heavily censored, every last bit of possible offence has been removed. The nation’s children are again safe. It is interesting to note that between 1933 and 1954, Mickey Mouse was banned in Germany, Yugoslavia, Italy and the Soviet Union.

“And as soon as we start saying ‘yeah, you can rate us’, what we’re doing is saying, ‘Jerry Falwell is right!’ We’re saying that they have a right and can tell us what to do.” (Frank Miller)

Comic books used to be called ‘funnies’, they also used to be for children. Times have changed. In the early eighties, a movement began that saw the rise of comic books with adult themes. Stories such as “The Dark Knight” by Frank Miller and “The Watchmen” by Alan Moore have brought legions of adults back to comics and a lot of pressure from the Comics Code Authority. The C.C.A. was established in the fifties as a reaction to the E.C. series of horror comics published by William Gaines. The C.C.A. believed that comics were the underlying reason for juvenile delinquency; they were the direct cause for children leading a life of violence and crime. The Comics Code is still in use today, their rules and regulations concerning comics have not changed significantly.

THE KILLING IMAGE

“The belief is that an image can kill, if thoughts can kill, images can kill. So the very suggestion of sadomasochism, for instance, will somehow trigger off masses of psychotics out there to do things they would never have done had they not been exposed to that image.” (David Cronenberg)

Photography became reality in the late 1800’s and with it came the ability to capture frozen moments of “real” time. The nude, long the mainstay of painters and sculptors, became a popular image for the photographer. The nude also became the centre of public controversy. Pioneering photographers such as Robert Demachy, Eugene Atget, Frantisek Dritkol, and Raoul Haussmann adopted the naked form as a favourite subject. Later photographers such as Man Ray, Edward Weston and Jeanloup Sieff experimented with nude images, pushing the envelope on creativity and acceptability.

In more recent times, photographers such as Helmut Newton and Robert Mapplethorpe, have had their work banned. Both artists had produced images that were forbidden; Newton with his fetishistic studies of women in stylized bondage gear and Mapplethorpe for his studies of male homosexuality. Madonna, in the eye of the censor storm as usual, has just had her book entitled “Sex” banned in several cities. The reason cited was that she was introducing the youth of today to pornography. An interesting claim, as her book is not available to the “so called youth”. It seems that as a society we are being taught to fear the naked body, to be afraid of our parts and our sexuality. The primary aim of censorship appears to be denial.

THE FLICKERING SIN

“At the last count, this film is a trap, its only victims are those who find it filthy. All pornography is imaginary. It is the folklore of masochism. Vicious is he who is offended by it. Happy is he who delights in it.” (Jacques Baratier)

The greatest battleground for censorship exists on the silver screen. Sex, death and starshine are the raw materials for this flickering sin called film. Among the first, truly controversial films to be made was “Un Chien Andalou” by Bunuel. The film made in the early 1920’s, showed sexual violence and savagery on screen that was censored in most countries until recent times. The razor-slash of an eyeball, the androgyne’s walking stick picking at the severed hand, the agony of bloody love and the sucking of hands. The succession of raw images produced by Bunuel still disturb and shock after fifty years.

“Freaks”, made in 1932 by Tod Browning is another example of censored imagery that remains just as potent today as when it was first shown in theatres. Its true and affecting portrayal of the deformed and midget circus performers was killed worldwide by censorship. Tod Browning had crossed the line of forbidden imagery by using real circus freaks to portray the film’s characters.

There are films that remain banned. “A Clockwork Orange” (1968) is just such an example. The film, heavily censored because of its violent/sexual imagery still cannot be shown in England after more than two decades. Ironically, the lead character (Alex) is reprogrammed by the government to be repulsed by violent imagery. Sometimes the censorship line is hard to understand. The Ontario Censor Board for Film Classification scissored a scene from the film “Angel Heart”. The scene showed a couple making love while blood dripped down from the ceiling. The same people allowed a fellatio scene to remain in a film entitled, “Devil in the Flesh” because the film was considered an “art” film. Some films are banned entirely on the grounds that their “tone” is too dark and dangerous for the public to digest. “Henry: Portrait of a serial killer” is a film that has been banned from national release for just that reason.

Censors attempt to suppress “dangerous” imagery because they claim that it could be harmful to someone, what they do not realise is that by suppressing everything that could be deemed potentially dangerous, explosive or provocative would not prevent a true psychotic from finding something that will trigger his own particular psychosis. Most of us are normal. We understand the difference between reality and fantasy, play and illusion.

THE HOME INVADERS

“Puritans are not dead and gone. We have many new Puritans in our country today; they are as dangerous to freedom of expression as the old Puritans ever were.” (John Irving)

The new front being fought concerning censorship is in the home. Censors are now beginning to control, not only what comes in from television, but also, what we bring into our homes. The videocassette is a prime example. There is a Video Recordings bill that exists in England, nicknamed the “video nasty bill”, it was instated by the government on the broad justification that children could be watching. The bill allows the government to censor anything they find offensive out of the videos, even banning them if need be. The practice of editing videos for home has not yet taken root in North America. So far, if a film is potentially offensive we are given the choice of taking a cut version (rated) or an uncut version (unrated), but it doesn’t take a great leap of imagination to foresee what the future could hold.

Two videos that have caused a sea of censorings and controversy are “Faces of Death” and the very recent “Death scenes”. The “Faces of Death” was a rough looking documentary style film that showed supposed “live action” death. Some of the scenes included a “real” execution, a man eaten by a crocodile and memorable scene of people killing a monkey and consuming its brain. Needless to say the film was banned immediately, and as a result it became extremely popular, spawning four more volumes. The newer “Death Scenes”, a two hour montage of still photographs of corpses, set to an orchestrated score hit the video stores last month. It instantly became a popular rental item. “Death Scenes” has now been banned by the B.C. government.

“The video cassette is freedom of the image. It doesn’t surprise me at all that censors should shift their focus from the cinema to what’s happening in the home, because it’s where there should be no censorship whatsoever.” (David Cronenberg)

THE EXTERNAL EDIT

“We are not in favour of child pornography if we say no to censorship. If we disapprove of reinstating public hangings, that doesn’t mean that we want all the murderers to be set free. No writer or publisher or reader should accept censorship in any form; fundamental to our freedom of expression is that each of us has a right to decide what is obscene and what isn’t.” (John Irving)

The government is continually trying to prove that there is a link between pornography (dangerous and forbidden images) and criminal/sexual behaviour. It is an attempt that so far has failed, but not without some hard tries by the government. In 1970, there was the (American) President’s Commission on Obscenity and Pornography. The commission folded up their tents when there was no reliable evidence at hand. In 1986, there was the Meese Commission on Pornography and the Surgeon General’s Conference on Pornography, again they failed to establish a link. In 1992, Republican Senators Mitch McConnell, Charles Grassley and Strom Turmond are attempting to pass the “Pornography Victims’ Compensation Bill”, this bill would encourage victims of sexual crimes to bring civil suits against publishers and distributors of material that is “obscene” or constitutes “child pornography”, if they can prove that the material was “a substantial cause of the offense” and if the publisher or distributor should have “foreseen” that such material created an “unreasonable risk of such a crime.” The purpose of this bill is an outrage, it is essentially shifting the responsibility for any sexual crime onto a third party, namely away from the actual perpetrator.

In Canada, there is an 11-year old girl who is touring the country, getting a petition signed. The petition calls for the removal of violence on television. The girl’s older sister was murdered and sexually assaulted. The Prime Minister, Brian Mulroney signed the petition and swore to put pressure on the C.R.T.C. and other broadcasting councils to remove the violence from television. He also stated that should the councils move too slow, he will personally enforce government legislations to have all television violence removed. One is reminded of the “Pornography Victims’ Compensation Bill”. There is no proven connection between television violence and sexual crimes and again, the responsibility of such a crime will be shifted to a third party.

A BRAVE NEW WORLD

“It’s just a matter of time before some yahoo points his trigger finger and claims that ‘Silence of the Lambs’ made him do it. It’s societal Russian roulette...with an automatic.” (David J. Schow)

What does the future of censorship hold? The Thought Police? Government imposed ideas and dreams? The death of creativity and the rise of mediocrity? Censorship will always exist in one form or another; someone will always be trying to stop different ideologies from surfacing, or treading on an artist who does not choose to ride the bandwagon.

“People have to be aware that restricting access to ideas and information is not the answer. If creative solutions are to be found to personal and societal problems today, people must be well informed and aware of a wide range of options. Our collective experience has shown that no one cultural form has all the answers. As people of different religions, races and cultures are thrust together, the imposition of a single cultural outlook from the past is obviously not what is needed. People from our society need to be able to draw insights from many traditions and from many individual writers.” (Book and Periodical Development Council)

Kristen Demelo in Death Takes a Holiday

2012-01-17T19:59:00.000-05:00

The beautiful Kristen Demelo as Death. This is inspired by Neil Gaiman's character of Death who was always a beautiful young woman. I loved the idea of Death taking a vacation and seeing the world.

D.M.Z.

2012-01-15T23:50:00.000-05:00

Almost a year ago we had a 600 word short science fiction story appear on 365 Tomorrows. It's a great site and there's a ton of fantastic reading to be had.

Here's our entry called D.M.Z.: http://365tomorrows.com/01/28/d-m-z/

Asia Barclay as Black Rose!

2012-01-15T14:55:00.000-05:00

Nothing better than a hot lady with a massive gun!

Asia is starring in BABYLON SMITH as another Elite Regulator. She'll be kicking ass and taking names later this summer as San Angeles comes under fire and Babylon has to save the day!

Kristen Demelo from PUNCH ZOMBIE FX

2012-01-13T13:39:00.001-05:00

This shot is hot off the hard-drive! It's the amazing Kristen Demelo, model and special effects whiz at Punch Zombie FX https://www.facebook.com/punchzombiefx

Kristen is an absolute blast to work with. She's a real dynamo and a complete nerd who's into films, comics, action figures, pretty much everything. We'll be working with her as much as we can.

Kristen will be appearing in the upcoming BABYLON SMITH project as an Elite Regulator, Babylon's competition and the kind of lady who kicks ass and takes names!

She will also be featured in our anthology magazine MUTATIONS which will be coming out later this year.

More of Kristen on the way soon!

Electric Dreams and the Myth of Machines

2012-01-13T09:09:00.001-05:00

I woke up early this morning, so now I’m working on my third cup of coffee, reading a wonderful interview with William Gibson in the Paris Review and editing some images from some of our most recent photo-shoots. Gibson was talking about writing his first novel and a half on an old, manual typewriter and the advent of technology (primarily television and then later the personal computer) that changed his world. I was reminded of this article that I wrote twenty years ago (1992) on a manual typewriter right before I switched to my first computer. It was my first published magazine piece for Studio Probe.

I haven’t read this since it was published and it’s like unearthing an ancient artifact. I recognize the words as mine but the younger writer’s voice that put them to paper seems so distant and almost alien to me now. I was a much different person twenty years ago. I read a lot of J.G. Ballard and was a card carrying member of the Carl Jung Society (I was even working on an article for their newsletter about fetal dreaming and dream imagery from the womb? Thankfully, I never finished that one!)

If you’re brave enough to slog through it, you may want to switch the references from ‘television’ to ‘computers’- sort of a mental rewrite to update these old scribbles on the fly. I find the references to imagery interesting as a large part of our creative process now deals with the creation and production of images.

ELECTRIC DREAMS AND THE MYTH OF MACHINES
Written by Timothy E. Bacon

THE PRIMAL SCREEN

“That T.V. that insults me freely, still I know what I’m dying to see.” (Iggy Pop)

My life has been a quest for images, an endless search down long corridors of informational white-noise and through the veil of fleeting dream pictures. I was born to biological parents, but, as a child, I inhabited the space between electronic myth and cold, hard reality. I was content, suckling the glass teat of television, awash in the ghost dance of a million points of phosphorescent light.

My first recollection of life is sitting in front of a television, watching in rapt awe, as the Astronauts (The New Heroes of the Nuclear Age), landed on the moon. My mind is a series of subliminal edits and fast fades. My memories are not my own; places I’ve never been, animals I’ve never seen, and people I’ve never known. In a way, I am on familiar terms with Marilyn Monroe, John F. Kennedy, Mickey Mouse, Jesus Christ, Vietnam and Hiroshima. All exist as subliminal images burned onto my retinal canvas — they are alive and well, staring out from the Primal Screen. I am a technological animal. I am a self-confessed image-junkie. I am in constant need of an image-fix. I am not alone.

THE TRIBAL CIRCUIT

“The television screen is the retina of the mind’s eye. Therefore the television screen is part of the physical structure of the brain. Therefore whatever appears on the television screen emerges as raw experience for those who watch it. Therefore television is reality, and reality is less than television.” (Videodrome)

We are a society obsessed with images — any images, from the beautiful to the taboo — We crave visual stimulation in all shapes and forms. Each of us is a member of a vast, modern Tribal Circuit, a part of what Marshall McLuan has termed, “The Global Village.” We are the Modern Primitives, patched into the world’s “mixing board”, all of us filtering and editing out a “reality” from the many thousands of images that surround and bombard us. (I read somewhere that we receive over two thousand messages a day from television, radio and the print media) The dominant source of our images is television.

Television has replaced all other social rituals, it is the electronic “shaman” of our age. It has become our new collective unconscious (A shared dream-pool of common images and archetypes), it is the cultural totem, or centre for our advanced, nomadic tribe. Television has become the Second God, it is omnipotent and ambivalent, it is the educator and storyteller for a society obsessed with images.

GHOSTS IN THE MACHINE

“You might think that science and technology have left ghosts in the age of manor houses, but I believe on the contrary that the future belongs to the ghosts and that the modern technology of images — cinema, telecommunications, etc. — has increased the power of ghosts tenfold.” (Jacques Derrida)

There are ghosts in the machine. By ghosts, I mean images of long dead places and faces that inhabit the electronic pathways of our visual technology. James Cagney, Humphrey Bogart, Marilyn Monroe -- all are consigned to an eternal life after death — the spirits of the dead translated entirely into the video world. There is power in these ghosts. The grainy, black and white footage of the bombing and aftermath of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, still has the power to stun most of us into silence. We are future witnesses to an insane act of destruction, carried out nearly half a century ago. We can view these images again and again, yet they never lose their power.

Who among us can forget the Challenger shuttle disaster, or the assassination of John F. Kennedy, or even the faces of killers such as Charles Manson and Ted Bundy? These are all startling and disturbing images — images that now have a life of their own. They are frozen moments in history that will never die — they live on the screen and in our minds. They have become an integral part of the technological fabric of our world.

BIOMECHANICS BY DESIGN

“Long live the New Flesh.” (Videodrome)

I believe that the desire exists in all “Image creators”, (artists, sculptors, writers, photographers and filmmakers) to capture memorable and unique images, in pictures or words, that are distinctive and original. This is no easy task — it is a constant struggle to find something “new”. In order to compose a fresh image, one has to be aware of what has come before and what remains relatively unexplored. We have to move towards uncharted territory. What is new territory? Are there any images left to explore?

I believe that the world of images has no boundaries. When all the images have been created, it is time to blur the lines between them — merging them into a new breed of image. Man is moving towards a higher state of evolution through integration with the machinery and content of television — a new frontier of image is emerging, in the form of Biomechanics. Biomechanics is traditionally thought of as the study of bodies in motion — the Biomechanics I am referring to is the merging of man and machine. Swiss surrealist H.R. Giger, known primarily for his work on the movie “Alien” is a pioneer in biomechanical images. It is truly original work. He believes in the melding of man and machine; creatures he has dubbed “Biomechanoids”, the final evolution of man. Giger’s images are like surreal, surgical nightmares; human arms melt into guns, spinal cords become living creatures, bones become engines of destruction, sexual organs become vast, alien landscapes or deadly weapons. Giger reduces technology and man to a primal state; further integrating the lines that separate them. Some of his work has been censored or banned entirely. Some consider his work dangerous. Giger is on the cutting edge of a new wave of images.

MACHINE VISION

“Special effects by Lunatic Hendrix” (Bauhaus)

Sometimes, in order to create unique images, we must place ourselves outside of our bodies. We must learn to separate, or change our perceptions, and look through different eyes. The biomechanical, or machine view of the world has been touched upon in films such as “Westworld”, “Terminator” and “Robocop”. In these films we are given a glimpse of “our” world through the eyes of the machine. It is a cold and harsh view, filled with electronic scanning lines, flashing data, heat imaging, infra-red and thermal vision — transforming our world into an array of bizarre colors and shapes. It is a sterile, mechanical view. A different perception of the world is seen in films such as “Pink Floyd: The Wall” and “Altered States”. The vision is liquid — “reality” is blurred and fluid. We are bombarded with insane flashbacks and trips to the other side of existence. The world is both dark and mysterious; the imagery moves past the mundane into the extreme. New images created by a change of perspective.

THE MECHANICAL MUSE

“Imitation is the sincerest form of...television.” (Steve Allen)

It is thought that our modern society has no mythology — I would disagree. When “Myth-images” become dated or classical, we re-invent them to suit our environment. These new images become a new mythology, or “Neo-myth”. Perhaps the most obvious examples of Neo-myth can be found dancing across the film and television screens. Films can be regarded as public dreams, or public nightmares, that we share collectively, in darkened silence. They are the stuff of legend and archetype. Like television, they implant images into our minds, but unlike television, with its electronic scanning systems, film is photographic in nature — it is hyper-realistic and therefore a much more powerful medium. The most popular Neo-myth borrows from the “Homeric” hero myths. It is possible to trace the modern lineage of our “Homeric” legends from James Dean and Steve McQueen, to Mel Gibson and Dolph Lundgren — Modern heroes for a modern age.

“Mad Max” was a successful film because it tapped into the collective unconscious of many people. The film itself is in fact a corrupted version of hero mythology — a lone outlaw hero, who wanders through a dark and unforgiving wasteland — a hard, embittered figure surviving in a post-apocalyptic nightmare. The image found resonance in varied cultures — the Japanese “Samurai” legends, the American “Gunslinger” legends, and the Scandinavian “Wandering Viking” stories. What about mythology being re-invented through the machine?

“The machines rose from the ashes of the nuclear fire...”

The opening words of both films entitled, “Terminator” and “Terminator 2”, immediately bring forth imagery of a phoenix rising from the flames. Indeed, the image is compounded, when in the opening scenes of “Terminator 2”, a steel endoskeleton emerges from a wall of fire — like a chrome demon borne out of hell, an artificial pyrogenesis. The endoskeleton is a mechanical phoenix, but instead of being an image of rebirth and renewal, it flips the myth on its head, giving us the image of death and destruction. The figure of the Terminator itself, brings to mind the ancient

Jewish legend of the “Golem”. In mythology, the golem was a terrifying, stone statue brought to life by an evil curse.It is unstoppable and incapable of feeling — a mechanical juggernaut, set in irreversible motion.

Another mythological image exists in “Terminator 2”, embodied in the form of the more advanced Terminator, the T-1000, which is comprised of liquid metal. This mechanical creature is able to “morph” or synthesize its body into any shape it desires. This very ability gives the T-1000, the appearance of an updated variation on the shapeshifter mythology found in vampire and werewolf legends. With the appearance of the new Terminator (T-1000) the original Terminator (T-800) is endowed with the status of “Homeric” hero — a figure to be revered instead of reviled. Still another example of myth re-invented through machine is the central imagery found in the film, “Robocop”. The “Lazarus” mythology found in Christian teachings is a myth of death and rebirth — the rebirth brought about by divine intervention. “Robocop” follows a similar path, except that the divine intervention is replaced by Biomechanics.

REFLECTIONS IN A MECHANICAL EYE

“Having extended or translated our central nervous system into the electromagnetic technology, it is but a further stage to transfer our consciousness to the computer world as well.” (Marshall McLuan)

What is the future of imagery? Perhaps, the answer can be found in the machine. Radical advances have been made in the world of computers and photography, allowing the “creators” more freedom to express and explore ideas. Computer graphics and computer-aided design are becoming more sophisticated every day. The “Morphing” technique, found in “Terminator 2” is a stunning example of this revolutionary procedure. At this time, “Virtual Reality” (an interactive system, with which a man can “physically” interact within a computer generated image), is still rather primitive, consisting of simple block patterns and shapes, but as computers and software move forward, there will come a time when the images of “Virtual Reality” will become indistinguishable from our “reality”. In the near future, it is not inconceivable, that we will develop into a more technological animal. This could involve developing technologies like those hypothesized in the film “Brainstorm” — software that enables the user to record their thoughts and dreams. Of course, the future may hold an even more disturbing premise, like the one found in the film “Videodrome” — the physical merging of both man and machine (television), to create a new being — a new flesh. The history of the image has been written...the future of the image is not set...

DEUS EX MACHINA

“We live, as we dream, alone.” (Joseph Conrad)

Timmy the Whipping Boy and the Wrestler from the Future!

2012-01-12T20:09:00.001-05:00

Here’s an interesting story from the Mutant writing trenches!

Back in 1997, our film and television agent at the time hooked us up with a Toronto film production company called P.N.A. (Producer Network Associates). They were known primarily for making cheap science fiction and thriller films for under $2M. We met with them, checked out their body of work and showed them some of our screenplays.

They optioned three of our original film scripts: Chrome, Kabuki-Mono and Solomon which was very exciting at the time (although none of them got made it was awesome getting three properties picked up at the same time). They also hired us to rewrite a medical thriller they had bought called The Ethics Committee. We happily signed a contract and got to work.

The script itself was a pile of crap, bad dialogue, ridiculous characters and scenes that were flat and lifeless. We tossed out everything except for the fact that the main character was a woman and that she was a lawyer looking into some questionable medical practices. We wrote the new script in eleven days from beginning to end (we didn’t sleep much when we were young!) and the company was thrilled with the final screenplay we delivered. One of the producers exclaimed very loudly, ‘Now, we have a movie!’ The buzz around us was hot and we felt that were on our way…but, as it turns out, not very far.

Ultimately, the film was never made due to the fact that they couldn’t get the financing for it in place and we spent the next eighteen months trying to collect the money owed to us on the writing contract. It was a flat $5000 on delivery of the script (which we had done) and an additional $15,000 at the start of principal photography (which we knew was no longer on the table). Lots of phone calls and pressure from the agent yielded absolutely nothing.

I even traveled down to Toronto and camped out in their front offices for a couple of days to see if they couldn’t be persuaded to honor their agreement (they kept using the back door to sneak in and out of their offices). I eventually got ushered into one of the producer’s offices and he was shaking and sweating as he nervously wrote me out a check (which, of course, bounced like a proverbial rubber ball). We figured it was a lost cause; there was no getting blood from this stone, so we walked away without ever getting paid.

But, that’s not where this story is supposed to go (that was just a bit of saucy background) You wanted to hear about Timmy the Whipping Boy and the Wrestler from the Future.

Read on!

Before we started working on The Ethics Committee we had the opportunity to visit a couple of P.N.A. film sets that actually were in production. The first was Men of Means starring Michael Pare (I’m a massive Streets of Fire fan so that was quite a thrill!) The second film was a Roger Corman (New Concorde) backed production called Shepherd (a.k.a. Cybercity to everyone outside of Canada).

Shepherd was a ‘Z’ grade science fiction production destined for home video. The original budget had been cut down considerably and the set was located in a run-down warehouse in the industrial district and was literally made of painted cardboard held together with duct tape and prayers.

Despite the surroundings, we had a great time walking the set and meeting the crew. There are two things you can be sure of on pretty much every film set. It’s the most boring place on Earth most of the time and the crew is usually made up of the most amazing people you’ll ever meet. Every movie set I’ve ever been on I always end up spending most of my time with everyone from costume, to makeup, to set design. They’re there because they love the work (the pay and the hours are usually atrocious) and they’ve always got incredible stories about all the other actors they’ve worked with and all the films they’ve labored on. They’re like roadies to the rock stars (which is how we feel as writers most of the time).

And, speaking of actors – it wasn’t long before the stars of the show arrived. We were introduced to C. Thomas Howell (Outsiders, Red Dawn) and his entourage. Next up, was superstar wrestler ‘Rowdy Roddy Piper (They Live) who had the biggest bodyguard I’ve ever seen in my life (and seriously, why does a professional wrestler need a bodyguard?) I was really excited to meet the late, great David Carradine (Kung Fu, Death Race 2000, Kill Bill) and his girlfriend Heidi Von Palleske (who was playing the leading lady). I grew up on drive-in movies and late night television so Mr. Carradine was always a big deal in my books.

As the day’s shooting got underway, we spent an enjoyable afternoon shooting the shit with co-stars Michael Parks (most people know him as the sheriff with bowel issues in From Dusk ‘Til Dawn and later as the sheriff in Kill Bill) and Mackenzie Gray (from the Mark Wahlberg film Shooter and way too many television shows to mention)…oh, and Roddy’s giant bodyguard (we sort of bonded over the Espresso machine although it was hard to tell as he was so tall I spent most of the time talking to his belly-button).

Everything was interrupted by a production assistant who ran over to tell me that I was wanted on set. I hurried to the shooting area and was told that the producers had convinced Ray Serra (Prizzi’s Honor, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles) who was shooting on Men of Means to do a small scene in Shepherd (they figured they could up the ‘star’ count on the film by offering Ray a little more cash). The writer, Nelu Ghiran, had written a scene in ten minutes and they needed a bald guy with a goatee to play Ray’s assistant ‘Timmy the Whipping Boy’ (how ironic a name that would become later on in my pursuit of P.N.A. cash!)

A quick dry shave with a disposable razor in a production bathroom (almost as dirty as the one in Trainspotting) to smooth the head and then it was off to wardrobe where I stood around in my underwear while the wardrobe ladies found me an appropriate monk’s robe to wear for the part. Of course, I’m still in my underwear when Ray Serra comes by and introduces himself to me and insists on talking my ears off.

Then, it’s off to the cardboard set and after an hour of the crew moving lights around and the director talking everyone through the scene the cameras start to roll…

And, then stop…I’m blocking Ray’s light…not once, but twice! That’s why I’m usually behind the scenes and not in them! We shoot three takes of the scene and then it’s a wrap. My fifteen minutes of fame had come to an end. I was off to the Espresso machine to down a few more coffees and catch up with my favorite giant bodyguard.

A FEW INTERESTING ASIDES:

I swear our early writing career had some kind of weird connection between science fiction and wrestlers! More on that in a later post!

Turns out Mackenzie Gray starred in an episode of Forever Knight. We’d written a couple of spec scripts for that show that got us into a weird production meeting. Another post coming on that one!

Much to my amusement, I actually had an IMDB credit as an actor for about two years as Timmy the Whipping Boy but it was later removed as I wasn’t ‘officially’ credited in the film.

C. Thomas Howell starred in the original version of The Hitcher written by Eric Red, one of my favorite screenwriters. Mr. Red also co-wrote one of the best vampire films ever made called Near Dark which was directed by Kathryn Bigelow. The first screenplay we wrote back in 1991 (we’d only written television scripts up until that point) was a sequel to Near Dark called Dusk. We didn’t own the rights and it was written as more of a calling card piece to show producers that we could actually write more than an hour long script. We sent it out anyways and got a wonderful letter back from Eric Red, an invite to submit it to Kathryn Bigelow’s company First Light and had a few conversations with Lance Henriksen’s publicist.

Kind of cool!

AVP: Requiem

2012-01-08T22:03:00.003-05:00

Blast from the past! We had an opportunity to write and help produce the online game for AVP: Requiem (the DVD release) when we worked at Fuel Industries. I jumped at the chance to play the part of the hapless SWAT guy who gets torn apart by the titular creatures. Here I am on the green screen/set with Paul Green, Cyrus Hogg, Pat Lau and Braden Bailey. It was a 12 hour shoot and there was copious amounts of blood and gore. I got an arm and a leg torn off and my heart ripped out. It was a blast! Photos credits: Ryan Anderson, Pascal Boraschi and Paul Green.

Here's a few screenshots of the final game executed by amazing designer Michael Montgomery:

Hiro Sai, MUTATIONS Cover Girl

2012-01-05T15:38:00.005-05:00

The stunning Hiro Sai as a Space Girl. These two shots are from our shoot a couple of weeks ago and Hiro will be gracing the cover of the premiere issue of MUTATIONS our anthology magazine that will be launching in Fall 2012! She is also starring in one of the illustrated stories inside!

An Afternoon with Robin

2012-01-05T15:25:00.000-05:00

Recently I got to spend an afternoon shooting with the beautiful Robin Dostaler. We'd been talking about shooting together for a very long time and I'm really thrilled we got to collaborate. She is one creative lady and incredibly beautiful to boot. You can check out her amazing clothing and jewelery creations at: https://www.facebook.com/pages/Shameless-Fashion/123613991001160

Here's a few photos from our shoot:

A little taste of Star Wars

2012-01-05T15:10:00.002-05:00

Recently we had the opportunity to do the edits/manipulations on a couple of amazing Star Wars Cosplays. These people are incredible and we are honoured to have played a small part in the creation of these images.

TWI LEK
Model/MUA/Stylist/Costume: Lovina Yavari

SAVAGE OPRESS
Costume/Armour: William ‘Ice’ Bloom
Model: Jody Haucke
Makeup: Hank Gruben
Horn construction: Kristopher Maxwell and Krystal Messier
Horn Application: Thea Nikolic and Andy Pegan
Photo: Convoke Photography

New Year means new directions for The Mutants

2012-01-05T00:33:00.000-05:00

We've had an amazing run over the last few years and we've had the chance to work with some pretty amazing people. Now, it's time to kick this Mutagenic project into high gear. We've got some awesome projects on the go and some kick-ass collaborators. Check this space often because we're going to be bringing you all the Mutant action as it happens!