Post-apocalypse flick being filmed locally
By Ben Cox
Photos/Submitted to The Source
An upstart film studio based in Jacksonville will be shooting its first major feature-length film on location in the area later this year. Subterranean Sound & Vision is headed up by Devin Smock and Samuel David. Smock is best known for co-owning the live music and record store Pizza Records in downtown Jacksonville with wife Heather.
The two dads have been friends since high school, and Smock spent a year in film school. They’ve written what’s being called “a haunting, heartfelt, no-holds-barred indie feature set in the rotting carcass of post-apocalyptic Central Illinois” with the film “Holler.”
Smock says that he has always wanted to shoot a film in his hometown, “There just aren’t any films that are shot in the Midwest that deal with the Midwest or are about it. I wanted this to truly look and feel like home, but with the same production and skill level of a Hollywood production.”
The film’s release says that it’s not your typical zombie film, but spends more time eyeing the human condition in the post-apocalyptic world. David says the themes are what will set the film apart from others in the zombie genre, “The sense of morality in this movie isn’t vague. The struggle for the characters to make the right decisions is the driving force of the story.”
With nods to modern filmmakers the Coen Brothers, Sergio Leone and modern authors like Cormac McCarthy and Robert Kirkman among others, the idea is more about finding reasons to care in a broken world and dealing with the consequences that come with those decisions.
At the heart of the tale is the character Ray, featured in a full-length film trailer that’s racked up over 20,000 views across multiple platforms so far. Ray is being played by Rick Jensen. Jensen has appeared in three other major Central Illinois films within the last two years: Ash Hamilton’s “Final Days: Tales From the End Times;” A.S. Allen’s “The Baton Rouge Serial Killer: Derrick Todd Lee;” and Ben Harl’s short film, “Mara.”
The crew also is Central Illinois based. Independent award-winning cinematographer Kal Kociss from Gardener has more than 12 credits on his Internet Movie Database page (IMDb) that ranges from short films to music videos.
Sound engineer and mixer Lee Hurt, who also worked on Ash Hamilton’s “Final Days” crew, rounds out some of the people attached to the project. David says he’s blown away by the amount of talent attached to the project, “The degree of talent that has attached itself to this project, is really what has shaped its future and we are very fortunate and grateful to have them. A good script is nothing without people to facilitate it.”
The official trailer is now live on the Subterranean Sound and Vision YouTube channel. Find it also on their Kickstarter and IndieGoGo pages, where they’re crowdfunding the production with awards starting at just $5.
Shooting is expected to take place in and around Jacksonville, rural Scott County and parts of Peoria this fall. Subterranean Sound and Vision on Facebook has already teased some of the behind-the-scenes photographs of shots for the trailer and other pieces of the film.
This isn’t the studio’s first go-around either. Smock and another co-creator and local father Brook Kraushaar wrapped on a television show pilot called “For the Record” back in April. Local actors were a part of the adult comedy that followed a record store owner, his misfit group of friends, employees and customers as they take on the day to day operations of Pizza Records.
Shot on location, the show got a little help from the local police and fire department for a scene at the end of the show. “I’ve been submitting the show to different funding sources and film festivals since we wrapped,” Smock says, “We are just trying to get as many eyes on it as possible.”
That approach has worked out as the show was recently accepted at the Toronto International Nollywood Film Festival and Star City Film Festival in Waukon, Iowa.
