CHECKMATE

CAPTAIN LOCKWOOD MAKES AN APPEARANCEDear Checkmaters, meet the...

Thu, 07 Mar 2013 12:45:38 -0500

CAPTAIN LOCKWOOD MAKES AN APPEARANCE
Dear Checkmaters, meet the talented Cory Lockwood! Cory plays Checkmate villain, Capt. James Lockwood, out to seek the ultimate demise of his rival, M. Emmeline Ashdown. Cory is a Theater major at The University of Texas at Austin and a talented martial artist. Look for his Checkmate video promo coming soon and follow us on Facebook and Twitter!

"HMS Clockwork has finally emerged from the clouds. Captain Gray seems to have picked up a new crew..."

Thu, 07 Mar 2013 12:39:52 -0500

“HMS Clockwork has finally emerged from the clouds. Captain Gray seems to have picked up a new crew of circus folk.”

- From our official Checkmate Twitter feed. Follow us for daily adventures!

FRESH NEW BATCH OF CHECKMATE BEHIND THE SCENES STILLS! This new...

Wed, 06 Mar 2013 11:15:00 -0500

FRESH NEW BATCH OF CHECKMATE BEHIND THE SCENES STILLS!

This new batch features our leads Cory Lockwood, Lauren Bray, and Liana Ramirez. They each play Captain James Lockwood, M. Emmeline Ashdown, and Queen Tara, respectively.
The first three stills are from shooting day 4, where Cory and Lauren battled it out in a fierce pirate sword duel for the Checkmate cameras! The bottom frame is from shooting day 1, which featured Lauren and Liana as best friends at the Frisco Del Rosario high school chess championship. For more updates visit our Facebook page here

CHECKMATIAN UPDATE!

Wed, 06 Mar 2013 11:07:00 -0500

Hello fellow Checkmaters! We are pleased to announced that WE WILL BE RELEASING THE FILM’S NEW POSTER THIS FRIDAY! We are very excited to share the official image with you, starring Cory Lockwood as Captain James Lockwood and Lauren Bray as M. Emmeline Ashdown! Look for it in 2 days! In the meantime, visit our official Facebook page here

"Steampunk market floating over Vienna today. Our airship is selling clockwork trinkets from London,..."

Tue, 05 Mar 2013 17:21:00 -0500

“Steampunk market floating over Vienna today. Our airship is selling clockwork trinkets from London, silks from China, and French wine”

- From the official Checkmate Twitter feed. Follow us for daily Steampunk adventures!

PRODUCTION STILLS UPDATECheck out some stills from Shooting Day...

Tue, 05 Mar 2013 17:16:00 -0500

PRODUCTION STILLS UPDATE
Check out some stills from Shooting Day 2. We shot at local Austin, TX brewery Thirsty Planet to achieve an industrial Steampunk aesthetic. The brewery shoot was a fun day full of steam and pirate sword duels! More stills to come so keep an eye out for them! Check out the film’s facebook page here

"The year is 1896. Wearing emerald green at the ball in the Austro-Hungarian empire. HMSClockwork may..."

Tue, 05 Mar 2013 01:41:48 -0500

““The year is 1896. Wearing emerald green at the ball in the Austro-Hungarian empire. HMSClockwork may be sailing far away…””

- From the official Checkmate Twitter feed. Follow us for daily adventures!

A WORD ON COSTUMING Out of the many pieces we made in the...

Tue, 05 Mar 2013 01:25:24 -0500

A WORD ON COSTUMING

Out of the many pieces we made in the wee-early days of Checkmate, this is one of the few that actually made it to the final film. To create this custom hat, we went to a metal junk yard in Austin, TX called All American Recycling to find cogs and bolts to use for our Steampunk costumes. After a few rich coats of spray paint and a pair of victorian feathers, our piece was good to go! Here, our leading lady Lauren Bray wears this clockwork hat. In the actual film, Ms. Shila Farahani, playing the queen on the rival team, dons this clockwork bowler!

TWITTER TWEETS! TWITTER TWEETS! Follow us at @FigmentFilms to...

Mon, 04 Mar 2013 22:51:27 -0500

TWITTER TWEETS! TWITTER TWEETS!

Follow us at @FigmentFilms to get a daily dose of Steampunk adventure in your life! Our Checkmate writer Cara Shaffer shares the adventures of the HMS Clockwork as we sail the seas of Steampunk film production!

Amidst a pre-production delirium, we thought shooting a Wes...

Mon, 04 Mar 2013 22:31:00 -0500

Amidst a pre-production delirium, we thought shooting a Wes Anderson-inspired short film about the making of our short film was a good idea. Scratch that. A GREAT idea. So we went ahead and spent a good day on this, managing to nearly burn the house down and to stain the bedroom carpet with indelible fake blood marks. Alas, this tribute to Wes Anderson was entirely worth it in the end, even if it’s not overtly Checkmatian. We Checkmaters hold it nearly and dearly to our hearts, so enjoy!
Check it out here.

COSTUME DESIGN THROWBACK!We spent a great deal of time sewing,...

Mon, 04 Mar 2013 22:17:00 -0500

COSTUME DESIGN THROWBACK!
We spent a great deal of time sewing, glueing, and spray-painting practically every article of clothing we happened to own. In the end, we didn’t use this costume for our leading lady, Emmeline, but it was worth it getting to experiment with the Steampunk aeshtetic. Many spray-painted walls and broken needles later, we decided to go thrift shopping to complete our characters’ looks. We were fortunate enough to collaborate with costumer Savanna Shaffer who found some gorgeous victorian dresses for the final look! This promo pic features none other than Checkmate writer Cara Shaffer!

POSTER TIME In the last entry in the “old poster”...

Mon, 04 Mar 2013 21:39:00 -0500

POSTER TIME

In the last entry in the “old poster” series, Aaron Berecka reprises his role as a Checkmatian villain. This poster features Aaron’s signature “villain hands” which have seen extensive screen time in many of our previous films.

NEW CHECKMATE POSTERS COMING OUT SOON!

POSTER TIMEAlso shot about 6 months ago, this poster features...

Mon, 04 Mar 2013 21:21:33 -0500

POSTER TIME
Also shot about 6 months ago, this poster features our good friend Aaron Berecka as a Checkmatian villain. Aaron is a fellow Radio-Television-Film student at The University of Texas and spends most of his waking time being a gaffer on student and independent films. Don’t ever ask him for a clothespin….ask him for a “C-47” ;)

POSTER TIME We shot this poster over 6 months ago, when...

Mon, 04 Mar 2013 21:16:00 -0500

POSTER TIME

We shot this poster over 6 months ago, when Checkmate was still an idea on paper. This is one of the very first things we did to kick off the Checkmate production and now we’re proud to say that the films is near completion. Since then, we’ve shot the whole film, shot cast & crew promos, and shot new posters so keep an eye out for them!

Meet Jade Jamon, Checkmate’s fabulous Assistant Camera....

Mon, 04 Mar 2013 21:07:00 -0500

Meet Jade Jamon, Checkmate’s fabulous Assistant Camera. Jade is currently a student at The Art Institute and is working on her senior thesis. We were very lucky to have Jade on the Checkmate team and we look forward to sharing her behind-the-scenes interview with you!

Meet Lauren Bray! Lauren is Checkmate’s leading lady. She...

Sun, 24 Feb 2013 18:42:56 -0500

Meet Lauren Bray! Lauren is Checkmate’s leading lady. She plays the role of M. Emmeline Ashdown, a high school chess champion locked in a deathly rivalry with her nemesis, James Lockwood. It is through Emmeline’s imagination that an ordinary chess championship gets transformed into an epic Steampunk pirate battle to the death.

Meet Checkmate composer Fernando Macías-Jimenez!Fernando has...

Sun, 24 Feb 2013 13:06:00 -0500

Meet Checkmate composer Fernando Macías-Jimenez!
Fernando has extensive experience in Film and Videogame scoring and is currently working on a slate of different projects. We are very fortunate to have Fernando on board and we cannot wait to share the Checkmate score with you. Look out for his behind-the-scenes interview coming out soon!

Check out his previous work here

CHECKMATE PRODUCTION STILLS! We are extremely fortunate to have...

Sun, 24 Feb 2013 02:35:00 -0500

CHECKMATE PRODUCTION STILLS!

We are extremely fortunate to have worked with such an amazing cast and crew during the filming of Checkmate. With filming safely behind us, we are currently working on some final touches to the editing before the film is ready for screening! Want to know more about our film? Check us out here:

CHECKMATE WEBSITE

Photos by Phillip Guebert

DO YOU HAVE A TWITTER? WE HAVE TWEETS! Follow the adventures of...

Sun, 24 Feb 2013 02:28:00 -0500

DO YOU HAVE A TWITTER? WE HAVE TWEETS! Follow the adventures of the HMS Clockwork as “Checkmate” makes it’s way to completion!

https://twitter.com/FigmentFilms

Auditions! They were so much fun and we had so many awesome and...

Sun, 08 Apr 2012 02:47:43 -0400

Auditions! They were so much fun and we had so many awesome and talented actors show up!!