Geekscape’s Zack Haddad Announces ‘Arcane Beatz’ Kickstarter!

Hey everyone, Zack Haddad here (pandazack on the forums). Wanted to take a second to tell you all about a new project that has engulfed my everything. It’s called Arcane Beatz and it is a 10 episode web series I am making in San Diego about a DJ named Marick who uncovers a secret order of musicians who since the Dark Ages have been walking this earth fighting demons who take on human form.  These musicians are called Bards and not only are some of the most prolific musicians part of this order (Kurt Cobain, Jannis Joplin, Jimmi Hendrix, and Buddy Holly to name a few) they are also the only line of defense against a slew of demons stemming from different cultures and ideologies.

Arcane Beatz originally started out as just an idea in my head about making a film noir about an electronic DJ solving mysteries and stuff. And then one day I thought to myself…um duh demons and monsters should totally be in this also.

All of the demons in this show will be based on actual demons in mythology. So not only do we have Gorgons and Succubi from Greek Mythology, we also have Celtic Wood Nymphs and Norwegian Viking Demons. I really love the work of Guillermo del Toro for his use of practical monster effects in some of his older films. So I wanted to take that love and craft my own takes on popular creatures and still pay homage to some other things I really dig (did I mention I’m a fan of Buffy?) The guy who did the monster make up is my buddy Vince Niebla and he shares the same sort of passion I do. Check out some of this stuff we did for the Kickstarter video for yourself:

Demon sktech by Josh Marlar
Demon sktech by Josh Marlar
The initial head cast for the main demon.
The initial head cast for the main demon.
Vince Niebla applying final makeup to Viktor (Brian Boettcher)
Vince Niebla applying final makeup to Viktor (Brian Boettcher)
The Demon Carter played by Xavisus Gayden
The Demon Carter played by Xavisus Gayden

We shot the teaser for Arcane Beatz back in February on a really cold Friday night. The crew really stuck together and we ended up shooting until the next morning. I definitely hadn’t done something like that since college but the end result was worth all of that shooting and eventual post-production that went into it.

On set with my great DP Nick Piatnik
On set with my great DP Nick Piatnik

I’m not ready to divulge exactly how we did some of the effect but soon we will be launching some FX rundowns on our Kickstarter page so you should stay tuned to that one.

Our hero Marick (Alex Robinson) going through a test run with the demons.
Our hero Marick (Alex Robinson) going through a test run with the demons.

The music in Arcane Beatz will be from all over the place. Marick is an electronic DJ in the vein of Flying Lotus or Justice but we plan on showcasing a slew of local acts. We are also writing an original score. Some of which can be found in our teaser.

If this is something you are interested in getting involved in, I would love to hear from you. Outside of backers, we also need people to fill crew positions (grip/electric, makeup, fight choreographer) so email us at arcanebeatzmedia@gmail.com.

You can check out the whole kickstarter campaign HERE. Its a little long for my taste so stick with it. I think you’ll enjoy it.

Talk of this web series has already gotten the attention of local news. Click here to check out the piece done on the series HERE.

Thanks for taking the time to check out all this stuff. Please leave your comments or join us on our several levels of social networking:

Facebook: Arcane Beatz Fan Page

Instagram:@arcanebeatz

Twitter:@arcanebeatz

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