Interview with Mike Bohatch
We recently got an opportunity to interview a man who’s sure to becomea major player in the independent horror movie scene,
. Welcome to our very first interview with a horror industry pro!
You may not recognize the name right now, but we’re pretty confident that you will in the
future. Mr. Bohatch not only runs the world’s largest horror news feed portal, he’s the guy behind Nightmare Kinetics. Nightmare Kinetics produces the title sequences, credits and trailers for horror movies and you can visit his site to watch those for yourself, too! As if that weren’t enough, he’s also a first-class horror illustrator with a genuinely disturbing vision. If you don’t believe us you can check out his work for yourself at the Eye of Chaos where he offers a big selection of his work for fans to view.
Enough babbling, let’s see what Mike’s got to say for himself!
When you’re working with your illustrations, what sort of tools and
mediums do you employ. Do have any favorites to work with and if so,
what are they and why do you prefer them?
Yes all my compositing is done in Adobe Photoshop. The elements that make up the composition range from Photography, painted mediums, chalk, and general mixed media. I think the methods are always evolving for me in many respects. I went thru a phase where alot had to be created from organic materials such as food items and art supplies. Then I became fascinated with traditional collage and focused in those techniques. In between were many art phases that came and went, but nowadays many of my pieces are more concept driven. So for instance if the concept is a poster with a 40’s style look then I research that and do what I can to mimic that style. Alot is based on what the end product needs to be and what it should look like. My personal style finds its way to the surface, but in short term I’m trying to achieve a goal based on what media I’m working on. The other side of the coin is my work is pretty consistently dark in nature. So that aspect is embedded pretty deep.
Do you have any suggestions for people who’d like to get into horror illustrations as well? What road did you take to get where you are today?
Yunno, its always been changing. What people are into nowaways and what they might feel is dated. Always starting with a good art base is important. Then you really need to pay attention to what’s going on whether you like it or not. Horror is horror, right? - Well also you can’t sit down and do a nice sketch and think thats appropriate for a movie poster. The industry expects a level of consistency in looks, so while experimentation is part of your growth as an artist, it may not always be what they are looking for.
I’d always strongly advise this simple little fact:
It gets easy to fidget about and create something that looks pretty slick with the tools
today. However if you are not really bringing to the table a certain level of conceptualization your not introducing anything of substance. If a publisher hires you for a cover, talk with the author and get an idea what the story is about, so you can draw from those elements. This makes the cover more custom designed feeling than a textured face that looks creepy. Also keep evolving and learning. In the process you’ll make friends, associates and new business partners. If you stay honest and flexible you’ll keep moving forward if not you fade away real fast.
As for roads, I started with core training in the arts and made choices from there.
When it comes to inspiration, which creative people (in any industry or scene) have inspired you the most? What do you like about these inspirations in particular.
If you asked me 6 years ago it would have been artists and illustrators. Though really now all my work is loosely inspired by filmmakers, directors, visual FX artists and noted folks in the industry with vision. They communicate on a different level by drawing you into their worlds and styles. I’m sure this list will change again but right now I’m really into the directing styles of Tony Scott, David Fincher, Kubrick, Oliver Stone, and quite a few great Asian horror offerings.
It’s really a case of… man that film was so incredible, why can’t I be him and do what they do! That sparks the fire, then its a process of hitting the books to learn what I don’t know.
How do I move forward from there?
Well if you’ve got the time, 1 thing i’ll do is capture certain parts of the film I like and
break them down (with notes) into what made that scene look so great. What shots, what changed, what was the timing, what was created, what color tones helped sell that shot.
What’s been your favorite project film-wise so far and tell us a
little bit about why.
Every new film has its share of challenges and creative notions. Right now I’d have to say "Banshee", just for the fact that it has so many ideas we’d like to see evolve in the film.
Alot of the special FX I’ve been working on have evolved with new information and new ideas… and thats the fun of it. Saying to yourself, yunno what that scene needs… and then going off and figuring out how to do it. I think the fav ones have still yet to be made, but we’re getting closer.
Every project has its share of learning and trying things out. So what was cool yesterday, may seem old tomorrow.
"Banshee" although a monster movie - deals with alot of supernatural elements, which is a passion of mine.
When it comes to movie-making, tell us what your dream project to work on would be and what position you’d like to have (ie, director, producer, effects, etc)? What about for illustration? Any famous entertainment property you’d love to be able to do the illustrations for?
Dream project? - I very much would like to become a part of a team dealing with a horror franchise. I do have bigger aspirations though they are no so much directing at this phase.
Ideally I’d like to work with some of my fav. directors to get a glimpse of their world and
process. I’m confident enough to know that I still have alot to learn and would benefit from film veterans, and film visual Fx veterans. On the other hand I very much enjoy working and creating "title sequences" for films. So at present I’d like to move on to bigger accounts and build my reputation off of them. I still keep track of the industry and the great work being produced, so that part of it keeps me inspired.
Famous illustration? Sure I’d like the account for all of them, LOL
Of course, in this industry - bigger gigs, means a more consistent flow of those jobs… so we’ll see. Though I will say even though right now I’m staying open to a full service type operation, I’m sure that will get fine-tuned into more specifics based on the workflows.
My focus at current is "Main titles", "films" and "visual FX" - so while I do take illustration jobs, alot of my focus has changed.
What projects are you anticipating most strongly for the future? Got
anything in store that you’d be willing to scoop us on?
Yes, in short I’ve been involved with 5-6 films with Buffalo Nickel Productions which are teetering on completion and distribution.
The idea is to start a product-creating horror film production that churns out 2-3 films a
year, maybe more. The only thing stopping that notion is consistent funding, but that may change as well.
For a quick overview the films coming are titled: "Banshee", "Something Dark", "Bedlam", "The Eldritch", and a few others under pre-production. Along with that are a number of other productions with outside production companies that I’ll be taking on roles for.
Since they are not announced yet, I’ll save that for another day.
Ideally on my wish list is to produce another film solely ghost-story-based and a twisted
psycho killer featuring a horror icon type figure.
Last but not least I’ve been in talks on a major horror feature based on old literature and a concept of mine which is closer to the 20-50 million range. Of course, with that kind of endeavor it doesn’t happen overnight.
That will be my ultimate offering to the world… stay tuned!
Wow, Mike, that interview went amazingly well! You gave us everything we asked and THEN some - like a true pro.
I’ve included links to all Mike’s projects above so be sure to visit him and show a little
love for up and coming horror-makers, will ya?
If you’ve got any suggestions about who we should interview next or you’d like to be
interviewed yourself, feel free to let us know by commenting or visiting our horror
forum - we’d be happy to bring you more interviews!
Tags: film production, horror, illustration, independent film, interview
March 16th, 2009 at 2:07 pm
Are there more testimonials around the site?