Talk:Wikinews interviews Kristian Hanson, producer-director of indie horror film 'Sledge'

General notes

 * In terms of full disclosure, let me toss in a few bits here: I do a little film reviewing for Horrornews.net;  I get clusters of movies assigned for me to watch and review (of course). 'Sledge' was simply one of my recent assignments. Following submitting my review, I began checking the 'Sledge' page at Facebook. From there, I noticed the Kristian was seeking 'Street Team' members to pass our flyers at any upcoming Comicons or similar events. I volunteered to do that, and from there, we just started dialoguing a bit. The review has been posted; I tried here, though, to adhere to 'neutral' as much as possible. --Buddpaul (talk) 20:23, 22 October 2014 (UTC)
 * Oddly, Hanson only mentions one other film he directed (maybe my 'co-directed' aside threw him off), but IMDB lists him with 4 credits as director (short films, it seems, mostly). --Bddpaux (talk) 22:04, 22 October 2014 (UTC)

Interview transcript (done via e-mail)
(responded on October 21, 2014) Q: How did you come up with the idea for 'Sledge'?

A:Sledge came to me while driving home from my brothers wedding with my wife. She told me that I know slashers better than most and I could come up with something fun and unique, and that is exactly what I did with Adam Lynch and the film Sledge. > > What kind of pre-production work did the film require?

Pre-Production involved John putting in some ads in the local newspaper and seeing if anyone would be interested in auditioning for the film. Planning the death scenes and figuring out what we could do without a budget and without anyone skilled in the ways of Special Effects. > > > How did you set up auditions? How many days did you spend auditioning people?

Auditions were held a month before filming and that is where Stephanie Tupper came to be involved with the film. Everyone else was a friend of John's and Dustin (Alex in the film) showed up by reading about the movie in the local Potsdam Newspaper. Without him, Sledge wouldn't be what it is today. > > > How many days went into filming? > 4 days went in to filming all of the Adam Lynch and camp site stuff. The Amish Paradise trailer and also the Couch girl segments were also a different day, so a total of six. I could say that Assly was an extra day, but I literally threw up my green screen and hit record on both the intro and outro, so an extra five minutes doesn't count in my eyes. > > You've said elsewhere that the production budget was about $800. What were some of the items/services that required buying/payment?

The foam prop Sledge hammer, fake intestines, fake knives, Adam Lynch's clothes, teeth, contact lenses, the latex for the mask and creating the blood is where all of the money went to. Also buying hot dogs, hamburgers for the small crew. Again we didn't have a set budget, this was kind of us just throwing our money out there to make this movie happen. We didn't have a sheet with expenses etc. > > > What else have you directed? (...and what about your co-director??)

John and I both co-directed the film we made back in April 2012 (a few months before SLEDGE) titled F4L:Friends 4 Life, but that film has not been released and to be honest, I doubt it ever will be. It was a learning experience for us and has a lot of humor, but not knowing about copyrights etc, I doubt we would ever be able to release it. I would love to remake it in the future though where I could build up the original ending and keep the same script. > > > How old are you?

I am a whopping 30 years old. > > > Did you study film in college or have any other formal film-related education?

When I was in college I took a semester of improv classes but I have never went to school for film, and neither has John. He is the camera man and director of photography and is all self taught. I have a Bachelor's Degree in Criminal Justice and will have a Master's Degree in Global Terrorism this upcoming March. So when it comes to film, nope, I am self taught in regards to writing and directing. > > > Who made the mask? > My friend Monster Matt Patterson made the mask. I emailed him after writing the Sledge script and told him the basic idea and he just ran with it. He did an amazing job. > > Did you do any location scouting before shooting?

John and Russ (Nash in the film) went around but to be honest, Russ's dad owned the land where we filmed 90% of the movie. Adam's 'Stabbin Cabin' is a friend of John's and that is where we ended up filming that area. We had the entire film figured out before we went to shoot thanks to the people that were there to allow us to use their land. > > > Did the movie appear in any large-scale venues (cinemas, festivals etc.)?

The film played at the Twisted Tails Film Festival in Dallas, Texas, The Action on Film Festival in Monrovia, CA, along with the Indie Fest where it won an Award for Merit in film making. We also had a screening in Los Angeles for fans where we had two-hundred people turn up back in June of 2013, which was surprising and just plain awesome. > > > How many days did you spend editing?

Editing took a long time. John spent night after night in his basement cutting and editing Sledge. It took three to four months and I believe, and thankfully Eric Xton of ScarCrow and God in the Machine allowed us to use his music throughout Sledge. Without that music, the film would not be what it is today, so a huge thank you to them. > > > Is the movie available via VOD?

Yes, Sledge is available on iTunes, Google Play, Playstation Network, Xbox Network and a bunch of other VOD providers, but I do not have a solid list from the main ones I named. > > Q: What's in store for the sequel?? > In the sequel the movie jumps off where the last one ended but two weeks later. We make fun of the fact that this is a small town and in horror films it seems like everyone is a super-model or extremely super good looking. Adam Lynch has a lot more fun and a lot more deaths are planned that we intend to show this time. SledgeD will be just as fun as the first, with another group of people sitting down to watch Assly and another funny trailer for a made up movie. All in all, it will be a lot of fun, with plenty of blood, horrible jokes and Sledging to go around.

> > Thanks!! > > Paul Budd    --Bddpaux (talk) 14:52, 22 October 2014 (UTC)


 * Also forwarded the above to Scoop....will probably look a little bit prettier there. --Bddpaux (talk) 15:03, 22 October 2014 (UTC)

Review prospects
For my part, though I've snuck in some copyediting time this morning, the first time I might be able to do the full review on this would be this afternoon (maybe seven, eight hours from now). --Pi zero (talk) 10:26, 23 October 2014 (UTC)
 * Interesting interview. --Good afternoon (talk) 04:02, 2 November 2014 (UTC)

Edit
editprotected "WN What's in store for the sequel??" Please remove the second question mark, as it is unprofessional. Heavy Water (talk) 19:29, 1 January 2023 (UTC)
 * ✅ --SVTCobra 14:09, 6 January 2023 (UTC)