Soul Fire Rising - Kurt Patino

Posted by Steve on 29 June 2010 | 6 Comments

Tell us about your show.

Soul Fire Rising tells the story of a Demon Girl (Lilith) who must suppress all of her evil instincts and save her most hated Angelic rival (Eve) from the clutches of her fellow Demons, whom want to steal Eve's soul. Eve has chosen to become human, and Hell now has an opportunity to tip the soul scale numbers and battle heaven for control of the universe, because Eve was a former Angel and her soul holds the key to starting another celestial war.

The irony is that the Angel Gabriel has asked Lilith to take this mission for Heaven, and because Lilith is deeply in love with Gabriel, she accepts, in order to be favored by him once again. Lilith used to be an Angel, which we call Wingers in the series, before she was banished from Heaven for worshipping Gabriel instead of God, who we call the Starter. Gabriel offers her a chance to become a Winger once again, if she can protect Eve from the predatory Devils and return Eve safely back to Gabriel. The Devils are led by a Master Demon named Raum who took a banished Lilith under his black wing and taught her how to steal souls for Hell.

When he learns that Lilith has switched sides, he comes after Lilith with a vengeance. Lilith, however, is a complicated character, because even though she does still have good intentions deep down inside of her, she enjoys the freedom and decadence of her demonic actions. In that vein, audiences will wonder if she really will protect Eve as she says, or will she give in to her evil nature and rob Eve's soul for Hell.

Where did the idea/concept for your series come from?

An intriguing visual was proposed to me by an independent producer who said that he'd love to see a story about a Demon Girl and an Angel Girl. The concept gave me a flash of inspiration, so I wrote Episode 1 and showed it to him, and when he passed, I decided to expand on the idea and produce it myself. This was my first time writing for the horror genre as I had just focused on comedy before with a couple of web series called Adventures With Sarah and Cup O' Joe. However, it's been so fun writing all of this action that includes makeup and visual fx, and watching it come to life. It amazes me how Dale Fabrigar (Director) and Liz Mendoza (Makeup FX) so perfectly actualize what's in my head!

Name some of your sci-fi influences. Any favorite movies, TV shows, novels?

Star Wars, Empire Strikes Back, Return of the Jedi, and all of the Star Trek movies with William Shatner and Leonard Nimoy blew me away when I was little. Now, in my adult years, Lord of the Rings, the Spider-Man movies, and the Iron Man movies excite me even more. Iron Man was my favorite comic book as a kid, and who could forget the Spider-Man cartoon series, as well as the Lord of the Rings animated TV movie. In television land, Dexter and True Blood is jaw-droppingly terrific every season. My favorite fantasy novel of all time is The Lion, the Witch, & the Wardrobe, and I loved the cartoon and the feature film.

Tell us about the technical production of your show. What camera & equipment did you use? Editing software & hardware? For visual effects, etc?

CAMERA EQUIPMENT:
Although we utilized a number of different cameras during the span of the series, Soul Fire Rising is shot entirely on digital. For our first two episodes, we used the Panasonic HPX Camcorder as well as the smaller HVX-200. But now our series is primarily shot using the RED ONE camera (with the Canon 7D thrown into the mix).

POST PRODUCTION:
SFR is edited on a Mac using Final Cut Pro and our low-budget visual effects are achieved by a creative blend of digital (compositing) and on-set practical effects (rigging, makeup and lighting). Thanks to effects stock footage companies like DigitalJuice.com and DetonationFilms.com, we were able to create a number of high-end looking visual effects and work within our modest budget. Many props go to Michael Morrealle at Amalgamated Pixels and Brian Beardsley for their work and guidance through our ambitious, effects laden episodes.

Regardless of which camera we use or visual effect we're trying to pull off, we're very lucky to have a passionate and creative team of professionals to help use the tools we have to tell our story - It's really their expertise and involvement that makes SFR look as good as it does.

Can you tell us any interesting facts or trivia about your show? Any funny stories?

- The one question that will immediately be asked by audiences is why are there two different actresses playing Lilith in Season One? Actress Aimee Lynn Chadwick plays Lilith in Episodes 1 & 2. Jodi Lyn O'Keefe assumes the role in Episodes 5, 7, & 8. Story-wise, Lilith can assume different human forms for each victim she seduces and then kills. Aimee played one of Lilith's human personas. Episode 5, starring Jodi Lyn, was always meant to present Lilith in her one true human form in addition to her Monster Demon form, which is definitely a treat. In terms of what we wanted to do to raise the profile of the series, we always intended to add a name actress of Jodi Lyn O'Keefe's stature to the project, as we did by adding well-known actress Kelly Stables as Eve.
- Filming the end of Episode 2 was stolen on the streets of Los Angeles - Lit only by the largest flashlights we could find.
- Actress Kacey Poteet endured seven hours in the makeup chair to get into the full body, demon creature makeup in Episode 5. (Applied by Liz Mendoza & team.)

Soul Fire Rising can be found online, on Facebook, and on Twitter.

Soul Fire Rising - SciFinal Page

More behind the scenes photos from Soul Fire Rising below:

Daz Crawford as RAUM

Dale Jodi and Mitchell

The evil trio

Producer Kelly Stables and Actor Mitchell Fink

Directors Dale Fabrigar and John Aguirre