Teaser Trailer for CHURCH OF THE EYES

CHURCH OF THE EYES, what and why?

As we progress with the production of CHURCH OF THE EYES we have ran into several snags along the way. The biggest one is the misinterpretation of the script by people who we have either asked to help out, or have asked to be part of the production that are not our normal "troupe". I am not usually in the habit of explaining my art or myself, but as this production still needs a few key personal to make it blossom I think I should say a few things for clarification...

CHURCH OF THE EYES started life as a collaboration between myself and musician Kevin Jones as an experimental/art/video piece. In the beginning it was never really meant to even have a story, just images set to his music. These images were based on dreams, pieces of abandoned projects, and a lot of artwork I have done over the years.

As we had further meetings on this the whole thing began to gel into a loose narrative, and things in my personal life had been turning sour for a lot of people I loved around me. America's political situation was looming in a bad place at this point (mid 2007). I had longed considered myself to be hovering somewhere between atheist and agnostic but was seeing large portions of the country and the world at large using religion as a tool to manipulate and tear each other apart. There was (and still is) a real "chaos ascending" vibe going in the world at large. And it hit me, what if the main character's journey in the movie was that he was going to find and kill God? The movie was already about this man reveling in his grief about the loss of his girlfriend and the demons he was battling from that. So what if that spurred him on a Journey to find God and actually make him feel the pain the world feels?

Now of course it is a surreal, nonsensical, internal journey, because at the core we are all trying to kill our own Gods, and once we do that we attain some sort of inner peace. The movie is really about battling our own madness and suffering in the face of the same things in the world at large. Kill our own inner Gods, our own inner demons to see if we can find some sort of transcendence...

It's heady shit I know...

The movie is also about love and the great loss of it. How losing of love makes you feel like you are living with a phantom limb, or a lobotomized brain. It is this great and huge loss that puts the train in motion in the movie.

So why is all of this so important to talk about when the movie isn't even completely shot yet you ask? Because as we get collaborators we continue to run into the same problem with new people who are unfamiliar with my past work, or writing. The themes of religion and sexuality are freaking people out.

The script has almost no dialogue and is driven by imagery almost exclusively. It is this strong imagery that drives the narrative and has to tell the audience exactly what is meant. So for example for the audience to understand in one or two scenes that the two main characters are passionately and exquisitely in love, I can either show them running over the hillside holding hands, or show them passionately making love like two people who never want to be apart. I went for the latter, in what is admittedly a fairly graphic, though not distasteful sex scene. The scene ends with some Catholic communion imagery worked in.

Later there is another sex scene between the two characters that is more intense and nightmarish that involves more love making, but with blood pouring from the ceiling onto them, engulfing them. Once again representation of her death and his inability to let go of her. The scene is written in a pretty intense manner that pops off the page.

These two scenes have caused problems from the get go as people read the script and misinterpret our intentions. It has been called blasphemous, it has been called pornography. Neither of which is the intention.

We are very serious about the movie we are making here. We are dealing with extreme, and haunting themes, many of which are adult in nature and not the kind of thing people are comfortable exploring. We understand that. CHURCH OF THE EYES is not going to be a movie for everyone, and was never intended to be. But hopefully by the time it is finished some demons will be exorcised, a journey taken, and people out there will see the finished film and get some further understanding that we are making a dark piece of art.

If we were setting out to make a blasphemous piece of pornography, we could have made something MUCH easier to make, and MUCH more vile and contemptuous than this! We have other goals in mind here.

What is happening at CoppFilms!!!

There has been a lot of new and exciting developements at COPPFILMS as of late. A ton of moving and shaking that has kept me from doing a legit update. So first off let me say that to keep abreast of what I am up to the best way to do so is to check out the COPPFILMS facebook page at

FACEBOOK

I keep it pretty up to date and you can add us as a fan page or what ever the hell they do over there. Coppfilms is on TWITTER too. But I hardly ever update that thing. But go add us if you want.

SOOOOOO, the news that is fit to print...

First off, we have been chosen as the Saturday midnight film slot for the SECOND ANNUAL FILM DAYTON FILM FESTIVAL. Last year this was given to Jim VanBebber and his classic Film DEADBEAT AT DAWN and this year I am proud to have been asked to show my work. Instead of showing some of my older films, I have chosen to have the WORLD PREMIERE of my new documentary INK AND FLESH: A DAY WITH CHAD WELLS as well as the local premiere of the short horror film FUN IN THE OLD TOWN TONIGHT that formerly appeared in the still unreleased anthology film URBAN REALITY. The films will be presented as a GRINDHOUSE styled double feature with classic 70's exploitation trailers before each movie as well as those old policy daters from that era we all know and love and maybe a classic regional commercial or two.

I will be on hand personally to do a Q&A and meet and great and sign autographs and that kind of pressing of the flesh, and will have EXTREMELY LIMITED EDITION posters of the event that will be selling for cheap that I will be signing. Rumor has it that Chad Wells local tattoo hero and subject of the documentary will be there that night too and perhaps with some gentle arm twisting he might sign an autograph or two as well. And who knows, maybe some of the cast of FUN IN THE OLD TOWN TONIGHT might show up? It could happen!!!

We have also started offering several of our films as DIGITAL DOWNLOADS on the new website. Go to coppfilms.weebly.com and click downloads and you will find FUN IN THE OLD TOWN TONIGHT and very soon BLACK SUN available in both full uncompressed .MOV and compressed I-POD compatible .mp4 files to download for very cheap and affordable prices. I really want people to see these films and get with the digital revolution, so I encourage folks to go give this a try. FUN is available right now for a measly $4.99!!! Soon I will be producing work that will ONLY appear on the website for download for COPPFILMS fans exclusively. Some will be free, some wont. Watch for it.

And last but in no way LEAST, is I, Andrew Copp have FINALLY started production on my newest movie. I am neck deep in pre-production on CHURCH OF THE EYES, written by myself, Kevin Jones and Nick Williams (the first time I have co-wrote a script with other writers I might add). This is a throwback to my experimental days of THE MUTILATION MAN and BLACK SUN, and has already turned out to be my most controversial work to date and we haven't shot a single frame yet! More people have agreed to work on the project enthusiastically then read the script and either quit talking to me, stopped returning emails/calls, or send angry emails suggesting re-writes on how they could "fix" it to make it marketable. Odd thing is, is that I never thought it was that controversial when I was creating it.

I'm going to keep the plot under wraps for now. Casting is more or less complete after an murderous and torturous process of having people agree, walk off, come and go, etc. It has already been a challenge. But as it stands it looks like I will be playing the lead character myself, mainly because I know I will be on set everyday no matter what, and I will not refuse to do any of the heavy lifting, or crazy things the script calls for. The female lead is a main actress I have worked with on one other movie and other projects and is a fan favorite. Several supporting roles look to have been filled with several other independent filmmakers and actors from the East/mid-west area that I've wanted to work with for many years and we have been supportive of each other's work for a long time. Henrique Couto is shooting the movie for me in glorious HD, a first for me. His cousin Geoff Turner will be handling much of the effects, with myself at least building most of the make up F/X. We are still looking for some help in the area and in costuming. And I have been granted assistance from several of the film friends in Dayton that I have known and respected for years, that I don't want to throw their names around lightly. At least not until we have actually shot footage and are moving ahead. We hope to start shooting by the end of May 2010.

See you there
Andy C.

Sub-distribution is secured!!!

QUIET NIGHTS OF BLOOD AND PAIN has been picked up for sub-distribution by TEMPE ENTERTAINMENT the long standing home video/DVD company headed by Ohio native J.R. Bookwalter who is best known for his films THE DEAD NEXT DOOR and OZONE among many, many others. Tempe is assisting Coppfilms is getting QUIET NIGHTS into the hands of retailers and a much wider audience that looks to Tempe for a different kind of Low Budget movie experience. Bookwalter has spent over twenty years in the trenches marketing and distributing movies, so we are excited to be working with him on this adventure.

So QUIET NIGHTS will be relaunched from TEMPE in Febuary 2010 (it is still available through Coppfilms until then as well), so look for it then through the normal web retailers!!!

A.C.