Musician and filmmaker Chris Shern getting ready to premiere his latest movie, "Vic Effects," at Classic Cinemas movie theater in St. Charles next month

 

By ERIC SCHELKOPF

 

Aurora resident Chris Shern's creative juices take him in many directions.

Along with being the frontman of the band Invisible Cartoons, Shern is a filmmaker. His second feature film, "Vic Effects," will premiere at 7 p.m. Aug. 13 at Classic Cinemas Charlestowne 18 XQ,  3740 E. Main St., St. Charles. 

Tickets are available at eventbrite.com/e/vic-effects-movie-premiere-tickets-1381155726959.

I had the chance to talk to him about the movie.

Q – Wow, you are just juggling so much these days. Your band in May released a new album, "Sci-Fi Disco Carnival."

Yeah, we released that back on May 17. We're playing at least one show a month for the rest of the year, so we'll be busy doing that.

Q – Of course, "Vic Effects" will premiere next month.  How did you come up for the theme for this movie?

I was doing a film and I was doing some Foley work on the film. (Foley is the reproduction of everyday sound effects that are added to films, videos, and other media in post-production to enhance audio quality.)

 

It popped in my head that there's not really a lot of movies about people who make sound effects for horror movies. The sound effects, especially in horror movies or action movies, take the movie to another level.

 

I think I'm bringing something different to the table with this film.

Q – And I see there are a couple of actors in "Vic Effects" that were in your previous movie. 

Amanda Winston, who plays Vic Paulette, she was in "Evil Lurks" as well. She also is the lead character in this movie.

And Bill D. Russell, who was in "Evil Lurks" playing the creepy neighbor, plays controversial film director Milo Kemp in "Vic Effects."

Milo approaches Vic if she can work on a movie he's been working on. His previous Foley artist passed away, so he asks Vic if she can finish the movie.

That is how that plays out with those two.

Q – Did you like working with these two actors in your first film and did you think they would be a good fit for this film?

Absolutely. I really liked working with them and I'm going to continue working with them for as long as they want to work with me.

Q – You must be happy that you far exceeded your fundraising goal for "Vic Effects."

Originally, I didn't know if I wanted to do a fundraising campaign for the movie. I self financed "Vic Effects," but getting towards the end, when I was in post production, I wanted to raise some money for visual effects and certain things like that.

My initial goal was to raise $2,000. I raised that in less than 24 hours and I ended up raising almost $8,000 overall.

I thought that was pretty good for my first go around of doing this.

Q – To me, that shows that people believe in what you do and want to support it.

I'm very happy and fortunate there are people who believe in what I'm trying to do. It made me have a little bit of money to pay for some of the visual effects in the movie.

I'm trying to build my brand, so I think that's helpful for me for this movie and also for things that I try to do in the future when it comes to crowdfunding.

Q – As far as the other actors in the movie, how did you pick them?

Well, one of the other actors, Dennis Newport, I worked with him a little more than 10 years ago.

He plays Thomas Raven. I really love this guy.

He's a great actor. And I knew when I wrote this script that I wanted him to be a part of it.

He was one of the main actors that I was really seeking out. 

Katelin Stack also is amazing. She plays four different characters in this movie.

And she also did some makeup effects for the movie as well. So she's multi talented.

Q – Along with being the movie's writer and director, I understand you are in "Vic Effects" as well.

I play multiple characters as well in the movie. I play monsters and creatures and killers.

Playing one of the creatures in the movie was very difficult while directing at the same time. That was the most stressful day in shooting the movie.

I am hoping people will get the vibes of different horror genres that we connected with this movie.

We had a lot of fun working on this movie.

Q – What was the most fun part about it?

I think the most fun about it was just knowing that the actors I picked to be in this movie, they understood what the assignment was and what they needed to do.

Q – Which do you like better, making movies or making and performing music? Or do you feel you need both in your life?

At this point in my life, I definitely need both.

I've been making music and have been in bands for 30 years. I still love it.

We have a show every month for the rest of the year and I'm happy about that.

I love the balance between creating and writing songs and performing and then making movies.

I already have my script ready for my next film. I can't wait to make another film.

I'm actually going to start working on short films as well, just to have more material out there. 

It's definitely an equal balance when it comes to those things that I'm doing right now.