Axe Cop: The Movie - Part 1 from Peter Muehlenberg on Vimeo.

This week I have a special treat for 5MMH, "Axe Cop: The Movie", this has been getting passed around a lot lately, owing to the popularity of the webcomic it's based on, but I thought it would be a great fit, and along with the film above, I also got an interview with the Director Peter Muehlenberg, so check out the film, then check out the interview below. 

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WES: When did you first hear about Axe Cop, and when did you first come up with the idea for a Fan Film?

PETER: I first heard about Axe Cop about a year ago when only the first few episodes had been released.  I was in film-school, and already had another movie planned as my final year project. I read it, and my mind exploded. So I thought I should make it before someone else did.

W:  How long did it take you to finish the project to concept to final?

P: The whole project took about a year to complete. The pre-production took the longest, though it was very spread out and I was working other projects at the same time. It took a few days to shoot, and a week to edit and do all of the effects. 

W: How closely did you work with Ethan Nicolle, and when did you contact him about it? Like was it in the beginning, or did you send him the final project and just hope he'd like it?

P:  I got permission from Ethan to do the movie before we stared pre-production, but that's about the extent that he was involved. It's just a fan film, not an official axe cop product. Though since its release, Ethan’s promotional efforts have really helped it along.

W: Was it easier for you basically having storyboards to work off of, or did it make it difficult since you had to match the comic panels so accurately?

P:  Working from the comic as carefully as I did probably made it harder. Unlike other films, if something isn’t working on set, we couldn’t just change it or compromise.  That would betray what we were trying to do. We had to make it work. Usually half the problem-solving for a film happens on set (in student films anyway). So that’s why thorough preparation for the shoot was paramount.

W: How hard was it finding someone who could fill the shoes of Axe Cop? Did you have an audition, or did you pick it knowing you'd use him for Axe Cop?

P:  It wasn’t too hard finding a suitable actor. William Emmons was the man I used. I found Williams profile on a website for recruiting actors (Starnow if you’re allowed to name-drop). So I recruited him, for he had all the makings of an axe cop – he looked like him, was an actor, and was American.

W: Did you think that the film would be this popular?

P: I had a feeling that if it was done right it would be popular. Especially with axe cops already extensive following.

W: What was the hardest and easiest thing to replicate in the move from comics to film?

P: Nothing was especially hard or easy to replicate – it was really all about the same. I wasn’t going to go in and film things without knowing exactly how I was going to do each thing. But I guess the easiest thing was the axe and flute props – cause in the comic they are just a hatchet and a recorder. How to do the dinosaurs were probably the things I gave the most thought to.

W: Could you tell us about the Axe Cop theme song we hear at the end?

P: The theme song (by Stepdad) was originally for the Axe Cop motion comics. Ethan kindly allowed us to use it for the film.

W: What did you shoot it on? How long did it take to composite all the different elements together for the film?

P: Shot on Cannon 7D. With some lenses! I think they were Nikon primes, and some kind of zoom lens. It took a week to do all the effects and compositing. I’d never used After Effects before that. It was a long week.

W: So when can we expect the next "episode" and where can people go to check it out?

P: The next episode! Hopefully soon, this year sometime. We’ve just started coming up with ideas. Episode 2 is twice as big as episode 1 though.  It will be on Vimeo and YouTube once it’s done.

Thanks again very much to Peter again for the great interview! Can't wait to see the 2nd episode.