We here at Tunnel HQ get a LOT of questions about various info and statistics around the project, so we thought now that we’ve clocked over 12 months (well, 13 now) since the film’s release, that we’d get the talented David Sander to knock up a cool infographic for your perusal. Click on the image for the full-res. Enjoy!!

It doesn't end well for this guy.

Given David Sander‘s newfound Golden Skull trophy thanks to Screamfest’s Best Special Effects Award for The Tunnel, we thought we’d invite him to give us a little insight into some of his experience working on the film. If you read between the lines, you can see we didn’t quite make it easy for him at times!

- Enzo
____________________

When I was first asked about doing visual effects for “The Tunnel”, I was excited enough, but hadn’t reckoned on a couple of the shots the production threw at me. One of them was what came to be referred to as the “Neck Break Shot”, a rather gruesome sequence witnessed by our heroic crew via their night-vision camera, as Stalker (Goran Kleut) slowly twists the head of an already blinded security guard (Ben Maclaine) far further than nature ever intended.
To achieve the vision in one unedited sequence, both Ben and Goran took a dive into Willoughby Aquatic Centre’s pool at night, surrounded by props that glimpsed in the dark implied the dank, water-filled tunnels under Sydney. Goran performed the sequence with Ben, but rather than actually snapping Ben’s neck, Goran let go of Ben and continued his action, finally dragging Ben below the surface and submerging himself only to emerge a moment later to rush the camera.

The trick was when Ben’s head could turn no further, the camera was stopped, and he was turned around, his clothing reversed, and by himself continued the head-turn move to its grisly conclusion. (continue reading…)

North American Cinemas? Hell yeah. Let’s celebrate with a new poster for them!!

As huge tech-geeks, we can’t begin to explain how stoked we are to be able to add this string to our Tunnel bow.

Today The Tunnel iPad App, containing the FULL MOVIE, and developed on the MoPix platform and containing a bunch of extras went live in the App store. As far as we can tell, this is a first for any Australian film, and pretty high up the list for any other full feature film around the world. Add to that a really cool Behind The Scenes captioned photo gallery with never-before seen photos, and you’ve got a pretty cool little App. All for $9.99.

Check out the video above to get a little demo from Director of The Tunnel, Carlo Ledesma, or click the link to go straight to the App store and buy it! Don’t forget to rate it!!

http://itunes.apple.com/au/app/the-tunnel/id439942573?mt=8

They’re here.

Go to the Frame Pickup page, enter your email address (the one you used to order) and your first name, and get a bright, shiny frame of The Tunnel with your name on it! Literally!

Feel free to drop by our Facebook Page and share your frames with other frameholders that have been doing the same. Tweet them out. Whatever you want to do – they’re yours!!

It’s been a long way since we first started this thing, and thanks to YOU, the fans and supporters, we have finally been able to release The Tunnel for all to see. Downloads to date on the official Vodo tracker promoted by BitTorrent.com are sailing past the 120,000 mark with no signs of slowing, and we’re cruising past 40,000 frames, well on our way to finish paying for everyone’s hard work on the film.

Don’t forget that as well as downloading the movie, you can also grab a copy of The Tunnel as a 2-disc Hard Copy DVD loaded with over two hours of extras. Grab yours at www.thetunnelmovie.net, or if you’re in Australia or NZ you can also nab yourself a copy at JB HiFi, Sanity, Leading Edge, Network, and Blockbuster.

See you online!!

With the release a mere few hours away, we thought we’d give you one more good reason to pick up a DVD. In fact, three good reasons:

we here at Tunnel HQ really busted our humps to pack as much value in to our “Hard Copy” DVD as possible – and part of that effort was to include (for the first time on DVD) a few cool short films for your entertainment.

Carlo Ledesma’s most recent award-winning dramatic short, The Last One, is on the DVD in all it’s 33 minute glory. Here’s the trailer:

As if that wasn’t awesome enough, the last short by Producer Enzo Tedeschi (that’s yours truly) is also included. Directed by David Sander (who incidentally is also part of Team Tunnel – Dave is our VFX man), Ghosts of War is an epic WW1 tale of the supernatural. Once again, a trailer for your consideration:

And to polish things off, another of Carlo Ledesma’s short, fun, pieces – a mini-documentary on the Sydney Zombie Walk in 2010:

The Day The Zombies Walked from Carlo Ledesma on Vimeo.

The Day The Zombies Walked from Carlo Ledesma on Vimeo.

Today (appropriately, Friday the 13th in the US) saw us lift the veil on possibly the most exciting piece of news we have had to share at Tunnel HQ so far.

Thanks to BitTorrent.com, Vodo.net and utorrrent.com, The Tunnel will be promoted as part of the Artist Spotlight Program to over 100 million users. Needless to say, for our humble little movie, that’s HUGE.

We’re very excited!

Check out the official blog post from BitTorrent.com here, and get ready to go underground!!

Less than 5 days to go!!

Don’t forget that if you pre-order before the release, you’ll get our 50-page “Inside The Tunnel” eBook absolutely free!

Hey everyone,

It’s been a while since we’ve had time to sit down for a bit of a chat. But Carlo and I found a couple of minutes this week to discuss what’s been happening at Tunnel HQ. From the sneak peek screenings of the film to launching pre-orders for the DVD. 

On another note:
We’ve had a few questions lately about some articles in the media that have misquoted the production budget for ‘The Tunnel’ at $435,000, which is whole a lot more than the actual budget of $135,000. We are not quite sure how people have reached this figure so we just wanted to make sure it was clear for everyone – straight from the horse’s mouth – all the money to make this film has come from you. So far that means we’ve raised just under $36,000 of our target. It is thanks to our incredibly understanding cast and crew we’ve managed to keep the ball rolling, get the movie finished and will soon be able to put it out for everyone to watch.

Not long now!

The 2-Disc DVD Hard Copy Edition of The Tunnel features a 70-minute Behind The Scenes Documentary on how the team put this thing together, from the early days of launching the website, through to completing the movie.

Here are the first few minutes of the doco for you to have a look at – please hit up our Facebook wall or Twitter, drop us a line below, or push us out to your friends if you reckon it might be worth checking out!

Any pre-orders of The Tunnel before May 19th receive a free eBook!!

THE COUNTDOWN TO RELEASE HAS BEGUN. PRE-ORDER YOUR DVD OF THE TUNNEL TODAY.

The Tunnel will be available on BitTorrent and DVD on May 19 as a “Hard Copy” loaded with over 2 hours of extras across 2 x DVDs. If you’re in Australia, you’ll be able to pick it up from major retailers as well, but if you pre-order a copy from our website before May 19, you will receive a FREE bonus eBook, “Inside The Tunnel: Behind The Scenes Production Photography”. You can see some sample pages below.

Pick up a copy here, or take a look at some of our awesome value-added bundles which feature the Original Score by Paul Dawkins.