The Wizard, Oz.

(Please note there are a few NSFW scenes)

Roughly seven years ago I locked the edit to my second short documentary, The Wizard Oz. I love this story for so many reasons. I first read about Oberon Zell-Ravenheart (a.k.a. Oz) in a Vice article and ended up connecting with him through email. Soon after, I got one of his books on Amazon called “The Wizard and the Witch” - and as bizarre as his story was, I saw a story of love. And that is what we hope we were able to capture and share with everyone.

I don’t want to say too much more and spoil the ride, but expect unicorns, mermaids, a serial killer and the most cryptic magic of all, love.

This was a labor of love. Animal Studio trusted in the project and funded it so that myself, John Pope, and our AC, Mike Bacanu, to head out to Santa Cruz to tell this story. On the ground, we did it all - made it work - and had the times of our life. We also had to steal a sheet from the hotel for diffusion, sorry. Check out the picture for some laughs.

I will share one funny story because this is great. While I was in post production on this, with Mike LaHood cutting this film, I received 5 boxes labeled MERMAID VIDEOS. And what was inside was everything that they shot when they funded a journey to find a mermaid. It was all shot on 3/4 tape. This was one of the most amazing things I’ve ever had shipped to me. A few of my favorite parts of the film were because of these tapes.

Also just to call out a few others who helped bring this to life:
Color Grade - Curtis Abbott
Intro Sequence Art Direction - Kellan Andersen
Title Design - Gavin Kosko
Audio Post Facility - Defacto Sound

So I hope you enjoy the wild ride!