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by Christopher on Feb.10, 2013, under Uncategorized

So last night I had a fellow designer alert me to a website that not only stole artwork from one of my client’s site but also video! The evil art stealing dbags are TopHamTerrors.com and you can see the artwork and video here: http://www.tophamterrors.com/intro.html
Which is theft from – http://www.bloodmanor.com/2012/index.html
The designer is a company I’ve never heard of and a quick perusal of their site I didn’t find any other sites they created that infringed on my artwork. But the facts is they went to blood manor stole the image background there then downloaded the video from youtube.com and slipped in a few additional video clips and decided to call it their own.

In addition to this they took video clips from Thornhillwoodshauntedhouse.com and peppered them throughout their site. This ones even worse since Thornhill Woods Haunted House is a Home haunt and they used their family and friends for the videos so its pretty obvious where they came from. Whats worse is TopHamTerrors.com is apparently in close proximity to Thornhill Woods haunted house and so it is bilwidering why the owner of TophamTerrors.com chose a local home haunt to steal from when people will quickly figure it out.

So since this happened I alerted my clients to it. My client in Thornhill woods told me the guy at TopHamTerrors isn’t taking anything down because the owner thinks its ok to steal and change things slightly then reuse them. Which brings me to a bigger issue. A year or so ago I had a heated argument with a young “designer” who argued he could take whatever image he wanted from another artist as long as he changed it a little and then claim it as his own. What scares me is there seems to be how a lot of people think. They believe a Google Image search means “Free Photos” they can take to use. Its a big problem with not only the haunt industry but also the design business in general.

The Blood Manor artwork uses a very famous house in California. This is a mansion that has been copied and done to death a thousand times in the industry and I’m certainly aware of that. But Blood Manor is the client and they wanted to use that house. While I tried to convince them otherwise they were set on using it and what they want is what I’m paid to do. So I went out of my way to find a photographer to purchase a photo of the house because that’s what you do. You don’t go out and take something that already exists. I then heavily modified the house’ porch and of course added all the other elements including the yard, trees, fence etc. There’s hours of work that go into a piece like that and for someone to just claim they can spend 5 minutes making some changes to it and they own it is like a punch in the face.

If you are a designer then you should know there are plenty of Stock photography websites you can go find photos and use for your haunt art. So do everyone a favor, especially your clients, and legally purchase photos or take photos yourself and Photoshop them yourself. Don’t steal. You may get away with it for awhile but it will catch up with you and when it does I hope you’re ready for the consequences.

UPDATE 2/11/13
I spoke with the owner of Topham Terror who admitted that the designer of this website, DarkNET Designs had nothing to do with the artwork from Blood Manor. Topham now claims they purchased the artwork and video from someone on Hauntworld but can’t remember the name apparently. Yeah, right. So anyway I want to make it clear that DarkNET did not knowingly use the copyrighted artwork from Blood Manor.com.

by Christopher on Nov.18, 2012, under Uncategorized

Its been quite a few year since I’ve given RoguesHollow.com a full overhaul and rebuilt it from scratch. The Last few versions of the site have always used recycled parts. This new Version of RoguesHollow.com uses the sparkly new HTML5 and CSS3 technology and while I’m still not a big fan of the language I realize its the future.

This means we will be offering HTML5 sites from here on out and we have a system in the works to replace our current Boogie Flash Superbeast package with as much of an interactive experience as we can get HTML5 to allow. However that package won’t be available until after the first of the new year. If you want to get on the waiting list now and lock in getting one of these new packages you can do so by emailing me. The rest of our packages have been updated for 2013 and I’m offering 10% off now through the end of the year on all of them so if you want Rogues Hollow to do your site and you want to save some money then now is the time to order! Visit the Website Marketing Packages Page here!

by Christopher on Nov.12, 2012, under Uncategorized

I’m making some big changes to Rogues Hollow next week, a new look, new services, and as a result I’m getting rid of some of the older stuff on the site that doesn’t get much use. This includes the Banner exchange system (AKA The Rogues Hollow Network) that I set up way back in 2005. It uses outdated software that is no longer supported and lets face it, banner exchanges aren’t really much of a thing anymore so unfortunately its time to let it go. If you are currently on the Rogues Hollow Network then be aware that sometime next week the exchange will stop working. Thank You to all those who participated in it over the years!

by Christopher on Oct.31, 2012, under Uncategorized

Its finally here! I wish I had some new special video or wallpaper to give you today in celebration but the last few days have been a bit crazy due to the storm closings and limited internet connectivity. 2012 has been a crazy year with our move from one town to another during the first week of October, travel to New York, LA, and Philadelphia for video and photos and finally things have started to settle down a bit. But fear not there are good things coming in the next couple months, including new videos, a new rogueshollow.com, maybe even some new Christmas Nightmares video, and some new freebies in our stuff section! 2013 should be a great year!

In the mean time here’s our Halloween Trailer from a couple years ago

by Christopher on Oct.15, 2012, under Uncategorized

Two weeks ago I had the opportunity to fly out to New York City and shoot one of the most unique and intense haunts I’ve ever seen! I say that in all honesty and I’ve seen so many haunts that nothing really shocks or scares me at this point but Killers managed to surprise me in many ways. I realized very early on that this was a lot more than just another haunted house. The sets are very real and built by theater professionals. You’ll immediatly feel like you’ve been transported to a real location when you step into each room. Even the street where Jack the Ripper lurks, looks and feels like a real alley from Victorian London! The haunt has come under some controversy due to its theme of “Serial Killers” but it doesn’t glamorize these people in any way. In fact several of the scenes are outright chilling. The Jeffrey Dahmer scene is more or less a monologue that sent a shiver up my spine. The Gacy scene has to be seen to be believed but you’ll likely feel like you need a shower after walking through it. Overall I was very surprised at the realism of the haunt and thats what made it stand out over so many others I’ve seen. Its scary, its real, and it doesn’t pull any punches.

I took many many photos while I was there and i have them shared on my Flickr account for all to see. One of my photos has even appeared in both the Print and Online Editions of The New York Times! See all the photos here!

by Christopher on Jul.02, 2012, under Uncategorized

I’ve been creating billboards for haunts for many years now but I was surprised to learn that most people didn’t know that. So I thought I’d post a couple examples from Los Angeles Haunted Hayride. These billboards were displayed all over Los Angeles. We can do billboards for just about any application. I’ve had buillboards for Blood Manor appear in Times Square and in large underground subway displays. Contact me for more info and pricing.

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by Christopher on May.29, 2012, under Uncategorized

I’ve long been a fan of 70′s and 80′s Italian “Giallo” films. Filmmakers like Maria Bava, Dario Argento, and Lucio Fulci made these films where the killer was always portrayed as just a leather gloved, trench coated man whose identity stayed a secret until the final moments of the film. Usually we were shown the killers Point of View as he murdered his victims! Movies like the beautifully shot “Opera” and “Tenebre” truly fit the mold of “Giallo” where artistic flair and cool shots trump story. In fact the victims practically offered themselves up to the killer and barely fought back. The dialogue was always dubbed in and often made no sense but I still loved the movies.

So for our next film project we decided on to do a homage to 80′s Giallo films. We found a great location, Playland Bonkers! in Flint Michigan which has a great old school arcade that hasn’t changed much since the 80′s. We found a great actress that looked the part perfectly and we were able to get our friend Jon Shroyer, a professional make up F/X wizard, to help out with the blood and gore effects. We have most of this film completed with just one major scene to go and we’re hoping to release it in October/November of this year.

We’ve been extremely happy with the footage we’ve shot so far. You can see a screen shot from the video above. This is the first project we’ve been shooting entirely on the Canon 5D Mark III and Its been amazing! In fact I’ve gone from liking the camera to absolutely loving it! We were able to shoot in available light like never before. Its almost whatever your eye sees is what the camera sees. Its been a great film making tool! Highly recommended!

I’ll post updates on our Giallo project as it develops! Stay tuned!

by Christopher on Jan.21, 2012, under Uncategorized

From time to time I make concepts for haunts that don’t get accepted and those concepts usually get scrapped or modified. Hey, it happens! The artwork to the left was made for a haunt last summer but it wasn’t what the client wanted so it was scrapped. This week I went back and looked at this concept again and really liked it! In fact its one of my favorites from the last year. So instead of scrapping it I’m doing a special discounted package for this piece of art that will go to the first haunt that contacts me about it. The art is ready to go all we have to do yet is make the site template and flash header. This Special Brain Chomping Zombie Package includes the following:

- Full lifetime license on the Haunted house artwork pictured
- Creation of logo for your event or we’ll add your pre-existing logo to the artwork
- Flash enhanced website with animated flash header using the artwork and logo
- Full website with up to 9 pages of content
- Mobile version of site
- 1 year of web hosting
- Flyer, coupon, ticket designs with up to 1 more designs based on licensed artwork or artwork you provide.
- Service and support ending 11/30/2012*

This package is our popular Brain Chomping Zombie package and normally costs $2100 but this ready to go package with the artwork pictured is being offered at just $1500.00! That’s $600.00 off!!

The package is being sold as is with all the features listed and the artwork pictured and that’s not negotiable. If you’re a first year event then this package will give you everything you need to make a big impression this year and save some big bucks in the process. HOWEVER You need to act fast because I only have one of these packages and once its gone, its gone. I don’t resell artwork to separate markets like some of my competitors! This artwork will be yours and yours only if you purchase this package! CALL ME NOW AT 614-408-3137 or email me here!

Give this Art a Home and act now!