Short Film Review: The Button

Oficial website: http://thebuttonfilm.com/

     I had the privilege of previewing the latest Klejwa brothers brothers film the other evening, The Button. Now, when one usually thinks of a lego film the first thing to spring to mind is not a high quality 15 minute professional production, but that is exactly what Sam and Phillip Klejwa have accomplished , this film leaves other lego films in the dust.
     The story is set in the near future and is an analogy of sorts. The film can be a bit confusing at times, but this is acceptable as it is a thinking film where you are trying to guess what is actually happening the hole way through.
     I would say that this is easily up there with Isaac Botkin's lego masterpiece Men O’ War as one of the most impressive lego films I have seen to date. I have no idea when to expect the film to be made available to the genoral public, but I would keep an eye out for it in film festivals this year.

Standing Firm Movie - Now available on DVD

 Kyle Prohaska is a 20-something first time film maker who beet the odds. He made a successful feature length film, with very little experience, and no resources worth speaking of, he has made it though many difficult and trying years of producing an impossible movie.
 You may remember that I posted about this film a few months back, well, it is now on DVD and Kyle can not keep it on the shelves of stores in web sites. Wile I have not yet seen the film, I am excited to watch it in full soon and hopefully showing it at our church latter this year.

http://www.standingfirmmovie.com/

David, a widower, is working himself to death. Late nights doing paperwork and running on fumes is normal. Bills are piling up by the week, and foreclosure looms on the horizon. Blaming God for his wife's death, he ends his relationship with the church.

Steven, the remaining Christian of the household, has been watching his father’s unhealthy lifestyle with great concern. With help from his grandpa and best friend Maggie, Steven reaches out to his father in any way he can.

Despite his grieving and worsening financial problems, David begins seeking an answer to the question haunting him since his wife's death...WHY?

STANDING FIRM is a story of suffering, God's purpose in it, and being joyful despite it.

http://www.standingfirmmovie.com/

Segregation, a documentary

If you work with young people, or have young people in you life (youth worker/leader/paster/parent/etc) this looks to be a documentary you should not miss.




http://vimeo.com/13467660

Entrusted With Arrows reviewed on Caribbean Wordkeeper!

Ruth writer of the blog "Caribbean Wordkeeper" just posted a review of our documentary! Please take a moment to check it out!

...Set in the United States of America, Entrusted With Arrows is an hour-long documentary film that challenges Christian men to be the fathers God designed them to be (spiritual leaders at home..... responsible, God-led, husbands and fathers). The overarching theme is one of recovery... the willingness to take even drastic steps to recover from the family leadership crisis that seems to be prevalent the world over...

Read the full review at: http://wordkeeperinja.blogspot.com/

One of the key ways that independent films grow is by positive reviews. If you would like to review the film please send us an e-mail.

Homeschool Math Blog reviews Amazing Math!

Yesterday the Homeschool Math Blog reviewed Amazing Math: Subitize Me! Very exiting, she had some good thing to say, check it out!

My children liked the movie and wanted to watch it twice (thus far). It is actually recommeded to watch it repeatedly over time so children can cement the concepts shown in the video.

http://homeschoolmath.blogspot.com/2010/03/subitizing-video-review.html

For more info on Amazing Math: Subitize Me! Visit MovieMakers.ca

Standing Firm Behind the Scenes with Shaun Smith

One film I am really looking forward to is Kyle Prohaska's upcoming feature Standing Firm. Kyle has been living the life of the indy low budget film maker, for a month or more lasy year it looked as if the film might not even get finished as the money had run out. But things are moving again, and I confident they will succeed, not only in finishing the film, but if the film is as good as the trailer and BTS look, this film will be going places.


Become a fan of Standing Firm on FB: http://www.facebook.com/standingfirm

"The Mysterious Islands" and "The Voyage that Shook the World"

2 fantastic documentaries came out last year on Darwin, both are top notch worth the watch and extremely well done. However they differ very much in their approaches.



The Mysterious Islands is an adventure to Darwin's Eden, a modern day expedition to he Galapagos Islands, the expedition explores whether Darwin's interpretation of Galapagos hold water. The film is shot on the Red One camera, and the film is a visual and audio feast to behold. The imagery and music are simply breathtaking.



The Voyage that Shook the World is a more traditional documentary style film, it tracks not only Darwin's original voyage but also from Darwin's childhood to his death. It interviews many experts around the world and has a lot of reenactments.

To learn more about these films visit their web sites:
http://www.TheMysteriousIslands.com/
http://www.TheVoyage.tv/

Review: Homeschool Dropouts

Technical thoughts:
The production values are high, though not quite as high as Return of the Daughters. There are a few time where I though “they should have taken that again, or split it up to cover that fumble. The segway bits sometimes felt like they shot it multi cam like a live event.

It also felt to me like the end of production might have been rushed to get the DVD out. The DVD menus don’t work as smoothly as they should (like they didn’t test it more than once), and there were few times where I thin they through in a cross fade on a splice of voice over and it messed up the sound a bit. Kinda strange. It just felt like the were 90% done and had it all very good to that point and then had to throw it in to a package in a hurry. Also after the film was done, the dvd kept playing black for about 3 more minutes before returning to the DVD menu, like they forgot to adjust the out point for for export. Just little things, I found slightly strange.

Pulmonary content thoughts.
The material was, as always excellent, well thought out, organized and presented. The problem they identify is one that sure resonates with me, I don’t expect 99% of my home school friends to home school there kids, many home schools near grads are even hostile toward home-schooling. It is rather unsettling.

The mid section felt like it followed some posts on Anna Sofia and Elizabeth’s blog “Childish Homeschooler Syndrome”, which makes sense.

The first 3/4ths of the film I mostly felt depressed, as they covered the problems, I kept thinking “yup seen that one first hand”, identifying each one in myself and in my friends. They never said “we are in a dire situation here” but it sure felt like one to me. The last 1/4th was them saying that they felt there was hope, but I didn’t feel to encouraged. I felt more convinced and convicted of the deep importance of home education, but not all to hopeful.

Overall Impressions:

Highly recommended.

http://www.westernconservatory.com/products/homeschool-dropouts

No Greater Love: Reveiw

Many are calling this film "The Best Christian Movie I have see to date!" I had the chance to watch it in order to preview it before deciding to show it at our church (Watch for info on our churches screening), I have seen Brandon Rice's work before hand have always been impressed. No Greater love does not disappoint, it is defiantly in the top of my list for christian movies, especially when it comes to quality, professionalism. If you get the chance to support this film, I would recommend giving it a shot.

Also, Tomorrow morning (12-24) at 8:00am (PST) you will be able to watch the first 15 minuts of the film online! Click here to find out how.

Behind the scenes on Subitize Me: Amazing Math (Article)

Subitize Me: Amazing Math is a DVD recourse and teaching aid for educators released by MovieMakers just last month. I was the Artistic Director for the project. The main film on the DVD is a 20min adventure film that teaches a fundamental math skill called "Subitizing". I am not going to get in to that much in this article, as I want to talk about the technical and artistic side of things.

Subitize Me was shot entirely on a green-screen stage, and takes place in fully CG sets made from scratch and contains over 250 visual effects shots. In the end, every shot seen in the film is a visual effects shot in one way or another.

Now, for all the geeks who just need to know, we used Blender for all our 3D work, and Apple's Shake for the compositing. I did a little work in Apple's Motion as well, and a few of the titles were done in Final cut pro itself.

Wile that is impressive for a film of this kind, effects and cool eye candy do not make a movie, what is really special about

this film is how he handled the meet of the film. The script.

This is a math film, a sit down and learn something film. I wanted the film to be more than numbers, it had to connect with kids. As a child I was not a math lover, so I knew I wanted to make sure we had the kids attention. The math concepts in Subitize Me are powerful, as we made the film I found that my math skills were even improving in little ways. Story engages people, and that includes children. Stories are a powerful teaching tool, a vehicle that communicates ideas and principles strongly. The kids want to watch films like this, they get engaged by the story and learn all kinds of important lessons along the way.

I always try to use everything I have at my disposal to make sure our films are accessible and engaging to kids, little things like making sure the camera is positioned at a child's hight rather than adult hight can make big differences. In Subitize Me I created worlds that were full of color, and fit in to a child's point of view as much as plausible. We even endeavored to write dialog that, wile being grammatically correct, was also what you would except to hear from child. There is a lot of little details to think about that can easily be missed.

Subitze Me was a lesson in time management for us, we created a project that was much larger and more extravagant than it should have been from a business perspective. That is really good thing for people who will be using this product, they get a lot of bang for their buck.

Written by Dallas Lammiman - Project Artistic Director.

For more information see www.MovieMakers.ca

The Mysterious Islands

We have got this film coming in the mail, I am very exited about it! The video and images coming out of the blogs and other behind the scenes things look amazing, I am expecting much.

"As the world celebrates 150 years since Charles Darwin's "On the Origin of Species," take a surprising journey back to Darwin's Eden -- the mysterious Galapagos Islands -- and uncover its true secrets."

For more info see:

www.TheMysteriousIslands.com

The Widow's Might

During our time in the USA while listening to American radio and listening and watching American news, I became strongly aware of the political madness and possible disaster that their great nation is headed for. I had heard grumblings from our southern neighbors but they were very extreme, and I questioned whether it was an overreaction, but after 28 days in the USA, I am not so sure they were overreacting. It was quite troubling. Other than be continually disturbed, I had a thought that continually ran through my head: people need to see The Widow's Might! I thought The Widow's Might was a good film, but a bit heavy handed against taxes in Texas, which honestly, doesn't apply to a lot of people. But as we drove and listened, and observed, I began to see that The Widow's Might is not about taxes in Texas, it is about today, todays government, it is for the people of America today. Just like in the movie, the public has allowed and even helped to create the situation we see today, and just like in the The Widow's Might, those same people are the ones who can repent and then fix the problem. The Widow's Might is an important film for todays culture, urging men to stand up, take responsibility, and bring about cultural repentance and restoration.

If you have not seen the film, I strongly urge you to see it and watch it in the light of todays events. If you have seen if before, I strongly urge you to watch it again with these things in mind and then show it to others.

As the cowboy sang: "Be strong and of good courage men... and then, we'll have justice once again!"

Demographic Winter Review

Visit the web site




 Last night we watched the 56min documentary Demographic Winter. I had high expectations for this film, and was very exited about it.

 The production values and quality of the documentary was very high, they made very good use of the interviewees to the extent that the narrator only had a half duzon lines. However, I think the trailer is essential watching, as I think it gives a better over all picture of what is being said. In a much simpler plain fact way. In-fact, I almost felt like the film was simply backing up the what the trailer said with facts and data!

 The film ends abruptly with the words: The End, and then a moment latter a subtitle appears: (of part 1). That was unexpected, I looked around, but have yet to find reference to a part 2. I hope that there will soon be a second documentary to expand on what feels like just a brush off the surface of an enormous issue (wile at the same time drinking from a fire hose of data).

 The big question that comes from watching the film is how does this affect us? Wow does it effect our life, financial, and other all decisions in life? Because, how can you look at anything same anymore? For instance, my father is trying to get in to real estate, if what this documentary says is true, how does that effect where he invests?

 Another interesting thing that was brought up was that according to Phillip Longman, there are only 2 ways he can see to reverse and correct what is happening, the first is what he calls the "Swedish model", which is basically the government paying people to have children. The other is a return to Patriarchal Families! Mr. Longman says that there really isn't much hope in the Swedish model, because it is being tried, and not working.

 This is a secular documentary, but it amazed me how consistently they showed that the further we get away from biblical principles the more things fall apart. God tells us this is the way you should live, not to test us, but because he made the world to work a specific way, and no other way works. Biblical principles and societies don't just benefit christians, but all people.

 I would highly recommend this documentary to anyone.

Demographic Winter

It has been a wile since I last posted, but not much has been going on. I have finished editing the wedding but have now spent the last wile trying to compress it enough to fit it on 2 dvds! Ya. lots of video.

Now, I am not a huge fan of documentaries. However, I think that is partially due to the lack of docs were I find the topic interesting. When there is a good intriguing topic, I get sucked right in. Well my mom found an interesting looking documentary the other day called: Demographic Winter. After watching the trailer, I was so interested I read the info section!

One of the most ominous events of modern history is quietly unfolding.  Social scientists and economists agree - we are headed toward a demographic winter which threatens to have catastrophic social and economic consequences.  The effects will be severe and long lasting and are already becoming manifest in much of Europe.

Demographic Winter web site.

Just check it out, it look reeeeeaaaaaaallllllly good!

http://www.demographicwinter.com/

I have another blog!

Introducing... The Stuff Maker Blog! I already have 11 post in it!

The Stuff Maker Blog icame from the fact that I love to make stuff that should be way over my head, Plate armor? I need a forage and thousands in equipment and years of training right? Wrong. Do you really need store bought patterns to make your own cloths? Apparently no. It is amazing what you learn when you just jump in a do it!
The Stuff Maker Blog will be full of Tutorials, How Tos, Stories and more. Check it out!

Stuff Maker Blog

Also, do you have something you might be able to contribute? Well unfortunately I don't have an e-mail set up for it ATM, but just leave a comment on a post and I will be more than happy to work with you!

Celtx 1.0 Released!

The newest version of Celtx (1.0) has just been released today! It has a lot of nice new features. Here are some things mentioned in the e-mail I received:

Adapt To - a single click now converts a fully formatted script of one type into a fully formatted script of another - for example a Stageplay to a Screenplay - displaying instantly the multi-media potential of your work.

Comic Book - a new editor to write properly formatted Comic Books, and a common framework for collaboration between writer and artist.

iPhone - now view your Celtx projects from just about anywhere with a display optimized for your iPhone.

Catalogs - a new organization and searchable dashboard view of all your story's elements and production items.

Sidebar - annotate and break down each scene with notes, media (images, audio, and video clips), and production items through an easy to manage, thoroughly upgraded new sidebar.

Project Scheduling - has been vastly upgraded to fully integrate with the script breakdown and provide a Call Sheet and a host of new shooting reports.

Storyboarding - as requested, you can now choose from a variety of ways to view and manage your images, create a storyboard outline based on your script, and add shot descriptions to each image.

• The first thing I checked was the Story boarding section of the program. If you use Celtx you will know it was in need of some BIG help. Well it finally got some, you can now use the scroll weal on you mouse to scroll up and down, what a novel concept! As well as a lot more flexibility and user friendliness, you can also set What kind of shot it is in a drop down menu, eg. Wide Shot, Medium Shot, Close up, etc.
  
• The interface for adding files to your project is also reorganized and cleaned up a bit.
• The Catologs feature also looks like it could be quite useful.
• What excites me most however is something that at the moment I can't use, iPhone support, when the iPhone came out I thought to my self that it would be the ultimate gadget for the set, if only there was a program for it, well looks like it is here. Now to get my self the cash to buy and iPodTouch!
  

If you don't have Celtx already, now is a good time to start!

Book Review: Me, Myself & Bob

This is a review I wrote a few months ago (4 or 6?) I thought I would post....

I got Me, Myself & Bob for Christmas, and finished in about 2 or 3 days, amazing considering I am a slow reader, in other words, I couldn't put it down.
For those of you who have read Rebel Without A Crew (how Robert Rodriguez got his start), I found this to be like the Christian version, the first 3/4 of the book take you on Phil's exiting and inspiring journey from nothing to the biggest animation studio in north America. Then when you are most exited and inspired about making the next Disney or Big Idea, Phil takes us through the sobering and devastating fall of the Christian media giant.
I would say this should be required reading for all of us who aspire to honor God and "change the world" with our Movies and Videos. Their are many, many lestens to be learned from the story, the book tells a story we can all learn from and along with some good business advice, the last full chapter poses some hard theological questions about Vision, Ministry, work, creativity and dreams, that I think we especially as christian film makers need to wrestle with.


On another note, Phil now has a new company called Jellyfish, and has got a tun of really funny videos on the front page, check 'em out!