Interview with Colin Gunn

Animator, filmmaker, producer, and director, Colin Gunn lives in Texas with his wife and 5 children. He loves America and confesses that it is his third favorite country – after Scotland and Texas. His previous films Shaky Town and The Monstrous Regiment of Women, were both award-winning documentaries at the San Antonio Independent Christian Film Festival (SAICFF). He is now working on his latest project IndoctriNation.

GodHonoringMovies.com had the great privilege of interviewing Mr. Gunn at the 2009 SAICFF. In this interview, he gives advice to filmmakers and answers questions about the resources and people he has found most helpful. He also tells about his involvement in The Widow’s Might.

For more information please visit GodHonoringMovies.com

Mixing Message and Story

"Many speak as if message, in and of itself, were the Achilles’ heel of all creative [Christian] endeavors; that message cannot help but impede story, which in turn impedes audience reception, which in turn impedes commercial success. I disagree. However, I do think the wrong message is an Achilles heel of all Christian creative endeavors. And I think a lot of Christian creative endeavors send a…I couldn’t say wrong, but rather…an incomplete message.

With these assumptions, Harriet Beecher Stowe and Charles Dickens never take a combative “you disagree because you’re lost and/or ignorant and/or evil” approach. They seem to be saying, “You know what’s right and you know what’s good. It’s self-evident. Stop repressing it and ignoring it.” (Romans 1:18)

To top it all, it seems Christian characters in these stories struggle both with and against the social ills. And in so doing, we get a active demonstration of what it means to be a Christian (not just in word, but in deed and in truth). It isn’t simply taking the fire insurance and improving your personal well-being. It’s actively combating real, tangible, oppressive evil in the world!

Largely as a result of their works, social ills were brought to light and eventually eradicated.

Why don’t more Christian films do this???" ~ Richard Ramsey

Read the full article here!

To Save a Life

SYNOPSIS:  

Jake Taylor has it all: friends, fame, a basketball scholarship and the hottest girl in school. What could be better?

Enter Roger Dawson. Roger has nothing. No friends. No hope. Nothing but putdowns and getting pushed aside. Things couldn’t get worse…could they?

Jake and Roger were best friends when they were kids. But the politics of high school quickly pulled them apart. Now Roger doesn’t fit in Jake’s—or anyone’s circle—and he’s had enough. He walks onto campus with a gun in his pocket and pain in his heart and makes a tragic move.

Jake’s last-ditch effort can’t stop Roger, and the sudden tragedy rocks Jake’s world. Something breaks loose inside and sends him questioning everything. Most of all, he can’t shake the question Could I have saved Roger? In a quest for answers, Jake finds himself looking for the next Roger and reaching out to the outcasts and lonely. But he quickly finds that crossing class castes threatens all his world is built on. And it could cost him his own friends, his girl, his dreams and even his reputation. Is it worth the price to find the answer to his ultimate question: What do I want my life to be about?

- - - - - - -

INDIEWIRE.COM says "'Life' Debuts Strong" and "debuted on an aggressive 441 screens and managed to break the overall top 15.  The film - about 'an all-star athlete must change his life - and sacrifice his dreams to save the lives of others' - grossed an impressive $1,499,400." (Final numbers in today give the weekend gross for To Save A Life at $1,513,955)

In comparison, To Save A Life was neck and neck with teen horror flick Daybreakers, however To Save A Life was on less than a third of the number of screens.  A similar story occurred with Youth In Revolt, which was on 300 more screens, yet To Save A Life grossed nearly $700,000 more.

The LA TIMES calls the film an "absorbing redemption story" that "is a deftly acted, generally absorbing cautionary tale with wider allure than its faith-based label may imply."

THE MIAMI HERALD reports, "It features good acting, excellent production values and even a solidly eclectic musical score that ranges from rap to alternative."

BIG HOLLYWOOD.COM states, "To Save a Life is perhaps even more a miracle than the average feature film.  Not only did it beat the odds, it did so with its soul still firmly attached." In contrast to more typical teen fair, such as Youth In Revolt and Daybreakers, it begs to ask the question – are teens looking for more? (source)

Apple iPad

Visit the Apple website!

Safari, Mail, Photos, Video, YouTube, iPod, iTunes, App Store, iBooks, Maps, Notes, Calendar, Contacts, Homescreen, Spotlight...and more!

Apple iPad Announced!

"It's very thin -- you can change the homescreen to whatever you want. And it's awesome to watch movies and TVs... let's take a look at the device. - Using this thing is remarkable. It's so much more intimate than a laptop, and it's so much more capable than a smartphone," ~ Steve Jobs

iPad Specifications

• 9.7 inch IPS display
• 0.5 inches thin
• 1.5 pounds
• Full capacitive multi-touch interface
• 16-64GB of Flash memory storage
• 1 GHz Apple-branded A4 chip (developed in-house)
• Bluetooth 2.1 + EDR
• 802.11n WiFi
• Built-in Speaker
• Built-in Microphone
• Accelerometer & Compass
• 30-pin Dock connector (same as iPod and iPhone)
• 10-hours of battery life (Over one month standby time)
• Runs all iPhone apps
• App Store application included

"What is the battery life like? We've been able to achieve 10 hours of battery life. I can take a flight from San Francisco to Tokyo and watch video the whole time. And it has over a month of standby time."

Handles all your old Apps

NEW APP! - iBook

NEW! - iWork compatible

Lamplighter Radio Theatre

These incredible audio dramas have been an instant family hit...tuning in every week for each episode of these action packed and emotionally gripping stories!

"John Rhys-Davies is the host of Lamplighter Theatre, the voice you’ll hear at the beginning of each series, welcoming you Abington Falls, where Finnian Jones has a quirky little shop full of “more than you would expect.”"

Each story is comprised of 4-6 episodes, each approx. 30 minutes. So far they have produced...and aired 4 complete stories! Every week, beginning on Monday, you can visit their website and listen to the newest episode for free!

You can also listen to each new episode here on the ReelCast blog via the Lamplighter Theatre Player located in the sidebar.

 This week marks the last chapter of their latest story, "The Captive." Next week will begin with Episode 1 of, "The Unexpected Return."

You can listen to the 60 second promo for "The Unexpected Return" below...

For more information, please visit the Lamplighter Theatre website.

Pictures from the "What If..." set, days 8 and 9

"We shot the film with two cameras, which meant that at certain times, one of the cameras could be taken away for "establishing shots" and "B-roll." Establishing shots are usually scenery shots or shots of locations that don't require any actors. B-roll involves random shots of activity that again, doesn't require lead actors."

You can view the whole gallery of pictures on the Jenkins-Entertainment blog.

ADR for "The Penny"

"ADR recording for "The Penny" is currently in full swing.  For those unfamiliar with it, ADR (short for automated dialogue replacement) is the process of re-recording lines of dialogue from the film which for some reason or another were unable to be used from the original audio recorded during production.  Sometimes the shot was too wide to properly mic the actors, other times traffic or wind noise may have been too loud, etc."

To see and read more you can check it out here!

Clash Entertainment

CLASH Entertainment Targets Teens and Tweens With Wholesome, Fun Website

New Website Releases Contest to Reach Young People and Award an iPod Touch

Albuquerque, NM (January 18, 2009) – A new website seeks to speak to young people, ages 11-19, in their language. CLASHEntertainment.com presents teens and tweens with a variety of entertainment-themed articles, opportunities for interaction on the website and social networks like Facebook and Twitter, and online contests.

CLASH Entertainment President Ken Raney says, “ClashEntertainment.com is an entertainment/portal web site designed to be so rich and deep with entertaining media, that teens will want to visit and stay for sustained periods of time. The site is updated daily with fresh content that includes news, reviews, interviews, comics, music, videos, games, career information and more.”

CLASH is currently running its first online contest through February 14, 2010. Teens and tweens are invited to upload a short video to Facebook, sharing their favorite thing from CLASHEntertainment.com. The winner of the contest will receive an iPod Touch. The contest is intended to expand the CLASH network on Facebook and draw more young people to the resources on CLASHEntertainment.com.

For Complete Contest Rules and Entry Details: CLASHEntertainment.com/Contests

For More Information:

CLASH Entertainment Official Website: CLASHEntertainment.com

CLASH Entertainment on Facebook: Facebook.com/CLASHEntertainment

CLASH Entertainment on Twitter: Twitter.com/CLASH4teens

RED Studios Hollywood...and MORE!

RED shows off their new sensor and new “color science” at their new studios.

"RED Leader Jim Jannard started off the presentation by announcing that RED had acquired Ren-Mar, closing the deal that very Friday (Jan. 15)—so that we were, in fact, holding the meeting in RED Studios Hollywood.

Jim was quick to admit that he and his crew are new at this, and that perhaps in the early days they didn’t know as much as they should have—but they’re getting better at listening, and getting input from the production community. Indeed, that was the point of the event: to show off work in progress, and get feedback from production folks, in a less-harried atmosphere than NAB or IBC. Throughout his talk, Jim kept saying, “don’t take my word for it”, and “go look for yourself”, and words to that effect; there was none of the hype, bombast, or aggro attitude of the early days, but a much more open-minded, realistic, reasonable tone. He also said, “RED is a trajectory, not a moment in time”; look at what we started with, see where we’re going, and make up your own mind."
Learn all about the new RED Studios, their improved Mysterium sensor, the improved RED RAY...now named RED 4K, RED’s latest, "all-in-one on-set/preview/batch transcode/one-light grading tool" titled REDCINE-X, get all the goods on RED Rocket, ...and lots, lots more and of course, there are more pictures. If you are interested in anything to do with RED you should read the full article here.