Richard Ramsey update

Richard Ramsey (director of The Oath) is now working at City On A Hill Productions. He recently posted a video that he produced about "Economic Opportunities."
"Economic Opportunities exists to teach God's work ethic to high-risk men in order for them to know Christ more intimately, to become contributing members of the workforce, and to gain hope in a future."
I found the video to be very impacting and touching. You can watch the video on Richard's blog.

The Penny - 2nd Rough

The Penny, the upcoming feature film from Filmweavers has reached the official "2nd Rough Cut."

Head over and check out their blog for more info and a couple more still frames from the movie!

Spurs of Change

Spurs of Change is the working title for the next official film project from ReelCast Productions and Dallas Christian Film Makers. It will be a feature length film set in a modern day time period. I am hesitant to really promote the project until we have the needed money for the film because without money...movies don't happen.

Short synopsis:
"Chris and Harry despise each other, and Chris jumps at the opportunity to “pay Harry back” for firing his mom. Little does Chris know that it will result in his having to spend all summer with Harry’s brother—Phil. As the summer continues, his friendship with Phil grows; while secretly, the hatred for Harry does too. But then the unthinkable happens, and Harry finally gets his chance for “revenge”!"

We have a full screenplay for the project which is full of action, emotion and comedy! Currently we are still revising the script to make it even better! You can find more information about the film at the official movie blog where you can also sign up for updates as the project progresses.

Bringing Up Bobby - Trailer

View the new official trailer for this christian comedy!

ReelCast on Facebook

ReelCast Productions now has a group on Facebook! If you are a fan of this blog and you have a Facebook account, you can join up here!

Joel's Journey also has a Facebook group. This award winning documentary has reached thousands of lives with the message of the sanctity of life! You are invited to support the film by joining this group!

The Lost Medallion

The Lost Medallion is the first film in the youth action adventure series entitled The Adventures of Billy Stone. Described as “an Indiana Jones for tweens.”

Synopsis
Archaeologist Dr. Michael Stone looked for the lost medallion his entire life, and now his son Billy (Unger, seen at right) has taken up the search. Amazingly, the medallion ends up in Billy’s hands and a spontaneous wish in a precarious situation takes Billy and his best friend Allie (Hanratty), back 200 years to what they realize is a very different Aumakua Island.

When Billy and his friends are not jumping off waterfalls, avoiding animal traps, crossing the ocean, sneaking through caves or escaping a prison they're facing their nemesis Cobra (Dacascos), who wants nothing more than for them all to disappear. With no other way to get home, and the wellbeing of the entire island resting on his shoulders, Billy must discover the key to reclaiming the medallion and its tremendous power. One way or another, this adventure will change Billy, and life on the island, forever.

Writer/Director: Bill Muir (writer of Invisible Enemies, The Crossing, and Without Reservation)
Producers: Kevin and Bobby Downes (The Moment After 1 & 2, Mercy Streets, Like Dandelion Dust)
Filming locations include Erawan National Park, the historic ruins of Minh Sa, the beach resort area of Krabi, and Bangkok.

This is the only source for this information that I have found, but I'll be trying to find out more as the film progresses. Original article on Christian Cinema.

Shekinah Springs Studio

Music is said to be at least 40% of a movie experience. It isn't important to have good music, it needs to be great! Good music follows the story of your film, great music will enhance the story. Stock music works for some videos, but it usually forces you to fit your story around the music rather than the music telling your story.

Caleb and Daniel Morris are the young men that I use anytime I need custom music for a project. In fact, I have them working on some music right now for my upcoming ReelCast demo reel - and let me tell ya, it's sounding good! A while back I did an interview with them for my blog about their process for writing music, I mean how does it work with two people? You can read the interview here.

"Our ultimate purpose in writing music is to glorify God. We want to write music for films that accomplish this goal." ~Caleb and Daniel

Head on over to their website - Shekinah Springs Studio - and check out some of their music samples. Some of my personal favorites are:
- Holiday's Song
- Out West: The Race
- Seek and Ye Shall Find Part 2
- Epic Ending
- Christmas Movie
- Pendragon: King Battle

Apple Updates

Apple has updated the entire line-up of desktop machines! Check 'em out!

I know most of you aren't looking for a new computer and if you were, you probably wouldn't be shopping at Apple. Now, I for one happen to like...and use Apple hardware and software. So, you'll have to put up with periodic updates about all things Apple - besides, having pictures of Apple products on my blog makes it look classy! :)

Tips for Text

There is more to titles than typing words and picking a font. Spacing, caps, no caps, size, color...all contribute to the readability and attractiveness of a title! DVD covers, video titles, announcements, newsletters, birthday cards - these all involve creating text for your project.

I thought I knew quite a bit about text design...and then I saw this video. The tips and tricks are demonstrated using the font library from Digital Juice and the Digital Juice Juicer program, however the same techniques can be achieved using normal fonts in Photoshop or other text layout applications. These tips will help your text communicate better!

"Learn how to arrange your words so they are both legible and graphically strong. Once you know what you are trying to emphasize, these tricks will help you prioritize your text so that the viewer gets your message immediately."

Watch the tutorial. (12:31 min)

Celtx 2.0

Before you shoot a film, you need a script. Celtx is a free program that makes script writing and re-writing easier! I've used it on several projects and it is quite simple to use but yet has a lot of depth to the program. I highly recommend it! AND - version 2.0 is now available! You can see some screen shots here.

"Unlike scriptwriting software and sites, you can use Celtx for the entire pre-production process - write scripts, storyboard scenes and sequences, develop characters, breakdown & tag elements, schedule production, and prepare detailed and informative production reports for cast and crew."

Read more about Celtx.

Download 2.0!