How Twilight is Re-Vamping Romance

The popularity of this teen vampire series is simply astounding: "In 2008, the four books of the series claimed the top four spots on USA Today's year-end bestseller list, making Meyer the first author to ever achieve this feat.^[27] The series then won the 2009 Kids' Choice Award for Favorite Book, where it competed against the Harry Potter series.^[2] - In an interview with USA Today, US president Barack Obama said that he and his ten-year-old daughter, Malia, often bond over the Twilight books,^[50]" -Wiki

Recently I came across this article from a perspective that I found to be a breath of fresh air considering the apparent wholesale acceptance of these books and films. They also address the question that I've been asking, "How is this storyline capturing so many hearts, minds and box office dollars?"

"Twilight proved its mighty cultural force when the second film in the series, New Moon, broke all-time opening-day box office records, beating out Titanic and Dark Knight. [2] Since the release of the first Twilight book in 2005, 85 million subsequent books in the series have been sold. Twilight’s cultural conquest is phenomenal. But how did this averagely-written, clichéd storyline capture so many hearts, minds and imaginations (not to mention over one billion dollars in book, DVD and ticket sales)?

Though Stephanie Meyer is not a brilliant author, she knows how to make an illicit romance with a vampire look like a clean, pro-abstinence story of unconditional love and good vs. evil (and convince even Christians.) [3]"

Read the full article here.

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"A Christmas Snow" Casting Call

In the feature length independent film A Christmas Snow, the storm of the century brings the gift of a lifetime.

Produced by Chad Gundersen (Like Dandelion Dust, The Secrets of Jonathan Sperry) and to be directed by Tracy Trost (Find Me), A Christmas Snow will be filmed in Tulsa, Oklahoma during the first three weeks of February 2010.

A Christmas Snow is a modified, low budget SAG film.

Online auditions are open now through December 4, 2009. Character descriptions and instructions on how to audition can be found here.
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Happy Thanksgiving!

Yes, it's a joke.
(click on it for a larger view)

This Thanksgiving let's not forget to give thanks for our TRUE heritage and the abundant blessings of God!
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"Who Is This Jesus?"

"The resurrection of Jesus Christ is intellectually credible and existentially satisfying. These are the two tests of any valid worldview, philosophy, or religion." ~Tim Keller

This is the best sermon I've heard outlining the claims of Christ and challenging people to know where they stand. Could you prove to someone that Christianity is true? I highly recommend listening to and studying this message. (Run Time: 40 min)

If the audio file doesn't show up for some reason you can listen to the sermon here.
You can listen to more sermons by Tim Keller on his website.
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Obsession: Radical Islam

"“Obsession” is a truthful hard hitting film about the threat of Radical Islam to Western civilization. Using unique footage from Arab television, it reveals an ‘insider’s view’ of the hatred the Radicals are teaching, their incitement of global jihad, and their goal of world domination. The film also traces the parallels between the Nazi movement of World War II, the radicals of today, and the Western world’s response to both threats."

This documentary is very professionally done, is attention grabbing in content, and timely in it's message! I highly recommend taking the time to watch it. You can watch it FREE TODAY! Or view the trailer here. You can also visit the movie website.

"Obsession is without exaggeration one of the most important films of our time. "
–Glenn Beck, CNN Headline News

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Birdie & Bogie

This is a new release that I came across recently, I haven't seen it but if anyone has I'd appreciate getting your thoughts!

Birdie & Bogey from Pure Flix on Vimeo.

"Norris Family Films proudly presents a story...about a little girl and her father...and the unbreakable bond they share as they pursue a daughter's wish for her father to have a second chance at a forgotten dream: To once again play on the PGA Tour.

When Danny takes Birdie along for the ride as his caddy, the golfing world takes notice. And when Danny starts to win with the help of his twelve-year-old daughter's coaching, everyone takes notice. Danny's shot at the PGA is within reach."

Click here to read the Dove review. Visit the movie website.
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NEW! Sherwood Pictures #4: "COURAGEOUS"

"Four men, one calling: To serve and protect. As law enforcement officers, they face danger every day. Yet when tragedy strikes close to home, these fathers are left wrestling with their hopes, their fears, and their faith. From this struggle will come a decision that changes all of their lives."

"You will see...action beyond what we have ever done before! You'll see tension, drama, a little bit of romance, and a good deal of humor as well!" ~Alex Kendrick

Watch the announcement video here!
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Health Care "Reform"

"American citizens who refuse to purchase an Obama-approved health insurance plan will face fines of up to 250,000 dollars and up to five years in jail."
"The House passed its health care bill late Saturday night by a 220-215 vote, with 39 Democrats in opposition and one Republican supporting it. Senate approval is considered less certain due to opposition by all Republicans and some moderate Democrats."

I'm assuming you've all heard about the 2,000 page Health Care Reform bill that Democrats are trying to get passed in Washington. But how many of us really know what they are proposing? The main concern that I've heard is that it includes Government funding for abortion (which thankfully the House stopped with an amendment before voting on the bill.) But there are still approx. another 1,990 pages of "reform" mandates that would have a huge effect on every single person in America, including the illegal immigrants...so what does it say?

Here is a 20 minute summarization speech given by a Republican during the House debate. I call it the, "But It Doesn't Stop There" speech.

Obviously President Obama was very pleased that the bill passed the House, and is now encouraging the Senate to pass it as well. His "speech" on what the bill includes is a little different though.

From what I understand, they are trying to get this pushed through the Senate before the end of the year. I encourage everyone to contact your Senators and let them know where you stand on the issue of Health Care! Contact info for Senators can be found here.
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NEW! Celtx 2.5

"Celtx is the world's first all-in-one media pre-production system. It replaces 'paper & binder' pre-production with a digital approach that's more complete, simpler to work with, and easier to share."

New Features include:
- Revision Mode: can be used to lock scene numbers while editing a script. You can also track changes using color coded edits.
- Text Lock: will lock the script so that the text cannot be edited
- Sketch: lets you add your own drawings to a Project.
- Collaboration Chat (Studio Users)
- TypeSet - Spacing Options

You can read all about the new features here! If you don't have Celtx, then download it! It's a great FREE script writing program.
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Ukraine Project: Salt & Light

As many of you know I went to Ukraine this summer for three weeks, interviewing pastors and documenting their stories about growing up under the Soviet Union up through their current ministry. For more information about the trip you can read my earlier blog post here and here is a link to see pictures of the trip.

The past few months I've been busy editing and putting the stories together. This is the process I've been using:
1) Match the translation to the correct interview clips. Often I had the translator do two takes for each interview clip (and there are 5-7 clips that are 3-5min each) so I have to decide which parts are better and match it sound like all one clip.
2) Cut the translation down and down to around 13 minutes for each pastor, so that the story doesn't drag but still includes needed information.
3) Cut out all the "ums" and stammers and stutters from the translation and still make it sound natural and smooth
4) Make sure the actual visual part of the interview (handmotion, face expressions) matches what is being said by the translation
5) Start adding b-roll, and pictures that enhance and/or demonstrate what the pastor is talking about. I have footage I shot with each pastor of them at their church, Bible studies and just following them around for the day (approx. 30-45min), and then I also have over 3 hours of what I call "Ukraine B-roll" of misc. life, society and culture that I captured while traveling around.
6) Next I start adding music.
7) After a video is approved, I work on finalizing the audio and do the color correction.
Here's a screen shot I took the other day, you can click it to view a larger version.
The little sliver of a window in the very top left has the full list of video clips, music and other elements that I am using for the project. Next to it is the video window where I can add filters and customize the length of clips I want to use. (Each timeline is where I drag the clips I want to use and arrange them, fix audio, and actually do the editing.) The other three video windows are showing me clips from each of the three timelines down below. The beer bottle correlates with the top timeline of "Ukraine B-Roll," the church clip is from the middle timeline of "Pastor's B-Roll," and the clip of the interview is from the very bottom timeline where I am putting it all together!

I don't usually have that many windows open when I am editing, but for this project it helps save time from clicking back and forth when I'm trying to look through that much footage.
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