Day 3

I think I should start this post with a sincere apology.  As soon as we finished the third day of filming, I started studying for the College Mathematics CLEP test in earnest, so this whole poject has not been touched since then.  But since I took the test yesterday, I was able to devote some time today into the blog.  But I guess it was worth it to study... :)

So the third day of filming...  It was very exhausting.  When I found out the day before that the time was going to change that day, I realized this was going to be late.  I had planned on shooting the two scenes that were supposed to be evening, afterdark scenes that night.  I had figured that if Ueecks showed up at 5:00, by the time we got make-up on everyone, it would be starting to get dusky and we could start filming around 5:30 or 6:00.  Well, Ueecks came at 6:00 new time and by the time we put make-up on everyone, had worship, put the little kids to bed, and got started filming, it was probably after 7:30.  And we ended up filming until 10:30 or 11:00 that evening.

But we had a lot of fun.  Mr. Ueeck was slightly worried since he had never acted before, but he did a good job.  Like he said, at least he could do better than he had ever done before! :)  Then Josiah would not go to sleep, so Mom finally got him up and he became our director as you can see on the video.  And our cast and crew thought that I should look slightly dirty for one of the scenes, so I was marauded by a band of people with charcoal trying to get my face dirty.  I survived - obviously. :)  But over all, the evening went pretty well.

As this was the last major filming time, it was a little sad and happy at the same time.  We had a lot of fun during the shooting process and we learned quite a bit as well. (I'm learning even more as I look at how some of the footage turned out...)  But that's what this whole film was about.  I wanted to shoot this for technical practice, and since I want to improve with every movie I film, I can't start with the top quality. :)  But with this film we have definitely taken some major steps forward in regard to lighting, makeup, and audio quality, so I'm happy.  And I really can't wait to see the final product!  I'll start editing it asap and will keep you up to date as it moves forward!  So stay tuned!

God bless!

Joel

Revised Register Update3 from Aspen Ridge Family Media on Vimeo.
Here's the video from our day 3 of filming!  It was quite the adventure! :)  Charity and Seth did the videography for this one.

From the point of view of another actor

Well, technically, I am an actress. That is something that I always have to remind our director. Somehow, my personality in real life must affect my status on the screen. Oh well.

If I had to describe the three days that we spent filming in one word, I would use the word "extreme". Everything we did was very extreme. The first day was extremely early, and long. We had a small scheduling conflict, so I ended up getting to their place at ten after eight. That was after a half an hour drive, and finding all the costumes that I would be using. We filmed till about 6:00PM I'm guessing, so we spent all day at that.

Day two was extremely hard. Like I said in the video, I was always crying. There wasn't a scene that we filmed that I didn't cry. It was also extremely interesting! We had to totally take ALL of Joel's stuff out of his room and then put some of my more ladylike things in to it. It almost looked better that way...

Day three was extremely late. We arrived on set at 6:30 PM , 30 minutes late, and then proceeded to apply makeup, which is a whole nother post in itself, and film two scenes. I set the table at least 5 times that night! We got home around 11:30 that night, after a lot of filming, and a LOT of laughing.

Over all, it's been an extreme blessing. I've learned a lot, not only how to make a movie, but I've learned important lessons for life. I really hope that you all enjoy this film, once it's done, as much as I did making it, if that's even possible!

Bye, all!

Heather

Day 2!

Well, actually we just finished our 3rd day of filming yesterday evening, but I finally got the video done for the second day, so will post about that right now. :)

Everything went very well.  All the scenes were shot in Rachel's bedroom that day.  It was kind of interesting turning my bedroom into Rachel's room, but we accomplished it very nicely.  By the time I had taken out a whole PILE of my stuff and Heather had brought in some baby pictures and girly things of hers, I think it made a very nice girl's room. :)  Of course, I still prefer it with my remote control Piper Cub hanging from the ceiling and my cars on the headboard. :)

Well, here are some more photos and a video for your enjoyment.  I had to be an actor in one of the scenes this time since I play Jim, so I had to go through the tortures of make-up - and LIPSTICK!!!!  They put on this terribly bright red lipstick that made me look like a clown (or Jezebel), then they wiped it off again so only a little was left.  But that was probably my least favorite part of the whole procedure.

Anyway, hope you enjoy and I will get another post for Day 3 as soon as possible!

Keep praying!

Joel

The Revised Register Day 2 from Aspen Ridge Family Media on Vimeo.
Here is the video of our second day of filming The Revised Register.  Videography on this one was done by Charity, Heather, and Seth.

First Day

Hello All!

Sorry I haven't posted anything since we filmed - the last couple days have been extremely hectic!  But I wanted to give you a director's view of the first day of filming. :)  It went very well and we even stayed on schedule!  That was pretty amazing!  So with one day down, we will be shooting another couple scenes tomorrow and then finishing it up Sunday evening I'm hoping.  But, back to day one.

My actors absolutely love acting for me.  The first scene we shot was done outside at 10 degrees and a 20 mile an hour wind at least.  So for the 2 hours that it took to film it, we all froze.  And then for the next scene we shot, Seth and Heather had to stand right by our wood cookstove so they boiled.  They're hoping that I can get my act together sometime so that they don't have to have such climatic extremes!  But it was a lot of fun.

Charity did most of the Behind the Scenes videography with our family's small video camera with Caleb helping her a little bit.  I compiled some of their footage together to create a short video on our first day of filming.  It was all shot with the small camera, even the bloopers, so this is not the quality the actual film will have. :)  But I hope you enjoy it.

I need to do some things to get ready for tomorrow, so I'll sign off.  God bless!

Joel

Revised Register Day 1 from Aspen Ridge Family Media on Vimeo.

From an actor...

OK, so there I was, surrounded by a gawking crowd and having makeup slathered all over my face! The experience was as mortifying to my masculinity as it could get. As Mom ecstatically covered my face with some kind of powder that looked like moon dust, I thought of all the heroic men who had gone before me. All those televangelists and movie actors who had patiently born the ladies "excitement" at being able to put makeup on a guy! I knew it was all for a good cause, something about helping the video camera see me right, but it still didn't help...

Oh yes, being an actor is always a bundle of fun no matter what you're doing! Whether it's living the adventure of make-up, or whether it's trying to talk seriously while the guy next to you is talking like a comedian When we (finally) started filming two days ago, it turned out to be more fun than I had thought! We only had to re-take shots a few thousand times, but over all we did very well - considering we stayed on schedule the entire day!

The Big Day!!!!

It's finally going to be a reality!  Tomorrow morning we start filming!  I am so excited!  It's late and I need to get to bed (happens to be 9:11 as I'm writing this. Hmmmmm...), but I wanted to let ya'll know that (hopefully) in about 13 hours we will be letting the camera roll!  Please keep us in your prayers and stay tuned for more updates!

First Post

Several years ago, I wrote a story for my English called Jim Finds a Home.  It honestly was kind of a poor title and it has undergone numerous revisions since then. :)  But before long, I decided that this story would make a good short film that wouldn't be too hard to film.  So I wrote up the first draft of the script about 3 years ago.  But due to time limitations and procrastination, the film was never shot.  As the years have passed, I have made many revisions to the script - including another one yesterday.  But we are very happy to announce that we are planning on shooting this short movie in the next week or so!  We have everything in place ready to go, so as soon as we can get schedules together, we'll let the camera roll!  This is my very first attempt at a "real" scripted movie, so I am very excited.

Make sure and stay tuned for updates as we film it as well as updates on the postproduction process.  And please visit the film's page on our website - http://aspenridgefamilymedia.com/Revised_Register.html.  Of course, the page is kind of bare right now, but we will add things as we get underway.  So stay tuned and pray with us for this production!

Just as a teaser, I'll go ahead and copy the description we have on our website for The Revised Register:

"Rachel had her doubts from the very beginning.  'His father was the town drunk.  How do you expect him to be very principled with that kind of background?'  But when the Arnold family accepted Jim into their home, they began to realize that outward appearances don’t necessarily reflect what is on the inside.  But then - the money was gone!"

God bless!

Joel