...in the home stretch!!!

After a much MUCH needed Christmas break, I have started back into Animation Mentor and my final class. That's right..it's almost been 18 months since I started this amazing school and FANTASTIC journey!

This term is all about Short Film PRODUCTION, baby! That means taking all the planning I did last term and now creating some excellent animation with it. I've got some pretty big tech issues to deal with, as well as just basic work on performing and showing I am furthering my skills. And if I can end up with a great lil' short, even better!

My mentor this term is GREG WHITTAKER. Greg has been an animator at Dreamworks since the start of the animation company, I believe. He just happened to finish on "How to Train Your Dragon" this last week. His last day just happened to be the day of our first Q&A. I believe he'll be moving onto Kung Fu Panda 2 next.

This short film is a monster..and I got a ton of work to get done on it. But with Greg's and my Animation Mentor classmate's help, I think I can get this worked out. Keep an eye out for further posts about it, or check out my other blog for weekly updates.

until laterz!

a NEW Disney Princess makes her debut...

Being out here in LA has some great perks. Some people say the weather and warm temps is one of those things. Not so for me. Granted, I am LOVING the colder weather the "WINTER" brings to so cal, but it's just not winter without a CHANCE of snow. No, one of the perks for me is being so close to where Disney created his masterpieces. Last week, I got to go see a preview screening of Disney's return to the traditional hand-drawn animated feature with "the Princess and the Frog".


My buddy, Casey, and I bought tickets for the special event back in late October. This event was only the second time the Walt Disney studio was being open to the public for a movie screening. The last time was when Fantasia opened for the first time.

Casey is one of the first animator friends of mine out here in LA who is as big of a Disney fan as I am. We got to the studio and parked and then followed the "frog print crowns" to the magic.


We followed the tracks to a warehouse type area where we checked in and bought concessions.


We then walked across the studio lot to where the theater was at. Near the theater entrance, Mickey Mouse was on hand for anyone to take photos with. After handing over or cameras, we went into the theater and found our seats. We had paid a little extra to get reserved seats (not fully by choice since all the general admission ones were sold out, but at least we got a cool lithograph and Mardi Gras beads for that extra cash!).

The pretty packed theater was filled with children in boaster seats (which I overheard someone say Disney had run out of because the showing we were at had more children then adults). At first, I was thinking the row of school kids behind us were gonna be distractions, but as soon as the Disney logo came on and Aniki Noni Rose began singing the first song from this musical film, they were glued to the entertainment, as well as their seats.

I am not going to go through the whole film, because honestly, you just need to see it for yourself, but I will say this. This film was inspiring for my animation buddy and I. We both wanted to leave the film and get home to animate something. Both of us have dreams of animating on a Disney feature film and this film is just the type of film I want to be attached too. It was brilliantly drawn and animated. The music was MUCH better then I thought it was going to be, honestly. I connected with multiple characters, more then I thought I would. Yes, there might be a few things that I didn't feel were perfect, but after years of not knowing if I'd ever see a 2D animated film from "THE 2D" studio..this was a sign of a new revival.

After the film, we followed the frog footprints to the sound stage where I believe 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea was filmed to meet the Disney Princesses.










While Casey and I just kinda walked through the activities, I did snap some photos of the royalty. There was also some other movie memorabilia




in part of the room, along with an area where an animator from the film was giving lessons on how to become an animator.


After we picked up our lithographs, we headed back to the car and left the event.

The film opens up today nationwide. I'm not worried it won't do well, but I really hope it just blows the competition outta the water. "New Moon" step aside..Princess Tiana wants some time in the bijou moonlight!

One year...

A year ago today, my sister, niece and I arrived in Los Angeles. After a three day drive from our parents home in South Dakota, I finally had arrived in LaLa Land. I had no job or place to live and no friends. By the end of the day, I'd found a place to sublet (which turned into actually becoming a permanent place to live). By the end of the month, I'd found a coaching job. This last year has had so much happen in it. I've given my animation career/passion a huge jump with Animation Mentor. I've continued to coach competitive team at a great gym in Pasadena. I've been blessed with some NEW (and some OLD) friends that have come into my life. It's also been amazing that I've been in the same ol' Blue House since that first week I drove into town. There have been a few roommate changes through the last year, but they are all still a great group of guys! Am I as happy about the actual area I live in or the house's upkeep? that's another story. I can't wait to be able to afford an apartment or house that's in a better area of SoCal. But for now...I'm enjoying the cooler summer LA is having and stoked about life!

Thanks for all those that have followed my journey to this point. I hope you will continue to follow!!

Until laterz!

HALFWAY THROUGH, BABY!!!

It's been an amazing past 9 months, and I'm now OFFICIALLY halfway through this Animation Mentor program. I want to take this time to send a HUGE THANK YOU to my mentor, Marek Kochout, and wish him good luck on finishing up his work on Shrek 4! Can't wait to see the film and search for his name in the credits! I'd also like to thank all of my classmates, both in Marek's class and throughout Animation Mentor! You all have helped soo much in my progress and are a huge part of encouraging and INSPIRING me from week to week! Here's to another 9 months of amazing animation from you all!

Now...bring on Class 4, baby!!

Life update - April 2009

Just for those loyal viewers that are still around..I'm still alive. Still in Los Angeles. Still working as a gymnastics coach...and currently almost halfway through my Class 3 (Intro to Acting) at Animation Mentor! The time has flown by, but it's been amazing. Even with all the ups and downs of life, I know this is where I'm to be and this is the career for me.

Because of the massive amount of time that AM pulls from me, I haven't been able to post on the smaller moments in life. But I will continue to try to post from time to time. For sure, check out my other blog for my Animation Mentor updates!

until laterz!

the Bonnie Hunt Show

For years, my sister, Heather, and I have been big fans of Bonnie Hunt. If you don't know who Bonnie is, she's been in several films, including Cheaper By The Dozen, The Green Mile, Beethoven, Jumanji, Jerry Maguire, as well as voicing characters in Cars, Monster's Inc. and A Bug's Life. She also was the star of a sitcom called "The Bonnie Hunt Show". This is when Heather and I became huge fans. Well, that and because we shared the same last name!

So this past September, Bonnie Hunt began hosting her own daytime talk show. Funny enough, this was the setting of her previous sitcom as Bonnie played a morning talk show host. Heather and I both became fans of this new talk show and began talking about the fact it was taped here in the LA area and how we should go to a taping. When Jeff and Heather made it back to California after the holidays, we wrote in to ask for tickets. a week or so before the taping, we got confirmation we had tickets. We were stoked for this, since it was to be both her and my first TV show taping. We had wanted to go to the Rosie Show back when it was on, but never made it to NYC to do so.

So yesterday, the day of the taping, I drive down and pick up Heather and Jeff and we drive to "the city of Culver City" and park in walking distance to the Sony Culver Studio. We picked up a friend of mine, Tyffani, and we grabbed some coffee (or non coffee drink for me) and then headed to get in line. We weren't allowed to have cell phones or cameras, so we couldn't get any of this documented. We didn't even know how long it was we waited outside the studio. But after they gave us our number and we went through the security check, we were seated in a waiting area. After a little more time there, we got into our numerical order and were filed into the studio.

Now this was a first for me, and it was so cool to see the sets that I'd seen so often on the TV. We were given ballpark style hotdogs (some of which had ketchup, some had mustard and Tyff's was plan!) and a Dad's Root Beer. We then were shown to our seats and sat down for what was to be a fun taping. The warm up guy did his job and told us ours. He was funny and entertained us for a little. The band played for a little, and then it was time for show time. The crew started coming out and we started recognizing the writers (Holly, best friend of Bonnie's, and then Jimmie Kimmel's brother) and Don, the producer and some of the other crew. We didn't know for sure who was the guest(s) until the title segment came playing across the screens. It was Brendan Fraser, along with a dog segment and one of the actress' from "Brothers and Sisters". After a TON, and I mean...A TON of clapping, we laughed and had a fantastic time at the show. Bonnie showed some real emotion after the dog segment, cuase of how many dogs are at the shelters and such. She commented she would take all of them if she had a large ranch for them! At the end of the taping, they did some tag line and promos, and then Bonnie comes into the audience and shakes hands and talked with us for a little bit. It was so nice to see her take the time to do that. And she was so gracious with everyone that asked her questions or made comments.

All in all, it was a great time with Bonnie! I would love to get a chance to meet Bonnie in person sometime. Maybe we'll bump into each other one day! It's LA...never know!

Until laterz!

Murphy's Law of Computers

So...some of you may know my luck with computers. I've been an avid Apple fan since my freshman year of college at Nebraska. More recently, I've had issue with logic boards and my laptops.

The first time was in 2006 at about the end of my Apple Care warranty for my Powerbook G4, and my logic board fried. I got it replaced....went to Taiwan for the wedding of my good bro, Campbell and my same computer desides to have issue with teh graphics card and thus needed to replace my logic board, because in the BRILLIANT advancement of technology, laptops have EVERYTHING attached to the logic board cause you to have to replace said board if you need to replace anything...even if the logic board itself is perfectly fine. The kicker of this is that I was less then six months PAST the end of this computers Apple Care. Which means it would be almost as much as a new computer to get a new board..and I decided on a new computer.

I get a wonderful new MacBook Pro as a replacement and life was good again. I move out to LA here this past July, start my first Class of Animation Mentor and it was all still good. I go home to SD for the holidays...all good. I come back and start my second class of AM and still all good. Second week of Class, Tuesday...wake up and my computer won't work...ARGH!!! Long story short..I take it into the Apple Store and the Genius' there tell me is the...wait for it...you got it...the LOGIC board!! :) WHOO HOO!! When I pulled myself up off the floor, I told them to go ahead and fix it (luckily with the help of Apple Care. Have I mentioned how much I HIGHLY suggest spending the extra on Apple Care?!!!!). I was told it'd be 7-10 days. I was like, "Great..wonderful! How am I going to do my homework and freelance work??" I leave the store...sure it's gonna be longer then 10 days per my normal luck with getting computers fixed. I spend the next two days trying to figure out how I can still stay on schedule with school and NOT drop a grade for this week. I worked out something with my mentor, Rebecca Perez...(AWESOME mentor!!) and talk to the school about my situation. A great buddy of mine that also is in the same Class as I am at AM offered me his extra computer, which I am so THANKFUL to Jeffrey for his generosity. But after much searching online via my roommate's computer, I decided to purchase a second computer, a Mac Pro. I'd been wanting to have a second, more powerful computer for a while, and now was as good a time to take the plunge.

Friday, I walk into the Apple Store and walk out with a new computer and an excited hop in my step. I get the computer set up and barely had time to wipe the goofy grin of excitement off my face, when I get a call from the Apple Store that my laptop was done. I think "Of COURSE it is!!"

All in all, happy I got my new computer and super happy I got my Week 2 homework done and handed in. But God has really provided and is keeping me above water, with or without Murphy's Law!!

Until laterz!

BOLT!!!

I finally got to see Bolt last night. Disney's latest addition to it's animated film history, Bolt is a fantastic comedy/buddy/ animal/action film. We went to see the 3D version of it, which is always an added joy. The newer 3D technology is soo much easier to watch then the red/blue lens glasses. Although, I did notice that the current glasses are tinted darker, so the film is a little less bright then it normally would be. But enough about the technology. The animation and plot were brilliant. One of the sidekicks has become one of my new favorite characters, Rhino the hamster. I loved the pigeons that run through out the whole film. I think this is because of school, I'm watching the actual animation so much closer these days. This always happens when I am in animation school..screws with my viewing pleasure! But all I could see were poses...poses...poses!! ha!

I'd highly recommend this film to young and old! My friends and I, were rolling in the isles through much of the film. And once again, I watched the "animator's" credit list and found where my name will fit right in. ONE DAY in the NEAR FUTURE!!!

Until laterz!

AM Week 6: Halfway done with Class 1!!!

Hey all! I realize that I haven't been posting as much as I'd like..but that's a good thing, kinda. It means I'm busy working on my passion and learning a ton! Week 5 was a tough one for me. Partly because of my assignment...partly because I was sick..and partly just cause! I got through that week..handed in my assignment and even go good feedback from Victor. Week 6 was a bit better. I actually got a good start early on in the week. And I'm even done with my assignment EARLY! It's not due till tomorrow, Sunday, at noon. I could tweak it more, I'm sure, but I think I'm good for now and don't want to mess it up..so I'll wait till Victor gets some feedback to me.

Halfway done with Class 1 and I've learned a ton..even if most of the stuff is refresher for me, it's a much NEEDED refresher.

Keep checking back..I WILL continue to update as much as I can!

check out my other blog for more up to date posts on my Animation Mentor journey!!

Until laterz!

AM Week 2: 1st E-Critique

Tonight I got home from Mosaic to find my mentor at Animation Mentor, Victor Navone, had finished my first e-critique for my STU pose. I was super excited...and super freaked out. I felt like I had put so much into this first week's homework, I really wanted good feedback (and a good grade to follow). He started with looking at my sketchbook page, saying he liked the variety of the poses and even said I was pretty "on model" with the STU character. He commented on my choice of pose and then went to look at my CG pose image. He said at the start that it wasn't the story he was thinking of, but that wasn't a problem. He also mentioned having changed the camera angle, but understood that could have been on account of STU's gianormous head. Then, Victor proceeded to draw some tweaks on top of my image to strengthen the pose.


I'll go back in and take his suggestions and make the pose even stronger. But for the first of many e-critiques, it all went along well. I also got a great grade on this one! :) You can see my post that goes into more detail about this weeks assignment here!

Next week...EXCITEMENT and the bouncing ball!!!

Until laterz!

Terra Nova 2008 (part 3)

This continues where my last posts left off, so if you are just joining us...check out Terra Nova 2008 (part 1) or Terra Nova 2008 (part 2)!

Okay...well, I know this is a little late in coming, but life happens. I wanted to make sure I got some more photos of my weekend posted so you guys can see all that happened. Now, it's been a month and a half since this weekend, so some details might get overlooked..but at least there are pictures!


Here are the MC's of the weekend; introducing the creative festival that is about to start!


One of the attendees at Terra Nova was a crotchity old puppet, who then had a change of personality after the weekend and was assisting in introducing the acts. Performances that ranged from vocal and instrumental...

Here a friend of mine, Jolene is belting out a song she and the guy playing guitar wrote over the weekend.


Mariah McManus shares her song with the group.



There were also short dramas, written and performed by the acting groups.


One of MY favorite parts was watching the dance teams from the three main Mosaic locations. I got a chance to get to know a few of these people. Many of them are young, but I loved the energy and creativity that they have in their craft!






The improvers showed what they had learned in a short improve sketch.


....and another one of the performances that left an impression on me were the spoken word performers. It was so powerful and amazing how these guys can really move you with there words. AMAZING! And I was drawn to the one guys leg that was tatooed. All I could think of was how the part on his shin HAD to hurt! OUCH!


As well as the performances, there was an "art gallery" from the fine art people. Some impressive stuff there too. After the performances all wrapped up, it was time for good bye. It was a great end for a FANTASTIC weekend. We still haven't gotten the short film we worked on finished yet, but I'm excited to see the finished product and will for sure let you know if I can get it uploaded for you guys to see. We loaded up the SUV and started the drive back to LA, stopping off for Rootbeer and food at A&W Rootbeer. These are the really good times and memories that I love to make. It was a great time to meet people and get to know old friends better. I have already booked my place for 2009 Terra Nova and can't wait to get back!

Until laterz!

What's going on outside my window??

Back in September, I was getting ready to go to bed after a late night of work in the early morning of Sept. 18th. I was starting to fall asleep and I saw the light of the Police helicopters coming in and out of my room. This is not uncommon, but it seemed like they were really focusing on something around my area. I don't think a ton of it, laughing it off. Then I see some flashing red lights through the curtains. I jump to the window to see what's going on. Outside of my window in the parking lot to the south of our house, I see a guy trying to stop the bleeding of another guy laying on the ground. A third guy is hysterically yelling at the guy on the ground.


At about that time, police cars, an ambulance and fire trucks arrive and someone else takes over for the guy that was attending to the injured guy. I grabbed my camera to document this. Keep in mind, I'm a kid from South Dakota. This kinda thing doesn't happen very often to me. My nephew told me I was becoming a budding "Peter Parker".


Soon the ambulance takes the victim away and the cops begin to get to work. It was CSI:LA right outside my house. Crime tape began going up and the victims friends were being questioned. I was the only one of the house awake (it was like 3am in the morning!!) and so I went downstairs to the porch and tried to figure out what had happened.


A group of USC students that live next door came under the police tape and talked with me on the porch. I found out the guy had been stabbed after a scuffle. We didn't have details that night, but the next day the news had more info. I felt weird "documenting" the incident, but I couldn't not do it.


Unfortunately the victim, a USC Cinema Arts grad student named Bryan Richard Frost, did not survive the the stabbing. As far as I know, they haven't found the attacker. But from what the news said, the incident was a rare thing for the area of the city. The guys in the house said they haven't ever had anything like that happen in this area before. So far...nothing more then late night parties and the occasional Indian (from India) dance party. All in all..one just stays in late at night in this area!!

Until laterz!

Animation Mentor BEGINS!!!

Monday, at 12:00 PST, I logged onto the Animation Mentor online campus for the first time as a new student in Class 1. I was biting at the bit, waiting for that clock to hit noon. Then when the site finally let me in, I was a kid in a candy shop! I had been to orientation and knew a little about the campus, but there were soo much more available to me now. I started checking out other students profiles and found my class, along with my Class 1 mentor....drum roll please....the one...the only...Pixar's own "Alien Song" creator....VICTOR NAVONE!!! (insert crowd roar here)

As I go through this journey, I'm planning on keeping all you loyal readers up to date as much as I can, both here on this blog and my other blog (dakotakidcorral.blogspot.com).

Well..I need to get going on homework!

Until laterz!

The Drawing Club x2

I've posted some sketches from last week's Drawing Club over on "The DakotaKid Corral". Check the post out here.

Until laterz!

School Daze!!

What a great day! I came home from a night of coaching up in Pasadena. To say the least, tonight's classes went WAY better then last night's, but that's another post. I come home and jump on my lovely Apple to check my email because I was waiting for a response from a friend about a project we talked about earlier, yet again, another post. As I'm reading and deleting emails, I come upon one from my future alma mater, Animation Mentor (an yes..I probably misspelled alma mater!! It's a school for animators, not future spelling bee contestants!).


I was super stoked! I quickly opened up the email and find it is time to have student orientation!! WHOO HOO! I finally get to "go onto" the Animation Mentor campus, even if it's just a small part of what is a huge virtual campus. Once my first quarter starts at the end of this month I'll have access to so much more. I at once, well, okay not at once. I actually finished up checking the other mail for junk mail and any time sensitive stuff and THEN clicked the link that would take me to my new place of higher education. Over the last few weeks, I'd been constantly checking out the AM website hoping there would be something to tide me over until Sept. 29th, the first day of the rest of my life!! With this I can now feel that much closer! I have just begun viewing the orientation videos that show the lay of the campus and how things work and everything. I will be trying to soak in all I can now, so I can jump directly into creating the foundation of my Animation Mentor schooling! Soon, I'll be posting more about the actual classes and like so many others in the past, trying to keep weekly updates going. Unfortunatly, around Class 3 or 4 those posts drop off in part to the numbers of hours students have to spend on the actual work. But I'm hoping to at least give quick updates through my whole schooling..but time will tell!

Until laterz!

Terra Nova 2008 (part 2)

This continues where my last post left off, so if you are just joining us...check out Terra Nova 2008 (part 1)!

Besides our area of discipline groups, we had sessions of worship and talks, free time of water games and sports, pretty decent food and just enjoying God's great creation.


I finally saw and felt rain again! I was in heaven (even though it was during one of our "exploring the arts" times). I saw stars..which I didn't really realize I'd been missing! It was wonderful to just see another part of California that reminds me more of back home.

I mentioned the "exploring the arts" times. These were two sessions of trying areas of art that we might not have ever tried or experienced. I chose Stunts for my first session.


We learned more of what stunt men do and how that area of films were created. We also got to flip around..which is why I wanted to do it!! It was fun being someone that had no fear of jumping off a mini trampoline and flipping. The only issue was I had to change from going for perfection to not being as clean when I did the flips. Not as easy as it seems.

The second session I took was HIP-HOP Dance!!! This was my first dance class EVER (besides the dance lesson on the "Honey" DVD I tried out with Angie). I was anxious about trying this out, even though I've always wanted to let out my inner hip-hopper! A buddy of mine was in the session with me and that helped a ton. What I realized was that we all were trying something new and even though I was sweating up a storm, I had a blast...and it just makes me want to go clubbin'! ha! I even got picked out to do the routine with a few other people at the end of the session. This was both exciting and totally freaky...but can I just say I nailed those steps, boyeee!

I mentioned before about this cool water "toy" we called "the Blob". It's this huge floating inflated blue and yellow thing. You swim out to the dock and climb up a high dive platform of sorts. Then one person jumps down and crawls to the far end of the floating pillow. The second person (preferably a larger person) jumps straight down from the platform and onto the close end of the Blob. This action will cause a reaction of launching the small, stick of a person on the far end up into the air and then, hopefully after some amazing acrobatic tricks, they plunge into the water. A few of the friends that drove out with me enjoyed this activity, especially Josh who is a large boy. Everyone was requesting him to "blob them", which he happily did.



Here's another person getting launched. One person went straight up, did like two back flips and then landed back on the blob before bouncing into the water. It was SAHWEEEET!!!


After the full morning and afternoon of Saturday, we all met at the beach for a lakeside bonfire. I just loved this photo. One of the people leading in the worship music was sitting in front of the flames. Incidentally, she's a really talented songwriter and is the daughter of Mosaic's main pastor.


After the bonfire, we had s'mores and then headed back to the meeting hall to enjoy a musical Improv by Rebecca and David. It was based on the love story of two people in the audience. These guys are truly talented improvers and actors. I really wish it'd been recorded just to listen to the songs they came up with. HALARIOUS!!!


Rebecca gets some details from a couple in the audience about how they met. All I can say is the couple had one heck of a story behind there relationship/marriage! A story David and Rebecca used to the fullest.




After the Improv show, a few things went on. Of course, I totally forgot to take photos of this part of the fun. The main thing was the mass group game of "Mafia". It's a wonderful game of lying and sleuthing. This game was the reason I didn't get to bed until about 1:30am-ish on Friday night. Saturday night wasn't any better...more like 3am. But most of you that know me know that I'm a night owl who enjoys group games. So I was in heaven! And it's a great game to see people's true colors! During the games of Mafia, there was also a rave/dance party going on in one of the rooms. Some of you might remember me talking about the DJ that spins during the offering down at the Mayan. Well, he was spinning for the dancing fools at the rave Saturday night. It looked like they had a great time and a few people including a friend of mine, Chad, came outta the place with the sweat to prove it! Some people hit the sack early, but most of us hard core night owls stayed up till even for us it was late. Although, there were still a few people that were raring to start another game of Mafia.

Well, that completes the Saturday happenings. I'll continue with the third and final part of my Terra Nova adventure (the results of the weekend's creative explotion) in the near future.

Until laterz!

Terra Nova 2008 (part 1)

Since I moved out to California, I've been going to church at Mosaic here in LA. Mosaic has a heart for the artists and creative people. They have a few sites around LA which has different service times throughout day on Sundays. The site I usually attend is downtown at the Mayan night club. Every Labor Day, Mosaic has a retreat for artists called Terra Nova.


The cost of the weekend was part of why I almost didn't go. But after several people told me how I should attend, I felt like this was worth the cost. I've had a hard time really finding connection here in LA and at Mosaic. It's a big city and pretty big church. I felt this weekend could help me meet a ton of new people...creative people...artistic people!

Here are some photos of the camp. There was a huge man-made lake that had some fun activities, including a huge water slide and a thing called the "Blob". And there were plenty of volleyball courts and a huge field that one could find people playing Ultimate Frisbee on. There was also a rock wall and a zip line, but I never saw them. But I'm told they were a blast, too!




Here's a view of the cabin I was in. I wasn't there much, and actually didn't really meet most of my roommates until Saturday morning, since I crept in late on Friday night. Notice the car parked really close to the cabin. Parking was kinda funny and people tried to make anything work in the way of parking places.


This was the chapel at the camp. I actually never got into it, since none of my meetings were held here, but I just thought this was a gorgeous photo to take.


The whole weekend was centered around the artist and the art. We were split into areas of interest (ie: dance, music, spoken word, film, drama, etc.) and then within each discipline we were split into Mosaic sites. This was so that you could work with the people that attend the same location as you do. I joined the film group, but we didn't split into locations, we split into what we wanted to do (either, production, writing, or directing). I joined the production group and we decided to split again into two groups to work on two short films. My group (which was lead by one of my current roommates, Kevin) brainstormed and came up with a short narrative. In the end, we created, wrote, cast, and shot the short in 24 hours. Here's our director (and my roommate, Kevin) in action!


It was amazing to go through this process. I loved shooting the film and our actors were amazing! Our story called for us to ducktape the lead in a cocoon of sorts.



CJ, our lead actor, waiting to be driving to the next shooting location. He was really unable to move very much or do anything for himself...which was a big part of the story.





CJ rests while we are prepping the final scene.



Our other main actor gets her makeup done for the final scene.

After getting put into the duct tape straight jacket at about 3:00pm, CJ finally is cut free from his "bondage" at about 7:00pm. He was pure sweat and heat. At one point we cut open a hole for his hands to come free and so he could sit at the table. As I was cutting the hole, a sauna came rushing out from the cocoon. CJ said he would never forget our faces as this happened. We were amazed and directly started warming our hands in the heat. I'm still amazed how much of a trooper CJ was through all this. I just hope the film comes out as good as we all pictured it in the creation time!



CJ is finally free!!



I'd try to explain the short, but it'll just be easier to see it for yourself when we get it edited together. That'll be later.


Here's the short film team and cast after the final shot was in the can! What an amazing feeling it was. I have to admit, when we were planning this piece of art, I wasn't sure it would get done. But we were done with plenty of time for the rest of the evening's activities and fun!

That's it for part one...more of my Terra Nova adventure to come in part two!!!

Until laterz!