Small Announcement

I wish I took photos today to share with you.

This week I launched the production of a short live action film entitled "Time & Chance". It's a strange little tale about the significant intersection of insignicant lives. It's not all live action, though. I am working with Keith Lango and Bill Jacoby on a couple of very small animated characters. They are very small, but the catalysts that get everything going.

Today I was working with a great cast in a coffee shop. I had Brad Stine, Megan Murphy and Tamiko Robinson. Brad is an actor/comedian. You can check him out at www.bradstine.com, and have a look at his DVD's, "Put a Helmet On", "Conservative Unleashed", "Tolerate This!" and others. He just finished a film with Brian Denehy. Megan Murphy not only plays Madame Blueberry in the recent VeggieTales release "LarryBoy and the Bad Apple", she is also currently appearing in the Boiler Room Theatre production of "Big River" here in Franklin. And Tamiko is picking up much acclaim for her performance in TSU's "Waiting 2 End Hell" in Nashville. I'll be shooting Brad & Tamiko again next week.

And behind the camera Ben Smallbone is my Director of Photography and an award winning filmmaker in his own right. Ben's recent short "Taken" just took several awards at Nashville's 48 Hour Film Festival. Ben and his wife Paige have been extrodinarily instrumental in helping me put this whole production together. Paige is my associate producer, a virtual girl Friday helping me wade through the deep waters of live action production.

There are more people involved, but I will talk more about them as production advances. Which might be slow. I was rained out of my exterior shoot this morning. Now I have to apply for another permit to shoot on a city street and hire a police officer again to direct traffic. Oh, the millions of things you never have to think about in animation! Plus I have to schedule on days between my ongoing work at Big Idea. I want to make sure I have most of this in the can before I make my exit.

But even though I am working in live action, I am still storyboarding my shots. To me every shot creates an image that tells the underlying story. I also love entrances. An entrance tells the audience how significant a character is. Actors love them. And when they do them right, they can leave a lasting impression. I think we did a couple of great entrances today.