Doc Submitted Yesterday

It's done! Journey of the Mind was submitted yesterday to the Arizona State U festival, different from what? The web page for the movie is now under construction, and should be ready in the next few days.

There's a possibility that this documentary could also get shown on a local television station... More on that as details arrive!

Title Determined

As of this week, the title for my documentary on epilepsy has been solidified: Journey of the Mind. For a film about personal lifelong epilepsy, I think that about sums it up.

So far, there will be at least two names added to the credits of this: Neva Nickols-Hirschkorn, the Executive Director of the Epilepsy Foundation of Northern California and person who I spoke with on the phone to get permission for filming neurologists at a conference, and Kay Barg, my former teacher and an associate producer of this project.  This is all not including the names of neurologists...

There actually is an additional set of guns firing simultaneously (in a good way, of course). All I can say at the moment is that when it rains, it really does pour!

Got Permission!

This is wonderful. For next weekend's Living with Epilepsy conference, I have been speaking with a very helpful woman on the phone from the Epilepsy Foundation of Northern California (who have organized the event). So far, she has granted me permission to film at least one of the panels of neurologists that plan to speak!

This is all for the still-untitled documentary which I will quickly be shooting, editing and sending off to the Different From What? festival within the next month! I hope to complete the screenplay in the next few days so that I'll have an idea of where to include this necessary footage.

Sooo excited!

Gettin' Busy

Lots o' stuff has been happ'ning lately! Aside from editing a series of videos for some friends, I'm starting not one but TWO documentaries, and that's all not counting the touching up of the capstone for festival entry, reediting a lost pic from found footage, and finally creating a new narrative piece!!

This, though, is about the docs. This really is the Year of the Docs, since it will contain at least three for public release, plus a few in private release, by the 2009's end. The first, possibly titled Getting There (working title), is a personal documentary that follows my lifelong journey with epilepsy, and how I make do in spite of it. As it's just now brewing and I'd like to enter it in the Different From What? festival in late October, I've gotta be quick about it!

The other, Everyone and Their Mother, will probably begin this year, but will be finished next year, right before Mother's Day. It will follow three different interviewees within the approximate 6 minute timeframe, and through overlapping stories, they each reveal that their mother was the hero. It's to be posted on Current TV, among other things. Time to get crackin'!

Ahead of Schedule

Looking back on these first 5 months of 2009, remembering the resolutions made at the beginning, here's the entire list, with completed items in gold and in-progress items in indigo:

1. Complete TV Commercial for Gizdich Ranch
2. Begin Production for Hitchcock Road
3. Upload More Projects to YouTube
4. Finish Web Hosting Transfer Project
5. Submit At the Core to Film Festival
6. Submit The Nightmare to Film Festival
7. Begin Production for Everyone and Their Mother
8. Create and/or Complete Web Pages for Remaining Films
9. Finish Remaining Demo Reels for Cinematography and VFX
   

The year's not even half over (that occurs on the last day in June), but at least half of the list has been accomplished! YouTube uploads include movies and trailers/behind-the-scenes pieces. Even all of the Thomas Productions logo images were made links, so I'd say we're ahead of schedule.

I can't quite say the remaining Demo Reels are in true production, but I have started attempting to compose the next one's original score, like I did for the first. Also, depending on currently nonexistent extra money, I'm hoping that either Hitchcock Road or Everyone and Their Mother can achieve some footage in the upcoming summer months.

With Withoutabox

At current, I'm in the midst of filling out all of the bits and pieces of required info & suggested info at Withoutabox.com for entering At the Core into the Mill Valley Film Festival (and possibly any other). It's great in that it saves a ton of paper, making the only things necessary to send are the actual videos (DVDs, tapes, etc.). But, it's a nuisance as well because there's a ton to fill out!

One such thing it suggested to complete was a trailer! So, there you go: a new trailer for At the Core!

Other things to include are not one but THREE separate synopses, each of different length, and a bleepload of technical details... So much more to write!

The First Fest

It's official: At the Core (2006) is soon to be entered into the 2009 Mill Valley Film Festival! Early entry deadline is May 15, and the festival itself is in mid October.

No clips of it are online yet, as I want to make sure doing this wouldn't prevent any sort of festival "world premiere" attributes. Nonetheless, there are several stills and production photos that hold up just fine for now.

BTW, I simply couldn't believe that The Last Kiss (2000) had never been embedded in a News Blog entry before this one! Tada!

BTW#2, The Dog of Pompeii (1999) has now reached 2,000 views on YouTube!

Core Photography

In what is the 2nd GPicturama entry of 2009, the official production photos from At the Core (2006) have been posted!

There were actually quite a bit more photos taken, but most did not symbolize or represent that a movie was in production. Instead, they were nice shots of a ranch! So I had to choose wisely, and these were the results.

Soon enough, they'll be viewable from the Media Layer of the movie's page as well, in a scrollable format first introduced by the page for The Nightmare (2007).

Parrots in SF!

On a spontaneous jaunt-by-foot with my dad to visit Coit Tower in San Francisco, I got a bigger bargain than I expected: I also encountered the wild parrots of Telegraph Hill! They were kind, although they squalked quite loudly...

Anyhoo, the whole experience is now up and running at GPicturama, including the journey there and afterward events.

Since I mentioned those lovely parrots, it is only right to show you the trailer for the documentary made about them!

Doc Now Embedded

Now, by viewing this site's page for Fat is Not a Four Letter Word, you can finally view the whole movie without linking elsewhere first!  Last summer, the short documentary was posted at CurrentTV, but only the link was provided...  Until now!  Check it out!

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