Filming Narration

Today we got the weather break that we needed to film our narration. The temperature was just above freezing (3ºC), winds were light and the sun was shining. I love this view of downtown Calgary, which we chose to represent the world's culture and its worldview. The mountains behind are pretty spectacular, too, but I'm not sure they represent anything - other than the beauty of God's creation! You can see the Saddledome on the left where the NHL's Calgary Flames play hockey. It was built for the "88 Winter Olympics. Some of you may be old enough to remember that! Those beautiful towers were built by our "dirty oil!" [Ha! Don't get me started on Copenhagen and "climate change!" Anyone have an extra trillion dollars? Hillary? Hillary? Perhaps this blog is getting off topic.]

Anyway, the filming went very well and hopefully will bring glory to the Lord! Thanks to Travis for coming along and being our "teleprompter" operator. Dallas spent the afternoon editing our new material. It's coming together!

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Greg

Edit of "Entrusted With Arrows"

We forgot to tell you that last week we got our edit down to 57 minutes! Exciting! (For us anyway :0) ) This took a lot of prayer and thought, as our "interviewees" gave us such wonderful material to work with. The difficulty was deciding what NOT to use. Very difficult! It's a rather unique link we have built with each person we interviewed, as we daily watch and listen to what they had to say as we edit. It is painful each time we have to hit the delete button! We have decided that because there is so much helpful material, and that no audience wants to watch a three hour documentary, that in our special features we will have a mini-documentary for each family. Unfortunately, we are not able to use the children's interviews in the main feature - we're sad about that! But we will include them in the special features mini-docs. I feel badly when we have someone do an interview, then we don't use it. It feels disrespectful to what they had to say. Hopefully people will watch the mini-docs and benefit from the wisdom and experience these people have to share!

We now well on our way to inserting "B-roll" over the interviews. Dallas has created a new "Documentary Snapshot" that has a bit of a different look than it did in November. This due to the new B-roll and the narration placeholders. (We have a still shot of our location covering a rough reading of each narration sequence.) Compare to November 23. Dallas says to tell you that if this one looks longer, it's because it has a more frequent frame capture.

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Greg

Filming Narration

You may recall that after our trip, our camera started to literally fall apart. We are very thankful that we are able to borrow a Canon Vixia hv30 to film our narration sequences. Thanks to our friend, Sharon Krushel, for sending it down from the far north! Meanwhile, during our trip and since, we have been writing and rewriting the script for narrations. It feels a little better each time, but when is it truly finished? I guess the answer to that is - tomorrow, since that is when we begin filming. Our desire was to film outdoors before the snow started to fly, so we would have an autumn look. Two blizzards with four foot drifts and a -30º deep freeze have definitely eliminated all feelings of fall. It is definitely winter! The good news is that Monday's -34º has given way to temperatures around the freezing mark, so it is much more manageable weather for us to film outdoors. We will try to minimize the snow in our shots and still go for the "autumn look" as much as our location will allow. We are also praying for sunny skies and minimal winds. We will film indoors, as well, to see which has the better look.

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Greg

Our New Title!

After much prayer, thought and consultation with you through our survey we have arrived at a title for our titleless film. It is "Homeschooling entrepreurial dads who want to be more active and available to their children in order to seriously disciple them as commanded in Deuteronomy 6 and Ephesians 6." Actually, that was our second choice. The title we will actually use is Entrusted With Arrows. In our survey it was the runaway favourite, which confirmed our conviction that this was God's idea.
It was interesting how God answered this prayer. For months every time we thought of title ideas or key words, we wrote them down. After adding Psalm 127: 3-5* to our script, I wrote down "... Arrows" on the line after "Entrusted with ..." When Dallas was reformatting the text of our brainstorming list "Entrusted with ... Arrows" came up on the same line! When we thought of how our children are the arrows that God has entrusted to us, it made perfect sense. This is what our script had already said about arrows in the narration: "Our concern is not only for our children’s salvation, but also that they assume God’s character, becoming more and more like him as they grow - eventually maturing into warriors for God’s kingdom - attacking the gates of Hell as it shows itself in their generation. Psalm 127 says that our children are like arrows, which we can launch into the battle where we are unable to go." God has indeed entrusted us with these arrows. Will they hit God's target, drop to the floor or fly where we don't want them to go?

*“Sons are a heritage from the LORD,
children a reward from him.
Like arrows in the hands of a warrior
are sons born in one's youth.
Blessed is the man
whose quiver is full of them.
They will not be put to shame
when they contend with their enemies in the gate.."
~Psalm 127:3-5 (NIV)

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Greg

Help us with our title!

Can you please help us with our title? Please follow this link to a survey about which title to use.

Thanks for helping us out! http://www.surveymonkey.com/s/RXLPTMJ

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Greg

Zeroing In

As we work in postproduction, the following is our guide to help us with those difficult editing decisions.

Target Audience:
Bullseye - Homeschooling fathers who sense God’s pull to be greater spiritual leaders in their homes
Circle 1- Wives of the “bullseye” fathers
Circle 2 - Christian homeschooling parents who haven’t yet considered the above need
Circle 3 - Christian parents who don’t homeschool, but need to be challenged to take greater responsibility in discipling their children
Outer Circle - Church leaders who are willing to see the need to teach and support parents in their God given responsibility to train their children

Purpose: to challenge Christian men to take up the responsibility that God has entrusted to them, namely to be the spiritual leaders in their homes, to train up their children in they way they should go, so when they are old they will not depart from it. Our prayer is that, whether they choose to homeschool or develop a home business, they will choose to step up to their calling to be vigilant in their role as spiritual leaders.

Reason: Christian families are losing their children to the world in unprecedented numbers due to the breakdown of the Christian family. We have a family leadership crisis, more specifically, a fatherhood crisis, which is having a devastating impact on the spiritual condition of our children. Parents need to make their children’s spiritual welfare their number one priority. Fathers, in particular, need to make this their personal responsibility and not just leave it to the “experts.”

Synopsis: This film highlights the efforts of a few Christian men who take extreme measures to directly train up their children in the way they should go. They do this by not only educating them at home, but by developing businesses which allow them to be with their children on a regular basis, living side by side with them, following the commands of Deuteronomy 6.

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Greg

Editing!

Our first full edited version of the film is one hour forty five minutes! Yikes! We have to trim about 50 minutes to get down to our time budget. There is so much good material from our interviews that we will have to cut. Please pray for the Lord to give us wisdom as we start to cut it down.

Jurgen Beck - Composer

We are very pleased that today we made arrangements with Jurgen Beck to be the composer of our documentary. Jurgen has a passion for the message of our film, which makes him a real partner in what we hope to accomplish. This is a very exciting development for us, as well as an answer to prayer. We are looking forward to working with him. You can check samples of his work at his website - http://www.jurgenbeck.com/.

Documentary Snapshot

This is the documentary in a snap shot ATM, a frame every 2 second I believe. I had seen this with other films to look at color from the big perspective. I thought it might be good to see what our film looks like in the grand picture. What colors are in the film? What colors I would like and how to tie things togather with the graphics.

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Dallas

Sherwood's "Courageous"

How exciting to see Sherwood Pictures theme for their next film production. (Sherwood Pictures are the makers of Fireproof, Facing the Giants and Flywheel.) God is leading them to speak about the same issue he has led us to - fathers discipling their children. This is an issue which is close to our heart, as our enemy makes great strides in breaking up the family. Christian fathers are called to be the spiritual leaders of their homes. We are addressing this through our documentary. Sherwood Pictures is doing it with a narrative feature film. Please pray for both projects, that they will have a huge impact on our culture! Check out their announcement at http://www.thenextsherwoodmovie.com/.

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Greg

Remembrance/Veteran's Day and "History With John Brown"

Today is the day people all over the world gather together to honor and remember fallen heroes, those who fought for our freedom, and those who sacrificed all that they had for something they believed in. And as we all take this day to remember, not just World War I, but all wars, I thought it would be appropriate to present to you my next video, History With John Brown. The property he lives on was located right on the battle lines of the Union and the Confederates, marked with its own aspects of history. Honor the fallen soldiers, who fought for their country. Join John Brown as he describes just a few of the things he has found and discovered about that piece of land.

By the way - I apologize greatly for the abrupt ending. I forgot to charge my battery.

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Travis

PS - Once again, along with the embedded Tangle, I have a YouTube version for all you Tubers.

We're Working Hard!

I am here to apologize on our lack of posts. We're currently in the midst of major editing, discussion deals with composers, and marketing our latest product, Amazing Math: Subitize Me! However, I am currently working on some more videos to bring to you, so keep your eyes open. Expect videos such as a short history clip from John Brown, a time lapse, and more family specific videos!

Also, if there's anything you'd like to know, questions, suggestions, or ideas, please do not hesitate to let us know!!

Update

Well, we have been busy editing as well as doing marketing for the Amazing Math videos. We met with the Math person for the Calgary Board of Education the other day and she loved it! It was a very positive meeting!

We are now starting to write up the ligaments of the documentary, the parts that hold the thing together. Pray for us as we do this, it really is a crucial stage of the production and of forming the film.

You may also have noticed the new banner for the blog, all the men interviewed are featured. I am slowly beginning to build the supporting media for the film, such as web site, trailers, etc.

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Dallas

Amazing Math

Well, we finally have released one of our long over due projects Amazing Math: Subitze Me! and a new MovieMakers.ca web site! Please check them out, thanks for all your support!

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Dallas

"C-Roll - The Brown's Interview"

Viewers rejoice!! The second installment of my c-roll footage series is in, and you get to watch it. Enjoy this wacky, and yet again confusing, bit of material.

And again, these piece of footage was just one random blip of video, not meaning to make any sense. It doesn't help that my battery died.

I apologize for any internal hemorrhaging caused.


Note: if you prefer YouTube to Tangle, please click here.

Mt. Rushmore and Wind Cave

On October 6th we visited Mt. Rushmore and the Wind Cave. There was fresh snow in the mountains but despite the cold, it was beautiful and we enjoyed our day. Did you know that each face on the mountain is 60 feet tall? Washington's nose is 21 feet long and the noses of Jefferson, Roosevelt and Lincoln are 20 feet long!

The Wind Cave was very interesting. The original hole where the cave was discovered in 1881 creates a wind by differing atmospheric pressure from inside the cave and out, thus the name. Inside, we saw rock formations of boxwork, popcorn and frostwork. Our guide turned all lights out so we could experience true darkness. You could not see your hand in front of your face. He also lit a candle lantern so we could experience the cave as the early explorers did. Fascinating.

Later, we saw bison, deer and antelope out on the prairies. When evening came the black hills truly stood out black against the sunset.

~Shauna

Tech trouble..

6 years, 40+ projects latter, my camera may have bit the dust... So we are now renting a JVC DV tape deck and importing all the video. Still a lot of technical questions to face before the doc is over because of it though. I am glad that the deck at least recognizes my tapes, it is the first thing other than my camera ever to do so!

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Dallas

Happy Thanksgiving!

Today is Canadian thanksgiving, so we are taking a break before we start to work on the doc again.

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Dallas

Home Sweet Home!!

I am pleased to announce some very good news: We made it home!! The weather wasn't nearly as bad as we thought it could be, and we made it home in good time. Last night we ended up staying in the Super 8 in Great Falls due to the cold factor. This morning we tried to start up the van, but the battery had died, or something along those lines, and we had to get AAA to come and boost us up (thank goodness for AAA). Later on, after a final, cheaper refueling stop, we had to get another boost from a kind gentleman there. Finally at the border we didn't dare turn it off. The process there went very smoothly. The rest of the way home was rather painless, and watching how big the kms numbers were compared to miles was confusing and interesting. I guess we need to get re-used to metric...

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Travis

P.S. We still have plenty of trip and video info on the way...so don't take this as the end!!

Snow Storm

We are currently preparing to leave South Dakota early to beat a nasty snow storm which is in the works. It is currently a quarter to 8, and we woke up at 6. Hopefully we can make it through without any problems, and if worst comes to worse, we will spend our life savings on a hotel. We will add more posts when we are next able, if not tonight or tomorrow, after we get back in two days!!

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Travis

Bouchards in Des Moines

While passing through Des Moines we finally got to see my best buddy from my young adult days, Dave Bouchard, and his wife, Sue. This is the first time to see them in Des Moines, since they moved there from Calgary 26 years ago. They fed us really well while we were there, highlighted by huge, tender barbecued pork chops. They were great! It was also great to "chew the fat" and get caught up on old times. We were there on a Sunday, so got to worship with them at Rising Sun Church of Christ, where Dave has been music pastor all this time. Beautiful building, friendly people and wonderful worship. Also had the opportunity to be "culterfied" be Des Moines' new sculptures downtown.

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Greg

Des Moines Iowa

We spent the night in the church parking lot of my parent's good firends (my dad's best man in our parents wedding), it was nice, we had the big building to our selves, with showers and large kitchen. I have a hunch one of my parents will post more about that latter.

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Dallas

House Sitters

Thank you to Tracy and Matt for house sitting while we are away. You are a life saver! And thanks to Emily, Timothy, Elizabeth and Robyn for taking care of Kazzie. You are awesome!

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Greg

St. Louis

Yesterday we passed through St. Louis and saw the arch. We couldn't find parking for the trailer so we didn't stop, so not much to post other than that, as a result we will also post a tank you to our house and cat sitters. :)

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Dallas

Aunt Jane and Uncle Joe

While we were in Kentucky we stayed with my Aunt Jane (Mom's youngest sister) and Uncle Joe. As a couple in their mid 80's they are amazingly active. The live independently in their own home which is huge - and beautiful. We enjoyed getting caught up and getting re-aquainted with cousins I haven't seen since we were young. Sharon and her husband, Marty, and Stephen dropped by for a meal and we very much enjoyed our time together. A highlight was one morning when Aunt Jane made a good old fashioned southern breakfast with biscuits and gravy, scrambled eggs, bacon, and grits with sorghum. It was awesome!

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Greg

Creation Museum

On the last day of September, our family made a two hour drive from my Aunt Jane and Uncle Joe's house in Bardstown, Kentucky to greater Cincinnati where the new Creation Museum is. It is a truly world class museum, which brings a Christian worldview to the world of science. God created all things, so all scientific discovery will ultimately reveal his truth. The young earth theory not only best reflects the biblical account of origins of all things, but is also the best interpretation of all scientific evidence. This museum so clearly explains this along with presenting the truth of God's intervention in history, in Jesus. I particularly liked the part of the museum which explained the creation of Adam and Eve and the events which followed, through the flood of Noah. The explanation was clear and the artifacts were very realistic. Adam and Eve were quite a handsome couple, it turns out. (They were my great, great ... grandparents, after all.)

The film, "Men in White" was pretty awesome, too.

The best part of the day was when we met Ken Ham, the founder, (we discovered that Ken will be speaking at AHEA in Red Deer next year!) and his assistant, Perry Petrushenko, who turned out to be from Edmonton. As we chatted we found that we were both homeschoolers, and that we both knew Greg and Elizabeth King and Ross Haven Bible Camp. The next thing we knew, we were at their house for supper, having a great time like old friends. Wow!

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Greg

We were blogged about!

Betsy Clemons posted on her blog about our visit! http://www.freewebs.com/operastagebeauty/apps/blog/entries/show/1850533-visitors-from-canada-

Rushtons

Our final interviews were with the Rushton family. They were undergoing extensive renovations in their home, so that we could not meet there. Instead we filmed Harold at his business "Playmasters" and Cindy in a local book store that she writes in often. My mom has long followed Cindy's blogs and things. The Rushtons also took us to see the home of Helen Keller. We had a great time getting to know the Rushtons and I think they will make an exalant contribution to the documentary.

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Dallas

Mom’s Perspective

It is so inspiring to meet other Christian homeschooling families. The families we filmed for the documentary were from different places, in varying businesses, some with many children, some with fewer, some with young children and some with grown and married children. They were all strangers to us, and yet we shared the common bond of being brothers and sisters in Christ, and that of homeschooling. Each of the families have been so hospitable, from sharing meals with us, to letting us camp on their property, to allowing us to stay in their guest house, and always wonderful fellowship. It has been refreshing to see these wives and mothers so happy and content, fulfilled in their calling and supportive and encouraging to their husbands as they in turn lead and support their family.

I feel I have been blessed to meet these wonderful, godly women. Lisa Jost is so positive and encouraging. I loved watching her interact with her children and seeing the love flow between them. It was neat to meet Kyrstin Brown, another second generation homeschooler as I am. Contentment flowed from her countenance. Bonnie Munger exemplified for me the fulfillment of having completed homeschooling well, as her children are now out of the nest and are continuing the legacy with her grandchildren. We felt so welcomed by the Clemons family. Kathy has a sweet, gentle spirit with constant encouraging words for her eight children. And what wonderful, creative children they are! I have been inspired to have afternoon tea parties with my children as she does hers. And finally, I was so excited to meet Cindy Rushton- she has been a mentor to me through her writing for many years. She is wonderful, very sweet and giving! Though her children are now graduated, she continues to bless the homeschooling community- worldwide!- through her books and online programs.

Thank you ladies for your inspiration, example, and steadfastness in the calling God has given you. I feel so very blessed to know you!

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Shauna

Clemons

Well, I think we will be up to speed in a post or two. Internet hot spots are fewer and further in-between than expected so far.

We pulled in to the Clemons on Thursday afternoon and were greeted by good old southern hospitality! Our families got along famously right from the start. The Clemons own a guest house that they allowed us to take over; it was nice to take a break and spread out after 2+ weeks in the tent trailer. It even had a washer and dryer! Huzzah for clean clothes! The Clemons called their guest house “little Canada” during our stay.

Sam Clemons is a surveyor. Rather then film B-roll after lunch as usual, we were able to get some hands on experience in surveying in the afternoon as the older children were off doing auditions for their upcoming short film. Each evening we shared a meal and then the games would come out. It is a lot of fun when big families get together!

It really was a joy to get to know the Clemons family and we were truly sad to leave. And Lisa was very sad to have to say goodbye to Princes Pinky (the cat). One more interview to go and then we start heading home!

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Dallas

Stone Mountain

Okefenokee Swamp Park

Gliding in our boat through the murky tannic acid waters, overhanging trees mirrored in the dark depths creating a mystical atmosphere, we spy a log floating up ahead. But wait, the log suddenly moves toward us and we can see beady, menacing eyes staring back at us- it’s an alligator!! So went our fascinating field trip to Okefenokee Swamp Park in Georgia. Alligators, turtles, lizards, snakes, LARGE spiders, and humidity combined with 30* temperatures on the first day of Fall...this is very different than home! I think we are all feeling that many of the things we are experiencing are very surreal.

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Shauna

Tybee Island, Georgia

What a beautiful place! It is very warm (hot) but the ocean breeze is cooling. And, ahh, the ocean! Majesty, power, and beauty! This was the first time our two youngest had experienced the ocean- they were more interested in the swimming pool until we dragged them to the beach and then suddenly they were enthralled! “Wow, look at the sand!” “I found a shell, and another, and another!” “Can I jump the waves?” “Do we have to leave?” And Adam’s favorite line for anywhere that he particularly likes: “I wish we could live here!” I was pleased that the water was so warm- not cold like the Pacific Ocean. The kids had fun body surfing in the waves, at least until a wave tumbled Dustin against the abrasive sand (he has the battle scars) and then the coast guard came along warning of rip tides forming.

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Shauna

mini vacation

The day we arrived we took a walk down the beach.
On Sunday after a wonderful Church service at Savannah Christian Church we walked around the old part of Savannah.

We found a spider in a park that was literally the size of my Dads palm.

On the Ocean we swam and enjoyed the waves but also tried to dig for clams, but we weren't very successful.

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Shalayne

To Tybee Island!!

Hey all,

Just as Dallas said, we are still alive. I can confirm that for you. Relaxing on a quaint little island by both the warm ocean and Savannah, GA, made us totally forget about updating you guys on our trip, so we'll try to get back on that.

After leaving the Munger's in North Carolina, we drove down to the beautiful city of Savannah, located on the coast and full of as many trees as one could wish for. Right next to Savannah, however, is a little island named Tybee Island, and that is where we stayed. We had to drive over a several mile salt marsh to get there, and seeing it at both high and low tides was quite the sight. After pulling into the campground, which was quite nice but had the loudest cicadas ever, we set up and headed to the beach.

From what I could tell, Tybee Island was an old fort of some sort, with old bunkers and batteries used as sever-weather shelters, and several canons located around as decoration. However, this is where I shall end, and so I hope you check back soon for some more stories about Savannah, Okefenokee Swamp, and the Clemons!!

Mungers - B

Along with Greg Munger we also interviewed his son Paul Munger and his family. We didn’t get to see much of Paul and it was even tricky to coordinate our schedules. Paul is working as the casting director of extras on One Good Man, and as such was very busy. The Munger house was a constant flurry activity as they were hosting many cast and crew, and helping with craft services all wile working around the rain.

When we got there we had only a very short 30 minutes to shoot Paul, and it often takes us 20+ min just to set up our lights! It was good this was not our first time setting up, buy this time had got in to a “groove” of sorts and each knew or jobs. We set up in record time and got a bit of a time extension with Paul. After that we had another crunch time interview with Shela (Paul’s wife), and then got all our B-roll before lunch!

I really wish we had more time to spend with the Munger family, even the short time we had with them we had was really enjoyable!

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Dallas

Mungers - A

We set up our tent trailer in the Munger’s driveway and were able to spill out in their large car port which was nice as it rained the hole time we were there. The Mungers were also hosting another family who was part of the crew (Teacher, craft services and extras) on Advent Film Group's film One Good Man.

After we had set up we talked with the Mungers in their living room about the next day. The conversation turned to the Munger’s most recently finished film A Blueprint for Language Arts Success Greg was showing us the DVD, how they made their DVDs in house now, how they did this and that... then you can imagine all of our surprise when my name appeared the credits! I had forgotten, and Greg didn’t know, that Paul (Greg’s oldest son) had given me a “special thanks” credit at the end of the film. We all had a good laugh about that.

Greg Munger owns Piedmont Educational Services a and has had several films created including the multi award winning Animals of the Bible, which he made with his son Paul.

Along with us filming our documentary, I felt like I was in the middle of christian film making central. It seemed that everyone was somehow involved in a production of some sort on some level. It was a very busy and very fun place to be.

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Dallas

From Canada to Georgia

We are currently are camping on the east coast, I just wanted to let you all know that all is well. We are taking a short vacation time before we start head north and get interviewing again. It is nice to take a brake from all the driving. This is the warmest natural body of water I have ever touched! Asides from a dugout that is. Some times it has been warmer than out of water, and that is saying something since it has sat around 30c the whole time we have been here.

Look for posts in the next little while about our interviews and visits with the Munger families, our exploration of Savannah, and other adventures on the ocean!

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Dallas

The Jost's: A Behind-The-Scenes C-Roll

FINALLY! A video about the Jost interview - Made by me!

However, I apologize if you don't understand this video at all. But the truth is, the day went exactly like this. Random, confusing, and everything inbetween. So enjoy, and laugh anyways.

Another thing: this video is made up of footage I've been taking on set during filming - I'm currently recovering from a broken arm, and I'm not the best, so it may get better as time goes on.

Important: No animals were harmed in the making of this film.

To whom it may concern: WE'RE SORRY.

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Travis

EDIT: The video is now embedded Tangle, so for you who still want the YouTube video, please visit this link.

Q&A with Dustin

As you should all know well by now our trip has taken us through many American states to this point. Many of our Canadian friends have been emailing us questions about our neighbors to the south, so we thought it would be a good idea to use this post to answer a few of their queries.

Bill from Calgary asks:
What does Della Wear?
A: She is wearing her new jersey.

Suzanne from Edmonton asks:
Where has Ora gone?
A: To see Attle.

Sarah from Red Deer asks:
What did Ida hoe?
A: She hoed her merry land.

Joe from Regina asks:
What did Tenna see?
A: The same thing Arkan saw.

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Dustin

Washington DC

Yesterday we went to Washington, DC. It was amazing though not really what I expected. I’m not quite sure what I expected but that was’t it. We had a wonderful time time looking at the sights, like the White House, the monuments, the scenery and the amazing architecture. There was so much history as well. Unfortunately we only briefly saw two of the Smithsonian museums because of the closing time but they were very interesting.

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Shalayne