Little Women on DVD

A long time ago, back when I was a high school student, (which isn't so far back as the dark ages, but is definetely pre-Obama campaign), I made three films.

"Little Women" was the last and (imho) best.

It took us a year to film, another year to edit, was shot entirely in one house, and we used the XL2 camera to film and Vegas to edit.

I have been wanting to find a way to offer it online, and I'm now working on getting a website and paypal system set up. So soon, if you are interested in seeing what my previous work looks like, you should be able to order this film on DVD for around $10.00.

So keep an eye on the website, which can be found at littlewomenfilm.blogspot.com. It's a work in progress, but I've already got some pictures up, so it's worth taking a look at.

Coming out of Hibernation...

Hello friends!

Thank you so much for your patience! As some of you know, I've been dealing with some rather crippling health issues over the past few months and have been unable to do any filming during that time.

Considering health and time issues, we have decided to bring another director on board to get this project finished! While I will be the main director, my longtime friend and co-filmmaker, Josh B. will be coming on to co-direct and eventually do some scenes while I am out of state Jan-Apr.

We had an excellent meeting tonight to work on details and got a lot of things figured out. It looks like Josh will be in charge of directing the St. Catherine school sequences - once we can find a school! (We're still trying to get a school - please send me an e-mail at theshadowofthebear@ymail.com if you have contacts at a high school or k-12 school in the Minneapolis/St. Paul area). I'm feeling much more optimistic about getting the film finished now.

A bit about Josh...



We've been making films together for five years now...he's been there since the beginning of my FOTR project and has co-directed three films with me. He's been a major support and encouragement on SOTB (in fact, something he said a year ago was instrumental in this film happening). Until now he's been too busy to help out in an official capacity, but he has been around on many of the sets doing photography and other odds and ends.

Josh just finished directing a short film on the much applauded RED camera and is in the processing of editing it. He is actually much more serious about film than I am, and is far more likely to end up on an Oscar stage or a Sundance Film Festival someday. I am very excited and relieved to have him coming on to this project.

As always, we would be very appreciative of your prayers. Particularily that God would bring the locations that we need, and work out the schedules of the actors involved. And that he would restore my health, because I'm still very much confined to bed and will need to get quite a bit better before December rolls around!

Finally - please stay tuned, as I hope to shortly have our last film, "Little Women" availible for sale online.

End of July Shoot

A Hint of Blanche's Slipper!




"Bear" being silly...


We had two special guests on set this day! Andy (our man of all trades) was visited by his family. His sister is the photographer to whom we owe these pictures.

Still alive!

We're not dead!

We're having some issues getting back into the swing of things - prayers, as always would be appreciated. I'm trying to meet with the actresses to talk about fall schedules and with school starting they are very busy. So! Pray that they'll have time for this soon, and that I won't break a blood vessel or something between now and then. :)

Updates...

Several of you have asked what has happened in the month since I posted...well, we've had one day of filming, but I have not yet gotten the photos from that so I haven't posted about it.

However...Sharayah, Andy, Phil and I have all had intense tech week and performances for Fiddler on the Roof, which meant that there was no time or energy left over for filming. You can check my blog www.elenatintil.blogspot.com for pictures.:)

Also, this last week I went out to Virginia to visit Regina Doman and her family. It was a lovely time, and was able to meet and hang out with many of my friends from the FT-Forum. I was also able to meet Maria, who made/found the prom dresses for us! She's a delightful and talented young lady.

And now everyone is starting school and college, so it will be a few weeks before we film again. Thank you for your patience.

Days 18 & 19 - July 10th & 11th '09

First pictures from Day 18...thanks to Meg! I apologize for the low quality - we should have pics coming from a higher rez camera soon. But I figured you all would rather see something, no matter what the quality.

Day 17 - July 8th '09

Can it really be day 17 already? My first two hour film, which I did when I was fifteen, required about 17 total days of filming. Right now we're hovering around the halfway point. But that's a good thing, I'd say. We're able to give the scenes the care they need.

Anyhow, I don't have pictures for this day, but you've seen the locations and sets already. We filmed bits and pieces of scenes and the Brier's house, in their entranceway. (We are using two houses for the Brier's house, one for the interior, and one for the exterior, and we have to do the entranceway scenes at both houses to get the right look and angles. Complicated!!!) Bear and Rose were having a good time...we got some fun bloopers. And the owners of the house had a lovely baby that got passed around the girls off camera, which was a fun and unusual element. :)

Then after filming, Jed and Hannah worked with Andy and I to finalize the choreography for the "Paper Moon" dance. It's looking very good! Jed had a major crash course in swing dancing, but he's doing fantastic. We are all really looking forwards to filming the prom sequence!

Also - Rose's prom dress came in the mail today! My goodness - it's BREATHTAKING. I'm absolutely in love with it. I don't have pictures yet, and probably won't until later this weekend, but I hope you all will fall in love with it as well. Rose is going to look like a fairy.

Finally I wish to assure you all that Blanche's dress is going to have some lovely cap sleeves, so that we are able to reach the level of modesty necessary for the character. :)