Welcome to "The Shadow of the Bear" movie blog!

We are an independant young adult-run production based in the U.S. Midwest. The film has been in pre-production since summer 2008, and wrapped up filming on August 26th, 2010.

We premiered the project on June 23rd, 2011 at the St. Anthony Main Theater in Minneapolis, MN to a delighted audience of over 100 viewers.

For details about the future of the project, click here.



Wednesday, December 30, 2009

To let you know...

Just to let you all know - we have now filmed the last fight scene. More details to come soon!

Tuesday, December 22, 2009

Ideas Wanted!

Hello Friends!

We over here on the crew of "The Shadow of the Bear" are in a bit of a dilemma. We are preparing to film the final fight sequence in St. Lawrence church and we are trying to figure out the logistics of exactly what is going to happen.

As most of you know, we are making this film without a budget. Things like tapes and costumes are paid for out of our own pockets (Primarily the directors) and we have no money (or time at this point) to construct any sort of set for Mr. Freet to fall through. Regina has given us permission to change the structure of the scene to eliminate the floor element, so long as Bear is the one who defeats him, preferably with the help of Blanche. No coincidences, of course, and we want to keep the same feeling as the sequence in the book.

Today we realized that this would be an EXCELLENT point to canvass fan opinion. We need ideas.

They must be in consideration of our financial and time limits (we film this on the 28th of December) and we can't add any extra characters or change locations. So please don't throw out anything that would be impossible or just plain unfeasible.

Otherwise - join the fun!

Friday, December 11, 2009

St. Lawrence found!

Thank you all so much for your help! We had a very dedicated friend of mine go to her college and gain permission for us to film in their chapel.

So praise God and thank you all again!

Wednesday, December 2, 2009

WE NEED A CHURCH TO DOUBLE AS ST. LAWRENCE

Want to help us finish SOTB? Then help us find a church that will say "YES" to allowing us to film in their sanctuary!

We've contacted about five churches now that have all given us a firm "No."

Needless to say, this director is getting very discouraged.

However, YOU CAN HELP! If you, or someone you know goes to a traditional-looking Catholic church (or a church with a Catholic-looking interior) within an hour's drive of Minnapolis, would you please contact them and see whether they'd be open to a student production company filming three scenes for "The Shadow of the Bear" in their sanctuary? We would need about ten hours sometime between December 28th and 31st.

ALSO - because we're only doing interior scenes, a college chapel could possibly work as well! So those of you who are or have attended Catholic colleges in the Mpls/St.Paul area, go ahead and check into those as well!

We have referances availible upon request.

If you contact a church and recieve a postive answer, you can let us know through theshadowofthebear [at] ymail [dot] com.

We need this help desperately. The film cannot be completed without these scenes!

Tuesday, December 1, 2009

Getting the ball rolling...

I started scheduling and location work for December today... always the most frustrating and terrifying part of filming for me. Please pray that God will work everything out according to his plan, and give me peace and patience to weather it through!

Wednesday, November 18, 2009

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.

Tuesday, November 17, 2009

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.

Monday, September 14, 2009

End of July Shoot

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A Hint of Blanche's Slipper!
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"Bear" being silly...
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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.
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Friday, September 11, 2009

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. :)

Wednesday, August 19, 2009

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.

Sunday, July 12, 2009

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.

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Wednesday, July 8, 2009

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. :)

Tuesday, July 7, 2009

Days 15 and 16

Although I do not have pictures for them, we have completed two more days of filming since I last put up a production post.

On Saturday, June 27th we completed the second half of the "fairy tale characters in disguise) scene, where they sit down and begin supper. This was a milestone for me because I have done many differant scenes involving food, but this was the first time I feel we were completely successful. Also, I filmed the entire scene, which was quite fun. I really enjoy cinematography.

On Tuesday, June 30th we went downtown and filmed the scene where Lisa and Eileen stop Blanche and force her into Rob's car. Rather an odd scene to do in public, but no one asked us any weird questions. Thankfully! This was nearly an impossible scene to schedule, since all of the actors involved seemed to have work schedules that acted like opposing magnets. So needless to say, I'm incredibly grateful to have it completed!

The plan is to do the prom sequence this weekend. Undoubtedly it is the most complicated shoot of the entire film, so prayers would be greatly appreciated!

Monday, July 6, 2009

Rose's Dress

We have a winner! The same young lady who submitted Blanche's dress also did some super-fast designing and alteration and came up with something beautiful for Rose. Pictures will come once we recieve the dress and tweak it to fit Sharayah.

Many thanks to all of you who submitted dresses to the contest! There were some very lovely dresses for us to choose from.

Sunday, June 28, 2009

DEADLINE

Just reminding you all that the deadline for Rose's prom dress submissions are this TUESDAY, June 30th.

Saturday, June 27, 2009

Day 14 - June 24th '09

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Note about the kimono Blanche is wearing...the prom dress didn't actually arive until we were done filming this scene. So the idea is that Blanche throws on the kimono over her prom dress for the part when she's talking to Bear. It was the most workable solution we could come up with, and we felt the kimono looked like something Bear's mum would have had laying around in her room. We didn't actually shoot the part with Blanche waking up, so we'll be able to show her in the dress, putting the kimono on. Just so that there's no mistaking assumptions about this scene. :)

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(We shot stuff of Fish and Bear's conversation, I just don't have the pictures from that yet)

And here....a fun random photo op we did...

WHY "THE SHADOW OF THE BEAR" TOTALLY BLOWS TWILIGHT OUT OF THE WATER...because a guy with dreads playing the piano is so much cooler than a shiny vampire. ;)

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I just sort of love funny pictures of Jed and Hannah, don't you?

Friday, June 26, 2009

Blanche's Prom Dress

Congratulations to sisters Maria and Jenny for submitting the winning dress! Many thanks to all of you who entered!



Saturday, June 13, 2009

ANNOUNCEMENT: Dress Contest

Attention!

We believe we have found a dress for Blanche Brier! Communications continue, so no pictures yet.

However I would like to extend the contest and see whether we can find any more options for Rose. Sharayah, our Rose, is really very small, we probably can't accept any submissions larger than a size 6. (It just gets too hard to alter if something is too big)

Also, on that note, I would like to extend the contest to include Rose's rose dotted dress from the final chapter/scene of the book.

The new deadline for Rose's prom dress will be June 30th, the deadline for her rose dotted dress will be July 10th.

Good luck hunting!

Friday, June 12, 2009

Day 12 - June 12th '09

This was an unusual day because we began quite early - I was at the location at about 9:30 (usually we haven't started until mid afternoon). Everyone was quite tired, apparently we had all had big days/late nights on Thursday. However we had a small cast and crew and were able to work quickly and efficiently.

In this scene, Bear discovers the "A.Denniston" poem and discusses it with the girls, then Rose shares her philosophy of life with Blanche and Bear.

Also of note, this week Regina shipped up two boxes of "Brierish" things that we were able to add to the set. For instance, the peacock fabric that will become Rose's skirt makes an appearance by Blanche's sewing machine.