The Premiere

And now at long last, the news you've been waiting for... how was the premiere?

Wonderful.

We had over 100 attendees who were extremely positive about the film and by the general sounds of laughter during the screening seemed to enjoy it a lot.

I had a crazy, awesome time and was thrilled to see my work at last on the big screen. I only wish ALL of you could have been there!

But, since that wasn't possible, I instead am going to share with you some of the best photos of the night. Thanks to Hannah and Amanda for giving me permission to use them!

Lastly I know you all are about to ask...

The DVD will be coming out later this year. Regina herself is taking over coordinating the final polishing work so that I can focus on college. This means we could see the DVD anywhere between September and Christmas. However I no longer have control or the responsibility to worry about that timing, for which I am immensely grateful. When I have a date I will of course post it here immediately, but it may not be for awhile.

Video: Snowball Fight

In honor of the premiere tonight, I release to you one last scene --- the snowball fight! This also includes music!

You can watch it at youtube here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nOGakk_ZXAk

Final Premiere Updates

Tickets will remain available for pre-order until midnight tomorrow (Tuesday). If you don't get your order in by then, you'll need to purchase at the door. (checks prefered but cash accepted. No credit cards.) At this point we WILL have tickets available at the door, but they will be first come first served, so if you do plan to purchase at the door, come early! You can arrive as soon as 5:00. We advise arriving no later than 5:30 to get decent seats, and the program will begin at 5:45.

Following the movie (which will be running at 1 hr 50 minutes), we will have a short presentation followed by a question and answer session with the actors. Afterwards there will be a chance to request autographs from the cast and crew. (We advise bringing your own pen and paper ;) )

We originally were going to try to have concessions, but at this point will be unable to do so. Do plan to eat supper ahead of time!

We're dressing up for the occasion and would like to invite all of you to do the same! Formal dresses and suits are welcome, "church clothes" are also completely acceptable for the more casual folk.

Again, this is not the 100% completed version of the film -- we are working desperately to do all that we can do, but were unable to get all the ADR or music completed in time. It's a minor miracle (and the support and assistance of my amazing family) that is even ensuring that the sound is good enough to allow the premiere to proceed. (You wouldn't believe how close it's been over the past few weeks). As I type this my own health has kept me pretty much incapacitated for most of the day... I hope and pray that I will be able to make it through the premiere myself.

However, for all that, there is so much for this night that I am excited for and I would not have fought so hard for it if I didn't care so much for all of you and believe in the story we are telling and it's power to shine through no matter how rough the medium.

In order to get the sound done, I had to lend out my computer. Therefore I have limited internet access and limited time (as I prepare for the coming days). If you have any questions, I BEG you to check our FAQ section, or e-mail theshadowofthebear [at] ymail [dot] com and Janny, our ticket manager will do her best to answer (she knows most everything important AND she has my text number if I can't get to the computer to answer, however she's also working a full time job so patience is appreciated!)

Finally, I've answered this many times in many places but I keep getting asked... YES. There will be a DVD. It will not be available until later this summer. All information regarding it will be posted here on this blog.

Thank you all for your support, prayers and patience. Please continue to offer up supplications as we get through the final part of what has been a very difficult process.

Rob's Story

Meet Rob Tirsch. Good looking, got a way with girls. And he just happens to be showing attention to one of our heroines....


Sound isn't final in this video, but the picture is fine cut! Also, I kept the youtube quality low so that you all could watch it easily no matter what your internet speed. The actual movie is much higher quality.

SOUND :)

(Rob, stunned by Rose's accusations)

Many many thanks to my friend Alicia for directing me to a website where I could get just about all of our needed sound effects free! You can visit it here: http://www.grsites.com/archive/sounds/

(To download, right click the file type you want and hit "save link as")

I had a blast last night laying in the sound effects and most of the prom music.

We're still looking for a suitable swing song, at least something to use as a placeholder for the premiere. It needs to be free and public domain and we'd greatly appreciate any help!

ONE WEEK!

The movie premieres exactly ONE WEEK from today. I can't believe it, can you?

Oh yes... and if you are planning to come and haven't ordered your tickets yet, may I point out that there is no time like the present? ;)

Screenshot Wednesday

We are so close, folks...

Every day I have to deal with adjusting to a new idea of what the movie at the premiere is going to be like. I have to give up stressing about a piece of sound, or a missing shot, or a type of music. It's been a lot of hard lessons for me.

HOWEVER. That said. I think even if you all saw the movie right now, understanding that music, audio and color correction were not done, you would STILL vastly enjoy what you saw. Because the whole story is there. The characters are there. The journeys, the moments, the lines...

I've done three films previously and this is the first one where I have sat down and watched the rough cut and actually been excited about it.

Will it be perfect? No. Will it be "The Shadow of the Bear"? YES.

And those of you who are coming to the premiere get to see this all on the big screen AND meet the actors, myself and Regina!

What would I rate the movie?

What would the movie be rated?

I've always thought it would be the equivalent of a PG-13 rating. Why? The movie is quite faithful to the book and Regina has always said the book is intended for ages 14 and up. If you would like to see a rundown of more mature content in the book, I suggest checking out Regina's Picky Parent Guide here: http://fairytalenovels.com/docs/Picky%20Parent's%20guide%20to%20Shadow.pdf

Screenshot Monday

Back from the wedding (and it was WONDERFUL!). Now to catch up on movie stuff...

Our Ticket Coordinator is in the process of moving to another state, so please be patient if she doesn't reply to your e-mail immediately. :) Thanks!

"Paper Moon" update

Word came in today that we will not be given permission to use "Paper Moon" in the movie. This is disappointing to me because I do love the song very much... but since there's nothing to be done about it, I'm moving on to trying to work out an alternative song that will fulfill the need.

Fine Cut complete!

The fine cut is -- well just about --- complete. I still have to do the credits and input a couple shots, but the timing on everything is locked --- it can't be changed. I did the ENTIRE fine cut today and am really very pleased with how it turned out. My rough cut was not so very rough which was why the one day thing was even possible.

So now I'm off to celebrate a wedding. I'll be back next Monday to get the movie finished. :)

In need of some audio assistance.

Mr. Freet is not a very pleasant man, is he? (Our actor, Greg Bunce, on the other hand, is awesome)

So! We are in need of some assistance! Those of you who are forum members have probably already read Regina's message, but I will repost it here:

As you probably all know, Elizabeth has been struggling with illness for these past few weeks and that has been VERY frustrating for her particularly as it's inhibited her ability to finish the movie.

The GOOD NEWS is that, thanks to the support of her family and friends, the Shadow of the Bear movie premiere will still happen!

The BAD News is that it probably will not be 100% perfect, although Elizabeth is going to do her darndest to get it to be at least 95% perfect. There's always time to perfect it for the DVD release.

So please pray for Elizabeth in these coming weeks before the movie premiere. As I told Elizabeth tonight, "If God asks you to do something and He really doesn't want you to screw something up, He tends to make sure you're as weak as possible when you do it. Because that way, He can be strong through you."

So all I can think is, God must have big plans for this movie! Please pray!

~Regina Doman

My co-producer and I are working as hard as we can to get the movie in the best possible shape before the premiere. I spent nearly every free moment in the last week and a half doing nothing but editing. Yesterday I probably put in a good eight hours. I will be continuing to work right up until Tuesday night --- but Wednesday I am due to leave town for five days to be in the wedding of my very oldest friend.

The picture itself should be in pretty good shape by then. My co-producer, Josh, is working on getting all of the ADR done. We've got one composer signed on and are trying to secure a second so that we can get as much music as possible done before the premiere.

However, I have just been informed that the level of audio work that needs to be done is so great that my co-producer cannot complete it in time for the premiere. I might be able to do some, but since I'm severely hard of hearing it's not a very practical or optimistic situation.

Therefore we would like to see if any of the fans have the experience, software and time to help us get the SOTB audio into good shape. You should be able get a good idea of what we need from the clips I've posted. And while we can't promise any monetary compensation, you WILL get to see the entire film quite early. :)

If you are interested, please send me an e-mail at theshadowofthebear [at] ymail [dot] com ASAP!

While Audio is our biggest concern, we could also use assistance with color correction, if that interests anyone.

New Clip: A Visit to St. Lawrences

Bear takes Blanche and Rose to the church of St. Laurences and shares a little bit about his past.

(As always, this is still a rough cut. We're starting ADR work this week though!)

To Order Tickets

Tickets are $7 each.

Simply send an e-mail to theshadowofthebear [at] ymail [dot] com with the number and names of the attendees, as well as whether you'd like to pay via paypal (preferred) or check.

As soon as we receive your payment your tickets will be confirmed. You will be able to pick them up the night of the premiere.

If you have registered for ReginaCon (full time or Thursday) your tickets have already been taken care of.

Because space is limited, we encourage you to order your tickets as soon as possible. We cannot guarantee that there will be any available to purchase at the door.

Screenshot Friday and a chance to see more Movie Footage!

Blanche and Rose discuss whether or not they can find Bear's Penthouse.

NEWS!

Want to see some exclusive new footage from the movie? If you're a Minnesota fan, stop by the Minnesota Catholic Homeschool Conference and visit the Chesterton Press table and ask to see some of the movie footage!

Screenshot Wednesday and some FAQ's

Rose shares her intention to do some sleuthing.

So I've been getting some questions over and over again that I feel I should probably answer here once and for all. ;)

#1 -- When will we be able to order DVDs?

Hopefully July. The movie will still need some final color and sound tweaks after the premiere, and there are also things like a blooper reel, commentary (???) and subtitles to pull together. Then the DVD actually has to get produced! That all takes time, and I'm due to move in August so we'll see how it all comes together!

#2 -- are we getting a trailer?

No. I've recently been very sick, and only just got the last of the footage a week ago. This means that if we are going to have any sort of presentable film for the premiere I have to devote all of my attention just to getting the movie edited. I will however continue to post movie clips, as those would have to be edited anyhow and take minimal time to render and upload.

#3 -- I'm coming to ReginaCon/Fairy Tale Festival. Do I still need to order tickets?

Nope! If you paid the full price (or Thursday day price) for the festival, your ticket is included in that.