Filming Thof's Dragon

If you would have told me even a year ago, that I would spend my day yesterday coordinating actors and filming for a full-length documentary...well, I would have hoped that you were right, but I certainly would have laughed at you.

I know I haven't blogged in forever, and there really is no excuse for it. I could say that it is hard to find time to do a blog these days because I have a very rambunctious one year old...but I find times for other things. And I could say that it is because it is hard to get free from that one year old to type something at length, especially when any moment I get out the laptop she comes over and starts banging on the keys. But, I solved that excuse tonight as I type this while she sits in her high chair and sucks down raisins. Yes, she literally sucks them down...no chewing. If you doubt me then I will show you one of her dirty diapers ;-)

So, here I am a still-considering myself a new mother, typing on my blog the day after I filmed anything bigger than I have ever done.

Excuse me for a second while I go back to the beginning of this grand journey.

The seeds for the film-making passion were planted in high school when we worked with a video editing program as part of my computer lit class. We only had the capabilities to really use still photos, but the possibility of using moving images to convey a message really struck a chord with me.

In college I took one video/radio class as a requirement. There was a class project assigned and it was fairly simple and straight forward. I took that simple assignment and turned it into probably 100 hours of planning, filming and editing a project to give to the seniors of the KSU women's basketball team. Wow. That was pretty cool to see that played after their final home game on the jumbo tron in Bramlage with just the seniors, their teammates and family watching. Still blows my mind that I was given so many opportunities to learn and do things I had only dreamed about during that project.

Fast forward several years to when I had knots in my stomach while purchasing my first-ever camcorder (it was a lot of money to spend on something that I felt was a want instead of a need). My younger cousins, Taylor and Cody, were the subject of most of my projects back then...but I think they prepared me for all the challenges of filming kids ;-) A few years later I was given the opportunity to teach a video editing class at the high school where I teach. We are now in the fourth year of having that class available.

Now, to yesterday's events. A lady named Deb Goodrich approached me about working with her on a full-length documentary about the Fort Wallace surgeon Theophilus Turner and the dinosaur he discovered. I was never really into learning history from a book, but last year while working on a project about the ghost town of Sheridan (that was located about 10 miles from where I have lived my whole life), a passion for the crazy history of this area came alive.

Deb already knew my father and aunt and has been involved in numerous things at the Fort Wallace Museum. She has also served as a historian and consultant on many documentaries as well as authoring several books and being a co-host for the television show "Around Kansas". She felt like the story of Turner was one that needed to be told. His discovery was hugely significant and kicked off the Fossil Wars in the United States. However, he died before he was every truly recognized for his contribution.

 I think Deb got the casting of Turner pretty spot on.

I was hesitant to say yes, but my heart knew it wanted to get involved. At the time, I was early into a pregnancy and was a bit worried about such a big project during a pregnancy...but I knew I still wanted to do it. Not too long after I agreed, I had a miscarriage and discovered in the final week of my first trimester that I had lost our baby. It was heartbreaking.

Despite the heartbreak, I knew I needed to move on and this project was the perfect thing to do it with. I started reading any and every bit of literature that would involve Turner. Man, oh man, did I learn a lot about our area during that time.

I spent so many nights lying in bed trying to fall asleep but instead I was having images of shots I wanted to film running through my mind. This had become a passion project.

Now it is time to put up or shut up. I know I still have so much to learn and I am truly an amateur in terms of filming...but doggone it I want to try!

 It's always fun to try out different ways to get a shot!

I have spent weeks of grant writing and racking my brain for ways to raise money for this project. There are so many expenses involved with doing something on this scale. But I want to try. Yesterday was our first day of filming and it was so strange to have a lot of these people that I have known for a large portion of my life and respected so much looking at me and waiting for me to tell them what they needed to do. Everyone was so great and never once did they say, "Um...you want me to do what?"

We all froze our backsides off together and we all learned together as we started to make this story come to life. We just did some initial filming to do a short trailer to promote the film. This week will be a lot of going through footage and editing like mad. It will also be a lot of racking my mind again for ideas of how to raise money. If any of you have ever done grant writing before, you will understand that it is a lot like putting your heart out there and waiting to be either rejected or accepted without every really knowing the reason why. It is very humbling.

My family and friends have been incredibly supportive and it is so humbling to have that love and support. It makes me want to work that much harder to make sure this project succeeds. The response to the photos I posted on Facebook yesterday has been overwhelmingly positive and it has been fun to see the excitement behind them.

I am truly going to try to use my blog to keep you apprised of the latest on our documentary. We are hoping to premiere it in July for a big event at the Fort Wallace Museum.

Now, on to the shamelessly plugging my project. If any of you would want to donate, here is the link where you can do it online.
Resurrecting Thof's Dragon

Another way is to donate to the Fort Wallace Museum and tell them it is for our film. Or you can always talk to me directly with any questions. This is a non-profit venture, but like anything else, it has costs along the way to make it a reality.

(I really wish this clip had sound ;-)

Thanks for listening to my novel of a blog! Hope to get back on here on a more regular basis...but for now, my daughter has finished her pile of raisins, has dropped two spoons on the floor, has apple crisp all over her face and has successfully filled another diaper. Sigh...off to the glamorous life of a mother (which I wouldn't trade for the world!)

Annoying Guineas

Part of the fun of having a farm is having space to raise different types of animals. My husband LOVES guineas for some reason. He thinks they are one of the coolest birds ever. So, he fixed up a pen and bought a few. Even less actually survived the summer. They got out of the pen before they were really big enough and some bigger animals made a tasty snack out of them.

They are about the ugliest bird I have ever seen and my grandpa used to have some when we were kids. They would scare the living daylights out of me sometimes when I would ride my bike past where they were hiding. Take a listen to their noise and see if that wouldn't startle ya just a bit!

Giving the Bird

Ok, this is corny I know. But I am a teacher that hates to hear kids cuss and flipping people off drives me nuts. I think it is pointless and mindless and just shows that you could be using your brain a bit more than doing those things.

Anyway, even though I hate the actual action of "giving the bird," I have to admit that I have had fun being corny with my high schoolers about "giving them the bird" during this assignment ;-) Yes, that's teacher humor for you. Don't worry, I am no longer offended if you join my students and roll your eyes at my weak attempt at humor.

So here is my progress on the bird drawing I will be giving to an art show. The show benefits youngsters in Honduras and I think the proceeds are going towards buying them instruments.

 

I had to have a fellow teacher help me figure out how to do the background. I have to agree with her that green was the way to go.

 

After getting most of the background finished, I felt like the contrast of the colors against the background just didn't "pop" quite the way I wanted it to.

 

After I put black around the edges and faded it out, I really liked how it worked.

 

Here is the finished product after I finally remembered to add the little leaf 

on the bottom of the branch.

 

I have probably said it before, but I enjoy looking at the photos of the process of creating the artwork way more than I like looking at the photo of just the finished product. I think it gives you a lot of insight into how the mind of the artist works.

Spreading my wings...sort of

It is a little funny that I spend five days a week, eight hours a day, teaching art or art-related subjects to students at school. Yet, I can hardly ever find the time or energy to sit down and do artwork for myself.

I currently have high school students doing portraits of birds using oil pastels. I realized that I am teaching them how to do something that I've never really even worked a lot with myself. So, I decided to make my own piece of art. I'll keep you in the loop, but thought maybe it would be fun to share my progress with you.

 

This is the first step of getting things down on paper. I told my students this is probably the most important step. It involves a lot of looking at shapes and proportions.

 

Once they have the initial drawing done, then it is traced onto the thicker bristol paper. I did this so I could trace the lines very lightly since they will show through the oil pastels.

 

Since the pencil lines show, the trick is to disguise them with color changes at those locations. I'm going to see how it works out for me, but I'm lovIng the project so far. This is a media that is fairly new to me, but so far I love working with it!

I get excited when I get to work with color. Especially when it is trying to recreate or represent the beautiful colors that God paints everyday objects in our world. Having to sit and analyze how the colors blend and work together just fascinates me and allows me to be amazed by God's creation even more!