There's not much point to this post...

But I bet someone's going to read it anyway!
Ah...well, the movie project is going well. We really need to find a NAME for it...it's getting annoying just calling it 'the movie'.
We were thinking of "A Tale of Three Siblings", but that didn't work. If it had been "A Tale of Two Siblings", it would have, but with three of us it isn't similar enough.
Paul and I did a lot of rearranging the script (by phone) yesterday, and managed to get rid of two whole scenes that we didn't need. Then this morning I wrote up the first of the three scenes left to script, sent it to Paul, and he likes it...at least for a first draft.
So now we can work on the next-to-last scene!
Pretty cool...only two scenes left with almost a month to go before filming begins!
Although like three weeks of that is going to be so jammed full of stuff for either Paul or me that I doubt we'll be very productive. And on top of scripting the last two scenes, we have to go back over the entire script again and do a revision to take out any irregularities and rough spots before we film...and it would be nice to be able to try out most of the dialogue by phone or video chat, before our trip out there, so that we can make sure it flows. But all that is slightly optional...
Another revision that was made was that Davy is not the bad guy any more. It's either going to be Paul or me, and I'm thinking me. So the script is going to have to be updated with the proper names.
I'm so glad Word has a find-and-replace feature.

As for current events, the only news is that my parents and I are flying up to Minnesota tomorrow to visit my grandmother. We're going to be there for five days, and I hope to get some footage with my mini-camcorder that I can practice editing in Final Cut. I need some experience with it.
But I don't know how much time I'll have for that around this online Axis & Allies game we have going with Paul and Davy and me. . .it's an addicting game. Paul, as Japan, is totally blowing America out of the water, and is beginning to encroach on Russia's (my) eastern territories, just as Russia is finally beginning to wear down Germany's (Paul's) defenses in the west. It's an exhilerating game, but also mentally exhausting.
Oh...AND Paul has taken over the entire continent of Africa. Not so good for the allies...

Well, I think that's about it.
I'll wrap up with a photo that may play a part in a new theme for my blog...not sure yet.

Cool, huh?


~Pe†er

Ace Wonder Movie - Teaser Trailer HD

Check out the trailer for the latest movie by the makers of The Widow's Might!
This is the first of several teaser trailers they are going to release soon!
It is going to AWESOME!!!





Their production blog is here:
http://acewondermovie.com/blog/
The link 'official website' on the sidebar will take you to the official Ace Wonder production website.

~Pe†er

Final Cut Express...yeah!

The latest addition to my editing software:

Final Cut Express 4.0.
I've only tinkered with it for about half an hour so far, but I can already tell I'm going to love it!
The video project I did for Pleasant Valley Days really made me realize that if I'm going to get into serious video editing, I'm going to need serious software.
So I invested in Apple's signature video editing program...the express version, of course. Final Cut Pro is WAY out of my price range. Over a thousand dollars...whew!
It was either that or Adobe's suite of software, but I'm a Mac guy, I guess.
Maybe Adobe's software is better...after all, that's what HeuMoore uses. But I'll never know until I try, huh?
Paul thinks that now that I have Final Cut he won't be needed for the editing for the movie we're working on. He got FC like a year ago, but hasn't had the time to learn how to use it. But since I'll only have it on the laptop when we go to Oregon, we'll be using his computer, anyway.
Now all we need is a good script...

Paul? Where art thou?

Back to the movie

The video project I was working on is now complete! Actually, it was complete about a week ago today. It was shown at church on Tuesday night, and got a standing ovation. I was really, really embarrassed.
I'm still, a week later, having people stop me randomly at church to say how much they enjoyed it. They all say how talented I am, and ask when the next project will be. I have to tell them I don't know about the next project, because they just happen spontaneously. It's been two years since I did one...and it might be another two years since I do another.
As far as my being specially gifted...I'm not so sure. I'm not really sure how many of these people would actually know if I was. But Scott, the head of our media department, is impressed, too. And it takes some doing to impress Scott.
I don't know...I have a lot of trouble with unloving and self rejection, so it's hard for me to accept that maybe I am actually good at this stuff. But it's always possible. I've always been a visual storyteller, and what's more visual (and better at telling stories) than movies and film?
Maybe filmmaking is where God wants me...I have no idea. I enjoy working with cameras and computers, and do graphic arts stuff, too. It could be.

But, for the time being, it's back to the movie project.
Paul is having a really busy series of weeks here, with his oldest brother visiting from Michigan, and YHEC nationals in Pennsylvania in a few weeks....so the movie might not get worked on very much for a while. But I suppose that's okay. I can doodle with the script on my own, and see what I can come up with. And there's always the phone.
Isn't it great living in the age of instant communication?

Maybe not so much, but it sure helps with projects like this.
~Pe†er

The ultimate anti-hero

When I first saw the cover of the movie Twilight at the movie rental counter of our supermarket, I was somewhat incredulous that it was actually being watched by anyone. It just looks like pure and undiluted evil. Now I know all the stuff about judging a book by its cover, but just the premise of the movie makes it automatically off my list of things to watch. I never watch horror movies, and Twilight appears to be the latest and greatest of the genre.
But I'm not going to critique the movie, since I've never seen it and I've never even read any reviews of it. But yesterday I was musing about the whole idea of a vampire being a good guy. Something about that idea is counter-intuitive for me. Vampires have (to my knowledge) always been the bad guys in stories; so what's with this new twist, of the vampire being good?
The more I thought about it, the more interesting the problem became, until finally something clicked in my head. Twilight is very subtly. . .
Well, let me back up, here.
When movies were first made, the action adventure kind (like Errol Flynn's 'Adventures of Robin Hood', and 'Capain Blood') were always basically based on the same premise: A good, likable, heroic character going around and fighting evil, tyrannous people. Being dashing and swashbuckling and gallant, rescuing ladies and eventually probably falling in love with one of them. Great plot. Granted, after three hundred movies have been made with the same plot, it might get boring; but clever movie studios always managed to throw some nice twists in there to mix it up a little. Westerns and adventures and romances and all different genres were all centered around a likable protagonist (most of the time). But a suble shift began to occur - too slowly to assign a date to - that began to develop the idea of the 'anti-hero'. Basically, a protagonist who isn't good in the pure sense of the word, he's just not so bad as everyone else so you end up rooting for him. I've never understood why people like movies like that, but it started a trend in the movie industry.
So then Harry Potter came along a few years ago, and while I don't know enough about the series to be able to judge it very well, I get the impression that Harry is actually a likable enough person. My problem with Harry Potter is that it was condoning witchcraft and occultism, and presenting evil practices as good. So it was, in a sense, an 'anti-hero' type of movie
Now along comes Twilight, and things really start to get interesting. Now, a quick background on vampires. To my understanding (and I haven't done any research, so I might be wrong) vampires are supposed to be humans that have something go wrong inside, so that they act normal in the day and at night fly around and drink blood. And they become impossible to kill except by some hocus-pocus routine, or something. So basically, vampires are presented as un-human creatures, but with human bodies. They're not human.
More than that, vampires are always presented as evil creatures. They are basically an embodiment of evil. Count Dracula certainly was not a good guy; in fact, I believe he was presented as totally evil. Vampires almost seem to be the 'artist's conception', if you will, of evil spirits embodied. So it was understood that there was not one little good thing about vampires.
But what did Twilight do? Twilight has taken a totally evil being, and made it the protagonist of a story. That could almost be called the ultimate culmination of the anti-hero idea. See how twisted that is? But wait, there's more!
In order for the viewer to have any sympathy with the protagonist (the vampire), the creator of the story had to make it a little more human-like. So now the vampire has a love interest.
Let me make a statement. Something that is totally evil cannot love. Love is an attribute of God. Evil spirits and Satan cannot love because they are alienated from God. As far as I know, mankind has a unique position as created in the image and likeness of God, but influenced by the enemy kingdom. So if a creature that is not human is evil, it is totally evil. Aside from humans, I don't think there is a single being in the universe that is not totally given over to either God or Satan.
But Twilight has taken a totally evil being, and is telling us that it found a soft spot in it's heart for a girl.
Impossible!!! A totally evil being cannot, nor would it have any inclination to, do anything of the kind!
So what Twilight is subtly suggesting is that this being is, in fact, not 100% evil.

What I see coming out of this whole Twilight-mania is an idea, slowly infecting our culture, that there is no such thing as 100% evil or good. That everything is a mixture of the two.
But let me tell you, that is not true. God is 100% good, and the enemy kingdom is 100% evil. You can't get around it. You cannot make evil good. Our culture is being taught to believe a lie through an engaging story.
Now, you may say that I'm reading through the lines too much, and maybe I am.
This is just what I see happening. . .and I thought I'd talk about it.




Finally, brethren, whatsoever things are true, whatsoever things are honest, whatsoever things are just, whasoever things are pure  whatsoever things are lovely, whatsoever things are of good report; if there be any virtue and if there be any praise, think on these things.
Phil. 4:8

The movie is on hold for a little while

Yeah...Paul had to go to YHEC nationals over the weekend (last weekend), so he was out of town for three days. Then he gets home and I find out that he and his dad are going to Seattle to tour some kind of tractor truck factory. But that's okay, because I've just taken on a new video project that needs to done in about two weeks (if not sooner).
I need to get the project done by next week, in time for a week-long event our church does over 4th of July week.
So the movie just got bumped temporarily to 2nd priority. But I'm sure Paul won't be crushed...

****

Whoops...correction, please.
Paul just reminded me that they had YHEC state, not nationals.

My latest project...

Well, actually, it should be our latest project, because Paul (over at Youth of Chivalry) and I are working on scripting out a short film. We're kind of co-writing it....and we're planning to film it when my family goes to Oregon to visit this fall. Paul's family and mine are very close, and we always stay at their house, so we'll be able to film very easily. We'll be on set all the time.
A sample of the script:

[screen is black]
{sound of:

Paul and Peter: “DAVIIIIIIIIIIIIIID!!!!!!”

And stomping feet}
[cut in to a shot of David’s doorway, from inside]
{Paul and Peter come stomping in, visibly upset}
[camera swings right, and follows them as they march up to the desk where David is sitting]
{Peter and Paul start talking to David}

Paul: “Okay, Dave, start explaining! Our candy is missing, and we found this ridiculous note in the box…”

{Paul starts reading the note}

Paul: “If you ever want to eat your candy again, do all the chores that dad left for me. Then we can talk about terms for the return of your candy… What is this supposed to mean???”
David: “Simply what it says, gentlemen.”

Where [square brackets] indicate camera view/camera action/what the camera sees, and {squoogly brackets} indicate action by the actors/action in the frame.

That's just a little bit. There's lots more done, and even more still to be written!