Kyle's Film

Check Out Robbie Seay's New Album

2007-08-08T19:02:00.000-07:00

SXSW

2006-12-13T19:36:00.000-08:00

We just sent off a BRAND NEW art/film contest cut of Kyle's Film to South by Southwest. We are really excited about this one. I personally think that it is better than the original cut, but I'm biased. No telling if it's gonna win anything, but again... nothing ventured nothing gained. Will be posting a link to it soon! Be on the lookout.

WorshiphouseMedia.com

2006-11-27T12:51:00.000-08:00

Kyle's Film is also now available online for download at Worshiphousemedia.com.

Check it out!

Austin screening!

2006-11-27T12:43:00.000-08:00

Kyle's Film is Now Out

2006-10-16T13:16:00.000-07:00

All the pre-orders have been sent out now! You can continue to purchase the film through Congress Clothing or at UBC Waco. Thanks for patitently waiting for it through thick and thin.

We are also in the process of setting up Screenings in

Austin, TX
Waco, TX
Houston, TX
Los Angeles, CA

If you are interested in setting up your own screening, shoot us an email. Part of the film will also be shown at Baylor Homecoming at UBC this weekend!

Shipping Out

2006-10-06T16:38:00.000-07:00

DVDS!

2006-10-02T13:14:00.001-07:00

They are here!

2006-09-29T14:00:00.000-07:00

The dvd's arrived at Congress Clothing today at 2 pm. We should start to ship them out to you guys this week hopefully, so the wait is almost over! Thanks for sticking with us!

They Are Coming...

2006-09-29T09:53:00.000-07:00

DVD Sent Off / Revised Website

2006-07-29T16:26:00.000-07:00

This past Thursday I put the finishing touches on the DVD and sent it off to replication. What a huge relief. 7 Months of work, finally somewhat completed in the form of the DVD. So we're all excited about the DVD because we should be getting them back really soon.

Some more notes.... The film website has again been updated and re-worked a little bit. 2 New PREVIEWS are up of what is going to be on the DVD so be sure to check those out. Also, you can download the "Footprints" project as it is now on the site.

The "art" cut of the film will not be included on the DVD- I wasn't able to finish up everything and I didn't want to rush it. Look for it later on online when school starts up.

Summer Update

2006-07-19T11:05:00.000-07:00

Sorry for the lack of postings this summer. I actually just returned from being out of the country along with Kyle Oz and Brendon, so things have been hectic lately. Thanks so much for all that are out there waiting on this film to come out. Here's the progress:

We've completed the first cut of the film, and that is what was originally going to be on the dvd, but we wanted more. We have minor audio tweeking to do on it, but essentially- it's done.

We're working on the dvd design, cover, and menu. There are going to be "extras" on the disk including some of the more enjoyable UBC videos that Kyle was in as well as other things.

We're finally working on second cut of the entire film, presented in a different mannor. This is more of a secular take / approach to the film that follows the sermon, but does not follow it exactly word-for-word. It will be used for film festivals, and will also be included on the final dvd.

We're also working to set up dvd replication and hoping to get everything out by the end of the month. This way there will be ample time to get the dvd's replicated and also get everything back.

The final thing that we are working on is "advertising" for the film. It has been a while since we've worked on this, so we are working to get the interest back into the film and screenings will be key. Again, please email us if you are interested in screenings or more advertising. See the main website for more stuff dealing with promotion.

August 25 Release

2006-06-13T16:36:00.000-07:00

It´s official. We´re going to wait around until August for the premiere, because there is still a lot of stuff that needs to get sorted out with the DVDs, promotional efforts, etc. So, again to all those that have pre-ordered, thanks so much. Every pre-order will be shipped out so that you will receive the DVDs by or before the 25th. The rest of the summer- mainly July and August will be spent on gettnig the word out on the film. We will also have select pre-screenings as well.

If you are interested in scheduling a screening or pre-screening or getting a cool button contact Kyle Osburn at
kyle@blinddinosaur.com

If you are interested in promotional material such as posters or web banners, check out the main site. Thanks so much for the patience while we keep working to spread the word.

Closure

2006-05-21T14:42:00.000-07:00

I can't believe that it is now the end of May. The project started developing during the month of December- 6 months ago. That seems like a really long time. It's with bittersweet sympathy to say that the film is finally completed. This project has definitely been the biggest undertaking that I've been involved with, due to the fact that everything became so time consuming. It's interesting to look back at what we thought the project was going to be, and to fast forward to now. It makes you realize how much you are really not in control of your own life and that the joy of life comes in the journey. I've really learned in all of this that if you are constantly looking for greater things in the future or back at things in the past, then you really miss half of life, and you could also miss out on what God is doing/saying in the present. That's been the main theme of this project. We had all these assumptions of what the film was going to be, and in the process of just living life and making the film, we were constantly blown away by how many good things came from just focusing on one day at at time.

I put the finishing touches on the film early last Thursday morning, and I'm not going to lie- I was really irritated and fed up with just little things taking so much time; I really just wanted to be done with the whole thing because it has become so life-consuming. I mean anything you work on for 6 months can get old, even if it's something that you really enjoy. But my whole attitude changed later that afternoon.

While I realize God has a plan, sometimes it's hard to see what was really going on until you look back at things. Just take my last week: Sunday lightning struck my house and damaged $5000 worth of my personal equipment- most of which affected the film. At the time I was really stressed and upset because the strike only really affected me and my editing equipment, none of my neighbors or roommates were affected at all. It almost seemed that the lightning was directly related to me, and frankly I was really upset. What was the point of my place getting hit by lightning? Why did I have to go through all sorts of trouble trying to work with the electrical company and insurance people, move out of my place, figure out another way to finish God's film, and try to leave for Mexico this next week. It just seemed like it was too much for me to handle. And truthfully, it was. But, I think sometimes in our lives we really need to have lightning hit to see what is really happening. Although the lightning pushed work on the film back, it allowed me to stay in Waco and finish up work on it. It also worked out that I got to show the film to Kyle's parents who were in town on the exact day that I finished work on it. And, after all was said and done, I got to replace my older computer with a new editing suite that will further my work and creativity in the future. Sometimes it takes a lightning strike to make you stop and realize the big picture.

Showing the film Thursday afternoon to Kyle's parents was honestly one of the hardest things that I've ever had to do. I've had experience with the death of my Grandmother while I was in high school, but Kyle's death was completely different. While my grandmother was 90, Kyle, a personal friend of mine, was 33. So, having to show his parent's their own son's memorial video was extremely hard. It's one thing when you are working on a project out in the field, having a good time filming, editing, etc.... but meeting them face to face put the concept into more of a reality: the reality that their own son died before they will. I can't imagine how hard this must be. It was hard enough for me just sitting there watching them watch the film about their own son. It was completely heartbreaking. Even though I have seen the film a million times, that one showing brought a new meaning to all the work that was done. And at the same time, it almost was a sense of closure. Closure to a full semester of work, and closure for the grieving process that I've dealt with since his death. It also brought on a new feeling- peace, and a sense of a new stage of my life. With the completion of the film and this semester, I will be traveling to Mexico for the month of June, and then off to living in L.A. in the fall for internship work / working on finding a job in film.

Kyle's parents were probably some of the nicest people that I've met. They almost seemed like they were my grandparents- when I met them it was like I had already known them for a while. In fact, Kyle's whole family is composed of some of the nicest people that I have ever met. They just seem like real, quality people- who have been through a lot with this whole thing. But the thing that got me the most was just hugging Mrs. Lake after the film. She started crying, and I was really trying to hold my composure, but I just couldn't. I lost it completely when she started thanking me for all the time that everyone involved in the project had put into it. I will never forget that moment. It was so hard just to be there and not to be overwhelmed with a great sense of sadness. But at the same time, the feeling of closure to everything rose up again. It felt to good just to be with Kyle's family, including Jen, Jen's mother, and Avery. I will always cherish getting to know them.

It was really hard for me to drive away from the house and focus on driving. It was just one of those moments in life that had a great impact on me. It was also one of those drives that again brought closure to the whole process.

So, needless to say, the film is completed. The music is done, the editing is done, the compressing is done, and the DVD is pretty much almost done. I leave for Mexico for the month of June, and am passing all the work involved with promotion and keeping things running down to Brendon and Kyle Osburn for the month of June. Thanks again to all those who have pre-ordered and to all of those who have been keeping up with the film through the entire process. Brendon will be working on getting the DVDs out to DVD replication this week. Hopefully our investor will come through for this first batch of DVDs. So, be looking to start receiving DVDs during early June. They are a little late getting out, mainly due just to things being so crazy.

We will be posting previews of the film this week onto the website and other venues, so watch out for those. Our next phase is advertising, getting the word out, and organizing select screenings during the summer and into August. We will probably organize a big screening for the Baylor community at UBC sometime in August. Other screening are being planned and set up around the country. If you are interested or have any ideas for screenings, contact Brendon_Lankford@baylor.edu or Kyle_Osburn@baylor.edu during the month of June. I should have web access in Mexico, but no guarantees. If you have any questions or comments, feel free to email any of us. Thanks for reading this really long post.

Lightning Strikes

2006-05-16T10:56:00.000-07:00

So, a bit of mis-fortune occurred this past Sunday. Lightning hit nearby my house in Waco, causing an electrical surge. This surge damaged around $3000 worth of my equipment, including my computer. So, consequently things have been really hectic with insurance, and the film (while almost complete) is definitely hindered because parts of my computer don't work. So, to all who have pre-ordered this May, sorry for the delay, but this kind of thing is out of our hands. We're hoping that later this week we will be fully up and operating again.

Audio Finished

2006-05-10T15:57:00.000-07:00

Today we finished the audio for the film. We finished mixing everything at the Crowder barn, and it really sounds awesome. It's so cool when you have authentic music for any of the projects that you work on. It just adds that much more creativity to it. So, we're really excited about the music for the film.

Now, we're just working on lining up little things such as titles and credits to sync with the music. The 2nd half is starting to take shape as well. It's looking like both segments will be around 20 minutes total. So, this is good.

Music Update

2006-05-06T14:10:00.000-07:00

I think somewhere in the Catalyst posting they said we were going to be releasing Kyle's Film on May 6th (as in today), just to clear things up that probably would be nice to have everything done by today, but I'm pretty sure that it's not going to happen. So, we've set our deadline for next week to be completely finished up with the master DVD to send off to the replicator. So, we are probably looking for an end of May release. Thanks so much to everyone who has already pre-ordered. The plan is to have a cut of the first part of the film for the DVD, and to also have a different cut for various screenings, film festivals, etc. So, there will actually be a couple of versions floating around. Also we will probably be posting a small preview of the film online in a week or two. Purchsing copies will still be through Congress Clothing, however various church outlets (such as UBC and other places) will have copies for sale. All of the DVD profits go to Jen and the kids.

Bwack from the Crowder band has been working hard on scoring an original score for first part of the film. We've been working most of the week on lining up narration with the music and timing. So, things are finally starting to come together, and are flowing. This next week will be really busy with finishing everything and making the master DVD. It's been a long but fruitful semester of work that I hope that you will get to see very soon.

Banners!

2006-05-03T10:52:00.000-07:00

Check out the site for our new web banners. If you have a blog or a website and you want to help promote Kyle's Film, add one of our cool new banners to your blog or website. And if you haven't pre-ordered your copy yet, head on over to the Congress Clothing site and get your copy, and check out the cool t-shirts they have on the site as well. Also, if you are in the Texas area, and would like to have a Kyle's Film screening at your church this summer, please contact Kyle or Josh and we will try and set something up.

The New Trailer

2006-05-01T01:43:00.000-07:00

I finally put up the 2nd trailer onto the main website, so check it out if you have a chance. It highlights more of the 2nd half of the film that is more of a montage of Kyle's life. It might be hard to watch, but at the same time it's not because I think Kyle's message shines through the song.

We're still in the process of marketing and advertising for the film. While this sounds very business-like and turning the film into a commercial process, at the same time it's the best way to get people to see Kyle's message. So, let us know if you are interested in helping spread the word on it or just start telling people about the pre-orders.

Special thanks to Jonathan Standefer and Genevieve for all the help with the website and pre-orders. You guys mean a lot.

Pre-Orders!

2006-04-26T21:28:00.000-07:00

Well after making you all wait on the edge of your seats for so long, it's finally here. Our good friends at Congress Clothing have set up the pre-order page. You can order the dvd of the film for $10 or you can order the "Embrace Beauty" package of the DVD and a really rad looking t-shirt. Check it out, and keep checking back soon as we are nearing the completion of the film in the next few weeks.

24

2006-04-20T12:50:00.000-07:00

Yeah, 24 hours of rough home video footage. I captured about 30 minutes of the "best" stuff to be working on this next week, as I will be out of town. We finally have around all the pictures and video we could get to do the montage of Kyle's life some sort of justice. Hopefully, this 2nd part will be a really special thing as home video is extremely personal. Jen has been so nice through all of this, really trusting us with all of this.

We're kinda taking a hiatus for a week, as we will be working for Sony out of state. We should have internet access to update and such. Be watching for the pre-orders, I know I continue to say this but- they are coming really soon. The pre-ordering process provides us with information on how many people are actually interested in the DVD, and also helps us with the money situation (how much we still need to raise to cover expenses, etc.) There is also going to be a T-shirt available to buy as a combo package with the DVD. Until next time... cheers.

Almost

2006-04-12T10:27:00.000-07:00

With baby steps, we are still going strong. This extent of this project has grown far beyond what we have imagined. Our new website is intitally up @ kylesfilm.com. Check it out for the latest project happenings. We're still working on the 2nd half of the project, and tinkering with the most appropriate music.... more later. The pre-ordering website will hopefully be up next week. There were some techinical issues this past week with it.

Update

2006-04-02T11:17:00.000-07:00

This last week we got a lot accomplished. On Friday we finished our first rough cut of the film and it looks pretty good. I think the completed first part is going to be around 5 minutes. We are definitely going to have multiple cuts of it, one for the ubc folks, a "secular" type of cut for festivals, etc. and probably another cut for the web. We're also using an incredible program called Shake that is put out by Apple (for green screen technology and enhancements- also used in lord of the rings). Some of our shots were not smooth because we were shooting on top of a car, with vibrations etc.... So, Shake is going to take care of smoothing out some of the boggles, which is really cool. We did some testing and the results thus far have been really good. Also, some of our friends at the Robbie Seay Band and the David Crowder Band are hopefully going to be coming up with some good original music fairly soon for the film/dvd. We're going to be working on that this week. Hopefully next Sunday we will be having a UBC screening of a new version of the trailer as well.

We're currently setting up a way to start pre-ordering the DVDs. They will probably be around $10-$15, the profits going towards Kyle's kids' college fund.

The hardest part

2006-03-26T20:27:00.000-08:00

I actually think today was just as hard as any production day. I do a ton of video slideshows for weddings, events, teams, etc. that I get tired of doing because I never know any of the people in the photos. But today I had to scan Kyle's. I never thought I would ever be scanning Kyle's own slideshow. Pictures say a thousand words. So, anyway we're starting to put together the second half of the project that focuses on Kyle's life. I'm excited about it because it's something that needs to be done. The editing is coming along. This week we will start working on promotion for the film and we will be announcing pre-ordering information soon. If there is any way that you would like to help out with promotion via word of mouth etc... please do or email us with ways to do it. We really want to reach as many people as possible with this.

Slideshow contributions

2006-03-23T14:30:00.000-08:00

We are in the midst of post-production right now, but we are also in the process of collecting together pictures and videos of Kyle for a slideshow portion of the film, so if any of you have any pictures of Kyle or videos, we would love to use them. You can email them to kyleosburn@gmail.com, or if you are unable to scan them, just let us know and we can work on a way to get them scanned.

Also, we are still looking for contributions to cover our initial production expenses. We also want to start working on setting up money for our initial DVD investment for 500 copies. So if you are interested in any of these things email josh@30frameproductions.com.

Also, The Lariat is running a story on the work we've been doing. Check it out.
Cool Story

The Trailer Arrives

2006-03-21T21:02:00.000-08:00

We have finally posted a rough first version of the trailer. Finally you can see what we have been up to for the past couple of weeks. I hope you will enjoy and like it- let me know what you think because we definitely want feedback. We will be working on a HD version very soon that will be posted as well.

Kyle's Film Trailer 1

josh

*Soon

2006-03-19T19:10:00.000-08:00

I'm happy to say that a much needed spring break was very successful. I'm also very happy to say that we will be posting the trailer this week. I'm not sure when, but it will be soon, so keep checking back. It looks very nice, and I can't wait for you to take a look at it and start spreading the word.

This week we will be editing and working on fundraising. Another new stage begins.

A Job Well Done

2006-03-09T07:54:00.000-08:00

Wow. Thats all I can say about last night at Filmworkers, Dallas. We drove up completely nervous about the footage not showing up / one of our rolls was supposed to be messed up, and we just tried not to talk about it until we got there. Then we got there. Let me start by saying I was expecting the lab to be someplace that resembled a run-down Radio Shack with an old dude and some colored markers just drawing on our film. What we got was quite possibly the coolest film place that I've seen in Dallas. We were greeted and ushered in to a swank, upscale film club, complete with free drinks, free food, leather couches, and a breakroom with pinball among other things. Our colorist, Valerie (who was very very helpful and nice) lead us into our own private color-correction session. The room had all the technology imaginable for color correcting in HD + more leather couches, a guitar, full sound system, giant screening tv's, a mac to check our email/internet, and movie seats. It was pretty much the coolest place.

Then we got to see our footage. To attest that we are not in control of this project, most of our stuff was slightly overexposed, some parts really overexposed, and there was one part when we were shooting where the roll came off of the gate of the camera, giving us some blurry images. That was all fixed. In the most beautiful way. Our footage is quite possibly the most amazing stuff that I have ever shot. Valerie just pushed some buttons through color correction, and our footage came to life before our eyes. We just had to sit back in the leather chairs and tweak colors in accordance with our vision for the film. We opted to scan the film in HD at 2k resolution at 24p (for any geeks out there) which basically means we have a high definition scan of our color negative (that can be played on HD monitors, etc). And man does it look ridiculously good. All of our fears were alleviated with some amazing technology. As Brendon put it, we were served a slice of humble pie. I'm completely convinced HD color correction/DI's are the way to go with film because there is so much latitude for creativity.

After the session, we got to go visit the HD scanner room and the actual lab in the back where our film was developed. Basically, the whole trip was completely educational and completely worth all of our time we spent shooting this past week. It's crazy how just this one day made everything worth it. Everything. So, thanks for all the encouragement/prayers that we've received during the production process. We've learned that this isn't really our project that is in our hands, rather it is something of a bigger orchestration of the ultimate colorist and filmmaker. This was evident in the events of last night as we drove back in a lightning storm completely in awe.

I can't wait for you to see what is happening here.

A New Phase

2006-03-06T15:54:00.000-08:00

It's with bittersweet sympathy that I say that our 12 day shoot ends tonight. 12 days really doesn't sound like a lot, but considering that we were at it everyday (and keeping up with school), it was extremely tiring. During this week I learned much more about filmmaking than I thought I had already known. It's hard when you are the producer, director, cinematographer, set design / art design, gaffer, electrician, technician, and editor all rolled into one. Now I really understand why major films have super large budgets for all these people. I wish we would have had a bigger, more consistent crew to help out, but we somehow managed. Hopefully we got a few cool shots in our 1400 ft. of 35mm that we ended up shooting. Our final shot is tonight, and it is actually going to be my favorite shot of the whole film if it turns out. When you see the film you should know which one it is.

On Wednesday we will be traveling up to Filmworkers in Dallas to watch all of our footage, so I'll be eager until then. We also will get to work with a professional colorist and we will transfer everything to HD. The transfer isn't cheap, and now that I'm thinking about it- we could have shot the whole thing on DV for $5, but we really wanted something like this to be something that people would remember for the visual quality for years to come. Wish us luck.

Another note: hopefully the week after spring break we will have a "trailer" up on the website. Now by "trailer" I mean more of a preview because I don't want to turn this into a commercially-infused thing.

Money Talks ($800)

2006-03-04T19:56:00.000-08:00

Believe it or not, money really talks. If you are reading this and feel like you would like to help out in some way (or know someone who would like to) we could definitely use your support. By the end of this week we have to put up around $800 for processing and transfer for our 15 minutes of film. We need this so that we can complete Kyle's project. So, if you are interested in contributing to this project and furthering Kyle's message, definitely contact me. Our plan is to initially make 500 dvds to distribute to UBC members and anyone who knew Kyle, possibly make more if we need to (and have the resources to), and also to post it on various websites (also contact me if you are interested in this.) While I know it is hard to donate to something without seeing the finished product, I can only assure you that the results thus far have blown my mind. God is working through this film and I can only thank him for allowing me to be apart of something like this. Never doubt what is possible with the emotion and power of film to impact lives.
josh@30frameproductions.com

Today we met a really cool bagpipe player whose name was Danny. He was the coolest guy who has been playing bagpipe since the 70s. He helped us out with a couple of cool shots during the afternoon. AND since I've used the word 'cool' in every sentence thus far, we had a cool time. Tomorrow will be our almost last day of shooting. We have a couple of gardening shots that need to be completed, and then we wrap Monday night. What a week it has been.

Shooting Phase Almost Done

2006-03-03T21:14:00.000-08:00

It's now Friday and man this week has been pretty exhausting. We've shot something pretty much everyday, which is great and has allowed us to think of more stuff creatively. When you space shooting out and mix it with rest, creative things happen. I've found when you try to cram too much stuff into one day, towards the end you find yourself just wanting to get done to go take a nap.

In the continuation from the Wednesday update, Wednesday was a very producive day. Our good friends Paul Pryor and Scott (Billy) Lilly came up and helped us throughout the day. It's now Friday and I've been slacking with taking pictures lately. So, these pictures are still from Wednesday.

However, we've been in close contact with Filmworkers Dallas about our film transfer to HD. The plan is to wrap shooting Monday with a very special shot, and the we will be heading up to Dallas on Wednesday night to see our footage in HD (!!!) and work on effects and color correcting. So, the production end of things is starting to slow down.

Today, Friday, we shot a very cute Browning baby and concluded the day with some amazing play shots from the Waco Hippodrome. My good friend Lacy Lynch helped us with the acting end of things, simulating a play ending. I'm actually very proud of how the look of this turned out, and I'm sure when you see it you will agree. Tomorrow, Saturday, we will be shooting a big gardening scene and some more random "arty" shots.

We Got Exposure !!!

2006-03-01T21:19:00.000-08:00

After a climatic day of waiting for the lab to get things settled out and the pictures online, we finally saw our first results. And I'm happy to say that we were very pleased with what came out. Both our interiors and exteriors were very close to what we had predicted. There was a little overexposure of some of the outdoor shots, but apparently that was due to the light meter that we were using. So, now we have a new light meter.

By the way, the pictures that are on this post are the pictures we got back from the lab. While we haven't seen them in motion, they give the just that there are no scratches on the film and let us know what we have ballpark for exposure. We will have the film scanned to HD (telecine HD 2x transfer) so that we can color correct at Baylor.

So, back to review of today: 7:00 am woke up and filmed a hearse (depressing.... not really because we filmed it in an arty way...) and then in the afternoon we shot a mustang driving scene (exciting... yes because we were all hanging onto the car and filming on the roof.) I should have gotten more pictures, except I didn't want to die from falling off the car. Oh yeah, I also ripped my pants climbing through barbed wire, getting the shot. I had to take one for the team.

The Suspense Continues

2006-03-01T00:15:00.000-08:00

So, the lab was supposed to call or email me with proofs from the film we shot last weekend. And.... nothing. I'm assuming it will be online tomorrow, but I have been worrying about that all night. This really makes or breaks the project. If our exposures come out good, no worries. If our exposures come out bad, we will have to plan on re-shooting a couple of scenes. I'm expecting a mixed bag of things, but I could possibly just be worrying over nothing- which could quite possibly be the case.

We shot some more stuff this afternoon (imagine that) around golden hour. And man was it golden hour. We went out towards Crawford, TX, passing the hippy peace shack and the 'bring them home' hippy bus. We also messed around with some exposure and frame rate effects for added art.

I also think we got a cool book in the field shot (see pic) that I was pretty proud of. But like I said, I'm not exactly sure how proud I will be until I see the exposure pics tomorrow. With that, we finished off our second roll of film, bringing our shooting count up to 400 ft or around 5 minutes of footage. Tomorrow will be a big day, waking up around 7 to shoot a hearse and later a mustang. What a contrast.

Correction: 5:30 am not 6:00 am

2006-02-27T16:50:00.000-08:00

Yeah, so 5:30 am was my wake up call yesterday. I don't ever recall getting up that early in my college career. We shot from around 6 am yesterday to 5:30 pm, breaking for lunch. Needless to say I woke up from a four hour nap at 10:30 last night. The sun rise over Lake Waco was nice, it was no beach or mountain sunrise, but it worked out ok. We got some of the weirdest looks from the fishermen that were near by. It's funny how when you have a camera people give you the weirdest looks or act like they have never seen a camera or crew before. I know it's not LA or New York, but seriously. We also shot a biking sequence in Cameron Park in the afternoon and every car that drove by slowed down and had to look for about 30 seconds before moving on. One guy completely stopped his "sporty" Dodge Neon, stuck his head out of the window and then proceeded to put the car into neutral and rev his engine for about 10 seconds to impress the crew before riding off. I was completely impressed, so much so that I decided never to film there again. If that doesn't describe Waco in one sentence I don't know what does.

Common Grounds was also very kind to allow us to shoot a coffee sequence there Sunday morning. We got some cool shots in making coffe and grinding coffee beans. Another highlight from the day was that I fell off the dolly that we were using. I'm cool. We ended our near 12 hour shoot shooting some UBC soccer.

Today, Monday, we completed camera mantinence, and we shipped off 200 feet of film that we shot this weekend. As I was taking the film out of the camera, I realized that I was holding around 2 minutes of film and around 17 hours of work all combined into 1 roll. We will get pictures from the development tomorrow night. If they are good, I'll post some. So, tomorrow will be the test to see if all of our efforts were properly lit and executed. I'm nervous, but I studied hard.

The Clearing

2006-02-25T23:31:00.000-08:00

There's just something about rainy days that make you want to do nothing. I was definitely less motivated today when it was cloudy and gloomy like it has been for the past week. I think cloudcover makes you sleepy. On that note, we filmed two shots today. And as I just wrote that, it put the scope of the work that still has to be exerted for completion of this project into perspective. Both shots were under 4 seconds in total running time length, and I think we spent close to 4 hours on these shots- Which brings me to say that tomorrow we will be shooting from 6am-6pm- Which also brings me to ask myself why I want to do this for a living.

Today we basically worked on a little bit of shooting, locations, and scheduling for the rest of this week while the outside was pouty. The good news was that by sunset today the clouds started to clear, which was a sight that I welcomed.

When we were lighting for tonight's scene, I realized how much of film is based just off of painting with numbers. When you light a scene you basically take light level readings which correspond to numerical light compensations (f stops) on the camera. So, when you have your final scene set, your overall exposure is just a compromise between a bunch of different light levels. (See picture) In conclusion, I'm going to bed.

You think you know, but you have no idea.

2006-02-25T00:50:00.000-08:00

So, in keeping with the craziness of this whole thing we like to call filmmaking, today lived up to expectations. Today consisted of waking up at 9:00 and driving to Austin to pick up the camera. We had a really good time learning about 35mm loading, exposure, and lenses- so much so that I think I've learned more today about film than I have in a couple of months. I also loaded my first $250 roll of film into the camera and found myself shaking afterwords because I didn't want to somehow screw up the film and lose $250. (Yeah I know that it's just loading film, but you can't argue with messing up $250.It was a big deal for me.)

After a business lunch, we drove back just in time for some nice Austin traffic. We setup our first shooting location above Baylor's SUB around 8-10:30 and wrapped around 11:15. All and I I'd say I'm pretty pumped about shooting 35mm. It was pretty over-dramatic because we setup 2 hours for 2 four second shots. All and all I was surprised with how well the lighting looked for the room. There is just always that hint of doubt when shooting film because you do not have instant results like video, but it adds to all the drama of shooting film..

Tomorrow our shooting schedule is going to be flexible, depending on our contacts and the weather. Weather.com has been good to me, telling me that we should see a lot more sunshine than we expected for this next week. It's nice when things come together at the very end.

Weather.com and Madness

2006-02-23T20:43:00.000-08:00

Well, tomorrow marks the first official day of shooting. It's going to be intensive. By intensive I mean the shooting schedule includes this weekend, all of next week, and next weekend. We have reserved our Arri II C 35mm camera for this time period and we got a killer deal from a film guy in Austin. We're going to be heading down to A-town tomorrow morning to pick the camera up and get a quick review on the basics of shooting and lighting for film.

On a side note, I didn't think it was possible to look at weather.com more than 1 time per day, but it entirely is. I have basically set weather.com as my homepage for this next week. So much of what we're shooting depends on sunny days so we're hoping that we get at least a couple.

Kodak Comes Through

2006-02-23T11:10:00.000-08:00

It's just crazy. Kodak made my day today. We received 2,000 feet of brand new, unexposed 35mm film for the project. While that sounds like a truckload, it's really only around 20 minutes of stock. Surprisingly this 2,000 feet is just quite perfect for what we're doing. Kodak definitely came through because all of this was completely donated (at a value of around $1200). We're shooting the new Vision 2 500T 5229 line of Kodak's 35mm cinematography stock selection. CRASH and CAPOTE were both shot with the same stock that we are using.

A Project Based on Beauty

2006-02-22T15:49:00.000-08:00

There is no doubt that Kyle Lake lived life to the fullest. Both his inner and outer beauty will be remembered by all of us. I find it extremely ironic that Kyle's last sermon was based on the movie Garden State, a film that grasps what it is like to discover experiencing the here and now in the character of Andrew Largeman.

Kyle's Film is a project that we feel very called to take on. When you lose a friend like Kyle, it's hard not to want to give back in some way.

Kyle's last sermon was surprisingly very cinematic in its nature. Not only did it detail appreciating beauty in the ordinary things, but engaged a sense of inspiration and an eerie comfort in the wording. By instigating this project, we are not elevating Kyle to a level of worship and admiration, but rather we are celebrating the beauty of God that was seen through Kyle's life.

The purpose of this blog is mainly awareness about the project, and for you to follow along in the filmmaking process. A small crew of people has been assembled to organize and direct the direction of the project. Our end goal is to present the conclusion of Kyle's last sermon in an artistic and expressionistic way that is left open to interpretation.

Images and cinematography will be the main catalysts, bringing words from a page to life. The medium of film has always had a certain sense of mystery and beauty that has enthralled the world to fall in love with the cinema. We will be shooting this project on 35mm film, a medium that seems suited to capture Kyle's words, helping them still maintain that sense of love, depth, and warmth that Kyle was remembered for.

The second part of the project will highlight Kyle's life in a series of pictures of Kyle, family, and friends in a slideshow-type fashion.

Our end goal of the finished film is to reach everyone that Kyle reached and more. Screenings, DVDs, and Internet postings will facilitate getting the word out on Kyle's message and legacy.

While creating a work of art is an enthralling and creative process, it also involves a more practical end of things, particularly creating a budget and keeping a time schedule. Shooting film is 10x more expensive than shooting video. Due to the nature of the medium, developing and transfer costs for film shoot up very quickly even for the amount of film that we are shooting. We have secured a portion of our budged based on private donations. At this time we are still looking to secure more so that we can complete the project and distribute it to a maximum amount of people.

The time schedule is tentatively set for project completion in early May 2006 and we are pretty pumped about the direction that the project is headed in. A lot of cool ideas and ways to portray Kyle's message in a creative and beautiful way have surfaced and we are running with them. In the days that follow, keep us in your thoughts and pray that God would be glorified in our actions and in the production process itself.

How you can contribute financially:

Download our project synopsis here :

Kyle's Film Proposal

Contact Josh Franer : josh@30frameproductions.com