Taking Movies in a whole new Direction

 On day 3 we filmed the bar scenes, showing the decline and fall of our main charactor.

  At the last minute one of our actors e-mailed that he couldn't make it, so I had to find a replacement super quick. One of the guys who is in the film had a  older brother. His Brother agreed to play the part. It woudn't have ruined the movie to not have someone in that part, but it was really nice and added a lot to the scene.

  It took a little longer to get everyone in costume and makeup than it did last time. Partly because we didn't have as many make-up artists, and partly because the actors were more reluctant to put it on than the first time.

  We had come in early that morning to decorate the set. A set guy had made the bar a couple days before. It looks kind of fake, but we did that on purpose. We want the silent film to look cheap and like a movie that was done by a small company, who were going more for quantity than quality..

 The actors did a really good job that day. I think that the set helped them get into charactor and they were warmed up from the previous shoot. They seemed a lot less self concious about doing the over-the-top acting.

 We were done by 3:00, and everyone got to go home. Some of the actors even had time to stay and help clean-up, which we really apreciated.

 Here is a link to one of our child actors blog http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/clr/

Some of the actors getting into charactor before the shoot.

Here is the set for the bar. That's the camera sitting on the table.

Here is a guy playing a drunk and the bar tender.  

On Monday we drove to a local, Historic park, to film the next scenes for our movie. This time we were filming the part where the drunkard meets up with the bad companions, and another scene that will come later in the movie of the drunkard being dragged off to the sanitarium.  I am trying to follow Booth Tarkington's discription of the movie that Penrod watched, as best I can. I'm afraid it's not a happily- ever- after moral story.

   The first thing we did was get everyone into costume and make-up. Most of the guys had never worn any kind of make-up before, but since we are trying to make the film look as realistically "silent film" as possible, they were all good sports and wore it.

  I thought that the scene on the sanitarium steps turned out especially well. I think, although this will be a small moment in the movie, it will be a memorable one.

The filming didn't take long and I think everyone had a lot of fun doing it, even though they were a little uncomfortable in their hot costumes and sticky makeup.

In the movie "Penrod 2", Penrod goes to see a silent film. It had to be on a certian topic, so rather than use a period piece we had to make one. This meant that we had to learn how to do silent era make-up and filming techniques.

The Silent Film is called, "The Evils Of Drink". It is a moral film, depicting the life of a man who is influenced by bad companions, and ruins his own life by becoming a drunkard.

 The first thing we filmed was the scenes showing his family life. We showed how good his life was before he became a drunkard, and then how bad his life got after he became a drunkard.

  We filmed the scenes on location in a rustic cabin.  There was no electricity and the  cabin was full of those brown ladybugs. The dead bugs covered the floor. Everytime we had to kneel down we could feel them squish under us.  The live ones kept flying in the actresse's way, and got all over everything. I think we even brought some home with us after the shoot.

 In one scene where the man came home drunk, the actor had to mess the house up. He sure did a good job at that. We had quite a time cleaning up after him.

  We got the filming done surprisingly quick. It only took us around 3 hours, and that's including set up and set decorating.

Mary playing the part of the drunkard's wife. Here she is knitting in the cabin.

Here is the guy who plays the drunkard, getting the camera in focus.

Here is Joe preparing for the scene where he walks into the cabin, drunk.

I have been extreemly busy with "Penrod 2" and have not had time to Blog until now. I shall try to catch you up on everything, In the mean time, you might read this blog post and this blog post by jimsruby.

"Penrod 2" is Cast. We had two days of auditions, both of which were very successfull.

"Penrod 2" Cast:

Bill Clemons............Penrod Schofield

Mary Lynn Sartain....Mrs. Lora Rewbush

Kathy Clemons........Mrs. Schofield

Kris White................Miss Spence

Casey Scott.............Miss Rennsdale

Betsy Clemons........Margaret Schofield

April Sellers.............Aunt Clara

Marshall Clemons....Georgie Basset

Zach Scott...............Maurice Levy

 On Friday JAC Cinema's Crew headed up the mountain to film the final scenes for "A Far-Fetched Fantasy". They had lovely warm weather and a overcast sky. But it was very windy which caused some minor problems for the guys in capes .It was filmed overlooking a drop-off with a great view. This last scene involved a sword fight between the hero and the "Guardian" . It was Choriagraphed by two of JAC Cinema's best swordsmen. For this scene both the actors performed their own stunts. No one was hurt, and the filming went well.

~ Betsy

Today I helped edit some behinde the scenes stuff for 'A Far-Fetched Fantasy". There is some really funny stuff going into the special features of this film.

 JAC Cinema's Fantasy Film is now in it's last stages of Production. The deadline for the finished film has been set for December. Check back later to see the up-coming trailor.

Director: Joe Clemons

Writer: Jake Scott

Cast:

Ron....................................................................................Jake Scott

Bob....................................................................................Sam Scott

Gnome............................................................................Bill Clemons

The Incredibly Old Man.................................................Brett Sellers

Id........................................................................................Baily Scott

Illa.................................................................................Jessica White

Patrick............................................................................Joe clemons

Gaurdian.........................................................................???

Today, the camera crew and actors hiked back into the woods to film another scene for the "Fantastic Fantasy". The weather was cool and made it pleasant for the actors who were warmly dressed in capes and prosthetics. Everything was going smoothly untill the poor gnome got stung by a yellow jacket on the mouth. The Director decided to call it a day and everyone went home.

A gnome in a tree.

The two lovely leading ladies, they play the parts of Id and Illa.

The director, (guy in black) instructing an actor on how to do  his scene.

The Hero!

The gnome after he got stung by the bee.

~ Betsy

JAC Cinema held Auditions for "Penrod 2" on Friday. We had a good crowd show up. I was pleasantly surprised how many ladies auditioned for the role of Miss Spence and Aunt Clara.

  All but two parts have been cast. We are having Call Backs for the role of Aunt Clara and have some more young ladies to audition for the part of Marjorie Jones.

 We had a lot more litle boys audition than girls, but we still have a lot more people coming in to audition later in October.

 I inteded to take pictures but I ended up being far to busy. Hopefully I will have a "Cast List" and pictures  for you soon.

~ Betsy, Director

"Penrod had been cast as the character named, the Child Sir Lancelot. A character whom he greatly detested. Each rehearsal he had plotted escape, and only ten days earlier there had been a glimmer of light."

~ Penrod, Peagent Of The Table Round