Saturday, March 14, 2009

Creating an organization

Other lesson I learned this year is that I cannot do this by myself. Don’t get me wrong, it was never my intention to do the film by myself but that is what ends up happening when you don’t have enough money. I realize we must have enough money but the other thing is that I must delegate tasks to others. You should see my to do list, it’s like 3000 items long! That’s ridiculous! It would take me ten years to complete it! So once we get the fundraising engine fully up and running then I will hire a production manager, PR person, office assistant, etc. I’ve got to get this to the point where I am focused on holding the vision for Star Kids and Dream Power and managing the process. The problem is as an entrepreneur or social entrepreneur you can fall in to the trap of doing some task and feeling like you are making real progress because you are getting something done. I’ve got to get to the point where I am not implementing anything. If I am implementing something then that means there is something else that is not being taken care of because no one is running the ship! I’ve got to focus on running the ship if this is going to happen. And to add to that point, I am learning that just because you can do something doesn’t mean you should. In fact that can be a trap that dooms you to failure. See the E- Myth by Michael Gerber for more information on managing an organization, it is an excellent book on the subject. I just have to learn how to follow his ideas.

The fundraising plan:

Ok here is the plan – copy Green Peace!

Green peace has these canvasser guys all over the city with notebooks standing in crowded corners getting donations and I think we can do that too! We have been doing grassroots fundraising similar to this for almost a year now in front of post offices, banks and grocery stores with growing success. At this point we can make a pretty convincing case and get donations. All we have to do now is multiply that by about 20 and I think if we could bring in $500 a day we could fund the entire production properly which at this point is several hundred thousands of dollars. Assuming this stage works the next stage is to get a production manager going as soon as possible to handle the pre-production management duties, such as getting production items donated. The more this person can get donated by the summer the less cash we will have to spend on the actual production.

So that is it.

My next step is to hire and properly train a team of grassroots fundraisers.

This might be a novel way to finance a film all you need is a good cause and that we have!

A Window of Opportunity.

A window of opportunity.

I am really excited because I realized that the idea of doing Star Kids on weekends with volunteers in an episodic fashion is just not working. The problem is logistics and scheduling. People may think that film making is some high art that depends on where you point the camera and the angles and the lighting but I tell you the high art of film making is just being able to get the elements at a certain place in space and time. That is the challenge! Man if you could do that you can have your 5 year old sister film and you would have something. This is the difficulty! And the problem with unpaid volunteers (God bless their souls!) is that they have other lives so once you get a commitment from Joe to be on set Sat Jan 5th, when you call Mary she is not available and when you set a date that Mary is available Joe is not available! Then multiply that by 20 people and what you have is pretty much impossibility. So realizing this, that at this rate it will take me five years to complete this film I realized I needed another plan. Then I realized that we have a window of opportunity!

The window of opportunity is that if we fund raise very aggressively (I will talk about how we can do that later) we could raise enough money to pay a crew and film for 30 days and finish the filming. It is possible. But to work it will take a very aggressive fundraising plan.

Saturday, January 31, 2009

Gearing up for Star Kids 2009!

Ok, it's time to gear up again for Star Kids in 2009! This time I intend to finish the sucker! I took a 3 month break from it because I was totally burnt out from everything but I am ready now. I realize this time that I need a crew even if it is a bunch of kids. So my first order of business is to get the Movie Club up and running. That is what I am calling the Star Kids internship program. I have started fundraising again and it is going better than last year. I have also decided not to release the film in episode format. I could do that but that strategy would require ten times more editing. We will still film it in episodes but we will edit and release the film as one feature length film.

I am trying to figure out how to speed up the production. One way would be to use a low light HD camera so that we would have a minimal amount of light setups. Also to go hand held all the way and not use tripos so much. And, finally to use a battery operated LED mobile light. This way when we do need a light we can quickly move it with us and not have to worry about power and cables etc. If you have any suggestions on low light cameras or LED lights please let me know.

I really want to film episode 2 in February and I am determined to do that. So I need to set a date soon.

I also found out that I cannot go back to the location where we shot episode 1 and I need to do that to finish it. So now I am thinking of finding a new location and re-shooting it and using the footage for a trailer. We did learn a lot from that shoot but really it was a rehearsal. We made a ton of mistakes and I was not totally happy with how it went. There is no time to find a new location right now So I am thinking we will shoot episode 2 in chinatown and then once I find a location re-shoot episode 1. I hate doing things out of order and I know that is a common practice in film but it just feels better when you are going sequentially through the script.

Monday, October 6, 2008

Sunday, September 14, 2008

We finally started shooting

Wow finally, after so much time and effort we have started shooting the movie! All kinds of things went wrong, but they say that's the way film making is. We got on the set at around nine in the morning. At first I didn't understand why we had to be there that early to shoot just five pages of script but it soon became apparent that the reason we get there early is because we are going to spend at least half of our time putting out fires and solving crazy problems. The first thing to go wrong was that the lady I had originally cast to play the mom got robbed the night before. She still tried to make it to the shoot but it was clear by about 2pm that she wasn't going to make it. So I grabbed a young lady named Malika Lee off the set and drafted her to play the mom. Then the original dad didn't show, just went completely AWOL on me. So I drafted my friend Pete Milosovich who is a screenwriter and who had come over to help out as 1st AD. Pete and Malika took on their new roles with gusto but then David our cinematographer discovered that the bulbs in the lights were no good. So Mike Mylan, the owner of the house we were using, volunteered to go all the way to Glazer's Camera in Seattle to obtain some new bulbs. Finally at around 4 pm we started shooting. But now because of all the delays the evening light was beginning and when we went to shoot the dinner scene outdoors, by time David had the lights set up for one shot the sun would set a little more and he would have to stop and readjust the lights. Soon it was a battle between David and the sun and we were losing. So to explain how dinner starts in the day but ends at night we rewrote the last part of the scene to make it seem like the kids were out at the table hanging out all nite. We did this by having Malika come in and say something like "Wow you guys are still out here! Do you know how late it is, clear the table and get inside right now, it's time for bed!" I hope that works, I won't know till we start editing.

The other thing was everything took way longer than I expected. Because of the delays and having to move lights for every shot we were only able to shoot three pages of script instead of 5. I had to readjust my ideas of how long it will take to shoot a page of script. So instead of thinking we would come back Sunday and shoot five more pages. I accepted the new reality and decided to come back Sunday and just finish up what we were supposed to do Sat. We will return in Oct to do the next five pages. I figure instead of one day it will take two nites and two days to shoot the next five pages. Unfortunately the Mylan home is not available till after the 15ht of Oct. So in the mean time I want to try to shoot episode 2 in Chinatown.

You can see some production Pics here:

Make photo slide shows at www.OneTrueMedia.com

Sunday, June 1, 2008

Go day!

Today is Go day! The day we go for it. I finished the phase II budget for all of the l,location based outdoor scenes and it came in at $500,000. I expect a lot of that to be donated but we will still have to raise a significant amount of cash by July 1st. I am about to go meet with Shawn our Cinematographer about his crew doing the filming. My goal is to farm all the film production out to his company. That will free me up to focus on other details. Then it is on to PCC market for some fund raising and then phone calls and polishing up the latest proposal so that Monday I can hit the ground running and start looking for our large corporate level sponsors. I am hoping to get my constant Contact email list back up tonight so I can start sending out daily email reports on our progress.

Friday, April 11, 2008

Production Update

Things are going well. I am fully (again) into fund raising mode. We are applying for the $15,000 Seattle City Matching funds grant which should work well with our "Adopt a Scene" program.

Also I finally got an inside connection to Star Bucks. They are going to help me to reach the people who developed the Powell Barnett Park makeover. My hope is that who ever was in charge of that project must care about inner city issues and will hopefully care about this film and how it can help.

I also found a donor to do another Inspired Kids Cirque Du Soleil trip. I will keep you posted. I hope to take 50 kids this time.

I also talked to the president of Translucent PR, a film PR firm about coming on as a corporate sponsor and handling PR for Star Kids.

Thursday, April 3, 2008

Make a donation to help make the Star Kids Movie

Hello, my name is William Spiritdancer and I am founder of Dream Power International, a non-profit who's mission is to help people with their gifts and life purpose. What we call their "true dream" in life. Our goal is to help people discover what they love to do (their gifts) and apply it to a problem in the world they care about (their purpose). We believe our gifts are to be shared as unconditionally as possible and so we follow "The Economics of Love" and give all of our products and services away as freely as possible. How do we do this? We have many cool projects the first of which is our Social Community Website MyDreamPower.com which I would love for you to join. We also give away our last film a documentary "Journey of the Dream Warrior" free of charge. You can view it on our website or we can send you a DVD if you like. Please check out our website for our other programs.

The reason I am writing is because I need you financial help to make our next movie, a children's film called Star Kids. The purpose of Star Kids is to teach inner city kids the positive values of Peace Truth, Love and Unity. We want to do this to counter all of the negative values they are learning from home, the street and other media such as rap music etc. We also want to show inner-city kids doing non-stereotypical things in film such as climbing mountains, taking initiative, being creative etc. In alignment with our mission, we also want to use the film to teach kids that every child has a gift and a purpose. (In this case their purpose is to save the world!) And lastly we want to stimulate a discussion about why so much negative media is aimed at inner-city kids perpetuating many of the problems we see in the inner city. Our goal is to film the movie this summer, edit it this fall and release it in early 2009. We plan to distribute it free of charge to children all over the world via the Internet, local screening and free DVDs at youth organizations such as the Boys and girls club. Our goal is that one million kids will see this film.

Please go to our website to find out more.

You can make a donation here: Star Kids Donation As a thank you, you will get free tickets, DVD's, premier party invites etc.

Thank you very much for all of your help.

William & Roxann Spiritdancer

Founders, Dream Power International

Email: dreams@mydreampower.com

Tel: 206-274-6276

Web: MyDreamPower.com

~What's your dream?

***
Help one million kids learn the important values of peace, truth, love and unity
by helping us make the children's film, Star Kids: Awakening to Purpose!
Check it out at Star Kids the Movie
***

Sunday, December 16, 2007

The big project trap

Man I just finished editing the rehearsal footage from Snoqualmie falls and i made an amazing discovery! that i already have everything I need to do this project. I don't' know why i thought it had to be this big project to happen. even with the right footage we had from that day I was able to put together a cohesive entertaining story. I showed to my kids and their friends and they loved it. its very rough and crude abut what it showed me is that we can start doing this now. we don't have to wait till we have tons of money or for the summer to roll around. the other cool thing is that i saw this cool film called The Story of Stuff. its really good. its a 20 min documentary about how we are destroying the planet with all of our industrial production and consumer ism. what i also liked about it was the fact that it was a non profit film funded by the tides foundation and i like the way they are using the internet to get it out. so far i have seen three films that are successfully using the internet to get distributed, two of which are non profit and use the economics of love model. the commercial one is Zen noir which i hear is being distributed solely via internet by its producer and made $40,000 on its first day via internet dvd sales from the website. the other is Elephant Man you can see it at Elephants Dream which raises money by getting donations by preselling the dvd. They are working on their second film. Anyway both of these films made me realize we can successfully distribute the film using the economics of love via the internet. So that's what we have decided to do. We are going to make star kids an episodic internet miniseries. This way we can start filming now with what we have. As time goes on and as we get better equipment and learn better technique's the episodes will improve. As we finish each episode we can distribute them via the internet. when we have enough for a dvd we will make a compilation of episodes. i really love this idea because now i can have fun doing the film now. worrying about how it was going to get done in the summer and how we were going to raise tons of money was really taking all the joy and fun out of it. and as you may or may not know i believe joy and fun are central to the true success of a project. so stay tuned. for episode 1 and we will post the Snoqualmie falls rehearsal as soon as we can.

Monday, November 5, 2007

Moving right along

So I'm fully into fundraising mode and pre production mode. So far I've contacted lots of individuals and foundations about contributing to the movie as well as several organizations about being community partners. I'm getting a very favorable response so far. I feel really good about things and I think this is going to work. I found a really good book called "The Art of Funding" it has lots of useful information about how to fund your film the non profit way.

Sunday, October 28, 2007

fundraising part 2

Ok, I finally finished my non profit proposal for Star Kids. I sent it out to two people today and will call them next week for an answer. now that i have the proposal there really is no excuse for me not to ask people. but i am goign to focus most of my efforts on larger donors, such as foundations , corporate sponsors and philanthropical orgs. So far no donations from individuals. I don't know why? I think at this point I will probably get a lot of resistance to the million dollar budget. that number scares some people, they feel I need to do an extremely low budget film, say $10,000 or so. but I want this to be a real film that I can distribute nation wide and get the attention of these kids. to do that it has to be a professional production. the other number that might scare people is the idea of showing this film to a million kids. but it can be done and if this film reaches a million kids i would feel that it could have some kind of meaningful impact. I am not interested in just showing it to a few hundred kids. we need to reach a lot of kids.

I also decided I'm going to track down Zach Ziposvsky from the Fox On the Lot show. He did a great job doing special effects on a low budget quickly so I want to talk to him about being our special effects supervisor. I have to track him down first and hopefully he will not be too expensive and will be available. It's a long shot but worth a try. I am sure his exposure from on the lot made in very much in demand. but you never know.

Also I watched a really cool documentary called Hyperspace made by the BBC. They used a special effects house out of Australia called Beeps. I was so inspired watching their magical effects that I decided that computer generated special effects had to be a major part of the film. even if that would increase the budget. if we could put these kinds of effects in Star Kids, it will surely be a hit with the kids. so I am going to contact them as well.

Wednesday, October 17, 2007

The Five Reasons Why the Star Kids Movie Must Happen

African American youths today are bombarded by predominantly negative images of themselves through the music and film industry. By “negative” images, we mean images that depict African Americans in socially destructive behavior, and as living within limited stereotypes. Just to give a few examples, African Americans are often portrayed by the media as involved in criminal activity, as unintelligent, as poor, or as limited to certain careers such as basketball, or music. It’s time to present African Americans in a more expanded view and positive light.
These youths are culturally more attracted to film and music as mediums of learning, rather than literature. African American youths turned out in droves to see the film “Stomp the Yard” and “Akeela and the Bee”. Film is a viable medium for reaching and influencing this crowd.
African American kids and other under-represented ethnic groups in America often suffer from lower self-esteem and confidence because of the perpetuation of certain images by the current popular media. In order for them to reach their highest potential, they need to see people that look like them doing positive things.
We must bring these issues to the attention of the public! A film is a powerful way to draw attention to this problem, and begin a dialogue on the subject.
We will teach spiritual lessons and positive values through this film. Star Kids teaches children that each child is valuable and born with a gift and purpose no matter who they are. Children will also learn the value of truth, love, peace, and unity.

One Million Kids

I was thinking about non profit and for profit and I realized that in the case of for profit people , i.e .investors want to know what's in it for them. what are they going to get, how are they going to get it and when are they going to get it. well in the non profit world its the opposite. It's all about who you are trying to help. it. who are you helping? how are you going to help them, and when I realized that although the main goal of this film is help at risk children i realized i hadn't adequately explained exactly how this film would help them. The main goal is that as many kids as possible see the movie. How to do that? Partner with community organizations that are already serving those kids. organizations such as the Boys and Girls club. Anyway, check out my new non profit distribution plan. It's all about sharing. The other thing I realized is that we need to reach a lot of kids. How about one Million! That would be cool!

Outreach and Distribution Plan for Star Kids

Help One Million Kids

Star Kids is targeted towards at risk inner city youth, ages five to twelve, with a focus on African American youth.

The goal is to teach the positive values of PEACE, TRUTH, LOVE and UNITY as well as to show African American children doing positive things.

We plan to distribute Star Kids nationally though various non-profit means. Our goal is that one million at risk youth will be able to see the Star Kids film.

Children will be get to see the film by:

1. Watching it at a free public screening

2. Watching it at a special free Star Kids event

3. Being given a free DVD which we hope they will take back home and watch with their families.

4. Seeing it on TV

Community Partnerships

To reach one million kids we will form community partnerships with inner city youth organizations such as The Boys and Girls Club, community centers, libraries, churches, schools and municipal agencies. We will work with these organizations to reach out to their communities.

Special Events

We will also host special events geared around the opening of the film. At these events we will provide prizes, free dvd’s, posters, etc to help promote awareness of the film.

Testing for results

Since the goal of the film is to teach the important values of peace, truth, love and unity and to show African American youth doing positive things. We will measure how well the film teaches these values by asking the kids exactly what they learned from the film at the end of the public screenings. To do this professionally and accurately we plan to seek the assistance of a market research firm.

Funding

We estimate it will cost approx. one million dollars to distribute the film free of charge to these kids. To cover this cost we are seeking corporate sponsors such as Lego, Sony, Apple, Star Bucks, Sports organizations, etc. We are also seeking grants from foundations and other philanthropic organizations as well as individual donors.

Tuesday, October 16, 2007

back in the saddle

Ok i'm back in the saddle with Star Kids. the main goal right now is to do fundraising, make some product placement request, location scout mt. rainier before its covered in snow, and get the character design completed. so we can start on the costume design.

Man there is so much to do , like a billion things to do. sometimes i don't know where to start. I guess I'll just start.

Monday, August 20, 2007

Figuring out Snoqualmie falls

We went to Snoqualmie falls and that was really interesting. What I realized was that everything is going to take a long time. Even to do the simplest scenes. It's gonna take time. And I have to plan for that. So for the Snoqualmie falls part I estimate two days now. Maybe even three. Probably should say three to be safe and that doesn’t even include the town. Also safely is an issue. While we we’re rehearsing my daughter tripped over a wire and fell straight on her face. Luckily she just had a few bruises. But it could have been a lot worse. The other issue is the people there. It’s not like we can shut down the park but maybe we can have some crowd control. I need to look into it. Also there is this cliff where the kids climb down these rocks. That is going to be hard to deal with. We may need some rigging or something. You can see the pics here.

Thursday, August 16, 2007

To Snoqualmie Falls

Today we are about to go to Snoqualmie falls. This will be interesting. It will be interesting to see how close my vision matches with the actually reality of the place. I am also going to do some party style rehearsals and traditional rehearsals to see which works better.
I woke up thinking about the other movies today and how I can do all three movies while the kids are still kids. I realized that if we finish star kids 1 this spring and do star kids 2 this summer we can stay on schedule. All that matters is that I film them. I have plenty of time to do the editing. I think in my proposals I need to talk about all three films so I can get funding now.

Thursday, August 9, 2007

It feels cool to take action

I went and checked out Chinatown and it was great! There are so many cool locations there that one could do a whole kids film right there. We found a really cool alley much better than the one in the lake union area. In fact Chinatown makes a much better location in general. Also as we we’re looking in the alley this old lady walked down and went into one of these delapedated side doors. I thought "that would make a great place for the kids to escape to." So I came up with this sequence where the kids escape from the bad guys via the apartment then though a restarant and then a grocery store. That should be really funny to watch but now I’ve made things even more complicated because now I have to get permission for all of these places. But I think it can happen. The plan was to start shooting as soon as possible, ideally Monday. But then I called the actor who was to play the “Man in white” and he is out of town till the 19th. So I guess that means I will have to push the shooting of what I am calling the Chinatown sequence till then. So what is next. I want to shoot all the out door scenes first. Because one, they are easier, it’s usually just the kids running and being chased. And two, they are longer and it is best to do it while my kids are out of school. And three, they are weather dependent. The indoor scenes I can shoot anyday. So now it's on to the water fall. Ideally Snoqualmie falls. But I heard they don’t want movies shot there. Hmm. We’ll have to get past that one. See our adventure below:

Will & Rox Scout Chinatown from Starkids Movie on Vimeo.

Wednesday, August 8, 2007

Doin' it Party Style!

I'm just going to do star kids. I don’t care what happens. I'm going to do it party style, and it will be what it will be. I think it's important to start doing it. I can wait forever but there is majic in the process. I will never discover that majic if I keep putting it off. So we’re going to do it party style and the essence of party style is:

have fun.
If we are not having fun , what is the point. The ends do not justify the means.

You grab the resources that are around you.
This means we just grab extras and actors from right around us. We do not haul a lot of people around. We make the best use of the situation that we have creatively.

act on the moment,
Don’t read script lines. Instead you improvise situations. With digital equipment this becomes possible. Because you can keep rehersing the situation over and over again. The script is just a guide.

always reherse never do the final serious take.
Always stay in a non serious rehersal mode. This way people are relaxed and not so serious. I.e. Not so fearful. So why leave this situation if you don’t have to. Just reherse indefinitely. In the film world you had limited film so you had to be real careful about what you filmed but in the video world you don’t. You can keep taping and taping all day if you want to. It makes for lots of editing but who cares.

mimimal planning. In this style you only do the absolute mimimal planning . the key is to just get started as soon as possible. Because you don’t know what you are going to run into.

Tuesday, August 7, 2007

Ahh another lucky day

There are lots of sevens in this year for some reason. Hope that means it will be a good year. I’ve surrendered the Star Kids movie to God. I am trying to get as close to God as I can. I really see now that that is the answer. It's so tempting to look to something in the world as the answer. But it's just a delay tatctic. I started struggling with the film again today. I started thinking we could do it quicker. In aug, or just the outdoor scenes or something. But it started to feel like a struggle. I just don’t know what to do and when to do it. Part of me feels like I can just start doing it now, and I could. Maybe I should. What am I waiting for anyway? But then I feel I do need some money to do it. Some money. Anyway, I decided to just pray about it and wait on God about it. That’s hard. But it's necessary. If I had done that earlier maybe things would be happening now. I need a camera, have no idea whwere to get one. Etc. Maybe it just doen’t matter. I can do it as I am guided to do it. Seems like the more I let it go the better it goes.

Monday, June 18, 2007

Final lap

Well this is it. Time to raise some money. I've done everything I can so far. The script is written. The business plan is done. So is the full production schedule and budget. I wanted to do a public offering but there's not enough time. So I'm doing a private offering. I have 30 days to do this. We have to start shooting at the end of July. I did two auditions, they went really well. I've also been in touch with the Washington Film Commission. They have been really helpful with all the locations outside Seattle. I still need to contact the Seattle Film Office about the Seattle locations. When this film is done it will be a virtual cinematic postcard for Western Washington and Seattle.

Wednesday, May 9, 2007

Finished!

I finished the script! Finally. The final draft. It turned out that I had a lot of useless dialog. I read some of Story by McKee, probably the best book written on script writing they say, and I realized I was describing too many things verbally. When I went and took all that out, the script came back at 121 pages. Perfect.
I’m printing it out now. Any more changes will be production changes. But this is now the official script for the movie and that’s what I’m passing out.

Friday, May 4, 2007

Determined to get it done

I’m working on the second draft of the script and I am determined to get it done this weekend. I mean completely done. I realize it has to be done for us to make any progress. At first I was worried about it but it’s ok. I noticed that if I act it out it gets a lot better. I just feel embarrassed doing it that’s all. But it has to be done. When I really act it out I can get it to work. The only other issue is that I need to shorten it by about 15 minutes. Right now it’s at 133 minutes. That is too long. I’m going to have to cut some major scenes. So what I’ve been doing is taking out scenes and seeing if I notice they’re gone. If I don’t notice they’re gone then I leave them out. If you don’t notice they’re gone then it means that they didn’t really contribute to the story. I already took out this cute scene where the kids are exploring Pike Place Market. But unfortunately taking that out didn’t impact the story at all. Once they got the money out the bank the next issue was to find the “Man in White.” I did think it showed them kind of being lost in the city but I guess that’s not so important to the overall story. It’s important to get to the point in stories. So we will see.

Thursday, April 12, 2007

Lite rehearsal

Man it was great I went out and did a lite rehearsal with the kids. We did the outdoor scene where the kids are climbing Mt. Rainier. It was really interesting. What it showed me was all these scenes are going to take a long time. For example: to do a small scene where they had to look like they were hiking. It took like 30 minutes. It was just a half a page of script. The kids also did pretty well but I had to go thought this process where first I talked about the scene. Then I explained the dialog. Then we rehearsed the dialog in place about five or six times. Then we acted out the scene about three times. And it was only after all of that that they got into the natural rhythm of it and did it well. That’s a lot of stuff. So anyway I need to make sure we plan for that. It was also good to go out and actually see what would be involved logistically to do each of these scenes. I realized that, we have to get there. Then you have to have helpers to help with little things. Also the kids are restless and want to play a lot, so they will need lots of breaks. But the good thing is that they are learning. The more we did it the faster they learned. I think once we get into the rhythm of production things will not take so long. The main thing I learned was it’s going to take a long time to do anything but with lots of practice the kids are pretty good. And rehearsal helps definitely. If you want to see the results check out it out below!

Wednesday, April 11, 2007

Feels good to start

Man I started location scouting today and it really felt good. It felt good to actually start working on the film. I took some pictures. I mostly scouted out an alley for the scene where the kids run into the "Man in white". The location I found was pretty good. But there is construction nearby but then this is Seattle. Where isn't there any construction? The whole city is one big construction site. Then I picked up the kids and took them to the downtown library to scout it out. I had the kids walk though some of the scenes and I took pictures. I decided I’m going to use these photos as a kind of photo story board. It felt good to actually see how the different shots would work. I can't wait to do more.

Tuesday, March 13, 2007

Sophocles to the rescue!

I just discovered this cool new script writing package called Sophocles. It's great! I discovered it last night browsing some writer sites. and the cool thing is they have a beta version of their deluxe edition that's free!
Not only does it format your script, it has story writing features to help you polish your story. AND it has production scheduling and budgeting features that are automatically generated from the script as you write it!
anyway check it out at http://www.sophocles.net/beta/
It was so cool . I just started using it today and it's a blast!

Monday, March 12, 2007

30 pages too long

Well I finally finished a rough draft of the second draft of the script. The problem is its 30 pages too long. I have to cut some scenes I guess. Other than that I am pretty happy with it. At least now we can start planning out the production.

Saturday, February 3, 2007

Pre Production

Well as of Feb 1st. we are officially entering preproduction mode. That means I’m going to start planning the film out in detail. We are still seeking money of course.

Also I finished or almost finished the second draft outline. I realized it was lacking a bomb. What is a bomb? A bomb is a dramatic device that puts pressure on the characters. Usually in the form of some dire event that's going to happen at a set time in the future. This makes all the things the hero's have to do to turn off the bomb, i.e. stop the event, much more urgent. Otherwise, the characters can just take their sweet time and the audience gets bored. But put a little time pressure on the situation and every action becomes urgent and critical. So I added a bomb. The children will be told of the dire situation and that it’s up to them to stop it early on in the story.

All I have to do now is translate this new outline into the second draft script.

Wednesday, November 1, 2006

The Problem That Must Be Solved...

Introduction
The almost universal negative depictions of African Americans in the movies--especially the depiction of African American males--and how this is affecting the self-images of black children, is a disturbing problem. Many movies today show negative stereotypical images, usually involving gangs and violence. A negative feed back loop has been created in this culture, where art and movies attempt to imitate real life; then real life begins to reflect the art and movies of the time, usually the ghetto life. Kids who see this "ghetto lifestyle" again and again think that is what they should aspire to be like. Even many middle class youths, who have never lived in the "ghetto", aspire to live the "gangster" lifestyle, thanks to Hollywood. More stories need to be told.

Hollywood producers seem fixated on telling the "Ghetto" story, the "sports story", the "slavery" story, and the "racism" story in their movies. These stories are a valid subject for artistic expression… but what about other stories? There are so many other stories to tell about the black experience, and so many other ways to stretch our imaginations about what is possible. How can children who are constantly bombarded with these predominantly negative images escape reflecting these ideas and views in their lives? How can we expect them to change if all they see are negative depictions of the people that look like them? We at Dream Power International realize that a whole generation of African American kids could be blocked from experiencing their unique gifts, dreams, and purpose if they continue to buy into the images put out by Hollywood

Very few good positive films for African American children
It's hard to find good family and kid-friendly films that do not portray African Americans in negative or stereotypical roles. Usually it's the traditional fare of gangsters, ghetto life, kids with guns, kids in prison, etc. that you will find in the video stores. Or it's the stereotypical story of the black kid playing basketball. Basketball is a positive sport, but is that all we can ever show black kids doing? I know there are black kids all over America doing all kinds of things; things we never see in film because Hollywood has decided what is and what is not "black". For example, I heard about an eleven year old African American kid who was a pilot. Now that would make an interesting movie and a positive one that might inspire all kids. But we rarely see these types of images of African Americans in film. And even worse, many in the African American community have exclusively embraced the stereotypical images put forth in the movies as truly defining what it means to be "black."

My personal experiences in the video store
So I'm in the video store trying to find some family fare with a few African Americans in it. Other than "Akeela and the Bee", or "Are We There Yet?" all I see are movies like "Confessions of a Gansta" where A small-time crook remembers the chain of events that led to his downward spiral as he prepares to kill his father in a Harlem basement. Or "Gang wars", a documentary about the violent life of rival gang members in Little Rock, Arkansas. As I continue to peruse the aisles, I see the faces of black men as gangsters, men with guns, thugs and criminals. Then I come to a movie called "Animal", with a large image of a dark-skinned African American male on the cover. It's about a reformed criminal who tries to deter his son from a life of crime. That's a laudable plot, but what kind of subliminal message is being sent to my son and to all of us as we see that title on the box? Why Hollywood video would even allow these kinds of movies in their stores is amazing to me.

I know the titles I mentioned above are not all children's films, but even if you go to the children's section, hardly any of the films have African Americans as the main characters. There may be a "token" black character in many of them, but seeing that over and over again is sending the subliminal message that blacks are less important than others.

Let me give another example of the problems with black images in the media. There were two South African movies that incidentally came out at about the same time. One, called "Duma," is about Xan, a young boy growing up in the wilds of Africa, who finds an orphaned cheetah cub that he must return to its natural habitat.

The other film, "Tsotsi", chronicles six days in the violent life of a young gang leader in Johannesburg, South Africa, who ends up caring for an infant whose mother he shot.

Can you guess which of the two movies featured a black kid as the main character? I think you know the answer…the one about the violent, young gang leader.

Kids Imitate What They See in the Media
So, thanks to the media, kids begin to associate being black with poverty, the "ghetto," cruelty, crime, and jail, etc. And it becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy in many cases.

Many youngsters today try to emulate the "gangster rappers" from the latest rap video. The rapper's lifestyle is presented as "cool" and profitable. Being from the hood, and indulging in a lifestyle of drugs and violence is presented as a desirable thing. Producing music and videos of this type has in fact led to quite a lucrative business. So then you have kids--and I know some of them--who come from perfectly healthy middle class families but begin to embrace the "gangster" life style. Next thing you know, they're skipping school, doing drugs, drinking, and becoming sexually active at an early age.

Countering the Problem
We at Dream Power have decided to be a proactive force in countering the problem of negative images of African Americans in the media. We are working on a children's film called: "Star Kids: Awakening to Purpose"

"Star Kids: Awakening to Purpose" is about four children from the stars who must discover and find the last four pure spiritual elements of peace, truth, love and unity. In the process of doing this they discover their gifts and life purpose which is to use these elements to heal the world and save mankind from destruction. They are pursued by mysterious agents who are bent on obtaining the elements to use their opposites, fear, hate, chaos and deception as weapons. This film might be the first in a trilogy of films.

The film will accomplish 3 things:

1. It will communicate to all children the four positive values of peace, truth, love and unity.

2. It will present African American children in ways we've never seen before, doing things we rarely see them do, e.g. sailing boats, being creative, caring for the earth, taking initiative to solve problems, etc.

3. It will serve to raise the awareness of the problem of negative images of African Americans in media, and catalyst for discussion and problem solving.

Dancing with Light