SHORT: "losing christmas"

D

David W. Richardson

Chapelgrove Films
Last Sunday we premiered our church group's very first short film -- "LOSING CHRISTMAS" -- to a packed house of over 160 people, including a lot of faces I'd never seen at our church before!

It was SO much fun! We had a red carpet and a 'step-and-repeat' wall. We had a "walk of fame" with stars painted (with chalk) and the actors' names. We had awards and trophies.

We showed the film and the audience LOVED it! They clapped and cheered at the end, which was very gratifying. Many of them bought DVDs of the film, even though we told them it would be available to watch online for free. The kids (the actors) signed autographs and got their pictures taken a LOT -- they had a ball!

The film went up on the website yesterday and has been viewed over 200 times.

And now YOU guys can watch it too! (Be aware -- it IS a Christian film. But PLEASE let's not get into a discussion of religious issues here.)

Enjoy "LOSING CHRISTMAS"!

http://pisgaharpchurch.org/losing-christmas-2/
 
Hey David. Good job. I watched it all.
I remember you talking about it along the way as you guys were making it.
Glad those aerials worked out for you at the beginning.
I like the "oven cam" shot.
I liked some of the music too.
You captured some of the behavior between siblings/peers with their little remarks which I imagine caused laughter in the audience.

I think it's a cute film and good for kids with it's simple child-like message, but also for adults as well to pause and think amidst the rush, shopping etc..and possibly prompt important questions for people young and old.

Looks like you guys had some fun making it and those kids will always remember being part of a "movie" :)
 
Thanks firehawk!

The kids had a blast! They were a lot of fun to work with. To be honest, I half expected it to be utter chaos. Sometimes when working with kids -- especially kids who have absolutely no background with doing anything like this -- it can be hard to keep them on-task. But these kids were great! They knew their lines and stayed focused, even though they had to wear cold-weather clothes on a warm, sunny day.

The crew was great too! Only one of them had ever worked on a film shoot before, but they did as well as any crew I've worked with. They were all energetic, hard working and positive -- a pleasure to have. Every shoot day went smooth as silk. We got the whole film shot in 3 days -- actually, a good deal less than that. The first day was only an afternoon, and covered all but one of the non-dialogue scenes. The second day was a full day, starting in early afternoon and running til after dark. It was all of the dialogue stuff. The last day was just one quick, no-dlalogue bit that we setup and shot in 1 hour.

It was just so much fun working with people who were so EXCITED about everything! It was all new and amazing to them. I love that!
 
Good attitudes and genuine effort makes a big difference for sure! :)
Maybe you guys will pull another one together next year!
 
firehawk said:
Good attitudes and genuine effort makes a big difference for sure! :)
Maybe you guys will pull another one together next year!
Click to expand...

I'm hoping the church will want to have an ongoing film outreach, perhaps a web series. Considering the level of excitement and interest in this one, the chances look good. :-)
 
The latest news -- we're going to try for a feature-length movie this year!

It will be a sequel to "Losing Christmas", and will follow the same characters a year later. More stories, more characters, more locations, more of everything. And we're aiming for higher production values, bringing on a skilled DP and experienced people for sound and lighting. The feature is tentatively titled "Finding Christmas". Just getting underway with the script.
 
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