Telling the stories of the most storied place

Tupelo Digs the Embalming

Posted by on Oct 20, 2014 in Media And Documentary Projects Blog
Tupelo Digs the Embalming

Last Friday night, The Embalming was screened at the 2nd annual Tupelo Halloween Film Festival where it was awarded Best Film, Cinematography, and Actor (Rhes Low). Frank Tuttle also won Runner-up for Best Screenplay. It’s a great event and it’s always so much fun to have your film shown to an audience. We’re starting production […]

The Embalming’s a Winner

Posted by on Oct 17, 2014 in Media And Documentary Projects Blog
The Embalming’s a Winner

Last weekend, my halloween short film from 2013 The Embalming was played at the Atlanta Underground Film Festival where it took home the award for best Horror Short. For a full list of winners click here. The film was written by fellow Ole Miss staff (and Karen’s hubby) Frank Tuttle who is also an award […]

Winter is Coming

Winter is Coming

We had a wonderful screening of the Toughest Job: William Winter’s Mississippi in Jackson last Thursday night to kickoff the broadcast premiere on Mississippi Public Broadcasting. Kudos to MPB for creating beautiful banners to match the poster graphics for the film. There’s an additional broadcast tonight on MPB at 8pm and a free screening in […]

Dobrý den!

Posted by on Sep 26, 2014 in Documentaries
Dobrý den!

Greetings from Prague, Czech Republic. We’re currently in production on a new project, documenting the Ole Miss Opera and their performance of Hamlet in the Czech Republic in the Spring. I’ve gotten the opportunity to accompany University professor Julia Aubrey who is directing the opera to Prague as she visits several opera houses to select […]

Longleaf: The Heart of Pine Teaser Trailer

Posted by on Sep 9, 2014 in Uncategorized
Longleaf: The Heart of Pine Teaser Trailer

Sneak a birds-eye preview of Rex’s latest film. Coming Soon.

Welcome Janisse Ray

Posted by on May 3, 2013 in Media And Documentary Projects Blog

Media and Documentary Projects and the Center for the Study of Southern Culture were pleased to have been able to help sponsor Janisse Ray’s Earth Day Lecture as the last event in the Environmental Studies Spring Film and Lecture Series.  And we are happy to post the audio from that lecture here.  Enjoy Janisse Ray […]

Texas Tea

Posted by on Mar 26, 2013 in Media And Documentary Projects Blog

Greetings from Seminole, Texas! Today was my third day of shooting for the documentary about Texas High School One Act Play competitions. It’s been a wonderful experience so far to meet these incredibly talented and passionate students involved in Seminole’s One-Act and see the tremendous amount of preparation that goes into competing at the unique […]

Greetings from the Lone Star State

Posted by on Mar 23, 2013 in Media And Documentary Projects Blog

16 hours west of Oxford is the small town of Seminole, TX. Home to farmers, oil rig workers, teachers, and preachers. I’ll be here all week documenting the high school theatre department as the students prepare for the district One-Act play competition. This state-wide event is one of the largest theatrical competitions in the world […]

Cartha "Deke" DeLoach 1920-2013

Posted by on Mar 15, 2013 in Media And Documentary Projects Blog

Cartha DeLoach, the former deputy director of the FBI under J. Edgar Hoover passed away yesterday in his home in South Carolina at the age of 92.  I had the privilege of interviewing him last year for our documentary on the integration of Ole Miss. He was incredibly kind and warm to us that day […]

Pepperdine LEADS

Posted by on Mar 5, 2013 in Media And Documentary Projects Blog

This past week, students from Pepperdine University spent their Spring Break visiting universities in the South as part of their leadership class talking to students, faculty, and staff about social action and justice. I had the privilege of meeting with the group for about an hour talking about my latest documentary Rebels: James Meredith & […]

TSUN of a Gun!

Posted by on Jan 30, 2013 in Media And Documentary Projects Blog

We were at the Tad Pad last night filming footage for an upcoming music video of the Ole Miss student duo King Kobraz. Their earlier song about Ole Miss Football standout Donte Moncrief coined the popular chant: Feed Moncrief! This time around, the King Kobras set their sights on Ole Miss basketball. The line of […]

A Conversation with Cartha DeLoach

Posted by on Jan 28, 2013 in Media And Documentary Projects Blog

Back in June, I travelled down to the home of retired F.B.I. deputy director Cartha “Deke” DeLoach to interview him for our documentary film Rebels: James Meredith and the Integration of Ole Miss. While we were there, Center for Intelligence and Security Studies Director and retired F.B.I. agent Carl Jensen sat down with Mr. DeLoach […]

Power to the Students

Posted by on Jan 23, 2013 in Media And Documentary Projects Blog

Last evening, I spent some time at the Powerhouse Theatre giving a filmmaking workshop to an energetic group of middle school acting students. We talked about some of the types of shots you do when making a movie and how lighting can improve the quality and feel of your image. Here’s a test we did […]

More Lessons

Posted by on Jan 18, 2013 in Media And Documentary Projects Blog

Today was the final day of filming at Oxford Elementary as we interviewed over 40 third graders about the film they watched yesterday and what they would ask Bonnie Consolo, the woman born with no arms, if they met her. It was tight quarters but I wanted to use our new silk scrim to diffuse […]

Lessons Learned From Third Graders

Posted by on Jan 17, 2013 in Media And Documentary Projects Blog

We were filming today at Oxford Middle School for the first of two days of taping. As a small part of an extensive look at the history of special education in America, two classes of Oxford Middle School third graders were shown the award winning 1975 film A Day in the Life of Bonnie Consolo. […]

Joe on the Mississippi Arts Hour

Posted by on Dec 12, 2012 in Media And Documentary Projects Blog

MDP Senior Producer Joe York was recently interviewed on MPB for the Mississippi Arts Hour by our old friend and former student Mary Margaret Miller White.  Thanks to Mary Margaret and all our friends at the Mississippi Arts Commission. Click on the link below to hear the interview. Listen to Joe on Mississippi Arts Hour.

All Quiet on the Rebels Front

It’s been a while since I’ve updated the blog so I thought I’d share a little of what became of our documentary feature Rebels: James Meredith & the Integration of Ole Miss. After a truly olympian marathon editing process, the film premiered to a packed house at the Gertrude C. Ford Center for the Performing […]

Trick or Treat

Posted by on Oct 31, 2012 in Media And Documentary Projects Blog

Hot off the presses and just in time for Halloween, please enjoy my new short film “Trick or Treat” starring Greg Earnest, Meaghin Burke, Micah Ginn, and the amazing Maddie Cavett! A huge thanks to the cast and crew including Laura Cavett, Matt Minshew, and Greg Gray for donating their time and talents for this […]

Cameras and Candy

Posted by on Oct 30, 2012 in Media And Documentary Projects Blog

Last weekend, we shot this year’s addition to the annual OMTV Halloween short film series. This year’s film is called “Trick or Treat” and tells the continuing story of Todd and Margo. On their way to a Halloween party, they meet a mysterious girl. We shot the film at the Center for the Study of […]

Enter James Meredith

Posted by on Aug 31, 2012 in Media And Documentary Projects Blog

James Meredith, the first African American enrolled at the University of Mississippi was in Oxford yesterday signing copies of his new memoir, A Mission from God. We documented his visit for our upcoming documentary and snagged a couple of books while we were at it!

A Scanner Lightly

Posted by on Aug 27, 2012 in Media And Documentary Projects Blog

Student worker Matt Minshew spent the morning at Special Collections in the library taking images from a newly donated collection of newspaper articles from 1962 regarding the integration of Ole Miss. These articles will provide a great framework for the timeline of events we’ll chronicle in the upcoming documentary, Rebels. Check back soon for more […]

Coming Soon

Although we’re still in production, I wanted to share the title of Media and Documentary Projects new documentary, REBELS: James Meredith & The Integration of Ole Miss. Directed by Matthew Graves. The hour long film tells the story of the events leading up to James Meredith’s historic integration of the University of Mississippi and the […]

A Legal Mind

Posted by on Aug 9, 2012 in Media And Documentary Projects Blog

Today I drove to Forest, MS to interview 1970 University of Mississippi Law School graduate Constance Slaughter Harvey.  Constance was the first female African-American law student at Ole Miss and shared with me her experiences as a student and the passion she has to make real change in Mississippi which was the driving force behind […]

Cartha "Deke" DeLoach

Posted by on Jun 19, 2012 in Media And Documentary Projects Blog

We continue to gather stories from people involved in the 1962 integration of the University. This week, I traveled to Hilton Head, South Carolina to speak with retired FBI Assistant to the Director Cartha “Deke” DeLoach. He was the No. 3 man for the FBI during his career in the mid 40s through early 70s. […]

Let there be light box!

Posted by on Jun 4, 2012 in Media And Documentary Projects Blog

We’re currently producing a feature length documentary on the integration of Ole Miss for the 50th year anniversary this September. We received some snippets from 8mm footage that was shot on campus and was able to magnify and digitize the image using our lightbox. It feels like discovering some piece of hidden history looking at […]

exit

Posted by on Jun 1, 2012 in Media And Documentary Projects Blog

Here is our new short film “exit”. A science fiction film about a man who recieves a mysterious package on his doorstep. The title is all lower case because that makes it cool! Special thanks to Eric Feldman, Johnny Mcphail, Matt Minshew, Melissa Graves and everyone here at Media and Documentary Projects for all their […]

Crucifixions Must Have Witnesses

Enjoy the latest installment in the Mississippi Stories series from MDP’s Rex Jones. Here Rex features Rev. Samuel “Billy” Kyles, a Shelby, MS native and pastor of the Monumental Baptist Church in Memphis. Rev. Kyles tells his story of being on the Lorraine Motel balcony with Martin Luther King, Jr. when Dr. King was assassinated.

Exit Through the Gift Shop

Posted by on May 4, 2012 in Media And Documentary Projects Blog

Next week, we’ll premiere a new short film “Exit” directed by Matthew Graves. It’s a short science fiction film about a man who receives a mysterious package on his door step. Check back next Friday for the finished film.

So Wonderfully Connected

Rex Jones has finished the second of his Mississippi Stories. This time Rex paints a portrait of Lee McCarty of McCarty’s Pottery in Merigold, Mississippi. Keep checking back for future installments in this series that will cover the state over the next year.

Mississippi Stories

Rex  is off to a great start with his new series on Mississippi Stories with one already “in the can.” Over the next year Rex will be taking our beloved “Rango” all across the state (and occasionally onto Beale Street, if necessary) looking for stories of interesting people and events so check back here for […]