The Southern Documentary Project
TEACHING THE NEXT GENERATION OF STORYTELLERS
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 this week on the new Halloween Film Barry so stay tuned and Happy Halloween!
– Matthew
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 winning author. Go here to see more of Frank’s work. If you’re in Tupelo tonight, you can catch The Embalming as well as other regional horror films at the Tupelo Halloween film festival at the Link Center at 7:30pm.
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 Oxford at the Overby Center on campus at 6pm. Be sure to check out our newly designed website, toughestjobmovie.com for more details.
– Matthew
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 the venue. It’s truly a remarkable place. Cobblestone streets, castles popping up over the skyline, and gold accents on almost every building. You’d almost think you had found yourself in some gigantic medieval attraction at Disney World but with far better beer!
Today, we visited a beautiful opera house in the southern part of the city that will most likely be the location of the performance. It was a truly beautiful theatre with ornate decorative walls over 200 years old. It’s the kind of place that would make even the most seasoned performer gasp.
Tomorrow, we’re traveling a few hours into the country to a small village where we’ll interview the composer of the opera, an Ole Miss graduate from 1962 named Nancy Van DeVate who has established a truly world class career in Vienna as a composer. We’ve had the great fortune of having two wonderful representatives of the managing group who are assisting the University with the logistics of performing in the Czech Republic to serve as our unofficial tour guides. Needless to say, we have visited secret back rooms of wine stores used during the Communist regime to discuss forbidden topics and been treated to first hand accounts of the tense work performed around the country during the Velvet Revolution over goulash and potato dumplings. But, I digress. This is a magical place and a wonderful opportunity to document a very unique upcoming outreach event for the University.
– Matthew
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 Arts on Sunday, September 30th. Heavy rains forced the planned memorial service and history walk into the Ford Center before the screening which, I believe, turned out to be a good thing for us in terms of linking the film showing to the overall program of events that evening. Regardless of the reason, the huge auditorium was full of students, graduates, faculty, staff, and leaders from all over the state. We were able to procure a wonderful HD projector and screen to showcase the film in the highest quality possible which I give Executive Producer Andy Harper full credit for coming up with that a few days before the premiere on my whiny whim. I couldn’t have been more thrilled with the screening and the reaction we recieved from everyone was very positive.
On the same night, the film was broadcasted on television screens across Mississippi on MPB and helped commemorate the 50th anniversary of the integration in the way I had always hoped we would be able to.
Since that night, we have begun the process of exploring future outlets for the film including classrooms, festivals and additional public television screenings. We hope to have the film seen by as many people as possible which will hopefully include free web access to the film in the near future. In the meantime, to help promote the film’s website www.1962rebels.com, I am currently producing two short profiles on a few of the characters in the film whose stories truly showcase what it means to be a rebel but were unfortunately not included in the feature film due to pacing and time constraints. The first will look at 1962 Daily Mississippian Editor Sidna Brower whose bold editorials spoke out against the violence and urged acceptance by the student body. Her controversial position earned her a censure by the student body government. The next profile will tell the story of the Rev. Duncan Gray who was the Episcopal Priest of Oxford in 1962 who courageously stood up to the mob that fateful September night and attempted to stop the violence. Look for these short films in early 2013.
In addition, you can check out the IMDb page of Rebels at www.imdb.com/title/tt2464426/ . There’s not much there but it’s still fun to look at.
It’s been a great journey bringing this story to the screen. One that began honestly when I moved to Mississippi almost eight years ago and first learned of this incredible story. My hope is that the film does justice in some way to the events that transpired here 50 years ago and provides at good jumping off point for students to begin to learn about not only the history of this state, but of this country as well.
-Matthew
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 Southern Studies on campus. It was a hectic all-night shoot but we were able to get everything we needed for a quick edit and premiere on Halloween night. Greg Grey, our longtime production collaborator was on hand to serve as gaffer and sound recorder. He did an amazing job shaping the lighting. Our student worker Matt Minshew worked all over the place as Assistant Camera, Assistant Director, Dolly Grip, and even Greensman! Laura Cavett was on hand to do her magic in Art Design. The cast included Meaghin Burke and Greg Earnest from last years community film, “The Show Must Go On”.
Micah Ginn delivered the performance of his career as Mr. Pumpkin Head and making her screen debut was the amazing Maddie Cavett as the creepy kid who gets the movie going.
Check back on Halloween night for the finished film!
– Matthew
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 support. Enjoy!
We began principal photography this weekend on this year’s community film for the Oxford Film Festival. Or rather, I suppose we started second unit shooting…or maybe we’ll call it pre-shoot pickups. Either way, actors were acting and cameras were rolling. The main shooting will be done the first week in January but this got us off to a great start. The story revolves around a community theatre’s production of a murder mystery. During the performance, an actor is actually killed on stage. Due to a visiting State Arts Commissioner in attendance, the cast and crew have no choice but to continue with the play. The film is called “The Show Must Go On” and will be the opening night film for the Oxford Film Festival in February. For more info on the film and festival click here. Special thanks to everyone who worked so long and hard on Saturday including our very own student worker, Matt Minshew who’s serving as Assistant Director on the shoot. More soon.
– Matthew
At long last and just in time for the holidays, here is the Christmas short film we produced “O, Christmas Triage”. A comedy about a couple on their way to a Christmas party who meet an unexpected visitor. Actually, I think this film is about answering the age old question of how Santa Claus decorates his Christmas trees. Or maybe it’s a lesson in the dangers of caroling and driving. Either way, it was a lot of fun to make and I hope you enjoy it. Special thanks to Matt Minshew who co-wrote and produced the film as well as Karen Tuttle and Rebecca Camerigg who braved the bitter cold to make the movie. I’d also like to say thank you to Melissa Graves, Micah Ginn, Chris Williams, Matt Minshew, Ben Harper, and of course, Jim Payne for the incredible job they did acting in the film. Merry Christmas!
I spent the evening yesterday with Oxford actor Johnny McPhail shooting scenes for my upcoming sci fi short, “Exit”. There were some interesting challenges that we faced to get the setups I was hoping for.
I wanted to get a really low (skimming the surface) dolly shot – pushing in on our main prop. We rigged the camera on my photography tripod and extended out past the dolly so we could shoot past the pipes. The camera still wasn’t low enough, so we spun the camera upside down which put the lens closer to the ground. I’ll have to flip the image in post but I was really pleased with the effect.
Another challenging shot was getting a jib shot up to basically an over-the-shoulder shot of a lampost over-looking my house. Unfortunately our jib ,extended all the way, couldn’t reach high enough. The solution was a bit precarious but effective. We (very carefully) set up the jib on top of Johnny’s car and were able to get the height we needed for the shot.
An extra special thanks to Matt Minshew and Johnny for all their help last night and my very patient wife Melissa for putting up with her home being invaded once again. I’ve got a few more insert shots to grab in the next few weeks and we’ll have a finished film soon after. Stay tuned!
– Matthew
A few weeks ago, we started production on a short sci-fi film for Ch. 99 called “Exit”. It stars Highway 61 producer Eric Feldman and Oxford’s acting standard, Johnny McPhail. The story revolves around a mysterious unmarked package and a newly installed street lamp (with a really bright bulb). I’ve got a few more shots to get in the next few weeks so be on the look out for the final film. Until then, enjoy these behind the scenes pics from the shoot taken by our set medic, Matt Minshew. Be on the lookout for my demon dog Riley.
– Matthew
This week, we had all hands on deck shooting a “State of the University” video with Chancellor Jones around campus. Special thanks to everyone involved who worked so hard for the last few days including Andy Harper, Karen Tuttle, Joe York, Rex Jones, Mary Stanton, Todd Lauterbach and Matt Minshew.
– Matthew
Yesterday, our summer interns Felicity Flesher and Joseph Modirzadeh decided to beat the summer heat by spending two hours outside lugging our portable jib around campus. Here’s a few pics of the “fun”. The shots they collected will be utilized in Felicity’s upcoming video drawing from the best of the best of the footage she’s shot of the campus over the past few weeks. Check back next week for her video. Great job guys!
As promised, here is the Ole Miss Football spot we produced last week featuring senior Running Back Brandon Bolden. A special thanks to everyone involved from Media and Documentary Projects and Athletics. Go Rebs!
On Thursday, we spent the afternoon at Vaught Hemmingway stadium on campus filming an upcoming commercial for Ole Miss Football with Senior star running back Brandon Bolden. The spot is a “Nike-esque” commercial with Brandon going through a rigorous training regimen in preparation for the upcoming season ending with a leap that’ll make Superman jealous! I wanted to quickly share a few notes of the shoot in case you’re interested.
It was a crazy hot day and we only had a limited amount of time with Brandon to get all the shots we needed so we shot with multiple cameras to double our coverage. The primary camera was the RED One Digital Cinema camera which filmed at 4K resolution and 2K resolution for some of the shots that were filmed at 100 fps. Former Producer, Micah Ginn (now the Creative Director for Ole Miss Sports Production) filmed with Panasonic’s new AF100 camera with a PL mount Red Zoom lens. Pictured here you can see most of our crew including student workers Matt Minshew and Chris Williams, summer high school intern Joseph, and Athletics Producer Bethany Peters. Not pictured is our summer college intern Felicity Flesher. An additional shout out goes to Darrias Thomas and Ole Miss Track long distance runner Logan Waites for their help on the shoot.
I’ve been experimenting a lot lately with my old Glidecam 2000 after seeing some really nice uses of it online. We recently purchased a vest and arm for it so this was the perfect opportunity to put it to work. My Glidecam could only support up to 8lbs so we used the Canon 5D with it which was great since it shoots at such a high resolution anyway. I knew there was absolutely no chance that I would ever be able to keep up with Brandon at a dead sprint so I shot out of Athletics gas powered cart (our electric cart was no match for Brandon’s speed!).
All in all I was pretty happy with the way the glidecam footage turned out and it was actually pretty cool to wear the vest and arm. Although looking at this picture I realize it’s very difficult to determine who the star athlete is and who the camera guy is.
One of the more challenging shots to pull of was this shot that happens at the beginning of the spot where Brandon spins the football down toward the ground to start his workout. I wanted to basically have the camera at ground level looking up at him. Unfortunaly, Ole Miss Athletics was not into the idea of digging a giant hole in the football field for me to get the camera low enough, so we got Brandon as high as we could with the camera below him. We clamped a sheet of plexi-glass onto two tripods just above the camera lens and had him spin the ball right down onto the camera. I think it turned out pretty well and will be a cool way to start the commercial.
It was a fast and furious shoot but I really felt like we got some great footage. A huge thank you again to Matt, Chris, Felicity, and Joseph from MDP and Micah, Bethany, Darrias, and Logan from Athletics for setting up the shoot. And of course, an ENORMOUS thank you to Brandon Bolden for his time, patience, and stamina running sprints on camera for me for 2 hours! Keep an eye out for him this season!! I really enjoy short projects like this because you totally get to flex your cinematic muscles in terms of visual storytelling. Check back soon for the final spot!
– Matthew
Here are two versions of the 2011 University of Mississippi in Southaven Institutional spots we produced last month. For more information on UM Southaven click here.
Last week we spent a few days in Southaven to produce a 30-second regional spot for the Ole Miss Southaven campus. The commercial will showcase several Ole Miss students from all walks of life who are earning their degree at Southaven. It was a great chance to use our Red One Digital Cinema Camera and really test its legs in a variety of locations. Special thanks to Karen Tuttle and Matt Minshew for their hard work during the shoot and Pam Starling for producing the spot. Check back soon for the finished commercial. – Matthew
Here’s a video we produced for the dedication of Brevard Hall and the celebration of the 110 year anniversary of the School of Engineering at the University of Mississippi. It brings together some of the notable alums of the department over the past twenty years sharing their experiences and offering insights into why this remarkable program continues to flourish.
In addition to the retrospective on Robert Khayat, we also produced a video documenting the history of the law school and its many homes at the University of Mississippi. Written and Narrated by John Sobatka. Edited by Matthew Graves.
Whew! They always say be careful what you wish for. I wanted to see the exhibits and today I most definitely did. NAB can make your eyeballs explode there’s so much to look at it. It’s like a media explosion and the best way to contain it is just to take your time, collect as many brochures as you can stuff in your bag and for pete’s sake, wear comfortable shoes.
One of the main differences from this year to last year was 3D. Last year, you couldn’t turn your head without seeing a 3D solution. This year, the big push was in small form factor, hi-resolution digital cinema cameras. Panasonic’s offering is the AF-100.
The thing I love about this camera is it gives you an incredible image comparable to the Canon 5D but with a slightly larger form factor, it gives you the types of control that are perfect for pro video including XLR audio inputs, zebra patterns, and ND Filters, just to name a few. It also allows you to record extended periods using two SD card slots in the back. This is one of the things I hate about the 5D is it’s limited recording time so Panasonic may actually have the “DSLR Killer”.
Here’s a pic of one of the sets all the camera companies had to showcase their cameras. It’s really fun to get your hands on the camera and see out it performs with talent in a lit environment.
Here’s my first look at the Arri Alexa Digital Cinema camera. It has a great image but honestly I wasn’t blown away by it like I was some of the other models. I gotta say, though, it sure looked nice with this massive zoom lenses attached.
3D wasn’t completely dead. In fact there were a lot more competition in terms of getting 3D into the hands of consumers. Look at this 3D handicam from JVC that shoots to dual SD cards much like Panasonic’s $20,000 model. This one comes in at $2,500 and actually made a really nice 3D image.
This was a cool rig that I’ve been considering trying to mock up for a future production. It allows you to capture a moment from a multiple number of positions. It was made famous in the Matrix films.
If there was one piece of equipment that I really wanted it would probably be this baby. A mini helicopter with a gyro mount for your HD camera. The footage I saw was super slick and let you get into places that you’d never get with a full size chopper rig.
The award for equipment that I would never in a million years want goes to the Zoom Crane. The demo was really bad. The camera shook all over the place as it extended out. Some guy beside me asked the rep if the unit came with a boxing glove on the end. That would have made it a lot more impressive.
One of the big showcases of NAB was the Epic from RED. I’ve been following this baby for a while now and it was really cool to get to see it up close. RED’s booth was crazy. Here’s the line of people just waiting to get in. I thought it was really funny how they had these “Security Guard” around the booth making sure you didn’t breath on the camera too much.
I did manage to snap a shot of our EVF that we’re waiting on. I tried to convince them that we had already paid for one so I could just take this one with me but the “Security Guards” put me in an arm-bar and escorted me to the Alexa booth.
I absolutely love these geared tripod heads from GearNex. They control your pan and tilt with levers and it’s silky smooth.
Another cool rig was this one that utilized the IPad’s video camera on a shoulder mount rig. I also saw rigs that used the IPad as a teleprompter.
This device from SideKick digital is a portable recording device that connects via HD SDI or HDMI and records natively in Pro Res 422. This would allow us to shoot long form productions on the Canon 5D and record files that were ready to edit in Final Cut Pro.
Today was a long and exciting day and I look forward to spending some more time in the Post Production exhibits tomorrow.
-Matthew
So it’s that of time of year again. The time of year I feel the call deep inside me to come to Las Vegas and drool over all the new gear that the broadcasting world has to offer. It’s NAB time! This is my second venture to the filmmaker’s candy land and I’m excited to see and learn all I can. I’ll update daily on the sights and sounds of the convention so hold your breath and stay tuned.
– Matthew
I hope you will indulge my expressing the pride I feel for the folks I am lucky enough to work with every day. Their talent was showcased at the Oxford Film festival. Nice job Micah Ginn and Matthew Graves–“The Hanging of Big Todd Wade,” Matthew Graves–“Oh Christmas Triage,” and Joe York– “Mississippi Innocence,” which played to 4 full houses.
Thanks also to Karen Tuttle for keeping us all on track and for assuming videographer duties during the festival. –Andy
Matthew Graves doesn’t know anything about a snowcation. While the rest of us were enjoying a day on the “slopes” of Oxford, Matthew was there to record it.
Enjoy!
Here is the final cut of the promotional spot we did for The Ole Miss Women’s Rifle Team a few weeks back. Special thanks to Coach Boothe and the Rifle team for allowing us to come out and shoot, especially Senior Colleen Tillson. Best of luck to the team as they continue their season.
– Matthew
Last week we spent some time with the Ole Miss Rifle team producing a spot for them. Here’s a look behind the scenes of the shoot. I have a tendency while shooting to ask for one more take 5 or 6 times before I actually mean it! Check back in few days for the final cut. Special thanks to Micah Ginn, Matt Minshew, Karen Tuttle, and Kim Duff for their help on the spot.
– Matthew
Media and Documentary Projects producer Matthew Graves has been a very busy young man. This weekend we get to see the fruits of his labor kicking off the halftime show as Ole Miss hosts Auburn. Matthew has produced a 3D commercial featuring all of the varsity sports heros cast as giants roaming the Ole Miss campus. And the buzz has already begun as Matthew has been featured in the Oxford Eagle, the Sun Herald, and lots of blogs. Below are two versions of the 90 second spot–one in 3D for those of you who have the red and blue (cyan) glasses and one in 2D for those of you who don’t just have those things laying around.
Look for a behind the scenes blog entry next week.
Excellent work Matthew.
Micah, our new student worker Matt Minshew, and I were out and about on campus this morning documenting the first day of class. It was cool to see the students starting the semester. They seem so excited. Maybe we should document the 2nd week of class and compare. Anyways, here is the short highlight video we put together. Enjoy and welcome back!
– Matthew
With only 1 more day to go until the world premiere of “The UnRetireds”, what would a fake action movie trailer be without a blooper reel to accompany it? Check back tomorrow afternoon for the finished trailer!
It’s been a while since I’ve posted so I wanted to come back with a bang. Micah and I recently wrapped up the 2010 Summer Film Workshop where 12 high school and college age kids put up with us for a week of film theory lectures, tutorials, and film screenings. As part of the class we shot a movie trailer of a fake action movie entitled “The UnRetireds”. We tried to throw in a bunch of silly over-the-top action movie moments into the trailer and here a few of the shots broken down by their elements to show how they were put together. I always love these little videos in the behind the scenes extras they put on DVD’s so I figured I’d take a crack at one. Special thanks goes to Andrew Kramer and his invaluable Action Movie Essential Elements. We’ll post the finished trailer online soon but until then enjoy this sneak peak.
-Matthew
Visual FX Breakdown Video
Micah and Matthew have been helping create a new generation of filmmakers this week teaching the University of Mississippi’s ninth annual Filmmaking Workshop. The class is four days of intensive instruction in the techniques of filmmaking as well as an opportunity for students to get hand-on experience with all aspects of creating a film. Stay tuned for the final class project and be on the lookout for these up and coming filmmakers.
