Mother's Day Movie

I just couldn't help it... I HAD to come up with something to do with that HD camera.. and that little something managed to tie up almost my entire mother's day weekend. Good thing it was for a good cause: my wife's mother's day present.

I had been racking my brain for a while, trying to come up with a cool Mother's Day present for my wife... something that would clearly be from my son, but that would also show some thought from me: one gift serving 2 purposes. I had done the whole picture frame thing before, taking the kids out, taking their pictures and framing them.. so I couldn't do that. And any store purchased gift just seemed so... non personal when celebrating something as important as a great mom. And so, I decided to go with using another hobby: film production, and create a short film for my wife for Mother's Day. It also helped that it was the final weekend that I had a high definition video camera in my possession..

First, we had to find a script that Little Calvin and I could agree on, and this would be tricky.. My wife couldn't find out what we were doing, or the surprise would be ruined. But what child's story could we find that would pay tribute to mother's that didn't have a mother in it? Suddenly, the light bulb over our heads clicked on and we had an idea: "Are You My Mother", the classic children's story of a bird trying to figure out where his mother is. So Friday night, we pulled out the book that would act as both our script and storyboard.

Saturday, my wife was teaching a first aid class all day... the perfect way for us to get out and make our movie without her knowing. First thing Saturday morning we were up, dressed with camera's rolling for the first shot about 9 AM. Starting inside the house, we began gathering shots for the movie one by one. Once we got outside, we set out, our shot list in hand, and the day turned into a scavenger hunt of sorts: We needed shots of a cat, a dog, a chicken (turns out a goose worked fine), a wrecked car, a tractor, a boat, a plane and others. So we set out around the county looking for what we could find.

One of the interesting aspects of this production was at my sons scripting insistence: We had to have a Harry Potter scene. I think he just wanted to see himself fighting a dragon (or he wanted to give me a few more grey hairs in edit) on film. And so we added a trip to Goodwill to find a pair of Harry's round specs to fit him and some cliffs behind him so I could match him into a scene from Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire without having to use a green screen. Eventually we got the shots we needed as Little Calvin got to perform as Harry Potter in front of the area rock climbers club, much to their enjoyment.

We also had another interesting adventure during filming. We had to find a tractor, or Snort, as the book puts it. Luckily, while searching for a tractor, we actually found one in operation. When I approached to operator to inquire as to if we could film the tractor, we agreed and even let Little Calvin drive the tractor (well, with his help).

So, by days' end, we wrapped the filming, taking our last shot about 8:30 at night. Just in time to get Little Calvin in bed, and begin to edit. By 1 AM, I decided I better get some sleep so I would not be nodding off in church the next morning.

Sunday afternoon, after getting home from Church, the edit continued, at a fevered pace, trying to get the whole puzzle put together.. tell the story, and pit my son against a fire breathing dragon. And in typical "Me" style, I was not just editing one piece.. I was doing 2: The main feature, and the "Making of" featurette. But in the end (more like 7:45, 15 minutes before Survivor started) we had our films done and presented them.

So far, reviews seem to be pretty positive. My wife, loved it and is wanting to show as many people as possible. And most people who watch it call it very "cute". So I was pleased with the project. It is always fun producing films, DVDs and stretching my creativity.. and to see the end results come from lots of fast paced work, and bonding time with my son. Thus, "Are You My Mother".. the film, was born.

To see a brief glimpse at some of the shots from the film, click here to see the gallery of film stills, both from the film and behind the scenes.