Spies, Swords and Spartans

Obviously, it's been awhile since I updated the ol' blog. I know I say that for time to time, but what can I say... things tend to get a bit busy and chaotic at certain times of year. And the end of August forward is certainly our "busy season". Here's a quick rundown of the latest from Calvin's Cosmos.

First and foremost: The family. The end of August brought Little Calvin's eighth birthday, meaning it was time for his church baptism. This once-in-a-lifetime event brought family from both Idaho and Colorado together in our house, for one very full weekend. We had a great trip out to the coast and alot of fun with so many people around that we just don't see very often. Little Calvin's baptism was a special experience for both of us. One of those cool father/son types of things. I think he'll have good memories of the festivities and remember the support of his extended family. (You can read reports here and here, on the family member blogs and see their photos.)

With family all delivered to the airport and safely home, it was time to return to normal hectic life. In additional to all my regular job duties at work (now greatly expanding as the company closes its Indiana offices and plants, making Oregon THE office space for the company) I have had 3 film projects going on simultaneously:

Video 1: RV Spy Guys: Mission 3. Most regular blog readers will remember the nightmare that developed as we created the second episode (here). But this time around, our production seemed to go right on schedule and without any real issues to report. Sure, I think my producer thought I had lost my mind when I turned in my script for this go around. My brain does tend to come up with some weird stuff on occasion. But I assured him that this would be funny (and not overly gross) and that I was still perfectly sane. Hold on..

Back now.. sorry, Abe Lincoln was at the door. A few things to discuss..

Anyway, where was I? Oh yeah.. the I'm not crazy part. So... even with the strange looks as I handed over my story ideas, the episode filmed without a hitch, no actors showed up drunk, all the "that's impossible, this will never work" parts did work as I envisioned and things all came together well.

Here's a quick look at our filming day. To think that I get paid for this stuff....

The episode is now out and can be seen at www.rvspyguys.com. I'd just post the video here, but we need the site traffic to justify doing more of these so I have to make you go to the site to watch. Oh and order a t-shirt while you are there! Come on.. all the cool kids have them!

Video 2: The summer Indiana Jones project. Things are coming along nicely on this, although I am now using the typical Hollywood saying: "overtime and over budget". The kids have stayed very gungo-ho and are loving filming this. Just the other day, Little Calvin put in a request that I add some scenes or action sequences to the movie as he's not ready to be done filming yet. He gets such a kick out of donning the Indiana Jones gear and fighting, exploring.. whatever.

The trickiest part was this: When I wrote the script in early July, it included two large sequences that take place in caves. (Of course.. Indy HAS to explore caves in an Indiana Jones movie!!!) I figured it would be easy to find a cave or two around here to film in... Wrong-O! These stupid cave shots have been a thorn in my side all summer. We found some GREAT cave exteriors to set up the shots of the kids going into caves, but with the amount of stuff that happens inside the caves, I thought I was toast. Luckily, a solution presented itself this last Saturday and we were able to get most of the "cave sequences" filmed.

With only 2 scenes left to be shot (meaning 2 more nights of filming) we're heading on the downhill slope. My goal is to have the film done by mid-October when the 4th Indy movie hits DVD, as there is inevitably a large surge of interest in the Indiana Jones character connected to that release, and it would be nice to use that to our benefit.

Video 3: The big Kahoona. The gigantic project: The fall documentary volleyball film. I couldn't believe it was time to start filming already in mid-August, but it came! That means that I am now filming games almost every other night as the season progresses at such a rapid rate. Already, over 10 hours of footage has been shot and I am in the process of keeping up with that footage so that this doesn't turn into another "week-long no sleep fest" of 3 years ago as I struggled to meet editing deadlines. And this year I am starting slow thanks to everything else going on, meaning that even with all the footage shot already, there will be a large sized surge in work come the beginning of October as the team's fate starts to take shape on the court, and the resulting film starts to take shape in my head.

Now.. add all of that to an already busy work schedule, helping with Little Calvin's Cub Scout group each week (or attempting to when not filming), church responsibilities, Amanda starting high school, Tyler starting middle school and helping to support my wife so that she can coach her team without worrying about things off the court.. and it's a miracle I can even get a single blog entry posted. But it's all a matter of scheduling and balance.. and trying to stay out of trouble. Unlike what my brain-children spy guys seem to be doing.

Ok.. back to editing... I still have two idiots stuck in an RV factory, two adventurers seeking an ancient sword, and two volleyball teams winning their way through the league. Oh boy.. Where is that Red Bull 24 pack?