Blog Archives

Thanks to All Who Have Supported the Film Thus Far!!

9/29/2014

Donors:

Anonymous Donor
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Layla Aldredge
Linda and John Anderson
JJ Bauer and Scott Marlow
A. William (Bill) Beam
William (Bill) Bethke
Aadra Bhatt and Marc Weinberg
Stephanie Brown
Robert (Bob) Buck
Joy Cox
Carlos (Tony) Garcia
Greg Gendron
Sharon Halperin
Susan Harbage-Page
Jim Haverkamp
Troy LaFaye
Carol Magee
Judy Mitchell
Jay Miller
Tricia Maloney
Noralita
Casey Pearcy
John Pearson
Lily and Michael Pregill
Madeline Schreiber and Blaine Keesee
Carole Schultes
Diana Simonson
Vanessa Soleil
Martha Sullivan
Janelle and Rob Taylor
John Veglak

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Many of you already know that I’ve been working on a doc-

9/27/2014

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Many of you already know that I’ve been working on a documentary for a few years now about WWII reenactors called Playing Soldier. I’ve finished shooting and editing the film and am now fundraising to cover post-production costs. Please take a minute to visit my fundraising site on Indiegogo and let your friends know about it too. The site provides details about what I’m fundraising for and each level of donation includes really cool “perks”, like DVDs, t-shirts, tote-bags, movie posters, photobooks, etc. Your help will make the difference between whether or not people get to see this film at all. Thanks so much for your support!

click to see more in the gallery section

Donations are tax-deductable April 15th can be a little easier on you.
You get stuff!! If you donate, you can get stuff like signed DVDs, photos, signed posters, t-shirts, tote bags, and more. Click the link to see pictures and descriptions.

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"Eyemo" Ed and His Camera Shells

9/23/2014

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After volunteering at a documentary film fest I began to consider making a documentary. I had been taking still photos at reenactments but this idea was very new and totally different.

Reenactments are all about being "period correct" so I looked for a vintage newsreel camera. I realized that while I might be able to scrimp and save to buy a working newsreel camera, I could never afford to feed it film.

So what to do? The desire to make this film was burning in my chest. Then I had a "lightbulb moment". I noticed it was common practice at reenactments to gut vintage radios and insert an i-pod in order to play period-correct music at the events. Why not do the something similar with a newsreel camera and insert a digital video camera?

I borrowed two models from a guy that deals in vintage movie cameras for a living. I made molds and cast hollow "shells" in resin. They looked amazingly real! The first was a classic camera, the Mitchell NC.

The faux Mitchell that I cast and painted.

Hand holding it was simply not an option though. It was just *way* too large. Not good for shooting documentary "running and gunning" style.

The second turned out to be a brilliant solution. It was the Army's version of a newsreel camera, small enough to be handheld, just barely large enough to fit a video camera inside. It was called the "Eyemo".
It looked great, but it did require a whole lot of work to make it functional. In the end, I got it going.

I purchased a DSLR, but it had to go in something else. I found a non-working 4X5. It was period correct and just barely large enough to hold my DSLR.

I finally made a mold for a point and shoot camera for catching candid shots and some B-roll.

At last I had my tools ready! All that was necessary now was to apply about five years of elbow grease filming reenactors in action. ;-)

Footage of me shot by Don Sweet.

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