The Pearl of Greatest Price

I know I’m late… But October 31st still qualifies, doesn’t it?

The Pearl has been a blessing and a struggle this last month; a struggle, because I can’t ever find the time to sit down and edit - or when I do have time, I don’t have the drive; a blessing, because we have finished with shooting all the main characters, with a possible exception… (could I really ever say we’re through?)

But in reality, I have resigned myself to making the best movie possible with the footage available. That’s not a negative thing: What we have is, for the most part, great. What I’m talking about is the final conclusion of shooting the movie, the part I’ve enjoyed the most. It was definitely bitter-sweet to say, “You’re done.”

One by one, the actors finished their job, and I had the pleasure of telling them they were “wrapped” - that they could separate themselves from their character… to cut hair, change looks, and otherwise be free from the way things started, a year ago. Yes, it’s been almost a year since shooting began.

Despite my statements claiming the status before, the movie is now irrevocably into post-production. It is definitely another step closer to finishing. Please, keep up your support… in your Facebook posts, in your coffee conversations, and in your prayers! There are so many more hurdles to jump through: Music is a big thing, which must be started on NOW. I have asked for permission to use 2 songs (and still haven’t heard back), but we need more. Pray that God sends the right musicians to cover it.

Well, until next month, thanks for supporting the project!

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Well, this update is going to be somewhat negative. That’s because times are tough! But don’t let this update get you down… Things are still progressing, despite trials and tribulations.

September has been… well, what can I say. Tough. There are a number of reasons that finishing this movie is proving to be the hardest thing about it. Let me tell you about a few of them.

The biggest news is, all the work that was done on the rough cut is gone. What happened you say? Did we lose everything? Is that the end of the movie? Let me answer those questions one at a time, is reverse: No, the movie continues. None of the footage was lost. What happened, was, I decided to update the backup copy of the footage with the reshoots and all. A very smart thing to do, right? So, I hook up the external drive that holds the backup to the computer, and proceed to back all the footage up. But what I don’t realize is that I mistakingly tell the backup to go to one of the internal drives instead. When I realize my mistake, I think “well, having 3 copies of the footage is good”, I think - so I let it continue.

Two hours later, I find out that the new program I was using (and unfamiliar with) went ahead and removed all the files on that internal drive… including every bit of work done on the movie to date.

Needless to say, I have to start over, technically from scratch. But truthfully, I am familiar with the footage and it shouldn’t take long to get back to where I was.

…that is to say, if I have time. Another element affecting the movie is that I am extremely busy at work. As a matter of fact, This has been one of the busiest I can remember. Once school starts, it has traditionally been a time of “catching my breath” before the Christmas season starts. Well, not this year. Things are really jumping. Is that bad? No. I love where God has put me. I think He’s doing things and growing a church, and I’m very happy to be a part of it. But because this movie is done on off-time, well… the time I have to give to it gets chiseled at over and over again. I made a decision that when I got through with filming, I would give more time to my family. The movie has moved further down the priorities list, and I’m finding it hard to find time to work on it.

Not everything is negative, though. We’re working on music, we’ve done some great reshoots, and the movie looks OK at the rough. But the prayer is, that I can keep a focus and find the time to edit. Maybe, find a process to spread the editing out to other people, too. I’m really open to anything. So please, pray. A lot has to happen in the next 2 months. Pray that the obstacles are removed, that I can prioritize correctly, and pray for a lot of time.

As always, if you want to get weekly(ish) updates, become a friend on Facebook. Search for “The Pearl of Greatest Price”. If you want daily(ish) updates, we’re on Twitter: “pearlproject”

Until next month…

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FYI:
If you’re on Facebook, become a fan of the Pearl!
If you’re on Twitter, you can usually get daily updates!

Hey all!

It’s been another month, and things have really gone up and down with the movie. On the up, final editing is in progress, and the final round of filming has been scheduled. On the down, find all the little things wrong with the footage is excruciating. To think of all the effort that a a lot of very dedicated people invested into a shot, only to ultimately have it become unusual… It really takes it’s toll on me.

The other thing that takes its toll is the fact that life goes on around the movie. Since principle photography wrapped, my family has gone through quite a number of adjustments, the most impacting is my first high school graduate and first-time college student. Many pressures at work have also presented themselves. Combine that with the movie, and you might understand the extreme personal stress that I have had.

I was looking forward to the editing process, because I expected to do it on my own time, with less impact on the family! But the reality is, without a schedule and people to whom I owe my focus, things just end up being put aside… So it’s not progressing as fast as I expected. There’s a lot of work to do, though the bulk of it has been completed with the rough cut.

All is not negative; there’s encouragement in the good shots, to be sure. I love it when a plan comes together! I’ve even placed music with the opening credits, and with the first montage. It’s not the final music, but it’s much closer to what I envisioned the music to be. I have also sent off a request to the management of Fireflight, to ask permission to use one of their songs. Haven’t heard back yet - pray that the request is granted, and without breaking the little bank we have - and the same request for the group Sanctus Real, too.

All in all, like I always answer anyone who asks, progress is slow - but it is progress. Please continue to pray for this project, that it’s not just a movie, but it’s one that people can use to connect to others with.

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Things never are perfect.

This month, when I should have finished the rough edit and already scheduled our reshoots, life interrupted my dreams. Not that this is all bad, not at all: For instance, my family and I took a vacation. Not a visit-the-family vacation, but a true, go away and unwind vacation, probably the second or third in our 20-year marriage. We needed it, to be sure - but there goes one week of editing. My job… who knew that being in the dead of summer, I could be so busy? Fixing this, planning that, designing this, producing that - many extra days have been spent doing what’s necessary. Not that I’m upset, it just eats away at my movie time. To top it off, my youngest kid broke his leg… he’ll be in a cast the rest of the summer. That has it’s own way of draining time.

Needless to say, we’re closing in on the end of the month, and I’m (once again) way behind. Thanks go out to those capable friends who are willing to help me catch up. But here’s what you’re reading this post for:

I am quickly closing in on the first very raw cut of the movie. When I say raw, I mean, “Let’s just see what we shot”. No work on sound, no worrying about lighting or other errors yet. It’s just, put together what we’ve shot. From this, I will know what needs to be re-shot, what holes or angles we missed completely, and I’ll have a good head start on timing and music score.

So far, I’ve cut from scene 29 through almost the end of the movie. I didn’t realize it, but that’s quite a chunk! The only thing I can say about what I’ve seen so far is, when it’s good, it’s awesome!!! …when it’s not so good, well - I’m hoping we can fix a lot in the editing process. Hopefully, the next report I write here will be about how the reshoot went, and the progress of the true edit.

There’s lots of details to go through after that - sound and music, color correction, advertizing and then finally the premiere. Of course, that continues to be pushed back - I’m now looking at October as the release time frame. Please, keep praying. That’s the only thing that’s keeping this project moving.

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June has really flown by. Not as fast as May, but it has. Progress on the editing has come fairly slow, too. I’ve only really been able to concentrate on the movie since the middle of the month. But, in that time, I’ve been able to rough-cut about a dozen or so scenes.

What does rough-cut mean? Well, it’s taking all the pieces of a scene that were shot and finding the best shots that were done, and putting them together so that the scene makes sense. No particular importance is put on sound, color-correction, or even if the places that the shots connect even look particularly good. It’s just the first step in many to get a scene down to as close to perfection as possible.

Having a dozen scenes done in about 2 weeks is a great step forward, but please keep in mind, there are more than 80 scenes in the movie - so there’s still a long way to go. Please continue to pray that the process will continue to go smoothly and expediently. I’m just as anxious to see this movie as you are!

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Hey all:

Today is the first official day of editing; and I am immediately aware of how difficult it is to make a movie. I have trimmed out the opening sequence (which actually won’t be finished until the titles are done) and begun work on scene 8. From capturing all the 35+ hours of footage that was shot, Already I know that I’ve learned some lessons in this process; One is, I will not shoot another movie unless I have someone specifically in charge of continuity! It’s unbelievable how many different ways someone can do the same thing - We’ll see how much can be taken care of in editing.

There are so many things that go into making a movie, and a lot of them are very specialized. It’s really asking a lot from a single person - even if that person is a professional in their field; now, we’ve taken a dozen or so non-professionals and beginners, sprinkled in a little experienced veterans, and now we’re expecting something worthy of our time.

This movie we will no doubt be proud of, but be in prayer for me, and anyone else in the post-production process, as I know it’s going to be a love-hate job over the next few months, being first depressed at the raw footage, frustrated over the editing process, and then amazed at what the final product ends up looking like!

For those of you who want a more rapid update, join twitter (twitter.com) and then follow “pearlproject”. You can also join facebook and become my friend (Jamey Halfast), where I will soon be building a fan page for the movie.

There are details still outstanding (KLST still needs to connect with us on the filming of a scene, and… oh - let’s get the uniforms back, Karen), so please continue to pray for the project!

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The closing days of April are bitter-sweet. At the end of the month, principle photography will be complete, and the project will pass to a new phase. We’ve gone through pre-production, and are wrapping up production, and come May 1st, we will officially enter into post-production.

The last six months have been the most trying time for the cast and crew. You who never had the opportunity to step onto the set during this time cannot imagine the sacrifice that has been made by each member. Not to mention, how this project interrupted the lives of those that volunteered their home or business as a location. Of course, we are expecting that some additional camera time will be needed - when problems arise in editing and something needs to be re-shot… But still it will be very difficult to give that final “cut” on that final day of the final scene that will be shot.

As director, I have come to love and respect those involved in filming. While I could go on and on here about these people, I will hold back, as this will be my honor to do so at the Wrap party, May 1st. If you have been involved in the movie’s production, either in pre-production or production, I would hope you RSVP for the party. An email was sent out not too long ago with an invitation.

It has been a long time since I could sit down and update this new section. Since the post-production phase requires me to sit down in front of the computer on a consistent basis, it is my hope that I can get some more regular updates posted. Oh, and you can follow the progress on my facebook page, once it gets going. Possibly on twitter, too - if I end up taking the time to set it up.

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Hey all:

It’s been a very long time, and I thought I’d give you an update on where we are with the filming of the movie - so you don’t think that things have stagnated!

We are a full two-thirds of the way through principle photography - that’s the stage where all the scenes get filmed. I am constantly having to rework the schedule for this reason or that, but we are set to finish by the end of March!

That means, all of you who are or have been involved in filming the Pearl (from being an extra to providing food to praying) should clear your schedule at the end of March and plan to attend the “wrap party” - a big celebration of completing this huge task! We haven’t set the final day for sure, but you can expect it to be the last Saturday of March, probably.

I will admit, things have not been easy. It is extremely hard to plan, as everyone’s schedules have gone crazy, and permissions have been hard to come by, but there are a number of great things that have occurred - from securing locations to finding new people, and even new ideas for the script!

Our biggest needs currently are really in two areas:
1 - We need more crew. Don’t anyone read anything into this: I’m not going to fault any of the teens that are participating as crew, because by being on the set they know that if it weren’t for them, the movie would not be possible - that’s truth. But, we do need more adult volunteers on the crew - people who have a bit more longevity when we’ve been working all stinking day long! You don’t need experience, just a desire to serve and a clear schedule. We need to get a rotating crew… so if you would like to volunteer on a particular upcoming Saturday, please let us know!

2 - We also need more pray’ers. It is always a blessing to be in the middle of a tough situation, and look over to see our on-set pray-er supporting us with head bowed. I know from the director’s perspective, it means a whole lot. If you want to come on set and pray, please contact us!

Things are coming together, and filming will be winding to a close. But that does mean another issue is coming - and that’s post-production, when we begin to put the movie together. We’ll need a large computer to edit it with - in the range of at least $2000. We currently have about $800 in the bank. If you would like to donate towards that, or if you know where we might be able to lease a high-level computer for about three months, please let us know!

Until next time, keep praying!

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Hello all - Sorry we haven’t had an update in a long time… Going back to work, I have found my time to do administrative things on the movie has been highly restricted. In any case, here’s where things stand: I could tell you so many things about how God has put things together just right, but unfortunately I only have time for one: The script originally was written with the Cactus Cafe in mind as a major location. Then they closed, and we had to look elsewhere. Low and behold, the Mesquite Bean Cafe opens up in it’s place, run by a tremendous person excited about the possibility of having the movie shot there!

We are about to do our, uh, 9th day of shooting? When you think of it that way, we’ve done a whole lot: approximately 20 shots have been completed. There’s still a whole lot more to go, but it is exciting to see that progress, even though it doesn’t seem to be that way!

We are still lacking in a few areas: We are having trouble feeding the cast and crew. Though we have had people sign up, it has proven difficult to find the available people on the right day. Would you consider helping?

We only have 3 people officially signed up to be on set and pray while we shoot. Of all the things that have not gone the way I expected them too, this is the biggest! This is a dire need - just to have someone be there, praying silently about all that is going on… I would have thought we would have too many to choose from! Would you consider helping?

The list for extras is long, but it is hard to get the people when we need them; It seems to be restricted to everyone’s busy schedules. Now, I understand how life takes precedence many times, but please, please - if you are notified of an opportunity, do it! The movie will not look near as good if we have the director doing a cameo appearance all the time!!! Would you consider helping?

Lastly, the need for money is always there - but praise God, we’ve been given some operating funds that could possibly carry us through the shooting process. But looking forward to editing, there is a need of a good editing computer - to the tune of about $4000. If you or anyone you can think of want to help, but cannot fit into any other role or position… would you consider helping with this purchase?

Thanks to all of you who are praying from your home. We have seen amazing things, and I know it’s because of you. Keep it up (and come pray on the set!) and God will put this picture together!

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It seems that some wiley picture-taker has snapped some illegal pics from the closed set… Or actually, they’re snapshots from our continuity supervisor, Robyn Seidel…

Here is Jamey, directing the motel shot from his trusty director’s chair (A Christmas gift).

To the right is Clara doing a little housekeeping for the money trail…

Stay tuned for more!

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