Furman Pictures Blog

“Secret of the Desert Lights” is the most recent literary accomplishment in a long list of books written by author Sandy Zaugg which include the children’s adventure series, “The Shoebox Kids.” I have the pleasure of shooting a short project for Sandy this next week.

This isn’t my first interaction with Sandy Zaugg. I enjoyed discussing religion and literature with Sandy (in between her frequent and lengthy trips abroad) during a weekly group meeting we both attended while I lived in Walla Walla, WA. I look foreword to working with Sandy, if only briefly, in creating a video introduction to her new book.

Moon & climber through overhead cave entrance at 11:00 PM.

Shooting the first episode the new television series Beyond Adventures was great fun and a great relief, likely more for Producer Brian Bellaeu than myself. He produced this episode. We shot in a Nevada cave that requires you to repel sixty feet down to get inside. Dramatic. Check out the photos below.  It was a relatively small cave, but still had some big spaces.

All three of our pro-lights failed in the cave, so we ended up shooting much of it with headlamps. That was unfortunate, but there is still a lot of good footage, including Nathan, one of the talent, getting stuck in a narrow hole with a drop off on the other end.

I had my own challenges. I’ve done a little rock climbing and repelling- just enough to be dangerous. Jumaring 60 feet up the cave entrance was a bit humiliating, it took me so long. I definitely need to spend more time on my upper body strength.

Actually, Bellaeu had the tougher camera shoots too. In the second location, Snow Canyon, Utah, he had a somewhat of a technical climb around to the top of the cliff, then he had to repel halfway down the 400 foot cliff to get shots of the climbers.

They got off the cliff just in time too. The wind really started to pick up. There was just enough time to rap up interviews and break camp before a huge wind and sleet storm hit.

Next up: Ouray Ice Park, Colorado in January. Enjoy the pictures of cave/Snow Canyon shoot:

Documenting the construction progress of the Humane Society for South West Washington has been interesting. I’ve been using the interval recording features of my HVX200 to show the building taking place at what looks like high speed. Its good to see their finally getting a badly need new facility located on 192nd in Vancouver, Washington.

Watch the Costruction Progress Video and then support their efforts by donating at southwesthumane.org.

AMP Studios out of Semi Valley, California has hired me to be the Associate Producer on their new series, “Beyond Adventure.”

The show will document individuals challenging themselves on two to five day adventures. As the title implies, the show will focus on their personal story, as well as their adventure. Funding for one season, which will consist of 13 half-hour episodes, has been approved. Production will start this month and continue through the fall of 2009.

I’ll be working with Producer, Brian Belleau from AMP Studios on the series. I’ll be producing seven of the episodes and editing them here at Furman Pictures. Belleau is producing the the other episodes. Color correction, audio, masters, distribution, etc. for all episodes will be performed at AMP Studios.

The crew will be light and mobile, consist of two to four people. Production will mainly take place on the West Coast of the United States, with a couple exceptions in South America- like Patagonia!!!

AMP Studios plans to broadcast “Beyond Adventure” online and on the Hope Channel. They will also be looking into distribution deals with other networks.

I plan on posting pictures from the productions as they take place, so stay tuned.

I’ll be shooting a film teaser in Portland, Oregon this Saturday night, November 22, for “Calvin”, a feature length film being directed by Charles Gould. Charles adapted the screenplay from a short story his father had written about his own childhood. “Calvin” is about a boy whose life is changed after he faces new friends and new dangers when he runs away from home. After reading the script, I felt like, wow, this is really a story worth telling. It touches you and begs you to move.

I’ve worked with Charles on two other short films. He’s a quality actor and I’m looking forward to working with him again.

In addition to shooting the teaser, my company, Furman Pictures, LLC, will also be providing most of the production gear- camera, lighting, jib, dolley, etc. There’ll be some challenging camera movement, which I’m looking forward too.

We finished shoot “Slingshot” this last Sunday. It rained nearly all day, making production challenging. The rain added a nice mood though.

We filmed in and around Camas, WA, just up the river from Portland and Vancouver.

It was a very fun, talented group of actors and crew: Cole Haole-Valenzuela, Penny Shaw, Seidel Standing Elk, Kevin Mannis, Charles Gould, Matthew Solis, Tyler Benjaman, Matthew Solis, Joseph Long and my wife, Kaarsten.

Kevin especially had some challenging physical comedy to do. He was proficiently. Cole, who played the lead character, also deserves credit for his dive rolls and leaping through the forest.

Up next: post production, which will take a couple months because I’ll be fitting it in between jobs for clients. I’m really looking forward to editing however. A fun project with beautiful fall colors.