THE GIRL WHO WANTED TO DO SOMETHING B-I-G!

For those of you who haven't read about this, here's your opportunity!

(All of this is "borrowed" from Dennis' blog")

Back in November, Dennis noticed, - - "a call for submissions from the LDS Film Festival for 5-minute, homemade family movies. By homemade, they mean all the members of the team must be family, with the exception of up to one outside person. And the 5-minute rule, which creates certain narrative limitations, also keeps things from getting out of control and becoming all-consuming. Or at least, if it becomes all-consuming, as these things seem wont to do, it will be for only a limited amount of time.

I mentioned it to daughter number 3, Sash. She thought it sounded like it would be fun, if we did it right. What “right” was, we weren’t too sure about. But we started looking for examples of short movies that we liked. We were attracted to those with limited dialogue, favoring voice-over narration, with a fable quality. That style would help on the production end, too, as we would not have to worry quite so much about on-set sound. And the fable aspect would allow us to steer clear of realistic locations, which can be a challenge in Utah in the winter (the deadline is in the heart of winter).

The Girl Who Wanted to do Something Big

I started crafting together a script. It’s called, “The Girl Who Wanted to do Something Big,” which, if we can pull it off, will hopefully be a whimsical tale about a girl with big plans for her day, which end up getting sidetracked by this thing called life, and how that changes her for the good. Like all things, it’s autobiographical (except for, you know, the “girl” part), but I hope others will be able to relate, too.

Production-wise, it’s a little more ambitious than I had originally envisioned. Actually, a lot more ambitious. Cast is now at four, including kids (tapping a niece and nephew), with a bunch of locations, costumes, green screen, that sort of thing. Probably shoot it between the holidays. We’ll have to get creative to make it work. And we’ll have to pull in the big guns: Ken and a couple of his kids, Suzanne, Danielle, Katie and her husband, Daren (from the East Coast via Skype), Sash and her boyfriend, Curtis (our one outsider, although he doesn’t seem like it).

So tomorrow, the day after Thanksgiving, we’ll have our first pre-production meeting around the dining room table, to see how we might be able to pull this thing off. I suspect this effort will generate more than a few “notes to self.” I’ll keep you posted."

And thus was born this wonderful little movie.

The Girl Who Wanted to do Something

B- I- G.

There she is folks!

The stars of the movie: Curtis, Sashy, Sophie and JP.

You can watch the trailer here.

 Me doing my "bit" and by bit, it was tiny but fun to be a part of this production.

 Some of the cast and crew. You can see it is an Agle family production. Even Katie and Daren were a big part of it.'

Speaking of big, that is some green screen that Sue is conquering.

This Saturday (March 7th at 12:30p) it will be shown at the LDS Film Festival held at the SCERA in Orem, Utah.

BIRTHDAY CATCH UPS - DENNIS

After reading Dennis' blog, I had to go find that picture of him with the broken collar bone.

He wore these straps to hold his shoulders back. They rubbed on his arm pits, so we added the sponges to help with that. I know it was painful to produce a smile, but he did. 

Many years ago when I was a young mother, I read a magazine article about Rose Kennedy.

 She was the mother of 9 children one of which became our 35th President, John F. Kennedy.

 One thing that stuck in my mind in that magazine interview was when they asked her how she kept track of all those children she said she kept a 3 X 5 index card for each one of them about their illnesses, shots, etc. I thought that seemed like a good idea and so I got out my medical records, and brushed off my memory and wrote down those similar things. I wish I could have done it as they occured, (and kept it up), but it still is pretty interesting. I shuffled them up and Dennis' came up first. Here goes . . .

Side Note: One morning Dennis and a few of his little friends were playing outside by the bread delivery truck. One of them had the idea to hang on to the bumper when the truck started to go. They let go, but Dennis still hung on.... I heard this awful screaming and thought my neighbor's child behind us had fallen down the stairs. About then, my front door bell rang and my neighbor across the street was holding Dennis and trying to tell me what had happened. (He saw the truck with Dennis hanging on, and was able to get the driver to stop). My neighbor put us in his car and drove us to the hospital. The first thing they did was give me a tranquilizer. I was two weeks overdue with Ruth and I think they were afraid I was going to go into labor. Then they started working on Dennis to pull out a lot a gravel he had embedded in his knees. Quite the exciting morning.

Chipped tooth

A couple of side notes:

Those hallucinations - - awful. For several weeks, not every night, but many, Dennis would wake up screaming the snakes were going to get him, or some other awful thing. Just when we thought they were over, a few nights would pass and back they came. The doctors checked to see if he had some kind of a spider bite or similar. Nothing. They asked if he could have gotten into our liquor cabinet and had some alcohol. His symptoms were like the DTs.  Since that wasn't a possibility, we wondered if he and his little friends might have tried something at one of their houses. Our good friends/neighbors said they always kept their liquor locked up. It still remains a mystery to this day, but it was pretty awful going through that.

Hernia operation: The football team players had to have a physical exam before they could play on the team. That's when they discovered the hernia. Goodbye football! 

NATHAN A. IS NOW 16

It is one of the most important years in a young person's life. 16! 

 Happy Birthday Nathan.

 

I know. I can't believe it myself. Why just a couple of weeks ago I was snatched from the jaws of death! Now it's my turn to drive!

A BELATED HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO EDDY

Eddy just keeps doing amazing things. Things like that wonderful hallway pantry . . 

and getting a $10,000 grant for his classroom.

And this is only two of many.

Let's face it Eddy. You just keep getting better and better!!

THROWBACK THURSDAY

Lately I've been going through bins and bins of "stuff". Old tax returns, Birthday/Mother's Day cards, old files, old, old letters, etc. A lot of it is going in file 86! I came across this info I typed up several years ago and decided I would put it in the blog. 

HAPPY BIRTHDAY DECLAN

I've missed a few birthdays these last few weeks, but eventually I'll get 'round to them. Today, however is an actual birthday. Declan turns 11! Here's a few pictures of that happy fellow. Almost always smiling.

 Looking very dapper wearing a "real" bow tie. That's the kind you tie yourself!

 Enjoying his collection of cards.

 Showing an award he won.

 Brave enough to get in the cold, cold water.

While getting a haircut from Mom, asked her to cut a pitchfork. Good job!!!

A MONTH+ AND I'M FINALLY BAAAAAACCK

Ken had work jobs back east (NYC and No. Carolina) two weeks in a row. No time to come home and return, so since Coppelia had never been to New York she flew out for a long weekend and they did the sights. It was bitter cold, but they didn't let that stop them.  Since they didn't title the photos, I will. (hee-hee!)

 No need for this one. It's an icon.

 Yes, we were there and got picture to show for it.

Looking back at Manhatten.

 I think this is Coppelia pointing at her favorite "subway tile".

 Has to be Central Park.

 And one of the beautiful spots (of many) in that park.

No swimming today!

I'm guessing the Metropolitan Musseum of Art?????

A stained glass rendering they are considering for their next remodel.

  

 She wanted to add a tad of color to those drab ladies.

 When in NYC you have to take in a Broadway show.

Back to the museum.  Hummmm, he looks familiar. (The guy with his back to us, I mean).

 Ground Zero.

 Your guess is as good as mine.

 The museum at Ground Zero.

 New construction.

 Back to Central Park and that famous tunnel that has been in so many movies.

 Yes. This says it all.