our first commercial

On June 29, 2009, we shot our first commercial! It's for the "Big Game" contest for CareerBuilder.com. Lori called us one weekend with the idea and asked us to shoot and act in it. Sounded good to us! We met the next afternoon at a business. After quick hello's with the other actors, and a quick run down of the script, we were off and running. It only took about an hour to get all of the shots we needed.

We couldn't set the commercial to music before entering, but Craig did edit a version with music. Once the contest is over, I'll upload it to our youtube page. Until then, you can view the video below.

Update! 8-7-09
Our contest entry has made it past the initial selection process and will now be voted on by judges. Hopefully it will continue to push on!

Here is the official CareerBuilder.com contest page with our entry:
http://www.hiremytvad.com/video-detail.php?videoID=dcj8BrOjd5A

Thoughts on my first public showing

Li'l Film Fest 10: Family has come and gone. Despite losing several attendees due to the schedule change, we still had a decent sized support group of friend/family for our film "Sunday". We didn't win anything, but... I did experience something that for a filmmaker is greater than any award. Audience acceptance! We got a nice applause and a good reaction from the audience during the showing. I even had a few people come up to us afterwords to tell me they liked it. I enjoy making movies for people, an audience. That is what filmmaking is all about! So to have it perform well is a dream come true!

Postponed - Li'l Film Fest 10 (Updated!)

Due to inclement weather, Li'l Film Fest 10: Family was postponed from last Saturday. The building the fest is being held in has been without power for several days. Still waiting on a confirmation for the rescheduled date.

Stay tuned!!!


Update!
The fest will take place Sat, June 27th. Can't wait!

"SUNDAY" playing in local film fest!

In early May we made a 5 minute short for a local film festival, and I'm happy to report that it has been selected!!! It'll play in the Li'l Film Fest 10 this Saturday along with 12 other entries. This "little" fest is put on by Live from Memphis. By entering, we are granted consideration for the Indie Memphis Film Fest that is held every October. Live from Memphis holds the Li'l Fest every quarter with a required theme and a time limit of 5 minutes. This fest's theme is 'family'.

"Sunday" was put together in about a week and was filmed over a rainy weekend. It was edited and scored within a few hours. We definitely beat our editing time from "Don't Look in the Fridge". While awards will be given at the festival, I'm just thrilled to be a part of the event and to see our movie played on the big screen!


"Sunday"
directed by: Val Overstreet
written by: Dolan Mills
shot by: Craig Morris

Staring:
Jake Mills
Lori Mills
Dolan Mills
Valerie Campbell
David Jacks

For more information about the fest vist:
Li'L Film Fest 10

Li'l Film Fest 10 Entry - "SUNDAY"

I'm superstitious when it comes to filmmaking (among other things) and did not want to post this until after I knew whether or not "Sunday" was accepted into the Li'l Film Fest 10. I'm very thankful that it has been selected and now I present to you the story behind how it came to be.

Back in March, one of my filmmaking buddies invited me to a local film fest to see his movie screened. I thought it was a cool experience and mentioned that I'd like to participate in the next one. Live from Memphis hosts a quarterly fest every year with a required theme and a 5 minute time limit. The event is called "Li'l Film Fest". The theme that my friend's movie, "Journeyman", was a part of was "Memphis - Fact or Fiction?".

When Arnold sent word about the next fest (#10), I was very excited. The theme was "family" and you can imagine the ideas my dark and disturbed brain immediately thought of. However, all of those ideas seemed too easy, too cliche. So, I turned to a script idea that I've been working on that fit the theme of family perfectly - and was not horror. However, it turned out that there was no way to write a 5 minute script without jeopardizing the story, which I was NOT about to do. I was bummed.

But... all was not lost. Dolan, my brother-in-law, saved the day by coming up with an idea that could benefit from a shorter time limit. Oddly, it wasn't really horror either. He wrote the script, sent it over, and I immediately went to work storyboarding. "Sunday" was literally put together in about a week. I would have preferred to have had more time, but circumstance didn't work out that way. Considering the time that went into production, I am pleased with the outcome.

We filmed "Sunday" on a rainy weekend in May. The production went well. All of our actors were prepared and hit their marks as expected. Jake, our nephew, shined once again. It was a good experience. I missed a couple of shots due to how rushed we were, but that's how it goes in the world of amateur filmmaking!

Craig got the footage edited and we scored it within a couple of hours. I even mailed our entry with a few days to spare! Today (6-10-09), I learned that our little movie was chosen to be screened in the fest! I'm very excited. This is the first time this has happened for us in our very young filmmaking endeavor. There will be awards given at the fest, but I can honestly say that I'll be happy just to be there. I can't wait for my friends and family to come out and support our efforts and see our movie on the big screen!

A big THANK YOU to all of our awesome cast/crew!