Hey guys,

Last week I finished the newest episode of my Transformers stop-motion series Transformers: Alliance.  In this episode, tensions rise between the Autobots and Decepticons as Optimus Prime is held hostage. (click on “Continue Reading” below to watch the video).

Comment and rate video here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=caXMmAo-UcI

Wow!  That’s the first word that comes to mind when thinking about the week I’ve had.  This has been one of the most enjoyable sets I’ve worked on, with only one exception: Shooting in an attic, in Texas, in July!  Coming from the high and dry mountains of Colorado, the humidity of Texas has definitely been taking some getting used to.  I’ll let you know if I ever do.

The crew has been fantastic.  A group of talented young people learning the art of film under director Stacie Jones and DP Timothy Jones, both of whom I met at the 2009 Rocky Mountain Christian Filmmakers Camp.  I’ve been very impressed with everyone’s professionalism, and have thoroughly enjoyed the sense of camaraderie and friendships built.  There have been many, many inside jokes created that I will chuckle over for a long time to come.  I would definitely recommend “Liking” Morning Star Productions on Facebook (click here).

We’ve wrapped the first week of shooting and are almost done with principal photography.  We’re taking the weekend off and should hopefully be finishing on Monday or Tuesday.  The crew has gone home, it’s the quietest I’ve heard the Jones’ house all week.  You usually don’t expect teenage boys to chatter as much as a bunch of teenage girls!  I’m looking forward to seeing everyone again on Monday, once again in that stuffy old wasp-infested attic.

As promised, I’ve been vlogging diligently all week.  The first five days’ worth of videos can be found on TheLawOfZack.  I have fallen a few days behind, uploading Wednesday’s videos as I write this post.  Once I get home I’ll work on getting some pictures together to post on here.

Playing five different aged versions of the same character has been a new experience that has been a fun, though at times frustrating, challenge.  I’m very glad for the direction of Stacie Jones, who’s helped bring out acting abilities that I wasn’t aware I had.  Remember her name, I’m sure you’ll be hearing much more about this talented woman in the future!  She and her brother Timothy make quite the creative force to be reckoned with, and it’s been an absolute joy to work with them again.  I’m looking forward to the next project we work together on!

Maybe next time it’ll be in a basement in Colorado in January!

So today is the first day of our journey!  Traveling through time and space in my madcap blue transport, lovely companion by my side….

Okay, not quite like that, but actually pretty close!    My wife and I are heading down to Texas for a movie shoot.  I’ll be playing the part of Gregory in the short film The Door Backward, produced by some Rocky Mountain Christian Filmmakers Camp alumni.  I’ll be vlogging and (hopefully) blogging about the entire trip and shoot, so stay tuned!

Well, I was supposed to have a script finished tomorrow, but it’s not going to happen.  That’s the problem when you have a semi-busy schedule combined with a tendency to procrastinate and a dash of writer’s block.  I did get a good chunk knocked out of it today, though, putting me at 19 pages.  I’m going to try to crank out 10-ish pages a day to get this thing finished in the next week.  It’s a feature-length script, one that’s been long in the making.  I wrote the first draft back at the end of December of 2006.  This is the 10th draft.  Yeah, like I said, a long time coming.

We actually had started production on it back in ‘07… or was it ‘08? (Can’t remember now)  My dad was Producer, I was directing.  Cast actors, booked crew, had investors and everything.  But then things completely fell apart.  People didn’t want to come, we lost investors’ funds… the day I called it quits wasn’t a very good one.  So the project’s been sitting on the shelf for nearly three years, gathering dust and regrets.  But the Lord used that time to work on me, show me why things fell apart, helped me recognize that I wasn’t ready to lead a big production yet.  But it wasn’t until this last filmmakers camp that I finally got the message I had long given up on ever hearing: “Now you’re ready.  Get to it!”  (There were a lot of messages heard that amazing night, but that’s another blog post)

So now I’m back at it.  I had never been really been happy with the script, even with the professional critiques we got on it.  So I wanted to do one last rewrite before we bring it back into production.  I like to think I’ve grown a lot since the last draft, understand things better, can better communicate the right message of the film.  And I’m quite happy with the changes I’ve made thus far.

And yet, even with all that being said, it’s still difficult to find the motivation to finish this thing!  Even after getting the message to move forward, I’m nowhere near in love with this story as I was when I first started.  I still remember how deflated and defeated I felt when I gave up last time, and I still haven’t fully recovered.  I’ve got so many other ideas that I’d rather be working on, that are so much more fun!  But I keep reminding myself of that night at film camp when I heard God speak to my heart, telling me to move forward again.  I have a feeling that if set this project aside to work on those others, they’ll fall apart even worse than this one did.  That keeps me motivated (plus, my dad keeps bugging me about it, too. ), but it doesn’t make it any less difficult.  I’m very easily distracted, and as soon as I hit a hard spot it’s easy for my mind to wander.  I guess that’s one of the reasons why I’m writing all this now, so that I have some extra accountability from you guys.  Message me on Facebook, comment here, whatever you like.  Keep asking me how I’m doing on the script, cheer me on, pray for me, give me a friendly reminder to keep at it.

Hopefully next week I’ll be able to hold those ninety pages and thank you all.

We shot the last of the pick-up shots for John’s Miracle today!  Now post-production will start full-bore.  I’ve almost got the rough cut complete.  It still needs the shots from today, plus the last two scenes, and then the really long process of tweaking, color correction, audio syncing, adding titles, etc. begins.  Right now it’s looking like the final length will be around 15 minutes.  Stay tuned for updates as they become available!