Posted by Shannon and Sara Burns at 9:51 pm on Jun. 24, 2007.
We would like to gratefully acknowledge our three most recent financial sponsors:
Lialoken Sponsor:
Jerome and Wendy Eulentrop
Newest Citizens of Arfon:
Stephen Littmann
Sue Watterworth
We are deeply humbled by all of those who have contributed (and in so many ways) to making this dream a reality. We continue to be overwhelmed by the support of our many friends, old and new, who the Lord is bringing together to accomplish this work. Please pray that the message of visionary, passionate living for His glory would go forth powerfully in the finished film.
Posted by Shannon at 9:51 am on Jun. 19, 2007.
Over the last four weeks of filming the Lord has blessed us in countless ways. From smaller blessings like good weather to bigger blessings like new friends who have helped push the production value of the film to a new level, the Lord has been faithfully providing for the needs of this project. It is exciting to see Him bring so many people together to make this happen.
We are on a three week editing break right now, but we will pick back up with the filming the second week of July. Friday was our last filming day for the trip. We filmed the very first scene of the movie. In the scene, Artos and his father (Justinian) are forging a sword. We were originally hoping to film the scene in a real blacksmith shop, but there were no shops conveniently located with accurate historical equipment. (The only completely accurate shop we could locate was in Greece!) That is why Nick and Aaron decided to build one in our backyard! Rather than make an entire shop, they built an outdoor smithy completely working hearth. It’s really neat.
We had five extras to work in the smithy for the establishing sequence. They were all extremely helpful in getting the scene done. Because we were filming a night scene, we started rolling the cameras around 11:00 p.m. and were planning to finish around 3:00 a.m. Unfortunately…things took a bit longer than anticipated, and we finished at 5:00 a.m.! After that, we all ate ice cream and went for a walk. (our after-dinner desert was only a little bit late.) Thankfully this is the last shoot for a while, so we can all get some sleep! We were very pleased with how everything went this past month and look forward to more. We would appreciate your prayers as we make plans and prepare for upcoming shoots.
Artos’s father, Justinian
The smithy hearth that Aaron and Nick built
Playing basketball at 5 a.m. after we filmed all night
Posted by Shannon and Sara Burns at 2:34 pm on Jun. 13, 2007.
Yesterday evening we filmed another scene of the invading Saxon hordes. The scene began inside a little hut with two children played by Jennifer and Jacob Ervin and Amanda Jubelt as their mother. They were all perfect for their parts. The twins were especially cute and remembered Chad’s instructions very well. Once the family was out of the house, the Saxons had fun smashing the door down and lighting the roof on fire. After we finished filming, we all had ice cream and watched the footage.
The Ervin twins
Amanda and the twins
Jacob and Jennifer with Chad
Posted by Shannon and Sara Burns at 9:27 pm on Jun. 11, 2007.
Yesterday was awesome! The Bradburn family graciously offered the use of their property to us, and we spent the whole day filming there. We had the entire crew helping on Saturday, Dusty and Ethan Ledden, Kyle Drew, David Thompson, Jason Wall, and Harrison Beckmann. We thank God for the blessing they have been to us. Back at home, as we reviewed the footage, everyone was excited about the day and pleased with our progress.
Saxons ambush the British
Artos
Posted by Shannon at 6:22 pm on Jun. 7, 2007.
We arrived in Muskegon on Tuesday afternoon for a three day film shoot. As soon as we got there, we started to set up for a scene. The first scene we filmed was King Ambrosius and Wenneveria in Ambrosius’s hall. That went really well!
Wednesday began bright and beautiful, and we shot the scene of Artos standing on trail before Cadeyrn. The actors did a great job. The last shot of the scene was a trick shot of the guard hurling his spear at an escaping Artos. It looked great on camera! At 1 a.m. everyone decided to go for a refreshing jog on the beach with the water lapping at our feet as we ran under the stars. We finally got to bed at 3:30 a.m.!
This morning we got up to find that our food supply had been raided by squirrels! All of the bags of food had little holes in them and the squirrels had even nibbled on my mother’s tupperware! Thankfully we are heading home at the end of the day, because the squirrels destroyed over half the food we brought! Right now, we are filming our last scene for this shoot–a scene of Wenneveria and Cadeyrn playing Alea, a Roman board game. Overall, this has been a profitable and enjoyable shoot, and all of the people who have come to help us have been a great encouragement. God has been so good to us.
Cadeyrn
Wenneveria dying cloth behind the scenes
Posted by saraburns at 4:17 pm on Jun. 3, 2007.
A tremendous shout of triumph swelled into the hot summer air as the invading hoards rushed into the breach in the wall. Yesterday was the biggest shoot we’ve had yet. We had forty-two extras besides the technical volunteers. Even though the temperature was eighty-five, and most people had more than more than one layer to their costume, everyone was excited and enthusiastic. We began filming at ten thirty, and released the extras at six with everything we had planned to film done. Praise the Lord!
Beric, a British defender
Posted by Shannon and Sara Burns at 9:53 am on Jun. 1, 2007.
We arrived at an Ohio park early Thursday afternoon. We were planning to film several scenes of Artos praying, and a few scenes between Artos and Amarillus, a little slave girl. The park was gorgeous with awesome rock formations and peaceful streams. Laden down with film equipment, we hiked down the trail and explored for awhile to choose the perfect place to film Artos crying out to God. While the camera rolled, Aaron walked up a flight of natural stone steps between two towering rock walls, stopping to ask God for wisdom.
When we finished in the valley, we filmed a short clip on top of the rocks, and then moved down to the mouth of a cave where we shot our last scenes. First, we filmed a scene of Amarillus finding Artos. Kimmie, who plays the little slave girl, acted her part wonderfully. Then we filmed our final scene—Artos searching for weapons hidden by his father in the winding blackness of the cave. It was so neat! We arrived home at 2 AM, tired but pleased with our day.
A rock ledge in the park
