New Year In Sight
Posted by Shannon and Sara Burns at 7:16 pm on Jan. 8, 2008.
This past year was one of the most amazing years of our lives. We saw the Lord open doors one after another. Answering many specific prayers, He grew the scope of this film project beyond all that we could ask or think. It was a summer of sleepless nights, tremendous team work, and extremely successful shooting. Between forming so many new friendships while working with all of you, and seeing the Lord bring perfect strangers together to begin a potentially culture changing work – this summer was a humbling learning experience for all of us. (and a lot of fun too!)
This past autumn we pushed to achieve one goal – finishing the rough edit. Much hinged on that. We were praying that above all else the story and message would miraculously come shining through the chaos of a million frantic details. Along the way, we have continually seen the Lord’s provision and blessing; we compiled a trailer which exceeded even our expectations, and to which Mr. Phillips gave a gracious premier introduction at the opening ceremony of the SAICFF this past October; we have secured several thousand dollars in funding for our sound track from a university; and we have been extremely encouraged as a compelling story has begun to emerge from our efforts.
We believe that the diamond in the rough promise of the first edit suggests that this film will be appealing to many people – and we feel that with just a little more work we can leap from having made a good film to having succeeded in creating a great film, with the potential of reaching a large audience.
A “little more work” presents a few minor problems – mainly in the areas of scheduling, time, and money. Those of us at BFS have made the difficult decision to put off other plans for another 8 months to finish shooting this summer with the final release date now set for September 1, 2008. If you have stood with us in the past, we would ask you to prayerfully consider joining us again - and if you have recently found us, we would love to make your acquaintance on the project in this New Year.
A compelling story portrayed through film reaches into the heart and mind like no other form of entertainment in our culture today. Where the Lord may take this project and all of us, none can tell, but several of us are considering film as a vocation. At the heart of every good film is a great story, and as Christians we have great stories worth telling.
From all of us at BFS, we wish you a blessed new year,
Chad Burns, Director
P.S. Here are a few pictures…it takes one’s breath away to look at just a slice of what the Lord has already accomplished through our efforts.
Nick gives direction to extras during one of our longest and most challenging shoots (Aug 2007)
Remember this? One of the early shoots. “Quiet on the set! Cameras roll! A speed, B speed, Slate. A set, B set. Ready?… go extras… 3,2,1 Action!!”
Women and children of Briton building a hill fort under Artos’s direction
The hill fort wall goes up
Angry Saxons pull it down. (Nathan in the foreground made our spears and axes – way to go Nathan)
This is one Saxon who can sew as well. (Mr. Burnham takes time off from bashing Brits to fix a sewing machine - again)
The Mist Rises…as Nebuchadnezzar of old, the dew fell on us over and over again as we found ourselves filming through the entire night into the early hours of dawn. (Out on the set, Raegenhere, takes a moment to rest on his sword.)
An army still fights on its stomach. Food was one of our largest line items during the summer shooting, along with insurance, cloth, and transportation.
Lacking true ‘pre-viz’ we did a lot of it on set hours before the actors and extras arrived.
Mr. Safety keeps a watchful eye on things, like…
…Nick chucking a fire pot into a house – moms, please notice the gloves – this was very safe.
Kyle lines up a shot on the dolly. When it comes to shooting a complex motion shot nobody nails it like Kyle.
Ethan’s mind does auto framing – meaning he simply gets the best shot of everything going on all the time…Period. (Handy kind of guy to have around.)
Mr. Atherton leaves his family to join the army. Working against the setting sun this shot was tricky.
Setting up for a long dolly shot.
“Q” (on the ground) gives Aaron instructions on how to deflect a blow Nick will be delivering in a moment. Q, the closest thing alive to a traveling lance, is a high school teacher by day.
We prayed for horses and the Lord brought many folks who owned horses. Thanks a bunch to all of you who brought your mounts. We will be doing more shooting with horses in 2008 – yippee!
Instead of renting a location to film our forging scenes Aaron and Nick just built one in the back yard. Hey, why not?
Marilyn’s response to the suggestion that we film anther 6 weeks this summer –when she realized we were serious, she passed out.
It really was a great summer – we had a ton of fun together and are looking forward to another great year. Please keep praying for the Lord’s guidance and provision.
