Posted by Shannon and Sara Burns at 2:00 am on Nov. 13, 2008.
Last night we were thrilled to have the first public screening of Pendragon at Oakland University. After three and a half years of intense work, we were excited to see this film come to life. “When we started, there was no guarantee that this film would reach completion,” Chad said last night. We had a full house with roughly three hundred people in attendance. The audiences’ responses were very supportive. In the middle of the project there were rough times when the light at the end of the tunnel went out, but it was during those times that we saw God working the most. It was so incredible to think that the Lord brought the project this far. “What God calls us to do He gives us the grace to accomplish.”
Special thanks to Oakland University and the Grizzdance for hosting this screening and providing all the refreshments.
Over 250 people attended
The main cast on stage
Many thanks to Oakland University and the Grizzdance. Coordinator Sean Bono did a fantastic job of putting the showing together.
The main four hosting a Q and A panel afterwards
Marilyn and Kimmy Fisher
Nick’s fan base
Posted by Shannon and Sara Burns at 8:46 am on Nov. 4, 2008.
From all of us on the Pendragon team – THANK YOU for your prayers and support!!! We are happy to inform you that we made the SAICFF submission deadline of Nov 1. It would have been a quiet ending for the production phase of Pendragon, but major 11th hour computer problems kept us in prayer right up to the last… It seems that the Lord wanted to remind us again that He was the one who pulled this together.
The St. Louis site team relaxes after shipping the DVD to SAICFF Saturday night.
We are currently working on a final audio mix and preparing the DVD for replication – and re-vamping the website. Check back regularly for the new video clips coming out in the run-up to the DVD release.
Posted by Shannon and Sara Burns at 11:38 pm on Nov. 2, 2008.
We are feverishly working to finish the sound on Pendragon. It is really coming together very nicely and I think a lot of folks will be quite pleased with the overall effect. It is so exciting to see all the hard work of creating the visuals coming alive with the addition of good sound. We have been so blessed to find great and talented friends to help out on this key aspect.
The Morris twins, Caleb and Daniel, have been orchestrating some fantastic battle music for Pendragon. Last night I drove over to their house (a 2 hour jaunt from Tulsa) to pick up several finished cues. The family of 13 children tried to wait up, but I was delayed and did not arrive until after midnight and most of them had fallen asleep on the floor and been carried to bed 
It was great to meet the part of the family still awake. It was encouraging to meet another family in yet another part of the country that has been so involved in the project.
During production we have always tried to use what was available to get the job done – and I was impressed to discover that the M’s studio is a converted steal shipping container all tricked out with the electronics necessary to do top notch recording and midi mixing.
Posted by Shannon and Sara Burns at 2:27 am on Oct. 25, 2008.
On Wednesday night we shot the second to last pickup of the movie. An inset on the hand of a dead Saxon was needed and our neighbor obligingly came over to play the role.
It was a very simple shot and we surprised ourselves by knocking it out in under an hour
Mr. Bivens, the next door neighbor lays on a camping mat and wears his coat half way to ward off the October chill. Notice the can of black spray-paint in the foreground and the clip on light – both mainstays of Pendragon production.
JC (left) takes a break from color correction to DP the shot – Nick (right) checks framing. Chad (center) coaches the actor on how a dead man’s hand should look.
Posted by Shannon and Sara Burns at 4:51 am on Oct. 23, 2008.
Last week in Tulsa we made very good progress. Along with recording a ton of foley Nathan and Dusty also laid down some of the last remaining ADR tracks for the film.
The leading bad guy – Hengest – is a large broad shouldered killer who towers over his enemies. The actual actor who played Hengest wound up playing the voice of another character so we needed someone new for Hengest. We scared up an off duty police officer – with previous experience acting and a very nice deep voice.
At first I was worried – Erik didn’t look much like Hengest… But the proof was in the pudding – as they say – and after spending 2 hrs in the booth when Erik walked back in the control room we were all shocked – he’d sold the lines so well we were surprised not to be seeing Hengest himself.
In the above picture Erik is holding a large wrench. In the confines of the booth the double sided ax preferred by Hengest wouldn’t have fit very well – but he needed something to wield so he could get the rhythm into his voice.
Nathan, a Pro Tools power user, teaches Dusty the ropes.
Posted by Shannon and Sara Burns at 7:38 am on Oct. 19, 2008.
I’m down in OK for Foley recording and sound work with the Ashtons and crew. Nathan Ashton is heading up the entire sound design effort and doing a bang up job – that’s a job that sounds good!
We are estimating that when completed, the Foley/Walla/EFX will have involved more than 500 hours of studio work. Studio time that could have cost us well over 20K has been graciously donated by a local university in exchange for involving students in the project – what a deal huh? Praise the Lord for his provision.
Exciting tidbit – there are only about 300 hours left till our deadline! Eek!
The rock salt isn’t that cold, the leather gloves are an old trade secret for helping to get good snowy sounds.
Dusty intently concentrates on the screen in order to exactly mimic the hero’s moves. Dusty has become quite the engineer, running the booth as Nathan does the “walking”.
Nathan Ashton adjusts settings. The glasses are for safety. They just “happen” to look that cool.
Posted by Shannon and Sara Burns at 11:32 pm on Sep. 11, 2008.
September 9th
Last night, we locked the edit on Pendragon. This moment has been a long time in coming. After thousands of hours of painstaking work by many people, the edit is finished.
The meaning of this small statement is huge. Finally, after 3 years of blood, sweet and tears, after hundreds of hours of work on the script and nearly as many revisions, after 15 grueling weeks of shooting, after working with hundreds and hundreds of friends we didn’t have at the beginning – Pendragon is finally poised to be completed.
Huge undertakings don’t always make it this far. Thinking back there have been so many key moments when the Lord held us together as a team or provided key resources that were needed to continue. I have often wondered over the past years if the Lord planned to bring Pendragon to fruition – we have learned and grown so much and met and fellowshipped and served with so many new friends that I have wondered if the process was more important to Him than the outcome. I still don’t know the answer, but as our deadline draws near it seems to me more and more likely that we shall finish.
Four big pieces of news:
- We happen to be flat broke and could sure use your help if you felt inclined to donate to the cause – we are borrowing money every day to keep the lights on, but this only goes so far and we are looking at a number of exciting opportunities to add real value to the picture, but don’t have the budget to do that right now.
- We are going to be submitting to SAICFF, which means our deadline for completion is Nov 1.
- We plan to release the finished DVD for sale on our site Nov 15th. If you’d like to donate, and get in line for one of the first copies, you can pre-order the DVD now for $45.
- Our computers are working better than they ever have before – if you’ve been praying for us, please don’t quit.
Now that video is locked we are pounding down the road on the four major remaining items, ADR, Foley, Music and Visual FX. It’s pretty exciting; we have major operations in 3 locations – Oklahoma City, St. Louis, and Detroit. The post team has expanded into a small army – continuing operations cost us about 1k per week.
Overall the movie is really coming together – there’s talk of cutting a new trailer, and when VFX are done I think we will. There’s a real feeling of excitement and energy in the team right now, a feeling that every moment counts.
I have never fought a war, but I believe this project has had a ‘war like’ emotional arc. In war you feel over and over again, for each battle, the full range of human emotion, the high high of surviving combat, and the bitter lows of loss and local defeat. The project does not have a single emotional arc, it has been a series of up down cycles. I have lost count of how many times we’ve been near despair for good reason, or believed that the last great hurdles had been crossed and that the future was all roses. I recall a long time ago feeling so sanguine about the project that I took time to fear the impact of success. That was 3 cycles ago.
I doubt if we’ve seen our last valley, but from the mountain top of video lock our goal in the distance is finally visible.
Thanks for your continued prayer and support.
Posted by Shannon and Sara Burns at 8:24 pm on Sep. 1, 2008.
As the deadline for Pendragon comes near, everyone is extremely busy with their projects. In Ortonville:
Marilyn and Aaron are at work full time on the soundtrack. This week they are continuing to write main themes. They spent last week doing music spotting with
Chad and Nick. (Music spotting is going through the video and noting hit points, where the various themes will be, where the music will be suspenseful, etc.)
Please pray that Aaron and Marilyn would be able to solve some computer issues very soon.
In St. Louis:
The editors are hard at work. The video has to be locked by Friday. In other words, the cuts between the scenes have to be in their final places so the music and sound can be added.
Posted by Shannon and Sara Burns at 2:18 am on Jul. 23, 2008.
Sunday afternoon we picked JC up from the St. Louis airport. He is here to help with the push to complete the final rough edit on schedule. The rough edit has to be completed in two weeks. Please keep the editors in your prayers. They have been experiencing technical difficulties which are proving to be very time-consuming.
Meanwhile, at the Northern Burns house, Marilyn and Aaron have been busy on the soundtrack. As the editors finish a scene, they send it on to the composers. Aaron and Marilyn are studying orchestration and continuing to learn to understand the composing software. They have finally completed the majority of the preparation work, and are beginning to compose themes.
The sound studio
Composing music for a scene.
Posted by Shannon and Sara Burns at 2:05 pm on Jul. 14, 2008.
This past weekend we went back to Indiana to film a horse chase scene. Since we were in Indiana, Aaron was once again able to ride Prince. The actors are always excited to be working with horses, but Prince is Artos’s favorite mount. He had such spirit during the chase scene.
Artos astride Prince
One of Artos’s pursuers.
As the crew looks on, Artos is hotly pursued.
Lisa holds a horse between takes. The Atherton family provided dinner and hospitality for our crew—what a blessing! On Saturday, we were rained out in the morning, but God was gracious and by early afternoon, the sun was shining.
Nick checks the shot list.
Eponine tries on a new pair of shades.
Chad, Kyle, and Dusty review the footage on location.
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