http://www.takeabowfilm.com/blog/index.php Welcome to the Take a Bow Blog en annick@takeabowfilm.com Copyright 2008 2008-08-28T05:31:37 hourly 1 2000-01-01T12:00+00:00 http://www.takeabowfilm.com/blog/index.php?p=62&c=1 2008-08-19T00:20:02 Becky (mailto:becky@takeabowfilm.com) General 62@http://www.takeabowfilm.com/blog/index.php Greetings from the scorched earth of California! Just to keep you in the loop: we have finally finished a broadcast version of "Take A Bow" (a broadcast hour is shorter than a feature film to accommodate commercials) and are now pitching the film directly to networks. Additionally, we continue ...
Just to keep you in the loop: we have finally finished a broadcast version of "Take A Bow" (a broadcast hour is shorter than a feature film to accommodate commercials) and are now pitching the film directly to networks. Additionally, we continue to submit both the feature length and broadcast length versions to film festivals. In spite of a "Great Indie-Film Depression" we are hopeful to get our film seen! Additionally, I am working on setting up a possible screening at Paramount Pictures in one of the screening rooms! (Don't want to count any chickens before they hatch, so more on this as it develops.)

We are learning about how long and tedious the process of distributing a film is, and we appreciate all your love and support! Thank you to everyone!!!]]> http://www.takeabowfilm.com/blog/index.php?p=56&c=1 2008-04-26T01:19:45 Annick (mailto:annick@takeabowfilm.com) General 56@http://www.takeabowfilm.com/blog/index.php Firstly, I would like to welcome you to our (slightly) redesigned site. We've updated a lot of the outdated text (after all, the year of the website's copyright was 2006! Yikes), our director's note, timeline, stats, crew page, and others. I'm very happy with the site right ...
There was a comment on my previous post regarding the ability to rent "Take a Bow" so you guys can FINALLY see the film we've been working on so mysteriously for over three years. By submitting the film into festivals, and hopefully one day getting INTO those film festivals, it makes it more and more likely that we will get some sort of distribution deal that will allow the film to be rentable. Without boring you, the gist is that it is very difficult to have a film available at Blockbuster or on Netflix if you do not have a distributor. If we are unable to acquire distribution (knock wood!) we may self-distribute our film via this site and then you, faithful readers, will be able to purchase the film for your own viewing pleasure. For now, however, we'll have to wait a bit more to finally release the film. Who knew film took so darn long!

I hope you all have a wonderful weekend! Thank you again for checking in ]]> http://www.takeabowfilm.com/blog/index.php?p=55&c=1 2008-03-26T02:20:10 Annick (mailto:annick@takeabowfilm.com) General 55@http://www.takeabowfilm.com/blog/index.php I wanted to get an update in before March was over, even though there isn't much to report. We've been applying to film festivals pretty consistently and have not yet heard back from any of them. There are pretty much at least 10 film festivals in every state in the ...
We've been applying to film festivals pretty consistently and have not yet heard back from any of them. There are pretty much at least 10 film festivals in every state in the US, plus several more in each country in the world, so there are a lot of choices to narrow down. There are about 4 festivals devoted entirely to films by, for, and about disabled people, but those deadlines aren't until the fall, so we're hoping that we'll have better luck with those specific festivals.

We are also applying for yet another grant to find the finishing funds for the film, and that deadline is mid-April. So, fingers crossed for that.

Also, we are updating our (very very) outdated website soon, and I just wanted to ask (if anyone would like to reply) if there is anything you'd like to see on this site that is not already here. We'll be updating information about the film, adding things to the timeline, Becky's director's note, and possibly a re-design at some point. If you have any suggestions/comments, we definitely welcome them.

Last thing, just an update on Illinois' ranking among the states in the US for the care of disabled people. When we shot "Take a Bow" in 2005, Illinois was ranked the 47th state in the nation for their lack of care for special needs people. According to the Chicago Tribune, Illinois has now dropped to last place, number 50. It's a pretty sad day for Illinois, and if you are located in Illinois and would like to tell your representatives how saddened/upset/disgusted (not to give you any hints or anything...) you are by this, please visit www.illinois.gov and click on the pull down menu in the Quick References section for Services and Information and then click on "Find Districts/Officials" to find your representatives' email address.]]> http://www.takeabowfilm.com/blog/index.php?p=54&c=1 2008-02-18T12:51:06 Annick (mailto:annick@takeabowfilm.com) General 54@http://www.takeabowfilm.com/blog/index.php As of right now, there are a few things going on with "Take a Bow". The first is that we are still trying to raise the $3-5,000 needed to finish the film. We have our color corrected tape and our sound mixed tape, and we just need to ...
We still have not gotten into any festivals but have now lowered our scope to be a bit more specific and are now applying to documentary film festivals and festivals devoted to our subject matter. Fingers crossed!

While we wait, Becky and Bryan are cutting a new, broadcast-length version of "Take a Bow". We are attempting to make the film as marketable as possible, and having the option of a feature length or broadcast length (which is usually about 58 minutes long, and could be broadcast on any station from PBS to Showtime) is definitely to our advantage.

Not a lot else is new, I've been meaning to make some changes and updates to the rest of the website, so hopefully you can look out for those changes within the next month or so.

Thanks for reading!]]> http://www.takeabowfilm.com/blog/index.php?p=53&c=1 2008-01-08T23:29:53 Becky (mailto:becky@takeabowfilm.com) General 53@http://www.takeabowfilm.com/blog/index.php Hello TAB world. It has, once again, been far too long since I posted here. I am still working in Hollywood at Paramount Pictures in Distribution, TAB is finished and in the "festival submission" phase, and things are going relatively well for me. Except for this. Chris Burritt, our Columbia ...
Except for this.

Chris Burritt, our Columbia College Advisor on this project, passed away January 7th, 2008. Though he had experienced health problems for some time, his death was unexpected; shocking. I spoke with him last only a week ago, when I was home in Chicago for the holidays. He was even more jovial and supportive than he had ever been, in spite of feeling really under the weather. In fact, I received my last TAB-related email from him only 3 days before he passed.

Chris, I feel like I had so much more to learn from you. You were the only person I ever called "Dad" other than my own. And I knew you loved me the same way when you would call and say, "Beck, it's Dad..." Oh Chris, no one has ever believed in me as much as you. The world is definitely a sadder, darker place without you...

As of now, "Take A Bow" is being dedicated to Chris. Without him, I never would have made this movie.

Also, Annick and I are organizing a Memorial Service for Chris out here on the West Coast, for all of Chris's former students, colleagues, and friends who are unable to make it back to Chicago for the services.

]]> http://www.takeabowfilm.com/blog/index.php?p=52&c=1 2007-12-31T15:50:31 Annick (mailto:annick@takeabowfilm.com) General 52@http://www.takeabowfilm.com/blog/index.php I hope everyone is having/has had wonderful and restful holidays! As I've mentioned, things are slow with "Take a Bow" now that the bulk of our post-production work is completed. We've heard back from Sundance, Slamdance, and Rotterdam that we didn't get into their festivals (which is ok, we don't ...
As I've mentioned, things are slow with "Take a Bow" now that the bulk of our post-production work is completed. We've heard back from Sundance, Slamdance, and Rotterdam that we didn't get into their festivals (which is ok, we don't really have the money to fly out to those festivals anyway). We've applied to a few more including the Sprout Film Festival which is a festival in New York that showcases films for, by, and about disabled people. We are keeping our fingers crossed...

We have officially not received any of the grants we've applied for, which is pretty disheartening. But we'll move forward and more aggressively contact distributors to find the rest of the funds we need to complete "Take a Bow".

I will try to convince Becky to post so you guys can read a little about what's going on from her end. Most of what I deal with is business-type boring things, while her job tends to be a bit more creative.

In the meantime, I hope you are all well and those of you in cold climates are keeping warm! We hope you have a happy and healthy new year.]]> http://www.takeabowfilm.com/blog/index.php?p=51&c=1 2007-11-25T18:22:55 Annick (mailto:annick@takeabowfilm.com) General 51@http://www.takeabowfilm.com/blog/index.php Ah remember those good old days when my goal was to update once a week? As things have wound down, I've had less to write about, but as the film finally reaches completion, and as we apply for (and hopefully get into) more film festivals, I will have more ...
We were originally getting the film mixed in Chicago, but as our mixer's schedule filled, and as film festival deadlines loomed, we ultimately decided to have "Take a Bow" mixed here in LA. We completed the mix two weeks ago, and it sounds wonderful! Both Becky and I attended the final mix session (it was in the evening after I'd had my first day at my new job-- working at Paramount as well! What a small world...), which lasted about 4-5 hours, and then we were done. It was a huge weight off our shoulders and one more big step towards completion.

We had a little scare the week before the mix involving our color corrected master tape. We had had the color done in Chicago and they mailed us the master tape-- a very large tape called a DigiBeta, which is a very high quality, but is comically large. We received the tape in the mail, and it was labeled "Take a Bow un-color corrected" so we figured that either they had sent us the wrong tape or someone had mislabeled it. We kept our fingers crossed as Bryan checked the tape, but sure enough, it was not the color corrected version! That meant that the company had to have the color corrected film on their hard drive, or else we would have lost about $30,000 worth of work! We frantically contacted the company, and there were a good two days when we thought all was lost. Very fortunately, we received a call that they'd found the correct tape and would be sending it along. Becky, Bryan, and I seriously almost had three consecutive panic attacks.

Besides our titles (which we'll most likely finish once we are accepted to a film festival, as they are expensive and uneccessary until the last possible moment), all we have left to do is to marry the color corrected master tape to the sound mix, and then we are done! Oh yeah, and there is the little matter of one last music license that is being very slow, but we've still got a little time until that needs to be resolved.

We've been applying to more film festivals: we applied to Sundance and Slamdance (both in Park City, Utah in January), South by Southwest (Austin, TX), the Berlin International Film Festival, and the Rotterdam International Film Festival. There are more deadlines coming up, so we're trying to decide which to apply to, as applications are expensive and we're quickly running out of money.

We applied for 3 more grants and have already received word that we did not get one of them. I'm starting to branch out and call domestic distributors, to see if they will provide completion funds for a co-production, or an all-out sale. We'll see how that goes.

I hope everyone had a wonderful, restful Thanksgiving!]]> http://www.takeabowfilm.com/blog/index.php?p=60&c=1 2007-09-24T15:22:28 Becky (mailto:becky@takeabowfilm.com) General 60@http://www.takeabowfilm.com/blog/index.php Hello TAB world!! It has been SOO long since I updated, and I apologize. I moved to California; arrived here Sept 1st! We drove from Chicago to LA in a 16 foot Penske truck, with our car towed behind and our cats YOWLING in the cab with us. I freaked out ...
It has been SOO long since I updated, and I apologize. I moved to California; arrived here Sept 1st! We drove from Chicago to LA in a 16 foot Penske truck, with our car towed behind and our cats YOWLING in the cab with us. I freaked out in Arizona because the heat was in the 110’s and I thought the extreme temperature would damage the tape masters of our film but no apparent damage was done. PHEW. We moved into our new place in Glendale, CA, on the hottest day of the year: 112 degrees. (and it was hotter the next day when we were outside painting our new bedroom set; 120 degrees that day! BLECH)

Anyway, things here are great! I am working at Paramount Pictures in their Worldwide Television dept as an “Operations Coordinator.” You know how sometimes you can watch movies on HBO, Showtime, TNT, AMC, etc? Well, when those networks screen films, they have bought a package of titles from the distributor (in this case, Paramount Pictures) that they can then air on their channel. Countries all over the world do the same thing, and my dept is in charge of making sure all the foreign networks get the correct tape formats with the correct subtitles, etc, to screen our films on their networks. Working for Paramount is amazing and I love them!

Take A Bow is being mixed in Chicago, and Annick and I are seeking a title house to do our final retrack and titling here in CA. (Retrack: when the final sound mix is done, we receive it as a file on a disc, no picture attached. So, we lay it back onto the picture and sync it with the 2-pop (the beep you hear when the “2” appears during a countdown…we line up the picture of the “2” in the countdown with the “pop” at the head of our audio mix track…) This ensures that the audio is in sync with picture and this process is called “retracking.”) Anyway, point: the film is SOOO close to being totally done!!! Mix-retrack-titles-finished!!! So easy (yet so expensive and therefore arduous…but Annick scolds me when I start to worry about these things…)

Well, that is it for me! Hope all is well in the world of Illinois and that “our kids” are all doing awesome! I miss all of you!

Becky]]> http://www.takeabowfilm.com/blog/index.php?p=49&c=1 2007-08-06T10:16:04 Annick (mailto:annick@takeabowfilm.com) General 49@http://www.takeabowfilm.com/blog/index.php In the interim between posts, we have been trying to get many things done. We only have three more music licenses to acquire (out of 20!), and we are trying to wind those down by next week (fingers crossed). We began our color correction on Friday, and will ...
We applied for several grants over the course of the past 8 months, and unfortunately, did not receive any of them. There are various reasons for this: in some cases the foundations did not have enough money to fund all of the wonderful submissions; in other cases, "Take a Bow"'s goals did not exactly match the goals of that particular foundation. We are waiting to hear from one last foundation, but it's mostly been through your wonderful and generous donations that we have been able to make it this far, and we are incredibly grateful. There is still time to donate, so you can either visit our "gifts" page or our fiscal sponsor's page and donate there via paypal for a tax deductible donation.

We submitted "Take a Bow" to the Toronto International Film Festival and did not get in, but it's ok because if we had, we would have had to complete the whole film yesterday in time to send it to the festival. So! We have picked ourselves up, dusted ourselves off, and we're focusing all of our energy on the deadline for the Sundance Film Festival. There are a few other major festivals that have deadlines coming up as well, so once we've finished all of "Take a Bow"'s post-production, we'll probably submit to all of them.

That's all for now, we're in the last leg of our journey and very anxious for where it will lead...]]> http://www.takeabowfilm.com/blog/index.php?p=61&c=1 2007-06-22T09:36:11 Annick (mailto:annick@takeabowfilm.com) General 61@http://www.takeabowfilm.com/blog/index.php So! We are so close to having our music completed that I can almost taste it. Our score is pretty much done, there is one scene we're still struggling with finding the right music for, but the wonderful work of Jeremy Borum sounds amazing and fits very well. Through the help ...
Through the help of a fantastic music supervisor in Chicago, we are acquiring our music licenses faster and more easily. Sometimes these labels and publishers will only talk to music supervisors, and no one else. It makes it difficult for someone like me to try and acquire these songs on my own. We have just received word of the approval of two of the main songs in the film, that also happen to be two of the more difficult songs to clear. The price is a little higher than I anticipated, so for those of you who have yet to donate, now is your chance! Every little bit still does help, and since we're ohsoclose to completion, your donation might take us through to the end! As I've said, you can either donate via paypal on our site, or for donations of $200 or more you can visit DER's website and donate to Take a Bow via paypal and then your donation will be TAX DEDUCTIBLE! Yay! The link to our donate page is HERE and you have to scroll down to "Take a Bow" (about 3/4 down the page).

We have also applied for two more grants, but probably won't hear from those for a few months.

What else? We have started to apply to film festivals! The first is the Toronto International Film Festival, that takes place at the beginning of September. It is one of the larger film festivals in the world, and is also a great place to sell films (fingers crossed).

That's about it for now, more to come as we begin our color correction and sound work. ]]> http://www.takeabowfilm.com/blog/index.php?p=47&c=1 2007-06-05T12:34:22 Annick (mailto:annick@takeabowfilm.com) General 47@http://www.takeabowfilm.com/blog/index.php I just wanted to write a quick apology for our site's technical difficulties yesterday. I contacted our server/webhosty thingie and they fixed everything within the blink of an eye. But I didn't catch it until later in the afternoon, so I apologize for the inconvenience of the blank ...
As a quick update, our score is thisclose to being done. I just need to listen to the whole thing edited into our film, give it my stamp of approval, and then our wonderful, patient, talented composer, Jezza will be finished.

We have also made a timeline for the film's completion. We are beginning to submit Take a Bow to film festivals, a few of which are at the end of August/beginning of September, so if we make it into those festivals (fingers crossed!) then the film has to be completed by then. So our goal is to have everything done by the beginning of August. If we keep going at our current pace, we should make that goal.

We have heard from two of the grants we applied for last year. We didn't receive either one, unfortunately, so we're struggling a bit with money, but I have gotten back on the horse and am utilizing our wonderful Fiscal Sponsor, DER, to apply for more grants. We have two due this week and next and I'm searching for a few more that fit our goals. I am also implementing several other fundraising initiatives that will hopefully bring in enough money to complete the film... or at least get us to the festivals.

Just in case anyone has forgotten (although I don't see how that's possible), we are still accepting donations, and it's still true that every little bit helps!

Other than that, we've enlisted a wonderful woman to help acquire a few of the more difficult music licenses, because without the clearances to use our songs, our color correction and sound mix cannot begin.

So! Lots of things going on, all of which are exciting, but not that glamourous. I have been very bad about updating, but I will try my best to do it more often, even if it is a short entry just to let you know that we are alive.]]> http://www.takeabowfilm.com/blog/index.php?p=46&c=1 2007-05-16T23:35:26 Annick (mailto:annick@takeabowfilm.com) General 46@http://www.takeabowfilm.com/blog/index.php Ok! This past weekend we had a little screening in Chicago for the cast and crew of "Take a Bow". Over the past month, I've been preparing for this screening and was a little stressed, hence lack of entries. Plus, the space in which we were having ...
I apologize to those of you who I could not invite to the screening, but, as I've promised, I will keep all of you updated once "Take a Bow" has been accepted into film festivals, and hopefully there will be one in your area that you will be able to attend.

Enough rambling. The screening went very well. It was billed as a rough cut screening, because the film is not yet completed. We still have our music licenses, color correction, and sound mix to go, which will hopefully happen soon (fingers crossed). We had the theatre about 3/4 full, and many of our kids were there to see themselves onscreen. Becky and I got a kick out of hearing Mike react to himself, Brogan soak in the limelight, and parents beam with pride at how far their children have come. It really makes the past 3 years of work (and however much longer until we're done) completely and utterly worth it. We were able to catch up with the students (who all look so grown up! I was going to take pictures, but everything was so crazy that I never even had the chance to take out my camera) and parents, and hear and see the reactions of an audience mostly made up of laypeople unfamiliar with the technical elements of filmmaking.

We had a Q&A after the screening, so that everyone could freely ask about post-production, fundraising, and other aspects of the film. And, of course, Brogan insisted that we acknowledge our wonderful cast of Clare Woods students All in all, most of the attendees seemed delighted by the film.

Other than that, we've heard from two grants thus far, neither of which we received, unfortunately. We're still waiting to hear from two, and I'm preparing applications for a few more, now that our options have expanded a bit. Our individual fundraising has been going steadily, so thank you again to all of those who've been donating! You have been an incredible help in order to meet our goals.

Becky has been trying to set up our color and sound (both of which have a high liklihood of being very inexpensive), but neither of those aspects can begin until we acquire our music licenses. Go figure. We have many of the smaller songs, it's just the large, popular pieces that take the most time. We have come up with a rough timeline in order to set some goals and deadlines for ourselves, so hopefully with those in place, it will push us (me) to get everything done before the end of the decade

That's about it from here, feel free to contact us if you have any questions!

]]> http://www.takeabowfilm.com/blog/index.php?p=45&c=1 2007-04-26T10:58:21 Annick (mailto:annick@takeabowfilm.com) General 45@http://www.takeabowfilm.com/blog/index.php Well things have been happening, hence my long absence. My apologies! Firstly, we have acquired a fiscal sponsor! As a refresher, this is a nonprofit entity who, by taking us in under their nonprofit umbrella, allows us to apply for grants that only nonprofit organizations can apply for, AND ...
Firstly, we have acquired a fiscal sponsor! As a refresher, this is a nonprofit entity who, by taking us in under their nonprofit umbrella, allows us to apply for grants that only nonprofit organizations can apply for, AND most importantly, it allows all donations made at or above a certain amount of money to be tax deductible for that donor! Yay! So all of you who were holding out for tax deductible donations, now's your chance! So a special thanks to Documentary Educational Resources for accepting us into your program!

For your donation to be tax deductible, you must donate $200 or more, and make the check out to "DER" or "Documentary Educational Resources", and this is very important, you must make a note in the memo line that the donation is going towards "Take a Bow". Then you can mail that check to:

DER
101 Morse St.
Watertown, MA 02472

And they will file all the necessary paperwork and you will be able to deduct that amount from your taxes next year! Woo. For credit card donations, you will be able to donate via paypal on the DER site at some point soon, but they have not put up our information yet. I will let you know as soon as that happens. However, if you still would like to donate smaller amounts to "Take a Bow", you are more than welcome to go through our paypal button on our site, or mail checks to Becky or myself. It's just that those will not be tax deductible. Sorry! So again, thank you to DER, and also to all of the donors who have already donated (and that is actually a lot of you! You are wonderful!)

What else? I am making some headway on music licenses. It's been tough going and I'm sure you're sick of me writing about it because nothing ever changes! We are receiving some really good deals on our soundwork (but we can't start that process until the music licenses are acquired), and possibly some good deals on color correction.

We should be hearing from some grants soon, so fingers crossed on those. Other than that, not much is different. I will write as soon as more happens (hopefully soon and my news will be about a grant!)]]> http://www.takeabowfilm.com/blog/index.php?p=44&c=1 2007-04-11T19:13:08 Annick (mailto:annick@takeabowfilm.com) General 44@http://www.takeabowfilm.com/blog/index.php We have made some headway on a few music licenses (cue the trumpets), which is alleviating some of my stress. We are hoping to have the film as close to almost-done as possible in time for the mid-June deadline of the Toronto Film Festival. Our fundraiser is still going pretty ...
Our fundraiser is still going pretty well, we've only had a few people donate as a result of our Wonderful Donor (see previous entry), so just keep in mind that even if you donate $20, or even $10, that person will match it, meaning that you're really giving more than you think you are.

We are making arrangements for our color correction and sound work, and it looks like we're going to get some very good deals on those, which will be wonderful. We should be hearing from a few of the grants we applied for by the end of April. We are keeping our fingers crossed, and hoping for the best with those, as they are for incredibly helpful sums.

Not too much else news-wise this week, hopefully a multi-million dollar deal for next week! ]]> http://www.takeabowfilm.com/blog/index.php?p=57&c=1 2007-03-27T15:59:15 admin (mailto:annick@takeabowfilm.com) General 57@http://www.takeabowfilm.com/blog/index.php Take that, posting a day early! I would like to announce that we have a donor who has generously offered to match all donations of up to $200! This means that, starting this week, for every $20 YOU donate, a wonderful person has offered to match that, and donate $20 as ...
I would like to announce that we have a donor who has generously offered to match all donations of up to $200! This means that, starting this week, for every $20 YOU donate, a wonderful person has offered to match that, and donate $20 as well. It means, that if you were to donate $100, that same wonderful person would donate another $100! Said Wonderful Donor has kindly offered to do this in order to facilitate even more donations, dear readers, and we thank Wonderful Donor from the bottoms of our hearts.

Other than our Wonderful Donor, I really don't have too much to report. We've received half the cues from our composer, and Becky and I are listening to those in order to give him appropriate feedback. Also, several soundhouses are reviewing "Take a Bow" in order to quote us realistic rates for the sound work in the film.

Nothing else really new, but you can bet that whenever something exciting happens, I will be writing about it here. ]]> http://www.takeabowfilm.com/blog/index.php?p=42&c=1 2007-03-23T15:52:47 Annick (mailto:annick@takeabowfilm.com) General 42@http://www.takeabowfilm.com/blog/index.php I am happy to announce that we have had our fundraiser in full swing for about 3(ish) weeks now, and we've managed to raise over $1000! In three weeks! That's pretty good, if I do say so myself. So please keep those donations coming so we can ...

Since we reached picture lock, and completed our online, until we can raise the money for the rest of our post-production, we are mostly dealing with paperwork and details. Becky is going through the film making notes of everyone who appears, so we can make sure that we have their release forms. I am catching up on music licenses (still slow going), doing a little grantwriting on the side, and still trying to contact as many disability organizations as possible, to raise the profile of our little film.

I received a phone call the other night (Tuesday?) from my grandparents, who I don't think really knew all that much about disabilities before I started producing "Take a Bow" (actually, to be honest, I didn't really know all that much about disabilities before I started producing this film either), and now that they've heard me ramble on about the film for 3 years, they make a point to call me whenever they see something about disabilities on TV. This is becoming more frequent, actually (thankfully). So they called me on Tuesday to let me know that Larry King was devoting an entire show to Autism and raising awareness of what they called "the epidemic of Autism". I, of course, had to watch, and found it very interesting. He had several celebrity guests (parents of Autistic children), a few doctors, and clips from a new short film about a day in the life of families with Autistic children... it's very encouraging to see all that's being done (or trying to be done) to raise awareness (and money for research) for Autism and other disabilities.

A few months ago on HBO there was a an hourlong documentary on kids who have Tourette's Syndrome, and their daily struggles. We don't delve into Tourette's as deeply as we do Down Syndrome and Autism in "Take a Bow", so it was fascinating to hear about this disability from the kids' point of view. They talked about what it feels like when they have a tick, how they are treated at school, what they see in their future.... it had echoes of our film, but was still different enough that I learned a lot.

It seems that this is the right time to finish "Take a Bow", what with the sheer amount of research, exposure, and support that is going into disabilities and disability advocacy. And the more documentary series and specials that come out, the more we recognize this and can't wait for everyone to see the film.]]> http://www.takeabowfilm.com/blog/index.php?p=41&c=1 2007-03-15T15:05:20 Annick (mailto:annick@takeabowfilm.com) General 41@http://www.takeabowfilm.com/blog/index.php I can't believe it's Thursday already! I always seem to miss Wednesday by thismuch. We have a very great start on our fundraising campaign. It's been just over a week since it's started and we've already made a dent in our total! Thank you to all who have ...
We have a very great start on our fundraising campaign. It's been just over a week since it's started and we've already made a dent in our total! Thank you to all who have donated, and please keep spreading the word about our film, we still have a ways to go...

Becky and Bryan onlined the film this past week, checked it last night to make sure everything's in order, and they tell me it looks wonderful. I haven't seen it all fancy and shiny yet, but I can't wait. And I can't wait for you to see it either

We have sent out copies of the film to different soundhouses/sound people to take a look and let us know exactly how much work needs to be done on our (admittedly pretty difficult) soundtrack. We shot in so many different locations over the course of 5 months, that we have a plethora of sound issues. We will find out soon from those individuals exactly how much time and energy will be needed to edit and mix the sound.

That's about it from here, have a wonderful weekend everyone
]]> http://www.takeabowfilm.com/blog/index.php?p=40&c=1 2007-03-09T17:57:45 Annick (mailto:annick@takeabowfilm.com) General 40@http://www.takeabowfilm.com/blog/index.php I suspect this will be a short update, since not a lot has been happening. We started an email fundraising campaign (Hello all you new wonderful people who are just now hearing about "Take a Bow"!) and have received several donations thus far as a result! If you ...

I am struggling to license our most popular pieces of music... most of the "easy" (read: small publishers and record labels) licenses have been acquired, but the songs that are owned by EMI, Warner Music, Universal Music, etc are going to take awhile.

Becky and Bryan are "onlining" the film this week, which basically means that they are taking the completed cut, which has been edited at a low resolution to maximize space, and raising the resolution to its actual state, the way it looked when we filmed it. It's a time-consuming process, since we have so many different tapes, but it makes the film look much better.

That's it from me, hope you have a great weekend!]]> http://www.takeabowfilm.com/blog/index.php?p=39&c=1 2007-03-01T17:41:38 Annick (mailto:annick@takeabowfilm.com) General 39@http://www.takeabowfilm.com/blog/index.php Hi! I wish I had something as exciting as last week's post to post about. Alas... things are slow. I don't know if you've ever heard the phrase "Hurry up and wait", but it's something that is said in the film industry a lot. You scramble ...
We're still fundraising, seeking music licenses, our composer is still composing... so many interesting things that I haven't mentioned before.

Since I have nothing exciting or interesting to report, I will delight you with yet another story! I know that you click on the message board link every week with bated breath just hoping HOPING for yet another story. You don't have to tell me, for I already know this

I remember our first day of filming (February 9, 2005) being incredibly nerve-wracking. We were shooting at Clare Woods Wednesdays and Fridays each week, and our first day was a Wednesday. I had never produced a project of this magnitude, so had no idea what to expect. I must admit that I was also awkward around disabled people, having only interacted with high functioning disabled individuals before.

The first classroom we went to was Sally Woods' room, and much of the footage we shot on the first day is used in the film. We introduced ourselves to her class, and one student in particular stood out to us as having an incredibly strong personality. His name is Brian, and he is an African-American Autistic student. He was playing the lead in the spring play, and was very talkative and social. We noted him as one who might be a "main character" in the film. While we knew that the film was ultimately going to be about the annual CWA play as well as raising awareness of disabilities, we knew that "main characters", students who would guide the audience through the film either via their improvement in rehearsals, or by having very strong personalities, would be necessary in order to make the film more personal and engaging. We also shot an interview with Sally, and she talked about Mike, a young man with Down Syndrome who she said would most likely steal the show (as you see in our trailer). We made a note of him as well. We couldn't believe our good luck in finding two strong personalities on our first day.

Our second day of shooting was a Friday, and it didn't start out very well. We had two cameras that day and more cables than we had on Wednesday, as well as two sound people. Wednesday had been simpler. We also had more Assistant Production and Location Supervisors (APLES) than we had on Wednesday...so there was a little chaos. But we soon fell into a rhythm, and made it work. That afternoon, we shot a music class, which had many of us in tears. The class was 12-15 year olds, and they were all singing a song, and trying so hard to get the words out. It was incredibly moving, and then they all played a haunting chime piece, and I think we all realized exactly the scope of the film we were about to create. It was a really magical moment.

Throughout the first month of the shoot, we were having a hard time finding strong females who we thought would help balance the film. As rehearsals began, we realized that Brogan, a young woman with ADHD and Tourett's Syndrome, who was Brian's sidekick in the play, would be perfect. Despite her disabilities, she is a firecracker, unafraid to speak her mind, and she is incredibly articulate and opinionated. She instantly befriended the crew, and was a natural on camera. We realized that we had our female.]]> http://www.takeabowfilm.com/blog/index.php?p=38&c=1 2007-02-22T09:34:06 Annick (mailto:annick@takeabowfilm.com) General 38@http://www.takeabowfilm.com/blog/index.php Yes, it's been longer than a week, but I have an excuse! First of all, there wasn't really anything exciting to talk about last week, everything was just moving along at its normal pace. But! This week! I am pleased to announce that we will be ... We are all very excited and proud, and our editor, Bryan, can now take a much-needed break from editing this film, since he's been doing it for about a year and a half nonstop. So a large round of applause for Bryan!

We had some rough cut screenings this past weekend which were incredibly helpful in telling us how close we actually were/are to picture lock. They were small gatherings, but the comments were incredibly helpful. Thanks to all who attended.

While this is a huge event for us, it really doesn't alter my job at all. I am still toiling away at music licenses, but thankfully a few of our songs are public domain (which means that they are old enough songs that anyone can use them. This is unless you use a recording of the song that is newer than, I think, the 1930s. Recordings are mostly NOT public domain). Look! When you read our blog you not only get an update on our film, but you also get a little bit of a film business/music business lesson with every entry! We are valuable.

Well, that was the big news for this week. We are still busy fundraising, and once Becky has taken a breather, she has said she will help me with this aspect, which will be nice. So hopefully I will have more big news next week, and I promise that I will try not to go a week without some sort of entry from here on out.]]>