2011, our biggest year yet! I know everyone in the House’ grew a lot. I wanted to share 3 projects that I worked on and tell you a little bit about why they were particularly meaningful for me.

Saint John Youth Shelter – Shot Spring 2011, Released fall 2011

We’ve been working with the homelessness community for a few years now in Saint John. It’s always a great experience helping these guys spread the word about their cause.

This video could of turned out drastically different. We originally planned to shoot the whole film outside. We wanted to use the uptown brick as the backdrop but since we got rained out, we ended up using the upper and lower levels of the TRC building. The building was once a school that has since been vacant – the upper and lower levels are totally gutted. This lent itself well to the mood and atmosphere we were going for. The location only played a small part in why I believe this film really shines.

The talent we had was 100% believable. We told the TRC to gather a group of kids they thought would be ideal for what the script called for. The four actors nailed their lines – they were all extremely professional and used their personal experience to deliver incredibly raw performances. Without them, I don’t think this film would of had the impact it needed.

Everyone on this project donated their time and equipment. A big thanks goes out to Wayne White at RQ sound and Tim Davidson at Ripple Effect Music for hooking up the great sound for this.

We shot the whole thing on a Canon 7D with Canon glass. Most of the lighting is with just a a single soft box and one background light. We kept it simple – aiming for a clear dramatic feeling to help emphasize the urgency of the cause.

The video was publicly released in the fall at a press conference at the TRC. I have all the respect in the world for the people who work in this community. They put their heart and souls into everything they do – all to help other people in need.

Check out their facebook page and make sure to make a donation. We are now working with the youth shelter again to produce another series of videos to help with the cause!

Saint John Destination Marketing – Shot summer/fall 2011, Released Fall 2011

I remember Kevin telling me we had finally landed this gig and I was more then excited to finally showcase our city in the right light. My initial feeling was that I wanted people from Saint John to look at their city in a new light.
Being born and raised in Saint John, I know we have a lot to offer.

The scope of this project was huge! I think the final count was 9 videos with a mixture of French and English.

Greg Hemmings was to direct and I was to be the director of photography and editor. Like any shoot there are always a million variables. Since a majority of this shoot was to be outside, the position of the sun, weather and time were always our three biggest factors. The other giant factor (literally) was the camera we shot this commercial on, the RED ONE. This camera takes a 3 man crew to move it anywhere, the thing is built like a tank and is almost as heavy. The trade off? The incredible image, high frame rates and massive amount of room to make changes in post. Hollywood films are being shot on this camera!

We did roughly 2 and a half weeks straight of shooting for this commercial, sun up to sun down every day. We had to squeeze every moment we could of this camera as the window of the rental was short and the shot list was large. Poor Gregory had just had throat surgery a few days before the main shooting began, was constantly hacking up blood and feeling woozy. Some shoots took an hour to do (like the sequence off the top at the beaver pond) and some took upwards of 6 hours (like the swooping crane shot at 1:33). The most difficult shot in the whole spot, is the shot at Thandi’s restaurant at 1:13. (which is one of my personal favorites). The Ipad, actually has a miniature green screen on it with tracking marks, later in post production we added in the scene of the city market. The camera is on a giant dolly track and is moving backwards as the camera zooms out from the Ipad. The set up of the dolly, camera and lights was about a 3 hours then it took about an hour to get the movement right on the shot and finally another 1 hour or so of tear down. All for a 4 second shot. Next time you watch a commercial think about all the hard work that went into that small shot!

Overall the shooting went really well, everyone hauled ass as they say. One of my other favorite sequences is the kayaking sequence from 0:36 to 0:42. Sometimes you get lucky when shooting and this certainly was the case. We originally arrived at the jet boat terminal to shoot the zip-line which passes over part of the reversing falls but we got the days mixed up and the zip-line was closed. As we contemplated what to do next we saw a group of people drive up and start to pull out the kayaks you see in the shoot. Next thing you know we are down on the waters edge shooting the kayakers as they “surf” part of the reversing falls. This “surf” only happens for a short window each day so we arrived at the exact right time. Our luck continued as the jet boat happened to be ripping through the falls at the same time. The kayakers where never actually on the shot list, we just happened to get a cool shot of them. All of these shots wouldn’t of been possible without the extremely hard work of a few people; Mike Burchill, Patrick McGivery, Kevin Schyf, Steve Foster, Keri-Lynn Calp and many others.

I’m personally very happy with this project and how it ended up looking. I think we really put Saint John on the map as a really beautiful place to live and visit.

Save the Paramount – Shot Fall 2011, Released Fall 2011

Mike McDonald has been on the path of saving the Paramount Theatre here in Saint John for 2 years now. Mike and I have always had great dialogue about the project. Having experienced the theatre before it closed I knew of the importance of bringing it back.

Mike and I ran into each other while I was shooting for the Saint John Destination Marketing video. He told me of the fundraiser / awareness event he was planning for November of 2011. The idea of making a short film to highlight the long since hidden inner beauty of the building quickly came up and we formulated a plan to get into the property. A huge thanks has to go to; Mike Burchill, Tim Davidson, Patrick McGivery, Diego Bauer, Steve Foster, Rachel Caddell and Keri-Lynn Calp for volunteering their time on the shoot day.

The space has retained much of it former art deco beauty, but the lack of maintenance or temperature control has turned it into a “bio-hazard”. To avoid permanent mushrooms building up in our lungs we all took fresh air breaks every 15 minutes.

Being inside the building for the first time in many years seemed to generate a nostalgic feeling in all of us. Everyone was sharing stories of their time spent there. The 2 shot sequence around 1:32 is of a six year old cup and empty popcorn tray! We didn’t place them there, they were left from the final screening in the theatre. The whole place looked and felt like the employees on the last day just set everything down and boarded up the windows and doors. Kinda spooky.

The video was originally suppose to premiere on November 18th, at the Paramount event at the Kent Theatre in Saint John. I finished editing the video about a week and a half before the event. Mike then wisely decided, to set the video free a week or so before the event on Facebook, Youtube, Twitter, etc. The response was amazing, I had over 500 shares on my personal facebook within a few days and messages from all kinds of people wanting to help out with the project. The buzz we got for the event and the theatre was huge and it translated into a packed event on the 18th. The fate of the theatre is still up in the air, but we are in the works for some bigger projects for the theatre! Check out the Uptown Saint John website for more information and how to help out!

Some of the my other favourite videos from around the Hemmings House Family from 2011

Brunswick Square Commercial by Mark Hemmings

Beer or Palinka Short Film by Mark Hemmings

Cooke Aquaculture Chile Film by Andrew MacCormack

Pictures from the Paramount and Saint John Destination Marketing!

2012 is going to be full of great films, stay tuned…

Mixed martial arts documentary TV series holds public auditions November 20, 2011

(Halifax, NS) – Hemmings House Pictures holds its second round of public auditions Sunday, November 20, 2011 for an up-coming documentary TV series called “Cubicle to the Cage.” The series–to air nationally on HD network radX in 2013–will be shot entirely in the Maritimes. It follows everyday men and women on a life-changing journey to become professional mixed martial artists (MMA).

“It’s bound to be an exciting, sometimes impossible, adventure for these folks. They won’t know what’s hit them when they come up against me,” says Peter Martel, lead trainer for “Cubicle to the Cage” and owner of TitansMMA + Boxing. “When they fall down, I’ll make them get up. Bleeding, bones broken. It doesn’t matter. This will be the hardest, but most rewarding thing they’ve ever done. And when it’s over–when they’re standing in the cage to fight their first professional fight–it’ll be a good day.”

Martel hopes the series will fatten up the talent pool for MMA in the region, while raising the profile for the sport in general. “We’re giving opportunities to Maritimers,” he says of the series, which provides free training and access to equipment for a whole year.

Fit or unfit; stay-at-home parents or regular nine-to-fivers; entrepreneurial-types or red-eyed students. All are welcome to audition, provided they haven’t been in a professional fight to date. Select trainees will be thrust kicking, screaming and bleeding into the grueling and often dangerous world of a professional mixed martial artist.

Camera crews will track the day-to-day of the cast, as they realign their priorities and redefine their relationships in favour of becoming a professional athlete. Long gone are late mornings in bed, lazy coffee breaks and fast food. Focus will shift to an exacting nutrition program and rigorous training in wrestling, boxing, Brazilian Jiu Jitsu, and Muay Thai.

At the end of the 12-month program, trainees will step into a cage for their first professional fight before a televised audience. This event marks the culmination of a year of physical, emotional and spiritual sacrifice.

Cubicle to the Cage shares up-to-date news on fights and casting calls on Twitter @cubicle2thecage and on Facebook www.facebook.com/pages/Cubicle-to-The-Cage/111169535593903

AUDITION INFORMATION

Auditions are scheduled for November 20, 2011 at TitansMMA + Boxing (3200 Kempt Rd.). Registration and interviews are from 12 p.m. to 2 p.m. . Auditions take place from 3 p.m. to 5 p.m. Call-backs follow from 6 p.m. to 8 p.m. . People looking to audition are asked to come dressed for physical activity.

For more, check out the Facebook event: www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=248615938528722&context=create

ABOUT CUBICLE TO THE CAGE

Cubicle to the Cage is a 13-episode docu-soap series conceived by Boyd Sharpe and produced by Hemmings House Pictures, with support from Palooka’s Executive Fitness and TitansMMA + Boxing. The series follows TitansMMA, a mixed martial arts camp, as it takes a group of students on a 12-month journey to become professional mixed martial artists. At the end of the program, the strongest students will compete on TV in their first professional fight. The series begins shooting in January 2012 and will air nationally in January 2013 on HD network radX.

FOR INTERVIEWS AND MORE INFORMATION

Contact: Anna Duckworth, Cubicle to the Cage Publicist

aeduckworth@gmail.com | (902) 440-8343

MEDIA REQUESTS For any media related requests, please contact Anna Duckworth, Cubicle to the Cage Publicist.

MEDIA ACCREDITATION Cubicle to the Cage welcomes media from Atlantic Canada and beyond to cover the casting call, November 20, 2011.

For media accreditation, please email your request to the publicist, Anna Duckworth, at aeduckworth@gmail.com before Saturday, November 19 at 5 p.m.   The following information is required as part of your request and email:

• Name (please include your title)
• Media Outlet
• Location
• Contact info (please include email, phone, cell)
• Website

Over the next few months we will be amping up our social media presence. Social Media guru Jeff Roach will be helping the entire team here at Hemming’s House Pictures understand social business by guiding us through Sociallogical’s new course! This is our first step in a consulting engagement that we believe will change the way we operate: we will be more connected with our clients, partners, supporters and be more helpful to anyone who wants to better understand creative visual communications.

Watch for changes this winter, and reach out to the Hemmings House team when you see us becoming more available and accessible. We are very excited to become a partner in helping people use the tools and methods we love so much in telling stories and engaging audiences.
If you would like to know more about Sociallogical or sign up for their courses you can find them here:

The Course: http://sociallogical.com/learn/course/2)
Their Blog: http://awe.sm/5Ysiw)
Twitter: http://twitter.com/#!/soclogical
Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/sociallogical

The age old question is resolved in this new short comedy by Mark!  Shot last summer in Agyagfalva/Lutita, a Hungarian village in Transylvania. Mark had no idea what the actors were saying; he just asked them to make things up as they went! It turned out to be a fun ride in the back of a classic Romanian Dacia.

Interview with Greg about the festival and his work on film in the province

Got back yesterday into Saint John, tired but happy to have made it to the Silver Wave film festival up in Fredericton. We had eight films screening in total this year – this kept us hopping from screening to screening, but it was worth it!

Friday, Greg was on a producers panel speaking about his work on Sistema Revolution. There was an interesting discussion on how directors often “take sides” when it comes to doc filmmaking – think of Micheal Moore and his very subjective style docs. Most of the panelists agreed that it is inevitable that a filmmaker will have/form an opinion which often comes out in the doc they are making. It is impossible to remain completely objective, however the filmmaker should strive to give a fair presentation to all voices so that the viewer can make up their own mind.

Friday night saw a great turnout to the producer’s reception. Everyone enjoyed some Pickeroons while catching up with old friends and meeting some new ones! That night at the shorts screenings, one of our filmmaker’s Matt Brown screened a musical short, Mountaindale, he has put together about growing up on his family farm. He used old home movies his grandfather had shot along with bluegrass music performed by his parents.

On Saturday, we screened three more films: Bon a Tirer, The Clay Village of Transylvania and Feet Aren’t Ugly. All three films were well received – it was particularly nice to hear that alot of people were touched by the subject matter in these films.

Saturday Night we made it out to the shorts screenings. It was exciting to see so many talented Atlantic Canadian/New Brunswick filmmaker’s having a chance to screen their stuff to a packed house! Several well deserving films walked away with awards after the screenings, congrats to all the winners! You can find the complete list of winner’s along with videos and other goodies at:

http://www.facebook.com/groups/SWFF2011/?notif_t=group_activity

Greg was delighted to win two awards:

BEST LOW BUDGET NB DOCUMENTARY  & Errol Williams
Filmmaker Award

Recognition Award for a person, group or organization who has contributed
significantly to film and video in New Brunswick in a professional capacity

That night after the screenings, everyone hit the James Joyce for a rousing afterburner party that didn’t end until the wee hours in the morning. It’s awesome having a chance to pack a bar with so many passionate individuals that are all there to talk about NB films!

Sunday started with a great breakfast hosted by CBC. After breakfast we headed back to the Charlotte St, arts center for the screening of our final three films: Sistema Revolution, Evolve & Winter Wave Riders. Greg was very excited to be sharing his doc Sistema Revolution with a Fredericton crowd for the first time – the film had previously been screened in Moncton and Saint John, but this was a Fredericton first!

On the drive home, we talked about all of the films we enjoyed and how we were glad we could make it. Already looking forward to what next year’s festival will bring!

The final countdown begins! Tomorrow evening the Silver Wave film fest officially gets underway. The festival is a great chance to see some of the best films the Atlantic provinces have to offer – alongside films from all over the world! We are honored to be a part of the festival again this year.  We’re very excited to be screening six of our favorites.  Times and locations are listed on the poster above.

Sistema Revolution. You can watch the Sistema Revolution trailer at http://www.hemmingshousepictures.com/site/?page_id=37

Winter Wave Riders. Do you love surf films? Check out the trailer to our CBC documentary Winter Wave Riders! It won honors at the Hawaii Ocean Film Fest and will be screening at Silverwave! http://www.hemmingshousepictures.com/site/?page_id=1054

Bon à Tirer which means ‘fit to print’ is an artist exchange that included established print-makers and master printers from the U.S. and Canada creating and producing two limited edition prints. The artists worked together, exploring what it means to be part of a collaborative effort. Language, culture, and nationality dissolved as the artists became familiar with one another’s style, creative voice and individual methods. Filming took place in Maine.

The Clay Village of Transylvania follows a Hungarian Man names Mozes as he details his love and connection with a little village called Agyagfalva (Lutita in Romanian). The name of the village in Hungarian is translated as ‘The Clay Village’. The film follows Mozes, an eighty-two year old man who has lived on the land his entire life, as he details his love and connection with the small Transylvanian village.

Feet Aren’t Ugly. Feet aren’t Ugly is a short film by Dr. Jessica Hemmings inspired by the the article with the same title written by Thelma Fayle for the Globe and Mail and for CanadianVirtualHospice.com. This film was shot in Victoria BC and at the Surrey Hospice in Surrey BC. The mission for this film is to encourage people to volunteer their time to be with people at their end of life stage, as well as to promote the power of touch.

Evolve Music Festival. Short Doc for the Evolve Music Festival in Antigonish, Nova Scotia Canada. The festival was voted #1 music festival in Canada!

For more information email cubicletothecage@gmail.com

Last week Lauchlan Ough, Mark Hemmings, Mike Burchill and Kevin Schyf all flew out to Nevada for five days. They were there to work with David Matthew Prior – a very talented business coach and speaker based out of New York. David, who runs the successful coaching business “Get A Coach” had asked them to come down to spend a few days creating some new videos for his business. The team had worked with David before and were excited to be meet up with him again –
this time down in sunny, dry Nevada!

Part of the script called for the team to go to Red Rocks Park, just outside Nevada. While they were headed to the location, Mark tried out a new experimental “hood cam” method – mounting the camera under the hood of the car – right next to the engine peering out at the landscape – letting it roll as the car entered the mountain region to capture an interesting new perspective. After the shoot, the crew headed back to Las Vegas, to capture some B roll of the famous strip and some new time lapses before heading home.

All in all it was a great learning experience as well as an excellent chance to visit another great American landmark for the first time!

Hemming House pictures is pleased to announce the province wide release of Sistema Revolution this Wednesday, sept 28^th and Thursday, 29^th.

Wednesday nights screening will be at the Capitol Theatre in Moncton, and on Thursday, in conjunction with New Brunswick Culture Days, the film will be playing in the Mary H. Oland Theatre at the New Brunswick Museum.  The screening time for both events is 7pm.

Admission is free for both events.  DVD orders of the film will be available at the screenings with all proceeds going towards the NBYO Sistema NB programs. You can also catch Bon a Tirer and The Clay Village of Transylvania at the Saint John Screenings!

Sistema Revolution is a short documentary that follows three directors from the New Brunswick Youth Orchestra (NBYO) in Canada as they explore how Venezuela has developed the world’s largest export of professional classical musicians. The Canadian team, lead by NBYO President Ken MacLeod, is on an odyssey to Venezuela to adopt the “El Sistema” program and bring it north. Their hope is to create a similar program back home where they, too, will use classical music as a means for creating social change in the youth of New Brunswick.

The Clay Village of Transylvania follows a Hungarian Man names Mozes as he details his love and connection with a little village called Agyagfalva (Lutita in Romanian). The name of the village in Hungarian is translated as ‘The Clay Village’. The film follows Mozes, an eighty-two year old man who has lived on the land his entire life, as he details his love and connection with the small Transylvanian village.

Bon à Tirer which means ‘fit to print’ is an artist exchange that included established print-makers and master printers from the U.S. and Canada creating and producing two limited edition prints. The artists worked together, exploring what it means to be part of a collaborative effort. Language, culture, and nationality dissolved as the artists became familiar with one another’s style, creative voice and individual methods. Filming took place in Maine.  

Come and check out the HEMMINGS HOUSE STAGE at HARVESTING THE ARTS FESTIVAL!  The Festival runs SATURDAY, Sept 24th ~ King’s Square ~ 10am – 5pm ~ Rain or Shine. Here is the Lineup on our stage!

8:00am – 10:00am: Set-up with DJ Persona

10:00am-10:20am: Meka, E and Nostic

10:30am-10:50am: Johnny Moon Dog (Jason Robertson)

11:00am -11:20am: Kelly Wray

11:30am-11:50am: Keith Facey

12:00pm-12:15pm: Karen Palmer

12:30pm-1:30pm: Song Writer Circle featuring Clinton Charlton, Chris Fudge,
Jamie Blanchard & Jason Ogden

1:40pm-2:05pm: Wet Grow Light, featuring Nawal Doucette bellydancing

2:15pm -2:35pm: December Fallout

2:45pm – 3:05pm: Pholkswagon

3:15pm – 3:30pm: Michael MacDonald

3: 40pm – 4:00pm: The John Brown Incident

4:10pm – 4:25pm: The Way Outs

4:30pm – 4:45pm: Mike Biggar

4:50pm – 5:10pm: Jessica Darah

5:15pm – 5:30pm: Isaac Mason

5:35 pm – 5:50pm: Jam, Spots & Hospitals

6:00pm – 6:15pm: Paul Evans

6: 20pm – 6: 40pm: The Hads

DJ Persona until close

Hope to see lots of familiar faces! Find more info here: http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=129696640419261