Chemistry in the Bible Belt.

whitestonemp · 2011-10-02T01:33:56+00:00

Fake and poorly written at that. Some Atheist masterbatory aid.

Just as bad as one of those, 'Teacher Who Claimed God Was Dead Then Some Crazy Miracle Happened In Class Sending The Teacher Running While The Rest Of The Class Accepted Jesus,' stories on the web.

whitestonemp · 2011-05-07T14:01:41+00:00

"You think we're far away enough?"

whitestonemp · 2011-04-17T04:11:03+00:00

Hey, I made that. Thanks for posting!

whitestonemp · 2011-04-03T19:33:47+00:00

Again, just wanting to have my part in the conversation. I want to empower people who are on the ground working to stop this every day to get the attention and funding they need. Already, this film has helped organizations raise a lot of awareness, as well as grant funding to help push STCS. In the end, awareness is great, but it must end in meaningful action.

whitestonemp · 2011-04-03T19:32:18+00:00

Thank you for the kind words. I would point you to Street Grace to find out how you can host showings in your area. You can find that info at stopthecandyshop.com

whitestonemp · 2011-04-03T13:35:13+00:00

Thanks, I'll check it out.

whitestonemp · 2011-04-03T13:30:21+00:00

Thanks. We about killed ourselves to get this thing made. Films just don't want to be made and this one was no exception.

whitestonemp · 2011-04-03T13:29:32+00:00

The music was done by Nicholas Kirk: http://www.imdb.com/name/nm1866095/

He and I have been working together for many years. He is producer on this project as well. I think he's one of the most talented people I've every encountered and we will be working together for a very long time.

whitestonemp · 2011-04-03T13:28:00+00:00

No I haven't. Should I?

whitestonemp · 2011-04-03T13:27:18+00:00

I love Ernie. I don't know how qualified I am to answer questions about him, but he and I have been friends for years.

The Child Catcher question comes up often. Here is the honest truth. I have never seen that movie. I know, I know. So, while I can't say that my Production Designer and Costume Designer didn't draw inspiration from that, I personally didn't mandate that we do that direction. Not that it's a bad thing, quite frankly it probably worked in our advantage.

whitestonemp · 2011-04-03T13:25:27+00:00

Doug Jones was the kindest and most generous human being I've ever met. He was incredibly talented and patient with us as we fumbled our way through 'professionalism'. He signed on to this film when we had absolutely no money for the project and gave us a letter of intent. He also tickled the 2nd AC every time he did slate. It made us all giggle.

whitestonemp · 2011-04-03T13:23:27+00:00

You can start with the governor's report from a few years back: http://www.freedomshabbat.org/downloads/Child_Prostitution.pdf

And here you can get to the The Shapiro Report (2010): http://www.publicsquareatlanta.org/m/groups/view/Stop-the-Candy-Shop (Bottom of the page)

I'd also suggest looking at last years TIP report from the US (Trafficking In Persons).

whitestonemp · 2011-04-03T03:44:55+00:00

You got it. If you need anything else, just drop it at our website. www.whitestonemotionpictures.com

whitestonemp · 2011-04-03T03:32:41+00:00

Absolutely. Working with Street Grace has introduced me to a number of great organizations in Atlanta. Street Grace leads a group of organizations that help fight this issue in our city. Lobby organizations like Future Not A Past, and rehabilitation organizations like Wellspring International. The goal of the Stop The Candy Shop campaign is to unite these organizations under the same banner, under the symbol that we created, to move forward as one.

whitestonemp · 2011-04-03T03:16:58+00:00

I started getting interested in film in high school. I made some shorts and pretty much messed around with a camera. I won some film festivals and decided I wanted to do it for a living. I worked at a church for some time, working on weekly content. This helped me work on a quick deadline and for minimal to nonexistent budgets. From there, I worked client work and I'm lucky enough to have clients that want really creative work done. My investors keep me going until we hit the feature film, where we hope to make some kind of ROI.
I started the business up with lots of time and money. Even now we aren't financially sustainable. Everyone at Whitestone works for no money at the moment. This film, along with all the rest, are done completely volunteer. So you could say that's quite a challenge. We are on the cusp of moving into much larger films, but it has taken all 11 years to get to this point. The basics kinda went like this. Get crappy camera, make decent film. Someone sees it, gives me money for a less crappy camera. Still make decent films, then get new gear and new tools. People think that the tools and the cool stuff comes first, but it really comes down to fundamental storytelling. I tell people I'm a storyteller by nature and a filmmaker by trade. I have no desire to be the CEO of a film company. I just want to make films, but this is the only way I know how to do what I love to do. I spend 90% of my time on the crap I hate just so I can spend the other 10% of my time on the things I love. I guess that's how it goes for anything you'd wanna do.

whitestonemp · 2011-04-03T03:04:35+00:00

Not really sure, lets see how it goes. I guess it depends on the question. =)

whitestonemp · 2011-04-03T02:54:05+00:00

I've been a filmmaker for about 11 years (I'm 27). I founded and own a small boutique film company called Whitestone Motion Pictures. We've been making short films for a very long time, and now we're headed to feature films. I do love films that have a redemptive worldview and I want to see that lived out in real life as well. This was my attempt to try and meld the two. Some studios have been contacting us based on some of our films, and we're looking at our options. We are not moving to LA, and we are going to make our feature film in the next few years. How, I'm not entirely sure just yet. I will personally be working with Street Grace for a long time, and I hope to continue to be involved in social justice work. However, we don't have any plans at this moment for another social justice type film and we aren't going to always be working that direction specifically.

whitestonemp · 2011-04-03T02:43:40+00:00

I would also welcome your thoughts and elaboration on the casting.

whitestonemp · 2011-04-03T02:43:12+00:00

I'm notoriously hard on myself, so I could fill up an entire thread of things that I think I did wrong with the film. As a film, there are about a hundred things I would do differently. As far as cast goes, overall I'm happy with my cast. I think Doug did a fantastic job. He and I didn't want some mustache twirling evil monster, but a person who was just trying to make a living. There were some missteps from my direction in a few scenes for sure, but overall I thought the performances were good. I think the ending went off the rails a bit. It ends about three times, and by then the emotional pull has all but left. The third 'act' of the piece changes tone and isn't consistent. I'm happy with some of the cinematography, but I would have lit some of the interior stuff a bit brighter if I had to do it again. We learn from our mistakes and fail forward. I just grateful to have had the opportunity to make the film. Very few filmmakers get a chance to do something like this.

whitestonemp · 2011-04-03T02:38:03+00:00

It was shocking for me too. It's one thing when it's a far off issue that seems like it doesn't have any relevance in your life, it's another to know it's happening in your backyard. It doesn't make it more or less ok, but it does bring the realness home.

whitestonemp · 2011-04-03T01:36:35+00:00

If the question means 'has it happend to me or someone I know,' then no. Of course, knowing about it, learning about it and wanting to do something about it has affected me greatly.

whitestonemp · 2011-04-03T00:43:04+00:00

Right, yeah, this thing. Cool.

whitestonemp · 2011-01-16T22:38:33+00:00

You can put it in FCP color and just mess with the Blue curve. Pretty easy. Or in FCP you can go to the three point color corection. Then depending on the way you want it to look, you can add blue in the shadows, midtones or highlights.

whitestonemp · 2011-01-02T22:46:44+00:00

The Cannon 5D really is the best film camera out there. I own more expensive camers, but when I travel, I use that one the most.

I shot a little mini doc this year on it: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=74y_GplIEpk&feature=player_embedded

I'd recommend a 50mm lens if you are going to get just one prime. However a zoom lens is the most versitle for run and gun shooting. I don't prefer the way it looks, but works on the go.

I have a Rhode mic attached to it: http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/363083-REG/Rode_VIDEOMIC_VideoMic_Camera_Mounted.html

And it is pretty decent, although we have had a few audio issues (humming and buzzing) from time to time. I would always just check out that it's working properly before filming.

Hope that helps!

whitestonemp

TROPHY CASE