Blue Bottles and the Odd Eye

I'm working on a script that may or may not be called Blue Bottles. I'm writing as fast as I can on many scripts because so many people are moving to LA that I want to work with.

The other thing that is on my mind a lot of late is my full vision in my left eye.

From 1975 till February of 2010 I was missing some vision in my left eye and I'm having trouble accepting it came back to me in a second.

It's May 3rd as I write this and I just finished the ninth draft (hand written) of Blue Bottles.

I created a mythology for the script that turned out to be folklore that is hundreds of years old.

Years ago I heard a story about bottle trees on NPR. I only caught the last few minutes of the broadcast and spun a mythology out of that for my script. All the stuff I made up to fill the gaps of what I heard turned out to be part of old pagan beliefs. A bit of luck on my part.

Yesterday (May 2nd) in a rain storm I found out why my new old vision had been making me sick. On overcast days I can see floater in my left eye. Pieces of my retina broke lose from my car wreak and cloud my vision. Most of the time I don't notice this but with my expanded vision I see more of these floaters. Not complaining as I'm glad to have it back.

Dang Bear Superstar

The above picture is of my favorite toy in the world. This toy didn't belong to me but to my oldest son Mark Vollrath. This little plush bear was the first toy my son Mark picked out for himself but the name was given to the toy by his mother when she tripped on the bear.

"Dang bear."

Mark mimics his mother.

"Dang Bear!"

The name struck and Mark and Dang Bear became great friends. Mark spent many hours of his young childhood talking to Dang Bear and Dang Bear spoke back in a smaller higher voice coming from my son.

For many years I tried to put Dang Bear into a movie but he wasn't right for any of the parts that came up. Finally the little bear got his big break.

He was cast in a very emotional scene in the short movie "Walking the Graveyard".

I didn't even have him audition for the part.

Do you have anything to say?

I've sleep the last five days and haven't raised any money to pay the cast and crew for this production. Here is a tiny clip of Jerry White talking about shooting the movie.

It's a wrap!

A few photos I took on the day of the shoot. Too tired to write. More to come....

I'm still too tired to write but I'll try. I believe the cast and crew did a great job. Jerry is a fantastic director! The acting was spot on. As a producer I made a lot of mistakes but as a set designer I believe I came through for the project. My fake pile of grave dirt looked real on camera.

I pushed myself to the breaking point on this movie. I can't do that anymore or I'll ruin my health making these movies. This week I need to raise money to pay everyone on this movie.

I hope I can raise enough money to give everyone a bonus.

Thank you to everyone that was part of Walking the Graveyard. Desiree, Jerry, Laura and Jason thanks for your hard work. I'll put the names of the crew up soon. I would like to thank the crew for your trust in me. Thanks again!

Cordelia, Cici and me

On April 8th I had fun with two beautiful children. Cordelia my own Grand Daughter and Cici my God Grand Daughter. Okay that last title I made up but my son is her God Father so I just went with that.

In the above photo you see the three of us playing once around the house on Second Easter.

The Painting Exchange That Changed My Life

To Joan Cook; I'm still working on this strange little painting to send to you. The movies I do now are inspired by your half of a painting exchange. Sorry, I'm a very slow painter. Thank you for all your kind words.

The Director Speaks

Forgive the bad sound at the end and some missing footage. I got to close to a electric furnace blower motor and it ruined part of the sound. I don't know how I lost the footage of Jerry talking about switching the Easter Egg Tree with the refrigerator but I did.

Joan, your painting exchange story with appear on this post as soon as a spring storm passes.

More to come....

Joan Cook painted the sunflower painting seen in three of the above photos. With her permission I want to use the painting in the living room movie set.

Next Post; its all about the paintings.

Set walk through #1

Forgive the quality of this video as I had the camera set up for bright sunlight and forgot to change the settings. The three rooms of the oldest house in Kingsville Missouri are seen in this video as the sets for "Walking the Graveyard. "

To Jerry J White III and Desiree Nordlund (The director and writer of the movie) any feedback positive or negative is welcomed. The director Jerry has the final word. I believe that a director must have the final word for any movie to work.

Joan Cook, your next painting update will have a twist to it that will dove tail directly into this movie.

Jerry asked me to dress the living room as a additional set. This wasn't part of the script but our kitchen is too small to play the whole scene out. The bike has moved to the living room replacing a couch that I don't have. I've decided to make the living room a mess too.

As a producer you must trust your director and when the time comes step back and leave him alone to do his (or her) work.

I wonder if anyone outside a few friends read this blog. This blog is becoming boring with set design but there is my focus at the moment and so I must tell the tell of telling a story with objects.

You can hear the train noise in this video, which is a problem with this location.

Lost

I've lost my firewire to load video. These two enhanced photos look more like hell than heaven on the set of Walking the Graveyard.

Sometimes a boy just needs his Great Grandma

This blog has no real focus so here is a family story from the first day of spring.

Three hours before my Grandson Denver left with his parents to go back home a state away he began to cry.

"Go away!"

I had wore the little boy completely out. He was so tired he couldn't even look at me without crying. So he watched birds with my mother and knew the names of most of the birds he saw.

Set for WTG update; missed Christmas

I'm filling the closet up with presents in the daughter's room to show the man's overwhelming grief.

A bed for a princess

This is the bed for a lost child in the short movie "Walking the Graveyard". I've tried to make the bed look like a invisible little girl is sleeping in it.

A nap on my shoulder

"Grand Dad come see me."

I always make time for my Grand Daughter and as we watched a movie together she fell asleep on my shoulder.

Bike on the floor

The bike on the cabinets didn't work. So its back on the floor again.