This site has been pretty quiet for the last few months. You’d never be able to tell that Imagivation has been busier than ever before.

• Social networks
• Film screenings
• Interviews
• Commercials
• Political work
• Web-development
• Oh, and a personal blog.

Yup, busier than ever.

New year, new purpose. Change is coming.

-Paul

Paul Hastings - CEO, Imagivation

Filmmakers Academy is officially over for the summer. I can’t believe what a blast it was. Sure, it was hectic for Alex and I to juggle between our other jobs and schoolwork, but it was worth every bit. With just a couple weeks of notice, we had 24 students sign up that we divided into 4 teams.

Over the course of 6 weeks each team made 5 films with themes such as “dirty”, “42″, “hunger”, and “coffee”. They covered topics as mundane as “cups” and “library books” as well as weighty topics such as “revenge” and “witnessing”. One of the coolest parts of the camp was that each team brainstormed, wrote, directed, acted, filmed, and edited their own films. Incredibly, each team did this without fail every week, for 40 days.

Filmmakers Academy - Class of Summer 2010

Our final film festival had an amazing turnout – probably 200 or so in the audience. Our panel of festival judges was composed of Cindy Ryan (from the first film that Alex and I made “For Honor”), Juan Rivera (a professional cinematographer from Reaching the Globe), and Daniel Hagen (one of the lead developers on ChristianFilmmakers.org).

The final films that were submitted to the Festival aren’t online yet, but the 16 films that were made prior are available for online viewing.

We’re in the News!

Unknown to us we had a special guest in the audience.

“The success of the Filmmakers Academy definitely shined out quite brightly on August 14th, as some 150 people showed up to support the budding filmmakers for the Film Festival and Awards Ceremony…”

“Being a movie critic myself, I had a fun time watching these 25 students do their best at putting their different ideas and thoughts on video… for this group of aspiring filmmakers’ first year and first movies, they were very impressive and showed promise…”

Check out Eric Shirey’s entire review.

Academy Highlights

And of course you don’t want to miss out the Academy Highlights video below.

Quite the experience. Quite the summer. Stay tuned for next week’s update.

Concordia Film Festival

In May “For Honor” won 1st place in the Drama category at the International Christian Communication Arts Festival at Concordia University in Austin. “Gold Miner” also was 1 of 2 films to receive an honorable mention.

Concordia Film Festival Award

Imagivation.net

Joining the ranks of the Imagivation family is Imagivation.net.

Imagivation.net - Web Development

I’ve been designing, building, and repairing websites and having a blast while doing it.

Cocoa Loco

Alex and I got together to film our 1st action sequence with Aaron and Isaac Lerma. We were greatly assisted by Ana and Rachel Lerma. The finished product is still be edited. Stay tuned to learn more.

Rachel, Paul, Alex, Isaac, Ana and Aaron after filming "Cocoa Loco"

JibeNow – The Homeschool Social Network

JibeNow launched into delta via a “MegaLaunch” on June 21st.

JibeNow - The Homeschool Social Network

Some quick facts:

• As of June 27th, JibeNow has 210 members.
• Our goal is to provide an online platform for Christian Homeschoolers to encourage and challenge each other into becoming stronger instruments of Jesus Christ.
• Our mantra is “Debate. Discuss. But mostly just share.”
• Counting myself there are now 7 volunteer admins working on JibeNow.
  • Brian Morgan
  • Beth Maisano
  • Zachary Harris
  • Rebekah Rodgers
  • Daniel Gaskell
  • Preston Badeer

If you haven’t yet, then make sure to visit JibeNow – The Homeschool Social Network.

Public Speaking

2010 CHEACT Blogging Talk

This past Friday and Saturday I had the privilege of teaching a couple of 50-minute workshops at the CHEACT Homeschool Conference.

The 2 classes were entitled, “Blogging Like a Screaming Ninja Monkey (Beginning Blogging)” and “My Blog Needs Liposuction! (Advanced Blogging) “. Needless to say it was a total blast and I hope to do it again sometime soon.

Digital Video Camp

Alex Lerma and I were asked to return to Camp Wilderness Ridge and help with their Digital Video Camp. Only this year instead of being the assistants we’re actually the directors. We’re leaving for the camp today and will return to Austin on July 3rd.

Paul and Alex heading out to the set

Filmmakers Academy

The Filmmakers Academy

Perhaps one of the biggest highlights of our summer, Alex and I are hosting our own video camp. Set in a highly hands-on environment, students will meet once a week in Austin to learn about a new filmmaking concept and then will be given a film project assignment to finish in 6 days with their team.

The class runs from July 6th – August 10th. Our final film festival (which is free to the public) will be on August 14th.

To learn more, visit the Filmmakers Academy website.

Last thing…

Could you pray for me? I need it. Very much so.

Carry on.

What do you think?

WordPress MU
Buddypress
GIMP
Cam Studio
Notepad ++
Mozilla Firefox

JibeNow.com

The site is primarily intended for current homeschoolers, their parents, and homeschool graduates. We like to think of it as a mixture of multiple social-networking and blogging services: the power of WordPress and Blogger, the interaction of Facebook and Twitter, and the community of Homeschoolblogger.

So take a look. Most Imagivation readers have already been invited to the site, but if I missed you or you’d like an invitation then leave a comment below and we’ll get one to you.

“Forever” tells the poignant story of a girl’s childhood memories as she yearns for her father’s love.

Father: David Cordray
Younger Daughter: Hannah Maisano
Older Daughter: Grace Einkauf
Older Daughter Double: Gabrielle Cordray
Orchestra Stand-ins: Alex Brace; Heather Guzman; Alex, Isaac and Rachel Lerma; Bethany, Nathan, and Rachel Malone

Poem: Grace Einkauf
Lyrics: Rachel Malone
Music: Michael Guzman and Rachel Malone
Performed by: Bethany and Rachel Malone
Sung by: Heather Guzman and Danny Waller

Boom and Track: courtesy of Juan Rivera
Second Camera: courtesy of Jeff Buchle
Audio Recording and Mixing: Sam Kokajko
Technical Help: David Huang
Costume Coordinator: Heather Guzman
Grunts: Alex, Ivy, and Robert Brace; Christina Hastings; Isaac Lerma; Toni Maisano; Nathan Malone

Cameras: Canon XL2 (1 pair)
Edited in: Adobe Premiere CS3
Location: Manor, TX

Produced, directed, and written by Alex Lerma and Paul Hastings.
Special thanks to Juan Rivera.