Carriage Classic Footage

Research clips for the Forgotten Journal film...

Even for a limited-budget project like ours, there's real potential for incorporating live horses, authentic carriages, and wardrobed drivers into a 1890s story.

The Carriage Classic Research

At yesterday's Carriage Classic, we made a few connections with owners/drivers, shot a little test video, and got a better idea of what we are--and are not--looking to do in regards to horse-drawn carriages for a potential Edwardian-era film project.

Film Scouting Tomorrow at Villa Louis

We are planning to attend the Carriage Classic tomorrow to do a bit of research for our potential project, The Forgotten Journal of H. H. Munro. Looking to connect with a few costumed carriage drivers/owners to learn some logistics of shooting with live horses and to see what it would take to get them into our film.

Built in 1868, Villa Louis is an Italian villa-style mansion set along the banks of the Mississippi River in southwestern Wisconsin. A National Historic Landmark, the home and grounds have been restored to their 19th century Victorian life splendor and are open to the public.

Even better, each September...

...the annual Villa Louis Carriage Classic recalls the era when fine horses and elegant carriages convened on the broad lawns surrounding the Dousman Family's famed country estate. The event is the largest competitive carriage driving event in the central US. 

Image and info via Villa Louis website.

Forget the Film, Watch the Titles

Forget the Film, Watch the Titles is a website dedicated to motion picture end titles. As the name implies, even if a movie doesn't quite live up to its expectations, the end credits may still be worth checking out. Case and point--Brad Silberling's 2009 Land of the Lost.

Before we delve into the title sequence, just a few words about the film itself. OK, no one would ever go to The Land of the Lost expecting some kind of Oscar-worthy material.

The project from the outset was obviously designed as light entertainment. So as Tashai points out, if you view the film simply as a series of short sketch comedy skits rather than a complete story, the acting is quite good at times. Nuff said. Onto the end credits.




As always, a title sequence at the end of the film must have an impactful musical accompaniment, and this one does. “The composer is Michael Giacchino who took [the] animation and created the amazing score for the titles.” Combined with an a stellar animated sequence produced by the creative team at Alchemy/Axiom, the end titles bring to mind retro images of the old Jonny Quest cartoons from 1964-65.

See the complete end title sequence at Forget the Film, Watch the Titles or at the Alchemy website.

Animation Backgrounds

We're big fans of animation and have a couple of ideas for potential animated projects (e.g. The Strange Tales of Uncle Charley). We'll see how things pan out over the next few years in this regard. In the meantime, we suggest you check out Animated Backgrounds, a great blog featuring background artwork from classic animated films.

 From Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs. Images via Animated Backgrounds. Copyright Disney.