Tarazod Films Comes to a Close

Filmmaking has been our passion for nearly two decades. From short films to our feature-length documentary, Mad City Chickens, from the non-profits and university work to the commercial gigs, it's been a fun adventure. 

However, in 2019, we were coming to place where we wanted to go in a new direction. The creative storytelling process of shooting and editing was still ever-fulfilling but not for the kind of projects we were used to working on.

Our goal was to finish up the three films we had on our plate, plus the several commercial jobs that were in the pipeline. Then we'd explore new avenues.

But the COVID-19 pandemic hit. In early 2020, we were making a huge push on our two narrative projects. One after another, we had to cancel our scheduled shoots with cast and crew. All of our fiction projects came to a halt as did most of the commercial productions. 

We did complete a few commercials in 2021, but it is now time to move on. We've made a decision to dissolve Tarazod Films LLC.

What does this mean for our three films? At some point, we had hoped to upload the unfinished versions of No Sleep for Ronni and Strindberg's Assistant just for the sake of all the wonderful people who worked so hard on these projects. But even this was not meant the be. Not one, but both hard drives that contained the film projects failed. Thanks G-Tech. As for Benjamin's Ride, it's the one film that still had a chance of being completed, but not by us. We sent it on to an interested party who may or may not complete it.

Was it disappointing not to complete these films? Yes, of course. Did it feel like we let down all those people who were involved? Sure. But hey, that's life. Looking back, all the projects seemed like a good idea at the time. But that was then. We feel really good about what the future holds. And having those hard drives die was a blessing in disguise. Freedom baby! Like lifting a refrigerator off our shoulders. Moving on!

Mum's the Word

It's been 4.5 years since we last posted an update on our documentary, Benjamin's Ride. Most anyone who might have shown the least bit of curiosity in the project has most assuredly moved on. The phrase, "dead in the water," comes to mind.

So for now, it's best if we simply keep quiet about the progress it has made... even though there is some to tell. Life has been nothing if not interesting these last couple of years. Will we actually complete the few short film projects still on our plate? That is our goal.

Farmer's Market B-Roll for Documentary

We filmed additional b-roll yesterday for Benjamin's Ride. In looking for a few generic crowd shots, we let our camera roll at the Wednesday farmer's market in downtown Madison.

Reenactment Scenes for "Benjamin's Ride"

Ben Miles is the autistic boy who is the subject of our latest documentary, Benjamin's Ride. We've been following him and his unique story for over five years and have shot hours upon hours of video. Ben is now 22 years old. However, there are still sections of the film that require clips of him as a younger child--footage that doesn't exist. So we're recreating it with actors.

Today we met with a local child actor named Aiden, who will be playing an eight-year old version of Ben. We chatted with Aiden, ran through some brief character rehearsal, and went to it--shooting three different scenes. Because we weren't recording any audio, the production sped along.

Robert directed and ran camera, Nicholas Wootton was production manager on set, and executive producer Colin Camera did grip work and filled in wherever necessary.

Aiden only needed very brief direction before executing his part beautifully.

We took advantage of the overcast day by setting up the green screen to shoot another scene. Playing the role of Ben's mother was Aiden's sister, Megan. The footage was shot in such a way that it'll be composited in the edit with other clips to represent the time when Ben first set foot inside Walt Disney World.

Occasional wind gusts proved a little too much for our sandbags. So Nicholas, Colin, and Aiden's brother, Sean, took turns as human ballasts. 

Photos courtesy of Colin Cameron and Nicholas Wootton

Documentary Title - "Benjamin's Ride"

The edit on our latest documentary continues to progress. As the diverse elements of the film come more into focus, the refinement of the movie's title also continues to evolve. We credit Executive Producer Colin Cameron with this latest branding. This one we think will stick.

New title: Benjamin's Ride.

Tagline: An autistic boy and Snow White.

B-Roll & Interview for Snow White Doc

This past weekend, we made more progress on our Snow White documentary. We shot a couple b-roll scenes that called for a reenactment with a baby and a house cat. Lucky for us, our friends Michael and Andrea Holly are visiting from Brazil this month with their seven month-old son, Calvin, who was perfect for the role. The pet cat was wrangled up by fellow friend and filmmaker, Nicholas Wootton of Windmiller Media, who also acted as Production Manager during the shoot.

In addition, we did a short interview with Andrea about the immense popularity of Snow White in Brazil, and we asked her if she could name all Seven Dwarfs in Portuguese. She came through with flying colors.

Edit Progressing on Snow White Film

Post-production on our Snow White documentary continues to move forward. Hours and hours of footage have been logged, construction of the time line is taking shape, and a clear narrative has been delineated. Real progress is being made, even though we still have more to shoot--from reenactments and B-roll coverage to interviews with experts on autism and theme park rides.

Ben and his mother, Sara, wait in line for a ride.

Documentary Gets New Working Title - "The Snow White Effect"

• Back in January 2011, we started tossing ideas around for a new documentary. At the time, we were calling it Dark Ride. This was in reference to a specific style of theme park attraction which is enclosed and requires artificial lighting to achieve its dramatic effects. The vagueness of the title was a direct result of us not knowing quite what the focus of this project would be. Shooting began in March of that year in Orlando.


• Before heading back to Florida for a second round of filming in May of 2012, we updated the movie title to Ben's Snow White Adventures: Autism and the Dark Ride. Ben Miles' love of the Walt Disney World attraction would be the heart of our story. Yet, it was still unclear as to what direction it would go.
  


• Two more years passed. A third visit with Ben and his family garnered more quality footage and another updated title, The Snow White Adventures of Benjamin Miles.


• It's now been close to five years. A handful of interviews still remain to be shot. With the recent culmination of a few of our other long-standing video gigs, we now have a window of opportunity to make hay with the edit on a couple of personal projects--including Ben's film.


• With time has come a better understanding of what we have. As a result, a new working title has emerged: The Snow White Effect: An Autistic Boy's Love for the Disney Dark Ride. Still not exactly what we're looking for, but we'll try it on for size.

"All is Well" Cover

All is Well is a song by Ron Miles that will be used in the documentary short we're currently working on. We have the original recording by Ron himself but now we also might have the possibility of using this cover by Todd Burge.

Ben's first (and probably last) time on Seven Dwarfs Mine Train

Ben Miles, who was diagnosed with autism at a very young age, is the subject of our documentary that we've been slowly working on over the last three years. He's the boy who fell in love with the now-defunct Snow White ride at Walt Disney World. Two years later, the "replacement attraction"--the Seven Dwarfs Mine Train--has opened. In May, Robert was there to film Ben's first time on the new coaster-style ride. Unfortunately, it was probably also Ben's last time on the ride.

Ben's father, Ron Miles, recently uploaded a blog post describing what occurred. Read it at Stalk This!

Successful Florida Shoot #3

Robert recently returned from a week-long shoot in Orlando, Florida. He was completing interviews for a documentary that we started over three years ago. The film is about Ben Miles, an autistic boy who loves Disney's Snow White.

This was the first time we utilized the GoPro for a shoot. Made a nice backup camera. Fairly satisfied with the results. Although right after this shot was taken below the monorail, the Disney security came over and questioned him about what he was doing. Monorails and GoPros don't mix?

While shooting footage for the film, we also did a three camera setup at a local martini bar. Ron was performing Ben's song that night, along with a couple others. Here's an edit put together by Ron himself with Adobe Premiere (his first time ever using the program).

Ben's Last Ride Continues to Make News

Ron Miles is the father of Ben, the last person to ever ride Snow White's Scary Adventures at Walt Disney World. Because it was such a special moment, the news of the event has spread online including a write-up on Boing Boing. And just this past weekend, Ron was interviewed via Face Time on Sacramento Good Day television...

Video and screen captures copyright Sacramento Good Day.

Boing Boing picks up on Ben's Snow White Ride

Ben's love affair with the Snow White's Scary Adventures ride at Walt Disney World is the subject of our latest documentary project. And Ben's visit to the attraction on it's last day of operations is the subject of the recent  write-up on Boing Boing.

Photo by Kevin Yee

Stalk This - The Ron Miles Blog

It was about two years ago that we first heard of Ben and his interest in a particular dark ride attraction at Walt Disney World. We'd stumbled across Stalk This!--the blog of Ben's father Ron Miles. There we read about Ron's autistic son and the passion Ben had for Disney's Snow White character. It wasn't long before Robert had contacted Ron with a request to do a serious of blog posts for the Filmic Light site--The Boy Who's Experienced the Scary Adventures Nearly 3200 Times!

Now after the closure of the Scary Adventures ride last week, Ron's blog has received loads of hits from people interested in Ben's story. So much so that Ron is now considering writing a book. Read Ron's six-part firsthand account of the amazing final night for Ben at his favorite dark ride.

Also see stills and video on the Filmic Light from Robert's account of the final days.

Orlando Shoot #2 - continued

Robert's trip to Orlando to shoot more footage for our latest doc was a success. It was a short stay, just until today, but we now have more interviews and B-roll in the can. The project is beginning to take shape.

Orlando International Airport tram (shot with crappy little point-n-shoot)...

Orlando Shoot #2

Robert flew to Florida today to continue the documentary shoot that we began back in March of 2011. It's a whirlwind trip (just until Friday), but in these few days, we hope to accomplish much. We're looking to get more interviews with the family of Ben Miles, an autistic boy who for the past nine years has had a unique passion for Disney's Snow White theme park ride.

So why is it important for us to be in Orlando at this particular time? On this Thursday, May 31st, the nearly 41-year old attraction, Snow White's Scary Adventures, closes it's doors forever. Our camera will be rolling when it does.

Ben's Snow White Adventures

At the end of this month, we'll be heading back down to Florida to continue the documentary shoot we started in February of 2011. At the time, the project had the working title of Dark Ride. It has since been updated to Ben's Snow White Adventures: Autism and the Dark Ride. We'll be sharing more on the progress as well as the subject matter of this film as it develops.

Orlando Shoot #1

This past week we completed the first shoot of a new documentary project we've been developing which includes the story of Ben, an autistic boy with a rather unique personal obsession. We captured some great footage of the interview with Ron, Ben's father and a bit of b-roll for the project too.

"Dark Ride" Documentary Idea

One potential new project is a documentary piece with the "working title" of Dark Ride. We have much research to do before we can even say if this can be made into a film, yet the development is underway.