“Soldier’s Song” is a film based on  the real-life experience of an injured soldier returning from Vietnam. Greg Raubins (Tom Sparx) has been paralyzed from the waist down and is in incredible pain. He struggles with his injuries, his family, his roommate Rick (Scott Ganyo), and an uncaring VA Hospital Staff.

The film was shot over a four day period, March 20-23 2009, at the Magichouse studios in Logansport Indiana. The studio is owed by Mark Racop, who servered as Technical Director on the shoot. “Soldier’s Song” was written and co-directed by Michelle Gusow.

The cast and crew were a joy to work with.

There were many of the usual Magichouse crew: Mark Racop, Mike Williams, Eric Ridge, Megan Werle, and myself (Chuck Budreau).

There were some great additions this time including Director of Photography Nate Savidge and Tom Johnson from Inverted Staircase Productions. Kate Chaplin, Melinda Labita, Stacy Mayo, Neal Werle, Gina Caroway, Nate Caroway, and our latest generation “The Pirates!” Josh and Justin Robbins of “The Dread Family Robbins!”

The Cast was also top notch. Tom Sparx, Scott Ganyo, Micheal Harris, LaDonna Pettijohn, Michelle Gusow, Angela Plank and Doug Bolton.

Sorry for anyone I left out of this list, the long hours of this shoot is leaving me a little scrambled.

Everyone worked hard, did a great job and we all had a great time bringing this tragic story to life. I know many new connections have been made through this film. I had worked with just about everyone before, but getting these people together has been a long time goal for me. I knew that the talent and dedication of these individuals would really shine when they were teamed together. Kate Chaplin asked me this weekend if I’m ever tired of always being right… not this time Kate.  Thanks to everyone for proving me right, you guys are the tops and I look forward to our next shoot.

photos by Nate Caroway

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Posted by admin on March 23rd, 2009 :: Filed under Film Shoots
Tags :: Angela Plank, Doug Bolton, Eric Ridge, Kate Chaplin, Magichouse, Mark Racop, Megan Werle, Melinda Labita, Micheal Harris, Michelle Gussow, Mike Williams, Nate Savidge, Soldier's Song, Stacy Mayo, Tom Ford, Tom Johnson, Tom Sparx

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Lin, The daughter of King Arthur is the principal character of Debra Kemp’s series “The House of Pendragon”. The first book “The Firebrand” was released in 2003. The second book, “The Recruit” was recently published and Debra is out promoting it’s release. She is currently working on the third book of the series.

As part of the promotion of the book series Debra commissioned Kate Chaplin to shoot an interview explaining the concept behind the series and introduce the author to the world .

We had the great pleasure of shooting at the home of Dr. Chris Jones. His personal library could be a blog post in itself. Filled with Movie props, Medieval weapons, Tiny rocket ships, shrunken heads… and a great selection of books too! It was the perfect backdrop for an author interview…and with the castle feel of the place King Arthur would have felt right at home.

Kate Chaplin pulled together a small but capable crew, for what turned out to be a very straight forward shoot. Kate directed and prompted Debra with questions. Tom Johnson acted as grip. Brian Pearce was running the camera. Stacey Mayo did Debra’s hair and makeup. And I (chuck budreau) captured the audio.

It was great to hear Debra’s story of how the Arthurian bug had taken a hold of her life and thoughts. She’s been in love with the classic tale since the first time she saw the film “Camelot”. Though she confesses that it is not her favorite rendition of the Arthurian Romances… that would be “Monty Python and the Quest for the Holy Grail”.

She traced down every version of the stories going back to Sir Thomas Malory’s “Le Morte d’Arthur” from the 15th century. She decided to take a different approach, based on the view of a young princess raised as a slave.  She really has a passion for this story and enjoys sharing it with others. Her own story is also fascinating as she describes living in England  and how that brought the story to life.

The books are available through Telltalepress.com and Amazon.com

–chuck

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Posted by admin on November 2nd, 2008 :: Filed under Film Shoots
Tags :: Brian Pearce, Chuck Budreau, Debra Kemp, Firebrand, Kate Chaplin, King Arthur, Recruit, Stacey Mayo, Tom Johnson

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