The North

Tue, 1 Sep 2009 06:00:29 -0500

We had the not-so-uncommon-problem of documentary filmmaking of having far more potential story lines than could be fit in one to two hours. So taking a cue from all the movies that have spin-off TV shows following the original film we figured that we’d jump the gun and create the spin-offs before the movie. Just a little insight into how this (The Deadhorse Chronicles) is going to go: we have at least 40 episodes planned so far with about half of them done already and we will be releasing one every week on killthehorse.com and YouTube...barring Obama taking over the internet. ;-) We will begin our story in Alaska on the Arctic Circle, but we will jump back and forth through time and all over the country and maybe even Mexico. Our hope is that you the regular viewer will come to love these characters as much as we do and perhaps better prepare you for the upcoming movie.

Arx Axiom is now on Twitter. We will be posting all the latest news on Deadhorse as well as our whereabouts as we run around the city shooting various projects. Maybe you can track us down and meet one of us. Heads up: we will be at one of two places tonight, Either at the Midwest Independent Film Festival Premiere of “Being Bucky” or at the WLS 890 AM Town Hall Meeting with Congressmen Danny K Davis and Peter Roskam...or both.

Also I can’t forget to mention that my brother Nate Leslie has a new album out: “Whose Fault the Grammar.” I’ve always liked his music but this album actually has me hooked, I have been listening to it non-stop for weeks. That doesn’t usually happen to me.

-mL

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Prophecies and other Portals

Mon, 25 May 2009 21:17:50 -0500

In Los Angeles last year, as you can witness in the Seasons Greetings: LA Pilot, we met this kid on Hollywood Boulevard from Fredericksburg, Virginia. Charles chatted with him and we shot a little sequence with him there on the sidewalk. As we left, Charles randomly commented (again, on tape) that after this episode in LA our next stop was to be VA. In reality our plan was to shoot the next episode either in Atlanta or somewhere in Europe. Neither of which ended up happening because we decided to develop a new show called “The Prime,” which was shot in Atlanta. To make a long story short, through some friends we were given an opportunity to have unprecedented access to the 2009 Inauguration. We were given only a few weeks notice but we managed to pull off our best episode yet. Interestingly, our first stop was Virginia, and the rest is history.

The latest and greatest Seasons Greetings Episode is now online and ready to view I hope you all enjoy.

Our modus operandi for the the show, until further notice, is to format it as 10 minute made-for-the-web episodes. And this latest episode is #1.

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We are also launching a new web portal to host all our shows called “ARX TV.” Among the other shows is the newly formed “Arx Independent News” and “The Prime.” We have one episode left to finish and then the DEADHORSE Web Series will also be hosted there.

Until Next Time...

-mL

Pomp and Circumstance

Fri, 30 Jan 2009 19:58:05 -0600

Without giving away too much, I would like to tell you a bit about our adventures in Washington. Mike, Charles and I did venture east for all the hoopala surrounding the inauguration of our new President. I really wish I had been at the last two inaugurations to at least have a point of comparison. The closest thing I can compare it to was spring break in south Florida except that it was below freezing. D.C. was party central. I have never seen people party with such abandon. Even Chicago on election night wasn’t quite like this. I really wish I could fast forward four years and see what people think then.

The next Seasons Greetings episode will be up and online soon, and the show we shot there for Comcast will be aired this week as well so you’ll get to see it all for yourselves. At that point I will probably post a more detailed blog telling of all the behind the scenes fun.

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We also have a few more updates as well to announce. The new BonaventureMedia.com site is up and ready for business. If you’re getting married, performing on stage, have a song you want to make into a music video, have a new product to sell and so on, Bonaventure Media is here to fulfill all of your multi-media production needs.

Also we now have “Miracles of Grace” online for all to view. please check it out at cookcountyjailministry.com or on youtube.

And we have finally begun compiling the webisodes for Deadhorse. No promises but they should be up at the beginning of March.

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-mL

So Fly, So Done!

Mon, 12 Jan 2009 00:00:58 -0600

Amat the Great’s latest music video is complete!

After months of squeezing post production in between other projects it’s finally out!

watch it here!

For those that are interested in the back story, we shot this in three days in Atlanta in October while shooting for “The Prime.”

I’m not going to say anymore because you’ll get to see all the behind the scenes in the premiere episode of “THE PRIME.” Which should be out shortly.

-mL

Blizzards

Wed, 10 Dec 2008 00:04:49 -0600

So the snows came early this year. I can’t remember the last time I saw this much snow this early in December. Some may want to migrate south, but this is usually when things start to get interesting around here.

First off, allot has happened since my last entry.

The weather may be cold but things are heating up where we’re at. Last week was spent shooting segments for Comcast’s Newsmakers and Political Update. We actually had some really interesting guests on this round so checkout CNN Headline News at 5 before the hour every hour for the Newsmakers spots. Here’s a picture I snapped with my iPhone:

Paul Lisnek with Chicago Alderman Toni Preckwinkle
[Proof that with a bit of touch up, the iPhone can take a half-way decent picture...

...and BTW it’s cool to actually catch something on TV you shot a week earlier.]

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On December 2nd Arx attended the Midwest Independent Film Festival’s Best of the Midwest Awards, complete with Richard Roeper and Steve James!

Congratulations to the winners and all the finalists!

Festival director Mike McNamara with Hoop Dreams director Steve James above and critic, Richard Roeper below.

Charles and I with an old film school friend, Matt Fagerholm,
(I got this picture from imageworldwide.com Click here for more pictures from that event).

Comcast was there covering the event so don’t forget to check out Prime Time Chicago week nights on Channel 100 and On Demand for a chance to see the event yourself.

It was a really classy party with an entertaining little award show thrown into the middle of it. Charles and I had a great time catching up with old friends and making new ones. I highly recommend it to anyone in the local movie business.
A week later (last night) Charles and I attended a local IFP event and so many of the same people were there it reminded me how small the Chicago film business is. Speaking of which, Miguel Silveira, the director of Carnaval Blues and the award winning Namibia, Brasil, won the annual Production Fund Award last night. So we will soon be seeing another film from this visionary director.

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Aside from all that glamorous stuff, business continues as usual, snowed in or not. Amat the Great’s music video So Fly is moving along nicely along with our main project...but more on that later.

-mL