Well, I just returned from the most awesome conference! For this past week, I and my oldest son Paul have been at the Gideon - more completely known as the the Gideon Media Arts Conference and Film Festival. The conference started last Sunday and ran through today. It was a week jam-packed with classes and films.
This was actually the second year of the Gideon, and the second year I have attended. Last year I heard about the conference from Phil Vischer’s blog, and since I had a short movie (about my autistic son Derek) laying around, I decided to submit it on a lark. Through a strange set of circumstances, I actually ended up winning a chance to have breakfast with Phil himself at the Gideon. Which was way past cool. But anyway, the conference turned out to be the most amazing experience – offering classes from Phil (on “New Media” and the launch of his new web-based children’s network – Jelly Telly, as well as classes from people like Paul McCusker (the Adventures in Odyssey guy) on “Writing for the Children’s Market”, Linda Seeger on ScreenWriting, and so on. I took a class on Film Lighting from Jon Erwin, who shoots music videos for folks like Casting Crowns and Point of Grace, and a couple of classes on filmmaking from Kyle and Kenny Saylors. And to cap it all off – producer Ken Wales was there to show his movie – Amazing Grace – and he stayed afterward to answer questions until the wee hours of the morning. How cool is that?
L-R: Ben Avery, Mike Maihack, Paul, and Ken Raney
Well, this year my son Paul was old enough to apply as an intern to the Gideon, and we were thrilled when he was accepted! Just before Gideon, Paul wanted to make a short animated film, called “Spike and Pals”, to take to a week of homeschool camp. I will post more about Spike and Pals later, but anyway, it turned out pretty well, and in the two days between camp and the Gideon, I helped him turn the frames of the animated movie into a comic book, complete with captions, which he took to the conference. He and I both took a number of classes in the Gideon’s brand new Graphic Arts track. We both learned a lot about writing and creating graphic novels (the entity formerly known as comic books) from really great folks like Ken Raney, Mike Maihack, and Ben Avery. The last class we took was a show and tell, so Paul got a chance to show his work to Ken and Mike, and get their feedback. It was enormously helpful and encouraging! Paul and the other interns made a short film during the week, which was shown at the conclusion of the conference – and it was hilarious. Quite a few people complemented Paul on how funny he was in the video. But even better than that, was the fact that at least eight people, maybe more like 10 or 12, came up to me at the conference, and told me that they had met my son Paul (who was always off someplace else – doing whatever it is interns do), and what a great person he was. Man! What a great week!
Tags: conference, gideon, media
Brian,
Love the blog, and so glad that you and Paul were so encouraged at the Gideon.
Stay in touch!
Brittany Hardy
Executive Project Manager, HOSFU LC
It was a joy to meet you and Paul at the conference. I meant to look you up as soon as I got home, but ended up in the hospital and then recuperating. I’m also on deadline. Why do I do this to myself? I have a year to write a book and end up working on it during the last two months. Yikes! Some day I’ll get smart, organized, and live without this pressure. Or maybe not.
I didn’t want to lose touch with you. If you are having trouble remembering who I am, I am Rachael’s boss.