Jimmy Working At Camp

Jimmy Helping Camper Into Harness

Jimmy is away for the summer working at The Salvation Army's Camp Keystone near Starke, FL. Working as a Ropes Course Instructor, he is very much enjoying his first year as a camp staff member. He spent his first week during staff orientation becoming certified as a Ropes Course Instructor and he has been there for three weeks now. We miss you Jimmy, come home soon.

NFocus Produces Live To Tape Recording For ASCD

Set For ASCD Show In Nashville

My company, NFocus, produced and directed a live-to-tape event for the ASCD's Summer Conference in Nashville. The ASCD (Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development) is an organization of educators with more than 175,000 members in 119 countries. The ASCD's mission is to promote effective teaching and learning methods for its members and to ultimately realize student success.

The highlight of the ASCD's 2008 Summer Conference is a panel discussion with experts Carol Ann Tomlinson, Jay McTighe, Grant Wiggins, and Robert Marzano. They will discuss three powerhouse educational models: Differentiated Instruction, Understanding by Design, and What Works In Schools. The discussion took place before an audience of more than 2000 people on June 27. NFocus managed the lighting and staging for the program as well as record the event to tape from six cameras.

Endure Nashville Trip

Fred, Phil, and Joe at one of Paragon Studios ADR sound rooms.

Joe, Rob and I arrived in Nashville at around 8:00 a.m. on Monday, June 2, to begin our soft pre-production visit. Shortly after landing they hooked up with Dirk and headed to the offices of Hi-Def. After a short meeting at Hi-Def offices and the opportunity to finally meet Paul, the gang headed to Paragon Studios. Paragon will most likely be the location for all post-production operations. It is an amazing facility with all of the technical components to handle most of the films post needs. At around 11:00 a.m. everyone headed to Advantage Talent Agency which could handle some of our extras needs for the film. After a quick lunch the rest of the day was spent looking at some possibilities for production office space. That evening was spent around the dinner table with some great food and fellowship.

Joe, Cat, and Rob and the gang scouting some locations in the woods.

Tuesday was spent touring various possible shooting locations in the Nashville area. The group started the day out at the Natchez Trail area, which could end up being the location for the majority of they woods scenes. We also spent the some time during the day looking at some houses for possible locations in Franklin and Nashville.

Rob, Phil, Dirk, Joe, and Jim (not seen) go over the 'Endure' budget.

Our final full day in Nashville was spent in production meetings and interviewing some people for key department head and crew positions. The trip was closed with another great evening of food and fellowship at Paul's home. Over these past few days of meetings, everyone seems really excited about where we are in the process and how things are coming together. More photos are available for viewing at our flickr account.