Teaser Trailer

Teaser trailer for "My Dear Ralph" now on Youtube! Also available on Vimeo:

https://vimeo.com/56491171

Watch Youtube version on the Youtube website (rather than on this website), for best video results.

SAICFF Semi-Finalists

"My Dear Ralph" has been accepted as a Semi-Finalist in the 2013 San Antonio Independent Christian Film Festival! We're incredibly thankful and excited! Will be neat to see what other films are semi-finalists as well, as the results are released.

More info to come.

DVDs now available for Christmas!

Hey folks! Long time no see...or whatever.

My Dear Ralph is finally available on DVD, just in time for Christmas!

Visit the Order DVD Page for more details.

Actor's Commentary

It's happening tomorrow folks! Josh O'Bryan and I will be recording the Actor's Commentary for "My Dear Ralph". This is the final piece before we can master the DVD. DVDs should be ready just in time for Christmas shopping!

Stay tuned!

Radio Silence

Dear followers,

Some of you are probably wondering what happened to the film - there hasn't been any activity from me on the site for over a month now! I know, it's a shame...

Here's where we are. SAICFF did receive our DVD submission (we got an email stating this) so we're still waiting until Christmas when we'll find out if the film is accepted.

As I said before, Andrew did a great job with the DVD artwork and it's ready to go, however, I'm stuck on a couple of the bonus features. Now that we've brought the film to a finished state, it's hard to get it nudged past the finish line, into the endzone. To mix sports metaphors.

My request to you is that you pray for initiative and energy to finish the bonus features and wrap up the DVD production. I just need to take the time to knock out a couple hours of work and it should be more or less finished - trouble is, there's always other stuff needing to be done (we all know how that is). :)

Speaking of SAICFF, check out this press release from them! This brings the stakes of competition up about 80 yards higher, for sure. SAICFF Short Films Announcement

Thanks all for your support of My Dear Ralph, check back soon for updates, and in the meantime check out production of Beyond the Mask, which Jonathan and Joshua Hedrick are both working on as crew members.

DVD extras coming!

Alright gang, very soon I'll be releasing a list of extras that will be on the DVD! Stay tuned next week!

DVD Status Report

Time for a status report on My Dear Ralph!

According to UPS, the DVDs arrived in San Antonio this week. So, on that end, there's nothing to be done except wait until the end of the year when the SAICFF semi-finalists are notified.

Andrew Bartlett has finished the DVD artwork, so all that remains is to finish the bonus features for the disc.

2 of the 3 commentaries are finished. Actor interviews are being edited. Outtake reel, and BTS photo slideshow are almost through compilation.

Let me know if there are any other special features you'd like to see on the DVD! I can't promise we'll be able to supply them, but I'd definitely like to hear from you guys!

SAICFF Submission

Today we mailed My Dear Ralph to the San Antonio Independent Christian Film Festival. The goal is to enter the film into at least a couple more festivals in addition to this, but SAICFF is a very special festival to our team, as Jeffrey French, Joshua French, Jonathan Hedrick, Joshua Hedrick, Johnny Reighard, and I have all attended it.

Here's hoping we make it in!

The Premiere

Photos by Madeleine Alford

The Higher Education Center

Actors Jordan Hawkins and Joshua O'Bryan

Director Benjamin Dawson chats with one of the attendees

Director of Photography Jonathan Hedrick
appears on the scene

Please silence all cell phones...

In the lobby

Jonathan Hedrick talks with
Assistant Director Joshua French

Set Photographer Madeleine Alford
with Jordan Hawkins

New T-Shirts!

Storyboards

We were fortunate to have the talented artist Johnny Reighard draw storyboards for My Dear Ralph. For those of you who aren't familiar with the term, storyboards are created to show what the scene is going to look like through the camera lens, before the film is shot. It helps with planning, and so on.

Here is a look at a scene which shows how the original storyboards compare with the final footage.

Two Nice Chaps

So we needed some guys to play a couple of bums in one scene - and guess who just happened to be hanging around?

Boom Operator Joshua Hedrick
and Director Benjamin Dawson

Typecasting again...terrible practice, really! :)

My Dear Ralph Soundtrack

The soundtrack is out! Check it out composer D.P. McGregor's Facebook page, or his Soundcloud page. The soundtrack is available for free download at either location, and can be downloaded from this website as well, below.

My Dear Ralph Soundtrack - Facebook

My Dear Ralph Soundtrack - Soundcloud

Poster for Sale!

Again, props to the creator of this poster, Andrew Bartlett!

My Dear Ralph Poster by MDRStore
Order large prints on zazzle.

3 Successful Premieres

Praise God, all three showings went well! We got behind schedule so unfortunately were unable to start each showing at the appointed time, but got all of them in somehow.

A few certificates were given to cast and crew:

Dedication Award: Viktor Kling
Hidden Crewmember: Bethany Dawson
Multiple Hats Award: Jeffrey French
Best Crewmember Peer Award: Jonathan Hedrick
Most Valuable Crewmember: Jonathan Hedrick
Audience Choice Best Actor: Joshua O'Bryan

Approximately 200 people in all came to see the movie. More pictures to follow!

The wrap party cake

Premiere tomorrow!

The My Dear Ralph premiere showings are tomorrow morning! We've got three shows lined up:

10:30
11:15
11:45

There are still lots of seats left at 11:45, so if you aren't already signed up for one of the other two showings, by all means come to the third! No need to RSVP, just hop in your car and come!

Third Showing!

Ok folks, we've added a third showing of My Dear Ralph, at 11:45. The other two are sold out.

Hope you can make it!

Film Poster

Right-click, then select "Save As" or "Save Image As" to download.

Poster created by Andrew Bartlett.

Poster Release Tomorrow!

Keep a watch out for the poster as it hits the internet tomorrow, July 22!

Poster Coming Soon!

Be sure to watch the website this Monday, July 23, for the release of the official movie poster!

New "Share" Page

You'll notice that the menu bar at the top of the site has a new addition! The "Share" page has several web banners you can post on Facebook, Google+, Blogger, Wordpress, or any other website. Or, you can download a banner and send it around to your friends on email! These banners are a great way to continue publicizing the movie and it's upcoming premiere.

Two Showings!

Due to the number of RSVP's we've been receiving, we will be having two showings of My Dear Ralph on August 3!

1st Showing: 10:30 am
2nd Showing: 11:15 am

If you have RSVP'd, you should be receiving an email shortly, verifying that we received your RSVP and letting you know which showing you've been registered for.

Check back later today for another exciting announcement!

New Stuff Coming!

Check back Monday for some new, exciting announcements!

Film Premiere!

Spread the word!


WHAT: "My Dear Ralph" Movie Premiere
WHEN: August 3, 2012, 10:30 AM
WHERE: Southwest Virginia Higher Education Center
ADMISSION: Free
WEB: www.mydearralphmovie.com
RSVP: spoongapmedia@gmail.com
We have a limited number of seats, so RSVP now to reserve yours!

BTS: Lemonade

This picture doesn't tell much about the movie, but I thought it was cool.

The Sound Crew

Taking a little Recreation...
Sound Mixer Jeffrey French and
Boom Operator Joshua Hedrick duke it out.

ADR Session 1

Tuesday was a busy day - we had a photo shoot, recorded ADR (Automated Dialogue Replacement) with three actors, and filmed a couple of pickup shots. All in all, we got some great work done!

Lead actor Joshua O'Bryan recording ADR
with Sound Designer Jeffrey French

More Behind the Scenes

A couple more Behind the Scenes Photos!

Photos by Karissa Stam

Day 5 Photos

Behind the Scenes Photos have just come in from our last day of filming!

Photos by Madeleine Alford

Day 5, al fine!

Day 5 is wrapped, and so is the movie! This film, having a micro-budget, involved many, many volunteers in both the cast and crew, and could not have happened without them. In the coming days I hope to post about some of the people who contributed to the success of this project.

In the meantime, the cast and crew and I are recovering from 10 straight hours of work yesterday - once I get some more BTS pictures, I will post a few.

Day 3 and 4

Days 3 and 4 are finished! Today is the last big push as we wrap filming.

This film has been a wonderfully unique experience in so many ways - Lord willing when filming is finished, I'll be able to find some time to write down all of the different scenarios we encountered - after catching up on email, and sleeping (for about 40 hours straight).

Josh O getting direction

Quiet on the set!

Jeffrey French, the audio supervisor

View from the monitor

Lights, camera, action!

Day 2 Photos

All photos taken by Madeleine and Hannah Alford.

Ben, the detective - played by Mike Musick

A great prop

Fun on-set

Josh Sack handling lights

Jordan preparing for her scene

Lighting the scene

One of the child actors

Josh O

The Dance

Day 2

Day 2 is wrapped! We successfully finished all of our scenes today, praise the Lord! Kudos to the hard work and quick on-set thinking of the crew, and the preparation of the cast.

Our Set Photographer was there again today taking pictures, but I have not had time to get them yet. I hope to transfer those tomorrow and upload a few then.

Day 1

First day of filming went really well! We were able to get all the scenes done that we had planned for the day and even finished a little ahead of schedule.

Here are just a few images from the shoot, taken by Set Photographer Madeleine Alford, more to come!

Costumes, and more costumes

Slating the shot

Josh O'Bryan ponders the situation

From L-R:
Grips Matthew Presley and Eli McCraw,
Director Benjamin Dawson,
Assistant Director Joshua French,
Boom Operator Joshua Hedrick

Director of Photographer Jonathan Hedrick lines up
the camera as Benjamin Dawson looks on