It’s a big day here at Wide Awake Films. Our machine rack, populated by various old-school decks (we even have a D2 in there), is being retired. Officially. With the increasing demand for digital deliverables and the infrequency of requests for beta tapes, we’re re-locating this monster to a less prominent, lower traffic area of the office. Here’s a fun pic of Jeff and Brian tangled in the spaghetti.
Battle at Shiloh Trailer!
Get excited….here’s a glimpse of our newest film, Battle at Shiloh: The Devil’s Own Two Days.
TMC’s Mobile Market
This week, we filmed with Truman Medical Centers, capturing their Healthy Harvest Mobile Market in action. The Mobile Market, a virtual rolling produce stand, visits areas deemed “food deserts:” those neighborhoods in Kansas City, especially in the urban core, that lack access to grocery stores and fresh fruits and vegetables. We stayed on the move with the bus as it stopped at the Jackson County Courthouse in downtown KC and at the Lucille Bluford Library off 31st and Prospect.
We’re proud to support such an exciting and healthy initiative! Look for our footage of the Mobile Market on the jumbotrons at the Chiefs’ pre-season games!
Announcing the Release of “Battle at Shiloh!”
Shiloh’s Battlefield
After a few months of heavy post-production, we’re excited to announce the release of our newest film, Battle at Shiloh: The Devil’s Own Two Days!
Our film, Battle at Shiloh: The Devil’s Own Two Days, is a narrative documentary. We decided to deviate from the typical documentary format by taking a cinematic story-telling approach, unlike your everyday battle-centric historical documentary. We present seven characters, based on real-life accounts, each filmed as a cinematic oral history. These seven weave a narrative thread of their own personal experiences during the Battle of Shiloh’s vicious two-day brawl, while our objective narrator unfolds one of the bloodiest fights of the American Civil War. We depict this battle not just through the personal experiences of soldiers and generals, but through nurses, newspaper reporters, and family members of the fallen. These stories reveal the dramatic and haunting effects of Shiloh, which resulted in almost 24,000 maimed, missing or dead…in just two days. The Battle of Shiloh marked a turning point in our nation’s history, opening our nation’s eyes, in North and in South, to the true cost of Civil War.
Jessalyn Kincaid as Ann Wallace
Shot in breath-taking 1080p High-Definition with the Viper Filmstream Camera, this film features footage from March 2012’s historic 150th Anniversary Reenactment of the Battle of Shiloh.
Plus, we have awesome special features! These include:
- Aboard “The Shiloh Limited” - A historic locomotive provided by special arrangement with Union Pacific Railroad carried reenactors from as far as Omaha to the original battle site for the Anniversary Reenactment. This marked the first time in 150 years that troops in period attire traveled by rail from the far west to the battle lands of Tennessee. Two WAF camera crews captured the entire trip.
- Making of “Battle at Shiloh” - We give you a glimpse of what goes into making a historical film, from the period clothing to the visual effects.
- Shiloh 150th: The Sesquicentennial Reenactment - Nearly 7,000 reenactors from all over the world attended this year’s anniversary reenactment of the Battle of Shiloh. As the exclusive film crew for the event, we manned five camera crews on the battlefield each day. We also include footage of the troops’ camps, the civilian town, a Civil War fashion show and an authentic ball.
Pre-ordered DVDs and Blu-rays will ship out next week! The film is available for purchase at http://www.civilwargoods.com.
“August Light” Nominated for an Emmy Award
Nominated for a 2012 Emmy Award for Historical Documentary
We’ve been nominated for a 2012 Emmy award for our film, August Light: Wilson’s Creek and the Battle for Missouri! We’re pleased to join the ranks of other Kansas City-based nominees (and friends of ours) like KCPT, Thill Media, WDAF Fox 4′s John Holt and Wil Blackwell with the Kansas City Chiefs!
Wine Walk on Delaware – June Edition!
Come visit us at the Wine Walk on Delaware, this Saturday the 16th from 5p to 8p! Tickets are $15 and are good for wine sampling at all participating Delaware Street businesses. A portion of proceeds will benefit New Roots for Refugees, a program that strives to strengthen refugee families and build the local food system.
This month’s Wine Walk features:
- Rock-N-Moroccan Food Truck
- Ali Baba Hookah Bar
- A vintage car show sponsored by the Corvette Club of Kansas City
- Volkswagen Photo Booth
- Local artists, musicians, and more!
Here’s how it works:
Purchase your Wine Walk tickets at The Farmhouse (300 Delaware), our favorite farm-to-table eatery, or Cafe al Dente (412 Delaware), our favorite place for pizza and a beer. $15 gets you a Somerset Ridge Winery stemless glass, a wristband, and a map of Delaware’s wine stops.
WHO IS INVITED:
This event is open to everyone, so bring your friends and family for a fun way to spend a Saturday afternoon. However, it is not recommended to bring small children, as this event is for a 21+ crowd, in which alcohol is being served.
Teaching 5th Graders The Civil War
For the past three years in the spring, I give a Civil War presentation to a 5th grade class at an elementary school in Liberty, Missouri.
For these talks, I combine my geekdoms. I typically walk into the classroom dressed as a Union Civil War infantryman before taking out my MacBook Pro to show them what I do as a Civil War filmmaker. I’ll show them a few clips from Wide Awake’s catalog of Civil War docs, talk about how I became immersed in the war at an early age, touch upon the need to preserve the hallowed battlefield ground and then take all 100 of them outside to teach them how to march like Civil War soldiers.
My main goal is to impart one simple concept. You don’t have to leave your childhood passions behind you. I’m fortunate that my interest in the Civil War is still alive in the work I do today. Not many people can claim to continue their passions from youth. Yet I sincerely believe that if I can do it, anyone can.
This past year the class all wrote letters of thanks for my visit. I was moved to tears when I read them. It’s nice to know you had an impact.
Shane
