I just watched what might be the most incredible independent film I’ve ever seen. Written by fans and for fans of Lord of the Rings, this 35-minute film by a ragtag group of amateur filmmakers cost less than $5,000 to produce … and in my opinion, the quality actually rivals that of the $430,000,000 Peter Jackson films, even though it’s a bit rough-around-the-edges at times.

The Hunt for Gollum takes place just before the first LOTR movie (and after The Hobbit), setting the scene for the trilogy’s early scenes. Below is the HD version … be sure to watch it in full-screen mode!

Last week, I went up to PVM to help out … and discovered that Dale, their media specialist, had just become really sick. I decided to step in and help with the photos, video, and DVD … something I used to do back in the day.

Here are some of the photos I took … and the video is above. Putting it together was quite a challenge … in one day, I had to sort through previously taken footage, fill in the gaps (half of the footage in this video was taken in about 2 hours), and stay up all night assembling the pieces.

Thankfully, I think it turned out pretty well!

Cincinnati Hills Christian Academy hired me to produce a video that leverages its unique winter term offerings to attract new high school students to an upcoming Open House.

All of the photos were taken by CHCA students and teachers on previous winter term trips, and the music (”One Big Holiday”, by My Morning Jacket) was produced under the Creative Commons license and distributed on The Wired CD.

I woke up this morning, a scant two hours after going to bed, and watched the video. And I wasn’t satisfied. So after going to school and quickly setting up for chapel, I rushed up to my office and did some editing, cutting out about a minute of footage and rearranging it with a narrative that I thought was much more dramatic and compelling.

The result? When we showed it in chapel this morning, the kids were totally entranced. They cheered for their favorite athletes, gasped at the failures, and went absolutely berserk at the end of the video. They had no idea what “CHCA Olympics” are (we didn’t intro the video at all), but they went crazy anyways.

Here’s what they saw:

Yeah, this is gonna be a fun year. Oh, and incidentally … this was my first time using Vimeo to upload videos. It simply blows Youtube out of the water.

One of the first things I’m implementing here in my new job here at the middle school is a giant competition called CHCA Olympics. It should be a great opportunity for the students (and teachers) to connect with each other, use some creative energy, compete in a safe and fun environment, and build a more positive and encouraging culture throughout the year.

In short, CHCA Olympics will be like one big year-long Field Day. All students in the building will be divided up into four “countries” containing students from each grade level. Starting on September 1st, then, each country will collectively pick a national anthem, create a national flag, choose a theme verse, and come up with various other ways to identify themselves (cheers, tshirts, mascots, etc). These choices will all be revealed during the Opening Ceremonies on September 12th, when we’ll also have a Torch Relay and a Parade of Nations.

Throughout the year, then, we will have CHCA Olympic Events … competitions where countries can earn medals for their team based on their skills, craziness, dedication, knowledge, spirit, service, and whatever other criteria we come up with. For example, we might have events called “Rock Band Tournament”, “Capture the Flag Extreme”, “Bible Memorization Challenge”, “Intentional Acts of Kindness”, or “Weird Food Breakfast”. Events will sometimes happen during advisory time, sometimes for a few minutes during chapel, sometimes as an ongoing weeklong competition, and sometimes for an entire Friday chapel.

To build excitement and suspense, I created this teaser trailer tonight to show to the whole school at chapel tomorrow:

But YouTube not only limited the file size to a measely 100mb … it also somehow also stripped out all of the fades, leaving my work jerky and incomplete. Needless to say, I’m pretty dissatisfied and will soon be switching to Vimeo. But right now it’s 3:40am, and I have to wake up in a little more than 2 hours to get ready for school … so that’ll have to wait!