Park Productions

2010-01-28T10:28:00.000-08:00

Please click here for revised plot synopsis (1/28/10).

Please click here for revised scheduled (still rough) (1/28/10).

UPDATES

2010-01-27T12:39:00.000-08:00

Hi everyone!

Here are some updates:

We are officially going with PLAN C! Which means... we are going to do all of our production/shooting Spring Break (13th-21st) and Senior Week (May 15th-23rd).

If you have not already done so, please email me (lizvandurme@gmail.com) to let us know if you are available and willing to work any or all of those dates.

Also - if you haven't yet told Josh (jdeal1@ithaca.edu) what you are interested in working on this semester, please do so.

If you are interested in WRITING, we are having a writer's meeting at 12pm this Friday, Jan. 29th. Let us know if you can't make it but still want to be involved with writing.

Finally, here's a link to an updated document with lots of info on when we are shooting what, crew positions, etc.

Keep checking the blog and look for update scripts to be posted soon!

Thanks -

Liz

2010-01-25T11:27:00.000-08:00

Click here for rough crew list and shoot dates for Uncorked episodes three to nine.

Click here for most recent script draft of episode three.

Click here for most recent script draft of episode four.

NEW PLOT SYNOPSIS!

2010-01-20T13:29:00.000-08:00

Great news! This week I presented the keynote (thank you Josh, Angela and everyone who worked on it) to the board of directors of Finger Lakes Wine Country. And they approved funding! Our other sponsor, the Ithaca Visitor's Bureau, is on board, too. So, we are going into pre-production full speed and plan to shoot our next episode February 6th and 7th. Below is a new plot outline. Writers are busy polishing up scripts (you know who you are.) Are you interested in writing an episode? Pick one, any one. Write the script. Email me. And if it's good we'll add YOU to our staff and your SCRIPT to our series.

CLICK HERE for new plot synopsis.

Shooting last part of Uncorked Episodes 1 and 2!

2009-12-09T12:09:00.000-08:00

We just finished up shooting the last scenes of Uncorked! episodes 1 and 2! We will be in post production for the next few months and will be launching the first full episode in January, 2010. We will be shooting the remaining episodes in the spring. Here are some photos of our latest shoots!

Here we are shooting the Bistro scene at the Sheldrake Point Vineyard bistro, Simply Red.

Here is a picture of Craig's basement - This is where the wine making magic happens in the webisodes.

Here's us setting up for the living room scene where Edi and Craig talk about having a garage sale!

Until the episode launches in January, we will be putting up some teasers on our Facebook and YouTube accounts, so keep a look out! Also check our twitter for updates on release dates and other information about Uncorked!

As always, you can also visit us at our website at http://www.parkproductions.org/

-Sara

WHO KNEW COMMUNICATION WAS SO USEFUL FOR... COMMUNICATING?

2009-11-02T18:22:00.001-08:00

We recently finished shooting interviews for our "Future of Communication" project: a series of interviews with IC alumni, faculty, and students.

These are some of the people we interviewed.

-Steve Gordon ( Professor TV-R and TV series writer)

-Carol Irgang (Alumna/President of Red Shoes Marketing)

-Vadim Isakov (Professor of Journalism/Journalist)

-Michael Kaplan (Alumnus of '85 /G2 Direction-In-Digital)

-David Lebow (Alumnus/Internet Broadcasting)

-Elisabeth Nonas (Professor Cinema/Department Chair)

-Andrew Orgel (Alumnus of '74/worked for several TV networks including MTV, Movie Channel and currently, One Degree)

-Jeff Goodwin (President of IC Student Government Association)

-Rod Perry (Alumnus of '90/ Co-President of Ant Farm/cartoonist )

-Todd Schack (Professor of Journalism/Journalist)

-Dominic Cottone (Alumnus/Razorfish Training Development)

Special thanks to Karen Rodrigruez (Cinema Professor) for helping us shoot the interviews!

Uncorked Documents

2009-10-30T10:18:00.000-07:00

Click here for the Uncorked Script Guidelines.

Click here for Uncorked Plot Summary Episodes 3-6.

Click here for the first uncorked script.

LOCAL MAN PILLAGES ITHACAN VINEYARD, CALIFORNIAN VINEYARDS JEALOUS

2009-10-25T17:36:00.001-07:00

Recently, local magician, Craig Vinholtz, 38, pillaged an Ithacan vineyard. Vinholtz claimed to have seen some rascal "animal" scampering away with paws full of grapes. In an attempt to stop the animal, Vinholtz decided to run through and terrorize the other un-plucked grapes. "Well... I didn't want them to feel left out, you know?" said the out-of-breath thief.

Fortunately, the vineyard-guard dog was on site to help keep Vinholtz's petty theft from turning into grand theft.

Successful vineyard owner, David Connor, 32, rolled his eyes when he found out it was Vinholtz again. "This is the third time it's happened. I've about had it with Craig," said the proud owner, "more or less."

Mr. Vinholtz's wife, Edy Vinholtz, was unavailable for an interview, though she must be undoubtably ashamed.

Luckily, a local film crew -the incredible and dedicated Park Productions crew- was there to record the entire event. The crew was largely shocked by Vinholtz's heinous actions:

"The grapes, man... the grapes..." said Mike Blaney, sound designer extraordinaire.

AD Alyssa Traitz and AC Luigi Ramos both mourn the fateful endings of the grapes while, admittedly, also devouring them by the handful.

Executive producer and sort-of-most-of-the-time director Carol Jennings described the vineyard as, "stunning."

The rest of the crew remained completely silent the whole time and were unavailable for an interview.

*Exclusive footage of the incident will be online soon*

Connor will not be pressing charges against Vinholtz, though, ironically, offered tours of through the vineyard's beauteous landscape.

David Connor's winery has won numerous awards including "Best Organic, Red Wine" of 2008, 2007, 2006, and 2003 at Ithaca's annual Organic Wine Competition. (Which Carol Jennings also describes as, "stunning.")

-Angela

Questions and Comments: ?

Shooting Uncorked!

2009-10-05T19:14:00.000-07:00

Uncorked! production is officially underway. We have finished 3 full days of shooting now.

The staff has had to overcome many unforeseen obstacles, such as pouring rain while shooting the exterior vineyard shots, but the outcome has been amazing. All of the cast has been absolutely perfect - exactly who everyone was imagining for these characters when writing the script.

Here is a pic of a bunch of the crew hard at work.

A picture of the monitor with a very intense scene from Uncorked!
Some of the crew set against beautiful Cayuga lake.

Josh and the cape that I made for David Moreland/Craig Vinholtz. Filling it with the delicious grapes from the vineyard.
As you can see from these pictures, we had a lot of fun, and did a lot of hard work.

We all learned so much from doing this and had such a great time.

Thank you to our sponsor, Sheldrake Point vineyards, for hosting us.

I can hardly wait to keep shooting!

-Jen

Park Productions, the semester begins...

2009-08-24T08:50:00.000-07:00

Welcome back! Happy new semester! We have a lot of fun projects to look forward to this year. If you're a returning staff member, please come to our first meeting on Tuesday, August 25th, 2:30-3:30 in Park 266. If you are a new student interested in hearing more about Park Productions, please come to one of our recruitment meetings. They are on Tuesday, the 25th, at 12:10-1:00 pm and Friday, August 28th, at 9:00-10:00 am. If you can't attend one of these meetings, please send me an email: cjennings@ithaca.edu. Thanks. See you soon.

SpringBoardMedia: TAA Presentation - Online Tools, making money and building audiences for film

2009-07-16T09:48:00.000-07:00

SpringBoardMedia: TAA Presentation - Online Tools, making money and building audiences for film

Pre-production for Uncorked

2009-06-08T09:23:00.000-07:00

Great news! Park Productions received an additional sponsorship offer from Finger Lakes Wine County located in Corning, NY. After Carol and I presented to Morgan McLaughlin, the president of FLWC, she was excited about the idea and believes the project has great potential. Now with two sponsors, Park Productions is full steam ahead with pre-production. We will be ironing out the main logistics for the series and have it ready for production in August. Congratulations to everyone who has helped bring this project to life. We’ll be posting teasers soon on social networks near you. ~ Adam R.

Meet H&S

2009-05-05T12:22:00.001-07:00

Yesterday was a big day at Park Productions. We had our shoot for one of the new projects we're working on - Meet H&S.

We shot interviews with nine seniors who talked about how H&S helped to prepare them for success in a variety of fields. This video will be aimed at prospective students. It is based off of our work on another project called meet TV-R, which you can watch here.

Jason Longo '94, came to help us out and teach us a lot on the shoot. It was great having him here, and I definitely learned so much! I also learned a lot listening to these graduating seniors, it was very interesting to here about the different experiences that they all had at IC.

-Jen

Visitor's Bureau

2009-04-24T10:40:00.000-07:00

The Tompkins County Visitor's Bureau has signed on to be a sponsor for Uncorked! Carol and Adam did a presentation at the Bureau this Tuesday, and had a great deal of success. This has enabled us to go ahead and start looking for more supporting sponsors. Carol and Adam are going to several wineries this upcoming week.

We're currently working out the look and feel for branding uncorked. There are lots of great ideas and everyone is working hard to further preproduction.

Uncork your life.

-Jen

Uncorked!

2009-04-15T10:45:00.000-07:00

It has been getting very busy at Park Productions lately. The staff is working to the bone on pre-production for the upcoming webisode series, Uncorked. We are currently planning on shooting the pilot this May, so there is a lot to be done in these next few weeks.

It is amazing to see how much goes into a professional production. So much more organization and delegation is required then in the past student films I have worked on. When I watch a movie, I rarely think about the entire process of casting, budgeting, set design, or anything. I'm sure that's a good thing, because if I was caught up in thinking about the set design of the movie, it probably wouldn't be a very good movie.

Anyway, it's great to see everyone's strengths and passions surface as it comes time for job assignments. I am really (anxiously) looking forward to production time. I can hardly wait to meet the cast and see the characters that we've all worked on developing for so long, finally come to life.

-Jen

Storyboard for Uncorked

2009-04-14T07:14:00.000-07:00

Recently, I created storyboards for our upcoming webisode, Uncorked. There are 10 slides in total which play out the first episode that we will be filming in May. Craig runs through David Conner's vineyard searching for a few precious grapes, as his wife, Edy, wines and dines at the vineyard's restaurant. Craig is soon spotted by David's dog and begins to run, grapes in hand.

To see more, watch Uncorked coming to a computer screen near you in the fall!

~Sara Wolkensdorfer

This week at Park Productions

2009-03-26T11:07:00.001-07:00

Truth and Consequence is screening at the Crossroads film festival in Jackson, Mississippi. Check out the website for the festival at http://www.crossroadsfilmfestival.com/ Soon after that, the film will be screening at the Syracuse film festival and then at Reelheart in Toronto. The staff is very excited about the success that T & C is having. For more information on Truth and Consequence, check out the website at http://www.parkproductions.org/truthandconsequence/

Our new project, Uncorked, is getting off to a great start. Carol and Adam pitched the webisode series about a local Ithacan who has a hidden passion for winemaking to the Tompkins County Visitors Bureau this week. The visitor’s bureau expressed interest in becoming a sponsor for the project. The project is continuing to undergo some intensive preproduction. The staff is working on scripting episodes; drawing storyboards; creating a video storyboard using final cut; location scouting; casting; and much more! We are currently planning to shoot the pilot in May.

Perfidy World Premiere

2009-03-20T11:24:00.000-07:00

Below is an account from Liz VanDurme, one of the Park Productions students who the college sent to Miami for the Miami International Film Festival:

Last week, Christina O-Rourke and I had the opportunity to fly to Miami for the premiere of a film at the Miami International Film Festival.

Two years previous, an IC alumnus, Rodrigo Bellot, came back to Ithaca and enlisted the help of Park Productions to bring his script to life. His film is called “Perfidy” and the first time I read the script I was utterly confused. Imagine reading one of your first scripts as a freshman... and it has only seven minutes of dialogue, which come after flashbacks, twists and turns, and an unexplained murder. I had no idea what the film was even about nor what I was getting myself into.

We shot this feature-length film in various locations around Ithaca in approximately four days. We shot a feature in four days. It just so happened that those were the four days leading up to mid-terms, as well.

Despite the countless hours we spent freezing to death (remember, it was February) at Taughannock Falls shooting ten minute takes and 360 degree shots, and the painstaking hours at La Tourelle Hotel (I will never be able to look at that place as the relaxing, tranquil place it should be), every second spent was well worth it when I got to see my name scroll through the credits that night at Regal Cinema 10 in Miami Beach.

We arrived in Miami Wednesday morning and Perfidy was premiering that night. When we got there, we dropped off our bags and got freshened up in the gorgeous luxury-apartment we were staying in, compliments of Christina’s cousin who very generously allowed us to put him on the couch for two nights. Then we headed out to do some exploring and came across the Lincoln Mall. Anyone who has been to Miami Beach probably knows this place for the endless hops, restaurants, bars, and nightclubs. Imagine a souped up Commons, Miami-style.

The premiere was amazing. We met the director, Rodrigo before we went in and he introduced us to other filmmakers and people in the industry. The film got a good response. It was such an exhilarating experience to see a film I worked on on the big screen with a full theater of people you don’t know watching it. During the Q & A session after the film Rodrigo was talking about the production of the film and the audience was shocked when they learned that a lot of the production was in the hands of college students. Everyone turned to look at Christina and I when he pointed us out, and I must say, this was a proud moment, I think, for the both of us.

After the screening, we were able to go out with Rodrigo and friends from the Miami International Film Festival. We meet some very successful people and lots of people who had already established themselves in the industry. Everywhere we went that week, we were ‘with the film festival’ and it was a lot of fun to get this sort-of preferential treatment.

On our second day there, we saw a few other films in the World Competition, the same part of the festival that ‘Perfidy’ was in. We met the producer of one of the films, called ‘Afterschool,’ a twenty-five year old NYU graduate who is doing very well for himself, and the lead actress in the film. They we’re great, very personable and a lot of fun. It was humbling while quite frightening to see someone only a few years older than you with a film in Cannes, London, Berlin, Toronto… however, what a great contact to have!

On Friday we went to a meet-and-greet at this great hotel, but it turned out to be more just for the press to meet with the directors and producers than we thought. We chatted a bit more with Rodrigo and other directors, which was good, but then had to head out to catch our flight back to L.A. (As we were leaving, Demi Moore and Ashton Kutcher were casually having lunch behind a 300 lb. security guard, but I did manage to make eye contact with Mr. Kutcher before hurrying on in fear of the security guard. It’s kind of ironic, because his production company is located two buildings down from where I work in L.A. and I’ve never once seen him there, but when I fly all the way across the country, I see him!)

Anyway, overall, a great experience. And it all started from this Park Productions project that I was fortunate enough to get called in to work on. It was certainly a lucky break and that’s what can help you make it in this industry, good connections and good timing.

So thanks to Rodrigo, Carol, Dean Lynch and all others who made this entire experience possible!

-Liz