Just wanted to let you all know that the Vinegar Hill blog is moving to — http://blog.vinegarhillpictures.com/
Time to update the RSS and bookmarks!

See you at the new blog!

David

(Photos by Shepherd Ahlers)

I know it’s been a few weeks since a post, but don’t think it’s because nothing’s been happening with “The Interventionist”. Oh contrare! Much has been happening. We’ve got it shot (the shoot went amazingly) and are now in the throes of editing. I just want to thank everyone who helped us on the set — our actors, our crew, everyone! We couldn’t have asked for a better group of guys and gals. I can’t wait for all of you to see their amazing work!

It think the highlight for us here at Vinegar Hill, though, was having my best friend Ian Murphy on set. Ian co-founded Vinegar Hill with me in 2006 but was in a near fatal car accident shortly after. However, he has been recovering ever since, which is amazing!

(David Altrogge, Ian Murphy, Michael Hartnett, Photo By: K. Melli)

Right now we’re working on a rough cut of the film. We’re totally stoked about how it’s turning out! On the sound front, Dallas Taylor of Defacto Sound (I’ll introduce you to Dallas shortly) is diving into the sound design while Roger Hooper (again, I’ll introduce you soon) is starting to score the picture. On the branding front, Shawn Romano is beginning to layout some killer stuff!

We can’t wait to share “The Interventionist” with you all!

— David

P.S. For any of you who are interested, the Indiana Gazette did a little write up about the shoot. You can read it by clicking HERE.

MEET THE CREW Pt. 1: SHAWN

Over the next coupla’ weeks we would like to introduce you to the folks who’ll be making this movie with us — the guys and gals who are going to take this film OTT (Over The Top)! So first, we’d like to introduce you to Shawn Romano. Shawn won’t tell you this, but he’s a “Motion Graphics Rockstar”! But enough from us, meet Shawn:

“Hi. My name is Shawn Romano. I’m a freelance design pro who specializes in creating branded motion graphics for video screens everywhere. My little operation is called Driftminer. (And yes, “the site’s not done yet.” When is it ever?). I love taking the occasional creative departure from my world of motion, and my contribution to “The Interventionist” will be just that. I’ll be helping out with branding the film and working to create some (hopefully) engaging promotional materials*. (And no, I will not be using “the movie font.”) I’m stoked to be a part of the team, and looking forward to the cinematic goodness the VH guys will serve up for The Interventionist. No pressure, guys…”

We’re totally jazzed to be working with Shawn. He’s absolutely amazing at what he does! He handled the motion graphics on a commercial we shot a couple months ago (you can view them here) and did a killer job!

*Just to clarify, Shawn hasn’t started branding “The Interventionist” yet. The stuff he’s gonna’ do is gonna’ be WAY cooler than what you’ve seen thus far on the blog…so stay tuned!

We’re diving into pre-pro on a short film that we’ll be shooting at the end of the month! It’s a comedy about a guy who’s quest to give his girlfriend the help he thinks she needs goes wrong…terribly wrong…

We’re really excited about it!

If you want to keep up with the happenings as we ramp up for the shoot, visit — http://www.vinegarhillpictures.com/interventionist.html

Thanks gang!

We were informed on Monday that the music video we did for Reilly’s “Sunlight” won the award for Best Music Video at the San Diego Film Festival. We were totally surprised and super excited to hear this!

A huge thanks to Reilly for giving us the opportunity to work on this project. Also, major “thank yous” to Ned Kimmel (our amazing co-producer and AD), Nick Malcolm (grip extraordinaire), Richard Louther (Mr. Jack of All Trades), and RJ Davis (the rock star of PAs). Oh, and of course, our actors — Ryan Louther and Hunter Scherf — totally owned the screen! Thanks guys!

If you haven’t seen the video yet, you can check it out here — http://www.vinegarhillpictures.com/sunlight

Hey Friends —

I know it’s been a while since we’ve posted, so I thought I’d fill you in on what’s been going down at the Hill this last month.

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We’ve just wrapped our latest project, a commercial for the Chuck Colson Center for Christian Worldview. We got to work with some amazing artists and craftsmen on the project (I’ll introduce you to them in a post a bit later) and are thrilled with the incredible work they’ve done.

To view the film, visit: http://www.vinegarhillpictures.com/video/video_pages/video_pages/colson.html

Here are some pics that Beth Altrogge took on set:

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In other news, we spent the last three weeks shooting a documentary in Uganda, Ethiopia, Zambia, and Ghana with Citygate Films. Wow, what an incredible experience! The film, “A Note of Hope”, follows five jazz musicians as they explore music’s power to uplift men and women who are suffering. The director/producer Carolyn McCulley did an AMAZING job making this happen. It was such an honor to be a part of this film. We’ll have many more updates on the progress of the film in the future. In the meantime, check out the trailer HERE.

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And finally, the music video we did for Reilly will be showing at the San Diego Film Festival this week. Our very own Mike Hartnett (the video’s DP and Co-Producer) will be doing a Q&A session after the screening. We’ll let you know how it goes.

You can view the music video here: http://www.vinegarhillpictures.com/video/video_pages/video_pages/reilly.html

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Well, now we move into the future! We’ve got a lot of exciting stuff coming down the pike this fall (hopefully a short film) and will keep you posted.

Until then,
David

In less than two weeks, we will be traveling to Africa with Citygate films. There, we’ll be shooting a documentary about the legacy and power of the American Negro Spiritual. The film is called A NOTE OF HOPE. The Spirituals, songs written by slaves, express a profound sense of sorrow, hope, and faith. A NOTE OF HOPE follows the musical journey of five American musicians who are taking these songs to children in Africa left parentless by HIV/AIDS.

But here’s the thing — we need your help. In this next segment of fund raising, Citgate Films needs to raise $10,000. This money will be used to create what’s called “a work-in-progress trailer” following our filming in Africa. This trailer will be shown to both U.S. and international distributors to secure early distribution agreements and/or letters of interest. Please consider helping, even if you can only donate $5. To contribute, please visit — http://www.indiegogo.com/A-NOTE-OF-HOPE

To view the trailer, click here — http://vimeo.com/5164986

David

David

It’s hard to believe how fast Summer is flying! Gosh, it’s August already. There’s some exciting stuff going down at the Hill and I thought I’d give you all a little update.

— We’re in the process of wrapping up the edit for our commercial for the Chuck Colson Center for Christian Worldview. We’re so excited with how it’s turning out. Vinegar Hill’s dear friend VsTheBrain has done an amazing job on the edit! We hope to have for you guys to see soon.

— In September we’ll be traveling to Africa for three weeks to shoot a documentary. The documentary is about Negro Spirituals and how the songs continue to be a source of hope and comfort to those who suffer. It should be an absolutely awesome experience!

Watching Toto’s “Africa” makes me excited about our upcoming adventure…

Until next time,
David