If you follow God's path for your life then when you look back
your footprints will be in a straight line"
The Timeline of C.D.S
-1997-2006-
Everyone has a start
Everyone has a start and for me that was in 1997. My story began on a cold winter’s day in a Mississippi hospital. I did not stay in Mississippi for long though. When I was three my family moved to Cleveland, Tennessee so my dad could do mission work on the Ocoee River.
Adventures
Most of my early adventures occurred in our first Tennessee home on Chatata Valley Road. Whenever my siblings and I would play games we always played them as if they were movies, plays, or television shows. We had this one game where we were fairies who went to a fairy school. While playing we tended to use phrases such as, "And then it goes to" or "Then we go to a scene of”. We would jump ahead in time to whenever we wanted the next scene to take place. My siblings and I would do that same thing when we told stories. We would say things like "Tonight we are going to sneak out. And then it goes to a scene of us asleep and we wake up to a thunderstorm” (much like a script). Call me strange but that's what we did.
Camera Angles
Ever since I can remember whenever I would do something, such as jump off the top step of our porch (which by the way is the most exhilarating thing a five year old can do), I would see in my mind me doing that same thing but from different camera angles. I would see a close up of my feet as I ran to jump off the porch then as soon as my feet left the ground I would see a wide shot of me in slow motion as I flew through the air. I would envision another close up as my feet touched the ground again. See what I mean by I’m one of the craziest people I know?
TV a.k.a Family Time
One thing that I believe shaped my thinking and imagination is television. However, it is not like you might think. The only time our TV came on (when we had one) was so we could watch it. We never had the TV playing in the background as we did something else or when we where going to sleep. If the TV was on everyone sat down and gave it their full attention until it was turned off. If dad wanted to watch the news everyone sat and watched it with him. TV time was a part of family time. We all sat down and laughed at or critiqued what we were watching. You can imagine how this creates problems at a friend’s house or a restaurant if the TV plays in the background! TV time was special. It did not happen all the time, only rarely. So, it was savored and enjoyed.
-2006-
The TreeHouse
When I was 9 years old my Dad built a treehouse for my siblings and me. Most kids with a treehouse pretend that it is a space ship, helicopter, or simply the hideout for some club. However, that is not for what we used our treehouse. Our treehouse was a TV station. That's right. We did not pretend we were lost on a island like Robinson Crusoe or that we had flown to Neverland with Peter Pan. Our treehouse was “Christian Network”, an imaginary TV station. For those of you wondering, we were not obsessed with watching television, on the contrary we did not even have a TV in our home. Okay we did have a TV but all we could do was play VHS cassettes on it. We could not pick up any TV stations (after everything went digital). We did not even own a DVD player.
So then, what made us imagine our treehouse as a TV station? I have no clue why, the only thing I can think of (and believe me I have tried to figure it out) is that God put that desire in us to make films for His glory. He was using our treehouse to lead us in that direction.
So then, what made us imagine our treehouse as a TV station? I have no clue why, the only thing I can think of (and believe me I have tried to figure it out) is that God put that desire in us to make films for His glory. He was using our treehouse to lead us in that direction.
"The Spy Film"
“Christian Network” was my first interest in films and it did not stop there. Later in the fall of 2006 my family and I made our first film with me as the editor, director, and writer of the "somewhat script". I know you are probably thinking that this was just some sort of home movie and to an extent it was however at the same time it was not. Some of the ways we made this film were not the ways a normal home movie would be made. For instance, it took us over a week to film. Now I know that is no time in the real film industry but for a home movie it is quite a bit of time. My siblings and I also took our own money and bought some props. That is correct. At ages 11, 9, 7, and 5 my siblings and I bought props for our home movie. These props were not toys that we could keep and play with later. They were things like glow sticks, you know, one time use stuff. We also attained some costumes and found locations around our 8 acre yard to use for our sets. As little kids we took that home movie very seriously. We did retakes even though the camera work was just our dad following us around holding the camera. If we didn't like the shot we asked Dad to do something else and we refilmed it. In our minds that home movie was going to air on our TreeHouse TV station for all the world to see. Of course that never happened. However, once we finished the film we showed it to our grandparents and a very good friend of the family. Those were the only people to ever see it.
Skip with me if you will to the end of 2006, Christmas to be precise. After the events of the last year and the experience of making that home movie my parents decided to get me a video camera. This was not one of those flip video cameras but a full fledge Sony Handy Cam equipped with low light, night vision, outdoor and indoor settings, and recorded both 8mm and super 8 tapes. Unfortunately, it was a used camera and only lasted for a short time before dying. Even so, that camera sparked an idea in me that I would not share with anyone for seven more years.
Skip with me if you will to the end of 2006, Christmas to be precise. After the events of the last year and the experience of making that home movie my parents decided to get me a video camera. This was not one of those flip video cameras but a full fledge Sony Handy Cam equipped with low light, night vision, outdoor and indoor settings, and recorded both 8mm and super 8 tapes. Unfortunately, it was a used camera and only lasted for a short time before dying. Even so, that camera sparked an idea in me that I would not share with anyone for seven more years.
-2007-2008-
The years of "Christian Network"
For the next 2 years my siblings and I made all kinds of videos and films for our TreeHouse TV station with a friend's camera. It was during this time that we came up with many of the characters still used in our movies and short films today.
-2009-
The Start of something new
In early 2009 and my siblings and I made yet another home movie for our TreeHouse TV station. After one night of filming we sat down to talk about how the rest of the movie would play out. As we talked the idea kind of hit me, "If we had a written script it would make things a lot easier". At that moment my siblings and I graduated from home movies to "Ultra Low Budget" films. Shortly after we formed S.C. TreeHouse Productions. For the rest of 2009 until the beginning of 2010 I worked on writing and re-writing the script for what was believed to be a 45 minute film entitled Beyond Under.
-2010-
Beyond Under
In mid 2010 I finished the script. It had changed so much from the original idea that it was now a completly different film. When Autumn rolled around we had our main and supporting cast and production began. For the next six months we filmed almost every week with the exception of holidays.
-2011-
premiere of Beyond Under
When post production began I quickly realized that Beyond Under was going to be much longer than our original 45 minute idea. At the premiere Beyond Under was a 90 minute feature film that included a cast of over 60 volunteers.
Beyond Under offered me my first opportunity to work with better equipment. My family and I raised funds through selling scrap metal and other various activities to purchase a $700 Canon Vixia HFM 30 digital camcorder (don't laugh, it was my first real film!) as well as a microphone and basic lighting equipment. Beyond Under also was the first release by S.C. TreeHouse Productions, the production company started by my family and me. Since then filmmaking has become a family affair.
Beyond Under offered me my first opportunity to work with better equipment. My family and I raised funds through selling scrap metal and other various activities to purchase a $700 Canon Vixia HFM 30 digital camcorder (don't laugh, it was my first real film!) as well as a microphone and basic lighting equipment. Beyond Under also was the first release by S.C. TreeHouse Productions, the production company started by my family and me. Since then filmmaking has become a family affair.
Do SOMETHING
In July 2011, two months after the premiere of Beyond Under, I began writing another screenplay for a short film we entitled BOO! Do Something. For the next 8 months I wrote on the script and my family and I gathered supplies and costumes as well as secured filming locations.
Another film for another day
Knighthood LN...
When I was working on Boo! Do Something I also began dreaming of bigger projects I wanted to tackle someday. Not long after Boo! started I went on a trip with some friends to historical Rugby, TN. During the ride we began to play the alphabet game searching for the letters of the alphabet on the titles of street signs. Riley Peak, the composer of much of my film’s music, and I were looking for the next letter in the alphabet when we saw a street sign that read "Knighthood LN". I turned to Riley and said, "That's an epic movie title, 'The KnightHood'". Right then and there we decided that The KnightHood should be a movie and someday I was going to make it.
When I was working on Boo! Do Something I also began dreaming of bigger projects I wanted to tackle someday. Not long after Boo! started I went on a trip with some friends to historical Rugby, TN. During the ride we began to play the alphabet game searching for the letters of the alphabet on the titles of street signs. Riley Peak, the composer of much of my film’s music, and I were looking for the next letter in the alphabet when we saw a street sign that read "Knighthood LN". I turned to Riley and said, "That's an epic movie title, 'The KnightHood'". Right then and there we decided that The KnightHood should be a movie and someday I was going to make it.
No More JOB
At the end of the summer of 2011 my dad resigned his seven year position as camp director and walked away with no other job or idea of how he would find one. I know what you are probably thinking. "Smart move there". You are right. It was a smart move. My dad had some theological differences with other leaders in that position and staying would have meant going against what he believed. My dad showed me that day that what you believe is far more important than any job. He showed me how to step out on faith even when you know if you do there is no turning back. My dad, to this day, is still doing odd jobs just to provide for us. Yet we've never missed a meal. The LORD is sustaining us.
-2012-
BOO!
On April 15, 2012 we held our first extras casting call for BOO! Do Something and in May filming began. Three months later the film won first place narrative at the 2012 National 4H Film Fest in Branson, MO. On the 26th of August over 200 people witnessed the official premiere from the small Tennessee town of Delano. Boo went on to show at several churches and homeschool groups. By the end of 2012 there were over 250 BOO! DVDs around the world.
-2013-
TAKING a breather
After producing Beyond Under and BOO! Do Something back to back my family and I decided to take a break, a little breather. Of course I could not stop making movies all together so during this time I began to think and plan for S.C. TreeHouse Productions' next movie. Thus The Knighthood began to take shape.
The Checklist
In September 2013, after almost a year of no large scale film projects, a local church contacted my siblings and me about creating a children's stage play to tell the story of our Savior's birth from more of a Jewish-minded perspective. Being that we had not done a large creative endeavor in almost a year we jumped at the opportunity. As we worked on some of the concepts for the play entitled The Checklist, the idea for a Pilgrim’s Progress style court case began to form in my mind. I sat it aside knowing it was not what was needed for the Christmas play. Little did we know what the idea would soon become...
-2014-
5 Years
2014 marked the 5 year anniversary of my family's production company S.C. TreeHouse Productions. We knew we did not have the funds to start another feature film. However, you only have a 5 year anniversary once so we had to do something...but what? That is when we remembered the idea for the Pilgrim’s Progress style court case. I also thought of an idea I had thrown around for some time about doing a web-series. "What if we made a web-series about what we believed as a production company?” It would be our statement of faith. That is when the two ideas merged and project Literal: What We Believe was born.
Filming for Literal began in early June 2014. During that first week of filming I shared with my friends and family my idea from 2006 concerning what I called The Master’s Story. The Master’s Story is a weaving of all the film projects I have done into one master storyline. It is The Master’s Story because it is my Master’s story, God’s story. He is the one that has given me the ideas and projects that I have worked on. Now He is showing me how they all weave together to form a bigger picture. It is a picture that one day I hope to show the world.