Sunday, November 12, 2006

Back from Wizard World

All right, all right...another shoot done.
Well, we went back to Wizard World Texas and it was hectic as usual. Even though we had to wade through an ocean of fanboys (and fangirls) we were still able to get some work done.

And here's proof:
One of the creator interviews we got was Uncanny X-Men artist Billy Tan. We got several others including Kat Amano from Beckett Comics and Brian Denham from Marvel.

We also got hooked up with a great charitable organization called "The Hero Foundry." They donate comics to libraries, schools, hospitals other places. We plan to shoot some more stuff about them and their work in the near future.

Check out their website:
More to come soon...keep checking back with us. As usual, more pics and more info can be found on our website:

http://www.comicbookliteracy.com

Saturday, October 21, 2006

Latest Shoot: Okie Doodlin'

Well, we're back from our latest shoot. This time we were in Paul's Valley, Oklahoma to shoot the one year anniversary of the Toy & Action Figure Museum.
While there, we were able to get
several interviews with people like writer Michael Vance, artist Steve Erwin (Deathstroke, Checkmate), political cartoonist Jim Lange and writer R.A. Jones (Bulletproof Monk, Star Trek: DS9):
If you are ever going up I-35 towards Oklahoma City, you should definitely stop into the museum and check it out. They've got tons...and I mean TONS... of action figures and other cool stuff on display.
Check out our website: http://www.ComicBookLiteracy.com for more pics!

Tuesday, September 26, 2006

Latest Shoot: History & Prehistory

Just got back from the latest shoot for the CBL documentary. We headed south to get some historical content for the film.

The first stop was the Houston Gem & Mineral Show to talk with some folks from "Dinosaur World." "Dinosaur George" Blasing is a dino-expert who gives lectures to schools and other organizations about prehistoric beasts of the past. The group also publishes educational comic books that chronicle their time traveling adventures.


These comics are available on their website: http://www.dinosaurworld.com

We had interviewed Dinosaur George in the past (for "RockHounds: The Movie" - shameless pug!) and spoke with some of the others in his group about kids, comics & learning. They had one of their traveling exhibits set up with plenty of fossils, skulls and other cool stuff.

On the way to our next shoot we ran into the Oscar Mayer Wienermobile on the highway:
That was particularly cool for me because one of my first documentary shorts, "Fast Food," was about the Wienermobile and other product mobiles (the SpamMobile, the Hershey's Kissmobile, etc.). So we went from prehistory to personal history.

While staying in the historic realm, we headed to Houston Baptist University to interview Professor John Suter who teaches a graduate level class on comic book history. He is also the director of the campus library and keeps plenty of comics and trade paperbacks in stock.

We also interviewed one of his grad students, Paul Lytle, who is one of the contributing authors to the book "The Man From Krypton" which is available in bookstores and at Amazon.com
The book is one of several anthologies in the "Smart Pop" series that takes a look at various aspects of pop culture phenomena. This one focuses on Superman and Paul had several unique insights.

All in all, it was a pretty successful shoot but there is still plenty more to do.

Tuesday, August 8, 2006

The Who, What, Where, When & Why of the CBL Movie



The Who, What, Where, When & Why of the CBL Movie

It occurred to me that I didn't really have a whole lot of info about the documentary on MySpace (and there's darn sure not very much on our website...but I promise to update soon...hopefully) so I thought I'd give ya the skinny on this flick.

WHO: This is an independent documentary film. All that really means is that it is being done independently from any big budget Hollywood production company and is totally self funded (i.e. shooting and editing on nights and weekends, shelling out the dough to produce from my own pockets, etc.).

The producer/director is me, "Todd Kent." My previous docs include "Road Does Not End," "RockHounds: The Movie," ToadSpotting: The Legend of Old Rip," "Fast Food" and a few other things here and there.

People that will appear in the doc include teachers, librarians, historians, students who all love and/or use comics to help educate. I'm also trying to cram as many comic book creators in there as I can. So far I've been able to interview Joe Quesada, Paul Dini, Gareb Shamus, Terry Moore, James O'Barr and others.

WHAT: Anyhoo, as you've already pieced together, this is a documentary film about comic books, literacy and education. The topics that will be covered will include (but are not limited to):

  • the use of comics in the classroom
  • comics as a tool for literacy
  • the role of comics in the military (both in a historical context and a current context)
  • Free Comic Book Day
  • the use of comics in learning the English language
  • how friggin' great comics are in general

    and more!

WHERE: Wherever I can shoot. I'm based in Dallas but have already shot in a few other states and plan to keep on truckin'.

WHEN: Now, now, now! Actually I have been working on this project on and off for a while now but since I was able to get some other films done I can finally concentrate on this one. I plan to shoot throughout the rest of the year and hopefully have postproduction done early next year.

WHY: Why not? Comics have always gotten a bad wrap and it's about time people saw some positive aspects of the genre.

OTHER CRAP: Yes, I am struggling with coming up with a title but I'm hoping for inspiration to kick me in the head...or the crotch...preferably the head...at some point. And yes, I am still open to new ideas for content so if you know of a program using comics for literacy or education please feel free to E-MAIL me.

Also, check out our "bare bones" website: www.ComicBookLiteracy.com, I'll be adding more stuff soon. I swear!

Tell your friends and neighbors!