January

We've been really busy here at Plumgood Productions but we promise to get on top of the blog postings this year. There was a lot of travel last year and 2014 looks like it's going to be a big one for us. Keep your fingers crossed and cheers to the new year!

Here are some of the productions that we've been working on this month.

 This month started of with a short fashion film shoot and edit with the fabulous Nikki. We produced 2 pieces for an event she was hosting. Footage was shot on our Red Scarlet.

We are currently in production on the documentary, The Soul of Athens: A History of the Morton Theatre. Here are two of our interviews this month.

Conoly Hester:

Conoly talked with us about her time covering the modern history and historic impact of the Morton as a newspaper reporter.

Betty Holston:

Betty told us what it was like to be on the committee that helped to revitalized the Morton.
Holston



Our big purchase! We are setting up a Grip/lighting trailer. This 6x10 trailer will be used on location as a mobile work station and a 1/2 ton truck. The trailer will be operational and ready for assignment in February. We are very excited about the addition of this trailer which will allow us to handle major productions without the need to rent gear.

 

Before the Memories Fade, DVD's On Sale!

We are proud to announce the official release of one the most insightful documentaries on the Civil Rights Movement. This national and internationally award winning film may be ordered here for $18.00 per DVD.

Before the Memories Fade

Directed by award winning filmmaker Keith B. Plummer

Before the Memories Fade: Voices from the Civil Rights 

Movement is a one of a kind film that brings together the brilliance and bravery of both iconic participants and everyday foot soldiers in our Civil Rights Movement. An extraordinarily wide variety of movement participants such as Rep. John Lewis, Rep. Eleanor Holmes-Norton, Dr. Dorothy Height, Dr. Benjamin Hooks, Marion Barry and Rev. Walter Fountroy were interviewed, along with students, community organizers, musicians, and journalists. Everyone gives his or her unique insight into some of the inner workings, moods, and strategies that made the civil rights movement a success and provided our nation with a moral center.

With so many of our beloved and our unknown movement volunteers approaching their 50th

anniversary of civil rights leadership and participation, Before the Memories Fade will likely be the last compilation of these American heros to reflect on and share their knowledge of what it was like to change the South, the Country, and the world in the 1950s, 1960s and beyond.

Awards for Before the Memories Fade

Good news has come in. Our documentary, Before the Memories Fade: Voices from the Civil Rights Movement, has won national and international industry awards. We have received a Gold Aurora Award and 2 Bronze Telly Awards for the film.

We are very excited about these prestigious recognitions.

Shoot in L.A

March 20th I flew out to L.A. contracted to shoot interviews for 2 days with one of my steady clients, Sara from the University of Kentucky.  I'm not producing this project so I met the producer Stuart out there. Stuart came down from Toronto to work and man did we. We shot 6-7 45 minute interviews a day in the same room. Stuart and I pushed, pulled, remodeled and grabbed every possible look that room could have.

During the shoot on the last day I saw what seemed like a shadow of talons coming down behind our 24th floor curtain to the window. Then there was a thump.

When I investigated this is what I saw. A vulture. That stopped the shoot for a minute as everyone took picture and felt grateful we were inside and not out there with him

Just before flying back home I was able to catch up with an old friend and cameraman buddy Martin from the old news days in D.C. It was good to catch up.

Athens, Georgia Screening

I'm going to have to become a better blogger. I'm months behind and trying to catch up this weekend. Sorry! Here are some pictures from the Athens, Georgia screening of Before the Memories Fade, on February 28th. I screened the film at the Historic Morton Theatre. There is more to come about the Morton Theatre on a later post. 

 Athens had a great crowd and we held a Q&A after the screening. Two of the featured subjects in the film, Frank Williams and Sidney Boney spoke to the audience about their time in the Movement. I also fielded questions on the process of making the film and the experience of meeting these historic and unknown figures in history. It's always great to have a good Q&A.

University of Richmond

On February 17th I had the honor of screening my documentary at the University of Richmond for the Oliver Hill Scholars program for Black History Month. I had a very nice time and the audience was very receptive. 

After the screening there was a question and answer period which had great participation and response. I truly enjoy listening to the college students as they tell how they connected with the film.

This was one of the information screens the day of the event. It's always nice to see your name up in lights. : )

University of Maryland Screening

On Monday January 28th, the University of Maryland's Beyond the Classroom Living and Learning Program hosted, "An Evening with Filmmaker Keith B. Plummer," for its series on "People Power: Activism for Social Change." After the screening of the film students and other members of the audience asked the director a variety of questions relating to the film and the movement as a whole.  

Before the Memories Fade, ATL Screening 1/16/13

We had a great night screening in Atlanta! Nothing but complements streamed from the audience during the Q&A.  Two of the featured foot soldiers came out to see it and one even teared up. As a director it always makes you feel good when your film connects with the audience.

Top billing on the marquee is always nice! Thank you Plaza Theatre staff. Atlanta! See you soon!

January 16th Screening in Atlanta

Before the Memories Fade, Atlanta Screening, January 16

Before the Memories Fade: Voices from the Civil Rights Movement, will begin it's 2013 screening tour Wednesday January 16th in Atlanta. The 107 minute documentary will be shown at the Plaza Theatre, with the start time set for 7pm.

Photo: Director Keith B. Plummer and Rep. Eleanor Holmes Norton after the Washington, D.C. premier.

"This story has been told 100 different ways but you found a new way to tell it. This was just wonderful! Wonderful! You found a way to capture who we were."  Rep. Eleanor Holmes Norton

Premier Night

What a night! More than 300 people turned out to see the premier of Before the Memories Fade: Voices from the Civil Rights Movement in D.C.'s  historic Avalon Theatre.

The screening could not have gone better and the crowd reaction was fantastic! More to come later!

Movie Premier September 27th in D.C.

We are happy to announce the Premier Screening of Before the Memories Fade: Voices from the Civil Rights Movement, on September 27, 2012, in Washington, DC.  The documentary feature film will screen at 8:00 pm at the newly remodeled Avalon Theatre, 5505 Connecticut Avenue, N.W., Washington, DC 20015.

After the screening there will be an opportunity for Q&A with the director and several of the movie and movement participants.

Running Time: 1 hour and 47 minutes
Suggested age: 13 years and older

Director: Keith B. Plummer
Plumgood Productions   (c) 2012

Scarlet has Arrived

We are very excited to announce our new camera, the Red Scarlet (Ti Canon mount). Serial #01553. Adding 4k acquisition helps produce work for our clients at every level.

The revolutionary RED digital camera systems can shoot at 4K resolution and beyond. This is four times the size of 1080p HD footage and twice the resolution as most movie theaters project at this time. You may ask why so much resolution now. The answer for us was simple the Scarlet will allow us to shoot and produce anything from local broadcast to feature ready material for theaters.

We can now utilize the same technology and cameras used to create Hollywood blockbuster hits like The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, Social Network, District 9, and Book of Eli. This camera will helps us produce images and resolution that others simply can not.

Our focus has always been to give your production the best look possible and we believe that adding the Scarlet to our arsenal of cameras will give your project long lasting possibilities.

1960's protest Reenactment Shoot

I woke Saturday the 21st hoping we could get in our scheduled reenactment shoot without getting slammed by the rain. It was overcast but not raining so I turned on the local weather channel and yikes, tornado warning, possible hail, rain, lightning and high winds. There went my 200 people who signed up to participate as extras. Bad weather will stop a volunteer most days. It hadn't started raining yet and I thought there could be a window so we met at Reese St. our location and waited. I blocked off the street entrance with orange construction tape and started to see cars roll up and people get out wearing 6o's attire. Some of the extras decided to brave the elements to participate in the film. Wow! We had a 10am start time and at 9:35 the rain came down hard again. Everyone huddled in the covered entrance of a night club to stay dry. Still in good spirits the actors were all ready to work. I could see a slight break in the clouds coming so I told them we would get some shooting in.

As luck would have it we got about 2o minutes of dry weather and 40 minutes of light rain. We scrambled to get our various protest shots. The actors were great! Twenty seven people came out in that rough weather and I am extremely grateful. The crew as usual was fantastic. Raines checked people in and handled personnel, Dali handled the actors and kept them ready to go,

Fabrice, secured the location and kept an eye on the crowd and Drew was A.C. for the day helping with the gear. We squeezed in a lot and it's a good thing we did. When we rapped it started to rain heavily again and them it got nasty!

All and all it wound up being a good shoot and a fun time. A big thanks to everyone who came out!

Civil Rights Movement Reenactment Shoot

Last Friday we began shooting the last phase of our documentary, Before the Memories Fade: Voices from the Civil Rights Movement. Over 25 University of Georgia students participated in various reenactment scenes from the 1960's.

Friday marked the next to the last production day in this 2.5 year filming process. The students were great even when the temperature dropped a little. It was cold for Georgia that night.

We shot chase scenes, jail scenes, confrontations and more. I also took the shoot as a teaching moment for some actors who only knew a little about the movement. In between scene changes I talked about various people, topics and situations they should learn more about. After all it was college students their age who travelled south and made the difference.

My Athens crew was great and my two Key PA's, Dali and Fabrice, have been working closely with me over the last month helping to put various shoots together. They are fantastic and real go getters!

This Saturday the 21st, we will be shooting a mass march in downtown Athens. We have over 150 people coming which should make a very exciting and realistic reenactment. Let's hope the weather holds out. If it doesn't we are shooting anyway because they marched in the rain also!

Online and NP Article on Before the Memories Fade

I was recently interviewed by Lee Shearer of the Athens Banner-Herald. The topic was my current documentary, Before the Memories Fade: Voices from the Civil Rights Movement, We discussed various aspects of the movie from structure to participants. He also found out that we will be shooting re-enactments for the film this January in Athens.

The link is attached below. Please check out the article. 2012 is going to be a busy year for Plumgood Productions!

http://onlineathens.com/local-news/2011-12-29/extras-sought-civil-rights-era-re-enactment#.TvwF7SAax9o.facebook

New Website Up and Running!

Excitement the new website has now gone live. There will be a lot for us to report on in the up coming months including finishing a feature documentary, and we'll try to stay on top of it for you. For our new website we decided to streamline the look. It is simple and clean without a lot of gadgets.

This blog will be written informally to update and inform you on the behind-the-scenes action of our shoots. With that in mind some of our work is embargoed so we won't be able to blog about it until after it's released. Hopefully we'll be able to post some generic photos. Either way we'll try to keep you in the loop. : )

Before the Memories Fade: Voices from the Civil Rights Movement (Thank You)

Thank you to all who have been supporting, Before the Memories Fade: Voices from the Civil Rights Movement. We are entering the last phases of production and are set to be in post production mode.

The feature length documentary is to be released in 2012. Posters and tee shirts are still being sold. We have not taken any pre-sales for the film as of yet. We will inform you when that changes.

For more information on the film please go to www.beforethememoriesfade.com

Thanks again for your support!

Keith

Workshops and Private Instructions

Plumgood Productions hosts production workshops yearly and provides private instructions for individuals who want a concentrated study in video and film production.

The link below is from one of our Spring 2011 workshop participants who talks about our program. You may click on the 720p HD resolution for better viewing.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L6t-OhLsAZY

The schedule for the Spring 2012 workshops will not post until January.

Private instructions are still going on.

To register for private instructions please call us at 202.421.6093 or info@plumgoodproductions.com.

Below is the video at low resolution.

The Movie Posters are in!

The 11x17 movie posters for Before the Memories Fade: Voices from the Civi Rights Movement are now in stock. It is a wonderful looking poster designed by my friends the Fox Artists located in Lexington, Kentucky.

The poster sell for $17.50 which includes shipping and handling. The money raised from poster sales will go towards the cost and rights for using historical footage and still photography. These fees are rather large and we are trying to incorporate as much actual footage as we can for this film.

We appreciate your support!

Thanks,

Kp