Jules Dongu Saves the World Blog

Submission to Tribeca Film Festival

Well we have nearly finished all the fine tuning of the post production process: we completed editing the film, and have 90% of the movie scored with all original music (special thanks to Jordan Balagot of LA who flew out to write the original theme and score).

We submitted the current edit to the Tribeca Film Festival in late December 2011. We hope to get in, but if not, we'll be trying for some other festivals as well.

In the meantime, we'll be doing a surround sound mix (5.1) of the film and tweaking a few sound design elements before we have our private cast/crew viewing. Be on the lookout....we are aiming for March 8th or 9th to have the cast/crew screening. Make sure to email us so we can add you to the list.

Check back soon for updates on the cast/crew screening...and Happy New Year!

-Christian

Color Correction and Final Editing

Working with some very talented people who are making the final post production a great experience.

Recording ADR with Jeff (AKA Stephen Semen)

We are now recording ADR (dialogue replacement) for the film- re-recording any audio that was not recorded perfectly when we were filming (which is a lot of the movie :) Jeff came in today and knocked out his voice over like a pro. Check out the video that gives a peek into our recording session and the looping process.

Voice Over Recorded in Japan

Just had a voice over recorded in Japan for our Anime sequence in the film (Special thanks to our good friend Makiura Takaharu!)....Now working on final sound mix, special FX and the original score to try to make the Sundance Deadline: Sept 26th...It will be tight!

~Christian

Screenshots of Animation for the Movie!

We've been hard at work on putting together the FX and animations for the movie. It's all coming together better than we had hoped. We wanted to share some of the screenshots with you. Let us know what you think!

~Christian

Howling Space Ninja (Dongu's Anim� alter-ego)

(Evil Robots)

Shimboolah (Howling Space Ninja's Nemesis)

Shimboolah's Evil Space Station

FX and animation underway!

We are currently working on the opening credit animation as well as adding some animated elements to other scenes in the film. Looking to have a rough cut by summer. That may change, but we are shooting for it!

~christian

First 70 minutes of the film are now edited!

Well we are very near to having a rough cut that we'd like to premier for all of our fantastic cast, crew and friends! Please join our facebook page [Dongu Facebook Page] to get all of the latest info on the film and the premier. Thanks everybody for your patience with our film while we've been editing :)

~Christian

Bellhop & Wanda Scene Reshoot

Thanks to our friends Abdul and Sean for hooking us up with a great hotel room! We re-shot a pivotal scene from earlier in the movie and it turned out just the way we had hoped. Thanks to our cast: Robin & Larry - and our crew: John, Jeff Z., and Caitlin, who came out to help.

In this scene something very funky is going down and Dongu is in for a big surprise...

Anchor Pickup Shots

Most of our shooting is done for the movie, but we have a few pickup shots left...this series of pickups was for a scene where an anchor falls on Axle's head. As you can see from the pics, it sometime takes a precarious position to get the right angle :o

Semen's Studio Day 3

Day 3 of 3 @ Morrisound Recording Studios. Thanks to all who came out; Andrew, John, Diana, Keljean, Daniel, Sean, Brannon, & Jeff. We had another successful day of shooting!

~~Take a look at a some pics from the 3 shoots @ Morrisound (more to come!!)~~

Photographs taken by Keljean Connolly

Semen's Studio Day 2

Day 2 of 3 @ Morrisound Recording Studios. Thanks to all who came out, Cathy, John, Somali, Keljean, Daniel, Sean, Brannon, Jeff Z, Jeff H, & Brian. We had a fantastic day; complete with an exciting thumb wrestling match and a mighty delicious pudding extravaganza!!

Photographs taken by Keljean Connolly & Cathy Carroll

Semen's Studio Shoot a Success!

We had a full cast and crew come out to Morrisound Recording Studios this weekend to film some of the climactic scenes for the movie. Thanks to ALL who came out - Tim, Mario, Cathy, John, Josh, Somali, Keljean, Daniel, Sean, Brannon, Jeff Z, Michelle, Steve, Jeff H, & Brian.

3:30am and still smilin!!
Photographs taken by Keljean Connolly & Christian Schwier

Dongu & Squirrelly meet w/ Mr. Takimoni

Thanks everyone for an amazing shoot today. All of our actors & crew did awesome. The footage is great. I appreciate everybody coming out to make it a success!

Joseph as Mr. Takimoni was hilarious; we couldn�t stop laughing at the footage & the �surprised fish face.� His side kicks Ann P & Steve were super too with their ninja fanning techniques & evil glares. Jennifer gave us some great suspicious glances & cold looks as Takimoni�s receptionist. Dongu & Squirrelly�24 takes of T-Rex (literally, I just counted). Thanks to John for lighting, filming & taking his box home, Steve for the great dolly moves, lighting, audio & pizza, Michele for makeup, lunch, finding lost waters & pretty much everything :), Cathy the behind the scenes footage, setting up the monitor 20 times, and audio at the end & anybody else I missed!

Also thanks to Susan & Laurie at our wonderful location. Thank you so much for accommodating us & helping us out!

~Christian

Deserted Island Scene

After a mysteriously sunken kiyak last weekend, our second attempt filming the deserted island scene was a success. The powder blue paddle boat made all the difference. Thanks to Josh and all the crew who endured a healthy dose of sunrays: Thanks to John, Jeff Z, Michele, Andrew, and Kevin & Justine for coming out and making the day a success!

The shoot is on!

The wait is over! We are gearing up to shoot the weekend of the 23rd and the 30th. Thanks for everyone's patience with the project!

Dongu On Hiatus til May 15th

Jules Dongu filming is on hiatus until May 15th. Our director, is currently editing another feature film (someone's gotta foot the bill for all these wigs!). Please stay tuned for updates. We will finish our last days of filming this summer. Thanks for checking in!