Maui Run for the Whales

Last week Jacob and I traveled with my family to Hawaii to participate in Maui’s “Run for the Whales” half marathon. We were super excited to get out of the snow and enjoy Hawaii, but we were really nervous about the race. We had been trying to train, but it was too icy to run outside and so we had to battle for treadmills at the gym. Needless to say, we weren't as prepared as we hoped we would be by the time we got on the plane. It was a long plane ride.

Running a half marathon in Hawaii was very different then running a half marathon in Moab. It started the day before when we wanted to drive the length of the race so we could see what kind of terrain we would be running. The problem was that the map they gave us for the race was only 7 miles long. At this point we began to question the validity of the race, but we decided to keep our mouths shut and enjoy our shortened run.

We arrived around 5:45 to check in and get ready for the race to start at 6:30. I decided to bring my phone on the race to provide some motivating tunes, which meant I could also document the whole thing. Somehow I landed number 6. I worried that they had the wrong impression about how fast I was going to run this.

It really was a beautiful area, as we waited for the race to start I snapped this one:

And we did wait! The race didn’t start until 7 something… and when we all finally headed to the start line, I looked back and realized there were probably only 200 people actually running this race.

I decided I would document the race every few miles and grab some footage of how we were doing. We were still feeling pretty good at mile three:

Soon after mile three we discovered where the other 6 miles of the race were hiding. They were going to make us run the top 6 mile loop twice. We were not very happy people because we didn’t want to run the same terrain twice and we did not want run up the giant hill we had just conquered again. I won’t post those videos because, well, it wasn’t a happy time. We were revived around mile 8 when I looked out at the ocean and I saw a whale! I was so excited I started yelling to Jacob about it, and the other runners around us kind of laughed. But hey, that was exciting and I needed something uplifting at that time.

I will post one more video of the finish. It’s a little ridiculous, and I’m not really sure why I’m posting this on the internet for everyone to see….

We finished, and that’s the important thing. Try not to look at our finish time in the video, it's not that great. After the race we had a pretty great trip. We took surf lessons,

I wish you could see Jacob's face better because it's absolutely hilarious

^ I love this picture of Stephen...

went whale watching, we zip lined through the mountains, swam at the hotel's awesome pool with huge slides and the world’s only water elevator, drank fruity drinks out of pineapples, and went scuba diving.

^ this is the eel we saw

We didn’t want to leave, and have been regretting the decision ever since.

Adventures in ZOMBIE filmmaking:

Jacob typically helps the company Orabrush keep up a weekly vlog, and luckily for us they decided they wanted a ZOMBIE youtube video.

It was pretty exciting because we had enough money to call up Chris Hansen who is a professional special effects makeup artist in Salt Lake City. He has worked on a ton a movies in LA like Underworld and Hellboy, but he talks like it was no big deal. He made seven zombie masks for us which are awesome (we kept two but Jacob had to swear he wouldn't wear it around and scare me). And then Chris and his team also put zombie makeup on 8 others. Of course, I volunteered to be a zombie with full makeup. When we showed up on set, Jacob was totally disgusted. He wouldn’t look at me for about half the day. He kept saying "thats not my wife". Take a look:

I know I look really gross. Please don't judge me or remember me by this.

The idea for the video is a first person shooter, so the video is supposed to look like you are playing a video game. Jacob built a helmet cam which is pretty sweet.

We also now have a ZOMBIE POLICE story. I was walking to the beach last week (Hawaii trip will be the next post) and I was telling the story to my family when a guy walking by us stopped. He had to admit he was listening in ask questions like "why were you dressed as a zombie?" evidently it was a good story to overhear. So I’m starting to think that this story is pretty good.

It starts with a location- we were shooting in an abandoned juvenile jail. It’s a super cool, huge building that’s been left to slowly fall apart.

Now let me tell you, we HAD a locations permit SIGNED and DATED. So we were not just messing around, this was a professional shoot.

During the day the zombies had a lot of down time which they spent exploring the super cool building. Some zombies decided to check out the roof which is full of barbed wire and other hazardous but awesome materials. While they were exploring, a couple zombies grabbed the air soft guns, which we had taped the orange ends to help them look like real guns. What we didn’t realize was next door and up the hill is an ELEMENTARY SCHOOL. Go figure. So now what we have is: zombies on the roof wearing masks, jumpsuits, and holding guns. A teacher saw our weapon bearing zombies and called the cops. School goes on lock down.

We go on filming oblivious to the situation. For an hour the cops have us circled, with four snipers aiming at the zombies on the roof all assuming that we are planning to shoot at the school. During a break in the filming one of the zombies decides to take a walk on the road. The cops pull their guns on the kid, cuff him, and put him the car. Some of the other zombies witness the event and run inside yelling. We are all in masks and costumes so we have to hunt down Jacob who doesn’t look intimidating to talk to the police.

They were pretty nice, they just asked that if we film with guns again to give them a heads up. In the end, we think the Cops were just relieved that it wasn’t real.

Thanksgiving

This year we went to Lake Powell with some of Jacob's extended family. It turns out his uncle makes luxury houseboats, so this was no camping trip. Mostly a sitting, eating, and watching movies trip. It was super cold this year, so we mostly stayed inside and went for little day trips with the big boat.

On the last day, some of the braver cousins decided to jump in. The movie runs long, I won't blame you if you quit halfway in. So in case you do quit early, I'm going to spoil the end for you- Jacob goes off the water slide.

P.S. The faucet Jake's uncle Dave is holding is hot water. This is a LUXURY house boat, remember? I was also glad to learn that other families do puzzles when they go on trips too. Now I don't feel as weird having a secret obsession with puzzles.

Blogging is harder then expected

Ok so were new to this blogging thing and we got a little behind. But here are some highlights of our filming adventures:

We shot a commercial for the new Carl Bloch exhibit coming to BYU's museum of art. Jacob took the project on with BYU's student advertising lab (AKA the AD LAB). This is how the phone conversation went two days before they planned to shoot:

Jacob: Hey... i love you/you're awesome/hows your monday/etc.....how busy are you?

Kate: um crazy busy: work/school/etc, whats up?

Jacob: I need you to do art, and we need 6 giant christmas trees on the stage with snow on wednesday. Cool?

Kate: um, sure.

I make miracles happen. Here is proof:

The babyis not actually in the commercial. His name Daniel Thorpe, David was lighting and Becky was make-up, so we got to play around when his parents weren't looking.

Then Jacob was director of photography for a senior film about werewolves. I missed the first weekend of shooting because I HAD to go down to Mexico with my family to celebrate my birthday.

This is view looking out of the house we stayed at. mmm.

But then I was there for the second weekend. Here is proof jake shoot it:

I wish I had snapped more pictures of all the werewolves because they were pretty cool. But I got one of our friend Wyatt.

We did some other stuff too, but its not all werewolves and snow machines, so its not THAT interesting to read about.

Pearl Harbor Film

Last weekend we shot a pretty cool film set during the attack on Pearl Harbor. It has been in the works for a long time, but we just haven't had the chance to film it. The whole thing actually started around January when Jacob read a script by our friend, and decided to make one last student film. Things got side tracked, with people, scheduling, and school politics, so we rescheduled for this fall. It was a fun shoot, and this time I opted to do production design and ended up doing costumes as well. Oh, and of course, Jacob directed. Making Provo look like Hawaii in 1941 was not easy, but I think it turned out really great. Check it out:I took these on my iphone, so they aren't the best quality.... But I hoping that machine on the desk looks kind of like a crytograph.
Here Ruth is being interrogated. It's too bad I didn't get a picture of the WWII jeeps and men in uniforms! They all looked so good! I was really happy with how it all looked.

I don't think I could really do costumes again, that was really tough, but I enjoyed production design. I would definitely do it again for another shoot. Once the film gets finished up we are going to send it around to festivals. It's artsy, so I think it has a good chance.

Mystery Box

Not only did we get married this summer, but we also started a company! Our own little LLC. You can check out our website here:

Mystery Box

We had a big debate over the name for months, but then we settled on Mystery Box. It comes from the idea that JJ Abrams developed, in which he claimed that an important aspect to storytelling within film keeping a "mystery box", or a fact that you never let the audience see. People will continue to watch shows for years, hoping that the mystery box will be opened. You can check out JJ's talk about his mystery box here.

Starting a company was a big step! We are still working out how the business side of a start up company works, but Jacob seems to be a natural at Quickbooks, and I'm taking some business classes at school, which are definitely helping. But we are always open for advice and help! Now I can't wait to get my MBA.

June 26, 2010

We finally got married! After much planning and anticipation, we tied the knot. The day was pretty eventful, first we got married in the LDS Denver Temple

Then we went back to my family's home and had a ring ceremony for our families. Sam and Henry are my nephews who decided to make an entrance like us down the aisle. This is my favorite picture from the day.

And then that evening we we had a reception and partied. The night included: toasts, great food, cupcakes, and lots of dancing.

(We have tons of pictures posted on facebook, so I will keep it brief here.) About a week later we had an open house in Oregon at Jacob's home, which was really fun. We are so lucky we found each other.