The Academy Awards are just a few days away, so speculation about who’s winning an Oscar is running rampant. We aren’t in contention this year, but look out 2011 Academy Awards! In the meantime, we are far more interested in a different Oscar discussion.
Dr. David Dosa, who introduced the world to Oscar the death-predicting cat in his essay for The New England Journal of Medicine in 2007, has now written a book called “Making Rounds with Oscar: The Extraordinary Gift of an Ordinary Cat.” With the release of the book, the media is fascinated with Oscar all over again, and he’s been showing up everywhere: morning shows, Reader’s Digest, People Magazine, USA Today, and Seth Meyers even mentioned “the death cat” on SNL's Weekend Update.
When we first read the articles about Oscar, his streak was around 26, but now he is at over 50 accurate predictions. The best part of reading these articles is seeing all the comments left by people who have similar stories about other cats and even dogs that are sensitive to when a person is near the end of life. Animals truly are amazing.
The other day I had the TV on in the background when I heard a voice I thought I recognized. I looked up just in time to see a familiar redhead doing a spastic dance of joy around a store. It was a commercial for the SC lottery featuring our Mary Elizabeth Cobb as shopper who is SUPER excited about buying her first Powerball ticket. I’ve seen the entire commercial several times since then, and I giggle every time Mary Elizabeth takes off on her crazy dance of celebration.
When I asked Mary Elizabeth about it, she also told me about another recent gig where she played a shopper. It was the February 8th episode of One Tree Hill called “My Attendance Is Bad But My Intentions Are Good.” While I will embarrassedly admit to having watched the first season of OTH, I dropped it once it went over the top on the ridiculous scale. But since I am a fan of Mary Elizabeth, I forced myself to watch the entire episode on the CW website. Mary Elizabeth did a great job as a condescending customer, completely different from sweet, sensitive Kathy.
South Carolina received a small taste of Snowmagedon 2010 with the Valentine’s weekend snow storm. So I seized the rare opportunity of getting seven inches of southern snow to make my very own Death Cat Snowman.
Sadly, he is now a slushy lump of grass and leaves, but I am sure he will be back again someday… thumpetty thump thump, thumpetty thump thump, look at Death Cat go!
With the second cut of “Saying Goodbye” burned to a DVD, it was time to put it in front of a real audience. That’s right, the dreaded focus group.
We entered the room with butterflies in our stomachs and nervous smiles plastered across our faces. After a quick prayer to the film gods that the audience would not become an unruly “Saying Goodbye” hating mob, we pushed the play button.
Things were going great until about five minutes in when the film pixilated and froze cold. After many failed attempts to get past the digital hang-up, we decided to bust out Cliff’s laptop and play the movie directly from the edited file… luckily it worked! We hope that will be our first and last screening glitch - better now than at Sundance, right?
When the movie was over, an eerie silence filled the room… no clapping, no excited chatter, not even a sob or a sniffle! Where was the standing ovation, the throwing of flowers, the request for an encore?
…And then applause. Phew!
The open and honest discussion that followed was extremely helpful, and it solidified our concerns about some of the rough patches we’d already identified. All in all, the focus group really liked the movie, and they had some great suggestions for making it better. We really appreciate the feedback and thank everyone who participated.
Today we met with the students who are in the second semester class for our project. We have three students from last semester: welcome back Amanda, Fred, and Kasey! We also have another familiar face joining the class: Dick White one of our brave, brave poker players. And then we have three new students: Cassie, Karmen, and Matt – we’re happy to have you aboard the team!
The focus of this semester will be on editing and marketing. These aspects might not be as “glamorous” as the actual filming, but are vital to the success of any movie. As part of that, we’re running a contest for the students from both this semester and last semester to see who can build the most buzz for our film. Good luck, y’all!
It is with great sadness that we relay the news of Ms. Carrie M. Reeder’s passing.
Ms. Reeder was a resident at Agape Senior and lived on the hall where we did the majority of our filming. We’ve mentioned before how generous the Agape residents and staff were to us, but none were kinder than Ms. Reeder. Her perpetual smile and cheery attitude made her a joy to be around. She was always eager to show off her own modeling photos from earlier in her life, and the cast and crew enjoyed her stories of a life well lived.
The last time we spoke with Ms. Reeder, she was proudly sporting her SC Film Commission t-shirt.
Ms. Reeder passed away on December 29. She was 89. Our condolences go out to the Reeder family.
My day job is working as a quality assurance analyst at a software company, which means I’m paid to nitpick other people’s work. Add to that the fact I had a very clear picture in my head when I first wrote the short story, and poor Cliff didn’t know what he was getting himself into when he joined our team.
Today we made another editing pass on Putty Gone Bad, and I came to the session armed with pages of “suggestions” for making the movie even better (keep in mind that I know nothing about editing). Luckily, Cliff was a patient teacher and walked me through all the items on my list. In many places, I saw the wisdom of the choices he had made; in other places, he agreed that my suggestion worked better. In the process, I learned so much about all the things an editor has to be mindful of when fitting the plethora of puzzle pieces together into the prettiest picture. I actually had fun getting to dip my hands back into the creative part of making the movie, and I hope I didn’t drive Cliff too crazy.
As you may know, highly anticipated movies are often delivered to theaters with false names to maintain secrecy. Since Saying Goodbye is such a highly anticipated flick, Cliff delivered the rough cut to us with the label, “Death Cat 2: Putty Gone Bad.” With great eagerness, nervousness, excitement, and even a touch of nausea, we popped the DVD into the player to watch it.
It was a surreal experience watching our movie for the first time.
There’s the complete shock of “Holy crap, that’s our movie on the TV!”
There’s the slight feeling of panic that it doesn’t 100% match the movie we’ve been carrying in our heads since day one…
… followed by the feeling of relief when we realize it doesn’t matter because this version is just as good.
There’s the utter joy of “Oh my God, we actually did it!”
And then many other emotions swirling around our buzzing brains. It’s hard to image how it’s going to feel watching it in a movie theater up on the big screen.
Here's a special holiday surprise from Death Cat Entertainment. May 2010 be a great year for us all.
Don't be fooled by this super-cool animation, Saying Goodbye is actually a live-action drama.
Set for release in early 2010, Saying Goodbye chronicles an elderly woman's last year of life in a southern nursing home, while a cat with mysterious powers accurately predicts the deaths of her fellow residents.
This short was funded by the SC Film Commission's Production Fund, a program designed to pair students with professionals in the film industry.
Things are coming along great with "Saying Goodbye." We're in the middle of editing now and should have that done by the end of the month. Then it's on to music and finally the big premiere!
A lot of people have been asking us what's the best way to stay on top of everything that's happening with "Saying Goodbye." Our answer is always: "Become a Facebook Fan."
We've set up this blog so that every time we make a new entry it automatically posts an alert to our Facebook Fan page. If you become a fan, you will be notified when something new and newsworthy happens to "Saying Goodbye."
We plan to premiere the movie around the beginning of the year, and then it's off to the festivals, so become a Facebook Fan today and never miss a beat! Tell your friends to become fans too. Together we can start building the all important BUZZ for "Saying Goodbye."
.jpg)
The Academy Awards are just a few days away, so speculation about who’s winning an Oscar is running rampant. We aren’t in contention this year, but look out 2011 Academy Awards! In the meantime, we are far more interested in a different Oscar discussion. 
The other day I had the TV on in the background when I heard a voice I thought I recognized. I looked up just in time to see a familiar redhead doing a spastic dance of joy around a store. It was a commercial for the SC lottery featuring our .jpg)
When I asked Mary Elizabeth about it, she also told me about another recent gig where she played a shopper. It was the February 8th episode of One Tree Hill called “My Attendance Is Bad But My Intentions Are Good.” While I will embarrassedly admit to having watched the first season of OTH, I dropped it once it went over the top on the ridiculous scale. But since I am a fan of Mary Elizabeth, I forced myself to watch the entire episode on the CW website. Mary Elizabeth did a great job as a condescending customer, completely different from sweet, sensitive 
South Carolina received a small taste of Snowmagedon 2010 with the Valentine’s weekend snow storm. So I seized the rare opportunity of getting seven inches of southern snow to make my very own Death Cat Snowman. 
Today we met with the students who are in the second semester class for our project. We have three students from 
It is with great sadness that we relay the news of Ms. Carrie M. Reeder’s passing.