Sebastian – SEBTOMAC Productions – Charlotte, North Carolina

Well, Here is a fun little project I made with a coworker one slow day on my real temporary (until I get the video production company in full swing) job where I get the money to pay for all of my video equipment (don’t tell my boss). I made this video after I downloaded FX Guru to my smart phone. FX Guru is a really cool app that lets you add special effects to scenes, and I have been having a lot of fun with it. You can download it for free from the APP Store for your Apple smartphone or tablet, or from the Google Play Store for your Android devices.

My actor is Rodney Whitley, and he was just as bored at work that day as I was ( it was just before Christmas and we really didn’t have anything to do because we had finished doing everything that there was to do).

It was a simple shoot that only took about 30 minutes. I just used my smartphone to get Rodney’s reaction shots, then made the special effects sections. Brought it all home and did some quick editing, added titles and music, and there you have it! I enjoyed making it, and I hope to do more with this app. You can see the completed video by going to my Video Gallery page.

I was pretty busy over the Holiday weekend. I went to Florida to spend Christmas with my Mom, and while I was down there I took advantage of my travels to check out Craigslist and see what types of video equipment I could find. I did pretty good.

In Ocala, near where I was staying I found a 10 foot by 20 foot green screen for only $20! Then, on the drive back, I stopped at a town just South of Savanah Georga where I found a light kit listed on Craigslist. It was only about 15 miles off of Highway 95, so I checked it out; and bought it for $100. It has 4 lights and stands, high-intensity compact fluorescent bulbs, two defusers and two reflectors. It also came with 3 backdrops: white, black, and green. When you include the bright green material I took down to Florida with me so my Mom could sew it up for me to use with a PVC frame, I now have 3 green screens when a week ago I didn’t have any!

Isn’t it wonderful how fate works? Speaking of fate, I did not take it as a coincidence that When I pulled off of 95 to contact the seller of the light kit, which for some reason I thought was in South Carolina (I had been looking at a lot of Craigslist in the bigger cities that I would be driving by on my way back home). Lo and behold, the exit I pulled off on was the same exit that I needed to get off of any way to go look at the lights! Was it fate? Karma? The power of the Universe lining up my destination through some psychic channel that I didn’t even know about? Or just dumb luck? I really don’t know. What I do know is that I got a really great light kit for a really great price!

Stay tuned. There will be more fun projects and some serious ones to come. Now that the Holidays are over, I plan on moving on the Stonewall Jackson School Documentary. I have been in contact with a few folks who experienced the school first hand and hope to get interviews, pictures, and accounts of the school.

So, until next time, be good and stay safe, and keep checking the site for postings and updates (I will try and do better with the postings and updates).

History of the Stonewall Jackson Manual Trainin... Concord and Cabarrus County in Vintage Postcards George Michael Patterson Google Books

We are currently in pre-production on a documentary about the Stonewall Jackson School for Wayward Boys, (or the Stonewall Jackson Training School). This school was founded in 1907 in Concord, North Carolina by newspaper owner James P Cook. Mr Cook witnessed an orphaned 13 year old boy sentenced to a prison sentence of 3 years and six month of hard labor after stealing $1.13. He devoted the next 17 years, to starting a training school for boys to help educate them and provide them with skills needed to succeed in life after their release from the school. He then spent the rest of his life ensuring the success of that school.

Through the efforts of several woman’s organizations, money was raised to erect the first two buildings on 300 acres of property in Cabarrus County, and over several years the school continued to grow. Additional cottages were built to house the boys, along with industrial facilities, farming facilities, and a printing press; all to help train the boys and provide them with the beginnings of successful jobs once they left the school. there was also a gymnasium built on the property, complete with a swimming pool. The school, which originally housed 30 boys, would eventually become home to more than 500 boys.

In the mid 1970s the school was converted from housing vagrants, runaways, and “feeble minded” boys to housing more violent offenders, and in the mid 1990s, a smaller, more modern detention area was built in the property. Though the site is on the National Registry for Historic Places, the majority of the buildings on the property have been neglected and have fallen into a state of disrepair. Though many local historians and activists hope to see the buildings renovated and put into use, the State of North Carolina seems content with simply letting them rot away

There are many stories surrounding the Stonewall Jackson Training School. We hope to tell some of those stories. We are currently on the search for both former residents and employees of the school who can share some of their experiences while at the school.

We are also working with local historians from the Historic Cabarrus Association, Inc. to help us to tell these stories accurately.

Anyone who has any pictures or information about the school, or have personal experiences involving the school are asked to contact us so that we may tell as accurate stories about this historical place as possible. If you or someone you know can help, please go to our Contact Us page, and thank you for your help.

See the short SLIDELY video of the property by clicking this link: http://slide.ly/view/bc7ef909ec22ada400f5de6b87ec337e

Author Archive: Sebastian

New Short Film

Stonewall Jackson School for Wayward Boys: A Documentary