Monday, March 31, 2008

Music is not everything movie drew various comments

We are excited to start showing our movie and now we are gaining excitement as we just showed our film in two locations- one on the CSUN campus on March 25th, and another one in LA on March 29th. We were surprised that more deaf and hearing people attended the campus showing, although they may have come out of curiosity. Of course, they are always welcome, that is what we want; our film works for them. In LA, fewer deaf people turned up, but one honorable deaf person was there to watch our movie...

I, the writer and director, was a bit nervous as we entered this new world, the challenge of the film world, and I couldn’t wait to hear comments from the public. I wanted their comments so badly. I cannot not evaluate my own film so the viewers’ comments would enlighten me.









On the campus the film started and the audience was watching. Some people were excited...others were bored...a third group of people were attentive... All of the viewers had various reactions, more or less enjoying what they were seeing from looking at their eyes. Seeing this made me more nervous, as I noticed some opened their mouths to say something, like..."Ah, I knew it! These guys are what I expected."...”No, you aren’t right! You should take a careful look." These and other similar gestures kept me watching their reactions.







Finally, the movie finished. I stood up, turned the lights on, and opened the floor for the audience to give comments and feedback. One member of the audience directly threw a look at me and made a wide sign: "An ‘A’ grade for our first film.” That was the first moment that inspired me. Another comment, from one of deaf faculty, said that we deserve their respect as we made our first efforts and first step to make such a film as a feature film; it was the another moment that made me feel more confident. The same deaf faculty described his opinion...

"I've noticed some scene that are longer and need to be cut shorter to make pace more quick. I've noticed that the story of this film is unique, as conflicts erupted between the two worlds of the deaf and the hearing, and there are no other films that are similar. Some films have a few of these features, but most do not have so much, which makes your movie more unique and more original. I've noticed that some scenes contain weaknesses, but overall, the story is wonderful, and we must respect you for your effort. This movie was made within two months, including creating the script and making the film, so you deserve our praises."

That is what made the day for our movie. This kind of comment implies that we are going in the right direction and that we have done what we expected to do; our movie goes down the right path as it draws mostly positive comments.

One honorable deaf person who attended the movie in LA said that we deserve respect as we made our first efforts to show our movie..."I'm interested to watch more of your upcoming movies. And I'll do my part to make your sponsorship happen." That was another moment that made a light shine on our efforts and we are happier as we get more comments and interest from other honorable deaf persons.





Other comments about the film highlighted minor problems, like weak lighting in some scenes; some scenes that feel too long and need to be cut in half; subtitles that are low, near the bottom of the screen, making the subtitles less readable, and some subtitles have errors, but overall, most people commented that the film is great.

One thing that I've noticed is that there are two kinds of audience members: people who know some principles of scripts and others who depend on the visual scenes. Almost all of the people who know principles of scripts say that our movie is really great and that the story is "meaty", having strong story lines and including most elements of the script, like plot, conflict, mentor, etc. Others, who depend on visual scenes say that our movie has some weak and long scenes; some scenes are dark, some parts of story are not logical, and some scenes need more light, etc. I think that the comments vary among different audiences, but these two kinds of groups appear to be more distinct with the more comments that I got, and the deeper I know audience. Those people who know the principles of a story are usually hearing or a few deaf people who know about principles of script, while the others who depend more on the visual scenes are usually deaf with no knowledge of script principles. All of this makes them more distinguishable. It’s sad, but true; I wish that deaf people were more aware of story principles that the elements our movie include, not only on the visual scene alone.

Of course we need to enhance the scenes to make them look more attractive and more professional. However, some of the audience was more surprised when they learned about the limits of our film equipment. We had one cheap camera with film look added, and no professional guys around to work with us. We made the movie in two months, handling the camera manually, not automatically, which made our work harder and longer, and we paid for everything out of our own pocket. The result is a film with much lower quality than we expected, but we are happy as our experience progressed during the practical process of making a film after all of our theoretical planning.

Now we are clear about what we need to improve, based on the comments and feedback we received. We learn from our audiences and their comments, and we will do our best to change ourselves into a better film team. Comments and feedback is one of the most valuable tools to use to analyze the function of our film team, which is made up of people with knowledge in various areas, so both their positive as well as their negative comments guides us in the forest. With the enlightenment of their comments, we are armed with what we need to stand up and challenge ourselves. We are learning from our practice and from these comments, and we are ready to accept more comments.... Comments are welcome!

Sunday, March 2, 2008

"Music is not everything" is shown in Los Angeles on 29th March

We are so excited to announce that our movie, Music is not everything, is set to be shown on 29th Saturday at 2 pm and 5 pm in Los Angeles...and the trailer is available on the site...

The Music is not everything synopsis

The story is about one hearing guy who dreams of becoming a star musician. However, he suddenly becomes deaf and needs urgent action to fix his hearing. One of the ways for him to do that is to see a doctor, who recommends that he get a cochlear implant. An implant could put him back on the way to becoming a musician, but something else happens to reveal the truth behind his cochlear implant; he would be operated on by an unscrupulous doctor. What happens as this story unfolds creates an interesting as well as alarming message.



Music Is Not Everything


Our first day to show our movie approaches, and we will learn lots during the show, and more comments/feedbacks will help us out after the show...as our movie is made for the first time, we find it hard to notice weakness and strength in the scripts...from the beginning we are scared as we face a real situation of having to write something to take down on a paper, and we almost gave up, but we struggled through the end of the making a movie, then we celebrated on our promised actions - to talk and to do, theoretical and practical respectively...really hard, but we got through, and now we are so relieved...and once our movie release starts in Los Angeles, the film will be shown across the U.S. states after some deaf people want to show our movie in their area...

For now, the movie show is set to be shown in Los Angeles, California State University of Northridge, the school for the deaf in Fremont, Sacramento and San Diego...

We would like to note that we made the film for the first time which means that we are not professional like realistic Hollywood moguls, so you should not get a high expectation from our first movie. We had prefer to be called an amateurish team or an independent team for now...time and practice will enhance our film looks...

Come watch the movie with Swedish Sign Language with English Subtitle!

Bull Heart Films Production

Friday, December 28, 2007

Deficit Thinking Short Film Contest

The term, deficit thinking, just emerged and has been swimming along the DeafRead bloggers/vloggers/readers. Everybody should know its meaning. Now I will shorten the definition.

Deficit Thinking defines someone who is not like a typical person to keep up with the standard of learning knowledge. Or more simply, someone who has not kept the standard as other hearing people who are ahead in knowledge or the education system have. The term seems interesting for DeafReader members, and some members discuss and analyze deeply about the existence of the term among deaf people. Some members even apply its analogy to some popular deaf people like Jane Fernandes...be prepared for what she says...the link is here, mentioned by Carl Schroeder, and his blog is here... It seems even more serious as we find some popular deaf people who are still behind in knowledge about the deaf culture contrary to our expectation. And many other matters mean a lot to deaf members relating to this term: deficit thinking. So I have been wondering.

I would like to know if anybody is interested in making a short film about the deficit thinking concept among famous deaf people. If so, then I will set up a contest for anybody who wants to make a short film. The following is what I will do: first, we will wait to see what everybody wants (and a more specific example would be helpful): for example, how exactly a deaf person wants to see deficit thinking applied among deaf people, and why it matters, as well as to what extent of impact this message will be produced upon whom, and who is interested to learn about this importance. Also, what else is compared with deficit thinking and to whom does it apply; only to deaf people or people of low sociable backgrounds? Further, what do we want to see in the knowledge of hearing people about us, the deaf community, and etc. So in the short - beginning, development and resolution, all in 10 min or less and once people want the contest, then we will announce when it will start and end, how you apply, what the rules are, etc, and once it is all clarified, for us to see who will win the contest, or once we are happy with the strong logical reason of the point impacting the deaf and general audience, we will give $100 to the winner plus a contract that we will expand the idea for the next feature film we may make. Also we will give you a certification that you understand deficit thinking’s application toward deaf people the best...and of course, it would be wonderful if the winner wants to get involved in the making of our feature film.



A lot of thinking is exhibited here...is that
what we need - to be like this guy thinking logically?

Once we get a winner, we will let other deaf people get aware of our intention of making a feature film about "deficit thinking" and if we get approved or encouraged by them, we will then set out to start writing a script and once we get the necessary tools, we will begin making a feature film. This is what some deaf people have asked me to do, so I want to see the reactions and responses among DeafReader members, as I respect their labors/volunteers blogging/vlogging about anything relating to the deaf culture.

Let me know if someone who wants to watch the mentioned above is interested - someone like Jane Fernandes, or hearing people: teachers, professors, interpreters, parents, whoever....as long as it will make them more educated about deaf culture, so that there will be a narrowing knowledge gap between us and them....and in the end we will be unified, all to become a stronger deaf community...

Spread the word if you have friends who are skilled at making a film or they do it as a hobby. Call them, since we do not want them to miss the contest...let's hear your or their film perspective on deficit thinking, and through the contest we will hear the best film perspective on deficit thinking, so we may make a strong and appealing feature film, and so with that we, the deaf community, will entertain the deaf and general audience, while educating them unconsciously, so we have friends and a better educated people who will be well-aware of the deaf community! And so...so...so...it is a must effort and see the result...

So spread the word as much as far your hands will reach...

I am looking forward to hear from you...

Thank you for your time and consideration...

Monday, December 24, 2007

Great news...we set up a website for our film, www.bullheartfilms.com

We are so excited to announce that we set up a website for our film...the website is www.bullheartfilms.com...we are still working on that to enhance our looks...we may look amateurish, but it will take us long paths to become professional, so now it is our first step and we are so excited to provide a website, so our deaf, hard hearing and general audiences can take a look at our film works...
We are still working on our website...

We don't know for now what to include in our website as we don't have much to show around...however, once we have what to show, we will include it in the website...For now, we added some pics of how or what we work...it's called a behind of scenes...come to take a glimpse of what we look like...we are so excited to work as a team though we may look amateurish, learning from mistakes and practices will make us grow up a decent crew...


May be later we will add something useful that may help us, a deaf filmmaker...but we don't know now what it will be...may be a resource of film editing or scriptwriting...or something similar...

Suggestions or ideas would be appreciated...make it in a proper and clear way, not in a vague one...

Bull Heart Films is learning to look professional, but it needs time, practice, suggestion and knowledge, so understand and support our deaf crew...

Wednesday, November 7, 2007

Why Bull Heart Films matters?

I am deaf and I know that our film crew will not become enough competitive to enter the film industry; one that is challenged and dominated by Hollywood wolves...Hollywood is a source for making million films and is the home of moguls of the film industry...I may call myself a film makers or perhaps the scared sheep who is discouraged by that fact or too impotent to stand up...But I won't be a black sheep...hmmm...well, maybe, but I prefer to integrate with Hollywood bugs by entertaining various audience rather than killing of all of those same nagging bugs...


Will I become a black sheep? Will we build a black sheep team
So we can gather as military officers enough to compete with
the Hollywood moguls? Maybe, who knows...
one day it may happen, but for now, I'm not prepared...


I may even seek an excuse...I may say that because I am deaf, I won't become a successful film maker, and that this is like that because I don't see another deaf film maker becoming strong enough to make the Hollywood wolves reconsider their positions...sad...but at least I enjoy watching the movies made by the wolves...

And I may become further disgusted, as we cannot attract enough attention to our desire to make a great film....I may get pulled down to the deepest side of the end of the coffee cup...I may prefer not to make a film at all...

But the story of Hollywood wolves hungering for film dominance over the world is not because I have given up...something keeps me alive- swimming and holding my head up over the sea...

I have been absorbed in reading books about "making a great script".
Since then I have been wondering...something has been irritating me...I recheck and reconsider my ability...I guess that I am not fit for the world of directing a film...

However, that is not the last word; I promise myself not to become involved...the last thing I did was question myself...I waited for a while and discovered something ...one of the most noticeable traits of my personality is flexibility...yes, flexibility is a picture of me...you get the idea...

Adaptability is what I posses...it is my unique trait...whenever I face an undesirable situation, I usually find ways around it...wherever I go, I usually succeed...whatever I practice, I pick up...now I am being drawn into the film bowl and want to see if my adaptability works in this bowl full of crowding wolves...not because I can, but because I am human and have the ability to think reasonably...

So I don't see my loss of hearing ability as an excuse...I see myself even more as a more potentially successful guy...I even think to myself that a deaf guy can be more powerful if he applies educated knowledge properly in any field...to be deaf means to be a visual learner...

To be a visual learner is even more worthy in a film area...a good movie director needs to be a good visual learner...I have been learning subjects through the amazing human sense of the eye... yes, the eye is unique...I must believe that nobody is willing to sell his/her eyes, even for a mass of green backs...




That is my visual learning style, and it is the most powerful of all other
learning styles...71.4%...amazing...
we use our eyes all our lives...that can be our weapon
in the film directing field...can't we do it?

To have both eyes to see and hearing abilities is happier or even the happiest state of being...of course, I would prefer to be able to hear if I was given an opportunity...but my current status quo is different...I am deaf, and I cannot do anything to return my hearing abilities...I do not want to risk my life by getting cochlea implant just to get hearing back...nothing is perfect...I have grown up deaf and I am happy with my flaw...

But now, to have eyes and to lack hearing abilities is more powerful...not because I am boasting about my deaf identity, but because I am saying that we, the deaf, see things through our eyes for our whole lives, and our visual perception is getting sharper and sharper with every passing day...which is wonderful for becoming fit in a film directing world...

The only thing left and the last thing that I value is my eyes...I am happy to say that I have wonderful eyes and I can look so far away, just like eagle's eyes...I will use them for something...one of those “somethings” is to get involved myself in the film world, to see how far my eye can reach...I will compete enough to shake the Hollywood zombie shepherd, but only if I apply educated film making knowledge in a proper way, together with directing a film in a visual way...a deaf person's eye may not be comparable to other’s points of view, and the bugging mogul may laugh at us, but if we apply educated knowledge in a proper way, use visual perception in a confident way, and find investment in a lucky way, we will shock them with our empty hands and lack of our hearing abilities...


We, the deaf- do we want to look like zombies
wanting to eat the meat produced and
distributed by the Hollywood mogul?
I guess that we prefer to be entertained by
a powerful and visual deaf film entertainer…


To boast my potential, I sought something to enhance my knowledge of film… I needed to select a part of a huge filming complexity...and then decide to do something specific...I selected one area, to focus on scripts...yes, the subject of scripts was what I initiated. Since then, I have been learning lots about "the principles of the script"...the reason I select the script to study is because, while in the scripting field, a deaf film maker may feel helpless or luckless...true...I don't see someone deaf writer sell a script to the Hollywood mogul for million bucks... writing a great script is the area where I started and I wanted to see if it would lead me to somewhere desirable...

The result of that effort smiles at me as I am building our team...I am happy with my teammates...Christer, Susy, Rebbecca and Cecilia...they are wonderful and committed...we really do have the potential to make things happen...so during the summer of 2007 we made a film in Stockholm, and we are happy now to complete it...it is currently in post-production and we hope that it will be completed this December or next January...our main mission was to focus on how our team functions, not the meat of the film story itself...now we are satisfied with our mates, so our next mission is to make our story more meaty...of course if we keep in touch and work together. We will make things happen; make a good film...

All of the above considerations produced a wonderful idea: Bull Heart Films...a beautiful mission...we, the deaf, having powerful visual perception, have gathered as a team, to apply our educated filming knowledge and to collaborate as a family. This will be our powerful weapon for the future...




Let's give Bull Heart Films a shoulder!

Sunday, October 21, 2007

Bull Heart Films Team

Teaming up to follow a vision is not an easy task as there are not enough supplies of necessary filming skills in the deaf community...and though that we did our attempts and the result smiled at us...we did create the team though some of us may not be skilled enough...Take a glimpse at the part of our team...

Our vision is to be able to learn, to grow and to compete in a film world

Before about to build a team, I know one girl, Rebbecca, with whom we have been talking about an opportunity of creating a film team in Stockholm...she has been and is an ambitious and active follower of a dream - to be a film star...and I smiled at her effort...since then both of us, she and I, tried various deaf people in Stockholm to see if we found someone willing to follow our vision...nothing...until 2005 we met one guy...

The guy with the blond hair is Christer and the other guy is Gergin...
discussing about which a part of the script to be used...


His name is Christer Borg, a deaf nice and respected guy...we have talked about the film opportunity in a deep and logical way...my writing experience, a part of my character, a pursue of a big dream, the same topic all time, easy socializing...all of that made a desired result...he noticed such a valuable vision and wanted to be a part of our decent team...before I let him take a part, I learned something significant about him, and then he is what we need...and since then something desired happened...our team is building...


Susy, the middle in the pic, and Cecilia, the right,
are making up one guy, Hjalmar


Rebbecca is being made up smiling at us, the camera... :-)


Other deaf people take a part of our team, Susy and Cecilia, so our team became five...

Gergin, Christer, Rebbecca, Susy and Cecilia

Let's introduce them...

Rebbecca is deaf, recently graduating from the high school and working part-time as artistic illustrator in Stockholm, is glad to take a part in our team and wants to work with us for future...

Susy is deaf working as a free leader for deaf children in the school for the deaf in Stockholm, is happy to be a part of our team...

Cecilia is deaf, goes to the high school, she enjoyed working with us and wants to remain a part of our team to follow our same vision

We are young...and try to learn something significant to help us achieve our goal in the challenging film industry...

We may be call ourselves lucky to team up,
but let's hope that we become enough competitive one day...

Thursday, October 18, 2007

Bull Heart Films introduction

Bull Heart Films emerges as a film production company and intends to produce and distribute movies entertaining deaf and general audience over the world.

Passion and inspiration is born in Stockholm, Sweden, by Gergin Simeonov and Christer Borg, both of them are deaf. Each of them is committed to devoting his time, and once they find necessary film tools, the next task is to challenge the stereotype and to show the world that a deaf film maker can make a decent film...and we, film makers, are working to see how far we can go...

We hope that once we enter the film world, we have capability to learn, to grow and to compete the film market.

Bull Heart Films is young, fresh and hopeful. Behind it, there are two deaf individuals who decide to stand up and to take action. That is us, Gergin and Christer.

Let's introduce ourselves to the world.

My name is Gergin, I am deaf and come from Bulgaria. Now I am a student at California Student University of Northridge in the USA, majoring in Information Systems, and expect to graduate in december 2008.

Christer is deaf and comes from Sweden. He works as a teacher for the deaf in the school for the deaf in Stockholm.

I am involving myself in the film field for the following reasons;

1. I see myself a challenge
2. One of my interests is in the film field and my dream is to be able to compete in the challenging film world
3. I have been reading many books on making film especially scripts since 2004 and I hope that it helps me somehow
4. My burning desire is to show the world that I, as a deaf guy, can make a decent film

Christer notices my ability and wants to expand it. He notices my knowledge and wants to grow it. He notices my level and wants to push it up.

And according to our abilities, we are about to test them to see where they will lead us...and once we find our weakness in some area, we will go there to replace them with strengths ...and once
we build a strong team in the right direction, we will be able to entertain deaf and general audiences, and hopefully our audiences will appreciate our efforts...

We desire to test our efforts. We will learn to become like a bull.
A bull doesn't tolerate being directed,
and our dream is not to be directed and entertained
by hearing film makers,
our dream is to be entertained by a true deaf film maker, so
Bull Heart Films emerges to make its dream come true.


LET'S HELP BULL HEART FILMS ACHIEVE ITS DESIRED GOAL