Our movie was in the paper again.

The 'Lights' come up; locally made film shown later in May
Posted By TARA HAGAN

A group of local 20-somethings are finally ready to unveil their first feature film.

"Ugly Lights," will premiere at the Imperial Theatre May 20.

Shot entirely in Sarnia over three days, the film was written, produced and directed by local talent.

It all started last November, when writers Mark Tetreault, Michael Higgins and Daryl Silvestri teamed up with Nathan Colquhoun, who took over the technical side of things.

They started "Monkey Do Productions" and have been working non-stop on the film ever since.

"I think it's pretty amazing how well people can work together," said Colquhoun, who just finished the final editing process on the film.

The script for "Ugly Lights" was written in a couple of weeks, including three rewrites. It tells the story of a group of recent high school grads gathering at the end of summer at a local watering hole, each making critical decisions about their future.

"Ugly Lights" refers to the lights switched on at the end of the night as the bar clears out.

"It's a good story and it tells a lot about that age group," said Colquhoun. "There's no real theme or moral here; sometimes just telling the story can say more than trying to get a message across." The group started production in January, after renting two cameras and issuing a casting call. About 60 people showed up to audition and virtually everyone was given a part, either playing one of the eight lead roles or filling in as extras.

The owners of the Trinity Lounge on Christina Street allowed the group to use their bar for three days of filming, free of charge.

Paying entirely from their own pockets, the group produced the film on a budget of about $6,000.

"We really believed in the film," said Colquhoun. "It was a lot of fun, and it was a small price to pay for the amount of experience we got."

Once filming wrapped up, Colquhoun built a computer specifically for the many hours of digital editing ahead and took on the task with the help of friends Tyler Kilp and Danny Alexander.

"We basically took 24-hours of footage and cut it down to 52 minutes," said Colquhoun, who also took on the task of DVD-making.

The DVD-version of the film, which includes commentary and blooper reels, will be available for purchase at the film's premiere.

It also comes with a copy of the film's soundtrack, which includes songs by local artists.

And after all their hard work is paid off with the release of the film, Colquhoun said the local moviemakers will be back to work soon.

"I definitely want to make another movie," he said. "The fact that we put out a 50-minute film in six months is amazing."

"Ugly Lights" will premiere at the Imperial Theatre on May 20 at 7:30 p.m. with shows to follow on May 22 and 23. Tickets are $10. DVD copies of the film will also be available for purchase for $15. For more information, visit www.uglylightsmovie.com

The longer I have this blog the more I think I have less and less to say. So many books I’ve read lately, I walk away agreeing strongly with the words that they write but then I find myself discouraged from writing about the topics because well its already been said. If someone wants to read about it, I’d rather just point them to what I am reading or studying on the subject than to listen to me.

So what ends up happening is the things I write about are things that I have no understanding of. They are my thoughts usually before I dive into an issue and tear it apart. What you are reading usually happens before struggles, studying or any kinks have been worked out. I like it this way sometimes because this is when I am the most honest about everything. When my questions are the purest and my knowledge is minimal. I find I do this when I speak on Sundays also. I usually only enjoy taking speaking roles if I’m talking about something I’m currently working through.

I get bored of the same old arguments and conversations if no new ground has been discovered. This is what drove me crazy about Tyndale at times because I felt like very few people were being innovative and having conversations that were asking new questions and dealing with the world around them. It was the same old arguments of predestination, speaking in tongues, eternal security and so on. Not that there isn’t a place for those conversations, but they can only keep me interested for so long. I’m constantly changing and my viewpoints waver all the time, and so do the things I talk about. So this is sort of what my blog is like. It follows my train of thought and where my mind is working. I don’t want to keep it talking about the same stuff and never move past it.

Lately, over the past 6 months or so especially, after I write a post I find myself becoming very self conscious of it. I worry that other people are tired of reading the same old stuff. I worry that smarter people will read it and realize I’m not all that intelligent. I worry that my local friends will read it and think I’m crazy and talking about nothing that I’ve ever talked to them about. I worry that I’m wrong. I worry about the people that attend theStory and what they would think if they really knew what I thought. In some ways it stopped being a way for me to struggle through the preliminary feelings of different issues for me, and became more of a way to express myself to people and control the way they see me.

Maybe it’s just where I am at right now, and don’t have a lot of things to talk out loud about. I don’t want to feel like I have to keep my blog up to date to be up to date, which is why I keep my personal posts to a minimum, but then I find I throw them on there just as filler. Hopefully one day I’ll get more into a swing of things again where I’m constantly working my way through issue after issue and needing an outlet to struggle with my peers through them. In the meantime I hope you can enjoy the personal updates, occasional rants and random links.

My blog is just taking a hit lately. I find myself thinking and struggling like never before but just not the time to get it all out there. I'm not shutting it down, and hopefully I can get more frequent on this soon, but for now here is some of the stuff I'm reading that has got me thinking and taking up my time. I may or may not be working on a brand new design for this site. I also may or may not be thinking of compiling all these posts and publishing it into a book. Figure its the easiest way to write a book, as opposed to making up all new content.

Dan has always been one of my favourite bloggers. This post is called Gay Marriage -- Why Arguments based upon the 'Order of Creation' in Gen 1-2 are Faulty. Wow, a whole lot to chew on for those that are seriously struggling with how to approach this issue. A quote from the post:

Thus, I believe that gay marriages should be blessed by the Church. A creative, and good, innovation.

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Tonight we held a bowling fundraiser here in Sarnia to start raising money for our trip to Africa and raised $1400. Thanks to all who showed up and supported us. Still to come...an awesome concert and Rock Paper Scissors tournament.
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I designed a new site for Thinker Labs...hopefully we can get more on a role to get all our creative sources on their for people to use.
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I just finished Shock Doctrine. Wow. Now I'm on to this.
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Joe and I are doing a Documentary TV Show on the local channel in Sarnia for this coming Fall. We will be interviewing locals and talking about whatever is interesting. We'll make them all available online also if we are allowed. Looks like Joe is going to be famous again.
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Rachel and I bought an E-bike. It's like a moped, but its all electric. You don't need a license or to get it insured. It goes 32km/h and one charge will last about 70km. It's perfect for the summer in Sarnia, and gas sucks. I have turned so many heads riding it for only a week, that I'm thinking I should start selling them myself.