3 Film Packages, 1 DVD

One DVD offers three film packages each including materials for weeks of group discussions.

     The three prototypes of the short art films used in the Film Gallery Cafe are now available together on one DVD.

       This is not just a DVD with some films on it.  Each film is a complete package useful for both personal contemplation and group discussions which could extend for a series of weeks.  The inspiration and creativity that will result could be monumental.
     Each film plays in widescreen and offers bonus materials unique to each including stills of the art used in the film, the text of the poetry, and conversation frames with which to explore the meaning of the film.  

Special Offer On Our Newsletter 

     The DVD may be purchased on the products page of our web site for $32, shipping included. For a limited time you may purchase it for $25 and free shipping, by joining our e-newsletter.  Put your e-mail address in the box in the right hand column and we will send you the March issue where you can find the PayPal button for the special price.  Besides that, you will then be in touch with all the great developments of Horizon Gate.

     Each film can be purchased individually on the products page of our web site for $15 apiece plus shipping.
     

     Your purchase helps keep us creating more art and films to stimulate significant conversations drawing people to God.

Call for Community of Variety

Please join us on St. Patrick's Day, March 17th, to see our films and talk about the next steps in developing the Film Gallery Cafe.

     True community is made of a variety of people, each possessing capabilities needed by the others, who desire to be part of a phenomenon larger than any one of them.   

     The grand vision of the Film Gallery Cafe is taking another step in forming such a community on St. Patrick's Day, the green color of life day, Saturday, March 17th.  On that day we will tell you exciting developments in the vision, show the prototype films and discuss the next steps.

The Upward Bound Community 

     We are imagining a community where each of us has a personal hold on the common vision and receives fellowship and spiritual growth through creating together. This community will make and exhibit tangible vehicles of art and film which elevate the makers and their audience toward the highest, intangible values of God.

     At our St. Patrick's Day gathering we will be looking for varieties of people who are ready to 

lead (boards of directors and advisors), 

create content (filmmakers, visual artists, writers, musician/composers, performing artists),

exhibit (curators, presenters, crew), 

do business (marketing, bookings, accounting, legal), 

develop (funding campaigns, grant writing),
and

care for the teams (coordinate, recruit, train, celebrate). 

     All who are interested are invited to attend regardless of how involved they can be. If you are unable to travel to San Diego, we will try to connect you with the meeting via Skype.

     Please RSVP so we can let you know time and place. Mark's e-mail markarturner (at) gmail.com.  

Film Visuals Expand Sound Track

Mark's drawing of the space
shuttle launch culminates a
film sequence depicting
humanity striving to top themselves.

    It has become apparent that the brevity of the sound track for "To the Diggers"

is cramping the style of the images Mark is creating for it. The images simply need more time to grow, move and be appreciated. To deprive the images of their proper timing would be to force the dance to take a short cut and become trivial.
     So, the sound track is being expanded, giving opportunity to improve it with more expressive detail. This means more work, requiring more time in order to be ready for the July premiere deadline right at the time of our major move.
     Please read the article "Move to Be Done by June 30th" to see ways you can help minimize the interruption of the move so we can get this film done in time.

    Now you can follow our filmmaking on one blog devoted completely to our progress building the art film collection.  The blog is called "Film Gallery Colxn" and you are invited to subscribe.  Click on this link to go see our design unfold: 

http://filmgallerycolxn.blogspot.com.

Art Reveals the Unseen

Drawings for the film "To the Diggers" -- Here is a sequence of drawings by Mark Turner studying a TV studio camera and camera operator. A TV studio is usually a mass of technology that we don't want to look at. Everything is focused on the illusion created by the gleaming set. But, these drawings show very intriguing shapes, lines and colors behind the scene which will entertain our viewers' eyes. Part of the mission of our film of drawings is to reveal more than the viewer normally thinks about. As a film the drawings will move through the field of vision and show a relationship to each other. In the gallery the drawings will stand alone as still images. In both ways the art will illuminate the mind and heart of the beholder.

Film Gets Political Drawings

Early in the "To the Diggers" film we will see flashes of political campaigns. So, Mark has been collecting and studying photos of politicians pressing flesh in the crowds and waving from motorcades.

Detail of a political campaign drawing for "To the Diggers" film by Mark Turner

The poetic words underlying this section are as follows:

"We regard as wisdom
Bright reflections, pixels,
Bites of sound repeated;
Arranging body and face
Choreographed in a timely place,
Makes powerful and great."

The drawings made from these studies will form a fast cutting montage. The images you see here are details from the larger, colored pencil drawings which will enjoy a second life exhibited along side the completed film. Other work on the film has included enlarging images to emphasize individual

A detail of a political motorcade drawing by Mark Turner.

pixels. I have made 17 of these "swatches" and will use them as colorful flashes over other images.
The next set of drawings will be from studies of TV News Pundits, news sets and TV equipment.
To follow the progress on this film and see more drawings subscribe to the blog Artingle.

"To the Diggers" Generates Interest, Gains Backers

Our campaign to fund the short art film "To the Diggers", has been viewed over 2,219 times in the last 3 weeks. That's over 100 visits per day! Referral icons on the site have been clicked by viewers 59 times inviting others to take a look. These statistics indicate there is significant interest in our project.
Interest In the Good We Could Do
This level of interest is not surprising when you consider the potential for good: art films and the art used to make them exhibited in a place where they stimulate conversations which draw people to God; where artists, filmmakers, gallery and café workers form community around the mission. Please click http://www.indiegogo.com/To-the-Diggers to review the mission.
Creative Incentives for Giving
People have donated both on the campaign site and off line totaling, as of this

Detail of painting for film 3: "The Gateway" about imagination in prayer

writing, $640. We have until July 10th to reach our goal of $7,000. At our rate of visits to the site we could still reach our goal if you and your friends will choose from contribution levels as low as $1. If we do reach our goal by the 10th, IndieGoGo.com will donate an additional 5% of the total.
We Can Reach the Goal
So, please visit http://www.indiegogo.com/To-the-Diggers. Get everyone you know on the Internet to go there and choose a level of contribution. There are some nice rewards on each level of giving including copies of our films signed by the artists, personalized poetry recordings, original art and your name in the film credits.
Pray for the campaign to gather people as well as dollars to support this ministry.

Watch this Film Being Produced

You can look over Mark's shoulder as he creates our next art film, "To the Diggers". He is posting reports and pictures from the production on his blog http://artingle.blogspot.com . The first installment is up and you can even comment on what you see. Imagine that: an artist lets you watch and comment as he works! Don't miss this opportunity.
Pieces of It Could Be Yours!
Those who participate in this way will be first in line to get special mementos of this new artistic piece. It is being composed of many drawings suitable for framing with an intriguing mix of spoken word, rhythms and sound effects. Be sure to subscribe to the blog so you won't miss any installments.

Film Collection to Inspire Conversations

The Film Gallery Collection is the first wave of a campaign to inspire lots of people. We are producing four art films which will be the core of a growing collection to be exhibited in a film-gallery-café. This is our dream of people sitting among the films and the art used to make them being inspired to have life changing conversations.
Each Film Builds to the Next
The first phase was the art film, "Comforting Hovers", which is produced and released. The remaining three are at various stages of development. Each film is another phase building to the final and fifth phase: the premiere of the collection in a pilot venue testing our film-gallery-café concept.

"Diggers" to Make Noise
We are now in the second phase of the campaign, "Film 2: 'To the Diggers'". Like "Comforting Hovers" this film merges physical artwork with digital treatment, spoken word with music and sound effects, all in a motion graphics presentation which inspires the viewers to talk about the philosophical and spiritual aspects of life. But, it will be more boisterous and aggressive than "Comforting Hovers". Based upon a poem Mark wrote in 2006, "To the Diggers" employs images and noises from current affairs. It is about the temporary nature of public image and marketing in the flow of history.
Party Soon and Premiere Next Spring
We plan to have a release party late summer/early fall to celebrate the completion of "To the Diggers". When the whole collection of films is completed the premiere of the films will be a pilot event to test the new exhibition idea, the "film-gallery-café". The projected time of the pilot event is Spring, 2011. This test event will teach us about opening a permanent venue where art films and the artwork used to make them stimulate significant conversations encouraging people on their journeys toward God. Until then each finished film will help build the support base which will make the premiere a big success and launch development of the "film-gallery-café".

Plans In the Works for Pilot Program

We are holding meetings with sponsors and people interested in leading the first Production Gathering. If plans and people proceed as expected, we hope to conduct the program in the summer/early fall of this year.

The program will take applications from promising, early filmmaker/artists as well as from experienced producers. It will include weekly meetings over three months for mutual mentoring and to produce several short art films. The culminating event will premiere the films in a gallery setting. Spread the word among your artist friends. Give people our contact info to watch for further developments.

First of Three Vision Components

We have been promoting our three-part vision: the Production Gathering, the Film-Gallery-Café, and Funding by Financial Health. What would a “production gathering” be like?

Think of a retreat in which participants are provided with an array of helps, programmed and free form, to refresh their perspective on life, inspire them to accomplish their dreams and spark new ideas. Focus that kind of a retreat to the needs of practicing artists with a select few younger, promising artists.

This would not just be a vacation, but a working retreat in which the artists are selected to fill positions in a film production, the center around which the retreat is organized. Experienced professionals would work for pay and agree to mentor the tuition paying younger artists who have been invited based on their portfolio and application. Scholarships would be available. The younger artists would be challenged to rise to the working professional level.

The retreat aspect of the event would strive to remove negative pressure that is common to commercial productions and to promote a freedom of creativity. Hosted in a place close to nature, intense periods of shooting, performance and post production, would be interspersed with enrichment times. These would include live musicians entertaining during meal breaks and evenings, inspirational presentations from specialists in related fields, and recreational facilities. Room and board would be provided with ample staffing to attend to each individual's needs.

The number and type of residents, as well as the length of time scheduled, would vary depending on the demands of the given screenplay. Short films using a wide variety of art forms would be the preferred project. As each phase of production progresses every artist would be involved either as observer, or as worker, the whole group traveling together to the finished product.

By the time of celebrating the final product each resident will have experienced renewal, enlightened perspective on their career and craft, and formed special bonds with other artists. The gathering will have profound effect on the artists and their creations for the rest of their lives. The films produced at the gatherings will have a life at film festivals, distribution avenues and at Horizon Gate's Film-Gallery-Café.

2009 Starts with Clarifying Goals

We began the new year by taking a long, prayerful look at our world and the part we play in it. Knowing that God's desire is that we each grow into our full potential as co-creators with God, we listed our dreams for that potential. Then we prioritized our aspirations in terms of time and progressing capabilities.

The process confirmed, clarified and added detail to the vision which we have carried for years: to create multi-media works of art which show God's reality and to exhibit them in ways which facilitate drawing closer to God.

This year we are sifting through our collection of screenplays to choose two short art films for production by December. Slowly we build a series of art films which we hope to display in a gallery, besides distributing on DVD and on the Web.

Other goals include growing in our Internet marketing skills, building a “fan base” for our films, and new ways of building assets which will supplement the donations of our supporters. The training we receive in our private businesses is pushing us ahead in these areas.

We also reaffirmed our vision to develop and contribute to a community of artists and arts supporters who share similar visions. This would include generating resources and support for the artists and mentoring younger ones.