Author: Grand Providentia United

Firmly rooted in the moment. Consciously aware. I practice Authenticity.
Adventure and Discovery, Film Journey

Road Trip for a Most Worthy Cause

Grand Providentia United

The banner photograph above is titled “Un-Natural Ice in the Swamp”, it is one of a dozen photos that are available for purchase. Most of them were taken on the ‘Trial Run Road Trip’ that I just returned from.

Now, I am in Savannah, making preparations to set forth on a very special cross-country road trip. The purpose of the trip is not adventure, though I’m certain it will be adventurous. The purpose is not leisure either, but I will definitely be sure to make time to relax, breath and meditate along the way. The true purpose of this trip is of the utmost importance, and I am therefore compelled to do everything I can to see it through to its end, back here on the east coast. From the moment I conceived of this journey, I’ve been focused on the dual purposes that the trip will fulfill. First, there is the matter of life experience to be gained on the road. In my 59 years on the planet, I’ve never traveled further west than New Orleans, LA. It hasn’t necessarily been an objective on my bucket list, but I am certain the experience will prepare me for many world travels that I expect will be necessary in the coming years, to fulfill the dream of the “Grand Providentia Projection”. The second purpose behind the trip is to gather content in the form of film footage, photographs, journal entries and creative writing expressions, which will then become valuable content for documentary and fictional films that I intend to produce.

“Apex Reptilia” Image captured in the Big Cypress National Preserve in southern Florida.

I’ve created a GoFundMe campaign to raise money for this leap of faith that I’m about to take. Of course, you can always support me financially by donating on the Donate*Contact page, here on the Grand Providentia United blog, but I would very much appreciate your visit to the “Cross-Country Expedition to Gather Film Content” fund raising page @ https://gofund.me/fd4283d0

One more thing that I wanted to mention. I will be sharing the bulk of my creative writing and journal entries during the trip, on this blog. Film content will likely be shared on my YouTube channel. I’ll post the link for YouTube in my next entry here. I’ll be active on the Scott Joseph Moore FB page as well (please send me a friend request, I’ll surely need all the friends and moral support I can get!) Thank you for reading this blog! I truly appreciate the time you’ve been spending here!

Adventure and Discovery, Film Journey

Celebrating Success and Setting Forth in Faith

Grand Providentia United

I have some fantastic news to share with you all! I have been accepted to the Film and Television, MFA Program at the Savannah College of Art & Design! The college has also offered me a sizable scholarship award which might increase further due to my GPA at the Ringling College of Art and Design where I earned a BFA majoring in Computer Animation, and also because “Return to Hope” received high scores from the Admissions Committee. I am feeling such an enormous amount of gratitude and self-achievement in this moment! I feel love for myself, and for all of you! Thank you for your continuing guidance and support.

“Key West King”
I started a new initiative yesterday. Moving forward, I am making all of my original photography available for purchase. Prices start at $20 for a high-quality digital photograph which I can send to the email address of your choosing. You could then have the photo printed as many times as you’d like in the format of your choosing. I can also ship prints on a number of different media, but I would need to quote you a price based on the size and format you desire. This initiative will fund the road trip of adventure and discovery that I’m about to embark on.
“Point of Embarkment”

“Good News, Along the High Roads of Hope”

On Saturday, February 11, 2023, I left Savannah heading for Key West. I had set intentions to begin an epic road trip, beginning at Mile Marker 0 on Key West, and ending at the farthest reaches of Alaska (as far as my Honda Accord would take me, at least). On Tuesday, while camping in my car, deep in the Everglades, I received an email from the college informing me of my acceptance to the program. Within minutes of receiving this news I realized that I would need to chalk up this first short adventure as a trial run. I would need to return to Savannah to better prepare for the journey ahead. Plans for the trip are now solidifying into something quite a bit different, and more profoundly important, than I had originally intended. I have shortened the travel itinerary to include only the contiguous USA, saving the Alaska portion of the adventure for another now in the future. In the present Now, I need to organize resources, seek out financial and moral support, and plan the logistics of what is bound to be a complicated sojourn.

Thank you, dear readers, for being patient with me over these past few months! I know that I’ve been neglecting my duties as author here on the Grand Providentia United blog site. Truthfully, I am relieved to have completed “Return to Hope” in time to be considered for scholarship funds at the college, but I must admit that there were moments when I thought that I would need to turn it in as an incomplete work. And when all the conceptualizing, writing, filming, directing, image and sound editing, and producing was done, what our team created was really something special, perhaps even unique to the world. If you haven’t seen the film yet, please take nine minutes and 4 seconds to watch it and share your honest appraisals here or on the YouTube channel. If you’re drawn to the energy expressed, please subscribe to the channel and this blog. Allow me to entertain you, as I travel across the country, seeking connection with the planet we live on, and communing with our shared human family!

I will return to write again tomorrow (this time I mean it!), with details about the trip and how you can support this special Cause for Hope!

My First Short Film Released

The World Premiere of “Return to Hope”!!!

Grand Providentia United

It was just about a year ago when I decided to take a leap of faith in my creative career by pursuing a graduate degree in film. Before taking this leap, I’d already taken a number of leaps of faith in my personal and professional life. This one felt different, not so scary. I’ve since come to realize that this leap is different than all the other leaps, in that the leaping-off point was duly situated at a more spiritually and emotionally mature elevation. In an earlier leap, in 1996, my wife (then) and I packed up all of our material possessions, loaded the little ones into their car seats and moved our family from Rhode Island to Florida. We made the move so that I could pursue a bachelor’s degree in computer animation. At that time, the computer-generated imagery (CGI) industry was changing the face of live-action film with blockbusters like Jurassic Park (1993) and Terminator 2: Judgement Day (1991). In the computer animated film industry, Toy Story had just been released (1995) and every computer geek and movie making wannabe was signing up at a college or tech-school with high hopes of claiming a seat in one of the major animation studios. Dreaming of jobs at Disney, Pixar or Dreamworks, they were all looking for the best route into the industry. I was, and apparently still am, a movie making wannabe, but back then I had absolutely zero experience with computers, and it had been a long time since I graduated high school in 1981. Fifteen years long, in fact. So, why did I decide to learn computer animation, having had no previous experience with computers? This is how I rationalized the decision – I would attend Ringling, learn computer animation, move the family (again) to California, get a high paying job producing CGI, and then make a lateral move into the model and props/animatronic studio where I really wanted to be. I had been creating hand built ceramic sculpture for more than a decade by 1996 and I could clearly see myself excelling in a movie-monster/sci-fi model shop. When I applied to, and was accepted by, the Ringling School of Art & Design (now Ringling College of Art and Design), I considered it destiny calling out to me personally, and so Pamela and I talked it over, and then we leaped…

Christopher and Victoria, during one of our many visits to the Magic Kingdom in Orlando (1998?). Both of my children were involved with the production of “Return to Hope”. Chris created the original soundtrack and Tori utilized her superior enunciating skills as one of the tree vocalists. Remember, they are adults now, so it’s not like I’m using this photo to exploit the obvious “cuteness factor” they both possess!

It has been more than 22 years since I graduated from RCAD, and I’m now preparing to land on both feet in the graduate program at SCAD.

Without further ado, I present to you, my loyal blog readers and any other wonderful human beings who’ve found themselves reading here, this is my first short film “Return to Hope”! Please subscribe to the YouTube channel and also here on the “Grand Providentia United” blog, to receive updates on the latest happenings on the event horizon. And, one other request, please leave a comment on this post (either positive or negative) once you’ve watched the film. It’s only nine minutes long, so there’s really no excuse not to watch it at least ten times! JK!!!

Click on the link and enjoy!
Film Journey in the Now

Update on “Return to Hope” (Film) and the “Case of the Missing Blog Author”

Grand Providentia United

Once again, I’ve neglected my commitment to those of you who are regular readers here. In a previous journal entry, I wrote about my intentions to document the making of the “Return to Hope” film in real-time on this blogsite. A few days after setting that intention, I realized that it was non-sustainable with regard to my energies, at least for now. The motivations I had for setting the intentions were sincere, in that I wanted to practice the process I intend to use for future filmmaking upon graduation from Savannah College of Art and Design. To be more specific, the process I intend to use for the “Grand Providentia Projection – A True Story, as Yet Unfolding…”, is directly related to what I was attempting to do here with “Return to Hope”. This post-graduation, master work, will be produced and promoted as a real-time documentary series that follows the progress of creating and installing, major collaborative art projects around the globe. These “Projections” will act as focal points for raising awareness of the conscious connection that exists between all sentient beings on our planet, and furthermore, how that conscious connection might be used to set positive collective intentions to restore and preserve our environment and heal divisions and discord within the human race. As this rolling documentary is being produced, there will also be a fictional version of the same story being filmed simultaneously. Eventually, the two stories will be merged and integrated into one production – a surreal documentary, with elements of both fact and fiction. Over the past fifteen years, I’ve been studying, and living by, many of the philosophical explorations that are the basis for metaphysics and the metaphysics of science, so I am convinced that this film format, the surreal documentary, will be the most powerful way to present the “Grand Providentia Projection – A True Story, as Yet Unfolding…” I must admit that it’s true, this endeavor is an enormous undertaking, but having worked on it for many years now, I know that its potential for realization is eventual, and quite possibly, inevitable.

You might be wondering why I decided that it was non-sustainable for me to document the making of “Return to Hope” here on the blog, as I produce it? The straightforward answer to that question is that I do not have the level of energy required to complete all the necessary tasks with even a modicum of success, therefore I’ve opted to prioritize my efforts, in an effort to accomplish some tasks with greater success. Since the moment that I decided to pursue a graduate degree in film, I’ve bought and learned how to use a digital film camera, conceived of “Return to Hope” and strategized its visual presentation to an audience (the admissions board at SCAD), filmed on location in Hope, RI, Bethlehem, PA and Savannah, GA, and I am currently editing the film in DaVinci Resolve, an editing software that was included with the Blackmagic Design camera that I bought back in April of this year. It sure has been a learning experience for me, but I can tell you with absolute honesty that I am loving the journey so far!

Photo shot on location at the Steel Stacks, Bethlehem, PA. The Steel Stacks is one of the locations where I filmed clips for “Return to Hope” Worthy of note: This pulley wheel is approximately 12′ in diameter and there were about 20-30 of them lined up in a humongous building!

There is another reason that I decided not to continue with the documentation on this blog. I wanted to introduce the final results, all polished and pretty, of “Return to Hope” to you all, once it is completely finished. So far, I’m super pleased with how it’s coming together! If nothing else, it is sure to be visually compelling. And fear not, you won’t have to wait long for the premier of this film, because I need to have it ready for delivery by 2/2/2023. I’ll be publishing it on YouTube as soon as it is delivered to the college. Stay tuned, dear readers, soon you’ll have more to look at than just still images! I promise.

Danger! There’s always someone trying to keep you from going someplace!