Category: Film Journey & The Alt Unity

Film Journey & The Alt Unity

What Have I Done?

Grand Providentia United

Gathering Awareness – Entry #17

This is not a question that I’ve posed with any personal angst attached to it. As in, ‘OMG, what have I done?’. No, this is basically a self-inquiring question that I need to externalize the answers to through the act of writing them down. It is a question that I’ll begin to answer today and finish answering, well, maybe never. It may help some readers of this blog to understand what I’ve done mentally, physically and spiritually in the recent past to keep things moving forward. I’ll describe some of the actions I’ve taken, decisions I’ve made, and dreams I’ve conjured to continue moving toward the realization of the grand dream that I’ve been working to manifest for the past fifteen years. To catch some of you up, the grand dream is to bring conscious awareness of, and attract membership to, the Alt Unity. As the Alt Unity grows, through its creative collaborations and collective conscious intentions, the Grand Providentia Projection will be made manifest. And while the Alt Unity is in the process of manifesting the GPP, we will concurrently produce a rolling factual documentary that is focused on our efforts. Simultaneously, we will also be creating a fictional account (past, present and future) that will tell an imaginative, surrealistic story based on our real-world efforts. As each of the storylines unfold, the factual and the fictional will be brought together and united as one, thus creating the ultimate production of “A True Story, as Yet Unfolding…” So, in answer to the question – What have I done? I will tell you what I’ve done, and what I’ve been doing, during the recent months of practicing presence in the moment of now.

Jim Thorpe, PA – Tybee Island, GA

I decided back in January of this year, to pursue a graduate degree (MFA), majoring in film, at the Savannah College of Art & Design in Georgia. Having received my undergraduate degree (BFA), majoring in computer animation, from the Ringling College of Art & Design in Florida, I thought that this would be a magnificent way to culminate my career in the field of visual arts. After all, much of what I’d learned at Ringling College is directly applicable to the design and production of film projects. Early in the process of applying to SCAD, I realized that I was missing one critical tool that I would need to buy, if I could even hope to be accepted into the program. You see, one of the requirements for the application is a portfolio film reel (maximum ten minutes long). So, I knew I needed to get my hands on a high-quality camera to shoot the portfolio reel. I have to confess that I almost allowed fear to defeat me before I ever got started. I had a very minimal understanding of film cameras at the time, so I was intimidated by them, but then I thought back to when I entered the computer animation program at Ringling, and I remembered having absolutely no experience with computers. Whether it’s a camera, a computer, a calculator or a clock, you can’t expect to understand how to use it until you get some experience by using it. It took me a couple of months to gather the money to get it, but get it, I did. For any camera enthusiasts out there, it’s the Blackmagic Design Pocket Cinema 4K. The model is considered a good option for beginner filmmakers and students of film, but it is not a professional level camera. Of course, buying the camera was just the beginning. I needed to purchase all sorts of other accessories, like lenses, tripods, lavalier microphones, camera bags and digital storage devices. During the six months following my decision to return to school, I was intently focused on making the logistical arrangements to move from Allentown, PA to Savannah GA, but I was also starting production on the portfolio film that I needed for SCAD. Before moving south, I made a trip north to Hope, Rhode Island, to shoot my very first film clips for the portfolio film which I intend to title “Return to Hope” when it is completed. The film will feature the Hope Mill in its current deteriorated state, but the overall theme of the film will be decidedly positive. I’ll give a more detailed description of “Return to Hope” in one of my future blog entries. I’ll end this entry with a logistical announcement: On August 1st, I arrived here in Savannah, and on the second attempt I found a roommate situation in a shared apartment that works for both me and my roomie. I’m quite comfortable here in Georgia and I especially love the historic district of Savannah (that’s where the college is located).

One other announcement: I started a podcast as a companion site to this blog. I’ve only posted two short episodes so far, but I’ve really enjoyed the process of producing them. There will be many more episodes to come. Including video podcasts, as well.

The podcast episodes are available on the Anchor and Spotify platforms. Just click the play button below. I will also add a link to the Donate * Contact page on this site.

Film Journey & The Alt Unity

Getting Down to Some Nitty Nuts and Gritty Bolts

Grand Providentia United

Gathering Awareness – Entry #16

Transformative entertainment would be one way to describe where I’m headed with all of this. The blog, the growing involvement with film, the intentions to follow through on that growth by earning a graduate degree in film directing, the Grand Providentia Projection, and recently, the introduction of the Alt Unity are all flowing in the direction of a transformative entertainment experience. An immersive real-world experience, rooted firmly in our collective conscious intentions. I use the word transformative because I expect that the effects of what is to be manifested will be transformational for those involved directly with the production, but also for anyone who is attracted by the entertainment value of it. I expect also that it will be transformational for our planet, and all the lifeforms that inhabit it. In an expansive way, it might also transform our conscious connection with the Universe.

“Mechanical Attraction” – Providentia – detail

Here’s the idea in a nitty gritty nutshell: As an independent filmmaker, with the help of the Alt Unity, I intend to produce a continuous, reality-style, running documentary, which will be focused on the realization of the Grand Providentia Projection. Simultaneously, we’ll be producing a fictional version of the same story using all of the traditional movie making techniques (and hopefully introducing a few innovative techniques of our own). Here’s the twist – As the factual and the fictional productions are becoming a reality, we will introduce collisions, integrations, cross-migrations, and a number of other blending techniques to arrive at a place where no one person is ever really certain about which elements are fictional and which are factual. And all of this will take place under the umbrella of an organization that has been consciously conceived with the intention to aid in the healing of humanity, preserve the environment we depend on, and bring conscious awareness to the forefront of our decision making for the future.

During the coming three years, while I am achieving a film degree, it is my intention to grow the Alt Unity. Its growth will be measured in terms of human connections based on a common cause, and the support and resources gathered to bring this vision to reality. It is likely that it will be primarily internet based in the beginning, but I expect that it won’t be long before the hands-on work begins. It’s sure to be collectively transformational!

Film Journey & The Alt Unity

How to Join the Game of Alt Unity

Grand Providentia United

Gathering Awareness – Entry #14

There are two pathways to becoming a member of the Alt Unity – There’s the fictional pathway and the factual pathway. The two pathways of membership are equally supportive of the Grand Providentia Projection (GPP), and both of them are of equal importance to the Grand Cause. All memberships to the Alt Unity are based on your free will decision to join. There are no commitments or requirements to be a member of the Alt Unity beyond your free will decision in the current moment, so please, come and go as you please! As the Alt Unity grows and real-world opportunities arise for its members to get more involved with the GPP, it will be entirely up to you whether you’d like to venture further, commit more, pursue a different role within the Alt Unity, or move away from it toward something else entirely.

“Landfill Man Part II, Recycled” Photo – Halloween, 2006

The first pathway to join the Alt Unity, and the one I’ll be writing about today, is the fictional pathway. It’s the ‘Let’s have some fun!’ pathway. In all seriousness, there is nothing serious about it! The fictional elements of the Grand Providentia Projection will be designed and executed much like a role-playing game. As with most games, there will be rules of play, but I’m willing to expect that they will be simple rules. Indeed, fun rules! Think fantasy! Think science fiction! Think theatrical, metaphysical and paranormal rolled into one! There will be lotteries, giveaways, celebrations and plot twists. Casting calls, artist calls, conference calls and music halls. A word of warning though, if you should choose this pathway into the Alt Unity, you may find yourself questioning the nature of reality more often, pinching yourself to see if you are simply dreaming more often and wondering when and how this fantastic game became your real-world reality. But please don’t be nervous, it will all be imagined and co-created in the pursuit of our most meaningful dreams!

Film Journey & The Alt Unity

To Where, Does the Alt Unity Flow?

Grand Providentia United

Gathering Awareness – Entry #11

Collective conscious intentions, with the crucial assistance of Source, will guide the flow of the Alt Unity toward where it is meant to be in each successive moment. I am currently feeling the urge to apologize to many of those who have been reading this blog. Some of you may be exhausted by the other-worldly nature of my writing. I can imagine your frustration, especially if you are looking for facts or something solid to hang your metaphorical hat on, and all I continually provide you with are riddles within riddles. It’s ridiculous! Instead of apologizing though, I’ll now turn toward reason, rather than continuing to entertain metaphysical imaginings. Specifically, I’ll spell out the reason that I’ve decided to initiate the Alt Unity at this moment in our shared story of humankind. To accomplish this task, I will need to describe the reach of the intentions already sent forth and the ultimate expectations of the outcomes yet to be manifested by those intentions. And beyond that, I’ll need to give you an explanation of where I am at in the here and now, and where I’m expecting we’ll be in the perceivable future.

The Cosmic Picture

The most practical description I can currently formulate, of what the Alt Unity will become, where it will be located physically, and how it will manifest positive change, is as follows – The Alt Unity will become a worldwide creative projection, intended to heal and preserve the human race, to replenish and protect the Earth’s environment and its inhabitants (on which, our physical survival depends) and to promote broad reaching societal change that will sustain the viability and relevance of our shared efforts toward these primary objectives. It is intended that the Alt Unity will remain unbiased as it relates to race, religious belief, cultural origin, political ideology, or any other defining characteristic that points to our differences. Instead, the Alt Unity is intended to remain focused on only the aspects of humanity that we share. Our commonalities.

The Alt Unity will manifest, in the physical sense, as a series of large-scale collaborative creations, placed intentionally at specific locations around the world. These creations will act as focal points and gathering sites for the reception and transmission of collective conscious intentions. The visual appearance of each of these focal points will be designed through a conscious creative collaboration, each creation having its own unique interpretation with relevance to the specific location on the globe and the cultural heritage of its local inhabitants.

And this creative projection of collective consciousness will be the subject and the object of the “True story, as Yet Unfolding…” The surrealistic documentary that I am intending to create once I am versed in the language of film.

“Rainbow Mills” from the Hope Mill Series

Thank you for the moments of your presence here!