Hey everybody, Joe Carlson here, head of 8-Leafer Studios here in Duluth, MN, and the last you heard from me was an update on my latest project, “Solomon,” featuring my first attempt at creature effects. The film is a story-driven PSA about the mutation epidemic of the 90s and the dangers of wreckless science and pollution, and “Solomon” happens to be one of the first characters I ever invented, back when I was in first grade. Long story short, the film was supposed to be a quick gag project that could’ve been produced in a month, basically with a heavily decorated sock puppet, but the more I worked on the project, the more I cared about it. I spent an unscheduled 6 months on the puppet pieces, and there’s about to be a second reshoot for 3 new shots, but those aren’t the reasons I feel the need to drop this update: Like I said, originally this was supposed to be a goof project, so I didn’t plan on taking every step to make it perfect, I’m just one guy with a really hardcore hobby, so I was going to edit it in different programs that could handle different editing techniques, render my scenes, and load those videos into premiere pro, which would cause an inevitable slight drop in quality. Well, instead, I’ve decided to start the edit over entirely in the newest version of premiere pro, and get it all done in one place.

Although I’ll be starting the edit over from the beginning, I’ll be doing my best to stay on track, as I’m also trying to schedule another shoot with Erika Adams for our next episode featuring “Nixie,” and we’re quickly coming up on that one-year mark in October, from when the cameras first started rolling for “Solomon” on that windy day. I hoped it wouldn’t take this long, and I’m not sure the final product will match my effort, but this is a real passion project that hopefully will keep an important topic alive.