San Antonio Christian Film Festival Awards

A huge congratulations win at the San Antonio Christian Film Festival for "Return to the Hiding Place" that received three awards: Best Feature Film Award, Audience Choice Award, and Runner Up for Best of Festival Award. What an honor to the Producers/Director: Dr. Peter Spencer and Petra Spencer Pearce (pictured above), Gideon Spencer, Josiah Spencer, Rachel Spencer Hewitt (who portays Atie van Woerden, the Editing Team, Sound Crew, Team of Actors, and everyone behind the scenes and beyond, and especially to the families represented in our film: Hans Poley, Piet Hartog, Atie van Woerden, Corrie ten Boom, and more ....  What an honor!

The Shops at Nelis' Dutch Village

12350 James Street
Holland, MI 49424

http://www.dutchvillage.com/
800.285.7177

We have mentioned before how wonderful it was to find such authentic Dutch locations, here in the states. Well this little gem is one of those wonders. A fun place for the family to spend the day wandering, learning and playing; though we used it for shooting scenes!

You can go visit one of our set locations, which is also a tourist attraction in Holland, Michigan.

While there, you can feed farm animals, ride the carousel or watch traditional dancing. Of course, you can also join the dancing, since lessons are offered!





They offer many authentic representations of dutch life, as seen over 100 years ago, including this Wedding Wagon. But that horse is not real. So don't get your hopes up!





When speaking of the Dutch culture we often think of the iconic wooden shoes. In the Nelis' Dutch Village, you can see how they are created. Either by hand or antique automated machinery.





The grounds include vibrant flowering gardens, canals and windmills, all manned by authentically dressed, and very friendly, staff.


The Shops at Nelis' Dutch Village has seasons of operation, so check before you make the stop. But do stop, it is well worth it!


http://www.dutchvillage.com/

The Baert Baron Mansion Bed and Breakfast

120 South Church St

Zeeland, MI 49464

www.baertbaronmansion.com

phone: 616.748.1953

For the film, we were in need of a home to use for various scenes, inside and out. Something classy but age appropriate. Thankfully, we got this bed and breakfast!

The Baert Baron Mansion is in Zeeland, Michigan - a hop, skip and jump away from Grand Rapids. It was built by Dr. Daniel Baert in 1872 and is a classic example of the French Italianate design of the Nineteenth century in Western Michigan. 

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Vic and Anna Karen VanDeventer have created a peaceful and beautiful stopover for guests, that includes tasty food and wireless internet.

For all the other pertinent details, call 616.748.195 or email annavandeventer@charter.net
http://www.baertbaronmansion.com/

Oh the Places We Went!

While filming for the movie is complete, and post production has begun, we still reminisce on the amazing places we worked this summer. For the next week or so, we want to highlight some of those places. Give you the info if you want to visit, tell you the funny stories and give props where they are deserved!

Then, after that, we should have a trailer for you! Guys, I am seeing the footage come together and it is incredible. I am not disappointed and am simply giddy over the prospect of the finished product!

But, patience is a virtue, therefore, nose to the grindstone and all that jazz...

A Sunshiny Day

Our first day of filming was beautiful; sunny and bright, with fantastic people! So, with that in mind, I give you the people AND the sunshine! I was going to title this post, "Peter Winks at Everyone" but I didn't get as many good pictures of him winking. With all that sunshine, he could only spare one eye at a time!

Our very first shots involved these amazing reenactors. Those uniforms are the best reproductions a person could find! In wool! Doesn't take long for a man to start "glistening" when wearing wool in the summer. Not long at all. (You can't tell but, this is a Winking Peter Shot.)

The actors were waiting for their turns in the makeup and hair chairs, so we attacked them with cameras. This is Jacob, he plays Frank. And he does it really, REALLY well! (Hello, Winking Peter!)

The house we used for these scenes isn't historically accurate on the outside. It is the inside that held our attention! The cast and crew gathered around for instructions and a few winks.

We took up THE WHOLE STREET. They blocked it off so that we could have room for all our people and stuff. And one of the craziest parts? It was garbage day, so our People of Awesomeness took trashcans down the street to the waiting garbage trucks. So that the trucks wouldn't interrupt the scenes. Friends, that is dedication!

After so many months of planning, dreaming and just plain work, it was so rewarding to see all of this! A few hours on set led me to believe, 1) I want to do this FOREVER and 2) We need to get Peter some sunglasses!

Authentic

Whenever I watch the behind the scenes of a movie, I am always so impressed with actors who learn a new skill to bring a character to life. In our case, one of our actors, Craig Robert Young (playing Piet Hartog) needed to learn to drive a motorcycle. A WWII German motorcycle. Yeah.

Scott, the re-enactor guy who owns the motorcycle, was gracious enough to give Craig lessons in the fine art of driving a really old motorcylce. 

Craig rode shotgun for a bit and got sage advice from the pro. They ignored us taking many pictures. But managed to not run us over (a small kindness).

But look at him go! He is so pro. He was even game to give rides to onlookers, small children and yours truly. Pro AND amiable! We like you, Craig.

P.S. If you desire more info about Craig, check out his IMDb page (you should totally look, he was in Lost, y'all!).

Geeking Out

Kids, I am totally psyched! We are in Michigan doing all the pre-film stuff and it is AWESOME! Getting to see the locations in person, meeting the geniuses behind the madness and fulfilling dreams is almost Cool Overload.

The first order of business has been to check the locations and see our sets. It is amazing how Dutch feeling a small town in Michigan really is; everywhere there is Dutch influenced architecture! Not to mention the gardens, food and weather.

We checked out the windmill, which is where we filmed those tulip field scenes. The tulips are no longer in bloom, but the windmill, shops and a great bridge were inspected.

Outside our windmill is a piece of an old windmill wing they have on display. It is riddled with bullet holes because the windmill had been used as a lookout point during World War II.

The 10 West guys have been busy making sure our sets look amazing and they are doing a fantastic job! They have 4 stages where various sets are being built.

The benefit of creating your sets, is that they can be made movable and changeable. We will be able to get double duty out of them by simply moving a few walls and changing the various set elements!

One of the best feelings in the world is going to bed, absolutely exhausted from working on something wonderful. Yeah, we're there.