And check another one off the list of things to do before we die: Filming the serene, beautiful life of Norbertine monks.

We recently got back from the picturesque hills (or mountains…I don’t know the difference) of Orange County, California, after capturing the happenings of St. Michael’s Abbey, a Norbertine community. Gorilla Pictures sent Eric Machiela and David Michael Phelps to Los Angeles, where they met up with cinematographer Tanner Wolfe. The three of them piled copious amounts of film gear into a Dodge Journey (no wonder the American car companies are having a problem selling vehicles) and drove east to Silverado CA, where they spent four days filming the Norbertine fathers in all their glory. The piece was concepted by Dave Phelps (along with the tutelage of the Norbertines) to be a “visual poem” of sorts, heavily reliant on its images and music. What we saw through the viewfinder looked great — now it’s just a matter of piecing it together. And crossing our fingers.

BONUS: Photos below! As you can see, it’s always amazing where film production takes us.

Ed’s Story is a series of five short films that tell pivotal points in Dr. Ed Dobson’s remarkable real-life journey with ALS. The series is based on Ed’s book, “Prayers & Promises”, published by Zondervan. The creative producer is Karl Koelling, who recently brought the project to Gorilla. This project has copious amounts of potential and we’ll be helping out by facilitating with RED cameras and Master Primes.

Film one, “It Ain’t Over”, is currently in pre-production and will be released in early 2010 for broadcast, DVD, and mobile device distribution.