Growing Up Guide Pup Now a Charity Organization

My wife and I are the creators of Growing Up Guide Pup. We have been hard at work trying to figure out how to come up with the means to bring the series back. After our first season we were able to find a fiscal sponsor so people who donated to us could get a tax deduction and we were hopeful that we would qualify for some of the various grants out there. We hired two different grant writers to help us find grants that we might qualify for and who had the knowledge to help us submit for them. Unfortunately we have been turned down for every grant that we have applied for.

We have come to find that were were not eligible for many of the grants because we were fiscally sponsored. After going back and forth over the last year or so we have decided to apply to become a non-profit. We have great news. Today we got our determination letter from the IRS. We are super excited to announce that we received an acceptance letter and our application has been approved! Growing Up Guide Pup is now officially a public charity 501(c)3 organization. We still have so much to do to get fully set up, but we are ready to make a fresh start and get back to work. We will be continuing to apply for grants, and we are in the process of planning a few fund raisers where anybody can donate to help our mission. The funds we raise will be going towards:

* new editing equipment, computer and software
* filming equipment, new lenses for our camera and recording media
* redoing our website and being able to hire someone to admin it,
* purchasing more royalty free music (unfortunately a lot of our previously bought royalty free music is no longer royalty free),
* designing and purchasing new graphics for the introduction and body of the show
* copy writing fees (unfortunately in this day and age this is a necessity)
* we are looking to hire someone to help with keeping our blog updated along with other social media duties,
* hiring another camera person for our next season to be able to get more footage of what goes into raising a puppy, including more home life with both Matt and I
* travel costs, we really want to show other raisers and service dog teams and sometimes that might require us to travel out of the area
* puppy care including veterinary costs, food, new toys and equipment.
* a puppy raising scholarship - we know first hand that raising a puppy costs money, Some people might have the time needed to raise a puppy but not the extra funds in their budget to make it happen. Depending on how much we raise we hope to be able to pay for the costs of raising a puppy for people who can't afford it.

As you can see we have lots of ideas how we can improve our show even more and hopefully draw more people in to watch and educate them not only what puppy raisers do but also how these puppies go on to change the lives of those who receive them. The more people know about service dogs the more they will be accepted in society. We have a few other changes in the works and hope to be able to announce those after the new year. If things go well a new puppy will arrive in the spring. From there we could have our next doggy for Growing Up Guide Pup. Thanks to all for the continued support and Happy Holidays!

The Little Ricki Song - Mckenna Faith Original Song

Mckenna Faith wrote this song honoring guide dog puppies for us a few years ago. We decided to release the unplugged recording we did with her that day. Big thanks to Mckenna and her family for making this awesome song for us.

***Secret to Great Acting - DIY***

This sample video from our series can help any aspiring actor to learn philosophy, improvisation, marial arts acting, realistic dialogue delivery, and dancing. Check it out!
Email luciousshowcase@gmail.com for more information. Call (650) 555-1548 to order the complete video set today.

Directed By and Starring: Lucious
Shot and Produced by: Chappy
Cut by: Lucious and Chappy



Chappy's Twitter:
http://twitter.com/ChappyShowcase

ChappyShowcase Fan Page:
http://www.facebook.com/ChappyShowcase

Camera Dolly Curvature Experiment - GurillaTV

For my web series GurillaTV i thought it would be fun to experiment with a dolly shot. I created a half circle using 5 pieces of circle track.
Then i situated all the cast of characters from GurillaTV in approximately a 120 degree field of view. In other words the entire shooting space didn't account for all 180 degrees in front of me as I directed the shoot. We placed our mascot Roy in the center field of view and kept the camera focused on the center apex of the movement from one end of the dolly move to the end. The natural curvature of the dolly required a constant correction of the main point of focus on Roy by the cameraman. The end result was a unique look resulting in the background constantly changing while the point of focus remained the same. All the actors and their myriad representations of culture, art, race, and humanity creates a interesting tapestry to coincide with a interesting visual dynamic. We ended up doing the shot about 10 times. Each time the timing of background, actors performing, and apex timing in the center changed slightly providing fun options for the series. Two of the takes of GurillaTV the web series can be found below.

Created and Hosted By
Matt Chapman - Chappy
Camera Recording - Darren Schmidt
Intro and Outro Music By -
Pete Stringfellow
Chris Hayes

Dolly Take #1


Dolly Take #2


Any interest in the series opportunities should contact me at matt@chapmanpictures.com.

Series Pilot GurillaTV

I have posted the first two pilot episodes of GurillaTV. The series pilot showcases motifs, guerilla filmmaking, parody, and a collaboration effort of many artists working together. Any prospective interest in the series can contact me at matt@chapmanpictures.com This is the premiere episode from the pilot series GurillaTV. This episode features video segments from Daneboe, GreeenPro, and ChappyShowcase. This crazy episode features Tubemogul technology for video publishers. This is the second episode from the pilot series GurillaTV. This episode features video segments from Dick Jones, Nextraker, and Lucchina. This crazy episode features Young Conan learning sword fighting for stunt film action scenes.

What's Going On With GURILLATV?

After 6 years of the initial plan in late 2008, the GurillaTV story comes out in my first public offering via this blog post. This is an honest evaluation of GurillaTV and what has happened up to this point. It also reflects the nature of trying to start a visionary idea. Ideas are great, but making them happen is a different story. Although the video website part of the GurillaTV is no longer viable, i still feel the web series has a lot of potential and the two 'Lost" episodes can be viewed as pilots moving forward. If any production company, or platform, or whatever has interest in GurillaTV the web series, I am willing to listen as the sole owner in propriety. So what was GurillaTV supposed to be? GurillaTV was supposed to be a online media platform where video creators could use a integrated forum to discuss film making topics, a place to watch webisodes from GurillaTV where video producers could learn more about the online video making paradigm, and it also would have been a place to distribute videos via the Tubemogul.com distribution tools which were to be integrated right out of GurillaTV.com. We were going to build the number of producers on the site slowly partnering with 3 new producers every two weeks. We were only going to bring producers with a successful track record and a history of making original content to fight the large amount of video piracy that was rampant at the time. Our producer affiliates were to be called "Gurilla producers" and part of their participation required making a short video segment which would be integrated into the GurillaTV web series that would be released every two weeks along with their debut on the GurillaTV site. I had originally raised funding for the progressive idea and found a partner to move forward with as I could not produce enough seed money for the idea all on my own. I hired a marketing company who reviewed my proposal for the visionary idea. The marketing agency was also a website design company who specialized in SEO technology. The CEO of the marketing company accepted the proposal and we signed a contract to implement the idea in 3-6 months from the time we agreed on the contingencies of the contract. The idea was very unique and sparked the interest of some financial backing which would be put into effect in stages once milestones began to occur. The idea also had a backlog of producers who were ready and willing to join on as partners. The marketing company who was to build the site knew up front what the web portal was supposed to be and gave no indication that they would not be able to perform the task. They expressed that It could be a great learning experience. We filmed two pilots in early to mid 2009 for GurillaTV. We cast a few dozen people for the series and had developed "Roy" as the mascot who was a guy in a gorilla suit. The webisodes came out well and I was really excited for the future. After we finished the first two episodes we held off on the third episode as the website became our focus of concern. After almost six months the website had hardly anything to show for it, my partner and I had only received screen capture images of the site. Concerned with what was going on, we tried to make a effort to help speed things up by paying the marketing company more of the money owed even though our contract didn't require it. We hoped this may help. More months went by and we still had nothing to show for it. In the summer of 2009 I went to visit the company CEO in person to see what was the hold up. This individual was blaming drupal technology and saying that they had decided to scrap all the original design so they could implement word press instead for the back end of the website. Not being a web designer myself, I had no move but to trust this man and hope that he would have better luck with this new plan. Well the new word press site was not complete until nearly a year after our initial contract was signed. This was now 12 months instead of 3-6 months as promised. In early 2010 we finally were able to see the beta GurillaTV website. My initial reaction was that of total dismay. The site was very amateur looking, and had more technical problems with its functionality then anything I had ever seen. How on earth can I put this website out there as constructed? My reputation would be ruined. The website looked as if it had been designed by a 10 year old child who was just learning how to design websites. By this time my partner was ready to sue the marketing company for breach of contract. I was really hesitant to do such a thing, because that would seemingly make it so we would never get this GurillaTV project done, and I would have to scrap it. I had poured hours and hours into planning, had my reputation on the line, and just didn't want to go that route which would mean I would have to accept my vision was not going to happen. My partner and I had a falling out over my decision to not sue, and I eventually bought him out around mid 2010 to relieve him of the headache which was more mine than his. It was my brainchild after all. Now a year and half had passed since the original inception of the LLC. The webisodes we had shot had not been released for over a year, and no solution seemed to be in sight. At the beginning of 20111 I had tried everything I could to politically put my feelings aside and resolve this issue of incompetence with the GurillaTV beta website. The marketing agency at this point stopped giving me hope and trying to fix the beta site cause it was like trying to fix a disaster I suppose. They stopped answering my emails, phone calls, and attempts to communicate. Maybe I had made a mistake and should have just sued these guys when my partner wanted to, cause they seemingly were to incompetent to fix the problems and probably knew it in my estimation. In mid 2011 i took the marketing company to court. The defendant was unwilling to dialogue out of court and settle the problem. Although they had failed me, I would have been willing to pay them for the GurillTV logo which was awesome and the only thing they did well. I am a reasonable guy, but wanted the rest of my investment back. After litigation in small claims court the case was heard in front of a judge in Alameda County. A few weeks later I got the results in the mail to find I had won. Although it felt good to win, it really was anything but happiness. My idea never came to pass. A few months later when I thought this thing was finally all over, the marketing company appealed the decision and I was to have to go to appeals court. Now I was allowed to have a lawyer, but so was the defendant. So I hired a layer, we built up our case which was even stronger than the first hearing. In late 2011 we ha arrived at the appellate court with our lawyer, and prepared to battle the appeal. Our evidence in the case was very impressive. We had documented evidence of all the lies, incompetency, and bad business practices done by the defendant. After sitting in the court room for 10 minutes, It became apparent that the defendant had not even showed up at his own appeal. Wow, this was really frustrating. It was the perfect example for the judge as to why I was there in the first place. I had won yet again, but nearly all the compensation I got back went to the lawyer I had hired for the appeal hearing. What a difficult "win" to swallow. So that is the story in a nutshell. It is the truth and facts about GurillaTV's past. Now years later, after much thought I finally have released the two pilot episodes of GurillaTV. My co-founder who I have no ill will against, requested to remain anonymous which I respectfully have done by blotching out his face and changing his name in the webisodes. I won't rule out the GurillaTV series moving forward, but currently have no plans for it. I wanted to make sure It was distributed in honor of all those involved who gave their time and energy. Thank you, Matt Chapman Founder of GurillaTV

My Evolution to the WEB SERIES

Back in 2009, I was creating how-to videos released under my moniker "ChappyShowcase" which were videos about low budget film making. Although I released all kinds of videos in different genres, the how-to film making seemed to resonate more than any other types of videos I made. The economy had collapsed, video creators had no money, and low budget film making spoke to that. Consistently I found good feedback and people offering to pay me to make my "$30 Steadicam" for them; named after a how-to video of the same subject. I was not interested in doing this, but found it a pleasant experience to get so much feedback. It was amazing making a video rendition of a recycled design I had learned about nearly 7 years earlier back in the dial modem days of the internet. This single video got me more serious about doing more although I had already put out a few dozen videos scattered over a few months. After a few years of freelancing as a cinematographer/editor, as well as producing an exhausting amount of wedding videos with my production company, I was deeply affected by the crash of my video business in late 2007. I lost nearly all my clients, however took the opportunity to look for other avenues to do video. I recently had read about sites like Youtube, Metacafe, Revver, and Crackle in Videomaker Magazine. I had really wanted to tell my own stories, not work for other people, but this idea was kind of a dream. What had seemingly been good as a videographer, no longer existed in a flash so what did I have to lose? Up to that point Youtube and other "user generated sites" had only been around for months not years. These sites seemed to have a stigma of only containing crappy videos from amateurs. I remember the sentiment that respectable filmmakers didn't do that sort of thing. No one I knew in the video business was making videos and putting them up for free on these unique sites, I thought I might as well put up a few I had created since they had screened and then died. I put "Nerves of Steel" and "In Case of Emergency" up. Two films I had screened at some smaller film festivals. After figuring out a dozen "user generated" sites or so, I instantly loved the fact that there was immediate feedback and fulfillment from an audience. Before I had to find a place to screen a film and it could take months if not years to find a festival. By the time that happened, I may hardly remember why i made the film in the first place. What an amazing thing this "user generated online distribution" was for producers. I uploaded the same videos to all the sites and was able compare the views and reactions. Not only did I learn about what videos were most popular, I also learned the value of working with the right distribution partners. One week in the summer of 2008 I had the opportunity to film Streaming Media West at their annual conference which took place in Silicon Valley. This conference put together by Dan Rayburn featured one panel about a new thing called a web series. Show creators with titillating new brands included Rocketbook, and Political Lunch spoke about what they were doing. The market for such an idea was really immature, but the opportunity was good according to them. The web series was to be the next big thing in their estimation. The internet was the wild west where there were no rules to speak of. No technical specifications, no close captioning, no format restrictions, and the list went on and on. A video creator could do whatever they wanted and tons of sites like Youtube would host the videos for free too. This seemed to be a no brainer for me to experiment with more. I though more and more about producing a web series in 2008 after a year of distributing videos all over the internet. My documentary "Nerves of Steel" featured on Crackel for nearly a year, then ChappyShowcase became a partner producer with Metacafe. Shortly after that Youtube accepted my application to be a "producer partner" as well. These events really got my hooked into the possibilities of what a web series may present. Especially now that i had learned the value of intellectual property and money working for you and not the other way around. I felt a web series was a better idea because it was serial or episodic in nature. This sort of distribution approach could be a better way to build an audience. I experienced that my videos were often one-off and not serial even if some of them were getting pretty good hits. The one-off videos were not seemingly connected from one upload to another. Perhaps this gave my viewers no reason to necessarily check back in and watch new videos. One week I may put up a Samoan music video from a guy who had not payed me (so this was my way at some sort of monetization) for the work. Another week I may put up a grease monkey video of a time lapse car repair I did. Yet another time I would release a parody I made with my brother years earlier; shot on analog video. Although I did find many would simply binge view my content all at once for a day or two, a serial show may bring people back by the nature of the release and continual story forward. This could go on for moths, or maybe even years. More and more people (on Youtube especially) were starting to put out a web series of some sort. Some releasing a new episode once a month, or once a week, or even some did it once a day. Some years before all of this, my wife and I started raising guide dogs for the blind in 2002. Over the following decade we really started to enjoy it and couldn't believe how fulfilling it was to help other people. "Could we make a web series about this guide dog stuff?" We became good friends with the visually impaired partner who received our first guide pup Macklin. Her genuine appreciation and ability to raise her level of productivity in life was so apparent that it just smacked me in the face. "This is a whole new narrative world I have hardly seen in tv or movies" I thought. After a few days of talking about it, my wife Amie and I decided to give it a shot and make a web series. Growing Up Guide Pup was to be the name of the series. We really didn't have much of a plan as we decided to experiment and remove conventional production bureaucracy so we could move quickly. We had a new puppy arriving shortly. Two days after the idea, I already had camcorder in hand and was filming cause a puppy had become available. That first episode we decided to design a format that even the visually impaired could enjoy through colorful description. At first we focused on story, not production value. We filmed with a cell phone for the first time so we could get footage in the grocery store without a hassle. We focused on spontaneity and decided to keep the amount of oversight and cost to a minimum. My in kind equipment from my video business would be fine to make the series, and my prior online distribution experience with ChappyShowcase made me comfortable enough to move forward with a once a week video release approach. We released a video every week as our new puppy Ricki matured. Episode after episode we couldn't believe how fun the process was for us. We also got more feedback and appreciation than we had anticipated. We started hearing from people who lived in other parts of the US, and even other countries. The service dog school we were working with at the time caught wind of what we were doing and starting promoting our videos and writing blogs so get more PR for themselves. The next thing we knew, our series was not an experiment anymore. it seemed to be working as a moving story piece and the puppy appeal was undeniable. Our series was accepted in the New Media Film Festival in 2010 while we were still filming the first season about Ricki. This was about 8 months after we had started. It was amazing how fast things work with the internet. Before we knew it, we had made a relationship with Nylabone dog toys and did our first contest giveaway. After a year, we had several thousand loyal fans as we continued to make the series and grow our core followers of dog lovers, puppy raisers, service dog people, and the visually impaired. Eventually this landed us an invitation to screen our series at the first and still largest web series festival in the world. Its called the LAWebFest and was founded by Michael Ajakwe Jr. It rendered awards for many things, but most importantly "Outstanding Non-Fiction Series" two years in a row in 2011 and 2012. In 2013, we also received an award at CreaTV Awards in Silicon Valley for "Outstanding CreaTiVe Award Feature Winner" As of May of 2014, I am excited for the future and what it may entail. One thing is certain, the web series genre will be intertwined with us. Hope you enjoyed my story and evolution to the web series. For any filmmakers out there deciding to make a web series of their own. Don't let anything get in your way, because opportunity is upon you.

Finally 86 Organizations band together to fight for our 1st and 4th Amendment Rights!

86 Organizations Petition Congress to Counter Unconstitutional Surveillance Letter Demands Patriot Act Reform of Section 215, Congressional Hearings and Accountability A letter signed by 86 public interest and civil liberties organizations was delivered to Congress this morning, in the wake of a week of explosive reports in the UK Guardian and the Washington Post from former Booz Allen NSA contractor Edward Snowden. The reports detailed several government programs, including one that provides access to metadata for telephone calls and another that provides warrantless access to online activities culled from the servers of nine leading Internet companies, including Google, Yahoo, Microsoft, Apple and Facebook. The letter states: "This type of blanket data collection by the government strikes at bedrock American values of freedom and privacy. This dragnet surveillance violates the 1st and 4th amendments of the US Constitution". The 4th Amendment of the United States Constitution reads as follows: "The right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers and effects against unreasonable search and seizure, shall not be violated, and no warrants shall issue but upon probable cause, supported by oath or affirmation, and particularly describing the place to be searched and the persons or things to be seized". Media Alliance director Tracy Rosenberg comments: "These programs are what the US Constitution was written to prevent". The 86 organizations are demanding: Immediate reform of Section 215 of the US Patriot Act, state secrets privilege, and the FISA Amendments Act to clarify that blanket surveillance of any individual residing in the United States is unconsttiutional and the ability to have violations reviewed by a public court. Congressional hearings to investigate and report on the full extent of current surveillance programs which will recommend specific legal and regulatory reforms to end unconstitutional surveillance Accountability for public officials found to have authorized or engaged in unconstitutional surveillance activities.

Welcome Home Ricki!

We filmed the process of raising our guide dog puppy Ricki. After 16 months of making our series Growing Up Guide Pup, Ricki decided she wanted to be with us and was not guide dog material. Well the Nylabone company generously sent Ricki a "welcome home" package of dog toys. Our dogs have always loved Nylabones and they are our dog toy of choice. Thanks Nylabone!

Growing Up Guide Pup - Week 64 - Finale

The long journey came to a conclusion this week. Ricki was our 10th dog we have raised for Guide Dogs. Although we have become conditioned for the process of raising pups for working careers, it never gets any easier. I know that the last episode of the season was dramatic, but I felt it was important to let the audience experience exactly what we experience every time we go through the process. I think the series should be liberating for puppy raisers, and used to help raise awareness across all working dog fields. I hope it helps open some eyes to those people out there who are not aware of the emotional ending. This episode is truly the only episode that has a beginning, middle, and end. Hence why I think it is probably the best one for someone to watch. We are so thankful and proud to have been the raisers of Ricki and wish her the best of luck in the future. Hopefully Guide Dogs will find a great alternative career for her in community placement.

Thanks to all for watching and your continual support. Be sure to check out our new website

http://www.growingupguidepup.com for the latest news on Ricki and our next pup coming in the future.

Matt