“THE MEASURE OF A MAN” MOVIE TO PREMIERE IN BAKERSFIELD

by Vaun Thygerson
Staff writer and mother of three

A local film company will premiere its third feature film, “The Measure of a Man,” on March 25 and 26 at the historic Fox Theatre. The movie based on the inspiring true story of Donald P. Bailey, a charming and eccentric father of nine whose charisma and optimism set him apart from the average dad, was produced by the independent film company Higher Definition Media (HDM).

Writer and director, Elizabeth Waite, recreated Donald P. Bailey and brought to life this endearing character-driven story about her father – a man whose optimistic personality and discipline lead him through the Great Depression, WWII, and with his wife, Emogene, raising nine children with the love of music and his golden voice. HDM owner, Andrew Waite, is producer and director of photography. The original musical score is by talented local composer Brianne Sorkin-Lee.

Tickets are available for $12 at the Fox Ticket Office and through Vallitix.com. For more information, please visit www.hdmweb.com.

The Measure of a Man | Official Trailer | an HDM Film from HDM on Vimeo.

THE MEASURE OF A MAN IMDB PAGE is also up and running! Please check it out for more information on the cast and crew.

The inspiring true story of Donald P. Bailey, a charming and eccentric father of nine, who’s charisma and optimism set him apart from the average dad.

The independent film company, Higher Definition Media (HDM) began principal photography on July 5th, 2010. The film was shot on location in Kern County, where the incredible true life story of Donald P. Bailey is recreated by writer and director Elizabeth Waite. Waite remakes the endearing character driven story of her father; a man whose optimistic personality and discipline lead him through the Great Depression, WWII, and set him apart from the average father as he and his wife Emogene raised nine children with the love of music and his golden voice.

HDM headed to Hollywood, where auditions were held for two weeks with talent from across the country. The cast includes: Jarin Stevens as Donald P. Bailey, and Jennica Schwartzman as his wife Emogene. Their teenage counterparts are played by Gabriel Myers and Tina Mirka. Jules Hartley plays Elizabeth, narrator of the story. The nine talented children are: Christopher Slaughter, Madeline Penn, Alana Hamilton, Cody Sullivan, Blythe Butler, Carsen Warner, Jadon Sand, Cole Sand, and Jaden Melashenko.

Andrew Waite, owner of HDM, produced the film. Also working on the film is production manager Amber Waite. A large crew, including some local members, was pooled for the six weeks of shooting. The original musical score was composed by talented local composer Briana Sorkin-Lee.

On Friday, January 14th, 2011, the shooting was officially wrapped and post-production began. The film is scheduled for it’s Premiere at the historic Fox Theater in Bakersfield on Friday, March 25th, 2011. Tickets are available for $12 at the Fox Ticket Office and through Vallitix.com. The Fox Theater will also have a Matinee showing on Saturday, March 26th at 2:00pm.

HDM offers the largest inventory of feature film equipment rentals in Kern County and produces commercials, wedding films, television shows, and full-length feature films.

“After being raised in an Oklahoma orphanage, 15 year-old Donald makes his way to California during the depression. He meets Emogene, the daughter of poor migrant farm laborers, and together they set out to break the cycle of poverty and ignorance.

This is the inspiring true story of Donald P. Bailey, a charming, and eccentric father of nine, who’s charisma and optimism set him apart from the average dad. But his golden voice made him a legend to his posterity for generations. His unique life is remembered through the eyes of his daughter, Elizabeth.”

More updates to come including casting, our first meet-up with the cast, the story behind the Sunset house and a Bailey family photo! To see clips from our other two films, Stamped! and Phase Two, check out our Film/TV Gallery.

Andrew at our booth at the “Weddings 2010″ Bridal Show at the Kern County Fair Grounds.

The show was very well attended and we had a really great time meeting and talking with the numerous Brides and Grooms To-Be!  I’m more excited than ever now about this year!

We filmed a 3 day time lapse of the entire event complete from start to finish so stay tuned for it.

Brides and grooms “to-be” along with their mom’s, dad’s, siblings and friends lined up outside the Rabobank to get a first hand look at what the wedding community has to offer them for their dream wedding. Just before noon the doors were opened and the Bridal Show was officially kicked off.

The HDM team (Kim, Andrew & Amber)

One 56 inch HDTV, One 48 inch television and Four 24 inch Apple Cinema Displays! No… I’m not talking about a Best Buy store, I’m referring to our killer booth at The Ultimate Bridal Event! We felt that the best way to present our product was to simply show it.  We take pride in every wedding film we produce so we were certainly not shy about showing them off.

We met with SO many amazing brides and grooms and had the wonderful opportunity to discuss with them the details of their wedding and show them what Higher Definition Media has to offer. Personally it was my very first Bridal Show so I was pretty nervous but ultimately I feel pretty good about it. The show was really well attended which made it even better!

(Photos courtesy of InMotion)

We are very much looking forward to our upcoming bridal consultations and can’t wait to get the opportunity to meet with new and potential clients and film their special wedding day! If anyone is interested in a FREE consultation please contact us by calling us at 661.301.4444 or send us an email info@hdmweb.com.

The next coming up event is the “Weddings 2010″ Bridal Show taking place at the Fairgrounds on Sunday January 31st. Be sure to come and check out our booth!

Anyway, unfortunately Hollywood has a way of making impossible things a reality… sorry if I ruined anything for you, but it’s not as easy as pushing a button on your keyboard that will magically take a low resolution video and turn it into HD so you can read the numbers off a license plate. However, HDM was recently hired to clean up some video and do some interesting things with some surveillance footage from the BPD that will most likely determine a criminal case. I am also headed to court on Thursday to be an “Expert Witness” with this newly “Enhanced” video that will no doubt change to tides, so to speak. Pretty cool stuff, I wish I could talk more about it or even post clips or something, but obviously that’s not possible at this time. Hopefully if all goes well I will not have to be entered into witness protection or anything like that… just kidding!

The HDM team recently attended the annual Kern County Bridal Association (KCBA) Christmas party held at the Moorea Banquet Center in Bakersfield, CA on December 13th, 2009.  We enjoyed a delicious dinner provided by Champs BBQ and enjoyed the company of our fellow bridal vendors. The raffle was great with some really nice traditional gifts mixed with a hilarious money grab prize. Jared and Mark from Freestyle entertainment provided the lighting and entertainment and the entire event was documented with photos by Jennifer Williams Photography. Before leaving we couldn’t resist but get an HDM team photo taken in the photo booth provided by Sit N’ Grin.  We had such a great time and can’t wait for the next Bridal Association mixer!

The wedding was a huge success, a lot of which was attributed to such great vendors! Brenna from Seven Oaks, as always, did a wonderful job of keeping things on schedule. Artisan was WONDERFUL to work with, as always, and took some AMAZING photos, which of course made our job a lot easier. Freestyle Entertainment had the dance floor PACKED the entire night… no really, there was SO MUCH energy on the dance floor and it NEVER died down the entire night… even after the bride and groom left! All these things and more made for a wonderful wedding!

Congrats to Kathleen and Daniel! Thank you for letting us be a part of your special day!

Watch more highlights videos in our Wedding Gallery.