Darren LeBlanc

Ok, so I’m basically in overdrive working on stuff for the anthem of hope website launch. You won’t see me much this month. But mark your calendars: April 1st is the big day that we launch http://anthemofhope.com Then just a month after the website launch, the English version of the Encouragement Disc will be available.

Also, look forward to our logo t-shirts and wrist bands being available at the site launch.

In the mean time…track me with twitter (if you have an account) – http://twitter.com/darrenleblanc

So, I often get looks from people wondering what “takes so much time” with Anthem of Hope. This inevitably comes when I tell them I’m up till 3am working everyday. (its 4am now…sometimes its a little later, others a bit earlier). So I wanted to give a little insight into a couple things from this week alone.

Video Shoot: We are doing 3, 15 second video clips for our website. Thats it…just 3 clips that are 15 seconds each. This is what that took:

• 15 hours online casting
• 1 full day of casting calls (team of 7 people)
• 6 hours of script writing (team of 3)
• 5 hours prep work for the shoot
• 8 hours, the day of the shoot (team of 10, plus 4 hired actors)
• Now, we have probably 20 hours editing and motion graphics left to do, and professional voice over narrative for the end and background music that has to be made.

Another thing this week was hiring the voice for the 3rd section of the Encouragement Disc. This is going to be a disc with 3 sections of scripture reading relevant to healing and faith. For this we got custom auditions from 67 professional voice talents before we found the perfect voice. If you want things to be be perfect, it takes time :)

Anyway, we have a great team. Please keep praying for us. We are hoping to launch our website very soon!

PS…I had such a good day today. Olivia and I played in the snow for an hour till her face was so red I made her go in (she wanted to stay out more..haha). It was nice.

Tonight was supposed to be a good blog night…I have about 3 or 4 ideas that need to be said soon. But…I fell asleep next to olivia’s bed and am just waking up now (3am)…haha. Oh well, I’ll write tomorrow. In the mean time, here are some pictures that Vanessa Joy just posted to my smugmug. This was the same shoot that we took the image up top on the banner for this page. Click the picture for the gallery.

PS…I’m so proud of my girl. Tonight, while doing our usual colorfest on my whiteboard, I told her to write her name. She said and wrote “O” then next to it, “l”, then we went back to “0″ followed by a series of dots that represented “v” “a” “v” “a” (or so so she said). Of course this was concluded with “I fell my name!! I fell my name daddy!”

PSS…things didn’t work out with the 3rd voice that we were looking for for the Anthem of Hope Encouragement Disc – so I posted a job for the voice talent community. We got some GREAT auditions. I think you all will be very happy with this first disc when its released.  (hopefully in april…the music takes some time).

PSSS…yes, valentines day was ok. I miss Misty, but holidays aren’t really any harder than any other day. Liv and I are doing ok. She still blows kisses to mommy most nights…

I have gotten a few questions as to why I’m not on staff at Calvary Lighthouse any more. Also, I get questions on where I’m going to church now, etc. These are questions and I suspect, may have been a source of confusion for one or two of you. So, lets explain:

As you know, I have been working like a dog on Anthem of Hope. It is very time consuming. There hasn’t been a week that I put in less than 30 hours in quite some time (and there are 13 of us working on this at some level each week). Of course I also have a full time job, and I keep mandatory daddy/daughter time each night when I’m home from work. So basically, I’m up very late each night after she gets to bed. This schedule leaves no time for being employeed anymore at a church. I stepped down a few months ago from my position at Calvary. There were absolutely no hard feelings. I want to make that clear because anytime someone leaves a church there are always rumors. Upon stepping down I decided it would be nice to visit the churches within driving distance that prayed dilligently for Misty. On off weeks from doing that, we (me and Livi) visit one of my local churches (that’s why many of you local folks see us popping in every once in a while).  Not sure where we will settle down, but for now, that is the plan.

Anyway, this weekend was wildly productive for Anthem of Hope. We had a casting call yesterday for a series of videos we are doing for Anthem of Hope. That went perfect. Then today we had a voice talent in the studio to record readings of one of the sections of our scripture disc (The Encouragement Disc).  

PS…my friend Jana Bova is in the hospital ready to have a baby. I’m praying for her tonight.

Today was a great day for Anthem of Hope:

1. 2 of the 3 hired voices for the Encouragement Disc are on now on contract and working.
2. We finally got our job listing posted for actors for the video campaign we are doing. This was the first day it was us and we got around 200 resumes and headshots…so thats great!
3. I had an initial consult with freelance writer, Kami Rice, who will be writing my bio.

So I’m excited! It also was a good day cause Olivia and I had dinner with some great friends – the Zieglers. I’m exhasted though, so I’m off to bed early.

PS…just went in and checked on my little girl. Sometimes I just sit and watch her when she is sleeping. I’m so in love with this kid :)

Updated: the video is now in flash format and should play for everyone.

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A few of us spent the day doing some video stuff. Below is a welcome video I just posted to http://anthemofhope.com 

I need some volunteers to comment on sections of the Anthem of Hope cd set…as they are created. Right now, I have the scriptures compiled for the Encouragement Disc and need comments before we hit the studio with the hired voices. If you are interested in reviewing the script, please send an email to the address found in the contact page on this site. (go up to the right top and click contact) Please put AoH in the subject line.

Thats all for now. Hope your weekend is going well :)

I signed the certificate for incorporation application tonight for Hope Resource Group. (Hope Resource Group is the official company making all the Anthem of Hope stuff)

Whoo Hoo!

Also, I found this link online:
http://www.mymusiccd.com/christian_cds.htm

My mom got Olivia the first CD on that page there and she just absolutely loved it. I think it was last year for Christmas that we got it, but we listened to it everyday for like 6 months. The songs are customized with your name in the lyrics. It’s a great baby gift.

I was emailing one of the the Anthem of Hope team members yesterday and I wrote this:

“I’m realizing that Anthem of Hope is so much more than resources…it’s a new way of living for me, and you, and for our team. I’m in tears now, because I’m so priviledged to be a part of this…”

This was prompted when I found out that the occupational therapist who works with our new friend Emma, helped her take all the messages we left on the site here and print them on colored paper. Then they hung them on Emma’s Christmas tree in the nursing home. I thought that was beautiful. I’m so priviledged to be given an opportunity to even be trusted to email back and forth with people like Emma. And thank you all for praying for her…and for leaving her messages.

And to you Mr. or Ms. Occupational Therapist, you have a standing ovation from me tonight. I regard you so highly.

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In other news, I’m feeling much better and heading back to work tomorrow! Also, one of my friends is participating in this if you are free in the Red Bank area tonight.

I have a little request for the community. We are shooting a pretty cool series of short videos for an Anthem of Hope web campaign. I need trained professional actors for the shoot. We have been planning on tapping an agency and doing a casting call, but I figured I’d put a note up here first. The idea is that someone who has followed Misty’s story may be “closer” to the heart of this endeavor and may just work better. If you or someone you know has worked professionally in film, tv or commercials and has a heart for the purpose of AoH, drop me an email at darren@leblanclife.com. We need a handful of people from mid 30s to mid 60s.