All of our gear has been well taken care of, and to prove it, there are extensive photos of everything we’re selling below.   Why get something of questionable wear and quality from some guy on ebay with a feedback of 3 when you can acquire well-maintained equipment from a reputable production company for a lower price?

If you live in the Michiana area (South Bend, Mishawaka, Niles, Elkhart, etc.), I’ll deliver this gear for free.  If >50 miles outside this area, we can discuss shipping terms.  This is a great opportunity to own some quality gear (check our trailer to see shooting samples).

Feel free to ask any questions, either in the comment section below or by e-mail, and I’ll be happy to answer them.  This gear goes up on ebay Sunday night, so if you wish to purchase any of the following, e-mail me at carl@freshfruitpie.com with your offers before 7:00PM.

There are four packages:
Panasonic HVX-200 w/ Accessories
Panasonic DVX-100 w/ Accessories
Brevis 35mm Adapter MP2 w/ Flip Module & Rails
Canon FD Lens Lot

#1: Panasonic HVX-200 w/ Accessories

Original Kit Purchase Price: $9050
Sale Price:  $2599

This Panasonic HVX-200 is in excellent condition and includes a great deal of accessories.  It’s been well taken care of with 699 hours of use and only 3 hours on the tapehead.  We put a UV filter over the lens the day of purchase and have never taken it off.

The Panasonic HVX-200 kit also includes the following accessories (photos are of actual items):

Battery Charger and AC Adapter	2 5400mAh Batteries (used yet still viable)	2 – 8 GB P2 Cards (16 GB Total)
The HVX Book by Barry Green ($50 value)	HVX Manual	Hoodman H400 ($20 Value)
Component Cable	Large Porta-Brace Case (enough to fit camera + 35mm adapter)	Remote Control

#2: Panasonic DVX-100 w/ accessories

Original Purchase Price:  $3650
Your Price:  $799

This 24p SD camera has been used successfully in music videos, documentaries, and dramas.  It’s in excellent shape and works perfectly.  We’ve only used Master Quality tapes on this camera (MQ), which uses the “dry” lubricant and reduces head wear.  The tape head as a result is in excellent condition and will continue to provide years of dropout-free recording if treated properly. We put a UV filter over the lens the day of purchase and have never taken it off.  This DVX has only 187 hours on the tape head, which for a prosumer camera is pretty low.

As for external wear-and-tear, there are two small cracks in the external case which do NOT affect operation of the camera, but since I’d like to fully disclose exactly what you’re getting, I’m showing these here. There’s one right under the attached microphone, and one on the ND switch:

The Panasonic DVX-100 kit also includes the following accessories (photos are of actual items):

Battery Charger and AC Adapter	1 1600mAh & 2 3500mAh Batteries (used yet still viable)	1 Master Quality Tape
Custom Hardshell Case	Remote Control

#3: Brevis 35mm Adapter v1.2 w/ Flip Module & Rails

Original Purchase Price:  $1900
Your Price:  $699

The Brevis is a 35mm lens adapter that allows video cameras to use SLR camera lenses (kit#4 bel0w) to simulate a “depth of field” effect found on higher-end film cameras.  This Brevis & rails setup has been pre-configured to work with an HVX-200 and Canon FD lenses.  It’s in near-perfect condition (slight wear-and-tear on external casing), and the optics are clear.  This is the upgraded model, so all the original bugs are worked out, and it performs like a dream!  Here are some more pics of the setup :

The Brevis kit also includes the following accessories (photos of actual products shown):

Battery Charger and AC Adapter	Emergency Power Supply	Allen Key
Instruction Manual	82-72 Stepdown Ring	v1 Imaging Element

#4: Canon FD Lens Lot w/ Custom Case

Your Price:  $699

This collection of top-quality Canon FD lenses would normally sell for over $900 separately on ebay, but we’re offering a great discount on a complete set of lenses for a traditional Canon SLR.  These lenses have some minor wear-and-tear on the outside bodies, but the glass on all included lenses is free from scratches and retains the optical quality needed for the most demanding of photographic needs.  Along with the custom case pictured to the left, here’s what is included:

28mm f2.8	35mm f2	50mm f1.4
85mm f1.8	100mm f2.8	135mm f2.8
35-105mm f3.5	Flare Hoods for All Lenses

Related posts:

1. Our Best Digital Video Camera Ever – aka The Ray Cannon

We must come clean – this is the work of a kid.  A little girl, to be precise.

No joke.  I guess she figured the DVD cover was a-”peel”-ing enough to gnaw to shreds.  Her three siblings have similar feelings: according to their father, the kids watch Fresh Fruit Pie nearly every day, mauling the disc and the case in the process.  These kids have seen it over 30 times, as often as thrice in a 24-hour period!  To replace their nearly destroyed copy, the family ordered six more.  A few as backup, and a few to share with friends.

When I visited the family, the kids were in fact watching the show as I entered, and they were quoting various lines in the show as it was playing.  I was shocked at the authentic passion these kids displayed for Fresh Fruit Pie.

Managing the Masses

Kids 6-12 are notorious for their rambunctiousness and difficulty to control, especially when hyped on sugar and grouped into a horde.  As we’ve presented Fresh Fruit Pie to various kid test audiences, both at the premiere and in more private settings, an interesting phenomenon has come to surface.

The assistant director and I visited a friend’s birthday party a few weeks ago.  There were over a dozen elementary school-aged kids, and they were doing the expected:  running, screaming, breaking things – the whole nine yards.  No matter how much mom yelled or disciplined, the momentum of their zaniness was unstoppable.  Before her hair started turning gray, however, we threw out the idea of popping in Fresh Fruit Pie.

Within two minutes…

Silence.

These once out-of-control kids were transfixed on the screen.  Quiet and observant in a comically sudden change of events.  Both boys and girls.  And to think it’s willing attention towards a moral-driven show based on the Fruit of the Spirit.  Nice.

Just as important, though, mom got a break to be an adult for a while and mingle with other adult guests.

It’s the “Peace – Finally! For a Half-Hour” Effect.

If you’re a parent looking for a half-hour of quiet time (probably more, since kids often watch FFP again and again), consider picking up a DVD, put it in front of the kids, and witness all sorts of wondrous things take place.

We must continue the race to bring awesome family entertainment to the world.  We have limited resources, but we will fight with everything we’ve got.  We’d be honored if you’d like to help make this happen – but if anything, cheer for us, pray for us, and encourage us to power forward in our vision to change the face of family entertainment.

Related posts:

1. New Top 10 Kids Video List Launched
2. A Revolution in Kids Videos

Now that you’ve watched it, get the DVD! Share it with some kids, your church, or other families. Look into the free Family Guide and Bible Study to create some great discussion about the show.

Also, become a fan on facebook to keep up-to-date on the show’s progress, and vote to help us get Fresh Fruit Pie into big stores!

Spread the word.

Just a little time left until this free online premiere is over. Please let your friends know – then they can experience Fresh Fruit Pie too! It’s easy – just share the following link on your facebook or twitter:

http://www.freshfruitpie.com/online-premiere/

Related posts:

1. Trailer Released for First Episode: “Party!”
2. Free Posters, Stickers, and Postcards
3. World Premiere: Sept. 17-19. DVD Release: Oct. 5.

After experiencing such a tremendous response at the world premiere, we’re creating a new opportunity for everyone who couldn’t make it to Mishawaka that day. For 48 hours only, you can view the entire pilot episode of Fresh Fruit Pie. That’s right, all of it – right here on freshfruitpie.com.

It’s very likely we won’t do this again in the future, so make sure to mark your calendars and check it out! The showing starts Tuesday morning at 12:01 AM and ends Thursday morning at 12:01 AM sharp. (Also, make sure to take advantage of the early bird special on the DVD. The special ends as soon as the premiere begins.)

Want to be notified when the online premiere is launched? Then sign up here, and we’ll let you know as soon as it’s released:

Thank You

We want to wish a big thanks to everyone who has helped promote the online premiere of Fresh Fruit Pie. As more blogs post announcements about the premiere, we’ll post up additional thank-you links:
ChristianCinema.com
Orlando Parenting Multiples Examiner
Acting Balanced
Broken Teepee
Gina’s Kokopelli
Go Yay!
In the Mommy Business
Mami of Multiples
Alas 3 Lads
Geeky Girl Reviews
Fat and Sassy Wallet
Having Fun Blogging
Critique of the Unique
Toronto Teacher Mom Blog
I Am Believing God
The Things We Hope For
Tiger Lily’s Book
It’s My Life
Nebraska Hockey Mom
Brandy’s Big Bargains
Coupon Clippin Daddy

Related posts:

1. Early Bird Special & 48-Hour Online Premiere
2. Logo Contest Launches Today – Prize $300
3. World Premiere = Huge Success

The October 5th release of Fresh Fruit Pie: Party is coming up fast.  We’re offering a special gift to our loyal fans who have followed us during the production and been so patient for this long-awaited release.

The Early Bird Special

Fresh Fruit Pie:  Party will normally cost $12.99, but starting on October 5th for two weeks only, we will offer a special early bird discount to anyone who orders through this website:  $3 off and FREE Shipping to just about anywhere in the world (see below for list of countries)!

That’s right – $9.99 – for one awesome piece of family entertainment.  Order as many as you want, and they’ll still be $9.99 with free shipping.  Keep in mind, though, that this special will only last for two weeks.  Once this deal is over, we’ll be hosting…

The 48-Hour Online Premiere

For those of you who couldn’t make it to the World Premiere in Mishawaka, we are offering a one-time free online showing of the entire first episode of Fresh Fruit Pie.   That’s right – the whole show – FREE.   48 Hours Only.  It begins Tuesday, October 19, 2010 at 12:01 AM Eastern Time and ends exactly 48 hours later on Thursday, October 21, 2010 at 12:01 AM.  We’re excited about this opportunity to bring this vision to the whole world by making it available to the public for a limited time.

If you have a family or children’s ministry, we strongly recommend grabbing the DVD during the early bird special.  Free is always awesome, but the online premiere will be a low-resolution video, so you won’t have the full experience of the DVD.  By taking advantage of our early bird special, you’ll have Fresh Fruit Pie available any time your family is in the mood for some excitement and laughs (and trust us, your kids will want to watch Fresh Fruit Pie over and over again).   So grab the DVD on October 5th for $9.99 (delivered), then let your friends know about the 48-Hour Online Premiere so they too can experience the awesomeness of Fresh Fruit Pie.  Together, we can spread the vision of awesome family entertainment to the whole world!

And by whole world, we mean all of Planet Earth!

As stated above, we are thrilled to offer FREE Shipping to just about any country that exists on this beautiful creation.  Countries include:  United States of America, Mexico, Canada, UK, France, Belgium, Germany, Spain, South Africa, New Zealand, Australia, India, South Korea, Japan, the Phillipines, Singapore, and many more.  If your country isn’t listed, please contact us (or leave a comment below) with your country of origin, and we’ll answer whether we can provide FREE shipping.

Related posts:

1. Online Premiere Launches October 19
2. World Premiere = Huge Success
3. World Premiere: Sept. 17-19. DVD Release: Oct. 5.

What a blast we had this weekend!  We had shows packed so full we couldn’t fit any more people in.  Balloons flew around the room and excitement filled the air.  Audiences guzzled down gallons of soda and annihilated 30 pounds of popcorn.  The energy couldn’t have been more positive.

It was exciting to see how the general public would respond to Fresh Fruit Pie.  The cast and crew poured a lot of love into the production, but when the lights go dim and everyone else in the world begins to watch, that’s when the truth comes out.

As the Director, you can’t imagine how nervous I was during the first showing.  Our show isn’t the typical family fare.  With Fresh Fruit Pie, we strive for something new and innovative, not to mention intense.  Coming into the premiere, we had no idea how audiences would respond.  Would people understand the new format?  Would it make sense? Would the kids like it?  Would a stampede of pitchfork-carrying moms charge at me after the show, demanding my head on a plate?

People are naturally suspicious of something new, and likewise the room was quiet at first.  After a few minutes into the show, however, a wave began to pass over the room.  People all over the room loosened up, and a few giggles erupted.  Giggles turned into chuckles.  Chuckles erupted into gut-busting laughter.  When that first round of unanimous cheer filled the room, my fears began to rest.

The people LOVED it.

The most excited audience?  No surprise: Kids 6-10
Second most excited audience?  SURPRISE – Full-grown men

As loud as, or in many cases louder than, the little giggles were full-on masculine bolts of laughter.  This surprised us, as most “family films” cause men to yawn – but Fresh Fruit Pie’s humor hit a funny bone with the dads in the room.  Awesome – we’re actually making videos the entire family enjoys!

Once the 1/2 hour experience was over, I asked everyone to join our cause of awesome family entertainment by signing our mailing list and voting to get Fresh Fruit Pie into stores.  People responded en masse, and our entire mailing list suddenly DOUBLED in size.

We also offered parents a Family Guide and Bible Study to help create discussion about the positive values in the show.  Over 100 guides were taken.

DVDs for Fresh Fruit Pie:  “Party!” were available at the event, two weeks before our release date of October 5th.  Boy did those discs fly off the table!  We almost ran out in the middle of the event and had to rush over to our storage area to grab another case. Amazingly, proceeds from the DVD sales completely covered the cost of food, drinks, and the room rental.

Several members of the cast and crew graciously volunteered to manage the crowds and serve refreshments during multiple showings.  I expected them to get bored watching the show again and again, but many stayed for three, four, five or more shows – and laughed at different jokes each time.

All in all, it was a tremendous success.  Can’t wait to do it again.

Couldn’t make it to the world premiere in Mishawaka?  Check out the online premiere or pick up a DVD.

Related posts:

1. World Premiere: Sept. 17-19. DVD Release: Oct. 5.
2. Early Bird Special & 48-Hour Online Premiere
3. How to Invite All Facebook Friends to the Premiere Event

One of the biggest challenges in sitting kids down to teach morals is competition from other stimuli in their lives.  Compared to youtube, cell phone texting, eye-popping video games, and facebook, any sort of structured moral teaching from adults is comparatively boring.

To reach kids, we have to engage their culture, not ours.  So how does Fresh Fruit Pie accomplish this?  We created a show that’s just as exciting, or even more exciting, than other forms of media they have access to, all with the intention of giving you as a parent or kids’ group leader the power to educate them on the morals you desire to teach.

Our show in fact reaches the tough 6-13 age bracket very well, though younger and older kids have also been fascinated by Fresh Fruit Pie.

We have observed that many kids pick up morals quickly when a parent or trusted adult creates conversation about situations found in movies and TV shows.  The visual nature of film creates an instant link in a child’s mind that can then be called upon to teach him or her appropriate and positive values.  (The same can be said for negative values, which is why it’s important to monitor the content our kids watch)

To help you succeed as a parent, pastor, or educator, Fresh Fruit Pie has been designed to create opportunities for these types of conversations by weaving those positive values through every portion of the series’ episodes in a way that’s fun and relevant for kids.  Many scenes in Fresh Fruit Pie are very punchy, poignant, and grab kids’ attention.  You can then shepherd that attention into interesting discussions about the morals at hand.

We’ve created a few handy guides to help lead kids into discussion after viewing an episode of Fresh Fruit Pie.  These guides are FREE to download and serve as a powerful tool to teach kids the values that you’d like them to learn.

FAMILY GUIDE

We first offer the Fresh Fruit Pie Family Guide.  It provides a platform for launching a great discussion with your family on the values brought up in Fresh Fruit Pie.  Feel free to customize this guide in a way that best fits your needs.  We assume most kids have tiny attention spans (as do many adults), so it’s short by design.

Download the Family Guide below or through this link.

BIBLE STUDY

If you would like to teach from the Bible, lead a Sunday School, or otherwise direct a child’s psychological development from a Christian worldview, we have a supplemental Bible Study available.

Fresh Fruit Pie is inspired by the “Fruit of the Spirit” found in the Bible.  As filmmakers, we focus on this teaching because it is simple for children of all ages to understand and relevant to situations in their daily lives.

“The fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control. Against such things there is no law.  Those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the sinful nature with its passions and desires. Since we live by the Spirit, let us keep in step with the Spirit.”  (Galatians 5:22-25)

We recommend beginning your discussion with the Family Guide to first engage children with the guide’s concrete questions, then transitioning to the Bible Study to solidify their understanding of the Scripture.

Download the Bible Study below or through this link.

DOWNLOAD:

Family Guide for Fresh Fruit Pie – “Party!” (PDF)

Bible Study for Fresh Fruit Pie – “Party!” (PDF)

Related posts:

1. 48 Hours Only – Watch the ENTIRE First Episode
2. World Premiere = Huge Success
3. Inspirational Bible Verses – The Fruits of the Spirit Explained

We have tons of posters, stickers, and postcards.  If you live in the Michiana area, we’d like to send you these items for FREE through U.S. Mail to help spread the word about our awesome premiere event September 17-19.  (UPDATE: We now have posters available for anyone in the United States). Put them up at work, school, give them to friends – anywhere that can help get the word out about the premiere.

If you’d like to help us spread the word, send us an e-mail at with how many of each material you’d like along with your mailing address.

Again, these are totally FREE.  The only thing we ask is that you actually use these promo materials to tell others about the Fresh Fruit Pie premiere.  We’re pretty low budget and spent money to make these, so we’d rather not see them used to make paper airplanes or as bonfire fuel.  They’re promo items, so let’s promo up the town!

Got the itch to make some noise? Then drop us a line at with how many posters, stickers, and postcards you want – and where we should send them to.  Let’s make this premiere awesome!

If you want, you can format the e-mail like the following:

• X – Posters
• X – Pages of Stickers (12 stickers per page)
• X – Postcards
• Send to:  423 My Address
  South Bend, IN  46661

Related posts:

1. 48 Hours Only – Watch the ENTIRE First Episode
2. Early Bird Special & 48-Hour Online Premiere

Finally, after over a year of casting, script development, prop-building, production, and post-production, the first episode of Fresh Fruit Pie is complete – and boy, are we happy with it!  It’s been a long and hard road, filled with literal blood, sweat, and tears – but in the end, all of that toil is going to be worth it.  We’re very proud of all the actors, crew, and other partners that turned Fresh Fruit Pie from a dream into a reality.

This week we sent the DVD master and DVD cover art to Disc Makers, who gave us a generous discount for a rush job after hearing our vision.  We should receive our shipment of DVDs in just a few short weeks.

We’re really happy with how the DVD cover art came out.  Click the image on the left to see a larger version of it.  What you see here will be folded and inserted into a standard Amaray case.  The front cover is located towards the right of the image, the spine in the middle, and the back cover to the left.  We were looking for a design that could be re-themed for each episode but still maintain a sense of consistency.   Overall, we’re really happy with it and feel it was 100% worth the time and money spent to make the DVD cover art a reality!

Here’s also a glimpse of the artwork for the disc itself.  We love the kind of art that can placed in a circle, and a DVD or a CD creates a perfect canvas to make this unique kind of “circle” art.  Fun!

The Fresh Fruit Pie World Premiere is coming up in less than three weeks.  (Don’t forget to reserve some seats).  And also, the DVD release is only five weeks away!

Isn’t it crazy?  Maybe it is, but crazy suits us quite well.

Related posts:

1. Fresh Fruit Pie Website Up and Running
2. Two-Thirds of FFP In the Can

Step 1.

In the facebook search bar, search for “FFP Online Premiere.”  An event page should pop up.

Step 2.

Click “I’m attending.”

Step 3.

Once you are attending the event, a little box appears below the Fresh Fruit Pie banner that says “Select Guests to Invite”.  Click it.

Step 4.

NOW THIS IS THE TRICKY PART.  IT LOOKS KIND OF WEIRD, BUT JUST DO IT EXACTLY AS WRITTEN, AND IT WILL WORK. Also, after following the instructions, be patient – it’ll look like your browser is frozen, but in reality it’s crunching and takes about 1 minute to select 300 friends.

A guest invitation window pops up.
Copy and paste the following text into your browser bar:

javascript:elms=document.getElementById(‘friends’).getElementsByTagName(‘li’);for(var fid in elms){if(typeof elms[fid] === ‘object’){fs.click(elms[fid]);}}

If you don’t know how to do this, here’s how:
1) Highlight the text above with your mouse.  Make sure it’s one chunk.
2) Click the “Edit” menu of your browser (Internet Explorer, Firefox, etc) and click “Copy”
3) Click on the browser bar (not the guest list, but the bar where you type in http://www.facebook.com)
4) Click “Edit” Menu, then “Paste”.  The weird text should now fill your browser bar
5) Hit “Enter” on your keyboard.
6) Wait a few seconds, and all your friends will be selected!
7) Hit “Send Invitations.”

Step 5.

THIS PART’S IMPORTANT TOO. Facebook won’t invite all your friends in one chunk, so you may have to go through steps 3 & 4 multiple times until your entire friends list is invited.

TO CHECK IF ALL FRIENDS HAVE BEEN SELECTED:
a) Click the “refresh” button on your browser

b) Click again on “Select Guests to Invite”

c) Check to make sure ALL friends are greyed out.  If not, repeat step 4 & 5 again until all are greyed out.

You’re done!

Related posts:

1. World Premiere: Sept. 17-19. DVD Release: Oct. 5.