Sweet Emery Huff - Labor, Delivery and More

We have a new addition to our little family – our wonderful, little Sweet Emery Huff, born almost one week ago. Because of my own curiosity of the labor and delivery process I like to write about my experience in the hopes that it'll give someone else that little piece of insight that they were looking for. But also... it's been a huge help to me, as I go from kid to kid. Helping me remember details that I would have otherwise forgotten. I also like to print them out and add them to their baby books.
 

What's In A Name

This is how the conversation goes: "What are you having?" someone will ask. "A girl," I respond. "Do you have a name picked out?" generally follows. "Yes, but it's kind of hippie," I say, in an effort to prepare them for the name, "we're naming her Sweet." (crickets) "Sweet???" they ask with a blank stare on their faces. "Yeah, Sweet, like sugar." Then with a tilted head and a forced smile, "Ah, that's cute!" But they don't really think it's cute. Haha!!! And I don't care, because Jon and I had this name picked out since we were in college and we love it!

People always ask how we came up with it, so here's the background: Counting Crows (our absolute favorite band) does a cover of a song called Friend of the Devil – it was originally sung by The Grateful Dead, but Counting Crows' version is our favorite because they aren't just singing a song, they're telling a story. In the song they say, "Got two reasons why I cry away each lonely night. The first one's named Sweet Ann Marie, she's my hearts delight..." Back when we first heard the song we thought they were saying "Sweet Emery" and one night while driving around Vegas one of us joked that Sweet Emery sounded like a name and what if we named our daughter that... somehow what started out as a joke quickly became a locked and loaded decision – someday we'd have a little girl and name her Sweet Emery Huff. It wasn't until years later that we realized that they said, "Sweet Ann Marie" but we didn't care – Sweet Emery would one day be a part of our family.

Pregnancy, Labor and Delivery

The beginning of my pregnancy was a bit stressful because I had a few weeks of bleeding when we thought we'd lose the baby. It turned out to be placenta previa which later moved (Thank you, Heavenly Father!!!) And we also had to do some additional down syndrome testing which turned out to be a false alarm (Again, thank you, Heavenly Father!!!) But after that the pregnancy ran smoothly, minus some pretty hefty anemia exhaustion when I ate the wrong foods.

Anyhow, as always I planned to go natural (if conditions allowed). I was due on Sunday, January 8th but I had no delusions that I'd actually go before then because I never had in the past. Thursday, January 12th I had a check up. I was 80-90% effaced, the baby was and had been at a -1 station, and I was dilated to above a 4 (but not quite a 5). My "line in the sand" induction date was set for Monday, January 16th at 6:30am.

So, Friday morning I was woken up at 5:30am by Knox, who was crying that his mouth hurt – apparently his mouth was dry and he was thirsty. I went into his room and within seconds I thought I had peed on myself. I said, "Oh no! Knox, I have to go to the bathroom! Let me get dad to help you." After going to the bathroom I stood up only to find me peeing on myself again, and then again... I was slow to realize that it wasn't pee. So, if I wasn't before, I was now wide awake, and I had to get Jon to that same point. He kept brushing me off and going back to sleep.

Within 5-10 minutes (15 max) I had my first labor contraction and I realized that we needed to move fast. I could tell that if I wasn't at a 5 before, I was now (that's the great thing about natural deliveries, you can tell your progress). My mom arrived as Jon and I were backing out of the driveway (we weren't leaving the boys asleep and unattended, we were just getting prepared for her arrival – she had called that she was just around the corner).

Addition: Something I completely forgot – when we arrived at the hospital, I believe we entered in at the emergency room. I can't exactly remember but they pointed us in the direction to go and were like, "Go down that hall, turn left at this and then right at this and blah, blah, blah." Either way it looked like a maze and we were completely lost. Jon was trying to get me to hurry but I had to stop when the contractions came. Luckily while I was stopped with one of the contractions a nurse walked by and asked if we were trying to get to labor and delivery. She pointed us in the right direction and my fear of delivering in the hospital floor in a maze of hallways and doors soon ended.

By 6am I was in the hospital room. The woman who was helping us told me to get into a robe and that a nurse would be in to help us shortly... but then no one came. Jon and I took this time to say a quick prayer together and I asked Jon to give me a blessing. It was probably 10-15 minutes, maybe even 20 before the nurse finally came in and I could tell that I had already progressed again. She checked me, I was at a 5/6, and I was really wanting that Fentynel! (Fentynel is a drug that takes the edge off the contractions) So she left to call my Dr and order the meds. It felt like she was gone forever (again) and I had already felt myself progress twice. She checked and I was right, I was now at an 8/9. She hooked me up to the IV and injected the fentynel – I was in heaven! Not really, but the 8/9 contractions felt like 5/6 contractions. It was heavenly to be that far and have my pain deluded so much!!! I'm guessing the Dr. arrived around 7:45am and when he checked I was already at a 10 but didn't quite have the desire to push yet.

My Dr. was amazing. He knew I wanted to go natural and I feared he'd push me too much, but no. He just came in and stood off to the side and calmly and quietly helped me along. He reassured me that if I wasn't feeling the baby progress I could do small pushes and that would help the baby move downward. I did it and he was right, it totally worked, and it didn't really hurt. I mean, it did hurt when the baby moved downward but I only had to do about 3-4 small stomach flexes which made her move once or twice before I felt the desire to push come on.

My contractions were coming large and then small, large and then small, unfortunately for me I started actually pushing at the down of a large contraction, but with one, maybe two pushes max, the Dr. jumped into gear because the head was exposed. My next contraction (a small one) came and I pushed as much and as hard as I could... the head was out but not yet to the eyes. And then... I had NO CONTRACTIONS – Oh the pain!!! The burning!!!!!!!!

Jon was holding one leg and a nurse, the other, but Jon wasn't holding it right and it was causing tons of back pain. I said, "Is there another nurse in here? Jon, you're sucking at this! No offense." They all cracked up, and the nurse who was prepping for the baby rushed over and took his place. I was grateful! (I'm also grateful that Jon didn't take offense because I couldn't help my comment in the heat of the moment)

I was pleading for God to send me another contraction so I could actually push. Finally, I got the strength to push and I'm guessing it must have been a contraction but I was already pushing so I don't know if one had come on or if I was given some super strength to actually push, either way, it was a blessing. I pushed, as hard and as much as I could and then the Dr. announced that the head was out. Oh, the tears of joy I cried!!! I just kept saying to no one in particular: "It's over, it's over... the pain, it's over..." This was the best labor I had ever experienced, EVER!!! Maybe that anyone had ever experienced ever!!! Yeah it hurt, but the amount of pain that I had experienced was so minor compared to my previous deliveries and it was all so fast and the progression was so perfect! I can only assume it's because I had nothing to progress the labor artificially (with Knox they used cervadale to get labor started and with Cylus they used pitocin after my water had already broken naturally). If this is what truly natural labor is like (excluding the fentynel – which I swear by and would continue to swear by if we were going to have more kids) I don't understand why anyone would get induced before their due date. My body progressed AMAZINGLY!!!! I'm still shocked by the simplicity and perfection of it all!!!

With my previous two deliveries this was when I got to finally relax... Just close my eyes while the Dr. got rid of all the other stuff and stitched me up... all pain free (or if there was pain, who cares because it was nothing compared to what I had just experienced)... not so this time...

The placenta wouldn't come out so the Dr. had to push and prod on my stomach... OH, THE PAIN!!! I don't know what all had to come out but apparently the pushing and prodding was never going to end!!! He had to stick his whole hand inside to pull it out... SERIOUSLY, THE PAIN WOULD NEVER END!!! Then, I'm not sure if he thought there was more in there or if it was routine but he literally put his arm up in there... I felt him at my rib cage. He reached in to his elbow and felt around. It all hurt so bad, I just laid there squeezing Jon's arm and crying. Where was the fentynel now!!!??? (Side note – amid the pain I watched the nurse and she didn't seem surprised by this procedure so I assumed it was something she'd seen done before. Either that or they both hated me and wanted to torture me in a completely gruesome way!)

But then I was so grateful because it was finally over... or so I thought...

I had about an hour before we'd be moved to postpartum so we ordered breakfast – I was starving!!! The baby was healthy and perfect and I was so grateful that it was all over – I just sat there relishing the fact that our family was complete and I wouldn't have to do this EVER AGAIN!!!

So, we move to our room and again, I was just relaxing. Jon went to the nursery to give Sweet Emery her first bath and I was talking to my mom, who had called me because she was having trouble getting a show on for the boys. I was in the middle of talking to her when I felt something really gross – two huge gushes of blood came out of me, but they felt funny – they felt like two water balloons that just came rolling out. It was disgusting!!! I said, "Ew, Mom I have to let you go and call the nurse." So the nurse came and checked and apparently I had released two extremely large blood clots... we're talking the size of a football each. She removed them and weighed them and I thought it was over. She helped me go to the bathroom and while there I felt another one fall out. So, not to be gross, but she bent down and watched as I finished peeing to see if another one would come out. I stopped peeing and liquid kept pouring out of me. I said, "What is that?" She said, "You're peeing." I said, "No, I'm not, what is that?" It was amniotic fluid that was just pouring out of me. It was so weird...

So she laid me back down and went to call the Dr. and while there I had another one come out. Another nurse came in. She seemed calm at first but then became nervous. She was shaking and I thought maybe she was new or something. Just in case, I called the nursery to ask Jon to return and apparently right before the call came he saw the nurses racing to my room and he got a little nervous... the call didn't help... He came back immediately and I was grateful!!!

Then it all happened so fast. The football sized blood clots kept coming and there were about 8 nurses in my room poking and prodding on my already pained uterus. I was getting so tired, I felt like I could barely stay awake. They kept saying, "Oh!" and making a troubled face every time another one came out. I'm honestly not sure how my body was producing these giant blood clots so fast. Maybe they were wondering the same thing... I told them that it hurt and asked if I could go to sleep while they worked – they said no. Jon asked why and the main nurse said, "Because she might not wake up." I tried my hardest to stay awake – I did not want to NOT wake up!!! I wondered if I was hemorrhaging but didn't know for sure since they weren't using that term, so I prayed and pleaded with God that if my spirit left my body that it would return. I kept shaking my head and waving my arms in the air, anything I could do that would keep my focus in reality. Staying awake felt almost impossible. My ears had closed up and my peripheral vision was becoming cloudy – kind of like when you've been driving way too long and you can barely keep your eyes open. I kept zoning out and then shaking my head to wake myself up. The nurses were saying stuff like, "stay awake," "don't fall asleep," "stay with us," and I guess at one point Jon said my eyes were closed and they either said "Erika!" or "Wake up!" and my eyes shot back open, I don't remember it but I guess that's to be expected.

Since my Dr. had checked out to hit up a temple session they had to get a hold of his partner to help with the situation. While it was less convenient that my Dr. wasn't there I was glad that he was somewhere that would bless our situation. Anyhow, my Dr's partner was a sweet older man who rubbed my legs and said comforting words. Apparently they were going to do something in the room, right then and there (Jon later told me that they had a bunch of crazy equipment laid out on a table) but the Dr. decided they should start with an emergency D&C, and if that didn't work they'd move on to an emergency hysterectomy. In my dazed stupor I thought – either that'll be awesome because I won't have to worry about having more kids, or I'll start growing a beard... that would suck!!!

The Dr. left to prep. Jon asked if we could get oil and if the Dr. was LDS and could help with a blessing. He was, and did and I was grateful!!! They got back with the anesthesiologist and moved me to another bed. When I looked back, my previous bed was covered in this huge blood stain. I apologized... Haha! My mom taught me well – even amid chaos I'm still polite. ;)

Anyhow, I tried to be brave because I assumed it wasn't something to cry about, but I whimpered the whole way to the surgery room. They knocked me out and then it was over... and I was off to recovery.

Thank goodness – no emergency hysterectomy, no woman beard, and no inability to wake up!!!! The only outcomes: I can't breast feed (but I wasn't planning on it), and if I want to avoid another situation like that, I probably shouldn't have any more kids (which is fine because Sweet was our last – if we can help it!!!). Other than that, I just have to pump myself full of estrogen a few times a week until my uterus heals up. I've had a number of D&C's from miscarriages and I guess this one kind of topped it off – there's a lot of scar tissue...

Concluding Thoughts

I have a few concluding thoughts...

First off, my Dr. – I love him! The attending nurse who was there for my delivery stayed with me the whole time, even when they took me in for the D&C. She was amazing! I love her! She was like a guardian angel and I really believe that I went into labor at the time that I did so that she could be with me. The Dr. who did the D&C – I'm so grateful for him, he brought me comfort from his years of experience and wonderful kindness. I was glad that he performed the D&C. The nursery nurse – I'm so grateful for her. She was so down to earth and made Jon laugh even when the day was kind of sucking! She also was so confident with the baby that I felt comfortable leaving Sweet with her for the entire day. And then even over and above that, the entire nursing staff that tended to me while I was in postpartum – they all felt like family. So kind and sociable and just wonderful!!! I love the staff at the Davis Hospital Women's Center!!!!!!

Second... I know this seems like it was just a crazy, negative experience but it actually was completely spiritual! From just weeks after conception Jon and I both started receiving inspiration about this pregnancy and delivery that followed all the way until the end. It was a great blessing that helped me to see that Heavenly Father is always talking to us and giving us guidance – we just need to listen.

A few verses in Mormon 9 sum it up for me, each speaking to a different aspect of our experience, but most especially verse 25. Heavenly Father gave us much inspiration and He did indeed confirm ALL His words to us.

21 Behold, I say unto you that whoso believeth in Christ, doubting nothing, whatsoever he shall ask the Father in the name of Christ it shall be granted him; and this promise is unto all, even unto the ends of the earth.

24 And these signs shall follow them that believe—in my name shall they cast out devils; they shall speak with new tongues; they shall take up serpents; and if they drink any deadly thing it shall not hurt them; they shall lay hands on the sick and they shall recover;

25 And whosoever shall believe in my name, doubting nothing, unto him will I confirm all my words, even unto the ends of the earth.

37 And may the Lord Jesus Christ grant that their prayers may be answered according to their faith; and may God the Father remember the covenant which he hath made with the house of Israel; and may he bless them forever, through faith on the name of Jesus Christ. Amen.

Third and final thought – If you plan to bottle feed, don't listen to the lactitionist and bind yourself. I do this every time and it always makes me feel terrible – like I've been hit by car. I don't know why I continue to listen to their advice. If you want tips from my experience just FB me and I'll message you what I do and it works every time... without causing me to feel like my body is completely sick and shutting down.

Baby #2 Announcement

As you may or may not know, Jon and I are about to have baby #2. We're excited! He's due February 19th (my birthday).

We actually just published an announcement video, which admittedly is pretty lame and ugly but the song is cute. To our defense, for various reasons, we just simply waited too long and I couldn't seem to manage enough energy to film. My hands were shaky and by the end of the day I was so exhausted I simply couldn't see the shot anymore. (Originally I thought it was because I had just been out of shooting for so long but I realized later that it was just the fatigue). Anyhow, here it is and for what it's worth, enjoy!
 

Cylus from Erika & Jon Huff on Vimeo.

Knox [First Two Weeks]

Knox Huff

My Friend's Writes for the Paper

Okay, so one of my friends from church just started writing for the Davis Reporter and she asked her friends to share her article so she gets more views. The more views she gets the more she gets paid. I agreed to it, never having read any of her stuff, and I wasn't sure what to expect. I'm highly critical as you may know... anyhow, it was amazing and I really loved it. You should read it... a.) to support her, and b.) because its a really good article. Seriously! Anyhow, hope you like. Click the image below to be redirected to her full article.

                            

Foto Fun

I realized last night that I seriously had to change our Vimeo picture because its been the same one for... a year and a half, maybe two years. Anyhow, I played with this photo forever just in Pages and I really like how it turned out. Hope you like it too.

You can also see it on our Vimeo page by clicking here.

iPhone Meet Verizon, Verizon Meet the iPhone

Short little entry here... I am SO excited that Verizon and Apple have finally come together. Well, I say "finally" but I mean as of February 10, 2011. I have completely switched to Mac and I love my iDisc. I love that I'm completely connected. No matter where I go, I have the same information in my calendar, in my address book, my email, etc. Its fantabulous! I've actually been debating for a while to switch phone companies, but I couldn't bring myself to do it. I've been with Verizon since 2004, and Jon's been with them for far longer. It was just more simple to stay, but now they're giving me exactly what I want... an iPhone.

Thank you Verizon. And Apple... see, I told you it'd make a great pair. I hope its a happy relationship that lasts a very long time. Best of luck you two crazy love birds.

Back to Blogging

Okay, so I switched blog addresses to make the whole blogging process easier and then I stopped blogging. Isn't that a funny coincidence. By the way, if you're wondering how switching addresses would make it easier... I use to have two different log ins. One for my business and one for my personal... now their connected.

Anyhow, what's been going on in life lately...

First, lets talk business and that sweet, sweet money tree. Raising our prices just hasn't been easy here and our goal of making movies is being hindered by it. So I realized, I just need to clear out our editing bay and start focusing on our next film. And that's exactly what I'm doing!

How are we making a living you might ask... I got a job! So basically my Monday - Friday schedule goes like this: work 8 AM to 5 PM, come home, eat dinner, then edit 6:30 PM - 9 PM. Then Saturday I'm editing most of the day. I have about 9 or 10 more projects to finish up. My goal is to have them all done by March or April. But no later than April! For two special reasons... which I'll get to... But for now....

The JOB!!! I am really excited about it and feel really blessed to have gotten it. I see now why we were supposed to move to Utah. Its a learning experience... a chance to network... and a chance to grow. So what I'm doing is, I'm assisting a UPM (Unit Production Manager)... I don't know that I'm an "Assistant" exactly, but I'm basically just taking on some of the load. Its with the LDS Church's Film Department. Its not on a screenplay though... it's for this Leadership Training Library that will go to various countries, including our own... and then I assume it'll grow from there. But the cool thing is, (a) it's film related... I was really afraid I'd have to be a receptionist, waitress or cashier... but I was so lucky to be hired on with a Production Company... and not a small one at that. And the thing that makes me so excited... the people in the team are awesome! They're fun and really good at what they do... Hopefully I'll be able to make some connections for our upcoming feature, since we really only know a few filmmakers here. PS... the projects completion date is in like... March or April... something like that... so it's not going to be forever but... that leads to our next thing.

Well, since this UPM Assistant job isn't going to last forever, we've decided to continue growing our business... but this time in Las Vegas. I know... you're probably like... didn't you JUST move from there... To which I say... Yes... but we're going to try it out. I mean... don't get me wrong. We're still marketing in Utah, but we're going to broaden our horizons.

PS. That doesn't mean we're moving back. Our next move is to CA. I feel like our equipment is safer her... I mean, lets face it... I left my keys in the back door for a week and nada... nothing happened.

Next... what I'm most excited about... MARKUS! Our next feature.

We're working on a second draft and hope to have the script completed by the end of the month... Maybe that's pushing it. But at least a script we can start moving forward with. Honestly, I am so proud of Jon. I truly think he's done his best work so far. It always amazes me that each script he writes is that much better than the last. He really has a gift for storytelling and I love that! But we've started research on our marketing plan and well... we need to talk to some people... get a producer... we definitely have our composer... thank you Durrant! Anyhow, I'm really excited... everything we do this year is to make Markus, the feature. Humidity... which we hope to one day take the concept and make a feature out of... was my story, Markus is Jon's.

Anyhow, film friends. Hopefully we'll see you at Sundance!!!

Oh, and here's our most recent video. I think its cute. I know people only watch a bit of it then stop because its not someone they know, but the end is so stinking cute... the ends my favorite obviously.

Our New Home

Photo by Krista Huff

We'd like to welcome you to our humble abode! The new casa de Jon y Erika's blog. Also known as HUFF TOWN! Oh yeah!

We finally had to trash erikahuff.blogspot.com. It was seriously like a married couple living in two separate houses... every time you want to wear something you realize its at the other house. Going back and forth was just too much of a hassle. Plus this new place is ours. Mine and Jons, though, lets face it... I'm the only one who's blogging here.

Anyhow, I want to be more involved and more creative with this one than my last. So hopefully I can come up with some cool stuff. We're going to start taking a lot of random photos, so there's that, oh, and cooking. We decided that we're going to be more creative there. And well, just everything. We want this to be fun and interesting. So I'm glad you could be here from the start and join us on this new path of... well, not so much enlightenment but whatever...

This picture was taken in Seattle after we hiked from the ferry terminal to the Space Needle, which isn't as far as you'd think. It was actually a really nice walk. There's this huge fountain by it and we ran up and touched it... the goal was without getting wet. Jon got soaked, I was only lightly sprinkled. But it was pretty awesome and probably the highlight of our trip. Oh, and Jon did save me from a bum taking a leak on a building. I almost stepped in his stream. Luckily Jon saw it and pulled me out of the way. THANK YOU JON!!! Anyhow, I'm off for the night. Peace out, cha'all.


Ignore this link: 

A Portrait of an Artist... and his process

Jon and I have been working on a very exciting project. We came up with the idea one day after we had moved to Utah. We were lingering around Barnes & Noble, passing the time when I came across an autobiography on a couple who were total hippies back-in-the-day. They talked about how they lived their lives, how they fell in love, how they created, and so on. I was totally inspired, not just by film or photography but by the arts as a whole. I told Jon that I wanted to do a documentary on an artist... and as we hadn't done any filmmaking since Humidity, just four months prior, we thought it was the perfect time.

Luckily a few months before my sister had introduced us to her good friends, Jeff and Jen Hein. Jeff is and artist of amazing talent. When we met with him again after the Barnes & Noble trip, we pitched him the idea and he thought it sounded like a great experience. It was really perfect timing too because he had just started a very difficult project that would utilize his process to the fullest. This documentary will follow Jeff from start to finish of the painting. We will see his process of studying, creating and recreating in the effort to fully understand the subjects for his final masterpiece. As so many artists photograph their subjects and recreate it in a painting, Jeff's process of working from live subjects is really unique, it's like the lost art behind the art... it's very interesting!

We've been working on it about a month now, and it's looking great. We still do have quite a long way to go though. I've been working on a teaser to get it going. I should have it finished in the next few weeks. I would love to have it sooner but we have a number of projects going on right now. Anyhow, keep an eye out for it and thanks for reading.

Humidity [Utah Debut]

Jon and I are very excited. Thank you to artist Jeff Heins who has asked for us to debut Humidity at his studio.

Okay it sounds official but its not official at all. Just a fun little get together. He's an amazing artist who's just cracked into the filmmaking sect. Check out his short called "I Got Mine." After you watch it... as I understand it, that's his first attempt at filmmaking. WOW! Right!!! He did really, really well!!!

Anyhow, I guess this pushes up my completion date for the Directors Cut of Humidity by a week. I love deadlines!!! (Really, I do... they force you to get things done.)

Update: The showing was great! We really enjoyed ourselves. It was nice hanging out with film folk again. Talkin' film and so on. It's been about a month since we have and to be honest, we've been having withdrawals from it, so it was really satisfying. We are also excited because we were able to talk about some upcoming projects that we're going to collaborate on, which will be really exciting. The style of the projects will also be really new for us, so we'll have an experience. Even better!

Humidity

Most everyone who knows about Humidity thus far has seen it, however I'm sure there will be some people who read this who have no idea what it is. Well, it's a short film that basically helped Jon and I discover who we really are as directors and the true path that we should take. Basically it was us finding our voice. Anyhow, it showed in the UNLV Spring Flicks Film Festival 2010 and was selected for the UNLV Showcase at the 2010 Las Vegas Film Festival. We have an LVFF cut but we'd like to finish it off with a Directors cut... we were limited to 15 minutes for the last two festivals but really the short should be closer to 20. Anyhow, we hope to get it into some film festivals which is why we haven't posted it on here yet... But just to tease you... here is the poster. Enjoy!

By the way, the Photography was by Abby, a dear friend of ours. And thank you to her and her family, who were kind enough to let us shoot there... as well as a number of other places that I'm so indebted to! Thank you to everyone who helped in any way, shape or form.

Spring Flicks 2010

It’s that time of year again! The UNLV Spring Flicks Film Festival 2010. It’s what the film students here at UNLV look forward to every year. There were 80 entries this year and the usual two night event has been lengthened to three. It began Friday, April 23rd at 6 PM and ran through Sunday, April 25th, at which time all the winners were announced. This is a pretty big event this year. We are competing for a Best Short grand prize of $1,500, first runner up is $1,000 and second runner up, $500. We didn’t have any grand illusions for our films but we definitely wanted to be selected to be featured in the Las Vegas Film Festival. Last year we made it to Cinevegas with Superflash, and we have to admit, we were really hoping for a similar event this year. Well, Friday night passed, and Saturday night came. Humidity, a film that we’ve spent the entire semester working on, closed that night, which is an exciting spot to have. It went over really well and we were very pleased with the results. Sunday night then came and went. We showed Sin City Chronicles that night but it didn’t go over as well as Humidity, which was fine because to be honest we just wanted to try every genre to really find our voice. I really think we found it with Humidity. Plus, we did Sin City Chronicles about a year ago so I don’t feel like we took a step back or anything like that. It’s always progress.

Anyhow, we did win a few awards. We were in a 3 way tie for 2nd runner up Best Short, unfortunately there was only one $500 check to give away and the judges selected another short but we still get a trophy. We also got 2nd runner up Best Director, 1st runner up Best Actor, and 1st runner up Best Actor. We also would have gotten 2nd runner up Best Screenplay but we were knocked out of the running the last night with a short film called Marko. by Mike Vara.

All in all we are really happy with the night and the results. It makes us so excited to get started on our next project and to adapt Humidity into a feature. Will it be in Las Vegas Film Fest, I don’t know yet. When I do, you will be the first to know.

Have a great day everyone!

Erika & Jon Huff

A New Start [Get it?]

We are excited to announce that we finally have a logo that will play before our short films and feature productions... as soon as we get there. It was created by Don Carroll, a local graphic designer, who we think is just amazing. He was so patient with us and all of our fifty-zillion changes, right up to the last minute. The original ending had the roller coaster going out of frame somewhere off to the right but Jon suggested that it fly right by the screen and use that as the transition into the ferris wheel. We all thought it was a great idea and as you can see below we kept it.

Don was nice enough to leave the end tentative, so once we figured out what we wanted Jon went ahead and added the black matting and the name using Final Cut Pro. He then used Sound Track Pro to tack on some sound effects and last I put it in Adobe After Effects and added the 8mm film overlay to it.

It will debut at the 2010 UNLV Spring Flicks Film Festival. We’re both so excited. We’re also pumped to start working on our wedding logo that we’ll use at the start or end of our wedding videos and other family oriented productions.

Cinevegas 2009

We are proud to say that Superflash was selected as one of the ten student films to be showcased at the Cinevegas International Film Festival, 2009. The festival runs from June 10 to June 15 at the Palms Hotel and Casino. I am currently unsure of the exact date and time that our short will be viewed but I hope to find out more information shortly. We’ll definitely keep you posted.

Update: It will be shown the last day of the festival, Monday, June 15th.