Movie scene shot at JBU

Janelle Jessen/Herald-Leader Mutiny FX of Bentonville filmed some post production scenes for the upcoming movie "God's Not Dead" at John Brown University on Saturday morning. About 220 local people participated in the creation of a crowd scene for the movie.
Janelle Jessen/Herald-Leader Mutiny FX of Bentonville filmed some post production scenes for the upcoming movie "God's Not Dead" at John Brown University on Saturday morning. About 220 local people participated in the creation of a crowd scene for the movie.

About 220 local people got the chance to be extras on the upcoming movie "God's Not Dead 2," last weekend.

Mutiny FX of Bentonville was filming post-production shots for the movie at John Brown University on Sept. 26, according to Jamie Soloman, co-owner of Mutiny FX and a co-producer of the movie.

The God's Not Dead sequel, produced by Pure Flix Studio, is scheduled to be released on April 1, 2016, according to IMDb. Cast members include Melissa Joan Hart, Ray Wise, Pat Boone and Sadie Robertson. Most filming for the movie took place in Little Rock.

The Mutiny FX film crew took videos of groups of about 20 people standing in front of a green screen in the Simmons Great Hall parking lot. The people were instructed to mingle and talk, look at a certain point and then cheer.

The video will be used to create a crowd scene in front of the Arkansas State Capitol. The groups of people will be digitally sewn together to create a crowd of over 1,000 people, Soloman said. There is a chance that people in the crowd shots may be able to pick themselves out of the scene if they pause the movie, she said.

The special effects company also took a few shots of a dorm room on the JBU campus. If somebody is looking closely at the movie they might recognize the dorm room but it will be titled under a different university name in the movie, Soloman said.

Both Jamie and her husband Dustin Soloman, also a co-owner of Muntiny FX and co-producer of the movie, are JBU alumni. Dustin is also an adjunct professor at the university. They chose the location for filming because they want to work more closely with local skills to encourage growth of the industry in Northwest Arkansas, Jamie said.

They were excited to be a part of bringing the movie to Arkansas and have a passion for bringing the film industry to Northwest Arkansas specifically, Jamie said.

"We see this as a new industry (for the area) and education is a huge part of it," she said.

Julie Gumm of Siloam Springs brought her two daughters, Natalie, 12, and Beza, 14; a niece, Averee Gumm, 16; and a friend Alyssa Muessemeyer, 12, to participate as extras in the movie. Her daughter Natalie is especially interested in a career in the film industry, she said. The family also saw the first movie and thought it would be great to have the chance to participate in the sequel.

"It felt a little weird to be cheering at the trees," Gumm said, "But they made it easy -- no pressure. We're looking forward to the movie. It'll be fun, we'll definitely go see it in the theaters."

Her daughters quickly reminded her they would have to buy the DVD as well so they could pause it and look for themselves in the crowd.

General News on 10/04/2015