Circle B Productions LLC

Every filmmaker reaches a point where they realize that learning never stops.

One of the skills that separates good filmmakers from great ones is understanding visual effects—not just in post-production, but while planning and shooting a film. That's why Olivia has enrolled in ActionVFX Academy's new "VFX for Filmmakers" course.

The course is designed to help filmmakers confidently plan, shoot, and composite their own visual effects, reducing costly mistakes on set and making post-production far more efficient. It's an investment that will make every project we produce at Circle B Productions stronger.

But the story gets even better.

Olivia applied for an opportunity to participate in an exclusive VFX Supervisor Master Class with Emmy Award-winning VFX Supervisor Eran Dinur. We're thrilled to share that she was selected! She'll be taking the master class while providing feedback to ActionVFX as they continue developing their new "VFX for Filmmakers" program.

Olivia's goal is simple: to become one of the go-to filmmakers for visual effects in our region. The knowledge she gains won't just elevate our own films—it will also allow her to help fellow filmmakers bring their stories to life and, hopefully, open the door to additional professional VFX opportunities.

Congratulations, Olivia! Your dedication to continually learning and growing is one of the reasons Circle B Productions keeps moving forward.

VFX Assets & Training for Artists | ActionVFX Browse ActionVFX stock footage, 3D assets, and practice footage built for compositors, motion designers, and VFX teams.

This morning I woke up, took care of our animals, grabbed some breakfast, and settled into our writing lab to work on Circle B Productions' latest projects.

As I sat down, I came across an AI-generated image that most people would probably label a failure.

I had asked AI to create Elias Buell, an Oregon sawmill owner who, after the sinking of the SS Brother Jonathan on July 30, 1865, drove a buckboard wagon from Portland to Crescent City in search of the bodies of his daughter, son-in-law, and grandchildren. There are no known photographs of Elias, so we are left to imagine the face of a father and grandfather carrying an unimaginable burden.

The image wasn't what I asked for.

Or was it?

Sometimes a creative "failure" opens a door you didn't know existed.

As I looked at the image, I realized I wasn't seeing Elias Buell.

I was seeing my late father, Nate Bull.

For those who know our story, my father was the editor of The Triplicate newspaper in Crescent City for many years. Long before Olivia and I began writing this documentary, he was researching the Brother Jonathan tragedy himself. It suddenly became clear that his face could become the face of Elias Buell in our film.

That unexpected discovery reminded me why we're making Brother Jonathan and the Dragon's Teeth.

This is not a treasure hunt for the gold that rests on the bottom of the Pacific Ocean.

It is a story about the people.

It is a story about duty before self.

A First Officer who remained at his post directing rescue efforts until the very end.

A Chief Engineer who stayed below decks, keeping steam in the engines so others might escape.

A father and grandfather who traveled hundreds of miles by wagon to bring his family home.

Those are the treasures our documentary seeks to recover.

Every revolutionary technology seems to follow a familiar path. First comes excitement. Then skepticism. Then concern about what it means for artists, workers, and society. Eventually, we learn how to use the technology responsibly.

For independent filmmakers like us, AI has become another storytelling tool.

Without it, telling the story of the Brother Jonathan with the historical authenticity it deserves would require resources available only to a major Hollywood studio. There simply are not enough surviving photographs, illustrations, or visual records to recreate much of what happened in 1865.

Will this image appear in the finished film?

No.

But it accomplished something far more valuable than generating a finished shot.

It helped me see a character in a completely new way.

If our documentary succeeds, I hope audiences won't remember what software helped us make it.

I hope they remember Elias Buell... Captain DeWolf... Hank Allen... Elijah Mott... the Rowell family... Martha Wilder... the citizens of Crescent City who rushed in to help... and the hundreds of passengers and crew whose lives have too often been overshadowed by stories of lost gold.

Because they were always the real treasure.

—Todd Bull
Circle B Productions LLC

We have four feature films undergoing active production efforts. It is common for Olivia to spend time on all four films each and everyday. "Broken Ankle", "Singlewide Pride", "Terror at the Dragon's Teeth: The Tragic Sinking of the SS Brother Jonathan" and "Fawn's Justice" require constant nurturing. My main focus is our documentary film about the sinking of the SS Brother Jonathan off the coast of Crescent City on July 30th, 1865.

We are often asked "Why don't you just work on one film at a time until it's done before starting on another film?" The answer is the development of AI. The impact of AI will upend the 3D Animation workplace. In the next few years work on 3D Animation will be radically overhauled. Projects that take Olivia months to create at the present time will be reduced to a weeks. Work now taking weeks to produce will be completed in days. Items now taking days will be reduced to minutes.

Give those parameters it makes sense we focus on creating amazing screenplays worthy of production efforts. That includes getting actors hired, releases signed and people paid so the dialogue can be recorded and edited. Please note we remain committed to using human actors for our films, even though there are AI voice options on the market.

My creative focus is moving our documentary film about the SS Brother Jonathan towards an early 2027 release. Other than voice work and B-Roll the rest of the film is being created by AI, so I'm tasked with getting a firm grip on employing AI as a film creation vehicle. I'm experiencing a crash course on Open.AI and OpenArt.AI while keeping up-to-date on other options, which seem to pop up every day. The images below were created for specific scenes in our documentary film. They will serve as the blueprint as we move towards creating our film with Seedance 2.0, Kling 3.0 or Veo 3.1.