Ummah Films - Season 3 (Topics from YOU!)

Bismillah ar-Rahmaan ar-Raheem,

I often get asked how long it takes to my one Reminder video. So here it is!

Often times it take about 10 to 15 hours to put something together (yeah its tougher than it looks). "Hey Ali, all you do is just jump around in the videos"..."oh yes young grasshopper..if it was just that easy"

I’m not a writer or actor by any means so I can't “act” or “write about a random subject” on demand but rather I’ve been doing the videos by just being me and telling the viewers my thoughts of random subjects. I think the fact that I’m alone when I write, film, and edit the videos helps me to even more myself (that’s why you see me acting silly sometimes). Anyways, I live near a busy street so they only way I can film peacefully (least amount of noise) is at night so yeah, that’s why I look so tired in my videos. Its 2am people! Haha!

Ever since the videos have become popular, I have found myself traveling so much on my free time that I have had to delay the Reminder series again and again (currently scheduled for March 2008). Even then, I’m already getting booked for events in March, April, and even as far as August. Its crazy. Sometimes I miss doing the videos and I really want to get back to doing them so I have come up with a solution:

1. For the first two Seasons, the topics were based on subjects that wear dear to me and Alhamdulillah I got the opportunity to get plenty of topics off my chest. Now, I’m turning the table and making the series more interactive. The topics will now be based on viewer’s questions (send your questions to ask@ummahfilims.com and I try to answer at least one of the questions for each video). Note: I am not a scholar so please don’t send me any fiqh questions (in other words, i'm not answering questions about what is halal/haram in Islam unless it its universally known...which is like everyone and their mama knows....you know what i'm sayin'?)

2. I’m changing the name of the series to Ask Baba Ali InshAllah since the format of the show has changed. Don’t worry, its still the Reminder style which is basically random anyways so …uh…yeah…

3. Instead of having long 9min videos, I cutting down the video to 3 minutes. This will make it easier to put the videos together and allow me to make more videos more frequently InshAllah (did u know the last video was released back in July...dude that's like 6 months ago!...i know..i know..).

4. I’m opening the doors for sponsorships so that each video can be sponsored InshAllah. Ummah Films is growing and we want to make more projects and those projects will need funding. Since help and equipment isn’t always free, we will need to get some funds to put get the ball rolling on more projects InshAllah (going to best buy and telling them to give me a camera with a Fisibilillah Discount is going to get me but a funny look…especially if he’s a non-Muslim)

The goal is to come out more videos on a consistent basis InshAllah. If you have watched the series from Day 1, you will have notice changes as this entire experience has been nothing but a huge learning process for us. We are not different than any of the viewers watching and this whole film thing is brand new to many of us. Ummah Films started as just an idea and a blog. Alhamdulillah the idea has become something tangible and the blog has kept a record of our adventure since Day 1. I really hope it inspires others to make a positive difference because if we can do it…you can it!