News

March 2010

Tuesday 23rd

An offer too good to be true!

I went to a meeting yesterday and the up shot is that there may be a lot of publicity in it for me if I film a film in a certain region of the country. You'll have to forgive the vagueness of the post but I don't want to say too much until we're well under way.

I might have to put The Ghosts Story on temporary hold whilst I crowbar in this new project which I haven't even written yet. It's going to be a rush but I'm hope it'll turn out well. I've got a fantastic idea which could bea spin on a tired and tested forumla. I've got to fit in a lot of locations and produce a nice looking, well acted film. I'll post more news as I'm working on the film and will let you all in on it when what's going on when I start filming.

Friday 5th

Start ringing the bells as I've finally finished the first draft and what a bugger it's been to write! I've never had to write a love story before but I have to say I'm glad it's done! I've sent the script to the potential cast and have had good feedback and I've also mailed it to some pro critics who'll give me sound feedback rather than the back slappy type you get from mates.

I showed some of thr "older" films tonight in the Lake District for a cinema group and had a fantastic night, especially when they dropped an impromptu Q&A sessions on me which I was totally unprepared for but it was all good fun.

Wednesday 3rd

Due to bad news at work last night, I got home in a absolute rage so I set to work on the script in a bid to chill out. The result is a fantastic scene at the mid point of the film which realistically deals with grief. I'd felt that the lead actress hadn't much to do at this point with the exception of an attempted suicide scene so I beefed the mid section up to make it interesting for the viewer and to add juxtaposition betwen the 2 leads.

Due to making the above changes, I've reread the slightly comedic genre specific ending and have found it comes across as tedious therefore, I have decided to write a more downbeat ending which ends on a high note. After all, losing someone you love very rarely has a Hollywood ending!

Tuesday 2nd

The script has been redrafted and I've changed the mid section and am now totally happy with how the script flows. I should hopefully have a final draft ready by the weekend then I'll start putting a production plan togethor.

1st March

Revisiting the past: I've decided to dust off one of the older films which was never completed 2 years ago when we filmed it. All the films needs is some audio work, music and most important a voice over recording for the Samaritan.

The film is quite cinematic and Phil does hold the film togethor well considering the camera is on him 95% of the time. There's lots of motion in the film so that the visuals don't become stilted so you'll see plenty of dollies and crane shots.

Apart from only having 1 actor onset, I only had 1 crew member ie me to do the lot which meant many frustrating hours trying to dolly, use the camera, record sound and mind audio cables all at the same time.

I've now got a good lead on the main location I wanted for the limbo scenes - hopefully they'll be as good as I remember. Just have to finalise the rest of the locations and extras for the wake scene and finish script.

February 2010

28th February

Just got my male lead and co-producer - Sam Thompson!

26th February

Bit of a problem - the script now clocks in at 16 minutes which is the ideal run time for a short film to be picked up and shown globally but the problem I now find is that some of the scenes are too short.

Take for instance the suicide scene in the middle, I have literally chopped the start and end off which give us a ...huge insight into the type of person the ghost is. The chopped scenes basically show the ghost going back to visit his wife only to find that she's taken an overdose. The ghost is then torn between helping her or allowing her to die so that they can be togethor. Now this is one hell of a powerful scene which I'm gutted to have chopped but there are others which require a little more room to breath.

The quandry is have the film clock at 16 minutes or allow it the time it needs to tell it's story?

Fuck it, story wins!

25th February

The script is now 95% complete and I have also rewritten the start, end and have added a suicide scene in the middle. I'm a lot happier with this draft as it's all starting to slot togethor nicely although it's just a td over the 16 minute length I had hoped for.

22nd February

The new script is now 2/3rds complete and all that's left to write now is the love scenes and I'm wondeering how the hell am I going to write them. Death and destruction no probs but believable love scenes no chance!

Anyone wanna try their hand at writing love scenes, please get in touch. There's a bottle in it for y...a! lol

I've had to cut quite a bit of dialog to keep the film under the 16 minute mark so out has gone some emotionally charged scenes and I now have a script which is to the point, doesn't give too much away and should hopefully turn out to be a nice thought provoking little comedy drama..

We now have some more of the locations in place and now only require an elevator and a waiting room.

19th February

The new short film is starting to come togethor now as I have a couple of the cast in place and am just waiting to hear from another as to whether he wants the part. There's still a few places to be filled including 2nd male lead and lead female so if you know any good actors, please forward them my details.

All I need... to do now is nail down the locations so I'll have to find a hospital waiting room , an elevator, living room and a bedroom.

I'm also planning on buying lots more lights to blast onto the actors as I want the film to look as slick as possible. I want the film to have a Hollywood shine as I'm going to try and get into some of the "big" American festivals!

18th February

This is the new short film which I'm working on. It has an interesting conecpt and is quite a departure from my normal style of film. I hope to start filming at the end of March but I'm currently on the lookout for a cast and crew.

Cast wise, I need:

Ghost - 20s -30s male
Advisor - any age male
Girl - 20s - 30s ...female
Bloke - 20s - 30s male

If you know anyone who's interested, please ask them to message me.

January 2010

Planning for The Ghosts Story starts

Saturday 9th January 2009

We both woke up at 8.30 knackered! Bloody Michael Caine! We started chceking the camera equipment and found that Clarky had left the dolly outside behind the shed for the past couple of years. The wheels had rusted so we rushed to Argos to find a couple of skateboards and after a couple of hours, we were ready to roll.

Filming got off to a slow start and we attracted the notice of a few nosey neighbours but I was at last filming my first short for 2 years!!!

We ended up filming until 9pm until one of the lights blew a fuse and bulb. I couldn't find the spares so we called it a day and will film the remaining few shots at a later date.

Ashley did a fantastic job and learned quite a lot. You'll see that he manages to put in quite an unhinged performance when you get to see the final film and I'll certainly use him in future films.

I wasn't as rusty as what I though I would be and managed to get some fairly decent shots with lots of them being tracking shots in which the camera literally glides around Ashley although I'm not sure how many of them will make it into the final film. I may have to refilm a few little segments as the angles are slightly off when I reviewed the footage.

Friday 8th January 2009

I drove to Accrington, picked Ashley up and then drove back to my house. We went out for a meal and then back hom to chill out and eatch some films. We ended up watching Michael Caine films until the early hours.

December 2009

December 18th 2009

The 2nd drafts of the scripts have gone out to all cast members so I await their feedback. There are still a few rough pieces of dialog but nothing major to worry about. I'm now working on the visual look of the film and will also test simulating low believable light as some of the film takes place at night.

It's all starting to come togethor so I hope nothing fecks up.

15th December

In the past, there have been 3 version of rubix:

1) Unfinished due to lead not turning up after first few days
2) Refilm of above which is OK. It was filmed in SD and is OK.
3) Rubix3 which did quite well but was only 50 seconds long.

This new version of Rubiks has a completely new story about loss and oevrcoming it and I fell that it's going to be the definitive version of the film. There has been a lot more scenes added which deals with the lead characters mental state.

The only bit that's carried over from the previous films is the fatter thinner dialog. The entire film has been restructured and I'm 100% happy with the first draft as there's no poxy studenty scenes where someone spends an hour making a sandwich or endless close ups of people pushing buttons.

I'm hoping to start filming on the 9th & 10th of January as most of the cast and locations are in place.

Cast wise, I have:

Ashley Gudgeon playing himself
Jennie Scully playing herself

I just need to find a decent cemetary/park based location for the start of the film and we're all set.

Writing this short has been a struggle as I have had writers block for the past year and have hardly done any film related work other than helping other people out just to keep my hand in. I'm still struggling getting back into filmmaker mode so that's why I'm making this film.

I know I've made Rubix twice fully before but it's safe and has some great ideas which I've expanded on greatly and I reckon it'll be a good jumpstart back into the filmmaking world. The point is that I shouldn't have quit 2 years ago and deeply regret it when I think of where I could've been now. Maybe not in Hollywood but I might be getting proper funding for films. You never know.

Whilst I wait for the new version of Ash, I have decided to make a short film as both an equipment test and to also get me back into filmmaking as there's no point making Ash for it to fall flat in its face. For several weeks, I;d tried to come up with a quick original script but failed miserable so I decided to look into the past at what shorts I had made. One contender popped up and that was Rubix.

I felt that I hadn't done the film justice in the past so I literally ditched every aspect of it and simply kept a few lines of dialog. I re-wrote the lot! The first draft had a very strong start and a slightly weeker back end so I sent it off to the proposed lead, Ashley Gudgeon who pitched ideas and sent me back his revisions so now we have the first tantalising draft of the new short. This version gets more into the lead characters head and shows us what's going on in his mind.

I now have to look at what visual style the film will have and then tailor that into the script too as I just don't want it to be another ho hum effort but rather a bloody great little film that I'm proud of.

I've approached the rest of the cast and have most of the locatiosna nd props in place with the only location left to find being a park/cemetary locale. I'm hoping to start filming on the 2nd week of January and will look to start editting at the end of that month.

In the meantime, I intend to continue working on the script once I have feedback from the rest of the cast.

November 2009

A lot of this month has been spent working with the writer of Ash. The first half was delivered and it fell quiet a bit short ot what I'd hoped it to be.

October 2009

It has been 2 years since I made my last film! A lot has happened in that time both career wise and in my personal life. Although I haven't made any of my own films in the past 2 years, I've been busy both brainstorming, writing and helping other filmmakers from around the country on their projects.

I must've worked on at least 6 short films for other directors and the experience has ranged from quite pleasant to a first time director being downright rude when I tried to advise him and this was the cheeky bugger using all my kit for no charge. Suffice to say, the film turned out crap due to a cast being peopel off the street and a director who thought he was Martin Scorsese. Never mind!

None of the films I've worked on have been entered into any festivals which is a shame as some showed promise - I wasn't involved in the editting stages and honestly don't know how they turned out as I either just helped out on set or work magic with the lights.

Recently, I have been enticed back due to missing the creative buzz I get when working on a film and also I have been told that should I make 2 decent short films by Summer next year then I should be elligable for funding. Now the funding isn't a huge ammount but it's funding none the less which means that I'll have some help in distributing the films. I'm not going to say too much until I know more and have at least of the films completed.

My wife took me away on a fantastic holiday for my birthday. I took my laptop hoping to write a complete version of Ash and to speed up the first act but unfortunatley, my creative writing muse didn't come with us. Is this the same old feeling that drags me down - the doing too much by yourself bogged down feeling. I think so! I have taken the liberty of contacting an award winning writer who I commisioned to write Prometheus and he did an excellent job. Anyway, I've asked Alex if he'd fancy having a go at Ash and he's agreed so all we have to do is chat about what I want then I can leave him to it whilst I get on with some of the technical acpects of the film and takes a tremendous ammount of pressure off of me.

I've contacted a few people about helping me with the next film(s) but have had a lacklustre can't be assed response so I may have to do all the production work on my own which is no small feet as a lot of the film will be set in a car interior which means I'll be messing with booms, lights and camera all on my own - I just hope the final film isn't affected by this but if need be. I'll slow down filming and will shoot over 2 weekends instead of the planned one.

A few problems have cropped up such as how do I film the cast driving a car without hiring an expensive rig or a transporter. Green screen - nah too much work! Static shots in the country - nah naff! The solution I've come up with is to get Clarky (the Mrs) the drive along various straight country road whilst I film from various positions. I'll then take 2 projectors and project the video onto home cinema screens and got he old rear projection route! It worked fine for The Terminator and Aliens so I'm hoping it'll work just as well for me. lol

The car windows will be covered up so lighting the interior and having the cast move about will be a major pain in the butt so I've refined my plans for some colour balaned mini spotlights with cute little snoots which I'm going to order the parts and test this week. If I'm lucky, they may even be able to be powered fromt he cars interior but it doesn't really matter as I'll be filming inside a sound stage. If the mini lights work well then all I have to do is conenct them up to a motorbike batter, bung them onto lights stands and I have instant powered daylight coloured lights which I can use anywhere. I've no idea how long they'll last though.