Monday 21 November 2011

Moving On - Director's Cut Online NOW!

Today it's one month since the deadline for the 90-second Ghost Film competition and it seemed a fitting time to park up my three-and-a-half minute 'Director's Cut', here's the link:

http://vimeo.com/32436659


It's always a challenge to maintain the original intentions of a script the greater the amount of time that passes from inception to realisation and this film is no exception. Originally conceived as a fantastical study of a broken heart and fragile mind, I pushed the snowball over the hill and surprised myself by the momentum it gathered; family, friends and colleagues all supported me to make a much bigger and better film than I ever expected.

It is what is mind you, everything was shot on one day, everything on the storyboards that is. But - and here's the thing - the actors brought something more to the performance than I'd envisioned, effectively changing the ending - and for the better.

I pushed out the 90-second version within a week but spent a lot longer piecing the Director's Cut together.

Once again, serendipity played it's part and creativity, unburdened by a tight deadline, flourished. Once I had the rough cut before me, I could see what more I'd like to add... Well reshoots weren't an option, so I had to make do with using out takes, harsh crops and split-screens to make up the image I really wanted.


The finished film is best seen as a highly-evolved animatic, I think of it like The Evil Dead when compared to The Evil Dead II: The first film was a balls-to-the-wall experiment in film making, getting ideas out of their heads and onto the screen; the 'sequel' was more of a remake, now they know what they're doing with the cameras!

Will I ever remake this? I hope I never have to!


Tuesday 1 November 2011

Joint Second... Along with EVERONE ELSE who didn't come FIRST!!!

Well, we were in good company at least!

There were some fourteen minutes of 90 second films being shown last night and Laura Degnan, of Writers' Block, announced that this was one of the strongest field of entries in the [admittedly short] history of the competition.

The winning film failed to play on the night mind you - we saw the first and last ten seconds and heard the full soundtrack - but we're assured it was outstanding.

So, well done to everyone; at this point we don't actually know how high the bar was set but next time, I'll give everyone MORE time, and we'll go for the win once more!

Here's a link to the 90-second cut of 'Moving On':

http://vimeo.com/31419992

The next competition entry must involve puppets. The current level four students are making puppets. Sadly, the deadlines are the wrong side of one-another. Ho-hum, life, eh?