As the dust settles on the Grand Hotel shoot...

...I'm still picking up the pieces from a fantastic weekend shoot.

The script suffered a few direct hits, as did the cast and crew, but those still on their feet marched valiantly on to victory in this major battle; the war, however, still hangs in the balance.


Friday to Sunday was a blur, as was all of the past week. I had a solid team, who, with a little telepathic ability, made the shoot not just survivable, but also quite a success!

With the benefit of hindsight, a clear mind and sleep, I can think of many ways in which things could have been different; one thing I'd like to do is PAY my cast and crew. There was such a high degree of loyalty and professionalism on set, everyone worked for food, friendship and to be a part of a killer opportunity, and it's back to me to make everyone's efforts worth something in the near future.

I didn't take too many pictures on the day, but here's a couple I did grab:

Stuart Hanrahan, A.K.A. 'Billy Hawksmoor' doubled as my Cheif of Entertainment... Other crew include Rhiannon Jones as Production Runner/Beauty Make-up, Chris Coles as 'Camera 2', Alice Knight as 'Catering/Production Runner' and Peter Suttron as Set Dresser.

 

Fear not, in this picture all of the alcohol bottles are props!

 

 

In a sports-report style, we created a backdrop using logos 'donated' by other North East film makers. Sadly the 'set' wasn't used

James Kent, A.K.A. 'John Foster' stood still for just two photographs. Alarmingly, this was the best one!

Thanks to Laura McClurg for helping me create the race suit.

 

Peter Suttron was my Set Dresser/Prop Master, although he was asked to appear in the film twice, once as a 'Snoozing party-goer' and once as 'Bandaged man'.

Peter hated, Hated, HATED being under the bandages, but stuck with it for a good four or five hours! - Thanks Peter!

For more pictures from the shoot, please visit the Facebook page:

http://www.facebook.com/ChampionshipHunt

Welcome to 2013!

Production begins for real on 'Championship Hunt' in 24 days - and I think we're right on track!

There's loads to do, LOADS! but I've been catching up with my actors and crew and I'm confident that we will nail the filming and that the finished piece will be something really special - maybe that should read 'weirdly-special'!

As statements of intent go, here's my Championship hunt Picture of the Year so far!!!

Many thanks to Laura for the wonderful Christmas present and all of your help and support on this project to date!

 

 

Happy New Year Everyone!

A Grand Job

Today I delivered the stand and graphics to the Grand Hotel, Hartlepool, for their Airport themed New Years party.

This work was undertaken in an exchange for hiring rooms for Championship Hunt; it was intended to be farmed out to students but the end of term hit too soon, so the ball fell back into my court.

Here's some pictures of it's development:

Intitial concept art

Concept art for VIP room

Working drawings

 

Pre-painted stand

 

 

The finished stand

 

 

This was a bigger job than I'd anticipated, although it was straight-forward and nothing went wrong, thankfully!

 

Thanks to the Entertainment Design team and the IT Technicians for their support, and thanks also to Kathleen from the hotel for trusting in me to realise her project within the limited timeframe.

 

The Grand Hotel, Hartlepool is a beautiful hotel and has served Cleveland College of Art and Design on many an occasion, and we look forward to working with them many more times to come.

 

http://www.tavistockleisure.com/best-western-grand.htm

There's Something in the Fog..!

 We had a rather lucky break this weekend when a location scouting trip turned into our very own fox hunters-hunt! A visit to Castle Howard, rendered all but useless thanks to thick fog, was followed up with a trip into deepest Yorkshire and an abundance of horse boxes suggested there was a hunt underway. As we drove through the lanes - in the mysterious fog - we were quickly caught up in the procession of horses and hounds, taking part in a drag hunt. We spoke to one of the riders who allowed us to take some quick pictures and I feel these could be used in an early montage in 'Championship Hunt'.

 

Here's a couple of snaps:

Here's a link to Castle Howard on Google Maps:
https://maps.google.co.uk/maps?hl=en&tab=wl

 

Don't Shoot...

Until 25th January, 2013!

Yes, that's our official start date for principle photography on Championship hunt!

Although it seems an age away, the script needs to be locked down, costumes designed, locations established, sets dressed, props made... Gee-Whizz!

The Championship Hunt web site came online today too, check it out:

http://championshiphunt.com/

Call The Cops..! No need, there's dozens of 'em!

Today i headed up a team of CCAD FdA Creative Film students as we shot a police training exercise at Tees Port.

We had five cameras; the emergency services had eight fire engines, four police cars, six ambulances and a helicopter!

It was a long day but between us we vaptured some outstanding footage.

Halloween Launch for 'Championship Hunt' Facebook Page

Yikes, that was scary..!

Halloween you say?

Nooo! Tonight I pushed the 'GO' button on the 'Championship Hunt' Facebook page that I've spent the last week building; it makes you feel quite naked, putting everything you have out there for the world to see and hoping that it's enough!

As a launch package I'm very satisfied with what I have; plenty of artwork and photographs, all with notes to explain what you're looking at and help someone utterly fresh to the world to understand what I'm attempting to turn into a film.

Here's a link:

http://www.facebook.com/ChampionshipHunt

And here's the teaser poster:-



In other news this week, I had a fantastic session at film school last night when a scene from Championship Hunt was filmed by two groups of students, with little-to-no input from myself. The results really helped me get a feel for the scenes and will allow me to add more action notes to the script.

This group wanted to use strong shadows to add character

 This group kept one character in shadow

The actor in shadow was playing the part as though he was Satan himself!

 

 



With all the social networking fuss behind me, I can concentrate on further script revisions and get back to prop making, costume and set design!

But first some pumpkin carving and light a few candles to celebrate the turning of the wheel once more.