RTS: York (Student) Awards Tonight!

It's the big one... (following yesterday's 'Big One' - a showing of 'Moving On' at Clive Tonge's Short Horror Film Night at the Arc...)

Back in November 2010 I attended my first RTS Awards; just over a year later and I'm suited and booted up again and ready to rock!

This event has been postponed from last year so the suspence has hit fever-pitch as to whether or not my offering has been shortlisted. I entered the Regent Cinema promotional film into the category of factual, as a first year piece of work - even though I did it in year two for me!

Fingers crossed then; a short listed screening would be nice but a win would be a perfect start to spring.

Watch this space!

'Moving On' at The Arc - Next Monday

It's nearly time, so here's a quick link and a little reminder that Clive Tonge's Big Horror Night is nearly upon us... Come one, come all, for a fun-filled-fright-fest!

http://www.arconline.co.uk/detail.php?id=2817

Going Back to 'Moving On'

The juggernaut that is 'Moving On' just keeps thundering forward, most recently it was selected to be screened in it's Director's Cut format at Clive Tonge's Short Horror Films Night at the Arc, Stockton.

As this was a last minute submission, I can only assume that the decision committee were utterly blown away by what they saw onscreen. This is a testament to the talented team I worked with on the day, most of whom I've worked with again since...

Well if this is the result, "Viva La Team Moving On", says I!!!


Check out the event at this link:

http://www.arconline.co.uk/detail.php?id=2817

BOOM! We're off the blocks in 2012 with EXPLODING HELICOPTERS!!!

This may be slightly preemptive but there's a very good chance that my next film school project will be approved tomorrow - and it's all about the exploding helicopters!

I'm just putting together a short pitch video to show my lecturers that will without doubt convince them that blowing up little models is the best thing for me as a student on te 'Creative Film making' course.
I've been planning this shot for about five years now, and every year another thing drips into place to make it an inevitable outcome.

Now in fairness, I don't NEED to blow up a helicopter - I just WANT to!
It'll be enough of a challenge to bring the futuristic models to life in the trailer but in for a penny, in for a pound and all that...

Hollywood is being threatened daily by bedroom artists producing tip notch SFX on home computers, and I aim to join them.

Test shots started five years ago; in seven weeks i hope to have the skillset down to make all the aerial vehicle shots in my trailer look a million dollars.


No pressure then.

Murder on the Trans-media Express

Murder on the trans-media express

This is the event that nearly never was yet it was also the most important event I've attended for months and could drastically affect the future of film making for not just myself but the whole industry, certainly according to the speakers.

Present were Hilary Perkins (Skins - ch4), Tim Wright (Oldton - website), Ian Fenton (Kronos Time Machine - Tyneside Cinema) and Tarek Nseir (Harry Potter - Pottermore website) , who between then represented writers, producers, directors and designers across platforms from film to tv, literature to web design and everything in-between.

My intentions at this event were mostly about networking at first, then j studied the content of the session and realised it could be slightly relevant. Three hours after it began and I think it could make the difference between success and failure of a long-term ongoing project, currently titled 'Grand Scheme of Things' which I began to promote at Cannes back in May.

The new term for what I might call multi-media is 'Trans-media' and now included is Facebook, twitter, myspace, alongside audio-visual mainstays such as music, video and books.

I have collaborated with Martin Wood for over a decade to provide content for the world of Jonny Fix and friends, never quite knowing what the final format should be.
And now I know - ALL FORMATS!

Nothing we've done to date will be wasted, everything has a point and potential. Content commissioners are already looking for added value to their brands and the best added value is created ALINGSIDE the primary product, not bolted on afterwards.

The event was everything we all wanted it to be - everyone I spoke to at the networking session afterwards thought so too and the speakers were very generous with their time, allowing us the opportunity to ask direct questions and dig deeper into the answers than would be possible in the group forum format.

Many thanks to mike Boyle for passing on details of the event and to Scott Watson who kept me up to date with the revised date. Without them, I'd have missed a something BIG!

Here's a link to the event:
http://www.dcbusiness.eu/events/2011-12-07/murder-on-the-trans-media-express
Here's a link to GSoT:
http://www.grandschemeofthings.co.uk/
Here's a link to the delegates:

http://www.facebook.com/tynesidetimemachine
http://www.imdb.com/name/nm2207742/ - Ian Fenton

http://www.oldton.com/ - Tim Wright

http://www.pottermore.com/ - Tarek Nseir

http://www.e4.com/skins/ - Hilary Perkins

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!

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?