My First Film Blog

Portobello Screening

Sat, 21 Aug 2010 15:33:50 +0100

I got some great news today. Blood + Roses is being shown at a film festival and I say about bloody time. Since completing the film I have tried to get it into a film festival, any film festival and I have been faced with rejection at every turn. At this moment I have been rejected by 16 out of 25 film festivals. I had given up hope at this point and didn’t think I would get it shown anywhere.

I had stopped applying to film festivals, as it is an expensive business. I have paid up to £100 to enter Blood + Roses into a film festival and for them to reject them. I have spent a total about £600 on festival applications. There is money to be made in running a film festival. So if I set up one and I received a thousand films to show at my film festival and I was charging £40 per entry... I’m in the wrong business!

So I am very happy to get one, the Portobello Film Festival. I have a good history with The Portobello Film Festival as I had many of my shorts shown there. To date I had Post-Its, Kareem’s Vengeance, Primero and Segundo shown there.

At the screening of Post-Its I had to go up and introduce the film. The screening fell on the day of my birthday and I was there with some friends. The organisers asked the filmmakers present to go up and introduce the film, so I went up just before the film. I was about to talk about the short, when my friends in the audience sang Happy Birthday to me. I was very touched. So touched that when they finished, I said “enjoy the film” and left the stage. That won’t happen this time... well it would be odd as it won’t be my birthday.

My hope for this screening is that it opens the door for the film to being accepted at other film festivals. When they see that it the film has been shown at one, it may lead others to be more acceptive to the film. Or it could be that it won’t make no damn difference to the other film festivals. I don’t know. I can only hope.

As much as Film Festivals are a pain to accept your film, they are great to attend. It’s now less than a week to my favourite film festival, FrightFest! I am really looking forward to it. I have my weekend pass, so it’s going to be my first time being there for the whole event. What I love about FrightFest is the audience! They are so welcoming and inclusive. There is a real sense of community there. Also there are no barriers between the you and the filmmakers. Just can go up to them and talk to them, which I have done in the pass. I don’t know if I will be doing my usual rundown of the films on show this year. It depends on my schedule, which of late has been very busy. We’ll see.

So the screening is taking place on Saturday 4th September at Westbourne Studios, 242 Acklam Road, London W10 5JJ. Admission is free (like all screenings at the Portobello Film Festival) and it starts at 3pm. I have set up an event page for the screening on FaceBook. Check it out here - http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=135341689842832. (Also check out the new screening page on this site and on the official Blood + Roses site)

Hope to see you there... and don’t sing Happy Birthday to me when I introduce it. It only works on my birthday!

Letting Go

Thu, 1 Jul 2010 14:34:23 +0100

I finally taken all the footage off my computer from Blood + Roses. It’s a big moment for me. I have kept the footage on there for a long time, even after I got a HD master done of the film. I just couldn’t bring myself to take it off, until now. Now I need the space on my hard drives for a new editing project. I am getting to edit with RED footage, which I am really looking forward to. It is going to be 4K footage, so I am going to need all the space I can get on my computer.

I always liked the idea of having the footage on there, just in case anything went wrong. Now it is all taken off. All the raw footage, render files and audio files. I had backed everything up, before deleting the files. All the footage is on tape. The audio files on disc. The project files are on a external hard drive. So if I ever needed to put the film back together, I would have everything I need to do it. But I tell you, it was a very hard thing to do.

Habeas Corpus Update

Tue, 1 Jun 2010 09:39:49 +0100

Some Habeas Corpus (HC) news for you. First off, there are two articles about HC on Dread Central. The first article is the press release for the film with a brief outline of the stories that make up the Anathology. The second is a catch up with Paul Davis, where he talks about working on the script for S.C.U.M. (one of the HC’s stories) and the status of Gladiators Vs. Werewolfs (which Paul stars in). You can read both articles here - http://www.dreadcentral.com/habeus-corpus. Also the press release has appeared here on Fandomania - http://fandomania.com/habeus-corpus-anthology-film-to-feature-young-horror-talent. I love the fact I have been classed as “young horror talent”.

The other piece of news is that I have finished writing my story for HC - The Tourist. Before finishing, I organised a read through of the script with a group of actors. I rented a rehearsal space and asked Andrew Lawden, Catherine Adams (who both starred in Moving Forward), Christopher Hatherall and Laura Meakin to read the various parts in the script. Afterwards we talked about the script and any ideas they had about it. Then we work-shopped a couple of the scenes, to see how these scenes could be played differently. I filmed the whole thing on camcorder, so I could watch it back at home. Then when I got back from Eastbourne, I watched the read through while making my revisions to the script. I found it to be a great help to me and I finished the script last Friday.

HC is progressing quickly, as we all have finished rewrites to our respective scripts. I can tell you now that HC is going to be an exciting project and I will keep you up-to-date on it’s progress right here on My First Film.

Song Of King Solomon Shoot

Mon, 24 May 2010 14:57:32 +0100

Last week I was down in Eastbourne, shooting a Stephen Southouse film called ‘Song Of King Solomon’. Stpehen has directed 3 films previously - ‘Paris Skylight’, ‘White Admiral’, and ‘Emily’s Kiss’ - which 2 of them I had shot. Remember I did a couple of days on ‘Emily’s Kiss’ the summer before I made Blood + Roses (See Working On My Birthday).

The story is about angels in heaven looking down upon on King Solomon with his many wives and cocubines. They realise that Solomon has something lacking in his life, love. So they arrange it for the Solomon to fall in love with Shulamith.

Stephen had been shooting in Rhodes with the main cast (Jason Croot, Ifeoma Oboko and Lucinda Rhodes-Flaherty) the week before. They shot all the exteriors in Greece using a different DOP. I was coming on board to shoot the interiors in Eastbourne.

I arrived in Eastbourne at 11 o’clock in the morning by train. I travelled down with Jason Croot and we were met at the station by Stephen. We walked back to his place, which is near the station, so we could drop off our luggage. I was staying with Jason and Ifeoma at a B&B along the shore, and we checked in at the end of the day, after we had finished shooting that day.

Stephen then took us over to the location, a basement under a needle craft shop. We shot there for the whole three days. The basement was being used for the throne room, the king’s bedchamber, the harem and heaven. We had to use each wall for a different location. Of course this limited us to how we could shoot the scenes. I couldn’t go too wide, otherwise the other walls would creep into shot. I also had to frame out all signs of the modern world. I had to frame out plug sockets and pipes. So I was limited to the angles I could shoot. Mostly wide shots and close ups. But saying that I did got some great stuff.

We also shot a lot in three days. Stephen’s style of filmmaking is to get in there and shoot it fast. He always uses at least 2 cameras. On ‘White Admiral’ we shot with three cameras and that worked for that film. But with this one, we were missing moments, good acting moments that should be captured in a close up. Stephen has a knack of casting good actors in his films and the cast in this film were really good. It would be a shame not to capture their performances properly. So I spoke up about it.

We were doing this one scene with Asenth (played by Ilona Saic) and she was doing some great work in it, but all we could see was the back of her head. Stephen called that we were moving onto the next scene. This is when I spoke up and I said that we needed to get some more shots of Ilona, as we couldn’t see her face. Stephen agreed and I quickly set up the camera, and caught her performance in that scene. After that, Stephen would ask me at the end of each scene if I wanted to do any other camera set ups. Most of the time I would I do more setups, trying to capture those moments and the rest I didn’t, as I felt we had it covered.

The filming days were short, so I had time to hang out and explore Eastbourne. The first night I had a drink with Jason, Tony Resta and Nick Berwick. Then after Tony got his train back to London, Jason, Nick and myself had fish and chips for dinner. Let me tell you that the fish and chips were great. The next morning Jason, Ifeoma and myself walked along the beach before filming. The weather was hot, so we were in the best place to enjoy the sun. Shame we had to spend the rest of the day in a basement, but that’s the way it goes sometimes. That evening we walked back to the B&B and had Chinese takeout for dinner. The restaurant didn’t look like much, but the food was beautiful.

The other thing about a Stephen Southouse shoot is that everybody mucks in and do extra jobs to get the film done. As well as being the main actor, Jason is also the producer of the film. Ifeoma stepped in and became the production manager. Organising the actors getting into wardrobe and costume. Making sure they were on set on time and keeping an eye on the shooting schedule. We had an actress, Jessica Matthews, who helped the makeup artist, Emily Rose, with getting the actresses in the harem makeup done. It is something that happens a lot on low budget films, but I notice that it happens a lot more on a Stephen Southouse shoot.

When I boarded the train home, I was sad that it was all over. The three days had gone by quickly and I enjoyed working on this film a lot. The cast was a lot of fun to work with. (A special shout out to Gina Zppia, Roxanne Gregory, Phoenix James, Elle Wood, Mariya Mizuno, Mara Nani, Kesetta Wright, Lucy Rosetta and Tommy Balaam) and I look forward to the wrap party, whenever that happens.

Check out the IMDB page for Song Of King Solomon at http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1640224/ and the Facebook group at http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=198492946203&ref=ts. Also you can see my photos taken on the set at http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=216115&id=524060241&l=8d90a812ee.

Habeas Corpus

Mon, 3 May 2010 12:38:53 +0100

I mentioned back in December that I would be working on a short script. Well, six drafts later and I have finished it. It’s a story that makes up part of the horror anthology film, Habeas Corpus. The overall theme of Habeas Corpus is about ‘the exploitation of the dead’. Each tale deals with the dead being used as a resource by humans.

Over these last four months, I have been working with Ben Woodiwiss, Brendan Lonergan and Rob Wickings. Each one of us providing a different story to be included in the full script, except for Ben, who has provided two. We will be directing our own segments as well, except for Ben. His segments will be directed by Clive Ashenden and Paul Davis (the director of Beware The Moon). I am very pleased that they have both agreed to do it.

So the script is nearly locked down and we are just adding the final touches to it. Then it will be on to the task of getting the finance for it. I will be keeping you up-to-date with the progress of the film here on my blog. It’s going to be exciting, as I am working with a very creative group of people. And we have come up with some stories that really kicks ass!

Film Festivals

Sat, 1 May 2010 11:38:28 +0100

Ben Woodiwiss has directed a new short film, called “You Look And You Think”. It has been a long and torturous journey to get it completed, but he finally made it. The film is being premiered at the Rich Mix short film night this month. I have arranged to have the full trailer for Blood + Roses to been shown alongside Ben’s short. This is going to be the first kinda of showing I’ve had since the screening at Brunel University.

Since then, things have been quiet. I am still sending the film out, but I have to say that I am disappointed with the response I been getting from film festivals. Since September I have been sending the film out and so far the film hasn’t been accepted at any film festival. It isn’t cheap to enter these festivals. It costs between £20 to £100 to enter my film. The costs soon mounts up and I have very little to show for my money.

Now you probably asking why hasn’t the film been accepted? And I don’t have an answer. You don’t get an explanation why it wasn’t chosen. Most of the time you are lucky if you get a response. I have many entries on Withoutabox.com and they just say “not accepted”. And if I do get a response it’s in this form:

“Thank you for submitting your film. We received a large amount of excellent submissions which has made the selection process extremely difficult. Though we regret to inform you that film has not been successful in being selected. It’s our policy not to give feedback.”

It’s the universal response from film festivals. I have several emails which say exactly the same thing. We are rejecting your film, but we don’t want to offend you. It doesn’t star Tom Cruise in it, but we don’t want to offend you. It’s shit and we touch it with a barge pole, but we don’t want to offend you.

I wish they would offend me. I can take it. I want to know that they thought the film was shit. I want to know that it didn’t fit they program of werewolf films this year. I want to know if it wasn’t scary enough or too scary. Was there enough gore or too much. I would like feedback, especially after spending all that money to enter it. I would like something for my money.

I do scratch my head a bit why the film hasn’t been accepted anywhere yet. I sat with the audience at the Brunel University screening and watched the film with them. They reacted to it really well and the Q&A afterwards, I got a lot of positive comments and they were asking a lot of questions about the film. Which was all good. So why won’t any of these film festivals take a chance on the film, I don’t know?

But I continue to send the film out, hoping that one of them will accept it. I want Blood + Roses to be shown at film festivals. I enjoy going to film festivals. They are great places to see films and meet like minded people. Why I tried so hard to get the film shown at FrightFest was because the audiences there are great. I would of liked to have sat in that screen and experience their reaction to it. Alas, having tried various routes I wasn’t successful at gaining a screening there. Who knows, maybe the next film will get shown at FrightFest. We will have to wait and see.

I will be in attendance at Rich Mix Short Film Night. I am really looking forward to seeing Ben’s film. The screening is on the 17th May at 7.30pm and it’s free. The address for Rich Mix is 35 - 47 Bethnal Green Road, London, E1 6LA. Why don’t you come down and support it.