My Little Eye

I started to write this post a couple of weeks ago but had to abandon anything that involved screens, monitors, text and just about anything that required looking. "Why is that Mark?" I'm glad you asked. Conjuntivitis. Have a look...

I spent two weeks looking like I should be running through the streets of London after Cillian Murphy. Not that I'd have been able to feckin' see him.


So my woes aside time for an update on what's happening, or at least what was happening a couple of weeks ago. 


Well, 'Colleagues' is done and dusted. The last piece of the puzzle was the score supplied by I Phoenix's own Kevin Brew. We had an initial discussion about what it would be like and he suggested doing something all electronically with a bit of a Trent Rexnor-ey, Social Network-ey feel. At which point I realised that I was without any shadow of a doubt working with the right dude. And, my God, did he deliver! It's a really subtle simple piece but fits the tone of the film perfectly.


On the whole I am really proud of 'Colleagues'. As I said here before, it was originally intended as an experiment in how quickly I could turn a film out (not very quickly as it happens) but has become a film that, I think is far better than 'Little Things'. It just feels a little more sophisticated, and a little less like the product of some one who didn't know what he was doing.


So what next for 'Colleagues'? Honestly I don't know. Like with 'Little Things' I have tried to solicit the options of people who know what they're talking about. What I'd love them to say is "Looks a lot better and might be worth a punt sticking it into a smaller festival or a competition like Virgin Media Shorts" What I'd be happy with them saying is "Well done for doing another one. It's a bit better than 'Little Things' but you still have a long way to go".  If that's the case then I put it up online and you lot can have a look and tell me what you think.


Here's a couple of stills from the film for your viewing pleasure

'Colleagues' isn't the only thing occupying my time these days. Still in the recruitment stage for a some one to pick up some of the producer duties for "I Don't Bite". There are some very promising candidates that I'll hopefully be meeting with in the coming weeks. I have a comedy script called "Austerity Measures" that I'm considering shooting in the summer and I've also written a script for the Welsh short film scheme "It's My Shout". The script is called 'Jelly Bean' and writing it was quite a cathartic process as it deals with a subject very close to my heart. In a nutshell it's the story of a teenage girl who gets pregnant and has a miscarriage. I strongly suspect that the heavy subject matter will prevent it from getting picked to go into production. Which is kinda sad because it's one of the things I'm most proud of writing and the nature of the production, with teen cast and locations like schools and hospitals, mean it's pretty unlikely I'd ever attempt to produce it myself. But you never know.


Another thing I've done is set up a tumblr. I want to keep this blog as focussed as I can on film productions so any other stuff that I want to talk about, I'll put over there. It'll be stuff like my reactions to films, books and the like. So from now on things like the picture of my diseased eye and tributes to David Kelly are likely to end up of there rather than here. It's still just beginning to evolve but check it out http://brocglic.tumblr.com/


Last thing I wanted to say was just to make mention of a fine Irish actor who died a couple of days ago. David Kelly. I don't normally do this sort of thing but I believe that David Kelly deserves to be an exception. For my non-paddy readers he was a jobbing character actor who despite being 82 was working right up until last year. He had small parts in things like 'The Italian Job', 'Fawlty Towers' and 'Stardust' and played Grandpa Joe in Tim Burton's 'Charlie and the Chocolate Factory'. For the Irish readers, I know you want to tell yourselves that you remember him from the excellent RTE adaptation of 'Strumpet City' or from the 1967 film of Joyce's 'Ulysses' but be honest, you remember Sylvie from 'Glenroe'!


Anyway R.I.P. David Kelly (1929 - 2012)

  

Delays to 'I Don't Bite'

I'd like to share with you an e-mail I sent to the cast of 'I Don't Bite' a couple of days ago - 


Hi guys

I just wanted to apologise to you all for not catching up with you recently, it must have felt a bit like I'd forgotten all about you and that I wasn't doing anything with I Don't Bite at all. I didn't and I was, in fact, a fair bit has happened and it's time I gave you guys an update.

Right, the most important info first. My bother and I have made the really difficult decision to postpone the shoot for 'I Don't Bite'. As you know the plan was to shoot in February 2012, now it looks like it will be closer to November 2012 before cameras roll.

I'll let that sink in for a second

This was not a happy decision for us to make but we have some very good reasons which I'm going to explain to you now. 

The main and overriding decision for the delay in the shoot is that I want 'I Don't Bite' to be the best film it can possibly be and with the time available between now and February, there just isn't time to get done everything that needs to be done to make that possible. I have started the process finding a Director of Photography for the film, a process that is taking significantly longer than I expected. By getting a DoP in, I'm also going to probably need a sound recordist as well. Depending who I get for both, I will need to source some equipment for the shoot. We need locations, we need a van, we need props, we need make-up and special effects, we need to get someone to choreograph the physical stuff, and we need to cast the character of Will the Cameraman because I need to focus on directing. 

Since my daughter has been born I have significantly less free time to devote to this than I did when I shot 'Little Things', something I realised when I shot 'Colleagues' with Richie a couple of weeks ago. 'Colleagues' was a far less ambitious shoot than 'I Don't Bite' will be and yet I still struggled to get everything done. As a result, the first task I am going to look at, is to find a Production Manager. Some one  who can do things like find locations and props and organise all of the things that I don't have time to do. Incidentally if any of you know some one who would want such a task please let me know. Experience is not an issue, I just want some one organised, enthusiastic, reliable and local. 

Something else prompted me to delay. Richie has been cast in Andrew Gale's new film 'Doghead' which is shooting over every weekend in February and March. I have no desire to compete with Andrew for his time, it isn't fair to Andrew, it isn't fair to you guys and it isn't fair to me. I have far too much respect for Andrew and for how difficult the process of making a film is to add a further obstacle to getting everything done, and if either of our schedules change it is not fair to put Richie in the middle.

So why am I postponing so long?

Couple of reasons. First, 'I Don't Bite' mostly takes place in the dark. If you wan the most darkness possible, shoot in the winter. By the end of March the clocks will go forward and the evenings will be light again. The clocks won't go back again until the end of October, therefore the sensible time to postpone until is November. The second reason is that it gives plenty time to get everything done.

The last reason is that, because the production is now significantly bigger than I initially anticipated I am now looking into the possibility of getting some funding rather than the money just coming from mine and Peter's pockets. I'm looking at some crowd funding options like kickstarter, I'm also thinking about selling 'Colleagues' when it is done. Whatever I decide, you guys will be the first to know. Things like crowd sourcing are most effective when you have time to promote the production, that means leaving the timeframe that people have to invest open as long as possible and promoting it with things like video testimonials.

So is that it for now?

Well no not quite.

First up I need to know from you guys if November is going to be convenient. Do you have any other plans or projects in November that I need to know about before I can schedule the shoot. I know it's quite a bit in advance but because of how big the production now is and how many people are likely to be involved, when I get a date it's going to need to be pretty set in stone

Second. Do any of you know some one when would be interested in being production manager. Like I said, the most desirable qualities are enthusiasm, reliability, organised and local. Experience would be nice but is far from essential. 

Third. In the intervening months I may play around with a couple of quick and easy shorts like I did with Richie for 'Colleagues', so I might be sending some of you a a script or two over the coming weeks and months to see if you are interested.

Fourth. If we decide to use something like kickstarter for crowd funding, we'll need to make some sort of promotional video, and for that I'll probably need you guys.

And lastly. Peter and I will be locking the script for 'I Don't Bite' into a near final draft over the next couple of weeks, when that's done I'd like to do another read through with you guys to see how the dialogue sounds out loud. That will help us write the final draft. After that we'll look at starting to rehearse. Peter and I are also in the process of putting together some fake social media sites for the films characters, blogs, twitter feeds, facebook pages and the like. These will hopefully be pretty useful to you to get a bit of background on the characters but when the time comes I'd also like your help promoting these sites.

Guys, I'm really sorry about the delay. I hope that it doesn't mess you around too much. I had to make the decision to either make 'I Don't Bite' quickly or make it right, I hope you agree with the choice I made.

In the meantime, have a great Christmas and I'll talk to you all soon.

Shocker


Did we make the right decision? only time will tell

Colleague is in the Can

Finally shot 'Colleagues' on Saturday. Really pleased with the results so far. Rough cut of the film is done, just need to tidy it up and sort out the audio and it'll be finished. 

Big thanks to Richie and Chris for two excellent performances, to Arun for recording the sound and to Rach for the patience to put up with my time consuming pastime. 

Not sure what to do with it when it's completely done. Was thinking about using it as a fundraiser for 'I Don't Bite', maybe start looking at festivals and competitions again, maybe just stick it up online and carry on to the next one. Don't know. Any thoughts?

DIY Film Making Gear

Well it's been a while. My bloggery-pokery has had to suffer at the hands of everything else, most notably, two scripts I'm working on, 2 shorts currently in production, a day job that eats up nearly all of my time and a 8 month old that eats up the rest. The scripts are two early on to discuss yet, the day job is not very interesting to this audience and as enthralling as it is to me, talking about learning how to crawl, stand and talk is not for this blog

So that leaves the productions. 

First I'll talk about 'I Don't Bite'. I realised early on that 'I Don't BIte' was going to be a significantly more ambitious project than 'Little Things' ever was. Longer script, more locations, low light, special effects. I have on previous occasions talked about biting off more than I can chew with 'Little Things' so with that in mind I have been actively looking for a Director of Photography. I put an ad on film crew pro, explaining that this is a zero budget film and from that I have a shortlist of about 5 candidates all with really impressive showreels. 

And I thought casting was hard.

I'm also looking into funding for 'I Don't Bite'. One of the options is crowd funding. If that's a road I'll go down presumably you'll be hearing a lot more.

Colleagues is due to be shot (finally) a week on Saturday. Because the story is really short and there is only one location, In order to make it more visually interesting. I have made a home made dolly. 

After a lot of trial and error and a deep stanley knife cut on my finger the result is below.

As you can see it's a skateboard. The camera is mounted on a cheap tripod head, which is mounted onto another skateboard wheel for a really smooth panning action, which in turn is mounted onto the leg from a kitchen unit, you can see that a bit better here

I also stuck a drawer handle on it to control the movement.


I also made a boom pole. Boom poles cost about £80. EIGHTY FUCKING QUID! FOR A POLE!!! Alternatively you can spend about £4 on a mic holder, £1.50 on a nut and bolt and £8 on a 2M painters pole, and Voilà 

Hopefully you will see the results of my resourcefulness soon

"Producing a Short Film". Next Week, "Picking up Mercury with Chopsticks"

Last time I posted I was hoping that by now "Colleagues" would be in the can. Not the case I'm afraid. Even thought the shoot only involves myself and three others, finding a day when we are all free for two hours has been unbelievably hard. 


It's a two hour evening shoot. Chris has commitments with Christmas panto rehearsals, Richie works a shift pattern and Arun has paid sound recording gigs that he is fitting 'Colleagues' into.


We've had to reschedule twice and now we are hoping to get the shoot done mid November.


More updates will come, in the meantime if you haven't seen the Broc Glic Productions website, please check it out. It's still a work in progress but I'd love to hear your opinions


Later


Mark