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

I Have a Number of Projects in Various Stages of Development...

Hey all


Just wanted to inform you all about some casting news that is unlikely to make the headlines on E!. 


For any of you who have perused the new Broc Glic Productions website you may have spotted that in the unfinished section called 'Films' there are three movies listed. First up is Little Things, which if you've read this blog before I hope you've seen. But also two more up and coming films 'Colleagues' and 'I Don't Bite'. Time for an update on both.


First up is 'Colleagues'.


I've been interested for a long time in doing  a really short film. 'Colleagues' will probably be between 1 and 2 minutes long, so 'short' is the operative word. I wrote it about 4 weeks ago it's been cast and will be shot in 2 weeks time. Hopefully I'll have it completely edited and finished by the end of October. And for those of you who have seen 'Little Things' the cast will be reassuringly familiar, so without any further ado  the cast of 'Colleagues' is as follows:

David - Chris Jones
Alan - Richie Nolan












Hopefully you should be able to see 'Colleagues' soon, watch this space. 


'I Don't Bite' is something altogether more ambitious. It will be a twenty minute faux-documentary horror. So night shooting and special effects are on the menu. The cast are - 

Jon - Iago MacGuire

Gary - Richie Nolan

Abbie - Carrie Richardson














There is one more part that is not quite cast yet, more news when I have it. The shoot is likely to be in February with a release of some discription in the summer. We had a read through of the script about 2 weeks ago with the cast and I have to say I'm really excited. More news about both in the near future.


Lastly I have another short script that I'm playing with. A comedy. Don't know where that'll end up yet, myself and the brother think it's piss funny, the missus reckons it's really stupid. Until I figure out who is right I'll keep that one to myself.


Keep tuning in.

Long Overdue Update

Lack of communication does not indicate lack of anything happening, just lack of bloody time to write updates. The eagle eyed among you will have noticed two things, firstly the site has changed. No longer is it a blog solely dedicated to Little Things. As Little Things is now winding down now seems like an ideal time for the blog to become the Broc Glic Productions blog. So now I can talk about some of the other projects that I'm getting off the ground. Secondly. Broc Glic now has a website. Still a work in progress, but you can get to it either by clicking on the Home button at the top of the page or going to www.brocglicproductions.co.uk.


So other than websites what's been happening?


Well first up the script for "I Don't Bite" is just about done. Peter and I have some revisions to make, but those are minor tweaks, the story itself is now pretty set. I've started the process of casting it, and all going well, we're hoping to shoot in February. 


Something a little more imminent though is a new script I wrote called "Colleagues". I've been interested for a long time in trying to make a really short, short film and last weekend I had a lightbulb moment and knocked out the script for Colleagues. It's only  a page and a half, which means a run time of something like 90 seconds, and because it is such a simple set up with one room and two actors I'm going to turn it around really quickly. I sorted the location, got the crew sorted (which was a piece of piss considering it consists of me and Arun Parmar my sound guy, check out his website by the way, especially of you are an unsigned band or singer/songwriter: www.recordings2go.co.uk) and it's been cast. Again a piece of piss as I went for 2 dudes that I know are great actors and great at working together Richie Nolan and Chris Jones, both of Little THings fame. 


Hopefully "Colleagues" will be wrapped by the middle of October so watch this space. 


What is probably the last thing for Little Things. My debut short has an IMDB page Little Things on IMDB. Which means I am on IMDB. Even if they do think I'm the same Mark Moynihan that edited 20 episodes of America's Most Wanted. 


Next update will be sooner I promise, but in the meantime please have a look at the new website and tell me what you think.


Mark out

Attention Screen-Writers

A title like that makes it sound like I have a unique and interesting opportunity. Well I could try and spin it that way, but it's not, it's me asking for a favour.


Here's the situation. My brother is normally the person I get constructive feedback from when I'm drafting a script. Problem is he's co-writing 'I Don't Bite' with me. That makes him just as useless at looking at the script objectively as I am. 


So here is the favour. I need a volunteer/volunteers to have a read of the script. Preferably from screenwriters. I'm not excluding anyone and I do value the opinion of the rest of you, but screenwriters know the kind of feedback I'm talking about. The sort about structure, ratio of dialogue to visuals, character and all that other stuff that goes beyond, "It's excellent/alright/a bit dull/bollocks". 


I know there are a couple of screenwriters who occasionally cast their eyes over this blog, so if you feel up to it please let me know and I'll furnish you with a copy of 'I Don't Bite' and I promise to return the favour should you require it. 


Don't forget Little Things is showing in the Dark Waters premier in Llangollen on the 19th of July, tickets available here and at Moviebar in Brighton on the 1st of August