Miles To Go Films

THIS IS OUR ORIGINAL BLOG

2010-11-09T03:25:00.000-08:00

It covers the making of CrimeFighters and Zomblog 3, and the trials and tribulations we went through to get us this far. Have a root through and enjoy the journey, then join us back at MilesTone Films to continue the adventure...

Something New.

2010-09-20T10:51:00.000-07:00

So, yes.

I haven't written on this blog for nearly 3 months, but the main reason is I've been writing a novel. 15,000 words in and it's going amazingly, so that's what I'll be channeling my writing into for a while. It's an epic story of epic friendships ;-)

Also got a PROPER web/blog site in development and that will launch in the autumn, and this blog will remain in stasis. I want to link my blog to the writing/filmmaking projects I'm working on from now on.

Also, the following has happened:

- CrimeFighters got into another film festival in Arizona, which is AWESOME. And is showing in a couple more cinemas.
- I've been working as a freelance editor on things like this music video, which beats customer service any day.
- Two businesses are setting up in York to nurture new filmmaking talent, one is MilesTone Films, to make our own projects, the other is Parashoots, run by CrimeFighters DoP Paul Richardson and film director Mark Herman.
- My short film Gallery is being directed this autumn by Paul, which I am very, very excited about.
- Zomblogalypse is coming to an end, we're filming the last bits this weekend and the Season 3 feature will be in the cinema on Hallowe'en, with DVDs for sale and a planned movie in 2012.
- More features and shorts shooting in 2011, including films about friends, detectives and epic fight sequences.

So, busy. This could very well be the last post on this blog. Slightly pointless, but I'm a completist. See you on the new site.

Picking a Project

2010-06-30T09:38:00.000-07:00

So it's post-Edinburgh Film Festival, pre-Picturehouses cinema tour with CrimeFighters, and I'm deciding what projects to work on next. Because the worst thing now would be to rest on our laurels. And we haven't made that joke before.

You know, our... EIFF laurels? Sighhhh...

We have a slate of films lined up for shooting over the next couple of years including the P.I. and Zomblog movies in 2011/12, my short film Gallery this autumn, with my next feature Amber next spring.

At this point, as well as developing Amber, I want to be writing, writing, writing, not just for enjoyment but also to get a lot of ideas down into scripts so that they can be developed as future projects or sold for other directors to work on. There's the musical - and at the moment I'm focusing on the main song for the promo - and the two comedy horror scripts... but one popped into my head today which, inspired by recent events, is a romantic and rather sexy comedy. So that should be fun to write!

I wrote 6 pages and a treatment for the romantic comedy - which is definitely not a genre piece - which is a good day's work and about average for me. The characters came into my mind fully formed which is also a good sign, and the ending and structure of the film are very clear to me. This is the kind of script I'd love to direct with big(ish) money and some damn fine actors. It's very actory.

So I'm going to develop that over the next few weeks as well as the other things. I don't want to spread myself too thinly but these are all very distinct films with different themes that wouldn't work all rolled into one film. So they might be rolled into a dozen films instead.

Work to do...

The 64th Edinburgh International Film Festival

2010-06-27T13:09:00.000-07:00

The world premiere of CrimeFighters (i.e. not for cast and crew) was, I must say, a complete triumph!

We got a warm round of applause from the audience as we stepped up to introduce the film, then within minutes of it starting there were ripples of laughter around the room which developed into belly laughs and groans of recognition at the predicaments of the characters, and finally a round of applause for the film's twist and punchline. Really a dream premiere!

(thanks to Marcus Wilson for this pic)

(and Kat Angus for this one!)

It gave me a wonderful feeling knowing that this was a room full of complete strangers (save the few cast and crew and a couple of friends that were there). These folks had picked up the EIFF brochure, read this:

...and decided to take a chance on a small unknown film, much the same way the festival had. So far the film had screened to friends and family, cast and crew, and some had loved it and some thought it was OK, but this screening cemented in my mind (because after making a film you can lose perspective when it comes time to actually watch it) that we did our best and made the film we set out to make.

And then we got this rather nice 4 star review.

Now, I am fully aware that not everyone is going to like this film and we may have some scathing or lacklustre reviews coming up (and a few good ones from what I hear) but at this point I am kind of beyond caring. This was the best launch we could have had and I finally have that feeling of breaking out of just showing films in York, and now having the chance to share them with the rest of the country/world.

I get the feeling that whether or not CrimeFighters ends up being popular with critics, it will be with audiences, and I'm really looking forward to the upcoming cinema tour. David Lynch said that every time he watched one of his films with a different audience, it made the film different. That's certainly true of CrimeFighters at EIFF; it's hard to watch your own films sometimes after slaving away at them for months, but our audience made it an absolute joy.

The next day I did one of those TV interviews where you sit in front of a poster of the film which was pretty cool:

...and chatted with various journalists about the making of the film and future of our production company.

All in all, my first big film festival experience was just perfect. Let's hope there are many more.

There and Back Again.

2010-06-18T09:54:00.000-07:00

Forgive me, Internet, for I have sinned. It's been nearly two months since my last blog.

Here are the reasons.

I don't know if anyone even reads this. Well, I know two or three that do. And then I thought Miles, so what if anyone reads it, this is for you isn't it? Ok, then why publish it online? Because I'm a compulsive writer/sharer of pointless information and this is the perfect format.

SHARE-GASM!

I then thought Miles, you should get on with writing actual scripts and getting them made into films for people to see instead of writing your banal thoughts down in a blog. People are interested in your films (or not) and not your blahs.

I also started thinking it might not be such a good idea to broadcast my thoughts and feelings to the world, for various reasons. And then I thought Miles, don't be a dick. There's nothing on here you wouldn't want anyone reading. I'm pretty open for a guarded person so I thought fuck it, I'm going to write another blog. This is that blog, hello.

Another reason was because so much has happened in the past few weeks that writing a blog hasn't even been on my mind. But now I actually have things to say and news to report.

So, first of all, CrimeFighters has been accepted into this year's (next week's in fact, eeeeeeeeeeeeeee!) Edinburgh International Film Festival. This is absolutely amazing news and has given me such a boost post-film finishage (I remember having a real slump after BandWagons but one that led to where we are now). Our EIFF inclusion has started opening up many promising doors and interest from filmy types that may lead to things like representation, selling scripts, publicity for Zomblog, DVD distribution and so forth. Basically not enough to kick back and buy a yacht, but impetus to work my ass off as a writer and filmmaker because now I know it's absolutely going to be worth it.

OK it was always worth it, but up until recently I was thinking WHEN is it going to be worth it? Which you can't blame me for after a decade of customer service jobs both good and bad. Now I know whenever I sit down to write a screenplay it's going to be sellable or makeable or marketable, and most importantly perhaps it means that people will see the finished film.

So the scripts I'm working on at the moment are:

- A Dogme-style comedy drama which I'll be filming in Bristol in Spring 2011.
- A musical. Oh yes. Like Glee? Shit no.
- A comedy horror set in the 80s and not involving zombies.
- Another comedy horror not set in the 80s and also not involving zombies. But with a monster.

I have also written a short film script called Gallery for Paul Richardson, my friend and DoP on CrimeFighters, to direct this Autumn. It's the one I was working on a for a while about a guy's view of the female friends in his life. Quite Woody Allen I guess, very festival friendly we hope, one that was very personal to write and one that I'm proud of.

Tony is working on the script for the feature film of Zomblog and we're getting an office and making MilesTone Productions into an actual production company instead of 'Miles and Tony Enterprises Inc'. We're planning another feature next year from Tony's script A Simple Investigation. That one's set in York as well.

Then there's Zomblogalypse, my main lurve, and something I shall be involved with for a good few years yet. Season 3 will roll out over the next few months all the way to Hallowe'en, and the show has attracted the fandom of people we really admire like Sandeep Parikh and Felicia Day who we would LOVE to get in the Zomblog movie, but for now it means a lot that they even watch it. I really should get a copy of CrimeFighters to Joss Whedon...

So that's me, that's what I've been up to and what I shall be up to for the next few years of my life. It's amazing how platitudes like 'Don't give up' and 'Believe in yourself' can actually turn out to be true. There's a long way to go yet, and I couldn't have done it without a huge list of people, but I'll save that for the awards speeches.

Come on, a guy can dream. I have that on good authority.

Zomblogalypse Season 3 Teaser Guide

2010-04-26T14:32:00.000-07:00

Fascinated/baffled by the Season 3 trailer?

Let the Zombloggers take you on a little tour…

AN UNDEAD CITY

Miles: This is in Episode 1 when we meet Ninja Hannah, who we quickly realise is not very much like the old Hannah, in that she has a body.

Hannah: I'm quite pleased about that. Bodies are useful, even when they aren't yours.

Tony: Also, very mean.

CREEPINESS

Miles: There are some genuinely scary moments in Season 3, and this is one of them. God knows what’s under that sheet. Actually, god and we know. I have a gun in this scene which is quite rare.

Hannah: This was part of the first thing we filmed for season 3 and it was a great way to get back into the swing of Zomblog. It was a creepy but hilarious scene and an awful lot of fun to film.

Tony: A future fan favourite is about to make an appearance. You heard it here first kids.

ABANDONED BUILDINGS

Miles: There are lots of crumbling buildings in Season 3. We wanted to show a variety of locations, some that were still ok and some that looked like the equivalent of a decaying human. Except you know, buildings.

Hannah: I didn't feel safe in there but it was a cool location to use.

Tony: Also there wasn’t anyone around.

SECRET FEARS

Miles: Tony is looking at something genuinely fearsome… for him, anyway. We all have our secret fears. Believe me when I say you will enjoy seeing what he is seeing.

Hannah: Old Hannah has many secret and not-so-secret fears because Old Hannah is based on Actual Hannah. Ninja Hannah isn't afraid of anything. Actual Hannah and Old Hannah would both be afraid of Ninja Hannah in real life.

Tony: Weird pretending to be afraid of something you would like to marry if society allowed.

ARTY SHOTS

Miles: Actually there aren’t many of these kinds of shots in Season 3, but we did want to shoot it with more of a pleasing aesthetic than the first two seasons, where we didn’t give that much thought to composition or the fact that a lot of handheld camera makes the audience sick. I think coming off CrimeFighters which was shot so meticulously we wanted to do something a bit nicer to look at. But it’s still Zomblog, and we hope some of it still makes you sick. Really, violently sick.

Hannah: If we got the opportunity to get a really nice shot, we took it. I'd agree with Miles in saying that Season 3 will (hopefully) look better than 1 and 2.

Tony: It’s more of a mildly ugly ass show now. A five pinter.

I HEART YORK

Miles: These genius tees are made by our friend Adam Greenwood; technically the first Zomblogger! We love York as a filming location and we used it to the full on CrimeFighters and Zomblog, so we wanted to big up the ‘hood, as it were. This is the gore version of the tee that Adam did for Hallowe’en last year. In the other seasons Tony wears the normal one.

Hannah: We do heart York.

Tony: I heart that tee. This year we actually tried to put some time into costume, prop and set design. There’s a much more cohesive look this year.

HANNAH…

Miles: Even though we coped for a year without Hannah and managed to get through the end of Season 2 without her, we just had to have her back for Season 3. She plays a slightly different character this time around but it’s still very much us playing versions of ourselves. Apparently Hannah has two versions of herself, whereas Tony and I are just the same all the time. And just what IS everyone looking at?

Hannah: It's right there! But it's a secret! I can't wait for this episode to be released and to hear the reactions. I enjoyed playing Ninja Hannah because I got to be mean to everybody. Although, sometimes after I was very mean, we had a bit of a hug. Particularly after I made Tony's eyes water through violence.

Tony: Yes Hannah is back and we have jumped the shark whilst nuking the fridge. But then, this show is not known for realism.

Miles: I'm the only person in the world to like Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull.

…AND HER SISTER

Miles: We thought it would be fun to have Hannah, old Hannah, as kind of a fourth character in the third season, both to tie into the first two and also to wring lots of comedy out of it. The head was made by our FX guys (more on them later) while Hannah wasn’t even in the country, and I think they did an awesome job. It sits on Tony’s bookshelf now. And criticises him while he’s editing.

Hannah: The Hannahhead was a surprise to me and I only saw it for the first time when episode 12 was released. And it confused the crap out of me but was probably my favourite thing about season 2 (apart from when Tony says "Get them flies away from me."). When I went back to York for filming, I was worried that the universe might start to undo itself if the Hannahhead and I were in the same room. But we met and life continues. I can't say it isn't a little creepy looking at your own severed head but it provided a lot of laughs during filming.

Tony: Wish we could have the head still gurning away with animatronics but she’s a good listener.

THE FIFTH BEATLE

Miles: Speaking of new characters, this is Charlotte, some nutter we meet along the way, in the grand Zomblog tradition of us meeting nutters along the way. Charlotte actually made the costumes for our feature film CrimeFighters and she’s so funny and crazy and great to have around that we just had to have her in the show.

Hannah: Charlotte is hilarious. I met her for the first time when we started filming and she just got on with it. We sort of blabbled some vague/stupidly specific directions at her and she ran off and started doing it. It gives a different dynamic, which worked really well.

Tony: May get a tee that says ‘I heart Charlotte’ for the future.

NINJA SKILLS

Miles: Hannah’s a bit of a shit ninja (a shinja) but she does occasionally get to wield a sword and do things like this. Which freaked me out a little.

Hannah: Ninja Hannah isn't shit! She's just really, really lazy.

Tony: This is one of the slightly less absurd moments. We push the boat out on stupid this year.

CURIOSER AND CURIOSER…

Miles: Talk about creepy locations. This is an abandoned hospital that we kind of blagged our way into filming some scenes in. It’s the absolute perfect location for a zombie series, it’s got that terrifyingly still, quiet, crumbling, apocalyptic feel.

Hannah: It was a bit creepy there and also the weather was miserable all morning so we were cold and wet.

Tony: Always best to beg forgiveness than ask permission with locations. Especially when you try and contact the owners months in advance and they never reply.

NEW HQ

Miles: In Season 3 we’ve all moved into the local cinema as a base, and spend our days watching old zombie movies for research. We wanted a change from the ‘trying to find a house’ storyline from the other seasons, and decided on this. Of course, we don’t stay long in it…

Hannah: It makes a nice first location I think, as we introduced it in Season 1. It's unusual but recognisable and the projection rooms look great on camera.

Tony: You got to have a den and not enough zombie flicks have their characters taking advantage of what they can help themselves to now. Trust me, an X-Box connected to a big screen, you won’t care if there are undead ghouls outside till you run out of toilet roll again.

MILES’ SCAR

Miles: I have a scar across my lips in some of this season, and you find out how it got there in Episode 1. I thought it looked cool and was pretty funny, apart from when we were filming and I’d forgotten to put it on.

Hannah: Yes, in some of this season!

Tony: There’s a bit of fourth wall breakage this season and the appearing disappearing scar made good fodder for it.

ROAD TRIP

Miles: We hit the road in this season, we have a mission and this series moves pretty fast. We didn’t want to change the concept of some idiots hanging around blogging, but we felt this one needed to head somewhere, literally. So we take off on a road trip. Although there are quite a few moments of us hanging around talking shit.

Hannah: Road trip stuff is fun to do. Except when there's a crazy girl behind the wheel. Except? Perhaps I mean especially.

Tony: I want Charlotte to drive me everywhere now. Exactly like this.

Miles: She can get from York to Bristol in less than three hours.

THE GORE FACTOR

Miles: You don’t really get a sense of it in the trailer, but there are a ton of extremely gory and fun special effects in this season, from the zombies themselves to the various scars, gouges and exploding brains that occur. We were blessed this year to have the support of the fans and managed to raise an FX budget of £1000, and rest assured, we spent it well. Most of the gore is being filmed later in the year so there’s not much yet, but oh my god there will be. Darren Grassby and Ian Jowett of 2 Baldies FX are sick, twisted artistic geniuses. And so is Pete Tindall. He does Doctor Who ya know.

Hannah: The FX guys are absolute heroes. It was all really nasty, so perfect for Zomblog. I thought I'd be terrified watching them putting everything together (and I was a little, at times) but it was all just really interesting.

Tony: So we’ve shot 85% of the series already but the effects require a lot of lead time so we’ve only shot a smattering of gore moments. We start shooting the big guns in May and all I’ll say is Season 3 starts with a literal bang.

GIVE THE MAN A HAND

Miles: This hand was so realistic that I had to hold it for most of the day, it was fascinating. It just felt and looked so real. Actually, hang on…

Hannah: I was a bit afraid of this to start with and then I thought that if I showed my fear someone would throw the hand at me or something. So I went and picked it up and luckily it doesn't feel real. Close up, it looks just as realistic. This was maybe my favourite prop (apart from Manny!).

Tony: It is getting a bit Texas Chainsaw Massacre at the house now with body parts just lying around willy nilly.

Miles: Yeah the police turned up at the end of the shoot because some people walking their dogs had seen body parts and heard screaming. The police were very nice about it. Also, you said willy.

WEAPONCAM

Miles: I love these shots, we do them in every season and it’s an obvious homage to first person shooter games like Doom and Duke Nukem (Hail to the king, baby). Cos let’s face it, we’re all geeks and if there was a real zombie apocalypse, we’d all do this occasionally.

Hannah: I like the torch-on-the-gun-cam in 'Boredom'.

Tony: We ever do a movie, they’ll be first person sequence to melt face.

CRAZY CHARLOTTE

Miles: She’s the bastard child of Tank Girl and Ed from Cowboy Bebop. I just love these kinds of characters; the slightly tapped overgrown girl-child who’s off in a world of their own. Charlotte just came right in and immediately got the character and started doing cartwheels and babbling. Made more sense than we do most of the time.

Hannah: I think Charlotte had a lot of fun playing the crazy person! A lot of the time you'll just see her zipping about or doing strange things in the background. Actually, there's a lot of nice background action from everyone this season.

Tony: High professionalism and succinct direction. “Charlotte, put these goggles on and be brilliant”. First take nailed it and never let go.

THE CHERNOBYL EFFECT

Miles: I’m fascinated by ghost towns and I’m always looking them up online, and inside the abandoned hospital didn’t disappoint. There’s something really sad about a building that’s been left to decay; talk about ghosts in the walls. Without people living in them and maintaining them, like everything they start to lose their humanity and take on a really haunting, macabre and sad personality, which I love!

Hannah: While I also enjoy looking at pictures of abandoned places, I am less happy about actually visiting them. So I'm pleased I didn't have to.

Tony: I enjoyed the sneaking around part of this. No one’s looking! Quick in there! Film! Film! Film!

ZOMBIES!

Miles: This is after all a zombie series. This is the mellifluous Holly Taymar, whom you wouldn’t know from this has a beautiful singing voice despite having no lips. The mouth prosthetic Darren and Ian created is one of the most disturbing things ever, it scared the crap out of Holly when she looked in the mirror!

Hannah: If I remember correctly, this was an untested idea of the FX guys and we weren't sure how it would turn out. Is that right? Anyway, I think it's the scariest-looking zombie we've had on the whole series. Holly was great and very very nice but when she was made up I sort of stayed on the other side of the room. Eeeeeeek!

Tony: As soon as we saw this make up we added this scene as Holly was just going to be a general wandering zom. Face like that though, she will go far I think.

FUN AND GAMES

Miles: We wanted to show that we’d relaxed a bit into the apocalypse. I know in Seasons 1 and 2 we seemed not to give much of a stuff about the zombies, but we’re kind of on top of the situation now. However, they do say that pride comes before a fall.

Hannah: Tony makes a great Game Zombie.

Tony: I don’t think our attitude has ever changed per se, always a question of where you’re holed up and what weapons you happen to have at hand. All I’ll say is I don’t think the apocalypse has had much of an impact on us as people, same as before but with an excuse to cause havoc now.

STEP ON IT!

Miles: Because yes, there is a dark side to this season! We wanted to have some dramatic bits akin to Episode 2 where the power goes out, because that really scared people. There are some really horrific moments in Season 3 and the pathos is heartbreaking sometimes! And also really funny.

Hannah: I do think we need the dark parts. As much as we want people to enjoy laughing at our silly faces, we want to give them something else as well, something a little creepier and darker.

Tony: Yes, this season has a plot, a budget, and dare I say... emotion? There may be haters come the finale.... ;-)

SOMETHING OF THE LIVING DEAD

Miles: I haven’t enjoyed Romero’s last zombie trilogy but I still admire the guy as the daddy of zombie films, and Night of the Living Dead still scares the bejesus out of me, so we’ve done a few homages to it, with those haunted, lost looking souls that you kind of feel sorry for until they chew your fingers off. This one has a particularly horrific demise.

Hannah: Ha! No comment so as not to give away any spoilers.

Tony: The comeuppance of this zom was the only gag to make me feel slightly sick, but then we were doing a number of inappropriate things off camera with the prosthetics!

BANG BANG YOU’RE DEAF

Miles: Tony was firing off blanks next to my ear. Blanks look and SOUND like real bullets. All I can say is, at night I can still hear a faint ringing. But the muzzle flash looks COOL. I told Tony off once for accidentally firing this indoors while filming Episode 2. Scared the shit out of me.

Hannah: Yes the least said about the episode 2 incident the better. Luckily, this time I didn't have to be anywhere near the gunfire. I would have quite liked to shoot some zombies but perhaps next time.

Tony: At night I can still hear Miles complaining about my Glock.

TRUSTY BAT

Miles: I just love batting those undead fuckers to smoosh. Guns don’t interest me. Tony’s the gun guy.

Hannah: Guns do interest me but you can't beat the heavy swing of a baseball bat. Smacking things is a lot more satisfying than shooting things, although shooting things can be fun too. Slicing things is a whole different thing.

Tony: I have the gun rep, but I’m an equal rights weapon enthusiast. Sword/pistol combo for me.

MORE ZOMBIES

Miles: This is Ceri, who’s been in every season. He scares the shit out of me when he goes into character because his cold, dead eyes just STARE at you…

Hannah: Ceri and I are good friends when he's not pulling this face. I like how much he enjoys being a zombie but he does it a bit too well.

Tony: Excellent at the zombie prat fall as well.

Miles: Charlotte isn’t giving Tony a blow job.

Hannah: If that's true then I have no idea what is going here. I don't even remember filming it.

Tony: Wait for the movie.

LOST IN THE WOODS

Miles: I can cite a couple of films that were a direct influence on Zomblog; Diary of the Dead and The Blair Witch Project. Diary because it was so disappointing that I wanted to make my own handheld zombie film, and Blair Witch because it’s just still one of the best ‘found footage’ films. And every filmmaker must admit they’d love to shoot something in 4 days for a few grand and make millions. I still think Blair Witch is genuinely scary. So in this scene we do a little homage to it and get lost in the woods, although Hannah has the line ‘I’m sure we’ve passed that zombie before’. Don’t use zombies to mark your trail, folks. They may be slow but they MOVE. Unless you peg them down.

Hannah: We should've pegged them down.

Tony: Everything should have a scene in the woods.

Miles: You're a scene in the woods.

CAREFUL…

Miles: This is one of those ‘scary’ scenes I was telling you about. Horrors lurk within, and the scene that follows this is absolutely one of the most horrific and yet pant-wettingly hilarious things we’ve ever filmed. We were doubled up with laughter making it. I think it could be everyone’s favourite scene when it comes out.

Hannah: I was glad I got to film parts of it. It meant I could grin my head off and not have to hide it.

Tony: We veer from comedy to mildly serious to horrific to absurd in the space of a minute in this ep. References galore as well.

Miles: You know, like T2! This is a bit crass I suppose but I started referring to Season 3 early on as Z3, which Tony didn’t like and then did like. The tagline is ‘Stop Moaning’.

Hannah: Zed 3? That doesn't even rhyme.....

Tony: I like it but feel dirty about it.

OLD SCHOOL ZOMBLOG

Miles: There are a lot of jokes in this season, and character moments that I really love. Some were planned but most were improvised, which is the way we make the show. This is from one of the funniest and most offbeat scenes ever, based on the mother of all films for references. Everyone else has parodied it and we thought we would. But that’s all I’m saying for now.

Hannah: That was a good day. Season 3 is the most fun I've had filming Zomblog. Everything about it was right. The plot, the locations, the zombies and the crew. Excellent times.

Tony: Deleted scene!!!

FINALLY... always end on a fart gag.

Thanks for reading folks, we can't wait to unleash the series on you! 28th of May! xxx

Getting My Business Head On.

2010-03-31T08:54:00.000-07:00

I don't want to say playtime's over, because it never really will be, but after the fun of filming Zomblog and the exhilaration of the CrimeFighters premiere, I'm faced with things threatening to get very much back to 'normal'. So as far as I see it, I have two choices:

1. Slip back into working in my minimum wage job and end up exactly where I was before making CrimeFighters.

2. Work my ass off to turn the filmmaking into a business, on the one hand to create new opportunities for employment, and on the other to market my own projects.

Since 1 isn't even an option, it's time to put into practice what I learned while making CrimeFighters, and to some extent Zomblog; that collaboration with the right people can get you pretty far. That I need help from other people in the areas in which I'm not so good (web design, business, money). That accepting the less creative filmmaking jobs isn't a terrible thing (and certainly not a terribly paid thing) as long as I stay true to my creative goals and make sure I do those pet projects as well as bread-and-butter stuff.

Personally, over the next year I want CrimeFighters to screen around the country, Zomblog to catch on big time with fans around the world, to meet new people and explore strange new... no hang on, got a bit lost there. Although I do want us to have a Zomblog stall at this year's Leeds ComicCon. And I do want to make a Zomblog movie, and perhaps a smaller movie before that.

It would be too easy to get scared and depressed about the amount of work there is to do, but then I remember that CrimeFighters is already made and waiting to have the (excuse me) shit marketed out of it, to reach new audiences and film festivals, to seek out new life and new civilisations... ahem. The point is, we've done a lot of the creative hard work, and now we have something to market and bargain with. Same with Zomblog. So I need to remember what we've achieved and enjoy it along the way. After all, when I was a kid I wanted to be a film director with my own film company, not a businessman or accountant. But it's a long, long journey and sometimes you have to wear the grown-up hat...

Tony and I are essentially premiering two features in one year, which makes me smile, and wilt a little as I recall the hard work it's taken to do it. But now MilesTone Productions needs to function as part of something bigger; this York Collective thing I'm always on about, which involves a core group of us consolidating our skills and efforts to go further than any of us have gone before...

It's clear to me that I should stop writing this particular blog, since it seems to be afflicted with a case of Star Trek. It's time to stop writing and just Make It So. I'm SORRY!

CrimeFighters Cinema Tour & Soundtrack

2010-03-25T01:51:00.000-07:00

I'm having the first proper day of post-premiere CrimeFighters business, which includes emailing cinemas up and down the country asking them if they're interested in screening CrimeFighters, working out what film festivals to enter the film into - which will have us that is - and in what order the tracks on the score CD should go. Available on iTunes soon!

An Amazing Month, an Exciting Future.

2010-03-24T10:53:00.000-07:00

This month has, hands down, been everything I hoped and wished for as a filmmaker and more besides. If it wasn't clear to me before why I perservere at all this, it's abundantly, joyously obvious now.

Without question, filming Zomblog Season 3 has been the most fun I've ever had filming anything. Having myself, Tony and Hannah back together and immersing ourselves in the crazy fun of making our favourite show is joyous and amazing. In fact I think I must stress that it's been the Best. Time. Ever.

The plan over the next year is to tour CrimeFighters around the UK (with a tour diary on the revamped website) and possibly the World, while unveiling Zomblog May-September, ending with a City Screen Hallowe'en premiere of the entire Season 3 as a feature, with the (previously unseen) finale and massive aftershow celebration.

We shall also be in attendance at events like THIS ONE and THIS ONE, and working to develop MilesTone Productions to the point where we can perhaps make a Zomblog movie (oh yes, folks) and head towards even bigger projects. It feels like we're further along the road than we've ever been before. There's still a way to go, but we few, we precious few, we band of buggered, feel like we're finally getting there.

Bring it on.

Happy Happy Joy Joy

2010-03-02T16:31:00.001-08:00

Had one of those days today where lots of little things working out equals big smiles all round.

Chatted to Charlotte about her role in Zomblog and all the filming dates are fine and dandy; the series is going to be a lot of fun making. Also spoke to Hannah, who's back in England for the month and back in York from next week!

Tony transferred the CrimeFighters footage and edit (that's 500G of data, folks) from the two hard drives it was spread across onto his juicy new terrabyte drive without anything going wrong, so this really is the last stage now; final shots into the edit, credits, then test screening, grading, export and we're good to go.

It Ain't Over Til...

2010-02-20T03:59:00.001-08:00

...Lenny Kravitz says it is.

We got the last ever shots for CrimeFighters today so I can plug the little gaps in the edit. For a series of shots totalling about three minutes of the film, it was a long and packed day.

Started off getting some shots of the Minster, then a couple disappearing down an alley, a policeman, a CCTV camera, then home to get everything else from the warm, cosy confines of my house. Which included:

A twat and a hand double lurking in a garage...

A jovial cameraman...

A lady with a light (Jenni Suitiala: have light, will travel)

Yes, this is all starting to look strangely familiar...

My worlds colliding as we find a way of getting Hannah into the film...

(You won't see her in the film, her head just proved useful for one shot)...

Jenni 'Spookiala'...

and then, rather unceremoniously, this was the last shot we did:

Random. So that's it! After the long day, we settled in for the evening to drink booze and bore Jenni with talk of Star Wars until Paul, Tony and I spent about two hours discussing how much of an impact E.T. has had on our lives. And how this is the first artefact I can recall that made me want to be a filmmaker:

I can remember going to see the film with my dad in 1984, him buying me this in the foyer, taking it home to read, watching the Making Of documentary on TV and being fascinated by the various departments from storyboard artists to set design and cinematography, and being so hooked that I went out and made a 5 minute Indiana Jones film on 8mm with a friend, then screening it for our families. Nice to be able to pinpoint an obsession.

CrimeFighters will premiere in one month ;-)

The Last Few Shots of CrimeFighters

2010-02-18T10:19:00.001-08:00

What, you thought just because we were having a premiere that we'd finished the film? Don't be SILLY!

Tomorrow we're off out to grab a few small but vital images to put the final pieces in the jigsaw (or edit, as it's called by normal people) including shots of buildings, some panaoramic shots of York we didn't get to our satisfaction the first time (ok there was dirt on the lens), some mock newspaper headlines... and a shot of a man in a garage. The glamour.

Plus, a calling card with a familiar logo:

After that, it really is over, but the fat lady won't be singing for a few weeks.

Tweaks and Geeks and Back to the Future 2

2010-02-17T16:54:00.000-08:00

There's a period during the making of a feature film where things relax a bit and everyone drifts off and calms down and the edit gets done and everything is still and peaceful.

Now is not that time. Now is the final month of post-production. Now is copious hours of careful sound editing, notes and endless tweaks:

Lists and lists of things to do that seem to get added to faster than they diminish:

...and FX shots delivered from America!

Everything's actually about two weeks ahead of schedule, which is awesome. Test screening at the cinema coming up at the end of the month, then 2 and a bit weeks of frantic tweaking. Yes. I could have phrased that better.

Oh and Back to the Future 2? I watched it tonight and noted how the effects are still awesome after 21 (TWENTY ONE!?!?!) years and how even that long ago I was impressed with how they did the split screen/motion control thing, but how even though I hope I'll always be a filmmaker, that kind of thing, how to do effects shots, will always give me a headache. That's why Tony's doing the MA in post-production and not me. I'll stick to the scripts.

CrimeFighters Theatrical Trailer

2010-02-14T07:40:00.001-08:00

Finishing a Feature Film...

2010-02-12T02:46:00.000-08:00

...is more work than I remember. In fact it seems like more work than my first feature, and I was doing that all myself.

With CrimeFighters, Tony's spent the last couple of months doing the picture cut, with copious notes and nagging from me, although really this is the first time I've made something this collaborative, and it's a great feeling knowing that other people are working on it (when I can quell my control freak tendencies) and that it's not just me doing everything.

Over the last couple of weeks Tony has turned the film over to me, Dan (sound recordist) and Alan (our man in Miami) for sound editing. At this point the film goes from a visually impressive film with a tinny (or non-existent) soundtrack to a loud, thumping, punching, music-saturated MOVIE. I think sound editing might be my favourite editing job, because 50% of a film is the sound, possibly more in terms of what you feel while watching it.

As an experiment, just try turning down, or off, the sound in one of your favourite movies, and see just how unemotional you feel while watching the images flash silently before your eyes. It's sound that makes you scared or makes you cry, it's music that swells the emotions and influences how you feel while watching the movie. And thankfully we have an amazing soundtrack by Hayley Hutchinson and Sam Forrest, who I already knew were gifted musicians but have now been elevated to the status of kick-ass soundtrack composers! Many of the scenes in CrimeFighters are about twice as good once the music goes in.

As for the long-awaited second trailer, it is coming but there have been many issues in its delay, such as life, jobs, and making sure we get it just right. No point putting out something that isn't technically to our satisfaction. So it'll be along as soon as we're satisfied.

Meanwhile, here's the ever-decreasing (finally) CrimeFighters TO DO List:

- A day of shooting filler shots of buildings, props and people to plug the gaps in the edit
- Test screening at the cinema, Feb 28th
- Finishing the sound edit and adding the mixed and mastered soundtrack
- A few FX shots
- Creating the opening and closing titles for the film, which involves typing out dozens of extras' names
- Creating posters for City Screen
- Booking the film into a few cinemas around the country to screen in the period between the premiere and our hopeful return to York

That's it. Better crack on.

Our Heroes Watch Zomblog

2010-02-03T17:13:00.000-08:00

A few weeks ago, we got an email from Sandeep Parikh who makes Legend of Neil and The Guild, two inspirations for us making Zomblog, telling us he had seen Episode 5 of the show and really liked it, despite never having the time to watch web shows. So, we were honoured.

Then today we found out - courtesy of our own 2 Baldies FX dudes Ian and Darren, who met him at this weekend's FX trade show - that Mr. Tom 'Dawn of the Dead' Savini has seen TWO episodes of our humble zombie series and really enjoyed them! He told Daz and Ian that it was cool how we'd been inspired by his legacy (which let's face it, we have) and wished us the best for the future.

Mr. Savini, we salute you. Now, if Joss Whedon fancies watching CrimeFighters, I'll be a happy man.

Sneak Peek at the Entire CrimeFighters Film!

2010-02-02T16:33:00.000-08:00

Here you are, the whole film. Enjoy!

A High-Density Production Day

2010-02-02T14:57:00.000-08:00

This is what happened today:

- CrimeFighters tickets went on sale.

- I gathered the wild tracks (sound with no dialogue) for sound editing on CFs and sent them to Miami where one of our sound guys Alan is editing a third of the film.

- I started work proper on the second CFs trailer, which is about 25% done at the end of the day.

- I had a phone meeting with Darren of 2 Baldies FX to discuss Zomblog 3's complicated prosthetic effects.

- Tony, Paul and I had a meeting about the first test screening of CFs at the cinema in three weeks, and the work we have to do before then including Second Unit stuff (mostly single shots to slot into the edit to match up shots).

- I had a hangover.

It's days like this that bring it home to me the amount of work we've done/are planning to do so that we can have days like this; finishing off a feature film and starting up a new series. I goddamn love it.

Also, yesterday Tony and I discussed the two space films we're planning scripts for, and realised they could potentially make one big space epic. I've got characters I like but no story, he's got a great story. And it'll be in 3D. Ok we didn't say that, but who knows...

CrimeFighters Marketing Campaign

2010-01-29T19:01:00.000-08:00

The thing about designing the marketing of your film is that you can go on and on trying dozens of designs. Some seem right at the time but not so much after a few glances, but you do your best to create something that captures the spirit of the film.

These alternative quad poster designs are an attempt to find the best possible way of marketing the film outside of York. It's a process I find fascinating. Enjoy.

CrimeFighters Release Date

2010-01-24T04:43:00.001-08:00

So there you go, folks. 21st March 2010 is when CrimeFighters hits the big screen. We premiere at City Screen on Sunday 21st March in Screen 1, screening again on Tuesday 23rd March.

After the York premiere, we'll be taking the film around the country a bit to some indie cinemas who'll have us. We hope this includes London, Leeds and Bristol. It'll be on a venue by venue basis, so if you know anywhere that might want to show it, let me know.

After that, Picturehouses have told us we might have the chance of returning to City Screen for a longer run, and possibly in the other cinemas in the group. That's thinking ahead, but it's a distinct possibility and depends on how well the film does at the premiere and the other cinemas.

So, stick those dates in your diary and spread the word, because we want this to be big, we want the film to be popular... and we want to pay our investors back.

Tickets are not yet on sale but we'll announce when they are. My favourite moment is when the quad poster gets put up in the foyer...

Zomblogalypse Online Shop - buy badges and donate!

2010-01-20T09:35:00.000-08:00

Hey folks,

This is a temporary shop until we get something up on the main site.

If you'd like to buy our BADGE SET, just hit the banner below and they will be sent to you as soon as the badges arrive in early February. Don't forget your address details!

If it's our FX FUND you'd like to donate some money to, click the banner below.

Remember, for any amount of £10 or over you get a sponsorship credit in Season 3. For £100 or more you get an Executive Producer credit for the series. If you do donate, we want to thank you very , very much for helping us continue to make the show.

THANK YOU FOR SUPPORTING ZOMBLOGALYPSE!

Here below is our ZOMBLOG-OMETER, showing how much we've raised out of the £1,000 we need for Season 3. This will be updated as we receive more donations.

A Bunch of Exciting Email(s)?

2010-01-20T05:30:00.000-08:00

Woke up this morning to several emails related to Zomblog. To sum up:

- We might have another Exec Producer for the show (i.e. someone who's putting up £100 or more to help with our FX budget)

- Another website has discovered the show and is spreading the word.

- Felicia Day will soon be looking for web series to produce. HELLO.

- We won a Lost Zombies t-shirt for submitting some pictures from the show.

So, nice!

We really need to get this £1000 for the budget though, so I'm working out ways of raising it. And here's the latest:

I'm going to create a post on here for now that covers donations, badges and any money people want to send us.

CrimeFighters First Quad Posters

2010-01-15T19:23:00.000-08:00

The time of settling on a premiere draws near, so I've been busy designing quad posters for cinema foyers everywhere. Or at least... somewhere.

Here are the teaser posters:

And here is the first theatrical poster:

Now's the time to get excited.

Cracking the Whip

2010-01-15T05:19:00.000-08:00

Starting a new year is always weird because you need to wind down after the previous one, the build-up of Xmas and New Year, the weather, the desire to hibernate and be lazy, but I really can't be this year. I have to hit the ground running, this is the busiest beginning to a year I've ever had.

For starters we've had near-confirmation of the release date of CrimeFighters at City Screen cinema, which if we want to show it on more than one day means we have to put the date forward by three weeks. This is great because it means several things, not least that we'll have shown it before we start filming Season 3 of Zomblog and I can focus on that, but also because Hannah will be able to see CrimeFighters when she visits in March. Awesome.

But there's nothing like a deadline to induce panic and terror.

So I'm having to crack the whip a bit, and email people lists of jobs which include working on FX shots, sound mixing (a third of which I'm doing), music mixing, even shooting additional shots to slot into the final cut.

In the meantime, Tony and I need to keep working on preparing Zomblog for filming in March, what FX we're going to need while Hannah's here, organising locations and extras and so on. It's a lot to do but it's also very exciting.

It's made me realise that one of the hardest things about making a feature film is finally accepting that you've got to finish it and screen it. It would be too easy to get tired and apathetic at this point but all the hard work is done, and a couple of dozen people's hard work and toil hangs in the balance, and it's the responsibility of myself and the post-production crew to finish the film off to the standard everyone deserves.

So it's my job to crack the whip, not just for everyone else but for myself. I'm just running a bit empty.

Definitive Zomblog Trailer and 30,000 VIEWS!

2010-01-07T19:01:00.000-08:00

Zomblog's viewings have had a massive spike on Dailymotion this week with 30,000 views for the first two episodes alone. I'd love to know what caused that little miracle.

In the meantime, here's the new trailer. I've got a good feeling about 2010!

The Day's Agenda

2010-01-07T04:59:00.001-08:00

Zombloggers Assemble!

2010-01-04T10:02:00.001-08:00

Or should that be disassemble? Or just go mouldy and rot?

Hannah, Tony and I gathered today for an impromptu chat on Skype, and discussed Season 3 of Zomblog, among other things. Looks like Hanwah will be visiting York early March, so we're now planning filming around that.

This was the first time in nearly a year that the three of us have chatted to each other and the first time Tony's seen Hannah's ridiculous cartoon face (her words) in nearly a year! Quite touching, really. And now we can actually plan her visit and pack it with filmmaking and fun, things feel like they're coming full circle. Which things tend to do, again and again.

Zomblog Season 3 Scriptment

2010-01-03T18:26:00.000-08:00

Plans

2010-01-02T16:11:00.001-08:00

New Year's Inspiration from Joss Whedon

2010-01-01T14:42:00.000-08:00

Happy New Year! Tony came home today with this extraordinary artifact that he bought years ago at a Buffy convention:

It's an Angel script written and signed by Joss Whedon. Amazing to hold in my hand something that represents one of the reasons I kept on screenwriting, made my first feature, and had the courage to make another.

I'm going to take its presence in my house from today as a good omen ;-)

Last Blog of the Decade

2009-12-30T16:27:00.000-08:00

Plans for 2010 are off to a good start with the notebook of my dreams:

That's pretty much my year in filmmaking planned out.

Things I'm looking forward to this year:

- Post-production and screening of CrimeFighters
- Planning and filming Season 3 of Zomblogalypse
- Releasing the Zomblog graphic novel, the new badges and announcing the winner of the t-shirt design competition
- Finishing two short film scripts, one for Paul to direct, and starting work on a new feature script for sometime in the distant future

And last and possibly most, Hannah coming back for filming and fun (and possibly a chat or two about the Zomblog movie), hanging with old friends & meeting new ones and spreading the word about Zomblog and CrimeFighters.

I have a very good feeling for 2010, so many opportunities to make it an amazing year.

Happy New Year everyone, see you in the Tenties.

xxx

2 Christmas Links

2009-12-25T08:59:00.000-08:00

Nothing to do with Christmas, but I found these interesting as we go into the third year of our web series:

The Top 10 Web Series

Felicia Day & The Guild's Success

I always find Miss Day inspiring. Merry Christmas!

CrimeFighters Rough Cut Screening

2009-12-17T09:43:00.000-08:00

Not only has Tony been editing CrimeFighters, he's been doing his MA and holding down a full-time job, so, kudos. And the 76-minute cut he's done is terrific. I was glad to see from the edit that the script stands up, but mostly that the characters are ones you can root for and the whole thing looks amazing.

It's a weird experience watching a year of your life whizz past in just over an hour, but this is the most satisfying rough cut of my work that I've ever seen. Lots more to do, but there's time to do it.

A Constructive Waste of Time

2009-12-15T15:01:00.000-08:00

A classic day of working, and working to avoid work. Managed to do a bit of writing on one short screenplay, and started writing dialogue for the other. The way I usually work is to write down all the ideas for the screenplay with dialogue excerpts and then build them up into scenes, so for example these are random notes:

So he is cleaning up one day and the girl appears and they talk
Looking for something
Self-sufficience
Needs a lot of help

(and then here is some dialogue thrown in)

HER
What about this line, where did this come from?

HIM
That comes from... (whatever the character's called)

(and then another scribbled note):

Sometimes you know what to do.

So that's how I work. And then also, while checking Facebook and making lots of plans for the months ahead:

I also take time out occasionally to design something like this, which is what I like to call a constructive waste of time, as in, worth doing, but something to avoid what I'm supposed to be doing.

I've really enjoyed the whole Grindhouse thing, and recently saw a website with Grindhouse-style posters of famous films. Some great ones in there, here are some of my faves:

I think I love them because they remind me when cinemas were grubby and slightly squalid, rather than the swish, high-tech movie theatres we have these days.

That's it for now. Tomorrow, a CrimeFighters screening and video blog!

Directing Fiction: A Book We're In

2009-12-10T23:35:00.000-08:00

I bumped into Rob Edgar-Hunt, a filmmaking tutor at St. John's Uni, yesterday and he reminded me that the filmmaking book he's written has now been published.

It's called Basics Film-Making: Directing Fiction and if you follow the link, you'll see it's a beautifully designed book; you can also have a peek inside.

Among all the invaluable information on directing fiction, there's a double page spread on Miles To Go, with a interview I did about writing and directing low budget films.

Now, obviously this is nice for us, but this really is a great little book which lays out very clearly and intelligently the techniques, scope and minutae of modern filmmaking, and I recommend it heartily for any filmmaker.

Zomblogalypse Season 3 Donation Button

2009-12-10T13:36:00.000-08:00

Want to donate to help us make Season 3? Just hit the button between the two photos below and donate anything you want!

To see the notice about investing in Zomblogalypse, check out THIS LINK.

Thank you. We rely on donations to make all our projects and we appreciate any help you can give us.

Life Lessons = Script Material

2009-12-09T13:45:00.000-08:00

My brain is working overtime picking up on a lot of my deep-seated anxieties and sensitivities recently. But instead of dwelling on them or turning them against myself, I'm finding them very inspirational for two short film scripts I'm writing.

Some of the things I'm dealing with have been:

- The meaning of love, and how friendships are different from relationships.
- Communicating a lot about what I'm doing via the Internet (like in this blog) but being frustrated by communication problems in my real life.
- Talking too much about things to someone.
- Not being able to talk about anything with someone else.
- Feeling a sense of accomplishment and purpose one minute, having really bad self-esteem the next.
- Wanting success but wanting to earn it, not beg for it.
- Seeing a kindred spirit in someone who simultaneously makes me feel like a failure.
- Being very wise, and yet also very childish, scared and stupid.
- Feeling a sense of hope for the future, then feeling scared and hopeless, as though things will never change.
- Missing someone who's far away, and being glad about someone else being very near.
- Fear of loneliness, fear of having to join in.
- Waves of joy, blinding terror.

That's about it. I think that's enough to be getting on with. Jesus...

I watched a very inspirational documentary about J K Rowling today. Inspiring because she made a complete mess of her life, suffered, struggled, and turned it all around. And boy, how she turned it all around. I find her journey, and George Lucas's, have many parallels, not least because they were turned down by many, many people before Harry Potter and Star Wars were accepted. And it was because they believed in themselves, and one day so did someone else.

Sometimes inspiration is a gentle and kindly friend, and sometimes it's a terrifying, burning enemy, and thank heaven for those opposing sides.

Sound Design 3: Garage-phonics

2009-12-08T06:37:00.000-08:00

Dan and I headed to my garage this afternoon to make lots of stupid noises with various props. Or foley as it's called.

CrimeFighters has great on-set sound but there are always things missing when it comes to edit, like background atmosphere, chatter (since you spend most of the shoot telling people to make no noise at all) and various clunks, thunks and everyday noises that aren't all there on the original soundtrack and have to be added.

One of the effects we wanted to get was the sound of Emma's rollerblades as she skates along, a memorable clack-clack-clack that we can speed up and slow down depending on whether she's idling through the park or escaping bad guys. Here's the kit we used for that:

We also tried this:

We tried a few different things for the sound of a knife being caught, and who would have thought that a banana sounded LESS like a knife being caught than an actual knife being caught. Hmm.

As the list grew...

Miss Batty turned up to do some walking and heavy breathing noises from the very first scene in which she's mugged, which we shot without sound.

This was the most fun thing to do though. Destructive by nature.

Kreativ Blogger Award

2009-12-06T14:19:00.000-08:00

Thank you, Tree, of This Writer's Life fame, for nominating me for this :

To honour this award I must do the following 7 things:
-thank Tree
-link to her blog
-copy 'Kreativ Blogger' image to my blog

-tell you 7 interesting things about me:

* I have always felt like a complete outsider in just about every situation.

* I can do the best Homer Simpson impression.

* Outside of filmmaking, I have been a video store clerk, a waiter, a cinema usher, a theatre box office manager, a theatre marketing assistant, an art salesman (for a day), a record store clerk, a marketing manager for a publishing house, a bookseller, a University lecturer and a twat.

* From 1996-2000 a friend and I ran our own theatre company and performed a two-man comedy show at the Edinburgh Festival.

* The first feature film I edited was called 'Al' and screened at City Screen in 2000.

* I have three scars on my head from childhood; one from falling onto a brick wall, one from falling off a climbing frame, and one from falling out of a tree. Also a scar on my nose from falling off the stage onto the corner of a metal table during a school play, another on my arm from falling onto a nail, and two on my left hand from falling through my glass front door. I was a clumsy child.

* I have visited Sweden, Norway, Denmark, Spain, Florida, Crete, Italy and France, but still long to visit Japan & New Zealand.

- nominate 7 Kreativ Bloggers and link to their blogs. Here goes, and don't forget to click on all the wonderful links:

* Miss Teresa Stenson, a fellow writer and an inspiration to us all. Tree has proved to everyone, and more importantly herself, that stamina and luck are a writer's best friends. I adore her.

* Elle is an artist, singer and all-round awesome lady who deserves to get where she's going and then some. She fronts the band Honeytone Cody, loved by and recently played alongside Charlotte Hatherley and who are in my opinion the best band in York, but also anywhere in a while.

* Mr. Ben Popel is a gifted artist who is terrifyingly talented for one so young. He creates wonderful images of wit and beauty that should and will be gracing posters, books and walls the World over.

* Darren and Ian at 2 Baldies FX, two gentlemen who are, may I say, SHIT HOT at what they do, even though they don't do it for a living. They joined our filmmaking team this year on our zombie web series Zomblogalypse and have astounded me with their skilful, gory make-up effects. Plus, two nicer and more down-to-Earth chaps you could not hope to meet.

* The Sorry Kisses, a wonderful band made up of Hayley Hutchinson and Sam Forrest, who are not only fantastic musicians in their own right, and not only make insanely catchy songs, but also just created the entire soundtrack for my new feature film CrimeFighters. At home. In a shed. Why they don't rule the planet by now is quite beyond me.

* Ceri is one of the loveliest chaps I know, and always turns up when we're filming our zombie web series to be a classic Romero-esque zombie, but also creates a very funny comic strip called Blake & Tyson (Link not working at the time of posting, sadly).

* Finally, I'm going to nominate a gentleman who is an inspiration to all of us filmmakers, both in his wonderful creations Spaced and Shaun of the Dead, but also in his blog, which he rabidly updates while still finding time to make one of the most eagerly anticipated films of my lifetime, Scott Pilgrim. All hail Edgar Wright.

- now go and tell those 7 people that they are Kreativs.

DONE!

A Short Film About Women

2009-12-05T12:46:00.000-08:00

The short I'm writing for Paul to direct next year is proving pretty theraputic to work on.

Drawing on my own befuddled attitudes toward relationships of any kind with the opposite sex is a lot of fun and is also allowing me the chance to work out the kinks in the single life without resorting to morals like 'There is someone for everyone', and other sentimental views I have been known to lean towards, that aren't helpful or even that truthful.

Being single is deeply misunderstood, by me I have to confess. It is often seen as the less desirable alternative to being in a relationship. But when you weigh up the pros and cons of being with someone or not, it's often a case of 'Grass is always greener'. See, there's another cliche that is also not going to be the moral of the script.

I want this film to be food for thought as well as an entertaining and honest account of a guy who has some very close and very awesome female friends, and what happens after speaking to all of them about love and relationships. There is a little bit of hopeful dreaming thrown in there of course, but at the end of 20 minutes or so I'd like people to go away with a few suggestions of what it all means, rather than trite answers.

So a first draft should be finished in the next couple of weeks, along with the full rough cut of CrimeFighters, thanks to Tony. All very satisfying, and not just creatively, since both projects represent considerable emotional investment. That's why I love writing. It's a chance to make sense of things that often don't.

Sound Design 2: Pubs, Squirrels & Automobiles

2009-12-04T15:37:00.000-08:00

We gathered at the Minster on the first decent sunny day in ages to get sounds of various things, including pub atmosphere, park sounds, cars and such.

Always time to feed the squirrels:

Then weirdly we bumped into an ITV crew filming a period drama on exactly the spot we did a lot of the CrimeFighters shoot.

CrimeFighters 2: The Early Years?

They had some nice kit... after that it was off to the library to record the exciting sound of books being flicked through.

Finally, I wish I had one of these:

Sound Design 1: The First 40 minutes of CrimeFighters

2009-12-03T12:17:00.000-08:00

So the first 40 minutes of CrimeFighters is rough cut and I just watched it, which was amazing, seeing the first act and a half of the film without any scenes missing.

And it's not that rough either; Tony has done a terrific job cutting it together, having taken in my persistent comments and suggestions during production of how he should do this and that. I needn't have worried.

What's clear from the rough cut is that sound and music are going to play a HUGE part in the character of this film. Without sound mixing, sound effects and a music score, it's pretty bare. What I realised is that York itself will need to take on a character of its own in the film, with shots around the town not just there to look pretty (and they do) but to add - along with the music - to the tone of menace and excitement that builds up for the first half an hour.

Here's Dan Vivash recording sound on the set; he did such a great job that in terms of sound, we're already halfway there.

Starting tomorow, we begin foley, which is pretty much sound effects and atmosphere. Can't wait, as one of my heroes growing up, and still is, sound designer Ben Burtt. When it comes to sound, you don't get much better than him or Randy Thom.

MilesTone Studios

2009-12-03T05:21:00.000-08:00

This is the closest we’re going to get, for now, to a production studio. Over in Tony’s room, he’s hard at work editing the pickups footage into the CrimeFighters rough cut, which currently stands at an hour:

Meantime, down the hall I’ve been designing prop newspapers with headlines about our vigilante heroes:

…and compiling and editing Hayley and Sam’s awesome music:

I’ve also been going through the script with a fine toothcomb to make sure we haven’t forgotten to film anything. All those coloured tabs represent a shot that we need to pick up in January; most are shots of things like newspapers and buildings.

Look at the state of that script. That’s just from pickups, not even the main shoot. Disgracefully grubby business, filmmaking. Tomorrow, we’re going to be doing one of my favourite things; sound effects!

Transitions...

2009-11-27T05:23:00.000-08:00

It's amazing to have finally moved after waiting out the year in a house I didn't want to be in, and seeing my new place gradually take shape. So it's an escape from sights like this, the end of Citizen Kane:

God it's bizarre, packaging all your stuff into boxes. We've essentially lost a month, in moving house, of working on CrimeFighters, but the new house is everything I hoped it would be, complete with new bedroom, and very importantly, work area:

So I've started on the short film script for Paul to direct next year, and remembering how much I love the writing process...

...not to mention the editing process as we get the rest of the CrimeFighters footage captured and arranged. Still some random shots to get here and there, but the hard work of shooting is done.

So now, Tony and I actually live in the same house, and next year Hannah will be visiting, at which point you should all quake in fear for the zombie apocalypse. Or at least, Zomblog Season 3. Because one or both are coming...

Silently working...

2009-11-15T07:56:00.000-08:00

...on designing a funding pack for MilesTone Productions, and have already had some potential investment interest. It's a start... also moving house, so once I'm installed it'll be blog central, with CrimeFighters editing, Zomblog planning and general noses-to-the-grindstone-ness.

Reality Bites

2009-11-10T10:04:00.001-08:00

One of the hardest things about being an indie filmmaker, apart from making films for little to no money, is the bits when you're not filming.

My first couple of shifts back at the cinema this last week have been dotted with delightful little moments, like someone I hadn't seen for a couple years coming in and saying, 'Oh, still shuffling popcorn eh?' When I cheerfully nodded they asked what I'd been up to, and I told them I'd been making a feature film and a web series, to which they replied, 'Oh, you're still making that film?'

Now, I didn't have the energy to say, 'Actually that film was 2 years ago, and since then we've made a cult web series with the most awesome fans and I've just spent the last year prepping and making a kick-ass professional feature film that comes out in January and hopefully will take us to the next level as filmmakers'. So I just said 'Nah, different one' and watched them walk away with their 2 kids in tow.

First of all, I get it. To non-filmmakers it may seem like I spend my life always filming filming filming and never having any money, working at the cinema and staying in the same place. But I know that there's a plan, a very slow trajectory that we're all hoping 2010 will see rise more steadily. Whereas some of the people I went to school with are getting married and having kids and company cars, that's what they want with their lives. I want to be a film director, and this is the first time in my life that I can say that I am, and I'm following the dream I've had from when I was 12. What I didn't realise is how hard it would be in its various ways, but also how rewarding and amazing.

And I keep having to remind myself, as I'm shuffling popcorn, of what we have ahead to look forward to: CrimeFighters theatrical release, Zomblog Season 3 and the movie. I just have to stay focused, and convince myself - and my mum - that it'll all be worth it one day.

So screw you, reality. This is me, this is what I'm here for, even though you may try to remind me of 'my place' from time to time.

The 'York Film Collective'/MilesTone Productions

2009-11-06T11:50:00.000-08:00

Early last year I suggested to my filmmaking buddies that we should organise ourselves from several disparate small film companies into a collective organisation, with the intention of making some really big film projects that took us to the next level of being filmmakers. Whatever 'the next level' meant but it kind of made sense. To me anyway. It was hard to explain quite what I meant actually, until now.

Previously, between us, we'd made a bunch of accomplished short films, music videos and a feature and were doing pretty well at being filmmakers that got things made and screened. But gradually, from making BandWagons to the Hum-drum shorts, a sense of personal frustration began to build, a sense of impatience at having only tiny little snippets of success at small film festivals and not really feeling like I was progressing towards what I always thought filmmaking was about or what I wanted out of it. We needed to go larger.

Watching a great documentary about American Zoetrope, the early but failed company formed by Lucas, Coppola et al, was a turning point as I realised that when filmmakers get together, magic can happen. So out of that came the 'York Film Collective' idea. And now finally, with MilesTone Productions, comes a version of the Film Collective Idea. We now have a collective of writers, actors, directors, producers, editors, special effects wizards, make-up... uhh, witches, composers and artists. When you list them all, you suddenly realise that we're a pretty awesome company.

So what's missing? Well, it's green, it's vulgar, it's... not bogies, no. It's money.

And that brings me to a major new initiative we're embarking on. And it's one of those 'There's never been a better time to invest' type deals. Thing is, there really HASN'T been a better time to invest in our small-but-perfectly-formed film company, and here's why.

- We've just made an awesome feature film for £6000, which is about a sixteenth of what most SHORT films are made for, and we now need to spend money on t-shirts, badges and some other merchandise so we can earn some money to take CrimeFighters to cinemas around the country. It will cost. We have nothing.

- Our web series Zomblogalypse has a small but loyal cult following, with new fans every day. To make Season 3, which is more ambitious and larger scale than the first two, we are going to need an effects budget. We also need printing costs to make the sell-through DVD as well as more tees and badges, and the graphic novel which are all out in 2010. These are things that will, we hope, make money, but we need to spend it to earn it. Again, we don't have it.

- The Zomblog movie. We're in the very, very early planning stages right now, but we want it to capitalise on the cult following of the show and the increased awareness we hope to gain during Season 3.

We're putting together a funding package that people can digest and decide if they want to help us, and this will materialise soon, but the basic premise is this:

- Any donation is welcome. Last year we received several small but very welcome donations from a dozen or so individuals who helped us buy some essential materials like tapes and t-shirts.

- For a donation of £100 you'll receive an Executive Producer credit on Zomblog Season 3. That means you'll see your name after every episode. And bask in the warmth of helping us into production.

There is more, but I'll wait until the funding pack comes out. There will be an online shop where you can buy the merchandise to own a piece of CrimeFighters or Zomblog, and a link where you can donate money to help us continue to make our films and series.

I think people who've already been involved in helping us make Zomblog and CrimeFighters have started to realise that we are all hardworking, ambitious filmmakers who are deadly serious about filmmaking and aren't going to go away anytime soon. Making films is long, hard, stressful work but well worth it for anyone involved. We hope that means you.

That's it. I hope this has been riveting reading for you all, and that if you believe in us and our flourishing film company, it may well be worth investing in us and the 'York Film Collective'. Thank you.

Winding Down

2009-11-01T16:13:00.000-08:00

The best thing to do after finishing a big project is to celebrate and party, then the next day have a quiet few drinks and a meal. You can't just quit the craziness and the people cold turkey or you get all lonely and down in the dumps and start craving it again. From tomorrow my house will be empty of cast and crew and it'll be back to work and real life again.

Kind of.

Today was Adam's birthday and we went for a curry followed by some apple beer:

Yum. Adam, Anna and Tony discovered something...

...and then we all went back to Ad's to play Wii Mario Kart.

This is just the right way to come down gradually from the insanity of a film shoot. You don't want to suddenly be alone and bored, but you don't want much more stimulation because exhaustion is the overriding feeling at this stage. Thankfully I'm moving house in a week and that gives me something else to focus on.

I've inevitably started thinking about what I'm going to miss and not miss at all about making CrimeFighters, and here's what I'm NOT going to miss:

- Those little production problems, power points being a prime example.
- Worrying about the weather.
- Worrying about time running out.
- Having to think constantly about the scenes to come.
- Constant fatigue and never getting enough sleep.
- Mess, everywhere, and no time to clean it up, do my laundry or cook a decent meal.

What I AM going to miss is the cast and crew being around all the time, solving problems together (& suffering together), laughing and talking shit with everyone, seeing how all the departments work to make the film, and lots of other things I can't remember right now through the sense of relief.

Above all though, the sense of accomplishment and pride overrides everything, and despite how glad I am to have finished, and despite this being a tough ride, it was all totally worth it.

HALLOWE'EN!

2009-11-01T04:20:00.001-08:00

Today was the day I've been looking forward to for weeks, and it didn't disappoint. City Screen bar was the venue for the Season 2 Finale of Zomblogalypse, complete with bespoke pumpkins:

Thanks to Rob from the kitchen for these, they're awesome. By half ten there was a crowd of 70-80 people in the bar, baying for blood, and some of them covered in it:

This is Tom from the kitchen. Should we be worried? Actually, the kitchen staff really came through tonight, check out Elliot's Rorschach costume:

Thanks must also go to James for organising the event, and Kate, Neil and Arran for putting up with huge crowds of people wanting drinks in the last hour of their shift. Thank you guys.

And so, after some sound problems (we're low tech for god's sake) we screened the finale to a very appreciative crowd. It was really wonderful watching a new episode with a big crowd laughing at all the jokes and cheering at the gore, and it was just great to hear the big cheer at the surprise ending.

Afterwards we dithered about where to go, but everywhere was chock full, so some of us ended up going back to Dave and Sheena's:

Touching, eh. I mean, a touching sight, there was no actual, you know, touching. Everyone involved in Zomblog and CrimeFighters deserved tonight as a huge treat, a wind-down, and a big sigh of relief at all the hard work we've done this year. It's been the toughest and most rewarding year of my life, hands down. And what I think and hope is that we've paved the way for some incredible opportunites in 2010. Good times to come... :-D

Day 8: It's a WRAP

2009-10-30T08:26:00.000-07:00

Most assuredly, that is it.

We were all up at 4am and in Purple Haze (that describes the location and our collective mood) one last time, to finish off the last few scenes of CrimeFighters, two of which I'd hastily scribbled on a scrap of paper to accommodate a location change (this was to have been filmed in Borders but we used up our time there) and given to the actors this morning to learn and do.

Jenni, who'd now done 2 weeks filming on this and another production without a break, had a smashing time...

...and Paul decided he'd create a sit-on dolly:

...while sporting a flat cap. Yes folks, we've reached THAT stage of the production.

Today was pretty hilarious actually, I think once we got onto the second scene of the day and realised we were going to finish the film, fatigue gave way to fits of giggles and stupidity as the weight gradually lifted from the stress and anxiety of filmmaking.

So, after wrapping Debbie, then Paul and Georgina for the movie, we went to Bootham Park to film Emma and Harry's last scene, at which point Paul wished we were making a colour film since the autumn leaves were so pretty.

A couple of hours later and that was it, we were done, and here's what cast and crew we had left:

We few, we precious few, we band of buggered. The wrap usually comes with a whimper rather than a bang, and until January, all will be quiet in Camp CrimeFighters as we tinker, edit, sound mix and generally faff. Oh, and party like we've never partied before.

Well done everybody on the cast and crew, you can all be terrifically smug with yourselves now, we've all just done something awesome :-D

Days 6 & 7: Wi' Crammin

2009-10-29T14:02:00.001-07:00

We have one goal now; to finish this film, this week. And so we shall, because through the fatigue and the insomnia, the madness and the stress, we are all determined to get to the end. The crew and cast were on top form as we got shot after shot, scene after scene. Because it's now or never.

We filmed outside El Piano and on the Shambles, two scenes from very early on in the film which we've saved til last. Weird. But those two locations were both a joy to film in, thanks to the generosity of the staff of various restaurants and businesses letting us use their power and generally being delightful. Thanks to John, Jonic and Sally.

After that, and if someone had said we'd be having a FOURTH night by York Minster I would have punched them out, we returned to get a few last shots of that sequence inclusing a massive crane shot:

Just look at this bad baby.

Wrapped at 3am and realised that's the last time we have to do that shit. WOO! Kudos to the Dean Court Hotel who have the best manager and night porter in the world, David and Derek. I'm going to owe most of York a bottle of wine or two after this...

The next day we went back to the Minster... although from a safe distance on the rooftops:

As we're doing thanks, The Habit get kudos on this one. After that it was back to City Screen basement to do some green screen shots, which are awesome fun and about as stressful as putting on a hat, which is most welcome at this stage.

So you just shoot the actor against the wall, light them all nice like, and you can just stick a background in later.

At this point the crew started asking why we hadn't just done the whole film like this. Next one, I promise.

Tomorrow... the end.

Day 5: "My mind is going, Dave... I can feel it..."

2009-10-28T06:50:00.000-07:00

There are two photos that sum up tonight's shoot, a final return to the pub:

1. Fatigue. Everyone was utterly bushed tonight after last night's monster Minster finale, and we were faced with another long dusk til dawn shoot crammed with work, and:

2. Insanity. We are all starting to go crazymental and just want to get the film done now. As usual, cast and crew were fast and professional but we're all exhausted and need to battle through the next couple of days.

Thankfully, the next two or three days contain little bits of scenes and shots that just need to be set up and crossed off, so here's hoping we've got it in us. Onward...

Day 4: Revenge of the Finale

2009-10-27T09:26:00.000-07:00

The night everyone had been dreading for weeks turned out, unsurprisingly, to be the hardest day of the whole shoot so far; the finale showdown scene by York Minster.

So it didn't take 85 hours but it felt like it, the time ticking away from 6 on Monday night to 6 on Tuesday morning. Various crew and cast, including me, have what we hope isn't swine flu, and the CrimeFighters had to stand in the most exposed, windiest, chilliest spot in York between midnight and 6am dressed in t-shirts and lycra.

But in retrospect it could have been much worse; I'd been dreading the cold, the rain, drunken townies, all that. And it was only cold in the last few hours, it only drizzled for the last hour of the shoot, and the only passers by we had were more drunkenly interested than disruptive. Apart from the taxi driver who shouted 'Dickheads!' at us during a drive-by.

The crew were totally brilliant tonight and carried us through the tough shoot. Paul's comprehensive shot list was adhered to and crossed off methodically, and despite several fuse trippings and loss of lights, we powered on through the fatigue and cold and got the scene. Jenni and Paul only took a few moments to rest:

This week we have done so well to get nearly all the shots we planned, but there have been a couple of instances where we've had say, seven camera setups planned to cover a few lines of dialogue, and because of time have had to merge them into the same shot. That's what got us through tonight, and I don't think you could say we compromised the finale scene at all, bar a few shots we had to drop. Considering there are over 100 camera setups in that 10-ish minute scene, we've done amazingly.

We're getting there, but tonight is another high-density shoot in the Old Starre Inne, during which we have to line up the shots and knock em down. But at least Day 4 is over. Phew.

Day 3: Extreme Violence on a Sunday

2009-10-25T15:44:00.000-07:00

This was the first time I've been to church on Sunday since I was about 12. St. Martin's is such a cool building. The belfry looks like something designed by Anton Furst for the first Batman movie:

We weren't filming up there though, we were in the main church for some fight pickups in which several obliging gentlemen got the snot kicked out of them by the CrimeFighters...

During some spectacular fight moves, Debbie managed to actually punch Ryan in the face a bit, and after 12 hours of dolly tracks, hazers, light bulbs popping, malfunctioning generators and some kung fu, we wrapped for this location, which is a very nice feeling.

Tomorrow is the night everyone's not-so-secretly been dreading; the finale of the finale, the Minster scene, which we've already shot 2 nights' worth of footage for, comprising 75 out of 100 shots. Tomorrow we return to finish the job. Or die trying.

Day 2: It Never Rains... when you need it

2009-10-24T13:46:00.000-07:00

But when you don't, it does. Actually we were pretty lucky today, we just managed to squeeze a whole scene in before the heavens opened, but we had this nifty gazebo thingy to shelter us.

This was at 9am and we all had second day fatigue, where the insanity that carries you through the process hasn't quite set in and you just feel TIRED. A lovely scene by the river with Emma and Harry though, see how much Emma enjoyed it:

After escaping to the City Screen basement - during which, annoyingly, it stopped raining and went all sunny - we filmed some cool dolly shots from earlier scenes, and revisited a previously shot scene to get some extra moments, then headed back to the alley behind my house to get the rest of last night's rain scene. During which we had to simulate the rain. Oh, irony. Oh and we tortured Paul (Pip) by making him fall in puddles for an hour.

All told, not bad for a 15 hour day. Tomorrow we're going to church. But not to pray; to stage an awesome fight scene. We are such heathens.

CrimeFighters Pickups Day 1: House Invasion!

2009-10-23T22:25:00.000-07:00

If I wasn't quite feeling like we were about to start shooting the film again yesterday, I certainly am today:

INVASION!

As I said to Paul, it felt a little bit like that scene in E.T where their home is suddenly full of big scary equipment, wires running everywhere and people in every room and corridor. Though thankfully they didn't feel the need to envelop the house in a huge plastic bubble.

Today we filmed bits and pieces of 4 different scenes, and I chose my house because it was a nice gentle, convenient way to start the shoot. A couple of single shots indoors then outside to the alley (again) to film inserts from a scene we shot back in August, and extra shots from a rain-soaked scene we didn't quite finish last time.

Got some excellent shots and at the end of the night, having simulated rain for 2 hours on a nice clear night and soaked most of the cast and crew, we wrapped for the night... and it started raining. Ho ho.

And so I write this on morning 2 of the shoot, having had about 4 hours crappy sleep, my head full of thoughts and worries about the day/week ahead, and we've got about a 14 hour shoot day today. Yeah, NOW it feels like we're filming.

Twas the Day Before Shooting... Again

2009-10-22T13:02:00.001-07:00

Suddenly it's the day before we start shooting CrimeFighters again, and I can't wait.

What better way to get up to speed than a day of 2nd unit stuff. After some panic about where all the costumes were...

(yep, found the masks) we got some close-up stonework for the opening title sequence...

...then went right up the Minster to get some aerial stuff for various scenes. And I got mild vertigo. But it was worth it.

Pretty, huh. We'll be filming down there on Monday night, oh hurrah.

Paul and Ian getting some lovely shots from halfway up the Minster.

I'm very excited about cracking on with the film and let's hope finishing it by this time next week. Tomorrow, one backyard and a hosepipe. To be continued...

Webcams are awesome...

2009-10-17T13:05:00.001-07:00

...when one of your best and missed friends is halfway around the world... see Zomblog fans, Hannah's not dead, she's just hiding!

Also, I had this 'biscuit' the other day in a tea room. It's not a biscuit, it's a three-storey glory!

CrimeFighters Second Unit Shoot

2009-10-14T02:54:00.001-07:00

Second Unit is all the stuff in a film that generally involves no actors and nothing much happening, but is essential to the film. Things like atmosphere shots of streets, sunsets, people, buildings and so forth.

In the case of CrimeFighters the Second Unit list consists of lots of shots from, and of, CCTV cameras around York, watching everything. So, lots of POV images of people milling about, landmarks, atmospheres. That's the easy stuff.

Here's Paul lining up a shot...

Nice view, huh? Rooftops are great, it's cool being on top of the world, so to speak, seeing your town from a different perspective.

Next week we'll be doing a few more complicated shots like a cutaway in a bookshop that isn't really in a bookshop, someone watching a TV image of footage we've already filmed, a few buildings and streets looking pretty/menacing/pretty menacing, and various other shots that are pretty dull but necessary.

Even in the pickups, which start next week, the shoot has become more about 'crossing shots off a list' than ever. It doesn't sound very creative but that comes in the way you shoot and cut these images together. And the jigsaw is gradually taking shape. But today was also cool because we got to work out new angles in scenes we haven't shot yet, so it all feels fresh and new, and I'm excited about making the film again.

CrimeFighters Teaser Posters.

2009-10-10T04:37:00.001-07:00

For a while now I've wanted to do a series of character posters to advertise CrimeFighters, and they were so much fun to do I've started doing them for the crew as well, since they're all characters. More to come.

Compulsive Notebook Collecting & Inspiring Things

2009-10-09T05:23:00.000-07:00

As you can see from the below picture, I collect notebooks. I don't know how to describe the feeling of buying a new notebook other than it feels like being really organised, but it also brings with it the idea that I might fill this one with amazing ideas that wipe the floor with all my previous ideas. Although TP suggests I should call it 'The Illusion of Control'. Him better with words than wot me am. That about sums it up, in fact that sums filmmaking up.

Sadly, it's just because I have a problem. The small black moleskine-esque notebook on the bottom right has been going since 2004 and is quite interesting as it contains notes for the first feature I was going to make but didn't (it was called ReInvention), then a road movie which became BandWagons, then ideas for Zomblog and also lots of short film ideas that haven't yet happened. There are storyboards and scribbles and promise and ideas and so forth. And it's still only half full after 5 years. The others aren't even close to half full. And yesterday I found myself craving another notebook, then got this little lot together and decided to start my own stationery shop.

Or, maybe not. I did decide to write a list of things that are currently inspiring me, as this kind of thing helps me to gather my thoughts and think about the creative process which I find endlessly fascinating.

Autumn
Brand new Notebooks (in case you weren't sure)
Swapping music and films with friends
Seeing two matinee films in the afternoon
Discovering a new band recommended by a friend
Change
Meeting new people
Falling in and out of love

Finished.

Writing: an emotional outlet.

2009-10-06T07:57:00.000-07:00

There was a time when I was first writing scripts - about ten years ago - when I had never made a film, and had this vague, blurry notion about where all these writings would end up.

Then came the many scripts I would write that never made it anywhere, because they weren't ready, or because I had no idea about how to go about even starting making a film. And then once I had it in my mind that I was going to make a film, I was driven towards turning the words into reality. Which is how BandWagons got coughed into existence. I had made a start.

So on days like this, when I'm inspired by a rainy day and a good movie - (500) Days Of Summer - and a pretty face and all my friendships with girls, it's pretty amazing that when I sit down in a coffee shop to scribble a few pages of notes, I know that one day they WILL actually be made into a film. This one in particular is slated to be directed by Mr. Tall Paul, who's Director of Photography on CrimeFighters and has flattered me by asking me to write a short for him to direct next year. So I want to do a good job on it.

It's about a boy who has a lot of female friends but no romance in his life, and yes, could just perhaps be semi-autobiographical. It's a pretty amazing feeling, even when frustrated or lonely or sad or happy - or all these things at the same time - to have an outlet for it all. Yay writing. And yay all the great girls I know.

It's October!

2009-10-03T03:39:00.000-07:00

And suddenly it's three weeks until CrimeFighters pickups, four weeks until the Zomblog finale on Hallowe'en, and I move house, and everything needs to be done. But it's okay, I like being busy.

Here are a few October deadlines:

9th: Rough screening of CrimeFighters for me and some of the crew.
15th: Foley and sound work for CrimeFighters, as well as 2nd Unit stuff like shots around town with no actors. All storyboards and prep done for the CFs pickups week.
20th: Zomblog Season 2 Finale edited and ready to test screen.
23rd: Pickups begin for CrimeFighters.
30th: LAST day of CrimeFighters, let's hope we get everything...
31st: Zomblog Hallowe'en screening plus Season 3 zombie footage at the York Zombie Walk.

Better get on with it, hadn't I...

;-)

Sound Design & Photo Fight Storyboards

2009-09-29T00:16:00.000-07:00

Met with Dan today, who recorded sound on CrimeFighters and will be doing the sound edit & mix with me after pickups. We met today to discuss the sound design of the film, from creepy echoes and footsteps to the sounds of bikes, skates and fights, and how the music will fit into the scenes to enhance your viewing pleasure. Sound is absolutely one of my favourite parts of filmmaking, and we'll be going out to record foley (sound effects and elements that replace quiet or unusable parts of the film) in the coming weeks.

Then met Kung Fu Chris and Tony to go over the remaining fight scene we have to shoot in October. Chris and Tony took the lead in this one because they're experts at creating fight scenes, and from what we've already shot, that much is clear. Take a look at the storyboards we did, using Tony and Chris as various characters from the film (Chris makes a particularly convincing Ella).
Have begun storyboarding most of the rest of the pickups shoot as well, so everything's visual for me and the camera crew. It's been great having a bit of a break between shoots so that we know exactly what gaps we need to fill come October. Apparently George Lucas always plans to shoot 10% of the film in pickups as he doesn't know what he needs until he's watched the first rough cut. Makes sense, although we have about 30% more to shoot I reckon!

CrimeFighters Promo Posters

2009-09-27T13:05:00.000-07:00

The benefits of accidentally waking up at 5:45am (I say accidentally, it was the smoke alarm) are that I am often at my most creative round that time. Weird.

So before I had to work at 11, I did these CrimeFighters posters for a display at work. I call them 'The Logo Campaign'.

Soon there will also be character posters, teaser posters and the all-important giant quad poster for the cinema foyer. Damn this film is fun to market, and it's made more fun by the amazing photography done by Matt Dobson.

Meeting Dan tomorrow to discuss sound design.

Ah, movies...

Messages from Heroes

2009-09-25T07:18:00.000-07:00

It's always nice when someone you admire turns out to be not only NOT a complete douche (they do say don't meet your heroes), but just as awesome, nice and supportive as you hoped they might be.

Two of these people are Jed and Maurissa Whedon, who have replied to messages I've written them about our various projects. Another is Edgar Wright, who has on several occasions taken the time to reply to a message I've sent or given words of advice or support on various projects.

Yesterday Felicia Day replied to a message I sent her about Zomblog, saying that it sounded awesome and she'd like me to send her a link to the show. Now, I know it's not that massive a deal, but it kind of is to us, since she is one of the people who inspired us to make Zomblog, through her web series The Guild and one she's in called Legend Of Neil, both of which are pretty much made for no money. Legend of Neil is particularly hilariously stupid and brilliantly vulgar.

As a hard-up but hard-working filmmaker, these little nuggets of hope and support go a hell of a long way, and help us to see ourselves less as idiots with camcorders (which we'll always be to some extent) but more as part of a group of filmmakers involved in forging a new path of creativity. Ok, 'path of creativity' sounds really cheesy, but allow us some cheese, we're starving. For the first time, the future seems bright and shiny, even though the horizon seems to shift a few feet every time we run toward it. Yay, TV for the web though!

Let's just hope one day I can get Joss Whedon to watch CrimeFighters. Now that would be something.

CrimeFighters Trailer and a gap in my John Hughes viewing

2009-09-23T05:42:00.000-07:00

Just discovered, while watching Sixteen Candles today, that I've never seen it before! How could such a glaring omission occur? Anyway it's great because it's like the John Hughes movie that fell through time after his death for me to enjoy, whereas for everyone else there are no new JH movies.... although, same for me now. Sigh...

Also today, we put the first CrimeFighters teaser trailer online. Nice to show people what we've been working on, although now of course I want to get on with the next trailer... and the rest of the film!

Sometimes It's the Little Things...

2009-09-21T05:19:00.000-07:00

Sometimes it's the big things. I think the point I'm trying to make is that it's hard being a filmmaker and sometimes all you need is a teeeeeeeny bit of support in the dark times where nothing seems to be happening, and today I got an email from Sue Denim (from the band Robots In Disguise who were in The Mighty Boosh and my first feature T he BandWagons) to say how much she enjoys Zomblog and wants to be a zombie in a future episode.

So that was nice, and also this website which tracks down web series and advertises their existence has contacted me about Zomblog. Always good to be included up there with Dr. Horrible and Felicia Day! Speaking of whom, here's a really good blog she wrote about making your own web series. She and Joss Whedon have/continue to be an inspiration to me and it's good to read stuff like this, just to know that even she's in the same boat as us. Granted, she has dozens of loyal fans (baker's dozens) but still, we're in esteemed company.

Episode 11 of Zomblog is up, and despite the fact that I have to reupload it due to some glitching issues, all is well in Zomblog land, with a site update covering Hannah's classic Bog Blog videos. Between episodes there will also be extra stuff that didn't fit into the series, such as Tony and I living in the car between episodes 9 and 10... fun times ahead.

And that's all without mentioning the Zomblog graphic novel on the horizon...

image by Alexandra Lewis

The Last Zomblog of the Year...

2009-09-18T04:27:00.000-07:00

...was filmed tonight. It was emotional. Actually it was hilarious. Some great guest stars and classic zombies as always, and lots of blood which is always, er, nice.

Hard to believe it's a year since we started the whole thing off, with Hannah sat in a bath and two idiots and a gypsy in a supermarket. In the space of a year we've come pretty far. Next year though, is all about publicity, fanbases, promotion, contacts and whoring the series.

Not to mention Season 3 and the impending movie...

The Factory of Unprofessional Sound

2009-09-17T08:29:00.000-07:00

That's what they call it anyway, Hayley and Sam; their outhouse where they make all their music that sounds anything but unprofessional.

We headed down there tonight to work on some of the music for CrimeFighters. They've already done a kick-ass main theme and trailer music plus something more romantic, and we were working on one of those subtler themes this evening. Subtle but a lot of fun.

Here's Hayley about to put the finishing touches on using her drum and cymbal skills. She got a little carried away and had to be... carried away.

Fun times. I love post-production, although as we're technically mid-production it's not really post, but still a calm, creative joy. Can't wait to paste the music and images together and see if they work... on which note, we're working on the trailer and the new website tomorrow!

Also watched a Ghibli double bill of Nausicaa and Laputa. Absolutely wonderful, makes me want to escape to my own land. Oh wait, I already live there.

Heading into Autumn...

2009-09-15T11:30:00.000-07:00

...means plans, pubs, long evenings, leaves, talks, breakdowns, panic, disillusion, best friends, recovery, excitement in the air, editing, filming zombies for the last time in a while, lining up more CrimeFighting action, sadness, hope, dreaming, moving house.

It does for me, anyway. The CrimeFighters website is totally and utterly imminent.

A week or so with pictures of things.

2009-09-11T10:21:00.000-07:00

It hath been a nice week or so, and here are some wordlings and pick-chers to prove it.

Tony and I and a bunch of zombies gathered together to film the Season 2 Finale of Zomblogalypse:

I always say this but it really was the most fun ever; the zombies were staggeringly (ha) good and the FX team, made up of 2 Baldies FX guys Ian and Darren who've blown up several of our friends' heads and outdid themselves this time, with the assistance of Pete from Millennium FX (he's worked on Batman Begins, The Wolfman, Harry Potter and Dr. Who, we can boast, well he can boast) and the awesome Dani, who did some disgustingly real decaying effects on people's faces. After the explosive finale, in which we redecorated Tony's lounge with bits of Emma and Arron:

...I sodded off to Dorset for a week of parental hangage, that's hanging out with them, not murdering them, had a filling, and went to the beach. Not all on the same day though. Also went to Athelhampton, the big house where they filmed Sleuth with Laurence Olivier and Michael Caine:

If you haven't seen the film, it's ace. So, a week of nice relaxing... niceness, but also a week of thinking about upcoming filmmaking projects, listening to the AMAZING CrimeFighters score music Hayley and Sam have been unveiling over the past few weeks, and planning CFs post-production:

That includes pickups, rough cut deadlines, music mixing, etc... so much to do and having a holiday has made me want to get on with it. And so I will. Trailer next week.

And I really want to move house. Waiting, waiting...

CrimeFighters Phase 2: Tapes and Pickups.

2009-09-03T05:30:00.001-07:00

Here's what we're left with after 2 weeks of shooting:

Well, seeing as Tony's editing the film, it's him (he?) that has to deal with all these. Thankfully Tony captures tapes in his sleep and edits them even quicker, and having seen the rough cut and worked on the trailer with him, I can say we have nothing to worry about. Well, apart from doing all the sound, and arranging reshoots, and blah blah blah.

Speaking of which, I'll be going round York finalising a few extra locations for pickups and 2nd Unit stuff (shots without actors, establishing shots and so forth), to create a big nerdy dossier for the cast and crew when we all gather to finish the film in the last week of October. Here's one of them:

Oh yes. Rooftops. Cameras. Hopefully not apocalyptic rain storms like we had this week.

Notes from Limboland.

2009-09-01T13:20:00.000-07:00

I knew making CrimeFighters would be hard work and tiring and rewarding and all that, I just never realised how weird it would feel afterwards.

It's taken at least a week to get my mind back to proper speed, and even as I plan pickups week for October, it's bizarre how everything kind of fell away while I was shooting and we were all so focused on making the film that now we're left with this weird surreal aftermath where none of us have quite known what to do, or been quite able to let go.

Now that a week's passed, I've started making plans again; not just CrimeFighters plans, but plans to film the next two episodes of Zomblog, plans to move house, plans to visit my parents in Dorset, pay bills, sell things, work at the cinema, see friends, see movies, listen to music, and it's reminded me how when you're focused on one thing you can totally neglect everything else, and then when you're done and your mind starts coming back to the here and now, to your life, everything gradually creeps back in.

I've said this before, but I know the world doesn't hold its breath while we make our films, it just feels like we do, and when a project is complete, or takes a break, there's this strange kind of numbness that replaces every other feeling you were having planning and making the film.

Weird.

It's gradually coming back to me though, the life I had before CrimeFighters. It didn't take long, ho ho.

Last August I had a shit month and I took time off work and came up with Zomblog and CrimeFighters out of that period of stress and a feeling of being lost. And now, a year later I can reflect on how lucky we were during the shoot, and how much help we had from everybody, and also how much I love doing Zomblog and how odd it'll feel making it, compared to the crazy intensity of CrimeFighters. We will need a little more help to finish the film, so please do help us again.

I dunno, I'm feeling oddly sentimental today.

I just heard the CrimeFighters trailer music...

2009-08-28T11:52:00.001-07:00

...by Hayley and Sam. I now have goosebumps that won't go away. Here's a cool picture to go with those goosebumps, courtesy of Matt Dobson of Eyland Images.

Good god I have talented friends. Tony and I will be working on the trailer in the week. Can't wait to give people a glimpse of what's to come...

The Aftermath (2)

2009-08-27T05:25:00.000-07:00

It's very weird after focusing on one big film project for most of the year then suddenly finding myself at the end of principal photography. I mean, I have so much more to do and arrange - a good 4 or 5 months of work still to do on CrimeFighters - which is great, but there's still that feeling of being dumped onto the shores of reality after riding the... waves of... uh... thing.

I'm good at metaphors.

Having spent much of this year writing, planning and rehearsing for something that we're now three quarters through, I have mixed emotions from relief, to anxiety that it all works out, to joy at seeing Tony's rough cut so far which confirms that we are making something pretty special.

Having spent two very intense weeks with a cast and crew who became a kind of weird family, and who now have all dispersed, leaves me with a strange bereaved feeling. I'm so glad we're all having a break and coming back to finish the film in a few weeks, because everyone feels the same way; that this is an adventure that isn't yet finished.

So what to do in the interim, apart from making sure pickups week is well organised for October? Well, I shall be supervising the rough cut with Tony, going out with Dan to record foley (sound effects) and work out what scenes need looping (re-recorded dialogue, which averages well over 50% of the sound in most films). Making a website with Jonic that will initially hold the trailer but expand nearer the film's release to include 'Making Of' things, music, images and lots of other fun stuff. I shall also be watching lots of film 'Making Of's that I find inspiring, from Joss Whedon to Stanley Kubrick, Spielberg and Lucas, to remind me of why I got into all this in the first place.

The weirdest thing is going to be returning to everyday work. In some ways it's a relief to be back in a steady job that allows me room to breathe, and a cinema environment is sometimes quite nurturing - well, once the schools are back, that is. Having more of a measured routine of editing sessions and planning time is going to be great as well, and as December rolls around it's going to be very exciting looking forward to the film's release.

The other weird thing is just how practical you have to be, to be a dreamer. I know that sounds like movie dialogue but when your head's in the clouds and your feet are on the ground, you sometimes... get backache.

See, I'm good at metaphors.

The Aftermath.

2009-08-25T09:21:00.000-07:00

I can't believe we did it.

When you look at the big To Do list as the months ticked past, and then at the production schedule, it's amazing that we got 80% of the film shot in 2 weeks, and to such a professional standard. It's amazing that the weather was awful for the whole of July and then sunny for practically the whole shoot. It's amazing that the cast and crew surpassed themselves and that the whole of York banded together to help us make the film. So many stories, so many heroes and this is beginning to sound like a film trailer...

Speaking of which, Tony and I are working on the first CrimeFighters teaser trailer over the next couple of weeks and will throw it your way as soon as possible. We're also working out the logistics of the Zomblog finale, which, although it will be pretty insane, is going to seem like a walk in the park (possibly with chicken drumsticks taped to our legs) compared to the CrimeFighters shoot. I can't wait to get into Z-blog mode again and make the last two episodes of Season 2. The blood-drenched finale will premiere at City Screen on Hallowe'en, and we'll be whoring that event very soon.

Post-production has begun on CrimeFighters, which includes Tony and I doing a rough edit of the film, creating sound effects, a music score from The Sorry Kisses, and getting the pickups shoot sessions planned. I reckon it will be 4 days in October; 1 in the pub, 1 in the church hideout, 1 by the Minster, and 1 of daytime scenes around York. It'll be great to have a few weeks off then get back to making the rest of CrimeFighters when we're all fresh and rested.

Now that we've wrapped principal photography on CrimeFighters, I can honestly say that it was the most daunting, amazing, rewarding, terrifying, stressful, tiring and FUN experience of my life so far, and worth every damn second. And the real journey is actually only about to begin...

There we go with trailer talk again...

In the city... you've got to fight to surviiiiiive...

Trailer coming soon...

Day 15: Wrap Day.

2009-08-25T01:45:00.000-07:00

Well, we did it. So the answer to the question 'Can you shoot a micro-budget feature film in 2 weeks?' is 'Nearly'. We have about 80% of the film in the can and are returning to shoot pickups (stuff we didn't get) for a few days in October.

We started the morning very rushed at Borders, then had the day off to return to the pub to film a scene in the courtyard. It was weird being in the pub but not using the bar area.

We got a nice long scene in the pub at quite a leisurely pace, which was perfect because I don't think anyone was physical or mentally capable of much else at this stage, speaking for myself anyway.

As usual we had some loyal crew around to be extras... although lesbians and drag queens is not quite what we had in mind.

The most surprising thing about filming overnight in the summer is how quickly night...

...becomes day.

More later. Sleep now. It's been real.

Days 12-14: Basements, Bookshops and Cop Shops

2009-08-23T19:54:00.001-07:00

Well forgiiiiiiiiiiiiiive meeeeeeeeeee for not updating the blog these past few days, we've had some crammed days of filming, so here's an update.

On Day 12 we started shooting in the basement of City Screen which we thought would take 2 days but actually took 3. The results however; a long denouement scene where characters intertwine and plots thicken, is a collection of masterfully composed shots (credit to the crew) and some funny and touching character moments from the cast. Here's a gallery of crappy phone photos of our stint in my place of employment:

On Day 13 we made a corridor look like a police station...

...and on Day 14 we filmed in Borders which was weird since I used to work there and had to deal with a customer asking if she could pay at the info desk, to which I replied, 'The tills are downstairs', out of habit. Funniest bit though was a customer asking Paul, who plays Pip, for help, and him saying, 'Er, I'm an actor'.

... and I must admit sneaking off today during a lighting setup to watch a bit of Ghostbusters upstairs in the cinema. Well, it's been such an influence on CrimeFighters and other stuff I've made that I couldn't pass up the opportunity.

My new obsession is colour coding the script to show what we've shot and what's left to do - red for done, green for not done - and I'm pleased to report that the reds are winning.

One more day!

Day 11: York Minster & More Alleys

2009-08-20T18:08:00.000-07:00

So much of CrimeFighters takes place up dark alleys that they're starting to feel like a second home to me. Nothing says 'vigilante action movie' like a smoky alley with pools of light stretching off into the distance, and the CrimeFighters crew have become experts at lighting them for our heroes to kick ass in.

Started off the day in York Minster though, which was phenomenal to film in, an absolutely daunting and humbling experience. Thanks to Kendal for sorting that.

After squeezing some amazing shots out of the two hours we had in there, we returned to Precentor's Court next to the Minster to shoot in the alley where a mugging had taken place earlier in the film (and the shoot) and ended up taking a good 7 hours to shoot a key scene between our heroine Ella and her ex-boyfriend police officer Ethan.

It was a scene we had to get right as it carries some emotional wallop and a good snog and a hearty slap, so of course we made them do it about three thousand times. But once again, a terrific scene and one in which I really got to see what the actors could do emotionally, not to mention physically. Sorry Harry.

After the nice leisurely pace of that scene, we leapt straight into guerilla mode as we shot elements of the alley fight we'd started last week, but only had two hours in the location before we lost power for the night, so had to move fast. Look at this crazy bunch of people in an alley...

A really amazing day of filming, from guerilla to pro and back again in the course of a 16-hour shoot day. And all on 3 hours' sleep too.

Onto Days 12 and 13, and interiors for 2 days! Woo!

Day 10: Verna Fields' Swimming Pool

2009-08-20T18:00:00.000-07:00

There are compromises on every film shoot, but once in a while a director may decide to go all out and accept that their own backyard will do for various shots, and we did exactly that today.

When Spielberg was editing Jaws with Verna Fields, he decided there should be one more scare in the film, so went out to the editor's swimming pool, poured milk in it and stuck a dummy head in a fake boat hull and got the scariest moment in the whole film.

Today, slightly exhausted by the prospect of filming on location, and realising that every alley looks pretty much like the next, we decided to film a sequence in the most verstile alley I've ever used, the one behind my house. We've used it for BandWagons, Zomblog and now CrimeFighters, and it meant we could work from home for once. That evening we shot in an alley next the theatre we've been using for rehearsals and kit storage, and with a carefully placed smoke machine and some fake rain (kudos to Tom for holding the hose up for about three hours) we got a key scene from the film.

Made the whole day more bearable, especially since we wrapped at 2am to start filming at 6am the next day... but in a very special location...

Day 9: Filming Scene 1

2009-08-19T08:08:00.000-07:00

So tonight we shot the first ever sequence of the film, the first thing you'll see in the cinema when the lights dim. And it had to look good, so we took our time over it which of course took its toll on the rest of the night's shoot. A scene that should have been shooting by 11pm actually started more like half 1.

There was a point around 2am when tensions were fraught and we had no better option than to become slaves to the shot list and the pre-viz - the rough video version of the scene that we'd blocked out and cut together a few weeks ago - and it really got us through. We set up the shots and ticked them off one by one, and despite a few incidents, like a couple of drunken monkeys fecking with the lights and cables, we survived and have now got about 70 out of 100 shots of the mammoth final scene.

We've had room to be creative many times during this shoot, but there comes a point where you have to trust your prep work and consult the storyboards or shot lists and just get the shots, because your head was probably in a better place when you planned them.

We have to go back to the Minster in October for pickups, but this shouldn't be a problem because we have the support of the wonderful Dean Court Hotel who not only provided us with power all night, but a conference room for the cast and crew and tea and coffee. Manager David Brooks and Ian the night porter, you are saints among men. SAINTS I TELL YOU!

Once again, York comes through for the CrimeFighters.

Day 8: More Pro than Guerilla

2009-08-18T00:00:00.001-07:00

Another night in the pub and another great scene filmed, although we did take a long time to get there what with dolly track problems and complicated lighting setups. But only because it was worth getting right. And that's what made tonight's shoot feel pro rather than guerilla; it was slow, considered, crafted, and a whole lot of fun.

We were filming the first scene in which we meet our heroes for the first time, before they become heroes. It's a snug little pub scene that introduces us to Ella, Pip and Daisy, their predicaments and their characters. And they looked and felt just right, so the meticulous lighting and framing was crucial. It gets us right into the centre of the three friends and kicks off their adventures.

During filming tonight I had another of those lovely moments where you get to sit down with the actors and soak in the fact that all those 'Making Of' film documentaries I watched when I was a child were the seed that led me to doing all this. I'm in the middle of my own movie 'Making Of'.

Earlier today we also filmed a scene in which some friends of mine played a local gang, made even more amusing by the fact that real gangs kept walking through the shot. Life passing art on the street and one not even knowing they were being parodied.

Day Seven, Filmmaking Heaven

2009-08-17T07:52:00.000-07:00

Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh..... yes.

Tonight was the yin to last night's yang... or is that the other way around? I dunno, I'll Wiki it later. Anyway, tonight we filmed in the beautiful Purple Haze vintage clothing shop which doubles as Daisy's shop in the film.

What a change from the night before.

No townies, no idiots, no stress, no time limit, the crew were brilliant, the actors were hilarious and occasionally moving, and the whole shoot reminded me exactly why I became a filmmaker. Some truly genius moments of comedy gold and some beautifully artistic shots, gush gush. Everyone was very quiet on the set and yet again this was a completely new experience as every day on this shoot has been. Only more so.

We're nearly halfway through the shoot and although we have a very tough week ahead of us, we have a few new members of crew and we're more than ready ready to rock and roll.

Plus, you can't beat a McDonald's breakfast at 7am after a 12 hour shoot...

And thanks to the legendary Mr. Carl Hetherington for ferrying us and the kit about. The man stayed up all night to come pick us up at 6 am, and we're eternally grateful. Kiss kiss.

Day 6: "What is it with you townie types...?"

2009-08-16T04:44:00.000-07:00

There are two things I'm amazed by while making this film, in relation to the script I wrote.

One is that the world really is half full of people who are willing to team together to achieve something special, and have a grand sense of community and a belief in working together.

The other is that the world is also half full of people whose sole ambition in life is to get drunk as skunks and stir up shit for poor film crews trying to shoot on a Saturday night.

Last night we gathered by City Screen to get various scenes... here are the cast and crew getting ready to shoot:

...and got some hilarious vox pops on the street as passers-by commented on how the CrimeFighters were cleaning up their town, or not. Then we got some amazingly arty shots of our heroes surveying the town from a rooftop...

Wait til you see the actual shot, this snap doesn't even begin to do it justice.

We then went on to a mugging scene in the courtyard behind the cinema, and during the shoot, the following incidents occurred:

- Two hen parties wanting to be in the film and screeching 'You can't stop us'. And then getting bored and leaving at the tops of their voices.
- Two idiots pretending to crash into the light stands.
- Four men pissing in the alley we were using as a location and saying 'We can piss where we want, you're not exactly the next Tarantino". (Why is everyone obsessed with anyone being 'the next Tarantino' or indeed the next anybody?)
- Various drunken rednecks trying to get in the film or chat up/creep out the ladies on the crew.
- A team of very thick-necked, violent-eyed men dressed as lifeguards strutting around the set for about three minutes before they got bored when everyone stopped answering their questions.
- One guy walking past, clocking what we were doing, and shaking his head as he went to Orgasmic. I wonder what was going through his head; 'Look at these losers, wasting their life'. He was wearing a t-shirt that said 'Irony'. Possibly.

There were other little joys but I think I'd better forget about them because the cast and crew were wonderful and so was Helen who brought biscuits at just the right moment. Again.

There was a common thread though, that all our antagonists seemed to be obsessed with how famous this film was going to be and whether we were 'from the telly', or what the film was about. Answers the crew and I came up with varied from 'Superheroes' to 'a documentary about sailors' to 'a student film', but Dan's method was the most ingenious: when faced with a drunken retard asking you pointless questions, just text. Or pretend to. People get bored after about 20 seconds and leave. Try it.

I know the world doesn't stop and hold its breath while filmmakers make their films, I have learned that full well, and I know that we have been lucky with help, weather and a lot of other things on this shoot, but I seriously have a problem understanding this element of society, and I guess that's why I wrote the film. People who have no interest in artistic endeavours and would rather get as drunk as possible and spout off boring, conveyer-belt crap like the walking cliches they are. It has been pointed out to me that hey, I should ignore them, chill out, realise that there are just lots of different kinds of people in this world, etc... but I wonder if I'll ever understand. They are the thing that piss me off and push my button more than anything else. My Room 101 candidates.

Anyway, enough of that bitching, for the next two nights we're filming indoors again, and I can't wait. And you can quote me on this; I'm never filming in a town centre on a weekend night ever again. Unless we have a good security squad. Can someone build me the whole of York as a set please?

Synecdoche, York.

Scenes From a Professional Guerilla Film Shoot

2009-08-14T09:28:00.001-07:00

That's what we've decided this film is. A high level of professionalism you'd associate with a Hollywood production, and a sense of chaos and serendipity that smacks of that Clerks school of filmmaking.

Day 3 saw us head to the pub (right day this time) to film a pub fight, and at first I was worried because we didn't really have enough extras to make it work, but some excellent herding work from Steve and Tony meant that suddenly about 30 people had been corralled off the street and into the pub. And my god, believe me when I tell you that you will not be disappointed by the CrimeFighters pub fight scene. Moving into the courtyard we continued the sequence...

So, this is what we see...

...and this is what the camera sees after our cinematography team work their magic.

Our tireless and dedicated crew:

Emma looking way cool.

After wrapping at 8am (yes...) we went home for a massive 5 hours sleep before meeting up again to film Day 4's scenes, which were in an alley next to Pizza Hut, so we had power and pizzas all evening. We started with a scene in a courtyard...

...then got some utterly beautiful film noir-esque shots of a fight in the alley. Pics to come soon.

Day 5 saw us head to St. Martin's Church for some of the hideout scenes, well another fight actually, and here are some highlights:

This is the deadly talented Jenni. Words fail me how completely awesome this girl is at what she does. It's thanks to her and the camera crew that every shot of this film is beautifully composed.

The formidable Tall Paul. I say formidable as in the Spanish, 'formi-DA-ble', although Ad's cautious face here says it all. You don't mess with the T-ness of P-ness.

And finally, our excellent Lead Thug Rami, who's come up from London, wrapped his scenes today with a spectacular fight scene with Emma. She can actually kick his ass. It's Joss Whedon syndrome; tiny yet powerful girl kicks shit out of burly bloke. On rollerblades, no less.

I'm not going to go all gushy yet, but this is the most tremendous film crew I've had the pleasure to work with, and so many aren't mentioned here... yet! From the runners to the sound crew to the young ladies who make the biscuits (we all know who I'm talking about here), you are awesome. More to come. Viva CrimeFighters!

Day 2: A Night of Heroes

2009-08-12T04:37:00.000-07:00

Arrived at the location (pub) to be told we couldn't film there tonight, no way no how. Turns out the manager had got the wrong day. We could film there tomorrow though!

Arse.

So, five minutes of gut-wrenching panic later, we decided to shoot the chase scene that we had slated for the day after, and essentially switch days 2 and 3 around. It was one of those classic moments in guerilla filmmaking; shock, acceptance, quick solution! And that's when the magic started happening...

First of all, a lovely lady called Gill Douglas, a local artist who lives by the road we wanted to film on, let us use her house as a power source for our lights. So, one smooth jib shot and some running extras later, we'd got our first shot of the night as the CrimeFighters shoot off towards the Minster followed by thugs.

At that point, the godlike genius that is Mr. Peter Marshall arrived in his pickup truck with some of our kit, having helped bring it to the location, and then let us use his truck to get a couple of shots of the CFs rocketing past the Minster, with us all huddled in the back:

I love moments like this, it's just pure indie filmmaking joy. Look at Tony, he's in his element.

Once that was in the bag, we decided to improvise some shots using the lamps and lights around Minster Square; not ideal, but best we could do, and then moved on to Bootham Bar to film the end of the chase and a small fight scene. The final heroes of the night were the staff of the Lamb and Lion Inn, a genuinely wonderful pub on any day of the week, but extra wonderful now since they let us use their pub as a power source for the rest of the night.

After that, we got on with getting some brilliant shots! The cast and crew were on top form and worked together to get the scene done quickly and with grand style, and the whole thing was total fun from start to finish.

I know we'll encounter more challenges and it's still early days, but the help and support of the people of York has been overwhelming, and I'm impressed by the cast and crew's ability to work professionally and solve problems as a team. I feel that even after 2 days, we're really making this film and it's going to be quite something.

Also, Zomblog are on the SFX website! Woo!

First Day of Shooting...

2009-08-11T04:58:00.000-07:00

Well, we've started making CrimeFighters! And what a night.

First of all we were blessed with good weather, lots of extras, the legend that is Sid who runs Reeds Cafe and let us use it as a base until we'd finished (just before 6am), and lots of other good fortune.

Of the 50 or so shots we'd planned to get tonight, we got about half. But it's ok, because we all suspected that starting with the 8-minute denouement scene would be tough, so we're going back next week to finish the scene.

The first shot of the night was of some villains being bundled into the back of a police car, and we didn't expect to get that, so, bonus and thanks to John who turned up in his 1973 classic ambulance that looks like the Ghostbusters car. We shot with the extras until about 1am when they were cold and tired but appreciated!

As the night went on, we must have run behind about an hour and a half as we gradually got up to speed as a unit and after a slight lull where it seemed like we were a bit lost in the endless list of shots, we started to gain momentum and the shots came one after the other. I'm really glad we didn't compromise the quality of the shots we'd planned by rushing or changing anything, but there is a line between getting it perfect and getting it done, and I would always lean towards getting it done well!

Woody Allen was quoted as saying when you're directing, fresh lorryloads of compromise arrive on the set daily. Last night's compromise was only getting half the scene done, really. We were fortunate with everything else. By ticking off shots as we'd planned, we're making the film the way we want to make it. And each shot is beautifully composed, which makes all the extra effort worth it.

We still have a long way to go but we're off and running, and if anyone's reading this, PLEASE come and be extras on the few days we need you, listed on the York Film Extras Facebook group. The shoot will come and go so quickly and we'd really love to be able to rely on the support we've already been shown.

Thank you all.

Twas the day before shooting...

2009-08-09T16:49:00.001-07:00

Here's what to do if you've spent the whole year planning a film and are suddenly faced with it being the evening before the big event:

No, not pig out on houmous, but go shopping for the first few days of food for the shoot. Yeah, that won't be stressful at all. Actually, the experience was made less traumatic by the enlisting of a faithful friend and her shopping skills. Credit where credit is due, Miss Batty:

I hate shopping at the best of times but buying food for twenty-ish people could be slightly nightmarish in the wrong hands.

We then headed home where, after a final crew meeting, I retreated to Helen's to do a little Ferris Bueller-esque tribute to Mr. John Hughes, rest his soul, and Helen and I took turns in the hammock while Elwood the cat chased moths.

THAT's what you're supposed to do on the eve of making a feature film.

Oh, and then there's the pink handcuffs. They are related to the film, but you can slot them into the day's adventures any way you like...

Gearing up to shoot a feature film...

2009-08-07T08:28:00.000-07:00

...has been made so much more enjoyable this week thanks to the teamwork of not only the cast and crew but also the whole of York, who are providing services, power points or themselves as extras to help us make this film truly awesome.

Paul and I are at the shot list stage now, which means the shoot is close enough to smell. Or that could be me. Shot lists and camera/lighting diagrams are the director's best friend, something that help you plan shots and work out with the camera crew where everything's going to be, but also utterly invaluable when you're on set, tired and anxious and wondering what happens when and in what order.

That's when things like this come in handy:

The more work you do at this stage, the more you'll thank yourself on set. Stick to the plan and nothing can go wrong.

HA! As if. Shot lists are great though, they're a cheat sheet your past self made for your future self. Crib notes. Idiot boards. I read that Edgar Wright was up most nights during shooting Spaced making shot lists for the next day's shoot. Which prompted Simon Pegg to quip; 'Edgar Wright has no life'. I can relate! Although, I'd choose the life of a filmmaker over anything else, anyday.

Making the new Nine Black Alps video...

2009-08-05T10:17:00.000-07:00

...was FUN!

The band, some friends, some big lights, a creepy hotel, make-up, corridors and lots of coffee.

A sort of The Shining vibe throughout; should be a pretty great, gothic-looking video, which you can see in the autumn sometime.

Took my mind of CrimeFighters for a day, anyway! Oops...

Another High-density Production Day

2009-08-04T16:17:00.000-07:00

This is the last week of pre-production, it really is, and I can't believe it. In the space of a year this has gone from idea for web series to feature film about to shoot.

I'm glad we're shooting it now, too. You can plan and plan and prepare and rehearse to the point where you start craving to shoot the damn thing, if only so you never have to think about that shoot day again! Plus, ya know, planning a film is very important, but I want to start shooting footage now. I'm just glad we're (pretty) organised for what is going to be a lot of work.

So today we rehearsed, blocked, costumed, lit, shot, and er... discussed catering, and drank lots of coffee, and lots of little loose ends were tied up. The best part for me was going to the location we're using for the CrimeFighters hideout, which is an abandoned church that is absolutely awesome and just about the most perfect location for the film, straight from the pages of the script. So exciting.

The other best bit was getting two massive movie lights out into a courtyard to light it and see what it looked like through the funky film lenses, and it looked amazing, all cinematic and noirish and here are some photos:

Tomorrow I'm shooting a music video for Nine Black Alps, always fun, and then a few more days of preproduction including shot lists with Paul, some final details and loose ends to tie up, and then getting ready to shoot! Better get some rest...

The week before production...

2009-08-03T14:38:00.000-07:00

...is all about car trips, lights, picking things up, texts, phone calls, emails, texts, dropping things off, panic, resolution, texts, panic, emails, texts, panic and meetings.

That's what this week is all about.

CrimeFighters Mega-Vlog

2009-08-01T12:24:00.000-07:00

So this is what we've been up to:

Been busy...

2009-07-30T15:20:00.000-07:00

...doing lots of fun CrimeFightery things, from rehearsals and costumes to theme music! Once I've edited it there'll be a mega-vlog on here soon.

Saw 'Wendy and Lucy' today... beautiful, just beautiful.

Putting the Lights in Lights, Camera, Action

2009-07-23T05:18:00.000-07:00

Another day of planning, another day of realising just how much we have to do. But in a truly good way.

Paul and I spent yesterday afternoon in some of the film locations working out lighting techniques so that when we go into each of the locations we know where the lights are going to go, what effect they'll create, what they do to skin tone and walls, and so forth. Absolutely fascinating, because I've never done lighting to this extent before and I'm learning so much.

For example, how you can take a location you walk past every day and turn it into something that looks like a film set, or rather, a dramatic location. Just with a few well-chosen lights and a clever angle and a nice lens, something boring transforms into something amazing.

Having a Director of Photography on board the production; one who composes each shot, chooses the best lights and lens and angle for each shot, means you have to do twice (or more) as much work, but the results are ten times as good. That's not a proven equation, in case anyone tries to work it out. We are shooting this film somewhat guerilla style, but that doesn't mean it has to look like it.

The resulting film, rather than being just good, should look great, cinematic, and be worth all the extra planning. As Paul said, everything is in place and the only way the film can be bad now is if he and I fuck it up!

So, no pressure at all...

It's All Coming Together...

2009-07-21T11:00:00.000-07:00

Yes indeed. In a most satisfying way. Actors learning lines (sort of, ha), camera angles looking nice, logistics becoming more... well, logical, funny little moments worked out and a sense of a complete production for about the first time all year.

It's weird, this pre-production lark. The more you plan, the more of a favour you're doing yourself when it comes to shooting. But there comes a point where you start thinking, 'When are we gonna shoot the damn thing?' and that time is... soon. Don't get me wrong, I'm really glad we have three more weeks of prep to get many, many things sorted properly, like a few location decisions, costumes, props, those darn logistics again, etc.

But now we really are at that stage where it's becoming less about a general plan and more of a list of specifics; dates, times, people, props, angles, lighting, so forth. Not to mention our musicians Hayley and Sam beginning to work on the music, Charlotte and Debbie getting the costumes and props together, Paul and I working out who's going to capture and rough cut the footage as we shoot (Tony), mix the sound, all that quite important stuff.

For the first time I think, since writing the script, I can see the whole picture. And though I shall keep the gushy 'I'd like to thank...' Oscar speechery to a minimum, it's all down to the uber-talented cast and crew working on the film. I'm now looking forward to us all having a fun yet exhausting time in August and, one day, sitting back to enjoy all our hard work.

Not least to enjoy Debbie's hand-knitted CrimeFighters masks (cute) ...

'It does not do to dwell on dreams and forget to live'

2009-07-19T04:51:00.000-07:00

I really should listen to such wisdom sometimes. Or perhaps to my closest friends and not fictional wizards, but you get the point.

Those are the words spoken by Dumbledore when he catches Harry looking into the mirror of Erised, where all your dreams appear to come true, but in fact you're just staring gormlessly into a mirror, dreaming your life away. Making films isn't entirely unlike that concept; a lot of planning and dreaming to create something fictional and entertaining. And sometimes you get lost looking in the mirror and forget it's just a reflection.

Where reality comes in though - and reality is ironically very important for a filmmaker - is phone calls, emails, schedules, meetings with people, insurance, praticalities such as camera and light positioning, power sources, promoting the film, managing your very talented team of filmmakers and so forth. Lots of hard and rewarding stuff. And it's not necessarily something I'm comfortable doing because of the way my brain works. I suffer from burnout - if you want to label that social disorder that means you can only spend a small portion of each day in the company of people - which means that I spend a lot of time alone, when I choose to. Great for the writer side of me, not so healthy for the brain sometimes. People are social creatures and a lack of social interaction can do you considerable harm, especially when I'm someone who relies and thrives on the energy of people. Oh, delicious irony.

I made myself become a filmmaker because, apart from needing to have more interaction with people (although as Bruce Campbell says, filmmaking is in fact often a lonely experience that shuns socialising for work), I started feeling that I was going to have a very disappointing life if I didn't. It was my childhood dream and adolescent obsession but until you can prove it a worthwhile pursuit through trial and error, it's very frustrating and you tend to ask yourself if you're really cut out for it. I've reached the point where I can answer that with 'I have to be' or perhaps 'What else am I going to do?' I wonder if that's how many filmmakers feel.

I was distracted at school, I hate authority, I don't particularly enjoy regular jobs which is why I tend to pick an easy one and stay a few years (with the resulting inevitable frustrations), I'm not that great at most other things and I'm lazy and stubborn. Maybe these are an odd combination of things, but they seem to drive me to be ultra-hardworking and ambitious with my films, weirdly enough.

Filmmaking is a blessing and a curse because you end up thinking about it every day and occasionally it causes total brain melt. And at times like that you have to regroup, do some yoga, read a good book, have a coffee, write a blog, whatever works. So now I have to get on with what I was getting on with. Thanks for indulging me a little soul-searching.

I'll end with the words of another wise wizard: 'All we have to decide is what to do with the time that is given to us'. See, they do know what they're talking about, those old beardies. I'd better get on with it.

Not Listening to Fear

2009-07-17T02:36:00.001-07:00

I've reached that stage in a big project where you've been planning for months and months and suddenly the deadline, which seemed like a mirage on the horizon that you'd never get to, is within walking distance.

Well, it's just over 3 weeks away, but it's coming. Suddenly there are ten times more jobs to do in that short space of time than you thought there would be. All these little things that pop up and say 'Oh, sorry, did I not say I would be waiting for you at the end?'

It's all do-able, but in between the various other distractions of work, brain matters and preparing to move house, the next few weeks have piled up with jobs that, to say the least, have made me feel stressed and anxious and DAMN EXCITED! This is good, it just means it's one of my life's big (self-imposed) challenges that I now have to face up to. And I have admittedly woken up on some days and not wanted to get out of bed, but I know what that is, just fear trying to get in, and you have to brush it aside and get on with your day. Every day.

Those are the bad days, anyway. And I don't have that many of those. The good days, where I feel like a filmmaker and that all this is worthwhile, are magic. I get little glimpses of the rewards of following your dreams, in amongst the fear that I'm just a silly dreamer with someone else's camcorder. Although, I have my own now ;-)

CrimeFighters Test Shoots

2009-07-14T11:28:00.000-07:00

Last night and today we went to some of the locations around York where we'll be filming CrimeFighters, to rough out some scenes, rehearse with the actors and test the shots for lighting and practicality. This is an invaluable process because it's the last stop before actually making the film; you go to the places you'll be revisiting a few weeks later, and work out shots, come up with some new ones, test your ideas and get creative with the environment.

Getting Paul Richardson (Tall Paul) on board has brought it home how much work there is to do, and how much fun it's going to be doing it. Paul is NOT a graduate from the school of 'Ah well, that'll do' where I was schooled, he wants to get every shot as good as it can be, yet within the time constraints of a tight shoot and a tighter budget. Thankfully, Paul and I are on the same wavelength regarding how much to analyse each scene, when to try and push for better shots and sequences, and, perhaps most importantly, when to move on.

Last night we were in an alley that felt like it could have been a film set from a Burton Batman movie, a not entirely unintentional or undesired aesthetic! Today we were shooting around the Minster, which offers a cornucopia of fascinating filming possibilities. As much as possible, when shooting by the Minster, you have to get the Minster in shot. It's just too beautiful.

Over these next 4 weeks until production begins, our aim is to shoot all or nearly all the film in a rough yet helpful draft version, so that we know exactly what shots we'll be going for each day.

This dedication to detail is that 'next level' I've talked about getting to as a filmmaker, and CrimeFighters is already shaping up to be a brilliantly challenging experience as a director. We also took some cheesy pictures of ourselves for the Press article that's coming soon. Check em out.