What’s going on.

Luke & The Void has been accepted by a film festival which is fantastic news and a great relief to know that it will have an audience. The festival is Little Big Shots in Australia. It is a touring festival starting in June/July time and as far as I can tell it continues into early 2010. I’m looking forward to any feedback about the screenings.

As for other festivals, I’m still waiting to hear back. I’ve entered it into the Short Film Corner in Cannes, which I think means that it will definitely appear there as long as I get the preview DVD to them on time. So now I’ve just got to find accommodation and the money to get there!

Avoiding Christian Bale is having it’s first test screening this weekend, so we’ll be able to guage what we’ve got. It’s very strange not knowing whether people will engage in a story that you yourself have invested a lot of thought into. At the moment there are quite a lot of things I would still change, but these are mainly style and tone issues.  At the moment, I think the test screening results will be surprising in regards to what does and doesn’t work story wise. I’m looking forward to it and I’m (unusually) not nervous about it (probably because things are going to be changed after). Will obviously let you know how things went, when all the results are collated.

I’ve also started work on some new scripts. One feature and a couple of shorts. Will keep you updated with those as they progress.

While writing these I’ve been watching:

• Young Indiana Jones Chronicles
• Cinema 16
• Avatar
• Rise of the Silver Surfer (and the commentary)
• The Fury (the worst film I’ve seen in a long time)
• Killer’s Kiss
• Whisper of the Heart

I’ve been listening to:

• MGMT
• Crystal Castles
• Billy Talent
• Glenn Miller
• Israel Kamakawiwo’ole
• Jill Scott
• Chris Farlowe
• Perfect Blue OST
• Said Mike
• The Whip
• The Maccabees

I’ve been reading:

• The Film Director’s Intuition: Script Analysis and Rehearsal Techniques by Judith Weston
• Genius (comic by Marc Bernardin & Adam Freeman)
• NYX: No Way Home (comic by Joe Quesada and Josh Middleton)
• Ender’s Shadow: Battle School (comic by Mike Carey)
• Phonogram: The Singles Club (comic by Kieron Gillen & Jamie McKelvie)
  

Experienced Editor

So it’s been some months since my first post and I have realised that if you’re editing intensively, the last thing you want to do when you have some free time is sit down and write about it.

So now I’ve finished the rough cut, I’m a bona fide feature film editor and I feel able to reflect upon my time.

Paul, the director, has now taken over for a couple of weeks and I’m back after the test screenings to address any issues that are noted and tidy things up in general. Initial responses have been positive.

A trailer that Paul and I edited together is available:

And the official website is up too and can be viewed here.

The task of editing together coherent narrative brings with it many obstacles and this is something that I have always relished. This project was no different, least of all with getting there and back (especially in the snow). I commuted from Bristol to Cardiff everyday by train and it was this time that allowed me to prepare and reflect on my day’s editing and come up with problem solving ideas  (continuity, crossing the line, making it more exciting, etc). It also meant that I had little free time, my social life became non-existent and I had very few common experiences past that of what I’d read in the Metro that morning (I even missed how much of a stir Christian Bale‘s outburst on the set of Terminator 4 had caused).

What this inadvertently made me realise is that it is experiences that inspire creativity (in my case anyway, I’m not sure if it’s the same for others). By not having much interaction with anyone and sitting in the same room for 2 months, I found it a lot harder to come up with ideas. It sounds pretty obvious, but I’d never thought about it this way before. Now that I have some spare time I’m looking forward to developing new ideas.

My short is finally on IMDB (here), but as yet no news on the festival front except that I have entered a lot and am still waiting to hear back. One thing I have noticed is that it takes a great deal of time to meet all the different festival criteria. Most festivals want different materials and preparing this is quite time consuming. I guess it’s all experience though.

The First of Many

Hello.

This is my first ever blog, so I guess I should begin with an introduction:

I’m a filmmaker from the UK pursuing a career in feature (and short) film directing. I have recently finished my first funded short film, ‘Luke & The Void’ which is currently being entered into various film festivals. I also work as an editor and have directed music videos for bands such as Mystery Jets and Editors.

This blog is to document and reflect upon my experiences in the film industry, beginning with ‘Avoiding Christian Bale’, a feature film from Wales that I am currently editing.

I’ll also write a bit about trying to get my short into film festivals.

I hope it will be of interest.