Little Man Films

Well, I have no real excuse for my complete lack of updates for the last month.

Other than the usual things – Christmas, New Year and other things which constantly seem to get in the way. But I digress. Welcome to 2010!

Hopefully this year will be full of exciting things and opportunities. Not just for me, but for my fellow hard working film-making compatriots.

Lets kick this off by pointing out that there is another video blog, two in fact, on the Chasing Cotards website (www.chasingcotards.com). One is all about the wonderful actor Andrew Scott explaining his motivations behind the character of ‘Hart’, and the other about the mighty beast that is the Vista Vision camera. I for one, have learnt a fair amount about the camera simply from making the blog, so I hope it’s as informative to watch as I found it to make, despite the techno-jargon from Andy Bowman.

The other thing I’ve been continuing to work on is the Zebedy Rays music video for ’18 and Wondering’, which today reached the stage of complete rough cut. Lots of notes and exchanges (of surprisingly polite) words between Ed and myself, and we’re well on the way to shaping it up to be as good as it can be. I’m thoroughly pleased with the look of the video so far, despite being a bit fuzzy brained from staring at the same footage and listening to the same song over and over again. Such is the burden of editing.

We are hoping to get together to plan and then film a video for Pete Adams (Lost Boy Scout) in February, plus I’ve got some funding to apply for from SW Screen for ‘Bananas’. Although they do seem to be in the market for a slightly less developed idea, which is frustrating, but still worth a shot.

That and my good friend Dale Lockett is not far off hearing about the funding for our project on Finnish Lakes which we hope start in Feb/March. I at least would like a holiday – and if that means going to a land of ice, skating and saunas, then so be it.

Anyway. Signing off for now, since I need my beauty sleep, and possibly a big glass of something before my head hits the pillow.

The footage is here and its looking pretty good.

I’ve got plenty of footage – lots of different people doing lots of different and ‘interesting’ things which will make a beautiful, varied video.

We’ve got a couple of tricks up our sleeves as well!

I’ll post some pictures from the footage once I get myself all sorted out. To be honest, I’m more interested in Christmas with my little girl and wife at the moment!

Merry Christmas to everyone! Eat heartily and drink merrily!

The new video blog for Chasing Cotards is up on the website – www.chasingcotards.com.

Edited by yours truly, it focuses on the work that goes into those things you see in the background of a film that are so crucial to a realistic setting.

It shows that a successful film can only ever be as good as the huge crew that works on it.

Another to come next week!

Other than that, waiting on the footage for the Zebedy Rays music video and waiting to apply for funding for my short ‘Bananas’.

It’s all a bit dull this time of year. Oh well, ho hum.

Hello people!

At long last, after wrestling with my machine for two weeks, we have the very first Chasing Cotards video blog online.

Shot by Stuart Kershaw (www.inthedarkproductions.co.uk) and edited by myself, it is about the Production Designer, Sloane U’Ren who was responsible for making the set look so blindingly beautiful on a ridiculously tiny budget.

There will be another one up next week! Keeps your eyes peeled.

You can check it out at: www.chasingcotards.com

Thank you and goodnight!

I was, I have to admit, a little nervous about this video shoot. I thought it would be fun, but I didn’t know how hard everyone would pull together and how many people would turn up and become so involved.

Gareth Hay and Mark Adams were my stars of the show, dealing with any lighting and camera issues me and Ed threw at them with mostly enthusiasm, occasionally a sideways glance.

The energy and excitement everyone brought to the situation was apparent when each person finished their particular ‘scene’ they were rewarded with a massive round of applause from everyone in the room. There was an air of support and camaraderie that you don’t often get, and for that, we are truly grateful.

Because people, I think your happiness and enjoyment will shine out of the footage like sunbeams. I really do. I look forward to editing the beast. I think the only thing I’ll have trouble with is picking only 3 minutes worth of good footage.

P.S. Ed – I think you broke my knee.

http://www.myspace.com/zebedyrays

www.chasingcotards.com

Can I just assure you that this post has nothing to do with the song popularised by the band ‘Wham!’.

I spent the weekend away at my cousin’s wedding, only to come back and find several things happening at once.

Firstly, a hard drive had arrived with the behind the scenes documentary footage from the set of ‘Chasing Cotards’ (www.chasingcotards.com) for me to edit into little video blogs for the website. Along with this was a new, legitimate copy of Final Cut Studio!

The only problem is that my DVD drive on my Mac Pro died as I was installing said program. Damn it!

So a few frustrating, long, premium-rate  phone calls later, I take the tower to Newquay to be fixed. Should be back tomorrow!

There’s some exciting news on the Chasing Cotards website as well – they did a digital test of their footage on the IMAX screen, which apparently came out looking really good. After a chat with Ed, I now have high hopes for my short ‘Lightness of Being’ actually looking good on that screen when it’s on just before Chasing Cotards.

Aside from that, I have also received the storyboards for my short being shot next year ‘Bananas’ by the talented Tekura Maeva (www.tekuramaeva.com) and they are looking absolutely stunning! It’s wonderful to see an illustrated version of my vision for the film. I think if we shoot it right, it’s going to look really, really nice.

Preparations are being finalised for the Zebedy Rays video shoot next weekend as well. I’ve got some props to make and some thoughts/ideas to jot down on paper, and then its off to Worcester on Saturday!

Also waiting to hear from my friend Dale Lockett about funding for our seasonal project on Finnish Lakes. It’ll make things a lot easier for the project if that money comes through, so fingers crossed!

Thats all for today – lots to do and lots to look forward to!

We will be in the fair old city of Worcester next weekend (21/22) to shoot the Zebedy Rays music video. There’s a lot of ideas floating about and I’m liking the direction that its heading in. Worrying about a few small camera issues, but I’m sure we’ll iron those out before the time comes.

I’m thinking about new cameras too – my PD150 is looking a little beaten up. It all gets a bit technical when you move into the realms of HD. Panasonic and Sony seem to be the big hitters – but there’s also the decision to be made between CCD and CMOS. If you don’t know what these are check out the link -

http://electronics.howstuffworks.com/question362.htm

Either way – it all seems to be in the £3,000 to £5,000 range. If only I had £25,000 to spend on a camera, then it’d be a lot easier. Maybe.

This weekend I also got to witness the rough edit of ‘Chasing Cotards’ by my good friends Ed Dark and Sam Fazackerley.  It is looking completely beautiful, and will make a nice little film as well when it is finished.

Of course there is the huge post production pain of VFX, grading etc followed by a lengthy and very costly process of getting it onto 70mm film for the IMAX screen.

Keeping the energy up and the ideas flowing is very important, even at such a (seemingly) late stage. I say good luck and hope everything pulls together on that one.

www.chasingcotards.com

This blog stuff is hard work. Truly. And a little bit self indulgent.

But hey. Its more so I can keep track of what I’m doing. Call it self motivation if you will.

Zebedy Rays music shoot is very very soon. We had a small production meeting on thw eekend, mostly to dicuss the direction the video will take, already having the premise.

I think it could turn out to be a nice little video – soemthing well made for the showreel at least.

There might also be some exciting things on the camera front, but I’ll keep quiet with fingers crossed about that for now.

Well its nearly Halloween and there’s not a hellish amount of stuff for me to be doing right now, aside from carrying on with  the scriptwriting and waiting for people to get back to me on a couple of projects.

I suppose I should start on some pre-production, but I’d rather be outside! I guess thats my problem all over – too much about the filming itself and not so much about the other stuff. Still its a learning curve and one that I am gradually getting the hang of.