New Project

[fraught]

I thought i would start a Thread so people can promote or talk about their current projects.

I'm currently working on 2 films (ambitious!). Currently in Pre-Production is the sequel to my film 'Overtime' entitled 'OT2 : Time an' a Half'. Hopefully going to go into Production at the end of the month on that one.

Currently filming a documentary too, called 'The Ghost Hunters'. Its about a group of Paranormal Investigators. I've had great fun filming this so far!
Check out the early teaser trailer... http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yffl3nPZddE

[Dave Watterson]

Great idea for a topic, Fraught. Please let's have everyone's notions here. It will be specially interesting if a project changes direction during its development - or even if it has to be abandoned. To me this seems as much an integral part of the film-making skills as knowing your apertures and managing the lighting.

Please consider keeping a diary of what goes on - one of my favourite articles on the main website is Michael Gough's diary about making his film A BREATH OF LIFE - http://www.theiac.org.uk/training/gough/hawaii01.html

Dave

PS The trailer looks like an interesting version of those TV shows that visit spooky places, but I'm sure you will take it to new levels! As for the "award wining team" - I did not know you drank!!!

[Willy]

Great idea for a topic, Fraught.

I like that, Fraught. I am also interested in technical problems, but after all we are filmmakers. We produce films.
Maybe you already know that I was making the film "Guernsey, I Love You" together with Guernsey man Peter Rouillard. It will be shown out of competition at the Guernsey Film Festival in October. That's what I asked in the beginning. The co-operation was super ! The long version will be shown in premiere when I am in Guernsey in July. I am one of the final judges. Please, do not try to bribe me because you know that I am a Belgian (joking of course ... I mean the second part of the sentence).

In July I will take the opportunity do camera work for a new short film about the "Guernsey Golden Goat". It will be something like "Guernsey Coppersmith". I hope I will have enough footage to enjoy myself in autumn and winter. Mary and Peter sent my an interesting article about Guernsey-goat keepers. I will interview them like the coppersmith. I am preparing the interview now. Of course the chat with Peter and Mandy Girard must be spontanuous. I know some tricks. I will tell you on a different thread. I also learnt some techniques from my friend Werner Van den Bulck, who is a professional camera man who works for the Belgian TV-Channel 1.

Number three is a very short film called "Nachtelijk Ritueel". In English it must be something like "Nocturnal Rite". A nobleman and his wife are sleeping in the bedroom of their castle. The man is snoring. His wife is irritated and gets out of her bed. She takes some sheets of a newspaper. You don't why. The nobleman suffers has an upset stomach. He takes his lantern. He leaves the castle. It's dark. On his way to ... he meets a fox, he hears an owl, he falls into a muddy brook, some mice jump onto his feet, he stumbles ... Eventually a smile ... he is where he wanted to be... the toilet ... It's a toilet in the middle of a wood. There is only one problem. ... It's occupied ! His wife is in it ! You can hear the newspaper sheets ... It's an old Flemish toilet. It was like that about 50 years ago. We didn't use soft toilet paper. We used newspapers ...

At first I thought of making a one minute movie, but I can't shorten it to 60 seconds. Its length is 3min30sec. This short "Mr. Bean" film is almost finished.

I will tell you about my two other projects in a new message. It's time now to go to my filmclub.

[fraught]

Great idea for a topic, Fraught. Please let's have everyone's notions here. It will be specially interesting if a project changes direction during its development - or even if it has to be abandoned. To me this seems as much an integral part of the film-making skills as knowing your apertures and managing the lighting.

Please consider keeping a diary of what goes on - one of my favourite articles on the main website is Michael Gough's diary about making his film A BREATH OF LIFE - http://www.theiac.org.uk/training/gough/hawaii01.html

Great idea Dave... i'll do the diary thing as my mind and direction keep changing as this film progresses. Would be good to record that in someway. Maybe i should get myself on twitter!

Ps... i deliberately went for the 'Most Haunted' look in the trailer. Hopefully the film will be something different than that show.

[fraught]

Oh... and i only noticed the spelling mistake after i'd uploaded the trailer! LOL... as its only a teaser, i'm not going to bother changing it.

[Willy]

Oh... and i only noticed the spelling mistake after i'd uploaded the trailer! LOL... as its only a teaser, i'm not going to bother changing it.

Almost each time when I have written a message and when I have submitted it I notice more than one spelling mistakes. It means that I have been inattentive and too fast.

"Chicken Nugget", a tragicomic story in 60 seconds !
In my previous message I told you about some projects. In January there are local heats in Belgium and by that time I would like to have some more films. One of them is a one minute movie called "Chicken Nugget".

Inferiority complex
One of my clubmates is not very tall. He's almost a dwarf (1,53m). He's just the opposite of Dave who rather looks like a Scottish giant. Maybe the Giant's Causeway was built for Dave. (Sorry, Dave, I was joking. Now I've gone too far. My apologies !). Julien does not have an inferiority complex. Why should he ? There are enough people who suffer from freckles on their noses, who have "tâches de beauté" somewhere, who have this or who have that. However, they forget that beauty is always inside.

Anyway, Julien is willing to wear a chicken costume. He will stand in front of the butcher's with a small blackboard. On it is written : "Cheap and fresh chicken nuggets !". So he is advertsing chicken nuggets. However, some children want to tease him and he gets angry. He pushes one of the children. A passer-by has seen it and he gives Julien a push. Julien falls and loses his chicken head. He's very sad. The children and the man have filled Julien with despair. He goes home and wants to commit suicide. He prepares a hangman's rope and ... Hopefully you will see the end at a festival. It's a tragicomic story in 60 seconds.

Preparations
Quite a challenge ! And the preparations : contacting a butcher, hiring a chicken costume, finding two or three children, making a hangman's rope, finding a small blackboard, etc... etc... Most important thing is making a story board. Making about 20 to 25 sketches. And of course the weatherconditions must be ideal. Imagine : It is raining cats and dogs and Julien is standing there in front of the butcher's in his chicken-costume ! You can hire it per day. I have already found one on a website. There is one disadvantage : the shop where you can hire it is about 100 kilometres from us. Quite a job for a one-minute movie, but after having done it, comes the reward ... smiles on the faces of clubmates and hopefully also on faces of other friends.

[fraught]

Almost each time when I have written a message and when I have submitted it I notice more than one spelling mistakes. It means that I have been inattentive and too fast.

Spot on Willy.

[ned c]

We are just completing the edit on our latest project. This is a short narrative film from the script that won our script writing contest. A story of two recovering alcoholics from opposite ends of the social spectrum and how they support and help each other. This involved quite a lot of shooting on the streets and around local and federal government buildings, our location manager got us permits for all these, including a permit to shoot inside local government offices. The main requirement was that we have insurance and a safety officer. Our two leading actors are locals with a lot of stage experience but very limited film experience, our director is a theater director, has acted for film and TV but never directed a film before, he did a great job. Shot on HDV, edited on FCP 5. Will be at BIAFF Jersey Lily next year and we hope to get to the Golden Knight. Title "Hey Kiddo".

ned c

[Willy]

Will be at BIAFF Jersey Lily next year and we hope to get to the Golden Knight. Title "Hey Kiddo".
ned c

It sounds interesting. Films about social problems ! I'm looking forward to seeing it. But don't go to Jersey for the Lily Festival, Ned ! It's in Guernsey, the other island. There is even some rivalry between the islands. Friendly rivalry ! Just like the Dutch and Belgians. I learned it when making the film "Guernsey, I Love You !" together with Peter, a real Guernsey man.

[ned c]

Thank you Willy, my apologies to both Guernsey and Jersey. Of course, the Guernsey Lily!!

ned c

[Michael Slowe]

I have been very irregular in checking the forum recently but don't want to let this thread go without partaking.

As some of you know I have been pre occupied by a project that I was lured into, a documentary on 'The Making of' a feature film. The editor is an old friend of mine and he knows a lot of my films and suggested me for the documentary. It hasn't been easy as although I was 'official' that didn't really help in obtaining access to all the positions I would have liked and unless I had my assistant holding a Sennheiser rifle mic (not always possible) the sound was not awfully good.

Anyhow I managed to get a large amount of material and the editing also is not easy because I am caught between trying to make it comprehensible to those that may not have seen the main film and not boring those who have. I also have producers and directors watching with interest which is something I hate and is one of the reasons I avoided the commercial world when tempted many years ago. I also had to let the publicity people have 2 minute clips (duly compressed) for them to put on the web to keep the interest going. This sounds easy but after a long shooting day I had to download the media from cards (Sony S x S), find an interesting piece, maybe have to do a simple edit, compress it to an H264 codec and E mail it.

Anyhow, the main film is in rough cut and looks great and mine is proceeding. I've never worked so hard and of course no pay since I am an amateur (sorry Ned, a non commercial) film maker! If anyone wants to see any of my short publicity clips they are on http://www.new.facebook.com/pages/Power ... 3755608414 and if you scroll down you should find them all - just the video, the other stuff is from others on the crew.

The original idea was for me to be able to make my own film after it's all over but I'm knackered and don't know if I can be bothered. The trouble is I then won't have made a film for festivals for ages. Willy, you will see one at Guernsey and you mention bribes, any indication of the level? Mind you it can't be approaching our Westminster scandals, surely Belgium is scandal and corruption free????

Ned, don't forget to let me know when you are coming to London.

[Willy]

Willy, you will see one at Guernsey and you mention bribes, any indication of the level? Mind you it can't be approaching our Westminster scandals, surely Belgium is scandal and corruption free????
.

Of course not, Michael. Some years ago I read in "The Daily Telegraph" that Italy is the most corrupt country in Europe. Belgium came second. You don't always have to believe what the media tell you, but maybe it was true.

This really happened to me.
Perhaps you remember that I was a political secretary for six years (from 1988 till 1994). At that time one of the ministers who belonged to my party took a bribe. The government bought some fighter helicopters... He gave the money to my party. There was an investigation. They also examined my bank account. They wanted to know if any money was channeled to the federal secretaries of the party. I was clean, and also my colleagues were, but it was not a pleasant moment. When the scandal was revealed that minister was secretary general of the NATO, but he lost his "job"... When you are a politician you can end up at a tricky affair.

Pupils in the Middle Ages
Back to filmmaking ! On 29th June I will be in a primary school. The last day of the schoolyear in Belgium. My niece is a schoolteacher. I have written a scenario. A short story. Iris, that's her name, has 7 boys and 7 girls in her class. They're all about 10 years old. She will tell her children about the Middle Ages. About castles, knights, etc... After some time they are wrapped up in the medieaval story of their teacher. They fight with rulers and throw balls of paper. Iris can't keep her pupils under control anymore. She leaves the classroom. But then something happens ... A surprising end. That's what I hope. I am loooking forward to making that film. Iris had to ask the permission from all the parents to film the children. That was not a problem. The boys and girls are all very motivated.

[Willy]

Perhaps you remember that I was a political secretary for six years (from 1988 till 1994). At that time one of the ministers who belonged to my party took a bribe. The government bought some fighter helicopters...
.[/quote]
Yesterday Karel Van Miert passed away at the age of 67. He fell off his ladder in the garden. I am sure that you will read about him in your newspaper today. He was my boss in 1988-1989. He became European Commissioner. He was furious that one of his friends took the bribe of 50 million francs which is now about £1 million euros for the Party. I know he was also a fervent amateur filmmaker. Once I won a medal at a festival. In it the image of the European Parliament and his name as European Commissioner. I feel sad. He was a good man. He was unpretentious, intelligent, sensitive, honest. Not all politicians are bad.

[FILM THURSO]

Three projects in hand right now. Feature lenght documentaries, "Queen Of The Firth" which covers the history of the ferry services across the Pentland Firth to Orkney, "House Of Stars- docu about the history of cinema in Thurso and "Templum Specialis-Kirk Of Secrets", a docu about Old St Peter's Kirk, Thurso.
Currently we are consentrating on the ferry film first, then moving to the Picture House and will finish on the Kirk. The 3 subjects are so different yet all have there own rich story to tell. Images from the footage of the ferry films can be seen here: http://thursopicturehouse.piczo.com/the ... var=000044
and here:
http://thursopicturehouse.piczo.com/all ... var=000044

[Willy]

Three projects in hand right now. Feature lenght documentaries, "Queen Of The Firth" which covers the history of the ferry services across the Pentland Firth to Orkney,
...

I remember the ferry to Orkney. On our way to Strongness a huge monolythic cliff on the island of Hoy. Very impressive. Sorry if any names are wrong. I'm trying to remember them... We stayed in a place between Strongness and Kirkwall. Maybe I already told you some years ago. It was in a bay. Very strange... When I got up in the morning and looked through the window of my bedroom it seemed to me that the Atlantic Ocean (or is it still part of the North Sea ?) had risen. The water was almost at the level of our window sill ! Very strange. I also remember Kirkwall with its special cathedral built of red bricks and the narrow streets with pantiles. In Kirkwall we went on board of a ferry to North Ronaldsay. I wanted to film seabirds, but I did't see any maybe because we didn't have time enough. Anyway it was quite an experience. We also saw the little airplane flying to an other small island in the North.

In Kirkwall we attended the performance of an accordion band. I also remember the carnival parade with pipe bands and groups of Vikings in the narrow streets of Strongness. On the isle of Hoy there is a German cemetery. I remember something that happened to a submarine there in the Second World War, but I don't remember the details anymore. There was also a little chapel built by Italian prisoners of war.

Orkney is also fascinating thanks to its prehistoric sites. Anyone who is interested in history must go there. Once I thought of buying a nice souvenir : an Orkney chair with a high back. It protected the farmer and his family against the draught in their houses in the 19th century. I filmed the making of such a chair. It was a tourist attraction. Is it still there ? I was in Orkney more than 10 years ago, you know. Eventually I bought some other souvenirs : a jewel made in a modern building near Kirkwall and also a bottle of Highland Park. I still taste the peat. I visited the distillery.

After all it was a very fascinating trip to Orkney. I made a film about it. It was called : "Orkney, an Odyssey". I won the second prize at the Pilgrim's Trust Competition in Edinburgh with it. At that time the voice-over was still in Dutch. My film is on video. In fact I should it see again after so many years, but my video-recorder is already under a thick coat of dust.