So, I have bitten the bullet and I’m now a full-time freelancer. This was a scary decision but all the signs pointed towards filmmaking-with my part-time employment getting in the way, some paid work is lined up working with some really talented people. With this, I throw myself into the deep end and so far I’m swimming. There will be difficulties, of course, but I have the determination to hopefully keep myself floating.
January was a busy month with managing to help produce a music video for Jason Wingard and Gino Evans for the band “Darktown Jubilee”. This was a great project to be involved with, as we had to create a dystopian world of violence and rage with a fantasy twist to it. The video stars Steve Evets as we see him viewing the world’s destructive path that it is creating for itself. He stands his ground in between an angry mob and the police as he performs a moment of magic that would silence the crowds.
I also managed to work with Jason on his BBC project called “The Sweet Stall” which was a comedy TV show. My position on this one had a little less responsibilities from the music video but never the less was an enjoyable experience and met some great people through that. We filmed in a Manchester shopping centre and I felt like I was living there by the end of the 2-day shoot with the hours that we were filming. Jason did another great job directing with a sharp focus with his experience as a comedy director really shining through.
“Sophie’s Fortune” is a short film, in the style of a Summer Blockbuster, that we started to film last year before the weather set in, and the leaves fell off the trees. This film needed sunny days and green-leaved trees to portray the story that we wanted but eventually the rain started to come down and we really fought against it throughout the last days of filming. We had to abandon it until this year but now with the Summer not that far away we can get back to planning. We want to make this film and make it well, so we will be having a few more days of production to make sure we do.
Our latest film, “What Stares Back’, was part of a film competition called “2.8 Days later” where you have to write, record and edit the entire film in just three days. This itself was a hard challenge that we really embraced and was a real pleasure seeing our crew stick with us through the sleepless nights. The competition is now over and we did not win but we did achieve a very respectable second place in the public voting, which is great! We really could not have done it without these people: Sam Cronin, Andrew Layfield, James Rackham, Joel Catchatoor, Greg kelly, Mick Bahler, Cheryl Hughes, Anna Bailey, Cameron Prudames, Louise Fairclough, Jon Hartley and Vivien Powell. You guys are awesome and you should be proud of yourselves, here is to 2012 and how great YOU will make it.