Not the biggest audience

Ok, so last night was not the greatest screening as they audience consisted of mainly the organisers and me! Having said that Jason had asked if he can play it again tonight as part of closing night, which is likely to be sold out. So looking forward to that. I fly back tomorrow and will then spent the week attempting to make a very short film that will play at the Branchage festival in Jersey. As it happens I will be attending Branchage as TLLW is playing there. Gary and Andrew who co-produced TLLW are also coming, so should be a good weekend. TLLW then plays at San Diego the following weekend. Sadly I won't be attending that one. Anyway I have a tour of Chicago to do today and then I need prepare myself for hopefully a productive Q&A tonight.

Chicago is my kind of town

Sitting in a lovely cafe over looking the river in Chicago. Tonight The Long Lonely Walk screens as part of the Chicago United Film festival. A great festival, part of a series of festivals in various cities around the world. After yesterday's screening I had a meal with Jason who runs the festival and we spent hours talking about all the films we would like to make. And he is very keen that we work together on something. We talked about short films and features, but Jason was certain I ready for a feature. Maybe he's right? Will let you know how things go tonight at the screening. Fingers crossed for a good house. And while typing this I have just had an email to tell me that The Long Lonely Walk is nominated for best editing at Grand Off 2010 a festival in Poland. And as always they want me to attend, but they are paying for a five star hotel for the length of the festival, how cool is that! Anyway must get to the festival for tonights screening. x

September screenings

At last I am able to attend a film festival! And it's in a city I would love to visit. In September I will be flying out to the USA for the Chicago United Film Festival! The following week it's being screened at the Barnchage Jersey International Film Festival, another festival I hope to attend even if for only for one day, as it's also being screened at a festival in Kent, The Swale Film Festival on the Saturday. So chance to travel and network and hopefully time to work on the feature film. I am planning to have a fairly sold first draft by the end of September. Best laid plans and all that! Oh, and I am making another short film. James Godden, who is co-writing the feature is working on the script for a very dark short. Think Stolen Youth, but without the laughs! I will keep you posted.

Festivals I wish I had been able to attend!

Since The Long Lonely Walk was completed it has picked up a couple of Accolade Awards and screened at festivals in both the UK and USA. Sadly I have been unable to attend any of them yet. I was intending to go to the LA ShortFest, as it's a major US festival that is recognised by the Academy Awards. Having been informed that it had been selected I rearranged my work, so I could be free to be there. But by the time that was done it was very last minute and my flight would have cost £2500! I could have got a cheaper flight, but it would have meant two stops and a total flight time of 24 hours for an 11 hour direct flight! So the film screened without me at both the LA ShortFest and the Sacramento Film and Music Festival. So my road trip from Sacramento to LA didn't happen, but the film was however selected as a highlight of the day in LA.

The Walk goes on...

Ok, so I'm not the greatest blogger! The film is now complete and the premiere over! A great event with nearly 150 people attending including cast members Sylvia Syms, Harry Myers and most of the children. It was great to see it on the big screening in full 2.35:1. I have in fact ended up with two prints of the film. I wasn't totally happy with the first print as it had too much 'sparkle.' That may sound like a good thing, but that actually refers to the amount of white marks on the screen. A white mark means there is dirt on the negative. So the neg was cleaned and a new print made, which was much cleaner. I then asked what was going to happen to the sparkly one. As it was going to be thrown away, I asked if I could have it in case two festivals wanted a print at the same time. And they agreed.

So the festival entries have started. Myself and my festival assistant (my father) have made a detailed list of over a hundred festivals. I have then divided them into two years, entering the bigger festivals first. As soon as I have some news I will make sure I up date the blog. I promise!

It's in the can!

Sorry for the silence over the last couple of weeks, but the final build up to filming became a very busy and stressful period. I'm glad to say it all came together and we had a very successful shoot. I really have no complaints. The crew were fantastic and worked like a well oiled machine even though many had never met before. The cast all loved the project and were very impressed by the level at which we were working. Although we have managed to shoot the film for a relatively small amount of money, it never felt that way on set. I thank everyone for their professionalism.

They were three long days. One for each of the stories. The first day was filming the bomb disposal story line and I was delighted to have three soldiers from the Aldershot Royal Logistic Corps there advising us, as well as supplying all the props we needed. Thanks to Captain Hughes for making this happen. It was a very warm day, which for most was very welcome. Jeremy on the other hand would I'm sure have preferred a cooler day, as he spent a large amount of the day in a heavy bomb suit. It's does have an air cooling system, that pumps air around the suit to keep you cool, but when it was running Jeremy couldn't hear a thing!

The second day was spent on the hospital story and we were all kept on our toes by Sylvia Syms who gave a wonderful performance ably supported by Tessa Peake-Jones and Nitin Kundra. All would have been fine on this day if we hadn't all got stuck in traffic as we moved between Merton Studios to Pinewood. Although not ideal, it was worth it!

The final day was down in Kent and was a fun day working with some very talented children. The school story-line was shot at Mid-Kent College in Maidstone and although we had to contend with changing light and some cold wind we got some great footage. The only technical hitch we came across on the entire shoot was at the end, when a small fly made it's way into the camera. This typically was as we were trying to shoot the last shot of the film!

Now to the editing...

The Plinth

Well last night was an interesting experience. I stepped onto the plinth as a charming lady called Caroline from Belfast stepped off. She was receiving messages via twitter instructing her what to do. I was simply going to film from up there and see what happens. I had an HD camcorder and a tripod, along with a director's chair with my name and website on it. I'm glad to say that the weather improved and the rain that had continued all day stopped at least for my hour. The view was quite something, though due to the darkness surrounding me, coupled with the large flood lights on me, I wasn't really aware of the height. The lights also restricted what I could film. A day time slot would have been better. After a while I checked my watch to see how long I had been up there. It was 9.20pm I was only a third of the way through and I was running out of things to film. After a moment of heckling that helped pass the time. I left the plinth to hand over to a lady with a tree. Certainly an experience....