Now here's a twisted leftfield deeply disturbing absurdist collection of short films if I ever saw one. From the Trash Arts production stable and currently streaming on VersusMedia this macabre anthology explores themes from the masked corners of the human mind and will put cracks in the thin veneer of our outdated industrialised society.
Running at just over an hour it demonstrates just what is possible with a camera, a co-operative, and unbound imagination. This is not your multiplex 12A spandex CGI fest, obviously; rather grass roots risk taking fringe filmmakers with a self to express unhindered and (quite possibly) unhinged.
First up is Angel of Decay - essentially a vlog by a Ted Bundy fangirl documenting her slide into mimicry of her hero and beyond. If you ever want to know what to pack in your murder kit, this is the one to watch. Certainly lives up to the Killers moniker, plural.
Angel of Decay
After a brief insert of a plastic doll autopsy (which continues to be intercut throughout the first few shorts) we have Court of Conscience. If you've ever wondered if the soapbox loons foretelling end-times and apocalypse should be respected then this film has your answer. A simple idea, well, executed.
Court of Conscience
Then we have Arrows with a one-shot slow-cinema opening scene and an implied botched heist before we see our protagonist casual and confident strolling through the woods licking revolvers as you do. We find ourselves a masked antagonist and after a quick chase sequence the score is settled with a game of chance - namely Russian roulette. There's probably a deep multi-layered metaphor in there somewhere.
Arrows
Moving on to Here's Johnny we are left to imagine the circumstances and context of any storyline as this short jumps straight into the staple horror shower scene. Next time you're in the shower you might want to keep your wits about you and your clothes on.
Here's Johnny
Submitting to Desire we are presented with what is probably the most visually striking film of the bunch. Its abstract narrative arc is left to your own interpretation and anything unsettling is down to your own cognitive biases. Featuring blue steak, squished fruit, bondage, and music steadily building to a thrashing climax there's clues and cues to tie it all together into a coherent study of that suggested by the title.
Desire
Making you even more wary of the landline telephone, The Call sets a scene of a big local news story - so why does our protagonist keep getting calls from a double-glazing salesman questioning her sanity? A tale of ratcheting guilt until pushed over the edge.
The Call
A great use of available light in Southbank which documents the last minutes of life of the main character with a cameo from none other than Death - well this is Trash Arts Killers after all. With an emotive use of music we are in the moment with the lead with disregard for whatever came before and for whatever may come.
Southbank
Rounding up we have Attraction which explores a couple's relationship anniversary and psychological fallout when the relationship is not all you want it to be. Do you continue with the relationship or do you break up with unknown consequences.
Attraction
All in all an entertainment filled hour that should help keep you awake at night! Trash Arts Killers Volume 1 is streaming on VersusMedia from 26th January 2018.
Full disclosure: the ASMR Dolls sections are submissions from my own productions at ASMR.Show
Everyone shoots photos and videos with their phone nowadays right? Who wants to carry a tripod around everywhere? If you do need a tripod which is best for you?
Here's one airninja's take on specific tripod requirements:
The world's first narrative ASMR feature length movie is entering production and it promises to bring fans of the aural sensation a passionate story of love mixed with the dangers of gambling in gang controlled regions of the coastal city of Portsmouth.
Not much else is known about the story other than the director describing it as "a road movie and a homage to the Wizard of Oz, created with modern techniques for modern audiences".
Part of these modern production techniques include recording the film at 60fps, also known as HFR (High Frame Rate); this is a frame rate even higher than Peter Jackson used in The Hobbit which was just 48fps. Also recording live sounds with an array of microphones to maximise chances of reproducing ASMR trigger moments with viewers (especially if they are listening to playback in headphones).
When asked about these choices (HFR and ASMR) the director tells us, "science shows humans have a great reaction to 60fps film, thrills are more thrilling. This was proven when they were designing the first Star Tours ride but unfortunately technical limitations meant they could not implement [such a high frame rate] at the time [in the 80s]. If you've not heard of ASMR then keep an eye out for this movie's release and be sure to listen to it, really listen to the textures, as well as watch and respond to the visual aesthetic."
Aren't you worried at the reception 48fps screenings of The Hobbit received? "Not at all. The main criticism of The Hobbit screened with HFR was that it seemed too real and exposed the limitations of presenting Hollywood production values in anything but the same old mould. Kubrick once said 'a truly original person with a truly original mind will not be able to function in the old form and will simply do something different' - welcome to my world."
At time of writing confirmed headline cast members include Suzy Weatherall, Patrick Olliver, Phil Lyndon, Simon Berry, Chris Mills, and Michel du Vagin.
Release date for P.A.I.N. is expected to be early 2017.
The spiritual successor to GAINthemovie will be shooting in summer 2016. The corridors of power in Hollywood are describing it as 'They Live' meets 'The Wizard Of Oz'.
GAINthemovie (Ghostly Apparition Investigation & Neutralisation the movie) pioneered the modern airninja movie method in 2012 and went on to win multiple awards internationally, including the esteemed Wingnut's Choice at the BUFI organised #FrugalWave Power Awards.
Whereas GAIN was directed by Evil C vs britmic, PAIN will be directed solo by britmic (does this mean we can look forward to a solo project by Evil C in future? Let's hope so).
Scant clues to the storyline exist, although rumour has it that 'PAIN' is an acronym for Personal Area Interurban Navigator', inspired by the 'PANIC' - Personal Area Network Internet Computer' - which was cut from britmic vs Evil C flick 'The Fix:'
Although the leads of PAIN have been cast, we are left to guess as to which parts they are playing. Actors include newcomer Suzy Weatherall through to industry veterans Patrick Olliver and Phil Lyndon.
Hands up if your film has made a net or gross profit.
OK, anyone with their hands up, they can leave the room. You have nothing to learn here (although you are welcome to stay and gloat).
If you want to give up the day job and earn a living through the business of show, you have to have your content make money, right? I mean sure, "do what you love and the money will follow" is something people say to the aspirational but at what point can you make a profit from passion?
I'm not sure I have any answers, but I do have research. Data. 18 months worth of data.
I present to you, Exhibit A - an award winning short film made by a team of dedicated filmmakers with much care and attention - and a passion for storytelling. It was shot over a few nights in November 2014 and cut into its final form and uploaded to the public in January 2016. The film has been marketed to festivals across the world (as well as a lot of admin time this costs real money in terms of entry fees - arguably tax deductible as part of the marketing budget). It's now on Youtube with appropriate metadata tags for SEO.
208 views at time of writing.
Here I present to you Exhibit B - a genre and brand exploiting short video made in a few minutes by a single hack of a filmmaker with a focus on delivering an experience for a defined audience - and a passion for stereo sound. It was shot realtime and uploaded with no editing. Tagged in Youtube within minutes. The film has had no active marketing; only passive metadata tagging for SEO. Arguably someone had to buy the product in this video which is a negative cost - however, it is a tax deductible line item from the marketing budget, right?
423 views at time of writing.
I said I don't have any real answers. I don't. There can be no absolutes when markets are fluid.
Which movie would you rather watch, and why?
Which movie would you rather make, and why?
What I will say at this point is that both of these movies have generated revenue on Youtube - and at time of writing one of them has generated almost 400% more revenue than the other.
Tuesday evening during a live film screening event an episode of "Making Of" being produced by TrashArts was shot before, during, and after. Directed by me.
DSLR and stereo X/Y mic atop for POV experience
Fortunately the actors knew their characters really well so it was more a case of AD'ing myself and being continuity person (fuck continuity) to ensure enough coverage for the edit.
What a luxury to just turn up, direct, and go home!
The current cut of "Episode 2" is a shade under 20 minutes. We shot it all in one location in just over four hours.
Anyhow, what did I actually learn?
1.Microphone technology, and audience tastes, have shifted to the point where the camera can truly become a character (indeed this was part of the brief).
Despite shooting at a noisy event in a pub screening the football and a short film night the Røde Stereo Videomic picked up a fine stereo soundstage and intelligible dialogue (at my direction, natch - move closer!)
2. The film clips of the late Michael J Murphy went down a storm.
Part of the script called for reactions to local low budget films. I opted to show excerpts from Murphy's Avalon (German release) and his commercially unreleased super8 Bloodstream.
Boy did those clips get reactions! Secretly, I think MJM would be proud even from the afterlife. 3. Let go but keep time.
This was shot from a five page treatment (by the time I'd added my notes) and then completely performed improv. In the chaos of the venue it was pointless to have done too much planning - but doing just enough to, well, provide direction (as the director, see?)
Antagonists
4. Texan four bean soup sure does look like puke.
I wasn't sure whether to go for the brown realism or the camera friendly yellow-y GAIN style demonic possession vomit. The brown stuff worked out just swell in context.
5. Great actors can appear from nowhere.
I don't know where Sam Mason Bell finds them, but the casting really works. Like I say it probably helps that the majority have already been through the award winning "Episode 1" experience. Those that hadn't were well prepared and researched - leading to some great ad-hoc exchanges between the protagonists and antagonists.
So despite the football running into extra time (I have no idea what the final score was) and a room full of local film nerds watching what film nerds watch at these events I brought a 20 minute episode in on time and under budget (the Texan four bean soup is a tax deductible line item I assured them).
How new interest in VR could re-ignite the music video and album sales.
Not wearing headphones.
There's been a lot of chatter recently about VR (and AR) from the usual suspects. Apparently the tech is a lot better looking now, you know, realistic and immersive.
The immersive part always makes me laugh. I can be immersive with a pair of headphones and a decent binaural recording. I can be immersed reading a book. Imagine! I digress.
The point was, the narrative goes, VR failed in the 80s/90s because it was clunky low resolution shit.
True dat.
VR - then.
VR - now.
It was also true that gaming in the 80s/90s was clunky low resolution shit. It fucking rocked and a new industry was born - well documented in crowdfunded Bedrooms To Billions for one (I particularly like the founder of U.S. Gold admitting that he had no idea what he was doing).
So VR failed, 8-bit gaming skyrocketed through to the consolidated industry we know today. Stay with me.
Sitting passively wearing headphones. And that other thing.
I believe that VR may continue to fail whist it is physically non-passive. It will appeal to paintballers and lots of other people but who will actually prance around all day in that get up? I don't see it being as big as console gaming (famous last words of course). You can sit playing games at a console all day. VR all day? Be my guest.
Gaming, in common with watching movies, or watching a hybrid of the two - a Twitch stream - is largely passive, hypnotic.
Contemporary VR you must be awake standing up looking around bending reaching tripping over your furniture.
So even though today VR may look amazing it's is not a medium to be frolicking in for hours on end around staircases.
So, by my reckoning, VR must become a more passive activity to succeed - whatever success is nowadays.
VR reminds me of 3D in the cinema - it's going to be rolled out every generation to see if it sticks.
Anyway.
Passive VR. Immersive. Remember what I said about headphones and binaural? This has lead to a boom in Youtube videos promoting ASMR - sounds that make you feel good - and discussions around frisson - music that makes you feel good.
Strikes me that ASMR and frisson typically occur when the subject is passive rather than running around having all senses abused and bruised.
Still no headphones.
So if VR is to become a household medium, how could we shoehorn VR with sounds that make you feel good? Music, of course. Ambient soundscapes. More. No doubt over time a grammar would develop more akin to cinema than gaming (but Twitch is evidence that lots of people enjoy watching games passively and this goes right back to the days when computer games were in the arcade at the seafront - I remember watching that guy beat Space Harrier, awesome!).
Music video can be a great experimental landscape, as indeed can music itself.
VR is so fixated on the vision it forgets the wave.
Ignore the tech companies, ask an anthropologist.
Or, of course, not.
Persuading anyone that they need a helmet to listen to the latest album by the current big thing won't be easy. That's why a new category needs to be invented, and a progressive company needs to be first in it. Which is where it all falls apart. No smart money here! (unless the helmet plugs into a lightning port).
'EyePhone' VR, 1989. Note single cup headphone, d'oh.
I've noticed an emerging trend amongst progressive filmmakers. Firstly they treat online as their primary global distribution platform (natch) but secondly I am seeing more and more content produced with HFR and ASMR.
HFR has largely been rejected by cinema going audiences, but I believe long-term it will become de-facto standard and 24fps will be regarded by my grandchildren as I regard the quirky looking 18fps footage of a hundred years ago incorrectly played back at 24fps.
Everyone can be a filmmaker using a single device.
It's ironic that as a young filmmaker stuck with 50Hz PAL video, I hated that horrible 'soap opera' look of 50i. I strived for that 'film look' just as some modern filmmakers strive for that 'VHS look'. Madness! I yearned for D1 720x576 but when it was finally affordable it was basically obsolete. I wish I'd discovered Laver's law in my twenties then it may have all made a lot more sense to me.
I remember reading, I forget where - other than in print in the early 90s - that when developing Star Tours the boffins got great reactions from audiences when subjected to HFR (60fps was trialled IIRC) - not interlaced like TV, but progressive, actual frames, like film. It wasn't to be though, probably due to reasons of expense and available bandwidth in existing technology. Wish I could remember what the article was and where I read it!
Reading that, it stuck with me to this day. So HFR came as no surprise to me. I believe more motion data is just as important as UHD and beyond. Kids growing up on console gaming just see a blur when they go to the cinema. In fact, so do I (and I don't even own a console).
Cinema may stick with 24fps (for that extra stop in low-light during acquisition), but it's doubtful if IMAX will. I firmly believe IMAX will supplant contemporary cinema as the 'narrative event experience' because home cinema is more comfortable (and a whole lot cheaper) than going out to the cinema. Audiences are split about 3D at the cinema but frankly that's a big fat red herring that gets rolled out every couple of decades. If you want 3D go see a stage play, they are awesome nowadays.
There's an argument that the dating scene will sustain modern cinema. I call bullshit on that, as Netflix & Chill has been marketed so successfully to the younger generation who have grown up with choice and abundance.
EXT. Star Tours.
No way home cinema will stick with 24fps, it will cater to the console kids who grew up gaming at 60fps and will demand their own normal when voting with their wallets (well, assuming the concept of a wallet survives ...)
HFR, especially at 60fps, solves a lot of problems for the progressive filmmaker.
ASMR hasn't made it into cinemas, mainly because 'true' ASMR required the listener to be wearing headphones. It's unlikely that traditional production technique will ever cater to ASMR. However, again, I believe my grandchildren may be more au fait with it than the general public of today. Whilst it may never be mainstream, I believe its benefits will ripple out just as Hi-Fi has done over the last 40 years or so.
There's no doubt that ASMR is pseudoscience, however I have definitely experienced emotional and 'tingly' responses to sound and ASMR is a good an explanation as any.
Essentially ASMR boils down to two things, of which in my experience only one needs to be present (but both is better).
POV often neglects audio completely.
Firstly, perhaps most importantly, ASMR is positional stereo. This usually means recorded binaurally POV. Not practical for most narratives (great for first-person-shooters that the kids play on their consoles - are you detecting a theme yet?). However, I believe a good stereo sound stage reproduction will suffice (more practical for production of traditional narrative).
Secondly, frequency response. Not necessarily flat, but it needs to be 'clean' rather than 'muddy'. This is because the ear cannot discern the direction of bass frequencies but higher frequencies can be highly positional. Higher frequencies tend to lend more air, and thus feed into those ASMR tingles.
It's totally possible for ASMR to be mono, but it is far more effective in stereo. Stereo allows the ear to pick out positional details due to time differences in the sound wave hitting each ear.
This is why it annoys me that Apple's iPhone cannot record stereo with its three (count 'em!) onboard mics. In every other way, the onboard audio always amazes me except for this glaring omission. Sure, external mics are available (and very decent M/S mics they are too - see video embedded below) but sometimes the onboard mics are all you have - typical during the frugalwave. Onboard stereo mics on an iPhone would no doubt be thought about and positioned correctly in relation to the camera lens (or the corrective/adaptive DSP would be spot on).
UPDATE: Yes, I should have mentioned the digital bits that represent latitude and all that good 4:4:4 stuff but I think something akin to Moore's "law" in CCD / CMOS / NEXT TLA will see better and better low-light performance over time - it's going to happen anyway.
In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was God – it’s the big bang that started it all, not the big picture!
The sound wave, not the light wave.
Sooner or later you’ll hear someone say how important sound is – but rather than wave them on and uttering “we’ll fix it in post”, have you stopped to consider what it is that sound actually brings to your movie?
Here’s a quick test. Watch your favourite movie with the sound turned off.
Does it still engage you fully? Honestly? Would you sit so long through the end- credits (or opening title crawl) if it weren’t for the choice of music?
Does that really constitute 50% of the movie? Well, on a purely “count the senses” – vision and hearing – yes, yes it does. Arguably sound can improve the visual, and even make people see things that aren’t there.
Good sound can really help prop up a substandard visual but bad sound is, well, just bad sound. Our eyes provide vision as a dominant sense, our ears provide sound almost as a secondary sense – a sense waiting to alert us to events rather than continuously inform us in the foreground. Vision gives us actual information – “that bloke is closing a door” – sound gives us implication – “I heard the door shut, it must be shut”.
Seeing is believing; hearing is implication. Implication can exercise far more of the imagination than actual seeing (afraid of the dark? things that go bump in the night?) – yet so much sound today is used with direct correlation to the visual, giving little room for imagination amongst the (im)perfectly rendered CGI.
Imagination is possibly the most visual weapon in your arsenal as a moviemaker – and that can be driven by sound moreso than picture.
It’s not all about imagination though. Most directors agree that a performance recorded on-set will be better than any looping session (looping, or ADR, is the re-recording of dialogue in controlled studio booth conditions), although often certain environmental conditions will mean that the production sound recorded on-set or on-location is not useable.
Sound is also positional in a way that vision is not – the cinema screen is immersive, yet sound allows you to hear things off-screen (given at minimum a stereo soundstage to work with). Even with the latest 3D visual technology, you still need glasses and everything is still contained within that rectangle. Sound is reproduction of actual physical waves in the air, broken free and authentic in ways that photons are not (and, of course, vice versa – arguably – headphones are entirely optional!).
We could get into stereo miking techniques here, but I suspect that’s best saved for another post. Suffice to say I’ve been a convert to stereo recording for several years, yes, even for production audio. It gives so much more depth and spatial precision versus the cost of full sound design – cost usually being a major factor in the indie moviemaker’s world (whether that cost be in time spent or money spent).
“Real” sounds obviously work best at “real” locations and not those recorded in the fakery of the staple studio system. In the late sixties, “Easy Rider” and “Midnight Cowboy” promised to liberate the moviemaker from the shackles of over-engineering. Then Star Wars happened and moviemaking was never quite the same again.
What do you think? Is sound under utilised in modern movies? Can indies get one up on contemporary Hollywood by tapping into imagination drawn from intelligent sound rather than absolute CGI that uses sound as a crutch only? Since originally writing this article in 2012 for OTTfilm (now defunct), it's interesting to see the rise of popular ASMR related content on YouTube vs the cinemas push for 3D glasses and a general overall industry push to 4K imaging, IMAX, and resolutions beyond.
I'm sitting here with a Fortean taste in my mouth wondering about the nature of reality. About fuses
and bombs. Turkeys and blockbusters- video. Data about data. A recursive tunnel of life until, ultimately, the black veil of death snuffs the individual.
Nothing lasts forever.
I've just watched Preternatural by Gav C. Steel and Dixon Barker. Or have I? Did I just watch it or was I an unwitting participant?
It's a sharp self-aware pastiche on the found-footage genre with an added twist of lemon - no doubt making it too sharp, too close to the bone, for some.
From breaking the fourth wall as a dramatic device to accenting dialogue with sloppy camera angles reminiscent of lomography, the production values are an un-apologetic punk song.
But this is no musical.
What appears to be wear and magnetic damage on the originating VHS tape runs throughout the film as we follow the exploits of amateur filmmakers Gav and Dixon. Hilarity does not ensue.
The sound design and some graphically striking compositions elevate this well performed tale of malevolence above the average splatterfest. In fact, there is no splatter. Just plenty of chills. Plenty of nested meta.
Why am I writing about a fantasy horror movie on a blog primarily about compact capability? Well it struck me that this movie likely would not have happened so fluidly, or at all, with a union crew of 30 and a video-village in tow.
Similar to Steel's previous feature The Shadow Of Death, this film was shot PSC (that's Portable Single Camera, kids) in a variety of locations that would have hampered large productions with accessibility problems and Winnebagos getting stuck in the mud. Well, except one location - the indie production had to give way at one point to Nick Frost and Chris Hemsworth riding on horseback for Universal Studios filming The Huntsman.
In an odd way, and perhaps this makes me biased, Preternatural reminds me of a cross between my own Crooked Features and the all-improv Halloween spectacular, G.A.I.N. - however, to mere mortals I have no doubt that Preternatural will be a fresh dip into the genre-bender genre.
Recommended for cerebral stimulation in a silent, dark, place.
Talking with co-conspirator Evil C about our next January film production, I was reminded about how AirNinja germinated from the tactics used filming and completing "The Original Soundtrack" over a two week period in 2009.
The project was a success, here's a brief trailer:
I thought I'd dust it off, and see if any insights still stood today. I've reprinted my essay below, but do check out the others that were part of the same project.
We live in interesting times. Avatar reportedly is the most expensive film in history and is the culmination of 10 years work. It’s projected to make $1 billion globally. Cameron is advocating 48fps and stereoscopic acquisition. The film is almost three hours long.
How on earth do you get to make films on such a scale?
Let’s start by paraphrasing a piece of Cameron’s advice to filmmakers yet to have made a movie: “Start by making a film. Complete it. From then on you are negotiating budget for your next one”.
But that quote’s probably two decades old or more. From a by-gone era - it’s from the era of scarcity when not everyone had access to the means of making a decent movie. We now live in an era of abundance where punters will accept anything from shakycam smartphone footage to 4K RED, or anything inbetween. Shooting at 1920 x 1080 (the same resolution the Star Wars prequels were acquired at) only requires a modest investment with the huge advantage that you can also go tapeless.
In the era of abundance you need to be able to stand out from the clutter. Cameron largely does this on reputation (“From the director of Titanic, Terminator, Piranha II”, etc). How can you hope to match that reputation? Do you even need to? Zen Buddhism has a good piece of advice, “begin by beginning”, in other words get out there and do it, make a fool of yourself until you’re comfortable with the process. With the technology abundant (therefore affordable), it doesn’t make sense to hold back if all you want to be doing is running around out there making movies. If you want to raise finance and stay warm and dry, study accountancy, wear a suit, go to meetings and act conservative.
It wasn’t really until April 2009 that I’d realised how things had progressed with the technology - and how affordable moviemaking had become to outlaws such as myself. Having just signed up to Twitter I was invited to take part in the first #2wkfilm aka two week film challenge - shoot, edit, finish a feature length movie in a two week window before the end of May ’09. Up to that point I’d basically been spinning in neutral since the completion of my mockudrama ‘Crooked Features’ which was shot standard definition on miniDV tape with the Canon XL1 and a Sennheiser K6/ME66.
Seeing #2wkfilm as a way to get the fire started once more I started looking around for a means of acquisition. I already owned a Panasonic Lumix TZ which could record 848 x 480 and a bunch of professional boom mics with a Sound Devices 702T. All I needed was a script. And crew. And actors. And locations. Etc. I only had about two weeks to sort all this out if I was to meet the deadline of the end of May ’09. Oh, in that time I also upgraded my Lumix to a TZ 3 which shoots 720p (1280 x 720).
Well, we did it. The result was ‘The Original Soundtrack’ which screened on home turf alongside the other completed #2wkfilm entries at the Portobello Film Festival. The intent was never to make money from this particular venture. It was to make connections with local moviemakers, test a cheap SDHC card tapeless workflow, and chalk another one up in the IMDb. Secondary objective was to promote the local musicians without whose work the ‘Soundtrack’ part would not have been possible.
In aggregate the two versions of ‘The Original Soundtrack’ (700MB and 2.5GB version) on mininova have been downloaded 5,500 times. Somewhat predictably, DVD sales have been anemic (though to be fair it’s not like I’ve given the product any marketing push whatsoever). It was never meant to make me a profit though (the DVD is sold at cost), but it has added considerably to my wealth of connections and experiences.
In comparison I’ve had short film work on Archive.org for several years (always the progressive, me) and the most downloaded there is ‘Adult Contacts’ at 60,000 times. It’s been there so long I can’t remember when I uploaded it. It’s also my directorial debut (well, with real live actors anyway) if you’re interested in my take on “two people talking in a room” from 1995. The final cut is just under seven minutes but funnily enough I remember the original cut was almost 15 minutes long. Yet, now, I can’t remember what I cut out. I do remember cutting between a Video8 deck and a NICAM VHS deck and some crappy Sony LANC protocol which was not frame accurate; being really jealous of my mate who was editing on Media100 NLE. Anyway, I digress.
Part of my “problem” is that I am a part-time moviemaker. Like many outlaw filmmakers I have a day job, a family, and a life. I just don’t have the energy for self-promotion and I don’t have the bravado to go full-time freelance. I like to eat, and so do my kids. Taking part in the first #2wkfilm has enabled me to re-engage locally and led to my enrollment onto the second #2wkfilm. That, however has turned out to be an entirely different kettle of fish.
‘The Fix’ is my second #2wkfilm effort although currently I disqualified it: although we shot the rushes over just five days, the remaining time was not enough to complete the movie to fine cut (though I did get it to a very rough cut and survive a bout of the ‘flu). The big difference here was bringing a production designer on-board and having access to Rennie Pilgrem’s back catalogue as well as a commitment for some scoring. The production locations were also more ambitious, everywhere from an autumn forest to a small studio space at Ealing. I also shot using a Xacti at 720p and recorded sound single-system (poorly but mostly adequately, the horror) with my recently acquired used Neumann RSM-191 M-S mic. Lesson: my next movie really must be shot double-system and that pretty much precludes it from being a #2wkfilm. It’s expected that ‘The Fix’ will be completed by June ’10 (some way off from the #2wkfilm target of October ’09) but that’s the great thing about being an outlaw - no rules, no deadlines, all my own terms.
To conclude, Hollywood finds itself at a juncture, similar to that when the printing press arrived in Europe in the 15th century. The printing press was a revolution for many reasons, and it put many scribes out of work. The advantages of the printing press were obvious to almost everyone and production costs were 700% less than employing scribes. I guess the scribes weren’t too happy about that.
In the 21st century is it a necessity to spend $300 million to tell a story on celluloid? Will outlaws become organised and create a parallel industry leaving Hollywood to wither on it’s own sick vine. Or perhaps efforts like Paramount’s to keep a slate of $100,000 movies will appease the masses and put the outlaws out of a job. One thing’s for sure. No one can predict the future. Everyone can sidestep the little bits of history repeating. Me? I really enjoy home cinema.
Anyone interested in the future of the British film industry (pounds not dollars) could do a lot worse than check out the free seminars on 25th June in London.
More info in the trail vid:
FilmRaker is the UK's première forbidden filmmaking magazine - live in London.
Since the Film Shed site is still down at time of writing, here is the full interview reproduced below:
By Jordan Brown
Getting a fully-funded, feature-length film made is no mean feat, but try doing
it without the money. In the first of a series of interviews with ultra-low
budget filmmakers, Jordan Brown spoke to Mike Peter Reed about his
mockumentary on the porn industry, Crooked Features; discussing its
production, the shoot, the script and his advice to fellow filmmakers.
Jordan Brown: Mike, Tell us a bit about your film - Crooked Features.
Mike Peter Reed: Crooked Features has been through many iterations, ideas
and concepts. But it's fundamentally always been about getting films made that
wouldn't normally get made - and the pitfalls along the way. Now, you may
think that's what the various funding bodies are for; but if I couldn't get my
science fiction short Ad Astra funded (now available for free as an 'open source'
movie), what hope did I have as a first-time director trying to get a feature
funded? I've always felt my work falls inbetween 'mainstream' and 'avante-
garde' and therefore is neither a safe bet for the public at large, nor for the
arthouse crowd.
So in its first incarnation it was called No Funds, One Penney in which a bunch
of bumbling twenty-something filmmakers try to rob a bank to fund their film
but end up with a hostage (Penney) in their garage at home that they cajole
into playing the lead. Yeah, the bumbling filmmaker has been a constant aspect
too. Anyway that got shelved until I started attending a writing workshop run
by Alison Rayner. I used it as the basis for the next version, called Crew Cuts
which brought in the documentary and the porno aspect and was also the first
appearance of the (then) true villain of the piece, Freda Hiscock. Anyway, I was
always uncomfortable with the 'porn' side of it, not because I'm a prude or
because it was full of nude scenes (it wasn't) but because I thought it was a bit crass and a bit obvious. The script then did a stint as Wanda's Wonder World
and instead of the story of the naive porn actress, it became a story of the
pressures of a successful children's franchise and how those children's
presenters might behave when the cameras aren't rolling. It also introduced a
comedy element, but dropped the documentary style. Again, I wasn't satisfied
with the direction of the story and it got shelved.
Fast forward a few years, and a few changes in personal circumstances and I'm
just itching to get something feature length story made and brought to market,
as an educational exercise as much as anything else. Older, wiser, and with a
better credit rating, it seems I might actually be able to get something out the
door. If only I had a script I was happy with. So Crooked Features was born,
stealing the best bits of the previous incarnations. But what I really ended up
with was a treatment and a few character outlines - not the 120 page
screenplay that I needed. As luck would have it this is when I became re-
acquainted with Kevin Turrell who was looking for a project to flex his writing
muscle on and, ultimately, produce. I'd previously met Kevin a few times
through a mutual friend, the most memorable being for a screening of The
Phantom Menace. We both dislike that movie, but only because we love Star
Wars so much. And so Kevin essentially penned the screenplay from characters
and situations I had created.
Oh, you wanted a synopsis of the movie...
At it's most succinct, it's a Spinal Tap on the porn industry. It's essentially
about a deluded, bumbling pornographer (Rod Shuffler) who thinks he's got
what it takes to create a mainstream Hollywood blockbuster. Crooked Features
is also referred to as The Making of Attack of the Clowns. However, things
don't go as planned and Rod is pressured by the investors to go back to his
hardcore ways. Most of his cast is made up of porn stars anyhow, except the
leading lady. She's a newcomer to the industry, let alone the money shot. So
decisions have to be made, and compromises approached.
JB: I was laughing throughout the film. Was difficult for you and Kevin Turrell
to come up with a consistently funny script?
MPR: Well, it's certainly good to hear that we raised some laughs. There's
always a fear when writing comedy that what you write won't translate to the
screen. From what I remember, Kevin came up with the majority of the detail
of the gags whilst I concerned myself mostly with the concepts. We also ping-
ponged the script a good few times and story and dialogue edited between us.
It was probably more hard work than difficult, trying not to contrive the
comedy to the point of absolute farce. It was always in my brief that I wanted
to make this an almost believable documentary, at least during the initial
drafts. I suppose sometimes it was difficult to agree on what would be funny,
whether a specific phrase or word made something funnier and exactly what
the boundaries of our taste would be. Those disagreements are what created
the work. But, hopefully, they created a more rounded comedy.
JB: When I looked at your site, it reminded me of the marketing involved in
The Blair Witch Project. As a mockumentary was this a film that inspired you
and were there any other sources of inspiration, other than porn that is?
MPR: I was certainly aware that Blair Witch proved that audiences were
prepared to tolerate content over style, so long as the style was an integral
part of the decision making process and not an excuse for lousy production
values. In terms of tone I drew inspiration from Rob Reiner's This Is Spinal Tap
(of course) but also some lesser known works like Weird Al's UHF and Mike
Jittlov's Wizard of Speed and Time. I think Tom DiCillo's Living in Oblivion
probably had an influence too. Also the numerous 'making of' documentaries
that I've seen over the years and books like Skywalking by Dale Pollock which
is a Lucas biography. As to the porn aspect, Kevin tells me that interviews with the likes of Jenna Jameson and Grandpa Dave helped with the
realisation of the script.
JB: Was your choice to make a mockumentary a result
of a low budget?
MPR: Absolutely. I've had previous experiences of working with non-professional crew and so it was my intent to crew Crooked Features with professionals. We soon realised that it was going to be difficult to get a full professional crew together locally who would work for deferred payment (which always turns into a risk of basically working for free). So to keep costs as low as possible we made the decision early on that we'd shoot PSC (Portable Single Camera). We also held the
auditions locally, the theory being that if someone thought the project was interesting enough to travel out of London for an audition then there was a good chance they would be committed enough to turn up for the first day of shooting. Most of our costs went on putting our actors up in a B&B and making sure everyone was well fed. We did briefly consider moving the production to London, however I felt quite strongly that shooting locally would allow us to exploit local landmarks, like the Tricorn
(now demolished, so we've recorded a piece of history in that opening shot),
Staunton Park and the D-Day museum.
JB: Is there anything that you'd change if you had a bigger budget?
MPR: Ha ha, plenty! For starters I'd have employed a professional camera
operator and sound recordist. And an experienced 1st AD. I think the direction
suffered a little because of the PSC format, essentially me directing and
crewing. But hey, I've seen plenty of documentaries made in this way and so
that is why I gave specific directions to the actors that if something went
wrong, or they forgot a line or whatever, just wing it and see where we end up.
We shot to an insane schedule, I think we were doing between 10 and 20
setups a day over 10 days. Still, this kept the energy going, and the pace was
such that on many days we actually finished ahead of schedule. So with more money I think I would have afforded the 'luxury' of a longer shooting
schedule. I'd largely keep the cast the same, the relative unknown-ness of their
faces is a positive attribute for the project and they all put a great effort into
their performances (even those who ended up on the cutting room floor). I
guess they would've appreciated Equity rates for their work. It might've been nice to have a
dedicated art director on-board too, to take care of some of our wardrobe and
set dressing challenges which may or may not be apparent in the final product
(I suspect they are). Of course, I'm forgetting that scriptwriters, producers and
directors shouldn't be expected to work for free either. JB: The cast gave hilarious performances. Where did you get them and do you
feel they did justice to the script?
MPR: From what I recall, it was a combination of a shout in PCR, Shooting
People and CastNet. Considering the nature and conditions of the production I
think everyone did really well and I'm hoping everyone who watches will have a
different 'favourite' character to the next person.
JB: Did you base the character of Rod Shuffler on anyone in particular?
MPR: Hmmm, he's a real mixture and was of course further coloured by
Kevin's writing. When we put the casting call out we asked for 'an eighties-style pop video director' - a kind of Godley&Creme wannabe but without the talent
was what I had in mind, but with all the high-concept extravagance from that
era. If he's based on anyone he's based on the filmmaker I hope I never become - blinkered and self-deluded.
JB: I noticed that you included a character called Candy Suxx. Is this a
reference to Grand Theft Auto: Vice City? Are you a fan of the game or was the
name a huge coincidence?
MPR: I spoke to Kevin about this, since I never made the connection. He tells
me he was playing GTA whilst we were writing, so make of that what you will. I
think Kevin's dropped in a lot of references that only he knows about.
JB: So what's next for you and your company, HARP 28? I see that Crooked
Features is being shown in the eND oF tHE pIER fESTIVAL...
MPR: Well right now I'm concentrating on submitting to
pretty much any festival that accepts DVD as a
screening format. I think it's always going to be difficult
with a movie that so overtly lampoons the industry and
personalities that can be found therein. But I hope it's
not just viewed as a movie for disenfranchised
moviemakers, but is accessible to the public at large
(profanity not withstanding - but we'll let any potential
distributor decide if they want to bring out the bleeper). I'm also brewing another low-budget idea, taking a road movie format and exploring Chi Xi
Stigma, more popularly known as the meaning of the number of the beast (not a comedy). We've also got material for a superhero pastiche for anyone suffering from too much spandex
in their life which would likely make a good TV series. I still have to get
Helldesk out of my system which I would liken to the IT department run by
Basil Fawlty, that would be another TV series right there. Then there's my
space opera film franchise tentatively entitled Saga City and I know for a fact
Kevin has another dozen screenplays we consider marketable to the right
people. My philosophy is much like Disney's - making movies to make more
movies.
JB: Finally, do you have anything to say to new filmakers looking to direct a
feature length film? Any advice on getting it funded?
MPR: Well, anything feature length is going to take a lot out of your life. What
I'm finding is that, even though we have a finished film there's still plenty of
work to do 12 months later. And some of that still costs money. The best way
to get your feature funded is to be dating the son or daughter of a billionaire.
If that doesn't work then you may as well be playing the lottery as well as
applying to the various funding bodies. The main thing is persistence and
tenacity. I'd like to say you need talent but that's secondary if you give up too
easily. Don't forget your thick skin either. And make damned sure you believe
in the script. The idea and writing is the bit that has nominal actual real-world
cost so you can afford to spend time on it. Ideas are free.
Find out more about Crooked Features at Mike's entertainingly-
thorough filmmaker's slog.
Now here's a twisted leftfield deeply disturbing absurdist collection of short films if I ever saw one. From the Trash Arts production stable and currently streaming on VersusMedia this macabre anthology explores themes from the masked corners of the human mind and will put cracks in the thin veneer of our outdated industrialised society.
