Blue Screens and Black Devils

So… yesterday wasn’t half as bad as I had expected. Mostly because after a half an hour in the Group Crit, I scurried away to assist Drew McDonnell in the blue screen studio for his latest film. The day was divided into the morning – in which we filmed with Drew’s actor – and the afternoon – in which I stood inside a big, black, devil costume.

(In case you can’t see me, I’m the one on the floor, holding a bounce). It’s fun – if tedious – working on blue-screen, mostly for the time that it takes to arrange lighting to get the shot the way you need it. Luckily, I’ve exercised all blue screen from my own film, so I probably won’t need to be back in that studio for a good few months.

Admittedly, however, standing inside a costume of Drew’s devil was amusing, and it does look rather creepy. Plus it means that I’ve starred in three of the four films that he’s made this year, even if this time you can’t tell it’s me.

 

Drew informs me that it’s going to be credited as ‘puppeteir’ on the credits, a role I will share with Victoria Stevenson, who was the inside of the devil on Drew’s location shoot, last week. Having seen images from the shoot at the beach, I can say that the devil is going to look pretty damn cool!

Camera’s, tripods and a camera man (well, Drew) have been booked for Tuseday, and I’ll finally be able to start recording the singe short scene of my new film. On the streets of Norwich. With hundreds of people around. What could possibly go wrong? :p

Will

I’m getting into a habit of this…

So, this is the second day running that I’ve been up and about at a fairly unreasonable hour. This time I have no excuse, there’s no storm today, I just wanted an extra few hours to prepare things before I present my progress so far on my new film. It’s still not filmed yet, so it’s akward trying to find enough to discuss. Bah.

Anyway, yesterday’s trip to the Great Hospital yeilded… mixed results. Tom and myself managed to get a few more exterior shots of the building, good thing, while they had cancelled our interview and not told us, bad thing.

Still, we strove ahead, finding our own interviews! And we ended up in… the village shop. Or, to be more accurate we ended up in what can only be described as an episode of the Vicar of Dibley… bizzare experience, I have to say, but there you go.

I’m hoping to film on Tuseday, so I’m striving to have everything in place by then, which I think is do-able, even more so if I keep having these early morning working times! Anyway, off to edit more photos… the twentieth century will come alive! Debating just how close to edit myself to places in the photos, don’t want to look like the character was too chummy with Hitler…

Will

Thunder, Lightning and Interviews…

It’s a quarter to five in the morning. I’ve been awake for about an hour now, listening to the thunder outside my window. I din’t care until I realised that my washing is still out on the line. Bugger.

Anyway, I figured that since I won’t be able to get back to sleep now, with the noise outside, I might as well get some more work done for my next film. I’m now working on a few more pictures of me scattered through the 20th century. No storm goes to waste.

I’m returning to the Great Hospistal with Tom at half nine, we’re going to interview the very friendly lady who has been our guide on the last two visits. We think she will be able to give us a good insight into the buildings and thier surroundings. At this time of the morning, I’m still deciding which to have, coffee or tea, so I have yet to decide where to film her, or what questions to ask. I’m thinking of filming it in Eagle Ward, it’s a gorgeous room, and I’d love to get a few more photos. I’ll post an update, see what happens.

Any way, off to top up the midnight oil… Night all.

Will

Filming and Peri…

Sorry for the lack of updates last week, very busy!

So we’ve done our days filming at the Great Hospital, so we’ll have that edited in a few weeks – lets hope they like what we’ve done! It was a good fun afternoon, if not a little stressful!

It was great fun taking a look around the various rooms – left as they would have been in the late seventies!

In other news this week, I spent the day with Nicola Bryant (80’s Doctor Who companion ‘Peri’) on Saturday. She was lovely and great fun to talk to – look out for her in an upcoming episode of My Family! Look for more updates from me in the next week as production on my latest film rolls forward, I’ll update more regularly this week… promise!

Oh! and as a PS; the next person who ruins the new Indiana Jones for me, I will slap you. Thank you.

Will

Travel’s Through Time

Rain! It’s Raining! After such a nice week or so, too…

So, I’ve spent the last few days moving all over the place through time. And that’s been fun. I went with Tom Wall yesterday to view The Great Hospital. We’re filming it for our HEART project thing next Tuseday afternoon, so we figured that it would be a wise move to go and have a look around the place! It was far better than I had been expecting, I must admit, and there was a cirtain amount of beauty to the place. I look forward to filming, expecially in the Eagle Ward, where the cubicles are still laid out as they were in the 1970’s (see the chair photo…).

I’ve also been to the war. Scary place, war, but there you go. Photos are coming together for use in my next film. They’re still in thier early stages and in need of some work, but I don’t think they’re looking too bad for the moment!

I’ve had to sit around and attempt to replicate the poses of various people in old photographs so that they can be matted in, but still, it’s all a bit of fun for now! Hopefully they’re going to look good when the film is done!

Will

Storyboarding Complete!

So, as pre-production on my as-yet-untitled next film rolls on, The storyboard has been finished. With the completion of this, I can finally begin to schedule filming.  We’re currently planning to film in about two weeks time.

Once again I get to travel back in time for the film, following my stint in the 1940’s for ‘Danny’s Girl‘ and a trip to Victorian England in ‘The Tell-Tale Heart‘. This time around, I’m all over the twentieth century, in a series of flash backs.

That’s about all the news I have this week, but I’m hoping to have more regular updates about the film as we get nearer to filming.

Only other thing I have to report is a job with the Norwich Heart Foundation. Norwich Heart work to preserve important parts of Norwich. I’ll be working, along side a number of others to promote the Norwich 12 – the 12 most important buildings in the city.

Personally, I’m working with Tom Wall to promote the Great Hospital. We’re off to look around tomorrow, so expect an update. We’ll be making a 3-minute film which will be shown at the location, on the internet and will be availible on a DVD.

Expect updates!

Will

Ok, Enough Stalling

Ok then. I’ve been waiting to start this Blog for a very good reason. Last Wednesday night, I attended the Norwich premier of the new film ‘Mister Lonely‘ by American Director Harmony Korine. I was lucky enough to get invited to the premier because one of the major actresses in the film was Melita Morgan.

Melita acted with me before Christmas in a short film – ‘Danny’s Girl‘, which was written and directed by Andrew McDonnell. Thus, Andrew and myself went along. I was hoping that within a day or two, they would have posted images from the premier online, and I figured that it would be the perfect start to my blog. Alas, a week has flowed by and no images as yet. I guess I’ll post them when I find some!

Since this is my first post, I’d better let people in on my current project. At the moment I’m in pre-production on a short film being produced as part of my degree. Featuring two people – a man and a woman – it shows a life that spans the entire Twentieth century. It’s not easy to explain, so hopefully things will become clear as the project moves forward!

I’m hoping to keep this blog updated every few days with news on the production, or just random posts from myself, any time I feel like venting to somewhere (The internet seems as good-a place as any!) so keep tuned!

I sound really… I don’t know. Starnge in this post, but there you go, me = strange, sometimes! If you want to know more about me, click the little ‘Who am I?’ link on the right, It’s info about me, and about the blog!

Will