"We Can Get You Some Really Cheap Gear" Screening: SHORTz

"We Can Get You Some Really Cheap Gear" will be screened at SHORTz short film and music night on 2nd June at East Bloc, Hoxton. Details here.

"We Can Get You Some Really Cheap Gear" Screening: St. Albans Film Festival

Exciting festival news: "We Can Get You Some Really Cheap Gear" is on the Official Selection for the first ever St. Albans Film Festival and will be screened on Saturday 9th March as part of the Over 18s short film night. See the full programme and find out more about this ambitious new film festival here.

"We Can Get You Some Really Cheap Gear" Screening: Tight Shorts Club

I'm looking forward to a screening of "We Can Get You Some Really Cheap Gear" at the Tight Shorts Film Club, at the Wenlock and Essex in Islington, on 26th February. You can find out more about this regular film event and annual competition here.

We Can Get You Some Really Cheap Gear [Trailer]

Trailer for my animated short film "We Can Get You Some Really Cheap Gear." I've taken the full version offline (temporarily) so this will have to be your Lego fix for the moment. More news about this film soon...

We Can Get You Some Really Cheap Gear [Poster]

“We Can Get You Some Really Cheap Gear” Screening: A Voyage Through Animation

On September 16th “We Can Get You Some Really Cheap Gear” joins a diverse line-up of animated films at Whirlygig’s A Voyage Through Animation, at the Yard Theatre in Hackney Wick. This night is part of the Scala Beyond programme of film events around the country, and looks to be an exciting screening with many of the films re-scored to live music.

“We Can Get You Some Really Cheap Gear” Screening: Braine Hownd

 “We Can Get You Some Really Cheap Gear” is up for a screening at Braine Hownd Film Night, September 4^th at the Hideaway, near Archway. In addition to a great selection of short films the line-up also includes a premiere of Braine Hownd’s own sitcom pilot “Off The Charts.”

"We Can Get You Some Really Cheap Gear" Competing For Shooting People Film Of The Month

"We Can Get You Some Really Cheap Gear" is an entry in Shooting People's Film Of The Month contest. In the final round, the top 5 films will be judged by Plan B but the first round is a public vote - if you liked it, please visit, vote and share. As an incentive, if we make it to the final round then I promise to make the sequel ;)

[Post script 24.8.12: We didn't make the final round so plans for a sequel have been shelved for the moment. Congratulations to the finalists]

Brighton Run

Short film nights come and go, but MovieBar in Brighton has been running continuously for about six years. It takes place monthly, upstairs at the Caroline of Brunswick, in a neighbourhood where even the local graffiti artists have a sci-fi sensibility.

In addition to “We Can Get You Some Really Cheap Gear” the line-up on 4th June included a Molly Brown double bill of “May Be Side Effects” and “How To Get A Flat Stomach Instantly,” Jim Scott’s brilliant robots 'n' rednecks music video “Purity Of Heart” by Pearson, and Natalie Smith’s extremely dark “Shed.”





You can read about the full line-up here.

"We Can Get You Some Really Cheap Gear" Screening: Smoke Yourself Slim

"We Can Get You Some Really Cheap Gear" is on the programme for the Smoke Yourself Slim July Film Festival on 4th July, at the Winchester in Angel.

I had to include this extremely groovy poster from a previous Smoke Yourself Slim event:

"We Can Get You Some Really Cheap Gear" Screening: MovieBar

"We Can Get You Some Really Cheap Gear" will be screened at MovieBar short film night on 4th June, at the Caroline of Brunswick, Brighton. There will also be time for some Q&A with some of the filmmakers.

Here's the full line-up for this event.

Legoless Part II: Walking With Legos

I can’t claim that We Can Get You Some Really Cheap Gear is a zero-budget film as I spent about £10 on Lego minifigs. What can I say? Invest in people.

So what was it like on set? The human voice-over cast were a joy to work with. However I have to admit that the Legos themselves were a little demanding at times: not satisfied with the usual personal assistants, crystal healers or deliveries of fresh flowers, Eddie’s rider included his own personal fire station, airport and medieval castle.

We Can Get You includes the first intimate scene I have directed: surely an anxious moment for every director? When filming intimate material it’s important that your cast have a good working relationship and can trust each other, and to find an opportunity to sit down with them and discuss what they are comfortable with. In the end I needn’t have worried: Eddie and Tanya approached the scene with a great deal of professionalism and I think it shows in the final cut.

After firing three voice coaches and a team of body language experts I have concluded that Legos talk with their hands and this cannot be changed. Is this a Danish thing? I have no idea.

Kino London Calling

"We Can Get You Some Really Cheap Gear" is Kino London's film of the week. Thanks guys! Indeed I should point out that if it weren't for the Kino London house rules this film might never have been made.

Legoless Part I: Dispatches From The Set

After the screening of “We Can Get You Some Really Cheap Gear” at Rotoreliefs, several questions about the making of the film came up in the Q and A. I’d like to share a couple of lessons learned: this article is about the technical side of things, and in Part II I'll write about the reality of working with Legos.

Set construction was the most time-consuming part of making the film. Each of the five locations took one night shift to build and shoot: as with other films, write for the minimum number of locations, and build your sets for multiple scenes if you can. Also (and I learned this the hard way) make sure you’ve got every single shot you need from each set before demolishing it to build the next one.

There are three basic principles of Lego filmmaking: stabilize, stabilize, stabilize. Use anything you can find: sellotape, superglue, blu-tack, nails, radioactive slime – anything to reduce shake between frames. The good news: Lego isn’t only good for on-screen antics – it’s also ideal for constructing ad-hoc camera rigs, tripods and dollies. A few minutes stabilizing your set and camera saves hours of frame-by-frame adjustment in post.

One more thing: watch out for Lego injuries: constantly handling all those sharp edges is hard on the skin.

We Own...

We Can Get You Some Really Cheap Gear

Trailer for stop-motion short film "We Can Get You Some Really Cheap Gear"
[Edit 10.1.13: the full version of this film is temporarily off-line, I've linked to the trailer instead for now]

"We Can Get You Some Really Cheap Gear" Screening: Kino London

"We Can Get You Some Really Cheap Gear" wrapped on Sunday night and will be screened at Kino London, at the Vibe Bar in Brick Lane, on 1st March.

Stars In Their Skies

“2007” was shown at Rotoreliefs on 30th January. I really enjoyed the other shorts on the programme, several of which had been made for competitions, and all but one of which had been made for peanuts. Hard to pick a favourite from such different films but I loved the documentary based on the idea of releasing balloons with messages: a simple but totally unique concept, and some amazing shots. I learned a lot from joining in the Q&A panel afterwards – not least that there are people who spend even less than me on their films! As far as “2007” goes, I’d expected questions on how we’d approached the video or where the ideas had come from, but apart from the budget question I was asked about the technical side of how we’d set up the bluescreen: I'm planning to do a tutorial on this shortly. Thanks to the organizers for a great night, particularly for the chance to meet like-minded filmmakers.

Today I didn't have the heart to delete Default Cube...

Meanwhile production continues on the stop motion short “We Can Get You Some Really Cheap Gear” which is due to be screened next week - provided it’s finished on time! Dialogue was recorded this evening by a small crew of extreme voice talent, and while there’s still one more scene to animate and a few changes to make to the edit, everything’s on track for now.

Can't Stop Now

The stop motion experiments continue - I'm enjoying the chance to try out angles, shot types, compositions, depth of field shenanigans and so on, all on a miniature scale. I'm also really impressed with the performance of my 550D on it's close-up settings. However Stop Motion Lesson #2 is: ten minutes spent ensuring your camera is stable saves hours and hours of tedious frame adjustment in post.

I'm also preparing to screen the music video for Tenderstar's song "2007" at the Rotoreliefs film night, tomorrow 30th January at Rich Mix. I'll be joining in a Q&A session after the screening, along with other filmmakers. Full details of the event are here. I'm very much looking forward to this event, and the line-up for the night looks great, including a chance to see Anton Short's comedy "Suicide Tuesday" which I've mentioned before.

Stop Commotion

I've started work on my second ever stop motion project. The first, an adaptation of the Day Of The Triffids, was made at the age of about 10 with some good friends, a VHS camcorder the size of a bungalow or small house, and seven or eight houseplants. I have no idea what happened to the VHS cassette afterwards, although a recent BBC production did seem strangely familiar...*

This new project does not feature either houseplants or VHS. As usual I'm learning as I go: many of the difficulties of live action filmmaking apply to stop motion too. On the other hand, if you're struggling to find that perfect camera angle on a confined set, you can always demolish a wall. For some reason this is frowned upon on location in the real world.

*this comment flagged for irony moderation.