Hr56uw4e5y45digital filmmaker issue 30 2015

issue 30

ÂŁ4.99

your new guide to Independent filmmaking

red HOT!

Innovation comes in bite-sized chunks from the across the pond Filmmaker Sean J Vincent tackles another crop of your questions on kit and much more...

new dji osmo 4K This cute handheld stabiliser delivers another way to shoot

kit to get started gopro hero+

iRig mic field

Inside Sennheiser A behind the scenes look at the German audio company

On location

Another bumber crop of in-production projects

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Sony PXW-FS5

red raven

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3dr solo drone

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17/10/2015 19:47

Welcome to ISSUE 30

We’ve touched on audio and how to improve your sound plenty of times over the last couple of years, but it’s a subject that still demands lots of attention. So, what better company to ask about it than Sennheiser, the family-owned German audio outfit.

During our recent visit to the IBC kit-fest in Amsterdam we spent some quality time hearing about this fantastic business and how it continues to go from strength to strength. What was immediately apparent during the conversation is just how much emphasis Sennheiser is now putting on its filmmaking clientele.

In fact, the boffins there have realised that videography and higher-end filmmaking requirements are opening up a whole new market for the company. They’re not alone, and it was interesting to walk around the cavernous halls at IBC and see how many new gadgets and gizmos are appearing to meet the needs of a changing industry. Downsizing is certainly one aspect that camera manufacturers are all working on, with RED doing its bit to make smaller, though decidedly more potent models that enable them to remain lean, mean and, naturally, competitive. Meanwhile, news of more projects continue to arrive at door of the DFM inbox, some of which are on show in this very issue. And, while many of them were produced without the aid of Sennheiser or RED technology, they still illustrate just how alive this industry is. Enjoy!

Rob Clymo

SELECT PUBLISHER SERVICES LTD PO Box 6337, Bournemouth, Dorset, BH1 9EH Tel: +44 (0) 1202 586848 CUSTOMER SERVICES If you have a query regarding the magazine, or would like to place an order, please contact our back issues hotline on 01202 586848 or email sales@selectps.com MAGAZINE TEAM Editor Rob Clymo Email: robclymo@digpe.com Twitter: @theclymobrief Design Imran Kelly CONTRIBUTORS Philip Bloom and Sean J Vincent SPECIAL THANKS TO Anybody who pitched in!

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Digital FilmMaker cannot accept responsibility for any unsolicited material or transparencies. Digital FilmMaker is fully independent and its views are not those of any company mentioned herein. All copyrights and trademarks are recognised and all images are used for the purpose of training only. All trademarks used herein are the property of their respective owners. The use of any trademark in this text does not vest in the publisher any trademark ownership rights in such trademarks.

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Contents ISSUE THIRTY

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The long road 6. Digital FilmMaker news

30. Back to basics

56. Ask the filmmaker

The lowdown on the latest developments from the world of digital video filmmaking

The Gamekeeper is a new feature shot for just three grand on a humble little Canon camera

Professional filmmaker Sean J Vincent tackles another round of your kit and career questions

10. The long road

36. Sin central

60. Out of this world

We have a chat with Jonathan Holbrook the creator of creepy new project Customer 152

Joston Theney is an American filmmaker who talks about his project called The Letter Red

Director and editor Lee Bolton takes us on a whistle-stop tour of sci-fi click Charlie and Me

18. Never ending journey

44. Street life

66. No vital signs

Jim Kroft takes us through the process of making his Journeys documentary series

Dean Sills is lead actor and co-producer of a gritty new film project called Tears in the Dust

Velton Lishke is an actor and filmmaker who has just finished Where The Journey Ends

24. All guns blazing

50. Chasing the dream

72. Back in time

Actor Mark Noyce hasn’t looked back since he launched his filmmaking production company

Hannah Tucker and Hayley Evans explain how a curiosity for filmmaking got them started

Chris Reading is the director and producer of a new low-budget sci-fi feature called Somnus

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Never ending journey

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24

All guns blazing

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Subscribe and save today!

Get Digital FilmMaker the easy way Turn to page

108

44

Street life

50

36

Sin central

Chasing the dream

78. Red hot!

99. New kit

We hear of latest developments from one of the most innovative names in the business

We pick through a whole host of the latest hardware from cameras through to gimbals

84. The student perspective

107. Next month

Penny Cobham takes us through the trials and tribulations of her recent filmmaking studies

Make sure you make a note of the date when the next action-packed issue hits the stores

91. Hardware advice

108. Subscriptions

We take a look at all of the latest kit that you’ll need to get yourself up and running

Get Digital FilmMaker the easy way. Take out a subscription and have it sent to your door

92. Interview with a Pro

111. Hot 40 indie films

We get an insider look at Sennheiser and what makes this fine German audio company tick

We pick out 40 or so of the current most talked about and anticipated new indie films

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Back to basics

60

Out of this world

66

No vital signs

78

Red hot!

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Digital FilmMaker

NOVEMBER 2015

News

The lowdown on latest developments from the world of digital video

SONY SOARS

Sony has expanded its line of large sensor 4K technologies with the PXW-FS5 compact Super 35mm camcorder. The new model rounds out its line of 4K professional cameras, filling an important niche between models like the PXW-FS7 and NEX-FS700, or complementing Sony’s new consumer a7R II and a7S II units. The PXW-FS5 fits a range of applications, including documentary and independent filmmaking, online content creation, student film projects and even DSLR users looking to ‘step up’. “We are continually developing and growing the most complete, fully featured line of cameras for every level of production, and the new FS5 model is the missing piece our customers need,” said Francois Gauthier,

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Director of Digital Imaging, Sony’s Professional Solutions Americas.

“Sony has the right production tool for any application HD, 2K or 4K and for any budget.” The PXWFS5 is ergonomically designed for versatile, hand-held shooting, with a lightweight body that has excellent weight balance and can be used in almost any location, even airborne when mounted on a drone. A variety of shooting angles is possible with the one-touch rotatable grip. All key controls are at the user’s fingertips, allowing for greater flexibility and instant switching between low or high angle shooting. Users can attach the 3.5-inch type LCD panel to different positions on the handle or the compact camera body, further supporting easy handheld

functions such as file transfer and streaming transmission too, while a planned future firmware update will provide Raw output. The lightweight body with excellent weight balance ensures comfortable handheld shooting as well as an easy fit with a drone or gimbal and shooting parameters can be changed with one hand even during recording operation and customised by using the multi-functional grip. shooting. Capable of 4K It is also the world’s first Super35 XAVC high-definition shooting, the camera’s Super35 Exmor CMOS camcorder with a built-in electronic variable ND filter, supporting linear sensor incorporates 11.6 million control from 1/4ND to 1/128ND pixels and 8.3 million effective and further expanding the depth pixels. The high sensitivity and of field representation. 1/10 times large size of the sensor delivers Super Slow Motion reproduction background defocus, increased low-light sensitivity and lower image is possible through 10-bit 4:2:2 noise. High-quality imagery is further full HD 240fps High Frame Rate, with no sensor cropping and low ensured by high frame rate cache recording at 10-bit 4:2:2 Full HD and light capabilities and background a high frame rate of up to 240 fps, in defocus are heightened by the high 8 second bursts, which makes 1/10 sensitivity and large sensor size. 14 stops of latitude in exposure deliver times Super Slow Motion possible strong grayscale rendition without without sacrificing bit depth or loss crushing shadows or blowing out of image quality. The PXW-FS5 light details. As mentioned earlier, is the first Super35 camcorder to the new camera is all about ease feature built-in electronic variable of connectivity too, something ND filters, further expanding the that Sony appears to have spent a depth of field representation by the great deal of time on getting right large-format sensor and enabling with those interfaces that include flexible exposure control. The compact power zoom E lens PZ 18- 3G-SDI, 4K HDMI output, MI shoe, dual SD card slots, Wi-Fi and wired 105mm F4 G OSS provided in the LAN terminal. All of this means that PXW-FS5K kit model also enables various system configurations are zoom operation with one hand. supported with ease, making it a However, the PXW-FS5’s E-mount great all-rounder for a host of tasks. can take virtually any lens, such as Elsewhere, the Clear Image Zoom SLR lenses via an adapter, as well feature allows users to zoom in at as Sony’s E-mount and A-mount up to 2x, even with a fixed focal lenses, ensuring the camera length lens. The PXW-FS5 will be adapts to multiple environments. available from November 2015 at The enhanced interfaces include £4,100 plus VAT for the body only 3G-SDI, HDMI output and dual version and £4,550 plus VAT with SD card slots and the camera is a supplied kit lens. Find out more also equipped with Wi-Fi and a about this amazing new model at wired LAN terminal. The PXWwww.sony.com/fs5 FS5 features enhanced network

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NEWS : NOVEMBER 2015

RED ALERT RED has unveiled the latest addition to its line of professional cameras, the RED Raven. Weighing in at just 3.5 lbs, RED Raven gives you flexibility and performance whether you’re shooting for documentaries, indie filmmaking, or with drones and gimbals. Pricing for RED Raven starts at $5,950 for the camera Brain only, with complete package options available for under $10,000.

The announcement reflects RED’s ongoing commitment to the belief that cinema-quality creative tools should not be in the hands of a few - they should be available to all professional shooters. The camera is equipped with a 4K RED Dragon sensor and is capable of recording Redcode Raw (R3D) in 4K at up to 120 fps and in 2K at up to 240 fps.

The Raven also offers incredible dynamic range, RED’s renowned colour science and is capable of recording Redcode Raw and Apple

CLOUD TIME

ProRes simultaneously, ensuring shooters get the best image quality possible in any format. The Raven will begin shipping in February 2016. Customers can choose to purchase the Brain only and build a kit that best fits their needs, or choose a complete package. The Base I/O Package offers everything content creators need to take their productions to the next level of image quality and professionalism, while the RED Raven Jetpack Package is designed for use with handheld gimbals, drones, jibs, and cranes. See our feature on page 78 for more on new RED developments and pay a visit to www.red.com

SMOOTH OPERATOR DJI has introduced the world’s first fully integrated, stabilised handheld 4K camera in the shape of the Osmo, which says the company is the first model of its type designed to create stable photos and videos in any conditions. Using DJI’s signature three-axis gimbal stabilisation technology, the Osmo eliminates the shake of traditional handheld devices, creating cinematic shots in an easy-to-use, easy-to-set up form factor. The modular format of the Osmo makes it fully compatible with DJI’s Zenmuse camera series, but as standard comes with a 4K, 12-megapixel camera with a 1/2.3-inch sensor and a 94-degree field-of-view lens.

Intelligent controls built into the handle make changing between shooting angles, capturing photos or recording video effortless.

Options includes a Panorama function that lets you take a picture and the camera will automatically

pan around 360-degrees. There’s also a Long Exposure feature that allows you to keep handheld longexposures crisp using the camera’s technology. Elsewhere, a Slow Motion feature lets you capture shots at 120 frames-per-second (fps) up to 1080p. The Osmo handle comes equipped with an on-board stereo microphone, as well as a 3.5mm audio jack for recording professional-quality external sound and a host of accessories are also available. The new camera is available for £549 as of now at store.dji.com

Eyefi has made it possible for videographers to choose a single app and cloud service to manage all the videos they shoot on every single camera they own. Now that Eyefi supports the latest Wi-Fi cameras from the leading manufacturers, there’s no need to use a mix of cameraspecific apps to transfer video to a computer. Instead, Eyefi’s smart apps automatically download videos and push them to Eyefi Cloud. “Eyefi works from the moment of capture, automatically transferring video regardless of which camera they originated,” said Matt DiMaria, Eyefi CEO. Find out more about the new service at www.eyefi.com

GET IN QUICK

British singer-songwriter James Bay wants you to create a short film inspired by his debut album Chaos And The Calm. Filmmakers are encouraged to submit a 1 to 2-minute trailer for the opportunity to be commissioned to create a 10-15-minute short and there’s a collection of prizes up for grabs too. Bay says “Your idea can range from a simple story with a few protagonists to something more abstract - if that’s what you’re feeling!” Filmmakers have until the 23rd of November at 6pm GMT to submit their entries. Find out the details at www.talenthouse.com

WHAT A HERO Action camera company GoPro has added yet another new model to its growing range in the shape of the Hero+. The latest offering is aimed at entry-level filmmakers on a budget and comes with a price tag of just £169.99 . You get 1080p/60fps one-touch recording plus Wi-Fi and Bluetooth, there’s the usual GoPro durability and it’s waterproof. Plus, there’s a GoPro mobile app that enables you to carry out Trim & Share operations while you’re on the go thanks to that aforementioned connectivity. www.gopro.com

SEEING RED RED had a busy IBC 2015 and released several new products including revolutionary live high dynamic range (HDR) output solution, the HDR-2084.

Available exclusively via the Redcast Module, HDR-2084 allows customers to see true real-time HDR images while they’re shooting. Designed to meet the leading HDR display standard, SMPTE 2084, HDR-2084 lets you harness the full spectrum of color without delay. Current Redcast Module owners will be able to take advantage of this new feature with a future EPIC Dragon and Scarlet Dragon firmware update.

MORE FROM RED Also on display were the newest additions to the OLPF family.

Standard OLPFs offer a versatile day-to-day shooting option that will give a natural colour rendition in a variety of lighting conditions.

Weapon camera owners will have the option to purchase the Standard OLPF as part of the intelligent design OLPF line-up, while Epic Dragon and Scarlet Dragon owners can purchase the DSMC Standard OLPF to integrate with their current swappable OLPF system.

Meanwhile, for Weapon owners, RED has added additional peripheral options including an enhanced EVF experience as well as a 4.7-inch touch LCD.

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IN IT TO WIN IT

Nikon has announced the return of the Nikon European Film Festival, in association with Raindance and, this year, director Asif Kapadia as Chair of the Jury. The contest challenges enthusiasts and film professionals alike to create a short film of up to 140 seconds in length around the theme ‘Everyday Moments’.

Entries can be submitted online from 13th October 2015 until 15th January 2016. Now in its second year, the Nikon European Film Festival builds on last year’s creative theme ‘A Different Perspective’ and asks filmmakers to submit films that turn an everyday moment into

GOING UP Top Teks has announced the addition of the 3DR Solo Quadcopter drone to its portfolio, which the company reckons is the world’s first smart drone featuring ease of use and powerful new features that will kick off a new aerial age. Apparently backed by Steven Spielberg and Richard Branson, this next generation smart drone is the ultimate tool for capturing professional aerial photos and video. The drone features four Smart Shot settings; Orbit, Cable Cam, Follow and Selfie, enabling you to capture all manner of shots at the touch of a button. Powered by two 1GHz computers it offers many world-first technologies and a host of built-in

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an original, compelling narrative.

The challenge will be in seeing the ordinary with new eyes and reflecting it in a fresh way.

Successful entries will take either the magic or mundanity of daily life and make it memorable on screen. The competition sees the return of previous award categories, including ‘Best Narrative’, for the best story told from a unique perspective and ‘Technical Excellence’, for the most creative use of kit. The Grand Prix prize, won last year by director Jagjeet Singh for ‘Voiceless – Stop the Bullies’, will be awarded to the entry which is outstanding in both areas. There will also be awards for the ‘Best Student Entry’ and the ‘People’s Choice’, the latter of which is based on individual likes and shares received on the Nikon Film Festival Hub. Dirk Jasper, Manager, Professional Products at Nikon Europe, said: “We’re delighted to be bringing back the Nikon European Film Festival, once again giving upcoming filmmakers across Europe the

safety and support features. The new model comes with unique controls such as push-button flight and the aforementioned computer assisted Smart Shots for the best and smoothest aerial photography experience imaginable. The Solo is also the only drone to offer full control of your GoPro at ranges of up to half a mile, as well as live video streaming in vivid HD directly to your mobile device.

A gimbal option is also available separately. www.topteks.com

opportunity to showcase their creative visions. Last year saw hundreds of great entries and we were hugely impressed with the quality of submissions.

Looking forward, we’re excited to learn how entrants respond to the new theme ‘Everyday Moments’. We are positive that this will offer a new range of creative possibilities, challenging entrants to create a unique story from daily occurrences that can be so easily overlooked.” The Grand Prix winner, as selected by the judges, will receive a Nikon D810 and an all-expenses-paid, one-week networking trip to the Cannes Film Festival in May 2016 as a special guest of Raindance.

A further two winners of the subcategories ‘Best Narrative’ and ‘Technical Excellence’ will receive a Nikon D750 Film Kit and 3,000 Euros prize money, while the ‘Best Student Entry’ will receive a Nikon D750 Film Kit and 2,000 Euros prize money. The filmmaker behind the ‘People’s Choice’ Award will receive a Nikon D750 Film Kit to capture future projects.

For more details and the entry criteria then head right on over to www.nikonfilmfestival.com

VOIGTLANDER VIDEO GLASS Lens-maker Voigtlander has announced a trio of videofriendly optics set for release in Spring of next year and which will be tailor made for direct mounting to models like the Sony A7S II, FS5 and FS7. The units will be able to be used on Sony E-mount cameras without an adapter and will cover an extreme wide-angle range including the 10 mm F 5,6 Hyper-Wide-Heliar, 12 mm F 5,6 Ultra-Wide-Heliar and 15 mm F 4,5 Super-Wide-Heliar.

‘While the 12 mm and 15 mm lenses are already available with a VM-Mount, the 10 mm focal length is completely new,’ says Voigtlander. ‘These extreme wide lenses are challenging so a fast and smooth communication between lens, camera and photographer is extremely important. If enabled the camera changes automatically in magnifying mode during focusing, which allows hightest accurancy. All lens-relevant data is transmitted to the camera. The selective aperture control system for full frame is used for the first time in these lenses - a vital feature for filmmakers.’ Find out more over at voigtlander.com

JVC GETS FIRM JVC has recently released a firmware 2.0 update for its 4K LS-300 Camcorder that includes J-LOG for free, which adds a host of new capabilities to the slightly quirky device. JVC log mode practically duplicates the look of film, plus there are new Cinema 4K and Cinema 2K recording modes, a unique Prime Zoom feature that uses the camera’s innovative technology to allow zoom capabilities when using prime lenses, and a histogram. “We listened to our customers and made sure this firmware upgrade delivered the features they wanted, as well as recording modes specifically designed for the 4K digital cinema market,”

said Craig Yanagi, manager of marketing and brand strategy, JVC Professional Video. “The GY-LS300 will also have the unique ability to use a prime lens as a zoom lens, which gives shooters even more shooting flexibility.” pro.jvc.com

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Add professional monitoring and recording to any SDI and HDMI camera with Blackmagic Video Assist!

Blackmagic Video Assist is the ultimate on set production monitor and recorder for any SDI or HDMI camera! The large bright 5 inch monitor lets you see your framing and ensure you get absolutely perfect focus! The built in recorder uses common SD cards and records extremely high quality 10-bit 4:2:2 ProRes or DNxHD files that are much better quality than most cameras can record and are compatible with all video software. Now it’s easy to add professional monitoring and recording to any camera!

On Set HD Monitor Blackmagic Video Assist has an extremely bright and sharp full HD 1920 x 1080 resolution display that’s much bigger than the tiny built in display found on most cameras. Mount it directly to your camera or use a longer cable so it can be hand held by the cinematographer for composing shots. You can even monitor Ultra HD sources!

Professional HD Recorder Now you can bypass the lossy compression used on most DSLR and video cameras! Blackmagic Video Assist records broadcast quality 10-bit 4:2:2 ProRes or DNxHD files onto high speed SD cards. Recording can be automatically triggered by camera start/ stop and the files are compatible with all leading editing and color correction software!

Fast Touchscreen Controls The built in monitor features a touchscreen to make setting up and using Blackmagic Video Assist incredibly easy! Use simple tap and swipe gestures to make adjustments, display camera information and evaluate audio levels and exposure. The elegant heads up display is semi transparent so you can still see your video at all times!

Broadcast Quality Connections Blackmagic Video Assist includes HDMI and 6G-SDI inputs so you can record from virtually any camera or DSLR. The HDMI and SDI video outputs means you get the ultimate hand held media player for viewing shots on set or presenting to clients. You also get a headphone jack, 12V power and two LP-E6 battery slots for non stop power!

Blackmagic Video Assist Includes DaVinci Resolve 12

£325*

www.blackmagicdesign.com/uk *SRP is Exclusive of VAT. Electronic Viewfinder, lens and accessories sold separately.

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17/10/2015 19:48

The long road

Jonathan Holbrook is the creator of creepy new film Customer 152 and explains here how the project came together after years spent honing his filmmaking career

“I have always been a fan of film and TV since I was a child,” says Jonathan Holbrook, who’s the brains behind a new project called Customer 152. The filmmaker has appeared in these pages before, with his just as eerie web series called Still. And, now that Customer 152 is here, it has allowed Holbrook to indulge in more of the stuff that got him started in the first place. “I have always been a creative type as I would always write stories and

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illustrate during my adolescent years. I started dabbling in photography in my junior year in high school. At 18 I watched every movie imaginable, as I was obsessed and not realising that I was a filmmaker in the making.

One night I was watching David Lynch’s film Blue Velvet, which in some strange way I really related to (the style and strange world building), and that is when a light went off. I thought to myself, ‘I can do this.’”

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Feature: The long road character’s nemesis. Keeping the talent and crew happy by ordering various pizzas, salads and sandwiches was my biggest job.”

Which Holbrook did, although it wasn’t easy to get a foothold in the business it seems… “Between 1987 and 1990 I had a hard time finding a way into the film industry in Texas,” reckons Jonathan. “I had no money and scrambled to pay for my apartment by working in a grocery store. Nothing was going for me until I called my father up in Seattle for a loan. He told me that the family had a small college fund for me and I should come up and take advantage of it. So I did.

“Going to Hollywood or New York was the only choice in the early 90s to work on your film career” I moved to Seattle and enrolled into a film and video course at the community college. I never received a degree, but learned the ins and outs of production, which I needed to know to move forward as a filmmaker. I shot several shorts and a feature on Super VHS as that what was available to me and the cheapest thing to hand. I found a way to get some kind of camera in my hands to hone in on my skills as a filmmaker.”

Moving forwards “Years later it was really getting discouraging as my ‘film career’ was going nowhere,” adds Jonathan on how that early progress was slow to say the least. “Going to Hollywood or New York was the only choice in the early 90s to work on your film career and that was not an option for me. I loved where I lived. I got full-time jobs in warehouses and

Curious tales “I originally produced Customer 152 in 2003,” says Jonathan on how the project started out. “I worked for a courier service at the time and asked several of my co-workers, whom I thought could possibly act, if they would like to make a film. It took us a year to finish and put it into film festivals, which received a couple of accolades and a month

delivery jobs, which was steering me further away from film. In 1996, I found an opportunity to take an extension course in Film Production at the University of Washington where I would work with industry professionals and really get my hands dirty with 16mm film. Right at that time, non-linear editing was coming into play and so I learned how to digitise 16mm and edit with Media 100 editing software. Years later I founded Chronicle factory, in which I have since produced several shorts and the awardwinning series called Still under that company name.”

So has his vocation turned into a full-time gig now then? “I have a full-time job as a delivery driver for a construction company,” says Jonathan. “It’s a great job because Seattle traffic really sucks so there is a lot of thinking time for scripts. I usually film on the weekends, which makes it a very expensive and time consuming hobby. In the case of this latest project then I am the writer, producer and director for Customer 152. I shot most of the film, unless I was in front of the camera, and editing is performed by me as well. I also play one of the Tall Men who are the main of fame in the local area where we shot it. Then I threw it on the shelf as I really wasn’t very happy with the outcome. I was very limited on resources to make the film the way I wanted. Then, in November of 2014, I was taking a break from the Still series, and I was itching to do something new. I thought of doing Customer 152 again but this time the way it should have been done. I felt it was a film with great potential and I didn’t want the idea to die. Throughout the years I had networked plus met great people

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time around, it took me a month or so, considering I didn’t have the physical script to go off, so I had to watch the movie and rewrite as I listened. After that, I went back and added more scenes and characters the way I wanted it to be.”

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on the set of the Still series. I approached Dave Shecter, my best friend and co-executive producer/actor of Still, and asked if he would like to do a feature while we took a break from Still. He didn’t hesitate and said, ‘Let’s do it!’ I already had the screenplay but needed to add new characters and creatures to the movie. As soon as I finished it, we had our first production meeting last February.”

Still was an eerie piece of work and so are we to expect a similar theme from this project too?

“Customer 152 is a horror film about Terrence Mackleby, a somewhat challenged man who receives a mysterious black credit card in the mailbox,” Jonathan elaborates. “He purchases a car and bad things start happening to Terrence. He is stalked by tall faceless men in business suits who look like they just crawled out of a crypt. There are also a few demons and ghosts. It’s really creepy with oddly entertaining characters. All the actors in the film just clicked with their characters. Dan Crisafulli plays Terrence who is seen in 90 per cent of the film and we definitely picked the right guy for the job. He carried the film all the way to the end. The first time I wrote the film, it took me a few months. The second

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Driving the project has been the convenience of being able to use crew that he already knew by the sound of it… “Most of the people I met on Still followed me to Customer 152 so it is basically the same crew,” agrees the filmmaker. “In the past, I used to do everything behind the scenes.

Near the end of Season one of Still, Richard Garcia came on board as assistant director for a couple of episodes. He works a lot with the background artists as he is one too. This time around he came on as production manager/AD. His experience was working on the Lone Ranger, The Avengers and The Librarians, so he really helps

with hunting, scheduling extras and directing the extras. As for the kit, then we used a couple of Canon 5D Mark IIs with 20 and 28mm prime lenses and a 24-75mm lens.

Most of the lighting in the daytime was natural lighting with a couple

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Feature: The long road of soft boxes and diffusers. At night we used Lowel lights for bold shadows, giving the film a Noir look. Needless to say, a few unplanned things happened along the way. For example, it was one week before we started production and the homeowner of the house we were going to shoot 80 per cent of the film in had a plumbing issue. A pipe upstairs was leaking water, which ran from the ceiling and down a wall, destroying the drywall and paint. That obviously had to get fixed so we were set back a month. However, other than that, things ran pretty smooth.”

And that’s even with the bulk of the project being shot on location, right? “Everything was shot on location, yes,” agrees the filmmaker. “The house I mentioned is owned by a good friend, Katrina Walker. I have shot several things in her house in the past with other projects but not to this extent. Customer 152 was to be shot mostly in the house, which I had to explain to my friend. However, it took absolutely no effort to convince her to let us use her house.

She loves to show it off and

“Money went towards food, makeup and costumes.

All the locations were donated”

see it on film. It is one of the original houses built in Everett, Washington so it was obviously old with a little creepy appeal to it. The interior design of the house was done by Katrina as well. She is an avid painter and collector of gothic and Americana antique furniture, which definitely made the house have its own character in the film. I will hand

it to Katrina that not too many homeowners are like her where they would let a film crew of 10 to 15 people come in and work 15 hour days each weekend for three months. Other locations were found in the same manner.

I asked my friend, Brett, who owns a print shop in the same town. I asked if he would let me use his creepy storage basement for a few weekends.

Without hesitation he handed me the keys to the building. It really helps to have friends who see your passion and want to help. You really find out who your friends are when you do something like this.

There was one location that was a challenge to find and

took a couple months during production to find it. That’s when I asked the talent and crew if they knew of a house we could use for the character, Lucy, who is Terrence’s love interest.

Our hairdresser, Maile Hudson stepped up and said she had an old creepy house too. She sent me pictures, I loved it and we were shooting at the location a week later. Our AD, Richard, owns a bus that he turned into an RV. I also needed a location for another character, Lee, which is also played by Richard. So I actually wrote the bus into the script. All in all, everything just worked out.”

Reality check Considering Jonathan has created the project in his spare time it sounds well-planned

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and very professional, which is something underlined when he looks back on the making of Customer 152. “There really weren’t many challenges,” reckons the filmmaker. “We really plan things out and the whole talent and crew are on the same wavelength. We worked on other Chronicle Factory projects together so we all understand each other along with the vision. During our production meetings we put all the cards on the table, so there are no surprises. If there are issues then we take care of it, plain and simple. There is no drama on the set except in the lens. I originally found all the actors on internet call boards for Still, or I had worked with them on other past projects.

The only actor I had not worked with before Customer 152 was Dan Crisafulli who plays the lead, Terrence. I don’t like to hold auditions but one-on-one interviews. Firstly, when an actor responds to our casting calls, I ask them to send me the typical headshot and resume. I prefer to see a reel of their work

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“During our production meetings we put all the cards on the table, so there are no surprises”

through the door we knew he was the guy. I talked to him a bit about the Terrence character and asked Dan to do a small bit and play him. After Dan left the office, we all thought the same thing, ‘Holy shit!!! It’s Terrence!’

I was stoked. All the characters

in Customer 152 are definitely unique. I wanted the characters who were Terrence’s friends and peers to be misfits and definitely be unique in their own way. Sort of like the ‘Little Rascals’ stuck in adult bodies. Kay Whitney, who plays Lucy, had to be very misfitlike, but beautiful at the same time. Kay is really cute and you immediately like her character.

Lee, played by Richard Garcia, is the James Dean wannabe and best friend to Terrence. There is one character named Edith, played

by Jennifer Angelucci-Medina, who is another beautiful actress we transformed into a worn

too as that is when I generally see what they have done and if I think they might be able to play the type of character I want.”

Which in this particular case worked out pretty well all things considered… “Dan didn’t necessarily have a large demo reel but when I saw his headshot, he definitely had the look I was visualizing Terrence to be,” agrees Jonathan.

“I asked him to come and meet with me and the other producers. Once he walked

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Feature: The long road out, sleep deprived conspiracy theorist. When she first appears in her scene, she steals the show. I think the audience will become a big fan of this character.

There really are too many actors to talk about who really bring on their game in this film.”

Slim pickings Jonathan and his cohorts are also seasoned professionals when it comes to working with little in the way of funds, and this project was no different…

“Dave Shecter and I took the cash from our pockets and spent less than $3,000 on Customer 152,” chuckles the filmmaker. “Money went towards food, make-up and costumes.

All the locations were donated and the actors volunteered to make a fun movie. We did not need any rental equipment since I owned it all, including the postproduction studio in my home.

We’ve already wrapped the

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Feature: The long road

production end of it, which took from February to early August and we are currently in post.

We all sacrificed our summer weekends working 15 hour days (sometimes 18-20). By the end of October, we plan to have it in the can. It looks really good and I am extremely happy with it. Dave and Richard have seen what I did so far in post and love it. We are all very excited about it. Post is the most fun part as that’s when you see it come together. We are also in the process of designing the posters, which requires the main actor to come back and pose for it.”

So for a project that was short on funds Customer 152 was definitely not short on enthusiasm from the cast and crew. Is there anything he’d would do differently next time around? “Not really,” ponders the filmmaker. “I had been planning for a year or so before going into production on the remake. We all really thought it out and had a fantastic team. We had a lot of time to get what we wanted. After Customer 152 is finished, we will start production this winter on a horror short called Inside Outer. This is a

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film I had already written back in film school and was shoved into a drawer. Just a few months ago, I came across it while cleaning... my wheels started to turn and I called Dave. A month later we started getting material for the set and finding props and costumes on the internet.

This project is going to be a fun challenge as this is the first time I have built a set for one of my productions. This film is set in a

“We all really thought it out and had a fantastic team. We had a lot of time to get what we wanted”

dystopian, steampunk-type of world, so we needed to create the atmosphere from scratch.

Not only is Dave Shecter my best friend and co-producer, but he is also my neighbour who has

a huge shop on his property, so that will be our sound stage.

One of our other buddies, Bruce Weech, is a co-producer from Still as well and he is bringing his set building experience to the table. I think Inside Outer is in good hands. As for Customer 152, everybody involved with this project feels that it’s going to be a greatly entertaining film. It’s scary, weird, funny and even comes with a little bit of romance. It’s a fun film.

The bottom line is, in order for a producer/director to make a good film it’s crucial to get the right people on board who will make you look really good. You can go to www.Customer152. com to stay updated and learn more about this film.” ■

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Never ending journey Filmmaker Jim Kroft takes us through the process of making his Journeys documentary series that homes in on world travel and his own experiences along the way…

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My own journey into filmmaking has been leftfield; a result of hard work, luck, and the good fortune to live in an age where great technology trickles down to the ‘prosumer. This article is an exploration of the personal growth that comes with working in challenging environments, the importance of attempting to do things which initially feel impossible, and the accelerated professional development that comes from setting high goals.

My working life is currently balanced between film work and music - but my history is as a musician. Having moved to Berlin in 2007, I made my way through the underground and

have the money to make as many of them as I would have liked. And, as social media grew, the need for the creation of ‘content’ similarly increased. So I began my film journey using the elementary tools of an old DV camcorder, iMovie and plenty of YouTube tutorials!

“My filmmaking career is defined by choosing to press record and seeing what happens” eventually signed with EMI. But, I had always made many of my own music videos, although as an independent artist I did not

Changing fortunes In 2013, Universal took over EMI and I, along with many other artists, lost my deal. I was hugely grateful that my filmmaking career had by this stage developed into a second career, and I had a stable filming job with a Berlin company called Artistdock. After losing the deal, I had more time, and I needed

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Feature: Never ending journey In my heart though, I remained a musician. And, in the periods between jobs, I was writing songs which I believed to be my best material. However, I was burnt goods in the record industry having lost my deal. But I’m

“The mantra of the project became: one man, one guitar, one camera”

to earn more money. I worked hard. If there is one thing I can say it is that work creates work. Doing an online video for a local coffee shop led to a job with Reebok. Shooting videos for independent musicians led to music videos for Universal and Virgin. From there corporate work became a part of my bread and butter, from PayPal to Laphroaig Whiskey. People are sometimes sniffy about doing unpaid work. All I can say is that my filmmaking career is defined by the act of choosing to press record and seeing what happens. Every proactive decision has led to the next development.

independently-minded in spirit, any you can’t wait around for the world to tell you that you’re good enough to write a song or create a film. You just have to damn well do it. It was at this point that my Journeys project formed. I greatly wanted to fuse my filmmaking skills with my musical career.

And I knew that I wanted the challenge of making a longer form documentary. I had nothing to lose, a lot of skills to bring to the table and, most of all, a willingness to learn. It was at this point that two ‘eureka’ moments happened. Firstly, I realised that I had all the tools necessary within me. The mantra of the project became: one man, one guitar, one camera. Secondly, life did me a favour when a Chinese booking agency invited me to tour China. So I grabbed my guitar and camera and set off.

Unfolding story Like most projects, Journeys has evolved with each day. However, it started with a guy grabbing his gear and sweating profusely

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by the time he had left his flat. I was setting out to China with my trusted camera bag, my guitar, my merchandise, as well as my personal belongings. If at that point I had really realised how many miles I was to carry all that gear - on the trains, planes and buses of China… well, I would have turned back and got right back into bed! On this occasion forgive me for quoting the cliche ‘the journey of a 1000 miles begins with a single step’, but it’s damn near true dear Lao Tzu! Journeys has since evolved

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“We shot one of the most special scenes culminating in commuters dancing on a bus” into a six-part documentary series, with each episode being an hour long. Making the first episode has been both the most challenging experience of my life and the most fulfilling. Every day

it seemed to say – ‘I don’t want to get made… but I must’. The most important thing has been to take every single moment of the process step-by-step. Yes, huge problems have occurred, including nearly losing the

documentary. But it has got made. And that is something that I believe… that when you have a clear vision, and are motivated, life finds ways to help you. I am a one-man shooting team, but I am also a musician. I played 57 shows in China and East Africa. Many times when I wanted to be in front of the camera I was behind and vice versa. But at the right moments, magic happened.

I love the writing of Joseph Campbell, and at times angels

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Feature: Never ending journey the Canon 5D for my next journey this winter through Russia. It is too expensive to lose as a B-camera, and when you are traveling with so much gear, too heavy in comparison to some of the alternatives available. Though I love it as a photography camera, but I do miss the possibilities afforded by the greater dynamic range of the A7s when it comes to

and helpers have arrived on this project. In Beijing the British DOP Paul Morris turned up on my doorstep in the Hutongs with a C300 and we shot one of the most special scenes culminating in commuters dancing on a bus after the conductor offered the stop announcer a microphone. If you allow it to, life will help you.

“On the China trip I went with my two best cameras - the Sony A7s and the Canon 5D MK III” Kit considerations On the equipment side, I have one rule and that is that all my shooting gear has to fit into my trusted Lowepro backpack.

When you have so little space

every single inch counts, and your choices are critical. The first, and major point, is of course cameras. Without doubt you have to have a back-up camera. On the China trip I went with my two best cameras - the Sony A7s and the Canon 5D MK III. I love both cameras, but halfway through my second Journey - through East Africa, I realised that I was literally never using the 5D. Why?

Because it is bigger and says ‘money’. The absolute beauty of the A7s is the very thing that many complain about - its tiny form factor. It looks like a consumer camera, and nobody, from the slums of Kampala to the skyscrapers of Chongqing has ever looked threateningly towards me with it. I believe that this is due to luck and the form factor of the A7s.

As a result I will be retiring

grading. The other issue with the 5D is it doesn’t cut it for sound. The video mic pro just doesn’t compare to using the Sony XLR K2M hotshoe adaptor for the A7s. It’s expensive, but what a bit of gear! And, ultimately, if you are shooting a documentary series, you have to make the calls as much in terms of your audio, as your

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look. I know with Canon there is the Magic Lantern option, but honestly, I am not interested in slowing my post-production workflow down with Raw, or 4K for that matter. And because Journeys is a six part series, I also just have to be careful with the disk capacity. I have to guard my budget very carefully.

On average I shoot 1TB for each hour long episode, but on top of that backing up is essential.

There’s one done ‘in house’ as a daily back up and the second at a friend’s house in case of a robbery, fire or water damage.

But, conservatively, the project will eventually be 40TB’s after everything is factored in.

Filming options I know there is a lot of buzz about 4K at the moment. But, the first Journeys episode was recently premiered at Il Kino in Berlin, and the full HD image

“I have to say that I have been blown away by the technology in this little camera” looked stunning. With the scale of the project, HD just works in terms of workflow and disc space. At this point, cost and workflow are my priorities.

Slow motion is an important

creative tool on this project. It was, in fact, one of the reasons that I originally bought the Sony A7s - even though the slow motion is 720p. Since the

RX100 IV came out, I could not resist the opportunity to get my hands on 250fps at a fraction under 1080p. And, of course, continuous slow motion at 120fps. I have to say that I have been blown away by the technology in this little camera, and it will be a greatly welcome companion on my Russian journey! Some people find that the small burst mode on the RX

100IV limiting but I think this is actually helpful as you have to make a creative choice with your shots - and again - you save endless disk space by not shooting continuously!

My greatest concern while traveling is getting my gear stolen. Especially losing the

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Feature: Never ending journey

you bear witness to a special environment when meeting a country’s activists, musicians and filmmakers. And, of course, within the shooting process is my own journey of artistic renewal. All I know is that the songs I have written won’t fulfil whatever little destiny they have by sitting on my hard drive.

The vision I had for Journeys would not be fulfilled if I had

ability to shoot when you are in a remote area. What I love about the RX100 IV is that it can just live in your pocket regardless of what happens. Yes, I wish it had a hotshoe for the XLR K2M. Yes, I wish it had an input for a mic. But I am rolling as a oneman team, and every decision is defined by a compromise. And I’ll take that 250fps and pocket 4K because it won’t - like my 5D - just live in my bag as a B camera. Of course, these are all comments based on a one-man team and what it is physically possible to carry! My best shooting choice in China and Africa was about the form factor of the A7s. I cannot express how many magical things happened because I was not using an FS7 or C300! The fact is that in documentary work your movie will be defined not by your camera choice. It is defined by the magic you capture.

People are often camera shy and this increases at the more remote locations you go to.

Magic always happens in that space between two human beings. How can you capture that intimacy with someone you have just met? It is an art form.

“The steps we take ultimately define our life path, who we are and our future” Of course, it is about making people comfortable, but much more than that, it is about whether this person will invite you - and the camera - to share

their moment. With the A7s you have the ability to make the camera a part.

Little details The China documentary was unscripted. It was a leap of faith. Journeys is not about going out with a conventional documentary approach and agenda. It is about gauging the temperature of a country and of its people. I believe in the arts, and I believe that

turned around and walked back into my flat because my gear felt too heavy. Work creates work, but more importantly, the steps we take ultimately define our life path, who we are and our future. Sometimes you just have to press record and see what happens. ■ www.jimkroft.com

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ALLGUNS

BLAZING One of the most appealing things about making your own films is the control factor it gives you. If you want, and have the ability to multi-task, you can pretty much take charge of a production from beginning to end and, let’s face it, that’s what many of us do – usually through necessity brought on by a lack of funds.

So, what better way to take this philosophy a little bit further and create your very own production company, which is exactly what actor Mark Noyce has done since we last saw him in the magazine when he was promoting one of his earlier films. “I’ve been working on

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a few projects and since we last spoke I’ve launched my own film production company called Happy Pup Films,” he confirms. “We’re building up a good team and are mostly focusing on feature film production.

What made him decide to start a production company? “I coproduced a comedy a few years back called On The Ropes,” says Mark. “It was a joint production venture and I worked very closely with a production company and had an opportunity to be exposed and involved in every aspect of the production process. It wasn’t something I’d ever really

Mark Noyce is an actor and filmmaker who has been moving on in leaps and bounds since starting his own production company and focusing on the creation of feature films

considered before, but I found it extremely rewarding and satisfying and also felt it was something I was pretty good at. At the time I’d written a couple of scripts and was in meetings with various production companies about taking them further, so it all sort of fell into place.”

Control factor Making a conscious decision to handle the production of projects makes a lot of sense and does he prefer to have control of the reigns so to speak? “I like to have control over the projects I get involved in,” reckons the filmmaker. “And

also, when it comes to scheduling everything it makes life easier if I have a say and overall visibility of these things. I wouldn’t say I’m a control freak and will often pass on responsibilities to other members of the production team, but I do like to know where we are with everything and know that things are getting done correctly. It’s probably more for my own piece of mind, but I think being involved in all areas does help bring everything together more smoothly and also allows you to be better prepared for any potential issues that may arise. It isn’t too different from starting your own company in

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Feature: All guns blazing

different distribution methods, which is exciting but also treading new ground for us so I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t a tad nervous.

What about the creative aspect – presumably that could be much more fruitful as a result? “Absolutely,” enthuses

other industries as far as I’m aware.

You need a solid plan of where you want to go and, obviously, an idea on how you expect to achieve it.

It has allowed me to take control over the productions we take on and also the part I personally play in each one. Producing a film is a long process and you should be excited and inspired by the final product, by having control over the projects Happy Pup Films get involved in allows me to ensure they are ones that will continue to keep myself and the team enthusiastic throughout the entire production process.”

Money matters Does it make good business sense too? “I’m hoping so,” says Mark.

“But it is still very early days for us, so time will eventually tell.

The way films are being delivered and make money seems to be in a state of change and I think it is becoming increasingly more important to remain flexible. With digital distribution and streaming

“It’s a comedy/ thriller with quite a few nods to other films and influential directors” services growing by the week I think it’s a very interesting time, but it also feels a little unsettled.

I still enjoy walking into a local store and picking up a physical copy of a film, but I fear this is something which is becoming less common, particularly for lower budget independent features and films that could be considered less mainstream. Over the next couple of films we intend to try some

characters. This approach not only feels like I’m being exposed to more of the creative aspects of the process, but also makes it easier when it comes to filming.

Being the writer and producer also means that I’m aware of budget constraints and filming costs, so this is something I’ll often consider when writing, which I’m sure is frustrating for anyone I

the filmmaker. “I’m in a fortunate position that I’m extremely grateful for in that I can write and be involved in the production process.

What this enables me to do is when I’m writing a script I’m also thinking of how the shot would look and how we might film it.

For The Influenced project, while I was writing I was also making notes of the shot I envisaged and also had actors in mind for certain

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co-write with. The idea of having 20 Lamborghini’s hurtling through the city while being chased by 10 helicopters might sound great when putting it down on paper, but I’m always battling with the other voice in my head which is saying ‘can you really afford to do that?’.

Making waves So what has the company done so far? “We are just about to wrap on our first solo project,” says Mark. “It’s a feature film called The Blazing Cannons, which is scheduled for release later next year. It’s a comedy/thriller with quite a few nods to other films and influential directors. The film is about a couple of 1970’s obsessed cops who are on the hunt for a serial killer. The film is set in modern day, but the two protagonists are infatuated with TV shows and films from the 70’s like Dirty Harry and The Professionals, so have a very warped view of reality and a rather flattering opinion of themselves. It’s been an incredibly interesting one to shoot as it can be considered cross genre, by that I mean it’s a comedy

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“I like to know where we are with everything and know that things are getting done correctly” film but some of the scenes are extremely dark and take on a very horror like feel. I wanted it to look like a 1970’s horror in certain scenes, so I’ve been watching a lot of things like Hammer horror

films and Hitchcock’s Psycho. One minute our director of photography is filming a comedy scene and the next we are in a dark room lit with candles blocking a shot with someone getting their ear cut off.

It felt at times that we were making two completely different films.”

And what other projects are in the pipeline? “Principal photography is scheduled to start in May on the The Influenced, a horror with an all-female lead cast.

It’s a very dark film and I’m still making changes to the script. I’ve

had quite a few sleepless nights since I started writing it, and for research I began watching a lot of documentaries on serial killers and reading about their cases.

For someone who has an over active imagination and doesn’t sleep well at the best of times I wouldn’t say this helped me much.

Following that, Keeping It Up is another comedy about an ageing adult pornographic actor who is struggling to remain relevant in the industry and highlights his daily battles with what else he can do with his life. It has some really funny moments but also a few sentimental bits too, I love those comedies that can have you laughing out loud one minute, suddenly hit you with a sad moment then, just before you start to feel too bad, have you laughing again. We are also working on the script for the feature film Benny, a film on the life of the much-loved comic actor Benny Hill. I’ve always been a huge Benny Hill fan and have recently had the opportunity to speak to some of his close friends and former work colleagues about the content and they’ve

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Feature: All guns blazing changes to what I believe is a really strong script. I’m thoroughly looking forward to starting work on this one again.”

Team tactics

told me a few stories. Another project we have, which I know we’ve discussed before is This Is Jayde: The One Hit Wonder, a comedy film I co-wrote with Shaun Williamson (best known as Barry from Eastenders and Ricky Gervais’ Extras) who also stars. This is now being produced

by Happy Pup Films. We shot some test footage for this a while back and have since made a few

By way of example then perhaps Mark can walk us through a couple of the projects and explain how the process works? “Some can be approached slightly differently,” says the filmmaker.

“But if I take This Is Jayde: The One Hit Wonder as an example, it started life as a character idea.

When I write I like to have strong characters developed and then consider the kind of situations they may find themselves involved in and develop it from there. If you’ve got the central characters refined I find it personally helps me to write, particularly when it comes to the dialogue. The Blazing Cannons was similar in approach and the two central characters were developed at a

“If you’ve got the central characters refined I find it personally helps me to write” very early stage, but where this differed slightly was I knew how I wanted the film to look and feel very early on and this had an influence on the story too.

Typically, once a script is complete I like to get actors to do a reading.

This is where you’ll see the story and particularly the characters come to life, very early on in the reading it can become quite apparent as to whether it works or flows correctly. The response from the actors can provide good feedback too. If it’s a comedy and people are laughing while trying to deliver the dialogue, I normally take that as a good sign.

The next part of the process is possibly the least enjoyable and without doubt the least creative and that is working out whether you genuinely have something you can sell. Is it financially viable and will a distributor pick it up? If you

are making films for fun or practice that is fine and shorts are great for this, but feature films cost money and can take a considerable amount of time to produce, so entering the production phase shouldn’t be taken lightly. I’m not saying that to put people off either, but once you start filming and getting other people involved I believe you should see the project through and that means trying to get it out there. If you can’t do that I think you should reconsider beginning filming, unless everyone in the production is aware of the risks and that they are working on something which may not be released or even worse completed.”

Solid advice Is working in this way suited to anyone - in short, can anyone do it? “You need to be well organised and also very selfdisciplined,” reckons Mark. “If you aren’t then you’ll probably struggle. I regularly see filmmakers announce new film projects and they’ll do a nice poster, set up a lovely website, Twitter, Facebook page and

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Moving forwards

possibly even shoot a trailer. Then nothing, because what happens is you run into a problem, and more often than not you’ll run into several problems. Unfortunately, this is where a lot of filmmakers will lose interest and sometimes even announce their next idea while giving up on the last one.”

Does it help to have a bulging contacts book? “It never hurts to make contacts,” adds the filmmaker. “However, I don’t like to become too reliant on it and although working with the same team has its advantages I do like to involve new people in our projects.”

Did he call in any favours to get things up and running? “Not really,” says Mark. “It’s a difficult thing to ask advice about and everyone you speak to appears to have a different opinion on things.

The only time I’ve really asked for help was on my first feature and I needed some advice on how to approach getting a distribution deal in place. Before I even started filming On The Ropes I wanted to get a distribution deal in place, because I didn’t want the film to go unseen. As an actor I can totally appreciate how frustrating it is to work on a film only for it to never be released,

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particularly when people start to ask ‘when can I watch that film you were in?’ I also found that by having a distribution deal in place made it easier to attract actors and crew and also helped people feel like they were working on something real that everyone would benefit from.”

“It never hurts to make contacts.

However, I don’t like to become too reliant on it”

What then has been the reaction from other filmmakers so far? “It isn’t something I’ve given a lot of thought to or taken much notice of if I’m honest,” reckons Mark.

“Like everything, I’m sure there are people who are really pleased for us and we’ll undoubtedly have people who aren’t. It isn’t something that will concern me either way.”

And how is it ultimately shaping his current and future projects?

“I’ve set out to do projects that I find interesting,” adds the filmmaker. “And therefore feel other people will, but generally if it’s an idea I like and I can get interest from distribution and they think it is something we can sell then I run with it. Obviously you have to know when to listen to other people, but at the same time if you have a gut feel for something and logistically it can be done then why not give it a go? I’m not the sort of person to let other people dissuade me from doing something I really believe in, if I was I’d have never made my first film. I’m keen to collaborate with other filmmakers and Happy Pup Films is a company that is very open-minded and able to grow.

I’d like to bring in other producers, writers and directors and I know I’ve spoken to you about this before, but I believe collaboration between independent filmmakers is vital and beneficial to everyone. I don’t see anyone else or any other company as competition as there’s

room for us all to exist in this business.”

Does Mark have all of his own equipment or does stuff like kit come under individual production budgets? “When I started Happy Pup Films I invested pretty heavily in equipment,” says Mark. “I did consider renting as and when we required the kit, but for the actual cameras, lenses, lighting and sound recording equipment I felt it would be better to have our own.

It certainly helps with scheduling too as availability of equipment is one less thing to worry about.

Additional bits such as extra lenses and rigs will come under individual production budgets. For example, we recently required a green screen set up for a shot in The Blazing Cannons, it came out of the budget for that but it is something we now have for future productions to use, so over time we’ll continue to build up our equipment list.”

Good formula So take us through The Blazing Cannons and how that has benefitted from this approach.

“Because we already had the equipment and also my crew are familiar with our kit we were able to get stuck into production relatively quickly,” enthuses the filmmaker. “We are using Canon C300’s, a camera our DOP is very comfortable with, and the production cost was reduced because when we put together a kit list we had around 90 per

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Feature: All guns blazing

“We are using Canon C300’s, a camera our DOP is very comfortable with”

cent of it already. I mentioned the green screen and we also needed a couple of additional lenses for a few shots.”

What have been the pros so far? Any cons as such? “Having creative control is without doubt a big plus for me,” reckons Mark. “But also having a say in scheduling and technical aspects is something that’s important for me too. The negative side of that is the workload it can create and also the responsibility that comes with it. But, like they say, you can’t have everything so I’ve got no complaints and the satisfaction that

comes from doing a good job and achieving something you’re proud of far exceeds the less enjoyable moments when I’m up all night putting a storyboard and shot list together. Although, if you ask me that again at 3:00 in the morning you might get a different answer.”

You have worked as an actor too obviously, so has this helped you with producing and directing?

“Definitely, particularly directing,” adds Mark. “A director should really communicate with the actors and I think having been in their shoes I can understand the importance of this and hopefully

help bring the best out in them and their performance. I’ve been on-set before where you aren’t getting much feedback from the director and, although that might be a good thing, it’s nice to know whether what you’re doing is working or whether you should be changing something slightly.”

Tough call All well and good, but as we mentioned at the start, doing it all yourself can be a challenge often brought about by limited resources.

So is it difficult directing and acting?

“This is something I have found difficult,” admits the filmmaker. “I know people manage to do it and I’ve taken on both roles on two features now (On The Ropes and The Blazing Cannons), but it can be extremely challenging. As a director I want to be able to see everything

that is going on, some directors may not take or need this approach, but I like to see what is being filmed and ensure it matches the storyboard.

Please let me stress that this isn’t down to not trusting my DOP, it could be that my storyboard and shot list isn’t clear and something can be misinterpreted, or that a particular shot doesn’t quite work as I’d planned and we need to make changes. If I’m in front of the camera as an actor then these things can easily be missed, it is also harder to direct actors when you are acting with them because you can become so engrossed in your own personal performance and you aren’t seeing the bigger picture.”

How does he plan to make that easier for himself moving forwards? “For The Influenced I’m focusing purely on directing,” adds Mark in closing. “I’ve got a clear vision of how it will look and need to work closely with the DOP and actors to achieve it, so I won’t be acting in this one. This is something I’ll probably be doing more of in the future.” ■ www.facebook.com/ HappyPupFilms twitter.com/happypupfilms

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BACK T

BASICS Peter Kane is the filmmaker behind The Gamekeeper, a feature that has been shot for a paltry three grand on a humble little Canon 600D

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There’s nothing like stripping this whole filmmaking business back to basics and creating a feature that relies on no frills but a healthy dose of imagination. The end result in this case is The Gamekeeper, which has been developed by filmmaker Peter Kane who directed the work. The premise is pretty straightforward while the kit list for the shoot is even more simplistic. “I used a Canon 600D to shoot on,” says Peter.

“And for one scene a Sanyo Pocket camera due to the battery on the Canon running

out. I used an 18-55mm lens for the majority of the shoot and for a several scenes used a 50mm. For one scene I used a 70-300mm lens. For the mic we used a Rode. Before we could afford that all we used was an H1 Zoom sound recorder. I’d never shot using a Canon 600D before as I’d previously just used mini DV camcorders. It’s been a learning curve, especially

“I wrote the first draft of The Gamekeeper in two weeks in February of 2010 to know which lenses to use for what scenes. Ideally, for future shoots, I’d like someone else to do the camerawork so I can concentrate on solely directing.

The theme of the film, meanwhile, is similarly stripped down as Peter goes on to explain… “Missing in action, a soldier hides as a Gamekeeper working on a rich eccentric’s land. However, the Gamekeeper is not just missing in action; he has a secret stolen from a military base in Afghanistan.

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Feature: Back to basics While the Gamekeeper is trying to keep a low profile he tries to keep at bay teenage trespassers, but he doesn’t just see teenagers trying to have a good time on his bosses land, he sees the enemy. With two military policemen on his trail time is running out...”

Taking charge While Peter directed the feature he, as you’d expect, ended up doing a lot of other jobs on the shoot too. “I’m the writer and director of The Gamekeeper,” he explains. “But I also coproduced it alongside Jimmy Hagri and Mark Armstrong while also being co-editor alongside Graham Wade. Richard Jefferson also came on board and has helped us with marketing he got us our first magazine interview in March or April last year. Mark Armstrong also acted as assistant location manager for two key locations - the two key locations shot in the desert and a turkey shed. Before production began I sort of gave myself the title executive in charge of production as I planned most of the shoot. However, during the course of the production Mark Armstrong and Jimmy Hagri helped me with this. It’s a full feature film though and it came about due to a visit to a private estate with two others I was to be running a film company with -

this did not happen for various reasons. We had four features we wanted to make and could shoot them all on various parts of the estate. The person showing us about stated to watch out for the gamekeeper as he could shoot on sight.

That’s how I remember it, although he may possibly have said something else as the gamekeeper was around the estate shooting Grouse. Safe to say we are all still alive!!

So I wrote the first draft of The Gamekeeper in two weeks in February of 2010 after going through a creative streak on the back of writing another screenplay I wrote called Outbreak Z - which was a mix of a screenplay in progress and a short film I made. The original

“The Gamekeeper is not just missing in action; he has a secret stolen from a military base”

draft was about 70 pages - I then went back to it over the next few years and the final film is from the fourth draft, which became 90 pages. I absolutely love writing screenplays. I have about three different screenplays on the go at the minute, which I know I shouldn’t do but I’m hoping they’ll turn out really well and we can add them to the slate of films we’d like to produce.

Thinking big Peter had grand designs for this latest project but ended up seeing the whole feature project through and finishing

it up as is. “I wanted to sell the screenplay,” he furthers.

“However, I met an actor called Jimmy Hagri through my girlfriend and he wanted the part. We then arranged a man date over 10 or 12 pints of ale. We got on really well and wanted to achieve the same things. I think we are really lucky to have the team we have as they bring so much to the table.

I originally saw the character of The Gamekeeper as a role for Tamer Hassan or Terry Stone however, I can’t imagine anyone else in that role. I still like to make short films and I’ve a couple of in mind to shoot but I’m not sure where I’m going to get the time from! As well as directing, I was cameraman and director of photography.

Jimmy Hagri and Paul GillonMcFarlane did the make-up and prosthetics. Mac Parker helped work the boom as well as Mark Armstrong and Jimmy Hagri. Liam Grahame Olsen was fight choreographer and Dennis Hewitt was our armourer and gunfight co-ordinator. Mark Armstrong was also 2nd unit director (for one scene) and assistant location manager (for

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the Afghan scene and Turkey Shed scene). Some of the actors also doubled as script supervisors. It’s certainly cut down on costs having people do multiple roles. I’d certainly trust them to do it again.”

“It’s been a very steep learning curve however, but we have come out of this better filmmakers”

had to rewrite the scene on the day of the shoot the actor didn’t turn up for the second time. I’d like to think what we rewrote actually works. It’s been a very steep learning curve however, but we have come out of this better filmmakers – I hope!”

Getting out there Locations took them all over the north of the country and it’s those great places that help lend The Gamekeeper its distinctive look and feel according to the director. “We shot on location

All well and good but there were one or two unforeseen problems along the way too it seems… “One of the actors didn’t show up for a scene so we had to cancel it,” sighs Peter. “It happened twice, which proved to be a major inconvenience, so I had to rewrite it. I really had to think on my feet with this one as we

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Feature: Back to basics When we shot at Dursand Quarry we thought ‘great, it’s out of the way and should be quiet.’ However, when we got there a load of seagulls were there too, which had massive sound implications so we had to dub over those scenes. Like I say, making The Gamekeeper has been a massive learning curve, but a good one.”

Northern feel

in Newcastle-Upon-Tyne, Wallsend Hall, Low Friarside Farm, Dursand Quarry next to the Parkhead station café near Stanhope, FIT Club, The Duke of Wellington in Consett and a few of the actors were kind enough to let us use their houses,” chuckles the filmmaker. “We utilised the brilliant locations the North East has to offer. Some of the scenes had costs attributed to them and others we were fortunate of their generosity.

We’ve shot in some wonderful locations and everyone that runs the places we shot in have been brilliant to liaise with. We’d certainly film in those locations again. The biggest challenge we had was the weather. We had to cancel a few shoots due to heavy rain. We had to shoot one scene on three separate occasions. As The Gamekeeper

“We wanted to utilise local talent and give people a chance that would not normally get one”

Another reason The Gamekeeper keeps its northern atmosphere is the fact that much of the team came directly from the area, although the whole thing was also done on a shoestring. “Myself and Jimmy cast the film,” Peter explains. “Jimmy met a lot of the actors on the set of Vera and The Paradise while I used people I’d worked with in the past from a film called The Malformed Man by the brilliant Brett Gerry which may never see the light of day - and I also utilised Four Bridges casting on Facebook, which is run by Amy Telford. The cast are from all over the North East. They hail from Hexham, Consett, Gateshead, Heaton, Wallsend, Stockton & Crook. We wanted to utilise local talent and give people a chance that would not normally get one. We are really proud of our cast and crew and hope they get other roles on the back of The Gamekeeper. We filmed this for just under £3,000 with funding from Indiegogo (a big thank you to all who contributed) along with mine, Jimmy Hagri’s, Mark Armstrong’s and Lyra Dust’s (one of the actors and executive producers) own money. We had to be strict with what we had. The money that came in helped us pay for some of the cast and crew travel, as well as food and drink. We also got various bits of equipment

took so long to make we shot the turkey shed scene at Low Friarside Farm in March 2014 and luckily there was a bit of green about. We hope we’ve gotten away with that as it’s meant to be set the summer!

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the reaction to the film at our test screening in July 2015. So we hope that bodes well for our project. We hope it does well in the film festivals we are in and also hope to make the North East proud.”

from the funding. We utilised eBay and Amazon. It was my 35th birthday shortly before we began filming and I got lighting equipment, which came in handy for the turkey shed shoot and car scenes.

We finished editing in May 2015 and it has been showing at the London Digital Film Festival (our first one) and

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we have entered it into a few others. We hope it’ll do well, however, just being accepted into some festivals is a plus for us due to this being our first film. We are unsure how the film festival panellists are going to judge our film in regards to accepting our submissions, but we were very happy with

“It was my 35th birthday shortly before we began filming and I got lighting equipment” Very satisfied “We think it looks very good,” says Peter when asked what everyone thinks of their latest project. “Graham Wade has done a wonderful job with the editing and the music – we’ve had excellent feedback from the test screening. We have interest from a distribution company in America and we have currently sent a screener to them for

review. We hope this film will get distribution worldwide and people can see that you don’t have to spend a fortune to make a good movie. We also hope people will see this film and look

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Feature: Back to basics

“I made a few zero-budget short documentaries before moving on to fictional short films” at what talent and locations the North East has to offer and hire them, as we want to bring filmmaking back to up here. Next time around we’d like to get a bigger budget. It took from Sept 2013 through to May 2015 to film and edit.

We are currently prepping our next feature and hope to film this to a much tighter timescale.

For our next project we have a lighting and sound expert on board this time too, which is going to make a massive difference compared to our first feature. We have some funding on board, but would love a bigger budget to work from and we are currently looking for more investment. Investing in Wandering Kane Production means you are investing in jobs for the North East film industry.

I’m really looking forward to this production.

We are currently prepping a new horror too, which I wrote the first draft for and Graham Wade is doing a redraft. Mark Armstrong has written the character bios, while Jimmy has helped cast the film. We also have Walking with Wordsworth – a romantic drama set in the Lake District. Then there’s The Hartley Lads – a true story of the 1862 New Hartley pit disaster and the heroic rescue efforts that went on. We also have Wall – which charts the rise of emperor Pertinax and the attempts of the British Roman legions who mutinied against his harsh rule.”

All of which is a far cry from

where Peter started out… “Back in 2004 my girlfriend found that Newcastle Library ran a digital editing course through Life Long Learning,” he says. “I used to love taking my video camera away with me on my holidays with the lads so I signed up

to this so I could properly edit my holiday videos. During the course I made a three minute short documentary. The person that ran the class said it was one of the best short films he’d seen from his class and I thought ‘I can do this.’ I then made a few zero-budget short documentaries before moving on to fictional short films. While I currently have a full time job, I am also co-managing Wandering Kane Productions with Jimmy Hagri. Although we do this in our spare time we hope that the production company will provide us with full-time jobs if The Gamekeeper does well.” ■

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Feature: Sin central

SIN CENTRAL Joston Theney is an American filmmaker who has been in touch to talk and then talk some more about his latest project called The Letter Red

Joston Theney could be deemed a fairly typical American, if there is such a thing, in that there’s no escaping his passion for talking. In fact, this filmmaker loves to go on at length about his latest project, The Letter Red, but it doesn’t stop there.

Indeed, for Joston, shooting films is his life and he’s very keen that you know all about it. But hey, that’s why we’re here right? “For film being an art form that is largely visual, my beginnings were rooted in quite possibly the least visual medium possible – literature,” he explains, setting out the origins of his own filmmaking tale. “In my early childhood years, I filled those small, black-and-white composition tablets schoolkids know all-too-well with pages and pages of random dialogue and character motivations without any real understanding of what they were. My imagination as such a quiet kid growing up in the urban landscape of Atlanta, Georgia

ran rampant; lively characters, both heroes and antagonists alike, lived out their days spewing notebooks full of jargon that really meant nothing to me at that time.

But, many years later, during a stream of consciousness exercise in English Lit, my high school teacher began to take notice of my early writing talents. She pulled me aside after class and gave me a ‘special’ writing assignment for extra credit - to write a five page short story with a character who wanted something specific and couldn’t have it. There was to be an obstacle that he/she had to get past and they had to be successful in overcoming it. Next day, I handed over the completed assignment and watched with a weird nervousness as she read it. I watched her light up and look to me in a way no other teacher had.

With that, she entered me into a state-wide writing competition for high schoolers and university undergraduates.”

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Winning words “To level the playing field we were all provided a copy of the book The Red Badge of Courage,” adds Joston. “And were instructed to write a short story based on any of the chapters or events in the book. My adaptation was titled Dead is Red and won the statewide competition and the Building a Better Georgia Award, handed to me by the Governor himself.

Shortly after the award win and being published around the age of 16, I was commissioned to do a rewrite of a local television pilot. As the producer shopped it, I received ghostwriting offers for shorts and features from other producers that had read his pilot, which I gladly accepted. Three produced, ghostwritten features later, I’d saved up enough to shoot my first feature film Bleed 4 Me starring indie horror scream queens Brinke Stevens and Tiffany Shepis, and have since been fortunate to write/ direct Axeman, Axeman II: Overkill, Adam K. and my current film The Letter Red.” That sounds like quite a good place to be as of right now then?

“I’m in a very fortunate place where I can say filmmaking is a full-time gig,” Joston agrees. “Though that’s not to say that I don’t have other jobs. In entertainment it’s imperative to have multiple streams of revenue because nothing lasts forever and royalty checks fade with time. I’ve been a writer/director/producer for over 10 years, but I’ve been a writer for a longer period of time

and find most of my opportunities in rewriting or polishing other works and ghostwriting. In the burgeoning independent film community I’m part of in Los Angeles, I’ve developed the reputation as being a go-to-guy to get lowbudget and under-funded projects from concept to completion - a reputation that keeps me busy as both a filmmaker and a trusted consultant.

Literary inspiration Joston also makes no bones about what it is that has driven him to this point in his career too… “Since my early English Lit days, Shakespeare’s Macbeth has long been the single most impressive piece of literature I’ve read,” he states. “It actually has its themes run through most of my work: prophecies or beliefs in fate that fuel a thirst for greatness, delusions of grandeur, the corruptible nature of unchecked ambition, inability to trust and the knowledge of being untrustworthy… Fast-forward to the production of Axeman II: Overkill, two of my actors Edward Gusts and Arielle Brachfeld approached me with a script then tentatively titled Blood Orgy - and asked if I wouldn’t mind giving it a read and considering it for production. Having already been involved in the Axeman films for two consecutive instalments, I wasn’t really interested in directing another horror flick right away.

Arielle asked, ‘But I thought you

“In entertainment it’s imperative to have multiple streams of revenue because nothing lasts forever” liked Macbeth?’ I ripped it from her hands immediately and gave it a read on my way to Italy for the holidays. By the time the plane landed, I was in. The script needed work but I knew it had the potential to be a real suspenseful thriller. It was a modern retelling of Macbeth, centered around the IPO (initial public offering) of a defence weaponry firm shrouded in mystery and John Macbeth’s rise to CEO.”

Brave words “The original script had many themes and themes within themes,” reckons the filmmaker.

“But for me, Shakespeare’s Macbeth was always about one thing: unchecked ambition and

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the havoc it wreaks. So when I sat down with Edward and Arielle, I proposed sticking to that one theme and digging our heels in.

The subject matter has been explored in many films, but none had the foundation that we had.

The Macbeths that Shakespeare had written were completely and utterly brutal and unflinching in the way they sought greatness, captured power and held onto it.

What we had to do was update it and find a way to be even more blistering in the imagery and content. With our telling of the infamous tale, John Macbeth is the Vice President of Sales for the Blackmist Corporation, a firm shrouded in secrecy with close ties to many of the nations

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that make up the UN. The firm is going public in a matter days in large part due to John Macbeth’s efforts. Lauded for his work by his peers and co-workers, he believes his much-deserved and overdue promotion will be announced at any moment, however the ruthless CEO Gregory Duncan has other plans.

Jane Macbeth’s desire for a family and plans to leave the mediocrity of their mundane lives behind is shattered by the revelation that the promotion that was to be is no more. And the two devise a sinister new plan - one that elevates their status as the body count rises: if this world won’t give them what they are owed, they’ll cut its heart out and take it.”

Endless editing With such a seemingly complex storyline and an adventurous script they must have had to work hard to get it just right… “Edward Gusts and Arielle Brachfeld wrote the first draft,” Joston agrees. “It was similar to a script however

was also kind of an outline, that spoke to what certain scenes were trying to accomplish. After my involvement I whittled their 85 page draft down to about thirty pages and, with their blessings, rewrote it to its final draft of 120 pages. The first draft that the actors had handed to me was a very loose adaptation of the story of Macbeth, mostly the plethora of themes. But the relationships and situations that made Macbeth the story it was were not featured in that version. Wanting to stay as truthful as possible to the source material while also trying to stay fresh and original, I changed the order in which things happen, how they begin their descents into madness and the nature of a few of the relationships - most notably Banquo, who is now the unrequited love of the mostlyhappily married John Macbeth.

Macduff also gets a gender change, becoming the hardnosed, female detective from the mean streets of Boston who is

investigating John Macbeth on his rise to power. Rewriting the script took roughly 6 months, starting in December of 2014 and continuing up until principal photography in June of 2015. There were days where I was literally rewriting scenes on sheets of napkins for actors to memorise and perform within minutes of receiving them.”

Time to shoot “I was slated to begin development on the concluding instalment of the Axeman trilogy when this film presented itself,” furthers the filmmaker.

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“With funding already in place, Edward and Arielle set a hard start date for The Letter Red and asked if I’d consider doing it. Any filmmaker will tell you, if you have the opportunity to do something that moves you and it already has a firm start date and the people are super cool to work with, you sign on! It was a no-brainer to place Axeman III: Absolution on hold and dive into the bloody waters of this film. Due to the nature of the shoot and how fast we had to move, we went with a very lean crew. We did shoot on rented locations for most of the film but had to employ guerrilla tactics to get through most of the exteriors, which included a Los Angeles staple - MacArthur Park, which gets many passers-by and police who love to shutdown unpermitted shoots. To make sure we not only got what we needed but who we needed, we all lobbied to get trusted personnel on the set. People who know their job, get it done and are super easy to work with. As a low-budget indie, this is imperative. You usually only have one shot at getting things right so your first better

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be your best. The super crew we had included 1st AD Matt ‘Coop’ Cooper and Sundance awardwinning cinematographer Joel Hodge. Coop had actually handled location sound for my previous feature Axeman II: Overkill and

“Properly articulate your intended use of the locations and get written acknowledgement” expressed a desire to AD my next project after witnessing the debacle that was the previous AD. He lobbied for it and we sat down and talked about how I prefer to work and it seemed like a great fit. Joel Hodge was a cinematographer that was pitched to me during Axeman II: Overkill, but I couldn’t use him due to already being locked into shooting with that DP who was great in his own right. I’d seen Joel’s work on his Sundance winning effort and fell in love with the way he throws light and composes his shots. It was very similar to the way I shoot

when I do my own cinematography - but his camera IQ is so many levels above mine. The Letter Red has a subtle yet hyper reality feel to it and the camera work and lighting got us part of the way there, the other part I owe to the wonderful make up of Elisa Gattoni. She’s actually worked with me on the previous features Adam K. and Axeman II: Overkill as lead make-up artist and special FX. The nuanced details of the Macbeth’s hair and make-up as they slowly descend into madness is breathtaking. And watching the transformation of the three witches from beautiful, high-priced call-girls to demonic, harbingers of death was frightening and due in great part to the imaginations of my talented team.”

Tooling up So did being season campaigners mean that they had easy access to great kit for the shoot?

“We made use of many formats, all driven by narrative need,” reckons Joston. “For most of the office sequences, we utilised the RED Scarlet to give it greater scope. It’s a place that is larger

than John Macbeth, larger than his world. We shot 2:39 and used every square inch of the frame showcasing background talent, brilliant set pieces and the spaciousness of the location. For scenes outside of the office, we employed the Blackmagic 4k, the 2.5K and the Pocket Cinema Camera. This gave us greater control over colour to ultimately manipulate the mood of various scenes. We didn’t have much in the way of money so we had to put every penny we could on screen. This meant also bringing in jibs, dollies - breaking out the car mounts, employing as many locations as possible and as many scenic locations as possible, and packing our picture with as many recognisable faces as possible.

We brought on Rachel Reilly

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(winner of Big Brother), Angelica Bridges (Baywatch, The Bold and The Beautiful), Alisha Seaton (The Fourth Kind), pop singer Emii and French singer-turned-actress Melissa Mars.”

And it all went swimmingly, right? “I have a saying, ‘A plan is just a list of things that go wrong along the way,’ laughs the filmmaker. “I’ve shot enough lowbudget films to know that every film is a war and this would be no different. One of the first major shake-ups on the set of the film was the unexpected departure of the first cinematographer. Two days in, despite the beautiful images he captured, he just didn’t gel well with the crew or performers, so I had to reach out to Joel Hodge whose work I was very familiar with and found he was available. I immediately left set and gave him a crash course on the film and the look and tone and feeling we’d have to achieve. Luckily for me, he was better than I ever could have hoped for, especially filling in on 12-hours notice. The film took on a completely different feel, elevated by his pedigree of talent and experience. With a new leader in the camera department, the crew seemed revitalised and powered us through the rest of the shoot with faster set-ups, better communication and amazing visuals. We found ourselves better tackling the 8-day shoot schedule that covered 120 pages. We shot on location, in and around Los Angeles and traversed the entire area, shooting north as far as Saugus and south as far as East Los Angeles.”

All points Casting their net wide must have presented them with some logistical challenges though, right?

“Shooting on location proved exceedingly difficult,” agrees the filmmaker. “Not necessarily due to just the typical struggles of lowbudget independent filmmaking but also the problem of dealing with location renters that had not had much experience with renting locations. If there is ever a sharp word of advice I would give to all aspiring and emerging filmmakers, it would be to properly articulate your intended use of the location and get their written acknowledgement of every single scene and action that takes place along with an exact understanding of house rules and what you expect of the location. Or else you can find yourself being billed $100 for the use of their coffee mugs as props in a scene. The locations chosen were all visually what we were looking for and our film is better for it, but the stresses of location management can weigh on such a lean crew and small production. On the last day of shooting, the business tower that we’d established as our Blackmist Corporation headquarters, locked us out of every part of the building needed to complete principal photography. With five scenes left to shoot and no locations, I asked my crew for 20 minutes and sat alone in a corner, rewriting every scene to take place in the only space we had - a closetsized office at the back of the building. Luckily for us, all of the scenes occurred at various times throughout the script so we had

lots of latitude to integrate the reworked scenes.

Another interesting challenge provided us with a pleasant surprise. The special FX makeup for the climax of the film when Jane Macbeth loses her mind, haunted by the ghosts of victims killed during their rise to prominence, was time-sensitive.

The ghosts’ make-up flaked heavily and quickly as it dried.

This resulted in us having to shoot quickly and punch-in for close-ups – close-ups we hadn’t originally planned for. I decided to throw a 16mm lens on the Blackmagic 4K camera and the results were startling! It made everyone’s skin crawl just to look at the monitor.

The distorted faces of the slain victims in Elisa Gattoni’s artfully crafted make-up drove the lead actress Arielle Brachfeld from the set in tears. It was one of the happiest accidents I’ve ever put on screen.”

Strong cast As Joston has already hinted at, having the right cast has boosted the fortunes of this project too…

“The cast of The Letter Red,

much like the crew, was mostly an amalgam of people I’ve either worked with or have wanted to work with for some time,” he says.

“The two leads, Edward Gusts and Arielle Brachfeld, of course were my co-writers and also executive produced the film. I’d met Arielle working on the original Axeman film where she’d played the drunken, foul-mouthed Deputy Darlene Whitfield. She reprised her role in the sequel, Axeman II: Overkill and brought along Edward Gusts as the well-meaning however deftly-emasculated Dr David Manly, whom she’s close friends and executive producing partners with. Angelica Bridges (she plays Jenny, the sassy, instigating best friend of the Seytons) and Rachel Reilly (she plays news reporter Abagail Wynter), I had the pleasure of working with on the Axeman sequel as well. I truly enjoyed working with them and see why they have the reputations they do as extremely professional, hardworking actresses. I’ve said as long I have room for both on my sets, I’ll have them if they’ll have me! Arielle Hader who plays the tough-as-nails Detective Macduff,

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who may or who may-not-be ‘on the take’, I met on the set of the Axeman sequel as well. She told me that earlier in her training a teacher told her to never do accents - that they were just not her thing. But to date, I’ve had her play a crazed evangelical Christian from Whitesville, GA and an uber-Boston detective from the streets, both with flawless, genuine accents. So well in fact that I’ve even had crew members ask if I’d flown her in just for the roles! Alisha Seaton, Linda Wong, Kailena Mai, Michael Foster, Nihilist Gelo and Christopher Crabb rounded out the cast of talented, dependable

actors I’d worked with previously that I knew I had to work with again. On the other side, I had the chance to reach out to actors whose work I’d been admiring for some time such as the immensely versatile and talented Constance Brenneman, rising star Ethan McDowell, renowned pop singers Melissa Mars and Emii, as well as models Veronica LaVery and Linda Bella, and actor/producer Jessica Sonneborn.”

Success story “Who needs a budget when you have passion?” questions the filmmaker when we broach the subject of finance for all this.

“We didn’t have much in the way of budget to work with on this film, but what we did have was a talented group of cast and crew who took ownership of the film and poured everything they had into bringing our vision of a modern day Macbeth to fruition.

When your film is modestly

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“If all things work out well, I will finish out the year directing the final instalment of my horror franchise” budgeted, most filmmakers find excuses for why they can’t achieve something, I work to find solutions so that we can achieve something. What we lacked in budget, we made up for with passion and dedication. The film is currently in post-production and nearing completion, with a

theatrical premiere coming in the first half of 2016. I’m keeping my fingers crossed that we’ll have The Letter Red start its theatrical run on Valentine’s Day - it would be the ultimate date movie! It is true what they say, that there are three films made: the one that is written, the one that’s shot and

the one that’s edited. This film has seen certain elements grow and mature and others discarded, but it’s made for a better film.

It’s taken on this smouldering, suffocating tension where you’re almost begging for someone to put the Macbeths out of their misery in the beginning of the

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Feature: Sin central

film. But by the midway point, you’re with them on this terrifying race to the bottom as they wantonly slaughter their way to prosperity. By the end, the film almost becomes this symphony of orchestrated mayhem where we are being jettisoned towards a light at the end of the tunnel that we all know is a train! The musical score is simple and sparse, relying more on the frighteningly loud, ambient sound of silence.

It’s so unsettling. You’d be surprised how - when used effectively - the sound of silence is so incredibly unnerving.”

Looking good Safe to say then that he is happy with it at this juncture?

Or would he have approached it slightly differently in retrospect?

“Unlike most productions, I’ve walked away from this battle feeling rejuvenated,” grins the filmmaker. “I worked with an incredibly talented cast and crew, and for the first time feel that I’ve captured more moments I love than not. If I did change anything, it would be things that might make post-production a little smoother such as piping mixed sound directly into the

camera. Syncing sound is probably the most tedious job in all of filmmaking. There are workarounds, but even those are a bit time-consuming. I’m so fortunate that my crew is so communicative and organised with labelling footage, sound and hard drives - it allows me to keep most of the hair that I’d normally pull out. And it allowed me to fully commit to directing without the fear of what lies ahead.

I’m also currently in preproduction on two films: an ensemble, crime thriller, told in quasi real-time titled Dragon No. 6

about the rise of a highly addictive drug used to enslave mankind, and an Italian language drama that will be shot on location in Rome, Italy titled Vezzano about a mysterious traveller looking to lose himself in order to find himself in the town he left behind. Dragon No. 6 starts filming March 2016 in Los Angeles and Vezzano will begin principal photography in August 2016. If all things work out well, I will finish out the year directing the final instalment of my horror franchise, Axeman III: Absolution. It will hopefully be a busy, busy year!” n

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STREET LIFE Dean Sills is the lead actor and coproducer of newly completed indie feature Tears in the Dust, a film that focuses on the plight of the homeless in this country

Photos: Steve Call Productions and Olivia Wilford

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Feature: Street life

“This project came about due to the director and co-producer of the film, Steve Call,” says Dean Sills on what inspired gritty new project Tears in the Dust. “Steve, was on his way to the hospital and saw a man who was sat against the wall and looked like he was crying.

He told Steve he had lost his job and his flat. But the thing that really struck Steve was that he was most bothered about the fact he had lost his dog, who was his best friend. And this got Steve thinking about making a film. Homelessness isn’t just about people who have drug addictions and alcohol problems.

I don’t think people realise how homelessness can affect anyone.

Steve told me all about his idea for the film and I was hooked from the start. I love the fact my character takes a rollercoaster ride of emotions, which takes him from a guy who has everything to a guy who has nothing!

I actually began as a supporting artist back in 2012, working as a zombie on an indie horror feature called The Eschatrilogy: Book of the Dead. I just fell in love with

acting and spending time on set seeing all the magic come together. It opened up a passion inside me that I never knew I had. After that I worked on other indie films as a supporting artist moving on to small speaking parts then supporting roles. Last year I became a professional actor and joined Spotlight and Equity. I also landed a small speaking role on In The Club on the BBC, working with Will Mellor. I have now moved on to producing and writing and just enjoy every moment on set. I am the happiest person in the world when I’m on set and feel more excited than a child at Christmas.”

“I never thought about producing it until we had a cancellation of another film” The other half “Steve Call, meanwhile, first got into the world of filmmaking in 2008 when he began making short films along with music videos,” adds Dean on how the new team came together. “It all started when Steve needed a music video for one of his own tracks. He approached a production company and they quoted him a price that just wasn’t affordable. So he decided to give it a try himself. In 2009 he became ill and ended up in hospital for the best part of that

year. While he was in hospital he spent hours watching endless How to make Videos on YouTube and it stood him in good stead when he came out of hospital and he began to build his filmmaking career. In 2010 Steve booked himself on the Bradford 48-hour film challenge… he was given a prop, which he had to base his film and story on, then he had to script, shoot and edit within 48 hours. After the film was done and shown on the big screen he was hooked, no turning back!

As an actor, it’s something I do full-time now, but it did start out as a hobby. Since we shot the teaser trailer for Tears in the Dust in October, 2014, it’s got pretty crazy for me and I now find myself doing lead roles. I recently played the lead role of John in The Railway Carriage. This short film made its international film premiere at Nightpiece film festival at The Edinburgh Fringe

“I actually began as a supporting artist back in 2012, working as a zombie on an indie horror” back in August. The film was directed by Ross Adgar and its had some outstanding reviews with Starburst magazine giving it 8 out of 10 along with great comments about my acting.

Steve Call also does this fulltime and probably puts more hours in than me… we film most

weekends but Steve is then busy doing all the editing during the week. I guess we both just love telling stories and bringing characters to life!”

Blank canvas “My involvement with this project is huge,” furthers Dean. “From playing the lead role of Trevor Wallis in the film to working as the co-producer and assistant cameraman. I was also scouting locations and helping to cast the roles. Plus, I have done much of the press for the film. The general theme is homelessness and how it can happen to anyone. The film tells the story of Trevor Wallis, who is a successful salesman working for a software company.

One day his life changes forever when he finds out his main boss has been cheating the company and his business partner out of millions and the company is closing. His boss goes missing

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months later he had his film, Tears in the Dust. We have also had support from Hidden Homeless in Bradford, West Yorkshire, another great charity which helps support homeless people.”

Hard times

“The budget for Tears in the Dust was only £800, which is pretty amazing for a feature”

“Being an independent filmmaker throws up some challenges,” adds Dean. “I don’t think it’s for the faint-hearted… you need dedication, commitment and loads of passion. Both Steve and I speak to many wannabe filmmakers who have great ideas for films, but their projects never see the light of day due to no funding, cast or equipment. We had no funding for Tears in the Dust, but we did have much support, getting locations for free.

We had support from Yorkshire Tea and Yorkshire Crisps as product placement in the kitchen and nightclub scenes. The budget for Tears in the Dust was only

and Trevor is owed thousands of pounds in wages. Things get pretty bad for Trevor, he ends up on the streets and it’s going to get a hell of a lot worse before it gets any better! This low-budget independent feature film wants to get across that homeless people are not all addicts and people can really resort to anything even when times are hard. Steve Call and I both feel that some homeless people just don’t get the correct support and society should help these people more and not treat them like dirt.

Steve wrote it and he wanted to do something different. He began writing Tears in the Dust non-stop for five months… all the time he was talking to more homeless people finding out their stories and asking questions.

What struck him the most was the fact most of them came from good backgrounds with jobs with money in the bank and the fact that they get drunk and take drugs is to cope with being on the streets and to forget. Steve and I both spent time sleeping out in Leeds. We wanted to know what others went through while living on the streets and, then, five

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Feature: Street life

£800, which is pretty amazing for a feature. Some will say it can’t be done, but we have a great team at Steve Call Productions.

We don’t pay actors daily rates and instead we give them a profit share contract and each one will get paid once the film comes out on DVD. We are also self-distributing our own films.

That way we can market the films ourselves and we will have full control. Steve does all the editing, we do all our own props, we have the cameras to shoot and we have a great network of fantastic local actors. I do a lot of the press work but we both promote the film like crazy. So don’t worry about budget if you don’t have one, make the film anyway. Just do it, it’s not always about the money, it’s about the passion for making movies.”

Dean mentions the kit, so what did they use to make this latest

project? “While Steve was in his so-called training period he knew nothing about filming or even the cost. Steve would borrow kit and also turned to YouTube again for inspiration on how to build filming equipment. One of his films needed a high swooping shot so Steve needed a jib crane and at £2,000 for a decent one this was out of the question. So he built his own out of an old

“Steve and I both spent time sleeping out in Leeds. We wanted to know what others went through” IKEA wardrobe he was throwing out. It did the job and only cost him a pack of nuts and bolts and a tin of black paint. He was given a Panasonic HDC SD700 camera as a present and that was one of the cameras we used on Tears in the Dust. It can shoot in progressive and interlaced and also Full HD. It can shoot in time lapse too, plus the sound quality it quite good with his external condenser microphone fitted on the camera rig. The only problem he found was the size… even though it has image stabilisation it

still has a lot of shake when held by hand. So he also built his own rig to stabilise it better and it worked. The other camera we used was his Canon 550D. Steve installed Magic Lantern as a secondary operating system and this allows him to use the 550D to its full potential. Steve also made his own lighting rig and as an ex-electrician he knew how to refurbish old lighting, He built a dolly out of the remains of an old wardrobe and PVC conduit pipe, then made a tripod stand which he fitted with plastic casters on the bottom. The boom was adapted out of a clothes pole he got and the windjammers were made from an old fury teddy his daughter didn’t want. So most of the kit apart from the cameras and microphones is home made!”

Do it yourself What kind of impact did this freeform production technique have on the overall shooting schedule then? “The only unplanned problem was cast not turning up for their roles on shoot days,” laughs Dean. “This has happened a few times, on Steve’s last film and on Tears in the Dust. I did have a few back-up actors on standby, which we had to use to replace a number of actors who dropped out. To be honest, we did a superb job considering we had around 40 actors in the film. We also know who to use next time and who not to use again in future.

The only real problem was one shoot in Bradford when we had all the cast ready and one actor dropped out at the very last minute and Digital FilmMaker

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sadly we had no back-up. It could have been a nightmare, but Steve Call stood in playing a rude man who takes the mickey out of my character.

Steve was fantastic, he learned all his lines and had to set the cameras up along with handling the sound and directing the scene whilst acting. He also had to choreograph the scene so I didn’t get hurt for real.

The actor who dropped out had done the scenes at the rehearsals so it would have been difficult to get someone at short notice. Most filmmakers would have cancelled the shoot, but we always find a way to make things happen.”

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Street talk One of the best things about Tears in the Dust is that it has been filmed on the streets where people are directly affected by the problem of homelessness. “We shot the film at a number of different locations in Yorkshire and Derbyshire,” agrees Dean.

“Each one was a true blessing because we got every location for free. Most of the exterior location shots were filmed in Bradford and Crowgill Park, Shipley. These were mainly for the scenes where Trevor Wallis becomes homeless and he ends up living on the streets.

Crowgill Park was the location where actor Billy Pearce did his cameo role in the film. The interior shots were filmed inside private homes in Sheffield and Shipley along with other great locations. The office scenes were actually filmed inside Bradford Film Office in Little Germany, Bradford, thanks to City of Film director David Wilson. The nightclub scenes were all filmed in my local pub, The Collingwood

“While the film is in post-production Steve and I will continue to promote the film” Hotel in Bolton-on-Dearne. The landlady, Barbara Cassell, was a huge help allowing us to not only film for free but also going to the trouble of opening up at 7am so we could film before the pub opened to the public, plus she even played a barmaid in the film.

The location for the hospital was filmed inside Haddon Hall care home in Buxton. One of our cast, Carley Motley, works there as a carer and her manager Jackie Campbell allowed us to film for free. We could not have made Tears without all the support from these amazing people.

The biggest challenges were actually finding the right locations for the film. Steve and I both did location scouting so we could find the perfect location for each scene. Steve originally wanted to

film Tears in the Dust entirely in Bradford, but he could not find the right locations so both of us spent time searching for the right locations in other areas. The hospital scene was probably the

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Feature: Street life

hardest to find after contacting a number of different hospitals and care homes… not many were interested in helping out or the location just didn’t look right on camera for the scene we needed.

One scene should have been filmed inside a police station and one scene inside a corner shop, but Steve had to improvise and film these scenes slightly different, which actually worked out better in the end.”

Finishing up Tears in the Dust sounds like it is coming together nicely although there is still a little way to go before they can call it ‘finished’…

“It’s in post-production,” reckons Dean. “The editing stage basically, because Steve edits in Final Cut Pro on a Mac so he has to convert his AVCHD files into workable MOV files from the Panasonic and because we shoot in interlaced to save on memory card space Steve

has to de-interlace after shooting.

It’s probably the long way round but it works for him, plus he is still learning. It’s all a challenge.

While the film is in post-production Steve and I will continue to promote the film by any means possible, Facebook, Twitter and other online forums. We recently did a photo shoot for the poster and DVD cover, which turned out really good and we have a music video to shoot for the film once the film is finally done. Once the film is finally edited we will be having a cinema screening in Sheffield with a percentage of profits going to

two homeless charities. When we start filming our next big feature we’ll do things a little differently.

We’ll be crowdfunding and will only cast actors who can commit to a project 100 per cent so we can accomplish our goals as a team. We’ll also be looking at doing more stunts and spending time doing lots of auditions due to the accents that will be required for a number of roles. One thing

“There are too many divas and people who are not team players, or who are just looking for fame” I have learned from doing this is that a lot of people are in this business for the wrong reasons.

There are too many divas and people who are not team players, or who are just looking for fame and aren’t really interested in the art of acting and filmmaking.” ■

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chasing the

dream “I have always loved watching documentaries, and the more I watched them, the more I wanted to know how certain shots were achieved, and how the narratives were constructed,” says Hayley on how her filmmaking career got started. “I have never really been any good at writing, and wanted to study practical subjects at school. It was at this point I studied Media at GCSE level, and I have been hooked ever since. I went onto study Media at college, and Television Production at the University of Chester.”

“I fell into it completely,” chuckles her collaborator Hannah Tucker. “Having studied Geography at the University of Leicester I wasn’t sure what I wanted to do. I won a competition in my final year and Fearne Cotton from Radio 1 came to my house! I

immediately fell in love with media and started chasing the dream! I managed to get work experience at Radio 1, Radio 4 and ITV, and I ended up getting an internship at the University Press Office in 2011. That was the best time really, as they found a certain Richard III in a car park and the rest is history!

I then worked across a Channel 4 documentary and then moved into shopping television for 6 months and now I’m in PR! It became a family joke that I worked in television as I grew up without a television!”

Career building “I now do filmmaking full-time for the University of Leicester working within their in-house Creative Team,” says Hayley. “It does almost feel like I am being paid to do my favourite hobby.

We get the opportunity to work on all sorts of projects, ranging

Hannah Tucker and Hayley Evans explain how a mutual curiosity for filmmaking techniques got them started on the path to making their own award-winning short called The Harms of Hate

from short snappy films aimed at our student community, to slightly longer research lead films.”

“I immediately fell in love with media and started chasing the dream!”

“Making films and documentaries was a fulltime job for over a year,” says Hannah. “After Richard III I had the chance to work on a Channel 4 documentary called Students for eight months as the project officer. I dealt with everything and anything, right across the filming spectrum and including shooting, plus dealing with the student contributors and academic staff. I also had the chance to work on our Hate Crime Film and an exciting

small project for The One Show whilst the University. Making films is now a hobby and I do love coming up with ideas for documentaries and shooting bits and bobs. I spend a lot of time over-analysing documentaries!”

The project “When working on The Harms of Hate I helped to come up with the style of the film, so the way the film would ‘look’,” furthers Hayley on how they developed their short that would go on to becoming an award-winning project. “For example, having the interviewees look straight down the camera. I was also the camera operator for the shoots, and contributed to the editing.”

“I was very lucky to have the chance to work solely with Hayley across the project,” reckons Hannah. “I spent lots of time arranging locations, putting the contributors at ease, and, of

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differences however, they have all suffered significant emotional and physical harm as a result of their victimisation. Writing it was a joint effort all round really. We came up with what we wanted the film to say to the audience, and off the back of this we came up with a narrative, and wrote the questions to suit the narrative we

course, sitting in for lighting. But we also worked together across the whole process - so I would suggest shots and we sat in on the edit together. Hayley worked the desk and had the editing skills but as a team we found what worked well in terms of arranging the shot order, music and so on.

The project really tested all areas of my production management skills and I can tell you I became fantastic at multitasking! When I was working at the university we would get a number of film requests sent into us. Stevie and Neil from The Hate Crime Project approached our team and asked for a film to be made to raise

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awareness about the effects hate crime can have on people. So we met with Stevie and Neil and discussed the different directions we could go with this film, and talked about who the target audience for this film would be.

So it all went from there really.”

“After Richard III I had the chance to work on a Channel 4 documentary called Students”

wanted to achieve. We chose to include questions like ‘Can you describe a time when you have been a victim of hate crime?’, and ‘How has this affected you?’ in order to keep the film as authentic as possible. We wanted to give the participants a voice. So while we did have a narrative in mind to some degree, we let the interviewees have their say. The decision to make it a short was mainly based on who the audience would be and the initial purpose of the film.

Stevie and Neil wanted this film to accompany talks they would be giving on hate crime. The initial target audience was mainly

Looking inside “The Harms of Hate tells the stories of seven people who have been victimised because of who they are,” says Hannah going into more detail about the project.

“The participants come from a range of different backgrounds and have been victimised for different reasons. Despite these

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teenagers, teachers, the police, social workers, and the council.

So the film needed to make a point, but not be too long.”

Crew and kit “In terms of crew we had Stevie (the client) who found appropriate participants for the film,” says Hayley. “There was myself directing and on camera, and Hannah was producer, so she helped with all the logistics of the shoot, and also helped with the edit, and my manager Jon Shears was there if we needed a little help of advice. We used a Canon 5D Mark III for shooting on, a Marantz audio recorder for recording separate audio, and a couple of Datavision LED-900 LED lights. Although one of the participants dropped out at the last minute thankfully nothing major unplanned happened with filming, thank god!”

“Although there was the weather,” sighs Hannah.

“It was very cold so it was always key to keep everyone warm. So, the participants

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“Permissions could often be given and then on arrival everything could change” lower half would be wrapped in blankets and, of course, in shot they were pretending to be warm! Last minute changes were often an issue as well as permissions - if we shot in a pub then permissions could often be given and then on arrival everything could change. I learnt to always print out emails and stick to my guns!”

Shooting locations “Everything was shot on location,” adds Hayley. “We tried to make all the locations different.

We wanted some people in their home, some people out and about. But, ultimately, the locations depended mainly on where the participants felt most comfortable, so these tended

to change along the way. The only challenges we had with locations really was getting access to certain places. Which Hannah managed to sort out and arrange.”

“Working on location was so important,” Hannah agrees.

“Every place we shot meant something to that person. We felt that it made the film and the subject more personal.

One key aspect was to make

everything look as beautiful as possible, from the stunning park background to a living room in someone’s house - it all had to be perfect! Locations were tough though! When you’re working with so many people at different times and on different dates, as well as co-ordinating everyone including Hayley and myself it was very tough! It was a challenge, but worth it. Lots of early mornings and coffee!”

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Feature: Chasing the dream People and money “The cast was introduced to us via Stevie who worked on the Hate Crime Project,” says Hayley on how it was critical to get the right people for this specific project. “She had been doing research into hate crime and had interviewed thousands of people for her project. She picked out who she thought would work best, and who she thought would be up for having their voice heard.

Stevie had managed to secure some funding to cover the cost of the production of 500 DVDs, but that was the only budget we had. The creative team at the University of Leicester are funded by the University, and in terms of a budget for the actual filming then there wasn’t any. We were therefore delighted to hear that The Harms of Hate was nominated for Best Factual Production at the Royal Television Society’s

“So we shot this film on a DSLR as we wanted a soft filmic look to the project” Midland Awards, which it went on to win. It has also won two awards at this year’s BUFVC Learning on Screen awards. The

film scooped both the General In-house Production award, and the Jury award. The film was also featured in the Aesthetica Short Film Festival. There was a point when we first started to shoot The Harms of Hate where we were trying new things in terms of ways of shooting. So we shot this film on a DSLR as we wanted a soft filmic look to the project. In terms of now though, I think most documentary producers are making their films on DSLRstyle cameras today, and there are so many to choose from.

The industry has really moved forward with this. We have just bought the Sony FS7, which I am really looking forward to using.”

A great result “I wouldn’t change anything in terms of the participants and narrative as I feel like they make the film what it is,” adds Hayley in closing. “But I would

move forward now and use S-Log and DaVinci if I had the opportunity to make this film again. We’ve actually just finished making another film to promote the University’s involvement in HeforShe. HeforShe is a movement run by the UN to promote gender equality. We had to create a film that was a bit different, and would catch people attention, but would also send across a very important message. This will be released by the University of Leicester very soon, so watch this space! The HeforShe project was so much fun to produce. We have tried to do something a little bit different, but also a bit risky too as an institution. I am so pleased the University were on board to try this idea, and the finished product has worked better than I expected, so I am very excited for the release of this next film. Gender equality is a very serious topic, so I hope we have done it justice.” n

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Ask the filmmaker the ideal filmmaking tool, but I love the fact that it’s so small. I know there are a few professional iPhone films out there so do you have any tips or advice, particularly when it comes to stability and getting that all-important smooth tracking shot.

Ed Mitchell, Stansted

Sean J Vincent is a professional who faces filmmaking challenges every day of his career. Here he takes some time out to answer a few of your questions…

Steady Eddie

I’m keen on filmmaking and also love my smartphone and want to do more on the creation front with my handset. I’ve got an iPhone but appreciate that this is not

SJV: You can make a professional looking film with any camera, as has been proved by the number of great looking films shot on smartphones recently.

It’s all about making the audience not notice the camera… the story and content must be key. That being said, a gimbal that enables you to get smooth tracking shots and take the look of shaky phone footage away is a great idea.

Check out the CameTV Single or other similar sized gimbals.

Hire me

I’ve been around the filmmaking and videography industry for a while now so have a reasonable practical understanding of what

Mac attack I’m keen to ramp up my editing skills and all of my friends suggest I should invest in a new Mac, but I have always been a keen user of Windows. So is there any hardware combination that I can invest in that runs Windows and does just as good a job as a Mac, but without the additional learning curve of getting to grips with the Mac OS. Also, what sort of high-end video editing software is best to buy as up until now I’ve had to make do with free or cheap and cheerful packages. I’d like to turn this into a career if possible.

Ian Henderson, Carlisle SJV: As a Mac user, I’m not a huge fan of PC-based systems, but lots of people use them including plenty of high-end professionals, so they clearly get the job done. As with Macs, you will need the best spec you can afford. The fastest processor, the most amount of RAM and the fastest hard drives are a must for video editing. Put your OS on an SSD or Flash drive and use a raid array for your footage. As for editing packages, look at Lightworks, Premiere Pro and Avid Media Composer. Of course, you can run Windows on a Mac and get all the advantages of the Mac hardware, but it strikes me as crazy to have a Mac and not run OSX on it. Good luck.

goes where and why.

However, me and a friend are now considering a partnership whereby we launch a rental house.

The thinking is that we will offer a good range of kit but put it into the beginner or lowend segment of the marketplace. So there’ll be a RED if you need it or, conversely, a 5D if that floats your boat and all for competitive rates. We think this is an untapped area of the rental market but do you have any reservations?

Nigel Atworth, Preston

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SJV: When people rent gear from a rental house, it’s not just the gear they are paying for… they are paying for the peace of mind that if something goes wrong, it’s not their problem as the rental house will step in and replace the gear if possible and go out of their way to keep the shoot happening. This is one of the advantages over owning your

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‘

‘‘

Ask the filmmaker

If the gear you rent out lets someone down, it might cost them a lot of money and possibly their reputation

own gear. The hirer also expects to receive kit in tip-top condition with a full pre-hire check to make sure their shoot goes to plan. If the gear you rent out lets someone down, it might cost them a lot of money and possibly their reputation… so you need to bear that in mind… it’s not just a case of lending someone your gear and getting money in return. You are providing a service.

Make sure you have the time and staff to prep rigs and be on call to deal with problems. As for your choice of the market segment, I would say to beware. The reason there are so many filmmakers these days is that gear is pretty cheap and people like to own it.

You might find that this lower end of the market isn’t that big and you might need the high-end rentals to make it worthwhile.

Wooden top

We’re making a short film and are building all of our sets, the look is of a dishevelled inner city flat, and we’re doing all that in a warehouse in south London that has been lent to us. The only thing is that the plot demands that there’s a fire in the flat towards the end of the film, so we want to create that without burning the place down. Do you think the easy way out of this is to create the effect in post using VFX software.

If so, any advice on what can get the job done with minimal skill?

Jose Ramirez, Southall SJV: Obviously, I have to say that lighting a real fire is not a good idea and you’re right to go down the VFX route. Real fire will always look better, but without a proper qualified pyro-technician and full safety procedures, it’s just a non-starter. BUT - making CG fire look real will be far easier if there is something real in the scene to help sell it. So, use a smoke machine and film real smoke and then use some clever

Track pack

I’ve been asked to produce a video promoting track days at a motor racing circuit, which is an excellent and very exciting challenge. However, in the couple of times that I’ve been down there trying to get the setup right I’m finding that a GoPro and 5D combination isn’t really working. The main thing is fitting the camera to the cars. I know the GoPro is made for this sort of thing, but I’m at a loss to know how to get a steady chunk of footage like the sort of thing you see on the Discovery channel. Is there a surefire way of shooting action footage or is it essentially trial and error?

Andy Robinson, Ipswich SJV: I have found that GoPro footage can look very shaky and ‘jello’ in style if you’re not very careful. This is caused by vibrations shaking the camera sensor and giving you that wobbly footage look. You can get around it by mounting the GoPro in a combat cage and then using a proper car mount instead of the supplied plastic mounts. I have no idea if this is feasible in your situation. Mounting the 5D will be a similar exercise… make sure the mounting is totally solid. The issue with a 5D in that kind of situation is the rolling shutter combined with the full frame sensor. It will give you some very bad rolling shutter ‘slanting’ footage if you shoot sideways movement. I would use a a few GoPros mounted properly to get some action-style shots and then the 5D facing forward for a bonnet shot and then maybe think about using a drone to get some awesome sweeping chase shots of the car on the circuit from above. It might be cool to shoot the driver’s face in his race helmet through the windscreen… again, use a proper car mount like those made by Hague and then use a polarising filter to remove the reflections from the windscreen. lighting to give the impression of the kind of light a fire would emit. When you get back into post, use some stock pre-keyed footage of fire and add it to the scene carefully, keeping scale in mind. So many people resize fire elements and they stop looking real. Look on YouTube for a tutorial on compositing various chroma-keyed elements into a shot.

Kit list

I took a trip to the IBC trade show in Amsterdam recently, which was an eye-opener for someone who has been in the retail videography sector for a while now. I appreciate that this might be a slightly specialised question, but do you have any inkling as to where

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Heavy stuff

Sean Anderson, Aberdeen SJV: I have had a similar experience recently. I have had a few jobs where I need to carry the bare minimum of kit to get a professional result. I swear by the combination of my GH4 with the Atomos Shogun. Proper 4K Pro Res 422 10bit footage and a fantastically accurate monitor too. I also have the CameTV mini2 Gimbal stabilizer, which lives in a case that allows me to leave the camera attached so it is always ready to shoot as soon as I have mounted the Shogun to the top handle. As for lenses, I always think that as long as I have the basic kit zoom plus a 50mm prime and a 28mm prime then I am covered. The kit zoom is light enough to work well on the gimbal as well as giving me a fairly decent wide shot and then primes work for pretty much everything else. I try to keep everything running on Sony NP batteries and then I carry a charger case with me everywhere. The gimbal means I don’t need a dolly or slider and I can even leave the jib at home for most of the stuff I shoot. Get a small and light tripod and then you’ll have everything you need.

‘‘

Drones are very much flavour of the month, but as you probably know, there are so many legal issues with them

maybe gimbals and rail systems are worth looking into? I think auto focus tracking systems are looking really exciting and are possibly something that is about to take off.

My guess is as good as yours…

Sporting challenge

the videography market is going right now. I’d like to specialise in a particular field and provide sales and support but what is worth investing in? All of the drone booths were packed, so is this the way forwards?

Angela Brown, Shrewsbury SJV: Drones are very much flavour of the month, but as you probably know, there are so many legal

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issues with them at the moment that I wouldn’t think it was a wise area to specialise in sales and support unless you are already an expert. With the way things are going, data storage and management is going to become more and more vital and the whole camera support systems market has to be worth looking at too. These days, people buy into a sensor system and keep their accessories each time they upgrade their core system – so

‘‘

One of the biggest annoyances I encounter when going out on a shoot for the day is the cumulative weight of all my equipment. So, I’ve decided to turn over a new leaf and invest in some new goodies that will lighten my load. Do you have any basic kit list suggestions when it comes to an ‘ideal’ setup? I have money to spend, but want to be sure that it’ll be spent on the right stuff that will allow me to get the job done to a professional level. Camera, lens, battery, monitor and so on are all things you could help me with.

I’ve been to numerous big sporting events and often see that camera rig sliding across above the heads of the crowd and never cease to be amazed by it.

Is this sort of kit for use solely by broadcasting professionals or is there a low-budget equivalent in circulation? Perhaps you know of another way of getting this kind of shot and I’m wondering if a drone might be able to offer the same sort of solution for me. I shoot a few sporting events and

am just trying to come up with an extra selling point when it comes to pitching for jobs.

Michael Davis, Watford

SJV: You can buy cable dolly systems for aerial camera footage, but they are relatively expensive when you add a motorised remote control system. That being said, it is far safer than trying to fly a drone over the heads of a sporting event, which I’m afraid isn’t at all legal in the UK. I’d recommend a big crane/jib, which is far safer and can get over the top of the action to a certain degree, or maybe a handheld gimbal so that you can run alongside the action on the sidelines.

The magic touch

I’ve been picking up some basic skills in shooting video, helped by a Panasonic GH4, but somehow the end result never quite looks as I had hoped for. For a relative newbie do you have a checklist of things I can do to hone my skills? I’m looking to get smoother

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Ask the filmmaker footage, remove the horrible jump in lighting and contrast between segments of footage and generally give my video work that extra sheen. Or does this just come with practice?

Sam Atwell, Barnsley SJV: A lot of it is practice and possibly reading this magazine!

Make sure you have your basics right. Set your frame rate to what you want, probably 25fps in the UK, then set your shutter speed/

angle to twice that – 50 frames or 180 degrees. Make sure your ISO stays at 800 or below and then just concentrate on the framing, composition and focus. Don’t rush. If you’re shooting a scene indoors, go through this process and set the white balance to match your lighting – probably tungsten indoors and then take the time to re-set these settings if you move outside for the next shot. Adjust the exposure, ISO and white balance each time you change your environment. Shooting professionally means taking control of each of these basic elements and then moving on to getting really creative and thoughtful shots. Once you’ve mastered all these elements of shooting completely manually, think about investing in some toys like a glider or maybe a jib or gimbal to get some smooth movement shots.

Practice makes perfect.

Shot in the dark I’m an aspiring filmmaker but find that one of the biggest headaches along the way towards production of a project is the planning aspect.

I’ve got reasonable organisational skills but often get tied up in knots on the day of the shoot.

I’ve read about ShotLister and other software that can help with planning, execution and delivery of video, so do you have any suggestions on this front?

I don’t mind paying for an app or something, but can’t stretch to anything high-end or, for that matter, high priced!

Dan Smith, Reading SJV: I love ShotLister. It enables you to plan every shot in your production then keep track of what you have shot and what you need to come back to. It allows very accurate estimates of how long each scene will take to shoot too, which is really useful when you’re planning your days. I find that if you put in the time to put all the information into the app and then assign someone to run it throughout the shoot, it keeps everything in order. I’m sure there are alternative ways of doing this, but it’s the best app I’ve found for this purpose.

Bright spark I know this magazine has spent quite a bit of time focusing on lighting and all of its issues numerous times in the last couple of years. However, this is something I still struggle with. I’ve invested in the latest kit from Rotolight and find the NEO to be very compact and handy for all sort of situations.

However, I shoot quite a lot of stuff in vehicles, which can tend to be problematical for a variety of reasons. Do you have any tips or tricks for lighting cars, vans and trucks for filming inside and often while they are moving? I make automotive videos for the trade by the way.

Mike Sanderson, Alton

Road trip

We’re about to shoot a short documentary that’ll see us out on the road for a week or so with a touring rock band. We’ve been commissioned to get some great footage and want to be sure that we’ve got the right kit that will enable us to do just that. Have you ever used the DJI Ronin? We’ve read some great reviews of this piece of kit, but want to know if it’s worth getting one and if the rental route is the way to go as opposed to buying it. My friend and I do a reasonable amount of video work now alongside stills photography, but we also need to keep an eye on the pennies. Any wise words of wisdom for us?

Alex Bradwell, Lowestoft SJV: The Ronin is very good. It all depends what camera you need to mount on it though. I opted for the Mini2 from CameTV as it was so light and I didn’t want to lift any more weight than was necessary… but the Ronin has had excellent reviews. Having worked with rock bands and on tour a lot, I would recommend taking some camera-mounted lights as you will find yourself in dimly lit places a lot. Also, spend some money on decent audio. No one will be impressed with a music documentary, if the audio is bad.

You’ll need a shotgun mic, possibly a radio lav mic or two and a way of recording the gig from a spare stereo output on the mixing desk.

This is all pretty easy as long as you are prepared. If you think you’ll use the kit regularly enough that it will pay for itself, then why not buy it? Renting is the way to go if you’ll only need it for the one week and then not again for the foreseeable future.

SJV: I used the NEO kit for exactly this recently on a web series. I used a coloured gel to match one of the NEOs to the same colour as the dash lights and then I wedged it behind the steering wheel on the dash, pointing at the driver. Then I used another NEO with a blue-ish gel to aimed at the passenger from the dash in front of him to give the illusion of general moonlight/ ambient light. If you don’t need to hide the lights, use suction

mounts to get them up high on the windscreen corners and possibly on the side windows if necessary. If people really are driving on the roads, make sure the light level isn’t so high that they can’t see out of the windows safely due to reflections and check out your insurance and the legalities of filming on the roads where you are. Some areas are more okay with it than others. n Keep up with Sean and his work at www.seanjvincent.com

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Behind the scenes photography by Ania Pankiewicz.

Other images by Elerby Studios

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Feature: Out of this world

OUT OF THIS

W RLD Director and editor Lee Bolton takes time out from his work at Elerby Studios to explain how he got the chance to make short science-fiction flick Charlie and Me

We all get close to our own filmmaking projects and it’s often for a variety or reasons.

It might be a labour of love, or just something you feel you have to do. Some films, however, go a little deeper, and it is pure emotion that has driven Lee Bolton to make his Charlie and Me science-fiction short. “It’s a very personal thing,” says the filmmaker on how his story came to fruition. “My mum lost her battle with cancer a few years ago and it is still, and always will be, very raw. I wanted something to remember her by, and some of the Charlie dialogue in the film is straight from my mum that no one has heard before. There are a lot of personal feelings in the film that I thought would bring power to the project. I went away last year camping in the middle of nowhere. There was no modern tech, no phone, I just had a pen and paper and nailed the story to Charlie and Me. And cried a lot.”

Fresh start Mind you, Lee has been making films in all manner of ways since he got into the industry early on and has gone on to create his own commercial venture in the shape of Elerby Studios. “I have been filming since I was 16,” he says. “I began by using VHS camcorders making short films with my friends.

I’ve always enjoyed making films up on the spot. For years I was making funny comedies for my family and friends - using them as the actors. Stupid silly films with rolling credits, but we had so much fun. That was my youth. I spent my money on mixing desks and had to edit on-the-fly using direct to VHS workflow. It was brilliant. The family used to love watching them. In the years since I have worked on many varied productions including TV, film, adverts. I was even lensed up by Tim Burton early this year. It’s been fantastic. Right now, I am a full-time director and editor. I have the studio in Bolton, which

was my dream and so I eventually just took the risk. I was a data manager looking after RBS data beforehand, working on TV and film sets at weekends and left to set up Elerby. Its core business is music videos, promos and showreels for actors. Once a year we get the luxury to produce a film using local talent, which is where Charlie and Me comes in.”

“I never thought about producing it until we had a cancellation of another film” As Lee has said, Charlie and Me is a very personal project but it’s this combined with his passion for all things sciencefiction that has propelled him onwards and upwards to get the short completed. “I’m the writer and director of Charlie and Me,”

he continues, underlining how much creative input he has had on the film. “I am a massive sci-fi lover - all types - and wanted to get a science-fiction short produced as we have never touched on that subject before.

Charlie and Me actually came from something I had written over 20 years ago and it just wasn’t possible to film it back then. I had to wait until now to get my head around the VFX shots in the film.

Back then I would have been making the visual effects in 1989 on a Commodore Amiga!”

Core values So where does this larger-thanlife escapade take us during the course of its short run?

“The film takes off in space when ‘The Pilot’, played by Lindsay Bennett, is thrown into a lifepod ship after losing a battle with someone,” says Lee. “She is alone and scared. With very limited piloting skills she doesn’t know what to do. The lifepod is

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old and has been re-used many times. The whole point of the pod is that crew can escape and be picked up by passing ships. She suddenly hears a noise at the back end of the ship and spies a power unit. It’s old and rusty but looks like it has a face in the knobs and dials. She is glad she has company and starts to call the power unit ‘Charlie’ after her son. Charlie just bleeps at her and the Pilot sort of knows what he is saying. The film is about the adventure they have on that ship. You get to see the young human Charlie on earth as well played by 5-year-old Lucas Smith and his father played by Christopher Faith. If you were to pick a film that’s similar in style in terms of writing then it would have to be Moon. The look is pure used Star Wars world. It was originally just called Charlie, I never thought about producing it until we had a cancellation of another film we were working on and the time was there. At the time, I didn’t show anyone my work, so it sat

in the drawer. I have never filmed anything I had written for many years, so I thought this would be the time to do it. They say you should write something and then put it in a drawer for six months and return to it. Mine just took more than normal, about 20 years.

I loved writing it though. It was quite simple as the ideas were always there, it was just a case of tidying up the script to incorporate VFX shots.”

Big ideas Despite the plot being quite adventurous, the financial constraints of making a sci-fi film with limited resources and not

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Feature: Out of this world That also meant that he ran a tight ship with not many people either… “I used a small crew on Charlie,” adds the filmmaker.

“We have my producer Graham Cheadle who has worked with me on many things in the studio. Marcus Fellows was my 1st AD. The set, which is this amazing lifepod, was made out of recycled wood, computers and grills from cookers and was built by Justin Gibson. It was me who dressed the inside and that took weeks! We have Charlotte Runagall who made Charlie and the prop is just amazing and much space into the bargain have meant that Lee had to fly by the seat of his pants for much of the production. “Shorts are fun,” he says of the decision to keep it brief and to the point. “I think Charlie could be developed as a feature, but due to ‘normal studio work’ we just didn’t have the time. There is the budget as well.

Even on a low-budget short like this money is eaten away. Maybe once Charlie and Me is released we can aim at getting a feature completed. I didn’t want to go cap-in-hand via the Kickstarter route as well. Charlie was always going to suit a short and even within those 20 minutes there is a lot going on and much to take in. When you consider that the film has about 15 full VFX shots outside the lifepod alone then the budget would need to be sky-high for a feature that would include most shots.”

“Charlie could be developed as a feature, but due to ‘normal studio work’ we didn’t have time”

film perfectly over the opening and closing credits, plus we have an exclusive new track from them for one scene that is simply genius.

We’ve shot music videos for them and when I told them about the film they loved it and they jumped on board. Admittedly, doing all this has meant that I have been the director, editor and DOP for the main shots and that’s a lot I know, but these are the things I just love to do.”

Kit choices “The film was shot on a Canon 5D Mark III,” furthers the filmmaker.

“The reason? They are some of the in-house cameras that we have at the studio and we know them and have shot on them for years. Due to the nature of the script the lifepod is quite small and I wanted that fear factor up on screen, I wanted it to feel compact. With DSLRs you can rig a camera up and get great shots. Also, the budget did allow for RED cameras, but early on we decided against that and to stick with what we knew would work and look best. We used lovely prime lenses for DOF - pulling focus all the way - slight messy. There was a lot of blocking of the actors involved, so shoulder mounted rigs were perfect.

For the simple scenes we locked cameras off and all the crew came off and let Lindsay perform without anyone on the film set. I think it was a great way to have the loneliness that I wanted. It worked. For VFX work I have mainly been using Maya and Nuke.”

Again though, due to the film being sci-fi it was always going to have its challenges… “The lighting on the ship was always going to be a pain,” admits Lee. “We had these Red Heads and Kino’s causing all

she’s given it so much life. Nicole Aleisha is our SFX makeup artist who gave Lindsay some great looks. Bethany Smallman is our lead VFX artist and she blew me away in the test shots and the final shots will look superb I’m sure. Philip Jackson was involved with the great special effects lighting. Our production manager was Claryn Scott, who made the days run so smooth.

The music, meanwhile, is from a band called Blackheart. There was no other choice for me.

Their track, Hey Pluto just fit the

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“The crew, just as I always knew, were brilliant and you are nothing without a great crew”

sorts of problems. We would get a shot and because of the actor’s blocking it was hard to keep lighting constant. However, when we looked at the dailies this made the ship look ‘alive’. I love these sorts of errors that you can use in the final edit. It was a great shoot as everyone just went that

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extra mile. The lifepod scenes were shot at our studio. The actual set was built from office supplies - computers, boards, cable racks. We raided local companies who helped us get strange looking objects. There’s a slinky in there. A smashed hover mower turned inside out.

Cake boxes painted. Once the set was built we got strobe lights and fitted them inside the plastic to make it look alive and pulsing. It was so much fun to

build and everyone who visited the set wanted to get in there and play. The best find was a dentist chair. This was an actual dentist chair that was given to us to rip apart and I attached an old Commodore 64 joystick to it.

It just gave the film an extra tick.

The only thing was that the set was small we couldn’t even get the clapper in the shot. Most of the crew was off set watching on the monitors.”

studio. I love the casting part.

You never know what is going to happen or who is going to walk in the door. Each actor that auditioned did wonderful things to the script. Each added a great element. When we got it down to the final few we did recalls. It

Skill factor Adding to the overall sheen is the input supplied from the cast… “We auditioned a lot of actors of the main role of The Pilot,” reckons Lee. “Over 160 actors applied from all over the UK. We narrowed this down and auditions were held at the

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Feature: Out of this world was such a hard choice. When Lindsay Bennett auditioned, and I hope she won’t mind me telling you this, she sent a funny video along with the normal actors CV and a reel with her playing with puppets to show she could work against nothing. Nearly all of her scenes are with Charlie the power unit, you see. She made me laugh, plus she had this brilliant audition that actually made some of the crew cry. I thought she was the one from that. We did have a budget too and that scared me.

Science-fiction with a low-budget can look terrible on screen, but as soon as the designs of Charlie came in, the set was built and the VFX test shots were taken. I just thought ‘Wow, this is really working’. I feared that the film would fail on the cost front, but it really looked great. The crew, just as I always knew, were brilliant and you are nothing without a great crew.”

So where are you with the film right now? “All the lifepod scenes

“We will also have something I have always wanted to do, but my lips are sealed” are in the can and there are a further two days of filming the ‘Earth scenes’ with the parents and Charlie,” adds Lee. “Once that is complete the post work will take up all the spare time in the studio, so it’s going to be a case of burning the midnight oil.

A few scenes have been edited for look and I am so pleased with the progress. The VFX work will be finished last and we expect the film to be complete in the new year. Once it’s done, the film is going to be getting a lovely Cineworld showing for the cast and crew and then we’ll fly it out to all the major festivals. I am over the moon with the end result. For something so personal you really kick yourself with shots that did not work as well as they should because of certain factors. With Charlie, however, the feel is more than I could have imagined.”

Dream occupation “Every film, every shoot is a learning curve,” adds the filmmaker on how things are going with his career. “To do things any differently then I would have to get one of my favourite DOPs in and leave them to it.

I am very hands-on, and I get told this a lot. However, I just finished a couple of days working

on Tim Burton’s new film, Miss Peregrine’s Home for Peculiar Children in Blackpool. Tim Burton is very hands-on too, setting shots up, running about in front of camera talking to all his crew. So, if it’s good for Tim Burton, maybe I’ll continue this way. Making Charlie and Me has been a rush and a risk. I have loved every minute of it, from casting, preproduction, filming to post. It’s been a blast working with the cast and crew and these people are real raw talent. I have finally made this film I created so many years ago and it’s going to be very emotional when it’s released. I am sure my mum would have loved it. Next up, we have a feature called The Call coming and then hopefully following Charlie we will also have something I have always wanted to do, but my lips are sealed due to confidentiality agreements. Now that will be a lot of fun. The film is a calling card to show what these people are capable of.” n

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Where The Journey Ends is a post-apocalyptic action adventure feature film from Crimson Reel and VPac Productions. Inspired by Mad Max and The 100 plus video games such as Fallout, Borderlands, Dying Light and The Last of Us, it’s a project that’s been developed by Velton Lishke, who’s both an actor and a filmmaker. As a result, he’s got an interesting tale to tell about the work involved, especially considering that he can see it from both sides of the production fence. The film unfolds over six chapters, following different survivors and how they live in hostile wastelands, doing anything they can to survive. There are bandits, cannibals and savage mutants around every corner, while locations included Bradford, Halifax, Harrogate and Thirsk no less…

“With 90 per cent of filming taking place outdoors the cast and crew were at the mercy of the great British summer,” says Velton when he initially makes contact. “The weather would quickly change from glorious sunshine to a thunderous downpour, and in one case the crew risked going out in thunder and lightning to complete a take they would only have one shot at getting.”

Velton Lishke is an actor and filmmaker who’s recently put the finishing touches to his postapocalyptic feature film called Where The Journey Ends

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Feature: No vital signs have been in the business for over a decade as an actor and comedy writer. I’ve been more and more involved with the production side of things over the last two years as it became clear that when the three of us worked together the chemistry was great and the ideas just bounced. Aidan’s first time making a film was as a kid, using his dad’s camcorder and a bunch of Star Wars action figures. From there on he got the bug for filmmaking. All three of us are completely self-taught in this industry and are still learning with every production we do as well as improving the equipment we use as we go along.”

Location perils The filmmaker also had to deal with traffic, along with passing planes and helicopters, none of which were meant to fit into the desolate, post-apocalyptic world they were creating. The film is, in essence, a micro-budget feature and so everything had to be done on the cheap; many props, weapons and masks were made by hand and most of the actors brought and donated their own clothes and weapons.

Many of the locations have been

“We’ve all been working in every department going including acting in the film” free to use and all the actors and crew have given up their spare time to the project. So, this is classic Digital FilmMaker territory, right?

“Aidan Rawnsley and Ryan Firth, the co-directors, have been working with their company Crimson Reel for about five years, making short films and comedy sketches on YouTube,” says Velton. “I’ve been the coproducer, AD and lead actor, and

Unfortunately, turning this passion for filmmaking into a full-time career hasn’t quite happened yet but they are working on it… “We call it a fulltime hobby,” chuckles Velton.

“Although we still work day jobs to pay the bills so most of our filming is restricted to weekends or nights or simply any odd days we can get off together. A lot of the scripts are written and decided over Skype calls, because Aidan works part-time in the leisure industry whilst Ryan works in the care sector. Crimson Reel often takes on freelance work filming corporate videos, company adverts and photography so I’m more full-time with the acting, writing and performing with my comedy partner Jack Kenna,

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who’s also cast in the film.

However, I still do a few days here and there either temping or working on building sites and have just launched VPac Casting, my own casting agency, which specialises in casting for independent productions like our own one.”

Helping hands “In this particular production we’ve all working in every department going including acting in the film, doing the sound, catering, picking the cast up, sorting locations, wardrobe and we have even tried our hand at make up,” sighs Velton. “Crimson Reel and VPac Productions both work independently, writing and producing their own projects, but we frequently collaborate as friends, helping each other with editing, directing, casting and all the rest of it. We’ve now worked together on several projects, many of which have been

going into film festivals. Where The Journey Ends is a postapocalyptic action adventure film but in addition to the main feature, throughout the film are retro infomercial-styled ‘interval’ segments hosted by actor Michael Siegel, who instructs viewers on how to survive the post-apocalyptic world. Whilst it sounds like so many other films in this genre we hope we have created a completely new and fun kind of project.

Aidan began writing the film in 2013 as a straight zombie horror, but soon after completion he shelved it as he didn’t think it was possible to make at the time and went on to write another horror feature. That then also got shelved as the budget required to make it was simply way too much, but I was a massive fan of this script from the beginning so we decided to look at this film again, to work out how we could do it and make it different and stand out from the others in such

a jam-packed genre. So the writing progressed, and the story changed into a more character driven post-apocalyptic drama, focusing more on the survivors and their story, rather than being an unoriginal gore fest zombie film. As a result, Where The Journey Ends is more of an action-adventure film now, rather than a horror.”

“We’ve all been working in every department going including acting in the film”

the boom, assisting with makeup or filming for the behind the scenes video. Apart from that, Aidan, Ryan and myself did most of the additional work, and that included sound, catering, prop making and costuming. We have been very blessed with the cast and we have had a great deal of offers of help from other independent filmmakers who have seen our previous work.

And some, like Jack Kenna are even cast in the film… they have all understood the way independent films work and all pitched-in until the film was finished. Crimson Reel owns a variety of filmmaking gear, including the Canon 60D and a Rode Video Mic… most of it is run-and-gun stuff, but recently we’ve added some high-tech pieces to our arsenal like a DJI Phantom and a Blackmagic

Guerrilla tactics Central to getting the film made was the capacity to do everything on a shoestring and be as inventive as possible.

“This project really was guerrilla filmmaking at its best,” reckons Velton. “A lot of the time we would turn up to set and if someone was stood around with nothing to do we gave them a job on the spot - either holding

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Feature: No vital signs Pocket Cinema Camera. To make Where the Journey Ends we’ve used a mix of handheld work with shoulder rigs and Steadicams for the frantic action sequences, and for the calmer, dialogue-driven scenes we used tripods, sliders and jibs. VPac Productions also uses the Canon 60D, but in this project it has mainly been used for location hunting and behind the scenes footage and test shots.”

“Recently we’ve added some hightech pieces to our arsenal like a DJI Phantom” Open spaces Yorkshire has been the ideal backdrop for the project too it seems, with Velton sounding very pleased with the locations used. “Filming has taken place all over Yorkshire,” he enthuses.

“Predominantly in Harrogate but also Bradford, Birstwith, and we have been very lucky

to film the last chapters of our film on a farm in Thirsk that was used for a great British horror called Inbred. In these locations we found forests, quarries, moorlands, plus working and abandoned farms. We were keen on using real locations that captured the run-down look needed for an apocalyptic world. A lot of the time, due to time and budget restraints, we used the same location again and completely re-dressed it and other locations we had to abandon due to public use or sound issues. All of these locations have been loaned to us for free with the final one even letting the whole cast and crew camp there for three days.

With 90 per cent of the filming taking place outdoors the cast

and crew were at the mercy of the great British summer and I am sure at some point this has affected every single film maker out there. We also had to deal with the general public as some of the places were open to them and the very sight of a camera and crew usually generates enough interest for them to stop and ask what’s going on, or take pictures, which usually grinds us to a complete halt. But, it’s just a part of what comes with independent filmmaking.”

Getting together “We had an initial pre-production meeting in Harrogate before filming began where all the actors were gathered to meet each other for the first time,” says Velton of his illustrious

cast. “This was great because it meant friendships were already starting to shine, which will hopefully come through in the film. Some of the cast members we have used in previous projects, like Bleak and The Mad Monkey Crew, but most are fresh to us, so it was nice working with a mix of new and familiar faces. While most are local to us, which helped us financially, we still had a few from Manchester, Darlington, Warrington, Nottingham and Bolton and many applied from as far away as London. All were willing to work for free and not all are actors… we have roofers, builders, and also two young children, one of which has autism and it’s his dream to be an actor and after an amazing performance I am sure he will achieve that.

While most of our other productions have either been zero or up to about the £500 mark in terms of budget, this has been our biggest to date with the total cost of this film coming in at around £1,500 to £2,000. That’s mainly just on food! Fortunately for us, every single cast member has been working for free or on expenses, and have graciously given up their spare time to make this film. In return we have kept their bellies full with sausage

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rolls, croissants and Haribo and provided a barbecue when the weather has allowed us to.

However, because we’ve done it on a tight budget this has lead to the project taking over five months to film as it has been a struggle to get the cast together on the days needed as we have to respect their work commitments.”

Final furlong “The end is in sight,” adds Velton when he’s asked where they are with the project right now. “The film is split into six chapters and we were able to work almost chronologically and chapters one to four are all complete. The final chapters will be done in a very ambitious three-day shoot in which all cast and crew will be camping on location to give us the most of the days. We will then have the luxury of a few weekends after

“It’s got this weird B-movie/grindhouse feel to it, almost like it was made in the 70s” October for any last pick up shots. Aidan has been editing the project as it goes along, so if it all runs smoothly the film will be complete before the end of the year, with a cast and crew premier at the cinema before we move on to the next stage, which is to hopefully find distribution for the film. We will also be releasing the official trailer shortly after its completion, then we relax before starting on another four planned projects. Where The Journey Ends is definitely going to be one unique film… it’s got this weird B-movie/grindhouse feel to it, almost like it was made in the

70s and forgotten about. We’ve tried staying away from digital effects as much as possible and sticking with old school practical.

There’s a decent amount of gory deaths, one or two heads smashed, faces ripped off, that sort of thing. There’s hordes of gross-looking mutants, which all wear prosthetics… we’ve got a scene that’s all about a tribe of

cannibals living in the woods, which is all sort of messed up.

And, we’ve got all these pyscho bandits who look like they’ve stepped straight out of Mad Max. I’ve been working very closely with Aidan regarding the script and we feel we have added some nice subtle comedic tones in there as well. So this film really should appeal to everyone and may become a cult thing… if not

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comedy elements and it will be a very, very dark movie, which we are very excited about.

Then we get back to a trilogy of comedies, all to be filmed in a mockumentary film style and all featuring the exact same cast of thirteen, including the very talented Stephen Davies and Tim Atkins. And, if that isn’t enough, we also have a bunch of festival and competition entries including the Colchester 60 Hour film challenge, which will be filmed on the same weekend as our final threeday shoot and the Comic Con 48 Hour challenge, which is filmed the weekend after. After Christmas our likely first project with be the massive feature film Mad Monkey Crew 3.”

Fun package “It’s been a long and crazy experience,” adds Velton, looking back on this feature.

“With plenty of ups and downs,

we had a blast and it was the ultimate adventure you could ever wish for.”

Lessons learnt Velton is certainly sure that he is taking away plenty of practical tips and tricks for the future following the experience…

“Remember fly spray!” he laughs.

“There’s this one scene in the film, where a nasty character goes to meet with the big baddie of the film, The Bandit King, and we were filming in a forest. It was raining and the flies were out in full force that day. There are a few close-ups where you can see the flies crawling all over the actors… crawling on their faces, in their ears and noses. Next time I’d also like to get more crew because with such a large cast it was incredibly hard work to organise everything as well as actually act in the film. I’d more research on locations too and try not to use any public ones and make sure we have all locations before we

but most of all it’s been fun! And it wouldn’t have been possibly without the help of the incredible cast, crew and the community that has formed around this film. We will all take away some amazing memories and so many new friendships were formed… this is what independent filmmaking is all about and what makes the film so enjoyable because by the end of it you are one big family. Hopefully people like the end product, and it’s been our biggest and most ambitious project to date.

If all goes well then this will set the standard for all of our future productions.” ■

even start. I found some of these locations just days before filming sometimes and you find that you need to double-check all the surrounding areas. For example, when we were filming the cannibal scene a heard of cows were watching us, which kind of killed the whole ‘we’re eating humans because were desperate for food’ vibe.

“Hopefully people like the end product, and it’s been our biggest and most ambitious project” Aside from this project, we’re pretty much busy with back-toback filming all the way up until Christmas with various films including a hard-hitting short film, which will be completely different to anything else we have ever done. That’s mainly because I will not be adding any

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Backintime Chris Reading is the director and producer of Somnus, a low-budget sci-fi feature that’s nearing release in the next couple of months…

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“There was a small mention of this project in your magazine back in 2013 when we started production” says Somnus mainman Chris Reading. “You were interviewing my co-writer Russell Owen at the time.

Since then we’ve been calling on lots of in-camera, practical filmmaking techniques like using miniatures, animatronic

creatures and doing a lot of location shooting. We’ve paired this old school approach with the newest digital photography kit available. The film has been shot primarily in 4K on a RED with prime lenses, and using a mix of other mediums too.

I’m hoping this film will show people what’s possible with not much in the way of money.

My background is originally

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e in sound design, doing mainly TV and commercial work as a freelancer, but I soon started making my own short films with the help of friends.

Shorts are a great way to learn the ropes in a relatively low pressure environment, allowing

experimentation that’s probably not possible on commercial projects. Right now, I’m a full-time filmmaker and trying to direct wherever possible, doing some commercial and online content work mainly, but developing my own ideas too.

Tricky shoot As you can see from the images here, the project looks quite bold but sci-fi can be difficult to get right, especially when there’s no money in the pot… “I originally had the idea a couple of years ago whilst watching a short film that had focused on practical effects to make a retro looking sci-fi,” reckons

shooting inks swirling around in water tanks. We went straight into experimenting with this technique and seeing what was possible. We also built a number of miniatures, including a six-foot model of the cargo ship aboard which most of the film takes place. It stayed in one piece for the duration of the two-day shoot, but quickly

“The core crew was very small. A lot being achieved by a handful of people” Chris. “I’ve always been very into sci-fi, especially films of the 1970s era, when visual effects meant miniatures, real sets and crafted props. I was watching a documentary about Douglas Trumbull, the genius behind the VFX of Star Trek II, and Silent Running (which he also directed). I looked at his approach to making nebulae floating in space by

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began to disintegrate under the hot studio lighting. The film is about the small crew of a container ship, Ocelot, who because of an accident on board have to divert to a remote asteroid base called Somnus. They discover the inhabitants of Somnus to be the surviving members of a dangerous cult, hiding out, awaiting the destruction of earth by a

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“I’ve always been very into sci-fi, especially films of the 1970s era”

down and wrote the scenes we were going to shoot with cowriter Russell Owen, who came up with some great story layers that I hadn’t thought of. The writing process was quite quick, however, when we sat down before shooting a particular

scene I would consider if there were any tricks we had missed and adapted the script if our practical situation had changed.

So the script was not set in stone by any means… in fact, we are continually tweaking the script as we record our ship’s

malevolent alien race. The remaining crew of the Ocelot soon find themselves in a fight for survival as the cult tries to take control of their ship.

I outlined the story very quickly in a couple of weeks, having worked out what locations were available to us and what would be a manageable size cast to schedule around. I then sat

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computer voice in postproduction. I find this second bite of the cherry extremely useful and it has allowed me to adapt to unforeseen things like location or cast availabilities.

This is my first feature film…

I looked at the effort and resources that a short requires and thought ‘Why don’t we just plan it out over a few shoots,

edit them together and make a feature film?’ That way we will have a real substantial piece of work at the end of it all, something to be proud of. It did mean that the commitment I required from everyone involved was on a feature film scale too.”

“We shot primarily on a RED Epic, with other cameras such as GoPro and DSLRs” Compact crew “The core crew was very small,” admits Chris. “A lot being achieved by a handful of people. A lot of us discovered new skills… for example, I had great fun in the art department, building space suits, space ships and lots of other props.

Richard Jones, the DOP, was a mainstay throughout the whole process, and was always willing to try new things and improvise on the spot. Great production management came from Ross Williams and Edward Tull helped the show run very smoothly. We had a few specialist members of crew come in for particular

things, like Phil Eason, who’s a creature maker and puppeteer.

Phil made us an animatronic space creature for a scene, and then performed with it on set, he’s been a legend. Luckily I have plenty of filmmaker friends who I can bounce ideas off of along the way, which is very helpful on a long project like this. We shot primarily on a RED Epic, with other cameras such as GoPro and DSLRs where they were required for effects shots. Luckily we had support help from VMI and SOLA, for kit and lighting hire respectively. One of things we spent a bit of money on was making sure we had some nice lenses for each shoot, which would suit the scene. Our DOP mainly opted for the Zeiss ZF uncoated lenses, which unlike most modern lenses don’t have coatings to reduce flare. I like the artefacts that come about with these lenses. Even though

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Beating the odds

the contrast is slightly reduced in camera we do get a result nearer to something shot in the 70s. We used ‘Blue Streak’ and ‘Pro Mist’ filters along with the right lighting, to make the most of these lenses, for that retro sci-fi feel. Other bits of guest kit for particular scenes included a rig I manufactured to allow the camera to spin through the axis of the lens to create Space Odyssey-like results on a shoestring budget.

For the miniature work we stuck to the regular CP2 lenses, which give a nice contrast between the exterior and interior environments where we used uncoated lenses. I hadn’t shot miniatures before so that was a huge learning experience, but I think we figured it out in the end.

I will try to incorporate miniatures into my work in future now that I am confident we can make them look good.”

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“We’ve all been working in every department going including acting in the film”

“Luckily we didn’t have any disasters,” laughs the filmmaker.

“However, a lot of unplanned things happen on a project like this, so you just have to use them to your advantage. I dropped and smashed the visor of one of the space suits whilst transporting it. We ended up using it in the background of another scene as a wrecked suit. Meanwhile, the interiors of the space ship were shot in decommissioned military aircraft at the East Midlands Aeropark with the help of the volunteers there. There was a Cold Warera Vulcan nuclear bomber, a Nimrod spy plane and various other transport aircraft that all gave us real and tangible locations, which the cast could obviously interact with.

I always try to find interesting locations, then half the work is done for you. There’s so much extra background story that the location can tell. The ship is an old falling-apart craft, with malfunctions and breakdowns

happening all the time. The old aircraft lend themselves perfectly to this, plus it was also a lot of fun climbing around these things, which obviously had a history all of their own.

Thankfully all of our locations, which included the Severn Valley Railway, were extremely accommodating. I was always surprised by the help we received when we asked nicely.

Then there was the cast, most of which I knew through other projects, so the casting went quite smoothly. Mac MacDonald (The Fifth Element, Aliens, Red Dwarf) I had worked with before, so I knew he would be the perfect casting as the film’s antagonist.”

Getting there “The budget was tiny in feature film terms,” adds Chris with a grin. “Under £100k, and it was

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“We’ve had great fun reinventing the filmmaking techniques of the 1970s”

privately sought. However, this gave us a great deal of freedom, allowing an experimental approach, which Richard the DOP and I thrive on. It has been a great experience, but I’m definitely happy to have finished it. I will think twice before attempting an out-andout science-fiction film on his

sort of budget again though!

The film is tantalisingly close to being finished now and November 2015 for a release is my goal. We’ll probably go straight into our festival run. We are tweaking, watching, listening, then tweaking again and I’ll play with the film until the law of decreasing returns means

the best option is to release it.

I’m very pleased with how the film is playing. I think we have something everyone in the cast and crew can be proud of. It took a while to find the right look with the help of colourist Damien Jordan, but I think the hard work has paid off.

That said, there are many things I would do differently if I was doing it again, but then again a lot of cool stuff came about by accident on this one.

I have discovered the process is fraught with compromise, not necessarily in a negative

way but where accident and coincidence lead the project in directions you didn’t plan. The trick is to be as prepared as you can and improvise when you see an opportunity. Luckily, current technology can allow us to try stuff out. This is a claustrophobic space drama, with personal narratives, as well as an epic overarching plot.

Some characters are mysterious, and their motives are never fully understood. We’ve had great fun reinventing the filmmaking techniques of the 1970s, which are starting to come back into fashion again. I hope the audience enjoys it. Meanwhile, I’m doing some thinking on another feature project, a UFO story and also a western. I may make a short film in the next few months just to keep my hand in and again, it might end up being another sci-fi!” n

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RED HOT! You can always be sure of a surprise or two from the RED camp and their latest move towards a smaller model of camera takes them in a whole new direction

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Go to any of the trade shows and there are some booths that are always packed.

One of the most frequented by show goers has to be the black-as-night RED stand, with its charcoal carpets and

“Using a device remotely is now one of the key requirement for many areas of the market” carefully positioned spotlights invariably highlighting something unexpected. And, of course, there is always something new when it comes to RED because the US-based business is a powerhouse in productivity terms. IBC 2015 in Amsterdam, back in September, was no exception and we were there to take in the latest

developments…

There was the RED Dragon of course, which has been around for a couple of years but after the company took in some of their customer feedback they worked up the RED Weapon, which still comes armed with the Dragon sensor with the same dynamic range and what have you, but the company decided to rework some of the external features, just to make it more user-friendly. For example, at the front the company took away the fans after feedback about worries for injecting noise into scenes, so all that has been shifted to the back of the camera so any noise goes the other way. And, in place at the front are two microphones,

“There are also different versions of batteries, such as the compact flight-safe model” so there’s now on-board audio that gives you a reference track. The thing with the camera is that it comes with no connectors on it at all, so out of the box you can’t even turn the camera on. However, the benefit of this is that you have the opportunity to select exactly the type of camera that you want, so if you’re doing gimbal work, or aerial stuff then there are expanders that allow you to produce the specification that you need for the job. Another plus point with that is you don’t have to worry about carrying lots of extra weight from components of features that you’re not actually going to be using.

Beefing it up On top of that you can move into the realms of the pro cinema expander and that gives you the likes of multiple SDI outputs, fullsize XLR audio outputs, several auxiliary power outputs and all of the standard ports that you want when going for a high-end shooting experience. What you also get with this development is the ability to use the camera remotely, whereas before you always had to be with the camera in order to work it. So now it’s been given the capacity to be turned on from afar, which

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obviously opens up all sorts of new possibilities for the device. A good example of the remote scenario is if the camera is being using underwater for filming, which is probably going to be somewhere where you might not be able to get at it. Now you can turn it on and off just by applying the power when needed. As RED has said, they’re no longer just about providing cinema cameras, they’re an open platform now and the products are used in many different environments and using a device remotely is now one of the key requirement for many areas of the market that the company has moved into.

Adding to the appeal with this current model is that there’s also a cavity on the side that allows you to put in another battery, which also pulls in power from your primary source, so it always stays topped up. One of

“RED cameras can now record ProRes at 2K so you don’t need large amounts of storage”

another aspect of RED that has been moving in increasingly wider circles is that of user involvement. Back in 2014 the company unveiled its SDK to anybody who wanted to start developing products and that has been a very fruitful collaboration that has resulted in numerous new developments. In fact, RED had a sister booth at IBC that allowed some of the thirdparty developers to come along and showcase their own stuff, which was a pretty cool move in our book.

versions of batteries, such as the compact flight-safe model, and that means you can take as many of them as you need on a plane with you. However, beyond that you can go to a V-Lock battery or Anton Bauer unit that fits on the back of the camera, so all bases are pretty much covered. Ultimately, this means that customers can now tailor the camera exactly to suit their individual needs and requirements.

Media friendly There are also plenty of new media options open to people who head down the route of RED right now. RED

transitioned to what they call their Mini-Mags about a year and a half ago, and at that point they only released the 512GB model. Now there are other options, including a 1TB down to a 128GB and 256GB editions. Again, this is another concerted effort by the company to give the end user more options and much of this is that RED cameras can now record ProRes at 2K so you don’t need large amounts of storage and so this therefore means that there are less expensive options open to owners too. Of course, these developments are all good for people who want flexibility and

“SDK can be found on the RED website, so it can effectively be downloaded by anyone” More focus RED seems to think the move to getting more people involved via its SDK initiative will ultimately allow them to focus more on their own cameras. It will enable them to focus on core objects and not have to worry about that whole eco-system that comes with developing supporting products, which should theoretically mean that their cameras get better and thirdparty options will also become more plentiful. In a market that is becoming increasingly more diversified this seems like

the issues with these cameras has always been that every time you use it the battery is depleted that little bit more and eventually there are unforeseen crashes and other technical headaches. This useful tweak should help eradicate that kind of scenario moving forwards and there are also different

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Changeable options

sound business sense. It’s a heavy load to try and dabble in a little bit of everything, and so RED seems to be making all the right moves when it comes to delegating some of the peripheral stuff to others out there who are only too keen to seize the SDK torch and run with it. Then, naturally, there’s also the ease of use that comes with allowing others to help develop apps and suchlike, with pretty much every aspect of a RED camera now having the capacity to be controlled with a smartphone or an iPad. Needleless to say, all that only serves to enhance the usability of the RED range, which is something that the

company didn’t always get praised for on some of the earlier incarnations of cameras in its range.

The SDK is widely available although you do have to apply for it. The company will then gauge what it is you’re building and if it’s something that really works for their market and is something that will help the brand as a whole then RED will give you plenty of help to see the process through to completion. So it’s not as though they send people off to build whatever they want - conversely, you have to demonstrate that you’re going to be creating something that is relevant to the company and it

“Weighing in at just 3.5 lbs, RED Raven gives you the ultimate blend of flexibility and performance” will produce a win, win situation for all parties involved. The SDK can be found on the RED website, so it can effectively be downloaded by anyone who is situated anywhere in the world, which means that this initiative isn’t just US-focused, which again means that it can open up new markets for RED as well as giving people all around the globe a fair crack of the development whip.

Elsewhere, the RED booth also showcased its changeable OLPFs, which have been around for a while but this time out there was the Standard OLPF, which was basically released because the cameras have such high dynamic range that it’s really difficult to have one OLPF service both ends of the spectrum. Previously RED has had one that would service the upper end if you were shooting in a lot of sunlight with a lot of highlights present. That would handle that scenario better and then there was another that would cover the deeper and darker shadows, and very rich blacks.

Now RED has developed the Standard OLPF, which services the most used areas of both ends of the spectrum. It’s seen

by RED as more of a utility option in that it can be used

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in both areas of highlight and shadow.

Moving on, a lot of people were always very excited about the new RED EVF, which successfully address some of the criticisms about earlier models that users felt were akin to looking through

“RED is quick to admit that they, just like everyone else, is having to up their game all the time” a tube and everything seemed very far away. So now RED has come back with this new model that sports a whole new optics package armed with better software that now brings the image closer to the eye. It ultimately means that users will be subjected to less in the way of eye strain. And, because it’s removable, the thinking is that in the future RED will be able to offer different types of optics packages depending on what kind of job the unit is going to be needed for. Adding to the appeal is the fact that RED can install heating packages and suchlike, so that the EVF will be capable of tackling

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filming jobs in just about any kind of inhospitable shooting scenario. What’s more, the company was also keen to underline the capacity for its models to now shoot ProRes in 4K as well as up to 6K.

Moving fast RED is quick to admit that they, just like everyone else, is having to up their game all the time with so much competition going on. Development times are shorter but the demands for products is greater than ever, while specifications are having to be beefed up all the time, hence the reason there was much interest in the 8K capabilities that were also being showcased at IBC. RED also seems happier now that its market is widening up all the time and gone are the days when using one of its models was for the exclusive use of high-end moviemakers.

Nowadays anyone can shoot with a RED and, although they still command a premium price, it’s the ease of use of the latest range of products that is really turning on more and more people to the possibilities of

“RED is interested in providing an open platform system and not just a high-end cinema product” this kit. In fact, the company reckons that it has been making a real concerted effort in the last couple of years to take its product range in a much more user-friendly direction. Nowadays, RED is interested in providing an open platform system and not just a high-end cinema product, and there are also aspects such as the capacity to store every

single frame so that people can pull out high-resolutions stills from their moving images that broadens the appeal even further.

As if to illustrate the breadth of this marketplace RED also underlines the diverse locations where its products are now being used, with an array of different business verticals now calling on RED cameras and kit to help get the job done. One prime example of this is the fact that RED is

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RED RAVEN

now used on a lot of NASA expeditions and the company currently has kit up on board the International Space Station.

Closer to earth, the outfit also has cameras and kit being used for sports training and, in fact, anywhere that demands highresolution output. RED has now been around for ten years and is a fast-moving

dynamic company. It prides itself on the keenness and hunger found within its engineering department, which has resulted in RED having one of the best and most configurable camera ranges on the market, both in terms of usable options and also user-interface options. But, at the same time the business also recognises that to add in all of these new features while still keeping the ease of use factor is a real balancing act. And, at the end of the day, it’s the turning up at the big trade shows around the world, such as NAB and IBC, that allows the company to not only unveil new kit but also gauge feedback on if it’s getting things right. Well, judging by the numbers who trudged through the blackcarpeted areas of the RED booth at this years IBC, then it seems that the US outfit is doing things very nicely indeed. ■

RED has also upped its game with the latest addition to its line of professional cameras in the shape of the RED RAVEN. ‘Weighing in at just 3.5 lbs, RED Raven gives you the ultimate blend of flexibility and performance,’ says the company press release. ‘Whether shooting for documentaries, online content creation, indie filmmaking, or with drones and gimbals—RED Raven’s

durable, lightweight construction is ideal for any situation. Pricing for RED Raven starts at $5,950 for the camera BRAIN only, with complete package options available for under $10,000.

RED Raven’s announcement reflects RED’s ongoing commitment to the belief that cinema-quality creative tools should not be in the hands of a few—they should be available to all professional shooters. RED Raven is equipped with a 4K RED Dragon sensor, and is capable of recording REDCODE RAW (R3D) in 4K at up to 120 fps and in 2K at up to 240 fps.

RED Raven also offers incredible dynamic range, RED’s renowned color science, and is capable of recording REDCODE RAW and Apple ProRes simultaneously—ensuring shooters get the best image quality possible in any format. The RED Raven will begin shipping in February 2016.

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The student perspective Penny Cobham talks about how her studies and accompanying graduation film at The Arts University Bournemouth are helping to shape a bright future in filmmaking

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The student perspective

I could not have asked for a better start to my career than studying at The Arts University Bournemouth.

When the time came to choose where I wanted to study, I visited and interviewed at five or six universities. However, when I visited Bournemouth, it became clear during my interview, and subsequently when I returned to study, that the resources they had were impressive. With two on-site studios and one larger off-site studio, their range of equipment and prestigious reputation made it an easy decision. In September 2011 my studies began with the year zero program for the BA (Hons) Film Production course.

Having just finished school, in Edinburgh, and without much hands-on experience of the

filmmaking industry, I dived into a completely new environment with people with a broad spectrum of skills and talents, and I loved it.

The year zero course is designed to help students, like myself, who need an extra year of groundwork before beginning the BA course itself. What was clear from the start, was that AUB give their students a great deal of freedom, both creatively and physically, over their work.

Within a matter of days we were given cameras and sent off to make two-minute short films. Over the course of the year we were given a wide variety of different briefs and the length of the films grew to fifteen minutes.

Looking back, the knowledge I gained and the skills I developed in this year were invaluable. We

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were taught how to structure a story, the technicalities of filmmaking, how to work together as a crew and how to best allocate and utilise the resources at our disposal. As I continued on to the first year of the BA course, it was clear that there were so many things yet to learn and we continued to expanded our skills and knowledge in each stage of production and learn about the different roles.

The idea and the pitch Towards the end of the second year at AUB, I started to think about the biggest project I would ever do at university – my graduation film. I was extremely lucky, as I quickly found a director I wanted to work with, in a good friend and classmate.

We soon became a great director and producer team. That was the easy part. Having a good idea is just the start and there is a

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long way to go before you begin filming. Throughout the following years at AUB, every single project that was made had to be pitched; from thirty-second adverts to twenty-minute films. Preparing multiple pitches over the years meant practicing, planning and attention to detail, which no film can do without. The experience of pitching these ideas definitely helped me gain confidence and develop the ability to vocalise my artistic ideas.

It also gave me more confidence when talking about myself. Going into the real world, every job interview is an exercise in pitching yourself.

You have to be able to convey who you are in a short space of time, and pitching film ideas is perfect practice. For any aspiring producer, it is essential that you have a mini (or elevator) pitch at your fingertips at any given moment, as you never know

“We knew that we were taking on an immensely difficult task, with the nature of the film”

who you will run into. In a recent interview I was asked about my graduation film and already I had a thirty-second run down of the film I could reel off. Being able to pitch an idea or a script to someone within thirty seconds and keep them hooked is an essential skill that any producer must master and one I continue to work on. Nick Buggey, my director on the project, had been

developing an idea for some time.

The story was inspired by the experiences of a close friend of his, who had completed multiple tours of Afghanistan, but was barely in his twenties. It was obvious to me that Nick was very committed to the story and its primary character and so I happily agreed to come on as producer.

We knew that we were taking on an immensely difficult task, with the nature of the film and the amount we wanted to portray in a short space of time. We were certainly reminded of this during the pitching session. Initially, some of our tutors were not sure how we were going to achieve such an ambitious project with only one week to shoot and limited to six locations (our original script had twelve!). However, when we delivered our presentation, we were lucky enough to be chosen to go into development and finally production!

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The student perspective

The locations Locking down locations is one of the most difficult tasks a producer faces. Unless you have a huge budget or know the owner, you frequently have to be very persuasive, but still be able to work within the confines of your budget. Fortunately, in a small city like Bournemouth, the majority of people know about the film course at AUB and have worked with them at some point. Hopefully, their experiences have been positive, otherwise it can be difficult to convince people that you will not damage their property or simply not pay them. Selling a film to a location owner is all about helping them. In a previous projects we managed to get a location for a lower price in exchange for taking pictures of the location for the owner’s website. With six locations to lock down, we had to get to work straight away.

complicated including children would be to our shoot. However, for me, it was worth it as I got to feature my little sister in the biggest film of my career to date.

Effective casting

Nick and I went on countless location scouts and spent days driving around Bournemouth and Poole, searching for the right locations. By far the most difficult location to secure was a playground. With so many laws and regulations surrounding areas for children we had to essentially shut down a play park.

To make this even worse we had to find a location that was willing to do this on a weekend so we could film the scenes with our child actor without breaching the child filming safety laws. We were warned before filming how

As well as locations there is the difficult task of casting. Every graduation film wants the best cast at the lowest price, which obviously does not always work.

Thanks to a beautifully written script by Nick, we got were able to secure some amazing talent who were interested in our project and I managed to work out a fee with their agent that suited everyone.

With the entire shoot being only

“I was extremely lucky, I quickly found a director I wanted to work with, in a good friend”

one week we only needed certain cast members at certain times.

Subsequently, most of the fees were fairly low, but everything adds up in the end. Additionally, how you are going to get your cast to wherever you are filming, where they will stay and all the rest of it, must be accounted for. Working on this project gave me valuable experience in striking a deal with someone. Obviously train tickets are non-negotiable, but putting all your actors up in one hotel for a week and getting to know the hotel owner so they give you a discount can save you quite a bit of money! It’s essential to be honest about the money you have.

Have a number in your head of how much you would like to spend and how much you can afford to spend – these will often be very different! Try and set an ideal price and an acceptable price, always know how high you can afford to go in these negotiations.

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The money problem Money is both your best friend and your worst enemy when it comes to making a short film. Backers can be hard to find when you are funding a project like this, so it literally pays to be creative with your funding sources. With this production, we decided to use crowdfunding on Indiegogo to raise the bulk of the money required. From that we raised just under £2,000, once they had taken a percentage. While it’s true we didn’t quite hit our target I am still pleased with what we raised.

Additionally, we ran a funding night at the local student club, which brought in around £400 and the rest was money we raised together as a crew.

I’m pleased to say that we finished the film on budget, however, our biggest problem then was from the crowdfunding. Items offered as

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“We decided to use crowdfunding on Indiegogo to raise the bulk of the money required” ‘perks’ for funding your project can quickly get out of hand. It’s easy to get carried away offering people T-shirts, posters and copies of the DVD. However, all of these things cost money that need to be account for. You need to work out how much all of this will cost to print and send to the contributors. It’s important to keep your contributors happy, so next time you want to make a film you have an established fan base of people who you can send information to. Social media is a great way to keep your contributors and fans up to date with new or

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The student perspective

“The entire experience of my graduation film is one I will never forget” existing projects that you’re working on. It’s easy to set up the pages or accounts that can spread news of your work far and wide and it is a tool that any filmmaker ignores a their peril. It pervades almost every facet of life these days, but everyone else is promoting their projects too, so it’s good to try and stand out from the crowd whenever you can.

As for the film?

The shoot itself was an amazing experience. After a year of working on These Are Better Days, seeing the words come to life and the

characters become real was beyond our imagination. We had the screening of our film at the BFI in London in July. All our families and friends were invited as well as the entire cast and crew. After the film had finished, two of my tutors who were sitting in front of me, turned around to congratulate me. They commented on how it had seemed like such an impossible project for logistical and narrative reasons and yet we had manage to pull it off with aplomb. The entire experience of my graduation film is one I will never forget. I had such a talented cast and crew around me and none of it would have been possible without them. Looking forward, working on These Are Better Days for such a long length of time and never getting bored or disheartened with it proved to me just how much I want a career in this industry. n

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Hardware advice The DFM team offers up essential advice on getting started and takes a look at some of the best kit currently available for filmmaking

92 New kit 99

Interview with a pro

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with a Pro

Interview

Achim Gleissner takes us on a trip of Sennheiser, the legendary family-owned and run German business that has an unrivalled reputation and plenty of new products for the filmmaker

Audio specialist Sennheiser is one of the world’s leading manufacturers of headphones, microphones and wireless transmission systems. Based in Wedemark near Hanover, Sennheiser operates its own production facilities in Germany, Ireland and the USA and is active in more than 50 countries. With 18 sales subsidiaries and longestablished trading partners, the company supplies innovative products and cutting-edge audio solutions that are optimally tailored to its customers’ needs.

Sennheiser is a family-owned company that was founded in 1945 and which today has 2,700 employees around the world that share a passion for audio technology. In 2014, the Sennheiser Group had sales totalling €635 million.

Proud history Achim Gleissner, like everyone else who works for Sennheiser, is incredibly enthusiastic about the German business that has been

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part and parcel of all things audio for around seventy years now.

“2015 is a special year for us,” he says on the bustling company booth at IBC 2015. “Not one of the very special ones but it’s still seventy years and the business was first started back in ’45, and we’re still in the same location, just north of Hannover and we are still independent… independent from foreign money, from the stock market or any of that stuff.

So it’s not just family owned, but it

“The market itself is changing all the time and everything is moving very rapidly right now” is also family run. So we now have Daniel and Andreas Sennheiser as CEOs and they’re running the company and that means this is the third-generation. So there have been two successful handovers from generation to generation in these last seventy years and this is a very unique situation. As I said, the great thing about it is that it helps to make and keep us independent, and we can also do what we think is the correct thing to do with our experience rather than having to work to the requirements of shareholders. That also means we can look at things for the long haul, so for example we might be

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investing money now that might not see any kind of payback for, say, five years or so. It may not even happen for ten years, but we’d rather do that investing for the future rather than go for the fast buck of something that is a trend right now. It’s also very much appreciated because we just last night had a customer event right here in Amsterdam with Andreas Sennheiser addressing everyone with his keynote speech and that was extremely wellreceived. That was in front of our core and most important clients and to see how the brand stands up like that is really special and it’s there in flesh and blood, it’s a real, touchable thing.”

“The beauty of it is that all of the stuff you typically have to set up normally using wireless audio” The real thing “He’s very down-to-earth and it was a really great experience for the people who were there,” furthers Achim of the good vibes being spread by the people at

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the top of the company chain.

“And, of course, it’s great to see a human being at the head of all of this dramatic change that is going on, because the market itself is changing all the time and everything is moving very rapidly right now, but at the same time there is this special continuity that you get from having this familyrun business operation. There’s continuity and there’s this longterm outlook and planning, which is a very healthy set-up to have we think. As I’ve said, we know the trends, we see them all the time and make sure that we follow them, and for everything we do we

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Interview with a pro: Sennheiser

always have the end user firmly in mind in all of this, right in the forefront of our minds. It’s important for us to understand their needs and their values. We want to understand why they want to do something and then we work back from there in order to figure out the requirements for a new solution for products moving forwards, including hardware and software, rather than just guessing whatever it might be.

Listening to and understanding the customer is always vital.”

New direction And listen they did, because Sennheiser is being given a whole new lease of life thanks to the burgeoning video and filmmaking industry that is growing by the day. Many people also understand the need to buy quality kit if they can afford it and quality and the name Sennheiser both tend to be

mentioned a lot in professional circles… “We’ve got more than two new relevant products for you guys,” says Achim on how the product range is expanding to cover a wider spectrum these days. “We actually introduced those at NAB back in April and two of them are dedicated for videographers and even iPhoneographers, those people who like to shoot video on the Apple handset. But our biggest news is also the AVX system, and the main thing about that is you don’t even have to know anything about audio. That’s also a little bit different to the sort of systems that we normally produce because we’ve always been an audio company doing products for audio people, and now we’re doing an audio product for video people!”

Which presumably puts them in a pretty good position, right? “The beauty of it is that all of the stuff you typically have to set up normally using wireless audio with a camcorder or with a DSLR is done by the system,” says Achim of the new developments. “So you can really focus on your story and capturing your footage. You don’t have to think about wireless audio, it just works. It’s a digital transmitter, which features a protected, future-proof band and the transmitter and receiver scan for the best available frequency by themselves. They can also switch frequencies without you knowing or hearing it. So it’s a case of take the receiver, plug it in to your DSLR, camcorder or whatever and it’s also got a pretty cool form factor too… it’s pretty good to look at. It also plugs directly into an XLR without a cable. We learned a lot of stuff from videographers who we worked with when we were designing this system, which we did from scratch. They were saying about these body packs for the receiver, which are normally made for human bodies and not camera bodies, so this little guy plugs directly into the XLR and there’s always a transmitter and receiver. Plus, it works with any accessory that you need. It’s pretty flexible and will work with an action mount, clip mount, chargers and so on and so forth. And, it works right out of the box.”

Simple strategy Achim makes it all sound so easy but make no mistake, Sennheiser has survived over all these years by producing products that stay the course, and survive whatever you can throw at them within reason. They like products that just work too… “As I said, the real beauty is that everything is done by the system,” he grins.

“Which allows you to focus on your story. This is absolutely a response to the explosion in this whole marketplace, because an event like NAB is a broadcast show, but you really have to reconsider what is broadcast right now and what kind of tools are being used by people now

“The business was started back in ’45, and we’re still in the same location, just north of Hannover” too in order to produce material that is then broadcast to an audience, whoever they might happen to be. It is no longer just the broadcasting companies out there, the big nationwide companies, because these days it can be vloggers, guys spreading their news through Periscope, YouTube and other social media outlets. In that respect the broadcasting world is experiencing some disruptive changes.”

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Sennheiser is seen as being the creator of premium products, so does moving in this direction see the company producing a more affordable solution, especially for people on a budget? “Talking about price points then the AVX system, with the transmitter, receiver and all the accessories in one box is 899 Euros,” reckons Achim. “Which is not a cheap product, but it is most definitely best value for money and also a lot of people might be tempted to go for a low-cost option for their job, but if it all goes wrong then you’ll end up wishing that you spent 200 more and had gone for the real thing. Buying something like this is durable and it gets the job done and you don’t have to worry about it.”

Get it right We’ve touched on audio many times during the history of this magazine so, what does he think are the fundamental aspects of sound that people need to keep an eye on in order to get it right? “The main problem is that video people or journalists aren’t always technical people,” says Achim. “And, more specifically, they are not technical audio people, so there are some fundamental rules, some very simple rules, which you should follow in order to improve your audio. If you get past those first steps then all of a sudden it’s like ‘Wow, this is how it’s done’ and things will seem so much better.

There are simple rules to follow just like there are with video so, for example, it is always better to go closer to the sound source, or just make sure that you’ve got something like a clip mic, which is one of the other products that we have on show here at the

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moment. The Clip Mic Digital is just the sort of device that will allow you to get better sound, so if you use something like this on yourself if you’re a vlogger for example, or someone else if you’re interviewing them, then it is going to be miles better than using something like the iPhone mic that is built in.”

Similarly, it’s the same sort of thing with some people who buy themselves a DSLR or suchlike thinking that it has stereo mics, which isn’t the right way to go either, right? “Yeah,” agrees Achim. “With DSLRS, the point in this area of the market is that you usually have very good lenses, but what you end up seeing is the video, which can even be further away if zoom lenses are being used, but with the on board mics the sound is not matched up. So when you come to play back the video then the sound just doesn’t seem right, so that’s another basic thing to consider.”

“If you want to check out our website then there are all sorts of tutorials on there that can help you” So what about the clip on mic you have here? “Well we had them at the show back in April and it’s a pair of microphone products called the ClipMic Digital and the MKE 2 Digital and the beauty with these is that they are high-quality mics, what you would expect from Sennheiser.

We’ve been collaborating with a company in the audio industry in California, not necessarily in the video industry, but they are known for their high quality

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Interview with a pro: Sennheiser

converters and interfaces, so they’ve been working on the interface into the Lightning port of the various iPhone models that are out there for a while now. It also works with the likes of FilMic Pro, so you plug that in and you instantly have much better audio than you could imagine.”

Prime movers So is it an exciting time to be in this area of the market and is there a whole new audience opening up for Sennheiser products now that more video and filmmaking types are keen to improve their audio? “It is a good time,” reckons Achim. “Of course, we’ve been monitoring trends in the industry very closely, not just the technology trends, but

also the trends of the users who are out there working with all of this equipment. There are key things going on, like what we call the democratisation of content, so that makes the likes of you and I the broadcasters too.

That’s why I said we have to reconsider the whole definition of broadcasting. But it’s also the other way around in that professional clients, like nationwide broadcasters, are using iPhones all over the place and suchlike, just to broaden their reach. So it’s not just getting to these new customers, including the vloggers, the journalists and all the rest of it, it’s also about maintaining and providing solutions for the clients that we already deal with. We have a large amount of existing

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Interview with a pro: Sennheiser customers and so we have to be able to provide a workflow solution for any kind of setup that they have. They use DSLRs, they use smartphones, but then they also use the high-end professional cameras from the likes of Sony and Canon. So whatever they require, we have to have a solution for that.”

Fast paced In that respect, and with expectations becoming ever higher, do they need to be able to react and adapt quite quickly in order to meet the changing needs of the market and their customers? Is the development time on a new product a lot less than it used to be? “That’s true,” agrees Achim. “So we have to adapt to these changes but, as you know, Sennheiser is also very active in the consumer

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business with our headphones and suchlike. So yes, we know what short lifecycles are all about and we also know what the fast trends that happen in the market are all about.”

“If you’re going to be interviewing a politician... there really is no take two” Talking of which, the headphones Sennheiser makes are revered by many professionals and enthusiasts out there. So anything you can recommend for filmmakers? “Well, for filmmakers I would still recommend the legendary HD 25 and HD 26’s because these guys have been proven to be the quasi-standard

and very often by professional film crews. Not only that but by DJ’s too, because the isolation is very good and they’re also extremely durable. So to me, if you’re a videographer then you’re going to want to deliver a decent job and not just look fancy. That’s because nobody is going to see you, only what you do yourself, so it’s therefore important to make sure that you have all aspects of the audio workflow covered. In fact, if you want to check out our website then there are all sorts of tutorials on there that can help you with the preparation and execution of your video jobs. You only have one chance to get a lot of these things right, so we produced some tutorials on there that will help you get through it all.

We just got past a million views for that stuff on our YouTube channel and it’s all about helping

you get it right. For example, say you are shooting a wedding… then you really only have the one chance to get it right, or say, if you’re going to be interviewing a politician or something like that, then again there really is no take two. You can’t say ‘Oh, by the way Mister Prime Minister, I had something wrong going on with my audio, so can we do it again?’. You need to get it right first time!” ■ www.sennheiser.com

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New Kit

New Kit Reviews

RED RAVEN

Can this very cool newcomer to the RED range persuade more of us to move on up to 4K?

SONY PXW-FS5

Sony looks like its onto another winner with the recently announced PXW-FS5 camera

Sony can’t seem to put a foot wrong when it comes to current product output and the PXW-FS5 is no exception. This fantastic new camera straddles the middle ground found somewhere between the FS7 and the FS700, which makes it hugely appealing to professionals who want the power and precision of those models but are also after something a little smaller and lighter. The PXW-FS5 is certainly that, with a form factor that suggests it will be a joy to use even during protracted shoots. It’s also been designed with flexibility in mind, so features such as the detachable LCD and the highly innovative smart grip assembly allows you to use it in a variety of different ways. In fact, the modular

design as a whole is one that offers convenience, while the specification inside is just as impressive as you’d expect. ‘A high-sensitivity 4K Super35 Exmor CMOS sensor that offers all the benefits of a large format sensor in combination with the exceptional image readout speeds required for 4K motion-picture shooting and Super Slow Motion,’ reckons Sony. So, go and take a look at it as soon as you can.

Billed by some as the most affordable 4K camera you can buy from the RED camp, this new model is indeed a beauty, but it’s still out of reach of many of the folks who buy this magazine. However, it’s still not easy to look at its delicious lines without wanting one really badly, because it packs 4,096x2,160 4K Raw video at up to 120fps and also 2,048x1,080 ProRes at 60fps, although you’ll need to add on a few grand to the $5,950 (just under £4,000) asking price if you want to bolt on other essentials to the body-only unit.

Nevertheless, there’s a lot going on inside this power bundle including a sensor that’s similar to the one found in the near 30 grand RED Epic home, although it’s been suitably slimmed down in this case, so think of a cross between APS-C and Micro Four Thirds. The other bonus here thanks to all this downsizing is a

weight reduction, so the Raven is just under 1.6 kilograms, so it’s going to be ideal for aerial work via drones and will also prove popular with camera folk who tire of lugging leadweight larger models around.

VERDICT It’s good to see RED expanding its range in all directions and this new model comes at a time when many other manufacturers are creating leaner though no less meaner cameras to tempt us with. You can be sure that the Raven will have solid credentials when it becomes available although for many Digital FilmMaker readers the only chance to use one might be via the rental outlets. No matter, it’s still a very cool looking piece of kit.

Price $5,950 Web www.red.com

VERDICT The PXW-FS5 weighs in at just 0.8kg, which combined with its small body means that it will be a revelation for people who have spent far too long lugging heavy kit around. At the same time though this is a Sony that is up there with the best of them in terms of specification.

It’s keenly priced too, which could mean that it might push some of Sony’s other leading lights out of the equation by professionals who are looking to trade up.

Price £4,954 body only Web www.pro.sony.eu

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New Kit

Hague PH100 Powerhead

Hague has released this nifty new motorised pan and tilt powerhead for videographers

GoPro Hero+

GoPro expands its growing range once again with the cheap and cheerful Hero+ offering

GoPro continues to dominate the action camera market and is obviously keen to cash in on the increasing demand for small models. We’ve seen plenty going on at the premium end of its range but now the American company has unveiled this, the Hero+, which comes with a £169.99 price tag. That means it’s not the cheapest model you can buy because there’s also the even more basic Hero at just over a hundred quid, but it is cheaper than the Hero+ LCD that comes in at £249.99. So, what’s the point of another model? Well, this unit carries many of the Hero+ LCD features but there’s no touchscreen. And, if you can do without that feature then you still get plenty of specification potential with 1080p, 60 frames per second and 720p, 60 frames per second shooting capacity.

There’s also the option for capturing 8-megapixel stills too. Add in Bluetooth and Wi-Fi streaming and you’ve got a very capable action camera that won’t break the bank.

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VERDICT GoPro now have numerous models to choose from and they’re essentially variations on the action camera theme. If you’re looking to get into this marketplace then something like the Hero+ makes good sense. It’s got the shooting power but is also no-frills, so you’ll get to grips with it pretty swiftly. That said, bear in mind that the compact and bijou Hero 4 Session model is now available for about £250 and some people rave about that for it’s smaller size.

Price £169.99 Web www.gopro.com

Hague returns with another new idea, one of several that have seen the light of day recently, and it’s another practical solution for anyone who uses handheld camcorders, compact cameras, lightweight DSLRs and even miniature and action cams. The Hague PH100 Powerhead is a motorised pan and tilt powerhead that can be mounted to a tripod, jib or even a wall bracket and can also be underslung.

It’s a neat design that will support kit weighing up to 1Kg and comes complete with a control box that allows you to adjust the speed and direction of the head. What’s

more, the control means that you can pan and tilt through a complete 360-degrees. The Powerhead has a standard ¼-inch threaded hole in its base, plus a ¼-inch stud with locking wing nut is also supplied to enable the head to be mounted to a beam or jib. Meanwhile, the control box has two variable speed control knobs, which give the head a precision pan and tilt movement in either direction, from a slow crawl up to the required speed. You can also pan and tilt simultaneously.

The head is powered by a rechargeable internal battery, which enables the power head to be used anywhere without the need of a power supply.

VERDICT Another nice little piece of kit this from the Hague camp and it has clearly been well thought through and is therefore ideal for all manner of videographers and filmmakers. The Powerhead isn’t bargain-basement, but it’s been well put together and should ensure that your finished footage looks that little bit more polished.

We also like the option of having longer cables if you need to have the control box further away from the head.

Price £540 Web www. haguecamerasupports.com

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New Kit

iKlip Xpand

Make life easier with this universal mic stand support for the iPad and other tablets We love a simple but effective idea that makes life for the filmmaker that little bit easier and the iKlip Xpand is just such a gizmo.

It is, in essence, a universal mic stand support for the likes of the iPad Air 2, the iPad mini 3 and also other popular tablets out there.

The unit is actually designed with musicians in mind, but it’s easy to see how this cheap and cheerful gadget could actually prove quite useful for any filmmaker or videographer who makes use of a tablet during a shoot. It features rubberised ‘Gorilla Grip’ technology and grips an iPad to a microphone stand or similar with reassuring vicelike ease. The expandable arms allow you to clasp any popular tablet from 7-inches to 12.1-inches to its versatile chassis, plus it has been designed and built in Italy so also looks the part too. For anyone who has their shoot planned out on a tablet then this could be just the thing to let you have hands-free

access to your camera while the iKlip Xpand sits in the background letting you check the next move or location. A neat idea.

VERDICT While this is sure to keep musicians happy it’s easy to see the iKlip Xpand making a few new friends with filmmakers too. With an increasing number of us using tablets to keep track of our shoots, especially out on location, having a practical solution like this is spot-on. And, if you’re working solo then it’s even more handy. It’s reasonably affordable and appears to be nicely made, so you should get some value out of it.

Price €39.99 Web www.ikmultimedia.com

iRig Mic Field

The natty new iRig Mic Field has been designed with mobile videographers firmly in mind Many of us struggle with our audio during a production and that’s often because we try and wing it by not bothering to use a specialist microphone.

Well, now this handy little iRig Mic Field device is another option to explore if you want to record crystal-clear sound on the go if you’re one of the growing number of people who shoot video on something like the iPhone.

Inside the dinky case you’ll find a 24-bit digital audio converter, plug-and-play app compatibility, built-in preamp, easy monitoring via LED plus headphone out and input gain control. Its makers reckon the iRig Mic Field stands out as the smallest and most full-featured portable field microphone for iPhone, iPad and iPod touch. And, adding to the appeal, there’s a free app that lets you record, annotate, edit and process stereo audio with a revamped GUI, eight new effects

and a full suite of enhanced social sharing capabilities. iRig Mic Field also works seamlessly with iOS’ Core Audio and Core Video apps like Voice Memo and Camera plus Apple’s GarageBand and iMovie.

VERDICT While this clearly isn’t going to be the audio solution for highend filmmakers the iRig Mic Field is certainly going to have some takers who need decent sound, with the likes of videographers, journalists and podcasters all springing to mind. Of course, the main benefit of this, alongside capturing solid recordings, is that it is very unobtrusive and can be taken with you pretty much wherever you go. And, if you’re looking to lighten that kit load then this is worth a punt.

Price €99.99 Web www.ikmultimedia.com

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New Kit TERADEK BOLT SIDEKICK

Teradek has recently unveiled its new and highly potent Bolt wireless video receiver

Teradek is one of those tried and trusted manufacturers that always manages to come up with something handy and this, the Bolt Sidekick, was revealed at IBC earlier this year. It’s a canny move too and one that will make life easier for professionals who need a compact wireless video receiver that is relatively lowmaintenance and can be used alongside other main receivers when they’re present. It’s going to be available in both SDI or HDMI, boasts a respectable 300ft range and can be paired with the second generation range of Bolt Pro Transmitters that include the 300/600 and 2000 models. The unit itself is lightweight and sports V-Mount and Gold Mount battery adapters while the fan-less

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design means that it’s perfect for just getting on with the job without being noisy and can therefore be situated very close to the action.

VERDICT Bolt Sidekick is a lightweight, short range companion receiver to all Teradek Bolt Pro 300, 600, and 2000 systems says Teradek and at only 9 ounces it’s going to be perfect for 1st AC’s and Director’s handheld monitors.

Add on the fact that it’ll work with any existing Bolt Pro up to 300 feet from the transmitter without affecting its performance and you’ve got a tasty little package.

Price HDMI $1,790/SDI $1,990 Web www.teradek.com

JOCKEY MOTION GIMBAL

Can this impressive crowdfunded gimbal make it to market with your support?

We get plenty of approaches from folks who want us to fund their latest film project, but there’s also a growing band of people producing filmmaking kit that demands our attention too. One of the most impressive ideas we’ve seen of late is this, the Jockey Motion 4-axis gimbal, which is a whole new variation on the traditional gimbal arrangement.

While a gimbal can be the ideal partner for your camera if you’re looking for smooth control of tilt, roll and pan during a shoot the weak link is often that of controlling the vertical axis. So, one answer appears to be in the shape of the Jockey Motion gimbal, which calls upon some very innovative design technology to get round the quandary.

From what we’ve seen of this kit then it looks really well engineered and is more than able to tackle any kind of camera, with the capacity to

support over 9 kilograms. It’s constructed from CNC aircraft grade aluminium, carbon fibre and features rubberised grips so it should be both lightweight and comfy. It might just be the logical upgrade for the Ronin, Ronin-M and AllSteady gimbals they suggest. One to watch.

VERDICT It’s not easy bringing a product to market and there are plenty of gimbals already out there in circulation.

However, the clever bods behind this are actually managing to address an issue that has prevented many a filmmaker from getting it right in the past, so perhaps with the right amount of funding this great idea might soon become available to all of us.

It’s certainly worth stopping by their site to find out more.

Price £TBC Web www.turboace.com

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New Kit

Samsung Flash Drive Bar

Samsung has come up with a hardy new storage device that’ll keep your prized footage safe

We tend to take USB sticks for granted these days and they’re ten a penny, but Samsung has created a new twist on the theme with its latest range. The Bar is just one of three new storage options, and the 64GB version that we’ve been trying looks to be ideal for anyone who’s into shooting footage and needs a quick place to store content on the move. Samsung’s NAND technology is crammed inside and that not only means it’s got a transfer speed of up to 130MBs but it’s also compatible with both USB 3.0 and 2.0 connections. Weighing in at a smidgen under 9 grams this is incredibly unobtrusive thanks to being only 40mm long. Best of all though is that the Bar is able to cope with soakings in seawater for up to 72 hours and can also fend of temperatures between 32-degrees and 140-degrees Fahrenheit. This, and the other units in the range are also pretty much everythingproof, meaning airport X-rays and suchlike will prove no threat to your latest project.

VERDICT Shop around and you’ll probably find this storage gizmo for peanuts and that’s the best thing about it really because it represents great value for money. However, the added bonus here is that it is able to stand up

to the rigours of everyday use, in seemingly any kind of geographical situation.

Being able to survive a dousing in seawater for 72 hours is certainly the icing on the cake as far as we’re concerned.

Price £25 Web www.samsung.co.uk

iRig Mic Studio

The iRig Mic Studio is a small-but-perfectlyformed package for those after better audio One more product from the IK Multimedia folks and it’s another good one in the shape of the iRig Mic Studio.

Full marks have to go to these guys in their never ending quest to help us improve our audio.

This is essentially another plug-and-play ultra-portable large-diaphragm condenser mic that can be partnered with the iPhone, iPad, iPod touch and Mac/PC systems as well as Android devices. The unit is nicely designed and really portable thanks to an ultracompact design that’s easy to carry around. Core features include a high-quality 1-inch back electret condenser capsule, 24-bit converter with 44.1/48Khz sampling rate, low-noise, high-definition preamp, integrated headphone output, multicolour LED status and level indicator plus there’s on board gain control and headphone level controls. As was the case with the other mics we’ve looked at from this outlet, the mic also comes

with a full suite of apps, while there’s a portable tripod table top stand thrown in for good measure. In addition you get Lightning, Micro-USB OTG and USB cables although you’ll need to add a 30-pin cable, which is available separately.

VERDICT This is another great little gadget from IK Multimedia and it’s made even better by easy integration with third-party apps and software, including Cubasis, ProStudio Vocal FX, MultiTrack DAW and more. It’s also compatible with Apple’s GarageBand, Logic Pro X apps and iOS Voice Memo so this is another pretty impressive, not to mention highly portable, audio solution that’s well worth investigating. We particularly like the quality of the finish here and the style conscious amongst you will also be glad to hear that it comes in either black or silver.

Price €179.99 Web www.ikmultimedia.com

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New Kit

iRig Mic HD

With iRig Mic HD now anyone can now afford a digital condenser microphone for recording

Samsung Pro Plus SDXC

This tiny new memory card from the Samsung stable offers performance and value too

Memory cards are everywhere and you can pick them up for pennies but, as we always say, it’s always advisable to get the best that you can afford.

Samsung might not be the first name you think of when it comes to cards, especially when the likes of Lexar and Sandisk dominate the high-end segment of the market. However, this new Pro Plus microSD option from the Korean electronics giant is well worth a look. The range is aimed specifically at people who use high-end kit, particularly mobile devices and gobble up disk space like there’s no tomorrow. The specification of this card has been increased from its earlier edition too, so expect solid read speeds of 95MBs and capable write speeds of 90MBs, which makes it ideal for anyone who shoots video. There are 32GB and 64GB

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versions with a beefier 128GB edition also set for release too.

Adding to the appeal, however, is the news that this is a hardy soul being waterproof, temperature proof, X-ray proof, magnetic proof and shock proof into the bargain. So confident is Samsung that you’ll be pleased that it offers a 10-year warranty.

More cool new kit from the IK Multimedia chaps and this time it’s a handheld digital microphone that will appeal to videographers or, indeed, anyone else who want an affordable but high-quality digital condenser mic to get their work done. This is a super convenient tool too because it mates with an iPhone, iPad, iPod touch or a Mac/PC while it also sports a very impressive specification into the bargain.

There’s a 24-bit audiophile-grade A/D converter, a 44.1/48 kHz sampling rate and a low-noise/ high-definition pre-amp for starters while the unit is also nicely nailed together. It features a sturdy metal body construction and can be either handheld or mounted to a mic stand. Also included in the package – the

mic is available in silver or black variants – are 1.5m Lightning and USB cables along with app/ software bundle, mic clip and carry bag. However, the company says that the most significant feature that iRig Mic HD has that the original iRig Mic didn’t is a digital signal path into your device. When you speak, sing or record any audio into iRig Mic HD the sound first goes through a high-definition, audiophile grade preamp and then is converted to a digital signal with a 24-bit analog-to-digital converter.

VERDICT While this mic is a great bit of kit on its own there are also numerous snippets of software and apps that allow you to milk even more from its potential. If you’re out and about and need to record without fuss and often offthe-cuff then this little gem could provide a real lifeline. The ease and simplicity of use, combined with dependable results that it aims to deliver, makes it one to add to the shopping list.

Price €129.99 Web www.ikmultimedia.com

VERDICT Considering the durable nature of this card, with its ‘everything proof’ feature set, the price tag for the 64GB version seems like a bargain to us. If you’re after a tiny but spacious storage option then this could well be it and, armed with a 10-year warranty, you’ll be able to rest easy next time you’re out shooting in all manner of unpleasant weather.

Price £44 Web www.samsung.co.uk

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New Kit

Samyang 21mm T1.5 ED AS UMC CS Respected brand Samyang offers quality and value with its latest crop of lens arrivals

Samyang bulks out its range even more with this new 21mm along with a 50mm that we also take a look at this issue. Now the current line-up consists of 13 photo and cine lenses: 7.5mm, 8mm, 10mm, 12mm, 21mm, 50mm photo and cine lens and 300mm photo lens so that’s a pretty respectable array of glass. And, naturally, the price of these is very competitive indeed, so if you’re someone on a budget then Samyang makes a good place to start. In this case, the Samyang Optics 21mm T1.5 ED AS UMC CS is a wide angle manual focus cine lens for mirrorless cameras with APS-C sensor sizes and offers a broad 21mm angle of view and 3 glass aspherical lenses, which means that it provides an opportunity to experience the depth and breadth of image. The 21mm T1.5 can be used for various purposes, especially for portraits states Samyang, but the cine features also mean that it allows for more delicate video work. The solid frame of the lens is made of high-strength aluminium alloy so you can be

sure that it’ll stay the course during those punishing shoots.

This compact and lightweighted lens is also specially designed for mirrorless cameras for portability and a detachable petal-shaped lens hood minimizes flare and ghost by sheltering the lens from unnecessary lights. Much like the model that follows this overview, it has a lot going for it.

VERDICT Who can argue with this when the price is so attractive. If you’re looking to build up a lens collection then the cost factor can often be a major worry, but Samyang manages to do it again by delivering an optic that comes packed with appeal for filmmakers, while also doing it for a realistic price. Take a look at the next lens here too in order to see why so many people are starting to sit up and take notice of this Korean brand.

Price €399 Web www.samyanglensglobal.com

3DR Solo Drone

Can this high-flying quadcopter tempt you away from the bigger name drones out there?

Everyone has jumped on the drone bandwagon of late and there are now so many variations on the theme that it can be a little daunting if you’re thinking of buying one.

The 3DR Solo quadcopter is, says distributor Topteks, ‘the world’s first smart drone’, which is quite a claim seeing as there are already quite a few models out there that seem pretty smart already. Nevertheless, it boasts an ease of use to rival the best of the bunch and there are a raft of neat built-in tools that will enable you to get your aerial filmmaking career well and truly off the ground. There are four ‘Smart Shot’ settings on offer for starters, including Orbit – circle an object for an iconic wraparound shot, Cable Cam – features a virtual cable for perfect automatic shots, Follow – allows you to go completely hands-free and Selfie – lets you be at the centre of the action, and all sound reasonably self-

explanatory. At the same time, the distributors reckon that you can accomplish perfect shots all within the touch of a button or two, while the brains of the unit is comprised of two 1GHz computers, which should mean that it’s more than capable once you’ve mounted a GoPro to the undercarriage.

VERDICT Typically for Topteks there is no pricing available at the time of writing so we’re not sure if this is a bargain or not.

However, it all sounds pretty impressive on paper, with a half-mile range and live HD video streaming to your mobile device on offer here. There’s no indication of battery life and other important considerations with the press release though so you’ll need to see their website for more details.

Price £TBC Web www.topteks.com

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New Kit SOLIDLUUV ALLIN-ONE CAMERA STABILISER

Can this Kickstarter project get more of us shooting better movies on our mobile devices?

We get to see a lot of stabiliser devices here at Digital FilmMaker and thought we’d seen it all until we clapped eyes on the all-in-one unit that has been developed by LUUV via a Kickstarter campaign.

People seem to love it too and that’s hardly surprising because if you’re keen to beef up your shooting skills when using a mobile device then this is going to be ideal.

The folks who have been developing the solidLUUV are hoping to raise a cool 100,000 Euros in order to see the dream become a reality and they reckon that it’s a revelation. The team reckons that the device is perfect for creating silky smooth, shake-free videos every time and it can work in harmony with everything from an action camera through to smartphones as well as with compact digital cameras too.

It certainly looks the part and offers one-handed operation while delivering Steadicamstyle performance.

VERDICT Full-marks have to go to the enterprising bunch who have been developing this stabiliser.

So good do people think this device is that it has already won a reddot 2015 design award as well as an ISPO Award Product of The Year gong. Granted, it looks a little bit leftfield, but if it works as intended then this little innovation could soon become a very familiar sight in a videographers kitbags around the globe.

Check it out.

SAMYANG 50MM T1.3 AS UMC CS

Another offering from the Samyang stable is everything you’d expect and pretty cheap too As for the other new arrival then the 50mm T1.3 AS UMC CS is a standard angle manual focus cine lens for mirrorless cameras with APS-C sensor sizes. And, as you’d expect from this manufacturer, it’s been well put together and consists of nine lens elements arranged in six groups. There are also multi-layered UMC antireflective coatings to keep the quality up and Samyang thinks that the optic will come into its own in areas where poor lighting exists. In that respect it might find takers from people who film gigs and work in the great outdoors after dark.

The lens allows you to carry out more delicate video work with T number marks too, while the focus gear ring is installed for follow focus systems. Samyang also says that you can change the aperture quietly and smoothly with the uncoupled aperture

gear ring, while distance scale and T numbers are marked on both sides of the lens for convenience. Available for four mirrorless camera mounts: Sony E, MFT, Fuji-X and Canon M, these new lenses will be available from midOctober.

VERDICT Samyang seems to go the extra mile with its lenses and its good to see a solid package selling for such a respectable price. Sure, you might have reservations but the brand has been around long enough now to have enough dedicated followers.

And, when you sit down and examine these optics, it’s likely that you’ll find more than enough quality on show to persuade you to part with the readies.

Price €449 Web www.samyanglensglobal. com

Price £TBC Web luuv-stabilizer.com

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Next issue

31

next issue Lookout for the next issue of Digital FilmMaker in the shops on the 3rd of December

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19/10/2015 14:42

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WHAT’S

HOT? Addicted to Fresno

A desperate sex addict, working as a hotel maid in California, has to call on the help of her sister and co-worker when she finds herself faced with unenviable task of disposing of a dead body after a drunken one-night-stand goes awry.

Director Jamie Babbit UK Release October 2015 Language English Duration 85 minutes UK Certification 15

Digging for Fire

After the curious discovery of a bone and a gun in the soil of a client’s backyard, a Los Angeles teacher invites all of his pals to investigate further over the course of a weekend, despite the warnings of his disapproving wife.

Director Joe Swanberg UK Release 2015 Language English Duration 85 minutes UK Certification TBA

The team singles out current and forthcoming indie movies plus documentaries that are creating a buzz!

Straight Outta Compton Fort Tilden The story of NWA, the most well known and controversial gangster rappers of all time, is told here in great detail, from the group’s emergence in the mid 1980s, to the eventual break-up and untimely death of one of its key members a decade later.

Two spoilt, overprivileged twenty-something girls leave New York City for one day for a double-date at the beach. The clueless pair soon find that even a simple day trip out of the city is difficult to navigate without the help of their rich parents.

Directors F. Gary Gray UK Release August 2015 Language English Duration 147 minutes UK Certification 15

Director S.Bliss, C.Rogers UK Release 2015 Language English Duration 98 minutes UK Certification TBC

Queen of Earth

A troubled woman takes a vacation with a close friend after suffering the loss of her father and the breakdown of her reltionship. But as memories of happier times surface, she desceds slowly into madness whilst her friend helplessly looks on.

Too Late Filmed on 35mm and left in its grittiest state with minimal grading, this homage to 70s crime flicks tells the story of the complicated relationship between a troubled private investigator and the missing woman he’s hired to track down.

Director Alex Ross Perry UK Release Nov 2015 Language English Duration 90 minutes UK Certification TBC

Director Dennis Hauck UK Release 2015 Language English Duration 107 minutes UK Certification TBC

Wild Tales

Grandma

6 Years

A brave and refreshing anthology of six thrilling tales about greed, deception and revenge. Not linked in any way, the unusual, and sometimes absurd stories never suffer a dull moment in Argentina’s most celebrated film for decades.

An ageing feminist and poet who suffered the loss of her long time partner to cancer more than a year ago, now has to deal with the breakdown of her current relationship, just days before her pregnant granddaughter turns up on her doorstep asking for support.

A young couple’s apparently ideal new relationship begins to break down as unusual opportunities present themselves, leading them down a dark and volatile path, which threatens the perfect future they had so clearly planned.

Director Damián Szifrón UK Release March 2015 Language Spanish Duration 122 minutes UK Certification 15

Director Paul Weitz UK Release Dec 2015 Language English Duration 79 minutes UK Certification TBC

Directors Hannah Fidell UK Release Sept 2015 Language English Duration 85 minutes UK Certification TBC

Digital FilmMaker

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Maggie

The Wolfpack

Final Girl

A zombie film with a difference. Arnold Schwarzenegger stars as a father who is desperately trying to protect his family, and savouring every last second with his infected daughter in a postapocalyptic land, overrun by the undead.

Locked away from society in a Manhattan apartment, the Angulo brothers learn about the outside world through television - under the watchful eye of their paranoid father. That is until one brother simply decides to leave the building...

New girl Veronica finds herself hunted by a group of local male students trying to fulfil a sick initiation. They soon discover that she is a trained killer, turning the hunters into hunted, with a level of ferocity far beyond anything they could have imagined.

Director Henry Hobson UK Release July 2015 Language English Duration 95 minutes UK Certification TBC

How to Change the World

Directors Tyler Shields UK Release October 2015 Language English Duration 90 minutes UK Certification TBC

Director Crystal Moselle UK Release 2015 Language English Duration 80 minutes UK Certification TBC

L.A. Slasher

The Second Mother

This documentary tells the story of Greenpeace and its founding members, beginning with the 1971 protest that caught the world’s imagination, when a group of passionate activists sailed into a nuclear test zone.

Driven by his hatred of reality television and the increasing number of Z-list celebrities it spews out, a crazed loner kidnaps a group of very famous nobodies - but his plan backfires and generates even more media attention to his victims.

This Brazilian tale centres around a middle-aged housekeeper who works for a wealthy family in São Paulo. When her estranged daughter suddenly appears after many years, the close relationships and class divisions that exist within the employer’s home are questioned.

Directors Jerry Rothwell UK Release Late 2015 Language English Duration 110 minutes UK Certification 15

Director Martin Owen UK Release 2015 Language English Duration 86 minutes UK Certification TBC

Directors Anna Muylaert UK Release TBC Language Portuguese Duration 112 minutes UK Certification TBC

Welcome to Me A chat show-obsessed woman suffering from mental illness attempts to change her life through extravagant spending after she wins the lottery, but her tainted personality and narcissism begin to take its toll when she buys her very own TV show.

Director Shira Piven UK Release 2015 Language English Duration 105 minutes UK Certification PG

Dawg Fight An in-depth and brutal documentary about a Miami-based bare knuckle fighting ring that gained notoriety through YouTube. The unprivileged community that support it, the pugilists who take part, and their families tell their stories.

Director Billy Corben UK Release May 2015 Language English Duration 105 minutes UK Certification NA

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I Dream Too Much

Cub

Instead of indulging in the usual adolescent antics, a college grad finds herself caring for her old aunt in upstate New York. When the curious young woman discovers her aunt’s mysterious hidden past, she dreams that the discovery will change both their lives forever.

Sam is a young man with an over-active imagination. During scout camp he heads off alone into the dark woods with his backpack and provisions at the ready, and with the strong belief that he will eventually encounter a real monster.

Director Katie Cokinos UK Release 2015 Language English Duration 91 minutes UK Certification TBC

Director Jonas Govaerts UK Release July 2015 Language Belgian Dutch Duration 84 minutes UK Certification 15

7 Chinese Brothers

Blood Cells

Larry, an unemployed drifter, spends his days having one-sided conversations with his lovable bulldog, Arrow. His life was going nowhere, but is forced to seek a more meaningful existence when he gets fired from his new job for stealing booze.

Adam, middle-aged a man suffering with ill mental heath, sets off on a spiritual journey, revisiting his old life; friends, acquaintances, ex girlfriends and finally, his family, in an attempt to salvage what is left of once soured relationships.

Director Bob Byington UK Release TBC Language English Duration 76 minutes UK Certification TBC

Director J.Bull, L.Seomore UK Release June 2015 Language English Duration 86 minutes UK Certification 15

Digital FilmMaker

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Porch Stories

The Nightmare

Balls Out

Emma’s life is on the up and up. She has grand plans for her future - but when a former boyfriend and fellow band member shows up on her porch, all of her plans are thrown into confusion, as she struggles to deny that her feelings for him are still strong.

Here is a documentary-thriller hybrid about sleep paralysis, a frightening affliction that effects thousands. It follows several individuals as they explain the severity of their condition and the nightmarish scenarios that they have to deal with regularly.

With relationship commitments, graduation, and real world responsibilities looming on the horizon, a fifth year senior student reassembles his team of underdog players for one last epic game of American football in this sporting comedy.

Directors Sarah Goodman UK Release 2015 Language English Duration 73 minutes UK Certification TBC

Director Rodney Ascher UK Release 2015 Language English Duration 90 minutes UK Certification TBC

Director Andrew Disney UK Release 2015 Language English Duration 100 minutes UK Certification TBC

Dope In this throwback 90s hip-hop comedy, we meet Malcolm, a studious teen growing up in Inglewood, California. His dreams of attending Harvard University are tainted after an invitation to an underground party leads Malcolm and his friends down a dark path.

10,000 Saints Set in the ‘80s, this is the story of a teenager from Vermont who is forced to move to New York with his drug dealing father. Once there, he gets involved in a drugfuelled music scene and finds himself reevaluating his past, his present, and his future.

After a traumatic and costly divorce, followed by the sudden cancellation of his long-standing TV show, a middle-aged comedian is left with no other option than to get back on the road and tour again, if he and his daughter are to survive.

Director S.S.Berman, R. Pulcini UK Release TBC Language English Duration 113 minutes UK Certification TBC

Director Adam Carolla, UK Release 2015 Language English Duration 98 minutes UK Certification TBC

Directors Rick Famuyiwa UK Release 2015 Language English Duration 115 minutes UK Certification TBC

Me and Earl and the Dying Girl

A young filmmaker and social outcast is struggling to get through college as anonymously as possible, but is sidetracked by a fellow student who has cancer, when they become inseparable friends.

Director A.Gomez-Rejon UK Release TBC Language English Duration 104 minutes UK Certification TBC

3 Still Standing A nostalgic rise and fall documentary about three comedians, who in 1980s San Francisco, were at the top of their game, and success it seemed, was just one good performance away.

30 years on, they find the stand-up circuit isn’t what it used to be.

Directors R.Campos, D.LoCicero UK Release 2015 Language English Duration 90 minutes UK Certification TBC

Road Hard

The Overnight

Reality With a maze of dream-like plots and sub-plots that are barely connected to one another, Reality is a bizarre tale of wanna-be filmmaker Jason, who is promised financing for his film on one very odd condition; find an actor with an Oscar-worthy groan.

Having just moved to a new area, Emily and Alex are trying to make new friends, but an invite by their new neighbours to an all night party presents conversation and questions regarding their relationship that will test their marital bond.

Directors Patrick Brice UK Release 2015 Language English Duration 80 minutes UK Certification TBC

Director Quentin Dupieux UK Release 2015 Language French, English Duration 95 minutes UK Certification TBC

Meadowland

Phoenix

Two parents, who have recently had their young son kidnapped, deal with the tragedy is different ways, but when they are faced with new evidence that neither want to hear, their lives spiral further, with a dark and uncomfortable ending.

In post-World War II Berlin, a woman who has been facially disfigured during her time in a concentration camp, travels across the city in search of her husband who mysteriously vanished, and who she suspects gave her up to Nazi Germany.

Director Oren Moverman UK Release TBC Language English Duration 130 minutes UK Certification TBC

Director Christian Petzold UK Release May 2015 Language German, English Duration 98 minutes UK Certification 12

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BEST OF THE REST...

For Those in Peril

A young outcast living in a Scottish town is blamed for a freak fishing accident that claimed the lives of five local men. In an attempt to prove his innocents, he sets out to sea to try and save the men, who he believes are still alive.

Paul Wright 2013 English 92 minutes 18

Director Year Language Duration UK Certification

Grand Piano

After a five-year absence, a master pianist makes a much awaited comeback. But during the concert he is threatened to be killed if he can’t flawlessly play the most advanced piece of music ever written.

Director Eugenio Mira Year 2013 Language English Duration 90 minutes UK Certification 15

Like Crazy Two young lovers, one American, one British, are forced apart when the girl overstays her visa and has to return to England. They discover the hardship of maintaining a long-distance relationship in the face of their changing lives.

Director Drake Doremus Year 2011 Language English Duration 90 minutes UK Certification PG

Releases by inspirational filmmakers that may have passed you by

Child’s Pose An desperate mother tries to keep her son out of prison after he’s charged with manslaughter.

In turn, her son wants to leave his overpowering mother’s side when the truth behind their relationship is revealed.

Director Calin Peter Netzer Year 2013 Language Romanian Duration 122 minutes UK Certification 15

Be Kind Rewind After a clumsy video store employee accidentally erases all of the tapes in the store, he and a colleague attempt to remake every film themselves using an old fashioned camera, home made props, and costumes.

Director Michel Gondry Year 2007 Language English Duration 102 minutes UK Certification 12

We need to talk about Kevin

A bohemian writer gives up a life of travel to have a baby. As the years pass, the motherchild relationship turns sour because of his mysterious resentment toward her.

Director Lynne Ramsay Year 2011 Language English Duration 112 minutes UK Certification 15

Supremacy

A neo-nazi supremacist, having done his jail time, is struggling with rehabilitation. He takes an African American family hostage after killing a police officer, hours after his release from prison. Inspired by actual events.

Director Year Language Duration UK Certification

Deon Taylor 2014 English 106 minutes 15

Sex: My British Job

Nick Broomfield calls on the help of a young journalist, and with a hidden camera in a pair of glasses, they investigate the brothels of London, and bring to light the truth behind the business, controlled mostly by foreign women.

Director Nick Broomfield Year 2013 Language English Duration 63 minutes UK Certification NA

Frozen River After Ray’s husband leaves her and their children two days before Christmas, she is left with nothing. But through her desperate struggle, she meets Lila, who introduces her to the criminal world of border smuggling.

Director Courtney Hunt Year 2008 Language English Duration 97 minutes UK Certification 15

Blue Caprice

Life in a Day

An increasingly desperate and argumentative couple take a mysterious road trip through the desolate roads of central Florida. As the story unfolds, the sinister truth behind their excursion is revealed.

A boy is abandoned by his family and lured to America to obey the orders of a dangerous father-figure who trains him to be a deadly sniper.

Together they set off on a killing spree across America.

Inspired by real events.

A very unique documentary shot by many filmmakers from all corners of the globe. It documents the eclectic lives of people all over the world on one particular day in history: the twentyfourth of July, 2010.

Amy Seimetz 2012 English 90 minutes NA

Director Alexandre Moors Year 2013 Language English Duration 93 minutes UK Certification NA

Sun Don’t Shine

Director Year Language Duration UK Certification

114

Directors Year Language Duration UK Certification

Various 2011 Various 95 minutes PG

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