Enter the Pitch

It is perhaps unfortunate that this competition – where you pitch an idea inspired by the Bible, and could win the chance to make it and take it to Hollywood – overlapped with FilmG as I would have loved to spend more time on it and really thrash out an idea until I was happy it could not get any stronger. As it happened I surprised myself at how much development I managed to fit in and that I was in fact suitably satisfied with my idea. Everything seemed to fall into place at exactly the right time, and only just in time; proof enough for me that my creativity and imagination is given and nourished by the one ultimate Creative Imagination. Even the actual shooting and editing of my Pitch was done in the final weekend before the deadline and I got it finished and uploaded just in time. But the great thing about making movies, and what is especially relevant when entering competitions, is that their completion is in fact simply the start of a new life (I suppose that’s partly what’s so great about the Christian life as well...). Like FilmG, uploading my Pitch is just the start of the more exciting journey my idea may take and once again I hope the judges like it... though I don’t necessarily expect it. In truth I’m not as desperate to win this competition as I might be, given the amazing prize, since it looks like it will hopefully be an annual competition and next year I will have an even better idea and a perfect Pitch! Who knows... here’s hoping for this year anyway; it would be a rather nice late Christmas present to be announced as a finalist on 11th January!

Please vote! Here's a link to the Registration page:

http://enterthepitch.com/register.php

‘The Island Tapes’ Screening

I was really quite inspired by this arrangement of silent black and white films of the Western Isles from the early 20th century put to live music. The music itself was very impressive, with Alyth McCormack’s haunting Gaelic singing combining with very Celtic guitar playing and David Allison’s epic live looping, and the films themselves were fascinating, a real window into the past and an obvious contributor to the art we have today, but when the two elements were put together the effect was quite mesmerising. These films stood up as a performer alongside the live musicians to deliver a well-rounded programme that took us through a range of emotions. This was definitely worth going to see and I’m sure there are a few film premises in amongst this dramatic and emotive material just waiting to be discovered...

Finishing 'The Golden Rule'

So the fabulous foreign film is finally finished, and it’s time for me to be reflective. What have I learned in the making of this film? Hmmm, don’t shoot in Mugdock Park in November if you value being able to feel your toes! Or never run backwards with the camera if there’s a bunch of rocks behind you!! Or, if desperate, armpits make useful battery chargers!!!

In all seriousness I have learnt a huge amount in the course of this project. If I compare my knowledge and experience when I first thought up the idea to what it is now after the finished film has been safely uploaded the distance I have come is huge. Once again it is not just my own personal journey that stands out in my reflections but also the support and assistance of my first-class colleagues. Never will I cease to be amazed and humbled by the way they rose to the challenge and gave so much so willingly. Though I may call it ‘my film’ and label it ‘my entry to FilmG’ the truth is I am really only the funnel through which the talents of many people were poured into this project. I am pleased with the film and all I can hope now is that the audience (and judges!) appreciate it as much as I appreciate all those who helped put my little dream on screen.

Here's a link to the film:

http://www.filmg.co.uk/en/viewfilm09.php?id=146&category=3

Salesman

This documentary, made by the Maysles brothers in 1968, records the dying out of door-to-door salesmanship in America by following the lives of four men trying to make a living by selling Bibles. Now, to me, that premise was quite intriguing and I was rather looking forward to this real-life version of ‘Death of a Salesman’ but unfortunately it didn’t turn out that way. The film is called ‘Salesman’ and yet it follows the exploits of four salesmen which, though interesting, is unhelpful and confusing. One is given slightly more attention than the others (the oldest one I think) and in him we see the fascinating and tragic character of a man whom the world has left behind and who is losing all sense of purpose in his life but won’t admit it to himself. A great story. So why not focus in on that story? Why not concentrate on one narrative and present us with a clear protagonist? These are the questions I found myself asking of Salesman. However, I let it off because it is old and a classic, made at a time when documentary was still new. I have heard it described as a “landmark documentary” but I’m afraid I have to disagree. It is a good enough documentary recording what is definitely a ‘landmark’ in history but it itself, in my opinion, is nothing all that special. Arthur Millar does a better job.

The Battle of Algiers

I found the realism and documentary style of this film somewhat refreshing compared to the glossy fantasy of Hollywood which can so easily become superficial or distracting. This film is of course a retelling of a real-life event and therefore this style not only works for the material but in fact adds to the overall impact of the film. This realism, being its main attraction for me, was also its main problem if I was to critically measure it against any other film. It wasn’t entertaining. Now of course war and revolution is never supposed to be entertaining but the job of a filmmaker is to take you on an emotional journey where you can be entertained even in the midst of such surroundings. I felt it was a bit too much of a record and not personalised enough to make a good drama. Nevertheless though maybe more of a history lesson than a film it was still well-made and relatively engaging.

‘The Golden Rule’ Reshoot

So once again, amazingly, the rain held off... mostly. We did have a bit of drizzle which did force us to stop shooting at one point but our main problem was actually that it was extremely cold. It was painful to watch as the cast shivered in shorts and t-shirts waiting for a take to start. However this time we had a much more sensible schedule and it was a shorter day. We shot everything with care and efficiency and I was very pleased with the result and proud of everyone involved. More than anything I feel relief that we’ve finally got everything in the can. The days are getting shorter, darker, colder and wetter and the time for shooting films involving cross-country races is definitely coming to an end! The Scottish winter season is a time for editing and finishing films, as well as writing and continuing to come up with dark and depressing ideas to reflect our wonderful weather! So now the deadline for FilmG is fast approaching and it’s time to see if all the work and collaboration put into this project has produced anything coherent.

The Mitchell Library Archives

I do enjoy our field trips! This visit to the Archives in Glasgow’s Mitchell Library (the largest public library in Europe) was both informative and exciting. What a privilege to have such an incredible resource right on our doorstep. We were shown a number of old documents including the oldest one in the Archive; a hand-written document for the sale of land from 1100s. History is a goldmine of ideas, characters, stories and places just waiting to be turned into films. I enjoyed National Treasure for this reason. It managed to capture in some small way the excitement of history. I can see myself sometime in the future, maybe sooner than I think, visiting the Archives and poring over old documents as characters and narratives leap out at me.

"History is the record of an encounter between character and circumstances." Donald Creighton

300

I watched this with a pretty good idea of what to expect, so from the start I was analysing it in a specific way. 300 is, to all intents and purposes, a good genre film. Lads sit down wanting an action-packed, blood-soaked ride without having to think too much and I would say that’s exactly what they get. However I do have to take issue with it on one thing in particular. It’s not believable. Now, of course it’s not necessarily trying to be the most authentic historical drama of all time but I believe any film needs to suspend the audiences disbelief for the whole duration if possible. 300 didn’t manage this at all and the reasons are I think obvious.

Firstly, CGI overruled the story. This film was created in a computer and it is painfully obvious. Not just the over-stylised colour grading and contrast manipulation but the backgrounds, armies and wide-shots are all so computerised it is impossible to believe in them. Sets are used repeatedly but with different backgrounds and sometimes entire shots are CG having never existed on film. To me this seems like a worryingly lazy way to make a film but I suppose it’s what comes of basing it on a graphic novel; many of the shots are recreated straight from Frank Miller’s original illustrations.

Secondly, the performances are not believable. I sympathise; it must be hard to genuinely get inside a character’s head when you are surrounded by bright fluorescent green instead of rocky valleys or fields of corn. Nevertheless it is the actor’s job to act and I got the impression that many in the cast were there for a laugh rather than to give a serious performance. Gerard Butler shouting “This is Sparta!” in a broad Scottish accent was quite enough to evoke the response: “Eh... no it’s no, pal!”.

Related to this also, and thirdly, the characters were not believable. If these men really had been fed nothing but combat and war all their lives I don’t think they would be quite as polite and socially adept as was depicted. They would not have real friendships, they would not be intellectually competent and their motivations would probably be quite different.

So this brings me to my fourth and final point; the story was not believable. As I see it this film was made primarily for the images – to reflect the graphic novel – then secondly for the action and then thirdly for the story. That, to me, seems like an upside down priority list. That whole thing about them fighting for ‘freedom’ is clearly just thrown in there to provide some filling in the sandwich of battle violence and hardcore effects, and because it sounds vaguely American! What is ‘freedom’ anyway? I’m pretty sure none of those Spartans could tell you, but they were willing to have a good slash-about, and ultimately die, even so.

So I couldn’t help thinking the neglect of story in this film left it sadly lacking but nevertheless I enjoyed it for what it was; a computer-generated action-saturated muddle of comic book carry on.

Shooting 'The Golden Rule'

The Golden Rule, or An Riaghailt Or, is my Gaelic short film for FilmG. The Friday evening shoot went rather swimmingly and was most enjoyable and Saturday – a full day shooting in Mugdock Park – was in fact a great day. As I got up at 5am my main worries were firstly that the weather would not hold out and we would be rained off and secondly that the light would run out and we wouldn’t get everything shot. As it turned out I should have been more worried about battery power! Just over halfway through our schedule the batteries began to empty and by the end of the day we were reduced to using ‘bits of batteries’ and – wait for it – holding the batteries under our armpits to try and get a final burst of power from them; Gavin’s brainwave, and it worked! So by that point our ‘professional practise’ had maybe gone out the window a tiny bit but overall I was enormously impressed by the way we worked together as a film crew. I could sense huge improvements in communication and focus even just since working on Little Clown. Harmonious collaboration is perhaps one of the most beautiful things the human race is capable of, and it gets results. One of the extras, a scarily exercise-mad woman kind enough to act as a ‘cross-country runner’, commented on how professional we were and that was perhaps the most uplifting part of the whole shoot. I was very pleasantly surprised that we got just about everything shot that we set out to get even if two scenes were rushed quite shockingly. But I should have known it was too good to be true...

First thing on Monday morning I got the footage to Ally (the editor) who started digitising immediately. That afternoon we discovered that most of what we shot on Saturday afternoon had not recorded properly (dirty heads or something) and was unusable. An entire scene, almost two, was missing from our media. After considering some depressing compromises we finally decided to go for the headache of a reshoot at the coming weekend. Although this is more than just a slight nuisance it is, in my opinion almost a blessing in disguise. Neither Paul or I were particularly happy with the footage we had recorded that afternoon because it had been so rushed and of course we want the film to be the best it can be. So... here’s hoping for Saturday!