I'm gonna post each film I've made (with the exception of the one I made in the first year of HND 'cause it no longer exists), in chronological order with some random thoughts about each one. Wee trip down memory lane.
First up is Slice of the City - Young Filmmakers, a short documentary about a guy who's made so many films now ya wouldn't be able to count them. This documentary is kind of a shakey cam nightmare (the cinema verite style, if you will), and some dodgy stuff going on with the white balance at points. It's funny that we talk about Game of Thrones before it had even started. Just shows how long ago this was. Some nice enthusiasm about the future of filmmaking in the video. http://vimeo.com/13082392
Next is Into the Fire, for which I wrote the story, shared camera duty, and edited. Ben Mudge directed and did the screenplay. Quite proud of this one. I based this on stories that I had heard about my Grandfather and his experiences before going to war. I love the music done by a guy called Conor Scullian, quite moving piano work. The young actor in this was in Steve McQueen's Hunger, and Ridley Scott's Robin Hood. http://vimeo.com/13836702
I directed, edited, wrote Lonely Earth, my first big attempt at horror. Very dramatic narrative, trying to use mostly natural dialogue. I was also obsessed with the Silent Hill video game series and wanted that isolation and washed out look of those games. The cinema vérité style was also influential. http://vimeo.com/20709961
This one is called After Image. Kind of poor, a bit too sentimental, technical errors with the editing. An attempt to explore how images relate to memory. http://www.cfv.mmu.ac.uk/olc/film/10447/
By far the strangest film I've made is Cow Thing. Lots of abstract images, crazy sounds, nonsensical narrative, people talking backwards. I dunno, we'll just call this my David Lynch phase. I kind of like this film! It has a certain atmosphere to it. (The loose narrative to it is, a being has become lost in purgatory, and is being helped by a cosmic entity that's discovered it, but its all very abstract) http://www.cfv.mmu.ac.uk/olc/film/10481/
Child of Lore. Visual and thematic influence from one of my favourite films, Audition, which is partly about the break down of the family unit. I love the wee details; the eyes, the movements of shadow, I love the sound too. Probably shouldn't have relied so much on reciting the Yeats poem. Would have worked fine without it. This is maaaaaaaybe my personal favourite. http://vimeo.com/23932285
This is a research film I did. Practicing with some editing and shots I wanted for my final film in Manchester, Infinity's Edge. As well as getting to hear some of my narration out loud and testing how that worked. The music is a track from the sensational series Battlestar Galactica. Editing to music is a lot of fun. Really gets ya into the rhythm. http://vimeo.com/35014851
Apathy of Adam is a film I helped produce, directed by Steven Mchugh. Steven built a kickass camera rig, gets some great shots. The lenses capture the light really well during the night time scenes. Very intense, existential film!http://www.cfv.mmu.ac.uk/olc/film/10723/
Infinity's Edge. Quite proud of the work done all round on this sci-fi/horror; I wrote it, directed it, edited it, filmed it (though I didn't put myself in as the cinematographer in the credits, thought it would be a bit much), Steven did a great job producing, finding a make-up artist, and great young actors. There's some really nice lighting in this film, if I do say so myself. I remember the actor who played the creature, Jackie Lam, being an absolute legend. There are some things I regret. Like the sound, it needed a lot of work. I could have trimmed the beginning some. http://vimeo.com/42990113
