The Egg Is Hatching

Hello all;

I have been beating myself up not a little recently due to my tardiness in preparing the fourth project of the year, Easter Egg, but now I am pleased to say it is getting on its feet.

At first too many ideas were swirling round my head to get it down on paper...should it be about paganism, or christianity? About little girls stealing eggs, or about corporations stealing festivals?
In the end it has become about springtime itself, and is quite a lot more reflective and sombre than my original whimisical idea.

Given these multiple mutations, the working title Easter Egg is now almost guaranteed to change, although to what I'm not sure.

The whole thing is narrated with a poem...here's an excerpt:

"This creature, born in earth
And raised in sunlight
Whose soul was carried thither on the air
He was known in many lands
Whose many peoples christened him in many worded tongues
With many names that went before him there"

And it pretty much goes on like that. On and on.

In other news, I met with the legendary Tom of the Craigs this week, and after a few beverages our manly reserve broke down and we found ourselves able to talk about such things as potential, plagarism, Portuguese Men O' War, working, worries and the wonder of Moths.
It's always nice to talk with a fellow film-head, and the meeting left me feeling all the more certain in my conviction that yes, it IS possible and yes, if I try my darndest, I will achieve.

And I'm taking you all with me, you hear?!

Make way for film,
Jim

PS. Some of you may be wondering where my other projects have gone. Well, FMB is now edited and finished. After Ate is getting there, hopefully filming the last seconds of footage today so that can be done and dusted.
However after long deliberation I have decided not to post them on YouTube...however, I am planning a screening in a couple of months hence (July) in which I will display the half-years worth of films, and anyone who wants is welcome to come along ^__^

But We Did Nothing, Absolutely Nothing That Day

Hey again film buds!

Well its been shinty-six (read 14) days since my last post, and it seems like an age.

Since I last posted I have enjoyed an Easter Weekend with my family, which including the world premier of Freeman Michael Brothers...

We're all totally dressed up and that.

Given the tight editing schedule of two evenings, it wasn't the polished commercial version which will be available to people in the near future, but it was well received.

It was also a landmark of editing for me as it was the first film I have so far...
a) edited on my own Mac and
b) composed an entirely original soundtrack for.

Speaking of my new set up, take a gander...

Pretty fricken sweet, eh?
It cost me a little under £800, with thrift and smarts.

In other news, I have found the perfect cure to not making films...

1) take a nice long thought provoking run or walk
2) Listen to 'Drinking in LA' (Bran Van 3000), 'Do You Know The Way To San Jose?' (Elkie Brookes) and 'Big Sunglasses' (Dragonette) on a loop
3) Realise in a melancholic moment in Farnham that you and everyone you truly care about has never fulfilled their true potential.

Make way for film,

Jim

Let's Do Some Goddamn Property Law!

Hello everybody!
Well, this weekend has been just as hectic as the last, as my brothers and I set out to shoot a short film for Mum's birthday, now only 5 days hence.
Shooting this one was tough, but editing it in time is going to be even tougher...wish me luck!
In the meantime, have more screenshots.

Damn it, Vandermeyer! Jj remembers what people who agree to be in my films are let in for.
What, you mean this isn't a parking offence?

In the background, Tom exaggerates.
GRRRRRRRRRR!

Well, hope that's wetted your whistle!

Make way for film,
Jim

Plastic Vultures Is Go! And It's Awesome!

Okay, so on Saturday we like, totally filmed some more Plastic Vultures.
Today I captured the footage (on my now functioning but not quite complete Mac Mini!) and got some wonderful screenshots. Also Aaron took some great on-set photos.

The villian of our piece...he's a very sinister man...
VERY sinister.
Polis Louizou, proving he can act an' that.
Is there anything better to brighten up the apocalypse than gratitous crotch shots?

Well, maybe a game of "kiss chicken"


Yes. Peace worked out. Now there's no more people to fight!
Our handsome director. He could play a scheming bishounen in an anime...
Jason has the whole post-apocalyptic tramp thing down to a tee:
Share and share alike in the world of tomorow...

Well I hope that's wet yet whistle for more fun!
In other news, Freeman Michael Brothers LTD is being filmed THIS WEEKEND!
Wish us luck.

Make way for film!
Jim

Slow Progress

It is very bad, and completely incorrect, to say 'everything's gone wrong' or variations.

If EVERYTHING went wrong, you'd already be dead. And you would have died as a result of the Universe collapsing.

And then when you died, God would be a total jerk and Hell would be a men's toilet at a seedy nightclub. Heaven would be the bar where you couldn't get served.

But there are times when little nit-picky problems pile up on one another and it FEELS like everything that could go wrong without actually completely scuppering a project is going wrong.

In many ways, a complete project-scuppering problem is simple. You pack up and go home.

But little problems mean you have to keep getting-the-hell-on-with-it.

To clarify, I am not talking about any of the film projects on at the moment (although all of the above could easily be applied to some of the past).

No, I'm talking about my quest for a computer that would actually allow me to edit film projects.

I have had a Mac Mini for a month, a monitor for a week and a dream for several years, and all of them are sitting gathering dust for the need of a 12cm VGA to DVI adaptor cable.

On top of the many difficulties I have already had with this (not even going to go into how much of a pain getting this monitor was) the cable would have arrived yesterday...if it had actually been the cable, and not what it was, which was a leather pouch for a frigging iPhone.

I have spent more of my meagre money on this stuff than anything else in my life, and it might as well have been a paperweight.

Fly swift, sweet cable, in to my arms, and all shall be well.

In other news, Plastic Vultures is definitely going ahead this weekend! Wohoo!

Good Egg, Old Bean

Well FMB is now well under way, we have a great fellow by the name of Jon on board to play the Judge, and the dates for filming are settled. That means...

Its time to look at April's project.

An easter themed dark fairy tale called Easter Egg.
Now, I once tried to shoot this thing for a 16mm film project. As with lots of 16mm stuff, the bits that looked good (especially the animation) looked great. The stuff that didn't looked like pretty much nothing, since it wasn't lit well enough.

So, where to go with it?
The basic plot hasn't changed: a film set to a poem where a girl steals an Egg from the Easter Bunny and provokes a global conflict. Oooh, satire!
Well, I'll be posting its progress as I go along, but suggestions are welcome.
That's right; I am asking to rip off your ideas. Huzzah!

Make way for film!
Jim

Thought By Now I'd Be 5/11

Here's the Teaser Trailer for AFTER ATE:

TEASED!

And an extract from Freeman Michael Brothers, which pretty much tells you all you need to know:

VANDERMEYER

Freeman! You're a loose cannon!

You go on like this, you'll turn the whole of property law on it's head!

PETER FREEMAN

Sounds good to me.

Michael, Peter and Horatio all put on shades.

Yup, that's the gist all right.