Good News Everyone!

Jay and Kay Save the World has got into a film festival! And this is my first international one, in Hungary, at the Budapest Short Film Festival. Originally I was planning a quick trip to India this September, but that has now been superseded. And seeing that I have never visited Hungary in my life, I think now is as good a time as any to pop the cherry and head to this magnificent city to have fun, love The Paint and generally frolic around!

It has been one hell of a battle to get into the festivals this year, so I am ecstatic that we are premiering CWP in such a beautiful location. Budapest is truly one of the more magnificent parts of Europe and as I have never been to this part of the world before it give the traveler in me a great chance to explore a new part of the world...

BUSHO - from the 1st-5th September.

Media Files, bumpf and distribution

Sending copies of 'Jay and Kay Save the World' to film festivals is a long and bewildering process. You need to be focused on the task at hand (hell for someone like me who enjoys the thrill of procrastination) as well as military precision in order to fulfill the requirements for each festival. Some festivals are part of a central submission system, such as the UCAS system for Britain's universities. This can take a lot of the heartache out of applying to festivals. About half of all the film festivals I have applied to so far are a part of one of four such systems. The other half are still independent and require you to go direct through their own website in order to submit your film.

And there is a lot of 'bumpf' that you need with the film that you submit to the film festival. Many festivals just want the DVD screener and nothing else. They will get back to you when they have made their decision. Others want a whole array of materials. This is the much anticipated media pack. You see, making a film does not just stop with the editing of a film and subsequent burning onto CD. No way. You see, the 'indy' director has to be a person of many talents. As 'El Director' of CWP, I also act as distributor, possibly one of the most tedious tasks to fall onto a film maker and the one that will make you go bald faster than any other task on set (other than dealing with actors/actresses).

Firstly, you have to distribute the film itself. That means, getting a list of all those film festivals. Filling out forms (accurately without spelling errors – and if anyone has read this blog then u no how baad i am at dat), burning DVD's (PAL or NTSC, subtitled or not, and better get handy with your French) before heading off to the local post office to send your post. Of course, I know how bad postmen can be, so it is not just a case of licking a few stamps but actually registering the damn things (at least fiver a pop for international submissions). The guys at my three nearest post offices know who I am. Then there is the waiting. Oh, the dreaded wait...

'Bumpf', yes, let me get back to that. There is an assortment of 'media' files that many festivals may or may not want, but need to be prepared by the director of his/her film in case they are required. This is where many directors (including myself in the past) fall. After the marathon run of making a film, you are then expected to complete the triathalon of creating a media friendly side to the film and then distributing the damn thing. You can see why even small films have a huge number of people in their credits. They are the minions who take care of all the 'little things'.

So, what 'bumpf' do I have prepared for my official 'Media Pack'? At a glance, I have a director's bio, filmography, picture and statement (that's the ego bit), half a dozen film stills (at 300 d.p.i.), Posters and Press Packs (recently rewritten), Synopsies (long, short, loglines and everything else in text, word and acrobat formats), a dialogue list (note this is not the same as the script, and again need as txt, doc or pdf files), and teasers/trailers (formatted for both Quicktime and Media Player).

Don't forget, a website is always handy, and guess what. All the above is on that website too, able to be downloaded at a click of a button. Some festivals do not want the clutter of extra paper or a CD-ROM as part of their submission. They want all these files online where they can download at their leisure. These festivals are few and far between at the moment, but they will probably become a requirement in the future.

That's the 'official' bumpf'.

There is a whole lot of 'bumpf' that I do not include in my media CD-ROM, but still need to keep on hand. For instance, a cover for the DVD case, letterheads for any letters I may need to send, a CD cover (if I send the CD-ROM separately), a credit list (some festivals demand a separate list, despite the inclusion of a press pack), a synopsis for the feature film (you never know), lower resolution files of the film stills (to upload directly onto some festival websites) and ditto for the press pack/posters.

As you can imagine I have sent to a lot of festivals. The turn around time is kicking in next month. The proof is in the pudding as they say. Or in this case, the media files...

The Evolution of a Clip

Just a small talk through on how a clip becomes part of a short film. I wanted to share this little bit of film amking, as with this clip (along with a lot of others), what you film is not necessarily what ends up as the final version on the big screen. Unfortunately, due to 'youtube quality', the colour corrections do not come out too great in this one...



Or watch the vid by clicking this line!

Shooting...

More filming yesterday. Only a few hours, but in sickness and in health I plug on. I want to finish this short quickly, before I get onto the real meat of CWP in February. I need the rest, but sometimes, when you got an itch, you just got to scratch!

Filming this Christmas

While many of us will be spending the holidays on holiday, I will be working like a dog, on two fronts. Firstly, I will be tearing round London's streets at obscene times of the night to put cash in my wallet. Secondly, I will be spending my days creating, what I hope is to be, a visual masterpiece.

My films up until now have been simplistic affairs. Filmed on the cheap with poor sound, no sense of cinematography and shot quickly. Essentially they have been glorified home videos. But they have got me very far, considering the ways which they were made (poorly), and the experience of film making that I possessed (none).

Starting with ideas and scripts a few years ago, it is strange to see the journey so far. The fear of switching on a camera and editing on a computer has been replaced by cocky manhandling of my precious equipment and an internet presence that would make most spammers proud.

As a person who has never been to film school, I have been clueless about films. My education in film came from the PCC, my inertia towards cinema from my own mad writings (hey, how else do you think I can blog almost everyday) and my decision to plunge into film making from my own lack of foresight. Admittedly, now I see the credit crunch unfolding, I 'may' have made the right decision in not chasing after the money. Then again...

The real eye opener to making films came at Cannes this year, when I attended the Short Film Corner. This was where I was able to meet other film makers, see what was being made and see how the 'movers and shakers' in the industry were doing things. On a more fundamental level, I actually saw why producers and distributors did business the way they did. That was really important. I got to see what people were not doing as well. Finally, I also saw what was being produced by other film makers in my position.

Skip forward six months and it is Christmas. I plan to shoot two short film by March '09 and to have everything wrapped up by May. A tall order. Each time I have started on a new project, I have advanced somewhat. Now this next step is crucial, although it is so basic to the concept of film. Firstly, to make my films actually cinematic. Secondly, to make then sound nice.

Let me tackle the sound first of all. I have got a decent mic, finally. And yes, it does work really well, but I am not going to bother with sound until February, when I make a follow-on to the adventures of Jay and Kay.

For the moment, I am tackling the problems with visuals and finding solutions to them. Creating great lighting, pulling the focus point just right, knowing how to frame the subject, camera movements, etc. Initial results are promising, but there is still a lot of work to do. This first short film should be wrapped up by the beginning of the New Year, and I should have a rough cut by the end of January. And this short film, 'The Railway Tracks' is of a very different vein to the Paint. Darker, more twisted and with some funky camera angles to boot.

It is a scary moment for me, as I have to live upto the small steps forward that I have achieved so far. As with many things in the world of film, everything rests on what I can and cannot achieve. And I do not know whether the outcome will be successful or not. Only time will tell...

CWP Documentary 2: Jay

Jay is the dynamo of CWP the Movie. It is his story and his characterisations that are probably closest to mine in all of the stories I have written so far. For me, Jay is a key character in The Paint not just in what he does, but how he does it.



Watch Documentary by clicking here!

The Casting...

When I first wrote the feature script for Caution Wet Paint I did not have a clue who I would cast. For me, the importance was the chemistry between Jay and Kay, That chemistry, the bouncing off each other was essential to maintain the humour of the script. The straight laced Jay, the whacky Kay, these were two factors that would be essential to the tellng of the story.

So to further explain yesterday's documentary (view by clicking the link), the casting of Ari and Kuldip was by no means secured. I did not know them at all when I wrote the first draft for Caution Wet Paint. But when I was editing An East End Tale I saw the scene with Kuldip (who played Chandran) and Ari (who played Tony) together. They cracked me up, which was their intention. I showed the scene to Nick while we were cutting music for the film and I remember telling him that those two should be in a comedy together.

The rest, as they say, is history...

CWP Documentary 1

A little less comedy and a little more seriousness for now. Here is a short little documentary on how I started CWP, what the first Webisode The Bus Stop" was all about and why I actually cast Ari and Kuldip as the two lead characters.



Watch Documentary by clicking here.