Photo shoot Mark 2....!

Last Wednesday, we had another session at Tower Bridge Studios to shoot some stills for “Clowning Around”. We did do a previous session in July, where we captured images of the protagonist Bonzo, as well as three supporting roles so we

However, shortly before the shoot, the actor playing Bonzo withdrew from the role and we re-cast David Schaal and with such little time to prepare, we focused on the shoot and then after a short break, contacted both David and the studio again to see if we could arrange a few hours to put him on the poster. could show the visual ambition of the project to IndieGoGo backers and so we could finalise ideas on costume, makeup and the overall colour pallette.

The planning itself for the shoot was a lot simpler than last time (or so you would think) as we only needed half a dozen crew and had all the designs and equipment to make it happen, and all this had been tried and tested in both the stills and film shoot.

However, the reality is that after some intense shooting of the film, people had moved on to other projects, so bringing them back in and motivating them in the same way was more challenging. Whereas before we were heading towards production and the creative side was still being explored, this was more of a functional session with momentum heading into post production. Add to this that this time of year is very busy for freelancers and it makes t very difficult for people to commit free time. Over the course of the 10 days planning for the shoot, a complete crew dropped out twice and with just under 36 hours left to the shoot, I had only asst producer Juliet and proucer Leilani on board still! Luckily, even if people couldn’t help, they tried to find someone who could, so we managed to get photographer Bruno Figuerido, gaffer Ian Jones, costume designer Karmjit Kalla and make up artist Annie Popplewell onto the project with very little notice!

What this experience did remind me was not to panic. Things go wrong, and all you can do is try your best with the cards you are dealt. Plus, it is always reassuring to know you can get around what feels like completely unrealistic obstacles J

The shoot itself presented a couple of problems in that, whereas last time we had the larger studio and a lot more lights, this time it was being used by another company (and as we were using for free couldn’t really complain!) so we had to improvise a bit. Also, whereas the previous Bonzo had Matthew Jure (Mr. Fernelli) to bounce off, David had to work harder for the same effect as he was on his own.

Despite this, we managed to get more than enough images (unfortunately however no video) so we can finalise our poster and artwork and feel like we can finally move into post production. We also found time to meet up with some of the crew from the film shoot later on at the pub :-)

And finally...days 4 and 5 of the shoot!

Apologies for the delay in documenting the shoot days as have been distracted these past few weeks, but thought I would cover both day 4 and 5 before I forget how each day was, as it already feels like so long ago!

Day 4 was always going to be the longest and most challenging of the film, from a logistical as well as a storyline perspective as the scenes we were shooting were the standoff in the film, where Bonzo challenges Mr.Fernelli to a clown off to decide the best clown in town and the resulting battle.

We were filming in 'Woodies' freehouse in New Malden from around 8am until they closed at 11pm so after a nice hot breakfast, we had a team briefing, outlined a schedule and what we wanted to achieve in the day and everyone got to work. One of the first challenges was, as we had to make the pub look as if it was night-time, shutting as much light out of the pub as possible, which is difficult in any location...let alone a pub that opened at midday!

Luckily the owner Linda and her customers were very accommodating as we basically took over the main part of the pub. This was also the first scene we had shot with both Bonzo and Fernelli, and with minimal rehearsal time, we had to get the tone of the scene right, so maximized the time camera and lighting were using to talk it through with the actors. Luckily in actors David Schaal and Matt Jure, we had people who understood the script and are very subtle so they played their parts perfectly.

We ran slightly over time for this scene, so had lunch at around 3pm before most of the cast and crew had a break for a few hours before the big fight scene. Myself and the DOP Azul Serra however, went to investigate the park location for the following day, which he had not seen so far. It was a scene as well in which David had to jump into the lake and stamp out the ‘reflection’ of Fernelli, so in order to make it safe for him, it was only fair that I jumped in first! After being happy with this, he went back to the pub where we briefed everyone about the evening, that we would be working very quickly in order to get all the shots we could in the five hours we could shoot once light fell and the order we planned to shoot things in.

During this time, the rest of the camera and lighting team had prepped everything for the fight scene so at 6.15pm we had everyone in place and could start shooting. One of the trickier things was getting extras to turn up at a pub in New Malden at 6pm on a Monday and stand out in the cold, but we managed to get a crowd to watch the final scene that consisted of my brother, the make-up artist and friends of the cast and crew!

We cracked through the scene pretty quickly, which was amazing considering the amount of crew, the low light (meaning we also had to be careful when moving around set) and that we had to make sure we had everything. The night finished with the one take wonder of the ‘pie-in-the-face’ shot...this was the moment when Bonzo finally gets victory by hitting Mr. Fernelli full in the face with a pie to win the battle and as you can imagine, due to the messy nature of it and how it affected costume and makeup, we only had one go at it...especially as it was 10.55pm and we had to be out by 11pm! Luckily, whilst me and Azul had been jumping in ponds during the afternoon, the production team had been testing various consistencies of pies and frame rates to see what worked best for the shot, which meant production manager Katherine and 1^st AD Greer smelt of jam and cream for most of the evening...

After the final shot had been completed, everyone wrapped double quick so we could people home on public transport as we still had another day to shoot. Katherine had kindly found some space for crew around her parents so people were close for the following day.

The fifth and final day consisted of four smaller scenes and any pickups we were missing. Whilst not as hectic schedule wise, we had less crew, no unit base and tiredness was starting to kick in after four intense days. We quickly shot the park scene where Bonzo awakes to find himself out of alcohol, before moving on to a four shot montage in a nearby newsagents. Breaking swiftly for lunch, we filmed the trickiest scene of the day in which Bonzo walks through the park, only to be confronted by the reflection of Mr. Ferneli in the pond. This was difficult for a number of reasons. 1) the light was constantly changing (meaning the strength of the reflection was also) 2) Matt Jure (Mr. Fernelli) was unavailable for this day so we had to use a stand in and 3) the tree had been broken so it now obstructed the shot. Thanks to a mirror and quick thinking and shooting from Azul, we managed to get what we wanted and then filmed the rest of the scene, culminating in Bonzo jumping in to the pond and stamping all over what he believed was a taunting Fernelli. Ever safety consciouss, we had runners on standby with blankets and warm clothes once David was finished as this was his last shot of the film.

However, even though David was wrapped...we were not. As an effort of good faith to Markus, Dan and all the others who had appeared in the film, I donned a wet and dirty Bonzo costume to take the final steps of the film, which show Bonzo heading towards the pub as light fell. As the rest of the crew started to pack up, Azul set the camera and then I stomped to the pub, doing my finest Bonzo impression (from the back anyway). After a few takes, Azul was happy and I got to say the magic words “Thats a wrap!”.

It had been a long old journey, not just for me but for all the cast and crew who had given up so much of their time to be a part of it. I do think everyone enjoyed and is proud of the work they have done as many kind words were said as we sat down to have a beer with some of the crew afterwards.

With all five days of the shoot complete, it was agreed everyone take at least a week off to get back to normal before reconciling all the production issues, sorting the stills shoot out and cracking on with post production....I think its fair to say everyone deserved it after putting in so much to make the shoot happen. :-)

Day Three of the Shoot..

Day three took us into a very early start at 7am in Islington where we shot scenes in the very accommodating supermarket who had arranged for a security guard to open up early for us to film there before the store opened. Filling the place with lights and crew and actors we made an empty store into a bright and busy one.

After filming the hilarious checkout scene with David Schall and Meddy Ford, the team moved onto the alcohol section of the shop where some funny but poignant points were filmed to show the battle Bonzo has with his addiction. This is one of my favourite bits of the screenplay however, as it was being filmed production was moving to our second location of the day and as it was a match day alternative parking and a new production base had to be found and vehicles moved, including the equipment van.

The late morning and early afternoon shots were comprised of action sequences both outside the store and in a nearby area with a convenient slope to send Bonzo on an out of control journey and ramp up the excitement of the film! We were joined by stunt team Dominic Kinnaird who was stunt co-ordinating and Tom Cheshire, our stunt double standing in for David for a few of the shots. 360 degree and wide shots meant that most of the crew needed to stay out of the way while the stunt and camera team did their work and Damien and the actors concentrated on getting the very best out of the set-ups. I have to say, that during the preparation for the stunts even though they weren't especially dangerous the care and consideration taken for everyone's safety and comfort was thoroughly thought through and prepared for and so the afternoon went speedilly. Damien briefed everyone before we ran through the shots so that everyone was clear as to how it was happening and could be prepared.

For the production team it was quite a busy day with a lot of little things to organise that both came up that day during the course of shooting and that needed to be planned for the following day. And with Production Manager Katherine also having a cameo in the film it was all hands on deck and a very busy day for her, which you'd never have known from her serene performance. All went to plan and we finished with everyone collecting in the production office (a nearby upstairs room in a pub) where a cooling drink was had before heading home for a good rest before the long day we had planned for Monday.

Day 2...

Following on from Leilani’s diary of Day 1, I thought I would add my own thoughts on Day 2 J

Day 2 was the easier of the 5 and we had scheduled as such as we knew (as with any shoot) it takes time for everyone to get into a rhythm of working with each other. It was also due to the restrictions of each location, for example it was best to shoot in the school on a Friday (being the end of the week), a supermarket on a Sunday and pub on Monday (as these were locations still open for business so needed to pick their quietest day), so we were happy that this would be less intense and put us in good stead for days 3, 4 and 5. We had less to shoot for the second day and were in a more controlled location without a hundred or so children to contend with but it was still tricky as the local train station which was a two minute walk away (Isleworth) was closed so many were coming by bus and tube.

After being picked up with the equipment van by 3^rd AD Blair, we arrived and met with th location owner Arthur and then started assessing where to put kit and people as well as dressing the front room, which was the main interior location we were filming in, as well as our unit base for the day. One of the reasons we picked this particular house was that it fitted Bonzo being a single man and was very quaint, which whilst good for him wasn’t for 20 odd crew squeezing in!

We had an added obstacle in a car was parked directly outside which we couldn’t move, so the production team went to work knocking on doors of neighbours so we could shoot the exterior shots, which are the final ones in the film. After filming this before lunch, it was inside to capture a scene early in the film where Bonzo arrives home, which was constructed fantastically by the production design team.

It was shot quite simply in terms of framing and blocking, but was very important in setting Bonzo up to our audience and getting an insight into who he is and showing his situation through how he lives, as well as conveying the moment his journey is kickstarted. Although tight, it was another day wrapped on time (at 4pm no less) but as we had an early start and a tight timeframe the following day, we had a full briefing with all crew to let them know just how important it was to be on set for 6.45am the next day in Islington, North London for the supermarket scene. I try to get people together to pass on the information as much as I can during a shoot, but it was good that everyone saw the importance of it and stayed to make sure they knew what our requirements were for day 3.

I was glad our scheduling had worked out this way, as it gave everyone a chance to assess where we were at so far and get some much needed rest before the more difficult scenes over the next three days. By this point we had already overcome a number of challenges including supporting roles dropping out, logistics changing at the last minute, exterior locations needing to be sought and technical issues with the lights and camera so was also very glad to see everyone was dealing with things as and when they arose. It is all well and good having a happy crew when things are going smoothly, but it is when things are not going to plan, that's when you find out what you are made of!

Day one of the shoot!

Day one of the Clowning Around shoot found us at two seperate locations.

The first involved a school full of primary aged children for the opening scene of the film and was my Producer’s cameo in the production. I’m an actor by profession rather than a producer so it felt comfortable to be in front of the camera, not so comfortable to be in front of the very good but exceedingly loud children as they screamed for ‘Bonzo’ and Mr. Fernelli. It was actually a little bit terrifying and my appreciation for the teaching profession has increased considerably! All kudos to the children of Pelham Primary who were an absolute credit to their school and patiently did all that was asked of them by Damien. Our crew in turn were able to entertain the children and explain to them how film and TV gets made, explaining the steadicam and how reverse shots get made. They I think entertained us as much as we did them and though there were a lot of shots to get in a relatively short period of time the director and team worked very hard to achieve all they needed.

Following on from that we moved to a local house location to film some more scenes with Bonzo. David Schaal was just incredible as Bonzo and I think for the first day of filming, we all felt very secure in the work he did. And our Associate Producer Markus Meedt standing in as Mr. Fernelli for a few shots proved extremely popular too!

Here's a few photos of the day. More on our facebook page.

Director as camera..
David Schaal with costume assistant Nelli.He's got his clown make-up on here for the first time.

Bonzo entertains the children of Pelham Primary

Damien going through the shots led the team through the movement so that they could work swiftly once the children were in place. Matt Allsop joined the production with his steadicam for just this one day and came all the way from Worcester.

Associate Producer Markus Meedt tries to keep up with the questions..

One of the more poignant moments of the film.. Bonzo the outcast.

Framing up Kiki Kendrick with the steadicam..as we meet Mrs. Jenkins.

It's a Wrap!

So we wrapped the Clowning Around shoot on a cold Tuesday evening but inside we were warm and happy that we'd gotten it all in the can.

There's so much to tell I don't know where to begin, the team worked incredibly hard, maintained focus throughout, and I believe have created something very special.

There's still a lot to do, but for now we are taking a short break to recoup and look over the last few days.. more very soon! For now I want to say a huge, huge thank you to all the people who made this happen. *:O)

The Last Days are Upon Us!

It's the end of Monday and I'm pretty tired right now, but we're getting quite a lot of the final things sorted out, casting (& recasting) some of the smaller cameos and extras etc.. and rehearsals took place today which Damien said went very well so we'll have some video of that coming up for you in due course.

The rest has been a sort of scatterbrained picking up random items currently whizzing through my brain on a constant loop in order to to check off the random itty bitty things and bits and bobs that haven't been done yet.. working out what the vegans will eat, how many people will need breakfast on set and on what days, getting yellow gloves for Bonzo's costume, checking in with people so I know all is going well in their departments, ordering greasepaint, thinking about what's in my wardrobe so I can find a costume for myself to wear.... wondering if someone's sorted a name tag for the checkout girl, talking to Juliet about casting the checkout girl.. and the list goes on and my mind spins round and round! It's a bit exhausting really because even though it's not hard work, it's a lot of mental energy flying about in many different directions.

If I'm perfectly honest I don't cope all that well with pre-production. I never have, I find it draining and actually quite dislike it. But I know that come the shoot on Friday I'll be calm and serene and will enjoy every single bit of it. And so as I head off to bed at 1:30am with an information superhighway whizzing around the perimeter of my brainwaves I am willing that day to come.. and keeping my fingers crossed that I'll be ready for whatever happens and needs sorting out between now and the wrap! :)

Ticking Boxes

Last week, shortly after securing actor David Schaal to play Bonzo, we locked the shoot dates. This is both very exciting and a little scary, as it means the fictional film I have played out in my head is now going to become something very real. It also means that all the team now has a goal to aim at so can schedule their time and deadlines so we know what we can achieve.

For this particular film, we also have some quite tricky locations. A school, a supermarket and a pub to name three and have searched far and wide throughout London to get them. The good news is that thanks to the efforts of all the team, we had sourced a number of options which I went to recce this weekend. The bad news is that they were in every different area of London, so I spent one of the hottest October days on record sat on tubes, trains and buses navigating my way to the four corners of the city! location to film in and unfortunately is also one of the most key as other departments cannot move forward until they know where we will be shooting. Production Design can’t add props, camera and lighting can’t make a kit list, you can’t block or storyboard accurately, the 1^st AD can’t schedule...the list is endless...

The first stop was an option on Bonzo’s house in Hounslow (West London), which took me about 45 minutes. The location was found by our unit manager Markus through the Film London website. The location is quite small but had a charm about it and I also liked the colours, texture and angles we could shoot from. Luckily the locations owner is a stills photographer, so has an awareness of what a film crew being in your house will entail and has given us pretty much the run of the house J

After finishing my nice cup of tea, I headed to Barnehurst (South-East London) which was about an hour and a half away once I had gone through Waterloo and London Bridge to look at Mrs. Jenkins house. As we have scheduled the school (which is run by my mother in law)scene on the first day of filming and we also need children for the Mrs. Jenkins scene we have tried to schedule them together, hence why we needed a house in this area. The location owner is on the school PTA board and both her and her husband have been very supportive in helping us out to make the film. As people who haven’t had a film crew in their house before, I explained everything in detail so they would be clear in what will be going on and how long for.

Then it was off to Russell Square to check out a possible supermarket option, before heading to Crouch End (North London) to look at another, which was another two hours of public transport. The supermarket has been the trickiest of our locations so far and we have tried every big name brand in order to get somewhere, but most either wanted obscene amounts of cash or were worried we would affect the sales in their store and in a film of this nature, it always helps if the location is on board with what you are doing. We ended up asking Londis and Budgens stores, who whilst branded, are self-owned so it is down to the individual if they wish us to film. Budgens in particular have been very helpful across the board and the managers in their Crouch End and Belsize Park stores particularly keen to help. From this we have secured a store to film in, which means I just have to find somewhere close to film the ‘stunt’ part of the scene outside the store.

After I had finished in Crouch End it was approaching 6pm and having spent 5 or so hours on and off public transport, felt I had earnt a nice cold pint of cider so headed to meet my wife in London Bridge. And whilst I did have to wait in a queue 20 minutes to get it, it was good to toast a successful day and that we have 11 days now to secure everything we need for the shoot J

Going Loco!

Things have been really busy at Clowning Around Production Central as we come up to two weeks until filming and there's still a lot to sort out. Truth is that even with an amazing team working hard, we've all been doing stuff in our spare time and probably the trickiest thing has been finding the right interior locations so even though we've been looking for a good while, we began this week with only half the locations we needed.

But perseverance weighs out they say and that's certainly been the case for this film and it's characterful settings. We went to have our weekly production meeting at one of them this week, a pub location in New Maldon that is charming inside and out and has a friendly management who have welcomed us to film there where we'll be using both the interior and exterior for important scenes in the film. Added to the pub, we have a school full of children, two houses (with suitable interior and exteriors of both), a park with specific requirements, a shop, and a supermarket.

Ironically the most difficult thing to get was not the school full of kids, but the supermarket, however from the teams weekend recces today they have finally gotten it hopefully nailed down to a suitable and willing store, both houses are confirmed as well as the pub and school and everyone is feeling happy and looking forward to the next job. Which I'm guessing will be all the props and production design, arranging rehearsal and tech recces, and finalising the costume fittings and logistics etc.

Mostly it's been the production team and department heads working hard, and I've sort of been checking stuff off the lists from afar and worrying and trying to do bits when I can to help things move along and working to help production manager, Katherine with budget stuff, but I've definitely feeling my shortcomings as a producer. Truth is that everyone on this shoot is a working professional behind the camera, except me. I only produce short films in my spare time and I have never had such a big production or budget to work with before and it's a bit of a learning curve. I feel like I'm somehow not doing enough or being enough. I guess it's something I never worried about before because I never felt the stakes were high, but between the crowdfunding backers who've put such faith in the project, the cast and crew who've been working hard for a long time to make this happen, and our director Damien who has been wanting to realise this film for such a long time it feels like there's a lot of expectation of an amazing success, we've worked for that success, and failure is not going to be an option for us. Not that failure is even a suggestion with our awesome team on the case. It's probably just that in my own excitement and anxiety to see everything happen as it should after all this work and time and expectation I am now feeling a bit like an expectant mother pacing about, wishing it were ready to begin already, and hoping it will all go smoothly and the budget won't get caught around it's neck and strangle it and that our team will come out of their work with a film we are all proud to love and show off and all it's fingers and toes will be intact because we haven't had to compromise one or two along the way! I know. I've gone a bit nutty, it's pre-production.. I don't cope well with it!

A cool filmmaker, who happens to be one of our backers in fact, once said the following to me during a particularly tough pre-production challenge on another project that I was directing... "Keep going. The only way is in fact forward. Choose the day, don't let it choose you. You are EXACTLY where you should be. Smile. Go on" and it's good calming advice for any film challenge. Today I'm feeling very glad that I wrote that down and kept it. I admit that reading it back I do feel very reassured.

I might still pace in anticipation though until we're ready to give birth to this baby film.. just a little bit. But I'm smiling at what everyone has achieved today. *:o)

New Bonzo!

We have decided to cast David Schaal as Bonzo the clown, after meeting a number of different actors about the role.

David was recommended to me by Kiki Kendrick who also appears in the film.

David is mostly known for his roles in BAFTA winning comedies "The Office" and "The Inbetweeners" and I think you will agree if you see his show-reel, will be able to pull off the very subtle and conflicting emotions of the character. Check out www.davidschaal.com to have a look for yourself!

I look forward to working with David over the next few weeks as we head to our shoot dates of the 14th to 18th October and bring Bonzo to life!

Judges Votes and Feedback on the Poster Competition!

First of all a big thank you to our amazing judges, for giving their expertise and their valuable time to our poster competition and helping us to find the right poster for "Clowning Around" while also sharing some of their insight and feedback about the particular posters they chose, both for the competition entrants and for us all to benefit from their collective knowledge.


MATTHEW LEYLAND from 'Total Film' Magazine

OK.... thought they were all quality but these 3 really made my bow-tie whirl!

1) MYISH ENDONILA - The caption "Will work for booze" made me laugh straight away but what I really love is how so much is packed into the picture without seeming cluttered: the rivalry, the haplessness, the alcoholism, the violence... the flying pies add a great dynamic element. I would definitely, definitely want to see this film!

2) JENNY LAW - Another instantly witty image - love the use of red that guides you to the noses but also the bottles, which hint more subtly than some of the other posters at the alcoholism theme. A simple, strong, chic, cool composition.

3) ANDREW SMITH - Harks back to classic film posters by Saul Bass; nice use of metaphor - you immediately 'get' what this film's about - but it retains an air of mystery that makes you want to know more.


CHRIS JONES, Filmmaker and Author of The Guerilla Film Makers Handbook

1st: Ramon Bonilla
I liked the fact that it worked from a distance, was bold and iconic. The more I looked, so more detail revealed itself. Great work.

2nd: Myish Endonila
Again strong, simple and clear message that worked the irony of the concept in very well. Felt very much like a film poster too. It's also a gut choice.

3rd: Jenny Law
Simple and effective. I like the boldness of a graphic design and composition and colour worked very well. Lovely artwork that any film maker would have been delighted with.


BEN AND CHRIS BLAINE, UK Filmmaking Brothers from Charlie Productions

1st: Stuart Johnston
This suggests loads. Feels like if you had him looking up out of the bottle that would give this poster all it needs - that sense of hope. Him staring straight out of the bottle feels like there's not much hope. But the idea of him being stuck in the bottle is nice. The colours work well. The park bench and the balloon floating off give it something extra, a feeling that the film is going to give you those pertinent little details that will make it a deep and affecting film. However... the bottle doesn't quite sell alcohol to us. feels more like a bottle of premium water than booze - don't know what the tipple of choice in the film is but if it's wine he's quite a refined alcoholic. And if you went for a different, broader bottle such as one for whisky, that might give the chance to use more space - there's lots of blanks here. Love the rival staring in via the balloons, feels nice. Also like the font used for the title

2nd: Andrew Smith
Like this one a lot. Don't quite like the colour choice though - it might just be the compression but the red nose and the red splurge on his chest clash horribly with the blue. And that splurge doesn't need to be there. If it were just the nose it'd feel much stronger - you're telling me he's a clown, all I need to see is the nose. And perhaps you could have made him have clown shoes. Having him stuck inside the bottle but looking up gives me the story that he's an alcoholic clown who's looking to sort himself out. It's hopeful, and the simple but artful design makes me think of French New Wave films and makes me feel like I'll see something a bit different. Maybe that's not the film though...

3rd: Myish Endonila
This in many ways feels like the most polished of the posters. Certainly the one that sells it most as a comedy. However it feels like the main chap could do with being closer - there's a lot of wasted space below the sign round his neck which could have been lost in order to make him larger on the poster - there's a certain distance thanks to the pies being thrown at him which makes it feel a little like we're being asked to laugh at the loser, rather than necessarily empathising with him... The curtains feel a little sharp on the edges. The bad guy hovering in the background letting our main chap take the pratfall is nice, though is the story that he's aloof and better than him, or is it that he's actively trying to do the main chap in? In which case a different image of him might have worked better. However, not sure if that is the tale - if it is that he's aloof to it all, then it works ok.


CHRIS PATMORE Editor of Film & Festivals Magazine


1st: Andrew Smith
Simple graphical approach that captures the eye, while explaining the film's concept.

2nd: Miguel Ibarra
Striking use of illustration (not enough illustration used in film posters any more)

3rd: Ramon Bonilla
Powerful use of the photography and interesting use of typography, just a bit concerned that it is a little hard to read and much to close to the trim.


DEAN HARMER Creative Director at Aitch Creative

Myish Endonila
Just has all the ingredients for a good movie poster ... has focus and clarity, tells a little of the story - certainly enough to be intriguing (though i think a little TOO much blurring on the pie-dishes ... and some twinkly lights which don't seem to add anything, for me!) think that this submissions' designer is a designer - with a good sense of balance and impact and order of information.

Miguel Ibarra
I really like the simplicity and clarity of this ... though I can't help thinking that it's not quite finished - in that I think that the addition of a bottle in the hand, the cast along the top and a good strapline which adds a sense of context - would pull it right up!!

Jenny Law/Andrew Smith
i really cannot decide between the two illustrative designs. The blue bottle is a gorgeous, arty-house styled image - with good, strong type .. again - i still think it needs a little more to give you a better indicator of context - a good strong look. The orange one has a much more 'appropriate' feel - with the pair of clowns, the sense of fun with the balloon and the bottles - with an irregular border - makes it more 'rough and ready' but the whole is dampened by a muddy colour scheme ... resulting in the character images being indistinct if i were walking past...



JOHN CONDON Founder of OTT Films and Professional Creative Director

1st Place
Myish Endonila - In here is a good film poster, trying to get out. The story is all there - The drunk clown. The Antagonist literally 'waiting in the wings' for him to meet his seemingly inevitable doom (represented by the custard pies). Bonzo's expression, clearly that of a broken man and one resigned to his fate. So, all present and correct. However, the poster is very busy as a result. The curtains distract the eye. The blue background is unnecessarily lacking contrast from Bonzo, which it should have to ensure he stands out and remains the focus of my attention. So, a darker background, the curtains more realistic and partially hidden in the shadow, Bonzo caught in the spotlight and the removal of the tomato (an idea too far, albeit a good one) and you would have a solid film poster here. As it stands, it lacks the level of polish that the rest of the project has benefited from. If you can get a second round of tweaks from Myish, without it breaking the competition rules, this could be a very tidy and descriptive poster. At the moment it's my begrudging choice for your WINNER.

2ND PLACE
Miguel Ibarra - Very nicely sketched with a simple colour palette and one 'captivating' image. In graphic terms it's an engaging image too. However, much like many of the other 'style over content' posters it misses the 'story' and focuses on only one of its themes...that of depression...there is an unhappy clown! So? There are loads of films, stories and paintings of 'Unhappy clowns'. What makes this one so special? This poster fails to answer that question adequately enough for me. It tells me nothing of any consequence about the film and whilst it would catch my eye (job number one) it would fail to engage my curiosity enough to part with my money (job number two). But it excites me. So I'd want it to be developed and pushed further. How would I suggest Miguel do that? Perhaps Bonzo holding a balloon in his right hand (left as we see it) with Fernelli's shit eating expression doodled across it, looking down on our hero. A bow tie ribbon tied to the base of the balloon. A great visual representation of Fernelli's over inflated ego and his lofty position of popularity above Bonzo. Perhaps a bottle in Bonzo's hanging right hand? That may end up being too much but I'd have liked to have seen it. And of course I'd add an effective tagline. My pint being that if this poster had a second idea in here; something more relevant to the story (what I described is just an example) then this would probably be my WINNER. As it stands though, it would be my runner up.


3RD PLACE
Ramon Bonilla - This is a seriously bold image. Were I to walk in to the foyer of a cinema to be confronted by a 1 sheet with this on it, I'd certainly investigate it further. Unfortunately, there is nothing else to be found. Once again, I am confronted by an image of an unhappy clown but little else. It's left to the title to do all of the work and a title alone can not do the work required of the poster. The typography should have been painted (or appear to be painted) on to Bonzo's face and nose to at least maximise the effect. Yet again, no tagline.

There could only be one overall winner of course so a points system of 15 points for a first choice, 10 points for a second choice and 5 points for a third choice were employed with Matthew Leyland to make the guiding decision if there should have been a tie but in the end the clear overall winner was, as we've announced Myish Endonilla, followed by Andrew Smith and Miguel Ibarra as runners up. Well done to them and we're delighted with the Judges picks and our winning poster design!

And the Poster Competition Winner Is...!

Myish Endonila's smashing poster design was popular with the public, the production team and the judges and wins through as the poster design that will be used for the "Clowning Around" film marketing.

Matthew Leyland of "Total Film" Magazine summed it up when he said, "The caption 'Will work for booze' made me laugh straight away but what I really love is how so much is packed into the picture without seeming cluttered: the rivalry, the haplessness, the alcoholism, the violence... the flying pies add a great dynamic element. I would definitely, definitely want to see this film!

1st Runner up was Andrew Smith.

Chris Patmore Editor of Film & Festivals Magazine summed this poster up as a "Simple graphical approach that capture's the eye, while explaining the film's concept."

2nd Runner up was Miguel Ibarra

Professional Creative Director and founder of OTTfilms John Condon summed up this poster as "Very nicely sketched with a simple colour palette and one 'captivating image. In graphic terms it's an engaging image too..."

The judge's full feedback, all their top three picks, and commendations for other posters created for the competition will be posted shortly, but for now, congratulations to the winners and runners up! We're thrilled with the Judges choice and look forward to seeing Myish's fantastic design recreated on our movie poster and marketing when the film is finished!

The poster competition (And my pick)

Tomorrow sees the results of our poster competition, which received over 100 entires from all corners of the globe, including Maurituis, the USA and Russia. It was a far greater response than I expected and the array of different designs and what people did with the images was fantastic and I look forward to seeing the winner!

The idea to do a poster competition came after we did the stills shoot in July. After creating some amazing images, I started thinking about the poster but found myself too close to it. In the film industry itself, posters are created by an entirely separate company (like Aitch Creative, one of our judges) so they can truly be objective and are talented in selling the ideas of the film to the public. As we couldn’t afford a marketing agency, I thought it would be quite cool to put the images out there for people to send us and rather than have us judge, people to vote on the winner.

As we found out during the competition, this did pose a problem in those that have more Facebook friends have more chance of going forward and some people felt they were mislead (although the rules were on our website J) that their design would not be there on merit. Whilst I understand this point of view (and been on the receving end of the more ‘popular’ films being put forward rather than my own in competitions) and agree to an extent, an important part of any industry and particularly this one, is the effort you put into and the faith you put into your project. Our own IndieGoGo campaign was successful not just because of the skill we exhibited, but because of the hard work we put into our campaign, as Thomas Edison once said genius is 1% inspiration and 99% perspiration J

But like I say, we also saw the point that peoples work perhaps wasn’t being ‘judged’ in the way they wanted, and whilst I feel that enough of the people voting were interested and being fair, there is always going to be people who just look at the one design and we didn’t want anyone to feel their design wasn’t appreciated or viewed. We have also been collaborative and listened throughout the process, so I decided that as well as the 5 most ‘liked’, we would have 5 of the crew, who know the story and how we want to pitch the film. I myself did not want to choose, as I felt my opinion may be taken too much into account, but when it came to it, I couldn’t help myself and had to give it a go!

John Fairley was my pick.

So our 11 designs went to our 6 industry judges, who have picked their 1st, 2nd and 3rd choice and through a points basis (15 points for 1st, 10 for 2nd and 5 for 3rd) we have our top 3 plus a load of feedback on various designs. Fingers crossed for you all!

Looking for Bonzo...

We have a little bit of a bad news in that Bill Thomas, who was to play Bonzo in our film “Clowning Around” can no longer commit to the role due to other projects and after a week of myself, Bill, Leilani and Katherine trying to find a way around it, we are going to have to recast.

This is a shame as Bill has been fantastic to work with and brought lot to the role, but these things can happen when working in low budget films when no one is being paid (and therefore contracted) so we are moving onwards and upwards in looking for a replacement. We will keep the poster competition as it is for the moment, but once we have re-cast, we will speak to the winning designer about adding the new actor, whoever that may be.

The production crew had a meeting yesterday to discuss ideas for castings as well as locations and other things relating to the shooting of “Clowning Around” and everyone has specific things to be cracking on with over the next few days so we can make a firm decision on our shooting dates next Monday, and it is great to see that despite the casting setback, everyone has very much rallied and kept up the momentum and enthusiasm for the project.

If you think of anyone suiting for the role of BONZO, please feel free to send to us as well or send a message to us on Twitter or Facebook!

Juliet's Poster Pick ~ Andrew Smith

Assistant Producer, Juliet Parker chose this design by Andrew Smith as her favourite.

Blair's Poster Pick ~ Ramón Bonilla

3rd AD Blair Powell chose the above poster by Ramón Bonilla as his favourite:

"I really like the image Ramon has used, it sums up the desperation and dejection of Bonzo's character and the close up makes it a really striking image. I think the way that the text has been formed to fit into bonzos face paint doesnt detract from the image but at the same time really pulls the focus in to the design. I think the whole design would look great when in poster size."

Graham's Poster Pick! James Davis

Selected as his favourite design, by "Clowning Around" Producer, Graham Inman.

Greer's poster pick

There was something about Jenny Law's entry that really stood out to me. It has this real movie-poster feel, while channelling the underlying serious tone of our bittersweet comedy. Also loved the fact that she took our starter images and really made them her own. If I saw this on a wall, I would stop and want to read more.

Two other entries that caught my eye were by Fiona Nash and Andrew Smith. Fiona's was clean and dramatic, with a wonderful depth of colour. A little more text - a tagline maybe - to fill the space would have pushed this into the winning zone for me. As for Andrew's poster, well I thought putting Bonzo in a bottle really captured the very essence of the film. Loved it was so clean and tapped those wonderful Hitchcock posters by Saul Bass. Again I think - considering the graphic concept - that it just needed one more element that told me a bit more about the film.

Leilani's Pick! ~ Miguel Ibarra

Miguel Ibarra ~ This poster is simple and yet has feeling. The colour use is beautifully balanced and it’s pleasing. I love the fun way that the film title is across Bonzo’s tummy giving him shape. I felt it really captured the essence of not just Bonzo’s character but the film, itself. One clown’s battle with his inner demons.

I liked lots of the posters, ones by Jurgen Koffel, Erik Deerly, Pierre Chavaz and Kira Kemble were also fantastic and deserve mention but once first I saw Miguel Ibarra's work I was caught by it and it and from all the posters I didn't have to think twice about selecting it as my favourite.

The 'Likes' of our Poster Designs. Top Five Time!

To make our poster design competition as fair and as interesting as we could we decided that as well as picking some finalists ourselves, from the production team, we'd choose some of them by 'likes' on our facebook page and hopefully this helped to get everyone's work fully looked at and appreciated by everybody as much as it was by us.

We had such a huge range of ideas and designs submitted (well over 100!) and each has it's own particular take on the 'Clowning Around' story. We deactivated our facebook page at the appointed time and counted up.. it was close.. the 'likes' came in right up to the hour and the placements changed rapidly and these were the top five most popular designs. What was truly inspirational were designers who came and 'liked' the work of their fellow entrants. And people came from all over the place to flock to the page and select their favourites. We'll be leaving all the entries up for everyone to continue to appreciate. The competition has enriched the project and we love all our posters!

These though, were the top five shortlisted for the finals! Congratulations to the designers for their popular work!

Myish Endonila ~ 110 'likes'

Diana Taki ~ 116 'likes'

Olivier Bontemps ~ 116 'likes'

Stuart Johnstone ~ 127 'likes'

Janaka Poblete ~ 162 'likes'

Sunday Screenings

Last week I spoke about our experiences during the IndieGoGo campaign. Since we hit our target on August 26th, there has been a lot of interest from other filmmakers who want to know if they too can us crowd sourcing to get budgets for their projects.

I have been working with Sunday Screenings, its founders Phil Deguara and Andy Bate, as well as filmmaker Carlo Ortu for the past 18 months, in which time they have put on nearly twenty screenings of short and feature films and made a short film of their own "The Man Who Stopped", which was screened at the Exhibit in Balham before "The Kings Speech". They screen films on the first Sunday of each month, have a great and relaxed atmosphere and networking evening and usually feature someone from the industry to discuss something different about Indie Filmmaking as part of the night. They have been keeping tabs on our campaign and when it ended, asked if I would discuss aspects of it with their regular audience.

I was somewhat apprehensive as I am not the worlds best public speaker, but like I say, the atmosphere at Sunday Screenings is always welcoming and I felt confident in speaking about our campaign. After the 3rd film I was asked up and Andy conducted a Q + A, asking how we went about the project. I can talk for hours about all the intricacies about it, but tried to keep it brief and I did sense genuine interest from a lot of the audience and a low "WOW" as we revealed how much we had raised. We showed the initial IndieGoGo pitch video to show how we tried to come across and all the things we had done to engage our funders and at the end asked anyone who wanted to talk about it, to come and see us. Please see how it went here: http://www.vimeo.com/29256058

I have presented to an audience a few times before, but this was the first time the "come and see me after" had an effect, as I spoke to a social networker who wants to make a case study from the project, four filmmakers who wanted to know "how we did it" and over a dozen cast and crew who want to work with us in the future.

The next Sunday Screenings is in October, feel free to make friends with them on Facebook and pop along and see the next preview of short films from around the globe!

Poster Design Delights! ~ Help Us Decide the Finalists!

We're in the final few days of our poster design competition for "Clowning Around" and at the time of writing this, there are sixty submitted designs on our facebook page ready to be viewed and 'liked' by the public to help us decide a shortlist to send to our judges. I've sent jpegs out to something like 285 enquirers so far so I'm expecting more completed submissions will appear in the next few days and every one brings it's own excitement as we see how people have interpreted the story and put together their designs, how they've used lettering and imagery and colour and added their own touches to the tools we gave them. There's a truly stunning variety, from all sorts of ages, countries around the entire globe, and differing levels of experience.

We've had an amazing response all round from people about the competition, the judges we have helping us, and everyone is enthusiastic and enjoying looking at the entrants posters and wondering which will win through to be the poster for 'Clowning Around' as it travels around the seven continents.

For myself, I totally love film posters. They are such a special part of filmmaking and film marketing and are often such beautiful art in their own right, that to see posters made in such abundance and variety for a film I'm helping produce is just a delight. I've really enjoyed seeing each and every one of them. And as a special perk to our production team Damien is allowing five of us, including myself, Assitant Producer Juliet Parker, 1st AD Greer, McNally, 3rd AD Blair Powell and Production Manager Katherine Evans, to choose our own favourite poster to send along to the judges as part of the shortlist. It's going to be very hard to decide and I'm not picking any favourites until after the last poster has been submitted.

YOU TOO can help us decide which posters to send to the judges by first 'liking' our Summit from Nuthin Productions facebook page and then going to the "Clowning Around" Poster Design Competition Entries gallery in our photographs section and you will see the 'like' options where you can click to 'like' your favourite designs so we can see which posters are most popular and select a further five popular and representative posters to go along to the Judges. We'd love to have your input and insights into what you think best suits our film.

Here's to a bumper amount of submissions between now and midnight on 12th. We hope that everyone's stellar work will be widely viewed and appreciated. It's certainly all very much appreciated by us. *:o)

Knuckling Down!

It feels a bit like everythings gone quiet after the fundraising drive finished, I'm sure. My twitter stream has gone back to it's mostly regular banter about filmic things in general rather than the complete clowntown stream of conciousness it had been for weeks, and similarly my facebook, Google+, Linkedin and other social networking sites have become much less clown related.

However things have been bubbling away as the team knuckles down to the process of pre-production. Everyone has their tasks to get along with and we're all working together to share our particular skills. Camera hunting has been on the agenda, as has more location hunting, scouting and negotiating, most of which has been being done by our awesome team, while I handle sending jpegs to people for the poster competition (240 people have asked for them so far and we have a growing number of submissions on our facebook page) and otherwise, I'm generally helping out with various bits of stuff needed by different departments and looking to ensure the future awareness for the project still stays a active now that the fundraising is over. None of the day to day bits and bobs makes for exactly thrilling blogging (hence things being a bit quiet) but it's all essential to actually knuckling down and making sure that the film gets made to the quality and calibre that we've promised people and so that people get to share that process with us.

Our last meeting was on the 30th August and our priority since then has been to finish off getting quotes for the camera kit and try to get the interior locations locked down. There was a film event by Sunday Screenings that Damien was doing a Q&A about Clowning Around at as well as screening another Summit from Nuthin film "The Longest Pint". I was 5o/50 if I could go to the event and in the end didn't get back to go across London on time, but I wanted to spend some time promoting it in the days before and make sure people had the opportunity to come down and speak to Damien and the other team members in a casual setting & get the behind the scenes guys down to take some footage too.

The rest of the week I was getting the various forms ready for production. Going over the perks we need to fulfil for our backers and beginning to collate information from departments so we can think about the additional crew & resources we need, locking down the ones we have decided upon and begin estimating areas of the budget so that myself and Katherine can have a sit down and I can give her enough information for her awesome budget stretching skills. Checking in with the behind the scenes team and comic book artist Phoenix Ryte on the videos that are coming up from our comics live drawing night. Getting some articles ready for online publishing. It's all quite interesting to do and not always gripping to write about. I have to say though that I'm learning a lot from our brilliant people who do this for a living and make it seem so easy. Damien most of all who is just inspiring and almost tireless as he moves forward with things.

All in all it's ticking along and I am keen now to begin ticking more things off our lists and getting things concreted as I'm sure the team are keen for that too. That job-done-moving-on feeling is a good feeling to have. Our shoot dates don't seem that far away and although we're doing well, I know from prior productions how things can change rapidly as that production date approaches and I want to be prepared. This is a fun time though. If there were a recipe for filmmaking then this would be the bit where you start unpacking and checking all the ingredients and there are nice smells in the air from preparing the stock and you have the anticipation of how the tasty things you have gathered will meld into something substantial and satisfying that you can share with everyone.

We're not having a meeting this week, we're all going to knuckle down and get chopping away at those ingredients instead. *:o)