Online Premiere

So, we had our online premiere last Sunday and sent the digital download out to backers today. It's that point where it feels like the film is truly finished, and you've shown it to the important people. Of course we hope that it will do well in some festivals next year and that many more people will get to see it but that's the aftercare program once the hard work of taking something from script to screen has been accomplished. It has been a long road, and there have been delays, but all the way we've tried very hard not to compromise on what we set out to do. I have to say that despite a huge amount of collaboration, having one person in the form of Damien directing this project and keeping us all on the same page about what we wanted from teh beginning has been a very unifying way to work. We've had some really lovely feedback so far and everything we've heard has been precious because it all helps us become better at what we do.

Right now, and with the film download gone out, we've delivered most of the digital perks and are working on the physical perks. The comics in particular are taking a bit of time as they are coming from overseas and may not arrive until after the coming holidays but we're looking forward to doing some signing and packaging and posting as soon as we can, but again we don't want to compromise on what we send out to folks and we would like you to love what you receive so we're taking care to get that right.

All in all it's been am incredible process and there's a lot ahead as we aim to get the film screened on every continent. I have some very happy memories from the entire process and I've made some lovely friends along the way. I bump into backers of our project at a lot of events and I keep in touch with many online. The above still from the film is one of my favourites, it's actually not David Schaal in the clip as he had quite bad flu that day and we'd pretty much dunked him in an icy river to boot, so while he went home to recover after his stellar dedication to his craft, Damien put on Bonzo's costume for that tiny part of the film and it works beautifully on screen and is a kind of lovely cameo to know our director is there in the film, even though we can't see or tell it's him. And of course I'm in it too as is Katherine our production manager and a number of other crew, some backers and our awesome cast of course. It feels like a very family film and as the end of 2012 approaches and 2013 begins we hope we'll expand the audience for the film and get it the attention it deserves.

More soon, as further things develop but for now it's enough to say we've reached yet another milestone with the premieres over and look forward to the next, getting the film into it's first festival!

<*:O)

BAFTA Premiere!

Damien at the "Clowning Around" Premiere at BAFTA from summit from nuthin productions on Vimeo.

So, we finally got to premiere 'Clowning Around' at BAFTA, for industry, backers, cast & crew. It's been a long journey to get to this point and a lot of work has been put in by a lot of people, not least of which by Damien who finally got to show people the film on the big screen.

It should, I suppose have felt like a milestone to get to this point, but the film has a long journey yet to go and I certainly hope we'll have plenty more opportunity for the film to be seen around the world, so if anything this feels like the first leg of another journey. It went down very well on the night, and the feedback was genuinely very positive and uplifting. Aside from the film everyone had a great night at BAFTA too where we gathered after the screening in the David Lean room for drinks and a chance to chat with everyone. We took a few moments to record a video message from Damien above (appologies for my poor camera technique) to thank you all for your support. And our support is indeed heartfelt to everyone who contributed to what we saw on screen.

As Damien said, it was great to finally meet some of our backers face to face and celebrate with them, the evening went by in a blur and I truly wish I had the ability to slow time and have chatted to everyone more fully, but it was a very cool event and a warm feeling to be in a room full of people there to see and enjoy and talk about film.

For those who couldn't be there, our online premiere will come shortly.

BAFTA and the importance of momentum

We have finally confirmed the first screening of "Clowning Around", which will be on Thursday 4th October at London's prestigous BAFTA venue on Piccadilly. Invites have been sent to all cast, crew, IndieGoGo backers and everyone else who has helped us put the film together.

It felt great to get this in the diary as the past few months have been a bit slow for the film, mainly due to the upheaval of working abroad, moving house and going on my honeymoon. The plan was originally to show you all the film in May but due to various technical difficulties we couldn't, so have been waiting for another opportunity to get the time to put a screening together, as well as get all the perks ready.

Having had a little time to reflect this week, one of the key things that becomes more and more apparent to me as a film-maker is how important momentum is in getting things done and how without it, even the smallest task can feel mammoth and fall down peoples priority lists. If you can keep the momentum going and people around you working on it, putting pressure on you to get the film out there as much as you are to get things done, then it is much easier and more enjoyable to move to the next stage.

I sat down last night in my umpteenth attempt to get a DVD duplication quote/application for a film festival and again found myself lost in lists and tiredness. I then did what I always do when I feel the project is not moving as quick as it should and looked at the website that has been created and the various things that have been written about the campaign and visuals we created as this always reminds me of the journey so far and how much time and effort has gone into the film. On the back of this, in 10 minutes flat I had applied to 5 festivals and setup a plan for this week to move us forward.

I am keen to build momentum back up for a project that has had so much into it, so with a screening set and 15 festivals applied to, we can get ourselves back on track as we send the film out to the world!

Looking back on the project as a whole so far also makes me even more excited to see all those who can make it to BAFTA on the 4th and share the experience of the project we have put together.

Promo Trailer for Clowning Around!

Clowning Around Promo Trailer.. from summit from nuthin productions on Vimeo.

Our newest promo trailer is now live! Edited again by Lourenço Barsi-Gomes from Granada Filmes, who you will remember did the first promo trailers from our photo shoot, this shows more of the film itself and the plight of our hapless hero Bonzo and his battle with the demon drink and his rival Mr. Fernelli. More news coming soon in September once the clown car gets loaded up again but for now enjoy!

Perkalicious Progress!

Firstly, appologies for the long gap in writing updates. There's that thing that happens after the shooting ends where there are just a director and a producer working through post-production, marketing materials and general juggling of tasks so things can slow down somewhat.

Damien has been working hard to finish the film ready for our BAFTA premiere in what we hope will be September. Olympic fever has taken over London and BAFTA was booked out for the duration by some kind of Olympic company so our plans to have it in July were thwarted. It's given us more time to organise things though and perks are in the making!

Digital perks have gone out via dropbox, those of you owed them should have been sent an invitation but I'll also be emailing the files shortly. In the mix we have the wonderful Clowning Around comic books, behind the scenes stills and film stills, digital poster download, script versions and notes, storyboards, and other summit from nothin films of note for you to download and keep. It's all good stuff and we hope you're enjoying it. There's a PDF book in the making about the whole process and Damien is working away on that, but it will I think be a lovely keepsake and a useful one, and we'll hopefully be adding some more goodies like behind the scenes videos and the poster competition entries in due course plus a couple of extra bits and bobs for you.

The only perk that hasn't really worked is the community forum that we set up, there wasn't really much interest in it and not many people were logging on so with our time to maintain site updates a little stretched right now we're going to admit defeat on that one and keep everyone up to date via Indiegogo, the website, blog and facebook page. It was a nice idea, but like many utopian dreams didn't work so well in practice. Ahh well, Onwards and Upwards as our baker Chris Jones would say!

A film trailer is in the making and after a few tweaks by Damien and our promo maker Lourenco we'll have that to share! The film is looking really great so we're excited to show you the trailer so you can see for yourself that the production money we raised all went onto the screen. We owe so much to our amazing cast and crew and of course the backers who made this all possible. This is your project and we hope you will love it.

The film itself has gone off to some festivals and will be headed to more very shortly! Those of you with the festival choice perk should expect an email from Damien shortly.

Physical perks are arriving gradually as we get them sorted out. Damien has arranged all the mastering (in between travelling to Poland and Brazil with his day job! I don't know how he does it!) and the poster prints (pictured above) have arrived and are currently awaiting signing by cast and crew for our backers. Postcards are currently being designed and we're a bit like Santa and his chief elf right now with lists of stuff that needs sorting out! We'll be posting things all together hopefully so bear with us while we get it all sorted out.

In the meantime, we'll be using August for catching up and some much needed holiday time off to clown around in the summer sunshine! We hope you'll enjoy your summer too and look forward to telling you more very soon.

Keep smiling! *:O)

Producing 'Clowning Around'

This morning I headed down to Ealing Studios to record a podcast with Clowning Around backer and supporter Chris Jones about producing the film.

You can see the full post on the following link and listen to the podcast. Producing 'Clowning Around'

 Or you can just click and listen to or save the podcast: MP3 file here

Here we IndieGoGo again!

So, we have started another IndieGoGo campaign to give us the vital extra funds we need to get "Clowning Around" off to the best festivals we can, starting with those at Sundance and Venice.

This time round it feels more challenging as before we could show the variety of personalities involved and had some very visual tests going on, whereas currently a lof of the 'action' is happening at a keyboard with our sound designer, composer and colourist tweaking the film so we don't have the same amount of "behind the scenes" to put up and showcase what is happening, plus as those who have edited before know, it can be quite a laborious process!

However, we have been doing our best to keep everyone up to date and share the visual imagery and the edits as they evolve, so everyone can still feel part of the process and see the creative decisions we are taking as each edit progresses.

Whilst compiling what we needed for this campaign, it was interesting to turn back the clock and see how much  we have achieved and documented, right back from the initial ideas of this film and why it has been so unique. From the comic books to the videos to the poster campaign, it has allowed us to engage with a lot of people and I hope this continues until the 18th, when we will hopefully be able to complete the film for an evening at BAFTA at the end of the month!