Saturday, 30 July 2011
Meeting Backers!
We've had some huge support from people backing the project and sharing/spreading word so to just get to say hey and give a personal thanks to people, to talk about the work we're doing and tell them what we have planned and also to take an interest in their work and projects was great. So very nice to get to meet people in person within such a relaxed environment.
Films, like any other business (and in some ways like no other business) are all about people. Connecting with people, communicating with people and understanding things from a particular person or persons point of view. What our conversations today taught us was that people not only love what we're doing with the film project but people like what we're doing with the funding campaign, the perks we've offered and the work we've put in to give people something fun and informative and worthwhile for their trust in us. It's good to hear and it's good to meet some interesting and lovely people with projects and plans of their own.
The burgers and sunshine were kind of nice too! *:o)
Thursday, 28 July 2011
Canadian Courage
A: It's a film about clowns.
B: Oh, right. Gotcha. A funny one with slapstick and that.
A: Not really, no.
B: Oh...oh, I see. So it's, er, one of those scary clown movies - not funny but scary...right?
In a word: No.
It's about humans who happen to be clowns - one's got no compassion left in him, the other's a good man who can't leave the bottle alone.
My dad was of the latter variety, a firm believer in Dutch courage (despite being Canadian) and I can't wait to get to work with Damien and the rest of the cast & crew on a brave film about the real demons we all too often delude ourselves are make-believe.
Welcoming Katherine to the crew...
Katherine and I have worked on several projects together, and she always impresses me with her ability to solve any problem. I know she's going to make the Clowning Around crew stronger, as she always sees the bigger picture, loves singing along to Magic.fm and can always make everyone smile.
On our last project we needed an electric screwdriver to solve an art department problem and amid the many people in Shepherd's Bush, she managed to find an amiable man fixing a bus to help us out. She's on a feature at the moment, but will be meeting the rest of our crew at the next production meeting on Wednesday.
Wednesday, 27 July 2011
Week Two Begins and the Butterflies Never End, but Crowd Funding Rocks!
We’d prepared well to begin with a strong start, we had been spreading news of the project for a while and keeping people up to date and had already gained some interest and I wasn't entirely surprised people wanted to be part of this project. After all, I certainly do, I didn’t even wait to fully hear what Damien said to me before I agreed. The overwhelming flood of support has been something else. A really special thing and we can’t thank people enough.
What I wasn’t prepared for were the butterflies of excitement and anticipation in my stomach from the outset and the way the fluttering grew when we had a quiet spell on Indiegogo somewhere in the middle when we didn’t receive any incoming funds for about two days. My word did that time stretch into infinity. I became aware that although we’d begun ahead of targets, we could very soon slip behind if we became complacent. After all, one of the aims of all this sharing and crowd funding is to create a budget for our amazing cast and crew so that we can give them the tools they need to do their best work, so that we can keep them safe and insure them against incident, and so that we can feed them and make their working days comfortable and pleasant so that they can get on with the business of being brilliant under pressure. They're very good at that when the rest is in place. As a Producer, I take this as a serious responsibility and not raising the full funding for this project is not an option for me.
This team, this project and our leader, Damien, deserve every penny we can throw at them. We have a responsibility to our backers too to ensure the project they back is the project they get. And that along the way they get to really be a part of something, not just by giving us money but by being able to fully interact with us every stage of the way. And I want it all to be fun and marvellous for all of us. As marvellous as it's been when I backed other people's projects and gained so much out of the great experiences they gave (and keep giving) to me. I've truly learned a lot from those folks and am eternally grateful that I got to give them a few quid. It's repaid me tenfold.
I therefore have given my word to our backers that every dollar that is put into indiegogo.com/clowningaroundfilm will be one of the very best dollars our backers ever spend and that is why our perks start from just $1 so that no matter how tight money is, everyone can afford to interact and get involved with this film and why the perks go up and up so that people can take on more of a role and/or get different things out of being part of the work. I pledge to make it as brilliant as I can for you, That is a talent that's in my skillset. That’s the other reason why we’re crowd funding. Because the whole Clowning Around team just like to collaborate and we want you to get involved and be happy. Consider yourself invited!
Week two began today and has finished off incredibly with donations from more awesome people all of whom are listed on our website and invited into our online community. I think that kind of makes up for the butterflies in my tummy that are, I am now sure, likely to stick around until the funding drive reaches it’s goal. It’s totally worth every bit of giddyness in the pit of the stomach though because, if you haven’t heard me say it on Twitter, Facebook, Google+ or LinkedIn yet. You all ROCK for being here with us and sharing in this adventure! I can't wait to stand next to Damien in BAFTA as we did in the above photo from the Transference screening (where I directed & he produced) and share Clowning Around with an audience of supporters & backers! You can bet I'll be smiling like a clown! *:o)
Tuesday, 26 July 2011
Carlo Ortu: 'Clowning Around' and Damien Cullen
Monday, 25 July 2011
The support of strangers...an online community
I thought I would share my thoughts after our first week of funding via our IndieGoGo campaign. I think it is important to say first off that I have never really understood the concept of an ‘online community’.
Sure, I am on Facebook, but only really talk to friends who I know and meet up with and let people who know me what’s going on in my everyday life so people know I still exist and never use it for professional purposes really and rarely make friends with people I haven’t met. However, even just this small time we have been campaigning for “Clowning Around” I am starting to see what Leilani was referring to when she spoke of the strength and support of it.
When we first discussed promoting “Clowning Around” via IndieGoGo I knew this would be a big challenge as it is dependent on getting yourself and your project out there for all sundry to see and networking has never been my forte, in fact at most networking events I usually shrink into the corner and wait for people to come and talk to me (hardly the best tactic...).
But as I am so keen to make this film in the right way and the idea of collaborating with more likeminded people really appealed to me, thought this was the best thing to do and over the past 2 months have been making video and writing blogs for people to see as much as they can about the ongoing process of making a low budget short. I am learning as I go and (I hope) as you see more videos they will be a lot more polished and engaging.
I have been watching the campaign like a hawk since it started on the 19th July, doing my best to thank our backers, post about our campaign, add video as well as see what works and doesn’t. On our first day we got a great start of $346 and the following day another $300, with the last two days of the week heralding $200 and $646 respectively to take us into the weekend on a fantastic total of $1292. As I go back to full-time work (I am started a new job at FA TV for Endemol Sport yesterday and had some time off before) my time will not be as free, but I am determined whenever I can to continue to engage and interact with people to keep the campaign running to this high standard.
I have been genuinely overhelmed not just with the support of our backers, but also people on Twitter who have been talking about the project and encouraging others to support, which has resulted in filmmakers Chris Jones, Joe James Barrett, Daniel Florencio, Stephen Hanks, Greg Wakeman, Andy Carslaw, Graham Inman, Jason Fairley, Alan Campbell, Meddy Ford,, Ben Jacobsen, , Peter Spencer, Susan Williamson, Elsa O’Toole, screenwriters Jared Kelly, Alistair Canlin and Guy McDouall, actors Robin Forbes and Andrew Elias contributing to our campaign. I feel the need to say particular thanks to @CharmedLifeFilm @robertshutter @ThreeTuxedos @JellyMash Films @RumbleGum @remiepurtil and @pitchandroll who have been retweeting and promoting the campaign all week as well.
The three most significant contributions were from Spencer Hickson, a musician from Manchester and friend of actor Matthew Jure, Sharon Guest, who is the Head of Production at North One Television and contributed everyone’s leaving present as I departed there this week and filmmaker Mike Baxter who had been following the project since our script redrafts on www.ottfilmsco.uk. Both Spencer and Sharon are now Associate Producers on the project, with Mike as producer and getting the email showing me their contributions gave me such a lift about how much we can get and reward the hard work everyone involved is putting into it.
As I embark further on my career as a filmmaker, one thing that occurs to me is how consistently surprised I am by the support you get from strangers. You kind of expect the instant support of your friends and family. I know you shouldn’t and should try hard to convince them to part with their cash as you should do any other, but you do. But this unexpected support from the community around the world left me truly overwhelmed.
Sometimes its the tiniest things that make my day and make it all worth while and forgetting the amount of money backers have put in and emotional ties I have to people have supported us, my highlight of the week came from a complete stranger in 18 year old Filmmaker Joe James Barrett (@joejamesbarrett) who runs the Screen Stockport festival who after I replied to thank him for his initial Tweet in publiciizing the film, responded “Don’t you worry, I will make sure we get this film made”.
Thankyou mate, you really made my day.
The thoughts of Katerina, our costume designer
As the costume designer on Clowning Around, I am really looking forward to starting working on the film
I can't wait to see the characters, on set, alive in their costumes in motion
I'm about to go on my summer holidays, but I am really impressed by the progress of the whole project, made possible by the hard work and effort that all the members of the team have put in so far.
Taking with me the photos of the two clowns in their costumes, my research, mood boards and thoughts, lying under the sun next to the beach, I close my eyes and dream..
Yellow and orange
Dark and blue
Treads and thrills
Polka dolts & stripes in a fight
A touch of whipped cream
A dress in a shape of a cake
An apron wrapped around
Small and big flowers in a dance
A yard full of children as a background
A pile of rubbish as a clown's hat
Tattoos and smells
A strong smell of alcohol indeeed!
But above all
One question
Who wins
In that world of c est la vie
to be continued...
Friday, 22 July 2011
Indiegogo Go!
Wednesday, 20 July 2011
Blair ~ 3rd AD
Tuesday, 19 July 2011
Bonzo the clown confronts Murdoch on first day of Indiegogo campaign...
textures and experiments
I used the opportunity of being on a studio with the actors fully dressed on costume to explore different textures, color schemes and styles for looks for the short film.
Monday, 18 July 2011
grown men in comedy outfits...
1 day to launch...
Friday, 15 July 2011
Cracking On!
The above video is from our production meeting with Heads of Department prior to the photo shoot where Damien and I talk about the project and our preparations over these past week to create some wonderful imagery to show the film to it's best advantage. I'm not sure we could ever really give an accurate insight into the thought and creativity that Damien and the HoD's put into getting the ideas, designs and physical stuff together for the shoot but it was a good deal of work, more than I've done for some film shoots, so it's certainly been worth all the meetings and discussions and also shows, I think, the dedication of our team members and their belief and love for the project that they are giving so much time and talent into making everything as high calibre as it can possibly be.
And below are the results after the photo shoot put into a rough poster style comp though more exciting news about posters will be coming soon. We were all so proud of what we achieved together on no budget and how well people worked together and, well, the clowns have come to life before our eyes in a very inspiring way. We hope that our backers will be inspired by them and support us in getting the film funded and made. We launch next week. Lots to do before then!
We had a meeting and a wonderful dinner with our costume designer Katerina last night which was a fabulous (and delicious!) way to round off the photo shoot work but while our Heads of Department crack on with their shoot ideas to discuss with Damien (other than the blogs they've promised to write for you all!) Damien and I have been hugely busy getting everything ready for the launch of our Indiegogo fundraising campaign and our website and backer's forum next week. It's all go, I'm writing in code more than I'm writing blogs at the moment but we really want to give our backers something special for their support and friendship. I'm really enjoying all the stuff I've been doing, not something I often say about Producing, but it's been a wonderful challenge so far and I've loved every minute. Here's to the next set of challenges and creating something surpassingly ace out of it! More anon!
Thursday, 14 July 2011
Comic Books!
Tuesday, 12 July 2011
Clowning Around
Monday, 11 July 2011
Madman On The Radio While Clowning Around Gathers Pace
Fringe Review gave the show 4 stars out of 5, calling it:
' … hilarious … Matthew Jure is captivating as the doomed Poprishchin … more charming than the Belvoir Street production with Geoffrey Rush … humour beautifully balanced with horror … '
My Madman is to be recorded next month and will be on-air soon afterwards. Tune in while Clowning Around gathers pace!
--- --- ---
Stills from the Pleasance:
http://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.10150256109786528.374073.600781527&l=1482ac3a51
www.matthewjure.net
Much More Than Just A Laugh
When Damien (Cullen, Clowning Around's writer & director) asked me to play mean Mr Fernelli a while back I thought, "A film about clowns? Yeah, why not? Sounds like a laugh". When we talked about the film in more depth, however, and then met with Katerina (costume) and discussed symbolism, themes and motifs - as well as a fully fleshed-out dramatic backstory and planned comic-book offshoots - I was truly most impressed with the vision and scope of this project. And, to return to last week's shoot for a moment, the professionalism of the cast and crew when we all met up at Tower Bridge Studios gave me a huge amount of confidence that Clowning Around will not only get made very soon but that it will also be a very high-quality piece of cinema.
Funnymen, but with secrets...tricks, but not just for kids...jokes, but with life's cruel humour...the first steps of this film's journey have left me feeling intrigued, unsettled and - most of all - exhilarated in the knowledge that Clowning Around is destined to be something much more than just a laugh.
Can. Not. Wait!
The stills shoot...a few days later
I really wanted to post something straight after the stills shoot last Thursday, but felt I needed a couple of days to let it all sink it and digest not only the experience, but also what we learned and the next steps that need to be taken with the film.
First of all, what we did was an immense achievement. The quality of the images we created is fantastic and has a great amount of variety so we can create different artwork throughout the campaign. As well as photos that will form the basis of a variety of posters, we created stuff for the website and video teasers we will feed out during the campaign and a shed load of behind the scenes material which is now being edited by our ‘making of’ producer/cameraman/editor Luqman Ahmed, who has come on board through the help of fellow filmmaker Carlo Ortu.
I have already produced a very rough mockup of the photos (http://momentsoffilm.zenfolio.com/clowningaround) and had fantastic feedback from people who are now excited to see the finished film. I have also met with colourist Orash Rehnema who is going to grade the photos so we can use on the website, so we get the most of the colours and set the right tone for the campaign.
Everyone worked so hard on the shoot, which filled me with great confidence going into the next stage and would feel unfair naming names as everyone played their part in making the final product highly professional , visual and something that will enthuse people about the film, which is the most important thing.
Also important (and another reason we did the shoot) was to see how the process is working and what we take with us into the film and what we leave behind, so will be chatting to all the various departments soon not only to discuss what elements worked and what we feel will need to be different once we get into the nitty, gritty of making the film (as we won’t be working with a black backdrop, but on location so will need to see whether the same things fit together) but also how they feel it is all working as I want everyone to know their input is valid and we are constantly reviewing how the project is progressing so we can all work to our optimum.
This week will be mostly about getting the making of stuff together for everyone to see online, finalising our website and building towards the launch of the IndieGoGo campaign on the 19th July, when we will be making as much noise as possible about “Clowning Around”!
Saturday, 9 July 2011
Bonzo Begins..
There’s nothing that’s more satisfying to a producer than seeing a smiling director and a happy cast & crew. These are the people who’s job it is to breathe life and energy and feeling into a film and if I can make them happy, I’ve done my job well.
Thanks were in order for all the cast & crew who took part in the stills shoot on Thursday. We had lots to get through in a short space of time and consequently put everyone under pressure to achieve. And they over-achieved. The imagery we have is simply stunning and I’ve only seen a small un-edited part of all the stills we got, and it’s simply a credit to the incredible professionals we have aboard this production, who’ve all gotten aboard because they love the script and want to see it fully realised.
There’s video too. Lots of it, both behind the scenes and with the characters, and I’m looking forward to seeing that and to sharing with our backers.
When I look back on what we’ve achieved together I’m feeling confident that the film we can create for the some £4K we’re attempting to raise, will end up looking more like it’s had £40K spent on it. I know that the work is just beginning to make that thought a reality. I also know that with our amazing team pulling together we can do it.
I hope that as I work with Damien and the rest of the departments to create the plans for the shoot I can make life easy enough for everyone for the things we achieve together to be a very enjoyable process. We’re cracking on with the plans for the funding campaign and beginning to think about the shoot & pre-production. Bonzo and our other characters have just begun. Plenty more smiles are top of my list.
Friday, 8 July 2011
Post shoot...
Thursday, 7 July 2011
Time for your close up...
Wednesday, 6 July 2011
Final Production Meeting Before Stills Shoot!
So this evening marked our final production meeting before our stills shoot on Thursday where all the efforts of recent weeks will come to fruition in the imagery we capture of our characters, which will give a feel for the film project we intend to create and the calibre of work we want to share with you.
Personally, I feel this imagery and the things we've done to make the best possible presentation of the work, is really key to our forthcoming fundraising campaign. We want our backers to know that they are backing a solid project being made by people who really care about the story and are fastidious in their work creating it. Because for this collaborative project, it's important that we don't just take people's cash and send a few meagre updates, but that we really connect with our backers and give each person good enough to support us and our work, an insight into the full creative process of the project they've helped happen, the good and the bad, the challenges and the joys.
So we've gone over the schedule with Greer, our 1st. Reviewed the shots/video with Azul our DP/Photographer. Talked props and backdrops with production designer, Bianca so we know who's bringing what and what we still need to get, and covered all the remaining aspects of hair, makeup and costume for our clowns and other characters, the video for indiegogo that we'll be filming on the day also, and perhaps most important, we had the opportunity to ensure everyone is happy.
We have now got Luqman Ahmed aboard the project to do some behind the scenes video and interviews as we progress. He came along for the first time this evening and I'm sure some video will appaear shortly, including an interview with me about where we're at and what we're doing. More anon!
Monday, 4 July 2011
Wigging Out
Now, there's clown wigs everywhere on the internet if you want a cheap party afro clown wig that doesn't fit very well, but if you want something with a specific kind of look then it's not so easy to get one, certainly not at a reasonable price. Proper clown wigs are made from Yak hair and can run into hundreds of pounds, which we don't want to be spending on one wig. The brief for Mr. Fernelli was to have a more angular look than Bonzo, to work with his make-up design, and preferably in red to give him a very vibrant flashy look when compared to Bonzo's old school clown look. Having scoured the planet for the best quality red wigs available in our price range I managed to find my way into the strange and wonderful world of cosplay and have sourced two straight haired red wigs that something interesting can be done with to form Mr. Fernelli's clown hair. The second arrived this morning, they're both good quality and I hope will fit well and work suitably for the task.
There's been a few other things to sort out, another make-up artist to be on set for the shoot, and a last few props that I'm picking up after the meeting tomorrow, I've confirmed everything with the wonderful people at the photo studio, and we're pretty much all set for Thursday's shoot. I'm very much looking forward to seeing our characters fully dressed and made up and hoping that the resulting photos will give everyone a good idea about the kind of project we want to create with the film and the people involved.
Can't wait to show the world and get the fundraising campaign going so we can start rocking on with producing the film proper!
Sunday, 3 July 2011
Photoshoot countdown
This is my first post so thought I'd better pull my finger out and get typing. I'm Damien's first AD, Greer, and am currently speeding through the northern countryside back to London, as we gear up for the promotional photoshoot this week.
Friday, 1 July 2011
Final Costume Fitting – 30.06.2011
I write this sat on last tube Southbound on the Northern Line from Old Street to Morden after our final costume fitting.
After fitting the costumes for Bonzo, Mr. Fernelli and Jerry the Barman, the final piece of the puzzle was Mrs. Jenkins (aka actress Kiki Kendrick).
Throughout the process of trying to find funding the film, Kiki has sent constant encouragement to keep going and I have found myself receiving an email every other month for the past 2 years since she was cast asking how it has been going. However yesterday was the first time I had seen her face to face since that audition back in August 2009!
Kiki has also played a big part in how Mrs. Jenkins has been shaped as a character. Originally a bit of a one dimensional suburban housewife, the ideas Kiki brought to the audition got me thinking more of whilst still polite, saucy Stepford wives wannabe who is out to impress but can’t quite get it right, so Katerina had got three outfits which she felt showed this, one shoulder-less number which was red with flowers, a more soft pink dress with patterns and a final tight fitting red dress. Before the fitting I was more keen on a vibrant colour to really show the temptress beneath the polite facade, but seeing the dresses on Kiki it was evident that the lighter pink this fitted the character more, as Kiki instantly felt more at home in it. See the video below for her thoughts http://www.vimeo.com/25844936
But there are a number of things to contend with when selecting these outfits. I tend to focus on how they fit the individual character, what elements show me more about them and how individual colours or elements add to this. But when creating a film as visual as this, we need to remember the overall colour palette and how all the costumes complement each other for the overall story and nothing stands out that it shouldn’t be there. Another thing to think about is that these costumes are for the stills shoot, not the film. This is for still images that will sell the idea of the film and as such all costumes need to complement each other when shown together.
This last bit was the final hurdle. The chararacters will appear in a number of ways, 1. As individual postcards 2. Bonzo and Fernelli together and 3. As an ensemble cast. Both me and Katerina are happy with their individual appearance and colour, and also happy with how Fernelli and Bonzo come across with their differences of styles and looks. But it is this last option that is bugging us. When we crudely put all four next to each other in a mockup of the poster, it looked a bit muddled. We had to take into account the lack of makeup, lights and the roughness of the costume but we played around with the different outfits we had tried on everyone and ended up changing a few elements, things which may not show the characters as strongly when they appear with the background of the film but in a dark studio, where the colours complement each other. We changed the barman’s shirt to a more vibrant pattern, changed Fernellis bow to not be patterned and made Bonzo’s ruff not as much a vibrant yellow.
They are small details but made a big impact in where the eye of the viewer would be. Although a bit crude and rough, the poster we made to the left shows how they could look in a line-up and have sent this to the DOP and Production Designer to get their thoughts too.
As I have said before, seeing things this way is not something I feel instinctively so am going on Katerina's thoughts for a lot of it, but what I am trying to get across is each characters personality and reflect the conflict, emotions and tone in the film so we are trying hard to marry these two ideas together. There is a lot we can do with the other elements and also in post producton but we want to create a base that will be solid so we don’t have to add too much.
I am learning a lot about an element of film production (or marketing really) that I had never really thought about in this much depth and usually have a complete separate group of people with an objective idea away from the film to do, but am enjoying having to examine all ideas and how they come across and think in different ways about the characters and the colours.