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!

Andre Rusu ~ Online and Colour Commitment

Our colour grade for Clowning Around is being worked on by Swedish born, BAFTA award winning Andre Rusu a quite gifted Colour Grader and Online Editor. We're very happy to have him aboard the project to give the film the finishing touches it needs to truly shine and we're so impressed by his work ethic and commitment to our film as well as the incredible standard of his artistry.

Andre, has given us a little insight into his work and the art of color grading and his personal commitment to the work he does. We've learned firsthand how he gives a great deal more to his projects than you might expect. Here's how.

Passion for science, technology and art came as a symbioses with my education BA/MA Fine Arts and Digital Post Production at the National Film and Television school to develop an emerging Mastery of the DI colourgrading process and post production pipelines with years of experience operating advanced DI systems such as Nucoda, Baselight, Scratch, Quantel iQ, AVID DS Nitris. 


When I work, the technical craft is very important to entice and receive confidence in the room in a freelance space, but nonetheless that is only half of the battle won, the sensation and artistic sensitivity is what drives the scenes forward. Having a prolific collaboration in a grade is essential, this can be attained by working with creative and flexible film makers which always mirrors your approach and passion, this collaboration needs to be at the forefront of this relationship. 


Starting Colourgrade of Andre Rusu has been about following my passion. With my studio, I have tried to create from scratch everything that any DI Colourgrader and Online editor needs. It has been a great privilege and experience to build such a system that works on par with the best and most expensive hardware and software solutions to date with the help of my contacts in the industry and hard devotions. 


Dealing with high end colour grading, I use a flexible Digital Intermediate (DI) workflow for broadcast and theatrical releases which helps me hit the ground running on any production. Running a grading suite is like running a Michelin star restaurant, the technique expertise and perfect "catering" is of course the trade and the standard expected from your client. Unlike the culinary arts, you are not just offering a set course, every project needs to be understood in order to enhance the films visual language, it is not merely about stylistic decisions but about being able to enhance narrative, mood and tone of each production with a sense of subjectivity to maintain your visual signature but being able to stand back and view the work from an objective point of view, the audience are the ones that matter the most.


Andre Rusu

You can check out some of Andre's wonderful work at Colourgrade.com and we can tell you that his early ideas and work on Clowning Around are looking fantastic too!

The devil is in the detail...

This weekend I have spent one day each with the colourist and with the sound design team. After my slight panic at seeing how close our deadline was, I am now thoroughly enjoying working with the two departments and realise we have plenty of time to not only complete the film, but also to look at the film creatively and try a few things so we know the film is absolutely right, something which is not always the case.

Picture wise, Andre has been working his way very thoroughly through the film. After a first technical pass of the film to balance out all the colours, we then went to try and establish looks for each scene (examples of this are on our Facebook page). From there, we took the DOP Azul Serra’s input as to his intentions when shooting and then left Andre to firm up some options so we could make a definitive decision. On Saturday I met Andre and we spent time on the pub interior and fight scene as these are particularly atmospheric. 

On Sunday, myself and composer Alexis Bennett headed to Brighton to meet designers Joss and Anna so we could all talk through the sound together.

We are getting close to the end and now discussing the film in a level of detail that I have not experienced with a short before. Andre has broken down each element of every shot so we can for example isolate and tweak the type of red of Bonzo’s nose to make it more or less vibrant or make Fernelli’s eyes sparkle more and Anna is designing sounds such as the squeak Bonzo’s feet make dependant on his mood and rhythm. Giving ourselves the time and getting people on the project who are not only skilled, but show great enthusiasm and passion for it is what I think will make this film stand out and these tiny little details lead the audience to both enjoy the story and wish Bonzo success against the many challenges he faces.

This week we will have a 80% pass on both picture and video so will be the first time we have all the different elements working together and then gives us a final 10 days to add the final thoughts before we lock the film and organize the premiere.

ADR session and some thoughts from Bonzo

A couple of days ago we did the ADR (Automated or Additional Dialogue Recording) for “Clowning Around” with our actors, as well as sound designer Anna Bertmark. The process of doing ADR is quite a complicated one in which the actor has to recreate the line in exactly the same way, with the same intonation, pitch and dramatic effect of the original shot and is unfortunately one of those things that you only notice when it’s done wrong! Having done it myself as an actor a few times (and been rubbish at it) I can assure you it is not as easy as it looks, and with studio time at a premium, you usually need to get through it as quickly as you can...

Luckily, our sound designer Anna has a great contact so we found somewhere that was both flexible and central (so it could be easily scheduled with the actors) and we had a session booked for three hours to cover everything. After an initial technical hitch, we started with Kiki Kendrick (who plays Mrs. Jenkins in the film) as there was a lot of traffic underneath her dialogue. After that was David Schaal (Bonzo) and Matthew Jure (Mr. Fernelli) before ending with Meddy Ford (Krystelle the Shop Asst) with Alex Waker (Jerry the Barman) to be recorded another day.

We got a variety of takes for the lines and we also ran the whole film with David Schaal (Bonzo) adding various sounds we can use.  Although Bonzo doesn’t have any lines, we have tried to express his character through sound, from his different breaths to different squeaks his shoes make and is it this depth and subtlety which will make the film stand out and our audience have more empathy with the protagonist.

It was also the first time any of the actors have seen the film cut together, and whilst it is still rough around the edges, I asked what they thought of both the film and how important being good at ADR is for an actor, to which David wrote down some thoughts below:

"Seeing the film for the first time confirmed what I already felt about it being a bright and colourful film shot in a heightened, comedic way. I liked what I saw of everybody's performance and think that we all found an acting style that I would describe as heightened naturalism. Since alot of films are created in the editing room I think ADR is an essential part of any actor's toolkit. In my experience, like anything else, the more practise you get at post synching diologue and other sound effects, the easier it gets. Most seasoned actors know their way around ADR. In any case I think that once the post is finished on Clowning Around, it will be a funny and touching story that will be pleasing on the eye. I'm very much looking forward to seeing it."

Thoughts from the editor

As with most departments in "Clowning Around", we have tried to get the thoughts conveyed of all the people who are giving their time and talent to the film. Our offline editor Ian Davies has been very busy since cutting the film, but has kindly given us some insight into the process and why he signed up to the "project...

Before the edit

This is my first short fiction in 6 years.  There is a reason you don't work on shorts and that is that everything that can go wrong in film making has a higher chance of happening in a short film:  First time directors, first time writer/directors, under developed script, over written script, no budget, no actors, insufficient shooting schedule... the biggest question for me though is can the short find an audience?  It's a tricky format to get right because the 10 minute film has difficulty attracting viewers unless it precedes the latest Pixar film or is a major award winner.  The internet is awash with short films so it is a platform I am fundamentally suspicious of.  However "Clowning Around" had three things that interested me: 

1. It's a comedy. It may be a dark comedy but it's also - at heart -  very silly.  We know from a long history of 2 reelers, commercials and sketch shows that comedy can work at any length.

2. Damien the director and producer is also an editor but he chose not to edit because he wanted to retain objectivity.  That is key to what an editor is there for.  Damien was also happy for me to work alone for the first week and a half and assemble the script with my own ideas after what was a typically crazy shoot.

3. Damien showed me a few key shots from the film and I thought they had great promise.

The Edit

For 9 days after Christmas I assembled "Clowning Around".  Fortunately Damien had set up the Avid project like a true assistant so I didn't have any syncing to do.

The film came together very quickly.  I always tried to cut the short as per the shooting script - even if I didn't agree - because it's only right that the director (and writer) should see what they had intended.  Obviously I came upon a few problems such as continuity, missing shots and children looking at the camera.  These I changed and adapted but still tried to retain the original story.  I also began to add guide music for timing and atmosphere.  This is often a very messy process because you can rarely just "lift" one piece of music from a film to fit perfectly in another.  In the final action scene I used 3 pieces including one from the film "Drive" and also a Morricone piece from "Days of Heaven."   It's a real bodge job but it proved the sequence would work with the shots captured.

Throughout this process I sent Damien the assembled film and he gave me notes.  Generally they would skew towards his original intentions as the writer and would be the ones I had decided couldn't work with the actual footage in the can, but I looked again and we discussed.  Damien was very honest and could see if they didn't work and immediately dropped some, but there were moments when I had mis-read the script or the rushes and on a second attempt they worked.  Between us the first assembly was a very good working assembly.  You could say it had all the right shots in roughly the right order.

What was clear at this point was that we were missing a few key shots.  Fortunately Damien had planned to film pick-ups.  These were generally close shots without any need of actors so we compiled a list and tried to think of what he could practically achieve without a crew.

Finally once Damien had the pick ups we sat in the edit suite for the first time together and cut them in.  Damien also went through a few final thoughts but it took us less than a day to work through the edit and make the first "fine cut".  The pacing felt right and we could see that a proper mix and composed music could only enhance the film.  It was a little long at over 15 minutes but at this stage if you have the time in the schedule its nice to step away from the film if you can.  I left at this point and Damien trimmed "Clowning Around" down to 15 minutes.  I'm sure its better for it.

Busy times ahead

Since the shoot has finished, the post production side up to this point has been, well...quite laid back. I have taken my time to choose an editor, make sure everything is backed up correctly and workflows checked and adhered to, met with the composer, colourists, onliners and various sound designers and even fitted in a minor re-shoot.

However now that our May deadline looms larger, things have started to pick up a bit as all those things I had been working on and were ‘in progress’ now have to be sorted in the next few weeks. This includes getting a voiceover artist for our Clowns UK representative, an ADR session for all the actors, the mastering of the film and the premiere and 101 things in between. Looking at the next four weeks I can’t see a single day when I won’t be dealing with one aspect of the film or another...and this doesn’t count the day job, which is in its busiest time of the year with The FA Cup and Euro 2012.

I don’t say any of this to get any sympathy, more as a reminder of how much persistence, doggedness and enthusiasm are the most key aspects to film-making , at least in my opinion. There are times when you just want to go home and go to bed, especially after a stressful 14 hour day and a wonderful (and very patient) wife waiting for your return, but to continue striving forwards and pursuing things that may be slightly beyond our reach is what make it all worthwhile in the end.

As I type this I am sat with colourist Andre Rusu (although I forgot my camera so you will have to do with the crap Blackbery picture) having already met with composer Alexis yesterday. We are now at the stage of fine-tuning and making sure the final touches give it that cinematic feel we have been working for all along. Me and Andre will be working till late tonight and again tomorrow and after that will be an ADR session with Attic Sound and all the actors on Monday, followed by more grading most evenings and a sound meeting next weekend before we move into getting everything locked in the first few weeks of May.

This all brings up another thought...what will I do when this film is done? It has been in my brain for nearly four years and has been a journey that I really haven’t thought about the end of and yet we will be premiering (fingers crossed) this time next month. Can’t think about that too much at the moment as best to concentrate on things one bit at a time, rather than seeing the end before we have accomplished it but it is genuinely the first time I have thought about having the film completed!  

A big week for announcements!

This week, we have been able to make two exciting announcements....the first is that we will be running another IndieGoGo campaign to complete the film and secondly we have now moved onto the next stage of the post production process, which is colour grading and online, working with BAFTA award-winning colourist Andre Rusu.

The reasons for the second IndieGoGo campaign is to raise enough funds to prepare the film for festivals at by creating all the correct masters, posters and DVDs so the film looks as professional and visually inspiring as it had throughout, as well as covering the expenses of our post production teams.

Our first IndieGoGo campaign was very successful and everyone on the team worked very, very hard to make that budget go as far as it could, but it has just not been possible for it to take us from concept to screen. We also wanted to build up momentum for the films release by engaging with our backers (and get some new ones!) as this was something we very much enjoyed last time around and think it would be great to see people excited about the films release again!

As with every other department, we have strived to get the best possible on board and have continued that with Andre, who was part of the BAFTA winning team for the 2011 Best Short "Until The River Runs Red". You can check out his website www.colourgrade.com to see why we are so pleased he is on board with the project. I met up with up yesterday and he is currently ingesting the media ready for our first session on Saturday.

We are also still continuing with the sound composition and design and have a rough first mix of the sound and score already. I am meeting with Alexis (composer) on Friday to go through some ideas so we can get into fine-tuning and also doing some ADR with Joss and Anna (our sound designers) as well as our cast next Monday at a studio in Soho. I am hoping that by the end of April we will be in very good shape as we aim to get the entire film completed by 16th May :-)

Picture Locked...now onto sound

As you may have seen from our various Facebook and Twitter updates, we have been both focusing on locking picture and seeking out a sound designer to move "Clowning Around" onto the next stage so we can complete in May.

So far, the edit process has been conducted remotely in that editor Ian Davies has been working on the cuts and then exporting, sending to me and then implementing my notes via email. Due to both Ian and mine work commitments, this was the best way to keep it ticking along without having to arrange and then rearrange edit sessions. But it does make it difficult to discuss a scene or to fine cut, so we met a few Saturdays ago to do just that. As Ian is now on a very time-consuming programme and the main jobs of pacing and selecting the best shots are done (and also because I work as an editor also), I made any final changes myself after that.

There are many people who would say "if you edit yourself, why get an editor in?" but my answer has always been that it adds a sense of objectivity, brings in anothers skillset and adds another contact to your black book. Plus having the skills to put your ideas across to an editor in a concise way (without jabbing your finger at the screen and shouting "NO! Move that bit over there!") is something you need to develop if you plan to work consistently in this industry. Now that has been achieved, I felt fine that I could give it the final pass and lock it before sending to sound.

I also needed to find a sound designer. I used to hold my hands up and admit sound wasn't really my thing but over the past year or so, it is something I have paid more and more attention to so wanted to get someone who was very enthusiastic, got the tone of the film and got the scope of the level of detail we wanted. After putting ads out on various sites, I started to realise how much our project stood out as I received over 250 applications for a role I would usually get less than 25. After whittling them down to 5, I met with each designer to go through ideas and what deadlines we would need to work to.

As with many aspects of the production, I have taken a lot of time to consider each application and meet with people rather than go with my initial gut instinct, so I know that even if I do make mistakes, they have been made properly considering all the information I had at the time, not rushed for a quick fix.

After meeting with the various sound people, I went with Attic Sound who had an impressive body of work and were very keen to get involved. You can check out their website at www.atticsound.net and I have now sent them the relevant files they need. Attic sound consists of Anna Bertmark and Joss Albert and have worked on... You can also follow them on Twitter @atticsound

As I am working on Avid, and they are on Mac, this can be tricky. Luckily working with audio is a lot better than with picture (as Avid deals with OMF/MXF media and Quicktime .mov files whereas both work with. WAV, and .AAF). I exported an .AAF file from Avid which has all the audio media consolidated and embedded in it, with 75 frame handles (3 seconds extra in each audio clip so you can fade in and out if you want to) as well as a Quicktime movie with BITC (burnt in timecode) so they could make sure everything was in sync and when discussing anything could be really specific. I also sent them all the sound rushes and log sheets so that they have all the information about the recorded sound that there is.

I also sent a copy of the Quicktime to the composer Alexis Bennett so he can work with the locked picture and he has now sent me some examples that I can look through (as well as show those of you who went for the 'viewing' perk in our IndieGoGo campaign).

Now that those two processes are moving, I now need to find someone to grade the film so it can be as colourful and cinematic as we originally aimed for.

The last piece of the puzzle is finding someone to be the voice of Clowns UK, who leave a message on the answerphone that kickstarts Bonzo's journey. I have always wanted this to be someone who is known to an audience for their role as a 'comedy legend' so am currently speaking with a number of agents to get the right person on board and will keep you posted on any progress!

That's all for now, but still aiming for that May completion date :-)

Views from the composer

I met with composer Alexis Bennett this evening in "The Wellington" pub in Waterloo. My now standard half an hour late, we discussed numerable ideas about the latest cut and where we would go from here, based on my ideas and what Alexis had sent me a week ago...

"Clowns and music... a long and complicated history. Damien's film brings forward a variety of different possibilities for a composer. A good starting point for me is Bonzo, who has an interesting struggle on his hands between trying to make a living out of being funny while suffering from alcoholism. So musically, what I hope to achieve is that same tension. For me, musical ideas can start with the sound of particular instruments, and Bonzo suggests various things to me, and because of his character these instruments don't necessarily go together very often: tuba, hurdy gurdy, piano, cello. I did also think of a fairground organ sound. At the moment I am throwing ideas around with these instruments in mind. At this point I also have to think about if and when we might have a recording session, and where this may take place."

So, we sat down and watched the film on my Iphone (whilst supping a couple of beers) and will now work out a deadline so we can hopefully get something to Cannes for the March deadline :-)

Pickup Shots.

On sunny Sunday mornings I usually prefer to sit in bed, preferably in a patch of sunlight and read the film news over tea and toast. Today however I was up and about early to meet Damien and Azul so we could shoot some pick up shots for Clowning Around.

It took forever to get the coin to roll in the right way and land where the camera needed it to be, but when it did we all smiled together, knowing how it would make the film work better. Other shots had their bugbears too, in a busy supermarket who wanted their checkout back our Jack-in-the-box wouldn't work properly, and to find a spare bit of pub floor to film on when there's a Tottenham/Arsenal match on and you're in Islington is just ridiculous. We got there though. And those shots will give us what we need to stimulate the rest and make it work easily.

Here's a couple of videos from before and after the shots from Damien and Myself just explaining what we were doing..

Prepping the Edit

Since the shoot in October, I have been researching and setting up the best deals for us for post production. Some people mentioned during the prep that this was something I should have sorted beforehand, however with the nature of low-no budget film-making, I tend to take each step as it comes as otherwise you can end up with someone who agrees to it and then either backs out or goes through with it but without the same enthusiasm as their priorities may have changed.

I really wanted to work with one post production facility for the whole of post as it would make it easier to manage, enable us to showcase any problems we came across and to build up a relationship for future projects. Unfortunately, even though we went back and forth with numerable post production facilities, we couldn't reach an agreement that fitted us and them, although we did come very close! At the same time, I posted adverts out to find an editor who could do the offline process. From the 50 or so applications I got back, I met up with 7 of them so I could ascertain their availability, preferences and how enthusiastic they were about the film.

Both these processes (finding a post house and editor) took me through November, December and early January. Although in that time we could have made headway with the edit rather than meeting people, I really wanted to not only make sure I had got the absolute best for the film, but also find out what I was looking for in an editor and a facility. Like every other part of the film, this was valuable experience as with each interview I went into it a bit more prepared.

From an editor perspective, what I most impressed with were those who challenged me, and concentrated on asking me questions on the narrative, the tone and where the film would end up being screened, in addition to having experience cutting short-form material and believing the project would be as important for them as it would be for us. In the end I went for editor Ian Davies, who has worked at White House since 2005 (http://www.whitehousepost.com/editors/representation/ian-davies/reel/). It was not an easy decision, as I had narrowed it down to three editors from those I had met, but Ian's easy going nature, emphasis on the heart of the story and commitment to it timewise, swung it for me. He has now completed a rough cut and will be doing a second pass on Monday, so we can complete the offline by the 10th February. As I edit on Avid myself, should we need to make additional tweaks past that point, I can do those myself, however I felt it key to get an objective eye to put together and pace the story.

We are still on the lookout for people to help with the sound and online, so we can complete by May, but I am happy that once the picture is cut together, we will be able to get people on board for this by showing them the work so far.

A "Clowning Around" Family

Preparing some of the perks for backers I'm reminded of how many people worked for so long to bring this film to fruition. It's been a truly collaborative effort over a long period of time to get this far and so many people have helped along the way, excited to be part of the ongoing team we've accrued around "Clowning Around."

One of the themes of the film is that it's easy to do something for a day, but it's much harder to keep up good work when you're alone. Having our backers, supporters, and all the people who have worked on the project, given up their time and talent to it and just been there throughout has made the process to date a very warm experience. People have put huge pieces of their own hearts into the work we all wanted to do and we all adopted Damien's initial project as our own and joined his vision for what the film could be. I couldn't be more proud of our "Clowning Around" family or more grateful to be part of it. Looking at a rough cut of the first few minutes of film I'm acutely aware of how effortless it seems despite the effort that went into bringing it all about. Happy days and busy days with wonderful people.

Post production always seems like a quiet time where there's much less to speak about on a project and a lot of the team have moved on to do other work and aren't so much around, especially for me without the production team meeting every week I have missed the bustle of regular face to face meetings, but the wheels have kept turning and so much is ticking along that it's exciting to think of the things we still have planned. Right now it's about looking after our family of supporters and sending some of the digital goodies like the online comic book out! That has been a real labour of love by Damien and Phoenix Ryte and I truly hope everyone will love them as much as the guys have enjoyed creating them. There are two comic books in one double edition, sharing extra stories about our clowns for our backers to enjoy!

More funs soon!

Slava's Snow Show

One of my Christmas presents this year was being taken to see the wonderful theatrical clowning spectacle that is Slava's Snow Show.

The clowning is simplistic, beautiful and quite profound and it reminded me how clowns are such a fantastic vehicle for connecting us with deep human emotions.

Our clowns in "Clowning Around" are not of the same ilk as Slava Polunin and Co, they're more traditional and robust, less simple and staid, but they do have the same depth I feel and I think have proved themselves (if the rushes are anything to go by) as a really good way to deliver the story of addiction that we're telling in the film and in their own right as characters that we can love and love to laugh at and cry with.

As well as being a rather fun Christmas prezzie the Snow Show took me into the new year with a feeling that very good things await our "Clowning Around" clowns as the film comes together and begins to head out into the world.

Red nosed and raring to go! *:O)

Post

Damien and I met this week to go over what we are aiming for at the moment with post-production and perk fulfilment. There's been lots of things going on like transcoding of rushes and talking to editors and post houses, some screenplay feedback and other bits and bobs, a lot of which hasn't been that exciting but we're almost ready to crack on with the nitty gritty of post and it was good to catch up in person and have an overview of what we still need to achieve. Damien had some exciting ideas too, which I'll keep a lid on for the moment but it sounds like post is going to be as fun as the rest of the process.