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!