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)

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.

Eureka!

Today had all the markings of a bad day - I couldn't find my oyster card (and had to buy a new one), my train was late and then stuck underground, and eventually when I did make it outside once more it was pouring down with some pretty nasty rain.

None of this however diverted me from my good mood. I couldn't figure out why at first, until, sitting on the train I received first an email from one of our producers Graham, then another from Katherine and a third from our unit manager Markus all in quick succession. All carried one piece of news - we'd reached our target! and with 46 hours still to go.

I'm incredibly proud of all the hard work the production team have put in thus far to make this happen. And also very grateful to all our wonderful backers. Of course now we just want to keep that indiegogo counter climbing.

Anything is possible:-)

Locations in New Malden

I met production manager Katherine so we could start looking at locations today in New Malden, which is in south west London, a ten minute train ride from Wimbledon. After we spoke at last weeks production meeting, she mentioned that there was a pub, park and car park in close proximity to where she lives so had arranged to meet there on Sunday at 1pm to have a look.
Unfortunately (for reasons best known to themselves) I thought we were to meet at midday, so turned up over an hour early. As well as make me look rather stupid, it did give me an opportunity to wander round the streets near Berr
ylands station and see exactly the kinds of streets and houses that I would like to show the film, quiet suburban streets with quaint three bedroom terraced and semi-detached housing.

First of all we looked at a park nearby. I liked the fact it was slightly overgrown, quiet and had benches scattered around, but what we are looking for also is a pond that Bonzo can jump into after seeing Fernellis reflection.

Myself and Katherine wandered along the river which runs through the park, stopping at various points to see if it would work for Bonzo to be contemplating his scenario, to have the teenagers nearby and to jump into the water.

Obviously you can shoot the same scene in more than one location and 'cheat' it slightly

, but I always like to keep it as realistic as possible. As well as testing how and when we could see a reflection, we also found a few really nice bridges, which I thought would may be nicer, rather than to have Bonzo walking past the pond, he stops to reflect and sees the shadow of Fernelli stood next to him, which prompts him to attack.

We then stopped at the pub "Woodies" Freehouse (http://www.woodiesfreehouse.co.uk/) which is a nice, country esque locals pub which would be perfect for the end confrontation between the two clowns.

Unfortunately, the owner was too busy in the kitchen so Katherine will call her this week to see if they are interested in being a location for the film.

After that, me and Katherine had a chat about we can achieve within the budget and also backups for our backups as it is important that we aim high and are highly ambitious but at the same time have plans that do not compromise the film, should our original ideas not be possible.

We also had a look at an alternative to a supermarket in a 'Poundland'. If we do not make it a supermarket (as this is always tricky) then the only problem is why would there be a shopping trolley outside the shop? It could be discarded, but would still be weird to me so we chatted about other possible modes of transport as he exits the shop.

So watch out Bill, we may have you on a skateboard or a childs pushbike! :-)

2nd pre-production meeting

My opening pleasantry before any production meeting is “Thanks for coming”, which is always a good way to thank people for making the effort to attend in their own free time.

However yesterday there was genuine appreciation and awe for our producer Leilani, assistant producer Juliet, 1st AD Greer, 3rd AD Blair and production manager Katherine, who all made their way from various parts of London for our second pre-production meeting in Vauxhall last night. Granted, Vauxhall has not been one of the places which has been attacked by the morons so far, but nearby areas Clapham, Balham and Elephant & Castle had and the general opinion is that you never know where will be next, so I am very grateful for their commitment in doing so, as everyone around me seemed to be leaving work early and head home to avoid possible trouble.

The meeting was to catchup after last weeks initial get together when a lot of things were discussed and new members brought up to speed, so I felt we needed to sit down and work out who would be doing what and a few deadlines on when they needed to be achieved by. We went through a plan for locations and set a deadline for end of August to find them, discussed the logistics of the poster competition) which goes live on Friday and how to start to co-ordinate recces, camera tests and rehearsals as well as any further ideas on how to bring attention to our campaign.

I did question whether to have the meeting with such turmoil and fear around and it may have been more sensible to not as I am not jeopardizing my own safety but also four others but I trusted them all (and they were certainly under no pressure to attend) to make the right call for the journey they needed to take or make arrangements so they would not be in the eye of the storm. I deliberated all the way to getting the tube from Wembley Park whether to go ahead, rather than postpone until things calmed down as I certainly don’t think this film is more important than peoples safety.

However, one thing that kept hanging in my mind is that I didn’t want to let the idiots who are smashing shops and setting fires turn me into a hermit, afraid to continue with my normal life and as I got to Vauxhall that feeling was justified as everyone was like us, cracking on with their evening and we managed to get a little further down the road for “Clowning Around”.

Welcoming Katherine to the crew...

After a long day at work yesterday I had a lovely catch up conversation with the wonderful Katherine Evans, who has come on board as our Production Manager.
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.