Chapter 15: Soundtrack / Score by Jehst

Underground Hip Hop legend Jehst gives an insight into his approach to working on a film score, showing us a taster of how he uses the elements of hip hop production, using an Akai MPC 2500 and Logic, to produce a unique cinematic soundtrack. There is even a taster of the main theme. It's an honour to work with an artist I have long admired, my debut feature "The Plague" (2004) was inspired by the High Plains Drifter / Falling Down music as well as taking my whole guerilla approach from the uk hip hop scene, over the years I have made three music videos with Jehst - Nuke Proof Suit, Mengi Bus, Dunya - and I can be found shooting / editing as part of the YNR (Young N Restless) Productions record label. It's been a privilege to be able to work so closely with an independent and outspoken artists such as Jehst and I'm excited about having got him to do a film score. It is an incredibly unique soundtrack.

Chapter 14: Disaster Strikes!

Bad Things Always Come In Three's... the continuing saga of post-production as disaster strikes!! Will the film ever get finished?

Chapter 13: Post-Production

Since April my life has been in front of a computer editing, editing, editing. It's been a rollercoaster to say the least. But the end is in sight. The video above gives you an insight into my bedroom setup as well as showing you cinematographer Nicholas Winter grading, Sound Designer Jeet Thakrar working on pro-tools, and music producer Chemo preparing the sample food for hip hop legend Jehst to get his teeth into! Plus if you watch right to the end you get a teaser clip of the film. Coming soon.

Dissident Island Radio Interview

Coming to the final stages of post-production which I will be blogging very soon! Until then check out the two videos above - an interview with the fantastic team at Dissident Island. Discussing my critically acclaimed debut feature "The Plague" (2004), the more troublesome second feature "Kapital" (2007) funded by the Manchester International Festival and of course "SSDD: Same Shit Different Day" (2009) as well as talking about Collective Vision (2003-2005), The Beta Brothers (2004-2007) and heading up the video department of hip hop label YNR (Young N Restless) Productions. An honest and frank chat about D.I.Y culture and guerilla film making. Check it out. 

Chapter 12: Re-Shoot

So we shot a majority of the film over three weeks in January 2009 and since then February / March has been a roller coaster of recovering, doing day jobs and various nervous breakdowns. The usual kind of thing that a film crew encounters when working their guts out for nothing more that the crazy passion to create something of worthwhile value. As mentioned in my previous post (The Bonus Chapter) I have also been filming over the events of the G20 for an opening montage, to give an impression of Britain now, and will still be compiling images / footage as the next few months unfold. Over two days in April (6th and 7th) we returned as a film crew to do a re-shoot and pick up those valuable elements that were missing from the film. Have a watch of the video and get a little taster of life on the "set" in the continuing chronicles of Runner Gawain. As I write this I am sat at my computer editing the film which I will also keep updated on the blog. Plan is to have it cut by the end of April, Music composed and produced over May, and sound tracklayed etc and mixed by June. Crazy schedule. So lets see how it goes.

Also got a very cool mention in Volume 3 Issue 6 of "ACADEMY" the official magazine of "The British Academy Of Film & Television Arts"! In the "Talent Spotting" section with SSDD getting a great plug and also Bash The Rich being mentioned which we are planning to shoot in June/July 2010 (The Bash The Rich Film blog will be updated soon!).

Bonus Chapter: Upsetting an Agent Provocateur

Okay a brief "Bonus Chapter" I felt needed blogging in the process of the films production. I was out on March 28th 2009 filming a "Put People First" march and mainly focusing on the large anarchist rally planned for 3pm at Speakers Corner. I am using this footage, as well as filming over the G20 protest days on 1st & 2nd April, to be used as an opening montage sequence for my new feature in setting the scene of Britain's current climate. And what an interesting climate it is. I have posted the entire rally (Sorry I missed the last two speakers!) on youtube and you can watch it in the player above.
Despite media scare stories of dangerous anarchists in motor bike helmets welding bankers heads on sticks, the day basically consisted of a well co-ordinated and colourful bloc marching in unison, and culminated in the rabble rousing Speakers Corner rally. It was during this rally that a bizarre number of events unfolded concluding with my near arrest.
As the footage shows I was stood basically in front of the step ladder making sure I could get a good angle on every speaker, the following events I am about to describe I did not get on camera as my focus was to ensure filming the speakers as opposed to documenting the activities of those around me. About 20minutes (During parts 4/5) into the rally a man dressed all in black swooped up to the step ladder, keeping very low to the ground, tipped the contents of his bag out and exited in an incredible speed. Left on the floor was roughly six small black packages. This suspicious behaviour instantly caught the attention of myself and others around me. I lightly stepped on one of the packages, could feel it was hard and gently flicked it to someone stood about a metre away. All the time still filming the speaker! The person next to me used his foot to open the package, aware not to put fingerprints on it, and a catapult was revealed. Everyone was very conscious that these weapons had no place at a public rally and were kicked by various people, though not myself, under the metal fence that can be seen in the back of all my footage into a fenced off mounded area of waste ground and out of harms way. One speaker, a ginger gentleman sporting a special brew can, warns the crowd intially of the catapult saga as he had an arguement with a cameraman who was going to keep one! Thankfully they were convinced to throw it also under the fence. Twenty five minutes approximately later as the rally was reaching it's end I noticed in the background a police man climb over the fence on the other side of the mound of waste land furthest from the rally, starting to pick up the packages and show them to other officers situated by the road, by this time I had to stop filming as illness and tiredness meant I missed the final speakers. During this time I spoke with friends stood behind the right hand side of the step ladder and I noticed the officer now showing the catapult to officers stood close to the rally and pointing in at us all. The officers body language and use of radio began to raise suspicions that the police may be gearing up to possibly take action upon such evidence on the large crowd gathered enjoying the rally. Reading the mainstream media alone you get the impression that the police are itching to crack down on people and "up for it" so therefore I was concerned that a violent incident was about to erupt due to very suspicious circumstances. The final speaker finished and I quickly got the microphone and announced the events that I had seen unfold, warning that the police were preparing to react and the rally had been stiched up. The event very quickly dispersed with lots of people warning me that the police were pointing me out. Walking away I noticed that the police were definitely preparing to pull me over as I was being followed and when I walked pass a strech of police vehicles roughly six officers took me aside out of the path of others leaving because they "Wanted to have a word". Having witnessed such questionnable events and feeling the mood of the officers I was convinced that they wanted to arrest me and the fear of possibly having something planted in my bag was certainly running through my head. Before the officers could explain why they had pulled me aside I explained the events I had witnessed, the suspicious black objects, the fact people kicked them under the fence as no one wanted the rally to be associated with weapons, the reactions of the police when finding the catapults, the reason why I got on the microphone to announce these details as the possible threat that unneccesary violence and heavy handed policing was about to occur. I was forthcoming to give my details and reasons for being present, as a filmmaker who likes to make films with integrity and meaning I have never shyed away from voicing my opinions, alot of information on myself is in the public domain and therefore I had no reason to hide anything or feel intimidated about giving the police my name/address etc although in hindsight their reason for stopping and searching me is factually incorrect. I knew co-operating as best as I could was the only way I could diffuse the officers initial hostility towards me. This wasn't the time to be cheeky. My initial fears of possibly having something planted on my person were thankfully dissolved as I kept a close eye on the officer searching my bag and by this time the police officers became joking and friendly, especially after my wity line that I had an i-phone and was thus a crap anarchist. I was given a "Stop And Search" form and allowed to go although I noticed some of the same officers waiting outside the pub I was drinking at and noting down what friends I left the pub with. Looking back on the Stop And Search form it doesn't particulary make sense that they saw me kick a black package, especially when you watch all my footage and see that I was stood infront of the stepladder surrounded by a crowd and out of view of any police, it was only after I had told them what I had seen that they said this was the reason and justification for stopping, searching and taking my details. Plus I never admitted to kicking them away? I was filming and could never have kicked objects from under the ladder over to where the fence is in the back of all my shots. But to be honest what was more suspicious was the reasons for these black packages being dumped under the ladder. Why were they wrapped up? Can you imagine what would have happened if someone thought "What's that?" picked it up, unwrapped it, and all the photgraphers/ journalists around the speakers would have possibly reported "Anarchists with catapults", more worryingly what if a Police Officer or FIT photographer saw this discovery? This incident could have ruined a brilliant public rally. It didn't. But the events are very suspect if you ask me. An Agent Provocateur?

Chapter 11: Teaser Trailer

Ever since I started making films at the age of 14 with cobbled together bits of domestic equipment, I always began the edit by cutting a trailer before I started the actual film itself. This is a tradition I have continued over the course of all three of my feature films. When I first began filmmaking I edited on a standard home VCR, a slow and often laborious method of working through a process of pressing play on the camera and pause/record on the recorder, but it taught me a strict discipline and stern patience when making films. The reason for cutting a trailer first I guess is mainly because the daunting thought of actually beginning the edit of the film is far to overwhelming, so therefore by putting a trailer together it helps you express how you feel you want the film to be. There is nothing new about this approach to be honest, it is many due to the fact that also at the tender age of 14 when I first began to embark on making short films, around my house on a Video8 camera staring most of my family, I read Robert Rodriguez's "Rebel Without A Crew", a no doubt inspiring oracle of guerilla filmmaking for generation, where he used a very similar technique. At that age the book had a profound effect on me and I know that amongst the filmmakers I have worked with closely (Paco Sweetman, Dean Puckett, Nicholas Winter, Karan Kandhari) it has also been an instrumental inspirational tool. So as we begin the post production period for my third feature film "S.S.D.D (Same Shit Different Day)" I present the teaser trailer  in HD. Enjoy.     

P.S. I've noticed my blog cuts off the right hand side of the video so please check it out on youtube. Click here for HIGH DEFINITION or STANDARD DEFINITION. And spread it!

Chapter 10: Production

So from the 12th - 31st January 2009 we shot a feature film. The cast was six main actors with a handful of smaller roles and a crew of about nine at most. Having had a week or so to reflect on the production I can say that it was in parts extremely stressful, probably because I was writing scenes as we were going along as well as the production team trying to secure locations during the shoot, but in absolute honesty I am delighted with the footage and performances. The making of video above will tell you a lot more than I can probably express here right now. Admittedly it isn't the best making of mainly because the shoot was so hectic, but I do believe that it captures a true essence of the films production. That essence being fun. If you can't keep things together and remain creative and playful under pressure then the production can topple like a house of precariously placed cards. But thankfully when you have a really tight team of cast and crew, no matter how small the numbers and how epic the idea, it is incredible what you can achieve when all pulling together with a vested interest to create a piece of work for a purpose. 

The post production is beginning to steam on. And a TRAILER will be coming very very soon.   

Chapter 9: Scripting.

So I begin filming on Monday 12th January for three weeks. This blog and accompanying video is entitled "Scripting" as opposed to script writing or anything of the such, because it best sums up the approach I have taken to the script. Having started with a seven page outline which was workshopped with the cast in december and filmed on a camera, I have spent the festive period of Christmas and New Years locked away in my bedroom transcribing these sessions and crafting them into a script format. These will be used as our blue prints to improvise around when on set. This is a process I have developed over the course of my previous two feature films specifically for this project.

The rest of the video gives an update into the ongoing production, from finalising all the last minute details, and meeting with my cinematographer Nicholas Winter and sound recordist Jeet Thakrar. Lots still to do! Filming starts very very soon...

Chapter 8: Rehearsals

For the rest of the week (15th - 22nd December) we worked over the scenes outlined in my seven page script. These were improvised numerous times, tried and tested with different motivations or changes in dynamics, and filmed on my camera for reference. Working with such a talented cast, who are able to embody their characters to such believable depths, makes this a highly enjoyable process. There is no right or wrong with improvising. It is just testing out the characters - seeing what works and what doesn't. It has been a very fun week. Finally seeing the story and characters coming to life in front of my very eyes. I plan over the christmas break to adapt these rehearsal sessions into a dialogue script - feature length from a seven page outline - which we will then shoot with in January. There will still be further improvisation from the script during the filming period but it is wonderful to have a structure and outline to work with. The whole point of this process is to get the best of both worlds - the believability of improvisation and the focus of a script - to hopefully capture some incredible performances. Enjoy the video, these are only some teaser bits really, didn't want to give too much away. It has been an inspiring time and I can not wait to start filming!! On the negative side everyone has been ill... Guess it is that time of year...