Wednesday, December 25, 2013

Epic Fantasy Adventure Resolution for 2014


At the beginning of the year I pondered on doing something to celebrate Drakkon's 20th anniversary. This led to a reunion at the falls in October, a growing Facebook page and a successful Indiegogo campaign to remaster the film in HD.

In doing all this I was reminded of my passion, ambition and fearless drive, at a time in my early career when anything seemed possible. My passion was infectious and somehow seemed to make the impossible happen. This made me reflect on my subsequent career and how over time I had slowly stopped externalising that self-belief. I realised that if I still wanted that illusive directing career, I had to externalise it again. So what better way to do this than by making the most ambitious and emotionally engaging modern fantasy adventure short that I can on a modest budget, financed and marketed through crowd-funding.

I am looking to Game Of Thrones and The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo for inspiration, re-working an idea I have had in my head for the last twenty years. The story will centre around an anti-heroine with a dark and horrific past - a cross between an older Arya Stark and Lisabeth Salander. It will be dark, gritty, graphic and emotionally engaging, aimed at delighting GOT fans and general fantasy fans alike.

The ultimate aim is to attract the attention of Hollywood, encouraging them to exploit my undiscovered talents as a director, using a strategic online marketing campaign that will run alongside the project. Sounds unrealistic? Maybe it is, but that's what I like about it!

Friday, December 06, 2013

How long after publication, should an author’s work become freely available to the public?

I think ten years is a good length of time for any creative work to make its money. After that the work should be in the public domain - i.e. available for anyone to copy and share for free. If you haven't made enough money after 10 years then your work probably isn't good enough!

Take Star Wars for example. It made more than its money back in box office receipts alone (not to mention the merchendise). Yet over the last 36 years I have personally paid to see it at the cinema twice (in 1977 and 1997), rented it on VHS, watched and recorded it’s premiere on ITV, bought five VHS versions, two DVD versions, one Blu-ray version and downloaded Hammy’s brilliant de-specialised editions for free. If I had been lucky enough to afford a laser disc player, I’d have bought that version too. Do I feel cheated each time I have to pay full price again for a film on a new format - damn right I do!

I’m sure Lucas does not need anymore money, especially now that he has retired, but you can’t blame him for taking what’s legally owed to him, because if he didn’t the studios would. The problem lies in the middlemen who see creativity only as an opportunity to make money without respecting the authors need to communicate with the world. There should be an equal balance between the two.

After ten years (when the film business should have made an acceptable profit), rather than adding excessive and unnecessary profit margins every time its re-released, wouldn’t it be more ethical to charge audiences a small fee to cover manufacturing, packaging, marketing costs (if at all needed in the digital age) and re-mastering/archiving costs?

For example, perhaps after ten years a British film’s copyright, could be automatically transferred to the BFI where they then have an obligation to make that film available to the public (at the best quality possible for each platform) for a small archival fee.


Of course other creative works based on that work (re-make, re-imagine, sequel, prequel, game, merchandise, novel etc.) that are produced for commercial gain would still require relevant permission from the author . However this would exclude fan-based work for non-commercial gain.

Thursday, November 21, 2013

12 Great Directing Tips from Mike Newall

1. When I first read a script, book or treatment, I’ll get an immediate little jolt of excitement if the thing has something to say to me. I have to nail that idea before anything else. If you have a big, clear idea of what you want your audience to feel and think—and above all, what you want—then, even in the times of darkest chaos (which will quite certainly be upon you), you have a rock to hang on to.

2. Try to know the scripts nearly by heart. I work the scenes through in advance again and again with as much detail as possible. Then, on the day we shoot, I am prepared to ditch all of that if better ideas come up. Spontaneity is the quality that only actors can bring and it’s a quality worth its weight in gold. Be prepared for the fact that no plan survives first contact with the enemy and listen really hard to the actors. Don’t impose on them. Instead, try to encourage them to be easy in their skin.

3. Everybody on the crew will have ideas about how scenes should be made; they will have ideas, angles and movements you had never imagined. One of the best camera operators I ever worked with would listen to my opinions about where the camera should be put and then march off to the complete opposite position.

4. I have a mantra that I try desperately to remember through every day’s work: Please let me not be an arse-hole today. Vain hope, but it’s good to have an ambition!

5. A lot of smoke gets blown up a director’s bottom. It’s worth not believing any of it. I try to survive without wanting to know what everybody thinks of me. Some think you’re great, some think you’re crap. The reality will lie somewhere in the middle and, anyway, it shouldn’t matter. A lot of rough things get said to you, so it’s good to have a skin thick enough to take the damage and thin enough to understand why this stuff is being said.

6. Talk quietly.

7. Have good manners.

8. If you are going to lose your temper (do try not to), it must be overwhelmingly for real. There’s nothing worse than fake anger.

9. Don’t eat the catering at lunchtime.

10. Sleep whenever you can.

11. Wear a comfortable pair of shoes.

12. The process of making a film feels like being pecked to death by pigeons. A thousand tiny bites will slowly remove your reasons for starting in the first place. You will forget why you are there. That’s when you must fall back on that initial spark of excitement (see #1) to get you through.

13. Above all, “Never fuck the talent.” (See Charlton Heston, circa 1979.)

Wednesday, September 04, 2013

Drakkon's 2k HD scanned rushes are back!

I am excited to tell you that the scanned 2k HD rushes of Drakkon arrived back today and I quickly did a test to compare the difference in quality. Hopefully this should give you a pretty good idea below:


Raw 2k HD scan
Graded 2k HD scan
Graded 2k HD scan cropped to 16:9 1080p
Original U-matic video master upscaled to 480p and cropped to hide tracking bleed

Sunday, September 01, 2013

Drakkon's Indiegogo Campaign is 182% funded with 13 hours to go!

We have exceeded our minimum target by a whopping 182% - well done everyone who has supported this campaign! 

This is the final call for the`Drakkon Express train to Remasterdome! If you were intending to contribute to this campaign, but kept putting it off, then you now only have 13 hours left. This really is your last chance, so climb on board and join the team! Wooo Woooooo! 

http://igg.me/at/Drakkon/x/3449576

Friday, August 16, 2013

What's the difference between the original Drakkon master and the 20th anniversary remaster?

I thought I'd give you a better idea of the sheer difference in quality from the original U-Matic SP master copy of Drakkon to the eventual 2k academy remaster. 

As you can see from this chart below it is going to be a huge leap in terms of definition, and once color graded the picture is going to look amazing on a modern HD TV, computer screen, laptop, i-pad or even an i-pad mini. With a 2k Academy master, I have the choice to either keep the original standard 16mm ratio or crop the frame to fit 16:9. What do you think I should do? 

If you haven't yet supported our Indiegogo campaign to remaster Drakkon, we still need to raise another £150 ($242) to be able to complete the remastering, so don't be shy, check out the campaign here: http://igg.me/at/Drakkon/x/3449576


Thursday, August 15, 2013

Support the Indiegogo Campaign to restore Drakkon for it's 20th Anniversary

Well finally it's here, my first crowd-funding campaign! I thought I'd start small, see how it all works first before I launch anything too ambitious, so what better way than to raise £500 to remaster my very first 16mm film Drakkon for its 20th anniversary.

Please take a moment to check it out on Indiegogo and also share it with your friends. All the tools are there. Get perks, make a contribution, or simply follow updates. If enough of us get behind it, we can make the remastering of 'DRAKKON' happen!

http://www.indiegogo.com/projects/424230/emal/3449576


Tuesday, July 30, 2013

Texturing of the Voydarkatron almost complete!

It is with a sigh of relief and a tingle of excitement that I can finally say the Voydarkatron texturing and painting has almost been signed off. Once I approve the eyes, we'll be ready to plough through the next stage of the process and Henry Bramble will finally see light at the end of a very long and dark tunnel.

Here's a sneak peak at the beast himself in all his fully rendered coloured and textured glory. Unfortunately you'll have to wait to see his gruesome face!

The team has also been working on the inner trunk. I think this is going to be the most disgusting thing you've ever seen get close to someone's face - period!


Wednesday, July 17, 2013

Henry Bramble On The Move Again - Finally!

Here's a beautiful re-sculpture of the Voydarkatron's trunk just sent to me by Jan Daube and his team at Wham Bam Productions. Previous versions by the other vfx teams were not nearly as detailed and defined. This really does look like the flesh of an elephant! - Very happy right now!


Tuesday, June 25, 2013

Wham Bam! - Henry Bramble vfx get a boost!

So having lost all hope of getting the vfx completed, DiRoom, by the skin of their teeth, seem to have found a suitable replacement vfx team - Wham Bam Productions.

Although their showreel leans more towards drinks commercials and certainly does not include seven foot monsters, their test demo's they've sent me are very promising and after a productive Skype call I feel confident they know what I'm looking for. They have been briefed before I go on holiday for two weeks and I have to confess I feel a small surge of excitement by the progress they should have made by the time I get back. Fingers crossed this is third time lucky!

Here's their showreel below.

Wednesday, June 05, 2013

Henry Bramble suffers another VFX nightmare


If you haven't already heard, we didn't get into Cannes. There were just 8 films selected out of a whopping 3,500 shorts from across the globe. It was a relief to be honest, because if we had been selected, our film would not have been finished in time. It is now June and has taken the vfx team six months to deliver just one completed and approved vfx shot out of forty four?! - I can't tell you how frustrated and angry this makes me feel, but in these instances, you have to just set your emotions aside and find a way to move forward.

Currently DiRoom (who were responsible for outsourcing the vfx work) have found three UK based vfx compainies who are willing to do the work for the remainder of our budget. However, despite their impressive vfx reels I have not yet been convinced that they are capable of delivering such specific work - i.e. a life-like Hollywood level cgi Voydarkatron. having had such a bad experience with the last team, I am being more than a little cautious as I try not to let paranoia cloud my judgement.

I was never convinced that the previous vfx team were qualified for the job, but my concerns fell on deaf ears. After all the delays and additional funding, the temptation to want to believe that they could deliver what we wanted within such a short timeframe was just too great. Our judgements were clouded by the desire to resolve the problem as quickly as possible, but in doing so the problem just got bigger.

The lesson that should be learnt here is simple - you pay for what you get. In reality we hugely underestimated the budget required for the vfx. The actual cost of the work to be delivered in such a short timeframe (a month), through a professional hollywood level outfit like Framestore, The Mill or the MPC is closer to £30,000. But rather than facing that fact we seem to be still looking for a way to get them done for less than a third of that estimate still within a similar short timeframe. With vfx artists expressing their anger at hollywood for not paying them an honest fee, I find this situation very uncomfortable.

Please can everyone wake up and smell the mocha choca. I really don't want to watch us make the same mistake a third time! In my mind, the only logical solution is to either be prepared to wait for as long as it takes for a smaller outfit to complete it for the money we have or raise £30,000. However the only way we can realistically raise this in a relatively short space of time, is through a carefully planned crowd-funding campaign like Indiegogo or Kickstarter. So for now I wait in hope for the Henry Bramble team to follow my lead.

Tuesday, May 21, 2013

Could The 'BitTorrent Bundle' Eradicate Film Piracy?

I hate going to the cinema, paying £10 for a ticket, only to find out that the film I was looking forward to was just in fact a clever piece of marketing and that the film itself was a complete waste of my time - I genuinely consider this to be daylight robbery. You should be able to get your money back if you are genuinely dissatisfied with the product. I also hate missing a film I really want to watch at the cinema. This is either because by the time you get round to it, the film has already been and gone (having kids is a killer for this), or the film had a limited release and is not playing at any of your local cinemas. The fact that you then have to wait a minimum of three months before you can watch it on the small screen just adds to the frustration.

I refuse to subscribe to Sky Movies, LoveFilm or worse Netflix as none of these providers have access to all the film titles I want to see. In addition to paying for each film you download, you also have to pay a monthly subscription, but why? I want to be able to search for any film and pay £3 - £4 to stream it in HD to a device of my choice. If after watching it I really like it, I should then be able to purchase a download copy to keep (minus the £3-£4 I have already paid) or be able to access it through the cloud for free at any time.

I worked out fairly recently that owning a video collection today is rather materialistic, a waste of money and environmentally unfriendly. Out of maybe 200 carefully selected DVD's that I have purchased over the last fifteen years, I have only watched about twenty percent of them a second time. I bought these films for the comfort of knowing I could watch them when I wanted to, but you can now probably download any of these films off the internet whenever you want, making a physical private collection completely unnecessary.

So for all these reasons above, I have recently found myself illegally downloading more and more films off the internet. This may seem rather contradictory from someone who is passionate about filmmaking (I do genuinely feel guilty at times), but as an audience member I am sick of paying to see rubbish, and as a filmmaker I am reluctant to pay to watch a film for research purposes (especially if you just need to see one or two specific scenes). To be fair, the films I do genuinely like, I often purchase on DVD anyway (Drive, Dragon Tattoo and Super 8 to name a few). The ones that I enjoyed, but don't want to purchase (Another Earth), I'd happily pay £3 - £4 for. Unfortunately downloading illegally doesn't offer that option and that's when I start to feel guilty.

However, I was delighted to read a fascinating article on nofilmschool about the new developments of technology company BitTorrent. It is launching the 'BitTorent Bundle' designed to empower those in the content creation business. I am not going to say anymore except that if you really want to get ahead of the game, as a viewer and as a filmmaker, you should read this article. Have we finally found a way to watch and distribute films online, legally, fairly and efficiently!

Thursday, May 09, 2013

Final Design for Henry Bramble poster by Richard Davies

I'm very excited to reveal the latest and final poster design for The Infectious Imagination Of Henry Bramble, created by the amazing Richard Davies (TurksWorks).


Tuesday, May 07, 2013

20 years since the making of Drakkon

We are now well into 2013 and in a few months it will have been a whopping 20 years since I made my first 16mm film on location at West Burton Falls in North Yorkshire. Drakkon was an incredibly ambitious first film filled with stunts, explosions and special effects puppetry.

The final results may not have been up to Hollywood standards, but they were certainly no worse than Peter Jackson's Bad Taste. For a crew that were mostly made up of national diploma media graduates from Harrogate College, who had never made a film before, it was an impressive feat in 1993.

On the surface the short is now construed as a rather embarrassing and somewhat amateur attempt of filmmaking, but for myself and many of the filmmakers involved, 
it holds a much deeper sentiment.
Peasant (played by Derek Boyes) being confronted by Drakkon (notice the Alien 3 homage).
We were very inexperienced at the time, attempting something far more ambitious than most other beginner filmmakers. To our Media Production course leader, we were seen as egotistical mavericks who were heading for failure, yet through naivety, passion and sheer stubbornness we proved him wrong.

The experience bonded many of us at a pivotal moment in our young adult lives. It symbolised our hopes and dreams for the future. It was a time of innocence and optimism, when anything seemed possible. I look back on the whole experience with great fondness and despite all its faults, I am still very proud of the short film we made.

Twenty years later, it seems Drakkon has made a lasting impression on our middle-aged lives, so much so that on Saturday August 10th 2013, nine (maybe eleven) out of seventeen original cast a crew members, will be heading back to the enchanting waterfall in West Burton for a 20th anniversary reunion - can't wait!

Friday, March 01, 2013

DVD sent off to Cannes - Fingers crossed for a miracle!

I have just spent the last 24 hours creating all the elements for a region-free DVD of The Infectious Imagination Of Henry Bramble, to send with our submission to The Cannes Film Festival

I had to roughly mix the most up-to-date dialogue, sound fx and music tracks together alongside the picture from the locked off Final Cut offline. I then exported out to ProRes 422 (LT) version, which I opened in Quicktime to convert into an MPEG 4 720p version. I then imported this to a new iDVD project, creating a menu from one of the more tasteful template designs on offer. I also added a small section of Henry Bramble music to it, to get you in the mood. I then burnt off four DVD's (3 extra just in case I messed up along the way), opened a new photoshop file and using the elements from my poster design, created the images and text that will be printed onto the DVD.  

I had to drive to my Dad's to haul my decrepit Epson Stylus Photo R200 printer back home, only to find the cartridges were empty. I sped off to Tesco's to get a cheap compatible set only to discover it was £70 - The same price as Epson's own?! Frustratingly there's plenty available online for £15 or less, but the earliest they could deliver was Monday which is cutting it a bit fine, as the screeners have to reach the festival office no later than March 7th. 

Eventually I found a small ink cartridge refill shop in Maidstone and rather than going to sleep (I've just worked a 12 hour night shift), I jumped back in the car to collect a refill set for a more reasonable £36. I then get back home and installed the cartridges and a new printer utility software for OS 10.7.5, only to have to clean the nozzles three times, before I was satisfied it was safe to print. Finally at 12:12 on Friday 1st March, I have my God damn DVD. All I need to do now is bag it up and pop it in the post via Airsure for a mere £9.24! 

All this just to have our film considered  -  but just imagine if we do get selected in competition, I'll get to meet Steven Spielberg (this years president of the Jury) who can then convince the jury to hand over the short film Palme d'Or.   ....oh it's good to dream!



Wednesday, February 27, 2013

Roald Dahl on writing

"When you're writing it's rather like going on a very long walk, across valleys and mountains and things, and you get the first view of what you see and you write it down. Then you walk bit further, maybe up on to the top of a hill, and you see something else, then you write that and you go on like that, day after day, getting different views of the same landscape really. The highest mountain on the walk is obviously the end of the book because it's got to be the best view of all, when everything comes together and you can look back and see everything you've done all ties up. But it's a very, very long slow process."

Monday, February 25, 2013

On Writing: A Memoir of the Craft by Stephen King

Been reading a Stephen King book - it's a real page turner, yet it's not fiction. It's about the craft or writing form his perspective and is split into two sections. A brief biographical history that attempts to reveal how he became a writer from the events that happened in his life and then an easy going, laid back chit chat on what he considers to be good writing with many useful tips and advice from one of the most successful writers of his generation.

What I found extremely comforting was that he says you don't need to know a lot of words to be able to write well. It's how you construct your sentences that's important. Again detail is not always necessary and should be kept to a minimum in order to give readers just enough to fill in the blanks so you don't slow down the natural flow of the writing with irrelevant detail. Often less is much better than more.

This is music to my ears, as I have always been somewhat over-conscious of my lack of vocabulary and the fact that I often struggle to bring the right word into my head, particularly when I speak. I still lack confidence with my sentences too, probably because I never remember being taught how to construct them. I have just developed a system of writing that works for me. As it turns out, it seems it is the right way of doing things. The examples King gives on poor sentence construction and what not to do, I already seem to be aware of and try to avoid at all cost, though (even he admits) it is not always put to practice.

As I grow more confident with my writing I am beginning to realise that a lot of what I do is good, even very good. I don't know why this surprises me as I have never had a producer or agent tell me my writing is bad (Only my spelling and punctuation, which is more a case of mild dislexia than bad writing). When I first started to write seriously, friends and colleagues insisted that I was not a writer, that I should stick to directing and leave the writing to someone else. However, screenwriting to me is simply a poor-man's directing as the fundamental skills of telling the story are the same.

I have always been able to imagine very, very clearly in my mind. Being a very sociable person, directing was the natural position in which to tell stories, but now with nearly ten years of screenwriting practice, I am starting to be able to translate what I see in my head, directly onto the page with increasing success. Like Stephen King, this comes to me fairly easily. The difficulties I tend to have is with character.

I'm hoping there is a book out their that can explain to how to overcome these difficulties in way I can grasp. Too often screenwriting books are written academically and I struggle to fully understand the concepts, yet books like this or Save The Cat, are much more accessible to me and I recommend them whole heartedly.


Friday, February 22, 2013

ADR session for Henry Bramble

Had  a good ADR session in East London with Archie Lyndhurst on Monday. It mostly consisted of getting better/cleaner recordings of some of his dialogue along with some moans and groans when he is attacked by the Voydarkatron. Nice to catch up with the busy young man and his Mother. There was a technical delay that took an hour to sort out, but Archie being Archie, sped though the material as a true proffessional does. We got the recordeing session free, so thanks to the guys at Filmfonix.



Thursday, February 14, 2013

Woodkid’s - Run Boy Run!

Here's a nice music video by French director and musician Woodkid’s (aka Yoann Lemoine) that captures the wonderful essence of child's desire for adventure. Not too dissimilar to our very own Henry Bramble.

Wednesday, February 13, 2013

Turksworks commissioned for Henry Bramble poster

I can confirm that we have just commissioned the extremely talented illustrator and designer Richard Davies to create the final version of the Henry Bramble movie poster, based on my previous design ideas. 

Rich has created some amazing work that has a very modern Drew Struzan style about it - The man responsible for some of the most iconic film posters of the 1980's (Star Wars, Indiana Jones, Back To The Future, The Thing, Blade Runner and The Goonies). 

From Richard's portfolio it became clear that we share a very similar taste in films and in a particular style of movie poster art. I immediately sent him an email, begging him  to help us with Henry Bramble. Thankfully he agreed and I'm dying to see what he comes up with. Checkout some of my favorite pieces of his work below.





Tuesday, February 12, 2013

Evan Jolly - Genius Composer

Let me introduce you to Evan Jolly. He studied film composing at the National Film & Television School in the same year as myself back in 2002-03. We only officially worked together once in that time, on a short film called No Fixed Abode. Unfortunately part of the exercise was for the composers to be the sound designers so I never really got to experience Evan's true talents. 

However I was always was aware he had a lot of talent. He played the trumpet and the piano (among other things), his compositions on other films at the NFTS were diverse and of a high quality and above all he was a jolly nice chap! 

In the final year I asked him to write a musical song for my graduation short The Happiness Thief, which I loved, but then regrettably had to drop, as I was told that we didn't have the time or budget to include a full on musical dance number in the middle of the film - which would have been the icing on the cake!




So ten whole years later, I'm without a composer and I suddenly think, what on earth ever happened to Evan? I looked up my old contact details for him, but they were well out of date, I then Googled him, but he had no website, no Linked-In page - nothing! Eventually I checked Facebook and thankfully he was there, alive and well living in Brighton.

Less than three weeks later he has just delivered me the most amazing score for Henry Bramble. I was welling up with joy listening to it. For all the troubles we've had on this short, this was the first time anyone had blown away my expectations. He truly is a master at his craft and I am forever grateful to him for lifting our beautiful little film into a whole new dimension.

Evan Jolly, you are a God-damn genius my friend! 

Friday, February 08, 2013

Stuart Freeborn - SFX Make-Up Artist (1914 - 2013)

Stuart Freeborn the master SFX make-up artist who created Chewbacca and Yoda has died at 98 years old. It was a name (alongside Ralph Mcquarrie, Phil Tippet and Joe Johnson) that I became very familiar with as a child, reading the Star Wars official collector's magazine's and watching the incredible 'making of' documentaries on TV. He was part of the original team who brought George Lucas' vision to life and made the impossible possible. For that we are eternally grateful.

Wednesday, February 06, 2013

We're back! - Henry Bramble on the move at last.

It's been a a frustrating few months. The visual effects on our wonderful short halted at the beginning of July last year. Six long arduous months later and we are finally beginning to see light at the end of the tunnel. As of yesterday I have been 'linked-in' to the VFX team based in Pakistan via Asana, a clever collaborative task management application that allows me to keep track and manage the workflow, offering feedback quickly and efficiently.

Today I had my first glimpse of the work they have been doing for the last month or so and it's very promising. The texture and colour of the legs and arms of the Voydarkatron are much  closer to how I envisioned them and the shoulders have that 'gravestone' fungus on it that I was so keen to have. The top of the head still needs to be semi-translucent and slimy like a slug, but apart from the that they are progressing well - Can't wait to see more!

Texture development of the CGI Voydarkatron for Henry Bramble short

Tuesday, February 05, 2013

Proto - A Screen South Innovation Short Film

Thought I'd let you know about PROTO one of the four innovation short films commissioned by Screen South in 2011 and the first I believe to be completed. This is the first short film directed by Nick Pittom and I think he's done a great job - Much better than my first film (Drakkon) way back in 1993! Despite our problems with the guy running the show at the time, VERL's animators did a wonderful first class job on the CGI for this short film. You can follow it's progress here or on Facebook or just watch the trailer below.


Saturday, February 02, 2013

First Henry Bramble Screening ...Sort Of

On Friday 8th February, Berlinale 2013 (part for the Berlin Film Festival) is presenting the first official screening of all four Screen South innovation shorts that were commissioned back in 2011 ...The only snag is our film is still not finished! So instead we are presenting our teaser trailer which will still be an interesting experiment in terms of how the audience respond to it. 

Although we missed our deadline for this, we are actually very close to completion with the music currently being composed by the charming and highly talented Evan Jolly (Unfortunately Richard Chester, my regular composer had to drop out due to bigger and probably better paid commitments). Miha Jaramaz is standing by ready to design the Voydarkatron's roars, thumps and squelches, while Ian Macbeth is cleaning up the dialogue, atmos. and adding additional sound design where needed.



We are all now just waiting with baited breath, to see what will come back from the VFX team that DiRoom have pulled together (on a shoe-string budget of just £15,000 - less than half the cost UK major VFX companies were quoting). The VFX work is been completed by no less than ten artists from Pakistan and Dubai. They've been at it for six weeks now and so far I have seen not one pixel. The anxiety is unbearable, but if they pull it off on schedule, not only will we be submitting it to Cannes for its international premiere, Screen South also plan to present another private industry screening at Bafta in early March, so keep your eyes peeled!

Incidentally Annabel Bates (producer) bumped into one of the Sales Agents that we pitched to back in November, who said that Henry Bramble was the only pitch he remembered and was keen to hear it's progress - Always good to hear positive news.