The Difficult Reality of the VFX Industry.

This 30 minute documentary about the demise of the Oscar winning VFX company Rhythm and Hughes is not only a nice touching tribute to the 254 employees who lost their jobs over night, but it is also an important eye-opener to producers, directors and financiers all over the world to consider very carefully.

What I found particularly shocking was that many director's do not regularly oversee the work that it done. As one employer points out, you wouldn't see a film being shot on set without the director present, why is visual effects work any different?

I'm proud to say I lean more towards James Cameron in this respect as I am a little obsessive or maybe possessive over every detail. If I had it my way I'd have daily progress meetings with the vfx team. Let's hope the film industry learn something from this example and find a more ethical business model for all. 

UCLA are developing some incredible VFX tools

Some incredible visual effects research developments happening at UCLA. Just think if you scan all our favourite actors in their prime, we can then feature then cast them in our films forever. Maybe 70 years after his death I can cast Harrison Ford in my films for free!

Official 20th Anniversary Drakkon Movie Poster

The remastering of Drakkon (my first 16mm film) for it's 20th anniversary was funded with the generous support of the Indiegogo community. Having raised 182% of the required funds, I decided to use some of the additional funds towards commissioning a 20th anniversary movie poster. Here is the final poster featuring artwork from the incredibly talented Chicago based illustrator Juan Hugo Martinez.

For more insights into the making of the film feel free to delve into the Drakkon archives at: www.facebook.com/drakkon20th

Drakkon - The Making Of A Fantasy

Well here it is, the definitive behind-the-scenes making of Drakkon, the ambitious epic fantasy short film shot on location at West Burtom falls in North Yorkshire way back in 1993. Having been through the video 8 footage several times to make this new version, 20 year old memories now seem like yesterday. I can literally smell the 1990's.

A big thank you to Shirley Hopkinson, Mike Joslin, Ritchie Wilkinson, Katherine Franks, Simon Franks, Philip Slocombe, Nicola Goss, Oliver Kneesbeck, Vicky Bywater, Gareth Unwin, Chris Eldridge, James Gibson, Isobel Thomas, Laura Anderson, Jim Loomis and Susan Hopkinson for some wonderful memories!

How to get Great Stories from Cheese!

I've been on a creative roll the past couple of weeks, writing the re-imagining of Drakkon - an ambitious, romantic fantasy dragon short. I have already completed a third of the script and this weekend managed to outline the full story, which I have found so exciting, I have barely been able to contain myself.

Ideas for stories often form in the most unusual ways. This story is essentially based on a subconscious amalgamation of cheesy scenes from the 1995 film First Knight with Richard Gere and Julia Ormond. It has some of the most cheesiest scenes I have ever seen (Mostly due to  Richard Gere's over pouting and ridiculously blue eyes), but when played out to Jerry Goldsmith's highly emotional score, something much deeper resonated within me and is what I  have had the urge to express on screen ever since.

So holding that single feeling in my heart, while listening to the extended soundtrack to First Knight, I asked myself what situation could produce this feeling. Inspired by The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo and Game Of Thrones, I gradually built a much darker and far more convincing story around it and I have to confess, I am incredibly excited with what I have come up with.

I hope I have found the right balance of action, fantasy, romance and drama while still providing enough thematic weight to please the critics, but for now, I have to keep surfing on that wave of passion and adrenaline until the script is finished, only then will the truth be told.

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!

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.

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.)

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

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