Raiders Of The Lost Ark in IMAX

What is the point? Went to see it last Tuesday at the Greenwich Odeon and was appalled by the picture quality. How is a film from 1981 shot on 35mm going to look any better in IMAX? The screen was too big, forcing me to sit at the very back of the cinema to get any kind of crisp image. My eyes were straining for the first 20 minutes. There was also some kind of digital buzzing going on where areas of the two projections were not aligning properly. Compared to the wonderful screening of JAWS earlier this year, the experience was very disappointing. I didn't even notice any improvement in the 'digitally restoration' and if anything noticed more faults in the film quality (some grainy shots in south America). I eventually began to enjoy the film in the last half but I have to say it didn't seem that different to watching it on DVD. From a directors point of view I did notice in this viewing how many scenes were covered in just one shot tracking backwards and forwards and left to right with just a few additional cutaways. He also uses shadows extensively throughout the film often saving him from shooting a reverse. I suspect these were all techniques used to speed up the production so he could come in within budget and finish principal photography several days earlier that scheduled.

Outline for Henry Bramble is cracked!

We are pushing forward with the feature film version of this wonderful heart warming story while my imagination is still flowing fast. As a result the development of the project is moving much faster than anyone could have imagined and getting to the truth/heart of the narrative has been extremely rewarding, especially from a personal point of view. 

We are all very excited by its potential to touch audiences around the world with its universal themes and archetypal fairytale structure. With the huge demand for quality family entertainment and new developments in filmmaking technology we have an amazing opportunity to produce a wonderful timeless classic.

However, I have recently been struggling to find time to write over the past few weeks due to various other commitments and as a result I am somewhat behind with my deadline for a first rough draft. However I have managed to come up with a whole story for the film that will easily fill 90 minutes if not more and I have to say I am very pleased with it. 

Obviously I can't say too much, but I can confirm that in the land of Minoitaniga there are two main intelligent species, the Chumninks and the Morlogs. We also have three incredible creatures, the Voydarkatron (featured in the short), a Kabullarak, which is an eight legged crab-like creature that the Morlog's ride and then there are the Terrakite's, a featherless, vulture-like flying beast.  

When I'm writing I often come up with ideas that I realise I have taken from other films, however I do not see this as plagiarism, on the contrary I feel a sense of comfort knowing I have subconsciously recognised an archetypal story pattern. The film has merely a reference for me to become aware of it. 

For example one of the last scenes in the land of Minoitaniga is very similar to the end of Indiana Jones And The Temple Of Doom.  When Indy returns to the village with the stolen Sankara Stone, the land is rich in plant life. The villagers are dressed in bright colours and run to their returning children with open arms and tears of joy - A highly emotional moment helped in contrast to the childless, crop-less, dusty village we saw in the beginning. 

I use the same symbolic references in my film but because it is a fantasy world rather than 1930's India, a school boy instead of an archeologist and a stone instead of imagination, it retains originality and freshness despite using the same archetypal tool.

Getting a career in television drama

Since leaving the National Film & Television School back in 2004 I've been paid a mere total of £6,500 as a professional writer/director for all the work I have done to date. Less than £1000 was for directing. The feature film business is very hard to break into. It's a game of chance where your skills and talents do not necessarily reflect your success and where you rarely get paid.

Having spend too long solely focused in this industry, I have decided to look for directing work in television drama too. It's producing some incredible shows at the moment that suite my style and taste (The Killing, The Bridge, Borgan, Spiral, Wallander, Sherlock, Accused and Luther being some of my favourites). Lets hope those television drama producers like my work enough to let me come and play. What you think?

JAWS - back on the big screen!

I went to see Jaws this afternoon at my local Cineworld for a mere £5.40 instead of the excessive £11 it cost to see Prometheus (which although was visually stunning, was also frustratingly disappointing. It had far too many story flaws for an experienced filmmaker like Scott not to notice, all which could have easy been solved).

It was a sheer pleasure to finally see Jaws on the big screen and looking so clean and crisp. I was only three when it was originally released and it's odd to think I am experiencing a better picture and sound than audiences would have  done back in 1975.

The first half of the film is perfect in its set up, not a frame is wasted, constantly feeding you information that helps build up the enormous pressure Brody is under from residents, the mayor and his family (and this is even before they know they have a genuine shark problem).

I became aware of just how clear cut 'the point of no return' for Brody is. When his kids come too close to being eaten themselves, the shark problem becomes personal for Brody. This is the moment he has to man up, set aside his fears of the water and go and get that son of a bitch once and for all. The momentum and drive built up here is so satisfying.

Having recently become a father I was also surprised how much more upset I was with certain moments in the film. The second victim, a little boy on yellow raft, is harrowing to watch, not so much his attack, but his poor mother who slowly realises her son never made it to the shore. Then later when Brody has just uncovered a shark prank, a girl shouts 'Shark!' He almost dismisses it but then remembering his kids are in the pond we see his reluctant walk turn into a full and desperate run. It is every parents worst fear.

Another amusing but subtle moment I don't remember noticing before is when the three men are relaxing and drinking inside the Orca. Richard Dreyfus and Robert Shaw are revealing to each other their scars. Brody desperately wants to join in and glances down under his shirt at a past injury only to decide it is not impressive enough. It is brilliant storytelling!

Unlike most of the current summer blockbusters, even after 32 years JAWS is still an incredibly satisfying film to watch and well worth the price of even a 3D film ticket.

Voydarkatron is alive!

For the last few months I have been getting weekly updates from VERL, the VFX team up in Dundee, that consist of fairly crude Voydarkatron CGI model animations. I then have to make detailed comments on them in terms of the relevant action for each shot and the believability of the movement. We are finally coming to the end of this part of the process and so I thought I'd show you a short teaser of the way the animated beast moves.

This update was particularly exciting because in this weeks Dropbox VFX file there was a very short clip of an almost fully rendered Voydarlatron with motion blur.

I had no idea it was coming so when the clip opened up and played, I sat up transfixed. In front of me was a creature that actually looked real and blended seamlessly into the back plate we filmed on location.

On closer inspection you can see there are details still to be done, but for a test shot, I hadn't seen anything as exciting since I saw a fully rendered Jar Jar Binks a year before the release of Episode One (except the Voydarkatron will hopefully be received a little more positively by the general public). Unfortunately for you I'm not going to reveal this just yet, but here's a Voydarkatron eye test to wet the appetite.

The Confusing Land Of Minoitaniga

I was beginning to get concerned that I may be suffering from writer's block as I was struggling to come up with the main story for the imaginary world of Minotaniga (in terms of tying everything up while abiding by the rules of fairytales) and had a lot of unanswered questions to solve. For example who is Maliglut (the Darth Vader of the film), what does he want, why does he need it and why does he want to destroy Henry?

The difficulty was that the answers had to have a duel purpose and resonate in the real world as well. However with a bit of research leaning towards a few steampunk influences and some common sense, I came to the conclusion that Maliglut has stolen the sacred liquid crystal from the Guardians of Minoitaniga, which will allow him to see into the future.

However when Henry arrives in Minoitaniga Maliglut's vision into the future is blocked. The only way to unblock it, is to destroy Henry. Unfortunately Henry needs to get the liquid crystal off Maliglut in order to save the Guardians of Minoitaniga who will then give him the Voydarkatron blood to cure his Great Uncle Geoffrey's writer's block.

Following me okay? No I didn't think so. Rest assured it will all make perfect sense soon enough!

Script Consultant, Philosopher & Psychologist.

I had a really enjoyable, rewarding and life affirming meeting today with Britt Harrison and my producers. We met up to discuss the feature length version of The Infectious Imagination Of Henry Bramble and to iron out any noticeable issues with my developing ideas for the film before they did any serious damage.

I have worked with several script editors over the years, but Britt is the first one to really delve deep into the writer's life in order to find the clues that will solve the story issues and clarify the writer's intentions. In doing so she helps you focus your ideas so that you can write the story you want to write. Too often script editors find solutions to make the story work without finding out first why the writer wants to write this particular story.

I am confident that I now know what I am writing and why. They say 'always write from the heart' and it appears I have done exactly that. I can't believe how personal this story is to me and that subconsciously I have managed to write so much of it with such clarity and truth. The session was so intense and exhilarating that I barely noticed that I was suffering from a heavy cold.

I have thus been set a ridiculous challenge - to complete a first exploratory draft screenplay by the 21 July 2012 (my Wedding Day). Can it be done? Well I never thought I could shoot the short in 3 days, so never say never! ...gulp!

Britt's incredibly useful 'story map' created during our discussions.

Selected for the Creative Business Base

I am pleased to announce that my creative team from Henry Bramble (Myself, Charlotte Wontner and Annabel Bates) have been offered a place on a free six month creative and business development programme devised by Screen South, Maidstone Studios, Peter Jones Academy and Amersham & Wycombe College. The programme will cover subjects including:

• Script and Project Development 
• Legals and contracts 
• Entrepreneurial mind-set and skills 
• Planning and Pitching 
• Creative Business - planning and development 
• Sources of Funding and Finance 
• Single project and Business Investments 
• Ways to market (Traditional vs. new media including social networks) 
• Sales Distribution Exhibition – what are they looking for? 
• Working with the global markets UK and International 
• Understanding exploitation potentials of projects (IP) 
• Use of new medias and IP 
• E-marketing and promotion

Over the next six months there will be fortnightly seminars, master classes, continuing script development, bespoke one to one meetings and training days, with daily access to hot desks, phones, internet and a meeting space at The Maidstone Studios. The programme concludes with all 8 teams pitching both their projects and businesses in London with top industry financiers, producers and business angels.

Sounds a bit like The Big Pitch all over again, except there will be no audience vote to stop us this time!

The Clues to a Great Story

Found a another great TED talk on storytelling by Andrew Stanton (Finding Nemo, Wall-E). 

Prometheus has all the signs of a modern cinema classic

I'm growing more and more excited about Ridley Scott's 2012 prequel to his 1979 sci-fi horror classic Alien. It stars two of my favourite actors, Noomi Rapace who played the original 'Girl with the Dragon Tattoo' and Idris Elba from the BBC's excellent crime drama Luthor.

From the trailers it appears that Ridley has managed to successfully create an original new angle on the franchise while still retaining the feel and atmosphere of the original. If he succeeds then he will have thankfully disassociated it's previous disjointed sequels while at the same time reinforcing his original vision.

This is the perfect kind of film to utilise 3D technology as an additional storytelling tool to create a more immersive cinematic experience and I am sure Prometheus will be a breathtaking journey, sitting beautifully alongside his original classic.