28 days later feature film challenge

Guerrilla 3d Film Festival 2011

2010-12-22T09:38:00.000-08:00

Launched the Guerrilla 3d film festival online today , i started the 3d film festival in 2009 but couldnt find a cinema in london to screen 3d without nightmares

now we have loads to screen the films , now looking for a venue over xmas and jan

28 days feature film challenge may still happen in 2011

Where getting closer to the Alien landing !!

2010-02-23T15:15:00.001-08:00

day 23 : in the big bother house !
We have been doing loads of little bits for the movie inc folly sound effects and other stuff
inc bits missing from the movie to help people get where where going , its not easy but
we have a good teams onboard ed have done loads of cgi animation work over the last few days
and gary is just unreal , his 4d cinema stuff is really cool talented guy , pete has set up some interviews over the next few days of shooting and has sat in with gary to sort out the documentary side of the movie , which is looking great
nick has been hard at work with stills and taking his clothes off even when we dont ask him
and dom has been amazing help behind the scenes as well as emma for costumes and tea !
its going to be tight but we have a movie to edit now and gary and ed are hard at work putting the finishing touches to the graffics , me and dom are shooting the band on thursday at some
venue in hollyway road two camera set up , its a band with some cool friend of mine called luke nugent his given us one of his tracks for the movie and we said we would edit them a movie style
pop video for their band for their help so thursday where just shooting the band footage to ad the music later with scenes from our movie , they have a huge student following so thats cool
where also been interviewing marc price director of the £45 zombie feature colin to be a cameo in our film , we also have a following of star trek fans behind the movie now which is really fun
they where amazing in our movie and they broke the guiness book of records for the most trek fans in one movie ours , next week ill be uploading the films onto our secret dailymotion website for the judges to view the films , once the winner is picked it will be anounced and all the films will be screened after the 13th March on dailymotion for the world to see & festivals to screen
where also visiting elstree studios to meet SFX magazine for an article on our movie next week and some of the other judges to view everyones films , we have just been offered a screening on the 20th march in LA NYC & LDN three cinemas at the same time for our feature
where also looking at screening the winning film in LA and NYC as well with our movie,
if we get it finished in time .... no i have faith in my team they are amazing and hopefully where team up after this movie and make another over 28 weeks instead !!

Alien Attacks london !! one week to go to deadline

2010-02-21T04:38:00.000-08:00

One week to go and its all guns blazzing as we get the final bits together for the movie
we have a music track from a friends band for one of the trailers and our composer is writing stuff for bits of the movie which i cant wait to hear , gary has been hard at work designing aliens and offlining all the footage , also ed has done some more robot stuff which i cant wait to see
sorting out all the credits and press releases and leeking stills from the movie
be so cool to have a fan base for the movie maybe later !!
tomo is when all things really kick into gear as its one week to the deadline
imdb need a release date for the feature so we have to get it done whatever it take buy the 28th 12:00 noon even thou where not in comp if the other teams have to do it so will we
i though by taking part it would inspire the other teams it is possible to make a complete feature film in 28 days i know no it was really hard work more than my other movie dark hunter
which we shot in 6 weekends and took 3 months of editing , feb weather has not helped anyone out most teams told me they had so many nightmares with the weather and not being able to shoot outdoors as much as they wanted but they got it done and adapted to the challenge
cant wait to see how many teams we get at the end ive only heard from about 5 so its not looking good for the other 15 teams just hope we get at least 10 to really make some noice in the british film industry and maybe inspireothers with team work anything is possible

Capital & broadcast show

2010-02-20T12:24:00.000-08:00

Tuesday the team went to Earls court broadcast show to really upset ourselves and look at kit we could only dream about inc two red cameras set up for 3D !! we went to meet ARRI GB to test their new 4 k HD camera for part of our movie , things look good and we hope to go visit ARRI in the following week , Sat: Gary pete & Nick worked on editing some of the footage we all shot into some kind of rough edit today as i looked through rushes we have shot , i need to get the credits wrote up and over to gary , Thursday : Capital was great fun it was small but it wored really well, and all thanks to pete for getting the studio at the last min which was really cool so he could shoot the radio broadcast interview (like spinal tap) we also shot some other scenes in Great tichfield street as well we needed , its getting close to the deadline only 7 days and im worried a bit we dont have enough footage for the movie ,but pete nick and gary are very talented guys who will make it work whatever it takes and ed who has done some amazing Robot scenes
to many things to do and not enough time to get them all done but its coming together
we have loads to do this week our composer has some music and i have to chase up a few bands for some music for the main movie trailer
Broadcast show was great but not enough time but we got the shots we needed
also the radio stuff worked and all the cut aways so where getting there
we just need a few celebs to say yes to cameo in the movie and ill be happy

the day the robot took over london

2010-02-19T03:43:00.000-08:00

We have only a few days of filming before a week of post production
where at capital radio today to do our interview on the movie
we also need to shoot cut aways and more interviews for the movie
as well as ad music to the rough cut so its ready for the 28th
we have loads to do and only a week to do it but my team are amazing
where get it done whatever it takes , sat we start to edit all the best bits together
and set the tone for the movie , the poor composer has his work cut out for it
we have some amazing shots but we need to finish all the cgi and effects for the 1st edit
if we have 60 mins where be pushing it !!

getaway killer robots in beckenham kent !!

2010-02-17T16:22:00.001-08:00

2 Z1 camera a metal robot and a wooly hat with holes cut in it ?
today we had to get all the shots in the can for the main part of the movie
the getaway and the unvailing of the robot as well as production meeting
and garys fund raising ideas , all shot in three hours with me gary pete and ed
hard drive heaven today i bought a 1 terbit hard drive so i can capture all the footage
and view as much as possible to get an idea of what we need to shoot next
story board would of been a really good idea !!
we shot some of the funnest scenes in the film so far today
if we get close to the spinal tap meets the office meets ed wood ive done it
my team of talented people is key to this working we have invented out own oddball cam for less that £30 quid and it works and 35mm adapter for a xdcam camera for our movie
not by choice but cos we didnt have the money to go and hire or buy one
but we know what we want it to look like so we created our own equipment so we could
get the shots we wanted for our movie , we have an animator and a creative editor (cgi animator)
also pete documentary film maker , nick sound and casting dom & nick stills photograhers
emma costumes and camera op straight curve for their workshops and studio in beckenham
and all the other talented people helping out , we have kept the crew small so we can get the movie made , logistics is key to your movie nothing else is important
no cst no film no camera no film its that easy , everyone is important from the runner to the editor to the lead actors to the director & Producer to the person helping us promote the movie
by word n mouth , we hope star trek fans wanna see it star wars fans guerrilla film makers and Americans , i know british movie but without getting it to the USA or cannes we may as well put the film on dvd and put it in the charity shop as could of been big in the uk
we have screenings lined up in LA NYC and Cannes when the movie is done
its not about is people like it or not and its not about the money its about just making a feature film with some really cool people with no Egos just passion to help make it work
for once i have got a great team of people i really trust to make this work

Broadcast show blagging

2010-02-17T01:56:00.000-08:00

Weekend of filmmaking has been amazing we got all the shots we wanted and more at a cost of
a few mini dv tapes and fuel to get to the locations , other than that we did really well
got all the the shoots we needed also meet another team when we where filming which was amazing , tuesday we went to the broadcast show and got some other shots for the movie
also blagged some equipment for the shoot and ended up shooting a interview in capital radio studios amazing few days of filming , today we have a few other shots to do
we only have one more week to get all the shots we need meet arri who said they would offer help for free and steadycam and sony cool people
meet tamer hassan from the buisness who said if his free he would cameo in our movie
which would be amazing , will keep you all posted

Day 13 , WW2 battle scenes for the movie

2010-02-13T12:59:00.000-08:00

Day 13 , WW2 battle scenes for the movie , day started off cold and late to meet danny butler
we set off with gib and Z1 camera costumes and other stuff we needed for the shoot
you always forget something we forgot some stuff but we didnt need it we improvised
and used what we had , we arrived in sittingbourne about 10: 30 and meet gary and nick there and drove to the location , a farm a friend of ours owns
we arrived and got the gib out and set to work moving the american army jeeps trucks & harleys
plus getting everyone ready in American costume for the shoot , we set up the shot and got a few ideas down , i had the whole thing in my head but i had to explain to everyone what we where doing , the land owner asked if his little girl could be in the film ? so i made a shot for her in the movie
as a witness to the alien ship and where the alien was ? it worked really well we got the shot
then set up the shot of the americans heading over to the barn where the alien was last seen
it was perfect , just then the land owner asked if we wanted any pyros or smoke granades which was amazing see what happens when you help someone out
it was great really didnt expect that now i had the sequence i wanted the army attack the shed where the alien is hiding ! we shot the scene from every angle over five times with three camera set up , cant wait to see the footage gave it to gary to digitize for editing next week
sunday in london where shooting the biggest scenes with over 200 extras !!

SFX day & looking at footage from filming

2010-02-11T15:08:00.000-08:00

chilled out day going though 5 tapes of footage from the last few days of shooting , setting up scenes for this weekend which will be good fun logistics and planning is key to this working , not sure about sunday only got 20 actors for the shot we need
could be good but need more actors for sunday .. where all meeting at the imax cinema waterloo sunday 14th 10:30am hopefully more people will turn up

shooting comic book artist

2010-02-10T17:25:00.001-08:00

Shot some stuff with hu jay comic book artist for art you grew up with
looked stunning his robot artwork was amazing stuff , meet up with an old friend
sam he works in LA i asked him to screen the winning film in LA and he said sure they love british feature films so where see what happens zero budget film festival have premier screening of my feature film which is not in competition in the 28 days challenge as its unfair , plus im making a feature to show teams what can be done in 28 days and at the same time really have fun doing it with out egos and wannabes
so fed up with that since dark hunter wannabe directors who i casted as actors playing directors , long story lession learned the hard way never give your movie over to anyone to edit without you there and dont give them the master tapes another no no i learned , i trust all me cast n crew on this feature film as they are doing for the sake of just going for it and being let loose to be as creative as they can around their day jobs within the 28 days time frame , without a good team around you who trust you , who really belive in your vision you can never get the movie made without all of them , if it dosnt sell or get screenings so what it was the exp and fun making the movie & team work worth more to me , i have some dear friends onbaord my movie and talented people behind the scenes who love this idea
just got to keep it going and get it finished in time , cant wait to see the other teams films

workingwith small things in your hand !

2010-02-10T03:25:00.001-08:00

day 9 of the feature film and where getting stuff done which is amazing with all this crap weather i hope other teams get some good weather , not the best time to do a challenge thinking about it now but i think it will pan out and its a good start for the year cos when the better weather comes in you dont wanna be indoors editing in a dark room when everyone is sitting outside in the sun , we shot some really bad spaceship model shots on string which looked really crap but we didnt have time to do it any better as we had to get as many shots done as possible in the shortest time as it was getting late and the studio was really cold until we put the studio lights on , milk was off and we had black tea , hardships of guerrilla film making , it was an amazing studio loads of toy cars and really nice layout , idd love that to be my office oneday or something like that !!
we got to work with the smoke machine and our robot shot coming out of the ground and it worked so well looked amazing , got all the shots and all i wanted was to get in a hot warm car man i must be getting old !! , today where shooting an interview of our consept artist for the movie hu jay from art you grew up with and then my friend sam from NYC is here in the uk eh created ukscreen he wants to meet me for a chat about screening our movie in the USA as our distubutor !

location hunting for next weeks battle scenes

2010-02-09T03:03:00.001-08:00

one week down and we have about 20mins of the feature film shot and editied where working on the CGI this week and all the other stuff for the green screen stuff , nick knocked the film maker magazine up and where looking to do others over this week , yesterday we went to maidstone to look at a few locations for the weekends battle scenes for the movie , logistics is key and planning its like an invation in someones village ww2 jeeps trucks tanks etc and troops , where also looking to shoot some crowd scenes this sunday in waterloo which we need at least 50+ actors for the role of running away from the 50ft robot which is inviable !
waiting for confirmation on the warehouse we got offerd for shooting some scenes today , if not ill link up with gary or ed and go over the scenes for sat
be good to see some of the footage so far
got to advertise for actors online now for sunday

day one of the shoot of our feature film

2010-02-07T14:32:00.000-08:00

We started sat evening with me trying to find actors and actress last min one guy who was following us on twitter asked to be an actor on our film , so i said if you can get the beckenham for 10am your in the movie , 2nd was the actress a friend who worked on a zombie film in the zombie 48 hour film challenge asked to be in the movie 11pm that night , i said it your free sunday your in the movie
the following morning i got a lift off ed to the set where gary and pete where waiting , we get into the building and my mobile battery is dead which has the cope for the door , the owner then says he only knows the number by doing ti could i send him a picture of the door lock so he can help !! ed had the idea to take my sim from the dead phone and put it in another phone , it worked and we got the door open
next two hours spent setting up the green screen for filming , an actor arrives at station this is alex my main actor ive never meet or seen so i have no idea what he looks like ?? nick goes to collect him his got a cap ? moments later nick arrive back with a girl with a cap and says was it a male or female he was collecting !!
luck has it , she was our main actress an hour early , nick then went back to get our main actor alex still standing at the station ! nick arrives and he looks the part for the movie and my actress is really cool but gothic but cool not supermodel acress perfect for the part i couldnt of cast better actors in 8 hours any better!
The shoot was amazing spent most of the time thinking what shots i needed but having exp creative people onboard was really useful like ed the animator and his worked with green screen with his short animation films so he was so useful gary is an exp avid editor so he was editing the shots as soon as we could upload them to his mac
amazing not having tapes and using cards from the computer
the shoot was amamzing we got almost all the shots we needed really cool
it was like making dark hunter all over again but indoors
gary and carl are working on the cgi for the movie cant wait to see what they will come up with also nick whos going to design some more artwork , we have to shoot me and garys junkets now

28 days later feature film challenge 3 days to go

2010-01-27T16:23:00.000-08:00

<< my production team (to many hands on !)

thursday : spent most of the morning on the mobile texting and calling people about the event
then ran out of credit , ICA are really excited about the event
spoke to sam about screening the trailers at the ritzy cinema & maybe the winning movie
tracked down a t shirt sponsor last min waiting on them making a few event t shirts for everyone
paying for the venue is the most important , we have 8 teams signed up so far and still with 3 days to go before the event , so the entry funds will sort out the screening fee
http://www.heyuguys.co.uk winners of the new comer movie blog by total film
said they will suport us as media sponsors , waiting press release from them
spent most of the rest of the day writing up titles and storys for the challenge
i wrote them with ed hartwell and gary scullion and where working on making them all as good as each other as we will be picking a random title like everyone else on monday so they have to be all good titles and easy to understand storys
thinking now this could be amazing to get almost ten feature films made in 28 days
ok its for fun and the movies are b movies but i think its great there is loads of talented people who just wanna stop making shorts and really go for it and make a feature whatever it turns out like , its about being called a feature film makers in years to come instead of a short film maker
where hoping to get all the features on IMDB for all the teams after the event
and into at least a few film festivals in the following months
(films to get you in the mood for the challenge)
ed wood tim burton
it came from out of space
the day the earth stood still
mars attacks
zombie dawn of the dead
El mararchi (original cut)
American Movie
Spinal tap
monty python & meaning of life
or any 70s b movie horror / sci fi

6 days to the challenge

2010-01-26T12:12:00.000-08:00

Today went to meet ed and gary to go over titles for the challenge and the storys for the titles
and we had some mad titles come up , so we have almost 15 titles and storys so far
it the after noon i went to soho to meet award winning online bloggers
http://www.heyyouguys.co.uk
they have offered to be our media sponsors for our press releases
they will also help find us judges , meet Mark Kermod today in soho square
and gave him my card to look at our event
nice guy , he would be amazing to be one of our judges !!

we also have a t shirt sponsor onboard so the event may get some event t shirts for everyone
will see how it goes
we had another team sign up today for the event
we now have 5 teams for the event which is amazing
writing up the titles and storys tonight and looking to edit a trailer for the event
catch up tomo
oddball

28 days later (7 days to the event)

2010-01-25T02:20:00.000-08:00

7 days before the challenge and we have 3 teams signed up , was looking on shooting people
and saw fringe feastival london who i meet are doing a 48 hr short film challenge in feb ?
this could be a nightmare for the event as 48 hours is quicker than 28 days so ill see what happens
i thought these guys wanted me to help them run the event and they turn up and do one themselves without me ? but what the hell its another event to create more films which is always good , was up late creating titles for the 28 days event so its all looking good ,
will have to brain storm the titles with some of the other guys behind the challenge
the idea to make it simple and fun is the most important , also getting sponsors and venues to screen the completed films
the only thing im worried about is getting too many teams or not enough
advertising the event is hard im trying to use all the places and my database ive used before
idd be happy with 3 teams for the event (thats three movies the event has produced !!)
going to meet gary scullion and ed hartwell today my team members on my feature entry
not in compertition where just doing it for fun
be great to keep a diary of the making of the movie step by step as we make the movie !!