Welcome to Action Cinema Talents and Ideas Factory

 ‘A great pleasure in life is doing what people say you cannot do.’ Walter Gagehot.

Welcome to our blog. We love action adventure movies and a bit more than 2 years ago we decided to embark in our own filmmaking projects. Driven by passion, real talent and a fair amount of insanity these are our stories…

    

The intention is for our records to be used as resource and information for the crew behind Land of the Kami and The Solution as well as fellow film makers and martial artists out there.

LATEST UPDATE:

The Solution - Principal photography completed, post-production in progress. Check out posts below for full update. Great article on the Sunderland Echo Online.

 Land of the Kami is completed and seeking distribution. For more info visit the Journal Live website. Hope you saw the feature on ITV News!

Behind the Scenes pictures now available – click here to watch slideshow (1.48MB). or even better click here to view it on YouTube with music.

Watch Land of the Kami Trailer on YouTube.

Enjoy.

Pascal

First light at St Marys Lighthouse

Pascal The Director on set at St Marys Lighthouse

Back in early 2008 when I wrote the treatment for The Solution I dreamt up this dramatic sequence at St Marys Lighthouse, one of my favourite spots on the Northumberland Coast. Of course I also wrote that it would take place at sunrise, it felt so magical and visually exciting on paper…

Well, in reality getting up just before 4am  is not much fun but on the 30th of May it was all worth it and truly hope that the rest of the gang shared that view. Everybody worked so hard (to keep their eyes open), time was an issue as we had both the rising tide and the rising sun to take into account, both the lack of continuity and the lack of dry land was going to make things rather interesting!

In jst a few hours we squeezed in action scenes (well Jake running about!), drama, dialogues, manly hugs, and lit up flares for effects. Jeff did his thing and had this scene coordinated with coastguards and local police. What a way to bring this project to an end. Definitely one of my best memories of this project.

   

Next up, you’ve guessed it, breakfast time! So around 9am we all piled into the local Morrisons for a gigantic full English Breakfast each.

Once the bellies were full we headed to The Fabriam Centre where a great friend of the project, David Ward from Aligned Solutions,  had organised for us to film in the sumptuous reception area of this great building. It will all make sense when you see the film, honest!

We completed filming at midday, which may seem a short day for us but then again with the all crew being up since 03ish in the morning, it had been a full day already. Plus we needed to keep our strength for the last day of filming only a few hours away…

Until next time…

And one year on… back in the garden

Another fun day for Cailtin on the set of The Solution

One year and one week later… and we are still working hard on ‘The Solution’. The team was in good spirits today (well I fed them well… learned that trick quite early on) and we were back at Whickham Gardens to complete a gory scene we filmed late last year… As you would expect the location had changed, the light was different (it was sunny!) and Jake had the shortest hair cut ever inflicted on a human being!

Getting the framing right to hide all the above was an absolute nightmare, but in the end we got some good footage including some great exchanges between Shepherd and  Stone.

We also completed my wife and daughter’s death scenes with some great help from Maddi and Knoll who brought in much humour, cheap fake blood and saliva-enhanced makeup to the party.

Once again we are extremely grateful to David Peacock and his wonderful hospitality. Third time at Whickam Gardens and it is always a great experience.

         

 

Until next time…

Blood, guts and chopped tomatoes…

Although the end of principal photography is fast approaching (honest!) I was keen to keep challenging Knoll and Maddi, our Make-Up Special FX geniuses. After their great tour de force for ‘The Experiment’ scene at Hoults Yard they were more than ready for today’s challenge (pronounced ’shallunge’ a la Inspector Clouseau).

A few weeks back I had described to them a scene entitled ‘The Lost Souls’ which was to depict the breakdown in morality as some of the soldiers who had survived the infection torture one of the savages.

Let the fun begin

An outdoor location was important so we chose Kepier Woods where we had filmed Land of the Kami a couple of years ago (already!). A mixture of nostalgia and convenience led us back to the woods, although the wild garlic remained a major issue for Paul and I. Next up was finding screenperformers happy to play ‘eveel’ soldiers and I am so glad that my work colleagues James, Liz and Kate stepped in. For the savage Tristan volunteered (did he?) and for the second time this month made a great contribution to the project, not to mention bringing the outfits and guns which made a big difference to the whole scene. Paul had the luxury of a day-off and focussed on the physical expressions and use of space for all 4 performers.

So it was up to Knoll and Maddi to share with us their vision and how they wanted to present their make-up fx.

To say their minds are particularly twisted would be an understatement, from urinating, stabbing, shooting in the head, blood bursting, vomiting, brain dripping, it was all there in one sick exciting sequence… just can’t wait to edit this one.

                  

Thanks to James, Liz, Kate, Tristan, Paul, Maddi and Knoll for a great day. See you at the Premiere.

Raising our game…

There have been many highlights in this project; looking back at the many locations, support from professionals, numerous extras, make-up special effects, fight scenes and dedication of the core production team, I still shake my head in amazement thinking ‘how did we get so lucky?’.

 

I do not have the full answer but I do know that The Solution is produced with a lot of commitment and heart which seems to attract the right level of positive attention. Add onto that a great deal of networking and something magical seems to happen.

Brendan Healy, Tracy Gillman, Pascal Fintoni

Today we were blessed with this generosity and heart that characterise our region. As part of our journey into filmmaking I was keen to work with local actors, with this in mind I had dreamt up a prologue and epilogue for The Solution. With the help of my good friend Graham Hill we managed to convince Brendan Healy and Tracy Gillman to spend a day with us and deliver the opening and closing sequences for the film. Their names will be familiar to some of you due to their extensive TV and Theatre work, check out the web for more info.

The same generous spirit meant that we also had access to a great location courtesy of Ravensworth Properties Development. A splendid warehouse all to ourselves for the weekend, what more could we wish for?

What a Team, from left to right: Derek, Pascal, Graham, Knoll, Maddi, Paul.

As the saying goes ‘pictures’ speak louder than words so I shall leave with some great photos from a very enjoyable shoot for all.

Our warmest thanks to Brendan and Tracy for supporting the project, to Graham for the videography and sound, to Knoll and Maddi for make-up and electricity, to Jules for organising the catering with some help from Denise, to Paul for the great fight choreography, to Rob and Paul for great screenfighting performances, to Geoff at Ravensworth Properties for access to the warehouse, to all our friends and supporters present on the day… yep, filming does take some organising!

       

   

   

   

   

   

The Truth is out there

…or under there as the location for our latest filming day would suggest. A wonderfully grim and damp basement in the heart of Hoults Yard.

 This sequence was designed entirely by Knoll and Maddi, our resident make-up FX maestros. I gave them a brief description some time ago and they brought in their own vision and twisted minds! The aim was to share with the audience the evil deeds of the scientists working on creating the perfect virus.

Following a slight problem, as in our screen performers not turning up (never happened before) – which are the realities of guerilla filmmaking, the team went in creative overdrive and organised the shoot in no time. The perfect combination of location, light, props, costumes and make-up fx was achieved and hopefully the pictures will speak for themselves.

              

From my point of view, this scene was a turning point as to date we had only filmed our heroes in action and we hadn’t tackled the other side of the equation, in other words the evil (pronounced eeveel) scientists and government representatives responsible for all this mess.

   

A special mention to Paul, Tristan and Kirsty for stepping in at the last minute and pulling off a great performance.

Until next time…

Looking Back…

One thing I have learnt about making films guerilla style is to always look ahead, continue to push, forever believing that things will sort themselves out and that solutions will present themselves… and to never look back.

However I am going to break this rule, although already well into 2009 I still have fond memories of the extraordinary amount of work delivered by the team and events I witnessed across Autum and Winter 2008. With an awful summer in terms of weather, there were a lot of scenes to fit in before the end of the year.

First up, more Badlands scenes shot from Tow Law in Teesdale to North Shields in Tyne & Wear on the 21st and 28th of September.

     

Capturing empty streets and vacant buildings in urban areas is never easy, but a fair amount of luck and cheekyness worked for us. This was not to everybody’s taste and I still remember how upset a local resident was to see the ‘quarantine’ tape across some the buildings – well they say only truth hurts!

     

On the 4th of October Paul and I were invited to joing Mark Strange near his home town to help out on the creation of his own showreel. Meeting the nicest guy around and the potential for learning was too good to miss. We ended up in an old rubber factory and had a lovely day. It was great to see Mark, Chee, Fidel and many familiar faces again, the last time was at the premiere of Underground. Seeing a full production team in action was very interesting and I even got a small part in one of the short films (well I think you can see my left hand!). Paul and I helped out and got our hands dirty (literally) and join the rest of the team for a well deserved bevvy at the end of the day – we had the opportunity to show the concept trailer of The Solution which was well received by Mark Strange and Fidel who gave us some good advice to take our project forward. We would have loved to stay longer with the guys but we had to be up early the next day for filming.

     

So, next was the very cold yet sunny Sunday 5 2008, if the date is familiar to you it is because you may have been one of the many thousands of people taking part in the Great North Run. The plan was very simple: get to the Felling Bypass early, wait for the road to be cleared for the event, ask your three actors to walk in the middle of the road and capture the scene to end all scenes. A few things we didn’t plan for: the many BUPA Great North Run signs, the many spectators, the Jazz Band (see below) and the numerous police officers looking at the three hovering actors with suspicion. Once Knoll and I had stopped laughing at Jeff’s panic attack we seized the right moment (it was like the perfect alignment of planets). The Felling Bypass was cleared, spectators kindly moved out of the way and the coppers had better things to do… ACTION! …CUT! …Time for breakfast!

   

Following a doubtful breakfast at the local fast food place (I can’t bring myself to use the term restaurant) we continued with more Badlands scenes in and around Washington. Captured a great sequence on the bridge and surrounding areas, plus Knoll and Maddi got a chance to show off their make-up fx skills.

     

As we had an early start everybody got to go home early, alas a perfect day was spoiled by local vandals who covered Jeff’s car with drawings and words that could only be described as juvenile and quite inappropriate. If you recognise the hand writing or drawing style please contact us:

 

No rest for the wicked and the following weekend was the filming of Jake’s Flashback on the 12th of October. Each character has a flashback sequence in the film, the idea is to share with the audience some information about their past, the impact of the infection to their lives and perhaps an indication of what might motivate the character throughout the main story. The whole team invaded Jake’s house and I must say I felt a little sorry for Jake’s parents who would have preferred a quiet day no doubt. Although the bad feelings soon vanished with the offer of warm food and comfort, luxury really. Our deepest thanks to Jake and his family for their welcome and well done to Jake’s Dad, Jake’s Sister, Graham and Martin for pulling off a great performance on the day. Special commendation for the make-up FX from Maddi and Knoll.

     

Oddly we seem to be killing all our friends and family in The Solution, all those who have helped us are either one of the savages, or killed by one of the infected or killed by one of the heroes. This was indeed the case when my wife Denise and daughter Caitlin helped us complete a scene at Whickham Gardens. This was the same location we used for the intro sequence in Land of the Kami so it was great to be back. Knoll and Maddi were in charge of make-up FX and did a fantastic job, in fact at first I did not recognise Denise and Caitlin. The temperature was pretty low and despite a sunny start we were soon facing rain and clouds, more work at the editing stage, ah well…

   

Anyway, great laughs, great performances and great deaths with lots of blood, what more could you wish for on a Sunday? Just can’t wait to see this sequence on the big screen. I still wonder what my daughter’s headmaster thought when Cailtin told him ‘Yesterday was fun, my dad’s friend killed me with a big metal stick!’

Next was a long cold winter… watch this space for more looking back posts…

Time to talk again…

There are many challenges when developing an action film, not only do you have to deal with all the practical issues and the various unforeseen events coming your way but you have to make sure that the right balance between action and character development is achieved.

Easier said than done believe me. I have spent the last 12 months scrutinising the script and character journeys to ensure that we got it right. I am thankful for the contribution from the actors and the production crew who time and time again came up with great suggestions.

Dialogues are not easy to write and I find that it takes about three to four drafts before I nearly feel happy with the end results. The winning formula is to create a platform for character development, share information with the audience and keep the story moving, all three at the same time, yep this is not easy.

The real test is when your screenperformers start reading and acting/reacting to the dialogue, this is an opportunity to make final changes. Sometimes your favourite lines simply don’t work, other times the most innocuous phrase becomes key.

          

This was very much the case when we filmed the second part of the briefing at a farm near Nevilles Cross in Durham. Our host very kindly gave us access to a barn for the day which providing us with a perfect location to complete the essential briefing from Special Agent Sherpherd.

Although it was officially spring it was really cold, cloudy and windy which really made it harder for Paul, Jeff and Jake, still they soldiered on and nailed the dramatic dialogue. Once again the whole day was made easier with help from Knoll and Maddi although I can’t be sure I agree with German biscuits being brought on set.

         

Following  the advice from Graham Hill at Rock Art Creative Media, our dedicated DP, we set the lights outside the windows to give the appearance of sunlight, the result was pretty good actually.

A challenging but rewarding shoot for everybody and I am sure that once home  we all rushed for a hot bath and a well deserved rest… for now.

Our thanks to Tricia and Trevor from Baxter Wood Farm for their kind hospitality. Baxter Wood Farm – www.baxterwood.co.uk – Crossgate Moor, Durham, DH1 4TG.

 

Until next time…

Time to Talk…

A combination of careful planning and complete fate meant that the more complex dialogues were kept for much later in the project. The rationale is that the actors would be really into their characters and could use the time to recover from injuries!

Today we filmed a key sequence for the film (aren’t they all!) where we see our three heroes opening The Solution.. oh yes! One the warehouses at Hoults Yard providing us with a perfect location.Jeff as Special Agent Shepherd had a lot of lines to go through, bless his cotton army socks, his conversation with Sergeant Stone reveals a lot about the source of the virus, the unsavoury work from scientists and government and the purpose of their mission.

Not easy at all and I did push hard on the acting, sorry…  As ever the whole group worked hard together and pulled it off, although I had to change the script for Jeff and remove the city of Birmingham!  Following a great performance for all three actors came the piece de resistance… oh oui! Maddi and Knoll had created a special visual effects for the opening of the anti-virus which completely blew me away… worthy of most sci-fi films I have seen. Well done guys!

Until next time…

Out of the cage, into the fire…

Today was the ‘when Shepherd meets Stone’ scene, one of the main flashback scenes which will be featured during Special Agent Sherpherd’s briefing with The Commander…

Our new location was Hoults Yard which is fast becoming THE place for filmmakers and media professionals (it is also soon to become the new home for Northern Film and Media). The old pot factory – owned by the French all those years – become our set for the day, I felt it was quite appropriate really.

As ever we got really lucky with the location, ancient rooms, strange signs, big wooden doors, cage lift and great lighting courtesy of Graham Hill from Rock Art Creative Media who also doubled up as official photographer.

As they say pictures speak louder than words so I shall stop now and let you enjoy…