Good Bye 2008, Hello 2009

Well, that’s it another year over and another 12 months to look forward to. 2008 has been a great year for the project and hopefully for everybody involved, I am thrilled by what we have achieved to date, so many locations, so many screenperformers and extras, so much in terms of screenfighting and make-up FX, The Solution is slowly but surely taking shape and becoming a feature film with real scope and production value. In truth credits must go to the team and the many individuals and organisations who have supported us in this journey.

As a film fan, 2008 has been interesting too. Looking at the Top 10 box office:

1 MAMMA MIA! (68.1m); 2 THE DARK KNIGHT(48.2m); 3 QUANTUM OF SOLACE (47.7m); 4 INDIANA JONES AND THE KINGDOM OF THE CRYSTAL SKULL (39.7m); 5 SEX AND THE CITY (26.2m); 6 HANCOCK (24.4m); 7 HIGH SCHOOL MUSICAL 3: SENIOR YEAR (22.4m); 8 WALL-E (22.3m); 9 KUNG FU PANDA (19.6m); 10 IRON MAN (17.1m)

NO I have not seen Sex and The City, all the others yes and High School Musical was only with my daughter on a sunday morning so I didn’t have to pay!

Sad news for any film fans was the departures of Charlton Heston, Sydney Pollack, Arthur C Clarke, Richard Widmark, Heath Ledger, Paul Newman, Roy Scheider, Guillaume Depardieu, Anthony Minghella, Isaac Hayes, Michael Crichton, Stan Winston, and many more… thank you all for your legacy and we will continue to watch those movies.

Good news for all, Danny Boyle’s film Slumdog Millionaire cleans up at the 11th annual BIFAs, more Indie Action films are appearing on the shelves, kick-ass movies are back with Rambo, Transporter 3 (hmm), The Mummy 3, Indiana Jones, HellBoy 2, Iron Man, The Wrestler, Cloverfield, Jumper, Doomsday, Never Back Down, Street Kings, Red Belt, The Dark Knight, Tropic Thunder, Death Race, Babylon AD, RocknRolla, Max Payne, The Spirit, Valkyrie, and many more indeed…

Very best wishes for 2009. As Jaws is one of my favourite movies, I leave you with these words of wisdom from Roy Scheider:

“You read a lot about movies with budgets of $25 to 30 million. Hell, if a studio can piss away that kind of money, why not let ‘em piss on me?”

More free video footage to spice up your films

I came across these two websites, I hope it is useful.

All the best

Paz

http://stockfootageforfree.com/

http://www.detonationfilms.com/

http://www.creative-content.de/de/products/free/free_stuff.htm

http://www.movietools.info/index.php?option=com_weblinks&view=categories&Itemid=16

http://www.movietools.info/index.php?option=com_docman&Itemid=4

http://www.archive.org/details/vj_loops

Free video footage to spice up your film

I came across this great article on The Guardian Online with some pretty good links to really free video footage. The information is repeated below, I already downloaded a couple of video clips that will really spice up the intro sequence of The Solution.

If you know any more good online resources do let me know.

Good luck

Paz

Free stock footage

www.creative.bfi.org.uk/titles

Splice some rare archive black-and-white into your projet

www.video.google.com/nara.html

Everything from marines raising the US flag over Iwo Jima to footage of Nasa test rockets

www.channel4.com/fourdocs/rush

Heaps of free documentary footage

www.open2.net/creativearchive/azlisting.html

How about an aerial shot of cooling towers? Or lorries being x-rayed at customs?

www.teachers.tv/video

Need a doctor’s explanation of particle physics? This is the place

www.spacetelescope.org/videos

Does your sci-fi epic lack shots of Andromeda or black holes?

www.archive.org/details/prelinger

The place to go for footage of a turn-of-the-century striptease, and other equally vital stuff

August 2008 Update

I am sure that when I was a kid August was always baking hot, in fact where I come from in France the afternoon was a time to stay indoors and rest to keep away from the high temperatures outside. Well, let me tell you global warming or no global warming summers just ain’t the same no more!

August was always to be a shorter month with summer holidays and all that but as ever the hard working crew managed to fit a lot of filming.

One of the highlights was meeting up at Knoll’s house (now fully furnished and decorated!) on the 8th of August for a catch-up on The Solution and hear more about Paul’s film project. The team had worked hard for many months and had not had the chance to see much of the footage, so as a special ’suurpreese’ I presented a long trailer showcasing most of the locations and fight scenes captured so far. Ehehe the reaction was extremely positive to say the least and everybody had a big smile on their faces… job done!

Next up was the presentation from Paul of his movie concept. After handing out copy of the impressive 47-page treatment to all present, an animated script reading session followed during which Paul transported us into his universe which could be described as ‘Constantine meets The Warriors’. It was a very enjoyable experience for all of us and certainly a welcome break for me as I could let myself be entertained by strong visual statements and engaging characters. Watch this space for more news on this project.

The following day (Saturday 9 August) it was back at the Coop Centre, our previous attempts to film our heroes entering the building had been stopped by the bloody rain so I was determined to nail the sequence once and for all. As ever everybody worked hard and we completed all the footage I had in mind including some essential linking scenes which will make a big difference to The Solution, so well done to the team for their hard work and dedication.

         

         

Foolishly thinking that the nice weather would continue (was it ever there?) we were out on Sunday to film the section we call ‘Badlands’, essentially a series of shots with our three heroes walking across key North East sceneries and landmarks. Well, we probably spent more time waiting for the sun to appear from behind the clouds or hiding from the rain… or trying to get Jake to walk properly as he’d hurt his ankle in a stupid skateboarding accident. Still patience did pay off and we got some great shots, although I seem to only remember the doubtful jokes from Ste and Knoll…

         

Next was a trip to France for a well deserved break wich was made all the more enjoyable as Paul and his family joined us for a relaxing week in Britanny. Au Revoir!

What happened to July? Part2

Moving on with our July update:

Highlights in terms of filming include the dramatic flashback sequence for Paul’s character Sergeant Stone, shot over two days it was a very demanding experience for Paul who really pushed himself in terms of acting. I was certainly moved when looking at the footage on my computer.

         

         

Still we managed to have fun when filming the car sequence which involved yours truly leaning out of Paul’s car passsenger window and holding the camera upside down, just to see the reactions from other drivers was worth it! The filming took place on the Team Valley Trading Estate in Gateshead and I did have to provide some explanations to the security officers on duty that day.

 

On the 13th of July we filmed the interview between Derek and Maddi respectively TV Reporter Andrew Landers and Virologist Christopher Knight. Once again the ever-resourceful Paul used his personal connections and got us access to the Bio Medical building within Durham University, how perfect!

 

         

         

Two weeks later I did something a bit different and visited the Sunderland Air Show to build up contacts. I was keen to try and add production value to The Solution by getting some involvement from representatives of the armed forces, it paid off and I got some great reactions and positive interest, still need to work out details but looking forward to see how things will progress.

         

That’s it for July, once again my warmest thanks to the team and all our friends for their continued support.

What happened to July? Part 1

No use asking me I was too busy filming and I can prove it:

First up was the 29th of June, we filmed inside Knoll’s house in the morning to capture some excellent dialogue and establish the characters further. We needed a house that was empty for impact and as good luck would have it Knoll is the slowest DIY person I have met so his front room was ideal.

In the afternoon we continued with some simple yet effective action scenes, it was also very interesting to film from three different perspectives. Thanks to Martin and Steve for being such great sport and taking a beating from Paul and Jeff.

So what was next? Well on the 5th of July it was back at the Coop Distribution Centre to complete the final sequence, we needed some more chase sequences and linking shots so we got busy from 14:00 onwards, we were joined by a couple of new people who had seen the great article on the Sunderland Echo Online

We had less extras than last time so people had to double up by wearing different clothes and so on, it was great fun and everybody got their chance for a dramatic death in the hands and feet of Paul and Jeff.

By the time we had completed actions sequences for the three main characters we had to tackle the main combat sequence for Paul’s character Sergeant Stone, now it was past midnight and we had to make a decision, I was happy to stop at that point but to their credit Paul, Maddi and Knoll wanted to continue and we did… until 4:30 in the morning. How brave or stupid, you decide. Still we loved it and the result is outstanding:

Once again well done to everybody, The Solution is getting bigger, bolder and better with each passing week thanks to your hard work and dedication.

What about the savages? Well alright then here is a sneaky sneaky preview of the infected souls:

          

Ehehe… that’s all you get for now, come back soon for more July updates.

12 hour shift for The Solution

Saturday 21 June, the longest day of the year… well it was certainly the case for the crew of The Solution who pulled off a 12-hour shift to film the dramatic final sequence of the movie. Try and picture this a distribution centre so big you could get lost in it, 50 extras… yes FI’TY SAVAGES! and more support than I could have ever dreamed of.

This one was a challenge for the whole team and the guys did a fantastic job, from organising all the extras into teams, sorting out the paperwork, applying make-up special effects to all extras was quite a task and they did it, this also provided an opportunity for Knoll, Maddi and Derek to abuse people which was rather disturbing. We filmed from 3pm till 3am, yep we ain’t scared of nofin’!

     

As crazy as it may sound I think people were on such a high that we kept going. From 3pm till 5pm we filmed the highlight of The Solution when 50 savages chase our three heroes. Some extras had to go home (how wise!) and we continued with a large enough group until 7pm. We then had a welcome break to get some food and plan the rest of the evening.

     

Next up was Jake’s fight sequence which involved a lot of screenfighting with martial artists three times his size (not hard) which we filmed until midnight. Another break and we continued with the ultimate battle between Steve and Jeff which we finished around 2am. A couple of pick up shots with Jake and Paul for good measures and when we went back to our cars we could the sunlight piercing the dark skies. Mad or what?!

     

Many thanks and many congratulations to everybody who worked so hard to make the day so enjoyable. The Solution is turning into an outstanding film thanks to the generosity and commitment of so many people. The footage is brilliant and the action very exciting, I just can’t wait to start editing it, the audience is in for a big surprise. What about the savages? Well you will have to come and watch The Solution to find out.

Until next time.

Paz

Discovering the meaning of the magic hour

The 15th of June was always going to be a special shoot, capturing our three heroes crossing a deserted Tyne Bridge at sunrise was always planned as one of the main dramatic sequences of The Solution.

So a big thank you to Paul, Jeff and Jake who got up around 4 o’clock in the morning . Check out the pictures below, of course you will need to come and watch the film to discover the Tyne Bridge as you have never seen it before. We were blessed with the most amazing sunrise turning everything gold and amber, aah the magic hour.

The last twenty minutes of the shoot on the Bridge got pretty eventful as the Police arrived to enquiry about our activities, little did we know that someone representing ‘Fathers for Justice’ had climbed the Tyne Bridge (Fathers Day and all that you see…), so we had spent the last 45 minutes or so filming with a brave chap over our heads. Now I can really imagine what this must have looked like for the police officers: 3 guys dressed in army gear with the ‘Fathers for Justice’ demonstrators floating around… hmm… Still they very kindly allowed us to finish the sequence.

        

Then onwards to the Get Carter Car Park as we affectionately call it, we were very pleased with the sequence we filmed. Are we the last film made at the famous Gateshead Car Park before its demolition? Paul, Jake and Jeff are really getting into their characters and the dialogues are delivered with more confidence, a real treat to watch from behind the camera.

         

It was time to leave the Car Park behind and make our way to the MetroCentre, we had been granted permission to film inside the famous shopping centre between 7am and 8:30am, to say that we were thrilled at the prospect of capturing some dramatic scenes to really surprised our audience is an understatement. And yes, there is a little nod to ‘Dawn of the Dead’ one of the group’s favourite films. I thoroughly enjoyed filming at the MetroCentre and the guys did a fantastic job.

         

After a few establishing shots it was time to get some breakfast, we all felt that we had already put in a full day’s work! Next up was a great sequence in Dunston near the Staiths and it was time to allow our three actors home to celebrate Fathers Day and get some sleep!

The regional landmarks are slowly but surely adding up and the scale and scope of The Solution is growing with each passing week. Preparing for today was a great experience and I have learned a lot about location hunting, obtaining permission, etc. our warmest thanks to Newcastle City Council, Gateshead City Council, MetroCentre Management Team and I suppose Northumbria Police!

Just can’t wait to edit the footage. Thanks for keeping up with our adventures.

You always need a good plan!

We took a day off from filming on the 8th of June, the whole crew met up at Knoll’s who acted as our hostess dressed in his elegant shorts and flip-flops. The aim was to discuss the running order for the 21st of June: with around 30 extras to manage, stunts sequences galore and three major fight scenes to film we sure needed a good plan to ge it right.

The guys were great, we covered everything and everybody had some great ideas.

As a treat we watched the extras from Dawn of the Dead and action scenes from Blade 2 and 3 to look at editing techniques, etc. All good stuff and we all left determined to make the final sequence truly exceptional. Just can’t wait.

Paz

1 June 2008 – What a wash out

Due to adverse weather conditions filming had to be cancelled or… &^%$£ rain!

Still Paul, Maddi and I went to Knoll’s and had a good chat about make-up for the savages, sorting stuff out for the big finale on the 21st of June and change the world of guerilla filmmaking. Knoll and Maddi were in great form and provided good entertainment, the highlight was their demonstration of DIY special effects which had me chuckling all day long.

Better luck next weekend.

Paz