New short film coming soon...

Last week I shot a new short film with Sean ("Trapped", "Signing Off", "Skinner") and his brother Ben ("Trapped", "I Am Zombie Man 2") - editing is underway, and so here's a couple of preview screenshots.

The film will be posted up on my YouTube Channel as soon as it's done, which won't be too long.

Obscura (2012)...

This experimental short, about someone who may, or may not be, a Crime Scene Photographer, was inspired in-part by Michelangelo Antonioni's 1966 film Blow-Up, as well as the book Another Way of Telling by John Berger and Jean Mohr.

The main theme of the short is the idea – as proferred by Berger and Mohr – of the clash between the photograph, and the memory of the moment that the photograph resembles, as well as the connection between the camera lens and the human eye.

 

 

The film is pieced together from a variety of disparate fragments of footage and photographs that I have gathered over many years on different formats. In addition to newly shot footage and images, there are pieces of footage originally shot for other projects from years passed by, as well as photographs (and light-sensitive photographs) dating back to 1999. Stylistically the film is a sort of 'visual collage', that combines the new with the re appropriated old, which speaks to further themes of the short – namely the idea of fragmented memory, how a picture is not viewed in the mind's eye as a whole, but rather in individual elements that make up that whole picture. For example – an alleyway is broken down into key images: the height and close proximity of the surrounding buildings which created the alleyway, the old exterior light on one wall, and the tangle of steel and barbed wire atop the locked entrance to the alleyway.

 

 

The idea for the film initially came about when I dug out from a drawer, an old stills camera that belonged to an uncle – a Zeiss Ikon Contina I from the 1950s. I drew intrigue from the classic styling of the device, as well as the mechanical consistency of the lens, shutter, and winding operations, which ultimately fed not only into the editing of this strange little experimental short, but also the underlying ethereal plot.

 

 

View the film embedded below, or directly via my YouTubeChannel HERE.

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Obscura - a new short film...

This is an experimental mood-piece about someone who may, or may not be, a Crime Scene Photographer. It was inspired not only by Antonioni's "Blow-Up", but also "Another Way of Telling" by John Berger and Jean Mohr, in which they wrote about, and illustrated, the idea that there is a friction between the photographed moment, and the memory of the moment itself, which the photograph resembles.



It was pieced together from a disparate range of various photographs and footage that I have gathered over the years (specifically, in this case, between 1999 and the present day). Enjoy.

"Obscura"...

Today I was fiddling around getting a few shots for a new little short experimental film I'm working on called "Obscura". It was just a little idea I had, and having realised that I'd not shot any new short films (that are fictional pieces anyway) for my YouTube Channel in a while, I figured it was about time I put something together - so I had this idea involving an old stills camera from the 1950s that we've got in a drawer somewhere.

The film won't be anything fancy or too involved, but just a bit of fun playing around with some cool/creepy visuals. I'm thinking it'll be 2 minutes long (or no more than 3 minutes), and I'm going to use a variety of photos and footage - some new stuff shot specifically for this, and some old stuff from my archives that I'll re-purpose for this weird little film idea ... sort of a collage of various stuff from the last few years, and even as far back as 1999. Anyway - that's something I'm chipping away at in some spare time - but the big thing at the moment is getting a new educational DVD (titled The Problem of Evil) finished off.

Abortion: Ancient & Modern clips...

The new educational DVD - Abortion: Ancient & Modern - is now complete, and below you can view a clip from each of the three films that make up the disc.

Part One:

Part Two:

Part Three:

More of those fake trailers from the Hobo With A Shotgun contest...

These entries didn't make the final in-competition Top Five, but they're considered the best of the submissions that didn't make the final cut. You can view them via the following link: http://ca.hobowithashotgun.com/contest/gallery/

Viewer discretion is advised.

1) I Am Not A Superhero, This Is Strictly Revenge (Scott Staven)

An interesting direction to take - rather than serial killers, or Nazis, or sexploitation, or zombies, or what-have-you - this trailer is like a mix between a revenge flick and The Dark Knight, with a boozed-up, coke-snorting Irish tough-guy cleaning the streets!

2) Pet Seminary (Luke Hickman)

The tongue is firmly in-cheek for this one about tooled-up priests taking on a whole shedload of evil pets. Impressively silly with some nifty gore effects.

3) Max Force (Richard Adams)

Played-seriously-but-for-laughs, this trailer is like what you'd see for a direct-to-video cheap action movie produced by a very low budget independent outfit. Full of brute force moments and cheesy-good action, it makes for an enjoyable watch.

4) Mister Fister (Bill "Bloody Bill" Pon)

"A psycho-sexual killer with an insatiable appetite for women", so says the trailer, sums it up nicely. Pure, unadulterated, exploitation sleaze is offered in this trailer. The constant repeating of the title is nicely true to genuine grindhouse trailers.

5) Suicide Strip (Matt Mercer)

Going for an approach different to the traditional hard-sell, this one features a series of glimpses - campers, roads at night, cheesy-good special effects, skulls, all sorts.

6) Fight Night Fright! (Thomas Hackett)

Going for a 1930s/40s/50s vibe (only with vastly more gore), it's a mix between religion, underground boxing and vampires.

7) Teen Girl Violence: Vol. 5 (Nicole Holland)

Well there's a title for you! Religion factors in again with this one where a "twisted Sister" gets her kicks from making fight videos (think Bum Fights) and selling them on the black market - until a gang of wronged girls team up to extract their revenge!

8) Undead Revenge (Andrew Bussey)

A man seeks revenge for the murder of his family - except that he's also dead! Filled with gore, and some nice moments of action, this one really goes for you with gusto.

9) Skin (Steven Shea)

Featuring one of the best voice overs out of all the trailers I've seen submitted to this contest, it's all about a madman on the loose with a penchant for stripping his victims of their flesh. There's some really nice moments in this trailer, both visually and in terms of just having fun.

10) Garbage Man (Max Schwadchuck)

You know those movies about an honest cop looking to take down dirty cops? It's like that, only with garbage men. Cue lots of kick-arse action and gore with a spiffing presentation!

11) The People VS. Christ (Chris Murphy)

Another rather interesting idea - it's like a mix between a legal thriller and a horror flick as the battle between good and evil is taken to the modern day streets after Jesus returns and is framed for murder.

12) Pan-Tea (Angelo Womack)

Presented like a grubby old video nasty from the early VHS rental era, this has to be one of the most interestingly titled entries. A sexual pervert finds a new way of making his tea. Quite an odd one.

13) Street Hell (Ian Matheson)

Illegal bare-knuckle boxing is the name of the game here as a tough guy looking to get out of the game is forced back into it after the only person in the world that he cares for is taken hostage.

14) Machine Gun Cop (Jeremiah Durian-Williams)

The most impressively presented trailer on this list (or at least tied with Mister Fister), this one pays particularly close attention to the dreadful audio quality that many grindhouse movies had once they'd been around the block a few times. Filled with gun-toting action, this one also stands out by bringing in the infamous Zodiac killer as one of the antagonists. Love the title cards at the beginning too - nice touch.

"Just War" in Borderlines Film Festival 2011...

Just got word that Just War (read about it here) will be showing at the 2011 Borderlines Film Festival.

I'll pimp relevant links as-and-when.

Speaking of Borderlines, here is a pic of Joe and I, from last year's festival when Gaia & Genesis was shown.

"Deadlands 2: Trapped" coming to Blu-Ray...

http://fangoria.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=1588%3Azombie-flick-deadlands-2-attacks-dvd-and-blu-ray&catid=1%3Alatest-news&Itemid=167

And here's the extra features list:

• Audio commentary by Ugarek

• “Weapons and Tactics” featurette

• “Indie Film School” featurette

• Introduction by star Jim Krut

• Introduction by Helena, Hussy of Horror

• Soundtrack excerpts

• Trailers

The Blu-ray will include all these, plus:

• I AM ZOMBIE MAN short film series with intro by UK filmmaker Nick Thomson

• DEADLANDS: THE RISING work print with alternate ending

• Additional exclusive trailers

...

Yes indeedy, kick arse! Gary has always been very helpful to, and supportive of, properly-indie filmmakers, and has been a fan of the I Am Zombie Man shorts since the first one in 2006. Two thumbs up to Gary!

"Snow 2010" short video...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HMBUWKOt780

In January we had quite a lot of snow (for Britain at least) so I went out with my new Kodak Zi8 to try it out and get some coverage of the surrounding landscape all covered in snow. I stored the footage away and forgot about it until yesterday when I decided to cut together a little video of it all, and you can see it by following the above link.

Just a little something I put together, enjoy.

Back To The 80s completed...

The epic primary school leaver's musical "Back to the 80s" was completed today, weighing in at an epic 2 hours and 19 minutes.

Similar to Hereford's Got Talent, it was a challenging project what with trying to get the sound as best as you could (e.g. fighting against the large differences in dialogue and music volume), and shooting from far away from the stage, and in addition with this project having a long running time the final render had to be compressed in order to fit on the DVD. Plus being single camera you have nothing to cut away to - so the actual filming in such a situation takes a lot of concentration to keep the frame as steady as possible, while also providing some movement and a range of shots - all without cut aways. It is tough, it can limit you, but it can also work.

Even with technical issues, and the set-up not being a filmmaker's ideal position from which to film, it came out well and I hope those involved enjoy being able to see it again and relive their onstage epic.

Back To The 80s...

The other day I got a last-minute call to do a shoot & edit job on a project called Back To The 80s - a musical put on by Year 6 students from three primary schools (Year 6 being the final year of primary school before you enter Year 7 and High School).

So I was back in the main theatre at the Hereford Courtyard Theatre, where I'd only been a few weeks prior doing a shoot & edit on Hereford's Got Talent, and I'm now off to edit the whole thing together.

Compared to my Year 6 leaver's shindig, now fifteen years ago (blimey!), it was a big old affair. Our gig was a random show that we put on (mostly left to our own devices) ... I can barely remember it, but I was reminded that I was part of a duo doing corny jokes and funny voices, and then we all got book tokens. Times change I guess, but then again I went to a quite small primary school - and our year was a mere 9 people.

Onwards to the edit!

Ethics Online now has a YouTube Channel...

Scoot yourselves over to www.youtube.com/ethicsonline to have a gander.

All the films available on the DVDs for War & Peace, Sex & Ethics, and Gaia & Genesis now have clips up on YouTube, differing from the clips available to view at www.ethicsonline.co.uk

You'll also see that I've linked to the above YouTube Channel in my links section over there on the right among the other links.

TIDOZM responses...

As I've done for past projects, I figured I'd post some of the comments that have come back in response to The Inevitable Decomposition of Zombie Man.

"Technically I thought it was great, but I gotta say that I think the first two were a bit higher on the funny chart."

"It may not have as much humor as the first two, but ya gotta admit, the 'rot' scene (if you've seen it, you know what I mean) alone was worth the price of admission! ... Visually, I think this is the best ZM has ever looked."

"Wow! Your production standards have shot up! Some really good shots there. Nice and tight pace. And excellently inventive profanities."

"It was great! I think its finished the trilogy off nicely...for now!!"

"The angles, the music, the atmosphere. Everything feels perfect."

"Love this! Very nicely done! Some wonderful shots, well written, good score. Enjoyable little satire you got here, way to go guys."

I've you haven't seen it yet, or want to check it out again, follow the link and enjoy.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-45h8eDda-M

"Hereford's Got Talent" web clip...

Scoot yourself over here - http://www.thenc.co.uk/ - and click on the graphic for the show (bottom left - or via this link - http://www.thenc.co.uk/gottalentl.html) to view a web clip of the winner's performance from the charity event which I filmed on Sunday evening at the Hereford Courtyard Theatre (I'll be editing it together in-full in the coming days).

I have to say all the performers on the night were all very brave to stand up in front of that audience on the main stage and do what they did, and the audience themselves certainly had a lot of fun that night - so all-in-all, very positive.

Updates...

The new educational film I've been working on, Just War, is coming along nicely. I've been making some final visual tweaks, and layering in sound effects today - soon the music will go in, and then the credits will get tacked on the end, and then it'll be done.

It looks like I'll be filming a local event on Sunday evening too, more on that as-and-when.

The latest script hasn't been started yet, but I plan to really focus on that after Just War is done, I've just got some character stuff to figure out first (arcs, and characterisation polishing) and then I can get started on writing it. Still no title for it yet, but I'll figure one out eventually.

The Inevitable Decomposition of Zombie Man (2010)…

In the summer of 2006 I shot a daft, off-the-cuff zombie comedy called I Am Zombie Man. In spite of its roughness it found fans in the online zombie community due to the sardonic titular character.


A sequel followed six months later that stepped up the look of the film (as I was now armed with a DVX100B) and advanced the character into realm of the “celebrity zombie”. I re-cut IAZM2 in 2010 (taking out 7 minutes), as the original 25 minute cut is a bit indulgent.


We intended to shoot IAZM3 in December 2007, but due to career developments for both Gareth and I, we didn’t get around to it until December 28th 2009. The delay allowed me to bring an additional three years of filmmaking trial, error and experience to the project. My camerawork, editing, writing and directing had all improved a great deal, and it was about time to close the Zombie Man trilogy once and for all.


Staying close to the DeadShed “literally no budget” style, the only money spent was on a few props. Further to that the shooting window was as tight as always, shooting the entire film (except for stock footage from my archives) in four hours on the only clear day during a harsh winter. I am adept at ‘run & gun’ filmmaking (particularly useful on various Arts Council projects I’ve done), and the skill certainly came in handy.


The editing process afforded me two key creative opportunities – to try out new software skills and editing ideas, but most importantly to stick religiously to a strict 10 minute time limit. Said limit really made me focus on what was absolutely necessary (and indeed unnecessary) in order to tell the story, establish scenes, and provide the visual comedy with a constant, assured beat to the cutting. I succeeded in meeting my 10 minute running time, producing a film that I’m really quite proud of, which boasts an efficient and water-tight pace.


Gary Ugarek and Brian Wright (fellow filmmakers who were behind American indie zombie flicks Deadlands: The Rising, and Deadlands 2: Trapped) very kindly composed the vibrant musical score, which put the cherry on top – boosting the visuals, propelling the film forward, and even acting as its own character.


I’m very pleased with the final product, and we achieved more than could reasonably be expected with what we had at our disposal, and in such a tight shooting window. The quirky character established in 2006 remains, going out on a darker, but no-less sardonic note, presented with camerawork and editing that boosted it far beyond its predecessors. The idea with every new film you make is to hone your skills and try new things, and I feel I succeeded on both counts with this, the third and final film in the I Am Zombie Man mini-trilogy – something which began life as a slap-dash bit of fun in the summer of 2006.

View more images (in full size) on my Flickr photostream via the embedded player, or the links list, on the right hand side of this blog.

Watch the film on YouTube via this link:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-45h8eDda-M

Doing Our Bit (2009)...

This was a quick project that was put together for the One Minute To Save The World competition that ran in Autumn 2009 ahead of the Copenhagen summit on climate change. Filmmakers were asked to put together a one minute long video about the environment.



Our video was based on the theme referenced in the title - the little things that everyone could easily do to all help towards the effort of making our society more fuel efficient, less throw-away in nature, and involved in recycling.



In the end our video didn't get chosen for the final selection, but there seemed to be a significant controversy during the process of picking the videos that caused many of the involved filmmakers to lodge their protest. I never really found out what that was all about, but in the end we've still been able to show this short film at public screenings and the reaction to it has been positive.


The style of the video was one part inspired by old public domain information films, one part inspired by old music show countdowns (such as Top of the Pops in its heyday), and one part inspired by the film High Fidelity. The project also allowed me to advance by filmmaking skills across several areas - conceiving a brief and sharp idea, shooting in a controlled manner to get footage that could then be edited in a snappy manner, and finally in terms of the editing process, where I further honed my skills at saying the most with the least amount of footage, inside a very tight time frame.

You can watch the film on YouTube by following this link:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jZY55AMbyYI

Borderlines Film Festival 2010...

Find out more about the festival here:

http://www.borderlinesfilmfestival.co.uk/

On Saturday February 27th we had our screening of "Gaia", "The Rapture", "All Things Are Connected" (three of the five portions that make up "Gaia & Genesis") and "Doing Our Bit" (our entry for last year's One Minute To Save The World filmmaking competition).

From the website concerning locally produced films:

"Shell Shock is just one among a cluster of films showing at Borderlines this year that were made locally. Still Life is a strikingly ambitious drama made by The Rural Media Company with members of the community in Bromyard while Gaia: all things are connected consists of two thoughtful and visually exciting short films on the future of our environment from Herefordshire film-maker Joe Jenkins."

The drive there (the screening was at the Hereford Courtyard theatre) wasn't much fun being that it was torrential rain and the roads are all still littered with potholes after January's hellishly cold bout of persistent snow ... and then the parking ticket machine had the cheek to take my £1.10 and not give me a ticket, and the other one (that actually worked) wouldn't give me change, so it stole a further 10p from me ... my guess is that the ticket machines are working for the government, stealing money from innocent civilians so that it can go towards paying off our nation's ludicrously gigantic debt.

Anyway, the night before the screening I'd be thinking "oh geez, please let there be more than two people there", so I was pleasantly surprised when I found out the theatre had been almost sold out!

The screening itself went well, having already met the nice folks we'd been liasing with in the lead-up to the screening, and there was lots of positive feedback after the show when we met members of the audience and discussed the films and the filmmaking process behind them in some depth.

So it was a positive atmosphere with the audience all enjoying the films on show. It's always nice to get a boost like that as a struggling filmmaker, because at times it can appear bleak - in this early stage in one's career - however, it's really a nice boost to your confidence when you get a good turn-out at a screening and the people respond positively.

As for the drive back, there wasn't so much rain, but there was hellish traffic leaving Hereford - which is notoriously clogged with traffic most of the time - and of course having learned the layout of the potholes on the road driving towards Hereford, the drive back would naturally have an entirely new layout of potholes to avoid, ha!

You can also view the festival's Flickr photostream here:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/41085820@N04/

"The Inevitable Decomposition of Zombie Man" is now online!

Saunter over yonder - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-45h8eDda-M - and check out the newest DeadShed Productions short film.

Was having some problems with YouTube yesterday which prevented me from uploading it, but I managed to get around the issue (although YouTube really need to fix the problem on their end, especially as people have been experiencing the problem for months now) ... anyway, after all the frustration of yesterday's failed uploads, I'm happy to say it's now online.

I'll blog about the film fully in due course (as I have done with all my other projects).

"T.I.D.O.Z.M." is almost done...

One more piece of the soundtrack, a musical 'sting', and some gamma correction ... then The Inevitable Decomposition of Zombie Man will be complete. I'm hoping therefore to have it uploaded onto YouTube sometime next week.

Click the image below for a full size (well, slightly larger size) glimpse at what the edit is currently looking like. See those three gaps in Track #6? Once those are filled, it's done. Figured I'd put this image up just as a bit of fun so you can kind of see what it looks like in the edit.