Ethical Theory (2014)

A three part series of short educational films covering Meta-Ethics, Kantian Ethics, and Situation Ethics.

In many ways this was the toughest series to edit in a while. The challenge was to visualise complex philosophical theories - which are relatively straight forward to explain on the page in words - but which are very tricky to illustrate. However, we succeeded, and this time we also used specially commissioned artwork to help us bring these complex ideas to life.

Below you will find more information about the series, including video clips for each film.

Click "READ MORE" below to continue...

Life After Death (2013)

A five part series of educational short films covering the various philosophical theories and perspectives on the subject of Life After Death.

In part it was quite tough to visualise something which, generally speaking, you cannot experience in such a definitive way as to come back and tell everyone about it. Indeed, the nature of life after death - or if it even exists - is the subject of much varied opinion. The most interesting segment to create, for me, was a sequence detailing the story of the 'Enfield Poltergeist'. Similar to the third film in the Problem of Evil series, in which we shot a segment based on "The Brothers Karamazov" by Fydor Dostoyevski, we had to craft a piece in a short time with just what we had around us - and I'm very pleased with how it turned out.

Below you will find more information about the series, including short video clips from each film.

Click "READ MORE" below to continue...

"Brother of Mine" (2013)

"Brother of Mine" is a short dramatic film in which Sean Connell ("Skinner") plays Thomas, a man seeking revenge in the long-running wake of a family tragedy.


Click "READ MORE" below for more information on the film...

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.

"Zhombeez!" (2000)...

I dug this out of my vaults today and uploaded it to YouTube.



Many years ago now - during the summer of 2000 - I made a simple stop-motion experiment with zombies that I crafted out of clay. Inspired by George A. Romero's "Day of the Dead", I also created an army figure styled somewhat after Captain Rhodes and did my own - rather basic (it was my first, and pretty much only, attempt at stop motion animation) - re-enactment of the infamous scene from Romero's landmark horror flick.


Click "READ MORE" below for more information about "Zhombeez!"...

The Problem of Evil (2012)

This five-part series of educational films, aimed at 16-18 year old students of theology and religious studies, discusses some of the complex ethical issues surrounding one of the biggest questions: if there is a God, why is there evil in the world? Examining various theodicies linked to the topic, The Problem of Evil has one central evil at the heart of it – to help tie everything together – and that is the Holocaust, represented sensitively-but-honestly with stunning archive film.

 

The main four films (which I shot and edited) provide the in-depth starter knowledge to help inspire and sustain informed and passionate debate within the classroom, while the fifth film (for which I wrote the script and edited) provides an optional brief history of the Holocaust, from the election of Adolf Hitler, through the end of World War II, and beyond to the present day.

 

Editing this series provided some interesting creative challenges (as evidenced in the third video clip below), not only in continuing to produce visually-arresting educational films that didn't resemble the staid affairs I remembered from my own high school days, but also in sensitively dealing with tragic subject matter – most specifically the Holocaust. The main four films all exhibit sequences relating to the subject, but the key was to not push too far with the footage, while maintaining an honest and educational approach to the material.

 

However, we also felt that it was important to provide an optional extra on the DVD – the aforementioned The Holocaust: A Brief History – which fully lays bare the horrors of those events in a truthful manner that avoids audience manipulation. It isn't required viewing in a class room, but teachers have been provided with the choice to show it, or alternatively utilise the script (provided on the DVD with comprehensive teacher's notes).

 

Once again, by working on an educational DVD, a challenge was offered to create strong and interesting visual representations of the complex theological issues and ideas being put forward by the narration. I was able to tweak and improve upon previously used techniques, as well as try out some new ideas across all the films, to keep the presentation fresh and absorbing.

Click “READ MORE” below to watch preview clips of all five films featured in The Problem of Evil, and see what people think of the films themselves...

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.

My Top 50 Personal Favourite Films of All-Time - the 2013 Update...

The list of my own personal favourite Top 50 Films of All-Time (plus 15 honourable mentions) is broken down into three parts - you can view each part by following the links below:

Part One (#1-20)

Part Two (#21-40)

Part Three (#41-50 plus 15 Honourable Mentions)

This list is purely the films that have been the most ever-present throughout my life, and the ones that I return to time-and-again and/or absolutely adore beyond all reason. While many of the films are American or British, do note that my viewing habits have historically been much more varied - and while I am greatly impressed by films such as Downfall or Yojimbo or The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari or Singing in the Rain or Neighbours (the short Canadian film from 1952, not the soap opera!), they don't factor into this particular Top 50 list. Indeed, it was hard-as-all-get-out for me to come up with 50 personal favourites (e.g. The Shawshank Redemption totally slipped my mind in 2009 and 2012, but has now been included in the 2013 list update) ... and finally it should be noted that this isn't what I perceive to be the best 50 films of all-time in general (I'd never even attempt such a list, and certainly not from the position of a single, solitary person).

It's simply my own personal list of most-favoured-favourites.

Enjoy!

Note: The 2013 update consists of the following:

New Additions: The Shawshank Redemption (#31-40), The Big Lebowski (#41-50), The Shining (#41-50) and Casino Royale (#41-50).

Swapped: "The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford" has been swapped with "The Evil Dead" (#1-20).

Honourable Mentions: "2001", "Enter The Void", "Invasion of the Body Snatchers", "WALL.E", and "Battle Royale" have been moved/added to the Honourable Mentions.