Updates

Hello Bloggers

I'm totally aware that I havnt blogged in months, this has been due to a few things. The main being that I became broke and couldnt renew the domain name.....kinda stupid I know, the other reason is that I havnt had much filmy going on since I left Stoke......until now! I just entered "Marionette" into the Exposures Film Festival over in Manchester and fingers crossed it will get selected!  I'm hoping that this will be the first of many festivals that it's entered into. Even if it doesnt get selected I'm definately heading over to Exposures as last year it was absolutely brilliant and a great place to just chill out watch films and think up new ideas.

I recently started a new job so I have some funds to play with (kind of) and at the moment I'm trying to get some ideas down for a new short, I have plenty of half formed monsters buzzing around the thinktank but I'd like to do something a little different, so watch this space.

I'm also in the process of procuring a new camera and I wanna get out and photograph more and build up that side of my portfolio whilst I look for the ever illusive media job.  I should be heading down to Kent to visit my lovely other half in mid September and I was hoping to get to the Lydden Hill to get some crackin shots of Rallycross, new camera permitting.  Before I head off for my shift at work here is a little video that I feel needs to be seen.



I believe everything the lovely bearded man says and yet.......I'm still yearning for a Canon! Im gonna try keep blogging regularly and I'm hoping that by my next blog I'll have a new exciting idea to explain but until then it's the 9-5 for me!

Cheers
Rich

Marionette is Online

Hello Bloggers

Well I have now officially finished the BA Media (Film) Production course here at Stafforshire University. I am currently posting in a room that consists of my laptop a bare empty desk and a hell of a lot of boxes as tomorrow I depart from Stoke-On-Trent for the last time. It's a very weird feeling indeed knowing that after three years of calling this place home it now isnt and all the people who made it so fun and enjoyable are now scattered hundreds of apart across the country and in some cases the world. I am however really excited about what's on the horizon, I have begun applying for jobs and will hopefully be employed pronto but if I have taken anything from my time here in Stoke, it's that making short films are something I am never going to stop making. Now Marionette has been put to bed (it will be hitting festivals) I am looking for my next directorial project and have a few ideas bouncing about. However before that the upload of Marionette has to be pushed like crazy so here you go.



Before I hit the hay for the last time here in Stokeyland I just wanna say a massive thanks and goodbye to everyone here at Staffs especially the Media Centre crew who have helped me out of more jams than I can count and to all my housemates for putting up with all the massive amount of kit that filled our tiny living room and for all the troubles and scrapes they had to get me out of.

Cheers Guys

Rich

What's Been Going On

Hello Bloggers

I can't believe I haven't posted anything in almost a month but I have been super busy working on the cut of Marionette and finishing my BA Media (Film) Production degree. Marionette is now finally in it's final stages, I submitted a work in progress cut for my final assessments and when watching it on the big screen realised that the grading was really not what I wanted. The colours looked a little washed out and it really wasn't the sci-fi filmic look that I was striving for in pre-production. So today was spent going through the film giving it a slight green tinge and darking the blacks. The result is so much better than before and I'm much happier with it. I got to say a massive thanks to Adam Georgiou for letting me use his Magic Bullet Mojo plug in on FCP.  All that really needs to be the film now before release is to touch up the special effects on a few shots and just check for any minor glitches that I might have missed.

Although my course is finished it kind of isn't, Marionette is getting screened at the BFI Film Theatre here in Stoke-On-Trent on the 10th June and I have spent the last few days designing promotional material for the film. Below is the A1 board that will grace the lobby of the Flaxman Building here at Staffordshire University, I am really happy with the overall look as it promotes not only the film but me as well and I will admit that I'm a junkie for self promotion.  I decided to drop the initial poster idea as it doesn't show any of the nice stills that were taken on set and doesn't really explain much about the film. The portrait poster with Richard Hand, our Jack Ridley, on is probably my favourite as it just looks so good.

I am finally returning home this weekend for a short break and short rest. I got tickets to see The Kills at Leeds University and I really cant wait but I'm sure come next Wednesday I'll be slaving away on Marionette but it's not a chore as every little tweak makes the film that little bit better. Feel free to leave feedback on the posters and I'll update next week.

Cheers

Marionette Progress

Hello Bloggerians

I realise that it's been almost a month since my last post. Recently some personal issues have been taking precedence over Marionette and my other creative works but I am once again slaving away on the flick. A rough edit was completed today with the footage looking really sweet, no re shoots needed and nothing was missing which is awesome! As the film is now laid down in it's basic form the hard work for me is over as it's now just a case of extending clips or cutting them, adding music and sfx and tweaking like a pro.

I am going to begin working on that teaser trailer I promised like a month ago and that should be on vimeo by the middle of next week. However below is an early poster concept I threw together over the Easter holiday, I was really going for a minimalist, retro look, please leave your feedback and tell me what you think.

Cheers
Rich

Showreel 2011 (v1)

Hello Bloggers

I am back after a haircut and lots of sleeping, however you can't call me lazy as I have finally put together my 2011 showreel. This is version one as I am awaiting some ice hockey footage from a fellow student here at Staffs until then a few more shots of my Red Bull X-Fighters 2010 Entry will have to do. The showreel contains quite a lot of footage from last weeks "Marionette" shoot (nothing with any spoilers in obviously!) and I got to say I am really excited to start putting it all together later this coming week.  The track used on the showreel is Jon Hopkin's "Candles" from one of my favorite films of 2010 "Monsters" if you haven't seen it yet, stop reading what I'm rambling on about and get yourself to blockbuster or something! Speaking of music I have sourced a track that I think would be awesome for the "Marionette" trailer and fingers crossed said trailer will be up on vimeo by this time next week.

Showreel 2011 from Richard Stephenson on Vimeo.

I will update on Marionette's progress later in the week.

Enjoy

Marionette is Shot

Hello Bloggers

This week was the production week for Marionette and what a week. After some serious trouble with other projects earlier this week, I was certain that Marionette simple wouldn't happen, but how wrong I was. The first day was excellent we shot all the exterior of the location in lovely sunny Nantwich along with some interior scenes and today was all about the key creation scene of the film. I firstly have to say a huge thanks to all my cast and crew, Orla Mullan, Richard Hand, Marco El Gabry, Ewan Dyer, Kallan Treadwell, DeeDee Carey, Ben & Paul Spencer and Bobby the Dog. You guys cheered me up so much and really went above and beyond the call of duty, so cheers. Below is the wrap photo (unfortunately some crew couldnt make both days)

I wont be touching the footage until next Monday as Marionette was the last of the trio to be filmed and I am pooped! I've been awake far too long this week and plan to become human again over the weekend, and I'll enter the edit with a full of energy and enthusiasm. More updates will be coming in a few days.

Cheers
Rich

Test Shoot

Hi Bloggers

I have just finished a fantastic test shoot/ rehearsal today with the awesome Richard Hand and the lovely Orla Mullan. I firstly have to thank them for coming to lovely sunny Stoke and a massive thanks to Marco El Gabry a level 2 student here at Staffs who saved my bacon and helped out today. As the weather was so good today I decided to hold the rehearsal in the local park and it's been a nice relaxed day. We had some strong reads of the script, talked over some ideas and a great costume test.

Richard looking scary!

Orla hugging the trees in Hanley Park.

My personal favorite director's pose.

We also took some photos for one of the sets and shot some home video style footage that will crop up in the film. It has been a fun packed day and it was great to get to know Orla and Richard a bit better and to let my Sam Ridley meet Jack Ridley. Judging from the amount of chatter over lunch I think the two were getting along fine. I am now super excited to shoot Marionette and I'm really looking forward to working with Richard, Orla and Len in just under two weeks time. Before then however we have A Baked Mess which roles into production on Sunday...eeek! The production is looking pretty strong and myself and director Steven Cooper are really just waiting to get shooting. I will update on Monday when Baked wraps with all the news and info.

Cheers
Rich

Breakfast on BBC Radio Stoke!

Hello Bloggers

This morning I was on the BBC Radio Stoke Breakfast show, I was interviewed regarding my film "Amicus", the experience was super excited but I was very nervous from about 5AM this morning. The staff at BBC Stoke were really cool and were interested in what I had to say and I can only apologise for all my ums and errs. If you are visiting the site after hearing me this morning, thanks for listening and visiting ,below is a link to Amicus.

Amicus from Richard Stephenson on Vimeo.

As I said on the show Amicus was made on a budget of £400 and I am currently working on three films with similar budgets which I'm hoping will be in festivals along side Amicus later this year. As you can see I update the blog pretty regularly with all my filmy news so keep coming back.

Cheers
Rich

Long Time No Blog!

Hello Bloggers

I've been really really busy the past few weeks on a whole variety of projects. Alongside Marionette, A Baked Mess and Trick Poker work I helped out a friend Jon Parker on a music video for "Road To V" winners "Underline The Sky". I was stills photographer on set and I managed to get some really great shots, the band were really friendly and more than happy for my to snap away, if you get a chance check them out at http://www.myspace.com/underlinethesky. I also helped a fellow level 3 student out on her film which involved me shooting lots and lots of ice hockey footage which was awesome! Nothing can beat violence on ice! below are a few shots of my hectic weekend.

 

 

 

Other good news is that Marionette is finally fully cast. I needed to fill the role of an elderly neighbour and only one man fit the bill, Mr Len Dobson. If you are new to the blog Len was Victor in my previous short Amicus and I'm sure he will once again blow us all away with some superb acting in Marionette, great to have you on board pal! The props for Marionette have also started to fly in, below is a picture of me testing out the outfit that Jack Ridley will wear at a pivotal point in the film.

I'll promise to blog a bit more in the coming hectic weeks.

Cheers
Rich

Master Of Puppets

Hello Blogworld

I have great news! I'm super excited to say that we have cast Jack and Sam Ridley in Marionette. We held auditions last week and I'd like to thanks everyone who traveled to rainy Stoke-On-Trent and performed. However on the day Orla Mullan and Richard Hand really stood out and gave excellent performances. Congratulations to both of you.

 

In other news I'm super pleased to say that "Amicus" will be screening on the opening night of the National Fesitval for Talented Youth (NFFTY) in Seattle, USA on 28th April 2011. Head over to NFFTY.com and you will see that we made the front page. It's a great feeling to know that so many people will be watching your work, especially as Seattle is so far from Stoke and the fact that I was invited through my vimeo account. However as I am currently funding two films I can't afford the flights to Seattle which is a real let down but I'm sure there will be more festivals. So if you live in Seattle head on down to the fest and watch Amicus on the big screen! Also sorry for the lack of video updates of late, we have been working really hard here in rainy Stoke securing locations, actors and scripting so kinda run out of time but this week I'll make sure to get the camera on and record some stuff.

Cheers

Rich

Marionette Update

Hello Blogworld

It's been a while since I wrote an update instead of recording a video so I thought I'd give you a more in depth idea of what's been going on. First off production is manic! the last few weeks have been pretty much a blur. The script for Marionette is really getting into shape and the response to the casting call has been really encouraging, audition are taking place next Wednesday primarily and I'm really looking forward to casting my Jack and Sam Ridley.  The other projects are also evolving nicely, Steven Cooper's A Baked Mess has it's script and most of it's visuals laid down and most of the major locations are locked which is a huge relief. Trick Poker has been getting a good response casting call wise and again I'm looking forward to getting our cast well cast. Now it's just a case of keeping the pace we have been operating at until now up to production.
 Major updates will be posted at the end of next week and I'm hoping we will have our Sam, Jack, Greg, Dale, Blimp and Roge all cast. Oh and you guys should check out this awesome documentary short "Some Old Ford" it's got a great story and some cracking visuals, head on over to vimeo and give it a watch, what else are you gonna spend five minutes doing?

Some Old Ford from Ben Pender-Cudlip on Vimeo.

Cheers
Rich

Week 2 Of Production

Hello Blogworld

Another video update showing behind the scenes on Trick Poker, A Baked Mess and Marionette..... Enjoy
Video Diary Week 2 from Richard Stephenson on Vimeo.

Amicus Release

Hi Bloggers

Here it is as promised. I was going to upload it on Thursday when it should have premiered in Nantwich but that festival kinda fell through due to a lack of uptake and I was looking through the flick and decided it wasn't quite there so I decided to re-cut the entire film, resulting in firstly the delay but secondly and more importantly a better film. Here it is

Amicus from Richard Stephenson on Vimeo.

Please leave feedback and comments :P

Enjoy

Week 1 Of Production

Hi Blogworldians

It's week 1 of production on three films that I am involved with . As you guys know Marionette is one, the other two are A Baked Mess which is directed by Steven J Cooper and the third is Trick Poker which is going to be directed by myself and Steven.  Below is the first of what we are hoping will be a weekly production diary:


Week 1 Video Diary from Richard Stephenson on Vimeo.

As you can tell things are really busy at the moment and we are all really excited to be making these films. I'll post more details on A Baked Mess , Trick Poker  and any Marionette news next week.

Cheers

Marionette

Hi Blogworld

Just thought I'd update with that promised "Marionette" teaser poster and a short synopsis are below:

"Jack Ridley is a smart man, a scientist to be precise and he has just lost his wife Claire in a car accident. Unable to come to terms with the loss he decides that he will cheat death and recreate his wife using the skills of his craft. However his creation is not his wife no matter how much Jack wishes it to be. The new Claire has plans of her own."

 I hope everyone can pick up on the steampunk-esque/sci-fi that I was going for in the poster. My overall hopes for the film are that it challenges me, "Amicus" was the biggest film I've ever made and this is bigger, much bigger! Both in idea and production, "Amicus" was made for about £350, with "Marionette" I'm pushing the budget to somewhere between £600-£800, firstly because I will need special effects, make-up and some pretty awesome props and secondly because I'm looking into shooting some footage on Super 8/16mm and a few other cameras. I think it's gonna be a real fun final semester, the script is slowly taking form, the initial plot is laid out and I'm researching the hell out of anything and everything that might be in the film or that influenced the film.

Anyway that's enough about "Marionette". The "Amicus" screening in Nantwich this Thursday is still go for launch, I think both Len and Clementine will be attending so it will be great to get their feedback on the film and will be a really great end to a fantastic production. Finally to all the film-makers or wannabe film-makers reading this blog I cant recommend enough the "SMoviemakers" Podcast (http://smodcast.com/smoviemakers/) its an hour long(ish) podcast basically interviewing filmmakers like Richard Kelly, the director of Donnie Darko, and Edgar Wright, the director of Shaun Of The Dead, Hot Fuzz etc. The podcasts really go into the making of the directors films, the highs and lows, and are really informative and show that even the best directors can mess up and make mistakes. Another good podcast on the Smodcast network is the Red State podcast which is kinda the same for Kevin Smiths new film "Red State" (http://smodcast.com/redstate/). Right I'm gonna grab some food and have a film binge!

Cheers
Rich

Twitter Times

Hello Bloggers

This is just a quick update as things have begun to slow down a bit on Amicus. The film is being prepped for festivals at the moment and it has been entered into it's first festival "Screentest Festival" which runs from 18th-20th March in London. It's now just a case of crossing my fingers and hoping it gets selected. However the film has a premiere on the 27th January at the Crown Plaza Hotel in Nantwich for the "Short Shorts Film Festival" the cast and some of the crew will be present and I'll make sure to post some pics here on the blog. As "Short Shorts" is it's premiere I've decided to hold of uploading the film to vimeo until after the event.

My final film is now officially in pre-production and I'm still slogging it out with the script and is currently going under the working title of "Marionette", a teaser poster is being created along with some concept art, so watch this space. The main news though is that I have bitten the bullet and joined twitter, I'm sure in time my tweets will be integrated into the site but until then you can follow me at http://twitter.com/#!/dmcfilm.

Right I have to get working on this script!

New Year, New Title

Hello Blog world

I hope you have all had a lovely Christmas and New Year.Although it has been the holiday period work hasn't stopped on "Wheels". A final edit is being put together as I type and I am very pleased with the film, the footage although ungraded looks crisp and appealing and more importantly the message I aimed at getting across does. However the title which as you may have guessed by this updates title has changed once again, as I have said in previous blog posts "Wheels" didn't really tie in with the film or it's message and "You've Got A Friend..." made everybody instantly think of the Toy Story films so I did a bit of thinking. I searched through every dictionary I own looking up words to do with friendship, adventure and escape and drew a blank until I stumbled across the latin word "Amicus" which means friend. The word sounds good, has everything to do with the message and has no relation to toys of any sort and as a result is now the official title of the film. Below is an updated version of the poster with a little more grading and changes.

Some other good news is that Folk Uke a small folk band from Austin, Texas in the US have given permission for their track "Shit Makes The Flowers Grow" to be used in the film. I can't thank them enough for their kindness and feedback on an early cut of the film as without their music the final act of the film would have been terrible empty and nowhere near as poignant. Please follow the link and check them out as they are awesome! (http://www.myspace.com/folkuke)

Finally although Amicus hasn't even been released yet I have started work on a new script which I believe will be my final film at university I am looking forward to a little bit of a break once Amicus is completed (hopefully in the next few weeks) as I am really excited and eager to finish the first draft and begin another film all over again.  I am aiming to upload a final cut of the film by mid January but until then I'll keep updating with what's going on as it's going on.

Cheers