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!