CINEFORMATION: POETRY IN FILM



The event took place at 7pm on Thursday 26th March 2009 in Waterside 3 of The Watershed Media Centre.

Cineformation’s guests include award winning filmmakers and Poets Peter Syme, Colin Thomas and Bob Walton.


Cineformation is a forum for independent film & video makers offering an opportunity for writers, producers, directors, actors, crew & enthusiasts to meet, share ideas, screen films and foster an active vibrant creative frenzy of filmmaking in the South West.

If you are interested in being a guest speaker at a future event please send in a viewing copy of your film on DVD along to:
Menekse Meech

Managing Director
Cineformation
c/o
Encounters Short Film Festival
St Bartholomews Court

Lewins Mead

Bristol
BS1 5BT

Cineformation: Romance

7pm Thursday 26 February 2009
Waterside 3, Watershed Media Centre, Bristol

February being the month of Love, Cineformation would like to warm you up, with a selection of films looking at various forms of Romance. As usual the filmmakers will be on hand to answer your burning questions and there will be plenty of time to find your perfect filmmaking partner. Guests will include the team from the Bristol based feature film Shank, Producer and Writer Christian Martin, Director Simon Pearce and Writer Darren Flaxstone.

Cineformation is a forum for independent film & video makers offering an opportunity for writers, producers, directors, actors, crew & enthusiasts to meet, share ideas, screen films and foster an active vibrant creative frenzy of filmmaking in the South West.

If you are interested in being a guest speaker at a future event please send in a viewing copy of your film on along to:

Menekse Meech
Cineformation
c/o
Encounters Short Film Festival
St Bartholomews Court

Lewins Mead

Bristol
BS1 5BT

CINEFORMATION: Q&A WITH BETTER THINGS PRODUCER SAMM HAILLAY

8pm Wednesday 11th February 2009, Waterside, Watershed Media Centre

Producer Samm Haillay will be joining Cineformation for a special event Q&A after the screening of his feature film Better Things.

There will be a chance to discuss his extraordinary feature debut, looking beyond the “green and pleasant” to uncover the boredom, loneliness and drug abuse lurking within these isolated rural communities. With a poetic, compassionate realism recalling Lynne Ramsay, the multi-stranded narrative offers glimpses into the emotional lives of its characters, from the schoolgirl tormented by a jealous ex-boyfriend to an elderly couple harbouring a painful secret.

The screening of Better Things will be in Cinema 3 at 17:50 after which the Q&A will take place in one of the Waterside rooms at the Watershed

If you would like to attend the FREE Q&A please email your name to: info@cineformation.com as there is limited space available for this session. Tickets for the film should be booked at the Watershed box office.

Missed Cineformation: Horror read all about it here...

CINEFORMATION: HORROR
Thursday 29 January 2009

This month’s Cineformation gave us privileged access into the weird and wonderful world of horror movie-making.

In the first part of the evening we were treated to a live horror make-up masterclass by Madeleine and Allen Bills, owners of theatrical wig and make-up supplier, “Dauphines of Bristol”. http://www.dauphines.co.uk

The second part of the evening took us into the enjoyably disturbing worlds of two “horror” shorts: “The Confessor” and “How To Pick Up Girls”.

The evening was hosted by South West actor / producer, Richard Cambridge. http://www.richardcambridge.co.uk

Madeleine and Allen Bills have been married for many years and share a combined experience of more than forty years as theatrical make-up artists. Their presentation was both highly informative, with much advice and tips, and entertaining, with a wealth of anecdotes and stories.

First they chose two volunteers from the audience, whom they used as models for their demonstration. One became the victim of a horrific third degree facial burn; while the other suffered a bad cut on his left hand and a second degree burn on his right one.

In the course of the masterclass we learnt many tricks of the trade, such as never to use corn syrup mixed with food colouring to simulate blood as it will attract all the neighbourhood’s insects; or not to use wax for an injury that risks being tampered with on set, but instead to choose the much harder wearing silicon.

Among many fascinating facts, we were told that boiled rice is good to simulate maggots, that tapioca is a dead ringer for subcutaneous fat, and that a sheep’s heart is the wrong shape and size to simulate a human heart.

Allen’s background as a state registered nurse and a specialist of battle wounds means that his knowledge of the human body (and of what can go wrong with it) is second to none. This has proved invaluable in his work on films and TV series but also in his training of emergency services and NHS doctors. I was fascinated to learn that medical casualty simulation make-up has to be so realistic and precise that it must also smell like the real thing.

Madeleine and Allen insisted on the fact that being a theatrical make-up artist is both exciting and demanding. Your creativity, patience, meticulousness as a researcher and overall resourcefulness are constantly tested. Work on a shoot is never straight forward. Furthermore, since there is always a problem to solve or something last minute that is thrown at you, you must always be prepared and carry with you all the tools of your trade.

Allen went on to explain that with the recent advent of HD theatrical make-up has become both more expensive and more subtle. Because everything on HD is shown in great detail, wigs (for instance) have to be lace-fronted to blend in with the actors’ forehead. Moreover, marks and blemishes have to be covered up carefully before make-up is applied as thick make-up can’t be used anymore.

At the end of their presentation Madeleine and Allen’s valuable conclusion was that “often the simplest thing is the best” for “the more things are difficult, the more they can go wrong”.

After a fifteen minute break, where we chatted and had a good look at all the make-up brought along by Madeleine and Allen, we came back to our seats to watch a couple of horror short films.

The first one was a premiere, written by Chris Jackson (www.chrisjackson.org.uk) and directed by Rob James. The film’s dark mood was skilfully enhanced by atmospheric lighting and by Alan Deacon’s excellent and evocative soundtrack (www.sonicsyringe.com).

Entitled “The Confessor”, it is a brooding, psychological chiller that leads us into the tormented mind of a Catholic priest. In an empty church at night, roles are disturbingly reversed when a priest, after listening to a stranger’s confession, is led into giving his own. The burden of his Catholic guilt is personified by a threatening and faceless shadow – the devil. The deeper message of this interesting film may be that guilt can be a greater sin than the sin itself.

Chris and Rob talked about doing the film on a low budget of £1500. They still managed to secure very good actors and skilled technicians. Their only compromise was in their choice of camera, but they managed to turn its imposed limitations into a positive artistic challenge.

The next stage for them is to show their film at various horror film festivals, of which there are many since horror as a genre is very popular.

The second short, “How To Pick up Girls”, was shot by couple Dan Gitsham and Sophie Mair (www.myspace.com/sketchbookpictures) and had a very different mood.
It starts as a quirky comedy, in which a funny-looking man in a suit eyes up a trendy flame-haired girl who blows huge chewing-gum bubbles at a bus stop in the middle of nowhere. When a minibus full of pig-men skids to a stop in front of them, the story turns into a darkly humorous and surreal nightmare.

Dan and Sophie shot their film on a micro-budget of £800. They relied on their own resourcefulness and on a network of film-maker friends to make it at such a low cost.
They have already shown their film at thirty festivals world-wide, taking full advantage of their short’s dual appeal in both the comedy and horror circles.

So what best conclusion could we draw from this deliciously horrific evening? Should it be that you should never go out without a tube of KY Jelly (as it makes the best blisters!)? Or that you should refrain at all times from being a lone Catholic priest in a deserted church or a hapless man waiting for a bus in the middle of nowhere? That’s for you to decide…

Véronique Martin
veronique.martin@gmail.com
www.myspace.com/cubicstone

Another review of last month's Pitching event

This month’s Cineformation, as part of the Encounters festival, gave an abundance of great tips and advice on the art of pitching your film/script to a panel of producers.

Nine brave and enthusiastic writers/directors/actors volunteered to present their project in front of a panel of four experts: Paul Appleby, executive producer at the BBC (www.bbc.co.uk), and Chris Moll, executive producer at South West Screen (www.swscreen.co.uk), who gave advice on what a producer wishes to hear when he listens to a pitch – for a short or a feature film; Vicky Brophy, managing director of Wonky (www.wonkyfilms.co.uk), who gave recommendations as a producer of animation; and Melissa Kidd, managing director of Coaching Creatives (www.coachingcreatives.co.uk), who offered tips on how to present your project and yourself at such meetings.

The meeting was chaired and hosted by Oliver Purches, a Bristol filmmaker, winner of this year’s Raindance festival pitching competition for fiction, who is working on a feature film entitled “Robopartners”, a romantic comedy with a quirky contemporary twist, to be shot in 2009.

The first pitch was given by Geoff, a Bristol filmmaker, who was presenting an idea for a short film entitled “Close”: a story about how a tragic event brings together an eleven year old boy and his distant father. Geoff described his idea as dark but with an optimistic aspect. He was very articulate, clear and passionate. As a director, he spoke a lot of images and atmospheres (for instance the contrast between the dark world of the boy’s home and the bright world of his school). The panel appreciated the clarity and enthusiasm of the pitch, which described well the plot, the conflict and the story arc.

The advice they gave was:
1- A pitch should start with an introduction about yourself and your background.
2- You must remember to stress the theme of your film throughout your presentation (in this case it was the theme of – lack of – closeness).
3- You must explain why this idea is personal to you. Why it is the one idea for you.
4- Make sure the ending of your story is clearly described (a problem that was stressed repeatedly throughout the pitches).

The second pitch was delivered by Andres, a Columbian filmmaker, writer and fine art artist. He explained that he had experience in animation and that his previous film had been shown in thirty three festivals. He had written the project he was presenting but had given its direction to a trusted and valued animator friend of his. The story was about an elderly couple in a 1950s car on a windy road, who are stunned to discover on their car’s roof a threatening looking witch who wants to challenge the woman (an ex great dancer) to a dancing contest. The panel praised Andres’s very relaxed, animated and confident demeanour. They also loved the fact that he acted out the story.

Their advice was:
1- Bring visuals when you are pitching animation.
2- Sometimes (as in this case when the writer and director are not the same person) it is a good idea to have several key people doing the pitch. In that case the pitch must be very well rehearsed and must showcase a good team spirit (film being a collaborative art).
3- Be careful not to be swamped by backup material such as a piece of paper (with your pitch on it) or a laptop.

The third pitch was given by Ian, an actor from New Zealand, who was presenting a complex feature length adventure mixing mythology, initiation and action. The theme was “the time in a young man’s life when he has to decide whom to trust”. Ian’s pitch was praised for being well performed (good use of powerful pauses, animated story telling) and well researched (mythology, history). The panel, however, felt confused by the numerous character names, complex twists and turns, and overall profusion of details.

Their advice was:
1- Do not get lost in details. Do not pitch the plot but the essential story and theme(s) of your film. Strip down your idea.

The fourth pitch was delivered by Karen, a director who has made music videos and commercials, and who has an interest in PARKOUR, free running and martial arts. Her idea for a film was a conspiracy drama based in The City and exploring the culture of finance. This film would be the first of a trilogy based on the main character’s quest for revenge. She described it as “Bourne Identity meets Old Boy”. The panel liked her friendly and open manner. They also liked the fact that her theme was contemporary (credit crunch) and that she had presented her idea as a concept (no details, flowing form), leaving them intrigued and wanting to know more. They only expressed concern about the idea risking to sound derivative.

Their advice was:
1- Remember to adapt your pitch to your audience (a pitch should be a dialogue; pitchees may ask questions and you must be prepared to respond and adapt).
2- Keep your idea fresh (not derivative).

The fifth pitch, given by Nik, was very original. He started by introducing himself, but very soon he stalled and looked confused. A ripple of discomfort passed over the panel and audience. He then went on to confess that he was very upset because he had just been thrown out by his girlfriend, who had replaced him not with another man (or woman) but with a robot. To add insult to injury this robot happens to have his face. He continued to describe his comically distressing story (to the delight of both panel and audience) until, eventually, he came out of character to conclude that the pitch was for a feature length romantic comedy, with robots, entitled “Robopartners”.

The audience applauded Nik warmly and the panel praised his talent at understanding and playing his audience. His pitch was very unconventional and would definitely make him and his idea noticed and remembered. The panel, however, also underlined that it was a risky approach to take.

The sixth pitch, entitled “Two Bullets”, was delivered by Alex. It was about a gang in Hong-Kong who (for money) get immigrants into Hong-Kong and give them two bullets. Possession of two bullets gets you arrested in Hong-Kong and sent to prison – a better situation for these immigrants than the desperate predicament of their life. The panel really liked the fact that it was a big story (trafficking and transmigration). They were, however, confused by the ending and also advised Alex to be less self-deprecating.

Their advice was:
1- Tell the panel what your idea is for: a short or feature film.
2- Work on your ending.
3- Be upbeat and enthusiastic about your idea. Practice it with supportive friends and family to gain more self-confidence.

The seventh pitch was given by Sophie. It was for a short, offering a modern and metaphorical twist on the old “damsel in distress” fairy tale archetype. The panel really enjoyed Sophie’s agreeable demeanour and delivery. They were however a bit confused by the ending of her story.

Their advice was:
1- Do not forget to tell the pitchees what you have brought for them, should they be interested, (script, etc.). Moreover, if they do not like your pitch, they may still like you and be interested in another of your projects. So make sure you have one or two alternative ideas up your sleeve.

The eighth pitch was delivered by Juan. His idea was very different as it was for a non-narrative film. Juan is from Columbia, where he has been working for years with sound and performance. His film would consist of six stories which are linked together and explore the themes of the self, of identity and of “going beyond”.

The panel’s advice was:
1- Even if your idea is non-narrative, it still needs to be presented like a story.
2- Find out about your panel’s backgrounds and tastes before doing your pitch (they may not be the right people for your idea).

The ninth and last pitch was given by Loyd. He described his short as “a reflective social drama / coming of age comedy”. His idea was about two students, drifters, who find escapism in drugs. Their story is contrasted with one of the boys’ uncle’s who has led an exciting and adventurous life. Loyd, pressed for time, gave his pitch first by reading it off a piece of paper at warp speed. The panel asked him to do it again without reading his paper, which resulted in a much improved pitch.

The panel’s advice was:
1- Tell what your connection is to your story/characters.
2- If ever your idea is reminiscent of another, mention it and use it to your advantage (instead of letting the panel make the connection for themselves).
3- Keep eye contact with your panel/audience and engage with them (do not read your piece of paper, only use it for backup).

So, to conclude my notes on the latest in Cineformation’s series of ever informative events, when you pitch your film: believe in yourself and your project; be open and enthusiastic; know your pitch well – rehearse it in front of friends and family; and remember that FEAR stands for “Felling Excited and Ready”.

Good luck!

Véronique Martin, veronique.martin@gmail.com, www.myspace.com/cubicstone

Missed the Encounters Cineformation Pitching Event... Read all about it here.

Pitching: the terrifying ordeal of trying to persuade a producer that your idea for a film deserves their money – in about two minutes or less. This was the subject of November’s Cineformation event, held at the Watershed during the Encounters Short Film Festival. An open call for anyone willing to test their pitching skills before a panel of supportive – but realistic – producers and communications experts produced a room full of brave souls willing to have a go, their numbers swelled by a healthy number of current and future film makers attending the festival.
The four panelists were Chris Moll of South West Screen, Paul Appleby of the BBC, Vicky Brophy from Bristol’s Wonky Films, and Melissa Kidd of Coaching Creatives. All four stressed that any criticisms they gave were meant to be creative, intended to help boost the participants’ confidence and ensure that their pitch was up to the challenge. Suitably reassured that this was not going to be as quite as stressful as Dragons Den, the pitchers got stuck in.
Throughout the night, no two pitches were exactly alike, which made the exercise fascinating to observe. The pitchers adopted a variety of tactics: some concentrated on the plot dynamics, some on the atmosphere of the story, and one was a performance pitch done in the character of the story’s protagonist. All the pitchers acquitted themselves with honour, and the panel was able to supply a range of helpful tips and advice. These included:
Watch your body language: Melissa’s advice concentrated on the physical aspects of persuasion. A clear, confident diction was essential of course, but she suggested that excessive hand gestures were off-putting. One of the pitchers read from prepared notes, but all the panel warned against doing this, as confident eye contact with the people you are hoping to persuade was critical. Another pitcher used a laptop, which was excellent for displaying storyboards or character sketches, but could easily turn into another physical barrier between the pitcher and their potential investor.

Don’t miss out the ending: Paul was particularly keen that a pitch should include a mention of the story’s length and conclusion, so that the producer knows how the characters finish up. This relates directly to the feelings an audience carries away with them from a film, something any producer cares about deeply

Don’t leave yourself out of the pitch: “Make sure you tell me what has driven you to do this particular story,” Chris urged the pitchers. “I want to hear why this story is so important to you that you’re standing in front of me now.”

Get their attention: The brave individual who delivered his pitch in character from the moment he walked on stage earned a deserved round of applause, although the panel agreed that it wasn’t an approach for everyone to try. “It’s always a risky pitching approach, but it will get you noticed and creates space for a dialogue with the panel,” said Paul. “You need an excellent understanding of your audience to make it work, but then that’s exactly what you must have before any conversation about your film can start.”

Pitch the story, not the plot: “Try and avoid making the storyline sound complicated, even if it actually is,” said Vicky. “Don’t risk confusing your listener with a host of difficult names." If the story has an obvious connection to other films (“It’s Bourne Ultimatum meets Old Boy” was one part of a pitch the panel responded to very positively) don’t let the connection be made by the panel; get in there first and deflect it. Explain what you have done with the material that is different and original.

Understand what you want to get out of the meeting: What specifically do you want to leave the room with? If money, then how much? If collaborators, then in what roles?

You’re there to build a working relationship: “Make sure you know what you are going to leave them with, whether it’s just a business card or even a complete script, so that the relationship doesn’t stall as soon as you walk out of the door,” urged Chris. He also emphasized the importance of having a second or third idea in your pocket, ready to produce if needed. “When your listener says ‘No thanks. What else have you got?’, that can’t be the end of the conversation, You are not just there to pitch your story. You are pitching a future working relationship every time you begin speaking. Don’t forget that pitching is actually a dialogue.”

Perhaps next year’s Encounters festival will screen the fruits of the panel’s advice.

By Tim Hayes 24/11/08)