Cineformation: Casting 2008

The process of casting was the central topic of this month’s Cineformation networking event, held at the Watershed and presented by filmmaker Oliver Purches.

The first short film screened was Back in Ten, a feel-good story written, directed and produced by siblings Lucy and Barney Heywood. Both brother and sister explained the peculiarities of the casting for their film, and they were supported by their two main characters: veteran David Graham and child actor Ben Kirkwood.

The Heywoods admitted that they wrote the script with the image of Graham, an old family friend, in their minds. Graham plays an alter ego of North American rock legend Janis Joplin, a match that would initially seem unusual, given the fact that he looks like an average British gentleman. Young Kirkwood was one of the young actors who auditioned for the part of Graham’s co-star. It doesn’t seem that the Heywoods were scared about the difficulties of filming with children. Kirkwood, whose only previous experience is in theatre school, wasn’t concerned about some use of language in the film.

The second guest speaker was producer and director Rich Warren, who spoke about his short film Malcolm. Although the initial reason to make the film was to portray an innovative use of music (the iPod of the main character could almost be a second character itself), Warren explained how much the film owes to the presence of the main actor, who was suspiciously similar to the co-director.

Warren dedicated much time to explaining the virtues of a good casting director, among them, even making the auditioning actors cry, almost a legendary image that one wouldn’t dare considering truthful but that apparently is. The young director admitted to have spent many months looking for the right actress for a controversial short film The Watching, also screened.

Cineformation: Female Filmmakers

*Cineformation: Female Filmmakers

7pm Thursday 28 August 2008, Watershed Media Centre*

Cineformation was delighted to welcome Molly Fry Freelance Series Producer who’s worked with the BBC’s Natural History Unit Legend Sir David Attenborough, Kate Humble and Bill Oddie to name a few.

Next up was Abigail Davies with over 450 broadcast credits to her name, working in all aspects of television production from researcher to director to producer, Abigail gave the audience an insight into how she has built her vast career.

The night ended with a sneak preview of Amba: The Russian Tiger directed by Saritha Wilkinson, who ended the night talking about her varied and exciting career traveling across the globe Filming, Editing, Producing and Directing people and issue based documentaries.

It certainly was an evening not to be missed!

Storyboarding

Cineformation: Storyboarding

7pm, Thursday 31 July 2008, Watershed Media Centre, Bristol, BS1 5TX

The storyboard artist often has a fundamental part to play in bringing filmmakers ideas to life and at July’s Cineformation we showed you how it’s done. In conversation with Oliver Purches, Richard Starzecki – who’s comic book background gives him a unique approach to realising a film’s artistic style – answered key questions and took us through the process of collaboration, bridging the gap between original concept and finished film.

We also had a live web link up to Canada where animation software giants Toon Boom, gave a fantastic demo of their storyboarding software.

And if this wasn’t exciting enough Richard topped it all off with a case study of his most recent film – Esther May Campbell’s latest production September, with an exclusive clip before its preview!

Bristol Filmmakers Festival

BRISTOL FILMMAKERS FESTIVAL 2008

In June Cineformation joined forces with the Misfit Collective, Blue Screen, the Watershed and the Arnolfini, to organise a festival of independent films and explore what it means to be an independent filmmaker in Bristol.

A whole host of films, (animation, live action, musicals and documentaries) in turns moving, funny, experimental, poetic or gritty, were shown throughout the weekend at the Watershed and the Arnolfini.

The Misfit Collective Trade Fair

The Misfit Collective Trade Fair, on Saturday afternoon, was a friendly and bustling affair featuring a multitude of film related organisations and local talents; from costume designers, set designers, storyboard artists, make up artists, sound designers, actors, dancers, and directors, to companies such as Films@59, Visual Impact, Quadlogic, and training providers like National Film & Television School, UWE and University of Bristol. Showreels by local artists were shown during the whole event, giving a voice to anyone who wanted to share their film with the public.

Cineformation: Making it in Bristol

The Cineformation event was very informative as it featured the predicament of the rarely heard independent filmmakers, having to deal with lack of money and the inadequacy of official structures when it comes to helping and encouraging independent filmmaking.

The event was chaired by Misfit Collective creator, director and writer, Julian Holman.

The first part of the session introduced us to the vibrant and very driven, Spanish born Bristol filmmaker Borja Cantera (of Undo Productions). He gave us an insight into what was involved in shooting his 16mm feature, ‘Hand Made Love’, in Bristol. His film is a moving and heroic love story between a well adjusted young Somali boy and a girl from Ghana who has been chosen to be sacrificed in a Juju magic ceremony.

With a grand total of £7,000 pounds as a budget, there were many production challenges. The stress due to lack of money was somewhat allayed by the community of St Pauls rallying around to help. One hundred and fifty people came to the casting sessions and all the actors were locals.

St Pauls is a very idiosyncratic part of Bristol, whose identity has been shaped by a melting pot of cultural influences. People from the Caribbean, from the Middle East or Africa, all live in their respective cultures but also interact with one another.

Another (less attractive) aspect of St Pauls is that it is teeming with drug dealers. This made shooting at best tricky and at worst very dangerous. Some of the anecdotes recounted by Borja were hair raising experiences. (The police support was there during the last two weeks of shooting but in a very discreet way, so as not to alienate the locals.) Borja insisted on the importance to find an ally/spokesperson in a local man who knows the area extremely well and is familiar with its inhabitants and their rules. The fact that Borja has lived in St Pauls for years contributed greatly to his winning the community’s trust and support.

The second part of the meeting was a Q&A between Fiona Francombe, Filming and Locations Co-ordinator at South West Screen (see the Cineformation session on Locations) and independent filmmakers in the audience. Fiona was very open and friendly but, faced with many negative anecdotes from the audience, she had to agree that the existing Council funded organisations meant to help filmmakers are aimed at big productions and not at low budget indie projects. These Council-run organisations have a strong duty of care to the local residents (health and safety, etc.) and also need to make money in order to go on receiving public funds. This explains why they recommend following rules and regulations to the letter. Their way of proceeding, however, translates into heavy production costs that are out of small productions’ reach.

The conclusion was that, if you are an independent filmmaker and have already taken a public liability insurance (an absolute essential, which you can get for around £100), it may be easier not to approach these local film organisations if you need to keep your costs down. It’s very likely that not using them will make you gain time and money.

The last part of the meeting was an upbeat look at practical tips for indie filmmakers followed by a celebration of filmmaking in Bristol.

On the practical level, most people seemed to edit their films on their own computers but Films@59 was also recommended. Hire places were said to be open to making deals with indie film directors as they make most of their money from big productions.(The courteous thing to do in that case is to thank them by naming them in your acknowledgements/film titles.)

To conclude the Cineformation event, Julian asked the audience what they thought was good about filming in Bristol. Local filmmakers enthused about Bristol’s rich culture, its spirit and visual impact, about the abundance of creativity and the sense of independence and freedom that make Bristol’s indie filmmaking community a hub of activity and a place of mutual support.

Other events over the weekend included a Depict! session, a Bluescreen Special, Sweded Classics and, as well as the main programme of screenings there was also a very popular student showcase. The party on the Saturday night crowned an exciting and inspiring week-end of cooperation and celebration.

To see the winner of the most popular film & to see which films were nominated click here to read the news item.

And to see more photos from the weekend, click here.

Written by Véronique Martin- veronique.martin@gmail.com – www.myspace.com/cubicstone

Locations

This month Cinéformation took us on a stimulating exploration of what it means, on the one hand, to be a Location Manager and, on the other, to be a local resident/local authority figure dealing with a film crew.

The event was presented by Claire Hickman, who chaired the Q&A.

During the first part of the evening we listened to Fiona Francombe (Filming and Locations Co-ordinator for South West Screen) and Caroline Lowsley-Williams (daughter of the owner of Chavenage House in Gloucestershire, where the BBC series Larkrise to Candleford was partly filmed). They discussed the various facets of the Location Manager’s job and the all-important relationship between residents and film crew on location.

Fiona explained that the first role of the Locations Manager (LM) is to find locations for the film to be shot. After reading the script carefully, finding out where the production company is based and what the budget will be, the LM has meetings with the director, set designer and producer to find out what their vision of the ideal location is. The LM also has to be very aware of the architecture of the historical period depicted in the film (Georgian, Victorian, 1930s, etc.) and must make sure there is coherence and continuity in the locations.

The second stage of this search can take a while as the LM has to contact the people they know and visit promising places. As there is no such thing as a perfect location, they have to be very flexible and creative as well as always heedful of cost and logistics.

Fiona gave us a couple of examples to illustrate such creative thinking. For instance, in the ITV film Bertie and Elizabeth (2002), a sequence depicting a direct hit on Buckingham Palace during the London Blitz was filmed in three different locations. The drawing room where the sequence starts was shot in a private stately home. The following scene of the characters running down a grand staircase to find cover was shot in Longleat. Finally the scene of the characters’ sheltering in Buckingham palace’s cellar was shot in a National Trust property.

Fiona went on to explain in her friendly and mild manner that on location, the primary role of the locations manager changes, as he/she becomes the point of contact between the crew and the locals/residents. There again much flexibility and diplomacy is needed. She said that to her shooting on location is a privilege and that the film crew should always be very respectful and mindful of the residents.

As an illustration of this point, she talked about the shooting of ITV’s paranormal series Afterlife. The location for the exterior of Alison’s house (Alison is one of the two main characters) was situated in a residential area of Bristol, in Southville. It was chosen by the director for its great visual impact (on a slope, with Clifton in the background…), but it made the job of the locations manager difficult. Indeed extra care had to be taken to protect the residents from the disturbances of filming (especially at night). Lights were dimmed after 11pm; windows were blacked-out; letters of notification were sent in advance; much care was taken with parking… Fiona insisted that trying to choose an area where the locals are open to filming makes life much easier.

This led us to hear about Caroline Lowsley-Williams’s experience on the receiving end of a film crew at Chavenage House, her father’s manor house, which was chosen to be the local squire’s estate in the BBC’s Larkrise to Candleford.

Fiona explained that the house was chosen because it afforded very good possibilities for filming (great building, close to Bristol, beautiful and versatile surrounding countryside, reasonable rental cost and film friendly owners). Moreover, being in need of renovation, it matched perfectly the storyline in which the squire’s young wife wanted to redecorate the manor.

Caroline, who saw the shooting of Stanley Kubrick’s Barry Lyndon (1975) in her family home as a child, is used to dealing with film crews. She said that having her house listed in the Hudson’s Historic Houses and Gardens; Castles and Heritage site has helped the house’s exposure to filming. Being at the same time a source of income and an advert to entice more visitors, films are welcome by her family. She remarked that although it is different with each film, if the LM is a nice and accommodating person and if you are good at laying out the confines, all goes well. You may even end up being firm friends.

Caroline explained that she tries to be flexible. So much happens all the time during shooting (scripts and plans keep being changed, etc.). It is very stressful to try to juggle everything (especially when filming takes place at the same time as other pre-booked events). She said she remains on hand throughout the shooting to answer queries and to help. When dealing with bigger properties, Fiona views this presence as essential. In smaller properties (like flats or normal houses), she much prefers when the owners leave, in order to avoid their having to go through the trauma of witnessing the mess and chaos of filming. It’s much better that, when they come back, the house has been restored to its original state (sometimes even improved!).

To conclude the first part of the evening, Fiona explained that if you are a director looking for a location, your first port of call should be (according to the region you’re interested in) either the Bristol Film Office or the Bath Film Office or South West Screen. The service you will be offered is free (paid for by the local councils). You will be given suggestions of suitable places and properties to suit your budget and needs.

After a nice break, where much chatting and networking took place, we resumed the evening, this time listening to Keith Donoghue (the very enthusiastic Town Clerk of Wells) and Jamie Lengyel (another friendly, mild mannered and very experienced Location Manager) discussing the crucial relationship between local authorities and film crew.

Keith recounted with great verve and fondness his experience as the council representative dealing with the shooting of Hot Fuzz in Wells. He thoroughly enjoyed being the 24-hour problem solver and local support network for the film crew. He described how the film was well accepted by the locals thanks to the LM’s efforts to enlist the support of the residents through an open meeting in the Town Hall to let people know of the forthcoming upheaval and to answer their questions. Some locals were registered as extras, which also contributed to getting them onboard.

Keith entertained us with many anecdotes pertaining to the shooting of Hot Fuzz and also listed the numerous advantages that it brought to Wells. It worked as a great advert for the city as it promoted it on TV and in newspapers (a leaflet was subsequently produced by the council for visitors to view the various locations where the film was shot). Another advantage was that during filming local businesses (B&Bs, restaurants, cafés, etc.) experienced a boom. Although conceding there were a few difficulties (as when shooting took much longer than planned, due to torrential rains, and as a consequence tempers became frayed towards the end), he concluded that the positives far outweighed the negatives.

Jamie then underlined how paramount it is to have a great relationship with the local authorities during shooting. He gave, as an example, the logistical headache brought about by the film The Duchess starring Keira Knightley.

The film takes place in the late 18th century (in an upper class environment) where candles are central. As LM, he needed the support of the council, fire services, etc. to shoot the scenes effectively and safely.

Jamie addressed a few technical questions such as the LM having to take into account (on top of what had already been mentioned by Fiona) pre-set deadlines –much stricter for TV films than for movies. He also explained that when the locations are agreed on, the locations manager and designer work together to make the appropriate amendments to the sets (like removing or disguising anything that is not of the period when the film is supposed to happen).

Via the power of the internet, we also got a behind the scenes interview with Michael Carlin, Production Designer on The Duchess, who talked us through the process of transforming the Bristol Old Vic into an 18th century assembly rooms.

Jamie said that the difficulty in his job was less in finding the right locations (especially since the recent progress in post-production techniques meaning that such problems as TV aerials can be erased after shooting) as in the logistics of co-ordinating everything and everyone as smoothly as possible (e.g. having to organise and house hundreds of extras, with costumes, etc.).

Answering the question “what should one do to become a LM?”, Jamie said that one should try to gain experience (for instance as a runner) in all the departments involved in filming. Indeed the LM’s job demands a thorough understanding of everyone’s duties and requirements on set, in order to “make all the pieces of the puzzle fit together”. He underlined that it is only through experience that one can learn what works and what does not.

He summarised his job as fascinating and extremely varied. To succeed at it, he stressed that one needs to invest oneself totally, put in very long hours, work hard, and be respectful and diplomatic when dealing with people. “The LM’s job,” he concluded, is about “problem solving and making things happen”.

Written by Véronique Martin- veronique.martin@gmail.com – www.myspace.com/cubicstone

Music For Film

For this month, Cinéformation became part of the annual South West Sound event at the Watershed on April 24th and, as such, the theme, “Music for Film”, was a very appropriate choice.

SOUTH WEST SOUND – THE DAY

The South West Sound day ran under the moniker “Beyond DIY” and kicked off with a keynote address “Lighting the Touchpaper” hosted by Bristol Music Foundation’s Matt Booth. Fellow panellists Feargal Sharkey (of Undertones fame and currently heading BMR – British Music Rights), John Webster (ex Virgin Exec and Chief Exec of the Music Manager’s Forum), Tim Smith (a secondary school music teacher of 31 years’ experience) and Jack Kingslake (Music Leader at High Road Studios in St Werburghs, Bristol) provided an enlightening and enjoyable insight into issues affecting the Music Industry in Britain, and especially the South West, today.

In a period where Britain is earning more money from the Music Industry than several other major industries including, perhaps surprisingly, Financial Services and Chemical Industries, the following subjects were of particular significance: The progress of Music Education; the importance, in the future, of Collecting Societies (PPL, MCPS, PRS, etc); Music Management training courses; a recommendation for Artists to keep their copyrights and to use licensing instead; a nationwide government-led scheme to open well-equipped rehearsal rooms following the model of a pilot scheme in Wrexham; The use of new (music) technologies in schools; extending links between music students and the industry in order to provide sustainability within both education and industry; and how music students can “monetize” their work.

With the near future promising “light-speed downloads” of music (120 albums worth of material in less than a second!), it is timely that results of BMR research into P2P (peer to peer) file sharing and music and film downloads, etc., is soon to be released – it will make very interesting reading.

Feargal Sharkey called this “one of the most exciting periods in the music industry” where there is “more demand for music than ever”, and everyone agreed that, although it would be hard work, it is nevertheless a great time for Musicians and Students of Music to “get out there and do it!”

After the keynote address, there were three midday panels, the most relevant to Cinéformation being “Scoring for Film”, which was hosted by film, television and theatre composer, Miguel Mera. Other panellists were Martin Kiszko, who was later to be guest speaker at the evening’s Cinéformation event (see below), Alex Heffes whose recent work includes helping to arrange the “Sweeney Todd: the Demon Barber of Fleet Street” soundtrack and the score for the oscar winning “The Last King of Scotland”, Ex theatre director turned composer, Dan Jones and Film and TV Music Publisher Sarah Liversedge.

Useful advice from the panel to less experienced composers included trying to find their own original voice; the use of drama to aid compositions; phoning production companies to find out at which stage in the production they are before sending unsolicited demos/showreels; creating their own temp tracks early in the music development process rather than allowing directors to get too used to someone else’s music; and approaching people such as Film Editors or Sound Designers when trying to secure work, rather than always approaching Directors/Producers head on.

Sarah provided a very interesting angle on the discussions, as it is not often that we hear things from a publisher’s perspective. I’m sure that all composers would find it invaluable to talk to someone like her reasonably early in their careers.

Following a networking lunch, the afternoon session commenced with Jaqui Hague who announced the start of MusicLeader South West – an initiative offering information, advice, guidance and training to Music Leaders (people who are experienced in the Music world and who can pass their knowledge on to the next generations of music makers) in the region.

Next came an open forum where delegates had a chance to ask questions of a panel comprising Sean Divine (of ASCAP – the American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers), Matthew Tyrell (Ex of Music Week, now running an organisation called London Calling), Cindy Dalgleish (interfacing Higher Education and industry), Rick Rogers (of Dartington Plus and head of South West Recordings) and Jim Maudsley (Newcastle based and offering regional music advice through the organisation Generator).

There followed the inaugural meeting of the South West Music Forum, which has been established by Bristol Music Foundation over the past two years on a county level, but was the first time that forums from each county in the South West had all met under the one roof.

And a successful afternoon was rounded off by a Demo Panel where delegates had the opportunity to hear their tracks reviewed by a panel of judges comprising speakers from the afternoon’s events and others including Richard Pitt and Gary Smith of BBC Bristol’s “Bristol Uncovered” show. A highlight for me here was a young MC calling himself “Gecko” who brightened the airwaves with some amusing observations and quirky lyrics – keep your ears peeled!

CINEFORMATION – THE NIGHT

The evening brought the event we had all been waiting for! Cinéformation presented their “Music for Film”. The ever lovely Beth introduced composer and educator J*ean Hasse* who led us into the first part of the evening, a period of “Networking and Drinks” with a twist in that, during that time, students from The University of Bristol MAFTV composition course, on which Jean lectures, had the chance to play us their compositions on laptops located at strategic locations in the room.

I think that the students (Michael Fergusson, Blair Mowat, TyLean Paisley-Hixson, Jane Qu Yi, Aaron Whitfield, Chris Willis and Alex Wise) were a little hard done by in that the atmosphere of a networking room was so buzzing, it was not the best possible showcase for their work. But what I was able to make out seemed very impressive. It was, also, a very welcome treat to get a free glass of wine courtesy of Cinéformation and was good to have time specifically allocated to networking. It also made a change from the usual guest speaker and Q&A format that resumed during the second half:

Martin Kiszko, a film composer with over 200 soundtrack and concert credits under his belt, spearheaded this part of the evening as he took us enthusiastically through “The Psychology of Sound”. His first question to the audience was why do we need Film Music: “Why egg emotions?” As composer Schoenberg once asked of the director Thalberg, who was in the throws of explaining all the complexities of the soundscape of one of his films, “with all that going on, why would you need music?” Martin started to answer his question with another quote, this time from Cinema Great, Bernard Herman, who said that the correct placement of music “lifts dialogue into the realms of poetry” and then went on to describe the great power that music has to manipulate the audience.

To be able to do this most effectively, however, he argued, that first the Film Composer “must be bilingual”, i.e. able to converse in not only the language of music, but also must be versed in the vocabulary of the film world. In his/her applied craft the composer needs to be aware of the structure of story narrative including the three-act structure of classical story telling, or the three act with displaced narrative version, such as that told by Quentin Tarantino in “Pulp Fiction”.

The composer should be able to understand the physical and emotional arc of the characters and then use the music to highlight this drama. Martin listed nineteen different ways in which music can be used for this purpose: As well as the more obvious uses, such as source (diegetic) music, character themes, dramatic and emotional impact, etc., this list also included things such as “meaning and signification”, e.g. political stance of a character/situation, “subliminal”, for example to emphasise the shape of something on the screen, “humour”, “illusion of continuity” and to provide a “neutral background” such as in a documentary when there is not enough interest inherent in the existing sounds. He then showed us an excerpt from the Kiszco scored Dreamworks SKG/BBC Natural history Promotion showing us a range of ten or so of those methods.

Martin was joined by the evening’s first speaker, Jean Hasse, and by Jonathan Scott, Manager of the Composition and Recording Studios in the Department of Music at the University of Bristol. This pair had aided Martin in realising the score for the recent feature film The Killing of John Lennon (dir. Andrew Piddington), a feat that they achieved, from nothing to recorded and mixed, in “24 consecutive 18 hour days”! In helping to examine the process of film scoring, Jean talked about the Director’s Brief, and how it is difficult for the Director to communicate exactly what they require. It is therefore useful for the composer to ask questions and even to be able to improvise proposed parts, maybe on a piano, during meetings. Martin added that it is the main job of the film composer to figure out what the director wants: to extemporise, to agree; after all, the reason they are there is “to help realise the film”. Following on from this, Martin discussed the Key and Palette of the score, which, in terms of numbers of musicians available, etc., is intimately tied to budget and timescale. He said that few directors have “educated their ear” and so they either trust the composer in this respect, or they learn as they mature: the worst thing a Director can say is “I’ll like it when I hear it”! It is far better for them to have some sort of idea what they want. Martin then read us a horrendous brief he had received from a Director who obviously thought that he knew what he wanted, but was so dictatorial that he made it seem impossible, and also gave an anecdote about how Directors can often test themes out on a straw poll of people: their daughter, their daughter’s cat, their daughter’s cat’s brother, etc! We heard how the score for “The Killing of John Lennon” was particularly awkward as the director had already provided an extensive “Temp Track” and that the Sound Designer had been made to do the Sound design in the same key (pitch) as that music. The implication was that this was also very limiting for Martin.

Next up was the Mechanics of “spotting” the film, as “it is critical to be able to know when to stop and start the music”. Should a theme or effect anticipate, be synchronous with, or comment on an action? Martin showed his DVD, “The Art of the Film Score” (available from his website), which covered this point and also the following: Music Cue Sheets; M Numbers; Timecode; Scenes, Sequences, Cues; Entries and Exits; Binary, Tertiary and Rondo forms; Stings; Action; the use of no sound; and Iconic Reference.

Returning to the creation of the “The Killing of John Lennon” soundtrack, we learned how Jean had taken the “digitised” string parts from Digital Performer software and had transferred them to Sibellius Software in order to generate the score parts needed for nineteen cues where ten live string players added a touch of life to the more static electronically created “samples” (from the East-West Quantum Leap Sound Library), which had nevertheless been skilfully programmed with the help of David Hamill who regularly works at Martin’s studio and is also an accomplished composer in his own right. David had also added some more electronic textures using the Native Instruments Absynth Plug-In. “Imagine,” said Martin (I’m not sure if the reference was intentional, but I appreciated it); “Imagine recording and mixing a film score in eight days”: Apparently Jean was still printing parts out for the second half of the film whilst the first half was being recorded!

The string players, members of Bristol’s own Emerald Ensemble, were recorded in the University’s Victoria Rooms by Jonathan, and he explained how it was necessary to use specific mic techniques in order to blend the real strings with the electronically generated ones. He was also responsible for the final Music Mix and further Remix and Remastering stages to prepare the music for use on a Soundtrack Album.

We learned that even at the later stages in the production the Music was having to undergo constant change due to a “Paring” by the Director, negotiations with a Music Supervisor whose very existence was not made common knowledge until the last minute, and at one stage, as if the pressure wasn’t enough, the score actually got stolen from the studio!! There is a lesson to be learned here too, because, fortunately everyone had been very professional and proficient and had backed up the files.

The evening was rounded of with more pointers towards what it takes to be a Film Composer: MK: “You have to be able to cope with disappointment and rejection”; “Writer’s block is not an option – you just have to do it!” JH: “Take a break”; “Push Through”; “See it in a different way”, MK: “Make something beautiful from your first mark” (i.e. you don’t have time to keep changing your mind). And then an opportunity to look at some real life examples of Story Boards, Scores and Sketches from Martin’s portfolio.

Both composing for film events during the day were well attended by aspiring composers and I’m sure that they were able to glean much useful information from them especially with Martin Kiszco’s knowledgeable, informative and generous approach. However, it is my personal opinion, also reflected by the panel members of the midday session, that it is a shame that more Film Directors and Producers do not attend these events in order for them to gain a better understanding of what is involved in the creation of a film soundtrack. Any composers reading this, should be informed that, apparently, it is your task to educate them!

Alan Deacon