I’ve created an app for UK Hot Deals, but being an Android boy*, I have no iPhone to test it on.  If there’s anyone who’d be prepared to test out the app and give me any feedback on what they thought of it, I’d be ever so grateful.

The app can be found at http://ukhotdeals.isites.us

Once I’m happy with it, I can get it up on the old App Store.

*I’m still drooling over the new iPad though…

I’ve created a new web site called UK Hot Deals to generate a bit of money to fund my filmmaking activities. UK Hot Deals blogs and tweets the latest special offers and discount codes from a vast array of High Street and Online shops. Everything from the latest fashion to the latest tech, there’s something for everyone in there.

Tell all your friends – it would be great to get a few more followers on the Twitter feed (by the way if you follow me on Twitter, UK Hot Deals will be knocking on your door, so let me in!).

You never know, you could save yourself a bob or two and help fund a great feature film!

Yes, it’s umm, 2011 , and has been for ages. Well, well, well.

Just been doing some major updating of the Scribomatic web site which I thought I’d shout about. It’s basically the same old site, now all nicely WordPressed up and, hopefully, more useable.

Apart from that, it’s the same old stuff, different year, really.

Progress on all of my projects is painfully slow.  I’ve been working on editing a short demo reel for my good friend Ben Shockley‘s new film project, which is cool. I’ve also been tinkering with some new ideas for films (though once again I find myself in the shadow of Duncan Jones – I swear that bloke is me, 18 months ahead of me ).

I guess really I should actually do something this year, rather than just talk about it.

Here goes…

Just thought I’d better do a quick update as life seems to be passing far too speedily at the moment:

Things are falling into place with the planned shoot of The Man Who Wished short. I just need to nail some dates, which is proving tricky as the day job is threatening to get in the way. Hopefully I’ll have a clearer idea of my schedule for next month very soon and we can really get things rolling. Locations and props are almost all sorted now, as well as a very nice man with a 20 foot pole, which I’m assured is no bad thing.

The Man Who Wished TV series is developing nicely too, though it’s getting kinda massive, so I’ve had to crack the old Dramatica out to try to to knock it into some kind of shape. It’s slowly … Read More »

Image via Wikipedia

I finally managed to get all the principle protagonists involved in The Man Who Wished together for drinks and chats last night down at The Hope Inn in Hythe.

It was a great evening, made somewhat surreal by a rather drunk fan of Mark’s who kept coming over and trying to reenact scenes from Early Doors with him. Mark took it like the pro he is, though everyone grinned when fan’s husband appeared to rescue us and said, ‘Early Doors is magic but,’ and he turned to the hitherto ignored Ken, ‘you, Sir, are the greatest, taking out Regan like you did in The Sweeney. Classic!’.

Random fans aside, good chats were had (Ken was on fine form with some top class Tony Hopkins and Oliver Reed tales) and we even managed to talk about the short for brief moments. … Read More »

For the last few months I’ve been plotting and scheming to bring together a short film project. Last night the final key piece of the puzzle fell into place.

Some time in the next few months Mark Benton, Ken Colley, Ben Shockley and myself along with some talented designers and musicians will be getting together to make a short film entitled The Man Who Wished.

But we need your help! Yup, that’s right, it’s the old ‘help us fund out short’ plea.

However, with this project we’re doing things a bit differently. The film will be released under the Attribution Creative Commons license which means that if you invest, along with all the usual things we can offer (copy of DVD, signed piccies etc), you’ll also get a digital copy of the film to use in any way you see fit – sell, … Read More »

There’s something brewing that I’m really quite excited about.  Based on years of grinding against a system that is outdated and regulated to the hilt, Clive Davies-Frayne (aka @filmutopia) has come up with the Lone Gun Manifesto, a way of making films for the 2.0 world:

Pretty exciting stuff huh? Well, I think so. When I first read this the other day it was like a great weight had fallen from my shoulders.

There are several things I find liberating about this. First and foremost is the fact that filmmaking this way makes the whole process so much easier. Obviously this won’t be for everyone, but for a techy geek like me, being in charge of the camera and the sound and the actors (as much as you can or want to control actors) is near heaven.

You’re not waiting on other people to … Read More »

Image via Wikipedia

So like just about everyone else in the known universe, I went to see Avatar in 3D the other week. While the story was solid enough and the effects were just stunning, I walked out of the theatre feeling a bit empty.

It was the 3D. It just didn’t work for me. Admittedly I’d had this element of the film oversold to me by various parties, but ultimately I found it annoying for the following reasons:

1) Unless an object is in full view, it doesn’t really work. A ball in the centre of the screen works great, but as soon as the camera moves in and the edges of the ball touch the edge of the screen, the 3D effect is lost – sometimes distractingly so. Several times in the movie my eyes were pulled away from the action … Read More »

Things never quite go the way you expect, do they?

Last month, more on a whim than anything else, I applied for a management position within the company I work for, and ended up getting it. And rightly chuffed I was too.

So for the past two weeks I’ve ended up more or less doing two jobs as I tidy up affairs from my old IT Applications position and start my shiny new Marketing Communications role.

Rao and quite a few other people offline have, in the meantime, been asking about Return to Earth. Well, through all of this, I’ve had my thinking cap on, and thanks for some very good feedback from the previous draft I’ve finally nailed what the actual film is about.

I’ve also been playing with Mariner Software’s Contour, which has also made me realise that even though, after all … Read More »

A couple of years ago I helped shoot and edit this little ditty by Ken Colley.

Alligator from Andy Coughlan on Vimeo.