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, distribute, mashup, frame, eat etc. For profit, if you want.

If you’re interested, you can read the screenplay here and if you like what you read, you can clicky on the Indiegogo link just to the right there for more information on helping with a donation. Or there’s Paypal if you prefer to donate as much/little as you like.

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  Based on years of grinding against a system that is outdated and regulated to the hilt, Clive Davies-Frayne (aka @filmutopia) has come up with the Lone Gun Manifesto, a way of making films for the 2.0 world: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 sort things out, you’re not worrying whether the DP is getting the shots you want, you’re not worried about coverage, you’re not worried about lighting.  You’re just making a film, telling a story as simply and honestly as you can. Once you’re comfortable with the technology, it’s all about the story and the actors.

I rewatched Woody Allen’s ‘Manhatten’ last night. Utterly inspiring on all levels. The long master shots with the actors going in and out of frame. The dialogue that is to die for. The genius use of natural lighting. I could go on…

Another thing I like, and this I think is truly genius, is the whole Open Source aspect of it. Not only does it fly in the face of the whole Digital Economy Bill debacle that went on this week in Westminster, but it becomes a flexible way of making films that can share a core belief without being dogmatic.

Someone questioned Clive as to whether there was the need for such a manifesto with the the likes of Dogme 95 around. The beauty of this is that it isn’t a Dogma, it’s a practical mindset, and one that is so open that once you get past the ‘One Man (or Woman), One Camera’ scenario (and let’s face it, if you’re not doing that, you’re not doing Lone Gun), pretty much anything goes.  If you want to play safe, you can, if you want to experiment and make movies that break the mould, go for it. If you want special effects, fill your boots. If you think some bits are just plain silly, forget about them then. Whatever works for you and the project.

As Clive pointed out on his posterous blog this morning, there are different levels of doing this. You can be as hardcore as you like, you don’t need to be bound by anything. Just get the camera, microphone and actors and go (although make sure you have something worthwhile to say first).

For the short film I’m preparing at the moment (expect more news about that this week), I’m going as Lone Gun as is practically possible. However, the script wasn’t written with Lone Gun in mind, so I’ll have to make some concessions, but ultimately it will pretty much be me running the show, which is how I have always wanted it to be. Not because I’m a control freak, but because I love all aspects of filmmaking, and the bits of work I’ve done that I’m most pleased with were the bits I did on my todd.

There’s lots more about the whole manifesto that I could wax lyrical about all night, but I won’t on this occasion. I don’t think I’ve been this fired up to make a film in a very long time.

I’d be fascinated to know what everyone else thinks about it.

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 by a branch or something that was floating in the middle distance, apparently between me and the screen, suddenly snapping back as it hit the side of the screen.

2) Because of the depth element to the image, I found it took me a fraction of a second longer to get into the shot and adjust my brain to what I was seeing after each cut. Towards the end of the film my poor noodle was struggling to keep up with some of the faster cut action sequences, and I often found myself mentally two or three shots behind trying to process what I’d seen (This may just be me getting older and stupider…).

3) One of the key weapons a Director has in his cinematic armoury is depth of field. With the aid of a good focus puller he can draw the eye around a scene and add punctuation and stylistic elements to a shot that greatly aid the storytelling. This means that quite often much of the foreground and background is out of focus (the ‘filmic’ look), so burning embers falling down, apparently just in front of me, are also out of focus. When I try to look at them, they stay out of focus and it makes my eyes go funny.

I think this is possibly the biggest flaw with 3D. A perfect 3D system would be like life, where your eyes can alight on something in the near distance and everything in the background goes out of focus, then, when you shift your gaze to the wide blue yonder, objects near you go out of focus. But this is no good to the Director who is saying, ‘Oi! Over here – look at this wonderful actor, see our story’!

The problem, I suppose, is that 3D is cheating – you’re still looking at a two 2D images and your brain is being tricked into perceiving a depth that’s not really there.

The only solution to this would be to open up and have a wide depth of field, which would destroy every cinematographer living and make all films look crap. Even then it still wouldn’t work as everything would be in focus and it would still seem wrong.

I think for sports events, this is a good thing. You want a wide depth of field to keep the fast moving ball in focus at all times and get a much better sense of where the ball and players are in relation to each other, greatly enhancing the experience. But for cinema, it just doesn’t cut it.

It’s a shame as I went in really believing that 3D was upon us, but now I think it’s just a novelty, a gimmick that really adds no great value to cinematic storytelling. It’ll just take one major 3D film to flop (Alice in Wonderland?) and it’ll all be over (again).

What do yo think? Does 3D have a future for you? Do we just need to rethink or refine how we shoot it? Or is it dead in the water?

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 these years, I thought I was starting to get what all this screenwriting malarkey was about, ultimately, I knew Jack. Quite a humbling experience.

Nonetheless, the fourth draft is starting to take shape now and muchly pleased I am with it too.

On top of that, I’ve been encouraged by various parties to make another short film. So, together with Blogger/Twitter friend @draconianone, we’ve been plotting a new featurette.

More details of this will emerge over the next few weeks as the script is finalised. Most of the actors are already lined up (the usual suspects plus a few surprises, hopefully).

Watch out for now customary Twitter onslaught of begging/pleading for finance to begin!

Trust me, it’ll be pure gold.

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

Alligator from Andy Coughlan on Vimeo.

I wondered if I might ask a bit of a favour of you?

If you have time, and want to feel all warm and squishy, could I trouble you to add either a link to Geeky Gifts on your own site/blog, or, if your feeling uber-generous, perhaps one of these nifty banner ads wot I ‘ave made?

If you’d like reciprocal links back to your site, let me know and I’ll set up links to you from this blog (if there isn’t one already) and the Return to Earth site.

How’s that!? A two for one offer!

I’ve got four banners in two sizes -

1) 120×60 Generic Button:

2) 120×60 Film Funding Oriented Button:

3) 468×94 Generic Banner:

4) 468×94 Film Funding Banner:

5) The Text Link:

As an extra incentive, the owners of the top five sites that refer the most people through to Geeky Gifts get a credit on the film. Can’t say fairer than that.

With Geeky Gifts being primarily a UK thing, if any of you fab people beyond the shores of Blighty want to get involved, let me know and I’ll knock up some Return to Earth banners too. Let me know below…

Let’s make this movie!

It’s been quiet round here of late, but doesn’t mean there’s been no activity chez Cogs. Oh no Siree!

The latest draft of Return to Earth is almost in the bag (I know I keep saying it, but I’ve struggled with the third act – a moment of clarity last week has unclogged the old grey matter though).

I’ve also been busy coding. The latest effort is Geeky Gifts, which I urge/beg/implore you to check out, and perhaps, with the evenings drawing in and Christmas just around the corner, to consider purchasing one or two gifts for your loved ones through the site.

Go on, you know it makes sense. Hopefully it’ll make a film too.

With the festive season (and all the family going down with flu) now a dim and distant memory, my thoughts have turned fully to Return to Earth (R2E). The second draft is slowly, much more slowly that I’d like, coming together, mainly because;

a) I’ve been working on a host of potential money-making ideas in order to at least part-fund R2E. More details of these to follow in future posts…

b) I’m having to do loads of research to make sure my ideas for R2E are realistic. I can’t abide Sci-Fi that ignores the laws of physics. An occasional bending of the rules for narrative brevity or style I can live with, but blatant disregard is right out.

and c) I had this great idea that I should take it upon myself to see how practical it would be to adapt Sir Terry Pratchett’s ‘The Wee Free Men’*.

But, pre-production on R2E rolls ever onwards – I’ve now got myself a provisional Cinematographer and Editor in the shape of the inimitable Will Docherty (@mejo).  We met up at Tuttle a couple of Friday’s ago to chew the cud and talk all things film, tech and geek (with the very tall Derek Mantle (@delboydare)).  A good time was had by all.

I’ve also had my nose deep in Adam Davies and Nicol Wistrechs’ Film Finance Handbook: How to Fund Your Film, which, quite frankly, if you want to make films and haven’t read can only mean that you’re a complete dimwit hell bent on financial ruin**. The book is an absolute goldmine of useful info. Buy it! Read it! Now!

In other news; there’s a rather useful resource page of the top 100 blogs for film and theatre students, and this humble blog has been selected along with the likes of John Augusts and Fun Joel to be on there. Chuffed to pieces I was when I got the e-mail telling me. If you’re here from clicking through from that page, welcome!

* Because Sir Terry is reported to have been less than impressed in the draft that Sam Raimi’s screenwriter came up with, and I’m convinced it can’t be that hard to do – he follows the STC! formula almost to the letter.

** The same could be argued if you still want to make films after you’ve read it! Ah, the Indie spirit…

…writing and thinking hard about Return to Earth – and making reasonable progress.  Nothing startling, but it’ll do me. With the million and one other things on at the moment, I’m not expecting miracles.

I have set up a separate blog and Twitter feed for the Return to Earth project, http://returntoearth.at/once/ and @returntoearth respectively.  Feel free to check out and follow (and donate!), I’ll no doubt update that site more than this one, with my recent track record of updates.

In case anyone was wondering what the previous post was about it was all part of a big game run by the the creator of Moblog, Alfie Denning, where forty or so bloggers were provided with geo-cache type clues which would lead people to various points around London where they would find photographs by the talented James Nachtwey and a letter.  Find the photos, collect the letters and work out what the question was. 

It was all to raise awareness of Extremely Drug-Resistant Tuberculosis – which you can read more about at http://www.xdrtb.org/

Inspired by Tim Clague’s post about how Marvel write their comics, I’ve been inspired to take hold of an idea that has been bubbling about in my head for some time now; namely that I should write the next draft of Return to Earth initally as a StoryBoard, and then, once I’m happy with the structure, write it back to screenplay format.

I have no idea if it will work, but it seems to make so much sense to work this way, primarily to force myself to think in images and structure the story visually.  

The notion struck me a few years ago while I was reading The Conversations, Michael Ondaatje’s superb book where he discusses the art of editing with Walter Murch.  Walter describes how he likes to take screenshots of takes and line them up to see how they cut together. 

Now I’m straight from the Murch school of editing and think the key to any film is the cut, the juxtaposition of the images has enormous power.  So it got me thinking, why not apply this process to the writing process, it may even free up the right brain a bit more?

We’ll see.  

I still don’t know quite how I’m going to do it.  I have StoryBoard Quick 5, but I suspect this might be a bit limiting.  FrameForge is tempting, purely because I can build the moonbase as a virtual construct and set the characters free in there.  Drawing it freehand also seems like a sensible idea, it would have a quicker turnaround, though I may end up drowning in paper.

Whatever, I’ll post up some of the results on here…