Friday 12th April saw us out on the Downs shooting a teaser for Backtrack which will feature in our forthcoming indiegogo campaign.
You can see the result here:
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Production stills from our latest music video shoot
Here are some stills from our latest music video shoot. It was for an up-and-coming band called Ooberfuse.
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- Haydn lining up a shot
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- Tom watching the monitor
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- Ahead of schedule
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- Nico rocking the Les Paul
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- Keywest!
Backtrack Kickstarter Shoot
We’re two months into development on Backtrack now. We’ve been through eleven drafts of the screenplay and have all the HODs attached to shoot in May. Last week we shot a film for our Kickstarter campaign. Rather than another pathetic plea begging for money, Mick and I decided we wanted to do something a bit different; something that horror fans will appreciate: a ransom film where we threatent to torture our production assistant unless we get the money!
We shot on the Canon XF100 at 50i going for the ‘video’ look with the small chip. The behind-the-scenes was shot on a camera that cost three times as much! You’ll be able to see the finished product in a few days on our Kickstarter page.
Check out the behind-the-scenes photos below or watch the video at www.backtrackfilm.com
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- Mick chilling out on set
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- Kelly Blake mocking up a leg
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- Hannah under the lights
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- Director Tom with Hannah
Backtrack
It’s all Haydn’s idea. He rightly pointed out that we have a director (me), we have a screenwriter (Mick), we have a producer (him), we have access to highly-talented cast and crew and we have a few favours we can pull in. Why not?
So we’re making a low budget horror film.We’re going to show off what we can do with no money but lots of talent. And then we’re going to sell it. And then we’re going to make a bigger film with the same team.
It’s something I never wanted to do. In fact, I told myself I would actively avoid doing a low budget horror film. But there’s no point sitting around waiting for the universe to guide me onto the set of a £100m production, one assistant handing me a machiato, the other giving me a head massage, as 100 cast and crew move into position before me. Let’s go out and get our hands dirty!
We’ve set ourself some rules:
1. 2 days of principal photography
2. Keep costs to a bare minimum (this one’s easy since we’re using our own money)
3. We shoot on one camera with three focal lengths, which we already own
4. The film’s action happens on or around the South Downs
5. It can be classified as a horror film (this definition is loose depending on who you talk to – natural horror for instance, does that count?)
So Mick has written the first draft in ten days after Haydn taunted him with Joe Eszterhas’ 13 days for the Basic Instinct script, though he won’t be getting $3m like Eszterhas. I’ve got until the 4th January to get a final draft of the script finished and get my director’s treatment together, which will provide the template for the style of the film.
Better get back to work.
[below is an early imaging test for the film]
Yao Ming at the Natural History Museum
SF were lucky enough to shoot with legendary Chinese basketball player Yao Ming at the Natural History Musem with Dr. Sam Turvey for a new documentary about poaching in Africa.
The documentary is supported by WildAid – www.wildaid.org
Visions Channel PR shoot
PR shoot for the Visions Channel. Substantial Films collaborates closely with the Visions Channel to produce factual content and Tom Sands, the head of Substantial Films, is also the co-founder of the channel.
For more information on the channel, which launches on the 22nd December 2012, see www.visions-channel.com
Behind-the-scenes ‘Berlin Mauer Dunkelheit’
Berlin Mauer Dunkelheit is a between photographer Haydn West (now our account director and cinematographer but a one time paparazzi and press photographer), film-maker Tom Sands and sound artist Laurence Elliott-Potter.
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- Tom discovering that there is nothing to eat but sausages in Berlin
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- Tom conducting repairs by the Brandenburg gate
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- Tom in full kit
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- Tom relaxing in a wonderful German bar after a long day pounding the streets
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- Tom at Berlin flughafen
An unedited set of photographs taken along the route of the fallen Berlin Wall at night from the 20th-24th September 2012 provide the starting point. The photographer followed the route of the fallen wall from the heavy iron road-bridge at Bornholmer Straße to the famous double-decker Oberbaumbrücke which crosses Berlin’s River Spree. The photographs were made using one 50mm f/1.2 lens and Kodak P3200 black and white film pushed to 12,800 ISO.
The sound-design will include original music inspired by Krautrock and the voice of a German woman reading the names of the roads where the photographs were taken.
There will be a 6ft high carousel rotating 300 unedited photographs scanned and printed on to canvas. The scrolling images are intended to mirror scrolling the results of an internet search.
A scale model of the Berlin Wall will be placed in the centre of the gallery. In the middle of the wall a flat-screen TV will show a 30 minute film of the photographer taking and developing the photographs.
Finally, there will be eight 5ft x 3ft fibre based prints made from the eight best negatives. The prints will be made using traditional darkroom techniques allowing comparisons to be made between new and old media.
Kunst Photo-Projekt believes art has a duty to challenge the conventional wisdom and ignore market forces. The work is simple in its execution and varied in content. Haydn West is a press-photographer who has spent a lifetime photographing celebrities, news, sports events and the general public. His experiences as a press photographer inform his work as a film-maker and street photographer. The exhibition investigates the public’s right to privacy in public places and offers a warts-and-all portrait of a photographer at work.
To see the Haydn’s photographs, visit sexyberlin.tumblr.com
Behind-the-scenes on ‘Universe’
3rd November 2012, behind-the-scenes shooting plates for a new viral, ‘Universe’.
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- Carl giving the Earth some love
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- Haydn West (cinematographer) taking a breather
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- Tom Sands (director) warming himself by the sun
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- Carl Youri (animator) admiring his handiwork
Behind-the-scenes on ‘appy ‘arry shoot
Thursday 9th August, behind-the-scenes on the shoot for Racing UK TV commercial, ‘appy ‘arry.
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- Testing the lighting
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- Puppeteer Brian Herring
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- Tom giving director’s gesticulations
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- ‘appy ‘arry himself, plus arm
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- Tom Sands (director) and Haydn West (cinematographer) check out the monitor
Behind-the-scenes on ‘Hitman’ shoot
Monday 19th November, shooting a new viral for the Visions Channel – ‘Hitman’.
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- Haydn West (cinematographer) with the Epic
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- Setting up for the climax
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- Tom makes an adjustment to James’ earpiece
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- Tom and Phil Harris (editor) confer
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- Haydn and James working with lenses
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- Tom Sands (director) checks out the monitor
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- James getting a safety briefing
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- James Kermack – the hitman
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