Voice acting opportunity available...

Just a short production update on The Job Interview. I am currently finishing the trailer for the film which will hopefully be shown, if completed in time, at the Filmmaking Societys 'GET SHORTY' summer film screening at the lovely City Screen Cinema in York. However I am in need of somebody with the traditional authoritive voice that you often hear doing voice over's on film trailers to record a short piece for me. So I got to thinking, how do I reach the most people in the quickest time? Plug it in the blog!

So, if anyone out there wants to try their hand at voice acting all I need you to do is record the following lines into a WAV file and upload it to the internet. Then email the link to me at cmb502@york.ac.uk, I will listen to all recordings and hopefully be able to find one that can be used on the trailer. Please note that the file must be in wav, and most be recoded as clearly as possible.

"Its the promotion you've always wanted...

This autumn God retires...

And that means Heavens hiring.

The Filmmaking Society invite you on a spiritual journey to discover the
answer to mans most eternal question.

What are you waiting for?

Don't forget the C.v."

Anything used will be given full credit in the finished film, so don't forget to provide your full name in the email. Thanks.

The Job Interview: After the final day of shooting...

Day four is over and I can proudly declare that we have the entire script of The Job Interview, which was six months in the making, filmed and stashed away in a hidden nuclear bunker. Not even God himself could stop filming today. He tried, oh did he try. Rain, rain and more rain was the course of the shoot today and I was drenched through to the skin as I am sure others were. As I right this, I still feel the damp on my bones - I'm stiff and squeaking. I fear I may be rusting underneath this skin.

We had the smallest gathering of cast and crew today as we only needed to film two scenes - the opening credits scene and what I've dubbed 'Revelations', which naturally reveals who has been elected to the holy office. Suprisingly, despite the weather, everything went pretty much without a hitch. I admit to being a little less jovial and laid back than I have been on previous days of shooting due to my desire to beat the weather and get this film shot but I had nothing really to complain about as the now very experienced crew went through their routines in setting up. Huge props to the actor who plays Jeremiah Miller, the Job Interview is his first film at the University and he also acted as a very good primary boom operator. His height clearly helping on that front. Andy, as he is known on week days, was also a big source of the light hearted atmosphere of the shoot. So with great sincerity I thank him for making the last fortnight less stressful than it could have been.

Also a special thanks to the news agent's on Broadway Avenue, York, who kindly gave us permission to film outside of their shop. The owner even participated in the film by removing a business card from the shop window and giving it to Jeremiah Miller. Without their co-operation and understanding we would not have been able to get the shot and part of the basis of the film would have been lost. I bought a load of newspapers from them for the tramp to sit on in his scene, so I guess you could say I compensated them well enough. I will be providing them with a free copy of the DVD of The Job Interview when we have finished editing the principal film.

We took the opening scene several times due to predictable noisy traffic - and only now have I realized that the opening footage will only have the theme tune for the film as any sound. We could have had a herd of stampeding elephants behind us and it wouldn't have mattered. Same goes for the Revelations scene later on. So why was it that I had a boom operator? I guess it helps to have the choice of atmosphere or music.

Bravo to our DP/Cameraman Liam Wright for managing the shoot in the weather conditions we had. It was on a suggestion from him that we changed the location of our Revelations scene placing out tramp not on some grass w/ a tree, but on the floor of a bus shelter. It helped protect the camera from the weather and has a more accurate portrayal of locations our tramp would live. On a note related to the boom operator, our Sound & Time Codes Lady - Jelly Bean Aquirer extraordinaire - Hannah Draper also wasn't really needed for the amount of sound we recorded. Oh well. More practice hm?

The shoot went so good we we're actually finished early today. Forty minutes early. A triumph! Combine that with the 1hr we saved yesterday and over the course of the entire shoot we are probably only an hour and a half over our scheduled shoot period.

I have yet to watch any of the footage we have recorded over these four shooting days, but hope to get into the office and view it with my editor towards the back end of this week. I can also turn my attentions finally to my history course for the rest of term and hopefully finish with strong grades and reports from my tutors. I am confident, perhaps more than ever, that this project is going to deliver a thoroughly entertaining piece of film. We have some terrific one liners such as;

"Angel 2 (on Cupids 'Love Gun'):
I thought you used a bow and arrow?

Cupid:
I did, but f*cking Gabriel said we had to modernize "

and what looked like excellent performances particularly by Angel 1 (Chris Hoyle) and Cupid/Gorgeous George (Tim Pearson). Regardless of how the lighting (what I feel may be the weakest part of the film) makes the film look... This should still make you smile! And what greater gift is there, but to make a person smile?

One film in the bag, I can also state that I have finished the first draft of another short film script provisionally titled "Photo Booth" which would seem to fit in the 'surrealism' genre. My producer on The Job Interview has already expressed a wish to direct it. I still have two further short films to write for the autumn filming schedule - perhaps my favorite concept since writing The Job Interview - "Welcome to the Movies" a mockumentary/comedy about student film. It should feature all the cringe worthy jokes you can shake a stick at. I haven't settled on my third writing project for the autumn though I have a few small ideas that might make an easy introduction for filming for another newbie director in the society. However before I decide I'm planning on inviting members of the society who want to direct a film to bring me an idea that they want to do but don't necessarily know how to develop - and I'll do the screenplay for it. Great practice for the professional world where a successful writer can often go on from his own original work to be writing stuff specifically for people. A-list actors, directors or studio's.

For now, lets call it a day. The film Under Suspicion came free with the Mail on Sunday today and stars Morgan Freeman and Gene Hackman, so I think I'll watch that before sleeps tonight. Adieu!

Picture: The crew of the Job Interview gather on saturday for a group hug... and picture. From left to right - Andrew Marriott (aka Jeremiah Miller in the film) our Boom Operator, Steven Day (aka Bill) our Producer, Liam Wright (aka Mr Webb) our Director of Photography, myself (aka Stranger, Gameshow Host and Man With Paper), and Hannah Draper (aka Jill) who dealt with our sound and time coding. God bless 'em all..

The Job Interview: After the third day of shooting...

This is how tiring a film shoot can be. Even the easy ones. Got up at 8am to start filming after 10am. Finished early by an hour at 2pm. Didn't do a thing for the last seven hours. Okay I watched the second part of Sharpe's Challenge, but then where did the other six hours go? I ate as I watched Sharpe so it couldn't have been taken up by dinner... Oh well. We'll call it my 'Lost Evening'. Gosh, I'm tired.

Today was the first day of our final weekend filming the Job interview. Day numero tres as the above heading will logically lead you to believe. That is of course if you speak English and Spanish. If you don't. Then you may still be confused. For the Germans, this is day drei. And French?Trois. Where was I? That's right, day tre (Italian). Today we needed to fix our sins of a previous weeks shooting. We needed to get the scenes we had forgotten about filmed before we went and did anything else. So with that in mind our distraught Mrs James (Lin Kuek) returned (with Lin taking time off work again) along with our Angel's to catch a missed follow up to her amusing scene. At least that's what I was hoping for. Instead, unfortunately, the annual sports thingy (I don't know what it is fully since I'm not good enough to participate... And injured. Have I moaned about my bad back recently? Still hurtin') went and kidnapped our Angel 2. Damn it! Rascals. Thankfully I was alerted to this before hand when I was alone in my room checking emails, so there is no video evidence to indicate how I really reacted to this news. Perhaps for the better. Given the chance to think things through within minutes I had a suitable enough alteration to the scene and we went ahead and filmed this morning without much further incident. It seems prudent to add that Lin was having a little too much fun wailing in despair. And Angel 1 proposed to her, off camera. It was a relationship that was never going to last alas.

The other scene we had to pick-up was the final scene and for this we had a newcomer! Oh my, I've forgotten his name now. Will! Will Wraxall. That's it. We had a Will, a Bill, a Gill and a Jill all involved in this film either as a character or actual cast member. This whole name thing was making me ill. I should do stand up. Sorry, I've drifted off point again. Will was gratefully press ganged into action today and played "Andy" in that final scene. We now have two alternative endings, though both are marred by my acting "ability".

With the pick-ups in the bag we bid tearfully farewells to Chris Hoyle and Lin Kuek who we no longer wanted the company of... I kid, I kid. Without any further scenes or crew duties to do they didn't need to hang around. So off they toddled whilst the rest of us waddled side by side goose stepping with some... Geese? The geese are deadly at this time of year, highly territorial and protective over their young. Well, sometimes they are, others they just let the little gosling's crowd around our feet. Anyway... This isn't good. You can't get 'off plot' when writing a screenplay, but I'm doing it in this blog post. The final scenes of the day were the ones on the set of our 'game show' creatively titled Who is Your God? which was set in the Garden of Eden aka The Quiet Area outside Derwent College at York University.

After a near mutiny provoking suggestion from our Producer that we should really be dressed in nothing but leaves as befits the Garden of Eden we began shooting. And I cringe as I was the central actor of this part. I may be self-deprecating people, but I sure as hell am brave to keep putting myself in front of that camera. In shooting this scene I had the first inkling that the Lord Almighty... Whichever one your inclined to believe in... Was disapproving of my slapstick/silly play poking gentle fun at religion - Christianity in particular. You see I was supposed to dress in a priests garb. Only the expensive suit ripped as I put it on. I also was supposed to shave a crucifix upside down into my beard for visual effect (and meaning which you can read in to at your pleasure)... But my hand jerked and I shaved in the wrong place. So I had to tidy it up and was left with an off-center goatee. Damn it. What next? As we we're filming the sun refused to stay out and kept ducking behind clouds in an unpredictable fashion which has probably added to our lighting problems with the footage we've shot. And, I learned when I returned to my room and checked the BBC website - we're scheduled for heavy rain tomorrow... The last day of our shoot... All exterior work.

ARGH!

Oh well, we'll deal. Life as they say... Finds a way. And so does Christopher Michael Bell. Thank ye, Thank ye. I'm here for the next fifty-sixty years. Before I depart I'd just like to address something our DP was unhappy about. Last week I dropped the XL1 camera and broke the battery, not having been too familiar with it's weight (1 training session 2 terms ago is hardly 'familiar') and myself and my producer Steven have been joking about and throwing the blame around like a hot potato in the process (including tossing it directly in the DP's lap). There's no issue - if anything was broken, I'd replace it or get it repaired. Hardly worth losing sleep over (nothing to report - battery is fixable, but we've bought a replacement anyway and the camera is fine). But clearly different humor for different people and I understand and apologize to him for any misunderstanding and belief that I was really trying to blame him.

until tomorrow... Ciao.

Picture: York University Episode V: The Goslings Strike Back

The Job Interview: After the second day of shooting...

My back is screaming in pain at me. Note to self; when on a planned 5hr film shoot, take the pain killers with you because you can take more every four hours. My poor spine and muscles complaint is squarely lodged at the fact that I had to carry a lot of heavy (and feeling heavier with the current state of my back) equipment back to the office, helped by three of our cast. Body didn't like it, and won't let me hear the end of it. Oh well, with sleep comes blissful peace.

The shoot today was far better organized and conducted than yesterday. We knew what shots we we're going for and only had to discuss a few possible alternatives once or twice. The Angels knew how to respond before the cameras (movements, reactions so that they didn't swing out of shot) after the experience gained the day before. We we're also able to conduct a death-wish stunt involving "Mrs James" (Lin Kuek) and "Cupid" (Tim Pearson) faking a chair accident. As we could not break property that didn't belong to us. In order to make it look like the chairs broke as they sat down they sat on the arm-rest and tilted over to the left - landing on my super-squishy bed pillows. No Actors were hurt during the shooting of these scenes!. It was hilarious watching the Angels trying to keep a straight face and Lin trying not to sound like she was enjoying the mini-theme park ride we'd constructed and instead sound terrified.

Scenes bagged today range from: First scene we see the Angels, Mrs James interview, Cupid's interview, Angel 1 interviewing Angel 1, Sarah's Interview and all of the scenes featuring myself as 'The Stranger'. Being 1 'extra' short we had to change the Strangers final scene back to the originally scripted finish to the show which is a bit stranger and open ended that the replacement we had intended to film. I guess it works. Stranger for the Stranger. We also missed a scene, the only one of the weekend, when we let Lin Kuek get off to work before remembering that we had a follow on scene to what had just been filmed. That is however why I reserved next Sunday for filming. If Lin has the day off from work we'll get it in, if not then we may just leave that scene out as it isn't essential.

Special thanks to Andy who served out the entire day as Boom Operator. His arms must be hurting now. Andy will be back on location on Saturday 6th May to film the footage for the opening credits in which his character "Jeremiah Miller" takes a stroll to the shops only to find a business card in the window advertising job interviews all day Sunday. Well done to Emma also who comfortably passed out her first day on a University film. We've bled a lot of newbies this year. Never know what kind of talent you will unearth.

For now my attention must divert itself back to my history course and collecting addresses of major and national newspapers to post/email an official press release about HUMAN RESIDUE, the professional independent horror feature film being made at the University of York by Chris Bouchard this summer.

However, come Wednesday when I have my day off from lessons I will be back in Job Interview mode as I go hunting the final props that we need for our exterior scenes. They include a priests uniform, four lecterns, a wooden spoon, a watch that doesn't work, and many other oddities. A lot this week depends on the weather, the schedule of our graphic artist Yanira Quinones (who can be contacted for professional work at yaniraquinones@gmail.com), and the weather. I wrote the weather twice didn't I? You realize how temperamental English weather is? Then understand it's doubly important!

Take care people.
Pictures (from top): Tim Pearson as Cupid, Liam Wright our DP sets up a camera whilst clearly stoned, and Charlies Angels make a call in on our set (from left to right: Angel 1, Jeremiah Miller, Mary the Secretary).

The Job Interview: After the first day of shooting...

The last five days have been chaos. After believing that we would not be able to fill out the cast to meet the schedule for shooting that we had been given, I had given up on doing any pre-production over Easter. Big mistake, as about a dozen volunteers came forward in the first two days back at university for the 5 positions that were still available. The response was so great that I was even able to ensure that only two people will play multiple charecters in the film - myself and a man by the name of Tim Pearson. So there I am, quickly auditioning people over four days from monday to thursday, making sure that the script is 100% how I want it, trying to work out the camera angles/storyboard, and also of course attending my first seminar and lecture of the term. Busy busy! Even managed to slip in a trip home on Thursday evening to go to the Riverside Stadium to watch the Middlesbrough vs Steau Bucharest Uefa Cup Semi-Final with my cousin and Dad. Probably, the greatest match in the history of the game. Remember this people. When the big occasion comes, you can never count us Boro out!

Anyway. We had our cast, we had our script, so we were green lit for the first day of filming on Saturday 29th April. I met with my Director of Photography Liam Wright the night before to have a talk about what we planned, but in all honesty I was still on a high from the football match the night before and was absolutely exhausted with the pace of the week. Little was achieved. We suffered for it on the day of the shoot, though without the meeting it would have been a lot worse.

The first 2hrs of the shoot were a write off. Due to not finishing pre-production I did not have storyboards and combined with my tiredness led to a lot of confusion as we tried to shoot the first scene of the day - featuring the star interviewee "George Shelley" (Tim Pearson in a delightfully over the top portrayal). However we we're learning quickly and things began to fall in place as we went on. Another hugely disrupting factor of the shoot was our DP having to leave to watch the Chelski vs Man Utd premiership match. How sick he must be after United crashed 3-0. He hasn't returned my calls since the match finished so lets hope he hasn't resorted to desperate measures! But credit to him, he missed the first half of the match to help get us set up and going. And we did go, getting another couple of scenes in the bag in his absence. However we had to stop when we got to the planned final scene of the day due to the fact the only man with the technical expertise to switch the cameras and tripods (my brain was dead and couldn't fathom it, granted I probably would not have been able to do my shoe laces by this point) wasn't there.

So that means we have had to carry that scene over onto sundays schedule. The bright side of this? We've made all our mistakes today, learned a ton, and having been on the set and getting the 'feel' for the script with the actors I now know exactly what i'm looking for our of the camera angles. I did all the storyboarding within 2hrs after I got back tonight from dinner with my lovely crew & cast members; Hannah & Dave (both of whom starred in November Rush). With that in mind, tommorow I am going to the room we are filming in early and setting up before the cast arrive and all going well (when does it?) we should deffinetly be able to get all the scenes we need.

Clothing our Cupid will probably prove the hardest task of the day. Once again Tim Peterson will try and win the Best Dressed award, bouncing from his role as the camp George Shelley to a sandals & toga clad lurve making idol they call Cupid. We'll figure the toga thing out I'm sure. You know, sat here writing this has just made remember that I need to add one last piece of dialogue to Cupids scene to explain a key prop of the sketch. Blogs - they have their uses!

After tommorow we still have two days scheduled for filming next weekend. Saturday 6th May we will shoot exterior scenes on Broadway road in York, and some empty field that we will find. Sunday 7th has been reserved as a pick up day for any missed shots. Touch wood nothing important will have been missed and sunday can be turned into the first day of editing.

A big thanks to everybody who is involved in the making of this short film. A lot of effort is being put in to the performance, and whilst the actual execution of the camera and lighting due to the problems detailed will not make it the most professional looking. I am fully confident that the performances and script will make this a highly entertaining film.

Pictures: First three continuity images of charecter attire, a 'oNe LeGgEd FrEaK' of the bird kingdom, those cheeky folk just like to camera hog, Angel 1 & George Shelley rehearse scenes.

Three weeks that will decide the fate of a galaxy....

Or, not as the case may be. Happy resurrection holidays to everybody out there. I'm back from a much needed and much enjoyed holiday visiting family in Ireland to climb back in the saddle of writing and directing over the next three weeks (inclusive of this one). As mentioned previously, "The Job Interview" short film script has been ready for weeks now and we should have everything ready for our scheduled filming in weeks 1 and 2 of the University summer term. Unfortunately we are still missing at least 2 actors, and this has held everything up. With nothing but the money in my bank account as a budget, it is not wise to spend money on props if the film is not going to be shot due to a drought of actors. My optimistic producer for the 26 minute film thinks we can nail down the two actors to play the remaining three roles - Jeremiah Miller, Cupid, and 'Gorgeous' George Shelley at the beginning of week 1. I've also sent my script off to a great friend of mine who is holidaying in New York right now to see if he'd be interested in coming up for a day or two to play a part in the film. It helps that the guy has spent years in performing arts groups and is now studying film direction at a London college. He can probably teach me a thing or two.

"TJI" you will recall is the project that I kicked off my screen-writing with. It began to get bogged down and I switched over to writing a short five minute film to experiment with the camera, see what it was like to direct. That film was November Rush, and whilst I've received favorable feedback on it, it is clear for all to see that it was a virgin directors effort with some first time acting and camera work too. But the experience picked up from that will prove invaluable if we manage to get to film a week on Saturday. Practically the same crew are working on The Job Interview, with a fresh crop of people genuinely interested in acting taking most of the main roles as opposed to random people filling in because we couldn't get a cast together. Student film, gotta love the trials and tribulations.

So my hats are off to Chris (Angel 1), Karen (Angel 2) and Lin (Sarah, Mrs James) for showing a genuine interest and making a novice writer very proud during our script read through session a month ago. After trying various roles, the actors carried things off with aplomb. I slyly recognized Chris as having acted in another short film and was pleased to see his variation as he handled the difficulty of playing Angel 1 interviewing Angel 1. Distinct, yet the same person. It will make a great visual. However, nothing will happen without two more cast members. Nothing until October anyway, when I would try to get this off the ground again. So, if your an aspiring actor at the University of York please make yourself known to the Film Making Society and I'll be in touch. The clocks ticking. Seven days to go.

In the mean time, I've not been idle over Easter. Encouraged by comments from Mike, a member of the society, who read The Job Interview in an early draft, I've been busy doing a rough plot for a feature length version of the script. As a topic to work with on a first feature attempt, it's a good one as I have boundless enthusiasm for the concept of an average Joe being scouted for the Big Job. The only tease I could give about the films direction would be a tag line I've scribbled to help give me a focus and it reads;

"They had the perfect candidate. The problem? He had to die"

the initial scribble was;

"A Job to Die For"

Read what you will into those. It will of course not be a literal expansion of the short screen play, as 90 minutes of people being interviewed would be a bit too much for even me to feign interest. Instead it will focus on a wider context. The problem that's created (the retirement of God), the search for a replacement and the dilemma caused by the perfect replacements life situation. Guest appearances by Cupid and Death are confirmed. I will be uploading the script for the short version of The Job Interview after wrapping the shoot if we go ahead. Hopefully it will provide some use to people wanting to look at how people are going about writing/formatting their work. I can only hope, that as I go along and write more, the experiences and lessons I learn will be passed on through this blog.

Forthcoming Attractions at the Theatre!

A little plug here for anybody who likes youth theatre and will be in York during the middle of April. From April 18th to April 22nd at the Joseph Rowntree Threatre in York, Stagecoach Youth Theatre York will be putting on a production of Phillip Pullmans 'His Dark Materials'. The play is in two parts, with the first part being shown on the 18th and 20th April, and the second part on the 19th and 21st April. A matinee of both shows is being performed on April 22nd.

"His Dark Materials" is a delightful, fantastical adaptation of the books by Phillip Pullman (which are also currently being made into a movie) and see's the young central charecters of Lyra and Will embarking on a thrilling journey through this and other worlds, caught up in a savage struggle between the Church and Witches. The books are award winning stuff and after reading the stageplay much of the magic appears to have been recaptured for the stage, though purists will as always with adaptations complain about discrepencies. The fact is an adaptation does not mean a literal lifting of the literature and re-writing into a stage format. Especially since the stageplay must be performed within a couple of hours and you can spend weeks reading a book. This is still a magical tale that I enjoyed reading myself as a twenty year old history student!

Why was I reading it? Well Stagecoach Youth Theatre came in to the University of York late last year and their Director John Cooper asked for any volunteer assistant directors and cinematographers to help out with what in his words is "by far the most adventurous and most exciting project we've ever embarked upon". Over 40 young people will make up the cast, but a cast and enthusiastic array of voluntary directors would not alone be able to reproduce the epic production that graced the national. Without the budget and resources available to the professional production a lot of images and film footage are being projected onto a series of white blocks on the stage. And it is with the collection of the images for the scenery that I have been helping and just finished doing. I've also helped out during the filming of some video footage for the show including some witches 'flying'. The wind moving through the witches hair? Thats me! Wasn't much that was needed of myself and fellow University helper Aura, but it was a useful experience to be around the production and to see people at work. When your still trying to learn everything you can about the whole process of filming something, you appreciate every chance you get to help out and learn something new.

For futher information on His Dark Materials click here.
For information on Stagecoach Youth Theatre York click here.