Merry Christmas from the Ice age

I'm sitting in the living room, in front of the fire, with all the Christmas lights on, and listening to my sister and Mum discussing the dogs, my eyes are trying to close, I need some rest, but feel I should put up a little blog before Santa comes:)


On the 22nd of December 2010, I had the pleasure of making a short film of Orla the Golden Eagle at the Loch Lomond Bird of Prey Centre, with Stewart Robertson and our mutual friend from Canada, Kristine King. You can see the film here.

What an amazing day, with perfect weather conditions and great company, making for a very nice short film. I put the film on youtube a couple of days ago and it has had a staggering amount of hits in such a brief screening, very pleased to see people sharing the film.

Also had some great news today, Indieflix has just announced that it will be concentrating the short film sales as VOD (Video on Demand), so no more DVD sales, and I think that will help move short film sales, we will see.

Just left Balmoral, and arrived back in Pitlochry, and my tummy is so big with all the yummy food my sister prepared for us. I set her new laptop up and Dochy took it over almost immediately, he he, made me smile. Almost finished the box of chocolates that Kristine brought over from Canada, and wishing it would refill itself after emptying:) If only

I will probably get another early night tonight, as I need to head back down the road in the morning as the weather is supposed to be turning bad again, we shall see, as it has not been to bad this week.
New year is just around the corner

1 year old blog

Yip, time is plodding on and this is my first blog birthday coming up. And as you can see, the references to the films and pictures I took back in December 2009 have just as much snow in them as we have now.

The difference now is, that a hell of a lot has been achieved in this short space of time. I have gained 2 distributor's for my short film, and won a bunch of major international film festivals, including the Swansea Bay Best in Festival Award. 2 feature films that I have collaborated on are due to be released in 2011, and many short films and adverts that I have created are to be seen by audiences in the new year as well, I will publicise them when I get the green light. I have also managed to get one of my ads selected as a finalist in the Mofilm Advertising Competitions.

Also, had the privilege of having 'Shooter' broadcast to a world wide radio audience on Armistice Day, was a pretty amazing achievement, and with more radio programmes to be recorded in the near future, there will be plenty to talk about, and hopefully learn from.
With 'Shooter' also being recognised as a vehicle for help to recovery in the world of PTSD, here's hoping that it gets the audience that it deserves.

The outlook for lecturing is kind of bleak at the moment, still the odd sporadic burst of need for a talker once in a while, but nothing to bank on at the moment.

I would like to make a short film over the festive period, about my sister, and her world, just a short piece, giving us a glimpse into the life of a highly acclaimed horse breeder in the enigmatic highlands of Scotland, in the snow. Can't wait, here's hoping the roads open:)

There is a lot to reflect on for 2010, but rather than talk about it here, you can go back to January, on the right of this page, and start at the beginning.

More to come soon.

Birthday with family

I travelled North on Thursday the 18th of November to spend the night in Pitlochry with Mum, this gave us the chance to catch up with events in the recent past, also to give Mums laptop a wee bit of maintenance.

Mum has signed up to Facebook, hope she doesn't get too confused as it can be a bit daunting to new users.

Spent the next day with family at the Pitlochry Theatre for a nice feed and a giggle, also a good chance to listen to some of Sylvia's tales from her trip to Australia. Good times.

Very excited when I checked my emails to see literally hundreds of well wishes from people I know and have met recently during the film festival circuit, very uplifting, so thanks to all that sent there messages from all over the world, magnificent...

So now it is time to get on with the next film project, I will reveal all soon

Radio Broadcast for Short Film 'Shooter'

On the 26th August, I recorded a brief interview with David Wilkie at the Heartland FM studio in Pitlochery, really excited to hear that 'Shooter' and my interview, will be broadcast on Heartland FM 97.5fm radio


The schedule is:

Bruce Patterson who presents our weekday morning programmes, will broadcast "Shooter" soundtrack just after the 11am news next Thursday, 11th November 2010.

David Wilkie will be presenting the Remembrance Day theme on the Sunday morning programme from 8 to 9am on November 14th. He will broadcast my interview about half-way through the programme, and "Shooter" soundtrack afterwards.

Very exciting times for short film, and if you have ever heard of an entire FILM track being broadcast on radio, then I would like to hear about it

My new reel for 2010 is here, Ronnie B Goodwin Reel 2010

Mofilm.com

It's the 4th of November, this morning I received a certificate from Mofilm.com

I competed in the Mofilm Chevrolet Ad Campaign in Rome about 6 weeks ago, and was short-listed in the finals. The certificate is a great form of recognition as the competitive field for Mofilm is extremely high.

Mofilm Quote: Mofilm helps aspiring film makers make ads for big brands. These videos are displayed on mobile, online, social networks and traditional marketing channels.

I will continue to compete with Mofilm, as the on-line content is easily accessible after signing up, and it can also be followed on FB and Twitter.

If you don't have your copy of 'Shooter', then click on the Indieflix Icon

Exciting Digital Content Times :)

Step2CollaboTV

During the summer, I shot a little piece to camera on my own, at the Carman reservoir, I was a short reflection on what I have been doing for the last couple of years, and I thought it would be a cool thing to look back on some day. THEN, I see this ad on Twitter, which was looking for short films about Something Special, and I thinks to myself, 'maybe I should upload 'Reflect', so I did, and what do you know, it went straight into the feature page at the Step2CollaboTV site, well chuffed.

So in summery for this week

'Shooter' has had a wonderful journey in Salem and just finished screening for 4 days at the Salem Film Festival, Oregon, Results on Saturday 24th Oct 2010

I created an ad for Chevrolet, on the Mofilm.com Ad competition site, very excited as it has been short-listed to the final.

I also created an ad for TEEB, no results as yet

And of course, the Step2 competition.

So I have 3 films working, and with an exhibition on the 28th Oct, 'Shooter' will be screening at The Impressions Gallery, Bradford.

Couldn't be happier.

Advertising

A few weeks ago I created a short advertising campaign for Mofilm.com, the Rome section, Chevrolet car ad. And well, I was so busy doing other things that I kind of forgot about it, and today in my emails, I find an important message, saying, YOU HAVE BEEN SHORT LISTED.
Oh my, what an amazing surprise, and feels like a real breakthrough.

I will write more on this subject when I fully understand what has just happened:)

Night

Making film

I never sicken of making film, it has always been in my blood, whether a stage play or writing short stories, shooting pictures with any old camera, to make stories.

Now I produce films with the technologies to hand, and yet, at this time in my life, I am even more driven to create things that people have never seen before.

Whether it is making films for local companies , or even local Government and Museums, Singers, Sirens and Silent Heores got to page 2, then click on Singers, Sirens and Silent Heroes, there are 20 short interviews that were all created by Ronnie B Goodwin in 2009.
In August 2010, I created a short piece with Philip Barlow, called the Scotland Week Estonia 2010, featuring Alex Salmond talking about the links between our now independent countries, you can see it here, the password is ronniebgoodwin no spaces, no capitals, OK.

I also created a short promo for Carman Fisheries, in exchange, I get to shoot my next project on the beautiful little loch. Goosh provided a quality short piece of music for the film. This is where I made 'Reflect', which has generated some interest from a producer who shall remain nameless.

'Reflect' was a short film I made one day sitting in a boat at Carman reservoir and Fishery, I had already created the intro for another project called 'Sometimes', and it is still on the table, just need to raise awareness and cash to make it happen. Other short wildlife sequences in the Reflect piece, were shot during the summer.

Documenting some of my families moments is also very important to me, so I filmed my sister and mother, with close friends at a couple of horse shows, just brief records of her amazing accomplishments. The Royal Highland Show and Strathallan Show.

And with the success of 'Shooter', and all the festival recognition, it is starting to bear fruits. With 4 screening next week at the Salem Film Festival, a radio broadcast at Heartland Radio on the 11th November, 3 exhibitions in the South and 2 distribution deals in the USA. I really cannot grumble.

You may be saying to yourself, that is a lot of self publicising you are doing Ronnie, and you are right And having access to the internet allows you to administer as much time as you can spend on publicity, use it wisely.

So, what am I saying in this post? If you really want to do it in you're business, then you have to get your finger out, and get on with it. It wont be over night, it wont be smooth, but you will have a lot of material that you can look back on, and say, I did that...

'Shooter' is available to view on request, email ronniegoodwin@hotmail.com and mention that you read my blog, thanks

'Shooter' trailer

the 'Shooter' trailer is available here




The full length film can be purchased form Indieflix.com, and is also distributed by Shorts International

Loch Ness and Salem

Travelled up to Pitlochry last night, did a bit of work at Mums house and stayed over for the drive to Drumnadrochit for the Loch Ness Film Festival 2010 , The theatre was great, with a very good projector system, and the picture was a little dark, but worked and sounded good. It had a very intimate atmosphere. Bonus was that the audience really liked 'Shooter' very happy.

This morning before heading to the festival, I checked my emails, and there was one from Loretta Miles of the Salem Film Festival, USA, to say: We plan to position SHOOTER in competition with other short films and it would show once with a group of international shorts and the second time in a perfect pairing with HIDDEN BATTLES. Thank you for the lovely film. It is one of my personal favorites in this years fest

What a lovely email

Filming some material for Basil Khalil tomorrow morning, just scouting for a cool location and interesting charachters, up early in the morning.

Competition

I ran a competition this week, with a prize of a signed DVD of 'Shooter', which was won by Leanne Walker, she is travelling through Australia at the moment.
New competition this week, keep an eye open for announcement on FB and twitter.

Make sure and read the blog as the question will be relevant to the content:)

Started a VIMEO account yesterday, I will be posting more films there soon

Also making a new Reflect video this weekend, as I am travelling North to fix the cottage, fix Mums house and screening 'Shooter' at the Loch Ness Film Festival. Round trip of Scotland.

Reflecting

I have been writing blogs and posting information on what I have been doing now for a long time, and yesterday I decided to film a short piece called Reflect, you can see it here.

It was a near perfect day on the little Carman Loch, where I got to think, and sometimes fish. I set up the camera at the front of the boat, rolled the tape and just talked to the camera.
When I got home I reviewed and chose the most relevant parts to make the diary. I added an intro, and a bit of ambient music, did a rough cut, and compressed for the web. Took about 4 hours in all to create, and I had a blast doing it. No crew to worry about, no background noise to worry about, apart from a wee remote controlled helicopter that some bloke was flying near by. Loads of interesting life to film round about me, and the sun was out, bonus.

How do you Reflect?

More to come

Photography Lecture

On the 31st August, I had the pleasure of lecturing on Digital Photography and Photoshop at the Concord Centre, hosted by Tommy Crocket.

Meeting the photographers and talking about photography, working examples and having a giggle, it was a pleasure to be in amongst Tommy's crew of enthusiastic photographers.

Talking to Connor O'Gorman this evening about future plans, fingers crossed, and also wishing Basil Khalil and happy Birthday yesterday, Go Bas...

Footage for the Scottish Parliament project that I am working on for Philip Barlow, should be here tomorrow some time, then we can knock the project on the head for screening in Estonia on the 7th of September.

'Shooter' is screening at the Lochness Film Festival on Saturday the 25th September, competing against some hard hitting shorts and feature films. Looking forward to the event.

This morning I got a tweet from Shorts TV to say I had won, The Annecy Festival of Animation 5 DVD set, wooohoooo, how cool is that.

And finally, today I have to research a little about 'film in radio', as I have been asked to present the sound track for 'Shooter' on the Heartland FM radio show on the 11th November. I am sure that an entire film track has never been used on a radio programme before, so I need to do a little digging to find out if I have a first, if so, then it could be great for 'Shooter's publicity.

Heartland Radio

I have been asked to do an interview about 'Shooter' on Heartland Radio Fm on Monday the 30th August, and David Wilkie (photo), producer of 'Heart and Soul', has asked if he can play the sound track to 'Shooter' as part of his Remembrance Day Programme.

He said, 'even without the images, this is a very powerful piece', I think this may be a first for short film, very exciting.

I will post information on broadcast times soon.

Heartland Radio link

Feels good

So, after 14 months of pushing, writing, discussing and showing, 'Shooter' is finally beginning its journey into the world wide short film market. With its release on Indieflix.com, and a contract with Shorts International, it is a very exciting time, and time also for me to get some more projects under way.

I met with Philip Barlow this week to discuss creating a few short pieces of visual candy for a project that is deadlined for about 4 weeks, so not a lot of time to come up with something different from the norm.

Should you be needing a DP, Editor or Director for you film project, then please don't hesitate to drop me a line ronniegoodwin@hotmail.com
I look forward to speaking with you.

Twitterin

Finally I have started to tweet, lets see if it bears any fruits.

Very excited about the release of 'Shooter' my wee multi award winning short film, it is available on the 3rd of August from Indieflix

This week we heard that UK Film Council is over, yes it is sad, but, maybe now we will see some creativity in the film industry, and maybe even some films that will not have to tick boxes and be socially acceptable, lets see some escapism, which is what I think film is all about.

I had no help with making my film, all I could do was find the time to produce it, and after several knock backs from Film Councils, I felt like I had wasted so much time trying to get financial help. Meanwhile it has been officially selected at 21 festivals and won 4, with one Best in Festival Accolade.

On the films first trip overseas to Palm Springs Shorts Festival, I was propositioned by 2 distribution companies, and 1 year later, and true to there word, I now have contracts.

What I am saying is, even if the purse holders don't like your film, still try your best to go and make it, as it may just do something.

More to come soon

Release date 3rd August 2010

The release date for 'Shooter' on the Indieflix site is scheduled for the 3rd of August 2010.

Happy Days:)

Distribution for 'Shooter'

Again waiting for word from the 2 distribution companies that have taken my short film on board, I guess I am just a little anxious to get on to the next level. I will post the details as soon as I know more.

Meanwhile, I have had a great weekend with family and friends, we spent Saturday in the very beautiful grounds of Strathallan Castle estate, near Auchterarder. Sylvia's horses all did very will in competition and Mum had a great time meeting new friends and catching up with old friends. You can see the video diary here

Glad to see Cameron there, and looking better after his little episode. Fergie, Daniel and Naz were also there and added to the entertainment.

With a little luck I should be visiting Glen Lyon in the very near future, as I am looking for a location to shoot a short film about King Robert the Bruce. More news on that later.

The Royal Highland Show 2010

Congratulations to my sister Sylvia Ormiston, for her well deserved success at the Royal Highland Show in 2010.
Here is the article

And here is the film

Carman Fisheries Promo

Just finished making a promo for the Carman Fishery, and soon we will be shooting our new film on the beautiful little loch, you can view it here , please leave a comment

The Big Corey Fresh Show

On our visit to the amazing Swansea Bay Film Festival, Paul Hunter and I were interviewed by Corey Fresh all the way from New York City, you can hear the interview here . Just drag the slider on the player to 28.05 and listen to our wee bit. The picture is Corey Fresh in Swansea bay, after the interview.

Reports on SHOOTER

A FILMMAKER has scooped the top award at the largest film festival in the UK - beating off Trainspotting star Robert Carlyle's latest offering.

Ronnie Goodwin's Shooter has been winning awards in various short film category events around the world since it was released a year ago and has been shown at places such as the Cannes and Edinburgh film festivals.

However, the latest achievement at the Swansea Bay Festival in Wales is an incredible feat as it was voted best of all 250 film entries, including documentaries, full length motion pictures - which included Robert Carlyle's latest flick.

According to the founder of the festival, Shooter - filmed around Loch Lomond - showed Ronnie's "genius" and was the first short film in the festival's history to win Best in Festival award.

Former Clydebank College lecturer Ronnie, 47, from Bowling, admitted he was initially "devastated" as he thought Shooter had been overlooked by judges when it did not scoop the best film in the under five minute category.

It was not until the end of the night, that Ronnie and Shooter lead actor Paul Hunter, realised it had been earmarked for the greatest accolade of the evening.

A delighted Ronnie spoke to the Post shortly after returning from Swansea last week.

He said: "To find out another film was selected in our category was devastating. We looked at each other and shrugged our shoulders and thought we would just try and enjoy the rest of the evening.

"When the last part of the show came along and they invited Linda Robson, of Birds of a Feather fame, to read out the Best in Festival winner we were too busy looking at other people. We weren't waiting on it or expecting it - we thought there was no chance a small film could win, but then she called out our name.

"It is unheard of for a short film to beat so many works of art at a major film festival."

Leith Short Film Festival 2010

News in this morning, 'Shooter' is in Official Selection at the Leith Short Film Festival.

The film will be screened at the ISO LOUNGE

SUNDAY JUNE 13TH 3.30PM - 4.30PM

Here

Disappointing

New Filmmakers Film Festival NYC 2010

'Shooter' is screening in a couple of weeks at the NewFilmmakers Film Festival on the 2nd June, so exciting, and this follows directly after the Best in Festival win at the Swansea Bay Film Festival, Wales,

Said goodbye to my boy FLAG today, he was a fine friend
This is him with Mum

Swansea Bay Film Festival 2010

This has to be up there as best moment in my life. 'Shooter' wins the Best in Festival award 2010.

check it out

and the video diaries are here

I write more later, need to eat

Shooter is listed on the World News Web Site

Great news, doing a browse this morning to find that Shooter is listed on the World News Web Site HERE It is a little daunting to see your work in amongst such amazing award winning shorts.

Also just returned from a 4 day sabbatical in Arbroath, where I relaxed and also took some time to teach digital photography and editing, made an advert, and shot a short documentary. I also had the pleasure of meeting some of Chris Fry's students, a great bunch, and wonderfully talented people.

This morning I was trying to capture a wild trout being caught on the fly. It was at the Carman reservoir, nice and early, but not a chance, will try again during the week.

So tomorrow the Swansea Bay Film Festival opens with Michael Sheen at the helm, I am hitting the road on Friday early with Paul Hunter, for the long drive down to Wales, then its fingers crossed and do a little net working. can't wait...

Results

So the film was received very well in California, at the Lake Arrowhead film festival, it didn't win, but it did have a full house, that's a tick in the box.

Today the film took to the sky's and headed off to New Jersey in the USA, and to my mothers home land in the Netherlands for a festival in Leiden, with a opportunity to screen in St Petersburg, in Russia, very very exciting, I hope they like it, and lets hope I can get the chance to visit these amazing places.

In two weeks time Paul and I are off to Wales for 4 days to compete in the Swansea Bay Film Festival, where Shooter is nominated for best short film under five minutes. You can see Michael Sheen introducing the festival HERE

Loch Ness film festival

Loch Ness Film Festival has selected 'Shooter' to screen in September, great news.
I had just been to the printers to get the poster updated for California and Swansea Bay, and had to stop the print to get the new Official Selection added, 3 weeks till Swansea Bay, so will be sending the poster electronically to Lake Arrowhead. This kind of thing would have been impossible to do without the net.

So I will be bringing Paul hunter with me to Loch Ness for the festival, where we are hoping to talk a little about the film and how we got to this point in our journey.

This morning I was shooting an Osprey at the Carman Fishery, waited and waited, cold and miserable, waited a bit more, and nothing, not a peep. so I will go again tomorrow. Hopeful put up the footage soon.

Volcano

yup, the Icelandic Volcano has caused a lot of disruption, I cant go to California to the Lake Arrowhead Film Festival, where my short film 'Shooter' is screening, shame really, but glad that the airlines are doing the right thing, and today I went outside for a moment, and the air smelled cleaner, or is it just me,,,

I wrote to Gregor Narholz, the composer of the music on 'Shooter', and he said he may go to Lake Arrowhead to see the screening of the film, so I asked the festival to allocate my ticket to him. He will be representing the film, fingers crossed...

Delray Beach Film Festival 2010 results

Director Michael Posner and his team of dedicated volunteers have wrapped another successful Film Festival. In addition to a Script To Reel Contest, local filmmakers day, golf tournament, beach cleanup, and Kid’s Day, they also gave out a slew of awards to participating filmmakers and icons in the industry.

I copied this from the Delray Film Festival Site, where a short while ago I got the news that 'Shooter' came runner up in the festival, I'm very happy with that, and now I have the daunting prospect of updating all the paper work, think I will get some sleep first, and do it in the morning.

Sleepy

Waiting patiently

The first days of spring are here, yes it's raining, but a little warmer. Soon we will be out with the little crew making stories come to life.

Announced in an email, I find that 'SHOOTER' has been listed in the Britfilms Catalogue, now that is seriously cool, very proud. Now I need to find some work.


Keeping it short today

Pain in the Neck

Yes, That's right, I have a pain in my neck, no matter, I can still type.

Yesterday, I did 3 hours of Lecturing at my old college, it was nice to meet Chris Fry's art students, and talk about the film.

Today I entered Shooter into the Jim Poole Film Festival and Soho Short, and I guess it will be a while before I post any news.

The film also screens in 1 week, at the Delray Beach Film Festival, I wont be attending, much to my disappointment, too expensive to travel at the moment. The film is also screening at The Lake Arrowhead Festival the following month, lets see how expensive the flights are then. I have to bring in a sponsor I reckon to help with travel, If you are interested then drop me a line.

Just heard that one of my favourite shorts 'Cigarette Candy', just nailed best short film at SXSW , very happy for Lauren. I met her briefly at the Palm Springs Shorts Festival in 2009, where we screened together in the 'War and Remembrance' section of the competition.

I will be posting more news shortly.

On a wee roll

This morning I received the news that 'Shooter' has Official Selection at the Lake Arrowhead Film Festival, California in April, I feel that I am definitely on a wee roll. It is very encouraging to know that festival are appreciating the work.
Click on the Lake Arrowhead Logo to see their site

Official Selelction at the Delray Beach Film Festival 2010

'Shooter' is in Official Selection at the Delray Beach Film Festival 2010, and we are very excited to hear this. If you click on the Delray Laurel it will take you to there Official web site, where you can see the film selections for this year.
Now I have to work on getting there to represent the film, and of course getting the publicity to them on time for the screening.
With 'Shooter' also being selected in NY, I would like to try and combine the trip with other business, and other festivals, looks like a busy few months ahead.

"Shooter's" Journey, March 2010

It has been an incredible year for my short film "Shooter", and there are new events, every couple of days, very exciting, yet daunting.

Shooter's results 2009/10

Best of Festival: Swansea Bay Film Festival 2010
Winner: The Heart of England International Film Festival 2009
Winner: International Film Festival Ireland 2009
Winner: International Film Festival of South Africa 2009

Jury Nomination: The Heartland Film Society Festival 2009

Official Selection: Palm Springs Shorts Festival 2009
Official Selection: Cannes Short Film Corner 2009
Official Selection: Notting Hill Film Festival 2009
Official Selection: Caught Short Film Festival Edinburgh 2009
Official Selection: Edinburgh Film Festival Videotheque 2009
Official Selection: Delray Beach Film Festival 2010
Official Selection: Deep Fried Film Festival 2010
Official Selection: New Filmmakers Spring 2010
Official Selection: International Film Festival Thailand 2010
Official Selection: Lake Arrowhead Film Festival 2010
Official Selection: Leith Film Festival 2010
Official Selection: Lochness Film Festival 2010

Written by Ronnie B Goodwin/Paul Hunter
Director Ronnie B Goodwin
Producer Basil Khalil
D.O.P. Ronnie B Goodwin
Editor Ronnie B Goodwin
Compositor Ronnie B Goodwin
3D Animation Ronnie B Goodwin
Music Gregor Harholz
Cast Paul Hunter

Man Flu

Yes its official, I have man flu, and it sucks, so I have spent almost all day between the couch and the kitchen, turned off the telly and put the radio on for a change, slept like a baby.
I was wakened by someone on the radio talking about something that was just a string of words that made absolutely no sense whatsoever, and I had to sit up and switch it off, what a load of tosh.

So I checked my emails, expecting nothing but junk as it is a Sunday. The usual rubbish is there, and a wee note from the Swansea Bay International Film Festival, telling me to check the list for the 2010 nominations, so I did, and low and behold, Shooter is in there, yipeeee.

Now I have to go modify all the flyers, posters, short film depot and withoutabox sites. So my Sunday is busy all of a sudden, no more man flu, so I guess the cure is keep busy.

Under water filming

February 21st 2010, a lovely crisp Sunday morning, and I am off to Kilcreggan, to film some under water sequences for Robert Bell. He has made a documentary over a year, studying and following the life of a family of swans from egg to fledgling, Titled: 'A Swans Chronicle'. He asked me to shoot the swans from under the water, making some interesting and quality sequences to fill the feeding sections of the film.
We didn't have to break the ice on the water, but it was still cold enough to shock your skin into thinking that your body had stopped working, so it was probably about 12 minutes of footage to get the 20 seconds of material, then a quick dash back to
the house, bacon sandwich and a cup of tea, sorted. We reviewed the footage to find that we had captured some quality moments, I guess we could call it a successful shoot.



On the way to Roberts, I passed Loch Lomond, Which was frozen over, the first time that I had ever seen this spectacle


The day before I was working for Peter Montgomery, he needed a few lines and some extra characters for his horror sci-fi movie 'The Blood', so we shot a bunch of material against the green screen and bobs your uncle, we had a small army of one man:)

On March the first, I am expecting a bunch of results to come in from festivals all over the world for 'Shooter', I'll keep you posted.

Independent Film in Scotland

The more time I spend in front of this computer, pushing my short film, and working on other projects, I am realising that I have now been spending more time administrating than creating.
This has got to change, as I have to make another film, another truly independent Scottish film, and so today, it all begins again.

What have I learned from making, competing and getting the word out about Independent film,,, well, I think it has been the most challenging thing that I have ever experience in my life, with huge highs and massive lows,,, learning to take criticism on the chin,,, and enjoying every minute of the journey.

But, the thing that disappoints me most, is how poorly 'Shooter' has done in my own country, yet it is being accepted at almost every other festival I have entered, especially in the USA. With 3 International wins, 1 Jury Nomination and 12 Official Selections, the film is doing very well, and as I said at the top of the page, if I had not pushed the film as an administrator, then this would most certainly not be the case. And as this has been done by myself for the last year, then I would call this truly Independent Scottish Film.

With more news to come soon, keep checking in

Exciting times

Yes, these are exciting times, there seems to be a lot of festivals coming in 2010, and Shooter is taking part in many of them, from Swansea Bay, Delray Beach, NewFilmakers NY, IFF Thailand and of coures The Deep Fried Film Festival, and these are the Official Selection Festivals, I am still waiting in anticipation for responses to another dozen festivals.

Yesterday I was notified by the Egypt film festival that they have had to cancel the event due to the venue being renovated, so the film was given the option of competing in next years Egypt event or choosing another festival from there list of events, and now Shooter is screening in Thailand.

Spent the day with my Mum yesterday, went for a drive and did a little shopping, good times.

Recently I have been using Facebook to involve the people I know, with the NewFilmmakers Festival site, by linking Shooters page with other FB users I have managed to keep the film in the forefront by having people visit the site, this should encourage others to view the trailer and hopefully buy tickets to the screening in NYC on the 2nd of June 2010.

A couple of days ago I was shooting a shooting scene with Peter Montgomery for his film 'The Blood', Ro Goodwin came all the way down from Invergordon to shoot about 4 seconds of footage from 2 cameras, the shots can be seen here. He did a fantastic job, even though the task was very daunting, as he had to wear an armoured plate with explosive blood packs, (squibs) on his torso. Nice job Ro. The finnished cut can be viewed at Kezadrone

NewFilmmakers Selection

Today began by saying goodbye to a very special family friend, Norman. Close friend to my father, family and me. He was cremated today at Dalnotter Crematorium. See ya big guy, I learned so much from you.

When I got back to the flat, I checked my emails, and what a surprise, 'Shooter' got selected at the NewFilmmakers Fest 2010, New York City, how exciting, so my fingers are worn down to the bone from emailing and posting, so this is the last thing I am doing for today.

Should you read this, then I urge you to click on this link, NewFilmmakers ,then search for 'Shooter', as soon as you click on it, another vote will be added, and this can be viewed in the Buzz tab.

top of the morning

Today is a good day, 'Shooter' has been given Official selection at the International Film Festival Egypt, with another 2 festivals saying that they will look at the film, I'll find out more soon.

I also got a message from Gregor Narholz, who composed the score for my film, and I sent him a copy a few days ago, hope he likes it.

And today, as I was doing the rounds on the net, looking for links and info created by other people on 'Shooter', I typed in Multi award winning shorts, and what do you know, Shooter was listed at the top of the page on Youtube and Google, what a buzz, I am so happy.

I met Kirstine King on Facebook, she introduced her self to me a few weeks ago, and I sent her the copy of 'Shooter', she had so many nice things to say about it, and she has now introduced me to a Dan Griffin, from New York, and he is doing a little research on the festivals in the USA for me, how nice is that.

The picture in this post has absolutely nothing to do with what I have been writing about, but I hope you enjoy it anyway.

More news to come later

January is almost over

January just shot by, unbelievable, yet it still bore fruits, not many, but at least a few that are worth mentioning.

Shooter was selected to screen in the USA, this time at the Delray Beach Film Festival in March, and I really want to make the effort to go there. Basil will also be in the area at the time, which would work out just like the Palm Springs trip, it means we can hook up and get some meetings in with each other to help support.

Fixed the 2nd burst water pipe in the cottage after our big freeze, and guess what, it is to freeze again, so I turned the water off in the street until spring pops it's head up. It's OK, I don't live in the house yet.

'Shooter; is in Official Selection at the Deep Fried Film Festival in the summer, I am so happy that the film has been accepted into its 3rd Scottish festival, lets hope for a result.

Joe Henry is hear for the next few days as we cut the 'Unsigned Legends' project. It was shot in Ireland on New Years eve, on a Sony EX1, and he supplied me with the stock, which has not been reduced, so everything is at a stop until the footage is reduced to work on my system, looking forward to getting creative and doing something special with it.

Mum has been performing again, so pleased for her, as it is slowly building her confidence again, and by the sounds of it she is building a new fan base for her material in Pitlochry, good on you Mum.

So I have updated the poster for Shooter again, and looking forward to more results coming through in the next couple of months.

Shooting in slow motion today

Ok, some of you will be saying,'How can you shoot in slow motion?'
The system I use, captures directly to the on-board memory of the camera, then after a moment, it then writes that information to tape, it can only capture 6 second bursts, but if you plan well in advance, the shots can be spectacular.

Today we were in the woods above Helensburgh, and we filmed a dummy missile shooting out of a rocket launcher, zipping along a thin wire and giving us some magic moments to record on film, if you go to this link, you can follow our progress with Peter Montgomery's feature film, 'The Blood'.

These two dodgy looking chaps in the pictures are Peter Montgomery and Paul Hunter, and as usual we are out in all weathers to get the shots needed to finish the project. Off to post-production, looking forward to the cut.

Now I am home and toasty again, time for a feed.

Moving on

This morning, I took my finger out and started the house moving process.

I called the planning guy, then found an architect, planned a trip up north tomorrow morning to view the cottage and start the drawing and planning process.

Went to the hardware store and started an account, now we are talking, this means I can start ordering materials for the house just as soon as the building warrant has been passed. Got the gutter parts for Mums house as the weight of the snow ripped them all down, and dropped into Peter Montgomery for a quick Photo shop tutorial, for him.

The car has a new starter motor and tyres, it is back up to new again, nice to know that your car is in good order, needs a good clean though, the salt does not do it any favours.

Working with the progress of 'Shooter' is always on my mind, and often takes priority over the other things that I do, but so much has to be done, and all in this new year, like I said, I have taken my finger out and I am on a mission.

Ok, so it's 2010

And we are definitely experiencing the coldest winter in decades, and about time too. For once in my life I have felt it in my bones, that the world is functioning properly and that what we are being fed by the media, is not as it seems. Maybe this is just an extra cold winter, but in my book, it spells out that the world is good.

So, with my wee rant out of the way, we get down to what is happening this year.

After the quite spell of the festive season, I had a number of rejections from film festivals, I was starting to loose momentum with 'Shooter', then this morning I got an email from The Delray Beach Film Festival in Florida, saying, Congratulations, 'Shooter' has gained Official Selection. Suddenly all is forgotten about the last 3 months of not a lot happening. Very Happy Chappy.

Happy New Year