Ronnie B Goodwin

End of 2011

2011-12-28T06:49:00.000-08:00

So, after a very quite year as far as paid work and employment is concerned, all is good on the creativity and advancements of my new film material.

'FLY', a 93 second short film that I created during the summer, has taking on wings of it's own, sporting a major brand in the form of ORVIS, my first ever sponsor.

The films formal title is now 'FLY a Legacy' and is currently winging it's way to the USA to start a full on tour of the states in January with the F3t Film Tour, a very exciting time for the little film that now runs an epic 5mins 40secs, link below. 'FLY a Legacy' is in Official Selection, and very proud of it:)

KING

2011-11-28T06:55:00.000-08:00

A couple of weeks ago, I wrote a piece on this blog about a 1 minute short I wanted to make called KING, featuring my good friend Paul Hunter, and with help from David Clements
You can see it here

David shot this little piece with his fuji and created the making of KING

KING had it's first screening on the 30th November 2011 at Scotland Directs, organised by Lizzie Gray at the BBC.

The processes we went through to make the short are a couple of posts below, hope you like:)

FLY has Global Audience Nov 2011

2011-11-16T07:28:00.000-08:00

In the last few days FLY has really made an impact on the fly fishing audience and web sites, over the last few months it has been steadily making progress, not viral, but certainly getting a bit of attention.

The Orvis Fly Fishing website picked it up, and there was an immediate surge in numbers, followed by GoFISHn and The RockyRiver.com who wrote a terrific piece on the film and a little biography on myself, very honoured.

I am now adding the finishing touches to 'FLY a Legacy', which is looking for a sponsor to take with it on it's journey in the near future. If you want to get on board, drop me a line at ronniegoodwin@hotmail.com subject FLY

A One Minute Movie

2011-11-11T02:18:00.000-08:00

The International One Minute Film Festival, which is looking for submissions right now and into the new year.

I have written a short piece, which will involve my good friend Paul Hunter in full Robert the Bruce mode. The story came to me in the middle of the night durning my sleep, and as soon as I woke, I had to tell him my plan for the film.
So I took a quick trip to The Rest and Be thankful, and beautiful spot just North of Arrochar. I shot a few stills and set the project in concrete.

We should be able to capture all the required scenes in a day, as we have 3 locations to visit, and I would like to capture all the brief shots in the same light.
There will be no music, just dialogue and ambient noise.
I have also been experimenting with a look for the short film, which will incorporate a technique which I developed a few years ago on a film called 'Children of the Mist', I must look it out and post.

This picture shot by David Clements, has the colour and soft tone to it that I am looking for, with rich blacks, and a slight blur. We used to picture to create the effect from this original.
Original on the top. The difference is very subtle.

After talking to Paul about the project, I took a picture from his Facebook profile, and did a quick edit, to create a poster and title for the project. The picture is HDR, and I am trying to create the footage to look as hard and detailed as this, as it is only a short piece, it shouldn't be to tiring on the eyes.

The Title is 'KING'

Meanwhile, 'FLY' is still doing very well, and 'FLY' a Legacy is looking and sounding good, very pleased with it.

Shooter is still generating interest, but for now, I am concentrating on new projects, generating sponsors and backers

I connected with David Eustace, after seeing his advert for the Linux G3, I found him on FB, and I dropped him a line, we are going to meet for a coffee around Christmas, and we shall see where this story goes.

FLY makes the number 1 spot

2011-10-14T06:51:00.000-07:00

Fly has reached number 1 in the Global Fly Fishing Video Channel charts, the most exciting news to date, with the new version almost finished, I am really excited to see where the film will go, click here
The Global Fly Fishing site is hosted by Martin Joergensen, a terrific resource for Fly Fishing and everything that goes with it:)

Also very proud to have been published on the Film Courage Independent Film makers and Creative's web site, thanks to Karen Worden and David Branin for publishing my little story here

Raining outside, but who cares when the news is good:)

FLY at the GFF Video Channel

2011-10-07T09:13:00.000-07:00

My little film FLY, which is now being made into a longer version, has made remarkable progress at the Global Fly Fishing Video Channel, very pleased to announce that it has been viewed many times and is in 3rd position of the Most Ever Viewed section of the site, you can see it above this post, and it can be seen here Global Fly Fishing Video Channel

Thanks to all the great people who took part in the making of this little film

The extended version of FLY is to be submitted into the Drake Fly Fishing Film Tour

Shooter is also having a great deal of attention at the ShortsTV Channel in the USA, very exciting:)

Dream come true

2011-08-29T08:48:00.000-07:00

It has been a two and a half year experience, that has pushed and pulled my emotions, creating a learning curve that I could have never experience on any movie set.

In May 2009, I released my short film 'Shooter' into the festival circuit, and with only my limited festival experience gained from working with Basil Khalil, and our feature documentary 'Replay Revenge', the film was to take me on a journey that I could never in a lifetime, hope to experience. And boy, did I have to start learning, and start learning fast.

If you read this blog from December 2009, it will give you the full story. Start here

My dream of screening my work, was becoming a reality, and to be frank, I didn't think it would make it all the way, as I was competing and networking with the most incredible film makers from all over the world, the competition was and will always be very tough.

So I celebrate this week, with a smile, and a big thank you, to everyone who was either fully involved with 'Shooter' or helped to push the film with social networking, and thanks also to the great festival curators that I was able to meet and the festivals that I was able to attend, also the incredible review sites that took on the task of writing such magnificent reviews about 'Shooter'. I thank you all from the bottom of my heart:)

So, this month, August 2011, ShortsTV broadcasts 'Shooter', with AT&T, DirecTV and DISH, having already broadcast on SKY, and with 3 radio broadcasts to it's credit, I can honestly say, my film production dream has come true.

I am concentrating on creating new material from this date on, and I do hope you continue to view the new stories that I have created and will be creating, with more news to come very soon.

Shooter's broadcast on Shorts TV

2011-08-24T08:27:00.000-07:00

My last correspondence with Shorts International was a few months ago, they told me that Shooter had been broadcast in Turkey on STV, and that my film was being prepared for broadcast on Shorts TV in the Best of Festival section in HD. http://shorts.tv/

Today I have allocated a little time, as I do each week, to search the web and see if other organisations are embedding my work. I was scrubbing through Shorts International web site, which has a new look, and am very excited to announce that Shooter has been broadcast from the beginning of August 2011, it will be broadcast with DISH, Direct TV and AT&T, a very satisfying feeling.

You can also see Shooter here, as for the time being, Fly is taking centre stage on this blog, above, and on this subject, the closing date for the competition that Fly is currently running in is the 31st August 2011, so please make your mark here

Happy Days:)

Film School Rejects

2011-08-11T11:18:00.000-07:00

On checking my vimeo account today, I see Shooters numbers have suddenly made a jump, and on checking the statistics, I see that Film School Rejects have embedded the film into there site, so I check it out, and what do you know, they have made 'Shooter' the film of the day, now that is a nice surprise, and a very well written piece to go with it, thanks Film School Rejects for the push

Another film competition

2011-08-02T03:58:00.000-07:00

Time to vote again, visit this link http://www.g-technology.eu/competition/870 and vote for latest short film FLY, there is a short piece below about the film, many thanks and pass it on.

Also take a minute or two to visit Ticker Talks Movies and read the latest review on FLY , thanks Raghav for the terrific write up:)

Possible Futures results

2011-07-27T03:11:00.000-07:00

It has been a long wait on the Possible Futures Film Competition, using social networking to push a voting campaign accross the world.

Both 'Shooter' and 'Orla the Golden Eagle' were in competition, with a total of 317 entries from 44 countries, with some extraordinary stories being told..

And on the 26th July 2011, the results came through, 'Shooter' had been Nominated in the final 5 of the Peace and Freedom section, a very proud moment for me and all the people involved and who supported the film from day one.

Fly

2011-07-23T08:56:00.000-07:00

While I have been waiting on results, replies for jobs and applying for positions on other projects, I decided I should make another short film about the two things I love most, film making and fly fishing.

It took more than 10 days to gather the little moments for this film, with one of the sequences that I shot last year, but it had to be seen again, the piece where the Dragon fly and the Damsel fly bump heads, a special moment, and here it is http://vimeo.com/26802494
The short film is called Fly, and it has been complimented by the 'Wait for Me' track, composed by Moby, and supplied from the Mobygratis.com web site, a place you should visit.

Big thanks to, David Clements for the assistance, and to Angelo, John, Kevin and Johnny from the Carman Trout Fisheries for the support during the filming of this little piece.

Since I posted this little video a load of magazine sites have hooked up with the film, driving traffic to my material, see what I did there, Hooked up:)

http://flyfishingfantasies.blogspot.com/
http://mouching.wordpress.com/
http://flymage.net/blog-en/
http://southsoundflyfishers.org/
http://blogg.fisking.no/p/video.html
http://www.moldychum.com/
http://thehammockpapers.blogspot.com/
http://blog.fishingmegastore.com/2011/07/fly.html?spref=fb
http://www.troutu.com/blog/rare_blue_trout
http://tickertalksfilm.blogspot.com/2011/07/fly-short-by-ronnie-b-goodwin.html?spref=tw

Please feel free to share Fly

Possible Futures Film Competition

2011-06-14T03:55:00.000-07:00

On the 28th June 2011, two of my short films will be open for the public vote at the Possible Futures Film Competition.

I will be pushing a Facebook and Twitter campaign a couple of days before voting commences, and I hope that all the followers and friends of the films will do a little bit to help spread the word with shares, likes and re-tweets about the event, please also ask your friends to take part.

The two films taking part, are 'Orla the Golden Eagle' (in the Sustainability and Beyond section) and 'Shooter' (in the Peace and Freedom section)

Have a look at the site to familiarise yourself. If you hit the vote button, and Early Bird panel will pop up, the site will ask for your contact details and send you a reminder email when it is time to vote.

Thanks, in advance, for taking part :)

COMPETITION, Hosted by Ultimate Review

2011-05-21T03:41:00.000-07:00

Congratulations

Kristine King

You won the 'Shooter' competition

Hosted by Ultimate Reviews, and thank you guys for all the help

COMPETITION

Hosted by Ultimate Review web site, answer the questions and win Shooter merchandise http://ultimatereviews.co.uk/?p=3608

Ultimate Review of Shooter

2011-05-14T04:33:00.000-07:00

To reflect on the reviews that Shooter has received since January, all the reviewers and sites respectfully, have been amazing with their responses and choice of words that have contributed to the short films quest. Today I received a review from Ultimate Review , written by Raghav Modi, and my goodness, it almost knocked me off my feet, it contributed to me burning my dinner, and I had a tear in my eye when I finished reading it, about 8 times:) I wont quote anything from the site as you should read it yourself, but I do have to say, that when a film maker reads this kind of thing about their work, it only makes you more determined to produce better and more personal work, and to read the words 'great piece of cinema' only makes my journey more joyous. I am smiling from ear to ear, at my laptop, in the dark, all alone :(
Thanks to the reviewers for everything said, I won't forget.

The Ultimate Review Site

Ultimate Review sent me a series of questions to be published on their site, read the interview here
Ronnie B Goodwin Ultimate Review Interview

News Just in

2011-05-06T08:32:00.000-07:00

Shorts International have just informed me that 'Shooter' has broadcast on Turkish STV, brilliant news, and the short is currently in the process of being prepared for US ShortsHD channel and France, very pleased.
Interesting to find out that ShortsHD launched yesterday on DirecTV, I will update news as it comes in.

Taking some time out

2011-05-05T03:17:00.000-07:00

This last couple of years has been the most amazing trip I have experienced in my life, with one of my short films travelling the world, and a number of my creative designs and movies moving forward. With a new script being developed and some other projects on the horizon, all looks very encouraging. However, even though I feel I am moving in the right direction, there are always down moments, and they supersede everything at the moment.

So when a friend of mine from NYC dropped an email to say she and a friend were on there way to visit Scotland, I was quick to say, I will happily take a couple of days out, and be your guide and driver.

So the road trip began. We travelled to Culag the same morning that Heidi and Rocio arrived, and within an hour they were on the seaplane, taking a short flight to the Cameron House on Loch Lomond, I picked them up in the car and from there we headed to Tarbet, where we met Caroline selling her ice cream from here mobile ice cream bicycle, delicious.

The sun was splitting the sky's, and then it was the long haul drive all the way up to Drumnadrochit, at the top of Lochness, we were to meet my good friend Ro Goodwin there, but we missed each other by a couple or three hours, oops, sorry Ro, next time. So we proceeded on to a hotel where we were going to see the Loch Ness Monster. The scenery didn't let us down, just magnificent.

The next day we headed to Balmoral Estate to visit my sister, friends, and Wee Walker:), for lunch and a bit of sight seeing, where we were witness to the brush fires in their infancy, it was like watching the early morning harr coming in from the sea, but it was climbing over the mountain, very strange sight, very beautiful, but also very frightening and menacing.

We were volunteering to help my sister put the fire out, I am so glad we didn't now, as they have been fighting the fire for 2 days.

So, off again to St Andrews, and I must say with the sun out, and the sea air, I was slightly blown away with this little town, and I feel I should go for another visit soon. Then Glamis Castle for a brief tour, and back to Bowling for my meeting at the BBC. A great couple of days away with good friends, great food, sun and some amazing little moments that won't be forgotten, thanks you guys for a great vacation:)

Shooter's TV premier

2011-04-20T09:11:00.000-07:00

Very proud to have managed to have my multi award winning short film 'Shooter' broadcast on Sky Super Shorts Channel 219. The broadcast was on the 18th April 2011, at 9.30pm with a repeat on the following Sunday.

Shooter was released on the 15th May 2009 at the Short Film Corner Cannes, you can see the video diary here
So the film to this date has not yet reached it's expected 2 year festival tour, I managed to rake up 27 festival Official selections, 2 jury nominations, 4 International wins and 1 Best in Festival accolade. On this blog you can read the very encouraging reviews that have been written about the film over the last 3 months, and to have it's first TV broadcast in the 2 years time scale is very exciting and a little daunting. Also looking forward to being interviewed by Claire Bueno of Premier Scene which means a little trip to London town in the next couple of months.

The learning curve that I have endured with this project has been very steep indeed, with no choice but to pursue the project to the end, with the lack of paying jobs and a very poor year due to the credit crunch, I still feel that it has been a very successful journey and would gladly live the experience again. However it is time to regroup and assess the future.

The second draft of the poster for my new film 'The Rape Fields' is ready for a look at. I wanted a plane look, with only 3 colours, with scope to expand.
With a Sci-fi movie, we expect to see explosions, space ships, monsters and planets, but with this I wanted to create something that is a more suggestive design, that is explained once you are immersed in the story of the movie. More to come on this soon.
There is now a Contact Tab on this blog should you have any questions, please drop me a line

Mofilm and Possible Futures film contests

2011-04-13T02:33:00.000-07:00

With a 1 hour window of weather opportunity a couple of weeks ago, David Clements and I trekked out with the camera and shot a short story line for the Mofilm Pepsi Challenge, and with what we thought was a very strong contender for the challenge, we waved it goodbye as it uploaded to the Mofilm judges, yesterday we received the news that the little film was not successful in getting through to the finals, you can see the finalists here, once we have clearance I will post the short film that we entered.

The Possible Futures film contest has just opened, and I received a youtube message from the Possible Futures crew, saying they would like me to enter the short film Orla the Golden Eagle, I promptly contacted Stewart Robertson at the Loch Lomond Bird of Prey Centre and asked permission to enter the film, he said yes, so the little film about Scottish Birds of Prey is soon to be judged:)

Facebook and Twitter have proven to be a great asset to my campaign, and helped to have my award winning short film 'Shooter' recognised, but little did I think it would get me in touch with a great friend of mine from a few years ago, Kevin Harrigan got in touch using the social network, and last Saturday we took a drive in his amazing car and reminisced. What a fantastic day, the sun came out at the Culag Guest house on Loch Lomond, a complete stranger gave us some food, we took some pictures and planned some projects for the future, including dusting down my ski's ready for next winter.

Ro Goodwin, a good friend and film maker, dropped me a line a few weeks ago, saying, a new feature film is being planned in the Shetland Islands, called 'Between Weathers'. On studying the web site, I found a name that I had associated with quite a few years ago, so I contacted and managed to organise a brief 'one on one' interview with the films director, if anything develops from this, I will post details soon.

A couple of days ago, a beautiful young woman from the USA, called Judi Ward, hooked up with my Facebook page and watched Shooter, she then shared the post and opened it up to her FB friends, at this point an actor called Bill Oberst Jr, left me a great complementary message on my Vimeo account, saying he had been pointed to the film by a guy called Vincent Deporter, so of course I had to track down the name, and there he was on FB, I checked out his links and low and behold, he is an awesome photographer, cartoonist and artist, having worked on a plethora of very impressive projects from Scooby Doo to Spongebob, and coincidently, Gregor Narholz, who wrote the score for Shooter, is also responsible for Spongebob Square Pants, his website is here Vincent Deporter and for all my students who are into comics, give this a guy a visit on Facebook
More to come soon

A most exciting review of Shooter

2011-03-24T09:45:00.000-07:00

The sun came out today, and yes it warmed my shoulders and took some of the pale winter complection from my head as I drove down the road from Killin today. Having had lunch with my Mum and cleaned up a little round the cottage, it was nice to blow the cobwebs from my winter recluse.

I returned to sunny Bowling, and fired up the laptop to find a number of interesting messages, one of which I will speak of in the near future, and one from Brett Gerry, who wrote a very impressive review on my wee film Shooter. I have listed all the recent reviews on the right of this blog for you to read , however I want to put this review on this page as it made me very proud of the accomplishments of this little film

'Shooter' Review from Brett Gerry Films

Honesty, they say, is always the best policy – and here Goodwin successfully marries his own life-story to an effective short film, at the same time forging an innovative visual style that demands the long form treatment. Shooter has already won some impressive awards, and been a firm success on the festival circuit, so is therefore perhaps the quintessential short film – initially anonymous, provocative and brief – which could possibly also be its undoing. Many filmmakers and theorists insist on the importance of ‘story’ in cinema, but, as demonstrated here, many of the best short films can only suggest story in their runtime; often they are only slightly longer than modern commercials, and feature about the same amount of narrative information. Such innuendo, schtick and bravado that many adverts and short films contain do not add up to a story but a sketch that only implies more.
But we could likewise imply that, in an exacting cinematic sense, this suggestion of story is what gives Shooter its depth and apparent popularity. Goodwin, acting as director, producer and writer as well as cinematographer, treats his film with a visual style that is nothing short of brilliant: a digital collage technique that blurs the lines between past and present, and marries some impressive nature photography with abstract stylized imagery. It’s a fascinating way to disseminate narrative information (that suggestion of story) which reaches, with the full power of the cinematic spectacle, through the screen and into the audience, and cries out for a feature length exploration. Hopefully, the attention given to Goodwin and his achievement will bring such an exciting possibility for the man who has chosen cinema as his weapon of choice.

Just great Brett, thanks for putting so much into this review, totally blew me away
You can read the entire review here Brett Gerry Films and please leave comments

Loch Lomond Seaplanes and Jordan Bayne

2011-03-08T05:08:00.000-08:00

Great news from Loch Lomond Seaplanes. David West dropped me a line yesterday to announce that the seaplane features in the new Visit Scotland TV advertising campaign sneak preview at this link, top right. This is fantastic for the Scottish Tourist Industry and Loch Lomond Seaplanes. The magnificent footage of the 208 as it works in the beautiful highlands of Scotland, will surely attract people from all over the world to experience the majestic scenery and awesome hospitality.

I meant to mention in my last post, that I had the pleasure of meeting, very briefly, on Facebook, the award winning Director and Actor Jordan Bayne, who had a great feature on the Cutting Room Floor Radio programme hosted by Casey Ryan, talking about here new movie 'The Sea is all I Know', you can hear it here, I am very excited about seeing this movie

Working on my new movie material today, just getting over a horrible cold, but the solitude of being a little sick has pushed me to write fresh material. Title 'The Rape Fields', and with a little luck it will take you on an adventure that you have never experienced on the big screen before.

How social media can make an instant change

2011-03-06T02:47:00.000-08:00

Yesterday, whilst nursing a sniff and drinking a hot medicine for my streaming cold, a message came in on twitter, just on the normal stream, not to me personally, it read:

CuttingRoomMRB Casey Ryan

Going on air soon - which one of you fine #indie #entertainment people wants a free on air #promo? Polls are open..................NOW!

ronniebgoodwin Ronnie B Goodwin

@CuttingRoomMRB free promo eh, My film can be purchases here, and how it was made http://ronniebgoodwin.blogspot.com/

CuttingRoomMRB

@ronniebgoodwin Done! Promo for the Shooter.

Half an hour later, Casey Ryan was on air talking about 'Shooter'. You can hear the show here Cutting Room
and a second plug on this link Cutting Room Sunday 6th March

So the power of Social Media is really starting to pay dividends, if you have a product that is specifically on line content and an opportunity comes along that can highlight your product to a wider audience then take it.

You never know where it may take you.

Another story about the power of social media,

David P Baker and Oklahoma Ward, have made an indie film makers pact. Through their meeting and developing friendship, using the Skype, Facebook and Twitter networking programmes, they have joined indie forces and are going to produce both their movies, together, yes, both separate movies, but made with each others resources, so David is going to go to the US to make his movie SCREEN, and work alongside Oklahoma on his movie CRAWL, the power of the social networking tools, magnificent

Meanwhile I have a cold and and I am feeling sorry for myself:)

Good news

2011-02-28T12:03:00.000-08:00

Sky Super Shorts have just connected, and want to broadcast 'Shooter',

'Your film is incredibly good!

I loved the ending of it. It is very smart and the images are great.

It will be a pleasure to air your film on our Super Shorts program.'

Also some promising news from the Screen Machine

'At present we don't normally screen short films in Screen Machine but I'm hoping that we change this in the future and regularly include short films, mainly from Scottish film makers. I'll keep note of your film and if we go ahead with the new policy - as I hope we will - I'll get back in touch with you.'

A good day:)

Moving Forward

2011-02-26T05:18:00.000-08:00

For a long time, I have been pushing my career, and the way things are developing with my film projects and scripts, things are moving forward.

This morning, I drove out on a beautiful day to Luss, to put the poster for Shooter up, at the Luss Tourist Centre, where Dane the minister has agreed to show the film in the centres little cinema. I met him during the winter months to prepare for screening, and now looking forward to the film screening for tourist that pass through Luss.

Yesterday, I met with Steve Mackay, who runs his production company Red Zebra, a like minded film maker from Edinburgh, we had a great meeting with lunch, and a never ending torrent of ideas that kept flowing, very exciting, and enjoyable. It's great to talk about these ideas without people looking at you as if you are some kind of crazed lunatic. One word, Productive.

A couple of days ago, Eddie Millar, who you may have remembered from an earlier post, dropped by to get me up to speed with his development. He has now stepped up to the digital age, and ventured onto the highway of knowledge, in other words, he bought a laptop:) He is now registered with Withoutabox, the awesome tool for film and script, that gives you instant access to the world festival circuit with your script of film. So we loaded his script, 'Woke up Banged up' onto the system, and he is currently studying the festivals listed.

Basil Khalil from Code 81 Films, informed me last night that Shooter has been delivered to iShort in Prague, iShorts Evenings are organised by FAMU students and present amazing Czech and foreign short films. Basil also sent a script this morning called 'A Gaza Week', which I am very excited about, and will spend the dark hours of the weekend reading, and hopefully not writing notes, more of this to come soon.

No word from Peter Mullan, after the chance meeting at the FilmG awards last week, I guess he is really busy, so may be a while before he gets a chance to see the film, fingers crossed.

Paul Hunter has just informed me that one of his short films is ready for the festivals, so I will need to spend a little time with him and the withoutabox service, great stuff.

The Dynamo system that is embedded at the top of this blog, is proving to be a great resource, as I can follow the amount of times that people look at the link, and even break it down to the countries that they come from, so currently, after 4 days, I have people from 10 different countries looking at the film, very exciting times.

Thanks to all these review sites for the great work they put into writing very in depth pieces on such a short film.
Flickering Myth
Cinehouse Review
Eternity of Dream
Live for Films
Celluloid Heroes
David Calder
Jack L Film Reviews
Virtus Productions
Suspend Your Disbelief
Terra King
Brett Gerry Films

I managed to get the film reviewer Robbie Collin to look at Shooter, using Facebook, and he wrote this

"Hey - just had a chance to look at this - loving your work! The sequence with the seaplane especially I thought was excellent - some really nice compositions there. And you have a great voice for v/o. Sadly I've got no space to review shorts in the paper thanks to the constant churn of features on wide release, but please stay in touch and do give me a shout if you're ever up to anything that might work for a NoW piece".

I hope you don't mind me copying and pasting this into my blog Robbie, but it is a great little review never the less, Ta.

Should you want to review 'Shooter', please email me at ronniegoodwin(at)hotmail.com and I will arrange an on line screening.

Reviews and Dynamo

2011-02-23T07:24:00.000-08:00

Another fine review has been posted on Jack L Review Site for my short film, and once again I am so happy with the response that the film is receiving, each review has hit on element that I never even considered within the films story or structure, very encouraging.If you would like to review 'Shooter', drop me a line and I will arrange a screening.

I was also contacted by James Adkin a film making friend who runs Virtus Productions and he posted a juicy little link to Shooter's trailer, and this blog site, James wrote this great piece about 'Shooter'

"It was late last year when I was first made aware of Ronnie B. Goodwin. I noticed a poster for a film he had directed and was intrigued by its content. The film, entitled ‘Shooter’ tells the story of how people effected by human conflict, re-adjust, as best they can, to normal life.
The effort and passion put towards this film are evident from the start. No aspect of the story is overlooked and the images are rich detail.
Few films are able to capture the beauty and innocence of the Scottish landscape, few films are able to tell a story that affects so many, yet is known about by so few, ‘Shooter’ however does both and so much more…More of the same please Mr Goodwin"

I have added a new player to the header of this blog. It is the Dynamo Player, which allows me the opportunity to sell my film without handing it to second and even third parties, which basically leaves the film maker with not a lot at the end of the day, this system allows me to market the film and have a few more pennies in my pocket than the other distribution models, not that there is anything wrong with them, it's only very difficult to create a revenue stream when you have to wait for six months between any payment, if any:) So I feel I have to at least give Dynamo the benefit of the doubt and give it a try. Currently I am looking at how to make the Dynamo system work with IMDB, any thoughts?

FilmG and Peter Mullan

2011-02-21T05:46:00.000-08:00

My good friend Ro J Goodwin (picture) came down from Inverness on Friday 18th February 2011, and asked me to accompany him to the FilmG award, where his short film 'Sgiath nan Treubh' had won a MG Alba Visions Award 2011. What an honour it was to sit with him and watched as he received his award.
I recorded the event on my little Fuji camera, and sent the footage back to the North with him the following morning, no doubt the cut version will be posted on Youtube soon, I will post a link here when it is complete.

David Hayman and Peter Mullan were in the audience and also presenting awards, which was very exciting for us, as they are such huge ambassadors for Scottish film, and to be only a few tables away was very exciting. We were also in the company of two very beautiful girls, they told me their names, but I forgot, other things on my mind I guess.

After the event, I thought I must try and get an introduction with Peter Mullan, I had an opportunity to meet him when his short film 'Neighbours' was screening alongside my short at the Lochness Film Festival a few months ago, but he couldn't attend, so I thought I had missed my chance. As soon as the proceedings ended, I made my way to the bar on the look out for Peter. That's when I was asked by a lovely crowd of people, if I would take their picture, I said yes of course, but still keeping one eye on Peter, as I didn't want to miss another chance meeting. We finished taking pictures and just at that, Peter and his friends started to move out of the building, that's when I took my chance and tapped him on the shoulder. He was very polite and listened to my story, accepted the DVD with the film on it and said he would drop me an email after watching it, at some point.

Next day I left Bowling to visit my Mum with our mutual friend Len Pankhurst. On arrival in Pitlochry, it was cold and wintry, so I got on with the fix-it list from my Mum. I mentioned to her that I had seen an add on Facebook for people wanting their houses remodelled, and suggested to her that we register the cottage with them, Mum agreed, so I did all the emails to make it happen. This morning when I was checking my emails, I had one from the crowd of folk that I met at the FilmG event, they asked me if I could send the photos that I took of them, and here is the application to the Property Series, so by complete accident, I had met the people from Tern, Mr Peter MacQueen and friends, how freaky is that. Such a small world sometimes.

The new Dynamo Player has been installed on this blog, at the top of the page, and if you want to use the embed link on the film to add it to your own blog or web site, please be my guest

Prague and Mofilm

2011-02-06T02:52:00.000-08:00

How exciting, Shooter has just been invited to screen at BIO OKO (http://www.biooko.net/en/) in Prague.

iShorts Evenings are organised by FAMU students and present amazing Czech and foreign short films.

"After going through the British Films 2011 catalogue that we got from Britfilms, I must say that me and my colleagues from iShorts programme are intrigued by your film Shooter "

Up to this point in the short films career, 'Shooter' has probably been to more places and travelled more extensively than I have, quite jealous of it actually. Maybe I am just getting a little stir crazy.

The results for Mofilm are out and this time, no joy with the 2 short ads that I sent to them, the competition was extremely tough this time round, with over 1000 shorts in competition. Still, it was a terrific way of producing new, quick projects over the winter months, keeping the creative juices flowing, and experimenting with new techniques. I will be posting the films in about 6 weeks time.

Also, January proved to be an excellent month for movie reviews, and I have had my share, they are listed below.
To be reviewed in amongst films like Black Swan, The Kings Speech and True Grit, is truly awesome.
Thanks to, Flickering Myth, Celluloid Heroes, Cinehouse, Live for Films and Eternity of Dream

Another review from David A.Calder, this one came as a complete surprise, he connected with me through face book, and told me he had watched Shooter on Indieflix.com, and as I was getting our profiles up to date, I noticed he had posted a link to his blog and this is what he wrote, David A.Calder

I got a very short but amazing email from Lloyd Kaufman, he said 'The Shooter is great', that was it, short n sweet, but extremely exciting to receive a cool email from this legend of a man.

The weather has been a real problem the last couple of weeks, with very dark days and huge gale forced winds, it has relegated my camera to a dusty patch on the floor, however this morning, the birds are singing, and the wind has stopped its raging. Fresh start...

Eternity of Dream: Shooter (2009)

2011-02-03T10:42:00.000-08:00

Eternity of Dream: Shooter (2009): "4 stars 'I wanted to shoot. I wanted to kill.' (Gun Man) We should see more short films. A less-than-five-minutes piece can become a great ..."

Thanks so much to all the review sites that have given such praise to 'Shooter', and especially to 'Eternity of Dreams' for writing such an honest and memorable piece for me to enjoy with my readers. The link above will take you to the review.

Cinehouse: REVIEW: Ronnie B. Goodwin's Short 'The Shooter'

2011-01-31T05:29:00.000-08:00

A fantastic review for 'Shooter' from Cinehouse
Cinehouse: REVIEW: Ronnie B. Goodwin's Short 'The Shooter'

So the first month of 2011 has been very productive as far as the reviews are concerned, with no negative responses at all. Now lets hope someone can see the potential, and help out by getting on board with the next projects. If you are interested, drop me a line.

Celluloid Heroes review 'Shooter'

2011-01-27T02:19:00.000-08:00

It's been a while since my last post, well to be frank, I have been busy making new conceptual ideas come to life, and not had a lot of time to write about the specifics.

So firstly, Yesterday the 26th Jan 2010, I did a Skype interview with Celluloid Heroes, hosted by Ed Prior and Jack Pelling. You can hear the show at this link Celluloid Heroes
There is a short clip of the show or you can tune in and listen around the 1hour 12 minute mark
And what an honour it was to be the first Film Maker to be interviewed on the show, as I listen back, I can hear myself sniffing a lot, just getting over a cold:)

Yesterday I was also selected for the Sony Production Awards with a short film that I made for their themed competition called Fusion, now this one needs some of you to participate in, in other words I need your votes to help me win the audience award, her is the link

Maybe, if you are reading this, you may be alble to help me. I am looking to get in touch with the AD Tommy Gormley, if anyone knows how I can get in touch, please private mail me at ronniegoodwin"at"hotmail.com, thanks

Award-winning short Shooter available now through Indieflix

2011-01-06T01:32:00.000-08:00

Award-winning short Shooter available now through Indieflix

First Review for 'Shooter'

2011-01-04T02:00:00.000-08:00

How exciting to wake this morning, 4 days into 2011, and I get my first review on Flickering Myth, a site dedicated to reviewing films of all genres, and my wee film 'Shooter' has managed to get a mention, you can see the review here. Also got a great mention on Live for Films

I have always wondered what it would be like to be reviewed, and really is a bit daunting, as you read all sorts of material written about peoples work. But this one has made me very happy, and will be treasured. Thanks Flickering Myth, made my day.

Off to Helensburgh to a meeting with Peter Montgomery, and he happily handed me a DVD copy of the master of 'Carter's Nightmare', his second feature film to date, I was so excited about seeing it, as I am usually immersed in the post production process, but with this film, Peter was at the helm. You can watch the making of clips and film sequences HERE

The film runs 1hr 21mins and looks great, has a good pace to it, and as I started taking notes, I found my self in the story, and chuckling away at some of the witty one liners. His work on the composites is also great with a very cinematic feel to the whole production process, it makes me wonder what kind of world beating material could be produced if we had money behind us, so if anyone reading this would like more information on what is being made and what has been achieved in the last 2 years, please drop me a line at ronniegoodwin@hotmail.com and subject (indiefilm).

This afternoon I got a call from a guy, who simply said, I have made a script, would you like to read it, I said, OK, he appeared at my door, handed me the 102 page script, and I am going to read it in the morning, I will post details later.

Meanwhile all is good on the film and ad production front, could do with a paying job for a while, freelance compositing or second unit DP, even DOP, so if you need something made, drop me a line.

Merry Christmas from the Ice age

2010-12-25T09:32:00.000-08:00

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

2010-12-08T08:14:00.000-08:00

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

2010-11-20T02:59:00.000-08:00

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'

2010-11-06T06:03:00.000-07:00

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

2010-11-04T04:43:00.000-07:00

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

2010-10-20T05:48:00.000-07:00

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

2010-10-16T11:00:00.000-07:00

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

2010-10-12T06:23:00.000-07:00

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

2010-10-09T05:18:00.000-07:00

the 'Shooter' trailer is available here

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

Salem Film Festival 2010

2010-09-28T11:07:00.000-07:00

Today I had a wonderful conversation with Loretta Miles, Director and proud owner of
the Salem Cinema.

Shooter is listed here, Salem Film Festival

She proudly announced to me, that my short film 'Shooter', is to open for the feature documentary HIDDEN BATTLES by Victoria Mills, I have just been reading up on the documentary and it looks like a great match for the screening, couldn't be happier with the selection. This is a premier for Shooter in the North West Pacific Coast and Oregon.

'Shooter' will also be competing for Best of Shorts award, based on the audience votes, all extremely exciting.

Being screened at this historic cinema is an honour indeed.

More to come soon

Loch Ness and Salem

2010-09-25T12:36:00.000-07:00

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

2010-09-22T01:23:00.000-07:00

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

2010-09-18T01:28:00.000-07:00

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

2010-09-01T02:41:00.000-07:00

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

2010-08-26T03:02:00.000-07:00

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

2010-08-04T02:17:00.001-07:00

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

2010-07-28T01:33:00.000-07:00

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

2010-07-22T12:29:00.000-07:00

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

Happy Days:)

Distribution for 'Shooter'

2010-07-14T07:51:00.000-07:00

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

2010-06-28T06:14:00.000-07:00

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

2010-06-01T05:12:00.000-07:00

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

2010-05-28T06:38:00.000-07:00

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

2010-05-27T06:50:00.000-07:00

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

2010-05-23T05:56:00.000-07:00

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

2010-05-20T11:20:00.000-07:00

'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

2010-05-18T11:56:00.000-07:00

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

2010-05-08T07:34:00.000-07:00

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

2010-04-28T07:51:00.000-07:00

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

2010-04-21T08:56:00.000-07:00

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

2010-04-18T08:06:00.000-07:00

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

2010-03-30T12:04:00.000-07:00

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

2010-03-22T08:45:00.000-07:00

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

2010-03-17T04:09:00.000-07:00

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

2010-03-09T02:17:00.000-08:00

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

2010-03-08T08:21:00.000-08:00

'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

2010-03-06T08:48:00.000-08:00

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

2010-02-28T08:10:00.000-08:00

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

2010-02-21T07:22:00.000-08:00

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

2010-02-17T01:30:00.000-08:00

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

2010-02-14T01:10:00.000-08:00

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

2010-02-10T12:54:00.000-08:00

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

2010-02-05T08:25:00.000-08:00

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

2010-01-29T09:02:00.000-08:00

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

2010-01-21T09:10:00.000-08:00

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

2010-01-12T07:25:00.000-08:00

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

2010-01-09T07:34:00.000-08:00

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

Snow

2009-12-30T03:33:00.000-08:00

Spent Christmas with the family in the North, the snow was deep, the food was great and the company was the best.

However, there was still work to do, the horses needed more attention than usual, with all the water supplies, bar one, totally frozen, meant moving water by hand and quad bike to all the drinking places on the estate, and in the freezing conditions, I could feel the sting on my face as we moved water around the glen. It gave me rosy cheeks.

I then took the opportunity to shoot a little film, and compile some of the shots into a little 3 Min short.

When we got back to Pitlochery, the snow was still deep, but the roads were black and drivable, at least until the next morning, I woke to see the biggest snow flakes fluttering past the street light outside, and soon my car was completely buried, stuck again.

It is good to see a proper winter again, makes me wonder what all the media hype about global warming is really all about, that's for another day I suppose.

Looking forward to seeing the New Year in, all is good.

Looking forward

2009-12-22T06:19:00.000-08:00

Christmas and the new year are here, and spending time with family is paramount this year, more than before. After loosing my father last February, my little family are going to go through there first Christmas without him, this is going to be a trying time for us.

Keeping positive, I reckon, is the only way to deal with this Christmas. We will be looking forward to the New Year.

I am moving to Killin, taking a few months to renovate my new cottage, I am looking forward to designing my new work space and cosy house.

My sister will be very busy with the Highland pony mothers to be on the estate, and Mum will be keeping herself involved with her new friends in Pitlochery.

Once the move is complete, I will then be generating the funds to make my new film, 'The Rape Fields of Findo Gask', check out the teaser tester experimental trailer.
I have been planing it for some time now, and with the success of 'Shooter', I have not been able to shoot any of the new film yet, and as I plan on shooting most of it in the Highlands, Killin should prove to be a good base to start.

The special effects of 'Shooter'

2009-12-21T07:55:00.000-08:00

When building the short film, I really had to tap into all my resources.

With one actor, Paul Hunter, who also wrote some of the script from a different perspective. I placed him in a blue screen studio, and shot him doing many different things with a rifle, then I was able to composite him into scenes that I shot with him in, in the highlands.

I also wanted to incorporate jets into my flying sequences, and that involved learning how to model in a 3d environment, and animate the finished pieces in a live action sequence of the film, it took a lot of time, but looks amazing

I tried many different voices for the piece, using American, Canadian and English accents for the narrative, I finally decided to stick with my own voice for the film, as it seemed to be more relevant to the piece and delivered the passion that I wanted

After 7 months I felt I had the pre-viz that I needed to develop the film further, It was at this point that I decided to place it before an audience, to see if the story worked. It went down very well, and there were no criticisms to note, so I decided to put it into a couple of festivals.

'Shooter' was accepted to screen at the short film corner in Cannes back in May 2009, but with my lack of experience, I would say I should have waited till the following year for Cannes, as the film had nothing to help push it.

Then it was The Heart of England International Film Festival, where Paul and I attended. We were blown away when Shooter was called out as the best short film, what a buzz. We met some amazing people there and still enjoy keeping up with there stories of how there films are doing.

That's when I decided to enter a few more festivals, some of which I thought may have been too big for our little film, but what do you know, we were then invited to screen at the prestigious Palm Spring Short Film Festival, where we were screened with some of the best short films on the planet. For me, it was as good as winning, just to be there.

Since then we have won in Ireland and South Africa, with other screenings planned for the new year.

The video diaries can be viewed above or at www.youtube.com/Studiorondo

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1Z9EebmbDNo

Shooter's conception

2009-12-21T05:46:00.000-08:00

The making of 'Shooter', began before the Hollywood 'Shooter' was released, and you can imagine my disappointment when it appeared in the cinemas. "I will need to call my short something else now", and for months I considered title after title, then one morning I woke with a great idea, "I shall call it 'Shooter', because I have too..." He he, made me laugh when that happened.
If you have seen the short then you will understand why I had to stick with the name.

Also, I had no intention of doing any festivals to begin with, I just wanted to create something short and sweet, something for me to remember my past with, and something that I could remember my fathers past with.

In the last 8 months, the film has won 3 International Film Festivals, 1 Jury Nomination and a bunch of Official Selections