Chris Jones Blog

WE HAVE MOVED HOME... new blog is at www.chrisjonesblog.com

Hey, you have surfed into our old blog… We have updated and moved the entire blog to…

www.chrisjonesblog.com

All the old content is there, as well and the shiny and then new. See you there…Onwards and upwards!

Chris Jones, Film Maker and Author

www.livingspirit.com

[email protected]

Want to know how to sell a short film? Interview with Shorts International

If you want to load this onto your MP3 player, you can download the MP3 here (37mb).

Shorts International is one of a handful of dedicated short film sales agents and distributors – and right now, they are certainly the biggest! I got to know Linda O from Shorts International earlier this year during our Oscars push for 2009, when Gone Fishing was Oscars shortlisted.

And right now, Linda is, just as she was last year, cutting deals with the ten short film makers who are shortlisted – I wrote about the ten films for this year on the blog a few days ago.

OK, so as part of the podcast, here are the links I talked about.

First, here is the newsgroup to sign up for information on film makers resources, and here is a link to the Gone Fishing Workshop. Finally here is a link to some feedback for that workshop.

We hope you enjoy the podcast.

Onwards and upwards!

Chris Jones, Film Maker and Author

www.livingspirit.com
[email protected]

EXAM gets a four star review in Total Film, released in theatres on Jan 8th!

As Christmas closes in, after three days of editing and mastering the opus of all wedding videos for my girlfriends sister Maria, I can relax into a delightful evening with the final two episodes of ‘Dexter’… Mmmm, lovely Christmas eve!

I have had a lot of feedback from the Apple TV blog, mostly about both X-Box and PS3 doing the job much better than Apple TV. I agree that they do, and throw in loads of extras too, but neither X-Box or PS3 are suitable for most people who just want a simple box for TV, videos, music, photos and a little internet. This is, as usual, where Apple win out as they have done their research and designed a specific simple and elegant solution, and not an all bells, all whistles catch all. I guess I want the best of both worlds!

So undoubtedly, if you like games, don’t bother with Apple TV, X-box and PS3 offer so much more for about the same money.

Rumour has it that the BBC has a new box on the horizon called Canvas, a kind of hybrid between Freeview and iPlayer (in HD). No monthly charges too, so Sky are mad as hatters.

OK, so a little Christmas warmer for you. In early January, a feature film called EXAM, which I associate produced, is released in UK theatres. The clip above is kind of the setup for the movie and it speaks for itself – I hope you enjoy it. As Mark Kermode put it, it’s kind of ‘The Apprentice goes to hell…’ Already we have grabbed loads of great reviews, including this one here from Total Film.

We are planning a special event in January where you can come and see the film on 35mm in a theatre, and then meet the team for a real indepth Q and A session on how the film was made. And director Stuart Hazeldine, is a great speaker too - you may recall he did a session for us a while back, on screenwriting. You can listen to that podcast here. If you want to know about it, join our newsgroup and you will get an email with details when we have them. As a teaser, the film was shot on 35mm, runs in real time, and was shot entirely in sequence in one claustrophobic set.

Right. Mince pies. Carving knife. And ‘Dexter’ season finale!

Onwards and upwards!

Chris Jones, Film Maker and Author

www.livingspirit.com
[email protected]

Santa has brought me an Apple TV!

Santa came early for me this year. I was given a shiny new and lovely Apple TV as a gift from Lucia, and I am rather excited! I asked for it early as I wanted it up and running before Christmas so that if there was a problem, I can get it sorted before everyone disappeared.

For those of you who don’t know what Apple TV is, for my money, it’s the first real attempt at the future of film distribution in the home – one device delivering all media - video, film, internet, music, photos - that will sync with all my other devices – AppleTV for your TV and living room hi-fi, and iPod / iPhone for music and movies on the go etc.

Hold on a moment! Let me be clear. This is a first attempt into this bold new market and technology – Apple TV is still, in my view, way too limited for most people. Still, I needed to see it in action for myself.

So what is it? As it’s from Apple, it’s a small and beautifully designed small silver box, with no buttons at all. The software is intuitive and extremely well integrated. It syncs with iTunes on my computer and makes all my music available, as well as videos, in the living room (using the home network to sync up). It also streams Quicktime HD so I can rent and watch films at ‘HD quality’.

OK, so here are a bunch of my findings, in no particular order. And let me also be clear, I am not an Apple evangelist. I am a PC guy day to day, so I am immune to the enamour some Mac folk feel when they get close anything Apple designed.

The Good

1. It is a stunning piece of design technology. But it’s also expensive at just over £200.

2. I connected it up via HDMI to both a 1080P TV and 720P projector. The Apple HD video files are in fact, 720P upscaled to 1080P. The pictures and the operating system looks good on a TV, not so good on a projector.

3. Sound is as good as an iPod. I am sure audiophiles will balk, but for me, it was completely acceptable.

4. I can download a film and start watching within a minute or so of the download starting. There are no stutters or glitching. It works flawlessly (though I do have a fast broadband). This is a real winner as it could spell the end of trips to Blockbuster, with no more messing around with LoveFilm and no more limited choice from Sky.

5. I have figured out how to operate two accounts - one in the UK and one in the USA, so I can buy and download from both countries. Very cool (though naughty).

6. Many films are available in HD, even older classics, which is awesome.

7. The remote is small and lovely, and proves to all other manufacturers, you don’t need enormous black bricks covered with so many buttons, it terrifies most users. Excellent.

8. You can watch a trailer for any movie you want to see. Brilliant.

9. It includes short films, and we hope Gone Fishing will be on Apple TV soon.

The Neutral

1. It can use WiFi or a cable LAN for the network. I found WiFi to be interminable, and ended up buying a couple of Home Plugs that use the electricity socket in the wall to transfer data (from eBuyer here). It works really well and is about three times faster than my WiFi (which was already fast by WiFi standards).

2. The amount of films and shows available is quite good, though I would have hoped for more. It’s kind of like how it was for the first few years of DVD, with huge gaps in what’s available.

3. Films are a little more expensive to rent than I would have liked. And I would never buy a film to keep on Apple TV, I would buy the BluRay.

4. It’s surprisingly noisy, the hard drive spinning makes a louder noise than the ‘near silent’ operation I would have expected.

5. It get’s VERY hot, all the time. A result of it never being switched off (see below)

6. There are big differences between the USA and UK iTunes stores – with both countries offering a mixed bag of films, sometimes available to rent, sometimes in HD. All in all a little inconsistent.

The Bad

1. There is no ON /OFF switch. Not even a software standby that actually works. You simply cannot switch this off without yanking the cable out. This is completely ridiculous in 2010 and wholly unacceptable. It draws 28 watts when active, and 14 watts when it’s in ‘standby’ (which just turns the screen off, but the hard drive continues to spin). I am quite angry about this stupid omission in the quest for ultra design aesthetics or nonsensical ‘always in sync’ arguments. Have they not heard of global warming?

2. You know on balance, the films are too expensive to rent! Apple TV should be comparable to Blockbuster – ‘Moon’ cost me £4.50 last night, and that would have been £3.99 at Blockbuster, and much cheaper if I did one of their deals they regularly run (like rent two, get one free).

3. There is a rental gap too. Many new releases are only available to buy in the iTunes store when they can be rented at Blockbuster. Sure it’s only a few weeks to wait, but it’s enough to drive me back to Blockbuster. Silly.

4. Picture quality is disappointing. The HD films are better than DVD, but not hugely. They are not as good as BluRay by some distance, though I accept I am watching on a projector and I also have a spinning propeller on my head. Lucia did not notice it., she thought it looked great

5. There is no real control over contrast, colour or saturation. Instead Apple helpfully explains that I need to make the changes on my screen. Personally, I find the encoded media to be consistently dark and contrasty. Not so much as it’s unwatchable, but enough to bug me. And there is no way I can raise those black levels, no gamma controls, in fact nothing aside from a blunt ‘RGB high’ or ‘RGB low’ setting (helpfully buried several clicks down in a menu so I cannot compare a one with the other quickly. This is a limitation of Apples minimalist approach to everything it does.

6. It’s surprisingly hard to convert your own home films to something Apple TV likes. This may be easier on a Mac but it’s not so easy on a PC. I can manage it, but it’s certainly no ‘one-click’ solution that most consumers exepct.

7. The internal drive is not expandable and a little miserly, though it’s true, Apple TV is really a media extender, so your films and music will remain on your main computer and stream on demand. I would rather have it all locally stored on Apple TV.

8. There is very limited internet connectivity, in fact nothing aside from links to a few sites like YouTube and Flickr.

9. No Bluetooth keyboard support, so a real pain every time I want to enter an email or password. (and why does the iPhone still not have Bluetooth keyboard support?! Ridiculous!)

So all in all, an excellent product, with a couple of dumb design flaws, and an as yet, limited availability of films which are sub BluRay and overpriced. A premium product, just a moment ahead of the curve...

Being able to access the US store (if you know how - I just watched season 3 of Mad Men for instance) is REALLY great, and you can’t underestimate just how convenient it is to download and ‘watch immediately’. 

I can see that very soon, someone like Amstrad or Sky will surprise us all with a cheap box that does all that Apple TV can do, and more, offering a service that is consistently cheaper, with more films, and more bells and whistles. If I were them, I would be giving those under TV boxes away free to grab this market right now.

This is definitely the future, but Apple needs to work a bit harder if it wants to have the impact and saturation of the iPod. I am not sure they are prepared to do that, but I hope they do!

What is REALLY exciting is the opportunities a device like this presents for Indie film makers – one device, all mediums (including home cinema), and one robust (and we hope honest) distribution network…  This kind of technlogy changes forever the way we will distribute our films.

Fingers are crossed!

Onwards and upwards!

Chris Jones, Film Maker and Author

www.livingspirit.com
[email protected]

1 Million Downloads is the target for cellphone short that will touch your heart...

I just got an email from the lovely chaps at a company called Treehive in Australia. They are the film makers behind a short called ‘Mankind Is No Island’ and I met them when I was down under for the Heart Of Gold Film Festival earlier this year (original post with an interview here).

When I teach workshops, we always discuss how those who are on the lookout for talent, be it agents, managers, commissioning editors etc., are looking for real film making innovation. One obvious innovation is shooting a movie on a cellphone camera, and yet there remain surprisingly few really good examples of this, films that have been shot on such a lo-tech device and then broken through to win lots of awards and launch careers. However, Mankind Is No Island is the exception, collecting tons of plaudits in both the USA and Australia. If you haven’t seen it, you can watch above and you will see why.

If you HAVE seen it, then click on it again... Here’s why…

We are trying to achieve 1,000,000 views of our film ‘Mankind is no Island’ on YouTube by Christmas night. Already, we’ve reached 719,018 people around the world. We’re not asking for donations, this is not a chain-email, all we’re asking you is to forward this link to anyone you feel would have a heart to care about homelessness... or your whole address book if you’re keen.

www.youtube.com/watch?gl=AU&hl=en-GB&v=ZrDxe9gK8Gk

With thanks,

Jason van Genderen
Writer/Director
Mankind is no Island

OK so you can either forward the direct link above, or forward this blog entry, but please do consider spreading this important message at Christmas and let’s see if we can help them hit that magical million downloads.

Onwards and upwards!

Chris Jones, Film Maker and Author

www.livingspirit.com
[email protected]

Astonishing zero-budget Killer Robots Film lands film maker in Hollywood!

Good lord! I was just sent this… the film is above, the cutting from the BBC news site below. Irrespective of whether this really cost $300, or if the reported deal does come off or not (I sense a great deal of hyperbolae) I am sure that this guy is destined for great things. Terrific stuff! Great short. Great campaign (whether engineered or accidental), great things to come I hope! 

It's a great example of what desktop technology and love can accomplish, though I would love to know how long it took. Really took.

Of course, all these amazing visuals need backing up with great characters on a journey or you will end up with something empty and hollow, like 'Transformers 2'. I really hope they have a great idea, great script and passion for stories, and not just killer effects and visuals. Fingers crossed.

OK here’s the BBC blurb…

A producer from Uruguay who uploaded a short film to YouTube in November 2009 has been offered a $30m (£18.6m) contract to make a Hollywood film.

The movie will be sponsored by director Sam Raimi, whose credits include the Spiderman and Evil Dead films.

Fede Alvarez's short film "Ataque de Panico!" (Panic Attack!) featured giant robots invading and destroying Montevideo, the capital of Uruguay.

It is 4 mins 48 seconds long and was made on a budget of $300 (£186).

So far it has had more than 1.5 million views on YouTube.

"I uploaded (Panic Attack!) on a Thursday and on Monday my inbox was totally full of e-mails from Hollywood studios," he told the BBC's Latin American service BBC Mundo.

"It was amazing, we were all shocked."

The movie Mr Alvarez has been asked to produce is a sci-fi film to be shot in Uruguay and Argentina. He says he intends to start from scratch and develop a new story for the project.

"If some director from some country can achieve this just uploading a video to YouTube, it obviously means that anyone could do it," he added.

Original BBC post here

(Thanks Don for the tip!)

Onwards and upwards!

Chris Jones, Film Maker and Author

www.livingspirit.com
[email protected]

2010 Oscars Shortlist Announced... and only one British film again!

It’s Oscars time. Last year, I had just got word from the Academy that ‘Gone Fishing’ was shortlisted, which I blogged about here.

Last year the shortlist was kept secret, but this year it appears to be public (you can see the complete list on the Academy website here).

And there is just one short film from the UK – Sidney Turtlebaum – starring Derek Jacobi. I just received a call from the producer, Daniel Jewel, asking for advice as he had found the blog. We chatted for 20 minutes, about sales agents, Oscars strategies and gigs in LA, and I am sure we will meet up in the new year. I haven’t seen his film yet but the reviews are all very good.

You can see his trailer and website here… more on Sidney Turtlebaum when it’s announced.

Onwards and upwards!

Chris Jones, Film Maker and Author

www.livingspirit.com
[email protected]

Ten great ideas for Film Makers at Xmas

I am a pain to buy Xmas presents for, and in that spirit, I have decided to list a bunch of things I would have loved to get for Xams, if I didn’t already own them! It’s a way for you to avoid getting the mythical pair of socks or DVD you really don’t want, from your Aunt Ethel.

Of course, a few of these things are our stuff too, but the majority aren’t.

So here we go…

Robert McKee’s ‘Story’ audiobook, abridged on CD at Amazon or a download at iTunes. It’s not the whole book for sure, but then the whole book may give you a migraine. It’s a fantastic way to get inspired and re-affirm much of what you already know in over six hours of mesmerising lecture on the nature, art and craft of story telling. Great stuff. Only a tenner.

The Story Of Anvil – if you have not seen this documentary yet, you must add it to your Xmas list. It’s funny, it’s touching, it’s inspiring… and yes it’s also about heavy metal. But more importantly it’s about a dream, and holding fast to that dream, no matter what anyone else says. Anyone who has made a film and been through sales and distribution will recognise similar patterns and frustrations in the music business. I have seen it in shops discounted to £7, and I am sure you will find it online for similar prices.

 The Guerilla Film Makers Handbooks – yes there are four now, can you believe! The original UK Green book, crammed with interviews, the yellow  Hollywood book, again crammed with interviews, the new orange Documentary book and finally the best selling Movie Blueprint, my own personal ABC of the process undertaken when making a world class movie for very little cash. You can buy the books on Amazon, in book stores or direct from us and get them signed by Chris. Here is our website.

Hearts of Darkness, the stunning documentary about the making of Apocalypse Now, and one of the only films I have ever seen that really captures the insanity of the film making process. Shot on film and made by Coppola’s wife… Here’s a snip from an Amazon review… ‘All the interviews to camera are highly absorbing - especially scriptwriter John Milius, Martin Sheen and Coppola himself, whose closing monologue, recorded more than 20 years ago, is still just as profound and relevant today… perhaps the most dramatic moments are of Coppola on the phone to Hollywood, desperately trying to keep the lid on Sheen's heart attack so that his studio doesn't pull the plug on the whole shebang…Hard to get hold of in the UK but you can find on eBay and also on DVD at Amazon here.

Cutting Edge – a fantastic DVD on the history and art of editing. I was glued to this when I first saw it on TV and immediately rushed out and bought the DVD. Narrated by Cathy Bates and featuring a raft of the best editors in the world. Great stuff. Available on Amazon. UPDATE from Rob Worth... Chris, If you buy Bullitt (the 2 disc Special Edition) you get the Cutting Edge film on the second disc.  And it is only a fiver (less than Cutting Edge on its own) and you get Bullitt for free!

Visions Of Light – the now legendary DVD about cinematography, made in the early nineties, but still an awesome journey into the art and craft of  lighting and camerawork. There is a US import and BFI released DVD, both available on Amazon. I saw this when it was first made and it changed the way I understood the way cinematographers work and what they do.

Gone Fishing, the workshop – with FREE DVD’s and a seat on the upcoming final chapter workshop (or free upgrade online when the final chapter video is added to the online workshop after filming in January). Nearly one year old now and still growing in both content and followers, this online workshop has now helped hundreds of film makers shift several gears up to accelerate their own possibilities, careers and movies. It really is film school online, like no other. We also offer a 100% guarantee – ‘Love it’ or get your money back. You can sign up here – you will get 2 free Gone Fishing DVD’s in the post, AND invited to the final workshop in January in London – dates TBC.

Official Rejection – A documentary following the exploits of a group of filmmakers as they take their independent feature, "Ten 'til Noon", along the film festival circuit, and the politics, pitfalls, triumphs and comic tragedies they encounter along the way. A must see for young filmmakers on the pitfalls of indie film. On Amazon here.

Gone Fishing on DVD – with the special Xmas offer of Buy One Get One Free – one for you, one for your mum.  Remember there are loads of film makers extras too, showing you how the ONLY UK produced short film made it to the Oscars 2009 short list (including Chat tracks - detailed behind the scenes discussions with writer director Chris Jones, cameraman Vernon Layton and Editor Eddie Hamilton (RT 52 mins total) plus the complete video blog at the Academy Awards Qualifier Rhode Island Int Film Festival (RT 40 mins) – you can buy here.

OK… If I think of any more, I will add them today.

Onwards and upwards!

Chris Jones, Film Maker and Author

www.livingspirit.com
[email protected]

How secure is your data? Do film makers create more data than most others…?

It’s that time of year again, when I look to the digital assets created in the last year, and consider the data archiving needed. I know from experience the utter terror and anguish caused by a data loss or a hard drive crash - I had a bad on in the late nineties, and since then I have been relatively vigilant about backup up my data regularly. But computers being what they are, I always get lulled into a false sense of security, and I find it’s been too long since my last backup. It just takes a minor system glitch to remind me though, back up your data NOW!

So this weekend is archive weekend.

And already a minor catastrophe has struck. I bought two, 2 TB USB drives for backups, and one has failed on plugging in – a manufacturing fault, but it makes me nervous when a drive fails as it reminds me that I need at least 2 copies of everything. And due to this failure, right now I have only ONE copy of one of my major projects. The replacement drive will arrive midweek, but until then, I am twitching a little!

I heard via Twitter recently of the woes of fellow Brit film maker, Allin Kempthorne, oh his cult horror parody, ‘The Vampires of Bloody Island’, how he suffered two drive failures and very, very nearly lost his entire film. Luckily he managed to reconstruct it but it was a close call.

For me, data falls into two categories.

Firstly it’s just standard computer files and data – emails, word docs, scripts, graphics etc. That stuff I try and backup every few weeks. I should really do it every day, I know! All my daily data is stored on a small USB drive that I carry around with me, and when I back it up, I do that to a USB drive on my home PC. I use a free little PC utility called SyncBack to automate the process – you can download it here. It works very well for my needs and is free.

The second category is the video media for any editing work I have done. And this stuff is big. Really big.

The Gone Fishing workshop, which I have recently done some extra work on, is now running at 1.5TB in size, and it took pretty much a day to make a copy of the whole project from one external USB drive to another.

It really is very worrying how insecure data on a drive actually is, compared to data on a tape for instance.

Below are a bunch of random thoughts on this issue (which I wrote down as I watched the drives move from 7% backed up to 8% backed up…)

1. Data on a drive is subject to a drive failure that can wipe out everything, not just a snagged tape where you loose a moment or two.

2. Data on a drive is much harder to keep track of than tapes. It just is. I know it shouldn’t be, but it is. You can’t write on a drive and toss in a draw in the same way that you can with a tape.

3. We all assume our data is secure. That is until we lose it. I can’t tell you how often I have helped a film maker and asked… ‘where is your backup…?’ only to get the blank expression.

4. Apple and FCP users are more vulnerable than they think. As there is very little threat from viruses, and because Apple users tend to think of their operating system as being superior to Windows and 100% secure, they forget that drive failure is operating system agnostic. Drive failure just does not care if it’s Apple or PC.

5. FCP users are also vulnerable IF they do not take care to track media within in a project. The very ‘open’ way that FCP works invites users to ‘loose’ their data on a long project. Avid forces you to use its own media management process and thus, it’s harder to lose media (though you still need to use your brain when digitising and make sure you know where everything is going).

6. I have a separate laptop for video editing only. I am amazed at how most film makers use their editing laptop for all manner of other stuff and then wonder why, six months into a project, they run into problems. On any big project, set up the system and DON’T upgrade the operating system or editing software until the project is complete.

7. Video media is HUGE. No matter the film project, by the end of it, I have needed nearly twice as much data storage than I first imagined. Don’t underestimate this, and don’t underestimate the time needed to copy, backup and transfer these files.

8. I have switched to an external desktop USB box that accepts E-IDE bare drives, making it cheaper to buy the drives and easy to switch.

9. I regularly replace my USB memory stick, roughly once a year, as I know these devices have a limited amount or read / write before they fail. So I replace before I ever get close to failure. Usually, the new one costs about £10 and is twice as big as the old one.

10. I also archive my email and Outlook daily – these files are, in my experience, the ones most likely to be damaged or corrupted.

11. I really worry about friends with Mac’s who really believe their computers are fail safe and secure. They just aren’t. Backup your data now (never mind how secure the OS can be, what about a spilled cup of coffee or a laptop thief?)

12. Online backups of data is a great idea, but for me, impractical as my data storage needs are so great as to make it unviable. I have tried several times and abandones each time as its SOOOOO slow.

13. I know I should build a home and office Network Storage Device system, but being an indie film maker, that would mean I am IT support, and I have enough on my plate already! So it’s swapping USB drives for now.

14. When doing post on ‘Gone Fishing’, the raw scans (when archived) ended up filling a half terabyte drive when we completed the grade at Midnight Transfer. That was a 13 minute film and it took their tech guys a whole night to transfer the media (note - format your drives with NTFS and NOT FAT32 as, if memory serves, FAT32 only supports up to 64,000 files, which is not enough if you are saving your movie as individual frames – if I am wrong on this, please correct me – I do recall this being a problem with Gone Fishing and caused us to need a second drive in order to copy all the frames).

So ask yourself, is your data secure? If not, add that 2TB USB drive to Santas list… They cost about £100 now, and 2 TB is a lot of empty space!

Onwards and upwards!

Chris Jones, Film Maker and Author

www.livingspirit.com
[email protected]

Four Eyed Monsters film maker Arin Crumley speaks to the Guerilla Film Makers Handbook, on the most appropriate of settings...!

Hectic! Hectic! Hectic! That’s been my day so far. I have been doing interviews for the book, with fascinating film-makers, and I have got several more to go today too - between breathes, I ended up on a BBC radio show from Scotland called Movie Café - they wanted to know more about Gone Fishing and how we funded it, and the Oscars drive… Anyway, you can hear the show on BBC iPlayer (in the UK only) for the next week - click here and listen to the Dec 10th show.

OK, I also spoke at length with indie film and internet guru, Arin Crumley, who famously made the micro budget feature, ‘Four Eyed Monsters’, with his then girlfriend and partner Susan Buice. Most of their adventures has been well documented on the internet, in part by themselves by extensive video blogs, in part by other commentators (the presentation above was part of Power To The Pixel). I wanted to know about what Arin felt he had learned from the whole experience and what wisdom he could pass on to other film makers.

I called him on his cell in East Coast America, and rather entertainingly, and revealing of the path most indie film makers are forced to take, interviewed him on a bus! No Limmo or first class flight. A bus. Actually, three buses, as every half hour or so, Arin would apologize and explain he needed to switch buses and could I ring back in ten minutes?

So we had a rather visionary discussion, about where film making, in fact all forms of creative media, are headed. His focus was very much on a new model of distribution – what he had personally experienced on ‘Four Eyed Monsters’ and what he had seen in other film makers, is a kind of terrible anxiety at investing so heavily in a film, giving so much, and then when it came to selling, one is overwhelmed by fear and paranoia, and an absolute need for their film to perform. Even though ‘Four Eyed Monsters’ ended up making money, other film makers he knows still owe money on their own films, and in his words, ‘that weighs heavily on the soul of creative people…’ I couldn’t agree more. His new model, which I know we will all hear much more about in the coming year, is community based, and of course, involves audience participation before the film is produced. Nothing new here of course, it’s how I did it with ‘Gone Fishing’… But… he has figured out a way to put all of these tools, film makers and audience members into a single ‘Facebook’ style environment, so as to streamline the process and really bring film makers and film lovers together. Less like a hard sell webpage and blog, more like a chat around a campfire – that’s how it will feel he hopes.

Of all the incredibly useful points he made, perhaps the one that stuck with me the most was that of learning how to harness the power of the internet. Of course, nothing new there either. But he elevated this to the same level as say, an understanding of editing or camera work. He proposes that you would never shoot a film with out understanding how to use a camera, and if you didn’t know how to use one, you would find and expert who did – so film makers need to really engage with internet tools, and if they are not self learning, find people to do it for them. And at a level way and above Twitter, Facebook and blogs.

All good stuff.

The whole interview will be in the next Guerilla Film Makers Pocketbook, when released early next year.

The pic here is of Arin on the final leg of his bus journey. He twittered about our chat too, and you can follow him on Twitter here, and his Facebook is here.

His personal site is here, and finally, the Four Eyed Monsters website is here.

Onwards and upwards!

Chris Jones, Film Maker and Author

www.livingspirit.com
[email protected]

Marc Price, director of 'Colin', talks to the Guerilla Film Makers Pocketbook

I just spent the last hour and half interviewing the Marc Price, writer and director of zero-budget Zombie movie, ‘Colin’, for the new Guerilla Pocketbook. Marc is a effervescent Welsh lad, self confessed movie geek, whose humble view of himself and his role in the film business is both refreshing and charming.

We all know the broad strokes behind the making of ‘Colin’, but I wanted some real facts and not just PR hyperbolae. So I questioned hard…

The budget? As suspected, the ‘£45 budget’ claim was misreported by the press. Marc cleared this up… ‘I actually said, AROUND £45…and when I heard someone thought it might have cost as much as £500, I was shocked as I didn’t have that kind of money…!’ So it’s true. The film was made for the loose change in his pocket.

No-one was paid any money. No-one was paid expenses. Anyone who helped was expected to supply their own stuff, like make-up from make-up artists. No-one complained and everyone had a great time… ‘Everyone paid for their own tube pass, and had to bring sandwiches. In the morning they would be made up as a zombie and in the afternoon, they would be cleaned up and play a human… in some scenes, people playing zombies are actually chasing themselves as humans!’ On one day, they had 100 actors turn up for this experience. 

So even though BECTU are making wild claims about enforcing minimum wages, there is a thriving and seemingly expanding group of people who will continue to make movies irrespective of such ‘rules’ (I aim to do an interview with BECTU very soon to really get to the bottom of this).

Critical to the success of ‘Colin’ though was that immediately reportable phrase, ‘the movie cost £45…’ and as Marc said, most journalists outside of media journalists, think that going to Cannes means that you are IN THE FESTIVAL. And so his ‘credit crunch £45 movie’ was widely misreported as being a contender at the Cannes Film Festival. This was a real ‘against all odds’ story about a film maker who made something amazing from latterly nothing. No fat cats involved, just passion, glory and lots of guts! This was too juicy for editors in need of a story from the very downbeat and subdued Cannes Film Festival in 2009.

Marc also feels, and I agree with him here, that the film had to stand on its own two feet too, albeit shuffling feet for ‘Colin’. While of course there are many problems with the film, it does have that terrific central perspective of telling the story from the zombies angle, and it remains faithful and honest to that intention, something other film makers might have lost their nerve with. Marc has proved he is a film maker of vision and integrity.

And how did it do in the UK? Well only having been out for a few weeks, they have shifted (reportedly) close to 30,000 units. Very impressive.

OK so the whole interview will appear in the next Guerilla Pocketbook, but before that, I do plan to run a big event with Marc in January, where we will really get to dissect his success in front of a live audience. If you want to attend, join our newsgroup by clicking here and you will get an email when the details are fixed.

Onwards and upwards!

Chris Jones, Film Maker and Author

www.livingspirit.com
[email protected]

Did you know, before I was a film maker, I was a stunt double for Santa? Really!

XMAS SPECIAL, BUY 1 GONE FISHING DVD, GET 1 FREE!

That’s right, two for one - and we promise that the DVD’s will be sent with love from Santa and his little helpers. Really. Honestly. Truly. Not many people know this, but aside from being the writer and director of Gone Fishing, I was also a stunt Santa, back in my home town of Wigan. When the big stores needed Santa to arrive in style, on a fire engine, by boat or on a helicopter for instance, I would be the guy they would turn to (thanks to my dad who was a manager at one of the big stores there - and that is me hanging on to the side of a fire engine, and it got pretty hairy when the took bends at 25 mph!).

So truly, WE CAN say that the DVD’s are sent directly from Santa (well his stunt double at any rate).

So if you are you stuck to buy a present for your mum or relatives this Christmas, give them something truly special that the whole family can watch on Christmas day, and keep the second free one for yourself!  They will all laugh at the funny bits, cry at those sad bits, and cheer at the end, and all the time be amazed that you know the guys who actually made it.

So when you buy using our online store, don't worry if the ordering system says that we are only sending just one disk, we promise our elves will put two in the mail, as well as lots of love and magical fairy dust too.

Go on, buy some magic for Christmas

You can buy at www.buygonefishing.com

And just a reminder of the experiences others have had watching the movie last Christmas…

The DVD turned up on Christmas Eve so I wrapped it and put it under the tree. We watched it on Christmas Day and were absolutely blown away by the film. I just wanted to say what a great story you have here. The film is (as we say Down Under) a bottler, the production is first class and the acting hits the mark; I sincerely hope you get that Oscar. I hope you are having a great Christmas and your New Year is successful.
Mike and Fiona Hardy, Brisbane, Australia

I just sat on the closed M11, at the junction with the M25 for the second night in a row. This time however, I had the DVD to watch as it arrived today.Anyone who saw me would have thought I was taking the delay rather too seriously, because I was in floods! The DTS sound is staggering in a car, and the film even more moving on a small screen. You have produced a work of art. I truly believe that if it doesn't win it's Oscar, then it's a fix! Absolutely magnificent, and I look forward now to watching it on my 6 speaker Harman Kardon system at home. I think I'll be destroying the walls!
David Talbot, in a traffic Jam, M11, London.

I've just seen the full film for the first time and I'm sitting here choking back tears. It IS a great film, everything just seemed so right about it, the story, the light, the sound, everything. My fingers are even more firmly crossed for the Oscar. Thank you for making this lovely little film.
Mike Facherty, Film Maker

I watched the movie by myself and was  in bits at the end. Amazing. I then sat my partner down and the same happened to her. Going kite flying shortly after we were still all teary. So, so beautiful. Well done.
Gareth Jones

I've watched Gone Fishing four times now and never tire of it. It's such a lovely, heartfelt little film. Absolutely charming...
Carol Ann Walters, Journalist / Publicist

Whenever I get that spine-tingling feeling at the back of my neck I know I've been in for a treat. Gone Fishing moves beyond beautiful imagery to give us a warm, touching story with a challenging perspective on bereavement.
Mike Mindel, www.wordtracker.com

Onwards and upwards!

Chris Jones, Film Maker and Author

www.livingspirit.com
[email protected]

It was like Ground Hog Day all over again… Only with bigger teeth!

Gone Fishing played at the Prince Charles in Leicester Square twice this weekend, Friday supporting ‘Jaws’, and Saturday supporting ‘The Shark Still Works’, an awesome feature length doc about ‘Jaws’, and the legacy it has left (my original post here where you can watch the trailer).

This was part of The United Film Festival, which is run by Jason Connell, an American film maker and festival CEO. The festival travels around North America, programming different movies in different cities, but this was their first outing in Europe. And London was that outing.

And on stage on Saturday night that it struck me, it has taken an American to get our movie, ‘Gone Fishing’, screened in our own home city. So thanks Jason.

It was also great to see so many faces I knew in the crowd – you know who you are, and thanks for your continued support!

For me though, the highlight was watching an original 35mm print of ‘Jaws’ – right from seventies, faded, scratched, covered in dirt, with entire chunks missing (where presumably it had snapped in the past and been repaired), with mono sound… but that ‘grindhouse like’ condition evoked a kind of time portal for me, right back to 1976 and the Wigan Ritzy when I too, queued around the block for the must see movie of the summer. What struck me most though was just how terrifying a movie ‘Jaws’ still is – that opening scene sets such a terrifying benchmark, and then every scene thereafter propels the audience to that horrifying conclusion, with Quint being eaten alive, the boat sinking and Brody taking his one single shot to blow up Bruce! Awesome, awesome stuff made all the better for the mono sound, scratches, dirt and a print that kept snapping!

Blimey!

Onwards and upwards!

Chris Jones, Film Maker and Author

www.livingspirit.com
[email protected]

The debate rages on... What value is there in Art Film?

I have had a lot of emails and comments on the blog regarding my experiences at the Bilbao Film Festival last week – so here I am blogging about it again!

And I want to be really clear again, the festival, venue, town, people, film makers were all wonderful. But the films, were in my opinion, largely impenetrable and self indulgent.

One thing I did not mention in the last blog is that of ‘building a programme’. By that I mean, selecting short films to run in a specific order as to deliver a considered experience within a single 2 hour program. Americans do this very well, with a mix of animation, live action, documentary, down beat, upbeat, comedy, tragedy… so that when it’s over, you have had a dynamic experience, an experience that was planned to play that way. I am sure they did this in Bilbao too, but as pretty much every film was either impenetrable, or downbeat, it made for a monotonous experience by the very end. The tone of almost all of them dark, with virtually no light at all.

I am not against art, or downbeat films, but when confronted with nothing but art and downbeat films, you know, you kind of lose your patience and mind.

OK, so here are a few of the comments I received…

You said your rant about European films doesn't help anyone, but you're wrong! This is one of the most important blog posts I've ever read.
 
Right now I'm suffering through a selection of student films from Europe's best film schools in Camerimage, Poland. They are long, slow, grey and suck the life force out of me. The few exceptions shine out of this pile of... umm, like water after a long, depressing run.
 
The point about clichés is also an important one: most of these films are not breaking new ground. It feels like the makers are only thirsty for acceptance of their peers, and couldn't care less about the audience.
 
So you see, the rant was very helpful. Like after a great movie, I'm comforted by the knowledge that I am not alone with my experiences.
Jesse Jokela
www.twitter.com/jessejokela

Just had to say your last blog entry was really funny. Was watching a bit of that TV show, 'School Of Saatchi' the other day - like X Factor for modern artists. One girl got through for hanging a referee's whistle off a toilet handle. That was it! Tracy Emin was going on about how it had 'sexual connotations'. It actually made me proper angry. The worst thing about these 'artists', film or otherwise, is that if you say it's crap, they just dismiss your opinion as an ignoramus. For me it's a self perpetuating little clique of pretentiousness for people with no talent who want to pretend they have vast inner depth - The type of people who think David Lynch is too commercial. A bunch of soulless 'high society' rich people give their support in the hope that some personality will rub off on them and, hey presto, you have Damien Hirst and Banksy. Anyway, very funny. The 7 Symptoms is like something I could imagine Adam and Joe doing as a guide to making an art house film.
D.

This blog entry articulates a problem with films so well. Chris, you write in a very balanced, considered way.

You write "They were too busy making a point, a point that all too often was lost in their over self indulgence." But I think Symptom One hits the nail on the head - too many "Art Films" (shorts or features)are pointless.

I'm not adverse to film as art. I don't have an automatic aversion to work which is abstract or experimental. What I do object to is self indulgent "celluloid masturbation" (can I say that?). Certain filmmakers, audiences and critics are all too keen to praise the Emperor's new clothes, than risk objecting to his nudity.

Which is easier: 1) cut together a series of unconnected (perhaps pretty)shots, perhaps linger on them, maybe have a confusing voice over, chuck in a provocative image or two. 2) craft a considered work where the images and sounds have some sense of form and coherence, the work connects with the audience and resonates with them, managing to elicit a variety of satisfying emotional responses?
Jude Poyer

Well, I'm the lone voice of disagreement I'm afraid. Firstly, if you want people walking out of shorts try Raindance. Nothing wrong with their programmes, but everytime I've been at a shorts programme people have left after each short, leaving the filmmakers and a couple of people left for the last one (and the audience was pretty much just the filmmakers to begin with). Whereas Bilbao, as you said, had large audiences, so the fact 75% of a large audience stayed would, I'd suggest, mean they were doing something right.

I've been to festivals all over Europe, and yes, they do tend to be more serious than US festivals, but that's no bad thing. I prefer that kind of film, you don't. I really don't see why you can't just let them have their choices without trying to pick holes in what they do or find fault with the way they run it. I've seen your film, it was OK in my opinion, not really my kind of thing, but I'd never get you to try and change it, it's what you do. So why have a go at Bilbao? It's just what other people like, and what a dull place the world would be if we only had one thing to choose from. (and I'm just a filmmaker in the UK, nothing to do with Bilbao or their festival)
Ron

And perhaps most interesting, from a Spanish Film Maker…

As you write, the whole issue of the Spanish Ministry of Culture's film financing seems to have been put on hold by Brussels. It would be great to hear your take on that. For those of us, (definitely myself) who are sick to the back teeth of the sheer rubbish produced under these 'subvenciones' (ie my taxes) I'm only too happy to hear Brussels is meddling. And I re-read once again the scathing comments made by ordinary punters in the spanish press (of which there is a 99% approval rating of curbs on film financing). I hope you get a chance to have some of the comments posted at…http://www.elmundo.es/elmundo/2009/11/24/cultura/1259101269.html

and http://www.elpais.com/articulo/cultura/podemos/seguir/elpepucul/20091126elpepicul_3/Tes

to get a feel of how fed up everyone is. Ultimately, as you've just experienced, re your 'bafflement', you will understand that the audience is not even discussed during scripting or shooting as I've witnessed on many occasions. Spanish film-makers just don't talk about the film from the audience's point of view. Perhaps you could help them out with one of your brilliant lectures.

Alexis Mayans

Right! JAWS TONIGHT!

Onwards and upwards!

Chris Jones, Film Maker and Author

www.livingspirit.com
[email protected]

A ‘declassified’ blog from 2008! The Oscars Short Film Shortlist is announced!

 Occasionally, I have written a blog that, as soon as is posted, I have had to pull. This is one such blog I wrote last December at the Bahamas Film Festival, when I got an email from the Oscars saying we were shortlisted… I have included the entire blog entry (we were told to pull it as the shortlist last year was not public). And for less than ten short film makers, somewhere in the world, this is about to happen all over again – it’s what our online workshop is all about too, turning your great ideas into short films worthy of an Oscars nomination, and even win! More on the course here… Anyway, enjoy a ‘declassified’ blog from 2008!

---------------------

Dear everyone… it’s GETTING VERY REAL! Here’s what we just received from the Oscars people…

** High Priority **
** Reply Requested by 9/12/2008 (Tuesday) **
 
Congratulations! I am pleased to inform you that your Live Action Short film, Gone Fishing, has advanced to the second round of voting from which the nominees will be determined.  At this time, we will need one additional film print to facilitate the remaining rounds of voting.  The print is due at the Academy no later than 5 p.m. on Monday, December 29.  Please confirm receipt of this e-mail and let us know if you will be able to provide the print by the deadline.
 
Awards Office
Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences

WOW! We followed up and asked how many films are on that list and they said…

I cannot let you know the exact number of films but as it explains in the rules, it is between six and ten.  These films with go through one more round of voting, the results of which will determine the nominees.

WOW AGAIN!

OK so what does this really mean? In short, we have been selected from a ‘long list’ of what we estimate to be between 150 and 300 short films, all of which MUST have either won one of the hundred or so Oscars Qualifier festivals (an AA festival - which we did in Rhode Island). Or they must have screened commercially in LA for three days, which means they must have a 35mm print. So the competition will have been very high indeed.

We are now officially up against a maximum of ten films, minimum of six, for a nomination for the 2009 Academy Awards – the Oscars to you and me! We find out, with the rest of the world, on Jan 22nd at 5.30am Eastern Pacific Time. If we do get the nomination, Ivan and I will be going to the Oscars on Feb 22nd 2009, red carpet and all! HOLY TOLEDO BATMAN!

To be clear, we are NOT nominated now, but we are on a very short list for that nomination – I have heard this list referred to as ‘The Oscars Short List’ and also ‘In consideration for the nomination’. Both make me grin like a 12 year old.

So the adventure continues! And I am delighted that so many of you have chosen to stick it out with me. 18 months ago I set out on this seemingly impossible dream, and was humbled that 175 of you chose to put a small amount of cash into that dream… Then 60 or so cast and crew members tirelessly worked to bring that dream to the screen… We all gathered last January at BAFTA for the premiere, and it became clear at that point that what we had made really did connect and move audiences.

And as we continued through getting the film ‘out there’, many more of you joined by choosing to help in your own ways too, be a little assistance with marketing, posters, printing, DVD making, a chat to a personal but powerful friend who could open a door for us, or by simply contributing to the campaign by buying a DVD for someone special at Christmas…

Thankyou.

OK, so we have got this far which is amazing, but there is still a way to go to get to the summit of Mount Oscars! We are now strategising about LA based publicists, an awareness trip to LA and the likes… If you want to help now, buy a DVD or tell all your friends about it so they can buy a DVD too.

Share the loooooove!

Blimey, blimey and thrice blimey!

Onwards and upwards!

Chris Jones, Film Maker and Author

www.livingspirit.com
[email protected]

Life in the raft...

So 24 hours ago I was in a hospital bed having a very long tube with a camera shoved down my throat. As bad experiences in life go, this rates among my top ten. I have a minor stomach problem that the quaks insist on checking every two years, and so every seven hundred and thirty days I brace myself for this awful experience. Thankfully it’s over for now, and as a welcome home present, Judy emailed me the latest draft of the ‘Raft movie’ (formerly called ‘From Beneath Us’, and not called the ‘Raft movie’, but floating between the two and waiting for a new and inspired title).

Funnily enough, the hospital trip and the ‘Raft movie’ have some things in common. Whether it’s within the 1960’s concrete walls of the hospital, or the high rubber walls of the life-raft, I was reminded of how fragile life actually can be. Sitting in a waiting room and pondering on the meaning of it all felt something like what the characters in the ‘Raft movie’ go through too, though of course their story is significantly more exciting and ultimately likely to have more attractive performers, though one of my nurses did look like she was straight out of ER, even had the pouty lips.

 And so today, I read my way through draft five, and right now I am waiting for Judy to arrive so we can have our script meeting. It’s a leap forward from Draft 4 for sure, but as anyone who has taken any of my workshops knows, I am convinced that success or failure begins with the script (it’s not finished until the premier)…

And the title spells success or failure too… so ‘The Raft’ is good, but not good enough…

My notes on a script always fall into two broad categories – first are small tweaks, which are mainly about refining and reducing. As screenwriters, we must be committed to saying the most with the least words, and as any writer knows, it’s tough to be meaningful, character rich and brief. So lot’s of ‘drop this sentence’, or ‘these three words from this dialogue’.

My second set of notes are less specific and more over arching about bigger things in the story that I want to work out. This is a much heavier conversation too. And for me it’s very important to not think of the script as somehow ‘wrong’ or ‘bad’, more of a perspective that could be refocused to sharpen the narrative.

Right, Judy is back, and I know she has also blogged about writing the script today, but there is no time for me to read it until after our meeting! Actually I have just discovered that her blog is not live, and she is, erm, redrafting her text! But when it is live it will be here.

NOTE FOR YOUR DIARY - This Friday, Gone Fishing is playing in central London, supporting a Steven Spielberg film! RESULT! Yes, ‘Gone Fishing’ is playing as a support to JAWS on Friday night, and a doc about JAWS on Saturday night. You can get tickets here…

See you there!

Onwards and upwards!

Chris Jones, Film Maker and Author

www.livingspirit.com
[email protected]

EXAM trailer goes live…

A few days ago, Empire magazine in the UK premiered the trailer for EXAM, a feature film I Associate Produced last year. Almost immediately it was ripped and is now on youtube and a host of other video sites. It will be released in cinemas early next year.

Here is what Empire said…

We’ve been banging on about Stuart Hazeldine’s Exam, since it went down a storm at the Edinburgh Film Festival back in August. And now, with the world exclusive debut of the trailer for the high-concept, low-budget thriller, you’ve got a chance to see why.

The high concept first: coming on like Cube meets The Apprentice, Exam brings together eight disparate people – candidates for an unspecified high-powered job – who find themselves undertaking an exam with a difference. A big difference. A mind-bending, noggin-noodling and potentially fatal difference.

Played out in real time, it’s a crisp, electrifying and often ingenious thriller featuring top-notch turns from Luke Mably, Jimi Mistry, and the godlike Colin Salmon, as a godlike invigilator, and marks out Hazeldine as a real talent to watch.

But don’t take our word for it – check out the trailer and form your own opinions. You will be tested afterwards, so pay close attention.

You can read the full piece here, as well as read and add your own comments.

Onwards and upwards!

Chris Jones, Film Maker and Author

www.livingspirit.com
[email protected]

Bilbao Film Fest 51, complete webisode and conclusions (a personal view from the festival)

So now the dust has settled on Bilbao and I have returned to the UK – on the flight home I made some notes about my experience at the festival. This is a very tough blog to write as I am not someone who likes to criticize other film makers or festivals as I know how much hard work goes into it all. But I feel compelled to voice my opinion regarding the actual films screened, the judging (and by extension, the programming committee)

First and most importantly, I wanted to be clear that the organisers of Zinebi 51 were fantastic and they really looked after all the film makers. It really was first rate! The venue was terrific too, and the film makers who attended and whom I met, were all wonderful people who were very passionate about their work (and open minded enough to sit through days of other film makers work too). And of those film makers who became my friends over the week, I liked almost all of their films, and two in particular were stunning pieces of art that impacted powerfully on audiences. We were all very happy to discuss our films and both give and take  criticism. Usually over long breakfasts, lunches or in a club in the wee hours of the night. This was terrific fun.

And the film that won the big prize at the festival, while I would say is no work of genius, was a fine documentary. I would not have chosen it as a winner but it’s certainly worthy of that mantle.

OK… So what's on my mind?

Anyone who knows me will understand that I am no fan of arthouse cinema. So to sit through around 45 arthouse short films was, for me, a significant endurance test and a huge commitment.

Here are some of my personal views and experiences. 

Only two films I saw made me smile. One was ‘Gone Fishing’. The other the closing animation. The rest were uniformly downbeat.

At every program of shorts that I attended (usually a two hour program with about 10 short films), I witnessed audience members leaving midway. On occasion, this could be about one quarter of the audience. To me, this spoke volumes about the films being screened.

More upsetting was the appearance of the judges when they announced the winners at a press conference. You can see a bit of this in the video above.

I considered how I might feel if I were a judge. What would I look like if I were awarding a prize to a film maker, whose work I thought worthy of a trophy? (and to be clear, this is an Academy Awards Festival so the winner gets into the Oscars longlist as well as a fat cheque for many thousands of Euros). I think I would have been very excited. To me, standing at the back of the room, the jury looked more like a group of people announcing a firing quad, ‘these are the film makers who will be shot at dawn…’ It was filled with the most awkward of silences too 'Any questions...?' .... silence... And not a single smile. Nothing.

It upset me quite a lot. Not because we didn’t win with ‘Gone Fishing’, I had accepted that as an eventuality way before the announcement, but because the whole process of screening and judging these films seemed to suck the very joy and life out of everyone – audiences, fellow film makers who were present, and clearly the jury too.

Being exposed to 50 or so of the programmed films myself, I came to understand that many of the film makers simply did not care about the experience of the viewer. They were too busy making a point, a point that all too often was lost in their over self indulgence as artists. When each film began, inside I was screaming out, please let this be the one that I can connect with, and have some kind of emotional reaction to, other than either complete ambivalence or anger as the film maker had been so extreme as to make the whole viewing experience unpleasant (aka dull and boring).

I was also stunned at just how cliché much of the work appeared to me to be. If the UK comic group ‘The League Of Gentleman’ made a TV show where an arthouse film festival were run in Royston Vasey, many of these films I expect would fit right in. The only times I laughed was when a film actually did that ‘arthouse’ cliché thing that I had seen so many times before…

I hear many people complain about cliché in Hollywood movies. What I saw in Bilbao was equally cliché. This is very sad, as if anything, art should challenge convention and views.

Here are a few common symptoms that many of the films suffered from…

Symptom One - Refusing to make any point at all, preferring to present a succession of images that amounted to, well nothing I could discern*. This is not just my opinion, but that of many of the other film makers who attended (and who like me were at first politely smiling, assuming it was just them that didn’t ‘get it’). (*it’s possible I had a severe break with reality during some of the films)

Symptom Two - Refusing to have an end. Many of the films just stopped. Including at least one of the winners. Just plain stopped without warning. Not at the end. Just at the point where the film maker chose to stop making a film.

Symptom Three - Refusing to make any sense at all – be it literal, allegorical, ephemeral, interpretative… I am being way to kind here. Some films made no sense, and rather appeared to enjoy making no sense too. Maybe the point they are making is that there is no point, if so it was successful.
 
Symptom Four - Employing the theme that ‘life is crap. And then you die (or are killed by some random agent or a loved one)’. Actually, some of them made that film, quite literally.

Symptom Five - Refusing, while kicking and screaming, even throwing toys out of their prams, to attempt to make the audience laugh, giggle, chuckle, even remember what it must have been like to smile in life before this film was screened. My only giggles came as a kind of mental breakdown when I realised that it was going to get worse, and it was already edging on intolerable (I often left for the lobby to regain my composure)

Symptom Six - Being so aloof as to consider itself above reproach and criticism.

Symptom Seven - Persuading roughly a quarter of the audience (at some screenings) to get up and leave half way through.

Symptom Seven – Extreme close up shots that linger on objects designed to shock and repulse simply to push the boundary of taste.

My overall feeling is that the films and the jury (and by extension the selection committee) all had some kind of funny bone removal, entertainment bypass or other such quasi operation that resulted in them choosing to present a body of work that was largely (though not entirely) comprised of films that acted like a kind of vampire on ones soul. Rather than challenge me, as good art should, they just depressed me with cliché, obvious contrivances and relentless incoherence.

It was only on the way home that I remembered the excitement, the thrill and the adulation I experienced at other festivals in the USA, such as Rhode Island, Sedona or Heart Of Gold in Australia.

The films and jury that I saw in Bilbao were soooooo serious, serious, serious… and anyone who knows me, knows that I am pretty serious myself. So to be out-seriousnessed is something amazing!

Now, the bad news is that none of this helps anyone.

Many of the films I saw help only the film makers onanism, and a handful of co-artists who buy into this nonsense.

My rant here does not help anyone else either. Well, maybe it helps me as I get it off my chest, but it continues to paint a negative picture of independent cinema in Europe – ‘cultural’ cinema (often state supported) that refuses to connect with mainstream audiences. This is something I am not happy about and I bit my lip for a long time in Bilbao until I had a mouth of blood over this experience, and it was time to spit it out.

Alas.

Maybe this is all just a taste thing. I like rock music, they like jazz music. I think it probably is. And there is room for everyone and everything too.

So it’s time to move on…

OK! So… This Friday, Gone Fishing is playing in central London, supporting a Steven Spielberg film! RESULT! Already I feel better. Yes, ‘Gone Fishing’ is playing as a support to JAWS on Friday night, and a doc about JAWS on Saturday night. You can get tickets here…

See you there!

Onwards and upwards!

Chris Jones, Film Maker and Author

www.livingspirit.com
[email protected]

Bilbao Film Fest 51, the end is nigh...

I will keep this entry short as over the next few days I will ruminate over the extreme experience that was Bilbao 2009 – I have a lot on my mind too. I will also, as per tradition, stitch the two webisodes together to create a single webisode of the experience.

Onwards and upwards!

Chris Jones, Film Maker and Author

www.livingspirit.com
[email protected]

Bilbao Film Fest 51, the first few days... (get me some GREEN FOOD!)

 Red meat, omelette, bread and beer. That’s what I am living on here in Bilbao, at the 51st film festival they have hosted. And the diet is a symptom of the relentless screening schedule of over 80 short films, giving only a few moments sometimes to grab some Pinchos (like Tapas) from a local café, washed down with either a half glass of beer or an ultra caffeinated coffee that leaves you twitching through the films.

To my tastes, I have to admit the screenings have been tough, sometimes an endurance test. This is a high art festival - no surprise really when you consider the museums and galleries in the region, including the world famous Guggenheim gallery – I guess it’s a reflection of the people who live here and their tastes. There is no doubt they like it too, as the evening screenings are very well attended, packed out even. But some of the films last night left me positively baffled, what the heck did I just see?!? We are certainly in Europe, a long way away from the American festivals that I attended earlier in the year.

Still, it’s great to be challenged this way, and it always makes you think about the artform in new ways - and maybe this is the point too? To be exposed to films and film makers who you would not normally meet. And I have made loads of lovely new friends too, including touring American film maker Scott Tuft (in pic) with his very, very cool 3D stills camera (how retro, shoot 35mm transparency film and you look at images with a special viewer) – Scott made a deliciously dark film set in the sixties called ‘Makeup’, about door to door makeup sales women, starring Airplane star Julie Hagerty.

This is a very warm and friendly festival – there is no ‘deal comparing’, ‘agent touting’ and ‘over-competition’ with each other. Just long, long chats about movies, movie making, life and late night strolls along the river as you head back to the hotel room in the wee hours. 

Blissfully, my iPhone does not work at all here – O2 just not seem to have a deal with a network. So, my phone has not buzzed all week. And it’s been a reminder at how we are all losing our freedom through over technologising our communications.  Mobile communications, facebook, twitter and the likes (social networking) are all great, but at the same time I recognise that they all invade my ‘down time’ at some point. And when I do switch off or disconnect from them, I start to feel a little like there is a party going on somewhere and I am unaware of it. Not sure if this is all healthy for us or not. So to have it forced on me is a bizarre relief.

Ironically, Skype does work on my iPhone, so within the hotel at least, I can make international calls for peanuts over wifi. Bonkers!

I do need more sleep though, and I need to eat something GREEN before another 15 or so movies tonight…!

Onwards and upwards!

Chris Jones, Film Maker and Author

www.livingspirit.com
[email protected]