Chris Jones Blog

Gone Fishing at Rhode Island, the complete Webisodes...

For those of you who missed the whole Gone Fishing World Premiere at the Rhode Island Film Festival on the blog, here is the whole edited Video Blog, one Webisode after another.

I wanted to document the journey for other film makers who had not yet attended a major international film festival – so it’s the sights and sounds, as well and what I hoped would be the glam and the glitz.

And did we win?

You will need to watch to find out…

Webisode 1 - The Journey
The long journey from the UK to Rhode Island, and thoughts on the way

Webisode 2 - The Opening Night...
The opening night screening of Gone Fishing, were the best laid plans went horribly wrong...

Webisode 3 - The Opening Night, Continued...
The screening of Gone Fishing in front of 2000 people... what did they think of it?

 

Webisode 4 - Prints, Panels, Posters and Parties
The other stuff that goes on at film festivals and why all film makers love it!

Webisode 5 - The Closing Night Films...
Gone Fishing screens on 35mm in front of a capacity audience on the closing night of the festival..!

Webisode 6 - The Awards!
It's getting VERY exciting now!

What a jorney... If you enjoyed this video blog, drop me a line to let me know, so we can stay in touch and keep going on the videos...[email protected]

Onwards and upwards!

Chris Jones, Film Maker and Author
www.livingspirit.com
[email protected]

Gone Fishing... The Final Awards... Did we win BEST FILM?

WATCH THE VIDEO FIRST!

So it’s all over. What an incredible journey. And we won! We are now officially in the race for the nominations for the Oscars 2009. Can you believe it? I certainly can’t. After the awards, I went back to my room and crashed out for 2 hours, I had burnt up so much energy during the event!

I am back in the UK now, jet lagged and phased,but  with a whole new agenda stretching out in front of us. Now we really need to ramp things up as getting the nomination for the Oscars is also about being visible in Hollywood, and that’s going to take some magic.

George, director of the Rhode Island Film Festival, has agreed to advise us on strategies for this, and I am sure he will be a fountain of knowledge, and hopefully a partner on that journey…

Blimey. I mean really. Blimey!

I need to sleep.

PS - Finally, if you have been watching these webisobes, drop me a line to tell me what you have thought of them, what you have got from them.

Onwards and upwards!

Chris Jones, Film Maker and Author
www.livingspirit.com
[email protected]

The closing night screening at the RIIFF

Watch the video first… spoiler alert…!

The schedule for the evening went very behind today, and so what should have been a seven o’clock kick off for the closing night gala screenings, became an eight o’clock kick off. The queue around the block was astonishing! Really, a thousand people queuing to see the movie for over an hour. So when they finally got into the air conditioned theatre, they were ready to sit down and be entertained. Super!

First off, the movie looked AWESOME on Kodak Premiere stock. It was big, beautiful and smacked of MOVIE, something the HD films seemed to lack. The dirt, grain and weave, all of which are ‘faults and problems’ with film, simply served to inform the subconscious that Gone Fishing is a movie in the great popcorn munching sense of the word, and not a new, shiny and super clear digital film. I think that worked in our favour.

The reaction from the audience was simply overwhelming… I asked them to cheer for the Associate Producers if they liked the movie – AND THEY ROARED at the end! Wow! I don’t mind admitting, I was very moved by that and shed a tear. As people came out, they said the most wonderful things and seemed genuinely moved by the story.

Later we went on to the after screening party at an outside bar with a stunning waterfront view of the night time city. And I realised that everyone I met was telling me how much they loved the film, and wanted to shake my hand. It really is gratifying to know that we have made something that really does touch people - so much so, they often felt compelled to share their own personal, and sometimes very intimate stories and meanings behind their experience of the film. This is what it’s all about for me.

And yes, the pic (right) was taken lying on my back outside the theatre (you will understand if you saw the video).

The audience awards will be announced in a week or so (as some films have yet to be screened and the votes counted), but tomorrow are the big awards over a breakfast brunch…

Onwards and upwards!

Chris Jones, Film Maker and Author
www.livingspirit.com
[email protected]

Prints, Panels, Posters and Parties!

It’s the Day before the final screening and everyone is getting very excited.  Producer Ivan Clements is flying in tomorrow for it, and the awards ceremony on Sunday.

HDCam is being presented in the theatre, the Columbia on Broadway, and it looks great, but I have chosen to go with the 35mm print as it is film – complete with what will be scratches, dirt, pops and wrinkles – but that is what we expect from MOVIES, and I hope that will translate into a cinematic experience for everyone present.

Not much to say here now, it’s all in the video, but please, please, please, send us positive vibes for tomorrow and the BIG screening….

I CAN’T WAIT!

Onwards and upwards!

Chris Jones, Film Maker and Author
www.livingspirit.com
[email protected]

The Opening Night Screening at the Rhode Island International Film Festival

Watch the video first, then read on...

So the opening night took place. There were 2,000 people in the audience... And yes, there were some technical problems. But, I survived and the audience loved it!

It appears that the projector that was supplied, while excellent, was fitted with a fixed focus and fixed focal length lens (I know!), which meant that the digitally presented movies all looked very small, compared to full screen 35mm. To add to our woes, it also transpired that the audio on our HDCam was not accessible with the setup, and believe it or not, we ended up screening off DVD! Yikes!

Heading up the tech team for the night was a very experienced film festivals presentation girl who really knew her stuff, and she gave us some really great tech advice for short film festivals. Specifically, when attending festivals, bring as many different format versions of your film as you can fit in carry on luggage – 35mm, HDCam, D5, NTSC, PAL, DVD, DVCam, BluRay… Cos you can be sure that the format you thought you were going to play, will, for some strange reason, not play! How frustrating.

Another very interesting point is that for festivals around the world, Beta, DigiBeta and HDCam tapes should all start at 1 O’clock time code, not 10 O’clock as we do in the UK (or clearly mark the tapes stating it starts at 10 and not 1). And if you supply a DVD to screen in a festival, make sure it has NO MENU – build the DVD so that the film plays as soon as you put it into the player, with a few seconds of black at the start (no tone, clock or bars and no burnt in time code or title saying FOR SCREENING PURPOSES ONLY).

Even though Gone Fishing was not seen in its best light, it will be on Saturday night now. I have just been frantically arranging with Lucia back in London to get FedEx arranged, so it’s all up to Alex Brody at FedEx now, my contact who so far, has never let me down… Let’s hope the print arrives by Saturday for the closing night screenings. 

I guess that even though the presentation could have been better, there will always be some kind of technical problem, and your film and story should withstand this – if it does and still connects with an audience, you know you are doing something right.

Onwards and upwards!

Chris Jones, Film Maker and Author
www.livingspirit.com
[email protected]

Day 2 and the build up to the opening night!

Day 2 began with a trip to an old theatre that serves as HQ for the RIIFF, where we met all the guys who run the event.� Registration and parties lay ahead, as did the spectre of catastrophic technical problems at the opening night gala…

The next 24 hours of my life were not as bad as Jack Bauers’, but at times, I did feel like I was in a disaster movie… More on this tomorrow…

Chris Jones, Film Maker and Author
www.livingspirit.com
[email protected]

Getting To Our First International Film Festival

The Journey to the Rhode Island International Film Festival has begun. Our hope is of course, to win an award, but also, I am trying to take us all on the journey too - and so we are making this video blog to capture the sights and sounds of an international film festival where your movie is being premiered. Accompanying me is second unit director on Gone Fishing, and close friend, Simon Cox (who himself has now got a blog about his film Kaliedoscope Man).

The big two days to watch out for are Tuesday night (the opening ceremony and screenings), and the awards next Sunday. There are heaps of other things going on in between, and we hope to bring you as much of that as possible. And remember, we are six hours behind Britain, and it will also take us some time to edit each video and upload. So if it’s not up when you check back, swing by again later.

I just want to say thank you once more, to all the Associate Producers who helped create this movie and the extraordinary and exciting ensuing journey, and also, thank you to everyone who logs in to read the blog. I hope that we can keep you all entertained and by our sides on what promises now to be a very gripping second chapter in Gone Fishing.

Chris Jones, Film Maker and Author
www.livingspirit.com
[email protected]

Watch The Kodak Awards Screening VideoBlog

So the Kodak Screenings have begun, and yesterday I attended the afternoon screenings and we made this short video here. I am attending again today, and will be there during the week at various points too. If you can make it, we would love to see you there.

Go on, you know you want to come and vote…

UPDATE.. I just found out that fellow Gone Fishing'er Martin Gooch (who did a pass over the script) also has a film playing, not in the Kodak section, but the main Rushes Festival part - it's called 'Where Do All The Missing People Go' and is sure to be a cracker, so try and make time to catch it too. It's palying on the 30th at 3pm at the Curzon Soho, and Thursday 31st at Soho House, 21 Old Compton Street.

Onwards and upwards!

Chris Jones, Film Maker and Author
www.livingspirit.com
[email protected]

Gone Fishing at the Odeon!

Today we had our screening of Gone Fishing at the Odeon Covent Garden. It was rainy and cold and so I was delighted when we had a bigger than expected audience turn out for the movie. It was part of the Super Shorts Festival, run and organised by one-man-power-house Stephen Follows. I also discovered myself in their magazine, and you can read a PDF scan of it here.

My good friend Matt Morreale filmed the event, so you can watch the video below – Matt runs a great film makers podcast site called The Film Producers Podcast and you can get more on that here. You should all join as he has some great guests.

The event ran for a couple of hours and the movie screened half way through. I was personally delighted as so many of the film makers who were involved in Gone Fishing that could not make the premiere earlier this year, managed to get here today and see it as it should be seen – on an enormous screen with big sound!

Feedback after the screening was terrific and several people came to me, off camera, to express how the film resonated with them on a personal level. For me that is what it’s all about – telling a story that impacts on a person in such a way that they leave with a lighter load on their shoulders and a smile on their face.

Anyway… here is the video… Just press the play button...

Onward and upward!

Chris Jones, Film Maker and Author
www.livingspirit.com
[email protected]

Blog facelift!

As you can see, the blog has been given a facelift. For some time now, I have been meaning to do this, and as Cannes is looming, I knew I had to do it sooner rather than later. I plan to update the blog daily in Cannes, and hopefully with either some audio or even video podcasting. Let’s see.

It’s amazing how much time can be spent on a website, and I am just pleased that the new look blog is built and I can get on with more pressing stuff – like writing the screenplay!

Onward and upward!

Chris Jones, Film Maker and Author
www.livingspirit.com
[email protected]

The Big Night Finally Arrives!

If you have problems playing the video, click here

After a long, hard, but immensely rewarding day running the seminar on ‘Gone Fishing’, the time had come to get changed into my DJ and prepare for the premiere.

We had been very worried about numbers as we had invited nearly 300 people to the event, all of whom had said they would come, and the theatre has only 228 seats! As it turned out, around 210 people arrived, so that worked out fine.

AND THE ATMOSPHERE WAS ELECTRIC!

I was personally delighted that so many people made a real effort to get dressed up for the event, and those who didn’t, I know came from some filming work and did not have the chance to get changed. To make such an effort made the event extra special and memorable.

As 7.15 arrived, we ushered everyone into the theatre and my heart started pounding as I watched everyone take their seats. This is it! No more claims that ‘in the future my movie will be…’ In a matter of minutes, it will be ‘the movie was…’ and ‘Gone Fishing’ will be officially out in the world. It’s a nerve wracking moment for any director. As Eddie Hamilton says, ‘you have instinct, you have experience, but ultimately, you just don’t know how people will react…’

The lights dimmed and we showed the trailer from Kodak, one of our major and very generous sponsors. The lights came up and I climbed the steps to the stage and was hit by a deafening wall of cheers! I was quite unprepared for that level of encouragement and quite humbled. For a moment I paused, a tear in my eye, a frog in my throat, but I pulled it back together… I had a speech to deliver, even though right now, it was a piece of paper shaking in my hand!

I won’t go through my speech, you can click on the video link of the while event below if you want to hear it again, but I must mention two enormous gaffs!

Both happened because I wrote my speech at 11.30 the night before, and used the end roller to make sure I didn’t forget anyone. As it happens I did forget two very important people, who were not on the end roller as they were on the single title cards.

First was Russ Wharton, visual effects guru – I don’t really need to say much more as you have seen the movie and know just how amazing his work is.

But I was particularly mortified to realise, as soon as I saw her after the screening, that I neglected to acknowledge my very good friend who I have known for years, Catherine Arton, our casting director. Catherine put in more work than any other single crew member on Gone Fishing, working tirelessly for months to find the right cast, working with sometimes very difficult agents, with no budget, in fact spending her own money! So Cathy, I am sorry, you know you are a superstar and that this film could not have been made without you!

The lights dimmed… The curtains opened… The movie played.

I am delighted to report that the audience reacted in the way we hoped. They laughed. They cried. They wanted more.

To see the movie projected was awesome. It simply looked jaw dropping. All Vernon’s hard work (and the camera team, the Labs and Midnight Transfer) really paid off. The sound I think is what most people were surprised by though, just how BIG it was, much like a huge action movie! Thats all down to Ro Heap’s on set sound, Eddie’s editing and Videosonics mixing, all of which was first rate.

Then came the moment I was truly unprepared for.

As the lights came up, I got a standing ovation! I don’t know how long it lasted, but it seemed to go on for ages. So much so I began to feel very self conscious. When you spend all your time shining the light on others great talents, when the spotlight hits you unsuspectingly, it kind of takes you by surprise. I was very humbled, and hope that we can all share that the standing ovation – it was really an outpouring of emotion for us all. This movie belongs to everyone involved.

Blimey! And phew!

Form that moment, it’s all a bit of an adrenaline haze! I was floating on air.

The after screening party was great, with photos of the shoot up on the plasma screens, a glass in everyones hand and a smile, hug and kiss from everyone I met.

For me, that moment is why I strive to make movies that reach out and touch people. It’s the pinnacle of the craft and artform that I aspire toward. It’s what drives me.

Since the premiere, I have received so many emails from people saying how much they enjoyed the film and the event. I will post some of them in the next few days, along with a link to an online photo archive where you can get prints of the premiere made if you want them…

My final thoughts? For me, this premiere will be remembered forever. It goes down as one of the top ten moments of my life so far, and it’s quite near the top too.

On a personal note, some of you may know I lost my father a year or so before ‘Gone Fishing’. If there is a place we go to after we die, I suspect my Dad popped back down to BAFTA for the night, and I know he would have been very proud.

Finally, if you have not watched it yet, watch the premiere video  here, complete with speech and after party clips. Thanks to Matt and Steve for shooting this, when you really should have been in a seat enjoying like everyone else.

Onward and upward!

Chris Jones, Film Maker and Author
www.livingspirit.com
[email protected]