Monday 28 February 2011

Incredible Experience!!!

Last Friday, Laura Degnan from Writers Block NE contacted me and asked if I could possibly help out in a film that weekend. She needed someone to play a business man who attends a fancy dress party dressed as the Incredible Hulk and I was the first actor who came to mind (is that good or bad I wonder?!?)

The Ents department were, as usual, very helpful to me in terms of loaning us some rope lights for the party scene (and Norman Austick especially who gave me a lift back since my car was (is) still out of action (Grrrrr!).

The shoot was possibly the most professional I've been on as the entire crew (of four) were real-life film makers from Newcastle. This meant that the intricacies of every shot were tweaked to the point of perfection, and as usual, this was at the expense of time. We over ran by a couple of hours but it was worth it. We only stopped shooting because the camera packed up - not because the management at the Dickens Inn had asked us to clear out so that a birthday party could use the room (that they had hired!).

Here's a few shots from throughout the day:





Sunday 27 February 2011

Media Links from Grand Scheme of Things work

My work with Martin Wood over the past decade or so has seen me being a concept artist, model and prop maker, photographer, graphic designer and as of last week, film maker.

Here's a couple of links that flesh outthe backstory and give you a look atthe latest developments:

http://www.gazetteherald.co.uk/features/features/8873927.Local_artist_Martin_Wood/

http://www.appletonreadingroom.org.uk/

Tuesday 22 February 2011

World Saved? Well, I saved the day at least...

Scarborough Coastival came and went without a hitch, although we were pushed to the limit of time for setting up the show.
Mickey and I were dressed up to the nines and acted as 'welcomers' for the audio-visual experience occurring within the bingo hall of the Grand Hotel.

We enjoyed the company of many guests throughout the day, special thanks go to Bill and his wife who gave us jelly babies to keep our energy up!

 Me, Suzy and Mickey

Pyramid sound system

Monday 14 February 2011

Scarborough Coastival

Time to save the world again...

This coming weekend I'll be joining Martin, Maria and Mickey at the Grand Hotel Scarborough to take part in a Full Moon festival, during which the official launch of 'In The Grand Scheme of Things' will take place.

I have worked with Martin for over a decade, fleshing out the story of a near-future, mutated Yorkshire.

Last Saturday we went to the Grand Hotel for a last look around before the big event, Here's some pics:










Here's the press release:

A Rather Grand Idea

3rd Eye Pod and The

Art and film collective, 3rd Eye Pod, will be creating an intriguing installation in Scarborough’s Grand Hotel, as part of Coastival 2011.
“We’re a collective of Film Makers and VJs (video jockeys) whose events and work are inspired by a nature based spirituality” say Martin Wood and Maria Silmon, the creative team behind 3rd Eye pod. “During the day we’ll be using specific sound frequencies and colours combined with film, to celebrate the energy of the full moon that weekend. An audio-visual massage for your eyes and ears in fact!”

They will also be showing an extract from The Grand Scheme of Things, a blackly comic sci-fi odyssey set in Yorkshire in the not so distant future. This feature film idea started out as a graphic novel in which the people and landscape of North Yorkshire become bizarrely mutated when genetic experiments go wrong. As usual, it’s down to the good folk of Yorkshire to save the planet!  Over the course of 8 solar festivals and one seasonal year, a motley crew of local characters must band together to restore the balance of nature.

The cyclical nature of the seasons are often at the heart of the team’s work, as well as the eight solar festivals which punctuate the year. They chose the astonishing architecture of The Grand Hotel for their venue because when it was originally built in 1863, its design was based on the concept of 'time'.
“Incredibly the Grand has 4 towers to represent the 4 seasons, 12 floors for each month, 52 chimneys for the weeks and 365 bedrooms for the days of the year. We were looking for the perfect venue for our Coastival installation and I think we’ve found it!”

 Check websites below for more info

http://coastival.com/events/details/223-chakra-show.html

CELEBRATING AND PROMOTING SOLAR FESTIVALS SINCE 1988
A BLACKLY COMIC SCI-FI ODYSSEY, SET IN YORKSHIRE IN THE NOT SO DISTANT FUTURE

Grand Scheme Of Things  - in the Grand Hotel, Scarborough Saturday 19 February   10am – 4pm