Double Trouble... Or Should That Be 'Invisi-trouble'?!?

So I've been away for a little while, studying for a pgce qualification... Well I found out this week that I've provisionally passed - and potentially have my first short film lined up before this month is out..!

I'm lined up to play 'the other twin' in a short film, but since I'm not the lead actor, my entire performance will be removed and replaced in post - always the bridesmaid, and all that!

I'll be learning lines this weekend and hope to meet up with the producer, the actor and the director soon...

More news as it breaks...

It WAS a Wonderful Life...

Seven weeks ago, I was offered the lead role in a local theatre production of 'It's a Wonderful Life' and in the interests of trying something new, I took it!
I didn't know 'stage-left' from a poke in the eye back then, but with the support and encouragement of the Billingham Players, I found my feet. I found them for real ONE NIGHT before the show started, on the dress rehearsal.

A few months ago, I'd been to see a stage show called 'Houdini' and wondered how any actor can remember nearly two-hours worth of lines, well now I know. I don't know how I did learn my 106-page script, I just did, and I'm very pleased that I was able to meet the challenge.

The show ran from 2nd to 7th December and was sold out each and every night - that's over 700 people all together - imagine if that was the crowd every night!?!

Here's a link to a Facebook photo album:
https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=594279330644757&set=a.389709274435098.94125.388401891232503&type=1&theater

And here's a link to The Billingham Players website - who knows what they'll be doing this time next year...
http://www.billinghamplayers.co.uk/

Here I am, as George Bailey, celebrating my 'rebirth' with my family

The Excellent Elevated View

Only one hour ago, I was thinking what an interesting distraction it was, filming 'The Elevated View' with James Harris and Laura Degnan, as downloading the file slowed my laptop down to a crawl and caused it to crash twice... But now, having watched it half a dozen times, I'm happy to say that I think it's one of the best pieces of work I've been involved in..!

The story, about a man who takes a drug to enable him to see what his wife is thinking, fearing she is having an affair, was conceived, shot and edited in exactly 48 hours for the London Sci-Fi Film Festival Challenge: http://www.sci-fi-london.com/48-hour-film-challenge

Judges include Guillermo Del Toro, director of Hellboy, Pan's Labrynth and Blade 2 (my favourite!).

I've worked on a few 48 hour challenges with Writer's Block in the past, onoe of which, 'The Woman Who Loved a Tree' swept the board at Newcastle in 2011 and 'Distraction Jackson' made it to the last 15 in the world, neither feat is to be sniffed at, but I genuinely feel that this film is something else, on a different level altogether. While the other two took a mockumentary approach, this one tells a 'straight' story, although it manages to fit in a flashback and a 'trip' sequence, plus it's bookended by 'Rod Sterling' - fantastically played by James Harris.

Props to Jayne Elwell for once again playing a long-suffering wife and bringing such a warm heart to the film - while spending the majority of her time tied to a sofa with coloured wool... It makes sense in the film!

Laura and James have shown what can be achieved with determination, willpower and creativity alone and have restored hope to me that I can finish my film with a lot more than 48 hours to go!

Here's some screen grabs from the film, and a behind the scenes photo too...

A man suspects his wife of cheating on him...

So he buys the latest street drug...

'Elevator'!

The drug is taken like eye drops...

And lets you see what other people are thinking

'Everythign is connected' is the message of the film...

And we spent a long time connecting everythign with wool... and just look at the position Laura found herself in on camera!

 

 

I wish this film the best of luck in the competition and I hope it gets the respect it deserves.



The Less Time I Have, The More I Seem To Do..!

In my last post, I mentioned some upcoming jobs and how I didn't really have the time to do them justice thanks mostly to being a final year film student... Well guess what? I DID work on those jobs and more to boot!

Amazingly, I turned down the role of Jesus in Chris Coles' 'the Waiting Room', only to be offered instead 'the hand of God'! This was a much better role for me as there were no lines to learn, there was no make-up to apply and I didn't need to grow a huge white beard, although I wasn't delivering my own lines, so that made it tough: no script, no idea what was coming, just a hand-reaction to a distended voice as I looked through the camera monitor.

In fairness, I was on this film all day as a set-dresser/art department/prop-master. Here's a couple of pictures from the shoot:

Zack Tinkler as Jesus, Chris Coles, Director, and Jay Hayes on sound

As you can see from the image above, we lowered the framed tapestry to fit in frame better - I really earned my cheese sarnies that day!

 

 

Although i was only on set fro one day, I also made Chris a 'crash-test dummy', a fake apple, and 'a railing from Saltburn pier'!?! I can't wait to see how it all turned out - Best of luck with the edit Chris and thanks for being my camera op on Championship hunt!

 

http://www.facebook.com/ChampionshipHunt

 



 

 

 

Q. Why Was This Pirate Frustrated?

A. Because he 'AAARRRRR'... Nah, it just doesn't work, does it?

For one weekend in February a few of the film school students banded together to shoot scenes for Jo Wakefield's final major project, 'Call Me Baby', a short comic tale about a woman who loses her job and makes ends meet by operating an adult-themed chat line - only to be called up by her sexually frustrated boyfriend!

Thanks then to first and second choice actors, Craig Samson and Tim Marshal for dropping out and leaving me as the only bloke in the whole of the North East capable of filling their shoes - and I was already pulling duties as propmaker/set dresser!

'Call Me Baby' is one of those deceptively simple projects plagued by every conceivable hurdle, from extreme weather to ill-health, location conflicts and cast and crew schedule clashes... A lesser filmmaker might have given up by now and tackled Shakespear or something, but not Jo, she'll be shooting and editing to the last minute, I suspect - just like me!

Here's a couple of pics of the props I made for Jo... These are the more 'family friendly' one's I'd say!

In order to avoid using copyrighted images in Jo's film, we replaced her living room pictures with hand-drawn portraits and freshly pressed flowers.

Jo needed a few 'relationship advice' books, alongside some 'adult' and 'gossip' magazines.

 

 

 

 

 

 

We Final Year Students Can Be a Blinkered Bunch!

Good news, I've been offered two more acting jobs. Bad news, it all clashes terribly with MY final year project!

It's a horrible situation to have to turn somebody down who has bent over backwards to help you on your project when they ask for a little in return. It's logical though; all of our efforts would be in vain if I did a sub-standard acting job and made a sub-standard film myself.

This time next year - who knows?!! Heck, this time next year I may be able to take on some of those PAID jobs I keep seeing on the extras newsletters!

I did try and get a little cameo in my own film too, although that could well hit the cutting room floor... MY last take was perfect, I'm sure, I mean, I backed that wheelchair through those doors like a seasoned pro, but I fear that the lead actors were not on the mark of my choosing and a different cut may have to be chosen.

Fame, you are a cruel mistress!

That said, I do have a couple more catwalk modeling jobs on the horizion: an assassin and...

ANOTHER COWBOY!!!

Yee-haw!

2012 Review of the Year

2012 was one of my best ever years, from the point of view of a film maker, prop maker and actor; I really got back on the horse one might say!

From early acting work with Writers' Block and a double night-shoot on Harrigan's Nick (where I met James Kent, a way-out crazy actor dude), to making a smashing little film with Billy Cessford in the early summer (currently known as 'Hy-Brazil' and awaiting a soundtrack from another new collaborator, Micky Cockerill) to writing, producing, propmaking, costume-ing(!?!) for my upcoming final major project at film school - 'Championship Hunt'!

I had a trip to Hollywood (although I still didn't make it to right up to the famous sign)...

But I was close!

 

 

I was in the crowd for the L.A. premiere of 'Expendables 2...

 

A split-second later and Sly came over and said 'Hi John, how's your blog coming along...' - I wish!

All the cast were there except Bruce Willis and Jet Li... I would have gladly taken their seats!

 

 

I had a trip to Universal Studios that was the most amazing part of my time in the USA, state-of-the-art rides and experiences, I highly recommend it to anyone with the opportunity to go.

 

 

 

One of my favourite things about 2012 is that the world did not end. That sounds silly now the time has passed, but it had given me great impetus for pushing myself harder than ever for twelve months and quite frankly, beyond completing 'Championship Hunt (and hopefully promoting it at Cannes 2014), I really don't have a plan from this point onwards...

 

Tune in throughout 2013 and we'll discover together what the future holds for 'John Noble - The Movie!'

 

Happy New Year Everyone!



 

21st December 2012 - Post 100!

What a milestone day today has been; rather than the end of the world, it's been the end of a hard slog and the start of a glorious new dawn... The first semester has finished at college and I feel I've got everything tucked in just nice, in time for the holidays!

This time last year, I was making my Die Hard/John McClane fancy dress outfit; this year I've been making a prop/set piece for The Grand Hotel in Hartlepool. It's the last week of term and many people are winding down - some have been winding down for longer than that, but I've been at it, a million miles an hour until now. So, please forgive me for having a moment of reflection and a pause...

I'll get back to film making tomorrow (meeting one of my actors in Newcastle) but tonight I just want to rest, and if the world ends, at least my desk was tidy!

Take care all,

john

Port of Tyne's Reflect photo and film awards

Last night Laura Degnan, Jay Moussa, James Harris and I travelled to the Baltic art gallery in Gateshead to attend the Port of Tyne's Reflect photo and film awards, in which we had been shortlisted for the final four in our category.

Their film, 'But a Dream', features a man imagining a boat trip along a river, without ever having left his armchair. Here's a link to the video:
http://reflect.portoftyne.co.uk/film/

The film was a runner up but it was still well-worth taking part.

After the event, we had the pleasure of meeting one of the judges, David Parfitt, producer of such British hit films as My week With Marilyn (2011), Shakespear in Love (1998), Frankenstein (1994) and Henry V (1989); here's a link to his IMDB profile:
http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0661406/?ref_=fn_al_nm_1

Here's the writing and camera crew - indeed, Laura did take one floor-level shot on the night!

We're all greatly looking forward to the next competition - whatever that may be!

 

Bad Samaritain, Good Times

Yesterday evening saw the cast and crew screening of 'The Bad Samaritain Must Die', the 'accidental' first feature film from the Producer/Writer/Director/Actor team of Andrew Leckonby and John Raine - Hydra-X.

This is the first footage I've seen from the film I worked on back in June and finally all that banging and crashing, stomping and shouting makes sense.

The story is set against a backdrop of one man rising up in the face of a national crime-wave, becoming an icon to the disillusioned masses, and a vigilante, wanted by the police. A young girl wishes to join his movement, but his cause is more fuelled by drug-addiction and lunacy than and real political agenda.

I'm not sure what the budget was for this film but there was a real crew at each shoot and a real buffet in the green room... Using all the tricks in the book the film makers have stretched whatever budget they had to tell a small story on a grand stage and we look forward to seeing the full, feature-length trilogy get off the ground soon - before the world ends!

Here's a link to the Facebook page, I suspect pictures of the event will show up soon:
http://www.facebook.com/groups/104155326383237/230060040459431/?notif_t=group_activity

It was great to catch up with the cast and crew and a shame we had to leave early... A film premiere on a school night - who's crazy idea was that!?!

RTS Yorkshire Student Awards 2012

It's not long since the 2011 awards as they were postponed to earlier this year, but once again, tonight is the big night and, we here on the Cleveland College of Art and Design table, are all rooting for...

Andy Harrison of York St John's University!?!

Andy is a graduate of the FdA Creative Film coutse at CCAD, so this year, in the absence of any final year students ourselves, we're backing our greatest rivals!

Andy's film is called 'Hello, My Name is Simon' and all of our fingers are crossed that he picks up the win tonight.

Song For Marion Crew Screening

More than a year after I'd been on the set of SFM, I was finally back in the company of some of the craftsmen, technicians and film akmers who brought this to the big screen. There were some standout performances in this feelgood movie about a grumpy old man who joins the local OAP choir following the death of his wife. I'm sad to say that I was not in the film at all - having only been a lighting stand-in - but four of our students saw their names in the credits: Billy Cessford, Rachel Lee, Sarah Gaunt and Christina Powell - great work guys! Song for Marion opens early next year.

Soaked To The Skin? It's All In The Mind!

This week Laura Degnan from Writer's Block NE asked me to star in her short film about the River Tyne, but not to worry, I wouldn't even have to leave the house!?! The whole shoot took just a couople of hours - almost as long as it took to put my house back to the state it started in! I play a man on an imaginary river boat rowing session in his living room, although this film features a classic James Harris style twist - and a typical John Noble 'stunt'! Well, Writer's Block have painted me green, dunked me in a river, and made me hug a tree in public... Bring it all on I say! Special mention must go to Laura for snatching the camera, from the utterly competent Jay Mussa, and climbing under the furniture to film a couple of 'up the nose' shots! Here's a link to the film on YouTube: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YtVwvQgY8LQ&sns=em The film, 'But A Dream' is a competition entry for the Port of Tyne Reflect Competition. Results will be in soon - watch this space!

Song For Marion Trailer

It's been a long time coming, but Song For Marion is finally finding it's voice and here's a trailer showing all the best bits that didn't include me..!

http://www.handbag.com/celebrity/entertainment/worldwide-exclusive-gemma-arterton-shows-of-her-fun-side-in-song-for-marion-trailer

I'm sure it will be very heartwarming and charming and I look forward to seeing it soon.

it's times like this that I wish I'd brought my cowboy boots...

So here I am, in the international arrivals lounge at L.A.X., waiting for my friend Dan to show. This is my third nine-hour wait at am airport on the trip - and it really was part of the plan too. It's about lunchtime back home, I ser off 9pm on Wednesday. It wont be far off that when we finally pick up the car and get to our hotel - that's a long tome in the same clothes! Fear not, I'd packed a change of smaller in my hand luggage and I've been washing my hair and brushing my teeth with handsoap. Yum. So why the cowboy boots? I wish I could take a picture: I'm rocking the double-denim and sitting back on the seat with my feet up on my case, cowboy boots and a hat would look so good now. So good. I'm attempting to write a script too. I'd settle for even just reading the book at this point but I'm a little too beat to take anything in..! Ive just noticed a bunch of much comfier seats over the way - forgive me, I'm gonna slip on over and get some quality kip in before our adventure really begins. So long.

hooray for...

Hollywood, here I come!! It's currently 5am, I've been 'on the road' now for eight hours already AMD I'm still only at the airport! I'm supposed to be writing a script but I'm too overwhelmed from being rudely awoken an hour ago my hundreds of holidaymakers, who'd have thought it. At an airport? In the summer? It's my own fault, I'd tried to grab a little kip without realising I was in the middle of a thoroughfare!?! Chicago will be my first contact with the good ol' US of A, then not far behind California awaits! Lets see if I get picked up in a coffee shop, as a writer or actor would be fine, thanks! More news when it breaks.

Earth to Earth... Eyes, Nose and Mouth!

Yesterday was the second day of shooting for Laura Degnan's SBTRKT music video competition entry and I suspect it was a day that actor Ben would rather have stayed in bed!

We drowned him in a river, burried him alive and 'gave birth' to him - all after he'd worked all morning in Brighton and driven up for the experience!


I was wearing my 'Health and Safety' hat yesterday, attempting to make Ben's experience as safe and painless as possible - however, Laura was not; "more soil over his eyes", "go deeper into the water... ALL the way under..!" - That's one non-compromising director!

The soil was my 'safe' recipe, made in the kitchen, so it should have been OK in his mouth... apart from the sand I added for texture - ooh, that makes one's teeth really grind!

That's me in the water, doing a reccee for Ben

Dead Again!

I've played dead more times than not this year and today did it three times in an hour! Laura Degnan is shooting a music promo video and I was drafted in as production designer, and not doing too shabby a job either, but, times are hard and finding stiffs just ain't as easy as it used to be! I played - at separate times I might add - each of the three dead bodies on mortuary slabs... Tables to you ad me! The shoot is going well, more news to follow...

'Buck', Back?

Last year I played a character in a CCAD live production called 'Buck Turbine'; this weekend I was enlisted as an extra on The Bad Samaritain Must Die but ended up being a runner.

Relevance? There were already two 'Johns' on set and a third was just silly. My first choice of nickname was 'Doc' but wouldn't you know it, in the dozen-or-so people there, there was already a 'Doc'!

Someone came up with the name 'Buck' and I was fine with that - afterall, I've been 'Buck' before!

It was a fantastic day, my duties included marking the performers feet, holding reflectors, moving lights, continuity, swapping lenses, being a lighting stand-in for John Raine - The Bad Samaritain himself - cleaning up fake blood, general lugging around and most importantly - keeping the coffee cups full!

It's hard not to want to contribute more as you're so close to the action and you might have your own take on how a shot could look but Andy L, Andy R, John R and 1st A.D. Chris all knew what they were doing with knobs on - I just kept my head down and the coffee cups full - with a lot of help from Melody- the original and best runner in town!

Andrew Leckonby, John Raine, 'Buck'

here's a link to Hyda-X films:
http://www.facebook.com/groups/104155326383237/167388090059960/#!/groups/104155326383237/

and The Bad Samaritain Must Die site:
http://www.facebook.com/groups/104155326383237/167388090059960/#!/groups/296824433696208/

Bad Samaritain Must Die - Shooting soon!

Northern film maker Andy Leckonby of Hydra X films is filming scenes from his new thriller 'The Bad Samaritain Must Die' on 23rd and 24th June - and he'll need all the help he can get; all the help that fits into the over-eighteen, male vigilante bracket anyway - although I suspect age conforming females could fill out roles BEHIND the camera...

Here's a link to his Facebook posting:
http://www.facebook.com/events/122645827873248/

I'll be picking up a couple more film makers on the way; raise your hand James Kent and Richard Eaborn. Room for one or two more if you read this in time!

Also from Facebook:

Andrew Leckonby 13 June 18:49 Looking for someone to take video and stills for Saturday 23 and Sunday 24 June, from 11am-10pm in Cramlington Village pub for a big shoot. Experience shooting video and taking stills needed. Do not need to bring own camera as can provide our own to use. We have Canon 550d with plenty of SD cards. If you know anyone please give them my email: andy@hydra-xfilms.com