Another elephant, but a bit lighter.

Okay, I think, perhaps the last render was a bit too dark for most folk so I have changed the light settings and now you can see the elephant.

Yesterday, were began to have a read through of 'Monty's Quest' and to have some publicity photographs done for a feature spread in the Newry Democrat.

Today we had a day long seminar that started off with Yanky Fachler. A really good speaker talking about 'Chutzpah. You can find out more about him at: http://www.yankyfachler.com/

I managed to have a good conversation with him, discussing my novels and films. He was kind enough to give me a copy of his book 'Chutzpah' and I have spent this evening reading through some of its pages. So good stories about how various people have done crazy things to get noticed and helped launch their careers. It reminded me of a story about Kenny Everitt who before becoming well-known, used to ensure that his name was called over the intercom just as the managing director came out of the lift. Kenny would then run over to take a phoney call. After a period of time the managing director wondered who this Kenny Everitt was and asked to meet him. This launched Kenny's career.

Yanky Fachler encourages everyone to use their Chutzpah to help get things moving in what ever aspect of their lives they hope to move forward or achieve.

Second Elephant test.

Another test with secondary animation and an eye blink or two. I set the light so that it was more overhead to give more contrast as you might expect in Kenya. But I think the image now looks too dark, so I'll rework the piece again.

Screen Testing Elephants for 'Monty's Quest'

While the live-action part of the film is being set-up, I started to look at how we might be able to do some of the 3D work using Carrara Pro and Blender 3D. The above six second clip uses an elephant model from Daz 3D and animated in Carrara Pro 7. There is still much to do but at least you can see the process has begun.

We will be having the first script read through on Thursday.

Four weeks next Wednesday

Things are finally slowing down at the college, but I have managed to talk to quite a few people about the film project and the enthusiasm is growing. We have a co-producer on bought. Eimear Burke has just finished her degree in Film & Video Production and is going to spend the summer helping me produce 'Monty's Quest'. We are planning to have the first read through next Thursday. Meanwhile, Eimear is preparing a budget and I will begin to storyboard over the weekend.

Though we are not going to have a budget we will still need to get some kind of sponsorship for the Employer's Liability Insurance, unless we can come under the banned of another company for the duration of the shoot.

Effectively, we could be looking for 12 sponsors who could donate £100 to the film project. If anyone is interested contact me on http://www.kingsnorthfilms.com

I'll up date you on our progress.

Monty's Quest

It has been quite an eventful week as the students gather together all their coursework for the past year and preparation is made for the long haul of marking in the next week or so.

However, during this brief lull between external examiner's visits and the marking ahead, I took the opportunity to see if a script was brewing. To my delight, two weekends ago an idea popped into my head and I soon had an outline sketched out in my notebook. A week last Tuesday I opened Final Draft, the industry standard script writing software and began the first fifteen pages of the script. Each night, there after, I managed to add another fifteen pages, with a break on Sunday and the final act was completed by Monday night.

Quite a few news items during the week inspired various scenes, including an Australian doctor who had been forced to use a hand drill to release the pressure of a thirteen year old boy's brain after he had had a fall. Being some distance from a fully equipped hospital, the doctor was in touch with a neurosurgeon who talked him through the procedure over the phone. 

Another story was that of North Korea testing a nuclear weapon underground, that caused an earthquake and a storm with the international community. Threats of war have since ensued and who knows where it will all lead.

The global economic situation also found its way into the script, as did some philosophy, religion, science and a lot of funny situations with aircraft engines, rampaging elephants and colourful hairdos.

The final script came out at 76 pages, not quite the full-length feature film one might expect but a similar length to 'Fiddler's Walk', my first film and the length of a TV movie. The intention is to have a film that can be comfortably made during the summer, so the live-action can be recorded and then all the special effects can be added next academic year as part of the coursework for 3D modeling and animation, digital post-production and image manipulation. This would allow the Higher National Diploma students to get a live project to work on and achieve a finished feature film by this time next year.

My current students are quite excited by the whole prospect, having nearly completed their National Diploma in Media Production and wanting something else to get their teeth into before going on to University next September.

I'll keep you informed of our progress.

Coming to terms with death

The last two weeks has been dreadful. The end of a long fight was drawing to a close and the valiant warrior was braving in out but the inevitable was close at hand. Two parents, two sister and his aunt stood over him, held his hand and prayed with him. Even to the end he held his faith and with every ounce of energy he could muster, he commanded his right hand to bless himself. 

It was about eight a.m. when the call came through. Such simple words, he passed away in his sleep at 4 a.m. The female voice trembled. I sensed tears were in her eyes. My own lips quivered and weakly I heard my voice reply, thank you, I'll pass the message on. Not long afterwards, I held my wife in my arms. Conciliation. Then own sons we had to tell. Each of us had to attempt to face our own worlds, but they no longer seemed familiar. They no longer held their imagined importance.

I heard my eldest had fought back his own tears and quickly gathered together his composure while at college. At work we reviewed the hospice video and the discussion was of the dying. Later, I had promised to attend a student film festival, to support my students for next year but the films were of death and the struggle to come to terms with the loss of loved ones and friends. I left early, not wanting to face anyone and made my way to the wake. 

I felt dread, guilt and sorrow. I had missed an opportunity to visit the hospital the night before only by a matter of minutes. Preparation for an external verifier and last minute marking. Now, twenty-four hours later I was finding myself driving to this young man's house. A car came towards me and as I pulled up to let it pass, noticed the driver and he did me. Two windows were wound down and our parish priest asked for directions. He followed me and together we entered the house, we queued and then after the priest spoke to the father my turn came.

Words at these times seem pointless, no matter what you might say they seem so shallow. Yet the gentle hug and hand on his shoulder for support seemed to pass on the message so much more affectively than any words. A prayer and goodbye to the young man yet what will remain are the memories of his humour after Armagh played at Croke Park in Dublin last year. They lost and the rain felt so much that our journey home lasted seven hours, but the passage seemed short due to the wit and commentary of our friend, now asleep and at peace after his battle.

His name is the Scottish variation of John, God's blessed but in Irish it means God's Gracious Gift. In Hebrew it means God is forgiving. To all these meanings he was to those who knew him, and now he has gone to rest. In memory of a valiant fighter whose faith saw him through a mighty struggle and was supported to the end by a devoted family, his parents, sisters and aunt. It has been a privilege to have known him and tomorrow we say our final farewell.

God bless you, Ian, God's Gracious Gift.

Silent Whispers - a short drama

This is 'Silent Whispers', shot last november and finished editing in February.

Hope you enjoy?