7.00pm – 9.00pm

Wednesday July 28th

BBC Big Screen, Centre Square, Middlesbrough

Due to the awful weather we got on 9th June Concept Film Night will be running a repeat screening of the films selected to be shown on the BBC Big Screen in Middlesbrough’s Centre Square.

There are some great films being shown, including dramas, documentaries, a silent comedy and animations. 

This is a FREE event and open to all to attend.  Bring along a picnic chair/blanket, food and soft drink refreshments and spend the evening watching some of the great work that is being produced by film makers from the North East area.

PLEASE NOTE ALCOHOL IS NOT PERMITTED IN THIS AREA

Motivated by the creative challenge and the £100K prize, Christine and I decided it was high time we got to it and made a short ad for the Doritos competition  – King of Ads.  I had a teeny bit of experience of documentary film making from the Teesside Uni’s Spring University (Shortees) and Christine had a dynamite idea, but we only had two weeks so we needed some drastic help.  We went along to one of the Writer’s Block drop in sessions in Middlesbrough Central Square, where we got the inspiration and advice we needed from James Harris to storyboard the idea.  Two hours later we had a story board and a script – wayhey.  Now we needed a cast and in the absence of a budget we had to draw on the scarce resources we had to pull together costume and props.

The main characters were to be Dorito Man (played by Gareth Gent, Christine’s friend and neighbour) and Femme Fatal (Christine herself-a natural in the role).   There were some initial challenges – constructing the dorito mask out of papier mache (thankfully we had already made the exec decision that we weren’t going for realism) and getting Christine’s false nails to stay on (double sided sticky tape).  We were very fortunate to be able to get the help of Matt Rozdoba, Canadian Film Company,  to film for us in exchange for a very spicy pizza.  We hit some scary moments like when our outdoor location was invaded by two blinged up escapees from the dangerous-dogs asylum and when the camera would not talk to the Mac so we could not upload our film.

It took 5 hours filming and 12 hours editing (including pestering James West to help us with the tricksy little shenanigans of Final Cut Pro) to get 29 seconds of advert.  So did we win? No. Was it worth it? Every terrifying-frustrating-hair-splitting second.  We simply couldn’t have achieved what we did without the help we got from everyone involved but the support is out there.  There is simply no experience like making a film from idea to edit and as we have proved with the little resources,  (£40 total budget spent) we had there is no excuse not to have a go.

Written by:  Carmen Thompson

Some useful Links and of course the finished article, Doritos Nice To Eat You Ad

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WuucaEQLulM

King of Ads http://kingofads.doritos.co.uk/

Writers Block Drop in Sessions – http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=107076072662897 – with picture evidence of us scriptwriting

Uni Summer Courses – http://www.tees.ac.uk/sections/parttime/summer_courses.cfm

Do you have a passion for people, their lives and their issues?

Northern Film & Media in partnership with Community Channel and Sheffield Doc/Fest are launching ”Capture 2010” a factual and documentary talent development scheme and will provide you with access to industry professionals, talent spotters, broadcasters, exhibition platforms and some project funding.

NFM  are looking for energetic Film Makers who have a passion for making content that could make a difference to an issue, a cause or a community.

They want to find talent that has a desire to innovate and are willing to go the extra mile to draw attention to their projects and reach a wide audience.

Themes

NFM is interested in capturing a sense of the North East, its people and their aspirations and dreams (and their struggles to achieve them), stories about communities and individuals trying to be the best that they can be. We’re keen to hear what you’re interested in and the issues you want to highlight.

Projects will be short listed by Northern Film &  Media, Community Channel and Sheffield Doc/Fest.

Looking for applications into 3 strands.

When considering your ideas please endeavour to entertain us, make us laugh, make us smile and make us cry!

1.      Strand 1 – 27 min documentary style film
This strand is focussed on a more traditional doc format exploring a North East community in a filmic and narrative way.
Greater consideration will be given to idea’s that demonstrate how they will sustain the half hour format.
Practitioners with some experience looking to work to broadcast deadlines

2.      Strand 2 – 3 minute documentary style film
This strand should be engaging and inventive – in the vein of C4 Three Minute Wonders – this is also an opportunity to experiment with form.
Practitioners of all levels interested in making their mark

3.      Strand 3 – 10 minute factual format
This strand should explore how to engage the public, charities, business or a local authority to address social issues through the media (think Power to the People, Monty’s Garden, Jamie’s School Dinners). The feel for this strand is mischievous worthiness.
Practitioners with some experience and a lot of talent

Budgets will vary between £1,500 and £9,000. Applicants are strongly encouraged to consider how they will realise their idea the cost of doing so.

Application deadline 5pm 12th February 2010

Application Process

Stage 1 – Submit hard copy Application Form and supporting information to Northern Film & Media by 12th February 2010 (Please note you must also email your application form by this date to Joanna@northernmedia.org)

Stage 2 – Sheffield Doc/Fest Capture Workshop for those who are shortlisted 8th/9th March

Stage 3 – Final interview (with broadcasters present) 12th March 2010

Please note – If selected for an interview you will be required to:

•       Provide footage of the contributors/characters that you intend to use.

Application Form and Guidelines are attached

Sheffield Doc/Fest Capture Workshop 8th/9th March

The workshop is a high level project development opportunity which also includes an introduction to MeetMarket and all Marketplace activities at Doc/Fest and to wider opportunities in international documentary funding and markets. Delivered by International Marketplace specialist Christina Burnett, of Wide Eye Pictures, and Charlie Phillips, Doc/Fest Marketplace Producer, this is also a unique chance to pitch your project and get feedback. For more information on Doc/Fest please see www.sheffdocfest.com
Last year’s scheme

Throughout last year’s Capture scheme the filmmakers made video diaries and blogs of their journeys. You can find out more at the Capture Micro site:   http://www.northernmedia.org/capture

Director Tom Marshall made it for a national competition and is asking for support from readers of this blog. It’s been shortlisted from over 250 entries into the final 12 in reed.co.uk’s Short Film Competition. The brief was to make a short film of no more than three minutes long, under the heading ‘workplace’.

A bit like the X-Factor, Remember my Face needs as many votes as possible to get through to the final round of the competition which offers the winner a ten grand prize.

To place your vote, click here

…And good luck to Tom who is the subject of our regular ‘Creative Perspective’ feature next time on Blogzene.

The film was made to fit a brief for a competition being run by reed.co.uk, they wanted films based around the theme ‘workplace’ and under 3 minutes in length. I used the competition as a reason to do something I had wanted to do for a long time, write and record a comedy song and then shoot a video to it. I’m a huge fan of ‘Flight of  the Concords’ who do this brilliantly.  I think our attempt isn’t quite up to their standards! But I am still very proud of how it has turned out.

I wrote the lyrics to the song, I gave these to Aaron Turner who then came up with the track and the arrangement. We went more ‘Pet Shop Boys’ than ‘G Unit’ a sort of white middle class rap thing which I thought was going to be best comedy-wise! We recorded the song in one afternoon, and it was a great experience, although I’m not planning a career change to record producer just yet! (As I let Aaron do most of the work, my input was mostly “Be a bit more like Bowie on this bit)

The guy playing the lead is actually my old English/drama teacher from secondary school, who was the young trendy teacher everyone wanted to be friends with.  I think he carries the video brilliantly, I knew he would, as he was just as entertaining in the classroom.

We filmed the whole video in one day, all the dolly movements you can see in the video were done on a peice of equipment that I managed to blag. All filmed in the Phoenix Building (Thanks again Kieran Weatherill, IDI) with a skeleton crew of 4.  For extras I was just a bit cheeky and roped people in who were working in the building (spot the cameo from Kieran’s glamorous assistant Kylie).

I have always wanted to make a film like this, so I guess even though there is a very small chance we will win, I am still very proud of the fact I just went out and made it. That’s not to say I won’t be having a few bitter rants once I find out who has won instead of us!