Happy Christmas


If the novelty of looking at things covered in snow hasn't worn off yet I've uploaded this Jpeg of some flotsam with snow on. I was going to write 'Happy Christmas' on it in a san serif font but what's the point?

It's been over a year now since we started working on the film including treatments and just under a year for the blog. Every hit, comment and piece of feedback has been really appreciated (Nell this means you).

I've also attached my favorite Christmas song 'Just like Christmas' by Low, if you haven't heard it this year you should bang it on.



We're nearly finished hopefully in January well have a film to show you.
Merry Christmas

A Terrible Mix Up
We've just finished the second edit of Flotsam & Jetsam although there's still allot of work I think its shaping up. We got some feedback from Vision+Media many positive stuff although there was one grey area.
The confusion follows as thus;

Will, (Vision+Media)
Subject: clarification

hi both,

when i said in my last email 'please try and animate the brother and sister' i didn't mean literally animate them, just get them excited!

Sam's responses was;
Too late!!

We've spent the last of our money at Pixar
expect an oscar


I just hope this one pans out.

I just watch the BBC's 'The Weird Adventures of Eadweard Muybridge' part of the Imagine - Winter 2010 seriese. If you already know about photographic gnarl bag Edward Muybridge you should really enjoy this, if you don't know much about him your in for such a treat.

the Documentary Blog Podcasts
The Documentary Blog has been great since we started production and there pod-casts are turning into my favourite thing about Mondays. The Bradley Beesley and Ben Steinbauer remains my Favourite but Malcolm Ingram and the Ondi Timoner is really inspiring and if you spend long periods of time on your own its always nice to hear other human voice.

You can stream them of there site of downloaded them of iTUNES.

Recent Shoot





I've just noticed how mono tone this blog has got so I thought Id post some screen grabs of last weeks shoot. I love all these shots and hope we do them justice in the edit.

Message in a bottle of the week


Modest Stefan's English is pretty good, way better than my Swedish which is normally the case. As a triumph of ignorance and the Empire we made too and from Holland last week with out a word of any other language.

We are currently in Texel getting a few shots to finish the edit and thanks to Jaap Eelman a local camera man / editor we've found this super 8 footage dating back to 1920.

Message in a bottle of the week



What's this kids deal? Occasionally I write a letter about how ace I am and throw it into the sea.

Message in the Bottle of the week
(a couple of weeks late)


Not much to say about this one it's written in Dutch and when we got it translated most of it dose make sense. It starts of with "I'm your big bear man" the rest of is an address and incoherent sex noises!

The funny thing about the address is the message was found very close to where it was sent. Where's the dignity?

So me and Sam have started the edit this week, were currently sorting out the rushes. It's becoming increasing obvious how much the camera loves this guy.

This isn't very maritime, but its visually brilliant so i thought it was worth a post. This is a Japanese short that I first saw in University. I had a little bit of trouble finding it, so this version has a weird soundtrack, but it looks amazing. Check it.

We've been luckey enough to get some of Cor's Letter in the GasWorks London thanks to Artist Polly Brannan.

The show is called Hydrachy: Power and Resistance at Sea. The event is Tomorrow from 2-5pm is you fancy it? The show runs until 7th November.

There's more info on the show here

Message of the Week
(click on the image to read)



Reading between the lines Cor found a chair with this companies logo on and tracked them down. I love the tone of this letter and how intrigued the sender is.

I've had a look at Hans Jørgen Wegner wikipedia page the chairs he design in 1949 were the Wishbone Chair



and the Round Chair



So I'm presuming its one of them but it might of been this little guy floating around.

Message in a Bottle of the week

This week message comes from a Lonely English Man and is one of most last ditch attempts at pulling I've ever seen.


Unfortunately for Mick this message was found by an elderly man,

Bad luck Darling.

Message of the Week.

With this blog being sorely under used I've decided to upload a message found in a bottle on shores of Texel by beachcomber Cor Ellen every week. This week's letter comes from Paul Murphy and he's in distress.



I have no clue what's going on with this I think it was found in 90's by Cor and Conoco Kotter is a North Sea oil rig. I googled it to no avail - so where ever Paul is and what exactly is going on is still a mystery to me. I hope he's ok.

Sweethearts of the Prison RodeoSweethearts of the Prison Rodeo trailer has made its way on to Apple Trailers last week. The film itself was on More four last year.

It's great that it's getting exposure on Apple Trailers. After posting this yesterday I was contacted with the correct information about it realise and I quote;

Cinema Purgatorio announced today that critically acclaimed documentary, Sweethearts of the Prison Rodeo will make its theatrical debut nationwide in a Western Swing tour starting this September. The tour includes dates at movie theatres, universities, and correctional facilities.

Director Bradley Beesley will accompany the tour, which starts in NYC, moves to Austin and to venues across the deserts and mountains, then into the Pacific Northwest, before heading back toward Oklahoma. He will be a special guest at regional festivals in New Orleans, Seattle and the Starz Film Center in Denver, and at a special screening for inmates at the Southern New Mexico Correctional Facility. The theatrical roll out will be followed by the Carnivalesque Films DVD release, scheduled for October 25, 2010.

So great news if you live in America. Thanks Jody for the getting in touch with the facts on this one.

Motionographer and NOTCOT

I had a really great week last week getting the Farming Futures Animation posted on NOTCOT and Motionographer It's a really big thing for me. I read both those blogs regularly so to see my work there was mega. The only problem is I absolutely crave this kind of attention now.

Big River Man

Big River Man - Trailer from KNR Productions on Vimeo.

I saw this on More Fours True Stories the other night and Its automatic turned into one of my favourite Documentary. I honestly cant recommend it enough. You can watch it on 4OD for the next month

Good news & Bad

The good news is the shoot on Texel went really well last week. The Bad is UK Film Council is going to be abolished.

Cutting the spending of the regional development agencies has been on the cards for a while and was part of the Tory campaign manifesto so this should come as no surprise, but it is. Don't get wrong no organisation that produces 'Bend It like Beckham' is faultless but the film industry in this country is very important and lottery funding has given me allot of chances.

So this can only be seen as Bad news.

Coast to Coast






I found this on NEON GRAY The're art directors from Baltimore, MD and San Francisco, CA. It one of those nice ideas I wish I had.

As a side note 'coast' is an anagram for 'tacos'.

The Wrecking Season

Is an increadably personal documentry about the beach combing of Nick Darke filmed and directed by his wife Jane. I've been trying to write a synopsis but the BBC site nailed so ill just quote it;

"This haunting film, photographed by Nick's artist wife Jane, which uses atmospheric and evocative archive shot by his father, captures a unique portrait of his daily work as he combed the wild seashore for the wonderful hardwoods, exotic sea beans, fishing paraphernalia and fascinating artefacts deposited on Cornwall's beaches by the ocean's long haul drift.

It's an uplifting tribute to a remarkable man whose house, garden and whole existence are full of the wonderful things he found and whose data and observations feed into important global ocean research and investigations."

Its not on the iPlayer but there is this and this.

Cornelius Ellen
Is one of the oldest and most respected Beachcombers on the island. Both me and Sam where lucky enough to Visit Cor at his house when we went to Texel. Cor is an amazing man and has dedicated his life to beach combing, his collection of messages in bottles is one of the most compelling stores we found on the island.


The entrance to Cor's house

Cor

Cor's Radio

An old passport photo

This letter is amazing I know the compression dose it no justice so click on it if you want to read.

Sign Painter Documentary

As a continuation from the 'Up There' post from last week, I found this to a blog for a documentary about sign painters in the US. Its nice to see another documentaries blog whilst they're still in production and the concept and the stills all look boss.

Der Fälscher or The Counterfeiter

The design and attention to detail in this film is amazing. I'm really into calligraphy at the moment and wondering if it'll work with our film? In 'The Counterfeiter' it works conceptually as well visually.

Unfortunately my copy of the DVDs cover looks like a budget 'Rambo' but if you pay under 5 pound for film you should expect some concessions. The translation slightly off and at one points a Nazi Officer clearly says "Comrade" for the subtitle to read "Mate!"

If anyone wants to borrow it let me know.

Up There
'Blue and yellow make green, but we paint green which is allot richer.'

UP THERE from Jon on Vimeo.

Like allot of good short films you see on-line there's a really heavy handed corporate sponsor but this film is amazingly well made. I love the depth of field in the cinematography the pace of the film. Me and Sam had a long conversation about how to pace Flotsam and Jetsam. I want to start big and fast and slow it down and then up again, but I get the impression he would like something slower like this. Sam sensibly said 'We'll see what the footage is like.'

Texel Typography special
It seems that even the most lifeless vector looks great after a couple months at sea.






I wonder what Sex Munro and Butch Tab Hunter are doing now?

Texel Photos
Photo's from the Flora Museum and the Texel Maritime Museum
Sam and a life pod from an oil rig.P1Bingo sign from Brighton PierMammoth thema