It's 5.42 and Johnno, first AD turned up 30 mins early. I love film industry pro's, no-one is ever late. Right now I don't feel much. Not tired. Not excited. Not daunted. Just focussed. I am planned. I have a great team. We can do this and it will be awesome. Let's see how the […]
Author Archive | Chris Jones
Less than 12 hours to go…
A few hours ago, the camera truck arrived and I took a pic of the contents for this blog. Blimey! Look at it all. Two 35mm cameras and all the bits. Not much like an HDV camera and tripod is it! Ok. It’s 11.30 and I will be up at 5.15 tomorrow morning. Breakfast at […]
One day to go…
So. The final day before the shoot. And so far, bedlam. Without doubt this is the most hectic day of any shoot, and it’s frantic. We managed to get our leading man, against all odds – Bill Patterson. I am over the moon as Bill is a warm and charismatic presence who is ideal for […]
2 days to go, and as I write this, now 1!
Today has been a heady mix of AMAZING and AWFUL! It started out extremely well with a Tech reccie with DP Vernon Layton and First AD Jonathan Andrew. I have never done this kind of really in depth reccie before hand and I found it very useful. It gave Vernon and I an opportunity to […]
We got worms!
We have tried very hard to get EVERYTHING for free, and I just got word that we saved £40 or so by getting our worms (used as props) for free – courtesy of www.wormsdirectuk.co.uk! The will be arriving at the studios in the next day or so before being put in my fridge. Apparently that’s […]
James Wilson joins an ensemble of young talent
Great News. We have just confirmed James Wilson for ‘Gone Fishing’, in the part of Simon. We auditioned James some time back, and when he came into the room, he just lit it up. We also interviewed about 100 other kids, most of whom were solid little actors who would easily take an episode of […]
Three days and counting…
Final organisational touches are now coming together. This is a kind of fluidity to production that is very tiring – dates, crew, cast, locations, all interdependent, all changing regularly. It’s most frustrating when people pull out knowing the huge impact it has on us, even though they have been involved in negotiation and things have […]
Casting Coming Together
Great news. We have Lucy Joyce, a very experienced young actor to play Young Emily in Gone Fishing. She has a huge amount of TV and move credits to her name and it’s very exciting to be working consistently with very professional actors throughout the cast, especially as there are so many young actors in […]
Costume design without a fitting!
Late last night I had my second big meeting with Costume Designer, Linda Haysman. We were checking over the costume for the two young boy characters in the story. Mainly Young Bill, played by Devon Murray. We had worked quite hard to stay within a selected colour palette that would co-ordinate well wit the colours […]
Watch our set go up!
So the set is going up. The one day shoot on the stage, scheduled for Sunday, is going to a great day for people who have contributed to Gone Fishing, to come a see how the whole process works. There is a time lapse Quicktime film of the first few hours of construction that you […]
And so it begins…
Today was the first day that I really had that feeling of 100% immersion in the film making process. Where nothing else matters. It began at 8am, stage 3 at Ealing Studios, a huge sound stage that we managed to get for the sets for Gone Fishing. Set construction began with Mark Sutherland at the […]
New Technology Communications
Yesterday was hell. We had a few people drop out, a few production disasters that have cost needless money and hell, and I mean HELL from agents. Both casting director Catherine Arton and myself pretty much checked out last night… But then we had some GREAT news, which I can’t reveal just yet. Hopefully tomorrow […]
Announcing some cast and crew!
OK, it’s time we started to reveal who some of our talented cast and crew are going to be… First off, I am more than delighted to announce that seasoned DP, no British LEGEND, Vernon Layton, will be shooting ‘Gone Fishing’. This is awesome news as Vernon truly is an artist. Among many others Vernon […]
Perspective…
I got a few responses from yesterdays blog and I just wanted to share with you one from a film maker I met on one of my courses a few years back, Oli Lewington… Hey Chris, I’m a long-time follower of your various activities – got the books, done the course, blah blah blah. I […]
Production hots up…
Production is really kicking in now. Daily, hourly, even minute by minute, new crises arise as others are fixed. Often, it can get SO hard that you really ask, what on earth am I doing? And then you remember, ‘Oh yes, most people have real jobs!’ As I haven’t made a film for some time, […]
Second Unit on Gone Fishing
Shooting is getting closer and deals are being struck. We managed to get ALL of our 35mm camera equipment for free from Arri, saving us thousands. Not only that, but we managed to get a second camera body too, so we will have an active second unit for the whole production. Film maker buddy, Simon […]
Gone Fishing Colour Palette
I have just been working on the colour palette for ‘Gone Fishing’ with Emily Johnson, the production designer. We both felt that we wanted to somehow mirror the two worlds of the ‘fishing flashback’ with young Bill, and the world of Old Bill, the old man whose story it is, through careful use of colours. […]
Bury Hill – Main Location
I spent the most of yesterday wandering around our main location for the shoot – Bury Hill Fisheries, near Dorking. This venue has a lot of advantages and disadvantages. First off disadvantages – it just isn’t as spectacular as we wanted. Second, there could be a lot of fishermen on the days we shoot, though […]
Dark midnight of the creative soul
I am suffering right now (well actually last night to be specific, but past it this morning) from one of the symptoms I discuss on my two day film makers course. It’s a common problem and it can be quite crippling. When you set out on any creative venture and think up some kind of […]
Casting Simon and Bill in Gone Fishing
I spent another whole day in casting – looking for the young actors to play the two young boys in ‘Gone Fishing’. I know we found one boy who was amazing, but until the parents and agents have agreed for him to play the part, I don’t want to say anything. Let’s all keep our […]
Scheduling
I spent most of yesterday and last night updating the schedule, which has gone through several major revisions already. The first one was done by Producer, Ivan Clemments, who then had to leave for two weeks, and it was subsequently revised by Sabina Sattar, who stepped into his shoes as acting producer. The schedule then […]
Sound Recordist, Killer Pike and Killer Bunnies!
Great news today. Experienced sound recordist Adrian Bell has agreed to record sound on ‘Gone Fishing’. This is particularly good news for me as Adrian recorded sound on my first feature film, ‘The Runner’, the movie that inspired ‘The Guerilla Film Makers Handbook’! So terrific! Adrians website is here. He will be using hard drive […]
Killer Pike Effects
I have been working out how do some of the visual effects for ‘Gone Fishing’. Of course having no money, it’s a sellotape and string affair. But, I now have recieved tremendous support from a special effects company called Men From Mars. These digital effects guys are real wizards and usually work on $50m movies, […]
Grading 35mm
I spent the whole of yesterday in the main grading theatre at Midnight Transfer in London. We were working on the final grade for a 35mm short a friend of mine produced (Director Andreas Wisniewski, Producer Claire Trevor Roper), and they had a little bit of budget available, so we could use these guys and […]
Production Designer Sabina Satta Joins LSP
Yesterday was a great day! Sabina Satta, production designer extraordinaire, joined Team Living Spirit on ‘Gone Fishing’. Not only is Sabina a wonderful designer, but she is also a writer, producer and director. This will bring a wonderful and holistic approach to the design department. She fell in love with the project when she read […]