The Film Dash film is finished. Here, for your viewing pleasure, is Dunkirk:
To conclude the story, having gathered most of the footage in Digbeth we went our separate ways to prepare for the party. Danny and Rill’s flatmate Matt is leaving for Manchester and he wanted a military themed party to send him off. So I arrived at their abode to find Rill covered in camouflage face paint and Danny dressed as a Vietnamese hooker. Photo.
We got the final, shot in their alleyway and proceeded to party until the early hours. Which was probably not such a great idea considering we were on a 48 hour film making challenge. Thankfully Rill doesn’t drink so she was able to function in the morning and operate Final Cut Pro but even so, when I arrived at about 2pm she had the look of a deranged person in her eyes as she cut 90 minutes of footage down to 4:30 or so. Once the edit was done I improvised the dialog using the Thingamagoop, she put that in the right places and, barring a couple of false starts, we were done. Into the car with us for a dash into town to Cafe Bebo to deliver it to Chris with about 20 minutes to spare.
Yay!
Some facts and credits.
We filmed using a standard video camera for the establishing shots and a Through The Viewfinder contraption for the POV shots. The latter comprises a Kodak Duaflex camera at the bottom with a point-and-shoot Lumix LX2 looking through it’s viewfinder, hence the name. TTV is normally done with photography and the Flickr group is a good place to find out more.
Our star was my Thingamagoop, a light-sensitive synth disguised as a robot from Bleep Labs. His dialog, heard during the POV shots, was improvised by myself using the Thingamagoop himself in one take.
The music was kindly donated by Stef of Type Records at the last minute as we were hunting through the Podsafe banks with increasing futility. It’s taken from Xela’s album For Frosty Mornings and Summer Nights. Please go buy some Type music as it’s all very good stuff.
Of the three of us Rachael Marchant is the real film maker. She did most of the heavy lifting so credit where credit is due. Danny done good too, keeping everything on track and focussed. And carrying off that dress surprisingly well.
Personally I had a really good time doing something I wouldn’t normally do and working with people who knew what they were doing. Roll on Film Dash 2009!
Aw, how cute is Thingamagoop? He’s got a certain R2D2 ‘awwww’ factor going on there. I thought him and the orange juice might get it on at then end. He seemed so excited by it for a short while ;)
Great stuff – shot and edited brilliantly!
Fantastic! Held me spellbound for 5 minute 13 seconds!
so, so cute! Did he find his way home?
Hee, I’d always suspected that Thingamagoop was a really sweet chap, if a little melancholy.
This film is looking really good too!
Grand! So, any plans for any more?
I reckon Thingamagoop’s got legs. Well, he hasn’t but you know what I mean …
Thanks everyone!
Judging for the competition is on Sunday – I have high hopes!