Monthly Archives: July 2010
New Red Bull assignments
Some new Red Bull Reporter assignments that may be of interest to budding writers and photographers. This is your chance to show off what you can do.
Writer and Photographer wanted: Underage Festival, London
Sunday 1st August 2010 will see ten thousand 14-18 year-olds flock to London’s Victoria Park for this year’s Underage Festival.
The Red Bull Bedroom Jam Stage is returning to the festival for another year, and they are extremely excited to announce that they’re on the hunt for a creative writer and a talented photographer to report back on all of the action, as and when it happens. If you live for writing and fancy spending the day hanging out with artists and fans, or have a passion for photography and will do anything to get that perfect snap, then this could be just the gig that you’ve been waiting for.
Writer & Photographer wanted for Red Bull Illume Image Quest Exhibition, Dublin
Red Bull Illume is a worldwide competition for the best of the best in action and adventure sports photography. The date of unveiling of the winners is coming closer and closer – September 2nd is marked red in the finalists’ diaries.
If you think you are an outstanding photographer and you should go to the exhibition in Dublin, then enter your submission. Also, if you are a writer and love firing questions to people and getting to know all their secrets, you should upload some of your work on www.redbullreporter.com. Both photographers and writers should tag their work with “Red Bull Illume”!
The naked truth
So, today we were away from unit base, which is the Hare and Hounds, and shot scenes from the Turbulence characters’ flats. It was a day of crash mats, tight jeans, scantily clad young women and naked Tai Chi… yes, you read it right, naked Tai Chi. I Twitpic’d this photo before actor David Alwyn, who plays the role of Christian in the film, showed off his birthday suit. Sorry ladies, this was how far I was allowed to show.
David was such a good sport and did ever so well today having had to do his nude scene in front of a big group of people. We chatted over a packet of crisps and here’s what he had to say:
Second week of Turbulence
I can’t believe that Week 1 has just flown by so quickly and we are now on Week 2. There is such a tremendous air of can do attitude here and so far the stuff we have filmed have been cool – I really can’t wait to see the final product i.e. the film. I know it sounds cliche, but really, the people involved in this project are ready to muck in and it’s great working with such a great team. It really is like one big happy family and I think this is why I am so drawn at the prospect of getting involved.
Also, what interests me the most is the experimental side of filmmaking. Turbulence doesn’t have a big Hollywood budget with A-List celebrities and large departments for costume, props and all that, however, it has high production values thanks to the key production crew and fresh promising talent involved in the film. The use of social media has been integral to the development of the script and it also proved (and continues to prove) that crowd sourcing works. We are able to reach people to take part as extras as well as lend us extra bits of props and even spare hands when needed. As producer Natasha Carlish Tweeted on Monday, “Social capital is the new most valuable currency a no-budget film can have as proved by @gabysslave [Julia Higginbottom - 1st AD/Production Manager] today on @turbulencefilm.”
Last night’s gig shoot at the Hare and Hounds was a great example of how effective a tool Twitter and Facebook have been. Inside the pub, were a gathering of people from different networks but have come together under the Turbulence social media banner. Listen to the Boos from some of the people I chatted to last night.
Just to give you a teaser of what happened last night, here’s a snippet from last night’s shoot featuring the character Russell Shumway and our wonderful extras.
So, roll on Week 3, which will be the final week of filming. It has been an ace experience so far and do watch out for other online shenanigans. You can find us on Facebook and you can follow us on Twitter.
If you were part of the crowd scene last night and have a film or photograph from the shoot, we’d love to get a copy and show some of them off on our site, so please e-mail them to turbulence.movie@gmail.com.
MARZA Story Circus competition
MARZA ANIMATION PLANET INC, the new film production arm of Sega Sammy group, and 100 Meter Films have launched the MARZA Story Circus competition.
The company’s vision is to produce “delightful stories for children all over the world”. It also aims to produce feature-length CGI animated films for global distribution. They are looking for original and entertaining stories for children and families with contemporary themes and positive messages, set in any culture or period.
Those who wish to join must download an application form. Deadline for entries is Friday, July 30.
Dance and Screen Collide
BAFTA and Big Dance 2010 co-produced an event called Dance and Screen Collide, which was held yesterday at BFI Southbank. Attendees were a mixture of those from the dance industry, mainly choreographers, and filmmakers/producers. It was very apparent that both worlds have this massive desire to collaborate in order to produce more dance on screen.
The aim of the afternoon is to enable to get the conversation going between the dance and screen sectors. The speakers talked about how producing dance on screen is a collaborative process. They discussed the practical and conceptual challenges they face as well as the different approaches in choreographing / capturing dance on film/TV and music videos/commercials.
The speakers were (as seen above from L-R) Litza Bixer, Kate Wilson Prince, John De Borman, Rob Leggatt and Briony Hanson. Briony is from BFI, who chaired the event. Litza is a director, writer and top choreographer. Have a look at her impressive showreel below:
Kate heads up ZooNation Dance Academy UK. She is also the lead choreographer for British smash hit StreetDance 3D. Here’s a trailer of the film:
She was also a choreographer for top BBC dance show So You Think You Can Dance? She praised it because she said that there is so much respect for choreographers in both the US and UK shows and appreciates the fact that what they do is seen as an art form. Here’s a video of what she choreographed for SYTYCD in the UK:
John is a Director of Photography and has worked on The Full Monty and Shall We Dance? with Jennifer Lopez and Richard Gere. Below is a clip of the Argentinian Tango scene J-lo and Richard did for the film and he briefly touched on the importance of ensuring that not only do the technical aspects such as lighting and camera positioning are important, but a conversation with the choreographer is essential too to get the overall feel for this sensual dance.
Rob is from Blue Source and has directed the MTV Europe Music Award-winning video featuring The Avalanches‘ single Since I Left You:
Listening to them talk made it apparent that this is an exciting time for dance. In order to be innovative, conversations and collaborations must take place. Actions must be taken and celebrate the rich dancing talent we have in this country and beyond.
Turbulence
I’ve always wanted to do a feature film and so I immediately took the chance when I got asked to get involved as New Media Producer in upcoming movie Turbulence. Produced by award-winning Natasha Carlish and directed by two-times BAFTA winner Michael Baig-Clifford, this film has been described as Friends meets Glee. Today, I met some of the actors and production team at the newly refurbished MAC. I’m very much looking forward to working with new (and not so new but friendly) peeps. This project is definitely active online, so no doubt, see you soon.
Here’s a video of the actors improvising. Watch more on YouTube:
Read the blurb about it:
TURBULENCE is an Indie Musical Comedy. The project is a collaboration between the actors David Alwyn, Adrian Banks, Emma Devereaux, Connor Mills, Shay O’Driscoll and Sophie Waller (all recent graduates of Birmingham School of Acting) and BAFTA award winning producer/director team Natasha Carlish and Michael B Clifford. Other exciting collaborators in the project are Adam Regan and the Hare & Hounds, The Scholars, Aquila and Katy Pryce.
The project has evolved over a number of months. It was born out of Natasha and Michael’s desire to explore the world of social media networking and the exciting opportunities it presents filmmakers. So far a number of the characters in the film have FaceBook pages - CLICK HERE to see the Characters’ Page – but further online activity plans to develop wider interest in the film. Because Michael and Natasha are relatively new to this world, they wanted to challenge themselves to make the film in order to better understand its potential and to see what all the fuss is about!
Report from the Red Bull Cliff Diving World Series in Switzerland
Red Bull Reporter and STA Travel are looking for an aspiring filmmaker and an energetic presenter to cover the fifth stop of the Red Bull Cliff Diving World Series in Sisikon, Switzerland.
The selected entrants will travel to Sisikon, in the heart of Switzerland, on August 28th to live out their dreams as the next big talent, covering one of the most exhilarating events on the Red Bull calendar; Red Bull Cliff Diving World Series 2010!
Head to http://www.statravel.co.uk/redbullreporter for more information and to apply for this opportunity!
SXSW Freshers
South by Southwest has always been a great experience for me and so I was quite reminiscent of my first SXSW jaunt when I stumbled across this YouTube video… it was great sharing that moment with a good friend of mine, producer Rebecca Cadwallader.
