Category Archives: Projects
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.
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!
Say Hello
Glad to be working with Maverick and Fierce as well as Rewired PR on Say Hello – the public participatory programme of Hello Digital.
Some of the planned activities are Film Dash – a 48-hour film challenge organised by Chris Unitt; My First Email; News Dash; Kahani and Urban Legends. For more information, please visit the Hello Digital website as well as the HD and Say Hello blogs.
There are also plans for a series of roadshows in the next few months in the run up to the 2010 Hello Digital conference. The next few months truly looks exciting on the digital front here in the Midlands.
Hello Digital Fringe Events
Having turned freelance, I’m lucky to have been offered a job with Birmingham City Council’s Arts Services to work on Hello Digital. My role there is to set up Fringe Events to support the main Hello Digital conference, which is supported by Advantage West Midlands, Arts Council England, Digital Birmingham, Screen West Midlands, Business Link WM and Marketing Birmingham.
Hello Digital is the Midlands’ first and largest digital festival. Having worked on it when I was still at Maverick, this festival is quite close to my heart.
So from September 2009 onwards, Fringe Events have been funded by Hello Digital. These are targeted towards young people, the over 55s, producers and creative artists as well as various communities. A judging panel which consisted of the main HD partners and Claire McArdle of 4iP whittled down the applications and helped decide which Fringe Events we were going for. Some producers have asked for their sessions to be part of the HD umbrella, which we were happy to add to the Fringe repertoire.
The Fringe Events, to name a few, include: Brum Twestival, Popcorn Comedy, 4AM Project, FizzPOP Howduino, Talk About Local – Highgate and Digital Inclusion Unconference. in which below is a video from organiser, Jon Bounds of We Share Stuff.
Jon Bounds @ WSS Digital Inclusion Unconference from Mars Elkins on Vimeo.
There are quite a few workshops and sessions happening in March 2010, so do visit the Hello Digital website to see if those events take your fancy. To see a list of the Fringe Events, please click here.
