New Job New City
During my last post, I spoke about struggling to get to work. Well, it's finally happened my biggest break to date. I have been a part of the Screen-skills trainee scheme for about a year hoping for a placement I was losing hope and started a new full-time job unrelated to film when I got an interview for a high-end TV show. Long story short I had the interview which I thought went well, the team were lovely and I got it!!!
Now the thing is they needed me to start ASAP and guess where it was? London!! Which means I had two weeks to move my entire world, from Leeds to London. But I couldn't pass on this amazing opportunity, so I decided to do it and leave my home of 5 years. I have successfully found somewhere to live and made the move down yesterday. I carted all my worldly belongings in my little Citron C1 down the M1 for 5 hours and made it. My new future starts tomorrow and I'm so excited to work as an art department assistant on an amazing TV show. Here's to an amazing adventure and I can't wait to share all the skills and experiences along the way.
How To Kill Monsters Premiere
It’s a bit late but this blog post will be about the premiere I went to in August. A week after I wrapped my latest short film, I was back in London to attend FrightFest in Leicester Square where the amazing film How To Kill Monsters would be premiering. I had the pleasure of working on this film just after graduating from university. It was such a great opportunity to have straight out of uni and my first feature film credit. This was shot at the Northern Film School so we had access to some amazing facilities and sets.
Before the actual film shoot started both me and https://www.charlotterimmington.com/ prepped to help make the trailer, which would be going on the Kickstarter to help raise funding for the film. We helped paint and decorate the sets and also worked with the practical effect guys helping control some of the creepy tentacle monsters with fishing wire. I then helped out for a week in the art department on the shoot for the feature. We spent the week dressing sets and also helped out with the costume department. This film contained a lot of blood and guts so we got stuck in covering the sets with fake blood, of all consistencies. We sprayed and chucked blood all around leaving handprints and trails of blood. This bit was particularly fun but messy. During the points when art wasn’t needed, I had some great conversations with the actors and other members of the crew which are remembered to this day. It was lovely to meet some talented and interesting people so close to home that I probably wouldn’t have met if it wasn’t for this film.
A year later I had the pleasure of watching the final film on IMAX. It was amazing to see something I had been a part of on the big screen surrounded by the cast and crew but also horror fans who had liked the first film Book of Monsters also made by https://darkrifthorror.com/. Everyone seemed to thoroughly enjoy the film and since Frightfest it has got into a load more festivals nationally and internationally if you're interested go check out their Instagram https://www.instagram.com/howtokillmonsters/ which is constantly being updated with new festival selections. I had a great time catching up with all of the cast and crew who I hadn’t seen in a year and it was cool to see the film in such a well-known venue but also to find out what everyone had been working on since. Even though I felt like my role was really small everyone seemed to remember me, which was surprising and everyone was so appreciative of all of us in Art for the work we put in which was amazing and I am so thankful for that. Hopefully, this won’t be the last film I work on that is shown at Leicester Square, and I would love to work on another Dark Rift Horror film when they make it. Below are some images from the premiere and BTS.
The future of the film industry has been all over the place at the moment due to the actor and writers strikes, so it's been a difficult one to find work as of recent but that won’t stop me from trying,
The Longest Distance Short Film
Photo by Amy Coral
This August I had the amazing experience of filming down south In London for the first time. So far in my Career I have been based up north working in Leeds, Sheffield, York and Newcastle. I had the chance to travel down to the capital to source furniture before the shoot taking the train which was super quick and easy from Leeds. I visited Superhire for the first time. It was incredible. Everything you could think of they had. There were different floors for different styles from modern to period, small props to furniture. It really gave me an idea for the future of what type of items you are able to hire by exploring all of the different floors. We also went to Stockyard prop hire but this prop hire was more suited to large features, or Tv Shows and definitely out of our budget . I was able to decide that super-hire was more in our price range, and suitable for our project. It was really great to get to know the local prop hires, in and around London for future projects. I now feel a bit more familiar with shooting down south, which will really benefit me if I ever do more projects down there.
For the shoot I travelled down from Leeds to Guildford, this was the first time I had driven to London and I feel like I wouldn’t worry about doing it again which means I would definitely be open to more work in London. The prospect was daunting but I would happily do it again. For the four day shoot I stayed in an Airbnb with costume and makeup.
In the lead up to the shoot I had done a lot of prep hiring props, in both Leeds and London. I designed graphics creating a WWII cigarette packet and a label to go on a record vinyl, along with labels for the picnic jars. I then had to transport all of these props and some of the furniture down south, while the rest of the props would be delivered to the set from Superhire based in London.
The shoot went quite smoothly. We filmed in a house location for half of the first day, which was the heaviest day for design. This was the day where all the furniture would be needed. For the rest of the shoot we shot outside in Brookwood Cemetery which was huge. We all had to drive down to the graveyard from the entrance. I won’t lie I did get lost a few times and managed to find myslelf off road on a dirt track, where I may have driven into a huge crater of mud surrounded by cones which was quite comical. My car ended up very muddy by the end. The weather held out for most of the shoot and there weren’t really any issues, the only thing really was the record player. Unfortunately due to the record player being so old and antique. It was historically accurate but didn’t work in the way we would have wanted. The needle wouldn't stay on the record but luckily we managed to find a solution. I also learnt some cool information from the sound department on the differences in records from different time periods. This shoot was hard due to the fact I was the only one working in the Art department as it was a small crew. It has really made me realise having an assistant makes the world of difference.
One of the best parts about this shoot was the crew. I built some great relationships. Costume and makeup I became closest with along with the gaffer, who brought a lot of laughs and giggles to the shoot entertaining all of us. Overall I was happy with the work I put in, especially with the budget. I even managed to come in under budget which helped due to unexpected costs that cropped up on the shoot from other departments. Both producers did a great job and solving problems and supporting all of the crew which I was thankful for. During pre-Production the shoot had been cancelled twice due to unforeseen circumstances but I am glad I stuck with the production as I met some great people and gained more experience. Below I have included a photo taken by the wonderful BTS Photographer Amy Coral.
Weave Short Film
Photo by Funke Star
This month I had the pleasure of working on https://enonfilms.com/ latest short. This short was particularly special due to its subject matter concentrating on the culture and history behind black hair. The film also concentrates on the difficult subject matter of Alzheimer's disease and other mental health problems which will be revealed during the film's release.
I was brought onto the shoot at the very last minute due to the previous designer unfortunately having to drop out. I had to act fast and due to her being in London, I had to repurchase all of the set dressing and props myself in the space of a day. I’m not going to lie, it was stressful but it paid off. I managed to source everything needed plus extra finding what I could at home. I was so lucky that the location was amazing. The house we used was beautiful and the colours of the rooms complimented the dressing, the costumes and hair looked stunning which all gelled so well together. I was so lucky to work with such an incredible team. During the shoot, I learned so much and I really was educated by the crew. I came into the project not knowing that much about black hair and the important history behind the different hairstyles and methods used in the film's story. This was positive because if I can be educated and come away with more understanding I know the film will do this and more. Understanding is so important as it allows for respect and empathy and this film will be a great way to bring awareness to many important subject matters. Even watching from behind the camera at the performances I felt emotional at the hard-hitting subject matters and I can tell that this film is going to be something special.
We all worked super hard and had some great laughs along the way ending the shoot with pizza and chats. I knew a few familiar faces when I began the production but by the end, I felt that I had known everyone for ages. I also had the pleasure of being able to work with a great art department assistant who helped me a lot on the shoot days. This was one of the most positive and most professional sets I have worked on and I can’t wait to see the final film.
Weave was made in partnership with https://www.adira.org.uk/ Sheffeild’s leading black mental health organization and was also funded by https://lankellychase.org.uk/ both amazing organizations so go check them out through the links above.
My Site Is Now Live !
For a while now I have been designing a website to showcase all of my work. I will regularly be keeping you up to date with my latest filming projects. I am Super happy to say my website is finally done, so go have a browse and check out everything I have worked on so far.