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| "The Cost of Regeneration" (2008/2010) |
The 2007/2008 academic year was my last at primary school, and when I made my first 'film' (if it can be described as such). I'd just started getting very much into Lego at the time, and - after getting my first laptop in Christmas 2007 - I was spending time getting used to using the various pieces of software available to me. Don't get me wrong, my horizons at this stage were confined within the Windows Movie Maker box, but there's nothing to be ashamed of there.
Anyway, would it be too poetic to say that I owe my film experience and everything that's come with it to an incident in a Tesco Express car park in March 2008? I hope not, because I do. Being into Lego, I had my eye on the X-Wing Fighter set, at that point in its third year of production and not far off being discontinued. All the signs pointed to me needing to either get the set soon, or go without. But I was eleven years old, and the X-Wing cost £40. I couldn't afford that! (As a side note, I could probably have bought it a lot sooner, but Doctor Who DVDs were an even bigger priority for me back then.) I'd scraped together £30, but that was as far as it went. And then I found a £10 note in the car park at Tesco Express.
I had £40.
And so I persuaded my mum to drive me to Gloucester, as far as I know the nearest Toys 'R' Us at the time (I don't think there's one any closer to this day - certainly Hereford still doesn't have one, and back then the closest thing we had to a toy shop was a local department store) so that I could buy the X-Wing. Through some circumstances I can't remember, I also managed to get another set, and I spent the drive home mulling over stories in my head, situations I could put my new Lego characters in.
For some reason I decided it would be a good idea to share a few of these stories. As soon as I got home, I dug out my camera and began taking pictures for what would become my first stop-motion animation, a rather terrible thing called Woes of the Chancellor. At some point in the subsequent eight years, I lost both the finished film and the raw material, and I'm not sure that's a bad thing.
I continued on the stop-motion route for a number of years without changing my formula too much. I experimented with different frame rates, and I got more ambitious with what I was shooting (Woes of the Chancellor was nothing more than Darth Vader walking a few steps, followed by a soundbite stolen from one of the Star Wars films. The films I made in early to mid 2009 generally featured characters getting into a pickle and then resolving it, or else learning something about themselves. I never worked with anybody else in these early days, and slowly began to incorporate specially-recorded voices into the films - with myself playing every character, and my acting talents or lack thereof giving every character exactly the same voice.
I doubt I'd have developed much further than this if it wasn't for a combination of factors; firstly, I discovered that a friend from secondary school, my good friend Tom Pullin, also made stop-motion films, and also liked Doctor Who. We wrote and recorded lines for a very complex fourteen-part animation which we never got as far as filming, and shot one or two films together.
In a similar vein, I found out that stop-motion animation was also a hobby for a family friend, Ross Arrowsmith - currently of Radio Bicester. He didn't come to visit often, but when he did, we'd bash out a quick film or something.
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| "Devil's Edge" (2012) |
And thirdly - perhaps most importantly - I began to attend a film-making club for young people at the local theatre. Technically speaking, this was open to 11-16 year olds when I joined, though the younger end had expanded by the time I left. Perhaps because I'd been going so long as to be grandfathered in, or perhaps because the numbers were too low for anybody to care, I managed to keep attending until I was eighteen, when I had to leave for university. I spent seven years at the film club, which meant I was able to have fun making films with a wide variety of people my age, some of whom I'm still in touch with and still work with to this day.
At some point during my time at school (I'm not sure exactly when) I discovered that my friend Ben Harrison also had an interest in film. This developed, in 2012, into a partnership (ShiftyPotatoes Films) and a Doctor Who fan-film. It wasn't anything to write home about, but it was the first time I'd worked on a live-action film project which I'd organised in advance with other crewmembers - my previous stuff was all either independent or spur-of-the-moment.
ShiftyPotatoes Films actually served as a sort of reason to make us get out there and make films. We had a brand, albeit a low-key one, which was our driving force, and throughout my first year of college we continued to make little short films which were more an excuse for us to get hands-on experience than a cinematic masterpiece.
Starting in 2014, I feel like I took a considerable step forward in the film industry. I'd been part of the local branch of the BFI Film Academy for the 2013-14 academic year, and we shot a short film (The Careers Interview) in February 2014. I was responsible for the edit, which was completed in time for our cinema screening the following month - the first time something I'd made was shown on the big screen, and so far the last. And, later in the year, I was part of a crew full of young people, who through crowdfunding and calling favours managed to shoot and release another short film, The Bird Nerd, entirely independently of other organisations.
At the same sort of time, I was asked to shoot the end-of-year school play at the primary school I attended, something which I achieved. I was asked back to do it again the following year as well.
In 2015, I finished my time at college and started life at university. Aside from the course projects, I recently attempted a forty-eight hour film shoot (which fell apart as we failed to secure any actors, and then fell asleep).
And that brings me to today, writing this blog-post.
At some point during my time at school (I'm not sure exactly when) I discovered that my friend Ben Harrison also had an interest in film. This developed, in 2012, into a partnership (ShiftyPotatoes Films) and a Doctor Who fan-film. It wasn't anything to write home about, but it was the first time I'd worked on a live-action film project which I'd organised in advance with other crewmembers - my previous stuff was all either independent or spur-of-the-moment.
ShiftyPotatoes Films actually served as a sort of reason to make us get out there and make films. We had a brand, albeit a low-key one, which was our driving force, and throughout my first year of college we continued to make little short films which were more an excuse for us to get hands-on experience than a cinematic masterpiece.
Starting in 2014, I feel like I took a considerable step forward in the film industry. I'd been part of the local branch of the BFI Film Academy for the 2013-14 academic year, and we shot a short film (The Careers Interview) in February 2014. I was responsible for the edit, which was completed in time for our cinema screening the following month - the first time something I'd made was shown on the big screen, and so far the last. And, later in the year, I was part of a crew full of young people, who through crowdfunding and calling favours managed to shoot and release another short film, The Bird Nerd, entirely independently of other organisations.
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At the same sort of time, I was asked to shoot the end-of-year school play at the primary school I attended, something which I achieved. I was asked back to do it again the following year as well.
In 2015, I finished my time at college and started life at university. Aside from the course projects, I recently attempted a forty-eight hour film shoot (which fell apart as we failed to secure any actors, and then fell asleep).
And that brings me to today, writing this blog-post.
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