#3 Making Episode one: 80 percent done....

So Wednesday was another day of dodging Rain clouds, working around it, and making sure everyone turns up and nails their scenes :) Welcome to another episode of making episode One!!! Had a weds/thurs off work so I planned to shoot some exterior shots outside at Parnell with Steve, Ben and Vic on Wednesday and on Thursday shoot the interirors with Safaa and Ben.

Wednesday.

 We had to have one eye on the action and one eye on the sky as it was forecasted for hail/showers...I can't believe the weather waits for my day off to do this. I had no choice but to shoot today weather be damned as my schedule over the next month was pretty packed with work commitments and I want to finish this series by the end of the year so I can finally start on an actual movie. So here we are, at Parnell park. I stayed up late the night before revising the script, breaking it into a shooting script and schedule. And most of it worked out :) Here's some pics from the shoot below....

Ben lines up the shot, while Steve does some last minute preparation.

Vic and Steve get ready to walk across the road, in style :)

I took a photo to remember the day with this awesome team, Steve, Ben and Vic.

And with the last scene shot outside the westpac building much to amused/scared pedestrians We did the final scenes and as they say, Bam! It's in the can :) (again if you have them, don't film your stuff in public places) 

Thursday.

Thursday was a great way to practice some acting. Something with dialogue. When you watch it please give us some credit. None of us remembered our lines, especially me even though I wrote them and alot of what we shot was improvised as I wrote a hell of a lot. So my advice to first time filmmakers is DO do the tableread through with your actors beforehand or at the very least yourself because they say that one page of script roughly averages out to a one minute of screentime. But as a director you sometimes fail to remember that that doesnt mean you will nail those lines in the first second or third takes, we overshot by about 2 and half hours but I think the results were worth it. Here's some pics/ screenshoots from the shoot.

 Really? A camera? A screenshot from our shoot.

The lovely Safaa as Anna leaving from Ken's apartment, check out his action gear :)

So what's the lesson of the day? Write short lines. Budget enough time, Get a haircut, more on that later... :)

What's next?

Episode 2 and a little scene to finish off episode one. I have to get sound effects for the fight scenes so I'm off to the store for cabbage (don't ask) and I'm going to start work on a bloody good short film. Pun intended ;) Until our next post ,Hope you enjoyed your behind the scenes look and here's a wallpaper I put together for the facebook page :)

Introducing ANNA and KEN :)

The part of ANNA has been cast! The gutsy, knows what she wants character will be played by up and comer Safaa Humadi :) I have worked with her before and she is naturally talented, not only will she bring warmth and vitality to the role, shes also a really fun person to work with and I think by the end of the series we will see some great lines/moments from her :)

And the part of KEN will obviously be played by me! Matt Kinsman, My actings not so flash but this series will be great to finally build a character so the fights can really pack that punch, so expect some good action scenes that get better with each episode and a few super awkward one liners, what doesn't kill us makes us stronger ;)

Bring it on!!! :)

#2 Making Episode One: Ken vs Barry

A screen cap from the edit

Hi guys, 

All week I'd been excited about shooting the first frames of my Web series, 'Parnell Rise', an action dramedy, it's only fitting I kicked off the shooting period with a fight scene! :)

But to be honest I hate filming when I have no budget. Organizing the logistics of seeing who's available at what time, transport and parking for said crew, sorting out a location that's public but with minimal disruption, choreographing a fight on the fly as you work all week at your actual job, and then trying to get a solid set with good camera angles and enough footage to edit in a 4 hour period with no monitor for playback.

 Ken (Matt Kinsman)  faces off against Barry (Steve Heke)

That's bad enough, but to fight with the weather gamble (is it going to crap its pants and rain today like last week?) and the fact in my haste to grab all my gear and crew, that I forgot my choreography folder and shot list? cut down that original 4 hour budget to 2 hours. But I constantly get the impossible :) We got 70 percent of my original plan done, and patched the last 20 shots into 3 or 4 to got the footage. Now that I have edited most of it, I can honestly say I'm happy :) This is my favorite part of the film process, the bit where you have finished with a piece of work that looks and smells great haha :) Here's a quick tease, no real fx, score, coloring, or tight edits yet this little bit was put together for you but looking good, no?...

Hope you enjoyed that!! Anyway, this week should be better with more shooting time, We shoot Act 2 on Thursday, and I hope to start filming Anna's scenes next week. Great news I wanna share too, I've casted Anna with a familiar face :) But you get to find out next Blog a little more about her and what she brings to the table :) See you then :)

#1 Series Concept and Preproduction of Episode One

I have a dream,

I'm an action star, making action films that are received well worldwide, and audiences anticipate my next movie fingers crossed and gossip heavy. I have a great home life with my wife and kids, and when I'm not working I'll be traveling the world in search of adventure and truth and to top it off I'm making movies for a living. Most of my movies are filled with inspirational stuff, witty one liners and some kick ass action scenes. People are entertained and I feel at peace. This is my dream.

But I still have  my reality. I have a fulltime job and I am waiting on an opportunity that will hoist me from being an unknown to being a name, a myth, and this webseries idea is my first ticket on a long journey. Time to punch it you can't wait for things to happen, you have to make things happen!

Parnell Rise is a webseries is designed to show off my skills as a director/writer/actor and show off some of my signature action I hope to share.  The premise is based in Parnell Auckland, hence the name (some pics below from preproduction) and is about 2 friends who each have their own relationships work together as private investigators, but you dont have to be a detective to figure out theres a spark between them, The series will take them on a series of small but fun adventures which will culminate in a decision at the end of the series. I hope you enjoy it, as its the first of many such projects I have planned.

Below are some photos I have taken while setting the scene of where our characters work from. As I went to school in the this area, I know a couple of nice photogenic spots which will be great to shoot at.

 

The cast is always the important aspect of any series or film, I have watched alot of television series and sitcoms and casting the right leads will be important in making the show believable no matter how outrageous the premise. I'll be playing the male lead, Ken, and I have had trouble casting the girl, I've had 3 pull out for various reasons, studies, work, me being not professional enough, one never even got back to me after applying, but in the end fingers crossed I will be working with someone I have worked with before and she's awesome. I'm just waiting to hear back from her now, I can shoot out of order anyway but Ideally I would have liked to have someone there first. I already have Victoria (Phone call) playing a supporting character who appears in episode 3 plus and a couple other people I've worked with before so this show should be fun to make :)

We begin shooting the first of the episodes next week which introduces the characters and story. The weather has been crap lately as I wanted to shoot today but will have to wait til my day off next week and hopefully the son is shining as its a fight scene I'm shooting with awesome Taekwondo martial artist Steve Heke (you may remember him from Ambush). I have been watching alot of funny sitcoms and Hong Kong movies lately so I hope to blend the two with this series, If you have anything particular you would like to see in this series, drop me a line :) I will blog as I make this series so for any budding film makers or fans out there can get an insight in how to make an awesome web series work, thanks for reading :)

ps. I need a haircut, but I think having longer hair is cooler in fights, maybe more dynamic? we'll find out next week after having shot the showdown between me and Steve's character Barry :)