1 week down, 5 to go

Finished first week of shooting on de film. Tuesday we were all decked out in sunglasses filming in St. Michael's in Mahon. Mucho grazias to Eddie in the cemetary who was so good to us. Being a Cork woman, I am very proud of how everyone locally is so supportive of the film.

I used underhanded techniques to try and win a bet. We were at a loss as to the offical name of the holy water bucket and sprinkling device used at the funeral scene in Mahon. The answer is "stoop". What a bad Catholic I am! I cunningly used my inside connection to Eddie to get the information. See what a ruthless person I am!

Wednesday morning was a bit of a shock weather-wise. Knew the bad weather was coming but I refused to acknowledge it because of previous day's good weather. Bad mistake! Got drenched at 6:30am and had soggy bottom syndrome for next 14 hours! The glitzy life of filmmaking, eh!

Spent 3 days in Passage West. Local residents amazing. Bodes well for rest of shoot.


*tried to post this at weekend but internet acting funny

Male Film Extras Required

Apologies to the women but it is the guys who are needed on this film. Shooting will occur between September 18th and October 27th 2006.

If you are interested, please come to Mahon Community Hall, Mahon, Blackrock
4pm - 7pm on Monday 11th September.

All aged over 18 welcome.

Please bring a note with your measurements, height, sizes etc.

Tags: Casting, Extras, Filming in Cork, Film Production, Strength & Honour

Animators and Visual Effects types

My good buddy Conor & I have been exchanging "up to our eyes but loving it" e-mails of late. We are getting very close to principal photography on Strength & Honour here in Cork while Conor is slogging away on the latest Harry Potter in London. Conor works at Framestore which is the largest visual effects and computer animation studio in Europe. They are responsible for the cool bits in Superman Returns, X-Men 3, Harry Potter & the Goblet of Fire and most impressively (for me, anyway) the squirrels in Charlie & the Chocolate Factory.

If this sort of thing is your cup of tea, you will be pleased to hear that Conor reliably informs me that Framestore are hiring 180 new staff over the next two months. Click on the above image for more information or visit Framestore's website here.

Tags: Framestore, Strength & Honour, Recruiting, Visual Effects, Animation

I Heart Walter Murch (part 2)

Behind The Seen: How Walter Murch Edited Cold Mountain Using Apple's Final Cut Pro And What This Means For Cinema by Charles Koppelman

Gorgeous book. Gorgeous layout, typesetting & images. Add the engrossing content and it is a must own book for anyone with the remotest interest in film post production.

Behind The Seen tells the story of how Oscar-winning editor, Walter Murch embraced an then unproven Final Cut Pro and edited Cold Mountain with it, making it the first feature film (as opposed to video) to be edited on the system. You don't have to be a film editor to enjoy this book. Koppelman (also a filmmaker) had unique access to Walter Murch during the shooting and editing of Cold Mountain. He captures the atmosphere of a feature film very well and details the process very accurately. Koppelman's writing is supplemented by extracts from Murch's diary and e-mails from Murch to Anthony Minghella, DigitalFilmTree & Apple and vice versa. Walter Murch's e-mail to Steve Jobs modestly introducing himself is a treat!

One of the lasting impressions from reading the book is how unhelpful Apple was to Murch and his team, particularly as he has since become poster boy for Final Cut Studio.

Tags: Walter Murch, Final Cut Pro, Apple, Film editing, video editing, Cold Mountain

Strength & Honour & Me!

I have been neglecting my blogging duties lately as I have recently joined the production family on Strength & Honour. Principal photography is looming but everyone is cool, calm, collected and getting on with the job. Professionals, don't ya know!

By the way, if you come across a red-haired woman driving erratically in a blue Mazda, who abruptly stops at the side of the road and then jumps out to take photos, you'll know who it is!

Tags: Strength & Honour, Cork, film production, film shoot , Cork filmmakers,

Open Casting for Strength & Honour

There is an open casting call for the Strength & Honour, the feature film that will be shot in Cork next month.

Open casting will take place in the Firkin Crane, tomorrow Saturday August 26th from 2pm.

Tags: Open call, casting, Firkin Crane, Strength & Honor, Strength & Honour

Paramount Pictures No Longer In Love With Tom Cruise

Production deals come and go. Nothing new about that. Producers, Directors and Stars are always falling in and out of favour with studios. This month's doyen is next month's has-been.

What I find intriguing about the collapse of the 14-year deal between Paramount and Tom Cruise is the reason cited by Sumner Redstone (CEO of Paramount's parent company, Viacom) - Cruise's controversial behaviour over the past year. Some suits finally put 2 + 2 together and realised that this odd little man spouting off his jaw-dropping "insights" all over the place and the dismal box office receipts of his recent films might actually be connected!

You can read more about the announcement here

Tags: Tom Cruise, Paramount Pictures, common sense, scientology, business decisions, Hollywood, crazy people

Kryzstof Kiéslowski - Talking Heads (French subtitles)

I am a huge fan of Kiéslowski's films (Three Colours, Double Life of Véronique, Dekalog etc.). His short documentaries are superb and don't seem to get much attention. Talking Heads asks 100 people of all ages "Who are you? What do you want?". It is facinating to see how our perceptions of ourselves and our desires change with time. This version of Talking Heads is Polish with French subtitles. Even if your French is rusty it is easy to follow. If you like the look of it and want to see it with English subtitles, rent Camera Buff. Talking Heads is on the dvd extras.

Tags: Talking Heads, documentary, short documentaries, Polish Film, Kryzstof Kiéslowski