2016 - 48 hours film entry "Why Charlie doesn't order pizza anymore" and NEW web-series News

Alot has changed since my last post, my promotion at work has meant I have been more focused on the daily grind and less on my dream, so I am looking into this and am working on the following things :) That and i played a full football season, played all 21 games and scored 3, though most of it I was playing CDM, I prefer striker or number 10. Not sure about playing for Three Kings again next year, I need a team closer to home and where I can play to my strengths.

Scored a 2nd goal in 2 weeks for my outdoor 7 a side social club, last nights was a mazy run from our third, around 3 defenders and the keeper to a calm finish to the left inside post. Love football :) but wattaaaah! Need to get myself back into kicking contention!

I love making action films - brings out the kid in me for sure! 

Matt Kinsman News

-what Acting work have I done this year? I have done an acting course so learnt some basics I hope to apply in my next project (web-series mentioned below) apart from that, It's been a quiet year so far. So I have taken part in 48 hour film festival again this year :) A link to our finished project and some trivia below it :)

- new website - better layout then the current one on the godaddy basic page, check it out here at Mattkinsman.com

- NEW webseries! -After The Bulletlist I needed a new project because I wanted to make a DVD of work I can put on my website that fans can own and I have come up with a good idea I think. I'm going for an office/mockumentary vibe and a semi-biographical take of this journey, watch this space :)

- A Straight to DVD film - The Temp has been shelved unfortunately as I am working on a feature 'william knows karate',  like the page here to follow it's progress but i will be completing this web-series first before completing this one as will need to raise a small budget i hope to attain by making the web-series a success.

- Sanda Fight - I have to keep fighting Fit! and since I have taken this job at work I have done no martial arts training as gassed at the end of the day, have been meaning to get back into it and Sifu texted me a couple days ago inviting me for a sand invitational, I'm down, working out and will post training videos soon. Content Content Content :)

- Ebook - I'm working an ebook to share with people things I have learned in the sales game. What's knowledge if not shared? Keep you posted. Finished an outline at this point, Gonna be awesome! (I hope)

Basically I know the only way to go forward is build a fanbase, no use making things if its only entertaining close friends and acquaintances, there's a whole world out there so I need to raise my game and apply myself, so the world of martial arts action film can get that one film bigger :)

48 hours 2016 - Why Charlie doesn't order Pizza anymore

The one thing we hate and love about 48 hour film festival is you have 48 hours to make a film. And that includes casting but because everyone wants to know what they are going to be casted for and we can't tell them because we don't know until the launch night you have to assume everyone is unreliable. You know why? EVERY YEAR I have actors/actresses pulling out and having to scramble to find some replacements, and make a story that fits who we can get as everyone works for free (which is part of the rules as most unprofessional teams like me don't have a budget and works out as a leveller with the professional teams (honestly some teams have 20 plus people involved. I have 5. yay)

SuperSuper thanks to my team (from left) Jon Chan (Camera and story), Zoe Boyle (girlfriend), Kevin Chen (friend), Georgina Lamsam (Sarah), Me (director, Charlie, writer, editor etc)

I really wasn't planning to act in this one and you can probably see from the film I sort of tried to make the character up as we went along. I really wanted to apply what I had learnt in my acting course but Charlie still comes across as 2D. The guy who had said yes prior to shooting was going to act as the lead kept replying with smiley faces via FB and text. Meanwhile the camera and crew were all waiting around until 1pm that day from 9am for this guy to show, enough was enough and we needed to film something. He could have txted he wasn't coming and we could have started earlier. Anyway, he txted me saying he was free at 7pm. We were long done by then.

At least he replied. Others just pulled out altogether citing they were working with with other teams which is fine...I can't wait to be professional and pay peoples - reliability is one attribute I hold high and since everyone was volunteering I can't be disappointed, though I was.

Would have loved to have more time to come up with an awesome story but it is what it was and this year we finished on time, with all of the elements so we had that going for us which was nice. The heats night at the Hollywood cinemas event was good, I was a bit worried but seeing our film with the other 14 or so entrants in our heat was good, we were mid table I feel, our story needed work but the camera work and acting was good.

We'll see about next year, paying $225 to enter vs using that cash to fund a film on your terms may be more beneficial, but my argument (to my wife anyway) was that the exposure and networking that make the event worth it - Without a deadline some people never finish and you get to watch on a cinema screen with your friends. Anyway, spiel aside, Hope you enjoy the film, feel free to leave comments on the Youtube page.

It just HAD to rain on the day of filming our 48 hours film - so we filmed indoors. Check out my Umbrella ;)

And well done to Kevin and Georgina for their first time acting on camera, and to Zoe who battled a smoking car and a ride from her folks to get here, AND still managed to act in 2 other team projects that day also :)

Also I have to use my house again for my web series so will have to make it look different haha, otherwise you will be very used to it :) The joys of no budget film making ;)

Blackwater - My latest short film

Hi guys! 2015 is coming to a close and I thought I would squeeze one last small project in before the year was over. I present to you Blackwater.

"When a hitman is found out by his protege, only one of them can leave alive. A short test film by Matt kinsman, featuring Troy Angove, its another test film as I prepare for 2016 feature film project. This one was to try out nunchaku and nunchaku fights with martial arts action, a bit time constrained but I liked what we came up with :) feel free to leave comments or suggestions for other shorts :) Some stills below;

 Video embedded below for your enjoyment; :)


 notes;
I wish we had longer to film this as we had great chemistry and we had fun making this short. But those who have worked with me know we usually shoot for three hours and that's it, and 2/3 of us were running late as it was ;)

We got to the location and it was empty (much to my relief, gambling on my part). We started shooting and then realised the tide was coming in so each shot we were slowly making our way up the hill, which keen observers will notice :)

I was running late as I had to buy black shoes and black pants on the way and couldnt find my size, or the pants with the right material as I needed to be able to kick. The first pair I fit no problem but fit so close I couldnt kick so had to stop at another store on the way over haha.

I wrote the script the night before as was still wrestling with different ideas of things I'd like to try. I want to try something with blood and a knife fight. (you can see a knife here but was going to be extended originally). So no blood again in this one as was pressed for time but my first project next year will have some fake blood in it. I need to master it!! This short film experimented with weapons which was nice. However adding sound fx in post was time consuming, wow, way too many nunchaku twirls!

When I do a proper film though will have these safety ones painted to look either like gunmetal or hardwood. Used this as both had work in following days, and last thing we need is a nunchaku marked across our faces! Any other weapons you'd like to see?

Anyway, Hoped you enjoy the short film and I wish you and your family a happy holidays and happy new year! 2016 should bring me my first feature film and a couple of good quality fan films, so see you in the new year and hope to entertain you further!!!! :)

Day 8 of BulletList - Gabriel vs Wolfe Fight BTS

Good news. I have a week off of work. Bad news. It's supposed to rain all week.

I was determined to get some more of these scenes shot for The Bulletlist so this is the first week I've had to pay for a location (as with others coming up) so let's consider it an investment on my part. And sure enough, with all my history of shooting stuff in public, there was bound to be complications.

We shot at Lagoon stadium, an indoor sports stadium. I knew of this location because I play weekly futsal there and kick ass but that's a different story ;) I needed a gym location for this scene so this was perfect. Upside. It's normally dead weekdays in the am, but we were *not* lucky enough to have some bballers in the background. Which downside, means we will have to do ADR later for a couple of scenes I couldn't edit around. I shot myself playing Bball in the background so hopefully that is enough to establish there are b-ballers there when 'Gabriel' walks into shot but we'll see.

For Episode three Gabriel meets another hitman on The Bulletlist for him to 'cross' out. Amber Vanessa Davenport plays thecharacter of  'Wolf' and the two fight it out. It was our first time working with her and she was professional, easy going, focused and suited the part. She did an amazing job working with Steve to make this awesome fight and I feel we choreographed a nice exchange. 

Anyway, screenshots below from the edit, stay tuned for more news :)

I love filming, I try to enjoy the moments of making the magic come alive on screen and tell an entertaining story, I can't wait until this is my job for real so I'll never have to work again lol -feature film here I come :)

Filmwork and Day 7 of The Bulletlist

Last week I did a day on the set of The Patriarch, a feature film being shot here by Lee Tamahori (director of The Devil's Double, 007 Die Another Day) which was awesome to see him work in person. Taught me you only need to shoot until you have the shot then move on. Lee of course, shot to fame over his film Once were warriors so this film seems a similar theme of family. Anyway, can't really talk about what happened in scene or what I did on it until it's release but just wanted to share I'm working on things here and there as I upskill and network :)

Day 7 was completed today for The Bulletlist webseries project, shot the missing scenes from Episode two and Episode One today at Highbrook park with Toutai and Steve so both those shoots are wrapped now, yes!! :)

4 more episodes to complete, mainly action scenes featuring Steve and others. Hoping to have this series released week by week late June/Early July. Will keep you up to date for sure. Just wanted to share some screenshots from today with you all :)

Toutai (left) and Steve (right) in character overlooking Mt Wellington in the background. Nice shot huh :)

Thank YOU for your support of this project :)

Stay tuned for more behind the scenes stuff :)

48 hours 2015 - Film Competition - My entry Review

Why Won't she Love me? - The story behind the story...

FRIDAY 1st May

7pm. From the third floor balcony of AUT, LJ and myself stared down at the AV screen on the ground floor of the centre. A huge crowd of people were there, waiting for the start of the 48 hour film festival (www.48hours.co.nz). Teams have 48 hours to make a short film that's no longer than seven minutes, includes a prop, character and character trait, line of dialog and camera technique all supplied by the competition leaders, to be included in the finished film. Nobody is paid, if you have A list actors, they must be volunteers to stay in the spirit of the game.

Professionals, semi professionals, amateurs and first timers all enter. And it's normally quite fun/stressful :)

When I arrived there, LJ already had our case of V energy drinks (one of the sponsors) and the number 4 in black marker across it. When the genre's are announced, we are assigned whatever 4 equals. We watched the intro, the line we had to use 'Oh really", the character 'Harper' -thoughtless, the technique -Match cut/ match dissolve and then the genre list...

This year we were assigned ROM COM. Wow. This will be fun? I hadn't entered a team in this competition since 2011, and I've eatched the odd rom com but they are always quite tacky, the last interesting one I watched was About Time which was quite smart...LJ was just as excited, ieas were running rampant but we were cautious too -we had seen some big crews at the opening event and it would basically be Her and I running ours.

 It's a short film. It has to have a great start, middle and end, have a stong finish, not necessarily a twist but something memorable to walk out with. And each line has to have a purpose. And it has to be a rom-com. Fish out of water then fishes together or couples that should be together already but something always comes up. what to do? Humor doesn't come from the lines but from the characters playing it straight. Hmm.

On the drive home from the event, A nice 20 minute cruise, I came up with an idea....The story should be of a young man, Dillon, who shows up to pick up a date he's never seen but exchanged messages heaps online, but somehow they don't really gel in real life, the fun and games from this result in a bad mix (the laughs) and a resolution (the twist/finish)

That night I stayed up and banged out a script as best I could.

FIRST CHALLENGE

I txted my actress I had organized a week before as she had said she wanted to be a part of the festival and looking for a team. She didn't txt back. I realised then that the first challenge of the weekend was at hand. I had organized a second actress Kat (who was already part of another team) to play a minor role if she could but that would depend on her team, I txted her to found out they were shooting at a beach miles away so a Saturday shoot was out of the question for her but she was super keen so I mentally penned in a Sunday am shoot. But that still left the main part, I frantically facebooked and txted past actresses for a replacement, everyone had either been too old for the part, busy with another team, our team was below their standards, not interested. Luckily, LJ said as a last resort she was happy to act so for our film it was to be the directors acting as well as editing and writing....frustrating as it was, I was comforted by the fact that it wasn't my first time taking part in this circus. 

I txted my actors, and ended up calling them, they wanted a meeting time but without an actress was hard to come up with one on the spot, decided to tell them beach 11am so done with it and could finish on Saturday as normal rule for me is friday write, saturday shoot/cut. Sunday edit/render/hand in.

The original actress did end up messaging me back, she wasn't in Auckland this weekend and didn't understand it was this weekend. Again, something for me to work on. Next year, I was telling LJ, we should have like 20 actresses/actors on call. And some crew. Cos this year this also meant the wife would have to do camerawork for us. Which luckily for me, she didn't mind..too much.

SATURDAY

Saturday came around, bright and early 6am I was on the computer checking messages having gone to bed 1am, trying for last minute actresses. I txted everyone that we would meet at cockle bay at11am and start shooting, the first scene involved a small action bit as my guy tried to impress the girl with his heroics, only fr it to end pearshaped. Check out the location :)

Been here maybe 3 months before, rainchecked it for a future shoot lol The actors got caught in traffic and not having a GPS found it quite hard to find so ended up getting here at 2pm, during the meantime we shot the beach walk scene and then just waited, trying to plan what else we could do.

After finishing the scene at around 4.30, we went to Maccas for lunch/dinner then went home as lighting was gone and deciding I would edit everything we had tonight. Tomorrow we would then film the montage scene as well as the final scene when Kat arrives. Went to sleep at like 2am, but happy that half the editing would be done. Tried to sleep, was wide awake/worrying/planning/imagining this going downhill fast.. we only had 2 and a half minutes of edited footage... On time so far...

SUNDAY

Lj and Kat met us at out place 8am and we got to it, shooting the interior scenes, then outside scenes on the street.

Apart from dealing with the odd kids in the background or lawnmowers and aeroplanes it went well, especially bread throwing scene. I was a bit concerned with set ups but that's filming isn't it, everything takes twice as long as you think in your head. If it wasn't for this stupid deadline of 7p tonight then it would be OK, but it's the whole point and time was running out. The ducks were happy though, fed them alot of bread haha.

After we finished we raced around a couple of parks and places I had in mind for the final scenes (making sure we got the match cut shot of shell turning to bread - you'll see) then back to my place at 3pm to start editing what we had shot today. It seemed impossible but the very word means 'I'M POSSIBLE' . So I went to work the normal way, importing the raw files into Premiere and reviewing the footage, cutting out the takes, choosing the best ones and trying to make the cuts smooth. LJ sourced some soundtracks and eventually we cut together the short film. We found out that the mornigns shots before we went outside had no sound. It appears the mic app was loose, practically kicked myself for not checking as meant first bit had to be soundless as no time to reshot. LJ and I revoiced our bits but Kat was long gone so will have to get here to resound her bits before I upload here to youtube for you all..Heats version is on the 48hour website.  frantically tried to add some fight sfx, missed a couple but got the main ones in there I think.

 Enough is enough, we're out of time and we started rendering at 6pm, I still hadn't time to watch the final edit, Just checked the cuts and hoped for the best as this laptop isn't super powerful so can't watch things in realtime. I'd find out what it turned out like later that night.

SO with laptop rendering and an estimated finish time of an hour (remember deadline at 7pm so cutting it close) we got in the car amazing race styles and headed to the city centre to hand in what we hoped was a just in time finish. Took as ages to find a park, meanwhile the wife has the laptop open telling me how long its taking when I ask, we find a park about 10 minutes away and jog down the street, holding the laptop, praying it would go faster. When we get to the hand in event there are hundreds of people, we find a table and watch the rendering time. 3 minutes on the clock. 4 minutes left to render. We're done, this year is over...

It finished, I put it on the USB and LJ handed in our finished copy 5 minutes after the deadline, exhausted, proud, relived and battleweary - but this at least means we can see it on the big screen at the heats. Hope people at least laugh...

 THURSDAY (heat night)
It was raining, but Melody and I arrived at Academy cinemas excited/nervous to see it our finished short film in a room full of strangers. During the heats when our short went on screen (5th of 12 shorts to show) I remember sinking into my seat, I want to be an actor but seeing myself up there is still a bit wow - did I do that? Some of the sound was off (again, I never saw the final edit before handing it in) so hard to hear the whisper bits, and missed the kick sfx.

I was happy 'Why won't she love me?" told a story and was simple enough for people to follow and get with. People laughed at most of the scenes that we aimed for laughs so that was good as our genre was a rom com and my biggest concern was getting laughs, I'm an action man, laughing's for villians ;). Competition was tough that night, it seemed everyone in auckland knows how to shoot a film lol but our stuff was just as good so relieved.... 

Anyway, left the cinema with the team who seemed happy with the result on screen, so happy for the team, they worked there ass off and it shows up there, really proud of it and our weekend from hell, now back to The Bulletlist webseries and getting that marathon done and completed :)

REVIEWS BELOW

Below are the reviews. Critics critique so cest la vie, We're happy with what we got all things considered...

'Why she won't love me.' by Dark Pictures

Team name: 

Dark Pictures

Film name: 

Why she won't love me.

Genre: 

Rom Com

Heat: 

5

City: 

Auckland

Average rating: 

2.1625

Your rating: None Average: 2.2 (4 votes)

Dogs Breakfast

3.01

This fell into the awkward romcom category for me. There was some amusing stuff in there but wasn't really tight enough to pull it off completely.
Next year they could improve their film with more attention to sound, it was hard to hear some of the dialogue, but this is what this competition is all about.

spanky_the_dolphin

3.01

I think the actual title for this one was 'Why Won't She Love Me', but never mind.
I think this film was hindered a lot by it's technical issues - mostly the badly captured / mixed audio. There were quite a few lines that were just inaudible.
The thing that stuck out most to me though was the story, or more specifically the ending. I felt like it really hurt the film when the guy ran away from the girl he'd just accidentally taken on a date. They were just warming to one another and it seemed like such a weird decision for him to make. It made the audience think less of him as a character and bad for the girl he left behind who we'd spent the whole film getting to know.

Liam Maguren

2.03

Technical woes aside, I wasn't really into the story on offer. The two never "clicked" on the date - she was downright repulsed by his dwebishness - making me want them to break it off rather than root for their happiness together. When the ending tried to sell you on a potential bond, I just couldn't buy it.
I enjoyed the robbery scene, however, That was well done.

Rooks and Knights

4.06

A little shakey on technical and story, however I still liked that they tried to push for us to see a different side of the traditional "romantic comedy" genre, I was sure if the cringe moments were intentional or accidental but I liked the risk.

Nick Depree

2.03

Decent concept, but it wasn't really sold by the actors or script, I didn't quite buy why the 'wrong' girl would go with him in the first place, why she would change her mind quickly at the end, or why the guy went after the 'right' girl anyway. The robbery scene was done quite well and the actors there were amusing. Sound quality definitely let it down, making some lines very hard to understand. Not a bad effort, but clear directions to work on next time.

 ________________________

Thanks for reading the blog and hoped you could take something from it, I will post the link to the video in the next blog :)

Matt.

The BulletList (Day 6 -Suzy/Gabriel Drama scenes ep2/3) and Commercial Shoot

19 April 2015 - Bullet List Day 6
Shooting digital at night was a learning experience. The eye can see things in a lot more detail than my little old camera can so making sure I was in an environment with lots of light sources was a priority. Sunday night was a work night but I needed to get some action happening on The Bulletlist project, as those following my blog will know, it's taken me a couple months just to get 6 shooting days done!

Anyway, May is the month we can hopefully wrap things up and get it all together in time for late june release each week :)

So for the night shoot it was 2 secenes, one from Episode 2 and 3 respectively, between Suzy (Katherine Mewett) and Gabriel (Steve Heke). I have shared some screenshots with you below. It was a fun, quiet shoot, (apart from the cafe, so much background noise, will have to overdub it later I think....) and the night ranged from asking a coffee place if I could shoot just before they closed, to a retiree who was sailing the world, mentioning the giant behemoth of a boat we shot near was worth 35 million. That's some expensive rubber duck lol - the maintenance alone would be worth more dollars than what most people make in a year.

Suzy (kat) and Gabriel (Steve) get to know each other in Episode 2.

The night, street light contrast was beautiful, Kat brought out the best of it.

This shot might not be in final edit but I'm so damn proud of it! Director Matt lol.

22 April 2015 -Plans, Commercial, Feature Film, 48 hour film competition

Busy week, after the shoot Sunday night, got home 11pm, had work Monday, football Monday night, work Tuesday, work function night and football 9pm Tuesday night, then today, Wednesday, off work and working on a commercial for a credit card company with a sport star, Tonight have an investment seminar to attend then away for 4 days on a long weekend road trip with the wife to rest from work/dreams/sport for a breather.

Once the Ad is finished I will share a link with you guys, won't talk about anything regarding the content to avoid breaking any contracts but it was nice to get back out there and do some filming again. Awesome to see the cameras the big boys use, people lugging around lighting materials, sound crew setting up and away again and the AD's herding the extras - it all definitely looks like a lot of work/fun. Can't wait to get to that stage myself, but for now slowly building my team :)

My feature script is finished now. Just choreography and locations to decide. Will do this once get back from our trip. But I'm super excited to get started on this, just have to sort out a sound guy and I can start my super low budget feature, a feature nonetheless, the action has to be spectacular to stand any chance on video shop shelves and he story has to get people engaged to watch until the showdown in the end.

48 hours 2015 competion coming up 1st  May 7pm -3rd May 7pm. I'm a bit anxious for our entry as this is the first time I have done the 48 hour film competition since settling in Auckland. But I have assembled a champion spirited team and much ass we will kick! (or at least entertain)

Watch this space :)

Powerstation - Finished short film link

As promised here is the Powerstation test short film we shot as Plan B to an original shoot this easter (fullstory last post);

Hope you enjoy! I'm working on creating more things, maybe a couple more short films before Bullet List is done and I start on the independent feature film I have been talking about for so long :) As normal, I welcome any comments/suggestions in the comments section.

ps. Sidenote; The last shot had to be the sound effect as the battery was dead and the last 4 or 5 shots of the day were one takes, and sadly I didn't have a clear one of the final kick, still, looks good for a first time working together, love acting again lol looking forward to more this year :)

Fist of Justice/ Power Station (shortfilm) Making of.

Seriously?

The rain hit the ground trying to inflict lasting bruises on the pavement. The heavens above literally opened up and pissed itself. All this deluge as I open the door on a cloud filled day ready to shoot my short film I had spent the whole week preparing for. No. Not today. For every problem there is a solution. I just have to think. Breathe. Ok.

I've scouted a great outdoor location, problem. outdoor. Raining. Mud. Equipment. Shit.

I drove the around the neighborhood. Something with shelter. Somewhere public. 

Solution. It's Easter Sunday, why not shoot at the mall parking lot, not many people if any, no damage, no advertising or offended companies, should be sweet?

So the plan was changed. I met LJ (my DOP/ camera girl for the day) and Kamy (first time actor) to shoot 'Fist of Justice'. Cool title right? Hope no ones done it before, then again, I don't care, its my short film so I'll call it what I want :) Anyway, I asked them to follow me to the parking lot where the story wouldnt have to be altered. I had bought a blue french shirt to play the part as a traffic warden/cop a couple days earlier ( I mentioned this last post) and wore dresspants and shoes and bam! Character done :)

LJ owned an awesome DSLR camera and she definitely knew her way around it, she even changed lenses for some of the shots and had her own stedicam like rig. I smiled as I knew I'd talked to the right person to collaborate with. I was impressed. I had never met her before today or Kamy, so life has a funny way of working out. He had come to India some years ago, has a TKD background and has learnt other arts on the way, he wanted me to refer him as a ninja since is his latest martial art of choice to study. He had done a TV commercial before and some modelling and had a passion for martial arts his whole life and had wanted to do a film like this for a long time. So our paths crossed and we combined to make the magic happen on screen :)

We barrelled through the drama shots building the story up as the cop catches the thief and the end drama scene. (no spoilers here). SO all the acting was done, the part, the meat of the burger, the FIGHT scenes were all that was left to shoot, saving the best for last :) 

The fight scene will have to be shot another day. This is all that remains. ps. yes, equipment in shot lol.

So we stopped for lunch, then returned to the location -to who do you think?

Mallcops. 

Seriously? I explained to them I work in this mall (I do) and didn't think we would harm anyone shooting a film on an empty lot which didn't influence/intimidate/inconvenience any customers or show any company logos, that the owners wouldn't even recognize the damn place unless we pointed it out. However the two security guards in their golf cart explained now they had seen us they couldn't permit us to continue., lets call them brains and brawn, and pack up our stuff.

I suggested couldnt they turn a blind eye and forget they ever saw us? we have been here the last 4 hours and you didnt show up once? I wanted to ask management for permission to shoot here however as its a public holiday they are closed so catch 22? I didnt even want to film here. Complain to the weatherman. Brains says come back tomorrow when the are open and get permission. I say, how? we all have work tomorrow as you know. Let us finish the hour or so we have to go and I will get the permission form them tomorrow, just for you -.

In the end, there is no winner to an argument, everyone loses. Either respect/ face or integrity. Seeing a waste to valuable time ( we were losing daylight!) I gave him my businesscard and said terminators line (I'll be back) and I asked the team to follow me to the original location, The park beside the powerstation and we'll shoot a practice fight scene there and make a short film out of it. No script, improved fight scene and see what happens. We got this far, lets finish somthing and come back to this later.

So here we are. Old school Matt. A camera and 2 actors ready to go at it for camera. This time the camera moves though with an awesome camera person who took direction really well as well as creative solutions of her own. Decided to shoot this way the way I was planning on shooting JUSTICE. 

I've been watching alot of oldschool 80's HK actions films over the last 2 weeks, keeping myself inspired I guess. They use the zoom ins and zoom outs to great effects so chucked them in there, as well as still WIDE shots with long takes, as well as some of the handheld stuff the Raid series was so good at making the most of. I like it :) Looks good, hope you agree once you see the finished product :)

POWERSTATION is the title of todays film :). This short test film will be edited by myself by the end of the week hopefully as finished rough cut tonight. I just need to add music to it and all done :) Check out some screen shots so far :)

Great shot by LJ, awesome composition and balance :)

Taught Kamy and LJ that people come from everywhere when we shoot in public, this interesting fellow popped out of the bushes behind the container lol. He smiled, nodded and watched as we kicked each others ass for a couple minutes

Stance off :)

Kamy's first action short film, looking pro :)

Getting better with each fight I get to create onscreen, looks cool anyway :)

I just wanted to share with you guys my day today, the dream continues!. Only you can be in charge of the way you feel, and if you set yourself a goal you can achieve it, as long as you are flexible and smart enough to challenge obstacles and be the change you want to see:) Only dead fish go with the flow ;) Keep an eye out for my next blog :)

The Bullet List (Day Four - Boris/Gabriel scenes part one)

So today Friday 20th finally arrived, this was an important shooting day as we would do the majority of Boris's scenes played by the excellent Walter Marsters and Steve got to perfect his acting chops with more drama with Gabriel.

Walter Marsters as BORIS and Steve heke as GABRIEL today. Awesome!

 The night before the shoot I made sure I made a shot list so the day would run smoothly and pretty much stuck to it, a couple of inspired moemnts but you will see, as long as you can follow the story the camera works not too important as long as it shows the reactions and actions at the right time :) Pic below :)

I rearranged the living room of my house to make it look like it was lived in by Boris and had scouted a great location for a meet the day before, a man made park across the road from my work!

 I checked it had ducks or it wasn't going to work, sure enough to my surprise it did have ducks and plenty of them!


After a mix up in meeting times and locations we finally arrived together on the location of the park scene. And sure enough as Murphy's law would have it a tractor mower was scouring the lawns. We shot nonetheless, aint nothing going to bring us down, still, a great lesson for the future :) Apart from me saying action! And the ducks Quacking on cue before my actors could speak, the shoot went smoothly. A pic below :)

Arriving at my house we quickly got into characters and shot three scenes in our 'set'. I have taken reference photos for continuity for next shot when we shoot the finale fight so lets hope we keep it similar, after all, I have to live in it :) Below is one example of a shot today, great shoot with good results :)

On the way to pick up my wife from work my car, lost power, I was on the motorway doing 100 while everyone else was doing the same and suddenly I couldn't accelerate anymore. The gas just went. I was in the 'fast' lane, 4 lines from the side of the road where I needed to be and there was a big truck (read missile) in my next lane and a cop in the next. I had to bear grylls my 'descent' as I coasted and avoid these cars and pull over.

The cop didn't seem to notice/care and I was so happy I had charged my phone before hand and that it was a payweek and had some cash for AA. No better time to sign up for roadside assistance than now right? haha. Life. God giveth God tketh away. On the bright side got my footage shot and car worked fine then, and dont really need it this weekend as can walk to work (not ideal but smile)

Picking up my baby :|

Final Destination. Now the fix up begins...

Anyway, that's the only news for today really. Keep you posted, looking forward to the casting the lead/solo female of our series (some good responses so far) and shooting the action scenes and getting this finished by early may for release in June :)

Below is a pic I snapped while shopping with the wife at Sylvia Park, thought it was amusing to catch a dog in the act trying to drive while owner away, dog's expression was one of 'hey, wait! its not what it looks like!' Funny lol.

Have a great day, see you next post!!

The Bullet List (day three) -Bush

Shooting Day 3 arrived. We had to shoot after Steve finsihed teaching his class and I finished watching the chelsea PSG champions league game, however it went into extra time thanks to some crappy reffing so left home at 11.15am so when the dust settled and all relevant parties had arrived, we started filming late.

Not to mention after cruising around in the morning to decide a location (originally I had settled on a beach but the location was an hour away and we had to be finished shooting by 2.00) the area with bush did not have said bush. It was just farmland. After an hour of searching we finally decided we were in the right place and the location was a little walk away. Since we were pressed for time we shot the old school way, the point and shoot, nail it, next! way. The footage we got was pretty good and I was happy with what he walked away with. 2 Screen shots below. I'd share more but that would give the story away, enjoy ;)

Toutai as FELIX, Bad guy number 2. Will he finish off GABRIEL?

Steve as GABRIEL, imposing as always :)

 Looking forward to Day 4. SO happy that this project is headed towards a finish line, and a 'bigger' picture :)

ps. special thanks to Toutai, always a trooper, his enthusiasm for the piece was boundless, looking forward to shooting the car chase scene with him and Steve next month :)

The Bullet List - Day One (again) Episode One - Gabriel vs Tom

So as you've previously read I have rewritten The Bullet List so it's coherent, has a story to follow, is quick to film for lowbudget and some great action scenes. (best I've done/attempted anyways)

Here is the link to the Facebook site to stay up to date with the latest news :)

Yesterday we reshot the car fight scene and it turned out great, the location seemed seedy but was quite expansive and the actors sold the story well, can't wait for you guys to see it, in the meantime here are a couple of screenshots below, if we stay on track we should be airing this thing by late June early July! :)