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 :)

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 5- introducing Suzy)

Thursday.

It finally arrived, First day of our hero with the female lead - the motive to drive the story forward :)

Target or Friend?

Last month I put out a casting call for the role of Suzy as I needed a young woman who was enthusiastic, had some dance or martial arts experience and believed in the project and endgoal.
After many applications, We found our star in Kat!

Kat as SUZY in The BulletList

 She was awesome to work with, friendly, easy going, responded to direction well and brought plenty extra of her own to the role, great expressions and projection. It was a fun shoot made easier by her professionalism. This also pushed Steve who came with some fine acting of his own. Really looking forward to editing this one. (post note, finished editing- looks good :D)

Like all film shoots, everything went wrong before we made things right but as I am known to say, smooth seas do not make skilful sailors. To be a directoor we need to Direct, that includes solving problems! We had to shoot early evening to balance our work commitments, earlier in the day was sorting the mechanic about my car, and sorting out the script/ shooting plan for Day 5. So 5pm planned start turned into 530pm once we found a park, fighting with Traffic to arrive.

The amount of time I was in my wife's car today, I felt like I just got out of a space shuttle when I got home, seriously, that little pod went all the way from Manurewa and town, twice, also to town twice as I went earlier in the day for some DVDS, the shirt for my sunday project (next blog) and martial arts shop investigation. (however didn't find the extra nunchuks or rubber tonfa I was looking for, may have to ebay these) Wish my BMW was back, driving it long distances was my favorite part of having it :|

So with fading light, ( I knew in my heart it would be close) People everywhere (joys of public shooting), threatening rainclouds (rained on the way, rained after, great timing), car alarms, church bells and passing cars - we persevered - and managed to pull off the plan and the results were fantastic! Can't wait to share the scene with you guys, even got a shot of possums in the park which was random but hey, right place right time :)

Below is another screenshot that doesn't give too much away apart from how great these two stars play their characters :) Thanks to this day, I have finished a rough cut of episode one! Five to go :)

Day 5 of shooting complete, Day 6 awaits! :)

The Bullet List (Day Two) - Airport scenes

My little brother came up from Christchurch for a couple weeks with his girlfriend so we went out for couple dates and all 4 of us played pool, bowling, futsal nights, restaurants, theme park and lots of Fifa and board/fun games.

Also have been focusing hard on work, eyes on the prize, heart and my mind. And this sunday recently completed the round the bays marathon, 8k so great entry point and haven't really trained so was a little worried but in the end finished, really should have done better. Was kicking myself, thought had 2 k to go but it was the finish line! Conserved way too much energy, next year I will get a much better time, this year it was 49minutes which was disappointing for me, but first time :) So OK, for now ;)

Anyway, Little brothers returned now, and no other distractions so I can return to focusing on the dream and step 1. Finishing The Bullet List!!

Since Steve was teaching a class this afternoon we planned a quick shoot and all the scenes at the airport were shot today.

Scouted the domestic terminal when I picked up my brother a couple weeks ago but far busier today, just that time I guess. Parking still cost me 9 bucks even though I tried to stay under an hour but hey, can't leave my car out in the open lest it disappear thanks to security. To be honest I was surprised. I thought we would have been stopped or asked for ID or permits or something as we were putting our bag on the baggage carousel and taking it off again as well as just loitering around the airport but because my camera looked touristy and we weren't suspicious or troublesome(I hope) we weren't asked to leave or noticed so that worked out OK and we got the shots we needed which was great!

Paticularly proud of this shot as wrote smoke bursts from the tyres in the script so surprised to actually get it on film, nice!

After I dropped Steve off I returned to the airport to wait fro planes to land/take off and get some footage for some cutscenes. So overall got all the shots we needed for todays schedule. Tomorrow is Day 3 and the gun fight :) scripts good, let's hope it turns out that way :)

BulletList Teaser and Future plans

Hi Guys, I turned 28 today. Holy shit, time flies fast. I look back at my days lived so far and I can honestly say I've achieved a little, married (7 years this December wow), moved cities, did a little work in the dream department (TV and a feature film, awesome!), did a little work in the career department (work in a bank -at least I have a solid planB), but I really thought I would have made a huge dent in my dreams by now, guess I have to try harder this year ;)  Most of the actors I looked up to really hit their mark in their 30's after struggling for sometime, got to remember even Brad Pitt started as an extra. (video proof below lol, it's interesting howhe turned into a bigger name later in their careers)

 When I get back from Holiday this year I will do an acting course, sign with an acting agency and really get the ball rolling. Looking to get back into training soon too, realized a reason I feel a little bit missing in my life is that I haven't really done martial arts training in last couple of years. Running rings around people at futsal doesn't have the same life and death appeal of avoiding a punch and countering with a sidekick and shuffling away. ;)

On the Bulletlist front there's been no real progress this week. We got the car back yesterday which is awesome, means I can have transport to and from shoot's again. Shame about the 1,200 dollar pricetag but better a car than no car.....I'm Hoping to shoot a chunk of main scenes next week, fingers crossed I get reliable casting :)

Below is a quick teaser of what we have done so far, just a couple of shots, so you can see some of the progress thus far, -only 2 days of shooting in the can and no ADR yet either. Why do I set myself such ambitious goals? (might be 25-30 days shoot as only shoot for 3-4 hours due to budget/time)

I'm trying to come up with a quick non action drama short film I can shoot between shoots...anyway, enjoy the quick BULLET LIST teaser below...

Bullet List - Day 2 Shoot - Matt vs Ravi (Ep1)

My Car is at the mechanic. Automatic transmission problems (a story for next blog anyway) The situation was driving me mad trying to figure out a way I could still keep to my schedule of shooting something Friday 5th September for The Bullet List without transport. I don't want to be in a back of bus with camera equipment after a long shoot.

 Thank god for Jon, a friend who wanted to see how we shot our films and has passion for photography, he also has an awesome car so that worked out cool. Ravi had also returned from London so the stars sort of aligned and were able to shoot Ravi's fight scene with myself today with Jon behind the camera.

Having my first fight scene after doing the stunt course I tried to be better with my sells and do some more tumbles and stuff, I think it turned out OK, sure if we had better equipment, mats and time would have been better, but for shooting in a public space when it was supposed to bucket down with Rain we did pretty well. But oh my gosh, the continuity issues will be hilarious.  For an out of the way park on a bad weather day it sure had a lot of visitors than I thought it would, see if you can spot them when I upload the first episode .... :S

The scene we shot today is a scene from Episode one, the main action scene (there's one more) and the two of us fight during a cash delivery of sorts. When trying to choreograph it last night I didn't realise how restricted a car was in terms of combat (changed from outdoors as threat of rain warned by weathergirls). We made it work anyway with some camera tricks and I won't say more for fear of spoiling the story but the shoot went well,

 It looks good and I'm proud of what we achieved today. Shooting in public meant we had to wrap up a little bit quicker than we liked, had a couple cars full of people watching us as I was *(spoiler alert)* discussing breaking the character's neck and we were acting it out and the guy's in the van were like do it for real,*(spoiler alert ends)  Also they asked the filmmakers favorite line 'Are you making a movie?' haha. Doesn't get old *sarcastic straight face* Anyway, check out some screen shot's I've put here for you guys below :)

Ravinder (ravi narayan) waits for Mark (me)

Mark (matt kinsman) has to make a decision

Getting our acting on

My favorite part of any shoot

"Yip, One More"

The Incredible Ravi Narayan

Until next post, take care and follow your dreams :)

2013/2014 Showreel Uploaded!

With my renewed vigor in following my dream I realized I needed to update my show reel for my film CV, so below is the finished cut. Just a selection of some of the fight scenes I have completed over the last couple of years.

Looking back at it now It's only like 4-6 short films. Plus all seem to be with good acting buddy Steve apart from one lol But hey, I'm looking forward to shooting The Bullet List web series soon to show you guys, myself and potential directors what I'm really capable of. Get some real acting going on I hope, anyway, enjoy the video below :)

Ps. Still waiting on my stunt course footage to share with you guys, I will post once I get it, just here though, not on my YT channel, thanks for your support :)