2016 - Wager (short film) release and The Temp on the way!!

Hi you!

Welcome back to the blog :) I have started putting together the dream team to help make 'The Temp' a reality. I've been trying to make a self made action feature film since I moved up here to Auckland back in 2011. Who knows what reaction and repercussions it will create, but to finish a feature on local DVD shelves has been a dream of mine for what seems like forever. This year I'ma make it real :)

The Script is finished (at 104 pages) and the page is up, www.facebook.com/thetempofficial so head on over and like our page to keep up with the latest news.

As part of the audition process for new people to work (had over 80 applications for both actors and actresses so not easy to sift through as so much talent)  I've made a simple short film with Richard Knight who will be playing one of the roles in the movie, the Wager.

2 strangers meet up to spar to win the contents of the others bag.

Hope you like what you can see, if this is the product of 3 hours work, wait til you see what we have planned for the film. This project also gave me a chance to try out the new Assistant director/ DOP Laura Tait. So all in all it was a great creative afternoon, my only regret is not wearing sunblock (been sunburnt all week sigh). Video link at the bottom of this blog entry :)

WAGER - Short Film below

Also, in other news, I have got a promotion at work (after 3 years so I'm pretty stoked). This also means from March on I will have EVERY weekend off!!!! Means heaps in terms of this blog and the acting side of things as most projects are on weekends, not to mention I can finally play 11 aside Saturday soccer :)

Anyway, Thanks for following the blog and lets keep focused so we can make these big things happen :)

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 9 of The Bulletlist (Ep 4 Vinnie) - and some Mastercard Ad screen shots

Friday. I was dreading it as it was forecasted to rain a week earlier, but the sun was shining so thank god it didn't :)

Today we shot the fight scene for episode four. I'm happy I'm doing this project, I've learnt alot of things that I will do next time around (locations, casting, writing etc), first I have to finish it but it's been eye opening anyway and I look forward to sharing with you all what we came up with.

We shot on the rooftop of a parking building we used first time around before the rewrite. (so familiar to some) .The fight scene between Gabriel (Steve Heke) and Vinnie (Kamy Grewel) featured a little kicking and some dialog and is arguably some of the best stuff we have done, this and the last shoot were quite good. I'm in the middle of writing the choreography for the last episode as it has to be the best! :)

Screen shots from the shoot are below for your viewing.

Some badass screenshots, no?

In other news the Mastercard ad I did some extra work has been released, as I mentioned in an earlier blog, I didn't think I would be seen as way out, but I got a screenshot so have proof lol. Anyway, one day it will be more than just background apperances I can share. Just got to finish bulletlist, release a short film and get my feature up and running so I can show the world what I can do! :)

In white shirt, back right lol - I actually work in this mall for real so funny to see...

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 :)

How I spent my day off: Cancelled Day 2, shot short MY HOUSE instead!

Had my one day off on the 18th August Monday (7 day rosters are (not) fun) and had planned to shoot day two of the bulletlist and had everything set up, Steve had moved some things around and I had banged out the script, locations and shooting plan earlier in the weeknights to be able to do this, however, the actress we had in mind to play Briana had to cancel at the last minute due to personal reasons which sucked for us but I understand.

Still from My House (Steve Heke)

So to keep the motivation and momentum up since I can never get enough time off for this I txted Steve, "Wanna shoot another test film instead?", we haven't shot a short film since Ambush 2 which was ages ago. "sure, my place is all good if you want". I was happy as, "OK, cool, see you in a couple of hours". I sat in front of my computer....ready to type,....What could be a good reason for a fight scene? lol. Banged out a rough plan and drove over. So funny, spent half an hour tearing my house apart looking for a balaclava I had used when I shot Mondays back at SAE in 2011. Couldn't find it so thank goodness Steve had one. What do you think? It was a hot day, so it was very uncomfortable haha.

Still from My House (Me, Matt Kinsman)

I haven't shot a film my  old way since I left Christchurch. Which are basically all my films I shot with Sam back in the day. This 'method' involves me setting up the camera on a tripod, setting the frame, pushing record, running around in front of it, shooting our scene a couple times for the editing room then running back, stopping record, replaying it, reframing and repeating the cycle! Phew! tough but fun. Below is one unedited take so you can see what I mean. (finished film to be uploaded after sfx added, maybe next week)

May contain spoilers -however chose scene that doesn't give too much away

I have been trying to keep active too. I'm 27 now. It's make or break at my job at the moment so If I want this dream I have to make it happen or it's in with the suit and the sales focus. 

Most actors do their best work in their 30's so I need to make my move now. The First of my moves is getting some credibility (ironic since that was my first film) and getting out in the industry again, so tomorrow I am doing a stunt school fight for camera workshop. Pretty excited/nervous but hoping through it that I a)learn some new things, b)meet some new people who have the same interests and might like to part in shooting bulletlist with me and c)get a notch on my film CV.

Second of my moves is being proactive in sourcing opportunities so I've also put in for an audition for a kids action tv series and an internship as a director in another series. I hope to get good news but the fact I've even applied for this makes me happy, If you don't take action today then you are no better than you were yesterday. Between you and me I really hope I get these roles :)

I also did a camera test for my outfit as 'Mark' in The Bullet List as I had planned on shooting the scene on Monday, (next month now til next free day) so I'll share one of the pics with you below, I reckon it will be nice to play an actual character for once...

Anyway, post a blog tomorrow about how my first day went of this 2 day stunt school course I'm doing. So nervous lol, am I the real deal or a pretender?, we're going to find out... Wish me luck, apart from my football I'm so unfit, hoping to survive haha....

Bullet List shoot - Day 1 review, Agents on the Jetty.

Standing at warehouse stationery, waiting for Thursday's scripts to print off, I was nervous. It had been a while since I've done a shoot, The doubting began, do I know what I'm doing? Will my camera battery last? Will it rain?. The guy's  have faith in me. I look at my phone. 15 minutes late. Great start Matt.

I pick up Steve from his place and we roar down the motorway, it begins to spit and drizzle a little on the way. "Come on god", I mutter, "don't troll me now". We get to the spot and meet Toutai for the first time, He's pretty cool, pretty much like our conversation on the phone the night before, he's passionate about acting and belives in the project. He gets in my car and we drive to the first location of our planned 3 part shoot.

We shoot at the jetty near mission bay. Just me in my grey hoody with my cheap ass camera, and the two boys in their jackets and sunnies. The wind is trying to freeze us and the clouds hang overhead omniously. But this suits the shoot fine. Great color tones :) Fighting the wind I try to hold the camera steady as I shoot the 2 agents discussing the case with the beautiful Auckland skyline in the backdrop. The wind swirls around the performers as they make their way through their lines. Definately going to need ADR. The phone has a windcut mechanism, but I find out later when I get home it doesn't make much difference. I'll definately need to invest in a mic of some sort and a portable powerkit. I should have chosen a cheaper hobby.

 

The second location is nearby, and we roll through that one without any hitches and the last one we wing it. I remembered when I shot Timefish back in the day for SAE I shot it on top of one of the carparking rooftops. This time however I drove to one in which I had worked for as a mascot a couple of years ago and the backdrop below is simply priceless. 

Location, Location, Location. But I admit, we found it quite funny rolling through a carpark looking for a park slowly with a hearty samoan in the back, a tall maori dude sitting in shotgun and a rough looking white guy driving a beat up old car. That could have been a short film in itself :)

Wrapping at the end of the day felt good, finally had some footage in the can after talking about getting this shit started for so long, made a new ally, and practiced doing something I loved for a change. Driving home afterwards I felt happy, lighter as if a weight had been lifted. Feeling Good!

Now on for Day two, finding everyone available on certain days when certain locations are free has been tough but I will be using my talent of words to help make shit happen now I know that this acting thing is definitely what I want. I will be doing a course in a couple of weeks time but more on that once I have done it, follow this blog and you'll be the first to know :)

Prepping for Bullet List. Day 1.

I have confidence! If nothing else, this dream of being an action film maker/actor is all I have. I have had a good week at work getting my targets and some closed sales and had great compliments from customers, you're the man! This boy, he's number one! Can I buy you a coffee? All sorts. Feels good but my heart rumbles at this day job knowing deep inside it's not what I want to be doing with every fibre of my being, the only thing holding me back is me and the decisions I make, so no more indecision's because even that is a choice unto itself. I choose to make it happen, now.

So after much procrastinating/time budget issues and fear of failure I have finally set in motion The Bullet List. All week I have been thinking about this project, when it is done and finished I can use it to make an IMDb profile, cut into a show reel and fund-raise for my first feature, I can see the road and where it will lead me but first I have to START it ;)

 I'm still a little iffy on the Bullet list script as I'm sure I could have done better but I'm done waiting and if I keep tinkering it'll never be finished. It's better to have a prototype than an idea on paper. I don't want to be THAT guy, the OCD and  perfectionist type. I love to create, to get out there and do it, so here goes....

Tomorrow will be Day one of the shoot. From looking at my schedule I have 18-25 days (extra days depend on the fight scenes if they stretch out or not.)

 I have casted Toutai in the role of Dean, SIS Super chief and good friend Steve Heke as my opposite, Special agent Johnson. The day will be made of three set ups, at three different locations that feature conversations between the two. I thought it would be easier on all of us if we tackled the dialog/drama stuff before we head to the action scenes as I want the action scenes to be special and I want to sort out some cheap tables and stuff to break when we shoot them.

It will be shot out of sequence obviously to take advantage of the cast's availability and at the moment this will be all of 'Dean's' Scenes. I will post some screen shots when I have them next post.

I'm so excited/nervous. I'm pretty worried as I'm only using my JVC camera. (below) and I only have to one battery at the moment (trying to track down some extra's) so hoping it holds out for me, it almost ran out when I was shooting No Way out some months back and had to rush the last scenes, no rushing this time, It's going to be done right!

 Also this week I bought the matrix trilogy as my wife hadn't seen it yet, since I quote jokes from it all the time. Watching it again I realized how much it had inspired me first time round, the philosophy, the action, the fleshed out characters and the excitement at new possibilities. This is definitely how I wanted my films to be. Awesome!

Don't lie, we've all tried it ;)

Shooting Day One starts tomorrow. Here we go!

The Bullet List - Announcement of my current project.

Hello Everyone!

It's been ages since my last post. My life has lately been consumed by my job and meeting it's targets, settling into our new place, (many DIY projects and shopping) financial planning and figuring out how to keep my action star dream alive when it seems to be all but limp and dying. CLEAR!

I spent any time I had outside of work and regular life writing my feature film script. Writing it again and writing some more. They say great scripts aren't written, they're RE-written. I hate that quote so much because it's true. But I can't wait anymore or re-write. I need a distraction to clear my head, so I'm going to do what I originally set out to do and then come back to the main dream of making a feature film, so here is my announcement. I'm making a webseries, for real this time. (Yeah, Parnell Rise is on the backburner too)

THE BULLET LIST is my latest project. It will be a six part web series telling the story of Mark Maxwell,(Matt Kinsman) a burned SIS analyst who is reined in by a secret russian faction to kill people for them, or his kidnapped sister dies.

It's genre is comedy/action and has been specifically written by myself to show case my action side, achievable locations and cast, (a visual CV in essence) and have a finished product at the end of it.

After being premiered on youtube I plan to release a DVD with the uncut version's, making of and copies of the blog. Maybe a prequel episode? Who knows.

I have 3 scripts in the can and 3 to finish fleshing out. Anyway, that's it for me for now, just letting you know I'm still around and this dream is very much, still alive, check back in a couple of months and hopefully the first episode should be completed and online :)

The official facebook page for this webseries is here at www.facebook.com/thebulletlist  ,like for up to date news :)

Introspection. To Act or not.

Monday. I'm sitting on the bus, running one hand through my hair, the other resting my mp3 player on my lap while listening to Skyler Grey's 'build a monster'. I'm staring past the window at the rain as it falls against the backdrop of a blur of shopfronts and suburbia and wondering how the hell did I get here again, is this a time travel bus? 10 years ago I was doing this damned same thing, busing to school, listening to Eminem on my Walkman, head full of dreams of being a famous rapper. Witty wordplay and interviews aside I would be seeked out for my knowledge, and summoned for my company. I would stare out that bus window at passersbys and be like 'That'll never be me, I'll never be a rat race player, I have dreams'. Yet here I am, ten years later. Same jerking bus, same beats, same attitude.

But I've got a lot to be thankful for, and I know why I never made it as a big time rapper. I didn't have a story, I never had a life or experiences that I could share and revel in. No rags to riches glory, no horrifying  upbringing but shit, its been 10 years, I've done a lot of living in that time believe me,  now I got a story.

                    Wednesday. Its my day off today, and like I joked with my customer a couple of days ago, it always rains on my day off. Its raining today, did I make that happen? Probably. Bad attitude.

I slept in this morning, then gambled with my car, driving it to the mechanic, risking the engine blowing up. Its been leaking coolant and DIY stop-leak couldn't fix it. I just had it warranted and registered a couple of days ago, premature celebration I guess. At least if it blew up I'd live my action star dream for a couple of minutes ;) (I just called the mechanic, hes sent the radiator away to get looked at, no car until tomorrow at the earliest, its been a week, one extra day wont kill us)

I arrived home, had last nights leftovers for brunch and watched 'Painted skin'. Donnie Yen was awesome as always, even if it wasn't primarily an action flick, the story was good and as tragic as most foreign films I used to like. With my job I don't really get to watch as much a spectrum of films as I used to, but I'm not a student anymore. I'm a career man. Pfffft. Forgive me for being cynical.

Sitting in front of My dusty computer ( I really should clean it) I stare at the screen. The cursor blinks at me. Again. and Again. I don't know what to write. This is supposed to be my screenplay structure. 30 to 40 beats of what should end up being the story of my feature film debut. Ive tentatively called it Fight Me. And I'm designing it so I can shoot it with my savings, the people I know, the locations I have access to and the abilities I have or can learn. Parnell Rise (my web-series) didn't really go to plan (budget/schedule and free casting being the main issue) But again, I'm stalling. Am I afraid of success? 

                    All of my dreams seem to burn and crash around me. I wanted to be an artist, I knew I was good at it, so I stopped trying and decided on something else. Logically, (really?) I chose Rapping. But its a social game, a macho game, a costly game. Things didn't work out. I changed paying jobs from store man work to sales. Sold Karate memberships for a while, learnt some Karate, decided being an Action Star was my true calling. INSERT: 4 YEARS LATER

I've done alot since making that decision and this dream is arguably the closest I've ever come to of achieving one of them, Instead of staring at the mountain and glory that awaits I need to just look at the steps in front. Finish the structure, finish the script, sort out locations and budget, sort out casting, shoot the film, edit the film, sell the film and reevaluate. So here I am, sharing with you my feelings. Am I ready for success or failure? Or am still scared to make the decision? More time is lost to indecision than bad decisions....

Who am I kidding? The decision was made for me when I moved to Auckland, every time I see the city I'm reminded why I'm here, to be a filmmaker, Though I've done some temp work and now work full time to make cash I HAVE done film work, and worked towards my career, yeah it was extra work, but hey, it's still immortalized. I been on TV, I've done work on a US film, I feel I've paid my dues, so screw it. Fight me, here I come :)