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 ;)

The Bulletlist - Finished and Uploaded!!!

Hi! Happy to announce to everyone that the 'webisodes' are up online now on my Youtube channel (www.youtube.com/themattkinsman) for my project, THE BULLETLIST. :)

Check it out below! :) I really hope you enjoy it. I learnt alot (emphasize ALOT) on this journey and now turn my attention to shooting a feature film. Thanks again for your patience, juggling real life with my dream has been a 'challenge' but I'm happy there is something to show for it, enjoy :)

Also, a special thanks to those that made this possible - First and foremost, Steve! You rocked playing Gabriel and helped out heaps with most of the fightscenes, your attitude to work was inspiring especially since you were juggling this with your job as well and thanks for sticking through with it until the end. Hope this looks good on the resume ;)

 Kat, thanks so much, ever the professional, you impressed us and inspired us to step up our acting game plus had fun on set, I hope you enjoyed your time creating with us. 

Tui, Kamy, Toutai, Walter and Amber, thanks for taking part in our project with your various roles, hope your happy with the result :) 

and last but not least, LJ, thanks for helping us film the last episode and for your cameo in ep5, I'm looking forward to making some more magic on camera :) 

and to YOU - Thank you all for your support and I hope you'll be here for the next project/s :)

Day 11 and 12 of The BulletList - Finished!! and 48hrs 'Why won't you love me? Uploaded!

Day 11 and 12 of The BulletList - The final shoots.

Locations. I was running out of locations. My house was shot to bits as well as local parks and such...When I wrote the script for this webseries I envisioned an apartment or hotel room where the main character would have been staying. Since this was a 'no budget' shoot and our character was supposed to be on the downlow- I ended up hiring a motel room. Seedy I know, but cost effective, private and spacey -surprisingly it turned out well. We shot on Friday night and Sunday night as we were all working during the day.

Day 11 was shooting all the remaining scenes between Suzy and Gabriel and Day 12 was shooting the action scene. I wont share any screenshots from that so it doesn't spoil anything for the story. But It was one of my more interesting shoots in a while, first for everything they say.

Anyway here are a couple non-spoilery screenshots in the meantime;

48hour Short film - Why won't she Love me - Now online!

I have uploaded the short film to my youtube channel now we got the ADR done for the first line of the film. It's about a first date not going the way the main character was hoping. Shooting this was a great experience and we learnt alot from it. Having backup actors/actresses, PLAN B's, Post Edit time management etc... 

If you haven't seen it yet, now's your chance! Hope you enjoy it :)

So now what?

As I mentioned in earlier blogs I've returned to Karate training (after how many years? 4?) and it's been a great blessing, my technique is getting much sharper again, It's a great time out from the routine of work/home and I am going to work towards getting that Black belt one day.

I entered the Sanda tournament this past weekend for the NZ nationals but was heart broken when I was all geared up for the 7th and final fight, sitting on the opponent chair with my team, waiting for an opponent who would never appear ( he got injured during one of the first fights they tell me and no one wanted to fight me, I was 71k and everyone was bigger or had already fought or was from my club) 

It was one of the biggest disappointments in my life. I had been training the last month and a half at home/in my garage and had already fixed my mindset, as well as taken a leave day off work. The next invitational is in September. I might be out of town then but would love to try again. I feel I have unfinished business in the Sanda ring. My record is 1-1 and I still want to rectify that first loss as I've been working on my low kick/wrestling game since then and have improved I feel. I've got to do this again - Proving to myself I have what it takes...Standing there, frustrated. Watching the others get medals I unwrapped my hands with a heavy heart and swore next time I get on those mats, I'm going all out...

Now that I've finished the Bulletlist Shoots I'm going to finish the editing and upload the series onto my Youtube channel by mid August (in a couple of weeks). I plan to start finishing the screenplay to my indy feature I am working on and try and begin preproduction/fundraising on that. I also hope to do a couple of short films in order to increase traffic to my channel, shooting fan films of things that I'm a fan of and network with some more actors/crew in order to build my next project.

I've watched alot of great TV shows and movies recently and feel I've learnt alot of storytelling techniques and ways to build up character I hadn't been aware of previously. Already with The Bulletlist if I could do it over from scratch it would be vastly different, but I am happy with how it turned out for what it was, just a couple of people running around with a camera making up a story as they went along for practice and to lead to bigger things...

Work's sort of busy at the moment but Being an action actor/filmmaker has always been the main goal and I need to make things happen. Look at all the things Bruce Lee achieved by the time he was 32? I haven't even done a single film to my name. That's got to change if I've got any hope of nailing my goal. I've got to be the change I want to see ;)

Thanks for your support :)

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...

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 :)

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 :)

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! :)

BulletList 2014- Deleted Car Fight Scene (Mark vs Ravi)

Last Year I started a webseries called The Bulletlist however the story I had written didn't suit the title and I couldn't really get anyone to film it for free due to my roster etc, So Over the holidays I decided to rewrite the story, recast it and startover which meant sacrificing the below scene which didn't quite work out the way I intended due to the background and continuity (as you will see shortly haha)

So I hope the Deleted scene below hints at what might have been, It features some awesome acting from the ever cool Ravi Narayan and was shot by my friend Mr Jon Chan as his camera is much better than mine and he had an interest in filming something. Thanks Guys!

Enjoy!

2015- Jan/Feb News- Action on BulletList and Shortland Street :)

Hello!

Auckland celebrated its 175th Birthday on the 26th January so we watched the fireworks which was awesome, a symbol of the desire inside me, Great start to the year, the year I make shit happen. 

The night sky was so calm beforehand;

 First thing done towards my acting goal this year is an extra role in Shortland street (local TV show), just reading magazines in the background but its work and in the industry so happy to have done that, its more than I have done the last two years anyway. (should air in april so post a screengrab if I can see myself haha)

 Came back to Auckland to find out my Computer is dead, Hard drive not being accessed so will have to fix that sometime, in meantime since wife always wanted a laptop and I like the convenience of it, especially when it comes to writing scripts or editing on the go we decided to get one, so happy to finally be able to update this blog and also work on my stuff :)

Second I've finished rewriting The Bulletlist And I Have started to shoot it, Yesterday was Day One of the new shoot, and was Gabriel's first kill so now we're a scene closer. It will be six episodes so looking forward to completing this one. Still reining in talent on this one, people I haven't worked with before so hoping to finally finish this project :) Looking good! ;)

Steve vs Tui in yesterdays scene (and my car :) haha)

Thirdly, I've got a couple of screenplays (Mumbai Cop is the main one right now) I'm working on, hoping to meet a producer in a couple of days to pitch him, fingers crossed we get some action or at least another screenwriter who can help me tighten the story.

Fourthly, started work on the treatment for My feature film project I aim to shoot and release this year. Stay tuned for more news on this one as it develops. I have the story, its just writing it in such a way it can be shot of little budget but maximum action within the days I'm free when I'm not working at my paying job lol

 

Trying not to work myself to death like this guy

Lastly, Trying to keep fit, trying to learn the dummy form from Chris when I can and plan to resume karate (done one class, haven't done the last couple weeks due to cash/finishing work late but plan to go again next week) Got to get that 6 pack for the big screen! ;)

Anyways, Live it up Yo, See you next post!

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 :)