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 :)

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!

Dec 2014/Jan 2015 -Australia Holiday and goals for year...

Apologize for the lack of blogs lately, heaps been happening, you don't notice day by day but over the last couple months a lot of life has been experienced, take every day and make it yours :)

Went to Australia for an end of 2014 holiday with the wife which was awesome, we went to brisbane first, then Gold coast for christmas, beaches themeparks and chilling out really (wrong choice of word lol), then we finished up in Sydney for New Years break before heading back home to Auckland for a day, then we went to Christchurch for a friends wedding and to visit family and now we're back (a month ago). Here are a few photos (took hundreds but these are a couple that I can share)

It was a great trip all up and now in down times I'll find myself in my mind at surfers beach with the wife where the sun was warm, the beach was soft, the water was refreshing and we didn't care about anything material at all. Oh well, it's back to bills and the struggle for more again ;) At least its nice to remember we work to live not live to work :) If anything I'm Matt 3.0 now

I've come back to Auckland with renewed vigeur after this trip. This acting thing has got to happen in the next few years for me as I had said I wanted something on video shelves by the time I was thirty. I'm 28 now. Time is ticking....Challenge accepted :)

Below are my Career driven goals;

2015 Goals.
Finish the Bulletlist webseries
Do some TV work
Start and finish a straight to DVD action movie (written and acted in)
Resume Karate
Take part in the 2015 Sanda tournament.
Take part in a marathon
Buy an apartment
Learn the whole Wooden Dummy form (know half)
Workwise become a personal Banker
Baby Plans with wife, maybe early 2016...

These are the main ones, so follow this blog and you'll see how many of them I achieve :)

Sanda Competition 16th November 2014 -survived and won :)

Took the day off on Sunday so I could take part in my club's sanda tournament, was so happy to have won my fight! You won't believe the relief that washed over me at the end, if you watch the video embedded below you can probably see it on my face.

Thought I would share some pics of the day with you here. As for the fight, definitely far from my best, needed way more combinations and more attacking intent but in all honesty as fit as I am a runner my cardio isn't up to par. You can tell in the three weeks that I had known about this tournament I hadn't had any throwing practice, all instinct from 2 years ago but obviously the tehnique was rough lol.

After the first attack I was pretty much catching my breath and deciding how to fight more smarter than harder. When they pointed out my opponent I was instantly demoralized and starting making him out to be a bigger threat than he was, as Ali said, you win or lose the fight before you even step in the ring. Anyway, thanks for your support and let's step away from sanda and get back to making choreographed fights for a little bit, KAISF here we come :)

video;

pics;

 

 we got split into teams, my team was the black team, we won 7-5 :)

  

The JKD Club members who entered the tournament :)

 

Getting prepared for the fight I had been preparing for, chest gear needed to keep my heart from popping out from beating too fast lol

 Round 1. Let's do this :)

 Medal ceremony at the end. :)

 Happy Boy :)

 Got marks all over my body, but at least not the face or my boss would kill me lol

Can't wait til my next one now :)

New Project for 2015: Kicking Ass in Some Forest!

Hi guys :)

Been a while since my last blog or any work was shared, been hard at work at my day job so it has left me little time to dedicate to my dream for now. I've been in touch with Sifu and returned to training at least a couple of nights each week, juggling this with my some weeknight football and futsal and my job, I'm feeling pretty balanced again :)

I have a Sanda competition on Sunday which I'm looking forward too, unsure of how I'll do, hoping I do some good, as long as I give 100 percent and leave everything in the ring I will be happy. Will share the video next week after the fact :)

In terms of Matt the actor, everything's OK. When I get back Next year I'm going big or going home basically, so bring on January. I've put Bulletlist on hold for now, another project frozen in financial time. I will finish it next year though, will do some rewriting. As much as I love action, story is king.

Bought my dream Car, BMW, been wanting one since high school, Transporter always been one of my favorite films, so driving a European car has been a goal, since GKR its been on my reward list, so feels good to tick that off :)

So what now?

I've decided Since I have no money for a film. Or a large enough network to trial, to work with what I have and at least make something that won't take a year to make, too much time out of my busy schedule, and be enough of something to enter into festivals and start earning kudos.

Enter, "Kicking Ass in some forest!"

LOGLINE: When Hunter, a struggling action actor, is dragged into a forest by his desperate agent he has no idea that he's fighting for more than just a paycheck, he's fighting for his life!

Sounds fun right? And the title reflects the film so don't expect a soppy romcom or anything. There will be 3 main fights, one against a girl, hand to hand, one on three, my nunchucks vs a baseball bat weilder, a knife weilder and still thinking of a third weapon, and the last fight against a surprise guest but what you expect in every martial arts movie.

So with the script pretty much done, I started work on some location scouting, took my new baby for a spin  out to Piha/karekare which was a nice getaway daytrip with the wife and also gave me the opportunity to research for this project, here's some of the photo's below.

In the forest, but the trail was quite popular, unsure if will film here, maybe some walkytalky scenes lol 

Below, a beautiful empty canvas for the finale fight.

An idea of how epic this location looks, this will be part of the final fight scene.

And below some photos of the journey there which will be fight scene 2 and drama bits around it....

Anyway, like the page HERE to keep up with the latest on my new project, next step, rehearsing the fight scenes (let's do this right, no more turning up on the day, bang it out in 2 hours and go home and find the film...) I want this to look awesome and be something I haven't done before, and show you guys and the world some range :)