There's not much to update, but I thought I better leave a closing statement for this period. I am still working on The Zombie Diaries with Kevin Gates. We have officially taken on board a third director, Scott Orr, who did the effects on Kev's film, The Unseen. We're both approaching second draft and will begin collaborating with Scott to write the third segment of the film.

I've been sending the rough draft of The Zombie Diaries around to a few people to get their feedback. I plan to write a second draft in the next week or so. Overall, this is going to be a lightning fast production compared to Mnemosyne and will be a useful learning experience on the way to producing and directing a feature of my own. Hopefully in the next month Kevin Gates and myself can select a third director to direct the final segment of the movie.

In other news, I finally got round to watching the making of featurettes on the DVD, ADVENTURES IN SHORTS - A Filmmaker's Journey To Hollywood. It follows this crazy Indian director, called Ashvin Kumar, who made a feature film with a ShootingPeople crew and virtually no money (The Line Producer ran off with half the budget) in a mountainous area of India. It pretty damn amazing, and hopefully they'll be an interview with the director up soon!

After exchanging drafts with Kevin Gates, today I had a chance to read through his segment. Even though it was only a first draft I was very pleased and could see it playing out in my head as I was reading. I sent my draft to Kev for review, and also to Sophia Ellis and Kyle Sparks, who I plan to use in my segment. Sophia has already read it through and is pleased. We are hoping to have the scripts polished by early February so we can begin casting. I will make no secret that I want to coincide the culmination of this project with Romero's Land Of The Dead.

I filmed some footage this weekend for The Zombie Diaries and also managed to tidy up the rough draft for my segment and dispatch it off to Kevin Gates. In the coming weeks we wll refine the ideas and see where we go from there. We are looking to go into production around June this year, so if you are a zombie enthusiast who will be available in the UK this summer, e-mail me and you could be part of this special project, which will be unlike any zombie movie ever made.

No, this diary entry has nothing to do with my escapades whilst wearing a pair of shorts. Instead, I wanted to let all my readers know that I found a cool DVD called ADVENTURES IN SHORTS - A Filmmaker's Journey To Hollywood. It is a DVD packed with 3 hours of material containing European academy award nominated film-maker Ashvin Kumar's journey from film-school to his first feature in Hollywood. I have bought a copy and will post my thoughts when I have seen it. It looks good and inspirational.

I flew out to the US on the 16-Dec-04 and only just arrived back. I was unable to update the site while I was away as my fiancee's PC was running an archaic operating system which caused endless problems. The break away was nice, and I even got to see The Last Horror Movie while I was there. The film is very entertaining, but didn't really offer anything new (Man Bites Dog covered the same material, although not as well in my opinion) and totally and utterly failed to achieve the "it's actually real" twist. Still, as I said, it was a very entertaining movie at the very least - it's just a shame our American cousins get to have it before we do!

I spent most of my free time doing training, as part of an agreement with my employer to take an extended holiday, so I didn't make any progress on Simulacra. My actress, Sophia Ellis, is off to Oz for a bit soon, so I can use that time to develop it. I did get a good structure completed for my segment of The Zombie Diaries and will discuss this with Kevin Gates in the week and see where we go from there.

It was no great surprise when I checked the Clermont-Ferrand website today to find Mnemosyne had not been accepted into the festival. I was hoping that they would take the version we sent them as a 'work in progress' due to a lot of problems with the sound mix, which I didn't get to hear until after the film had gone out. The festival is so competetive, however, that there is nothing to suggest we would have got in even with the full strength version of the film. Still, the great thing is that the festival was free to enter and that we will be playing at the film market! I'm still planning to put together an article on the best festivals to enter with a low-budget, as I hate to see fellow filmmakers ripped off with overly large entrance fees. I hope to get round to that in the next few months.

I saw the film 'Polar Express' a few days ago and was incredibly impressed. This film is destined to be a Christmas classic alongside films such as 'The Snowman' which a lot of our American cousins do not seem to have heard of! I thought I'd work out my top 5 films for the season. I haven't gotten into the spirit this year as I have been so busy with scripts and work. Sometimes it's good to take some time out and enjoy the festivities. My top 5 are:

1. The Snowman (1982)
2. Home Alone (1990)
3. Christmas Vacation (1989)
4. Scrooged (1988)
5. Polar Express (2004)

I've been posting around on a few sites to find some decent film festivals with a low entry fee. Today someone on the SimplyDV.com Bulletin Board gave me the following press release:

The Commonwealth Film Festival is currently open for submissions for features, shorts, documentaries and experimental films from around the Commonwealth. We are especially looking for short experimental films for a programme that will be presented in association with Purescreen and Castlefield Gallery. Deadline is 31st December, and there is no entry fee.

The Commonwealth Film Festival takes place in Manchester, UK, 29th April - 8th May 2005. Please visit www.commonwealthfilm.com for further information and submission form.

Eva Nelander
Shorts Programmer
eva.nelander@commonwealthfilm.com

This is great and immediately shows the festival is there to support young filmmakers, as opposed to profit off of them. This is one festival I will definitely be entering, and I have even offered my time to help them since Manchester is close to Leeds. I was also sent this really useful film festival search page by another member of the Bulletin Board. Good stuff!

Today this favourable review went up online for Mnemosyne. It's good to see Mark Jeavons, Kevin Gates, Stephen Hoper, Hakan Besim and Rob Whitaker all get honourable mentions as their input to the film was fantastic. I'm really pleased that all the actors were praised too, as they did a good job when you consider they took a chance on a first-time director.

Today has been an incredibly productive day. I began the day by meeting actors Steve Sarossy, Sophia Ellis and Kyle Sparks in London to talk about where we go next with Simulacra. All three had some very good visions of how they would like to see the film shaped. This is truly a collaborative process - I have them in with me from the begining, shaping their characters, and the events - I am thoroughly enjoying the way this process is moving and I think it will really benefit the final result.

Afterwards I met with Lee from RumourMachine.com and Kevin Gates to discuss The Zombie Diaries. We have been in discussions with Lee to help him with the load of his site; he brought another filmmaker along by the name of Anthony Gates who also would be taking on some of the work. It was a great day with lots of film and movie conversation, plus a few beers here and there.

Finally, my producer, Hakan, notified me that he will be having a Budget Filmmaker night in Croydon at the Hog's Head pub on Tuesday 07-Dec-04. He will be screening my film, Mnemosyne, along with a few other select shorts. He even has attracted interest from a local paper, so kudos to Hak!

Let's get straight to the point: I have pushed back the shooting of Simulacra to March 2005 because the script and vision have grown exponentially over the last few days. I will use the coming weekend to run some test shots in and around London. Today Steve Hoper, who composed the music to Mnemosyne, signed up to do the music for this film. Although I like the idea of collaborating with different people, I also think a good team should be kept together, and my working relationship with Steve is such that it would be crazy to approach a different composer for this project.

In other news, a few incidents have occured over the last few days that have really cheesed me off and given me a new mission. Basically a number of film festivals came up that looked good, but all carried a ridiculous fee. Having seen the winners of some festivals, it pains me to think that the entree fee money could be going from my pocket straight to the director of a really shit short film by way of a 'prize'. Currently I have only submitted my film to the Clermont-Ferrand film festival (which was free). I am now going to somehow try and find the time to compile a full list of all film festivals who are free to enter, so everyone else can benefit from this as well as me. I think asking for payment - especially for shorts - is an insult to low-to-no budget filmmakers, especially if the festival is unheard of. Raindance, Sundance and Cannes can justify a fee, but the rest are simply riping off poor, talented filmmakers, and I won't be submitting to them unless I get desperate.

This weekend has been pretty useful. I was originally going to spend it in London with Hakan, working on editing the 'Making Of' for my film, Mnemosyne. What actually ended up happening was that I put it on the backburner so I could spend time writing the script to my experimental film, which I have given the working title of Simulacra. Actors Steve Sarossy and Mike Chomiak both expressed an interest in seeing my vision laid down in some kind of framework, just so they could understand the various character motivations and overall sequence of events. I may consider pushing back filming to january now (we are supposed to be filming next week) as this project has grown from a improv-experiemntal piece into something with a little more substance. I will send the script out tomorrow and then discuss with the actors what the best course of action is.

Today I sent out a group e-mail to actors Mike Chomiak, Kyle Sparks and Sophia Ellis regarding the experimental film we will shoot on Dec 4th/5th. I then got onto MSN Messenger with Sophia and she came up with a neat idea that almost shifted the idea back a few months, to a format similar to when myself and Alan Treston were speccing the idea up. I think this project could turn out really well - I'm trying to keep it as loose as possible and am really focussing on getting the acting right, as that seems to be the biggest criticism of Mnemosyne.

Two great pieces of news. Firstly, my film has been put to the chop by the infamous Kev Cowell from film-idol.com. Have a read of his disparaging and scurrilous remarks and see if you agree.

In other news, director Kevin Gates has just completed an interview for my site about his feature film, The Unseen. Click here to have a read.

Andreas Samland, the director of my favourite short film, Tag 26, e-mailed me today with his review of my short Mnemosyne. Andreas is a back-to-back winner of the short film competition at the Brooklyn International Film Festival and has been a very big inspiration to me. Here is what he had to say:

I have to say, this really makes me think I should integrate a flashback to show what was happening when the doctor turned the sound of the birds on (he was opening a window, thus letting the sound of birds into the room), but because there is a DVD extra that shows everything, I should really stick to my guns. It's a difficult decision, because that is one of the strongest scenes in the film, and I know people would be really impressed if I showed what was happening.

Today I received a simply fantastic piece of frank feedback from director, Daniel Outram. He made a number of points about what he liked and disliked about the film. One of his points was something I found very enlightening, indeed:

I find it hard to offer criticism when I always thought that my short "Racing Post" was rather shit, and was always surprised when people told me how much they liked it. The main thing that got me about my film were the performances. So I decided that that should be the priority on my next production. My next production happened to be my test commercial for BSM (which can be viewed at takeagiantleap.com). I decided that on this spot I'd spend a lot more time casting. There was a limit to how far I had been able to go with the actors from 'Racing Post', so I wanted to find people who could behave more naturally in front of the camera. And I wanted to play around with improvisation. It really worked, and I was far happier with the performances I had ever got before. The main lesson that I learnt is that you can discover a hell of a lot in casting. Not only about how well somebody is suited to a part, and how naturally the can be in front of the camera, but also it provides an opportunity to experiment with various different ideas for directing their performances. Anyway, it really worked, and I ended up getting an award in the new director's category of the Cannes advertising festival.

So, this is my main thing. I felt that a lot of the performances in your film were a bit theatrical. (A bit like the one's in "Racing Post") I think that this is what you should concentrate on next. Experiment with scenes that have very realistic character interaction, and play around with them until you manage to direct the actors into acting really naturally. The primary goal in doing this will be to enhance your skills at directing actors, so don't worry so much about production values etc, just focus on workshopping the performances using whatever is necessary to get real performances. We all know when something feels acted, the difficult bit is knowing what to do to fix it. And if your actors aren't any good there's very little you're going to be able to do about it. For my BSM thing I used a couple of kids from a school in Streatham. They were great actor because they didn't act. They were themselves and they played the situations utterally naturally and really imagined themselves into the experience that they were supposed to be going through.

I felt that the tone and pace of the script and editing exaggerated this theatricality. The fact that there were several scenes in which people asked questions for which no answers were provided began to feel deliberately dramatic. A bit "Waiting for Godot". How long have you been here? Confused pause. What's going on? We've got to get out of here. Almost felt operatic.

Before I had received Dan's remarks, I had spoken with numerous actors about how I always can tell the difference between acting and reality, and how I wanted to find a way to explore closing the gap with my films. Dan really hit the nail on the head - it is always refreshing when someone who knows what they are talking about is prepared to give you frank, "how to help yourself" advice, and if you are a director who wants to continue learning and getting better, you will thrive on it.

A lot of people at the cast and crew screening asked me what I intended to do next. That is something I have had more time to think about over the last few days as I have been ill, and pretty much confined to my bedroom, sleeping. Well after a lot of soul searching, I have decided to proceed with MakingTheFilm.Com in the following way:

1. Take Mnemosyne Around Film Festivals
2. Work On Experimental Film in Early December 2004
3. Work On The Zombie Diaries For Most Of 2005
4. Write My Feature Off And On Through 2005

Ultimately I have decided that this is enough. I will postpone the actual shooting of the feature until 2006. This is because I have my entire wedding to organise which will take place in the fall of 2005. My fiancee, Maren, has been very understanding about the filmmaking, and I think that now I have Mnemosyne behind me, I should take my time and balance my private life with my filmmaking. The Zombie Diaries will be a great project to work on for 2005 and will not take up too much of my time; it will also give me the experience needed to oversee a feature film, and will help me prepare for my feature in 2006. Whilst working on this film, I am sure I will get the time to learn a lot from Kevin Gates and Hakan Besim on producing, and thus it seems like the perfect project to be on. We hope to complete the film by Halloween 2005.

We had a big turnout for the cast and crew screening yesterday. After the screening was over we went into Rochester and Chatham and had a meal and a few drinks; it ended up turning into quite a session. The feedback was generaly positive. Scott Ainslie (Graham) said he didn't know if he could use the film on his showreel, which made me feel a little bad as he did work on the film for free for this reason. He also took a giant leap of faith in me, as I was a first time director without a track record. I guess it's always a gamble working in independent cinema. He did like the film, though, which is good as Scott has a very critical eye. The film will screen in the large video shop on Ordnance Street, Chatham for a few weeks. Hopefully, I should get quite a lot of feedback from that.

Tomorrow is the big screening. My brother has been able to burn off a few DVDs and even has managed to print directly onto the DVDs themselves. I will try and get some photos and video of the screening for the site and for the DVD. The DVD for Mnemosyne should be available mid-December. The versions I am giving out to the crew are for showreel purposes; the DVD on sale will actually have all the additional features.

I met with actors Kyle Sparks and Sophia Ellis today to discuss my experimental film that I plan to shoot early December, as they wil feature quite prominently in it. I also did a screening of Mnemosyne which went down very well - sounded pretty good pumped out of the stereo :) I also have made some good progress with Kevin Gates on our up-and-coming Zombie Flick, The Zombie Diaries. We are trying to convince Hakan Besim to join as a producer, as he did such a terrific job on Mnemosyne. Maybe tomorrow I can twist his arm over a beer or two.

Okay - I finally have details of my new film. I am going to collaborate on a zombie film with horror director, Kevin Gates. The idea is based on something I came up with about a month ago, and which then blossomed as Kevin and myself spoke more and more about it. I have always wanted to make a zombie movie, but have found it difficult finding other filmmakers with the same passion for films like Night of the Living Dead, Dawn of The Dead and Day Of The Dead.

The working title is: The Zombie Diaries and I can assure all readers that it will be a zombie film directed in the spirit of the classic; there's somemthing about athletic zombies that just doesn't work for me! (no offece to DawnOfTheDead2004 which was fantastic). The film wil put an original spin on the classic Zombie film, so people who think "they have seen it all before" will be mistaken. This project will be a great stepping stone from Mnemosyne to my feature, and I can't wait to get started. I think it's about time someone made a zombie movie with an edge - that really gets across the apocalypse through the actions and words of the characters. You thought Mnemosyne was bleak. You ain't seen nothing yet...

I've had loads of feedback since launching Mnemosyne. It started off very mixed, and over the last few days has got stronger and stronger. I've posted the link on almost every film forum I can find, and the response from film enthusiasts the world over has been great. Here is the bulk of the web responses so far:

Mike--this is an interesting film. I liked your use of color, darkness, and light. The imagery definitely conveyed a dream-like atmosphere...it was very effective. I agree that your pacing is slow, but this is not a detriment. Not only does the pacing work for this movie ...it MAKES the movie. Any attempt to change the pacing (speeding it up) will actually be a detriment to the movie. I do not want to give any spoilers, but let's just say that the experiences of the lead character REQUIRE the pacing you set in order to validate the storyline. I enjoyed it, thanks for sharing!

I enjoyed it. I think you have a good eye for composition. The pacing fit the piece, but I could see why people might consider it slow. Me, I sorta like that sort of thing. "Ambient" filmmaking, I call it. The sound engineering really made the piece stand out. And whatever you did on the color correction and image manipulation made the GL-2 shine. My only criticism is that the day-for-night shots didn't work well. You usually want to avoid an open sky in those shots, because technically, people think of the night sky as black, not a different blue. You might need to create a matte, to darken the open sky in those shots.

I love it. I'm a big fan of Solaris and Unbreakable, which I think you can compare the pacing too. As long as a movie is interesting, and looks good with composition then it can be slow and i will still be interested. I loved the fact that, in the scene where he is sitting with the doctor in the field, I was like, "oh yeah he's dead how cliche" then at the end you find out he's not, because it made me look stupid. I mean essentially it's the same idea, but you did it in a different way, that was a more entertaining ride to the end.

Holy cow, surreal is right! Mike, am I right that you don't have a lot of movies under your belt? I found this to be a mature looking project! I liked your composition, especially with foreground objects or even the reflection in the fountain. The sound design was very nice! Good use of low, bass tones, like in the cutaway shot of the city. I'm reminded of 28 DAYS LATER and, more specifically, OPEN YOUR EYES. The use of empty streets is unsettling, in a SILENT HILL type of way. I also liked little bits like the parking lot with all of the car alarms going off. I'm really impressed and after hearing some of your other ideas, I am convinced that you will pull them off. MNEMOSYNE isn't for everyone, but it succeeds with what it sets out to do, which is to be surreal, ambient and disturbing. Kudos!

I loved it, one of the best shorts I've seen in long time.

You succeeded very well in creating a mood-driven film - we can feel and be as disturbed as the protagonist, and it was a very good point to set his first communication with his mother, in a very emotional way. The atmosphere is just as wide open, as suffocating, and you succeeded well in creating that feeling, the score played a very important part in it, with this lack of melody. This is dreamy, the spectator feels just as in a still nightmare, I think that's what you wanted to convey.

It looked an incredibly well-produced and above all "professional" film. Impressive cinematography - many of the shots had great framing (especially the dialogue by the zebra crossing with the two characters on each side); the sense of isolation in the town was realised very well, it had a 28 Days Later feel (the opening sequence in London); your script was intelligent, with no hint of exposition; and, I was quite impressed with the acting. The film reminded me very much of The Prisoner - obviously, not the mental illness, but the town with the invisible wall. It's my own view anyway, and since I love that series I can't think of a higher praise.

Indoors, I love this shot of him with one side of the wall behind green and the other side red. I love beautiful use of colour and that certainly is an example of it. The lighting and look of the film is excellent. You have managed to aviod that obviously a DV cam vibe you get with alot of indoor scenes in films shot on DV. You have managed to get a cinematic feel.

My overall impression was that it felt a bit like I'd been here before, it felt a bit portentious and pleased with itself at times and ultimtely wasn't really about much - the 'prisoner' type aspect just seemed silly in the end to me and wasn't served well by the ultra serious mood (the tv series combined lightheartedness with menace and surreality, rather than just the last two, if you see what I mean, and to my mind worked the better for it because it's that kind of 'what if' idea) However, I thought the the ending was filmed really well etc. It was definitely too long for me, though I did like the pace at the beginning. I couldn't see what the protagonist and the tag-along characters added, and the mother connection didn't lead anywhere.

This has been done before and is not original. It's amazing how an idea that seems pretty good on paper can end up translating to something so weak on the screen. At times I felt 'oh no, not another shot of the deserted city'. I wasn't impressed by the actng, and the dialog was unbelievable.

Writing and Directing are not the same skill. Though both require creativity, it is obvious you have talent as a director, but not as a writer. The sscript was weak at best, and it was such a shame to see such a good directorial effort wasted on it.

I think you need not worry too much about the expectations of the viewers. You'll never be able to please everyone all the time. I follow the philosophy of pick a side and stick to it. or get your idea and go with it, as you have done. Congrats. So all the people saying they've seen it before (everything has been done before, there is nothing new in history) and you should have done something mundane are just being picky. The guy who would have done something mundane, tell him to do it and then show it to you... I meet people like this all the time in filmmaking circles, they say they're a director or critic/what-not but when it comes down to it they've never done a damn thing. You want some feedback that you could use... I think it was shot very well. I liked the framing on most of it and the colour was good. Even the interiors look nice. Pacing is fine, there are a few slow bits but it goes with the feel of the film. The acting is fine, but you don't ask much of the actors (maybe a good thing if they are 1st timers). The dub over was noticeable (but maybe because I'm as critical of my stuff as you are of yours) but I don't think the average Joe would be bothered by it. Your soundtrack was good and fits the work. Mood comes over well. I think the story works but the thing your negative reviews pick out are valid on a certain level. I'm no expert of course. But I think it will play very well at festivals. I like the Letchworth early in the morning shots. Mnemosyne relates to the Greek goddess of memory. So personally, (just my taste) having more shots of the protagonist and his circumstances near the end might clue people in more on what's happened to him and how his memory is affected. After reading your script and thinking the auto accident would be hard to film. I like the cloud scenes leading up to the accident. I haven't seen Vanilla Sky so can't comment on that aspect. But it does remind me of some of the old hammer horrors flicks, they used the technique as you did, when they couldn't show too much violence. (the good old days). However, there is nothing wrong with using a technique someone else used. Overall I think its a great first film. The look of it really has a film quality, including the sound and editing. I wonder if it was a feature and how a paying crowd would enjoy the pace?? The average Joe doesn't generally like slow paced films. It does feel indulgent. but why not its your first lovely film. I don't think its pretentious. Short films are hard as they are easy. I think you may not have needed the other actor in the story. If you had just the protagonist alone, it might have been even darker (mood-wise). I do like the scene on the hill as he tries to get out was nicely done. reminds me of that 1950's Twilight Zone episode where the town folks find out there pets in a fish tank like structure.. but yours fit your film nicely. I hope you don't want to be a blockbuster style filmmaker, you're probably more the art house kind. Which we need more of, I am tired of the regurgitated crap coming out of Hollywood.

WOW. This is awesome. It is like exactly my taste. This is the reason I got into film. Sureal films like this one. Great cinematography, phenominal sound (that means music, ambient, vocal, all of it...it exceeds many hollywood films), and so far...the story has me enthralled. Awesome. Great stuff, man. I can't say that enough. This film will go far if you intend to do anything with it (I assume you do).

That was a very interesting short. Kept me very misdirected with hints of Village of the Damned, The Quiet Earth, and The Tomorrow People. I expected to see a more consistent use of colours throughout... it was very pronounced at the start, and became less noticeable as time went by. Was that by design? Was very good all around.

I liked it and didn't guess the ending. To be honest I thought he was a drug addict coming off - aka Trainspotting! lol But wasn't until the final scene that it made sense! The indoor shots were excellent I thought and agree that it does have a film look rather than a Digital look. The only negative side I've found with low-budget stuff is the costume department. Perhaps deliberate but for some reason the clothes the actors wear never seem to match the stuff the actors wear in high budget stuff - seems to greatly change the feel of a film. Anyway, I believe shorts are bloody hard to make, perhaps more so than a feature and it's the best short I've seen in a long time. Oh, the only major flaw I noticed (more of a technical flaw) is the fact that the earth spins! lol Where the scene changes from night to day in high speed the shadows don't move.

I am very impressed. Extremely well made, very professional. Not remotely cheesy. Camera work and editing both good. I have to wonder how many times you had to stop shooting when people and/or cars appear in the street scenes?

Whoever told you to stick to directing and forget the writing is talking out of their grapefruit - and I don't care who they are! I've read hundreds of screenplays but enjoyed very few... I genuinely like and admire your script. I could nit-pick my way through the screenplay from start to finish but all in all, Mnemosyne is an accomplished piece of writing. A lot of writers struggle to structure a story but you mirrored two story threads that shared a common narrative and left no loose ends in the process. I guessed what was happening to David from the second he spoke to his mother on the phone but it was a fascinating story, nonetheless. And despite the fact that David is a passive protagonist, which may not appeal to a wider audience (unless you're French ), I suspect it will be well received within the short film community. I really enjoyed it! It's a wonderful debut!

I find your grasp of the medium incredible. I know you host MakingTheFilm.com, which is an excellent site, but I had no idea of your visual ability. I'm seriously impressed at your first real short movie.

With the exception of one person who said ALL car crashes kill ALL passengers, the last bunch of reviews have been extremely positive. There has been some minor criticism of the overuse of echoes/reverbs in the flashbacks and the quality of the day-for-night shots, but all-in-all things are looking much better.

Today I filled out my interview with Hak's BudgetFilmmaker.com site - it's a very thorough interview that covers topics from my inspiration to become involved in moviemaking all the way to future projects.

It's amazing - everyone wants to be a filmmaker now the technology is cheap. Today two chicks sat in front of me on the way down from Leeds to London, and one started telling the other how she wanted to make a film about a lighter, and how the film would follow the lighter on its journey and somehow move between four separate short stories - which when all viewed would amount to more than the sum of their parts! Interesting, and quite educational, as I had no idea lighters were so freely exchanged - still so much has changed since I was a student ;)

Raindance will announce the winners of the Nokia Shorts competition for 2004 in a few days. I had a watch of the films. Last year the film I thought was clearly the best actually won, which made a nice change for a moviemaking competition. This year I have singled out three films which I think are pretty good. They are in descending order:

1. Have I Passed? - Jason Fairley
2. Enjoy The Film - Stephen Prestage
3. Egg Scape - Mark Hutchings

I don't think any of these films quite touch the winner of last year, but the overall quality is much better for 2004. Good luck to the contestants, and thanks for the entertainment!

The feedback has been flooding in. It sounds like a terrible thing to say, but the good news is that Mnemosyne is split between 1-star and 5-star reviews. In my experience, that's a good sign. I took a number of risks during production. I knew they would be seen as 'backfiring' by 50% of reviewers, but I stuck by those decisions. I chose to go with wide shots in the opening sequence and stand by them and their effect. I chose a risky ending which I knew would be interpreted by some people as "it was all a dream", knowing the same group would fail to see the parallels between the narratives or the subtlety of the script. I chose to block a bond between the viewer and the characters to maintain an icy, lonely feel. 50% liked those decisions; loved them in-fact. 50% didn't.

It's weird, because one person will like the acting, and the next will dislike it. One person will really love the pacing in the first half of the film, the next will say it drags. An argument even broke out on the SimplyDV bulletin board between two readers over the film. I will post the reviews once more have come in.

Wow. What a year. This time last year I was stuck in a job I hated, making little to no progress on editing Mnemosyne. I was exhausted all the time, stressed out (My Doctor almost put me on BETA-BLOCKERS), and generally stuck in a rut. Then I gave up my job, relinquished my flat, went to the states and spent some quality time relaxing. It was what I needed. I came back energised. I kick-started the editing, got a new job and things just generally got better. I now have my first short film, Mnemosyne, behind me. Right click and select 'save target as' here to download the film to your PC. It is 30 megabytes so I hope you have broadband!

Comments have only just begun to start trickling in, so it is too early to know whether it has been a resounding success or a dismal failure. One thing for sure is that it beat expectations for a 'first film', although that is one card I'd rather not play. When you watch a film, whether it be a feature or a short, you never know if it is a 'first film'. You sit there and judge it, and it could be crap or it could be good, and it could be someone's first film, or someone's tenth. But whatever, you know if you like it or not. That's what I want - honest feedback about the movie so I know where I am as a filmmaker.

So how do I feel about it? Well, it's hard to have avoided my OTT enthusiasm for the film over the last few months. I'm very happy with it. Out of 10, I'd give it a strong 6. I'm happy with what I've been able to achieve with the story, basically doing something I've never seen before in a film - it was not easy to write, as I had to tie-up the layered narratives. Unfortunately this may be lost on some people - I don't know if I have made that too obvious or not obvious enough. There is a fine line.

As for the lighting - I am very pleased with what Mark Jeavons was able to achieve with a few redheads. The shot composition was strong throughout, with director Kevin Gates using his artistic side to frame up some beautiful shots. The sound - put together by THE THEME TEAM and Rob Whittaker - has turned out very slick. I love Steve Hoper's score, although I must confess that the doctors surgery music has come in for a bashing. We might need to adjust the levels here.

I now hope to focus on commiting to a feature idea and following it through. I plan to shoot something experimental at the end of November, but I can't say too much at this point. But in the next year I certainly would like to say I have scripted and directed a feature film. I am getting married this year too, so with all that organisation, I doubt I'll have a completed feature until 2005. But let's see what happens. Here's to another great year :)