Blog
(or is it becoming more of a vlog?)
Production Diary - 3/3/23
All the latest news & happenings
20/2/23
Meet some of our wonderful team & hear their stories!
15/2/23
Mike & Becky chat about the process so far...
11/1/23
An update to start the New Year - our journey so far!
3/2/23
What a fun and packed evening it was last night!
And what a joy it was to have everyone back in the same room again - the first time since Christmas.
It was also a special evening because it was the night we began work on our feature film in earnest.
We shared the story… we shared the casting…
(Most of it anyway - we’re still going backwards & forwards over some of our decisions, and even held some mini-auditions last night in the corridor).
Also last night, we rigged up our green screen and had a great time getting everyone involved in a photo shoot - coming up with publicity images and creating comic silent movie type film-making scenes.
And if that wasn’t enough…
We finished off the evening devising some mini-movie scenes for the end of the story!
Next stop: getting stuck into 8 weeks of rehearsals…
23/12/22
10.Now (2)
The community group is no longer the background, it’s very much the foreground - front and centre…
It’s the beating heart of the project…
It’s almost as if this team has been hand-picked…
(Maybe I shouldn’t have doubted…)
Yes, we may still need reinforcements in a few key areas…
But within the group we now have most of the people we need to fulfil the key roles in cast and crew…
There’s still a lot to figure out…
But my next step is to re-write the script - specifically tailored to the unique characters and personalities in the team…
(I may even take a turn in front of the camera myself…)
It won’t be a straightforward shoot for the feature as we’ll have to work around the schedules of the individuals in the group…
But we’ll make it work…
So what’s our end goal?
Well, it’s not to go to Hollywood…
And it’s not to further our own personal careers in the film industry…
It is to tell stories…
Stories that are uplifting… stories that are full of hope…
Stories that point towards a better way of living our lives… and of being with each other…
Stories that build each other up and play to the strengths and characters of our ‘hand-picked’ group. Stories that find the beautiful in everyday situations… and everyday people…
The most important thing is that we’re doing it together.
Here’s to the next step…
23/12/22
9.Now (1)
So, where now?
We’ve had a great few months… made some great new friends… and we’ve got a great team, with a regular core group of about 15 people…
(Plus myself and Becky…)
It’s a good number…
(Although of course there’s always room for more…)
We’re on a journey…
We’ve learnt a lot… but there’s still a lot more to learn too *…
Over the coming months we’ll be practicing…. working hard… learning… and practicing again… ready to take on the goal of the feature film next year….
Like I say, it’s a journey….
I think the realisation that has come to Becky and I over the course of the last few months is that- yes, we’re working towards a big final project- (And of course we’re looking forward to it and want to do it to the best our our collective abilities…)
But that making the film isn’t the most important thing.
The most important thing is how we get there; how we travel towards that goal…
It’s about the people… about the relationships being built and the personal stories of those involved…
People first… Project very much second…
There have been other changes in the nature of the project too…
Originally, when we set out in September to make a feature film in partnership with the local community, to be honest I wasn’t entirely sure how it would work…
We’d never done it before…
There were so many unknowns…
Who would get involved?
(Would anyone even want to?)
What skills or experience would they bring?
(Acting? Set builders? Technical peeps? None of the above?)
And how committed would they be?
(After all, we were aiming to take on a very ambitious project…)
I guess, in the back of my mind, I was imagining that in order to make the main film we would need to raise money and we would need to hire people to fill the key roles - with the community group taking more of a background role…
(Being extras, runners etc.)
We thought we might possibly find or one two people to play some small parts, but we just didn’t know…
Things have changed now…
16/12/22
8.Celebrations
So we finished the Christmas edit…
Like I’ve said before, I’ve been really proud of the team.
Sure, on reflection there are some things that we could have done better (I very much include myself in that) and maybe some of the production values aren’t as top notch as they could be (After all, some of our equipment was pretty basic - and we were operating on a budget of exactly £0.)
But…
When all’s said and done, I’m so, so pleased with what our new film-makers have managed to achieve. In just a matter of weeks, they’ve gone from absolute beginners to completing their first short films - and they’ve done such a good job of them!
We held a premiere for them at the Mess Cafe, and it was a great evening celebrating all that had been achieved and all the people involved. We even managed to get hold of a red carpet so that everyone could be photographed on it as they arrived!
(Becky had contacted a carpet company and asked if they had any spare bits - and they said yes!)
There was food and drink (and popcorn of course!)
And it was a wonderful night of sharing all that we’d done over the last few months… looking back… and looking forwards too to what’s coming next…
15/12/22
7.Filming
We cast…
We rehearsed… we planned…
And filming began…
We’d come up with three stories in total, each with two to three characters in them, so we ended up splitting into smaller teams.
Some rehearsed their acting roles with Becky… whilst others went off to shoot with me… Those not rehearsing or in front of the camera at the time took it in turns fulfilling the various crew roles…
We were perhaps slightly ambitious - and we were certainly multitasking - but it kept us all busy…
We were also filming in various locations - because none of the stories we’d come up with were set in a church marketing room…
Different rooms of our house (plus the street outside) served for the most part, but we were challenged by one of the stories which was set in a prison cell!
However, it turned out that in the same building where we normally met there was a disused space which ended up suiting perfectly (well almost…)
(As it happened we had one or two well-informed people in the group who were able to advise us on how to make the room look authentic…)
It was a crazy few weeks, but what impressed me most was how
smoothly everything went. I was so proud of everyone in the group. In a just a few short months they’d gone from absolutely zero experience to being comfortable working in front of the camera - getting their heads round stories being shot out of order and in different locations… taking responsibility for the technical roles…working as a team at quite a fast pace… and bringing together all that they’d learnt over the last couple of months.
Sure, occasionally mistakes were made (such as on the first day when, having borrowed some sound recording equipment from the Message (thank you!), I realised that I had no idea how to turn it on! We live and learn…)
But it was such a great atmosphere on set. Everyone was so supportive of each other… there were no egos… no tantrums…
(Not even me!)
It was just such a great sense of community…
Then came the edit…
14/12/22
6.The Christmas Films
Whilst the project was set up with the feature film in mind, we decided early on that we needed to do some mini-projects first - to build up the team, build up experience - and to act as stepping stones towards the main goal. As it was autumn, Christmas seemed an obvious theme…
I have to admit, I was slightly hesitant about doing anything that was too overtly spiritually themed at first - even though we were based in a church building, and working mostly with members of that congregation.
I guess the reason for this was because I was concerned that we would be labelled early on as being ‘a Christian thing’. Whilst that happens to be my personal faith, I’ve always wanted the project to be open and welcoming to anyone in the wider community - regardless of religious belief.
However, after bouncing ideas around within the group about what Christmas meant to people, an idea began to emerge…
The theme was ‘light in the darkness’, and was inspired by a line from that great old carol ‘O little town of Bethlehem’ - “Yet in the dark streets shineth an everlasting light.”
For a lot of people Christmas is anything but a party, and the last thing they feel like doing is putting up the tinsel and wearing a silly jumper. It can be very tough.
So, drawing on real life experiences from folks in the group and combining them with elements of the original Nativity story, we came up with a plan. Actually, we came up with three plans - three short films about light in dark times.
And then the Christmas filming began…
13/12/22
5.Worries
With such a broad range of people in the group - from different backgrounds - and who are all interested in different aspects of the project (acting…technical & cameras… design…)
One of the challenges, for me personally, has been how to move things forward at a pace that suits everyone. After all, Becky and I are trying to achieve a lot of different things at the same time:
Building a team…
Teaching new skills…
And working towards a rather ambitious goal…
Whilst also trying keep it fun and engaging for everyone…
Maybe I worry too much. In fact I know I do - it’s my nature. No-one’s complained yet - but I do tend to worry about whether everyone’s having a good time; that no-one’s getting bored or feeling left out.I guess because the nature of the project has changed.
Before we began, it felt as thought it was more about the end product - the finished movie. Whereas now it’s much more about the people…
We’re still aiming for same goal, but the journey to reach it is now more important than the destination itself. Now it’s about the process - and about making sure everyone feels confident, secure and valued. It’s about community.
Like I say, no-one’s complained - but I do tend to be a bit of a worrier…
4. The Next Few Weeks
The next three weeks were a crash course in film-making, where we tried to cover a bit of everything - from screen acting to crew roles to shot composition to how things function on a set.
Clearly we weren’t expecting everyone to master these skills in a few short evenings, but the aim was to give everyone at least a broad understanding of the process.
We made some more mini-films…
I gave them a script four lines long and asked them to think of different scenarios or ways in which the lines could be said - an acting exercise as well as a filming one!
People used their phones to direct the actors and film the scenes from different angles, using different types of framing and shots.
We also spent a little time getting them used to the mechanics of a film set - ‘first positions!’ ‘camera rolling?’ ‘action!’ ‘cut!’ - and of course - everyone’s favourite - using the clapperboard.
And it wasn’t just those behind the camera getting to grips with the technical aspects - those in front had to think about them too. So we spent time getting the actors used to walking to their mark on the floor without looking and continuity.
One week, we did some more flexing of our acting muscles. I gave them a couple of scenes from the film we’re planning to produce (‘Silver Screen Dreams’) for them to rehearse and film one evening.
This was a bit of a moment because it was the first time I’d heard the words from the script spoken out loud and gave a tiny glimpse as to what the project might become…
Throughout that first month my policy was to encourage everyone to try their hand at a bit of everything. I felt this was important for a number of reasons - to create team spirit… to help people figure out where their skills were… to help everyone understand the whole picture… and to give everyone an appreciation of all the different roles being carried out by other members of the team.
What’s been amazing is how quickly people have picked things up, and how supportive everyone is of each other.
It’s shaping into quite the team…
3. The First Week
That first week we had no idea who was going to come…
Well, in a way we did - after we’d initially announced the idea and put the word out we’d begun to collect a list of people who’d expressed an interest in the project.
But when we turned up at the Mess Cafe (next door to the church) that first Thursday evening, we didn’t know for certain if any of them were going to turn up…
But…
Most of them did, plus some a few new faces. And in total we had about a dozen people plus myself and Becky that very first night.
And what a great bunch of people…
It was a such a mixture - an incredibly diverse group from a wide range of ages, backgrounds, experiences and walks of life…
Almost all of whom had never done anything like this before in their lives…
(Apart from Lana - a refugee who had graduated form acting school in Ukraine the year previously…)
First task was to break the ice, which we did by playing games, doing team-building activities, having fun - and occasionally making fools of ourselves.
This was clearly new territory for a lot of people, but everyone soon got into the spirit and there was a lovely atmosphere of laughter, enthusiasm and excitement.
Next, we talked a bit about filming - about the basic nuts and bolts, how scenes are made up of lots of different types of shots, and then everyone had a go at making their own mini, ten second films using their phones. Their first film production…
It was a great night…
With, as I’ve said, such a positive atmosphere…
And it was wonderful to see how this broad mixture of characters - most of whom had never met each other before - came together…
By the end of the session, the room was buzzing with an enthusiastic energy about what was to come…
We thought-
This is going to be good…
2. Let’s Do It
So we took the plunge…
But where do you begin finding & creating a community of people?
We needed an anchor…
We needed a starting point…
And for us, it seemed most obvious to start with a church - a place that already had roots in the community, a place where people were used to meeting and a good route for communicating what we were trying to achieve.
(And partnership is always a good thing!).
And the most obvious church was the one that we’d begun attending the previous Easter…
The Message Community Church (grown out of The Message Trust*) is based in Wythenshawe…
Wythenshawe- for those who don’t know- is in South Manchester and is one of Europes largest council estates and the church that has sprung up there has got an amazing ministry reaching out and supporting people to people who haven’t had the easiest start in life and don’t fit into the conventional church box!
So we found a base…
We found a group of people..
And the Message were supportive and enthusiastic about the idea…
(It always helps when people don’t believe you’re mad…)
So we set a date…
We announced the idea…
And we got ready to begin…
(*Who are an awesome organisation - with Eden teams / Community Groceries / Prison Ministries etc - you can check them out at https://www.message.org.uk)
So I thought I'd begin sharing a bit of the journey so far. The beginning seemed a good place to start...
1. A Mad Idea
It began as a mad idea…
To make a feature film with a bunch of people who’d never made a feature film before - or indeed any kind of film…
And yet, somehow it seemed right…
Let me take you back to the beginning…
Becky and I…
(For those who don’t know us…)
Have been telling stories for many years…
(Over two decades - but that doesn’t make us old. Does it?)
Anyway…
As I say we’ve been telling stories for a good while now - mostly through our former theatre company (Rhema Theatre Company), but also through short films too…
The last couple of years have seen a bit of a major change of direction for us…
(Something to do with some sort of major global event..)
But we’ve continued to seek to tell stories that inspire, amuse, encourage and generally bring a sense of hope into people’s lives…
So we wrote a movie…
The story is about a couple living in a slightly broken community, who have a passion for old films and decide to make their own - and, in so doing, bring life and a sense of hope to those around them…
It’s a feel-good film about looking at ourselves and those around us through different eyes…
But when it came to making it we hit a brick wall…
And then another… and another…
Whoever said making movies was easy?
(Actually no-one…)
Then came the mad idea…
Instead of just telling this story, we would live it…
We would partner with a community…
And together we would learn and journey and create this project…
It was a mad idea…
But it also felt like a good one…
The question was, where would we begin?