Film Forum West Midlands

FFWM member Gillian Stapleton has come forward to ask for help in the form of an Accountability Mentor for a script she is working on.

The genre is period drama/romance. The story is called The Singers and is set mainly in 1960. It is about a jazz singer and an aristocrat and their romantic involvement with each other.

The script has gone through 3 drafts and has two metors, John Humphreys and Adam Hamdy. It made the Screen WM script grant short list twice before this draft but I plan to do the scriptment and the synopsis in my own time without any funding.

When complete, I also plan to get some kind of production team together.

If you feel you can help Gillian, get in touch with her at gillianstapleton@hotmail.com

Dominic Took of Dead Time Productions is filming a feature in November and is looking for a sound engineer and a make up artist. Here’s the rest in Dominic’s words:

We’re looking for a sound engineer to work a sixteen day shoot. The engineer must have some portfolio work to show and have experience.

We’re also looking for a makeup artist with skills in special FX, blood guts and gore. The more portfolio work or reel cuts you can show us of this sort of work, the more likely we are to take you on.

Same terms of contract apply to both jobs. The work is unpaid, on a low budget film. However contracts will specify a percentage of profits to be given when distribution is acquired for the title.

Person/s must be able to get to the West Midlands, Wolverhampton area. Lifts available.

Email: dtook@transientinnovations.co.uk with name and contact details + experience.

If you want to see more about us, go to Spooked Films Limited. Dead Time productions is an arm of Spooked Films Limited.

Local filmmaker, Olly Jones of Better Feeling Films is looking for an actress in her early to late 20s for 5-6 days during August for their feature, Lost in the Headlights. Expenses and food will be provided. The film centers on a rock band who have to deal with the tragic loss of one of there members.

They are also looking for extras for gig/pub and party scenes, as well as still being in need for a DoP.

Contact Oliver Jones for more details at: betterfeelingfilms@gmail.com

You can find more details about Lost in the Headlights here:

http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=86061531543

http://viewaskew.com/theboard/viewtopic.php?t=68419

Tony Wilkes is on the look out for an animator to work on some limited animation for 2  one minute scenes. As the budget is self funded the rate is £75/min of footage.

Here’s Tony’s explaination of the scenes:

• A spaceship in space – there’s some narration about emotions, and different parts of the ship light up accordingly; and there is a face in the middle of it that reacts to the different emotions. The spaceship would look something like the ELO album cover, if you know the one I’m talking about, and the camera would move around it. Originally thought this would be 3D modelled, but I’m sure it would look just as good in Flash.

• A Doom-type scene, first person perspective – a guy walks around in the dark with a big gun, until he bumps into other people (traffic warden, Big Issue seller, little girl with a balloon), screams and runs away firing wildly. Some designing of characters, but as they are sprites they only need a few frames of animation each.

In terms of quality, it’s simple and effective rather than detailed and involved – I wouldn’t want people working away for weeks. If it’s recognisable and it moves, it’s fine. Both scenes are approximately sixty seconds long. I could pay you £75 each scene. Not a lot I know, but I’m trying my best.

The scenes don’t really work as standalone pieces as the animation tends to support the narration in the film. I can send through the pages if you’re interested.

So if you are interested contact Tony Wilkes at: tonywilkes@hotmail.com

Film Forum members Kelly Kaos and Kel Webbo of Kaos Productions have launched 2009′s Halloween Monster Movie Challenge. The challenge is to make a 5-10 minute film that contain only monsters (NO humans!) by the 19th October.

To enter the competition email monstermoviechallenge@hotmail.com with your team name. They will then send you three lines of dialogue. One of which will must be in your film for it to be a valid entry (this is so we know it was made specifically for the competition). They will also send you a postal address to send your entry to.

Submission is open now and the deadline is the 19th October.

The location of the screening event will soon be confirmed apparently, so we’ll keep you posted on the events section of the site. Non-filmmakers will be welcome to go along to the screening and should prove to be gut gushing, boogie-faced fun.

If you’ve got any questions or queries send an email to monstermoviechallenge@hotmail.com or visit the Facebook Group

Here’s the competition rules:

• Films must be 5-10 minutes in length (including credits)
• ONLY feature monsters. NO human beings! Monsters can include: vampires, werewolves, Frankenstein’s monster (or variants), zombies, swamp monsters, mummies, ghouls, etc.
• You must use at least one of the lines of dialogue provided to you by the organisers to count as a valid film.
• All entries must be submitted on a DV Tape or DVD and must have a 16:9 ratio.
• Films must not contain copyrighted material. The filmmaker is responsible for the content of their work and all copyrights must be obtained by the filmmakers prior to their submission.
• Film must not contain any pornographic or hate-related content.
• The judges’ decision is final and they reserve the right not to accept an entry without explanation.
• No allowances can be made for late entries.
• All films must be in English or have Engish subtitles
• All filmmakers must be 18+
• All films must be made between the opening date (1st July) and the submission date (19th October)

Oliver Jones of BetterFeelingFilms has put a call out for a DP and some one for sound for a feature film that he’s shooting over the summer. The film is a comedy drama that focuses on an up and coming faux rock band from Birmingham. It follows their trials and tribulations and their relationships with one another and those around them.

I would love to have someone on board who I can work closely with. It’s collaborative, not paid, but we might able to sort something out. We also need someone for sound.

We have a weekend shoot on the 11th /12th July zombie shoot (a film within the film) then the main shoot is from the 4th-22nd August. So it’s quite intense but we are only doing 6-7 hr filming days. The shoot also involves music videos and short zombie/film and TV segments (it all makes sense).  So it should be a fun shoot.

If you’re interested and would like to get stuck into a project over the summer get in touch with Oliver at:

oliver_jones_37@hotmail.com