Teaser Trailer 3 Is Here!

"Of Shark and Man" Teaser Trailer 3 (Letterboxed Version) from Scarlet View Media on Vimeo.

*Fanfare*

Here it is, the third and final teaser for "Of Shark and Man," and in keeping with the previous two, which you can view here and here, it runs with a separate theme from the film. The first teaser focused on my story, the second on the sharks and this third teaser focuses on the spiritual and most importantly, conservation, issues raised in the film.

Aside from the points alluded to in the trailer, this is also a clear hint at how much closer I am to finding the look I want for the film. I have worked hard on establishing a stylised, cinematic and filmic look for this trailer, I have always wanted this film to stand out, my inspiration for the style of the film is not other shark films, instead it is a host of films from the 70's up to the modern day so for the people interested in this stuff, it was coloured and graded in Da Vinci Resolve 10, with additional look building in Film Convert, with a few extras I will keep to myself for now. It was edited as always, in Adobe Premiere Pro CS6 on my custom built Novatech Edit Suite. All footage was shot on location during production using Canon 7D and Sony XD cameras except the shark fin footage which was kindly provided by Shawn Heinrichs, thank you Shawn!

The music is two separate tracks, the first by Before the Beginning entitled "This Memory of You is Immortal" and the second, once again, another Chris Zabriskie track, "I am a Man who will Fight for your Honor."

You will notice that this trailer is letterboxed, if you want to be more technical, instead of the standard 16:9 aspect ratio, this is in 2:35:1, often commonly referred to as Anamorphic. I'll be honest, I never intended to have this kind of look for the film, I only threw it on the trailer initially to see how it would look, expecting it not to work at all but, on the contrary, I love it and I am now seriously considering applying this aspect ratio to the film. Now, I know not everyone likes this look so I, being the nice person I am, I have also uploaded a standard 16:9 version of the trailer;

"Of Shark and Man" Teaser Trailer 3 (Non-Letterboxed) from Scarlet View Media on Vimeo.

Your feedback is important, so please take the time to watch it and comment and perhaps even more importantly, share it on your social media pages, blogs, mailing lists etc. People won't just search out this stuff on their own, they need a friendly nudge. Be that friendly nudge!

If you do decide to comment, please do so here or on the Facebook page but mainly, share, share, share!!! it only takes a few seconds of your time but the benefit can be huge.

Progress on the edit for the film is going well and the first cut is now only missing a closing sequence, a couple of stock footage shots and some UK stuff which will be filmed soon so we're on track and looking good.

Enjoy the trailer and get in touch!

Here It Is - "The Sanctuary"

As promised, here is the second PSA I produced, which would have announced the creation of the Fiji Shark Sanctuary had it passed and follows hot on the heels of the release of "Love Sharks Love Fiji" which if you haven't seen yet, you can click the link and do so then share on your social media sites and with email address list.

The Sanctuary is a seven minute short which was designed to be used as an educational tool to explain exactly what a shark sanctuary is and why they are beneficial, an inspirational tool to encourage people to support the creation of more such sanctuaries and a way to illustrate just how magnificent Fiji's sharks are.

Again, as with Love Sharks Love Fiji, all the underwater footage comes from "Of Shark and Man" and was filmed on Shark Reef in Beqa Lagoon but this time, The Sanctuary also features three interviews shot by us, again for "Of Shark and Man," featuring Rusi, Angelo Villagomez and someone else whose name escapes me.

This short film features real star names in the shark world, Ron and Valerie Taylor, Cristina Zenato and Douglas Seifert, along with the major players in shark conservation and the edit for this, like LSLF was a pre-emptive one and therefore, plays as though the sanctuary bid had been successful.

So we have some of the best shark footage you will see, the elite of the shark world, a strong educational mantra and a vital conservation message so although the sanctuary didn't happen, this short film still has much to offer as a social media and viral internet tool so please, share it, it's what all the effort to produce it was for in the first place, so you and your friends can encourage more people to get behind the movement to create a global network of protected areas for sharks.

There are about a squillion shark groups on Facebook (that's a rough estimate) so I would imagine all the above really should merit the people who admin those pages sharing with their audience, if only to see sharks being awesome, so hopefully, this little film and its vital message gets seen by a very large audience. If you are a member on one of those groups and you don't see it being shared, put it up yourself and help spread the message that marine protected areas are the greatest hope for sharks!

Original footage, original music, legendary people, superb content, amazing sharks, a great message and it's free to watch!! What's not to love about that?




The Sanctuary from Scarlet View Media on Vimeo.

"Of Shark and Man" - Breaking down barriers

 

A truly awful picture of the "Of Shark and Man" timeline.

I figured it's about time  to get back on track with something positive given all the stuff which has pissed me off in the last couple of weeks!

In case you'd forgotten, I am currently in the post production phase for my magnum opus, the greatest shark film ever made by an Englishman about Bull Sharks in Fiji, "From the Office to the Ocean Part 1 - Of Shark and Man." This time last year, we would have been on the boat in between dives of Shark Reef, it was probably raining and I was in the middle of the single biggest adventure of my life so far.

One thing is for sure, I didn't give the project the respect it deserved in regards to just how elephantine the task ahead of me was and I also took a crew with me which was probably about four people less than the minimum it should have been but somehow, I, we, pulled it off.

It's been eleven months since we got back and progress has been slow to say the least but slow for numerous, unavoidable reasons.

 

Firstly, there were remaining shots to shoot in the UK which needed locations, actors (mates who had spare time to be more accurate!) and camera operators and aligning all three to get all the shots done, took the best part of six months!!! A huge thank you to Liam, Owen, Olli and my old boss, Dean Nixon for helping me get done what needed to be done, they didn't need to help me, but they did, because they're awesome.

Another major reason was the task of logging and organising 3TB of footage, syncing audio, cataloguing interview answers and questions, organising a months worth shark footage into species specific, depth specific, context specific and time specific folders, all to make the edit easier. A big job indeed, an even bigger job for one person doing it alone, an even bigger job when he's doing it on a second hand laptop with software that only worked 50% of the time! That job took from the first morning back, August 13th, until mid February this year and I'm not even joking! Thanks to Tim Leroy at Novatech, my technological issues are sorted and I have the capability to work at much greater than snail's pace!

 

Throughout all of this I have been to Mallorca to make and release a short film, formed my own production company (more coming soon) and basically tried to survive by any means possible but by far the biggest obstacle has also been the most worrying.

Since probably around March, I have been suffering with a crippling creative block, because of which I have been unable to sleep or think about anything other than how to construct what is the most important creation I will have ever made and which I have invested my entire soul and future to not only make the best possible film I can, but to also do justice to the people who helped me get this far.

The original storyline for this film was quite simple, I go to Fiji, tell the story of Shark Reef and the Fijian relationship with sharks and hopefully, people might be interested to learn about a subject about which I am passionate in a way which is as far removed from Shark Week as possible. Then I had loads of other ideas, loads happened during the shoot which wasn't part of the original story, the idea became way more complex and layered and I actually learnt how to make films.

So, what is "Of Shark and Man" now?

The best description I could give you would be a film about me making a film but you get to see the film at the same time, sounds like gibberish doesn't it? It probably is, let me try again, imagine you can watch a film and the "making of" at the same time, it's just that this time the film is about an ordinary bloke getting closer to the world's biggest Bull Sharks than anybody barring a tiny elite, has ever done before and finally tells the full story of one of the world's greatest conservation successes ever. It's a hearts and minds piece, a human story about sharks and people, with tonnes of sharks, amazing, never before seen footage of incredible natural behaviour, a range of emotions, some terrible weather and my determined efforts to get a tan (that's only a small part though...)

It's a highly stylised, conceptual piece that combines realism and documentary guerrilla film-making with a cinematic delivery. God that sounds pretentious but yes, it will be ace.

So why make things more difficult for myself? I always intended to do something different to everyone else, I didn't want to cobble together years old footage other people had, make a story up and make the footage fit and I certainly didn't want to push an agenda no matter how successful that has been for other people. The dry, scientific, graphs and stats approach has never really appealed and nor has the "woohoo, I just goddamn swam with big sonofabith sharks yeeaaaw!" approach. I wanted a story, a compelling, honest record of a lifelong dream coming true and I went with the intention of telling a story about Fijians and sharks but came back with not just that, but a story about myself as well.

I also wanted to challenge myself and to challenge and respect my audience. I could have just got the crazy shark footage, filled in the blanks and put together a thirty minute vanity piece but that would not be doing the effort it took to get there in the first place justice, let alone the people involved. It sounds a bit wanky but I want this film to have artistic merit and originality, drawing from my many influences which are as far removed from shark related film-making as you can get. It's a risk, maybe nobody will like it but I can at least guarantee the finished version will be the best I could do at the time and will be the film I want to make.

Back in the Nerve Engine days I used to write songs as though they were stories, layering building melodies on ever changing rhythms and arrangements to try to take the listener on a journey and to the climax of a song, a release of emotion, much like a good story will do and the way I wrote was to construct the song in full, including vocal lines, harmonies and drum patterns, in my head so I could listen to it in its entirety, changing bits at will, whenever I wanted and wherever I was. When I thought I had the full idea, I would then teach myself the song. That approach is exactly how I work on films now, I picture in my head the images, the edit, the colours and the flow of a piece then try to capture that and the problem with this recent creative block was, despite knowing exactly what I wanted to say, I just couldn't picture it in a way which made sense but was aesthetically pleasing and creative and which would bridge into the following section which was much less metaphoric and included a shift in time. All very complex and it was driving me insane.

You will hopefully be glad to know that that creative block has been unblocked and that the edit is back up and running again with a better, sleeker intro and a more natural script, although "script" is slightly misleading given that narrative, scripted overdubs will only be used when absolutely necessary, think along the lines of A Ray of Light which has zero scripted overdubbing and you'll be on the right track.

As of today, I am constructing the narrative from a month of interviews and pieces to camera I did so you will see the story unfold as it happens through my eyes, hopefully engaging you in the journey because I have always wanted you to feel a part of this film, primarily this is the film I want to see but always, there is a hope that you feel it's the kind of film you have been missing out on too. As for the "cast," aside from the most incredible collection of charismatic, intelligent sharks on the planet we have some truly stellar names in the shark world and inspirational "everyman" heroes, conservation legends and world famous photographers discussing everything that needs to be discussed, even the controversial stuff. Running time will be between 60-90 minutes and it will look beautiful, of that I can assure you.

All this will of course take time but a barrier has been knocked down so things are picking up a pace, as soon as I decide the time is right, I will start releasing trailers but before then you may just get to see some footage. I have put together two short pieces featuring footage from "Of Shark and Man" which do exist and are online but are currently private, whether you see them or not is dependent upon something out of my control but if the time comes for them to go public then you will of course be the first to know.

Bear with me, there is still a way to go yet but we are at least getting there and to say I am excited is putting it lightly!

Edit: Thanks to Mike for this very kind post, I may not have had the resources to do this in a way which has been so tough, but kind and supportive words like these and like those from the people who have been with me from the start (and I really hope they know by now who they are,) are what has kept me going and got me to Fiji in the first place so I mean it when I say the effort going into making this as good as it can possibly is as much for you guys than it is me :) 

My profiles:

"A Ray of Light" - New Short Film

Here it is, as promised, my new short, a film about the human aspect behind grassroots conservation, in particular, Brad Robertson and his project in Mallorca to help protect the visiting, breeding Stingray population.

Watch on Vimeo

Read more about the production here, there will be some more info in the coming days relating to how this film was shot on pretty much zero money with only one camera and some additional footage provided by Brad and his trusty Canon G9, if anyone is interested enough to get some behind the scenes info.

This is also the first project to be launched by my brand new production company Scarlet View Media through which everything I do will be released meaning I can ensure it is of the quality each project deserves and also that I can have complete control of the output which, to a control freak like me, is nothing short of essential. Website and more details coming soon.

As I say in the linked article, if you enjoy this, share it and don't be shy with it. The more people aware of Brad's brilliant project the better and it also might serve to open the eyes of people who think merely clicking "like" on a Facebook page is conservation. If more people start taking steps to protect what is on their own doorsteps, the world will be a better place, find out what projects are local to you or even start your own!

The Mallorca Stingray Survey Facebook group is here
The From the Office to the Ocean page is here
The Ondine Escape page is here

The film has been downscaled to 720p for faster loading and for you Windows folk, if you have the option to watch in HTML5 (Chrome, Safari) do so for a higher quality viewing experience.

I want to hear your feedback, if you enjoy the film, please tell me and tell me why, ditto if you don't like it, I'm a big boy, I can take it :)

Anyway, less talk more watch...Enjoy.

The life of the lone film-maker. It's hard.

Since I started out on this life altering career change, I have been contacted a lot by people who have offered encouragement and some incredibly kind words, I have also been contacted by people who are also trying to set out on their own path and finally do the things about which they are passionate.

One of those is a guy in South Africa with whom I've become friends, he has big ideas and also the belief that he can pull off what is a monumental challenge which is the biggest part of doing anything like this, you have to believe it is possible, which of course, most things are.

I did the difficult bit in that I actually got to Fiji and did what needed to be done, plus, despite the fact I was working all day, every day, it's hard to look at what I was doing as "work," I was doing what I have always wanted to do, there was always a support system there to bounce ideas off and I was spending every day with sharks!

The reality of film-making though is that the fun part is only the tip of the iceberg, normally after production, most of the crew disband and disappear off to do other things whilst the director and producer take the footage to the post production unit to work on the "back end" of the production, getting it ready for broadcast and that is no different on this production, only I don't have post-production team, I am the post production team.

 

During pre-production, a team of people sit around a table, storyboarding and bouncing ideas of each other, while a line production team do all the running around and planning of logistics so the creative people don't have to worry about all that. The same or at least similar applies to production and in the post-production stage, a team of editors will sit with the director and they will thrash out the best way to tell the story through image, sound and music, several pairs of eyes and ears digesting every nuance and this is how great things happen, talented, creative people, being creative together.

Herein lies the problem, I had and have none of that.

I love the editing process, from cutting things together to choosing music, to colour correction, the whole shebang, I love it and it seems to appeal to my meticulous nature but there comes a time when inspiration dries up or logistics dictate you hit a brick wall.

I currently live (temporarily I hasten to add) in York, if you don't already know, York is a place in England beloved of American tourists, primarily because it adds to the illusion that England is still very much in the 18th century because York hasn't really progressed much since then, to be totally honest, it is an inspirational void, I don't know anyone here and the only people I see on a daily basis are my parents.

This is not good for the post-production of the most important film I will ever make.

My view...every day

I made a specific decision to edit in sequence, that is, to edit the film in the order in which I want it to run, there are a few reasons for this and one of those is the highly stylised and conceptual intro to the film. That intro sets the tone for what follows and it is imperative I get it right. Most of the shots for the intro have been done and have involved repeated trips back to Manchester on the train, lugging a camera, lenses, tripod and slider around all day, hoping I can find the images I need. The shots I still need to get are shots which I simply cannot do on my own, they either feature me in them or require actors and locations. I am awaiting confirmation of two locations but that of course is out of my control and Liam who worked with me on Behind Blue Glass is booked in for April 7th to shoot the stuff with me in, stuff which pretty much has to be done in one day only.

All these shots have had to be conceptualised in my own mind with nobody there to offer alternative ideas, suggestions, criticisms, encouragement or to simply listen to me describing them. Such an internal and insular approach to what is intended to be expressive, thought provoking and fresh is not conducive to the process moving quickly and as such, this process of putting together the intro is going painfully and frustratingly slowly.

Since returning from Fiji in August, I have had sole responsibility for converting every single shot from up to four cameras, logging and editing that footage into manageable Premiere Pro folders and syncing up all the sound from two mics, that took until January to complete. I have put together two short films I was commissioned to make, negotiated my way around a distribution deal for "Behind Blue Glass," started sourcing and recording music, written, re-written, re-re-written and re-re-re-written scripts and structure notes, written a five page magazine article and in amongst all of this, navigated my way around basic survival and getting money in any way I possibly can.

What I will say that is more positive, is that what I have of the intro, looks superb, I mean really, really frickin' good, the music is amazing (done by an incredibly talented musician I stumbled across online) and the concept is getting there, it's incredibly complex and every single shot has to be nothing less than perfect so if my two location requests happen, Liam and the Banter Media crew can help me get these shots done with me in and if I can nail the images to fit three specific narrative points, then I will be in a position to crack on with the actual sharky stuff! It will also mean that the trailers will be forthcoming...

 

If I could, I would get myself back into 21st century civilisation and surround myself with things which inspire me but until then, I'll be burning the candle at both ends to get this intro sorted as soon as possible. One good thing to come of the obstacles and barriers which have been out of my control, is that it has afforded me opportunities to let ideas breathe and develop and for opportunites to arise to shoot some amazing things. I said from the offset that I won't consider this film finished until I am certain I cannot improve upon it, no matter how long it takes, so please be patient, I'm not just obsessing over details for the sake of it, this film is as much for you as it is me, I also owe it to the people of Fiji to do the job properly.

If I could offer any advice to anyone reading this it is to think ahead to when you will be in the lonely part of film-making, can you ensure you will be in a good location with good enthusiastic and supportive people? If so, get that nailed down and build a team around you who you know have the best interests of your film at heart because they will be your most valuable asset. If you can't guarantee that, steel yourself for months and months of long, long days, for challenges, obstacles and for the kind of frustrations that at times, make you want to scream but...stick with it!

And to you, the people who will actually watch this film when it's done, please be patient, it will be worth the wait.

I never said this would be easy...

My profiles:

Of Shark and Man update and a new partnership!

 

Screencap #1

I've been meaning to update you on progress for a while now but have been so busy actually doing the things I want to update you on, I haven't had the chance!

Last year I set a target of finishing the first edit for "Of Shark and Man" by November/December dependent upon whether I managed to secure the funding for full post production but now, as we near March, I can see that even had I had the support of an assistant editor, graphics people, full edit suite, sound stage etc, the whole shebang, then that would still have been unreasonably optimistic! As it transpired however, I have thus far ended up doing every aspect of post production on my own, not on my own with the help of a few volunteers here and there, but completely on my own. Add to that the two projects I was asked to conceptualise and complete before Christmas and the ongoing efforts to get Behind Blue Glass released (almost there now, the delay was thanks to either Correos or Royal Mail, who kindly lost the master copy of the finished, subtitled film) and you can probably understand the length of time everything is taking to complete.

With regards to the two projects I mention above, I am hoping they don't remain secret too much longer, not just because I want you all to see and hopefully enjoy them, but primarily because of what their release will signify. I'll leave it there for now...

Screencap #2

The task in hand and ahead of me is enormous, no question about that. It would be a big job for a full post-production team with access to all the resources normally utilised by production companies, so when you consider it's just me and a laptop in my parents' house then you can imagine how daunting it can be to tackle something so huge. Imagine if you can, converting, logging and editing down every single shot of 2.6Tb of footage filmed over a month to establish the shots you predict you will need, those you might need, and those you probably won't, filing them all in simple, easy to understand order and imagining how they all fit together as part of a multi-layered story that is both engaging and informative and which connects all the pieces together of what I want to say so that you, the viewer, have an enjoyable viewing experience. Now imagine doing that on a system which has only 50% of the muscle needed to process the files you are giving it. It has been a painstaking, frustrating and at times depressing task but it has been completed, the latter stages thanks to a very exciting new partnership with two new supporters of all I am striving to achieve.

 

I am delighted to announce the involvement of a little company you might have heard of who are trying to make a name for themselves in the field of computer technology called Microsoft (!!) and a company you may not have heard of yet but who I wholeheartedly recommend, Novatech.

If you have been a longtime reader of this blog or especially, if you know me personally, you will know that technology and I have never really got on. Being a musician for ten years, spending three years in a call centre, then joining an industry reliant on jobs and opportunities just as a global economic meltdown occurred, have ensured that, throughout my life, I've never had money to splash on high end computer gear. As someone who always wanted to get involved in shooting and editing films, this is a problem but was also a good thing looking back.

I learnt the art of how to edit by shooting footage, transferring to VHS then filming everything in sequence again off the TV! No opportunities to scrub back and make those high precision cuts, no colour correction, no sfx and the dubbing of music was done via a minidisc player, plugged into a hi-fi, going through the TV then recording the sound over the top of the final edits of each sequence, again played back off the television, of course, with the delay of analogue tape rolling and digital music loading and the hundreds of attempts to get the sync right. It was ludicrous.

This however, taught me the importance of shooting with an edit in mind, seeing the film in your head before you even start filming, shooting in short bursts, and how to make the most of the meagre resources you have available, as and when they decide they want to work. I didn't even own a computer until 2005 but when I finally got one, it was to edit video, using Magix Movie Edit Pro 2005 (the use of the word "pro" is highly misleading,) then the world went HD mad, I started this journey and when Canon got on board, I finally had the tools to shoot broadcast quality, fully glorious HD footage. The only problem was, after having upgraded my editing set up to a decent consumer HP laptop running Adobe CS4 Master Suite, although being able to actually see and edit the footage, it took forever! The first HD export of Behind Blue Glass took 46 hours! 

 

"Just get a Mac for god's sake..." 

As wonderfully insightful and obviously enormously well thought out as this nugget of wisdom may sound, we don't all have two grand lying around to get a Macbook Pro and upgrade the RAM from 4 to 8GB. "Get an iMac then..." the only problem being that I don't have a desk, let alone a permanent base and for my edit system to be portable is essential, time away from a desktop means time not spent on the film, I don't get paid to do the post-production so time not working means time spent releasing this film, doing paid work and making more films gets further and further away. Also, upgrading to a Mac would mean all the dozens and dozens of plug ins, textures, colour correction and effects software also need to be replaced with Mac versions so another cross against humanity's obsession with trying to force Apple products upon me.

Also, I happen to really rather like Windows, it's good enough for ITV, most of Hollywood and a whole host of other production companies and broadcasters so it'll do for me. It also happens to be obviously good enough for you as well because of the almost sixty thousand people who have visited this blog since its inception 18 months ago, 79.8% of you did so on a windows machine.

 

Statistically speaking, you're on a Windows system now and if you are also interested in editing video then you will want to pay attention to what I say.

I had never heard of Novatech until around September/October last year, when I asked about 8-16GB laptops on a site I am known to frequent, and where, in reply, somebody pointed me to their website. What appealed straight away was the fact all their machines are customisable  and that they could support super powered components that lend themselves fully to the editing of HD video.

I liked what I saw, called them up the next day, told them what I am doing and why I would like them to be involved, answered their questions and fast forward to three weeks ago, received a lovely shiny, turbo powered Elite Ultimate 2760 running Windows 7 Ultimate. Novatech liked my commitment to conservation initiatives and general "get up and go" and I liked the fact they actually listened to what I wanted and answered all my questions in simple, easy to understand language (essential when it comes to me and computers).

So on to the laptop itself, the upgrade from 4 to 16Gb of RAM, the upgrade to Intel i7, a bigger, 500GB hard drive, the availability of two USB 3.0 ports and three USB 2.0 ports, a Blu-Ray burner and a screen with full 1080p HD resolution makes this an absolute joy to use. It flies through everything infinitely faster than what I was used to, everything looks stunning and the basics are just so much smoother. I was able to finish logging the remaining footage in only three days, a job which would have previously taken about two weeks, the difference being that now, with the additional power, I don't need to render every video file in order to be able to watch it. This saves a huge amount of time which was previously being wasted, plus, the additional capacity to run memory intensive programs like After Effects and Premiere with all the associated plug ins, side by side, means that productivity has gone up!

Oh, and the battery life is exceptional as well!

Screencap #3

I appreciate this sounds a lot like an advert and that's probably because it is. Sometimes, people telling you to simply "get a Mac" won't answer your technological issues or automatically address your own specific needs. Whenever I am in need of a new bit of kit, I exhaustively scour the internet for reviews and opinions from people like me, who have the same issues and requirements as me and who don't simply subscribe to the view that because of a name on the exterior, it is automatically the best choice for you.

If you're on the lookout for a portable, powerful, stylish and practical editing system which enables you to do all the things you need to do to get broadcast quality results, talk to the guys at Novatech. Yes, you could "get a Mac" because they too, are great pieces of kit but this is more powerful and not just that, it's costs less.

So, with the new set up finally up and running, I've been able to start reassembling the intro to "Of Shark and Man." I said from the offset that I wanted this film to be completely different to any other shark related film you would have seen previously and I genuinely believe it will be. The intro alone is now in its fourth, highly conceptualised and stylistic guise. This first ten minutes is enormously important and also, by far, the most complex part of the film so getting it right is essential. The music I have chosen is perfect and lends itself to the ambient, atmospheric feel incredibly well, plus, not rushing things has allowed ideas to ebb and flow and creatively, I am incredibly excited about how things are going. As I said, I don't have anyone to bounce ideas off so patience and a hyper critical, objective approach, is needed to make sure I get things right.

I have been filming the shots for this intro since October and tomorrow will see (hopefully) the near completion of everything aside from a couple of shots that need to have me in them. Those shots will be discussed with Liam who helped on Behind Blue Glass tomorrow also so it's going to be a fun, creative and very long day and I can't wait.

I know a lot of you are keen to know when this film will be released, I am often surprised at the amount of people who contact me to say they are looking forward to its release so I will say to all of you, please be patient. I want this film to be the best it can be, my plan is to finish a first cut then do a private screening for impartial and objective guests and then get feedback. It's unlikely the first cut will be the final one so there are still many months left in this yet. I am hoping trailers will be available around April/May time, I am planning three in all and these will all be public for anyone to see.

Stick with me and keep an eye out for further updates, please be patient with me and huge thanks to you all for following me on this journey. An extra special thanks to Tim at Novatech for being awesome and for making this gargantuan task, that bit easier! You're a hero mate.

By the way, all the screencaps above are taking from footage from the film so you can see how good its going to look :)

My profiles: