Here we have the latest blog entry for your viewing pleasure:
15-1-09
Birth
This all started about a year ago when I was writing a film called "Agitator". It was a 250 minute gangster epic set in a comic book universe. To say it was ambitious is an understatement. Every page I tried to have something exciting ready to pounce, from exploding helicopters to the demon possession of an apartment complex.
This got me thinking. I don't think I have ever seen a helicopter explode with my own eyes, let alone most other people out there. I know that the first thing I think of when waking up in the morning is jetpack, but I don't seriously think that I could make one. I was working two jobs at the time to cover all expenses needed with no end in sight.
I began to think, this one of the biggest downfalls people have when writing a story. Disassociation, you need to understand something to write about it.
You need to write something personal.
I sat thinking about all the bad decisions I have made in my life, all the people I have hurt and tried to decipher these feelings. Two lane black-top summed up the road life of the 70's. John Hughes and Withnail & I did it for the 80's. Then there is Clerks and Swingers for the 90's. I wanted my own interpretation of how it feels right now, the late 00's.
Three months later Local was born with the help of Giverney Ainscough. It was born a mash of everything I care about in this world. A heavily FX driven beat-noir that focuses on the lives of two nihilists going down a fast descent into insanity.
It's a strange feeling when you have finished a feature length script, there is this weight that is lifted, only to be replaced with a much heavier one that you can't seem to see the end of.
Then I met Bryn who was teaching special FX at CIT at the time.
We had this brother connection straight away and before long we were dealing in a racket of cinematic depravity, trying to constantly out do each other. “Guinea Pig’s Flowers of Flesh and Blood” countered by “August Underground Mordem”. Elias Merhige’s “Begotten” countered with “Ken Park”. And so on it went.
The thing with showing people the films of Takashi Miike and Harmony Korine is, regularly, the reaction is of disgust or, sometimes, a punch to the face between even the closest of friends.
Before long we held International Zombie awareness day, an annual festival of the undead which brought in heavy profit towards a film. Then I pitched Local, my personal project that was under my tongue for many months. It contained a story of lost friends, no hopes and murder. It was a chance for both of us to express ourselves and make the kind of film we want to see but is not being made.
There have been plenty of things written on the subject of filmmaking, from “Rebel Without a Crew” by Robert Rodriguez to “Make Your Own Damn Movie” by Lloyd Kaufman.
But for us, over the course of filming we will be continually updating the website with behind the scenes footage, promotional work, photo's and even a diary where we will be explaining in detail every step we have taken in order to make a no budget film, I will be covering the production and Bryn will cover what it feels like being an actor, and also going into detail along every step on creating special FX that anybody can make.
No matter what format you choose, creative expression is a bold thing to do, its giving yourself to the world to see what gives, be it music, film, poetry or art. You never know what you can accomplish until you plug in to the amp, put pen to paper or pictures to film.
I see film as the ultimate form of expression. It has a history of nearly a hundred years and we hope to play a small part in it's life.
Liam Jennings