Scenes from the Private Life of Scratchman Drexel (In Development)

This film heralds a new approach to film-making processes after the scripted disasters of Dysart and Fires Burn Blue, and the improvised dangers of Beanz and Blood on the Catwalk. Scheduled for production during the summer of 2011, this film is undergoing an intense period of research, in an effort to replace the screenwriting process with something more meaningful. Both the filmmaker’s ego and any institutionalised or preconceived notions are being eliminated through the employment of blanket randomisation techniques, and the finished film will only take form once it has been shot and edited begins.

This film is an exciting step forward – one we are documenting with our online video production diaries.

Read the latest news on this blog

Watch all production diaries on Vimeo

Blood on the Catwalk (Post-Production)

The second film from the Act2Cam workshop programme, filmed over two days in July 2010 at Polam Hall, Darlington, Co. Durham. A murder mystery devised and improvised by its cast of 11-19 year olds, this approaches more closely the cinematic neoclassicism espoused in our theories on this blog. Some scenes are naturally crude, given the nature of the project, and the sound design is again primitive, necessitated by filming the students on location over a constrictive time period, but the end result should suggest something more fulfilling than the transitory Beanz, reflecting as it does a more powerful cinematic construct.

This is the last film to be produced by Brett Gerry Films for the Act2Cam programme.

Read the latest news on this blog

Visit the official Act2Cam website

Watch more videos on the Act2Cam Vimeo channel

Beanz (2010)

Shot as part of the concluding piece-to-camera for the Act2Cam workshop programme, this was filmed in the North East during three days in April 2010, and represents the culmination of fourteen weeks hard work by it’s cast of 11-19 year olds, who not only devised the scenarios throughout the film, but also improvised all of their scenes on location.

Many takes were filmed as long, freewheeling sequence shots and edited together as cut-ups to mimic the transitory, attention-deficit youth culture the film attempts to replicate. There are some weak links in the chain – some performances could not be saved by the editing suite, and the sound design, recorded mostly on uncontrolled locations, is unfortunately primitive – but the overall cinematic experience remains fresh and exciting when viewed on it’s own terms.

Premiered at the Tyneside Cinema, Newcastle upon Tyne on Sunday 25th July 2010

Read the latest news on this blog

Visit the official Act2Cam website

Watch more videos on the Act2Cam Vimeo channel

Dysart and Fires Burn Blue (unfinished)

Information to follow…

The Hunter and the Hunted (2006)

As a reflection of Samuel Fuller’s mantra on film production, this was born out of desperation. Inspired by forgotten British thrillers like The Third Secret (1964; dir. Charles Crichton) or The October Man (1947; dir. Roy Ward Baker), this was filmed over two days in September 2006 on the unsatisfactory MiniDV format, and represents our first foray into conventional narrative film-making.

As an exercise in zero-budgeted film-making, utilising a small crew and cramped locations to express both an expansive, rundown seaside vista, and the characters’ mental landscapes, the relative ease of this approach, more than the success of the final project, lead to our two abortive film features, Dysart and Fires Burn Blue (both 2009), which followed much the same technical and stylistic pattern.

Read the latest news on this blog