The Dark Side of the Earth: June 5th, 2006

neiloseman

I’ve grown frustrated with the lack of progress on this project. I need to make it happen. I was on the bus back from Muswell Hill as ideas swirled around my noggin – visions of VAT returns, and Welsh quarries, and a Scooby Gang. What does it all mean? I’d rather not say yet.
But I have decided to do a number of things that have been at the back of my mind for about two years, but which I had always ruled out. One of these things was advertising for a producer. If the applicants don’t all absquatulate after reading the script – after all, everything in the entire world is destroyed on page three – I’ll eat my hat, and my daft spiky hair with it. However, I wouldn’t want my epitaph to read, “He couldn’t be arsed,” would I?
Another one of those hitherto forbidden activities (because it would mean I was – I am…. producing, horror of horrors) was the generation of a budget. It’s not finished yet, but in order to draft a budget, I needed to work out how many days to shoot. 55. Which, by a remarkable coincidence, is how old I will be when enough money has been raised to begin shooting.
More soon.

The Dark Side of the Earth: June 5th, 2006

Soul Searcher: May 24th 2006

neiloseman

Yes, the release date has finally been set for AUGUST 14th. Within a couple of weeks, you should be able to pre-order the DVD at play.com.

The Wysiwyg boys got back from Cannes late last night, having won the 24 hour film challenge in just three hours – jammy gits – and handed out several SS screeners. As always with Cannes, the follow-up is the important part, so fingers crossed for some positive results.

Soul Searcher: May 24th 2006

Soul Searcher: May 17th 2006

neiloseman

Today I’m 26, but my film is 12. Rated 12 by the British Board of Film Classification, that is. “Contains one use of moderate language [‘bollocks’] and fantasy violence” is the advice to consumers. Thanks to Simon Wyndham for discovering Soul Searcher’s page on the BBFC website, since Wysiwyg hadn’t told me. After all those years of putting fake BBFC logos at the start of my amateur films, how strange it is to finally have the real thing.

Soul Searcher: May 17th 2006

The Dark Side of the Earth: May 9th, 2006

neiloseman

I finished the third draft of the script yesterday. I believe the film’s main flaw has now been solved, though I suspect there may be complications I haven’t spotted yet. In the end I kept the whole thing as similar as possible to the previous draft, except for the first act. There are other, smaller issues that need dealing with, but it’s taken a big step in the right direction, I feel.

The Dark Side of the Earth: May 9th, 2006

Soul Searcher: May 4th 2006

neiloseman

I received a draft version of the DVD cover last week. It uses the same image that’s on the front page of this site, plus other photos montaged in the background. It needs some work, but it’s cool to see the proper BBFC, DVD and Dolby logos on there, even though they’re just placeholders at the moment. (If you believe the draft cover, the film’s an 18 and the sound’s in mono.)

Soul Searcher: May 4th 2006

The Dark Side of the Earth: April 29th, 2006

neiloseman

Recently I’ve been lecturing in visual effects at the SAE Institute in Islington. Towards the end of the module, where we are now, we look at the FX requirements of Dark Side of the Earth and the students have to come up with ways of achieving them. This week one guy went all Tim Burton on a wooden robot character – nothing wrong with that – and suggested it was controlled by a legion of woodworms that lived inside it. Not appropriate for my film, but a fascinating idea.

The Dark Side of the Earth: April 29th, 2006