It’s been a listless couple of weeks for me, getting up late, struggling to do anything useful, wondering if that distance wailing noise is the fat lady singing.
I took some photos of London landmarks in order to make a videomatic of the sequence in which the world stops turning, but the difficulty of achieving the collapsing effects in any worthwhile way has led me to put it off again and again. I reckon sandcastles are the best way to go, but since I don’t have a sandpit, that doesn’t really get me anywhere. I think I might just steal shots from other films.
To add to my general malaise, I’ve been kicking myself over a missed opportunity. Lately I’ve been camera operating for Musical Mad TV, which involves the presenters and I going to West End shows for free, then interviewing the cast at the swanky parties afterwards. (Good work if you can get it, which you can’t, because I got it first. Nah, nah, na-nah, nah!) Last week we covered Spamalot, the Monty Python musical. On our way through the party, Tim – one of the presenters – quite literally bumped into a guy coming up the stairs. Apologies were exchanged and we went on our way. Tim had no idea who he’d just collided with until I told him, simultaneously cursing my own failure to engage the guy in conversation; it was Terry Gilliam.

It really is a very small world. What film were The Model Unit working on when I last visited them? Atonement. And the second assistant editor on Atonement, by coincidence, is my good friend Matt Streatfield. And Matt put me in touch with a producer that he thought might be interested in making Dark Side. He wasn’t, but he very kindly furnished me with the names of some people that might be. So some more copies of the script have gone out.

Still no progress with the interested producing/financing parties, but no rejections either, and it ain’t over till the fat lady sings.
The storyboards are starting to come in from Luis Gayol and Neil Johnson. I’ve done a bit myself too. You can see some random frames of Luis’s in the gallery. To show you any more would give too much away.
At the weekend I sat on Brighton pier pondering the script and came up with a few improvements, but nothing major.

The videomatic is finished. You can see an extract on the video page.

When I got fed up of eating melon, I grated the rest of it and drank its juice, which I think is the best way to treat your cast.
I had another meeting with Luis Gayol, one of the storyboard artists, at the weekend. We got stuck into the big third act battle, which I found quite difficult to describe in two dimensions.
I also had a rare face-to-face (or face-to-beard) meeting with Ian Tomlinson, in no lesser place than Doodies. (Hurray!) Pretty much everything of any significance in the film has been tackled by Ian, David and/or Chris, but there are still plenty of details to work on.

Whilst I remember, let it be known that this film is now officially called The Dark Side of the Earth. I dropped the Shadowland bit to avoid confusion with other films, and that Crosby, Stills, Nash and Young song. (An easy mistake to make.)
The Videomatic Shoot: Part II went fine. Well, come on, how difficult can it be to shoot a melon derailing on an ice cube as it travels along an old curtain rail? Not that difficult. This isn’t Soul Searcher, and there is no curse. Yet.
Other highlights of the day included flying a party balloon into the garden hedge (until it popped, startling poor Jen) and Rob viciously impaling kitchen roll with a bamboo skewer.
“That’s a wrap,” I announced at 4:30pm. “Who fancies some melon?”

Apologies to any Explorer users who haven’t been able to see the site for the past week. Please let me know if there are any lingering problems.
Tomorrow Rob, Jen and I shoot the rest of the crash sequence videomatic. In preparation, I have made a larger scale robot. Out of a melon.

Soul Searcher is being pirated (again) on one of those file-sharing sites. Bunch of bastards. You don’t get any of the extensive extras, though. Remember that, if you’re tempted.

I was recognised on the streets of Soho today – not by a pack of sixth form boy scouts who thought I was Chinese, a la Jarvis – but by a complete stranger who wished to compliment me on Soul Searcher‘s excellence, having recently purchased the DVD. Mmmm, fame.

The Journal is dead! Long live the Journal! Soul Searchers [sic] is on the shelf in HMV Oxford Street. Woohoo!
Leo Delauncey, the storyboard artist, has done jack. And he won’t answer my messages. Such a familiar story. (On the subject of Jack, why do all US TV shows call their stubbly lead character Jack? 24, Lost, A Town Called Eureka, The District… Despite the fact that, in real life, the name is only common amongst old men. Is it just so they can do cheap “You don’t know Jack” gags in the trailers? I think I’ve answered my own question.) So I’ve brought three more boarders on… er, board.