It's going to be a close call but the sound mix for Jenny Ringo and the Monkey's Paw is very-nearly-almost-there and should be finished on Monday. Which means we've then got a week to make any last changes and get it onto a DVD in time for the screening on the 1st of August. That's the theory. I still have visions of someone rushing to the screening with a freshly burned DVD copy, desperately trying to get there in time to screen it before MovieBar finishes at 11, because that's usually how these things go.
Anyway, I'm determined to get as many people along to this one and not just because we're showing my film - it's the first MovieBar at the new venue and I want to make a good impression, which means bringing loads of people in. So if you are in Brighton on Monday 1st of August please come along to the Caroline of Brunswick at 7.30pm for MovieBar. All the films were showing that night are really good and there's a diverse mix so there should be something for everybody. Hope to see you there!
I've got a few half-written blog posts about stuff that's happened over the last few weeks but can't quite find the time to finish them due to BIG CHANGES going on in real life. However there is one thing I do need to mention and luckily Brother Pete covered it in way more detail than I ever could on his blog.
A few weeks ago I helped Pete film a music video for a Flogging Molly competition starring his girlfriend Charlotte and a puppet. It was hard work and came with the usual short film technical problems (Are we supposed to be filming this in widescreen? Oops, start again...) but after a mammoth effort on Pete's part he finally got it finished in time, only for the film to be rejected for not meeting the organiser's ridiculous technical requirements. As Pete points out, they wanted an HD, high quality, broadcastable video for free and we didn't have the equipment (i.e. the money) to pull it off. And when we all buy HD cameras and super-computers to run the editing software someone will decide that HD isn't good enough and we all need to be shooting in 3D. And somebody somewhere is making a lot of money from the crushed hopes and dreams of aspiring filmmakers...
But Pete has posted the video on YouTube so at least you can see it. And I also recommend reading his blog about making here.
So the short film I made last summer that I was blogging about every week until it dropped into post-production hell; the film that took just over a month to shoot and nearly a year to edit, add music and sort out the sound; the film based on a character I've been writing about since I was at university; the film that was my shot at making a script my way; the film produced by my wife and made with the help of some of my best friends; THAT FILM...will be screening on Monday 1st August at MovieBar.
If you've forgotten about it already then there are a few months worth of production diaries here.
Does this mean that it is finally finished? The wait is over? People will actually get to see a completed version of the film? Surely if there's an actual screening and I'm making a big deal about it then it would be logical to assume that the film is finished. Well...not exactly.
Last Friday I saw the film with it's current sound edit and to me it sounded about 70% finished. Apparently it is not quite 70% finished but more like 50% finished, but it is definitely closer to being finished than it has been. I have been assured that it will be done in time. I have been assured I won't look like an idiot if I announce it all over the internet because it's definitely going to be ready for the screening in August. So here I am, announcing it all over the internet. Well, mostly here and on the MovieBar page.
If you are in Brighton on the 1st of August please do come along to MovieBar at its new home in the Caroline of Brunswick. I will be there to interview myself about the film and we're showing lots of other cool films too - you can see the full line-up here.
If you can't make it watch this space - there will be more screenings and eventually everyone will be able to see it somehow...
I'm a writer with a day-job which means I don't usually get down to writing until around ten in the evening, hence the blog title. My first feature as a writer, Ten Dead Men, was released on DVD in 2009. I'm currently working on a series of short horror films following the adventures of a witch called Jenny Ringo. There are currently three films in the series - Jenny Ringo and the Monkey's Paw, Jenny Ringo and the Cabaret from Hell and Jenny Ringo and the Infinite Spellbook. You can find out more at www.jennyringo.com. I live in Worthing, which is a bit like Innsmouth.
