Video Diary #6: First Location Shoot

On the 23rd September 2007, we found ourselves in Bristol Boxing Gym filming a few of the scenes from the movie. Not only was it our first ever location shoot, but it was Darren's first ever time directing. Talk about in at the deep end! Fortunately we had lots of support from our friends!

Time for an update!

Well its been a busy few weeks since August and our last post. Jon has been training with Paul Henry to get the movements right for the boxing scene and we even have a couple of photos from one of the training sessions taken on location at the gym used in the film!

In this first shot, Jon is receiving some instructional guidance from Paul.


The advice is then being put into use over in the ring!


Lots of other things have been going on - mostly involving spending money! We appear to be some 25% over budget now but hopefully most of the expenses have been met. Darren has been off on shopping sprees getting incidental props sorted out for set dressing etc and we are expecting our permits for filming in and around Bristol to come through any day now!

More Casting News!

One of the key scenes in the movie takes place in a boxing ring! Although we're not making a Rocky movie, it's important to keep the action as realistic as possible.

As such we've enlisted the help of Paul Henry pictured above on the right with Jon and Chris Sanigar (centre) of the Bristol Boxing Gym in St Agnes.

Assuming that Jon survives the photo session, he will be appearing with Paul in the ring at our location shoot at The Bristol Boxing Gym in late September.

Actor Release Forms

Before you can use an actor's image or likeness in your film and any related publicity, you should get them to sign an Actor's release form before you start filming. This means that, should you have a falling out, the actor cannot withdraw their permission to use their image. The release form should make mention of payment and other agreements if applicable. In our case, our actors are volunteers, so we've simply amended the simple release form to reflect that. Here's what ours looks like:

CONTRIBUTORS RELEASE FORM

TITLE OF FILM: ‘Badman’ (Working Title)

PRODUCTION COMPANY: RMW Films



NAME OF ARTISTE: ___________________________

ADDRESS: ___________________________

___________________________

___________________________

___________________________


DATE OF FILMING: ___________________________



I hereby agree that the copyright and all other rights in respect of my performance is hereby assigned to RMW Films. I agree that the film Badman that I have contributed to, may be exhibited in all media and formats. This may include public screenings and broadcast screenings..RMW Films may without further consent use my name, likeness, biography and photographs of me and recordings of interviews with me in advertising and in publicising the film Badman in all media and formats.

I hereby agree that my performance in title is not for any payment.


Signature (Artiste) ___________________________

Print Name ___________________________

Signature (Producer) ___________________________

Print Name ___________________________

Date ___________________________

Jobs for the Boys

I spent a long time trying to decide what to call this post. More time, ironically, than actually writing it. Still, I think you'll agree that it's a pretty fine title! Especially considering the content.

Now we discussed the division of labour pretty early on in this process. There are only two of us, and a fair amount of stuff will need to get done during the course of this project.

Here's how we've divided it up:

Stead:

Producer (A.K.A Organisation Man). I'm basically a lazy sod and if you left it up to me, this job wouldn't get done until 2012 - and even then, I'd get distracted by the Olympics! So as producer, it's up to Stead to get us organised. He's going to knock up a project plan, engage the cast, get in touch with potential locations, book our tuxes for Cannes and so on.

Musical Director. Stead fancies himself as a bit of a musician. To be fair, he used to run a recording studio back in the 1800s and has been the front man for his band The Torr for more years than I can count (which I realise means little as I have to stop when I run out of fingers). So Stead will be writing and performing the music for our endeavour, with a little help from his merry men.

Leading Man. The star of the movie will be handsome, clever, funny and charismatic. Unfortunately, we couldn't find anyone like that, so Stead will be our leading man.

Dazza:

Scriptdude. Every movie needs a script. And I'm the man who's gonna knock it together! I've even leaned to write especially! Stead will, of course have input into the script, but the bulk of the scripting chores and the subsequent breakdowns and storyboards are all down to me.

Director. Yeah, for a few weeks, I'll be able to delude myself that I'm in charge. I'll even boss Stead around and everything! It'll only last while we're on set, though.

Cameraman. Most of the time. If I can persuade someone else to hold it, all the better!

Of course, there'll be some overlap. We'll try not to fight.