THE HAMLEIGH DISAPPEARENCES Commentary

CURRENT FILM SLATE

Okay. I'll admit I don't use this blog as much as I probably should, same with the Facebook page. However I have recently began getting the hang of Twitter so maybe I'm not such an old fogey.

First up. Although we opted to not show 'The Hamleigh Disappearances' It has been very well received. To be honest probably much better than most of my previous films. Among that praise was the last minute decision of having such a subtle tie-in to 'The Revival Of Dracula'. To all who worked on and enjoyed it - I thank you.

My next project is looking to be 'Interview With A Frankenstein' although this title may change. I'm currently not ready to release any details as I'm still in the developing stage and things are fluid however you can rest assured it's set in the same universe as my aforementioned movies. It will likely be following in 'The Revival Of Dracula''s vein when it comes to style and I am hoping if everything goes well to aim for a Halloween release as I did with Dracula only this time... actually make it there.

Secondly, Jordan's project has not been abandoned. However after producing a script I have came to the realization that at this stage in my career it feels a bit too advanced. I'm still keeping it and occasionally looking at different ways I can retool it but it probably won't be made any time soon. In the mean time look for our film Toast for more creative input from Jordan.

Lastly, in December an important event in my life will occur. Seeing a brand new Star Wars movie and to give thanks to the franchise I plan to create a documentary about how much Star Wars means to me on a personal level and how it was the catalyst for my lifelong interest in film and the art of movie-making.

Thats about all for now. At the stage where Frankenstein developing has kind of overridden everything else.

THE HAMLEIGH DISAPPEARENCES

The second instalment in the Hamleigh Woods saga...


(but chronologically the first)

ANIMATED SHORTLAD TEST

One day I randomly stumbled upon a video by Happy Harry which was very helpful in explaining basically how to work a good flash animation. So I through together an improvised animation featuring Shortlad fighting some sort of large snake just for fun. I think it turned out pretty swell and maybe some day if I put enough commitment into learning animation there may be a new and improved Short Lad: The Animated Series.

GABBY TURNS 19! - A Birthday Retrospective

My girlfriend's birthday was coming up and as a gift to her among the other surprises I decided I'd document her day for her. Just a personal video really.

I WORKED ON A MUSIC VIDEO

So they time finally came when I was assigned a group to work on a music video and if I'm gonna be frank I believe ours came out better than most peoples in my college class. I'm still thoroughly impressed by this as it is my first music video. We all alternated roles in the production but eventually created individual cuts. Sadly though my cut was never the official one used It's still a cool thing to take a look at in my opinion.

James Parsons is a cool cat to work with so check him out: https://www.youtube.com/user/JustParsons

INVASION IN THE BACKYARD - a tale of woe, misery and 48 hr short films

This was originally my entry for the 48 hour sci-fi London short film competition however, This became a disaster!

They claimed they would send me my brief at 11:00am and they sent me one line: The line I appear to be saying in the thumbnail picture above. Also my improvisation for story didnt serve me as well as I was hoping thus I feel like I could've been capable of something funnier than this. We began the shoot and I was plagued by a lack of motivation as well as increasing disinterest in my actress and girlfriend.

Thoroughly disenchanting.

To top it all off, I began editing and I was hit the realisation they had sent me even more details. I'm unsure when it was they sent me these belated demands. However there was no one I could meet them therefore my film no longer reached my specified needs.

On the bright side however, this was the first time I completed a short film using Premiere Pro editing software on my own Macbook and for which I feel it boosts the quality of the film slightly, despite an exporting glitch causing my film to render at a lower quality.

Oh well, through this I've developed a bitter distaste for these types of competitions and I'm mildly reluctant to try them again but at least I made a short goofy video.

ESCAPE FROM THE GIANT (2006)

This is one of my very first movies. A true Small Studios classic from the way back when - I used to just improvise movies on the fly in the backyard. Now for the first time witness it online! and see how crappy things were....and still kinda are.

Transported to another land these strange action figures from a variety of shows must try to escape a giant looming presence of a killer foot!

I'm not dead.....CROWDFUNDER WORKED

First off, I apologize about the lack of updates, it's truly slipped my mind.

Anyways the crowdfunder I mentioned last month has been successful funded. (special thanks to loving girlfriend who donated the only money left in her bank account: £1.22 bless you) and last Friday we went to the Quantock Lodge, where we will be filming the two short films for a recce or a location scout. A good time was had, I only hope we can sort through the pre-production work in order to have a successful shoot. - my own personal concerns about the lodge aside.

Despite this, I have also been working on the previously blogged about script for Jordan's superhero movie - now titled 'The Partisan'. The whole story has grown so fast, I am rather surprised because of this I may do some secondary drafts just to make sure it is a finished story to its best level. Not sure when we'll begin shooting The Partisan yet. 'Dora' will be eating a lot of time in the coming weeks. That and possibly my college photography project - which I may be able to budge an obscenely short film thats cinematography-wise very experimental for me. Oddly fitting that this comes to me the day my main lecturer gives me the casual task of writing a 90 second short film. Maybe I can combine the two. Who knows?

THE REVIVAL OF DRACULA

It's Finally Here! My first (arguable) worthwhile film...




For more BEHIND THE SCENES videos check out the following videos:

REVIVAL OF DRACULA - Filming Completed! and Update

Something incredible has happened. Filming for The Revival of Dracula is now complete. From October through to now in February I have been working on a short film homage to the 1930s-1950s B-Movie horror films of yesteryear.

This is incredible to me as it's the first short film I've created since my revitalization of The Small Studios - my 'production company'. All I need do, is edit it and it will be close to seeing YouTube. But in addition to that I have also discovered a Bristol based free-for-all film festival, essentially. As such, I am considering bringing Revival of Dracula to the May showings of Bluescreen. A link can be found here ---> Bluescreen.

 I would have taken it to March showings, however during that time I will be away with the College filming scenes for our Techleap Duology. I am happy to report me and my colleague Chris have almost finalized the script for the short film 'Dora', the film I will be working on. So with my Dracula movie almost done, I may be able to see two short films I've wrote appear on the big screen, as well as attend a screening for one.

Finally, before my Dracula movie I began development work on a superhero film with my friend Jordan or JJ. This would be his first film directed but I'm sure I annoyed him as during the writing of his movie I decided to create the Dracula film underestimating how long it would take. However as I'm in post-production, I will get back to writing his film now.

So, exciting start to the year 2015.

Remember to pledge money please to my college's crowdfunder - it will help make 'Dora' look as good as it can, and you can even be rewarded.

- Moskow J. Stiles

BE A PART OF THE FILMMAKING PROCESS!

Hey, from the City of Bath College. Me and my fellow Media students love creating film as you no doubt know from following my work - so much so that we have decided to step out of our comfort zone and try and achieve the impossible. In March 2015 we are creating two short films and we need your help!

It's an exciting concept that we can create something the trumps the quality of anything i've ever previously done. The plan is simple; we take our acting talent and ourselves to a location in Somerset and shoot solidly for 3 days. It will be tough - but it will ultimately be worth it.

However, it costs money to make a film and this is why we have decided to launch a campaign.

We need funding so that we can exclusively use a location for a 3 nights as well make the film look and feel epic as a science fiction film should. Backing this project will mean that we will be able to hire or purchase extra equipment such as lights, sound, dollys and lenses plus more.

In supporting us you will be involved in a unique part of cinematic history that will go a long way in kick starting our careers as filmmakers - it's a tough industry, which is why we are attempting this massive feat! In return we will keep you up-to-date with how the project is going through videos (possibly ran by me), blogs, images and concept art and you will also qualify for one of our incentives listed in the link below - some that include a ticket to the premiere in June!

Thank you for reading!

                                                    Visit the link here--- bladud film 2015

Moskow J. Stiles - Show Reel 2014

Here's my showreel I've put together in order to show my strengths as a Editor, Cinematographer and a Director. It's not perfect - far from it but as a first attempt I think it was admirable.

NEW SHORTLAD COMIC WEBSITE!!

I have recently been searching for a more fitting home for Shortlad than a simple Facebook page, and after quite a while of searching, I've discovered a website hoster whom I feel would best archive Shortlad.

So from now on you can experience Shortlad's adventures on:
http://theadventuresofshortlad.webcomic.ws/

Updates will be irregular but I will try and keep them often. I'm excited about this and the website also has a feature for me to produce more pages in the future, so look forward to an eventual character page, links, possibly a motion comic and a whole lot more.

GETTING A FOOT IN THE DOOR - A Short Film about a foot

Not bad for a film entirely conceived, shot and edited all within about an hour and a half. It's meant to be a parody/or a homage to those various art films which really don't feature much going on. I think it turned out very good and open to interpretation...again, not bad for a 'bored film'



oh also I have a new scanner app which means when I upload more shortlad they won't look like utter shit!

FAILED FMP PITCH - PARANOIA CONTAGION (Sci-Fi Horror)

So here's a way to start the new year! This was the failed FMP pitch from November, i've uploaded it here for prosperity's sake. I would've had cut and tightened it up a bit however every time I've tried to export it it takes at least 5 hrs. So here is it in its entirety.

As said, it wasn't chosen but instead, we'll be doing 2 short films set in the same sci-fi universe and thankfully one of those is Tom's idea (which was a development from the idea i co-created). So we'll see how that grows and changes. New years are always an exciting time, I'll hopefully be able to crack on and get back to The Revival of Dracula when the weather gets a little better.