THE HAMLEIGH DISAPPEARENCES Commentary

THE HAMLEIGH DISAPPEARENCES

The second instalment in the Hamleigh Woods saga...


(but chronologically the first)

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.

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.

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

REVIVAL OF DRACULA - PRODUCTION UPDATE 02/11/14

Filming began a little over a week ago on my new short film: The Revival of Dracula; however I'm facing several problems and roadblocks which are highlighting the fact that I need to be tougher in order to become a better director.

Due to the over whelming friendly chemistry on the set with my friends/the co-stars I was unable to get as many shots as I desired that day due to everyone being distracted. We did manage 1 scene though and I suppose it was rather optimistic to believe I could actually get more in 1 day. Frank managed to fill an entire SD card with Behind The Scenes footage. Also because as soon as we got me suited up for Count Dracula's scenes we discovered that the goddamn fangs dont stick to my mouth.

Following this I successfully shot some solo scenes with my girlfriend Gabby (or Gee); pictured above. I was very happy with the way these turned out as I learned how to effectively play with lighting on my new DSLR - A Canon 550D. Wonderful piece of machinery, to film a wonderful girlfriend.

Okay so far so good, 3 out of 8 scenes done, but after trying my fangs again for Halloween - which still did not work we came to the conclusion that my canine teeth are simply too small to allow me to play Dracula. Worse, I find Gabby has had fake blood spill over her white hoodie, which I'm going to have to shoot around now. We eventually decided on Frank playing Dracula due to his natural fang-like teeth anyway.

We'll see how things progress....

SHORT FILM: REVIVAL OF DRACULA SCRIPT COMPLETE

It's amazing to think that in just under 3 weeks, I've been able to formulate an idea of what I want from a Dracula short film and write a 7 page script about it. All stemming from my costume this year. Just wow, to top it off I'm even producing storyboards (a rare occurrence for me) and have ready and willing actors and have even bought prosthetics and make-up in preparation!

...Just wow! this is probably outside of college, the most professional I've ever been in creating a film. I'm so excited for this, we start shooting Saturday and I cannot wait! It's how planned everything is, my new camera, using my friends as actors like the old days, Frank shooting behind scenes material, Dracula, the B-Movie aesthetic! it's all tumbled so fast and I'm so joyed to be making this!

JJ Tortures Moskow and Gabz