THE HAMLEIGH DISAPPEARENCES Commentary

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!

THE REVIVAL OF DRACULA

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




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

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.

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.

Christmas Videos

From our Skype viewing of 'The Grinch' (2000). Who knows maybe if peeps are lucky Frank may release the full thing.

Next up was the much anticipated christmas present - a complete mystery to JJ until this point!

AMPLITUDE 2014 EPISODE (MALI AND ME)

As part of Bath College's series 'Amplitude' which showcases the music students and gives them a spotlight, Me and Frank were given the task of designing and producing an episode. From interviewing music students I met Mali Bone, whom by chance of fate had already caught me on stand when I went to see one of filmmaker Kevin Smith's Q&As. Anyways, We decided chiefly Frank would direct and I would vision mix and despite some faults with the vision mixer I feel we did a great job together. We also devised of a show plan which I feel is simultaneously very lazy and simple, without being too boring. Overall, despite the stress of working with live broadcast equipment I can definitely say I had a good time with it.

-The aforementioned Kevin Smith Q&A where he hugged me and let me sit on stage... what a hero! I'm the guy to the side in the white shirt with long hair.

CHRISTMAS JOY

The Bath Christmas Market is a common staple of the Bath tourism and culture, as such it was no surprise when the college tasked me and a small group to make a short film (though this is more of like a tone poem) of the Bath Christmas Market. This was an exercise in using low lighting and boosting settings to get the best out of the dark environment.

LOVE'S LAST MEETING

Love's Last Meeting is a short improvised film about two lovers. As they pass a red umbrella which symbolises their dying love. Originally a sound film, the audio turned out appalling so it was dumped and turned into a tone poem in post production. It was originally filmed as a comedy with drama students however they didn't turn up and we decided to turn the idea into a tongue in cheek - mostly do to acting. However I believe my editing has lead my interpretation of the footage to be highly subjective and therefore is capable of being interpreted any way the viewer prefers.

REVIVAL OF DRACULA PRODUCTION UPDATE 09/11/14

After a month of delays and other discouragements I've finally managed to produce a small teaser of what will ultimately become the short film. I've used all the footage I have that links together to produce a rough cut of the opening to the film.

I'm taking a hiatus from filming as I feel my actors aren't getting paid for this and I don't want to make them freeze to death in the cold. I expect to return to shooting early next year. Part of me regrets this but I feel its for the best so I don't get too worked up over the difficulties of film making.

AUTUMN - Short Film

I present to you one of the first pieces of College second year work I'm actually proud of. Stunning! I know right. God, things are just so much better than last year in media studies.

We were told to go out and film something and just "impress" our lecturer and I ended up in a team with two other guys: Aynsley and Calum. The theme was 'Changing seasons'. I'm really happy with this video and I feel it encapsulates everything I can improve upon as a filmmaker. Taking initiative in shot design to having my own individual edit distinct from the others. In fact, it may be the first thing I've ever been proud of in college. Enough to warrant willingly being picked on, for showcase by my lecturer.

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....

'Enter The Pitch' Contest Entry

For college we each had to develop a pitch for an individual bible themed movie. (maybe I should upload the script on here at some point)

I chose the story of Moses as did the rest of my crew in this pitch. We were then grouped together to weld our ideas together into something fresh and new in the hopes of winning the competition and enough money to turn this into a high budget short film.

The film would have been set in some sort of special rehab hospital where patients (analogous to the Israelites) go about their existence guided by the 'Moses' character. (In this case, a therapist)
However one day their treatment begins to falter as one patient begins to realize the drugs the therapist has been reluctantly giving him (on orders by an unseen authority - a God figure) are causing him to discover that the patients are being manipulated into believing they have a better future coming - when in actuality they have been sent here because they are incurable.

So, we produced this short pitch, where I voiced the therapist and Tom sent it off but.....

Oh well, still though, way better time than anything we did last year. :')