Amazing news!! My short film The Ditch has got its world premiere screening! On 14th January at The Hackney Picturehouse as part of the wonderful London Short Film Festival!!
The Ditch will be screened at an event called ‘Tales of the Unexpected’ alongside other short films which I am very excited to watch!
Full details of the screening are here.
What a brilliant start to 2016 this is going to be!!
x
Next weekend I am making a film! It is the postponed and rescheduled shoot of my short horror film The Ditch.
We shot the first half of the film in a forest in Dorking in September 2012. Directing a horror film was literally a dream come true for me and I wrote about it here.
After our first lot of shooting we ran a crowdfunding campaign and thanks to lots of truly amazing people we reached our goal!
So we were all set for our second half of shooting which was scheduled for September 2013 – the film is set in a forest so we had to shoot at the same time each year so that the leaves looked the same… Unfortunately in the week before the shoot we had to cancel because of really bad weather… I wrote about how completely gutted I was about that here.
However! I am a firm believer that sometimes things really do happen for a reason. And our shoot getting cancelled in September gave me a lot of time to really think about the story, where it was going and what it was saying…
I had two choices :
1. Wait until the following September and shoot the rest of the film – but plan a contingency shoot weekend incase the weather was terrible again.
2. Rewrite the script and set it in a location not weather dependent.
I chose 2. I felt really frustrated that an entire year had gone by and we still hadn’t finished the film. I did not want to find myself in that position again and I really didn’t want to have to wait another year..
We shot a lot of the really key moments of The Ditch in the first shoot, so I could really see how this footage could be worked into a new script as kind of ‘flashback’ sequences. For me The Ditch is about guilt, consequences and what if’s.. I discovered that the feelings and themes I wanted to evoke in an audience could happen within a story set in a forest or could happen equally well in a story set in a hotel room..
So thats what I did. I set the film in a hotel room. And I am insanely proud of the script and excited to direct it and see it coming to life in front of my eyes next weekend!
Recently I have been doing a lot of writing – finishing off drafts of my short horror film The Ditch (shooting in a couple of weeks!!) And also working on a new project- an art aouse/thriller feature..
As part of my writing process I will often do a lot of reading too – I love reading the blogs of other writers to get tips and insight!
So I thought I would share 5 awesome screenwriting blog posts that have inspired me this week!
* 10 writing tips from Joss Whedon
* 25 screenwriting tips from David Bowie! Totally awesome!
* Scripts are all about emotions not words…
* How to write a killer script from the fabulous Jane Goldman
* And finally, I refer to this post over and over again, I love James Moran!
Happy reading! : )
x
I have recently been inspired by reading film review posts by Robin, a young person who is part of the filmmaking workshops I run for Studio Film School. He has started doing a monthly round up of the films he has watched and they are great fun! (Check out January, February and March – seriously do it – he’s a great writer!)
So I decided I wanted to write about the films I’ve watched too! So here goes…
1. Batman
Unbelievably I have never watched this film until recently. Dan R decided to rectify that and lent me the dvd – and I LOVED it!! It’s a Tim Burton film for goodness sake! I just love how it balances real sinister darkness with cartoon comic book silliness. Jack Nicholson is brilliant as the Joker. Awesome stuff. I’m sure everyone in the world has already watched this film but if not do so NOW!
2. Batman Returns
Then of course I immediately wanted to watch the sequel! Controversially I might like this one better than the first – I love the darkness and the opening was very Tim Burton. I love all the evil circus people, and Danny DeVito is amazing as the Penguin – I think it’s appalling that he wasn’t nominated for an Oscar for that role! He was so, so good!
3. Remember me
This came through on Love Film and I can’t remember why I put it on my list – I’m not at all interested in Robert Pattinson! It was quite a good film but the characters were SO brooding and miserable!! Gah!! It also had Pierce Brosnan in it – weird casting. I didn’t enjoy the ending at all – it turned into a terrible disaster that had happened in real life – and to me it just felt tagged on the end, and a lazy way to get emotion from the audience.
4. Phenomenon
Watched this when I was at home for Easter. I love John Travolta! I think he’s my favourite male-person ever! This film was a lot better than I thought it was going to be – it was actually a really sweet and sad story.
5. Psycho
I’ve been re watching some Hitchcock films as inspiration for the short horror film I’m shooting in a month. Wanted to immerse myself in ‘The Master of Suspense’
6. Rear Window
This film is so tense and suspenseful that I almost can’t take it!!
7. Mega Piranha
I’m going through a monster movie phase at the moment. And it turns out that I really like BAD monster movies!! Mega Piranha is TERRIBLE! The acting, the characters, the storyline, the CGI all AWFUL!! And I don’t think the filmmakers remembered to do a sound mix because it is up and down throughout the whole film.. But I loved watching it!! It’s definitely so bad it’s good! And it’s got Tiffany in it from the 80’s…
8. Troll 2
WATCH THIS FILM!!! Just watch it.
9. Godzilla
The original and the best.
10. Octopus 2
This got slated in reviews but I actually really like this film. The premise is ludicrous but I still think it’s pretty good. Also it has some really great views of New York.
Sheena x
All images from imdb
I was supposed to be shooting my horror film The Ditch this weekend…
But we have had to postpone the shoot because of bad weather…
The Ditch is set in a forest and therefore very dependant on the weather. We were so lucky last year, but unfortunately this year it was not to be.
We had a really tough decision to make this week. Postponing the shoot was the most sensible thing to do to. I know weather forecasts can be wrong, but as it stands the weather looks terrible in Dorking this weekend. Not just wet and miserable but also unsafe to be in a forest because of the winds.
We are indie filmmakers making a low-budget film. We have enough money for two days of shooting at the location. We can’t afford another trip back there. If we did go this weekend that would be it – our only chance. If we went and it rained and we couldn’t shoot then we would have spent all of our money that would be it – no film. Well, half a film. So it is sensible to postpone and replan the shoot. Plus it means that I get some much needed days off this weekend. That is a bonus.
BUT I AM GUTTED!!!! : (
I am SO disappointed that im not making a film this weekend!! Making films is my favourite thing ever and so much of filmmaking is pre-production and post-production and logistics and planning… but actually being on set; actual production is AWESOME!! And it makes all the other stuff worth it! Team ‘On The Train Productions’ have been working SO HARD for so long – all with the goal of shooting The Ditch this weekend… And now were not shooting! Waaaaahhh! And I don’t know what to do with myself!
What makes it worse is that we have had such an overwhleming amount of support for Th Ditch – Stephen gave away his summer and ran an amazing crowdfunding campaign to fund this shoot. We reached our target because of all you lovely people who donated and it’s a massive kick in the teeth to not be able to thank you all with a pretty much finished film at the end of this weekend…
But anyway, it’s not the end of the world. We WILL finish this film. It’s just a case of more scheduling, more planning and more logistics now to work out when we can move this postponed shoot to…
I will leave you with my favourite pic of me from the 2012 shoot…
Mucho love xxx
My name is Sheena and I LOVE horror films.
For as long as I can remember I have loved reading and writing stories. I think it was my mum who introduced me to the work of Stephen King and that was it – I was hooked! I read all the books of his that I could get my hands on. And then I re-read them.
When I was at school I used to have Friday night sleepovers with my friend Michelle and we would watch horror film after horror film and totally scare ourselves silly (and then camp out in the front garden of course!) Pennywise the clown and the man in the hat from Poltergeist still haunt me to this day.
It’s hard to say exactly why I love the horror genre so much. I just know that I do. I really like the way that horror can speak about a vast range of subjects and especially things that are difficult or ‘taboo’. (‘American Mary’, ’Chained’, ‘Sleep Tight’) I like that they tend to focus on ‘outsiders’ and people who aren’t ‘the norm’. (‘Berberian Sound Studio’, ‘Ginger Snaps’, ‘Wilderness’) I have always been an outsider, I have never been ‘the norm’ so I suppose I identify with these films a lot more than a mainstream summer release blockbuster. I love how horror films take on a dreamlike quality and can be literally be your worst nightmare visualised. (‘Black Water’, ‘Audition’, ‘The Loved Ones’) I love the way that the visuals of a horror film can be very Expressionist in their mise-en-scène and use of light, dark and shadows.
The other thing that I love about horror films (which is probably rooted in my adolescence) is the fact that for me they are an ‘event’. A horror film is something that you watch with other people, you turn all the lights out, you eat great movie snacks, you can make it a double or triple-bill, it’s basically the best way to spend an evening.
At university I studied Theatre, Film and TV and I wrote my dissertation to disprove the idea that the horror genre is a low worth genre. To prove that it isn’t just exploitation, sexploitation and as much blood, guts and gore as is possible – all for no reason other than to shock.
Yes, some horror films are like that – and they do serve a market. However not all horror films are that generic. Some tell a really amazing story, they have really brilliant characters, they deal with difficult subjects very sensitively, and at the same time manage to create a ‘world’ which viciously drags it’s audience in and then scares them half to death. (‘Cold Prey’, ‘The Signal’, ‘Dark Water’, ‘Pontypool’)
I love a big range of horror films – I love spooky horror films, I love terrifying horror films, I love gruesome horror films – but I cannot bear horror films with weak storylines, stock characters and girls getting naked for no reason. I think films like these are an insult to their audience and basically just lazy filmmaking.
My love of horror has zealously continued into my adult life. I am now a filmmaker, I work with the arts and I make performance work. My favourite aspect of all of my different projects is when I can work on something that is a little bit darker or a little bit scarier… One of my favourite freelance jobs is helping young people make their own short horror films complete with zombie face painting, edible fake blood and DIY severed finger tutorials.
I am currently the writer/director on a short horror film called ‘The Ditch’ (we complete shooting in September) and I am very excited to be yet again spending the bank holiday weekend in the depths of the Empire Cinema, Leicester Square at this year’s Fright Fest.
In Conclusion; I am a BIG horror fan.
Oh yeah, and I’m female.
To me this is not an issue. Throughout my life I have never really thought anything of it. I am a fan of horror, I am a filmmaker and I am aspiring to make a horror feature film. The fact that I am female doesn’t mean a thing.
Except, it turns out that it is ‘A Big Thing’ whether I want it to be or not.
Recently I was looking through the upcoming Fright Fest line up to plan my weekend and I realised that out of the 27 films being shown on the main screen there is only 1 by a female director. 1!!!!!
I also checked out the line-up of last year’s Abertoir festival (this year’s line-up hasn’t been announced yet) and out of the 25 films they showed, again only 1 was by a female director!!
I started doing more research and came across list after list of the best horror films/directors –
Top 13 MASTERS OF HORROR: Writer/Directors,
All of these lists contain films made by male directors. There are no female directors on these lists.
And then I found this article – Time Out compiled a list of the 100 best ever horror films, in their words…
“as chosen by those who write in, direct, star in and celebrate the genre”
So a list compiled by a collection of people who are really passionate about the genre. Out of one hundred films listed guess how many were directed by a woman??
ZERO.
Shocking.
However, strangely I am not that surprised.
Women are massively under-represented across the board in the film industry. The results of a recent study prove this as a fact…
“In 2012, women comprised 18% of all directors, executive producers, producers, writers, cinematographers, and editors working on the top 250 domestic grossing films”
“Women accounted for 9% of directors working on the top 250 films in 2012”
Apparently this under representation of females does not stop behind the scenes of a film either; we face the exact same thing on the screen.
“Only 11% of all clearly identifiable protagonists are female, 78% are male”
It’s a Man’s (Celluloid) World
And as a special kick in the teeth for me as an aspiring female horror director…
“Women were most likely to work in the documentary, drama, and animated film genres.
They were least likely to work in the action, horror and sci-fi genres”
In 2012 Cannes film festival had 22 films up for the Palme d’Or award and not one of them had a female director.
In 2013 they did slightly better by including 1 film with a female director.
I posted the above article on Facebook during the 2012 Cannes Film Festival and one of my Facebook ‘friends’ commented below it asking me why I had to make a fuss about there being no female directors nominated, and why I couldn’t just be happy that 22 great films were nominated?…
Well… On a personal level there are two main reasons actually.
1. I am female and I am a film director. These statistics do not inspire me about the future of my career, and the opportunities I might have.
2. I spend a lot of my time working with young people helping them be creative and make films. I work with boys and girls. When we make our films the boys and girls are equal. I would like to be able to make reference to amazing films made by women and prestigious awards given to women in my sessions. I do not want to make the girls feel like they can’t achieve as much as the boys in the group in terms of filmmaking simply because of their gender. But unfortunately I do not have the statistics to back that up.
So why aren’t more women making films? And specifically why aren’t more women making horror films? I am a filmmaker, I love horror films – I can’t be the only one can I?!!
Something I want to make very clear is that I do not want to take any credit away from any of the amazing male directors out there. Also I don’t believe it is the fault of Fright Fest or Abertoir that there aren’t more female directed films being screened – if films directed by women aren’t submitted to the festivals then they can’t be screened.
I really want to try and understand why the film industry is in this position. There is nothing synonymous about filmmaking and the male gender, or horror and the male gender.
So I’m going to talk to people and try and get some insight. I’m going to interview as many people as I can on this subject to try and understand why things are the way they are.
So if you are a female horror director I would like to hear from you, if you are a female who works in filmmaking in any sense I would like to hear from you. If you are a female who loves horror I would like to hear from you! But the conversation does not stop there – I would also like to hear from you if you are male. Are you a filmmaker? Do you love horror? Both? Neither? Talk to me. I want to get to the bottom of this…
I truly believe that filmmaking and specifically horror filmmaking shouldn’t have to be about gender. But it is and unfortunately it will be until the statistics show that women and men are represented equally in the film industry, and that is a fact that cannot be argued with.
Last September my film company Crestfallen Productions teamed up with On The Train Productions to shoot a short horror film ‘The Ditch’ which I directed. Shooting this film was a MASSIVE deal for me as I talked about here. The shoot itself was a gruelling but brilliant experience. We were in a forest for the weekend, luckily the weather behaved itself but I’m not going to lie to you; there were some really difficult moments during that weekend. One in particular was when we realised we had been overly ambitious with our shot list and there was NO WAY we were going to shoot everything we had planned to…
However there were some truly amazing moments that weekend too. And one of them was having the absolute pleasure of working with the beautiful (in both senses) and talented cast – Katie Pattinson (Donna) and Lucy Wilkins (Nina) and a wonderful and supportive core team of crew members. I am uber excited about the footage we have shot – I just can’t wait to finish shooting it and get the film out there!!
Last week we had a small meet up to chat about how things have been going and what is happening next. Unfortunately not everyone could make it (a lot live outside of London – Lucy is a Yorkshire lass and lovely Ashley (sound) lives on the south coast..) But it was great to catch up with those who could make it.
During the evening the subject of ‘collaboration’ came up. Of course it did. Bottom line: doing creative work such as making a film has to be a collaboration with equally passionate people because none of you are doing it for the money (Ha! What money?) So it is essential to find people who you can work well with but who most importantly you can trust. I am lucky enough to have found some of these wonderful people to collaborate with and believe me I will be clinging on to them for dear life.
The plan is to shoot the rest of ‘The Ditch’ next summer (basically when the trees match!) We have a lot of planning and organising to do before then, but that is fine, I am looking forward to working closely with all these people again. Believe me, it takes a lot of passion for a project to keep it going this long! But luckily everyone involved in ‘The Ditch’ believes in the film and is being very patient and understanding. Watch this space for more updates… : )
Much love xxx
So 2012 has been a really sucky year for me!! 2012 has well and truly battered me emotionally. Just when I thought it couldn’t get any worse… it did! It’s been that kind of a year. I’ve spent most of the summer feeling very disillusioned (among other things…)
I’m writing this because I just want to comment on how ironic life is… So, things are not great in my life right now – things are hard; I’m generally feeling very sad. And yet things in my working life are going really well! I am seriously lucky right now because I have so many amazing opportunities in front of me and I’ve met some wonderful people who I have the chance to work with and learn from. This, right now, is the reason that I moved to London 2 years ago. To be involved in these kinds of projects. But I can’t get over the fact that it is all happening right now! When one section of my life is a wasteland and I’m feeling like I have to claw my way through each day. But then maybe this is the perfect time for all of this to happen. Maybe it’s because I need it the most.
I have three big projects that I am really excited about at the moment. I’m just going to talk about one of them because this particular one is very current.
So, this weekend I am directing a horror film. Wow. This is literally A DREAM COME TRUE for me! Anyone who knows me in real life will know this – I go on, and on, and on about horror films whenever I am given the opportunity (and a lot of the time when I’m not…). I am very vocal about what I do and don’t like in horror. If I was ever asked what my life’s dream was – it was to direct a horror film. And I am doing it this weekend!!!
Making an independent film is hard work. The budget is tight/non-existent and it is certainly not something you work on to pay the bills – it is something that you do because you love filmmaking. On The Train Productions and Crestfallen Productions have been planning this film for about a year and everyone on the team has put endless hours of work into all of the pre-production. We have visited and revisited the location, we have drafted and redrafted the script, we have planned the shot list, adjusted the shot list, re-planned the shot list, then adjusted the shot list again. We have talked and talked about make-up, head wounds and car crashes. We have debated cigarettes vs alcohol and coat vs dress. I wake up every morning at 5.40am – wide awake and stressed about something that I can’t put my finger on. I don’t think Stephen has slept properly at all this summer. On the shoot this weekend we are going to be working 12+ hour days. In a forest. With very basic amenities. There will be no phone signal, internet or contact with the outside world. Things will get stressful on set as we start to fall behind our meticulously planned schedule, or we start to lose the light, and of course the weather is a massive factor – if it rains we are quite screwed… BUT I AM LOVING EVERY SINGLE SECOND OF IT!! I GET TO DIRECT A HORROR FILM!!
I don’t honestly know what I am going to do with myself once we’ve shot this film… Oh wait! I do – we start on ‘post-production’…
Seriously though, I feel so very lucky to have all of the opportunities that I currently do, and I feel seriously blessed to have such amazing friends and colleagues surrounding me who have all helped me through this summer in different ways. I am so grateful to you all.
I suppose the point of this post is just what the title says, remember that ‘As one dream shatters another one comes true…’. I am living proof of that right now. And I just wanted to share that…
Mucho love x
My life is crazy busy right now – so much is going on! It’s all great stuff though, and all mega exciting! As well as all my other work I am directing a short horror film ‘The Ditch’ this coming weekend… Last week I had my first rehearsal with Katie Pattinson who will be playing Donna. We met up for coffee and had a really good discussion about the script and Donnas role in it. ‘The Ditch’ is all about Donnas decisions and their consequences, so it is really important that Katie and I both totally understand how and why Donna makes each of her decisions. Katie brought so much to that first rehearsal, so many ideas and reasons, it was brilliant! I thought I knew Donna inside out but Katie opened up some amazing new ideas for me, and gave me lots to think about…
On Saturday I was back on location in Dorking for a final tech rehearsal for ‘The Ditch’. We went through the shot list for next weekend and planned exactly where the camera would go. Our fabulous DP Mat took a still for each camera position so we will end up with a super snazzy storyboard that everyone on set will be able to follow.
The only thing that I am not loving about this storyboard is that all of the images are of me… I stood in as Donna for the tech rehearsal, which was really useful because now that I have physically done all of the movements myself it will be much easier to translate this to Katie.
I am just getting so excited for the shoot this coming weekend! While we were at the location – even though it was stressful trying to work everything out it was still a totally brilliant day and I kept just feeling overwhelmingly happy and excited! It’s a good feeling!!
Then Sunday saw me all snazzed up, suited and booted – because it was a super special and exciting day – it was the Studio Film School annual red carpet premiere! I have been working for SFS for the past year – running filmmaking workshops with groups of young people, and Sunday was the day when we all came together and watched the films on the big screen and celebrated how hard everyone has worked all year! Awesome!
It was such a lovely day, all the young people were dressed up and there was a red carpet outside the cinema and we had ‘paparazzi’ – it was brilliant! The films that were screened were ace and it was so inspiring to see so much young talent in one room. I’m really looking forward to starting back at the SFS Saturday film shoots in a couple of weeks.
Mucho love x
This summer has been totally fantastically insane for me workwise! I have been lucky enough to work on some really interesting projects in a few really unusual locations! I LOVE being freelance!!
One of the projects that I have been working on is really gathering speed now and it’s getting incredibly exciting!! Late last year Stephen and I started working on a short horror film story which after months of hard work, has turned into ‘The Ditch’ and we are shooting in less than a month!!
The Ditch tells the story of Donna, a pregnant woman speeding away from a violent relationship. In the middle of nowhere she runs someone over and after that things just get worse for Donna as she makes bad decision after bad decision. The Ditch will be a tense and gripping short film which constantly asks the audience ‘what would you do?’
We held an audition day last Saturday in central London, it was a great day and we saw some really talented, lovely people! We have to make our casting decision this week – it’s going to be hard!!
On Monday we headed back to our location – a forest in Dorking – and met up with our DP and AD to go through the logistics of the shoot. It was a brilliant day!! As we were walking through all the shots it was like I could see the film right in front of me. An awesome feeling!!
Mucho Love x
Just a Crestfallen Northern Girl... 