Alphaville

Jean-Luc Godard's Alphaville was the third in our sofa-filmfest of French new wave (last weekend was Breathless), and my first impression was that it offers some fantastic examples of how to make big scifi concepts on a small budget. The plot and dialog definitely tried my patience at certain points when it got a bit too philosophical and lacking in action, but the production values were very interesting. I think there are quite a few ideas that could be used for micro-budget short films. For example, the car chase was simply a shot of two cars winding around a multistory car park taken from high atop an adjacent building. Space travel was alluded to in the dialog, but their only transport were cars. Futuristic, intergalactic architecture was actually just modern hotel locations in Paris. And it worked, somehow. Even with computer technology that appears hopelessly outdated to modern eyes, the world created is near enough to ours, that it feels plausible.

Beautiful locations in Wales

I've been working since before Christmas on a short film script for the Made in Wales series, and one of the criteria is that it includes locations around Wales, making the most of the natural beauty that the country has to offer. Although I've spent a little bit of time on the Welsh coast, I haven't seen all of it, so this was a good opportunity to do a bit of research.

After watching an episode of Coast which focused on Wales, I was inspired to take a look at St. Cwyfans church in the sea, near Aberffraw in Anglesey. It's a tiny little island with a church on top, and looks like a fantasy place.

I've set St Cwyfans as the location for my story, which is called Nos Da Saint Kevin (Kevin is the English version of Cwyfan). It's the story of two teenagers working through the grief of losing a friend & brother in a car accident.

 

St Cwyfans church in the sea (Photo: cybikayakers.blogspot.com)

 

 

 

Keep Calm and Make a Short Film

I heard about a short being made locally called San Serif on Red, and decided to get in touch with them to see if they needed any help.

It's a fictional telling of the story behind the Keep Calm and Carry On poster, and it's being produced by a graduate of the Newport Film School.

We exchanged a couple of messages, and he sent me the script. It was a fun read, very well structured, and with a satisfying ending. So, I sent him some script coverage by way of feedback for the screenwriter.

They are currently raised funds on Kickstarter for the production, see here if you would like to donate:
http://markerfilms.co.uk/san-serif-on-red-2013/