The Rushes - a new documentary film

My latest film is a short documentary about elderly married life, and how a hobby and passion can be an important part of our lives.

It was shot, produced and edited by myself, Sarah Mottershead and Miek Teunissen with a shooting schedule of a few hours over 3 days, and 10 days to edit.

I am so pleased with the outcome. Our protagonist, Mr. Rush, lends a lot of warmth and charisma to the film, and I think actually (and perhaps surprisingly), ends up being very relatable.

What I would do different next time? Take the leap of faith and accept the loss of control - and really go for the observational style. It was my first documentary, but I think the scenes of Mr and Mrs Rush putting up the corn-dollies in the church end up being the most insightful and real of all the film. We have a little bit too much of the talking heads style, and not quite enough observation of the pair actually living their day-to-day lives.

Nevertheless, I hope you enjoy! Check it out HERE.

Can I Interest You in Christ?

Film screened today at NYFA and it went well. Bryan (teacher) says it's as good as a thesis, which isn't too shabby for 8 weeks. Dalton, who is an amazing DP, thinks I should push it at some film festivals, and I might, but I think it may be a little weak - we'll see. But, for 1 week pre-production, 25 hours shooting, and 1 week post, I think the end product is pretty good. 

Also, I now have a Vimeo site, because I can't for the life of me figure out how to post high quality videos to youtube, and I can't bear the idea of people seeing my film and thinking it looks as shitty as it does when it isn't in proper quality/aspect ratio.

Yashica Online

My music film made at NYFA after just four weeks is online on YouTube. Check it out.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BCxzLveuYxc

Can I Interest You in Christ Today?

Having finished the writing of this short with the help of directing teacher Bryan Norton and writing guru Ben Maraniss of NYFA, pre-production is going well. The four principals have been cast and I am in the process of hiring a boom operator/sound mixer as well as a makeup artist. 

Some locations have been secured - the bathroom and bedroom have been kindly donated by JJ, a friend of my gaffer, Damien Black. 

Working towards securing Gristedes supermarket at 96th street for the bulk of the scenes.

Otherwise, Union Square at 8am, which could potentially be hectic, and St. Patrick's Cathedral on 5th avenue which could potentially be illegal, are happening. With the latter, we sneak in, under the guise of recording on a digital camera, and get what we need, hoping they won't notice we're filming actors. A bit of an in-out job. But as Bryan says, we're guerrillas. 

I'm acquiring the license of a Moby track to use in the film, and have downloaded a bunch of good sound effects. Voice-over recording of the actors will be done soon. It's all very stressful and busy right now, but hopefully it'll be completely worth it! Stay tuned.