BTB Film – [Box] Fresh

[Box] Fresh is a parody of youth TV and is pretty much the first short film I ever made. A few friends and I (including Paul Wade and my then-girlfriend-now-wife)  got together in Canterbury and decided to shoot a few sketches that we’d been kicking around. This was the final result and I’m still pretty proud of it. It comes from that awkward time before I realised I needed to keep my own daft face behind the camera rather than in front of it but the blind freerunning skit is still a joke that I’m very pleased to have written.

The movie won us a Best Editor award and led to us going on to make loads of other things, so Box will always hold a special place in my heart.

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BTB Film – Edd The Duck: Ducking The Past

In his youth, Edd The Duck was one of the biggest stars on the BBC. In this frank and mercifully short documentary, we attempt to find out what happened next as well as showcasing some never before seen interviews with other performers of that era.

This is a very scrappy little film that a few of us made back in 2009. I think I shot some of it, Paul Wade shot some and Steve shot a bit too. I flinch slightly at the quality of the audio and video when I look back at it now, but I think the concept is sound and I’m proud of the Paddington Bear gag.

Props to my wife for her excellent Finger Mouse puppetry.

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BTB Film – Wild Watch

Jim Eaton and I made this Springwatch parody back in 2011. It’s another 2 Days Laughter Festival entry and as such is a 5 min comedy film that was produced in 48 hours. It stars the wonderfully funny, rubber faced stylings of Paul Teeling and Rosie Owen who were, as ever, a total joy to work with. Camera work and special effects were done by Paul Wade and he deserves a lot of the overall credit for being the one that badgered Jim and I into doing the film when we really had a lot of other work we should have been doing.
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BTB Film – A Comedy of Edits

A Comedy of Edits is the story of William Shakespeare’s meeting with his play’s financial backers and stars Joshua Broadstone and Jack Gavin (of Devil’s Fork fame) as well as Ryan Brannon (one half of comedy duo, Cold Callers). They’re all good friends and it was lovely to get a chance to work with them all again. It was written and directed by Jim Eaton and myself and expertly shot by Paul Wade (who also did the post production and very cool titles).

It’s the most recent film we’ve done (depending on when you read this) and was produced back in April of this year for the 2 Days Laughter Competition. The sketch won both best film and best screenplay and has led to several exciting projects for Jim and I, so we’re pretty happy with it.

Enjoy!

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A Comedy Of Edits Wins Best Film Award

If you follow me on twitter then you’ll already know some of this, but I wanted to wait until the official press release was out before talking about it too much. Last weekend Jim Eaton and I took our new film “A Comedy of Edits” to the 2 Days Laughter Short Film Competition in Kent. We liked the sketch but it was a really strong field this year so we weren’t really expecting to walk away with any awards, turns out we were a little wrong about that.

Me (left) and Jim Eaton (right) with our awards.

The film ended up winning Best Screenplay and Best Film as well as picking up a nomination for Best Director. It’s our second Best Screenplay prize (our script for The Devil’s Fork won in 2010) but we have never managed to bag the coveted Best Film prize until now. The judging panel includes BAFTA award winning actress Brenda Bleythn, BBC Television and Radio comedy writer/presenter Jon Holmes, and Time Out comedy editor Ben Wilson, so it’s a really nice bunch of people to be given the nod by.

The night was tinged with sadness however as we learned that this could be the very last 2 Days Competition. Creative England (the body that replaced the UK Film Council) has withdrawn funding from the project (as well as pretty much all film projects in Kent) and unless the Council agree to pick up the slack, this week will mark the final time that 2 Days Laughter and its sister festival 2 Days Later run. It’s a very sad end for a competition that has has generated over 650 films and worked with over 3000 film makers since 2003. I honestly can’t express how much of our current work (possibly even Moon itself) owes its existence to 2DL and to see it become a casualty of the current war on arts is pretty infuriating. We can only hope that Beeping Bush are able to find a way to continue their great work in some fashion going forwards.

The good news is that while this may be the end of 2DL, it is most certainly not the end of mine and Jim’s film making partnership. We’re meeting up in a week or so to look into new festivals and places to create work for and I have a feeling that the best stuff is yet to come.

So, I guess the only other thing to do is to introduce you (or reintroduce you) to the “award winning” sketch: A Comedy of Edits. Hope you enjoy and as always, thanks for the support!

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Jason Statham The Movie!

 

I’m still recovering from our outing to the 2 Days Laughter film festival, last night. If you follow me on twitter then you’ll already know that we did pretty well but I’m gonna hold off on doing a full write up until the official photos and press release are sent out.

In the meantime, here is a little silly something from The Key of Awesome. Jason Statham has done some pretty crazy action films, but what happens when you combine the plots of all of those movies into one specular Stathamathon? This.

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A Comedy of Edits – Dan’s New Film

 

This is the final cut of the new film that James Eaton, Paul Wade and I have been working on, it’s also our entry for this year’s 2 Days Laughter Competition. Those of you who’ve followed us for a while will already have heard of 2DL as we do it pretty much every year but for the uninitiated, 2DL is a film making competition which challenges people to produce a 5 minute comedy film with a total production time of no more than 48 hours.

Previous efforts on our part have included youth TV spoof [Box] Fresh, Edd The Duck biopic Ducking The Past and our take on the BBC’s Springwatch as well as several other films produced for 2DL’s horror based sister competition, 2 Day’s Later. We’ve managed to score a shortlisting on every film we’ve put in so far as well as one or two awards, fingers shall remain crossed that our new baby fairs equally well.

A Comedy of Edits is the story of William Shakespeare’s meeting with his play’s financial backers and stars Joshua Broadstone and Jack Gavin (of Devil’s Fork fame) as well as Ryan Brannon (one half of comedy duo, Cold Callers). They’re all good friends and it was lovely to get a chance to work with them all again. It was written and directed by James and myself and expertly shot by Paul (who also did the post production and very cool titles).

I shall keep you updated on how the competition goes, but for now I hope you enjoy the film.

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Secret Behind The Scenes Photos From Moon & [Box] Fresh

I was helping my fiancée sort out her Twitter account last night and I stumbled upon a little treasure trove hidden away on her laptop. Fi produced a lot of our earlier films and, ever the professional, she took a load of production photos along the way and stashed them away for safe keeping. Given that we’re a little light on comic book content right now as Steve is locked away in his studio, working on issue 2 of both Moon and Fallen Heroes, I thought it would be nice to dig some of these pics out and share them with you dear people.

These photos all come from The Day The Moon Got Too Close and [Box] Fresh, which were made by myself, Fi and Paul Wade.

"The Day The Moon Got Too Close"

Moon-fact 1: The original Moon-head was made out of an old lamp shade with a tonne of Papier-mâché slopped over it. Wise men that we are, Paul and I elected to do this the night before and consequently it didn’t dry in time and I had bits of gluey paper falling on my face all shoot.

"The Day The Moon Got Too Close"

Moon fact 2: This is from the closing shot of the film. The battery on our camera ran out with just one line of dialogue left to record and we ended up going out to a totally different wood a little later in order to get that 2 second shot at the end. There was supposed to be a ‘walking into the sunset’ shot but I couldn’t walk in a straight line on account of having a face full of glue.

"The Day The Moon Got Too Close"

On set with Al Crow, who played Shades Rodriguez in the short. The character was never named in the film itself, I just made up the name for the credits because I thought it sounded funny. Years later and the character has taken on a life of his own.

"The Day The Moon Got Too Close"

I love how ropey the original Moon head looks compared to the one that we use for publicity events nowadays. This version didn’t have any kind of head support inside it so it always flopped forwards. I like how it kinda makes Moon look permanently melancholy.

"The Day The Moon Got Too Close"

I can honestly say that I don’t recommend trying to direct a film while you are a) in said film and b) wearing a massive ball of paper and glue on your head. I still have the chipped tooth to prove it.

"Box Fresh"

This was taken in Margate while filming the ‘Mime murder’ gag in [Box] Fresh. It was mid spring and totally freezing so I donned a coat only to discover that without the stripy shirt, I just looked like I was on my way to a Kiss concert. I kept the hood up until we were safely out of the town centre.

"Box Fresh"

I can’t remember how I ended up playing the pretentious not-at-all-a-jibe-at-anyone-real arthouse director, Zach Hoovermiester in [Box] Fresh. I think we had somebody else lined up for the part but they pulled out last minute. Either way, the end result was that we dug a blonde wig out of our props box and I sat and rambled in front of the camera for about two hours in order to get 20 seconds of footage. Oddly enough, that shirt is actually the one that Steve used as the basis for Shades’ shirt in the Moon concept art. Also, I have bleached my own hair that colour in the past and I cannot recommend it highly enough if you want to avoid people taking you seriously.

Hope you enjoyed that little peek behind the curtain. Hopefully we should be bringing you some brand new artwork very soon, so keep your eyes on the Moon, Bunkerites.

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The Best of 2 Days Laughter 2011 Part 2

Morning chaps,

Assuming that Steve and I haven’t been killed by Mark Millar in the 30something hours between when I’m writing this and when it’ll go live, we’re still at Kapow Comic Con signing copies of Moon. To keep you happy though, here’s part 2 of our picks from this year’s 2 Days Laughter Festival.

The Call by Rob Reed & Aidan Synnott. One of the nicest ideas that I’ve seen at the competition. Simple joke, beautifully executed.

Brainstorming by Martin Banov. The old “make a film about making a film” setup comes up every year at the competition but this is about the best I’ve seen it executed. I do like me a bit of existential egg based comedy though.

Brenda by Mark Bowsher. Mark’s an old friend of mine and it was lovely to see him walk away with some of the top awards namely “Best Film” “Best Actress” & “Best Screenwriter”. It’s a wonderfully performed mockumentary that hits every note it goes for. Wonderful stuff.

Hope you had a laugh with these. Steve and I will be back next week with updates on our adventures at Kapow, but until then do take care.

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The Best of 2 Days Laughter 2011 Part 1

Hello Future People!

Since Steve and I are away Kapow all weekend, we thought we’d leave you with some of the choicest cuts of comedy gold from this year’s 2 Days Laughter Competition. It was a pretty strong showing this year with some genuine gems to be had.

The Rise And Fall of A Lemon by Neville Floyd. This is pure class in my opinion and it’s a travesty that it didn’t pull more awards than it did.

Colonel’s Day Out by Ben Mills & Dinis Sousa. The only one of the bunch that I actually rushed home to show people. It’s totally mental and very very funny.

Kent! A Brief History by Ben Worsfield & William Thomas. Solid bit of mockumentary work with a killer Earl of Sandwich gag. Deservedly won the audience vote.

Hope you enjoyed those. For more info please do have a look at the 2 Days Laugher Website

More filmic fun tomorrow, Bunkerites.

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