Scott Pilgrim is quite possibly one of the most important films in the world to a filmmaker

A couple of days ago I went out and bought "Scott Pilgrim VS The World" on Blu-ray. I'm not going to lie to you, this is one of the reasons why I bought a Blu-Ray player (that and Iron Man 2). While my blu-ray collection is less than impressive (Scott Pilgrim and Beauty and The Beast... yep, I admitted it), Scott Pilgrim is so many levels of awesome.

The synopsis for the film is simple - Scott Pilgrim is a slacker who plays guitar in a band. He starts dating a 17-year old high schooler, Knives,  but then he has a dream about a cool girl called Ramona and starts to date her instead. Yet, Ramona's most recent ex, Gideon, wants Ramona all for himself, so sets 6 evil ex-boyfriends out to kill Scott.



It's directed by Edgar Wright - who is best known for making "Spaced" here in the UK - "Shaun of the Dead" and "Hot Fuzz" - two brilliant UK films about zombies and the police in a sleepy town in England. They are American movies, set in the UK. Strangely, Shaun of the Dead and Hot Fuzzed were loved and adored in the States, yet Scott Pilgrim just didn't set the box office alight over in the US. However Edgar is now apparently working on Marvel's "Ant Man", so fingers crossed that works for him.

"What's your point Coull?" you might be thinking. Well, I'll tell you. It's all about special features baby. Scott Pilgrim VS The World on Blu-ray have THE most amazing special features ever. Ranging from pre-production (animatics, storyboards, casting tapes and rehearsals) to filming the movie itself (video blogs from cast and crew, outtakes, behind the scenes) right through to post-production (how they did the special effects, sound design and editing) - everything you need to know about making a movie is RIGHT here.

Yes, they probably had MILLIONS of Dollars, a ton of crew and yes their cast is amazing, but that doesn't mean that independent filmmakers who are still trying to crack the industry shouldn't use these special features as a guide-line, a template, on how to approach making a film.

Sadly not everybody goes to film school (or a TV production course at college) and just think they can hop into the director's chair - resulting in a poor final product, if the project is fortunate enough to get that far. This can be damaging for the industry at this level for many reasons - a lot of people will spend a lot of their time, energy, and even money (travel costs, costumes, props, missing days of paid work to be a part of it) only for the final product to not go anywhere because a distribution company will not take sub-standard work.

So go work on someone else's short film, make your own short film, keep it simple, learn how to do it, and make each project better than the last one.

Before I made "Night is Day" I went to college and studied TV operations and productions, I then made a short film, then 13 episodes of a web series, followed by three short films - just making sure I knew what to do and what crew and cast were best to work with me on them. Only then did I put my foot into the feature film world.

Despite being so proud of the movie, I know my next film will be better, as I understand it all better now, and I know how to work the industry a little bit better. My next film (which might be a comedy called "Get Funded" or a monster movie set in a remote Scottish village) will not be made until proper funding is in place so the cast and crew can get paid and we can pay for locations, the proper equipment etc, and do it right.

In short, go out and buy a Blu-ray player and get Scott Pilgrim. You'll thank me.

Drowning in an industry that's circling the drains...

This post might seem downbeat and pessimistic, so to balance it out, here's the shiny HD-version of the Night is Day trailer - enjoy!



Did you all enjoy that? It was made from early footage of the film, as we made it for an event called Collectormania which is held in Glasgow every year. Stars of sci-fi in TV and Film go to an ice rink and people from all over the country come and meet them to get their autographs and here them tell their tales. We were honoured to have a stall at the 2010 event and we debuted the trailer, it got some great feedback and a lot of people had their photos taken with our cast and crew.

That trailer is just over 2 minutes long - I edited it, then sent it off to our visual effects animator who added all of the special effects (even the hundreds of demons at the end) then he graded it to make it look like a film. While he was doing that my sound team, just two of them, were making the sound right, adding sound effects and mixing the music that my composer made for it. It took weeks and that's the final product. And it's beautiful.

These four people, Jack, Gillian, Mathew and Philip, all worked on it for free. Why? Because they are passionate about the film. It's something different from Scotland. I have nothing but RESPECT for those in the country manage to say "I have an idea for a film" or "Here's my TV show idea" and get it from there, right the way through to the end. It takes an amazing amount of balls, talent and skill to find a crew that are capable and willing, locations, props, equipment, actors, etc, for either no money at all, or very little money.

Yet, the same product seems to be coming out of Scotland - dramas and horrors. And they aren't doing too well at the box office over here. Is it because they aren't very good, or because there isn't a professional body willing to put some money into advertising the films? In America this year there are 8 new movies being advertised at the Superbowl - each with a 30 second slot, and it's $3 million each!

The last film I saw from Scotland being advertised on TV was "N.E.D.S.", while not my cup of tea, I tip my hat to the cast and crew to getting their film made. However the writer and director is well known in the UK, and he's already made a couple of films and been in quite a lot of films too, so it's no surprise that what little money our professional bodies are giving out, went to that director and project.

Again, the Scottish film industry is putting out the same films again and again - dark comedies, or kitchen-sink dramas - "Donkeys" (which had a big hoopla, then vanished!), "Red Road", "Wild Country" (although that was a werewolf horror film that didn't quite work, but Peter Capaldi was excellent) a few years back, Gamerz (a nice original idea yet just vanished after being in Cineworld for two weeks!), "Valhalla Rising" didn't even get a cinema release in it's own country! Hallum Foe flopped, and I'm struggling to name other Scottish films in the last 5 years.

Surely it's time to try different genres? Where are our "Back to the Future", "Ghostbusters", "Scott Pilgrim", "Inception" and even the re-booted version of "Batman" which is filmed in the UK yet, known as an American film. At least "Kick Ass" had a go at it (and again, suffered at the box office, but DVD sales have secured a sequel, "Balls to the Wall").

The UK (or, England) has two massive franchises - James Bond (23 films and counting!) and Harry Potter (I think there will be 8 films by the time the last part is released) and they have made billions and billions of pounds worldwide.

In Holland in 2009, 66 films were made. In Scotland there was about 6. Can you name them? There needs to be a change - different genres, that might be a bit more affordable, to be explored. Romantic comedies like "The Decoy Bride" with David Tennant and Kelly MacDonald, and "Fast Romance", a low-budget romantic comedy with some well known names involved. I just hope for the sake of the latter, a distribution deal within the UK can be found, but I don't doubt for a second they'll get picked up in Europe.

I was told by the head of Creative Scotland in a recent radio interview that I had finished my first film, Night is Day, and what could they do to  help me and I was told right now they have no money and that when my movie was finished, it would be my calling card and I was to pitch another movie idea to them then and they'll see what they can do. So I need to make a film first, before they'll help me make a film? So how do I get money to pay all of my cast and crew? Lottery funding? Nope. Max out my credit cards ala Kevin Smith? Nope, not in today's financial market. Give the script to a casting agent and hope that Harvey Keitel reads it and part-funds it and stars in it ala Tarantino? Or make a shock-horror film about zombies in the woods in a cabin and hope that it gets banned in cinemas so a low-key UK distributor buys it and then I'll go on to make Spider-Man 10 ala Sam Raimi?

There is so little support and affection for new talent in Scotland, anybody trying to break through the ranks are stopped at the first hurdle and forced to go think of something new to try. Well not this filmmaker. I've got ideas for films that international audiences will lap up - not ground-breaking, thought-provoking, award winning movies - but fun films where you can go to the cinema for 2 hours (well, an hour and a half, if I have my way...) and forget what's going on outside in the world. Then hopefully like the soundtrack enough to go out and buy it!

So tell me Scotland - what does it take for a rising filmmaker in this country to make it? Will I be forced to move country just to get some recognition?

Surely, I'm not alone in thinking there needs to be a change?

But rest assured, I am not giving up.

How to make a film in Scotland - or "Watch a group of indie filmmakers have a go at it in the form of a video blog"

With "Night is Day" at the middle of production, moving into the 2nd edit, I thought it would be a good time to post all of the behind the scenes videos that the wonderful John G McCall has put together so far.

So please enjoy and meet the wonderful cast and crew of our little superhero movie!

Sci-fi Mafia is out to get you, well us, well, they said nice things about Night is Day

Our first proper piece of net-attention thanks to a wonderful site called "Sci-Fi Mafia" - check it out -

http://scifimafia.com/2010/12/night-is-day-glasgow-needed-their-own-superhero-and-fraser-coull-is-bringing-them-one/

Silly Wee Films Updates

My official site - http://www.sillyweefilms.co.uk - was moved to a new server a couple of weeks ago, and since then I've been unable to edit the site properly and there are a lot of code problems...

SO I'm having the site re-designed - it'll celebrate 4 years of Silly Wee Films.

As part of this I'd like to produce some 3-5 minute short films in 2011 - as well as releasing my debut feature film "Night is Day"...

So if you want to write a short film, direct, work on camera, be a runner, production assistant, costume person, makeup artist, actor, editor, grader, colourist, boom operator, sound designer, composer, get in touch with your CV and samples - we'd like to give everybody a chance to make an affordable short film that can be shot in a day.

Email contact@sillyweefilms.com and we'll be in touch in the New Year.

Thank you.

Silly Wee Films Project Slate

Just a quick update on what Silly Wee Films is up to at the moment...

"Night is Day - The Movie" is our debut feature, starring Chris Summers, John Gaffney, Kirsty Anderson, Clare Sheppard, Steven McEwan, Tam Toye, Mark Harvey, Catriona Joss, Colin McCredie, Elaine C Smith, Tiger Tim Stevens MBE and Simon Weir - Night is Day is an action drama superhero film set in Scotland. The film was shot between June and August 2010 and is currently in post production with a 2011 release date earmarked.

Visit http://www.nightisday.net/ for more information.

"Night is Day - The Series" is set BEFORE the movie - meet the characters from the movie, as Jason learns to deal with his powers and fights the evil businessman Mr. Philips. Series 1 was filmed in 2007 and can be seen for free at http://www.sillyweefilms.co.uk/nightisday.htm.

Series 2, which has 7 episodes lasting 25 minutes each, is nearing it's post production and will be online soon!

http://www.nightisday.co.uk/ for more information.

"Get Funded" - Working Title - is a comedy focussing on three best friends, Katie, Mark and Chris, as they try to find the money to make their first feature film - even if that means robbing people! The film is currently in pre-production with the script being completed. We will then seek funding and start auditioning, finding the crew, locations, props etc. Hopefully shooting in 2011.

Apart from that we're still working on promotional videos, corporate website adverts, music videos and showreels. 2010 is nearly over but 2011 is going to be filled up with great videos, movies and memories.

Bring it on!

To be a part of Silly Wee Films please send your CV, headshot and details to contact@sillyweefilms.com - we can't promise you anything but we do consider everybody!

Fraser

The difficult second movie, and maybe a third to be optimistic.

Whoops! I've not made a blog entry in around a month, that's bad. I've been so busy with actually working on promoting "Night is Day" and corporate video work this kind of slipped my attention. Sorry! To be fair I don't even know if anybody reads this, or if it's even useful for anybody.

Just in case I'm going to make this a three-point blog, so I hope you enjoy it.

NIGHT IS DAY THE MOVIE

Recap: "Night is Day - The Movie" is a Superhero movie set in Scotland. It follows Jason Mackenzie (Chris Summers) as he uses his powers of foresight and lightning to protect the city against demons, gangsters and villains. The Caillech (Catriona Joss), who once formed the hills and landscape of Scotland, returns to the world and tells us that in 3 days everything will end. Jason has to team up with cops Superintendent Sloan (John Gaffney), Detective Chief Inspector Mullan (Steven McEwan) and Inspector Munro (Clare Sheppard) to stop this from happening, while evil businessman Mr. Philips (Tam Toye) and his assassin Frank Stone (Mark Harvey) will do everything they can to help the Caillech destroy the world.

The film started pre-production in January 2010 and with no funding whatsoever, using support from friends and family as well as sponsorship of our main characters, we cast the movie in January and shot it at weekends in the Summer from June until August. 

The movie is now complete and the first edit is finished. The movie is currently at 1 hour 52 minutes, and going by the notes from our producers the movie should go down to 1 hour 40 minutes. We then plan to send it off for special effects, sound work and scoring. We will then take it to festivals, film markets, conventions as well as holding special screenings to secure a sales agent or a distributor - whatever comes first. 

A 10 minute "sizzle reel" has been edited together and being worked on so we can show it at the Glasgow Film Festival in February. For more information go to http://www.nightisday.net and the trailer is at http://vimeo.com/14298694. 

We have a Facebook so please join us at http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=237674711930.

Here is a production still from the movie involving Jason protecting a young girl from an attacker:

All going well, we will sell Night is Day and people will be interested in our future projects, and on that note...

THE SECOND, AND MAYBE THIRD, MOVIE

Any filmmaker worth their salt, or at least in my case, won't just have one movie in them, or hopefully the experience of making their first movie wasn't so terrible that they decide to back in filmmaking and decide that a career in the circus, fast food industry or window selling industry is where there destiny really lies.

So of course I've got ideas for more movies. Ideally I'd LOVE Night is Day to be a trilogy. I wrote the characters and I love them all dearly (even those who don't survive to the end of the first movie!) so I would love to carry on with them and see where they end up...

Just not yet. I need out of the Night is Day world to prove to myself that I'm not just a Night is Day writer, but I am in fact a credible filmmaker that makes movies that people enjoy. 

Even before Night is Day I wrote two film scripts - one called "Space Defence" which is about three normal people from different planets who get super powers and become the protectors of the realm (aka the universe) and it was all about how they got their powers and became the protectors. I really liked that script, and I think I've lost it forever now.

The second was "The Journey" in which sword fighters from all over the world were given sponsors to back their campaign to enter the tournament - the last fighter standing won a 50 million pounds and got to walk away with their lives. My script focused on 3 of the fighters - we started pre-production, filmed a trailer and it was going well - but the funding never showed up and the film fell apart. Then I got ran down by a car and broke my leg and arm... I'm glad that happened - in a weird way - because then I made "Night is Day - The Series"

Now I'm writing a script that's going through two/three name suggestions but the working title is "Get Funded" and it's about 3 friends who went to a TV production college course (just like me) and they have the perfect script, but nobody will give them money, so they decide to rob and exploit people - yes, it's a comedy. So I hope, HOPE, that come next Summer, "Night is Day" will have been sold or close to it, and private investors will get on board "Get Funded" and we can shoot it next year.

I know you are all thinking "But Fraser, isn't two movies enough?" well, maybe, but not for me. I LOVE writing, I LOVE filmmaking and it's what I want to do! (For now anyway, ideally I'd love to be a showrunner for the BBC or STV, writing and executively producing a TV show ala Russell T Davis, Steven Moffat, Joss Whedon et all) and about a year ago I was in a computer game shop and I saw an X-Box game with the most brilliant title.

I'm not going to reveal the title, it will give too much away - but I racked my brain to see if it was feasible, and if anybody had done it before. Google tells me that a low-budget indie movie has attempted the genre, and it got pretty bad reviews, and sorry to the filmmaking team involved, but it sounds like cheesy b-movie porn. 

My filmmaking influences are Sam Raimi's "Evil Dead" and Quentin Tarantino's "Reservoir Dogs" (or as my girlfriend said to me "Reservoir Puppies", which was genius) - so one day I hope to do my Tarantino film and maybe with this 3rd film idea, I'll get to do my tribute to Sam Raimi and attempt two genres I never said I would do.

But first, I'll finish "Get Funded" and try to get...the funding I need to make it, while completing Night is Day and getting it sold, and writing my third, as of yet, untitled film. 

Now on to my final point of this unnecessary long blog post...

JUST DO IT (this one gets a bit ranty, sorry!)

Disclaimer - I am not claiming to be a filmmaking genius, I am not claiming to have made award winning masterpieces of cinematic history.

However I must, must say this. Recently a lot of people, well a few, okay, one or two people have been asking me how do they go about getting involved in films, how do I do it, can I give them work experience, or a full time, fully paid job on a film, or can I produce and make their film scripts for them.

No.

Is the short answer. 

The long answer is sorry, but I just don't have the time to help everybody. The filmmaking industry in this country, particularly Scotland, is in a really bad state of affairs. Yes, there are a few good films coming out every few years, but when you look at countries like Holland, Sweden and America, they are making 60 films a year - we're making around 6. And some of them stink. But give them their due, they are still making movies and in a way that's great.

So here's my advice to anybody who wants to write a movie, direct a movie, star in a movie, produce a movie - just do it. There's nothing stopping you. A lot of people are saying "But I'm too old to get started now" or "I don't have the training" etc. 

I didn't make my first short film until I was 21 - I didn't go to college until I was around 19/20 years of age, and I have just made my first feature film. Yes, have your influences - Sam Raimi was 19 when he made "The Evil Dead" but that didn't put me off filmmaking because I was older than he was and there are filmmakers now who are 17 and winning awards, and I haven't won ANY awards, but this doesn't bother me. Your audience is out there, somewhere.

Here's how I got started in this industry...

2003 - I was accepted onto the E-Force Training Programme at the BBC in Queen Margaret Drive in Glasgow (I really, REALLY miss that place).  I learned to be a "pleasant pest" and to stick in people's minds.

2004 - I was accepted on to the HND Television Productions and Operations course at James Watt College, despite not fulfilling the requirements of higher education certificates. I met a lot of like minded people and I attended the course for a year.

2005 - I wrote, directed and edited my first short film, "Night is Day - Dusk" - it was terrible but I learned SO much from that. I also made a lot of enemies unfortunately as this industry does create terrible egos in people, but we live and learn.

2005 - I went to Business Gateway with a Business proposal and was awarded grants and funds to start up "Silly Wee Films" 

2006 - I had my road accident and my first feature film, "The Journey", folded. I then wrote and directed "Night is Day" series 1 by going on Mandy.com and looking for the cast and crew. 

2007 - Due to lack of business experience and work, Silly Wee Films folded and I worked as a website admin assistant in Stirling and learned how to run a business. I then made Night is Day series 2 and several short films.

2008 - Silly Wee Films came back with a vengeance. I made another short film, wrote a movie script and moved to Glasgow. Business continued and life was good. Unfortunately any hint of success - articles about yourself in newspapers, your TV show being shown on the TV, will create a bit of jealousy towards you, spite and people bitching behind your back. People will take incidents that they weren't even involved in and spin the rumours out of control and sadly, even to this day, there are a lot of people who dislike me for what I do - but I have NEVER lied nor have I messed people around. I will always be honest and treat people the way I expect to be treated back.

There will always be negativity in this world and especially in this industry - ignore it - do your work, keep your head down and keep on going. If you are going to make it in this industry then the bad press, negativity and "enemies" don't matter in the long run. 

And to be super cheesy and quote "Angel", - "If nothing we do matters, then all that matters is what we do."

And I'm spent!