any hints?

[john23]

so Barry, this mysterious new short...
any hints or under severe wraps? where and how are you shooting..you gone digital yet, or using trad means?
i watched 'next' again yesterday, and just boggled at the shapes, the quality, the lighting...did you shoot reference stuff for this first? it just seems impossible for me to comprehend such magnificent puppet acting without some sort of reference first...or am i just unimaginative? and where/how the hell do you manage to get puppets like that? does a magician ever reveal where the rabbit is hiding?
c'mon, spill the beans (please?)
john

[Barry]

Hi John, and well I'll know very soon if this short is going to happen, and a word of hope for everyone itching to get a film off the ground, if this film happens it will have taken fourteen years to get there. Everyone says we need patience in this game........

As regards young Mr William Shakespeare, no reference was at all, and bar a few frames, that was exactly all that was shot. I don't recall any reshoots or false starts....maybe there were, I don't remember but the schedule of about twelve seconds a day wouldn't have allowed for any retakes on the grounds of getting the performance better. But actually that is what keeps it exciting. I think we had a basic video then; it was dark and only really there to make sure we had moved the camera. Ithink the longest shot is about 30 or so seconds - now that is a challenge. I'm afraid it is all instinct, and realising that not having a safety net keeps you focussed. Knowing you can go back and start again really does make you lazy. Also a lot of preparation and living with that music day in day out helps, although when filming we only had the rhythm laid down.

Oh to do another such film.

Mackinnon Saunders created the beautiful puppet, now twenty years old. He resides happily in the National Media Museum in Bradford.

[john23]

thats f***in un believable.
i'm stunned that you can summon that kind of performance out of a puppet, via your sub-conscious, with no reference- and i am probably lazy from digital decadence...

big luck to the next project- fingers crossed
i just burnt out final version of HP tonight, end of 2 years 9 months for me....not quite 14 years, but a weird place to be BEYOND the borders of such a long project
feels good though, champagne and decadence is ensuing nicely
john

[john23]

well, i paid the price for the decadence, 12 hours later murphys law kicked into full effect, and absolutely everything that could go wrong, did, until 15 minutes before all the lovely helpful people in soho closed their doors- and then promised to burn out corrected version at 9 am monday morning, with the debut screening scheduled for 1pm. wish me luck, nothing else has room to go wrong
john

[Barry]

hi there jOhn a nd that Murphy's Law and the related hubris are terrible things. My promised short doesn't look as if it is happening now. The money went elsewhere. To wait only fourteen years for it to happen seemed too easy! Well I'm sorry about your post production,but I do hope it all goes well. Do let us know. I hope above all that you can enjoy watching the film as much as the audience will.
Tell us about it tomorrow.
B

[john23]

well, barry, mission accomplished, but just by the skin of my teeth- ended up picking up the tapes at 9 the morning of the screening in soho, then rushing down to the bfi and checking them....all was finally well, and the whole thing from there went amazingly- pretty much full cinema, 3 mins of applause at the end, 4 folk from cbbc came, and now they want to see it again with their boss, and lots of other useful friendly people came along, including andy simmons, the armature man, who is really nice, and obviously has more insight into how its all done than me, i'm pretty much inventing my techniques out of neccessity...but he has more pro- insight than i do...he knows people inside at aardman and cosgrove hall, as you must do very well too...
also excited about what he tells me is on the cards for the armatures in the future

i'm doing a last re-polish before re-screening for the beeb n others in stephen street, soho, later next month- dont suppose your around by then?? I dont have an exact date yet, but will do shortly- i'm kinda embarassed asking you, your so good compared to where I'm currently at, but that said, I've effectively climbed the himalayas as a learning curve, in isolation, over this project, and nothing will ever be this hard again...i've made MOST of my stupid mistakes now...and my hunger to improve my technique and film-making generally is definitely greater than ever

when i was 16 (im now 41) i went to Durham light infantry museum, which for some strange reason was holding a month long exhibition of Ray Harryhausen's puppets, from sinbad, jason, clash,etc...at the end of the month it was advertised he was going to be there in person, to do a Q+A...i decided to go, with only one question- how do i get to be your apprentice? i planned it all month long, and at the end of the month turned up, only to be told he'd taken ill and couldnt make it...my teen dreams of learning from the master had crumbled! can you see where this is going yet? i'm talking to a master right now- how do i get to learn from you? i'm totally serious- i'd be happy to run and fetch coffee and biscuits, unpaid, to get some insights- if you need a dogsbody, let me know...

anyway, best wishes, i hope the funding for the long planned short final appears suddenly, when you least expect it, and will stay in touch
john

[Barry]

Hi John and I'm so glad that you had a good response from the film. Please do send me a copy when you can or post photos on here. Well I would be pleased to be of help however i can. I'm still doing workshops and talks all over the place - I had one in London last week, but the next are in Argentina, Paris, Stoke, Canterbury, Bradford, Parma, and possibly the national film School in December.
Barry

[john23]

let me know when london is happening next for you- the nfts thing presumably- if there is a chance of 'putting me on the list' i'll be there
john