Worcestershire TV Filming
It seems like Worcestershire has been the centre of some filming this week.
The Worcester News reports that Susan Boyle was local in Broadway for a Christmas drama called Christmas Candle. It’s her first film and also stars Sylvester McCoy and Samantha Barks, it’s unclear if they were also in Broadway in the week, but it’ll be something to look out for, for the location if nothing else.
The Vale of Evesham was also on TV, being featured in a Walkers Crisps ad. Tomatoes from the Vale of Evesham were selected as the tastiest of the bunch by Walkers and tonight viewers will be able to see football legend Gary Lineker embark on a journey across the UK to source new flavours.
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Trailer for Bromsgrove Film Roadshow
Kidderminster Film Roadshow
Our event in Kidderminster was unique in our series of roadshows in that it took place in two venues. We held our cinema heritage project in St George’s Church and the film screenings and workshops at the Boars Head. It was also a part of Kidderminster Arts Festival.
At the church, we had a steady stream of people coming in eager to talk about the cinemas of Kidderminster. There seems to be 5 that are known and sadly, many of them have been demolished. After recording lots of conversations, our volunteers joined us at our screenings.
At the Boars Head, we started with Simon running through the origins of the Film Festival and the projects that had been worked on since, including where we were with the Roadshows. We then watched the first film created during filming at the Regal Cinema in Tenbury Wells on their reopening evening, followed by a couple of films shown at our Worcester and Redditch events.
Following on from this was a workshop around creating a web video series, delivered by Ben Lewis, Stacy Guiney and Myke Forte who all collaborated on a hip hop project called Cosmik Panda. As a group, we discussed how technology aids and restricts us by making us sometimes spend more time thinking about what we could do rather than what we should do. Ben spoke about making content that is scalable so it can be seen on a smartphone right up to a 50” television in HD.
Moving to the screenings, we watched two short documentaries from Dave Stokes which were wonderfully produced. There were two horrors, one from Bazz Hancher and another from Rupert Milward. A curious tale called the Portwine Stain from Mick Foley and a couple of others.
We did suffer for numbers attending, reaching 20 at one point, but this might have been down to the Olympics running, having an impact on other events of the Arts Festival. However, this did not deter from some great networking between everyone and providing an opportunity to look at other work happening in Worcestershire.
Redditch Film Roadshow
On the 7th July, we held Redditch Film Roadshow at the Palace Theatre. It was the first public event from Worcestershire Film Festival and we had around 35 people attend.
We started off with a presentation from Simon who went through what the Festival was about, how it was founded and what the day would consist of. We then dived straight into the first film screening, which was Madame Bijoux from Alix Paul. Dave Pitt was on hand to host Q&A sessions and helped create a relaxed atmosphere to encourage the audience to participate.
We moved on to Rice Design who spoke about using animation in education with several examples of their work.
During break, there was an opportunity to look at a Magic Lantern that was a part of the cinema heritage project. Volunteers,3 of which were new to the project, were also on hand to record any memories from the people attending. We were pleased to meet some members of the Redditch Local History Society and John West, who brought some pictures of the Palace Theatre as was.
We then carried on through the event with films from local makers along with some interesting Q&A sessions.
Madame Bijoux by Alix Paul
Lovers On A Cliff’s Edge by Rob Heaton
Tied Cottage by Jared Morgan
Dust : Survivor Of The West by Lauren Hatchard
We Were Here by Lauren Hatchard
Eventide by Brian Harley
Beryl & June by Olivia James and Lauren Hatchard
The Extended Hand From Which To Bite by Harry Johnson
Forbidden Wood by Rowan Charlton
With a few lessons learnt on the way, we look forward to our Kidderminster Film Roadshow on 11th August.
The Film Roadshows are kindly supported by Worcestershire County Council
Birmingham Dreams Of Film
I wanted to write about this a few weeks ago, but things escaped me.
The BBC recently reported Birmingham pushing itself as a destination for film and TV production. With London being occupied with the Olympics, Birmingham has seen a chance to move in. They have created a new Film Birmingham website that lists the benefits and locations available to potential film projects. This is a good move, there is no doubt that hosting a production here will be cheaper than London and it certainly isn’t devoid of locations. The film Toast and TV show Hustle have both been made in Birmingham as good examples.
In the 12 months up to March 2011 there were more than 1,200 requests to film in Birmingham.
So what does mean for Worcestershire? Well, Film Birmingham itself says that 20mins from the city can take you into fabulous countryside! Worcestershire could take benefit of this in a big way. There are no shortage of films made in the Shire but the profile for film is low. Worcestershire Film Festival really is hoping to raise the bar a bit and put film on a visible platform alongside other art forms. To do this, we will be soon hosting a day for film-makers and then six more local gigs for screenings and networking before our main event in November.
It is really important to support projects like Splendid Cinema, the film studio discussions and our own vision for an alternative venue for film.
It’s time we put Worcestershire on the film-making map.
And the ‘WOSCAR’ for Best Film Goes To…
Worcestershire Film Festival Launches First Countywide Film Competition
Worcestershire Film Festival, the county’s first ever celebration of film, not content with the recent BAFTA’s and forthcoming Oscar’s has decided to put together its own film competition just for the people of Worcestershire.
Worcestershire Film Festival is looking for filmmakers of all ages and experience to enter the competition, which closes on the 15th September 2012. The rules are simple
Step 1: Make a film or enter a film you’ve already made
Step 2: Ensure it’s about something! Tell us a story. It could be anything - we’re hoping to receive entries that cover a wide range of genres and themes. However its must have been locally produced in Worcestershire UK!
Step 3: Make sure it’s your own work! All films submitted must be original works
Step 4: Fill in the submission form at www.worcestershirefilmfestival.org.uk and send it with your film (on a DVD) to Worcestershire Film Festival no later than the 15th September 2012
Step 5: Sit back in a local cinema (to be announced) and munch on some popcorn whilst the audience picks a winner! (Hopefully You)
Worcestershire Film Festival Director, Simon Munn: ‘Filmmaking is a bit of an underground art and whilst the Internet helps, locally produced films are seldom seen at a public screening. The aim of the Film Festival is to change that and place filmmaking on an equal platform with music, dance, literature, painting and other arts.”
When asked how the awards compare to the Oscars, he said:
“Remember, Worcestershire had a Hollywood before California did”.
For more information about this release or to arrange an interview with Simon please contact Nigel at NASMediaUK on 07411132097 or enquiries@nasmedia.co.uk
