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‘I SOLD MY CAMERA T0 FINANCE MY SECOND FILM'
Eddie Harrison investigates the low fi, low budget revolution going on in Scottish filmmaking.
is a girl and a gun. But anyone who has ever
picked up a camera knows that cash in the bank helps too. The sheer expense of filmmaking - the stock, the cast, the crew, the catering and other costs — have stymied aspiring film-makers over the thirty years since Scotland‘s first lo-fi feature, Bill Forsyth’s account of a Glasgow sink robbery That Sinking Feeling.
Making a short or a low budget feature through state- sponsored film projects such as Tartan Shorts or Newfoundland scheme provided one solution. But digital cinema offers lower production costs, while the advent distribution via popular video streaming sites has meant that filmmakers no longer have to go cap in hand to government financed schemes.
In 2008, the result is a new wave of DIY Scottish filmmakers, skipping the queue for public finance and making their own lo-fi movies. Local actor/writer /director Carter Ferguson created a 30 minute short called The Rage (pictured) set ‘in the universe’ of Danny Boyle’s 28 Days Later. Sweet Sixteen’s William Ruane is amongst the actors featured and The Rage has attracted plenty of positive feedback for the ingenious use of Glasgow locations to suggest a bleak, zombie— infested future.
‘The Rage was specifically made for showing on YouTube — having watched a number of videos on the net, I deliberately kept away from wide shots where we’d lose detail on the small screen, and put a lot of thinking into the design. Our biggest expense was probably the costumes’ says Ferguson. ‘We managed to blag an ambulance from someone and used Langside
I ean-Luc Godard said all you need to make a film
46 THE LIST 4—18 Sep 2008
College to stand in for a plague-hit hospital. And we copied the internet strategies used by the Glasgow music scene to promote the film. That said. I still had to sell the camera I used for The Rage to finance my second film.’
Elsewhere Charles Henri-Belleville shot his promising debut feature, The Inheritance for around £6,000, while producers Arabella Page Croft and Keiran Parker remortgaged their house to shoot Nazi- zombie adventure Outpost. and were rewarded with £100,000 from Scottish Screen towards their next feature project.
Another local filmmaker with one eye on the commercial action genre is Ryan Hendrick. who has posted an entire feature online. Wilderness, a violent adventure story. may be rough around the edges. but it shows, as does The Rage. a director who can organise a
small crew, get a visual style on -screen, and most ' importantly, demonstrate a strong commitment and
passion for making genre films.
It could be suggested that the derivative nature of these films works against a successful crossover to bigger budgets, but that’s a logic that never bothered industry giants like Peter Jackson, Francis Ford Coppola or Peter Bogdanovich, all of who made a
name for themselves making ultra-low budget horror .
films and thrillers. Scotland’s DIY filmmakers may be focussing their output on guns and gore for the moment, but everyone‘s got to start somewhere.
The Rage: tinyurl.com/6lf9k7 Wilderness: tinyurl.com/6re8ym
UST >l<
THE BEST FILM & DVD RELEASES
* Pineapple Express The
stoner movie comes of age in
this hilarious comedy. Directed
by ‘sensitive indie‘ filmmaker
David Gordon Green — this is another blunted delight from producer Judd Apatow and writer/performer Seth Rogen.
See review, page 49. General release from Fri 72 Sep.
* The Pope’s Toilet
Charming comical drama from Venezuela about the economic miracle that overtakes a small impoverished town when Pope John Paul II comes to visit. See review. page 48. GFT, Glasgow
& Filmhouse, Edinburgh from Fri 5-Thu 17 Sep.
* Jar City Gripping Icelandic detective thriller. See Also Released, page 49. GFT, Glasgow & Cameo, Edinburgh . from Fri 72 Sep. * Take One: Action! The UK's first major film festival about the folk and the films that are changing the world. www.takeoneaction.org. Fi/mhouse, Edinburgh from Sat 73 Sep.
=1: Annie Hall 8: Manhattan Special commemoration screenings of two Woody Allen classics in memory of his gifted producer Charles H Joffe. Fi/mhouse, Edinburgh on Wed 70 and Thu 77 Sep.
* The Good, the Bad and the Ugly Lovely new digital print of Leone’s magnificent third spaghetti western finally arrives in Glasgow. GFT Glasgow on Sun 7 and Mon 8 Sep.
* Cass Decent football hooligan tale (based on a true story) ends its run. Matinees only. Cameo, Edinburgh from Fri 72-Thu 78 Sep.
* The John Carpenter Collection Tremendous value DVD box set featuring all the classics and more from this suspense/horror master. See DVD roundup, page 61. Out Mon 8 Sep (Optimum).