Phonecall - Haste Edit

As I start to begin work on pre-production for Chase, I'm uploading all finished work. Time fish will be uploaded next week after i have given the DVD to the cast involved. And Phonecall I have uploaded today, which you can click on below. I might rewrite and reshoot it next year sometime as i think I can squeeze out a feature from that idea once i fill out the character's more. But in the meantime, check it out and see the product of our work last year :)

Bootcamp, Being a soldier extra for a US feature film and Phonecall Update:)

"C-130 Rolling down the strip.
Airborne daddy on a one-way trip.
Mission unspoken, destination unknown.
They don't even know if they'll ever come home.
Stand up hook up, shuffle to the door.
Jump right out and count to four.
If my main don't open wide.
I've got a reserve right by my side.
If that one don't fail me too.
Look out ground, I'm a coming through
I'll hit the ground before you do!
Pin my medals upon my chest,
and bury me in the leaning rest.
When I get to heaven.
St. Peter's gonna say.
How'd you earn your livin?
How'd you earn your pay?
And I will reply with a little bit of anger:
Earned my pay as an Airborne soldier"

This is just one of the army cadence's we sung while running during PT for our boot camp for Emperor, a feature film starring Matthew Fox and Tommy Lee Jones shooting here in Auckland city soon.

I am one of the extras being trained for some of the military scenes with Matthew Fox (who is a really nice down to earth guy by the way) and our military advisor (also done pacific and band of brothers) has spent the last 2 days teaching us parade terms and executions and weapon handling, as well as other things we needed to do to portray authentic 1940's US soldiers such as smoking (fake cigs thank god since I don't smoke), dart throwing, typing on typewriters/whiteboards, manners and practices (e.g. hats off inside unless carrying weapons), talking on old school telephones in American accents and army codes.

We also trained in uniform, I have to say i enjoyed wearing it, it reminded me of Jet Li in the Enforcer. I think it was the cover (hat). Plus I enjoyed carrying the Thompson or carbine or whatever it was that i ended up holding, we went through so many different weapons I can't remember their names, But working as a team through set drills and tactical formations was fun.

Basically, in a sentence, For a fan of Medal of Honor: airborne (me), this is a dream come true :)

Though I can't share more detailed specifics of what we got up to or the scenes they will be used in, I can share this picture of my haircut I had done on set for the role :) lol. (which now means PHONECALL is delayed indefinitely, damn. had tons of pick ups to do...) and the sunburn in the shape of an upside down V (Illuminati tat! jk) from marching for hours in the sun and forgetting to sunblock that area. Sonofa-! lets just say- its raw to the touch ;) on another note, I miss my hair, not only does it seem more colder but I feel more thuggish as well as soldierish. Grow grow grow! :)

Phone Call update; We shot the half of the climax fight scene on Wednesday, unfortunately we didn't get to finish shooting the bridge finale as shooting in a public place means public have access which as a no budget filmmaker is a nightmare if they aren't in the script. Anyway, below I have a screenshot to share with you guys :)

Anyway, going to start shooting my short film for my SAE Definitive next week, I had to scrap Job 23 for later in the year as my course advisor suggested the audience won't be able to figure out enough about my story. I tried to add more dialog but It took away the arty show not tell images I had written in there. So I wrote a new (4th draft for a Definitive) story called TIMEFISH. Great title huh? Will post some screenshots as I shoot them, An action/scifi/comedy. Will be strange with this new haircut but hoping my facial expressions can get the humor across :)

Until next time we meet, Live out your dreams and God Bless you ;)

New Year, New opportunities :)

Happy New Year Everyone! Time to eat last year's challenges :)

2012 Promises to be a defining year for me as I create more opportunities and finish projects that have long been gestating. So let me share with you all what to look forward to;

1) I graduate from SAE (knock on wood) March 2012 and then I can start work on my Indy no-budget feature, Chase. (completely rewritten from the original sci-fi action thriller I mentioned months ago which is now retitled Hunter).

Chase will be a 80 minute feature film and I aim to start shooting April 2012, hopefully to be edited and available off my website Dec 2012/Jan 2013. It's the story of a wannabe action-star (yes, loosely based on an exaggerated version of me) and his road to honesty. I've written 5 fights into it and plenty of comedic gags as well as some heavy drama to give my first feature some heart and soul.

2) Also in March I hope to have also finished Phonecall, the action/thriller staring Nazim Khan and myself. I hope to enter this in some low key festivals and spread the word about my style of film. All i have left to shoot are the 2 fight scenes, a flashback and some pick up shots.

3)Also in March I will also enter JOB 23 into film festivals too, this drama/action film is what I have decided to turn in for my SAE definitive project, though I had wrestled with shooting Bouncer or Maria, I have decided that budget and cast/time frame wise this is the safest and easiest option.

4)In order to become the film star I am aiming to be I need to work on my acting as well as getting exposure on national television and more views on YouTube. I will be chasing as much extra work as possible as well as trying for ads, student films etc, but I am hoping working on my own films will give me the exposure I seek. I don't want to start my website without something to sell to a fanbase I can grow, so I'm working hard on my Actionstar webseries....

5)I aim on learning Nunchuku and Parkour properly this year so I can feature them with my Jeet Kune Do in my movies, as all 3 very exciting to watch onscreen in my personal view, I want to be able to execute them as perfectly as possible.

Anyway, thanks for reading and I hope to have some more videos or photo's to share with you over the coming year as I chase my dream of becoming New Zealand's first action star :)

Thanks for your support even though as an action hero I'm only in the beginner stages :)

Phone call Teaser 2 & New logo for Dark Pictures

The logline of my HK action/thriller PHONECALL, "When a job goes sour Craig is held accountable and goes to the big house for 15 years while the others remain free. He serves 5 years but gets out early on medical bail, now with only weeks to live Craig attempts to leave the planet with a few less people...."

Changed the story, no cops involved now :) Above is the 2nd Teaser I put together after shooting Victoria's contribution to Phonecall, SAE is on break now for 3 weeks so as soon schoool opens again I can borrow some equipment and finish this short film. I'm hoping it finishes good, as it already looks like my best work yet! Hopefully over the holidays I can get some basic parkour down so I can use it and choreograph the final fight scene. I haven't got photos yet but the railyard location I mentioned last blog fell through, the trains were moved and now there are roadworks going in the area over new year which sucks so I am thinking of setting it at a waterfront. Not sure yet but want it to be epic you see. (and safe, guns in public's a no-no)

Bouncer is going to be my end of year film, not Maria as I intended. Originally ' Bouncer' was going to be a Dead or alive tribute to my favorite character Jann Lee but since I am not ready to pitch for a feature YET, I will just change the names and the character. I decided to do Bouncer for budget reasons plus I want to have some cool stuff for my pitch when I try to do feature work after I graduate. This Bouncer has been in the pipeline for a while and I want to finish it before Streetfighter as Jann is my fav character and is probably why I do JKD for real now ;)

Below is a screenshot of my new logo, you like? Next year I will launch my website and make what I do all official as well as a couple of Web series, 1) showing off me in my favorite action stars shoes (eg transporter) and 2) another behind the scenes as I try to become an action star. Stay tuned as I work on the title graphics and finish the planning, I want to try get exposure through youtube as well as make some cash on the side to fund my independent features :)



Anyway happy holidays to everyone and a happy new year, make resoulutions worth fruition and a goal worth scoring :)

Phonecall - Teaser 1

Check out the teaser!!

Yes, The latest project I am working on is a short film I've written which is titled 'Phonecall' and is about 2 cops on different sides of the law settling their differences. It stars Nazim and myself. I wanted to keep testing my knowledge/creativity and see if I could create films like my favorite Hong Kong and Korean directors. Below are some photos from location scouting for the final fight scene.




It's forecasted to rain tomorrow so will have to try film the fight scene sometime this week, in the meantime i hope you enjoyed the little bits of behind the scene pics and the teaser above ;)