Looking and listening ...

I am always looking and listening for this project!
     At the moment I have three ongoing tasks:  I am working with our curator, looking for the artifacts that should be in the Museum of Stories.  We won't be filming there for a while but I have to get the mise-en-scene sorted.  I'm also listening to lots and lots of music to select the perfect track(s), especially for intro and outro sequences.  I am also working on the artwork and pagination for the revised copy of my book from which the Identity Stealer was born.  I am an artist by trade (alongside being a teacher and a writer) so hours at my easel drawing is home-sweet-home for me. I am looking forward very much to meeting another artist on June 6 to discuss some really cool collaboration work for the film .... more on that exciting news in due course.  Oh, make that four tasks ...  pretty soon I shall be meeting with costumier and wardrobe mistress Julia to get ready for the filming of some ghosts of times past in early July ... now that is going to be a lot of very colourful fun! 

No Ordinary Day Off!!

What do film-makers do in their time off?  You may wonder!

Well, if you have been able to look at the background information on Team Holland you might have noticed their involvement with the Aisle O'var Backswording Clubbe.  I can tell you this training club is quite a wonderful thing.  It is very far from being just a bunch of folk with swords.  Through patient guidance, precise discipline and first-class teaching and training methods (I am a long practicing Life-Long Learning teacher, so I feel confident to say all this),  Team Holland are at the heart of the lives of Aisle O'var members of all ages, from all walks of life, and with all manner of personal goals to meet.

SO - I was invited to the annual Aisle O'var banquet this weekend and I am so glad I went!  Not only did I meet some of the walk-on and action actors who are going to enrich our Heartsfelled production for us, but I also witnessed the great respect, camaraderie and team spirit that this particular group engender. 

The theme for the night was Star Wars, so much costume, and lightsaber japery ensued.

.... Oh and I ate good roast hog (sorry was that roasted Banther?), done on a proper open fire spit roaster, relished some fun Wookie Cookies, watched with glee as the teams played out games and battles.

My Point?  Yes - you've guessed it - what filmmakers do when they are having some time off is they make films!  It is always a privilege to see our Director of Photography, Zak and our Choreographer / Co-Director Pete when they are filming.  Their creative approaches always skillful .... even on a merry Saturday night in an orchard down in the Shires. 

http://backswording.webplus.net/

Locations, Locations ....

Ayscoughfee Hall

Anywhere you might go in this human world …..

If you step through the right gateway,

at the right moment in time,

and if you keep your eyes and your mind open to all of life’s rich possibilities …

then you might just come across a little bit of magic that has been spinning around our world since the very beginnings of time …

Because when time began – the Story Tellers were born!

And the Story Tellers are ancient, traversing time and space and in an intricate dance all of their own.  They are the keepers of fīfmægen (fif-mehjan) That’s magical power.  And it is their place in this world, to this very day, to be weaving the secrets of men and telling the magical, mythical tales of mankind.

But will you look? Are you prepared to see into the shadows that run deep under the trappings of our modern society?   Are you prepared to listen with your heart for the voice that goes unheard? 

Step through the long forgotten door . . . . 

Isn't is a glorious place!  To find out more about Ayscoughfee Hall in Spalding and it's glorious, rich history, visiting times and so-on check it out here: https://www.sholland.gov.uk/ayscoughfee

We are privileged to be granted permission to film at this glorious location.  After much searching, soul searching and investigations of round-houses, Anglo-Saxon halls, Anglo-Saxon houses, fields, woodlands, rocky places, ancient places and goodness knows what else, we have finally settled for a combination of this  location and the wizardry that can be performed by the amazing Team Holland under the auspices of Wylde Productions.

Discovering The Museum of Stories

Once we'd established the setting for the film, Ayscoughfee Hall, Spalding, and been granted the privilege of filming there, it fell to me to design the setting for Heartsfelled and his small audience to occupy and share the poetic saga of The Identity Stealer!

After a while, the "Museum of Stories" just came into being.  Of course!  Because Heartsfelled is a timeless, ancient, traditional Storyteller, it makes sense that he occupies a Museum of Stories.

Today the museum has a curator, (yes, really!). He is, amongst other things, the curator of archaeology at the Spalding Gentlemen's Society Museum, but he has generously agreed to curate the Museum of Stories while Heartsfelled himself is busy elsewhere.  Together we are gathering and preparing story artifacts, not just for The Identity Stealer but for many of the other stories of which Heartsfelled is the custodian.

Working on this is fascinating and very pleasing ... as you will be able to see for yourselves when the film is released.

Here's a short video I made when I discovered the space where the magic will be made to happen .....

Here is a short video our Director of photography, Zak, made when he discovered Ayscoughfee ...!

Meet Team Gant

Imagine my absolute delight and the big grin on my face when I asked my friend and wonderful orator Nigel Gant to be the character Heartsfelled for my film production, and he said; "Oh, I studied and learned to speak Anglo-Saxon English a few years ago!"  Like everything else related to this project, Nigel is just the right person, at the right time, n the right place.  Alongside Nigel, I get to work with his delectable wife, my very good friend, Julia.  Julia is a musician, a re-enactor, a historian, a textiles historian, costumier and a food historian to boot.  Between them, Team Gant truly are the icing on my cake:

Meet Team Gant:

Here's Julia

Visit her wonderful site here to learn more about how 4and20 Blackbirds specialize in Medieval, Tudor, Elizabethan, Georgian, Victorian and Edwardian food preparation and presentation outdoors or indoors. They bring historic food displays and demonstrations to heritage sites, living history events, museums and stately homes.

And, here's Nigel

Nigel is a natural raconteur, storyteller, orator, actor and re-enactor.  He is a bundle of fun, and because he reads well and widely, full of interesting knowledge.

Meet Team Holland!

It came to my mind in December 2017 that I'd really like to revive my four-part poetic saga of The Identity Stealer. Of course, the book will be re-published and illustrated (I am an artist, illustrator and portrait painter).   But I wanted more than that,  I decided that wanted to make the film of the book!
So, enter Team Holland . . . I couldn't have had better support and more energetic contributions -
Team Holland are making the making of my film not just possible but downright good fun!

Meet Pete, Zak and Tina Holland:

Their motto is "Live life to the full" and they most certainly do that.

All three are seasoned special action actors, playing film roles individually and together.

All three are specialist weapons experts, rock climbers and historians.

Zak is also a very fine gymnast and is currently earning high grades at university, putting the formal edge on his studies and becoming an unsurpassable filmmaker.  Zak's production company, Zak Wylde Productions, offers directors, cinematography, state of the art editing, voice-over and voice action work plus, of course, the whole package including the three very experienced actors.

Here's Pete 

Pete is co-director, actor, and advisor on the Heartsfelled, The Identity Stealer film project:

He's also all these things:- 

Martial Arts Instructor with over 40 years Martial arts experience Style - TE-MA Traditional English Martial Arts - Weapons and Hand to Hand Grade - Master at Arms - In single sword, Sword and Dagger, Sword and Buckler, Quarterstaff, Cudgel, Great Stick, Hand to Hand Black Belt in Freestyle Karate Black sash in Kung Fu Also experienced in Taekwondo, Wing Chung, Kick Boxing, Cornish Wrestling, Bare Knuckle Fighting British Academy of Dramatic Combat qualified (Theatrical sword and unarmed combat) British Federation for Historical Swordplay UK Steel Backsword Champion 2008 and 2012 UK AOBC English Country Backswording Champion 2009 and 2012 ....

Visit Pete at - www.petebuzzsawholland.com/

Here's Tina (Pete's wife)

Tina is advisor and actor on the  Heartsfelled, Identity Stealer film project:

Tina can also do pretty much most of the things Pete can do. She is a specialist action actor, weapons woman, and martial arts artiste.  

And now meet Zak

Zak is co-director, Director of Photography advisor and actor on the  Heartsfelled, Identity Stealer film project:

Zak Holland is an Actor, an independent stunt performer, and has worked in many choreographed film fight sequences. He has worked on many productions throughout his time in the Film and TV industry such as (Justice League 2017), (The Halcyon 2017), (The Crown 2016) and has worked as a creature performer in films such as (The Girl with all the gifts 2016).

Zak is highly trained in armed combat (sword fighting) as he is four times UK Backswording champion 2014-2017. And is also heavily trained in other Martial arts such as Traditional Kung Fu and Kickboxing.

He is also a top-level Gymnast and has competed at National level in the men's pairs.

Zak has been acting from the age of 4 when he joined Stage Coach, which has led to many Stage performances. He now continues to play an active role in the Film and TV industry alongside his work in University studying Film and TV Production.

Welcome!

Hello!
Welcome to the Heartsfelled project.
This project started in the 2000s when I was a performance poet.  I really enjoy learning and playing with words and writing, so one day I decided to have a go at writing in one of our origin languages - Anglo-Saxon English.  That was the beginning of the Saga which is formed around my poem The Identity Stealer.
In this blog the team I am now working with, and I shall tell you all about the development of the full, written Saga, both in its form as a book and a film.
We hope you enjoy the adventures as much as we do.
Thanks
Patricia.