Establishing sequence, soundtrack . . .

I have not been into a sound studio for such a long time.  Luckily for the engineer, I didn't burst into song as soon as I stood in front of the microphone!  But - yeay - we have a voice-over track ready to be spliced to the opening sequences and our film is making progress in a very positive way.

      My excursion was very exciting.  I drove out into the open countryside on a perfect, sunshine day.  The scenery resolved from the rural to the just plain 'wild', and so wide open John Ford could have made a feature out there! So I trundled along, wondering what the session would be like.

     My visit to the studio couldn't have been sweeter and I can only thank award-winning producer, performer, multi-instrumentalist and audio/visual technician Carl Frearson of Solo Recording Studios for making it so easy.  Carl and I have never met before, but he could not have made me feel more welcome.  Apart from the mysterious ringing drums (!) we didn't have a hitch and the session was over all too soon.  I look forward to going back there with Heartsfelled himself in the future.

    As it's an introductory sequence there really are no secrets.  I hope the effect will be to leave you feeling like you want to know and see more. So, you can visit the "under development" website click through the slides and listen to the track here.

Enjoy

The quiet before the storm!

Well, I went on a trip to visit family in Cornwall.  Pete, Zak and Tina went off to be filmed, make films and compete in some pretty awe inspiring swords play contests and Julia is occupied with her puppies .... everybody from the opening sequences shoot has m elted away for a while.

But now I'm back in my studio and I have new costumes to get ready.  To be more precise I now need to model the masks for the three demons,

• the Silken Tretraw, This is a a wolf demon that dries up the land and prevents crop growth) ;  
• the Thirsty Higghorþ (​pronounced High-hoarth), this is a golden wild-boar demon which makes its living by drinking all the oxygen and goodness from the air as in an extreme heat wave when the air and the earth are dry and barren ); and 
• the Miserable Maghmaugh [​pron: maw-maw] this is a dwimor or ghost but also based on a wild stag (hjort)  which dries out all the water and sacred wells.

Designing and creating these has been an ongoing project - now it's time to bring them to completion and, well, release my inner demons!!
Of course when I'm ready I'll let you have a quick look.
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In the mean-time don't forget you can support us by getting yourself  a copy of the saga poem upon which this film is based here.

The costumes - they speak for themselves

Julia Gant surpassed herself - the costume changes ran lik clockwork all day and the costumes, many of which she made herself, were beyond superlstive.

The introductory sequence for our film, Heartsfelled tells The Identity Stealer, is designed to establish the notion of our storyteller, Heartsfelled.  It tells us about the magic of the eternal human trait of stroytelling and points out that if we look, and listen .... we can see the ghosts of times past and hear their stories.  

Our location, Ayscoughfee Hall, has existed since 1450 so there have been many, many generations of people there - our ghosts of times past  reresent those people but also lead us to the special doorway to the Museum of Stories and Heartsfelled himself .... 

I cannot express in words the beauty of these costumes.  Enjoy the smiles and special moments shown:

The Ghosts of Times Past -

Brother Scut

Heartsfelled: Day One - What a Film Crew!

It really was the very best day's filming for Heartsfelled.

Zak Holland and Patricia Buck working on the design of a shot.

There's a great deal to be said for good preparation.  In our case this meant that Pete Buzzsaw Holland (Director) and Zak Holland (Director of Photography) of Zak Wylde Productions  came and met me  on location at Ayscoughfee five days before the shoot.   
Consummate professionals that they are, they spend a careful, patient day walking through the shots, identifying potential issues and preparing for what was to come.  It was fun - but more importantly it meant that the big day, the real shoot, was both fun and fantastically well executed.
The locals were highly entertained as we paced out, sometimes acting out the sequences to see how they would go.  We walked all around Ayscoughfee's gardens talking about 'ghosts' here and supernatural people there!  Highly imaginative but possibly a quite amusing to the people who did not know what we were doing.

Then came the big day - Day One on location:

Pete and Zak take a well earned break - Zak is dreaming of chips!

Pete is one of the most patient, clear and calming directors I've ever watched.  Although most of my prior experience is with live events - I have been present on quite a few tv and film shoots in the past and am just knocked out with how smoothly this day went.  

The sun shone all day!

I've come to learn that clear sunshine sky does not simply mean that we had a nice sunny day together - it means that we had good, strong, consistent light with no cloud to vary the light levels and not even little drifts to cast annoying shadows!

Patricia observes as Zak lines up and frames his next sequence

As for Zak - cinematography is an art and Zak has a true artist's eye.  His signature shots, the framing, depth and composition and his understanding of how to bring a flat script to life all come together to mean that this film is already a product I am deeply proud of.  The Heartsfelled project has demands of its own, being fantasy, myth ridden and a little fantastical - it needs a particular set of skills to make it work.

Now we can't forget to mention Tina Holland - she is the organisational glue that holds this team together.  Heartsfelled could not be in better hands.  Here we see her and Zak in the quiet Crew Room at Ayscoughfee . . . . once again it's all about the careful preparation.  No chips in here Zak!!

Quiet crew room - no chips in here Zak!