Heartsfelled is a storyteller, as old as time and as wise as any story.
This blog captures our adventure whilst filming "The Identity Stealer", an Anglo-Saxon Saga style story told by Heartsfelled with brilliant live action demon slaying and more .....
Follow our blog to see what we get up to!
The crew, Zak Wylde Productions, are getting the equipment ready;
the staff (that's me and Richard aka Brother Scuttle) are setting out the catering and comfort facilities; the artiste Heartsfelled (Nigel Gant) and his amanuensis (Julia) are preparing to fill the Museum of Stories with myth and magic ...
the next round of filming starts tomorrow and it's going to be fun.
Zak and a random Dalek check out new camera equipment.
Storyboards - the director and cinematographer create these and then either totally ignore them or use them as working guides to the shoot.
It is quite a thing to be the person that wrote the poetic saga which, years later, becomes realised in film form. There is a big helping of responsibility attached as I see this as an important (not at all irreplaceable but I would go so far as to say significant) step in the development of the very talented young Zak Wylde Holland's career. The director, makeup artists, costumiers, actors, and so-on all heave expectations. I may steer the ship alongside the Director from time-to-time, however, I am not to be lauded as anything more than a willing project assistant with a clear view on how things can be progressed. I am the writer and that is my raison d'etre. I look forward to the production with unbounded enthusiasm but the depth of my pleasure will be felt equally when the special edition book is released and I am holding it in my ink-stained hand!
On the matter of being a writer, I have been creating stories and poems since I was a very small child. I can recall back to when I was four or even younger, when I couldn't get to sleep (which seemed often in the way of my recall) my mother would say to me "Lie down, close your eyes, and tell yourself a story!" So I did. And I have been doing just that ever since. Songwriters and sometimes poets will tell you that if you can remember the words in the morning then it's a good piece, worth developing!
Of course the greater majority of what I have written in my adult, professional years has been textbooks and academic work. That's what happens when you go and get yourself a PhD (mine is Law and Business would you believe!) they expect you to research in-depth, write with great clarity and have a good, strong sense of purpose. Now that I have moved on and can fully indulge my passion for writing fiction I am finding that research habit very enriching.
Being a writer to the core also means that I am entrenched in the new book I am researching and creating as well as keeping a weather eye on my duties towards this wonderful Heartsfelled project. In time my role on this particular Heartsfelled film will melt away and I will sink down deep into the depths of being a writer once again. The fantasy fiction that I created in a previous life, under a different name was well received so, although I have no wish to revive that series or be that person again, I am very much enjoying the escape into my worlds and the people who come to me there. In the meantime, out here in the real world, sets are being built, choreography is being refined and all things are making excellent progress.
It's been a little while since my last post as I have been busy set-building and writing.
Whilst I've been busy doing that, the rest of the crew have been busy filming elsewhere as well as practising their martial arts skills and winning wonderful medals. Well done to all the Aisle O'Var Backsworders, Old Gamesters, and Team TE-MA Combat folks.
Yes, that's Zak Wylde Holland, our Director of Photography in the middle with some of his trophies and medals from this season. His radiant smile even more handsome in the sunshine at the Oyster Fayre.
And despite the bruises, oh yes, they have the bruises "the Kiss of The Ash" it is all done with an admirable spirit of sportsmanship, fair play and gentlemanly conduct. So proud to know them.
But, coming back to my main item for today, as I said I have been set building here in Lincolnshire along with my partner and Ghost from Times Past, Brother Scuttle (aka Richard Buck). As we have been building we've also been writing, Scuttle and I ... you see it wasn't until we stood inside the Museum of Stories that we realised what a mystical, magical place it really is. When you find your way there - and you have to remember to go through the "long forgotten door" with your heart and your mind open to the stories and the magic that lie beyond - when you find your way there you find that you are standing among a myriad of portals. Each portal leads to more than one other place where stories have been born and, if you know how, each story can be visited . . . But that's as much as I can tell you for now. I can sense Heartsfelled the Storyteller putting down the lap dogs and coming to put me in my place (gently of course) if I give away too much.
The film and the accompanying Special Edition Book will tell all, all in good time :)
One of our Ghosts from Times Past is just loving the opportunities to visit with us and have a look around . . . .
Hello again ghost watchers,
Richard had to return to his Dentist to have a rather large tooth removed, so had not the motivation to evoke my spirit from the depths... but here I am a wandering ghost, once again free from the Netherworld and able walk quietly amongst the living.
As you know the Priory was my home for many years and was a big feature on the landscape of Spalding. It was demolished well after my death... yet today, feeling melancholy and having a need to reunite myself with my former home, I am searching modern Spalding for traces of the former Priory.
From talking to Richard recently (in between bouts of toothache!) he was telling me what survives of our order's holy places in the area. Peterborough still has Abbey remains near the Cathedral, Crowland is still used as a Church and has recognisable remains from its time as an Abbey scattered 'round and about...
Even dear old Thorney has a few remnants left, used today as a fine Church. But alas Spalding's magnificent construction is ne'er to be seen evermore... Heartsfelled remembers it well, and the stories we both could tell... But look a little deeper and you shall find pieces...
As I wandered along Spalding high street I saw a strange looking building that drew memories long distant... It has been a forge and a bakery, a hostelry and a shop that sells those square things you modern people like to talk into... It is still known affectionately as 'The Prior's Oven' and I love it! From the oddly shaped exterior to the vaulted ceiling.
In my day it boasted another story and was used as a sort of prison for Monks not keen on moral behaviour... Brother David for example who couldn't keep his hands off the local girls of ill repute, and impregnated one of them! He was sorry after that I can tell you and Brother Ignatius who put his hand into the poor box...
There was a bell tower on that second level that, when tolling, told of imminent execution, usually some poor Saxon who had fallen foul of the Normans, who was hung from a gibbet in the Market Place. It sent a shiver along my ghostly spine just thinking about it I can tell you! Sadly the grand entrance no longer exists, but as you walk into the area known as 'The Crescent' it all began to feel very familiar...
I was excited to discover a row of houses at the back of what Richard describes 'his favourite charity bookshop'. It was not known if they were from the Priory or not, but I was sure they were what was left of the Monk's sleeping dorms...
Inside they had changed much but little hints still showed through the fabric... I was sure I had found the old block again!
As I travelled I saw little hints remaining in walls and in other buildings. Stone blocks that were recognisable from my time at the Priory.
I am settled again now. My beloved Priory still exists in some form or another and I am content to return to my domain happy...
If you're a film studies student or somebody who loves to understand what you see in the movies, then you'll be aware that even the most ordinary looking person on film has been made to look the way they do.
From the very earliest days of moviemaking, cosmetics artists have had to refine their skills to make movie makeup work. And the makeup artist is a true artist! They have to understand colour, light, shade and many aspects of photography.
For example, actors in silent films often had to wear very yellow makeup to compensate for the "orthochromatic" black and white film that was not able to capture anything red.
The first make-up range ever designed just for movies was launched in 1914, Max Factor's Supreme Greasepaint . . . you wouldn't want to name any cosmetic product anything-"grease" nowadays I guess!
1969 saw the longest ever single make-up application for a movie. For the "Illustrated Man" actor Rod Steiger had to be, well, illustrated! Applying those tattoos took a make-up artist and assistants 10 hours on the torso and another full day on the lower body, hands and legs! Personally, I cannot imagine being that patient.
On the other hand, where a film has many extras and special background actors, there needs to be a fast technique, you can't do everything by CGI. Frank Westmore had to make up several thousand extras each day for "The Ten Commandments" (1956). The spray-painting technique he developed to do the job quickly is still used.
Types of Makeup Artist:
Nowadays Hollywood's union regulations classify movie make-up artists based on the area of the actor's body being made up! A make-up artist is only allowed to apply cosmetics only from the top of the head to the top of the breastbone, from fingertips to wrists and from toes to ankles. On the other hand, a body make-up artist applies cosmetics as required to any other areas of the actor's body. While the regular make-up artist generally works throughout filming, the body make-up artist is hired per day when needed. The key make-up artist, or make-up designer, is the person in charge of the make-up department for a movie. During pre-production, the designer reads the script and meets with the directorand screenwriterto discuss their needs and ideas for the film.
The key make-up artist also will work with the key hair designer, costume designer, set designer and director of lighting throughout the film. After that, the key make-up artist researches and determines how to design the make-up and special make-up effects for the film.
GoT actress, Natalia Tena (property rights Game of Thrones / HBO)
Sometimes the MUA just has to prevent an actor or actress' features from bleaching out under the lights, sometimes enhance their beauty and sometimes, well, to switch off the beauty and dirty them up!
Often complex effects or prosthetics are handled by a special effects department or a consultant company. The key make-up artist also brings together additional make-up artists for the film, sets their work schedule and supervises them during production. She or he then has to check everybody's work, make sure the make-up applied matches the agreed style, and that continuity is maintained every day during shooting.
In addition, the key make-up artist develops and stays within a budget. Once prosthetics, hairpieces and other make-up elements are finalized, they all must be inventoried and stored when they are not in use.
Where there is a big team the key makeup artist might have a senior makeup artist under them who has responsibility for continuity as well as ordinary makeup artists and assistant makeup artists.
It's a long but creative day, finding solutions to make the 'look' and make that look work on screen. Putting it all on the actors from extremely early in the morning and then taking it all off again after the end of the working day. Annual earnings for makeup artists seem to start at around £14,500 per annum and can rise, over time and experience, to anything around £62,000 per year. A practised eye, skilled hands, creativity, determination and a splash of luck are required to get into this field, so it's a good thing to have a focus of interest like our Key Makeup Artist, Nealy Horsfield who really aims to get into blood scars and injuries for tv!
Nealy is already superb at what she does, now that I know her I'm excited to watch her career blossom. Here she is talking to me on the day she agreed to join our team:
