*FILM* The Paper Round

[fattaxi]

Hey Folks!

The latest film I acted in is now on ye olde Youtube, its called 'The Paper Round' and revolves around 4 differnet storys that are all linked via a paper boy.

The film is written and directed by Martin Warrilow who directed "Out Of Date" and "The Understudy" which are films I've previously posted on here. The film is also based loosely on the directors own experinces as a paper boy. The film is produced by Blackout Films which I'm sure the majoritie of you have already had Myspace requests from them. It should also be noted that all the music (bar the ringtones) is performed by Blackout Productions.

The role I play is of Gavin who is a bit chavvy and is a jobseeker along with his friend Jason. I appear in the third section of the film.

I hope you enjoy the film, we have had an excellent response so far and look forward to your much valued opinons, both on the film and my acting. Any comments for the director feel free to ask them here and I'll pass them on or comment on the youtube page.

Cheers guys and gals and enjoy the film:

[jill]

Really nice little film Fattaxi. I wondered at first why the paper boy wasn't in shot more-riding by in some of the scenes perhaps (unless I missed something), but it came together in the end. From the close up shot, I'd say you're not a smoker , but your acting was good-very natural and believable.

[fattaxi]

Thanks Jill.

You're correct I am not a smoker... I cannae stand the stuff! So yes very reluctant smoking. Thanks for the kind comments regarding my acting.

Simon
x

[Dazza]

I really enjoyed that Si. When I saw it was 23 minutes I was a little dubious to sit and watch it but I'm glad I did. It was all really well written and the photography was brilliant. Some of those shots were the best I have seen in short films. What camera was it shot on and how did the guys manage like the long high moving out shots???Great stuff.

[RydCook]

was gonna post this as a comment on youtube, but its a max of 500 characters! Grr:

Hello, just watched it through. Surprised to find out it was 23 mins long after watching! Didn't feel that long, which is a good thing, it kept me interested you see.

I used to be a paper boy, the dog bit was spot on! I loved the link at the end between the beryl and Carl, I think it could hasve been a bit more moving though, maybe a close up of beryl's happy face? Reminded me of the end of About Schmidt if you've seen it?

The acting was mostly very good, the chemistry between the Gavin and Jason characters was great.

Some minor criticisms, over all the camera work was great particularly framing, and the movement was very welldone, although to be honest i thought there was too much movement, it seemed the camera was moving just because you could do it, rather then any meaning for it. Also i felt there could have been more close ups, for example the bit where Carl gets his gift through the letterbox, i didn't have a clue what it was?! Or maybe i wasn't meant to know? Still i definately think there should have been more close ups. The framing of all shots was excellent.

I loved the bit in the lift, where he was looking at Page 3 ha ha, superb. Thought it was odd how in the next scene he was coming up stairs? I also thought the homeless guy coulda come back at the end maybe? Maybe bring back the kid's bike? seemed odd how he was left out of the end, when all the other characters were included. I know he went to the police station, but to be fair theres no reason he could have got out, he didn't do anything wrong after all.

Anyway, overall, i loved it, very good film, kept me interested and laughing, and i felt for the characters (although i would have liked to felt for them more) so welldone, it's excellent

[blackout]

hey slime (si), its tom i just wanted to read the feedback

the length of the film may not appeal to everyone, yet we felt that beucase it is 4 seperate stories it would work, also we spent some time researching other short films such as wasp which had (we hope) a similar style and length


it was shot with a DVX100 on minidv for the mostpart with few shots from a dsr250.

we had to use two cameras because one was purely for footage and the other for sound. This was because with the other equipment that we used, it would have restricted the DVX100 camera movement if we had xlr's coming out of both inputs.

We used a track and jib combined for most shots

keep the questions and comments coming!

cheers

Tom & Blackout

[RydCook]

Hey, i've sent a friend request to your myspace. One from "RyD" who is me. and one from "Caughtincrossfire productions" which is my production group myspace. Loved the film.

[blackout]

ryd22 said:

was gonna post this as a comment on youtube, but its a max of 500 characters! Grr:

Hello, just watched it through. Surprised to find out it was 23 mins long after watching! Didn't feel that long, which is a good thing, it kept me interested you see.

I used to be a paper boy, the dog bit was spot on! I loved the link at the end between the beryl and Carl, I think it could hasve been a bit more moving though, maybe a close up of beryl's happy face? Reminded me of the end of About Schmidt if you've seen it?

The acting was mostly very good, the chemistry between the Gavin and Jason characters was great.

Some minor criticisms, over all the camera work was great particularly framing, and the movement was very welldone, although to be honest i thought there was too much movement, it seemed the camera was moving just because you could do it, rather then any meaning for it. Also i felt there could have been more close ups, for example the bit where Carl gets his gift through the letterbox, i didn't have a clue what it was?! Or maybe i wasn't meant to know? Still i definately think there should have been more close ups. The framing of all shots was excellent.

I loved the bit in the lift, where he was looking at Page 3 ha ha, superb. Thought it was odd how in the next scene he was coming up stairs? I also thought the homeless guy coulda come back at the end maybe? Maybe bring back the kid's bike? seemed odd how he was left out of the end, when all the other characters were included. I know he went to the police station, but to be fair theres no reason he could have got out, he didn't do anything wrong after all.

Anyway, overall, i loved it, very good film, kept me interested and laughing, and i felt for the characters (although i would have liked to felt for them more) so welldone, it's excellent

Hey thanks for watching, we had planned to get more close ups and also some static shots of carl biking past the camera which would have balanced out the movement with static - unfortunately the actor becamse ill and the deadline for the film was looming so we had to make the decision of editing a final version with what shots we had. The group worked on a small budget as it was entirely funded by ourselves but we all worked long hours to produce the film in the hope that it would gain attention so if anyone can suggest places where it should be uploaded or film festivals then please provide info

cheers folks

[Dazza]

Try 5Lamps on myspace they screen films in Derby each week and screened one of mine there the other month. Check out www.myspace.com/fivelampsfilms and have a look.

[GADGE!]

REALLY GOOD FILM BEAUTIFULLY SHOT SOME GREAT ANGLES AND GREAT ACTING ALL ROUND!
GADGE!

[fattaxi]

Cheers guys for all your comments. Hi Tom at Blackout too glad to see you've joined the boards.

I hope I get this right and maybe you can correct me Tom but one of the reasons for constant movement is that Martin the director, who is a very close (but not gay) friend of mine is very much inspired by Junet and Gondry. When you watch a film such as Ameile the camera always seems to be in constant movement, and its those lovely epic crane shots that Martin was aspiring to produce. Also Martin wanted to get across the a feeling that the film is real life, so some of the more documentry shots I think get this across.

Ryd, you commented on how you would have liked Phill the homeless guy to come back and save the day. But once again Martin was going for that real feel, and unfortuantly life isn't always happy endings, perhaps if Phill had been there it would never have happened, but alas... its the sliding doors theory, Phill the hypothetical protector of the bridge had to be moved on for helping someone out. I think If I remember correctly that there was a section where the police had explained to Phill what the young lad told them and he had majorly exajorated the story, and claimed that Phil was threatening to kill them or something.

Also Ryd I'm glad you mentioned the dog scene.... heres a little bit of trivia for you.... I was the dog.

Mesach Harris who played the role of Jason may appear familar to some of you. He's a supporting actor in such films as Batman Begins, Children Of Men, The Bourne Supremecy, Sahara and Breaking and Entering... He's also a member of the band Ivory.

Thanks to all you guys for watching, and keep the comments and questions coming if you need to know more.

Si
xxx

[Dave]

I really liked it.

I kind of agree with Ryd about the camera movement. The first time the camera rose up from street level to look down on the two kids I really liked it. A few of the other similar shots did feel like they were being done because you had the capability to do them rather than to be part of the storytelling. I'm not saying they didn't work, they all worked. It's hard to explain what we mean I guess.

*SPOILERS*
I can't believe no one has mentioned the Kersal Massive ring-tone! Wake-up people! haha. I do hope that is your real ringtone too Mr Taxi!

As for the end... I think I too was hoping for a happier end. The film seemed to save the biggest downer til last.
I was kind of expecting it to be a stupid scam at the end. One steals the bike, one rushes off to get it back... gets it back so kid is in your debt. Perhaps to get the kid to do something ridiculous like steal a lighter from the newsagent. That could have been another tied up thread and story connection after all the lighter troubles! haha

Mr Taxi, you definitely seem too nice to completely nail the chav! haha You were good though, don't get me wrong. I really liked the very natural reaction when the other guy is trying to grab your pockets in the hunt for cigarettes and you say "get off dickhead".

I always think that dialogue will work better if you have more unnecessary banter going on before and after the lines you want to convey clearly. Like the bit at the beginning where the girl says something along the lines of: "I don't know why you want this job... it's shit". Because it was entirely on it's own, it sounds more like a line of a script than natural dialogue. Probably not the best example because I sense that there was supposed to be an icy distance between the disgruntled girl and the optimistic new boy.

[blackout]

heres the dvd cover

what you think?

[blackout]

fattaxi said:

Cheers guys for all your comments. Hi Tom at Blackout too glad to see you've joined the boards.

I hope I get this right and maybe you can correct me Tom but one of the reasons for constant movement is that Martin the director, who is a very close (but not gay) friend of mine is very much inspired by Junet and Gondry. When you watch a film such as Ameile the camera always seems to be in constant movement, and its those lovely epic crane shots that Martin was aspiring to produce. Also Martin wanted to get across the a feeling that the film is real life, so some of the more documentry shots I think get this across.

Ryd, you commented on how you would have liked Phill the homeless guy to come back and save the day. But once again Martin was going for that real feel, and unfortuantly life isn't always happy endings, perhaps if Phill had been there it would never have happened, but alas... its the sliding doors theory, Phill the hypothetical protector of the bridge had to be moved on for helping someone out. I think If I remember correctly that there was a section where the police had explained to Phill what the young lad told them and he had majorly exajorated the story, and claimed that Phil was threatening to kill them or something.

Also Ryd I'm glad you mentioned the dog scene.... heres a little bit of trivia for you.... I was the dog.

Mesach Harris who played the role of Jason may appear familar to some of you. He's a supporting actor in such films as Batman Begins, Children Of Men, The Bourne Supremecy, Sahara and Breaking and Entering... He's also a member of the band Ivory.

Thanks to all you guys for watching, and keep the comments and questions coming if you need to know more.

Si
xxx

hey slime,

mart said he will reply later.

i have watched the film through critically and to those who questioned the camera movement - in past films that i have made i have had people sayin that there is more camera movement needed. i feel we have used what was necessary for this film, there are many shots where the use of camera movement could have been employed such as the scenes where the dogs barked.

also it was the paper girls last day - carl was taking her job - she didnt care - didnt want to be there - didnt want to know carl - didnt want to show him around - this is why the dialogue between the two is minimal

and the kerzal reference was becuase the crews catch phrase throughout the productions was "dont fuck about" - trivia

thanks for your comments keep them coming and keep watching !!

Mr Tom

[fattaxi]

Dave it was you who introduced me to the Kersal Massive!