Back From Cork

We had a great weekend in Cork. Film festivals are as much about meeting people as they are about watching films and the trick is to get the balance right. We mostly went to the shorts screenings - thats what Cork is best known for and does very well. A huge diversity of styles and genres are programmed. I particularly enjoyed two Irish films, The Chronoscope, and The Ballad of Kid Kanturk. Both well worth looking out for and both great fun.

The festival is well organised but always manages to feel relaxed, although I know the staff are working hard behind the scenes.

Cork is also looking great despite the dodgy weather. We had great food in the huge variety of restaurants from traditional Irish to Mexican to Healthy Bakeries. The people of Cork are happy to let us know that the city has been rated in the top 10 cities to visit in the world.

Dust Premiere - Cork International Film Festival

I'm delighted to be able to say that Dust has just received its World Premiere Screening as part of the Irish Shorts Competition at the Cork Film Festival. The screening was at the Opera House and was well received by its first public audience. There was a wonderful reaction from the crowd for Aine's scene. I think they felt the beauty of the moment.

So to everyone who worked on and supported this project, your work has finally found an audience and I hope that this will be the first of many outings for our creation.

Dust Scene On-line

If you would like to view a scene from Dust follow this link to Stephen's site.
http://www.stephen-murphy.com/dustV3.html

Festival Ongoing Situation.

Dust still hasn't received a bite in any festival so I've been arranging to add a caption at the start which firmly states that we're in 2007, in Dublin and the boom is about to end. I feel that I can explain this at a screening or a pitch and anyone who worked on it or read the script, knows the time and place. With a cold viewing, a festival selector isn't privy to this.

That's all I will do because I can't think of any significant edit decisions that we could re-visit.

Anyway, there are literally thousands of options in every corner of the globe to submit to and shorts are allowed a longer festival shelf-life than features.

We all did a great job making `Dust' and I remain proud as punch of it.

Waiting for answers

I've sent screeners to a number of festivals, and I hope we can get a good 1st festival a springboard to others. It's a slow process. The time from submission date to announcement varies from 1 month to as much as 3 so there may be a lull before there's any news.

That said, I have heard from a lot of people who weren't able to make the cast and crew screening so I may try to arrange a smaller screening during the summer. All depends on an available space and the usual logistics.

We're getting our heads down at 1i films to get our next project going. Still not sure what will go first. We need to create a recession proof plan and buck the trend.

I suppose that applies to everyone. Best a wins a business partner.

Cast and Crew Screning Last Sunday

What a turnout last Sunday for the Cast and Crew Screening of Dust. It was great to meet so many of you again and to welcome family and friends to view our work. The feedback was as positive as I could have hoped for and it seems the 12 minutes of Dust lead to a good hour of discussion and interpretation.

I owe a big thanks to everyone at Movies@Dundrum who provided us with excellent facilities, professionalism and a warm welcome.

This was my first time to see the film on such a big screen and with a real audience. We projected the HD Cam version which looks great and sounds great. I noticed details in certain frames that I never noticed in all the times I've seen the film in post and on TV screens, particularly on the drive through town.

I've started entering festivals, and will keep the blog posted as we make progress.

1ifilms documentary, Stolen Child, directed by Nial O'Sullivan, is screening at the Guth Gafa Documentary festival in Donegal on next Sunday 14th June. Hoping for good feedback.

I aim to be more active on the blog than of late.

Brendan.

Dust is finally DELIVERED

Hard to believe, with the shoot last September feeling like an age away, our film is finally delivered. After a short online session last Monday with Shayne Murphy in Windmill, we have a film on HDCam tape.

Stephen has authored a DVD master which has already been submitted to it's first film festival. Fingers crossed! We hope to get a reaction in the coming weeks and aim to submit for as many festivals as possible over the coming year.

Immediate plan is to arrange a cast and crew screening as soon as possible and I'll e-mail everyone about that as soon as I know where and when.

Thanks to everyone who helped make DUST possible. There's a lot of names on the credits, over 80 last count.

On The Last Run In

Finally we're mixing sound! Every stage of the process adds depth to the film. Even at this stage we have still made changes which help emphasis the story. We dropped a short line and improved the scene in the house. The combination of soundtrack music, effects and Foley effects fills the room. I am really looking forward to seeing and hearing this in a cinema.

So as soon as physically possible, we'll organise a Cast and Crew screening and let y'all see and hear for yourselves.

Sound is nearly there.

We're going to have a great sound track on this short.  We did well on set with getting clean dialogue so actors will be happy to hear, no ADR.  There is a piece of music my friend Pól has composed for the film and it works really well.  The sound track is being designed by Aza Hand at Ardmore Sound.  We will also have a Foley session and finally the re-recording mix, scheduled for Friday 20th.  

Instead of a physical cameo, don't forget to listen for the voices on the radio in Anthony's taxi.  Nial and I spent an hour trying to relive a radio show from during the boom years.  Anyway, don't panic.  The film and entertainment business usually survives the recession.  Fingers crossed.

Credits

I'm compiling the contents of the credits roller and I can't help but be humbled by the number of talented people who have given their time, effort and passion to this film.  The featured cast runs to 18 with 8 background players.  The production crew is 30 and I'm sure by the time the film is delivered, the post-production crew will have topped 12.  There are also a number of people who helped in various ways to make this all happen.  So to everyone who is a part of this film, I'm looking forward to seeing you all at the first screening, as soon as we can manage to arrange it.  Thanks.

So Close...

Since we locked picture the week before Christmas, we've moved on to final finishing.  The biggest issue now is sound, final colour grade and online.  Sound is up and running at Ardmore Sound, including Foley, sound design and a final Dolby mix.  The grade has been completed at Windmill and some graphics work has been booked in.

I saw the picture in full HD resolution during the grade and it was great to see it in all it's glory at last, having got used to viewing the low resolution versions during the off-line edit.  Stephen came over for the grade with Dave at Windmill.  We've pushed the sense of the accident /traffic jam happening late in the day which links in well with the drive home.  Here's a set still coloured to mimic what the grade looks like.

So if all goes well now, I hope to deliver the HD version of the film by mid February.  Striking the 35mm print will be a whole new adventure.