Director Mark AC Brown and actor David Whitney talk about how they made their new indie film Guardians.
We also chat about how Mark made a film for his degree but it was a great experiment and not to be seen again. How he wrote a feature script for Nu Image but the 'Expendables' ruined it and how it is best to write something to make yourself for free or on a micro budget with what you have available to you.
How when making an indie film, continuity is not as important as the story. How the establishing scene of a character is so important. But don’t waste time on drone shots. Then get the most amount of permissions you can get. And if not shoot anyway.
Suzanne Smith - their DoP was a runner on a Brainehound short and worked her way up. Made short film Beard with David and Mark and proved herself as a brilliant DoP and How having great all rounders like Fred Fournier and Joe Starrs as editor and 1st AD respectively is vital as is keeping your ‘team’ from your shorts/music videos and bringing them with you.
With low budget movies you have to juggle and workaround peoples schedules and how 'Withnails' - Richard E Grant's marvelous book was an inspiration (as was The Wah Wah Diaries)
When you are supposed to be doing he scene in 4 shots but end up doing it in one due to time constraints but it’s one of the best moments in the film so it's not always best to stick to your shot lists.
Why post can take so long when you are asking for favours on a micro budget film.
How they learned from other filmmakers on how they distributed their films - Ben Cookson, Fizz and Ginger's Two Down and James Rumsey's Drunk on Love.
Mark wanted to have a cinema run so chose Our Screen to have a theatrical release. Then the release got extended as it sold out for the second night.
And how they opened a festival in a double bill with recent horror film IT.
Links:
The Film: www.guardiansfilm.co.uk/
Trailer: www.youtube.com/watch?v=pq25LXWmsps&t=10s
Twitter twitter.com/guardiansbhf
Facebook www.facebook.com/guardiansfilm/
Mark AC Brown www.markacbrown.com/ Twitter : twitter.com/Brainehowndfilm
David Whitney www.davidwhitney.org/ Twitter: twitter.com/DWhitney
Follow us
www.TheFilmmakersPodcast.com T: @filmmakerspod
Giles Alderson www.directedbygiles T: @gilesalderson
Recorded at Just Voices Studios in London