I shot the stills for Adam Deacon’s directorial debut, Anuvahood at the end of summer last year (2010) and they’ve just flipped the switch on their website – visit it here – which is packed with video and photos to keep your bad man satisfied till da real ting hits da streets on March 18th.
Ahem.
I had a great time on this job – as well as co-directing with Daniel Toland, Adam wrote the script with co-star Michael Vu and obviously cared a hell of a lot about how it all turned out, throwing himself into both the acting and directing on set with untiring passion and enthusiasm. From my point of view as the stills guy, the set was generally a really fun place to be, lots of laughs, dancing and random spontaneous singing and rapping, as well as several scenes with the real life residents of the North London estate we used crowding round to cheer on a pretty big bust-up…
I have to say I genuinely missed the whole cast and crew once filming wrapped. In the meantime, here’s the official trailer and a selection of the official promo photos, taken by yours truly.
In Summer 2009 I was asked to go along and shoot some stills on the set of a short film called Collectables, written and directed by Jacob Proctor. I’d worked with Jacob before, on his previous short, Mother Time so I knew several of the crew already, particularly Trevor Speed, the director of photography. It’s always nice to see a few friendly faces when you arrive on a new set. The film is complete now and Jacob is entering it festivals and competitions so I thought it would be a good time to share some of my favourite shots and drum up a little publicity for it.
The story concerns a man who works on a railway line keeping it free of litter and obstructions. Every day he walks the route collecting what others discard and keeping the choicest pieces for himself, which he tags and displays in his little brick shack next to the tracks. One day he discovers a rolled up carpet, inside which he makes an unusual discovery…
Starring Christopher Adamson (Pirates of the Carribean) and Amrita Acharia (soon to be seen in HBO’s Game of Thrones), my one day on set was a pleasure to photograph. The art departments had done a fantastic job dressing the shack with various bits of junk he’d collected over the years, each one individually tagged by hand. And we were in a real brick building, by a real line that was out of use at the time. And as you can see, very photogenic actors.
If and when the film makes it online, I’ll link to it here. For now, enjoy these shots.
Not Alone writer & director, Tristan VersluisI first met Tristan Versluis (pictured left) about 2 years ago when I answered a crew-call ad placed in Shooting People for a focus puller. Obviously I’m no focus puller, but I’d been bitten by the unit stills bug doing a few freebies on shorts for friends of friends and was looking for something new to shoot. The ad in question had been placed by Stuart White, the director of photography on Tristan’s short Pixel (2007), and I replied to ask if they needed any production stills on the same expenses-only basis that most short film crews agree to. They did, I signed up, and I ended up shooting not only the production shots but also all the effect and texture reference shots for the CG artists.
Since then Tristan has completed two other shorts, I Love You (2008) and Questions (2009), the former of which I was able to work on as well. If there’s one thing in common with all of these, it’s Tristan’s preferred flavour of gruesome prosthetics effects, unsurprising considering his career as a prosthetics designer on the likes of Hot Fuzz (2007), Sweeney Todd (2007) and Prince Caspian (2008). He’s earned himself the affectionate nickname “Doctor Versluis” amongst friends and actors because of his gentle, methodical ‘bedside manner’ working with actors during the long and tiring process of applying the prosthetics, and he brings the same calming focus to the directorial chair, making it a pleasure to work with him.
For his first feature (self-written, like his shorts) he’s teamed up with Andy Thompson from Dead On Arrival Digital in the producing chair, the writer and director behind The Scar Crow. He’s also made sure to bring along practically all the key crew from his shorts, including Stuart White as Director of Photography, Melanie Light as Production Designer, Tiernan Hanby as 1st AD and Trevor Speed pulling focus, so it felt more like a reunion than a weekend of work.
The movie is called Not Alone and while you can get the full sell on their official website, the story basically follows a troubled young woman (Lucy Benjamin) in 1958 America seeking an escape from haunting memories of a gruesome massacre, and finding completely the opposite at an old cabin out by the coast. Needless to say, it doesn’t go at all well and there’s a lot of blood.
Reading the script I had to wonder if Tristan was deliberately making his life difficult shooting in the UK to recreate 1950’s West Coast USA but on arriving at the location (left) I was extremely impressed with the set. They’ve managed to find and secure an absolutely perfect existing cabin on the Norfolk coast, eerily isolated among windswept fields just yards from a ragged coastline, as well as a pair of beautiful genuine 1950s American vehicles, a Dodge and a Chevrolet, which absolutely sell the setting. Mel Light told me that in just the first few days it was already one of the best-looking productions she’d worked on and peeking at the monitor during takes I’m very excited about seeing the finished film.
