Independent film production company Dark Matter Films, based in Bewdley, has had a stunning viral YouTube success this week. Their 7-minute zombie comedy short film ‘Still’ has racked up over 120,000 views in the space of a single week. The film, written and directed by debut Midlands filmmaker Carl Timms, has been praised for its unique concept. Commenters are calling it a “masterpiece”, and the “most original idea I’ve seen for a zombie apocalypse movie”.

‘Still’ was filmed in Birmingham’s busy Jewellery Quarter and stars local actors Joe Capella, Rob Hall and James Rowell. It was funded entirely by crowdfunding and shot in just 2 days. Dark Matter Films pulled off a coup by enlisting Stourbridge-based special effects expert Stuart Conran, lead FX designer on cult zombie hit Shaun of the Dead, to create the effects. Featuring over 100 Midlands extras and crew the short film has already had a successful festival run screening at 25 festivals all over the world and winning 9 awards. It was also selected to be part of a horror anthology called Blood Clots on Amazon Prime. Life-long zombie fan Carl says of his success: “I knew the moment I had the idea for Still that this was an original approach to the mostly tired zombie genre. However I never expected it would take off like this, it’s been a lovely shock to see positive comments from all around the world”

This YouTube viral success follows news that Dark Matter Films’ follow up short Off Grid will have its London premiere on Friday 13th December as part of the five day Lift-Off London Film Festival. Off Grid screens on Friday 13 th at 8.30 PM. Off Grid is a dark short supernatural thriller starring A-list leads James Cosmo, CBE (His Dark Materials) and Alison Steadman, MBE (Gavin and Stacey). Cosmo and Steadman are joined in Off Grid by Marc Baylis (Coronation Street), Kate Davis-Speak (The Barge People) and local Birmingham actor Francis Quigley. The film recently had its premiere at the Birmingham Film Festival s Off Grid is the second short film Carl Timms and his first with writing partner Mark Brendan, who also co-produced the film.

Watch ‘Still’ here.

For more info on the film, contact Carl Timms (Director/Producer) at info@darkmatterfilms.co.uk or on 07779179796, or Mark Brendan (Writer/Producer) at mark.brendan.writer@gmail.com or on 07706909785.

ScreenSkills’ new-entrant placement programme will offer practical experience to the 2020/21 trainees on Trainee Finder.

Trainee Finder matches trainees with productions to offer them professional on-the-job experience. All placements are paid. The year-long programme includes training courses and industry masterclasses on topics such as set etiquette and health and safety to prepare successful candidates for working in the industry and to improve their employability.

Trainees have previously worked on a wide range of feature films, high-end TV and children’s TV shows, including Killing Eve, Peaky Blinders, Fleabag, Aladdin, Wonder Woman, Downton Abbey, Hetty Feather and Molly & Mack.

If you have less than 12 months of paid experience in film or TV, you can apply by 15 December for high-end television or film.

Apply for the High-End TV Trainee Finder

Apply for the Film Trainee Finder

For more information on Trainee Finder, click here.

Source: www.screenskills.com

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A brand new Channel 4 series “SuperShoppers” is on the lookout for families to join the show.  “SuperShoppers” families would ideally want advice on how to save money on everything from holidays to their household bills, from shopping for clothes to the food they eat. The show is also looking for families who do a lot of shopping online and want some money-saving tips and tricks.

If you want the clever tips and savvy shortcuts which will save your family cash, then call 0141 530 2333 ext. 260 or send an email to supershoppers@firecrestfilms.com with your name and contact details.

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Flatpack have been delving into the story of Birmingham in 1968, uncovering a host of different stories about art, activism and upheaval. These have been gathered into a beautiful new book, and you’re invited to join them for the launch of This Way To The Revolution at Ikon Gallery on Tuesday 10th December, from 6pm.

As well as a first chance to pick up the book itself, Asya Draganova (Birmingham City University) will host a discussion with a number of people who contributed memories and images to the book. Guests will include: Anne Durbin, who took part in the University of Birmingham occupation in late ’68; Rev David Collyer, who set up a biker coffee bar in a Digbeth church; and musician and artist Steve Ajao, who went on a school trip to Paris in May ’68. Steve and his band the Blues Giants will be playing a set in Yorks Cafe afterwards. The book is available to preorder via the Flatpack shop and will be on sale from 10 Dec at Ikon, Birmingham Museum & Art Gallery and Foyles in Grand Central.

This marks the close of a brilliant, jam-packed year for Flatpack. A few other things going on at the moment…

– They recently spent a week helping year 4 at St Bernadette’s school in Yardley set up their own cinema – heart-warming video evidence here;

– A group of young refugees set up their own film night with our support – see Paul Stringer’s writeup;

– Next month there are two Flatpack events as part of the BFI Musicals season; Easy To Love at Moseley Road Baths (6 Dec – complete with rubber rings and synchronised swimmers) and White Christmas at St Philips Cathedral (12 Dec). The former is sold out, and tickets for the latter are going fast;

– Upcoming, there will be regular monthly Colour Box screenings for families – winter 2020 events will be announced shortly.

– And then of course there’s the 14th Flatpack Festival, which takes over Birmingham from 5-10 May next year.

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Film Birmingham is open year-round for submissions to its ShortFuse film nights in 2020! West Midlands filmmakers have the chance to screen their short films at the Mockingbird Cinema and Kitchen to an audience of their peers and film enthusiasts.

ShortFuse is a bi-monthly event, aiming to engage with regional audiences and provide a platform for the work of emerging filmmakers. We are also proud to have premiered a number of regional films at our film night, and opened the floor to a number of award-winning filmmakers. We are accepting films of any genre from emerging or established filmmakers for our regional events in March, May, July, September and November.

Past ShortFuse Events

Past events at the Mockingbird Cinema showcased regional films, including the BAFTA-winning short 73 Cows, directed by Alex Lockwood, Sylvia, winner of the American Pavilion Emerging Filmmaker award at Cannes and award-winning Faith, by renowned stuntman Nick McKinless. Audience members are invited to participate in a Q&A with filmmakers following the screening and to network at a post-event mingle.

Filmmaker Adam Palmer, whose short film Answer was featured on ShortFuse’s opening night, said: “It’s great that ShortFuse offers a platform to showcase the work of filmmakers who sometimes get overlooked in the Midlands; it’s often London and elsewhere. There are some really great films screened as well. “If you have a short film, submit it. You get to watch it with an audience so you can gauge how your film is. A lot of the time you sit there one-on-one with your film. You don’t know how it’s going to be received so it’s good to be part of a community of filmmakers and film lovers.”

Attendee Lee Davis said: “When I saw the regional films, it made me feel like filmmaking is something I could do. I thought the range of the films was very varied, and it was good to hear from BAFTA-winners.”

To Submit

Please email shortfuse@filmbirmingham.co.uk with the following info:

• a completed ShortFuse – Film Submission Form
• a viewing/download link for your short film
• your film trailer, poster and stills as a link or attachments

All films must be under 30 minutes. If selected, you will then be asked to provide a hi-res version of your film.

Please email shortfuse@filmbirmingham.co.uk or call us at 0121 303 6089 for any further information.

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Filmmaker Nicholas Jones is passionate about Sir Frank Whittle, the Coventry inventor of the jet engine. And to mark the 90th anniversary of the invention of the jet engine, his commemorative film is being re-released, as well as being made available online for the first time.

In Nicholas’ film about Sir Frank – ‘Whittle – The Jet Pioneer’ – he filmed Sir Frank, who died in 1996, at length and his testimony forms the core of the film. The filmmaker has called for the Coventry inventor to be given the recognition he deserves as one of the greatest British engineers ever. He also believes Sir Frank is second only to Winston Churchill when it comes to the most influential Britons of the 20th century.

The film, which was made for the History Channel, sees Sir Frank tell his amazing life story in his own words, with some scenes filmed in Earlsdon.

In November 1929 a young Frank Whittle was a pilot officer in the RAF, training to be a flying instructor. He loved flying – but despaired of the noisy propeller/piston aircraft he flew. Because he felt there had to be a better way to fly, that drove him to think of a solution. He came up with the jet engine – an engine with a gas turbine to produce a propelling jet. Following this revelation he quickly applied for a patent to make it a reality.

Frank Whittle was very much a product of Coventry and its manufacturing DNA. He was born in the city in 1907 but his family were originally Lancastrians, who moved to Coventry in the late 19th century. His father Moses worked at Alfred Herbert Ltd – the giant tool factory in the city – and from a young age an inquisitive Frank was interested in materials and metallurgy.

“It is amazing how much his name strikes a chord in Coventry,” said Mr Jones, “ Frank Whittle not only patented and designed the first jet engine but also conceived supersonic flight and invented the turbo fan. The turbo fan is what really enabled us all to fly today. It was the first engine that was economical – to enable us to fly long distance.”

Nicholas’ interest in Frank Whittle and aircraft in general started as a boy.

“I was dragged around airfields by my father to look at aircraft,” he said. “I helped my father write a book and that is how we got to know Frank Whittle and got the chance to film him. My father said he was the last of the great British engineers. He said no one could film Brunel and George Stephenson but we could film Frank Whittle.”

‘Whittle – The Jet Pioneer’ is available to download or to order on DVD from Quanta Films here or by calling Quanta on 07435 973397.

Source: www.coventrytelegraph.net

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https://www.coventrytelegraph.net/news/coventry-news/film-celebrating-jet-engine-inventor-17251688

Crowds flee through the heart of Birmingham as alien spaceships hover overhead. And things take a turn for the worse as Independence Day hits the ICC, where crowds run screaming from the invaders. Colmore Row becomes a morbid field, the Balti Triangle a vicious scene. The Town Hall and Council House are the scene of a terrible pitched battle.

These astonishing scenes, involving no fewer than 900 extras, are part of a sci-fi epic filmed in Birmingham.

Set to hit the big screen on December 5, Birmingham is pretty much blitzed in ‘Invasion Planet Earth’, a movie 17 years in the making and starring city punk pop star Toyah Wilcox. The film was featured at popular city gathering MCM Comic Con and will be screened in cinemas next month. The film is, say its makers, “the ultimate war for Planet Earth”. After being plagued by Armageddon images, Brummies and buildings are picked off by a prowling alien craft.

For Nuneaton director and co-writer Simon Cox, the cinema release is the culmination of a very long struggle. He spent years pitching the concept to movie moguls before ditching the traditional methods of turning his script in to a reality. Seven years ago, he took the bold step of crowdfunding the film through social media. Originally titled Kaleidoscope Man, the delays didn’t end there. Once the action scenes were shot in Birmingham, the stunning special effects took another two-and-a-half years to complete. In all, the epic was in the development stage for a decade, and took another seven years to produce.

Birmingham is not the only local link. Based at Nuneaton’s Centenary Business Centre, Simon transformed his studio into an international space station. The outer space invaders also give Kenilworth a kicking in the movie.

Before ‘Invasion Planet Earth’

With 25 years experience under his belt, Simon has been involved in a number of award-winning documentaries and has directed supernatural thriller Written in Blood.

“I’ve wanted to make an epic sci-fi movie since I first saw the original Star Wars when I was 13,” he says. “I came up with the initial idea for Kaleidoscope Man back in 1999 after I’d finished my first feature Written in Blood in 1998. I had no idea it would take me nearly 20 years to make.

“Having worked in TV and film over the years, a lot of the people I’ve brought in were people I’d met along the way. I also found a few local people who have since joined the team. Our cameraman, Gordon Hickie, shot my first feature film and he now shoots Holby City, Casualty and The Inspector Lyndley Mysteries. I found the cast via acting agencies apart from Toyah, who I met at a film meeting a few years ago.”

He adds: “The main challenges have been financing the film. There isn’t really any real financial support for making independent movies in the UK at the moment, despite what you might hear about UK film industry, and especially now as the US film industry is spending multi-millions making their films here in the UK.”

Invasion Planet Earth opens in UK Cinemas from December 5. It is available on digital download from December 16 and DVD from December 30.

About ‘Invasion Planet Earth’

Here’s what the official movie blurb says: “After the death of his young daughter, Tom Dunn is a broken man. When his wife falls pregnant again, he cannot believe their luck. However, his joy is short lived, as on the very same day, the people of Earth become plagued with terrifying visions of the end of the world.

“When a gigantic, all-consuming alien mothership appears in the sky and launches a ruthless attack on Earth’s cities, chaos and destruction follow. Tom must find the strength and wisdom to save his wife and unborn child. However, first he must confront a shocking truth. A truth which threatens the key to the survival of the human race. The ultimate war for Planet Earth is about to begin…”

Birmingham – the film set

Birmingham has been a popular, if unlikely, recent setting for the film industry.

• Steven Spielberg’s Ready Player One, released in 2016, featured scenes shot in Digbeth’s Jewellery Quarter and Spaghetti Junction. The Hollywood great turned the areas into a dystopian future world.
• In 2015, car chase scenes were filmed for Kingsman: The Golden Circle, with much of Cornwall Street blocked off for more than a week.
• That same year, zombie film The Girl With All The Gifts was shot in the city centre with office workers and shoppers getting a glimpse of Bond girl Gemma Arterton and Hollywood superstar Glenn Close.

Source: www.birminghammail.co.uk

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As a supermarket shelf-stacker, Tayyib Mahmood used to have a licence to fill. Now the 23-year-old has a licence to kill after landing a dream role on the latest James Bond blockbuster, No Time To Die.

Tayyib, an employee at Asda in Perry Barr, has spent four months working as a studio unit trainee on the Daniel Craig blockbuster, due to be released next April. Not surprisingly, staff were more shaken than stirred by news that their workmate had landed the 007 job. His parents simply didn’t believe him. Tayyib, until this summer, a film production technology student at Birmingham City University, admits: “It was the best experience I ever had.

“Everyone on set was friendly and lovely. The first day on set was just insane – I kept on thinking ‘I’m working on the James Bond film!’ The days were long … 10 hours, 12 hours minimum. But every day something new happened, you never got bored, nothing ever stayed the same. But underneath that, it was like clockwork – everyone had their own mechanism and pulled their own weight.”

Tayyib, from Sparkhill, gained the placement through the British Film Institute’s Future Skills initiative, a scheme that helps the next generation of moviemakers ease into the industry.

No Time To Die features scenes shot in Jamaica and Italy, but Tayyib didn’t get to savour the exotic locations. He was based at Pinewood Studios.

“Initially, I didn’t tell Asda,” confesses Tayyib, “I just said I was working on a film. I just said it was a placement and took a leave of absence. My family didn’t believe me at first.”

Journey to James Bond

Tayyib was bitten by the film bug while watching 1991 Schwarzenegger classic Terminator 2: Judgement Day. He has also been heavily influenced by cult British horror comedy classic Shaun of the Dead.

Since the age of 17, he has made a number of short films, all funded by his Asda wages. The most recent, confusingly titled Untitled, is a cop comedy. He has worked with influential Birmingham filmakers Sheikh Shahnawaz, Nisaro Karim and Gurjant Singh, and dreams of making his own big screen blockbuster.

“My favourite genre has to be horror,” says Tayyib, “I’m a massive horror fan. I’ve always been fascinated by people’s stories and everyone has a story to tell. Telling a story through a moving image is the best way to do it. Asian film-makers are not well known in the industry, but they are up and coming. Ethnic minorities have a lot of stories to tell.

“We have so many films about romance and meeting someone, but our films are hard-hitting – youngsters deprived of the opportunity to get far in life, crime…”

Tayyib’s studies at Birmingham City University held him in good stead for the James Bond test.

“Studies were very challenging when I began my degree,” he admits, “although I soon realised it was a natural thing to experience when starting a course. I overcame my apprehension by just getting my head down and cracking on. The skills I learned on my course were critical to me landing the job on Bond.

“I have accomplished what a lot of people would kill for, working on a Hollywood blockbuster film straight out of university. But I know that others can earn similar accomplishments through their hard work and commitment. Birmingham is such a close nit community – everyone in the industry knows everyone else in the industry, so it is not hard to find an actor.”

Tayyib has a message to those who yearn to get behind the camera: “No matter what idea you have, if you have a story to tell, then tell it. There is always a story to be told.”

Source: www.birminghammail.co.uk

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