A FEW WORDS...

"I'm a Derek...and Derek's Dont Run"

The poignant word from a young whipper-snapper named Peter Jackson from his gory, sci-fi opus "Bad Taste".

Those words have now been gloriously stolen to self-promote a little venture production alias for many Short Films and Music Videos I will embark on from now a
nd into the future.

Feel free to join me........... Google+ Subscribe to me on YouTube

Sunday, 19 May 2013

Cushion for the Pushin'

Easy now, rude-boys (and girls).

The weather seems to be about as reliable as George Michael behind the wheel of a vehicle in old Blighty. Cracking sun one minute, drizzle of rain the next as though mother nature decided to spit down from the sky like a piss-head after too many Lambrini's.

Away from the bantrix and attempts at "wit", here's a few updates for your consideration and interest if you are that way inclined.

First up - Festival bashing. As you know I've been hitting the short ANOTHER FILM IN THE WOODS to a few festivals. The hitting is still ongoing and the wait for responses will still take its time. I'm sure there will be some hits and misses (more likely misses) but at least I'm trying.

Anyway, there is an online festival that its currently doing the rounds on here at the Shorts Non Stop Online Festival. Please feel free to vote on it, it would put a big old smile on my face and hopefully push it on further. The last winner had around 30 odd votes but I believe the judgement isn't around the votes. But either way, vote and pass it on for others to vote and give it a push online via Twitter or Bookface.

Next up - As that is a work in progress, what came and went last month for the Kino Shorts Experimental Short and Music Video night. A read of which you can find HERE. Below you'll see a excerpt of the interview QnA that took place last night with Jason Wingard. A top bloke who cleared house at the Virgin Media Shorts competition in 2011. A few chuckles and personally speaking I don't come across as a complete arsehole. A whinging arsehole, maybe, but not a complete one. Enjoy.

 

 More updates will get spat at cha'yall soon.

 See ya on the flip side. Danny.

Monday, 22 April 2013

-MERRIN- Screening

What a busy week. Always a good thing as it generally improves the monotony of the week, but as it drains the life out of you I've been taking shares out of Red Bull and Maxwell House.

My last blog I told you that there's was a screening of the music video Henry Kane -MERRIN- at the Black
Lion in Manchester on Wednesday

.

"Cut to the chase you blub, how did it go?" Well...Where were you? Just joking. In answer to the question, it went well. But it's an odd thing to gauge

It was only a small turn out, about 30 at a push in a upstairs screening room above a nice boozer not too far from Piccadilly station. There was some great music video's and experimental pieces that were shown throughout the night with most of the filmmakers there who took part in a Q and A after each screening.

As with most of these screenings I generally turn up to, something odd happens when I bump into someone I know or at least have working/know someone who has worked with them. In this case it was a director called Lee Bolton who runs Elerby Studios in Bolton. He had directed a music video for the band Blackheart who are, surprisingly enough, close friends of my wife's family and are currently on tour in Europe. Anyway, it was a good to break the ice so to speak, especially when I was flying solo with the worry that my video was going to make me look like a sadist.

As mentioned, there were some good videos. A short by Jason Wingard-Hasford who animates the rants of Artist Taxi Driver had me in stitches. A big highlight was screening of Biting Elbows video for Bad Motherfucker. Never seen it before and while its an already done concept, its execution is golden.

Anyway, back to Henry Kane. It was the last one of the night. Don't know if it was because of the tone and it suited a late night show, but hey, it meant I was getting home at half 1 in the morning after missing my train anyway so I was beyond caring.

The titles came up and those first bars kicked in....

 

I said before it was hard to gauge the reaction. It was similar to my Univeristy screening of Random at the Showroom Cinema, Sheffield in 2005. As the tone is dark, there's never any vocal reaction. There's no gasp, shock, or jumps (something I thought I'd get with Random back in the day) just pure silence. I can't even remember if it got a round of applause. I'm sure it did as everyone elses did, I just can't remember as I was going up for the Q and A and thinking out how to deflect the idea that I'm not some kind of fetish sex offender.

It was only in the Q and A that I got an idea that the video worked.

The Q and A was with another director from the night, his a far more personal and experimental series of films. I gave a brief overview of myself, what I've done, and the film itself. Hopefully the interviews get put up online as I'm sure I'll get rinsed for the blatant movie nerd cock-up (saying Henry Kane was a character in Phantasm rather than Poltergeist) as well as coming across like a whinging wannabe. 

Why do I say that? Well, I mentioned I want to get away from Horror genre and do something different because...I don't think I'm very good at it. The reply and consensus was? "It was pretty scary, mate."

And with that, I know it worked.  Silence can mean engagement, can mean they're "getting" it.  The biggest thing I'm enjoying with these screenings seems to be the fact that elements are working. Sure, there's loads to improve, but when you set out with a goal and it generally pulls it out the bag, you know you're on the right track.

Big thanks to Chris Purdie for letting me do the track, John Kino for putting the night on and showing the film, and everyone else that watched and "enjoyed" it.

And as for thanks...it always surprises me the amount of readers each post is getting. So if you're reading this, I say thank you. I seriously expected it to be about 5 people accidentally reading it. But no, 2000 views so far, nearly 300 of them last month. The short films too getting an insane amount of hits recently. Henry Kane hitting 500 views, Another Film in Woods 300. Imidiwan 800...True, its no Gangdam Style or Panda Sneezing hits, but its a start.

And you're from all over the world. So you American, Canadian, Russian, and European readers...drop a few comments, leave a message or two, good or bad. Its 2013 so social interaction won't get you convicted of abuse charges 30 odd years down the line, Opertation Yewtree style (Google it). And on that note...

See ya on the flip side...Danny

Friday, 12 April 2013

Mr Kane Returns....

Hello folks. Very long time since my last blog post.

You wanna know a reason? Well...nothing's been happening. Oh, apart from the personal life of getting married to my beautiful wife, honeymoon, work etc - you know, the non-interesting stuff that you didn't want to read on here.

Anyway, mixed in with all the jubilations, I haven't been slacking. In fact I've been getting up to speed with my festival submissions for...well, everything worthwhile. It may burn a hole in the pocket but I'm being selective on where I send them. The plus side of this is...

The music video HENRY KANE I directed for the atomsphereic, instrumental metal soloist -MERRIN- is going to get a screening in the city of Manchester next Wednesday.

"Where, you utter tusk!" I hear you say? Well, its for the KINO SHORTS 33 for this month (clicky the link). The venue is the THE BLACK LION in Salford and it kicks off at 7:15pm till 10:15pm.

My North Western buddies, come along. You've gotta pay for a ticket but you'll get to see me (worth the admission of course) because I'll be there. There's even a QNA session so if you do come, you can heckle the shit out of me and call me a sadist (I'm prepped for that question by the way, so come at me bro). If you're lazy, here's directions and it should be a stormer of a night.

Pretty cool and always a good feeling to get a flick shown as it makes it worthwhile. Will be throwing shout-outs to my good buddy Chris Purdie and his band and having a few mild-ales.  But if you can't make it, spend a few minutes checking the video below out and feel free to comment and support (if not boo to you). 

Hoping this is a good omen for other festivals later this year. I'll keep you all posted.

 
HENRY KANE by -M E R R I N- from Danny Naylor on Vimeo.

See ya on the flip side

Thursday, 22 November 2012

Woods Screening

Why,  hello there.

Well, the screening on Tuesday happened. Showroom Cinema, Sheffield. Kicked off at 7:30pm.

I arrived fashionably late after a quick run to Costco for a coffee and a toffee and apple muffin (for pros). It was a good turn out, close to a 100 packed in at points.

I bumped into Julia (who plays thr Vicar)  and Amber (who plays Mandy)  who turned up to watch the film. It was great meeting up with them after a month or so. Was also very nerve wracking -  what if it bombed? What if it got laughed at? It was my film, my responsibility for turning out an embarrassment who dragged the actressess with me. Not great.

Anyway, I did what any normal person would do... Run away for 45minutes and watch Sam Raimi's classic Army of Darkness in glorious 35mm.  What a great movie that is. And fuck me did I steal a lot from it. Seemed to me like a great double bill, Woods and Army of Darkness solely based on tone and thats about it.

Then we got down to it. Before hand there was a showing of a lottery funded horror called Ella. It had Giles from Buffy blowing a dogs snout off with a shotgun. Safe to say, it was a winner. 

Next up... It began.

Every problem was amplified. Every sound effect needed more work. I shit a brick...

Then... I heard laughs. Intentional laughs. I started to watch the crowd. A few bopping their heads to the music, people talking about what they were watching. It was the only short on the night that was just pure fun with a pace and energy to it and it seemed to get peoples attentions.

The final credits kicked it. Big applause. Then a few cheers from some complete strangers. I cracked a sly grin. A girl next to me laughed at the final kiss off line and looked genuinely happy with what she watched.  "A techno chase horror film"  I overhead some bloke say.

Safe to say, it didn't bomb which I thought it could do.  I thanked Julia and Amber who also seem happy with how it went. We went our separate ways and I thanked the host Rob Speranza for screening it.

Maybe I'm making the night better than it was. Well, fuck that, it made me happy and I didn't hear a bad word. All I got were positive vibes and an unexpected reaction. I couldn't sleep when I got in, bit of an adrenaline boost thinking about it.

Blubbing aside, it went well. All I can say is thanks to Amber, Julia, Nicola, Rebecca, Chris, Reem and Rob for everything.

Its got me pumped for 2013.

See ya on the flip side... Danny

Monday, 19 November 2012

A gentle reminder...

Hello mucko's,

A little bit of a gentle poke to remind you good people that Another Film in the Woods will be playing at Showroom Shorts tomorrow (Tuesday 20th November).

I'll be spamming book of the face and twatter with further details but as this is another reminder...there's a few short films playing and a little bit of a birthday bash going on that kicks off at 7:30pm till 10pm.

The short is scheduled to be 2nd to last on, around 9:15pm - 9:30pm in the Showroom bar area.  Drop me an email/message/text/phone call/postcard/letter if your coming or want further info and I'll enlighten you.

I'll be there at 7:30pm till 8:15pm as I'll be running off to one of the screening rooms to watch a flick.  But I'll be out at 9:10pm for the rest of the night.  

And if you didn't know...its free.



ANOTHER FILM IN THE WOODS from Danny Naylor on Vimeo.

See ya on the flip side, Danny.

Thursday, 15 November 2012

Screening of the Woods

Hey good lookin', whatcha been cookin'?

Currently having a very productive week away from the monotony of the 9 to 5.  What have I been doing?  Pretty much as little as possible aka old school fuck all (bath swishing and the like).  In between the nothingness, there's been a wind down of script re-writing and movie watching.

Anyway, as no one really gives a fuck about what I've been up to privately, its time for an update of the short opus that is Another Film in The Woods.

I was disappointed it didn't get into the 2 Days Later Competition. They've posted the winners up and...I enjoyed them.

The main winner has a good concept but severely overlong. The audience winner was funny. A bastardised product of the Human Centipede/Hostel torture porn "genre" where abusing innocent characters in amusingly gory ways without a real point apart from having a cheeky premise (Kebab shop owners is a nutcase) seems to be popular. Anyway, check em out and see what you think.

Compared to Woods? Make you're own mind up. I'm not bitter.

Which leads on to...Its getting screened in Sheffield! The film will be playing at the Showroom Shorts this Tuesday 20th November.

There's a few short films playing and a little bit of a birthday bash going on that kicks off at 7:30pm till 10pm. I'll be dotting about as ironically enough, I've tickets to see Army of Darkness (aka Evil Dead 3) on the same night.

Anyway, its free. So if you can come, let me know and I'll hopefully meet up with you for a chuckle. I'll abuse Facebook and Twitter to spam you all.

I'm off to listen to the new DEFTONES album.



ANOTHER FILM IN THE WOODS from Danny Naylor on Vimeo.

See ya on the flip side, Danny.

Saturday, 13 October 2012

Another Blatant Promotional Push...

Another day, another amazing sales pitch for the short film for people who haven't seen it and a few more updates.

Just like to say thanks to the people who have watched the short and given some good feedback. Hey, people enjoy it. Made me a happy bunny. The cast are happy with the film too which is always a good feeling. (shout out to the lead actress Amber Brookes, follow her on TWITTER).

Bad news first...the film didn't get into the 2 Days Later film competition that the film was made for.

Now, there's a variety of reasons as to why I think this happened, and I take full responsibility. The DVD screener I sent isn't the final version for one, and it wasn't rendered correctly. It had a jittery effect due to a interlace problem (tech geek bollocks) that was eventually fixed for the version you see online and sent to the cast & crew. My mistake for running out of time and not being able to fix it.

Another reason? The film is sound heavy. A lot of scene transitions and dialogue scenes are linked with a lot of sound FX. The screener I sent wasn't 100% with these tracks and therefore is rather jolting and amateurish. Not to say the final version is on a level to David Fincher, but its a difference that sets a level of watchable and unwatchable.

Yet another? They may have collared that it wasn't shot slightly within the 2 day timeline? It was shot in a day, but had a couple of days of pre-production and a couple for post. Sue me.

Final reason? They may have thought it was shite? More than likely this one...but compared to what was screened and won last year...ah, well, its all subjective.

Semi-good news...Even though I've missed the deadline for halloween film festivals this year, I'll be sending this out for next year so hopefully it has a life in the future.

Good news...we're on the IMDB. Yey! Check it out and vote/leave comments/whatever. Another Film In The Woods IMDB 

Another plus point was seeing my good buddie Chris Purdie aka MERRIN playing a live set at the Playhouse in Northampton. In his set-list he played Henry Kane with the MUSIC VIDEO I directed for him as the visuals for his stage show. Check it out HERE.

Anyway, its time to wind-down preparing for Christmas. Will be attending the Celluloid Screams festival at the end of the month to check out some horror flicks and shorts. Followed up by a trip back to Liverpool and seeing Rob Zombie in Manchester at the end of November. In-between that will be writing and movie watching.

Anyway, as the title suggests, below is another blatant promotional push. We're also on VIMEO. Thanks.



ANOTHER FILM IN THE WOODS from Danny Naylor on Vimeo.
See ya on the flip side, Danny.