HENRY KANE (AND MERRIN) ARE BACK...

Howdy folks!

Nice surprise this week in regards to a little favourite of mine.

The music video for Henry Kane by MERRIN has been re-released! Revamped!

Check out a little background and festival runs in previous blogs (HERE, HERE, HERE, and HERE)

Overall, I'm such a massive fan of the music that I just had to post about where it started to where it is now.  Also, I've been meaning to update the Facebook page with behind the scenes info about my work, so what better time to start?

So...

I originally approached the band (Chris Purdie) as he was gigging in London around 2012. He was recording a few songs for an EP and I asked if he had a song I could play around with.  He threw 'Henry Kane' at me and said "have fun"

So off I went and shot the thing solo over a few months, generally playing around and thinking of creepy/strange imagery.  Influenced by Michael Mann's 'Manhunter' and  David Fincher's 'Girl with a Dragon Tattoo' opening credit sequence, the tone was set.

After shooting a load of footage and jumping into editing, a story began to emerge that brought the whole thing to life. The run-through of following a murderer and getting inside his head as he commits a crime gave me a goal over the runtime.  

The Goblin-inspired song added to the already disturbing sense of fear through the 7 minute piece. There was a deliberate slow pace and pay off - a beginning, middle (a trippy one), and end -  that hopefully made you feel you went through an "experience".

That was then.

Now, in 2016, it's taken to another level.

CLICK FOR THE NEW HENRY KANE VIDEO

A few years later and the song has added more from a composition stand point.   It's now a John Murphy/Goblin/John Carpenter/Mogwai fused monster.  Chris said it's took him years to finally nail the song (the drums taking the song to a definitive place) and it really feels that way.

It's given the video a new life.  The visuals still embrace the song but now it has more urgency imposed on to it.  The video as a whole feels unsafe, less trippy, and something that's hard to watch as the tension through the narrative builds.  It now has a thriller-pace to it much like a closing or opening credit sequence that inspired the video in the first place.

I'm very proud of the video as it's pretty effective.  The song as it is now is better, more complete, and has a clear style that the band has perfected.  I'm happy its a part of the new EP 'Midnight Movies' and I hope it helps give it more exposure.

To pre-order the new EP and show some support, head over to the below:

MERRIN FACEBOOK
BANDCAMP
NEW VIDEO

'Midnight Movies' will be released 1st March 2016.  

See ya on the flip side...Danny

The Wind-down 2015: PART ONE

Howdy.  This turned from just the one month blog to the end of the year one.  So sit back, relax, and I hope I don't bore you to death.

Had a busy arle year so I'll hit you up with what's been going down:

MUSIC VIDZ

Two music videos leathered for this year that I've produced, written, and directed.  A personal record especially from a one-man-band style operation.

Both videos were for the rock band Black Neon Knights for two singles - RISE UP and 'NECROMANCER'

You can read about the production and release of 'Necromaner' HERE and HERE

'RISE UP' is the latest taken from their soon to be released album in February. You can also check out the history HERE

It's a cracking rock tune and I love what the guys are churning out.  The lads were happy with the video as its something unique to the usual rock music video style.

Again, I can't thank all the people involved (see previous BLOGS) enough.  If you ain't caught it, check it out below.

Feedback has been really great. There's a sense of the unexpected with it and you don't really know where the video is going until it goes completely off the rails. Lots of praise for the visuals which was a huge incentive for the project in the first place and something I'm most pleased about.  A lot of time and effort went in to creating the authentic VHS look which, while now a cliched style to use, is often not done in the right way.  Aspect ratios and the colour drain plays a huge part that worked well in offsetting the band footage before opening it up with the full HD footage.

I'm really happy with how it turned out.  Some kind words from Chris Barnes over at SLAUGHTERED BIRD horror site, as well as the nicest's guys in horror Mr Liam 'Banjo' Regan and Andy 'INK' Stewart capped it all off.

Might be small time for some people, but fuck you it's prolific from me (hehe)

Please head over to the FACEBOOK page to check out TONS of behind the scenes photos and concept art. It's a good little insight into the production on how the video became.

NEW WEBSITE

Designed and launched this bad-boy earlier in the year.

Check it out and share for all your music video needs.  Feedback is welcome.

http://www.dereksdontrunfilms.com/

SCRIPT-LIFE

Other personal highlights include actually ranking in a big screenplay competition.

While I do appreciate reaching the semi-final, you have to win it. You don't get anything for 2nd place.  But what it does do it gives you that push to say "Hey, it's not all shite that you're doing" so keep going.

I met one of the finalists, Ben Stiener (director of the multi-award winning short 'The Stomach') and hope it gives him a big push. Really good guy.    

COMFORT ZONE

In addition to the above, I've been dipping my toe is things outside my comfort zone. I'm currently collaborating/helping out with a writer I met on the Creative England course from last year, Rachael Genn.

I've tried to give her a helping hand organising script read-through's with a drama group for her comedy series. In addition to helping her direct a section for a unique pitch video for a installation she's trying to get funding for.

We've worked well together and its been a lot of fun. It's great to collaborate with people like this and remove myself from my own little bubble.  I just hope I don't fuck it up.

So, keep an eye out for my festival travel blog as well as my top films for 2015.

As for 2016?  I've got plans.  The music video gigs should take a step up. The writing should get more of a push. And...well...hopefully get a narrative short off the ground.

Thanks for everyone who's helped out over the year. I met some new friends all on the edge of doing exciting things. Stay tuned and don't forget to holla atcha boy!

See ya on the flip side....Danny.

NEW MUSIC VIDEO RELEASE!!!!!

So, how do we do?

Three months since the last blog update and now I can finally show you all the new music video we've been working on for BLACK NEON KNIGHTS .

Ladies and gents....RISE UP!!!

 


I would like to thank everyone who worked on this and helped out, all listed below.  All talented folks that I'm very grateful to have met and worked with. You're all good eggs.

Rachelle Shaw -
https://twitter.com/RachelleShaw9
https://www.facebook.com/pages/Minnaie/556929171000215?fref=ts
http://minnaie-model.co.uk/

Jayne Hyman -
https://twitter.com/JayneHyman
http://www.jaynehyman.co.uk/
https://www.facebook.com/pages/Jayne-Hyman-SFX-Props-Creative-Services/205618286173465?fref=ts

Sarah Walker -
https://twitter.com/SarahWalkerMUA
https://www.facebook.com/SarahWalkerMakeUpArtist

Cheryl Fowler -
https://twitter.com/Chezibabe2014

Chris Earl -
https://twitter.com/Sheff_Nerd

Ed Cartledge
https://www.sortoffilms.com

Rob Speranza
https://www.syfn.org

The Slaughtered Bird (Chris Barnes)
http://theslaughteredbird.com

Had a great screening last night at the Showroom Cinema, Showroom Shorts. Looks great on a big screen to round off the night with some award winning horror short films.

I'll be venturing to this years Celluloid Screams Horror Festival (www.celluloidscreams.com) this weekend also. Should be a fun weekend to catch up with some folks, check out some flicks (GOBLIN!!!). Holla at ya boy if you're around!

See ya on the flip side...Danny

DELAYED THANK YOU'S AND SHIZ

Bonjour!

As you may have gathered, we shot a music video last Saturday!

If you follow most of my silly ramblings on social meeedjah you'll have got all kinds of teaser photos - pre-production, production, and post-production.  All of if very intriguing without giving the whole game away.

As for the shoot itself?  Couldn't have gone any smoother to be fair. From planning and casting to the actual shoot - everything went like a dream.  I'd like to put it down to my meticulous eye for detail...or maybe it was down to knowing what I could/couldn't do and what I could get my hands on. Either way, let me bask in my producer-director glory for a change you judgemental creatures.

Go check out more updates over at the FACEBOOK and INSTAGRAM page.  Maybe give them a like too.

It could also be down to the talented cast and crew who seem to feel "safe" working with me in the full understanding that what we're shooting isn't an episode of Rasta Mouse (although I could easily do a nutty version of that).

So I'd just like to say thanks to all involved. Sarah Walker, Jayne Hyman, Cheryl Fowler, Chris Earl, and Rachelle Shaw.   Go give em some love below by following or liking their pages if you'd be so kind.

Rachelle Shaw -
https://twitter.com/RachelleShaw9
https://www.facebook.com/pages/Minnaie/556929171000215?fref=ts
http://minnaie-model.co.uk/

Jayne Hyman -
https://twitter.com/JayneHyman
http://www.jaynehyman.co.uk/
https://www.facebook.com/pages/Jayne-Hyman-SFX-Props-Creative-Services/205618286173465?fref=ts

Sarah Walker -
https://twitter.com/SarahWalkerMUA
https://www.facebook.com/SarahWalkerMakeUpArtist

Cheryl Fowler -
https://twitter.com/Chezibabe2014

Chris Earl -
https://twitter.com/Sheff_Nerd

On top of this, not only did we finish a shoot earlier than expected, I happened to dive-bomb on a little get together with some top UK Horror movie-makers who had just hit Sheffield's Horrorcon this year (something I was unable to make due to said video shoot).

Ended up being a great night.  I finally got a chance to sup a few ales with ANDY STEWART, the director of the awesome body horror trilogy - Dysmorphia, Split, and INK.  As you may know, I threw INK in my top films I saw last year HERE - so it was cool to just chat the shit with him and have a bit of a chuckle. Go check out his flicks HERE or on Eli Roth's CRYPT TV pretty soon.

On top of THAT, there was a young buck named LIAM REGAN who also got a severe ear-bashing from yours truly. He's got a new flick on way called BANJO - a UK indie horror flick which is a cross between Troma (and is endorsed by Lloyd Kaufman BTW) and Frank "Basket Case/Frankenhooker" Henenlotter.  Really enjoyed talking to him as we threw our favourite Toxic Avenger 4 quotes at each other.

Check out the TRAILER and show it some love!  It's also good to see Dan Palmer pop up in a few things as I really dug his first movie "Freak Out" years ago!

In the meantime, keep your eyes peeled for updates!

See ya on the flip side...Danny

Year in Review...PART TWO: ELECTRIC BOOGALOO

Films of the year 2014. (Part One in review is HERE)

I have to say, this year has been an absolute stunner.  Compared to last years HERE, the quality, variety, and balls of some mainstream and indie movies has been outstanding (complete with some guilty pleasures).  Every week something came along and sucker punched me in the chops.

Again no real order.  If you ain't checked them out...what are you waiting for?

The Raid 2 - Gareth Evans
How to Train Your Dragon 2 - Dean DeBlois
Under The Skin - Jonathan Glazer
Nightcrawler - Dan Gilroy
The Babadook - Jennifer Kent
Gone Girl - David Fincher
Snowpiercer - Bong Joon-Ho
Interstellar - Christopher Nolan
Housebound - Gerard Johnstone
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles - Jonathan Liebesman
Dawn of the Planet of The Apes - Matt Reeves
Maps to The Stars - David Cronenberg
The Guest - Adam Wingard
Guardians of The Galaxy - James Gunn
Cold in July - Jim Mickle
Edge of Tomorrow - Doug Liman
Joe - David Gordon Green
Godzilla - Gareth Edwards

Honourable mentions -
The Machine - Caradog W. James (someone to watch out for)
Dom Hemingway - Richard Shepard (Jude Law turned into a real man's man actor)

Adding to this was Celluloid Screams Horror Festival 2014.  Which I have to say had more variety, surprises, and quality than previous years.  Here's what went off -

The Canadian Troma-esque troop Astron 6 ('Manborg', 'Fathers Day') were there with their new flick 'The Editor' - a Giallo (Italian slasher/horror films from the 70's and 80's) piss take. Fair play to them, they were at every screening over the entire weekend.  I would've buggered off after the film, but no, they stayed and met with lots of fans.  Good guys.

They also brought Lawrence Harvey who pops up in the 'The Editor'.  Really nice bloke.  However, seeing him just standing there after you've left the toilet did make me have a sleepless night.  If you don't know who he is, go see The Human Centipede 2.

Yeah, he's that guy.

Anyway - the biggy was meeting the big man below - Brian Yuzna.  Director of 'Society' and 'Return of The Living Dead III', as well as writer of 'Re-Animator', 'From Beyond', and...'Honey I Shrunk The Kids'.

The man is an absolute legend and also the nicest bloke you'll ever meet.  All he wanted to do was talk movies.  Had the pleasure of a brief chat with him after the QnA over ran - could easily have spent hours talking over his films.

Another fanboy moment was getting to meet Graham Humphrey.  "Who the fuck?"  You ask.  Here the fuck...

Go re-educate yourself when you see the art the man has created HERE.  When you've created iconic posters like the one above, you'll pay respect where its due.

As for the movies?  Well apart from seeing an all time fave 'Society' in a 35mm print, only two really stood out that I saw.

The first was 'Housebound'.  A New Zealand effort from director Gerard Johnstone.  Apart from thinking that the only thing New Zealand churned out were films about sheep and Hobbits, this little gem pops up.  Like a laid back version of 'The Burbs' meets 'People Under the Stairs' the film was funny, clever, witty, and had enough invention to set it above the usual horror fodder.

The 2nd impressive movie was actually a short film called 'Ink' which had its première.  While I find 98% of short films nowadays either a drawn out scene or FX reel, the short by Glasgow filmmaker Andy Stewart gave everyone a slap across the arse and made people take notice.

The short is a final film in a body-horror trilogy he's made, each with a similar theme but with noticeably bigger budgets.  However, its the overall craft of tension building coupled with the what-to-show-and-what-not-to-show-nature of each film stays constant and what makes it stand out.  It's one of the best shorts I've seen.

Go check out his first flick HERE.  His website HERE.  And follow the chunt on twatter HERE.  He's gained a fan from moi and you should like it too.

So that's that.  A list of great flicks, fun flicks, and ones to make you say "you liked that shite?".
  
See ya on the flip side in 2015, Danny.

-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

'ANOTHER FILM IN THE WOODS' is here!

Well, well, well then...

No OTT introduction.  No hype.  No ridiculous build up.

Watch.  Enjoy.  Comment.   Be gentle.


"Another Film In The Woods"
Woke up.  Bought Breakfast.  Had to survive.

A horror short where 'Run Lola Run' meets 'The Evil Dead'. On the way back from picking up breakfast, Mandy falls into mysterious and dangerous woodland where she has to run for her life and hope to make it home in one piece. 

See ya on the flip side, Danny.