The Wind-down Part 2 - FILMS OF 2015

FESTIVALS!

It's also been the month of FESTIVALS and QnA's! Most notably the Widescreen Weekend at the Bradford Film Museum and the big horror fest in Sheffield, Celluloid Screams!

I rocked up to the final day of the Widescreen Weekend to meet a buddy who's a regular to the festival. He was in it for the long haul and went to pretty much every screening and talk there - projectionists, award winning FX artists etc.

The big hitter was a presentation by the legendary Douglas Trumbull. If you don't know who Doug Trumbull is, get educated. '2001', 'Blade Runner', 'Close Encounters', 'Silent Running'...this guy was the FX supervisor. So yeah, he's kinda a big deal. Shit, he even turned Star Wars down (as you do). Along with the 70mm screening of '2001 A Space Odyssey', he presented a talk about his work, film in general, and what he sees the future of film as a medium.

Thoroughly fascinating in a pure nerdist sense, it was an eye opener. The man himself couldn't be a kinder gent. A class act.

Up next was the annual horror jaunt Celluloid Screams. An absolute treat of a weekend it was too. A good mix of great and not-so-great movies, shorts, and general bollocks talking over gallons of ale.

Opening night was a great night with three flicks that ranged from terrible (The Invitation), to sublime (Goodnight Mommy), to the batshit crazy (Yakuza Apocalypse). It also showcased Andy Stewart's new short film 'Remnant'. See last years BLOG on his excellent short film 'INK' just to remind you on how much of a great talent the feller is.

'Remnant' itself is a showcase of the filmmaker trying to stretch himself but still keeping a signature style. The short lingers long after it finishes and has a gritty, bile-tinted visual style that unsettles for the runtime.

Capping it all off, I got to get drunk with some good guys, hang out with the legendary Graham Humphreys, the ladies from Arrow Video. Also, a shout out to Ben Stiener and Michael Wallin (quiet Nordic nutter and FX guy).

FILMS OF THE YEAR 2015 

As for this years movie intake? Well...compared to last year, it's been poor. Check out last years blog HERE

The list of my faves is shorter, and the quality isn't as high (minus a few choice flicks), and the majority are Documentaries.

QnA for 'The Wolfpack' with director Crystal Moselle and Angulo brothers

FILMS 
Black Mass - Scott Cooper
Steve Jobs - Danny Boyke 
Yakuza Apocalypse - Takeshi Miike
Goodnight Mommy - Veronika Franz & Severin Fiala
Sicario - Denis Villeneuve
Straight Outta Compton - F. Gary Grey
The Man from U.N.C.L.E - Guy Ritchie
Maggie - Henry Hobson
Mission Impossible Rouge Nation - Chris McQuarrie
Electric Boogaloo; Story of Canon Films - Mark Hartley
Jurassic World - Colin Trevorrow
Mad Max Fury Road - George Miller 
Cobain: Montage of Heck - Brett Morgen
The Wolfpack - Crystal Moselle

Oh, no Star Wars: The Force Awakens???? Well, yeah. It wasn't the flick I signed up for if I'm honest.

Also, your Revanant's and Hateful Eight's will rock out in January, so I'll bunch them in with 2016 list.

Here's to next year. Hopefully it'll improve. I'm sure it will as a new Shane Black flick is out.

NEW WEBSITEY

Hello neighbourinos, new bit of work popped up.

I've decided to spruce up the Derek's Don't Run Films bandwagon, give it a lick of paint, and smacked it on the arse.

So, up and running is new website for my little music video venture.  I present to you......

WWW.DEREKSDONTRUNFILMS.COM

Feel free to spread the word and throw some feedback at me (which isn't just "that's a bit shit").

In other news, the screening last week mentioned HERE for the band Black Neon nights went very well.  Piccies below

Got a great reception and was good to see it with a crowd.

See ya on the flip side....Danny

SCREENAGE AND STUFF

Howdy peeps.

May kicking in so it must mean SUMMER BLOCKBUSTER time. So far, so average, but plenty of the year left movie-flick wise.

Anyway, back on song. By now you should've already checked out NECROMANCER by BLACK NEON KNIGHTS. If not, why not? Get clicking and share the mofo as much as!

If you're unable to do that because you'd prefer to see it live and with an audience, well then...we've got something lined up just for you.

The good Rob Speranza and the SYFN are screening the video at SHOWROOM SHORTS this Tuesday, 12th May at 8:45PM. More deets HERE.

Should be good as it's their Documentary night, which is usually full of interesting mini-docs made by local filmmakers and around the country. It's free, based in the Showroom bar, kinda a second home now. Come down if you can.

Also, you can now check out Black Neon Knights EP on all ya streaming platforms below:
SPOTIFY
iTUNES
DEEZER

It's been a busy two weeks doing the meet and greet thing. Had the chance to sit down for a Directors talk with Marco Van Belle who has just finished the rather impressive ARTHUR AND MERLIN. It's a fantasy epic that I miss out being one of the Assistant Directors on (yeah, pissed me off).

The film was shot for £200,000 which is mind-blowing to me. All involved just knocked it well out of the park with some bollocks to pull off what they did (it's basically as well made as an episode of Game of Thrones). Anyway, was a great talk. Really told you the home-truths of low budget filmmaking on that scale. Probably one of the best talks I've been too.

Along with that I got to see the new film by Duane Hopkins called BYPASS and met the films producer Samm Haillay. I chewed his ear off after the screening over a beer. Great feller with lots in the pipeline and gave some great advice to keep ploughing on. You may get that luck.

So...get to the screening. If you can't watch below and share people. Share. It.

 

 See ya on the flip side...Danny.

MUSIC VID SCREENING

Bonjour!

Quick update. The music video for YOUR LITTLE FANTASY by BRAVER THAN FICTION is being screened at SHOWROOM SHORTS by the SYFN at the SHOWROOM CINEMA, SHEFFIELD.

Plenty of documentaries, short films, and music videos over the night.  It all takes place on Tuesday 18th February at 8.45PM.

Directions HERE if you ain't got a scooby where it is.  Come on down and have a swift jar or two with me.

See ya on the flip side, Danny.

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

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.

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.

'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.

NEW SHORT FILM BITCHES

Well, well, well, haven't we been a busy little bee.

You may have seen my moody post of a TEASER poster a few weeks ago. Well me and Chris Earl have been busy working hard on a short film called 'Another Film In the Woods'.

Have got back into the swing of things with a couple of MUSIC VIDEOS , it was high time to get on the short narrative film front. So with a few competitions lined up, me and Chris thought we'd delve into doing a short 10 minute horror comedy.

Run Lola Run meets The Evil Dead was the idea.

So through taking a few hours out to write, audition, and cast the flick we finally got things in place.  Saturday just gone, we rallied the troops and shot our film with a all girl cast;

Amber Brookes

Nicola Chance

Rebecca Lund

Julia Bisby

It was a toughie and little Amber took a bit of a beating but she trooped on. In fact, they all did and I couldn't have thanked them enough.

I'm excited by the footage. Big time. Now to spend a day editing it and...who knows...we'll see if we got some fried gold with a techno soundtrack.

Been a bit of a monkey off my back.  Now lets see what happens.

Go HERE for some movie stills.

See ya on the flip side...Danny

-M E R R I N - Unleashed

As mentioned in the previous blog, here's the music video for 'Henry Kane' by -M E R R IN - on the night he smashes up the Nambucca live in London.

Enjoy.

See ya on the flip side...Danny

Red Planet Fail

Ah yes....been a long time.

Anyway, got the dreaded email from the Red Planet Prize saying yo ass aint going to Mars.

Not really much of a surprise as when I read over the submission I sent...it was full of typo's. It pissed me off when I found out, but what can you do? Could've pinned my hopes on them liking the content and dismissing the errors, but then again its more than likely they hated the idea anyway so fuck it.

Getting good feedback on the feature script. All usable. All worthwhile. Quite happy with it and the response.

Time to polish (not the nob) up and eyeball competitions for 2012. Ye-fuckin-ha.

See ya on the flip side...Danny

CLARITY - DENIED

Sent a screener of Clarity, my 1st student short edited by Chris Earl with sound design by Dawn Feather (of Yorkshire Edit) to the Showroom Shorts ran by Rob Speranza.

Unfortunately it didnt get through, but what can ya do...apart from farting around with HTML and put as many links as possible in this blog post ala me?

See ya on the flip side. Danny