That’s a wrap! #OnEdge20

#OnEdge20 is a series of posts commemorating 20 years since I rolled cameras on my first short film.

There’s an old filmmaking saying, which goes, “You make three movies.”

It’s very true. The movie you write is the first, and even that is subject to rewrites and last minute revisions (yesterday’s blog entry showed how the opening sequence of On Edge was modified to allow for the film’s completion when we were up against time constraints).

Secondly, there’s the movie you shoot. And this can seem quite alien to you as you look at it on the little monitor screen of the video-assist, or from beside the camera as you direct Charley Boorman to “Gurgle a bit more, make it sound like you’re really choking on the blood.”

NB: He really was choking on the blood.

Then there’s Doug Bradley, sneaking up behind you to whisper, “Tick… tock… tick… tock,” into your ear as a constant reminder that time (and your sanity) is escaping you. Ahh, such sweet suffering memories.

On Edge in Covent Garden, July 1998: Christopher Fowler, Doug Bradley — and some long-haired young idiot — discuss dental hygiene.

And finally, there’s the movie you edit. Looking through the archives for this series of blog posts, I was reminded how things have changed in movie production — and how little they have really changed. The technology is different, but the creative process from script to screen remains the same.

Here are some pictures that show (don’t tell)…

Yes, those really are floppy discs.

I mean, look above at how many DAT (digital audio tapes) were required to create the sound for the film. The impact of a short horror film like On Edge relies very much on its sound. Because I couldn’t do the ‘big reveal’ until the last available moment, the whirring of drills and the snagging of flesh was super important in creating a sense of unease in the viewer about what was happening to poor Peter Thurlow’s gob. You might be able to spy the soundtrack masters in there too. ‘Cycles of Abuse’ was a song by my metal band Self Destructive Nature, co-written with guitar legend Paulo Turin (Gangland, Paul DiAnno’s Battlezone) which rocks out over the opening/closing fetish club framing device. ’Sweets From On Edge’ was incidental music composed by Dooj (The Jazz Butcher), and I have such happy memories of working with him on that in his flat, and referencing the scores to several John Carpenter films and Don Coscarelli’s Phantasm, all of which became strong influences on the finished score. Sadly, Dooj passed away recently. He was a brilliantly inventive musician with a lovely, energetic personality to match his vivid pink hair.

These pictures also illustrate the different formats used, from the raw 35mm film footage (the rushes, or dailies) to the TK Master (a telecine’d digi-beta tape copy of all the film footage, used in editing, which was prepared at The Moving Picture Company), to the locked edit (again on digi tape) then the assembled 35mm with its associated sound mix. The optical effects (the vision blurs, whiteouts and dissolves, titles etc.) were created at Capital FX, and these were incorporated into the film edit by Vaughn Mullady at Tru Cuts.

The film we ended up with was a glorious 35mm cinemascope film print, with the sound running alongside it on an audio track. When the film was picked up by Columbia TriStar to screen in London cinemas with the feature film ‘I Still Know What You Did Last Summer’; there was a slight catch. We could screen at as many cinemas screens as we liked — but we had to pay for the prints. The prints were around £750 each, so we could afford a grand total of… two. With the master print out on tour at film festivals, our 2 new prints were screened at Odeon Leicester Square and The Warner Bros. West End (now the Vue). 8,000 paying cinemagoers saw our film, which also played a ton of festivals and bagged some prestigious awards.

Youtube was just about to take off (!), but in the early days, bandwidth restrictions meant that a maximum of 10 minutes footage was upload able to Youtube. So the first online screenings of the film (something we take for granted now) saw the film split into 2 parts as it was 15mins long!

I lost count the number of VHS screening tapes we had copied, including costly NTSC versions for the USA and other territories where PAL was not standard. Nowadays, you can pop your film onto Vimeo and have it selected (or rejected) by film festivals without the need to send costly tapes (the weight of which made shipping expensive too). Which brings us, rather neatly, to the present.

Twenty years later.

Would I have done anything differently, knowing what I know now? Yes, lots. But that’s not the point, really. Making On Edge taught me so much, and I am forever grateful to everyone who worked on the film, and/or supported it in any way.

Maybe someday (with the time & funds necessary to do such a thing) there could be a 4K-ultra HD remaster of the film, created from all the original elements?

For now, I hope these blog posts have provided an insight into a creative journey that I embarked on twenty years ago, and one that I still cherish to this day.

Thanks for reading. And for watching.

Oh, and don’t forget to floss.

Dr Matthews – what’s the worst that could happen?

Watch On Edge
on Amazon VOD
and DVD

Check out the On Edge
screening history & list of awards
here

 

Dear diary. #OnEdge20

#OnEdge20 is a series of posts commemorating 20 years since I rolled cameras on my first short film.

DAY 3

Yesterday, we looked at the evolution of the screenplay for On Edge, arguably the most crucial part of any film production.

Today, we’ll look at another vital element you can’t do without. And what is that, I hear you ask?

Why, a Batman Forever diary & organiser of course!

It doesn’t have to be a Batman branded one (although i can highly recommend it is, i mean, the one i used came with really cool stickers and everything) but I can’t underline enough the importance of having something portable that you can scribble in, with enough space for each day of the week to include the important milestones. This was 1998 of course, and we had computers back then but not smartphones. Imagine that. But even now, when I work on a project I use an honest-to-goodness paper diary to keep track of everything. It’s just simpler that way (for me anyway, your milage of course may vary).

Pre-production means a LOT of meetings. For On Edge, there were meetings to be had with the Heads of Department (camera, sound, art, assistant director, special effects, and of course with the cast!). One of my fondest memories about making On Edge is taking the train and a bus to Pinewood Studios to meet with Bob Keen at his Image Animation workshop to discuss the design of Charley Boorman’s prosthetics, and the ‘uber drill’ used by Doctor Matthews to create his latest dental masterpiece. Bob’s workshop was an Aladdin’s cave filled with such treasures as original Cenobite models from Hellraiser and the xenomorph eggs from Aliens. We decided it would be fun to incorporate actual dental implements into the make-up and the drill, and Bob sourced a vintage portable dentistry kit from an antique’s dealer in order to achieve this. I was like the cat who go the cream during these meetings, let me tell you. And later, on set, I got to tick off a bucket list moment — shouting, “More blood please Bob!” before a take. Sigh — it’s the little things that make life so fulfilling.

Bob Keen applies prosthetics to Charley Boorman

Going through the diary all these years later revealed what an intense period of activity it was, juggling a day job (at that time I ran a market stall in Camden, and another in Charing Cross to pay the bills and to get me through university) and the many decisions necessary to prep the film for production. Producer Joseph and co-producer Juliet made sure everything ran smoothly (and some of the crew said the catering was even better than on some feature films they’d worked on!) even when we were down to the wire casting the role of the receptionist. Beth Murray (I had seen her brilliant turn in the music promo for Placebo’s Pure Morning) bagged the part, and she was perfect. With Doug Bradley and Charley Boorman on board as dentist and patient, we were ready to go.

The shoot itself passed by in a bit of a blur. We shot for three days at a dental clinic in Covent Garden, and this is where an astonishing coincidence happened. It turned out that the location we had chosen for the shoot was Christopher Fowler’s dentist’s! There was some poetry to that — but all lyricism went out of the window with the actual shoot.

The dentist was away on vacation during the shoot (smart man) leaving his (heavily pregnant) head nurse in charge of the building. The nurse herself warned us that she was given to violent mood swings and tearful outbursts due to her impending due date! Unknown to the film crew, a decorating team had also been booked to spruce up the clinic during our film shoot. Many people still think a film shoot is two actors, a camera and three hangers-on, but we had a crew of over 40 people working on On Edge, two enormous equipment trucks, a massive generator and a metric tonne of equipment to hoist up and down the stairs — a stairwell which was bloody well being painted while we were supposed to be making a movie. The nurse decided that 6pm was our absolute cut-off time for filming each day. When we factored in all the delays, due to being extra careful not to scuff the freshly painted walls and so on, we needed a later finish that that by day 3. And on that day, I ashamedly admit i began to lose my fragile grip on my sanity, rocking back and forth in my director’s chair and gurgling like a madman about ‘the coming apocalypse’. 

But it was all right. With the support of my amazing cast and crew, we simplified the opening sequence, so we could achieve it in the time remaining to us. I believe that a cash bribe.. um, I mean ‘bonus’… was made to the nurse-in-charge, and we even invited her to look down the camera lens at what we were doing, all to buy ourselves some more time.

Time is the fire in which we burn.

So if you’re making a movie, get yourself a good diary.

Eagle-eyed readers will see that author Christopher Fowler was invited on set (time constraints changed his call time from 2pm to 4pm) and yes, he makes a cameo appearance in the film!

The fish symbolises a visit to the London Aquarium. Always book a day off the day after you wrap. Thank me later.

The shoot ends and the edit officially begins!

 

Tune into the blog tomorrow for more #OnEdge20

Watch On Edge
on Amazon VOD
and DVD

Check out the On Edge
screening history & list of awards
here

Proof that one letter can change your life. #OnEdge20

#OnEdge20 is a series of posts commemorating 20 years since I rolled cameras on my first short film.

DAY 1

Today is exactly 20 years since I rolled cameras on my first short film as writer/director, On Edge.

I don’t like looking back so much, I’d much rather keep my focus on what’s ahead. But 20 years does feel like a pretty significant anniversary, so…

To commemorate each day of the film shoot I will be posting about the making of the film, starting today (24th July) and concluding on the day we wrapped (28th July). I have trawled through the archives to find artefacts that have never been shared online before — until now.

And the first of these is a letter.

A single sheet of headed A4 paper, bearing the logo of Soho’s The Creative Partnership, and the signature of author Christopher Fowler.

It’s a letter that changed my life.

Twenty one years ago, I was studying for a Masters in screenwriting under the tutorship of guru Philip Parker. One of our assignments was to adapt an existing story into a short film script. Around that time, I had become aware of an emerging master of the short horror story, British author Christopher Fowler. I had already devoured a couple of his early novels, including the brilliant Roofworld, and was hungry for more, so I invested (very wisely) in a copy of his collection Sharper Knives, which included a blackly-comic, dental horror story called On Edge. I sat bolt upright in bed and told myself that this story had to be made into a film.

With my homework assignment as further impetus (I always work best to a strict deadline, to this day) I set about adapting the story. The assignment brief meant that the script had to be around 30 pages long. The story was at most going to come in at around fifteen minutes, so I created a subplot in which the impatient patient, Peter Thurlow, was set up for a painful fall by his estranged wife. I also opted to include a bit more detail about Doctor Matthews’ background. Visualising his ‘difficult’ schooldays via flashbacks, i intercut these with the main action culminating in some horrific business with a sharp pencil in an exam hall. (The gory escalation was intended to mirror the horror occurring in the dentist’s chair.)

The homework assignment was a success, but I knew that the film would be incredibly expensive to make at 30 minutes long. As a rule of thumb, at that time it would cost around £1,000 to produce each minute of finished film. To explain this further, I was determined that we were to shoot and deliver on 35mm Cinemascope, to present as cinematic experience as possible — an approach very much shared and supported by my producing partner Joseph Alberti at Robber Baron Productions. On Edge was to be our calling card, and we were confident if we got it right, we might get a feature film project off the ground.  So, in order to make the film realisable on a budget, I immediately dropped the spousal revenge subplot, cutting the script back to around 18 pages. (Still too long, but further edits were to come, as they always do.)

In a fit of youthful exuberance / pure madness, i decided to send a copy of the script to the author of the short story, Mr Christopher Fowler himself, begging him for the rights to make the film. He replied, and you can see that reply below. I have never shown anyone outside of the production this letter (and I wrote to Christopher last week to ask his permission one more time —  20 years after first doing so — but this time via email, and this time requesting permission to publish his letter on my blog, which I’m happy to say he granted. Thanks again Mr Fowler!).

I remember tucking the letter inside my copy of the shooting script, as a memento of the journey to getting the film made, sure, but also as a reminder to my future self — the future self who is writing this blog entry today — that all it takes sometimes is one person to see some potential in what you are doing, to give you a break, and ultimately to change your life.

Making On Edge changed my life in so many ways. It taught me a lot about directing, screenwriting, and of course the process of adaptation. I have since worked on many screenplays and films as a writer/director and a story consultant, and have published short stories and novels of my own.

Proof that one letter can change your life.

Tune into the blog tomorrow for more #OnEdge20

Watch On Edge
on Amazon VOD
and DVD

Check out the On Edge
screening history & list of awards
here

JanuSCARY Sale

I’d like to wish all my f( r )iends and followers a very Happy New Fear 2016 with some discounted January chills.

THE STAY
Winner, Best Atmosphere – Independent Horror Movie Awards

30% OFF THE STAY DVD
includes 1 hour of extra features
https://www.createspace.com/850000973
Use code: ZA2NYMYM at checkout

~*~

ON EDGE
Winner, Best Horror Short – Dragon*con
+
RED LINES
Winner, Best Short – Fearless Tales Genre Festival

30% OFF On Edge + Red Lines DVD
includes Doug Bradley on-set interview & more
https://www.createspace.com/213479
Use code: DYYE4RU4 at checkout

Enjoy,
Frazer x

 

World Horror Con 2015 Schedule

Hey F(r)iends, i’m looking forward to seeing some of you at the 25th Anniversary World Horror Convention & Bram Stoker Awards® Weekend in Atlanta, 7-10 May.

The programmers have put together a dazzling array of panels and events – I wish I could attend every single one.

(My schedule of panels, readings, screenings etc. is below.)

Please note, the Mass Signing Event is open to the public, so even if you’re not around for the whole convention do come along on the Friday for books and authors galore.

And my publisher, Samhain Horror, will be in the dealers’ room all weekend with a coffin load of scary books.

– it will be great to see you there!

Cheers,
Frazer

 

FRIDAY, MAY 8

NOON-1 PM Media: WHCFILM: Beyond the Edge: Screenwriting Without Frontiers – REDHOOK

In order to scare or disturb an audience, and to tell a horrifying story that will resonate, a screenwriter must be willing to scare and disturb themselves first. This panel will explore screenwriting that willingly goes over the edge, as well as navigating the desires and demands of producers and studios within the realities of Hollywood and independent film.

Moderator: Ryan Lieske. Panelists: John Farris, Andrew S. Fuller, Daniel Knauf, Frazer Lee, Rena Mason

1-2 PM           Media: WHCFILM: World Premiere: THE STAY and Other Short Films From the Dark Imagination of Frazer Lee – REDHOOK

On Edge (Dir./Scr. Frazer Lee, 15 min)

Impatient patient Thurlow (Charley Boorman) gets more than he bargained for in Doctor Matthews’ (Doug Bradley) dentist’s chair. Winner of Best Horror Short, Dragon*Con.

IMDb: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0194211/

Red Lines (Dir./Scr. Frazer Lee, 7 min)

Unruly schoolgirl Emily (Kirsty Levett) learns the disturbing secret of the red lines in detention under the watchful eye of her Teacher (Doug Bradley). Winner of Best Short, Fearless Tales Genre Festival.

IMDb: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0345851/

The Stay (Dir./Scr. Frazer Lee, 9 min)

A young holidaymaker (Daniela Finley) checks into a secluded rental cottage and discovers that some vacations stay with you…forever. WORLD PREMIERE – WORLD HORROR CON ATLANTA 2015.

IMDb: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt4599410/

Introduced & Q&A: Frazer Lee.

5-6 PM            Panel: WHCFILM: Filmmakers Lounge

Filmmakers and presenters from Thursday night’s and today’s World Horror Con Film Festival programming get together for a casual meet and greet with each other and attendees. Listen to them talk shop and ask questions about the scary and fun parts of making horror movies.

Moderator: Thomas Sipos. Panelists: Daniel Griffith, Lynne Hansen, Daniel Knauf, Frazer Lee, Ryan Lieske, John Skipp

6:30-8 PM       Mass Author Signing – THE BARRENS

Convention guests and attending authors will be available to sign their books.

The PUBLIC are also cordially invited to attend, free of charge!

 

SATURDAY, MAY 9

12:30-1 PM     Reading: Frazer Lee – INNSMOUTH

 

SUNDAY, MAY 10

NOON-1 PM   Panel: WORLDHORROR: International/Global Horror: Books and Films You May Have Missed This Year – SARNACH

Our panelists share their favorite novels, anthologies, collections, and stories published outside the USA in 2014, as well as the best in last year’s global horror cinema. They may even give you some hints as to what releases they are most looking forward to in 2015.

Moderator: Mandy Slater. Panelists: Aaron Dries, Frazer Lee, Usman T. Malik, Lisa Tuttle

 

 

The Curse of the First Time Director

A few thoughts on filmmaking today, inspired by recent events and trends.

In addition to my screenwriting, novel writing and short stories, I also directed a couple of short films; On Edge (1999), Red Lines (2002) both with the now defunct Robber Baron Productions, and some TV promos; True Horror With Anthony Head (Discovery Channel, 2004).

So, I haven’t directed anything in eight years, and am often asked the question, in interviews and Q&As, why not?

Naive (and much younger) me thought that making a couple of award-winning shorts would pave the way to feature directing. Not so. I have scratched a living these past 8 years as a screenwriter/script doctor, secretly hoping those credits would also stand me in good stead for a feature debut. No dice, as yet.

It’s certainly not for lack of trying. Over the past decade I’ve had a number of potentially brilliant feature length projects in the works, writing and polishing and rewriting dozens of screenplay drafts for each at the behest of producers and executives keen on shaping the project to the demands of the marketplace.

Truth is, financing a movie seems to be the most difficult thing on earth. I recently completed a round of talks about one of my screenplays to which I’m attached as director and I was told point blank, by the producer that not one of his investors would risk financing a movie with a first time director attached – too risky.

So how do first time directors get to cut their first feature if no-one is willing to risk taking a punt on them? Surely the film biz is one built entirely on risk? “Nobody knows anything,” William Goldman reminds us – and even a seasoned director can make a turkey. It’s a frustrating chicken and egg situation and the longer it goes on, the greater the (perceived) risk.

All the meetings I’ve taken, all the unsuccessful funding applications I’ve made (for shorts and features) have taught me one thing – one simple, inconvenient truth: 

Movies cost money – and it is usually someone else’s money. Even if you go down the microbudget route, you have to pay insurance for your shoot, catering for your cast and crew, transportation costs, etc., etc.

Add to that the growing trend in the movie business; first-timers get it done for free. “Just pick up a camera and shoot” is an approach that has worked for some, sure. But it sets a precedent. First timers are expected to self-finance and prove themselves, screenplays are expected to be optioned for free. This is a difficult environment for anyone who has a family to support, bills to pay. It’s “a game for the young” as wise old Admiral James T. Kirk once said.

After reading Christopher Fowler’s revealing blog post on the subject of “the death of the script“, it seems the new wave of first-timers are eschewing a script entirely in favour of improvised microbudgeters, edited on-set on laptops. No risk to anyone else, and the filmmaker (no longer a first-timer anymore) then gets hired to do studio remakes…

See, after a decade in development hell I’m becoming cynical! Maybe it is time to give up after all.

But I might just take one more meeting first.

 

Frazer Lee interview by Samhain author Brian Moreland

I was interviewed by fellow Samhain author Brian Moreland about all things horror; film & fiction. Check it out!

World Horror Convention 2012 Film Festival Schedule

Remember I said ‘On Edge‘ is playing WHC 2012? Well, the full film festival schedule has been released by the organizers, who have put together an amazing line-up of cinematic horrors old and new.

‘On Edge’, starring Doug Bradley (Hellraiser), Charley Boorman (The Emerald Forest) and Beth Murray, based on the short story by Christopher Fowler (Spanky, Hell Train) with cinematography by Alan Stewart (Sherlock Holmes) and special FX by Bob Keen (Hellraiser), screens in the International Horror Shorts selection on Friday March 30th, 3pm.

Entry to the film festival is free to anyone attending WHC 2012, and separate tickets are available for all screenings for those wishing to take in a few movies outside of the main event.

If you’re in Salt Lake City this weekend, be sure to check out the films. It is an honor to be part of such a cool line-up.

Here are the full details, courtesy of the WHC 2012 website: http://www.whc2012.org/filmfestival.html

Here is the film festival schedule for WHC 2012. We will be featuring entries from filmmakers across the U.S. as well as England and Australia, with a special emphasis on locally made (Utah) films. The festival will also serve as the world premiere location for “Down the Road” starring Clint Howard, and “Abraham vs. Zombies” from The Asylum. With the exception of “Abraham Lincoln vs. Zombies” all films will be screened in the Blue Spruce Room:

Film Festival ~ Screening Schedule

Thursday, March 29th

4:00 p.m. “The Bake Street Haunting” (feature film)

6:00 p.m. “Down the Road” (feature film)

Friday, March 30th

1:00 p.m. “Bite Nite” (feature film)

3:00 p.m. International Horror Shorts, featuring “Alistair,” “On Edge,” “Love Bug,” and “Night of the Little Dead”

4:00 p.m. Viscera Film Festival Shorts, featuring 10 horror films from women filmmakers

5:00 p.m. John Skipp Screening, featuring “Stay at Home Dad” and “Rose: Fetching Danny” with filmmaker Q&A

6:00 p.m. “Ground Zero” (feature film) with filmmaker Q&A

Saturday, March 31st

12:00 p.m. “Disembodied” (short) and “Disembodied 2” (feature film) with filmmaker Q&A.

2:00 p.m. Favorite Shorts, featuring “Skye,” “Seance,” and three films from Killship Productions: “Living With Zombies,” “Ben Whitman Hears Voices,” and “Offing Adolf” with filmmaker Q&A

3:00 p.m. Best of Utah Shorts, featuring “Monstrosity,” “4,” “Capital Punishment,” and “Doppelganger” with filmmaker Q&A

4:30 p.m. “The Jar” (short) with filmmaker Q&A

5:00 p.m. “An Evening with My Comatose Mother” with filmmaker Q&A

6:00 p.m. Best of Utah Shorts 2, featuring the premiere of a zombie music video from Amorous, “Amendment,” “Serum X,” “All Night Laundry,” and “The Brink” with filmmaker Q&A

10:30 p.m. “Abraham Lincoln vs. Zombies” (feature film)

Sunday, April 1st

12:00 p.m. Best Feature Film

2:00 p.m. Best Short Films

3:30 p.m. Awards Ceremony

4:00 p.m. 2012 WHC Film Festival Ends

Countdown to The Lamplighters: 6 days

Today’s Lamplighters Countdown post is all about the South African Horrorfest, which kicks off today at the eloquently named Labia Theatre in Cape Town.

This amazing festival has an embarrassment of treats on offer; everything from costume parties, live music, thru zombie walks and screenings of dozens of short films and features to give you goosebumps and set your teeth On Edge with fright.

Hee, that’s right trick or treaters, my own horror short ‘On Edge‘ screens on Thursday 4th November, along with dark delights including ‘The Theatre Bizarre’ and a prize draw that will see one lucky winner staggering away with 40+ DVDs.

‘On Edge‘ (adapted from the story by Christopher Fowler) stars Doug Bradley (perhaps best known as ‘Pinhead’ from the Hellraiser movies 1-8) and Charley Boorman (The Emerald Forest, Excalibur) and tells the wicked tale of impatient businessman Peter Thurlow (Boorman) who jumps the queue at the dentist’s surgery… and gets a little more than he bargained for when he meets enigmatic dentist Dr. Matthews (Bradley). The film has played festivals around the world and has garnered several awards along the way (including Best Horror Short, 1st Place at Dragon*Con USA 2009). Horrorfest marks the film’s South African debut.

If Cape Town is a little far away for your dental appointment, you can check out the film online and the DVD/VOD release is available at Amazon.com.

The South Africa Horrorfest runs 26 Oct-4 Nov and you can check out the full line-up at the official site, Facebook Group & Event Page and follow events via the festival’s Twitter.

Samhain Horror Top 10, Ginger Nuts of Horror interview

some ginger nuts, earlier today

Happy to report ‘The Lamplighters’ is in at #8 in Samhain Publishing’s Top 10 Horror Bestsellers.


Huge thanks to all of you who are pre-ordering the novel, out 1 November in ebook (and 7 February in paperback).

My interview courtesy of host Jim Mcleod at The Ginger Nuts of Horror went live today, so grab yourself a biscuit and head on over to check out chat about books, movies, coffee and ginger nuts!

More tricks & treats coming soon, including a competition to win a ‘The Lamplighters‘ ebook!