July 27th

It's the night before my birthday, Woo!

I've got a few things to post about this evening, I've got a week left of pre-production on my latest film before we head into shooting. It's getting crazy hectic and I'm loving every minute of it, I'll post a big blog about the journey when we get to the shoot (wouldn't wanna jinx anything!)

 Mr Porter has given us another essential guide that we should all take note of, Enjoy.

AND

Take a look at this.
It's a mini documentary from Jay-Z and Kanye West AKA 'The Throne' (two of my all time favourite musicians) who are releasing their new album 'Watch the Throne' during the first week of August.

They've also released a new single titled 'Otis' which I think is shit-hot. I'm such a huge admirer of these guys, they inspire and influence a lot of my creativity and art. When you watch that video you really see them in their element and how they just seem to completely embody their music. I love how it flashes back to Kanye at an early age, listen to how motivated he is and how much he believes in himself. Look where he's taken himself too!

Watching Jay sit their and just spit his lines until he gets it solid, I think it's so important to capture all of this and show it to the world so that you can really understand them for who they are as artists. I've seen both of them live and they were the two greatest performances I've seen in my life so far. Here they are again giving us another example of why they are so fucking good. The album drops August 8th!

The Trouble With Templeton's 'Bleeders'

Here it is, my latest production. A music video for The Trouble With Templeton's Bleeders:

I've had to keep very quiet about this until my brother officially released the video publicly.  I started having ideas for a clip (not for this song in particular) when I saw Kanye West's Runaway music video. I LOVED The idea of using dancers to reflect emotion involved in a song and when I heard Bleeders it felt like the perfect one for it. For those of you who don't know, the term 'Bleeders' is used to describe an emotionally expressive person e.g. "He's a Bleeder" or "I'm a Bleeder" etc. Tom's album is also titled Bleeders which I feel is appropriate having listened to the album already. I approached my brother with this idea and he built on top of it by creating the setting (the forest) and the ideas of using ghosts. we built on top of that until we had a full concept that we liked.

I was showing my brothers photography to my Cinematographer Richard Bell and he came up with the idea of using his art as concepts in the music video (the man in the tree, the lady in the bathtub and the lady in the earth.)

For the whole 'look' of the clip we really wanted to go for a classic horror-movie style

We used Sleepy Hollow as a big reference, Tim Burton has always been inspired by horror movies growing up and Sleepy Hollow was a movie that he used to culminate all that he loved about them.
My brother Tom is a huge fan of The Cabinet of Dr. Calgari  and he also used a lot of references from that picture for the ghosts

Dr Calgari

One of the Ghosts featured in the Bleeders clip, played by Betty Yeowart

We had a chat to Toms manager and she asked If I could get it done in three weeks so we could help circulate the single. Obviously I just nodded my head and said I could do anything!  We went away and had Pre Production for 2 weeks and then shot the clip in one night.  We ended up losing some of the footage through technical complications so we went back and re-shot some new stuff a week later.  Three days after that we delivered it.

I'm glad I proved to myself that I could deliver something of this calibur so quickly (would've been interesting to see what happened If I didn't!)
I was working with such an amazing cast and crew, I tell you what it pays to have friends who are so amazing at what they do. (that totally rhymes)

Here's some photos at the Premiere with mates and family (Taken by Gail Browne:)

This has been an amazing experience and I'll be following up with my short film which starts shooting on August 3rd. Keep your eyes peeled!

Get Ready...

;)

Gucci Biker Jacket

WANTWANTWANTWANTWANTWANT!!!!!!!!

Martin Scorsese's 'Hugo'

I chose this movie at the start of the year as my most desired to see for 2011 and this first trailer looks tremendous. Martin Scorsese talked in early stages of production about shooting the film in 3D, saying that he researched the use of 3D in movies throughout history and feels that he's found his own way of using the aesthetic. I know that this format has a use besides the traditional way we are seeing now (in big blockbusters for huge explosions, huge shot compositions etc) and when used properly it will give the director greater abilities for storytelling. I just had no idea about how to use it the right way, until I saw this trailer.

I think the way Scorsese is using his visual tools is enhancing the fantasy/fairytale childrens theme of the piece and ads that extra bit of magic to the story. Shot's like that amazing push through the train station (0:32) The breathtaking crane down/turn following Hugo as he slides down the ladder (1:06) as well as the wide shot of Hugo and the little girl in the clocktower (01:55) show a really conscious use of the 3D system. In that last shot in particular you can really see a conscious use of the 3-dementional depth having the cogs of the clocktower in the foreground, the two characters in the midground and the eiffel tower in their background. This is a perfect example of using 3D properly even when the camera isn't moving. Even in 2D this looks breathtaking, Can you imagine how amazing this is going to look in 3D?

I think it's so important when you decide that your picture's end product should be seen in 3D that you should be conscious of the aesthetic from the beginning so you are aware of its capabilities of enhancing your story.  I think that's why films that are converted to 3D are really more of a gimmick because the majority of the time the shots that look amazing are usually the epic camera moves or big explosions, etc. When you understand what you can create with it then you'll begin to create shots (like that 01:55 clocktower wide) that you would never have thought of if you were shooting in 2D.

This story is also VERY different to what Scorsese usually creates, which is just another example of his growth. He continues to extend into so many different genres of film, he's literally showing us that he can do anything. He's chosen an amazing cast for it as well including Ray Winstone, Sascha Baron Cohen, Ben Kinglsey, Jude Law and an extremely talented young actor named Asa Butterfield for the lead character, Hugo. Scorsese's regular collaborators Robert Richardson (D.O.P) and Dante Ferreti (Production Designer) have also done an amazing job on the entire look of the film.

From what I can see already it seriously has nailed all aspects of what it takes to create an amazing picture, October can't come soon enough!

Big Lights, Deep Shades

Another piece of the puzzle

Oooo, what am I working on now? soon you will find out, soon....!

Jimmy Choo Debut Men's Collection

"the Jimmy Choo man is one who exudes confidence and style whether he is an artist or an investment banker."

Finally, Jimmy Choo for us men! The line ranges from loafers all the way to trainers and it all looks absolutely stunning.
Pay careful attention to the amount of detail in each shoe, it's astonishing.
My favs below, check the full range here

York

Bedford

Draycott

Holborn

Regent

Sneaky Peak!

Here's a sneaky peak of my next project...what could this be for? Find out soon!

War Horse

I love it when he releases two movies in one year!!!!!! Check out the astonishing trailer to War Horse here