e-volution Movie-Maker's Blog

Here are some entries from the Movie-Maker's Blog of e-volution's Digital Short Film project.

Visit the BBC pages to hear some of these entries.

Click here to read the poem around which the film is based.

08/09/05

DALE: The two months are nearly up and so we begin the countdown to the premiere as we enter the final week. The filming has now finished and we have entered the editing and sound production stage. Dom Rees-Jones from Hot Rock Music recording studio is helping us to put our piece together.

The film has no narrative in the conventional sense. Instead, we have taken our inspiration from a poem written by Katie Port, one of the group members. The title of the poem and our film is: “To Know My Truth Inside”.

The poem focuses on societal perceptions of homosexuality, stereotypes and misrepresentations of sexuality, the pressures faced by so many people to fit the “norm”. Ultimately the most important thing is being true to yourself.

Every member of the group recited the poem and we recorded it in the studio. The recordings are now going to be cut up, manipulated and mixed in with music before being put together with the images. You can read Katie’s Poem by clicking below.

The pressure is now on for us to put the finishing touches to the film in time for the premiere at the Ling’s Forum on Thursday 15th September. At various times through the project we have been on schedule, ahead of schedule and behind schedule but we are confident everything will be finished in time and we are already talking about what we could do next year. While the personal sense of achievement is immense, we are hoping to use the experience to help other organisations who want to do similar things, realise that it isn't necessarily as complicated as they think. It’s an unforgettable experience.

The programme begins at 7.45 with the film screened at 8pm at the Ling’s Forum in Northampton, ahead of “Wanted!” (part of the London Lesbian and Gay Film Festival On Tour.) Tickets cost £5 on the door, and there will be drinks in the bar both before and after the screening, so tell your friends and come down!

05/09/05

STEVE: It’s been fun making the film and making new friends while doing this project. Its been really good learning new things about making films. I would definitely do it again if I had the chance, and after this I would like to go into Directing.
Write to you soon.
Love from Steven.
P.S. I will be signing autographs over the internet until Friday!

26/08/05

DALE MORGAN: Filming, editing, music and sound production are now in full swing for the digital short film project at the NLGBA.

Emerging themes for the film have been
• Coming out
• Challenging stereotypes of young gay people
• Equality issues
• The law
• Being yourself in the face of societal pressures
• Being true to oneself

So far, the film has been fantastic fun to make, with everyone bringing ideas and their own unique style to the table. Although we have some pretty big personalities taking part, there is room for all of them!

Everything is now coming together, which is pretty amazing considering the short space of time we've had to do it all. When we think that only a month ago all we had was a group of people discussing ideas around a table, and now we have a trailer ready to be screened in the cinema, the sense of achievement is staggering.

An original sound track is being produced which will accompany the film. Sound artist Dom Rees-Jones from Hot Rock Music Recording Studios is leading the music production side of things, manipulating vocals and real-world sounds mixing together with synthesised effects, creating a truly unique score which suits the film really well.

The film is a chance to reflect and a reaction to how we, as young people from the LGBT community, see our future and our present. It is about who we are and how we feel about the prejudices around us. But most of all, it’s about being ourselves and wanting to be accepted for that, not just as a stereotype or another throwaway cliché. We are real people, all of us different, and we hope that this film is going to reflect that and challenge people’s perceptions.

The trailer will be screened at Ling’s Forum in Northampton on Sunday 28th August.

31/07/05

STEVE: I like acting and I like watching different films at the cinema, so I thought I'd get involved with the film group. We're at the stage of planning a film with comedy and farce and a bit of tragedy as well. I want the film to show that we're all part of society. We are what we are - deal with it!

MILTON: I began in theatre when I was 11. Now I've had 24 years working in theatre and the movies. Emily from NLGBA invited me to write part of the film. I want the audience of the film to think 'diversity'.

LEIGH: I thought it would be fun to make a film. I'd like a bit of comedy and a sad scene, but mostly I'd like it to be joyful and happy.

Listen to the movie makers talk about the project >
Audio and Video links on this page require Realplayer

CRAIG: It sounded like a really good idea and I had a little bit of time to spare, so I came along.

27/07/05

GEORGE & CRAIG: Hi, we are part of the NLGBA (Northampton Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual Alliance) and we are looking for more young people to come and join our youth group. Here are a couple of examples of what we do at the NLGBA: we have started a Digital Film Project that will be shown at the LGB film festival on the 15th September 2005 at Lings Forum. It will be from 8 o’clock onwards. The pink picnic will be on the 28th August at Abington Park at 2pm until 6.30pm - lesbian, gay and bisexuals are welcome. The NLGBA’s youth group is where you can come if you are gay, lesbian, trans-gender or bisexual. It's a really good space to meet people. Contact Emily for the digital film project on 01604 628986 or contact Becky, on the same number, for the youth group.

18/07/05

KATIE: Today was our second film project planning meeting. We each brought in a film and CD that we felt inspired by. Then we each took turns and talking about our films that we brought in. Then we talked about visual and sound analysis. We also each took part in speaking into the video diary, we shall all do each week talking about how we feel about the film project.

11/07/05

KATIE: Today was the first meeting of the film project planning group. The group was mostly young people from Northants. We started off by first introducing ourselves then by doing some ice breakers, to make everyone feel welcome and get to know each other better too. We then went into two groups to write out some ground rules that we all felt were important to help our group to run effectively, and to create a safe place for people to share their thoughts and feelings about making a film without feeling they might be laughed at. Everyone in the group was friendly. The group ran from 6 – 9pm at the NLGBA.

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