Don't Like The Rules? Change 'Em

By the time that I decided to be a filmmaker, or at very least study filmmaking at University or College, I had already watched a lot of films. Maybe even read some books on the subject to get better informed of this thing they call the 'Movie Business'. If it was the same for you as it was for me on the journey to your chosen vocation (whatever it may be), you will have put in some hard time trying to learn the steps necessary to succeed. But probably the best lesson you could ever learn is the one that no one ever teaches you during those formative years when you are developing into a professional. It is a lesson that, had someone told me, would have saved me a lot of heartache, frustration and soul-searching in vain. I will speak as a filmmaker here, even though this advice is good for all vocations.

Without further ado here is the lesson that all artists should know:

You don't have to learn how to make a film, market a film, or know the rules of the business to be a successful filmmaker. You can just change them.

Read that again. Once you have stopped being outraged at how anyone could say that, read it again. Once you have thought about all the time and money you spent on a course learning how to be a filmmaker, like generations before you, read it again. Now let the anger go and let me see if we can talk calmly about this. Because, yes, when the thought came to me, I too was angry. I mean I'd spent so much time learning about how to write, make, market and show my films the way I was supposed to. The way every filmmaker is supposed to. How was it that I could've missed the most obvious of lessons for so long. The reason is that it is the one lesson that they don't want us to know. The one lesson that puts the power well and truly in our hands. The one lesson that makes them afraid.

Now don't get me wrong, I'm not talking here about knowing how to technically make films. Obviously it is incredibly important to know how things work. To know background and theory and everything. When I say you don't have to learn to make or market, what I'm talking about is not having to follow the prescibed route in these matters. This way of thinking probably hasn't always been possible. I mean there is a right way and a wrong way to approach any business endeavour. But we are naive if we continue to think that the 'system' of making a film is the one and only thing in the world that has not evolved over time. It has. Like generations before us we have had the calling. The desire to tell stories and write films. The desire to hone our craft and our ideas. To create. But unlike any generation before, we now have something new. Something exclusive to our time. We have the ability to communicate and interact like never before. And it is this that has ultimately destroyed what is left of the formal and faraway film business. The elite and mysterious movie world. Lets examine the journey of a film, from its conception to its final resting place and see how things have changed.

1. The Idea - Inspiration comes from everywhere. Ideas come in all shapes and sizes. Big ones, little ones, sudden ones, ones that dwell for years at the back of our minds, good ones, bad ones, the list goes on... Writers are true artists creating something from nothing. Sitting down in front of writing pads (IPads, anyone?) and pulling whole worlds out of their asses. Giving their creations form, and voice, and character. What these writers did was nothing less than amazing. They were even employed by movie studios to write films, one after the other. It was really something to be in the minority of people on this earth who could write. To cut a long story short, the internet gave a voice to people who believed they could also write but were never brave enough to call themselves writers. Look at how many blogs have been created. how many people have websites. The internet gave people an audience (or at the very least the illusion of a public outlet for their words) and people decided that they too may have something going on in their lives that was worth writing about. For the first time information was free and readily available in high quantities to anyone who needed it. If there was something you needed to know you could find it on the internet. If you wanted inspiration some news story would provide. Suddenly the world was a smaller place and anyone could communicate with anyone. Ideas for films were no longer the preserve of the studios. Now anyone with a decent level of grammar could be the exciting and inspirational voice in the wilderness, saying something meaningful.

Pre-Production - You have the idea and the story and the script is written. Now you just have to get a studio to finance your film, get a cast, a crew and a set to shoot on. Oh, did I mention your equipment. Lights, camera (and eventually action). How much do you think all this costs? Thousands. Probably (in the case of the feature films) millions. We'll guess what, not anymore. Idea - free. Story - free. Script - free. Cast - ask some friends, visit an acting school, find some amateurs who don't want to be amateurs anymore. More than anytime in the past people want to be famous. Mostly without any talent. But with a simple blog online asking people if they are interested, you can find actors. There is always people who will want to be in a film. There will even be people who can act who want to be in a film. There might even be people who can act, who are talented, who are hungry and who believe in your words who want to be in a film. To find these people will take a blog and a little luck. But even luck costs nothing. just make sure you pay your actors. Remember, they are working and like any job, require a paycheck at the end of the week. Crew - work with your friends. They are your biggest critics and your best allies. They love you (or at least they should do, other wise why are they your friends?) so they will stay an extra hour so you can get that shot. It may cost you a pint and a happy meal at the end of the day, but the work will be completed. As long as you know what it is you want to achieve you can direct them with what to do anyway.

So your idea has been formed the way you want. The script has been written how you want it. If you don't answer 'yes' to anything here, then why not? You are not writing for a studio. You're not on clock. You have as much time as you need to get it right. Like Burger King - you can have it your way. The shooting has been completed for relatively little money forked out. So now comes the editing process. And this could cost, but guess what? The world being what it is, free apps are now available that will edit movies. Who'd have thunk it? Other than that, find someone with editing equipment and borrow it. Come on, I bet if you think really hard you will know some guy who knows some guy who has a piece of kit that you can use or rent at bottom dollar.

The final piece of the puzzle is marketing your film. Now in times gone past your aim would be to see your film on the big screen in the cinema, but this is no longer the case. Advertising is a much cheaper and easier task with the internet available to give you all the exposure and buzz you need. Hell, even putting your film on there as pay-per-view could make you more money than a run in the cinema. If you don't think this is the case you should read this:

http://silentbobspeaks.com/?paged=7

Kevin Smith is taking a completely new marketing route with his new film 'Red State'.
He is taking it on tour and offering it for viewing on the internets for anyone who wants to see. He spent no money on expensive advertising, choosing to market the film in-house. In this way, every dollar that the film makes beyond the budget of making it, is profit.

So have a serious think about the business you are in. Do you have set rules to follow? Patterns of working that may never have been questioned in the history of time. Maybe it's time to question why processes we follow are processes we follow. Especially if they are long-winded, time-consuming and expensive. All I'm really saying is that I think there is more than one way to do something. So just find the method of working that suits you best. Find the system that reduces your frustrations and increases your confidence and enjoy exploring new options.

To finish this (long) entry I just want to send out some regards to a few filmmakers who have taught me that films can be someting different than what we perceive. They can be truly original endeavours. Not just what is on screen, but in the way we, as filmmakers of the new millenium, make them. In no particular order thanks to Kevin Smith for writing the most honest blog I have ever read. To Robert Rodriguez for the ten minute film school which taught me almost as much as my three year degree (in ten minutes). Finally to Quentin Tarantino for writing freethinking dialogue that sounded like real-life and wasn't coonnected with the images on screen. These men are the current examples of everything dicussed above.

As always, your thoughts are welcome. Cheers.

Can they steal your thoughts these days??

It's been a long time since I updated this particular blog. I guess my other blogs have been getting more love and attention (my photography blog and my random inspiration blog). There are two main reasons why the updating of a blog goes by the wayside for a while. Either you get too lazy to update it, or you are too busy to update it, and this time, I am pleased to be able to report that it is the latter. I have been working on various scripts and stories in my quest to get a new film on the go and get back behind the camera. So three things have been occurring in the past six months. Firstly, I have been editing and refining a script that was written by one of my friends and collaborators called 'These Dreams'. It is a great story about a guy who is in a lot of debt and is having troubled dreams. The only problem is that he is living a double life and is not sure what are his dreams and what is reality. It is all going well with this one, and the only thing now is to have some further collaboration to make the ending as exciting and kick-ass as possible.

The second thing I have been doing is trying to write a short film which can be filmed on a very low budget in a short period of time. I find that I have trouble coming up with short film ideas these days, as the quality of short films being produced out there is very high. I usually get into an idea and when I get it down on paper it never quite hits the mark for me. I also have an issue with writers block, which seems to come out of the blue and zap my creativity for large chunks of time. But, lo and behold, the other day, when i was doing something totally unrealted to filmmaking, a short story popped into my head and wouldn't let go. I got out a writing pad and pen and twenty minutes later, hey presto, a short story. Perfect for filming quickly, inexpensive to make and only needing three actors. It's called '5 Minutes to Misery' and is now in the rewrite phase, where i show it to some trusted people I know and get their feedback to make it a little better. i will make it this summer, all being well. It is about the break up of a relationship and the pre-conceived notions we have of gender roles. I know that all sounds a bit pretentious, but it won't be. I promise.

The third thing I have been doing is trying to write a feature film and this has been a hard road for me for a long time. I have lots of half finished scripts and stories and have found that sometimes an idea will roll and then suddenly stop, for no reason. I have been getting frustrated at wanting to finish a script and get it to the point where people read it and like it and wish to see the movie. Again, with all of this the trouble was the writers block, but last week, out of the blue I had an idea. I was driving around and listening to music, thinking about the story I would like to write. It was then that I realised that a few of the little bits of scripts and stories I had lying around would probably go nicely if I joined them together and filled in the blanks. I had a 30 page script called 'The Rules of Engagement' and some stories (about 5 pages long) and some dialogue and characterisations. 'Holy Shit' I thought. 'What if all of these bits (which are in the same genre) could be stappled together into a longer story. I could then flesh out the action and stregthen the characters and maybe, just maybe, it might make one hell of a feature film. Sometimes when you are writing something, you think you know where the story is taking you. But all these little pieces that I was sure were individual stories and scripts may just turn out to be sections of one complete movie. The mind has a strange way of working, but eventually if you keep plugging away and writing down your ideas and thoughts, you will get that moment of clarity. You will get that one story you've been chasing forever. I think I just did.

On a side note, if you think you recognise the title of my short script above, it's because you do. Believe it or not (and you probably won't but it happens to be the truth) I have this extraordinary gift (or curse depending on your viewpoint) of being able to come up with titles, only to find that a few months later Hollywood make a film or tv show with the same title. It is annoying, but I comfort myself with the knowledge that I thought of it first and with the idea that if you believe in a collective consciousness, then I must be on the pulse of the thinking of Hollywood writers.

Let me give you the breakdown. I made my graduation film in 2002 which was called 'Dark' and was about a man and woman who get locked in a room together, but neither know why they have been put there. After this I wrote a film in the same genre about a woman who was agoraphobic and would not leave her house. I called this film 'Lost'. This was before the TV Series of the same name, which has probably spoiled that title for me forever. I then wrote the film above called 'The Rules of Engagement' only to find that a film with Samuel L. Jackson and Tommy Lee Jones was released with that title. My story is about a hitman and bears no similarity. Another project was called 'Dog Eat Dog' about gangsters in 1940's Ireland. Hollywood used this title for a piss poor romantic comedy soon after. Next came a horror film I wrote about a sea monster called 'Dark Waters'. Hollywood released 'Dark Water', a horror starring Jennifer Connelly. At this point i was beginning to think I was being bugged or someone was reading my mind or something, but at least I was on the same wavelength as the money men and studios. My friend Charlie wrote a script called 'Poker Night' which I will make one day when the money is there. A year later I read a story about a film which would be coming out starring Haydn Christiansen of Star Wars fame called (yes, you've guessed it) 'Poker Night'. The story is about a man and a woman who get locked in a room together, but neither know why they have been put there. Hmmmm. Does that sound at all familiar to you? Really, I should just ring them and tell them they should call it 'Dark'. So before you hear it somewhere else first (and there's a good chance you will) I have a few other scripts in various states of completion. These days, I am afraid to give them titles until they are done, but the titles I have are as follows: 'The Roofwalker', 'The Cleaner', 'The Rythm of Love', 'One Week', 'Knife', 'Too Many Crooks', 'Perfect Alibi', 'Stolen'. If you see any of these in a cinema near you, please remember you saw them here first. I wonder will they steal that last one. That would be ironic.

Years in the Wilderness

Time really does fly when you enter the world of work, only not in the way you would imagine. Days in the office and quiet credit crunch nights can take forever. Creativity can take a backseat to making money and paying the bills. One day you realise that it's been years since you picked up a camera, let alone made a film. This didn't seem like such a big issue when I was working in a photography studio because you could always focus on the creativity of the job. But lately I have been getting itchy fingers and feeling creatively restless.

This will be an especially recognisable feeling for those of you involved in artistic jobs. Writers who have ever been 'blocked'. Directors who have not been able to make their film 'work'. Or anyone who has left their vocation behind in favour of realistic wages in a day-to-day job.

I'm lucky enough to have people around me who have told me I'm a happier person when I'm being creative and finally their words have got through to me. Man cannot live by reality alone. So, in my spare time (I will make more of it) I'm diving into my back catalogue of unfinished and unproduced scripts and looking at them again. I'm also getting back on the internet and commenting on the odd movie website. And rekindling my love affair with my Sony PD150 Dv Camera. I've been dipping my toe back out in the world by going to see some live gigs and writing some new videos for bands.

It's easy to let things roll and roll and do nothing when there is no structure involved. When nobody is waiting on you to produce the goods. So I've set myself a few deadlines and am ready to get back to it. I watched a few of my old movies the other night (I will get them on here for you to see) and I remembered the great feeling I got while making them.

Sometimes with age and experience comes the feeling that certain things are not possible. I miss the days of being too young to realise that those things were not possible. I miss the days when we just went out and did it. Three films in one day, no worries. No money for film stock, shoot on Dv. Problems with light, ignore it. Problems with sound, deal with it in a wacky and totally abstract way. There was no such thing as 'can't be done' in those days. It's too easy to lose that when you start letting the real world hassle you.

In getting back to the movies and creative side of things I will try and keep my blog current and updated with all the latest news. I've got some interesting projects up my sleeve and will let you know the details when we're ready to roll. I'll post new writings and pictures as they come along. And of course, as always, any feedback is welcome from all of you lovely folks out there.

Cheers, Aaron.

Completed Projects 1994-2005

Here is a list of all the projects I have been involved in since I first entered the wonderful world of the moving image all those years ago.

BULLY
Renegade Productions
Written & Directed by Aaron McVitty
Thriller, 3mins, Video, 1994, Belfast, Northern Ireland
When three bullies try to attack a schoolboy and steal his walkman, they get more than they bargained for.
Cast: Schoolboy – Gerard McStravick
Bully 1 – Hugh McAllister
Bully 2 – Damien Smith
Bully 3 – Colm McCann

MANIAC/BEYOND CONTROL/DISTURBED
Renegade Productions
Written & Directed by Aaron McVitty
Horror/Thriller, 9mins, Video, 1995, Belfast, Northern Ireland
A trilogy of stories about a boy who, in the space of a week, gets attacked by a stranger, meets aliens and has a psychotic episode. Cast: Boy – Bryan Robert Wright
Maniac – Aaron McVitty

MILD MANIA
51 Peg Pictures
Written & Directed by Peter Dunphy
Drama/Thriller, 22mins, 8mm Film, 1995, Donegal, Ireland
An insurance investigator gets sent to the countryside to deliver a letter to a mysterious ex-Nazi. The Nazi mistakes him for a war crimes prosecutor, with deadly consequences.
Cast: Nazi – Albert Fry
Investigator – Aaron McVitty
Crew: Make-up – Brendan O’Neill

‘ALRIGHT,GOODNIGHT,SLEEPTIGHT’
Renegade Productions
Written & Directed by Aaron McVitty
Music Video, 5mins, Video/8mm Film, 1997, Belfast, N. Ireland
The story of a woman, a man, and the love that tears them apart. Cast: Woman – Charlene McGauley
Man – Aaron McVitty
Words and Music by Colm McCann

THE GREAT EVENT
Renegade Productions
Written & Directed by Aaron McVitty
Thriller, 3mins, MiniDV, 1998, Newport, South Wales
A man whose girlfriend leaves him attempts suicide.
Cast: Man – Aaron McVitty
Crew: Camera – Rod McCool

BIG IN SWEDEN: ONE NIGHT LIVE
Pendragon Pictures (Europe) Ltd
Directed by Aaron McVitty
Live Performance, Video, 1998, Santa Ponsa, Mallorca
Live music session of the band ‘Big In Sweden’ (now called ‘Bluemoose’) recorded in Dicey Reilly’s pub in Spain.
Crew: Camera/Sound/Editing – Aaron McVitty
Stills Photography – Charles Macklin

THE LETTER
Renegade Productions
Written & Directed by Aaron McVitty
Drama, 4mins, MiniDV, 1999, Belfast, Northern Ireland
When a man’s estranged mother dies, he returns to her house and finds a letter that she wrote to him before her death.
Cast: Man – Charles Macklin
Woman – Emma McCarthy

MUNDY: LIVE
Eldark Productions
Directed by Susan Meehan
Live Performance, MiniDV, 1999, Dublin, Ireland
Live set by Mundy filmed in Dublin.
Crew: Camera/Sound – Susan Meehan
2nd Camera – Aaron McVitty

It was sometime around 2000 that I came up with the idea of formalising a film company and setting it up to create new projects. I decided that I knew enough creative people on a personal level that would like to be involved. I approached people from each artistic discilpine and by the time that Pendragon Pictures (Europe) Ltd became a working company, I had a graphic designer, an animator, a musician, a writer, an actress, and myself as a filmmaker. These people would be able to advise and directly work on any future projects and have a say in the direction of the company. I felt that this collection of creative disciplines would help to complete projects of the highest quality with the minimum of expense. Below is the company logo and some early projects that we completed. Besides what is listed here we also have another five short films ready to go into production and three feature film scripts in various stages of completion.














WATERCRESS: LIVE
Pendragon Pictures (Europe) Ltd
Directed by Aaron McVitty
Live Performance, MiniDV, 1999, Belfast, Northern Ireland
The last ever performance by Belfast band Watercress filmed in the Empire Music Hall at Christmas.
Crew: Camera/Sound – Aaron McVitty
2nd Camera – Colm McCann

BACK IN THE SADDLE
Pendragon Pictures (Europe) Ltd
Written & Directed by Aaron McVitty
Comedy, 4mins, MiniDV, 2000, Newport, South Wales
A short film about the large amount of prams that invade the city centre every Saturday afternoon.
Crew: Camera – Aaron McVitty

THE JEFF&VIDA BAND: LIVE
Pendragon Pictures (Europe) Ltd
Directed by Aaron McVitty
Live Performance, MiniDV, 2001, Belfast, Northern Ireland
Live set by New Orleans based Bluegrass band filmed in Madden’s Pub during their Country Music Festival visit to Ireland.
Crew: Camera/Sound – Aaron McVitty
2nd Camera – Emma Mitchell

PLAYBACK
Little Star Productions
Written & Directed by Emma Mitchell
Thriller, 7mins, MiniDV, 2002, Newport, South Wales
A man who spends most of his time in his car is haunted by memories of the past.
Cast: Man – Allan Lundy
Crew: Camera – Jon Rennie
2nd Camera – Aaron McVitty
Sound – Emma Mitchell

DARK
Pendragon Pictures (Europe) Ltd
Written & Directed by Aaron McVitty
Drama/Thriller, 8mins, MiniDV, 2002, Newport, South Wales
A man and a woman are locked in a room together. The woman is afraid of the dark. As they are trying to work out why they are there, the lights go out.
Cast: Claire – Caitlin Richards
Brian – Anthony Tapsell
Crew: Camera – Aaron McVitty
Sound – Lisa Derbyshire
Stills – Anthony Tapsell
Music – Colm McCann
Assistant – Emma Mitchell
Based on an original idea by Charles Macklin

PD-5 INFOMMERCIAL
Pendragon Pictures (Europe) Ltd
Written & Directed by Aaron McVitty
Corporate Video, 5mins, MiniDV, 2002, Belfast, Northern Ireland
An information and advertising video presentation for a new product by Pendragon Holdings Ltd, for their new fuel additive, which significantly reduces Co2 emissions in vehicles.
Crew: Camera – Aaron McVitty
Narrator – Chloe Purcell
2nd Camera – Emma Mitchell

SHORT
Wellington Films
Written & Directed by Waris Islam
Comedy/Drama, 8mins, DigiBeta, 2003, Ealing, London
A man, short-changed on life and short in height, finds a woman short of love in a tall world.
Cast: Woman – Samantha Janus
Man – Rupert Proctor
Crew: Camera – Chris Ross
Producer – Al Clark
Music – Renu Hossain
Stills – Anthony Tapsell
Runner – Aaron McVitty

TOKEN OF DIVINITY
Wiseguys Pictures
Written & Directed by Aaron McVitty
Thriller, 4mins, MiniDV, 2003, Ealing, London
Produced as an entry in the National 48 hour Film Challenge. The story of a man who gets abducted by a deadly woman, and is saved by God.
Cast: He – Anthony Tapsell
She – Chloe Purcell
Crew: Camera – Aaron McVitty
Music – Colm McCann

SICK WEIRDO
Pendragon Pictures (Europe) Ltd
Written & Directed by Aaron McVitty
Music Video, 4mins, MiniDV, 2004, Belfast, Northern Ireland
A woman has a deadly encounter with a security guard one night.
Cast: Woman – Niamh McGrady
Guard – David Bonnar
Crew: Camera – Aaron McVitty
Location/Equipment – Castle Engineering & Construction

Definition of an Artist

I don’t know what your definition of an artist is. Some people might think that a filmmaker is not an artist. They may think that an artist is someone who sits in front of an easel and paints lovely landscapes. And they would be right. But they would also be wrong. I think anyone can be an artist and they can practice in whichever field that they want (or multiple fields if they so wish).

I’m sick of people who look down their noses at someone who doesn’t fit their idea of what an artist should be. For example I consider myself to be an artist within multiple disciplines. I am a filmmaker, a writer, a photographer, a musician, and a digital retoucher. I do all these things (professionally or otherwise) and I enjoy being able to switch back and forth amongst these artistic endeavours. In each of these fields I have styles that interest me and keep me hooked. I also have the themes that fascinate me.

It breaks down like this:

Filmmaking: I enjoy feature films, short films, fiction, documentary, music videos, anything and everything. That doesn’t mean I like it all or see the point in everything I watch, but I think experiencing all forms and styles allows me to decide what I class as my favourite films.

When making films I am drawn to fictional stories more than documentaries. I am intrigued by human relationships and how a film can totally surprise an audience or make a person feel in awe of the images that they are seeing. I believe that a film audience are smarter than a television audience and I love to talk about films and debate with people over their beliefs and feelings relating to films. I believe the rules were made to be broken and I am always looking for new ways to portray a story or a character and to convey the things that are happening on the screen to the audience. I like an audience to have to think for itself and not be ‘led’ to conclusions.


Writing: I write films, stories, songs, poetry, whatever. I find that the most ordinary things in life can be extraordinary through words. I love to create words that an audience can relate to. I love to write scripts that have sharp, smart dialogue and unforeseen twists in the plot. Again I am fascinated by the power of words to convey feeling and emotion. It sounds a bit strange but basically if people can relate to something I write then I feel like I’ve done a good job. And they don’t always have to relate in a good way. Maybe they will totally disagree with my point of view. That is their right as free thinkers.


Photography: I completed my qualifications in Photography and started back in the days when a photographer would shoot on film and then develop the film and then spend hours in the darkroom with chemicals and papers creating pictures. Nowadays I do more digital stuff but I still like to dive back into the traditional methods now and again for fun. My favourite type of photography is portraiture. I think taking a really good picture of a person is a great challenge and when you capture their personality in a photograph it is a great feeling.


Music: I play a bit of guitar and sing badly, but I like writing my own songs and learning songs that other people have written. I think music is the one art form where it easy to share your ideas and work without having to worry that someone will steal it. I love people like the Irish singer Christy Moore who would tour around watching other artists, playing gigs and sharing music and bringing that music to the public arena. I think the art of music is a very social art. It is a great feeling when my friends and I get together and break out the guitars and just have a wonderful time singing and sharing songs.


Digital Retouching: Back in the old days I was against the whole digital photography revolution (I know, I know, look at me now). Then when I left University and needed a job a photographer friend of mine asked me if I would like to come and work at a Photographic studio and be a digital retoucher. I asked him what it was and he explained that it was the person who manipulated digital photographic images using a computer. I said that it sounded like fun. That was a Friday night. I flew to England, he trained me to use photoshop and I started work on the Monday. The rest I learned as I went along. I now do this type of work on a freelance basis. You can see samples of my work in my pictures or at www.viewcreatives.co.uk

Poetry: I am a published poet and that’s all I have to say about that.

Anyway, I just thought I would share these thoughts about what I consider as art with you and if anybody wants to let me know their thoughts on the subject or indeed tell me about their work as an artist, please feel free.

Cheers,

Aaron.

Watercress

I filmed 'Watercress' during their last ever gig which took place in the Empire Music Hall in Belfast on the 23rd December 2000.

I had been filming footage of bands for a while and I really liked the music that Watercress had been producing. The first time I heard one of their songs was when I was still at school. A friend of mine called Colm McCann and I would meet up at lunchtimes with our guitars and play a few songs. It was better than being out playing football in the rain and one day Colm brought this book along with the lyrics for lots of songs in it. I was reading through it when I came across a song called 'Plastercast' and I got him to play it. It was brilliant. Colm told me it was a song by a local band called 'Watercress' and he later lent me their album 'Bummer'.

It was years later that Colm was working for NIMIC (Northern Ireland Music Industry Commission) and had contact with Brian Acton and Dan Donnelly from the band. Watercress had been touring around Europe but were coming home for a Christmas show at the Empire. So Colm arranged for us to get access to the show and film the band playing.

I was nervous as hell driving down to the venue. I had my Sony PD-150 Digital Camera that I had saved up and bought, another smaller digital camera that I had borrowed and an old M-40 Video camera which took actual full-size VHS tapes. For sound I was hoping to plug my minidisc recorder into the mixing desk and sync up the sound on the video at the editing stage.

I met Colm when I got there and he introduced me to Dan and Brian who were really nice guys. Brian just took one look at me and said 'so you're the video guy?'
Yep, that was me. The video guy. I plugged the minidisc into the desk although I think that annoyed the engineer slightly. I managed to duct tape my VHS camera up on the balcony looking down on the stage. Meanwhile Colm took one camera and went over to the left of the stage and I took the other and stood on a raised platform on the right. The VHS camera would just take a continuous long shot of the stage and the other two cameras would film close ups that I could cut to. Thinking back I maybe should've put the digital camera up on the balcony for the long shot since it was better quality, but I was afraid some drunken punter would steal it and besides that, I wanted to remain as inconspicuous as possible.

The show was fantastic and in the end we filmed over an hour and a half of footage. We used two complete minidiscs. We filmed until all the batteries ran out and our arms were aching. But it was great. There's something really good about filming live music. Once you start shooting you just have to go with it and see what happens. There's no retakes or starting again. And when you get something right it's just like magic. You can feel it when you captured 'a moment'.

I didn't know when I asked the band if I could film the show that it would be the last one ever and it felt quite emotional when they announced it on stage. Looks like I got my act together just in time. I didn't know that would be my last chance.

It was only when I started the editing process that I realised how big a job it was to make a 90 minute DVD of live footage and sync the sound and add titles. So as it stands I still have all the footage which I keep as a side project for fun. I edited and added sound to the first three songs and have a completed ten minute teaser of the show.

The strange thing after the show was the internet buzz that started for no apparent reason. On one of the Watercress forums people were on there saying that the gig was brilliant. One person even asked if anyone else had noticed that the BBC were there filming the show for a documentary about the band. I was going to post a reply, but I hadn't the heart to tell them…

Just incase any of you lovely people are wondering, there are probably still copies of the 'Bummer' album floating around the cosmos but they are few and far between. It's become a cult album now that people talk about in hushed tones around campfires. Nevertheless, it is essential listening if you like your music original, meaningful and melodic.
Currently Dan and Brian are working on separate projects. Dan is in New York playing solo and with his band 'Sonovagun' (see my friends list for more details) and Brian is living in the North of England playing gigs around the country with his band 'Drat' (www.doubledrat.net)

That's all Folks,

Aaron.

Death in Vegas

Let me start this blog by stating for the record that ‘Death in Vegas’ did not sanction or have any knowledge of this video. Well that’s not strictly true. It was given to them in the strangest of ways but I’ll get to that later. Let me start where most stories start, at the beginning. Once upon a time I was given a song by a friend of mine, Colm McCann. He usually plays guitar and writes acoustic songs, but he had taken a sharp right turn into the world of Dance music. Well, not exactly dance music, more like beats and drums and rhythms and computerised voices and the like. These days, he’s more into the Salsa dancing but I hope one day he returns to his first love and starts writing more songs because I’d love him to release an album (yes his stuff is that good). So anyway, he hands me this drum and bass style song called ‘The Answer is No’ and asks me to listen to it. I play it in my car over and over and start to get this idea in my head that we could make a cool video for the song. Now, unlike the live performance stuff that I film, when I make a music video I tend to go for a video with a story. I don’t even usually think about the band being in the video. If the song is good enough and the story fits the words of the song then the video will work better than if it is just the band singing and dancing around. Nothing is worse than music videos where artists (and I use that term very loosely) just dance around like fucking monkeys. Music videos should have meaning and relate to the song, but then again, not every song has a point. The types of videos that I like are videos that you can watch over and over and see something different every time. My favourite music videos are the three videos that ‘Guns ‘n Roses’ made for their songs ‘Don’t Cry’, ‘November Rain’ and ‘Estranged’. A guy called ‘Del James’ realised that these songs all followed on from one another and wrote a story called ‘Without You’. The story starts with ‘Don’t Cry’ and is the story of a rock star (Axl Rose) who is having a hard time coping with his fame. It makes him suicidal and is affecting his relationship with his girlfriend (his real life wife at the time Stephanie Seymour). The video shows his breakdown and has some amazing imagery such as Axl on a psychology chair shaking and as he lies there another different Axl walks in (like an alter ego) and then another. Also, there is a scene where Axl is drowning and his girlfriend is holding onto him and dragging him further down. The video ends with Axl and his girlfriend having a picnic in the graveyard and the camera slides down below the ground where they are sitting and we see another beastlike Axl skulking around in the grave. The second part of the trilogy is ‘November Rain’ and is the same story progressed a year or so. Axl has become big-time famous and he and his girlfriend are getting married. Everything seems perfect and then at the wedding reception the rain starts and the tables are knocked over and the red wine is spilt and we find out that his new wife is dying. The wedding turns to a funeral and she has died and he is alone again. The video ends with Axl having horrible nightmares and a breakdown. The third part of the trilogy is ‘Estranged’. Again more time has passed and Axl has been through rehab and is back on tour. It is a sort of metaphorical release of his demons and his making peace with the situation he’s in. If you watch these videos together one after the other you will literally get chills up your spine (especially if have any knowledge of ‘Guns ‘n Roses’). So, as I was driving along and listening to this song that Colm had produced I had an idea for a video and a couple of days later the idea was on paper and ready to go. But because the song had no real lyrics, and because I’d never written a video for that type of music before, I had no idea if the music and the video would work together. I decided to go ahead and make the video anyway and worry about it later. To make the video as cheaply as possible I decided to shoot it in the street where I lived. I only needed two actors, one female and one male. The story was simple. A woman wakes up and gets dressed. It is night time. She leaves the house and walks down the street. As she walks down an alleyway, she is confronted by a man who is dressed in black. They stare at each other and the woman runs off. The man gives chase and traps her in a closed office building. He is looking around for her and cannot find her. Suddenly she is behind him and he is trapped. And let’s just say the woman is not as helpless as we may have believed. I don’t want to give the ending away but I thought the idea had a great twist on gender roles. For the male part I asked my future brother-in-law Dave to do it and he agreed once he knew he wouldn’t have to say anything. He had never acted before but was actually very good. For the female part I got a talented actress I met in Cardiff at University called Niamh (see my friends list for more details). She kindly donated a night for filming and we managed to shoot all the footage we needed quite quickly. So with all the footage in the bag, the job was to see if the music fitted the final edited video. It did, but unfortunately I just got the sense that it wasn’t right. I watched it over and over but something just wasn’t clicking. So I had a music video with no soundtrack. At this point I had been listening to a lot of different bands and one that stuck in my mind was ‘Death in Vegas’. They were an up and coming band doing some live shows around the country. The thing that was strange about them was that they didn’t seem to have any lead singer. Their songs would have random famous artists singing. The song I liked best was a song that had Iggy Pop singing on it called ‘Aisha’. It was dark and lucid and fucking hell…I discovered that it fitted on the video perfectly. I laid the track on and it worked. I tried to contact the band to see if they needed a video for the song and didn’t have much luck getting in touch with them, so I bought a ticket for their Belfast performance in the Limelight, a rock bar in my hometown (it’s an amazing bar. Colin Murray talks about it on Radio One. It’s not unusual to see ‘Snow Patrol’ down there having a pint and every week you’d see ‘Ash’ at the Pub Quiz). My plan was to burn a copy of the video to CD-Rom and give it to them after the show. And that’s exactly what I did. I went up to the stage at the end of the show and spoke to the guy who had been playing drums and quickly told him what it was and put it in his hand. I have no idea if they ever watched it or if it ended up in a gutter somewhere, but I like to think that one fine day when they were sitting around bored, they put it on and had a look. Who knows, maybe the phone might ring one day yet, or it might turn up on MTV out of the blue. Whatever happens (or more likely doesn’t) it is now available for all you good people to view here and on my myspace page. I hope you like it. Aaron.