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on May 3
Frank Kelly
Posted project update #25Lockdown.
Post CommentHey Everyone,
Big day today. Today we locked the picture. For those who don't know what that means, it means the edit it finished, we have a final cut. There is still a lot of work to do, music, sound, grade, but the film is as it will be seen and that is a huge milestone. Means we are very close.
Now, this probably should have been the case months ago, but for two main reasons, one, I delayed things by deciding I could edit it myself... and then realising I couldn't, or rather, shouldn't! Some distance and perspective were needed. And the money thing. Everyone is still working for free, so I'm waiting for schedules to open up and on free time etc. But that's ok, it's the nature of a project this scale and I was always prepared for that. Thing is, it's moving forward, and that's the what's important.
As I mentioned above, next come the music, I'll be working on that tomorrow and then next week with composer Dermot O'Mahony, it's sounding great I have to say. Then comes the sound mix, when everything gets balance and we have layers of depth and dimension added. And then finally, the colour grade and conform. Where we give the film a final polish and get it ready for the world.
I'm hoping that will be July. Fingers grossed. More updates to come.
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on April 25
Frank Kelly
Posted project update #24Picture Lock
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on March 5
Frank Kelly
Posted project update #23Assemble
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on February 6
Frank Kelly
Posted project update #22New Editor Onboard
Post CommentHi Everyone,
Been a while since my last update! Apologies! Things have been moving ahead. I took some time off after the shoot to recover! Then of course Christmas got in the way... but excuses aside I started to edit the film. I had, have, about 45/50 minutes cut. I say "Had" because after some technical problems and looks back over the cut I had done, I decided I didn't have the expertise, or distance from the project, to do the best job possible.
Once again twitter comes to my rescue. In asked a question about my technical problem and editor John Murphy responded. I decided then I needed to get a real editor in on the job. Things have changed since I last cut a film, I'm married and have a 2 year-old running around. So it's not as easy to just take off and spend all day and all night cutting! Plus, I'm out of practice, and I want what's best for the film.
John agreed to give what time he could, which will be two weeks at the end of this month, which should give me a good assembly, enough to enter a working version of the film in time for the Cannes Film Festival. That's the deadline anyway. And then hopefully we can pick it up after his next gig. Or, there'll be enough for me to work on and not mess it up too much ;)
John is currently working on Mark O'Connor's new film 'King of the Travelers', before that he cut PJ Dillon's dark drama 'Rewind' and has done a lot of TV, including the hugely popular Irish TV comedy show, Killinaskully.
So my huge thanks to John for stepping in to help. It's really going to help push things forward on the film.
Meantime, here's a link to a behind the scenes video, many more of these to come: http://vimeo.com/36162257
Oh, and have you seen the new teaser poster?
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on November 22, 2011
Frank Kelly
Posted project update #21Fully WRAPPED!!!
We shot the last day of pick-ups today, which included the opening scene, some pick-ups we dropped on the last pick-up days (so pick-up pick-ups) and an a final scene in the Mill between Michael Bates and Steve Gunn. Went great, really good. Couldn't have been better in fact. I was slightly worried about it because we were fighting against the light. First we were up at 4 am for a driving scene that had to be filmed on empty road in the dark, so we were fitting against the sunrise. And then later, we were shooting day for night and so fighting against the sunset... why is everything backwards in film?Post Comment
Steve, Michael and John really pulled it off this morning in the van. I was left sitting in the back peeping through a window... which I almost went through at one point when Michael slammed on the breaks to hard and the entire contents of the back of the van slid toward me! It was a fun scene though. The lads read their lines and then improvised a lot of stuff. So I'm looking forward to cutting it.
We finished bang on 7am, just as the sun started to poke its head up. Then back to my house for a delicious breakfast as prepared by Maryann. Then back to the Mill for 9am. Shot the pick-ups with Michael we missed on the previous pick up days and then up stairs for a final, and important scene between J and Davey-boy.
It went great, the boys gave awesome performance, really ratcheted up the tension in a 6 minute one take wonder! It looked fantastic.
So that is it. Derelict is in the can. My first feature film. A dream I've had since I was small and an idea I've been working toward for 10 years. I'm feeling a bit sleepy right now (4am wake up call) but very happy, very satisfied, it feels like an achievement.
I want to thank everyone who was involved, who believed in it, me and stuck by me and the project.
The Cast: Michael Bates, Steve Gunn, Gerry Shanahan, Elaine Reddy, Rory Mullen, Catherine Wrigglesworth, Brian Fortune and Patrick O'Donnell.
The Crew: John Lawlor, Susan Downey, Richie Quinn, Marie Valarie Jeanalot, James Mullholland, Roger Ryan, Mary Ellen Darby, Eddie Quinn and Keith Ward.
Seek these people out. Work with them. Employ them. They are talented, reliable, hard working, committed and awesome.
To all the encouragers, supporters, sponsors, friend and family who stood by me and this project, my thanks.
But of course, as always, most of all, thanks to my wife Maryann, who bears the brunt of compulsion to make film! Who must be the practical thinker in our household. Who must figure out how to buy food and pay bills and balance life when I come in bright eyed and excited saying "I have a great idea for a film, I've already called the cast and crew and they're in, we're shooting in September..." She is the most patient and incredible woman I've ever known and I'm very very lucky to have her as my wife!
Thanks everyone. More new soon. Hopefully some footage. Maybe a trailer!I'm off to lie down...
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on November 16, 2011
Frank Kelly
Posted project update #20Pick-ups
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on October 14, 2011
Frank Kelly
Posted project update #19In The Can...
Or should that be On The Hard Drive?!
The film is shot, well, 80% shot. It turned out to be a lot more complicated then I had imagined, we suffered a lot of delays, scheduling problems and the generally wrath of the gods in trying to get this film shot! Everything seemed to be against us. Some once said "It's a miracle any film ever gets made," it's so true!
Things started to take an interesting turn the Saturday night before rehearsals when Keith Ward, one of the lead actors and the stunt so-ordinator for the film, pulled out. The film he was working on was running over because of the bad weather. So first day of rehearsals came and we were down one of the leads and our stunt and fight coordinator.
Also at this point our insurance had come through, the company I was going through were dragging their heals and not getting back to me. And because of that the location was getting antsy, and would of course deny us access without insurance!
Tuesday was a better day. Patrick O'Donnell joined the cast, much to my relief. And I decided to go with a different insurance company, who put the policy together that afternoon! So we were sorted.
An other challenge arose on the last day of rehearsals, when Michael Bates, the lead actor, came to me and said the commercial he was working on in the middle of the shoot (which he had told me about, but said it was just one day and would mean he would be late one of the days) had now turned into a two day shoot and would mean he would have to leave early on Monday, miss Tuesday and be late Wednesday... Michael was the lead and is in every single scene of the film... and don't forget, this was suppose to be a 5 day shoot!
We worked it out though. We shot on the Sunday, had a light day on the Tuesday and Michael came straight to set and shot till 3am on the Wednesday.
We still ended up running over, by two days, and we are still down scenes. I decided to concentrate on the more complicated stuff and leave some conversation scene to pick-up later (which we'll be shooting in two weeks).
The shoot itself was intense, busy, fraught with delays, complications and anxiety. Days were long, hard and shooting at night just exhausted everyone. But we got through it, we got scenes done and there was much compromise in what we were getting, I was happy with everything that was going down. I could see the film I wanted to make come to life. So that for me was worth all the hardships, that will of course soon be forgotten and become the stuff of legend, myth, the tales of heroism we tell when we're old!
Of course none of it would have been possible without the support of you guys. So my huge thanks for that!
I'm about to get stuck into the edit! I do like editing, but it's also hard to get started!!! Gets a bit fiddly!
Here are some early images from the film:
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on August 5, 2011
Frank Kelly
Posted project update #18Knives and Fights
Post CommentA month since the last update. I've been busy. Still looking at the script, working with the actors and taking a closer look at the location. Everything is coming together nicely. I still need some crew, sound recordist most importantly! But I'm sure that will be sort itself out. I also have one part to cast. I think I mentioned that actor Andy Gallagher, who was to play the son, Andrew, pulled out do to conflicting schedules. I was sad to lose him, but one door closes and all that... I took the opportunity to experiment a little more with the script and decided to turn the son into a daughter. I think it works really well. Except now I have to find an actress!
Meeting a good friend of mine next week, Dee McMahon, who is coming on as production designer. I've known Dee for years, she's a talented artist who has studied and worked in interior design for many years. She has since developed a passion for film design. So I'm grabbing her quick! Before I can't afford her!!!
Also had some great news from Film Equipment Hire Ireland. They have offered me a huge discount for equipment rental for the shoot! I'm delighted, it's going to help us enormously! Thanks to Mairtin De Barra for the contact and Colin Browne for his generosity!
Also had a chat with one of Irelands top Armorers, John McKenna, he's supplied weapons for the likes of 'Saving Private Ryan', 'The Tudors', 'The Wind That Shakes the Barley', 'Savage' ... basically every film and TV show that's been shot in Ireland over the last 20 years (in fact it was Savage director Brendan Muldowney who suggested I get in touch with him). So I'm hopefully going to be able to get some knives from him.
Meeting with Keith Ward next week, Keith is playing Tone, so we're going to talk character, but he is also fight coordinator on the film, so we're going to start designing the fights, which I'm looking forward to.
Last week I spent the afternoon with Steve Gunn (Davey-boy) and Michael Bates (J) to workshop a couple of scenes and talk about their characters as brothers. It was a fantastic afternoon , which we all got a lot from. The scene really started to take shape. I really is one of my favourite parts of doing this, getting actors in a room and watching them bring your words to life. Michael and Steve are working really well together so I'm really looking forward to getting into full rehearsal to see what comes out and eventually to set!
But not to be getting too far ahead of myself there is still alot to do... starting with some phone calls this afternoon, so better get back to it.
All the best
Frank
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on July 3, 2011
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on July 3, 2011
Frank Kelly
Posted project update #1690
Post Comment...days that is, until shooting! We got some time to prepare!
Frank Kelly
Drogheda, Ireland
Multi-award winning writer/director Frank Kelly was born, and lives, in Drogheda, County Louth in Ireland. He holds a Higher National Diploma in Animation Production from Ballyfermot College Dublin (Whose alumni include many Oscar winning filmmakers)... view more
Well done. The stills look great, have fun with the edit.