Graduates get Cottonmouth at Cannes

A scene from Cottonmouth

Graduates from the University of Lincoln mingled with Hollywood heavyweights after their short film, shot for a University project, was accepted for the Cannes Film Festival.

Cal Johnson and Stephen Milnes originally produced their featurette Cottonmouth last year as part of director Cal’s MA in Media Production at Lincoln’s School of Media. The duo has since formed their own production company, Doncaster-based Bodyswerve Productions, teaming up with producer Martin Bushby.

Cottonmouth, a darkly comic story about an aspiring stand-up comedian, premiered at the inaugural Doncaster Little Film Festival last November where it was praised in film and TV press before being accepted into the Court Métrage (Short Film Corner) at Cannes.

The filmmakers have just returned from the famous festival in the south of France, which this year takes place between 16th and 27th May.

Director Cal said the trio, whose company has only been in operation a matter of months, was delighted to have the opportunity to showcase their work to leading lights in the global film industry.

“Cannes is the benchmark for artistic integrity within cinema, and the opportunity to have our little film from South Yorkshire connected with such a global celebration of cinematic quality is just incredibly exciting – an amazing opportunity for us as we start our journey into the film industry,” he said.

Martin said having their film shown at Cannes – the biggest festival of its kind in the world – was the perfect opportunity for Bodyswerve to network, pitch and get their name known.

He said: “It’s one of the few times you will get most of the film industry in one place for two weeks and our aim was to build up our profile and showcase the kinds of films we have been making in Doncaster.”

In 2011 Bodyswerve helped The Little Theatre set up the first ever Doncaster Little Film Festival, which has just been confirmed for its second year in June 2012. In March this year the company shot their second short film, Vacant, which is currently in post-production and will be submitted to festivals soon.

Dr Dean Lockwood and LSM PhD student Rob Coley get their book published!

The ‘Cloud’, hailed as a new digital commons, a utopia of collaborative expression and constant connection, actually constitutes a strategy of vitalist post-hegemonic power, which moves to dominate immanently and intensively, organizing our affective political involvements, instituting new modes of enclosure, and, crucially, colonizing the future through a new temporality of control. The virtual is often claimed as a realm of invention through which capitalism might be cracked, but it is precisely here that power now thrives. Cloud time, in service of security and profit, assumes all is knowable. We bear witness to the collapse of both past and future virtuals into a present dedicated to the exploitation of the spectres of both.
Review by Dr Jussi Parikka:
It’s not only your head that is in the Cloud, but your whole body in its desires, actions, reactions, hiccups and errors too. Coley and Lockwood show in their strong theoretical take on cloudy media cultures that the more invisible control becomes, the more we need to develop fresh theoretical tools to open it up. Cloud Time offers a much-needed analysis of contemporary capitalism as a perverse form of informationalization and quantification of life to which we happily, voluntarily contribute. Even Microsoft’s Steve Ballmer has admitted to the difficulty involved in clearly defining the Cloud – and yet, Coley and Lockwood give us excellent clues. — (Jussi Parikka, Author of ‘Insect Media’ and ‘Digital Contagions’, University of Southampton:http://www.southampton.ac.uk/wsa/about/staff/jp1f10.page)

LSM colleagues published

Adam O’Meara, Dean Lockwood and Rob Coley have just had a piece published in the online journal Rhizome in the special issue on Deleuze and Photography.

The submission from our colleagues was an audio recording, essay and video as a result of the ‘Student as Producer’ initiative from last year. Fantastic work! Well done to the three of them and their students.

http://rhizomes.net/issue23/index.html

https://email.lincoln.ac.uk/exchweb/bin/redir.asp?URL=http://rhizomes.net/issue23/index.html

Professional Film Shoot Work Experience Opportunities in Lincolnshire

Vigilante’

Project Description

Blueprint Film is a dynamic and vibrant film production company working to create innovative short films and feature films. With backing from the UK Film Council and Screen Yorkshire, Blueprint have produced three digital shorts, Invisible (2006), Vigilante (2008) and Scent (2009) which have all become international award winners and have screened at numerous prestigious film festivals worldwide. Blueprint: Film are now embarking on their first feature film based on their previous short ‘Vigilante’ and are looking for a number of students to support the project. The film will be shot locally in and around Lincoln city over 4 separate shoots, the first due to take place late Feb/early March. Work experience opportunities are offered on a purely voluntary basis although expenses will be provided for successful candidates.

A project briefing will be held on Weds 1 Feb at 3pm [on University campus, room tbc]

To apply for one of the opportunities below, please submit a CV and expression of interest (no more than 1 page of A4) advising which role you are applying for, why you would like to be involved in the project, what you could add to our team and your passion and interest in filmmaking. Candidates will then be shortlisted and invited to an interview to meet with the director and producer.

Deadline for applications is Fri 10 Feb at 4pm, directly to Producer Emily Bignell [contact details below]

Synopsis
Vigilante is a dark and satirical mockumentary set in the fictional village of Hewson. Local man Pep Williams has joined forces with the neighbourhood watch group in order to eradicate crime and anti-social behaviour for good. For a while at least it seems their efforts pay off, crime has been reduced to a record low and Pep has earned the praise and respect he so craves for. His success is short lived however, as Pep’s increasingly violent and untoward methodologies for controlling crime emerge and the villagers begin to turn, in the new serene and tranquil surroundings it seems that Pep is the only thing left to be afraid of. Ousted from neighbourhood watch and rejected by his community Pep is now an outcast. Desperate to return to glory, Pep will to go to any lengths to prove his worth and when whispers of a paedophile in Hewson surface, Pep at last has his opportunity. Surely, if he can track down and catch this vile monster then he will regain his rightful position as the hero of Hewson.

Opportunities

Production Assistant(s)
Production assistant would need to be available to work form our office at the terrace for a minimum of 1 day per week in the lead up to each shoot and will provide support directly to the producer. The role will include venue booking, compiling contracts, assisting with travel arrangements for cast and crew, equipment booking, press release and publicity.

Art Department Assistant
Sourcing and purchasing items for set, props and costume, assisting in set dressing, liaising with cast and production designer. Needs to be innovative and resourceful relishing the challenge of sourcing materials on a low budget. Will need to be available to support the production designer in the weeks leading up to each shoot, possibly for one day each week and evenings (to work from own base) and for the duration of the 4 day shoot.

Sound Assistant
The sound assistant will need to be available for the duration of each 4 day shoot, providing support to the sound team as required. They will be responsible for checking all stock, microphones and batteries and making sure that the sound department runs as smoothly as possible.

Editing Assistant
An assistant editor is needed for post production following each four day shoot, this position will be working from our office at the terrace, the candidate must be familiar with final cut pro. The assistant will be required to log footage for the editor with shot descriptions and any other important details, rename and organise clips as appropriate and remove unusable footage.

Runner(s)
Runner will need to be available for each shoot, to assist the crew and cast in any way deemed necessary. Not purely making tea we promise! We will be a very small crew so this role is likely to include elements of continuity, camera assist, art department and production assistant.

’Making-of’ Crew
A small group of up to 3 students are invited to make their own creative film to document the process of the making of Vigilante. This group will be required to attend meetings, conduct interviews with cast and crew and be available during each of the four shoot dates. Photography students also very welcome to work on this part of the project either as part of the crew or independently

Storyboard Artist
Details tbc

Emily Bignell
emily@blueprintfilm.co.uk
Producer
Blueprint: Film
The Terrace
Grantham St
Lincoln
LN2 1BD
07815 633549
www.blueprintfilm.co.uk