As soon as I read the idea for the 50 Kisses filmmaking challenge I knew I wanted to be apart of it. Of all the scripts I read there was one that really stood out, Richard Greens “The Last Supper”.
Unfortunately like most projects I work on in my spare time, I left the shooting until the very last minute when a surge of guilt and stress propels me to work.
So one week before the deadline I shot my interpretation of “The Last Supper”.
I had 3 talented actors a makeup artist and a runner and we shot for 4 hours around a local restaurant. We managed to overcome the short turn around and very tight shooting schedule and get some
really good footage. But after the shoot whilst backing up the footage I found that one of the SD Cards we’d recorded onto had become corrupted and the footage on that card was lost.
Despite coming so far I decided it was too late for reshoots and to scratch this one up to experience and bad luck. The deadline passed and I apologised to the actors, especially as they’d given
their time for expenses only. After awhile I returned to what footage I had left to produce some scenes for the actors showreels. After viewing a few rushes I realized there was still a story I
could tell.
A few hours later I had a cut and a big sense of regret for giving up so easily and not persevering with the film. So I hope you will check out my short and give me some feedback and comments I’d
love to hear what you think.
James N (Friday, 30 November 2012 09:55)
Well done, this is great.
Proof, if it were needed, that a story is told 3 times; once by the writer, once by the director and finally by the editor.
I'm guessing you lost the interior stuff - but only because I have seen other versions. You would never know what was lost. I think it's shot really well and love the 'understated-ness' of it all.
As we move into a digital environment, data wranglers will need to be more common place on small scale shoots and not just something that features employ.
I have this mantra running through my head from my days of shooting corp films at Microsoft when a programmer said to me; "There are two types of people in this world, one who has lost data, and one who is about to lose data."
Jasmin (Friday, 30 November 2012 10:58)
This is very good! Same as James here: That's probably painful to hear, but had I not seen another version, I would have never known something was missing.
As an actor I'm glad to read, that you took the time to go through the footage so soon after the shoot for their showreels' sake. Kudos for that!
Shaun Bond (Friday, 30 November 2012 11:50)
If anyone said to me they were going to plan, shoot and edit something within the last week of a film competition, I would have wished them luck only after shaking my head at them in pity. But through watching this it's clear to me that you are certainly talented enough to manage, and could quite possibly have been in with a good chance of being a winner in this competition. You clearly had the 'Just do it!' attitude when faced with a fast approaching deadline and it's a shame that attitude didn't carry on into the edit with you - I haven't read this script or seen the other films and I wouldn't say anything is missing from a good little story you've told. For next year's competition, be sure to give yourself a kick up the backside because if you give yourself more time to make mistakes I see no reason why you couldn't contribute something awesome.
Richard Green (Friday, 30 November 2012 19:39)
James and team - what a beautiful interpretation of my script. I am not sure why you didn't put this in, it is great and it is only really the restaurant opening that is not there, but it doesn't matter so much. I am humbled by the effort you have put into realising my script. It is amazing to see.Thank you.
50kisses (Saturday, 01 December 2012 10:52)
As far as we are concerned, this IS in the competition and will make it, like all the films submitted, one way or another into the process. We want to platform every film where possible.
Anil Rao (Saturday, 15 December 2012 19:10)
James, you crazy guerilla filmmaker you, this was just bloody awesome!
I'm like you very much, except I don't know how to quit! And, you shouldn't have either and I so happy you managed to find the nerve and courage to go back, becuase if you didn't then that would have been a waste.
The stress of a challenge is in the challenge you put on top of the challenge, less is always more. I made my entry WHY? last year and very much NEIL, this year in exactly the same way, all just off the cuff, without the vast planning some people need, just the know-how, that comes from having a clearly set idea, albeit not losing any footage LOL.
I love this film, one of the best here and am so happy the 50 Kisses team have put it in, if they hadn't I would have fought for it for you! :-)
Best wishes
Anil
James Cookson (Monday, 17 December 2012 22:57)
Wow I just got around to checking the blog and seeing my post up and all the fantastic feedback. For those wanting to know; the scene missing showed the kitchen hand preparing the meal. Initially I felt this scene was integral as it showed the one uplifting/positive moment in the story. It’s great to hear the film might be included and especially to hear from the author Richard Green, thank you for the kind words and like I say I thought your script was excellently written. Next time I’ll get myself into gear earlier and also appreciate that accidents can be happy ones.
Cheers
James