Delighted to have worked on The Lady in the Van, with Maggie Smith. A BAFTA winner now enjoying success in North America
Framegrabs from Nicolette Saina’s “Le Castle Papier”….a magical camera test/experiment week!
November 1, 2013 by
Gillian Abbott
I just came back from Aldourie Castle Estate on Loch Ness where I threw myself suddenly into some preliminary shooting with the crazy and delightful artists around Nicolette Saina’s new feature film, working title…”Le Castle Papier”. Production Company is ImagiNation TV and Film.
A gathering of diverse talent lived and worked at the castle for a week in order to test-shoot production design, costume design, acting/dancing talent and the exquisite location. The cast included 6 brilliant female dancers, some of them ex-performers in Le Cirque Soleil and one of them (Tara-Jean Popowich) a recent winner of the Canadian talent show “So you think you can dance” (“Strictly Come Dancing”…Canuck-stylie) . All choreography was by LA based Stacey Tookey backed up by her brother Kevin Tookey, who also performed in some scenes. Both fantastically impressive at what they do…and nice straightforward folk to boot!
The film is a kind of multi-layered fairytale set in a rich and bountiful place…where a non-specific natural disaster has occurred. Few have survived…………but those few gradually overcome a monstrous grief by working together to create beauty from whatever is cheap and natural. Trees and Paper figure alot…and a section of the exterior castle wall was in fact covered in paper designs for the shoot. This was done by Fin and Al of DufiArt based near Tain. Paper was also used extensively in the costumes along with autumn leaves. There was also an appearance by Michael Grab, one of the world’s top “Rock Balancers”. He spent the week working on his own around the estate creating remarkable “balances” (columns of balanced stones using only gravity to sustain them.) He’s a quietly inspiring man who’s character may well feature in the finished script.
A "balance" by Michael Grab at the shore of Loch Ness
Kevin Tookey, Liz Tookey
Kevin and Liz Tookey
Nicolette encouraged a spirit of creative openness in which I basked ! Every time I set up a shot beautiful things seemed to form in front of my lens! I did very little lighting, using or enhancing natural conditions even on interiors.We worked 12 hour days (and alot more besides) but we were fast and lightweight and the fantastic Scottish weather gave us all the conditions we needed….when we needed them….aided by some astute scheduling by 1st AD Eric Spoeth. Of course our principal photography will, of necessity not be quite so nimble-footed. Things will get a tad more military….but “spritely” seems worth having as a goal .
The Wedding Bridge: Liz Tookey, Emily Armstrong. Tara-Jean Popowich, Gillian Abbott
Maple Tree, Tara-Jean Popowich, Corynn Barron, Emily Armstrong, Gillian Abbott, Emma Annetts, Liz Tookey
Leaf Dance in The Great Hall: Liz Tookey, Corynn Barron, Gillian Abbott, Emma Annetts
Leaf Dresses by Judy Armstrong
Leaf Dance in The Great Hall: Liz Tookey, Emily Armstrong
Leaf Dance in The Great Hall: Corynn Barron, Gillian Abbott
Leaf Dance in The Great Hall: Emily Armstrong, Corynn Barron, Emma Annetts, Gillian Abbott, Tara-Jean Popowich
Emily Armstrong in maple leaf dress mourns lost lover
The Red Forest: Gillian Abbott, Tara-Jean Popowich....after The Disaster. None can speak or even touch.
The Red Forest: Corynn Barron, Emily Armstrong...after The Disaster. None can speak or even touch.
They begin to trust each other. Papermaking: Tara-Jean Popowich, Gillian Abbott, Liz Tookey, Emily Armstrong, Corynn Barron
Papermaking: Liz Tookey, Emily Armstrong, Emma Annets
This is a departure from Nicolette’s previous film work . She has made dramatic films in the past about real-life stories of terrorism and journalism. This film should go into Production this winter. Its not a musical or a ballet…there will be a narrative and some principal protagonists. The film is essentially about beauty…as Nicolette says…its a bit out there and a bit arty…but it has already attracted alot of major artistic talent because of this.
Me I’m fine with out there and arty.
Mock Fashion Show: Corynn Barron
Eric Clapton’s first music video:Forever Man 1985
April 5, 2013 by
I thought I’d air this music promo again as it’s fascinating.It was lit by a young Roger Deakins before he became the greatest cinematographer in the world….and directed by Kevin Godley and Lol Creme of 10cc fame. There was alot of smoke on the set and it wasn’t all from the SFX department. I think there were about 8 camera crews including 2 Steadicam Operators (Pete Cavaciuti and myself). Other camera operators included Ray Andrew, Jeff Baynes, Dave Bridges, John Simmons and Nick Knowland. We are all featured in this elaborate “camera ballet” round a circular stage. Despite a day’s rehearsal we still managed to knock Roger’s Golden Panaflex off its dolly with the arm of the Titan Crane. At 2’44” you can clearly see this as I captured it on Steadicam. The late James Ainslie (1st a/c) holds his head in horror…and Roger Deakins just makes a bolt for it!
Life of Pi 3D
December 21, 2012 by
Saw Ang Lee’s movie last night and its a brilliant interpretation of the book. Everything looks much the way I imagined it when I read it years ago. There’s also the added magic of superb visual effects. Stunningly beautiful.
Only a few years ago fur and water were the two things you had to try to avoid in CGI/Animation. And here’s a film featuring wild animals on the Pacific Ocean. The technology moves so fast….although it has to be said the movie did employ 14000 people…most of them get credited! The only disappointment is that for me it falls down at the end….I fell about laughing at this part of the book originally and did so again when I re-read it this morning to check. Perhaps thats the only part of the novel that really did turn out to be unfilmable….but I suspect other reasons……
Shooting in Tripoli
October 30, 2012 by
I just returned from Libya where I was doing some preliminary shooting for a feature length documentary about Colonel Gaddafi’s famous female bodyguards who were handpicked, young, beautiful and highly trained. Jubilation and high spirits in the city of Tripoli, many guns being fired….but all in the air, fortunately. Elsewhere in the country such as in Bani Walid chaotic fighting continues. The country is having to be rebuilt almost from scratch so the transitional government is struggling. Old tribal rivalries from before Gaddafi’s coup 43 years ago are rising to the surface again. We filmed in Gaddafi’s ruined compound in Tripoli, which is vast…also in Abo Salim prison, now closed, where Gaddafi once had 1200 people shot in 5 hrs….all in one small exercise yard. Both places had strong strong spirits. The Libyans are a friendly hospitable people but they seem to be quite fond of torturing each other. Many horrible stories….but I suppose that’s war for you 
Hinterland
September 24, 2012 by
Just wrapped principal photography on Hinterland, a low budget independent feature film written and directed by Douglas M. Ray. Shot on extremely meagre resources the film stars Eva Birthistle (best known for her award-winning role in Ken Loach’s “Ae Fond Kiss”). I had previously worked with Eva on “Days of Flowers” which premiered at Edinburgh Film Festival this year. Other principal actors are Paul Hilton and Antonia Campbell-Hughes. There are also inspired improvised cameo appearances from comics Matt Berry and James Lance. Hinterland is a comedy thriller with a rather unusual tone.
The film was a challenge as it had to be approached in a “guerilla” style with a tiny and largely inexperienced unit, virtually no monitoring, no dolly, track or Steadicam, very few facilities and very little lighting. I photographed it using the lightweight Canon C300 and a set of Arri-Zeiss Ultraprimes. Much of it was shot in the woods of Black Park next door to Pinewood. The minimal equipment meant we were able to move extremely fast in rough terrain. Also the C300 provided excellent image quality often in extremely low light. Many interiors around London were shot with no lighting at all.
Its exciting how, with new cameras cinematography is changing so rapidly towards obtaining an attractive look without having to burn huge amounts of watts !
Baftas
May 21, 2012 by
The Wicker Tree is now a top seller in the UK DVD/Blu-ray market
May 21, 2012 by
Anchor Bay, distributors of The Wicker Tree have announced that it is their topselling DVD/Blu-ray of the year. 2 weeks after launch it was also 3rd best seller in the entire UK DVD market….surpassed only by Iron Lady (Meryl Streep) and a Tom Cruise film…..which is pretty good for a film with no stars, other than a cameo by Sir Christopher Lee.
Canadian DoP under Co-Production Treaty
I recently established that as well as being a UK Citizen I qualify as a Canadian DoP for any work done under the Canadian Co-Production Treaty.This is because I hold a Canadian Permanent Resident Card