One Thick Second
Synopsis
The film is the debut for director Will Pugh and producer Chloe Wyatt, who both have experience in shorts and promos. Pugh wrote the screenplay in 1997, to fill the gap between the two types of film Britain makes --- Nil By Mouth on one hand and Notting Hill on the other. It attempts, he says, to "portray life as seen by a man who inhabits the cultural no-man's-land familiar to a large proportion of Britain's youth". In true guerrilla fashion, Pugh and Wyatt begged, borrowed but stopped short of stealing to raise the £12,000 budget and equipment they needed to make their film (and received an Arts 4 Everyone Express National Lottery grant).
The film was completed in December last year and enjoyed three successful screenings at Bristol's new arts cinema The Cube. While Pugh is busy promoting the film on the festival circuit, including Montreal and Split, he has nailed down a broadcast sale with UK digital channel SkyNet.
Meanwhile, the shooting experience taught Pugh and Wyatt several lessons, which they have posted on their website at onethicksecond.cjb.net. They advise new directors not to shoot in 24 frames per second, to plan post-production before shooting begins and to employ a good stills photographer. They also exhort other guerrilla film-makers to take the "vow of no-budget", cheekily subtitled Dogme 99, which includes avoiding "vapid hipness, guns, gangsters, drug deals and other bullshit, unless real and experienced first-hand by the producer/director". The vow also forbids giving up once production has begun.
Details
- Year
- 2000
- Type of project
- Features
- Director
-
Will Pugh
- Composer
- Adam Faraday.
- Dir
- Will Pugh. 1999. 16mm. 53mins. Scr/DoP: Will Pugh. Ed: Mark Thurkettle. Main cast: Jon Webb, Jokate Benson, Phil Hall, Dylan Lewis, Jo Keith. Budget: £12,000. Funding: National Lottery Arts 4 Everyone Express grant, private sources, sponsorship.
Categories
Production Status
Production Company
ANXIETY8 60 Upper Cheltenham Place Bristol BS6 5HR Tel: (44) 7957 595767 Fax: (44) 117 907 4697 Prod: Chloe Wyatt
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