Projects in categories: Artist Project and Video / Experimental

Synopsis

One word - five lives. Five people, on the very same street, at the very same time, use the very same word, for five very different reasons.

Synopsis

Created in-camera this mixed media animated adventure combines live action, found objects with photo cut-outs that are weaved into a non-linear narrative and manipulated into a dark story of romance and psychological tension that unfolds into a cinematic world never seen before. Official Selection Cannes Film Festival 2006 - Short Film Competition - Nomination - Palme d'Or BAFTA Film Awards 2006 - Nomination - Best British Short Animation British Animation Awards (BAA) 2008 – Nomination - Best Animated Short

Synopsis

Six actors punch, kick and wrestle their way through the Wild West of an East London drinking establishment. The ritual of the Western bar-brawl is relocated in a London working men's club. The formal approach (to choreography, framing and editing) ensures that the viewer is made aware of the choreographed nature of the violence. This violence appears to have no consequences, the actors' bodies being as rubbery and invulnerable as those in the television Westerns that inspired it.

Synopsis

Four stoners, five vegans, three mobsters, four hunters and a million reasons to free one elephant. Roy Arnie has a dream. One day he will run his own circus and conquer the world. Today, however, he is a stable hand working in the Circus Stromowski, a miserable Russian big top, run by a hopeless alcoholic fourth generation circus director, Igor Stromowski, and full of useless has-beens and tired animals that will only perform under the influence of narcotics. Roy Arnie invites his old buddies Gaz and Odd, and their sidekick Flea, to come and work at the circus, and while work is an alien concept to Gaz and Odd, the appearance of an irate criminal who they are indebted to decides the issue. At the circus, Roy Arnie introduces the trio to the star attraction: Jimmy the elephant. Jimmy is the key to Roy Arnie’s dreams. The elephant carries a secret, a secret of enough value to bankroll Roy Arnie’s circus. All he has to do is free Jimmy and his dreams will come true. An epic farcical journey ensues where the stoners, the vegans and the mobsters, joined by an alcohol-fuelled hunting party all compete to capture the drugged-up Jimmy. Now the only thing that can thwart their plans is a strangely compassionate moose.  

Synopsis

Too much testosterone in this young cat forces his owners to go ahead with the criminal deed of taking him to the vet. The randy tom resists as much as he can and even manages to escape, but he can't avoid the inevitable: he's going to lose his knackers.

Synopsis

This short experimental documentary is a layered audio visual look at the past and present of Buffalo's old Hotel Lenox, and the many stories contained within its weathered walls.

Synopsis

Definition: mad·ri·gal (mdr-gl) n. (1a) A song for two or three unaccompanied voices, developed in Italy in the late 13th and early 14th centuries. (1b) A short poem, often about love, suitable for being set to music. (2a) A polyphonic song using a vernacular text and written for four to six voices, developed in Italy in the 16th century and popular in England in the 16th and early 17th centuries. (2b) A part song. Three women strive for freedom in a town. Do they have beauty on their side? London disintegrates and looks like the Third World, yet construction moves on apace. Eve runs a successful club, but appears to be alone, and searches for spiritual guidance in an esoteric bookshop. Mitzura paints a memory of her Romanian mother's communion with wolves, and travels to see her children at the sea. Why must she leave them? Charlie works in an office and is trapped in Groundhog Day with her man. Why doesn't she leave? We watch their confusion, pain and joy, their smiles and fears - their faces a terrain of emotion. The friction of the interior world is made palpable. They drink: to forget, to connect (in a nation of alcoholics?). They wait, wonder and wander, for what? Why? For the madrigal?

Synopsis

When I was given a college brief to produce a short about an everyday activity in a style of my choice, I was immediately drawn to the beauty of time-lapse photography. I as a visual artist see every morning as an inspiration, be it a bright sunny morning, or dull and misty winter mornings especially with a frost or snow covering. At this time of day, I was intrigued by how many of the early morning activities would be perceived in time-lapse photography. In particular, as for a number of my projects, I was inspired by the works of Ron Fricke (Baraka, 1992) and Godfrey Reggio (Koyaanisqatsi, 1983, both of which are renowned for using this haunting style of cinematography. Matutinus (early in the morning) is an experimental short, which I wrote to depict the start of a day and how it can start off really well and can go onto to turn out bad. Images of people going about their daily business go into the not so 'fluffy bunny' images of graveyards, domestic arguments and civilised madness. At this time of the day the landscape can be transformed into a somewhat mesmerising atmosphere and can in a way it can be the calm before storms ahead. As the day goes on many people experience an uphill struggle, be it at work or at study. Matutinus shows my vision of this through a series of time-lapsed photography and experimental imagery.

Synopsis

While the Iraq war continues, a day's sightseeing and the features of a German hotel provoke a stream of thoughts about events large and small. Museum Piece is the second video in the Hotel Diaries series, a collection of late night recordings made in foreign hotel rooms which relate personal experiences to contemporary world events. Other works in the series currently include Frozen War (Ireland, October 8th 2001) and Throwing Stones (Switzerland, November 13th 2004).

Synopsis

A fish in a block of ice. A scientific discovery?

Synopsis

One of Life's Players is an experimental short which I shot on Super8, a format that has intrigued me for a long time, it is based around a prose I wrote a few years ago. Written in the prose are a number of quite upfront and powerful statements. 'in the circle of life we co-exist with an assemblage of unadulterated attractions and fascinations'. Through the diverse and haunting beauty of film I wanted to depict images that an audience can relate to events in there lives and the surrounding world we live in. It has not plot and perhaps to some it might be hard to understand. One of Life's Players will be reminiscent of films such as Baraka (Ron Fricke, 1992), Koyaanisqatsi (Godfrey Reggio, 1983) and Man with a Movie Camera (Dziga Vertov, 1929), which don't really have a traditional narrative drive. These experimental masterpieces rely on the use of stunning cinematography to allow the audience to create their own story. One of Life's Players portrays images such as an empty room with just a fireplace, and a photograph spattered with blood to depict how life can often take a turn for the worst. Sometimes a lifetime can often feel like the blink of any eye, One of Life's Players depicts this by using images like a young woman's eye, which transforms into an old woman's eye and other similar juxtapositions. Although some of the imagery isn't always blatantly obvious. I'm hoping perhaps One of Life's Players will fuel thoughts about how at times we as a fast moving species tend to take the planet and its abundant fascinations for granted.

Synopsis

AL and AL's grandfather is a retired engineer and inventor. The film simulates his lifelong endeavour to create a perpetual motion device and supply free power for the people. During a telephone call with the Lamb of God, Britney Spears sabotages the project and sets in motion her own drive for infinity.