' What never ceases to amaze me is for relatively little cash outlay, an aspiring filmmaker can acquire a DV camera, some blank tape stock, editing software and a PC/MAC to produce a film, which could launch their career.'
- Kenneth D Barker

Kenneth Barker has adopted Yorkshire since moving there to study at the Northern Film School.
And Yorkshire seems to have adopted him and his micro-budget movies, supplying talent, locations and a lot of goodwill.

What was your route into filmmaking?My interest in filmmaking really began to take off about 1990 with a copy of Beowulf from my local library. I was instantly hooked. The story had me enthralled and painted vivid pictures in my minds-eye. It gave me a vital spark, a desire to tell my own version of that classic poem. After various half-cocked beginnings, I started writing my first short film. Over the next couple of years, this became a half-hour ?short? called J?Gmirith?L - pronounced Jag-Mirra-Thal. I recruited student actors from a local drama college in Ipswich and shot J?Gmirith?L on Super 8. I improvised a homemade telecine unit then dubbed the super-8 footage onto SVHS and edited on a linear tape-to-tape system. Sound and dialogue were reproduced as spot effects, wildtracks and ADR. J?Gmirith?L took about two years to produce and garnered its fair share of cussing, sweat, tears and frustrations. That little film was a steep learning curve and producing it taught me invaluable lessons. It also secured me a place as a producer at the Northern School of Film and Television in Leeds in 1994.Your first feature Kingdom, involved dragons and lots of CGI, how has it fared?Kingdom involved 175 computer-generated shots with many of these being used to create several of the central characters. They just happened to be CG dragons with dialogue! Logic would suggest a debut feature should be a little less ambitious, but I only appreciated this philosophy quite some way into post-production, before the first dragon had even been designed. Of course by then it was far too late to change tack! What didn?t surprise me was the length of time it has taken to secure a distributor; around three years. The distributor is in the US, which is sad because few, if any, UK distributors have the resources and imagination to acquire independent commercial material and find new sell-through markets. It is a buyers market and a lot of high quality independently produced British films never see light of day, for all the wrong reasons. How did the idea for Rosetta come about?Rosetta: Prima Donna Assoluta tells the story of an opera singer who missed her chance of stardom because of illness. The idea for Rosetta came when I was struck by the notion of somebody with an astonishing talent living as a forgotten recluse. If any message can be derived from the film it's a the question; ?Who is your neighbour?? Rosetta is a metaphor for our modern lives. Do we really know anything about the people around us, be they relatives, friends or society at large. I?m no opera buff, but as a story theme, the idea of living next door to a Maria Callas forerunner jwithout realising it, intrigued me. Rosetta is a very ?small? drama about one woman and the people around her and how she affects their lives.

How did you go about developing the project from that initial idea to your final script?My approach to writing stories and screenplays is methodical but totally anarchic in how it comes together. I observe and take Inspiration from everyone and everything around me. When I?m out and about, I usually jot things down in a notebook; ideas, chunks of dialogue, scenes, images. Then I start writing and collating bigger fragments of loose narrative based around these snippets. The character of Rosetta is an amalgam of several real sopranos, lots of academic research and a dollop of artistic license. Being the producer made sure I wrote scenes that were achievable based on my meagre resources. More than anything, I could write with passion, because the central premise has this incredibly ?soulful? woman?s life driving the narrative.If you are producing the film, writing and directing it, who are your reference points? Who can tell you if something's not properly developed?Over the years I have built up a network of filmmakers I use as my sounding boards. It can be painful when a peer tells you they don?t like your work. This has happened on a couple of occasions, but I have usually only ever had constructive criticism. Editors, both script and the cutting kind, are tremendous sources of insight for screenplay tweaks in pre-production; my last two projects were altered on the input they gave. This may seem blindly obvious, but being able to redraft or polish a screenplay based on meaningful criticism is invaluable. Everybody will have their own opinion, so finally the filmmaker has to make a judgement call when to draw the line on useful alterations and move on. Creating stories excites me. If the characters are credibly grounded in their traits, beliefs and motivations, the story almost writes itself. Provided the characters? universe remains true to itself the project should smell right. Because I have overall control of my projects, if the story does not work, the buck stops with me. I am a harsh critic of my own work and can always see where improvements can be made for the next time. Writing, producing and then being able to direct is a privileged opportunity. If I have performed my three roles correctly, by the time production starts, I know the characters intimately and how they will interlink in the completed film. The story?s logic has to be robust - this gives me the confidence to say when something is wrong or right within that context. If you cannot smell your own film as a director on set, the cast will probably eat you alive!What did you do at development stage to try and limit cost?From day one embarking on Rosetta meant writing to accommodate resources, locations, crew and facilities I knew I could access with a high degree of certainty. Without a budget, there was no point in trying to film elaborate -and expensive- extracts from operas to show Rosetta?s early years. In fact, we never see Rosetta sing. My story is about Rosetta?s life today, her feelings of loss, betrayal, regret and the repercussions of sacrifices she made, which in an ironic way resonate with the most tragic of the dramatic operas.

How did you find your finance to shoot Rosetta?The production finance for Rosetta came on stream several months after I committed to producing the film. Lord only knows how I was going to get by without the money. Through a series of informal contacts, I was introduced to a local business entrepreneur who was simply prepared to be fabulously altruistic and offered a small cash budget to fund Rosetta. I had had my fill of rejections from film councils with Kingdom and other projects and was not prepared to approach them again. No matter how my films may be perceived, good or bad, they have attracted many talented people both in front and behind camera to collaborate in their production, so I must be doing something right. There are private investors or sponsors out there, willing to take a calculated chance with new filmmakers. Bizarrely, Rosetta was produced for less "real" cash than Kingdom. However if I had paid for everything on the production and covered every invoice, the budget would probably top out around the 750k level. Rosetta is a straight drama that did not require anything like the number of visual effects used in Kingdom, which were very ?time-expensive? to create. One additional cost that became a handicap in post-production was lack of hard drive space on the edit suite. Luckily, James Ritchie, who was my my original investor from Kingdom, came to the rescue by funding the purchase of additional AV hard drives. Overall, Rosetta had many more organisations and sponsors contributing to its production. Looking back now, it is almost frightening to contemplate the logistics and complexity of getting so many people to come together to produce this film. Many sponsors saw their contribution as putting something back into the community. Others enjoyed the cachet of being involved in a film production, even at this minor level. What factors determined your shooting format?Rosetta was shot on DVCAM for two good reasons. The first was the ready availability of a high quality DVCAM camera. Second, I was not prepared to wait and wait for a budget that may, or may not, allow me to shoot on HD or film. When you don?t have a budget, the story?s value becomes paramount. We?ve all seen big budget 35mm feature films with diabolical storylines. The screenplay is potentially the only area where a no-budget film can outshine the Hollywood product. There is a unifying maxim for all filmmakers; if you fail to hook your audience, who cares what you filmed on? DVCAM is a fantastic format with enormous potential. Sure, if I were offered the budget for a high-end format production I would not refuse it. Until that day comes, I will continue to sharpen my skills on DVCAMWhat model camera did you use?Rosetta was shot with a Sony VX9000 full-size DVCAM camera. The VX9000 is a glorious piece of kit that has never complained or glitched once during shooting two features and countless hours being used as a digitising recording deck. There is newer, sexier, kit on the market but the VX9000 provides a superb picture, records excellent sound and is very well specified. Even a basic DV camera is a capable tool in the right hands ? anyone with a little imagination and some drive to make a film. What never ceases to amaze me is for relatively little cash outlay, an aspiring filmmaker can acquire a DV camera, some blank tape stock, editing software and a PC/MAC to produce a film, which could launch their career. What locations did you have to find?I was incredibly lucky to have so many people willing to offer their premises as locations. The scenes of Young Rosetta on stage were filmed in Leeds Grand Theatre. The Grand Theatre?s Manager has an unfeasibly ?dry? sense of humour. When I first approached him about filming there he fixed my gaze and without any sign of emotion said, ??that will cost you 1,000 pounds for the day?? Remember I did not have a budget, so my heart stopped beating for several moments. Fortunately the Manager put me out of my misery by allowing himself a widening grin, which gave the game away. Needless to say he gave me a generous discount.How did you find cast and crew? The crew came almost exclusively from SP readers. In fact, my commitment to Rosetta was sealed the instant I pressed, ?send? to forward my crew call email to Shooting People. There was no going back. After fielding replies, I arranged an initial series of meetings in a Leeds city centre pub. The turnout was surprising, but I did expect quite a number to drop out at subsequent meetings. My terms were quite specific as stated in the original SP posting, but this was necessary to ensure all participants knew what they were becoming involved in. The production may not have been fully funded, but that was not a reason to have an unprofessionally run shoot. One surprise was people coming to me wanting to specialise in their individual film disciplines. What remains The shear wealth of talent available in every city across the UK is encouraging. People who are looking for opportunities to collaborate, network and just get involved in film production. The cast came mainly from personal contacts and Production and Casting Report a weekly digest for actors in stage, TV and film. What was the schedule for the shoot? The Rosetta screenplay ran to 116 scenes on eighty pages. This equated to a 6-week shoot starting in late January to late March 2002. The typical working day was from nine to five each Monday to Friday. Weekends were religiously guarded as days off. In general I shot two scenes a day punctuated by a lunch break. This pace provided a good working compromise between getting the necessary coverage shooting from alternate angles, not out-staying our welcome in someone?s property and respecting the cast/crews stamina. However on wrap day nothing beats the feeling of ?drained? euphoria that comes from completing on time with the vast majority of cast and crew still talking to each other.

How did the shoot work out?I scheduled the shoot around the availability of main locations. Once the production started shooting I was loath to halt it; shoots should generate their own momentum. For anything other than the most basic one-day shoot, I always have some form of schedule, then on each shoot day you can be on set with a clear idea of that day?s filming objectives. As always, there were minor hiccups and a few late scares, but there was little in the way of unexpected surprises. What were the highpoints for you? A week into the shoot I remember walking to my local shop after a hectic day. I suddenly realised I was grinning quite broadly. Why? I was shooting a film, my film and everything was in place - nothing was going to stop it! Getting in a film into production was not without its fair quota of setbacks, but each minor victory had eventually tipped the balance in Rosetta?s favour. Another highlight was the pleasure of working with keen, talented creatives who were all striving to accomplish a degree of excellence. Something else I enjoy is working on a long format project that lets me ?soak? in the process of film-making. I personally believe shooting a feature film generally gives the filmmaker more time and mental space to draw out more subtleties in performance from the cast. The crew also have to time to bond as an effective unit over a period of weeks. Any lows?The lowest point in the shoot came in the run up to the middle of the schedule. Crew fatigue did set in but not enough to slow the schedule. As the project author and main driving force it would be fair to say I had the most interest vested in Rosetta. However I could not afford to let my enthusiasm blinker an awareness of the crews? well being. However what did surprise me was the overall resilience displayed by the cast and crew throughout the shoot. Damn, they worked hard and I can honestly say the core film crew led by Sally Kumar (DP) proved unbreakable. A couple of peripheral support crew dropped out in the penultimate week of the shoot, but by then their presence was no longer required for smooth day-to-day operations. Any reshoots or re-edits for clarity of the narrative?Rosetta was completed and screened for a select group so that I could gauge reactions to the film. The overriding criticisms were the totally unconvincing scenes between Francessca (Rosetta?s adopted daughter) played by Helen Grady and Claudio Bergatti (Francessca?s natural father). Unfortunately the actor playing the original Claudio could not meet my expectations, but I accept full responsibility as Director for casting him. After re-writing the offending scenes and a lot of organising I was able to recast the Claudio role (now played by Martin Brooke-Taylor) and reshoot entirely new scenes. Finally the full emotional burden felt by Francessca?s character made sense. The film was immeasurably stronger because of that reshoot.

Lots of night shooting when it's meant to be daylight must have created tricky reflections and continuity problems - how did they work out? Sally Kumar DP was exceptional here. Working with modest equipment and competing against the clock, Sally was always able to give me the shots I wanted. This is what makes a good DP worth their weight in gold even on a no-budget shoot like Rosetta. During post-production I made considerable use of digital tools (for colour correction, compositing etc) to tweak the image in subtle ways. Also Rosetta?s Editor Alan Bucknall delivered such a commanding first cut that even I was surprised how seamlessly the continuity had worked.Can't DV light levels can be tricky?Low light and DV can be tricky bedfellows. DVCAM master footage of the low light scenes featured in Rosetta actually hold up quite well when viewed on a precision broadcast monitor. However when it comes to the DVD the compression algorithm is probably shedding data in order to fit the whole feature film plus the trailer and other special features onto one 4.7Gb disk, hence some picture grain is creeping in. The good news is this only seems to happen in the odd shot. This phenomenon drove my decision to put Kingdom onto two disks (one disk for the feature and another for the special features). Because Kingdom is less compressed than Rosetta to fit on one disk the picture quality is noticeably ?cleaner?. What must do's would you pass on to other filmmakers?Wherever possible find people that want to specialise in their film discipline.Encourage input from others if it is appropriate.Get coverage - oodles of it. Get insurance.Use professional actors.Consider having a dedicated video documentarian to cover ?behind the scenes?.Brief the crew on the day?s objectives.Use a small, efficient crew.Look after your health during a shoot. This means eating well and getting plenty of sleep.Analyse your screenplay. Do you really need the ?tank? to drive through the city centre?Test screen when you and the film are ready.Get your legal, moral and financial paperwork sorted out. Has everybody signed the correct waiver, contracts and releases?Any must not do's you can warn people about?Don?t surround yourself with naysayers/negative people.Don?t be autocratic and don?t lie. If you can?t do something or deliver on a promise, make that abundantly clear from day one.Don?t be afraid to show your conviction.Don?t be afraid to reshoot. If it is not working ? reshoot.Don?t show an actor rushes unless it?s purely for demonstration purposes.Don?t use your mates as actors unless of course they are professional actors!

Where did Rosetta premiere and how was it received?Rosetta was screened in Late January 2003 in Leeds at a gala black-tie premiere. The venue was filled to capacity and additional chairs were required for the overflow (around 220 people). This may be small potatoes to the higher profile filmmakers on the Shooting People list, but nevertheless it was a tremendous opportunity to showcase the completed film to the cast, crew and sponsors. So many people collaborated on Rosetta that was obvious a premiere was the most direct way of me saying thank you for believing in the project. In general the audience reacted to the film in all the right places, but by that time if they did not ?get-it? there was little I could do. After the screening many individuals from the audience were quite candid in letting me know their opinions. Comments ranged from ?loved it? and being pleasantly surprised that a quality film can be made on a tiny budget to a confession of ??sorry Ken I dozed off around the middle bit??Kingdom came out on video. What are your plans for Rosetta?Rosetta is currently doing the rounds with distributors. Advances in technology have allowed me to present Rosetta on DVD with the attendant enhancements to picture and audio quality over lowly old VHS. Distributor feedback (when I get it) is usually ??it?s a tricky film to sell because it has no stars and/or the subject matter is not mainstream?? This is to be expected. All filmmakers know that it only takes one person with influence to like their film and ease its path into the wider public conscience. Speaking personally Rosetta was a hands-on learning tool, a way to improve as a writer, producer and director, but anyone could watch it and be thoroughly engrossed in the story.If distributors believe it's a difficult film to sell, have you planned any alternative routes to find its audience?I am always looking for new distributors or sales agents. Gut instinct tells me there is somebody out there in ?FilmLand? who knows exactly how to place Rosetta - all I have to do is find them.

3RD FEATURE WRAPSKenneth Barker's third feature 'Catalina: A New Type of Superhero'wrapped in the Autumn of 2005.It was shot on full HD and is the story of a Transvestite Superhero. The film is reported as played straight, but very tongue in cheek.