Bryan M. Ferguson: On Making It As an Indie Music Video Director and Surrealism in Horror

Posted Monday, March 14th, 2022

Hey shooters, Some of you may have seen we’ve been running our SP Spotlight on Facebook and Instagram for SP members to share their successes and celebrate our community’s wins. If you’ve ever wondered how to break into music video from a career founded on making films about self-amputation and belly-button fetishists, how to project on to a fog screen all using practical effects or how to approach big bands, read on about how Bryan approaches his brilliant work in

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Making Films with Mirrorless Cameras: Behind the Scenes on ‘A to B’

Posted Thursday, December 9th, 2021

Earlier this year, we joined SP member, Sundance director and New Shoots alumni Eleanor Mortimer on location at Victoria Park, London, as she filmed her new documentary.   Eleanor took a break from shooting to tell us how, using Nikon’s Z 6II mirrorless camera, she created a unique study of the relationship between humans, nature and public space.  Filmmaker Eleanor Mortimer What film are you working on?  I’m making a short documentary, which at the moment is called ‘A to B’.

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NEW SHOOTS: HORROR MASTERCLASS

Posted Wednesday, July 28th, 2021

Our NEW SHOOTS live event programme continues online and in July horror Guru’s Prano Bailey-Bond and Jen Sheridan joined us for a truly killer masterclass. Both directors are supportive members of the SP community, and both have made a screamingly bold entrance with two of the best debut indie horrors of the year. If you’ve missed it, you can catch up with the Q&A here. They shared expert advice on developing a first feature, working on a shoestring budget, capturing

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NEW SHOOTS 2020 Winner Lanre Malaolu chats about Filmmaking

Posted Friday, July 23rd, 2021

SP’s career development short film competition, New Shoots: Filmmakers, is open for submissions four times a year (January, April, July and October.) Guest judges have included the wonderful Sarah Gavron (Director: Rocks, Suffragette), Philip Ilson (Director of London Short Film Festival) and Johnnie Burn (Sound Designer: Ammonite, The Favourite, Under the Skin). The winner of each round takes home a heap of amazing prizes; including Industry Mentorship from BFI Network, Animate Projects or LONO Studio, state of the art Audio

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Paul Greengrass Masterclass: Finding your Creative Voice and Working with Actors

Posted Thursday, May 13th, 2021

Triple-BAFTA winning and Oscar nominated writer-director Paul Greengrass joined SP’s own Cath Le Couteur for a truly inspirational Masterclass. In just one hour he shared so much wisdom and advice on everything from running a set, working with actors, pacing, editing, the ethics of working with true stories, and finding your creative voice.

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SP Member Charlotte Regan on Her New Short, Drug Runner

Posted Wednesday, August 22nd, 2018

Drug Runner is an exciting, unorthodox new short from SP member Charlotte Regan. A melancholy reflection of a childhood gone wrong, Drug Runner explores the world of “The Kid”, a 15-year-old living in a housing estate in East London that eventually falls into the drug world by becoming a dealer. Charlotte began shooting music videos at the young age of 14. She made over 200 of these before she made her first narrative short. She has won multiple awards, including

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Producer Cecilia Frugiuele Discusses the Making of Sundance-winner The Miseducation of Cameron Post and Her Collaboration with Desiree Akhavan

Posted Tuesday, August 14th, 2018

Cecilia Frugiuele (left) and Desiree Akhavan (right) Photo: Jeong Park As a networking organisation for indie filmmakers, we’re always fascinated by how creative collaborations are formed and how these relationships work. One partnership in particular that’s intrigued us is the one between producer/writer Cecilia Frugiuele and director/writer Desiree Akhavan, the powerhouse team behind indie hit Appropriate Behaviour (2014) and the soon to be released The Miseducation of Cameron Post (2018), which won the much-lauded Grand Jury Prize at this year’s

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Shooter Daniel Jerome Gill Discusses His Debut Feature ‘Modern Life is Rubbish’

Posted Tuesday, May 8th, 2018

Modern Life is Rubbish is the debut feature from Shooter Daniel Jerome Gill. The film follows couple Liam and Natalie, who, after being brought together by their shared love of music ten years earlier, have finally reached a breaking point in their relationship. Liam, a struggling musician, cannot let go of his vinyl collection and refuses to adapt to a world of smartphones and instant downloads. Natalie has let go of her dream of designing album covers and has become

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‘Beast’ Director, Michael Pearce, Answers Your Questions

Posted Tuesday, May 1st, 2018

Gathering critical acclaim across the board, new feature Beast (in UK cinemas now) is the debut film from writer-director Michael Pearce, who has been described as part of “an exciting wave of new British directors”, alongside other recent break-out filmmakers such as William Oldroyd (Lady Macbeth), Rungano Nyoni (I Am Not a Witch), Francis Lee (God’s Own Country) and Hope Dickson Leach (The Levelling). Born in Jersey in 1981, Michael studied Film Directing at the Arts Institute in Bournemouth. His

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God’s Own Country Producer, Manon Ardisson, Answers Shooter Questions

Posted Wednesday, February 21st, 2018

At our SHORT CUTS Launch Party last month, we were lucky enough to be joined by Producer and SP member Manon Ardisson who has seen huge success with the break-out hit of last year, God’s Own Country. The feature, directed by Francis Lee, premiered at Sundance 2017, winning the Special Jury Award for Directing in the World Dramatic competition. The film went on to win awards at international festivals, notably Best British Film in Edinburgh, Best International First Feature in

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