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’.…

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…

“Having a strict budget and short notice period is something many filmmakers face, so our account managers are prepared to find the best solutions within budget and time restraints.”  A really valuable sponsor to us for this year’s inaugural SHORT CUTS Film Competition has been Zipcar. They were a company we were really keen to work with because their focus of using technology to solve a problem (decrease congestion in big cities by increasing car sharing) really spoke to us…

At Shooting People HQ we decided that it would be helpful for people who were new to the site to get a sense of who the community is, and to illustrate visually how the community is made up of so many different creative collaborators, right across the industry. We were also personally transfixed by paper animation at the time and when we came across the work of Emma and Luke, we got in touch to see if they might consider…

Now in it’s 10th year, Film London’s Microwave scheme commissions two £100k budgeted features each year. We spoke with two SP members with projects selected for the scheme. The first was with director Ryan Vernava, and below is our second, with writer and director Alex Winckler. Alex is involved in Microwave with two producers, Maria Forsstrom and Jude Goldstrei. Their film, Smalltown Boy is “a rite of passage story about a different type of skinhead.”

Now in it’s 10th year, Film London’s Microwave scheme commissions two £100k budgeted features each year. Before this though, 12 participating project teams are selected, given extensive development support, mentoring and training; and then, in a way, pitted against each other as they pitch their projects along several phases of the shortlisting process, until the final two are selected. Though, on the surface, this might seems a little like an independent film version of The Apprentice, in reality it’s not quite so…

In this guest blog, SP member Brendan Cleaves talks about his process, struggles and successes raising funds for his short film Roger via Kickstarter. Some vital, honest input on the ups and downs of short film production, and some insightful tips for those looking to crowdfund.

Dr. Pollyanna Ruiz is Lecturer, Media and Film at the University of Sussex and is involved with the Engaging Youth in Heritage project. Here she tells us about one of the films produced as part of the project, You Can’t Move History, about the campaign to save South Bank’s famous skate spot, and the relationship between film and skateboarding.

Generation Revolution is a feature-length documentary about the new generation of activists of colour, striving to change the political and social landscape in this country. Ahead of the film’s UK screening run, the filmmakers behind the projector introduce us to the conditions that led to the film’s creation, why they made the film and what they hope it may achieve.

Next up in our 2Spooky series, some favourite horror films from some of the SP staff members. A cross-section of genre films, recent treats and veritable classics. Watch one this weekend.