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Anyone interested in Fortean film-making?

A

Anonymous

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There's been a bit of correspondence on > Web site issues > RIGHT DEAD THREAD about the possibility of pooling our resources to make some decent short films on Fortean topics.
The original idea spawned from the fact that most TV programmes on these subjects are fairly disappointing for one reason and another. Maybe someone has made a film or documentary already? Or maybe there are some ideas knocking around which might even be worth approaching a production company with.

Any thoughts?
 
(raises my hand) I am. Plus I know someone who has just been on a course and knows all about how to go about it (like all those things to do with filming outside). So I can badger her for advice.

luce
 
That's a good start Luce. Thanks for your support.
I've done a bit of film making myself (mainly on the editing / post-production side) and worked as a technician in an FE college and in a couple of 'proper' companies in the industry. there must be loads of other members with useful skills and ideas.
before we even think about doing anything I think we need to decide
i) What points do we want to make?
ii) What's the target audience?
iii) do we want to do it for fun, or fun+profit?
 
Fortean web Tv, maybe? Fact, fiction, reports & case studies, all streamed direct to yer computer... It'd take a bit of setting up, but I have the knowledge (admittedly in note form) and a DV camera! At the very least I want to do some form of online documentary project... Can't do it in the next nine months tho due to commitments :(
 
Same here. Can't realistically commit before c. Spring 2002. But that doesn't mean I'm not interested, or have no ideas. Planning will take time in any case, I feel.
 
I'd love to be involved. I can't offer much expertise though, apart from writing.

Cujo
 
I'm up for it. I'm an artist and I have an idea for locations. Haunted places (Castle Howard in Yorkshire), wierd places (Whitby Abbey), my school (its really old and spooky when you walk round it alone). Also, I have a wealth of knowledge on Fort stuff. Some really good, wierd stuff that would most likely benefit from being put on film...

The points we would want to make are likely to be along the lines of:

1)Wierd stuff does happen and it isn't just people's imagination.
2)The existence of these phenomenon can't be disproved.
3)Science has only just started finding out what people have know for centuries, but shrugged off for fear of ridecule.

Target audience maybe...13-Adult ?

Fun...money isn't everything, though we will need funding to do it with!
 
HOLD YER' HORSES

Just had a grand thought...

What if we approached FT about this. I mean, thay can give us funding...lend equipment...maybe even get some shnazy graphics for the title...

It's worth a shot. Tell me what you think and one of us, or all of us (strength in numbers), can contact MarkPilkington or Alistair Strachan. They may be able to help from there...
 
~~~~~~~~HEY KIDS ! LET'S PUT ON THE SHOW RIGHT HERE!!!!~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Thanks to all for your enthusiasm and ideas. It's all grist to the mill (whatever that might mean). The idea of a live webcast would be an interesting alternative method of distribution.

-Oracle-. That's a great idea about approaching FT. Maybe we should wait until we've got a slightly clearer idea of what our intentions are, and then make some enquries.

Any other takers?
 
target group> Anybody who stops on the way past
target age> Dead and under
subject range> PROPER fortean TV... Not UFO case studies, not the Loch Ness Monster... The smallest, wierdest most insignificant but ultimately life-changing details of life. Not that we can't have the big things like UFOs covered - just not as a priority. Before suggesting anything, we should all go away and read all 4 (?) of Fort's books (I've not read a full one yet meself!!!)... it would need plenty humour and irony, too.

Of course, as webcasts, the whole target thing can become as broad or narrow as you like, although definitely not 13-adult (sorry!) as I'm already out of that range (not, I'm not 12 - the other direction!) as are a lot of forteans.

I'd also like to see short films (not sci-fi - fortean in the way of Magnolia), and things like photography and interviews with artists with that kinda slant.

I'm now really inspired by that documentary on C4 last nite about the future of DV film-making... hey - :eek!!!!:

Let's make a film at the next unconvention - and hopefully find some sneaky funding - whenever that is! We may not be able to film much of the lectures, as people like to sell copies of them to make a bit of cash, but interviews etc with the people and the crowd, finding out what brings them there... hmmm...
 
Argh! So much for asking my friend for advice. She has got an interview for a runner at a company down london.

luce
 
lucydru said:
Argh! So much for asking my friend for advice. She has got an interview for a runner at a company down london.

luce
Click to expand...

Well fair play to her. If she gets it it'll be hard work but I bet she'll enjoy it!
Maybe she can half-inch some tape stock (only joking).
 
JackSkellington said:
I'm now really inspired by that documentary on C4 last nite about the future of DV film-making... hey - :eek!!!!:
Click to expand...

I nearly posted something here to let people know about 'Power to the Pixel', but it had already started. A very thought-provoking programme!

BTW I think you're spot-on about the subject matter and how to present it. It would be good to make something about artists with a Fortean outlook, as you say. I don't know if anyone saw it but Jarvis Cocker made a series for Channel 4 about 'outsider art'.
I wonder if anyone has ever made a documentary about Charles Fort himself? I can see how that could work very nicely.
 
-Oracle- Just out of interest what kind of artist are you?

(sets up amusing joke about heavy drinking):cross eye

I suspect a lot of people here are creative in one way or another.

Cujo Lucy writes as well, as you know by now. What kind of stuff do you write?
 
I write... well at the moment it's more like I don't write (except for the story on the boards which hardly counts). Spent the last year or so mainly writing poetry. Tried turning an idea I had for a tv series (fiction) into a book then back into a tv series then into 4 books. Had no luck with it. I have written scripts (well normally just the start) on a purely ammature level since 13 (tried creating my own episodes for a tv show I loved). Started writing out of enjoyment from about the age of 11. I am 20 now.

luce
 
Well, this could work if we all think small and imperfectly formed... Let's think 2 minute films about that day you found that really amazing thing in such and such a place... The moment that changed someones life... serendipity herself smiling... Denby Dale Pie festival... And the beauty of it all? You don't need to explain any of it - in fact, that's were all the other stuff goes wrong...

I'm gonna concentrate on some kind of personal online documentary and see how that fits together...

BTW, yeah I saw the Outsider Art programme... Pretty cool... In some respects, very much like Hello Culture, except more Hello Counter-Culture... I wish I'd seen more of both of them.
 
How about shooting some video clips that can be pasted onto the FT site in mpeg or some other format.

Short - sweet - to the point.

Also, one other little note.

You guys in the UK have the advantage of BEING THERE!!!!

How about us poor lonely colonials in the US, I suppose we have to fend for ourselves now.

LOL......
 
EvilDweeb said:
How about shooting some video clips that can be pasted onto the FT site in mpeg or some other format....

You guys in the UK have the advantage of BEING THERE!!!!

How about us poor lonely colonials in the US, I suppose we have to fend for ourselves now.

LOL......
Click to expand...

I agree it would be nice to hae an area to upload mpegs or whatever, if enough people lobby FT about it via MarkPilkington or Alistair Strachan it could happen!

As for being stuck in the US there must be some Fortean subjects covered on PBS or whatever...? I remember seeing a quite serious and sceptical American series about the UFO phenomenom a while back. I forget the title, but it was quite well made.

Do you remember 'Amazon Women on the Moon'.
Wasn't there a segment that went something like:
"THE LOCH NESS MONSTER!
POLTERGEISTS!
FLYING SAUCERS!

Tonight we decide...... BULLSHIT - OR NOT?"
 
I'd love to do some fortean fim-making. (Unfortunately couldn't do it with you people) I was planning on trying out some film work in a month or so after my exams are over.

As far as short fiction films go, I'm sure you could pick one of the accounts from Fort's books. A lot of them would translate well to film, or at least provide some ideas of phenomena or events to apropriate into a film.
 
hey.... i got no skills... no talent and no money.... but i know how to operate a kettle!! :D
 
Lots of good ideas there, but obviously we would need to choose a specific project to start with and have it properly planned before going into production. A short film shot on DV or Hi-8 or whatever doesn't need to cost a lot, but it's not going to get made for free.
-Oracle- suggested approaching FT for funding, which I haven't done yet. I think that's fairly unlikely to happen, but it certainly won't happen without having at least a shooting script and a budget to show them.
I think something about Fort himself would be good as I don't think it's been done before (correct me if I'm wrong) and we could choose the locations according to our resources and still make the same points. There must be a hard-up actor somewhere who looks like Charles Fort....
Maybe I should give Rev Fanthorpe or Ken Campbell a shout.
We also need to know who wants to do what, and their availability.
There's no hurry, but I think we can do it.
Keep the ideas coming.
 
Fine, next Summer will do just fine for me. I have a huge 10 week holiday from finishing GCSEs to entering 6th Form.:D

I'd be up for researching or co-directing...anything really, as long as I get to be on Location...
 
-Oracle- said:
:D

I'd be up for researching or co-directing...anything really, as long as I get to be on Location...
Click to expand...

Cool. I'll remind you you said that when we're in the really scary haunted house and the funny noises start......:eek!!!!:
 
The Fear said:
hey.... i got no skills... no talent and no money.... but i know how to operate a kettle!! :D
Click to expand...

Operating a kettle is a talent. As long as it's done with style.
 
if u need a locaton i ave a Field in Gweek Cornwall!...could do some monster watching from there!... Make it in Cornish and u may get funding from EEC!...
 
Well...

1) The noises don't bother me...

2) "Ghosts can't hurt you", not true!

3) Castle Howard, Yorkshire, England...big, scary, old, haunted...heaven for Forteans!

I'm not making tea again...like my work experience...urgh!
 
"Drink sir?"

"Whisky, Vodka, Meths maybe?"

"Anything to keep me sane...hang on, a drinks stewardess in a haunted hhouse at 3 in the morning...?"

"AAAAAAAARRRRRRRRRRRRRRRGGGGGGGGGGGGHHHHHHHHH!!!!"
 
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