Fresh Film Festival magazine

fresh film festival magazine

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fresh film festival magazine fresh film festival magazine

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Hi everyone,

It’s great to be back in operation for what is going to be our 12th year.

This year, we’ve been thinking ahead. Because we get so many questions from you lot - enquiries about making films, technical questions, what to shoot and where to film - we decided to put together this booklet about Fresh and entering Ireland’s Young Film-maker awards.

What you’ve got in your hands contains your all important entry form for the competition (page 12) as well as numerous tips about film-making, some

advance details about the Festival, interviews and chats with former entrants and loads of other bits and pieces. The whole idea is to give you a little hand, should you need it, and a dash of inspiration (which we all need) to get your camera out and start shooting a movie, before the competition deadline of January 30th.

This year we are delighted to welcome Firefly Mobile as our main Festival sponsor. We think Fresh and Firefly link well together and we welcome their support for the many things Fresh does during the year.

Festival time will be March 24th-27th, 2009 and we’d be delighted if you’d come and visit Limerick for a night during the Festival. We can guarantee a fun time in Ireland’s riverside city, a hothouse of film-making events and the opportunity to pit yourself against the most awesome challenge of all - letting other people watch the film you made, projected on the big screen…

But first there is work to be done, the little task of making your film. You’ve got to write a script, get your cast and crew together; talk it over with your teacher or parents and then decide which direction to point your camera in.

The choices are endless, the skies are limitless and the screen is vast.

Go Now! Fly my pretties.

Jayne Foley Festival Director

Editor : Brendan Maher

Sub-editor : Sally-Anne McFadden

Writers : Justine Stafford, Laurence Snashall, Donal Foreman, Kolm Mooney, Edwin Lee, Bronagh O’Hanlon

Designer : Eric Kelleher

Illustrator : Alé Mercado

Photography : Kevin Corry, Nick Sheridan

Fresh Film FestivalBelltable Arts Centre, 69 O’Connell st,Limerick, Ireland

www.freshfilmfestival.net


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Firefly is very proud to be the main sponsors of Fresh Film Festival for the coming year. Our reason to become sponsors was very simple – it is an amazing project to be part of.

Our story is very simple. We had a meningitis scare with our eldest child when she was six. We were blessed that she did not have meningitis because as we all know, time is of the essence in relation to this illness. Our daughter was unable to contact us and nobody contacted us on her behalf. She was two miles up the road at a camp! After this we decided to get our daughter a simple phone that she could use to contact a few numbers and vice versa and to

our amazement there was nothing on the market. After researching the market we found the Firefly in the United States and we have exclusively brought it to Ireland and are launching it in the UK this year.

We at Firefly believe that mobile phone technology is amazing once tailored to suit the needs of its end users. In this modern and fast paced world we live in we as parents have a greater need to stay in touch with our children. There is no texting or downloading facility on our existing handset and with a call screening option ensuring that only the numbers programmed into the phone can call the phone it gives you the peace of mind of knowing who your child is contacting but more importantly who is contacting them.

When we heard about Fresh we knew as parents it was something we wanted to be part of. Fresh is about encouraging children of all ages to try something they may have not thought possible – making a film. We at Firefly are about providing technology that gives both the user and parent’s peace of mind. We are so excited about the coming year and we wish Fresh Film every success.

Frances Crean - DirectorYour Mobile Limited (the Firefly people)

website: www.fireflymobile.ie


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In November we will screen a selection of the 2008 entries in venues around the country. This is a great free event to attend to pick up ideas and find out what Fresh is all about!

Date: Wednesday, 12.11.08.Venue: The Belltable Arts Centre (Red Cross Hall), LimerickTime: 11am-12.30pmBookings: 061 319555

Date: Thursday, 13.11.08.Venue: Irish Film Institute, DublinTime: 11am-12.30pmBookings: 061 319555

Date: Friday, 14.11.08.Venue: Town Hall Theatre, GalwayEvent: Galway Junior Film Fleadh

Shorts Programme.Time: 2.15pmCharge: €3Bookings: 091 751655

Date: Friday, 14.11.08.Venue: Triskel Arts Centre, CorkTime: 11am-12.30Bookings: 061 319555

Date: Saturday, 22.11.08.Venue: Foyle Film Festival, The Nerve Centre, DerryTime: 5pm-6pmBookings: 028 71267432

All the above events are free of charge other than Galway. School groups are welcome.

Festival Dates: We can officially reveal the dates of the festival for 2009; March 24th-27th. The venues and events are not yet confirmed but be advised that there will be a four day block of fantastic film fun for both Junior and Senior categories with ongoing workshop, feature screenings, demonstrations and awards that will cerainly merit a prolonged stay in Limerick!

The dates are as follows:Entry Deadline : 30.02.09Judging weekend : 14.02.09Programme Launch : 14.02.09Regional Heats (Dublin, Galway, Cork, Clare) : 09.03.09-13.03.09Festival: 24.03.09-27.03.09

Sneak Preview:

Although we can’t reveal all just yet, we have a few exciting tasters of what is to come in the 2009 Fresh Film Festival. We are delighted to announce that film director of the acclaimed feature ‘Brick’, Mr. Rian Johnson, will be joining us from the United States to come and see the wonderful young filmmaking talent of Ireland and to provide masterclasses! And wait…there’s more….the VERY weird and wonderful M dot Strange, maker of the Sundance Film Festival nominated animation ‘We Are the Strange’, will also be flying across the Atlantic to present his psychodelic flick and to host a series of workshops and discussions on animation. Mr. Strange is a great fan of YouTube so you’ll find lots of his work there.

This years festival will also incorporate demonstrations from various 3rd level colleges dealing with new media, from production and animation companies and lots more! The programme will be four days of filmtastic delights so make sure and free up your diary to be certain that you can attend! We’ll be in touch soon with more details on scheduling. The programme launch on the 14th of January, 2009 will be a great chance to meet the formidable judges who watch and analyse your films and to get the first look at the events planned for festival ‘09!

Fresh Film Festival 2009 has some mighty treats for all us film nuts. Here are some dates to keep a note of!

2008 Showcases:


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My film ‘Alien Verbatim’ which won at Fresh this year was a CGI (computer generated images) animation and took five weeks to make. It wasn’t the first time I had entered for Fresh; my involvement began when in 2006 when I entered my first film ‘Toothpaste’. Over the past few years the festival has enabled me to show my work to many individuals and schools through the big screen. It has also given me a platform to express my creative side and allow others to participate whether acting or film making.

After the conclusion of this year’s film festival, I thought my association with Fresh would become less but in fact, if anything it has grown. I recently had the opportunity to travel to South Korea, with four talented filmmakers from Ireland, along with Ciarda, a Fresh representative who organised

and traveled with us around and to Korea. She was great!

We left on the 14th of July from Dublin Airport, via Frankfurt and then on to Seoul in South Korea, in total it was 14 hours of flying and one of the most memorable moments for me was the exotic sunset of Russia as we flew over the country, however we never got to see the sun completely set. Another unforgettable moment was the smell and the unfortunate taste of a South Korean food called kimichi, a mixture of crab paste, spices and cabbage.

The moment I stepped off the plane, I dripped with sweat; the humidity was exceptionally high, even for Korea and this continued throughout the trip. Our room at the youth hostel consisted of us (Irish), a Malaysian and a Hungarian. The camp officially began on the 16th of July, when we

were divided into our groups, which consisted of one Irish, six Korean, one Chinese and one American/Danish. As we continued into our first week, one of the most negative aspects for us was the lack of English spoken by the co-ordinators and even the students. This of course led to problems when shooting the short film at the end of the week.

The opening ceremony was held at the ‘National Seoul Cinema’, it was a fantastic occasion with opening events such as Drum/Rhythmic group and a speech by the Mayor of Seoul on the upcoming festival, before being opened by national celebrities (which of course we had never heard of, but the Koreans went absolutely wild for). Over the next week we would participate in master classes with people such as Ilmar Raag, an Estonian director, whose film ‘The

A group of young Irish filmmaking talent recently took a trip to Seoul Interrnational Youth Film Festival in South Korea. Laurence Snashall, Ireland’s Young Film Maker of the Year 2008 tells us all about it.

left to right : Laurence Snashall, Kevin Corry, Laura Waters, Nick Sheridan and Kevin Phelan


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Class’, was visually fascinating; he highlighted the key aspects of his role on set.

One of the most prestigious masterclasses for many, in particular Fresh attendee Kevin Phelan was Min-shik Choi, a South Korean actor, most famous for his role in ‘Old Boy’, a cult horror film. His lack of English however did not confuse his classes due to his large amounts of enthusiasm and encouragement on the method of acting.

We saw many great films over the festival including ‘Leroy’, about a black boy growing up in 1970’s Germany, dating a white girl whose brothers so happen to be neo-Nazis, and the eventual short film winning entries ‘The Intruder’ and ‘The Other Side of the Picture’.

Whilst attending films and master classes during the day, we were then pushed to absolute limit in the evenings in writing, storyboarding,

shooting and editing with equipment we had never seen, let alone used. The days were extremely long with most beginning at 6 a.m. and sometimes not finishing ‘til 11 or 12 p.m. I must admit frustration did kick in once or twice, but this was mainly due to the heavily structured timetable.

Personally the highlight of Korea was giving a director¹s talk about my film ‘Alien Verbatim’ in front of judges, filmmakers and general audience. The group highlight I can say undoubtedly was eating potatoes at

the Irish Embassy! Up until that point we were eating rice for breakfast, rice for lunch and rice for dinner, with various accompaniments such as scrambled egg and spicy beef as well as the much-hated kimichi.

Ambassador Conor Murphy’s embassy was situated on a hill just outside of town and we embraced the occasion of dinner with him and his lovely wife Lillian. It was nice to be able to eat home cooked food

that we recognised. It was especially good for the vegetarian and the two vegans we had in our traveling party. The camp ended on July 22nd and our final films were shown. The awards, magnificent glass statues, were given out and one of our own, Laura Waters scooped the editorial award for her film ‘Stalker’.

It was a fantastic evening and it went on well into the night. Those Koreans know how to party!

We left at 11a.m. the next morning

before saying one last goodbye to the land where we stayed for the previous nine days. On reflection it was the highlight of my summer; it has opened my eyes to new cultures and people.

Laurence Snashall was made Ireland’s Young Filmmaker of 2008 at Fresh and is attending the Institute of Art and Design Technology where he is studying a B.A in Film and Television Production.

Young filmmakers with Irish Ambassador to South Korea, Conor Murphy and his wife Lillian.


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As a kid did you do any work with the Young Irish Film-makers in Kilkenny or anything for the Fresh Film Festival ?My first film experience was holding a microphone on a YIFM film. In fact the reason I got into animation was because a part of YIFM was being turned into an animation studio when I first went there (it went on to become Cartoon Saloon, now one of the biggest in the country). I used to hang out there almost every evening in my late teens, it was an incredible bubble of talent and I learned an enormous amount from them.

What happened to make you go towards animation from your initial drawing work (in college?). And why did you want to leave that college to join Shynola?Drawing was a byproduct of learning animation so it was natural for me to fall back on the latter when I needed a career. By the time I got to college I had already directed some animation at Cartoon Saloon and had done a small collection of short films. I had the bug, as they say. The stuff I did at college was by contrast boring as hell, these basic remedial exercises, they actually put me off animation, so I upped and left.

Kilkenny born animator David O’Reilly recently worked on the surprise hit movie of 2008, Garth Jenning’s ‘Son Of Rambow’. He tells Fresh how he got from holding a microphone on a film in Kilkenny to working in two major advertising agencies and then to creating work for the big screen. We spoke to him from his new home in Berlin.

Garth Jennings “Son of Rambow”


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Shynola and Fabrica would (although creative) essentially be corporate environments. How did you find working in those companies as against working on your own?I don’t mind working in an office environment, but there’s something that happens when your in a room by yourself working on an animation, like this feeling of incredible excitement of creating something from nothing. I’ve talked about this at length with other filmmakers, it’s a common thing. Even though I sometimes take on more commercial jobs there’s always this pull to get back to doing personal work.

I love your film and although it’s a test, I wonder why it wasn’t brought further in Fabrica. Did you eventually do any work that was realised, for them?Unfortunately no. I wrote 2 scripts for them but the video department wasn’t really together back then. The main thing I got from that whole experience was taking over a small cinema and playing films every day.

Your development has generally been through computer generated animation. What equipment or software do you use to render your work?I have fluency with most computer animation software, they all do more less the same thing. I also don’t own a single one so I shouldn’t say too much!

You’ve mentioned your interest in Bergman Tarkovski and Van Sant previously. What interests you about their work?Tarkovsky is something of a hero for me. I love how those filmmakers do something so different with the same or less means than everyone else. They are also brilliant perfectionists, nothing in their films can be taken for granted, much like in animation

where everything is created from scratch. I always say that they would all make great animators.On another level its amazing to see the subtlety of movement and story in their films, the film-language is so different to most animation out there, so much more advanced and refined.

Your work is incorporated into ‘Son Of Rambow’ in a very effervescent manner - the imaginings of a child animated. How did Garth Jennings wish to incorporate your work into the live action. What guidance did he give you?Garth needed one person to be behind everything the main actor created, from the drawings on the bible to the murals in the film to the various bits of digital animation. The guidance for it all was surprisingly minimal, there was a lot of trust. I had also worked on his first film Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy which helped.

Reaction to ‘Son Of Rambow’ has been very good. How has your work within it been regarded?Really well it seems. Garth keeps telling me about people curious about my work on his press tour. I have given a few talks on it and will do some more for the Kerry Film Festival. I suppose I shouldn’t really soak it up, after all, drawing with the hand of a child is not the hardest job in the world!

Finally, you seem to be among a few Irish artists who are now living in Berlin. Is it the cheaper rental costs etc. or what is attracting you to the stay in the city?As you say, the cheap rents really take the pressure off when doing personal work.

Garth Jennings “Son of Rambow”

www.davidoreilly.com


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The Radharc Documentary Award will be presented to the best documentary film during the Fresh Film Festival.

The Radharc Documentary Film Unit had its origins in the late 1950s. Two Dublin priests were sent abroad to train as advisors on religious programmes for the upcoming Irish national television service. But instead of becoming advisors, they became programme makers instead.

Fathers Joe Dunn and Des Forristal developed a series of popular social and religious affairs programmes, which they called Radharc. The Radharc Team went on to produce over 400 documentary programmes from 75 different countries.

Radharc documentaries won international awards and an international reputation. They became “…part of the fabric of Irish broadcasting in a way that is unusual for a religious programme.” Radharc became noted for its innovative approach and the programmes proved popular with audiences and critics alike. TV reviews commented: “outstandingly successful”, “distilled television…brilliant documentary reporting”.

Radharc Films were a challenge to the moral conscience of the audience. Viewers were kept abreast of new thinking and practices in the world of faith and spirituality. The films confronted their audiences with the justice and peace issues of the developing world. They chronicled the work of the Irish church through history and followed the fortunes of the Irish Diaspora.

The Radharc Trust is a registered Charity, CHN 6450. For more information about the history of Radharc, the Radharc Archive of over 400 films and the work of The Radharc Trust today.

Check out www.radharc.ie, or phone: 087 930 1597.


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Conditions for entry:To be eligible for inclusion entries must be:- supplied on DVD and/or mini DV tape-made by 7-12 year old filmmakers to be considered in the Junior section-made by 13-18 year old filmmakers to be considered in the Senior section- completed after 23rd January, 2008- 15 mins or less in length* (Senior section) / 10 mins or less in length* (Junior section). *These times are inclusive of title and end credits.

Requirements:- you can enter as many films as you like but please include only one film per mini DV tape / DVD (This is to facilitate judging).- please submit a still image from your film on CD-ROM or via e-mail, and a synopsis of no more than 3 lines of text.- supporting information must be supplied in digital format only.- Fresh Film Festival reserves the right to use submitted entries to promote the aims of Fresh Film Festival- The release form attached detailing the extent to which you permit distribution of your film must be signed and accompany your application.- You need to fill in a different release form for each film submitted.

Heats:All films submitted into competition that are of screenable quality will be screened as part of regional heats in the appropriate region. Dates and venues to be confirmed.

Awards:• 1st, 2nd and 3rd prize in the Ireland’s Young Filmmaker category will be given in both the Senior and Junior sections.• The Radharc Documentary Award will be presented to the best documentary film during the festival.• Brownbag Animation Company will select the winning animation for presentation at the festival.• The RTÉ 60 Second Shot award winning short will be determined via sms vote to RTÉ and subsequently presented during the festival.• The Group Award will be given to a film of the judges choosing that has been produced as part of a group effort.

Submission of entries:Entries on DVD and/ or mini DV tape only. Closing date for entries is Friday the 30th of January, 2009. Please enclose a €10.00 bank draft/ cheque per filmmade payable to Fresh Film Festival to cover administration costs.

All correspondance should be directed to:

Ireland’s Young Filmmaker AwardsFresh Film FestivalBelltable Arts Centre, 69 O’Connell st,Limerick, Ireland

Tel/ Fax: +353 (0)61 319555

Email: [email protected]: www.freshfilmfestival.net

This year we have an exciting programme lined up but it’s up to you to provide the most important part: the films! We have new additions to the already established Young Filmmaker, Documentary, Group, Animation and audience awards. This year we are including an International Award to acknowledge talent from abroad. Another exciting addition is the 60 Second Shot Award in association with RTÉ that will be run through broadcast on RTÉ’s TTV and voted on by text message. You will find further details about the new strand on this entry form.

I (please print your name in BLOCK CAPITALS)

and Guardian ( where filmmaker is under 18 years)

(please print parent/guardian’s name in BLOCK CAPITALS )

hereby approve the distribution and use of my film titled

(please print the title of your film in BLOCK CAPITALS)

for the purposes of : (please tick approved options)

Fresh Film Festival Showcase dvds and clips

Fresh Film Festival Website

Television Broadcast

Fresh Film Festival Programming and Publicity

Other Film Festivals around the World

Signed (Filmmaker)

Signed (Parent/Guardian)


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Age Group (Please tick one): Junior 7-12yrs (primary education) Senior 12-18yrs

Film Title:

Running Time:

School Group Individual TTV 60 Second Shot International

Name of school / Group / Individual:

Address:

Tel: Fax:Mobile: Email:

I would like to subscribe to the Fresh Film quarterly e – newsletter

Director / Producer involved in the project:

Is the Director/Producer a teacher, group leader or specialist facilitator? yes no

Class / Group Name:

Average Age:

Format: Mini DV DVD

Credits: Must be the same as the credits on the submitted film.Producer :Writer :Director :Camera :Editor :Sound :Designer :Actors :

Checklist:I have enclosed with my entry: Synopsis Still jpeg Entry Fee €15. Please submit your synopsis and still jpeg in digital form. Paper print offs are not admissable

I the undersigned agrees to accept the regulations of the festival:

Signiture:

Position:

Date :


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This new award category is specifically for 1 minute entries. The films should be exactly 60 seconds

in duration and either shot as one long take or edited in camera only. Some examples of long

takes from great films include the ‘arrival at the beach’ scene in the film ‘Atonement’ (2007) by

Joe Wright, the lengthy action scene towards the end of ‘Children of Men’ (2006) by Alfonso

Cuaron and, of course, the incredible film demonstrating 300 years of Russian history in

ONE LONG TAKE on steadicam: ‘Russian Arc’ (2002) by director Alexander Sokurov.

All entries should be submitted in the usual way to Fresh Film Festival. If you wish your film to be

considered in this category please tick the appropriate box on the enty form. All ’60 Second Shot’

films will also be considered in the Ireland’s Young Filmmaker main competition. The relevent

entries will be considered by a panel of judges. A short-list of films in this category will be

broadcast on RTÉ’s TTV in the run up to the 2009 Fresh Film Festival (March 24th-27th) and the

winner of the award will be decided by a text vote from TTV viewers. The winner will be announced

at the festival and subsequently interviewed on TTV.

For more information please contact a member of the Fresh team and watch out

for more on RTÉ’s TTV- weekdays 5-7pm on RTÉ 2 and also on www.rte.ie/tv/ttv

Grant aided by :

Sponsored by :

Supported by:


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DUBLIN BUSINESS SCHOOL Dublin Business School13/14 Aungier Street Dublin 2www.dbs.ieCourses: Film, Literature & Drama, Media & Cultural Studies, Film& Media

COLAISTE DHULAIGH,Barryscourt RoadCoolockDublin 17www.colaistedhulaigh.ieCourse: Animation, Film Production, Interactive Media

DUBLIN INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGYSchool of MediaDIT Aungier StreetDublin 2www.appliedarts.dit.ieCourses: Film and Media, Broadcasting/ Documentary Making, Digital Media

DUN LAOGHAIRE IADT Carriglea Park Kill AvenueDun LaoghaireCo. Dublinwww.iadt.ieCourse: Make-up for Film, Model-Making for Film, Animation, Film and Television Production, Screenwiting, Digital Media

IT BLANCHARDSTOWNBlanchardstown Road NorthDublin 15www.itb.ieCourse: Creative Digital Media

IT TALLAGHT ITT Dublin, Institute of Technology Tallaght, Tallaght, Dublin 24www.it-tallaght.ieCourse: Creative Digital Media

DUNDALK IT Dublin Rd. DundalkCo. Louthwww.dkit.ieCourses: Video and Film Production, Communications in Creative Multimedia, Applied Cultural Studies with Film

GALWAY-MAYO IT Cluain Mhuire CampusCluain MhuireMonivea RoadGalwaywww.gmit.ieCourse: Film and Television Studies

LETTERKENNY IT Letterkenny Institute of TechnologyPort Road LetterkennyDonegalwww.lyit.ieCourses: Creative Digital Media, Digital Media Design and Production

LIMERICK IT Limerick Institute Of TechnologyMoylish ParkLimerickwww.lit.ieCourse: Technology (Video and Sound)

UNIVERSITY OF LIMERICK CastletroyLimerickwww.ul.ieCourses: Journalism & New Media, Music Media and Performance Technology, Interactive Media

NUI MAYNOOTHMaynooth Co. Kildarewww.nuim.ieCourse: Media Studies

THE HUSTON SCHOOL OF FILM AND DIGITAL MEDIANUI GalwayNewcastleGalwaywww.filmschool.ieCourses: Film Studies, Production and Direction, Screenwriting, Digital Media

BALLYFERMOT COLLEGE OF FURTHER EDUCATIONBallyfermot RoadBallyfermot Dublin 10www.bcfe.ieCourses: Animation, Digital Media, Cinematography, Film and Television Production

COLAISTE STIOFAIN NAOFATramore Rd. Cork CityCork www.csn.ieCourse: Media Production

NEW MEDIA TECHNOLOGY COLLEGE13 Harcourt StDublin 2www.nmtc.ieCourses: Film Production, Interactive Media


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1. Work with what you’ve got: Don’t write that epic crowd scene unless you know there’s a festival happening next week that you can steal as a backdrop. Play to your strengths. There’s probably something unique that you or your family have access to that you can use in your movie. If your dad has a tractor, write a movie around that. If he doesn’t, don’t.

2. You can’t beat Hollywood:Tempting as it may be to try to imitate the style and gloss of your favourite blockbusters, let’s face it; the game is rigged in their favour. You can try, and your failure may be unique and interesting (or at least funny) in its own right—but you can also just do your own thing, and try something that the studios wouldn’t have the guts or the imagination to do in the first place.

3. Study Films: A lot of the mistakes that young filmmakers make could be avoided if teenagers actually just paid attention to their favourite films. Pick a movie you love and watch it with the sound down; look closely at the camera angles, the editing and the lighting. Watch short films on Youtube and see how an effective story can be told in five minutes. You won’t be able to match the production value of these films—and you don’t need to, anyway—but oftentimes the craft of good filmmaking doesn’t cost any money. You just have to actually watch films.

4. Push yourself:Every film you make should teach you something you didn’t know before, and achieve something you didn’t know you were capable of. This doesn’t mean you have to go out every time and do something that you have no idea how to do. You should draw on the skills and techniques you’ve already learned—but if you’re not

building on them, if you’re not pushing yourself further in some way, you’re playing it safe. It will show.

5. Keep it short.

6. Test screen: Showing your film to an audience is one of the most important ways of figuring out what you’re doing right or wrong as a filmmaker—but that isn’t the same as saying that you always have to try to please the audience, or make a film that you think “they” will like. A lot of the time just seeing your film with other people in the room will help you see it more objectively. And if you’re still thinking your film has to be 20 minutes long, just imagine how long that 20 minutes is going to feel when 300 people are sitting beside you watching it…

7. Don’t neglect the basics: Audiences will forgive a lot of technical flaws in your film if your story is compelling, your actors are engaging or your jokes are funny but there’s still a threshold point where the technical mistakes start to get in the way. That point is usually when they’re no longer able to clearly see, hear or follow what’s going on. So get to know your equipment, and practice with it. Learn the basics of shot composition. Do your best to record quality sound, and if that’s beyond your means, make a silent movie, there’s too much talking in most movies anyway.

8. Embrace limits:The limitations of teenage filmmaking can often be discouraging. How the hell are you supposed to make a great film when all you’ve got is this crappy camera and your stupid friends? Well, the first step is to change your attitude. There’s an old French filmmaker named Robert Bresson who said, “Someone who can work with

Donal Foreman offers his ten top tips for those intending to become Ireland’s Young Filmmaker of the Year. He should know, his group Dog Day Films were first prize winner at Fresh in 2003 with ‘The Unmentionable’.


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the minimum can work with the most. One who can with the most cannot, inevitably, with the minimum.” In other words, you should be celebrating the fact that all you’ve got is a crappy camera and some stupid friends: that means all your solutions to the problems you encounter are going to have to be creative ones, and as Robert Rodriguez wrote, “that can make all the difference between something fresh and different and something processed and stale.”

9. Don’t give up: If you haven’t failed at filmmaking yet, then you probably weren’t being ambitious enough. If you have, congratulations; you’re on way to becoming a great filmmaker. Just keep at it, and as Samuel Beckett put it, “fail better” next time.Finally, the über-rule which contradicts all the other ones:

10. Don’t listen to anyone: Hollywood screenwriter William Goldman famously said of the film world that “nobody knows anything”; and it’s true. That doesn’t mean you should ignore everything anyone tells you, but if you’re really passionate about a project, don’t let anyone talk you out of it. Make the film that you want to make, not the film you think people want to see, or the film your teachers or your parents want you to make. Most of all, don’t listen to people who say that you can’t do something, or that what you’re aiming for isn’t possible. I’ve argued above that limitations are your friend, but the types of restrictions that really get in the way are the ones that you let get stuck inside your own head. Who says films have to cost a certain amount, look a certain way, be made a certain way, or contain this element

or that one? Hint: they don’t.

Go to Donal’s blog on: www.donalforeman.com

More film-making tools:‘How to Make a Fresh Film’ is a handy DVD introduction to making a film. Email Fresh at : [email protected] or ring us in Limerick on 061 319555.We also recommend this book: ‘The Guerrilla Filmmakers Handbook’ by Chris Jones - Genevieve Jonliffe; a good guide to making your movie on the fly. It also contains a CD with tools like Budgets and Script formatting software etc.Or you could also watch the director’s commentaries in special feature section on any dvd you like. They usually give good information on how they put together shots and scenes.


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Bronagh O’Hanlon from animation company Brown Bag outlines a day at the office…

9.00 am: When I get into the office I’ve an e-mail waiting to say we’ve signed-off on the last 10 scripts for Teenology. Sweet! It means I can sketch up the storyboards (drawings of what every shot looks like) and scan them into the computer to make an animatic (this is when we time out the shots to find out how long each will be on screen for).....as animators can’t work without this timing, it’s important to get it locked down and signed off by the broadcaster quickly.

10.00 am: The actors are in again to do the Voice Overs for these last ten scripts. They do the voices for about four characters each. When they’re finished their voices are edited into the animatic so the animators can see which shots the characters talk in.

12.30 pm:I get called over by one of the animators to have a look at a shot. He wants my opinion on what to do with the characters facial expressions...we act it out together, he shows the expression he wants to do by pulling a weird face. I show the expression I’d prefer by pulling an even madder face! Though it might seem strange, this is normal behavior in the studio!

1.00 pm:LUNCH.....Am dying for a chicken roll! Just have to finish e-mailing a freelance animator. Hmmmm chicken!

2.00 pm:Another animator has finished doing he episode so I open up the file on my computer and start taking notes on any tweaks I want done before we sign off on it. Usually there are two passes on tweaks before an episode is ready. So he’ll probably be working on it for two more days.

2.15 pm: I start to draw up some new backgrounds. Though we usually re-use a lot of the backgrounds eg. the school canteen, classrooms etc....every so often


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we need to do a new one for a location we haven’t be in before. In the episode I’m working on now I have to do a background for the outside of a night club.

3.05 pm: Another animator comes over to me. She’s about to start a shot where she has to animate the character eating an apple. But there’s no apple in the shot. Damn! Another thing to draw....stupid apples!!

3.20 pm: I get a call from our sound guy....he’s coming in tomorrow to collect the first ten episodes to do the sound effects on. He also promises to e-mail a sound file for the first pass on the title music. Cool!

4.10 pm: Another animator pops over. There’s a problem with the shot she’s working on. She has 50 frames (2 seconds) to get the character to walk into shot, pick up a glass and talk into camera. She’s finding 50 frames is too short an amount of time to do this in, so we compromise and scrap the walk, and have the character standing with

the glass instead. She’s thrilled, she hates walk cycles and says in the next shot she has to animate ten teenagers dancing, which will be a major pain in the ass!

5.00-6.00 pm: We get the final list of credits signed off by the broadcaster. So I can now go about animating the credit sequence. I’ve been looking forward to this as I’ve some cool ideas I want to try out on the text. But it’s 6 o’ clock so it’ll have to wait till tomorrow. Boo!

Brown Bag Films are located in the heart of Dublin city centre, in historical Smithfield Square, Brown Bag Films employ more than 50 talented animators, directors, designers and production staff working in a state of the art studio.

For more info on them, check out their site at www.brownbagfilms.com


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Fresh has been in operation for over eleven years, so it seems like a good time to go back and meet some of the previous winners of our film-makers competition and see what they’re doing now. We eventually tracked down Ed Lee, a member of the crew that shot, acted directed and ultimately won at Fresh in 1999.

Firstly, Ed, I understand that you’re actually living in Hong Kong. Although I guess that that’s not so unusual as you’ve got family there. What are you working at?I’m currently work for the South China Morning Post as a multimedia producer, doing video, photography and audio work for its website (www.scmp.com). Before that I’d been freelancing as a videographer and had worked at a local television station’s news department.

Your group C13 with Anthony Kinsella as director, won at Fresh in 1999 for ‘The Jock Club and the Mellon Collie Death of Eugene Nerdlinger’. What was it like to win?I still remember the moment the judges called out our names. We were simply ecstatic. It was our first ever film and to win first prize was not only fantastic, but that experience started my path towards filmmaking.

As I recall we won five hundred pounds? It was split between five people and I’m pretty sure we pooled in a part of it to celebrate. I’m sure I used the rest of my winnings for several frivolous purchases.

What did you do after school?I studied Journalism & Visual Media at Griffith College Dublin. I initially wanted to study film at Dun Laoghaire but I felt that would’ve pigeonholed me. I also had great interest in writing, photography, real-life stories, so I felt studying journalism would open more doors for me. And it really has. I also have a professional diploma in digital video production from a technical college in Hong Kong.

Why did you decide to go to Hong Kong?When I wanted to leave Ireland in the summer of 2005, I had a job lined up at a European production company in New York. But I had a problem attaining visas so that was scrapped. Hong Kong was the only logical place to move to since I had family and connections there. But I had always detested the hot & humid weather, density and noise levels of this city. It’s so different compared to my previous quaint

suburban lifestyle. But this city has a way of growing on you.

I left because I had just graduated and wanted to travel around before I delved into the constraints of a normal working life. I also had a bit of a crisis in deciding what to do in my life. But I knew it must involve film, video or journalism because I wanted to do something creative, and a profession I would actually enjoy. In Chinese traditions, especially among overseas families like mine, there’s a lot of pressure on children to aim for standard high-paying jobs like banking, actuaries, computing, or hell, even running a Chinese restaurant! I was never one to follow social norms, particularly when it comes to my Chinese heritage. Thankfully my parents understood my passion for film early on since I did ‘Jock Club…’ and were supportive of my decision to go into this field. Although they quietly acknowledge I probably wouldn’t earn as much money! I went to Hong Kong with some friends in September 2005 and inadvertantly decided to stay. It was also partly due to a health problem I’d contracted that year, and wondered if doctors here could


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help me. I haven’t looked back since. If I look at my career so far in terms of my showreel, I’ve done so much more here in these past three years than I ever had before. Though I always wonder if I would’ve made the same achievements in Ireland if I’d stayed.

What other film work have you done?I’ve branched more into documentaries and television work these days. I joint-produced a documentary on graffiti in Hong Kong called ‘Tagspotting’ in 2006. It’s since been showcased at festivals

around Asia. I also assisted in several other projects including Hong Kong’s first documentary on lesbians; Hong Kong’s first DVD magazine; promotional videos; music videos and a few minor short films - all in Hong Kong. Your were recently working at the Beijing Olympics. What were you doing at it?I was posted to Beijing for four months by my newspaper to do multimedia work; specifically news and feature stories relating to China and the Olympics. I only got my press

pass a few days before the Games began so before that I had been doing some ‘guerilla’ style shooting, blagging my way in and out of situations and pretending to be a tourist. I consciously made a decision to use small consumer camcorders in order to remain conspicuous. My experience in doing low-budget, guerilla style films really helped me out!

Go to Ed’s blog on: edleeblog.blogspot.com

Tony Tracy, lecturer at the Huston Film School welcomed everyone to the get-together. Tony said that Fresh had given the group the grand name of the Fresh Alumni, former entrants, many of whom were now working in the film and media indus-tries. Tony also reminded everyone of the importance of such a group as personal contact was one of the ma-jor elements in developing a career in the area.

We screened a number of films at the event. Former second prize-winner from 1998, director Conor MacMahon showed his horror short ‘Braineater’ and told of his upcom-ing feature ‘The Clown’ for Rubicon Films, which has been funded by the

Irish Film Board and would be shot in Ireland or Canada, depending on overall budget. Helena Doyle (from Fresh 2004) screened her recent Na-tional Film School graduate film ‘Pure White’ a dialogue free, experimental six-minute film. Helena plans to make a film about ‘The Diceman’ – perfor-mance artist Thom McGinty. Donal Foreman also showed his graduate film from Dun Laoghaire ‘You’re Only What I See Sometimes’. Amongst many other film-making and writing duties Donal programmes the Experi-mental Film Club which meets at the Ha’Penny bridge Inn’ in Dublin every month (go to: www.experimental-filmclub.blogspot.com for updates). We also met with the winners at Fresh from 2007 - from ‘Hang Up Noise

Man’ – Fionn, James, Ciaran and Conor from R.E. Productions who were in town to sample the delights of the Fleadh. James will be starting 1st Year in the National Film School this Autumn

Ed’s note: We were also delighted to hear that 2008 winner Laurence Snashall, (Alien Verbatim), 2006 win-ner Eoghan McQuinn (‘The Cycle’) and 2002 winner Emlyn Lewis (‘Weird Evolution’) are all joining James in 1st Year in the Film School. We expect great things from this class.

If you’ve been involved with Fresh in the past and would like to be part of the ‘Fresh Alumni’ – email us at: [email protected]

Last year we decided it would be good to meet up with some past Fresh entrants; so we told everyone that we could remember from the deep dark past that we’d arrange a meeting at the Huston Film School in Galway, during the Galway Film Fleadh. And we did, and here’s what happened…


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ACTOR :You love to be on camera! You’re a natural when it comes to acting, and always want the lead! You like to be the leader, and be seen. You’re confident, and know you can take on any role with a bit of practice! Keep on acting! And maybe slide in a few script/scene ideas while you’re there!

DIRECTOR :You love it when your plans start to come together. You can picture characters/shots in your head and

love watching them come to life. You’ve got a cool head and handle stress well, making sure not to bottle things up. Keeping things under control is so important and you handle it well; maybe you should try stepping up in front of the camera and be seen. The director has to be seen too!

EDITOR :You’re an editor! It’s a tough job, but somebody’s got to do it! You have a heap of patience and know that good things come to

those who wait. You take things seriously and can get stressed, but you know how to chill out! You have to decide what music to put with the film but you love mixing things up and seeing how the music can change the video entirely. You take it seriously, but have fun messing with the clips and adding whacky transitions. Try and see what the director thinks when you tell him you could film a scene for a change!

created by Justine Stafford, Ireland’s Young Filmmaker 2nd Prize 2008


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