The Craftsman

Things have been busy recently, leading up to the big Offworld Project launch. (More on this later).

As a teaser, here's The Craftsman; a short we made recently for the RSA/Philips/BAFTA competition. It's currently in the Top 5, having been selected by the panel and public vote, with Ridley Scott choosing the final winner in a couple of weeks. Enjoy.

Explosions In Space Are Silent (2008)

'I' is generally something that's avoided on this blog, mostly because the non-original material that gets put up wouldn't benefit much from a dear diary accompaniment. This entry is a slight exception however, as there's not really a way to post a piece of work I've been sitting on for two years without some words of explanation.

Once upon a time in a land geographically pretty close but shortly after the first iPhone was released I came up with the idea of Offworld Project, and having nailed my concept, was literally exploding to make something that would encapsulate my style completely, that was every bit my baby from beginning to end. Which I did.

In hindsight, obsessive control is never healthy; spending every penny I had (and more than a few I didn't), months of pre-production, directing and very physical acting (my first time at both), no sleep, and learning colour grading from scratch whilst barely leaving my windowless cave doesn't allow for much distance.

Tragically (but fantastic at the time), I managed to suck a load of very talented people into my black hole of enthusiasm who all worked brilliantly together, and expected something to come of it, but as (ambition - distance x expectation = time), it's apparently taken a long while to work out what it was we made, and it's place in the scheme of things. In other words I never showed it to anyone.

You know when you blow a load of money on something stupid, run out a while later and can't help thinking what you could be spending it on (NTS: 1 Tracey Island = 57 Sainbury's Basics vegetable soup & noodles)... This was kind of like that, except if I used my life savings all over again I might send it to someone this time.
At the time I guess it was hard to watch, having put so much into it, and having to see yourself on screen, or it was just stupidity. Either way I realised the other day it was probably about time to put it online...
(There's also a great little making-of that Kyri made, both songs are M83)