Hollywood has always played an important role in my life. When I was three or four
years old my mother used to put me in front of the telly and put on one of my
favourite videos, which might have been anything along the lines of
The Land Before Time or Ghostbusters 2 and many others. I always had
something to watch and as I grew up I learned a lot more about how to
record films off the telly and every weekend I'd look at the T.V guide and plan
out what movies to watch.It wasn't until more recently that I started paying more attention to anything other
than mainstream Hollywood blockbusters. I started watching international films
like Cinema Paradiso and El Mariachi. When I was in sixth class I made my first
film using a rubbish old video camera and sheets of paper for the titles. It was
called Impressing Mr. Mutant and it starred most of my toy soldiers and even a
few Star Wars characters. This was a musical and even I find it a bit odd that my
first film was a musical because I've never liked musicals. I find them really
irritating. It also had a plot that I didn't think much about at the time but looking
back it was quite ingenious for an eleven year-old. I followed that up with
The Gunslinger which also starred most of the same characters as the first film
and I also produced various sequels. Everything quietened down for a while after
the fourth Gunslinger film and, for about three years, every time I tried to make
a movie I wouldn't finish it. It went on this way until I got a new P.C in 2005.
It had Windows Movie Maker on it and I tried to take advantage of this feature
but because I had a very old camcorder I couldn't use it. After a while I just forgot
about the whole thing, because I couldn't get anything to work.Then came an event which inspired me to jump back into gear and get back to
movie making; August 29th 2006, some unfamiliar kids showed up on my road
and started causing trouble. I didn't realise it for a while but they had gone and
set a car ablaze several doors down. Instead of acting like a zombie and joining
the crowd outside I ran upstairs, grabbed the digital camera and used the movie
function to record the event. I got some great footage of the fire-fighters putting
out the blaze, and even caught a glimpse of the little pyromaniacs themselves.
I put this video on my computer and finally got to use Windows Movie Maker to
add subtitles and music to it. The subtitles poked fun at what was happening with
a few digs thrown at the police who never showed up. I then posted this on the
internet; on Youtube.com and Bebo. A few months later I decided to make some
improvements to the video. I filmed a few scenes in which the lead character is
contacted by a character known only as "Langer the Skanger" who tells him that
an American missile launched on the outskirts of Baghdad went a tiny bit to the
left and landed on his road. The lead character then runs upstairs with a camera
and films it. The original song I used was We didn't start the fire by Billy Joel, and
What if God Smoked Cannabis by an unknown artist.This second incarnation of the film, entitled Woodses Burning, went down well
with friends and family and I've heard that a screenshot even appeared in a local
newsletter.Some time in October 2006 I remade Woodses Burning again. There was better
acting, better costumes, better editing and better music. I replaced Billy Joel with
Johnny Cash and his Ring of Fire. I also introduced a new character called
'Kreep'. This one included a surprise ending and had much better titles.So far I have entered this incarnation into the Fresh Film Festival and, although
I didn't get far, there'll be much better films in line for next year's festival.Since then I have made only one more film, a semi-documentary about a class
trip to Stewart's Hospital which does more for making the class look bad than it
does for making them look charitable.There are several projects in the can for next year, which I hope to get started on
soon. Watch out for Langer the Skanger in his own 15 minute movie.Next stop, the Oscars…
