PAUL VERNON FILMMAKER.COM - Blog & News

PAUL VERNON FILMMAKER.COM

'Spirit' is my new film

13/10/2023

Oh, I haven't written a blog for months.

My new film is called 'Spirit' and I've been working on it all summer. It is a film but I consider it an art piece ("art film"... film that's "art" ... film as an "artwork" ... just an artwork? ... always tricky to navigate the semantics and labelling or how I feel about it) made during being a part of the Unearth Art Collective, a great group consisting of American / UK / UAE artists. Our thoughts and conversation lead us to make work connecting to nature primarily and also technology. It's been a fruitful fulfilling experience with them and even after our work concludes (and "digital garden") I think we plan to continue meeting up, as we have done for months dotted around the world. And as we have realised, connecting like that is certainly a good side to technology's feats!

It's the first time I've shot with my BMPCC6K and really delved into how to properly use it hands on, feeling more and more comfortable and understanding of its capabilities. I currently have a better than "rough" edit but after spending a month away from it for objectivity and a holiday, I've today continued to cut it and make edit notes, to develop the sounds ideas too and look towards its finished state.

Setting up a shot

Shooting with a green filter in Alexandra Palace at the height of summer

Real Documentary Festival guest & screening

19/4/2023

My short documentary A Film By Abigail screens on Saturday 22nd April in the REAL Inspiration Showcase at the inaugural Real Documentary Festival in Leicester later this week. I'll be attending as a guest and also taking in the panels, talks, festivities on Thursday and Friday leading up to my screening at the weekend. The film has enjoyed a long life at festivals from Los Angeles to Estonia to East Anglia to New Delhi (!) and including in the official selection at the BAFTA recognised London Short Film Festival - every time I think it's done being shown, it gets another screening. I've screen grabbed parts of the programme brochure below but you can view the full thing and get passes on their website. Maybe I'll see you there?! Thanks for reading.

Ginkgo Projects / Edinburgh NHS Hospitals video library film selections

17/2/2023

Is it too late to celebrate an achievement from 2019?

My short films A Film By Abigail and Lost In The Nameless City were selected in 2019 for a video streaming library used for patients in the Edinburgh hospitals: Royal Hospital for Children & Young People and the Department of Clinical Neurosciences. The idea being that these films and video would serve as a distraction and chosen by the doctor / practitioner for during a patients' treatment for "relaxing, engaging or focussing" depending on what's happening. The curated video library is part of the Beyond Walls program at these hospitals.

The Ginkgo Projects has made and continues to create some incredible work. It shows that art and artists can be highly valuable and have tangible projects with creativity and construction that offer genuine support and problem-solving in scenarios you might not ordinarily expect or associate as being a useful tool. Connected to science, medicine, therapy and everyday life. You should really check out their stuff.

I've screen grabbed information below specific to what my films were involved in and underneath broader images of their work but you can also head to the Ginkgo Projects websites and see the truly fascinating, progressive and creative work for good that they are doing: beyondwalls.blog or ginkgoprojects.co.uk

First Exhibition is NEXT WEEK.

17/9/2022

My first solo exhibition is next week Saturday 24th (11am - 4pm) and Sunday 25th (11am - 3pm) of September taking place in Leicester at the Documentary Media Centre.

I will be hanging my Instax instant film from the ceiling, my Arts Council supported film The Divine Visions of Hildegard von Bingen will be uniquely screening (possibly out of a window), there'll be a grid of images entering you into ongoing projects such as "the city of gifts" about urban discovery / semiology and my "watercolours" series with which I've made fine art prints with wonderful hahnemühle photo rag paper being physically displayed for the first time. These are also available to purchase in the shop.

I've made a lot more work since 2020 when the exhibition was originally pencilled in to happen in April, before the world fell apart, and it has developed completely differently to originally planned, previously focussing on my architectural work. I can't wait to put the show together for people attending and display so much work for the first time ever - I'm very grateful to John Coster at the Documentary Media Centre for the opportunity and faith. Look out in the coming months for the digital version I'll be putting together and experimenting with - something I really wanted to do with international Instagram followers and family outside the UK. You can follow @cap.cow to stay in touch, up-to-date and see behind the scenes of my development with First Exhibition here.

Witcher, House of Gucci & Wheel of Time - November 2021

21/12/2021

December has been busy... which is why I'm only writing about November now haha. I had the privilege to work for Sassy Films at the UK premieres of House of Gucci (Universal), Wheel of Time (Amazon Prime) and The Witcher (Netlix).

Marvels' Eternals, Netflix commercial, Dune & London Film Festival - October 2021 (..oh and my new book shipped to Singapore!)

10/11/2021

â€‹Big thing last month was working as the 2nd assistant director shooting with production company Content Creator Studios for client Netflix with OneFootball on a commercial for the new film Red Notice. You can watch one of the finished versions below embedded from Instagram:

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by OneFootball (@onefootball)

â€‹October was a busy month - especially for premieres! November has been too, thank goodness, hence the lateness of writing this. After so long a period of uncertainty with this type of production for me - events with lots of fans and actors - thankfully they really started up again. For production company Sassy Films I worked on the live streams / filming of Dune (Odeon Leicester Square) for clients Universal and Eternals (at BFI IMAX) "UK Gala Screening" for clients Disney / Marvel. We also worked at the London Film Festival for The Harder They Fall which opened the festival at the Royal Festival Hall and at the American Express Gala for The Power of the Dog.

â€‹â€‹My latest photography book Strange Space, self-published with my arts label Captain Cowboy, is getting about! I had the pleasure of sending a signed copy to Singapore to a friend and follower of the @cap.cow Instagram page and a recent colleague of mine (I was the 1st AD on his commercial a few months ago) who is a great DOP and now a friend, sent me an image that he had purchased one. When you independently create a book you don't need to sell hundreds of thousands to feel accomplished and vindicated in your time creating your artwork - it is incredibly satisfying each single time the book is bought - whether that be many (I wouldn't object!) or just a handful.

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â€‹Another shoot in October saw me running around the Royal Opera House in Covent Garden for the filming of the global reveal of new Range Rover. That was a busy one! The image on the left was an old Range Rover spotlit at night outside the Opera House as guests arrived at the entrance for the evening.

Working for Content Creator Studios, I helped shoot the commercial for the new product GKomb in an odyssey of balloons, models and disco. So just your an average Thursday then.

No Time To Die, Strange Space & Wrigleys - September 2021

8/10/2021

Wow. It has been a long time since my last post on here! I'll be picking it back up now normality is increasing with my work. This post covers the September just gone with recent stuff but I will be dipping back into the last 2 years' including Black Widow, Shang-Chi, Sky and The Walking Dead. During the downtime of the pandemic one of the main things I was doing was creating my second book Strange Space which I released a month ago. You can click the link to check that out and also head to my @cap.cow Instagram page to follow my artistic work.

What a privilege last week to work at the royal world premiere of the new Bond film No Time To Die at the Royal Albert Hall working for Sassy Films. It was a truly massive premiere and a huge production to put on. Is it the biggest film premiere in the world this year? I would assume so.

In a very different shoot, a few weeks ago I was a 3rd assistant director for Wrigley's Extra working for Taylor Herring. It was a unique piece of commercial content to work on and an interesting experiment about our loss of confidence and kissing.

...lots more happening in October.

Say hello to CAPTAIN COWBOY and my new book THE LIGHT THAT'S LOST

22/1/2020

Welcome to the new website for my self-publishing!

My first book THE LIGHT THAT'S LOST is now available.

You can follow the new @CAP.COW Instagram where in addition to sharing photographic work I'm posting eclectic treasures and oddities printed and filmed celebrating design, great movies, the printed form, stories, weirdness, comics and everything in between from old to new.

Bali International Short Film Festival - Official Selection

1/10/2019

A Film By Abigail is in the official selection of the Bali International Short Film Festival. I wrongfully thought that it had screened for the last time in 2017 for "Exploding Cinema" in London but it seems it will keep on being seen around the world, adding Indonesia to the audiences of USA, France, Germany, Denmark, Estonia, Albania, Egypt and others who've seen it. The five minute documentary, created while I was doing my Masters degree and premiering in 2012 as the opening film of a BAFTA short film showcase, has had quite the run of screening at in galleries and film festivals for many years now. I'm pleased for it to be headed to the fifth Minikino Film Week.

I've grabbed a snippet form the event brochure with Abigail top right, included in the "A Challenge" International Program. Below that, check out words from the main organisers behind the festival, a map of the venues, sponsors and a "Post-Festival MFW5 Road Show" (AKA the after party!). Keep in touch with me on Instagram @paulfilmmaker and take a peek at my newest venture Captain Cowboy @cap.cow.

Festival de Cine Experimental de Bogotá - Hildegard SCREENING TODAY

14/8/2019

Bogotá Experimental Film Festival continues today on its second day and my short film The Divine Visions of Hildegard von Bingen commissioned by Filthy Lucre screens in the official selection at 4pm in the program Spirituality, Metaphysics & Religion Panorama. The festival has a very decent following of 9,645 on Facebook and you can check out the trailer for the festival here: https://www.facebook.com/BogotaExperimental/videos/2155914961367017/?t=0

Sorry for being so brisk in this post but I'm very busy with deadlines (!) ... sincerely thanks for reading and the support!

Support the festival on social media using: #BogotaExperimental