October 2008 - The Finish Line
Hello one and all,
First of all I’d like to say a big thanks to anyone and everyone who sent “Congrats” messages to me after last weeks “Film Finished” bulletin; it meant a lot. It’s been a long, hard and tortuously slow journey at times, and it feels good to be finished.
So what’s next I hear you all ask? Well, that’s my dilemma. I’m left with a 100 minutes long piece of work which has been my life for 18 months. The edit has more or less killed me and it starting to affect my mental health. I’ve crossed the finishing line, but doing so has finished me.
To quote a line from the film, was making our own movie “A false hope, or a dream?” Neither option seems to offer any concrete solution, and so with weary but satisfied feelings, I’m hanging up the Mancattan boots. This film is as good and as finished as it is ever going to be.
I’m currently sorting out the final permissions with all the wonderful musicians who’ve allowed us to use their music. But even this task has made me to stop to think about what I would have to do to push this film into all the places we dreamed about way back then. I don’t have any forms signed with the actors, I don’t have any forms signed with the locations we used, I don’t know how to discuss music copyright, I don’t have copyright clearance for the still images in the film; in fact, all the things needed to make this film “proper” in the sense of marketing and selling and all the rest… I just don’t have.
This film was made in a totally guerrilla style. It’s old footage (I haven’t shot anything new in whole year as I’ve been stuck working on this film) it’s ropey hand held footage and although it IS and always will be an amazing piece of work that everyone involved, in even the smallest of roles, should be proud of, it was never going to be Blockbuster material.
Does that mean I’m not going to push the film? Of course not; I owe it to everyone involved, from the NYBs, to the bands, to Antony, Hazel, Vinny & Sash and anyone whose nut I’ve done in moaning about my slow PC. It does mean that I am not going to start chasing up the legal ins and outs of selling, copying, rating, copyrights, and all the rest of the stuff that if this film was going to be where we said it would, I would still have to do. I have reached the limit of what I can achieve and I’m not too proud to admit it. If I push this film any more, I’m gonna break.
So what does this mean? And what is the point of this message?
It is to extend a huge and heartfelt thanks to anyone who has raised an eyebrow, left a comment or a slap on the back for all things Mancattan. It is to say that you should keep your calendars free because there WILL be screening(s) in and around Manchester. It’s to let you all know that Mancattan is officially finished, and now we wait for results of our hard work.
It probably means that this film will never have a distributor, and that in the modern age of Youtube and digital content, that we will find a way to host this film online ourselves, and have people watch our movie on the internet; without paying a middle man. I want people to see this film; and I’m going to make it happen, but not in the traditional way. Even if it does just live on www.siabstudios.co.uk and never goes anywhere, I'll be satisified. I honestly don’t think it will pass the scrutiny of a film distributor; technically or legally. I’d love to try, and I’m certainly going to investigate, but this is a reality check. I only want this film to be seen by as many people as possible so that our hard work can be recognised.
Should a distributor, against the odds, stumble across a DVD or film festival where we’ve been able to show the film without having to have me train up as a lawyer to sort out contracts, paperwork and all the rest, and who wants to push the film for us, then hell yeah, I’m all aboard. As it stands, with this monumental task facing me, I acknowledge that my reach has exceeded my grasp.
Mancattan was a grand experiment and a bloody marvellous example of what hard work, grit and stupidity in the face of adversity can achieve. The question we had back in March 2007 was “Why don’t people make their own films?” I believe I am fully qualified to answer why they don’t.
But that won’t stop me from doing more.
Mancattan has simply took me as far as it can, and I’ve taken it as far as I can. No amount of tweaking the sound, the colour, the timings, the edits or music will make this film up to the technical level I know I can film at now, or wanted this film to be. I’m not knocking it’s quality, but I am acknowledging that it is a pimped up Ford Focus, and not a Porsche 911. It hasn’t been so much a learning curve as a vertical cliff edge, but I’ve scaled this particular mountain and now I need a break before taking on the next.
So thank you and goodnight from Colin Warhurst on Mancattan.
Thank you to Hazel Earle, Vincent Heselwood, and Sasha Kasturicachi for starring in our film.
Thank you to Dominique Binieda for putting up with, and supporting us in New York.
Thank you to Michael Hall for composing an amazing jazz soundtrack.
Thanks to Will, Scotty, Mr Sifter and everyone involved on a days filming.
Thank you to all the musicians who have lent us their music.
Thank you to Anthony O’Hanlon for being there from the start of Siab Studios, and who will probably be the last to leave the party.
And the biggest thank you to Phil Drinkwater, whose baby this is. Without his idea, drive and enthusiasm, Mancattan would still be just an idea.
I hope you enjoy the film. Smoke me a kipper, I’ll be back for breakfast.
Col 14/10/08
