All That Glitters Okay. I have just about managed to reassemble some of the sharded, glittering fragments of my little broken brain which, against all odds, I succeeded in returning home with me from the beautiful insanity of Cannes Film Festival.
 Jaws screening on Cinema Plage Some are still missing. I fear I may never find them. Never mind.
Last May John Elliott and I went out to Cannes with our award-winning short film, Looking After Edward, a story about a little girls' attempt to make sense of grief and loss in the wake of her Grandfather's death. This year, myself and DOP Dan Hodgson (an old friend of mine from our years of working together on a tiny island dairy farm) were out with my most recent project, Making Ends Meat. The film, which features the voice of Richard Wilson (best known for playing Victor Meldrew in the BBC's One Foot in the Grave series) was made as a response to the 'meat scandal' which has been all over the news of late and was made in the style of a post-WW2 public information film for housewives.
We held a screening out in Cannes. Look -  Screening room filling up...  FYI, this is what happens when you ask a boy to take a picture of the film screening whilst you monitor the technical stuff. i.e. you get a photo of the DVD menu rather than the actual film. Girls know best.
The room was packed. The crowd went wild. This was a Good Thing. So now for festival submissions...
Anyway, the main reason I was so keen to get myself out to Cannes was to start garnering interest for a feature film project I am working on with Katie Borland, a writer friend of mine with whom I wrote Making Ends Meat.
The film, a sort of hybrid sci-fi, deals with a young girl with autism, a condition which fascinates me increasingly the more I read and watch about it.
Many of my initial ideas for the visual feel of the film have been inspired by Gallivant, an ecclectic, berserk and utterly brilliant piece of work by a gobsmackingly charismatic and eccentric filmmaker called Andrew Kotting. He's the sort of fellow who takes pleasure in jumping in to chilly, wild, salty, waters, zooming about on a motorcycle, and whipping his trousers off with little warning for unsuspecting young filmmakers such as myself.
See?
 Showing me a wound he received from a motorcycle crash he'd recently been involved in. Nothing else. So yes, as is evident from the above photograph, I met him out at Cannes where he was screening and promoting Swandown, a beautiful new film he has made with writer and psychogeographer Iain Sinclair - another Exceptional Human Being in my books.
Meeting him and seeing Swandown was by far the highlight of this year's festival for me, and it got the cogs in my brain ticking away in a super speedy manner for this film of mine and Katies'. More on this soon...
Other news from Cannes is that I formed a partnership with producer Emma Stickland whom, after seeing Making Ends Meat and reading our script for JOB, has joyfully agreed to come on board as an additional producer for the film which we are now hoping to shoot in July.
Yes. TWO producers! Lucky me.
 Lovely Emma Stickland. Producer number two.
So the ball's really rolling again and we'll have lots more news on that very soon...
But for now (in the words of another good man) I must effect my egress and leave in my wake some photographic gems shedding some light on what the devil we're been up to of late. Possibly best not to look at this whilst eating breakfast or anything like that.
Richard Wilson This is going to be brief because I am drinking beer and feel unusual. But here is a photograph of me taken last weekend having just directed Richard Wilson for MAKING ENDS MEAT, a short film of mine which I'll be taking to Cannes Film Festival in some comically small hour of this Wednesday morning.
He was perfect.
Goodness only knows what makes a man like him kind enough to offer up an hour of his time so early on a Sunday to a scruffily dressed vagrant female purporting to be an 'artist' of some description before he goes off for lunch with Sir Ian McKellen. The world and its' people are a madly wondrous thing sometimes.
And he answered the door in his dressing gown, which made me like him even more.
Anywayanyway, here we are:
I 'm going to retrieve another beer from the refrigerator now.
"I Don't Believe It!" I shall begin with the good news.
Richard Wilson, master director and star of One Foot In The Grave has confirmed he would "love" to play the part of the ANNOUNCER in our short film Making Ends Meat, which we will be taking to Cannes Film Festival next week. His dry, clipped, British tones were exactly what we were looking for and we could not think of anyone better for the part. We are now just utterly overwhelmed and flattered he has agreed and it will be a privilege to work with him this Sunday to add the final touch to our film. Very, very exciting.
Here's a bit of Richard in action in the role he's known best for.
And now for the rest of the news...
We managed to raise through our fundraising page a whopping £2000 for our short film JOB. Thank you SO much to everyone who has shown their support so far. Unfortunately we still had to postpone the shoot by a few weeks, due to some unforseeable trickyness regarding our locations. On the up-side, this means we have even more time to get the set, props, and other little details looking really perfect. Work is underway to get everything ready for the new dates in early June, so onwards and upwards as I believe is said.
WE and YOU
Ever wanted to become an executive producer of a movie? Ever wanted to attend a Leicester Square premiere screening? Maybe we can help you... We have a script that's been endorsed by TIM MINCHIN, a producer currently working with MARTIN SCORCESE. Interested? Read on...
Spitting Feathers Films and The Little Unsaid, in association with Burn Hand Films and the Film Festival Guild have been busy working on a new short film called JOB, about the potential horrors of office-based employment. Written by John Elliott and Alex Horsfall it was a story inspired by the experience of moving to London with utterly no money and reaching an apex of despair in a 9-5 office job where self-mutilation seemed as if it might actually be a rather thrilling way to liven up the day's non-events.
The script has been endorsed by Tim Minchin whom, after reading it, said he
"loved it and can see (the film) being really funny and dark and awesome"
SHOOT DATES: 5th, 6th and 7th May.
(it's REALLY soon!)
 Our crew is assembled, locations are on hold, we are ready for action... HOWEVER, we still need a bit of help. Making films costs money, of which we have very little. We are therefore appealing to you fine people in the hope you might be able to help us out and become a part of our project in return for some tasty sponsor rewards.
We have tickets to our Leicester Square cinema premiere and after party, Executive Producer credits, limited edition artwork and other little incentives we hope might whet your creative appetites...
We need to raise £2500 in one week in order to bring this story to life!
Want to get involved? Here's how you can help...
£10
A signed DVD of the film
£50
A 'thank you' in the end credits of the film
£100
A guest list invitation to our Leicester Square cinema premiere screening and after party + one guest £150
A signed, numbered, limited edition artwork poster
£250
A guest list invitation to our Leicester Square cinema premiere screening and after party + up to five guests £500 Executive Producer credit
£500 Your company's logo featured in the opening and closing credits of the film.
£1500
EVERYTHING!
- 20 signed DVDs of the film to give to your friends, family, business partners etc.
- A signed, numbered, limited edition artwork poster
- Executive Producer credit
- Your company's logo featured in the opening and closing credits of the film
- A guest list invitation to our Leicester Square cinema premiere screening and after party for you and your business partners
How to donate
- Choose how you'd like to sponsor us from the options above
- Click the 'DONATE' button below
- Enter the total amount you'd like to donate and proceed to checkout
- Send an email to us (Alex and John) info@spittingfeathersfilms.com letting us know what you have purchased - we will respond with a 'thank you' email letting you know we've received your kind donation
- Wait for us to make the film and then we will send you your sponsor rewards!
Where does your sponsor donation go?
We've found the perfect locations for the film but now need money to secure them and begin assembling our sets.
- Sound, Camera, and Lighting Kit
We will need to hire all these things in for the duration of the shoot, and although we've been able to secure a good deal from a hire company, it is still going to cost us many pretty pennies. We will need public liability insurance, employers insurance, and kit hire insurance.
- Props, set dressing and materials for art department to create a detailed and realistic world for the characters to inhabit.
- Travel and food for cast and crew during shoot days.
- DVDs so we can distribute the film
Submitting a short film to festivals during the year after it was produced will amount to hundreds of pounds and we really want this film to be seen!
The Script (have a read)
 | job_18-04-2013-1.pdf | | File Size: | 92 kb | | File Type: | pdf | Download File
 We have a brilliant and experienced producer on board whom, as well as being the first British man to win the Welsh BAFTA for Best Actor, has also written and produced films starring Rutger Hauer (BLADE RUNNER) and Tamer Hassan (BATMAN BEGINS). Stuart is currently producing with Martin Scorcese a feature film he has written, for which he has some very inspiring A-list actors up for castings. He is also producing another feature film starring Danny Dyer.
 John and Alex have collaborated on numerous film and music-related projects over the past few years including their award-winning short film, LOOKING AFTER EDWARD and more recently MIDNIGHT ON AN ISLAND, a video for John's music project The Little Unsaid. Alex, who directed MIDNIGHT ON AN ISLAND and LOOKING AFTER EDWARD (for which she won the Best Director accolade at the Braine Hownd Awards, Summer 2012 and Insight Award at the Insight Festival 2011) will also be directing JOB.
 Florence Mein and Lucy Cooper are a badass art team who regularly lend their artistic skills to the fantastic Secret Cinema projects. Lucy recently contributed her talents to my short film MAKING ENDS MEAT - here's a picture of her at work on it... Eesh.
SOPHIE ANSELL
Hair and Make-Up Artist
 Sophie worked our short film MAKING ENDS MEAT which, shot back in March and has since been accepted into the Cannes Short Film Corner this coming May. Not only that but an incredible not-yet-to-be-named actor has agreed to do a voice-over for it which we are all extremely excited about! Anyway, Sophie did such an amazing job with the hair and make-up on MAKING ENDS MEAT that we were determined to have her back to work her magic on JOB. That's an example of her beautiful work there on the right.
In addition to this we have a brilliant DOP, dedicated costume team, and some hugely talented actors on board for this project, all of whom we know have the skill and intelligence to bring out all the twisted little nuances and humour of this film. Have a look below at some of the cast we have lined up...
BUT we can only make this happen with your sponsorship! If you would like any further information, please don't hesitate to get in touch:
info@spittingfeathersfilms.com
We look forward to doing business with you!
Spitting Feathers Films, 55 The Beckers, Rectory Road, Stoke Newington, London, N16 7QU
A reminder of what we can offer you...
£10
A signed DVD of the film
£50
A 'thank you' in the end credits of the film
£100
A guest list invitation to our Leicester Square cinema premiere screening and after party + one guest
£150
A signed, numbered, limited edition artwork poster
£250
A guest list invitation to our Leicester Square cinema premiere screening and after party + up to five guests
£500
Executive Producer credit
£500
Your company's logo featured in the opening and closing credits of the film.
£1500
EVERYTHING!
- 20 signed DVDs of the film to give to your friends, family, business partners etc.
- A signed, numbered, limited edition artwork poster
- Executive Producer credit
- Your company's logo featured in the opening and closing credits of the film
- A guest list invitation to our Leicester Square cinema premiere screening and after party for you and your business partners
The Little Unsaid
Midnight on an Island [OFFICIAL VIDEO]
Friday marked the release of the video for Midnight on an Island, the first single from The Little Unsaid's forthcoming album, Dig for the Promise, which was mixed and co-produced by Radiohead and Jonny Greenwood collaborator Graeme Stewart, and has been mastered beautifully at Abbey Road Studios. Many thanks to all who helped make this video happen - Dan Hodgson, Carl Griffin, and particularly the very lovely and wonderful Mat Hale, our choreographer and cinematographer whose other beautiful works can be rifled through on his website (just click on his name). Below are some pictures of the shoot - on a factory roof in east London where we shot the end section of the video, and in an abandoned Catholic primary school where we used an old chemistry lab, a basement boiler room, and an industrial walk-in fridge which we found in the school kitchen. Creepy.
The song is about insanity and about feeling confined and suppressed by the urban space around you, so these unsettling, disorienting spaces felt perfect and were really inspiring, atmospheric places to work in. I made the graphics by animating and augmenting some of my stop-motion animations, as well as some live video clips I had shot around the city over the past year or so. They were intended to give the impression of many crossed communication signals, wires and cables (either real or imagined) tangling and fizzing through the air and wrapping themselves around John until he can't take it anymore and he sort of just goes nuts! That's why he's flailing his arms around a lot. For those who may be interested, we shot on a Canon 5D mk II and the only lighting we had was a small camera light and two 400kw work lights which I got from Maplin for 25 quid apiece. In total the video cost two hundred English pounds to make. Super lo-fi. Anyway, I'm not going to blather on about it for much longer. There's more information here about other influences and ideas that sneaked their way in to the making of this video. The main thing is that you can buy the song for a mere fifty British pennies here. And that come the 29th of April you will be able to buy the whole album which I can guarantee will blow your brains away in a very pleasurable way indeed.
MEAT. Over the past few weeks I have been busy making 1940s-style curtains, doing deals at meat-markets, trawling Ebay for vintage meat grinders and the like in aid of a short film I decided to make on a bit of a whim.
 Still from Making Ends Meat, copyright Alex Horsfall 2013 I developed the idea and script with the extraordinarily tenacious and talented Katie Borland - a writer friend of mine with whom I spent many hours at Cannes Film Festival last May, guzzling free champagne on obscenely expensive yachts which we were most definitely not supposed to be on.
It was inspired in part by an idea my friend Mark A.C. Brown had, as well as by some darker musings I' ve been having regarding the recent horse meat "scandal" as it is persistently being referred to. Not to mention the food-cost crisis.
The film is about a woman in the late-1940s who is torn between, on the one hand, making sure she prepares for her husband a nutritious, filling meal and, on the other hand, ensuring she does not spend beyond her means. It is funny (we hope). And wierd (we know).
It was a real hoot to shoot - possibly not quite so much for my meat-wrangler and general Man-of-Excellence, one Jack Hextall Esquire, who spent many hours in the middle of a blizzard attempting to extract an eyeball from a sheep's skull with a teaspoon.
Anyhow, the film is nearly finished but until this moment arrives, here are some thingys of inspiration which helped to shape it...
Post-WW2 advertising
1940s/1950s Public improvement films
Robert Yeoman's cinematography in Wes Anderson's Moonrise Kingdom (2012)
The vibrant and eccentric characters, plots, and scores of Nick Park's Wallace and Gromit films.
Jean-Pierre Jeunets' Delicatessen (1991). Everything about this film is brilliant.
Danish film Green Butchers by Anders Thomas Jensen. Beautiful.
(you can actually watch the whole thing with English subtitles using the link below)
That's all for now. More when it's done.
Lunacy  The wierd and wonderful photography of Diane Arbus. We have been busy making (amongst other things ) a video for an incredible new single by The Little Unsaid. It's called Midnight on an Island and has been beautifully mixed and co-produced by Radiohead collaborator Graeme Stewart. It's all about madness - the overwhelming, tangled, terrifying beauty of the feeling that your mind is unravelling around the edges and you may never be able to gather it up again. Above and below are some things which inspired the making of said video...
1980s video game art
And here are some photographs of us making said video...
The single and video will be released officially very very soon and comes from The Little Unsaid's forthcoming album Dig For The Promise. I have heard it all. It is mindblowingly brilliant. Pre-order it here and you can have it all on Friday. Otherwise you have to wait like, aaages. Right. Back to busyness... x
Through The Fields is being screened tomorrow at the Broadway Cinema in Nottingham as part of the official selection for bang! Short Film Festival. Why not trot along and have a chin-wag with animator Kingman Cheng if you're in the area?
1550s, in phrase jobbe of worke "piece of work", of uncertain origin, perhaps a variant of gobbe "mass, lump" c.1400 (see gob). Sense of "work done for pay" first recorded 1650s. Thieves' slang sense of "theft, robbery, a planned crime" is from 1722.
We've been storyboarding with the most marvellous Kingman Cheng. Coffee has been drunk. Nerves have been jellied. More soon. (oh and ignore all that rubbish to the left corner of these photos. it's not really rubbish at all. it's fodder for a new project. honest.)
nothing 'cept this. Which is what happens when one leaves two lunatics - each with a with a secret internal age of 83 - alone in a house with a hangover, hot chai tea, and a GARGANTUAN dose of Pyramid Song.
And possibly a bit of gin.
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