First up, the two trailers for my short film ‘Brian & the Grim Reaper’ are here:

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCMHoFAIgl8wTtc8NNqCEqdA

What to leave in, what to leave out? I guess that’s what it’s all about.

Sounds like a song lyric. In fact it’s the chief dilemma when writing anything. Shortly after I finished my short, independent filmmaking legend Chris Jones asked me to write a blog on making ‘Brian & the Grim Reaper’ (see link at bottom).

It’s a funny and poignant glimpse into my endeavour, and includes 15 incredibly useful filmmaking tips. This blog is now on his website, as he promised me it would be. It strikes, I hope, a good balance, in that it neither rambles nor cuts things too short.

It means more to me than simply writing a blog and sticking it on a website. You see, Chris Jones is the author of The Guerilla Filmmaker’s Handbook, a blow-by-blow guide on how to make your own movie. He was one of my inspirations for ‘Brian & the Grim Reaper’. He instilled in me the belief that I could get out there and do it.

The greatest desire always comes from within. Yet sometimes it takes a teacher to light the fuse. Chris was it for me. In turn, if I can pass on what I’ve learnt from my exploits, I will.

We all have something to say; we often have too much. I followed these simple guidelines: Break things down to manageable chunks. Sprinkle your text with visuals, like so…

Emphasise your key points. And explain how you went about doing things, not just the why. I wrote 6 drafts of my blog for Chris before I was satisfied.

In order to aid would-be filmmakers, I’ll be exploring more aspects of the production in subsequent blogs. In particular, how I achieved professional-looking results on a tiny budget: tracking shots, visual gags, and creating memorable images.

The feature-length blog on ‘Brian & the Grim Reaper’ is here:

http://www.chrisjonesblog.com/2015/06/guerilla-filmmaking-director.html