danoutram
Film Description:
- My Friends
fairfight
Friend Since: August 28, 2006
Last Online: 9:48 am, October 11, 2007
Blue_Mango_Films
Friend Since: June 25, 2006
Last Online: 11:11 pm, April 26, 2007
gator-boy
Friend Since: May 30, 2006
Last Online: 5:55 pm, December 05, 2007
Blog View |
Add or Edit Blogs
Film Maker's Blog
Atlanta award!
Jul 10, 2006 06:09PM
Yay! I got an award. Woo-hoo! The Atlanta Film Festival gave me "Best Narrative Short for Oscar consideration". Fantastic. With all the amazing shorts out there it's a really reassuring nod to get an award and I'm really chuffed. Slightly miffed that I only found out almost a month late when another festival contacted me asking for a screener on the basis of my award. My reaction was "I didn't even know I had one!" Nobody had told me. If someone had told me earlier I'd have been able to mention it to people while I was in LA. It would have been really useful in my speed dating sessions mentioned earlier. Oh well. I'm really grateful for the award. They are clearly on my wavelength . . I'm making contact with people through projectors on the other side of the world! Dan
speed dating & receptions
Jun 29, 2006 09:18PM
I had a Speed Dating session with film people the other day (still at the LA Film Festival.) It's a great way to find out who's who. I think all festivals should have them as often as possible. They're a great opportunity for emerging filmmakers like me. I met various producers, attorneys, publicists, managers etc.
This evening I went to a reception at the Hammer museum and met someone with one of the most interesting jobs I've heard about since I began discovering this industry. He works in "Crisis Management". That means that he is a approached by studios as a consultant when
a film tackles sensitive issues. He advises them on how to deal with them so as to be honest to the stories and material, but to make sure that they are behaving responsibly toward the audience, and in a way that will not cause marketting problems. He's also sometimes approached when problems arise after and during production. Amazingly interesting job.
Got to go. Someone has arrived to pick me up.
This evening I went to a reception at the Hammer museum and met someone with one of the most interesting jobs I've heard about since I began discovering this industry. He works in "Crisis Management". That means that he is a approached by studios as a consultant when
a film tackles sensitive issues. He advises them on how to deal with them so as to be honest to the stories and material, but to make sure that they are behaving responsibly toward the audience, and in a way that will not cause marketting problems. He's also sometimes approached when problems arise after and during production. Amazingly interesting job.
Got to go. Someone has arrived to pick me up.
30 in 2 hours
Jun 27, 2006 10:03PM
2 hours to go before I'm 30. 2 hrs left of my 20s. Terrifying.
Tomorrow I've got speed dating sessions from 10am-2pm followed by a meeting with a really lovely lady at Sam Goldwyn, and then a filmmakers reception at Hammer Museum, and then off to celebrate my birthday at a French bar near to where we're staying called La Poubelle.
So frantic. Today I spent most of the day driving through traffic. It takes so long to drive across LA! Finding CAA was particular challenge. I must have passed it about 5 times before I found the street number on the wall. When I finally got out of the air conditioned car I thought I was almost knocked over by the heat.
My friends are shouting at me from the other room telling me to get a @%*!ing move on, so I'd better bolt.
Dan
Tomorrow I've got speed dating sessions from 10am-2pm followed by a meeting with a really lovely lady at Sam Goldwyn, and then a filmmakers reception at Hammer Museum, and then off to celebrate my birthday at a French bar near to where we're staying called La Poubelle.
So frantic. Today I spent most of the day driving through traffic. It takes so long to drive across LA! Finding CAA was particular challenge. I must have passed it about 5 times before I found the street number on the wall. When I finally got out of the air conditioned car I thought I was almost knocked over by the heat.
My friends are shouting at me from the other room telling me to get a @%*!ing move on, so I'd better bolt.
Dan
Target Red room
Jun 23, 2006 08:17PM
Evening blog. Can't chat for long. My laptop battery is running low.
I'm sitting in the press and filmmaker cocktail reception at the LA Film festival. I'm struggling to talk to people since I'm viewing everything through the disoriented gauze of jet lag.
But I've spoken to Hebe, the shorts programmer, who's lovely.
Spoke to the director of a feature called 'Head Trauma' which sounds really excellent. Inspired by his real experience after he had a serious accident it involves him becoming confused as to what is real and what isn't.
I spoke to a guy called Diego who wrote a poetic short in Short's programme too. And he's very cool. Living in LA but originally from Barcelona.
And I spoke to a critic an artist called Dianne Lawrence who told us some very interesting dream stories too.
All very interesting. Must get through this jet lag though.
Went to recce a location on the Universal lot today. That was a surreal experience. A studio which is also a theme park! It makes sense to build sets and leave them on the lot. I don't know why they don't do that more in England. . .
I'll try and sign on again asap. Better go. They're great at helping people meet at this festival. They had all press and filmmakers introduce themselves on a microphone at the beginning. This is a press-filmmaker reception, so it's exactly what they should have done, and it really helps get an idea of who else is in the room.
Speak soon . . . .
Dan
I'm sitting in the press and filmmaker cocktail reception at the LA Film festival. I'm struggling to talk to people since I'm viewing everything through the disoriented gauze of jet lag.
But I've spoken to Hebe, the shorts programmer, who's lovely.
Spoke to the director of a feature called 'Head Trauma' which sounds really excellent. Inspired by his real experience after he had a serious accident it involves him becoming confused as to what is real and what isn't.
I spoke to a guy called Diego who wrote a poetic short in Short's programme too. And he's very cool. Living in LA but originally from Barcelona.
And I spoke to a critic an artist called Dianne Lawrence who told us some very interesting dream stories too.
All very interesting. Must get through this jet lag though.
Went to recce a location on the Universal lot today. That was a surreal experience. A studio which is also a theme park! It makes sense to build sets and leave them on the lot. I don't know why they don't do that more in England. . .
I'll try and sign on again asap. Better go. They're great at helping people meet at this festival. They had all press and filmmakers introduce themselves on a microphone at the beginning. This is a press-filmmaker reception, so it's exactly what they should have done, and it really helps get an idea of who else is in the room.
Speak soon . . . .
Dan
LA Film Fest begins
Jun 22, 2006 03:07AM
This is my very first entry in a blog. So I guess this is some sort of landmark in my life.
And there are lots of landmarks coming up . . .
1) I'm about to get on a plane to visit LA for the first time.
2) On the 28th of June it's my 30th birthday.
I'm going to be in away from home on my 30th birthday in an enormous city where I hardly know anyone . . . it's going to be a very strange adventure discovering how much the real LA matches the LA that I've become familiar with in countless films. Maybe I'll morph into Danny deVito's character from LA Confidential and my blog will become 'Off the record, on the QT, and very hush-hush.'
I'm travelling with a friend called Neil who's also a film director. I'm executive producing a short that he's making called Moebius Trip (www.moebiustrip.co.uk). I won an $20,000 award at Sundance from NBC-Universal, so we are planning to do a bit of a recce, and meet some of the people who're going to be involved. We're also going to be putting ourselves around to the LA commercials companies. See if they'll check out my reel (www.danoutram.com). But most importantly, I'm going to be chatting to people about the feature film I'm developing. I'm seriously excited about it, and really looking forward to some productive conversations at the LA Film Festival's Kodak Speed Dating sessions. I went to my first and only other film festival in January (Sundance was where my short premiered) which was a fantastic experience, and I'd been toying with the idea of a speed dating thing while I was there. It's the perfect set up for new filmmakers. So bring it on. I can't wait to find out who's going to be there.
On Saturday I'm going to a wedding in San Jose. It's a wedding of two of the most lovely people I've ever met. They work at Sundance and I met them there. It just goes to show that you really can make great friendships at film festivals. Check out the groom performing his Sundance karaoke masterpiece at http://imageevent.com/danoutram/nonfilm/sundance2006 . (It's one of the mpegs called 'I like big butts!')
Now it's time to go. I'd better rush. . . I've got a plane to catch.
And there are lots of landmarks coming up . . .
1) I'm about to get on a plane to visit LA for the first time.
2) On the 28th of June it's my 30th birthday.
I'm going to be in away from home on my 30th birthday in an enormous city where I hardly know anyone . . . it's going to be a very strange adventure discovering how much the real LA matches the LA that I've become familiar with in countless films. Maybe I'll morph into Danny deVito's character from LA Confidential and my blog will become 'Off the record, on the QT, and very hush-hush.'
I'm travelling with a friend called Neil who's also a film director. I'm executive producing a short that he's making called Moebius Trip (www.moebiustrip.co.uk). I won an $20,000 award at Sundance from NBC-Universal, so we are planning to do a bit of a recce, and meet some of the people who're going to be involved. We're also going to be putting ourselves around to the LA commercials companies. See if they'll check out my reel (www.danoutram.com). But most importantly, I'm going to be chatting to people about the feature film I'm developing. I'm seriously excited about it, and really looking forward to some productive conversations at the LA Film Festival's Kodak Speed Dating sessions. I went to my first and only other film festival in January (Sundance was where my short premiered) which was a fantastic experience, and I'd been toying with the idea of a speed dating thing while I was there. It's the perfect set up for new filmmakers. So bring it on. I can't wait to find out who's going to be there.
On Saturday I'm going to a wedding in San Jose. It's a wedding of two of the most lovely people I've ever met. They work at Sundance and I met them there. It just goes to show that you really can make great friendships at film festivals. Check out the groom performing his Sundance karaoke masterpiece at http://imageevent.com/danoutram/nonfilm/sundance2006 . (It's one of the mpegs called 'I like big butts!')
Now it's time to go. I'd better rush. . . I've got a plane to catch.
online vrs cinema viewing
May 30, 2006 07:14PM
I just got an email from indieIN after someone watched my film on the Sundance website.
If you're interested, a look at what she said at http://indieinblog.blogspot.com/
and then see if you agree by going to the place she watched it:
http://festival.sundance.org/2006/watch/film.aspx?which=412&category=F
dan
If you're interested, a look at what she said at http://indieinblog.blogspot.com/
and then see if you agree by going to the place she watched it:
http://festival.sundance.org/2006/watch/film.aspx?which=412&category=F
dan
PRESS PACK
May 30, 2006 09:23AM
I'm not sure that this is what a blog is supposed to be about, but here is the press pack:
A Supermarket Love Song
Written by Jack Thorne
Directed by Daniel Outram
14 mins
CAST
Derrick BERNARD GALLAGHER
Suzanne NATALIA RUSH
CREW
Directed and Produced by DANIEL OUTRAM
Written by JACK THORNE
Producer JENNY WEBB
Director of Photography FEDERICO ALFONZO
Sound Recordist JAMIE GAMBELL
Editor DAN ROBINSON
First Assistant Director PAUL MURPHY
Art Director MIRIAM SKELTON
Hair and Make-up Artist LAUREN WHITWORTH
Steadicam Operator DION CASEY
Focus Puller STUART BARREL
Clapper Loader KASH HALFORD
Gaffer CHARLIE PANAYI
Electrician ION ZUBIZARRETA
Boom Operator BEN GREAVES
Sound Recordist Assistant TIM SURREY
2nd Assistant Director PATRICK CHADWICK
Runner ADAM TURNBULL
POST
Offline Post House CUT & RUN
Offline Editor DAN ROBINSON
Online Post House RUSHES
Colourist MARTIN SOUTHWORTH
Online Editor BRIAN CARBIN
Titles Designer MATT LAWRENCE
Producer at Rushes CARL GRINTER
Sound Post House PD SOUND DESIGN
Sound Editor JACK GILLIES
ANNA BENTMARK
Lab SOHO IMAGES
Neg Cutters TRU CUT
MUSIC
“DON’T LET THAT MOON GET AWAY”
Recorded by AMBROSE AND HIS ORCHESTRA (1938)
Written by James V. Monaco & Johnny Burke
Published by Saintly Bros Inc & Campbell Connelly & Co Ltd
Filmed on location in ROEHAMPTON
with the kind support of Wandsworth council and ASDA Superstores.
All rights owned by Daniel Outram
THE PRODUCTION
SCRIPT DEVELOPMENT
Daniel Outram: “I first discovered Jack Thorne in November 2003. I read a short script that he’d written called The Mascot, and although it wasn’t what I was looking for at that time I could tell that he was an extremely talented writer. We met a few times after that to discuss ideas for short films and feature films. For a short film I was looking for a simple character-driven story with very few characters and locations. During one of our meetings in September 2004 I started telling Jack about the various intriguing characters that I’d seen while shopping in supermarkets. Two days later he sent me the first draft of A Supermarket Love Song and I absolutely loved it.”
Jack Thorne: “A Supermarket Love Song is a film about two lonely people who half-fall in love. Love stories tend always to be about lonely people being rescued by discovering a love, but the loneliness is a bit more confusing than people give it credit.”
CASTING - Daniel Outram
Casting Derrick:
“The part of Derrick was a difficult one to cast because of the lack of budget. Originally we cast David de Keyser, but a few days before the shoot he suddenly had to fly off to Rome to play a part in a big American drama. So we rescheduled and recast, this time with Ron Moody (Oscar nominee, 1969). All was going very well until he decided to pull out of the production two days before the shoot. Then Jack and I went to see a Paines Plough theatre production at The Menier Chocolate factory called “The Small Things” by Enda Walsh. This is where we spotted Bernard Gallagher, the actor who eventually played the part of Derrick. He is an excellent actor and an absolutely lovely person, and I’m extremely glad that he agreed to act in the film.”
Casting Suzanne:
“I sought the advice of various casting directors who pointed me in the right direction in my hunt for a teenage actress. She didn’t need much acting experience. I was looking for a girl whose natural voice and demeanour fitted the character in the script. I was pointed towards a few agencies, and the most helpful was A&J Management. They read the script, thought carefully about the girls on their books, and then suggested two of them. The second girl I saw was Natalia. I knew straight away that she was the one. As soon as she spoke the dialogue came alive. I loved her voice, and her honest and revealing body language. I didn’t see any other actresses. I was very lucky.”
SETTING – Daniel Outram
The bungalow
“The exterior of Derrick’s home was always going to be discovered in the opening shot of the film so it was very important that it had the right character. I was looking for a bungalow, and I wanted it to have a slightly institutional feel. Derrick had been in prison for half of his life, and I thought it would be nice if we were reminded of this by the location. I also thought it should feel like a care home for one person. Gradually I realised that what I really wanted was a pre-fab bungalow. They were built after the war to meet the urgent need for housing, and most of them have since been knocked down, so it was a bit of a struggle finding one. Luckily my mum checked Alton estate on her way home one evening and struck gold. It’s about five minutes from the hospital where I was born, so I had a strange feeling that I was going back in time every time I drove to the location. We were originally going to use the neighbouring bungalow that had an interior that was already decorated in exactly the right way. But these bungalows were council owned sheltered accommodation for the elderly, and the resident fell ill, so I had to approach his neighbour. As a result we had to repaint, re-carpet and hire lots of props. But in the end we got exactly what I was looking for.”
The supermarket
“I wanted Derrick and Suzanne to be dwarfed by an enormous space in these scenes so I couldn’t have found a much better location than the one we used. ASDA let us film in one of their superstores on the basis that we didn’t interrupt customers, and so long as we had a very small unit. It was rather difficult for the crew dealing with the extraordinary number of morning shoppers, but in the end I think it worked well. I didn’t have time to cover all of the camera positions that I’d planned, and it was rather difficult to block as single long takes, but the actors performed brilliantly under difficult circumstances.”
CINEMATOGRAPHY – Federico Alfonzo
Federico Alfonzo has been working as lighting cameraman, predominantly in the commercials industry, since 2001. He has filmed extensively all over the world and with many of the best commercial companies . . .
“As a Director of Photography I collaborate with the director to tell the story with pictures. I primarily like to have a conversation with the director that is about the emotional needs rather than the technical elements of the film. At an early stage I want to hear how the director visualizes the film in their head. The more I know about all the various parts of the story, for example how the director sees the characters develop, the more I can help. It enables me to work more freely when we are shooting.”
“The look of any project is or should be dictated by the script. With this film Dan and I both believed that a realistic, simple and clean look would help bring the whole feel of the story across. This script is a character driven piece, and after reading it I immediately started to think about how to tell the story in the least intrusive way to let the characters be the centre of attention.”
“After we went to see the location, a very small bungalow next door to the one we ended up working on, all the pieces started to fit together. One of the first considerations regarding the look of the film was the idea to shoot all the scenes within the bungalow with a hand held camera. Dan and I discussed how this would relate to the story. We believed that initially this would allow the audience to feel closer to the characters. And then secondly, on a more practical note, we could make better use of the limited small space by not having a dolly or equipment limiting our shooting area.”
“We worked with a very basic camera package: 1 x 35mm Arricam LT and a full set of Cooke S4 lenses (kindly supply by Movietech).”
CINEMATOGRAPHY (contd)
“Yet again the camera angles and the choice of lenses were both dictated by two main factors: first of all simple and economic storytelling and secondly the limitation of space at the main location. My approach to the lighting was also minimal and simple. I took into consideration the existing lighting at the location and used the lights that I had to reinforce what already existed. When at all possible I tried to light for the space rather than for the actors, it is one of my ways of contributing by giving both the actors and the director as much freedom as possible to tell the story.”
“The limited size of the location ended up being a blessing in disguise. The closeness that it created helped make the film feel very real and I certainly thought it helped to portray that this really was Derrick's home. There were times while we were shooting that I felt as if I was invading someone's privacy and that I shouldn't have been there.”
“After two days of shooting at the bungalow, we had one final day to film both the supermarket and the street set-ups. This time we used a steadicam to keep the feeling of intimacy with our characters. We used all available light and just a small amount of ‘bounced filled light’ for the actors' faces.”
“This really was a very low budget (perhaps a no-budget) short film and we did not have the luxury of choosing film stocks but rather we had to use whatever film stock we were given. I ended up shooting on more emulsions that I would have liked to. We shot on Kodak 5245, 5248 (day exteriors), 5217, 5218 (living room and supermarket), and 5277 (kitchen). Luckily we managed to shoot entire scenes with the same stock. It was fortunate that it did not present major problems when it came to do the final grading, which we were lucky enough to do at Rushes using C-Reality.”
“I'm happy with the simple and realistic look we've achieved.”
SOUND RECORDING – Jamie Gambell
Having worked in the sound department for five years on features, dramas, and the occasional commercial, Jamie Gambell has been making the move up from boom operator to sound recordist during the last year . . .
“We were afforded a great deal of control during this shoot enabling us to record a clean and effective sound track. The dynamic of two people talking for several pages at a time meant that the only real issues that I would face were ensuring that overlaps were controlled for the sake of the edit, and other normal ambient problems (traffic, airplanes, pedestrians, neighbours’ music etc). Traffic wasn’t too bad since the main road was several streets away, we shot over a weekend, and the bus route nearby wasn’t as busy as it could have been. The residents in the area were fantastically helpful and noise was controlled very well. We were below one of the landing zones for Heathrow airport, and sound windows in these areas are ever shortening as the airport becomes busier – however, we weren’t too badly affected. The main problems that we encountered were in the supermarket where we found ourselves shooting in a live superstore with very little control over tannoy announcements, fridge noise, and the public. Luckily I had just completed a film, which saw the first six days of shooting taking place in this exact environment, so I was aware of what we could get away with. I opted to use radio mics, separated onto split channels, to help reduce some of the background ambient. As this sequence was shot in single shots for each vignette of dialogue, I wasn’t too concerned about the background noise affecting the edit, and to help the blend from sequence to sequence I ran a healthy supermarket atmospheric wild track to under-lap the action.”
“On this shoot I recorded onto DAT, using an HHB PDR 1000, mixing a Sennheiser MKH 60 microphone (swung by boom op, Ben Greaves) through an SQN 4S series II four. As the film plays effectively as a two-way dialogue I was sure that there wouldn’t really be too much call for separating tracks, and recorded in mono for the most part. I also used Audio 20/20 diversity radio mics with Sanken lavliers.”
PRODUCTION – Jenny Webb
Jenny Webb currently works as the Production Manager at Moon, a London-based commercials production company. She entered the commercials industry in 2000 in Sydney working as a Production Assistant. She studied at the University of New South Wales, where she completed a BA with a double major in Film & Philosophy. At UNSW she produced a short film “Who’s on top” which won Best Art Film at ATOMFEST 2000, an Australia student video awards . . .
“Dan had done a great deal of work on the film in the areas of script development, locations and the cast as a result of his previous attempts at getting it off the ground. So by the time I came on board it was simply a matter of finding the crew and equipment and concreting everything down. We were really fortunate to work with some really great people and talents on this, and we can’t thank everyone enough for their efforts. I guess, as with all non-funded shorts, the difficulties lay in making magic happen on no budget and making it happen quickly. However, with the combined energies of our fabulous DOP Fede Alfonzo, our guiding force 1st AD Paul Murphy and the dream team at Rushes, we really did manage to create the picture which Dan had hoped to achieve.”
THE CAST
BERNARD GALLAGHER
Bernard has just reprised his role in The Small Things at the Galway Festival, having previously appeared in the same play at The Chocolate Factory (dir: Vicky Featherstone). Prior to this he filmed the role of Caroline Quentin’s father in the ITV drama Footprints in the Snow (dir: Richard Spence). Bernard has acted in plays at various prestigious venues including The National, The Old Vic, The Almeida, The Donmar, and The Royal Court. Theatre directors that he has worked with include Sam Mendes and Antonia Bird. He has acted in films including Photographing Fairies and Red Monarch, and numerous TV dramas including The Bill, Midsummer’s Murders, Doctors, Rose & Maloney, London’s Burning, Heartbeat, Eastenders, Casualty and many others.
NATALIA RUSH
Natalia has been in several student productions and various commercials including a recent one for AOL. She has also performed script readings at both the Royal Court and RADA. She had a featured role in The Bill and will shortly start principal photography on The Blue Tower for director Smita Bhide. The film, to be shot in and around London, is a psychological thriller set within the Punjabi community of Southall. Natalia lives with her parents and three sisters in Wapping.
DIRECTOR – Daniel Outram
Daniel graduated from Glasgow University in 1999 with a Psychology honours degree, and has since been developing a career as a director. He has started directing commercials (his reel is available to view at www.danoutram.com) and is now also heading towards feature film directing. In 2004 he won the Young Directors award at the Cannes advertising festival, and in 2005 his commercials were awarded at two international advertising festivals (Golden Hammer advertising festival and at the Moscow International Advertising festival). In 2006 Daniel’s short film A Supermarket Love Song received its world premiere at the Sundance film festival, and has since been selected by various festivals around the world. Daniel is currently developing feature length projects and is represented by ICM London (contact Jack Thomas.)
WRITER – Jack Thorne
Theatre writing includes When You Cure Me (Bush Theatre, reviews at http://www.bushtheatre.co.uk/when_you_cure_me_reviews.htm ), Stacy (Tron Theatre), Paperhouse (Flight 5065), Solids (Paines Plough at the Young Vic), and Fanny and Faggot (Pleasance, Edinburgh Fringe Festival). Writing for film includes The Mascot (Film London/Pulse Digital Shorts, London Film Festival 2005). Jack is Development Consultant for Apocalypso Pictures (with director Pawel Pawlikowski and producer Tanya Seghatchian). In 2002, Jack was awarded Royal Shakespeare Company/Marlowe Society ‘Other Prize’ and in 2004 he was shortlisted for the Verity Bargate Award. He is currently under commission to Tiger Aspect/Channel 4 for an original TV drama, and will do an attachment at the National Theatre in the new year.
To read an interesting online article about Jack from Time Out please go to:
http://www.bushtheatre.co.uk/when_you_cure_me_time_out.htm.
POINTS OF INTEREST
• This film will be receive it’s world premier at Sundance in January 2006.
• The 29-year-old British director, Daniel Outram, funded this short film with money from directing some Lithuanian beer commercials that later won awards at 2 international advertising festivals (Moscow & Baltic).
• The director and the writer initially met through 'Shooting People'.
• The location for the old man’s home was one of the few remaining pre-fab bungalows built to solve the housing crisis after World War II. See a still of the bungalow at www.imageevent.com/danoutram/asupermarketlovesong/filmstills. To read more about the estate that these bungalows are a part of, go to: http://www.putneyguardian.co.uk/heritage/display.var.611626.index.one_foot_in_the_past.html
• Filmed 5 minutes from hospital where the director was born.
• Oscar nominee Ron Moody almost played the lead. In actual fact the old man was played by Bernard Gallagher, who performed the part brilliantly.
• The film was inspired by various interesting characters the director had seen at the supermarket, and then by the writer’s memory of caring for the elderly when he was a teenager.
• Total budget £6,000.
• Shot in 3 days.
• Director’s previous awards in advertising include BSM 'Cruise': 2nd prize at Young Director awards at Cannes Lions advertising festival 2004; Svyturys ‘Bath’ & ‘Flood’ awarded at Baltic advertising festival 2005. These commercials can be watched at www.danoutram.com
• Dan and Jack have a feature in development called Taking The Bus.
• For the last few years Jack Thorne has been working as a development consultant for Pawel Pawlikowsky (dir: Last Resort; My Summer of Love)
• See an interesting article about writer, Jack Thorne at http://www.bushtheatre.co.uk/when_you_cure_me_time_out.htm
A Supermarket Love Song
Written by Jack Thorne
Directed by Daniel Outram
14 mins
CAST
Derrick BERNARD GALLAGHER
Suzanne NATALIA RUSH
CREW
Directed and Produced by DANIEL OUTRAM
Written by JACK THORNE
Producer JENNY WEBB
Director of Photography FEDERICO ALFONZO
Sound Recordist JAMIE GAMBELL
Editor DAN ROBINSON
First Assistant Director PAUL MURPHY
Art Director MIRIAM SKELTON
Hair and Make-up Artist LAUREN WHITWORTH
Steadicam Operator DION CASEY
Focus Puller STUART BARREL
Clapper Loader KASH HALFORD
Gaffer CHARLIE PANAYI
Electrician ION ZUBIZARRETA
Boom Operator BEN GREAVES
Sound Recordist Assistant TIM SURREY
2nd Assistant Director PATRICK CHADWICK
Runner ADAM TURNBULL
POST
Offline Post House CUT & RUN
Offline Editor DAN ROBINSON
Online Post House RUSHES
Colourist MARTIN SOUTHWORTH
Online Editor BRIAN CARBIN
Titles Designer MATT LAWRENCE
Producer at Rushes CARL GRINTER
Sound Post House PD SOUND DESIGN
Sound Editor JACK GILLIES
ANNA BENTMARK
Lab SOHO IMAGES
Neg Cutters TRU CUT
MUSIC
“DON’T LET THAT MOON GET AWAY”
Recorded by AMBROSE AND HIS ORCHESTRA (1938)
Written by James V. Monaco & Johnny Burke
Published by Saintly Bros Inc & Campbell Connelly & Co Ltd
Filmed on location in ROEHAMPTON
with the kind support of Wandsworth council and ASDA Superstores.
All rights owned by Daniel Outram
THE PRODUCTION
SCRIPT DEVELOPMENT
Daniel Outram: “I first discovered Jack Thorne in November 2003. I read a short script that he’d written called The Mascot, and although it wasn’t what I was looking for at that time I could tell that he was an extremely talented writer. We met a few times after that to discuss ideas for short films and feature films. For a short film I was looking for a simple character-driven story with very few characters and locations. During one of our meetings in September 2004 I started telling Jack about the various intriguing characters that I’d seen while shopping in supermarkets. Two days later he sent me the first draft of A Supermarket Love Song and I absolutely loved it.”
Jack Thorne: “A Supermarket Love Song is a film about two lonely people who half-fall in love. Love stories tend always to be about lonely people being rescued by discovering a love, but the loneliness is a bit more confusing than people give it credit.”
CASTING - Daniel Outram
Casting Derrick:
“The part of Derrick was a difficult one to cast because of the lack of budget. Originally we cast David de Keyser, but a few days before the shoot he suddenly had to fly off to Rome to play a part in a big American drama. So we rescheduled and recast, this time with Ron Moody (Oscar nominee, 1969). All was going very well until he decided to pull out of the production two days before the shoot. Then Jack and I went to see a Paines Plough theatre production at The Menier Chocolate factory called “The Small Things” by Enda Walsh. This is where we spotted Bernard Gallagher, the actor who eventually played the part of Derrick. He is an excellent actor and an absolutely lovely person, and I’m extremely glad that he agreed to act in the film.”
Casting Suzanne:
“I sought the advice of various casting directors who pointed me in the right direction in my hunt for a teenage actress. She didn’t need much acting experience. I was looking for a girl whose natural voice and demeanour fitted the character in the script. I was pointed towards a few agencies, and the most helpful was A&J Management. They read the script, thought carefully about the girls on their books, and then suggested two of them. The second girl I saw was Natalia. I knew straight away that she was the one. As soon as she spoke the dialogue came alive. I loved her voice, and her honest and revealing body language. I didn’t see any other actresses. I was very lucky.”
SETTING – Daniel Outram
The bungalow
“The exterior of Derrick’s home was always going to be discovered in the opening shot of the film so it was very important that it had the right character. I was looking for a bungalow, and I wanted it to have a slightly institutional feel. Derrick had been in prison for half of his life, and I thought it would be nice if we were reminded of this by the location. I also thought it should feel like a care home for one person. Gradually I realised that what I really wanted was a pre-fab bungalow. They were built after the war to meet the urgent need for housing, and most of them have since been knocked down, so it was a bit of a struggle finding one. Luckily my mum checked Alton estate on her way home one evening and struck gold. It’s about five minutes from the hospital where I was born, so I had a strange feeling that I was going back in time every time I drove to the location. We were originally going to use the neighbouring bungalow that had an interior that was already decorated in exactly the right way. But these bungalows were council owned sheltered accommodation for the elderly, and the resident fell ill, so I had to approach his neighbour. As a result we had to repaint, re-carpet and hire lots of props. But in the end we got exactly what I was looking for.”
The supermarket
“I wanted Derrick and Suzanne to be dwarfed by an enormous space in these scenes so I couldn’t have found a much better location than the one we used. ASDA let us film in one of their superstores on the basis that we didn’t interrupt customers, and so long as we had a very small unit. It was rather difficult for the crew dealing with the extraordinary number of morning shoppers, but in the end I think it worked well. I didn’t have time to cover all of the camera positions that I’d planned, and it was rather difficult to block as single long takes, but the actors performed brilliantly under difficult circumstances.”
CINEMATOGRAPHY – Federico Alfonzo
Federico Alfonzo has been working as lighting cameraman, predominantly in the commercials industry, since 2001. He has filmed extensively all over the world and with many of the best commercial companies . . .
“As a Director of Photography I collaborate with the director to tell the story with pictures. I primarily like to have a conversation with the director that is about the emotional needs rather than the technical elements of the film. At an early stage I want to hear how the director visualizes the film in their head. The more I know about all the various parts of the story, for example how the director sees the characters develop, the more I can help. It enables me to work more freely when we are shooting.”
“The look of any project is or should be dictated by the script. With this film Dan and I both believed that a realistic, simple and clean look would help bring the whole feel of the story across. This script is a character driven piece, and after reading it I immediately started to think about how to tell the story in the least intrusive way to let the characters be the centre of attention.”
“After we went to see the location, a very small bungalow next door to the one we ended up working on, all the pieces started to fit together. One of the first considerations regarding the look of the film was the idea to shoot all the scenes within the bungalow with a hand held camera. Dan and I discussed how this would relate to the story. We believed that initially this would allow the audience to feel closer to the characters. And then secondly, on a more practical note, we could make better use of the limited small space by not having a dolly or equipment limiting our shooting area.”
“We worked with a very basic camera package: 1 x 35mm Arricam LT and a full set of Cooke S4 lenses (kindly supply by Movietech).”
CINEMATOGRAPHY (contd)
“Yet again the camera angles and the choice of lenses were both dictated by two main factors: first of all simple and economic storytelling and secondly the limitation of space at the main location. My approach to the lighting was also minimal and simple. I took into consideration the existing lighting at the location and used the lights that I had to reinforce what already existed. When at all possible I tried to light for the space rather than for the actors, it is one of my ways of contributing by giving both the actors and the director as much freedom as possible to tell the story.”
“The limited size of the location ended up being a blessing in disguise. The closeness that it created helped make the film feel very real and I certainly thought it helped to portray that this really was Derrick's home. There were times while we were shooting that I felt as if I was invading someone's privacy and that I shouldn't have been there.”
“After two days of shooting at the bungalow, we had one final day to film both the supermarket and the street set-ups. This time we used a steadicam to keep the feeling of intimacy with our characters. We used all available light and just a small amount of ‘bounced filled light’ for the actors' faces.”
“This really was a very low budget (perhaps a no-budget) short film and we did not have the luxury of choosing film stocks but rather we had to use whatever film stock we were given. I ended up shooting on more emulsions that I would have liked to. We shot on Kodak 5245, 5248 (day exteriors), 5217, 5218 (living room and supermarket), and 5277 (kitchen). Luckily we managed to shoot entire scenes with the same stock. It was fortunate that it did not present major problems when it came to do the final grading, which we were lucky enough to do at Rushes using C-Reality.”
“I'm happy with the simple and realistic look we've achieved.”
SOUND RECORDING – Jamie Gambell
Having worked in the sound department for five years on features, dramas, and the occasional commercial, Jamie Gambell has been making the move up from boom operator to sound recordist during the last year . . .
“We were afforded a great deal of control during this shoot enabling us to record a clean and effective sound track. The dynamic of two people talking for several pages at a time meant that the only real issues that I would face were ensuring that overlaps were controlled for the sake of the edit, and other normal ambient problems (traffic, airplanes, pedestrians, neighbours’ music etc). Traffic wasn’t too bad since the main road was several streets away, we shot over a weekend, and the bus route nearby wasn’t as busy as it could have been. The residents in the area were fantastically helpful and noise was controlled very well. We were below one of the landing zones for Heathrow airport, and sound windows in these areas are ever shortening as the airport becomes busier – however, we weren’t too badly affected. The main problems that we encountered were in the supermarket where we found ourselves shooting in a live superstore with very little control over tannoy announcements, fridge noise, and the public. Luckily I had just completed a film, which saw the first six days of shooting taking place in this exact environment, so I was aware of what we could get away with. I opted to use radio mics, separated onto split channels, to help reduce some of the background ambient. As this sequence was shot in single shots for each vignette of dialogue, I wasn’t too concerned about the background noise affecting the edit, and to help the blend from sequence to sequence I ran a healthy supermarket atmospheric wild track to under-lap the action.”
“On this shoot I recorded onto DAT, using an HHB PDR 1000, mixing a Sennheiser MKH 60 microphone (swung by boom op, Ben Greaves) through an SQN 4S series II four. As the film plays effectively as a two-way dialogue I was sure that there wouldn’t really be too much call for separating tracks, and recorded in mono for the most part. I also used Audio 20/20 diversity radio mics with Sanken lavliers.”
PRODUCTION – Jenny Webb
Jenny Webb currently works as the Production Manager at Moon, a London-based commercials production company. She entered the commercials industry in 2000 in Sydney working as a Production Assistant. She studied at the University of New South Wales, where she completed a BA with a double major in Film & Philosophy. At UNSW she produced a short film “Who’s on top” which won Best Art Film at ATOMFEST 2000, an Australia student video awards . . .
“Dan had done a great deal of work on the film in the areas of script development, locations and the cast as a result of his previous attempts at getting it off the ground. So by the time I came on board it was simply a matter of finding the crew and equipment and concreting everything down. We were really fortunate to work with some really great people and talents on this, and we can’t thank everyone enough for their efforts. I guess, as with all non-funded shorts, the difficulties lay in making magic happen on no budget and making it happen quickly. However, with the combined energies of our fabulous DOP Fede Alfonzo, our guiding force 1st AD Paul Murphy and the dream team at Rushes, we really did manage to create the picture which Dan had hoped to achieve.”
THE CAST
BERNARD GALLAGHER
Bernard has just reprised his role in The Small Things at the Galway Festival, having previously appeared in the same play at The Chocolate Factory (dir: Vicky Featherstone). Prior to this he filmed the role of Caroline Quentin’s father in the ITV drama Footprints in the Snow (dir: Richard Spence). Bernard has acted in plays at various prestigious venues including The National, The Old Vic, The Almeida, The Donmar, and The Royal Court. Theatre directors that he has worked with include Sam Mendes and Antonia Bird. He has acted in films including Photographing Fairies and Red Monarch, and numerous TV dramas including The Bill, Midsummer’s Murders, Doctors, Rose & Maloney, London’s Burning, Heartbeat, Eastenders, Casualty and many others.
NATALIA RUSH
Natalia has been in several student productions and various commercials including a recent one for AOL. She has also performed script readings at both the Royal Court and RADA. She had a featured role in The Bill and will shortly start principal photography on The Blue Tower for director Smita Bhide. The film, to be shot in and around London, is a psychological thriller set within the Punjabi community of Southall. Natalia lives with her parents and three sisters in Wapping.
DIRECTOR – Daniel Outram
Daniel graduated from Glasgow University in 1999 with a Psychology honours degree, and has since been developing a career as a director. He has started directing commercials (his reel is available to view at www.danoutram.com) and is now also heading towards feature film directing. In 2004 he won the Young Directors award at the Cannes advertising festival, and in 2005 his commercials were awarded at two international advertising festivals (Golden Hammer advertising festival and at the Moscow International Advertising festival). In 2006 Daniel’s short film A Supermarket Love Song received its world premiere at the Sundance film festival, and has since been selected by various festivals around the world. Daniel is currently developing feature length projects and is represented by ICM London (contact Jack Thomas.)
WRITER – Jack Thorne
Theatre writing includes When You Cure Me (Bush Theatre, reviews at http://www.bushtheatre.co.uk/when_you_cure_me_reviews.htm ), Stacy (Tron Theatre), Paperhouse (Flight 5065), Solids (Paines Plough at the Young Vic), and Fanny and Faggot (Pleasance, Edinburgh Fringe Festival). Writing for film includes The Mascot (Film London/Pulse Digital Shorts, London Film Festival 2005). Jack is Development Consultant for Apocalypso Pictures (with director Pawel Pawlikowski and producer Tanya Seghatchian). In 2002, Jack was awarded Royal Shakespeare Company/Marlowe Society ‘Other Prize’ and in 2004 he was shortlisted for the Verity Bargate Award. He is currently under commission to Tiger Aspect/Channel 4 for an original TV drama, and will do an attachment at the National Theatre in the new year.
To read an interesting online article about Jack from Time Out please go to:
http://www.bushtheatre.co.uk/when_you_cure_me_time_out.htm.
POINTS OF INTEREST
• This film will be receive it’s world premier at Sundance in January 2006.
• The 29-year-old British director, Daniel Outram, funded this short film with money from directing some Lithuanian beer commercials that later won awards at 2 international advertising festivals (Moscow & Baltic).
• The director and the writer initially met through 'Shooting People'.
• The location for the old man’s home was one of the few remaining pre-fab bungalows built to solve the housing crisis after World War II. See a still of the bungalow at www.imageevent.com/danoutram/asupermarketlovesong/filmstills. To read more about the estate that these bungalows are a part of, go to: http://www.putneyguardian.co.uk/heritage/display.var.611626.index.one_foot_in_the_past.html
• Filmed 5 minutes from hospital where the director was born.
• Oscar nominee Ron Moody almost played the lead. In actual fact the old man was played by Bernard Gallagher, who performed the part brilliantly.
• The film was inspired by various interesting characters the director had seen at the supermarket, and then by the writer’s memory of caring for the elderly when he was a teenager.
• Total budget £6,000.
• Shot in 3 days.
• Director’s previous awards in advertising include BSM 'Cruise': 2nd prize at Young Director awards at Cannes Lions advertising festival 2004; Svyturys ‘Bath’ & ‘Flood’ awarded at Baltic advertising festival 2005. These commercials can be watched at www.danoutram.com
• Dan and Jack have a feature in development called Taking The Bus.
• For the last few years Jack Thorne has been working as a development consultant for Pawel Pawlikowsky (dir: Last Resort; My Summer of Love)
• See an interesting article about writer, Jack Thorne at http://www.bushtheatre.co.uk/when_you_cure_me_time_out.htm
Film Production Blog "A_Supermarket_Love_Song"
A_Supermarket_Love_Song has not yet posted any blog entries.
Things danoutram said...
My Friends & Favorites
-
fairfight
Friend Since: August 28, 2006
Last Online: 9:48 am, October 11, 2007
-
Blue_Mango_Films
Friend Since: June 25, 2006
Last Online: 11:11 pm, April 26, 2007
-
gator-boy
Friend Since: May 30, 2006
Last Online: 5:55 pm, December 05, 2007
3 Comments about danoutram
Aug 17, 2006 04:45PM
Hey Dan,
Before our server crashed (stupid ISP) I think you had sent an email about awards and I hadn't been able to get back to you.
They're here: http://indyfilmfest.org/2006archives.html
They were on the front page for awhile, but we moved them when we moved on to the next year.
Big Congrats on Atlanta! That's fantastic!
Jun 29, 2006 09:11PM
Sounds great. Will email you . . .
Jun 28, 2006 07:54AM
You got an email address? If so, please contact me on reviews@twistededge.co.uk
My name is David Stephenson, I write for the popular independent film e-zine www.roguecinema.com and would be interested in reviewing a screener DVD of the film if one is available. Mail me to get in contact if you're interested.
Leave a comment about danoutram