Casting Announcement

With the project announcement long now past, it was a case of finishing the script, casting the project and thinking of the logistics of how to approach this. At first the entire process was completely intimidating; this is was a mammoth task that required every resource I had available. The main focus of the beginning of this process was with the casting; feeling that all the work up to this point and coming afterwards relied on a dependable cast.

Working on a script for nye-on 6 months, fully storyboarded, a second draft that hung for about 6 weeks and then finalized after a rewarding rehearsal process, the cast had to be chosen specifically. I wanted to work with people I had worked with prior on other videos and films and in the process of writing TBM, I'd had a couple of individuals in mind, visualizing the script. The period up to the point of casting and then rehearsing the film, was a long few months, as I worked and finalized music video projects and allowed the script to breathe in my own head before finalizing the draft, notably after the rehearsals.

Firstly, the casting of the roles of Robert and Tamara was imperative as a first step.

Robin Hellier, who I have worked with previous on Closer's STRANGER DANGER and Universal Thee's SPEAKER more recently and Annabel Logan, who I had worked with on SPEAKER and more relatable to this project, my short film DRIFT. A pair of individuals who had known and worked with each other in the past, who I had a strong working and personal relationship with and understood what I was trying to achieve with this story, it was an exciting period being able to say I had cast the roles of Robert and Tamara.

With the cast set, met and the script discussed, so there was mutual understanding of the story that was being told and the level of work that was going to be involved in the production. Like what was said pervious, there was a large gap between the casting and the beginning of the rehearsal, due to other commitments with music videos. That was time spent on the learning and reading of the script to see how it read and how it felt as an overall piece. When it had come to the rehearsal day, a long 6-7 hour day in a room, breaking and tearing up the script to as far as it needed.

I have to be perfectly honest, my experience in rehearsal is incredibly limited. Over the years, working on 30 plus music videos where time is incredibly limited also, the time to rehearse was something that was overlooked. With my last couple of short films, particularly DRIFT, there was no rehearsal. There was time included to discuss the film themes, the characters specifically but in terms of figuring the nuances of the dialogue and how that would translate into physical shots was basically sorted and thought about on the day; a complete lack of prior thought that didn't get the time it may have needed to become something "better" or improved.

This was different, this time around. Other than the shooting would be spread over a longer period of time to allow the scenes to breathe, this day of rehearsal was to allow me to explain the nuances of each of the dialogue scenes and explain the subtlety of the non-dialogue scenes. I don't think my approach is foolproof and certainly needs improving but one thing I can say about my method is that I know the script and the characters well enough to pre-empt questions, queries and previous motivations, hinging to a strange sense of realism. It's an attachment to these characters as a writer that translates into the director aspect of the role to bring the characters to life. This section may read to others as the verbatim of actor rehearsal, but coming out of the experience completely rewarded and in a position to begin the planning after setting a number of available days over the month of April.

As this post is written in hindsight and with some shooting already commenced/commencing, the notable advancement in the production has already started. Over the rest of the month I'll be posting daily blogs on each shooting day, not detailing the day or production but my favourite shot taken on the day; calling the series 'Shot of the Day'. Short posts that detail my favourite shot of the day, moving away from the banal and potentially stale outlining of the production process.

Part 1 of Shot of the Day

Part of the Shot of the Day for TBM; an experimental series of blog posts that detail the production process of the film through my thoughts on my favourite shot taken on the day. They will be short posts, not over long but enough so that it gets across my opinion and feeling of the days shooting, characterized in the single shot chosen. Hoping this is a more original and interesting way of getting that across.

This shot was one of the last of the day and wasn't planned i.e. storyboarded or rehearsed. That night it was raining, I had a friend available who was there watching kit and holding an umbrella and with one of the last set-up's of the night (we had been filming since the morning, with a large gap in the middle) this shot was technically not needed. But I looked at the side of where we had been previously and open to the idea of shooting out with the boundaries of what I had set myself with the storyboards. Looking at it through the viewfinder and how the raindrops refracted the light on the window, casting against Annabel's face, it was a beautiful shot and hammered home its late yet crucial inclusion to the scene.

The impetus to capture this shot, standing in the rain and taking more of the time out of the schedule was to make sure we had a clean and clear reaction to the end of the scene; something that the audience could be drawn into and really hit home the ending of the scene, hence the important reason for it's inclusion.

Part 2 of Shot of the Day

This shot, what I would refer to as the eponymous (hero) shot, features triumphantly throughout the course of the film. Even taking a more "old-fashioned" account with using the term "hero shot" blends nicely to the fact that he is no way a 'hero'; an unconventional hero and more the monotonous avenger. The city is full of them; every day-minding their own business-comfortable individuals, easily citing 'it's a means to an end'. And that isn't a bad thing; only that the regularity of his life is something that he needs to change, as it kills him. The blue hint (shooting as a cooler colour temperature) is throughout every piece of the daylight exterior shooting; not to be too specific, but the surrounding concrete can feel pretty cold sometimes.

As you will have noticed, the 2.35:1 ratio allows me to expand on my shot length, namely as my style has more of a focus on close-up filmmaking. The move (a simple tilt up) sees our character come from the fuzzy indistinguishable left side of frame into the clearer darkness; take from that what you will.

The shot was shot over-cranked to half-speed; synonymous technique within my work. The context into which this shot is used is part of the "filler" and important "world-building"; detailing the monotony of this man's life through his daily journey, ear buds in, listening to the various news broadcasts on the radio and what is happening in the world. This the a further element of foreshadowing (not "sign-posting") within the film that leads to the more "post-apocalyptic" themes near the end of the film.

Part 3 of Shot of the Day

A coming together of the two main characters within this story; Robert and Tamara.

It's a frame I feel only holds its strength due to being shot in the 2.35:1 ratio with Tamara front of main frame with Robert sunken in the background, looking up at her. Her dominance in the frame highlights her control and his size in frame accentuates his own purpose of being, his importance and ultimately reluctance of power within the scene. She's out of focus in this shot continually due to the sense of perspective centered on Robert. With Robert, we should be where he is, showing his expression, figuring out the "why's" and having the focus racked as such, is a visual way of describing that. You can tell the entire story of this scene in this one shot alone (there is coverage, but just saying).

At this point in the film, led by indecision and a smacking of confusion, he's still figuring out each of her character traits, her own doom-mongering and skewed perspective but not being smart enough to realise, it's already happening, the ground crumbling around their feet; the world is coming to an end. The red hint is a visual cue set earlier than this in the film to illustrate the rolling blackouts that the city happens to be under, in the form of emergency lighting; another sense that this world itself is slowly coming to a close and time is short. It's a cue that separates these scenes from the void, that doesn't have the accent of 'red'. The hint itself a strong inspiration from James Cameron's ALIENS, accentuating the sense of danger, tension and unknowing. The half-red and half-blue hint shows the double-sided nature illustrated through the film.

Throughout TBM there are several visually-made comparisons made between scenes in illustrating the conflict between the two main characters. Following the story through Robert's perspective, we're in a similar position (deliberately) where we are I figuring things out as well, and in a number of scenes, he's small in frame, while Tamara, racked out of focus, retains the frames volume. The power of Tamara within Robert's story is prominent and I feel the shooting reflects that.

Part 4 of Shot of the Day

Continuing this series, I've taken a shot that illustrates my love of the city and how it becomes it's own character. A straight inspiration of the dark and gritty iterations of city living.

The motion, the lights, the architecture and state of it's being; a place that thousands upon thousands co-exist, brush past each other every day without much in the way of empathy or sympathy. My experience is one of a sometimes inhospitable environment, of simply "existing" within it, but of one that exudes moments of beauty if you can look close enough. This is one of those moments and another addition to the thematic concerns of urban environments in narrative. City environments accentuate the feeling of isolation and constriction. Certainly in the case of Robert, the monotony of his day-to-day working and living is what keeps him imprisoned.

Shot under-cranked for half speed, this handheld tracking shot, is underplayed to a phone-call voiceover, creates an evident contrast (which will not be explained due to potential spoilers). His expression and sense of hope within the shot runs for the longest of 20 seconds, mostly in silence. The colors and the movement, with the deliberate lens flare are key traits for most of my night time shooting, evident by the fact that everything is shot below f4 on fast lenses (say a 50mm prime) creating incredibly shallow depth of fields.

A shot that is not entirely original or incredibly deep meaning-wise other than it's the use of colour and movement, it's a shot or style of shot, that has become part of my shooting and directing repertoire.

Part 5 of Shot of the Day

The spontaneous first meeting of our protagonists.

This shot closes the first "proper" scene at the beginning of the film (first scene after the opening title shot). Again, with the benefit of the 2.35:1 aspect ratio, it creates a stronger shot and extends the amount of negative space in deliberate effect. With her arms wide open and the way the perspective leads towards one-point, seemingly infinite in distance if it weren't for the cut frame, reflects the journey that these characters still have to go on together. And such a journey that becomes. It shows how straying from my more symmetrical sense of framing and giving the shot strength in use of the surrounding environment; the coldness is reflected in the brick work of the wall but in that it separates showing the dead, lifeless trees in the background.

The hint in the coloring, what I will point out now, is from specifically selected collection of colour temperatures. These temperatures are film specific, in that I do test shooting, edit and export a series of colour temperatures for reference during the shooting, from 3200k to 5400k. It is rare, other than with night-time, under LED spotlights at 2500k, that I will go to the extremes of ends of coloring. I hate to add the coloring in post, generating a solarised like sheen to the shots, preferring to boost the blacks and grays, dropping the whites with tonnes of variable 'desaturation' through the spectrum.

To add, this shot can be read differently; Tamara blocks his way deliberately, from getting on with his current life, saving him from the torture that would ensue in the story. But then again, there would be no film.

Part 6 Shot of the Day

The penultimate blog post, detailing more of the relationship elements of the narrative and the personal nature of the characters as a writer and eventual director, concerning 'audience'.

The shot is used as part of a jump cut double, replacing the use of a fast track or zoom to accentuate the intensity and passion of the moment. Again, as a frame and use of the coloring that appears quite sepia-toned, Tamara is appearing from the dark and into the light, significant in that what precedes this moment, shows Robert predominantly in the light and trying to entice her into his way of thinking. This is a moment fueled by romance, that things begin to change and map out the course of the characters own undoing.

I suppose that brings me to how I write these characters and the amount of respect I have for the characters I write; their vulnerability can be expressed in different and more original, less cheap ways, I feel. Writing tangible relationships and meaningful ones comes from a reflection of personal experience and what feels natural. From coming from developing scripts for a number of years, the level of depth that I go into with character breakdowns and discussion of the characters on an individual basis and group basis is quite extensive. As much as the story, that is effectively led independently by the characters we are portraying; the more believable, the more the story resonates with an audience. It's the most important aspect with this medium, keeping into consideration how your audience react and what you allow your audience to experience to maintain that desired reaction.

Slightly late in detailing this but this series has remained relatively spoiler free as I don't want certain moments to be ruined for when an audience sees this completed.

Part 7 of Shot of the Day

The final installment of the "Shot of the Day" series sees the ending of the film immortalized and some personal views exposed about the fate and state of your world as we know it.

The shot, another under-cranked for half speed, shows our character appear into frame, becoming the title character. A nod to similar films of a post-apocalyptic nature, like MAD MAX; the synonymous hero wandering a scorched Earth, retro-fitted for life in a dying world. This, similar to my post describing the use of "hero shots", this is the collapse of the hero. The hero has been driven into the ground, fully expected to survive and achieve with the odds stacked against him but in the case of this character it is a self-inflicted punishment (as far as I will go due to spoilers). The theme itself is something that has always interested me, my imagining of dystopia in a real, true sense.

TBM holds a special place in my heart overall, even from the script writing stage. It was an opportunity to write about things that concern me let alone interest me. For me, there is a genuine ecological concern with the world today, something that is an issue for the few rather than the many. As I have been getting older, it has been more apparent, thoughts stuck in your head, lying in your bed at night, ready to wander; saturated by present media, constant bombardment of information with a need to share and constantly communicate, mostly with strangers, raged with confrontation and such a lack of empathy, isolation and miscommunication are to your own detriment so "fuck you" if you're not popular etc.

I wholeheartedly feel, that we are bringing this world to an end sooner than it should be. I can't see it ending in my lifetime, or in the next generations lifetime but it will be made more difficult to live with each generation, if that makes sense. You would guess, with such a grim set of expectations, it would be reflected more in the film but it's not. The film is flooded with hope; the only thing that fuels the characters through their journeys, what eventually changes them, fills them with guilt enough to want to change and should fuel individuals in their real lives too.

My hope, is that when people see the film, they can see what I've been trying to say and communicate to my audience and have gotten a taste from this short, first time and hopefully not last time series.

The Difficult Road to Rough Cut

As the title may suggest and with this being the first update since the end of the 'shot of the day' series. So, where am I now with it?

As I type this, the film is in a rough assembly, in that every scene shot (that worked) is in the order it needs to be to tell the story. As roughs go, it's a tight edit. I find that the tuning cuts get later in post are finite due to my unflinching and frustrating goal for perfection. *But as an update to that update (this post has taken about a week to write) every shot, including the pick ups and VFX shots have been completed also.

Yeah, pick ups and VFX shots have been completed as of writing this now and they have been added to the cut. The level of value they have added to the cut overall and allowing me to lose the nasty-looking place holder plates that jar with the storytelling has been significant. Not that THAT was the reason but either way, feeling like TBM is well on it's way to picture now, with no barriers to stop it, is a massive relief.

Most of this length of time has been due to the absence of pick up shots and pick up elements that, since the wrap of the shoot, were left by the whey-side over several months and with the conscious goal of the films completion of the end of the year nearing, the boost in self-motivation was overwhelming. Also, I wanted to make each of the pick-ups memorable in their right, alongside the rest of the principal shooting. When I mean 'long' I mostly mean the agonizing and tricky journey that comes from trying to make something inherently imperfect, perfect. It's the journey of a creative; put all the suitable elements in place, capture them at the right time in the right light at the right distance and allow technology to do the rest. It's the assembly of those elements that have proven difficult as time has not really been a factor in its completion. I've mulled over this cut, I've agonized over this cut, I've had my doubts and sudden bouts of elation. As is the way, I guess.

I've had nothing but praise to give about the film thus far. The central performances from Robin and Annabel not only brought the film to life but breathed an energy into it, that was not there when I wrote it initially. I've put so much pressure on this film to not just do well (I mean, to do well, would be to be have a festival run non-domestic and pick up a low-key award, at the very best) but showcase the films I want to make; a window into the intimate workings of the weird way I view the world, with a small sprinkling of social relevance and whatever in the public eye happens to spark my interest or severely piss me off. Hopefully, that is what comes across and spurs me to produce more work similar.

Working on a short film (or other project), completely on your own on the production side of things, minus post-production like music composition and (sometimes) sound design, can be an incredibly draining experience. Enough that makes you question, or certainly ponder, how to approach certain projects in the future. I run the risk, at this juncture, of burning myself out. It's the reason why projects haven't really been updated or being worked on (coupled with the fact, I've been unwell lately). But I reckon, in doing so this early, applying so much pressure to oneself, when it comes to experiencing the collaborative element working on my own films with an actual crew, I can say the blood, sweat, tears and copious amounts of bird shit were all worth it. This is why this journey has been so long and difficult, nearing its completion.

Things have slowed down, but it's been a period of reflection. Find that at the end of a run like this, as this tends to happen every year, I think about the work I've done, what I can do now and where to go from here. For that, I'm not too sure. Work leads to more work, increases the chances of opportunities in the future and so on; just have to see and try my best. Anyway.

As for TBM, I'm working on the new animated title; similar to the one I made for DRIFT, just more appropriate to the film in question. This will also make up the basis of the poster design; similar to the final poster design for DRIFT, which resembled a more graphic style. That will probably be a brief but notable release in the run up to the completion of the trailer and release of the still images teaser. I need to get the film to picture lock so time can be spent on the music score and the sound design which will take us into the next couple of months and hopefully final completion before the end of the year. I'm working with Leigh Moyes of ECHO ARCADIA fame on the music score, based on a track from his band's back catalogue. It's a song that will feature more prominently on the trailer when it is released but deconstructed and reworked for the film. Plenty of work to be done but all worth it at the end.

Title Design and Announcement

Similar to the way I created the title for DRIFT, I had hand-painted (or drawn) the lettering, scanned them, edited them and placed them in the order you see now. As far as the animation goes, it is all fairly basic but each of the elements is placed individually and exported individually, in their own state on the overall piece. The full motion element in the centre is taken from the film itself and is heavily effected to fit the rest of the aesthetic. In terms of the remainder of the actual animation, the elements and how they come together, they are all relatable to the story itself but aspects of which become clear when you see the final film.

As art of the films gradual progression to completion this is the first piece of 'moving' imagery from the film. I'm still working on the trailer, the final 'picture-lock' cut and mulling over the poster design before I reveal that as well; probably near the end of the week. But that's all for now.

Poster Design and Reveal

As you'd have noticed from my previous post on the animated title design, I kept it brief and simple to get across the fact that this film is a very real thing, that's getting closer and closer to being ready for mass perusal. Unlike that post however, I feel the poster design gives a much greater outlook at what the film will be; in tone, style and potential content, if it appears a tad obscure at this point.

I have been posting quite a bit of content at this point and the BTS posts in the form of "shot of the day" insights, which made me wonder; this whole thing I call "teasing content".

So, as the actual production of the short film nears the final, but still lengthy, post-production stage of picture locking and muzak making, I'm teasing the shit out of it. I've found that with filtering projects like this, the gentle art of "teasing", can become a bit much; the excitement or interest in the project peels away and when it comes to the actual release, the audience you intended has had enough. I don't think I'm at that point yet, but I'm carefully aware that any audience I have has not made it's presence known yet but I'm aware of all this "teasing" and when all this "tease" may be too much "TEASE". At this stage there is still a trailer to release, coupled with this poster release before the film is officially announced as COMPLETE. But more importantly, as this is about the poster reveal, here's a more in-depth look at the poster.

First off, I hope people like what i've done and excited about what the film will be. It's a strange and beautiful thing that really has become the patchwork of the kind of work I want to make in the future. I have not idea where or 'if' there is an audience for my stuff, but there's only way to know. I'm mightily proud of what I have been able to produce here. Each of the elements included in the poster are taken straight from the film and blended together, showing how low-res some of the textures are and capping it all at 1080p. Also, my graphic design skills are fairly limited by what I can achieve technically; comes down to something in my head that I can draft with pencil and whether I can place said assets into the same physical documents and how that translates etc. It's difficult to explain and certainly, with the benefit of hindsight, I would have taken high resolution photos to help with the upscaling but here they are in their present glory.

Like what was said previous, the trailer is in the works and will be the main piece of promotional material for the film so hopefully all this teasing has been worth it... hopefully.

Teaser Reveal

So, in a long series of teases for this film, this is the ultimate tease; the trailer. Certainly, the biggest and most representative of any promotional material for this film, especially something as cryptic as this appears, the trailer does enough to give you an idea of what this film is while keeping plenty under wraps. Keeping it short and keeping certain aspects to the film itself, including more of the political motivations behind aspects of the story, this trailer focuses on the heart of the film; the relationship between the two characters and the strange, hyper-real world they inhabit and the struggle of our protagonist. But with the coming of this, closes a further chapter in the chronicles of this project.

All that remains at this juncture is to finish the SFX, any additional pick ups and then given enough time to sit, to give the mind time to saturate. I suppose the saddest thing about this project is the size of the hole that will need filled after it's all complete but I think I have something in the interim before that project rears its head in the new year.

Project Update - How I Edit

So, as I reach the point of beginning to work on the music (with Leigh Moyes) and concentrate on the sound edit, I reach ever closer to that beautiful time of announcing "picture lock" or as I like to call it, "that time when I stop myself from editing anymore". But it's not been an easy journey, by any stretch of the imagination.

I've written this post already, but due to the combination of cross platform technology and the profound negativity of the post, I've re-written it to be a bit more informative about my editing technique and how I go about things.

I've been told, certainly in the music video work, that I create 'great edits'. As someone who hinges most of his ability on how to compose a shot, make it move and develop as it goes on, I am more an assembler in terms of how I edit; no fancy transitions, simple match cuts and a key to good, natural pacing. Even the simplest of assembly's can be difficult however and mainly or the omissions I have just stated. To me, the art of telling the story through the process of editing, taking it back to very old school way of thinking, letting the shots tell as much of the story before cutting away from them, rather than a overwhelming quantity that harbors nothing but over-stimulation. My edits can be slow, feel over long but I see that as allowing the film to breathe. I doubt I would be wrong in assuming that attentions need satisfaction sooner, quicker and in greater quantity now, more than ever, but I won't change this about my filmmaking ever.

Notably, every edit is a difficult edit. If it was easy as it should appear to be when people watch the final film, without incident, then it would be. It's a craft, it's a skill and it's definitely something I can hardly say I have gotten complete grasp of. I'm certainly one, when it comes to editing, that's a big believer of the straight cut, holding cuts for as long as possible and maintaining the strength of a single shot. Now, this contrasts to my music video work in a few ways, where I'll use a series of three-shot's in quick succession in simple accents on verses, varying in focal length to give it pace and energy. The most notable of these are in the heavier videos for BOOZE CRUISE and LUNATIC FRINGE, including STRANGER DANGER.

In the making of short film, I like scenes that can hang on a single shot, tell the entire story and then move on. DRIFT, my previous short film effort was a definite case of this, but it was much shorter, had a simpler premise and focused on a singular perspective. TBM is a much greater beast, much more to take into account, more scenes and greater depth of story; so much more going on and so much more needing explanation. As a result, in my quest for perfection (anyone who knows me well can attribute this) it has taken across this 6 month period to get to the point of beginning to look at the music.

From remanufacturing scenes as they were too overlong and disruptive to the films pacing to cutaways that proved more important to the films storytelling than was first thought, the film has gotten to where it is now, with great difficulty. The difficulty being, as with any creative, is a severe closeness to the projects you are making. I have quite a bit personally riding on this film doing well, and in the hope of not burning out over this to affect projects moving forward. The closeness clouds the elements that are there and have always been there, certainly since the rough cut, where certain scenes haven't changed that much; moments that define what the film is. But with such closeness, there comes a sense of questioning your own motives: Does the theme come through? Does the story reach a logical conclusion? Do the characters carry the story? Do we hit each beat effectively? Does the audience follow what's happening? Will the audience get it? etc, etc, etc, etc, etc...

My tale about a couple, focused on a man who rides his bike into the searing sun of a nuclear winter and of how the world around them slowly begins to erode away, as they disappear into the darkness for their own salvation is on it's way...

At this stage, I don't know how well the film will be received, only that I can put the elements in place, release it into the view of mass perusal and see what happens. The trailer has been well-received with great feedback so all is pointing towards some interest in final film. Here's to the next couple of months of creating some muzak and sound effect epic-ness.

Extended Director’s Notes

THE BICYCLE MAN (TBM) was a watershed moment for me as a filmmaker. TBM is the film that leads to a different way of thinking of issues and stories that interest me now, as an adult, in his thirties. It's a tale that explores many themes and concepts that concern and interest me now, more than ever. It has been that I feel the need to analyze and evaluate my own work in a more in-depth manner, especially in the cases where I have concepts that, if wanted, have that further reading to accompany it. In this case, TBM was a long, drawn out experience that had a deep history attached to it.

In short, it's a love story about a cyclist who, desperate to reunite with his spontaneous yet world wary lover who transposes herself to void-like realm to save herself from the coming apocalypse. In long, it is a modern love story set in a decaying world. A random encounter sees our idealistic protagonist Robert (Bob) Owen-Bell fall head over heels in love with the impulsive Tamara Downbottom. Robert, an everyday 9 to 5 worker, rides his bike everyday on the cold morning pathways and byways. Recently however, on journeys, he is gifted to visions of a potential future, hallucinations and foreshadowing but only, when he rides his bike. What becomes a game of persuasion, Robert looking to settle and Tamara a non-believer in commitment, ends in tragedy as they come to a compromise. Keeping the visions to himself, they become his only driving force later in life as an weary older man riding the same pathways and byways in a war-torn post-apocalyptic world, desperate to return to the land of those visions once again.

The coming notes are a brief history of the story/script itself, it's changes and development to fit with my current mindset, an analysis of the final film itself all from my own perspective as the director of the project. I'll be making detailed and convoluted descriptions about what motivated me and the aspects of the film that tie together with picture references and source links to best illustrate my inspirations. This is not so much a detailed analysis on how the film was made but how I feel about the creative aspects of the film itself.

"HISTORY OF THE PROJECT LEADING TO IT'S REVIVAL"

TBM germinated as a project soon after I had left High School; a tale of a time traveling man, using a pedal bike as his vessel to reunite him with his lost love. As a concept, it milked the idea of high-concept, retrofitted back-dated technology mapping a "future age", where we already live in a present time that has already evolved way past that and beyond. Back projections of under-cranked light beams rushing towards our character riding a bike hooked to wires and cables, old computer equipment and wearing a helmet linking him as the source of power. It made the narrative of the film where his ability was deliberate, his knowledge of manufacturing technology was well-versed and his control over it was, at the latter part of the film, unparalleled. A small scale, small budgeted (at the time, expensive for me), unachievable at my present level of skill, more suited to jumpy noir-esque character narratives than special effects laden tale. But that version of the film went no further to explain the landscape of the time it would be made or of the state of the characters' everyday lives being affected by the landscape of the time; just the focused microcosm of their lives, their loss and progressing the narrative forward. It was a shallow and simplistic linear tale with a focus on the effects and creation of said effects for little pay-off.

"MOTIVATIONS BEHIND A DIFFERENT KIND OF WRITING"

I know, deep down, the filmmaker I was back then would not be able to pull that off. But with the benefit of time, as interests and focus strays and changes, it's a story that just did not interest me anymore, even if the planets were to align, there would be a slim chance it would play/run the way I had originally envisioned it. Come a few years in education to eventually leave, scramble for work, balance a personal life and footnote the film with several hundred other incomplete or yet-to-begin concepts in naming a subfolder that sits in my main "script" folder never to be visited again. But then, 10 years had passed since I had had original thought about TBM and thinking about it more around the time of the film's conception, seeing as it was a different social landscape, the media was a seemingly different beast, my interest with certain films was always a political one where I'd spent 7 of those years writing a TV show that highlighted a sect of society, an established institution of the Police service from the perspective of the individuals struggling to work within it. Something that was being chopped up and torn apart by our Government, conglomerated and depicted in nothing but profound negativity in the headlines because "they sell". It was frustrating in that we (the writing team on The Job) currently struggles to see the light of day, for at it's core is a depiction of the lack of morality and human decency we have had forced upon us this generation. My interest on the Political was something that just fed it's way into my writing as needed and more so now, as intended as those frustrations bleed into my everyday life and into decisions I make that determine my future. It's an angrier tone in which I am writing, with a feeling of having something to say about the state of the world as I see it. Much of my influence comes from New American Cinema, films that were fuelled by the climate of the time, rising from the ashes of the Hollywood Studio System, but with films that genuinely took what was going on, magnified the feelings of a population, wrapped them within the thematic concern of the film or directly told those specific stories to great effect. That's not to say that New American Cinema was solely socially minded; anything post-war Neo Realist or the abundance of European and International Post-War cinema were windows into very different from our own but were specific to those worlds. The concept remains the same and it seems that now, more than ever, my work should reflect what the world is now, effect the characters and the world they inhabit because to be quite frank, present days are pretty fucked up just now. It seems criminal of wearing blinkers to not wrap any current world thematic concern within the narratives I am writing and producing to even simply express an opinion and I wish more were doing so. with that said, it could be simple enough to attach such leanings to completed work, I just feel it's a greater motivator in the making and explaining of the narrative that inherently will be deep seated into the final film.

"WRITING THE PROJECT AS OF NOW"

Into the end of 2015, I had finished a film called DRIFT, my last film released to date. I had been reassessing my outlook on the way I had been writing, the way in which I approached my films and what I really wanted to say as a writer and filmmaker. There was certain aspects of real life I had incorporated into films and even music videos previous in a seemingly shallow and directionless fashion. To notice and pick those aspects apart would be conducive to what those films were; personal highlights into my own feelings and how I viewed the world at the time. That's not to say that my work doesn't still hold that, the characters I create come from a place of experience that I feel affords them more depth. It's just a case that the narratives can have more depth in reflecting the present state of the world around these characters and have a wider concern. We live in world now, governed by a stream of news and information from the internet where if we need information, we can seek it out relatively easily but also, with the consequence that we can overload on that news and information; what I see to be predominantly bad news. My feelings which may just be attributed to being a self aware adult who can read between the lines and can choose what he sees and reads wonders if what he sees is true and if he isn't being forced in some way to read nothing but bad news. It may be due to the fact there is nothing but bad news to read in the headlines. I feel that even if you can deny it, avoid it and discuss it, it can wash over you and affect who you are, how you feel and change your way of thinking, with it being a normal part of everyday living. You are forced to have an opinion and comment on issues pretty much out of your control. In a scene where social media, which brings everyone together but nobody talks out with the screen of their smartphone. In a world that does not provide you with a smidgen chance of privacy as we stand as a people all interconnected by an over dependance on signal. The world itself is on show, warts and all, for all to see and for all to be petrified of even walking out of their door every day. Couple that with the monotony of everyday living and working and it creates a cocktail of a population of people drenched in negativity everyday, in social media, your interactions with the general populous, what you see on TV, the cover of magazines, in the paper's, relatively doing the same thing everyday, 5-6 days a week, every week, for near enough your entire life. It takes it's toll if you have no form of escape. That is the plight of our main character in this film, living day-to-day life in a volatile, polarized version of our present time.

"THE SCRIPT, STORY, WHAT IT ALL MEANS AND WHERE IT CAME FROM"

Telling the tale of Robert, a completely unassuming 9-5 worker who rides his bike everyday listening to the radio not allowing the ills of the world to bring him down due to his undying feeling of optimism. His world is turned on it's head when he is (literally) chased down by Tamara, who barrels into his life as this dangerous and exciting presence, who questions the world around her, what she does everyday impacts on her overall existence and how she enjoys it but as an emotional sponge with a fear of the dark as she feels the world around her is about to crumble. Two opposites attracting and defined by the world that is created within the fabric of the story; sinking slowly into a literal blackness under the weight of the chaos that inhabits it, amidst (quite literal) power cuts and troubling news headlines signaling the coming of the end of the world. A bombardment of stories surrounding climate change, violence, nuclear power, public discord and crooked world leaders. In the writing, I created the world and the characters themselves are written as mirrors/opposites of each other to colour the world. The fact that it takes place in a real world scenario with characters instantly relatable anchors this world as real. It was a case of playing with these aspects within the story to make it more interesting and to colour the narrative even more. As I've mentioned previous, TBM was an old project focused on the idea of time traveling to save a loved one. Much of that has stayed into this new version of the script but in a more ambiguous fashion; the time traveling aspect showcased as a literally foreshadowing within the narrative to things that will happen later in the narrative. These scenes that would replace the more definitive imagery of the genre, showing the technology and a characters intelligence to anchor its inclusion in the story. All very colorful and stylized, with slight references of 2001: A Space Odyssey and not relatable within what TBM had become in my mind. These sequences would be replaced by what has been a very common trope of my work of late; an entirely black zone or void. As has been the case with films I have made previous, the inclusion of a "void" singles out the character/s within the situation from cluttered backgrounds and focuses attention to one singular aspect. This is the same case with using pure black backgrounds in my music video work, where the they operate, from my perspective, to be incredibly serene quite places. In the case of the Tamara, whose real fear is that of the dark and what lurks within, even though she understands how irrational that fear is, she learns to appreciate it and see it's true nature citing "but that's kinda beautiful y'know, it's comforting". She is readily aware that the end is coming so is drawn into the void for the sake of her (and her coming child's) safety. Robert, who has witnessed her coming residency in the dark throughout the course of his bike journeys, doesn't understand it due to her fear of the dark but knows, deep down the only way to reunite with her, is through the bike. The bike he rides acts as the vessel (his time machine so to speak) and after trying desperately, after her disappearance, he literally rides his bike into the coming apocalypse to see her once again. It’s the strangest aspect of the film overall but is the one wrapping within the narrative, motivated by the depth of the characters that guarantees this story doesn't end when the bombs fall; that it has a happy ending.

The political motivations surrounding the story are seen and heard from the microcosm of the main characters, heard in the background during other menial tasks i.e. Robert riding his bike; where one character takes heed and the other lives his life with the news playing in the background. I feel and have always felt that is an allegory to how certain people live their lives; some are actively there to seek out news, tear it apart, share it with others and keep themselves on the front line of knowledge whereas others don't allow it to affect their lives and unconsciously, some times even blindly, will follow what they do read and hear. I feel we live in a world which should be questioned and actively challenged but I can understand and sympathize with others whose lack of knowledge could be down to a lack of interest and to avoid unwanted stress on already quite busy stressful lives. That is what gives the film a very human aspect without having to depict characters from non-relatable backgrounds; everything that happens to them happens on the ground, where the majority of us all are. It's as real as I could make it, with very real and current things happening around us every day. TBM is a story about two normal people trying to live their lives together, through the difficulties of being in a relationship to being in full time jobs, locked into society but minds that wander with dreams and aspirations being fed that the world itself is being torn apart with the feeling it is coming to end; they seek peace, they seek solace and they seek a togetherness, much like any normal group of people dodging the worlds bullshit. It would be too much to hinge a literary set of themes to the script as a written piece, but this reads stronger in the sense that this is a progressive narrative that exists as more than than just a piece of literature.

"THE FILM ITSELF; THE WHY'S, HOW IT LOOKS AND IT'S VARIOUS MOTIVATIONS AND INSPIRATIONS"

In trying to tell this story in its entirety from what was in the script, I have specific visual ideas that help to complement how the script is written and how certain scenes play out. As a general overview, you can see more specific shot choices and motivations behind certain shots in my shot of the day series here. In the case of this, I will be looking at the film as a whole, not so much how the film was made but how the visuals went to complement the script. For myself, from a cinematography background, I find it important to have as much meaning and depth to every aspect of the visuals as possible whilst maintaining the film's message in mind as complementary. As a Director, there are certain things I do to maintain my own 'style' and that will probably be noticeable but the focus will be on TBM as it is its own beast. It's the 'marriage' that lends itself to analysis.

The main and first noticeable aspect to TBM or any film for that matter is the use of colour within the film as a form of unification. In a meticulous and seemingly unhealthy fashion, this 'unification' of the visuals of a film is something that deserves importance. It creates the synergy and symmetry that solidifies the structure of the film over the course of it's life. It rounds off the sharp edges and allows the transition between scenes to become seamless. That is when a series of colour casts is created beforehand to give an identity to scenes before they have even been shot. It's an immediate correlation an audience can make between scenes that flows throughout the course of the film and allows scenes to relate to each other without ever standing apart too greatly. It's called unification in that it anchors the film as a whole than feeling it's just a bunch of semi-baked separate parts floating away from each other. You can tell the relation between the scenes by just associating the numbers and how that number (color temperature) relates to the same number, but at a different scene heading or time of day.

This unification can be achieved in different ways also, to similar camera movements in certain scenes, the style of cinematography in scenes be it a slow deliberate track or offered in handheld kinetic camera operation and within the framing, and why certain frames are repeated for certain characters in certain scenes etc. I won't list every single one but I feel it's something that can be noticed throughout the course of the film from scene to scene and how those scenes relate to each other. Specific examples and thematic concerns I continue to go into more detail. In the case of the numbers, its a very scientific and deliberate look at something inherently creative but the idea of 'colour-casting' is the most apparent 'first-look' that an audience unconsciously registers with. This does not apply to the use of applied tone and colours, as seen in the blackout scenes, with the use of the colour red as a highlight. In terms of creating worlds and telling narratives, I believe that it should live and die within the timeframe you have set; the characters don't exist in other frameworks out with what you have set already, from concepts, scenes locations, interactions even script page length the half-life of the film itself should conclude with a very rounded and properly finished, in reference to the scenario you have set forth to achieve, ending. If it is meant to end abruptly, end with the lovers coming togethers parting ways or with everybody dying, you should know that, going in. With TBM, the visual references of how the void told through the narrative and even when the void appears in the non-linear aspects of the story about the future mean the film could end one way but chose to end the right way, happily.

The backbone of TBM is the relationship between the characters and how that relationship evolves over the course of the film. From one spontaneous moment where the future seems endless, expansive and full of promise, to it's eventual and literal decay into darkness that becomes the couple's saving grace. Visually you are setting two characters in a cold, dying and seemingly inhospitable place and making sure their relationship, the one bright light in this world, rings true was crucial to the success of the story. Even at the parts where the relationship crumbles and we see the bare bones exposed, it has to ring true that these people are 'in love'. If you look at both of the reference images that sandwich this paragraph, you'll see how much darker the scenes get as the relationship begins to be torn apart. I chose Robin and Annabel on this basis; friends for many years, we had worked on several different projects together and were familiar with each other. The strict rehearsal and pre-written character backgrounds I provided were worked on and developed by them and what i see through the course of the film is this is the one element that carries you through the film. Unfortunately, if this was not the case, I'd be saying differently. What I mean, is an audience can see through something flat that takes them out of the well-honed and well-crafted looking film that was so delicately produced. Out of the importance of the story is the importance of how that story is told through the actors telling it. It's a balancing act of personalities and in my case, I can say whether a character would do something or not in any given situation. It's the one benefit I would give for being the sole author of a piece going forward to production.

As a Director, you would need to ask Robin and Annabel if I provided them with enough of a framework to carry the roles. I produce so much in terms of back story and character analysis that each behavior, even some not even noted in the script becomes an integral point of interest. Wholesome characters built from the ground up and from my own previous experience and own characteristics. I would admit that in the relationships I've had and continue to have with other people, I am continually learning something about people. And this is a fundamentally important thing as it improves me as a creative, delving into the intricacies of human interaction but also as a person screaming his way through life. I take the complement that 'I know relationships' when I go to write them as it's never about the black and white but the different shades of grey. This is a film about about a relationship between two people who can't be together; they are chalk and cheese, disagree on most aspects and both ideas of 'danger' are vastly different things. The one thing that brings them together is that one needs something from the other to fundamentally survive. This is the main thematic concern of the story; the difference between light and dark and the absence of light making way for the dark. As I have mentioned in the writing of the script, the socio-political aspects of the story meant that the world that was created was more prone to being lunged into the dark, Tamara's main fear in the film. This is something she is continually battling until she learns that it's not the scariest thing she has to worry about anymore. The look of the film, in how it was lit was a fundamental starter to getting across this concept.

Criticized for the amount of dark in this and many of my own films, I counter that we all see the world differently. Taking a photographers approach to lighting, I'm not a lover of bright lights, fitted more to ambient and intimate corner lighting, nothing more powerful than 300w output and diffused, everywhere. The overall softness of the film's look is what detracts from it being digital. The world has more 'definition' when a small amount of light is surrounded by a large portion of dark. Inspired by Baroque-era artwork, citing "The Incredulity of St. Thomas" by Caravaggio and "The Return of the Prodigal Son" by Rembrandt as prime examples, and the use of the artistic technique 'chiaroscuro', the void is a direct inspiration and/or consequence of the subtraction of everything around us and what we would really see; in my own perspective, if we remove the buildings, the colour, the people we would be left with a world surrounded by darkness. What is developed from the use of the lighting is how the framing, composition and scenario help to carry the concept. Tamara as a character is twitchy and nervous of the prospect of being enveloped in darkness, constricted and held down by it. That is the fear she feels and in subtle (and not so subtle) ways we see she is in constant need for that relief.

Like a moth to the flame, Tamara was someone who seems to be in a constant state of 'fight-or-flight' mode; looking for an escape if she needed it. When the film begins, she approaches Robert with very little to say, even confused by herself for confronting a complete stranger with absolutely nothing to say. But it leads to going home with him, sharing a bottle of wine and sharing intimate stories; something she is not comfortable with doing. She tries to push him away by saying "I might end up hurting you" inadvertently hurting Robert before anything had even begun but in the means of the coping mechanism. It's when she looks out of the window and sees the lights turning off around her from a city-wide power outage, does she go to him, for comfort. It is her fear that brings the couple closer together but exposes her, making her feel vulnerable and naked to someone she has fundamentally just met. To Robert, a lonely man whose sole interest in life is to work, "riding his bike to work everyday", it seems irrational and he tries his best to make her better; like he can fix her. This is seen in very literal terms by the use of the torch prop; he shines the light on her to make her feel safer, so she knows where he is but in doing so, exposes her. Looking at the image below, where the darkness is overwhelming, there is no torch. He allows himself to sink to her level, to understand her but feels inadequate in doing so; he can't help her the way he felt before. Hence why he looks so small in the frame as opposed to Tamara to begin with.

As the story continues and Tamara decides to just saturate herself in one thing she fears, Robert even resorts to using the torch on himself to make sure he doesn't get pulled in further. Visually, it should appear as like a tug-of-war between these two characters; one on a basis of fear, regret, guilt and one's own future. From someone who suffers from anxiety and has their own mental health issues, the coping of everyday life and situations can be difficult. Confronting one's fears and allowing yourself to be afraid, edges you closer to conquering those fears. It's a battle with ones own mind and here, the battle is simple one, just the reflected differently with different shades of grey. These two character's are just looking for their own quiet little centre of the universe. Unfortunately, they are not going to find it on this realm. Tamara accepts her fate early and goes to the dark, embraces it, tell us, how silly it was to be scared of the dark in the first place, that she "don't want to see the end of the world". Through Robert's own naivety, he allows himself to be drawn deeper and deeper into the darkness until it almost destroys him; the bomb that drops is what finally shows him the light, his exit and sanctuary. The use of the red lighting was to differentiate the real world from the void, for Robert's own sanctity. Robert is in the middle of a confusing and scary situation with no explanation.

But in the end, Tamara wasn't crazy, what she speaks about is true, the unthinkable happens and Robert, who has become a travelling vagrant at this point, a man on a pilgrimage with his own thoughts, watches as the bomb fall. Like Tamara, he embraces the darkness and finds his solace. Does it drive him mad? Or is he so overcome with elation that it doesn't matter by the time he finds himself in the void once again, reunited with Tamara? I leave the idea of that open to the audience interpretation but to me, it's the unreal replacing the real world. As real as I like to make the worlds I write, my interests lie more in depicting pseudo-realities or extreme dystopian versions of what we currently inhabit where everything is heightened in intensity, from news stories, the homes they inhabit and the grim nature of the world. No one would admittedly live like that, it's unhealthy to body and soul. But as much as Tamara is the catalyst to setting off this story (if they never meet on that pathway, there is no story to tell) our focus is on our title character and the journey he and his body take in this world and the other realm.

Robert, the unassuming and ordinary man whose life revolves around work and riding his bike. As the film opens, we are presented with a blurry shot of the environment. The title fades in clear before fading away as the camera pans across this indistinguishable environment, passing a lamppost and ending on this moving figure, our protagonist Robert on his bike, as he enters plain of focus from the blurred fog to then finally pass camera. As a characterization, we should assume he is the same as everyone else and in coming into view, we'd assume we have chosen him to be our focus in the story.

He is a man who passes through the environment, unbeknownst to the population around him, much like everyone else, minding his own business. He is our everyday man. The vehicle of his bicycle is his own sanctuary (as mentioned before, it transports him also), listening to the wails of the world as he goes by. In the sound, littered from the phone calls and the radio SFX, stylistically, I veer away from adding digital effects to clean sound and find an analogue way in which to do so to maintain the authenticity. The one constant through the course of the film is the relationship between Robert and his bike and how that evolves over the course of the film. The bike is a vessel, in this case, to the other realm, the void, to show Robert the future; the one time-traveling aspect of the film carried over from previous iterations. The bike is a symbol of his descent into the monotony; his 9-5 job and in riding his bike everyday, his routine is set, on first glance uninteresting but its defining trait. It's this monotony however, that is replaced by blind determination. Every time he rides his bike, he is shown a vision but when Tamara disappears, he is desperately looking for answers. So desperate in fact, he goes on a journey leaving the life he knew so well, to become a traveling vagrant.

The extreme change was to highlight his determination and blind faith to the cause. It is in itself a story on its own. It wasn't until I had finished the film, but has been hinted at but couldn't put my finger on at the time, was influenced by Akira Kurosawa's "DERSU UZALA". I refer to his journey as a pilgrimage in that his bike, as retrofitted and contained as he tries to make it to preserve it, in that his vessel becomes his ark. When he has to start pushing the bike as opposed to riding it, it becomes broken and can't be ridden anymore, Robert is, at that time, at the end of his rope. The entirety of the latter third of the film, the aptly titled "apocalypse" sequence, is all focused on his 'sense of preservation', trying to keep ahold of something that simply doesn't exist any more. And I feel the stylings of the sequence fit and personally, the nature of the sequence, that at one point would have been cut, can be anchored by the way the world has been constructed by this point. From manufacturing his lifestyle now, from discarded empty plastic bottle's a wind chime, washing from dirty water in a rusted cooking pot, serving to a life of self-sufficiency and escaping from a world that doesn't make sense to him anymore.

I have already outlined his contribution to the overriding theme of the film; light and darkness. The is one other that is particular to him. The film works on this idea of warning Robert of what to come, the primary reason for the void to exist and be the main point of interest through the film as it progresses. With Robert, the audience comes to same conclusion when he comes to the conclusion and only fully understand the end of the film when we hear Tamara's voicemail message in full. In the editing, there was a small piece of foreshadowing that takes place to remind the audience and Robert of their own fragility.

As a human being I feel it is incredibly important to be reminded of my place in the world and the universe and how fleeting and slight my contribution to the time I inhabit can be. It's a sobering thought to be be reminded that you're just a collection of atoms standing on the one planet that can sustain life, and has sustained for millions of life, as it travels millions of miles an hour around a sun, we all worship and depend on for time, for comfort for a source of happiness and to also sustain life. We take advantage of that and I say "we" as "we" as a people have a responsibility to bear. you can be aware of my own political leanings from the previous paragraphs and how I feel the world has become nothing but a melting pot of greedy, self-centered, violent and self-preserving individuals who honestly, don't give a fuck about you or what you do. That also goes for the planet itself. Our time, when compared to the expanse of this planet's time and the time that is still to come, is so incredibly fleeting that for us to spend it fighting, dying and pillaging is pointless. Robert sees a world around him in a state of distress. We firstly see the dead tree above him, as the second shot in the entire film to where he surrounded by the vein like intricacies of the canopy above him when he first returns from the void to what he sees in the dark forest as a vagrant, as black and endless as his journey has become. I like trees, if for above anything, they are our source of life and are mistreated. I see in a world more concerned with its omissions more than ever, we are still presented with people we entrust with the world's governing powers who think differently. That's one of the reasons why the trees feature in the background of the poster art is purely down to this concept and have been a featured on my last short film effort DRIFT. It's a personal feeling but one I feel everyone should share.

In conclusion, looking at THE BICYCLE MAN as a whole, you can take it two different ways. It's a strange story that focuses on a fractured relationship which sees our two main characters go to the brink of their limits in a world that is slowly coming to an end. The other, is in the way I have outlined, each little detail and consideration I have taken as a writer and director to add depth, to add themes that are current and at the forefront of present day living. It could be that I'm reading further into something that doesn't deserve the further understanding and analysis or doesn't to have the message of telling an audience who may not fully understanding. the simplest of reactions I would hope for is that they understood the story and in coming to it's conclusion, the audience understand the film's theme so it gets the desired emotional response. What I want is people to understand there was a deeper understanding and inspiration to what I've created here. I love what TBM has become and where it is likely to go; it's the structural basis for the style of writing and content I am wanting to continue to write and explore for the immediate future.I feel it is a film with plenty to say and I feel I have tried my best, over the course of 5000+ words to explain as such. It's more testament to the level of thinking that has gone into the film and how I have developed as a filmmaker to attribute that level of thinking to very thing creative I set my mind to. The deepest of feelings to the deepest of conclusions.

Director’s Notes

So, here's my Director's Statement for TBM, the shortened version for festival submission.

As part of the submission process for festivals and like, I have been reading quite a few Director's Statements about the films they have made and how much further respect is demanded for filmmakers who go through the process, say, seeking funding, jump through the hoops, get eviscerated in the process, shoot it, saturate with a project for years at times and then finish it, letting it loose on the ever bearing-down eyes of the public. Yeah, every filmmaker, even if you like the film or not, never sets out to make something they think people may not like, as much as years of hard work can be gunned down in an instant. I just think they deserve the respect regardless but the again, guess that's why rhino-skin should be a prerequisite on a filmmaker's curriculum vitae; "can sharply put down cunts with colorful use of the English language, if need be" or "unlikely to get emotional at uneducated observations of my own work, unless already angered". In all seriousness though, this is the film's Statement.

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THE BICYCLE MAN (TBM) was a watershed moment for me as a filmmaker. TBM is the film that leads to a different way of thinking of issues and stories that interest me now, as an adult, in his thirties. It's a tale that explores many themes and concepts that concern and interest me now, more than ever. It has been that I feel the need to analyze and evaluate my own work in a more in-depth manner, especially in the cases where I have concepts that, if wanted, have that further reading to accompany it. In this case, TBM was a long, drawn out experience that had a deep personal history attached to it. Nearly 10 years in the making.

Beginning life as a futuristic time traveller film, seeing a man retrofit his bike to be able to travel back to a time to see his lover once again, it felt flat and undefined, purely unoriginal. What germinated came from a how I was viewing the world at the time and how scarily, as time went on, I began to fear what I was reading, understanding and watching on a daily basis. We live in a wholly technological age, an over reliance on tech for our our everyday needs and addictions and as a sole way of guaranteed communication with the outside world. The weight I feel that comes from such vast amounts of information can be, at times, overwhelming and confusing. Transposing that to a world that was tearing itself apart at the seams and being told about every crease and crack would be terrifying. Told from the microcosm of a couple who, after a chance meeting, fall in the love and have to learn to deal with each others idiosyncrasies, give it a very human and personal perspective. When the world literally begins to come to an end, the swathe of information means nothing in the long run, when the many normal lives affected is unprecedented. But it’s OK; we always have the comment field on our social media account to show our disgrace at such things.

A modern love story set in a decaying world. A random encounter sees our idealistic protagonist Robert (Bob) Owen-Bell fall head over heels in love with the impulsive Tamara Downbottom. Robert, an everyday 9 to 5 worker, rides his bike everyday on the cold morning pathways and byways. Recently however, on journeys, he is gifted to visions of a potential future, hallucinations and foreshadowing but only, when he rides his bike. What becomes a game of persuasion, Robert looking to settle and Tamara a non-believer in commitment, ends in tragedy as they come to a compromise. Keeping the visions to himself, they become his only driving force later in life as a weary older man riding the same pathways and byways in a war-torn post- apocalyptic world, desperate to return to the land of those visions once again.

Robert, naive, driven, single-minded and simple, with little passions to keep his mind occupied, against Tamara, a fiery, mean-spirited, spontaneous, anxiety-filled time bomb who speaks her mind but lets the ills of the world affect her to the point of needing an escape. Taking inspiration from the facets of my own personality, transposing them to two characters who, in all likelihood should not get together, let alone, stay together, they learn they offer some thing the other person doesn’t. In the long run, that’s the eternal puzzle of how relationships work, where your own level of tolerance is balanced by the elation you feel in the presence of that someone else. So, it’s more complex than saying it’s a love story set amidst the backdrop of a world that’s at the brink of apocalypse and that our character Robert (the bicycle man) rides in desperation and in seeking his own quiet little patch of solace, aren’t we all, if we take our present time as an example, looking for the same thing?

THE BICYCLE MAN (TBM), as much as I have harked on about for the last year, was a true 'labor of love' in the purest sense of the term. It was an old project that was conceived as a youngster and developed as someone older, who'd gone through a bit more of life; understanding, analyzing and experiencing. TBM is a series of strong images that I'd easily explain their meaning during the course of filming and after the product was complete. I produced a series of 'shot of the day' posts to exemplify that, as a filmmaker, I was doing certain things, certain way for good reason. My only guess, as I have no confirmation of this, is the difference between an individual who just does it and one that cares about the work they're creating and how it translates to wider understanding; or is that perfectionism?

TBM was a massively important film for me to make, the same that this year (2017) has become the watershed moment for the music videos in that my style, or what interests me from a stylistic aspect as a director, in telling stories, the types of stories to tell and how they would be told, has gotten to a solid and confident point. TBM is the last film of a style of filmmaking where I seem to be figuring these things out; an apprehension that seems to have evaporated over time. I don't want to ever stop learning, I have so much more to learn but what I have now is a way of telling stories, how to portray those stories and perform that confidently and that is as good as I can ask for that this point in my learning. As some have mentioned to me recently, every piece of work I partake in is training for the next. Others have mentioned that TBM is one of my best and favourite works to I'm excited to begin working on the next.

As much as this is quite late into the films release, this is the prime moment for reflection on what was a very rewarding, if draining experience. I had learned more on undertaking this ambitious film that I've adapted into much shorter pieces to scale up later and in the final delivery of a film that didn't see the kind of Festival reaction I was genuinely hoping for, solidifying that maybe that model just doesn't work for me or garner extra views from exclusivity. There is much about the overall experience I'll take with me that doesn't need to be explained in words. What will not change is the amount of dedication and effort I put into the making of these films. Below, you will find the series of storyboards that were used during the course of the filming to keep me on the right track, including the film that became just below.