Somerset News: September 2012

SOMERSET NEWS: SEPTEMBER 2012

The Huntsville Film North International Film Festival came to a close on September 22, and I was honoured to be in attendance on the closing day to present our short film "Missing".  For those of you who have been fortunate enough to attend the festival in the past, or even this year, it really is a well-organized and artist friendly event.

We were there for the first annual event in 2010, and were fortunate to take home the antler (the trophy bestowed upon winners) for our short film "The Lake" at that time.  This year, "Missing" did not afford us a repeat victory, but I was thrilled to see the award go to Lewis Hodgson for his film "Morning Zombies" - a film that featured cinematography by Patrick Gilbert, and a starring turn by none other than Kevin Hoffman as the lead zombie (both of whom contributed to "Missing" as well).  Congratulations again to all involved!

The Film North festival is one of my favorite to attend.  The organizers are extremely accommodating and hospitable, and it truly does provide an excellent opportunity to meet and engage with other film makers, both the professional and established, and the similarly situated up and comers.

The post-screening Q&A session featuring (from left to right):

Myself, Lifetime Achievement Award Winner Sheila McCarthy,

17-year-old Director Ben Brook, and Ken Cunningham.

Following our screening, was a Q&A session with the attending film makers, 17-year-old Ben Brook, with "Ostrichsized", and animator Ken Cunningham, with "Zen and the Art of Distraction" (Jim Calarco's "One Wish" also screened, but unfortunately he had to miss the Q&A).  Also in attendance was Lifetime Achievement Award Winner (and incredibly accomplished Canadian performer) Sheila McCarthy, whose outstanding breakthrough performance in "I've Heard The Mermaids Singing" screened during our showcase.  It's always nice to feel like part of the film community (even though I referred to myself as a "hobbyist" during the testimonial video I shot).

I am a film maker, and while I might have a hard time admitting it every now and then, it is something that I am most definitely proud of: when our first film won a cinematography award against an Imax movie; when we won our first International award; and every time our work is accepted and acknowledged by people of discriminating taste - every one of those moments justifies my hobby and makes it worth the crazy amounts of effort that we put in to each production.

So with all the excitement, positive feedback, and networking of the Film North festival, what could possibly be next?

Planning in progress for the weekend shoot.

Up next on the agenda, is a new shoot this weekend on a project called "How To Save A Life".  I wanted to shoot this about a year ago, but I am glad that plans fell through (and then again in the Spring, and the Summer) because we are back to the right time of year for this particular piece.

It's going to be an ambitious shoot, and a quick one with any luck, but I have been thinking about it all week and it is shaping into a solid piece - if the weather holds out.

I'll have an update ready sometime next week.

Festival Bound with "Missing"

The One-Sheet for "Missing"

I am excited to announce that our latest short film "Missing" has been selected as an official entry at the 2012 Film North International Film Festival in Huntsville, Ontario.  This is the third year for the festival, and we were selected out of over 100 submissions as one of 42 films that will be screened over the three festival that will take place September 20 to 22, 2012.

Back in 2010, we were fortunate to be a part of the innagural festival, where "The Lake" won the award for Best International Short.  I had some family and friends there when I presented the movie and Patrick Gilbert joined me later in the day for the awards ceremony and after-party.  It really is an amazing, festival and after the great time and the great hospitality we received at the 2010 festival, I am really looking forward to being back in Huntsville, and a part of Film North's truly unique celebration of cinema.

Film making is a laborious process, one filled with commitment and passion, but it is an awarding one as well.  For me, the true joy of film making is the ability to share my storiies in a unique fashion with a broader audience.  Being in a darkened theatre and seeing our work on a big screen, with an audience full of people, is a truly rewarding experience.  I have yet to see "Missing" with an audience, but I have seen "The Lake" at festivals in North Bay, Sudbury, and Huntsville.  Seeing the reactions of the audience as the story unfolds is an electrifying experience, especially when you are able to see how complete strangers react to our work.  It is one thing to see family and friends react but let's face it, for better or for worse they tend to be a little biased.

 Accepting the Best International Short Award in 2010.

One of the great things about this year's festival, is that there will be an impressive amount of North Bay talent represented.  I will be there to represent "Missing" of course, but there are also a pair of other films in the competition with North Bay connections, both of which Kevin Hoffman worked on:  Jim Calarco's "One Wish", and Lewis Hodgson's "Morning Zomibies" (which Patrick Gilbert also worked on). 

It's going to be a great time for sure, and it is nice knowing that there will be three very different, unique and dinstinct films screening at the festival that will showcase the amazing amount of talent that Northern Ontario, and North Bay in particular have to offer.

I love the festival expereience.  The opportunity that a festival like Film North presents, especially the ability to discuss the process of telling stories on film, is truly unique.

I am a huge lover of cinema, and as much as it has always been a dream of mine to be a bigger part of the industry, it is a great feeling knowing that festival juries approve enough of my work to present my projects to a wider audience.  It is also cool having my own quiet little corner on IMDB (the Internet Movie Database) where I have credits as an Actor, Producer, Director, and most importantly, a Writer.

I look forward to the day where I have the resources and finances to do this full time, and to be a fixture on the global film festival circuit, but for now, I am thrilled that my work will once again be presented to an audience of unknowns.  And with any luck, a few friends, family, and supporters.  I hope to see you all there.

The festival runs from September 20 to 22, 2012.  No official screening dates are available at the moment, but when they are, I will let you know...

Thanks again for all the support! 

Welcome Back to... Somerset

It has been a long time since I have posted anything here, and I apologize for the absence.

Of course, the usual excuses apply:  I've been busy with the job; I've been busy moving; I've been busy with the other job(s); I've been busy trying to find time to cram everything into a 24-hour-day, and trying to cram 7 of those into each week, and 52 of those into the year.

In the end, so many of the things I view as important have fallen by the wayside.  I feel like it has been ages since I have seen many of my friends; since I have spent a day engulfed in a good book; and especially since I have made a new film...

North Bay Nipissing Life Profile First Page

I have been interviewed about my films though, and it was a pretty big honor to be included in a 5-page spread about the work that I do "for fun".  I was interviewed by Margaret Parker and photographed by Shawn Moreton for this article and their incredible talents have brought a great deal of exposure to my work, and the close partnership I still enjoy with Patrick Gilbert and Kevin Hoffman.  If you haven't yet, you can read the article, "Humble's Gift", right here, where you might discover a little known fact:  I am a self-professed "Idea Guy".


It was a flattering (and in all honesty, somewhat embarrassing) profile, but mostly, it was a reminder that I need to make sure I live up to the promise of the guy in the article: the guy who is very much me, albeit a slightly heightened version of me who is not encumbered by the many distractions and obligations that are part of this life.

I have been reinvigorated though to make a stronger effort to focus on what has always been one of the most important things in my life:  Stories.

Working for The Nugget has helped with that, but it extends into all corners of my life.  I am actively plotting multiple projects, everything from a cookbook and the coffee table book spin off of the "Story-A-Day" component of this blog that first put my words out on a global scale,to additional short and feature length films and the publication of my first novel "I Land".

I am quite fortunate to have many co-conspirators in my artistic endeavors and the list of potential partners in crime continues to grow with each new idea, concept, and flight of fancy that flutters through my mind.

It has been a long time since I have posted anything on this blog, but I will do my best to keep everyone up to date as far as the progress of the various projects and concoctions that I am constantly shuffling, adjusting and constantly putting back into context.  That being said, there is definitely more to come.

Thanks for tuning back in!

    - Michael Humble
      (self-professed idea guy)

What's The Hold Up?

Mr. Gilbert and I are working on a few little surprises. Hopefully we will be able to fill the Somerset Productions productive emptiness that has been affecting us for the past few months...


Will be checking in soon with a status update.

One Of Us Has Been Productive

As much as our overall efforts have been a little stalled of late, Pat has still managed to show me up (as if the awards and accolades aren't enough) by maintaining his own high standards of productivity and creativity. While he insists he has just been messing around, he has also posted a fun little clip over on his Blog (what I like to think of as the brother blog to this one). He has been messing around a bit with his new 7D, and yesterday he played around a bit with After Effects to produce a fun little clip called Freeze. Head on over there to check it out and make sure you tell him how awesome he is while you are over there.

http://patrickgilbert.blogspot.com/2010/06/freeze.html

It's definitely worth checking out and has me excited about our future projects (the ones in development, the ones ready to go, and especially the ones still in my head).

Catching UP

So, I've been pretty much way behind on my movie watching lately. I managed to see Iron Man 2 in the theatre and was pleased with the result, but that was my first cinema experience since probably way back when I went to see The Hurt Locker at the North Bay Film Club. I've caught a few movies at home, but it seemed like there was a long list of films out there that I have been dying to see and for whatever reason, never quite able to get around to.

Last night for example, I finally watched Up and while it was long overdue, it was also definitely worth the wait. There is something about Pixar films that puts them a step above just about everything else out there. It is a rare occassion that I will find myself smiling through an entire movie, but last night, aside from the few times I actually cried instead, I found myself doing just that. The world is a better place for having Pixar in it.

I also caught Sherlock Holmes the other day, part of my unofficial catching up with Robert Downey Junior month I guess. It was a fun movie as well and I was most impressed with the period detail that achieved with Victorian London. Back when Pat and I were first working on The Gloaming, he wanted some reference ideas for his portrayal of Bristol. I provided him with some photos I had taken, but Bristol today is different than the Bristol of our story where they were just setting out to build the Clifton Suspension Bridge. I wound up lending him From Hell, and wile it did the trick, there is definitely a more fitting detail in Sherlock Holmes. Perhaps this is a sign that we should get started on the second volume of The Gloaming?

I can't recommend Up enough and I am happy to be easing myself back into film spectatorship as well as production. It sort of goes without saying that you can't have one without the other. Anyway, I've got a few others on the docket for the next few days and am particularly looking forward to Sin Nombre. I'll let you know how it goes.

And as always, check back soon for more news. I think something might be going down tomorrow. I just have to check with my partner in crime. It seems like a good idea though, although it always does seem like a good idea! See you soon...

A Quick IMDB Update

Just a quick update to let you know that our IMDB page for The Lake is now more fully fleshed out. Just a few things to add from our end, and a couple to subtract, but it is looking good so far. Check it out over at: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1647394/

Of course, there is the small issue of double Patrick Gilberts and the wrong Ed Regan (ours, I'm pretty sure, did not work on Iron Man).

I'll be back soon with more exciting news!

The Future of Film Making?

I first heard about this a little over a month ago, but last night, the season finale of House aired...and it was shot entirely on a digital SLR camera - the Canon 5D Mark II. It's almost hard to fathom, but a high profile, internationally recognized television show has actually accomplished something that would have been unimaginable even a year ago. As recently as ten years ago, digital cameras were still new and gimmicky, big clunky boxes with 0.75" view screens that would capture your memories in 1.2 megapixel glory and cost you almost $1,000 to purchase. My first digital camera was a sleek little Casio Exilim that shot at 3.2 megapixels and cost me almost $700. I am now onto my fifth consumer grade digital camera in an era where you can find a 14 megapixel camera for under $100.

The thing that excites me most about this episode of House (find more details on the equipment, lenses, memory, etc. here) is that Pat recently picked up the Canon EOS 7D, a sister camera that shares many of the same capabilities of the 5D (including stunning HD video). We are looking forward to playing around with it in the very near future and have hatched a series of shorts to play around with before we settle into our next "official" production. We are in fact, hoping to shoot something this week, so there should be something new for you to see before too long.

Anyway, it's a pretty exciting development in our world of no-budget film making, and one that I am looking forward to diving into head first in the very near future. In the meantime, here is a preview to last night's Season Six finale of House. It was a breath taking accomplishment and I found myself truly appreciating a show that I have always passively enjoyed. Well done to everyone on the House team.

Sneak Peak - House Season 6 Finale

NOMFA 2010: Part One - The Way There

I left North Bay a little later than planned, my belly churning with a stew of coffee, sleeplessness and half hatched chrysalises. The Lake was nominated for editing (Kevin Hoffman) and cinematography (Patrick Gilbert and Ed Regan) at the Northern Ontario Music and Film Awards and Pat had left for Sudbury the night before to present our film to a packed house, indulge in the musical showcase, and tie one on in a fury of networking. It was my job to get Jaymee and Nicole there in one piece, and join Pat in the remainder of the day’s activities.

By the time we passed through the not-as-moon-like-as-it-used-to-be dark rocked wilderness and into Sudbury, I had already heard about the warm reception The Lake received the night before; how I could rest assured that my mug looked “pretty good” on a 50 foot screen; how Thunder Bay wanted our film for their festival; and how we didn’t have a chance against the wealth of talent at the year’s event.

For two weeks I had been reminding Pat that our surprise win the year before (in a category that included an IMAX film) might be a sign that we did have a chance – even though we were definitely the untrained amateurs of the ball...

We arrived at the Comfort Inn and quickly chauffeured the ladies out to the mall before speeding back to the hotel for the final information seminar that we had planned to attend. It was a fairly full house and we sheepishly snuck in late and slid ourselves into a row of seats at the back of the room to listen to the CEO of the NOHFC and a pair of representatives from the Ontario Arts Council tell us about available funding. Bill Plumstead was also there, but the room was mostly filled with familiar (but not really at all familiar) faces. When the talks concluded, we moved to the lobby for some networking that resulted in a failed attempt by Pat to introduce himself to Paul Stephens, one of the producers of Oliver Sherman (a film starring Garret Dillahunt, Molly Parker and Donal Logue that Pat had done some art design on), and a successful attempt to introduce myself to Mark Palumbo (after two years).

We decided to head out once we realized that time was slowly slipping by and it would be time for the award ceremony before we knew it. That and the girls were hungry so we picked them up and went for dinner at Montana’s (where we had a brief chat with my parents who had come to see the awards again). Once the girls had been successfully sequestered in the hotel room, Pat and I took a quick jaunt back across town to grab some beer, then rushed back to the hotel.

We changed quickly, chugged a drink, and made it downstairs in time to catch the shuttle over to the university where the awards ceremony would be held in the Great Hall... It was show time and things were about to kick into overtime.

Make sure you come back tomorrow for the conclusion of our thrilling 2010 NOMFA Adventure!

Speculative Fiction

I've always loved the idea of playing around with conventions. With a show like Firefly, and later the movie Serenity, the twist was that it was a space Western. Memorable characters went a long way towards making the show(s) so memorable to me, but a great deal of the charm lay in the meshing of two familiar tropes. It wasn't the first time something like this was done, particularly the space cowboys theme, but it is a good example of freshening up genres that have been reduced to familiar, tired cliches.

I've been trying to figure out a twist on this that we could shoot, a weird meshing of genres that could be produced on no-budget. It's tricky, especially when one of the genres would usually be something that would involve special effects, an area we have no knowledge in and are regrettably unprepared to approach. So what if we took a genre stereotype and inserted him into a regular story set in a regular world?

Say a vicious gunslinger with a twist who is quick on the draw, loves a good drink, and is always ready for a tumble with women of ill virtue. A character who was...

Photo by: Patrick Gilbert

I think that could actually work. This might be my first meshing of molds, but at the very least, it's definitely another idea to pollute my mind...

Coming Attraction: The Lake on NSI!

Hello again, I had mentioned in an earlier post that our latest project, The Lake, had been accepted into the National Screen Institute of Canada's Online Film Festival. We now have our very own section over there, under the "Coming Soon" banner and if you are interested, you can get a little sneak peek of what is to come. When I spoke with the festival coordinators, they told me that we should be featured in the festival in early February, around the 8th if I'm not mistaken. Our "Coming Soon" page can be found at the NSI website now though.

As an added bonus, once the film goes live, the link to watch it there will too so make sure you bookmark that space now. For any overseas, or beyond-the-borders-of-Canada viewers, I'm afraid the site is only open to Canadians.

We are working on some exciting developments behind the scenes right now though and we hope that these new developments will allow us to make some of our past projects available on a more global scale in the near future. We need to wait out some of these festival runs first though. These festivals work very hard to develop exciting programming and we want to ensure that we aren't stepping on the generous toes of those who select our work to feature in their festivals. Showing a film that can be seen on YouTube isn't exactly a red carpet affair (unless you happen to have red carpets where you do your YouTube surfing).

Anyway, bookmark that page and hopefully in early February, you will be able to see how our hard work paid off on this latest project...

Our hard work paying off
Sam Lafond and Patrick Gilbert