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.

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)

Writers' Block Turns Into Film

The opening scene of About The Girl, shot in late September

at the mouth of Duchesnay Creek.

Writers' Block Turns Into Film

DAWN CLARKE
Community Voices
North Bay Nugget


Mike Humble turned writers' block into an award-winning screenplay ... About The Girl.

He admits he was writing a novel when he came to a gap in the story.

He put the novel on hold and turned his attention to a writing the screenplay, a first film for Somerset Productions.

"I've since finished the novel, but I thought making a film would be different," he said. "It was different; it was a whole different challenge. I thought having others involved would give me accountability to finish it."

So he turned to his friend Patrick Gilbert.

Mike and Patrick started Somerset Productions about eight years ago when they were working on a comic book.

"It didn't go anyhwere, but we have a single copy of a cool comic book, which is kind of fun to have."

Mike admits About The Girl was initially an exercise to see if they could make a film.

The duo brought in their friend Kevin Hoffman and recruited a lot of other friends to do sound, acting, and background. But still, there were problems and the crew quickly experienced its first excercise in creative problem solving.

They had been filming under a bridge on Main Street West.  the weather was bad and the wind continued to blow all day.

It wasn't until they started looking at the footage that they realized that the microphone cord had banged against a post for the duration of the shoot.

Patrick Gilbert, Ed Regan, and Kevin Hoffman prepare to film

a scene at the parking garage in downtown North Bay.

"We re-recorded all the audio inside and synced the actual script to what we were doing on screen and then built in actual layers of ambient noise like cars passing by, busses in the distance, and a little bit of rain," Mike said. "It was the first big challenge we had to overcome."

Because most of the cast and crew had day jobs and families, scheduling became an issue.

Filming started in September when the trees were green, but by the time it was finished the trees were bare and three inches of snow fell the night before the final day of shooting.

the entire length of King's Wharf had to be shovelled so the scene could be shot.

"It was a testament to our commitment to get our scene," said Mike.

There was one more step before About The Girl would be ready.  Mike sent it to a friend in New Liskeard.

"He wrote the music for it and it made the world of difference," he said. "You tend to think of film as a visual media, but you realize very quickly sound is just as important as what is on the screen."

Everyone was excited about the final product and they realized it was much different than they had anticipated. They decided to tak a chance and submit it to film festivals.

"We won best cinematography at the Northern Ontario Film and Music Awards," he said. "we were up against an Imax film about the Great Lakes and the rest were all heavily granted with government and BRAVO money.  It inspired us to keep working at it."

That was just the beginning for Somerset Productions. The follow up film was The Lake, which proved to be a bit more ambitious than its predecessor.

"We had a whole scene set in the 50s which presented a series of unique challenges," said Mike. "We went to Canadian tire on a Tuesday and recruited some of the vintage cars and we rented a few vintage bathing suits from a costume house in Toronto."

Bob Clout agreed to be aprt of the movie, and Mike admits he had the local veteran actor in mind when he wrote the script.

The crew set up a shot on the last day of shooting About The

Girl. From left, Kevin Hoffman, Ed Regan, Jeremy Cormier,

Mike Howard, and Michael Humble

"Kevin approached him with the script and he liked it," said Mike. "This put pressure on us. We had actual talent. With the first productio, we would rehearse the day before, or when we were setting up."

This was not the case with Bob who insisted on several weeks of rehearsal.

"The Lake is a simple story that I wrote in high school," said Mike. "It is based on a pretty naieve adolescent view on lov. I had to change quite a bit of it. Hence the difference between a story that works in print and one that works on screen."

Again, everyone was proud of the finished product and again it won the best cinematography award in Sudbury and the best international short at the Film North International Film Festival in Huntsville.

Next came the movie Missing and Mike, who wrote, produced, directed, and acted in it, said they surprised themselves.

"Pat did most of the shooting and used different angles and editing techniques," he said.  "Kevin edited and made some interesting choices as far as the music was concerned. It was a collaboration between the three of us."

Right now, Mike is developing a mockumentary, which he explained is a documentary with some not-so-real elements.

It's about a sasquatch creature that lives in the wilderness around Cobalt that he heard about when he worked as a journalist for the Temiskaming Speaker.

"I thought it would make a great film about friends going in search of Old Yellow Top," he said. "I have a passion for storytelling and when I first heard the story I was pretty sure it was just some of the locals pulling my leg as the new guy in town. But I was surprised when I actually found news stories about it."

While Mike hopes that Somerset Productions will be able to continue making movies, he admits they first have to figure out how to make it economically possible.

"It would be awesome to achieve some sort of sustainability."

Prolific Friday = Post # 3

An addendum...

In this era of media proliferation where essentially any piece of media is available through a few key strokes, whether it be through legitimate channels or ill gotten gains, how is a no-budget film outfit supposed to recoup the costs of there (not actually) no budget productions?

I put this out there for you the audience: Would there be an interest in purchasing our...cough... humble productions on shiny DVD format for a nominal fee? We would like to be able to maintain our business and continue producing high quality tidbits of entertainment on your behalf. Would you be willing to support this endeavor?

I hope to see the comment boards erupt in a flow of positive support, otherwise we will just keep plodding on at one film a year (when I know we could be so much more productive). Thoughts, support and hugs encouraged as always...

Reason #10,043,604 for Vimeo

So... I've posted links to our first film, About The Girl, in the past so that everyone has a chance to check it out. This evening, I retooled the Internets in the favour of our humble (sorry) production company and we now have our very own page on Vimeo. It currently features... wait for it... About The Girl! Cool, no? Rest assured, we will be updating it soon with additional fun and films but for now it is a good start.

As an aside, I would like to mention that while I have always been a great online spectator, I am actually starting to feel like a participant now. For those who may not be aware, Somerset Productions, and through that yours truly, can now be found at:

Vimeo Home Page
Facebook (Personal Profile)
Facebook (Somerset Productions Group)
Twitter (Mostly Somerset, via me)
About The Girl on Vimeo

Part of this new digital life, especially through Facebook, means a greater ease of communication. In the case of Twitter, it also means accessibility, in particular to people who I have always admired like Roger Ebert...

Check out my latest Tweet:


Technology can be a very helpful tool. Through it, I have now been able to reach out to a person who shares his love and appreciation of film with the world (and has inspired my own), to share a link to a film I might not otherwise have made. That's pretty cool no matter how you look at it. I hope he watches it, and I hope to send him more in the future. It's not much, but it is the best way I can think of to thank him for what he has done for the film industry, film makers, and amateur dreamers like myself over the years.

Thanks for everything Roger!

Clearing Up Confusion of "Coat Tail" Conundrum

I've always assumed that Somerset Productions is a model based around teamwork. We all work together to achieve our film making goals. With About The Girl in particular, it was extremely difficult to distinguish between people's specific duties and roles: there were actors, and producers, and directors, and shooters, but there was also an overlap to everything we did. Scan through the credits and you will quickly see the number of repeated names throughout. Any 'official' titles have been more token assignments to identify the perceived roles of film.

I've been joking about our nominations yesterday - about riding coat tails, or being the handsome face that gets our cinematography noticed, or about sending condolences to me as the one person not nominated. A few people have now mentioned that they were sorry to hear I was shut out.

The thing is, in my mind, I wasn't. Our movie is nominated for another pair of awards and for that I am grateful. It is a great accomplishment and I really do see it as the success of our team being acknowledged. We are in this together and while I definitely surround myself with talented people, it is a conscious choice. I want to create the best possible versions of my stories and Kevin and Pat are the guys I turn to most often to make that happen. Ed was a part of that equation to while we were still working together.

With these nominations, you can all rest assured that I am as excited for our team as I would be if I was nominated myself... That is the way you need to be in the world of no-budget film making. You are part of a team and part of a process that is about collaboration, team work, and shared success.

I'm proud to be part of this team and I am hoping that we continue to grow, develop and succeed with our productions. At the end of the day, we do it for the thrill and the art. Don't get me wrong, awards are nice, but they are nice because they reinforce the fact that we are doing what we set out to do in the first place. More to the point, we are doing it well and that's the best reward...

Welcome to Somerset...

Greetings Voracious Fandom,

Yes, like our embracing of film as a medium for creative expression, so too has it taken us a while to embrace the inherent virtues of blogdom. We may be slow to adapt, and slower still to figure out what it is we are doing, but we are here and we hope to maintain this presence for your sake (or at the very least our own amusement). You are our dedicated fandom (hi mum, hello dad) and it is the least we could do for you.

We've had a great run so far, from finishing a whole issue of The Gloaming (in full colour at that!) to our first handful of short films being produced shipped and somehow accepted to a handful of fairly prestigious festivals. Our first filmed effort About The Girl, managed to surpass its nerve-jangled origins to win a handful of nominations, recognitions and even a couple of awards. We were also approached by the producers of a program on a major Canadian broadcast network (cough, The Border, cough, cough) to feature our program in the background of theirs. Not bad for a first attempt.

Shooting The Lake...in the lake
Zachary Govis, Patrick Gilbert, Kevin Hoffman, and Sam Lafond

Our most recent project started out smaller and simpler than About The Girl, a down and dirty shoot that was meant to be over in day, or maybe two if the pull focus wasn't clicking. Of course, good intentions for a speedy shoot always end up in flashback scenes set in the '50s. Not so fast and dirty after all, but there is good news. After some behind-the-scenes reshuffling, we completed The Lake, and the end result is a rather beautiful testament to the enduring power of love - or was it an enduring testament to a crotchety old man (beautifully assayed by Mr. Bob Clout) and the aloof youth he torments for sport? Either way, we are all very proud of our efforts with The Lake and were thrilled when we were notified we had once again been accepted into the annual National Screen Institute of Canada Online Film Festival.

We should be featured in early February so make sure you check back. I'll post the link when it becomes official. Until then, thanks for tuning in, thanks for the support, and thanks for making sure to come back often for more scintillating insights from Somerset Productions! Up next: a brief behind-the-scenes history of our first production About The Girl. I know, it's exciting!