Casting Call

Dark Lantern Productions is looking to cast Frank, one of the lead roles in a 25-minute short comedic drama, filming in and around Oxford, across six days in spring 2014.

All roles are unpaid, but we will cover travel costs, you will be fed and watered on the shoot, and you will get a DVD copy of the final film.

Title: How to Die

Description: Diagnosed with a terminal illness, a young man attempts to learn the best way to face death and is drawn into a series of misadventures.

Frank: Uncomfortable in his own skin, Frank is a weary young man in his late twenties; dark hair, not unhandsome, on the thinner side of healthy, but fit and relatively strong. A wallflower and a terminally ill hypochondriac, he worries about dying. He worries about losing control. His life is a mess. What if he even messes up death?

If the project sounds interesting to you, please let us know and we can send you a copy of the script and/or further information. We plan to run auditions in Oxford within the next week.

Ben Franklyn and Vicky Troth
Dark Lantern Productions
darklanternproductions@gmail.com

Merry Christmas to you all!

A Merry Christmas

It’s that time of year again, when we look at the year gone by and the year coming. And what a year it’s been. We started the year full of expectation for our first feature. This was not to be the year, and through no fault of our own we can’t really say to much about it because if we do we find ourselves being harassed somewhat immorally. But needless to say it’s just acted as a motivation to get on with things and move the company forward.

It has been to a greater extent a very, very good year for us. We’ve added a large amount to our portfolio, both creatively and corporately. September saw us move into our new office in Oxford, which also coincided with a greater workload. We go into the new year looking at how we are going to expand the company further, which is a very good situation to be in.

Creatively we have also moved on, fortunately we are not a one trick pony and are developing a further four feature scripts, a documentary and two television shows. And I’m confident two of the films scripts are as strong if no stronger then “No Balls”. We are hopeful that we will be in a position to announce the production of at least three of these projects early in the new year. But as we have learnt over the years, we won’t be doing that until the ink has dried on the contracts.

We would also like to take this opportunity to thank a whole host of people, from our team, to those that have worked with us and to all of our clients. And then there are of course the people that support us with everything we do. It’s an amazing feeling to have so many people care about what we are doing here, and that in itself gives us plenty of drive to keep going.

So here is to 2014, it’s going to be one hell of a year.

Merry Christmas to one and all.

Chalky

The Flyka, A Great British Idea.

Kickstarter Project

Tony Holker a friend and colleague is currently raising funding through Kickstarter for his invention, an electric mobile dolly, which is known as the “Flyka”.

I first met Tony a few years ago when he had just finished making the first prototype Flyka. He took me for what I can only call an exhilarating spin around the lot at Elstree Studios. The first thing that stood out was the turn of speed, I was planning a shoot with a lot of running, and then I was hit by how little noise there was, so I could film the running and the dialogue, in one; with my camera operator, stepping on and off.

I’ve since tested the Flyka on a number of occasions, and each time it’s got better and better. It’s become faster, more versatile and easier to set up. Flyka adds real production value. If you are a low budget film maker, these are the things that can make a real difference.

I spoke to Tony about the Flyka and the campaign to get this great piece of kit into production:

CSF. Who is Tony Holker?

TH. I would describe myself as a pseudo philistine, with a creative mind & practical hands.

CSF. What can you tell us about how you came about the Flyka concept?

TH. I quite literally fell upon the idea on building an electrically powered dolly for the filming industry when I landed myself in a hospital bed for two years with a broken leg.

CSF. Ouch.

TH. Despite the injures, pain, inability to work as a cameraman, I set about building a prototype to test my filming platforms.

CSF. Tell me more about them?

TH. They work amazingly well; offer any film-maker much more versatility to create very unusual shots & record sound, because of their silent motors.

CSF. So they are out there being used at the moment?

TH. We hire our dollies out now to high end productions, but I need interested parties to look at my Kickstarter pitch, see just what my dollies can do & hopefully throw in a few quid to help me make this five years on development really come true.

CSF. I wish you the best of luck with it, anything else you can tell us to get the money rolling in for you?

TH. I was very lucky to not have my leg amputated, so i want to turn this horror story into a real success, so please be a part of it & tell as many people as you know.

CSF. Thanks Tony, as an advocate of the Flyker, I’ll have no problem of letting people know about it.

If you are interested in knowing more about the Flyker and it’s Kickstarter campaign then please click the link below. It would be great if they raise enough money to get this project rolling to its fullest potential. I’d personally like to see it going out to the states, the opposite way to most equipment.

Check out the Flyka Kickstarter project here: