Kevin Satizabal - Composer

We have now teamed up with a second year student at the Birmingham Conservatoire to compose an original score for our short film.

Kevin Satizabal is originally from Colombia and has been blind from birth.

He became interested in composing for film about 4 years ago when he got involved in a project with the London Symphony Orchestra. The purpose of the project was to demonstrate that blind and visually impaired composers can write music for film as well as their sighted colleagues.

He aims to be as versatile as possible and is open to try writing any style of music but classical music composition is his forte.

Being South American, he is also a great fan of Salsa Cumbia and other styles of Latin American music, and often uses this music to influence his other compositions.

We’re very excited to have Kevin on board and are very much looking forward to seeing what he comes up with (after our very vague requirements!)

Photographer Shaun Bransgrove

During the shooting of Trainer, we are also collaborating with the photographer Shaun Bransgrove. Shaun is a keen photographer,with this being his passion during his degree of Visual Communications at Birmingham’s Institute of Art and Design.

Working with Shaun gives us the opportunity to expand our final year project to work alongside fellow students within the creative industry and the West Midlands area. The photographs taken will be used for all of our packaging for Trainer, and can be used to expand Shaun’s portfolio, being able to showcase his talent to the industry.

We wanted to work with Shaun as we feel his style of photography mirrors our filming style, and we are particularly interested in his exploration of colour within his images.

In the future Shaun hopes to establish himself as a working photographer in many aspects such as art photography. His interests within the field are fine art, documentary, landscape, portraiture and reportage. Currently he enjoys shooting colour within a fine art context, recently completing a project titled ‘Unseen Aesthetics’.

Shaun sees his inspirations as: William Eggleston, Peter Fraser, Joel Meyerowitz, Stephen Shore; all of which are pioneers in colour photography.

Away from photography Shaun’s interests lie within film, particularly the works of David Lynch. And by working with Mucky Duck Media he hopes to gain experience of working alongside others in a creative setting and gaining confidence of working in a film environment.

Some examples of Shaun’s work:

More examples can be seen at http://www.shaunbransgrove.co.uk

Script Event: Saturday 6th February 2010

So after weeks of preparation our script event was finally here! On Saturday 6^th February 2010, the Mucky Duck Media team, Trinket Creative and Script invited scriptwriters to the Birmingham City University, City North campus for a day of workshops and pitches!

The day started well, with all of our invited scriptwriters turning up and getting to know one another. We hired and experienced facilitator, Arzhang Pezhman, for the day and with his professional help we were able to offer the scriptwriters a chance to develop their script, characters and concepts.

The morning consisted of a workshop where the scriptwriters completed tasks to develop their characters, structure short films and how to pitch an idea coherently and concisely. Throughout the workshop the scriptwriters offered each other feedback and engaged with one another to help develop their own script.

During the lunch break we were able to have a more detailed chat with each person and find out what they felt were the constructive elements of the day. We received a lot of positive feedback regarding the way in which the day was structured and organised. The scriptwriters especially liked Arzhangs technique of helping them to develop their script.

The afternoon brought us to the pitches.

Each scriptwriter pitched their idea to a panel of professionals offering constructive criticism, the panel consisted of Arzhang Pezhman (facilitator for the day), Catherine Edwards (Script) and Andy Conway (professional scriptwriter/ script editor), from Mucky Duck Media, Alex Carruthers (Producer) and Adam Tyers (Director), offered feedback in terms of our brief and how well we received their idea.

All the Mucky Duck Team feels this was the most beneficial and enjoyable part of the day, for both the scriptwriters and us. We were able to see how well they could communicate and sell their idea to us, whilst sensing their personalities and compatibility to working with us. All the members of the Mucky Duck team walked away from the event buzzing with ideas for each script, and we all sat down to discuss our favourites.

We all agreed and believed that scriptwriter Helen Kelly had provided us with an interesting, complex script that also tackles issues surrounding Birmingham. Trainer is a short film based around a young female swimmer and her older male swimming instructor, and the relationship they have. She has a teenage infatuation, he sees her as a working machine, a beautiful object but still a young innocent girl. Based in Longbridge, Trainer also highlights the economic downfall of the area once the Rover factory was shut down.

Siobhan Regan and Ash James documented the whole day and the video is coming soon!

On behalf of the Mucky Duck Media team and Trinket Creative, we would like to thank all the scriptwriters for their enthusiasm and input into the day. They really did make it a hard decision for us to choose our final script.

Script Editor

Andy Conway

http://www.andyconway.net/

We have been lucky enough to be affiliated with Andy Conway during our final year project, after contacting Andy he has agreed to act as script editor.

Andy is a screenwriter, with a feature length film and two drama series under his belt. He also edits the Screenwriters Network bulletin for the website Shooting People. which is an independent film makers network.

Andy will be a valuable tool in ensuring our script is as good as it can possibly be for the screen, his professional opinion and expertise will aid us in an area where we are somewhat lacking in knowledge and expertise. Alex Carruthers (producer) and Adam Tyers (Director) will have a very close relationship with Andy, helping one another to ensure the end script is one that the Mucky Duck Media Team can film in a professional and stylised way.

Script competition

This was the brief sent out to scriptwriters on 'Scripts' mailing list.

We wanted to keep it vague to ensure a variety of scripts and ideas. We also weren't sure exactly what genre or style we wanted so were very open to any ideas and suggestions:

Happy New Year from Script in a very snowy Brum.

We are about to launch an exciting programme of events over the coming months in partnership with Screen WM. This will include workshops and masterclasses on:

Genre

Writing for Animation

Writing Sitcom

Developing Ideas for TV Drama

Watch this space for further details.

In the meantime, there is an exciting opportunity for emerging screenwriters in the West Midlands. In particular, if you have attended any of Script's Introduction to Screenwriting courses over the last few years, this is a chance to progress to the next stage and see your screenplays produced. I'll hand over to Muckyduckmedia:

Muckyduckmedia is a fledgling independent television company based in Birmingham and is made up of five very enthusiastic and hard working third year media students from Birmingham City University. Meeting through our degree and building a strong working relationship we are now working on our final project. We have decided to produce a short film of around 10 - 15 minutes long and need a script writer to work with to produce an original and unique piece.

We want to collaborate with a West Midlands based script writer with the aim of working together to create a drama that will encapsulate modern society and the essence of Birmingham through locations, themes and characters. Birmingham is a great place and brilliant location and we're looking for a story that will really capture and celebrate this city, of which is largely under represented in the television industry.

In terms of the actual story and style that's up to you! What we're looking for is simply a great story with detailed and interesting characters that we can really develop and bring to life on screen. We would love the chance to explore the parts of Birmingham that aren't often seen which could be inspiration for your work, for example the canals, high rises, railways, industrial areas and beautiful architecture. We want a story that can really explore human kind in way that either reveals a part of society not yet explored or tells us more about relationships and people that the audience can relate to. These are just guidelines however and we're very open to any ideas you may have and relish a challenge so feel free to be experimental with you're ideas and themes if you wish.

This project will not only provide a chance to see your idea realised but also has at least two screening events in Birmingham. We are working with a new PR company in Birmingham who are relaunching an online hub for people either trying to break into the media industry or who want to actively produce their own work by working with others in collaborations. This short film will be screened at the event as an example of the kind of work that could be produced through this on line hub. The film will also be screened at our end of year show. Both these events will have professionals in the region attending, providing a great opportunity to network and a chance to discuss your work.

We very much look forward to hearing your ideas!

To enter: Please send the following to Script, 107 The Custard Factory, Gibb Street, Birmingham, B9 4AA:

an outline of your idea (no longer than 1 side of A4)

up to five pages from the screenplay

cover sheet with your name, address, telephone number, email address, date of birth

writers' CV

The deadline for submissions is 5pm on Friday 29th January 2010

Up to 6 writers will be invited to a Writer's Lab to be held on Saturday 6th February to workshop ideas and to make the final selection.

Script

For our short film our first hurdle is to find a script to work from. We wanted to use a local script writer to truly create a chance to celebrate Birmingham talent.

Script, www.scriptonline.co.uk -

is a Birmingham based charity that develops dramatic writers in the region with workshops and advice.

When first looking for a script one of the first organisations we contacted was Script. After a very successful meeting with Catherine Edwards, who runs the charity, we were very happy to accept their help.

We wanted to get an original script based around the theme of Birmingham around 10 – 15 minutes so when Catherine suggested an online competition combined with an event we were very excited.

We decided on an online competition sent out to all of Catherine’s script mailing lists requesting treatments and sample pages of a script, with the invitation to come along to an event to develop their ideas. This way we could meet all the scriptwriters and get the best script possible from the day while also offering the scriptwriters not selected a chance to network and improve their own ideas for future projects.

We discussed structure and decided on a few workshops in the day with the scriptwriters pitching their ideas to us at the end for feedback and to help us make a selection.

This was a great opportunity to develop our links with organisations and professionals in the region and also to network with writers while providing a chance for us both to gain something from the event and collaborate with local writers.