So again, a pledge of increased prolific writing dishonored. But hey it's been the busiest time of year for me as I've just finished this year's stint of working the Winchester Film Festival.
There's lots of boring stuff I could ramble on about like transcoding videos and the like. Fortunately that's about as boring to write as it is to read so I'll skip on to the pretty pictures:
Winchester Cathedral - I Confess/Le Confessional
One of the first showings we did was at Winchester Cathedral known for among other things being a location for The Da Vinci Code. More fascinating perhaps is that at in the 19th century the whole building was sinking into ground and a deep sea diver had to swim under in pitch blackness to reinforce it's foundations (more
here if you're interested).
We we're showing a double bill in the cathedral of Hitchcock's 'I confess' and 'le confessional'. As the latter was a rather rare import and required switching regions on the day nobody had seen it yet. Thankfully despite being a little at odds with the preceding film (two stripclub scenes, drug abuse, profanities, suicides and male rentboys in questionable saunas) we had no complaints.
Chesil Tunnel - The Third Man
A few days later we were set up in Chesil Tunnel. This is a large abandoned railway tunnel running under st. catherines hill. It's been out of use since the 60s and is rather tragically filled with thousands upon thousands of redundant council bins.
After creating some space we set up a good hundred meters into the tunnel (that screen you see is over 4 meters wide) and ran some festoon down so people could see enough to walk but without bringing to much attention to debris. The chilling, dripping brick tunnel was perfect for that evening's screening (the third man) but I shalln't dwell for spoilers sake.
Yavington Barn - Witness
The following day I was sat at home sorting out the short film award showing if I'm honest but I thought this showing in Yavington Barn both looks lovely and was very apt. The film... Witness. :)
Winchester Great Hall - Nosferatu
The next day and the next site specific setup was Werner Herzog's 'Nosferatu' in the Great Hall. The 13th century hall was as deep and darkly gothic as the film.
Spinney Hollow - Evil Dead
Which brings me on to the screening that Winchester Film Festival is known for, the one where the tickets go shortly after they're up. Evil Dead in spinney hollow.
SH - A survivor waits for the first bus
Visitors arrived by bus and were shepherded through a zombie infested woodland by a lone shotgun wielding survivor (from theater company ‘The River People’).
When they eventually reached the safety of the campsite they settled down in front of the fire provided with hot chocolate and popcorn served by tethered zombie waiters.
SH - Spooky lights
The Spinney Hollow showing also gave me the chance to flex my sound design muscles as buried in the blackness were several unseen speakers pumping out shrieks, clatters and hushed chanting. I'll put up the full mix once I've mixed it down to stereo for your enjoyment.
SH - Pre Show
With the audience settled around the fire I began the preshow of horror shorts and fake trailers lulling them into a false sense of security.
SH - Showtime
We were perhaps a little cruel when it came to their journey home. As the
audience walked back through the forest surrounded by my spooky noises
zombies lunged out of the leafy darkness and attacked. This came to a head
as the guide (the survivor) was torn apart in front of the bus home as
zombies set about piercing the intestine filled blood pack he’d been
wearing throughout the performance.
SH - Post show
If anyone has ideas for next year's showing do let me know. We did blair witch last year so I've personally exhausted my supply of wood based horror. And no we will not do cabin fever... because it's rubbish.
Railway Inn - Live Sound Tracking
The final night was a perfect end to the festival. We were in the railway inn and as a gig venue the setup was very relaxed (so the previous day's 9am - 5am shift wasn't felt too harshly). The films soundtracked were 60s cult sci-fi’s La Jetée (the inspiration for 12 Monkeys) and Electronic Labyrinth: THX 1138 4EB (George Lucas’s first film), plus (Six Men Getting Sick) by David Lynch and (The Big Shave) by Martin Scorsese. On the melodies were Jayetal and the Limes.
Perhaps most ambitiously the night ended with the limes soundtracking the PS3 game Red Dead Redemption that allowed a fantastic chance for improvisation (particularly where an unplanned horse fall occurred).
The night was filmed so I'll post any videos as and when they materialize.
Well that's it for now, hope your eyes found the photos delicious. I'll be back soon with some videos I've shot recently.
Stay Tuned
