My second feature film as a director – the micro budget Lovecraft themed ‘At the Mountains of Madness’ had its first rough cut completed this week, and has been sent off to the composer to start work on the score.
A few clients in my day to day work as a UK script consultant, have asked how we could have possibly shot a feature film (on any budget) during the last 12 months – most of which were spent in Lockdown in the UK, due to the pandemic.
The answer is, it wasn’t easy. But, making a feature film never is, and it often feels like trying to walk a very strong dog, which has ideas of where he wants to go. You try and pull the leash, but a lot of time, the dogs superior strength means it gets to go exactly where he decides, however hard you pull.
‘At the Mountains of Madness’ is due for release later this year. I’m very pleased with the film and especially pleased with the effects work, nearly every shot in the film has had something done to it from a special effects POV, but it has retained its naturalistic black and white look, which at times was hard to do.
Keep checking back, as I intend to reveal more about the making of the film as we approach the release date.
As well as being a freelance film director for hire, Matthew has also enjoyed a long career as a script writer for hire he’s written for most of the UK soaps, including writing award winning episodes of Emmerdale, EastEnders, Hollyoaks and Family Affairs and has been BAFTA shortlisted and Royal Television Society nominated as a script writer.
Matthew’s directorial debut, the rubber reality horror thriller Markham was released in 2020.
My low budget horror feature film ‘Markham’ shot in Whitby, Staithes, Skinningrove and on set in Leeds is getting a lot of local interest in the lovely, picturesque areas it was shot.
Markham shot in Staithes
Markham was almost entirely improvised with the actors, inspired some great locations in Staithes and the surrounding area, it’s based loosely on the short story ‘Shadow Over Innsmouth’ by H.P. Lovecraft.
Markham was shot in 2019 and 2020 on a low budget, and was initially released in 2020, it’s available to buy here, just click add to basked and we’ll get one in the post.
The film has had pretty decent reviews – like the one here by David Dent a prominent horror reviewer (scroll down the pages to the section on ‘Markham’).
There are a couple of different trailers and images below showing some of the local area used in the film.
I’m quite near to a first cut on my second feature film as a director – the low budget horror ‘At The Mountains of Madness’ and I’m pleased to say it’s coming together nicely. There have been a few surprises in the edit suite, but nothing too bad, so that’s good.
As a break this week I watched Robert Altman’s ‘The Long Goodbye’ his hip 70s, update on Phil Marlowe.
I’m an Altman fan, chiefly because of this film – and ‘McCabe and Mrs Miller’, ‘The Player’, ‘MASH’ and ‘Gosford Park’ are all great too. That’s a handful of very interesting and original movies right there. I’d say McCabe is my favourite. There are few westerns like it, and Warren Beatty has never been better.
But Altman made a ton of films, a lot of them hard to see, or considered disasters. He himself said that he just carried on doing the same thing, sometimes the films hit, and sometimes they didn’t. Sometimes the films didn’t work themselves and he knew it.
Altman was a gambler, and made a very good film about gambling called ‘California Split’. He also knew that filmmaking, like gambling, depended a lot on luck. Sure, skill and know how is involved, but luck too. And when the films didn’t work, it was down to luck, the same as when everything came together and you’d shot a masterpiece like McCabe.
So, on my second film as a director, I’m slowly learning that being lucky sometimes helps. I’m sure Altman will tell you he worked as hard on the films that didn’t work as on the films that did. And I’m sure that’s true, and other directors will tell you the same.
‘The Long Goodbye’ works, it transcends the detective genre, it’s funny and cool and sad as well. It’s Jazzy. The camera slips and slides, Elliot Gould is doing his own thing in scenes, listening to another beat. This whole thing could come crashing down around the story and crush the film, but luck keeps it together. And some directors are luckier than others.
As well as being a freelance film director for hire, Matthew has also enjoyed a long career as a script writer for hire he’s written for most of the UK soaps, including writing award winning episodes of Emmerdale, EastEnders, Hollyoaks and Family Affairs and has been BAFTA shortlisted and Royal Television Society nominated as a script writer.
Matthew’s directorial debut, the rubber reality horror thriller Markham was released in 2020
I’m on my third week of post production on my second feature film as a director – ‘At The Mountains of Madness’ a moody little horror film based on the story by H.P. Lovecraft. This is my second horror feature film as a director and this week, as I’m knee deep in horror, I’ve decided to list ten films that directors need to see – which are out of the horror or sci-fi genre. A palette cleanser if you will…
These films aren’t in any order and are the first ten that came into my mind. I’ve also avoided the usual films and directors that I talk about a lot.
The Last Detail – What a script! And what performances by all the cast. Director Hal Ashby doesn’t get in the way of Jack Nicholson turning in the best performance of his life. A funny, sad and ultimately tragic tale, a road trip, not much happens but we learn everything about three sailors, two taking the third to the brig (prison). It’s a shitty detail.
The Taking of Pelham 1,2,3 – one of the best heist movies ever made, when a group of colour coded professionals take over a subway train and ransom the occupants. The city of New York is a character we meet the Mayor, chief of police and these odd guys called transit cops, lead by a deadpan Walter Matthau. It’s tense, funny, rousing and has one of the best scores of the 70s. It’s also one of those films that shows a dirty run down 70s New York, a city on the skids reluctant to pay. The remake is nowhere near the original
The Commitments – the best let’s start a band movie. Great characters, very funny, good music, but what it captures best is the feeling of aspiring to be something beyond the norm, and the bittersweet worry that it won’t go anywhere or last. But better to be an unemployed sax player than an unemployed pipe fitter, right?
Breaking Away and Gregory’s Girl – the two best films about growing up. One set in Glasgow, the other in Indiana. They both share the same spirit.
Margin Call – yes, it’s about the financial crash, but it focuses on the impact on one company and one set of employees. It’s an eye opener and feels realistic and well researched. All employers will fuck you over eventually, but in this case, they fuck over the entire financial system too.
Bad Company – a western for young people. But a REAL western never the less. Jeff Bridges and Barry Brown are cast as the two aspiring outlaws, and things don’t go well for them at all. Will they live, and survive the multiple ways young men could die in the west? You must see it yourself. Great original score too.
Hard Times / The Streetfigher – known under two different titles. This depression era set tale of bare knuckle boxing is a top film by Walter Hill. You’ve got James Coburn and Charles Bronson, which is all you’ll ever need. It’s gritty and tough and you’d expect nothing less.
Black Book – Paul Verhoeven is simply one of the best directors still working. He’s still very underrated by many. Check out Black Book, shocking, rousing, engrossing and a film that will be talked about for years to come.
Bad Day At Black Rock – Spencer Tracy arrives in a small town looking for someone, it’s clear the town has a dirty secret. The question is, will Spenser get out alive. Ripe for a remake, outstanding actors, locations and camerawork (I didn’t count more than two or three close-ups in the entire film). It still stands up today.
As well as being a freelance film director for hire, Matthew has also enjoyed a long career as a script writer for hire he’s written for most of the UK soaps, including writing award winning episodes of Emmerdale, EastEnders, Hollyoaks and Family Affairs and has been BAFTA shortlisted and Royal Television Society nominated as a script writer.
Matthew’s directorial debut, the rubber reality horror thriller Markham was released in 2020
I’m one week into post production on my second feature film as a director – ‘At The Mountains of Madness’ (ATMOM) and already, the process is much smoother than on my first feature film Markham which was released in 2020.
On ‘Markham’ we used improvisation, and never had a real script or storyline. While this made ‘Markham’ a pretty unique film, it also made it hugely hard work.
‘ATMOM’ had a script, I didn’t entirely stick to it, but for the most part, the actors had set lines to learn, we had set scenes and a pretty strict structure too. And, that has made making the film and editing it soooo much easier.
As a script writer for hire and in demand script consultant of course, I should know this myself. Yes, everything works better with a good script – but it’s a gentle reminder to the director in me to get the script working before you do anything else – something I didn’t do with Markham, I almost attempted to write the film after we’d shot it. A mad idea.
ATMOM is already looking like a winner, like Markham it’s a horror film based on the writings of H.P. Lovecraft. It’s the second film in what will be a low budget trilogy of horror films based on Lovecraft stories.
All being the well, the film be finished very soon, for a late April release. Keep checking back more info.
As well as being a freelance film director for hire, Matthew has also enjoyed a long career as a script writer for hire he’s written for most of the UK soaps, including writing award winning episodes of Emmerdale, EastEnders, Hollyoaks and Family Affairs and has been BAFTA shortlisted and Royal Television Society nominated as a script writer.
Matthew’s directorial debut, the rubber reality horror thriller Markham was released in 2020
Boom, about a week ago we wrapped shooting on my new feature length horror film – ‘At The Mountains of Madness’ – which is based on the short story by H.P. Lovecraft. This is the second film (after ‘Markham’ released August 2020) in a trilogy of micro budget Lovecraft adaptations.
Unlike Markham, we had a pretty solid script for this production although my actors Tony Coughlan, Ashe Russell and Gary Geeson still had plenty of room to improvise and play with their characters.
The main shoot was completed in two intense weeks, where at times, we had to be really creative to get the scares and required atmosphere on a tiny budget.
ATMOM had exteriors shot in Greenland and Alaska, but the majority of the film was done on custom built sets in a studio environment. Like Markham, ATMOM will be black and white and some of the film is shot on Super 8mm. The most fun I had on the shoot involved fake snow and a snow machine – which resulted in me nearly breaking ankle – but hey, the shots looked great.
I’m looking forward to diving head first into post production, and the film will hopefully be released online in April 2021.
Obviously, Covid-19 made shooting the film a challenge and at all times we stuck to the Covid-19 film industry guidelines.
Keep checking back over the next few months as I detail the post production process and start releasing a few images and trailers from the film.
My debut as a director Markham has been selling well on DVD and on demand on Vimeo and its slowly picking up interest from bloggers and critics (spoiler alert – big review coming soon from one of the foremost critics in the UK).
This week, the first official review came in from prominent horror blogger David Dent across on his website – Dark Eyes of London.
David really got what we were trying to do with Markham and gave us a great review which does the film, and how we made it a lot of justice. Quotes for the poster include;
‘…amusing, baffling, often incomprehensible, and inventive as hell…’
‘You can keep your multiplex blockbusters or your costume dramas, this is inventive, nuts guerilla filmmaking…’
The review ends with one word – ‘Brilliant’.
We’ll take that.
Pop over to Dark Eyes of London and have a read of the full review yourself.
I’m excited to announce ‘officially’ that I’ll be writing and directing a low budget re-imaging of H. P. Lovecraft’s ‘At the Mountains of Madness’. We’re currently at script stage. But this is a dream project. And all being well, it will move pretty quickly into pre-production.
In 2020, I released my feature film debut as a director Markham, which despite its low budget has garnered some interest and development funds for other horror projects.
So, keep an eye on here for more news.
As well as being a freelance film director for hire, Matthew has also enjoyed a long career as a script writer for hire he’s written for most of the UK soaps, including writing award-winning episodes of Emmerdale, Eastenders, Hollyoaks and Family Affairs and has been BAFTA shortlisted and Royal Television Society nominated as a script writer.
Matthew’s directorial debut, the rubber reality horror thriller Markham was released in 2020
As my feature film debut as a director, the horror film Markham is now available to buy or stream, I thought I’d discuss a few horror directors who have influenced me.
John Carpenter
Horror is a broad church as a genre and some director’s dip and out. Other filmmakers are more out than in – John Carpenter is a director who is firmly ‘in’ and he’s my favourite director in the horror genre.
Halloween, The Fog, Prince of Darkness, Escape from New York and They Live (to an extent) and of course – The Thing (probably the best horror movie of all time). I even enjoy the lesser works like Vampires and Ghosts of Mars.
Lucio Fulci
Another director who is firmly ‘in’ the horror genre is the late Italian maestro Lucio Fulci – Lucio worked for years in all kinds of genres but spawned a massive hit with Zombi 2 (known under various names) which is a brilliant, rousing rip off of George Romero. But, given a massive hit in the horror genre let Fulci loose to create a masterful trilogy with City of the Living Dead, The Beyond and House by the Cemetery – known as the Gates of Hell trilogy.
Lucio drifted back off into the career doldrums after these films, but they stand the test of time.
David Cronenberg
David Cronenberg is another director who stuck to his horror guns for a long period – for Scanners, Videodrome, The Fly and Dead Zone he will always be regarded as one of the most celebrated genre filmmakers – his career outside of horror too has some classics including History of Violence and Eastern Promises in particular.
The horror bunch
Then, there are a bunch of American filmmakers who have dipped in and out of the genre over the years – guys such as – Brian De Palma, Sam Raimi, John Landis and Tobe Hooper. Between these filmmakers are some genuine horror classics – from The Evil Dead through Body Double, the cult favourite Texas Chainsaw, and up to the best werewolf film of all time (from Landis) An American Werewolf in London.
Stuart Gordon
The late Stuart Gordon also made two masterful low budget classics – Re-Animator and From Beyond. His career included other good low budget horrors, but nothing to match the quality of these two films.
Matthew Cooper Director – For the love of Super 8mm – big name directors first films on the shoestring medium
My feature film debut as a director Markham featured a lot of super 8mm film, and I thought it would be nice to write a blogpost today, about super 8mm and its role in the careers of lots and lots of big name Hollywood directors.
The kids don’t know, but back in the day, directors starting out didn’t have mobile phones that record hi-def video or editing software that is pretty high spec (and often free).
In-fact, directors starting out didn’t have phones or DSLRs and in most cases couldn’t even shoot on video because it was too expensive to buy the kit.
Creative Director for hire
So, directors such as Steven Spielberg, John Carpenter and Jim Cameron made films on Super 8mm.
Super 8mm was (and is again) a film stock; it was made by companies like Kodak and Agfa. Super 8mm film was designed to be played back through a projector, on a big screen at home. It was a very cut down, small format (often called shoelace or bootlace because it was so thin – 8mm- compared to 35mm film, the standard film format for Hollywood films at the time). Super 8mm was designed as a format that could be used by amateurs to record vacations and holidays, or weddings and other family events.
Super 8mm film, came in a cartridge (sound or silent). The cartridge was an easy load design and manufacturers all over the world made cameras that could shoot this film – from low spec point and shoot super 8 cameras- to very high spec semi-pro cameras.
Once you’d shot the film, it was posted back to the company who processed it into a positive print and then returned it to the users – the processing times could be anything from 3 weeks or longer, from time to time, the film you’d shot could go missing in the mail, or even lost at the lab! You were given a unique processing number for each roll of film. In the unfortunate event that the film got lost – all you received was a free blank cartridge.
Each cartridge held about 50 metres of film, which shot at 18 frames per second, would last about 3 and a half minutes, shot on 24 frames per second the film would last just under three minutes.
Matt Cooper Director
For all the faults of Super 8mm filmmaking, it was the best medium to learn the skills a director needs, from the 60s right up to the mid 90s lots and lots of directors and wannabe filmmakers shot on Super 8mm. Gradually video and digital video got more affordable, and Super 8mm died temporarily – it’s back now, and available again form Kodak as part of the analogue resistance. It’s now much more expensive and harder to get hold of, but its making a steady return (Kodak have even promised a new camera – but this has gone on for years, without a firm release date yet).
Many of the old Super8mm cameras are still in fine working order, and can be purchased on eBay. Models by firms such as Bauer and Nizo can be quite pricey still – but a good Bell and Howell or Eumig model (from the 80s) are still affordable for most people.
Editing these days will be done on software – back in the day, if you wanted to edit your super 8mm film it was done by cutting and splicing the film by hand – frame by frame. A real skill that lots of young directors cut their teeth doing (me included).
So, here’s a fun thing – a few big name directors’ Super 8mm productions are available online to see.
Let’s start with James Cameron – his short ‘Xenogenesis’ shot on Super 8mm and made in 1978:
How about Richard Stanley? – Director of ‘Dust Devil’ and the recent ‘Color out of Space’ – his film “Incidents In An Expanding Universe” is below, and feels like a very 80s UK art school student type project:
Sam Raimi made ‘Within the Woods’ a Super 8mm version of ‘The Evil Dead’ was he was in his teens. He used to go from investor to investor and project the film on their office walls.
Below is my little short showreel on Super 8mm – ‘Point Blank 1990’ made in 1990 when I was 16. The film took nearly 6 months to put together in the end.
I’m really pleased that Super 8mm is back available and being used again – I shot a short funky film recently – it’s below.
