Month: July 2020

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Scoring Markham – All killer – no filler

This morning I’m due to sit down and watch the latest cut of my feature film debut as a director Markham.

Markham is a zero budget horror film, which was shot in Staithes in North Yorkshire, and a few other locations up and down the Yorkshire coast.

One thing I can firmly say about Markham is that it pretty atmospheric. Partly thanks to the moody locations and stark black and white photography. But, the music has added an extra dimension too.

I commissioned the score from LA based composer Mariella Nelson Renaud, and gave her free reign to come back with a horror soundtrack which would befit the movie.  She did an amazing job.

Music makes such a big difference in film, and especially in horror cinema. The score can make or break a movie. Watching Markham with all the cues in place makes such a difference to the experience.

Working with composers is one thing directors rarely consider. Directors happily work with writers, actors and technical crew – we speak the same language, but how do you work with a composer, musician or someone from a discipline that’s different from film, and who might not speak the same language? With Mariella, I gave pretty specific examples of scores that I like, and that I considered a ‘type’ that would work with Markham.

Mariella took these examples, ran with them and added her own unique style and personality.

The score feels like a cross between Wendy Carlos and Rachel Elkind’s work on Kubrick’s  ‘The Shining’, Carpenter and the late great Ennio Morricone’s work on ‘The Thing’ and Giorgio Moroder’s music for Paul Shrader’s Cat People (1982) – a personal favourite amongst all these great works. These are great scores to be compared to by Mariella’s work really warrants the comparison.

When I heard the score the first time I was over the moon.  If anything comes from Markham at all, it should be that Mariella Nelson Renaud’s work should be recognised.  She’s a really talented film composer with a great work ethic and ability to interpret what’s on screen in music; she was also a pleasure to work with.

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.

You can find some of his broadcast credits on the IMDb You can find out more about Matthew’s work as a director here.

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Ten things I’ve learned from directing a feature film (part two)

You can read the first part of this blogpost here on my script writer for hire and script consultant dedicated website.

5. Next time I’d pick my locations more carefully. Markham was shot mostly at Staithes, a picturesque (if somewhat baroque) fishing village in North Yorkshire. As cinematic as Staithes is, it was a tough place to shoot. The beach area was slippery and dangerous, and  we had to work around the tides.  Also, practically, it was difficult to access by car/van.

This all meant that time was constantly added (for lugging kit around – from the van to the beach etc). Shooting days were shortened by travel, moving equipment into place and the wind on location made sound recording very hard. The film looks great (thanks to Staithes) but it came at a price, in time and energy.

4. While making Markham, I also used some old school techniques – from shooting Day for Night, double exposures (done digitally) matte painting (you’ll never spot it) and chroma key (green screen).  Green screen was going to feature more in the film, but I worked around it.  And the aforementioned use of software like Unreal Engine will soon mean Green Screen is a thing of the past.  There are a few old school practical effect too like a gnarly Zombie (a nod to Lucio Fulci!)

3. All the choices of distribution are available to the filmmaker now.  I’m going to release the film on Vimeo and DVD (for sale via this website).  But I also have the choice to release on Amazon Prime.  I’ve had a lot of interest from distributors too, who have promised they can get the film into ASDA or Wallmart on DVD and BluRay. 

I don’t want to do that now, but I could later.  I could also just distribute it on YouTube – free for anyone to watch (I might do that later too).  I own the film so I can choose where it goes and when. Partly because of the corona virus, distributors are desperate for films and low budget horror always does well. 

I’ve even had interest from some pretty major ‘Hollywood’ types.  But, at the moment I’ll hold on, and almost quietly release the film myself (I’ll use social media to slowly reach out to interested parties, and see how far, and how wide I can spread the film).  

2. You need a script! Markham was shot, as a kind of experiment, there was never ever a written script, and the actors worked together to kind of workshop a plot, from scene to scene this would change, and gradually as we shot and edited a plot came slowly together.

The actors, were amazing at this and gave it their all. And, this, is the way that directors like Kubrick and Terrence Malik sometimes work – keep shooting and shooting until you have ‘something’.  I can see why this appeals to them, but it’s not good for a low budget production. If you want to shoot that way you’ll get unique results, but it’s a lot harder process when you’re working with no cash – almost impossible.

1.  The main thing I’ve learned?  I can direct. Shot for shot I’m good, my stuff cuts together fine, and is visually arresting.  I can martial a crew, and a production too.  I have the energy and stamina to do it (directing a film is a physically hard job) but what gave me most confidence is that I can work well with actors and I tried all kinds of experiments on this shoot (including driving the actors a bit crackers) and these ploys paid off well.  At 46, I have enough confidence and life experience in the bag to confidently work with actors, and speak up when things don’t set well with me.  At 46, I have a gut instinct. It’s the main part of any director’s bag of tricks.

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.

You can find some of his broadcast credits on the IMDb You can find out more about Matthew’s work as a director here.

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Markham, locking the final cut

My feature film debut as a director Markham (2020) will be available to buy and to stream from the end of August.  This week, I’m working flat out to lock the final edit.

Alongside the editing work, I’ll be blogging on a very regular basis through the next five to six weeks, talking about Markham and how we made the film on a zero budget.

Making this film has been a huge learning experience for me, and I’ve got a new found appreciation of how tough directing a feature film really is. Especially when the budget is zero.

So, over the coming days and weeks keep checking back as I reveal more about the highs lows or bringing Markham into the world. How we made it, and how it made us.

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.

You can find some of his broadcast credits on the IMDb You can find out more about Matthew’s work as a director here.

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Markham (2020) shooting the Yorkshire Coast

Pretty soon my feature film directing debut Markham (2020) will be available to buy and to stream. We’re still putting the final touches to the film and next week we’ll be shooting even more material, which will mean another trip to the Yorkshire coast next week from our Leeds base.

Shooting at the coast brings up lots of challenges.  Most of Markham was shot in winter time, and that meant battling very cold temperatures. I remember shooting one day at Staithes in January (on what turned out to be the coldest day of 2019). It was a day when we needed to shoot a few sequences in the North Sea – and it was so cold that I began to lose feeling in my fingers, which meant starting and stopping the various cameras we were using became a big problem.

Other challenges included the howling wind rolling in off the North Sea making much of the dialogue tracks we shot in some sequences unusable. In some scenes, shot next to the sea, I used a small lapel mike on actors when I could, this worked well, but it couldn’t be utilised all the time. Anything using a boom, even with various types of wind covers really struggled with the persistent winter gale. Sometimes the sound of mad seagulls, especially the seagulls at Staithes, who make some fittingly odd song, became an issue too – lots of wild track needed to be recorded for continuity.

Of course, all shooting days on the coast needed to be organised around the tides, especially when shooting sequences on the beach.  Sequence to sequence the tides need to match what was shot before. This can become a bit of a logistical nightmare day –to-day, and it was my responsibility as director to look at the tide tables and decide what was suitable to shoot and when.  

I’ll admit that on occasion I did get it wrong, and on one day scheduled for shooting in Staithes we had to give up when I got the tides mixed up. On that day we managed to move up the coast to Skinningrove, a small village further up north, and luckily we could shoot some pick up shots and other material that meant the day wasn’t a total right off (we couldn’t wait at Staithes for the tides, because the correct level wouldn’t have arrived until late at night).

Other challenges included general health and safety. The beach at Staithes is surrounded by some cliffs that have regular rock falls (which can, and have killed people, tragically).  Shooting any sort of action sequence with people running on wet rock, near water is always a worry. On top of all this, the aforementioned tides, which can change quickly, are always a danger, you don’t want to get your crew cut off and stranded from safety as the North Sea rolls in.

Luckily, the shoot went well from a safety point of view, but the challenges of shooting on the Yorkshire coast in winter are very real.  Markham was shot for a tiny budget with a tiny crew; clearer thinking in pre-production would have considered some of the issues we faced more seriously. On a positive note, the beach scenes shot at Staithes add massive production value and startling imagery to the film; much of where we shot is not normally used by film and TV crews, probably due to the issues I’ve mentioned.  That means, Markham was shot where no other crews dared to go – at times it looks like the moon, but was a tiny bit easier to get to.

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.

You can find some of his broadcast credits on the IMDb You can find out more about Matthew’s work as a director here.

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Markham (2020) finding Lovecraft’s’ Innsmouth in Yorkshire

Ashe Russell in Markham

As my feature debut as a director Markham (2020) moves closer to release it’s been really interesting to see the final version slowly come together in the editing room.

Markham was a kind of unique experiment. As a kid I’ve been obsessed with the H.P Lovecraft story ‘The Shadow over Innsmouth’ the obsession was more to do with the dank seaside setting of Innsmouth, and sequence in the story where the protagonist is stuck in a hotel room, terrified as strange creatures move around just outside his room.

Those two ideas, alongside other vague ideas behind Lovecraft’s Cthulhu Mythos kind of inspired me over the years to write various screenplays featuring the cesspit seaside and characters trapped in rooms like the one Lovecraft described. These scripts were dark, dank and scary, but as a successful scriptwriter for hire, I couldn’t sell other directors on these stories.

 Thanks to my wife, I discovered a fishing village on the north coast of England called Staithes. And finally, I just started shooting Markham. 

The village and surrounding coastline and moors, I felt, was an underused location (it’s since been used in Phantom Thread) so over a few months I just began to film at Staithes, shooting on Super 8mm, taking black and white stills, and then gradually I began to take actors up to the location, with a vague idea or a plot and slowly I began shooting actual scenes – without a script.

Working without a script is a crackers thing to do if your main profession is as a script writer for hire and UK script consultant.  But slowly I did, and we started to build a plot, and characters around some of the footage.

Things really started to come together when I began working with actors Tony Coughlan and Ashe Russell. Tony and Ashe both did the heavy lifting plot wise, and between the three of us, we managed to put the story together, in scenes shot using long takes, and done multiple times, both actors worked very hard to create characters and the situation which became the driving plot of the film – a kind of horror version of The Trueman Story, mixed with Lovecraft and rubber reality.

As well as directing, I took the role of the lead character myself, this helped a great deal because as an actor I would always be available at the same time as the director. Gradually, shooting piecemeal, over a period of 18 months we built up enough footage to put together a feature film – a film which is disturbing, something beautiful to look at, and occasionally amusing in places.

I’m pleased that a scene takes place in a cold dark, dank hotel room, where a character is menaced by creatures, and noises just outside his door, and I’m ecstatic at the location work – Staithes in winter is beautiful, scary and not unlike how I imagined Innsmouth when I first read the story as a kid.

The film will be finished and released very soon, keep checking back for more updates.  

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.

You can find some of his broadcast credits on the IMDb You can find out more about Matthew’s work as a director here.

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Markham (2020) set for release…

It’s been a long time coming, but Markham (2020) my feature debut as a director should be locked and loaded and ready for distribution by the end of this month (July 2020).

My heavy workload as a script writer for hire and UK script consultant has meant that putting the final touches to Markham has taken a lot longer than I originally anticipated but finally, the film is just about complete.

Over the last month or so I have shot additional scenes in Staithes (near Whitby) and had a day or so at the village of Skinningrove. I’ve also completed all the special effects scenes, which I’m pleased to say are nearly all practical effects (there’s only a tiny bit of CGI in the film).

My composer Mariella Nelson Renaud has produced a simply amazing soundtrack which has now been added to the film – the music gives a great retro horror vibe and adds so much to the film.

Actors and performers have completed additional dialogue recording for me, and special mention should go to actor Tony Coughlan who’s a pro voice over guy, and a master of accents (as well as comedy).

Scenes have been recut since my first assemble, and I’m pleased as punch that the film clocks in near close to 90 minutes. The perfect for film length for me.

I’ll blog more in the coming weeks about how we made Markham for a low budget, and what we intend to do with the film regards distribution. But, rest assured, you’ll all be able to see the film yourselves very soon.

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.

You can find some of his broadcast credits on the IMDb You can find out more about Matthew’s work as a director here.

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Markham is coming…

Just wanted to add a really quick update to say that Markham, my feature film debut is on its way, and will hopefully be released by the end of this month (July 2020).

Next week I should be able to complete the final cut, with the ADR, music and final special effects sequences locked and loaded.

It goes without saying that this has been a huge effort, to produce a fully independent feature film from scratch, on a very low budget.

Keep an eye on this website and UK script consultant over the coming weeks, I’ll tell you when the film is released for sale, and much more about the making of Markham.

Matthew Cooper has been directing drama films since the early 90s, starting on super 8mm cine film and movie into video, long before it became digital.  His feature film directorial debut Markham was released in 2020.

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.

You can find some of his broadcast credits on the IMDb You can find out more about Matthew’s work as a director here.