Month: August 2020

Posted on

Matthew Cooper, Director—looks back at Hollow Man (2000)

My feature debut as a director is due out in a few days or so Markham–will be available from 31 August.

I’m starting to move onto my next project as a director, and in the meantime I have some work as a script writer for hire which is my real bread and butter business at the moment and how I earn my living.

While waiting for Markham’s release I’ve been studying the careers of some of my favorite filmmakers–the people who really influenced me.   One of those directors is Paul Verhoeven, who made one of the greatest sci-fi films ever made–RoboCop (1987)

Verhoeven was a Dutch director who made it in Hollywood by treating sci-fi action pictures with a huge amount of humour and intelligence.

Hollow Man–his take on the invisible man story was a big flop back in 2000. Recently The Invisible Man (2020 starring Mad Men’s Elizabeth Moss) took similar territory and scored with a more financially successful reboot, but personally, I found Hollow Man to be a LOT more entertaining.

Hollow Man seems to have a kind of stalled Verhoeven’s career in the US. Maybe he’d had enough, or the studios didn’t trust him after a couple of mis-fires (including the famous bomb ‘Showgirls’).

Recent reboots of RoboCop and Verhoeven’s Total Recall have bored me to tears–the originals are soo much better and even feel more modern than recent remakes despite being made nearly 30+ years earlier.

Verhoeven himself has stated that he wants to look into the past now as a director, and work on true life historical pieces—like his own Black Book (2006)  I realised looking at his career on the IMDb that I hadn’t seen any of his films since 2006 – this is something I need to correct, because Verhoeven is a major talent, from his early films in Holland to his work in Hollywood, he seems largely to have been ahead of the game in many respects.  I’d take Hollow Man, Total Recall, Starship Troopers and RoboCop over just about anything else made in Hollywood at the time.

As well as being a freelance film director for hire, Matthew has also enjoyed a long career as a script writer for hire, and UK script consultant. 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.Matthew’s work as a director here.

Posted on

Five films that I can always watch

As a Freelance Film Director for hire, there are literally hundreds and hundreds of films that have influenced me one way or another.  And not just films, great TV, or documentaries, music videos and even great advertising too has impacted my visual style and the look and feel of things I direct.  Some of these influences will be lodged in my subconscious, and some are up front.

Among the influences that are upfront will be from some of my favourite films.  I could easily put together a list of 100 or 200 hundred films that I love, that grab me, that appeal to me, that make up my filmic influences.

Some films stay with you (often from childhood) these films are core influencing films, the things that shaped you as a director. These films often never get old. For me, the following five films have played a big part in my influences.

Full Metal Jacket

Full Metal Jacket–Stanley Kubrick (a giant) most people agree that Stanley was operating on a level way beyond most directors of his era, and his work continues to be a massive influence in cinema.  He was a clever man, sometimes cynical,  he liked to retain control on all aspects of his films.

Full Metal Jacket is THE Vietnam movie, and it also maybe the film about a boots on the ground war. It’s a film that shows the training of men who will invade and kill the natives of a foreign country, so far away from their own.

It’s a brutal film, but also, at times, a hilarious one. Visually, a Vietnamese city was created in London, and Kubrick used his customary small crews to shoot, and just keep shooting, Kubrick picked scabs and looking for insight beyond the obvious.  This isn’t just a war movie, it’s a film ABOUT WAR. The film looks at the insanity, the absurd and the fear and the death.  It’s a highly intelligent film–about Love and Hate, and how neither had a place in ‘Nam.

The Empire Strikes Back

I grew up with Star Wars, but Empire Strikes Back takes it to the next level. The film is a joy, in story terms, and in how it was shot.  A globe trotting crew, the use of stop motion, practical effects, old school matte painting.  A joy to look at.

But it doesn’t forget the characters, performances and romance of the series.  All play better in this film than in the first. Ford, Fisher and Hamill are more relaxed here and fill out their characters a lot better.

All in all its the film that inspired a generation and we should thank Lucas, Kershner and don’t forget the behind-the-scenes team (like Phil Tippett) who made this magic happen.

To Live and Die in L.A.

This is a film that looks amazing  like ‘The American Friend’ listed below, this film was shot by cameraman Robbie Muller–his use of lighting was a massive influence on me.  It’s a tough, nonstop cop picture by the director of The French Connection.  Dirty cops, ruthless but stylish villains. The film was a box office bomb at the time, but its reputation has built through the years.

Look how the action is shot, not a frame wasted, brutalist, brutal and beautiful.

The American Friend

Bruno Ganz was always a joy to watch, combine his sensitive performance with Robbie Muller’s photography and throw in a globetrotting thriller plot, with a sideline in looking at how American film has stolen our eyes in Europe. I can dip in and out of it now, each frame a lovely pregnant picture filled with longing.

Wenders shoots Europe like an American director and he shoots his American films like a European.  It’s as much about film itself as it is about the characters.

It’s a film that can teach you to see.

Grosse Pointe Blank

Funny, great dialogue, surprising action, and superb music.  A touching love story that kind of sneaks up on you (no it doesn’t, we drove here). It’s also a summation of 80s and 90s romance clichés, which it rapidly shoots holes through.

It’s a much greater film than many realise, and it’s funny.    

As well as being a freelance film director for hire, Matthew has also enjoyed a long career as a scriptwriter for hire, and UK script consultant. 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 scriptwriter.

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

Posted on

Markham – available for pre-order on Vimeo now

My feature film debut as a director, the low budget horror Markham is now available for pre-order on Vimeo here.

Markham is a snip to buy on Vimeo at just £4.59

Markham will soon also be available to buy on DVD – so keep checking back.

It’s been a mad ride getting here. We started shooting Markham over 18 months ago with a tiny budget, no script, and only a vague idea of what the story was.

Through shear hard work the film developed through a complicated shooting process that required a lot of improvisation from all of the actors. A lot of material was shot, that we never used as we fine tuned the plot in the editing process.

Markham has been described as a film that deconstructs horror tropes and so far the film has had excellent feedback.  

Considering the low budget, and the process we went through, I’m fairly pleased with the end result, and myself and the same team are moving onto two new horror feature projects with very low budgets – call it the Covid Trilogy!

I’m also preparing another two feature films for me to direct, and we’re hoping to raise some funds for the other two.

Matthew Cooper has been a script writer for hire, UK Script editor  and UK script consultant for over 20 years. 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. His UK script coverage service, Script reading service and script development service are highly sought after.

You can find some of his broadcast credits on the IMDb.

You can contact Matthew directly to purchase his ebook The UK Soap Opera Script Writers Handbook.

His directorial debut, the rubber reality horror thriller Markham will be released in 2020. You can find out more about Matthew’s work as a director here.

You can get in touch with Matthew on matcoop23@yahoo.co.uk.

Posted on

Markham – locked and ready for release

As well as being a script writer for hire, UK Script editor  and UK script consultant for over 20 years, it now appears that I’m in the feature motion picture business, as my debut as a director – the horror film Markham is now locked, finished and set for release at the end of August.  It’s been quite a journey.

Markham is an experimental, rubber reality horror feature that was shot for a zero budget, and used improvisation in nearly every scene.

As well as being the director, and DOP, I also act in the film under the name Thomas Cody, I did this because of the way the film was shot, and the lack of budget.  It meant that the actor ‘Thomas’ was always available when Matthew Cooper the director was… It helps with scheduling!

As an actor, I try to do as little as possible and be as naturalistic as I can. I’ve been around and worked with some great actors in my career as a script writer for hire, so I picked up a few things from people like Ewan McGregor, Brian Bovell, Dean Smith, Tom Gibbons and writing for some soap actors like Dominic Brunt (in Emmerdale, he’s an amazing actor and very underrated) has taught me the odd thing about acting and performance.   So, I can get by as actor, but what people don’t recognise is that acting can be, physically and mentally exhausting.

So, the strain of acting, coupled with being THE DIRECTOR of the film is double whammy.  I also, don’t particularly enjoy being in front of the camera, which I was a lot in Markham.  I like to be behind the lens to check the shots (and often make last minute adjustments).  And again, to save money I also acted as the director of photography (DOP) so that’s three roles I was often doing in each shot. All three require terrific concentration.  It was miles tougher than I expected or even considered.

The film, so far has had good feedback and a warm response, especially from fans of the horror genre.  My performance even got a few mentions, but gladly I’m dwarfed by the pro actors we used such as Ashe Russell, Tony Coughlan, Dan Martin and Gareth Parry.  All these guys knew what they were doing (thank god).

I won’t be in a rush to act again, but it’s always useful to know that while I’m not comfortable in front of the camera, I can serve up some prime ham if needed.  

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.

Posted on

Markham – notes on making a zero budget horror film

My feature debut as a director Markham is all but finished as of today.  It’s been around two years in the making.  With no budget and no script Markham has been an experiment to see if we could actually pull of a film of any worth, starting from scratch.

Well we did. Markham is a tight, arty, experimental little horror film, with a cool look, cool music, some very good acting and some great locations. 

It’s Grindhouse in a way as well, parts where shot on film, it’s experimental, and wouldn’t be out of place alongside a lot of Shameless films  or  Arrow films releases. 

But what have I learned from making a zero budget horror film?

Okay, when Peter Jackson made Bad Taste, he did it, in a style similar to how we made Markham.  Shooting on a part-time basis as and when cast and crew where available, without much of a script to go along with – it took Peter Jackson FOUR years to complete the film, and now I know why (it’s taken nearly two years to complete Markham).

When I started shooting Markham I thought it might take six months.

Working without a script is a crackers idea, especially in low to zero budget filmmaking.  Initially when we started out, me and the actors just shot scenes that were interesting visually and we improvised the characters, and narrative, eventually a fitting plot emerged. This is an interesting and creative way to work (Kubrick worked like this sometimes).  But, it means it will take years to finish and you never know (as a director) what you’ll need – from a simple coverage POV – right up to major scenes that are required that only become apparent later.

The first lesson for next time, is to write a script and stick to what’s written.  There’s always room for experimentation but have the blueprint in script form first.

Another thing I’ve learned never to ignore is sound, especially when shooting on location.  A lot of ADR work was required in post production that would have been better avoided with more attention to paid to the sound recording on location, although admittedly recording dialogue on the open sea, in a raging storm is always going to be hard. 

Difficult locations is another point of learning. We picked some spectacular coastal locations to use in Markham.  But we didn’t consider how difficult they were going to be to get there, or actually shoot in these out of the way, and often dangerous places. 

The locations look great, but I should have considered the impact on production of where we shot.   We filmed in places never used in productions before – these were startling virgin locations for UK film.  But there were reasons why nobody had shot there, and they became clear to us as we used the often dangerous locations ourselves…

Finally one of the main things I’d say I learned at this stage is that IT’S COMPLETELY feasible to now shoot a low budget film, post produce it and edit for very little money and have an end product that’s completely serviceable.   The film is going to be released on DVD and on VIMEO at the end of August, but I could easily in future put the film on AMAZON PRIME myself.

The whole process has been a massive learning experience for me.  And I can’t wait to do it all again…

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.