Blog

Posted on

When the Earth Gives Up the Dead (2022)

This is just a quick update to let regular readers know that as of next week I’m in full production of my third feature film as a director. ‘When the Earth Gives Up the Dead’ which is being shot in Yorkshire and Lancashire and will be released in 2022.

This is the final film in the low budget ‘Lovecraft Trilogy’ and is once again being produced through Warehouse Transmedia.

The film will star Tony Coughlan and Ashe Russell and is based on The Dunwich Horror by author H.P. Lovecraft.

Keep checking back for more info.

Matthew Cooper has been a scriptwriter for hire 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 directorial debut, the rubber reality horror thriller ‘Markham’ was released in 2020, his second feature film as director ‘At The Mountains Of Madness’ hit the screen in 2021. You can find out more about Matthew’s work as a director here.

Posted on

PHASE IV (1974)

My feature debt as a Director confounded a few viewers–  when Markham was released in 2020, it wound up on a few torrent sites quite quickly- one person watching the film illegally gave it 5 stars out of 5 and left a message on the torrent board which read – ‘I’ve never seen another fucking film like it.’   Well, maybe that guy (or gal) might want to watch PHASE IV (1974)

Phase IV is a film directed by Saul Bass.  It’s a small contained sci-fi about ants taking over the world.  But this isn’t ‘Them’  (1954) – don’t expect to see stop motion creatures crunching on military hardware. Instead Phase IV is a visually stunning, cramped and claustrophobic film, that will make viewers uneasy and entertained in equal measure.

There’s not much of a plot to mention, and some of it won’t make much sense – but it will be compulsive viewing.

Saul Bass is a bit of a legend in the film world. He  was a graphic designer by trade, and somehow ended up designing the title sequences for many classic films – from Martin Scorsese’ Casino right back to The Seven Year Itch. Sometimes the title sequences of the films he worked on were better, more interesting and more creative than the films themselves.

So, Saul had a cult following and a reputation for being visually exacting and super creative, but Saul only ever directed one feature film, so PHASE IV is they only fully realised film we have from him, and it’s a trip – and hints at what a talent he could have been given further commissions.

But like my debut film Markham – some reviewers at the time had never seen a fucking film like it! And that kind of put a stop to Saul’s career as a director right there...

Over the 47 years since the film was made, its built up a big cult following. The trailer is below, and I’d recommend you see it, as soon as you can.

Matthew Cooper has been a scriptwriter for hire 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.

Matthew is also a director of feature films including the rubber reality horror thriller ‘Markham’ which was released in 2020. Matthew’s second feature film as director ‘At The Mountains Of Madness’ was released in July 2021.

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

Posted on

Welcome to Wakeywood -Backstage at an XR/VR/Unreal Engine event Production Park in Pontefract

Its official!  The Pontefract / Wakefield area in Yorkshire is the new Hollywood – I’m not making this up!

I spent a couple of days last week at the Backstage Academy on the rapidly growing Production Park in Pontefract, which is home to the  some fabulous students, some super engineers, some amazing sound stages and the about to be world famous XPLOR Innovation Centre. Which is a £6m+ Backstage Academy project, partially funded by the European Regional Development Fund, and based on Production Park. 

What do these guys do?  Well, they make the unreal possible – they make reality virtual, and  they lead the way in XR and VR production in the UK.

Everybody has seen how Disney has used game Software ‘Unreal Engine’ to create the world of ‘The Mandolorian‘ – with everything shot on sound stages that are basically huge TVs, the walls, the floor and the roof of the stage, all reflecting a reality that can be manipulated with the touch of a button.

Lighting can be controlled within this virtual reality, and cameras specially designed to work with the software can create a real sense of movement, actual spatial reality, and a photo realistic representation within the studio itself – so the actors, can see and feel the universe in which they’re performing (making this software so much better than old school greenscreen or chroma key for performers).  These VR soundstages are changing production, and they’re changing where production takes place.

The UK has always had great film and TV technicians – but up at Wakefield at the Production Park – they have great film and TV technicians AS WELL as engineers well versed in the build and manufacture of these VR stages. They’ve also got students trained especially to run these stages (which often need a couple of dedicated servers and a crew of at least four or five highly trained people to get the most from the stage.) These students are doing degree level learning ON THESE STAGES…

So Wakefield is becoming a VR/XR film production hub – because the expertise is here in Yorkshire. But there are other reasons why this new tech is becoming so popular.

The environment is on everyone’s mind, and rightly so. Film producers and production companies are beginning to get asked about ‘Carbon Footprint’ and the days of huge convoys of production trucks (or 747s flying cast and crew across the globe) are beginning to be frowned on.

It won’t be long until films need to balance their carbon footprint. And that’s where XR/VR production comes into its own…

In the next few years (or even RIGHT NOW) it will be possible to shoot ANY type of film /TV show or series ENTIRELY on a sound stage in Wakefield. The same way that Disney Shot The Mandolorian – but the Mando is fantasy – XR/VR productions can make REALITY look real too – and when producers get wise to that – the WHOLE show can be on the same XR stage – no need to jetset, no need for convoys of crew to each location – the whole play can be put on right here (in Wakefield).

I recently moved from Leeds to Wakefield – partly because I’m keen to get involved in one of the biggest shifts this industry has ever seen.

Welcome to Wakeywood. You read it here first….

Matthew Cooper has been a scriptwriter for hire 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 directorial debut, the rubber reality horror thriller ‘Markham’ was released in 2020, his second feature film as director ‘At The Mountains Of Madness’ hit the screen in 2021. You can find out more about Matthew’s work as a director here.

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

Posted on

Tip of the hat to Phil – the genius behind Mad God

After the two low budget horror films Markham and At The Mountains Of Madness one of my upcoming projects requires a lot of old school stop motion effects and miniature work.  I’m looking forward to getting my hands dirty one-frame at a time – but any sort of stop motion work is a huge undertaking.

One of the last great practitioners of stop motion animation is Phil Tippett – Phil was the AT-AT man on Empire Strikes Back as well as the genius behind Robocop and Starship Troppers amazing special effects.

But almost in secret and in his spare time between Hollywood projects Phil has been working away on his own feature length stop-mo epic.  Mad God has been 30 YEARS! That’s right -30YEARS- in the making, but from the trailer below it looks like it will have been more than worth the wait.

I just hope that my project using these effects doesn’t take as long to finish.

Matthew Cooper has been a scriptwriter for hire 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 directorial debut, the rubber reality horror thriller ‘Markham’ was released in 2020, his second feature film as director ‘At The Mountains Of Madness’ hit the screen in 2021. You can find out more about Matthew’s work as a director here.

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

Posted on

At The Mountains of Madness (2021) – Horror Feature film – Buy on DVD or VOD

‘At the Mountains of Madness’ is one of horror author H.P. Lovecraft’s most famous tales of terror. It was said to be one of the great un-filmable novels.  Well, not anymore…

In 2021 scriptwriter and director Matthew Cooper, released  his take on the tale of terror and madness.

Finally, somebody had managed to film ‘At The Mountains of Madness’

Watch ‘At The Mountains of Madness’ (2021)

You can watch the film now on VOD below or buy the DVD on the director’s website.

At The Mountains of Madness (2021) from Matthew Cooper on Vimeo.

Matthew Cooper has been a scriptwriter for hire 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 directorial debut, the rubber reality horror thriller ‘Markham’ was released in 2020, his second feature film as director ‘At The Mountains Of Madness’ will be released in 2021. You can find out more about Matthew’s work as a director here.

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

Posted on

Pre-order ‘At The Mountains of Madness’ (2021) RIGHT HERE, RIGHT NOW!

When super talented Hollywood big shot, Guillermo del Toro put together the proposal to film his long cherished ‘dream project’ – an adaptation of H.P. Lovecraft’s ‘At The Mountains of Madness’ – the budget was over $100 million dollars.   With the kind of budget, you’re nearly talking serious money.

Unfortunately for Guillermo, the studio bean counters thought 100 mill was way too rich for their blood, and his project remains unmade.

When me and my team decided to film an adaptation of ‘At The Mountains of Madness’ our budget was below £2,000.  That’s probably not enough to cover the biscuit bill for a Hollywood production, but, myself and a select few dedicated actors and technicians completed our version of Lovecraft’s’ story in Feb this year (it was even shot during lockdown 2).

Pre-Order At The Mountains of Madness

You can now pre-order the low budget horror feature ‘At The Mountains of Madness‘ on Vimeo.   It’s out for all to see on 28 July.

The DVD will be available soon for fans of physical media.

You can pre-order on Vimeo below:

Watch At The Mountains of Madness (2021) Online | Vimeo On Demand on Vimeo

Matthew Cooper has been a scriptwriter for hire and UK script consultant for over 20 years. His short film script ‘Family Style’ won the first ever Lloyds Bank Channel Four Script Writing Challenge in the UK in 1993. The film was commissioned by Channel Four and starred a then unknown actor called Ewan McGregor.

Matthew went onto write award-winning episodes of Emmerdale, Hollyoaks and Eastenders (where he wrote the episode where ‘Alfie’ told ‘Kat’ he loved her for the first time). Matthew has been BAFTA shortlisted and Royal Television Society nominated as a scriptwriter.

In 2020, Matthews’s first film as a director, the low budget rubber reality horror film ‘Markham’ was released. The innovative independent production was nearly two years in the making, shot partially on Super 8mm film, and was almost entirely improvised by the actors.

You can find out more about Matthew’s work on his website and follow him on Twitter and Instagram too.

https://www.instagram.com/matcoop23/

https://www.imdb.com/name/nm1247639/?ref_=tt_ov_dr

http://www.matcoop.co.uk/

Posted on

At The Mountains of Madness (2021)- trailer drop

Directed by Matthew Cooper – ‘At the Mountains of Madness’ will be released in July – here’s the first trailer drop.

Posted on

At The Mountains of Madness (2021) Rough cut completed

At The Mountains of Madness (2021)

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.

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

Buy Markham – Low budget Horror Film shot in Whitby, Staithes, Skinningrove

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.

  • Ashe Russell in Markham
    Ashe Russell in Markham

Matthew Cooper has been a scriptwriter 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.

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

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

Posted on

Matthew Cooper Director looks back on The Long Goodbye

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

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