On set in Jan 2012

Had a brilliant beginning to 2012 with some film work in the first 4 days!

We were filming in the New Wimbledon Studios - which used to be the home of The Bill. Downstairs is a massive hospital set that was just amazing. Real medical gear and an Intensive Care unit, even a Morgue in the basement.

Check out the videos below!



On Set

Its January in 2011 already....!

There are two speeds in this industry crazy and so painfully slow it drags.
2011 is gearing up to be more crazy than slow, which bodes well for the rest of the year.
Getting back to London last week after a lovely xmas and new years in the sun it hasn’t stopped! Literally!
I came back not knowing what I was going to do and ‘BANG’, Im now co-producing Martin Gooch’s feature film Death.
After working on a lot of the promo material last year, and also dragging my feet through a profoundly disappointing year, it’s a lovely surprise that in 2011 I am co-producing a feature. I flew into London and now one week later, I am working in my tiny production office on location in Basingstoke at Malshanger Manor House.
Its beautiful, huge grounds full of woolly sheep, pheasants (I’ve never seen them live before), woodcocks and chickens. We are actually living on the Coleman Estate – remember the mustard?
Lord Coleman has a house out the back!

Its beautiful yet crazy, we have so many amazing people on this shoot, including Leslie Phillips, Linal Haft, Paul Freeman, and of course BAFTA winning director Martin Gooch and our amazing editor Paul Davies (Octopussy etc).
Im very lucky to be working with an amazing crew who are lovely although most of the time it is madness around here!

Great start to 2011, bring on the work!

Preproduction is stressful….

So its been a bit of stress recently with the pre production of Unify and then the last minute funding issues, but then maybe the funding issues that have temporarily halted the film are a blessing in disguise.
Unify is going to be postponed till mid October to give us more time for funding.
I really love our project and believe that had we tried to film it on a budget it would have compromised the whole look and feel of the film.

So although Ridley Scott will no longer have the viewing pleasure of our film however, more festivals will, and we will have less constraints with corporate funding, better script and a product we can send to festivals like Sundance, Cannes and Clermont Ferrand!
If you havent donated and would like to do so (and help the future of British film!) go here
www.indiegogo.com/unify-the-film
www.wix.com/jadealexander/unifythefilm

Onwards and…onwards!
Had a great audition yesterday and another tomorrow, also fingers crossed as there are several projects that are possibly flowering so fingers crossed for those!

Im attending the Limelight Awards night on Thursday and if anyone else is please come and say hi! Should be a fun night.

Today Im working on rewrites of Any Other Day, a tv show that I have been valiantly working on for years now! But it is good, Im just a perfectionist!
Also check out the new brit film Skeletons directed by Nick Whitfield, it has great reviews and just won the Michael Powell award at Edinburgh for Best new British Film!
Congratulations Nick!

That’s all for now
Jade xoxo

Mike Leigh goes to Cannes!

Wow, the question is now who ISN'T going to Cannes!

Mike Leigh has a new film, confirmed to be premiering at Cannes this year. Have a read!

Also on that there are a whole heap of films that will be shown at Cannes at the bottom of that email. Im a little hurt Platinum Chisel is not there. I guess the Guardian is biased to UK films.

In other good news we are invited to show at the Vladivostock Film Festival. A little strange and - to use a very aussie saying - RANDOM, but there you go.

What am I watching right now? A great interview with Ricky Gervais and some other guy (no actually Stephen Merchant) about their new film Cemetary Junction. Which incidentally has been advertised to hell and back. Have a look here.

In other great news, we have an imdb page for Platinum Chisel.
Please go there, vote for us, visit the page and boost our numbers!
And then go to facebook, join the group and tell your friends.

Its been a long labour of love to create this film and come friday we will be uploading the FINAL version to Short Film Corner. Fingers crossed,
Until then.
In the words of our fearless leader,
Go Hard, Go Chisel.

Frustration

Having one of those days where everything seems so hard and so much effort and I wonder will any of it pay off?
I know we all have days like this and its probably caused by too much work, yet I still wonder whats going on!
A good friend advised me that probably this crazy life where I am constantly on the edge of being broke and working all the time has to stop sometime. And today is one of those days that I agree.
Although to be fair I worked all weekend and am feeling just exhausted mentally and physically. Not to mention that since I woke up, its been one setback after another.

When you put so much effort into one thing, for example my film, and then to have it knocked back in your face at the very end stages just really reallyfrustrates me.
Waiting waiting. Waiting for other people to let me know, to get back to me, is so frustrating!

Breath deep. Know it won't last forever. Keep pushing up hill even when today I don't feel like it.
Hopefully it will all pay off one day.
Fingers crossed.

Platinum Chisel is accepted into Cannes Film Festival!

We got in. To Cannes that is!
Its official, my first short film (as sole producer) Platinum Chisel has now been accepted into the Cannes Film Festival Short Corner!!!

I cannot tell you how excited and happy that makes me.
All the long..….well, I mean everything, the long process really!
Its actually over a year since we first started work on the film. I think I first came up with making Platinum a film in January 2009, and approaching Mike Lewis our writer around then…back in Sydney back at Sydney Theatre Company.
And now in March 2010 after career changes, changing continents, moving to 3 different places to live, and touring for 5 months around australia and that’s just me. My director had holidays, moving house, computer blowing up (yeah really).

Now finally I feel like the hard work is paying off, and it’s a GOOD feeling!

I just found us on the Short Film Corner's catalogue:

http://www.shortfilmcorner.com/sfcfilm/filmfiche2.Aspx?id=13749596
That is just surreal!
So while we gather our breath, gather our courage and our sales pitches. Look out for us at Cannes Film Festival 2010
Go Platinum. Go Hard, Go Chisel.

www.platinumchisel.com

Well, its been a while since my last post and I have been recovering from bad laryngitis.
Trying to speak in Chinese with my basic working level of mandarin whilst having said laryngitis over the weekend was a massive challenge.

Also I found being sick on a film set is not fun. I have been sick on set before, but not on a no budget film - ahhhh chaos……weirdly fun when you are well and not so much when you are very ill.
One thing I Always inevitably find on set, whether or not there is money behind the project, is that if one or more people aren't into the film then….well chaos reigns.
In this case, surprisingly, it was the producer.

Maybe people underestimate the effort and time involved? Who knows. I just know that this certain person decided that we didn't need key props the morning of the shoot and that he didn’t have time to collect them.
But rather than complain about this, I take it as another lesson about having a DEDICATED crew and cast.

Reminds me of my own film, which by the way is doing well. Understatement - its doing AMAZING, racing against the Cannes Independent deadline. Im currently conversing with Sydney and London based post production crew which is kinda fun, although costly!
I do not want to look at my phone bill next month!!!

Still reading up on Cannes, it sounds crazy yet amazing. Im really hoping to meet some celebrities, being, in my world, anyone from any Joss Whedon project. Or even Joss himself.
I think I would probably just gape. And maybe do that thing in Waynes world, kneel on the ground and worship saying "im not worthy!".
Who knows what will happen, but I am hoping to be placed with an awesome producer. Im in two minds, someone big has massive kudos and pulling power. Warner Bros, or Fox Searchlight!
But someone smaller probably has more to teach me, yet may not be able to offer me a job afterward or have as much wow factor. Decisions decisions!

BTW if anyone knows a Grader please give them my number/website please!
www.jade-alexander.com so they can contact me!

Also Im crazy excited about my new film poster for Platinum! Check it out!
Xoxo Jade

Auditions and Craziness

What a week! Its been a bit crazy and hard to believe it is still only Thursday.
I think my panda eyes are getting larger, not to mention the fact I feel off because of a coldy/fluy thing in my throat.
My best friend just had a baby, her second. Shocking, I know.
But what a beautiful girl, Ella! Welcome to the world.

I am shooting this weekend and I cant seem to get to bed before 11pm each night! Too much to do!
What? I hear you ask. (Well actually I do not kid myself that people are reading this but it is a good exercise for me and way to keep writing!).
Well, on Tuesday I had an audition with Greg (yep he actually was asked to act), where we played an aussie couple (scary huh?!) and said aussie stuff like sheila, bloke, mate, koala, fosters, backpacking in earls court (WTF???!!!) and pretended it was another language.

Then we must have impressed as we were asked to come back for a callback on wed. So back we went and hopefully impressed the directorwith our ocka

Then afterward I had an audition for XBox Live which consisted of being amazed and "just look like the Xbox is changing your life right now!". Hmmm…ok.

Then this morning I got a call from a rather large prestigious theatre company who would like to audition me for their new show which sounds Amazing!!
So I say:
J: Sure, umm when are you devising the show?
Them: During May
J: Oh sorry I am actually at the Cannes Film Festival then.
T: Oh alright, well we need to think about that, we'll call you back tomorrow.
J: (idiot idiot idiot).

Although I may still have an audition with them it really is not the worst possible choices; do a show with the National Theatre or go to Cannes? Oh life has changed!
So in summary things are going well.

Also my last film I was involved in has gone live.
I am featured in the opening scene, as a chinese woman in Beijing having yum cha with the girls. All in Mandarin!
The Night the Creatures Came Alive part of the 28day Film Festival Challenge is going to be in competition this Saturday so fingers crossed!
Here is a link to the trailer.

Im shooting a short feature this weekend called Spring Rolls, speaking in Mandarin, but written by an Italian scriptwriter, with an Indian director, produced in London.
Should be interesting…….
Bye for now
Jade xoxo

Film Sound Article

Hey,
Just thought to share this amazing read on film making. Its about sound and filmmaking, or to be more accurate about Sound Design and how sound is not just about words, spfx, music. Its about what is being absorbed by the audience when there are no words or less visuals.
Have a read, it taught me a bit about scriptwriting and creating a film.

http://www.filmsound.org/articles/designing_for_sound.htm

New Film

Hey everyone,
Im in a new film called Spring Rolls. Its a chinese film where I play the - well I won't give it away!
But the film is centered around a Chinese woman, and we all have to speak in Mandarin. So I will be working to brush up my chinese.
This is pretty exciting, as it is my first official role since landing in London. I had the European Winter blues through dec-jan and now things are starting to look up. Spring is sprung, the bulbs are popping up over Ealing Green and things are looking much much better.
Funny how much a little sun can change your mood!
till next time
xoxo jade