Monk3ys Artwork as it was at the time we won Raindance.
The days are blurring and long. No one knows what day it is even the concept of a weekend or a day off has evaporated. My partner in crime Paul Hamer has had to go back to Reading to sort stuff out, I think it that the Power has got to him and he needs a bit of a break. I don’t blame him in the slightest. He will however be back late tomorrow night.
This has completely changed the dynamics of the Making of Documentary for a couple of days. It is very strange not having Paul here, but the interviews are now very different. When it is just me with a camera balanced on my knee the connection somehow becomes more intimate. I feel that my subject is more relaxed, like it is more informal. They (the subject) become less guarded and the secrets start to fall out.
The problem comes with the fact that Paul Hamer is a fantastic technical camera operator and the image quality with him is first rate. Not my shoddy, shaky slightly out of focus attempts. What to do? I want the intimacy that I think can only be gained through these very informal chats and yet the quality that can only be achieved through his brilliance and absolute control. There is no obvious solution to this problem or truth be told am I so tired that I am imagining that there is a problem.
The catering has somehow managed to get worse. I can’t believe that it is possible, everyone is complaining and we have had folk say that they are getting ill. I am fantasising or possibly hallucinating that I am Oliver Twist “Please sir can I have some ….. thing bloody edible?”
I have received several phone calls from Drew Cullingham. As soon as we finish “the Power” Paul Hamer and I start on “Black Smoke Rising” this is kind of the baby brother of Drew’s wonderful script “Bolivia”. I am tingling with excitement this really is the film I have been waiting to make. No horror, no Vampires or bloody Zombies. A real Generation X film this is a film about us all.
My role on “Black Smoke Rising” is to be the 1st AD, line producer and location manager. Paul Hamer will do sound and he is also to take on the responsibility for the Making of Documentary. So we are both getting a promotion since our previous outing with Monk3ys films. Things are looking up. But then .. check this out. I am just about to say good bye to Drew and he says “Oh yeah.. before I forget Monk3ys has been nominated for best Micro Budget film at the Raindance Festival thought you might want to know”
My next phone call was to Paul Hamer, I told him the news. His excitement was a joy to hear, I love this guy, he is my Brother. Once I hung up to him a sat on my own and balled my eyes out. I don’t know why, I just cried like a baby for about twenty minutes.