The second part of LBFCo’s Interview with Adam Spinks and the crew from SURVIVORS

The following interview has been drawn from a set responses to questions presented to Adam Spinks and members of the crew from the film SURVIVORS by LBFCo.

What is you and your teams vision for the film beyond post? 

Our intention is to complete SURVIVORS over the winter of 2012-2013 and then hold an Advanced Screening Premiere for all of our backers, friends, family and industry insiders. We will likely release some tickets for sale to raise money for festival submissions.

Many festivals require the film to be of Premiere Status, so we will not hold public screenings until after it’s festival run. It is our hope that the film will get picked up for a distribution deal during the course of its festival run and shown in cinemas in the UK.

Can you tell us how you will measure the success of the film or benchmarks set by you and the team for the project?

Our measure of success will be having our film released and for people to have the opportunity to see our story. SURVIVORS purpose is twofold, to provide a platform for undiscovered talent working in the independent community while telling a unique story with a genuine message.

As our budget is small, there is less pressure so perform at the box office and by crowdfunding we’ve deliberately avoided being sucked into that predicament . We hope that people turn out to see SURVIVORS because it stands on it’s own as a unique and daring genre piece with an emotional heart they might not have expected.

Does your schedule align with any festivals that allows you to premiere SURVIVORS?

Our current plan is to shoot the movie over the Summer of 2012 and then complete post-production over the Winter between 2012-2013. You might see a short film of ours entering Virgin Media Shorts in 2012, depending on scheduling and the likelihood is that we’ll be undertaking Sci-Fi London’s 48 Film Challenge in April.

If asked about influences and inspirations, what might the answer be for you and your close team?

We grew up on the films of Spielberg’s early stuff, on Zemeckis’ BACK TO THE FUTURE and George Lucas’ STAR WARS, so their influence upon the team cannot be underestimated.

The scope of SURVIVORS stretches beyond anything we’ve seen attempted at such a low budget level before so we’ve probably got them to thank for our grandiose ideas and stories!

We loved TROLL HUNTER (2011) and Gareth Edwards’ MONSTERS (2010) and would cite them as big inspirations for what we’re trying to do with this project. They are both incredibly well made and transcend their relatively low budgets and stand toe to toe, we feel, with their peers.

What items would you and your team say are pieces of equipment you just can’t live without out in the field?

A small sewing kit to fix any costume disasters and eyelash glue to save any prosthetics we may need to rescue but save on real prosthetic glue.

It’s also important to take a good supply of water and a flask of hot drinks.

Keep extra tapes/ hard disks at the ready because in this day and age, it’s cheap as chips to keep shooting and you never know when your actors will give you something amazing.

I suggest that above all else, you should take an open mind with you. Be aware of the script but be receptive and open to the suggestions of others… that and take a watch, time is expensive so make it count.

Our special thanks to Adam and his team who took the time to answer our questions while campaigning for SURVIVORS.

Interested in knowing more? Check out the SURVIVORS campaign at:
http://www.indiegogo.com/The-Survivors-Movie-Project

You catch regular updates, comments and pictures on their Facebook page at:
https://www.facebook.com/Survivorsmovie2012?bookmark_t=page

Posted by Russell Southam

LBFCo’s Interview with Adam Spinks and the crew from SURVIVORS

The following interview has been drawn from a set responses to questions presented to Adam Spinks and members of the crew from the film SURVIVORS by LBFCo.

Can you outline the size of the team and roles?

The SURVIVORS film consists of a core team being myself, Adam Spinks, Director along with Producers Phill Biggs and Ellie Harvie-August.

We also have an incredible Executive Producer in Michael Beddoes.

Is the team located close to each other or spread far and wide?

The core team are great friends, all living within a few miles of each other in Surrey, United Kingdom.

How did the team come together?

I met Ellie whilst we were both at school and we found ourselves taking the Media Studies course together for our A-Levels. It was here that we shot and edited our first film Breaking THE SILENCE. After going on to study at separate Universities, we reconvened in 2011 to work on the short film project SUNSET 9:04.

Phill Biggs studied Civil Engineering at the University of Swansea before returning to Surrey in 2009. During that summer, I was making my first professional short film THE STRANGER. Phill, intrigued, offered to help on the set and soon found himself immersed in the creative and technical processes of filmmaking. Phill became a Producer on my next short A DIFFERENT LIFE (for which the screenplay was a finalist in the 2010 Student Screenplay Competition). In April 2011, Phill acted as Executive Producer and Editor to the short film SUNSET 9:04 premiering as part of Virgin Media Shorts 2011.

After the success of my short film project I decided to pitch the idea I’d had all along for a feature film. This would go on to become SURVIVORS.

How did the script develop?

SUNSET 9:04 follows two survivors as they struggle to cope with life after a cataclysmic event. The whole team fell in love with the story and they all jumped straight into the feature film project within weeks of completing the short that SURVIVORS originates from.

I wrote the first draft,scoping out the story and characters that would populate it. I then contacted Laurence Timms whom I had worked with on the App Based TV Drama PERSONA. A writer of great talent, Laurence agreed to take on the project and work on subsequent drafts with me.

Plot and point of difference?

SURVIVORS has much more in common with Spielberg’s WAR OF THE WORLDS or with Gareth Edwards 2010 film MONSTERS than it does with films such as Romero’s excellent DAWN OF THE DEAD. We are keen to stress that although this film is set in the midst of a cadaverous (zombie) apocalypse, our story is about people.

This is a close, personal and intimate portrait of the survivors of a war between man and it’s enemies. This is less about explosions and more about the people that inhabit the world that has been created. Our main narrative question, our tagline is: How far would you go to survive?

We all like to think that we’d take a bullet for the people around us but the reality is probably far different… would you stand and fight for your life or would you give it for the salvation of mankind? We meet a variety of people in the film who don’t always do what we would expect or make the best choices.

Have there been any problems finding locations or gaining permits etc?

We have been incredibly lucky in that the team has been given unparalleled access to warehouse space above the shops in a small town called Chertsey. It is our intention to shoot the majority of our interior work within these premises. Permission to shoot in just about every crew members house was given because they’ve been impressed with what they’ve seen so far.

We’re currently working to get inside a Church, for a fairly crucial scene, and the location request letters landed in post boxes last week, fingers crossed.

What is your budget for say… Crew, Camera and Contingencies?

We’re trying to hit $3000 and we believe that will be enough. After investing previously in our own production equipment we will be able to reduce rental rates when we eventually begin our principle photography. The biggest issue for us is that it’s often a struggle to find days when everybody is free. The state of things here in the United Kingdom is such that many creative people struggle to find regular paid employment in the industry and so rely on “day jobs” to pay their bills.

We’re focussing on being ready in the summer and, once we’re fully cast, we will be putting together a schedule. Our intention is to begin casting in April and have rehearsals in June and July. Photography is tentatively slated in for August, as the days are longer but the sun has got that ‘Autumnal’ wonderful golden glow about it.

What has been the hardest thing about developing the project and were there any frustrations or surprises to date?

Getting everybody in the same room on the same day is probably the hardest thing. It’s less of an issue with the core team, since we live so close, but without skype and the wonder of the Internet, things would certainly be a lot harder than they have been so far.

Fundraising has been a blast, the support we’ve received on twitter and through our facebook groups has been outstanding.

We have recently been featured on Sci-Fi Londons weekly webisode THE PULSE, where they have shown our teaser trailer and linked to our Indiegogo.com page. We’ve also been amazed with just how generous people have been with their donations and with their time. It warms our hearts that people out there are rooting for us and willing to come on this journey with us through production.

Why Crowdfunding and how did you come up with your rewards?

Here in the UK, funding has become quite hard to come across. Especially for new filmmakers with little box office success spread between them. Crowdfunding is changing the world of low budget cinema because the audience now has the opportunity to vote with their dollars.

I think people out there are genuinely getting tired of the endless stream of remakes and sequels that fill our multiplexes and have begun reaching out to find great stories. The Indie Community is the ideal place to find original material and the filmmakers are queueing up for the chance to tell their stories. Also, the work that is being carried out by the Anthony (AD) Lane and his Indywood film project INVASION OF THE NOT QUITE DEAD was a big inspiration to us and really helped open our eyes to the world of film fans and crowdfunding.The power of many I guess.

Our choice of perks was simple, if people are parting with their hard earned cash we felt it was important to offer genuine opportunities. The higher the perk you select, the greater the opportunity. Donating over $250 for example means that we will submit your details to IMDb to receive production credits (please go look over our perks!).

Should SURVIVORS do well, it could be you picking up an award at a festival sometime in the future.

The second part of this interview with Adam and the crew will be published on the Sunday, 12th of February.

Posted by Russell Southam