Re-writing The Photographer script by Mark Gingell

The Christmas break is over and the long anticipated production of the next film has begun. I harnessed the help of good friend and fellow P.M.F member, Craig Simmonds with directing, with myself being elected as Producer. Craig directed the film before Christmas successfully and is the co-founder of Craig and Harry Music Videos,[http://craigandharry.co.uk/] which is developing rapidly on Youtube. 

We have altered The Photographer script to make it more sinister and relevant to today's society, focussing on projecting the theme of peoples obsession with celebrities and that of becoming one. With the rapid popularity of the promiscuous website,chatroulette.com, which allows people to show what they want on their web-cams to other users, this illustrates people will go to any lengths to have their moment of fame, which makes our script/film very relevant. 

At first, Craig and I began to write the script together, which didn't prove to be very efficient as one of us would be sat there doing nothing whilst to other wrote their part. We quickly counteracted this and I volunteered to finish off the draft.

In this vital stage of production, where my job as Producer is at its most demanding, I have been sending out casting calls and researching locations, whilst Craig has been viewing films from the psycho-thriller genre to get some tips on camera angles and narrative. This proactive manner during pre-production will save us a lot of hassle when the production weekend arrives in March. I want the best locations this time, and want the actors to be cast appropriately and be as passionate as Craig and I, and this obviously takes a lot of time and dedication to organise. 

We have called the film, Voyeur, because of the close links that the film has with Peeping Tom, the 1960's thriller. The voyeuristic elements of each film consists of a character's obsession with using a camera to capture somebody's reaction or emotion: In Peeping Tom's case, filming his killings for self gratification. Voyeur strays along the same line, but the camera acts to project it out to other viewers and provide fame to the character who forged the plan- in this case, Claudia.

There is still lots of work to do, and hopefully the next time you read this blog, I will have a greater idea of the locations and actors I wish to use.

Here is a link to a clip of the controversial thriller, Peeping Tom (1960)- this spelled the end of the director's career because of its vulgarity, but today the film is recognised as a cult classic: