Monthly Archives: December 2012

Happy New Year (again) and Why (part II)

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This blog was started the first day of this very year, which is about to end (UTC+1 time zone!) and the second post was titled “Why” and dealt about the reasons of making a short film. There was also a “part one” in brackets, and one year later I feel the urge to drop a few lines about why this project has become a webseries, why it’s worth making it and why there’s nothing to watch yet.

A series is the only thing in independent film/video production that can have a market in these days, period. We can’t think of a feature, or a single short: being a company, investing a lot of what is still our own money, we have to think this way. I want to make clear that this is not something we regret or we’re ashamed of; considering how much television influenced the popular culture with great shows (even really bad ones, but that’s not what we’re talking about now) we’d be glad to be part of that arena.

Obviously, we must be aware of competing in a different league, but the web and all of its distribution opportunities are making possible something which was pure fantasy only a few years back. With the pilot episode of The Wakefield Variation we want to show the internet audience our take on independent webseries: an international blend of creative talent and professionals putting efforts into a small but ambitious project.
If you think it sounds like a lot of hard work you already know why it takes time 🙂 Happy New Year everyone!

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TWV has officially entered production stage!

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Tuesday, december 11th marked the beginning of the actual production of The Wakefield Variation, as we shot the title sequence which we hope will keep us company for a long, long time 🙂

We’re not going to spoil anything of the great things that bunnygraphic will make of the footage, so we’ll just show you some pictures (taken by executive producer Gabriele Burchi). Nonetheless, we would like to thank people like Alberto Nildi, who served as camera operator/grip and represented a great asset with his dolly arm and slider, custom built to suit the canon 5D mkII used for the shooting; also Emilio Maio deserves our gratitude for providing the vintage reel to reel recorder, a very precious item for production design.

Last but not least, Spy Shop Cecina gets a mention for providing the surveillance gear… but you should already know that. If you didn’t, just scroll a few posts back!

Shooting the title sequence/2

Alberto Nildi and Alessandro De Nicola (series creator/producer)

Shooting the title sequence/3

generations apart!

Shooting the title sequence/1

Gianluca Olmastroni (series creator/director), Eleonora Tabanelli a.k.a. bunnygraphic (motion graphic designer, head of title sequence design) and Alberto Nildi

Martedì 11 dicembre ha segnato l’inizio ufficiale della fase di produzione di The Wakefield Variation, con le riprese della sequenza dei titoli che speriamo ci faccia compagnia per tanto tempo 🙂

Non vi rovineremo la sorpresa delle cose fantastiche che bunnygraphic farà col girato, quindi vi mostreremo solo qualche foto (scattate dal produttore esecutivo Gabriele Burchi). Nondimeno, vorremo ringraziare persone come Alberto Nildi, che ha fatto da operatore/macchinista rappresentando una preziosa risorsa, con il suo slider e crane autocostruiti su misura per la Canon 5D MkII usata per girare; anche Emilio Maio merita la nostra gratitudine per aver fornito il registratore a bobine, un prezioso elemento scenografico.

Ultimo ma non ultimo, ringraziamo calorosamente Spy Shop Cecina per l’attrezzatura di sorveglianza, ma dovreste già saperlo. In caso contrario, scorrete indietro di qualche post!

Casting directors (and a new call)

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Adrian Hughes and David Thomas performing on stage

Adrian Hughes and David Thomas performing on stage

Here we are, another step forward while in pre-production for the pilot episode of The Wakefield Variation. Yes, we’re not hiding anymore, this is going to be a (web)series, and we have to think big! That is why we asked the founders of the English Theatre Company in Pisa to help us casting the new characters of the series. They were happy to join the team – as much as we are happy to have them on board – so you should know a little more about them:

ADRIAN HUGHES is a trained ballet dancer and is a graduate of UCT Drama School (South Africa).  He received his Masters degree in Contemporary Performance & Theatre Directing from Brunel University (London, UK).

Plays include: Shakespeare Unplugged (volumes 1-3); Boy Meets Boy (Nico Arena, Market Theatre); Dario Fo’s Elizabeth I; The Marat/Sade; A Little Hotel on The Side; Twelfth Night; The Trial; Blood on The Cat’s Neck; The Possibilities; Quartet; The Bacchae; Trick (Zip Zap Circus); The Blue House(Man in the Moon & Teatro Agorà, Rome); Narrow Rooms; Theatresports SA.  He wrote and directed Sad Since Tuesday, which was invited to Escrita Na Paisagem & Festival Y in Portugal.

DAVID THOMAS is a graduate of the University of Cape Town Drama School.

Theatre Includes: Shakespeare Unplugged (volumes 1-3), Romeo and Juliet, King Lear, Othello, Macbeth, Cabaret, Boy Meets Boy, Trick, Beyond Reasonable Doubt, Grin and Bare It, The Normal Heart, Sad Since Tuesday(UK & Portugal), The Blue House (Teatro Agora @ Man in the Moon Theatre, Chelsea).  Film includes Options, Sweet Murder, Traitors.  TV includes Othello (ITV- UK and ABC- USA), The Adventures of Sinbad (USA), Heritage (Canale 5, France), Poison Butterfly.  He was a cradle trapeze artist and clown in The Dream Circus and Zip Zap Circus and performed with Theatresports SA.

Beside their website mentioned above, you can learn more about the English Theatre Company on Facebook and Twitter!

Did we mention a new casting call? Well, the pilot episode won’t be just Michael and Kelsey… We might a need hint of what the rest of the series is going to be: so if you’re a tall (1.80/5’11” at least) male actor, native english speaker (but living in Italy) playing age 28-35… we’ll be happy to schedule an audition!