FILMART 2015 - HONG KONG VIDEO BLOG

Last week was spent mostly with my producer and friend David Freedman in one of the most truly amazing cities in the world, Hong Kong. We were there for FILMART 2015, it’s basically the Cannes of Asia and it’s the world’s biggest market place for the buying and selling of action and martial arts films. The place for any self-respecting martial arts film producers to be… and somehow we made it! :-)

The event took place in the Hong Kong Convention & Exhibition Centre, a gigantic building resting on the Victoria Harbour. We were blown away on arrival, FILMART has now grown into one of the top film markets in the world with many Hollywood and International film production and distribution companies also in attendance, and we were very privileged to have been there ourselves. Needless to say the event was a huge success for us. Not only did we hit it off with prestigious filmmakers and producers who otherwise wouldn’t have given us the time of day, but we also drummed up a fair bit of new business angles for our own movie. Things look good for us now and I can only look back to 2 years ago, when I was at a real loss with my production company, and be proud of how far we’ve come. But more importantly, excited at how far left we have to go. 

Unfortunately it wasn’t possible to take pictures of the inside of the event (probably would have looked amateur doing it anyway) but while in Hong Kong we managed to shoot our own little VLog of what we got up to. I say little, it could have been 30 minutes long if we wanted it to be, instead we’ve taken the most relevant bits of the trip and condensed it into a faster paced action packed 15 minutes of Hong Kong Phooey! The VLog also includes a bit of video we did manage to shoot on the sly while FILMART was closing down!

Follow our random adventures in the Orient through the link below. Hope you like them, peeps!

Improvise Films - Hong Kong Filmart Video Blog

THE LIBERATOR - A WORK OF ART

So the new poster is complete and online for all eyes to see! I felt compelled to write a few words about the man responsible for this awesome piece of work. The very talented David Ayling.  

It’s no easy task to create a movie poster under any circumstances, and when you’re pushed to work to a tight deadline it’s even more challenging. Not to mention that we had decided from the outset that we didn’t just want your standard action cover that you see on every poster these days and just walk right past. You know the one’s I mean. No we wanted something a little more special. Something a little vintage. And in true, 80’s Action style, David was just the man for the job.

What we wanted was something that was a bit of a nod to the greats like the iconic work of Drew Struzan, the guy who painted most of the posters you love but never knew who did them.

With maybe a hint of the bold and busy work of Brian Bysouth for good measure. And on top of that we still needed to honour a contemporary feel. This is a tough concept to deliver, hence why people cheat and tend to keep it more simple these days.

However, we couldn’t be happier with the style and structure of what David created. Personally, I am very impressed. Not only does it capture the feel of The Liberator so well, it also manages to tick all the aforementioned boxes above. We are all very excited to have this work of art as the image that represents the whole machine.

David was kind enough to provide me with a few words about his career:

“Background info-wise, ummm, let’s see… I trained in art & design and graduated from university with a degree in theatre design, but found myself working almost exclusively in the film industry, providing conceptual design, storyboards and more lately poster designs for a number of independent film projects (one or two of which actually have got made!). Film has always been my greatest love, so I don’t mind the direction my career has gone in at all!”

You can find more of David’s very cool artwork over at http://davimusprime.deviantart.com

Have a browse, you’ll be glad you did.

Thank you, David! We look forward to collaborating more in the future!