LewisArnold.co.uk

Shooting at a Bore Well with the aid of the village kids.

Kids enjoying clean water in the village of Cestcomeh in the distrist of Tera.

Abu Eesa carrying water back to a village.

Saying bye to some kids on our journey

Here are a few finished promos which I’ve recently had the joy of completing as a 1st A.D within London! Check them out and I hope you enjoy!

I had the pleasure of working with Gas and Electric’s, Nicholas Bentley on the follow up to Scouting for Girls number one hit, ‘This ain’t a love song’. The video for ‘Famous’ sees the band build a huge set of TV’s to showcase their musical skills, nicely bridging the bands mainstream following with Nick’s gondry-esq style. The video was shot over one very long day, and we had some big Art department dresses which tested the schedule and my A.D ability. Shoot by Dan Stafford-Clark the video has come out really well and has receiving great reviews from the bands fans. Also worth noting that the video was produced by none other then Tom Knight, my long time producer and the Batman to my Robin!

Scouting For Girls - Famous

Next up I recently re-teamed with Flynn’s director Johny Mourgue to tackle Dennis Ferrer’s track ‘Hey hey’. With Mourgue’s background in graphics, he is currently rebuilding and pushing for a much more drama based reel and his idea for ‘hey hey’ tackles issue of infidelity, domestic violence, love and trust! Considering the ambitions of the project it was one of only a handful of jobs which went according to the schedule all day! Mainly due to the talents and enthusiasm of D.O.P Steve Annis and the awesome production team lead by Andy Noble!

Earlier this year also saw director Tom King tackling Kids in Glass Houses new single ‘Undercover Lover’ and I was delighted to be asked 1st A.D for him. The shoot took place in a beautifully converted church and Tom had come up with a great idea with an Alice in Wonderland vibe, which pitted Alid and The Saturdays’ Frankie against each other. It was a joy to shoot 35mm and the crew worked really hard under expert D.O.P Joe Dyer! Check it out and also look out for Tom’s other video for the band!

Finally I had the joy of working with Stamp’s HopeAudikana again over June on a promo for Lauren Pritchard and her single ‘Painkillers’. The guys ideas are always super slick and they have such a great eye for interesting and beautiful images its a joy to work with them. This particular idea saw us commandeer the incredible Bentley Hotel in Kensington which is dead posh. Check it out below and also take a minute to look at all the directors work at their respective sites!

So over recent months I have possibly been the worst blogger ever, managing a blog every few months. So with lots going on around us and the weather shining brightly, I thought it was about time to catch up and offload the last few months into one super blog! Here goes…

First up over June and July I was forutnate enough to get the opportuntity to take ‘Stained’ over to Brussels and Poland for the Brussels Short Film Festival and the 50th Krakow Film Festival. First up was Brussels which was such an incredible experience, for what I can remember. To start with all the filmmakers were put up in a four star hotel and very well looked after by the festival, with loads of free drinks kicking around over the four day stay. I immediately found drinking buddies in filmmakers Florian Fessl and Alexandru Mavrodineanu who’s films had recently screened at Clermont-Ferrand and we spent a lot of time socializing and watching movies with one party on a random boat lasting till breakfast the next morning!

Krakow was a very different experience and I spent a lot of time getting in some culture and exploring the city and its history, fitting in visits to Schindler’s Factory and the old ghetto wall. The festival was huge, spanning over the entire city and the films where again of such a hugh standard. I had the opportunity to meet a great director in David Hausen who directed the Red Hot Chili Peppers ‘untitled documentary’ and some other American and Canadian film makers who where all very inspirational and young!

In June I also teamed up with old friend and fine artist Philip Barber to form directing duo, Arnold&Barber. After talking at length during many beers about a shared distain for convention and a love of all things film, we released that with our very different creative backgrounds, we’d be able to really challenge each other and push to make fresh, creative content. Our plan is to work together on a variety of commercials and promos, currently pitching through Radar Music videos with an aim of getting signed over 2010/11.

Keeping my drama / narrative work separate from this joyous forming, we have so far won two pitches through Radar, completing videos for artists David E. Sugar and Mr Fogg! With Sugar’s video been released on Monday 12th July online, the video saw us centre around David’s performance and subsequently painting him completely white to re-project his initial image over the top; making him a canvas for his own work.

I have also had a great few months working with some superb directors as a 1st A.D over recent months including promos for Kids in Glass Houses ft Frankie, Sunday Girl, Lauren Pritchard and Two Door Cinema Club. I also have had the chance to re team with some awesome directors, Hope Audikana, Elisha Smith-Leverock of Stamp Films. But possibly the most exciting job to date has been a Kerrang ident for Box TV which we shoot last Wednesday.

With Nicholas Bentley at the directing helm, the 30 second film ends with us blowing stuff up at 1,000 frames a second. Without giving to much away we shoot over a morning in Pinewood, using SFX wizard Andy Mcvean as our explosives guy and Jason Eberman as our Phantom operator the shoot went well and was backed up by some superb cinematography by Dan Stafford-Clark. Tom and myself have always talked about blowing shit up but finally here was an opportunity to do so and I have to say, I’m hooked!!!

Whilst currently promoting ‘Stained’ and updating my showreel, last month I was lucky enough to work on a selection of promos a viral and a short film as a 1st assistant director, with an array of talented individuals.

First up I recently had the pleasure of working with one of Stamp’s newest Director’s, the brilliant Elisha Smith-Leverock, as she shoot two new promos for artists Sunday Girl and Mini Viva. With both promos Elisha brings her ‘indie-fashion shoot approach’ to the pop genre, creating beautifully shot pieces, constructed with a genuine love for her art. The shoots themselves couldn’t have been more different, with one being shoot in a Hackney tower block and the other in a luxury property by Hyde Park Corner.

March also saw me reunite with Tom Knight but this time as a 1st A.D. as he produced Scouting for Girls latest video, directed by Gas and Electric’s Nicholas Bentley. Nicholas’ ambitious Gondry-esq idea, is currently in post production and will be out later this year on the back of the bands current number 1 single.

With the month drawing to a close, I also completed 1st A.D duties on my first 35mm project, in the form of Jessica Lux’s short film ‘Dots’. I also had the chance to work with the legendary Nick Frew of Flynn Productions, on a nice viral produced by Hannah Chandler.

With La Roux’s new video for ‘TigerLily’ and a promo with Tom King of Gas and Electric already penciled in for the first few weeks of April, I’m also hoping to be able to start pushing for my next directing gig over the course of April and May. Look out for new reels and ‘Stained’ extracts here soon!

As I’ve been quiet for such a long time, I thought I’d treat you to not one but two Stained posters.

The images where taken by photographer Helen Turton during our shoot within Scarborough prison over July and there are still four more to be unveiled. Check her amazing work out at www.helenturton.co.uk

We also had war and action photographer Ian Chapman take some superb behind the stills images which will also be avaliable on the films website in the new year!

For now enjoy…

Last Tuesday I shot the music video for The Crave’s brand new single ‘High’.

It was to be the bands first music video shoot and I had been recommend to their manager by the guys at SupaJam whilst completing the ‘Fast track to FIB’ competition. I spent sometime in between edits and ‘Stained’ pre pro to pull out some basic concepts. These concepts were aimed to complement the small budget and would allow us to focus the money onto the kit and a days worth of filming.

After being commissioned, Duncan McKenzie came onboard as a producer, to help bring together the video in just over a week. This also would enable me to not over stretch myself with ‘Stained’ which was also so close at hand.I had meet Duncan at Aquila and was really impressed by him and his awesome C.V. and he really went to town on the video.

Shooting in Birmingham and using a mix of London and Birmingham based crew we managed to shoot the video using RedOne, courtesy of D.O.P David Litchfield

David was also on hand during the shoot to assist the music videos D.O.P, Brian Fawcatt and his fantastic team. Brian a graduate of the NFTS is a truely awesome talent and name to look out for in the future, if you don’t already know it!

It was my first experience shooting with the RedOne and I have to say I was really impressed by the quality and workflow of the image during the shoot. We had shoot with a set of Nikon Primes on the front of the camera which really helped lift the images as well!

We were also lucky to have access a Crane and Steady CAM bought and operated, on the day, by Jon Iles. Jon is a music video D.O.P who came along as a favor to the bands management and although we had a few technical problems getting a picture from the monitor, meaning we shoot blind, the images from the crane are superb. Thanks to Jon and our focus puller Eva Arnold (no relation) who did an awesome job under the circumstances!

The location itself was a derelict building in Digbeth. A great location were the only staircase was falling apart and near collapse. On the day before the shoot the 1st A.D. David Knight and Duncan found out that the old broken staircase was our only access to the warehouse and beneath was another set of concrete stairs leading into a dark damp basement!

This meant Monday night we called in my best mate (a professional carpenter) and set about building and securing a brand new staircase cable of taking the weight of a generator and our 1st AD Big Dave, nicknamed for obvious reasons. This a side the shoot ran really smoothly and I’d like to thank all the crew, talent, band members and management for their time on this small but professional shoot!

Now its over to Ed Enayat of WhiteHouse Post to bring the edit together before flying sending it on to Steve Ellis of Clusta who will be grading the video ready for an August release!

Pre production is finally in fifth gear for ‘Stained’, after a very long script development process with the awesome Ronnie Thompson and Colin Butts.

I originally read the script in September 2008 after being introduced to Ronnie’s book, ‘Screwed’ an account of prison life from Point of view of an officer. After contacting Ronnie, through the aid of Geoff Thompson, Tom and myself have been trying to cement funding, which has came in the form of Screen WM and Dan Lawson.

It’s a great feeling to finally be visualising and bringing together all the elements too make the film a reality. Their are many obstacles and challenges facing us now, especially given the tight budget.

However we have already tackled the first issue of finding a fantastic prison location, confirming shooting in a disused Prison in Scarborough. Built in the 1800’s it was only used for 2 years before been taken over by the council, who now look after the building which is often used for films and TV programs. We’ve been shown around by the Operations Manager who along with the team at Scarborough Council have been extremely accommodating.

The location itself is superb, with great landings, as shown in the image. It will give off such a dramatic feel and authentic look to the film, it is just ideal and Scarborough Council have been really understanding and helpful. It also means that now we have our location we can really start storyboarding and visualising the script and I hope to have all the boards drawn up by the end of next week.

Will keep you posted as we confirm cast this week and bring onboard crew!

Tuesday 23rd June saw the live final of SupaJam’s ‘Fast track to FIB Heineken 09′. The competition sees Vince Power partner up with Supajam to find Europe’s newest super-band, in a chance to win a slot at this year’s Benicássim festival in Spain, playing alongside Oasis, The Killers and The Kings of Leon.

I had been hired by David Court and Nick Stillwell of SupaJam to produce and direct video content for the event as well as provide the bands with a live promo video for one of their tracks. The final bands were all, in their own right, superb, with killer tracks capable of topping the commercial charts instantly. The bands included The Paris Riots, The Doups, Lost Knives, Suds and Soda and Polly Mackey & the Pleasure Principle.

You must check out The Paris Riots track ‘The Indian’ at Supajam great track which gives an idea of the quality of all the bands.

We decided to shoot Sony Z1 so we could balance cost with kit and get the best possible deal, allowing us to cover the event with four cameras and have space to maneuver around easily within The Pigalle club! I hired in some crew from London through Mandy.com which was a new experience and I was really pleased with all the guys, who I would recommend instantly. We also got some additional kit from VMI in London who gave us a great deal on the cameras.

The day kicked off at 11am after grabbing the kit from VMI. We initially had a chance to meet the bands and then film the sound check to grab some extra coverage of the intend promo track! We also got a feel for each of the bands stage presence and checked out our audio feed from the desk!

The live final itself played out to a packed crowd at The Pigalle Club with each band putting on such a fantastic show which was all captured on camera for those that couldn’t make it. After playing three tracks each, it was up to the industry panel to announce a winner and after much deliberating the judging panel couldn’t pick just one winner meaning that both The Paris Riots and Polly Mackey and the Pleasure Principle will be heading to Fast track to FIB Heineken 09, courtesy of SupaJam.

We’re now in post production at the fantastic WhiteHouse Post in Soho, London with editor Ed Enayat. We will be working hard to get the videos too SupaJam who intend to release them in the next week or two for the fans who couldn’t attend the packed out event, so watch this space!

For those unsigned bands that didn’t enter this year keep checking out www.supajam.com for other competitions and events as well next years competition!

 This Saturday (30th May) I headed back to Cheltenham to screen a selection of short films at the Wychwood Music Festival at the Racecourse. Tom and myself had been invited down by the Viewfinder Film Festival and Cordial AV as part of their three day program.

 However when the program came through we had been scheduled to screen at 11pm till 1am on the Saturday eve! Although this would give us more time to take in the acts my immediate concern was that at a music festival surely people would  be too incapacitated to attend!

 With Tom being ill I decided to leave on the Saturday and head back after the screening. I managed to convince a friend of mine to come on the provider I’d drive so he could drink as much as possible. The festival itself was held at Cheltenham racecourse and is the cleanest, family orientated festival known to man where even the drunks are friendly.

 The festival itself was packed and the cinema tent was parked in a small corner of the racecourse next to a very loud stand up tent! It was being run by Tim Pellat and Rob James of Cordial AV who’s knowledge of all things digital would blow up the likes of Stephen Hawking’s fragile mind!

 After a quick catch up and a beer we managed to catch a few acts whilst the sun was still in the sky including The Beat, Supergrass and the immensely funny Mundo Jazz (check them out was surprised how much I laughed during their set and I was soba).

 As 11pm approached I headed over to the cinema tent with a very drunk Simon. The tent was empty so we opted to start the two hour slot by screening Duke ‘Message in a Bottle’ in hope people would be drawn in by the music. It initial seemed to work but no sooner had people walked in, they walked straight back out again! Now I had started I continued on the course playing ‘Leave of Absence’, ‘Long-standing’ through to ‘Spirited’ to a small intimate audience of around 16 people. Other people came in and out as the evening progressed but overall I was happy with the turn out as I had expect about two people to attend! Thanks to those that did turn out!

 The most amusing sight of the day came as I finished the screening and a couple walked into the tent with a wheel barrow. Inside the barrow they had a small child curled up and covered in blankets, sheltering from the cold, fast asleep. This image typically summoned up the festivals hippy / family vibe!