On the Shoulders of Giants

 

Change everything you know about the future...

The trailer from Water on the Rock's latest SF feature On the Shoulders of Giants went online yesterday, and what a corker it is. Obviously I'm biased, because I act in the thing, but as a hardcore sci-fi fan this stuff really tickles my inner geek.

I play Navigator Hyatt on board a super-advanced spaceship in the 23rd century, on its maiden voyage to test out the new Einstein-Rosen Drive. Several things about this role excited me. First, I'd get a laser gun. Second, I'd get a jetpack. Third, it would likely be the closest thing to Blake's 7 I'd ever to act in, (one of my all-time favourite TV shows.) Plus there's a talking computer called CAARN, and I happen to think that talking computers are cool...

We filmed this in the Spring of 2010, over the course of six or seven weeks, inside a derelict church in the centre of Leeds. But you wouldn't know this to look at the film, which has every appearance of being shot in a professional studio. And this recording space served us so faithfully, realising everything from Zepethar's quarters on the Leviathan to the barren wastelands of Theta-25L. Our director, 'Captain' Kenneth D. Barker, put his colour key skills to good use by shooting many of these impressive vistas against a green screen, allowing for many of the breathtaking visuals to be painted in later.

So it had been two years since I last donned Navvy Hyatt's Doc Martens, but I was chuffed and excited when Kenneth asked me to return to the role in February to record some extra voices for the project. And as if that wasn't exciting enough, I soon discovered that Hannah Rosbon, Vicki Glover and Waleed Khalid - actors from my upcoming film Life on Earth Retold - had also been offered voice-over roles! Brilliant! (See the video below.)

On the Shoulders of Giants is due for release in the Summer of 2012 via www.wotr.co.uk. Everybody involved in the project worked with relentless friendliness and enthusiasm, and if only 1% of that love ends up on screen, it'll still be one of the finest and most honest features out there.

*Hyatt over and out*

5 Years Later... 'Life on Earth Retold' Theatrical Trailer

Mark your diaries, circle your calendars, take the day off work... on Monday 9th April 2012, Life on Earth Retold will arrive on DVD at skerratt-media.co.uk. Check out the all-new trailer above for a taste of what's to come. And see if you can crack the Hidden Code...

The very first shot of LOE 2007: Spike giving a Palaeontology
Lecture!

As you will know if you've been following my blog, I didn't plan the release to fall at this time, and yet it's worked out rather well. Come the 9th April, it will have been one year, (though not quite to the day), since I started writing the script, meaning the whole production process has taken a neat and tidy twelve months.

More signifcant - and wholly more deliberate - is the fact that the 9th April, (to the day, this time), marks the fifth anniversary of the Life on Earth series. Yep, on that day in 2007, (which was also a Monday!) Spike Ombre, along with Mack the faithful laptop and his digital friends, went online with Episode One: Fiends Reunited, in which a demon-possessed Ezra Lord attempted to raise a long lost civilisation fom the ashes, which just happened to be buried beneath the cathedral city of Lincoln!

LOE 2007: Spike chats to his laptop, Mack, as he strolls home
through Lincoln.

It all started because, frankly, I was bored at university. I was doing a Drama degree, (and yes it's a solid, proper academic subject, before I get letters), but I was only in lectures for about nine hours a week. I felt like I was losing my mind.

And then one evening - I remember it vividly - I was telling Richard Cooper (Ezra Lord) how I was desperate to get back into filmmaking, but I didn't know how to do it! I'd need a cast, a crew... I couldn't have Spike Ombre alone in his flat, just talking to himself, and fighting off... himself! At which point Rich laughed and coyly remarked, "knowing you, he'd probably just talk to his computer!"

The preverbial lightbulb lit up, my eyes widened, the penny dropped (further than ever before), and I grinned widely... "That's it! That's perfect!!"

LOE 2007: The mysterious Ezra Lord arrives at Spike's flat...

I never imagined, five years on, I'd still be doing it. But then, I love all the characters so much. It's a cliche, but they really are like best friends, or relatives. Sometimes I go a while without speaking to them, and yet when I do, it's like we've never been apart.

So do watch the trailer for Life on Earth Retold, and if you enjoy it, please could you share with / pass on to your friends, because I made this stuff to be seen, and I can't afford an aggressive billboard campaign just yet, (I'm saving that for the tenth anniversary.)

And on that note - see you in 2017, for Life on Earth: The Hoverboard Invasion.