The video featured is the making of video of the team’s last short film: FRANK.
This is a message from the team about their next film, which is a crowd-funded project:
What we want:
Writer-directors Joe Parham (private tutor and writer for comedy shows on BBC and Cartoon Network) and Ben Target (gardener and Edinburgh Newcomer Award nominated stand-up), in association with Turtle Canyon Films (award-winning production company), need funding for their new short film The Bird, which is shooting in April 2013.
We’ve just completed our first short film collaboration, Frank, which is being considered for a number of international short film festivals. We want to keep the independent ethos ofFrank, and feel that crowd sourcing the £2500 funding we need for our new film is an ideal way to do that.
The Bird, which will star Nighty Night’s Julia Davis and sketch group Sheeps’ Alastair Roberts, is an ambitious project, and will require complicated visual effects, intricate set design, and the services of a bird control specialist (someone’s got to keep these guys in work.) So without a helping hand from you guys, this fantastic project won’t see the light of day.
What the film is:
The Bird is the story of a young man forced to take drastic action when his grieving mother refuses to acknowledge his existence, lavishing all her attentions instead on a loyal garden bird that visits her every morning. In his desperation, the young man first murders the bird, and then attempts to become the bird… but will this be enough to attract his mother’s affection, jolt her out of her malaise, and honour the memory of his mysteriously killed father?
This film will be an unusual but gripping and moving story, laconic and brutal at times, but humorous and absurd at others.
Why we’re good for it:
We will use your money to make this film with the passion and care that your generosity deserves, and the final product will be a testament to your kindness and belief in us. It will also allow us move beyond the short film format. The idea is eventually to build this short up into a feature. This feature would be a concept based on The Bird, both in tone and narrative. You are therefore not just helping to fund a short, but a feature film in the making.
If it sounds like you’re chucking your money at a bunch of chancers, a quick peek at Turtle Canyon Films will reassure you that it’s in safe hands. They’ve have had their short films shown in, among other places, the London Film Festival and Channel 4. The Bird is their most ambitious short film to date and has the potential to reach a wide audience, at film festivals and beyond.
How do you know we won’t just spend your money on a weekend in the Oblivion Suite at the Alton Towers Hotel? You don’t.