Fake Dog at the Edinburgh International Film Festival!
Written 27 days ago by DaraThe Edinburgh Film Festival took place last month from June 16th to 27th and I was there front and centre for some serious plugging opportunities! And a I caught a few films, too!
The opening film was The Illusionist, an animated film set in 1950s Edinburgh, directed by Sylvain Chomet (Belleville Rendez-Vous (2003)). It sold out pretty sharp-ish, but I went along to the red carpet anyway!
Ben “I dispatched the blaggard with my shiv“ Miller
Ewen Bremner (yes, it’s Spud from Trainspotting!)
His name escapes me, but he was in Harry Potter, apparently!
One of the festival highlights was a special gala screening of The Man Who Would Be King (1975) in the Festival Theatre, which Sean Connery attended! That’s right, John Mason himself.
“Your besht?” Brilliant. What a legend. He was really nice, and quite funny. He’s 80 now. Mad.
I also attended a screening and Q & A by the Quay Brothers. They’re American identical twins who make stop-motion films in the classic Eastern-European style. Very weird stuff, but interesting.
One of my favourite parts of the festival was the retrospective of British films, called After the Wave. These were all films made after the landmark British new wave films of the late ’50s and ’60s, which often dominate British cinema history. My favourite film from the programme was The Hard Way (1979), which was shot in ’70s Ireland with Lee Van Cleef and Patrick McGoohan (so I’m claiming that one as Irish and not British!). And I really liked The Final Programme (1973) as well. Some of the films even had the directors in attendance.
Ken Russell was in attendance at the screening of his film, Savage Messiah (1972). He wasn’t up to saying much, but it was good to see the man in person!
Horace Ové attended the screening of his film, Pressure (1976), the first British film to be directed by a black man. It’s about the British-born son of an immigrant Trinidadian family, trying to find his place between two cultures. Some of the amateur acting lets it down, but it’s quite a powerful and interesting film.
I also bumped into a few familiar faces on my travels.
Myself and Timothy Spall. He was very sound. I gave him a Fake Dog business card and all. So there’s a very distant chance he could be reading this blog. If so: Hello, Tim. Alright mate?
And I met Brian Cox! It was very exciting.
And here I am with B.M. (he’s much bigger in real life)!
Tilda Swinton was also about. She and film critic Mark Cousins organised a big dance towards the end of the festival, as co-ordinated by Laurel & Hardy in Way Out West. Then they explained their new scheme to introduce children to cinema, called the 8 1/2 Foundation, followed by a screening of The White Balloon (1995).
Other notable screenings included the international premiere of Boy (good) and The Good Heart (not good), and the world premiere of Jackboots on Whitehall, which featured my old mucker Timothy Spall voicing a puppet of Winston Churchill. And I caught a few others screenings in there, too – you’ll see the tickets below! Now some random shots to finish off!
And there you have it! That’s my report from the red carpet. If you’ll excuse me, I must be jetting off to my next big premiere! What’s that? Crackdown 3? Moro out!
— Dara
You Can Trip On My Synthesiser
Written 95 days ago by DaraI was recently at an electronic music exhibition. It featured a vast array of various devices and equipment, from all the big names, and even a few workshops and performances throughout the day. I had no idea what most of the very technical gear did, but I got to play a theremin, so I was happy! Possibly not as interesting as Webby’s travel blogs to anyone but myself, but, if you like synthesisers, then read on, my friend!
Or, look on, rather…
— Dara
Fake Dog Loves #6: The Rock
Written 160 days ago by DaraIt’s been a while since I’ve written a blog under the Fake Dog Loves banner. Then, it’s been a while since I’ve written a blog in general. How the time flies when it’s measured in days. Looking back on the old Fake Dog Loves chapters, it’s hardly the comprehensive list of Fake Dog’s favourite things it was meant to be, though The Sweeney and Peep Show are still relevant to our collective interests. In any case, I thought I’d update the series with one of Fake Dog’s definitive, old favourites, The Rock.
I love The Rock. I do not refer to Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson (not in this case anyway), but rather his filmic namesake. My first recollection of The Rock (1996) is staying up to watch it on television one Sunday night at Nine O’ Clock on TV3 (a notable high point for the broadcaster). It was quite entertaining and, apart from Bond, is probably one of the first action films I remember seeing. I watched it a good many times in school, and added the script to my repertoire of quotes, without which I could scantily express myself. In later years, I was surprised to find that others, too, had been influenced by The Rock, and, indeed, the Cage Trinity of ’96/‘97 [see also: Face/ Off (1997), Con Air (1997)]. Things jumped up a notch when I learned Webby was a fan of The Rock. This led to many repeated viewings of the trinity within our house, and assured complete assimilation of the scripts into our everyday dialect. Foremost among them being The Rock.
The Rock was scripted by three writers with few other films to their IMDb names. They presumably put everything they had into this one – and it shows. It’s packed full of ridiculous plot, stereotyped characters, over-the-top action, and every line sounds suspiciously crafted to be a quote (nice work, lads). Nicolas Cage lets loose after his Oscar win and turns himself into an action hero, and Sean Connery essentially returns as James Bond Sr., much cooler and silvery than he was before. Yes, there are countless reasons to love The Rock. Gearoid and I made a video to convey but a slight few of them:
— Dara
"Pulling a Webby"
Written 298 days ago by DaraWe’d love to claim it as a post-modern nuance, a Zack Morris for the ’00s, a sly wink in acknowledgment of the audience in the style of Groucho Marx. But the much simpler truth is: Webby likes to look at the camera when he’s not supposed to. Precisely, when it’s filming him. For a film graduate with a masters in Film Production and Direction, this really is a baffling occurrence. But, the camera is a strange presence. It changes everything when it’s turned on. Some people over-act, some people stiffen up, and others look at it.
Over the past few years and hundred or so tapes (that’s right!), we’ve encountered this phenomenon quite a bit. It wasn’t long before we coined the phrase “pulling a Webby” for this unique device of looking at the camera when you’re not supposed to. Most of these moments have been left on the editing floor, but a couple have found their way into Fake Dog Films. The most obvious ones are in Fake Dog’s Lost parody. These almost work with the lo-fi and deliberately amateur-looking style; It’s clearly not meant to be taken seriously, this man is looking at the camera.
After a lot of slagging, Webby became less receptive to our jokes about “pulling a Webby” all the time. Possibly, he felt unappreciated as an actor. Then, we decided to make our music video for Distance. In it, Webby plays a tree; a funny concept, but the bulk of the film rests on Webby’s face. It was dangerous. It could have been awash with Webbys. But, it was to be his proudest moment, and he delivered a fine performace. Webby was Jim Carrey, and this was his Truman Show. He re-appropriated the term; “Pulling a Webby” was now to give a powerful, serious performance, for someone mainly known as a comedy actor. And there would be be no Yes Man to follow.
Even with the respect of his piers and an intense performance under his belt, Webby continues to look at the camera when he’s not supposed to. And he’s gotten better at it too. A quick glance, two frames worth of eyebal, and then he’s back to the scene. Blink and you’ll miss it. Gearoid assures me there’s a “Webby” is Crackdown 2, but I can’t see it. And Webby shows no signs of stopping. Watching the raw footage from A Dog’s Life Episode 2, I can honestly say I’ve never seen so many “Webbys” on one project. And though it’s endlessly frustrating to see a perfectly good take ruined by a “Webby”, it’s still pretty funny.
— Dara
Fake Dog's Ocean Race
Written 401 days ago by DaraFor those of you who may not know, the Volvo Ocean Race had a stop-over in Fake Dog’s home of Galway a few weeks ago. The boats were there for about a week, and there were festivities aplenty, including live music, food stalls, a cinema tent and much more. Myself and Paul popped down one of the days (and nights) to see what all the fuss was about.
— Dara
Down Your Memory Lane: Making Anorak
Written 446 days ago by DaraI thought it might be nice to share some recollections of our films in the form of a little “making of”, for anyone who might have wondered what goes into making a Fake Dog Film. If nothing else, it’ll keep our memory fresh.
I figured I’d start with a nice, simple one; our music video for The LK. Despite the length of its unwieldy title, Anorak and Other Complicated Words Beginning With an A, the video itself is well under 2 minutes. Upon re-watching the film, the first thing I was shocked to realise was that its release date was May 26th 2007! Almost 2 years ago. Time enough, then, for some analysis.
Anorak began after an unexpected meeting with the Swedish duo The LK after they played a gig in Galway. I had never heard of them before that, but after an impressive show Paul and I ended up talking to them. They were very nice; they gave us a beer, and we told them we’d make them a video. We listened to their album, which was very poppy and electronic, and tried to pick out a song that we thought might make a good video. Inevitably, we ended up picking the opening track. Its brevity may have had something to do with it, as the only other music video we had released at this point was just over a minute long.
After Paul and I settled on a concept, I mailed a few sketches and the basic premise along to the band. They seemed to like it, and asked if we could play with the colours in it a bit, which we did. As the most available actors we knew, Paul and I decided we would play most of the parts; a handy mixture of vanity and convenience. Paul played the main part, and I played all the others, bar the female ones (though I’m sure even that was considered at some point). On reflection, Paul agrees that “logistically, it was very handy for Dara to play so many parts. It added to the surrealism of the video – a community of Daras.” A terrifying thought, indeed.
And so, the two of us set off with a camera, tripod and a gear bag of various costumes to our location in Mervue, Galway. Heading down in costume in a pair of shorts, with an Ireland jersey and a big jacket, Paul quipped I looked like I could be the next Ireland manager (a position which was in doubt at the time). I changed costumes as we went along, using a bush in front of a church as my changing room, surprisingly, to little scandal. I shot Paul’s shots, and he shot mine. That was the extent of our crew. The shoot went relatively smoothly, with some lovely weather and only one public altercation; upon viewing my “Alcoholic” costume, an elderly man left his house to give us a good telling off. We quickly won him over by agreeing with everything he said, though, and continued on shooting. After we had shot all we could on our own, it was time to call on the ladies to play their parts.
The “Attentive” mother was played by Julie Tierney (who also appears in Distance and Crackdown 2) and “A” was played by Caoimhe Connelly. As we only had one Anorak, we had to shoot Paul’s and Caoimhe’s scenes separately, swapping anorak and label. Cheap, but effective. With a little help from Caoimhe, we took the shot with me and Paul. We spontaneously decided Paul should look up to the sky, as he had looked down from it at the beginning. This 
came about when Paul mentioned he had seen “someone looking up at the sky and it looked cool.” After the closing tracking shot, we noticed increasing delinquent activity in the area and, with the film pretty much in the bag, we decided to call it a day. As good a reason as any, I believe.
Paul and I have always had a soft spot for Anorak. It was one of our quickest shoots. It was shot in one day, on one tape, with time to spare. The only two people on set for the majority of the shoot were us. I’ve always thought film sets are more fun with less people, and Anorak was fun to shoot. As Paul says, “It was really enjoyable to shoot, we knocked it out in an evening.” Looking back, I see a lot of faults, especially with the editing. There are certain edits that don’t really work for me, and I don’t think they did at the time, they were just out of necessity. It wouldn’t fly now, but it’s nice to see a progression in our work (after 2 years, I’d hope so!). I still think the premise is strong, though. It’s about as overtly high-brow as Fake Dog has gone. This may be the reason it is our most divisive video. Some people hate it – and they tell us! The main complaint being “I didn’t get it.” This made us very conscious of the video’s faults, for a while. That’s why we take a special pride when someone tells us they like Anorak – and they tell us, sometimes.
Watch Anorak in our films section.
See photos from the shoot.
— Dara
