brightonwok

Originally published at Brighton Wok production diary. You can comment here or there.

Saturday’s Ninjas vs. Pirates party in Battersea was a great success for the Brighton Wok Crew. We spread the word among the crowd and met some people who are going to be involved in this summer’s post-production and publicity drive (Extreme Brighton magazine, launching this summer, wants to write a feature on us.) Many thanks to Adam for driving us there and back. Thanks to Ruth and Josh for organising the party and Dan, Tiffany, Ben, Emma, Theo, Matt, Phil, Jihae, Oscar and of course Sam and Rich for the whole ninja thing.

We’ve already been talking to some party people in Brighton about the next Brighton Wok Ninja appearance - so don’t put away those costumes or if you didn’t get a chance to come along last saturday, don’t worry. I’ll post up details as soon as I get them.

Originally published at Brighton Wok production diary. You can comment here or there.

Some more of Emma’s great photos from the commune shoot.

Originally published at Brighton Wok production diary. You can comment here or there.

Some amazing photos of the Brighton Wok crew by Emma.

Originally published at Brighton Wok production diary. You can comment here or there.

Matt Wyles, one of the Brighton Wok crew, has released a short film documenting six months in the life of another Brighton Wok crew member, Trev.

You can see the film online at

MySpace Video - myspace montage

It’s not easy working on the Wok!

Originally published at Brighton Wok production diary. You can comment here or there.

We’ve had a great response to the call out for the Ninjas vs. Pirates Party in London next saturday (May 6th). We’ll be bringing up at least 30 ninjas from Brighton, with more promising to meet us at the venue. That’s Battersea Arts Centre if anyone else wants to come (see the previous post for more details.)

We’ve arranged a kung-fu demonstration, loads of ninja activity and we’ll be playing the trailer on a cinema screen. It promises to be London’s premier ninja event - don’t miss it, there’ll be a free B Wok hoodie designed by Henry for the first 50 people.

Originally published at Brighton Wok production diary. You can comment here or there.

The Brighton Wok Crew has been invited to play our trailer and present the film at a Pirates vs. Ninjas party in Battersea Arts Centre, London on May 6th, 2006.

We’re looking for any ninjas out there who can come along and represent Brighton Wok. If that’s you, then please send us an email. We’ll be meeting in Battersea at 2:00pm (to get in free) and the party will go on until 2:00am. Full Ninja costume is mandatory!

BURST Launch Party
6 May 2006
19:00

Following the big blowout excess at the end of BAC OctoberFest, the mother of all nights out is back…

Are you a Pirate or a Ninja? You choose: you either drink rum or sake, sneak in the window or smash
down the door. Get trashed on a heady cultural cocktail of performance, installation, music, dancing, walking the plank and scaling the walls. You won’t know what’s hit you.

Including: Music from Perico and the Paper Cinema, cabaret featuring Marisa Carnesky and Will Adamsdale, durational theatre from the Special Guests, performance from the Brighton Wok Ninjas and much, much more.

Trashy is Supported by the Moose Foundation for the Arts.

You can also check the BAC Website for more about the venue. This will be the first major Brighton Wok pubicity event and a lot of fun, so if you can get to London don’t miss it.

map to the Battersea Arts Centre

Originally published at Brighton Wok production diary. You can comment here or there.

Originally published at Brighton Wok production diary. You can comment here or there.

Vafan Kills Hippies

More great photos of the commune shoot from Steve.

Originally published at Brighton Wok production diary. You can comment here or there.

Brighton Wok Crew: hardcore.

Thanks to Steve for these new photos of the Commune shoot. More to come.

Originally published at Brighton Wok production diary. You can comment here or there.

Originally published at Brighton Wok production diary. You can comment here or there.

Originally published at Brighton Wok production diary. You can comment here or there.

During last week’s mad shoot, an article came out in the Brighton Argus (the biggest local newspaper) all about Brighton Wok. The timing was great, lots of the extras who were at the shoot heard about us through this article. Claire Truscott, the journalist who interviewed us and wrote the piece, has kindly given me a copy of the article so everyone can read it.

Brighton Wok in the Brighton Argus (.pdf 1.4MB)

If you have any problems opening it, you may need Adobe Reader or another PDF reader to view this docment. A free download can be found at the Adobe site .

Originally published at Brighton Wok production diary. You can comment here or there.

Originally published at Brighton Wok production diary. You can comment here or there.

I can just about remember the first day of the intro shoot. We set off to buy the GM’s caravan at a breaker’s yard. It took hours to get there because the A27 was in gridlock because of multiple accidents. We were worried about the journey taking so long because we had an appointment to meet the owner of the field we were using for the location. I also had said that I would be present when the portaloo people arrived! We managed to abandon the A27 and took the coast road. So did hundreds of other people. Just before we arrived we realized that we hadn’t brought the cash with which to pay for the caravan. I panicked for a while as we drove round and round Portslade trying to find the breaker’s yard. Then Trev said he had enough money on him to pay for it. Thank you Trev. In fact, we ended up buying two caravans.

Gabriel, Saul and Trev then set off to the field with the two caravans whilst I went back to finish packing the van and then transporting people to the site. Something which I did repeatedly during the next week. In the end the car drove itself as it knew the way only too well.

On arrival at the site, the first things we saw were two young ostriches. They became firm favourites. It was an amazing and hilarious sight seeing them thundering after Morgan as he ran down the track (they were on the other side of the fence) - very Jurassic Park.

As we arrived, the rain started. It didn’t stop. Anyway, we had a lot of work to do setting up the commune. It looked great.

Next day we arrived to a sea of mud. And the rain it kept on raining…………….

Originally published at Brighton Wok production diary. You can comment here or there.

This is the first ‘behind the scenes’ video from last week’s shoot for Brighton Wok. It features Claire and Sonny, with Claire performing her own music. It’s great to be able to produce these videos for people involved with the film, I hope you like it as much as we do!

Originally published at Brighton Wok production diary. You can comment here or there.

The B Wok Crew have returned victorious from the longest shoot we’ve had so far. After a week of filming whenever we could, involving hundreds of people, we now have nineteen tapes containing the intro to Brighton Wok.

Most nights we slept in the GM’s caravan (see photo) that is, until we blew it up. Many thanks to the hardcore crew members who stayed out in all weather. Also thanks to the loyal Brightonians who gave their support, lent us their vehicles and came along as extras and actors. A special mention must go to our youngest cast member, Sonny, who really made the shoot a success.

It all started on Monday 6th March, when we arrived at the farm land and set up our Ganja Boxing Commune. We found a beautiful spot, within sight of Devil’s Dyke and Chanctonbury Ring (both old Brighton Wok locations.) The weather was perfect, so we ignored the storm warnings and set up our camp.

Tuesday was the first shooting day and at least 20 extras came out to the site. Despite all of our efforts, it rained heavily all day and the shoot was a washout. Unable to use all of our extras, we sent everyone home and concentrated on the few shots for which we wanted bad weather. The rain continued through Wednesday, so we cancelled that days shoot as well.

By Thursday the rain had stopped but the site was a muddy mess. We called in our most loyal extras (you know who you are) and shot the first fight scene. As the weather had calmed down, we were able to fully use the steadicam we’d rented for the shoot, and we got some of the most brutal fight photography on tape.

On Friday the weather was fine again. We called in all of the extras who could make it, and shot the Intro to Brighton Wok. Everyone was fantastic. Sonny, who plays little Ryu and is only three-and-a-half, was amazing - a real natural. On Saturday, we shot the main fight that opens the film. Many thanks to Jeff, who stepped in to play the Ganja Master’s star pupil and proved himself the best possible choice. By Sunday, Gabriel had seen the footage shot so far, so we got the pickups necessary to finish everything off. Leaving only the explosion for Monday. We’d arranged for Matt Roberts, a pro who’s previously worked on films and TV from Tomb Raider 2 to Band of Brothers, to help us with the pyrotechnics.

By Monday 13th, we had only a few pyrotechnic shots and our explosion to go. We moved all of our stuff out of the caravan that had been our home for the past week and sent Oscar in with an axe. All of the wooden panelling and cupboards had to be ripped out so that the pyros could do their job. Once we’d gutted it fully, Matt and Terry came in and rigged up the caravan. We got the few shots done first, then everyone got into place to make sure we had every camera we’ve got fixed on the explosion. We could only afford to do it once, so we couldn’t afford to miss it!

As you can see from the photo, the explosion went off perfectly. Beautiful. It was a very successful shoot, our thanks and love to everyone who helped make it so. Morgan and John handled the camera work. Sonny and Claire, Jeff, Matt and Ben acted their parts brilliantly. Joe from Joe’s Jibs and Dave from Dragonfly Productions rented us the camera equipment we needed. Sean and Michael sorted out the land for our hippy commune. Seagh and Mark let us borrow their great vehicles. Matt and Terry provided the cool special effects. Oscar, Jihae, Josh, Matt, Trev, Yodi, Jack and Duncan were excellent production and camera assistants. Not forgetting all of the wonderful friends, extras and actors who came out to make the shoot so much fun. We had a great time and the footage is fantastic. Thank you all!

Originally published at Brighton Wok production diary. You can comment here or there.

We’ve just returned from a week on location with the Brighton Wok crew. The cartoon’s by Matt Wyles, it really was that cold. I’ll post some photos and stills as soon as we’ve sorted through the post-shoot mess.

Originally published at Brighton Wok production diary. You can comment here or there.

There are several unconfirmed reports of sightings of two elderly ladies canvassing against Vafan Cuolo last Friday. The reports came from several areas around Brighton - from as far apart as Edward Road, the Tarner Park area and also from the North Laines. These ladies were apparently rather extraordinarily dressed and of fearsome demeanour. In fact, there were reports of some people crossing the road so as to avoid contact with them. They were urgently pressing leaflets onto every passer by and exhorting everyone to join them at an upcoming meeting to ‘do something about the menace of Vafan Cuolo and his evil cohorts’. If anyone can shed any light on this or has any other information or details of further sightings please contact us here.

Originally published at Brighton Wok production diary. You can comment here or there.

Henry ’s brought us another amazing Brighton Wok poster. Once again, this is the Ganja Master.

Originally published at Brighton Wok production diary. You can comment here or there.

If you’re in Brighton or the South of England, put this date in your diaries. The date has been confirmed for the next big Brighton Wok film shoot. From 7th - 9th March, we will be at a South Downs location close to Brighton, I’ll be able to tell you where soon but we will be providing travel from Brighton and back again every day.

This shoot will be a large one. We’re setting up a traveller’s commune and then blowing it up. There will be two fight scenes over the three days. We’re looking for anyone who has anything to contribute to come along. There is room for extras, fighters, performers and camera crew. We’re going to fill the camp with colourful characters and give it a real festival vibe, so please come along in your best hippy gear.

The scene is set in the 1970s, so 70s dress and haircuts are ideal. We’re also looking for any 70’s era cars (or earlier.) If you’d like to take part in the biggest Brighton Wok shoot yet, then please email me or ring our production office, and I’ll give you the details.

phone (01273) 677 571
email connectedfilms@gmail.com

See you there!