"Crib of Death" : It's a wrap!

Well it took it's time, but I'm glad to announce principle photography for Tequila Mockingbird Productions' Crib of Deathhas finally wrapped!!!

Crib of Deathis a short action kung fu comedy which I have been heavily involved in, a project which I co-wrote and co-produced as well as playing the main lead and acting as fight/action choreographer.  It has been tough challenging work, with the micro low/no budget production running over schedule than expected.  However, with principle photography now complete I am delighted to share with you some insight of the production and behind the scenes.

THE JOURNEY BEGINSOur first days shoot in our hero, Lee's (that's me  ) apartment.

Lee with his proud collection of DVDs...

He's happy with what he see....

Bit of nunchucku work out....

Our producer, John Lawless doubling as the sound/boom operator, with  director Craig Woods behind the lens.

Just doing bit of warm up, but where is Craig directing his camera....?!?!

Nothing a kick in the face won't sort out....  Hahaha! 

Never get between a man & his bottleThe second days shoot on schedule was our first fight scene of the movie.

Cathal Sheahan, talented actor skilled in Kempo & kickboxing, and good friend of mine fills the role of the lousy drunken businessman, Clive.

Now, as good as Cathal is, naturally accidents do happen....

A misjudged back fist ends up finding a home right on my nose!  ( Trivia: Cathal was the very same person to have kneed me in the nose during rehearsals!!!  Now the guy can officially say he is the very few - if not the only one - to have given me two nose bleeds!!! )

I did get my very own Jackie Chan moment though - all is good in the hood.  I'm being attended to by one of the most multi-talented Jack of all trades I've come across, Dominick O'Crouadhliocht.  This gentleman was our general and special effects make up artist, lighting designer, set constructions, make-shift first aider - even for any damage inflicted to the location/house!!!  Believe me, that did happen....

Five minutes later, I was back in action.

Here rehearsing a high jump kick as Cathal watches on what's a ahead of him....

The location was insanely hot, and our production designer, Aoife Concannon was at hand to give us all a cooling down. I'm just a cook....

The proud yet arrogant French chef, Pierre is played by Stav Dvorkin.  Stav is professionally trained in sta ge combat and I completely trusted him in the role, particularly when he had to handle two (slightly blunted) real kitchen knives (prop knives do cost money.... ). Unfortunately none of our photographers were available on the days shoot, so none of the action was captured on photo but I can promise there is a good slice-full of action involved in this kitchen bout.

Let the games begin....One of our hardest shoot would undoubtedly be in the attic featuring our main antagonists, Cheese and Chives.

Two fine actors, Noel Aungier and Jason Gilroy as the do-no-good brothers, Cheese and Chives.  Here awaiting (in character) for their make up to be applied.

Noel with some intense video gaming as his character, Cheese.

Noel was also on board as co-producer, and a outstanding job he has done with his contribution throughout.  When he was not in front of camera, he always made the effort to attend the shooting days to lend a hand where needed.  Respect.

The conditions filming a fight scene in the attic were extremely tough.  The room was cramped, hot, stuffy, and suffocating lacking in oxygen.  But we did pull through, and I do think we made some magic happen....

Shall we dance....?

Kerrie O'Sullivan fills the role of the sweet but deadly, Lola.  This beautiful actress is a trained gymnast and has some lethal high kicks on her!  Here she is getting some instructions how to kick my ass!!! 

On paper, this scene was to be the our final shooting day to wrap.  However it didn't quite happen that way, and due to other delays and issues the remainder of the scene (1st half of it) wasn't completed until over 3 weeks after

I was very pleased with the result of this scene, and was glad we had the time dedicated to get it done right.

You taking the p*ss...?!?!No doubt the hardest of all shoot we've encountered was the scene set in the toilet....  Initially we thought we had the perfect location to set up the scene, and might even break some Guinness Book of Records in film making to be actually filming a full on fight scene in the most confined toilet room measuring 200cm x 80cm (that enclosed an actual toilet, a sink, a shower basin, and 4 people in the room - two of them towering at 6' 4"!!!).  That is insanely tight!!!!

However the space proved unpractical at all, shots and angles near impossible to get right.  The results of what was captured on the day probably most dissatisfying and nothing close to usable....   We thought we were at a lost.....

Fortunately, thanks to Craig and Dom's genius work and creativity, and the commitment of our cast member 'Tiny' James Akpotor (who is not one bit tiny! ) we got the ball back on the roll and managed to recreate and shoot the whole scene again, and we made something much more pleasing and brought much needed life back into the scene.

Here's me taking the reigns and ordering 'Tiny' James about!

So we literally wrapped on the scene and the whole short film on Sunday 4th October, and I was so glad we got the second chance to make this scene with 'Tiny' James right.

Welcome to our Crib....So Crib of Death was filmed in 9 whole days over a period of 7 weeks (the whole production was designed to work around peoples availability).  There were many blood, sweat, and tears (mainly all excreting from me... ) and tons of hard work and dedication from all involved, but there was lot of fun to be had as well from this fulfilling experience.

And meet the unsung hero from Crib of Death....

....  My very own stunt double, mini-Lee!

The little Cribfamily....

So it's been a long hard journey, but let's hope it's all worth it.

Many thanks to Claire Weir and Nella Synge for providing majority of the photos and their kind assistance throughout the production.

Peace & Best Wishes,

Alan

PS. Hong Kong, here I am!!!

One final note, I have arrived in Hong Kong this morning Tuesday 6th October (since over 2 and half years ago) and I'm so excited!!!   I will be here for three weeks (sadly not around for the Halloween party though... Boooo.... ), so if any fellow artist or good people out there in Hong Kong ever wish to hook up, exchange ideas or whatever, don't be afraid to drop me a line through here on AnD.  Thanks!