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ANIMALS ON BLUE FOR WANT OF A KISS
VLAD THE WINNER
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T here is a famous shot in the 1938 screwball comedy Bringing
Up Baby in which ‘Baby’ – a rather imposing leopard cub – is quite clearly being lead by a
leash that has crudely been matted out of the grainy black and white footage.
Impressive at the time, it’s all rather old hat now, when companies like London-based Animals on Blue can achieve astonishing results using infi- nitely more sophisticated technologies.
Film school graduate Farokh Khorooshi founded the company in 1999 with animal behaviourist (and former Boomtown Rats guitarist) Gerry Cott. Combining an insider’s knowledge of the demands of the modern filmmaker with an understanding of the needs of the animals they work with, Animals on Blue rapidly established themselves as the company to call for ambitious projects.
One client glad of their help was German advertising agency Alexandra Demutt, who intended using a real lion in an advertisement for Bioscience, who had long featured a lion’s footprint as their logo. Production company Gehrisch & Krack drew upon the expertise of Animals on Blue to help pull this off.
“We suggested using ‘King’,” says producer/director Khorooshi, “because he’s reputed to be the best looking male lion available for filming anywhere in the world. Then we set about carefully selecting a crew for what was potentially a very dangerous commercial.”
Using two 35mm cameras running at high speed, the objective was to ensure sufficient coverage with the minimum of stress to their ‘star’ and his handlers.
“We also decided to build a blue screen cage at the private zoo where the lion lived,” Khorooshi continues. “This enabled the handlers to keep the lion as comfortable as possible, and enabled him to retire to his enclosure when ever he had had enough of filming!
“Andy Knight Construction rigged the cage and built the blue screen. And DP Vernon Layton BSC used Kinoflo light- ing extensively, to ensure a cool and com- fortable working environment for
the lion. The stock we used was
Fuji 250T and in all we shot
35,000 feet of film.”
The shoot went without a hitch, and even attracted the attention of BBC Natural World, who used it as part of their recent one off wildlife documentary Animals Action.
Butitisfarfromaone
off for Animals On Blue.
They are currently con-
structing a purpose built
blue screen studio complex on a fif- teen acre site on the M1, an hours drive from Soho ensuring a rosy – rather than blue – future for an ambi- tious specialist company. ■ ANWAR BRETT
I
and starring 32-year-old Jay Wheddon, it only kicked into gear after he met indus- try veteran John Quilty at the annual extravaganza.
Says Wheddon, “I went to Cannes to learn and was fortunate to meet John. I call him Obi-Wan Kenobi.” Quilty himself is slightly less mythical. “I have the expe- rience,” he admits. “Jay has the drive and ambition.”
Shot on Fuji by DP Matt Whyte and directed by Krystian Kozlowski, For Want Of A Kiss is a 15-minute descent into the darker side of life, focusing on an intense love triangle. “This is not just some funny short,” says Quilty. “This is a dramatic film. Whoever watches the last scene in this film will think, ‘Christ, they’ve left us thinking’.”
That said, access to the set to see scenes has been somewhat limited, on account of bedroom scenes which Wheddon is determined to keep tasteful.
“Katy (Haswell, who plays lust object Sarah) is my mate, so I’ve got some respect. But,” he laughs, “I was watching the rushes last night with co- producer Mick Southworth and the part I had to show him was the one where I was making love to Katy –
S
f nothing else, For Want Of A
Kiss is tangible proof that the Cannes Film Festival isn’t all about inane parties and air-kissing. Written, co-produced, financed by
who happens to be his girlfriend!” But while the short version is
important, Quilty is under no illusions as to what they are doing, with the story due to be converted into a full-length film later this year. “This is a means to an end,” he admits, “a way to get us noticed.” Adds Wheddon, “Guy Ritchie did something very similar with The Hard Case, which subsequently became Lock, Stock...”
And like any good writer, For Want Of A Kiss is not the only thing up Wheddon’s sleeve. “I’ve got another action-adventure script, which a Paramount film executive said was one of the best first drafts he’d read in nearly ten years.” He grins: “I was really happy about that.”
Not bad for a man who looked set for a career in the building trade, until he got the itch. His manual days aren’t, though, entirely behind him.
“People have been taking the mickey out of me for applying the same rules to this as I did to building. But you don’t build a house unless you’ve got someone to move in – and that’s the philosophy
Photos above (l-r): Stuart Packer as Steve, Director Krystian Kozlowski and Stuart Packer with Jay Wheddon as Mick in Want of A Kiss; left (from top): Shooting in progress for London-based Animals On Blue; The Suspicion cinematographer, Vladimir Martin (left)
ponsored by Fuji, The Wallace Heaton Trophy for camerawork at the Institute Of Amateur Cinematographers’ (IAC) annual International Film and Video
Festival has been won by Vladimir Martin for The Suspicion.
The story of escalating suspicion between two neighbours, the tale was made by a Dutch production quartet called Quadriga comprising Martin, Aria Mulder, Andre van der Hout and Emile de Gruijter. ■
FESTIVALS & EVENTS
FESTIVALS & EVENTS