Hello Roanoke readers, I hope you are all well.
I thought I'd let you have a look at the composing of the Roanoke trailer. It was filmed the day after the final day of summer shooting in Fleet.
It was fun to watch Bertie and Daniel interact with each other both musically and verbally!
Click the image above to view the video clip at YouTube.
Thanks to a lovely article by Stephen Lloyd in the Fleet Mail, we were again featured in regards to shooting Roanoke The Lost Colony on the Fleet locations a few weeks ago.
Sadly the other film related work I'm doing called me in last moment (hence the lack of post yesterday) so I'm not at my desk to type up the article and add it to the publicity zone as of yet, however I have been able to scan a copy in, so you can read a full page article from the actual newspaper by clicking the smaller page below.
I'd just like to say a big thank you to the wonderful lady in the Martins store in Fleet, who after seeing I was out of cash and spending below the card limit, realised the multiple copies of the Fleet Mail were probably for more than just reading. After us both taking a look at the article she kindly chipped in to settle the balance. In fact she had helped advertise the shoot for extras a few weeks back, and therefore a double thank you for that!
In the meantime I have printed out a fresh draft of the script (same version for any crew/cast who are getting worried) and am cutting up the different areas we still have to shoot to make sure we have not missed anything! Hopefully I'll have this done by the end of tomorrow!
After working hard on the webstuff for Roanoke The Lost Colony over the weekend I have also been concentrating my time on the first steps of pre-production for the winter shoot. Thanks to a very usefully document typed up by Mr. Weeden, I have gone through every scene and shot still to shoot and compiled a list of locations and possible days. It seems that we could shoot the remainder in a minimum 0f 8 days, but realistically it looks like this could rise to around 12 with possibly the odd day added on for re-shoots.
Although there seem to be around 70 scenes to shoot, a lot of these are very quick single shots of someone 'writing on a desk' or 'looking out to sea', which will feature during a long flashback section over a story read by a charecter named Crusty. The follownig schedule of days is also based on how efficient we were able to work during the Summer season. Although I haven't listed the actual locations for a number of scenes below, we have a few ideas in mind but wouldn't like to make it public before chatting with the location owners:
Locations
1. West Witering Beach, Chichester
2. London Dock
3. Fleet Pond - Night
4. Primitive Colony
5. Interior of Fort
6. Interior of Cabin
7. SS GB Dock
8. C.G.I
9. Studio - LSBU
10. Ext. Ship (Land or Sea)
11. Ext. Deck of Ship (Land or Sea)
12. Interior of Ship
13. Interior 16th (C) House
14. Ext. Fort
15. Fleet Woods
16. Boat at Sea
And below are the possible days we could do in regards to coupling of locations:
Day 1: 1,2,13
Day 2: 3,4,15
Day 3: 5,6,14
Day 4: 5, 6 , 14
So this weekend Daniel and I have been working on two changes to the online structure of Roanoke: The Lost Colony.
1. The Roanoke Info Zone
At the top of this blog and to the right hand side you can now see a link to the Roanoke Info Zone. This will give you information in 15 different sections as to the production of Roanoke: The Lost Colony that wouldn't fit into the blog section. There are fun facts, photos, technical information, publicity records.....to go there right now:
Click Here
2. The Roanoke Movie - Official Site
The official site has been polished and the most current logo replacing the older version. The set out has a more professional look and allows direct links to the Info Zone, this Blog, and the Wikipedia entry. If you don't wish to go there right away, it's currently looking like this:
and also...
It has now become apparent that Roanoke: The Lost Colony has been added to Wikipedia. Wikipedia is an online encyclopedia that anyone can update and edit. The Wikipedia page contains alot of information about the production and is a very good sources for a clear, impartial view on the film.
The direct link can be found: Here
Don't worry, the blog will still be the source for all important information, however the other pages will allow some fun surfing hours if you are bored.
The article was written by Neil Millard, a lovely, friendly reporter i had a long chat with on Tuesday. He wrote about the film and what we plan to do with it and even included our website address. Thanks Neil!!! - Read the full article via our New Info Zone Here
And although the story was prodominantly about me as i'm a Croydonian born and bred, it kept good focus on the whole project and mentions much of the film making process, as well as qouting me on several occasions (oohh its funny seeing your self qouted in a paper).
Unfortunately, the article doesn't mention everyones names, bar me, Bertie and Shane, but with the link there, hopefully readers might come across the whole cast and crew list online.
See the full cast and crew has helped make the movie work!
It's a great start for us, and more local papers in areas we filmed in and cast and crews local towns could follow suit with all the emails were writing.
We also hope that with having newspaper interest at this 'half way' stage we can keep them onboard throughout, and hopefully secure them for the premiere and follow up stories along the way.
Right...now we gotta get on tele!!!
So since last week, we've had a re-shoot day (as can be seen below) and a good try at promoting the website on the net. I've re-done the search table in a nicer format so you can see the improvement in google search results.
The main key to the rise in our search results is the addition of the film to the site, Wikipedia. Although as of yet we do not have our website linked to it, the description of the film has meant that even the most simple searches in Google bring up information regarding Roanoke The Lost Colony, Roanoke The Movie.
So in comparison from last week: (click the image to enlarge)
The results are looking pretty promising in terms of rising up the Google search ladder, we have also had a rise in hits to the website and blog so maybe its working....then again maybe its just fluke!
For our visitors from America, or future visitors I should say, we have started up a Google add that will appear from time to time on the right hand side of search results. It should look like this:
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Apart from that I shall bid you farewell for now and chat to you a bit later on this evening! Oh, and a very Happy Birthday to Dan, 1st AD!
Bertie
So whilst out filming the latest re-shoot of Roanoke The Lost Colony: Roanoke The Movie, an outsider might be quite surprised to come across the site that would have met them had they sneaked into the filming area on Saturday night.
Learning our lessons from the previous model shooting night, we decided not to go watch a movie until dark and then think about shooting, instead we were all set up and ready to go before the night set in.
The Set-Up
Moving away from the delights of wafting umbrellas, Sam Weasley Weeden Sound under the guidance of Angela Karotok.....asd...cof... brought around a 2 person tent that was erected up over one corner of the water. Using the outer sheets only, we managed to create a housing for the smoke. As noted below, it rained, rained and then rained again. This time the tent made sure no rain drops came into frame along with meaning less smoke would be needed as the smoke we created stayed around for longer. Gary (art department) also fitted 'lanterns' to the boats so they would look slightly more real sailing through such a fog.
Anyone passing by may have been rather surprised to see a tent, erected over water, smoking from within, and a number of guys splashing around playing with toy boats.
And here are the pictures:
oh and something else managed to sneak into frame:
With the re-shoots of the boats happening this Saturday (and a whole new infrastructure being built) I am continuing to work on the InfoZone (a section that will let anyone know about the project, from the basics) that I hope will be up by the beginning of next week. If you do have any questions you feel should be answered then do let me know. I have also begun work (after a weak break) on the pre-production for the winter shoot.
Using the 13 page document from Sam, I have compiled a structure of shooting for the winter. It involves around 5 further large locations, and two studio set ups. We have the studio available to us along with 3 locations (thanks to a variety of scouts), I am currently working on two locations that could make or break the production. I estimate, similar to Sams earlier predictions, we have 67 odd scenes to shoot, however some of these are cut in regards to editing and therefore 3 scenes could = one shot in regards to shooting time. It's looking very possible, and the rushes are looking fantastic.
On another note we added:
An independent film production company (BSDS Productions) are currently half way through filming working title: Roanoke The Lost Colony - Roanoke The Movie. Release date set for March 2007. Further information can be found via the website.
Onto Wikipedia (the free encyclopedia that anyone can edit) and subsequently a search for Roanoke The Lost Colony brings us into the top page on Yahoo and top of the second page in Google.
The re-shoot for Roanoke: The Lost Colony that will be happening this weekend will see the team stepping back into the water, donning their wetsuits, and filming the model boats again. Since the last shoot everyone (especially Angela) has been on the ball thinking up new and intriguing ways to shoot the models and to make them look more and more like, well, not models.
The first idea will be to form a wire frame structure across the water and then cover the frame with a dark material. This will help take away any lost light and retain the fog around the boat for alot longer. In the previous shot (as can be seen by the picture below)
Dan used an umbrella to harbour the smoke and waft it across the boat. Although the umbrella tactic may seem quite comical it was infact a primitive form of the method we will be using this Saturday. We will also be using a large sheath to fend of any unwanted rain drops, darker material to cover the bright blue flooring and a sturdy stabilizer for the boat.
So, the summer shoot is over and as well as starting publicity and playing fantasy football we are getting ready for the winter shoot. (Though it’s mostly Bertie doing the latter!) Though a while ago I typed up a list of how many scenes we have left to shoot, and I thought I would share this with the blog.
I have counted 67 remaining scenes (though Bertie will probably have counted something different!). Most of these are fairly lengthy scenes with a lot of dialogue, but there are some that are shots of people at work and on the boats, and there are some that are just of John White (character name) looking out to sea, or in a room by himself. All of these have no dialogue, and should not take long to shoot.
In addition to the 67 scenes, however, there are some pick-ups of some of the scenes we have shot already, and there are some additional elements we need to shoot, such as shots of the sky, or open fields.
All of these will need to be filmed, but as there are no actors or crowd, they are not as important and can be shot any time.
We are also going to have another go at the model boats; we think we can make them look better!
Hope that has been informative!
P.S. Bertie is being very cocky about winning the Fantasy Football; so do join in just so we can beat him!
While we all are busy taping away at e-mails and programming for the pre-production stage and publicity we thought it would be fun to start up the Roanoke Fantasy Football League for all cast, crew and followers of the blog.
How it Works (brief)
Fantasy Football (soccer) allows you to pick 11 players from the premier league, each week when the teams play in real life your players will gain points for goals, clean sheets (shutouts), assists and loose points for red cards and letting goals in. You have 55 million to spend and each player is priced (normally depending on their ability and status).
Currently alot of the cast and crew have signed up to the metro.co.uk Fantasy football game, it is 100% free with a chance of winning 15,000 at the end of it.
If you register, pick your team and honestly think you can beat us (or not), then click on Private League and enter:
- League PIN: 6881 so you can join the "RoanokeTheMovie" league and compete against us and then also against the whole of the English
If you want to sign up, or just simply read a bit more (it's very simple) then go here, remember it's free!: http://fantasyfootball.metro.co.uk/
We look forward to chatting with you on the message board and seeing how your choice fares.
In the meantime i'll get back to finishing the Info Zone for release this week, and at the end of today tell you about a re-shoot we'll be doing this week, it involves getting wet, again.
So while the Press DVD is finished by Dan and we embark on the new weeks ahead of us, one of my main jobs is to make sure that people can find the site and blog if they search for it. According to reports (of people who can't have much to do with their time) if your not in the top 10 search results on Google, you have little chance of getting seen. This is mainly because the majority of web users are too lazy to scroll back passed the second page, and don't "trust" pages that aren’t at the top of the list.
With that in mind, I’ve compiled a number of searches we would like people to find us on, and over the next few weeks we'll keep track to see if we can improve our ratings. I've been following a few for a few weeks so I can say today how we have improved. We may appear more times after these results, but the numbers relate to the first reference to our sites 1. rtlc.blogspot.com 2. http://www.roanokethemovie.com
SEARCH WORDS |||| WHERE WE STAND |||| LAST WEEK
1. roanoke the lost colony |||| Page 3 - 22nd |||| Page 13!
2. roanoke the movie |||| Page 1 - 3rd |||| Page 5!
3. the lost colony. |||| 26+ - then i got bored |||| -
4. roanoke |||| similar |||| -
5. lost colony of roanoke |||| Page 11 - 106 |||| -
6. film about roanoke |||| Page 1 - 7th |||| -
We feel that people who may be searching for the story of Roanoke should come across our page with these keywords if we can make it to the top! So that is our aim over the next week or so. There seem to be some good results already there, but we need to improve on the simpler terms such as jusr "roanoke" and "the lost colony". Otherwise the 2 page one results the search for a film or movie about roanoke are promising, and the top search shown there is getting better and will hopefully be a very general term people would search for.
For visitors from america, we are also putting Google Ads on the right hand side of google search pages in a bid to make a few more people aware of the project.
How can you help?
If you would like to help us get further up the rankings and own a web page, by adding a link to either http://rtlc.blogspot.com or http://roanokethemovie.com with the title of Roanoke: The Lost Colony, Roanoke The Movie, or something similar, could help us rise up the search links. The last thing we want is our link to become spam, so please don't post the link aimlessly, and please only put it on if you feel the effort and work put into the project so far deserves the attention.
Take 2
Finally after alot of reading (which has proved to be quite educational) the trailer is online, in a good quality format, streamed, and looking and sounding nice. It will now be available for viewing at any time via the "Media Centre" on the right hand side.
You can also download the trailer, along with other options such as versions fit for your mobile phone and your video Ipod.
I suggest any Dial Up users choose to download (rather than stream) a broadband video as the compression is alot on the Dial Up page. The best quality is the one under the title "Broadband High".
The format is in Quicktime which means all computers are able to play it. Hopefully you will be able to get a more pleasurable viewing experience than the smaller Windows Media file before.
Now that is out the way we can move forward to pre-production for the winter, the InfoZone, and everything listed in the post below
While the exporting of the trailer continues to give problems, here is a brief plan of what will come on the blog over the next few weeks, along with the usual posts.
The List - just a few
- Trailer in full quality for broadband users: High, Medium and Low - Quicktime
- Stats and Figures of the progress of the film over the first shooting set.
- Full Picture Set
- Locations needed to film
- Roanoke InfoZone - full information about the film and production of roanoke
- Updates with the promotional work.
- Update on future locations (as set out by locations needed earlier)
- Crew Interviews
So while Bertie's been working his socks off trying to figure out all the variations in encoding a high res version of the trailer (and by jove i think hes almost cracked it, look out for high res trailer release soon) ive been sussing out a different software, playing around with DVD creation and preparing what i like to call an official press release DVD.
It will basically include a high res version of the trailer, Angelas sublime making of video (only with her permission of course) and photo slidshows from the shoots so far.
It will be a fully functional professional dvd with active menus etc, to show that its not just about the quality of the film but the whole package.
I personally believe a movie is a whole package and every element of it needs to say 'wow' to the viewer, which includes DVD menus, DVD covers, posters etc. So look forward to your first chance to see some Roanoke treatsaway from the actual film itself as we move into a month of promotional work and attempt to get Roanoke the word on everybodys lips....hopefully!!!
Roanoke: The Lost Colony, Roanoke The Movie
Slight mishap with the exportation of the better quality trailers, it turned out to be a dot something file which no Media Player could read, so I'm going to stop trying to be clever and just do it normally and in QuickTime. As I'm working during the days for this week I'll hopefully have something up by 10/11pm tomorrow night, should all go well.
We have had a great response via e-mail and stats for the first 24 hours. We had 150 hits to the blog within the last day and over 100 unique downloads of the trailer. Thanks to everyone for watching and I hope you enjoyed it/found it interesting to some extent. Hopefully, as said above, I'll be able to get a better quality version up soon. Considering we have done minimal, nearly no publicity for the film as of yet (that comes now), it's a pretty good achievment.
For those who have requested a DVD it should be out in the post at the end of this week, or if your unsure what I'm on about, see the post below.
Sam has done a great job in sorting out all the scenes we still must shoot and has prepared an amazing document which lists just that. Now it's the case of starting pre-production work for the winter shoots but this time knowing we have a great team behind the production (that's not to say I ever doubted they were great in the first place.....You get what I mean)
All the best,
Bertie
For those who wish to see the trailer for Roanoke: The Lost Colony (Roanoke The Movie) in Standard Definition (i.e - normal TV Quality) then please e-mail me your address and I shall send out a DVD over the next week. I hope to put up a better quality online trailer during this time too.
For those who may have missed it, you can view a highly compressed version below.
Although the film was shot in High Definition, a similar quality will not be released until the final edit.
My E-mail: amastude [@] hotmail.com (take away the brackets and spaces in your e-mail client)
All the best,
Bertie
- Roanoke The Lost Colony (2007)
Trailer 1 - Release 06/08/06
NOTE:
The following file is compressed from HD, higher quality formats will be
available over the next few days for an enhanced viewing experience
The fact that we are now halfway through filming hasn't sunk in yet. Perhaps I've been looking through (and backing up) all the photos so much that I haven't had time to reflect upon it. What an achievement though to know that we have come this far.
Sometimes when taking photos it's very easy to let everything going on around you pass you by because your focusing on and looking out for shots to take. For example I'll go to a indie gig and sometimes feel like I never got to watch the band that much as I was distracted by taking photos. But this hasn't happened for Roanoke and I can say that I had the best of both worlds - experiencing the set up and filming process with on the fly photography.
I hope you have enjoyed the photos posted of what has happened so far, there'll be more to come when filming resumes later this year.
Just thought that while I'm waiting expectantly for the trailer to be released, I would add some of the pictures I took over the last few days of shooting.
I've also included one of Bertie that I found when he made a cameo appearance (he chose the costume himself!)
Can't wait for the trailer!
I've had an advanced screening of the trailer and its all looking good, hope everyones gonna enjoy it. Its the first chance for many to actually see some proper footage for the film and to really start to get the feel for it and the feeling that were well on our way to a hopefully great end product.
This is quite an exciting moment for everyone involved and considering we only have about half the film, you'd have to only consider the trailer a teaser as theres still loads more footage yet to be shot that can contribute to a final super duper trailer later on.
So yesterday I saw from 7am - 1am infront of the computer trying to cut the trailer (hense the lack of updates and progress).
The release time of 5pm today seems to be on track, so that's the best time to check back, although I may sneak a few other blogs in during that time (have to do something while it renders)
Bertie
The last three days concluded Shooting for the Summer, there is still lots to come over the next few weeks, including the official website, the first trailer, publicity, news about the winter shooting, and a few things we have up our sleeves for the online audience.
For those wishing to find out more about the production, the background of the story, and see some more behind the scenes footage a section will be opening soon.
Over this weekend we'll update the blog all the information in regards to the last few days shooting and the latest stats, but for now here are some more photos, to see all the images click on "On-Set Photos" above. 
(photos thanks to Angela)
Last night was a late one, but yet rather different to the average filming days we have done on Roanoke - The Lost Colony. The night consisted of playing with toy boats in an over-sized bath tub to create seens for the movie.
Below are some images of the night with Dan Shirley heading the underwater scuba team, Jenna Street and Sam Weeden in control of the visual effects (smoke machine), Angela on Set Photography and camera, and myself on camera as well although I later joined the underwater production team. 
We have pictures and accounts waiting to be posted, but currently we're shooting from 10am - 1am most days so it'll have to wiat until Friday. Sorry for the lack of updates. I'll try and get a few photos on today as we don't shoot until 12:30.
Shooting has been going well, On Tuesday and yesterday we managed to get everything we needed in regards to shots and fingers crossed for the weather so that we may continue.
This weekend shot be 'blog plentifull'
Chat Soon,
Bertie
That looks like one hungry horse but the pizzas weren't for him or is it a her? Good thing too as there was a sign nearby saying do not feed the shire horses as this encourages them to bite. (The pizzas were for us to gain some sustainance while we worked in Weald & Downland on Tuesday).
Note to Dan: the pizza boy look suits you - ever considered a career in pizza delivery?
