Penguins aside, it's rare to see a documentary that solely focuses on the experiences of non-human protagonists. In her feature Horses, Liz Mermin spent a year documenting the lives of three Irish racehorses, with the potential to be stars of the National Hunt racing circuit. Liz joins us to discuss the challenges of creating a documentary where the humans are mere bit players.

There's a patience about sitting and waiting and watching I think that you need to have in this kind of film in order to get something.

Showlinks
Mermin Film
BBC Storyville
Irish Film Board
Sony PMW-EX1

• Horses – Liz Mermin
• Strummerville: A Don Letts Film
• INSIDE THE CIRCLE Breakin' Convention Screening
• DN169: Men Who Swim – Dylan Williams
• DN SXSW2010: World's Largest – Amy C. Elliott & Elizabeth Donius

Horses (2009)
A beautifully detailed and exciting documentary film following a year in the lives of three Irish racehorses, keeping as close to the horses as possible.

• DN180: Horses – Liz Mermin
• ZOOMER – Sam Huntley
• We Dreamed America – Alex Walker
• Us Now – Ivo Gormley
• Tokyo Cowboys – Daneeta Loretta Saft & Patrick Jackson

If writing what you know is good, then it's logical to presume writing something everyone knows and has experienced is an even better strategy for a filmmaker to employ. Director Ben Briand picked the universal theme of first love, for his ‘chance encounter' short Apricot, and joins us to discuss the importance of memory in his films.

I very much like the idea of being dropped into the middle of a scene [...] because as an audience it means you have to try and catch up or you have to try and piece things together. It's not just a passive experience.

Apricot Materials
Script

Showlinks
Ben Briand
Filminc Interview
Vimeo
M.I.A: Born Free
Red Camera
Canon EOS 7D
Canon EOS 5D

• SotW: Apricot
• Apricot – Ben Briand
• Apricot
• Pre-order TUB DVD
• Miss D 2007 Top Ten

Apricot (2009)
Do you remember your first love? … Do you remember your first kiss? … Do you remember? …

• SotW: Apricot
• DN179: Apricot – Ben Briand
• Apricot
• Wowie – Craig Webster & Florina Titz
• White Red Panic – Ayz Waraich

Any film that features the tag line Spandex is the Shit! is destine for a spot on DN, particularly if it features an actor commonly know for his handlebar mustache and unicycling. Directing team Craig Webster and Florina Titz join me to discuss Wowie pt1 and their web series DaiDaiiRo.

We have a similar aesthetic vision, even if it's quite separate or quite different independently, but somehow we have an agreement once we're going down a certain road.

Wowie & DaiDaiiRo Materials
Script
Storyboard
Conforming Sheet Sample
DaiDaiiRo Installation Plan

Showlinks
Craig Webster
DaiDaiiRo Vimeo
Calvin Johnson “look at what the light did now”
Kyle Field

• Wowie – Craig Webster & Florina Titz
• Pre-order TUB DVD
• Miss D 2007 Top Ten
• DN179: Apricot – Ben Briand
• DN174: Out of Nowhere – Will Lamborn

Wowie (2010)
Wowie, a delusional postman, spies on his love interest, Carina, while she does an aerobics routine. Later at a party he delivers an awkward performance involving spandex and hip-thrusts to impress her.

• DN178: Wowie – Craig Webster & Florina Titz
• White Red Panic – Ayz Waraich
• The West Side – Ryan Bilsborrow-Koo & Zachary Lieberman
• The Shovel – Nick Childs
• The Patterns Trilogy – Jamie Travis

Using particle animation and lighting effects Chris Lavelle has created a living, organic piece of 3D art in his experimental short ASCENSION. Chris joins us to discuss the evolution of the piece.

I don't believe in copying, I don't believe in plagiarism, but what I do believe in is making knowledge free.

Showlinks
LDi Studios
Trapcode Particular
Graymachine
Adobe After Effects
Garage Band

• ASCENSION – Chris Lavelle
• DN164: Sonar – Renaud Hallee
• DN EP 144: Moray McLaren: We Got Time – David Wilson
• DN EP 141: Body – Zhivko Dimitrov
• DN EP 136: Khoda – Reza Dolatabadi

ASCENSION (2010)
An experimental piece based around particle system generated by music and sound, pieced together to create a narrative of a cycle of life.

• DN177: ASCENSION – Chris Lavelle
• _grau – Robert Seidel
• Virtuosi – Marcelo Garcia
• To Shoot a Rurf – Shane & Paula Sheils
• The Reason I Collect – Emma Curtis

The comment “It was like watching a full length feature film on fast forward and only pausing at the good bits,” goes a long way to explaining the experience of setting into Neo-Mega-Ultra Tokyo to watch Frank DanCoolo: Paranormal Drug Dealer. The film's director Andrew W. Jones joins me to discuss creating this hyper-real, tongue in cheek world.

The liberating thing about green screen is that I had make absolutely no compromises to production design and sets and not being able to put a camera in a certain place.

Frank DanCoolo: Paranormal Drug Dealer Materials
Script
Storybook

Showlinks
Andrew W. Jones
Adobe After Effects
Christopher Shy
Dastoli Digital
From Beyond

• Frank DanCoolo: Paranormal Drug Dealer – Andrew W Jones
• Pre-order TUB DVD
• DN175: Skeletons – Nick Whitfield
• DN SXSW2010: TUB – Bobby Miller
• DN LFF08: Quick Gun Murugan – Shashank Ghosh

Frank DanCoolo: Paranormal Drug Dealer (2010)
In the annoyingly sparkly future-scape of Neo-Mega-Ultra Tokyo, reporter Holly Malone tracks a murderous urban legend. She discovers that a chain of drug related killings leads down a super natural trail. A trail that ends with no average pill pusher, but FRANK DANCOOLO: PARANORMAL DRUG DEALER!

• DN176: Frank DanCoolo: Paranormal Drug Dealer – Andrew W Jones – repost
• The Upper Hand – Lana Schwarcz
• The Suburbs – Lee Kern
• The Raftman's Razor – Keith Bearden
• Skeletons – Nick Whitfield