Forward
Artwork by Robert Samuels
My fellow musketeers, Lords ladies and Gentleman, my wish to one and all is for a very prosperous and happy 2011. There’s a lot of exciting developments at Rocketman Towers, so like community service, check in from time to time. I’d like to take this opportunity to thank a few very kind and supportive souls, my New Years Honours list, if you like, in no particular order:
Mike Skrgatic, Tom Lindsay, Ross Hallard, Nial Brown, Niall Greig Fulton, Dan Sollis, Mark One, Max Herman, Cliff Briggs, Kip Katesmark, Jesper Lind, Nicholas Elliot, Simon Gosling, Rodrigo Souza, Ricardo Antolin & Andrew Kuchanny.
Your help, advice and friendship and kindness is deeply appreciated.
In the mix
Still from the behind the scenes footage for the making of ‘Yalla Asia’ – the official theme for the 2011 AFC Asian Cup. The track ‘Yalla Asia’ was composed by Max Herman and Radhka Vekaria and features a very famous US guest star. Updates coming soon.
Hiraku!
‘Distintive/Available/Discoverable’
The opening sequences for three short films i directed for Red Bee Media. The graphics were created by Alex Brown using a combination of Maya and After Effects. The full short films will be at www.redbeemedia.com soon. Credits: Director of Photography Andrew Kuchanny, music for all three films by Max ‘The Hunting Moon’ Herman
The Hunting Moon!
Recommendation: HD>full screen>dim lights>turn up>find popcorn>repeat after 94 seconds
Okay your honour, I confess, I made The Hunting Moon. It is a Red Bee Media production for the charity Malaria No More. if you haven’t already, select reveal after the trailer on www.thehuntingmoonmovie.com
It was a breath of fresh air to work on something that was not just for a great cause but may just make a difference. Since www.thehuntingmoonmovie.com went live a few days ago it’s attracted over 10,000 hits a day on You Tube and been featured on David Beckham and Andy Murray’s Homepages, on Twitter, The Guardian, Campaign, Sky Movies & The Sun Newspaper
Vincere!
It was a pleasure to unite so many members of the superrocketman family into the production: Ann-Marie-Small (Producer) Andrew Kuchanny (Director of Photography) Max Herman (Composer) Ross Hallard (Editor) at Trim Editing and Mike Skrgatic, Jim Allen, Matt Wilmshurst, Sheldon Gardner (Flame Artists) at Time Based Arts. Many thanks to you, the crew (Special Mention to Marko ‘The main man & best 1st AD ever’ Fuchs & Ed Butcher), the web team and all who gave their time up to make it happen. If you haven’t signed up to Malaria No More www.malarianomore.org.uk it’s a great charity doing great things, please do. Happy Halloween!
Halloween!
A couple of weeks ago, whilst working at a couple of superrocketman favourites www.trimediting.com & www.time-based-arts.com ran across a few film execs adding the finishing touches to their trailer for their horror movie set in Africa. Launching just in time for Halloween, the trailer is now online and looks quite exciting. Check out: www.thehuntingmoonmovie.com
AE Trailer
I was 1st AD earlier this year for After Effects, directed by the BAFTA award winning Mark One. Hard-hitting, poignant and relevant, the trailer is online. The film will be screening internationally at Film Festivals and across UK schools. For more information visit: www.markone.tv
After Effects trailer by Mark One – look out for it in film festivals next year
The question without an answer without a question?
Yes superrocketman has been doing something recently, but what?
Incoming!
BBC London 94.9 Promo
It’s been a busy period of secret projects and filming for superrocketman so watch out for imminent exciting updates within the next couple of weeks. Also you can follow my ramblings on twitter (2_25_1). In recent times, I went to London Fashion Week for another Holly Fulton show, which was great and also, I met filmmaking legend Horace Ove. Like Joseph Kittinger, Horace should be a household name. He was the very first black British filmmaker to make a feature film in the UK. His film ‘Pressure’ (1975) was banned for two whole years after it’s release and to all UK broadcasters shame, has still never been shown on television. In between all of this filming and pre and post production I made the BBC London 94.9 promo.
Joseph Kittinger, the original rocket man
August 16th 1960>Project Excelsior>Jump III>102,800 ft
I only heard about Joseph Kittinger very recently and if you haven’t heard of him, allow me shed a little light on this little known legend. 50 years after his historic skydive from the edge of the atmosphere Joseph still holds the world record for the highest fastest and longest skydive.
Project Excelsior began in 1958. The purpose, to design a parachute system to be used for very high altitude jumps. After an ascent of one hour and 31 minutes to an altitude of 102,800 ft (The average cruising altitude of a Jumbo jet is 35,000ft) Joseph took a leap from the highest step in the world and jumped.
He was in free-fall for 4 and a half minutes reaching speeds of 614mph, before opening his main chute. The total duration of the jump was 13 minutes and 45 seconds. Personally I was so awestruck by the archive footage that I decided to write to Mr. Kittinger. Amazingly an envelope arrived a few days ago, he had actually written back.
Superrocketman salutes you Joseph Kittinger, you’re an inspiration.
Smile London, I know it’s raining but at least try
superrocketman collaborated with the Smile for London art project, bringing art and moving image to the London Underground coming in the new year. Look out for updates here and at http://www.smileforlondon.com
I also worked with the up and coming opera superstar Katherine Sayles – you heard about her here first. Check out Katherine at: http://www.katherinesayles.sm4.biz/