About Azhur

Shoot Day 1

on July 3rd, 2012 in Directing, Project ARTICHOKE by | No Comments

Today we shot at Glazier’s Hall for the kitchen scene. The morning of the first day of any shoot is always a nerve-wracking experience for me. All the preparation you’ve been doing is for today, and it’s only just the start! For me though, as soon as I step onto…

Continue reading...

New warehouse location recce

on July 2nd, 2012 in Project ARTICHOKE by | No Comments

Our fantastic Production Manager, Leia sourced a new location for us – not from any locations website, but from Gumtree! It’s actually an old converted warehouse that is built to be used for photography shoots and music videos/commercials etc. What’s great is that they haven’t yet put it on any…

Continue reading...

Shoot postponed!

on June 28th, 2012 in Project ARTICHOKE by | No Comments

Today was supposed to be the first day of the shoot. But yesterday was one of those days where everything seems to fall apart at the last minute. It began with the lack of contact with our production designer who came on board last week. After the kitchen location recce…

Continue reading...

Completed storyboards

on June 27th, 2012 in Directing, Project ARTICHOKE by | No Comments

I’ve finally completed the storyboards! Even though I’ve gone through in a very detailed way, I always see storyboards just a safety net as new ideas always arise on set. It’s also a good way of knowing what else you need to get, and for myself, to know if I…

Continue reading...

Kitchen location recce

on June 26th, 2012 in Project ARTICHOKE by | No Comments

One of the hardest locations to find has been the kitchen. We’ve been going through countless location websites, but it’s hard to find one that’s a) big enough to shoot what I need, including space for camera and lights and b) isn’t in use. Today we went on a recce…

Continue reading...

Pre-production via Skype and phone calls

on June 23rd, 2012 in Project ARTICHOKE by | No Comments

This weekend I’m in Manchester for four days for my cousin’s wedding – which can be very stressful when in the middle of pre-production. We’re having to do nightly Skype calls or conference calls between myself, co-producers Sahil and Jess and production manager Neigeme. We have to have a detailed…

Continue reading...

Auditions

on June 20th, 2012 in Directing, Project ARTICHOKE by | No Comments

Today we had our auditions which was set up by our amazing casting director Kharmel Cochrane. Myself and co-producer Jess were there to audition the twenty or so actors we had coming in for most of the roles. We were seeing people for the lead character, Sirhan, as well as…

Continue reading...

Location Recce and crewing up

on June 19th, 2012 in Project ARTICHOKE by | No Comments

Today we went to check out one location that will be used for the warehouse location in the film. It’s a basement of a building in Hammersmith and looks quite good. There are some great areas, and interesting textures on the wall that we could use. My only concern is…

Continue reading...

Storyboarding

on June 18th, 2012 in Directing, Project ARTICHOKE by | No Comments

The film is about Sirhan Sirhan, the assassinator of Robert Kennedy and his claims that he was hypnotised by the CIA to carry out the attack. My film is about his subjective experience of ‘waking up’ moments after he has committed the assassination. We begin in a derelict looking warehouse…

Continue reading...

Pre-production begins on short film for Virgin Shorts 2012

on June 7th, 2012 in News, Project ARTICHOKE, Short films by | 1 Comment

I’ve started pre-production on a short film that I’m entering into this year’s Virgin Shorts competition. It’s a competition that gets a lot of attention with a grand prize of £30,000 funding for your next film, so I’m pulling out all the stops to make something really exciting and fun….

Continue reading...