Within The Shadow Of The Tree : Press Pack

Post Card

POINTS OF INTEREST

There is a trailer for Within The Shadow Of The Tree - titled “My Home"
The making of the film was featured an a ITV program called "Inner City Art" also the BBC and ITV news ran stories on the production of the film.
It is an entirely fictional story, set against the backdrop of the world of Marimdorph, a world that was once protected by a powerful Wizard who had banished all evil from the land.
Filmed on location around the North East of England.
A total production budget of £40.000, all financed and raised through Media funding and private equity.
Because the funding trickled in, availability of Actors and Crew, the movie took 9 years to complete.
Several of the crew members, while and after the production have gone on to work on some very well known movies, Alister Bell worked on the first two Harry Potter movies doing model effects. Andy Ludbrook did the sound for Dog Soldiers.

FULL SYNOPSIS

Within The Shadow Of The Tree: Dark Dreams
The story is of a little character named 'The Small One' who must try and put a spell right that was cast by his adopted father, a powerful Wizard, who was once the protector of the land of Marimdorph before his death.
The Wise Wizard thinking he was protecting the land planted a seed that grew into a gigantic tree this he hoped would continue to radiate his goodness and magic across the land. The Wise One forgot about one thing, the tree would cast a shadow and every day that the tree grew the shadow grew and every day the shadow grew evil grew beneath the ground on which it was cast.
Not knowing the full extent of his Fathers mistake the Small One embarks on a perilous journey in this now hostile world filled with all manner of evil.
Along the way we see the Small One's friends who are loyal to his cause and understand that if they do not succeed in their mission to destroy Lord Akrafa's and all his evil followers it could mean the end of Marimdorph.
Within The Shadow Of The Tree is a live action/puppet/animated fantasy film aimed at a universal audience.

DIRECTOR’S PRE-SHOOT STATEMENT

Within The Shadow Of The Tree is a visually powerful story set in a timeless world of Marimdorph. The theme of good vs evil plays an important and fundamental part in telling the story.
Audiences will be fascinated by the primitive life-style, and the raw experience of living off what nature can provide.
The tone of WITHIN THE SHADOW OF THE TREE is a balance of grittiness, enchantment, and fantasy. It will be about what lies in the shadow, and what magical possibilities lurk at every turning.

WITHIN THE SHADOW OF THE TREE'S PROJECT HISTORY & BACKGROUND

In the 90’s I had a dream, not a Martin Luther type of dream, a one where you go to bed and when you wake up it changes your life ... I was getting ready to make a film but I did not know what it was going to be as yet, the only Lord of the Rings film I had seen was the animated vision, I was inspired however by Jim Henson Films and the Star Wars Series from the 70s, also I liked the original He Man animations, I like lots of characters that have special abilities interrelationship to their character and visual appearance.
So all the things that entertained me, were buzzing around in my head and somehow my subconscious was putting them together ready for the best dream I’ve ever had...! When I awoke I grabbed a pen and wrote and wrote. I started to draw storyboards not a few but thousands ... I couldn’t keep up with the images and the story of all these characters and their journey in this world in which they lived.
I realized after six months no one could make this film, as it was too big. Digital technology was in it’s infancy and fantasy films were still done the Labyrinth Henson way, that's not to say I don’t like puppets, I love them and I knew some of my characters would be puppets and I would not try and hide the fact but relish in having the opportunity to operate them.
So I looked at what was in front of me and said even a big film company would have difficulty making a quarter of this story, so I knew I didn’t have a hope of ever attempting it, or so I thought ... I resigned from were I was working and set out to be a freelance film maker, it was a big step but I soon got a varied and interesting selection of work everything from a film about Mc Donald’s Cheerleaders to a new interpretation of The Lambton Worm of which I directed.
It was shot on 16 mm and one of the location sets was huge a whole village full of children all in costume dancing along with a Minstrel whom wonders into the village and tells them the legend Of The Lambton Worm.
The set was similar to what some of the sets would be like in Within The Shadow Of The Tree and this inspired me to do a couple of shots from the film as a test.
The Lambton Worm film was shown all over the world in Japan, France and at lots of other festivals, it was even shown as part of the celebration of a 100 years of cinema, through it I gained a lot of new contacts and one of them was a world renowned animator called Sheila Graber. Sheila Graber saw some of the test footage I had shot for Within The Shadow Of The Tree, only a couple of shots of which I was going to use to try and sell the idea as I knew, as I’ve already said I would never even have consider attempting to make it myself. Sheila loved what she saw and knowing that I had shot these shots with no budget, encouraged me by saying what could you do if you had a budget. That type of talk does play on your mind, what if, I looked again at the story and thought, what piece of this 8 hour story do I tell, how much should I attempt to make, or should I do it at all, I made the decision that if I did do the project I would only do the first hour and I would still continue to do the filming work I was doing, I knew it was not going to be easy but at least I had made the decision to do the easiest segment of the story and that meant finishing at a specific point in the story and not telling one second more than I should, as this would have been impossible as the scope of the film jumped enormously and became too big.
Sheila Graber worked with me to put together a proposal for Northern Arts a funding body that used to fund film production,
(I say used to as it is now called Northern Film & Media), any hoo we worked on the proposal, it showed makeup tests of Pungin a few shots from the film and an animatic of a segment from the story boards, also the first part of the script that I intended to try and attempt to make.
Northern Arts went for the idea, I must admit other than being excited I was still very nervous because I knew I could not do it for what I had asked them for I also knew that once I had key scenes done and gaps to fill they may not give me completion money... what I did not know was, even more completion money would not be enough as the project would be a gigantic financial struggle and I would still have to get more funding and invest a great deal of my own finances.

DIRECTOR & PRODUCER: Carl B Harrison

Carl has Worked 26 years in the film industry, producing Films that have received wide critical acclaim and won various TV, Film and community related awards. Also for the last 19 years he has taught all aspects of film making through workshops, courses and events for Companies, Local Authorities Educational Organisations and The Arts Council.

JENNIFER DUNCAN - SMALL ONE'S MOTHER

Jennifer Duncan whose media career spans 23 years, working in both Television and Radio, in a variety of roles from actor, presenter to Talent scout to Producer/Director. Jennifer worked on Byker Grove for 11 years and ran her own drama/media school for 12 years. She has strong practical and technical experience in most skill areas of television and radio.

JIM CALLANAN - THE WISE ONE

This was Jim's first acting role, playing the Wise One, however Jim is no stranger to performing, as he was the lead singer from the group "The Sensible Pencils" Jim is currently producing several albums from his own record label.

DAVID NEAL - PUNGIN

David's acting background stems more from theatre work than performing in front of a camera, but he made the transition with great ease and gave an outstanding and memorable performance playing one of the movies more prominent characters.

JOHN MORRIS - SMALL ONE'S FATHER

John has worked in the movie industry for over 20 years but recently changed over to the music side of performing to produce several number one top downloaded songs from his music web site Left Eye Dominant, John now lives in Italy where he runs the LED sound studios.

ALISTER BELL - FORREST VILLAIN

Alister is more used to being behind the camera than in front, Alister reveled in the chance of playing a forest villain.
Alister now works in special effects and has worked on such films as Harry Potter and a whole host of other major blockbusters.

FULL CAST & CREW LIST

Pungin
DAVID NEAL

The Wise One
JIM CALLANAN

The Small One’s Father
JOHN MORRIS

The Small One’s Mother
JENNY DUNCAN

The Small One
SUE AXON
NICK DANIEL
ALISTER BELL
CARL B HARRISON

Lord Akrafa
CARL B HARRISON

Rawldroll
DAVE TUCKER
CARL B HARRISON

Forrest Villain One
ALISTER BELL

Forrest Villain Two
DAVID NEAL

Corn Elf
NICK DANIEL
PAUL MARSHAL
DAVE ROSS
DAVID NEAL
CARL B HARRISON

Tree People
HILARY BAGNEL
ALISTER BELL
JOHN MORRIS
DANIEL JAMES HARRISON
CARL B HARRISON

Night Dreams
ALISTER BELL

Voice Of Forest Villain One
JIM CALLANAN

Voice Of The Small One
Voice Of The Wise One
Voice Of Lord Akrafa
Voice Of Rawl droll
Voice Of Corn Elf
Voice Of Forest Villain Two
Voice Of Startled Night Watchman
CARL B HARRISON

Small One’s Fathers Makeup
JOHN SLATER
Makeup & Special Affects Makeup
CARL B HARRISON

Assistant Makeup Artist
PAUL MARSHAL

Stunts
DAVID NEAL

Lighting
CARL B HARRISON

Prop Makers
NICK DANIEL
ALISTER BELL
BRIAN SIMPSON
CARL B HARRISON

Tree City Miniature
ALISTER BELL

Stop Motion Animation
CARL B HARRISON

Computer Animation
NICK DANIEL
ANDREW Mc CLOUD
CARL B HARRISON
DAVE TUCKER
JOHN MORRIS

Digital Model's
NICK DANIEL
ANDREW Mc CLOUD
JOHN MORRIS
CARL B HARRISON

Computer Programming & Support
NIGAL JUDSON

Carpenters
BRIAN SIMPSON
BARRY DIXON
NICK DANIEL
CARL B HARRISON

Set Dressers
ALISTER BELL
HILARY BAGNEL
JOHN MORRIS
ALISON Mc DONALD
CARL B HARRISON
NICK DANIEL
MARK SPICER
PAUL MARSHALL

Rock and Form
CARL B HARRISON
Physical Effects
NICK DANIEL
CARL B HARRISON
ALISTER BELL
DAVE ROSS
MARK SPICER
PAUL MARSHAL
HILLARY BAGNEL
MIKE GALLON
SUE AXON
SANDRA ELIZABETH HARRISON
JOHN MORRIS
JOHN SLATER
DAVID NEAL
LUKE TAYLOR
IAN COTTAGE
DAVE BRUNSKILL
DAVE TUCKER
PAUL & COLIN

Animatronics
NICK DANIEL
CARL B HARRISON

Foly Artists
JIM CALLANAN
CARL B HARRISON

Stand - ins
JOHN SLATER
CARL B HARRISON

Transport
JOE GORDON
SOUTH TYNESIDE COM.ASSO.
JIM CALLANAN

Catering
SANDRA HARRISON

Puppet Wire Work & Wire Construction
NICK DANIEL

Miniature Buildings
ALISTER BELL
STEVE FIELD
CARL B HARRISON

Compositing
CARL B HARRISON

Continuity
IAN COTTAGE
CARL B HARRISON

Matt Painters
NICK DANIEL
CARL B HARRISON
Runners
LUKE TYLOR
PAUL MARSHAL
DAVE ROSS
MARK SPICER

Motion Control Construction
PETE THE ENGINEER

Music, The Journey Wrote and Performed By
JIM CALLANAN

Recorded at
MARK HOLSBY SOUND STUDIOS

Music, The Essence OF Your Life, Wrote and Performed By
CARL B HARRISON

Post Production Sound
ANDY LUDBROOK

Still Photography
IAN COTTAGE
JOHN MORRIS
CARL B HARRISON
DAVID NEAL
DAVE ROSS

Boom Operators
JOHN MORRIS
DAVE ROSS
PAUL MARSHAL
CHRISTOPHER DAVID

Arial Photography, Sky Diver
DAVE HUTCHINSON

Costume Design
CARL B HARRISON

Costume Painters
CARL B HARRISON
PAUL MARSHAL

Costume Accessories
CARL B HARRISON
WALTER MORLEY

Wigs
VICTORIA ANN HARRISON

Plasterer
CARL B HARRISON

Explosion Effects Timer
DAVE BRUNSKILL

Tree City Rubber Mould Maker
ALISTER BELL

Story Boards
CARL B HARRISON

Animatics
JOHN MORRIS
CARL B HARRISON

Textures
NICK DANIEL
DAVE TUCKER
JOHN MORRIS
NIGAL JUDSON
CARL B HARRISON
ANDREW McCLOUD

Software Used
FINAL CUT PRO
iMOVIE
PARTICLE ALUTIIONS
LIGHT WAVE
ADOBE AFTER AFFECTS
ADOBE PREMIER
PHOTO SHOP
TV PAINT
IMAGE EFFECTS
DELUXE PAINT 4
VIDE AMIGA
SOUND HACK
AVID

Special Thanks to:
NORTHERN ARTS
NORTHERN FILM AND MEDIA
SHEILA GRABER
JOHN BRADSHAW
HELEN STEARMAN
UNIVERSITY OF NORTHUMBRIA
SMURFIT TUBES
SOUTH TYNESIDE COMMUNITY- ASSOCIATION
IMAGIN NONLINEAR POST-
PRODUCTION FASILATY
ANDY LUDBROOK
GARRY COSGROVE
SUSAN COSGROVE
PHIL CHARLTAN
IAN MONROE
EVELYN SIMPSON
RACHEL GUNTER
MERLIN FILMS
ARDMIN FILMS
ROOF TOP ANIMATION
FLASH KIT SOUNDS
MELANIE ABBOT
STEVE DAIL
NORTHERN LIGHTING
VICKY HARRISON
DAVID TYLOR
GEMINI CRAFTS
NICK DANIEL
SANDRA HARRISON
DANIEL HARRISON

Locations
NORTH EAST OF ENGLAND

Copyright (C) 2005 Mole Face Films. Carl B Harrison.
All Rights Reserved.

Mole Face Films and Carl B Harrison are the authors of this film (motion Picture) for the purposes of copyright and other laws.

The insects used in this film were in no way mistreated and all scenes in which they appeared were under strict supervision with the utmost concern for their handling.

This story is fictional. Any similarity to the names, characters or history of any person, living or dead, or any actual event is entirely coincidental and unintentional.

A MOLE FACE FILMS RELEASE