Statuesque

Someone has put Statuesque on YouTube.

I doubt it will be up for long; Sky's lawyers will probably ask them to take it down, once they notice. But since it's up, consider this link a New Year's present:

Labels: Statuesque

From the Exact Middle of Nowhere

Waving from the Middle of Nowhere, where there's no TV, my cell phone doesn't work and the internet is slow and klunky enough that semaphore might be more efficient.

Statuesque aired last night on Sky 1. I didn't see it. Didn't get to see the first part of the last David Tennant Doctor Who either. (Statuesque is currently available on Sky Anytime, for UK Sky subscribers, until the 31st of Dec. Look it up under the title of "Ten Mintue Tales") (Yes, Mintue. I know they mean Minute, but that's what it's up as right now.)

On the other hand, we got a few hour's sunlight today. I saw some of that. And yesterday we went for a walk and, using map coordinates and the GPS Mike's amazing new Google Cell Phone (aka Dogfood) we found a Viking stone circle. And I'm cooking a lot on the Aga. My favourite present was one my children had clubbed together to get me: a painting of my dog, by artist Kelli Bickman. They know I love Kelli's stuff, and figured that I would be made happy by a painting of Cabal by her. And I am, very happy indeed.

Anyway. I hope you had a very happy Boxing Day, and that all your boxes belong to you.

Labels: boxing day, Middle of Nowhere, Statuesque

Chilly and Statuesque

Ah, I think, for a blog post I really need more than "Coraline has just garnered ten Annie Award Nominations, more than any other animated film". (Variety) (Congratulations to Henry Selick, to Travis Knight, Dawn French, Shane Prigmore, Shannon Tindle, Bruno Coulais, Christopher Appelhans, Tadahiro Uesugi, Chris Butler, and the whole Laika and Focus crew.) But I am feeling extraordinarily blank.

The weather just got cold, and dog-walking tonight was less fun than it should have been; I wore gloves, and solitary crystalline flecks of snow spun into the light of my flashlight-beam and vanished again into the dark. I took Maddy and her friend Anna-Rose to violin tonight, and yesterday I carried the beautiful E. H. Shepard ink-drawing I got myself to celebrate the award in to the framers to be framed. I'm concerned that we should have insulated the beehives by now.

Tickets for the Decatur event on the 14th went faster than anyone expected. More will be released on Monday -- keep an eye on their blog (http://littleshopofstories.blogspot.com) for more information.

...

Dear Neil,
If you could choose a quote - either by you or another author - to be inscribed on the wall of a public library children's area, what would it be?

Thanks!
Lynn

I'm not sure I'd put a quote up, if it was me, and I had a library wall to deface. I think I'd just remind people of the power of stories, of why they exist in the first place. I'd put up the four words that anyone telling a story wants to hear. The ones that show that it's working, and that pages will be turned:

"...and then what happened?"

...

Oh. I nearly forgot. The short film I made, Statuesque, starring Bill Nighy, Amanda Palmer not to mention Becca Darling and Liam McKean, will be broadcast in the UK on Sky 1 at 10:00pm on Christmas Day.(There are eleven films altogether, and they'll go out every night starting on Dec the 21st, and ending on the 31st.)

Master Liam McKean can currently be seen in Oliver! at the Theatre Royal Drury Lane. Miss Amanda Palmer is probably fast asleep at home in Boston.

Labels: Awards, Coraline movie, Statuesque, writing on library walls

I think I just made a film...

The film was finished. I spent the last few days editing it with a terrific editor named Amanda James, and it was handed in, with a cut-off of last night at 7:30pm, when we had to lock it (because today we will grade the film). At 7:28 we were sitting nervously looking at the phone waiting for the Senior Executive at Sky TV to tell us what he thought, and at 7:29 we had huge grins on our faces, because he had phoned and told us that he was very very happy indeed, had absolutely loved it and he wouldn't change a frame.

It's eight minutes and 21 seconds long.

So now it has to be graded, and our temporary soundtrack (a mishmash of The Velvet Underground, Owls, Rasputina, David Bowie, Steeleye Span, Bela Fleck, Kate Bush and Louis Armstrong) will be replaced by a real score, which will be written and recorded by the amazing Sxip Shirey.

And then it will be shown on Sky some time in the 12 days before Xmas (along with 12 other silent films, still being made).

I loved making it, loved editing it, loved working with talented people.

Tomorrow it's off to Berlin (not that I'm doing anything there. I'm with Amanda, for a donations-only gig she's doing) then to Hamburg ( where I am doing the book festival -- details at http://www.neilgaiman.com/where/ where you will also find out about me in Cleveland and Toledo in October and UC Santa Barbara in February).

Right. Off to grade my film now.

Labels: hamburger, Statuesque

Lights! Camera! Action!

Directing a film right now. No time to blog and barely time to breathe, but you can see Amanda's account of filming on Sunday and yesterday (with photos) over at http://blog.amandapalmer.net/post/182070703/secret-sunday-london-show-behind-the-film-scene

And my only comment is that everyone is so good at what they do, and my actors are so amazing (Bill Nighy is a dream to work with)( a good dream, not one of the scary kinds), that honestly I'm not sure what I'm doing apart from being made to look very good by everyone else.

Back to work now. We have to shoot Bill making sandwiches.

Labels: Statuesque

Back. Not dead. Hurrah.

I'm back from the Middle of Nowhere. I had a wonderful time with no internet, email or twitter. It was fine and fabulous. I caught up on my sleep. Amanda even persuaded me to go jogging with her in the Scottish rain.

Now in London.

On Sunday, I'll start shooting a short movie (you can learn all about it here). We'll be at Charter Place in Watford High Street (WD17 2BJ for the curious) and will be shooting on Sunday the 6th from around 11 until 6.00pm. There will be human statues, and people are welcome to come by and watch, throw money into bowls and see what the statues do, wave at a silent and statuesque Amanda Palmer and so forth. I'm happy for people to wander past and see what we're doing: I'll be working, so probably won't be stopping to sign books or say hullo, I'm afraid.

And, for the curious, this is what some of the downstairs library, and Hermione the Library Cat looks like. (I wish the upstairs library with all the good reference stuff was in it too.): http://blog.shelfari.com/my_weblog/2009/09/neil.html

Labels: library downstairs, silence is golden, Statuesque

A quick one

Very quick one just to say I'm in the offices of a film company in London, spending two days interviewing editors, production designers, costume people and the like, for a short (ten minute) silent film I've written and will be directing in two weeks' time.

I can't tell you much more about it yet. It stars, er, a star, and another, different, star. I had the idea for it half way through the HousingWorks benefit Amanda and I did in April [Edit: er, June. April was PEN.], and pulled out my notebook and wrote it down.

It got the green light on Friday, will be part of a series of Silent Films broadcast in the UK in December, and I have probably already said too much.

Wednesday and Thursday I'm doing events in Edinburgh (sold-out talks, with open signings afterwards).

To close a few Tabs, once again the Guardian reports the Hugo Awards as news, making it pretty much the sole major newspaper in the world to do this. Damien Walter writes a lovely piece for the Guardian blog about me and it. (Wired also reported it.)

Labels: Hugo Awards, Statuesque, zoom