More GameBoyz

Well, the filming of the short GameBoyz film is now completed, and I am absolutely thrilled with the results. It all went far better than I could have hoped for. I feel really lucky to have found such a fantastic cast and crew.

I feel quite fortunate that the whole filming went at a good, strong pace. A few unavoidable adjustments had to be made to the script, but remarkably enough those changes have worked into the story very well and helped to create a nice atmosphere.

This is a promotional image featuring Vanessa-May Dolphin, playing the role of one of the video game anomalies.

                                                                   

    

Gameboyz is structured around the working environment of a video game company, but with a few fantastical and quite often bizarre things goings on.

Here we can see Vanessa-May being tied up for one of her scenes. This lady was a real trooper; she had the most physically tough scenes in the whole film.

The character Don, played by Stephen Brady, wants to take the reputation of the game company away from creating cute and cuddly kids games. Don wants to create the kind of games closest to his heart...violent ones.

Don has very carefully hand picked his team to make his violent game, treating each and every one of his team members like family...even if Don Believes a family member needs a bit of hard disciplining from time to time.

Here is Stephen Brady in this promotional image as Don.

There are those in the company that would very much like to see Dons violent game project fail. They believe that Don is taking unecessary risks, and putting not only the company reputation at risk, but also their jobs.

    
Jim Sweeney plays the role of Brian the office manager. Brian hates what Don is trying to do, and will do whatever he can to catch Don and his team doing something they shouldn't, so he can have them stripped of the company resources that he believes Don is wasting. Brian is not a dishonest fellow, he will not stoop so low as to create false evidence against Don, but he will do what he can to hinder Don.

Here Jim Sweeney, and Stephen Brady, rehearse a scene where they confront each other.





The character called Ted seen in the promotional image here, is the company IT guy. Ted is played by Ryan Hendrick. Ted has more than a few loose screws rattling around inside his head. Ted is a mystery to almost everyone else in the company. Ted keeps very much to himself, and lives in his own little universe, scurrying around making sure everything is working as it should.

Ted is tormented by the mischievious anomalies that live in the walls of the game company, and he is constantly repairing the damage they seem to be causing. Only Ted seems to be able to see these weird beings, and only Ted acknowledges their existence...but it is really JUST Ted that sees them. Many other staff members see things out the corner of their eyes, and sometimes in clear view. Are they just stress induced hallucinations... these things can't possibly be real...can they?







Here is a shot of Teds little operation centre, where he keeps a careful eye on everything in the company.

In this shot is Vanessa-May Dolphin, Paul Reeves, Bash Genghis, and Ryan Hendrick. Bash was the DOP for GameBoyz and brought a fantastic energy along with him.










Cast and crew from left to right. Martin Haddow who plays Martin, Ryan Hendrick playing Ted, David McKeitch sound engineer, Daryl Cockburn editing.

The location for the GameBoyz studio was filmed in a real video game company based in Glasgow called Extra Mile Studios. A huge thank you to Bobby Farmer for allowing us to film there. The location helped to bring the story alive in a way I couldn't have hoped better for.







Martin Haddow, funnily enough plays the character called Martin. The story of the sitcom begins with Martin arriving at the games company for a job interview. It's from this job interview, that Martin and the audience, are introduced to the world of Game Boyz.

Martin Haddow was a fantastic late find to the cast of GameBoyz, and I couldn't have been happier. He was perfect.

Here is Martin during his interview scene.




Kadir Adam Buksh, getting ready for one of his scenes. Adam plays the character called Jeff who acts as a kind of double act with the character called Greg. Both these characters are programmers who do everything together.

Adam joined the cast quite late on, and again he was a great find. He brought a great sense of fun and uniqueness to Jeff.

The DOP, Bash Genghis, getting ready to film.





Preparing for a scene involving the characters Don, Stuart, and Simon. Scott Fulton MacCallum, on the far right of this photo, plays the part of Simon. I had been talking with Scott about having a role in GameBoyz for quite some time, and I'm really pleased he got involved.

Like myself, Scott was a real video game developer before chosing to train as an actor.







Discussing the scene that establishes the relationship between Don, Stuart, and Simon, three of the core characters.

The purpose of this short film is to introduce the audience to the story behind GameBoyz, the characters and the relationships between the various characters.






It's important to mention other cast members.

Gerry Hay, who plays the character Robert Planks, the owner of the fictional game company. Gerry was yet another late but amazing find, and it's hard to imagine anyone else in the role now.

Deborah Elder plays the character Jan, the company secretary. Jan has the same views as Brian does about Don taking the company into dangerous territory, and makes it very clear how this makes her feel. Deborah helped to create a great presence for this important character.

Jonathan Jones who plays the character Greg, is an old friend from my real life work in the games industry. Jonathan or JJ, and I could tell you a few stories about how the games industry really works. :-) I was really chuffed that JJ came along and got involved.

More will be included about these characters and the actors in future blogs.

Here below, is another GameBoyz logo animation test.