Production Update 07

On Monday we had a shoot at Mount Pleasant Studios, Islington, with Tamsin Clarke who studied Physical Theatre for two years at the Lecoq School in Paris.

We then went on to the abandoned justice courts on Shoreditch High St. and got some takes in the abandoned cells there.

Production Update 06

Here are the first images and storyboards from Anna.

Mood board

Storyboard

Voices from the Wilderness

Last week we recorded interviews for the film with both current and ex-detainees.

On Monday we met 3 ex-detainees, Clifton, Reza and John at the Amplify offices in Shoreditch where we spent the day recording their testimony.

Clifton Cameron (above) is a Jamaican poet who wrote prolifically whilst in detention in Colnbrook and Dover IRCs. He is now writing books relating to his experiences as a youth worker in Birmingham.

His book of poetry 'Voices from the Wilderness' (below) can be found online. It's poetry for the people that talks about everyday life in a powerful way, with titles ranging from 'To Harry Redknapp and Portsmouth', 'Cricket Lovely Cricket', 'A Tribute to Lord Callaghan', 'Marcus Garvey' and 'Terror in London' to mention just a few.

I hope Clifton has been enjoying England's recent thrashing in the West Indies.

Production Update 05

Its been a very busy week. I've been recording testimony from detainees over the phone and editing it all in order to have a rough audio cut to give the animators so that they can begin to work properly.

Well, its done and sounding pretty good. Obviously its just a rough cut to guide the animation. Later we will begin reworking it in a studio, creating more layers and textures of sound to compliment the testimony.

Sound will be a really crucial element in this piece and we now have a sound designer, Jules MacDonald from Berwick Post Studio in Soho, and a composer, Jiri Slavik (jirislavik.com) who write the soundtrack for Oury Jalloh (www.ouryjalloh-derfilm.de). Its really exciting to have these two artists on board, the sound is going to make or break this piece and with them we are going to be able to create something powerful.

 Now its on to the animation.

Iloobia has already been doing some amazing work on his sequences creating an atmospheric monochrome london cityscape with looming skyscrapers and ubiquitous surveillance cameras. Here is an extract from one of his storyboards:

We have a meeting with all the animators on Thursday. Lastly there is a documentary crew making a film about this production and the other 4 ctrl+alt+shift prize winners. I'll be giving them an interview on Friday. A real making of. My my my...

Production Update 04

Today I went to Colnbroock Immigration Removal Centre near Heathrow where I met with two detainees who will be giving testimony for the project.

The first was from Gambia. He has been in detention for over a year.

The second was born in Iraq but has lived in the UK for 34 years. He became addicted to heroin and was arrested for dealing. After serving his sentence the immigration authorities decided that he should be deported to Iraq. He has been clean for 6 years. His greatest fear is becoming institutionalized. He doesn't know how he'll cope if he's released, let alone if he's deported to a country that he hasn't been to for over three decades.

Both will be giving testimony that will be recorded over the phone, since you are not even allowed to take a pencil and paper into Colnbrook IRC which operates like a high security prison.

Production Update 03

We have confirmed another animator for the project. Duncan Brown aka Thorn Industries will be using an edgy 2D style with mixed media montage and drawing. Here are some examples of his powerful images.

Production Update 02

We have arranged a session next Monday to record the words of 3 ex-detainees. They are:

Clifton Cameron- Jamaica

Clifton is a published poet who currently lives in Birmingham where he is working on his first novel. He was recently released after spending time in many different Immigration Removal Centres across the UK.

Max- Congo

Max is currently living in Chichester. He is writing a book about his experiences of leaving the Congo and coming to the UK only to be detained.

Reza- Iran

Reza was forced to leave Iran for his political views. He was in detention for almost 3 years in England. He now lives in London with his fiancee. He is an artist and some of his artwork will be used to inspire the animation.