Chris Keenan (previously profiled here) mentions on his great-but-buried-away blog that he’s been doing some stills photography on the shoot of a new film Special People, which leads me to discover 104 Films, a production company based in Solihull who have a rather impressive showreel.
Special People is a feature length extension of a well received short they made in 2005 of the same name “about a neurotic filmmaker whose latest project is a pretentious film featuring disabled children climbing a mountain. The only problem is the kids don’t want to know. Jasper slowly cracks up as he is bombarded with flack by his uncoopertive students.” There’s a clip from the short here.
The 104 Method
104 films develop projects and ideas through a process of creative development workshops. Justin Edgar leads workshops with groups of young people which develop character, story, situations, dialogue and comedy.
Improvisation, drawing on the truth of character and spontaneous creativity are the key to these workshops. Through this process –and there are no precise rules for how this happens– a script or outline of the project develops. This process is profoundly collaborative and delivers a real energy, verve and sense of authenticity to material. It also centres performance and focuses on developing and refining this craft. This creative process is at the heart of the 104 films vision and Justin Edgar’s directing style.
Photo by Chris Keenan, grid of images taken from the 104 site.