Postie delivers movie premiere

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http://www.highland-news.co.uk/news/ful ... miere.html (link has mini trailer)

By Margaret Chrystall
Published: 20 November, 2008

POSTIE John Haydock will probably still be pounding the streets of Inverness as his film premieres at Inverness Film Festival.
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He's the first local film-maker to have his work shown at the festival in its six-year history.

John's six-minute film, the moody black and white Last Man Dead, shot at Loch Ness, will get its first public screening at Eden Court.

And that's appropriate because after heading along to one of the theatre's short taster courses in film-making when the building reopened last year, John's used his new editing skills to create the mini-movie.

He said: "I've been making films for years – I first started making them when I was 13 or 14 using my grandad's camcorder.

"I made films all through my time at Inverness High School, then did a year studying TV sound and photography when the course was still being done at Inverness College. After that, I went to Aberdeen to do an HND for two years in TV operation."

Once he left college, John decided to return to Inverness and take a job at Royal Mail to raise cash to buy crucial pieces of equipment for his film-making. But it wasn't until he started the theatre's course that he began working on his own films again.

"When I was at college in Aberdeen, I made a short documentary about an Inverness hip hop band Spit Dis, some music videos for other bands and a couple of my HND project films were shown at the Belmont cinema in Aberdeen.

"I posted the short film with Spit Dis on YouTube and I've had over 1000 hits."

John started making Last Man Dead as part of Eden Court's FilmLab course run by Graham Roger. And John planned ahead so that he could make the most of the course that started this autumn.

He said: "I spent the summer making all the film so it would be ready before the editing course started in September. I'd bought my own camera before and had saved up to buy the other bits of equipment I need, bit by bit."

John had a precise plan for what he wanted to create with Last Man Dead.

He said: "The idea for the film was purely based on trying to create a mood piece and I had a rough idea in my head from the start about how it would go."

John explained that as the film opens, a man is walking in a desolate area and seems to be paranoid, believing he's being followed. But as there's a gangster theme to the movie, he might just be right!

John said: "There are just four actors in it. I used people I had known and used in films I'd done before – and I'm in it too!"

Luckily, he found a good way to juggle his directing and acting roles.

"My cousin Michael is studying photography in Edinburgh, so when there was a bit I needed to be in, I just handed the camera to him."

As it was a film all about creating an atmosphere, there were no lines for the actors to learn.

John explained: "In the whole film there is no spoken dialogue. I wanted to concentrate on framing the shots and things rather than creating a script.

"And I didn't want the actors speaking in an Invernessian accent – this way it can be open to a worldwide audience!"

Though the film festival audience will be able to check out John's work at noon on Saturday, it's unlikely the 23-year-old director will get the chance to sit among them.

His shift as a postie starts at 6.30 in the morning and won't be over until a while after his six-minute movie is!