It’s finally here - episodes 1-6 are now all available from the Download page. The DVD isn’t quite there yet (need to fix some problems with the aspect ratio), and I’ve decided to not release the extra special features until after it’s been out for a little while.
In the meantime - enjoy!
Just a quick note to say that I’m back, which will hopefully mean that the video gets uploaded quite soon. Here’s a quick status summary:
but it was not something that really could’ve been helped.Hopefully MPEGs will be online before the end of this week.
At about 11:30pm last night, Al and I finished off the credits on Day 6, which now means that all 6 episodes are now ready for rendering and burning to DVD!
There are still a couple of featurettes for the DVD that need to be finished, but the most important stuff has been done.
Well - 90% of the site content is now done. Tonight I will be filming the last couple of pickups/interviews, and doing the (hopefully) final edit. Which should hopefully mean that the rendering can be done either tonight or tomorrow, and we’ll have something ready for DVD within the next 24 hours (just in time…..)
My DVD ReWriter is also due to arrive today, also in the nick of time. Watch this space….
It has been my great pleasure to work with some extremely talented people. One or two of them may even be in Mislaid! Here’s who they all are:
Michael is a (ginger) Radiotherapy student at Caledonian Uni. He’s been around the church since he was knee-high to a grasshopper. He managed to take a character who it would have been easy to hate, and turn him into a character that we actually quite like, which is no mean feat.
Chris is also a ginger. And a student. He is not really of a stature that we had originally intended for Burley (being thin as a rake), but rose to the challenge well. He did a particularly fantastic job with all the stunt work that his character is involved in.
Al was roped in at the last minute (along with the rest of the cast), but still managed to bring his own unique blend of acting to Mislaid. Any production can benefit from Al being around, both in front of and behind the camera, and this was no different. Rock is a difficult character to portray, but Al managed it with great aplomb.
Al is married to the equally talented Ruth, and works for an evil corporate entity.
Heather brought a touch of class to this film, along with beauty and feminity. She may not be able to do stunt-falls that well, but her facial expressions add a touch of proper acting to the series. Heather is a teacher when not looking after mrBen.
Ben brought his beer belly, carefully cased in a subtle t-shirt, and added the touch of mystery to Mislaid. He is even qualified in drama (GCSE!), but did his best not to let it show. If you want a slightly overweight, stubbly extra, then Ben might be your man. But probably not.
Ben works for a different evil corporate entity to BigAl.
Disclaimer: At the time of writing, not all the audio editing has been complete, so this page may not have full details yet.
All of the music on Mislaid has been licensed under a Creative Commons license, which allows us to make derivative works. The majority of searching for music that was done was on Jamendo, which is a wonderful resource for a production such as this. There is a lot of great music available on Jamendo (and some pretty poor stuff too), and I was very sad to not be able to use some tracks that I really liked. Here, however, is a summary of the music we did use:
Who is Elmo Blatch
WIEB are a quality band, with a single, 7-track EP available for download on their website. Although the license showing on their page does not allow derivative works, I received confirmation from a member of the band that this is being changed. The tracks we used were:
Parental Advisory: This EP contains explicit lyrics, although none were used in the making of Mislaid
Ally Valentine - DD10 8TW
Quite a rock-y band, the track we used is probably my favourite, although I mainly used it because of the lyrics. I feel that much of their work could be improved if they were not using a drum machine, or at least applying drum effects in post-production, rather than recording live. Plus the sound quality of the album is a little bit shaky.
We used the track I think therefore I am on the Day 5 episode as Zac walks away from the group before his encounter with The Stranger.
Jono Bacon - Remembered
Jono is a good friend, and a talented musician. However, most of his music is quite dark and metal, which didn’t really fit what I was looking for in Mislaid. However, this track was a complete lifesaver, as the mellow tones are perfect for the 2 long-ish walking scenes that happen in Day 2 and Day 4.
Parent Advisory: This track is instrumental, but other tracks on Recreant View may contain explicit lyrics
more to come…..
The primary Mislaid shoot took place over 2 days in 2 locations, although we subsequently had to film a few pickups in different locations.
Situated on the west coast of Scotland, right next to West Kilbride, Seamill has a large beach. We originally chose it because the beach is large enough that even if it was a sunny summer day, there would still be some seclusion as long as we walked far enough. It also provided an empty horizon to the south-west, which was nice for framing some of the shots. The section of beach we used had a couple of nice natural rock jettys at either end, and a steep bank at the back, shielding us from any man-made objects. You also get a good view of the isle of Arran, which is used in the opening shot to represent the island itself.
We chose the west coast because of it’s proximity to Glasgow, and because we were fairly sure that we would be able to find a secluded, sandy beach there. We looked at a couple of different spots on the coastal road round from Gourock, through Largs, and down to West Kilbride, but the Seamill beach promised the best location in terms of picture, and potential interuptions from people and noise. In reality, the only real problem with the location on the day was the weather.
Mugdock Park was an area already well known to us, as the church has used it in the past for barbeques and other family events. It’s quite a large country park, and boasts lots of sections of wood. It did provide us with virtually everything we need - in particular lots of different types of foliage, to simulate the long walk the characters take. The ‘cliff’ that Burley falls off was also in Mugdock, although it was, for me, one of the most disappointing locations we filmed in.
We decided on Mugdock without viewing it - perhaps with hindsight it may have been better to spend some more time scouting this location, which would have saved time on filming, and perhaps improved the cliff scene in particular. It was also quite a busy place, and there were a few interruptions, and avoiding filming man-made objects was tricky - we failed in the cliff scene, as the fence is clearly visible in most of the shots, despite our best efforts.
For the sake of speed and ease, all of the pickups were filmed in and around Whiteinch. The replacement conversation between Zac and The Stranger was filmed on the small, closed off section of what used to be the cycle path. This provided a relatively quiet location (although there was a lot of traffic on the road, which caused problems) with an uninterrupted view of the sky.
Burley’s falling shots were filmed in the Fossil Grove, part of Victoria Park. We filmed here mostly because of the amount of trees, and the availability of someone relatively high for him to jump from.
Using proper locations, rather than attempting to film inside, or in people’s gardens, adds an element of reality to the film that I am quite proud of. Hopefully we do manage to give the impression of being on an island at least partially, and being in real-world situations.
While Mislaid is a project that I conceived, it was brought to fruition by a number of very talented people. The vision to create something that was a cut above previous camp dramas was shared by all of them, and without them it would not have been possible. You will note that all of the crew are also part of the cast, and their biographies can be found on the cast page
co-wrote the script with me over a number of weeks, and provided huge amounts of inspiration. He is credited as the producer, and was responsible for all the camera work for the scenes in which I (mrBen) acted. In addition, he was also involved in some of the creative decisions, and the location scouting for the beach scenes.
mrsBen
, while also being my long-suffering wife, was involved in some of the music selection, and the location scouting. She is credited on the film as Creative Director.
- while it’s a bit tricky to talk about myself, the project was originally suggested by me. I wrote some elements of the script, and was responsible for all the editing, and much of the camera work. In addition, it was my stubborness that led to the inclusion of only Creative Commons music, which in turn has meant that we are able to legally distribute this video over the internet. I think I’m fun to work with too, but I probably a bit crabby towards the end of the day…..
The overall theme for camp in 2006 was airports and travel. This provided the link into the Lost TV series, and hence was the inspiration for Mislaid. A normal SU camp will follow a fairly standard set of themes of teaching, and the film tries to match these themes each day. However, there were 2 overriding themes that hopefully present themselves across the 6 episodes.
Belief and trust are topics that are discussed a number of times during the series. Zac is the most distrusting character, and this is reflected in the statements about belief in his conversation with The Stranger. The issue of trust following a failure, and the role of forgiveness is also touched upon.
The characters all require rescue from their immediate situation, but the script (hopefully) hints at each of their individually different requirements for spiritual/emotional rescue. This is spelled out explicitally in the closing narration by Zac on Day 6.
Salvation through faith is a fundamental facet of the Christian faith, and thus we wanted to underline the importance of both belief and rescue through this film. I hope that we have suceeded.