Warrioress - Deep, DEEP In Post-Production

Hello one and all, apologies for the long radio silence. We have been deep in the murky territory known as post-production for some months now. Here is an update for you:

The CGI - We've had an incredible final shot delivered by the Wizards at Lightworx Media Ltd. They have really pulled out all the stops and we are incredibly grateful to them. Here is the link to their website - http://www.lightworx.co.uk/

Additionally Steve Hayes at ZoneOne Studios has been delivering lots of other CGI shots for the film, including totally replacing the backgrounds for a set of scenes. He's totally saved the scenes visually, as well as cleaning up many shots and adding blood effects etc. Steve has worked with me on all of my features so far, as well as on some corporate work and he is a great collaborator. The company website is www.zoneonestudios.com

The Sound Design - Having done a post-production deal through John Adams at Angry Badger Pictures (a superb production company), we have been working closely with veteran Sound Supremo Nigel Albermaniche and the team at Wave Studios, who have been doing an excellent job of recreating the soundtrack for Warrioress.

Cecily Fay dubbing her dialogue as Boudiccu.

We have had virtually the whole cast into the studio over the last couple of weeks to re-record their dialogue and we have listened to a first pass at the sound design. The swordfight sounds are mind-blowing! Their teams in Soho and Amsterdam have been working round the clock to create the different layers of sound needed, and all being well we are sitting in on the final sound mix in the next week or so, so watch this space!

Brendan Carr recording his dialogue as Tetherin.

One of the excellent engineers at Wave Studios, Ed, synching up some dialogue.

 Check out the Wave Studios website - http://www.wavestudios.co.uk/

Keith Eyles dubbing some dialogue as Gravin.

The Music - Cecily has been remixing the music as per the specifications laid out by Nigel and the team are now synching the tracks up.

There's still a fair bit to do but it finally feels like we are on the home straight.

Thanks for all of your support. As ever check us out on Facebook and Twitter. We'll be announcing screenings of the film as soon as it is ready to deliver.

Best wishes, Ross and Cecily

Post Production!

Apologies for the delay between posts! Cecily and I have been insanely busy in the post-production phase of Warrioress.

We have locked the cut of the film, which currently runs to a rather tight 89 minutes, and the team at Lightworx have delivered our splendid final shot, which is a 100 percent, EPIC CGI creation. They have totally outdone themselves and Cecily and I are incredibly pleased with their work. Extra-special thanks go to Andrew Dymond and Jonathan Brown and their team on delivering such stunning work.

Our remaining CGI work is currently being completed by my long-time friend and colleague Steve Hayes at zoneone studios. Steve is delivering excellent results on some no-doubt highly challenging shots. It's been fascinating working with Steve on my first three features, and seeing his work develop from project to project. He always delivers, and always exceeds expectations.

Post-production sound is now underway in an excellent London facility and we've been lucky enough to have Angry Badger Pictures working with us to co-ordinate the sound, final picture colour-correction and grading. More on this as we progress, but here's a link to their website. John Adams and I have been working towards getting numerous projects off the ground and it's a pleasure to be finally working with him in an official capacity.

In other news Cecily is now working on a huge Hollywood project, and I'm very proud of her continuing success. More news in the weeks to come as I'm not sure what can actually be revealed at this time.

We look forward to bringing you further news and images very soon. In the meantime thank you all for your continuing support.

Cheers

Rossco

The First Cut Is The Deepest

Thought we should post a blog as it has been a while and we've all been crazily busy!

As I write this. I'm currently exporting the first full-length cut of Warrioress! Cecily and I have been hard at work refining the edit, shooting some inserts and making some tough decisions about what to leave in the film and what to remove. The film currently runs to just under 95 minutes, excluding the end credits roll. 

Cannes 2011 was a hectic but positive experience. I'm somewhat of a veteran now, this being my 11th Cannes, and working with Stealth Media Group is always eventful. We're enthused that distributors really want to see the finished film and this is helping spur us on to completion.

Cecily has also been starring another film (the cheek!), called Dragon Crusaders for prolific genre film production company The Asylum. The film will be out later this year and we will tell more on this another time.

In the meantime Cecily has also been composing up a storm! Her music is sensational, and elevates each sequence in it's own unique way. One of my favourite things about the way Cecily puts her music together is the way she uses themes. So few films these days incorporate distinctive themes in their soundtracks. There have been around half a dozen Superhero films released this year alone, and have any of them honestly incorporated a theme as stirring as John Williams' Superman March or even Danny Elfman's iconic Batman theme? A terrific theme really does inject the "Hero" into this kind of film, and I find that this element has been sorely lacking in the last fifteen or so years.

Another amazing piece of support we have had has come in the form of our final shot, which is around a minute long and pure CGI. We were sent the first version of it during Cannes and I have to say it knocked us out. Andrew Dymond and his team at Lightworx have done a terrific job especially for a first draft, which looks incredibly sophisticated. Cecily and I have given some notes and we are expecting the new version soon. We can't thank them enough for all their help and at such short notice.

Our resident CG expert Steve Hayes is putting together our CG blood shots and numerous other effects for the film and we expect to sit down with him soon to decide what other aspects of the film he can help enhance. Steve always does terrific work - check out the opening and closing titles of Ten Dead Men, plug plug - to see what I mean, and his work so far has been outstanding. 

More updates soon. Hope you are all well.

Best regards, Ross x

New Warrioress Trailer

Hello one and all! With the Cannes Film Festival 2011 looming ahead tomorrow, we have just completed the new Warrioress trailer - which can be found here.

Hope you enjoy the trailer. Stealth Media Group are selling the film internationally at Cannes. For more information on the film please feel free to join the facebook group and follow us on Twitter.

The website is http://www.warrioress.co.uk/

We'll update the blog with more information very soon.

Best to you all, Ross

Warrioress - Meet Some Of The Characters

Hello one and all, it's certainly been a hectic week or two. Cecily and I have been tightening up the edit on the film, which currently runs at around 93 minutes. The film was floating around the 103 minute mark for quite some time so we decided to bite the bullet and be more brutal with the edit.


We've also put together a new trailer ready for Cannes 2011 which is now being graded and having CGI effects added by Steve Hayes at the awesome ZoneOne Studios We'll post the trailer online when it's ready.


So, with Warrioress currently deep in the murky waters of post-production I thought it would be a good time to introduce some of the main characters in the film.

BOUDICCU - Played by Cecily Fay (The Purifiers, A Lonely Place To Die)

Boudiccu is a noble warrior of the Dannan Sidhe clan. Her quest is to travel to a sacred dueling circle and face another warrior in combat using the legendary "Sister Swords". It is prophecised that whoever wins this fateful fight will go on to protect the people from a dark evil sweeping across the land. Boudiccu takes her duty very seriously and has trained her whole life to become a champion. Her journey will be an arduous one, and she will meet various characters along the way. Some friends, some foes.

Cecily has a vast array of experience in performing on stage and screen and we will cover more of this in subsequent blogs.

WHITE ARROW - Played by Joelle Simpson (Doghouse, Shaun Of The Dead)

White Arrow is an enigmatic rogue of a Nomadic culture. She does what she must to survive, whether it is stealing the possessions of fellow travelers, or fighting any opponents to a standstill. When we meet her she is on her own journey, trying to find and rescue her sister Silver Rain, who has fallen captive to a despicable band of Raiders.

Joelle is versed in physical theatre, the circus and Hapkido, and has also performed with Cecily's group "Babes With Blades". She has become well known for her roles in 'Shaun of the Dead', '28 Days' later and 'Doghouse'.


FINNVARAH - Played by Christian Howard (Streetfighter: Legacy)

Finnvarah is a Dannan Sidhe warrior, also competing in the trials to go on the quest for the Sister Swords. A dashing and highly capable fighter, he is also deeply in love with Boudiccu, and does not want to lose her to the quest.

Having worked on stage, film and TV, Christian is a versatile actor, appearing in popular TV shows as well as starring in independent feature films. Most recently he brought Ken Masters to life in the short film "Street Fighter Legacy" - a real passion project for Christian. He and long time friend Joey Ansah penned the script together as well as choreographing all the action.


MORWENNA - Played by MerrileesFay

Morwenna is Boudiccu's sister, and also a thoroughly gifted healer. She often goes wandering off, utterly bound by her unfettered curiosity about nature, the environment, and the outside world.

Merrilees has a wide ranging set of skills within the performing arts. She studied Dance and Drama at The Arts Educational School, and then went on to study percussion at The Royal college of Music She also went to Cambridge University where she choreographed, directed and performed in many dance shows, Opera and visual arts shows.



THE FALONEX EMPEROR - Played by Will Brenton

The dictatorial Falonex Emperor is shrouded in mystery and shadows. He is determined to bring a stop to the quest for the Sister Swords and to bring the common people, who he views as primitive barbarians, to heel. His servants and soldiers stand in awe of his power.

Will has starred in many theatrical shows including the West End's highly acclaimed 'Blood Brothers', and has also appeared in TV shows including 'Inspector Morse' and 'Flying Lady'. He has also written, produced and directed hundreds of episodes of various TV shows.


DJAHN - Played by Helen Steinway Bailey (Sherlock Holmes 2, Your Highness)

 Djahn is one of the Falonex Emperor's finest assassins. She is highly trained in all forms of combat, and lives only to fight and kill. With every victory she rises in power.


Helen is one of the top stunt performers working in the UK today and has doubled for Hollywood stars including Natalie Portman, Rachel McAdams and Noomi Rapace. She has also acted in roles in Trial And Retribution and The Big I Am.

TETHERIN - Played by Brendan Carr (Rise Of The Footsoldier, Ten Dead Men)

The self-proclaimed "Lord" Tetherin is the dastardly leader of a ragtag bunch of Raiders who have been pillaging their way from village to village, taking slaves to do with as he wishes.

Brendan has appeared in various TV shows and films but also works as a producer, getting involved in all aspects of production.

We'll take a look at some of the other characters in the near future.

So that's blog 2 done and dusted, more coming soon. I urge you to check out the splendid Chris Regan's blog  Chris wrote Ten Dead Men, and also contributed to the Warrioress script for us, and I think his blog is one of the best ones on the net, especially if you are interested in writing (and cool films). Highly recommended.

We'll post the new Warrioress trailer when it is complete, all being well by the end of this week.

Until then, I hope all is well and that you all have a lovely week.

Best, Ross

Welcome To The World Of Warrioress

Welcome one and all to the blog following the trials and tribulations of the production of Warrioress. The film is a martial arts fantasy feature in the vein of Red Sonja and Xena: Warrior Princess, and we will endeavour to regularly update the blog with information, pictures and videos. 

Cecily Fay as Boudiccu in Warrioress

Please check out the official website here.

We are also on Twitter here.

And Faceboook here.

Last but not least the imdb page for the film is here.

That's the last of the links for now, hope you can bear with me as this is my first ever blog.and I'll attempt to keep things interesting. My good friend, the excellent writer Chris Regan, whose excellent blog is here could probably tell you how long/often I have agonized over even just coming up with the title for my own blog, but now that the decision has been made to focus on Warrioress, that's no longer an issue.

As a bit of background, Warrioress is my third feature as a director (my previous two films being Left For Dead and Ten Dead Men), and I've been working closely with the multi-talented and generally all-round awesome Cecily Fay, who amongst other things is the producer, star, fight choreographer, costume designer and music composer for the film. Cecily has devoted an enormous amount of time and energy to the film, which is currently in post production.

Warrioress is being sold internationally and distributed in the UK by Stealth Media Group. Here is the current teaser trailer:

We are currently editing the new trailer which will be ready for Cannes 2011 and I'll post a link to it as soon as it is ready. We are also creating some artwork for the film.

Cecily and I have worked with some amazing people in the process of making the film, some old compadres, some new friends, and we will spotlight some of their experiences along the way. As we've started this blog quite a long way into the the production process, we will regularly post current news but will also look back at the past ups and downs of making the film along the way.

Anyway, that's enough for now. I wish I could think of a cool way to sign off, but for now I'll just say "skip to the end".

Cheers and have a good week.

Ross Boyask

Director, Warrioress