Curtain rises on York graduates’ silver screen debut
Posted on 9 December 2009
Working in conjunction with the York-based media arts company KMA, Quil Trapp and Pete Dean, who completed the MA in 2008, produced more than 20 finished shots for the feature film starring Danny Dyer, Brenda Blethyn and Curtis '50 Cent' Jackson.
This is a very competitive business and a difficult economic time so it is wonderful to see our students doing so well
John Mateer
The film marks the first professional work from TFTV graduates on the big screen.
Their work included video screen replacements for two key scenes, clock fixes to ensure Big Ben was showing the correct time, and adding muzzle flashes to guns and digitally extending the setting of the key slow-motion sequence that opens the film.
Pete Dean said: "Working on Dead Man Running gave me valuable experience and my first feature film credit. It's difficult to get started in film, but my work on Dead Man Running helped to kick-start my career."
Kit Monkman, of new media company KMA, who oversaw the graphics work, said: “I explained what Alex De Rakoff, the film’s director, wanted to Quil and Pete, and they were great. They figured out what was needed to make it happen and did it all. They were amazing to work with.”
Several TFTV Postproduction graduates are working in the industry with companies in London.
John Mateer, Head of Production and Postproduction and Senior Lecturer in the department, added: “This is a very competitive business and a difficult economic time so it is wonderful to see our students doing so well, particularly since our programme is so young. We have actively sought to strengthen our ties with industry and this can only benefit our students.”
TFTV is in negotiations with the producers of Dead Man Running to provide full postproduction and graphics services for their next project, The Knife That Killed Me, a feature film currently in pre-production. John Mateer aims to involve as many TFTV students as possible in the project, and it will again partner the department with KMA.
The link was established in 2006 when John Mateer struck a deal under which University of York students worked with KMA, together with post-production company Bauer-Martinez on The Christmas Miracle of Jonathan Toomey, a film featuring Hollywood stars Tom Berenger and Joely Richardson. York students created nearly all of the computer-generated visual effects shown in that film.
Kit Monkman added: “We love working with York students. They do great work for us, it is great experience for them and we all win.”
ENDS
Notes to editors:
- Information on TFTV at www.york.ac.uk/tftv
- Information on Dead Man Running at www.deadmanrunning.com and www.imdb.com/title/tt1311699/
- Information about KMA at www.kma.co.uk/
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