Tobermory: Moments from a year

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A film portrait of a year in Tobermory on the Isle of Mull, Scotland

Film made by Angus Stewart

PAL DVD format. length 48 mins Price £10 + £1 postage

Phone orders: 01688 302024

DVD case

About the film

The film is about one day, but made up from incidents which I filmed over the course of a year.

I didn't want to make a tourist guide or anything too dull for my first go at film making. This is quirky, personal and quite affectionate portrait of a year in Tobermory. I didn't want to write a script as that seemed a bit like colouring in to me. I would use the camera to follow rather than direct the narrative and construct the film entirely using upstaged footage. In a sense this is a documentary, a massive collage of interesting moments which I played with until they felt right. As a result of only using real life footage the films is probably fresher than had it been scripted. I wanted this collage to have a clear visual story that would slowly build a picture of the place and try and catch something of the feeling of the community in Tobermory. Quite a challenge but think the result is quietly funny, engaging, a celebration and surprising. I am glad the result isn't some obscure and difficult art piece as I made this film to be seen.

It helps to have the enthusiasm of someone new to film making. Many early mornings, late nights, days when nothing worked, sequences which never did work. It’s a simple but rather wasteful method for making a film. Filming various annual events was testing as you only have one opportunity to see an idea and film it, but thankfully I always came up with something.

My film ends with the New Year celebrations. Having gone to bed at 4 A.M. I suddenly thought of I a really strong idea of how to finish my film. I got up again and nailed a really poignant sequence.The whole film is a mix of chance and opportunism fuelled by enthusiasm for the project and a place. A different person would make a different film - this is very much my film, save for the efforts of the musicians.

There are a number of musicians featured on the DVD :Robert Ghillies, Rob Reid Gillies, Ronnie Leckie, Charles Maclean and the group Moishe's Bagel. Its hard to say how they came to be in the film but I am pleased they are. When you begin to look for film music I find its helpful if you can walk 500 yards to a professional composer such as Robert Ghillies. You then force them to participate in your obsession and only near the end of the project do you break it to them that you are paying them the going rate to use their music. This results in a fairly large smile. Perhaps it would have been more professional to tell the musicians right at the start that I was paying them but you don't know if or what is going to be used. When someone offers you enthusiasm and great music its only right to pay them. Musicians love to have their music heard and it would have been possible to get all of the music for the film for free - but I didn't want any confusion about intellectual property or rewards. Artists need money to keep working so paying is the clearest way of supporting and valuing an artists talents.

I am really happy with the way the first version turned out and I really enjoyed the whole process of making the film. Financially it isn't possible to start another film until this has earned some money. With the DVD only recently out on sale it may be a while before it makes enough to let me start another film. So what to do next? Rather than stop working I have decided to continue with this project for a further year and try and add a further 30 minutes. The first version of the DVD will end up as a one off limited edition run of 2000 and the people who buy it are the " angels" funding the full film. I don't think they will be disappointed with the first version. In fact everyone has told me not to touch it as they think it works well. I just hope I can make something that is as watch-able as the limited edition version and I don't run out of the first version before the new one is finished.

International DVD Distribution

At the end of my film, written after the credits it says “ international DVD distribution: the fish and chip van. A few months ago I had shown them the film and they said they liked it so much they wanted to sell it. I had only thought about selling it at my studio or giving copy’s to people who bought my paintings so that was a wake up offer. Now I am filmmaker with a distribution deal that is listed in Les Routiers! Over the past few weeks things have snowballed with a number of other outlets asking for copies to sell.

Banner on the side of The Fish and Chip Van

Fish and Chips goes digital

This is a display stand which I made for the Fish & Chip van. Its a perspex sheet with laminated pictures mounted on the back. There is a bracket bolted to the face of the sheet to hold a digital photo frame at the best viewing angle. I made a 7 minute film selection from the film which loops. The sequences are broken up with comments people have made after seeing the film.

I don't know if hungry people buy DVD's but it will be interesting to see.

The Film Premier

Its now the early morning of the 25th April 2008 and I am pleased to say the films premier at the Tobermory Film Club at An Tobar Art Centre went very very well. As a painter I am not used to receiving applause for my work but it does transform what I had expected to be rather alarming experience into something unexpectedly enjoyable. The cinema was completely booked up - sadly some people had to be turned away. It seems to have been helpful to have the DVD out on sale for a few weeks prior to the showing so word had got about that its worth a look.The event was promoted as "AN EVENING TO CELEBRATE LANDSCAPE AND THE COMMUNITY". The evening started off with two classic British Film Institute films about the west of Scotland : "St Kilda: Britain's Loneliest Isle", 1928, 16mins and "The Coasts of Clyde", 1959, 20min together with a short 5 min film about a farm made by An Tobar and Mull Theatre Film Making Club. The event was compared by Nic Holms, a well known Mull photographer who did a grand job, as did the rest of the Film Club who helped with the food and drinks. I cant speak for anyone else but for me it was a very enjoyable evening especially as so many people had chosen to attend.

The only other news at the moment is that the copies of the DVD which I gave to the Mull Mobile Library didn't stay on the shelf very long and are out on loan.

The DVD disc design

The DVD disc design. I didn't want to be too obvious and use a familiar postcard picture of the town as its not that sort of film. For a lot of people, the colour and shadows will be recognised as being a particular place and time of the day in Tobermory so it seemed appropriate to use it to sum up "for moments from a year".

Lets talk money

I am selling the DVD's for £10 each having spent the price of a nice car to produce in terms of time and equipment. Thankfully I am not interested in owning a nice car. Its not obvious from the start how expensive film making is. It takes more money and time than you expect but the fact that its do-able at all is amazing.

Distribution and marketing costs for most films must make up a large part of the budget. Distribution for me is simply delivering a few boxes around town. Marketing is much more problematic. Cold selling a DVD to visitors doesn't seem to work. So far its the locals buy the DVD for themselves or to send to friends or family who live away. The only visitors buying it have seen it or had it recommended to them. The season hasn't really started but my guess is that this will live or die by personal recommendation. I just cant see visitors buying the thing without seeing it first or if they are regular customers of mine at my gallery who are curious to see what I have been up to. The good news is that quite a number of holiday home owners have bought copies for visitors to play so I am more confident that people will buy it once they have seen it. Its a bit like showing the film clips on this web page. If people like that they are will like the rest of the film as it makes far more sense when viewed in its entirety.

When it came to funding this project I didn't ask for any grants or sponsorship because as an painter I am used to making a paintings which I hope someone likes it enough to buy. As a new venture, it would have been unreasonable to imagine that anyone would funded a film with no script, made by someone who had absolutely no idea how the film would turn out. As a consequence I have had the luxury of not being answerable to anyone. If it doesn't work out financially it just means I don't do any more films. Making my living as a painter is only possible because people buy my paintings. The same should be true for film making. This is about as good a way to work as I can imagine.

Do you want the DVD?

You can buy it at my studio - gallery situated in the arts district of upper Tobermory. It's open on Wednesdays, Thursdays and Fridays 9.30 till 5.30 .....or at other times if I am not out painting. Phone prior to visiting if you wish.

The Breadalbane Street Studio Gallery

5 Breadalbane Street

Tobermory

Isle of Mull

PA756PE

Gallery web site www.mullart.com

Buy the DVD over the phone, £10 + one pound for p+p. I can only do credit card sales to U.K. addresses. Call 01688 302024 for sales or the studio 01688 302781

You can also buy the DVD from my international DVD distribution centre at the fish and chip van at the clock if your visiting Tobermory. Other places which have recently asked to have copies to sell : Tackle and Books, The Gallery at Calgary, The Glengorm Castle Gallery, Highland Cottage Hotel, The Macdonald Arms Bar, Ronnie Leckie's Gallery, The Tobermory Hotel.

www.mullart.com My web site showing my paintings and prints of Mull.