Written, directed, produced and edited by Jeremy Dylan.
When a nerdy skiffle loving redhead discovers he's a wizard, he must travel to Australia and learn magic under the tutelage of eccentric Bavarian filmmaker Werner Herzog while battling the machinations of the evil Lord Emmerich.
Watch the film!
Showing posts with label benjamin sniddlegrass. Show all posts
Showing posts with label benjamin sniddlegrass. Show all posts
In this zany mockumentary CAVE OF FORGOTTEN DREAMS, Dorian Newstead reprises his role as eccentric Fairport Academy headmaster Werner Herzog, who in an effort to stave off his mid-life crisis takes up spelunking. Hilarity ensues as he and his ragtag band of mates, including Peter Zeitlinger as the gruff Austrian cameraman, embark on a series of madcap adventures in France. Watch out for a side-splitting cameo by Frédéric Mitterrand as the Clouseau-esque Minister of Culture!
Coming in 3D to a multiplex near you, COFD is sure to be the sleeper comedy hit of 2011 - comparisons are already being made to THE HANGOVER and WILD HOGS.
Watch the trailer here: http://trailers.apple.com/trailers/independent/caveofforgottendreams/
Yes, it's here. The brand-spanking new 2nd trailer for Benjamin Sniddlegrass and the Cauldron of Penguins! This time with added Fry narration, a bit of Professor Mumblecore and a lovely shot with the Sydney Opera House in the background.
Here you go, ladies and germs. Please share and enjoy!
he brand new trailer for 'Benjamin Sniddlegrass and the Cauldron of Penguins', the brand new romantic-fantasy-horror-thriller-sci-fi-mystery-comedy-drama from Seven Shells Media.
It's the story of a nerdy redhead from Cockfosters who unexpectedly discovers he's part of an ancient order of 'Wittertainers' and must travel to Australia to fulfill his birthright. The film stars Andrew Griscti as Benjamin Sniddlegrass, Catherine Davies as Scarlett McKenna, Dorian Newstead as Werner Herzog, Alec Doomadgee as Pentangle, Linda Newstead as Aunt David Morrissey and Stephen Fry as the narrator. Also starring Sarah Linnegar, Jon Sewell, Riley Maher and Tim Sampson. Written and directed by Jeremy Dylan, cinematography by Yavor Dimitrov.
As you enter your teenage years, you may have noticed changes coming over you, physically and emotionally. New feelings and sensations, certain stirrings in certain parts of your body. This is called puberty and is perfectly normal. You may also have noticed that you can fly, sing in a very high voice and turn strawberries blue with your mind. This is not normal and is in fact very unusual. It means you are a 'Wittertainer', a human subspecies blessed with extraordinary powers. Congratulations.
Welcome to the official website of Fairport Academy, the world's finest Wittertainment Education Centre!
Situated on the picturesque Fairport Island off the east coast of Australia, Fairport Academy was founded in 1858 by Jeremiah Fairport, once of the most powerful wittertainers of his day. Dubbed 'Mains de Flappy' by his students, Jeremiah was headmaster for twenty years and ushered an entire generation of Witters through the spotty hell of adolescence into the cynical arrogance of young adulthood.
Famous students from Fairport's history include Mark Kermode (President of the Zac Efron Appreciation Society), Simon Mayo (voted #1 Charles Hawtrey impersonator 3 years running), music hall comedy double act Boyd & Floyd and former member of the Village People Jason Isaacs. Hello to Jason Isaacs.
Fairport offers a whole range of subjects, from the standard (Calculus, Biology, Quiff Maintenance) to the arcane (Advanced Zither Orchestration, 'Slade In Flames' Studies and Sport). Over your four years at Fairport, you will learn to take it like a man, feel like a natural woman and ring them bells, you heathens.
We encourage healthy competition among the student body. This often takes the form of Debating Societies, Chess Games and knife fights at Brighton Pier. When you arrive in your first year, you will be assessed and assigned a school house - either 'Mod' or 'Rocker'. Please see Mr. Ace Face when you arrive.
As part of our exchange program with the Werner Herzog Rogue Film School, our headmaster for the upcoming school year will be eccentric Bavarian filmmaker Werner Herzog. Students will be familiar with Mr. Herzog's work and may recall our 2009 school production of 'Grizzly Man! The Musical'. Theremin Instructor Pentangle will be heading to Germany as part of the exchange. Mr. Herzog has very kindly agreed to comply with Fairport staff facial hair requirements and grow a moustache for his time here.
Nineteen year-old wittertainer Benjamin Sniddlegrass today announced that he was throwing his cap into the ring for Australia's highest position of power - Prime Minister. He made the announcement at a sparsely attended press conference at the foot of Mt. Buggery, Victoria, this morning.
'I've always loved this country - my island home!' said Sniddlegrass, who grew up in Cockfosters, England and moved to Australia less than a year ago. 'A burning country, a land of sweeping drains, of rugged Mountain Rangers!'
Sniddlegrass is running as a candidate for the newly-formed Cauldron Party, whose manifesto promises 'a horse in every barn, a cauldron in every kitchen'. So far, he appears to be the only candidate the party is fielding for this election, which may hurt their chances of gaining the majority needed to form government.
'Julia Gillard may be Australia's first ginger prime minister, but I will be Australia's first elected ginger prime minister,' said the be-quiffed redhead. 'It's time we ended the era of female prime ministers and let a man have a go for once!'
Pundits were quick to weigh in on his chances.
'He's got some forthright views,' explained veteran Channel 9 commentator Laurie Oakes, 'and those may hurt him in some areas. But he's been right out there in front on some issues. He was the first to say 'tough on penguins, tough on the causes of penguins', although he wouldn't explain what that actually meant when I asked him'.
Sniddlegrass took questions for a total of ninety minutes at the end of the press conference, most of them from Mark Latham, whose constant entreaties to the candidate to "call Rudd a snotty little douche" went unanswered.
In response to a question on immigration, Sniddlegrass had this to say: 'We will stop the stoats! I've had enough of this country being overrun by stoat people and my ban on human-animal hybridization should put a stop to that!'
The campaign released this commercial to media this afternoon:
Benjamin Sniddlegrass is currently polling third as Preferred Prime Minister - ahead of Tony Abbott, but behind Julia Gillard and P!nk.
Johnny Leroy is a name that reverberates through music history like a bedpan bouncing off the walls of an elevator shaft.
The skiffle icon was born Pelham Grenville Leroy in Intercourse, Pennsylvania, to strict Amish parents. James Hugh Callum Leroy and Stephanie John Leroy's religious beliefs forbade the presence of a radio (or 'Satan's noise box') in the house, so the curious young PG Leroy would jog the 1,189 miles from Intercourse to New Orleans every Saturday morning to watch to the local jug blues bands.
By 1952, Johnny had adopted the name that would be come famous and moved to Cockfosters, England. Soon after arriving, he became a star in the local skiffle scene, mentoring the young Lonnie Donegan. He was soon signed with local recording label Sputz Records and his first self-titled LP went to the top of the Euro-Synth-Pop charts. This was a strategic move by his label, who figured they would face little competition in a genre that would not exist for another twenty-six years.
After the success of 'Self', Johnny formed a trio with local manure salesmen, Riley Maher and Tim Sampson. They were of simple minds and tastes, content with a bucket of dung and a copy of the Daily Mail as payment for their musical services. The band, known now as Johnny Leroy and the Impulsives, began their first national tour in 1956, on the heels of Leroy's second LP, 'There's Johnny Leroy'.
The tour kicked off in Cockfosters and from there visited Wetwang, Twatt, Titty Hill and Thong, as part of a government initiative to bring music to towns with embarrassing place names.
In 1961, the Johnny Leroy came to an abrupt halt, when the man himself was asphyxiated in a tragic yogurt accident. He continued to has posthumous success, as Sputz Records executives issued numerous singles culled from hours of unreleased studio tapes. The double A-side of 'Do You Think We Should Go For Another Take On That One, Jeff?' and 'Do You Mind Getting Me A Coffee From The Canteen?' spent six weeks at number seven in 1962.
Leroy never lived to see himself immortalized in the film of his life story 'Ginger: The Johnny Leroy Story' or the success British Invasion bands had with covers of his songs - in particular, the Rutles' smash hit version of 'Just Strum An A7 For A Bit So I Can Get The Levels'.
We're giving you a sneak peak at 'Benjamin Sniddlegrass and the Cauldron of Penguins'!
In this scene from the film, Benjamin dreams about watching his boyhood idols - Johnny Leroy and the Impulsives - perform, and his dream is invaded by the sinister Lord Emmerich.
Starring Andrew Griscti, Jon Sewell, Riley Maher and Tim Sampson.
I'm writing this outside at the Southbank near Waterloo Station, where someone appears to have erected a large garish ferris wheel.
Spent the morning at BBC Television Centre, where a lovely FiveLive producer named David Braithwaite took me into the Wittertainment Nerve Centre and I sat in with them for the duration of the programme. The operation there runs at the speed an precision of a good Rude Goldberg Machine - sorting through emails, printing the good ones, highlighting paragraphs, organising them by topics, picking up interesting tweets (you'll be comforted to know that it is indeed Dr Mayo running the Wittertainment twitter, with the occasional contribution from Dr K on his laptop), patching in the various News and Sport related interlopers. There's a small crew of extremely hard working and pleasant people on the job there - and they laugh at all the same gags we do - including the flappy hand action.
Dr K bolted straight after the recording - he muttered something about napalm and the Pirates 4 production office, but I didn't quite catch it - but Dr Mayo stopped in to say Hello and check up on the progress of the Frankenstein's monster that he and Mark have unintentionally wrought. He seemed a little bemused at my lack of interest in the football, told me it was a long way to come to watch a radio programme being recorded (I thought it was perfectly justifiable - and hopefully a tax write off) and wished me good luck with my totally insane enterprise. Disconcertingly, he looks younger than I do. Perhaps it's the 'Born Again Floozies' T-shirt. He suggested to me via Twitter that it might be time to erect the 'Benjamin Sniddlegrass Theme Park'. There's a big grassy area near my hotel that doesn't seem to be getting used for anything - the sign nearby says 'Hydepark'. Will have to get in touch with the local authority.
I have to say this London trip is all panning out rather well so far. I've got some good exterior shooting done (some of the grounds of Fairport Academy and Benjamin's childhood home), got into the FiveLive studios without having to disguise myself as Danny Baker and last night I performed a kazoo solo at Royal Festival Hall*.
Anyway, I'll keep you all posted as the trip continues. Ta for now.
Jeremy Dylan Aged 20 London, England
*to answer the inevitable questions:
1. I played 'Bohemian Rhapsody'.
2. Hopefully you'll be able to hear it when the next series of I'm Sorry, I Haven't A Clue airs, assuming I don't get edited out of the broadcast.
Hello cauldronites! Jeremy Dylan here - writer/director/producer/editor/bon vivant and general renaissance man of the Australian independent film industry.
It's been suggested to me that, since I've already got a blog happening here, why not turn it into a behind-the-scenes diary on the making of the film. So here we are. Normally, one would start this, say, at the idea stage, rather than after shooting has begun, but as I've always said: 'If something's worth doing, it's worth starting late and writing at 2am the morning it's due'. That philosophy served me well with high school English assignments, so I don't see why I shouldn't employ it here.
I'm writing this initial entry on an airplane on my way to London, where I hope to shoot some location footage for the film. If it all goes according to plan, I'll also worm my way into the 5Live studios this Saturday and maybe even say 'Hello to Jason Isaacs and David Morrissey'.
I'm sharing the aircraft with a small party of Orthodox Jews, who look like they're auditioning for an Israeli musical about the career of ZZ Top, a flight attended who looks like Lily Allen and a bloke in premium economy who looks like Sam Neill. Oh, hang on, that is Sam Neill. Blimey Charlie! I'm on the same airplane as the finest actor New Zealand's ever produced! ... I hope Russell Crowe isn't reading this.
EDITED TO ADD: In actual fact, I met Russell Crowe on my 12th birthday. He was very personable, we talked about music for a few minutes (at no point in the conversation did he accuse me of having 'dead ears'), then I picked up my bag and left. He's a big country music fan.
Anyways... Sam Neill's on my plane! Not even in London yet and already the thespians are popping out of the woodwork. I considered accosting him and asking him to play the narrator - or even voice one of the penguins - but decided against it. Being harassed by some bequiffed lunatic in a Harrington jacket would probably spoil his day a little.
Now I'm going to sample the inflight entertainment system - depressing B&W documentaries about Liverpool here I come! Or perhaps they might even have Charles Dickens's England?
Inspired by Friday's episode of Wittertainment, we're running a competition to come up with an obvious tag line for the 'Benjamin Sniddlegrass and the Cauldron of Penguins' movie over on the Facebook page.
Here are some entries we've received so far:
'Benjamin Sniddlegrass says 'Hello' to danger!' - Ben Flanagan
'The name's Sniddlegrass. Benjamin Sniddlegrass, and I'm going to make a penguin stew' - Jonathon Paxton
'Cooking birds. This Christmas' - Rasmus Widengård.
'Every penguin attached to this should be thoroughly ashamed of themselves.' - Calton Bolick.
Please keep these coming in, both on the Facebook page and on the comments section here. The winner will go on the new teaser poster for the film, which will come out in the coming weeks.
Also, please send them in to mayo@bbc.co.uk and you never know - you might here your handiwork on the radio come Friday, assuming they actually do the show on Friday and Dr K isn't stuck in the Ukraine with Dr Nyet or taking in dinner at Skifflopolus.
As some of you may be aware, there is a rival Benjamin Sniddlegrass project in production, under the direction of Mr Richard Swarbrick, a young latrine maintenance engineer from Kuala Lumpur. He is the originator of the now infamous trailer, which Dr K rather inartfully revoiced.
Well, Mr Swarbrick is not one to rest on his laurels. On the rare minutes that he's not waste deep in effluent, replacing the fittings in a particularly difficult commode, he's been cranking the CGI up to ten and has produced the first of what I expect to be a thirty-six part series:
I've decided to feature some reader submissions on the blog - fellow Wittertainment fans who have been following the exploits of Benjamin Sniddlegrass here and were inspired to create their own work. Last week I showed you a poster I'd put together from an idea from Mr David Partington. This time around, there's an actual poster which was sent to me from the wonderfully monikered Dean Palmer.
WARNING: THE FOLLOWING CONTAINS HIGH INTENSITY TACHE ACTION.
