WE'RE RECRUITING! // PRODUCTION UPDATES // ENCOMPASS TURNS TWO!

Hello! We've a great big update for you as Summer has now officially begun in England! We'll be telling you all what opportunities are available to become part of the Encompass team for our new play Who is Moloch? and revealing a new promotional image for Stormin' Norman - plus we'll be telling you when to expect the first trailer! We also have a bumper collection of photos to show you just what we've been up to these past two years!

Set during World War III, Who is Moloch? tells the story of three soldiers and a female civilian who barricade themselves, in an underground bunker, with a sleep-inducing drug, a two-way radio and a copy of A Midsummer Night’s Dream. As they await orders following a devastating attack on their base, tensions flare in their struggle for survival, whilst their grip on reality is put to the test as they slide into a surreal, imaginary world. A new play by Pamela Carralero, this next theatre production from Encompass will be directed by Zuri Warren and is expected to hit in the Autumn of 2012.

CREW VACANCIES

If you want to join a hardworking, determined and ambitious company dedicated to bringing powerful new work to the masses now is the time.This is an exciting time for Encompass and you could be a part of it! 

Associate Producer: We are looking for an experienced and passionate candidate to join the Encompass team in the months leading up to the premiere of our next play. The areas the role will cover are: funding and development, sponsorship, company administration, press and marketing, public engagement and social media and live events. TO APPLY - send covering letter and CV to email address below.

Set Designer: will develop all stage design elements of the production, working closely with the creative team and stage crew to bring the scenic design of Who is Moloch? to life. What would a future solider or civilian wear? We’re looking for the right candidate to answer this question and join the team for this ambitious project. TO APPLY - send covering letter and CV to email address below. Design portfolios desired but not essential.

Costume Designer: will develop all costume elements of the production, working closely with the creative team and set designer to bring the exciting world of Who is Moloch? to life. Will be expected to source material and fabrics, and will design, make and fit costumes for the actors. What would a future solider or civilian wear? We’re looking for the right candidate to answer this question and join the team for this ambitious project. TO APPLY - send covering letter and CV to email address below. Design portfolios desired but not essential.

All positions are voluntary - professional references will be provided!

APPLY TO: recruitment@encompassproductions.co.uk

NEW PROMOTIONAL IMAGE FOR STORMIN' NORMAN + OTHER TIDBITS!

Photography by Harriet Armstrong - www.harrietarmstrong.com

We can exclusively reveal to you above our new promotional image from Stormin' Norman, our short dramatic-comedy film due to premier in the Summer. Check out this update from producer Jonathan via the production blog:

 "Stormin' Norman is making great progress. Composer Alex has been fleshing out score ideas with Paul and myself - if it's anything compared to his acclaimed score for What It Feels Like  we're in for a treat. Alex has actually been to visit East Ham (one of the filming locations) this week for inspiration - he's expressed a desire to experiment with this score...so expect the unexpected!

Writer and director Paul is currently working with our editor Simon Massey on a first cut of the film.  I've seen snippets of the raw footage and I think we've got something special, with its own unique charm. Part of the reason we chose the film was that it seemed to be doing something brave - not just in terms of subject matter, but in terms of where the script was heading even at its earliest stages. I think people will be pleasantly surprised."

It was also revealed when to expect the first trailer for the film. To find out more and to see another exclusive image before anyone else, visit the Stormin' Norman Blog!

Encompass recently celebrated it's two year anniversary and as you can see we celebrated with cake - an staple food of the company! We've been very busy since our formation...21 live music and comedy events, 11 weeks of teaching kids, 3 outreach events and one hit theatre production - with our first short film and a new play coming to you this year amongst some exciting new events being planned right now! To celebrate our achievements so far we have a fantastic new album which includes some exclusive never-before-seen photos and will give you a look at what we do and how we do it! Check it out:

ENCOMPASS - OUR STORY SO FAR

If you missed it we've also got a video up of Bank-Monument Complex - a new darkly comic short play by Owen Collins which was performed at our hugely successful Big Pudding Party in April. Check it out here:

Lastly we have a plethora of new photo albums via our Facebook page including:

The Residency Returns - September 2011

The Residency Halloween Special - October 2011

The Residency at the Mascara Bar, London - November 2011

The Residency Christmas Cracker (for Crisis charity) - December 2011

The Residency at the Mascara Bar, London - Jaunary 2012

Big Pudding Party - April 2012

That's all for now...keep your eyes out in the coming weeks for the Stormin' Norman teaser trailer and details of a brand new event that you can get involved in!

Encompass

Web: http://www.encompassproductions.co.uk/

Facebook/Twitter/YouTube: /EncompassOnline

STORMIN' NORMAN - DAY FOUR

Photography by Harriet Armstrong - www.harrietarmstrong.com

Day Four of filming for Stormin’ Norman. From the outset I could tell it was going to be a good day’s filming from the weather forecast – unbroken sunshine and temperatures close to 20C. Probably a good thing too, as Day Four involved filming down East Ham High Street and in an open park in Dagenham – hardly ideal for cast, crew and equipment if it’s pouring down! I did, however, make the mistake of wearing a black polo shirt that day – not the best idea given the sunny weather!

My role as transport co-ordinator had already started prior to the take of the day’s filming – I had spent the previous few days researching how to shepherd the masses from their respective homes to East Ham, and then from East Ham to the park in Dagenham by both public transport and by car. Now you may think that organising transport may be a case of rocking up to the station and taking the first train or simply opening a map and pointing out a route, but I like to think it’s much more than that – it’s time saved from getting lost from not being 100% sure how to get from the station to the shooting location, or time saved not looking for a parking space because you know where the nearest car park is! That time saved could mean getting an extra couple of scenes filmed and getting ahead of schedule! Yes, I can get pretty defensive when it comes to transport!

On location I become another runner alongside Anthony, Zainab and Ashney. As well as transporting food (once again provided by Theresa and Perlita – yummy sandwiches!) and sorting out some post-production issues, I also got on with videoing some behind-the-scenes footage. This involved chasing ducks for an interview – hopefully that’ll make the final cut of the ‘Making Of’ video! All in all, it was a wonderful and productive day, which set us up nicely for the final day of filming.

Photography by Harriet Armstrong - www.harrietarmstrong.com 

I come from the more unlikely of backgrounds for this shoot – I studied Economics at university and hold only two stints as an assistant producer on two theatrical productions (the last being Encompass' acclaimed 'What It Feels Like'), so I do not have much working knowledge of how a film is made and produced. One of the things I’ll take away from being on the Stormin’ Norman crew is the unique insight in to what goes on behind the scenes and the immense effort planning that has gone on during pre-production and filming (especially how incredibly repetitive it can get), and a new found respect for the filmmaking process. It’s also highlighted to me the importance of the arts in these difficult economic times, and how important funding for arts projects in the UK doesn’t drop off so that projects like Stormin’ Norman can flourish and showcase the best talent from all fields in the arts. Want to help Encompass do just that? Become a patron!

I’ve enjoyed every single moment so far and I’m proud to put my name to this project. I’ll miss, amongst other things, the callsheets and the driving around to locations and meetings. I’ll also miss the banter, the laughs, and the opportunity to sound like a female sat-nav voice.

But there’s still one more day left. Bring it on!

Joshua Ramirez - Transport Coordinator & Production Runner

Assitant Producer & Treasurer - Encompass Productions
Encompass Productions present "Stormin' Norman"
Written and Directed by Paul G Raymond

Web: www.EncompassProductions.co.uk
Facebook/Twitter/YouTube: /EncompassOnline

STORMIN' NORMAN - DAY TWO (the night shoot!)

Ladies, gentlemen, boy and girls, children of all ages, Encompass Productions is proud to present you day two on location of the Stormin’ Norman shoot. My name is Anthony Anthimou; I am one of the runners on set to assist with the coming together of this short feature production. This was my first project with the production company and I was looking forward to our new venture. By reading this you will gain insight into my world and views of the day that we had in store for us…..so here we go!

The date, Monday 19th March, the time, approximately 18:00, the crew is set the cast is ready for the second day of filming. The good thing about a second day shoot is that all the cast and crew know each other, so all the getting to know you period is over and we could all get ready to rock and roll.

This was also our first night adventure when it came to capturing the essence of Norman, this required more lighting, warmer clothing and lots of hot teas. We were using the same location as we did on the first day of shooting, Norman’s home as I like to call it. Being that we had to film at night we used a lot more equipment and had to be careful about the security of the cast, crew and equipment. As we set up for filming we had a lot of pedestrians interested in what we were shooting; when they see big lights and cameras, they are like moths to a flame. Most of which actually thought Norman (played by Christopher O’Shaughnessy) was a real homeless man and that we were shooting a documentary. One gentleman in particular was so convinced, he came up to Norman, interrupted the shoot to offer to buy him food. Even after ten minutes, the gentleman would not concede that we were filming, needed to record dialogue and thus required silence. So Jonathan (the producer) and I ushered the gentleman to the side (and out of shot), to which he explained that he was sympathetic to Norman’s predicament because he used to be homeless. The guy was pretty cool, he talked about his life and where he wants to go in the world and we wished him the best and returned to the end of the shoot.

On the whole the team was amazing, as a runner and a future film maker I learnt a lot and gained valuable experience and friends. We worked well as a unit, from the director Paul, to the actors to all the crew, it was a quality atmosphere and I look forward to more days of filming. On a side note, the catering was amazing, provided by Perlita and our costume designer Theresa (Jon’s mother and sister!). The food was lovely and the teas/ coffees were of the highest quality (only because I made most of them LOL). P.S the apple juice came in very handy, if you want to know why, well you’re just gonna have to wait to see the film.
Thank you for reading and maybe you will hear more from me, until then….peace, love and the Encompass way

Anthony Anthimou – Runner Extraordinaire 
Encompass Productions present "Stormin' Norman"
Written and Directed by Paul G Raymond

Web: www.EncompassProductions.co.uk

Facebook/Twitter/YouTube: /EncompassOnline

STORMIN' NORMAN - DAY ONE (SHOOTING BEGINS!)

What. A. Day. And a great one at that! The first day of a film shoot can always be nerve-wracking, and on a project like this there were many reasons to be scared. For the Stormin' Norman film crew it was the first time they had ever worked together on actual filming - some of them actually met for the first time today! For those who have been working with Encompass Productions for nearly two years, it was the realisation of not only a new project, but the first ever Encompass production on film. And without going into too many details, the journey of this project has certainly given us all new challenges and we've learnt immensely from it.

The call was 07.30am at East Ham, a town in the London Borough of Newham. This would serve as one of the places where Norman (Christopher O'Shaughnessy) - a grieving homeless man with a boundless sense of optimism - will reside in our story. Written and directed by Paul G Raymond, the short film is a comedy drama centred on an unlikely friendship between a grieving man and an aspiring musician. Today Thor Eliasson was our Director of Photography, taking the reigns from Alfred until he returns for our shoot on Monday.

Without spoiling too much, today was mostly shooting Norman's "routine".  As this was on location, one of the earlier challenges was making sure the public would act natural - even with various signage and runners ushering the public! Despite these early difficulties one thing was clear: the good folk of East London were very interested in the film - once we had heard "he looks homeless" from a few people we knew we were doing something right! We'd get asked a lot of questions, and due to the content of the film many an interesting conversation was struck up with various members of the crew. We were told about the local (real) homeless man, who lives nearby. Lo and behold he actually passed by and spoke to us - Mr. Ackbar told us about London Street Rescue, an organisation that helps rough sleepers off the streets and into accommodation. He also told us about the street where he has slept for quite some time, and said that if we needed anything to come by and he'd be happy to help. The kindness of this man was truly humbling - our film is trying to portray homelessness realistically, and a big part of that is to show Norman as a person that happens to be homeless, rather than simply a "homeless person". Mr. Ackbar clearly was a real-life example of this.

Photography by Harriet Armstrong - www.harrietarmstrong.com

Another strange co-incidence was that there was a Shelter street team today talking to locals about what they can do to help the homeless. We even had a kind lady try to offer Christopher some money during a take, not realising we were filming - she had tears in her eyes and he had to comfort her afterward. In the afternoon we passed by Mr. Ackbar again - rooting through a bin to find any thing he could salvage, eerily similar to a scene we had just shot. The line between reality and fiction became blurred as art was imitating life and at times it seemed life was imitating art.

We actually ran ahead of schedule and managed to shoot some extra footage - no doubt thanks to the work of our excellent film crew, Christopher's performance as Norman, the wonderful public of East Ham and the brilliantly tasty catering provided by Theresa (also costume designer) and Perlita - Encompass patrons also known as my mother and sister.

We'll be updating the Encompass blog very regularly over the next couple of weeks of filming. Don't forget you can join us on Facebook, and we'll be live tweeting (@EncompassOnline) each day of the shoot!

Until next time,

Jonathan Woodhouse - Producer
Artistic Director - Encompass Productions
Encompass Productions present "Stormin' Norman"
Written and Directed by Paul G Raymond

Web: www.EncompassProductions.co.uk

Facebook/Twitter/YouTube: /EncompassOnline