Case Study

Decantillion Films

Tim, Liam and Harvey

The group Decantillion films first registered with Keyfund in November 2009. The group is made up of 3 young people, all of whom are creative with a passion for film making. Liam and Tim met at school, Tim having already worked on films of his own, and Harvey met up with them on another film project he was involved in with Screen Yorkshire. Read on to hear about one of Keyfund’s most successful projects.

Stage 1
At this stage the group already had a script, list of potential actors, possible locations. They used the £250 to meet with the potential actors, scout the locations making contact with the possible shortlist and a meal to plan stage 2 with the heads of department.

Stage 2
With so much already in place this stage was used to develop the script and training on equipment they would be using for the film. The £500 was used to have the script looked at by a professional as well as doing screen tests for hair and makeup while the training on the equipment took place.

Stage 3
At this point in the Keyfund process an opportunity came along to make a different film from the one planned, a World War 2 film based on a British commando raid on St Nazaire. The opportunity was too great to pass up, especially with the chance of free accommodation. The £1000 was used to hire/buy costumes, rehearsals, HDV tapes and other consumables.

Stage 4
This stage required all the skills built up in the previous stages to organise and coordinate the filming in France, getting equipment and people there as well as organising the films world premiere. The £2000 helped equipment hire for the filming as well as transporting people and equipment to France. It also helped with the film Premiere held at the Odeon cinema in Harrogate where the group put on a spectacular Premiere evening where they showcased 3 films, of exceptional quality, they had made. This included the first film “Thunder From Her Heart”, the WW2 film “The Only One Who Knows You’re Afraid” introduced at stage 3 and a new film “Slow Down The Time”.

Keen to find out more, Keyfund had a few questions to ask group member Tim:

I hear you had a really successful premier at the Odeon. How did you put this together?
“We got this organised by contacting the Odeon who quoted us for the screen hire for 3 1/2 hours on a Tuesday night. We worked closely with the Odeon managers to get every detail sorted. We then put ourselves in to an organising committee with each individual having a specific area, ie. guestlist, reception, technical etc. The premiere was a success and the films, to our delight, got a very good reception.”

You’ve sent us some clippings from French newspapers – how did that come about?
“We managed to get some publicity in the French press via the Mayor of Mesquer-Quimiac whose Commune houses the Plage de Lanseria - the beach featured at the start of the film. The Mayor loved our project and thought it would provided excellent publicity for the Commune and also the group, so he arranged, via his Administrator, Stephanie Biveau to get the two regional newspapers along to the shooting (equivalent of say the Yorkshire Post). The press interviewed them and took pictures. It was difficult reading the articles, but we had people on board to translate for us!”

So how has Keyfund helped Decantillion Films and you as group members?
Tim tells us, “We developed all the Keyfund skills throughout the stages. I would say the two we improved most would be negotiation - with such a limited budget, we had to negotiate every price down as much as we could and in the end we managed to get some fantastic deals on costume hire and managed to get 20% off the accommodation in France. And the other would be working as a team - on the first few days we really struggled as a team and there were a number of big problems, but as we went on, we had meetings and discussions and worked out the problems and eventually we worked brilliant and cut down our setup times by 50%.”

“Keyfund had a massive impact on our project. We did not just receive financial help, but assistance from our Facilitator, the Panels really encouraged us and gave us good advice and targets and it also gave us an opportunity to work more closely with the local community.”

The content of the film was all well before you were born. How did you manage to get such expert advice?
“It all started by our research in the Saint Nazaire Raid. We got a book from Ripon Library about the Raid by James Dorrian. I googled him to see if he had any other books which we could buy and we found his official website. We then decided to be cheeky and email him and ask for his help and he very kindly obliged. Since then he has become an integral part of the project, providing us with anecdotes and information as well as introducing us to the veterans of the Raid. James has also helped by introducing us to additional consultants (we had a consultant in Brittany who helped us get the local history and locations correct), inviting us the 69th Operation Chariot Anniversary Reunion in Saint Nazaire where we got to meet all the families of the men who fought in the Raid and also got to go on the HMS Campbeltown for the private tour and champagne reception. He also gave us an exclusive look at the photo albums of Major Bill Copland, the XO in 2 Commando.”

And you had the film narrated by Richard Briers – how did you manage that?
“In 2009 I attended a conference in Newcastle by Michael Chaplin, the creator and screenwriter of my favourite TV show, Monarch of the Glen. Afterward, I hung around and eventually managed to meet Michael and told him about my films. He invited my father and I for a drink so we attended and he offered to help with any scripts I wrote. So after finishing the first draft of The Only One..., I rang Michael and he kindly read the script and offered suggestions and rewrote a few scenes. When it came to Post Production, I felt the film needed an opening voiceover and wanted to get a big name to do it with a memorable voice. I first contacted Michael and asked him if Paul Freeman (Monarch and Indiana Jones) would be able to do it, but unfortunately he had other commitments. Michael then came up with the excellent idea of Richard and gave me his home address. I wrote to Richard and he promptly replied saying how much of a great project it sounded and that he would love to help us out. He invited us to his home which we went to in the summer and we recorded the voiceover several times.”

Wow! So which of all the amazing things you achieved were the top highlights?
The highlight for Tim was meeting Richard Briers. He says, ‘it is rare to get an opportunity to get to meet one of the most respected actors in the UK, and to get to have him featured in my film own film was amazing.’

Liam says that his highlight was the shoot in France as it was his first time on location as D.O.P. (Director of Photography) and he got chance to experiment with his cinematography.

Harvey was most proud of his excellent deal with the accommodation, managing to get hundreds of Euros off their budget and therefore enabling them to spend it on better quality costumes for the actors.

And what plans do you have for the future?
Our next project is in fact a prequel to this film looking at the training and select of the men who were to fight in the Raid. The original film was viewed by Dr. Bill Watson, MC OBE who enjoyed it so much he suggested we did a prequel. We have got a treatment prepared, actors attached and crew confirmed, but unfortunately we are struggling to find enough funds to cover the budget which is significantly larger because of the larger cast and more specialised locations.

We wish Decantillion Films all the best of luck with their new ventures.

Click on the link to watch the trailer here http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cAZ1bbHslVs