Anyone can get involved in being part of “Michael’s Resignation” as it is designed to give people a step up in the world. No matter what you want to do in life, what limitations you have, what barriers you face and no matter what disappointments you’ve suffered in the past, if you’re willing to get your hands dirty and lose your passion on this project, we want you with us. There’s no age restriction, you don’t have to be based in the UK, you don’t have to have experience and you don’t have to be some big name. In fact, the less tarnished by the industry you are, the better.
All you need is passion. You need to claim it for yourself, carve out a place, and be persistent. Show us you’ve got character and you want this. Don’t hesitate, just get in there. Take the initiative. If you want a step up to reach your goal and a first opportunity towards your dream, get your ass in motion.
Read this if you’re based outside of the UK:
You don’t need to be based in the UK to help on “Michael’s Resignation”. The Internet makes it possible for us to work together regardless of where you are, even if you can’t do the physical work like camera operation or coffee runs. All our systems are set up to work online so we can collaborate without needing to be in the same room. As long as you have a computer and broadband connection you can get involved. We need help in many different ways, so don’t write anything off. Geography is irrelevant – if you have a dream, come and get it regardless.
The most important thing you can contribute is what you know. You may be able to catalyse the project and shortcut things in a way we couldn’t have beforehand, so if you think you could help, get in touch. We need help in lots of areas, but these are just a small selection:
Camera Operation/Grips
The movie is being shot in HD and camerawork coverage is incredibly important due to the budget. We need a lot of experienced hands who know steadicams, cranes, dollies and infrastructure work (grip labour) backwards. There are also plenty of opportunities for work outside the main feature when a camera is free, including the “Making Of…” featurette.
Lighting
The use of lighting makes or breaks a film, and this one is no different; equally, poor lighting makes a film look cheap and amateur. It’s everything. If you’ve got an artistic eye as well as experience in putting together lamps, framing, camera sensitivity and know how to make things look beautiful, lend your eyes to our DoP.
Set Design
Our budget isn’t going to let us build elaborate Hollywood-style sets where we can blow the hell out of everything and re-build it the next day over cocktails and caviar, so we need to make the most of what we have. Look through the script and tell us what your vision is for how the buildings and scenery look. Then tell us how we build it on favours with no money or resources.
Continuity
Pulling everything together isn’t easy, hence the need for organised people to know exactly where we are from moment to moment in the script, especially when the locations and scenes are filmed in order. If you’ve got an eye for detail, military time management skills and can cope with eccentricity in your stride, come organise us.
Assistant Direction
Too many cooks may spoil the broth, but our set is going to benefit from an organised group of young directors working together in tandem to give their thoughts and feedback for the director and DoP to consider as they shoot. The more eyes, the less we miss. Feel free to get your first tentative steps in directing a mainstream film, just by picking up a coffee.
Sound Engineering
Movies with bad sound suck, big time. It’s something you never notice until it goes wrong, and is massively important to get right. If you have experience in operating mics, designing soundscapes, recording audio and processing material afterwards, get out your copy of Cubase and get into one of the teams working to give us the perfect 0db signal.
SFX & Stunts
Guns. Fire. Explosions. Blood. Smashing. Fighting. All the hallmarks of a great night out, but also the most fun you can have on a movie set. Unfortunately also things you need licensing and safety for, as well as long-term experience and the appropriate qualfications. As one of our weakest areas, we need help more than anywhere else.
Video Editing/FX
The movie will be working on a 5:1 ratio of footage captured to employed material, and put together as HD in Final Cut Pro (why would we use Avid?). As this process is intensive we can only take on people with heavy experience, although if you wanted to help editors by sitting alongside and making their lives easier, be our guest.
Graphic Design
Maybe its time you used that gift for transplanting chicken heads onto George Bush in Photoshop for something a bit more challenging. There are no limits on the movie’s branding and anyone can put together their own ideas for it – posters, covers, banners, images, music, you name it. If you’ve got an idea, bring it over to us so we can see.
Web/Digital
Think you could set up webcams so people could watch us on set live on the net? Spend more time than you should on MySpace and Facebook? Know the incredibly boring details of video encoding? Maybe you know where we should be posting, how Google ranks what we’re putting out or who we should be talking to. Email us, you sexy nerd, you.
Business Development
Movies are a lot more fun and fast-paced than working 9to5 in a stuffy office, and may just be the challenge you’ve needed for a long time. If you know sales, marketing, dealmaking and networking like you could do it blindfolded, we could do with your energy and imagination to add to what we’ve already got, as there’s never enough.
Translation
The movie is in English, but ultimately if we want to take it to a higher level it will need to cross language barriers in other parts of the world. The DVD will need subtitles, the website will need options for non-English speakers, and we may even include extras for different countries that give distributors an incentive to license from us exclusively.
Line Management
You’re hated, but you’re essential. You’re the people who tell us what we should be doing when we don’t want to, or can’t do. But we have to listen to you anyway. If you’re good at keeping things together, organising crazy people, keeping on top of madness, have the patience of a saint and love the buzz of a set, strap on a helmet and crash through the door.
Running/PAs
You can’t claim it’s slavery if you volunteer yourself, but you will get a walkie-talkie, so it’s not all bad. Having dogsbodies slaves hamsters people around to get the little stuff done is the very lifeblood of a set and a production. There are never enough hands on deck, so anyone who wants to pitch in is welcome to join us and enjoy the production experience.
General Mothering
It may be the most fun and most rewarding job in the world, but it’s stressful in with the bargain. Add sensitive egos to that, and you’ve got a potentially explosive mix. Bring us sandwiches, offer someone a hug, interject words of wisdom or just stop someone from killing someone else or throwing them off the side of the building and you would have made everyone’s day.
If you’ve read all that and still want to get involved, all you need to do is get in contact with one of the team and introduce yourself. The most helpful thing you can do is outline very quickly and simply how you’d be able to help us and what your qualifications and experience in that area are (if you don’t have any but are keen, just say so – it won’t prejudice your chances at all).
Please bear in mind that although we want to make sure everyone gets paid as much as they can, the budget we have means that a whole world of this will be unpaid. We know that’s not ideal, but we will cover expenses and of course, public credit for what you’ve done that you can use to gain further work. At the very least you will get experience, have a lot of inspiration and encouragement from working with a friendly and determined creative team. You will be noticed, appreciated, recognised and if nothing else, we’ll definitely get you drunk.
The best people to speak to are:
- Alex Cameron (alex [dot] cameron [at] michaelsresignation [dot] com)
- Jess Roscoe (jess [dot] roscoe [at] michaelsresignation [dot] com)
- Chloe Waddington (chloe [dot] waddington [at] michaelsresignation [dot] com)
