[Louis-Jack]

Hi all,

I have recently launched a Kickstarter campaign to raise funding for film entitled 'Gill & Gill.’

The film will be a short art-documentary exploring mankind's relationship to stone by juxtaposing two stone-based activities: bouldering, and letter carving.

The film looks at the way these two very different practices, united by a common material, share basic principles such as: creativity, discipline, dedication, muscle memory and balance. Through this unusual comparison I believe that we can come to better understand the artistry in both crafts, and in so doing reflect on the mankind’s relationship with the material world.

Whilst the title, ‘Gill & Gill’, refers to the two fathers of modern bouldering and lettering, John Gill and Eric Gill, the narrative is illustrated through two contemporary virtuosos of their craft: Lucy Creamer, the most accomplished female climber in Britain and Richard Kindersley, the pre-eminent letter carver and maker of standing stones.

All the main information and a short trailer is on the Kickstarter page: http://goo.gl/DQoIkQ

If you would like to become a backer and help to make the project happen that would be fantastic! Any contributions are incredibly valuable to the film and very much appreciated. It’s an ambitious project with a large budget, but it can be raised with your help.

It would also be a massive help if you could please spread the word to anyone you think would be interested.

Thanks very much!

[Moo]

.

[Andy W]

Seems a bit strange contrasting an inspirational, living figure with a dead paedophile...have a look at this link

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/magazine/6979731.stm

seems 'he regularly had sex with two of his daughters, his sisters and even the family dog'

[cheque]

juxtaposing two stone-based activities: bouldering, and letter carving.

I assume it's going to be set at Black Rocks.

[Falling Down]

None of this quite hangs together for me.. Climbing and art make strange bedfellows at the best of times. 

Couldn't you just make the film and then let us judge whether it's worth paying for?  I've seen plenty of good climbing films, plenty of good art films and a very small number of good climbing as art/art as climbing films.  Doing this via kickstarter sticks in the craw a bit....

Good luck.

[andyd]

could someone please explain why you need £18k to make a film?

[Moo]

Gotta cover lucy creamers fee somehow.

[slackline]

could someone please explain why you need £18k to make a film?

HDR cameras are expensive

[Joepicalli]

Andy paedophile doesn't even start to cover it he had both his sons and daughters AND the family dog. His work is all over the Catholic Westminster Cathedral in London. (I have no idea if the above sentences are in any way connected). Regardless of that old Eric certainly could handle his chisel. He could hammer away al night (for god's sake stop me someone)
Good luck with getting the film made

[andyd]

could someone please explain why you need £18k to make a film?

HDR cameras are expensive

Hmm. Is that their reason? That's like me saying 'I want to make my first movie and I want Ben Stiller to star in it'. Bearing in mind that parts of BBC planet earth were filmed on a 5d (?) I'm sure they could manage.

Anyway, I'm not excited by this film. It's not of interest to me as a climber. Maybe it's more of a passionate art lover's thing

[slackline]

Hmm. Is that their reason?

I've absolutely no idea. 

[Louis-Jack]

Sorry for the radio silence. We decided to postpone the kickstarter campaign for our film ‘Gill & Gill’ but have relaunched with a new lower funding goal and incentives.

They new kicstarter campaign can be found here: https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/louis-jack/gill-and-gill-a-film-comparing-bouldering-and-ston

If you like the idea please support us by becoming a backer and/ or by spreading the word.

To answer some of your comments and questions:

1. The budget: Unfortunately, whatever way you do it, making films does cost money. And usually quite a lot of money. Filming equipment is expensive and so is paying for a crew - even when you’re getting mates rates on hiring and people are working for cheap because they are passionate about the project. Then there’s editing, grading, recording a voiceover, commissioning music, travel, overnight accommodation in the Peak District. It all adds up surprisingly quickly!

We have managed to cut down the budget significantly by forgoing some of the most expensive filming equipment, such as a film-crane (and associated additional crew members), which would have been used to obtain aerial dynamic shots of Lucy Creamer bouldering. It would have produced some amazing fluid footage but we realised that perhaps we can do something almost as good using cheaper methods.

We shot the trailer on a 5D, but what we’d like to do for the real film is to use a camera with the capability to do high speed filming and with specific lenses for macro shots. This will allow us to capture the minute detail and subtlety of both climbing and carving.

I wish that I did have the money to make it right now and then, as you say ‘Falling Down’, allow you to decide whether you want to pay for it afterwards. Unfortunately I don’t though. But that’s the wonderful thing about Kickstarter, it allows people to embark on all sorts of niche art/ film/ design/etc. projects that usually wouldn’t be commercially viable. Individuals can really become a part of the film by backing it and taking a speculative chance on it. if you don’t like the sound of the idea then you don’t back it, simple.

2. Eric Gill: Firstly, it’s worth saying that whilst Eric Gill and John Gill will be somewhat discussed in the film, they are being used more as vehicles through which we will be exploring the relationship between the practices of bouldering and letter carving.

There can be no legitimate account of Eric Gill that omits the scandalous aspects to his personal life. However, the subject of our film is not scandal. Though we will touch on his life honestly, we will also explore the lives and influence of a huge many others, and their contributions to their crafts. Without side-stepping the issue of Gill’s past or anybody else’s, we will nonetheless choose to focus on his, and their, creative achievements. Eric Gill is arguably the greatest letter cutter of the 20th century (and one of the most influential sculptors, typographers, wood cutters, amongst many other talents). Rather than deny his artistic genius and shun his beautiful works, we think it more useful and intelligent to try to understand how such a complex figure arrived at his remarkable innovations.

Thanks for looking.
 

[webbo]

 In my opinion no matter how good he was with a chisel the fact he was peodphile. I believe you should just go away, for example would we want to consider an art exhibition by Rolf. Harris ignoring he's a convicted sex offender just because he can paint.
Like fuck we would.     

[Moo]

basically webbo is right.

On a side note, this film is nonsense.

[Paul B]

+1

I also think you've completely missed the point about being a bit more 'Indy' in your approach to the gear (and filming/editing) you'll need. You can film 4k video on a GH4 for heavens sake and plenty of people are producing media these days with FA budget.

Take a look at the jib used by Nick Brown / Outcrop films and the footage of Ned climbing careless torque, it's amazing and hardly a big budget construction. GuyV6 from here produced his recent Grit flick on a computer that is on its last legs and would barely render the finished result etc.

[tomtom]

True - but it's already >50% of its funding total....

IMHO the pairing of the subjects seems a bit bonkers... It's not floating my boat - but it obviously does for some people...

[andyd]

There's nowt so queer as folk

[andyd]

I am inclined to logpile this thread ... anyone object?

Do it

[Oldmanmatt]

I am inclined to logpile this thread ... anyone object?

Always considered myself rather arty.

Utterly bemused by this concept.

Though feel strangely inspired to make a movie contrasting the Engineering merits of Ship design, with that of Gas Chamber design and their relative ability to kill in the whole Maritime disaster/Concentration camp scenarios.


Do I need an Emoticon to indicate the sarcasm of the above statement?

[Moo]

we'll get you one designed with a kickstarter campaing, how much do you think we'll need?

[tomtom]

£30k. Each

[Falling Down]

I'm inclined to agree...

[SA Chris]

Yarp.

I'm all for the concept of kick starts and crowdfunding, but this feels like taking the piss.

[slackline]

The only commonality is that, by coincidence, they share the same surname.

As for bouldering and letter carving, I always thought the two were somewhat incommensurable, see the first commandment....

[Johnny Brown]

Surely the point of Kickstarter is that if it's wank it'll fail? So let him fail. I doubt very much a project like this would raise so much as an eyebrow down the Castle. I can't say it has piqued my interest but I'm all for a bit more exploration of climbing and culture. If nothing else it makes a welcome change from the tops-off-techno culture accompanying any climbing event.

Not sure it warrants logpiling or casting aspersions because your man has two double-barrelled names.