October 6, 2006
hallam foe blog dinner
[Watch the video clip here:] Late night at The Texas Embassy, London. With most of the party already having gone home, Dave Mackenzie talks about the evening with the few remaining bloggers left. Note the ample supply of the new Stormhoek Siren on the table.
Well, we finally had the Hallam Foe bloggers’ screening last night.
30 or so people turned up, including twenty-odd British bloggers [the guest list is here], and a bunch of people involved on the film production, including Dave MacKenzie, the director, and Colin Kennedy, the main Hallam Foe blog writer.
This was the first time members of “the public” got to see the movie, so Dave was pretty nervous at first. It seemed none of the bloggers quite knew what to expect from the movie [I had told them very little], but generally the response was far more enthusiastic than anyone could have hoped for.
After the screening we all went along to The Texas Embassy for some fajitas, compliments of the groovy cats at Buena Vista International, the UK distributors of the film.
I was really delighted when Euan told me that Hallam Foe was the best film he’d seen in ages [I really respect Euan’s opinions on many things, so having his thumbs-up was a real feather in the ol’ cap]. It was also nice to finally meet his wife, Paula.
And Hallam Foe wasn’t the only one premiering that evening. Stormhoek supplied a couple of cases of their new “Siren” series, which went down a real treat. It’s one thing telling people how good the wine is on your blog, but as a marketer, seeing real people enjoying it live is always a lot more rewarding. So like the film, these guys were the first members of “the public” to try it out.
Here JP Rangaswami, who was also there, wrote some interesting thoughts on the evening:
There was something very blog-like about the experience. David and Hugh were in their own way pretty nervous; they had (and probably still have) no real idea how the 30 of us present would react. When you hand a brand over to the Man On The Clapham Omnibus you make yourself vulnerable. When you share something provisional and unfinished and creative in such a way, you make yourself very vulnerable.
This air of provisionality and vulnerability was tangible as we began to watch. Soon I felt at ease, transported to the stark yet haunting ambiance of Edinburgh, one of my favourite cities. Tortured youth, conflicted adolescence, a coming of age and a riveting close. And closure. Any more and I might as well tell you The Butler Did It, so I won’t. See it for yourself.
The video clip above was taken by Gia, who also blogged about the movie here.
It was a really great evening, probably the most exciting blog event I’ve been to in ages. As Gia, I and others discussed last night, this film-blog-marketing thing is still very much in its infancy, a lot of it is still virgin territory. That’s what makes it so damn exciting, I suppose.
It was a real special evening. Thanks to everyone for coming along.
[PS: If you were there last night, and have any blog posts, videos, photos etc from the evening, if you could post it on to the wiki here, I’d really appreciate it. Thanks.]
[Backstory:] Last October, long before film shooting began, David and I put the Hallam Foe script online for people to read, as a way to gather early feedback from the blogosphere, as an experiment in “open source filmmaking” etc. Interesting to see how far the project has evolved in just under a year etc.
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Congrats to You Hugh and to David… An exciting and powerful group of bloggers including my good friend Sarah, movie preview, good Stormhoek wine and lively discussion thereafter. Will track the blogs for the buzz. As they say in the movie buzz, “break a leg”.
Brilliant evening. Brilliant film. An absolute pleasure to watch…
I said it last night, but I’ll say it again here, I really admire Buena Vista for saying ‘Yes! Go!’ about the whole online/blogging angle AND not making us sign an NDA before watching the film last night. That does take guts for a film company to do. So, well done them.
I must say that the video was shot by the lovely Colin Kennedy (not me), but using my Xacti C6.
It certainly looks like a scary movie!
Fantastic night, impressive turn out, to say nothing of the film that gets better each time i watch it, And for it all to happen in such good company.
Even the wine was good.
Gia convinced me and i bought the very same Xacti this morning.
Fab, fab, fab night
Fab wine, fab director, fab film, fab company
Good to see Jamie Bell growing into an accomplished adult actor and I’m sure Hallam Foe will be on everyone’s lips next year.
Many thanks for letting me be part of the evening!
A great night guys and a wonderful film. I just posted about it and the swan on the loch scene which I loved. sorry we couldn’t stay for drinks but kudos to all concerned for going out there and doing something different and in doing so inviting us in to the conversation. Rock on
Did you get them fitted up in a new suit as well?
Damn. I wish I could have been there.
Anything planed for us living outside of UK bloggers Hugh?
André Hedetoft
Geek Movie Director
Help me sell 1000 Save André Hedetoft t-shirts so that I get to make my next movie over at http://www.andrehedetoft.com
Thanks so much for asking us Hugh and thanks to Buena Vista for supper, I absolutely loved Hallam Foe and haven’t stopped thinking about it all weekend. This will definiltey swell the Jamie Bell female fanclub mailbags, i can’t wait to watch it again at the cinema…