John Fox - Armourer of Killer Elite

The other day I spoke to John Fox, a very experienced armourer of over 250 films and TV, including The Pacific and The Killer Elite, the SAS film with Jason Statham and Robert De Niro that was partly filmed here in OZ.

Considering I'm building my own SAS project, it was fantastic to talk to him, but the funny thing was, it wasn't in regards to Redeemed, it was about my short film 'For Amy' the one that is still currently waiting to be cut and film one last scene.

It was this scene that I wanted John's expert advice. He looked over the footage of the A side of the fire fight with his critical eye, and it is here that I am perfectly honest -



He said it wasn't the greatest.

In fact, he suggested it wouldn't be in my best interests as a burgeoning film maker to put my name to it. Now that's the kind of honesty I want from the industry, no vague niceties, his appraisal has given me a lot to think about.

Whereas my professional credits are in documentary, news and TVC's, this film would be my attempt to show my film making skills.

John raised a good point, even though this film was made for next to nothing, with a handful of crew, people don't care about that, they care about whether it's a good film or not. Now in this particular case, these videos, the sneak peaks at 'No love for Harry' were made for Frankie's other project, a project which eventually was shot by someone else.

The action sequences here were shot by me, and are not the greatest and I'm the first to admit that, it was the best we could do with what we had.

However, the film we have created around this one scene, I think, is a testament to the possibility, with a fresh edit, After Effects Compositing, plus vibrant B sides to the fire fight yet to be shot, something can be made from it. It is what it is.

What I should be absolutely clear about is, John hasn't seen anything else of 'For Amy' just the 'NLFH' clip above, from which we will be generating our own action sequence from, so his comments are based on that footage alone, and I agree with him. I really appreciate the time he gave me to discuss action sequences and his honest appraisal of that clip.

However, lot of people have invested their time and money into this project and the other scenes and I will do my best to make it into something worthwhile. It's part of the learning curve, and it is with great honesty that I say, I'll finish this film, I will release it, and I will show what it is that I can do, and if it is not up to scratch, then that means I have more to learn, and any person who says there is nothing left to learn is an idiot. It will be my line in the sand, a milestone to gauge my efforts.

Ex Pertinacia Victoria - From Determination, Victory.

I'm determined to make this film work. Obtuse, tunnel vision? Perhaps, but if I don't try to complete this film, then I'll never know if it worked. Once it's cut, composited, graded and soundscaped, then I will be able to see if it is worth putting my name to. All film makers have to start somewhere...

I'd be keen to hear what you all thought of the clip. email redeemedfilm@gmail.com