Questionable Films



		The Mind Goblins documentary is complete! - 31/07/08 It took me a lot longer to finish than I expected, but the Mind Goblins documentary is now complete and weighs in at a very beefy 24 minutes. Go grab some snacks and enjoy this nostalgic look back at what it's like to make a film as a kid! *** Whole bunch of new stuff - 19/06/08 Since I'm still cracking on with Steve 3 and the Mind Goblins documentary, I decided I'd upload a whole bunch of stuff I should have put on the site a couple of months ago. First up we have some new artwork, comprising two collections of pictures I've drawn using the crap-tastic MS-Paint, which you can see here and here. I've also included some of the nicer images I've done using Facebook's Graffiti application, so go check that out here. There's a new comic that I uploaded to Facebook a few months ago entitled 'Epic Adventure' - it tells a story of library romance starring my friends Rich and Sally, and was drawn entirely using a half-broken mouse in Paint. It's now on the site so go have a look. Finally, there's a new animation in the random cartoons section that is currently the last thing I've made using good-old Deluxe Paint Animation (read this article for more information). It's called Fielden in the Old West, and it follows the adventures of my housemate Tom as he attempts to clean up his town. Watch it here. *** Apologies! - 23/05/08 Just a quick update to say sorry for not putting anything on the site in almost a month. It was pretty harsh of me to mention the Mind Goblins documentary and to also give some new information about Steve 3 on my Newgrounds page (go check it out if you haven't seen it) and then bugger off for a while, so sorry about that. Anyway, not to worry - I finish university forever on the 29th of May (which is pretty crazy) which means that in 6 days I have no immediate commitments for some time and that of course means doing the MG documentary, sorting out new films, and - dare I say it - finishing Steve 3. I've been talking about the latter seemingly forever - it has in fact been a hilarious 21 months since the second episode came out - but for the first time I've set myself a genuine deadline in my head and I want to stick to it. I'm not going to tell you what this date is because I may well miss it, but just rest assured that I have a date in mind and, whether I have it finished by then or not, Steve 3 is 100% certainly being released this summer. Right, back to revision. Good luck to everyone else who still has exams! ps. I was checking the stats for my site the other day and, to my surprise, you guys have still been consistently visiting and checking out videos and cartoons even though I haven't put anything new up in a month. You're awesome! *** Things to come - 27/04/08 I thought I'd take a little time away from my dissertation to tell you about the next film I'm making. It's going to be a very personal video about a film series I made way back in 2001, called Mind Goblins. Rather than just stick the two films on the site, I am instead going to make a documentary explaining how I and my friends Mark, Chris and Tom came up with the idea for the films and how we made them with a crappy Hi-8 camera, the worst props ever, and an ensemble cast of random friends from school. Aside from my recollection of making the films, there'll be plenty of footage shown (including countdowns of the worst lines, worst effects and so on) and I'm hoping to make a pretty nostalgic and amusing video explaining the first two 'proper' films I ever made. I'm hoping to start putting the film together once my dissertation is done in about a week and a half, so make sure to check back for updates. It's going to be an awesome film, and I hope you all enjoy it when it's done. *** NEW FILM: Sequels - 14/04/08 Our new film is finished, which means I can actually reveal what it's about. Basically, we get quite a few e-mails and comments each month basically saying what people did and didn't like about the films or asking how we did special effects shots and so on. However, what we get asked most is whether or not we're going to make sequels to any of our older films, particularly the Kung Spoon series. Even though it's pretty obvious that the Kung Spoon series has ended and that films like Army of One and BISCUIT are one-offs, we didn't think it'd be satisfactory for you guys if we just said 'no, we're not making any sequels' and left it that. Instead, we decided to make a somewhat tongue-in-cheek video showing you why it'd probably be a bad or unfeasible idea to make sequels to some of our old movies, and somewhat appropriately we like to call this video 'Sequels'. As a VERY IMPORTANT side-note, if you haven't seen or can't remember Ballistic Assault, Army of One, Kung Spoon 3 or BISCUIT, I strongly recommend you go back and watch them before you have a look at Sequels. Not only is the video far more amusing if you do this, but a lot of it won't actually make sense if you don't know anything about our older movies. With that said, enjoy! * Snow! - 06/04/08 It snowed overnight and, astonishingly, it was pretty heavy - for those of you visiting the site who've never been to England, we very occasionally get snow and it's usually pathetic. But hey, check it out: I even managed to make a comically awful snowman, but I still think he's awesome: He's my best friend and I can't see any reason why our friendship won't last forever. 5 hours later... NOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!! * Work work work - 04/04/08 Since doing work-experience in Bristol (which went very well, fortunately), I've been doing nothing but university stuff, which should hopefully explain why I've been neglecting the site. However! The new film I mentioned in the last update is being filmed next Saturday, which means it should be on the site pretty soon after that. I'm actually going back to Southampton the day after, so it'll probably take a little longer than usual to edit, but I'll see what I can do. Anyway, I think you're really going to enjoy it, although as I mentioned in the post below it might be worth re-watching some of our older films like Army of One and Ballistic Assault before you see it. You'll find out why shortly! In other news, there's an idea for a cartoon I've had in my head for years now and I think I'm actually going to make it in the summer. It's got nothing to do with Steve or Ahmed, which might possibly suggest what it's going to be, but don't assume you've necessarily figured it out. Ooooh, mysterious! That's it for now, make sure you check back to see what's going on with the new film, we should hopefully have it all sorted within the next few weeks. Oh and one last thing, for everyone else experiencing the joys of final-year university work, keep it up! *** Some stuff - 23/03/08 I'm going back to Bristol this week until Thursday doing more stuff with Films@59, which is pretty awesome - I'm going to bite the bullet and ask about possibilities for proper work after I graduate, so fingers crossed! In other, more Questionable Films-related news, Adam and myself are happy to confirm we're making a new film this Easter and we should hopefully have it done within a few weeks. I came up with the idea for it while speaking to Adam last term, and you are honestly going to love it - I'm not going to tell you what it's about, but it might just be a good idea to go back and watch most of our old films again. Why? FIND OUT SOON! Other than all that, my uni work is actually going really well at home and so I generally have a lot of free time in the evenings. Work on Steve 3 is still going at a good pace, so hopefully I can keep this up when I return from Bristol. One last thing - Bear's Everest (the programme I helped-out the sound editors with in Bristol) is on tomorrow (Monday) at 9pm on Channel 4. Remember to watch out for the scene where Bear is eating toast, because the awesome crunchy toast sound was TOTALLY MY IDEA. *** More on Steve 3 - 12/03/08 I'm very pleased to report that the first 5 minutes (or so) of Steve 3 are now completely finished, and I think the whole episode will roughly end up being about 7-9 minutes long. These times never sound particularly long on paper but keep in mind that Steve 2 was about 7 minutes long, and I managed to cram loads of stuff into that. Anyway, the reason I'm so pleased that the first 5 minutes are done is that thusfar production on the episode has been all over the place, with me skipping certain scenes and doing them out of order, or starting scenes and leaving them unfinished. I now have a much clearer picture of what I've got left to do and I don't need to go back to earlier scenes and finish or change anything, which is nice. I am still getting people on Newgrounds ask me when the episode will be out (which is remarkable given Steve 2 came out in August 2006) and it irritates me that I am incapable of providing an answer. I have simply given up on giving potential dates, for the obvious reason that every other date I've given in the past has been hilariously inaccurate. Afterall, let's not forget that the original deadline I set for myself was May 2007, and yet here we are a whole 10 months later and I'm still like 'I haven't finished it yet!'. Speaking about Steve 3 inevitably leads me to mention the upcoming Easter holiday, which will hopefully be four weeks of solid uni work and animating. Obviously my dissertation (and a few essays) are going to take priority, but I'm really determined to set myself a few goals with Steve 3 and actually stick to them, especially after my piss-poor attempt to animate over Christmas. Additionally, I may well meet up with Adam Sullivan over Easter and film something, but I'm pretty certain the next 'proper' film will be done over Summer, along with a whole bunch of new animations. *** Trip to Ireland! - 06/03/08 I was invited to a wedding in Ireland over Valentine's weekend with a few friends, and it was awesome. I decided to take my video camera and record all the stupid stuff that happened, and the result is a 20-minute video showing the full Irish experience - that's right, we spent most of the time in the hotel and then went to Limerick, the worst town in the entire world. Still, we all had a great time and the video reflects this - it's got comedy, it's got action, it's got the worst game of pool ever, and you can see it by clicking the image below! NB - there's some swearing and one violent bit (I'm recording a tiny part of Final Destination at the time), so watch out! *** An update?! - 01/03/08 Somewhat shamefully this is my first update in nearly a month - sorry guys! I would go into the details - having lots of uni work, panicking about my dissertation and so on - but if you're a regular you're probably already aware of why the site sporadically goes between having frequent updates with plenty of content and then weeks of nothing. In slightly more positive news I'm actually managing to get work done on Steve 3 at a fairly constant rate - sure, sometimes it's just doing a background or animating a small frame-by-frame sequence, but it's refreshing to at least be opening Flash almost daily and adding something new. Obviously this 'little and often' technique isn't going to be anywhere near as fast just spending a solid couple of weeks doing everything, but unfortunately my current uni schedule - which means I pretty much have very important deadlines from now until I graduate in June - won't allow otherwise. For those of you looking for more immediate content, I should have a new video up within a week or two about a wedding I went to in Ireland with some friends. Those of you who enjoyed the two Last Day of School videos will most likely find this similarly amusing - Rich even comments at one point how the film is basically a semi-sequel to the school videos, particularly as half the same people are in it. Even if you weren't that much of a fan of the school videos, it's still worth watching just to see Rich and myself failing to get our hotel's Golden Tee Golf machine to work, and to witness possibly the funniest game of pool I've seen in my life. In true Questionable Films tradition, I'm ending this content-less update with pictures from Steve 3. They're again from the bar scene and give next to nothing away, but hey, new pictures are AWESOME! *** Masterchef Spoof - 06/02/08 All my housemates (except for Ross) have become strangely addicted to Masterchef since returning to uni after the Christmas break. I don't know whether it's the great presenters or the amazing food that makes the show so appealing, but whatever - we love a good bit of the 'chef. However, for as much as we love the programme, Masterchef has a lot of problems. First, the show primarily focuses on cooking and food being tasted, so I have no idea why the sound editor has filled the programme with dance, house and techno music. Second, the presenters - while being awesome - often act very strangely. Whether it's Greg trying to put the entire meal onto his fork every time he eats, or John saying 'one too many flavours' for pretty much any dish with more than 3 ingredients, the presenters manage to be unintentionally hilarious in nearly every show. Third - and by far the funniest of all - the intro to the show never changes, so you're guaranteed to get Greg shouting 'THIS IS ONE TOUGH COMPETITION' every single time you watch the programme. In true Questionable Films style we decided to make a really sketchy spoof of the show on Pancake Day. If you watch the show you're almost certainly going to 'get' this, but if not, I'm sure you'll find something amusing anyway. * The site is one year old today! - 02/02/08 This website has been going for a whole 12 months now, and to celebrate I've put together an article showing the highs and lows of the last year. Go read it here! * The final Kung Spoon 3 video... is EPIC! - 19/01/08 While filming Kung Spoon 2: Double Team, it occurred to Adam and myself that we'd never done a 'making-of' video for any of our films. Unbeknownst to pretty much everyone else (other than Luke and Alex) we actually started planning a making-of for Kung Spoon 2, but we never did anything beyond one or two shots during filming and the whole idea was scrapped. I mention the above because I still regret not making a proper effort with KS2's making-of video. I've always wanted to properly record us making a film, not just to show how we did it, but also to show us mucking about and generally having a really good time inbetween filming. It is with this in mind that I am extremely pleased to present you with The Making of Kung Spoon 3, a video which is half serious footage of us planning the film and running through various shots, and half completely ridiculous footage of us going to KFC, playing Nintendo, telling jokes and generally doing anything but preparing for the film. So, go get yourself some tea and a snack (this is a really long one) and prepare yourself for awesomeness. Before we begin however, let me ask you some questions - how many sachets of ketchup did Adam spit in my face while filming? What did the original special-effects tests look like? Does Adam pull his pants down yet-again? The answer to all these questions and many, many more can be seen by clicking below! *** Kung Spoon 3 Out-Takes - 10/01/08 It was somewhat inevitable that I'd end up making an out-takes video for Kung Spoon 3, but this time round I've also included two deleted scenes and a bunch of alternative shots (in other words the shots we took that were technically fine, but we chose not to use). There are some absolute classics in here including an accidental case of property damage, the infamous shot of Adam and myself fighting that went very wrong, and Jen's much-requested and hilariously tiny inclusion in the film. Enjoy! *** KUNG SPOON 3!!! - 05/01/08 By taking all the best parts of our previous movies, improving on them, and shoving them into one 5-minute epic, we came up with Kung Spoon 3. Get some snacks, dim the lights, and prepare to watch this one over and over again. *** January is Kung Spoon 3 month - 04/01/08 It's my first post of 2008, hurrah! Anyway, let's get down to business - Kung Spoon 3 was successfully filmed over new year and I've got to say, it's looking absolutely awesome. Editing is almost done (I've mainly just got the titles and credits left to do) and despite the fact I've watched it about twenty times now, I'm just not getting bored of it. The reason for this is two-fold - the movie turned out being a lot shorter than we expected (without the credits it's about 3-and-a-half minutes long) and we've made sure that every single shot is entertaining. Perhaps what I'm most pleased about is that we really took on board all the things we wanted to achieve for KS3 - the fights are much better than before, the editing is tighter, we've got rid of all the waffley plot stuff from KS2, and the humour is very much like that in Ballistic Assault. Equally, one or two of the shots I was worried about before filming (particularly the special effects shots) have ended up looking really solid, so overall I'd say the film is easily the best of the trilogy. Other than the film itself, there are plenty of Kung Spoon 3-related videos coming out this month including the inevitable out-takes and of course the worryingly long and highly anticipated (haha) Making of Kung Spoon 3. We actually managed to film quite a lot for the latter during filming, so hopefully the finished video will have a 'behind the scenes' quality to it, rather than just showing Adam and myself mucking about for 6 months prior to filming. Anyway, I'll let you know as soon as Kung Spoon 3 is finished - I reckon it'll be done within a week or two, so GET READY FOR DESTRUCTION! Also, have some obligatory screen-shots: *** MERRY CHRISTMAS! - 25/12/07 Yeah I know, this is an extremely cliched news post but hey, it's Christmas! I hope you all have a fantastic day full of turkey and presents, I'll hopefully be posting a 'proper' update tomorrow before I head off to the Isle of Wight on the 27th. Kung Spoon 3 is close! *** A new picture?! - 12/12/07 That's right, for the first time in months I've added a picture to the Artwork page - I doodled a little picture of Steve and Jimmy in a lecture and I quite like it, so I scanned it in, coloured it in Photoshop, and added a background from Steve 3 - check it out here. As a side note, things are going to be pretty hectic for me over the next two or three weeks - I'm not even back home for the holidays yet and I've already got a billion things I'm attending or need to get done, including essays, my dissertation, a group project, my birthday, meeting up with Adam to do the final 'The Making of KS3' video, spending a week at Westbrook (which will obviously include doing Kung Spoon 3), Christmas (of course), possibly going to Bristol to do more TV work, my party... anyway, the point is I'm only home for 3 weeks and I have very little spare time, so I apologise in advance if site updates become a little infrequent. With the above mentioned, keep in mind the next few months are going to be particularly awesome for Questionable Films - the long-awaited Kung Spoon 3 and not so long-awaited The Making of KS3 are going to be filmed, edited and released within the next month and a half, Adam and myself have a top secret new idea for a film, and while work on Steve 3 is, as ever, going from really fast to really slow, I'm confident it'll be done pretty soon. I'm aware I've been saying that for a while now, but as some indication of where I'm 'at' with the cartoon, until about mid-November I hadn't got all the voice-actors, the script wasn't entirely finished, I hadn't even begun to animate about seven dialogue scenes and I hadn't touched any of the action bits. As it currently stands, the only things I have left to do from scratch are three dialogue scenes and the last big fight - everything else is either finished or very near to being finished, with the exception of another fight scene (which is still looking pretty nice already). Ultimately I'm just going to have to say the same cheesy thing I've been saying to various people since February - Steve 3 will be done when it's done. And hey, it could always be worse - I could have a film series that many people enjoy, but everyone has to wait an entire year for the next movie. Sorry, what did you just say? Oh, right. *** COMMENTS! - 06/12/07 Oh boy, it's an important update! Basically, my site has been in dire need of a comments system for my movies and cartoons for some time now, and I always had the idea of linking the site to a livejournal account so people could easily view and add comments, plus I could choose what content (or blog updates) I wanted to make 'commentable'. After speaking to Adam earlier today, I was finally persuaded to set up the livejournal account and add some links on the site - there are now links below all the movies and cartoons to add and view comments, and I'll be adding links to certain articles and other content in the near-future! As good as this, I need YOUR HELP - did you like the headshot in Army of One? Leave me a comment about it! Did you enjoy Adam going down the bannister in Ballistic Assault? Let me know! Do you reckon Kung Spoon 2 has too many waffley plot sequences? It does! I mean, tell me about it! I basically would just love for you guys to go back and watch all of your favourite Questionable Films movies and cartoons and let me know what you think. The new comments system is easy to use and hopefully within a few days everyone will have started chipping in comments and critiques. Equally, if you want to ask me anything about the films or cartoons but can't be bothered to write a full e-mail, why not just ask in a comment? I'll be checking them regularly, so feel free to ask me anything. One last thing though - I'll be moderating the comments regularly and hey, we're all adults here, so please refrain from spamming or putting anything insulting or rude. Anyway, I'm sure everyone here is mature enough to keep it clean, so go watch a film and leave a comment! * Movies section update - 04/12/07 The Movies section has been totally cluttered for the last year, so I've decided to split it into four sections - one for the finished movies, one for movie extras (like commentaries and out-takes), one for the trailers, and one for anything a bit random (How to Pitch a Tent, Death in Southampton etc). This new system should make it a lot easier to find whatever film you're looking for! * Thank-you everyone! - 01/12/07 This is just a quick update to say a big 'thank-you!' to everyone - November was by far the most popular month for the site, with more people visiting, more pages being looked at and more files being downloaded than in any other month since the site started back in February. It's very reassuring to know that my site has created and maintained a small but steady fanbase over the last ten months, and I'm really grateful to everyone who visits the site, whether you're a die-hard fan who checks back every day or if you're someone who just pops in once or twice a month. So yeah, thanks again! In other news, I am totally psyched for Christmas! *** Progress - 24/11/07 Just a quick update to let you know I've stepped things up a bit with Steve 3 - I'm hoping to have nearly all of the scenes with dialogue done by the end of next week, which means I'll only have the action scenes and some of the extras (that's right, this episode has extra features) to do. While the action scenes are obviously the hardest bits to draw and animate, it'll be nice to have the episode at a stage where the end is in sight. Seriously, since February I've either put off doing work on the cartoon or have done a little and been overwhelmed with how much I have left to do - but not anymore! Nobody likes text updates, so here's a new picture from the unpleasant bar Steve visits in the episode: * Nostalgia time - 16/11/07 I've been talking a lot recently about old cartoons I've made in Flash, and so I decided I should make a new article that takes you on a magical journey from around 1993 to the present day, showing you the story and history behind my crazy adventures as a budding animator. Go and get yourself a nice cup of tea, pretend it's the early the 90s again, and click below. * NEW SECTION ! - 14/11/07 Four days ago I wrote an article about a bunch of terrible animations I've made over the last five years, and after reading this a lot of you asked if you could actually see some of them. Not wanting to let you guys down, I've added an entirely new section to the Cartoons part of the site which includes the animations that were either too short, too strange or just too crap to be showcased beforehand. I'll probably be updating it quite frequently whenever I make something random in Flash, whether it be a 20-second parody or just something completely random. To kick-start things off, I've uploaded six 'classic' animations that I've had on my computer for several years - there's the Lost spoof, the Zelda spoof, the 'GCSE summer gathering in 60 seconds' cartoon, Trip to Paris, the hilarious DPA cartoon by Dave Newman, and of course the infamous Richard Manber Fan-Club short. You can see them all by clicking below: *** A very special article - 10/11/07 Today's new article is a very special one, as it goes into some detail about several animations I've never shown anyone and will most likely never put on the site. So, if you've ever wanted to find out about some of the terrible, weird or simply unfinished cartoons I've made in the last five years, click below! As a side note, you won't be able to watch any of these animations - I mention how likely it is you'll ever see each animation in the article, so if I say 'high' or 'quite likely' for any of them, expect to see them in the near future!