A Huge thank you goes out to everyone who submitted a firework photo to our Fire Flash competition!
We’ve had a great time looking through the submissions, it was a truly fantastic Bonfire Night.
We are pleased to announce the winner is…
Evie Bullerr!
Congratulations!
Your photo will be the header of the Fireworks’ Website, Facebook and Twitter until the end of November.
We loved how Evie’s picture captured little explosions within a big firework burst.
Take a look at Evie’s picture below:
We’re looking for the most striking digital images from this Guy Fawkes night and we want you to capture them.
Submit a picture from Bonfire Night 2014 and you could have your work published as the header of the Fireworks website, Facebook and Twitter for the duration of November with a special thanks acknowledging your work.
You can submit images of fireworks, bonfires and Guy Fawkes’ as long as they are taken at Bonfire Night 2014. Just remember to be safe and don’t get close to fire or fireworks.
Enter by tweeting your picture to @FireworksFilm with #FireFlash, but before you snap, take a look at the rules:
The contest closes at 8am on Friday 7th November and the winning photograph will be selected by Monday 10th.
Good Luck!
Hundreds of bright young sparks entered our open online casting process for a chance to play the lead in Fireworks. After watching all your audition tapes carefully, we managed to narrow it down to a long list of possible Kats, who we invited along to a face to face audition in London. The girls were amazing, and we have now selected a shortlist of six possible Kats. They have a wide range of skills, quirks and interests as you can see below, but one thing they do have in common is that they are all bright, smart, talented young women who we’re delighted to be potentially working with. So, bring out the Kats – here they are!
Hi I’m Hollie and I am so excited about being on the short list for Kat! I obviously love performing but I am also really keen on sport. My favourite is football where I play midfield.
I am pretty determined and daring and I love a challenge but sometimes I do pay the price! In January this year I broke my nose. I would love to tell you it was playing football or bungee jumping but….in truth….I was walking UP the stairs at school and tripped. Not cool! I spent the next few weeks resembling Princess Fiona, (in ogre form) but I am glad to say my nose is now fixed and I am as determined as ever…and would absolutely love to play the role of Kat!!!
My name is Adara Fernandez and if you ask me where I’m from, my answer usually depends on my mood: my parents are Mexican and American but they’re both French too, and I was born in London. So I figure I get to choose. It’s fun when it’s the World Cup because I’ve got so many countries to cheer for, I’ve often got one in the final! I am thirteen years old, and I love two things: drama and sports. I also love skilling up guys on the football pitch (I played goalie for two years in a local team). I learned football with older boys, so I got good at defending myself. I can also do a judo throw on anyone who bothers me – I came third in my weight category in a national judo competition. I do triathlons and diving too, which is really fun. I like diving backwards best. So you could definitely say I’m sporty.
I am part of the Young Actors Company and through them I take part in various acting jobs, including being an extra on the popular show EastEnders, going on stage, and more. I speak Spanish, some French and am learning Latin and Mandarin. I love acting though, so I definitely want to be an actress! And if that doesn’t work out, I figure I’d be a pretty good policewoman – I can run fast, I can act (good for undercover, right?), I’ve got a really good memory – and I can definitely be scary when I want to. At least that’s what everybody says!
I am 14 years old and live in Milton Keynes with my Mum, Dad, Sister and goldfish called Ron. I have recently been on an adventure holiday in Tunisia where I haggled in the souks, slept a night in a cave and ate camel couscous. I love trying new things and have jumped off Goliath, which is 100ft tall and the UK’s largest freefall experience. I have ridden on a donkey up a steep hill in Santorini and swum in the Atlantic, Caribbean and Mediterranean seas. I have yet to try the North sea off Gullane Bay, but I’m willing to give the freezing cold water a go.
I am learning to play the guitar, and I think my parents are looking forward to when I can play a whole song completely in tune. In my spare time I enjoy drawing and painting. My favourite artist is Roy Lichtenstein, and I have colourful Pop Art paintings all over my bedroom. I’ve painted a few of his well-known pieces, but I’m a bit clumsy and somehow I managed to spill a pot of red paint all over my bedroom carpet (my Mum wasn’t too happy). I’ve painted a few of his well-known pieces, and once I somehow I managed to spill a pot of red paint all over my bedroom carpet (my Mum wasn’t too happy). I am a bit accident prone, and occasionally bump into things and knock things over. Let’s hope I don’t accidentally set off any fireworks!
Hi, my name is Josie Proto, I’m 13 years old and I live outside the fourth best place to retire in England. As you can imagine it is quite quiet here; I mean my primary school had 12 students per YEAR! However, when I was 9, I moved to Dubai with my 2 sisters and my parents. It was a massive change and it gave me loads of opportunities for my education. When we moved back to the quietest town on earth I was 11 and I was on my way to secondary school. My secondary school has 1500 students and has a brilliant drama department, and at this point I was getting more into drama and films. I’ve always loved theatre but I’ve only recently started auditioning for films and TV.
However, like most normal teenage girls I obsess over bands, TV shows eg. Doctor Who, and especially social networks. I mess around with my friends and call my pets stupid names (my hamster’s called Allen). The last (very important) thing you need to know is that I’m raining champion for head stands in my form – my head stand lasted 3 minutes 26 seconds. Yes, my head did go blue!
Yeah so, hey everybody? I’m Ashlea. I’m currently 14 years old but will be hitting the blossoming age of 15 at the end of September, which you can not tell at all since my height and body resemble a 12 year old boy. Speaking of height, I’m actually 4’11, so you could probably understand why I get the nickname Hobbit or Gizmo every now and again.
I have actually not always wanted to be an actress (even though it was always my plan B) but my first ambition as a small child was surprisingly a pole dancer. It quickly changed, don’t worry. After that I dreamed of either being a singer or an author, since I adore singing or writing fictional stories so badly, even now. But then came the acting when I was about, 6? Never changed since. Fun fact about me, when I’m nervous I move a ton, mostly when I’m singing for somebody. But when it comes to just talking to someone, I’m pretty easy going and I like to think I get along with most people. I’m extremely hyper, and I don’t even know why. But anyway, later everybody, have fun doing whatever while I get back to doing, well … nothing. I am so bad at doing bios it physically hurts.
My name is Tania Van Amse. I have always been small and have not grown since I was 11.There are marks on the kitchen cupboard and mine have been same now for ages. My younger sister overtook me long time ago and I am still trying to catch her up. I love singing, dancing and acting and one of my favourite characters is George from Famous Five. Having done a lot of theatre work since I was younger, my best job so far was being back end of a cow in panto, when we nearly fell into orchestra pit ’cause it is totally dark in there!
I haven’t run away like Kat but when I was 8, I left home with a big (empty) suitcase as I wanted to join the local theatre which was putting on Oliver. I decided this is what I wanted to do rather than going to school but my neighbour stopped me down the road and took me straight back home, ignoring my kicking and screaming.
Fact about me: I haven’t had any fizzy drinks since a singing audition when I had coca cola beforehand and did huge burp in middle of my song! (didn’t get job..)
Once we get a little closer to the shoot we will be able to choose and announce who will play Kat in Fireworks. In the meantime, give these great girls a round of applause. Go on, right there in front of your phone/laptop. They deserve it, and no-one’s looking.
It’s International Womens’ Day, and to mark the occasion we decided to big up some of the brilliant women in film and TV who inspire, entertain and amaze us. We asked some of the members of team Fireworks to pick their top inspirational women from the film world. Here are our top five.
I’ve chosen Diablo Cody because she’s written some of the most witty, moving and irreverent movies, with the coolest, funniest flawed female screen characters, particularly Mavis Gary in Young Adult and Juno in, er, Juno. Her pen name is Diablo Cody because she was listening to a song called Diablo whilst driving through a town called Cody. Also, she worked as a stripper who incorporated ninja kicks and screaming into her routines.
I’m going to choose Lena Dunham (of Tiny Furniture movie and HBO’s Girls TV series fame) – not just because I, myself, am a fearless, ferociously perceptive, young woman (inside a burly man body, obviously), but because she makes me properly laugh and gasp out loud while showing me something brand new. Kind of what we were trying to do with Fireworks.
Since her debut at the age of three, Jodie Foster has had a staggering career as an actor, delivering acclaimed and memorable performances in Taxi Driver, The Accused, and Silence of the Lambs, and graduating from successful child star to A-list adult actor. Always convincing, always authentic, and generally brilliant in every role, she has now turned her talents to directing and producing. A woman with a genuine passion and understanding for film.
Ida Lupino (born in 1918) has always intrigued me as a pioneer among women filmmakers. In her forty-eight year career, she appeared in fifty-nine films as an actress and directed seven others. She co-wrote and co-produced some of her own films as well.
I’m going to be really predictable and go for Jane Campion for sharing her astonishing vision with us, particularly for Top of the Lake, In the Cut, The Piano and An Angel at my Table. She writes incredible roles for women, gets staggering performances from her actors, shoots sexy but not exploitative scenes and knows how to point the camera and capture those stunning landscapes. Genius! LOVE her!
Who are your icons of women in film? Tell us who inspires you.
Thank you all so much for submitting your auditions. We had over 400 of them and it took us a little longer to look through them all than we’d originally imagined so thank you for your patience. If you got through to the next round, Congratulations! If you did not, console yourself with the thought that we weren’t judging the auditions only for the quality of the acting (though of course this is an extremely important factor) but we were also looking for a girl who has the right feel for the character of Kat and were considering factors such as age, voice-quality, tomboyishness, quirkiness and many other, difficult-to-explain factors. Casting is a lot about gut instinct and responding to quite abstract human qualities which you imagine the character you are looking for will have.
If you are serious about acting, DON’T GIVE UP! Join drama groups, do school plays, keep at it. Acting is a tough career and some of the qualities you need for it are tenaciousness (sticking with it, persisting, not giving up) and a thick skin because there are many more nos than yesses in the acting world and this is something you need to be able to manage. It’s not for everyone. I couldn’t do it. And it’s certainly not about being famous! That is reserved for the lucky (or possibly unlucky) few.
– Hannah, Simone and Team Fireworks
We’re getting ever closer to finding a bright new star to play our headstrong teenager Kat: our open auditions have now officially closed and we are accepting no more submissions for the part.
Big thanks to the hundreds of you who have submitted an audition video over the past months, we can’t wait to watch them all – looks like we’re going to have a busy few days ahead of us! And from what we’ve glimpsed so far you’ve been paying attention to some of the Dos and Don’ts our Casting Director Simone Pereira-Hind gave you back in November, you clever things.
Over the next week or two we’ll be watching all the audition videos you’ve sent in, looking for our perfect Kat. After much chewing of pen lids, head-scratching and deliberating we will whittle down the hundreds to a shortlist. What will we be looking for? The funniest, bravest and most talented young women who will be a great match for the bold, headstrong Kat.
Over the next two weeks we will get back to everyone who submitted an audition through the online form to let them know whether or not they have been shortlisted.
Keep your fingers crossed and good luck!
With only 6 days to go until our campaign ends, we really need your support. Lots of you have already contributed, tweeted and shared about our film. Some of you, though, may still be dithering, and others may have no intention of supporting us. Yet! We want you with us on this. Here are seven reasons why you should get on board.
Yes, we hang with some of the coolest people on Twitter. The brilliant Stephen Fry has put out a tweet telling people to support our film, and we’ve been retweeted by lovely people like Rebecca Front, Rory Bremner, Billie Myers and Gail Porter.
Ewen is a brilliant actor and we are thrilled to be able to create a role for him in his home town. Poor Ewen has been stuck out in Hollywood too long – give the poor chap a trip home.
Looking for our new teen star
We’re running an open online casting call for the role of Kat, a headstrong, sparky teenage girl. Tons of young women have already submitted their auditions. Will you be the chosen Kat to play the lead role?
Not many films are made by women. Most don’t even have a lot of women in them! And when they do, these women don’t have much to say. With Fireworks the Exec Producer, Producer, Co-writer, Director and even the web guy are all women! Let’s show what they can do.
Don’t just do it for us – do it for that tricky international auntie who loves knitting, or that guy in the office who’s a bit of a smunt. Our campaign is one big Christmas shopping market. Check it out.
Fireworks is inspired by Director and Co-writer Hannah’s experience of growing up with a father who suffered from bipolar disorder, or manic depression. Hannah wants the film to help get people talking openly about mental illness, to help reduce the stigma that sufferers already face.
This is (arguably) the most important point on the list. Fireworks is going to be a cracking good film. It’s funny, it’s got a great actor confirmed and others potentially in the wings. The script has won a ton of awards, and the team behind it are celebrated film-makers and writers. You do not want to miss out on this film!
It’s not easy to get a film off the ground that bucks the box office trends and tries to do something a bit different, but with a bit of help we think we can create something really special. Please support our film, and help spread the word on twitter and Facebook. Thank you!
Our hut builder Euan Gray is a true artist. Not only is he creating a unique, cinematic, charming hideaway hut for our film, he has also created this stunning set of hut-inspired artworks to get hut-lovers in the mood for the finished design.
The drawings were created by Euan to give a sense of the tone and style of the film, and of the hut itself, and he is generously offering them as perks for contributors to our crowd-funding campaign. For a contribution of £60 or more, you can have this set of 4 prints. The perfect addition to your own hideaway, or the perfect Christmas gift for anyone who longs for a hut of their own.
– Find out more about Euan Gray and his ideas for Gillies’ hut design.
– Visit our IndieGoGo page to support our film and get your set of four hut-inspired prints.
When we found out architectural designer and fabricator Euan Gray was up to the challenge of creating Gillies’ hut for Fireworks we were delighted. Euan both designs and builds most of his projects, following the design process from conception right the way through to installation. With an impressive portfolio stretching from buildings to installations to furniture, he is a true master of his art.
Hannah Robinson and Jonathan Hall’s award-winning script and colourful characters attracted Euan to the project, and he can’t wait to get started. Euan says:
“I’m really looking forward to designing the hut for Fireworks – it’s a great script and I could see it all playing out when I read it, the characters interacting in different places in and around the hut. I’ve tried to get some of those ideas of the eccentric, intimate spaces through into the design – as well as making it work technically.”
Euan’s hand-crafted huts are often chic, Nordic style retreats. Gillies’ hut, though, will be anything but neat! He explains:
“It’s fun to be able to work on something that needs to look homemade, odd and ramshackle, rather than neat, refined and perfectly finished!”
The personalities and complexities of the film’s characters are reflected in his design, which promises to be truly exciting and completely unique. He highlights the challenges of this particular project:
“Filming presents a whole different set of technical challenges – you’ve got to be thinking about where the camera will film from, where the lights will be hidden, where the shots can be framed – windows, doors and walls will all need to be removable just to get the filming angles right in such a small space!”
Euan points out that designing for film is not the only challenge he faces in creating Gillies’ hut; being a part of an indie comedy filmed in Scotland means his structure also has the weather to contend with! No mean feat, but a challenge he accepts with pleasure:
“That unseen technical dimension is actually a bigger challenge than the aesthetic design – but both are equally enjoyable.”
Gillies’ hut is set to be a stand-out piece, beautifully designed and hand-crafted by Euan. If you’re tempted by the idea of owning an iconic piece of film memorabilia which doubles up as a perfect hideout you can have Gillies’ hut delivered to your door as one of the perks of our IndieGoGo crowdfunding campaign.
His beautiful collection of hut drawings inspired by his designs are another perk, coming as a set of four prints of original drawings that are an affordable gift in time for for Xmas.
We’re certainly glad Euan was up to the challenge and can’t wait to see the finished hut. Visit Euan’s website to see more of his designs, and visit our IndieGoGo page to claim Gillies’ hut as your very own, very special, hideout.
Everyone needs a hut. A not-so-secret hideaway at the bottom of your garden, a studio, a workshop, an illegal fireworks factory… With architectural designer and fabricator Euan Gray creating Gillie’s hut especially for Fireworks, we thought we’d celebrate the humble hut with some of our favourites. Actually, scrap the humble. And forget the spiders, spades and pile of dirty wellies. This is pure unadulterated hut indulgence! Read on to see some of our favourite huts.
Starting off with a classic, let us introduce you to the beach hut’s bigger sister. These long-legged beauties are a far cry from your British candy-coloured beach hut. We’re betting these lovelies are kitted out with pale cream lounge chairs and wicker glass-topped tables. Perfect for lazy, hazy luxurious summer sby the beach. In Kapalai Island, Malaysia no less. We can only dream.
Best for: Big shades, heels and panama hats all round
Number two brings us those uniform, candy-coloured huts transformed into a winter wonderland. The beach hut advent calander is a project based in Brighton, now in it’s 6th year, which turns beach huts into, well, yes, an advent calander. In the countdown to Christmas, each evening a different hut throws open its doors to showcase a festive artistic surprise. Recreate this little number at home and put those bland factory chocolate advent calendars to shame.
Best for: Dressing up as a crazy evil elf and leaping out at people on day 18.
Image: Andrew Hasson
Out with traditional hut shapes, Boston-based studio Moskow Linn Architects has created this project ‘swamp huts’, located in Massachusetts. With a light design, four of these huts sit gently on the land, surrounding a central deck providing communal space for the family. Family is key theme in Fireworks – though we’re not sure we can imagine Gillies and Kat in this hut in the cold Scottish winter, even with the lovely fire pit.
Best for: A family holiday that you can even invite the snorey dad, the farty dog and the antisocial teen along to.
Okay, you’ve got us. We’re suckers for a beautiful, exotic location with a couple of huts thrown in for good measure. Lembongan Island, situated off Bali, transports you into a beautiful world of luscisous green trees and clear, blue skies. And huts of course. We can almost hear the crickets singing…
Best for: Writing that sprawling magic realist novel that you’ve been planning
These huts designed by Olson Sundberg Kundig Allen Architects in Seattle better reflect our current climate! Situated in Methow Valley, Washington, we love their hard, square lines set against the flowing backdrop of the snowy mountains. Better wrap up warm.
Best for: Ironic Christmas jumpers and IKEA baubles
Last but not least, we love this yoga studio created by Euan Gray, the mastermind behind Gillies’ hut in Fireworks. Bathed in light and set in an idyllic spot surrounded by greenery, we can’t think of a better place to soothe mind, body and soul. Get us there now!
Best for: Supporting local talent and achieving perfect Chi at the same time
Image from http://www.euangray.co.uk
Want to get the actual Euan Gray-designed hut from Fireworks? Contribute to our campaign and we will ship or bring it to you anywhere accessible in the UK, and set it up in your garden. Or, for an affordable Christmas gift, select our pack of 4 hut drawings by Euan.
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