Preview of projects pitching at The Hospital Club on Monday 27th July

I have one word for you: technology. It has shaped film-making of the past and will do so in the future. In The Graduate (1967),the Zoom Lens had just been invented and its Director, Mike Nichols, exploited this new technique to the full!

Similarly, technology is having a marked effect on how films are being made today. 3D cinema has been given a new lease of life from Philips, the electronics manufacturer. They are developing the 3D TV set, without the need for those glasses, which you may have seen from photographs of the 1950s. It therefore follows that Content for this new TV set will be required and the cinema world has responded.

Black Seal Films have a slate of four films in that format in the Horror Genre. Vampyres II will be directed by Jose Ramon Larraz in 3D, following on from his original Vampyres of 1974 in 2D. As Horror films will work well in the new format, the Producers aim to be at the forefront of providing fresh material and gain the corresponding commercial advantage over their rivals.

Investors will be interested in learning that this project qualifies for a 20% Tax Credit on its production costs, due to the filming taking place in the UK. Well done, Mr. Darling! The Producers are also open to feedback from those providing funding, as to the filming order of the other projects on the slate. Add this to the Enterprise Investment Scheme structure for Investors as individuals, with 20% Tax Relief on subscriptions, Capital Gains Tax breaks and you have a powerful package! Read more by following this link: http://bit.ly/r9Uzc

Technology (or the lack of it) has also been troubling our political conscience recently, regarding the inadequate number of helicopters in Afghanistan. Now that Iraq has been handed back to the government there, I can foresee that there will be a reappraisal of that particular war, with a view to implementing the lessons learnt in Afghanistan. Working on the premise of Gordon Brown delaying the Election until mid 2010, involving a prolonged run-up, together with a review of the Defence Budget, the stage is set for a film, which draws all of these strands together.

In the Sands of Babylon is part of a series of films about Iraq, where the concentration of all the issues raised can be embodied in the life of one particular character. Much as Missing (1982) dealt with the theme of trying to find the “Disappeared” of a brutal military regime, this film is the Prequel to Son of Babylon, where the circumstances of his detention and eventual State-Sponsored Execution are explained. Drawing on the comparisons to the Holocaust, the Director is keen to impress upon the West that it has not succeeded in stopping this particular genocide of the Kurds. I believe that this film will capture a great deal of the swirling maelstrom of debate prior to our own General Election and is extremely timely in its Release. The West’s superior technology, on the second attempt, helped to defeat the well-aimed rifle butt on a political prisoner in his prison cell.

Transfer at Aachen promises to be a very interesting project. The Director, Paul Warner, has clearly given a lot of thought as the look and feel of the film, referencing the futuristic elements of 2001: A Space Odyssey to accent the inner turmoil of his main character, who suffers from Obsessive Compulsive Disorder. As far as I am aware, this is the first time OCD has featured in the Cinema. With European locations, such as Germany, Paris, Belgium and London, there is plenty of interest in the outer world as well.

I hope that you have enjoyed reading this Blog and welcome your thoughts. I am contactable on 020 8349 1003.

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Tags: cinema, commercial, EIS, film, film-making, investment, investors, media, tax credit