Little Seagull Films

17/08/2023

Sound is so so important - particularly in sci-fi films, and we’re lucky enough to be in good hands with Ross Wilkes-Houghton as our sound designer.

Having trained at the prestigious National Film and Television School just a few years back, Ross already has a host of impressive credits under his belt - including working on The Academy Award Winning short film An Irish Goodbye starring Seamus O’Hara, James Martin and Michelle Fairley. Ross is clearly going places and we're glad to have caught him on the way up!

10/08/2023

An incredible amount of work went into creating the detailed set dressing required for Maggie’s warehouse in Anamnesis - and we were so lucky to have the brilliant George Ham assisting our production designer Charlotte Ball

In particular, when it came to scrawling vast amounts of equations on the walls - George not only knuckled down and got every (reachable) part covered - but he also brought extra verisimilitude to the set by using his (very convenient!) education in physics to make sure that the calculations were accurate! What an absolute legend!

03/08/2023

We’re not finished introducing our cast yet, so please meet the immensely talented DAVIN EADIE who plays Sam.

Sam is a small but pivotal role in the film and we couldn’t have wished for anyone better to bring the sensitivity and heart required for this part than Davin. As well as being a complete natural onscreen - with credits including BBC’s Five Days, Davin is also an accomplished stage actor playing iconic roles such as John Proctor in The Crucible, Pip in Great Expectations and Mr Rochester in Jane Eyre.

We were so lucky to have Davin on our production and are looking forward to seeing what’s next for him!

25/07/2023

It’s been a while (isn’t it always?) But as we prepare for our final round of pickups, we’ve still of course got some brilliant cast and crew to tell you all about! And of course, we’ve saved one of the best til now…

Our Jon O'Neill really needs no introduction! His beautifully crafted was a key part of making our original short Time, and Again a huge success and his work has just kept getting better. Since filming with us, he’s worked on a host of gorgeous period dramas for indie studio Creativ Studios and we’re always excited to see how he brings these worlds to life. We know that audiences are going to be blown away the gorgeous look of Anamnesis and we can’t wait to share with you all.

Check out his work at https://www.jononeill.co.uk/ - and follow him here on IG: https://www.instagram.com/jononeilldop/ to find out just what he does next!

19/10/2022

It’s so exciting to have the next generation of talent featuring in ANAMNESIS - especially when they act like total pros! Say hello to Isabella who plays KIRA.

We absolutely loved having Isabella on set and are in total awe of how well she took to filming. The camera loved her too and we are so looking forward to sharing her performance with you!

11/10/2022

The wizardry involved in great SFX just blows our minds and we are so lucky to have Dom Stables working on ANAMNESIS to keep us going WOW!

Dom worked on our original short Time, and Again and we didn’t realise it was possible but his skills have got even better since then! He’s always been an absolute joy to work with and is tirelessly creative and generous with his time and determination to get things spot on - putting up with many a video call from set to ask a technical question! He even sent us picture options for this social media post - a 'sensible one' and a 'fun one' 🤪 - so of course we couldn’t choose between them!!!

The feature has some great new SFX scenes for Dom to show off his skills - you're in for treat seeing what he’s cooked up for us this time! 😊

16/09/2022

It can be a tough job stepping into someone else’s shoes but when our / wasn’t available, we struck absolute gold getting the fantastic Will J Carman on our shoot!

As well as being a consummate professional who makes life on set super easy, Will fitted so well into the team that it was like he had been with us the whole time. It’s no wonder he is always in demand - if you can, hire him today - we promise you won’t regret it!

09/09/2022

We’ve still got some amazing ANAMNESIS cast members to introduce you to!

Please meet Kiki Kendrick who plays the mysterious CASS. We are in awe of Kiki’s whole CV from her many appearances in BBC Doctors to her West End stint in The Jungle to her featuring in comedy classic The Office!

Kiki absolutely tears up the screen in ANAMNESIS - despite watching her scenes what feels like a million times while editing, she NEVER gets boring! We cannot wait to share her performance with you!

01/09/2022

WE’RE BACK! Social media has taken more than just a bit of pause as life has been doing some serious happening - but the good thing is we’ve been continuing to move ANAMNESIS forward and we are now well into our post-production journey!

So with that in mind, we’d like to start to introducing you to our incredible post team!

Meet Joe Shapiro our amazing ...
Joe’s CV includes films which have played at a few festivals you might have just heard of (uh hello, Cannes and Sundance!) but his extensive experience hasn’t stopped him from being one of the nicest, most down-to-earth people you could hope meet! He’s even smiley when we get him to Zoom early in the morning due to being in different time zones!

Joe’s taking a brilliantly bold approach to edit and we are here for it! You are all in for a treat! But Joe doesn’t just edit, he’s also a director and filmmaker - make sure you check out and follow his channels youtube.com/joeshapiro and vimeo.com/joeshapiro

03/06/2021

We love all the little details that make up the world of a film!

In ANAMNESIS, lots of those details were provided by design elements from our graphic designer Adam Blakemore at Strelka. Adam’s written a really cool article about how to approach graphic design for film, focusing in on the specific challenges of this project. Check it out here: https://strelka.co.uk/a-glimpse-into-the-hidden-world-of-graphic-design-in-film/

Graphic designers are also a key part of the Art Department on a film, creating everything from newspapers read by characters to fictional or historical product packaging and merchandise to background signage. In this article I break down the GFX prcoess using some examples from a recent film projec...

27/05/2021

We’re obsessed with exploring the science of memory through film - and so, it seems, are neuroscientists! This article (http://www.bu.edu/articles/2018/ramirez-listicle/) from Boston University highlights some neuroscientist faves - which just happen to include some of ours. How about you - what films do you think show the complexity and emotion of human memory best?

Memory expert Steve Ramirez ranks his favorite mind-bending films based on their scientific accuracy

22/05/2021

Turning our attention back to our brilliant cast, we’d like to introduce Sylvia Robson - who plays a small but crucial role in ANAMNESIS.

As well as being a fantastic presence on screen (watch out for her in the upcoming drama horror RIPPER UNTOLD), Sylvia is also a talented stage actor and forms one half of the Nottingham-based theatre company Longpig - whose production of Jim Cartwright’s TWO is set to return soon…watch this space!

18/05/2021

We’re just in love with this amazing location at Natural Light Spaces that we had the opportunity to capture one of our scenes in. It’s so simple yet characterful and immediately conjured up for us the sparse but striking landscapes from the recent TV series ‘Tales from the Loop’.

What are some film locations you just can’t get out of your mind?

12/05/2021

Did you know that fake blood can be kind of umm…tasty? If the mixture might be swallowed, it needs to be edible and is usually pretty sugary - like ice cream syrup!

Our MUA used fancy professional blood - but if you’re on a really tight budget you can even make fake blood from chocolate syrup, corn syrup and red food colouring. Yum!*

*That said, however tasty the mixture, Helen can attest to the fact that it burns when up your nose - so maybe just stick to using it for a gory, Halloween-style dessert!

07/05/2021

No time travel narrative exists in its own loop (or does it????), and we’re well aware of the rich history of these stories! And spending our early years watching classics like the Back to the Future trilogy and Bill and Ted’s Excellent Adventure over and over - surely made its mark!

Whilst ANAMNESIS has a much darker tone than these films, we definitely drew inspiration from their perspective of all this timey-wimey stuff and superfans may even spot the odd Easter egg tribute in the final film!

02/05/2021

We can’t get over how beautiful the lighting in ANAMNESIS is so it feels like a great time to introduce to our gaffer Gareth Neal.

Time’s a real premium on the set of an indie film, so Gareth and our DOP Jon O'Neill came in to prelight our two main sets before filming began. This really paid off as it gave us so much more flexibility on how we could use light in our scenes.

Gareth’s a real tech wizard who loves his gadgets and he brought a boundless enthusiasm and creative approach to problem solving on set. He was totally invaluable to have on our team and we’re sure that we'll see him moving on to lots more exciting film projects soon!

27/04/2021

How much control do you think you have over your life? Just like in real life, the characters in ANAMNESIS set out to accomplish their goals but are sidelined by the unexpected. Is it fate or is it just random? And how does that influence how you make sense of your life?

We love a film with themes that you can’t stop wondering about and this is just one of the many unanswerable questions that we hope will be buzzing through people’s minds after watching.

Which films have kept you thinking long after the credits have rolled?

22/04/2021

The challenges of indie filmmaking come with so many learning opportunities! Working on ANAMNESIS gave us our first chance to use ‘Poor Man’s Process’.

For those unfamiliar with this term (we were!) - Poor Man’s Process is a filmmaking technique that involves filming actors in what looks like a moving car - without any bells and whistles such as green screen or rear screen projection.

Our driving scene was set at night so we used a blacked out garage along with ‘high tech’ effects such as our producer Adam physically rocking the car, and gaffer Gareth and director Helen shining lights intermittently to give the impression of other cars headlights. We can’t believe how effective it was!

We’ll share a clip as soon as it’s available but in the meantime, here’s a glimpse at the set up!

17/04/2021

For us, time travel narratives have an amazing ability to illuminate very real human problems and tensions and we’ve come across none more powerful than Octavia Butler’s novel ‘Kindred’.

‘Kindred’ tells the story of a modern black woman who travels back in time to America’s antebellum South of the 1800s - and the challenges she faces living in a time of slavery, whilst also trying to ensure her own survival through the survival of her ancestors.

Published in 1979, it’s still amazingly fresh and relevant in its examination of race, power, gender and class dynamics - we recommend adding it to your reading list NOW!

12/04/2021

ANAMNESIS features some formidable women both on and off camera, and we were very lucky to have the lovely Vicky Blagrove on set, playing Professor Josephine Opara.

We loved the different quality Vicky brought to playing Opara - challenging the image of what people think a top academic looks and sounds like. And Vicky’s brilliant attitude and enthusiasm just helped to make her days on set slide by!

07/04/2021

Messing with the past can have unintended consequences, and our protagonist Maggie’s actions often throw her into the path of danger. Without the benefit of remembering what went wrong before - how many mistakes do you think we’d be destined to repeat?

02/04/2021

We’re thrilled and excited to announce that our original short Time, and Again will be making a brief reappearance on the festival circuit - playing at Northampton Film Festival! As we continue with post-production on our feature ANAMNESIS - it’s amazing to go back and reflect on where the story started.

After having been postponed in 2020 for the usual reason (argh!), NFF is back with an online version of the festival for 2021 running from May 12th-19th and the theme is - the perfect way to make a comeback!

You’ll be able to watch the film for FREE - along with some other brilliant films with a local connection - as well as taking part in filmmaking workshops, Q&As, a film career fair and more!

To find out more about the fest, visit www.northamptonfilmfestival.co.uk or https://www.facebook.com/NorthamptonFilmFestivalUK. We also recommend giving organisers Screen Northants a follow on Facebook - as they are always up to something fun!

28/03/2021

When writing and producing a film, inspiration can come from many different places. Visual art can be a really rich source for sparking those eureka moments - especially surreal paintings like Dali’s - that seem to bypass logical thought and seem to go straight creating atmosphere and unlocking buried thoughts.

This painting - Persistence of Memory - instantly conjures up a dreamlike state where time is a fluid concept and it feels like anything is possible. Ideal for getting in the mood for creating sci-fi!

Filmmakers and writers - do you find visual art a useful source when dreaming up new stories? If not, what works for you?

23/03/2021

To celebrate the beginning of Spring, we thought we’d introduce you to tiniest, cutest member of the ANAMNESIS team - baby Orion!

Now, we’ve all heard that we shouldn’t work with children - let alone babies - but this little superstar breezed in like a pro and gave us all the smiles and gurgles we could have wished for! Obviously there were some tears come home time - but we can’t help it if our crew are so soppy!

18/03/2021

One of the major ideas behind the film is: If you could go back in time, what would you change?

For most of us, especially as we get older, this idea is usually focused not on ourselves, but our loved ones. In ANAMNESIS, our protagonist is driven by the love she has for her daughter Kira - giving her a determination and belief in the future that she doesn’t have for herself.

13/03/2021

Ok, so we all know what a mammoth job editing is! To keep us focused, we have a our ‘editing wall’ - featuring a ‘hero image’ from each scene - which reminds us of the whole story and how each part of the puzzle fits in.

Any editors following out there? What are your top tips for the editing process?

08/03/2021

For International Women’s Day today we are sending massive love and huge respect to all the women in the ANAMNESIS cast & crew! FB won't play nice and let us tag everyone (in and out of this pic) - but you're all brilliant :)

This year’s theme is and we hope we have done that making diversity and inclusion key to our whole process all the way out from writing the first draft.

Which women are you celebrating for and beyond?

05/03/2021

Today we are celebrating the start of British Science Week! This year’s theme is ‘Innovating for the Future’ and our favourite part of that is the campaign, challenging us to think more about diversity in careers.

As the daughter of a scientist, our writer-director Helen made it clear that she wanted to question the portrayal of scientists as old white men with grey hair (uh, sorry Helen’s Dad!). The characters in ANAMNESIS are just as varied as in other walks of life and in the film, we hope to show just what a scientist looks like: a person.

03/03/2021

Often underrated, one of the first films featuring a time loop that we can remember watching is Frequency.

The story of a father and son who find away to communicate across time using an old-fashioned radio - the plot was a little bit contrived but some great performances and chemistry between the leads kept the action moving.

The film is over 20 years old now though, so perhaps it’s time for a rewatch to see if it still stands up. Which other retro sci-fi films should we be adding to the watchlist?

26/02/2021

ANAMNESIS isn’t always about things looking pretty, sometimes it’s about things looking pretty gross.

Our protagonist Maggie gets put through the wringer a few times (we’ve heard this can happen if you try and mess with space and time) and is left a little worse for wear.

Enter the brilliantly talented MUA Lauren Webster who brought some added cool and gore to set, whilst on the flip side being the sweetest person to work with! We’ve decided that people who do makeup are like actors who play baddies - always SUPER NICE! :D