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With zombies due to be running round on Dartmoor this weekend, it can only mean the ‘balls to the wall’ action horror movie Zomblies is shooting some final scenes. Lee Morgan talks to Zomblies director Dave Reynolds. Oh, and fittingly for October 31, he needs more zombies… we’ve seen enough horror flicks to know you have to be careful what you wish for…
The Zomblies film grew out of test scenes shot on Dartmoor that went down extremely well on YouTube. Now in the final stages of production the crew is after a gaggle of zombie extras to run around on Dartmoor this weekend – and to think most people just act like zombies, rather than ‘act’ as zombies…
The film is the project of Realm Pictures, an ambitious and talented group of South Devon filmmakers who are just getting on and learning their trade in the real world.
As the second of our Halloween Zomblies two parter we’ve got an interview with director Dave Reynolds.
If the head-long dive into winter is getting you down, then news that the TUC is calling for a new bank holiday for the end of October should lift your spirits.
In effect, the TUC is calling for a “Community Day” to celebrate and encourage volunteering and community activity.
Nigel Costley, Regional Secretary of the South West TUC, told the PRSD: “Community Day would recognise the importance of local communities in holding society together, and celebrate there is more to life than consumption during these difficult economic times.”
According to the TUC report, Why the UK can afford a Community Day, ‘cusomer-facing businesses’ (that’s retail, hospitality, leisure, tourism and transport apparently), ‘have stronger trading days on bank holidays and could benefit from a new public holiday’.
And as to the rest of the press release: “In sectors likely to benefit from a new bank holiday, consumer spending has grown from 31% of household income in 1971 to 39 per cent in 2005. A new bank holiday will therefore help to continue this spending boom, says the TUC.
“As well as encouraging people to go on holidays and short breaks, bank holidays lead to more ‘days out’, which bring in £90 billion worth of spending a year to the economy in England alone.
“In addition to the revenue benefits of a new bank holiday, the TUC argues that employers would benefit from the improved productivity, morale, health and well-being that it would give staff. The TUC believes these benefits vastly outweigh the cost of an extra day off work.”
Production still from the Zomblies movie: Matthew Martin getting into character
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What better time than Halloween to film the final scenes of the next zombie horror flick, and the filmmakers are calling for extras.
Zomblies, the movie, is being made on Dartmoor by the talented mavericks that are Realm Pictures. These guys have already been responsible for the slick Numb video, Night Time, but they’ve been chasing around the moor lately putting together the footage for the film where, not only do the dead rise up, but they run after you as well.
The team are filming the final scenes on November 1 and 2 at Bellever Forest with a ‘huge action/chase scene - complete with rifle-through-eye and machete-through-brain gags!’ of course.
To make the most of the scene, they say, they need ‘a hoorrrrde of zomblies’.
As the first of our Halloween Zomblies two parter we’ve got an interview with cinematographer Eve Hazelton.
Did you know Jonathan Ross is a great fan of Manga, the Japanese comic book style? So are plenty of Devon library goers and young people are being encouraged to find out more about these graphic novels in a new competition run by Devon libraries.
Budding artists could win a graphic design kit if they draw a Manga character based on themselves.
You can pick up Manga books (read right to left – they’re Japanese, geddit?) and even books about drawing Manga characters at your library. The main adult collections are based at Clyst Vale and Tavistock.
Entry forms for the competition are available at all libraries or online on the Devon libraries site at (which also includes tutorials and extras to get you going).
There are two age groups – 9 to 12 years, and 13 years and over (which includes adults). The deadline for all entries is Friday November 27.
All entrants must be members of Devon Libraries and potential new members are actively encouraged to join. The winner of each category will win a stylish graphic design kit.
Meanwhile… here’s some tips on drawing Manga eyes…
Car sharing in Devon has proved to be incredibly popular, with 6,200 members joining carsharedevon.com, making it one of the most popular schemes in the country.
The carsharedevon.com website puts those offering lifts with those who need them - or vice versa.
Ali Clabburn, managing director of Liftshare, which provides the car sharing system commissioned by Devon County Council, in partnership with Plymouth and Torbay Councils, told the PRSD: “Reaching 6,000 members is an outstanding achievement and demonstrates yet again how innovative and forward-thinking Devon County Council is in encouraging people to travel more sustainably.
“It works with energy and commitment to promote car-sharing as widely as possible, and as a result CarshareDevon is one of the most successful schemes in the country.”
Almost 150 people registered on the system between September 8-22, leading up to Devon Car Free Day.
The press release from Devon County Council includes two success stories, which we thought we’d share.
“Jenness Barber travels daily from Paignton to the Royal Devon & Exeter Hospital, and linked up with four other drivers from Paignton and Torquay through the website. They are Glyn Parsons who works at County Hall, Dan Ray who works at Little Moor House at Sowton, Exeter, and Kevin Dixon and Kevin Jones who work at Park Five on Sowton.
“Jenness said: ‘I initially looked for women to share with but didn’t find a suitable partner so I widened the search to include men and came up trumps! I have no problems at all, we take it in turns to drive and do a day each. The car share group is working successfully and I am absolutely delighted with it.’
“Ann Goodridge, who also works at the Royal Devon & Exeter Hospital, car shares with three others on a daily return trip of nearly 90 miles from Plymouth to Exeter.
“She said: ‘We are nearing our 100th shared journey already since the start of this financial year and nearly 17,000 miles have been saved in six months. While not all the members of our car share work at the hospital, we improve our carbon footprint even further by dropping one member at the Sowton Park and Ride and another walks to work from an agreed drop off point.”‘
organicARTS got in touch about their plans for the next year, including artist-led walks around West Town Farm, Ide (that’s just outside Exeter), leading to new work for next year’s Devon Open Studios exhibition in September. They also want to create a bank of artists to provide workshops at farm.
“organicARTS run an arts and education centre at West Town Farm, a working organic farm in Ide on the outskirts of Exeter. We have held an exhibition at the farm as part of Devon Open Studios in September for the last four years and will do so in 2009.
“We are proposing to hold four artists walks at the farm, one in each season over the coming year. The walks will be led by different people working at the farm.
“The intention is that this will lead to artists creating work for our exhibition in September. The works may be inspired by what is encountered on the walks and/or by the changing seasons and should be related in some way to the environment and/or farming.
“All artists are welcome on the walks regardless of ability or medium. The first walk will be held on November 23. Meet at 10.30am for an introduction with a view to commencing the walk at 11am prompt.
“After the four walks artists will be invited to submit a proposal for their work stating the proposed siting/s for the work. organicARTS and workers at the farm will then make their selection on this basis. Work does not have to be for sale at exhibition but we ask that for any work that is sold organicARTS is given 20 per cent of the sale price.
“Artists selected will be required to become a ‘Friend of organicARTS’, at £5 per person or £10 per family. This will keep you up-to-date with what is happening at the farm for the next year and will help to support the administration of a non core-funded organisation.
“We have a number of resources on the farm for making work with which may be purchased at a reasonable cost, including clay and wood. We have a pottery on site which may be hired if artists wish to use this facility.
“There is currently no funding for this project, but organicARTS can provide support for any artists (or group of artists) who would be willing to pursue the possibility of funding
“Lunch of home-made soup, bread and cake can be provided at the end of the walk at a cost of £3 per head. This must be booked in advance.
“organicARTS is also seeking to accrue a ‘bank’ of artists who are interested in providing workshops at West Town Farm either for children and other groups making educational visits to the farm or for the general public. These would all need to be inspired by the farm and/or the resources at the farm. If you are interested provide an outline of workshops you provide and the amount you would charge.
“Contact: Christine@organicarts.org.uk if you wish to book lunch for the walk, are interested in providing workshops or if you require any further information about either.”
Towns can live up to their image in the oddest ways. The structured hierarchical idea that Dartmouth projects and the devil-may-care randomness of Totnes come through even in the towns’ bootscrapers.
The blog Faded London, which looks at the remnants of architectural windows into the past, went on the road recently and discovered the Bootscrapers of Totnes and Dartmouth.
There’s an obvious descent from the aesthetic bootscraper at the top of the hill in Dartmouth. “I think I’d be a bit ashamed to put mud anywhere near it,” says Faded London. And “the further down the hill you go the less impressive the scrapers. Some sort of social stratification going on here?”
Ending up with the no-fuss, simple honest-to-goodness scraper at the bottom of the hill.
Totnes, on the other hand, had bootscrapers competing with a plaintive dandelion, oddly placed poles, ‘odd white things’ and an ancient public faucet.
As James Stewart (that’s George to you) said in It’s A Wonderful Life of the Savings and Loan: “Bert, your money’s in Jim’s house!” Which caused consternation enough - fancy having your vegetables being grown in other people’s gardens! Well, that’s exactly what’s been going on in Totnes.
The eager volunteers grow vegetables and flowers for the community in gardens that have got a bit too much for their owners.
It’s become such a success, that even Hugh Fearnley Whittingstall popped along to see how it was going.
Lou Brown, who runs the project from Transition Town Totnes, told What’s on South West: “Not only does growing our own food in Totnes mean fewer food miles, more local food, better food security, less packaging, cheaper organic produce, and better use of space to create thriving eco-systems, but it also creates an opportunity for making links in our community.
“Rather than waiting for allotments to be forthcoming, Gardenshare is a great way of unlocking land for growers, especially when it is accompanied by the gardening training we are currently running.”
The latest addition to our myriad of pages is the People’s Republic of South Devon Blog Tips Central where we share our knowledge, experience and enthusiasm for blogging, and all things communication. We’ll steer you past the pitfalls and get you communicating effectively for business and pleasure. We’ve been blogging since 2006, so we know what we’re talking about.
First up, let’s have a look at content. Here are just five pointers to help you put pen to paper (kinda).
1. Eke out some time
Writing and communicating – whether it’s through words, pictures or video – can be liberating. But it can also be boom and bust, like the economy or New Year’s Resolutions. As the small print says: Stats may go up as well as down. To keep readers returning make sure you’ve got time to dedicate to your new blog. The ideal post frequency for your blog will depend upon many factors including your topic, your audience and how many bloggers you have. Start slow and you will become more efficient as you go along.
2. Choose your medium
Decide what you think is the best blog for you. There’s plenty of blog programs out there (we use Wordpress because it offers so much depth and flexibility) - there’s even blog provision on MySpace and Bebo which can tie in with your social networking. Or why not treat your Facebook site as a blog? Or, if you’re image-led, maybe explore the flickr world, or use your flickr account to feed into your blog. The world is your oyster, and the choice is yours. Just be aware of your, and your site’s, limitations.
3. Create a voice
Think about your topic, what you want to write and how you want to communicate. People are complicated creatures. Do you want your blog to reflect you (warts an’ all); aspects of your hobby; or to promote your business? All of these are perfectly acceptable - but it starts getting a little confusing if you cover each of them in depth on the same site. Fans of your fantastic art content, for example, will get annoyed if you start writing reams about last night’s X-Factor. If you have enough time, maybe create different sites and link to them.
4. Read and link to other sites when possible
Despite what the song says, it doesn’t take just one voice, singing in the darkness. Even if you don’t link to other sites (which we would recommend, by the way), it’s important to keep up-to-date with what else is in the blogosphere… and the world. Why? Because you are part of a virtual community and knowing what other people are blathering on about can only help to inform what you’re going to blather on about. It will keep your blog more relevant.
5. Engage and excite
Content is king - or rather, content is the most democratically acceptable way to get your point across. Even in this hyper-fast world, traditional skills come to the fore. Try to be succinct, consistant and accurate (spelling and punctuation, anyone?). Remember that people don’t often like reading too much on the computer, and they browse like butterflies, looking at the purty pictures, reading the captions, headlines and even (very occasionally!) your stories. Often people will only stick around for a couple of seconds. The trick is to get them to stay awhile. But we’ll discuss that another time.
What tips would you add, citizens? Has this been instructive? Is there anything you’d like us to cover? Comment below please!
It’s a bad week for squirrels – Otterton Mill is putting the frolicking grey tree crawler on its menu in the form of a squirrel kebab.
Otterton Mill’s head chef (or maybe you’d prefer chief chef) Ed Chester is committed to education, and he says squirrel meat is genuinely good, and you guessed it - tastes of chicken, a gamey chicken, but chicken none-the-less.
The squirrel is free-range and locally sourced - how can you argue with that? Although his planed dishes with rook and badger ham may seem a step too far.
And as to eating squirrel, we turn to Louise Vennells on What’s On South West, who said: “To me, it had a taste more similar to red meat with the texture of white, and was delicious.”
So there you have it – squirrel, best served with nuts.
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Welcome to the People's Republic of South Devon. Your subscription will begin with the next newsletter. Keep up to date by visiting the blog regularly and make sure your voice is heard. Many thanks, The People's Republic of South Devon.
Accessibility Options
To adjust the text size of this site please click the icons below.
Zomblies director Dave Reynolds talks to Lee Morgan [10:23m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download (28)
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