It's here! 26 months after writing the script and firing up Unreal Engine for the first time, PRAZINBURK RIDGE is now live. Of course, for 18 of those 26 months I didn't work on the film. I had a previs edit in autumn 2020, but didn't think I could finish it alone, and so hit the pause button while I figured out if I could get some money to hire artists to help me realise my vision. After a few rejections, I decided at Christmas 2021 to put it the project to bed. It had become too ambitious to complete on my own, and wasn't to be.
And then in April I thought, what would Duggy do? He'd just get the job done himself. "It's my truck, sir. I'll bring it back," as he says in the script.
So I decided I'd just try to do it by myself, in my spare time, and try to scale back in some areas. I came up with a look that would hide some of my weaknesses as an artist, and a workflow that would help me cut corners so the story could be told. I hope I've been successful.
This story means a lot to me, but it's not really mine to tell. I just borrowed it, re-told it in a different format. It belongs to my brother, Steven Bell, Duggy's official biographer. If you like the film please consider buying his meticulously-researched book on which all this is based: https://www.pitchpublishing.co.uk/shop/man-all-talents
Thanks to Mike Payne my ever-reliable friend and talented composer for helping me with this; to the voice-over talent Ed, Chris, Ciaran and Ian for indulging me; Ronan MacManus for giving me one of his beautiful songs to use the end credits; and thanks to everyone who was forced to sit through edits of this in various states of disrepair over the last couple of years, and for giving me excellent notes.
Film-making is a collaborative medium, even when you're working solo.
Read more about the development of PRAZINBURK RIDGE over the years in the blog!