New temporary home

Oops! I forgot to renew my website davidaohara.com and its now been repossessed by the .com loan sharks! Thankfully it isn't porn, but they've called it David - Beauty and the Beast, which is a puzzlement. All those business cards and emails I sent out are gunna look rather odd... anyway! For now this will be my new temporary home my beautiful beasts!

David A. O'Hara Creative Showreel from David O'Hara on Vimeo.

Weather The Storm

In production...

Weather The Storm: In production from David O'Hara on Vimeo.

vhs-c

VHS-C! I love it! This was my first camera, Panasonic NV-V10B. I begged my parents for it back in 1996. The foldout screen or 'slim vision' was cutting edge! I made my first ever film at the age of 13 - a feature length remake of Psycho (Yes I got there before Gus Van Sant!). I starred as Norman Bates and spent much of the 45 minute in a summer dress chatting to Marion Crane. Set in Scunthorpe, of all places, and with a cast of children, it really does need to be seen to be believed!

However naff this all sounds, it does deserve a fair bit of credit - for a 13 year old to be crafting films with limited resources, tape to tape linear editing and a dodgey camcorder - that really takes effort and dedication. Right now it's easy; kids have access to all sorts of digital devices and software, where I spent night after night swapping digits between record, pause and rewind, experimenting with scart cables and gigantic editing decks. Technology has made it so easy for youngsters to break into film - which is a good thing and a bad thing. Good in the sense that it nutures new creative talent, but bad in the sense that those who truly have a passion for the moving image are lost in a torrent of YouTubers.

I'm amongst the last of my kind!

VW Passat Pitching Competition - Four Docs

It's good to start the new year on a high! I’m excited to start 2009 with my short doc Steel Town on the Four Docs shortlist in the VW Passat pitching brief. Four Docs teamed up with Passat to set the competition: to pitch a documentary based on the theme 'beautifully engineered'. The prize? £5,000 to get the film made!

Steel Town is currently on the Four Docs player: http://www.channel4.com/culture/microsites/F/fourdocs/video/video5.html

When I shot the pitch I was really in a place of awe; the Steel Works are really quite amazing. Not something I thought I'd hear myself say, growing up in Scunthorpe under the shadows of it's cooling towers. I had to complete a site induction before I could even draft a storyboard – there being so many ways a young filmmaker could meet his maker! It’s a place that puts you in touch with your own mortality and stacks up the pages of any risk assessment.

So here's to 2009 and to working on new projects, with new people in new places!

STEEL TOWN: Beautifully Engineered

Produced in response to 4 Docs and VW 'Beautifully Engineered' brief; this is STEEL TOWN.

november

I've just finished working with TITLE ROLE on their series, THE CRIMES THAT SHOOK BRITAIN; the series follows six of the UK's most infamous crimes. I was the Cast Runner for the Sarah Payne Reconstructions that took place Bolton and Cheshire. It's been great opportunity to work with Title Role and the crew and I can't wait to see the finished product in December. The Sarah Payne edition airs on December 8th on the Crime and Investigations Network (Sky 553 / Virgin 237), and the shows currently going out every monday at 9pm.

Also I got the verdict from 4 Talent and unfortunately I missed out on an award this year, but a massive thanks to Kate Vogel and Patrick Uden nonetheless. I'm greatful for the comments about my short doc CANNED FOOD AND WHITE PAINT and hope you enjoyed my work. A big congratulations to all of the winners and to Maria Andrade (short doc. winner); I'm looking forward to the next edition to 4Talent Magazine and to following your work!

As for all of you who helped me put the film together and to those of you that raved about it THANKYOU! Naturally I'm putting the short to bed for a while and moving on to new projects. Thankyou guys! You know who you are!

David

october

I love this time of year! October is by far my favourite month to shoot, low winter sun and dead leaves... October's been a busy month so far; I've been working with Title Role Productions in Manchester as a researcher / runner on their series, Crimes That Shook Britain. I'm also keenly awaiting the verdict from the 4 Talent Awards as my short documentary CANNED FOOD AND WHITE PAINT made the shortlist. Then there's the pre-production for a swiftly evolving major project of my own; I'm hoping to announce details very soon...