Fast film for Smith of Derby

We've just made this brief film for Smith of Derby. A last-minute change of plan meant they needed a quick film to show off their premises - and fast! 

We shot for half a day with two camera operators and edited for three days, mastering to web, DVD and iPad. 

Toothpix is in competition... with itself

We've had some great news - our films 'All That Glitters' and 'The Pack' have both been nominated for the same award at the Landshuter KurzFilmFest taking place in Munich this March.

Both films are also to be shown in Berlin in a couple of days at the British Shorts festival.

A big thank you to all our customers of the last year who helped to make 2011 our most successful to date.

Here's to a brilliant 2012!

BFI screening with onedotzero

Owen Tooth and Paul Hammond at the BFI

There are two things to notice with the above photograph. First, that Owen and Paul went down to the BFI Southbank to introduce their short film The Pack at the onedotzero festival over the weekend. Second, that Paul is uncommonly tall, Owen being of average height and definitely not short...

The screening was brilliant, as was the open bar in the green room and the after party DJ'd by Sam Spiegel.

Onedotzero is a truly international festival, taking their brilliantly curated selection around the world in coming months.

You can also catch a film we made for Marketing Derby's London Embassy earlier this month below, including a pretty nifty piece of graphics which we created based on their new logo: 

Soundtrack Derby

November has been a big month for Toothpix. Our films have been seen in three continents (television in the US and Turkey, four US festivals, a festival in South Africa and an incredible festival in Trieste, Italy - as well as plenty of screenings in Old Blightey, of course!)

We were also there to film the culminating event for Soundtrack Derby and the Festival of Light in Derby's market square, sending a live feed to the BBC Big Screen of the amazing dance (courtesy of Surtal Arts) and spoken word acts and then shooting the after-event gig in The Box inside Quad.


This weekend we're heading to London for the opening of the massive onedotzero festival to introduce a film there, too. It's non-stop!

Hitting screens in the USA, Turkey, London, Nottingham, Manchester, Sheffield, and Lincoln this month!

This month, Toothpix seems to be everywhere! The Toothpix blog has just hit 10,000 pageviews, for a start.

The short films 'The Pack' and 'All That Glitters' are both being screened on Shorts TV in the USA and Turkey on heavy rotation. The Pack has also been selected by onedotzero to be part of their international touring digital festival. Screenings for the strand begin at the BFI in London on November 26th.


Last week, All That Glitters was screened at a film festival in Manchester and last night the South Yorkshire Filmmakers Network screening at the Showroom Workstation cinema in Sheffield hosted not one, not two, but THREE films directed by Owen in its lineup (The Pack, All That Glitters and the Luxury Stranger music video). It was a fantastic night with a great selection of shorts followed by a DJ set by the band. The bar even had a Luxury Stranger ale for the evening with a free single with every pint bought.


Next weekend sees the Nottingham Mayhem festival kicking off and we're proud to have a film in their exclusive shorts strand. There's an amazing lineup of films over the weekend which we'll be enjoying, too.


All That Glitters has been nominated for an award ('Killer Short 2011') in the Boston Killer Film Fest 2011


Finally, we're completing an edit this week of a film to launch proceedings for the Lincoln Frequency Festival of Digital Culture.


Phew!

Showroom Shorts a Toothpix feast!

On October 18th, the Sheffield Workstation cinema will be hosting the premiere of a brand new music video for Notts band 'Luxury Stranger' as well as screening The Pack and All That Glitters in their 'Showroom Shorts' strand. That's three Toothpix films in one night!

The screening will be followed by a party with a DJ set by the band. Tickets are free, but book early to avoid disappointment.

All That Glitters has also been invited to screen in Wirksworth alongside Nick Whitfield's brilliant debut feature 'Skeletons' with a Q&A from Owen after the screening.

Finally, The Pack has been selected to run on Saturday 29th October in Mayhem festival at the Broadway Cinema in Nottingham. It's a festival we've been attending since its inception and it's gone from strength to strength, with this year's lineup looking the strongest yet.

See you there?

New trailer for All That Glitters

Hot on the feet (paws?) of the trailer for The Pack, here's a trailer for All That Glitters!

New trailer for The Pack

The trailer for Toothpix short 'The Pack' has gone live.

Check it out and let us know what you think!

‘The Pack’ goes international

More exciting news from the festival circuit as ‘The Pack’ is accepted to festivals in Sweden and Portugal!

Sweden’s ‘Fantastic Film Festival’ runs from the 15-24th September and has selected our short to compete for the Audience Choice Award.

‘Motel X’ is Portugal’s only international horror festival and attracts some of the biggest names in horror. 'The Pack' is paired with the multi-million-dollar-grossing movie 'Cabin Fever' from this year's special guest Eli Roth, and Toothpix's Owen Tooth is there right now in Portugal taking in the red-carpet atmos as well as a marathon of the best new horror from around the globe.

Toothpix shorts picked up for international Distribution!

Both ‘The Pack’ and ‘All That Glitters’ have been picked up for distribution by Shorts International!

 

Shorts International are among the leading short film distributors in the world and have a catalogue of over 3000 short films. They have the prestigious honour of distributing the short listed Oscar short films each year, and are the only shorts distributor on iTunes besides Disney and Pixar.

Toothpix are delighted with this unexpected news and are hopeful the shorts will be picked up by international broadcasters.

Festival updates!

Off the back of the Moseley Festival, both ‘The Pack’ and ‘All That Glitters’ have been invited to ArtsFest.

ArtsFest is the UK’s biggest Arts festival and takes place in Birmingham during the 10^th and 11^th of September.

‘All That Glitters’ has also been invited to screen at the family friendly Wirksworth Festival this September. The organisers loved ‘The Pack’ but rightfully thought its themes were too adult for a family audience!

As you'll have seen plenty of pictures from 'The Pack' and 'All That Glitters' already on this site, here's something different - a photograph of Owen's wife taken on his new mobile phone. Technology is moving fast! Expect to see film projects completed on mobile handsets on this site in the near future.

Monster School's out for Summer!

Monster School has been released and is getting an amazing reception. Designed for use in mainstream schools to help combat bullying of people with learning disabilities, the film has now also been adopted for screenings in specialist schools.

Monster School is the first animation from Toothpix - hopefully the first of many!

Two Toothpix shorts selected for Moseley festival

'The Pack' and 'All That Glitters' have both been selected to screen in the Moseley Festival over July in their 'The Cut' film strand. 

All That Glitters will play four times throughout the fortnight, with The Pack playing in the final screening of the festival on July 17th.

The festival is a massive event with all sorts of events in a multitude of venues around Moseley, Birmingham and we're thrilled to be involved.

Promo for Disability Derbyshire

We're proud to be releasing this documentary about Disability Derbyshire and a wonderful group of young people who have gained so much through the activities on offer.

The group preferred the idea of a script to read out rather than answering questions in an interview, and the powerful result which we worked on together is already raising awareness for the scheme and the cutting-edge ideas they employ.

New film released, help needed for festival film.

Toothpix has had confirmation that Derby Museum & Art Gallery want us to make a celebration film for their Joseph Wright festival. Starting in late July, there will a series of events to raise the profile of the painter's works in his home city of Derby. Toothpix will be there to gather the thoughts of the pubic, right through to the culmination of the festival in February 2012 when the new Wright Gallery is opened. We'll be looking for assistants, trainee journalists and young producers to help up on the way, so get in touch if you're interested!



Watch the video above to see a dance video Owen has created for Déda, filmed over several seasons at three adiZone sites around Derby. An adiZone is an Adidas-sposored outdoor gym, which we invaded with young dancers to have a great time and show off some moves. The film is premiereing at the Derby Assembly Rooms as part of the 'Be Inspiring' event on June 28th promoted by Derby City Partnership.

Recording session in London

Owen Tooth, Christian Brassington and Paul Hammond

We at Toothpix took a trip to Soho to record the voiceover for 'Monster School', our latest film for Mencap, with the voice talents of the wonderful Christian Brassington. Recording in 'Voiceover Soho', Christian took our serious lines and made them funny, and our funny lines and made them hilarious - the man is a genius.

He's featured in a wealth of British features and having met him, it's no wonder.

Friday 22nd also saw the premiere in Derby of two recent Toothpix shorts, playing to a packed cinema. 'All That Glitters' and 'The Pack' are being sent out to festivals around the world this week, so look out for screening updates.

The next month looks set to be a busy one for us, animating the film for Mencap as well as working with Quad and three local libraries to create a series of documentaries.

School for Monsters Mencap animation gets underway

We've started work animating a cartoon for Mencap aimed at combating bullying in mainstream schools.

The characters have been designed by the awesome Cherie Zamazing and the motion tests look great.

Next week we'll be recording the voices in Soho with a brilliant actor (we're keeping that secret for now, but as a clue, he was in Elizabeth: The Golden Age and Burke and Hare).

This will be the first Toothpix animation, but it's so much fun, we're sure it won't be the last.

We've also had a brilliant letter through from a client we made a film for in February:

"We all had a really positive experience filming the DVD. I found it to be a really positive experience and a transparent process. Thanks for making everything run so smoothly!

My previous experiences of filming had always been fraught and quite off putting. Thanks for changing my experience for the better!"

Short films in QUAD brochure

Two Toothpix shorts are set to premiere on April 22nd, 5pm at QUAD in Derby.

You can download the full brochure here - booking seats in advance is recommended.

It promises to be a great night, with several other shorts by local film makers playing, followed by drinks in a selection of bars.

Please be aware the films do contain content which isn't suitable for children - but nothing extreme!

Mystery solved!

We received this email from Courtesy, the mother of Nancy (star of 'All That Glitters - read below for more on that):

" I saw your news article, which I can shed light on.  The thing through the post is what's apparently a Christmas card for you and your wife from Nancy, reason she didn't put her name on is because, well, you know, everyone in the world knows Nancy and I didn't change it because well, frankly I quite like how she does things and she should be herself and I knew you'd find out sooner or later, so there you are, mystery solved - she was really happy to see it on the site though, better than a fridge!"

All That Glitters receives its premiere on April 22nd at QUAD cinema in Derby from 5-6pm. If you'd like a ticket, get in touch fast as it's looking like it will be a fully booked screening!

The film is a dark fantasy playing with the Narnia theme. Playing alongside will be the Toothpix film 'Daybreak, Nightfall' which was shot on equipment loaned from the University of Derby as part of the prize Owen won with his short Labyrinth Derbicus, as well as films from three other local film directors.