Ashens and the Polybius Heist

Thu Sep 17 '20 Announcement
over 5 years ago – Thu, Sep 17, 2020 at 02:59:34 PM

Hello!

Are you sitting comfortably?

We have something to tell you.

Ashens and the Polybius Heist is now totally complete.

It's lurking tantalisingly out of reach as we can't show it to you until all the legal checks, insurance matters and ratings are complete. But they've already begun. Some have already been completed, in fact.

There are too many variables for us to have an exact timescale yet. But it's very likely that the next update will have a firm release date.

So hold onto your hats - you'll be watching the film well before the year is out.

It's been a seven year journey for us and at last we're nearly, actually, finally able to show people our new story. It's been a journey frought with ups and downs, some of which you know about, some of which we may never be able to fully disclose. Now the end is in sight and the film has turned out better then we dared hope. Again, thank you so much for your support over the years - we couldn't have done it without you. And that's not just a nice turn of phrase. In the world of crowdfunding, it's literally true.

Get ready, players. You've already inserted your coins, and the time to play the Polybius is nearly here.

Cheers,

Stuart.

Sat Jun 27 '20 Announcement
almost 6 years ago – Sat, Jun 27, 2020 at 05:41:18 PM

Hello!

I hope you're all as well as you can be in these virus-ravaged times. I've got a lot of bits and pieces to update you on, so let's begin...

In the last update I mentioned that we were trying to get in a single day of dialogue recording, then we'd have all vocal performances we needed to finish the film. Sadly we couldn't do it safely before lockdown came into effect. At first I thought this was going to be a crippling problem that would delay us into next year or something awful, but fortunately that didn't happen...

For you see, many actors these days have access to high quality recording setups in their houses for doing voice-over work etc! And we leveraged that to its full extent, with Riyad doing a lot of direction over video calls. Whilst obviously it was a far slower process than getting everyone together in a special room with an audio expert, we got there in the end, and in fact the entire sound design is complete. Hurrah!

The musical score for the film is complete. Our composer David Stowell has created nearly 60 - yes 60! - amazing orchestral tracks. Y'know, now I think about it, I believe it's pretty much unheard of for a film of this budget to have a score of this quality and complexity.

Oh! And, of course, we've got a proper rip-roaring title song, which is also complete.

The title animation is about 99% complete at the time I'm typing this. It's been made by our longtime collaborator and friend Dave Brain, and I'm not going to spoil anything, but I can't stop watching it which is a very good sign.

So... the edit and picture have been complete for a while. What's left then? Basically: The sound mix then finalising the end credits. And the sound mix has already started!

But frustratingly we're still a while from being able to share it with you. Because as soon as we have a finished film we then have to go through a plethora of legal checks, insurance checks, ratings and all sorts of paperwork guff before we can actually show it to anyone. And all these 
processes are delayed at the moment so we have no idea how long it will take. (Fortunately, as far as we can ascertain they aren't been delayed much. Really hope I haven't cursed things by saying that.)

I can't tell you how much we're looking forward to showing people this film. It's been our obsession for 7 years and it seems unreal that it's almost complete. I'm incredibly pleased with it and I think you will be too.

In other news...

The premiere will still be going ahead but we have no idea when it'll be safe to have it. We'll be in the slightly odd territory of having the big launch screening considerably after the film has been released! But it's definitely happening, probably late this year or early next year. A film crew cannot be deprived of its premiere, even if everyone has seen the film already.

Tatfest 2020 will, quite obviously, have to become Tatfest 2021. We'll also have to completely rethink the nature of the event as we were planning to centre it around the release of the film. Oh well.

All outstanding sofa slices and wallpaper pieces are in the post. Apologies for the delay with some of them, but they're on the way as I type. I'll hopefully be sending out The Stupid Perks soon too - I've just sourced a load of old hats. They're raspberry berets, the kind you find in a second-hand store! I am not joking.

That's the lot for now. It'll be trailer o'clock before too long...

Cheers,

Stuart.

Sat Jun 20 '20 Announcement
almost 6 years ago – Sat, Jun 20, 2020 at 03:27:55 PM

Hello!

I'll be putting together an update next week to let you know how we've been getting on with Ashens and the Polybius Heist since lockdown. But until then: An incredibly specific update that literally only applies to a single one of you!

If your name is Kent, and you paid to have your picture in the intro sequence of the movie, PLEASE get in touch ASAP. We're nearing the end of production and have been unable to contact you via any of the methods we have! Drop us a message, an e-mail, tweet me @ashens or whatsoever.

We now return you to your scheduled internet. As I said, I'll drop you all a line next week with the current situation. (Spoiler: It's very good news!)

Cheers,

Stuart A.

Sat Apr 4 '20 Announcement
almost 6 years ago – Sat, Apr 04, 2020 at 02:39:07 PM

Hello!

As promised, here's our first teaser for Ashens and the Polybius Heist! Presented in glorious 4K. (Other resolutions are available.)

(And if you'd like to see our live commentary for Ashens and the Quest for the GameChild, it'll be available here for a bit: https://www.twitch.tv/videos/583343988)

I'll be in touch soon with another update. Until then: stay safe and be well.

Cheers,

Stuart.

Fri Apr 3 '20 Announcement
about 6 years ago – Fri, Apr 03, 2020 at 07:38:12 PM

Hello!

Just a quick heads-up - We're doing a live commentary of Ashens and the Quest for the GameChild on my Twitch channel. Myself, director Riyad and editor Linton will be streaming the film and providing HILARIOUS INSIGHT(tm) on the fly. And... we'll be showing a one minute teaser for Ashens and the Polybius Heist too!

If you'd like to watch live, head over to https://twitch.tv/ashens at 8pm UK time on 4th April. Which is either today or tomorrow depending on your time zone! (If you'd like to know what time it is where you are, simply click on this very text.)

If you can't watch live, it'll be available to view on Twitch for a month or so. (And I'll be doing another backer update afterwards with a hidden YouTube link to the teaser footage, of course.)

Cheers,

Stuart.