Mon Sep 2 '19 Announcement
over 6 years ago
– Mon, Sep 02, 2019 at 01:18:20 PM
Hello!
Just a very quick note for those of you who pledged for one of the very upper tiers that included a London test screening.
I've sent out e-mails to all of you with details of the screening - do please keep an eye out and drop me a response.
If you pledged and haven't received an e-mail, then check your spam folder and if there's nothing there, drop me a message on Indiegogo.
Cheers,
Stuart.
Mon Aug 19 '19 Announcement
over 6 years ago
– Mon, Aug 19, 2019 at 06:00:43 AM
Hello!
As promised, here's some stills from Ashens and the Polybius Heist to whet your collective visual appetites. There's nothing particularly spoilery so don't worry about having the film ruined for you or anything. They're not in chronological order so you can't even guess at the plot!
PLEASE NOTE! These stills are raw, ungraded images taken from the current rough cut of the film. The final movie will look different (by which I mean cooler and more cinematic). Also, they tend to have their aspect ratio messed up in the e-mail version so read the update on the website for the proper experience.
In the warehouse base, Ashens and Benny give the crew an overview of the heist plan.
A planning session must be going well as the crew look jubilant. Except The Cube, who seems depressed even though he is clearly wearing the world's greatest jumper.
Ex-corporate-mascot-turned-YouTube-superstar Geoff Excellence seems to be having a rough time of it. Seen in the background is his manservant, Chef Assistance.
The Professor never likes to be interrupted during an experiment. Especially ones involving weird hats.
Who is this masked miscreant?
Just what does Benny have in his hands? (It's an old game cartridge. You probably guessed that.)
Jarred seems a little overdressed for casino night at a local club. Dress for the grifting you want to do, not the grifting you're currently doing...
Annalise tries to impress Ashens and Benny with her attempt at a Three-card Monte. Find the lady and make lots of money! Except you won't, as it's a famous con trick.
Ashens' father Jonathan is clearly upset about something in this flashback to the eighties. He's long gone by the events of the film.
The body language says it all as Ashens meets up with his estranged sister Christine.
Security is tight at the headquarters of corporate ne'er-do-well Antony Agonist. We refer to these guards as Cowboy and Partner - you can probably guess which is which.
And here is the villainous Agonist himself. All in all, he's not a very nice man.
Vocal, The Cube and Yiannis look concerned. Possibly they've just worked out that they can't stay in the ultra-cool high-tech tricked-out heist van forever.
Annalise, Benny and Yiannis on reconnaissance. Actually... I'm not sure what Yiannis is doing.
So there you go - fourteen lovely images from the movie. BUT WAIT! They said it was too soon. But we defied them to bring you... The first footage from Ashens and the Polybius Heist!
That's yer lot for the time being folks. I'll be in touch again next month.
Cheers,
Stuart.
Mon Aug 12 '19 Announcement
over 6 years ago
– Mon, Aug 12, 2019 at 02:57:55 PM
Hello!
Not the best news to share today I’m afraid. The Big Bad Thing I've alluded to over the past few updates has forced us to delay the film's release until next year. This will give us time to properly sort out this unforeseen problem and make sure the film’s as good as it can and should be. The positive news though is that we've had some great feedback on a first rough cut and it’s really shaping up well - better even than we had originally hoped.
Don’t worry, we've got it all in hand. We've adjusted our schedules and are sorting out dates so we can book post-production services. It's just annoying that we have to wait longer than originally scheduled. It's a big disappointment for all of us (We really wanted it out in time for Christmas) but it will be worth the wait.
We'll be seeing you soon. Jarred's bringing the crisps.
Q&A:
Why the delay?
We need two major scenes re-shot, which means we've got to change up our post-production finance plans. As you can well imagine, this takes a while to sort out.
Couldn't you just leave those scenes out?
Nope. One scene is key to the narrative and the film doesn't make sense without it, and the other introduces several elements that are referred to later on. Besides, we refuse to compromise the quality of the film.
How long do you think?
It's impossible to tell exactly at this stage. About six months from now would be the most sensible guess. I'm going to say March 2020 to be on the safe side, but hopefully before then.
ANYWAY. Onwards and upwards. We've got the pick-up day booked in now and I had a lot of fun choosing stills from the rough cut of the film to share with you all, which I'll do in a few days.
It's funny... Last week on 8th August it was six years to the day since the premiere of Ashens and the Quest for the GameChild, and it's made me look back on everything up to this point. It's been an incredibly long road to get to where we are on Polybius Heist and we quite literally wouldn't be here without you. Massive thanks from all of us for your continued support - we'll be getting the best film we possibly can over to you as soon as we possibly can.
6 years. It only feels like 5.8.
Cheers,
Stuart.
Wed Jul 10 '19 Announcement
over 6 years ago
– Wed, Jul 10, 2019 at 06:29:54 PM
Hello!
Big thanks for submitting questions for the Q&A - Please suffer through this 43 minute video to find the answers!
Apologies for delaying the release of this - you'll see why I had to when you watch it...
And now, some exciting news: We have a rough cut of the movie! It still needs tweaking - and of course some scenes reshooting due to the Big Bad Thing - but it's looking pretty ace. If you're all very good and eat your vegetables I'll share some screen captures next week. (Nothing spoilery though.)
Cheers,
Stuart.
Fri Jun 21 '19 Announcement
almost 7 years ago
– Fri, Jun 21, 2019 at 05:42:31 PM
Hello!
I hope you are all well and free of the infernal pox.
Ashens and the Polybius Heist is currently being edited and it's looking pretty damn good. We've just about passed through the "Killing your darlings" stage where whole scenes are excised to help the flow of the film and it's coming together beautifully. And most importantly it's funny!
Fun fact: If we left in everything we shot the film's runtime would be about 150 minutes, an absolutely insane length for a comedy of this type. So expect some deleted scenes on the disc! (This has given us the idea of releasing a "Ludicrously Overlong And Massively Inferior Edition" - a kind of anti-director's cut - as a crazy extra for people who enjoy the film.)
It's the very first still from the movie that we've shown! It's not graded yet, of course, but it gives you an idea.
However there are two gaping holes in the film at the moment. As you may recall from previous updates we had to deal with a HORRIBLE THING during filming caused by the actions of a single person. I can't give details at the moment but suffice to say it's left us in the immensely unwelcome position of having to reshoot two entire scenes - and big ones at that, both shot on location rather than in a studio. As you can well imagine, we don't have the budget for any unplanned reshoots, let alone two major scenes.
We're currently weighing up our options (anyone joking about pulling off a real heist will be slapped with a wet fish). Fortunately we're excellent, and will employ said excellence to get the scenes in the can soon. I'm really hoping that we won't end up having the film delayed due to the actions of a single person. Making movies, eh? If it was easy everyone would be doing it...
Another shot from the film! It's one of those boards with snippets connected via string that people in movies have when they're trying to work something out.
Anyway! I think we should have a
Q&A session now that the dust has settled from filming. The plan is: Send some questions via
https://curiouscat.me/ashens (You don't need to sign up or anything) and I'll put together a video answering them at the end of next week.
Also - just a heads-up that we'll be putting together our Backerkit over the next few weeks, which is the system we'll be using to administer the Polybius discs etc. More about that when its ready!
Perks update: I've finally managed to get hold of more frames at a decent price so the sofa slice orders from March and the wallpaper pieces can now be put together. (This has been driving me mad, so PHEW.)
Cheers,
Stuart.