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Fri, 19 Feb 2010 12:40

Congratulations to the Winners of the Cutty Sark and The Smalls Short Film Competition.

The Smalls is excited to congratulate the winners of the Cutty Sark and The Smalls short film competition. We received a large and impressive selection of films and we want to thank everyone who entered their entertaining, creative and high calibre works.

From the inspired entries, our distinguished judging panel chose four films to win for their original ideas, interpretations and executions of the themes.

So with no further ado… The winners are:

Lochness Monster, A Message in a Bottle by Matei Mocanu

The Real McCoy by Carl Stickley

Several Shots of Tam by Mark Day

Life's A Foreshore by Greg Ash

Cutty Sark were also very impressed by Christian Anderson-Ramshall and Célio A. Ceccare’s two takes on The Real McCoy. These films will eventually also be posted on the Cutty Sark site.

Thanks to our wonderful judges who took the time out to watch all of the films and provide invaluable feedback.

A massive thank you to everyone that took part in the competition. You are the beating heart of The Smalls and we love
you for it!

Go and check out the films on the new and amazing Cutty Sark website.

The Smalls

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Fri, 29 Jan 2010 11:58

Hello filmmakers!

We have been asked if films can be longer than the 5 minutes originally stated. After consideration we have decided that they can, as we want you to be able to tell the stories in a clear way.
Just don't submit any 3 hour epics :)

The Smalls

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Mon, 25 Jan 2010 14:41

In honour of Burns Nicht, which takes place tonight, we have compiled a list of 'Did You Know's about Scotland's favourite son.

Did you know...

Burns has been, amongst other things, a farmer, an exciseman, a flax trader.

Burns fathered 12 children, although rumours suggest there were more illegitimate mini-Burns' running    about.

Paintings of Rabbie were more forgiving than the truth. He was a farmer and quite sturdily built, and     wasn't the most fashionable of men.

That Burns is worth an estimated £100 million in tourist revenue alone for bonny Scotland. That's about £80 million more than Nessie!

Robert Burns was a mason from the age of 23, having been initiated at the Lodge St David Tarbolton on the 4th July, 1781.

Burns often dressed in a bat-like costume, fighting villains in Edinburgh. You could call him using a rudimentary lighting device dubbed the 'Bat Signal'.*

Happy Burns Night!

*Only fact that isn't verified. But somebody at a pub in Glasgow told me.

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Thu, 21 Jan 2010 14:47

It's only two weeks till deadline and we wanted to share some films we've stumbled across on the interwebs.

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Wed, 20 Jan 2010 17:03

The Smalls want to know how you are getting on with your films for the Cutty Sark competition? We are here to answer any questions you may have about the project, and will gladly look at work in progress should you need any advise. Get in touch!

The Smalls

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Fri, 15 Jan 2010 10:00

It’s a problem I come across all the time. I have a desire to watch my favourite poet reciting the work that they made famous, yet unfortunately most of my favourite poets have died. A long time ago. Say, 200 years.

 

Then I sit there and think ‘I wish I could take paintings of these old poets and crudely animate their mouths so that it looks like they’re reciting their poetry.’ Then I promptly forget about it and watch Top Gear instead.

 

Jim Clark , on the other hand, didn’t go and watch Top Gear instead. He chose to spend his time animating over 500 of these things. Sorry, I think I need to type that again...

 

500?

 

That’s a lot of dead poets eerily reciting their poetry. It’s enough to make me want to start a new Dead Poet’s Society. This one with results that don’t end in suicide and a bad production of a Midsummer Night’s Dream. Unfortunately for us, Jim has yet to re-animate Tam O’Shanter.

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Tue, 12 Jan 2010 10:09

I’m sure that there have been many famous people on board the Cutty Sark. It’s a tourist attraction that has attracted over 300 billion visitors.* I’d put money on that fact that amongst them are the rich, famous and ridiculously attractive. I bet even Chuck Norris has been on board the Cutty Sark. In fact, Chuck Norris accidentally looked at the ship too intensely, causing it to burst into flames in 2007.**
 
However, I have found evidence of a rich and powerful figure who has not only been on board the Cutty Sark, but has actually sailed it.
 
And he’s a duck.
 
While trawling through Wikipedia, I found historical evidence that none other than Scrooge McDuck himself piloted the Cutty Sark in 1883. Yes, the historical evidence is a comic book, but then we all know comics, or graphic novels to those of us in the know, are valid historical documents.
 
You heard it here first.
 
*figures not confirmed.
**not true. Chuck Norris doesn’t make accidents. 

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Fri, 08 Jan 2010 10:24

Rabbie Burns...Ploughman Poet, Scotland’s favourite son, or (if you are Scottish) quite simply, The Bard. Our Northern neighbours seem to have a thing for Robert Burns. In fact, they appear to like him so much that STV named him the ‘Greatest Scot’ in April. His ability to charm the nation was perhaps best evidenced by the many, many  illegitimate children he fathered through the years.

In short, they love him.

 

In fact, this goes even deeper. Considering he died 213 years ago, Scotland has had a big gaping hole where he used to be (emotionally and figuratively... not literally). About 200 years after his death, someone is attempting to plug that hole.

 

Christopher Tait loves Robert Burns. His poetry, his history, his looks, his rapport with the ladies.* So what’s a man to do? Dress up like Robert Burns and perform his poetry around the world, appear on TV and record a DVD?

 

Yes. Yes indeed.

 

In doing so, Christopher Tait seems to have created a decent business for himself. He has a string of regular engagements through the year, his DVD has sold more than 10 copies and his youtube channel has had over 2000 views. He is actually making money from this.  Like Steve Feltham, he is doing it for the love of Rabbie.

 

And the women.

 

*last point technically not true, but was added for humour value. 

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Tue, 05 Jan 2010 16:44

As we know , Cutty Sark famously posted a £1 million reward for the capture of the Loch Ness Monster. What you probably don’t know is that there are people out there who actually dedicate their lives to finding the Loch Ness Monster, or ‘Nessie,’ as she is more affectionately referred to.  I’m not talking about once every five years lugging a team of scientists equipped with state-of-the-art technologies to do some arbitrary radar sweeps and uncover a metric tonne of golfballs. I’m talking hardcore, grassroots, good ol’ fashioned Nessie Huntin’: Duelling banjos style...

 

Well... almost.

 

Steve Feltham is what nessie.co.uk refer to as a bonafide ‘Nessie Hunter.’ In 1991 he quit his job, packed his belongings and set up camp next to Loch Ness in an ex-mobile library van. Now he sits with his telescope and hi8 camera (Ed:is your source still living in 1991?) waiting to catch a glimpse of Nessie and for people to start taking him seriously. He now subsidises his search by selling Nessie figurines and paintings. Why he hasn’t put together a hoax video or picture, like ‘the Surgeon’s Photo’, and sold it to tabloids for a few million is beyond me.  But when it comes down to it, he’s doing this for the love, which you do have to admire. Especially considering in the 19 odd years he’s been there he’s only seen a ripple.

 

Once.

 

Hopefully one day Cutty Sark can give him the cold million. Until then, he’ll just have to keep selling those paintings...

 

Steve Feltham on Youtube
Have You Seen It Yet – The Official Steve Feltham Website
Steve Feltham, The Nessie Hunter – Fan Club on Facebook

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Thu, 24 Dec 2009 10:18

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Mon, 21 Dec 2009 17:18

The Smalls is proud to announce the confirmed panelists who will scrutinize the entries in the Cutty Sark and The Smalls Short Film Competition:

Yves Cosentino, Cutty Sark Brand Director
Tracey Armstrong, Cutty Sark Brand Manager
Matt Cole, Creative Director devilfish
Jamie Madge, UK Editor The Reel
Federico Gaggio, VP On-air Marketing & Network Creative Director Discovery Channel
Dan Korn, Senior VP Programming Discovery Channel

x The Smalls

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Thu, 17 Dec 2009 11:10

Filmmakers everywhere! The deadline for the Cutty Sark and The Smalls Short Film Competition has now been extended until the 3rd of February.

Get in touch! Let us know how you are getting on.

x The Smalls

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Wed, 11 Nov 2009 19:45

The Smalls and Cutty Sark are proud to announce that our call for entries is now open here on the very first The Smalls microsite.