An Evening with Howard Perry

Surrey Border Movie Makers were very pleased to welcome a return visit from Howard Perry who is a successful film maker. Howard first attended one of our club meetings via Zoom in January 2022 when he showed and discussed his latest film ‘Skye Steele- Rise of Nefertiti’. He also showed a trailer for a new film he was in the process of making called ‘Waiting for Nicko’, he was asked if he would kindly return to the club to showcase and talk about his new film when it was completed.

As promised, Howard returned for the Surrey Border Movie Makers May 2024 meeting where he described his new film ‘Waiting for Nicko’ as a ‘Psychological Drama’ which he wrote, Directed and Produced, it was filmed using just one location. It took a crew of fifteen four days to shoot, they were fortunate enough to be able to sleep at the location making life easier. All the filming took place during daylight hours with the nighttime scenes being created during the editing process which in total took ten weeks to complete. A film Trailer was produced, Howard explained how this was made to give a feel of the films content, but without giving ,any of the gripping storyline away. Howard was happy to answer the many questions from the audience about how aspects of the film were achieved, what equipment was used and how the different effects were created etc.

Another film of Howards was shown called ‘Maiken’ a twenty four minute film which was inspired by a Scandinavian fairytale and described as a ‘Norse Mythology Fantasy Drama’. It was shot in a fifteen acre forest which caused some filming issues ie losing the crew in the vast heavily wooded area, carrying the equipment to the location in the forest, the need for necessities like toilets, generators, tents for costume changes and keeping twelve walkie talkies active, but eventually all these were resolved.

Two days filming took place in the forest with a further two days in a realistic looking Viking Village set up. The assistance of a group of local Viking Re-Enactors added to the many authentic looking action scenes and storyline.

The actors, costumes and directing were all fabulous and the film also won an award for Best Music.