michaeltravis.net

Michael Biehn (Corporal Hicks in Aliens) with a copy of Shmaliens at the Armageddon Expo, Auckland.

Free For Wall! part 2 made the Jury Award shortlist in the Babelgum Online Film Festival 2010 (as judged by Richard Linklater, Sally Potter, Jean-Pierre Bekolo Obama, Carlos Battilana, Annie Sundberg, Eric Watson and Jason Wishnow).

I also recently completed a documentary following wellness practitioner Dr Dov Phillips, as he undertakes a week-long fast (water, but no food) to assess the benefits for the body and mind. You can view it here.

I recently completed a film for the V48 Hours 2010 film festival, about an office elevator possessed by a jealous spirit. It premiered at the Academy Cinema on 20 April, and is in the online V48 Hours screening room .

You can also view Lift (or as I prefer to call it, Ghost Lift) here.

I have several films in this year's Babelgum Online Film Festival . Best of all, the audience can vote for their favourite films!

Also, my new London documentary, The People of the Crossbones Graveyard is also on Babelgum.

I now have a director's showreel, featuring clips from my dramatic work (short films and music videos). You can view it here.

Since I am back in New Zealand and have some free time, I have started editing work on the sequel to Cut-out, as well as on the many documentaries I was filming in London. I have also started filming a new series with Dr Dov Phillips , the first episode of which features him undergoing a water fast for 7 whole days!

Pitched a television series based on The House of Raging Women to a panel of film producers at the Raindance Cafe. The panel included Stephen Woolley (The Crying Game, Interview with the Vampire, Michael Collins and The End of the Affair), Nik Powell (The Crying Game, Little Voice and Last Orders), Chris Collins (Brick Lane), Richard Jobson and William C. Martell.

I also managed to have an interesting chat with director Sean McConville, who is screening his first feature Deadline (starring Thora Birch and Brittany Murphy) at the Raindance Film Festival , plus I will be attending the screening of Andy Jenkin's short film Lucky Quid at the festival this week.

Alas, the time has come to return to New Zealand. I am therefore being very conscientious, and gathering as much footage as I can to complete some partially evolved documentary projects.

Consequently, I finally visited Bethlem Royal Hospital to get footage to frame the two art shows I previously covered (Redefining Bedlam and Frames of Mind). I conducted interviews with staff and visitors about art therapy, Bethlem's excellent archives, and preparations for World Mental Health Day 2009.

I've also begun work on a sequel of sorts to Cut-out, and shot the unveiling of artist Antony Gormley's One & Other project for the so-called "Fourth Plinth" in Trafalgar Square (featuring Antony Gormley, Mayor Boris Johnson and Leaving Las Vegas director Mike Figgis - who is creating his own documentary on the subject).

In May, I was contacted by the director of the "Metropolis" channel on the Babelgum film website. She had seen my short documentary From The Street Shall Grow A Rose, and commissioned me to do a documentary about one of the featured artists, The Great Cake Escape . Final video here.

This commission was followed by another regarding the London Street Pianos project. Final video here.

I've spent the first part of the new year working hard to complete Cut-out. Many, many hours of editing, and co-ordinating the various post-production elements: Darren working on the score at the Royal College of Music, the VFX in Soho, and so on...

I'm also tirelessly promoting the film, and have managed to personally give a copy of the rough cut to some of the world's great film-makers, including: Sir Ridley Scott, Terry Gilliam, Danny Boyle, David Fincher, Werner Herzog, Gus van Sant, jane Campion, Gaspar Noé and Marc Forster.

Shot more footage of The Great Cake Escape , this time at a special outdoor tea/cake kiosk in Hoxton Square to celebrate the one year anniversary of their first cake drop. Final video here.

Also covered Jon Hammer's inaugural solo exhibition "A Moment of Watching Something" at The Brick Lane Gallery , including interviews and footage of Jon doing live additions to giclee prints of his work.

In addition, I produced this titular 'mini-documentary' for a funding opportunity with Channel 4.

Shot another news piece with Karina Chabour, for France 24 . This covered the opening night of the Bethlem Gallery "Frames of Mind" exhibition at the Museum of Croydon , and features interviews with the artists. View the video on the France24 website in English or French . Final videos also here.

Michael Deeley, producer of my favourite film Blade Runner, as well as numerous other important movies.

Entered the Raindance "Short Circuit" film competition, hosted by DailyMotion , with a 60 second short called No, Know. Final video here.

Written by Gill Poulter, a colleague from my Raindance TV Writer's Lab course, and made with the assistance of Katy Poulter, Sarah De'Ath and James Uren, with a hyper-type logo designed by Part2ism . Just to be different, for the soundtrack I did a remix of a track from "Ghosts I-IV" by Nine Inch Nails , as licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution Non-Commercial Share Alike license.

Filmed The Great Cake Escape in their tea room at Kemistry Gallery, as part of the Shoreditch Shuffle festival. This is the second lot of footage I have shot around this fascinating duo, and their plan to take over the streets of the world one cupcake at a time. Final video here.

Also met and filmed a short interview with artist Zarina Liew .

Filmed hyper-type artist Part2ism doing live street art at The Brick Lane Gallery as part of the "Free For Wall! Part 2" exhibition. Final video here.

Filmed street artists Dan Kitchener and Jonny P (aka Jeepers!) doing live painting at The Brick Lane Gallery as part of the "Free For Wall!" exhibition, and subsequently edited this video for the gallery's website.

Entered the Sci-Fi-London 48 Hour Film Challenge with a short film called Exit Strategy (a rather odd little creature, due to the randomly drawn elements that had to be incorporated into the script).

Made with the assistance of a talented cast/crew (often filling both roles) comprising James Uren, Zoe Lee, Ivana Jackson, Laura Paulett, Natasha Higham, Laura Kell and Warren Prasek.

Recently completed this video for a 2006 live music performance that I was involved in, combining live footage from the gig with abstract backing imagery.

Filmed a production demonstration for Codex Digital , and subsequently edited this video for the online edition of High Definition Magazine .

Short spy film starring Daniel Lane and Kirk Torrance, filmed in London over Christmas. Post-production in progress. Updates can be found here.

Promotional video for recording studio and music label, The Pizz . Shot in HDV and featuring interviews with studio producers and label owners, and musician Jo Morris . Final video here.

Filming the opening night of the Bethlem Gallery exhibition at NOVAS Contemporary Art Gallery, for France 24 . Final video here.

Photograph by Jack English .