LITTLE RED (2011)

“If you go down to the woods today you’re sure of a big surprise.
If you go down to the woods today, you’d better go in disguise...“

An experimental re-imagining of Little Red Riding Hood, this mysterious visual collage combines elements of fairytales and horror to reveal something unexpected lurking in the forest...

The film was premiered at the Folkestone Triennial 2011, before being picked-up for broadcast by the Sky television programmes ‘Ronke’ and ‘My Super Shorts’, where it features on heavy rotation.

Directed and edited by Ben Barton Starring: Jennifer Harris
Kodak super 8 | colour | 5 minutes

GETTING READY (2010)

A faded icon of stage and screen prepares for the greatest performance of her life – a star-studded suicide. Peering into the dressing room mirror, we watch an impassive starlet apply her mask of make-up and champagne. Then, after a bottle of pills, she lies down to showcase her beautiful corpse. In a death dream she returns to the stage for her final curtain...

Filmed in the old dressing rooms of Chatham’s Brook Theatre, ‘Getting Ready’ is a re-imagining of Kenneth Anger’s incomplete film ‘Puce Women’. Captured on sumptuous colour super 8 and evoking the spirit of old Hollywood, it is the biggest Roundeye film to date ­ the first one to abandon our usual guerrilla methods for a more stylised production. It received its first screenings at the London Independent Film Festival and Lancashire Film Festival.

Directed and edited by Ben Barton Starring: Jennifer Harris Music: written and performed by Robert Harris Titles: Mark Vanstone Production design: Scott Gibson Props: Dianne Vanstone Wardrobe: Annie Owen
Kodak super 8 | colour and b/w | 5 minutes

5,000 MILES FROM HOLLYWOOD (2010)

This shaggy dog story charts two men on a day out at the seaside. One of them is a Hollywood-loving knave, while the other is a six-foot cardboard James Dean. A postcard from sunny Folkestone, this comedic short was a troublesome shoot: the first time our no permits’ style of filmmaking got us intro mischief (including a frogmarching off the premises). Thankfully, we escaped without ink on our fingers...

The cardboard figure was originally going to be Jesus, but due to the scarceness of six-foot Christ cut-outs, I decided to switch to a handsome likeness of Jimmy Dean instead – a metaphor I use frequently in my unpublished Hollywood poems.

Directed and edited by Ben Barton Starring: Ben Barton and James Dean Camera: Chris Holdsworth Music: written and performed by Robert Harris Thanks to: Shane Record
Kodak super 8 | colour | 4 minutes

YOU ARE THERE (2010)

A love poem shot in London and Paris... This private film was created for Scott’s 30th birthday.

Directed and edited by Ben Barton, Kodak super 8 | colour and b/w | 3 minutes

THE RETURN OF ELLEN LOVE (2009)

Under the glimmer of moonlight, the shadowy figure of Ellen Love reappears to lay flowers on her beloved’s grave. A dark Gothic sonnet, ‘The Return of Ellen Love’ is a romantic take on the zombie film, featuring an undead bride haunting a series of misty churchyards and woodlands.

The film premiered in 2009 at the British Shorts Festival in Berlin, and that year featured at over 25 festivals and film nights in cities from London, Brighton and Manchester to Budapest, Beijing and L.A. It was also part of the Official Selection for Euroshorts in Poland, screening at the main festival as well as a regional tour all over the country.

Directed and edited by Ben Barton Starring: Jennifer Harris Music: written and performed by Jennifer Harris, produced by Robert Harris Titles: Mark Vanstone, Kodak super 8 | b/w | 4 minutes

ADORED (2009)

A star steps out for her encore – but are the roses and standing ovations real, or just an illusion? This is a short, early cut of ‘Getting Ready’, made as a sneak peek for the 1st birthday screenings at the Mini Cine Picture Show in Manchester. Very rarely screened, it has different titles/music/editing from the final version.

Directed and edited by Ben Barton, Music: written and performed by Jennifer Harris
Kodak super 8 | b/w | 2 minutes

THE LIGHTHOUSE (2009)

A backwards journey down and up the lighthouse at Dungeness, revealed in a dream. The second ‘Prospect’ film sees our itinerant duo back for more wandering around Britain’s only desert, this time tackling the 169 steps of the Old Lighthouse. ‘The Lighthouse’ is yet to be screened publicly.

Directed and edited by Ben Barton Music: written and performed by Jennifer Harris
Kodak super 8 | b/w | 4 minutes

INITIAL PROSPECT (2008)

A nostalgic home movie, ‘Initial Prospect’ follows two friends on a journey to Derek Jarman’s famous ‘nuclear’ garden at Dungeness ...after imbibing on the shingle of this east bloc seaside landscape, they explore and enter the famous cottage – returning giddy from a trip to Oz.

Originally called ‘Down and Out in Dungeness’, this film is the first super 8 in the Prospect project. The soundtrack was produced by respected film composer George Fenton.

Directed and edited by Ben Barton Music: written by Jack Harris, performed by Jennifer Harris, produced by George Fenton
Kodak super 8 | colour and b/w | 4 minutes

UPHILL FOR JESUS (2008)

In this documentary poem, we observe a group of Christians marching uphill, spying as they re-enact the crucifixion under a blaze of gaudy sunlight. This piece was filmed guerrilla-style over Easter 2008, infiltrating an evangelical church group as they carried a large wooden cross for two miles, through urban and rural Folkestone.

The Technicolor-style visuals are an ode to the biblical epics of old Hollywood. Various cuts of ‘the Jesus film’ have been shown. The most recent version splices in 90-year old ‘found’ footage of the crucifixion, à la Kenneth Anger’s film ‘Scorpio Rising’. A different, silent version was screened at the Synch Festival in Athens, while another was accompanied by a live gospel choir at the 2009 Windsor Festival.

Directed and edited by Ben Barton Music: written and performed by Jennifer Harris, produced by Robert Harris, Titles: Mark Vanstone
Kodak super 8 | colour | 4 minutes

INSECTS (2008)

Found footage revealing a ballet of insects... This montage gathers old cine reels of insect documentaries into a playful dance. It’s an attempt at alchemy – to transform the lowly armies of bugs into something beautiful.

Edited by Ben Barton Music: written and performed by Robert Harris, produced by Eric Matthews
Super 8 | b/w | 4 minutes

STAG MOVIE (2008)

A collage of found ‘nudie’ footage, reset in the style of a ‘stag movie’. Before X-rated videos, porn theatres and even top-shelf magazines, there were ‘stag movies’. These risqué short films were shown at bachelor parties and private clubs throughout the 1920s-1940s.

Part of Hollywood lore for decades, Marilyn Monroe and Joan Crawford are just two stars rumoured to have made ‘stags’ early in their careers...

Edited by Ben Barton Super 8 | b/w | 4 minutes

SCOTT’S GARDEN (2008)

A haiku in pictures – Scott waters his springtime garden under the watchful eye of his animals. ‘Scott’s Garden’ is a winsome, eerie portrait of life in the Garden of England, caught in a fleeting moment.

Directed and edited by Ben Barton
Kodak super 8 | colour and b/w | 2 minutes

DANCE OF THE COWARD (2008)

Reassembled from amateur-shot reels of super 8, this experimental visual poem documents one of the world’s most famous matadors, El Cordobés. Filmed in 1967 when he was at his height of fame – the press labelled him the ‘Beatle of the Bullring’ – it offers an unflinching view of the barbaric act.

Edited by Ben Barton, Starring: El Cordobés, Music: written and performed by Ant Poison
Kodak super 8 | colour | 3 minutes

BRINGING BILLY CHILDISH HOME (2008)

From art gallery to homestead – a canvas by painter/poet/singer Billy Childish is given a new space to hang. Incomplete and unscreened – this film was a camera test for my Canon 318M, and for the telecine transfer process.

Directed and edited by Ben Barton, Music: written and performed by Billy Childish Thanks to: Billy Childish and Julie Hamper
Kodak super 8 | colour | 3 minutes