Quick Peeks

Lisa Devaney

Ben Pullen is an independent filmmaker in London, who’s company Sentinel Entertainment released a short film for mobile earlier this year called Walker Stalker. 

Ben Pullen With Fan of Horror Film Walker Stalker:

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Walker Stalker, is available for download to your mobile phone:

Text HORROR to 63456

I caught up with Ben this week to find out what he’s been getting up to with new films, and to get some feedback about his first experience in venturing onto the Third Screen mobile phone format. Here’s a peek at our conversation:

oOOo What’s new with Sentinel?

At Sentinel, right now, we are a little bogged down in shepherding through two short films for the UKFC – it's a hard slog but we are working with some really, really talented people.

We’ve just finished filming a five-minute short directed by Vanessa Caswill, who’s “Pudding Bowl” short film was well received at Cannes Festival. She’s a 4Talent award winner, and has been announced as a finalist in this year’s Moondance Film Festival, Reykjavik International Film Festival, and Filmstock International Film Festival. She is going on to bright things I reckon – she has a very unique eye on the world.

The film was also designed by Livi Vaughan who does some of the design for Punch Drunk Theatre's amazing London theatre "experiences" at the BAC.

We are cutting a wonderful 10 minute film written by Billy MacKinnon (Small Faces/Hideous Kinky) with a truly fantastic score by the preposterously talented Johnny Flynn, one of the spearheads of the "new folk" vibe. It was shot on a RED camera and the results are breathtaking - it's a real breakthrough for digital film formats.

Otherwise a bunch of features are in development - we are still busy getting Walker Stalker into shape in it's feature incarnation of ICU - on draft three and still it still has a way to go. There is a really exciting tie-in with the game we are developing for Walker Stalker, with a Brighton company, to compliment the film. It's important to get it right because the film revolves around this game...which is basically like Pacman, with knives.

I'm also very excited about a Bollywood project we have based on a best selling book about a young English rose on the make in Bollywood, it's Borat meets Bridget Jones!

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I'm putting finance together on a Spanish thriller set in Barcelona about a mute hitman who wants to go straight – this one is...

Kill Bill meets Old Boy!

Kill Bill meets Old Boy  

oOOo How long have you been in the business and what titles have you produced?

 I’ve been making films since 93’ when I graduated form drama school. I acted until 2004 then set up Sentinel Entertainmenet, with partner.  I’ve produced two series for mobile phones, CORPSE and WALKER STALKER, which went out on ZoneHorror's WAP site domestically and also through Player X internationally.

I’ve also just done two short films for the UKFC's New Cinema Fund which promotes and backs new talent.

oOOo Who are your favourite film directors?

 Wes Anderson, David Lynch

oOOo Why mobile?

We thought it was a legitimate route into the film industry – and we didn't want to make shorts that no one would buy and we wanted to raise finance on the back of a convincing business plan. In 2005/6 it was still a brave new world in mobile, when this project started, and we were excited by the possibilities of a new platform for film distribution as was the whole of the Telco Industry. The possibilities were endless, and remain so, for filmmakers producing content for the Third Screen.

oOOo What has the consumer response been for mobile?

The consumer response for our content has been modest! I attribute this to having micro budgets to work with and very limited marketing spend – the rules of the established audiovisual industry have applied themselves here. If you are not an established brand and do not have significant marketing spend you can easily get lost. We have stuck to horror genres to make the word-of-mouth easier to generate and to ensure the target audience was the right demographic, ie. young. However, a good month for us is still only 1000 downloads, it's not great.

oOOo What was the biggest challenge in producing for mobile? And can you share tips for others who may be contemplating working in this medium?

Our challenge was to produce not just for mobile but to have a 360 degree take on our projects. Being able to deliver to Mobile/Internet/TV/Film is quite a task and requires a good degree of planning. It's also expensive if you don't monetize thoroughly. If it were just for mobile it would be very different and we would be out there with handy cams and laptops churning away. If you are a commercial film maker then knowing the mobile content market is all important.

Keep it short and lively, so people won’t put the phone down, format being – two minutes of laughter/violence/sex/animals/live anything is great mobile content. We have a killer app. In terms of content which entirely breaks that rule, but I think it will go down a storm - early days at the moment but we are convinced its going to satisfy a need.

The biggest tip I could pass on is to know the audience and to be able to make the content for next to nothing!

oOOo Do you think the 'third screen' as the industry calls it, will be a viable new format for indie filmmakers?

Companies have bet huge R&D budgets on it! Everyone thinks it will happen and have done so for the last four years. Sentinel are moving away from it now, except as a marketing element. Making money in Mobile video content for filmmakers are a long way off – unless you are a Bob Guccione sort of filmmaker. Indie filmmakers who want to make stories that redefine the way we think about the world and move us deeply should stay on the Internet I would have thought.

oOOo Is it a viable format for advertisers to support with their brands, and how might you see this incorporated with a film like Walker Stalker?

Yes, yes YES. It's all about the branding! As I mentioned, we now look at mobile as more of a marketing tool, and we write off our costs as marketing costs for the rest of the 360 picture. It's a great platform for established brands I reckon and we have only seen the tip of the iceberg. As people begin to look at their phones in a less exclusive way this will open up – but it's a very delicate manoeuvre to access people through their mobiles – it's a very personal space.

Walker Stalker is a tricky one because it involves a stalker mashing innocent people's heads in with a mobile – its Red Bull who want to play ball with us right now.

oOOo Is the new medium being discussed among filmmakers seriously?

I think people still talk about mobile as a sort of panacea for the film business – like an untapped wealth, which is waiting there to be minted. The indies hope that it might afford them a brand new route to their audiences without the gate keepers they are so used to on other platforms. The studios want to make sure it becomes as safe a window as the established platforms, and want to control it ASAP.

I think the studios will win – the mobile seems to me to be the very essence of mass entertainment – if its titillating/hysterical/wow factor or just

pure escapism, it'll do well on mobile, and that's studio land. Likewise, if it's a global brand, it'll do well on mobile, and that's studio land. Having said that, the numbers are just too big to be too prescriptive with what will and wont work - there is just such huge saturation out there of this little 3rd screen that who knows. Sound’slike the lottery doesn't it? It could be you.

In terms of what filmmakers are talking about - I think the internet is still a bigger fish to fry for filmmakers. It has almost the same saturation as

mobile, and you can command someone's attention more readily with it. The internet might just yet revolutionize the film business, mobile never will.

oOOo Will you make another film for mobile?

Not likely. Unless it's commissioned by a brand – we'll make viral/ads for mobile and do it wonderfully - but we wont be stepping in that arena again on a prospecting footing... having said that, never say never!

(PS: Bond is a great brand for mobile!)

Keep it shaken, not stirred, Ben,

-Lisa oOOo