Guy Gotto

I have been in meeting’s with talented Director Joe Mannion for a while following meeting him at a house party. It was producer Natalie Harvey who paired us up on this project which we cooked up over a coffee. Being a lo-to-no budget piece it was a real commodity to be able to use Joe’s own Red Scarlet camera with the Canon 24-70mm F 2.8 lens.
We shot the music video for Winter Hours in Southend-On-Sea which proved to be a location full of interesting shots, long piers and arcades. It was the perfect setting for a nostalgic teenage relationship vibe we were trying to capture.

The Shapes boys from Bristol got in contact with me again saying they had a very special Halloween event that they’d liked to get filmed. The party was thrown in the secretive and legendary speakeasy The Milk Thistle. The collective wanted an adventurous 3 act structure to the night so it translated well to film. I also tried out a new technique I had been researching though American Cinematographer magazine which described using a Convex Diopter to distort the image in-camera. I couldn’t afford a Diopter so I took the glass out of my Parents Victorian magnifying glass and used it to bend the light into a my F 1.4 Sigma 30mm to achieve some spooky results.

I have been getting more involved with The Roundhouse who helped fund and produce my film ‘Chess’ last year. They invited me on the judging panel for this years entries, one of the Director-team’s Pestle & Mortar from Bristol received the funding for their fantastic idea ‘Champagne Capitalist’. The film follows a young girl who steals the champagne wire and foil to construct small horses and race them along the table in captivating stop motion. 

Update:The short was chosen as Vimeo Staff picks and clocked over 40,000 views in it’s first month!