Mouse

Julian Topper - Photo credit Megan Kerr @ Mill and Peg Photography

Mouse is a mystery/sci-fi story about a man who wakes to find himself in a building with a thousand clones of himself. Every move he makes seems to replicate or predict the actions of another clone. Can he escape what seems to be the inevitable? Or is he simply playing out the result of a pre-determined game...

Mouse is similar in style and tone to Bladerunner, Pandorum, Primer and Moon. All of those films also use sci-fi to magnify insights into human nature rather than as a gimmick. 

Filming on Mouse took place during August 2012 and is a strong example of low budget filmmaking... mostly one location, one actor and no dialogue. A very visual story which is epic in ambition but very achievable in reality.

Crowd funding

Mouse is a UK based crowdfunded production. Crowdfunding relies on many small contributions from individiuals and companies that cover the cost of the production which Creativity Backgrounds was delighted to have the opportunity to support.

Producer Justin Tagg explains...

Creativity Backgrounds chroma blue on set

"Just when we thought we had tied up all of our relationships with great, creative companies we come acrosss Creativity Backgrounds. They're so excited about showing how their papers can be used that they have supplied us with a roll of blue CHROMA KEY paper and BLACKOUT paper. I can only just begin to describe how useful this material was to us. The paper has been used as part of our blue screen setup to digitally extend out corridor whislt the blackout paper meant we could keep daylight out of the set and control the light with our practical lights from the inside without cutting any daylight from the areas we needed it (our briefing table and storyboard wall, for example). Thank you to all at Creativity Backgrounds! "

Carl Davis is based in Telford, Shropshire. His combined use of coloured backdrops and such amazing styling and lighting sets his work apart in so many ways, and is an inspiration to many photographers. He has worked hard to set his portfolio apart, through the use of colour and direction, that we wondered what drove him creatively.

Hoss Mahdavi was one of the first photographer's in our gallery on creativitybackgrounds.co.uk, and has continued to contribute stylish images which make great use of the range of colours and tonal effects possible using Creativity Background papers, and which can be seen on many of the product pages on this site.

Hoss is known to many in the industry, from photographers to editors, exhibition organisers to models!

We ask him in this month's interview what makes him tick in that inimitable way of his.

photo credit Dr Michael Pritchard FRPS 2011

Creativity Backgrounds were pleased to be asked to sponsor this innovative and exciting "International Images for Science 2011" exhibition staged by the Royal Photographic Society.

More so, as this is the first time for nearly 40 years that the RPS has curated such a front-line and progressive exhibition celebrating scientific and applied photography. The collection of images, I have to say, are amazingly beautiful. Indeed, some of the images are quite breath-taking, which, when you find out what some of the images capture, it challenges your established perception of beauty and appearance.

A photographic essay by Tony Slaughter

My name is Tony Slaughter and I lived from 1985 to 2005 in Brighton, on the south coast of England, where I worked as a full-time journalist and part-time photographer. Then, with my wife Sharon, I moved to Paraza a tranquil south of France village of 500 people on the banks of the Canal du Midi in the Aude, France's second poorest department. So began a new chapter in my life - living more as a European and less as a Brit.

What I discovered, among other things, was the wide variety of European nationalities who had chosen to make their life in this attractive part of France. They were fulfilling the real meaning of being an expatriate : a man or woman who chooses to live full time outside the country in which they were born.

This is the first in what we hope will be a series of interviews with photographers whose work with Creativity Backgrounds has caught our eye. This time it's with Nicole of The Hourglass™ .

Nicole uses a lot of colour in her shoots, including loads of our Creativity Backgrounds, and we were intrigued to find out a little more about her, her studio practice, and how she developed her distinctive style of retro glamour and burlesque photography.

Marko Dutka is a regular contributor to Creativity Backgrounds and uses our background papers in his work. We were pleased to learn therefore that Marko's project "Portrait of Genius", in which Marko re-interprets the self portraits of old masters including William Turner and Titian, has been featured as a cover story in issue 44 of Slevedge Magazine .

You can see some of Marko's images from this piece in our gallery here You can also download pdf copies of the article from the links below.

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Creativity Backgrounds are proud sponsors of the Jenny Potter Foundation School, set up to support teenage cancer patients.

Jenny Potter told us: "In 2010 I decided to set up a non profitable part of my business where I do photo shoot days for people who I feel have been through a lot in their lives and may need a day where they have something nice happen. I decided to put an ad firstly on net mums for mum's who would be models for the day.

When I received the replies I found that a lot of them had been through a lot from failed IVF treatment and lots more. So I through it would be good to do a day where the mum's felt special. I arranged with my make up artist, Rachel Short to do a photography day. The location wasn't the most glamorous of places and since this I have found a studio that I will hire for future days. We decided to invite the mum's with their babies/toddlers to a day where they had their make up done had a photo shoot and received a large complimentary photo. All this for free. For about 2 months before the photo shoot I contacted as many companies as possible to see if they could help me by donating some products, vouchers, samples, etc so that we could do goody bags for all the mums..

We do see some unusual uses for our Photography Background paper from time to time, and we are often asked if can be used for drawing. Well in most cases the answer is yes it can!

Drawn to the Beat was a participatory music drawing event devised and led by Naomi Kendrik. The project, which took place on the 27th January 2011 at Band on the Wall, a music venue since the 1930s positioned in Manchester's creative hub in the Northern Quarter, involved 95 participants and featured a silent disco and live music.

Naomi says "Music drawing forms part of my wider art practice of drawing, sculpture, installation, participatory events in which I focus on creating work that by engaging people with the senses, offers a ‘full' experience of something and consequently a more personal connection to my artwork. My method of music drawing has listening, and emotional and physical response at its core, establishing an immediate connection between mind and body. I often draw using both hands simultaneously, while sitting on a large expanse of paper, with my eyes closed to help me focus on listening to the music."

Leading UK based fashion photographer, Marko Dutka has used Creativity Background Paper in his new photo shoot ‘Baroque & Roll’

Marko Dutka’s new work ‘Baroque & Roll’ takes as its inspiration the ‘Baroque’ or misshapen pearl. His stunning new portraits are from an ongoing project exploring, documenting and celebrating individuals in all walks of life who add colour, richness and diversity to our culture.

Biography

Marko Dutka, as well as being a photographic artist, is a successful fashion, portrait and wedding photographer. Since starting his photographic career in late 1999, Marko has worked internationally for a variety of clients. He received a Fellowship from the British Institute of Professional Photography in 2009 and he has been published nationally and internationally. Since 2004 he has won 36 major photography awards. He was nominated for the British Professional Fashion Photographer of the Year in 2006 and his work has been exhibited widely including the Royal West of England Academy (RWA) ‘Through the Lens’ exhibition in 2008 and with the Royal Photographic Society.