S.L.A.D.E.S

April 08, 2022

S.L.A.D.E.S

Special Liaison Assault & Defence Enforcer

The 2nd Official Trailer for Jet Slade: Rise of the Black Hood is finally here!

~WATCH TRAILER ~

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ABOUT THE FILM

Jet Slade: Rise of the Black Hood has been in production for quite some time now. The idea first came to mind in 2014 when Ed (the director) had a crazy idea about making an action film. A big movie fan of the action genre, Ed wanted to add a different touch and feel to the film. He wanted it to be more female driven. He was fed-up, sick and tired of watching female characters being portrayed as the more vulnerable and weaker sex objects in movies.

THE 'BECHDEL' TEST

There were so many things to consider when I was writing the storyline and script for Jet Slade: ROTBH. I knew I wanted it to be female driven, have a story that just didn't centre around a male character, I was seeing too many of that on screen. But in order to have a female character play the part I wanted her to portray, I knew they would have to go through a vigorous training regime in order to look the part and believable on screen. Jet, play by Bridget Mae is the strong silent type but yet I needed someone else with that authoritative commanding presence and stature, played by Rochelle Goldman to lead the team. Without knowing this, subconsciously these were the characters and interactions that came up naturally in my storyline.

Below are the criteria for the 'Bechdel' test:

1. That at least two women are featured in the story.

2. That these women talk to each other.

3. That they discuss something other than a man.

There are various tests you can apply to your film to check how it fares on inclusivity and diversity.

WRITING - PREDICTABLE FORMAT - MOTIVATION

Tragedy is always a good starting point that drives the motivation in films to make the audience feel for the main character. But why is it when it's a male character, his family, parents or siblings are killed, and when it's a female character, she's either been attacked, shown as the weaker person or sadly raped in order to gain justice and vengeance. It starts becoming monotonous and you can almost predict what's going to happen in a film of this kind.

DUAL STANDARDS - SEXUALITY

Why does a woman have to always be used as a sexual object, whether it be woman on man or woman on woman. Why should their sexuality have to be displayed in this way. "You never see James Bond used in this way, he seems to always manipulate the women but never the men, yet his chauvinistic sexuality is never questioned." But you can be a female spy and are expected to sleep with men or women to get the job done! Why is this?

OLD FASHIONED ROMANTIC

(A Sucker for Love & Romance at Heart).

Are you one of those that when a romantic love scene takes place on screen, you switch off and think, "Aw no, here we go again!" Do you sometimes feel that a sex scene is just put in there for the sake of it. Are you just fed up with love scenes in general. What's that saying... "Sex Sells!" Why does a woman have to show off her assets in order to create an impact to a film? Debatable I know, but I shall just leave this here for you to contemplate over...

Which leads me into... "I quite like letting my imagination do the work especially when it comes to filmmaking. I would rather create a romance with eye contact and subtle touches and being able to create that on screen is a tactful and creative process in itself." I like to let the audience use their own imagination of what could be, makes it more intriguing for me.

An example of a romantic scene is between Jason Momoa and Amber Heard in Aquaman, there is obviously a romance building between them both and in a scene where they are being chased and fired at, the scene ends where they are holding hands, the camera focuses on that then they pull their hands away. Their romance is their adventure together.

LOCATIONS

Jet Slade: Rise of the Black Hood is set in my home town of Leeds, Yorkshire, UK. I was adamant the outside location shots were centred around Yorkshire. Some of the scenes were even shot in the woods a thirty second walk from my home, York, Leeds City Centre, Brompton and North Yorkshire. Be prepared to do your recce and make sure you do it around the same time of day when you want to film your scene. Locations can look totally different depending on the time of day it is.

I was so tempted to film this scene abroad but I thought, Yorkshire has so many wonderful locations and the scenery of some of it's places are spectacular. Above is a screen grab of lead actress Bridget Mae as Jet on location. We had to hike quite a distance with my filming equipment to this location, it was worth every moment. We set off at 4am in the morning and were filming by 7am, it was perfect, in the distance we thought it was misty but we were actually witnessing clouds above the treeline. This really added to the atmosphere of the scene.

I really do enjoy filming in low light conditions, it creates so many challenges and you learn so much through trial and error. You start to understand lenses and how they interact with the ambient surroundings and their capabilities of what they can produce to enhance your scene. One of my real challenges was to film a location at night, to capture the essence of the lights in the distance. I had no internal lighting to assist me so I had to work out the best way to capture this scene with the least noise possible. I remember going through the rushes and not being happy at all with the footage and finally, on the third run (two weeks later) we nailed it! A learning curve is sometimes through trial and error and when it finally works, the results are amazing.

Below is a behind the scenes look at Ed revisiting a film location where he filmed a scene for Jet Slade: ROTBH. He explains how a location can look totally different and the importance of capturing the shots you need, as it can look totally different if you return to film extra scenes.

CHARACTER DRIVEN

Jet Slade: Rise of the Black Hood isn't just about one character on a mission, it's about the other actors involved and how they all make this film come alive. Their personalities and characteristics that they contribute to each scene makes the film what it is. Casting was so important, not only that... I wanted to give the people involved the opportunity to do something they thought impossible, and that was to star in an independent film without any acting experience whatsoever.

ONE PERSON CAN ONLY DO SO MUCH, "OR CAN THEY?"

Like any film production crew, I set myself individual tasks and roles to do and if you follow me on any of my social media sites then you will have seen some of my behind the scenes posts to do with Jet Slade: Rise of the Black Hood. The whole point about making Jet Slade: ROTBH was to document my journey and also inspire others to follow their dream if they have a passion, and to prove that they could also do what they love. I have had such positive feedback and met some really good people along the way.

"I knew this was going to be a huge task and would I change anything about it?... The answer is no!"

TASKS/PRODUCTION

Below are just some of the tasks I've had to do since the making of my film. Before I even get my hands on the camera and start filming, planning is key. Make sure you plan for your scene.

The two video clips below are of lead actress Bridget Mae and Dean Croft going through the final stages of parts of their fight choreography.

The Process:

Working out and planning the fight choreography.

Plan fight rehearsal with lead actress and go through all of the safety and the dangers that may occur.

(Prior to this, I put Bridget through a vigorous training and body conditioning fitness regime in prep for her action scenes).

Arrange a rehearsal with both actors to go through their fight choreography and scripts

Arrange transport/travel (Picking up and collecting casts members)

Costumes (Some I have designed and made myself)

Script (Writing)

Location (Recce)

Camera Gear/Equipment (Preparation and setting up, checking for equipment faults)

Times/dates (keeping a diary)

Promotion

The two clips are just a small part of a huge scene, organising cast rehearsals and bringing them all together was a task in itself. It took three weekends to film as we only had a small window to film on location due to early nights, not forgetting the script rehearsals with the other cast members prior to this. This is when I start planning camera angles and how I want the scene to look on screen. But it does all come together after a lot of organising and planning. And when everything falls into place "It truly is like magic."

STUDIO

SOUND, SCORE & EDITING

My studio is built up of two sections that work in conjunction with each other. One side (left) is for editing and the other side (right) is for music production.

The Official Motion Picture Soundtrack for Jet Slade: Rise of the Black Hood is complete and is now available in most online music stores.

Click on the artwork below to have a listen to the soundtrack.

Official music video for 'Ain't Got No Love' by Edmahoo_Artist.

S.L.A.D.E PROFILE CARDS

Bridge Mae as Jet

Rochelle Goldman as Chief Garrett

Ewa Magdalena as Natalia

TARGET

I still have a few more scenes to film but due to lockdown filming was put on hold, though this didn't stop me from being productive. I used that time to master my art and can now announce that "Jet Slade: Rise of the Black Hood is finally coming together and will be released this year. It's taken a while but it would never have got off the ground without the fabulous people that have got onboard this project."

see < FULL CAST > list

The making of Jet Slade: Rise of the Black Hood has truly been an experience and not only that, you look at what is in front of the lens in a whole new perspective.

I really hope you've enjoyed reading this short insight into what goes on inside my mind. There are just so many things to think about, but if you plan everything it will most definitely all come together in the end.

Thanks for reading,

Ed.

Jet Slade: Rise of the Black Hood

Written, Filmed, Produced, Edited, Scored & Directed

Edmahoo