Directors Notes is a weekly podcast dedicated to giving a voice to independent filmmakers, covering aspects of filmmaking from concept to completion. The podcast will be an opportunity for featured directors to discuss how they developed their initial ideas managing to navigate pitfalls along the way. We are doing this because we are passionate about good filmmaking and spreading the word as far as possible. Every year there are 100s of great features, shorts, documentaries, music videos, animations and art films from around the world that don’t get the exposure they deserve…it’s our job to make obscurity a thing of the past, one film at a time.

Who Are We?

MarBelle has spent lots of time dabbling with filmmaking projects, none of which he has ever been happy with. What he is happy doing is watching everything he can get his hands on and finding jobs that give him a legitimate excuse to drill filmmakers about why their films are better than his. Some of these jobs have included Editor of Shooting People’s UK Filmmakers Bulletin and Features Editor of Showreel magazine.

Favourite film moments include: the final minute of The Graduate - what the hell are they gonna do now? Christina Ricci’s Buffalo 66 tapdance - she’s got the rhythm, and Rebecca De Mornay’s obsession with choo-choo trains in Risky Business - “The time of your life, huh, kid?”

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Miss D has never made a film in her life, but is very good at watching them. Favourites include Annie, La Haine, Manhattan, Morvern Callar, True Romance, and anything British set on a council estate. She wrote about representations of the other and refugees on screen for her MA dissertation which turned out surprisingly good in the end.

There are lots of things that Miss D likes besides films - shoes (especially flip flops), and dogs (especially greyhounds), to name just a couple.Miss D is also quite partial to sucking sponge at the moment.

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El Vez is in the building! Labelled by many as a geek for his addiction to film, animation and t’internet, El Vez has known the DN Crew for far too long…just proving that geeks (or nerds as I prefer) do hunt in packs.

Currently working at Luton University teaching the yoot all things media. In the past El Vez has thrown his weight into short films, animation and web projects and has worked on projects for The BFI, BT and Luton Town FC to name a few.

“I must create a system or be enslaved by another man’s. I will not reason and compare; my business is to create.” - William Blake

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redazril is a male 30 something. He spends far to much time on the internet. He has a blog but no-one looks at it. redazril has found some sites that MarBelle thinks are cool. redazril now needs to find many more sites for MarBelle.

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Jan is the tallest documentary director you know. An avid musician, and animator, Jan turned his manipulation skills from plasticene to humans, striving to combine animation within his factual work. A short stretch in prison for manhandling his contributors, woke him to the possibilities of documentary as a medium to be creative without too much intervention. Jan is currently working on his first feature length documentary, his second album, and his third child.