After over a month of delays, editing of the film has finally resumed, and hopefully shouldn’t take too long to finish off now. One more scene needs to be edited from scratch, and after that it’s just a case of tidying things up. All of the scenes that we’ve seen so far, we’ve been very happy with, and we’re looking forward to seeing the finished article as much as anybody else.
All going well it should only be a couple of weeks until Gene Genie 2 is finally finished.
This is just a quick message to tell you about what stage the editing is at, well it should have been finished this week with commentary and everything but because computers decide to blow up in your face when you like, this has not happened. Chris Mole has been at work editing for a number of months and he was on a roll as of late with the scenes he’d ticked off, but his computers gave up thanks to the strain probably and so Gene Genie 2 is still not finished, it has been delayed but hopefully this week it will get back on track and finished in the next couple of weeks. Keep your fingers crossed and continue to show you support for the film.
Martyn
This is my first post in a while and it is to update you all on the progress of editing Gene Genie 2 and most importantly letting you know how the film is looking.
If I was Ray then there would be one word to describe how Gene Genie 2 is looking at this moment in time and that word is ‘Cracking’. At this very moment 9 scenes have been put together with two more left to assemble along with the intro sequence and end credits. From the scenes I have watched I have seen something that I feel is going to be very special and is going to be something that I will be proud of for years to come. Each scene by itself could be an amateur film because of the average length of two minutes, this is what makes Gene Genie 2 so special, at the minute with not all of the scenes completed or tidied the length of the film is already 28 minutes! 28 minutes, now that has to be some sort of record, well maybe in terms of Kenton Pupils but it is a good sign nonetheless as I wrote a script I felt was 30 minutes, and because this was my first attempt at writing to a specific length I am very pleased as I have seemed to have done it right.
Each scene is so full of life and energy, the pace at which the scenes go by is great and each person in the scene gives it their all. The film should be completed in a couple of weeks if we stay on schedule and I hope the interest in Gene Genie 2 is still at a high because ‘The Guv is Coming….& This Time, He’s Brought Backup’.
Just a quick post to say that SoleGuv is unblocked at school. I presume that the filters just scan for all the sites powered by wordpress and block them, because they are oviously all bad sites.
*note*
To admins, the admin section is also available. so you can make posts when your bored 
Hello there, this is my first post so bare with me and my attempt to write one of these. For those of you who do not know who I am, I am Marc Hutton and I play three different characters, and also myself. I can reveal nothing of the plot except for the fact I am the villian in this amazing production. I am also the presenter of the Outtake Awards which is feature on the DVD release of Gene Genie, further adding The Zimmer to my repertuar, who is an vain arrogant and pompus American/Canadian interviewer - much like myself! I’m just kidding folks - I’m English/Ukranian (oh yes!).
I have also been a writer and cameraman on several occasions when Mr. Mole was unable to attend because his work or sleep caught up with him. The reason for this is that after being (second) picked for the role, I found that this project was very exciting and I will say I enjoyed it. I wanted to me as much involved as I could, which meant occasionally directing or play the role of Annie or filling in for Gene himself! I personally liked playing all 3 roles for different reasons - The villain role was the best to portray due to the fact that whenever I am asked to play someone, I end up being the jacka*s, so this was easy, which makes me feel kind of like a young Alan Rickman, rather a legend in Die Hard and Harry Potter.
Patrick Howard was a name made up by Greg Harrison aka Sam Tyler, and that just sounded good for a random dudes name, and he is the presenter of the Awards, and this guy is rather full of himself and wants to be in the spotlight, even going as far as interrupting the voice guy! And finally we come to Bruce ‘The Zimmer’ Zimmerman. A name made up this time by Martyn Bell, or as you all know him Gene Genie. The team of Zimemr and Sparks is perhaps my favourite, mainly because they are funny and original. Even though they are vain they still can be very professional, even when some interviewees are unwilling to co-operate (DAN!!) they can still get in some good things.
I really enjoyed doing it, the feature presentation, outtake awards, interviews, behind the scenes, it all. I would like to thank the whole crew for putting up with me. considering, i was in 2 scenes yet I decided to tag along and witness them all yay! There have been talks of a Gene Genie 3, which I am always up for, as are several members, but I would like everyone to get their exams out of the way first as a back up plan incase there acting careers fail (except for Martyn, we all know your gonnna make it!). Thanks for reading my first blog thing or whatever it is, I hope I will be able to write more.
Good Night and God Bless!
Here’s the Gene Genie 2 Behind The Scenes Preview, put together by the Guv himself, Martyn Bell.
The Behind the Scenes Special will be looking at exactly what went on while we were making Gene Genie 2.
Just a quick update on the progress of the film, what’s done and what’s not.
We’re still working on the main film, editing is taking slightly longer than first expected, but we haven’t forgot about it! Give it a couple more weeks, you won’t be disappointed!
We have been making good progress elsewhere however, the Cast Interviews and Behind the Scenes Specials are finished, and trailers for both are available on YouTube, just check out our channel. Alternatively, saying you’re here, you can always check them out here at SoleGuv.com as well.
Also finished are The Gene Genie 2 Outtake Awards, which see the cast nominated for various awards for performances during filming. We decided on this instead of going for a standard conventional blooper reel, as these can become a bit boring after a while, and we wanted to try something different.
We’ll post again when Gene Genie 2 is close to being finished.
Hey hey, so Gene Genie 2 has been filmed and is now being edited into the epic that it is going to be. But Gene Genie 2 isn’t the only thing you can look forward to, there is also going to be a Behind the Scene feature and also a cast interviews feature.
The cast interviews are hosted by the well known duo of Bruce Zimmerman and Therman Sparks, they are very famous for their big egos and also for making Chuck Norris cry. To wet your appetite here is a the link to the trailer for the interviews. Please watch and comment.
Todays date is the 8th April and if all goes as planned (Fingers crossed) tomorrow should be the last day of filming for Gene Genie 2. We have one more scene left to do and then its down to just editing it together and making it look superb (Good luck Chris, I know you can do it). So because tomorrow is going to be the last day that I put on the black shirt and red tie I have decided to look back at the filming of Gene Genie 2.
I can’t remember the exact date when we starting filming but it was a Thursday in late February, which means that the filming has taken about two months which is good in my opinion. The first scene we shot was scene 8, the first part of scene 8 we filmed was inside the car which you will see and this painted a picture of what it was going to be like filming this masterpiece. This simple scene took 25 minutes to film because of the laughter mainly of Daniel Jobe, this was a sign of things to come.
For Gene Genie 2 we tried to make it a big more epic by having a different number of locations which were not just inside Kenton School. We were very lucky to have my dad allow us to go into his pub ‘The Crows Nest’ and film a couple of scenes. This really adds to the credibility of the film, it means we don’t have to make a classroom look like a pub because we have the real thing. We’ve been granted access to different people’s houses and for that we are grateful too, my mam allowed me and my friends to take over the living room for a fight scene (Just providing I didn’t break any ornaments, which I didn’t). Greg’s house was the next stop where we filmed, this was a great location for the scene because the living room was getting decorated and created the perfect atmosphere, although at time the atmosphere turned a little sour because of lighting issues and not being able to see us on camera after 5:30. The other house we attended was Chris Mole’s, we filmed a chase sequence at his house and we were able to make a landmark discovery, Chris Mole has every board game known to man, believe me we played most of them.
Looking back at the filming I can smile because there are many great memories that have come from it, we have been made welcome by so many people, we have been encouraged to make a great film and friendships have been made stronger. This film has been a joy to work on and I am so glad that I decided to write a script called Gene Genie 2 all them months ago.
As I mentioned in my first blog, I played the role of DCI Gene Hunt and so for Gene Genie 2 I would be picking up the role again.
Also cast in GG1 was Greg Harrison as DI Sam Tyler. Greg has been in front of the camera many times for media films and I feel that he really does have an on screen presence. Even when he’s not doing anything you know he’s there. In Gene Genie 1 he was good but (I hope you don’t mind me saying this) I knew he could do far better, at times you couldn’t hear what he was saying and so I felt not only would Gene Genie 1 benefit me by giving me a better performance but it would also do the same for Greg. Greg has everything needed to play Sam Tyler in my opinion, he has the natural disbelief in the things that are happening around him, he brings that feeling of being different to Ray, Chris and Gene. He brings across that he is from a different time and he has a separate agenda to the rest of the team. Greg is also great for the role because he can carry off bright red flares. Well done Greg, style personified in Gene Genie 2.
So who would play the other ever loyal team mates? Who would play Ray? Well the first thing that came to my mind when thinking about casting Ray was, who could pull off a false moustache? Who could carry the demeanour and essence of DS Ray Carling? Well the name that sprung to mind was Jobey, Daniel Jobe to be precise, a long time friend and fan of Life on Mars. In life Jobey is very funny and I felt that him in the role would be pure gold, if you give Jobey good lines from a script then he will do them, but also do them well without even having trained as a performer. When the camera is placed on him there are two things that happen, he firstly laughs a lot, then after he controls himself for a number of minutes or hours, depending on how lucky you are, he will them amerce himself in the character. I also felt that we had to cast someone for Ray that would feel as if they had known Gene for years, someone who has a very tight bond with him, and this is very much the case with me and Jobey. We are very good friends and I feel that when we act against one another I feel it shows, which is what I wanted between Ray and Gene. At one moment I was given another name that could possibly play Ray, Chris Wilson was brought up because apparently he does a good Ray impression, however I had promised Jobey that the role was his, so I stuck to my guns and I am so glad that I did. When you see the film one of the joys of it, is that everyone works so hard to make it good and memorable. Jobey’s performance in the piece will make you laugh and will make you believe in the character, at some moments you might feel like hitting him but on most occasions you’d like to be his friend. Well I’d like to say that I don’t know Ray but I do have the honour of being Daniel Jobe’s friend. The other plus is that he has the perfect face for the false moustache I bought.
Now I concentrated my mind on Chris, now the role of Chris is quite tricky because you have to play it in a way that reminds you of a geeky young child at school who wants to be liked but is a bit shy. Chris is naïve yet lovable and me, Greg and Chris had to find someone who could capture that. Now at first I had no ideas about who could play him, but one of our friends Daniel Curran had been showing interest in what we were doing, so because we know him and because he’s a great guy I offered him the part. Thankfully he accepted, now he hadn’t seen any life on mars and so we described the character to him and we also told him to go away and watch some episodes of Life on Mars and Ashes to Ashes. The good news is that he did and he also got the character straight away, the first scene which we filmed required Dan to say a line that was irrelevant to the situation but which showed his innocence, I won’t tell you the line but when he did it the first couple of times it brought the house down, or should I say the roof of the car. It was brilliant, no it was perfect, so perfect that Jobey couldn’t help laughing at the line every time it was said or every time we led up to it. Dan has listened to every direction I have given him and has performed the role better than I expected, he is very professional and out of all the members of the main cast he is the one that has made the least mistakes, only on a few occasions has he burst out laughing during scenes but when he does go, he goes totally and its well worth seeing. Well done Dan.
So the team was set, we were ready, we had all we needed to begin shooting this epic. It was February and the next questions were ‘When do we begin filming?’ and ‘What do we film?.
Greg Harrison | 
07 2nd, 2008| 