Film4 and Warp Films release Shynola's first short film online

20 June 2013

Dr. Easy – the first short from acclaimed music video directing team Shynola – will be released online at 1pm on Friday 21st June, the day after its world premiere at Edinburgh International Film Festival.

Starring Tom Hollander alongside Dr. Easy, a medical robot voiced by Geraldine James, the short is adapted from Matthew De Abaitua’s novel The Red Men, set against a pervasive and Orwellian vision of contemporary society: surveillance, automation, biotechnology, and their implications for our humanity.  The film has been written and directed by Jason Groves, Chris Harding and Richard Kenworthy (Shynola).

Michael (Tom Hollander) is a broken man with a gun, surrounded by armed police. A robot with a medical degree is dispatched – but can it save him?

Shynola have created films for bands such as Radiohead, Coldplay, Beck, Blur and Queens of the Stone Age.  They are responsible for the titular guide in Garth Jennings’ 2005 film version of the Douglas Adams classic The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy, the title sequence for The IT Crowd, and the eye-popping title sequence for Edgar Wright’s Scott Pilgrim vs The World.  Dr. Easy is their first short film, and is a prologue for a planned feature adaptation of The Red Men. 

Dr Easy is produced by Ally Gipps for Warp Films and developed and financed by Film4 with VFX/CGI by Jellyfish Pictures.

Dr. Easy will be available to view online from 1pm on Friday 21st June at: www.created-to-help-you.com

To coincide with the release of Dr Easy, a new edition of The Red Men by Matthew De Abaitua will be published for the first time in e-book by Gollancz on 13 June 2013.

Dr. Easy premieres at the Edinburgh International Film Festival at 4pm today (Thurs 20th June) in the Shorts section.

For images, further info, interviews please contact Lyndsey Honour / lhonour@channel4.co.uk

Further info on Dr Easy at http://blog.film4.com/

 

Editor’s Notes

About Film4
Film4, headed by Tessa Ross, is Channel 4 Television’s feature film division. Film4 develops and co-finances films and is known for working with the most innovative talent in the UK, whether new or established.

Alongside developing and financing features, Film4 backs a number of short films each year, enabling new and up-and-coming filmmaking talent to hone their skills or explore a story idea with the support of an established production team.  Previous shorts supported by Film4 include Martin McDonagh’s Academy Award-winning Six Shooter, Paddy Considine’s BAFTA-winning Dog Altogether, John Maclean’s BAFTA-winning Pitch Black Heist, Sam Taylor Wood’s BAFTA and Palme D’Or nominated Love You More and Fyzal Boulifa’s BAFTA-nominated The Curse, which won the Illy Best Short Film prize at Cannes 2012.

Launched in 2011, Film4.0 is a talent and idea driven hub within Film4 that works with emerging and established talent, supporting them to tell unique stories and connect with audiences in new ways.   As part of this innovation Film4 have been working with filmmakers to release their shorts online as soon after completion as possible, some exclusively or at the same time as their festival premiere. Shorts to have been released in this way already include Peter Straughan's Gee Gee, Catherine Shepherd's See Me and Kibwe Tavares' Jonah.

For further information visit www.film4.com/productions
Follow @Film4Insider

 

About Warp Films
Warp Films is one of the UK's most acclaimed independent film production companies, and is based in Sheffield & London. Their first film, shot in 2002, was Chris Morris' BAFTA winning short My Wrongs #8245-8249 & 117. Soon after, Warp Films' debut feature Dead Man's Shoes was released. Warp Films expanded in 2006 with Warp X, the low budget digital 'studio'. The company's breakthrough came in 2007 with Shane Meadows' This Is England which won a flurry of awards including Best Film at the British Independent Films Awards, the Special Jury Prize at Rome Film Festival and Best British Film at the BAFTAs. At the same ceremony Paddy Considine's Dog Altogether won the best short film BAFTA. This Is England was followed by the sequels This Is England '86 & '88 for Channel 4.
In the last five years the company has gone from strength to strength, other films to receive awards and critical acclaim include Chris Morris' debut feature Four Lions, which won the 'Outstanding Debut' BAFTA award, Richard Ayoade's debut feature Submarine (BIFA for Best Screenplay), the 2011 Warp X productions Kill List, written and directed by Ben Wheatley, Paddy Considine's Tyrannosaur (BAFTA for Outstanding Debut) and Peter Strickland's Berberian Sound Studio; from Warp Films Australia, Justin Kurzel's Snowtown (4 Australian Academy Awards). Lynne Ramsey's short Swimmer recently won a BAFTA, while Paul Wright's For Those in Peril has recently premiered at Cannes Film Festival and Shane Meadow's contemporary documentary about the reformed The Stone Roses has just gone on nationwide release.
Upcoming projects include Southcliffe directed by Sean Durkin & written by Tony Grisoni' produced for Channel 4; and Yann Demange's Northern Ireland set thriller '71.

 

About Shynola

Jason Groves, Richard Kenworthy and Chris Harding formed Shynola at art college in the late 90s and are a directing team renowned for their extraordinary work that combines live performances and imaginative computer animation.  They’ve created films for bands such as Radiohead, Coldplay, Beck, Blur and Queens of the Stone Age, and for brands such as Nike, Orange and Honda.

They were responsible for the titular guide in The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy (2005), the title sequence for The IT Crowd and worked with Chris Morris and Charlie Brooker on Nathan Barley.  They also devised the title-sequence for Edgar Wright’s Scott Pilgrim vs The World.

Shynola have received scores of industry accolades: D&AD, Edinburgh Film Festival, MTV, NME Brats and numerous UKMVA awards including Video of the Year and Best Director.

 

About Jellyfish Pictures

Jellyfish Pictures are a BAFTA and VES award winning VFX company. In recent years they have established a reputation for producing world class creature, character and VFX work with an emphasis on creative excellence. With a capacity for over 70 artists and viewing cinema for 20 Jellyfish have the capability of taking on high end long from projects as well as the smaller boutique type work. The range of recent credits include the 6 part series Planet Dinosaur for BBC One (VES nominated), Inside the Human Body for BBC One (for which they were EMMY and BAFTA nominated), associate producers and creature work on the Kibwe Tavares short Jonah (selected for Sundance 2013), all the VFX and creature work on the Samsung Ecobubble commercial that has attracted in excess of 15 million youtube views, VFX on the Jason Statham movie Hummingbird, the BBC film Challenger with William Hurt, development work on several movies including a highly ambitious new Gareth Edwards film  with MRC in the US, and a new Ben Wheatley creature film - Freakshift .

For further information visit: www.jellyfishpictures.co.uk