A Lonely Sky is a short film written and directed by Nick Ryan. In 1947, a test pilot who will risk his life to break the sound barrier, is forced to question his reasons and abilities by a strange yet familiar man.
Also produced by Nick Ryan of Image Now films, and co-produced by Seamus Byrne of Zanita films. Starring Keir Dullea (2001, A Space Odyssey, The Good Shepherd), Paudge Behan (Veronica Guerin), Padraic Delaney (The Wind that Shakes the Barley, Legend), Sean Hanrahan, David Layde and Garvan McGrath.
I’m a commercials director here in Ireland, and I was lucky in that I could call on a lot of favours to make the film. I owe a lot of favours back now. Everyone put in a great deal of work and put up with me being very particular in the details, and I couldn’t have asked for a better cast and crew. People always say that, I guess, but given that no-one was actually getting paid, I think that really counts for something.
My approach to the film in both the live action and the CGI(Computer Generated Imagery) flight sequences was to be quite traditional. I tended to avoid moving the camera in any fashion that wouldn’t be possible in the real world. With CGI, there is a tendency to fly cameras all over the place, because you can.
There is approximately 5 minutes of entirely CGI effects in the finished film of 10 minutes. This was all completed at HD resolution (1920x1080) for projection in theatres. I completed all the effects work in the film by myself, with plenty of moral support from everyone here at Image Now, to stop me from going completely crazy.
A Lonely Sky won best film (production and post production) at the DMA's (Digital Media Awards), in Dublin in February 2007. Here is a picture of myself and Seamus accepting the award from Jeremy Biggerstaff, General Manager, UTV internet.Also the film is also in competition at the 7th Belfast Film Festival, from the 22nd of March until the 1st of April 2007.
Dublin-based director Nick Ryan’s new short film, “A Lonely Sky” strikes a chord with me.My brother, father and grandfather are all pilots, so I grew up hearing stories about test pilots and their daring feats of high-altitude, high-speed craziness.
But even if you don’t have a familial connection to flying, the film’s site and trailer are definitely worth a gander.
Here’s some info from Nick:
‘A Lonely Sky’ stars Keir Dullea (2001, A Space Odyssey, The Good Shepherd), Paudge Behan (Veronica Guerin), Padraic Delaney (The Wind that Shakes the Barley, Legend). I wrote, directed and co-produced the project.
There is approximately 5 minutes of entirely CGI effects in the finished film of 12 minutes and 40 seconds. This was all completed at 2k resolution (1920×1080) for projection in theaters as a scope print. All the exterior/aerial sequences are CGI. I completed all the effects work by myself, with a lot of support from friends and colleagues.
Music is by Nick Seymour (Crowded House) and Sound Design by Gavin Little at Echolab (a Cream O’ the Cropper).
The film’s website has more juicy info, including trailers, a making-of video, production stills and shot breakdowns. Nick had put the entire film online now.The full 10 minutes! FULL FILM ONLINE - April 21st 2007.
If any one wants to download the full film here is the link http://dekku.blogspot.com/2007/04/nick-ryan-lonely-sky.htmlThese are some exclusive screen shots by me.
Trailer
