As you may know already City Wild is finished. We have also just got a trailer fresh out of the oven, check it out!

City Wild Trailer from Whackala on Vimeo.

We have started to apply to festivals with it and will let you know where it goes. For our kind and patient Indiegogo supporters we ask for a bit more patience, since the short you funded is now a feature and we’re actively seeking distribution, but there’s a copy with your name on it that we will get to you as soon as we can. In the meantime, we hope you’re happy if you end up seeing it beforehand in a festival or channel near you.

Spread the word and, if you happen to know or hear of a good festival for docs near you, do let us know and we’ll investigate.

We’d like to take this opportunity to wish you the best for Christmas and the New Year. Thank you for your continued support.

Paul and Leticia

Over the last year and a half that we have filming on and off, we have been aiming at getting the biggest panoramic view of the whole park for no budget, which means we have tried it with GoPro cameras from a kite swinging in the wind, a remote control airplane thanks to the Leinster Model Flying Club -more shaky than the kite-, the tallest and newest building at one end of the park -the sloping end!- and finally, yesterday, thanks to the intervention of film participant and continued supporter, former chief superintendent John McCullen, from one of OPW’s hoists, operated by John Butler.

Paul geared up and went up with John, taking the “basket” to its highest point of 29 metres (95 feet or thereabouts) at 3 different spots in the park, two by the Phoenix column. I think we got our panorama this time!

On the final stretch of the road before picture lock, we’re doing pick ups during these two weeks. These are some of the stills of busy park life on a sunny day. Great that the park and amenities within it are getting so many visitors, but there needs to be a balance between usage and preservation!

Well, it’s been a log time since we posted here, although we have kept our the facebook page more updated. And yes, our little short for which we found so much support amongst many of you and which became a feature is now on the home run: we have arrived at a version of the rough cut we’re happy with and we’ll be tweaking, refining, doing some pick ups an finishing for the rest of the summer.

We will have news very soon of how and when you’ll be able to watch it. For now, here’s a still from the opening sequence of the film

Ranger Des Phelan walking by the Phoenix column

It’s the morning after the City Wild Picnic Perk, and boy are we tired. It was a great day, the weather was fantastic and everyone really enjoyed the fantastic food (Thanks to Sarah, Paul, Dan and Augi from Home Organics). We also have to thank John and Karl for opening their home to us for the day.

Leticia seats our first picnic guests

Leticia shows off her pointing skills

Picnic tables

The guests start in on the first course.

Cooking up a storm and hungry people

Sarah & Leticia prep the Bread

Dan & Sarah cooking

Dan put's the finishing touches to the bread

Just a little more Oil....

Augi whips the cream for dessert.

We had a fantastic time at the picnic and unfortunately I didn’t take as many photos as I should have (too much cooking and serving was going on to worry about photos), but from the selection above you can see the Picnic perk went down a treat. We’re going to have a rest today and tuck into the picnic leftovers for lunch.

It’s back to work tomorrow for us and we will keep you up to date with City Wilds progress.

City Wild Crew.

Hello,

Its been ages since our last post, but we have not been idle. Leticia has been editing and Paul & Andrey have been out filming the Wildlife in the park, City Wild is coming together nicely. But right now, on the top of our list is one of the indiegogo Perks “Red Fox” a picnic in the park, September the 10th (Which is tomorrow).

The Victorian Kitchen Walled Garden, one of the Phoenix Park’s hidden gem’s (right beside the Visitors center go check it out), has generously donated lots of veg for the picnic, the rest of the ingredients and the  menu has been put together by Sarah from Home Organics

The walled gardeners picking beans for the City Wild picnic.

I picked up all these wonderful ingredients on Thursday morning

With Less then 18 hours to go we have been cooking up a storm. Paul’s Mum is even lending a hand.

I have to get back to the kitchen, theses beetroots won’t roast by themselves.

The next post will be a picnic extravaganza.

City Wild crew

Hey everybody, 101.94%, it’s not a radio station, (though it could be), that’s how much City Wild raised on IndieGoGo, over its forty five day crowd funding campaign, $7,136. Whoo Hoooo, I need to stop doing that.

We just wanted to thank all of the people who have shared our posts, re-tweeted our tweets and of course contributed, it means a great deal to us.

Leticia is working away on a rough assembly, so we can see what we have so far. We have a few more filming days scheduled over the next two weeks, but we’re pretty much in the home stretch now (fingers crossed).

The next big thing on our list is the “Red Fox” perk, we haven’t decided a date for the picnic just yet, but as soon as we do, we will let everyone know, with plenty of warning too. If you missed out on a chance to contribute to City Wild through IndieGoGo we have set up a PayPal button (It’s just to the Right) so you can contribute directly through this site. You will still get the same perks, and there are still a few places left on the picnic.

We will be updating the blog throughout the editing and post production process, so you can see how we spend all of the GoGo money.

The City Wild Team

We’re very happy

As we have 2 weeks to go and we want as many people as possible to contribute, we’re doing a  City Wild SALE!

These upgrades apply for everyone who has already contributed too:

Pygmy Shrew ($7) now includes a HD digital download of the finished film

Pipistrelle Bat ($20) now includes a DVD of the film and extras.

Grey Squirrel ($35) now includes a digital download of Leticia’s Spanish cooking videos.

Red Fox ($60) also includes the Spanish cooking videos.

Fawns ($130) if you can make it, you’re more than welcome to come to the picnic.

The Fallow Deer Stags get everything anyway, so no upgrade for you!

We hope these attractive offers entice you to CONTRIBUTE, and, if you’ve already contributed, that they move you to spread the word.

Many thanks,

The City Wild team

Have a read and give us your feedback. If you’re trying to crowdfund a project yourself we’d love to hear what’s working and not for you, and if you want to tell us about anything else in relation to what we’re doing, get in touch, we’d love to hear from you.

Here at City Wild / Whackala HQ, we have been hard at work; campaigning, emailing, blogging, facebooking, tweeting… Oh, and filming, of course, all the things you have to do in today’s, modern world of independent filmmaking. It’s going well, thanks for asking. We’re just about at the 50% mark of our fundraising campaign (we’re actually at 48.27% Dont believe me! have a look for yourself), which is no mean feet. But we just wanted to say a special thanks to one of the cast of City Wild, Brendan Costello, “Thanks Brendan”. Not only is he featuring in the film, he’s fast become our biggest grassroots campaigner and production co-ordinator. Brendan has been talking about City Wild to his friends and cohorts, telling them all about the project and the fundraising campaign, and a few have wanted to contribute. Not one to let a opportunity pass him by, Brendan has stuck out his hand and passed the cash to us online. On top of his continued campaigning he has helped us organise introductions and interviews, which honestly, without his help wouldn’t have happened.

The staff in the Phoenix Park work tirelessly throughout the year to manage and protect the park so that you and I can use it when ever we want, (except when The queen visits, but that’s not going to happen again for ages). To have a couple of filmmakers popping in and getting in the way can be a little bit of an annoyance, but the entire staff have made us feel welcome and have been incredibly helpful and accommodating with us, as we have been filming over the last few weeks.

From happy filmmakers, thanks.