Gifted Babies Produced Films
( starting from the newest )
Milton Murder Mystery
| Directed / Written by: |
Jan Hayes |
| Co-Directed / Co-Written by: |
Cethan Leahy Aida Whooley Hayret Abdula |
| Edited by: | Jan Hayes |
| Starring: | Jan Hayes Cethan Leahy Hayret Abdula Aida Whooley Milton the Cat |
| Release Date: | September 9th 2009 |
| Link: | Vimeo |
Plot Synopsis: Borrowing heavily from A House on Haunted Hill, MMM tells the story of 4 Welsh people are given the opportunity to win themselves an apartment provided they stay the night there with the previous occupant’s cat. Contains: Mystery, Murder and Milton
Jan’s Production Notes: After True Love Leaves No Traces was planted online soon after it received a very positive reception from the general public i.e family and friends. On a high, we were intent on making another film for the summer of 08. So I wrote Let The Sleeping Cat Lie, a story about a policeman who one day receives a mysterious parcel containing a narcoleptic cat who turns his life upside down as he befriends his miserable wife and initiates a vendetta against our hero with a string of murders that he frames him for. Unfortunately the script was far too ambitious and long ( 35 pages ), the casting fell apart so in the end the project was eventually shelved. Several days later we started to shoot Milton Murder Mystery with nothing but a vague story idea to work with. Most of the dialogue that was uttered in the footage was clearly made up on the spot since we knew it was going to be dubbed in post production. We spent a good 3 tough days shooting and re-shooting . The next 16 months was spent shooting and re-shooting small clips of just myself and Cethan but a good portion of the work was involved in audio synchronization, dubbing and Foley work so 99% of the sound you hear from the film is not from the footage but recorded months later. This was by far the most taxing film I’ve ever had to edit and produce.
Undead Wear Red
| Directed / Written by: |
Hayret Abdula |
| Edited by: | James Sullivan |
| Starring: | Jan Hayes Cethan Leahy Hayret Abdula Aida Whooley Fabien Sweeney Noel O’Reagan Gillian Madden Fiona Riordan |
| Release Date: | August 2009 |
| Link: | Vimeo |
Plot Synopsis: After being thrown out of his old apartment, Detective Tom Havenbrook is in dire need to earn his keep with a new case, even if it involves the Walking Undead.
Jan’s Production Notes: Fabian and Cethan put on a great performance, likewise can be said about the other lads. Shot in April and sometime in July the film was finally edited and finished shortly before it’s premier in August 16th. Aside from some camera work and acting I had little involvement in this production.
Cork Christmas Carol
| Directed / Written by: |
Cethan Leahy |
| Edited by: | Jan Hayes |
| Starring: | Jan Hayes Cethan Leahy Hayret Abdula Aida Whooley |
| Release Date: | December 23rd 2008 |
| Link: | Vimeo |
Plot Synopsis: A modern day re-telling of Charles Dickens classic which takes in the heart of Cork City and this time done in the perspective of the 3 ghosts.
Jan’s Production Notes: It was Cethan’s dream to make a Christmas Special, he had woken up in the middle of the night and started writing a story from thin air and finally written the first draft for CCC. Myself and Cethan spent several weeks on pre-production on the film, doing test shots, preparing special effects, planning and constantly rewriting the script. It was shot and edited within the space of a week. It was a tough production due to the timing constraints we enforced on ourselves but we managed to get it on the website before the 24th. This was to be the first film that was shot on the new Mini-DV camera, Canon GL2. My favorite bit has always been the sing-a-long ending.
Bad Vibrations
| Directed / Written by: |
Hayret Abdula |
| Edited by: | Jan Hayes |
| Starring: | Jan Hayes Orla Kelly |
| Release Date: | September 2008 |
| Link: | Vimeo |
Plot Synopsis: The Man in the relationship finds out the greatest obstacle to doing the deed lies inside his Girlfriends drawer.
Jan’s Production Notes: This one was shot in early September as part of the Depict! 90 second film competition. Since we agreed at the time that each of us should take a turn in sitting on the Director/Producer/Writer chair, it was to be Hayret’s go for this round. For reasons beyond obvious I cringe whenever I see this.
Trippers Through Time
| Directed / Written by: |
Cethan Leahy |
| Edited by: | Jan Hayes |
| Starring: | Jan Hayes Cethan Leahy Hayret Abdula Aida Whooley |
| Release Date: | May 2008 |
| Link: | Vimeo |
Plot Synopsis: 3 Cork friends are sent back in time to the 1950’s. Through ingenuity and some forward knowledge, they decide on their future in the past.
Jan’s Production Notes: Made for the Bangor Film Festival. Cethan Leahy’s first film made since Friend of a Friend. Made the space of 48 hours, TTT received a somewhat lukewarm response, although the ‘Missing Car Park’ gag seemed to have gotten a very good reaction and Hayret got 2nd place for Best Actress.
True Love Leaves No Traces
| Directed / Written by: |
Jan Hayes |
| Edited by: | Jan Hayes |
| Starring: | Jan Hayes Cethan Leahy Hayret Abdula Aida Whooley Milton the Cat |
| Release Date: | March 2008 |
| Link: | Vimeo |
Plot Synopsis: A romantic evening in an apartment is suddenly spoiled when the furry little flatmate decides to intervene.
Jan’s Production Notes: This film was made for a college assignment as part of the Interactive Media course in UCC. Originally it was supposed to feature a much larger cast and intended to be the Worksheets reunion that we wanted to have. Alas we only ended up with half the crew. This was to be the first proper Gifted Babies production with a story. This was also Milton’s debut film. The majority of the shoot was done in a single evening, cutaway and various close ups were done later by myself with the help of Cethan and Rieke. Generally it was very well received although the only complaint was made about the poor dubbing. That was intentional by the way 
.
Worksheet
| Directed / Written by: | N/A |
| Edited by: | Jan Hayes |
| Starring: | Jan Hayes Cethan Leahy Hayret Abdula Aida Whooley Shane Grainger David Phelan, Andrew Mills The Voice of Aidan Sliney. |
| Release Date: | October 2007 |
| Link: | Vimeo |
Plot Synopsis: N/A
Jan’s Production Notes: This was the film that pretty kick started this collaboration of a bunch of old UCC students. A band of wannabe film makers got together in an attempt at making a film as part of a 24 hour competition with a given theme. We had two teams from the same group signed up for the competition so we had two themes to work with, one called Worksheet and the other being A need to comment, guess which one we tried filming? We ended up only coming up with bits and pieces and overall we gave up on the project. It seemed that our rag-tag merry group weren’t up to the task of getting it done but at least there was enough random footage available to piece together a film that captures the art of procrastination. This is the film where the Gifted Babies group got it’s name from and it shall always have a warm place in my heart.
