- Adam Nelson was born in Portsmouth, United Kingdom, and started his filmmaking and writing careers before the age of ten. He would write short stories based on films he had seen and then make stop motion films based on these with his Dad's VHS camera. He studied both film and media studies at A-level and developed a knack for using analog editing equipment to cut short films. He carried this passion into his degree (also in film studies) where he cut a lot of short films for other students. Upon graduating with a 2:1 in Film Studies Adam took to teaching in order to share his knowledge with others. It was whilst teaching BTEC film production and running the media department at a large further education college that Adam took to directing.
His first short film The House Near Apple Park was made for no money and was devised solely to see if he could direct a piece of his own work. The film went on to garner positive reviews in the early days of #filmtwitter and inspired Adam to develop his first feature film. Little Pieces was shot during the summer of 2013 for a small budget of £6000 and with a team of dedicated cast and crew. Adam carried the edit on throughout the following year, still whilst teaching film production, and finally completed the film in February 2015. The film premiered at the Institute of Contemporary Art in April 2015 and went on to play at film festivals around the world and garnering largely positive reviews. In 2016 the film was nominated for a National Film Award alongside films such as The Danish Girl, Macbeth, and 45 Years. As of 2017 Little Pieces has been available to stream on Amazon Prime.
After the success of Little Pieces, Adam received private investment to fund his short film Emotional Motor Unit. His first truly professional production, Emotional Motor Unit was completed in September of 2016 and toured the world playing at festivals, winning a multitude of awards and garnering near-universal positive reviews. The success of Emotional Motor Unit led to Adam being hired to write the screenplay for Lost Seoul, the true story of Jin Stearns, alongside Director Jane Gull.
Adam partnered with Pastel Wasteland to develop a segment for the horror anthology I Am An Addict and has gone on to develop a second anthology idea with Rob and a group of upcoming writers.
Adam's latest work is the thriller The Mire. A film exploring how charismatic characters can manipulate people explored through the journey of a cult leader attempting to flee with money he has stolen from his followers.
Adam continues to run his production company Apple Park Films ltd and work with upcoming filmmakers/writers to develop projects. He is a big supporter of regional filmmaking and wants to develop filmmaking outside of the larger metropolitan cities.- IMDb Mini Biography By: Adam Nelson
- Extreme Close Ups of Eyes and Hands
- Sparse use of score.
- Resides in Portsmouth, United Kingdom.
- Plays drums and guitar.
- Favourite films include: Once Upon a Time in America, Jaws, Blade Runner, Let The Right One In, Amelie, Heat and Sin City.
- Favourite bands include: Nine Inch Nails, Pearl Jam, The National, Radiohead and Pink Floyd.
- Taught film making in Guildford before and after making Little Pieces.
- Everything I know about film-making I learned from watching John Carpenter movies.
- I'm attracted to working in behavioural schools and pupil referral units because people who do bad things are far more interesting than those who do the right thing. You always know what a good person is going to do, they're predictable; people who do bad things on the other hand can go either way, and sometimes they surprise you and do the right thing. Just because someone does bad things doesn't mean they're a bad person and incapable of doing good things. I try to bring that thinking to my characters when writing.
- I want to make commercially viable films that people get to see. I love film as a medium and so I'm not opposed to making small, contained films that focus on character and drama. At the same time, I would be lying to you if I said that I didn't also really want to make big action films where things blow up.
- I'm a big believer in localised film-making. I know Portsmouth, I grew up here, I know what it's like and I can tell a story here and know the environment and the place. If I was to a make a film in London, for example, it would be just in the same old place everyone always sees because that's all I know.
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