Jamie Blanks (born 29 November 1971) is an Australian
film director
A film director or filmmaker is a person who controls a film's artistic and dramatic aspects and visualizes the screenplay (or script) while guiding the film crew and actors in the fulfillment of that Goal, vision. The director has a key role ...
and
composer
A composer is a person who writes music. The term is especially used to indicate composers of Western classical music, or those who are composers by occupation. Many composers are, or were, also skilled performers of music.
Etymology and def ...
. He directed the cult
slasher film
A slasher film is a subgenre of horror films involving a killer or a group of killers stalking and murdering a group of people, usually by use of bladed or sharp tools. Although the term "slasher" may occasionally be used informally as a generic ...
s ''
Urban Legend
Urban legend (sometimes modern legend, urban myth, or simply legend) is a genre of folklore concerning stories about an unusual (usually scary) or humorous event that many people believe to be true but largely are not.
These legends can be e ...
'' (1998) and ''
Valentine'' (2001). He later directed the
horror films
Horror may refer to:
Arts, entertainment, and media
Genres
*Horror fiction, a genre of fiction
**Psychological horror, a subgenre of horror fiction
**Christmas horror, a subgenre of horror fiction
**Analog horror, a subgenre of horror fiction
* ...
''
Storm Warning
At sea, a storm warning is a warning issued by the National Weather Service of the United States when winds between are occurring or predicted to occur soon. The winds must not be associated with a tropical cyclone. If the winds are associate ...
'' (2007) and ''
Long Weekend
A long weekend is a weekend that is at least three days long (i.e. a three-day weekend), due to a public or unofficial holiday occurring on either the following Monday or the preceding Friday.
Many countries also have four-day weekends, in w ...
'' (2008).
Biography
He attended film school at
Melbourne
Melbourne ( , ; Boonwurrung language, Boonwurrung/ or ) is the List of Australian capital cities, capital and List of cities in Australia by population, most populous city of the States and territories of Australia, Australian state of Victori ...
's Swinburne Film School (becoming the
Victorian College of the Arts
The Victorian College of the Arts (VCA) is the arts school at the University of Melbourne in Australia. It is part of the university's Faculty of Fine Arts and Music (FFAM). It is located near the Melbourne city centre on the Southbank campus ...
during his three years of study).
The path to landing the directing gig on ''
Urban Legend
Urban legend (sometimes modern legend, urban myth, or simply legend) is a genre of folklore concerning stories about an unusual (usually scary) or humorous event that many people believe to be true but largely are not.
These legends can be e ...
'' began with Blanks receiving the screenplay for ''
Scream'' – called ‘Scary Movie’ at the time – from a manager who had seen his student film.
“I didn’t get the job, obviously, because I was well outgunned by
Wes Craven
Wesley Earl Craven (August 2, 1939 – August 30, 2015) was an American film director, screenwriter and producer. Amongst his Wes Craven filmography, prolific filmography, Craven worked primarily in the Horror film, horror genre, particularly sla ...
– deservedly so because he is the master,” says Blanks. “Then I got the
screenplay
A screenplay, or script, is a written work produced for a film, television show (also known as a '' teleplay''), or video game by screenwriters (cf. ''stage play''). Screenplays can be original works or adaptations from existing pieces of w ...
for ''
I Know What You Did Last Summer'', also by
Kevin Williamson, and I thought the only way I could convince producers in Hollywood that I’m capable of making a film is to take the screenplay and try to direct a couple of scenes. Then I had a better idea, which was to make a
trailer – shoot all the money shots, all the things that would sell this movie. And that’s what I did with $3,000 and a whole bunch of friends.
“We shot it on
35mm and it turned out really well. I sent it over to the producer, who was ready to hire me on the film, but the ink had already dried on the director’s contract – they hired
Jim Gillespie to direct that movie. But they said ‘don’t worry, we’ll find a film for you to direct’ and true to their word, nine months later I was offered ''Urban Legend'' based on the strength of that one trailer and student film.”
Blanks credits
Phoenix Pictures, producer
Neal Moritz and his team for taking a chance and providing him with the opportunity, despite his limited experience. “I think they responded to the fact that I loved the genre.
Blanks gave commentaries on the ''Urban Legend'' and ''
Valentine'' (2001) DVDs. His third feature ''
Storm Warning
At sea, a storm warning is a warning issued by the National Weather Service of the United States when winds between are occurring or predicted to occur soon. The winds must not be associated with a tropical cyclone. If the winds are associate ...
'' won awards for Special Effects and Score at
Screamfest 2007. Blanks shot, edited and composed the score for his fourth feature, ''
Long Weekend
A long weekend is a weekend that is at least three days long (i.e. a three-day weekend), due to a public or unofficial holiday occurring on either the following Monday or the preceding Friday.
Many countries also have four-day weekends, in w ...
'' (released on video in the United States as ''Nature's Grave''), starring
Jim Caviezel
James Patrick Caviezel Jr. ( ; born September 26, 1968) is an American actor. He played Jesus in ''The Passion of the Christ'' (2004), Tim Ballard in Sound of Freedom (film), ''Sound of Freedom'' (2023), and starred as John Reese (Person of Inte ...
and
Claudia Karvan, which was released in 2008.
Selected filmography
''Silent Number''
''Silent Number'' was Jamie Blanks' first film. The film revolves around a babysitter as she spends the night at a creepy house during an electrical storm. During the night, she receives a number of telephone calls from an unidentified caller. The voice sounds scared and pleads the babysitter for help. We eventually discover the calls are not coming from any normal source.
''Silent Number'' is available to view on YouTube and can be viewed on-site at the VCA library in Melbourne, Australia. It may also be available for viewing at some other libraries.
Director
*''Silent Number'' (1993)
*''
Urban Legend
Urban legend (sometimes modern legend, urban myth, or simply legend) is a genre of folklore concerning stories about an unusual (usually scary) or humorous event that many people believe to be true but largely are not.
These legends can be e ...
'' (1998)
*''
Valentine'' (2001)
*''
Storm Warning
At sea, a storm warning is a warning issued by the National Weather Service of the United States when winds between are occurring or predicted to occur soon. The winds must not be associated with a tropical cyclone. If the winds are associate ...
'' (2007)
*''
Long Weekend
A long weekend is a weekend that is at least three days long (i.e. a three-day weekend), due to a public or unofficial holiday occurring on either the following Monday or the preceding Friday.
Many countries also have four-day weekends, in w ...
'' (2008)
Composer
*''The Abbarant'' (1991)
*''
Storm Warning
At sea, a storm warning is a warning issued by the National Weather Service of the United States when winds between are occurring or predicted to occur soon. The winds must not be associated with a tropical cyclone. If the winds are associate ...
'' (2007)
*''
Long Weekend
A long weekend is a weekend that is at least three days long (i.e. a three-day weekend), due to a public or unofficial holiday occurring on either the following Monday or the preceding Friday.
Many countries also have four-day weekends, in w ...
'' (2008)
*''
Machete Maidens Unleashed!'' (2010)
*''
Needle'' (2010)
*''
Crawlspace'' (2012)
References
External links
*
James Blankson
Twitter
Twitter, officially known as X since 2023, is an American microblogging and social networking service. It is one of the world's largest social media platforms and one of the most-visited websites. Users can share short text messages, image ...
''Silent Number''(short film) on
YouTube
YouTube is an American social media and online video sharing platform owned by Google. YouTube was founded on February 14, 2005, by Steve Chen, Chad Hurley, and Jawed Karim who were three former employees of PayPal. Headquartered in ...
{{DEFAULTSORT:Blanks, Jamie
Living people
Australian film directors
Place of birth missing (living people)
Australian horror film directors
1971 births