Godspeed ! you black Emperor

Stop me if i'm getting a bit carried away here but this is a poem that Godspeed ! you black Emperor recite over one of their songs..... it's pretty dark but i enjoy it a lot !


the car's on fire and there's no driver at the wheel
and the sewers are all muddied with a thousand lonely suicides
and a dark wind blows

the government is corrupt
and we're on so many drugs
with the radio on and the curtains drawn

we're trapped in the belly of this horrible machine
and the machine is bleeding to death

the sun has fallen down
and the billboards are all leering
and the flags are all dead at the top of their poles

it went like this:

the buildings tumbled in on themselves
mothers clutching babies picked through the rubble
and pulled out their hair

the skyline was beautiful on fire
all twisted metal stretching upwards
everything washed in a thin orange haze

i said: "kiss me, you're beautiful -
these are truly the last days"

you grabbed my hand and we fell into it
like a daydream or a fever

we woke up one morning and fell a little further down -
for sure it's the valley of death

i open up my wallet
and it's full of blood

The track is called 'Dead Flag Blues' taken from the album f#a#.......

A Silver Mt. Zion Memorial Orchestra & Tra-La-La Band

The wheels are in motion, i have in my arsenal.... one violin player, one guitarist, a pianist and one very talented mulit-instrumentalist / producer and access to a recording studio ! The Holding Pattern sound is about to be created......

I want slow, emotive, semi-classical music for my film. The main inspiration coming from my beloved 'A Silver Mt. Zion Memorial Orchestra & Tra-La-La Band' which i love saying at every given opportunity ! They are a side-project from the members of one of my favourite bands 'Godspeed You! Black Emperor'. Examples of this bands excellence can be found here.....



Thats such an amazing few scenes. The film (28 Days Later) sort of goes downhill after they leave the empty London i always thought. But the music is used SO well, end of the world scenes put to an apocalyptic Godspeed !.... track ! So if you like that i strongly suggest buying every single thing the band have ever recorded ! cause it's ace !

anyway, passionate rant over. A Silver Mt. Zion.... are my inspiration for The Holding Pattern theme (working title). I've never conducted anyone before so i'm quite looking forward to it. If you are interested to see how i HOPE it will sound check out their myspaz.....

http://profile.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=user.viewprofile&friendID=128287312

i saw them at the Rescue Rooms last year and they absolutely blew me away ! Just realised this post has basically been a David Sexton likes.... music post !

End of 2006

Thats it then, i'm back in the C.O.V...... The end of another term. Feels like it's gone so fast i barley unpacked. I did enjoy myself though, probably my favourite term so far. I think it's just cause we don't do anything we don't want to anymore. I enjoy all my modules quite a lot, enough to get me out of bed for 9.00am ! Once again, within a few views of my own coursework i don't like it anymore. I don't know if it was seeing everyone else's in the presentations or if i just over-analyse my work too much, But everyone's their own worst crictic aren't they..... Maybe 2007's new years resoultion will be to make a piece of work i actually like one month later...... we'll see what i can do.

Animation

Now thats it's finished i will now premiere the ident for Channel 27, cleverly entitled.....

DAVID SEXTON'S CHANNEL 27 IDENT !!

For your peace of mind.....

Thats what you call a 15.59 hand in !! got it done in time and it's all handed it. Thats this year's coursework done. Now i can stay up all night again and not have to worry about being fresh faced at 9 ready to do animation...... I'm happy with my animation but the webdesign could have been so much better. I need to sort out my flash skills over the christmas holiday...... this is a little preview of the banner.....

I'm trying to get my animation on youtube but theres a problem with it being an ABSOLUTLEY MASSIVE FILE ! when i've got time i'll re-render it and make it smaller, but not now..... I've just been landed the bombshell of presenting it tomorrow aswell, shit laugh.

Animation Review

So, my animation is currently rendering on the computer next to me. I've got mixed feelings about it. Once again two words come to mind, as they do around this stage of every piece of coursework i've ever done. Time Management. I really need to sort this out, i shouldn't be rendering my work two hours for the deadline, what happens if something goes horribly wrong now ? (touch wood) Or what if the computer crashes, which is has been doing, and i loose everything. This isn't second year behavior, i said i was going to sort this out. It's got 11 minutes left to completion. Just enough to do this........ I'm quite excited about seeing my animation actually. It all started with the brief (as most courseworks do) create an ident for channel 27. Straight away i thought of a house. TV = House. So i decided to create a house for my character to sit in, then i started to think bigger and bigger until before i knew it i had a whole street for him to live on. Then soon a street became a block with flats, fields, fences, alley-ways and lamp-posts. I have given my camera a personality in my animation. Inspired by the work of David Fincher who uses animated camera-work to perfection (ie : Fight Club / Panic Room), my camera flies down the street, through the alley-way and then arrives at the house where the character is changing around on the channels. AND SOMETHING HAS GOT HORRIBLY WRONG !! i've rendered the WRONG prespective !! so unless i want my animation viewed from an arial perspective i'm gonna have to do it again !! No need to worry ! only going to take me RIDICULOUSLY close to the deadline i think i could pass out.... anyway, where was i ? Yeah, using Fincher inspired camera shots we come to our character. Who's changing the channels, stopping on channel 27. I created the sound of the TV by using sound forge and recording different programs of youtube....

I am semi-happy with my animation. I think there is a lot more i could do to it if i had of managed my time better. The funny thing is i did honestly put the time into it. I worked on it every day for two and a half weeks, it was just learning 3ds max again and getting to grips with a new side of the program. I kept the actual animation to a minimum in my ident. I concentrated more on modelling to keep it looking more professional. My next piece of coursework will have more animation in it...... Hopefully with some practise over the christmas holiday on 3ds max i can learn how to animation smoothy. Direction is my only work over the holiday so i think i will have plenty of time to brush up on my 3ds max skills.

2 hours and 31 minutes til render completion. Now two new words come into my head.....

I'm screwed.

Animation Lighting

Today i decided to scrap the depth of field exersize in Animation and just carrying on messing about with lighting. It's quite shocking how you can change EVERYTHING within the scene with your lighting set up. I was trying to build street lamps in the scene Andy gave us and then decided to build my own street with lights and a dark skyline. This is gonna feature in my ident but they'll be no viewing on that until i finish it.....

I stand or fall by it.....

(thud)


original:




After Lights were added :

pretty darkside !

Direction 10 Point Plan

Ten Point Plan :

Ideas of what the film is about and what it means to you personally.

For me, The Holding Pattern film is a story of rejection. Trying to achieve or gain something and not succeeding in your aims. In this case the rejection comes in the form of what I interpreted asylum. Bogdan is trying to achieve British status so he can work or live in the United Kingdom however the government rejects his application and he is sent home. The film deals with issues of loneliness and attempts to integrate into a society or even group of people. I think everybody viewing the film or reading the script can draw upon personal experiences where they have tried to fit in with others who are different to them.

Each scenes facts, images and the question is raises.

The Holding Pattern instantly asks questions from the viewer from the starting scene. Bogdan is stood on the side of the road holding a suitcase and looking at the passing traffic. I imagine Bogdan to be rejected at this point and maybe sitting down staring at noting as the cars fly by. His suit is scruffy the audience is almost feels he has lost the will to make any attempt at his appearance. Already there needs to be some answers, who is he ? where is he going ? why is he standing on the side of the road ? Straight away we are brought back to flash back mode and hopefully by the time we see Bogdan back at the side of the road the questions will have been answered as to why he is there and where is he going. Bringing the government into the film by the second scene gives the audience some clue into Bogdan’s life in the this country. The imagery of this scene feels very alone in my head. I imagine Bogdan alone in this office with the customer service provider manager. The sandwich and drink touch makes me feel sorry for Bogdan, sat awaiting his future with a little pack lunch that he doesn’t want to rush. Maybe due to appetite or maybe due to his financial situation. Sympathy for Bogdan grows as the next scene shows him reading a tabloid newspaper which I imagine to be filled with hatful, bitter comments about ‘thousands upon thousands of illegal immigrants in this country sponging of the great British tax paying family.’ Once again Bogdan’s diet gives us an insight into his life. Plain water and a small pastry for his lunch. The room is very cold and not well decorated, I imagine a small radio next to Bogdan (leading onto the next scene) or maybe a small bed-sit style room. The next scene is the only time I imagine the audience sees Bogdan relatively happy. Listening to the Romanian radio and dancing is Bogdan’s escapism from The United Kingdom. Maybe Bogdan likes the UK ? maybe he is here to try and work to feed his family back home ? maybe he has been forced to leave his country but longs to go back ? The audience is supposed to feel for Bogdan at this stage, everyone can relate to the love of music and to see, maybe a broken, man dancing and genuinely being happy should provoke an emotive response from the audience. However, from that short splash of happiness the film is brought straight back to remind the audience of Bogdan’s outsider role in society as he watches a football game, possibly through a fence. Putting up a literal boundary between social groups and Bogdan. Once again I see the scene as very alone, Bogdan is rarely in shot with anyone else throughout the whole film and when he is he is being told to leave the country. I think Bogdan sitting alone is a very strong image. Sat alone, counting out his money alone, waiting in the office alone, walking alone. It tells the audience in the clearest possible way that this man is not active socialite. I think there is a strong sense of sympathy for Bogdan throughout the film. This is achieved by tiny, subtle actions and mannerisms. When he is standing in line in the office later on in the film he holds his letter tightly, awaiting his sentence almost. Soon he will know how long he has left. Eating his lonely lunch and constantly sitting on his own. The audience should feel something toward him and then by the time the last scene comes and he is hitchhiking his way home hopefully the audience will feel sorry for him.

What the scene is about, it’s emotional event and how the scene fits the story graph of the script.

1.) The first scene establishes Bogdan as wishing to leave where he is now, whether it be to go home, or to leave the city or even the country. I feel Bogdan is thinking about one think and is oblivious to what is going on around him. Bogdan is trying to get somewhere and he obviously has no way of getting there, straight away establishing himself as not very successful.
2.) This scene is integral to the storyline as it gives the audience as clue as to why Bogdan is wanting to leave where he is now. Already you are putting two and two together and are starting to realise that maybe he has had some trouble with the government and must leave.
3.) The first scene we see of Bogdan at home is an important one. He is lonely and sitting alone reading a tabloid newspaper. The scene shows Bogdan in his habitat and establishes the character as not a violent or mischievous member of society but a quiet one.
4.) This is an important scene also. The dancing shows a very humane side to Bogdan that we wouldn’t see anywhere else in the film. It shows him enjoying himself albeit on his own. Maybe the music takes him back to his family in Romania, possibly the reason he is where he is.
5.) Once again, a sense of the outsider as Bogdan is sitting alone, whilst young groups of friends play together in the background. Still we have not seen Bogdan talk or even interact with a member of the public on an unofficial basis.
6.) Bogdan writing the email builds on the alternative personality of Bogdan. Maybe who he is back home. The email shows the audience that Bogdan is not completely alone in this world. He has just been removed from what he knows and is alone in this new habitat. The email works as a face-less companion for Bogdan. His form of keeping in contact with the people back home.
7.) The official letter brings us back to the story of the film having deviated from the reason to why he is here and why he is doing what he is doing. Bogdan has met with the government who have now explained their wishes in this official letter to him.
8.) The official story carries straight on into this scene where Bogdan is going back to the office to argue ? change ? or have the letter explained to him ?
9.) The swimming pool scene could be read as symbolic. Swimming alone ? Isolated from everyone else ? going nowhere ? or just repeating the same thing over and over and over again.
10.) We are brought back to the starting scene where Bogdan is hitchhiking his
way home. The story comes full circle and we now know how he got there.


Possible character objectives and imaginative back story adjustments.

The back-story for Bogdan is open for interpretation, as is everything in the script I feel. The audience does never actually find out why Bogdan is leaving the country, you just assume that he has been told to leave by the government. But why is he here ? There could be political reasons behind Bogdan’s exile and he could be forced back into a much darker story line in his home nation. Maybe Bogdan heard of work in the UK and left his wife and children with the promise he would return with money that will transform their lives. Maybe Bogdan has lived in this country for some time illegally. He does not interact with society because he is keeping a low profile.

The beats of the scene, it’s characterisation and action verbs ideas of how you might work on that beat.

1.) I think the first scene’s beat will be very subtle. Maybe just a look of fed up look or close of the eyes that breaks his stare.
2.) I think the moment where the Customer Services Provider Manager looks at Bogdan before he sits down is the most important beat in this scene. I have always imagined this look to be quite a dirty look. Looking down upon Bogdan.
3.) Hopefully, if I can find the right page in a newspaper I will have Bogdan reading a page on immigration, translating the words with his dictionary then maybe create a beat in his facial expressions.
4.) Maybe have Bogdan tunning in the radio and coming across the Romanian tune making the station find the beat of his scene.
5.) The football game and money scene, the beat is Bogdan’s disappointment after he has counted out his money. Knowing that this is not enough to send back to his family ?
6.) Bogdan could be very happy in sending this email or he could be very computer illiterate and struggling to type this email. I have not decided which yet.
7.) Once Bogdan has read the government letter his look of confusion is the beat in this scene. Disappointment. Confused.
8.) I think at the end of this scene, as Bogdan is waiting to be seen in the queue the beat comes when the person in front of Bogdan moves away and Bogdan is called to the desk.
9.) The beat comes with Bogdan’s relaxed look after his swim.
10.) The beat here comes from when Bogdan throws down his hitchhiking sign and look dejected from the world.

Research you have done and research you have left to do.

I have not started to research the actual immigration system yet. However, I will research the actual process of trying to gain citizenship in this country. How long is takes to wait and how long you are granted minimal residency.

Your plan of what you wish to accomplish.

Hopefully, by the end my film the audience will have warmed to Bogdan and feel tied to him. I think by showing Bogdan’s interaction with the public to an absolute minimum I can portray him as an outsider. I don’t think I will have any voices or talking in my film that puts all the focus on facial expressions. I think with the right music and good acting I can create an emotional scene by capturing a broken man.

Web Design Banner

Adrian has set us the task of making a web banner to promote a company of our choice. This is in for the 13th of December aswell which makes next week the busiest week of my life basically. I've been looking into flash quite a bit recently and yesterday learnt how to make your shapes move on a motion guide around the page..... London's KOKO venue's (http://www.koko.uk.com/new_koko/index.html) website has been my main inspiration for this piece of coursework especially as Adrian pointed out their logo is made up of photoshop's standard shapes (CHEATS !). I'm quite (or quietly) confident about this coursework and am quite excited about what i can make... So for the rest of my Saturday i need to go home, make some progress with my banner, Coventry City to beat Stoke and i'll be a happy man !!

Animation Possibilities

Yesterday we done some work on lighting in Animation. We were set a scene to light however we saw fit. This really made me think about the possibilities of 3DS Max and how detailed you can make your scenes. This is the first work we had done on lighting and it makes the scene ten times better in my opinion and it's such a little thing....

These are my two scenes.....





i like the bottom scene, it looks like a sleazy bar. I think i will make my living room quite low lit with a slob changing the channels...... 3DS MAX scares me a little bit. Just when i think i have some sort of knowledge of the program i realise there are 2000 buttons i haven't even looked into yet...



imagine the rendering !!

Memento

A lot of my friends have been talking about Memento for years now but i'd never got round to watching it, but last night i saw it for the first time and loved it. I've been thinking a lot about my direction for camera film recently but watching this just turned my ideas on their head. I haven't seen such an original piece of story telling for a long time. The film plays backwards from the end to the start and is about a man with short term memory loss trying to find his wife's killer. Because of this there is constant suspense throughout with brilliant little subtleties and backwards explanations. It's another Christopher Nolan film that i have really enjoyed, i like the way he casts a lot of actors in nationalities foreign to their own but always gets a convincing performance from them.

Gnome

Recently in Web Design i have been creating animated banners. This has involved a painstaking process to try and embed the swf. files onto my blog, however ! With trial and error and help from people doing programming i can now show you this.... my Gnome.

Animation Presentation

My animation coursework is in for the 13th of December, the day after my birthday !! So I’ve got to get started with this. The brief is to produce an ident for channel 27. I have decided to build a street in 3DS Max and have someone in one of the houses flicking around the channels. The audio will be heard as the camera goes down the street, and possibly through alley-ways...etc.... until we go into a living room where the person turns on channel 27 causing his house to blow up. Here are some very rough, and quite crude plans.....

After this weeks animation lecture i have decided to look more into the cartoon area. I think i will have real problems trying to create a realistic enviroment, whereas if i go for a more make-believe street with strangely shaped houses it could prove to be more esthetically pleasing......

and obviously i won't just clone the same house twenty times !

My Hard Candy

My interpretation of this scene is not as tight as the actual version. In Hard Candy close ups are almost exclusively used whereas I have chosen some shots from behind the characters and also some tracking shots, which having seen the film, I now realised would have lost some tension. I included to tracking shots because I thought it might give a sense of causality to Haley's performance.

HC Floor Plan

HC Shooting Script

The Shooting Script :


1. Wide shot of Geoff alone in the room, tied to the chair.

2. Shot from over Geoff’s head as Haley calls him from the kitchen. This gives a feel for the size of the room and confirms Geoff is alone in it.

3. Tracking shot coming from the doorway towards Geoff as Haley asks about his medicine cabinet. (Walks in from the door as shown below.)

4. Medium shot of Geoff’s face. Showing to the audience he is confused.

5. Wide shot of Geoff and Haley, from the side, showing how Haley has all the power in the situation. Geoff is powerless.

6. Back to the second shot from over Geoff’s head as Haley walks out of the room to the kitchen. Haley is heard but not seen.

7. Keep that shot until Haley comes back into the room with the drink. As she feeds it to him cut to a shot from over Haley’s shoulder as Geoff eyes widen.

8. Close up, waist height, on Haley’s pocket as she pulls out the vial from her pocket.

9. Pan up as she brings it to her face and mocks concern.

10. Back to shot from behind Geoff as Haley leaves the room again.

11. Tracking shot of Haley going through the kitchen drawers. This is the first time we leave the living room area.

12. Cut back to medium shot in front of Geoff as he asks whether this is some “teenage joke”.

13. Back to medium shot of Haley as she answers.

14. Back to same medium of Geoff as he shouts to let him go.

15. Track Haley from the kitchen back into the living room to a medium shot of her asking if there is anything she should know about.

16. Shot from the open window area, looking back onto Haley and Geoff as Geoff screams for help.

17. Close up of Geoff screaming as Haley’s hand pulls his jaw down and shoots the chloraseptic down his throat.

18. Back to shot from over Geoff’s shoulder as Haley explains how none of his neighbours can hear him.

19. Medium side shot as she sprays him and threatens that next time it will be bleach.

Hard Candy Stills