Yesterday, Oli, Tom and myself went into the studio and filmed me messing around with a pack of cards on 2500th of a second shutter speed. I wanted to just see what it looked like. I think some of it looks pretty good, i'm currently thinking about what to do for the ident shots on the actual shoot.
No effort was made to hire lights or no thought was put into what i was doing. This was merely an experiment done in a spare hour.
The bit where i've cut when i hit the lens is QUALITY........ if i do say so myself.
Now if i could only stop pulling that David Brent face......
Tuesday, January 29, 2008
Monday, January 28, 2008
Proposal and Shoot......
So my proposal was handed in today..... This can be found here. Today i shot the test footage as well. The location looks awful but it was only pissin' around with the camera on 2500th of a second shutter speed. I'm just about to have a look at the footage now and see where i go from there......
Sunday, January 27, 2008
Radiohead
I recently watched Scotch Mist by Radiohead (amazing ! i suggest everyone watches it) and saw this video at the end of it.....
this has inspired me to get a HD camera tomorrow and mess about with slowing footage rrrright down for my ident shots in the client project. Simple idea but i think it looks really good...... We'll see. Hopefully, i should be doing it tomorrow and have the results on here tomorrow night.
this has inspired me to get a HD camera tomorrow and mess about with slowing footage rrrright down for my ident shots in the client project. Simple idea but i think it looks really good...... We'll see. Hopefully, i should be doing it tomorrow and have the results on here tomorrow night.
Saturday, January 26, 2008
Documentary Proposal
I am planning my client project proposal following the guide set out by Michael Rabiger in his book 'Directing the Documentary'.
He sets the following guide lines for a documentary proposal.
1. Film statement
Formally declares that the producer is making a proposal and suggests a working title. It briefly indicates the length, defines the subject matter and audience. (Short paragraph of two to three lines).
2. Background and need
Briefly reviews information necessary to acquaint the proposal audience to the subject, lets the reader see why the topic is interesting and why such a film is needed. (This could be two to six paragraphs).
3. Approach, form and style
This explains how the producer will carry out the idea. Where is the drama? Where is the conflict? Where are the emotions and character development? This is the section for the producer to indicate structure. This is potentially risky without full-blown research or “casting”. Nonetheless, it is the most important element in explaining how the producer works. This is not the place to indicate huge amounts of research. Research is needed, in fact extensive research might be needed but research is not a film. The producer at this stage is helping the reader visualize the film. (Two to six paragraphs).
4. Shooting schedule
Basically a time-line. This is actually an optional item that may be included when a specific event is impending; however, most funders want to know when production will start and when the film will be completed. (One to two line paragraph).
5. Budget
Budgets at the proposal stage are simple and in outline form. The producer should be familiar with the funding source in order to assure the budget is appropriate for the source.
6. Audience, distribution and marketing
A filmmaker must know her audience before a film can find distribution. This part of the proposal is a little tricky, particularly for personal documentaries and for those filmmakers who primarily make films for themselves. The proposal reader wants to know how the film will get to your defined audience. If the project is commercial, the reader will want to know how funding will be recouped. In some proposals this element is optional. (two to eight paragraphs).
7. Filmmaker’s bio and letters of support
This can and should include key players. Bios should be brief. These can be included as attachments.
8. Additional elements
Attachments that would be helpful in explaining or illustrating any of the above elements.
He sets the following guide lines for a documentary proposal.
1. Film statement
Formally declares that the producer is making a proposal and suggests a working title. It briefly indicates the length, defines the subject matter and audience. (Short paragraph of two to three lines).
2. Background and need
Briefly reviews information necessary to acquaint the proposal audience to the subject, lets the reader see why the topic is interesting and why such a film is needed. (This could be two to six paragraphs).
3. Approach, form and style
This explains how the producer will carry out the idea. Where is the drama? Where is the conflict? Where are the emotions and character development? This is the section for the producer to indicate structure. This is potentially risky without full-blown research or “casting”. Nonetheless, it is the most important element in explaining how the producer works. This is not the place to indicate huge amounts of research. Research is needed, in fact extensive research might be needed but research is not a film. The producer at this stage is helping the reader visualize the film. (Two to six paragraphs).
4. Shooting schedule
Basically a time-line. This is actually an optional item that may be included when a specific event is impending; however, most funders want to know when production will start and when the film will be completed. (One to two line paragraph).
5. Budget
Budgets at the proposal stage are simple and in outline form. The producer should be familiar with the funding source in order to assure the budget is appropriate for the source.
6. Audience, distribution and marketing
A filmmaker must know her audience before a film can find distribution. This part of the proposal is a little tricky, particularly for personal documentaries and for those filmmakers who primarily make films for themselves. The proposal reader wants to know how the film will get to your defined audience. If the project is commercial, the reader will want to know how funding will be recouped. In some proposals this element is optional. (two to eight paragraphs).
7. Filmmaker’s bio and letters of support
This can and should include key players. Bios should be brief. These can be included as attachments.
8. Additional elements
Attachments that would be helpful in explaining or illustrating any of the above elements.
Thursday, January 24, 2008
Location, Location, Location
Tonight i provisionally booked a location to record some of my client project. With the weather being pretty cold recently i have decided to approach some bars to see if they would kindly let me film in there. I think i'm gonna head up there next week to shoot some test footage and then if it's cool, get going the following week or if not, talk about the possibilities of setting up a lighting corner or something.....
Tom Oliver's Artifact.....
Seems like all the smart people are getting other people to do their artifacts for them !!! Tom Oliver wants a group of people each to write a script for him to make into a film with various people over the internet..... I am participating and this is the brief he set.......
The story idea is as follows. Sarah is a 26 year old single woman. She keeps an online video blog. She has recently turned her attention to the online world for comfort and to look for companionship. She chats to various people from all over the world, however she has never met any of these people in the "real world". She has recently been talking to someone online called Chris. Things were going OK to start with, until Chris starts to act obsessive and intense. What is the story behind the mysterious character of Chris? Do the two characters ever meet in real life? Is there more to them than meets the eye?
The overall style of the film will be a psychological thriller.
The script must feature at least two characters, Sarah and Chris.
and this is my first scene for his film.......
SCENE ONE :
IT'S EARLY MORNING. AROUND 9.30AM. SARAH IS AWAY FROM HER COMPUTER MAKING A CUP OF TEA. HER COMPUTER IS MAKING SPORADIC ALERT NOISES. SARAH LEAVES THE TEA AND GOES BACK TO THE COMPUTER THE SCREEN READS....
Chris1984 says :
no ?
do u think ?
k ?
helloooooooo ?
alone again ?
SARAH LAUGHS AND STARTS TO TYPE....
Sarah_08 says :
i'm still ere u fool. You can get so demanding sometimes.
Chris1984 says :
ohh so u r ere den ? i fort u'd left me
Sarah_08 says :
making a cup of t. Wat wur u sayin ?
Chris1984 says :
i wuz sayin dat i've got 2 much space ere. But it feels gud 2 ave my own place.
Sarah_08 says :
yeah, i wuz like that @ 1st.
Chris1984 says :
u got ur own place ? where'd u live ?
Sarah_08 says :
yeah, got my own place
Chris1984 says :
really ? where ?
Sarah_08 says :
it wuz scary 2 start wit but now i'm fine.
Chris1984 says :
yeah, i'm alone. Need some company.
Sarah_08 says :
don't we all
THERE IS A KNOCK AT THE DOOR WHICH MAKES SARAH JUMP
Chris1984:
knock knock
SARAH STARES AT THE WORDS.
THE DOOR KNOCKS AGAIN
Chris1984 :
knock knock Sarah
THE LETTERBOX KNOCKS. SARAH WALKS SLOWLY TOWARD THE DOOR TIGHTENING HER DRESSING GOWN AS SHE GOES.
SARAH : Who is it ?
VOICE : Royal Mail Miss !
SARAH LOOKS THROUGH THE SPY-HOLE. A MAN DRESSED IN ROYAL MAIL UNIFORM STANDS IN THE CORRIDOR WITH AN ARMFUL OF OTHER MAIL.
SARAH OPENS THE DOOR.
MAILMAN : ohhh i'm sorry, did i wake you !? Sign here.
SARAH SIGNS. SHUTS THE DOOR AND RETURNS TO HER COMPUTER TO READ.....
Chris1984 says :
knock knock ?
Sarah ?
knock knock ?
who's there you say ?
Sarah !
Sarah who you say ?
Sarah reason you're not laughing !?
...... Sarah ? hello ? cup of tea again ?
look i know it's pretty lame up come on ?!
SARAH SITS DOWN A BIT FLUSTERED
Sarah_08 says :
Sorry Chris, mail man. Jessssus, that's so stupid. Anyway, gotta go, i'm late. Speak 2 u 2nite ?
Chris1984 says :
definitely !
END OF SCENE ONE
Don't know if you wanted some little fake suspense or anything early on ? anyway, those are my two cents.
ps : i attempted "internet speak" and it's prrrrrrrrrrrrrrobably the most annoying thing in the world so forgive the inconsistancy of my script. From now on just imagine it's in internet speak...... it won't be though.
The story idea is as follows. Sarah is a 26 year old single woman. She keeps an online video blog. She has recently turned her attention to the online world for comfort and to look for companionship. She chats to various people from all over the world, however she has never met any of these people in the "real world". She has recently been talking to someone online called Chris. Things were going OK to start with, until Chris starts to act obsessive and intense. What is the story behind the mysterious character of Chris? Do the two characters ever meet in real life? Is there more to them than meets the eye?
The overall style of the film will be a psychological thriller.
The script must feature at least two characters, Sarah and Chris.
and this is my first scene for his film.......
SCENE ONE :
IT'S EARLY MORNING. AROUND 9.30AM. SARAH IS AWAY FROM HER COMPUTER MAKING A CUP OF TEA. HER COMPUTER IS MAKING SPORADIC ALERT NOISES. SARAH LEAVES THE TEA AND GOES BACK TO THE COMPUTER THE SCREEN READS....
Chris1984 says :
no ?
do u think ?
k ?
helloooooooo ?
alone again ?
SARAH LAUGHS AND STARTS TO TYPE....
Sarah_08 says :
i'm still ere u fool. You can get so demanding sometimes.
Chris1984 says :
ohh so u r ere den ? i fort u'd left me
Sarah_08 says :
making a cup of t. Wat wur u sayin ?
Chris1984 says :
i wuz sayin dat i've got 2 much space ere. But it feels gud 2 ave my own place.
Sarah_08 says :
yeah, i wuz like that @ 1st.
Chris1984 says :
u got ur own place ? where'd u live ?
Sarah_08 says :
yeah, got my own place
Chris1984 says :
really ? where ?
Sarah_08 says :
it wuz scary 2 start wit but now i'm fine.
Chris1984 says :
yeah, i'm alone. Need some company.
Sarah_08 says :
don't we all
THERE IS A KNOCK AT THE DOOR WHICH MAKES SARAH JUMP
Chris1984:
knock knock
SARAH STARES AT THE WORDS.
THE DOOR KNOCKS AGAIN
Chris1984 :
knock knock Sarah
THE LETTERBOX KNOCKS. SARAH WALKS SLOWLY TOWARD THE DOOR TIGHTENING HER DRESSING GOWN AS SHE GOES.
SARAH : Who is it ?
VOICE : Royal Mail Miss !
SARAH LOOKS THROUGH THE SPY-HOLE. A MAN DRESSED IN ROYAL MAIL UNIFORM STANDS IN THE CORRIDOR WITH AN ARMFUL OF OTHER MAIL.
SARAH OPENS THE DOOR.
MAILMAN : ohhh i'm sorry, did i wake you !? Sign here.
SARAH SIGNS. SHUTS THE DOOR AND RETURNS TO HER COMPUTER TO READ.....
Chris1984 says :
knock knock ?
Sarah ?
knock knock ?
who's there you say ?
Sarah !
Sarah who you say ?
Sarah reason you're not laughing !?
...... Sarah ? hello ? cup of tea again ?
look i know it's pretty lame up come on ?!
SARAH SITS DOWN A BIT FLUSTERED
Sarah_08 says :
Sorry Chris, mail man. Jessssus, that's so stupid. Anyway, gotta go, i'm late. Speak 2 u 2nite ?
Chris1984 says :
definitely !
END OF SCENE ONE
Don't know if you wanted some little fake suspense or anything early on ? anyway, those are my two cents.
ps : i attempted "internet speak" and it's prrrrrrrrrrrrrrobably the most annoying thing in the world so forgive the inconsistancy of my script. From now on just imagine it's in internet speak...... it won't be though.
The REAL First Artifact
Well well, a whole month since my last post. I thought i was staying on top of this.....
After a lot of thinking and discussions about my first artifact i decided to scrap the idea of showing surrealist films and asking the audience to come up with a narrative as, as many of you might know, there IS no narrative to the surrealist films i was planning on showing. So there would nothing to compare the answers to.
I decided not to scrap the film idea completely but time constraints made me change my last artifact. Instead i made ten stills from five different films and asked five volunteers to arrange the stills in the order that they think they were originally in. With this artifact I aimed to test an audience’s understanding of narrative when each is based in their own version of reality or what it is to be real. Each film being set in a different version of reality or portraying different aspects of what is real. The films were Alphaville, Mulholland Drive, Labyrinth, A Cock & Bull Story and Princess Mononoke. Each film’s representation of reality differs from actors talking directly to the audience ‘out of character’ (A Cock and Bull Story) to the audience having to comprehend alternative dimensions (Mulholland Drive) to magical, fairytale worlds (Labyrinth & Princess Mononoke).
It was imperative to the experiment that the audience member had not seen the films before, therefore a handful of occasions a 5th and 6th participant was asked to take part instead of the original five. The participant was brought into a room with a computer. On the screen were ten still images in a random order. The participant was then asked to arrange the stills into the order that they thought told the original narrative. Upon completion they were then asked to type a short evaluation of the narrative they had created.
The film viewing artifact is now in full swing and i have already shown my first film. David Cronenberg's eXistenZ. A film, released the same year as The Matrix (not the best time to release a sci-fi film about reality) which challenges the audience's understanding of reality and leaves them asking questions as to what was real throughout the film. My second film will be a documentary called Malcom and Barbara - Love's Farewell which is a documentary about a man with Alzheimers and the struggle of the both parties as Malcom condition worsens and Barbara tries to cope with looking after him day and night. (Although to be honest, i really don't want to watch this again and it's heartbreaking !!) The film after that will be Downfall. A film about Hitler's final days. My final film will be A Cock and Bull Story. A film based upon Laurence Sterne's novel 'The Life and Opinions of Tristram Shandy, Gentlemen' which was referenced in my essay.
i'll be in touch......
After a lot of thinking and discussions about my first artifact i decided to scrap the idea of showing surrealist films and asking the audience to come up with a narrative as, as many of you might know, there IS no narrative to the surrealist films i was planning on showing. So there would nothing to compare the answers to.
I decided not to scrap the film idea completely but time constraints made me change my last artifact. Instead i made ten stills from five different films and asked five volunteers to arrange the stills in the order that they think they were originally in. With this artifact I aimed to test an audience’s understanding of narrative when each is based in their own version of reality or what it is to be real. Each film being set in a different version of reality or portraying different aspects of what is real. The films were Alphaville, Mulholland Drive, Labyrinth, A Cock & Bull Story and Princess Mononoke. Each film’s representation of reality differs from actors talking directly to the audience ‘out of character’ (A Cock and Bull Story) to the audience having to comprehend alternative dimensions (Mulholland Drive) to magical, fairytale worlds (Labyrinth & Princess Mononoke).
It was imperative to the experiment that the audience member had not seen the films before, therefore a handful of occasions a 5th and 6th participant was asked to take part instead of the original five. The participant was brought into a room with a computer. On the screen were ten still images in a random order. The participant was then asked to arrange the stills into the order that they thought told the original narrative. Upon completion they were then asked to type a short evaluation of the narrative they had created.
The film viewing artifact is now in full swing and i have already shown my first film. David Cronenberg's eXistenZ. A film, released the same year as The Matrix (not the best time to release a sci-fi film about reality) which challenges the audience's understanding of reality and leaves them asking questions as to what was real throughout the film. My second film will be a documentary called Malcom and Barbara - Love's Farewell which is a documentary about a man with Alzheimers and the struggle of the both parties as Malcom condition worsens and Barbara tries to cope with looking after him day and night. (Although to be honest, i really don't want to watch this again and it's heartbreaking !!) The film after that will be Downfall. A film about Hitler's final days. My final film will be A Cock and Bull Story. A film based upon Laurence Sterne's novel 'The Life and Opinions of Tristram Shandy, Gentlemen' which was referenced in my essay.
i'll be in touch......
Saturday, December 22, 2007
First artifact....
After doing my essay i have a new outlook on my artifacts. My first one for the research module is going to be a viewing of Un Chien Andalou the surrealist film referenced in my essay. I will ask five people to view the film and then try write down as much as they can remember from the film. The film was deliberately made with no meaning or structure so it will be interesting to see just how much of the film the audience can remember. There are a few "shocking scenes" which i'm sure will stay in the audience's mind but that will then lead me onto a new area of research into shock television.
I'm still unsure as to have to collect the information. I am thinking about doing a set questionaire.....
Merry Christmas
Made this last night, i done it for business but then made this little personal one.....
it's four layers of different noise and blur in photoshop put into imageready and animated for the snow effect......
it's four layers of different noise and blur in photoshop put into imageready and animated for the snow effect......
Friday, November 30, 2007
Online submissions
well this thing has screwed me ! my file was too big (my fault) so i had to break it down and email it in in different parts, so now i think chapter's 1-5 have been submitted but my appendix i emailed to david downes might not be accepted and my title page, abstract and acknowledgements must just be lost forever !!
why couldn't we have handed in a bound piece of work along with this online submission ? i know about the Plagiarism thing, which i think is a good thing, but now the paper won't be read or marked as a whole piece as it was set out to be, surely ?
don't like the way i could be punished for a computer error, even if it was my responsibility for the file size, but because i've spent so long working on this piece of work i've got a feeling in the bottom of my stomach i could be fucked !
why couldn't we have handed in a bound piece of work along with this online submission ? i know about the Plagiarism thing, which i think is a good thing, but now the paper won't be read or marked as a whole piece as it was set out to be, surely ?
don't like the way i could be punished for a computer error, even if it was my responsibility for the file size, but because i've spent so long working on this piece of work i've got a feeling in the bottom of my stomach i could be fucked !
Tuesday, November 27, 2007
Power Cut !!
Student Living has decided we would benefit from a new kitchen put in half way through term time. I did not benefit from last week without a kitchen and eating take aways every night but this afternoon i started to really play about with the structure of my essay and made some significant changes to it. After a while moving chunks i thought 'i better save this as a new file' quite literally five seconds after i did save my changed the builder's cut off the electricity.
I would have cried......
I would have cried......
Monday, November 26, 2007
Person
This evening i wrote a paragraph linking the work of Salvador Dali to James Joyce via Sigmund Freud.
Sometimes i surprise myself, i really do.......
Sometimes i surprise myself, i really do.......
Thursday, November 22, 2007
Personal Research Project
Recently i have gone through and organised my research into specific areas ready to start my first draft of the paper. I'm behind my schedule at the moment but i've created a calendar that pops up every time i turn my computer on to keep me focused. All green, blue and red blocks telling me what to do and when.
Does the relationship between narrative and reality effect the audience's understanding of the arm form and how important is the value of narrativity in the representation of reality ?
My categories are as follows :
Television/Interactive Cinema :
Pop Idol
Interactive Cinema History
Tony Sherman's Dracula Unleashed
"Culture without Context" - American television consumption
Sex, Desire & Power - MTV Portrayal of women
Samuel Beckett Plot theory
"Blurred world of television"
MTV Influence in editing
Monty Python's dip in and out of character & audience interaction
Computer Games :
Writing interactive media using the rules of the english language
Designers use of the 'verb set'
Writing non-linear narrative
Ancient sources in relation to contemporary linear stories
Case study : Nancy Drew computer games
Storytelling in games
Full Control in computer games ie : Grand Theft Auto
Computer games to the silver screen
English literature :
Lawrence Stern, William Boroughs, Mark Z. Danielewski
James Joyce - Founder of the hypertext.
Hemmingway & Faulkner in relation to interactive text.
Aristole structure theory
Samuel Beckett - 'Dream state'
"Trappings of the novel" - Robbe-Gillet
Jean Baudrillard - Reality of the gulf war
Drama, Theatre & Arts :
Luigi Piranello - Six characters in search of an author
John Krizane - Tamara
Peter Brook - Experiments in reality
Herzog & Wenders - Influence on MTV
"Pulling film closer to theatre"
Vertov, Bunuel, Dali - Reaction against narrative
Film :
Rashomon
Memento
Dr. Linda Segar - Film & Narrative structure
Classical linear narrative
Cremaster Cycle
"In the digital age, what is real ?"
Jean Luc Goddard
Robert Altman - Nasville
Hyperdrama
Louis Lumiere & George Melies
Creating reality
Dardonne Brothers
Silent Period
Now all i've got to do is structure it into an essay......
EASY !
Does the relationship between narrative and reality effect the audience's understanding of the arm form and how important is the value of narrativity in the representation of reality ?
My categories are as follows :
Television/Interactive Cinema :
Pop Idol
Interactive Cinema History
Tony Sherman's Dracula Unleashed
"Culture without Context" - American television consumption
Sex, Desire & Power - MTV Portrayal of women
Samuel Beckett Plot theory
"Blurred world of television"
MTV Influence in editing
Monty Python's dip in and out of character & audience interaction
Computer Games :
Writing interactive media using the rules of the english language
Designers use of the 'verb set'
Writing non-linear narrative
Ancient sources in relation to contemporary linear stories
Case study : Nancy Drew computer games
Storytelling in games
Full Control in computer games ie : Grand Theft Auto
Computer games to the silver screen
English literature :
Lawrence Stern, William Boroughs, Mark Z. Danielewski
James Joyce - Founder of the hypertext.
Hemmingway & Faulkner in relation to interactive text.
Aristole structure theory
Samuel Beckett - 'Dream state'
"Trappings of the novel" - Robbe-Gillet
Jean Baudrillard - Reality of the gulf war
Drama, Theatre & Arts :
Luigi Piranello - Six characters in search of an author
John Krizane - Tamara
Peter Brook - Experiments in reality
Herzog & Wenders - Influence on MTV
"Pulling film closer to theatre"
Vertov, Bunuel, Dali - Reaction against narrative
Film :
Rashomon
Memento
Dr. Linda Segar - Film & Narrative structure
Classical linear narrative
Cremaster Cycle
"In the digital age, what is real ?"
Jean Luc Goddard
Robert Altman - Nasville
Hyperdrama
Louis Lumiere & George Melies
Creating reality
Dardonne Brothers
Silent Period
Now all i've got to do is structure it into an essay......
EASY !
Tuesday, November 20, 2007
Moby
Well, well, i suppose it's never too late to change your mind on someone. I always thought Moby was a pretentious little idiot (Although i do like Play). But he's recently given away a lot of music for independent film makers to use free of copywrite ! i think that's a brilliant thing to do.....
so go here for free music for your videos
http://www.mobygratis.com/film-music.html
so go here for free music for your videos
http://www.mobygratis.com/film-music.html
Personal Development Planner
Background :
My background is based around the lens. My secondary school was fortunate enough to have it's own photography department with fully working darkroom. Both photography and media studies were offered at GCSE level and i have been involved in the creative process ever since. After passing GCSE level i continued both courses into A-Level and achieved what i still think is the best piece of work i have ever done in the 'creative problem solving' module of my photography course, starting with a standard pin-hole camera and transforming it over many months into a pin-hole lens projecting onto slide film in the back of a camera. I did not drop one mark in the examiner's marking and would love to achieve the same at a higher level. In the summer after my first year in multimedia production i applied for work experience at the photography studios Venture in Coventry. As my sister working at the studios i was granted a few months work experience sitting in with clients on the shoots, taking the occasional picture and learning the techniques in photoshop to make everybody look beautiful. It was in this summer a handful of my friends in coventry set up a mixed media arts group called Dialectic. This group was started by a few friends as a way to showcase all of our work. It has been active for four years now and i have always used it as a way to show my work to the public. Both university work and other extracurricular activities. Being involved with creative people has allowed me to work on other projects including a road safety video for coventry city council and countless university projects for my friends. I feel my strengths are photography, cinematography and video editing. However, part of video editing is audio which is one of my weak points. My knowledge of audio has hindered some of my previous work and it has not been as well as it could have with the correct audio.
Transferable Skills :
I have completed the VLP skills record which can be found here
Learning Style :
My learning style record can be found here
Goals :
As i have stated in the previous post, last year i set myself the very basic goal of completely a piece of coursework i would be proud of in months to come. So far, i have discredited 90% of my university work. I feel that as i improve in the area, i am embarrassed by the standard of the previous work. I realise that this is the nature of improvement and as i improve i should see the previous work as a stepping stone to the standard i am at now. I always think that you are not learning 100% until you are actually doing it yourself. First hand. Most of my knowledge has come from 'learning as i go'. Of course, i have done tutorials of the software....etc.... but nothing can prepare you for the first time you are attempting a piece of work without the aid of an american voice guiding you with his mouse to which buttons to click. Going back to the 'learning styles' section, i sometimes wish i could re-shoot entire projects when i'm looking at them in the edit. I think once you start to edit together the piece of work you really see all the pros and cons . This may be a goal in the future, to do full run through, dress rehearsal shoot and film it. So i know exactly what to improve or add in on the actual shoot. Once again, i come back to these two words. 'Time Management'. Another goal is to really do my research on audio. Maybe really get to grips with audacity or soundforge. As mentioned in the post below i also plan to master 'Motion'. The possibilities are endless with this program and could really be the difference between marking classifications at the end of the piece of work. Also, i have recently acquired 'Apple Colour', a colour grading program. I rushed through a few scenes on my client project correcting the colours but if i knew the program better i could have done the whole film. This is another goal i am setting myself before 2008.
My background is based around the lens. My secondary school was fortunate enough to have it's own photography department with fully working darkroom. Both photography and media studies were offered at GCSE level and i have been involved in the creative process ever since. After passing GCSE level i continued both courses into A-Level and achieved what i still think is the best piece of work i have ever done in the 'creative problem solving' module of my photography course, starting with a standard pin-hole camera and transforming it over many months into a pin-hole lens projecting onto slide film in the back of a camera. I did not drop one mark in the examiner's marking and would love to achieve the same at a higher level. In the summer after my first year in multimedia production i applied for work experience at the photography studios Venture in Coventry. As my sister working at the studios i was granted a few months work experience sitting in with clients on the shoots, taking the occasional picture and learning the techniques in photoshop to make everybody look beautiful. It was in this summer a handful of my friends in coventry set up a mixed media arts group called Dialectic. This group was started by a few friends as a way to showcase all of our work. It has been active for four years now and i have always used it as a way to show my work to the public. Both university work and other extracurricular activities. Being involved with creative people has allowed me to work on other projects including a road safety video for coventry city council and countless university projects for my friends. I feel my strengths are photography, cinematography and video editing. However, part of video editing is audio which is one of my weak points. My knowledge of audio has hindered some of my previous work and it has not been as well as it could have with the correct audio.
Transferable Skills :
I have completed the VLP skills record which can be found here
Learning Style :
My learning style record can be found here
Goals :
As i have stated in the previous post, last year i set myself the very basic goal of completely a piece of coursework i would be proud of in months to come. So far, i have discredited 90% of my university work. I feel that as i improve in the area, i am embarrassed by the standard of the previous work. I realise that this is the nature of improvement and as i improve i should see the previous work as a stepping stone to the standard i am at now. I always think that you are not learning 100% until you are actually doing it yourself. First hand. Most of my knowledge has come from 'learning as i go'. Of course, i have done tutorials of the software....etc.... but nothing can prepare you for the first time you are attempting a piece of work without the aid of an american voice guiding you with his mouse to which buttons to click. Going back to the 'learning styles' section, i sometimes wish i could re-shoot entire projects when i'm looking at them in the edit. I think once you start to edit together the piece of work you really see all the pros and cons . This may be a goal in the future, to do full run through, dress rehearsal shoot and film it. So i know exactly what to improve or add in on the actual shoot. Once again, i come back to these two words. 'Time Management'. Another goal is to really do my research on audio. Maybe really get to grips with audacity or soundforge. As mentioned in the post below i also plan to master 'Motion'. The possibilities are endless with this program and could really be the difference between marking classifications at the end of the piece of work. Also, i have recently acquired 'Apple Colour', a colour grading program. I rushed through a few scenes on my client project correcting the colours but if i knew the program better i could have done the whole film. This is another goal i am setting myself before 2008.
Monday, November 19, 2007
Your Insect's Worst Nightmare
That's that then. Just handed in the 6 week client project. I think it's my favourite piece of work i've done so far. I'll start at the very beginning.....
I had agreed with the costume shop at the top of alferton road to hold the spider costume as i would be coming in to collect it on Wednesday morning. Wednesday morning arrived but upon collecting the costume i was told that my card had been declined. After a short venture into town i found out that my landlord had cashed a cheque for the whole term's rent she said she wouldn't until my loan came in. Making my bank balance look.... well rather undesirable to say the least. Any penny of money i had was out of the window and £50 is a lot of cash to ask to borrow. (£25 deposit. £25 Hire) So it was time to get my thinking cap on. Many phone calls later i had the equipment to make a fly costume, albeit a crude one.
1 x Tennis Ball
1 x Black spray paint
1 x pair of tights
1 x black hat
2 x straws
1 x band of black tape
1 x black gloves
1 x set of bat wings !!
Crude as it is, we done it in two hours. I think it looks alright, but i can't even imagine what it would have looked like if my cash situation had have been better.
Jack was only too happy to don the tights and buzz around the set and for that i thank you Jack Brown.....
The filming went quite well. I had to slow things down a little bit as Tom and Jack were getting pretty aggressive. "Slower, Slower". Once again, i kept thinking about Matt Damon describing his Bourne fights as like "a dance". As i said in previous posts, my knowledge of lighting is not the best so i made sure i read though a few of the old hand outs of lighting a scene before we started shooting and i am quite pleased with the way the scene is lit.
I made a rough edit of the film and this is where the panic hit me ! it looked awful ! because the film is one continuous fight/dance, it was impossible to cut parts of it without compromising the film's continuity. There is a technique used to hurry scenes along where the editor chops out large portions of the take leaving in small, important frames and the audience's brain fills in the rest. One example of this is in 28 days later where a character gets into a car and it jumps from his arm on the door, to the slam of the door, to him with his arms above his head looking for the keys then to him hitting the wheel in flustration the audience does not need to see him reach, only see his arms in the air searching. Inspired by this i began chopping up the edit, concentrating much more on the pace of the advert instead of the continuity.
Here is the rough/bad edit......
At one point, i toyed with the idea of having the fly's point of view as an actual insect eye when finding the effect on Motion. I decided against it in the end for the following reasons :
the shot is too short and would throw the audience
it looked a bit tacky
didn't fit in with the feel of the advert
have a look.....
I am not happy with the audio at all. Audio is NOT my strong point nor my friend. I need to improve on it drastically. Although all of the sound you hear on this was done afterwards. I've tried to make it quite light hearted (think TV Series 'bottom' when the fly gets hit) but i'm not happy with it. Using 'Apple Colour' i tweeked a few off the scenes from really golden colour to match the same as the other scenes. Given more time i would have done them all but am only getting used to apple colour at the moment.... Maybe something to learn over christmas.
Aims over christmas :
Get to grips with Apple Colour
Master Motion
Improve my audio knowledge
Get some good footage for my live client project in New York !!
With the advert beinng semi-graphic in places ofcom could rule a possible water-shed or ban. Throughout my research i discovered that due to today's readily accessable internet and the way the public use video sharing sites, it is near impossible to keep 'banned' material away from the public eye. Take these 'banned adverts' for example. The first being for x-box :
I like this advert a lot, although it is quite graphic in places and could see how some people could be offended before the watershed.
This banned mastercard advert however, was soley made to be banned and gain notoriety and publicity.
If successful, the advert could grow into different fight scenes with different insects. Each getting more and more elaborate as the audience's familiarity grows.
Overall though, i am happy with my video. I've been very keen to get my housemates in to view it and give me feedback with i have been somewhat reluctant to do in previous years. Maybe my confidence is growing. Maybe i'm getting better. Or maybe i've done it completely wrong and am barking up the wrong tree..... All i know is this, if you look back on my older posts you will find one written on Monday 18th Decemeber 2006 and it reads,
"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."
I think i have accomplished that.....
I HOPE i have accomplished that......
You can see the difference in the 'golden scenes' from the rough edit to the final edit. I know what you're thinking, the WHOLE thing is golden David !! well, I mean the colouring in the shots not the quality of it.....
I had agreed with the costume shop at the top of alferton road to hold the spider costume as i would be coming in to collect it on Wednesday morning. Wednesday morning arrived but upon collecting the costume i was told that my card had been declined. After a short venture into town i found out that my landlord had cashed a cheque for the whole term's rent she said she wouldn't until my loan came in. Making my bank balance look.... well rather undesirable to say the least. Any penny of money i had was out of the window and £50 is a lot of cash to ask to borrow. (£25 deposit. £25 Hire) So it was time to get my thinking cap on. Many phone calls later i had the equipment to make a fly costume, albeit a crude one.
1 x Tennis Ball
1 x Black spray paint
1 x pair of tights
1 x black hat
2 x straws
1 x band of black tape
1 x black gloves
1 x set of bat wings !!
Crude as it is, we done it in two hours. I think it looks alright, but i can't even imagine what it would have looked like if my cash situation had have been better.
Jack was only too happy to don the tights and buzz around the set and for that i thank you Jack Brown.....
The filming went quite well. I had to slow things down a little bit as Tom and Jack were getting pretty aggressive. "Slower, Slower". Once again, i kept thinking about Matt Damon describing his Bourne fights as like "a dance". As i said in previous posts, my knowledge of lighting is not the best so i made sure i read though a few of the old hand outs of lighting a scene before we started shooting and i am quite pleased with the way the scene is lit.
I made a rough edit of the film and this is where the panic hit me ! it looked awful ! because the film is one continuous fight/dance, it was impossible to cut parts of it without compromising the film's continuity. There is a technique used to hurry scenes along where the editor chops out large portions of the take leaving in small, important frames and the audience's brain fills in the rest. One example of this is in 28 days later where a character gets into a car and it jumps from his arm on the door, to the slam of the door, to him with his arms above his head looking for the keys then to him hitting the wheel in flustration the audience does not need to see him reach, only see his arms in the air searching. Inspired by this i began chopping up the edit, concentrating much more on the pace of the advert instead of the continuity.
Here is the rough/bad edit......
At one point, i toyed with the idea of having the fly's point of view as an actual insect eye when finding the effect on Motion. I decided against it in the end for the following reasons :
the shot is too short and would throw the audience
it looked a bit tacky
didn't fit in with the feel of the advert
have a look.....
I am not happy with the audio at all. Audio is NOT my strong point nor my friend. I need to improve on it drastically. Although all of the sound you hear on this was done afterwards. I've tried to make it quite light hearted (think TV Series 'bottom' when the fly gets hit) but i'm not happy with it. Using 'Apple Colour' i tweeked a few off the scenes from really golden colour to match the same as the other scenes. Given more time i would have done them all but am only getting used to apple colour at the moment.... Maybe something to learn over christmas.
Aims over christmas :
Get to grips with Apple Colour
Master Motion
Improve my audio knowledge
Get some good footage for my live client project in New York !!
With the advert beinng semi-graphic in places ofcom could rule a possible water-shed or ban. Throughout my research i discovered that due to today's readily accessable internet and the way the public use video sharing sites, it is near impossible to keep 'banned' material away from the public eye. Take these 'banned adverts' for example. The first being for x-box :
I like this advert a lot, although it is quite graphic in places and could see how some people could be offended before the watershed.
This banned mastercard advert however, was soley made to be banned and gain notoriety and publicity.
If successful, the advert could grow into different fight scenes with different insects. Each getting more and more elaborate as the audience's familiarity grows.
Overall though, i am happy with my video. I've been very keen to get my housemates in to view it and give me feedback with i have been somewhat reluctant to do in previous years. Maybe my confidence is growing. Maybe i'm getting better. Or maybe i've done it completely wrong and am barking up the wrong tree..... All i know is this, if you look back on my older posts you will find one written on Monday 18th Decemeber 2006 and it reads,
"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."
I think i have accomplished that.....
I HOPE i have accomplished that......
You can see the difference in the 'golden scenes' from the rough edit to the final edit. I know what you're thinking, the WHOLE thing is golden David !! well, I mean the colouring in the shots not the quality of it.....
Thursday, November 08, 2007
Client Shoot.....
I have put my client shoot off til Monday...... i think it's for the best now but will i come back to bite me in the arse when i want those three days back at the end ?
Monday, November 05, 2007
SPP Setting Goals Presentation.....
My aim is to create a final year piece of work where the style and cinematography is instantly impressive. If this is achieved i hope to go on to work as a cinematographer hopefully working my way up become a director of photography. I feel that my knowledge of the lighting equipment is stopping me from achieving this goal. My past work has suffered due to my inability with the lighting. In The Holding Pattern, a piece of work from last year, a few scenes did not look as good as they could have been due this.
In order to gain more experience in this field i could try and lend my help to as many of my peer's projects this year, helping out on friend's work and offering to set up the shot. Without overloading my own work load, obviously......
People in the industry could help me achieve this goal and gain experience.
If i reach my goal i could be able to create work that is synonymous with David Sexton. One person who i feel have achieved this goal is Edgar Wright. Director of the television series Spaced and films Shaun of the Dead & Hot Fuzz. Below are some examples of his work. There is a consistent feel to all of his work no matter what style.
In order to achieve this goal i must continue with my reading into cinematography and continue to get as much experience as possible between now and the end of the year.
In order to gain more experience in this field i could try and lend my help to as many of my peer's projects this year, helping out on friend's work and offering to set up the shot. Without overloading my own work load, obviously......
People in the industry could help me achieve this goal and gain experience.
If i reach my goal i could be able to create work that is synonymous with David Sexton. One person who i feel have achieved this goal is Edgar Wright. Director of the television series Spaced and films Shaun of the Dead & Hot Fuzz. Below are some examples of his work. There is a consistent feel to all of his work no matter what style.
In order to achieve this goal i must continue with my reading into cinematography and continue to get as much experience as possible between now and the end of the year.
Costumes......
I've found myself a spider costume to rent for my shoot. It was looking more and more likely that i would have had to go with the bee costume after all the theatres i contacted couldn't help...... But now i think, hopefully, i should have a spider costume this week. Possibly filming on Wednesday...... The spider costume looks really good and i think a human fighting an eight legged spider will be quite funny. Although i mayb have to change my script to 'An Arachnid's Worst Nightmare' ?
I'll be in touch.....
I'll be in touch.....
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