ResubPPP// Filminute

After being sent a link to this I decided to enter it with something I had been putting together for fun in the previous weeks. The video i had been making was mostly just to get me to grips with premiere pro but as I learned more and more about the program the video started to evolve and I thought it would be a good idea to submit it

The video is mostly moving mirrored panning shots which i have edited together so they flow into one another, and I experimented with the mirror tool and key framing the the opacity to create some interesting effects. Here are some screen shots:

ResubPPP// The Film Till Now

 The Film Till Now is a book I have recently started reading which gives a vast and intricate look at film from its start to now. My first impressions are that Richard Griffith and Paul Rotha know exactly what they are talking about and from what I've read share a lot of the same opinions as I do, about how the industry is developing and the dangers and threats to good quality motion pictures. I did a bit of research on the book as well and this book is essentially the filmmakers bible to quote the author of the blurb, so this encourages me that i'm looking at a credible source.

I plan on studying this book heavily throughout the rest of the summer and next year as I think it could hold a lot of interesting secrets that maybe others (threats) may not know about either. I also think I need to start reading more again as books hold such a fountain of knowledge that won't be hampered by a poor internet connection or running out of battery, like most things these days do. There are also many chapters in this book which I'm looking forward to reading, such as, The American Film. As we all know Hollywood has dominated the film industry since, almost, it began, and because of this i am fascinated by the world of Hollywood and the immense value and quality of their pictures. But as I have already read there are many people in the industry who's only concern is too churn out pictures that only appeal to the widest audience to get the maximum amount of revenue. I totally agree with Griffiths here that, that is a terrible way to make a movie as it pushes out the artists and visionaries who want to make a film because they want to say something or make a work of art because they love films.

I'm also interested in the British film section as despite Hollywoods dominance I still think Britain can contest America for greatest film producing country. A modern example of how these two countries rival each other is in films like 'This is The End' and 'The Worlds End' both seem to be similar movies but with a british or american take. I haven't seen either but I've seen others which have precluded these and despite the general hilarity of the american ones I think the cleverer and more relatable british films are better, such as 'Hot Fuzz' and 'Shaun of the Dead', as opposed too american films like 'Pineapple Express' and 'Knocked Up' which are both hilarious films are both are well made, but don't have the same level of comedy that the other two do. It may be because i'm british but in 'Shaun of the Dead' for example, there are many 'easter eggs' and things you may miss the first time round watching. For instance in 'Shaun of the Dead' Ed points out a man in the pub called 'Snakehips' and that 'he's constantly surrounded by women''. Later on in the movie when they're all making their way back to the pub to hunker down. Lizz asks shaun if they're close, to which the camera pans to the body of 'Snakehips' who is being eaten by only female zombies. It doesn't seem like much but I think its these little details which makes these films better.

I plan on reading this book much more fully in the coming year as it seems that it could be very helpful.

ResubPPP// SWOT Analysis of myself.

SWOT Analysis

S - Strengths
W - Weaknesses
O - Opportunities
T - Threats

I've never felt that comfortable with evaluating myself as I never know whether to be too harsh or to lenient. But here goes,


Strengths

I think doing my SWOT now is a much easier task than doing it at the beginning of the year as my film related skills have improved a lot since then. I feel like i'm most improved in the area of editing and getting to grips with editing software as a general medium. I first started on Final Cut Pro X, this piece of software confused me as it was a slimmed down, user friendly, and just not the same of Final Cut Pro 10.0.0 which I learnt in first year. Despite Final Cut X being vastly less superior than its predecessor it did give me a good basic understanding of editing software before moving on and up to Premiere Pro.
        Premiere Pro is a vastly more intricate and better laid out than Final Cut X. The software is far more detailed and more simple in a lot of ways. It flows much better and the drop downs and location of tools are much easier. Premieres simplicity enabled me too get to grips with editing much better and I think this has helped me improve as a director as a result. Because after learning how something will be edited together enables you to vision your own films more easily

I think i've got a good eye for comedy and know what is and isn't funny, as well as knowing what is and isn't scary. Which will help me with writing stories for films which i'm not very good at currently. I also have now purchased a camera which has massively helped my drive and will to go and film things no matter what it may be. A bonus is that i'm using my camera and always learning about it and the things it does and how to improve the quality of the shots I make.

I'm pretty handy with a computer in general as well and this is definitely a sought after talent, in this day and age. Even though thousands of people know how to operate one they don't know how to solve a problem should it arise and I can.

Weaknesses

I believe my weaknesses lie in areas like networking. In the sense that I need to do far more of it so I can help advertise myself as a director/filmmaker more easily. To help combat this I've set up a facebook page called 'The Film Files' which gives people an idea of what to watch and what to not and this constant exposure too films and how they are put together is helping my internet presence and my knowledge of what a good and what a bad film is. I also have a flickr and youtube accounts to upload screenshots and videos respectively.
Despite making leaps and bounds in my editing skills I still think I am fairly weak in this area and I have been editing all sorts of random things purely to improve my skills. Premiere Pro is an extensive program which will need a lot more
I've also had a lot a of problems with organisation and time management, for next year I need to apply certain rules to myself in order to make sure that I hit deadlines and I am on time for studio sessions. I've started to combat this by getting started on my dissertation now so i'm far more prepared for the coming year.

Opportunities

I've had a fair few opportunities recently which will be a big help too my development as a filmmaker/director. Recently I have been asked to do some shooting at a local clothing company, no details have been disclosed yet but I think this is a great opportunity to get my first professional video done. I have also received some emails with production news for the next few years. This document has provided me with many places where I could potentially get work experience, like harbour studios and the Imaginarium. These are opportunities which I can't afford too miss as the film set experience would be invaluable, it would also give me a lot of good connections in the film world which would probably lead to my next job and so on. Imaginarium have said to me that it doesn't start shooting until next year but they've put my name down so i'm in their minds early on. I also have heard that Leeds council are looking to sell abandoned warehouses cheap to make film studios, as this is a better use of the space. If I could accomplish getting something like that it might be very profitable in the long run, but its just a pipe dream at the moment.

Threats

The only threats I can potentially see are from competitors in my own field as well as people competing for the same jobs i'm looking to work at. I also see money as a threat because It will be needed to help fund my own aspirations with equipment and I hope one day have money for a studio. Getting into the industry will be really difficult so I intent to arm myself with an armada of knowledge about video editing and film construction. I will learn new software like SpeedGrade and Dreamweaver so I make myself more employable across a wider range of jobs and so I can put myself ahead of my rivals, by knowing things that other filmmakers don't necessarily.

ResubPPP// Nest Magazine

A while back Leeds College of Art's Nest magazine approached a friend of mine, Tom Stephens, to see if he wanted to film their second launch party. He agreed and then proceeded to ask me if I wanted to help and I obviously jumped at the opportunity to be behind the camera again. We weren't paid for this in any conventional terms but a free beer for a few hours work wasn't that bad at all.

I really enjoyed the experience despite it not being one of my most favourite things to film. Everything we did was valuable experience and experimenting with shot selection with close ups, pans and zooming shots all helped me to analyse the situation and deduce which shots would work the best.

As the launch wasn't that big there weren't a massive amount of variety of shots that we could use. But what we did get I thought was really good and the jazz band they hired did a really good job. I also liked getting to grips with the Sony XD cam which is more experience I can take into the industry should I ever have to use one.

I was only involved in the filming of the event as at the time my editing skills were less than average. However knowing this at the event gave me the motivation to go and start to learn how to use programmes like Premiere Pro. Which I am now very competent in using as a result.
However here is the link to final Nest video edited by Tom Stephens.

https://vimeo.com/63394156

ResubPPP// Flickr Account and Business cards

I have also set up a flickr account which I think will be very useful for me as I can upload screenshots from my videos to add more depth to them as viewing them as photos as well.

I really like Flickr and the way that its set out and even if i'm not noticed for me videos I can be noticed for these images which are screen shots of them. I have also made a YouTube and Vimeo account to upload videos to a quantity audience and quality audience respectively.

Although Vimeo is a fantastic website both visually and how easy it is to navigate I don't think its the one for me. Vimeo's quality ability doesn't not come without cost, actual cost, from you, every year, for about 40 quid. Now I know you pay for quality but you can get 1080p videos on YouTube and they look just as good as Vimeo. Vimeo would be a fantastic tool if you were already rich and could afford to pay for it every year, but alas, i'm not rich, and being rich also helps with filmmaking so Im going to either win the lottery or stick to YouTube.

Despite staying on YouTube its layout has nothing on Vimeo's. It looks like it was made overnight and looks more like a Facebook news feed other than anything else. More customisable options are needed I think.

I also emailed a company called Mama's Sauce which design and print business cards. Unfortunately when they replied they said that they wernt designing any at the moment but were very happy to print any designs that I had.

I'm definitely going to pursue this as some of their work is fantastic with business cards you would want as a piece of art. Plus business cards are a fantastic way to network and the better looking and sexier my business cards look the better and the more likely people will hang on to them whether they are looking for a filmmaker or not.

ResubPPP// The Film Files

Recently I decided to create a page about something I love, Films. My object with this is too try and educate people into which films they should be watching and the ones that should be avoided at all costs. The page isn't so much about full reviews but short snippets of information as well as pictures and  screenshots from the great films that have been made across the years.

I also think this page is a good way to go as it will enable me too broader my knowledge of the motion picture industry as well as learn more and more about how and why good films are good and exactly why the bad ones are rubbish. I post on this as often as I can, but so far I have put up 99% films that you should watch. However my thinking behind this is that it is always better to tell someone to watch a good film rather than tell them to avoid a bad one.

Its started off pretty well with a lot of my friends on facebook joining and liking the stuff I post, but I need it to get bigger so I can broadcast my opinions to a wider audience. I think that having a facebook page about films and the such is a good thing to tell an interviewer or potential employer as it shows a love for the job which is always vital in doing a good job.

I also hope that I can eventually fashion a website to the same effect as this page as it will also enable me too get acquainted with adobe Dreamweaver which will be an invaluable tool for me later in life. The facebook page is really just a link to the website through facebook.  

ResubPPP// Sixteen FIlms

Another company I've received info about is from Sixteen films. They Are currently putting together a film which is  a political thriller set after a nuclear attack. This is a fantastic premise for a film as the contradictory terms, nuclear and political, as after a nuclear attack there wouldn't exactly be a solid or even stable government. I'm very interested in how they will tackle this as I love the whole disaster/apocalypse genre, as most of them are not completely impossible. One thing I could foresee Sixteen encountering is making it exciting, as after a nuclear war people/situations aren't exactly going to be normal and people will be irrational and scared and will do stupid things. The political side to this needs to be interlinked with the ensuing madness which would be inevitable after a nuclear holocaust.

From their website they seem to have a really good collection of films they have produced. With some names I recognise like 'Looking for Eric' the story of Manchester United fan meeting his hero Eric Cantona. Sixteen films look like another really good quality production company which is another great avenue into the industry. Sixteen, Harbour and Imaginarium are all companies I'm going to be emailing, among others, next year to try and get work/placements. I'm looking a lot more towards paid work as it looks better on the CV and it would never be a bad thing to be paid to do something which I love. 

ResubbPPP// Harbour Pictures

Another company i'm going to be looking at is Harbour Pictures. They've got a lot of new productions coming up and I think it will be a great opportunity to link up with others in my field to try to get a lot more hands on film experience. This particular production is a remake of Arthur Ransom's  Swallows and Amazons. A wonderful tale of two families of children going on adventures in the lake district in northern England. My largest concern is that it wont be filmed in the lake district, it will be green screened in a studio in London, which I think would be a massive shame as the beauty and serenity of the english countryside should only be captured through a camera.

Harbour Pictures have produced two well known feature films: Calendar Girls and Kinky Boots. Kinky  Boots was actually filmed about 20 minutes from me as it focuses on the cobbling history of Northampton which is my closest town.

These smaller production companies are a good place for me to start getting film experience. Despite my final goal being a director I really want to work on a film set doing a variety of different jobs so I can get a good broad knowledge of the industry and how each and every individual cog works so when I come to direct my own team, i'm not under prepared because I havent seen how it operates before I attempt it. 

I havent been in contact with them like I have with Imaginarium, but I think that all of the companies I have been looking are valuable gateways into the industry and despite me favouring the stories of ones over others Im going to email and send covering letters to as many as I can find.

ResubPPP// Imaginarium Studios

I was recently sent a production list for some films coming up in 2013, and I stumbled across one from Imaginarium Studios involving George Orwell's Animal Farm. I'm a big fan of the book and I subsequently emailed the studio asking if they had any places for me to be a part of this awesome looking project.  I then decided it would be a good idea to research what they did. The company is mainly centred around creating believable characters using performance capture technology, like Andy Serkis with Gollum, who incidentally, is who is directing and producing Animal Farm.

I'm not usually the biggest fan of CGI but Serkis is such a pioneer in this field with Gollum and King Kong that I decided that if anyone was going to use CGI well it was Andy Serkis and Imaginarium. I visited their website and found that is was very professionally, yet simply, laid out with some interesting graphics and animations. They also mention internships and placements on a section of their website and I'm going to send them a CV and covering letter to see if I can get involved on Animal Farm. I also rang the Imaginarium shortly after as I thought it would be a good way to get me into their minds and charm them a bit over the phone. I spoke to a nice receptionist who told me what I already knew and I told her that I had already sent an excited email to them regarding this project.

It turns out though that production of this isnt due to start till early 2014 which is definitely a bonus for me as it gives me time to send my CV and covering letter and could well be something that I could do after uni is finished. Imaginarium studios are definitely a company I am going to explore more about next year but for now Im going to send in CV's and hope for the best.

I really like the idea of using performance capture technology with a book like Animal Farm as the expressions and emotions which are brought out by the suppression and totalitarian control of the pigs. I also think that this technology will really make the emotions on the animals faces much more convincing and will make the evil characters seem a lot more sinister than without it.

- HIGHER EDUCATION -

For my person and professional practice I took part in a film by one of the third years on my course Bill Clay. His project 'Higher Education' was a short film about 3 students arriving for university and their first day not going as planned.

I found out about this project through a friend and I was up for helping with filming anything but because it was essentially about someone my age in Leeds so it was definitely very relatable and this made it much easier to get into. The story outlined 'Tom' going off to uni and finding it much different to how he envisioned. Lots of things go wrong and there are many funny moments in a well written and directed script.

My job was mainly the 'Sound Guy' which involved using the recorded or holding the boom mic. Doesn't sound massively exciting, but it really was. I loved the film set atmosphere and talking about how we could develop it more and shot ideas. Everyone listened to everyones opinions and ideas which made it a good friendly atmosphere.

Filming at 'Hyde Park Corner'

 The first shoot was at hyde park corner by the statue. This was the scene where the boys have just got kicked out of their halls and are wandering through town and sit on the statue to figure out what to do. For some stupid reason I assume we would be filming the scenes in order but this was about half way through the film. This was a very, very windy day and the use of the fluffy thingy on the boom mic was  needed to cut out the wind.  We also only had one camera which meant we had to do about 30 takes. 

            It was a pretty long shoot and very chilly, but still really fun. The main thing I learnt from the first shoot was that everything always takes longer than you think it will, and planning for this can help no end. If theres lots of camera angle in your film you need to have an extra camera. It would have halved the time we were there. Nothing against Billy's planning im sure he would have liked an extra camera as well. 

The overcast weather made continuity easier

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Despite the cold and wind the overcast day did make it easier to keep continuity with time of day. If there had been bring sunlight, if it had taken a long time to do, the angle of the shadows on the ground could be noticeable on the footage which would have ruined it. 

The next scene was filmed behind some halls in a car park. In addition too 'Tom' 'Jules' and 'Hugo' were the two boys Tom identifies with at the party at the beginning. This is the scene where the boys go outside for a smoke then during this someone spikes the punch with drugs. This scene is just the boys smoking and talking under a street lamp in the cold. This was a fairly simple scene to film but the rubbish light levels and yellow glow from the street lamp. So we required the use of reflectors to re-direct the light towards the actors faces. This did take a while because of the continuity issues. The boys only planned to go out for a bit but stayed outside for while chatting, smoking and drinking. This resulted in a lot of beer cans on the floor that had to be in the same place for each scene.  

Free beers were a nice touch

 A cold shoot


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The next scene was a bit of an ambitious one to begin with. The initial idea was to have Jules (above, middle) get hit by a flying milkshake from a car window. This was ambitious as we would probably only have one chance due to the nature of the scene. But like all things, the scene needed to adapt to the capabilities and resources that we currently had. Its not like we didnt have a car or milkshake we just thought it would be too difficult to get right first time, and it needed to be first, because, 'Jules' (Mark) didnt want to be drenched in milkshake more than needed and the act of throwing something out of a car window is much more difficult than you think. Usually when you throw you are outside and you have plenty of room to move your arm. and light to see what you're throwing at. This is much more difficult because its cramped and theres not as much light. Also trying to throw a milkshake, accurately and have this all caught on camera and reacted to properly bought us to the conclusion that it wasn't worth the effort.

Where we stored our gear.

For this shoot we had to store some of out stuff in this cafe called Zizou. This taught me a lot about how on shoot we sometimes encounter difficulties and have to rely on the buildings and people around us in the local area for support. This is also how budgets can be overspent, we didn't have one, but it made me think about extra un expected expenditure.

The car in question.

Its unfortunate that the car scene wasn't used but it was probably for the best because of how many things could have gone wrong, and it would have involved many a trip McDonalds for more milkshake. The scene was then bought down to someone on BMX throwing it but this was dismissed as a bad idea as just as many things could go wrong. 

          The scene we were then going to be filming was the one where the boys have just got kicked out of halls by the boss man and are on the side of the road wondering what to do. Hugo is left with the bags while Tom and Jules go and try to get a house viewing at the estate agents down the road. The catastrophe which then ensues is that whilst Hugo is minding his own business and watching the bags, a child comes at starts talking to him about call of duty. Whilst Hugo is distracted another boy steals a few of the bags. The first boy then leaves and then Tom and Jules come back and shout at Hugo for losing the bags, which contains all their money and stuff.

Filming outside a garage.

 This shoot went well but it took a while to get the acting right mainly from the boy who Hugo talked to about call of duty. He wasn't an actor so I didnt blame him but it did make the shoot longer. Continuity was an issue with placement of the bags and bags that were at the statue. We also needed to make sure that the bags that were 'nicked' were not then later seen at the statue.

A problem I have noticed throughout this is the transportation of the kit, which was difficult with only one car. It might have been better to sort taxis for it but as there was no budget it would have had to have come out of Bill's money. 

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APEX homes were nice enough to let us borrow
their office for a while

The next scene was filmed in a student letting offices office. Apex homes were nice enough to let us film there which made me think that this was very fortunate. They could have easily said no and we couldn't have said anything. In these situations where there is a possibility of 'NO' there should be an alternative back up scene to use just in case one is impossible for whatever reason.

It was a pretty cramped office with all the kit

The 'student housing officer' was played by Bill's step dad.

 This scene shows the boys being bollocked by the housing officer for spiking the punch, despite the fact it wasn't them. The housing officer is having none of it and kicks them out of halls. In this scene on another sofa lies Alister. Now obviously it would be easier to know who this guy was if you had read the script in order, but essentially hes the 'student rep' and a bit of a twat. Hes the ex teachers pet kinda guy from school, and as a result of the spiked punch he is throwing his guts up next on the sofa next to the boys.

For the puke we had to use cold soup. Allister, played by Hugh,  put the soup in his mouth before the take and then when the housing officer says ''Look what you've done to my little helper!' to which he then chucks up in the bin to the disgust of the boys.

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Getting a party atmosphere going.

Lots of different filters needed to mask the ugliness of halls

Art Direction was important again, especially for the 'weird' party

The above images were from the 'party' scene and as a result the boys are kicked out of halls. This was the most stressful scene by far due to planning and timing. We were supposed to finish by 10 but didn't get away till 2 because of how long it took to set up everything and then film a party which isn't as much fun as an actual party, but this was to be expected. It was filmed at one of Billy's mates halls, and his mates were nice enough to let us use their kitchen 

          It wasn't so much that we finished late its just we didn't know when we were finishing which was annoying but I could appreciate how long these things take to get perfect. However despite the fact it took almost twice as long as planned it looked awesome. We had a really good tracking fish eye shot going down the corridor capturing 'weird' looking people and drunk people. The weirdness of the party is a product of the punch being spiked with drugs. So all the crazy lights and fish eye shots are supposed to represent the difference between when they went down and when they came back up. 

          

filming at the 

making the house look more lived in.

The Mannequin Maniac.

This scene involved the boys going to a house viewing with the 'Mannequin Maniac'. The scene was filmed in an empty house Billy got permission to film in. This meant the house was pretty bare so we had to put up some posters and add things like food, bottles, cans and wrappers to make the house look like it was lived in. This was a pretty simple scene to film as there wasn't much disturbance as it was inside but as the 'Mannequin Maniac' (played by the assistant director and writer, Sam) was really funny, the other actors found it very hard not too burst into laughter.

The Mannequin Maniac has his name because of the blow up sex doll, named Martin, which he thinks is his roommate. There is a shot where Martin is sitting on a chair with a banana in his mouth to which the boys see and make a hasty exit.

This could have been considered annoying but this was what I was expecting a film set to be like. Which made me even more sure that this was what I wanted to do. The atmosphere was really good and as everyone got a long there was no clashes of ego's to put strain on the project.

more homely touches.

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The final scene we filmed. It takes places in another of Billy's friends houses and this is the one where they're explaining to 'Samantha' (above, left) about what they've been through with the 'Maniac'. Jules and Tom are explaining their situation when suddenly Hugo bursts in and says the bags have been nicked. This scene takes place directly after the scene withe Hugo and the bags. The estate agents they went to find turned into a house viewing with this nice girl Sam. 

This scene was really easy to film with little to no hiccups. It was late and we were all tired from the filming in the previous week, but we all did our jobs well and wrapped it up quickly. 

Filming 'Higher Education' was a massive amount of fun and everything I expected from working on a film set. I enjoyed the atmosphere especially as we all worked really well together as a team and listened to each others ideas and thoughts about the current scene. The people I worked with were all really nice, friendly and professional which was definitely an added bonus to the whole atmosphere of the set. None of us were being paid either which was massively encouraging to me as everyone was still professional and punctual without that financial gain. Which just proved the integrity of us all that we liked doing what we do, regardless of financial incentives or benefits.