I'll start off by saying quite candidly that production management is not for me. While I can, if necessary, make a budget or a schedule or what have you it makes my eyes cross and my brains dribble out of my ears. Excel documents are the kinds of things which give me stress dreams.
That said, I learned a lot. I can now use excel quite proficiently and I know more of the technical ins and outs of scheduling (to shoot in sequence or to shoot in location order? That is really the question). Knowing about castingcallpro.com is also vey useful, it let's you quickly search for whatever requirements you have and pops up with pages of potential actors.
The day of content origination was more an area if production I'm interested in. Factual programming is an interesting area - my personal favourite is the Brian Cox popular science kind of thing but I also outed myself as a bit of a Springwatch fan. IT'S HARMLESS ENTERTAINMENT, OK?
Now that my credibility is completely ruined, I wonder if anyone will take me seriously again.
- Posted using BlogPress from my iPod touch
Tuesday, 30 November 2010
Accused (2010)
My last post was my 100th, don't you know?* I wish I'd noticed at the time, maybe I'd have put up a banner, a few balloons. As it is, this is my 101st, so I should put something I don't particularly like.
Unfortunately I want to write about Accused, the new Jimmy McGovern series on the BBC and it's fantastic.
Like The Street it consists of self-contained stories about ordinary people facing terrible circumstances. They're told with great heart and a masterful manipulation of tension. The fact that you know the protagonist is going to end up in the dock creates oodles of dramatic irony and suspense as you wait for the action which will get them "accused".
For instance, in the first episode Christopher Eccleston's character continually commits acts which could potentially see him convicted so you're constantly waiting for the boot to drop. It's absolutely tragic, then, when he is found guilty of the one crime he didn't commit, the whole thing a wages of sin deal.
The fact that Christopher Eccleston is in it gives a clue that all the acting is first rate, and familiar faces crop up everywhere. I even saw an actor I know, whose showreel I cut just before summer (it was very thrilling).
It's also shot very, very well. Flawlessly, really, aside from a slightly unpleasant piece of day-for-night in episode two but it's forgivable given the quality of the rest. (And as production class has taught us, scheduling is bloody hard, night shoots doubly so.)
So if you're not watching the new series get thee to the iPlayer and rectify the situation.
*I'm counting Blogger here, not Mahara
Unfortunately I want to write about Accused, the new Jimmy McGovern series on the BBC and it's fantastic.
Like The Street it consists of self-contained stories about ordinary people facing terrible circumstances. They're told with great heart and a masterful manipulation of tension. The fact that you know the protagonist is going to end up in the dock creates oodles of dramatic irony and suspense as you wait for the action which will get them "accused".
For instance, in the first episode Christopher Eccleston's character continually commits acts which could potentially see him convicted so you're constantly waiting for the boot to drop. It's absolutely tragic, then, when he is found guilty of the one crime he didn't commit, the whole thing a wages of sin deal.
The fact that Christopher Eccleston is in it gives a clue that all the acting is first rate, and familiar faces crop up everywhere. I even saw an actor I know, whose showreel I cut just before summer (it was very thrilling).
It's also shot very, very well. Flawlessly, really, aside from a slightly unpleasant piece of day-for-night in episode two but it's forgivable given the quality of the rest. (And as production class has taught us, scheduling is bloody hard, night shoots doubly so.)
So if you're not watching the new series get thee to the iPlayer and rectify the situation.
*I'm counting Blogger here, not Mahara
Monday, 22 November 2010
Personal reflection: avid attention, with a side order of sound
Learning a completely new programme is a painful experience. It's like the first months of learning a new language where you know what you want to say but simply lack the tools to do so.
Day 1 of Avid was a lot like that since I just didn't know how to perform the tricks I've learned in FCP but by Thursday I'd picked up quite a bit of fluidity, remembering the grammar and vocabulary of the system.
We also learned a lot of IT maintenance - as important as how to use the programme - some of it enveloped into the lesson plan, some of it incidental as the computers in the DTU freaked out and stopped working quite frequently.
What I found was that most of the difference was with how you drive - FCP is very much mouse-driven whereas Avid depends far more on either buttons or, if you have the knowledge and you're being efficient, keystrokes. Pretty much everything on FCP has an analogue on Avid, it's just a matter of finding it.
With limited (four days) experience I can say that the most noticeable benefit is that audio editing is far simpler and more in-depth but both have advantages. The real boon is that being able to use both means I can edit on whatever is to hand.
Friday sound was very interesting and I enjoyed our small class size - I only learn techy stuff efficiently when I can touch and engage the kinetic memory. As well as refreshing our memories on how to use the kit and the principles of location sound recording we (myself, Harry, Julia and Amelie) were entertained with a story from the front line of filmmaking where Cammy had ... interesting ... experiences having to stand with a boom for three hours.
I'm more confident now that I could record some sound for a film but for it to be any good I think I'll definitely need more lessons, which I look forward to.
Day 1 of Avid was a lot like that since I just didn't know how to perform the tricks I've learned in FCP but by Thursday I'd picked up quite a bit of fluidity, remembering the grammar and vocabulary of the system.
We also learned a lot of IT maintenance - as important as how to use the programme - some of it enveloped into the lesson plan, some of it incidental as the computers in the DTU freaked out and stopped working quite frequently.
What I found was that most of the difference was with how you drive - FCP is very much mouse-driven whereas Avid depends far more on either buttons or, if you have the knowledge and you're being efficient, keystrokes. Pretty much everything on FCP has an analogue on Avid, it's just a matter of finding it.
With limited (four days) experience I can say that the most noticeable benefit is that audio editing is far simpler and more in-depth but both have advantages. The real boon is that being able to use both means I can edit on whatever is to hand.
Friday sound was very interesting and I enjoyed our small class size - I only learn techy stuff efficiently when I can touch and engage the kinetic memory. As well as refreshing our memories on how to use the kit and the principles of location sound recording we (myself, Harry, Julia and Amelie) were entertained with a story from the front line of filmmaking where Cammy had ... interesting ... experiences having to stand with a boom for three hours.
I'm more confident now that I could record some sound for a film but for it to be any good I think I'll definitely need more lessons, which I look forward to.
Monday, 8 November 2010
Filming Log: "38: Urbanism in Motion" aka, what the hell is urbanism?
My sister the architect was not content with a seven year course and so she opted to do a Masters, and it seems to be a feature of post-grad study that they make you do things totally outwith your specialism. Luckily, Em and her group were asked to make a film.
Their brief was to document a strip of Glasgow's diverse urban landscape - specifically the route taken by their tutor's bus, the 38. It takes you through leafy, aflluent suburbs which don't look the slightest bit different from my arse-end-of-nowhere sort-of hometown, to leafy parks, industrial areas and business centres. What they're looking for (so far as I can understand, they have seven years on me here) is the changes between the areas and how you can tell.
So I was roped in for my technical expertise and what was surprising was that in talking to a room of architects, I realised that I do actually know more than I think about the mundane practicalities of making a film. I in turn roped in Julia, Lucy, Meg and Harry to help, since we were looking to use three cameras for most of the day. It worked out very nicely, actually, that we were able to shoot on the same day as half the class were doing the Spiers Lock event.
We were filming stealthily so we were kitted out with three A1s, very nice little cameras (I have one, I'm rather attached to it) and a box full of tapes. We split into three teams: team 1 at the front of the bus (me), team two near the back, looking out to the sides (Meg and Lucy) and team 3 roving around in a car getting external shots (Harry and Julia). We were accompanied by a couple of the architects since they knew the route and what shots they wanted.
It was an early start to catch the look of the dawn at the start of the journey, and then several hours off (which most people used to nap, fair enough) and then more filming, then more time off etc. This was to create an almost timelapse effect as we got closer to the city. Everything went very smoothly, the only slight irritant being that we sometimes had to wait ages for the right to come along (it had to be a 38 and it had to be a doubledecker) in the cold and the rain. No one on the bus challenged us (if you have a camera you look automatically official) and the girls looked after us very well (they even donated something to Chris's birthday punch, which was a bonus).
All in all it was a very relaxed shoot, and nonetheless successful for that. I've done a rough cut already and I'm amazed at how easily it's come together. I'll have to attribute that success to everyone, so well done! It still needs more work, including a session with Adobe Aftereffects for a specific look they want, which I'm looking forward to since I've never been able to use the programme before. Also, maybe at last Chris will believe that I have a sister.
Their brief was to document a strip of Glasgow's diverse urban landscape - specifically the route taken by their tutor's bus, the 38. It takes you through leafy, aflluent suburbs which don't look the slightest bit different from my arse-end-of-nowhere sort-of hometown, to leafy parks, industrial areas and business centres. What they're looking for (so far as I can understand, they have seven years on me here) is the changes between the areas and how you can tell.
So I was roped in for my technical expertise and what was surprising was that in talking to a room of architects, I realised that I do actually know more than I think about the mundane practicalities of making a film. I in turn roped in Julia, Lucy, Meg and Harry to help, since we were looking to use three cameras for most of the day. It worked out very nicely, actually, that we were able to shoot on the same day as half the class were doing the Spiers Lock event.
We were filming stealthily so we were kitted out with three A1s, very nice little cameras (I have one, I'm rather attached to it) and a box full of tapes. We split into three teams: team 1 at the front of the bus (me), team two near the back, looking out to the sides (Meg and Lucy) and team 3 roving around in a car getting external shots (Harry and Julia). We were accompanied by a couple of the architects since they knew the route and what shots they wanted.
It was an early start to catch the look of the dawn at the start of the journey, and then several hours off (which most people used to nap, fair enough) and then more filming, then more time off etc. This was to create an almost timelapse effect as we got closer to the city. Everything went very smoothly, the only slight irritant being that we sometimes had to wait ages for the right to come along (it had to be a 38 and it had to be a doubledecker) in the cold and the rain. No one on the bus challenged us (if you have a camera you look automatically official) and the girls looked after us very well (they even donated something to Chris's birthday punch, which was a bonus).
All in all it was a very relaxed shoot, and nonetheless successful for that. I've done a rough cut already and I'm amazed at how easily it's come together. I'll have to attribute that success to everyone, so well done! It still needs more work, including a session with Adobe Aftereffects for a specific look they want, which I'm looking forward to since I've never been able to use the programme before. Also, maybe at last Chris will believe that I have a sister.
Personal reflection: shiny new kit!
Last week I was laid off ill and I'm not too keen to reflect too much on that experience so instead let's look further back to our technical week.
First of all, I really enjoyed the different format. Learning in an intense session helps me remember things so much better and I'm sure it's more efficient since you cut down on the need to revise last week's lesson before you can continue.
I also enjoyed the fact we were using new kit; there's something childishly exciting about new toys to play with. And very fun toys they are: bigger better tripods (ie - more complex), a whole seperate matte box (which allows you to use filters and all that jazz) and a nifty little thing called a follow-focus, which lets you do smart focus pulls.
I think I picked up their care and feeding pretty quickly and the kind of things you can achieve with them is impressive. For instance, we did a little practice shoot racking focus between two subjects and it looked very smart, and we tried using polarising filters on a shot of the sky and the results were impressive.
As well as laying on more technical knowledge we got a lesson on framing. I liked that we got to go out and give it a try, excruciating as it was when your shot was analysed and found lacking. My framing wasn't bad, mostly, but my weakness was a reluctance to really operate the camera, to move with events as they happened. That's definitely something I can fix with practice and a bit of thought.
I'll just tack on that it's rather strange being a second year. The academy is full of tiny young things which I've never seen before and which look barely old enough to hold their heads up. Right now I'm in the library and I'm not sure whether there's a field trip from the local primary school in.
First of all, I really enjoyed the different format. Learning in an intense session helps me remember things so much better and I'm sure it's more efficient since you cut down on the need to revise last week's lesson before you can continue.
I also enjoyed the fact we were using new kit; there's something childishly exciting about new toys to play with. And very fun toys they are: bigger better tripods (ie - more complex), a whole seperate matte box (which allows you to use filters and all that jazz) and a nifty little thing called a follow-focus, which lets you do smart focus pulls.
I think I picked up their care and feeding pretty quickly and the kind of things you can achieve with them is impressive. For instance, we did a little practice shoot racking focus between two subjects and it looked very smart, and we tried using polarising filters on a shot of the sky and the results were impressive.
As well as laying on more technical knowledge we got a lesson on framing. I liked that we got to go out and give it a try, excruciating as it was when your shot was analysed and found lacking. My framing wasn't bad, mostly, but my weakness was a reluctance to really operate the camera, to move with events as they happened. That's definitely something I can fix with practice and a bit of thought.
I'll just tack on that it's rather strange being a second year. The academy is full of tiny young things which I've never seen before and which look barely old enough to hold their heads up. Right now I'm in the library and I'm not sure whether there's a field trip from the local primary school in.
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