I once heard a joke which played upon the resemblance of vague and vague but I can't remember how it went. I'd rather hoped Andy would make some variation of it during class but alas, no.
400 Blows
I saw 400 Blows a few years ago and I didn't enjoy it that much, to be honest. I couldn't lay a finger on exactly why but it didn't click with c. 15 year old Flick.
19 year old Flick enjoyed it much more. It's a very emotional story and there are just so many lovely touches. The poignant for me is when Antoine falls in love with the writings of Balzac and attempts to honour him by building a shrine, the whole thing going up in smoke.
The Lonliness of the Long Distance Runner
I really loved this, it was engrossing and a real window onto a world that has passed. I felt with the characters, and the little touches of humour helped to bring the story along.
I didn't find the ending as glorious as Andy did. This is just because of who I am etc etc - if I were to seek revenge on the institution I certainly wouldn't do it by spoiling my chances of personal success and increasing the likelihood of a long sentence. If I were in a borstal and any good at running I'd win that race for myself because I don't feel that I belong to or represent anyone else. The editing that showed his thought processes was very good though.
Thursday, 24 February 2011
Tuesday, 22 February 2011
Filming log: Senses of Place
50% of editing is pure creation: the sculpting of raw footage into a story, finding the hidden shape within the block of marble. The other 50% is converting file types into other, slightly different file types. Then there's the underwater iceberg of rendering time (which explains why I blogged so much last week).
My latest editing project was something a little bit unusual, an architectural film about urban development in Dumfries. It came about through my sister and we worked together, each providing our different skills.
I'm still getting to grips with this new-fangled and rather different editing work-flow from the 550 and then add on top of that the most effects heavy, filter heavy and image rich project I've ever cut and my poor mac was quite dizzy. Rendering is so tedious, and sometimes I would have to wait ten minutes just to preview some titles I'd done.
Because of the look we wanted for one part of the image, it had to be filtered as monochrome, contrast adjusted (very slightly, just enough to give it a somewhat hyper real feeling) and something to reduce the shake. Composited with that was an image which was inverted and enough motion mapping and fades to make you cry. Madness.
Now, this probably sounds like some Frankensteinien mess, using everything in the bag except a star wipe. It's really not though, it's very crisp and elegant. Very architectural. And I'm still not over how pretty the 550's image is, guh. The music is also perfect, 150bpm to give a walking pace feel and very delicate. I'm very proud of it, especially since it's going to get a proper audience: it's going to be shown in the Lighthouse this Friday as part of an exhibition for urban redevelopment (I'm less clear on the architectural language actually, I just make films).
My latest editing project was something a little bit unusual, an architectural film about urban development in Dumfries. It came about through my sister and we worked together, each providing our different skills.
I'm still getting to grips with this new-fangled and rather different editing work-flow from the 550 and then add on top of that the most effects heavy, filter heavy and image rich project I've ever cut and my poor mac was quite dizzy. Rendering is so tedious, and sometimes I would have to wait ten minutes just to preview some titles I'd done.
Because of the look we wanted for one part of the image, it had to be filtered as monochrome, contrast adjusted (very slightly, just enough to give it a somewhat hyper real feeling) and something to reduce the shake. Composited with that was an image which was inverted and enough motion mapping and fades to make you cry. Madness.
Now, this probably sounds like some Frankensteinien mess, using everything in the bag except a star wipe. It's really not though, it's very crisp and elegant. Very architectural. And I'm still not over how pretty the 550's image is, guh. The music is also perfect, 150bpm to give a walking pace feel and very delicate. I'm very proud of it, especially since it's going to get a proper audience: it's going to be shown in the Lighthouse this Friday as part of an exhibition for urban redevelopment (I'm less clear on the architectural language actually, I just make films).
Wednesday, 16 February 2011
Filming log: The Beach House, aka: PMB walks into a beach house and asks for a pope's robe
Our time with Peter Mackie Burns (aka PMB) was very different to our work with Zam. Zam was very inspirational and abstract (though I think the fundamentals are on their way soon) whereas PMB was very much about the nitty gritty. I missed out on the first few lessons freezing to death on River City but I was there in time to rehearse and shoot the scenes.
Since I had two crew roles, I'll split this into two parts:
First AD, in which I deal with Mr. Tippy-Tappy
My shot at 1st ADing was complicated by several things: the weather meant we had to decamp and rearrange everything and once we were inside we had to contend with filming in a public area. The main problem this posed was when a guest of the hostel decided to surf the web for twenty minutes, spoiling our sound and necessitating a break.
It wasn't a terribly accurate test of my 1st AD potential since we had four hours to shoot a one page scene and it would have taken an act of God to make us go over.
Unfortunately I was struck ill for my second shoot and couldn't make it in.
Directing, in which I test the water
Directing for theatre is something I've always enjoyed, and a role which I fell into naturally; directing for film is a very different process, and I don't think I wholly grasped that before this exercise.
The main difference was that your blocking has to alter for each size of shot. To look natural and well framed, I had to manipulate the distance between my actors unnaturally; instead of finding the right performance I had to find a group of slightly different but not too different good performances.
In the end my scene cut together nicely and it made sense (after the under-covered Home project of last year that was one of the main things I wanted to rectify).
The area it lacked in was really performance. It's certainly not cringe inducing, but it doesn't feel real, the characters aren't actualised. It's a pity, the performances from the rehearsal are ten times better. It's a combination of the actors being inexperienced and me being inexperienced. I could have done more, as PMB put it directed more but there you go, you do you learn. I'm pleased with this as a training exercise.
Bless em, I can't have been the easiest director for Murray and Sam to contend with - I needed a pope's robe we could stain, and then I requested "a girl in a gold bikini". They delivered though, and Murray even got us cream cakes, it was fantastic.
Since I had two crew roles, I'll split this into two parts:
First AD, in which I deal with Mr. Tippy-Tappy
My shot at 1st ADing was complicated by several things: the weather meant we had to decamp and rearrange everything and once we were inside we had to contend with filming in a public area. The main problem this posed was when a guest of the hostel decided to surf the web for twenty minutes, spoiling our sound and necessitating a break.
It wasn't a terribly accurate test of my 1st AD potential since we had four hours to shoot a one page scene and it would have taken an act of God to make us go over.
Unfortunately I was struck ill for my second shoot and couldn't make it in.
Directing, in which I test the water
Directing for theatre is something I've always enjoyed, and a role which I fell into naturally; directing for film is a very different process, and I don't think I wholly grasped that before this exercise.
The main difference was that your blocking has to alter for each size of shot. To look natural and well framed, I had to manipulate the distance between my actors unnaturally; instead of finding the right performance I had to find a group of slightly different but not too different good performances.
In the end my scene cut together nicely and it made sense (after the under-covered Home project of last year that was one of the main things I wanted to rectify).
The area it lacked in was really performance. It's certainly not cringe inducing, but it doesn't feel real, the characters aren't actualised. It's a pity, the performances from the rehearsal are ten times better. It's a combination of the actors being inexperienced and me being inexperienced. I could have done more, as PMB put it directed more but there you go, you do you learn. I'm pleased with this as a training exercise.
Bless em, I can't have been the easiest director for Murray and Sam to contend with - I needed a pope's robe we could stain, and then I requested "a girl in a gold bikini". They delivered though, and Murray even got us cream cakes, it was fantastic.
Urban Endings: the brief
Just a quick reaction the Urban Endings brief:
I like the idea a lot and while it'll be absolute craziness making thirteen films while also assisting with the grad films it's the kind of craziness I love. We'll be busy and creative and it'll be fantastic. (Ask me how I feel during and I might just make a despairing face.)
My initial idea was developed in the microscopic spaces of time in between lipdub, writing for Richard, the essay for Andy and my own personal out of school project. Phew. However, I think what I've come up with is pretty good and could work well within the brief; I'll see what other people think.
I like the idea a lot and while it'll be absolute craziness making thirteen films while also assisting with the grad films it's the kind of craziness I love. We'll be busy and creative and it'll be fantastic. (Ask me how I feel during and I might just make a despairing face.)
My initial idea was developed in the microscopic spaces of time in between lipdub, writing for Richard, the essay for Andy and my own personal out of school project. Phew. However, I think what I've come up with is pretty good and could work well within the brief; I'll see what other people think.
Lipdub
Lipdub is one of the craziest things I've ever done, it's up there with Delhi.
In fact, Delhi is quite an apt comparison: there was the same freneticism, the same odd displacement as a bunch of filmmakers dance alongside professional musical theatre actors, and the same injury risk. That's how I got out of a hip hop routine.
My own creative input was quite minimal but it was good to watch Murray at work directing and Stephen and David on the camera. TPA maintained their reputation as ridiculously good at their jobs with an amazing stage turnaround, brilliant effects and super cool costumes which they made in virtually no time.
Murray's style reminded me of the silent movie directors from Chaplin, the way he would offer notes and encouragement as we were going (the Rihanna sequence: "He's sexy! sexy!") since there was no sound being recorded. He pushed people pretty hard (we were all knackered by the end) but kept people going with praise and sheer personal energy and I think we'll see the results in the finished product.
In fact, Delhi is quite an apt comparison: there was the same freneticism, the same odd displacement as a bunch of filmmakers dance alongside professional musical theatre actors, and the same injury risk. That's how I got out of a hip hop routine.
My own creative input was quite minimal but it was good to watch Murray at work directing and Stephen and David on the camera. TPA maintained their reputation as ridiculously good at their jobs with an amazing stage turnaround, brilliant effects and super cool costumes which they made in virtually no time.
Murray's style reminded me of the silent movie directors from Chaplin, the way he would offer notes and encouragement as we were going (the Rihanna sequence: "He's sexy! sexy!") since there was no sound being recorded. He pushed people pretty hard (we were all knackered by the end) but kept people going with praise and sheer personal energy and I think we'll see the results in the finished product.
Monday, 14 February 2011
adventures with the 550D, aka: the tortoise and the hare
I am the proud new parent of a Canon 550D, and like any new parent I've experienced some teething pains, so this blog is at least in part to show the rest of you with similar cameras the pitfalls I've found and how to avoid them.
First of all, your card matters. Size wise it will need to be big if you're doing video, especially if you want to shoot at the super shiny 1920x1080 size. What was news to me, though, was that it would have to be "six or above" - in other words, fast enough to process all that video information. I got a 4GB 6 series and a 16GB 10 series, both Sandisks. I went off the advice of a knowledgable seeming bloke in Jessops, who said he wouldn't put his camera in the same room as a Kingston card.
I've been having a lot of fun playing about with its stills capacity, getting to know my lenses and how to work things like appeture and white balance etc. I learned that ISO* is the same as gain for us, and other people call it compensation.
Film wise it's very, very pretty. The video up on stage during lipdub was me, and it bore the increase in size very well.
The biggest stumbling block I encountered was when I went to import all my pretty new files into Final Cut to edit. Like a prize idiot I just copied the files direct from the card via iPhoto (WHY did I think that would work? It's iPhoto for goodness sake!) and then copied the files into my media folder, deleting the originals on the card.
What I found was that FCP ran very slowly, to the point of my footage looking juddery and sticking.
It was only at this point I sought out information about how to deal with this new kind of video ingest and of course I discovered that I had done everything very, very wrong. For details of what to do, check out this great video from Creative Cow, it explains everything.
Luckily for me, all was not lost and I just had to spend ages converting files when I'd far rather be using my time EDITING them.
Aside from the basic learning point about how to import and manage these media files the moral of this story is not to just barge in there all the time, finding out how to do something before you do it can save you headaches and delays later. It's all very Aesop.
*random fact of the day: ISO stands for International Strandards Organisation and used to refer to the light compensation (or gain, to us) of different film stocks back in those prehistoric days when photos were taken on this stuff called film and a computer was a calculator the size of your house.
First of all, your card matters. Size wise it will need to be big if you're doing video, especially if you want to shoot at the super shiny 1920x1080 size. What was news to me, though, was that it would have to be "six or above" - in other words, fast enough to process all that video information. I got a 4GB 6 series and a 16GB 10 series, both Sandisks. I went off the advice of a knowledgable seeming bloke in Jessops, who said he wouldn't put his camera in the same room as a Kingston card.
I've been having a lot of fun playing about with its stills capacity, getting to know my lenses and how to work things like appeture and white balance etc. I learned that ISO* is the same as gain for us, and other people call it compensation.
Film wise it's very, very pretty. The video up on stage during lipdub was me, and it bore the increase in size very well.
The biggest stumbling block I encountered was when I went to import all my pretty new files into Final Cut to edit. Like a prize idiot I just copied the files direct from the card via iPhoto (WHY did I think that would work? It's iPhoto for goodness sake!) and then copied the files into my media folder, deleting the originals on the card.
What I found was that FCP ran very slowly, to the point of my footage looking juddery and sticking.
It was only at this point I sought out information about how to deal with this new kind of video ingest and of course I discovered that I had done everything very, very wrong. For details of what to do, check out this great video from Creative Cow, it explains everything.
Luckily for me, all was not lost and I just had to spend ages converting files when I'd far rather be using my time EDITING them.
Aside from the basic learning point about how to import and manage these media files the moral of this story is not to just barge in there all the time, finding out how to do something before you do it can save you headaches and delays later. It's all very Aesop.
*random fact of the day: ISO stands for International Strandards Organisation and used to refer to the light compensation (or gain, to us) of different film stocks back in those prehistoric days when photos were taken on this stuff called film and a computer was a calculator the size of your house.
Monday, 7 February 2011
Filming Log: Musicville aka "production goblin goes to River City"
There's a point in any demanding shoot where you kind of want to kill everyone, starting with yourself. It's usually near the end, when time is tight, people are tired and things just aren't going to plan. Luckily it's often followed by the point where everything comes together and you love everyone and they're your best friends again.
Musicville was a very tough, very rewarding shoot. The hours were long and the conditions were tough; I certainly wasn't the worst off - I didn't have too far to travel to and from the rendez-vous and unlike the cast, I got to wear a billion layers.
My job varied from day to day, but it could be roughly summed up as a production runner (or "production goblin" if you'd rather, and Murdo did). I looked after cast and crew, moving them around, making the tea etc; I did the calls, informing the entire backlot when we were going for a take; I also did a half dozen other little things that just needed to be done, such as salting the ground and managing the radios.
Possibly my most stressful job was cake wrangling, which involved transporting and caring for a gigantic cake and lighting the candles for takes. That day was, overall, the most stressful. A thick blanket of freezing fog made everyone miserable, the scantily clad actors doubly so, and it also thoroughly messed up our schedule. The cold and the difficulty of that scene (we needed an actor on the cold, wet ground and the cake prop was incredibly awkward) made shooting slow, which caused even more stress. Inbetween set-ups we had to try to prevent the actors from catching hypothermia, which meant bundling them in coats and shoving hot tea at them.
The next day was fantastic, though. We wrapped in good time, the set looked lovely and everyone was happy.
To reflect, I'd say what I learned was how to do things properly. I'm rather fond of the guerrilla, unprofessional style of filmmaking but on a proper set with professional crew, they do things right. I learned that you can't put an actor on a step ladder, legally, but you can put them on stacking wooden boxes. Weird.
I also practiced the ability to put up with awful jobs: I'm now fully qualified to dispose of rotten vegetables and to sweep away the salt I've just put down. It's unpleasant but things like these really are necessary - without it, the film wouldn't work just as much as if the camera operator can't focus.
I think Musicville is going to be a brilliant film, certainly nothing a film school would normally produce, and even though my role was as the lowest of the low I'll be able to see my contribution in the fact that we kept to schedule, the props were where they were meant to be and the actors were kept sweet enough to be able to perform. That matters, and I'm very glad I was able to be on this shoot.
Musicville was a very tough, very rewarding shoot. The hours were long and the conditions were tough; I certainly wasn't the worst off - I didn't have too far to travel to and from the rendez-vous and unlike the cast, I got to wear a billion layers.
My job varied from day to day, but it could be roughly summed up as a production runner (or "production goblin" if you'd rather, and Murdo did). I looked after cast and crew, moving them around, making the tea etc; I did the calls, informing the entire backlot when we were going for a take; I also did a half dozen other little things that just needed to be done, such as salting the ground and managing the radios.
Possibly my most stressful job was cake wrangling, which involved transporting and caring for a gigantic cake and lighting the candles for takes. That day was, overall, the most stressful. A thick blanket of freezing fog made everyone miserable, the scantily clad actors doubly so, and it also thoroughly messed up our schedule. The cold and the difficulty of that scene (we needed an actor on the cold, wet ground and the cake prop was incredibly awkward) made shooting slow, which caused even more stress. Inbetween set-ups we had to try to prevent the actors from catching hypothermia, which meant bundling them in coats and shoving hot tea at them.
The next day was fantastic, though. We wrapped in good time, the set looked lovely and everyone was happy.
To reflect, I'd say what I learned was how to do things properly. I'm rather fond of the guerrilla, unprofessional style of filmmaking but on a proper set with professional crew, they do things right. I learned that you can't put an actor on a step ladder, legally, but you can put them on stacking wooden boxes. Weird.
I also practiced the ability to put up with awful jobs: I'm now fully qualified to dispose of rotten vegetables and to sweep away the salt I've just put down. It's unpleasant but things like these really are necessary - without it, the film wouldn't work just as much as if the camera operator can't focus.
I think Musicville is going to be a brilliant film, certainly nothing a film school would normally produce, and even though my role was as the lowest of the low I'll be able to see my contribution in the fact that we kept to schedule, the props were where they were meant to be and the actors were kept sweet enough to be able to perform. That matters, and I'm very glad I was able to be on this shoot.
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