As I've said before, Westerns aren't really my thing. I find their tropes repetitious and their treatment of women and races other than white Americans, especially in the John Wayne era, is usually horrid.
In some ways The Searchers was as expected: evil Native Americans, disempowered women, with the worst off being the Native American women (I really hated that the bits with the accidental wife Look were intended as comedy). But then the brutality of the Americans is also shown, and Ethan is clearly shown to be an anti-hero, scalping his enemies and shooting retreating enemies in the back. He even wants to kill his niece for the crime of being married to a "Buck" against her will. The result is a message more along the lines of violence begets violence, or more simply: humans are bastards.
Andy said afterwards that he found the John Wayne character's transformation of heart too sudden but I actually thought it was one of the most delicate and masterfully directed moments of the film: the way he lifts the girl perfectly mirrors the scene at the beginning but the point is not hammered home. I would imagine that a modern film would have a brief flashback scene at that point, so that the slower viewers could grasp it but instead you just have this lovely visual echo.
Overall, I loved the direction. The scenery was shot in beautiful style, looking as bleak and inhospitable as could be. The geographical fudges are accomplished seamlessly (for example, in the climactic scene Ethan and Lucy run up a hill in one state and in the next shot they run down a hill hundreds of miles away), giving you a perfect example of the Kuloshov effect. The film is littered with careful visual repetition, like the example I mentioned above, and the iconic silhouette in the doorway.
One criticism I would make would be that the film charts a search lasting for years and despite the considerable running time I really didn't feel that. It could be because none of the actors seemed to age at all, a limitation of make up and effects at the time perhaps? Seasons seemed to flurry past and suddenly we discovered that years had been and gone.
Certainly if western is a genre you love, this must be a Rolls-Royce, embodying all the best of it for your pleasure and delight. For a non-fan like myself it is a refreshingly good example which, while it shalln't convert me, I can enjoy and admire.
Sunday, 9 January 2011
Monday, 3 January 2011
2010 in the movies
It's nearly the end of 2010 and I thought I'd round up my favourite/least favourite films of the year and share this great video montage. I've written about quite a few of them already so I won't bore you and get repetitive. For those who just want the good stuff (ie- the part where I talk about the films which made me want to take every camera on earth to a very deep pit and throw them in just so that no similar monstrosities are ever realised) it's at the end.
Great films
Inception
A Single Man
A Prophet
Mugabe and the White African
Good films
Scott Pilgrim vs The World
Highly quotable and a treasure-trove of geeky fun. Michael Cera does a non-annoying performance (yay!) and the supporting cast are great. I love the way the comic book elements are brought to life visually and auditorily.
Easy A
I was surprised how much I enjoyed this teen comedy of lies and rumours. It was smart, funny and Emma Stone was a very likable character - self aware, not overly angsty and clever. Not a ground breaking film by any means, but very good at what it did.
Wild Target
Another surprise - I only expected this to be at best mildly amusing, but it turned out to be one of my favourite films of the summer. A very funny black comedy it's about a hitman (Bill Nighy) who falls for his mark (Emily Blunt) and takes on an apprentice (Rupert Grint). It's gentle and quite sweet and has a very happy ending in a way you wouldn't quite expect.
Monsters
I want to blog at length about this soon.
The Social Network
Aside from gazing in wonder at the depth of field (it's miniscule! the focus puller must have some kind of supernatural abilities!) and the effects used to make one actor into two (I genuinely believed the twins were played by twin actors, it was astonishingly well done) I loved the greek feeling of hubris and nemesis, the impending doom created by the clever structure. The thread with the girlfriend which began and ending the film felt forced (and is, apparently, erroneous) and I think we would have understood the theme without it, but that is one niggle in an excellent story of modern genius and greed.
Iron Man 2
Toy Story 3
At least part of the appeal of Toy Story 3 for anyone around my age is the intense nostalgia; I remember when the original came out, and how it spoke to me then. I love how in this superlative sequel it addresses how it's original audience and grown up and moved on, even if if they haven't really. I cried buckets at the ending. The 3D isn't astonishing but the overall quality of the animation is excellent, as one expects from Pixar.
How to Train your Dragon
I am not a Dreamworks fan, generally. I find their animation subpar and their films severely lacking in terms of script. It's surprising, then, that How to Train your Dragon was so thoroughly excellent. The human animation is still slightly dodgy but the story is lovely and the creative vision very strong.
Despicable Me
Another non-Pixar animation which nonetheless astonished me. I only saw this recently, and it was brilliant comedy: I laughed and laughed and laughed. Then I cried a little bit, but then I laughed again.
Films which just didn't work
Legends of the Guardians
The animation is jaw-droppingly gorgeous - you can reach out and stroke the fluffy, perfect owl feathers - and it's one of the few 3D films I've seen which I wouldn't rather see in 2D (the others are Avatar and Up). However. There is no plot. None worth mentioning, anyway - it's a film about owls who have formed a civilisation, need I say more?
Alice in Wonderland
Tim Burton is suffering from a serious case of style over substance and when structural coherence isn't your strong point it's lunacy to adapt a book like Alice, which was written not to have a structure but rather to be an exploration of a fantasy world. The visuals are arresting, but at this point in his career hardly surprising, and Johnny Depp gives another "zany" performance which makes me weep to remember when he was a good actor.
Daybreakers
The concept for this is actually very good - vampires are now the majority of the population, but they're running out of humans to eat. The world is well imagined and realised and the cast is very strong. Unfortunately, the plot takes a turn for the disastrous and ends up with the weakest, most ill-considered ending of the year.
Legion
Paul Bettany as a disenchanted Archangel Michael? I'm intrigued. And he uses a machine gun? Mmmm... But wait... there's a whole weird second-coming plot, and the characters are mostly annoying? And the pacing is glacially boring and interspersed with tedious "character building" conversations? I'll pass.
Repo Men
Another interesting premise which is then executed in a bizarre way, and another case of a Jude Law film which failed miserably. Most of the film is actually pretty good, with interesting things to say about private medical care in the USA and Jude Law looking pretty attractive. But then it gets weird, with people barcode-scanning each other's innards. I wish I was kidding.
Films which I hated, nay, LOATHED
The Kids are Alright
I think I am in a minority of precisely one, here, because all the critics on earth apparently adored this tedious, ugly, meandering snooze-fest. I can't imagine why: the characters were universally despicable, the plot predictable and the acting belonged to the school of mumbling, going nowhere "realism". Urgh.
From Paris With Love
As much as The Kids are Alright made me want to lobotomise myself with an icepick, From Paris With Love is infinitely worse. It's racist in ways I thought Hollywood couldn't get away with any more (if you're not a white American you're probably a drug dealer or a corrupt French official) and sexist to boot. Why on earth an actor like Jonathan Rhys Meyers is involved I have no idea but John Travolta's creepy alien gastropod persona suits it perfectly. The problem with this film is not an over-abundence of realism but rather a gaping lack of it. An utterly despicable blot on the landscape of filmmaking.
Personal reflection: term 1
It has been a strange term and now that it's over and I've rested (oh, how I needed a holiday) it's time to reflect:
Certainly Delhi gave the start a strange feeling. Looking back it was very disorientating to go straight from that insanity to work - it wasn't creative work or even particularly self motivated and my head was in the wrong place for a while. I would still have done it given the choice because of all the once-in-a-lifetime etc etc stuff but maybe there would have been a way to keep our dftv heads on more throughout the process.
Into the term proper I feel like I learned a lot.
Technically, we got to grips with new kit and got into some of the finer aspects of filming, talking about lens lengths, depth of field, focus pulling and framing. Altogether i see a pattern of finesse: using Avid, using heavier (ie: smoother) tripods, thinking harder about what kind of lens you want.
Backing that up I did a fair amount of filming outside of class. The project with my sister was an editing challenge, trying to tell a very unconventional narrative based on architecture rather than any kind of character - it took some creative problem solving to find a way to do that. I got to try out doing sound on Murray's film, which was a very interesting challenge and, as I said then, an area I would like to explore further. I'm going to be doing some production work shortly, script supervisor specifically. I expect this will tax my favourite aspect of production: the mental discipline needed to maintain focus and attention to detail.
I also use my accumulating skills every weekend, passing them on in some form or another to the children of dramaworks, camera and performance. I've actually found it to be very rewarding, there's nothing like having to express a concept as simply as possible for revision, except maybe the endless repetition (which also comes included). It's also practice for the power of problem solving: don't actually know how to connect the camera to a TV? You'd better figure it out.
The research project promises to be a very interesting, if demanding, area of study. I'm good at essay writing - I've managed to get 21/20 before - but this is a kind I've never written before and my essay muscles are rusty from disuse. I love my subject - Inception as a heist movie - and I very much look forward to the work that will go into it.
One of the most annoying things when I look back was the fact that my immune system decided to go kaput, and failed me no less than three times during term, and has let me down again over the holidays. I am sick of being sick, it feels awful and wastes so much time. I'm not sure what to do about this, other than give my immune system a good talking to - I'm actually pretty healthy in terms of diet, exercise, not hugging lepers etc.
All in all, actually, I'm looking forward to the next term. We have exciting projects to look forward to, lots of stuff to learn and I have a shiny new camera to get to know (a Canon 550D). I feel rested from my holiday, my first proper one since Easter, and raring to go. Bring it on term 2!
Certainly Delhi gave the start a strange feeling. Looking back it was very disorientating to go straight from that insanity to work - it wasn't creative work or even particularly self motivated and my head was in the wrong place for a while. I would still have done it given the choice because of all the once-in-a-lifetime etc etc stuff but maybe there would have been a way to keep our dftv heads on more throughout the process.
Into the term proper I feel like I learned a lot.
Technically, we got to grips with new kit and got into some of the finer aspects of filming, talking about lens lengths, depth of field, focus pulling and framing. Altogether i see a pattern of finesse: using Avid, using heavier (ie: smoother) tripods, thinking harder about what kind of lens you want.
Backing that up I did a fair amount of filming outside of class. The project with my sister was an editing challenge, trying to tell a very unconventional narrative based on architecture rather than any kind of character - it took some creative problem solving to find a way to do that. I got to try out doing sound on Murray's film, which was a very interesting challenge and, as I said then, an area I would like to explore further. I'm going to be doing some production work shortly, script supervisor specifically. I expect this will tax my favourite aspect of production: the mental discipline needed to maintain focus and attention to detail.
I also use my accumulating skills every weekend, passing them on in some form or another to the children of dramaworks, camera and performance. I've actually found it to be very rewarding, there's nothing like having to express a concept as simply as possible for revision, except maybe the endless repetition (which also comes included). It's also practice for the power of problem solving: don't actually know how to connect the camera to a TV? You'd better figure it out.
The research project promises to be a very interesting, if demanding, area of study. I'm good at essay writing - I've managed to get 21/20 before - but this is a kind I've never written before and my essay muscles are rusty from disuse. I love my subject - Inception as a heist movie - and I very much look forward to the work that will go into it.
One of the most annoying things when I look back was the fact that my immune system decided to go kaput, and failed me no less than three times during term, and has let me down again over the holidays. I am sick of being sick, it feels awful and wastes so much time. I'm not sure what to do about this, other than give my immune system a good talking to - I'm actually pretty healthy in terms of diet, exercise, not hugging lepers etc.
All in all, actually, I'm looking forward to the next term. We have exciting projects to look forward to, lots of stuff to learn and I have a shiny new camera to get to know (a Canon 550D). I feel rested from my holiday, my first proper one since Easter, and raring to go. Bring it on term 2!
Monday, 6 December 2010
12 Angry Men (1957)
When I went to New York on a history trip with my high school (ha! the closest we got to any history on that trip was analysing the stains in the communal showers) number one on my things to buy list was "Making Movies" by Sydney Lumet. I'd been recommended it as the one book a filmmaker should read but alas, to buy in Britain cost around £100 since it's not published here. Fortunately, I persuaded the group leader to allow me half an hour in the Strand book shop and left with my bounty.
Having read it, I'd have to agree that it's the one book you should read if you're stupid enough to limit yourself to a single book: it's accessible, intelligent, firmly rooted in the practical and a very entertaining read. Anyone who hasn't looked at it ought to get it from the library, or maybe they should book a plane to New York, worked for me.
Anyway, Sydney Lumet writes very well about making films, and he makes films very well too. I'd seen a few of his, but 12 Angry Men was not one of them, though I'd heard about it (and seen the Simpsons' pastiche). It didn't disappoint.
What struck me most was how tautly it was constructed, so that spending an hour and a half in a single room with the same twelve characters felt tense and exciting - there are passages far more thrilling than some action films I've seen, certainly. I think this is down to the cleverness of the script, which releases information as coyly as a mystery, and which poses questions to us and to the characters at every turn.
The acting is also fantastic, even to those of us (ie: me) who wouldn't know that these were a collection of very big stars. What showed through was that they were very talented actors who imbued their characters with so much individuality that I didn't have any trouble following their agendas, despite the fact that none of them were referred to by name. It's the kind of thing which could very easily become hard to follow but it's handled perfectly.
Because of Andy's class specifically about it, I had an eye on the lenses too. The effect is a very subtle one, and certainly not something a layperson would notice. Or rather, they wouldn't notice its execution though they would feel the effects. The most shocking thing was the very wide close-ups, which you don't see often (what with how unflattering it is). They were used in key moments as characters struck out with their own arguments, looking very confrontational with the almost fish-eyed effect.
Having read it, I'd have to agree that it's the one book you should read if you're stupid enough to limit yourself to a single book: it's accessible, intelligent, firmly rooted in the practical and a very entertaining read. Anyone who hasn't looked at it ought to get it from the library, or maybe they should book a plane to New York, worked for me.
Anyway, Sydney Lumet writes very well about making films, and he makes films very well too. I'd seen a few of his, but 12 Angry Men was not one of them, though I'd heard about it (and seen the Simpsons' pastiche). It didn't disappoint.
What struck me most was how tautly it was constructed, so that spending an hour and a half in a single room with the same twelve characters felt tense and exciting - there are passages far more thrilling than some action films I've seen, certainly. I think this is down to the cleverness of the script, which releases information as coyly as a mystery, and which poses questions to us and to the characters at every turn.
The acting is also fantastic, even to those of us (ie: me) who wouldn't know that these were a collection of very big stars. What showed through was that they were very talented actors who imbued their characters with so much individuality that I didn't have any trouble following their agendas, despite the fact that none of them were referred to by name. It's the kind of thing which could very easily become hard to follow but it's handled perfectly.
Because of Andy's class specifically about it, I had an eye on the lenses too. The effect is a very subtle one, and certainly not something a layperson would notice. Or rather, they wouldn't notice its execution though they would feel the effects. The most shocking thing was the very wide close-ups, which you don't see often (what with how unflattering it is). They were used in key moments as characters struck out with their own arguments, looking very confrontational with the almost fish-eyed effect.
Filming log: Think
Now that my fingers have defrosted enough to type I'll reflect on my first real experience as a sound recordist. I'll try to go deeper than "Cold. Really cold."
It was cold. Really cold. Really, really cold.
So it seems I have to relearn the winter lessons from last year: thermal socks, big gloves, as many layers as physically possible. (Edit since I started writing this: I took myself to Marks and Spencer and bought the cuddliest, softest, warmest cashmere socks you've ever seen, I'll be ready for next time.)
Overall the shoot was very good, it was a nice small crew and Murray's mum cooked us a delicious fry up to fuel us through the cold.
But more specifically to sound, I was quite excited to try putting my theoretical knowledge to practical use. I remembered all the jazz with the cables and the what-goes-where (have you ever seen the business end of a mixer? Or should I say one of the business ends since it has four? bloody complicated) and even managed to troubleshoot when it turned out we had one wrong cable.
The sound recordist's main job is to annoy the rest of the cast and crew and I performed that task admirably. I had to pause filming at several points, despite the freezing cold and the awkward locations to allow planes to pass by overhead or for a car whose engine was ticking over to leave. I found the balance between watching the action, watching the levels and listening closely to the return tricky, certainly something which needs more practice.
I'd like to do some more sound recording, perhaps alongside someone with more experience so I can learn the tricks rather than just blundering along, it's a vital and rather interesting area (though don't take that as an excuse to pigeonhole me as sound girl, Chris).
It was cold. Really cold. Really, really cold.
So it seems I have to relearn the winter lessons from last year: thermal socks, big gloves, as many layers as physically possible. (Edit since I started writing this: I took myself to Marks and Spencer and bought the cuddliest, softest, warmest cashmere socks you've ever seen, I'll be ready for next time.)
Overall the shoot was very good, it was a nice small crew and Murray's mum cooked us a delicious fry up to fuel us through the cold.
But more specifically to sound, I was quite excited to try putting my theoretical knowledge to practical use. I remembered all the jazz with the cables and the what-goes-where (have you ever seen the business end of a mixer? Or should I say one of the business ends since it has four? bloody complicated) and even managed to troubleshoot when it turned out we had one wrong cable.
The sound recordist's main job is to annoy the rest of the cast and crew and I performed that task admirably. I had to pause filming at several points, despite the freezing cold and the awkward locations to allow planes to pass by overhead or for a car whose engine was ticking over to leave. I found the balance between watching the action, watching the levels and listening closely to the return tricky, certainly something which needs more practice.
I'd like to do some more sound recording, perhaps alongside someone with more experience so I can learn the tricks rather than just blundering along, it's a vital and rather interesting area (though don't take that as an excuse to pigeonhole me as sound girl, Chris).
Tuesday, 30 November 2010
Personal reflection: what a production
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
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
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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