GOODBYE trusty old Blog...

I'm jumping ship to a new blog.

I'm wanting a fresh start for my next film production. The new blog will be super in depth on how I create the film, from start to finish. Development to exporting.

www.atinyadventure.com

I hope you join me there!

Social Networks

I tried doing this online networking at the end of the college 2nd year, but i didn't have much work to shout about. My showreel was very weak and unimpressive. However, within a few months my showreel has become much better. The new college equipment has helped loads, you can shoot anything and it looks beautiful.

Mike and Annabeth kept telling me last year I have to get more short films under my belt. I never understood how I could fit this into my schedule. When practicing with the equipment this year Mark, Graeme and I shot two little sequences. They were silly, but fun and I now realise that this is what Mike and Annabeth meant by short film. When I hear short film I think 0f a 5 to 30 minutes, when actually 30-120 seconds is enough. I learnt so much from shooting these two little films, the very basics of filmmaking. The current project we are working on is similar. Two short sequences to learn new techniques. I wrote a post a month or two ago about how great these are.

I've story boarded three new short sequences. I don't think you can call them short films. I'm going to start advertising for actors over the next week. Hopefully I can have them shot before the end of the year, or at least in January. The great thing about these shorts is you can rehearse and shoot within a working day.

Going back to the networking. If I can keep producing these shorts then it gives me something to upload. I think the key to success on the net is being consistent.

Making short sequences will improve my skills, showreel, and hopefully get me a following.

I'm members of most the common social sites, but I bet there are loads out there. I'll post links at the bottom of the page, please add or subscribe yourself to my profile. If you know of any other sites please comment this post.

On the video sites I have set up groups dedicated to Leeds filmmakers to hopefully get a network you the area going. So far it hasn't caused much of a buzz, but starting it is the first step I suppose.

Anyway the links

YOUTUBE
VIMEO
DAILYMOTION
BLIP
MYSPACE
DAILYBOOTH
TWITTER

I know of a few others but I haven't set them up yet. On the video sites instead of uploading the same shorts on each of them at the same time, I'm trying to vary them to keep it interesting. On daily booth I've started to take screen grabs of the shorts or pictures of me on set. Thats worked very well. I'm not sure what to do with myspace, Its a hassle to add people. After 10 people you have to start putting in codes, and I haven't had much response from it yet.

I am however enjoying setting things up and receiving comments. Its very rewarding.

Cheers.

As Promised

I promised sometime ago to upload the silly shorts we made whilst practicing with the new equipment. They been on my youtube page for a few weeks, just forgot to post them here.

Any constructive criticism is welcome.

Enjoy.

Production Crit.

The order of the next few posts will be a bit topsy turvy. I've fallen behind a bit with blogging, and have lots to yell about. I've got many half written blogs and will probably get uploaded in the wrong order, but fingers crossed they'll all get done by the end of the week despite.

In this post I will be talking about the Production Crit we had at college today. I should probably save this for when I've caught up with the unfinished posts. However it's fresh in my mind.

I've spent the last week or so making foley sound. I created over 100 sounds, using various material (there will be a video blog for this when I've finished). Never done any foley really. On The Payoff we tried recording everything in mic on set, which was a massive mistake. Researching foley I realised how big apart of filmmaking it is. I know the basics of sound recording from being in a band and recording bands. I don't have much sound equipment. I pieced together a micro studio by lending the Boom mic from college, my old mini mixing desk and garage band. The Boom mic is great for dialogue, but isn't the best for picking up the detail. Anyway there will be a video blog explaining all this.

I went into the Crit rather happy, the visuals look nice and very close to what we planned and story boarded, the rough edited is almost there, colour isn't finished but the in camera colour wasn't bad anyway and I was very pleased with the progress I made with the sound.

Thinking about what was said after we showed the two sequences I cannot think of anything constructive about the feedback. I felt demotivated, I think I feel like this because I was happy with the progress and knowing where we are with a little over two weeks left means we can really make them look special.

My sound got very critised which was upsetting, knowing the time spent on it and being the first attempt at making our own foley. On reflection I feel I've achieved a lot. To say I started out with no sound, and now the whole piece is alive. Yes of course it isn't going to be perfect, because its a first edit, but I felt it deserved some recognition for even attempting to make our own sound. In this era it is so easy to use archived samples or pluggins or download somebody else's work from the net.

Anyway, I won't take it personally. Criticism is great, but it needs putting into context.

Get ready for some Updates

Well, well, well... It's been awhile since the last post, That means I've been really busy... well it should mean that.

I've got loads to update you on, I could do it all in this one post, but you'd get very bored and it would be unfortunately long. This post will be like a contents page, I'm just telling you what to expect over the next week or so.

There is a few things to tell you about the current productions, we've finished shooting. Jon and I have taken loads of photos, which I'll upload. I've almost finished the foley sound for the torture scene and I will be starting the suspense sound on monday. I filmed myself doing it, which I'll edit together for your viewing. I'll have probably done the edit and colour by the end of next week too.

I've started the Major Project, new blog, practice shorts, making of videos. Lots of interesting stuff there to tell you of.

The Eighties Club, a web series I've been working on about 80s cinema.

Starting up the social networking sites again. Towards the end of my 2nd year I started doing the social network sites, trying to get my work viewed. Over the summer I lost interest in it, mainly down to the fact I didn't have a lot of work to shout about. Anyway, I'll save it for the post.

I think thats about it, the current production and the Major Project will take up a few posts. So get ready to do some reading!

It took sometime but I got there

I started to right this on the 20th October, and its really not that interesting, but needs documenting. I left uncompleted having it mind to come back to it, however I've completely forgotten about it. Also there have been some changes in the production, half of this was written when I was directing and the other half is when Graeme is directing. It may come across inconsistent with the way I word it.

Anyway try to get through.

If there is one thing about film that really baffles me its sound. On set sound. Picking up the Dialogue clearly seems impossible. We really screwed the sound up on The Payoff and I had a nightmare trying my best to clean it up, but there are some sounds you cannot remove without distorting the actors voice.

Today Mark, myself and a good friend Simon, whom is a qualified sound engineer, we played about with the equipment we had at college. I was under the impression that we had much more sound equipment than we do. I really wanted to get everything and anything that records sound, mainly so that I've tried and tested myself to document it. Also to experiment, I love playing about with equipment and seeing what odd things they do, sometimes you can stubble across something great.

However, Matt (AV Supervisor) assured me 110% that the only way to record dialogue was with the Boom Mic. He said that I would only be wasting my time by testing the other stuff, I think he meant wasting his time...

Saying that he did let me have a few bits, Boom Mic, Clip mic, an external recording device and we brought along a big vocal condenser mic.

I'll start with the external device, real name M-Audio Microtrack 2. This appeared to be a nifty bit of kit. It had Phantom power, which is essential for high powered mics. It recorded with high quality, you could change the bit, EQ, hertz, etc settings. Monitoring looked simple, had a left and right volumes, easy it find and adjust. Plus it was pocket size, great for traveling. However, my first fears with it was when I realised it didn't have any XLR inputs, just a mini Jack and a left and right large Jack. This meant we had to use a converter.

Once we were plugged in and set up, it didn't record well at all. The levels were hissy and the dialogue sounds like it was coming from the other room. I think with none of us having any knowledge with this piece meant starting from scratch was a NO, NO!

We resorted to plugging the mic straight into the camera and monitoring the sound and recording from that. I was hoping to avoid this, the camera gets full with the appropriate crew round it. Adding another head watching two tiny metering icons seems inappropriate.

On to the Boom Mic. Matt says this is the only way to get good on set sound. My main problems with it are; it has to be connected to the camera. There is a device to meter the sound away from the camera, but it seems nobody has got good knowledge of it. We tried using this (forgive me I've forgotten the name of it) on The Payoff. With us only using one Mic the second input (left or right, which ever your not using) left a distorted track. This was easily deleted in the editing room, but left us with some horrible feeling when viewing it back. We also couldn't get a hang of the volume control, it looked simple enough, but there wasn't any consistency with it. Sometimes it worked, sometimes it didn't. I would definitely not use it again until we have better knowledge of it.

Another problem with the Boom is shadows. The bastard thing leaves shadows over your cast. You have to get the boom as close to the actor as possible, but not create a shadow. When you've got three or four lights lighting all angles it can become annoying. A lot of the time you don't realise it has created a shadow until your viewing the footage, because on set your not looking for it. Your mind is too busy concentrating on the actors, that is where you need extra crew.

The boom did have the best sound quality, but it picks up everything around it. If your in a room with air-con or any sort of fans your in the shit.

We also checked out the Clip Mic, code name Audio-Technia AT803B. You usually see these on TV presenters. The sound quality was superb, very clear and rich sounding. The Problems, hiding the dam thing. Being a clip mic you have to clip it to the actor. You can't really hide either, because anything that rubs against it will create a sound. This brings me on to movement. You cannot do any heavy walking, jumping, that sort of thing. Anytime the mic moves it creates a sound. If I was ever doing a documentary or a piece to camera than this would be great, but not for a movement shot.

That sums it up, we did use the vocal condenser, but it gave a similar effect as the boom, but not portable.

My conclusion is to get reference sound on the day and then bring the actors back to a sound treated room and dub it. Thats the only way to get crystal clear sound.

Going, Going, GONE!

This week we have come to terms with having to cut out the horror sequence.

This sequence was my favourite at the start of the project. Drag me to Hell had really inspired me with sound. However, due to location and actors scheduling dates it just doesn't seem like we can pull it together to happen within the next week. Any longer than that would just mean we have less time for the edit, colour, Visual Effects and the main area Sound.

I cannot see why we should compensate the sound and effects, and rush! ourselves to make this happen. I would rather say we have failed now and concentrate on getting the other two right.

This sequence never seemed to take off from the word go. We could talk about the visuals, but getting them down on paper, both script and storyboard seemed far too difficult. I honestly don't know why we struggle so much with pre-vis. It should take no longer than a few hours to storyboard sequences of this length, I am not trying to place blame on Mark because I've tried story boarding this scene myself, and failed.

I think the problem we have is, we have lost sight of what we indented to do on this project. The sequences have grown and grown, and have become short films, rather than short sequences. They shouldn't have been anymore than six to nine story board cells. We have become so fixated on the narrative that we have let the projects get the better of us.

The sequences were about action, art direction and sound. Is the location needed to get a action sequence right? It makes it look better, but it only adds strain to the goal. I got so worked up about making a set that the seance sequence has fallen apart. Do I need a set to make good sound? The only location we needed was for the art direction and that is the one sequence we didn't try and find a location for! and have ended up using our last option (our own house!).

I can hold my hands up and say I've completely lost direction on this project. I don't even know what the project is anymore, I'm not 100% sure whether I'm still apart of it, because I ain't done too much recently, except point out what we've done wrong. The only thing this project has done for me is doubt my abilities as a filmmaker. I have no control over this project. I started out as the director and now I am nothing. Hopefully in post I can pick up the editing and colour, which I was indenting to do. But as directing goes I do not feel comfortable with these sequences anymore.

I feel I'd much prefer to be part of the crew on set and observe how somebody else would go about directing. I think I would learn much more from this experience having never seen anybody else in that situation.

The journey I have been on during this project has been long and hard, luckily I still have my hair. With me not sleeping anyway its make it hard to loose sleep over anything. My aim now is to complete the task, but put more effort into the dissertation and major project. Before this week I have barely thought about them. That is not saying I'm not going to try on this project, because that is not my nature. I do my best at everything, and I have no doubt that these two sequences will look better than anything we have done before.

As I am writing this I have asked Graeme if he would like to direct, he said yes. I am really looking forward to seeing his approach to the shoot and compare it with what I would have done. I am also a little scared that he will shout at me on set...

Production Meltdown!

I have a few other posts that I am working on, but I thought I'd add a quick update.

We have basically taken a week off the production. We have had a week of college, known as "reading week" where as you can guess you catch up on your reading. This year we have our biggest writing challenge, the dreaded DISSERTATION! where we need to read a whole lot of fucking books. So we scheduled to get the majority of it done this week. I can personally say I haven't done anywhere near as much as I should have. I cannot say if the other have, but I'd take a guess that they're in the same situation as me.

The dissertation is be coming a real pain in the arse. I'm not forgetting about it, it's always in the back of my mind. But, I'm not doing too much about it either. Next week is probably my last chance to start it with ease. After that it'll become very difficult, especially once mayor project and PPD start.

BACK TO THE CURRENT PROJECT>

As I said production has taken the back seat for the week. But I think we've still been doing it, plugging away. It's strange although we live in the same house I haven't seen much of either Mark or Graeme this week. Starting to think They're avoiding me or I've pissed them off. It's been a pretty bad week for everything. On the production side we had to re-schedule most of the shoots by pushing them back a week, or maybe two. Props are starting to become a problem to locate. On the upside crew still seem enthusiastic, Graeme and Mark had a meet with them on Wednesday. I unfortunately couldn't be there, I'm not sure what else I could have added and I also think it will help me direct if I know little about the crew. If I start becoming friendly with them it'll make it hard to tell them what to do. I'm a worrier anyway, and I don't want to be worrying about what they want and don't want to do on set. I want to go in and not give a shit and do a good job. The house had problems, the heating and hot water disappeared . Luckily it is now fixed. We had a party for Marks birthday last Saturday and the house is still a bit upside down. I've had problems, bunged up nose and head aches. Money is a massive issue for me now. I can go on record for saying Student Fiance are absolutely terrible. I'm starting to think I'll never get my loan, then I will get kicked off the course and have to get a full-time job at Morrisons to pay the rent.

Pluses, there ain't been many this week. Watched a few movies, and it's Halloween tomorrow. The plan is to watch horror films from when I wake up till I go to sleep, and have a few breaks in the middle. I have some friends coming round, so that should give the week a real lift.

Need a production meeting on Monday, set the targets for the week, and really get the project going again.

More blogs coming very soon.

Need more hands on deck

I've mentioned this in a previous blog, but I'll refresh your memory. On The Payoff the three of us took on far too many jobs, which made concentrating on our desired job very difficult.

For example, how am I suppose to direct a performance and view it if I have to push the Dolly? Same for when I'm monitoring the sound, we did loads of jobs like that, which interfered with our main response ability. This also caused us to argue on set.

It was evident that we needed more hands on deck. To primarily do the less glamourous jobs.

Graeme took it on board, being the producer. He came up with some good ideas to install some help. The obvious one is to ask friends, but we wanted help with better technical knowledge of film. Graeme had seen that Eddie AV suite guy from the lower building was trying to set up a film club. He emailed the lot and we got a few responses, he also did the same with years below on our course.

We aren't looking for a lot of help, but we do need four or five spare hands. Not only will it give us the help we need, but also give us experience managing a crew.

Short but sweet.

FUCK YOU iPHONE!

We've been given Moleskin notebooks from our tutors. If your unfamiliar with Moleskin's they're pocket size pads, come in a variety of plain, lined, square etc, have a pocket in the back, a bookmark, and a piece of elastic to keep it closed.

Absolute perfect if you have a lot to remember or out and about.

They are quite expensive, this as put me of in the past, but I got this one for free and one for my birthday. So I'm OK for awhile.

I've put mine to great use. So far I've taken it everywhere with me. This has made documenting much easier, usually I'm relying on my brain to remember all what I've learnt in the day. I have to admit I have a great memory, but sometimes the little things slip. By writing a quick bullet point it helps refresh my memory, on a project like this it is essential to keep making notes.

Its also good for making to do list and group meeting notes. With the three of us living in the same house we usually get together on a morning and discus what needs doing and re-tweek the calendar. I observe and make notes in the meetings and throughout the day. If I see a problem I can then bring it up in the morning.

This sought of note making has made my job far easier. Especially with blogging, I usually forget to blog. I make a page dedicated to a list of blogs to write throughout the day and then tackle them when I have free time.

MOLESKIN MAKING LIFE SIMPLER EACH PAGE AT A TIME.

FUCK YOU APPS!

I will (or Graeme, should I say).

Over the last week or so we have been auditioning actor. Well, they weren't your typical audition. We wasn't asking them to perform, we wanted to have a chat and see if we got along on a personal level. Also it was a good opportunity to ask them other question not related to the project.

We asked all of them if they do any writing, we've found it hard to find writers and I imagined a lot of actors would write or at least know what sought of scene they would like to be in. Even if they didn't write it, they are at least feeding us with ideas to create with them.

A lot of them said they did a bit of writing and we pressed them to have ago at writing a short film, or at least a scene. I will (or Graeme, should I say) definitely chase them up about this.

Most of them just wanted screen experience, this made me think that short sequences, 30-120 seconds are great. Even smaller than the ones we are doing for this brief. We don't have to go all out with locations and sets, but try and look for locations around us and stage a scene there. This would give the actor vital experience and another piece for their showreel and in return gives us another opportunity to use the kit and work with actors. We are all getting massive amounts of (KEY WORD) experience from it.

We interviewed a fair few actors, but can only use possibly five of them, however we weren't just interviewing them for this brief. We are trying to start our own network.

After each interview I've been trying to think of sequences for the actor. What I've realised this week and as I said before screen experience for semi/unprofessional actors is essential. We are looking, in a way to take advantage of that. £10 in travel fare for them is nothing for what they are getting out of it.

Its hard to find time to breath and shit.

Its scarily coming together.

I say "scarily" because the more dates we confirm the closer the shoot comes. Its become very clear that we have set ourselves big, big tasks. Looking over the calendar last night its hard to find time to breath and shit, I've really packed the schedule tight for pre-production. I've tried taking what the other two say on board and find time to work and practice on the certain areas we are less comfortable with.

I have been constantly re-visiting the stories after we have practice techniques. Sometimes the ideas we story-boarded work straight away, other take longer to get use to, and some just don't work. This as means we have to adjust the story-boards to fit.

To help get use to the camera we came up with some little sequences. Mark is the cinematographer so it is vital for him to know the camera blindfolded, filming anything is good practice, but putting a story behind it gave us something to aim for. Graeme and I were the actors and the three of us came up with the shots.

Being in front of the camera was brilliant practice for myself. Knowing what it feels like to be an actor, I was constantly thinking about the shot, which parts of my body were in shot, where could I move. Feeling this pressure first hand now makes me know to let the actors aware of these little details, which should ultimately make them feel more comfortable.

PLUS,

These sequences will give me something to edit and colour. I haven't edited a narrative piece since The Payoff. Over the summer I did a lot of editing, but it was all corporate work. Getting back into practice is something I am looking forward to.

I have final say!

Pre-production is a strange place for me, being a director it feels like I aren't doing that much, but at the same time completely stressed with how much I've done and will be doing.

I'm involved with everything, but aren't finalising anything. I'm there but, not.

Doesn't make much sense to me either...

Ultimately I have final say on everything! And that I like.

I feel my part is to steer us in the right direction, to set and complete tasks on time.

As well directing the projects I'm also editing and colour grading. Being the editor helps me direct because I'm always thinking about how to shots will edit together, rather than shooting lots of takes and passing them on to someone else.

I've always said good colour and sound can make a piece shit look good, I should know I've filmed shit before.

A director in a nutshell.

I am a director so deal with it.

I've spent the last week depressed or soul searching. I felt like I didn't know where I was heading. But after some heavy thinking and picking at other peoples brains I've realised that I've been acting as the director much better than I thought. I've never known what a director actually does, you just think he's the man behind the camera shouting at people. The way I can explain a director to myself is, the director is like the manager of a football team. The producer is the chairman and the cast and crew are the staff and players. Being a big football fan I probably know more about the ins and outs of managing (from playing sim games) than I do about directing. Switching the knowledge over is very easy, in a strange way they're very similar. The manager has the vision, he picks his staff and players carefully to achieve that vision, and ultimately he has the final say and match day. I assume (not having been a football manager) that he also picks up all the parts nobody else wants to do.

I've not realised until this week, but I've been playing the directors role very well. I'm going to take it up a notch, Its hard when your working with friends to be an hard arse, but thats my job. Its also my jobs to keep morale up and make sure everyone knows what is going on.

I feel I have learnt a lot this week about the pre-production stage, myself and my future.

Cinematography

I've re-visited a few films lately with absolute beautiful cinematography. This kind of thing reminds me why I want to make

movies, the hard work seems easy when the final product is so good.

The films, Vicky Christina Barcelona, The Fall and Benjamin Button.

These are mainly location films, and its the jaw dropping sceneries that make the com

positions exquisite. Being a filmmaker I pick up on these things a lot, sometimes its a little annoying because I miss parts of the story. The colour in these movies is again stunning. They have a golden colour scheme, creams, browns, this to me is perfect filmmaking. The composition and colour are absolute key.

Home made Studio!

Robert Rodriguez puts these amazing film schools on his DVDs. RR is a maverick filmmaker and he gives out his secrets on these bonus features. He has influenced me a lot, but I don't think he is always right. What I do like from these bonus features is how he makes it look all-so-easy. He gives you great confidence that if you work hard and have a goal it can be achieved, but also achieved on a budget. I would love to see a lecture with him.

There a lot of good tips, but what I'd like to chat about is a feature he did on his home. He has converted his garage with a few extensions I imagine into his very own studio. It not quite Sky Walker ranch, but very impressive. He has a massive editing and sound mixing desk. A section to record music and ADR/folly. Editing station. A sound stage, with green screens. Not in his house but not far away he has an effects house, but in his house he has a computer and phone with a direct link to it. There are some other parts too. Thats my dream. My ambition is to have a ace setup like that. I like to be involved in all areas of production and get kicks out of pissing about with equipment. Especially sound, I think this passion comes from being a musician. I'm still very much interested in playing and recording music, but with film I'm fascinated with folly sound.

I don't really know where I'm going with this post, but it as some meaning. Recently I have been doubting my ability as a filmmaker, I think it might be a creative dry patch or not having a clear direction where I'm going. The perfect dream would be to leave college and be-able to work on films only. Realistically thats not viable, the three of us (Graeme, Mark and I) have been chatting about starting our own business. Graeme and I did some work over the summer, but I can imagine if we did a lot of that corporate work I'd start hating filmmaking. Maybe not though.

Think I need a confidence boost about the whole thing.

Looking at Reservoir Dogs and Hostel 2

One of the sequences we are planning is a torture scene. We wanted to do this because on The Payoff we tried adding a tussle between Brandy and Charlie. We quickly realised that without proper choreography the actors couldn't comfortably do the performance. A simple punch, kick or slap can look convincing with some clever angles and editing, but needs preparation.

We looked at the classic ear cutting torture scene from Reservoir Dogs. This scene is probably the most memorable of the film, for reasons you never see. Its funny how many people can remember the horrible graphic ear slicing, well in truth you never get to see it.

The whole scene is shot as if your head is the camera. All the shots are shaky, I first thought that this might be because they were on a low budget, but after we discussed it as a group it came evident that it was purpose. At the ear cutting point the camera turns away to a wall, as if the audience is too scared to watch it.

I think this is really effective, it leaves it open to the audiences mind, let them fill in the gaps. Sometimes the audience will think of something much worse than what the director was going to do. It also works in the films favor, with it being less graphic the age rating might stay down.

We also watched parts of Hostel 2. Never seen the whole film and really don't want to from what i saw (shite). However, I wasn't watching it for entertainment. The sound effects and art direction you could say are near perfect for the style of film. The film gives the audience what they want, and a little more. I couldn't tell if the torture rooms where sets or locations. At a guess I would say sets. They looked like a dirty mechanics workshop, the torture weapons looked the same. The scary thing about the weapons are most of them you can find in your average tools box/shed. Bringing that sense of realism, thats the real scare for the audience, the chance that it could be real and happen to you, or does it happen and if so where?

In the same night we also watched Misery for suspense and Frighteners for sound effects.

NEW BRIEF. Thoughts and feelings

So, I tried starting a new blog for this final year. However, on publishing my second blog about research Tumblr crashed whilst uploading and I lost my post. Very, very, unbelievably annoying. I started that day just wanting to catch up on blogging, since moving house we have been without the net for 2 months, hence why there hasn't been any posts. But, after Tumblr failed it demotivated me and I couldn't get myself back in the mood to write.

Back to Blogger, my trusty friend. There are aspect of blogger that really annoy me, images don't upload where you left the cursor, they load at the top of the post and if you have a long post its not the easiest to drag it where it should go. And, if your wanting more than one image, your fucked.

Back to the College project (sort of), they idea in a nutshell, the usual three (Graeme, Mark and I) are planning on making three short sequences to develop our filmmaking techniques. On the 2nd year FMP we did really well with casting, locations, script, using the camera and equipment available. We far exceeded our expectations, and I think maybe our peers and tutors too. It was a massive project for 2nd year students, But thats who I am, If it comes easy its not worth doing, I aim big, but I don't mind failing big. That frame of mind might change once I'm in the industry and nobody wants to fund my big ambitions.

This is a big nutshell by the way.

The final outcome of the three sequences should be film quality, thats the aim. Getting that is a bonus, the real project is in the preparation. We did so many good things on the 2nd year FMP, but we also did many things wrong. The art direction was next to none, we mostly tried to find locations to fit the scene, and as we grew closer to the shoot we had to use what came available (office scene), I don't think we purposely brought anything to the shoot to improve the shot. We did a little bit of rehearsing, but without storyboards or a shot list it made matters difficult on set. We had a few crew members helping us with sound, but between the three of us we had 40 crew members jobs, which personally made directing a nightmare, on reflection I didn't think I even directed the cast very well, just told them there markers. It was lucky we did a day of rehearsing were we got the actors into character and they did the rest themselves.

From that paragraph you can see we didn't really prepare for the shoot technically, some of the camera work and compositions are terrible. Thats not to blame one person, its the fact we didn't have time to set lights up correctly, reset the white balance, find the best composition. Due to all this it made the shoot feel long and stressful. I should add I enjoyed it thoroughly and it was vital experience.

So yeah, in a nutshell, where just practicing.

This will be essential to the FMP, there are a few other techniques and sequences I want to tryout before the FMP. I haven't told the other two yet, it will be a nice surprise, I have however put them in the calendar.

I have a lot of back paddling with blogging. We are already into the fifth week and we have done so much, it'll be hard documenting it all correctly but i'll do my best. I really wanted to video blog it all, I tried it on the 2nd year FMP but it got too much to edit and export it whilst working on the project. Video blogging is something I want to get in the habit of, I think it is a great why to document and can make for interesting viewing. I had the idea of recording 20 seconds a day and then collating the footage at the end of the week, like a diary, or a miniature making of. 20 seconds isn't a lot, it shouldn't take up much of my time or effort. But starting it seems really hard, Am I just being lazy? I can't decide whether to use my isight cam for connivence or my DV cam, but then you have to capture the footage and buy a new tape. This could be a great opportunity to use OnLocation, this is a piece of software that came with the adobe production suite. I've never opened it, but what I've read about it sounds good, basically you can use it as a hard drive, but you can also manage the sound, colour and other various key components when shooting. The down side is that you can only use it with other adobe software. I have premiere, but prefer Final Cut. Might be worth looking into though.

So that the brief and a little more...

I Love You, Man.

I Love you, Man.

I watched this with little expectation, If my memory serves me correct I don't think it had a good cinema run. It stars Paul Rudd who has done well in supports such as Anchor Man, 40 Year Old Virgin and probably most regonisable from TV show Friends. Along side Rudd is Jason Segel, known for support in Knocked Up and lead star of Forgetting Sarah Marshall.

Now the introductions are out of the way we shall begin.

After the first 20-30 minutes I really wasn't enjoying the movie, it was a little awkward and uncomfortable to watch. Until Jason Segel's character arrived, the story really opened up. Watching the two characters bond made me really start to care about them.
Once we had this connection I really started to get into the film. The characters were really well written and acted. Even though the film started off slow it soon redeemed it self and was very entertaining.

It was your typical love story, with the twist that it was a buddy friendship, rather than a couple falling in love. But we know how it plays out, they get together, have a fall out, then realise that life is better together than apart. Sometimes they throw in the twist that it appears one of them has already moved on, but they haven't. I love you, man didn't do that, thank god.

So, yeah, you've seen it a thousand times before in all different situation, its a tale that never gets old. Its like that old saying it doesn't matter how many times you've heard the joke, its how its told... Or something like that.

In the case of I love You, Man its told well. It's not got amazing cinematography or a beautiful score, but as far has comedies go its entertaining.

Anyway don't take my word for it, go on the official website (<<

Finally, I Watched Switchblade Romance the other night, French Slasher Horror flick. Thought it was alright, bit of a strange ending. Think they wanted it to be a big twist, or make it clever, but should have left it has a straight out man killing rampage. The colour was really nice, had a subtle green tone. Made the whole picture look expensive and stylised, but didn't distract from the story. The biggest shock of the film was, coming up to the final third, the revenge section, the protagonist goes after the killer in a stolen sports car, the track NEW BORN by Muse plays. So far the film had been scored, the was the odd track playing from the radio, but this was the only placed track, which I found really obvious. It stuck out, I actually really liked that song and it worked with the visuals. But surely opt for a whole artist soundtrack, rather than just having the one song. Dunno, maybe its just me.

Anyway, I've written the script for another Video Review, Mega Shark Vs Giant Octopus. Should record the vocal within the next week or so. Before then there will be a few more blogs. Next film I'm rambling about will probably be Chocolate, Thai Kung Fu film, which was visually stunning. Will most likely go see the big releases at the cinema this weekend, I. Basterds, District 9 and Funny People, which I'll be reporting on in some form of media.

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Let the Right One In.

Let the Right One In.

I've been deciding whether to make a video review for this film, no trailer on Itunes though, which means I'd have to make my own. Choosing the right bits could be hard.

But anyway, my initial thoughts. First Swedish film I've seen and if this is anything to go by then I'll definitely be watching more, I know you can't judge a whole nations cinema on one movie, Imagine if I judged America's of Michael Bay films. Oh Dear.

Onwards,

I don't want to spoil this for anybody that wants to see it, so if you are going to watch it don't read this and come back once you've seen it.

I enjoyed it so much because I was completely unaware of what the film was about. It is so rare these days, with the web and mass advertising to have a complete open mind when watching a film. It's like the first time you ever saw From Dusk Till Dawn, it starts out has a ace road thriller and half way through BAM! loads of vampires and shit.

Let The Right One In isn't quite as BAM! has From Dusk Till Dawn, but it is unlike any other vampire movie I have ever seen. The film concentrates more on the relationship between the boy and the girl, it's just unfortunate that she is a vampire. Its a bit like a non-cheesy, non-buffy-like, serious Twilight. Thats not the best comparison, but the main story is similar.

The look of the film is very cold, shot beautifully in snowy Sweden. Its very dark, and like many european films at the moment the story line focuses on child bullying. There is great satisfaction when the vampire girl rips apart the the bullies, this is shot in such a subtle way that if your not paying attention you may miss it, and may be confused when the scene opens up to reveal the decapitated bodies. Now that sounds morbid, but when you see it you'll know what I mean.

There are many layers to this movie and I don't want to ramble too much, but what I've cover isn't even half of it.

The film ends open, I can't decide whether I'm happy or sad for the boy, let me know your thoughts.

In other news I've uploaded a new Video Review (bottom of blog), I'm members of Blip TV and Daily Motion, please add or follow or subscribe. I'm working on a Mega Shark vs Giant Octopus V.review. There will be blogs on both Thai Kung Fu film Chocolate and comedy I Love You, Man.

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