Filming Memory.

I got to film today!
After being unable to film last week I was very happy to film today. I had the entire T.V. studio to myself and  a camera. But what I really needed was a sense of direction. I had the looks the words but I had no idea on what shots to do.
I will never try and shoot with out a shot list. I feel really stupid for trying to just 'wing it'. I did try a few of those I showed in my last post. But I forgot a bit.
For example two of the characters that are stood next to each other talking directly to each other.

Righteousness

How is this so difficult?

Intelligence

Because what we do here will change us forever. We don’t want to it mess up.

Righteousness

Mess up! Look at her.
Those are the lines I'm currently referring to.
We filmed Righteous read his two lines, with enough of a pause for Intel to speak in-between. But what I didn't do is film Intel listening to Right. All I filmed today was people speaking. I should have filmed people listening too. So I might have to do some more filming, but I wont be able to do that till the next year. I underestimated this piece of work. I was so excited about it as well.

As the day whet on I got tired of it quickly, and so did the crew. 

I also never read the script to anyone until today. After reading it in my head and aloud to myself it sounded great every time. But when I read it to my crew it sounded a bit stupid and silly. Hopefully it wont when I piece it together on screen.

Tomorrow I plan to review the footage and make what I can from it.
Also 25th post! (Favorite number!)

What some might consider to be research. Unit 16.

So I finally figured out at least one other place that has the same actor on screen more than once. And I have some examples too.
It's Dr Who. The two episodes I'm looking at are Almost People and Nightmare in Silver.
Firstly, Almost people.
Here is a link to the scene I'm looking at on Youtube.

So this is the first shot I want to look at.
The two Doctors are stood so close that their arms overlap. Meaning that the one on the right is closer to us, but he is smaller. I can't remember if thats because he is the clone ore just the BBC struggled with editing. I hope it's not to hard. I should have probably looked into how to edit this rather than hoping I'll learn on the day. I'm assured it shouldn't be too difficult. Anyway, comparing this to what I'm thinking in my head. My 6 characters are all arguing

with each other and so I don't think they would stand this close.

However, I do think a shot like this would work. Quickly skimming though my scrip I see a few places where this shot could work. It could work well to show two of the characters listening to Darkness if I decide to have him as just a voice.
Filming this shot should be easy as I intend to have a solid black background.

Here we have a low angle looking across the chest of one Doctor and at the face of the other. It's a good shot but one I don't think I will use. Why? because it requires someone of a similar build as I am. It was tough enough to get some one to help me film, never mind getting some one to stop with their work and then wear my clothes. Another point, I would have to acquire a costume for them so that they don't look out of place. Skimming though the script again, I don't see anywhere where this shot could fit. I might give it a go on the day but I doubt it will be in the final cut.


Moving onto Nightmare in Silver. I can't find a clip of the scene but I do have a picture.
I think this scene would show what I want to create better than the other. As this time the two versions of the Doctor are  against each other. Also it is set inside his head. Very similar to my plan. I think a shot like this would allow for me to fit all 6 characters on screen at once. That isn't really needed for the film but I think it will make a cool picture for Facebook, if I have time.


I will try to film all of the shot above and many more! Nothing too ridiculous though as this is a serious piece of film. Started this with the idea of it being funny, ended with something that could be very dark. Innocence is pretty much the only cheery character. I knew this would happen, I did have a dead woman in it. And some suggested necrophilia. Maybe my next piece of work will be side splitting. It the funny way that is.

Memory is the Key (Just incase you forgot the title)

So I think I'm all ready to film.
All of the costumes are ready. The script is done. And I think I'll do that many different takes that a shot list would just be a list of every shot I could do. I'm thinking of having a low angle panning shot. A hand full of close ups and a truck load of medium shots. But like I said, I plan to do at least 5 takes of this so I can get loads of shots. It's better to have too much footage than not enough.

Here is a list of the final costumes!

So Darkness and Panic stay the same. I don't think Panic could be improved in any way. I'm still not too sure if I will have Darkness on screen. I'll be testing it when I edit on Wednesday.

 Righteousness now has a slightly brighter purple tie but really nothing has changed.
(Note: Must clean mirror again.)

 Anger now has darker braces thanks to my good friend James. Again, not much change.

 Intelligence now has some proper glasses. A nice pair of reading glasses from Sainsburry's. There were some that I liked to look of more but they were £15+ and as much as I want the right look, these £8 ones work just fine. Both for reading and for acting.

Innocence will not have a blurry face when filming, I just moved my head at the wrong time.I decided to scrap the lollipop idea and just put an old hoodie on. I'm keeping the ducky tie as I still think that aids the childish look I want.

Standing tall! Wed11th-Thurs12th

Today, I stood still.
Today, Andrew and I filmed a series of help videos for JTRS.
He is a link to their website.
I would put some pictures up but there is a bit of a problem with them.
The camera set up was quite simple. One shot of the tutor from the waist up sat at the desk. The second of his hands and the keyboard. That meant I had to have the tripod fully extended and on top of one of the stage boxes.

Thursday!
So I'm the only one here.
Andrew is busy working on his 3 minuet film, as are most people, and a hand full of students are late. So it's just me running two cameras. Cowman and the T.V. studio. I set everything up and suddenly a James appears. Helpful. Just in time.
We finished filming the tutorials for the laptop and quickly moved on to filming the ones for the Ipad mini.
This required a new shot as he was no longer using a keyboard, nor was he capturing the footage of the screen on the Ipad.
We moved the 2nd camera to the other side of the studio and raised it up onto a 2nd stage box.
I had my own little tower.

So even though I was just stood still for most of it. I had a lot of fun and I'm glad I agreed to do it.

Memory is the Key (Almost unlocked)

So I am filming on Tuesday.
I am!
What can I be doing till then?
Well I still need to finish my shot list and the costumes still need a tweak.
I'll have the updated costumes up on here for Monday afternoon.

I have also had a think about what other films have had the scenes like this in them.
I can only think of the opening scene of the 3rd Pirates of the Caribbean. I can't find a clip of it on Youtube.
I'm going to look into this more.

On a sudden and different note, I feel nervous. What if I don't act as well as I think I can?
I need to throw out all doubt.
Doubt doesn't help anything.

Scanning Paul Kenny. Unit 18.

So Paul Kenny came to give a lecture about his work on Wednesday.

I can't say I was greatly interested, but I did want to find out how he did photography without using a camera. As the title suggests, he uses a scanner. So I had a little go at it with my scanner at home.

As with most things. Start with my own face.
This is a bad start I think. I'm way too far from the scanner making me appear blurry.

 I quickly moved away from my face and used a fake rose I had acquired on my travels. For this I placed the rose on to the scanner and then reflected a torchlight  off a mirror angled just above. I then cut the image down in Paint. Removing the messy empty space and leaving you to focus on just the flower head.

I tried the same shot but in the dark this time. The reflected light is picked up a lot more and the colour in the flower is much stronger.

I have these small coloured card sleeves and thought I would see how the light would work with them.
I was hoping for them to be a little more transparent and look almost ghost-like. That is not the case.

I went back to using the rose. This time I left the light resting at the very top of the scanner. As the scanner scanned, I closed the lid and opened it again to create the striped background.














I decided to leave it at that for the night. But worry not, I came back.
These were done almost a week after the first few. I found this very relaxing. For some I just clicked scan and came up with the idea in the few seconds before the scanner started.

 For these two I tried moving with the scanner. I really like the first one. I really like how my hair looks in it. The image of the hand started off well but failed at the thumb.

For these two I tried to make the image slightly faded and ghost-like. I think the first one with the lights off gives the creepy feel I was hoping for. I like how the eyes have turned out for both images. They are just dark. Slightly annoyed by the mucky streak that is from my earlier pictures. If I were to do this as a proper piece of work I would wipe the glass clean after each shot.

 I decided to mix the rose into it again. I thought about it being in place of my eye. The first two I'm holding the stem and in the first, I'm clearly too far from the scanner. I moved closer with each take and finally decided to reposition the flower. Again, my hair looks good. I like that my fringe is the only thing in focus although I would have preferred it to have been just the rose. I may come back and try to perfect this some time.

For this one I tried to add motion again but this time I moved away rather than along. I was hoping to have a clear nose in the center for the focus point. I think I moved a bit too fast and too close to the scanner. I think I could make something good with this idea, I just need to put a bit more time into it.

Unit 18.

 So that's the main body of work I produced. Here are some of the other images I produced:

T.V. Studio experience.

What are you doing this Tuesday? FORGET IT!
You are now going to go work in the T.V. Studio and get experience.
Hooray!
Down to the studio set everything up. Lights ready. Cameras ready. Just need our client to arrive.
After about an hour of waiting we were then informed that it's actually tomorrow.
Not a problem. Just gotta remember what I had planned to do.
Finish the shot list for Memory is the Key.
Also you can't film this week. Sorry!
(Door slams shut.)

Memory is the Key. The door has been opened.

So with out any telling my tutor anything about my idea I passed him the script for it and he gave it a little look. Only the first page I think but he liked what he saw. That is the main point.
He suggested I take a look at a piece of work by Samuel Becket, Not I.
Here is a link to it.
Not what I was thinking for the full piece. Maybe for Darkness...

So what now?
Well I have been reading the script over and over again. It's just over 3 minuets but it will be shorter when I edit it.
I have started to add camera directions to the scrip.
I have also improved some of the costumes.
Plan to film on Thursday.

The 3 Min Project (Memory is the Key) unit 18.

Suddenly, change!
I have decided to do something completely different to the other idea I had.

This kind of ignores the first rule of writing, You're not as interesting as you think. Don't write about yourself. But I don't really see this as being about me. It first came to me while editing the cooking footage for the Shisha project. Unintentionally I am in it, and as I was editing it I started to have a conversation with myself. Making bad puns mostly.
I started to think about how it would look on screen. Amusing at least.

 This is a picture taken with an Iphone. This starts to show the visual aspect of what I want to achieve in the 3 min piece. I plan to have six versions of myself argue with each other. Now why would there be six of me in one room and why would they argue? I think the best way to explain this is to show you the script.

This weekend I have started, and hope to have done by Monday, a script for this. Here is the opening. It shows the first 3 characters, Intelligence, Innocence and Anger. The others are Righteousness, Panic and Darkness. These characters represent ways of  thinking.  The plot, I have just awoken with no memory of previous events and there is a dead woman on the floor. Depending on availability the woman will be pregnant. Because I think a pregnant woman being killed is much worse than just a regular woman. Anyway the 6  ways of thinking argue about how to deal with the problem.

 So I started designing costumes last night. Here is what I had in mind for Intelligence. Main point for this is the lab coat. When I think of intelligence I think of scientists and doctors. His hair is well kept and his tie in place.
Now I want him to have glasses. Just not those. I was thinking of having a thinner pair.

For Innocence I started to think of how I could make myself look childish. I decided to wear my duck tie and have a lollipop in hand. I also went with the idea of having the shirt partially tucked in. Although this may change.

This is Anger. His hair is slightly messed up and he has no tie, allowing the top two buttons to be open. I'm not sure why I decided to have braces on Anger, I felt it was a nice touch but I think I will try to get hold of some that are darker in colour. Rather than the light purple shown here.

Here is Righteousness. A nice 3 piece suit all buttoned up with a royal purple tie.
Other ideas for Righteousness are a vicar or a super hero. Both are good ideas but I think I prefer this, accompanied by a strong voice that gives a feel of being better than everyone.

This idea for Darkness was to have a devil like character in human form. The classic black suit and red tie give the feel of evil business man. I first thought of having Darkness chained down or locked in a cage to show how we try to hide or control our dark thoughts. I moved away from that as I thought it would be impractical. I also considered having Darkness just be a voice. I think I will film him as shown here and if it feel wrong I can just remove the visual footage.

Lastly we have Panic. I think this was the simplest of ideas for costume, as it is just me looking rather distressed. The hair is messy and the tie is out of place. Although it is the simplest, I think it is the most effective and looks the best. Maybe it's just this picture.

Anyway that is how I intend for my 6 characters to look. Now I just need to finish the script and make a shot list. I'm really excited for this and can't wait to film it.

Shisha awareness advert.

We have been given the task to make a short advert to inform people of our age the risks of smoking shisha. After compiling research together we found an advert for the Guiardian involving the three little pigs in modern day london. We quickly decided to do something similar. Alice in Wonderland but in a modern day environment. We quickly sorted a shot list an did a test run of shots. It didn't go to well and started to look a bit dodgy and we struggled to acquire the dress. We had a big meeting with everyone involved and a couple of tutors. We discussed where we were going wrong. I think we got stuck on one idea that was a bit too ambitious. Our discussion lead us to what Shisha actually is. It doesn't make you hallucinate and it doesn't change your mood, so what is the point. Why would you smoke it? None of us could see a point. It's just the same as smoking cigarettes with even more of a health risk. So we stared to have ideas that questioned and mocked Shisha. We split into two groups each focusing on a different idea.
Idea 1
Idea one focuses on the ingredients. It's a short cooking show about John the chef making Shisha.
Idea 2
Idea two focused more on the cost and a bit on the social side of Shish. It's a short snippet from a shopping channel selling shisha. 

Even though we had split into two small teams we still intended to work together when filming. I worked on idea 2.
We started by watching a few clips of shopping channels on Youtube.One that really caught our attention was one that's trying to do the same thing as us. It's for AK-47s.
Teleshopping AK-47

We started working on a script soon after. At about the same time idea 1's team had finished their scrip and were ready to film.

Filming Cooking with John
So I walked into the T.V. studio with the idea that I would be working on camera or maybe floor managing. Nope Not today because our actor is suddenly busy and can't make it. According to our director, "The jacket is just your size." So I became John and had no time to learn the script that had been written. I didn't mind too much, I just wanted to get a feel for using cameras again. There is always next time though. On the other hand everyone had fun we got the shots we wanted and we made a funny little cooking show. Oh I almost forgot the other problem. The two key points for this was to have John the chef from the college cafe and a blender. So we don't have John and now the blender doesn't work. I was expecting the cameras to brake next with the luck we were having.We worked around the problems and filmed 9 takes before accepting that we had enough. Here is a shot of me being Chef John.

Now we get to editing. Even though I opted to work on idea 2 I wanted to assist with the editing for Cooking with John. This ended up with me editing it. Not a problem with that. What there was a problem with was sound. Takes 3-7 didn't have working sound. I made do with what working footage we had. After editing the footage the director turned up, so I left him to add the text, such as a list of the ingredients.

Shop Gallery.

We have been given a gallery in the center of town to showcase all of our work. It's a small empty shop but it is being transformed into a lovely studio/gallery. I don't see myself doing much, if any work in here. I'll probably use it as a mini cinema for most of the films I make over this next year.

These are just a couple of pictures of the main area of the shop. It's an good sized space to work with. I'll probably use it mostly as a mini cinema to show all of my work.

       

There are two small booths in the back corner. of room, both with mirrors. 

In the back room there is a sink area and toilet. Not sure how useful this area can be at the moment but it's nice to know it's there.

And his is it from the outside.

The 3 min project.

We have been given 3 minuets to fill with what ever we want.
Oh gee...
I could do anything.
Best way to start is with some ideas. Best way for ideas, spider diagram.

 

So there it is. My spider diagram.

I think my favorite of all these ideas is my comment on American health care.
During the summer just gone, at about 2AM I got into an upset and angry mood. I can't remember why but I know it happened because I wrote this...

His tightly closed fist crashed heavily into the side of my face. My jaw hung loosely as the warm blood pooled around my tongue. I staggered back against the cold brick wall of the alley. My attacker's friend stood watch while the muscular hulk grabbed me by the neck and pinned me to the wall with one hand. His right arm pulled back, then repeatedly jabbed into my stomach. I spluttered my red juices out onto his arm. He threw me to the ground, my nose breaking on impact with the tarmac. He crashed the heel of his foot into my back. Unable to move all I could do was take the beating. His foot slammed into me again, snapping my spine. He rolled me over and started cracking my ribs. The deep grunts of laughter bounced from bully to bully. My vision began to fade but I tried to stay focused. I focused on his gritty face. A painfully pleased grin fixed under two blood-lusting eyes.

I blacked out for just a moment. Re-awakening to the sound of a metal pipe being dragged towards me. I looked over just as it swung into my crotch. I tried to crawl away but it was too painful. His heavy boot slammed down onto my demolished ribs, holding me in place. He lifted the steel bar into the air, lining up the next swing. Now I wanted to black out. I didn't want to feel the crushing pain push up my massacred spine. He removed his foot from my chest, leaving a print on my drenched shirt. He grabbed each of my shoulders and sat me on top of a dumpster. I slumped back, waiting for this horror to end. I felt a sharp cracking pain in my shin. And then in the other. I rolled my head to the side to see the shimmer of light speed towards my legs. The watcher waited eagerly, where the alley met the street. Suddenly my feet were being grasped by gigantic hands. They tightened, crippling my feet with-in them. I was then swung from atop the dumpster and into the wall opposite it. I fumbled down back into a pool of my own blood. I lay they spluttering more blood into the miniature lake, waiting for the next blow. 

Now how does that have anything to do with American health care, well unlike the U.K., U.S.A don't have the NHS. The victim of this attack will have to pay for all of the medical treatment required to make him better. So after that horrible beating I plan to have it end in a hospital bed just as a Dr hands our 'John Doe the bill.

Here are a few more ideas for what I would want in the piece. Just to clarify, I'm not suggesting having Quentin Tarantino and the Watchmen in my 3 minuets. I jotted them down as I would like to fit with-in their styles. I might try slowing some of the shots down in editing, hoping that it will really hit the audience with the shocking attack.

I'm not too sure where I can film this, for both the beating and for the hospital scene I need some where nearby that kinda looks like an American alley. I'll also need some actors. I don't think costume would be an issue. As long as my actors can supply clothes they don't mind getting fake blood on. 'm sure that washes out. I'll have to check. After Halloween I plan to go and buy lots of fake blood, hoping that it will be cheep in a sale. I'm sure that I could use a class room in college as a Hospital room. A few props will be needed for that.
The heart-beepy machine...
The water bag...
Get better soon balloon...
Cheep Flowers...
Grapes...


There is a lot of work to be done still. Got to start some where though.

The Moon

So as I went to bed last night the moon shone on my face. I decided to write down my thoughts.

The moon is bright in the sea of darkness.
Reflective and clouded in mystery. (Although not that much anymore. Thanks America!)
It is as clouded in the night as I am in thoughts.
Will I get closer to the moon?
I doubt it.
I think about the painting of The Reef. I think about how I haven't revisited it. I didn't mention it at all in my last two roundabouts.
Will I ever revisit The Reef?
Will NASA ever revisit the moon?
Or have we got everything we needed?

Seeing you only makes me think of science. You are empty. Void of life. A void in a void.

Is there anymore to say?
Maybe my focus is too narrow. I shouldn't just look at the moon, but instead, the entire night sky.
Can this be transfered to other aspects of my life...
I try to keep an open mind. Maybe it's not enough...
Do I ever do enough?
(My triple distinction says yes)
The moon is bright, and so am I.

October assessment

Man that was a thing!
Before I start I would like to thank my brain for not helping me at all during the 10ish minuets. Thank you for backing out and leaving me on my own for this.

So I think overall it went alright. Nothing great, but it wasn't terrible. I couldn't remember my blog's web address and so I had to sign into Facebook and then find the link I posted the other day on the group page.
What pathway are you thinking of?
Media of course.
So what kind of films do you watch?

Why was the only think I could think of Iron Man. Not even the film. In my head all I could picture was him flying round and round. I had to answer with super hero films before I was silent for too long. This caused the assessment to be all about superhero films on a budget.
This is why I thought it was average. We talked about making a super hero film based in Blackburn. We shared a few ideas that I plan to explore in more detail. I just fear that I'm going to become 'that super hero kid' just because I forgot every film I watched this year. Like Robot and Frank, Dogma or Life of Pi.

I was then asked what books I read.
I don't read many. (Hide in shame) The Stainless Steal Rat is a great series. I recommended to any Sci-fi fan.
What comics do you read?
Now that is something I do read. Batman, Aquaman, Watchmen. Mostly DC as I prefer their characters and the stories tend to have darker themes. Another point for 'that super hero kid'...
I can't argue that I don't have a large interest in the films and comics, I do. I just hope that super isn't the main focus of my work.

Media and photography 2! Return of the cameras. Unit 18.

Media

We started work on the scratch film. Each of us were given 7 seconds and a bunch of pens to work with. I started with a big red box to mark my start point, I continued it for 1 second. I then drew a red and green line turning 90'. This was then followed by an arch. Now for my favorite second. The best punctuation. The question mark. In green. Followed by the best shape. The triangle. In blue. I then finished off with a few dots and lines.
After everyone had finished their 7 second piece we watched the entire film. Seeing my part between the others completely changed my opinion of it. It looked very empty and plain, it looked like it lacked colour.

Photography

This is one of the first pictures we took. We didn't really know what would happen with this effect. It's our starting point. A rubbish low starting point that we can hopefully shoot out from.

This is an image using the torch of an iPhone being swooshed from side to side. This is the sort of effect we were looking for. Now we knew how to get what we wanted we started to experiment with movement.

This an an image of me jumping and spinning in the air. I think this would have been better if the room had been completely pitch black. I like the near symmetry that is with-in the image.

For this we placed the light source on the floor and stood over it. It reminds me of some ghostly figure,lurking in the dark.

This one was also done on the floor. I changed my movement and created a different shape. I think it looks like a Muppet or a cartoon character.

This is another one of someone spinning up and down. I like the way the swirls clash with each other and fade away. Again light is coming in from the door not so much ruining it, but it doesn't help.