Aaron Buckley's Blog

New Site

2010-12-01T19:49:00.000Z

The time has come for me to have my own website, so here it is:

http://www.aaronmbuckley.co.uk

As a result my blog will be moving there as well. However, I've made it easy as at the bottom you can subscribe via RSS or Email. Thanks for following and don't forget to follow me on twitter: @aaronmbuckley

Destined To Be The Sound Man

2010-11-10T16:14:00.000Z

With the two, "two minute" films we had to make complete we have now started work on the first of our two final year films.

But to start with here is the film that me and my friend Jess made for the second of the "two minute" film projects (really only a 30-60 second project) which was a viral advert for the WOWee One.

Click Here To View HD Version

For this mini film I mixed some Lord Of The Rings music with some dubstep, and since I found it quite fun I decided to finish the track off, which I shall upload soon.

Here is what the client said of our viral advert:

"I loved the visual impact and the choice of music - really stylish and haunting. The technique for showing the sound wave through the screen was great and sums up what the product is all about. This was a really strong contender for the best viral because it was one I watched over and over - almost mesmeric!"

If we had won then we would have got a free WOWee each. But it was still good to get great feedback and know we came very close.

Moving onto the 10 minute film projects now. Myself and Jess pitched our idea for the script we had been working on. However, unfortunately it did not get chosen as one of the seven films to get made. Sadly this means that I have ended up doing sound again. However, I've decided to keep busy and do the sound on two different projects. Along side this I will also have the sound on the feature project to do, so as it seems I will end up being a sound man at least I should have a thoroughly built up portfolio.

But not all hope is lost, as myself and Jess are also working on a Salsa Tutorial video for a client after we were approached. Whilst it's not paid we do get free Salsa lessons! So as I want to go into dance filmmaking it will be very handy actually knowing how to dance a little bit!

That's all for this month, but I do have an extra goody. We had a Q and A with producer Rebecca O'Brien (Sweet Sixteen, Looking For Eric) as part of our course and I happened to record the session on my iPhone so decided to upload it for anyone that wants to listen. You can also download it as well.

Rebecca O'Brien Q and A

Final Year

2010-10-01T13:54:00.000+01:00

I'm back at university now for my final year. We've already made one short 2 minute film and we've got another one to do next week, after which we'll be pitching our ideas for the first of the two 12 minute films we will be making this/next year.

I will be pitching a script with my friend Jess, which we wrote together through the summer and completed our 2nd draft of this week. It still needs some work as it needs cutting down, but the idea is solid, and that is what we are pitching.

I've also been working on this feature film I've previously spoken about. Whilst I've not started any post production work on it yet, we have completely finished shooting.

We shot it on my Canon 550D and we are aiming to finish it by February/March 2011. The reason it will take so long to complete is because I will be adding all the sound in post, so I'm starting from scratch. And seeing as it is a feature film that is a lot of sound to add. Plus I will also have my degree going on at the same time, which I've got to write my dissertation for before Christmas too, so I'm going to be very busy.

I'll try and put some photos up of the feature film soon, but for now here is a short timelapse I did of us preparing for dinner one evening. It was very interesting because we shot and lived in the same house for a week. This is the first timelapse I've done, set up to take 1 photo every 10 seconds. It was very fun to do. We also did another one of us setting up in the morning, however that was shot done by our editor, so I don't have a copy of it.

Click Here To View HD Version

Dawn

2010-09-01T00:00:00.022+01:00

I've been doing further testing this month with my Canon 550D + Sigma 18-200mm f3.5-6.3 lens. However, I now also have an LCDVF 3:2, Glidetrack Shooter 0.75m and Manfrotto 701HDV. So I've spent quite a lot of money now, hopefully not all for nothing either.

You can see the test I did using all of my kit below and you can also click the link to read about the encoding process/experiments that I did.

Click Here To View HD Version and/or Read About My Encoding Process/Experiments.

The reason I wanted to purchase a camera was for my upcoming dance film. I've met up with the woman whom I've been in contact with, Allie, and she is very enthusiastic about the project. There will be about 4 or 5 dancers in the film, including Allie, who will choreograph themselves, with perhaps a little direction from me. I've also managed to get copyright clearance for the music I wanted to use in the film, which means that I will be able to distribute the film once it is complete.

The aim is to shoot the film near Christmas, however, since I will only be in Cornwall for 2 weeks at Christmas I'm currently wondering whether the film will end up being postponed until summer 2011. Either way, I've managed to get things in motion so am confident that this film will get made.

Got a few projects I'll be working on much sooner though. One of which is a feature film which I will be doing the sound design on. I filmed the auditions on my camera which I found very interesting to do. It really helped me from a directing point as well. Although it seems I'm quite far away from being a director of actors at the moment. Fate seems to be steering me away from dramas, dance films are where I believe I'm headed. I think my best bet for dramas is to wait until I've a few dance films under my belt and then maybe have a go.

I've also been doing more work experience with MyCornwallTV this past week. I did a week's work experience out on location with them last year, however, this year I was mostly editing in the office. I edited a number of Wasson?! videos which are daily updates on what's going on in Cornwall, and are the first videos that come up when you enter the website. I also shot a weeks worth of Wasson?! videos which I believe will air from the 8th to the 14th of September. You will be able to watch the videos here, at mycornwall.tv.

I also did a full day on the live rugby game broadcast which they do, for the Cornish Pirates. It was a home game so was held at Penzance. I ended up cable bashing, which is where I had to run up and down the side of the pitch where one of the camera men is and make sure the the wires running from his camera to the broadcast van don't get tangled, and are kept out of the way so that the camera man can't trip over them. It's a pretty low down job, but it was a great experience being part of a live broadcast, and I feel learnt quite a lot. You can view highlights and will be able to see future broadcasts on their Pirates channel which you can find here.

Here are the latest uploads of the Gang Show, which complete Act 1. Unfortunately due to copyright issues the producer of the show has asked me to make the videos private. But you can access them all with the password, which I have provided.
Password: temp

Act 1 - Part 6: H.S.E?

Click Here To View HD Version

Act 1 - Part 7: Tramps

I've decided to discontinue with my monthly music track simply because I have been and will continue to be very busy. But I've not given up completely so will still be posting tracks here when I have them to post!

Testing Stages

2010-08-01T12:00:00.003+01:00

First of some horrible news, the UK Film Council has been axed. You can read about it properly here, but please also sign the petition, as the UK Film Council is an important part of the UK film industry and I think worth saving. And don't forget to join the facebook group.

Onto me now! I've been playing around with my new camera. I've got a Canon 550D and the lens I have is the Sigma 18-200mm. I'm not a photography expert, but I've found the lens to be really great and it really does produce some really stunning shots.

I'm aiming to do one test video per week as a way for me to get to grips with the camera as well as trying to get to grips with Final Cut Studio as well. I've used Final Cut Pro before as this is what we edit on at university. However, we've not used the other applications such as Color or Motion before, so I've trying to play around with these as well.

Here's a few quick non specific test videos I did though.

"A little something I shot on my new Canon EOS 550D. Was playing around and experimenting, just shooting things in and around my garden.

The sound design is all mine as well. At the forefront there are two pieces of music, both by Max Richter, which I worked together and are playing together at the same time, as well as all the other little details."
Click Here To View HD Version

"Some test footage I did of my cats, shot on my Canon 550D with a Sigma 18-200mm lens. The second shot I slowed down in post, however, I did also film it at 50fps so it should still be smooth. Obviously need to do some further tests with slow motion.

It was shot at 720p so should be in HD but for some reason has just been uploaded in SD. More tests needed."

Since I've was busy with my camera and writing scripts last month, I didn't finish any of my music tracks I've been working on, however, I do have this soundtrack mix which I created a while ago instead.

Machines by Aaron Buckley

I've two more mixes like this and am currently working on another one.

I've also uploaded parts 4 and 5 of the Gang Show which I worked on.

Click Here To View HD Version

Click Here To View HD Version

You can view all parts that have currently been uploaded here.

A New Wave

2010-07-04T13:30:00.002+01:00

I've recently bought a Canon EOS 550D, which shoots video in full 1080p HD. I'm still waiting for my lens to arrive, but when it does I'm going to start shooting some stuff, and join the new wave of DSLR filmmakers.

In other news, I've managed to upload the first three parts of the Gang Show that I shot over Easter. There's plenty more parts to come as it's a two and a half hour show, but I can only upload one part per week on Vimeo as the files take up most of my 500MB weekly upload capacity and I can only upload one HD video per week as well.

Here are the first three parts though:

Click Here To View HD Version

Click Here To View HD Version

Click Here To View HD Version

You will be able to find the rest of the videos here as they get uploaded.

On to music now and I've been coming up with a few tunes here and there and playing around with different sounds on Logic Express. I've come up with quite a few, but my aim is to finish one a month, so here is the first.

Running by aaronbuckley

I could probably do a lot more to the piece, however, I'm happy with it and see it as finished. I was going for a Run Lola Run feel with it, which I'm happy I achieved when I played it for a group of friends and one of them compared it to Run Lola Run. It might not be the best electronic piece ever, but I'm more of a film music person myself, and in terms of that I feel I've succeeded.

The End Is Nigh

2010-06-02T18:40:00.004+01:00

I've finished my 2nd year now at university which means I've only got one year left until I have to venture out into the big bad world. Yes, I'm scared, but I'm hoping opportunities will open up for me.

I've finished work on Forgotten now, which has been renamed Felix. I did get to do the music in the end as well which was a fun experience for me and as a result I've now got a MacBook Pro with Logic Express. So I'll be getting to grips with that over the summer. I've not yet got a copy of Felix, but I'm pleased with how it turned out, and will post it here when I get a hold of one.

I've also brushed my hands clean of the Gang Show. Burning the DVDs was a much more length process then I expected it to be as we had a lot of problems exporting the project from Final Cut, and ended up having to put the show on two discs. But thankfully we managed to sort everything in the end and the client was pleased with what we did. Plus I got paid. I'll try and upload the show for next month.

If you read my last months post then you'll know I started a little project called Film365. After creating a film a day for all of May I've decided that it is too much work to be able to carry it on for the whole year and so have brought the project to a close. However, I'm glad that I did it as I discovered some interesting things and did enjoy doing it. You can view all the videos I did for the project here: Film365 Project - May 2010.

But here are some of my favourites:

As for future projects, we make two films next year at uni. Hopefully one of my ideas will get picked. We pitch to a group of professional writers next year, and I'm hoping to wow them with a non-narrative idea, something I imagine will be quite hard since I'm guessing what they will be looking for is stories.

Other than writing some scripts this summer I don't really have a lot going on apart from one other project, Dance Experiment II.

I emailed a lady yesterday, that is setting up a dance studio in Cornwall, about the possibility of making a dance film with her and her studio. Well she's emailed back and seems very interested so I'm hoping this will go ahead. However, I won't be starting any work on it until near Christmas at the earliest. Otherwise it could be next year before I start on it. But at least it's in the pipeline.

I'm currently thinking about getting a Canon 550D. If I end up getting one then I'll hopefully have some more projects to work on through the summer.

New Horizons

2010-05-01T12:00:00.001+01:00

Things seem to be back on track. Forgotten is going well, and I'm proud of what me and my team have done with filming the live Gang Show.

First off Forgotten. Filming is 98% done and there are just a few exterior shots to get of some buildings. The edit is still being played with a little but it should be done by the end of next week. Here is some footage with a rough edit if you want to know what it looks like. I did all of the cinematography and lighting in all of these shots.

I also had ago at doing some music for the film, and as a result I'm being allowed to have ago at scoring the film. As it happens, I'm not sure my director has 100% faith in me as she's said she still wants to look for some music students to score the film, however, lucky for me no one has expressed any interest so it seems I've got the job by default. I've put the demo I did, with the clip above, and you can view and listen to it below.

I start scoring it properly on Tuesday. I used to play the cornet and got to grade 6 in practical and theory, I could have gone further, but I'd lost interest in the grades system and so just wanted to plan. However, since I've started university I've not played. Which I think has actually helped me to come up with melodies. Before when I did play I couldn't come up with a tune to save my life. Now they fly at me left right and centre. Which is why I want to get a MacBook Pro over the summer with Logic Pro Studio so I can write some music.

I've also finished editing the live Gang Show which me and my crew filmed over Easter. It's come in at 2 hours and 35 minutes. All that is left to do is export the film from Final Cut Pro and then create a DVD of it.

I have to say that filming a live show with separate cameras is very hard. We had a number of exposure issues, which you can see in the final piece. But I've definitely learnt a lot from doing the project, and will be quite glad when it is over.

That's it in terms of my filming projects at the moment. Although I'm also starting today a little project I'm calling Film365. It's inspired by the Photo365 projects I've seen where people have to take a photo everyday for a year. Well I've decided to do the same with video. However, since an interesting video a day, which is what I am aiming for, is harder than taking a photo a day I'm testing it out this month, and then if I enjoy it I'm going to continue it for a year. You can view my films from the project at http://vimeo.com/channels/film365.

Progress

2010-04-01T12:00:00.003+01:00

Things have picked up a bit since my last post. However, I still seem to be being stalked by bad luck.

First off I've managed to finish uploading the production photos from Distant Donors, so now I'm completely done with it.

Distant Donors Production Photos

I've also finished work on Jessie Dyer's Documentary/Music Video. It's the first documentary I've done and I only had two shoots to do it. It's by no means perfect, but I feel I did the best with what I had and I'm pleased with it. If I had more time, then I would have preferred to shoot some more stuff and follow up on some of the stuff they talk about in the interviews. But to be honest I'm glad it's finished now.

I had to make 30 DVDs which proved to be the most impossible task in the world. I literally had 20 separate problems one after the other and it took my all day and some cookies and milkshake to get through it. The live event where the DVDs were sold for charity was on Tuesday 30th March at Pitcheroak School. Since the event has been and gone now I've uploaded the film, and you can watch it below.

If you wish to know more about the charity "Everybody Let's Sing!" then click here.

I've finished university for the Easter Holidays now and so have finished work on Forgotten for now. It's been going okay so far, there have been a lot of problems but we've been combating them and working through them. When we come back after Easter we have 2 scenes left to shoot and 2 scenes that we need to re-shoot. Then my job will be done and it will just be the editing that is left. Below are a couple of still shots from the film.

In the mean time I'll be filming a live Gang Show on the 6th April and 10th April, with help from Jessica Taylor (who helped me out with the Jessie Dyer project, and who also wrote and is now directing Forgotten) and Clarissa Hall. Since I've not filmed a live event before it'll be very interesting. Once it's been filmed then it will be up to me to make a DVD of it, which will be sold to the cast, crew, family and anyone else that wants one. The money made from the DVDs is then given to me and my crew. Therefore making this my first paid job. I'll have about a month to edit it, and by that time my projects will all be coming to a close and I'll have to start on some new ones.

Failure Versus Success

2010-03-07T11:17:00.002Z

I had a lot of failure last month. My script for the 2:30 minute narrative film didn't get chosen and the one I did co-direct turned out quite shit. Then I pitched my 10 minute narrative film which also didn't get chosen. It seems my year group don't like experimental films, something I find quite irritating. Next year we have to pitch our ideas to some people from HBO. Being from a television company I'm guessing they are going to be looking for commercial ideas, not experimental niche market stuff. So it seems I'm screwed next year too and won't actually get to make one of my own ideas/scripts whilst being at university.

The only outside the box thing I've managed to do is Dance Experiment I, which I go more into below. What I would call a success, but only just.

Following up from last months post, here is the soundtrack to Distant Donors composed by my friend Tom Law:

Distant Donors (Soundtrack) - Tom Law

I've finished shooting for Jessie Dyer's short documentary/music video, and am going to start editing it soon, so I can finish it for the end of the month.

I finished work on Waiting Room, which to be honest I've very disappointed with. But you learn from you mistakes so I feel I've learnt a lot.

On the other hand, I am quite proud with how my dance film has turned out. I experimented with camera movement and camera choreography within a screendance in an attempt to make a unique screendance that can not be seen live. Whilst my film could be seen live, you couldn't experience it in the same way, and I feel that the way I have shot the dance definitely improves on it. I did over do it a bit in terms of dancer/camera eye contact, but otherwise I think I've done quite well with the equipment/facilities/dancers available.

The music is actually twice as fast as it should be, because I wanted to slow the film down by 50%. However, since I didn't shoot the film at a higher frame rate, when slowed down by this amount it looked quite horrid. But also in terms of the dance itself, it just lost all its energy. I think they would have to dance twice as fast again and I would have to move the camera twice as fast in order for it to still keep it's energy when slowed down.

I've called the film Dance Experiment I because I'm hoping to make more dance experiments. My next one I am hoping to do after Easter and am thinking about playing with editing for this experiment, and filming a dance that is a cross between tap and flamenco. Seeing as my ideas never seem to get picked, I guess it's up to me to go and do something about it. The only trouble is making an experimental narrative film will take money, something that people on my course won't want to be spending since they will have already spent it on their 10 minute narrative films. Plus after we finish the 10 minute films, everyone will be going home for the summer, so no one will really want to hang around. And people is what I will need in order to create a set for the world my 10 minute experimental narrative film is set in. This is why I want to make Dance Experiment II, because the only people I need to make this film are dancers, who have all expressed a keen interest in doing more dance films.

The 10 minute film I am working on is called Forgotten. Since my idea did not get picked after what I thought was quite a successful pitch I am not directing this film, which has put me on a bit of a downer. But I have taken on the role of cinematographer and been given free reign with how the film is shot. Therefore, I'm going to stamp my mark on this film with my amazing shooting. Or at least that's the plan.

But whilst my 10 minute script, Masque, didn't get chosen I am still hoping to make it one day. Just like all my other ideas I guess. One day success will find me, or rather, I'll find success.

So Far, So Good

2010-02-02T12:00:00.003Z

I've had a pretty busy month and Feb could be even busier.

I got back to uni Sun 10th Jan where we spent one more week on Distant Donors to finish it off. So here it is:

I'm going to make a mini soundtrack, which I might upload as it was my friend Tom Law who's music we used (apart from one track).

I've also started work on a short music documentary/music video for Jessie Dyer, who has written a song for the charity Everybody Let's Sing. So far I've done two shoots and gone to a meeting at Pitcheroak School, where she will be recording her and the kids singing the chorus. The next shooting date won't be until March though which is good for me as I'm starting work on a dance film this week, as well as a 2:30 minute narrative film.

The dance film is a short experimental piece that I am hoping to do using this music:

I'll be filming it most of this month and if the film turns out okay, then I'm going to re-do it and get original music written for it. Had our first meeting the dancers yesterday and they seem very up for it, which is great. Start properly on it next week(end).

As for the 2:30 minute film, I've written a couple of scripts, one of which I pitched yesterday. However, it didn't get picked to be made unfortunately, I should have pitched my other idea. But I am still getting direct, which I'm over the moon about. We only get 2 weeks to make it, but it is a film about a man at a train station that is inside a game of monopoly, which I am co-directing with Jonny Orme. It's called Waiting Room. I still plan on making my ideas though, and are putting them in the vault for the moment. Perhaps they'll be something I can work on over the summer.

Did my first bit of directing in more than 6 months today and it felt so good to put those shoes on again. They fit even better now as well. It was for Waiting Room and was kind of an audition, but was great fun. I don't want to go back to doing sound or any other job that is not directing for the 10 minute film we get to make after this 2:30 minute one. I was born to direct.

My Avatar Experience

2010-01-09T15:44:00.003Z

I don't usually do film reviews on my blog and in a way I'm still not, but on Wednesday the 6th of January 2010 at 5:40pm I went and saw James Cameron's Avatar on the UKs biggest screen at the BFI IMAX. My experience was so intense that I just felt that I should share it with everyone, and show that this film isn't about 3D and CGI, it is about the story.

I'm lost for words with this film, so I'm simply going to tell you about my experience when watching it.

I'd not been to an IMAX theatre before so it was a very exciting experience for me, I got some great seats which I'd booked a couple of months in advance and had to travel to London in order to see it on the biggest screen in the UK. I spent in total about £60 to go and see this film and it was worth every penny.

We watched the trailer for Tim Burton's Alice In Wonderland before, which was also in 3D and I thought, "Wow! This is amazing, the screen is so massive. " But it wasn't really any different to any other 3D film I'd seen. And then Avatar started.

As soon as the film started I just started crying, and must have continued to cry for about 30 minutes. They were tears of complete happiness at the beauty of the film and how real it was.

I've seen 3D films before, but they never really looked 3D. The animated ones didn't really need to be in 3D because they practically looked and felt the same, and some of them I would have preferred to have watched in 2D. And the live action films just looked as though there were some actors stood in front of a green screen and on the green screen was the rest of the film. It didn't look like it flowed in terms of depth, more like it had layers.

Avatar flowed beautifully. I felt as though I could just put my arm inside the film, or that I could actually step inside it. In some way Avatar looked more 3D than real life, due I think simply to differences in the way our eyes work and the camera works.

After I stopped crying and noticing the 3D, I just sunk right into it. Pretty much everyone seems to think that when I say Avatar was amazing then I just talk about the 3D and the CGI, but I'm not. They are simply tools of the film maker to make the story more real. I loved the story. I thought it was like Pocahuntas meets The Matrix, and whilst it might not have been that original in terms of the story being told before, it was certainly original in the way it was told.

Now a days it's pretty impossible to come up with a brand new story, because they've all been told in some way or another. The last few months I've been falling more and more out of love with films. I used to love them, but then I realised that in 2009 I'd not really seen a film that I loved in every way. I'd seen good films, don't get me wrong, Harry Brown is an amazing film, but it's not the kind of film that made me think this is the film I've been waiting for, and to be honest it's been like this for me for the last few years. I was really looking forward to The Dark Knight last year, and then it came out and I thought, there were definitely amazing bits in it, but it also had quite boring parts, and what I thought was out of place comedy, and not the kind you laugh out loud to.

Avatar has reignited that love of film for me. When the Na'Vi faced genocide in the film and Jake (Sam Worthington) flew in to rescue them and stand with them, making his big speech, I was just filled with emotion. As soon as he flew in I started crying and as he walked up to make his speech I got this feeling inside that I've only ever felt once, and that was when I saw my grandfathers dead body lying in his coffin when I was about 14 or 15. I just felt completely overwhelmed and hollow. It doesn't sound like a particularly nice feeling and it wasn't. But that fact that a film could make me feel like this just astounded me. The feeling stayed there until Jake began his speech and then the feeling slowly turned to hope and I literally felt like the Na'Vi. As though I was fighting for my survival, and for the survival of my people.

The only film that has come close to this amount of emotion for me was United 93. The last 5 minutes of the film are so emotional and horrific that I was balling my eyes out, less with sadness and more with fear. It was after the film that I felt sad, and cried for what must have been 30 minutes after the film had finished.

But Avatar was so much more intense, I almost film like I couldn't handle it. And if I was the only one in the cinema then I probably wouldn't have been able to, and would have let myself go to my limit.

So you can see how this film is so much more than just a film to me. The reason I was taken to this emotional place was because I felt like part of the story. The music encouraged me to feel this way as well, and I get chills just from listening to the Avatar soundtrack. But whilst music might provide a lot of the emotion in films, I felt that with this film what pushed the emotion even further was the 3D and the CGI.

With all the great films I don't feel like I'm watching a film, I feel part of it. However, I still always know in the back of my mind that I'm watching a film. With Avatar I wasn't watching a film, and after the film finished I had to remind me that it was a film that I just watched and that it wasn't real, because throughout the film my mind was telling me that it was real and that I was witnessing real life. I left my body in the cinema and went to Pandora. For me the events in Avatar were real, and I was there to witness them.

2010: My Decade

2010-01-01T01:16:00.003Z

2010 is the start of a new year for me as it is for all of you. However, it's also the start of the most important decade of my life. In summer 2011 I will graduate from my Digital Film Production degree and be entering the real world, where I'm going to make it in the film industry. I'm not aiming to be the next big Hollywood director, all I'm aiming to do is make the films I want to make and earn a respectable living.

I'll be entering the industry during an important stage in it's evolution, which it's still going through, and I will therefore need to open my mind up to new ways of thinking. Not just in terms of film making, but also in terms of business models. In a world where everyone with a mobile phone can make a film, what is it that sets me apart from the rest of the human population? And how do I make money from the film I've made?

I'm going to be exploring something this month and next month that I've never seen before, and having already done some tests, I think it is going to turn out better than I had initially expected for the way I'm going to film it, which is basically what makes the film. I'm not going to say any more on this project until it's finished, because I want to get a fresh reaction from the audience on what I think is a fresh new approach to the type of film I'm going to be making.

I've also got quite a few side projects that I'll be working on this year. And looking at how busy I'm going to be this term, I'm starting to think that I might have said yes to a few too many projects.

When I go back to uni, I'll be finishing off work on Distant Donors (progress report below) and starting work on some narrative films. I'm going to have to do some serious script writing before then if I want to get one of my ideas chosen, which I really really do, because I'm dying to direct having done none since about April last year. I think I'm going to be writing quite a lot this year, as I'm also doing a screenwriting module.

In other news, this is how things are with Distant Donors. This video shows you where we're at with the edit. As you can see there is still a lot of work to be done on it. I've managed to get my friend Tom Law to write some music for it, which if we use it (as other members of the group are also trying to get people to write music for the film), will be dispersed throughout. Currently we've got some temp music in for the last couple of minutes.

I've found working on this film rather boring in terms of the job that I've had to do. Boom Operator is not a job I ever want to have again. I did get to use the camera during the last few days of shooting, as we did quite a lot of cutaways in the car. We must have filled about a tapes worth of footage of stuff we shot in the car, and I think only one of the shots is actually in the current edit. Which is the shot of Jack in the car at night, the only shot of mine which has been used so far. Is it too much to ask for an additional camera operator credit!? If that's the case could I push for some sort of edit credit as well, as I put a couple of shots on the time line!?

And here is the music that Tom Law has written for the film:

I should have the finished piece for you next month.

You can view my Vimeo page by clicking the logo below:

Sound Man

2009-12-01T12:00:00.003Z

I started work on a new documentary (Distant Donors) last month which is still in production, so I don't have any footage to show, this time of nine minutes in length.

I'm again doing sound, however, this time my role is completely different. Whilst on Wired. I did Sound Design which was post-production sound, this time I'm the boom operator, which is production sound, and I know which role I prefer. Being the boom operator is a very important job, however, since I want to be a director I have all this creativity in me that wants to escape, something which holding the microphone doesn't let you do.

I didn't mind doing it at first, but I'm starting to get a little bored of it now, as the only work I have to do is when we go out on shoots, and so far we've only done five days of shooting out of a whole month. We've got some more shoots lined up but not a whole lot.

Since I've not had a chance to really be all that creative on this project I've been writing more ideas for possible future projects. Something which I find very fun to do, although unfortunately I tend to think beyond the doable, which can be a bit frustrating when you want to make a film and realise that you don't really have anything that you can film without a budget that is over a grand.

We wrap up on Distant Donors in the middle of January, so I'm not going to be able to be all that creative until after then, which is when we start narrative films. Hopefully for that I will actually get to direct, because I'm not sure I can handle doing production sound again.

On a side note, I've started work on another project with a company called Suited & Booted. I'm not the director of it, but I do get to do more than just sound which is good. It's a long term project, which is a promotional documentary for a hotel that is being refurbished. The project should be finished in October next year, so we'll be out shooting a few times a month so we can document the process. I've already been on one shoot and got to have a proper go on camera, which was really fun, because it meant that I got to be creative again as opposed to just holding a microphone.

Don't think I'll be up to much this month, with Christmas coming up and all, but I'll try and nab some rough cuts of Distant Donors to look at.

Wired.

2009-11-04T18:20:00.003Z

I chose to do sound design on this film, since it wasn't my idea and if the director's chair wasn't filled, then I wouldn't have really known how to direct it anyway.

However, we were barely a week into production before it was clear that our director didn't know or care what he was doing. Which left a crew of 2 producer's, 2 camera operators, myself on sound design, an editor, and no director. I kind of stepped up here. I didn't really know how we were going to make the film, all I knew was that we needed to film something. And boy did we. Our editor was being given a tape a day to capture for the first couple of weeks of shooting. Only in the final week did it actually become clear what film we were making when I sat in the room with the editor discussing the film.

The editor had to essentially search for meaning in all the stuff that got filmed, and once we had a film that was coming together told the camera operators to go off and shoot specific shots that would fit well in the film. Therefore, he got a director's credit as well.

In between all the editing that he was doing I had to edit the sound that I had recorded myself, as well as some sounds which I took from a sound library. Since the footage we filmed was recorded without any sound, it was up to me to design the soundtrack for the film. I had major ideas for it at the start, before the film evolved into what it is now, although I've managed to keep in as many of those ideas as I could, as well as coming up with new ones.

I ended up manipulating a lot of the sounds to give them a more unique quality. And taking my inspiration for such artists as composer Max Richter and writer/director/composer David Lynch, I've managed to create what I think is a very original soundtrack.

You can also view the full video here: http://vimeo.com/7436933

I'm very pleased with the sound design that I've done on this film and whilst I might have accidentally typecast myself now as a sound man, my passion is still for directing.

University

2009-10-01T15:54:00.002+01:00

I'm back at university now and since this is only my 3rd week back I don't have anything to show. However, this year I'm going to push the boundaries and see if I can enter some festivals.

The film I'm working on now is an experimental documentary. I'm doing sound design on it and boy have I got a tough job ahead of me. The film won't be finished until the end of the month at the earliest, but I'll try and get at least something up for next month.

Work Experience

2009-09-01T12:00:00.007+01:00

For the last 2 weeks I've been doing work experience with mycornwall.tv.

Day 1 (1:00pm - 2:30pm): Was a very short day and I spent just over one and a half hours at a meeting with the head of production (who I would be working with). It was quite an informal meeting where we disgust what/who I would be working on/with throughout the week. Although it was also subject to change. We also brainstormed some ideas for possible future programming and different formats of programs for the website.

Day 2 (9:30am - 2:30pm): I spent day 2 at a documentary shoot at Pengersick Castle. I spent most of the day observing the crew working (which consisted of a presenter/director and two camera operators) and helped out with carrying equipment. Whilst I didn't get to operate the equipment I did learn a lot about the way the crew worked together and shot different stuff. The presenter/director was really interesting to watch as were the crews methods of shooting. It will be quite interesting to see the finished piece. However, I don't think it will appear on the website until October.

Day 3 (4:00pm - 6:00pm): Finished off a short documentary at Gwithian Towans Beach that had been started the previous week. It was about how teaching people from the forces to surf can be a great way for them to deal with post traumatic stress, by helping them to forget about it and just enjoy the waves and the ocean and also by meeting other people dealing with post traumatic stress. I ended up helping with sound recording and held the microphone throughout the interviews. Hopefully I did a good job.

Day 4 (10:00am - 11:00am): We were supposed to be filming at Fifteen today, which is Jamie Oliver's new restaurant near Newquay. However, when we got there it turned out they didn't know we were supposed to be shooting there. So unfortunately we'd made a wasted trip. Although I did get a free orange juice!

Day 5 (9:30am - 2:30pm): Spent today filming on Tolcarne Beach in Newquay. We were filming this piece on this girl who won a bronze medal in open water swimming at the 2008 Olympics. I can't remember her name unfortunately but she was the "celebrity" of the day. The event was to raise awareness for the surf life saver organisation which helps young children learn about the dangers of the sea and how to look out for them and avoid them. I helped with sound again and held the mic throughout all the interviews that we did. The rest of the day was spent following the "celebrity" around and filming the different activities and races that she was in. Unfortunately I ended up in the sea as when we went down to film by the sea again later in the day the camera man forgot the mic lead was still attached and so when a wave came he just stood there, and since I was holding the mic which was at the other end of the lead I ended up getting wet too. The annoying thing was I knew the mic wasn't going to be picking up any important sound, so I kind of got wet for nothing.

This marks the end of the first week. Unfortunately I was unable to work the second week because I came down with pretty bad tonsillitis which I'm still recovering from. I enjoyed the experience though and whilst I would have liked to have a done a bit more, as a lot of the time I was just stood around watching, I did learn quite a bit. I'm definitely going to be getting more work experience in the future, but I'm going back to uni this month to start work on documentary making. So expect some more videos in a couple of months.

A Remote Idea

2009-08-01T12:00:00.001+01:00

This is the first comedy that I've done. I didn't write the script for this one and just directed. However, the main actor didn't want to learn his lines and wanted to improvise. It terms of content it worked, however a lot of that content we had to cut from the final edit because it just didn't fit in terms of continuity. Arms and heads were jumping around and nothing really flowed. As a result we ended up having to cut all the stuff that flowed together, although unfortunately this wasn't the funniest stuff.

Watching the film back now I don't really find it funny at all. Whilst I did enjoy making it, I'm not sure I'll be having another go at a comedy any time soon. I can't write comedies myself, but if a very funny script landed in my lap then I would definitely do it. Although I would have to be rolling on the floor with laughter, because even at the script stage this film was more of a chuckling quietly to yourself more than a laugh out loud comedy. And those are the types of comedies I hate. If it has been classed as a comedy I want to be laughing out loud throughout the entire film. If not than it's not worthy of the term comedy.

As a result I wouldn't class A Remote Idea as a comedy. More of a light hearted film.

The Cell

2009-07-01T12:00:00.000+01:00

The idea for this next film came from another person in my group. However, the idea was very vague and so I wrote it up into a proper screenplay, changing a few bits as I went. The song at the beginning was something that I wanted to add in as the director. This was the biggest directing job I had done to date in terms of working with actors and whilst I found the cell scenes very stressful because my crew was doing fuck all, when it came the gallery scenes they actually had decided to do there jobs and so it went much smoother.

I also had to direct extras for the gallery scene. Unfortunately though the two main extras shots were cut out of the final cut, however, you can still see them in the first cut.

This film is an art film in my opinion as it has many different interpretations. I've shown it to many people, some of them don't get it and others do, but quite often they don't get it in the same way. Even I myself have managed to interpret the film in different ways as well. This is one of the reasons I really like this film.

Unfortunately though this film isn't perfect. There are many shots which are out of focus due to the camera operator. You could say that I am putting blame on the camera operator to avoid putting the blame on myself. However, as the director I never really looked through the camera. For all the shots I would check the framing, but that would be it. I would use my own digital stills camera to find the shots. Take the picture and then show it to the camera operator. I only ever glanced at the camera shot to check the framing. All the technical aspects such as focusing are the job of the camera operator.

Whilst I do find these out of focus shots disappointing when I watch the film I just ignore them, because I know that in the future it won't happen. When you work on films with a big enough crew, you have a person who's specific job is to keep the shot in focus, this is called the focus puller.

Another major issue with the film is lighting. I refused to move any of the lights as the director, because I didn't really have time to between checking the framing on the camera and telling the camera operator to change it slightly if it needed changing; and directing with the actors. The film uses lighting throughout it's entirety, however, if you watch it, it only really looks like it is being lit when you get 31 seconds in. The lighting crew were awful. When I told them to sort the lighting out they wouldn't do it. And then when I was ready to shoot after talking with the actors, etc. they suddenly got up off their asses and said, we need to change the lighting it looks shit and so they would. This lost us precious time in our studio shoot (the cell scene). On the other hand, once they had actually bothered to do the lighting it look quite good.

Although this isn't the reason for the crap lighting from the beginning up to 31 seconds in. That was just down to inexperience with lighting. For the shot 31 seconds in, one of our university lecturers came in to see how we were getting on and taught us how to properly do lighting. She then left and we were able to light the rest of the film quite well. It is just a shame we didn't have time to re-shoot the first 30 seconds.

There are a few other minor bad points but these are the main ones.

When ever people watch it they never really seem to listen to the lyrics of the song. I wrote the lyrics myself to the The Well theme from Hans Zimmer's score to The Ring. This is the music you can hear behind the lyrics. There are actually already lyrics to this song and I think subconsciously this is perhaps one of the reasons I chose this song. However, the original lyrics wouldn't have made any sense and so I decided to write my own. Here are the lyrics as written my me.

Oh so trapped, with in our own world.

Why we can't, escape when we're curled

Up so tight I can barely breathe.

Why did you run away and leave

When I was in need of your help?

Please, please, please, will somebody save me.

These lyrics actually sum up the whole film, when sung by Katey (the main character) which they are, and they tell us how the situation she is in and how she feels. Although you might have to watch the film (and understand it) to understand the lyrics fully. Now I'm not a song writer and so I'm amazed that I was actually able to even write these lyrics, as I've never written a song in my life. However, some how it just came to me, even if I did have to google "words that rhyme with world and breathe". I wouldn't really recommend it as a song writing method though.

If you want to see the first cut of the film then here it is. However it is obviously unfinished and therefore it doesn't have things in such as the re-recorded dialogue and the children's laughter when she turns around and looks at the suit case. Although it does contain the full scenes from the gallery, which unfortunately we had to shorten because it made the pace of the film too slow.

I quite enjoy making art films and I'm definitely going to be making more in the future. However, this is the last I can actually show you as I haven't made anymore yet. But I do have a few scripts that I am developing, so hopefully it won't be long before I'll have another one complete.

Next months film is going to be a comedy.

The Snowman Killer

2009-06-01T12:00:00.001+01:00

This is a shitty little film that we made. Other than the concept it was all improvised. The camera we used was a down grade to the ones we normally use as it didn't have manual focus. The only advantage it had was night vision, but even that was amazing. Overall I think the film is pretty shit. But it just came from the necessity to make a film.

Gloucester Cathedral

2009-05-01T12:00:00.001+01:00

This is the first documentary that I've made. Whilst I did shoot my first film Brave Story like a documentary, it was in fact a fictional film.

I wrote the documentary and did the sound for it. These were originally my only two roles on the film. However, after the director turned out to not have a clue what he was doing and literally was just standing still doing absolutely nothing a lot of the time. I ended up as the unofficial director.

This is the first film where I've had to work with someone who doesn't know how to do there job. If I were a studio executive then I would have fired the person whom was supposed to be our director on the spot for some of the stuff that they did, or didn't, do.

A word of advise to anyone who wants to be a director, make sure you are doing it for the right reasons. Why do you want to direct the film? And most importantly why do you want to be a director? If you don't know, then you shouldn't be doing it. And even if you know the answers to these questions, you have to be honest with yourself and say, do I have the creative vision for this film? If you don't know what you want to do with the film then either take it away and think about what you want to do until your sure about everything; or pass the role to somebody else, even if it means taking on a different role or not working on the film altogether. The most important thing is the film, not yourself.

We filmed this on mini-DV, using Canon XM2's. These are digital film cameras which proved quite challenging to work with inside the cathedral. With digital cameras you need to white balance the camera for the light source that illuminates the space you are in. If you get the white balance wrong then your image can look blue or red. Most of the time this happens only slightly, however if when you come to edit the footage together you have a slightly blue shot followed by a slightly red shot (or the other way round) then you can easily see the change.

This is the reason the cathedral proved such a challenging location to film in, because there were several different light sources illuminating the inside of the building. There was the sun light shining through the windows, as well as two different types of lights used inside. In the main room, the ceiling was lit with one type of light, whilst the rest of the room was lit with another. This meant that we were unable to get a wide shot of the interior of the cathedral that had an accurate colour representation. Either the ceiling ended up very red, or the windows ended up very blue. As a result we tried to film the cathedral in sections.

Saying that, the cathedral is a very beautiful building. However, if you wish to capture the true beauty of such a building, I would recommend filming on actual film stock, instead of using digital film. Whilst digital film does have many advantages, this is one of the areas where film stock shines through.

Dark V Light

2009-04-01T12:00:00.000+01:00

I've now finished showing all of the films I've made on my own and I will now be showing you some of the films I have made whilst being at university.

When we were given the brief for this film, all we had to do was produce a high key (low contrast) and low key (high contrast) scene. They could tie into each other or be completely unrelated.

I'll leave you to decode any meaning from it!

I was the director of the low key scene for this film and I'm very proud of it as it is the first 'art' film that I've made. I'd quite like to do more experimental films like this in the future and I'm in the process of writing a few at the moment. However, I'm currently in the middle of making some other projects right now, so it might be a while before I get another chance to make a film like this.

Monster In The Woods

2009-03-01T12:00:00.003Z

This is the film I wanted to show before Captive since it was the last one I made before it.

This film was very spontaneous and it came about because I really wanted to make another short film as I hadn't made one in a while. However, I didn't have a film to make, so I thought I'd try and familiarise myself with the camera a bit more. I ended up wondering down to the woods to test out some of the camera's functions.

The only function I really had a go at was the focus and this was the first film I made which had a pull focus in it. However, once I'd played around with the camera's functions I still really wanted to make a film so I decided I'd have a go.

But since I didn't have any actors the only way I could really make a film was if I did it Blair Witch style. Combined with a bit of inspiration from The Village I came up with the idea that the woods was filled with monsters. Original I know! However, since I had no actors I thought I'd make them invisible monsters.

The reason the camera runs away is because our character hears one of these monsters. And then at the end he gets attacked and eaten by the monster.

If you're wondering why the character has a camera then stop, because they don't. I wanted it to feel as though the camera is the persons eyes. Obviously filming in 4:3 doesn't make this easy and you just have to use your imagination to make the jump from, why is this person holding a camera, to there is no camera and we are seeing through the characters eyes (think of it like a computer game, e.g. first person shooter).

If anyone manages to get this story from the film then I will be very surprised. The only reason I understand it and still quite like it is because I know the bigger picture (which I haven't told you).

I still quite like the bigger picture of this film and have thought about developing it into a feature or half hour short. If I did then it wouldn't be shot in first person, but normal third person. We shall have to wait and see if I actually take this idea beyond this tiny little piece. Although if anything does come from it, then sadly you'll have to wait a very long time.

Captive

2009-02-01T12:00:00.002Z

I was planning on showing another video, but unfortunately the web page isn't working. Hopefully it will be fixed by next month though so I can show you it then. In the mean time here is what I class as my first unofficial short film (up until now they have just been practice).

This film is actually based on a poem that I read years ago. When I was trying to think of a short film idea to make for my A-Level film, I wrote down a few random bits of ideas and one of them reminded me of a poem that I read some time ago. So I decided to combine the piece of idea that I had with the basic story that the poem tells and thus Captive was born.

I then searched for some music that I thought would fit well with the story. The two tracks that I use in the film are from Black Hawk Down. The first track is called "Hunger" and the second is "Ashes To Ashes". Neither of them are in their original form, as I re-edited them to fit better. However, when I was still developing my idea I listened to these tracks (although mostly "Hunger") unedited again and again. This once the main source of my inspiration.

I visualised the film in my head whilst listening to the music I had chosen. I then storyboarded out the opening sequence and the end sequence and wrote the voice over.

The next part is where I wish I had a producer because I found that I had to do literally everything. Once I'd picked my actors (who were just some friends that I'd asked) I had to work around their schedule which was very tiresome because my main actor (Tom Law) who is also a musician was doing a lot of gigs so he didn't have a lot of free time in when I could film. This was tough because I had a deadline to meet. But we managed to find one and a half days where we shot the entire film. It involved one very long day and a lot of travelling where we filmed the cliff scenes and the flashback scene. The scenes of him at home were shot on the second day which luckily didn't take too long because we only had a couple of hours.

I put a lot of hard work into this film and I am very happy with the end result. There are of course a few things I would change if I were to do it again. But these are only minor things. And for my first unofficial short film I think it is rather good.

Vanish

2009-01-01T12:00:00.001Z

This is the first film that I've made which I co-directed. It was an interesting experience, although if I were to co-direct again I would have to get to know the person first and make sure that we both worked on the same wavelength, because the person I was working with was a bit of an idiot.

He was very arrogant and was making that actors do take after take when they didn't even need to. The whole reason for doing another take is that you want the actors to do something different, because you need to re-do the camera movement as it wasn't smooth enough, or because something else went wrong.

However, each of the takes that this guy did was exactly the same so I started to get slightly annoyed with him as he was just waisting time, and the actors were getting annoyed with having to do the same thing again and again when then didn't even need to.

My directing was much better I felt and I got on much better with the actors which I think is an essential thing when working with actors. Anyway here is the film.

Built & Crushed

2008-12-01T12:00:00.000Z

A 30 second animation that I made in the space of about 10 minutes.

Not much to be said about this really other than I made it in college whilst we were looking at animations. I can definitely say now though that I don't think I'll be going into animation simply because, even though the animation was fun to make, I'm more of a live action person myself. I'll leave animation to the likes of Nick Park. Although I have been thinking a lot about motion capture film recently. I'm not sure I'll be making motion capture films until I'm an established director though because of the availability of the technology. But who knows, experimental motion capture shorts could be just around the corner. I doubt it though!

The Making Of Juno Judo

2008-11-01T12:18:00.003Z

This is just a brief 'making of' video which just lets you see a little bit about what went on during the shooting stage of Juno Judo.

The Making Of Juno Judo

I got the idea to make this half way through shooting Juno Judo. Although like all of my other videos so far this too is just an experiment, and so for a 'making of' video it is pretty shit. But I learnt from it which is the main thing.

Juno Judo

2008-10-01T12:00:00.000+01:00

My next film Juno Judo was a real big step for me as it was when I made the jump from using one camera to directing two cameras. I found this quite challenging, but it was also very rewarding and I was quite pleased with the end product. Now my opinion has changed and whilst I still am pleased with it I do feel that there is still a lot I could do to improve it.

Originally this was intended as a music video but I don't think that the video really did the music enough justice. (The music is a track called Conga Fury by Juno Reactor.)

I still quite like the first 2:15 because all of this was choreographed. The fight was choreographed by myself and the two fighters, whilst the camera work was choreographed by myself. It was all very much like a big ballet of some sorts. (Although a rather ugly ballet!) However, from 2:15 the fight is all improvised up until when one of the fighters loses, which was what we knew before we started that we wanted to end with.And whilst the camera movements weren't choreographed from 2:15 I still gave instructions to the other camera man.

Sadly you can hear some of my instructions in the video. The idea was that I would cut out all the diegetic sound when it came to edit, but it just didn't work when they were thrown and there was no bang. Although when I came to edit it I did think that I had managed to get rid of all the talking in the background. Tip for the future, if you know you've captured some sound of the crew talking even by accident then listen back to your video with some good headphones because they make such a difference and are so much better than crappy speakers.

I'm still quite fond of the first couple of minutes of this video, but it is a shame the rest of it is rather shit. I think that a completely choreographed fight would have looked better, but I always knew that 8 minutes of fight footage would be hard to keep going with the limited fight knowledge that I have. I probably would have been better shortening the track that I used.

Waltz Of The Flowers

2008-09-01T00:00:00.001+01:00

The next video I made was simply sparked by my need to film something. My western idea wasn't making any progress and after I'd gotten a taste for filming I just wanted to film something. It didn't matter what it was I just needed to film something.

So after watching the New Year's Day Concert In Vienna, I wanted to have a go at filming some flowers. It would have been nice to have filmed a live orchestra as well but since I didn't have one of those I just stuck with the flowers.

Anyway I think this is very simple an yet very effective.

I really tried to edit the images to the music with this. You might notice if you look at the camera movements. They speed up and slow down as well as drift in or out and side to side. This is most noticeable where there are the critical changes in the music.

You might have noticed, but I'll bet that you didn't, that the music to this is actually about 6 and a half minutes long. However, I managed to chop out a section of the music when it came to editing. I would only notice it very slightly when I used to watch it back though and to be honest now I don't notice it at all.

I've actually managed to get loads of views of this video on YouTube, but I must admit that it is all down to the music I chose. Otherwise it definitely wouldn't have as many views. One advantage I've found to this video having loads more views then my other videos is that I've used it to advertise my latest video Captive by means of a video response. This is the reason behind most of the views which I have got for Captive because when I put it up people just weren't looking for it and therefore no one was watching it. But by putting it as a video response has enabled me to get Captive out there.

Western Shootout Trailer

2008-08-01T17:12:00.004+01:00

This trailer is more of an experiment than an actual trailer. The basic story was that two cowboys met in the middle of a desert and had a shootout. It was inspired by the track "Tazarine" from the soundtrack to the film Babel. However, I don't live any where near a desert and so that changed things right from the start.

The adapted plan was to film it in my village and instead of using actual guns, the cowboys would use their hands to make a gun shape. However, I did want to use some cowboy costumes in the film but since I didn't own any I would have to buy some. I started to realise that if I was going to film it then it would take a while to get everything together.

But I couldn't wait. The reason being because I wanted to use a big tracking shot to open the film with and I couldn't wait to try it out. However, I had to figure out how to pull a tracking shot off since I didn't have any special equipment such as a dolly and when you walk with the camera it shakes around a lot which would completely destroy the image I wanted to create. I ended up sitting in a wheel barrow with the camera and getting a friend to push the wheel barrow.

This is how the trailer was born. I wanted to try out the method I had come up with and since it was very short notice I couldn't get any one to star in it and so used my mums dress making dummy as the main cowboy. I dressed it in some of my clothes and used a balloon for the its' head.

The second cowboy I found in the garage and was less of an effort to put together which is why the second cowboy looks pretty rubbish. However, realism wasn't the point of making the trailer, the camera movement was.

The opening camera movement in the trailer from 0:00 to 0:35 is pretty much exactly what I imagined the opening shot of the actual shootout to be like. However, I would have extended the beginning back about another 10 seconds. The rest of the trailer isn't an exact copy of the actual film idea but instead is just stuff I thought up on the day of shooting the trailer.

Even though I did put "coming 2008" at the end of the trailer, therefore giving myself lots of time to actually put it together, I've decided to trash this project since I've moved on to bigger and better things. Ultimately not filming the real thing has worked out okay anyway because I've gained experience from making the trailer.

So instead of being a trailer this was actually an experiment to increase my film making skills. And I for one think that it has definitely worked, and I now find experimenting is often the best way for me to learn, instead of having to come up with story lines every single time you want to try something new. This way I can make mistakes and it doesn't really effect the finished thing in the end because they aren't really made for an audience anyway.

However, saying that I would still like to make the full short and there is still a possibility of me revisiting it in the future.

A Welcome Brave Story

2008-07-01T08:00:00.000+01:00

Welcome to my monthly blog where I am going to show my films and talk in depth about how they came to be and what I think of them now.

BRAVE STORY

This was the first solo project which I made and is about a year old now. I have to say that I actually hate this film but it is for that reason that I think my next film improved dramatically and why I try so hard to improve on every film I make. With Brave Story though, there are so many mistakes in it and whilst some people have asked me whether it was a true story, I must say I am shocked when they do because I don't think the acting is that good. But I guess she did pretty well considering it was all filmed in 4 hours, which includes travelling to the different locations. Also, she didn't have the script until the day when she actually read it off a piece of paper help above the camera.

Time is a big factor when it comes to making films and I feel that this film was very rushed. Although saying that I don't think that it could have been much better if I did have more time since it was the first solo film I made and in a way I am kind of glad that it is so crap because if I didn't make all those mistakes then I wouldn't have learnt as much as I did.

I actually made this film for one of my media projects. The brief was that it had to be a sports related video, which it obviously is. I got the idea for it from the music that you hear in the opening sequence which is a piece by Hans Zimmer called Preparing that he composed for the film King Arthur. I heard the music and the opening sequence just popped straight into my head. Don't ask me where it came from, it just appeared. But to be honest, that is how all of my films/ideas come about.

I'm always looking for new music to listen to and every now and then BOOM an idea appears. Then I just listen to that piece of music again and again to develop the idea. Some ideas are doomed and don't go any where, although luckily I've only had one of those, and some ideas are too good that I don't want to make them in fear that I will ruin them. I won't always have this fear, but for now it is still there simply because I don't yet have the skill required or the resources like cast, crew or equipment. My latest film I am very proud of though and think I have made a big step forward with it. But I'm still storing the good ideas for use later on in my career, simply because I like them and want to do them justice.

When I look back at Brave Story though I can definitely see an improvement in my work and I can only spot one mistake in my latest film. Where as with Brave Story I could be here listing them all day. They are just simple things though like the shadow of the camera being in the shot or the images not being in sync with the music. Things that just make the film look... well... shit. Well I'm sure it is not that bad, but I guess the only way you get better is if you are your own worst critic. Plus it is a lot nicer to hear it from yourself then from someone else.

I think also that because I didn't have a written script for the whole video I used music to film in the gaps and whilst it works great sometime, for my video I don't think it worked, simply because the music has too much of a variety. Ideally I would have had someone write the music to it and then there could be a theme running throughout the film making everything link together much smoother.

I think the warm up scene is the one that really doesn't fit because I tried to give it this comedy effect, but the rest of the film is quite sad so it just really doesn't fit in. I think I was trying to create some comic relief, but unfortunately it just didn't work.

My favourite scene is probably the race scene because it just flowed really well and was pretty easy to film and edit. Plus it looked pretty good as well which is always rewarding. I also like the shot where she jumps over the camera and when my friend asked me how I did it, I felt quite proud. But of course I didn't tell him and left him wondering. Although it was actually quite simple and I don't think there is much to wonder about. But hey I made it, so I'm bound to say that!