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Title Sequences

2010-04-09T16:13:00.000-07:00

For my title sequences project I have decided to concentrate on the film Twelve Monkeys. After watching key scenes and picking out several key themes from the film. One of these being Time Travel. I have decided to take inspiration from these.

I am taking inspiration from the original titles, as well as bringing a new look to the titles. I am sticking with the same original logo seen throughout the film. In order to show consistency within it.

Turmoil in the meadows

2010-03-23T08:56:00.001-07:00

We have recently finished our documentary on Notts County. The final narrative and edit turned out to be a historical documentary and the recent situation revolving around the club and how this has affected the fans.

I found the experience fulfilling and believe that working with new people and also taking a role as important as director helped me to develop myself as a practitioner. I would like to go on and direct more short pieces, however maybe fictional pieces or some not based upon football as I do not really have an interest in this subject. I enjoyed working with new people and would like to work with them again.

I have recently taken on some outside work, working with Abdul and Umar off the course, producing a documentary for some third year fashion students. In this piece I took on the role of camera which again is a role I have no taken on recently. I am looking forward to editing this piece and seeing the final output.

I have recently decided on a number of personal projects that I plan to do in the near future. One of these is a series of very short viral videos that I will upload to my youtube account. This will ideally help me start to develop a brand name for myself and will allow to me start to get myself recognised in the world of Moving image.

Nice one genius now watch this!

2010-02-01T16:16:00.000-08:00

Ok, I know I haven't updated this in a long time but this time I am properly going to start updating regularly and I MEAN that.

Recently we were told that our next module was going to be a documentary and I jumped at the chance to experience and see whether I was any good at being a director. I've never chosen the role before and wondered what it would be like.

Our theme is Notts County and the end result of many changes in narrative is going to be the history of County between 1910-2010. From the beginnings of a traditional club to what today is a club that is on the verge of going out of business. I think that even though a historical documentary is not a new concept, this one will still be entertaining and will not bore the viewer. It will consist of mainly interviews and archive footage.

I will explain more about this later on another day.

This one time I got so scared I think I shit myself a little

2009-11-16T16:16:00.000-08:00

I'm just pointing out how unnerving and creppy the film 'paranormal activity' is. I watched this film a couple of weeks ago and to be honest. I could possibly say that it is one of the scariest films, I have ever seen. For one the positioning of the camera in the bedroom, I think is one of the things that makes me most unsettling as in one corner we can see the door and the dark hall; leaving the viewers imagination able to believe what is going to happen next or what is out there. The compositioning of this frame is epic in the scare ability as well because you could basically make anything happen because the whole room is on show. Another factor of this film which really makes this film a fright is the fact that it is so subtle, with recent films, filmed on camera such as quarantine. The film; to me is very exagerated with large action sequences whereas paranormal activity is the opposite and the viewer is left to use his imagination to think what is happening.

The worst part of the film for me was the scene is which the door in the room slams shut unexpectedly. I don't know why I found this the scariest scene, maybe because I wasn't expecting it and yet it was believable. The later scenes in the film were a little bit unbelievable, well to an extent. Another scene that definately unnerved me was the scene in which the main woman in the film gets out of bed and stands staring at her boyfriend. The camera's time speeds up and shows that the time has carried on for around 2 hours. This part was scary as hell because you have no idea what is going off and you don't know yet that she is actually possessed.

For me the ending let the whole film down completely. The ending just doesn't suit the rest of the film. There could have been so many better endings rather than just killing her.

Overall I'd say this film was amazing on such a low budget, but the ending let the film down massively.

Script writing Masterclass

2009-11-10T01:37:00.000-08:00

Yesterday I attended a script writing class at broadway cinema. It was a different experience and one I found interesting and insightful. I feel I learn't a lot because we were taught basic industry standard 'do's and not to do's' and given some funny examples to show this. After downloading and playing around with celtx. Scriptwriting is something I can see my self experimenting with in the near future.

Risk Assessments

2009-11-02T05:43:00.000-08:00

After been given our coursework scripts and recieving one that wasn't one of my favourites. We then spoke to Jool's about it and realised a lot about it and now it is actually looking good.

Today me and Joe decided to go and do some location spotting and conducted some risk assessments on potential locations. We conducted risk assessments at the forest recreational ground, the arboretum and outside the registry office on shakespeare. Getting these done early means if we need to, we can change any of locations, we can do this quickly and not lose too much time.

Burn My Shadow - UNKLE

2009-10-29T01:57:00.000-07:00

The use of camera angles and clever cuts show a complex story using facial expressions and sound to show the story. For a music video or short film. It is possibly one of the best I have seen in a long time!

MALAC- Successes and problems

2009-10-27T02:24:00.000-07:00

This week we have to film a short 2 minutes called Malac. We have been given a script and can iterpret the script anyway we want. Our group have decided to some sort of kidnapping situation and make the film look gritty.

However we have encountered a number of problems along the way for instance the initial location, which was meant to be a cellar is too small, which means we have to find a new location. It looks like we are using my living room, meaning a new risk assessment had to be carried out and what not. Another problem we are facing is that of finding the time in the short period where everyone can be on set for example, with the location problems, we have to work round filming and it looks like one person will have to miss out on been on set. Hopefully we will be able to work round this though.

The initial ideas everyone is having seem to sound awesome and checking out the locations and getting props, everyone is mucking in and the work is getting done. We think the the film is going to have a good look and we will see by thursday what the raw footage looks like.

Trailers

2009-10-27T02:21:00.000-07:00

I recently saw Saw 6 and thought it was possibly one the best fioms of the series. I like the way that the two stories run parallel with each other. And the twist at the end is very unexpected.

The Role of a Location Manager

2009-10-20T13:48:00.000-07:00

I know it may sound a little bit blunt and to the point but I just went straight to a job description website to gain the information needed for the role of a location manager.

http://www.prospects.ac.uk/p/types_of_job/location_manager_job_description.jsp

"Location managers are responsible for making all the practical arrangements necessary when filming or photographic shoots take place outside the studio. Productions are made in a wide range of locations; location managers need to research, identify and organise appropriate sites."

Researching the site includes gaining information on whether the site is safe, whether there are enough toilets, food outlets for instance pubs or local cafes. When shooting outside is the place accessible, whether any power genarators or batteries will need to be taken if there is no mains electricity. A location is very much responsible for delivering a detailed and well produced risk assessment on the site; to determine whether the potential location for a shoot will be safe.

20/10/2009

2009-10-20T13:38:00.000-07:00

Welcome to my new and improved blog.

I decided that presuming a lot of things have changed that I needed a full new blog. I didn't want to say what I'd been doing over summer because, in all fairness there wouldn't be a lot to say apart from I've watched too many films to count. Films stemming from the brilliant 'inglorious basterds' to films as bad as 'Eden Lake'. And been to many amount of gig.

We have just completed the first week of uni and have jumped into the second and I am starting to get focussed again. We have another practioner essay to do and since the tutorial I've been thinking what new practitioners have begun to influence since last years essay and personally I don't feel that a lot has changed, the only one I am sure I will definitely focus on is Quentin Tarrantino AGAIN.