Re-energise Evaluation

After completing my first film Energise I carried out a survey using a questionnaire that I had devised. With these opinions in mind I decided that for the re-submission of my work I would reshoot the film using the same actor but in different locations. I would be able to use some of my original creative ideas and the same soundtrack that I had composed. From the questionnaire answers from my Energise film I set about looking at how I could keep with my original main idea but make adjustments and alterations to my film edit in a variety of ways as well as reshooting film in different locations.

I received many positive reactions to the original film. The comments in the questionnaires were positive in terms of content, mood and length. The changes that I set about to make included making the visuals and the music fit tightly. Although some of the reactions to the film expressed an opinion that the essence of the film was about the 'Day in the Life of…' one of the comments received stated that the theme was ‘hard to follow.’ Therefore in Re-Energise I tried to keep with the same pace and style of editing as the original, whilst trying to improve on conveying the story theme more overtly to the audience. I also wanted to modify the ending to ensure that the piece was not hanging in the air and that it felt complete. Several of the audience surveyed commented that the 'visuals fitted the music.' The most positive reaction was for the food colouring in water piece. ‘The dye marked the tempo and style of music,' said Pete.

I used a 7D camera to shoot both films. Nearly all of the shoot was without a tripod and was freehand. This was a deliberate choice, as although filming freehand can look very choppy, this is quite usual in music videos, particularly in terms of cutting speed. My decision to do this was in order to make the film match the pace of the music.

For my research this year I have found out more about music video and sound production by making contacts with professionals and being able to visit studios such as the prestigious Sawmill Studios in Cornwall. Here I was able to spend a day with the production staff. Details of this can be seen on my blog pages. I also had the opportunity to visit a music producer, Kam, in Slough. Details of this day can also be seen on my blog. My blog pages show how I have been inspired by the work of various music artists. By visiting music professionals and finding out more about music production skills I have gained an insight into developing my music production and editing skills with a view to entering this side of the profession.

With my storyboarding complete I decided on my target audience. It is important to bear in mind when filming which target audience would be interested in my genre of film. Although I had decided that my target audience was 16-25, older people have viewed my film and have said that they enjoyed watching it. Diana, who is over 40, commented in her questionnaire 'I felt that it told a story in a very creative way as it left the viewer to make their own mind up about the character and what he was doing during the day. There was also very creative filming using slow-motion and the passing of time from day to night. I really liked the traffic light changing in time with the music and the ending where the character looks up. The ink in water was very mesmerising and the red colouring looked quite sinister, but when it changed to black, green and blue I realised it was just a creative feature.'

Filming

The film shoot went really well. I filmed over a three day period exclusively in Bristol with the intention of shooting enough film so that I could have sufficient film to tell the story and also enough footage to edit an ending that would be a resolution to the story. I wanted the whole story to be interpreted by the audience and I also wanted it to portray some mystery by not giving too much away by literally telling 'a day in the life' throughout the film. I also filmed some of the footage at night and this really gave the video that mysterious quality and style. It also gave the story line depth in terms of the progression of time. As I filmed on two separate occasions I had to make sure my actor was wearing the same clothing as before. Some of the shots contain him wearing a grey jacket over the top of the shirt which I incorporated into the story line by shooting a scene at the start of the video where he puts the jacket on.

Problems - Sound

The sound clicking was a problem when it came to importing and listening back to the final video. I'm not sure why it has a slight clicking in the background as I exported the mix down of my song in AIFF format. I understand that this is what Final Cut finds friendly to use. At first when I was cutting the footage to the Mp3 soundtrack I didn't realise that Final Cut had problems understanding the format. I looked up the problem online and discovered that AIFF is the best format for Final Cut to understand. The clicking sounds have been reduced but I can still hear it faintly in the background at points where the track is in its quieter sections with less instrumental features. Although this has happened and there appears to be no way to fix the problem, with the limited access I have to additional equipment such as a newer versions of editing software and computers, I am very pleased with how full the track sounds in the mix and how it works with the video.

Problems - Equipment

The first edit that I had completed was on a Mac Book Pro laptop that unfortunately broke. Luckily I had a copy of the draft export of the video which the technicians helped me save onto a new laptop to edit back into. I imported all the newly shot footage for Re energise onto the new laptop and added once again to the broken edit using the exported draft edit underneath in Final Cut as a reference.

Problems - Software

I had a major unresolved problem in the final stages of the editing. Final Cut understood that I had cut the raw footage and placed it in the timeline at a certain point, but when exporting the final video out of Final Cut, it had taken the wrong timings out of the raw footage, meaning that the cuts that I had made were not in the places where I wanted them, therefore changing the whole choice of shot completely. Luckily this was limited to only several places and not the whole video. I sought technical help from the internet and the technicians at university but no one had heard of this problem before. I therefore had to bite the bullet at this point and accept that the video would not completely be the way I wanted it to look.

Cutting techniques - Desaturate filter

In some of the cuts I used a desaturate filter to make the footage black and white. I split the clip that I wanted, to show the effect, into two parts, cutting to the beat. I then placed the desaturate filter over one of the sections of the clip I had cut into two parts so that when the drum beat hit, the clip would switch to black and white.

I also used the desaturate filter on the introduction to the drop of the main beat in the song. Using the key frames feature in the filters section of the clip I could control the amount of the filter used. I then used these key frames to slowly cut out the filter, which meant that the clip would fade in with colour as the key frames dropped in amount. This made the footage of the ink in water look like it was filling with colour.

Cutting techniques - slowing and speeding clips

For the cross angle shots of the pillars I increased the footage speed to match the pace of the music. One of the shots was a twist angle shot from one corner of the frame to the other. The other was a pull into focus shot of a pillar overlooking a river. I think the fast paced footage looks a lot better this way at double the speed. I also increased the speed of the shot of my actor walking up the train station stairway. Other shots such as the ‘ollie’ of the skateboard through the light I decided to slow down by over half. I did this as I wanted to accentuate my actor and the skateboard hanging in the air. I also used the same shot but in reverse for the part before the main melody and beat kick in. I incorporated this reverse technique into where the footage of the colouring in water was desaturated. This meant that when the beat kicked in it felt like the footage was going a lot faster and brighter than before, giving the following shots more impact on screen.

Colour correction and grading

I corrected the footage so that the finished effect was crisp and clean. I then set about grading the footage to the style I wanted for the finished film. When grading the footage I wanted to create a colourful vibrant look by pushing the blues, oranges and reds. I pushed the reds more in the sunnier shots to give it that Nashville old worn super 8 type look. I found this challenging when I was trying to create a reflective and soft mood, but didn't want the footage to look like it had been obviously graded for this, so I kept the colours down to what I felt was the maximum I could push without making it obvious to the viewer. In order to keep to the style I wanted I found that I had to colour correct and grade a high percentage of cuts in the edit. This was time consuming but I am very pleased with the look and the general feel of the final piece. 

Cross dissolves

Depending on the change of mood that each part of the track was portraying, I used a cross dissolve where I thought it necessary to make the cuts bind in with each other. I used straight cuts and jump cuts where the shot only varied in angle or, if I had used a desaturate filter to make the beats in the song more prominent to the visuals.

Locations

I selected and filmed the areas that reflected my storyboarding, closely referring to the main ideas. With this in mind it really helped me find the shots I wanted. The train station played a key role informing the ideas of travel and movement and also provided me with a useful amount of movement shots across Bristol. I stayed on the train through Bristol to get a variety of high rise flats, buildings and panning shots of trees, wildlife and people. My original black and white photograph of a tree was a lucky find, as I managed to get some footage of a tree like my photographic idea from the train.

Production Skills

The production skills that I have developed are particularly in editing using Final Cut. I have learnt on my work experience visits the importance of levelling sound tracks.  From the experience gained I made sure that the sound track was long enough when I exported it out of Final Cut. I would not change my creative ideas but by learning from the problems that I encountered, detailed above, I feel that I could go on to make other music videos.

Cover

I used software called Pixlr which is an online simplified version of Photoshop. I think the software is great as you don't have to download it and it can be accessed by any computer with an internet connection. This was an ideal solution as the laptop I used for a large part of my work didn't have Adobe Photoshop on it. I decided to make a DVD cover for the Re-Energise music video using some of the recce shots I took. The cover consists of two photographs. One which is an out of focus light photo and one is of Oldfield Park train station, in Bath. I cut out the platform edges and merged them into the background using the blur tool. I then used the eraser tool to feather out the train track so that the other photograph would show through underneath.  The simple effect of the out of focus lights shining through the track looks attractive to the eye. With the arrangement of the photos I also designed a dark cream and brown banner at the bottom. I liked how the colours complimented the orange scheme of the DVD cover. I wanted to put more emphasis on the ‘Energise’ instead of the 'Re' out of the title Re- Energise, so I coloured in the 'Re' in a light grey so that it was less prominent on the cover. I also decided to make the title in lower case.

I am pleased with the final film Re-Energise and I am looking forward to making more music video films in the future. 


I will be posting the Video here soon.

Reflections on last year's experience

Contacting the students from last year seemed an easy task at the start of my project. I began by emailing my cohort of students and requesting their input into my work.

The aim of this study was to find out from the cohort that I had studied with last year what it was like working the way they did, what was that way of working, and how that way of working has informed the way they work now. I also wanted to link this work to my professional portfolio.

I have also been making contacts with various professionals this year including people who have just started out in the media industry as well as seasoned professionals. Their knowledge has been invaluable to me, particularly about freelancing. I have discovered the importance of getting a foot in the door, as well as understanding the need to start at the bottom. During the first few weeks of my project the replies from the students were slow to materialise. Perhaps this was due to the fact that they had to answer my questionnaire. Writing the questions was important because I needed to get the right responses from the group. Asking closed question wouldn't give me enough information to analyse. Additionally I phoned some of them, used Facebook and also used text messages. Persistence is needed to get what you want out of something and it worked in the end. When they eventually responded it was great to see that they had all got paid work after university. All graduates told me that they enjoyed the practical nature of the last year at Artswork. I have looked at other media courses that are more theory based but I think that they miss out on a lot of valuable experience. The professionals I talked to commented that media graduates needed to have practical experiences as well as the theory. The sample group all liked the professional feel of working on real projects during the last year. It seems that the course at Bath Spa University prepares graduates well to take the next step in their career.

Having technical back up from Ollie and Dani was mentioned many times. I know that when you 'go it alone', that crutch of help will be taken away. To have on tap advice and also trouble shooting know-how is really supportive for project work. Having to work away from the Artswork hub has been quite a challenge for me to complete this work.

 Laura Crouchley, a freelance photographer, who has graduated within the last six years told me about her difficulties in setting up her own business. Going it alone can be daunting, and every penny is ploughed back into the business and sometimes work is very slow.

Back with my questionnaires; they were slowly coming together, although Rich seemed to be taking a long time to reply. I eventually found out he was away in China of all places.

From the sample group I chose to do a piece about one person's experience over the whole year and Jessie agreed to this. This also took some arranging as I am based in Plymouth and I had to co-ordinate the signing out of equipment as well as travelling to and from Bath and finding a venue to record my interview. This proved to be more difficult than I thought as some of the pieces of equipment were held at Bristol and some at Bath Spa. Travelling with lighting and camera equipment on a train was not going to be an easy task. Jessie could also only be available on certain weekends too.
I have learnt to be adaptable and to understand that for every problem there is a solution so I decided to make a radio piece. I managed to get a zoom audio recorder from Bristol and arranged to interview Jessie at her house. So that she was prepared, like an actor receiving a script, I emailed an adapted version of my questionnaire. I wanted to ensure that it was not just a question and answer session but that the talk flowed so that the listener would be interested.

After setting up the audio equipment so that I was not holding it, I asked the questions and she gave her replies. I put the microphone about half a metre away. We only had to return to a few questions for the purpose of the audio recording as I wanted to be able to cut out my questioning. It took about an hour to complete the interview with a few stops and starts.

I have interviewed a consultant before on camera and I wanted to produce a piece with a different feel to it. It was also a good learning experience as I haven't done much face to face interviewing before. When I began to edit using Soundtrack Pro I had so much audio that it took an extremely long time to edit. It was, however, a good experience using Soundtrack Pro.  Editing from forty minutes to ten minutes was a big learning curve. Keeping the best information whilst editing a few 'ums and ahs' was a challenge but it came out well in the end.

Stream and download the Radio Piece here

How is the media changing?

Straight from the horse’s mouth is best when trying to keep up to date with what is needed for people who want to enter the media. I have been lucky enough to be in contact with several people who are working, or who have worked in the industry.

Jonathan Ramsey works as an in house editor at ‘Big Bang’ Post Production Company in Bristol. Jonathan began his media studies like me at Plymouth College of Art and Design followed by his BA at Plymouth university. He then worked for two years at Televisionary, another production company in Plymouth. His work as editor at Televisionary led to him winning an RTS award for his work with Seth Lakeman, making a music DVD.

I asked Jonathan about his work in the early stages of his career and what he has learnt about it so far. He thought that the greatest changes in the media industry since he started was tape-less workflows and solid state media. He added that there will always be technical developments in this industry which effects how TV programmes are made. Jonathan’s first boss was Jeremy Hibbard of Televisionary. The company has now moved to my home town of Ivybridge in Devon and  I spoke to Jeremy about how he first began in the media and his thoughts on how it has changed. He thought we would loose the concept of linear scheduled programming and would be more likely to choose programmes form a menu or watch them online and that there would be more collaboration between programming and social media.

Across the world another professional is working in New Zealand. Clare Burgess is a Digital Effects Producer working for Weta Digital Limited. I was able to contact her after a recent chance meeting of our respective parents. Clare, now in her thirties was taught by my mum in primary school. She was a creative child and went on to work for Aardman in Bristol after graduating from Bournmouth University. She has since gone on to work in New Zealand at Weta. Claire thoughts that apps on smartphones that personalised media sources would flourish in the 21st century.

I have also been in touch with two seasoned professionals from the world of journalism, radio and television. Adrian Webster and Guy Pannell. Adrian, now retired, first started out in media selling advertising for trade magazines in London and progressed to become an Associate Publisher which meant dealing with every aspect of magazine production including hiring editors and journalists. He moved to Devon 25 years and became involved in setting up a magazine in Cornwall for a friend and was MD before they sold it. He then became involved in a radio station, Pirate FM and was offered a job as a journalist. After spell at Westcountry TV he then went back to radio as Head of News for Gemini FM in Exeter. Throughout his career Adrian has worked in sales, marketing, journalism and web editing. When asked whether freelancing is becoming more important that ever in the media industry, Adrian said that "more freelancers are being used as media owners look to cut costs of full time staff so they are becoming more important." I asked him what general or personal skills a freelancer should possess in addition to his/her technical ability. His reply was “tenacity and a willingness to do whatever is asked of them.”

Guy Pannell,  who is also now retired, worked for most of his career which spanned over forty years, in general news. He took an interest in politics, writing political stories for newspapers and later producing a weekly politics programme for regional television. For the last 17 years of his career he has passed on his skills learned in television news to students on an MA course in Broadcast (later Multimedia) Journalism.

I asked him what advice he would give to a newly qualified media studies graduate who was looking for work. He said to “seek experience in the industry wherever you can and don’t be afraid to take any job that gives you a foot in the door. It is much easier to progress from inside the business than the outside.”

He also offered some advice on the importance of freelancing in today’s changing industry. He felt that freelancing “is crucial to filling gaps on the rota, and even more so now employers are looking to reduce staff numbers to cut costs.” I asked him about what general or personal skills a freelancer should possess in addition to their technical ability.  “A freelancer should possess determination, persistence and the ability to sell themselves and their talents. They should show a willingness to work the extra hours and fill the unpopular shifts that others don’t want to. You should also be willing to be adaptable and fit into a team.”

As jobs are increasingly difficult to find I asked him if there were any areas where there is a lack of technical expertise. ”Many graduates have a great technical ability but let themselves down by a lack of good English, mathematics and general knowledge. A good journalist needs to know a little about everything.”

Politicians and academics often cite ‘Media Studies’ as the easy option for undergraduates.  I asked Guy, how those who wish to work in the media industry combat this sort of stereotyping, and is there anything the universities can do to raise the profile of these degree courses?

“Media Studies doesn’t necessarily equip the student with the ability to work in the media, although the best courses do. People with Media Studies degrees are now reaching senior positions in the BBC and elsewhere. These examples need to be trumpeted to raise awareness of the advantages of a Media Studies course. I would advocate taking a Masters course in the field in which you wish to work, but these are becoming increasingly expensive and are not always a practical option.”

For now I will focus on completing my BA degree and try to enter the world of work to gain experience. Adrian and Guy made me think about the different and changing face of the media and what I need to do next to start my career.

More filming about Diabetes

It looks like diabetes is getting a higher profile these days, or perhaps because I am so close to it, I jut think it is! In the April edition of Balance the front cover shows Tom Craig who is a film lecturer at Derby University. He is making a trilogy of films aiming to raise awareness of diabetes. He has chosen to film in the medium of horror fiction. As a Type 1 diabetic since the age of 4 he knows, like I do, about the condition. Making films from first hand experience makes it so powerful. His first film in the Bitter Sweet trilogy dealt with low blood sugar levels, also known as hypoglycaemia. It is entitled Sugar Drop. It was filmed on the university campus in a lift where the character descends into panic and the audience is left wondering if his hallucinations are real or imagined.  Adam thinks that some people are curious as to why he would use the horror genre, but he has received positive acclaim for this first film from NHS professionals and pharmaceutical companies wanting to screen his film at conferences and seminars. It has also been selected for industry competitions from Bangalore to Toronto.
His second part of the trilogy is in the making, called ‘Argon Green’ and this has been expanded into a 90 minute feature. This film deals with the subject of retinopathy, a condition that damages eyesight.  Adam has had some trouble with his sight but he wants the largely ignorant public, as well as to encourage those with diabetes to look after themselves, to know more about eye care. Although working on a very low budget, Adam has been able to borrow and use £30,000 of prime lenses which will enhance the picture quality. This is because the University of Derby together with Cooke optics of Leicester has invested in the lenses. The film should be out later this year.

Checkout his website here

For more support about any aspect of living with diabetes you can call Diabetes UK Careline
0845 1202960 or  hit the website here

Illuminate Bath

My input

Sound recording
Camera man
Editor

The new festival of light and art installations was first held in 2011 all around Bath. It showed us new talent, new thinking and new ways to use light and performance.

For the days that I was there, I recorded sound video and completed editing work for the performances during the festival in Bath city centre.

Bike Rides

We first started at the top of Victoria Park, where the race was starting. The light visibility was low for conducting interviews as it had just got dark. The bikes were fitted with all sorts of flashing lights and neon glowing bulbs which looked great on camera. We got an interview before the race with Richard Bidgood who is on the board of trustees for Bath Spa as the chair/union president. We took him slightly out of the park into the street lit areas and used LED lighting to contribute to the available light. Naturally, he spoke very well on camera which would prove to be an interesting and exciting interview for use later on in the post production edit.

This shoot in particular was more difficult than the later Illuminate shoots I was involved in as everything we did was new to us, filming off the cuff and finding as much important, exciting and relevant shots throughout the short bike ride event. We only had one chance to get the bikes coming into the finish line so we had to make it count.

Interviewing people on the spot on their bikes straight after the race was difficult in terms of content of what they were saying, but also a way of gaining an exciting reflection of the event that had just taken place as this made each interview both interesting and vibrant as the bikers were panting and rather worn out after finishing the race. Ciaran, who was interviewing the cyclists, interviewed them without prior planning. After the third and fourth person we managed to interview I noticed that the questions were ‘closed’. This meant that the responses we were getting were limited in length and complexity.  If I was to repeat this again I would prepare some ‘open’ questions for both before and after the race so that our answers would vary across the board, making a more interesting piece for the viewing audience.

Performance Art

In the centre of Bath in the newly built shopping precinct there was a performance art show. The show consisted of miming acts, circus movements, running, screaming and general circus type performances. There were people in strange masks, balls that lit up, lots of makeup, general clowning around, running about and dancing to music. I managed to get some great reactions from the public who where passing through. When I was using the camera I tried to cover as much of the public’s reactions during the event as I believed it to be the most interesting thing for the viewer, besides the actual event.  Children’s reactions were also great on camera, as they stared in amazement and laughed with joy at what was going on around them.

 I enjoyed filming and getting some great shots for the project and it was a good learning experience which taught me how and when to seize the right shots. It was good to experience how to react to a crowd quickly and which shots to take when the opportunities presented themselves. Along with the general running around of all the characters in the performance, there was also an ensemble type event where people all joined together to dance. The dance was a cross between tribal African and bebop jazz swing. It looked so exciting on camera with all the lights around it as well as the audience watching. There was also a smooth Jazz band playing in the background when the dancing performance art was closing up. I decided it would be useful to capture this on film to show the community spirit of Bath and link it into the Illuminate Bath festival later on in the edit.

Projector Installation

This was more of a sideline project that was around the rest of the main events such as the performance art piece. There were three projector installations that I was involved in. The first projected image was a straight shot of a wall where the passers by were walking on the pavement. They were captured on camera. This footage was then projected onto where the video had previously been recorded so it looked like there were people walking by where the projector was presenting the video. Some people saw the projection and thought they were being recorded and shown onto the wall and hurriedly got out of the way of the projection. Some realised it was not them and laughed, which looked great on camera.  Some didn't notice at all. The sound for this was not needed as we were just gathering shots of the projected images on the wall and gathering the reactions from passers by who were walking through the projection.

The second projection I was involved in was another small installation using an overhead projector with small objects such as buttons, shells, felts, cord and many other small pieces blown up and put on a wall. We interviewed an array of people who had a go on the projector, getting snippets of what they thought about the festival so far. The audio for this was more difficult to record as we were in the type of alleyway which channelled the wind past us. To solve this I had to put my back to the wind to keep the microphone sheltered.

Light tubes and interviewing the artist

We interviewed the artist responsible for creating an array of huge coloured glass light tubes. They were absolutely beautiful in colour, and magnificent in size. There was also a golden chair and desk piece and a row of large light bulbs that lit up the far end of the room. Because the room was very light and quiet we didn't have any problems when recording audio and video. The interview was also successful in terms of content and information about each piece.

Coloured light projection on walls

I was involved in camera and sound work for this. The room was a large white walled empty shop that contained two large high definition projectors. The two projectors cycled through the spectrum of colours, merging each colour slowly into one another and creating a pulsing effect with the colours. This was then projected onto two white walls. The effect was vibrant and of course very colourful. People wandered in off the street to see what was going on. We interviewed a couple who were creating shapes with their hands and body which was cast on the walls by blocking the projectors light and we captured them talking about their experience. We then interviewed the two guys that were in charge of direction for the installation. We asked them questions about how they came up with the idea. They gave great answers and interesting references for the viewers of the light festival to look up. I managed to get a few nice shots of the light behind a large gate that had been put into an empty shop that we were filming in. I liked how the gate was silhouetted behind the colourful lights. Although this was not part of the concept of the installation I decided it would be a good shot to include in the edit and it could be used for pictures of the festival for a DVD case or screen shot for blogs about the festival.

Editing

I took part in some of the editing including the introduction for Illuminate Bath 2011 and two Interviews of the lanterns light show. One of the Interviews consisted of talking about a coloured ice sculpture made into columns which slowly melted over time. The interview was quite dry but I managed to cut it down to a two minute interview from 20 minutes of footage which still included some interesting points such as what the sculpture was about, what it did and the reactions of some passers by. I layered these cuts of passers by and included shots of the sculpture over the top of most of the interview to keep it as stimulating for the viewer as possible.

Illuminate Bath 2011 was a fun festival for all the public and I was able to learn a lot about different filming techniques and sound skills throughout the project work.


Check out the Bath Illuminate page here

Makson - Insomnia

I was attracted to this video in a number of ways. I particularly liked how well the editor selected the shots and how the effects were matched to each piece of footage. The kaleidoscope/mirrored effect gave the video another interesting difference without over using these effects. The symmetry at the beginning of the video combined with the extreme slow motion looked sleek and gave a feeling of calm. The fades to black and slow motion use was great, and split how the edit shifted in speed. The music plays a large part in the creation of the video's mood and is matched subtly to the effects. I enjoyed how the grading had been pushed to the ‘Nashville look,’ but it included a little more contrast and vibrancy than other videos that I have seen which use this type of grading.  In the second half of the video, the spectrum jumps to a raspberry and dark plum colour scheme which is in contrast to the first half. This looks really smooth on the eye and compliments the sun soaked footage.

More links to the artist here:
http://www.facebook.com/makson.electronica
http://soundcloud.com/makson-electronica
http://vkontakte.ru/makson.electronica
http://www.myspace.com/djmakson

Knxwledge - Hayrow

This is a video I watched on Youtube. The opening of the video gives the viewer a glance into the skateboarder’s life. The footage possesses a great style and energy in vintage quality that was typical of the 90s film tape cameras. I found out after some research that the film is called ‘The Skateboard Kid’ made in 1993. It was filmed on a very low budget which would have contributed to this vintage look.

 The music really encapsulates the attitude of the skateboarders and even more so of the time. By shooting underneath and intimately interacting with where the skateboard is in motion, the video exhibits the carefree attitudes of them by keeping low and smooth with each shot. I really like how the slow motion footage was cut into the music video by using only small snippets with normal speed footage.

There is constant movement in this video at all times, whether it is the camera following the skateboarders along the pavement, along side them as they swerve in and out of danger, or track them from the side as they make their way through an old car impound.

 Because it was filmed in the 90s but with modern music there is a ‘hark back quality’ to the video that the music suggests to the images; a kind of melancholy energy that you would only otherwise get from reminiscing over an old photo album of your child hood.

Why I am not posting my stills montage

I enjoyed doing the stills exercise but as this is an editing exercise of our work we have to upload this to a third party site, thus diminishing the quality and sound of our finely tuned edits.
The whole point of photography is to enjoy it in high quality! Not crushing the quality to a crummy mess of distorted pixels and tinny audio.

It seems counter productive to put up a great quality piece of work onto a site that encodes it into such laughable quality. I will do some research on finding out how to export and compress my video well for sites such as ‘Youtube’ but for the mean time I have found a site called ‘Stagevu.’

Stagevu is a site that “you can share all your favourite videos, but at a higher quality than an ordinary video site” *cough* YOUTUBE!

Unfortunately, when trying to upload to it there seemed to be a problem with the space on their servers. Hopefully in a few days there should be some free space for me.

See Stagevu here

Documentaries

Documentaries attempt to bring real life into people’s homes. Although the film is carefully edited the characters in the films are not actors and often portray themselves. The narrator/ voice over describes the film as it plays, putting opinions, often in a humorous way into what can be a very serious visual.

The word documentary has its roots in the Latin word ‘docere’ which means to teach or instruct. The word was first used by John Grierson who is known as the founder of the classic British documentary movement from the 1930s. He coined the phrase ‘creative treatment of actuality.’ The documentary is one of the earliest sorts of films known as ‘actuality films.’ Propaganda films were also early forms of documentary often portraying people such as Hitler as a Hero.

Today, the documentary film is very popular. To make a documentary film there needs to be a message or artistic point of view. The film maker may try the ‘fly on the wall’ or observational style .Recording a documentary is not about pointing a camera at a real situation but it is a demanding process of recording, selecting and editing.


Although the viewer feels like the real life scene is unfolding and happening in front of them, the raw footage could be shot out of order. It is then cut and edited in a specific way for a particular style whether to shock, inform or humour the audience.

Sometimes the TV documentary uses professional actors to re-enact scenes in order to make the viewer understand how something may have happened.

My taste in documentaries is varied. I particularly like the role that comedy dialogue and a tongue in cheek manner can put over a serious subject.

Dom Jolly’s Happy Hour is a prime example of this. They make fun of clichéd documentary styles by adding humorous montages (see video below) and add witty comments throughout. As a ‘Brit’ and a presenter from another country he is able to poke fun at other cultures without offending the interviewee. This has a similar premise to Sacha Baron Cohen’s ‘Borat’ film.



I also enjoy Louis' style of presenting in ‘Louis Theroux’s Weird Weekends’ as it can be both obtrusive and innocent at the same time when interviewing subjects.


They take serious subjects and inject humour and often elements of sarcasm into the programme which is obviously is a great mix due to the programmes’ success.

I also like the way the camera is known to the audience unlike any other type of film making. The camera and its crew are obvious in the shots making the filming process and subject feel especially real. Documentaries such as this really involve the audience. Small comments to camera makes the audience feel like they are with the character like Louis or Dom and are in on the joke really giving a sense harmony between the audience and the programme.


I also like nature and travel documentaries like Ray Mears - bushcraft, Coast, Life on Earth, Globe Trekker. I love travel series such as Long Way Round and Long Way Down that take you on a journey to places that you wouldn’t usually be able to go to visit. The documentary also contains a story element that unfolds weekly really making the viewer yearn for more. The audience gets to know the narrators and characters in the documentary and follow their intimate journey as it unfolds making them feel part of the journey without even leaving their settee, lovely!


Dom Jolly's Happy Hour - Belgium


Check out Ray Mears here
Check out Globe Trekker here
Check out Long Way Down here
Check out Long Way Round here
Check out Dom Jolly here
See Dom Jolly's Happy Hour in Prague here
Check out Louis Theroux here

Will We Still Remember? – Thursday 6th November

Today was a nerve wracking day as we went to pitch our idea to a panel of lecturers.
The podcast idea was based around the subject of Remembrance Day. Our tag line was “Will we still remember?”

As we commemorate 90 years since the ending of the First World War (1918) I thought it was suitable to do my podcast about Remembrance Day. The podcast will explore how different generations and social groups feel about why, how and if we should continue to reflect on those who have died for their country.

So far I have managed to get various recordings from the Remembrance Sunday service and many other recordings from 11th November which took a lot of time and patience. At the same time I had to be respectful to the public commemorating Armistice Day without being too intrusive. I hope to do more recordings in the form of phone interviews with my Grandad, a friend who has recently joined the RAF, and a range of vox pops covering different generations.

Poetry Podcast - Thursday 23rd October

It turns out that poetry gets deeper than "Roses are red, violets are blue"

I think that poetry is somewhat under the radar within youth these days. There is so much out there in the media world today that you don’t hear of poetry a great deal apart from learning some lines at your local primary school. To keep kids entertained today poetry gets set aside and the xbox gets all the attention and hype it needs. While poetry is a bit underground in my case, I think that this adds to the charm of its alternative qualities.

From the vox pop section I found out that the majority thought poetry on the whole was “pretentious.”
I personally think it’s a great expressive literature type. Poetry can not only emote more than what the words mean literally, but can create third meanings and feelings that normal writing cannot.

I didn't add any formulaic 'intros' or 'outros' to the piece as I think this would annoy the general audience. The first thing that I would want to hear on a podcast that I have just downloaded is the actual subject matter, not someone enforcing the podcast name or place down my ear drums, people just don't care!
I think its important to note at this point that promoting a podcast name when needs be can be a very useful Marketing tool.

Here is a small 'radio like' podcast on the subject of poetry, including a condensed interview and a vox pop.

Listen to the podcast


Download it here
Look at poetry here

Gravestone Poem

I just thought Id share this with you as I’m learning about poetry and thought it would be fitting to post one up.
I found this short poem after Googling “poems” and found it lead me to a poem that was imprinted onto a gravestone.
How charming I say!