And a round up of last weeks news:
Monday was a half day, doing screenwriting. In particular studying character, and the development of distinct, fully rounded individuals to populate the story. I suspect this is one of the hardest parts of storycraft, especially in takin ghtese characters and subtely revealing to the audience tantalising glimpses into their lives, beliefs and backstories. It seems to me very difficult to find the balance between saying too much and saying too little.
Tuesday was our Technical assesment. I knew it was to be assessed, but had no idea it was going to be 8 hours long. As a learning experience I found it very useful. Seeing the different techniques of individuals directing, cam-op ing, sound-ing, etc showed me both what to do and what not to do. As an assesment, I think it would be of limited value: fortunately its one of these formative thingies, and therefore not a proper assesment.
Wednesday was a screening of Sherlock Jr. See my other blog for comments on that. Afterwards, Charlotte and myself headed over to GMAC to see the films that have won awards there in the last year. A really mixed bag ranging from The Honkys (a very professional, hilariously un-PC short that felt more like a pilot episode for a sit-com) via Tied Up, from a certain Mr. Ray Tallon (bizarre sex-farce), to a short period drama, done by Paul Darroch. The last one was nice up to a point, but the limitations of a period drama on £200 budget was distinctly visible. Anna Chaney of 4th yr also had a very nice film: Gloria, being shown. Beyond that there were some rather mediocre comedies, dramas and an abstract music video. But I quite enjoyed the evening, especially with free mince pies. Charlotte didn't sample such delicacies, neither being partial to pies or mincemeat, and so I felt justified in having twice as many as everyone else!
Thursday was a look at zoetropes and the physics behind cinema. Fairly interesting stuff.
Friday was a look at Cop Shows as a TV genre. Again quite interesting. I'm always amazed at the sheer volme of trivia which Andy stores in his head.
So that's Academy life and beyond that its been a constant round of Maths tutorials, Wizard of Oz at the Citz, church, getting colds (plural!!!) and the "delete" key stopping working on my keyboard necessitating twice as much use of the "backspace" key.
Monday, 15 December 2008
Tuesday, 9 December 2008
Finished a book
I'll sneak a slightly out of sequence blog note in here to the effect that I have finished reading, over the past three weeks "Film Production: The Complete Uncensored Guide to Independent Movie Making".
I found this book immensely helpful in setting out the practicalities of an indie feature shoot from beginning to end. The book has opened my eyes to some of the vast and complex fields out there in the funding and distribution of films. I had always vaguely assumed that the real difficulty was in getting the money to make the film in the first place. While that still seems to be the first truly horrendous hurdle, there are equally large hurdles beyond, with insurance, legalities, publicity, festivals, distribution deals, and so on and so forth.
Strangely the major achievement of this book is in making me really grasp the awesome challenge that faces me in my chosen career path: the financial risk, the stress, the potential for ruin, poverty, loneliness and general tragedy. And yet despite all that I'm still hoping to get there some day. I'm either very naive, very optimistic or very determined.
On a downside, the book has dated significantly since its publication ten years ago. It predates the digital revolution, and is very geared towards shooting on film, with all the expense that entails. It is also very American, with little interest in the indie scene outside the borders of the USA.
Despite these caveats, I would recommend this book highly to anyone looking for an insight into the practicalities of producing an independent feature film.
I found this book immensely helpful in setting out the practicalities of an indie feature shoot from beginning to end. The book has opened my eyes to some of the vast and complex fields out there in the funding and distribution of films. I had always vaguely assumed that the real difficulty was in getting the money to make the film in the first place. While that still seems to be the first truly horrendous hurdle, there are equally large hurdles beyond, with insurance, legalities, publicity, festivals, distribution deals, and so on and so forth.
Strangely the major achievement of this book is in making me really grasp the awesome challenge that faces me in my chosen career path: the financial risk, the stress, the potential for ruin, poverty, loneliness and general tragedy. And yet despite all that I'm still hoping to get there some day. I'm either very naive, very optimistic or very determined.
On a downside, the book has dated significantly since its publication ten years ago. It predates the digital revolution, and is very geared towards shooting on film, with all the expense that entails. It is also very American, with little interest in the indie scene outside the borders of the USA.
Despite these caveats, I would recommend this book highly to anyone looking for an insight into the practicalities of producing an independent feature film.
Saturday, 6 December 2008
Week Beginning 1/12
It's been a strange week, dominated in my personal experience by the common cold, leading a multiplicity of individuals to suggest inebriation on my part, such a theory being backed up by my almost falling asleep at least twice during lectures. I am hopeful that the full effects of such a malady are on their way out, and I can return to full productivity for next week.
Monday started with Richards class, where we wee instructed to bear our souls by talking about three things we would wish to change about ourselves. For myself I found this quite uncomfortable, as I am not used to making myself so publicly vulnerable. I can't say I experienced any great inspiration or catharsis from the experience, and instead became rather depressed for a couple of days.
Monday afternoon was watching short films for Content Origination. See my other blog for reviews of these.
Tuesday was a study of the Game Show format. Interesting, and I can see that a good Game Show with full financing can drive a station. However, I can't help but think that it would be a rather depressing thing to work on for more than a year.
Wednesday was a screening of Gold Rush. See my other blog for the review.
Thursday was a case of watching some Mitchell and Kenyon (no idea about the spelling!) footage. It was hardly shocking or even surprising in terms of content, but certainly seeing Jamaica St in 1901 was very interesting. It would have been especially interesting if we had similar footage taken every decade so we could see how things changed into what we have now. Without that the jump seems so alien that it might as well be another planet.
Friday was the second of our Sound classes for this term. Simon has a very odd teaching style, but I suppose I learn just as well from it as from the other tutors. Basically its a case of "Play around with the equipment. Any questions, ask." So there can be long periods of bafflement, followed by twenty rapid fire questions as Simon walks past, followed by dawning comprehension. I have decided I quite like sound, though given that the vast majority of sound for cinema is re-recorded, especially on studio films, there is a definate sense of fruitlessness about the job.
Maybe it is just seeing the world through a cold, but it seems that a sense of listlessness is creeping into our course. When we started there was a lot of talk as to what we would be doing, our timetable was fairly heavy and we were learning quite quickly. But now, we are in for half days most days, we are having classes cancelled at short notice here and there, we are told that we are way ahead of where it was anticipated we should be, and our overall learning-speed seems to be taking a nosedive. We still have learned nothing on editing except how to do an off-line log, and our homework projects are very much in the writing and pitching line as opposed to in the actual production line. We are told this will change for next term, and I very much hope so. I can't help but think that the progress we are making is a little on the slow side.
On another note, I got word that our film won "Best Story" and "Most Comical" globally and we are listed second under the overall winner. So that is gratifying, despite there being no prizes (beyond recognition of our obvious talent!) in the global round.
Saturday, 29 November 2008
Week Beginning 24th November
I realise I have been walking around all this week having trimmed my left sideburn right back, while my right sideburn has been as virile, wiry and excessive as it has ever been. That oversight corrected this morning, I feel I am now ready to comment upon the events of the week.
Monday started with the presentation of our 3 minute pitches to Richard. I feel particularly inspired by my tale of Granny Butcher and the Pixie War. Despite finding the initial story in a book of bizarre newspaper clippings, I have searched the internet in vain for details of the Pixie Eradication Society, founded in 1982 to rid Dartmoor of garden gnomes, which they regarded as "inartistic and distateful". Nothing daunted, I have written the outline for the script. My real problem, as always, has been keeping it short and snappy enough for a 3 minute short.
The afternoon was a pitch to Adam for "Corridors of Power". The premise was a little cliched, but hopefully with the setting, the characters and the plot twists, it would have been quite watchable entertainment. We have now been set the next stage, which is an individual pitch of pretty much any idea we can come up with. I find this training in the basics of pitching very useful.
Tuesday was a wasted day. Due to a timetable error, we found ourselves in the Academy in the morning, only to be told classes all day were cancelled. It was interesting to note, in passing, the different attitudes between those paying tuition fees, and those paid for by SAAS. The subsidised individuals seemed quite happy to get time off, as if school had been cancelled. Those of us who are essentially paying for a service felt mildly disgruntled. Either way, the day was very unproductive.
Wednesday was a screening of The Kid. See my Film Review blog for my appreciative comments.
Thursday was a fascinating trip to the Panopticon. I'd heard a lot about it, but this was the first time I'd ever been inside, and it was really like stepping back in time. I think what I found particularly interesting (apart from the connection with Stan Laurel) was the setting in which cinema first appeared.
I have often wondered why the more traditional, conservative elements in my church, and in other Christian groups, are so suspicious of cinema, more so than other art forms. I can certainly appreciate that some of the content of "age rated films" can be highly antagonistic to Christian values, and can also appreciate the subtler battles between ideologies prevalent in Hollywood and the media, and the Biblical worldview. But this had not satisfactorally explained, in my mind, why little old ladies from the islands, who had never set foot inside a cinema, should be so opposed to the notion.
I think now I begin to understand: when cinema started, it was a part of the music-hall scene, with its boozing, its sleaziness, and its inhumanity. No wonder that in the Victorian age, the church spoke out against the music halls. And in traditional Christian circles, the attitudes of the past are very much the attitudes of the present.
The past generation had spoken out against music halls. Cinema started out in music halls. Therefore the past generation had spoken out against cinema also. Therefore the present generation would continue to speak out against cinema, regardless of changes in the viewing circumstances.
Fortunately such attitudes are not so strong as they were, but it has been very enlightening for me to see a possible reason for the antagonism I have experienced when I have said I am hoping to pursue a career in film.
Of course the other event that took place on Thursday was the SIE summit, where Message in a Bottle won the Best in Scotland. I got the text to let me know when I was in the middle of a maths tutorial with a student. It took me all my self control not to shout "Yippee!" while the suffering student was half way through a nasty little problem on differential calculus. Anyway - on to the global tournament next week, and meanwhile we now have a film budget for the DFTV1's to be making many more short films.
Friday was a Technical class in the morning. I seemed to be in a minority, but I rather enjoyed the class. I feel much more knowledgeable and confident with sound now. Having worked on a film where a professional BBC guy was doing the sound, I learned a lot from watching him, but it was good to be able to ask about pretty much every switch and button on the mixer.
The afternoon was a class on Sitcom's. It was interesting to see how little the format of the show has changed, though there were clearly funnier sitcoms than others. Of the four, The Simpsons was the clear front runner, and Dick Van Dyke was definitely the cow's tail. It was a bit much watching four sitcom episodes without a break.
I do wonder why they were all American sitcoms. Generally I prefer British sitcoms (Dad's Army, Blackadder, One Foot in the Grave, Yes Minister, Keeping Up Appearances, Porridge) and it seems strange that we didn't see something from this side of the Atlantic.
Final Thoughts? Trying to come up with filmable scripts, which we could film in the next month or two. Every script so far is just that little bit too ambitious.
Monday started with the presentation of our 3 minute pitches to Richard. I feel particularly inspired by my tale of Granny Butcher and the Pixie War. Despite finding the initial story in a book of bizarre newspaper clippings, I have searched the internet in vain for details of the Pixie Eradication Society, founded in 1982 to rid Dartmoor of garden gnomes, which they regarded as "inartistic and distateful". Nothing daunted, I have written the outline for the script. My real problem, as always, has been keeping it short and snappy enough for a 3 minute short.
The afternoon was a pitch to Adam for "Corridors of Power". The premise was a little cliched, but hopefully with the setting, the characters and the plot twists, it would have been quite watchable entertainment. We have now been set the next stage, which is an individual pitch of pretty much any idea we can come up with. I find this training in the basics of pitching very useful.
Tuesday was a wasted day. Due to a timetable error, we found ourselves in the Academy in the morning, only to be told classes all day were cancelled. It was interesting to note, in passing, the different attitudes between those paying tuition fees, and those paid for by SAAS. The subsidised individuals seemed quite happy to get time off, as if school had been cancelled. Those of us who are essentially paying for a service felt mildly disgruntled. Either way, the day was very unproductive.
Wednesday was a screening of The Kid. See my Film Review blog for my appreciative comments.
Thursday was a fascinating trip to the Panopticon. I'd heard a lot about it, but this was the first time I'd ever been inside, and it was really like stepping back in time. I think what I found particularly interesting (apart from the connection with Stan Laurel) was the setting in which cinema first appeared.
I have often wondered why the more traditional, conservative elements in my church, and in other Christian groups, are so suspicious of cinema, more so than other art forms. I can certainly appreciate that some of the content of "age rated films" can be highly antagonistic to Christian values, and can also appreciate the subtler battles between ideologies prevalent in Hollywood and the media, and the Biblical worldview. But this had not satisfactorally explained, in my mind, why little old ladies from the islands, who had never set foot inside a cinema, should be so opposed to the notion.
I think now I begin to understand: when cinema started, it was a part of the music-hall scene, with its boozing, its sleaziness, and its inhumanity. No wonder that in the Victorian age, the church spoke out against the music halls. And in traditional Christian circles, the attitudes of the past are very much the attitudes of the present.
The past generation had spoken out against music halls. Cinema started out in music halls. Therefore the past generation had spoken out against cinema also. Therefore the present generation would continue to speak out against cinema, regardless of changes in the viewing circumstances.
Fortunately such attitudes are not so strong as they were, but it has been very enlightening for me to see a possible reason for the antagonism I have experienced when I have said I am hoping to pursue a career in film.
Of course the other event that took place on Thursday was the SIE summit, where Message in a Bottle won the Best in Scotland. I got the text to let me know when I was in the middle of a maths tutorial with a student. It took me all my self control not to shout "Yippee!" while the suffering student was half way through a nasty little problem on differential calculus. Anyway - on to the global tournament next week, and meanwhile we now have a film budget for the DFTV1's to be making many more short films.
Friday was a Technical class in the morning. I seemed to be in a minority, but I rather enjoyed the class. I feel much more knowledgeable and confident with sound now. Having worked on a film where a professional BBC guy was doing the sound, I learned a lot from watching him, but it was good to be able to ask about pretty much every switch and button on the mixer.
The afternoon was a class on Sitcom's. It was interesting to see how little the format of the show has changed, though there were clearly funnier sitcoms than others. Of the four, The Simpsons was the clear front runner, and Dick Van Dyke was definitely the cow's tail. It was a bit much watching four sitcom episodes without a break.
I do wonder why they were all American sitcoms. Generally I prefer British sitcoms (Dad's Army, Blackadder, One Foot in the Grave, Yes Minister, Keeping Up Appearances, Porridge) and it seems strange that we didn't see something from this side of the Atlantic.
Final Thoughts? Trying to come up with filmable scripts, which we could film in the next month or two. Every script so far is just that little bit too ambitious.
Saturday, 22 November 2008
Week Beginning 17/11
Again a strange week. We began with the final tweaks and upload of Message in a Bottle, with which I am unjustifyably happy. This competition seems to have been just what we needed to spur us onto making other films. There are plans within the class to be making as many films as we can in our spare time, and as far as I'm concerned, that's brilliant.
On the Wednesday morning I had the strange experience of acting in Gaelic. I would have been far more at home with this six years ago, when I'd just finished school. However my Gaelic is now very rusty, and I had to phone up some Gaelic pals to help me with the intonation. But it was good fun.
Also this week, at Adam's request, we have been working on developing a 22 episode series set in 10 Downing Street. There is a vast amount of work in such a project, especially when we only have a week before we have to pitch it.
The obvious highlights of the week are in the form of Richard Attenborough and James McAvoy. Contrary to expectations, I found Richard Attenborough to be far more inspiring and exciting a character than young James. He talked at length about his early life and I found it fascinating the way his personal connection with social injustice had driven him to produce the kind of films he has made. His comments on graphic violence on screen contributing to violence in society were also interesting, coming from a voice within the industry. I think what I most took from his talk was the concept that the performance was the most important part of the film. Of course I had always known that, but somehow in the past few months I seemed to have forgotten.
The Friday workshop with James McAvoy would, for me, have been almost as interesting without the presence of the star. I happened to be standing in the right place at the right time when someone wanted a boom mike held, and I therefore was able to see the workings of the camera crew and the sound crew at a more immediate level. We also had an interesting discussion on lighting, focus, and how that affects performance.
On the Wednesday morning I had the strange experience of acting in Gaelic. I would have been far more at home with this six years ago, when I'd just finished school. However my Gaelic is now very rusty, and I had to phone up some Gaelic pals to help me with the intonation. But it was good fun.
Also this week, at Adam's request, we have been working on developing a 22 episode series set in 10 Downing Street. There is a vast amount of work in such a project, especially when we only have a week before we have to pitch it.
The obvious highlights of the week are in the form of Richard Attenborough and James McAvoy. Contrary to expectations, I found Richard Attenborough to be far more inspiring and exciting a character than young James. He talked at length about his early life and I found it fascinating the way his personal connection with social injustice had driven him to produce the kind of films he has made. His comments on graphic violence on screen contributing to violence in society were also interesting, coming from a voice within the industry. I think what I most took from his talk was the concept that the performance was the most important part of the film. Of course I had always known that, but somehow in the past few months I seemed to have forgotten.
The Friday workshop with James McAvoy would, for me, have been almost as interesting without the presence of the star. I happened to be standing in the right place at the right time when someone wanted a boom mike held, and I therefore was able to see the workings of the camera crew and the sound crew at a more immediate level. We also had an interesting discussion on lighting, focus, and how that affects performance.
Saturday, 15 November 2008
WB 10/11
Unusual week structurally. We had a holiday on Monday, in which I had three students to tutor in Maths. Then I took the rest of the week off work to direct a short film for an entry in a global competition...
Our field trip to a press screening was an interesting experience, though my thoughts on the film itself have been recorded elsewhere! We had lectures on TV Authorship (not rivetting but its good to think about something I hadn't considered before) and on the Etiquette of the Film Critic (much the same).
Academically, Friday was a brain stretching day. We looked at timecode regeneration, focus, backfocus, aperture and principles of recording. Then in the afternoon we had a rather twistedly fiendish exam on system settings and computer protocals. It seems that after a slow start, Technical is really rocketing forward in terms of progress. I can't help but think that if we had started earlier, we could have taken it a bit easier.
Either way, the highlight of this week has definately been shooting our first project: a 3 minute film which gives a value to water-bottles. We received the brief on Thursday, and after a brainstorming session that night, I wrote up the script, while Gavin did some trial animations. I also got the film cast (roughly speaking!) and our shoot timetabled. Friday night and Saturday day were our scheduled times for filming, and despite one or two minor hiccups, I'm delighted to be at the stage now of saying that the film has been fully shot, and the edit is semi-complete.
Including a mad prophet of doom, an army of rampaging water bottles, a gentleman called Richard Crumpet, and several bottles living wild in their natural habitat (up a tree), this film is as daft as everything else I've done. But the production values have been pleasingly high, and its been great fun.
This film has been great, not only for building relationships with some of the other folk in DFTV, but also with actors and TPA folk. I very much look forward to seeing the edit on Monday when we enter it in the competition.
Our field trip to a press screening was an interesting experience, though my thoughts on the film itself have been recorded elsewhere! We had lectures on TV Authorship (not rivetting but its good to think about something I hadn't considered before) and on the Etiquette of the Film Critic (much the same).
Academically, Friday was a brain stretching day. We looked at timecode regeneration, focus, backfocus, aperture and principles of recording. Then in the afternoon we had a rather twistedly fiendish exam on system settings and computer protocals. It seems that after a slow start, Technical is really rocketing forward in terms of progress. I can't help but think that if we had started earlier, we could have taken it a bit easier.
Either way, the highlight of this week has definately been shooting our first project: a 3 minute film which gives a value to water-bottles. We received the brief on Thursday, and after a brainstorming session that night, I wrote up the script, while Gavin did some trial animations. I also got the film cast (roughly speaking!) and our shoot timetabled. Friday night and Saturday day were our scheduled times for filming, and despite one or two minor hiccups, I'm delighted to be at the stage now of saying that the film has been fully shot, and the edit is semi-complete.
Including a mad prophet of doom, an army of rampaging water bottles, a gentleman called Richard Crumpet, and several bottles living wild in their natural habitat (up a tree), this film is as daft as everything else I've done. But the production values have been pleasingly high, and its been great fun.
This film has been great, not only for building relationships with some of the other folk in DFTV, but also with actors and TPA folk. I very much look forward to seeing the edit on Monday when we enter it in the competition.
Monday, 10 November 2008
WB 3/11
Got feedback from Richard on my short story, which was good. I haven't had feedback from a professional on any piece of creative writing I have done since I was at school, so it was very helpful. We were also watching some rather bizarre short films, which were, in general, like watching paint dry in black and white.
Tuesday was a camera test, where we have satisfied Ray that we are competant to take out the kit. It does seem a big step forward. Now all we need to do is find the time! We also had some tips on logging clips properly, which hopefully will prove very helpful. I still find it difficult remembering all the settings we need to configure before we start a new project.
The film lecture on Thursday seemed a little pointless. We were simply taught that all lists of the top best films are subjective. This, it seemed, we had been told a couple of times before. It was certainly interesting to hear some class members defending their favourite film. Quite an eclectic mix of titles there.
I am working on a short script for a film I hope to shoot in December with some acting students, and when I get spare moments sitting in trains or in the quiet moments during my shifts at the theatre I am busy trying to fit various ideas together. Its a more arty-farty script than I've ever written before, and I'm quite enjoying the pretentiousness!
We are also continuing to work on our short film competition entry. We have come up with a vague idea, and its just a case of nailing down some scenes, which we can then construct together when we hear the details of the brief. Really good to have these last two projects to work towards. I only hope we will be able to have the full kit out in time!
Tuesday was a camera test, where we have satisfied Ray that we are competant to take out the kit. It does seem a big step forward. Now all we need to do is find the time! We also had some tips on logging clips properly, which hopefully will prove very helpful. I still find it difficult remembering all the settings we need to configure before we start a new project.
The film lecture on Thursday seemed a little pointless. We were simply taught that all lists of the top best films are subjective. This, it seemed, we had been told a couple of times before. It was certainly interesting to hear some class members defending their favourite film. Quite an eclectic mix of titles there.
I am working on a short script for a film I hope to shoot in December with some acting students, and when I get spare moments sitting in trains or in the quiet moments during my shifts at the theatre I am busy trying to fit various ideas together. Its a more arty-farty script than I've ever written before, and I'm quite enjoying the pretentiousness!
We are also continuing to work on our short film competition entry. We have come up with a vague idea, and its just a case of nailing down some scenes, which we can then construct together when we hear the details of the brief. Really good to have these last two projects to work towards. I only hope we will be able to have the full kit out in time!
Monday, 3 November 2008
Week Beginning 27/10
The week kicked off to a good start in the screenwriting course, looking at 3-act structure. A lot of this I had read about before, but it was useful to have it explained in person, being able to ask questions of areas that confused me. Richard gave us several good tips. In terms of technical, we have been looking at the monitor and the viewfinder. I found this very instructive as previously I had jusged picture quality be eye, and it had always been hit or miss whether the final quality was any good. The highlight of the week was editing a motorcycle video. Despite the low acting quality of the two characters in the video, I put together a piece I felt genuinely proud of, given the time constraints. I had forgotten how satisfying it can be to edit a film. Looking ahead to entering a short film competition in the next fortnight, along with several others in the class. Good to have a project to work towards.
Friday, 31 October 2008
WB 20/10
Week 4. After a horrible cold at the weekend, I found the earlier part of the week rather taxing. I was very disappointed with Citizen Kane. I was expecting to be utterly blown away, and was mildly wafted. I surmised that I was disillusioned with all films, having seen too many recently to be in a mood to see more. Then I forced myself to watch Thelma and Louise for screenwriting, and was delighted with it. So I must simply return it upon Kane that I found his film to be merely a 3-star good. (For the record, that’s lower in my estimation than Carry on Cleo, which I very much enjoy.) Technical slowly picked itself up a bit. We now know how to put up a tripod… When I mentioned to friends, that after a month at the Academy I now knew how to put up a tripod, they questioned the worth of the course.
Friday, 24 October 2008
Weekly RPJ - past weeks
WB 22/9
A very slow and tedious Week Zero. I’m surprised to find how young most of my peers are. A couple are only 17. However, several come from FE/HE background, and we all seem more competent than the lecturers are giving us credence for. The highlight was watching The Poseidon Adventure, which I very much enjoyed.
WB 29/9
First full week at RSAMD. Week 1 of Creative Beginnings. Highlight this week was the presentation by ex-graduates. The film graduate showed us a short film he had made. No doubt it was shot nicely, but in terms of the basic idea, it was just asking people what made them happy or sad. A simple idea, often done before. I’ve even been camera operator for something similar myself. So I’m not exactly blown away. I hope we as a year reach a greater height of excellence.
WB 6/10
Week 2 of Creative Beginnings. Very glad Creative Beginnings is over. It has been good to meet folk in other courses and to build up relationships, but the exercises are not conducive to fostering real bonds. Within the group of eight with which I have been placed, I have formed friendships, but there is a lot more work to get to know others outside of that. The highlight was the Creative Improvisation session, which I very much enjoyed. Many people have been complimenting me on my performance. I find it slightly awkward, especially with those who enthuse too much.
WB 13/10
Week 3. First week of the proper course. Screenwriting is very promising, with an enthusiastic lecturer and I hope to learn a lot from him over the next three years. Technical got off to a poor start. All we had was a lesson on logging into the system. Of the rest, TV was a bit dry - looking at the commercial policy of the terrestrial channels. It seems to me that the expansion of the market into a vast network of channels, coupled with a minimal increase in the number of viewers (and therefore the gross revenue) must lead inevitably to a radical downward pull on quality. This depresses me. I want to make a film. I want to get started!
A very slow and tedious Week Zero. I’m surprised to find how young most of my peers are. A couple are only 17. However, several come from FE/HE background, and we all seem more competent than the lecturers are giving us credence for. The highlight was watching The Poseidon Adventure, which I very much enjoyed.
WB 29/9
First full week at RSAMD. Week 1 of Creative Beginnings. Highlight this week was the presentation by ex-graduates. The film graduate showed us a short film he had made. No doubt it was shot nicely, but in terms of the basic idea, it was just asking people what made them happy or sad. A simple idea, often done before. I’ve even been camera operator for something similar myself. So I’m not exactly blown away. I hope we as a year reach a greater height of excellence.
WB 6/10
Week 2 of Creative Beginnings. Very glad Creative Beginnings is over. It has been good to meet folk in other courses and to build up relationships, but the exercises are not conducive to fostering real bonds. Within the group of eight with which I have been placed, I have formed friendships, but there is a lot more work to get to know others outside of that. The highlight was the Creative Improvisation session, which I very much enjoyed. Many people have been complimenting me on my performance. I find it slightly awkward, especially with those who enthuse too much.
WB 13/10
Week 3. First week of the proper course. Screenwriting is very promising, with an enthusiastic lecturer and I hope to learn a lot from him over the next three years. Technical got off to a poor start. All we had was a lesson on logging into the system. Of the rest, TV was a bit dry - looking at the commercial policy of the terrestrial channels. It seems to me that the expansion of the market into a vast network of channels, coupled with a minimal increase in the number of viewers (and therefore the gross revenue) must lead inevitably to a radical downward pull on quality. This depresses me. I want to make a film. I want to get started!
First Attempt
So I have apparently set up a blogger account. Who knows how my life will be irrevocably changed. I guess I should first try posting something of little or minor importance, just to see how it works...
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