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.
Saturday 29 November 2008
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.
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