A rapid-fire blog on the last week.
Monday was a tutorial with Adam on my webseries. I am very pleased with the progress I am amking so far. By that stage I had done out a logic diagram for the first episode. As I am working on an interactive concept, with different paths based on different choices. I am now half way through writing the script for the first episode. Because of the parallel storylines, with the same events shown from different angles, there is a lot of cut and paste going on.
The afternoon and evening (up till midnight) were taken up with preproduction for both Little Clown and Dust, interspersed by a class with Kim and a 45 minute break over dinner to watch Ashes to Ashes.
Tuesday was a day of chasing up actors for auditions.
Wednesday was a day of auditions followed by a brief class with Abigail. I feel that, having been out of the loop last week, it is taking me a bit longer to get into the rhythm back at the Academy.
Wednesday evening was a location recce for Dust. Phil and myself checked out a church down in Partick, while Benoit, who was supposed to be joining us, got lost up in Jordanhill.
Thursday was a very stressful day. Firstly I was dealing with actors, giving feedback on the auditions. Its always a hard thing to tell an actor they didn't get the part. Then I was helping Galina deal with getting Rab in for Disclosure. The evening was triple booked for me, with auditions for Little Clown clashing with a shoot for Dust and a BBQ with the Christian Union. I helped Paul in gathering needful items for the auditions, made sure the kids were all assembled for the workshop-style audition, then headed off into the West End with the crew for Dust. All was going well until we discovered the camera was broken. (See previous rant!) So we stood down and I managed to get along for the last part of the BBQ. I took the decision with Phil to postpone any further shoots of Dust until Little Clown is over. This may mean we are shooting in the Summer.
Friday was a calmer day. I gave feedback to the kids regarding the audition. It's even worse with kids. I dealt with Nikki's Disclosure form and sent the Dust cast and crew information on what was happening with the shoot. I also attended a Film Festival meeting (after it was over) and had a class with Abigail to update her on proceedings. In the evening I continued work on Adam's assignment and ate far too much pasta.
I am heading out momentarily to meet with the parents of the child we have cast and then to scout out Queen's Park as a location.
Saturday, 6 June 2009
Thursday, 4 June 2009
Dust: a series of unfortunate events.
Once again I have been thwarted in my attempts to make my movie, and this time I have decided to postpone production for a while.
I think it is therefore worth me considering what has gone wrong so far (and indeed what has gone right) and what I have learnt from the whole experience.
Dust was written in first term here, and passed by the class for consideration. It received a fairly mediocre response. After doing a significant redraft, cutting out 30-40% of the material, I proposed it to Adam and Ros towards the end of 2nd term as a possibility for a TPA/DFTV collaboration. I had done a deal with Phil in that I would produce his "Lord of the Rings in 60 seconds" if he would produce "Dust", and there was a fairly solid group from both DFTV and TPA interested in getting involved in both projects.
However, the project did not meet with favour from "upstairs" and we decided to plough ahead on our own. We knew the last half of third term would be busy so decided to attempt it for the first three weeks of the term. Over Easter some work was done, but as Phil was away, some things were pushed back which should have been done then, most especially in terms of location recce's, risk assesments and gaining filming permission.
We hit the ground running after Easter. Our storyboards were done and auditions were successfully held on the first week. But then we started to run into difficulty as we began to plan shoots. Both Phil and myself have particularly busy lives. When this is combined with actors going into shows, TPA students working 9-9 five days a week, weekend jobs for half the cast and everyone in DFTV wanting to take out the camera kit, things ended up getting pushed further and further into term 3.
Tuesday 28th April was rehearsals for the project, and despite me feeling outclassed talent-wise by the two amazing actors I'd chosen from the auditionees, I felt the session was very useful in bringing them closer to how I had imagined my vision for each piece of the film.
Wednesday 29th April was a session of recording voice-over and additional dialogue, and despite my reservations, it went fine.
Wednesday 6th May (lunchtime) was our first scene to be shot. It was very simple. One shot. One actor. It went like a dream. No problems whatsoever. The acting was wonderful. The scenic art backdrop was very nice.
Monday 11th May was when things started to fall apart. This was supposed to be our shoot for two of the simpler external scenes. One actor. One location. But due to a breakdown in communication (new numbers, last minute clarification, no single individual in complete charge), the crew didn't realise something was happening and the actor turned up without any costume. So we had to abandon filming for the day.
Wednesday 13th May was a slight upturn on the project's fortunes. We managed a double location recce and also filmed two scenes. The second scene was particularly rushed. The lighting wasn't great and although I haven't had the chance to watch the footage back, I am unsure how it will turn out.
Friday 15th May was another big downturn. We were all ready to film two fairly major scenes in a shoot planned to run late into the evening. We were all assembled (with a new sound guy drafted in at the last minute) and we were poised to go, but after waiting a little to get kit from the kit room, we tried phoning the tutors. Only then did we discover that our emails had gone un-noticed and that they were both out of the building. With no way of getting the kit signed out, we had to stand down for a second shoot within a week.
On 21st May, Little Clown was commissioned and I was thrown into pre-production for that, concurrently with continued planning for Dust. In between each shoot, I am examining every day (every morning, lunchtime, afternoon, evening) for any slot where the required people are available simultaneously and the kit is available too. For example, our big shoot of six scenes, planned for a long time for the holiday on the 25th of May, was cancelled the moment Ray saw our kit request.
Following a hiatus, I tried again to film a scene tonight, 4th June. We had the crew together. We had the actor in costume and make up. We had the set dressed (it had taken 40 minutes of work by three bodies). We had the lights in place (sort of). We had the shot framed up. We tried to put the tape in. And.... no. Errors and warning lights and after further investigation a little piece of plastic that had somehow snapped and was now just dangling instead of playing its part. So the camera was packed away, the set was undressed, the make-up was wiped off, the actor and make-up lady drove off, the equipment was all put back in its boxes and we were back to where we started. Except now we have a broken camera to report. It wasn't us, honest...
I think my new plan is to postpone Dust until after my visit to the Edinburgh Film Festival. By then Little Clown will be over (from a Production point of view), the actors and artists should be free of other pressing commitments and classes for DFTV should have completely come to an end. We can see what can be accomplished in these last few days before term ends officially. But for now, Dust is put back in the box.
So what have I learnt?
1) Don't attempt extra-curricular projects in Term 3.
2) The producer must be focussed 100% on the project and must be taking the initiative in planning shoots. The producer must be communicating with all cast and crew. The director must step back and allow the producer to do this without interference. A daily update for all cast and crew from the producer is a good idea, though in a long running saga like Dust this could get wearisome quickly.
I think it is therefore worth me considering what has gone wrong so far (and indeed what has gone right) and what I have learnt from the whole experience.
Dust was written in first term here, and passed by the class for consideration. It received a fairly mediocre response. After doing a significant redraft, cutting out 30-40% of the material, I proposed it to Adam and Ros towards the end of 2nd term as a possibility for a TPA/DFTV collaboration. I had done a deal with Phil in that I would produce his "Lord of the Rings in 60 seconds" if he would produce "Dust", and there was a fairly solid group from both DFTV and TPA interested in getting involved in both projects.
However, the project did not meet with favour from "upstairs" and we decided to plough ahead on our own. We knew the last half of third term would be busy so decided to attempt it for the first three weeks of the term. Over Easter some work was done, but as Phil was away, some things were pushed back which should have been done then, most especially in terms of location recce's, risk assesments and gaining filming permission.
We hit the ground running after Easter. Our storyboards were done and auditions were successfully held on the first week. But then we started to run into difficulty as we began to plan shoots. Both Phil and myself have particularly busy lives. When this is combined with actors going into shows, TPA students working 9-9 five days a week, weekend jobs for half the cast and everyone in DFTV wanting to take out the camera kit, things ended up getting pushed further and further into term 3.
Tuesday 28th April was rehearsals for the project, and despite me feeling outclassed talent-wise by the two amazing actors I'd chosen from the auditionees, I felt the session was very useful in bringing them closer to how I had imagined my vision for each piece of the film.
Wednesday 29th April was a session of recording voice-over and additional dialogue, and despite my reservations, it went fine.
Wednesday 6th May (lunchtime) was our first scene to be shot. It was very simple. One shot. One actor. It went like a dream. No problems whatsoever. The acting was wonderful. The scenic art backdrop was very nice.
Monday 11th May was when things started to fall apart. This was supposed to be our shoot for two of the simpler external scenes. One actor. One location. But due to a breakdown in communication (new numbers, last minute clarification, no single individual in complete charge), the crew didn't realise something was happening and the actor turned up without any costume. So we had to abandon filming for the day.
Wednesday 13th May was a slight upturn on the project's fortunes. We managed a double location recce and also filmed two scenes. The second scene was particularly rushed. The lighting wasn't great and although I haven't had the chance to watch the footage back, I am unsure how it will turn out.
Friday 15th May was another big downturn. We were all ready to film two fairly major scenes in a shoot planned to run late into the evening. We were all assembled (with a new sound guy drafted in at the last minute) and we were poised to go, but after waiting a little to get kit from the kit room, we tried phoning the tutors. Only then did we discover that our emails had gone un-noticed and that they were both out of the building. With no way of getting the kit signed out, we had to stand down for a second shoot within a week.
On 21st May, Little Clown was commissioned and I was thrown into pre-production for that, concurrently with continued planning for Dust. In between each shoot, I am examining every day (every morning, lunchtime, afternoon, evening) for any slot where the required people are available simultaneously and the kit is available too. For example, our big shoot of six scenes, planned for a long time for the holiday on the 25th of May, was cancelled the moment Ray saw our kit request.
Following a hiatus, I tried again to film a scene tonight, 4th June. We had the crew together. We had the actor in costume and make up. We had the set dressed (it had taken 40 minutes of work by three bodies). We had the lights in place (sort of). We had the shot framed up. We tried to put the tape in. And.... no. Errors and warning lights and after further investigation a little piece of plastic that had somehow snapped and was now just dangling instead of playing its part. So the camera was packed away, the set was undressed, the make-up was wiped off, the actor and make-up lady drove off, the equipment was all put back in its boxes and we were back to where we started. Except now we have a broken camera to report. It wasn't us, honest...
I think my new plan is to postpone Dust until after my visit to the Edinburgh Film Festival. By then Little Clown will be over (from a Production point of view), the actors and artists should be free of other pressing commitments and classes for DFTV should have completely come to an end. We can see what can be accomplished in these last few days before term ends officially. But for now, Dust is put back in the box.
So what have I learnt?
1) Don't attempt extra-curricular projects in Term 3.
2) The producer must be focussed 100% on the project and must be taking the initiative in planning shoots. The producer must be communicating with all cast and crew. The director must step back and allow the producer to do this without interference. A daily update for all cast and crew from the producer is a good idea, though in a long running saga like Dust this could get wearisome quickly.
Monday, 1 June 2009
Week Beginning 25/5
This has been un unusual week for me. Monday's highlight was filming Black Cats and Blue Angels, which I found quite enjoyable, though I wasn't impressed at my handheld camera skills. My hands are too shaky to hold a cup and saucer steady, let alone a camera.
Tuesday to Friday was working as a runner for STV on a documentary about the murderer Peter Tobin. He is going on trial for his third murder this June and the documentary is to be released as soon as he is found guilty. (I appreciate it is odd that the result is a foregone conclusion, but the body was found buried in his back garden alongside someone else for whose murder he has already been convicted, so his chances of being acquitted are very slim.)
One highlight from the week was wandering round the STV store up in Ruchill (a vast warehouse of props and pieces of old sets). Also, wrapping a mannequin up in black tarpaulin and carrying it around in the boot of my car for a week, along with spades, a high chair and several sharp knives and other assorted goods was fun. I was glad it wasn't a van I was given to drive. Even the People carrier I had took a bit of getting used to. I almost got stuck in the low roofed Somerfields carpark and the turning circle required is ridiculous.
At one point, I was told "Go and buy a pick and get it to Aikenhead road as soon as you can". A pick, I though? Where in the world can I buy a pick? I was in the middle of the West End at the time, and it's not the sort of thing to be found in Eau Naturalle... Eventually I found a Jewsons in Anniesland which did the trick, but I looked even odder stowing a pick in beside the tarpaulin body in the boot.
I was surprised at how low budget the reconstruction was. The actors were not professionals: they had been found from extras agencies and colleges. Indeed the lady playing Angelika Kluk was none other than our very own Jennifer Joyes of "Love, Mugs and Stickmen" fame. We were filming in the houses of crew members and their friends. The crew were extras (including myself!). Everything was done on the cheap. But it was a good experience because at that low level, with a much smaller team, it was easier to get chatting with everyone from the Director to the Camera Assistant. They seemed happy with my work and I was asked to pass on my details to the director in case more work came up.
But I'm glad to be back. Saturday was a huge catch-up period, talking with Charlotte and Gavin about all the stuff which I felt I should have been diong instead of floating around with STV. Hopefully I should be able to pull my weight now for the duration of production.
Tuesday to Friday was working as a runner for STV on a documentary about the murderer Peter Tobin. He is going on trial for his third murder this June and the documentary is to be released as soon as he is found guilty. (I appreciate it is odd that the result is a foregone conclusion, but the body was found buried in his back garden alongside someone else for whose murder he has already been convicted, so his chances of being acquitted are very slim.)
One highlight from the week was wandering round the STV store up in Ruchill (a vast warehouse of props and pieces of old sets). Also, wrapping a mannequin up in black tarpaulin and carrying it around in the boot of my car for a week, along with spades, a high chair and several sharp knives and other assorted goods was fun. I was glad it wasn't a van I was given to drive. Even the People carrier I had took a bit of getting used to. I almost got stuck in the low roofed Somerfields carpark and the turning circle required is ridiculous.
At one point, I was told "Go and buy a pick and get it to Aikenhead road as soon as you can". A pick, I though? Where in the world can I buy a pick? I was in the middle of the West End at the time, and it's not the sort of thing to be found in Eau Naturalle... Eventually I found a Jewsons in Anniesland which did the trick, but I looked even odder stowing a pick in beside the tarpaulin body in the boot.
I was surprised at how low budget the reconstruction was. The actors were not professionals: they had been found from extras agencies and colleges. Indeed the lady playing Angelika Kluk was none other than our very own Jennifer Joyes of "Love, Mugs and Stickmen" fame. We were filming in the houses of crew members and their friends. The crew were extras (including myself!). Everything was done on the cheap. But it was a good experience because at that low level, with a much smaller team, it was easier to get chatting with everyone from the Director to the Camera Assistant. They seemed happy with my work and I was asked to pass on my details to the director in case more work came up.
But I'm glad to be back. Saturday was a huge catch-up period, talking with Charlotte and Gavin about all the stuff which I felt I should have been diong instead of floating around with STV. Hopefully I should be able to pull my weight now for the duration of production.
Monday, 25 May 2009
Week Beginning sometime in the past.
My brain is leaking out my ears. So I am forcing myself to blog in an attempt to try and find some sort of structure. (This is not helped by the sounds coming from downstairs. It sounds as though the father is beating up his kid, given the unearthly screams and thumps I'm hearing. Perhaps I should report him to childline... but there again it might just be a computer game or something.)
So last Monday was Showlight where I grabbed some experience on the Vision Mixer. I'd seen one used before back in Glasgow Uni, but never operated it myself. It's remarkably stressful doing a live edit, and inevitable slip ups occur.
Monday evening was a posh dinner at the Fruitmarket which I very much enjoyed. I got blethering to some punters - such as a student from Maine, a previous lecturer at the Academy and a random bloke called Tim - but always had Paul and Phil to chat to if things became too geekishly lighting-centred.
Tuesday was back at the BBC for Sound. I was thrown into the hot seat when the woman who was supposed to be doing the job turned up almost two hours late, rather hungover, or possibly still drunk. In her absence I had been placed in front of the PA mixer desk, and pretty much told "This does this. That does that. Any questions? No. Good" and left to get on with it. After she turned up, the excitement slumped, until we were just handing microphones to audience members.
All in all an excellent experience. I enjoyed the talks I heard, I enjoyed meeting some interesting folk. I enjoyed the free food. Ultimately I enjoyed the atmosphere and working in that environment.
Wednesday was a Screening of Easy Riders and Raging Bulls, which was in insight into a period of film-making history about which I knew next to nothing.
Thursday was a final lecture on TV, looking at the future of the medium.
Fridaywas a class with Abigail. We saw the film Floating is Easy for which we had previously done a schedule. It was even more depressing than the script, but it seems that Scottish Screen and other groups in Scotland have convinced themselves that this sort of drab grim grey material about unhappy people being miserable is somehow meaningful and connects with people on a deep level. As far as I can tell it is quite the reverse and generally people go to the cinema to see beautiful people doing interesting things.
Having finished Kim's assignment, we now have Andy's to be working on. Meanwhile Adam's and Richard's are looming, Dust continues to run into scheduling difficulties, Little Clown presents a host of new challenges, I am trying to organise a conference for my church on June 13th and I am to be working at STV for the rest of this week. While this last item is very welcome, it is another thing to add to my extensive list of things to do. I hope driving a van is not as arduous as it looks!
Friday was
So last Monday was Showlight where I grabbed some experience on the Vision Mixer. I'd seen one used before back in Glasgow Uni, but never operated it myself. It's remarkably stressful doing a live edit, and inevitable slip ups occur.
Monday evening was a posh dinner at the Fruitmarket which I very much enjoyed. I got blethering to some punters - such as a student from Maine, a previous lecturer at the Academy and a random bloke called Tim - but always had Paul and Phil to chat to if things became too geekishly lighting-centred.
Tuesday was back at the BBC for Sound. I was thrown into the hot seat when the woman who was supposed to be doing the job turned up almost two hours late, rather hungover, or possibly still drunk. In her absence I had been placed in front of the PA mixer desk, and pretty much told "This does this. That does that. Any questions? No. Good" and left to get on with it. After she turned up, the excitement slumped, until we were just handing microphones to audience members.
All in all an excellent experience. I enjoyed the talks I heard, I enjoyed meeting some interesting folk. I enjoyed the free food. Ultimately I enjoyed the atmosphere and working in that environment.
Wednesday was a Screening of Easy Riders and Raging Bulls, which was in insight into a period of film-making history about which I knew next to nothing.
Thursday was a final lecture on TV, looking at the future of the medium.
Fridaywas a class with Abigail. We saw the film Floating is Easy for which we had previously done a schedule. It was even more depressing than the script, but it seems that Scottish Screen and other groups in Scotland have convinced themselves that this sort of drab grim grey material about unhappy people being miserable is somehow meaningful and connects with people on a deep level. As far as I can tell it is quite the reverse and generally people go to the cinema to see beautiful people doing interesting things.
Having finished Kim's assignment, we now have Andy's to be working on. Meanwhile Adam's and Richard's are looming, Dust continues to run into scheduling difficulties, Little Clown presents a host of new challenges, I am trying to organise a conference for my church on June 13th and I am to be working at STV for the rest of this week. While this last item is very welcome, it is another thing to add to my extensive list of things to do. I hope driving a van is not as arduous as it looks!
Friday was
Monday, 18 May 2009
Week Beginning 11th May
Monday kicked off with a tutorial with Richard. I'm working on two ideas at the moment, and am quite fond of both of them. I'm finding the development process very useful. It seems that I am far more likely to come up with something good if I am tweaking and twisting an idea that already has promise than if I am trying to break up new ground with a completely new premise.
Monday lunchtime was supposed to be a shoot for Dust. As it turned out, we had to cancel due to a major lack of communication between the team. I have decided to try being the point of contact for everyone: cast and crew. Previously, we had Phil, as Producer, talking to the crew, while I, as Director, talked to the cast. But I don't think that is a good solution.
Monday afternoon was our class with Kim, looking at Storylines and how they would fit togehter in an episode. I think we had a little problem in only having three storylines. Some episodes would have next to no plot. With a fourth or even fifth story ongoing, we would have been able to keep each episode engaging.
Tuesday was a short Technical class with Ray. Not much happened, but I found some old tapes from Sound classes lying around in Paul's locker and started taking some of the edited highlights into Final Cut. Our class are rather odd!
Wednesday was a location recce for Dust, followed by a hectic shoot in the Cafe Bar and the Fyfe lecture theatre. It was rather crazy towards the end, and I haven't had a chance to review the footage since, but it all looked rather nice on the monitor.
This was followed by a screening of Bonnie and Clyde. I'll try to get some thoughts up on my other blog when I get a moment.
Thursday was a Mobile and Web class, where we pitches our ideas, as they are so far. I am developing an idea I originally had for a short film before I started this course, and which I think tranfers rather nicely into an interactive series.
Friday was a talk from John Yorke. I think I was mildly in awe of the rank he had reached in the BBC hierarchy, and also being utterly exhausted after working till midnight the night before, I found it difficult sometimes to follow the intricacies of his psychological illustrations. But I certainly got the gist, and found it all very engaging.
I had to rush off at the end for a two hour Maths tutorial with an Advanced Higher student.
Then Friday afternoon was a tutorial with Abigail, which was short and sweet. However I then heard that our shoot for Dust, scheduled for that evening, had to be cancelled due to a mix up with the kit booking.
I think the problem with scheduling Dust was that we had originally planned for the following week, but then we heard that the kit would be unavailable then. We had to then pull the whole thing forward and we weren't properly perpared when we were going into production. We now have two weeks off for planning, and we need it all, certainly with all the extra things that are coming up.
Saturday was our first day at the BBC - a fascinating day indeed, even if the Vision job seems for us to be either to be a case of sitting around drinking tea blethering with the professionals, or else watching them rushing around like headless chickens for a moment or two trying to sort something.
Monday lunchtime was supposed to be a shoot for Dust. As it turned out, we had to cancel due to a major lack of communication between the team. I have decided to try being the point of contact for everyone: cast and crew. Previously, we had Phil, as Producer, talking to the crew, while I, as Director, talked to the cast. But I don't think that is a good solution.
Monday afternoon was our class with Kim, looking at Storylines and how they would fit togehter in an episode. I think we had a little problem in only having three storylines. Some episodes would have next to no plot. With a fourth or even fifth story ongoing, we would have been able to keep each episode engaging.
Tuesday was a short Technical class with Ray. Not much happened, but I found some old tapes from Sound classes lying around in Paul's locker and started taking some of the edited highlights into Final Cut. Our class are rather odd!
Wednesday was a location recce for Dust, followed by a hectic shoot in the Cafe Bar and the Fyfe lecture theatre. It was rather crazy towards the end, and I haven't had a chance to review the footage since, but it all looked rather nice on the monitor.
This was followed by a screening of Bonnie and Clyde. I'll try to get some thoughts up on my other blog when I get a moment.
Thursday was a Mobile and Web class, where we pitches our ideas, as they are so far. I am developing an idea I originally had for a short film before I started this course, and which I think tranfers rather nicely into an interactive series.
Friday was a talk from John Yorke. I think I was mildly in awe of the rank he had reached in the BBC hierarchy, and also being utterly exhausted after working till midnight the night before, I found it difficult sometimes to follow the intricacies of his psychological illustrations. But I certainly got the gist, and found it all very engaging.
I had to rush off at the end for a two hour Maths tutorial with an Advanced Higher student.
Then Friday afternoon was a tutorial with Abigail, which was short and sweet. However I then heard that our shoot for Dust, scheduled for that evening, had to be cancelled due to a mix up with the kit booking.
I think the problem with scheduling Dust was that we had originally planned for the following week, but then we heard that the kit would be unavailable then. We had to then pull the whole thing forward and we weren't properly perpared when we were going into production. We now have two weeks off for planning, and we need it all, certainly with all the extra things that are coming up.
Saturday was our first day at the BBC - a fascinating day indeed, even if the Vision job seems for us to be either to be a case of sitting around drinking tea blethering with the professionals, or else watching them rushing around like headless chickens for a moment or two trying to sort something.
Saturday, 9 May 2009
Postscript regarding books, theatre etc.
In terms of what I am reading, I am getting stuck into a novel called Byzantium Endures, a historical novel set in St. Petersburg during the Russian revolution. The main character is highly flawed. A Jew-hating, woman-beating, self-obsessed cocaine addict who, utterly unconcerned when his mother (back home in Kiev) is in her final illness, prefers to stay in Odessa with a whore he is attracted to. Despite this, we can still empathis to some degree with him. Michael Moorcock has made a disgustingly flawed protagonist his trademark in most of his novels.
I'm also reading "And Is It True?", looking at the poetry written by Christians and non-Christians during the trench warfare of the First World War. The savage passion and emotionalism of some of those who called themselves atheists is contrasted with the fatalism and even despair of some of those who called themselves Christians. It is little wonder to me that the mindless carnage of the war changed the the outlook of Western society for ever.
I've seen four shows at the Citizens Theatre recently. The first was "Romeo and Juliet": a production by Reid-Kerr college which butchered the play beyond anything I would have believed was possible. It comes to a sad situation when I (who am a mediocre student actor) felt I could have taken any of these parts and done it better. (Even Juliet!)
The second was "Pillowman", one of the best shows I have ever seen, performed by the students of Langside college. The grotesque brutality and the raw emotion was intertwined with a particularly dark sense of humour, which meant that the audience could have a lump in their throat and then laugh all in the same moment. But the real genius of the piece was in taking our archetypes (the totalitarian government, the anarchic poet, the mentally challenged brother, the abusive parents) and turn them all on their head. You think you are watching one show and then you realise you are watching something entirely different.
The third was "Wuthering Heights" a Bollywood musical version. I realise my appreciation of Bollywood tastes is not sufficient to pass judgement, but it seemed to me to be cliche after cliche, with overblown sentimental songs and hackneyed dialogue.
The fourth was "Singin' I'm no' a Billy, he's a Tim", which was one of the funniest things I have seen. I am not a football fan, and my knowledge of the issues of bigotry in that area is very limited. But I found myself completely drawn into this world in which a Rangers and a Celtic fan are locked up in the same cell on the night of the big match. At times a little cheesy (they end up having swapped strips, put the world to rights, smoked a joint and singing a song about how they now see things differently) but especially at the beginning the dialogue is as sharp as I have heard anywhere.
I'm also reading "And Is It True?", looking at the poetry written by Christians and non-Christians during the trench warfare of the First World War. The savage passion and emotionalism of some of those who called themselves atheists is contrasted with the fatalism and even despair of some of those who called themselves Christians. It is little wonder to me that the mindless carnage of the war changed the the outlook of Western society for ever.
I've seen four shows at the Citizens Theatre recently. The first was "Romeo and Juliet": a production by Reid-Kerr college which butchered the play beyond anything I would have believed was possible. It comes to a sad situation when I (who am a mediocre student actor) felt I could have taken any of these parts and done it better. (Even Juliet!)
The second was "Pillowman", one of the best shows I have ever seen, performed by the students of Langside college. The grotesque brutality and the raw emotion was intertwined with a particularly dark sense of humour, which meant that the audience could have a lump in their throat and then laugh all in the same moment. But the real genius of the piece was in taking our archetypes (the totalitarian government, the anarchic poet, the mentally challenged brother, the abusive parents) and turn them all on their head. You think you are watching one show and then you realise you are watching something entirely different.
The third was "Wuthering Heights" a Bollywood musical version. I realise my appreciation of Bollywood tastes is not sufficient to pass judgement, but it seemed to me to be cliche after cliche, with overblown sentimental songs and hackneyed dialogue.
The fourth was "Singin' I'm no' a Billy, he's a Tim", which was one of the funniest things I have seen. I am not a football fan, and my knowledge of the issues of bigotry in that area is very limited. But I found myself completely drawn into this world in which a Rangers and a Celtic fan are locked up in the same cell on the night of the big match. At times a little cheesy (they end up having swapped strips, put the world to rights, smoked a joint and singing a song about how they now see things differently) but especially at the beginning the dialogue is as sharp as I have heard anywhere.
Week Beginning 4/5
Monday was a holiday, so therefore was a particularly busy day. I was working as a runner on Shrink-Wrapped, one of the grad shoots. I have not the foggiest notion what was going on in the film, as I was mainly involved in lifting and carrying items (including a pleasingly large amount of food) and in rigging and derigging lights.
The afternoon was spent feverishly writing a three minute script for Richard. (Is that my sixth for him?) The idea had struck me on Sunday when my minister had been preaching on the verse "What is your life? It is a breath on a cold day that appears for a little time and vanishes away"(It's the Bible's equivalent of "Out out brief candle") So I spent Monday afternoon putting something together for that. Due to the rush to get it in for five, I had no time to redraft or even reread it, but I hope it has some spark of something in it which can be properly developed.
Tuesday was compiling an edit of Love Mugs and Stickmen. I hope I will not be misunderstood when I say that the acting talent on display was truly unique. Editing for continuity was particularly difficult, but I enjoyed the challenge of taking shots from widely different parts of the film and seeing if they could help to bridge a gap in the narrative. I do not claim to be a particularly sharp editor, but (certainly at this level) its something I find very enjoyable.
Wednesday was a morning screening of Paradise Lost, which I found very engaging, followed by a short talk by a rep of Film G. It is certainly a competition I hope to enter, if for no other reason than the shameless mercenary view that Gaelic films are showered with money!
Between the screening and the talk, I was involved in the first proper shoot for Dust. It was a simple set up. A single shot, three point lighting, a painted backdrop courtesy of Luisa and Karen of TPA and a rather remarkable actor from 2nd Year. We took the shoot fairly easy, but with Ray running 20 minutes late, we were late getting into the Film G talk.
Thursday was a class on the representation of Muslims. I have no doubt representation is an very important issue, and deliberate or careless misrepresentation is an example of irresponsible film-making. But equally every minority group (and in case anyone accuses me of bigotry, I'm including evangelical Christians in this assesment) believes itself to be better than it actually is. A true representation of a group by an objective outsider may well be viewed as a hostile misrepresentation by someone from within the group. Of course then we come to the issue of whether an outsider is ever neutral and objective, and I suppose they are not. Everyone has their open prejudices and bias with which they approach a situation. The best we can hope for is to be able to admit our preconceptions to ourselves and not fool ourselves than we are seeing things exactly as they are.
Thursday afternoon was a look at some webseries. These are obviously trying to break new ground, but with the micro budgets attached to them and the lack of any financial gain for the producers, there is nothing worth watching that I've found yet.
Friday was a class on TV as a force for political change. I found this quite inspiring, until I realised that programs like this had died out when Tony Blair had come to power. The populace aren't concerned any more with politics - and with all the main parties looking like clones of each other it is no wonder. Even my Granny, who has voted in every election since she was 18, has said she will not vote this time. What I think is that if a party has a vision and a worldview, then people can support that or disagree with it, and the party will succeed or fail depending on what people think of their way of doing things. But when the parties have no overriding themes, beliefs or visions which motivate their policies, and when their main concern is to be seen to be planning policies which will be vote-winners, the argument stops being about ideologies and instead is about personalities, about individuals in the Cabinet messing things up now and again, about who has got the most TV charisma, and about who is most "progressive". For all that can be said about Democrats and Republicans, at least there seems to be a fairly clearly defined core to both their beliefs, and they stick to these beliefs even when they appear a little unpopular. (Maybe that is just my UK perception, and I realise I'm beginning to ramble so I'll stop.)
The afternoon was spent feverishly writing a three minute script for Richard. (Is that my sixth for him?) The idea had struck me on Sunday when my minister had been preaching on the verse "What is your life? It is a breath on a cold day that appears for a little time and vanishes away"(It's the Bible's equivalent of "Out out brief candle") So I spent Monday afternoon putting something together for that. Due to the rush to get it in for five, I had no time to redraft or even reread it, but I hope it has some spark of something in it which can be properly developed.
Tuesday was compiling an edit of Love Mugs and Stickmen. I hope I will not be misunderstood when I say that the acting talent on display was truly unique. Editing for continuity was particularly difficult, but I enjoyed the challenge of taking shots from widely different parts of the film and seeing if they could help to bridge a gap in the narrative. I do not claim to be a particularly sharp editor, but (certainly at this level) its something I find very enjoyable.
Wednesday was a morning screening of Paradise Lost, which I found very engaging, followed by a short talk by a rep of Film G. It is certainly a competition I hope to enter, if for no other reason than the shameless mercenary view that Gaelic films are showered with money!
Between the screening and the talk, I was involved in the first proper shoot for Dust. It was a simple set up. A single shot, three point lighting, a painted backdrop courtesy of Luisa and Karen of TPA and a rather remarkable actor from 2nd Year. We took the shoot fairly easy, but with Ray running 20 minutes late, we were late getting into the Film G talk.
Thursday was a class on the representation of Muslims. I have no doubt representation is an very important issue, and deliberate or careless misrepresentation is an example of irresponsible film-making. But equally every minority group (and in case anyone accuses me of bigotry, I'm including evangelical Christians in this assesment) believes itself to be better than it actually is. A true representation of a group by an objective outsider may well be viewed as a hostile misrepresentation by someone from within the group. Of course then we come to the issue of whether an outsider is ever neutral and objective, and I suppose they are not. Everyone has their open prejudices and bias with which they approach a situation. The best we can hope for is to be able to admit our preconceptions to ourselves and not fool ourselves than we are seeing things exactly as they are.
Thursday afternoon was a look at some webseries. These are obviously trying to break new ground, but with the micro budgets attached to them and the lack of any financial gain for the producers, there is nothing worth watching that I've found yet.
Friday was a class on TV as a force for political change. I found this quite inspiring, until I realised that programs like this had died out when Tony Blair had come to power. The populace aren't concerned any more with politics - and with all the main parties looking like clones of each other it is no wonder. Even my Granny, who has voted in every election since she was 18, has said she will not vote this time. What I think is that if a party has a vision and a worldview, then people can support that or disagree with it, and the party will succeed or fail depending on what people think of their way of doing things. But when the parties have no overriding themes, beliefs or visions which motivate their policies, and when their main concern is to be seen to be planning policies which will be vote-winners, the argument stops being about ideologies and instead is about personalities, about individuals in the Cabinet messing things up now and again, about who has got the most TV charisma, and about who is most "progressive". For all that can be said about Democrats and Republicans, at least there seems to be a fairly clearly defined core to both their beliefs, and they stick to these beliefs even when they appear a little unpopular. (Maybe that is just my UK perception, and I realise I'm beginning to ramble so I'll stop.)
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