What I did this summer (2013)

1) 2 weeks 2 make it music video competition:

https://vimeo.com/71937617

My role:
- Casting, Directing, Writing, Editor

I found this to be an exciting project, but there were a few issues with the band members and I thought it could have been done better. The narrative was warped because one of the band members decided he didn't want to act last minute. I wanted to do it in the style of 'Stay' where I would use projectors/ displaying various photography of nature, art, and etc. But this is what we ended up with, it'll be better next year.

We shot with my canon xf100, along with my rode sound equipment I bought with my scholarship money a month ago in London.













2) Word in Short, Directed by Fionn Watts


 I helped out as an Art Director for a production company called Far North Films, worked 10 hours (9:30- 6pm), it was Fionn Watt's 60 second pilot called 'Word in Short'. It was an educational experience about professional film sets, crew and their roles.

3) Twistered, Directed by Thomas Pickering

I worked as an actress for a production company called 'bigpiktures', it was a 10 second short called 'Twistered', it will be shown at Celluloid Screams in October 2013. The team bought a prosthetic arm and talented make-up artists transformed it into a zombie arm.

Filmmaker Insults

I found these entertaining because of its rawness, intense feelings and some of them are true:

Ingmar Bergman on Jean-Luc Godard:
“I’ve never gotten anything out of his movies. They have felt constructed, faux intellectual, and completely dead. Cinematographically uninteresting and infinitely boring. Godard is a fucking bore. He’s made his films for the critics. One of the movies, Masculin, Féminin, was shot here in Sweden. It was mind-numbingly boring.”

Jean-Luc Godard on Quentin Tarantino:
“Tarantino named his production company after one of my films. He’d have done better to give me some money.”

Nick Broomfield on Quentin Tarantino:
“It’s like watching a schoolboy’s fantasy of violence and sex, which normally Quentin Tarantino would be wanking alone to in his bedroom while this mother is making his baked beans downstairs. Only this time he’s got Harvey Weinstein behind him and it’s on at a million screens.”

Jacques Rivette on Stanley Kubrick:
“Kubrick is a machine, a mutant, a Martian. He has no human feeling whatsoever. But it’s great when the machine films other machines, as in 2001.”

Jean-Luc Godard on Steven Spielberg:
“I don’t know him personally. I don’t think his films are very good.”

Tim Burton on Kevin Smith (after Smith jokingly accused Burton of stealing the ending of Planet of the Apes from a Smith comic book):
“Anyone who knows me knows I would never read a comic book. And I would especially never read anything created by Kevin Smith.”

Kevin Smith on Tim Burton (in response to “I would never read a comic book”):
“Which, to me, explains fucking Batman.”

David Gordon Green on Kevin Smith:
“He kind of created a Special Olympics for film. They just kind of lowered the standard. I’m sure their parents are proud; it’s just nothing I care to buy a ticket for.”

Vincent Gallo on Sofia (and Francis Ford) Coppola:
“Sofia Coppola likes any guy who has what she wants. If she wants to be a photographer she’ll fuck a photographer. If she wants to be a filmmaker, she’ll fuck a filmmaker. She’s a parasite just like her fat, pig father was.”

Vincent Gallo on Abel Ferrara:
“Abel Ferrara was on so much crack when I did The Funeral, he was never on set. He was in my room trying to pick-pocket me.”

Uwe Boll on Michael Bay:
“I’m not a fucking retard like Michael Bay.”

Source:
http://flavorwire.com/200745/the-30-harshest-filmmaker-on-filmmaker-insults-in-history/

Film Internship with advanced practitioners

I got an internship with Rob Speranza at the South Yorkshire Film makers Network at the Site Gallery for about a week.

What I completed:

·         Updated blog posts on the syfn.org website using CMMS software

·         Created the film programme for Showroom Shorts May on Word documents

·         I was a runner for an NHS corporate video for Dental health in Sheffield

My role at the Pyebank school NHS film shoot was to help Rob getting some release forms signed and just making sure things run smoothly.

DOCFEST 2013 NETWORKING

I received a DOCFEST delegate pass from Sheffield Hallam University, it was such a pleasant experience, attended a few films with Q&A and the film festival after parties with networking.

Film networking

I’ve been talking to many film makers/ cinematographers at Shooters in the Pub and at Ed Cartledge’s Film Pool. I also attended all the DocFest film festival after parties which were really good for networking. The film industry emphasises the importance of networking and collaboration. Business cards are important because I was given them from a few people.

What I’ve learnt from the advice of film makers that I’ve met and spoken to at Docfest:

·         A common thing directors/ producers say:

“Corporate film work is where all the money is at, but it is soul stealing.”

·        

I briefly spoken to a film director called Giedre Zickyte from Lithuania,

Directed ‘How We Played The Revolution’ said: “Make films about things that touches you, my mother always told me: You can’t be a director, you’re a woman. It’s weird because she’s an artist.” She gave me a film ticket as well.

         

· Canadian Director Billie Mintz:

"Get out of the film industry while you can! There is no money in it.”

“I live for beauty. People will just talk to you if you are beautiful, people will just respond to you, you should start talking to people. This is how you do it.” His website: http://www.imagin8r.com/ 

·         Paul D from London, Director for music videos:

“Working in a film set with professionals must go both ways between members of the crew, especially the Director. Trust of other people’s ‘professional’ opinions/knowledge between crew members are vital, everyone knows what they are doing, specifically in their roles. Listening is important because Directors get to consider what needs doing correctly. An example would be: A gaffa working with lights, he would tell the director what can be improved, what sort of lighting options there is and how the overall film would look like. Then the director decides if it’s worth doing or not. Another example would be the runner, if he arrives on time, and does everything I tell him to and he does it, then he’s a trusted member of the crew. It also doesn’t matter if the person is not skilled enough; working with the same people in production develops a trust and bond between crew members. This is when things get better because everyone knows each other and knows each other’s capabilities.”

Disclaimer: The above quotes is what I remembered from memory.

·         

Drama Film Analysis: Le Miroir

NOTES ON STORY DEVELOPMENT- KEY EVENTS - plot developments CHARACTER ESTABLISHMENT & DEVELOPMENT NARRATIVE ARC

PICTURE – SHOT DESCRIPTION MOVEMENT LIGHTING COMPOSITION/FRAMING MISE-EN-SCENE ELEMENTS

SOUND DESIGN CREATIVE APPROACH DIGETIC NON- DIGETIC NOTES ON DIALOGUE

Le Miroir from ramonandpedro on Vimeo.

I found Le Miroir pretty dark because the protagonist has lived in the same bathroom for the rest of his life and he gets married and he dies alone.

The plot development is pretty good because it showed a person's life in 6 minutes which I found impressive, it also reminds me of my old painting I did with a child (innocence), teenager/ adult (love), old age (loneliness) and death. It's a nihilistic outlook of life which is quite sad.
We never hear the character speak therefore it's almost like he's not important, we just see flashes of the main times of his life, the highs and lows and eventually darkness. The shots were well composed, low saturation colour palette, the set design is filled with whites, mirrors were possibly used to shoot this or compositing at green screen (?)
I liked the objects that were shown infront of the camera, a first person shooter type of technique, it reminded me of Gaspard Noe's Enter the Void (2009) where he uses a similar technique, lack of depth of field but focused on a person's hand and the object:

Enter the Void (2009) Still

Le Miroir used the same technique as Caswill's Pudding Bowl with blurred vision of the old man at 04:13, and looking through his glasses, the blurred vision comes back when there's a focus pull. This is an effective technique to show the perspective of these characters that have bad eyesight.

The sounds are diegetic sounds at the beginning, such as the radio, the shaver, the rubbing of the mirror, the opening of the cupboard, a girl showering, a baby, smoking and etc. The background noise gets creepier as it reaches the end, with the old man coughing, his hand breaking the glass and bleeding, accompanied with dark atmospheric sounds.

Filming the last scenes of 'Homeless Guitar'

On Monday 29th April 2013, we filmed the last scene of 'Homeless Guitar', four of us met at the Forge underpass at about 11am with the actor Shazam Johnson:

Whilst we were filming, hobos started to appear in the tunnels, a hobo even came up to us to ask for change.

I found this interesting because we were filming at the right place, where usually stabbings/muggings happen at night.

An eerie reality, filmic space imitation and offscreen reality, Baudrillard's simulacra

Unfortunately, the boom mic. was not used much because of a broken lead that made crackling sounds. The INT camera sound will have to do

Eventually, a bunch of curious drunken 'chavs' interrupted our film shoot asking why we're using fake actors, and Joe told them we had to use people from the drama apartment:

"You should film us, we're real homeless people... We're just trying to give you some advice, you should do it with a real person."

One of the 'chavs' was singing "Shiny shiny, shiny piece of leather..." when he walked away.
It's the song Venus in furs by Velvet Underground:

After the film shoot at the forge, we didn't get the coffee shop we initially wanted but found a record shop:

Shazam (actor) and I

Unfortunately, we didn't manage to film at the record store, so Gino ran next door to a pub called 'Fox and Duck' and we filmed the last scene there.

Finally, it was a good last minute change because the bar staff of Fox and Duck was kind enough to let us use the space to film. It was a really fun filled day with encounters of strange people. 

Vale of York Polo Club (VYPC) in Doncaster

On facebook'sSHU Creative Filmmakers Society

Evelyn Rooney, a 3rd third year film and media production student posted:

"Any chance any of you would wanna take some photo's for SHU Equestrian, this saturday. Transport covered and a free BBQ thrown in.. I have a 5D out with some lens. So if you don't have a camera we can provide one. would be meeting at 9.15 am hubs and then returning to sheffield at 8. Your welcome to bring drink and get pissed as long as you take some photos..."

I decided to message Eve as the Canon 5D Mark series are one of my favourite cameras which I'll probably be getting a Mark II soon. I've heard from a few professionals at the Film Pool which told me these cameras have larger sensors, therefore allowing more light into the camera. This means that you can easily capture footage/images in dark places and it still looks good. Plus, the lack of depth of field seems to convey a more 'expensive' look that audiences crave.
Of course, it's all about the creative eye of the cinema/photographer, but it makes it even better if you have such an amazing camera. Personally, I'd like to be a cinematographer, I just think Z1s are too heavy to carry and limiting it on tripods makes it difficult to get more close or more dynamic around characters, which is what I'm used to.
So getting a 5D Canon Mark II will be the best thing ever.

Standing outside the stables of Vale of York Polo Club in Doncaster

Taking photographs at the stable

Anyway, I got the volunteering job and used the Canon 5D Mark II with my own 75-300mm Canon lens, which I used to capture these lovely images taken at the Vale of York Polo Club in Doncaster on Saturday 27th of April:

A teapot and a pipe, not sure if this was for theatrical purposes or not

SHU Polo Team

Behind the scenes: I was using Canon 75-300mm lens behind a tractor, managed to capture people playing Polo from a far distance

 This spot I was situated at, this is the first time I've used my 75-300mm, and it's really effective for sports, or whenever you want mid to close-up shots from a distance.

SHU Polo Team

University of Sheffield Polo Team

I managed to take about 600+ photos and it was an extremely cold day, it felt like I was hiking 80km in a snow blizzard. The wind was horrendous but will wear warmer clothes next time if I decide to film/photograph in a field. (Abu Dhabi sunny beaches). I've learned that the settings on the 5D Mark II is similar to my 1000D which was easy to figure out how to change the ISO, Aperture, shutter speed, focus and etc. I also used to be the photographer for drama plays in my old school.
It was a great experience and I'd probably do it again if the weather was better. The response to my photography was:

Some of these pictures will appear on the Hallam union website.