Ben Yaman

A blog documenting my progess in my final year at university and my work for the Creative Platforms unit.

[benyaman-creative-platforms]

Hand-in

Here is my hand-in for Creative Platforms, I put all of the elements required into a folder and also a piece of paper with my website and blog urls on it. I am happy with what I handed in, I think the unit has helped me think about presenting myself and my work professionally and think that it will help me in my hopes of gaining employment soon.

[benyaman-creative-platforms]

Editing Software Analysis

As an editor the programs I use most tend to be Avid Media Composer 7 and Adobe Premiere Pro CC. Both programs are widely used amongst the industry in production houses, as such I have dedicated time to learning both programs well in order to make myself as employable as possible as an editor. Avid Media Composer 7 is the main program taught on my course and it functions well as editing software. It lacks a level of user friendliness, it doesn’t encourage editing on the timeline and dragging and dropping in ways that other editing software’s do. Because of this it has a fairly particular workflow with more editing in the source monitor than the timeline. Working through this can be hard to get used to in the beginning, but after using it for a while and getting used to it it makes the edits and bins tidier and more organised. 

Avid’s reliance on transcoding can be an issue, it slows down the beginning of the editing process. IT does encourage subclipping, which is good way of going through your footage for the first time, deciding what is worth using and labelling it as so. However on large projects the transcoding can take up a lot of time that otherwise could be used more productively. The emphasis it brings on subclipping is a real positive, but the transcoding is a hassle.

Adobe Premiere Pro CC is a more user friendly and, at first, perhaps more intuitive program. Editing on the timeline isn’t so discouraged, the razor tool and others showing this. This can make it a quicker program to use, given the choice on a small project I would tend to use Premiere Pro for this reason. It also doesn’t require transcoding in the way Avid does, shortening greatly the time it takes to get into a project. This does mean it is easy to lose focus on subclipping in the program, it becomes less of a priority as you don’t have to worry about transcoding footage you won’t use.

The workflow is quite different to Avid in the regard, but the interface is largely the same, the bin system is replaced by a folder system that is identical, the monitors and timeline are in the same places. As such having used Avid first it was relatively easy to settle into Premiere Pro and how it worked. Several things are hidden away a bit, the effects panel is hidden behind a scroll which is annoying compared to Avid having it very clearly marked in the bin area.

However as I mentioned before I do find Premiere Pro a bit better for the projects I have worked on, short dramas and documentaries. On longer films I may find the workflow of Avid more fitting, but as it is I prefer Premiere Pro, however both are good pieces of software and I feel comfortable with either.

[benyaman-creative-platforms]

Business Cards

Got my business cards in the post the other day from moo.com, happy with how they have come out. They look as I expected, the colours look really nice when printed out like this. Importantly the text is very clear and readable, the basic functions of a business card are working while it is also looking aesthetically pleasing.

[benyaman-creative-platforms]

SWOT Analysis

Strengths: What are your advantages? I feel that I am someone who works well by alone or in a team, that I am well organised and hard-working.

What do you do well? I think I am creatively minded with a good level of technical ability, this lending itself well to the editing profession that I would like to enter.

Why did you decide to enter the field you will enter upon graduation? I have always liked film as a spectator and, through my course, I like to see it as a maker too. I think that I can do it well too and feel comfortable in the field.

What were the motivating factors and influences? A factor was my general like for creative work and the creative industries. The influence when watching Stanley Kubrick films that I realised I wanted to make films, his films inspired me to start looking into the industry and then applying for a course relevant to the industry.

Do these factors still represent some of your inherent strengths? I think that I am still a creative person, that this is still a good strength of mine and that it shows in the films that I am a part of.

What need do you expect to fill? I’m not sure if I will fill and immediate need, if there is a need for young editors that are willing to learn and are motivated to progress then I would fill that need.

What have been your most notable achievements? Making films that I have been proud of and receiving recognition from my peers on my course, it reaffirms that what you are doing is good and that I can go further with what I do.

To what do you attribute your success? I’m not sure I would say I am successful, I have made good films but to consider myself successful I would want to see more of an audience beyond people I know.

How do you measure your success? In part through how much I feel happy with the film, in another the reaction to my work and its reach.

What is your greatest asset? A complete willingness and motivation to work coupled with a want to succeed.

.

Weaknesses:

What could be improved? I need to gain more experience outside of my university work, as with my current level of experience I am not very immediately employable.

What do you do badly? I often overthink projects I work on and tend to take that with me outside of work spaces, which can lead to unnecessary stress about things I can’t really do much about at the time.

What should you avoid? More practical on-set work, although competent in it I find myself much more comfortable and better at work such as editing, or producing through pre-production.

What are your professional weaknesses? Again, stressing over things that I don’t have much control over, e.g. a good actor not being able to do a film or an idea not coming to fruition due to external issues.

Opportunities:

Where are the promising prospects facing you? There is a screening at the BFI coming up for our course where a lot of industry people will be, this is a an exciting opportunity to network with people who may be able to offer me work experience or job chances.

What is the “state of the art” in your particular area of expertise? 4K video is becoming more of a thing within editing, earlier on this year I attended a talk by an Avid employee who went through the workflow involved in that kind of footage and he seemed to indicate that 4K was the way the industry was heading.

Are you doing everything you can to enhance your exposure to this area? Perhaps not, most of my time at the moment is focused on university work and after May I will be able to focus more time on work experience opportunities and looking for other projects to help or work on.

Would an MSc/MA or another graduate degree add to your advantage? No, the best thing for me to do is to go out and get more practical experience in the industry and on different projects.

How quickly are you likely to advance in your chosen career? The film industry is highly competitive so it is hard to say, I am hoping that within a year or two I am working in the industry but it is hard to predict that, with more experience that process could be sped up.

Threats:

What obstacles do you face? There are a lot of talented people wanting to enter the industry, competition and lack of experience on my side are the biggest obstacles.

Are the requirements for your desired job field changing? The industry expects you to be well versed in all levels on filmmaking, now more than ever. I think my course has covered me well here, as I know how to operate cameras and sound equipment and understand those roles.

Does changing technology threaten your prospective position? I don’t think so, in fact I think it is a positive, as more production houses move from editing on film to editing digital my usefulness increases, as I don’t know how to edit on film but am well versed in digital editing.

[benyaman-creative-platforms]

CV changes over the year

Early on in the course I was given feedback on my CV and ways to improve it to make me more employable off the back of it. Below is an image of how my CV used to look and the feedback I was given on it.

There were quite a few areas of improvement, merging certain sections together, adding my logo and generally tightening it up in appearance and its headings. My new CV is displayed below. I took the feedback given and improved the look, formatting and content of it. One of the main things I changed was the fonts used, I used Futura for headers and Avenir for body text. The fonts compliment each other well and add nicely to the overall look of the CV.

[benyaman-creative-platforms]

Showreel

After a few days work, my showreel is completed. I decided to edit it on Adobe Premiere Pro because Avid Media Composer wouldn’t import the music i wanted to use. I like the showreel overall, the only thing I think it lacks is projects outside the university. I have some potential upcoming commissioned work as an editor, so upon completion of that I can add that to show i can work to a clients set brief. In the future I will also add my final year documentary film ‘Journeyman’, which isn’t completed yet.

Showreel - Ben Yaman from Ben Yaman on Vimeo.

[benyaman-creative-platforms]

Documentary Progress

A few screengrabs from the edit of ‘Journeyman’, which is going well so far. The shooting is all done now, so all that remains is to piece it together in the editing suite!

[benyaman-creative-platforms]

Documentary Film Progress

Alongside my short fiction film this year my group are making a short documentary, focusing on a small community based around a football club. Most of the members of the team are migrants, refugees and asylum seekers from all over the world. They are a fantastic bunch of people, very loving to each other and very much like a family. We are focusing on one member of the team and exploring the community through him, seeing how they succeed not only as a team but as individuals through the community they have made. Here are a few stills from shoots so far, I will continue to update on the progress of the film as we film more and the start editing.

[benyaman-creative-platforms]

‘Paper Room’ Fiction Film

This is my final film for the Fiction Film unit on my course, an expressionistic trip into the mind of a man grieving for his dead wife.

When looking at the film and what we set out to do I am happy with the final outcome, I think what is most important to me is that I think we have a film that does have an audience while still retaining its darkness and intensity. When making experimental films there is the possibility you make something no-one wants to watch, but given how we approached the film with an audience in mind I think we have managed to avoid that and make a film with a defined audience. I would imagine it would resonate well with the art-house audience, it is a very recognisably art-house film, it has very dark and bleak themes that are more likely to resonate with such an audience.

Whether or not the film will find success with other audiences is another matter. It is a film with great cinematography, which might be enough to keep people interested, but the themes and style may be too much for them to really enjoy or appreciate the film. I don't consider that a failure however, to have a good chance of having an audience is a positive thing and to make a film in this style that had mainstream appeal would have likely removed some of the more unique and interesting parts of the film.

[benyaman-creative-platforms]

Showreel Progress

With one of my two final films finished for the year I thought it was about time to get started on my showreel. The main things I want to sell myself through this showreel are my editing and my producing on the projects I have worked on. Editing is something that is key to show off in a showreel, a well edited showreel that showcases myself properly will show that I can edit well to a brief and with purpose.

Producing is something that is a bit harder to show off in such a visual way, but by showing good moment of acting or interesting locations I can showcase my ability to seek out different elements that make up a film. I can also show some of the more elaborate parts of films I have been involved in, for example the room made of newspaper in ‘Paper Room’, to show my skills there.

I will be showing off the work I have done mostly in the past two years, as I feel my first year work isn’t up to the standard that I want it to be. My main focus will be on this years work, where i think my best work has come.

I plan the start to be quite vibrant and flashy, to catch the eye of people watching. I want there to be 2-3 frames of footage from a film of mine followed other short bursts from films I have been a part of. It will give a quick visual showcase of the variety of films I have been a part of and should show off the best shots from my films also.

This is currently how it looks in Avid Media Composer, I aim to slightly blur the shots in the background in order to give the text and logo a little more prominence. I also want to add more shots in to add variety to it, as in its current state I feel the shots loop round too quickly in a way that is a bit distracting over 10 seconds.

I will update with further progress on my showreel as it comes and then finally with the end result.

[benyaman-creative-platforms]

Creative Platforms Presentation

Here is the embedded Scribd presentation of progress for the unit. Here is also a download link that contains the original fonts I used in the presentation. https://www.dropbox.com/s/atj5hoah4fguubt/Creative%20Platforms%20Presentation.ppt?dl=0

Creative Platforms Presentation

[benyaman-creative-platforms]

Design changes

Over the past couple of weeks I have been looking at the general design I have and felt in needed some tweaking. It felt a little inconsistent, my business card was extremely colourful while my website was more bare and plain. I also felt as though the business cards colours were a bit too varied, they weren't quite consistent enough. With this in mind I redesigned the card and my logo, and also did a version with my idea about the small box on the back to write where you met the person you are giving the card to.

I feel as though the design needs more work, the box looks a little out of place on the back of it, but I prefer the colours generally as they look more complimentary and consistent.

My website redesign isn't drastic, but adds a bit more colour to it. I used the Pinnacle theme on Wordpress, also created by the same people who did the last theme I used, Kandence Themes. I think it adds a bit more vibrancy to the site, while maintaining a clean design. It removes the slider of images which was a bit superfluous to the front page, but keeps a welcome image which I can swap out with different images in the future, perhaps with images more relevant to my career goals.

The last image here shows the blog on my website where I hope to put relevant images from productions and information about my work for prospective employers to look at. Overall I think the design still needs work, but that it is better than previously and the added colour makes it more uniform with my business card.

[benyaman-creative-platforms]

Buisness Card Designs

Over the past few days I have been looking into designing a business card and what exactly makes a successful business card. The site http://cardview.net/ was a website I found particularly useful. Despite not being updated recently, it still gave me plenty of ideas for business cards that are not only functional but also look interesting. Cards such as this, and also this are ones that I particularly liked and found inspiration in.

These are the designs I came up with.

I finally settled on the design below as my favourite, for its simplicity and it's consistency with the logo I have created previously. The design of the back is also consistent with the logo header on my website. To improve it, I could add links to social media accounts that I want to create soon. I will hold off ordering physical copies at the moment because of this, also because I could make another design that I prefer. I also read about a design choice a filmmaker had made on their business card that I might want to incorporate in a future design. They left a blank while space on the card so that they could write down where and under what circumstance they had met the person that they were giving the business card to. It sounds like it could be a good element to have in an industry where people often jump from project to project and might forget where they had met you.

[benyaman-creative-platforms]

Creative Platforms Blog

Hi there!

This blog is where I will be documenting my progress on the Creative Platforms unit of my Television and Film Production course at the University of Portsmouth. I hope to give an insight into what I am generally doing on the course as well as what I am doing in this unit to prepare for life after university.

To start off with I thought I would show a bit about the design choices and general thinking behind my website, benyaman.com, in its current state, and then also look into a logo I have designed and how it could be improved. It runs on wordpress, on a hosting package and domain name bought from TSOhost.

The Home page looks like this initially, I went with a clear and in some ways plain approach to the design of the site. The middle image is actually a carousel of images, going through different pictures that I have taken myself, more examples are below.

I hoped that by using pictures I had taken it would show that I am competent at photography, a useful skill to have, and also would give the website a more lively and colourful look in part.

The bottom half of my website contains another carousel of images that have links to pages on my website containing films I have made.

They all link to pages like this, containing a large embedded Vimeo link, with some description about the work and my role in it underneath.

The very bottom of the site is reserved for other links; my Flickr, Vimeo and Linkedin pages. Here I have also put another logo I have created, one that I thought might be a nice design for a business card or as a logo to put on my different social media accounts. However I designed it a while back, and think that it could be improved to make it more interesting and unique. I think the other logo I have at the top of the page is good as a website logo, but it wouldn't fit in certain social media accounts avatar space, such as twitter and instagram. I intend to make accounts on more social media sites such as those, so to have an interesting logo that fits on them is important.

I do like the design of the circular logo here, and I think it is one that could lend itself to multiple colours and background textures well.

For example here is another design I made by tweaking the effects on Photoshop, I remover the background texture and made the gradient a radial one, that was generated randomly through noise. While retaining the general elements of the logo from before, I think the new design makes it a bit more eye-catching and interesting. However, the there are some bright blocks of colour on it that look a little out of place with the rest of the line design on the logo.

This is remedied by ticking the 'restrict colours' option on the gradient options. In this case it makes the design look a bit more consistent.

This is the final outcome, which I think is a logo that retains a clean design while looking a bit more lively and engaging. To add this to my website is a simple process,

Here is the wordpress splash-screen after I login to my website. To change my homepage I have to go through appearance then to customise.

Here I can change picture contained in the widget at the bottom.

Here is the final outcome, one that I think looks much better than it previously did.

In the future on this blog I hope to document myself making improvements to my website, making and designing new social media accounts and a business card, improving my Linkedin page and also my CV.