#media pathway

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7 February, 2013: Another Time-lapse (Untitled)

Practice time-lapse, filmed by me, drawn by me. Music by Oliver Tank.

I have this thing with cards. You know, the ones that you buy at Asda or the local paper shop? I don't like giving them, I don't like receiving them. I can't really put my finger on it, but there's something that I find really insulting about giving people a mass-produced, £2 piece of paper that always says the same cheesy, half-hearted stuff on the inside.

For the same reason, I don't really like the whole concept around Valentine's Day, either. As if I need to waste my money on overpriced teddy bears and heart-shaped boxes of chocolate and big stupid cards to show my girlfriend that I really do care about her. We talked about it, and I'm lucky that she feels the same way about of all this, too.

That being said though, it isn't as if I don't like doing things for my girlfriend. She loves the stuff that I make for her, and I love making stuff for her. So, I figured that I'd do that instead.  Why not?

My first thought was that I'd make a card with brusho paints, something that I learned about through Fozia when I filmed her Speedy Prayer piece. And then, I figured that she'd probably really like it if I recorded myself and made a little video of it, too. And that way, I'd get more practice on camera and with the edit software, too. Sweet.

So, I made this video.

My mediocre art skills aside, I think that I didn't do too bad of a job. The entire thing took about two days. I filmed the first day, and edited the second. 

I've gotta admit though, I did run into a few problems.

First of all, I had issues with the tripod. The tilt lock was broken, so I couldn't set it up like I had on Fozia's time-lapse, looking down on me, which is what I had originally intended on doing. But in the end, I think that that was probably a blessing. I had to manipulate the tripod so that I got myself in shot while pretty much keeping the camera as level as possible. It made for an entirely different video, and I liked how the shots came out.

Also, in Fozia's time-lapse, I hadn't really started to experiment with zooming in/changing the shots until she got towards the end of her painting. On this one, I only changed things up twice, but I think that it makes it a lot more enjoyable to watch, and I like how it turned out.

I also had problems with the edit software. When I tried to export, it would only export the file with mono sound. I don't know why this happened, because the sound was stereo on the file and on the time-line, but I went with it anyway and gave it a listen. I thought that it matched the song pretty well, but that's probably just my taste.

For a little practice and a quick gift, I think it went moderately well.

My girlfriend loved it, too.

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7 November, 2012: Filming for Three-Minute Moving Image (Day 2)

I've almost finished the filming for my project today (one more scene to go, it'll probably be finished within the next hour or so). I have mixed feelings.

It didn't take quite as long as it did on the first day of filming. I don't know whether that's because I was more prepared this time, or simply because I didn't get enough shots. A few weeks ago, Jamie was talking about a film that another group of students had shot while on a residential trip, and they had run into some problems involving continuity, as well as some other things, and they had a hard time editing it together. I'm pretty nervous that that's going to be the case with me.

On the other hand, I feel that today, I was able to get a few more creative shots, which definitely didn't happen on Day 1 due to the problems that I had with just about everything. 

I only have one more scene to shoot, and next week, I'll hopefully be able to get this edited and out of sight. I'm becoming pretty unhappy/frustrated with the whole thing, and I want to move on.

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31 October, 2012: Filming for Three-Minute Moving Image (Day 1)

We did start filming this week. It didn't really go as planned.

The only day that Sam, who plays the part of the girl, was available to do this was today. Today was also the day that the skies had decided to dump buckets of rain on us. All of her scenes were outside. Big problem.

I had to film with an umbrella over my head, which was difficult, and which will no doubt have created some problems with the sound too. It was also freezing, and my hands were numb, and really, after an hour or so, we all just wanted to go inside and make tea. I feel like the filming was rushed, and that the shots weren't exactly what I'd had in mind, or like what I'd drawn out.

I was also a little awkward with directing and using the camera. I was given a Canon DSLR, and I found that I couldn't move the camera too far from eye-level, because I wasn't able to see the screen/shot if I did.  I should've taken the tripod when offered one, but I really didn't think that I'd need it.

I should've taken a tripod, I should've checked the weather forecast, I should've organized the whole thing a little differently. I should've should've should've, I didn't. Next time.

In the end, I got some shots, which means I actually have something to start to work with now. So, even with the problems, I'm in a better place than I was before. 

Shoutout to Zak and Sam, who did agree to take the time to be in this for me.

I still need to film the boy's scenes, which will probably have to do be done next week. Hopefully, I'll be able to keep the camera for a little while longer.

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28 October, 2012: Three-Minute Moving Image progress/anxiety/whatever

I haven't talked much about my Three-Minute project lately. I've kind of been a little apprehensive about the whole thing, due to the fact that, as soon as I started working on it, it all seemed to unravel into a huge mess. I'll explain:

I was pretty confident about the script that I'd written out, and I was starting to work on the shot list, too. AND THEN, I got the news that only two, maybe three, people would be available to play parts in it. That was a pretty huge problem, considering that the script called for quite a few people to play the parts of the bullies.

Then, my doubts kicked in. How was I supposed to properly represent the development of schizophrenia in a three-minute film? Come on. The whole thing would've been rushed, or packed into the required time frame, or it would've just seemed entirely unrealistic, and that's unacceptable.

And then I started to think that really, I have no idea what I'm doing here. And I don't. I know that I don't have the skills to create what I'm imagining in my head, which is discouraging (but also a little motivating?). But I've never done this before. I don't know what it takes to create a good short film. But I think that I understand a little more now than I did this time last week.

SO, instead of a boy who gets bullied and develops schizophrenia, I've decided to cut the schizophrenia completely, and simply have him be bullied, this time by his ex-girlfriend.

I don't think that this idea is going to run together smoothly either. But, I do feel a little better having simplified it significantly. I've adjusted my script and my shotlist, and I've started working on my storyboard. Again, I don't really know how to do this, but the Internet is great for examples, so I'm just going for it. This is what I have, so far:

No bueno, but I'm still working on it. I'll upload the entire thing in better quality when it's finished.

If everything goes well, we'll be starting to film this week.

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25 October, 2012: Camera Workshop

This morning, Graham gave us an optional camera workshop on some of the features on a camera. He started off by showing us the basics: setting up a tripod, changing the battery pack on the camera, etc. We only talked about this for about fifteen minutes, but I found it pretty informative, considering that I didn't know how to attach a camera to the tripod. As it turns out, it's really simple.

Then, we got into exposure, zebra patterns, ND filters, gain, shutter speed, colour temperature, and white balance. It was.. a lot to take in, but I'll mention what I can remember of it. I didn't take notes as it was mostly practical, and Graham's created a guide for us anyway, which I'll probably refer to a lot in the next few paragraphs.

Exposure is how wide or open the aperture, the camera's iris, is. It controls the lighting. The smaller it is, the less light gets through. On the camera, this is measured in f-stops; the smaller the f-stop, the wider the aperture is. The way to determine whether or not the camera is correctly exposed, is by using the zebra pattern.

The zebra pattern lights up the brightest areas in the shot. Graham suggests zooming into the subject's face, and with the zebra pattern set to 70%, check that it only appears on the brightest part of their face, usually the forehead and cheeks. If it doesn't, you adjust your exposure. When you have found the correct exposure, you zoom out, and check it again for the entire shot. You can keep the zebra pattern on while you film, which seems pretty helpful.

ND (Neutral Density) filters, apparently, act like the camera's sunglasses. If you're filming in naturally bright location (ie, outside), you can set an ND filter on the camera to darken it without affecting the colour. On the other hand, gain is used to brighten up a shot. It's often used at night, when there isn't a good amount of light around. However, when gain is used, it also adds noise, which sort of looks pretty cheap.

The shutter speed of the camera also effects the exposure. Graham went into this (informative) speil about how film cameras work: the shutter opens, takes the shot; the shutter closes, and an arm moves the film down a frame; the shutter opens, takes the shot, and so on. I didn't really realize though, that video cameras work in the same sort of way. The shutter is still opening and closing while you're recording. So, the longer the shutter is open, the more light will get in, and the brighter the shot will appear. Shutter speeds also effects other things, and I'll be honest in saying that I don't really understand exactly what those other things are just yet, but I do understand how it effects the exposure. I think. Either way, a normal shot will have a shutter speed set to 50.

Graham then went into colour temperature and white balance, and this is where my brain sort of dropped off and struggled to take in anymore information. I do understand the colour temperature chart, which is measured in Kelvins:

When it comes to adjusting this though (by finding the camera's white balance? what?), I don't remember a thing. Even flipping through Graham's guide, I don't really have a clue.

On the plus though, Graham wants to go through this with us again after half-term, one-on-one. I think I understand exposure, but I'm positive that I don't get colour balance too much, so I hope that he does. If not, I'll definitely be harassing him to explain it to me again.

Regardless though, I came out of the workshop knowing significantly more about cameras than when I went in. It was a good thing.

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24 October, 2012: Tutor Review?

I talked with Jamie today about how I'm doing so far, which I suppose is worth mentioning on here. It didn't last very long, but it gave me a lot of reassurances that I'm headed in the right direction.

He said that this blog was pretty great (which is great, because it lets me know that I'm doing it right and I more or less just have to keep on keeping on), but he did mention that I need to take more pictures while we're actually doing things, like when we're in session or out filming on location or whatever. Alright.

I think that I need to start doing work, like now. I know that I've filmed a couple of band sessions, but really, I just feel like I've been preparing myself to get started. I've attended a couple of workshops, and I've been looking into different things, but I think that I need to get out there and start filming my Three-Minute project. It's half-term next week, and I'm not going to be at work too much, so I will do it then. It's going to be a huge step for me, really.

Before I do get filming though, Jamie also mentioned that I should create a bit of a storyboard, just outlining key shots. I'm also going to create a shot list. Because we haven't been taught how to do this (just left to do it, instead) a lot of this is going to be down to my own research. I'm starting to think that this project is designed for us to find out for ourselves, the hard way, just how much preparation and work goes into creating a moving image. 

Anyway, I guess I'm doing alright, so far. I just need to step it up.

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23 October, 2012: Songs from the Shipyards (Film/Screening)

I went out to the New Continental in Preston tonight with a handful of other students from the course (including a few students from some of the Arts pathways) to watch a screening of Songs from the Shipyards, a film created by Richard Fenwick. The Unthanks worked with Fenwick to create the soundtrack, which they played live during the screening.

The entire experience was pretty interesting. I've never had to opportunity to go to a film screening before tonight, but this was far from what I was expecting. The doors opened at 7, and loads of people crammed themselves into one small room at the New Continental, with a large screen at the front, and a tiny stage directly underneath. It was standing-only, and it was sweltering. If the walls of the room had been painted dark and the floor had been solid concrete, it would've looked exactly like one of those really charming tiny gig venues.

The event started at 7:30, opening with an animated short about two mice who fall in love, have children, and then one of them goes off to war. The almost-inevitable happens. It was real cute. Immediately after that, the band materialized out of the audience and took their places on stage. The Unthanks are Rachel & Becky Unthank, Niopha Keegan, Adrian McNally, and Chris Price.

They played a small variety of instruments, particularly the piano, violin, and guitar. The film opened with a nice piano piece, and for a moment, while I was focused on the screen, I'd actually forgot that they were playing live. It sounded incredible.

Songs from the Shipyards can almost be described as some sort of history documentary about shipbuilding in the north-east, focusing particularly on the Tyneside shipyards. It contains archived footage dating as far back as 1901, and it depicts the rise and eventual fall of the shipbuilding industry in England. To me, that sounds like a pretty boring time (not at all interested in ships) but the thing is, I didn't really feel like I was watching some sort of history documentary about shipbuilding. Maybe that was due to the live performance by the Unthanks, I don't really know. I also don't really know quite what I felt like I was watching. But I was engaged from the start, and what I can say about it, is this:

I thought the entire thing was super creepy, but in a good way. At the beginning of the film, there were scenes from the start of the shipbuilding industry, and things seem good. The audio clips of news presentations from this time sound good. But at the same time, the Unthanks were playing songs that definitely didn't sound good - they were actually pretty sad. There was some sort of inconsistency between image and sound, but as the film went on, it began to get darker as well. The ships were being used for war, the conditions of the workers didn't seem too great, and people began suffering from fatal health conditions due to the use of asbestos.

I remember a few scenes that really struck me, and they were the shots of towns. Rows upon rows of terraced houses and what could've looked like a nice, normal English town, but there were ships and cranes on the river, looking as if they didn't really belong there. Somebody opened their front door to look directly at the hull of one of the ships. And towards the end of the film, a shot taken from the top of a residential street, a completed ship towering over everything as it disembarked for the first time.

Swan Hunter shipyard

Tyneside welder

It really freaked me out, honestly.

And that's history, I suppose. When I think about industrial England (what knowledge I have of it, anyway), I am creeped out. But these things happened, and I guess that's sort of what the film is trying to represent. It's being screened primarily in areas where shipbuilding or some sort of industry were once prominent, and where I imagine that these things really do matter to people. 

It's cool that I got the chance to go to the screening, really. It isn't something that I probably would've seen otherwise, and it was something a lot different that what I've watched in the past.

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23 October 2012: Museum Reinterpretation (Project)

This project was assigned to students on the course before I was moved up onto it, but it's still ongoing. The assignment itself is pretty basic; there was no official paperwork for it, but we have to choose a piece of art from the Blackburn Museum & Art Gallery, and we have to reinterpret it. Righteous.

So, last Friday, I came into town and I went to the museum to check out the paintings. I found this one:

Hetty Sorrel by Hon. John Collier

Hetty Sorrel is a character from George Elliot's 1859 novel Adam Bede, which I haven't yet read. However, her backstory was placed next to the painting at the museum:

The story is a love triangle between Hetty and two friends, Arthur and Adam. Arthur was the grandson of a local landowner and in the military. His good friend Adam was a local carpenter who was in love with Hetty, but she was attracted to Arthur.

Hetty was soon seduced by Arthur and became pregnant. To avoid any shame, Adam offered to marry Hetty but she left him in search for Arthur who was serving in the military.

Before Hetty found Arthur, the baby was born and she abandoned it in a wood. This painting captures the moment Hetty leaves the crying baby, covering her ears from the baby's cries. When Hetty later returned to the wood, she found the baby dead.

Hetty was soon arrested and sentenced to work as a labourer abroad. 

As a media student, I can tackle this project in one of two ways: I can create a moving image, or I can focus entirely on the audio and recreate it as a sound clip.

Jamie suggested that we do the sound clip, and because I want sound to feature heavily on my Three-Minute Moving Image project as well, I feel like this would be a great opportunity to get the feel of how sound works, and it'll give me some experience with editing it, also.

I'll gather sounds of a woman running through the forest, kind of terrified. I'll include the sounds of leaves, twigs, maybe some running water, even. I might be able to record the sound of a baby crying, and honestly, it'd be pretty cool to include her giving birth, but due to resources and other obvious reasons, I know that I probably won't be able to do that.

However, because the painting practically included a play-by-play, I want to deviate from that somehow and add something a little more, if I can. I don't simply want to follow directions, I want to create something.

I'm hoping to get started on this on Thursday. Half-term is coming up next week, and I'm planning to use most of that time to work on my Three-Minute Moving Image. I received a quick workshop on how to use a sound-recorder today, so I'm ready to get started.