A not so perfect blend

Here is what I like about the holidays ... Time for self discovery. This holiday break is no different. Discovered a blender at home on Friday, suffice to say there are no solid foods at home and I can't wait till shops open tomorrow. Have a killer craving to chew on something with a bite.

On the upside I now know how to make hummus and all my 5-a-days have been compressed into a glass.

Self Portrait - lighting gear

For the wanderers and dreamers out there ... This is the light I use for the recent low key (set up where the subject is predominately dark). It's a tiny LED light for around 22 odd quid - awesome.

That said it was annoying to take pictures with the camera on the tripod. Next time I'll get volunteers.

Special blend of crazy

A bunch of us decided to drive down to the main land but once the costings came through we were quick to dismiss the idea ... But not entirely ...

Any rational individual would've called it a night and walked away from the idea. But this particular bunch of problem solving miss-fits ... We identified the next best option - BUS...

The scope of the challenge slightly changed ... We were now trying to get across the channel for as cheap as possible. Initial research suggested that france was a good option but we were looking at a 12 hrs bus ride. The bus ride did to the group what Chromotography does to solutions ... It weeded out the weak crazy from the group ... and we were left with the pure crazy.

Just when I thought I got all the crazy out of my system I realised I was one of the two crazies that were left standing. With my distractions with the recent videos, 'alpha crazy' was left in charge of all arrangements. Alpha crazy ... Now there is a level of crazy you don't see every day.

So .. I get to national express station at 6:30 .. All set to spend the weekend (the bits for which I will not be in a bus) on the streets of Paris ... right ... wrong ... the two crazies are sitting on a bus heading to Amsterdam which is approx. 7.50 quid cheaper to get to.

I am a little scared to ask about our accommodation plans ... But I take comfort from the fact that tonight will be spent on the bus.

All that's left is to stay away from fiber ... Because ... What goes in must come out !

A familiar face

Is it me or Rumpelstiltskin from shrek 4 look a little like Amit :) ... Hahah .. Sorry buddy, had to ...

This time ... there will be blood.

The short I shoot on 27th Nov - working title 'so much for booking' - is in its final stages of post production.

I enjoyed 'hanging' out and filming this horror/thriller with the cast from DramSoc's new play, 'the dark side' (imperial's drama society). It gave me some more experience is writing for film and directing actors.

I also tried setting myself some technical challenges with visual effects I have never done before. Some worked out while others backfired. All in all good fun.

Hope you all enjoy it ... And as ever feedback is always appreciated.

'get you wand out harry !'

I was watching harry potter - half blood prince ... settle down, at least it was not twilight ... and couldn't help but pick up on a recurring line ... 'Get you wand out' ... Haha

In my defence, I did not go looking the line .. it found me ...

FWDC Day 20 - that's a wrap folks

Day 20, final day of the Four Week Directing Course (FWDC - in case the titles have not been making sense). What a ride. There were three main learning areas for me: direct learning, indirect learning and experience points.

Lets see if I can recall what I learnt in each of these buckets:

DIRECT LEARNING
Learning outcomes in scope of the course ranged from blocking, capturing sound to roles of crew members. The two most important lessons for me were:
> directing actors; and
> making scripts more engaging.

INDIRECT LEARNING
These are the things I was 'encouraged' to learn as a result of the story of my short:
> green screen (with a moving camera);
> aging in post;
> tracking;
> cheesy FX; and
> a little bit of sound enhancement.

EXPERIENCE POINTS
Theory can take you so far but eventually you need to jump off that branch and flap like a mad man to learn to fly. The three exercises we did ('the punch','directing actors', and short film) gave me plenty to flap about. The key learning outcome for me were:
> motivating crew through their involvement, achieved through communicating the shot plan etc.
> be firm when needed to get the most out of your actors - both you and the actor will be thankful otherwise you just end up wasting everyone's time. You are there to make a film first and friends second.
> be flexible and don't blindly commit to a shot because you like it. If a shot tells you nothing new, lose it.


Overall, found a great teacher in Ben, although his grasp of time travel principles was shaky at best. That said, he didn't stop challenging me to refine and tighten my story. Gona miss the constant state of race Ben's hands are in, each one trying to overtake the other.

The peer group was a mixed bag of nuts. Without giving away names, we had:
> a musician;
> a seasoned actor;
> an i-talian facetube addict;
> an extra from Guy Riche's movies - 'lend us a ciggy mate - ya know what mean';
> an executive pensioner;
> as experienced AD, aka Mr 'quiet on the set';
> an absentee Neptunian;
> a fat man in a superman getup;
> mr. quiff who wished he could enter rooms to 70's porn music; and
> a swiss shopaholic doing her bid in stimulating the economic.

I'm not one for sentiments, or as I would like to call them - chick flick mounts, but I'm gona miss the 'brady bunch'.

Its been fun writing these series of posts, logging the course along the way in case I lose my notes ... Which I managed to do back on day 7.

I'll end with my saying that really annoyed Ben ... But it's a good way to end this.

" ... and cut ... we'll fix the rest in the post !! "

That's a wrap folks ...