L'Oreal Project

I have been in contact with an old friend who is through to the national final of a fashion campaign, The L'Oreal Brandstorm Challenge. It is in its early stages, but i have been asked to edit the final peice for her! The winners get £2000, and it will obviously be a good thing to put on my CV and Portfolio.

Client Project- Interview screenshots

More screenshots of interviews. A Sixth form student involved in the Stickman project, a year 9 student, also involved in Stickman, and three pupils who ran a Fair Trade assembly.

Client Project- Interview screenshots

Some screenshots of a selection of interviews, including a year 9 pupil involved in the Stickman project, Sarah Williams, Head of Diversity and Deaf Learning, and Miss Bickerstaff, Deputy Head of Sixth form.

Client Project- Stickman Initiative

This is a collection of photographs from the Stickman project that went on at Holgate. Because there is little video evidence from the project, we will be using lots of these photos, taken by the school, in order to show the work that Stickman does.

Client Project- Editshare problem sorted!

Finally we can edit again! After a week of going into Uni only to be leaving half an hour later, we can now do some proper editing. Its a shame its the end of the week and we cant go in over the weekend, but at least we know our footage is safe. Got a few bits done today, chopped up all the interviews and listed the questions and answers for each interviewee. Also made a few sequences for the sixth form study centre, a P.E. class playing football on the field and a nice sequence with the well where I layered a few shots and overlapped the footage.

Influences Part II

Another cinematographer/director of photography that I have grown to adore is Matthew Libatique, famous for working on films like Requiem For A Dream and Inside Man. Requiem For A Dream is a breathtaking film, with powerful drug orientated storylines and hard hitting imagery. When a character take a 'hit', the use of audio with fast cuts helps to orchestrate the feeling of a rush. The use of a Steadycam attached to a character has been used many times in film, but in my opinion has not had the dramatic effect as in Requiem, where the audience feels connected to the soul of the character. A scene which stands out to me, where Miriam, an addict who prostitutes herself to fund her habit, leaves a 'client', walkes down a corridor into a rainy street and proceeds to vomit uncontrollably-all with the use of a steadycam rigged to her torso.

The film uses many dramatic camera shots, such as the penultimate moment at the end of the film where all the main characters are at their worst, for example, a shot where two old women who rise from their seats in a state of horror as their old firend is shown, truly depict the effects that drugs can cause not just the user, but those associated with them.

I could ramble on about this film all day to be honest. One word, epic.

Matthew Libertique's works:

Untitled Inside Man Sequel (2010) (announced)
The Fighter (2009) (pre-production)
Miracle at St. Anna (2008) (post-production)
Iron Man (2008) (post-production) (director of photography)
The Number 23 (2007) (director of photography)
The Fountain (2006)
Inside Man (2006) (director of photography)
Everything Is Illuminated (2005)
She Hate Me (2004)
Never Die Alone (2004)
Gothika (2003) (director of photography)
The Seventh Man (2003/II)
Abandon (2002) (director of photography)
Phone Booth (2002)
When Incubus Attacks (2002) (V)
Xzibit: Restless Xposed (2001) (V) (segment "What U See Is What U Get")
Cosmic Coffee (2001)
MTV 20: Jams (2001) (V) (video "Anytime")
Josie and the Pussycats (2001)
Tigerland (2000) ... aka Tigerland (Germany)
Requiem for a Dream (2000)
Saturn (1999) ... aka Speed of Life (USA: DVD title)
The Party Crashers (1998)
Pi (1998)
Soldier Boyz (1997) (VG)
"Women: Stories of Passion" (1 episode, 1997) - Grip Till It Hurts (1997) TV episode (as Matthew J. Libatique)
Grinders (1996)
Redneck (1995)
Til Death Do Us Part (1995)
Protozoa (1993)
Fortune Cookie (1991)

Client Project- More Editshare problems

Owen was in this morning so we followed up on yesterdays problems with the server. Unfortunately he doesnt know what the problem is, as he was not originally the person who administered the system. This is obviously a predicament, as we don't know if or when the system will be back online.

We have sent an email to Jools making him aware of the problems, so hopefully we can get the days back that we were unable to work.

Client Project- Editshare Problems

The Multimedia server, Editshare, where all our footage and projects are stored was not available today. This is a real problem, due to the fact we have only a week or two to finsh the documentary. I had come back from my Easter holiday, having passed up a chance to earn some money in order to get back to Nottingham to edit...and i cant! We have emailed Owen about the problem, so we hope he can shed some light on it. Debs told us that rather than try and recapture some of the footage we have on tape, we should just wait and see if Owen can fix it. Heres hoping!

Portfolio

I have come up with a design for my portfolio, finally. What i want to do is display a view of a workstation/desk where I am sat, facing away from the viewer. For each area of my work, e.g. A/V work, documents and CV etc. I will have a highlighted part around the monitor, a pile of papers and so on. Using a camcorder i can film each individual action, like turning on the monitor, then convert into a vector in Flash, where I can design the transitions and the rest of the portfolio, to be used both as an interactive DVD and a website. Im hoping to get sorted with a domain name aswell, but im not sure about the process. Im sure there are lots of people that can help me on that front.

I should have a sketch up here soon outlining the proposed layout...watch this space.

Cool Stuff

I had a go at making a high speed sky scene, filming about 40 minutes of footage out of an open window from my house in Nottingham. It was a windy day with lots of clouds, so it looks pretty cool. Check it out.

Client Project- Holgate School

Due to the Easter break, both the university and the school will be closed for a while. I will be returning back from London after a week or so, as the Waverley building with the edit suites will be open again. Hopefully it shouldn't be too busy, I will be back at least a week before the term starts again, so it will give us a good opportunity to start editing all the captured footage. As the school will be back in the same week, it will give us a chance to get any more shots we need, including interviews with the Headmaster Mr. Crompton, and also Mr. Beattie.

Influences

Under direction from Andy, I have been looking at relevant practitioners in the industry who I think have influenced me as a filmmaker. One such person is Oliver Wood, a Cinematographer and Director of Photography in such films as Fantastic Four, Face/Off and The Bourne Trilogy starring Matt Damon.

Something which stood out to me in the Bourne series was the way the camera was very unstable, often shot freehand to give the films almost a documentary feel. Most scenes were shot with between two and four cameras, assuring as much action could be shot as possible. Wood did not feel it necessary for the composition to be faultless for every part of every shot, allowing the overall visual style to work with a lack of focus and sometimes jerky camera work. This feeling of spontaneity allows the individual camera operators and focus pullers the chance to experiment, asserting their own creative input. I am extremely impressed by Wood's ability to shoot in this way. Amazingly, rather than it appear tacky and unprofessional, its almost like you are right there with the characters.

© 2007 American Cinematographer

On location in Morocco, director of photography Oliver Wood (right) confers with C-camera operator Mostafa Badreddine as focus puller Zakaria Badredine stands by.

List of recent films:
Rudy (1993)
For Love or Money (1993)
Sister Act 2: Back in the Habit (1993)
Terminal Velocity (1994)
Mr. Holland's Opus (1995)
Celtic Pride (1996)
2 Days in the Valley (1996)
Face/Off (1997)
Switchback (1997)
Mighty Joe Young (1998)
U-571 (2000)
The Bourne Identity (2002)
The Adventures of Pluto Nash (2002)
I Spy (2002)
National Security (2003)
Freaky Friday (2003)
The Bourne Supremacy (2004)
Fantastic Four (2005)
Talladega Nights: The Ballad of Ricky Bobby (2006)
The Bourne Ultimatum (2007)
Step Brothers (2008)

Audio Project

This is a liquid dnb track I've been making for the last few weeks. I plan to create a music video for the song, which is being scripted at the moment. I plan to shoot the video in the early summer, making the most of the weather.

Client Project- Holgate School

Georgia and I went into the school again today, we needed to get some fill shots and cutaways for the documentary. We were helped out by a sixth former called katie, who has assisted us before as an interviewee and general runner. We got some shots of the quad, the ground, the field at breaktime, the 'well' (a staircase) and the sixth form study centre. All in all, a very productive day. We are now at the stage where we need to start editing.

Client Project- Sound Problems

Unfortuantely we had a bit of a set back while filming interviews today, two interviews of Mr. Beattie and Headmaster Mr. Crompton were unusable due to problems with sound, regardless of any amount of tweaking we agreed after a long discussion that we would have to bin them. We are going back into the school soon in order to film the two interviews again, which we consider to be extremely important in the overall documentary.

Client Project- Holgate School

This is a sample from the client project, the schoool canteen at Holgate. The camera was mounted using a suction mount tripod in the top corner of the room, facing down on the canteen. This clip is taken from about 20 minutes of footage, shot with a shutter speed of 1/3. I used a threshold filter, then a texturise filter to create the two-tone black/grey effect.

Portfolio

I've been thinking long and hard about what to do for my portfolio, and its proving harder than i thought to come up with a concept. I went to see Andy for a tutorial and he showed me a portfolio made by a fine art student from a few years ago. The guy had basically shown all his work in a case which had slides of the work he had done, but the case was in the same style as his work. He made ten of them, and got a job almost instantly. What Andy was trying to say was that the portfolio should be an extension of the type of work I am doing, or should show my working practices. This is something to think about. Hopefully my next post on the subject will have a more concrete example of what i want to do.

Client Project- Holgate School

Filming at the school has been going relatively smoothly, our interviewees this week consisted of Mr. Day, a geography teacher with almost 30 years of teaching at the school, and Deputy Head of Sixth Form Miss Bickerstaff. We are at the stage now where we are compiling all the footage and sorting out the structure of the documentary. Also, i have composed a musical score for the film which is totally original, and suits our needs for the type of imagery we want to portray.

Client Project- Holgate School

Me and G were filming again today in the school, we got a massive chunk of interviews done, which was massively important. We interviewed Sarah, our client for the school, two year 10 girls who were involved in the Stickman project, 3 girls who had run a fair trade assembly BY THEMSELVES and a helpful 6th former who wants to help us with some of the cutaways next week.

PRP Artefact Three

My third artefact is aimed at looking at how audio can change the perception of a films genre. I have used a clip from the 2005 Lexi Alexander film Green Street, which depicts the summation of a feud between two groups of football hooligans. The clip, which shows the fans from rival football teams having an epic battle, was originally set to Doubtful by the band New Found Glory. This music is very slow and acoustic sounding, which gives the audience a feeling of the bravery and camaraderie of the men.



I wanted to find out if using a different type of musical score could change the entire feel of the sequence, possibly changing the genre for that scene. So for this artefact I have created a drum & bass audio track, which I felt would suit the high paced, heavy hitting video. I also added sound effects of the cries and yells of the fight, ensuring it did not seem to be just replacing all the audio in the sequence.

In order to evaluate the effectiveness of the new clip, I separated people into two groups, those who had seen the film before and those that had not. Participants were asked to fill in a short questionnaire in order to find out what adjectives they felt best suited the sequence.

Client Project- Holgate School

Georgia and I took a trip into Hucknall town centre today, just to get some fill/cut shots for the documentary. It was a clear day, and the town was bustling, making it a good day for shooting. After reviewing the footage we were really happy, of course we will have to go back to get more at some point, most likely next week.

Client Project- Holgate School

Georgia and I have been told that in order to film at the school we need to get a CRB form filled out and sent away. This is because we are filming around children and the school obviously have to play it safe.

In order to get around this in the meantime, we plan to allow the 6th formers helping us to play an independant role, where they will be able to film even when we are not there.

Because we want original, believeable footage, allowing the pupils to be filmed in their own environment by their peers could prove to be a very wise decision. We are visiting the school this week again to run an afternoon session with the 6th formers, just to show them how to set up an interview and conducting proper interview techniques.

audiostreet.net

I was looking for somewhere to host my musical compositions and came across this website

http://www.audiostreet.net/

It allows free hosting of three songs, which for now is fine. I could have hosted on something like myspace, but it seemed more professional to use a dedicated music site. It will allow me to embed the songs into my web log, so once the security checks clear I can put up some of the stuff i've been making recently.

Website/Portfolio

I have been looking more into what i want to do for my portfolio. I have decided on a few key areas to categorise where the stuff will go. So to be included in the website/portfolio will be:

1. Home page (main interactivity from here to other parts).
2. Covering letter/CV.
3. Uni work.
4. Outside Uni work (and other works i have assisted in).
5. Contact details.

I am working through some early ideas for the layout and interactivity issues. As soon as i have some working drawing i will put them up here.

PRP Artefact Two

My second artefact uses the same video sequence as my first artefact (from Jean-François Richet’s 2005 remake of Assault On Precinct 13). The difference this time is that the audio is totally fabricated through the use of a DAW (digital audio workstation). I have used FLStudio 7, which I have used for many years and which I understand. With it I can create complex sounds and effects.

The aim of this experiment is to examine the response of the audience to fabricated sounds which are non-specific to the mise-en-scène. Can the tension be implied without any use of the original sounds? This means no speech, Foley or musical scores. The main initiative I want to explore is how the audience reacts to the audio within film where the audio has no real relation to what is happening on the screen.

The sounds are very synthetic and use lots of changes in pitch, timbre, volume, panning and velocity. Using the software I morphed a series of notes and samples into a complex sound using algorithms and variable equations. This means that the sounds are almost unique, and do not relate to anything that might be apparent from what is happening on the screen. The audio is unearthly, hopefully suggesting unease and the horror of the unknown.

I am using the same questionnaire as for the first artefact, as it is the same piece of the film. This means I can easily compare the two artefacts should I need to look at the differences between them. Some participants have been filmed as they watch the clip, others filled in a questionnaire afterwards. It was important that no one who participated in the first test completed the second, I did not want any erroneous results.

Client Project- Holgate School

Today we filmed the ex-miners visit to Holgate School, which gave us a chance to meet the crew we were planning to use for the documentary project. We are working with three 6th formers, two guys and a girl. They were a bit shy at first, but got the hang of it eventually. The footage isn't great, but we now have an enthusiastic crew, and because they attend the school we dont have to pay extra expenditures, and of course gives the kids a chance to work on a degree worthy production...i hope!

Photography

Took this out in Cervinia, Italy. I was strolling down the road when i saw this guy just chilling in the sun. Had a quick word with his owner and got a few shots of him. I think its worthy of a place in my web log.

Client Project- Holgate School

We have made a lot of progress with the documentary project with Holgate School, we have had numerous meetings with Sarah Williams, Head of Diversity and Bob Beattie, a Senior member of the teaching staff with over 30 years spent at the school. Bob has a wonderful relationship with the pupils, he knows virtually every name and was able to suggest immediately who would be good candidates for interviewing, and for roles of crew members for the production.

In our meeting today we were able to speak with the Headteacher, Mr. Phillips. He is a nice bloke, warm and welcoming. He was pleasantly surprised when we explained the aims of the project, and was sure it would raise the profile of the work they are doing at the school.

We have another meeting lined up for next week, where we will be getting to know the crew we are hoping to use. We haven't met yet, but they are all in the 6th form and study Media, so they will be fairly apt at using a camera. Also next week, the school has a visit from two ex-miners from the local area as part of a year 7 History project. We have agreed to film the miners in an interview, enabling us to make sure the crew are up to the job. The school will get a copy of the raw footage, and a selection of clips. The clips will be given to all the Media students who will be prompted by their teacher to come up with their own edits as a small project.

Portfolio/Website

I have started looking into what i want for my portfolio/website, and have outlined a few key things i want it to have/include:

1. Flash based interactive website/portfolio.
2. simple, modern and stylish design.
3. able to be used independently on CD/DVD (for distribution with my CV)
4. includes my work inside uni, and externally, displayed in an intriguing, easy to navigate and above all, ORIGINAL manner .
5. a suitable web address e.g. ryanjell.co.uk

In the coming weeks i will develop my ideas, and hopefully i will have decided what i want in the near future.

PRP Artefact One

The aim of this artefact is to gain an understanding of the use of audio in film in order to impose suspense upon the audience. I used Foley as a starting point, simply because when looking at creating suspense, less is usually more.

Using a clip from Assault On Precinct 13 (Jean-François Richet, 2005) I created several layers of audio including the sound of a heart beat and footsteps in the snow, then clipped and joined the video so that it flowed.

I recorded the audio using a dynamic microphone, the heart beat was my own, the mike pressed to my chest after doing some exercise. I also added some shuffling sounds using clothes on paper. The sound of the steps in the snow was created by pressing my hand into the icy build-up on the inside of a freezer.

The experiment was designed to find out how people reacted to the sounds in a physiological sense when coupled with video. I filmed three people as they watched and listened, and gave questionnaires to more people (which I will keep doing throughout the second term). This will enable me to get data regarding the initial reaction to stimulus, and also the afterthought of the participant.