Sunday 29 July 2012
Thunderbirds
I've recently been reading 'A Film Makers Journey', the biography of Peter Jackson, its well documented that in his early years he was fascinated by special effects and model making but I never knew just what inspired him. Peter's favourite film is the original King Kong but he also loved Planet Of The Apes, strangely enough Apes is written by one of my heros, Rod Serling. But anyway, another of Peter's inspirations as a young boy was Gerry Anderson's Thunderbirds. Like me he grew up with a huge love for Thunderbirds, he loved the way the whole show was made from models and puppets. I however never really took much notice of its sophisticated development I just loved the show for what it was; a terrific piece of science fiction.
Only recently have I realized Thunderbirds was my first meeting with the sci fi genre. I've always wondered 'where did it begin?' my interest in science fiction that is. I always thought it began with Star Wars but those films came much latter in my life so it was Thunderbirds that introduced me to flying ships and fantastic technology first. It would be foolish to dismiss how much of an impact this show must have had on my imagination. I think about all the films, shows and games I've seen/played throughout my life, Star Wars, The Lord Of The Rings, Blade Runner, Mass Effect, Ghost In The Shell and The Twilight Zone, all these I love but my love for science fiction and fantasy came from Thunderbirds initially. I feel quite moved now I know that a lot of my own creativity was being developed when watching that show, even if I didn't know it at the time. I must have watched it around the ages of 4 to 10 and its left a long lasting impression, an impression that I'd never really noticed until Peter Jackson shared his love for the show with me.
Now, the show still stands up well. As its not computer generated the quality of the models and sets are still there to be seen. Sure the stories are melodramatic but its still very watch-able and still highly enjoyable. I owe a lot to this show and I will always remember what a huge impact its had on my life and the work that I try to create.
Tuesday 10 July 2012
DSLR Test Shots
Just had a walk around the park and took a few photos to help me get to grips with my new D3100.
Sunday 1 July 2012
One Year On! A Second Look At My Films.
Now that its been a year since I finished college I thought it would be a pretty cool idea to go back and re-watch my films and see just what I think of them now that I've spent a year working at The Grand and learning more about the film making process.
El Campamento -
When I watch this I still see it as a success, mostly because of the circumstances surrounding its production. The very fact that it was made without a storyboard, on a new location and within such a small time frame the film has to be considered a job well done. However, like a bolt out of nowhere I suddenly realize what's wrong with it, what it needed that I just couldn't put my finger on while filming was an ending. The film just doesn't end right. Initially what I set out to do was make the film exactly like the short story I had written during my GCSE's and because of this I didn't think out of the box, I didn't see the bigger picture. I always feel let down by how weak the ending feels, Mark's music score is fabulous but it doesn't get your heart pumping because what's going on screen just isn't that interesting. What had to happen to make the film much more tense and engaging was to stop Toby from leaving so easily, I had to bring him back into the campsite, back into the danger. So I have this idea that when Toby runs out of the site his bike is missing, the gunman has moved it. Freaking out Toby goes to have a look for it thus brining him back into the campsite. The rest pretty much writes itself and I think if I had known about this during filming I could have been sat on a little gem of a film. Never the less it was my first film on the course and it helped me hit the ground running.
The Room -
Now, I don't really like this film at all, OK that's not quite true, but when I look at this I just see the pain it took me to make the damn thing. I lost my mind for a short while and it suddenly hit home just how hard it would be to make films. Nothing went right at all. The lighting was off, the sound had to be muted because of my gran's reluctance to turn off the TV, there was to little space in the room to get the kind of shot I needed, to be fair the whole filming process was a mess and I think it would show if I wasn't so good at editing my own work. The final piece is fine, most people actually like The Room because its weird and I think people just like weird things, so maybe I got off the hook, but in my heart I know that if I'm ever going to make films for a living then I cant have a repeat of The Room. Next time I might not be so lucky. It was a learning process and that was it.
Dreamer's Rest -
This film was a blending of one years hard word and study. From the first moments of it's inception to the very moment it was shown on the college cinema screen it just felt right. I'm very proud with how DR turned out because I micro managed the whole project properly and I set out to work with actors and the end result is great. I had ups and downs, the full day of filming with Cameron and Millie was exhausting but we all hung in there and it's something we should all feel proud of. The problems I see now are concept problems, perhaps I didn't have enough time to bat out the story and make the set pieces more fluid in the early storyboards, the film's pacing is clearly off, it hits a high then drops low then goes right back high again then tails off, it's not steady which makes the film feel disjointed. Also Mark's score isn't the greatest, he had his own FMP to do so the very fact that he took time out to make me a score in the first place has to be respected, it is a good score but it perhaps doesn't always fit the mood on screen. Another problem I see with the film is the ideas I try to portray are far to abstract, its like an art film which is not what I wanted, again these problems should have been sorted early on but with the limited time frame I think I did the best that I could. In the end though I think my family loved it and so did the tutors. From my perspective it was the most ambitious film anyone did on the course and the experience I've gained by creating it has been immense and has surely put me in good stead to create something even better.
El Campamento -
When I watch this I still see it as a success, mostly because of the circumstances surrounding its production. The very fact that it was made without a storyboard, on a new location and within such a small time frame the film has to be considered a job well done. However, like a bolt out of nowhere I suddenly realize what's wrong with it, what it needed that I just couldn't put my finger on while filming was an ending. The film just doesn't end right. Initially what I set out to do was make the film exactly like the short story I had written during my GCSE's and because of this I didn't think out of the box, I didn't see the bigger picture. I always feel let down by how weak the ending feels, Mark's music score is fabulous but it doesn't get your heart pumping because what's going on screen just isn't that interesting. What had to happen to make the film much more tense and engaging was to stop Toby from leaving so easily, I had to bring him back into the campsite, back into the danger. So I have this idea that when Toby runs out of the site his bike is missing, the gunman has moved it. Freaking out Toby goes to have a look for it thus brining him back into the campsite. The rest pretty much writes itself and I think if I had known about this during filming I could have been sat on a little gem of a film. Never the less it was my first film on the course and it helped me hit the ground running.
The Room -
Now, I don't really like this film at all, OK that's not quite true, but when I look at this I just see the pain it took me to make the damn thing. I lost my mind for a short while and it suddenly hit home just how hard it would be to make films. Nothing went right at all. The lighting was off, the sound had to be muted because of my gran's reluctance to turn off the TV, there was to little space in the room to get the kind of shot I needed, to be fair the whole filming process was a mess and I think it would show if I wasn't so good at editing my own work. The final piece is fine, most people actually like The Room because its weird and I think people just like weird things, so maybe I got off the hook, but in my heart I know that if I'm ever going to make films for a living then I cant have a repeat of The Room. Next time I might not be so lucky. It was a learning process and that was it.
Dreamer's Rest -
This film was a blending of one years hard word and study. From the first moments of it's inception to the very moment it was shown on the college cinema screen it just felt right. I'm very proud with how DR turned out because I micro managed the whole project properly and I set out to work with actors and the end result is great. I had ups and downs, the full day of filming with Cameron and Millie was exhausting but we all hung in there and it's something we should all feel proud of. The problems I see now are concept problems, perhaps I didn't have enough time to bat out the story and make the set pieces more fluid in the early storyboards, the film's pacing is clearly off, it hits a high then drops low then goes right back high again then tails off, it's not steady which makes the film feel disjointed. Also Mark's score isn't the greatest, he had his own FMP to do so the very fact that he took time out to make me a score in the first place has to be respected, it is a good score but it perhaps doesn't always fit the mood on screen. Another problem I see with the film is the ideas I try to portray are far to abstract, its like an art film which is not what I wanted, again these problems should have been sorted early on but with the limited time frame I think I did the best that I could. In the end though I think my family loved it and so did the tutors. From my perspective it was the most ambitious film anyone did on the course and the experience I've gained by creating it has been immense and has surely put me in good stead to create something even better.
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