CELLi Origin

“Good evening madam,” Said the porter as he took the ladies hand and eased her out of the car. She smiled and thanked him with a subtle nod of her head. It was the first time she had ever been out of the city; she glanced up at the darkening sky in awe of its greatness. It was a bluish purple and the stars sparkled like fire flies over a glassy lake, such a pure sight was never found in the city, its tall buildings stood as high as the eye could see and only the richest and most powerful owned properties on the higher levels.

Through the large front doors the party was in full swing, the young lady could just make out, passed the horde of people, a small group of T-16 Droids preparing drinks for the guests. The T-16 models were quite new on the market, the host was clearly sending a message that this gathering of selected journalists, scientists and engineers were in for quite a night.

The lady flashed her invitation card passed a small security window, a light hum emitted from the laser grid guarding the entrance before the thin blue lines evaporated into nothing allowing passage into the great hall.

“Ah, Evie my sweet.” Spoke a man’s voice from somewhere inside the crowd. Evie scanned over the hundreds of faces but could not see who had spoken, but then a firm grip pinched at her left buttock. “So glad you could make it, nothing like a good shin dig to make you feel alive, eh?”

Evie smiled, the man she knew, he was 54 and quite unremarkable but for the large cybernetic plate covering the best part of his chiseled face. “Quite right, I hope I’m not too late. I find arriving at parties to early can be a bit dull.” The man whisked a glass of Campaign from a passing T-16 and handed it politely to Evie. “Thank you, Mr. Emmerich.”

“Please Evie, call me Mikael, we are at a party. First names only, we are all friends here. Or at least we will be once this night reaches its end.”

Mikael Emmerich is currently the owner of a multi-billion credit airspace laboratory. He started out as a small time inventor, the kind from children’s stories who locks himself away in an attic figuring out how to create a self cleaning litter tray or something equally as strange; but after his team returned from deep space along with alien technology things quickly became interesting. In the 30 years after his teams excavation Emmerich Nano Labs has become the number one provider in the northern hemisphere for everything space and military related. An inquest was made after his early technology was released to the mass public but it was proven that all experimentation with the alien tech was indeed safe and of no risk to humankind. His many star ships have seen man travel light-years into deep space, but despite such an extraordinary achievement man still live on Earth, yet to discover a world equal to their own. This party, held in Emmerich’s private country estate, was to celebrate the creation of a new kind of light speed military aircraft and passenger jet, the 360 Harmonious was said to be capable of reaching the moon in less than 90 seconds, the fastest space craft ever built.

Evie and Mikeal had taken a stroll out onto the Estate’s balcony. The setting sun, just about visible far across the horizon was illuminating the distant city in a bath of warm yellow. It was just a few tall blocks and the tiny cars zipping in and around the coordinated airspace were all settling down as the sun finally sunk beyond sight. The sea was drifting inland bringing a light summer’s breeze sweeping across the country side. The air felt fresh on Evie’s face, her skin receptors were heightened and her body fell into a relaxed pose against the wall, Mikeal took notice. “The sea air is beautiful out here. When I was asked where to build this estate I imminently picked this spot. I've traveled far across our universe and seen many great sights, sights the mere man could not comprehend, but when I am here, on this cliff side I truly believe Earth is unique. We are so lucky to have been given life on such a beautiful planet. We as men have scarred the face of this land and left it to die and now we seek to flee it, ready to destroy another world. It doesn't surprise me in the slightest that not anyone has ever found a world equal to Earth, it is as if the divine gods that created us are preventing us from escaping our impending doom. I save these moments as I know one day we all shall be looking at this Earth from the viewing screen of some space station never to set foot on her again. Science is a tragedy.”

Evie took a sip of her Campaign  she tasted nothing. Her bud receptors had been turned off and even for an android she never really enjoyed the flavor  was far too bitter and sour. It was hard for her to fully embrace what Mikeal had said, though very true, Mikeal was just fortunate that his technology was needed in humanities futile attempt to leave Earth. His desire for power, wealth and science was just as strong as those pioneers before him, the reckless fools that brought about the coming death of the planet. She sighed as a small bird flew past her line of sight. “On a lighter note, can I ask if there will be a full working model of the 360 Harmonious on show latter this evening?”

Mikeal grinned, “Well I’ll let you in on a little secret; my technicians are not only preparing the Harmonious but also the next class of high energy military weaponry for all these delightful people to enjoy.”

Evie’s eyes widened, surprised at the news. “Then I shall be looking forward to the show.”

Mikeal drained his glass and chuckled. “But before the demonstration I was hoping you would join me for some appetizers in my bed suit, I've prepared quite a surprise for you.”

“Now, now Mikeal wont your guests miss you?”

“They will all be too tipsy to notice my absence and so what if they do? What do you say?”

“Well it does sound like a grand offer, who am I to refuse.”

Mikeal’s grind grew larger and the small blue lights representing his eyes cheekily turned a passionate red. “Very well, it is settled. Unfortunately I have other guests to greet first but please make yourself comfortable, you’re invitation card will allow you to access most areas so feel free to use my facilities. If you do take a trip to the second floor we have a little treat for our VIP guests, the spa room is available if you fancy a quick massage, perhaps to help you relax for latter.” Evie just made out a slight wink; or at least she thought it was a wink. It was difficult to see as Mikeal had no real eyes. He nodded politely then made his leave, pacing away with his arms open wide ready to welcome a young couple who had just walked through the front entrance, they were clearly off worlders, their clothes were most strange.

Hitchcock Interview

An interview with one of cinemas greats.

Documentary Notes

The director of We Are Poets, Alex Ramseyer-Bache, came into the film school to give us a little chat about the film and give us a heads up on to create a decent documentary. Here are some notes - 

• In the first draft of his film the running time was like 5 hours long so he had to cut a lot of it away but he said that as he cut more away the film got better and better. So I think it's important to not be afraid of cutting, leave the audience wanting more. 
• With technology its much easier to get interviews with people, use the likes of Skype and Facebook and if you record the sound well a telephone interview is always an option. 
• If your documentary deals with multiple characters the best way to edit the film is edit each individuals story and then bring them all together in a final edit.  
• Think of your point of view, do you want a balanced documentary or do you want it to be very one sided. Both are acceptable. 
• Dogwoof - This is a production company that deal with the creation of documentaries. 

Going To An Extreme Closeup

Through a lot of my recent learning I've found that going into big close ups can be a dangerous thing to do without true motive. A close up is a very strong statement on screen and is used primarily to demonstrate an emotion felt by a particular character.

The problem I find with using close ups is that once you've gone into a closeup the only way is to bring the shot out again, this can make a badly put together scene work even less. But today in our story lecture we watched a short film from New Zealand about two children sat in a couple of cars outside of a shady motel.

Through the film the two characters begin to develop a friendship and in the final moments they're sat in the front seats of a car and very quickly we see a close up of the boy and a close up of the girl, after each of those close ups the camera relaxes to a profile two shot. I was trying to think why the film maker had chosen to make those cuts and on my second viewing I saw something that has given me a clearer insight on how to use extreme closeups effectively.

In each of the close ups each character makes a small gesture of affection to each other, very subtle and very quickly but its enough to warrant the use of a close up. Your being brought into their head space for only a little moment but you understand at this point both characters have developed a liking for each other. I think it works and its given me a bit more of an understanding of that size of shot.      

Short Film Writing Notes

When developing a short story for film there are a few things to consider -

• Choose a single moment in a life time and explore it. A tiny moment, not a grand narrative. Sometimes the simplest of stories can have the most unexpected effect on the audience.
• Try to develop how the characters fit into their own world. It can be difficult in short film to allow the story to breath but a slower pace allows the audience a chance to observe the world and its characters. 
• Look at all the characters in the film - it's important to get across their personalities, even if they only have a minor role. Simple and slight moments of character can help shape the larger narrative.    

West Yorkshire Police Project... Continued Prt 2

Shoot 4 - Interrogation
My Role - Director

With this film we wanted to keep with the tongue in cheek tone and we wanted to keep the idea of stolen mobile phones. What we did was set up a robber that had been caught and brought into police custody. Inside a scary interrogation room the robber is told to empty his bag, inside his bag are lots and lots of stolen phones.  In the end he's there just tipping out all these phones onto the table. Its funny but suggests that phone crime is really very high.

Before the shoot I had to amass a large amount of phones so what I did was go around town asking various phone stores to give me as many dummy phones as they could possibly spare. Thankfully one store was kind enough to give me half a bag full which was more than enough.

On the shoot day our crew had been working together for 3 - 4 days so with that experience under our belts I felt we worked in a much more efficient way. I tried to be very laid back with my directing, I trusted everyone to do their roles and basically just moved around the set making sure everyone was up to date and knew what I wanted. I'd managed people before at work but this was the first film I had directed since my directing workshop which was terrible on my part, so there was a nervousness inside me but it didn't show.

I felt the shoot went really well and I think that was partially down to the pre filming preparation I had had done. I'd drew up a story board as well as a camera and lighting plan. I explained the set up to my DOP and camera opp and left them to get the shots I wanted. This gave me a chance to speak to the actors and other members of the crew, for me this put a lot of people at ease. We just worked really quickly and I'd like to thank everyone for really being on their A game.

I'm not sure how the finished piece will look, I'm sure it will have it's problems and when I see them I'm sure they'll tell me a lot about what I need to improve on with regards to creating a film but hopefully whatever the outcome the advert will be accepted and used for public awareness.        

West Yorkshire Police Project ...Continued

Shoot 3 - Shopping Channel
My Role - Camera Operator

In this film we have a burglar appear on a TV channel for thieves, he has a short chat with the presenter and tries to give an insight into the world of thievery. What we wanted to do was create a tongue in cheek warning to people about being careful with their personal belongings.

Firstly I was given the task to write a short script with a fellow student. We absorbed a good few hours of shopping channel footage online then had a crack at writing a shopping channel scenario ourselves. It took just one afternoon to get a script together that we felt brought up the points about personal safety quickly without it coming across as forced or false.

Here it is -

Shopping Channel Advert

Presenter (Keith) - So Rob, what have you got for us today?

Rob - Well Keith we’ve got this amazing new book, it’s the next chapter in our ‘How To’ series. This week it’s ‘How To Steal Mobile Phones’.

Keith - What can you tell us, in particular, about the book?

Rob - Well, I’ve learned a lot of interesting techniques and helpful tips. In fact I’m going to share a few here today.

Keith - Fantastic!

Rob - Well these phones nowadays light up like its christmas, you can see them a mile away. People are always so caught up in their conversations they’ll never see you coming. You could swipe it and be off in seconds.

Keith - Well how about that... What else have you got?

Rob - Here’s a nice tip for you, even if they haven't got the phone on them they are so lightweight you could flick it out of a pocket and the poor sod wouldn't even know about it.

Keith - And then once you’ve actually got the phone surely you could gain access to peoples personal information?

Rob - Of course keith. Most people don't bother with all that security nonsense. We’d get access to Facebook, Twitter and possibly any Amazon accounts. And on the odd day you might even find some bank details.

Keith - Well this book does sound like a delightful read. I’ll have to steal one myself. Join us after the break and we’ll be taking a look at possible ways of breaking into your neighbor's shed. Don’t go away!  

What we then needed was a front cover for the 'How To...' book. Thankfully I have a friend in graphic design and she gladly handed over her skills and created a really cool cover for us as well as a logo for the shopping channel.

Here they are -

I'd like to think these little extra details can give the finished product a little extra quality and shows that we are serious about what we want to achieve.

The shoot itself was largely uneventful, I just had more practice on camera and it gave me a chance to keep working with a crew I really enjoyed working with.

West Yorkshire Police Project

Before the new term began a few of us had been offered the opportunity to work on four short crime awareness adverts for the West Yorkshire police. We jumped at the chance and soon we had four short ideas planned and ready to shoot. Over the next post or two I'm going to document the planning that went into each shoot and some reflections regarding what I've learned as a film maker during the process.

Shoot 1. Predicting a burglary.
My Role - Gaffer

The story behind this shoot was that a female student had left her window open and a thief creeps into her house, robs her and then threatens her life. In the heat of the moment the girl wakes up and finds that it was just a bad dream but races downstairs to lock her window.

Its a simple idea and I think the message is quite clear.

Being the first shoot of four it was important that we started strongly and that we as a crew got on and worked together well. I think we did. It was a good all round experience, each of us had a particular role and I think for the majority of the time we really respected that and gave our all to the role. We didn't have any egos getting in the way or huge creative arguments slowing us down.

The problems we did encounter are problems inexperienced film makers like us are bound to come across. Firstly we had some major issues with the lighting. The shoot was set during the evening and all the lights in the house were switched off so we had to give the scenes some extra light to give the set a more dramatic and three dimensional aesthetic.

What we did in one scene was place a 300 lamp outside and directed the light through the front window. On top of the incoming street light the scene looked good. Still there was need of some extra light, so we placed another 300 in the corner of the room, diffused it and bounced the light of a reflector. This killed the harshness of the 300 and just gave the scene a little extra light. This scene worked well.

Unfortunately for us the luck didn't last. Once we began shooting in the bedroom we really struggled to get the scene alive, on camera the whole room looked flat and dark. We tried some different things but every time the light always appeared manufactured and it lacked purpose and place, this really slowed us down. In the end we decided we needed to create moon light coming in from the window. This was hard because the 300's were far to heavy and bright and the room was very small, so what we did was place the 300 just outside the window and created a cardboard cut out to stick on the window. What happened was the light diffused slightly and the room was cast in this really interesting light that appeared to be street light piercing through blinds hanging on the windows. It worked well enough.

The second issue I saw was just a lack of pre filming preparation. This shoot was arguably the hardest one and the crew very much went into it without a strong story board and camera plan. The camera team ended up having to film on the fly and this brought about lots of issues regarding composition and focus.

The shoot itself was long and gave me a good insight into the day to day living of a film maker. We began working at 4 pm and we got to bed on location at 3 am. It was a real test of character and endurance, I learned a lot about my fellow students that night.  

The things I learned that I'm surely going to take into account next time I'm filming is the need for camera plans and strong story boards, that is a must. And secondly whenever I go on a set or location I'll think about placing the light where the light is going be coming from naturally and work from there. Trying to place light in places that would not naturally give light can end up making things more complicated.
 

Documentary Project

Throughout the whole of semester 2 we'll be working on a 10 - 15 min documentary in small groups. What I've decided to do is take a look into the psychological affect social networks have had on society, I'll have a look at where social networks began, how they're used today and perhaps take a look at where this technology will eventually lead us.

I'm not overly familiar with the documentary form so I'll be keeping in a journal all the progress of this project and I'll use my blog to gather visual information as well as links to other pieces of work found on the net.

Scott Bradley Film

Here's a link to my website -
scottatbburn.wix.com/bradleyfilm

Here's a link to my production company FenixFilms -
http://sbradleyfilm.wix.com/fenixfilms

Here's a link to my Twitter account -
twitter.com/sbradleyfilm

Here's a link to my Facebook account -
facebook.com/scott.bradley

Here's a link to my LinkedIn account -
linkedin.com