Week 8

The week started off with Andy on cinema movements talking about star power and how the media create a deceptive image. We also found out what keeps us watching the star; The stars on screen character's contradiction of the ordinary and extraordinary. Actor's/Actress's identification to a particular kind of role in the Hollywood system which is based on genre.

In the afternoon with Richard we looked over what is expected in different films with specific genre. I enjoyed the class but my concentration levels were low, so I found it difficult to grasp some things. What I got from the class was helpful in developing and knowing where to go in my stories because each genre has got a template of how, when, where, what and why situations should happen more or less.

Factual programming on Tuesday, we watched two documentaries. the first Evicted was dreary and depressive. About two families who were evicted from their home, through financial problems. It was so sad how people these days are in these circumstances. The documentary cut half way through because of scratches on the disc.

I imagine it would have been hard for the production crew to keep on filming they would have been mentally drained.

The second documentary was about women who buy Fake babies. though fake they look incredibly realistic and they don't just buy them they treat the dolls as humans. It was strange to me that anyone would even consider this. The documentary did it's job, it made me shocked, confused and slightly irritate towards the women.

Thursday was technical, Cammie our sound lecturer went over, in some detail over the sound equipment. The class went on for too long, I would have preferred a break in the middle of a 3hour lecture. The first hour or so I was taking useful notes but after my concentration hit it's limit I switched off.

Editing in the afternoon with Gavin. I believe I am improving my editing skills. though will need a one to one tutorial to familiarise myself with preparing to capture etc.

Friday Adam discussed our proposals for Life On Mars and how we could improve them, Later that afternoon we had a screening of Rome Open City, It was a phenomenal achievement by Roberto Rosselini to use the ends of old film reel's fix them together and film Open City not to mention in the middle of the 2ND world war.

Week 7

Monday, I had a tutorial with Richard, my idea had been done before many at times and I hadn't brought any originality to it.

Tuesday, we watched a slow and pondering documentary about bible sales men trying to make a living. The documentary to start gave the view of pushy arrogant sales men but in the end showed them how they needed to be these things to survive and make money.

Thursday was practical with Ray. We looked at the tools used in the follow focus kit and the elements that are essential to know that effect focus on a shoot. I got lost in this session when Ray was talking about measurements, lenses and focal plains etc. I may need to research this area more. In general I took a lot from this class, it was incredibly informative maybe too much so. I love the hands on effect.

On Friday morning was T.V Content Origination. Adam went over our television review sheets for Life On Mars. Again we were focusing on themes, so vitally important, also something I need to get a better grasp of. The class was about telling the difference between themes and plot devices in this particular drama. I struggled to tell the difference between our listed themes. What I got from the class is that themes are what continues with and throughout the character arc and devices are basically something that drives the story on, rather than the character. I loved the interaction in this class with lecturer to students because in a sense it is pulling all the class up to the same level of understanding.

In the afternoon we watched a very documentary-like film, a true story of the Algerian revolution from both sides of the battle, 'Battle of Algiers'. The film lasted what seemed a long time, it was more like a history lesson rather than a form of entertainment. Some of the scenes were extremely realistic and were huge in terms of scale and extras.

Week 6

This has been quicker than last. It seems like I have not been in Uni at all, due to some mid week class alterations.

Monday was with Andy, he was talking about film genre. Film genre helps us to study film closer, comparing like with like and how they are understood and what the meaning behind them is. We also looked at the repertoire of elements in different genres which was interesting, e.g Tommy guns (gangster films), Horses (westerns). Also films cross genres, Die Hard could arguably be a western rather than just an action film. Genre helps us to define films and what should be involved.



Tuesday, Factual Programming. The class took a visit to the Mitchell Library. We were give an induction on how to access historic archives and general house keeping rules. I have never been to Mitchel Library before but it seems a good source for research.



Wednesday. Our class with Zam had been altered.



Thursday, TV content origination. Adam who is still ill, assigned us to watch Being Human. A comedy drama which follows the lives of a werewolf, a vampire and a ghost. The drama has a very different perspective view of the norm, which makes it worth to watch. Our homework is to submit a T.V programme review sheet which is bringing us closer to what should be involved in today's T.V dramas.



Friday was the uni open day, stretching my communication skills. I spoke to several applicants, most of them seemed to be interested. I met a previous applicant from last year who is applying again this year. He seemed eager so I wish him well.

Week 5, Day 4 & 5

Thursday, I was totally oblivious that I had a lighting lecture in the morning. I presumed, for some reason we had an editing class, we all received an email stating that Gavin our Editing lecturer was ill. Through misinterpretation I did not attend the lighting session. There was information posted on moodle about when the class which I didn't read hence my absence.

Later that day, we had an afternoon with Zam Salim, sharing his basics on storyboarding, we also properly structured and finished our strange short story ideas which we came up with in Zam's previous class. This exercise was more a refreshment (which I needed) of what we had learned in screenwriting last year, but with a directors point of view.

Friday morning was a continuation of Zam's class on Thursday. We storyboarded the famous plane chase sequence from North by Northwest. After we were drawing some more, storyboards up for short 20 second sequences. I love the fact Zam physically increases our skills by making us do what he teaches us about. I must state that all my lecturers tend to do this, which makes this course what it is. For me it's a brilliant way of understanding on a whole new level. I can't stress enough how grateful I am, being a participant in this course.

That afternoon, was a screening of The Searchers. On a previous blog I predicted what I thought happened but it turned out very different from what I expected. I will review The Searchers on the other connecting blog, The Luke Reviews.

Week 5, Day 1 & 2

This term is seeming to fly by, week 5 already, unbelievable, doesn't time fly when you're enjoying yourself. Monday, cinema movements. Andy was talking about how then audience read the screen. Being interested in cinematography this class 'caught my eye.' (that was terrible, the pun I was talking about) We were learning about syntax filming, where the film has some sort of structured meaning instead of just shooting anything until the film ran out as they did in the early film days. We also looked at saccadic vision where the eyes roam over an image to compile a complete picture. There are many different cinematography elements like deep focus, shot selection, character positioning and so on which the film communicates an unconscious meaning to the audience. I found this class interesting and will apply these techniques when filming.

Tuesday, Factual programming. Ethics, a principled sensitivity to the right of others. My opinion, if information which does not add to what you are actually documenting about, then leave it out. If it absolutely needs to be mentioned, then mention it, it might put your life in jeopardy, but that's journalism for you. If it's completely unnecessary then leave it out. If the situation was extremely disgustingly inhumane then I would discuss it with the interviewee, make sure I had researched it deeply and yes if true I would mention it in my documentation. I believe I would have the right to document it, freedom of speech. I believe, the more controversial a documentation is the more audience you'd attract.

Week 4

Monday, Cinema Movements. In this session we delved into the world of soundscaping. Starting off with a class exercise where Andy handed each of the three groups a sentence describing a scene. We then had to list the sounds that might be heard for our specific scene. We created a rough assembly of a soundscape, listing many sounds. The sounds listed for each scene started to shape pictures in our heads.

We then went through some codes and conventions of sound.

I fully believe that sound has a lot of power and value in films, making uninteresting scenes a lot more dynamic and powerful adding to the characters mood and direction of story in terms of the audiences conscience.

Later in the day Richard was discussing with us how we can change the 3 act structure. I find breaking the three act structure extremely hard since it has been drilled into our heads for the past year. I think I need to be extremely knowledgeable and grounded in the 3 act structure before I go around changing it. Toward the end we broke down Timmy and Choreomania in terms of three act structure.

Tuesday, Factual programming. Andy went through some rudimentary interviewing techniques. Broke down in it's simplest form it comes down to What, Why, Where, When, How and Who. The five W's and a H. Andy also went through some of the do's and dont's of interviewing. After this session I understood that my documentary Sharp Art, back in Heyday's (that was a joke) was not up to spec. Though it's not my hearts desire, I'd like the opportunity to be involved in the making of a documentary again.

Thursday, editing with Gavin. We were introduced to Avid an alternative editing software in the academy. I have never used Avid before, I'm not much of an editor but I'm only familiar using Final Cut editing software. Avid is similar to Final Cut having most of the same tools and commands. In my opinion Final Cut is easier to use but in some ways Avid has better ways of doing things. If Avid and Final Cut were amalgamated it would make things more easier and official.

Friday, Adam and the class were reviewing our T.V review sheets for Teachers and Shameless, as a class effort we listed all the themes that fit into each of the episodes. We then cut the list down to five main themes. The whole purpose of the exercise was to see what the audience like to watch in terms of issues and a selling point of view. I enjoy these classes even though I see myself in the film industry rather than T.V these classes give a good template on how to go about making stories.
In the afternoon we watched 12 Angry Men directed by Sydney Lumet, please read the review on The Luke Reviews.

Week 2 & 3

Week 2 is non existent, I was riddled with the flu, according to a source from the web I had 7 symptoms of swine flu. The whole of the week seemed wasted though I did watch an interesting drama on Sky Arts, In Treatment from the people who brought you the sopranos as it said on the advertisement. Being a fan of The Sopranos that line caught my attention. In Treatment is a drama or maybe more of a play in some ways produced by HBO. HBO they always come up with the goods. We have Gabriel Byrne as a psychotherapist treating clients. It is as simple as that. Each character are all three dimensional, you can clearly see that the writers have took a lot of time to develop them from head to toe. This addictive drama hypnotises you for 25 minutes pulling you deeper and deeper in to each of the clients life taking place practically only in the one room. Boring you might say, surprisingly it's not. The stories right up to the dialogues is original (to a point) extremely realistic and engaging, dramatic at times but it works, making you emotionally yielding to the characters. This enlightened my creative senses and in a way brought a brand new passion to my premise ideas, though Richard did slate these ideas but that is a different story.



Week 3 was an exhausting return, with my immune system low it took me a while to get back in to academic operation. Monday started with cinema movements focusing on the art of editing looking at some of Sergei Eisenstein and Walter Murch's original and creative works. We looked at the theories of both men and came to the conclusion of that they both believe editing is constructive rather than a destructive one. Editing is more than just cutting images together, it's driving the story and the emotions of the audience.
For me, usually I shy a way from the editing process but Murch's rule of six has simplified the art of editing and has brought a new understanding of cutting.

The afternoon I had an intimate one on one with Richard. I explained my premise ideas but Richard liked the initial idea of them but realistically the premises were to shallow. He advised me to go back and develop the stories so they have a twist and deeper meaning. I'm sure I have mentioned before that I am passionate about writing and I know there is ideas waiting to be fulfilled. I explained to Richard my creative senses are easily stressed, it seems i have to come up with my own creative stimulating formula. READING/RESEARCHING that is my answer, which I need to do a lot more of.

Tuesday we had Zam all day, this class is becoming more and more refreshing giving an insight of directing which is my ultimatum goal. Zam as our lecturer is easy going and fresh. He is very understandable. In the morning we dissected a scene from The Godfather being one of my favourite films, I was shocked to find some flaws, minor if that. The flaws included a massive camera shake at the end of the scene and some terrible acting form the background extras. In the afternoon Zam went over storytelling structure and how important it is. A very long class but enjoyable.


Thursday was a day for sound, not one of my favourite subjects. Sound is extremely important but i think its one of they elements where you like or you don't, yes like Marmite. Our new lecturer went back over some of the basics last year, It was simple and more understandable than our last sound lecturer. He seemed to cover a lot but was easy to digest because we recalled our sound notes from last year.

Friday was screening time we watched a film called The Conversation written and directed by Francis Ford Coppola. A review of the film will be on The Luke Reviews.

Week 1

We have been eased into our first term, there wasn't that many classes. On Wednesday we were introduced to our new lecturer in directing. Half of the class screened their favourite scene, then we described how it was influential to us, then as a class broke it down in terms of visual style, performance, pacing and music etc. Our lecturer was trying to figure out what our film tastes and perceptions were.

Friday the class attended a screening of Metropolis (1927) in the lecture theatre. This futuristic German Expressionist film was awe inspiring from the point of the creative architecture, unique designs as well as the clever use of special effects. The Story otherwise was hard to follow or indeed make any sense. The look of the film was no doubt a blueprint for other sci-fi's to follow.

Year 2, Term 1, Week 1, Day 1

After an agonisingly boring summer, I have finally returned to the RSAMD. I really valued and enjoyed catching up with my class mates and lecturers. Yesterday we started with a introduction of all the drama department hosted by Maggie. After being rudely being interrupted by the fire alarm, I'll continue with my blog. Later DFTV 2 joined with the new DFTV 1 and 4 to participate in an update with the DFTV (powerhouse) lecturers. We were told will be taking place in the up and coming exciting year.
DFTV 2's first class was an introduction to Factual Programming which included an exercise where we had to research on Andy Dougan which was fascinating. I think some of us invaded too far into his private life. The exercise was a research skill builder at it's very lowest.
I am happy to be back and have dreams and expectations over the future year.

Later weeks of year 1.

Almost at the end of year one, unbelievable. The past week or so DFTV1 was working on the end of term film 'Little Clown.' The production went rather smoothly, thanks to the producers who had there organisation skills down to a Tee. As I have said before my job title on 'Little Clown' was  the 2nd AC. Probably the lowest job on set, but I didn't mind I believe I gave my best and that's what counts. I have always wanted to use a slate as a child, and thanks to one of the 4th years that dream came true. At first I was not stable but got the hang of it a few hours into it. I made some mistakes like writing the wrong scene number on the slate. As a whole I was satisfied with my participation to the project.

This week was a field trip to Edinburgh International Film Festival which was an interesting experience. Having being tired from the previous shoot I must admit I nodded off in a few films. The highlight of the trip was the Q&A with Darren Aronofsky and the horrible film Antichrist. Darren was funny and patient being asked questions by a not so good interviewer it was refreshing experience. The Antichrist was extremely sexual, disgusting  and demonic. It left me with an extremely bad feeling, if that was the purpose then it has done it's job. I would never watch it again. Overall the EIFF experience was extremely enjoyable, would love to go next year.

Week 7

This week seemed to fly by. The sunshine was enjoyable though I think the heat drained me. Moving on, on Monday, the fire alarm went off, after waiting for this situation to be resolved, Ross and I had an update with Adam discussing and developing our Webisodes. I hadn't done much developing of the story but Ross and I researched the style and look of the series. Adam advised us to think more about developing characters and story rather than finding a look of something that's not even there. He has a point.

Kim was with us in the afternoon where we amalgamated the classes work on Corrie then broke down our story beats into scene by scenes. Tedious but we finally got there thanks to Phil (as I said before I was drained). 

Tuesday the camera department for Little Clown (L.C) played around with the Kit. That's all we did sort of. We tried a few lighting arrangements for L.C but it never worked out. I think the DP wanted more lights. 

Wednesday we had a class with Ray in the Agos foyer, I didn't hear a word he said because of the musical brass heads above us. I caught some information, he showed us to assemble the matte box and follow focus on the camera and talked a little about the filters. On The Love, Mugs and stick men shoot I tried a little focus pulling but it was extremely difficult. The Follow focus gadget, I presume takes the extremely difficult out of focus pulling. Don't get me wrong I still need to learn about the WHOLE THEORY behind focus pulling but that's for second year. Interesting session it has just opened my eyes how little I know about THE CAMERA. I will get there though.

We had Abigail for a production meeting. I find it difficult to hold my concentration in this class. I do realise this is one of the Most Important elements in the industry, If not THE most important. Next production session that comes up this coming week I will give all my concentration.

Thursday was a Major disappointment I was working on Murdo's production 'Dust.' Everything was running smoothly we Sound, Make up,  Actors  Lights, Camera, then finally Acti... no maybe not. The 570 rejected a mini DV tape and a red light started flashing. Warning Warning Warning. The director called off the shoot.  

The next morning Ray was not impressed. The 570 will probably have to go away for repair. "Right enough this hitch did come up at the "right moment" with many shoots to be completed in about two or so weeks. " Before the Dust shoot I checked the camera equipment to make sure it was all working, but I never thought of the tape mechanism.

Hopefully next week will run more smoothly.

 

Week 6

The past week seemed quite busy and very vague to me, plenty of production meetings for Little Clown. On Thursday the camera department had a brief meeting with Ray. He went through each of our roles and jobs we need to do. Being the 2ND AC I thought I wouldn't have much to do no I was wrong. One thing about this role I'm not happy with is there is not one single creative input I can give. My job includes charging batteries, setting up the tripod back focusing, slating and making the kit accessible to the crew which includes bringing kit to the crew if needed. I believe the input I give will make the production run more smoothly. Anyway it is an assessment so I will do the best of my abilities. Ray and Co are testing us all to see if we can cope with the responsibilities we each have and to do a successful job.
Last week was a tutorial with Andy, it went well I always feel encouraged. Issues I had was my critical thinking, I haven't been blogging recently on the films I have watched, I need to pick up the pace and start blogging, practice makes perfect. My editing skills need to improve, I did a terrible job of the exercise with Melissa's Mail. My shots cut together but not skillfully. I am thinking in getting a tutorial with Gavin.

We finished the first part of the moodle assessment on The not very enjoyable Last Picture Show. But we started the second part of the assessment to see if we would re-make it my answer was no I go into to detail on moodle. Interesting experience wish I had been moodling earlier rather than the day before the deadline.

We had lots of production meetings with Abigail that week the Little Clown producers were more involved. I found it interesting how to schedule and so on. To me the producers have a large responsibility on their hands for example they need to find a 5 year old juggling child actor. (enough said I think)

We had Andy also that week he was talking about the rise of the high concept movie in starting from the late 60s. My own opinion on high concept movies are they may not be deep and thoughtful or win Oscars but they make millions.

It has been an enjoyable week but I am looking forward to the summer holidays, even though I have not been incredibly busy I feel burnt out.

Week 5

From Saturday through to Tuesday we were budying professionals at BBC Scotland, filming an event called Show Light; Industry professionals and students meeting together to explore lighting in film, television, architecture etc. The experience was helpful,I have always wanted to know what happens behind the cube of metal and glass.

On Wednesday, there was a screening of Easy Riders and Raging Bulls. Which gave us an insight of the 1970s crazy film culture. I found this class incredibly interesting, so much so I bought the book. I love this revolutionary time in film history.

On Thursday it was time to find out which one of our short films were commissioned. There was a strange twist and only one film was nominated Charlotte Carden's Little Clown. It seems to me a very artsy film and will be an interesting to work on. I'm looking forward to the end product. The rest of the day we were situated into different departments and roles. My role in this production is the 2ND Camera Assistant.

On Friday we finished the TV module with Andy looking at future of television, specifically its role as a force for social cohesion.

In Abigail's class on Friday afternoon, we watched Floating is Easy, the film we took a long time to breakdown and schedule. The film was slightly different how I pictured when I was breaking down the script but the film was enjoyable but as most of Scottish films are, DEPRESSING. I suppose it's our job to change this.

Week 4

On Monday, we had Kim we splitting our story outline into episodes and stuck them to the wall arranging each of our beats into A, B and C stories. It was very interesting to see how the story lining process works. Even though it was simplified, i think i got an incite on how the soap business works.

Tuesday Ray gave us a brief on the up and coming project, 'Black Cats and Blue Angels.' He also talked about our end of term 7 minute shorts which i was excited to find out. I knew my script would not be nominated because my short didn't have a clear goal, The whole script didn't follow the proper structure. I understand structure but every premise I was coming up with didn't have a clear goal.

On Wednesday morning I was shooting a few scenes. The starting scene we shoot ran smoothly because we had a lot of time, but on the finishing scene we were pushed, the lighting was not all that good, the shots were also rushed. I suggested to Murdo we should shoot the scene again.

In the afternoon we had a late screening of' 'Bonnie and Clyde.' The film was enjoyable but it seemed very different for that time because of the film's violence glorifying the main characters armed robbers. This film was part of the evolution of the new Hollywood and different attitude of the up and coming generation.

On Friday we had a tutorial from a special guest John Yorke who is the head of many Major British soaps and series, East Enders, Skins and many more. John gave us a tutorial on story structure. He is a skilled teacher, it made me understand the 3 act and 5 act structure more clearly. I loved the session 10 out of 10.

Week 3

Monday was a bank holiday there were no classes, though I missed a screenwriting tutorial the Monday before so it seems like I have not seen Richard in a while. 

Tuesday was assessment day on editing. Gavin wanted us to edit a sequence from Mellisa's Mail or Love, Mugs... Since I was part of Love, Mugs... production I edited some footage from the other groups production, I wasn't happy with the end result. I didn't turn up until 2 in the afternoon, hence the not so good edit. Editing is not one of my strong points, I need to practice and improve I might consider a tutorial on the actual skill and craft of editing. Disappointing day for me.

Wednesday,  we had an asociated screening of representation Paradise Now, which gave us a different view of suicide bombers. The film gave me a whole different perception on why some suicide bombers would kill themselves and other people. Paradise Now did not stereotype Muslims as the representation of ruthless bombers. 

At 1230  to 1345, I was filming on Murdo's abstract production, Dust. The shoot went well, no problems. I'm so grateful to be the camera Op on another production, even though Love, Mugs... was a small dissapointment for me, I have a chance to improve my skills. 

In the afternoon, our class amalgamated with DFTV3, and were informed by a representative of Film G; a Gaelic  short film competition organisation. 

It didn't attract me, simply because I don't know the Gaelic language, though I would be happy to learn.

Andy was focusing on the representation of muslims on Thursday.  Most of Hollywood films that consist of muslims are shown from an outsiders eye and society's atitude to at that period, so therefore it usually is not a true representation and vice versa.

Later on in the day, the class were analysing web-series and how we could adapt our own ideas into this up and coming format.  

Friday we started with watching a intresting documentary called, Left of Frame exploring the rise and fall of tv as a political force. Then finished with a documentary on the unique channel 4, I percieved it as a rebel channel breaking all the rule books. 

Week 2

Tuesday afternoon I had an assessment with Gavin on editing. I had to show that I could log in to edit share then log and capture some shots. Since it was an open book assessment, i had no real problems, I just need to quicken my pace but that will come with practice. 

Wednesday a screening of In the Heat of the Night released in 1967, an enjoyable watch, murder thriller bringing up issues of racism and prejudice. The film was filmed in Chicago despite being set in the south, this was because the leading character was African-American, and the south were still struggling with race at that time. Despite the film only been released in the cinemas in the North, it was in the box office top 10.    

Thursday morning we were taking an interesting and enjoyable look at the representation of gender and race. "No matter how lifelike anything we see on the cinema screen may be, it is not real"  Andy Dougan. Many films give a stereotypical representation of women,  especially today in Hollywood, some are simply used as plot devices, eye candy with no real character development, just helpless victims.  

In the afternoon we had television and had a screening of a pilot episode of Boys from the Blackstuff a politically challenging series, which tackled the depressing subject of poverty and unemployment. It was a human, heart-felt episode, I enjoyed the performances.

Friday we had Adam for mobile and web based content. We looked over some terminology and the development of  online series and where it will go in the future. 

In the afternoon we had Abigail. We were learning the basics of Strip boards and scheduling. Again another essential for Production. 

Week 1

On Monday we started our new term off with Screenwriting. We handed in our 7 minute premises, I wasn't impressed with my ideas. They did not come naturally, i had to force them out me. I was only happy with two of my ideas.  We finished our story exercises, (where we pass them round and add a sentence to the story) I didn't like this because it is extremely hard for me to come up with a sentence that would fit in with the structure and make sense if i don't get the idea from the persons sentence before, it knocks me off then causes a chain reaction.  We only completed three stories out of twelve which was really bad.  Even the three completed stories were incredibly silly and didn't make sense. For the stories to make sense I think it would have been better if we communicated and explained what we have written. This is the last class this year we will have with Richard, we are all now going to have individual tutorials instead of whole classes.   In away I'm glad because it will be easier for us to grow i think, hopefully Richard will shape us and help us to grow in our own strengths. We will be going at our individual pace. Looking forward to it.

In the afternoon, it was the first  we have had with Kim. We were learning about soaps and how this area of the industry works from a storylining perspective. Although my goal is not to work in soaps, the subject is interesting. We have been split into groups to come up with a story ideas for Coronation street. Our group hasn't thinking of the story yet, i think we are all trying to get updated on whats happening in the Coronation Street world. 

Coronation street for me is incredibly and repeatably depressing, there is no WOW factor. There is something about soaps that makes me turn off, what it is exactly, I am not to sure.  I have respect that the soap is the most powerful thing on TV and it is not dying anytime soon.  

On Tuesday, our editing classes were cancelled. In the afternoon had Andy for the history of cinema.We learned that James Stuart changed Actors contracts to studios  by working for nothing but taking a share of the profit which totally changed the Hollywood system. Also how film started getting a new audience because of the creation of television. I find this class really interesting. The best years of our lives was an associated screening 

On Wednesday we had a screening of The Best Years of Our Lives directed by William Wyler a realistic and intimate film. It was a story about three veteran service man who return after WWII and their struggles and adjusting of their life back home.  The Film covered classic human topics like unemployment, adultery and alcoholism. The ironic title refers to the troubling fact that many servicemen had 'the best years of their lives' in wartime, not in their experiences afterwards.

On Thursday there were no classes, but some independant study time.

On Friday, we had Abigail for production. She was covering and explaining the essential Script Breakdown. Afterwards we had to go through each scene of the script and break it down in terms of props, characters, sound, set etc, everything that required to film the scene. I was having difficulties at first but near scene 7, I started to pick it up. I have exercised my skills on Script Breakdown before on a three day Production course hosted by Fluid Eye productions but it refreshed my memory and the importance of it.

Love, Mugs and Stickmen

I was the camera operator on the production  Love, Mugs and Stickmen written and directed by Ross Williamson.

Ross was an extremely good first time director, he knew what he was doing most of the time. There were only a few time where I was confused. 

I was confused and slightly stressed in some sections of the shoot especially when our Lecturer came to visit the set. I think this is because the whole crew was focusing hard not to make a mistake. Our lecturer said some shots looked student like which lowered our moral a little. Looking back on the comment, I agree completely because at that moment in time the production was rushing to finish for a 12 o clock palette class who were moving in to our location. We couldn't take the time to be creative or even frame the shots that were scripted on the storyboards.

A major mistake I made, was accidently pressing regen on the 570 instead of the zoom control and later when capturing,  the time-code was a little problem. The thing was I pressed regen again. Next time I will look on where I am putting my fingers.  After some help from the AD, I was back on track. 

Also another problem was that light stands and some kit was in frame on some shots. Even though kit was at easy access in the room, we should have moved them into a different room. In the future, I should walk through my shot and pay close attention to any unwanted items in shot.

Although there was a crew of six working on the production, it would have ran more smoothly if there was a couple more people. Two of our crew had to continually step in as extras.

 

The shoot was tiring for me this is because the day before I was filming another production Lord of the Rings in sixty seconds. This took all my energy and away. The professional industry I could imagine is extremely worse but I'm glad I was physically pressurized because it has given me preparation and a little taste of the 'real world.'

We used tracks in the shoot. I asked Adam to use them he said possibly, but referred me to Ray who gave the 'green light.' Before the shoot we were trained how to use them.  I was really excited because i have never used them before. The shots that we used them for looked fantastic although it wasn't as smooth as using steel tracks, It made me feel more professional.  

On the production I was directed on how to frame and execute each shot. Looking back, I should  of put more of my own suggestions and input for shot ideas. This production had no major mistakes or major difficulties. Overall, I was not satisfied with the footage. I loved the whole experience, this was the first time I had been working on a film set. I am eager to learn and gain more experience in this area.

Week 10 - Day 3

Today I had a feedback turtorial with Andy on my assessment on moodle. The assessment was analysing the marketing of 'The Wrestler,' which was part of the Introduction to cinema module. I passed which was a good thing to hear. I encouraged my group on choosing a film and gave good analysis of the marketing campaign. A lthough, in the module as whole Andy would like me to extend and offer more thoughts on my blog on what i have covered in class. The feedback was useful because it shows me how i need to improve on my blogging.

In the afternoon, we had a viewing of a tv documentary style drama called 'Cathy come home,' it was very emotional, it was about a young couple and how they go down a poverty hole, after the husband is injured and can't go to work. At the end of the screening I was completely stunned. The tv drama back in the 60s brought up issues of homlessness, unemployment and the rights of mothers to keep their own children which resulted in a national housebuilding programme.The film should us how television is a potential force for change in society.

Week 10 - Day 2

Today we had critical and contextual studies 2 with Andy. He was talking about the form of classic Hollywood film making. We started doing a group exercise, a shot list for a short dialogue piece. Each of the groups came up with similar shots and the way they were cut together. the purpose of the exercise showed that we all came up with the classic Hollywood form. 

This style was established by Hollywood in the early film years and has stuck ever since because of its simplicity to edit.

In the afternoon we had Richard for screen writing, where we shared our premise ideas. We also took part in an exercise for a short 3 minute outline that went slightly chaotic but better than last time. 

I was happy with my premise ideas, but i believe i can do better. On a whole the day was very educating and has spured me onto opening my mind further, really just to dig deep or gothat extra mile to find better premises.

Week 10 - Day 1

Today, the class split into the two production teams, for the two nominated, three minute films. The two nominated films are called, 'Love, Mugs and Stickmen' which was written by Ross Williamson  and 'The Messenger' which was written by Gavin Laing. The class was assigned into two groups of 6 by the DFTV panel a few days ago. I was assigned into Ross Williamson's production. Anyway, back to today, we were allocated by Ross, the author into our roles in the production, I was chosen to be the camera operator. I am particularly happy with this because I believe camera operating is one of my strongest skills in 'the industry.' 

We began to share our ideas of who should be cast in the primary roles. Later we started breaking down the script in terms of props, sound and shots etc. I sat with the author and the camera assist and began to plan and work out shots, the style and the rhythm of the film. I suggested that some of the shots would require tracking. Although the class have not been trained in this element, I thought I'd drop an email to Ray to see if I could get a crash course on how to use the tracks. Adam was sure that it would be fine. The day was very fruitful and I'm excited on how the film will turn out.

In the evening, I took a visit to cineworld and watched 'Bronson,' which I am really dissappointed about, because it wasted 95 minutes of my life. I' ll write a review on The Luke Reviews.

23.2.09

A busy day today, first of all the head of CPP came to talk to us. She was asking if we wanted to collaborate in some CPP thing. (sorry if i sound ignorant) It's a very strange course but am up to do what ever needs done.

After, half of the class including me were with Ray, recapping on elements of lighting, colour temperature etc. It was useful but the group tutorial was very short.

In the afternoon, it was our first class with Barbara. We were scheduling in a sense, figuring out which audiences would watch certain programmes at certain times. 

We also had to come up with a few sentences explaining our programme ideas (from earlier on in the year). I enjoyed the class it is was informative and it's always nice to see a new face. 

Past week

The past two weeks I have enjoyed. In Andy's classes Coronation Street and the history of editing was the main focus.

It has opened my eyes on how important Coronation street is. Andy talked about interweaving of stories, Narrative structure and hooks which are all massively important.  

We also began a group assessment online using Moodle, which i think is a new and refreshing way to execute such tasks.

15 Jan 2009

In the history of cinema lecture today we learned that people like Thomas Edison and George Eastman helped the development of cinema. Eastman created flexible transparent roll film stock and Edison invented the Kinetoscope a box in which film was transported on a loop to give the illusion of movement. These are only few examples of developments that gave rise to the birth of cinema in 1895. Cinema was something that was a new way of entertainment that the everybody could see.

13th and 14th nov 2009

On Tuesday in our screenwriting class we went over things we had cover last term from story hooks to story structure. We were first exercising our creative minds. Two people from our class had to stay in a position of their choice, and the rest of us had to write a scene or an idea from their stance. I found it particularly difficult to think of an idea because my mind was a bit rusty from the Christmas holiday's.



In our technical class, we had an introduction to lighting.We learned about colour temperature, white balance, different types of lights, how to set them up and use them. Lighting can be quite technical but it appeals to me. Lighting plays a big part in production because it sets the mood, character and story of a scene. I love to see beautiful lit scenes, it brings so much more to film.



Today Andy talked about family viewing, where families sit down to watch an unmissable show (appointment viewing in a sense). If broadcasters make good, challenging family programmes they will find an audience. The BBC restored Saturday nights as a cornerstone of family viewing with the new Doctor Who, something they hadn't accomplished over 20 years.