Portrait of a place – Contingency plan
Unfortunately due to unforeseen circumstance’s (dodgy batteries) on the day of shooting, we were unable to use the Canon Xm2.
Luckily I had brought my Handy-cam along just in case such a situation occurred and whilst quality is bound to of been compromised, at least footage has been obtained!
I shall highlight this in greater detail during my evaluation.
Friday 28 October 2011
Tuesday 25 October 2011
Portrait of a place - Call sheet
Call sheet :
My number : 07805430353
Zach : 07780008150
D Ballin : 01142252673
D Green : 07769845826
E Johnson : 01142252676
My number : 07805430353
Zach : 07780008150
D Ballin : 01142252673
D Green : 07769845826
E Johnson : 01142252676
Shot list for portrait of a place
Shot list – portrait of a place
As we have never been to the location of filming before this, we were basing rough shots from what images we could find on the internet and from what we imagined and been told we would come across.
There fore everything written so far for the shot list is but a backbone, the supporting foundations for us to elaborate on whilst shooting.
Close ups.
Close up shots of tree’s, leave’s, streams, old bricks, stones, any wildlife or interesting vegetation.
Mid shots.
Mid shots of tree’s, landscapes, streams, wildlife,
long shots.
long shots of landscapes , hills, mountains, fields, trees
POV shots
A long POV shot of a ramblers journey, walking through areas holding the camera.
Extreme close ups.
Extreme close up shots of trees, leaves, plants, streams and wild life.
As we have never been to the location of filming before this, we were basing rough shots from what images we could find on the internet and from what we imagined and been told we would come across.
There fore everything written so far for the shot list is but a backbone, the supporting foundations for us to elaborate on whilst shooting.
Close ups.
Close up shots of tree’s, leave’s, streams, old bricks, stones, any wildlife or interesting vegetation.
Mid shots.
Mid shots of tree’s, landscapes, streams, wildlife,
long shots.
long shots of landscapes , hills, mountains, fields, trees
POV shots
A long POV shot of a ramblers journey, walking through areas holding the camera.
Extreme close ups.
Extreme close up shots of trees, leaves, plants, streams and wild life.
Portrait of a place research – Location - Edale
Portrait of a place research – Location - Edale
Zach and I decided to take a look at Edale on the Internet, hoping the images
And videos we could find on the location would inspire us and give us an idea what to draw up on story boards and what risk’s we would have to look out for.
The Edale website it self came in very handy, providing images and information on the location.
http://www.edale-valley.co.uk/
from this we gathered Edale is quite a remote and rural area, surrounded by Fields, hills, wildlife, trees, streams and all other natural wonders you expect to see in such an area.
This information helped us plan shot’s ranging from extreme close up’s and macro shots of leaves and wild life, to wide shots depicting the vast landscapes and rolling hills.
Zach and I decided to take a look at Edale on the Internet, hoping the images
And videos we could find on the location would inspire us and give us an idea what to draw up on story boards and what risk’s we would have to look out for.
The Edale website it self came in very handy, providing images and information on the location.
http://www.edale-valley.co.uk/
from this we gathered Edale is quite a remote and rural area, surrounded by Fields, hills, wildlife, trees, streams and all other natural wonders you expect to see in such an area.
This information helped us plan shot’s ranging from extreme close up’s and macro shots of leaves and wild life, to wide shots depicting the vast landscapes and rolling hills.
Monday 24 October 2011
RESEARCH: VJ'ing - portrait of a place
Research – Vjing
This piece of research has helped me not only in general film production terms but also more specifically with the ‘portrait of a place’ project.
I chosen to cover VJ’ing as its something ive been interested in for quite a while, but never really knew much about.
This year how ever I witnessed two absolutely amazing live shows, using VJing to a shockingly brilliant level.
These were ‘Aphex Twin’ live and ‘Dj Yoda’ live, both shows have left an impact on me and urged me to find out more.
The videos of ‘Aphex twin’ really don’t do the show justice what so ever as they all filmed from the crowd.
The show was a combination of trippy visuals combined with live feeds of the crowd, cutting certain subject faces and swapping their bodies, or replacing their faces with those of ‘Aphex twin’, it was incredible.
The ‘Dj Yoda’ show whilst seeming less complicated then that of the above, was a lot more structured, every single track and sample fit snuggly with the visuals and provided a hugely comical and surprising twist to the show.
Another act that has inspired me to broaden my knowledge on this subject is ‘Coldcut’.
The British duo are world renowned for both their musical and visual prowess and were amongst the first of those to utilize technology to create an audio-visual show.
Their video’s for ‘timber’ and ‘Natural rhythm’ are amazing pieces of audio-visual work, using editing and sampling to create not only impressive, experimental music video’s but also incredibly interesting music, all from environmental and natural sounds and images.
So what is VJ’ing?
VJ’ing is a fully live, visual performance using various pieces of media to create a real time, changing image.
To put it simply, it is similar to Dj’ing but using film and video clips and/or special effects instead of music.
VJ’ing is nearly always in conjunction with DJ’ing.
Be it as a simple decoration in a nightclub, to a fully-fledged entertainment show, like those I mentioned above.
It brings a new sense to the feeling of enjoying music, stimulating you visually as well as audibly.
The equipment for Vj’ing is ever changing as is technology, but always revolves around a library of media being edited and mixed live.
This could range from old VHS tapes to modern special effects and animation stored on a hard drive to live camera input and images and clips taken straight from the Internet.
Company’s such as ‘Vixid’ and ‘Modul8’ are two of A handful that are actually creating hardware and software specifically for Vj’s.
http://www.vixid.com/index.php?m=134&rub=3&lang=en
http://www.modul8.ch
How has Vj’ing influenced my approach to film making?
Whilst Vj’ing is a parallel universe in film making terms to what project’s I'm currently under going, I believe it’s easy to harvest a wealth of idea’s and inspiration from the craft.
The editing and piecing together of images is very fluent and organic, seeing as much of it is performed live it creates an erratic, unpredictable and almost animalistic style of cutting that I feel comes across naturally progressive and is similar to the experimental path I wish to tread.
I hope to recreate this feeling in my ‘Portrait of a place’ piece, lending many idea’s from the concept of VJ’ing and coupling the unorthodox method of editing with the natural environment found in Edale.
I will continue to look in to Vj’ing further then this project alone and hopefully will soon have a grasp on the basic’s of live performance myself.
Here are some website’s that have helped me along the way :
http://www.vjs.net/
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/VJ_(video_performance_artist)#cite_note-15
http://visualmusicarchive.org/
http://www.resolume.com/
This piece of research has helped me not only in general film production terms but also more specifically with the ‘portrait of a place’ project.
I chosen to cover VJ’ing as its something ive been interested in for quite a while, but never really knew much about.
This year how ever I witnessed two absolutely amazing live shows, using VJing to a shockingly brilliant level.
These were ‘Aphex Twin’ live and ‘Dj Yoda’ live, both shows have left an impact on me and urged me to find out more.
The videos of ‘Aphex twin’ really don’t do the show justice what so ever as they all filmed from the crowd.
The show was a combination of trippy visuals combined with live feeds of the crowd, cutting certain subject faces and swapping their bodies, or replacing their faces with those of ‘Aphex twin’, it was incredible.
The ‘Dj Yoda’ show whilst seeming less complicated then that of the above, was a lot more structured, every single track and sample fit snuggly with the visuals and provided a hugely comical and surprising twist to the show.
Another act that has inspired me to broaden my knowledge on this subject is ‘Coldcut’.
The British duo are world renowned for both their musical and visual prowess and were amongst the first of those to utilize technology to create an audio-visual show.
Their video’s for ‘timber’ and ‘Natural rhythm’ are amazing pieces of audio-visual work, using editing and sampling to create not only impressive, experimental music video’s but also incredibly interesting music, all from environmental and natural sounds and images.
So what is VJ’ing?
VJ’ing is a fully live, visual performance using various pieces of media to create a real time, changing image.
To put it simply, it is similar to Dj’ing but using film and video clips and/or special effects instead of music.
VJ’ing is nearly always in conjunction with DJ’ing.
Be it as a simple decoration in a nightclub, to a fully-fledged entertainment show, like those I mentioned above.
It brings a new sense to the feeling of enjoying music, stimulating you visually as well as audibly.
The equipment for Vj’ing is ever changing as is technology, but always revolves around a library of media being edited and mixed live.
This could range from old VHS tapes to modern special effects and animation stored on a hard drive to live camera input and images and clips taken straight from the Internet.
Company’s such as ‘Vixid’ and ‘Modul8’ are two of A handful that are actually creating hardware and software specifically for Vj’s.
http://www.vixid.com/index.php?m=134&rub=3&lang=en
http://www.modul8.ch
How has Vj’ing influenced my approach to film making?
Whilst Vj’ing is a parallel universe in film making terms to what project’s I'm currently under going, I believe it’s easy to harvest a wealth of idea’s and inspiration from the craft.
The editing and piecing together of images is very fluent and organic, seeing as much of it is performed live it creates an erratic, unpredictable and almost animalistic style of cutting that I feel comes across naturally progressive and is similar to the experimental path I wish to tread.
I hope to recreate this feeling in my ‘Portrait of a place’ piece, lending many idea’s from the concept of VJ’ing and coupling the unorthodox method of editing with the natural environment found in Edale.
I will continue to look in to Vj’ing further then this project alone and hopefully will soon have a grasp on the basic’s of live performance myself.
Here are some website’s that have helped me along the way :
http://www.vjs.net/
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/VJ_(video_performance_artist)#cite_note-15
http://visualmusicarchive.org/
http://www.resolume.com/
Sunday 23 October 2011
Proposal for portrait of a place
Proposal
Project title: ‘Portrait of a place’
Aim of the project:
To plan and produce in pairs, a silent, 3 minute piece shot in the peak district.
The piece must incorporate the use of the natural environment and may include characters or individuals contained with in that area.
The portrayal of the landscape should be made evident in the piece, ‘an exploration of a physical place’ to quote the brief and may be Documentary, drama or Experimental in genre.
We have chosen to create an experimental piece, focusing on the beauty of nature to do the hard work for us.
Combining natural wonder with interesting imagery and angles and an editing style of avant-garde descent, we hope to create a short captivating piece, much like that of a music video or footage used whilst Vjing.
We are also going to use natural light to the best of our ability, with shafts breaking through the leaves and high lighting minor details.
Obviously, the absence of music will make it difficult to hold the attention of the audience, so we are planning on using the lack of rhythm to help create an off beat, erratic pacing of editing which will hopefully keep the audiences eyes glued to the screen.
Research:
For Research for the piece have looked to several sources, the first being of course our own imaginations.
After discussing different ideas we both found we had very similar expectations for what we were looking for.
We also looked online at several images of Edale to try and grasp an idea of what the location would be like (unfortunately, we didn’t have time to visit before hand) but this has proved helpful in the way we now a slight idea of the type of terrain we can expect to come across and how it will limit our capabilities of filming.
After deciding we wanted to make a heavily nature inspired, experimental piece, we trawled through vimeo to find similar productions.
You can find these under the research section of our blog, along with several images of Edale.
Technology and format:
Were going to be shooting the film using a Canon XM2, on DV SP format, captured on tape.
Once the footage is captured we will use final cut pro to edit and then put the film on two DVD’s, one playable DVD made in DVD studio pro and the other with a high quality, quick time file.
Crew:
The crew consists of me and Zach and whilst we’ve chosen to share most job roles, he will be the more dominant cinematographer, whilst take care of the majority of editing.
Project title: ‘Portrait of a place’
Aim of the project:
To plan and produce in pairs, a silent, 3 minute piece shot in the peak district.
The piece must incorporate the use of the natural environment and may include characters or individuals contained with in that area.
The portrayal of the landscape should be made evident in the piece, ‘an exploration of a physical place’ to quote the brief and may be Documentary, drama or Experimental in genre.
We have chosen to create an experimental piece, focusing on the beauty of nature to do the hard work for us.
Combining natural wonder with interesting imagery and angles and an editing style of avant-garde descent, we hope to create a short captivating piece, much like that of a music video or footage used whilst Vjing.
We are also going to use natural light to the best of our ability, with shafts breaking through the leaves and high lighting minor details.
Obviously, the absence of music will make it difficult to hold the attention of the audience, so we are planning on using the lack of rhythm to help create an off beat, erratic pacing of editing which will hopefully keep the audiences eyes glued to the screen.
Research:
For Research for the piece have looked to several sources, the first being of course our own imaginations.
After discussing different ideas we both found we had very similar expectations for what we were looking for.
We also looked online at several images of Edale to try and grasp an idea of what the location would be like (unfortunately, we didn’t have time to visit before hand) but this has proved helpful in the way we now a slight idea of the type of terrain we can expect to come across and how it will limit our capabilities of filming.
After deciding we wanted to make a heavily nature inspired, experimental piece, we trawled through vimeo to find similar productions.
You can find these under the research section of our blog, along with several images of Edale.
Technology and format:
Were going to be shooting the film using a Canon XM2, on DV SP format, captured on tape.
Once the footage is captured we will use final cut pro to edit and then put the film on two DVD’s, one playable DVD made in DVD studio pro and the other with a high quality, quick time file.
Crew:
The crew consists of me and Zach and whilst we’ve chosen to share most job roles, he will be the more dominant cinematographer, whilst take care of the majority of editing.
Friday 21 October 2011
portrait of a place - Research - Nature and experimental Documentry
Portrait of a place – Research – Genre
As our piece fall’s under experimental-documentary in style and Is heavily influenced by Nature, I figured it would be more then helpful to to take a look at a few example’s of similar work.
Experimental-documentary
Fairly self explanatory really, an experimental-documentary is exactly what you expect it to be (or don’t expect it to be), A film based on reality but shot creatively.
For example, our piece shall be representative of a Ramblers journey through out Edale and what they encounter on the way.
How ever, the art direction of the piece obviously isn’t going to be as simple, using cutting, effects and timing to create something out of the ordinary from something completely mundane.
Now for some examples from Vimeo :
We also checked out some Film’s on nature, just to help us with inspiration, especially for the macro shots :
As our piece fall’s under experimental-documentary in style and Is heavily influenced by Nature, I figured it would be more then helpful to to take a look at a few example’s of similar work.
Experimental-documentary
Fairly self explanatory really, an experimental-documentary is exactly what you expect it to be (or don’t expect it to be), A film based on reality but shot creatively.
For example, our piece shall be representative of a Ramblers journey through out Edale and what they encounter on the way.
How ever, the art direction of the piece obviously isn’t going to be as simple, using cutting, effects and timing to create something out of the ordinary from something completely mundane.
Now for some examples from Vimeo :
We also checked out some Film’s on nature, just to help us with inspiration, especially for the macro shots :
Thursday 20 October 2011
Film analysis - session Two!
During this weeks session we continued to evaluate several short films as a group and were then once again given the task of a personal analysis of one film at home.
I have chosen to cover the gritty, social realism drama ‘Skin deep’ by Yousaf Ali Kahn – 2001 – 13.00 minutes long.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/filmnetwork/films/p004t688
The film depicts ‘Romo’ as he struggles to grow up in a rough lower class, white neighborhood as a half Pakistani/half White young man during a predominantly racist era.
Pretending to be white he befriends some skinheads, who after a night out begin to torment another Pakistani boy.
After Romo gets involved in the bullying he has what can only be described as a personal identity crisis, this confusion of character is for me, the directors main theme through out the film.
Romo is shown to have an on going battle with himself, with his pride and heritage on one side and the longing to belong and fit in on the other.
The film aims to follow this battle and about how tough it can be to grow up in such a small minded society when you don’t conform to the norm and how in such cases people can be driven to ‘do’ or in this case ‘be’, something they are not.
In my opinion the phrase ‘A product of its environment’ works perfectly for describing Romo.
One particular element of the film that stood out to me was the use of subjective flash backs through out, each relating to a different side of Romo’s personality. His late father on one side as a reminder of his upbringing and warning him to stay clear of the racists and a group of skinhead bullies on the other, pressuring him over the edge and causing him to detest and hide who he really is.
Another technique used in the film I admire was the portrayal of Romo’s breakdown, a flash back of him being tormented seamlessly blends in to real life, mocking him and egging him on as he shaves his own head.
The way he envisions his demons either side of him in his reflection, laughing in his face whilst screaming racial abuse at him self really evokes a feeling of unease, pushing the viewer to the edge of their seat and simultaneously causing the feeling of claustrophobia.
The use of sound in this film is in my opinion excellent, ranging from the atmospheric mumbling, laughing and racial slurs in the pub, to aggressive and threatening shouting and abuse dispersed through out.
The distinct lack of music or a soundtrack during the film speaks volumes it self, enhancing the realism and seriousness of the subject.
At one point in the film a simple, percussive piece of music is played shortly, whilst walking his sister to school, but as soon as they enter the area white people live in this stops and isn’t heard again through out the entire film, I believe the reason for this being Romo is constantly on the look out for the rest of the film and whilst the music is played, it is the only part of the film he is slightly relaxed or feels ‘safe’.
There also several scenes which make sure use of a sharp, atmospheric noise, much like that of a train stopping, often at moments of fear and high pressure where Romo has to stop and think.
From a technical stand point the film is very well made, clean and clear shots with a smooth pacing, the sudden flash backs grab your attention enough for you to retain concentration through out and the grainy realism of the footage absorbs the viewer and immerses them in another era.
The locations used were all very realistic and true to the time period, nothing specifically impressive but I believe the Director wasn’t looking to impress the audience, just involve them in a photo-realistic representation of the area at that point in time, which he does very well.
I found the film to be highly successful, not so much from an entertainment perspective, but from that of a interesting, quizzical point of view.
It really makes you ponder and feel highly emotional involved, despite Romo’s cowardice and lack of charm, there is still something about him as a character that can make the audience feel empathetic towards him and you do end up feeling quite attached.
I also feel the film is massively easy for people to relate too, not necessarily just from a racial perspective but from any social out-cast point of view.
It is more then likely that the audience have at some point in their lives been on the receiving end of pressure, be it in school, work, family or friendship groups and there is a fine line between pride or fitting in and it can be difficult to know which side of it to stand on.
I found the film to be a highly enjoyable watch, short and punchy enough to evoke many feelings and thoughts with out becoming too intense or grating.
I didn’t feel once that the narrative was being forced upon me and the pace of the film is near on perfect.
I could happily of sat through a full-length feature version of the film and was left pondering about the next stage in Romo’s life, who in my opinion is a incredibly strong character with lots of room to evolve.
I do believe how ever any additional work to the story would ruin the dramatic ending and lessen the impact left by the films final scene.
I have chosen to cover the gritty, social realism drama ‘Skin deep’ by Yousaf Ali Kahn – 2001 – 13.00 minutes long.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/filmnetwork/films/p004t688
The film depicts ‘Romo’ as he struggles to grow up in a rough lower class, white neighborhood as a half Pakistani/half White young man during a predominantly racist era.
Pretending to be white he befriends some skinheads, who after a night out begin to torment another Pakistani boy.
After Romo gets involved in the bullying he has what can only be described as a personal identity crisis, this confusion of character is for me, the directors main theme through out the film.
Romo is shown to have an on going battle with himself, with his pride and heritage on one side and the longing to belong and fit in on the other.
The film aims to follow this battle and about how tough it can be to grow up in such a small minded society when you don’t conform to the norm and how in such cases people can be driven to ‘do’ or in this case ‘be’, something they are not.
In my opinion the phrase ‘A product of its environment’ works perfectly for describing Romo.
One particular element of the film that stood out to me was the use of subjective flash backs through out, each relating to a different side of Romo’s personality. His late father on one side as a reminder of his upbringing and warning him to stay clear of the racists and a group of skinhead bullies on the other, pressuring him over the edge and causing him to detest and hide who he really is.
Another technique used in the film I admire was the portrayal of Romo’s breakdown, a flash back of him being tormented seamlessly blends in to real life, mocking him and egging him on as he shaves his own head.
The way he envisions his demons either side of him in his reflection, laughing in his face whilst screaming racial abuse at him self really evokes a feeling of unease, pushing the viewer to the edge of their seat and simultaneously causing the feeling of claustrophobia.
The use of sound in this film is in my opinion excellent, ranging from the atmospheric mumbling, laughing and racial slurs in the pub, to aggressive and threatening shouting and abuse dispersed through out.
The distinct lack of music or a soundtrack during the film speaks volumes it self, enhancing the realism and seriousness of the subject.
At one point in the film a simple, percussive piece of music is played shortly, whilst walking his sister to school, but as soon as they enter the area white people live in this stops and isn’t heard again through out the entire film, I believe the reason for this being Romo is constantly on the look out for the rest of the film and whilst the music is played, it is the only part of the film he is slightly relaxed or feels ‘safe’.
There also several scenes which make sure use of a sharp, atmospheric noise, much like that of a train stopping, often at moments of fear and high pressure where Romo has to stop and think.
From a technical stand point the film is very well made, clean and clear shots with a smooth pacing, the sudden flash backs grab your attention enough for you to retain concentration through out and the grainy realism of the footage absorbs the viewer and immerses them in another era.
The locations used were all very realistic and true to the time period, nothing specifically impressive but I believe the Director wasn’t looking to impress the audience, just involve them in a photo-realistic representation of the area at that point in time, which he does very well.
I found the film to be highly successful, not so much from an entertainment perspective, but from that of a interesting, quizzical point of view.
It really makes you ponder and feel highly emotional involved, despite Romo’s cowardice and lack of charm, there is still something about him as a character that can make the audience feel empathetic towards him and you do end up feeling quite attached.
I also feel the film is massively easy for people to relate too, not necessarily just from a racial perspective but from any social out-cast point of view.
It is more then likely that the audience have at some point in their lives been on the receiving end of pressure, be it in school, work, family or friendship groups and there is a fine line between pride or fitting in and it can be difficult to know which side of it to stand on.
I found the film to be a highly enjoyable watch, short and punchy enough to evoke many feelings and thoughts with out becoming too intense or grating.
I didn’t feel once that the narrative was being forced upon me and the pace of the film is near on perfect.
I could happily of sat through a full-length feature version of the film and was left pondering about the next stage in Romo’s life, who in my opinion is a incredibly strong character with lots of room to evolve.
I do believe how ever any additional work to the story would ruin the dramatic ending and lessen the impact left by the films final scene.
Saturday 8 October 2011
Film analysis - session one!
During this session we observed a handful of short films, all of which were categorised as experimental-documentary.
We then split up in to small groups with the intention of picking apart each film, evaluating its strengths and weaknesses through the use of five questions.
The titles of the films were as follows:
(I will also include a link to the film if possible)
The life size zoetrope - Mark Simon Hewis
http://www.bbc.co.uk/filmnetwork/films/p005hyzp
Daybreak Express - D.A. Pennebaker
http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-6174287280331738768
Blight - John Smith
Strange lights - Joe king and Rosie Pedlow
http://vimeo.com/14732196
Love takes - Jeanie Finlay
http://vimeo.com/4668034
Steel Homes - Eva Weber
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u5OSaf9i1Hc
Christmas with Dad - Conor McCormack
http://www.bbc.co.uk/filmnetwork/films/p004r1f8
The questions were as follows :
1. Identify the themes of the film, What is the directors primary aim?
2. Describe what you consider to be the films main focus?
3. did you like/dislike the film? why?
4. Was the film successful/unsuccessful in achieving its goal?
5. Was there an element to the film that particularly stood out to you?
7. Discuss two techniques used in the film which you found interesting - why do you think the film uses this approach?
After a class discussion with in which everyone expressed there personal opinions and feelings towards each one of the films, we were given the task of writing up our own personal analysis of a film of our choice (out of the select few we had watched during the day).
I have chosen Christmas with Dad, a thought provoking and poignant social realism documentary, directed by Conor Mccormack and premiered in 2008.
The documentary follows 23 year old Aj, father to seven children, with five being from past relationships and only two his and another one on the way.
The piece shows the struggle of living in a house full of competing children whilst coming up to christmas and shows an insight in to Aj's troubled past and bleak future.
The directors aim for this film in my opinion can be split in to two main ideas, the first being he simply wants to tell Aj's story, whilst skimming the surface he appears to be one of many low lives you read about it in the papers or see on TV, with a rough and intimidating exterior and many children, sponging from the government for money.
But when you learn a small amount about his character and past, you begin to believe what he is doing is rather admirable, there are few man who would take on the task of looking after so many children who aren't his own, especially at such a young age.
This merges in to my second idea, that the Director wishes to induce a 'never judge a book by its cover' effect, through out the film you warm up to Aj, as he reveals more about himself and his current situation, he ends up being a likeable and moving subject.
The films main focus is very much the same as its main themes in my opinion, not only is it the telling of a moving story (that of Aj's) its also a lesson that there is more then meets the eye in many situations.
I found the film captivating, it shown an insight in to the life of a personality most people would tend to frown upon and made you connect with Aj on a very personal level, i felt especially moved during the telling of his past and the revealing that he is slowly turning blind, a condition that also effected his father.
From a technical point of view it provided everything you would expect, clean shots that set the tone of the surrounding area, nothing fancy or out of the ordinary, this helped it adhere to the mundane, run down house and area in which Aj lives.
How ever the intro sequence and cut away's all consisted of well shot and edited scenery, especially the use of layering and depth of field on the christmas lights.
I believe the film is successful and achieves what it sets out to do, it shows the life of a complete stranger and makes you feel empathy towards his situation.
Taking in to consideration viewers will more then likely stereo type Aj from the start, to have your mind changed about someone in such a short period of time is a big feat.
What stood out to me about the film is the pacing and editing style, not much is given away about Aj's personality at the beginning, but as time goes on, the intimacy of what he reveals about himself steadily progresses.
I felt this helped me to naturally feel for him and his situation as opposed to being forced and having his sorrows shoved down my throat, which can often be the case in a short documentary and is very much how i felt about 'Steel homes' which we watched earlier that day.
None of the documentary seemed staged or scripted and i felt very much like a fly on the wall in the household.
If i had to pick two techniques used in the production that impressed me, the first would be the lack of HD footage.
As unusual as that sounds the lack of higher quality really adds to the grimy realism of the surroundings and helps you to feel immersed.
The second as i mentioned above would be the general pace and editing style, progressive and non-intrusive, it provides exactly what it should, at the right moments and has left me wanting to know more about Aj and how his life has changed.
We then split up in to small groups with the intention of picking apart each film, evaluating its strengths and weaknesses through the use of five questions.
The titles of the films were as follows:
(I will also include a link to the film if possible)
The life size zoetrope - Mark Simon Hewis
http://www.bbc.co.uk/filmnetwork/films/p005hyzp
Daybreak Express - D.A. Pennebaker
http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-6174287280331738768
Blight - John Smith
Strange lights - Joe king and Rosie Pedlow
http://vimeo.com/14732196
Love takes - Jeanie Finlay
http://vimeo.com/4668034
Steel Homes - Eva Weber
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u5OSaf9i1Hc
Christmas with Dad - Conor McCormack
http://www.bbc.co.uk/filmnetwork/films/p004r1f8
The questions were as follows :
1. Identify the themes of the film, What is the directors primary aim?
2. Describe what you consider to be the films main focus?
3. did you like/dislike the film? why?
4. Was the film successful/unsuccessful in achieving its goal?
5. Was there an element to the film that particularly stood out to you?
7. Discuss two techniques used in the film which you found interesting - why do you think the film uses this approach?
After a class discussion with in which everyone expressed there personal opinions and feelings towards each one of the films, we were given the task of writing up our own personal analysis of a film of our choice (out of the select few we had watched during the day).
I have chosen Christmas with Dad, a thought provoking and poignant social realism documentary, directed by Conor Mccormack and premiered in 2008.
The documentary follows 23 year old Aj, father to seven children, with five being from past relationships and only two his and another one on the way.
The piece shows the struggle of living in a house full of competing children whilst coming up to christmas and shows an insight in to Aj's troubled past and bleak future.
The directors aim for this film in my opinion can be split in to two main ideas, the first being he simply wants to tell Aj's story, whilst skimming the surface he appears to be one of many low lives you read about it in the papers or see on TV, with a rough and intimidating exterior and many children, sponging from the government for money.
But when you learn a small amount about his character and past, you begin to believe what he is doing is rather admirable, there are few man who would take on the task of looking after so many children who aren't his own, especially at such a young age.
This merges in to my second idea, that the Director wishes to induce a 'never judge a book by its cover' effect, through out the film you warm up to Aj, as he reveals more about himself and his current situation, he ends up being a likeable and moving subject.
The films main focus is very much the same as its main themes in my opinion, not only is it the telling of a moving story (that of Aj's) its also a lesson that there is more then meets the eye in many situations.
I found the film captivating, it shown an insight in to the life of a personality most people would tend to frown upon and made you connect with Aj on a very personal level, i felt especially moved during the telling of his past and the revealing that he is slowly turning blind, a condition that also effected his father.
From a technical point of view it provided everything you would expect, clean shots that set the tone of the surrounding area, nothing fancy or out of the ordinary, this helped it adhere to the mundane, run down house and area in which Aj lives.
How ever the intro sequence and cut away's all consisted of well shot and edited scenery, especially the use of layering and depth of field on the christmas lights.
I believe the film is successful and achieves what it sets out to do, it shows the life of a complete stranger and makes you feel empathy towards his situation.
Taking in to consideration viewers will more then likely stereo type Aj from the start, to have your mind changed about someone in such a short period of time is a big feat.
What stood out to me about the film is the pacing and editing style, not much is given away about Aj's personality at the beginning, but as time goes on, the intimacy of what he reveals about himself steadily progresses.
I felt this helped me to naturally feel for him and his situation as opposed to being forced and having his sorrows shoved down my throat, which can often be the case in a short documentary and is very much how i felt about 'Steel homes' which we watched earlier that day.
None of the documentary seemed staged or scripted and i felt very much like a fly on the wall in the household.
If i had to pick two techniques used in the production that impressed me, the first would be the lack of HD footage.
As unusual as that sounds the lack of higher quality really adds to the grimy realism of the surroundings and helps you to feel immersed.
The second as i mentioned above would be the general pace and editing style, progressive and non-intrusive, it provides exactly what it should, at the right moments and has left me wanting to know more about Aj and how his life has changed.
Thursday 6 October 2011
Introduction!
Hello!
My name is Robbie, a film and media student at Sheffield Hallam university and i will be using this blog to showcase piece's of work, research, various bits and bobs that inspire me and a whole bunch of other things (all of which should be relevant to film).
I hope you enjoy reading!
Peace!
My name is Robbie, a film and media student at Sheffield Hallam university and i will be using this blog to showcase piece's of work, research, various bits and bobs that inspire me and a whole bunch of other things (all of which should be relevant to film).
I hope you enjoy reading!
Peace!
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