Major Project: 1st Draft

Presented our script to Simon today. There are adaptations we need to make to the script, and it also needs to be re-formatted in Final Draft. On top of that We have confirmed our make-up/costume artist for the 5th November and the following Saturday confirmed and booked a studio space for Episode 2 from Dan at From the Hip. our aim for the rest of the day is continue amending and tightening the script.

A Doc about Peter Jackson's Mockumentary - Forgotten Silver



An exert from Chrisopher Guest (Best in Show, This is Spinal Tap) mockumentary, A Mighty Wind



Another mocumentary about MS Paint

Major Project: Update

Finalising the script in the last few days having concentrated on WBL.

In hindsight I may having focussed too much of my attention on WBL due to having extra days filming but I felt the experience I gained has given me that boost in confidence in pre-production, the filming process and a huge amount of editing time which will prove invaluable in the major project.

Now, however, I am purely working on the script. We have now confirmed the role of Struwwelpeter. A freind, a graduate from drama school, who is the character i had in mind from the start and a location. North Acton: this location is the backdrop I envisioned from the out set...

Example interview

Some questions, as the writer we are asking ourselves:

Whose story is it? Do you identify with the main character?

It is the plotting of a typcasted actor who wants to move away from his onscreen persona. He is a character who is rediculed and banished by popular culture and his suprising charisma and alter ego have a charming effect.

Does the plot tell us something about the main character?

The plot identifies the rise and fall of a recreation of character. It is portrayed through face to face interviews revealing his personality.

Are you able to tell what happens in the story in one sentance?

The retelling of a fabled creature rediculed by soceity, in the modern day. Struwwelpeter plays himself in a movie and we see his true character in a revealing behind the scenes documentary over 3 5 minute episodes.

1. Solid, steady camera shots that are part of the action of the piece. We should feel like we are traveling as a "fly-on-the-wall," or a silent observer, following the subject of the production around.
2. Clean, concise audio that creates a very real soundscape for the "experience" of the production. No canned music here!
3. Edits that follow the story and are unobtrusive. The audience should not feel that they are being manipulated. It should feel like we are watching a natural event unfold.
4. The interviews and supporting video build a story with a beginning, middle and end. The production gives the feeling that someone or something has gone through a change and there is some meaningful outcome.
5. There should be a feeling of a breadth of knowledge and a heightened passion for the subject.

WBL: The Final Edit: Kaleidoscope

Kaleidoscope C6(n) 2'00" Advert/Promotional Video "KALEIDOSCOPE" is an inspirational film to catch the eye and project the C6(n) dream.

Media World

You have a roving eye Plotting static gaze points onto a single frame of the movie allows us to see what viewers were looking at in a particular frame, but we don’t get a true sense of how we watch movies until we animate the gaze on top of the movie as it plays back. Here is a video of the entire sequence from TWBB with superimposed gaze of 11 viewers.

There Will Be Blood with gaze locations of 11 viewers from TheDIEMProject on Vimeo.

The most striking feature of the gaze behaviour when it is animated in this way is the very fast pace at which we shift our eyes around the screen. On average, each fixation is about 300 milliseconds in duration. (A millisecond is a thousandth of a second.) Amazingly, that means that each fixation of the fovea lasts only about 1/3 of a second. These fixations are separated by even briefer saccadic eye movements, taking between 15 and 30 milliseconds! Looking at these patterns, our gaze may appear unusually busy and erratic, but we’re moving our eyes like this every moment of our waking lives. We are not aware of the frenetic pace of our attention because we are effectively blind every time we saccade between locations. This process is known as saccadic suppression. Our visual system automatically stitches together the information encoded during each fixation to effortlessly create the perception of a constant, stable scene. In other experiments with static scenes, my colleagues and I have shown that even if the overall scene is hidden 150milliseconds into every fixation, we are still able to move our eyes around and find a desired object. Our visual system is built to deal with such disruptions and perceive a coherent world from fragments of information encoded during each fixation.

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Having talked about Magic Bullet as a plug in here is a Super-Slow motion plug in called Twixtor, here is a tutorial on how to use it:

Twixtor Tutorial Part One : Incendium from Elliott.G.Montello on Vimeo.

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Soundlapse from Fruit Bonus on Vimeo.

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Media World

Red Giant TV Episode #57: Behind the Scenes of Plot Device from Red Giant on Vimeo.

More or less an advert for Magic Bullet, which I will be using in the advert for C6(n) its a neat bit of software and this video shows just how good it can be!

Movies About Moviemaking


8 1/2

Fellini's film about filmmaking. Note that this film was completely dubbed which lends a dreamy quality to the film.





Day for Night

(1973)Directed by Francois Truffaut

Buoyant, frothy French comedy provides a loving, behind-the-scenes look at a movie set. Critically acclaimed for its strong performances, cinema verite feel. Excellent example of European-style filmmaking.

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Very cool new innovation:

CineSkates Camera Sliders from Cinetics on Vimeo.

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Endzone, a mock film trailer to a runaway-express action flick about gun-toting Metro inspectors who find themselves on the other side of the tracks, is causing a stir online.

But the buzz is all good, with viewers urging the guerilla-style film-makers to turn their YouTube spoof into a full-blown feature film.

Struwwelpeter: Episode 3 screenshot

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Plenoptic cameras, also known as light-field cameras, which allow an image to be refocused after the picture is taken. Sometimes referred to as a 4D camera, this crazy technology is now headed to a consumer camera from new manufacturer Lytro.



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Work Based Learning: Shoot Day

Shooting went extremely well today, one draw back was the Canon 5D I was planning to use had broken during the weekend but the Canon 7D stepped in and performed just as well. The conditions were perfect.

Here is the call sheet I made for the shoot:

It was a long shoot: around 7-8 hours over 2 days, but we managed to get more footage which will be a bonus in post. There was a change to the original storyboard and idea. Chris, the co-founder/owner was available so now the opening shot has an extra person, which actually has now worked in our favour. On the day I also thought it would be good to set up a second Sony EX to capture time lapse of the whole day, it now means plenty of coverage and useful cutaways.

It was a fascinating exercise in that I had a shot list for the day but after several hours it became a case of searching for the interesting shots and slotting them together in my head and imagining how they would fit together coherantly in Post. It proved relativly easy as we had a long time for the sturture to go up and I could consult with Charlie and Chris regarding shots they want and Dan with his expertise in Production.

Do the Time Lapse: Sony EX capturing the opening stages. The whole 2-tiered structure fits into the van and the trailer.

Double Decker: Dan Neatherway (From the Hip) shooting the first deck panel held by Will (not me!) and Charlie

Me framing up Charlie giving his crew the orders! (Canon 7D)

Van Dutch: The first floor of the structure filmed via 20 sec interval record on the Sony

See 6(n): the crew review the time lapse. Followed by rapturous applause!

Decided I will enter the Learning on Screen Award - Student Production Category

Media World: Horror Films

Whilst researching for ideas for the major project, I have come accross plenty of examples of the surreal world of horror movies. C.H.U.D

Ugly. Slobbering. Ferocious. Carnivorous.

Here is an interesting new concept from Germany of an interactive horror film using voice recognition from mobile phones: A quote from Invasion of the Body Snatchers

“Listen to me! Please listen! If you don’t, if you won’t, if you fail to understand, then the same incredible terror that’s menacing me WILL STRIKE AT YOU!” — Dr.Miles Bennell (Kevin McCarthy)

The Pit (1981) Bizzare Canadian horror film from a time when many horror films were based around evil children! Robert Helpmann - The Child-catcher (Chitty Chitty Bang Bang 1968) will be a similar character to Struwwelpeter in Episode 1 of Pete - A Hackumentary

Shop til you drop, dead!