tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-85874909496401163572024-03-13T15:51:46.299+00:00Something to do with FilmA blog about something inside... something to do with film.Peter O'Brienhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16331786661079602602noreply@blogger.comBlogger185125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8587490949640116357.post-2400182389664133892022-06-21T11:38:00.001+00:002022-06-21T11:38:25.478+00:00Cinema Theatre Association 2015: The magazine and bulletin editions I received<p style="text-align: justify;">I became a member of the <a href="https://cinema-theatre.org.uk/" target="_blank">Cinema Theatre Association</a>, or CTA, in 2015.</p><p></p><blockquote style="text-align: justify;">"We are dedicated to cinema history – not the films, but the buildings they were and are shown in. Many of us are film buffs, of course, but what unites us is a fascination with the architecture, design and commercial history of cinema exhibition."</blockquote><blockquote><p style="text-align: right;">- Cinema Theatre Association website</p></blockquote><p style="text-align: justify;">I became a member of the CTA for research for <i><a href="https://somethingtodowithfilm.blogspot.com/2020/10/the-cinema-complex.html" target="_blank">The Cinema Complex</a></i> documentary I was developing at the time. </p><p style="text-align: justify;">I've always been fascinated by cinemas and cinema buildings, hence why I wanted to make a documentary about them, so becoming a member of the CTA was a natural fit for me.</p><p style="text-align: justify;">I was only a member of the organization for one year. I decided not to renew my membership after that because developing <i>The Cinema Complex</i> was becoming less and less of a priority for me... and, to date, remains an unrealized project.</p><p style="text-align: justify;">As part of my annual membership, I received seven CTA bullet magazines and one Picture House magazine, which is the CTA's main publication. </p><p style="text-align: justify;"></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg-lVvhI2rykusFXZM2tLnZAmf7kAOO5qFd0RmXJENe7ZSsmeSap85113Ua7yHPqPlW_vISNGyryKRWmh8qUG6xYfPLFwY5F0T9kXVutHNrtf7YHh6rOluYwXN0HFdvq05a6E2ye9-9FO0sifIshR4X3QeSt4CWulVtDykjP1AkqSzO67yCyWuCOuvCHw/s3555/PXL_20220621_110847484.MP.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1998" data-original-width="3555" height="360" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg-lVvhI2rykusFXZM2tLnZAmf7kAOO5qFd0RmXJENe7ZSsmeSap85113Ua7yHPqPlW_vISNGyryKRWmh8qUG6xYfPLFwY5F0T9kXVutHNrtf7YHh6rOluYwXN0HFdvq05a6E2ye9-9FO0sifIshR4X3QeSt4CWulVtDykjP1AkqSzO67yCyWuCOuvCHw/w640-h360/PXL_20220621_110847484.MP.jpg" width="640" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><span style="text-align: left;">The publications are impressive and to a very high standard, it's clear to see the CTA is a labour of love for the staff you run it. </span><p></p><p style="text-align: justify;">The Bulletin magazine contains bi-monthly updates, pages and pages of details on new and old cinemas, details on new cinema theatre publications, campaigns to save historic cinemas, letters from other CTA members, industry news and member obituaries... There's a lot!</p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjmm0lhMlWHOZq7VIpfnzXtx74b99Q3NsG7xDBeIus2WCtpYxH1RlxNPkwRLSB3OULhcoopn_-CG7f3JQn98z_tsJq4ycOISTa_gHR4W5sd603Epj03kkPJ_Zcy1N18pblsxPk3CK1a2eJbh9PhqUkY3_-zBxqGP9M-ep1k0Ksbd9-_MYIo1AgYNCFSzg/s4032/PXL_20220621_111254540.MP.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2268" data-original-width="4032" height="360" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjmm0lhMlWHOZq7VIpfnzXtx74b99Q3NsG7xDBeIus2WCtpYxH1RlxNPkwRLSB3OULhcoopn_-CG7f3JQn98z_tsJq4ycOISTa_gHR4W5sd603Epj03kkPJ_Zcy1N18pblsxPk3CK1a2eJbh9PhqUkY3_-zBxqGP9M-ep1k0Ksbd9-_MYIo1AgYNCFSzg/w640-h360/PXL_20220621_111254540.MP.jpg" width="640" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh9uDCmtJU1kBnKxEdkzShd1Zm1e-T8sXCsKz-NMIxNXt--lBWYzJa8EDoWCzNqlvsStak__C06TjZr26KgiKKWC9c-VC-1RHBxKJ-8ikea1865bPsO1_QhExpaZUhw368VnkWBefT3lRpda0Ko09TnxOOfZI3Kr_tlx_xveUN4bzYsJUBwRnyHDQqAqg/s4032/PXL_20220621_111457002.MP.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2268" data-original-width="4032" height="360" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh9uDCmtJU1kBnKxEdkzShd1Zm1e-T8sXCsKz-NMIxNXt--lBWYzJa8EDoWCzNqlvsStak__C06TjZr26KgiKKWC9c-VC-1RHBxKJ-8ikea1865bPsO1_QhExpaZUhw368VnkWBefT3lRpda0Ko09TnxOOfZI3Kr_tlx_xveUN4bzYsJUBwRnyHDQqAqg/w640-h360/PXL_20220621_111457002.MP.jpg" width="640" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjH71MOdJMkiJ7mIrQDv8yH8pB9V82zAv1Q8ojP-mrLTNAjF7z1ijuaNOuil6A-HtcD2NP6kZKyhpm5COdU4gNn9-UHu9ntWHGkuIEnA60cdvtg35r3cDPJADCWzxdi3nkrPrYSLujipXunP8K0FmXGmGfuKPN6SFvCfyjT0Ztn7cOEHv8nVem6LD48GA/s4032/PXL_20220621_111606636.MP.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2268" data-original-width="4032" height="360" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjH71MOdJMkiJ7mIrQDv8yH8pB9V82zAv1Q8ojP-mrLTNAjF7z1ijuaNOuil6A-HtcD2NP6kZKyhpm5COdU4gNn9-UHu9ntWHGkuIEnA60cdvtg35r3cDPJADCWzxdi3nkrPrYSLujipXunP8K0FmXGmGfuKPN6SFvCfyjT0Ztn7cOEHv8nVem6LD48GA/w640-h360/PXL_20220621_111606636.MP.jpg" width="640" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjDkzQRUnOVeoglTUZXL8bNjblXn0aE1sPrXDkOJ9bt1LedAIQbbtyyqbq4eyBNuM_anyhqUe6FEbXz8eyeYN7Ln_Im6iNJIJfFcJuteDOzcI-68Dhbwlnqh9dKk11t_eH5-LRZe8WGEGvkyXf_fmDrS_Q5eAY1CKKTtP9tVX3trngLvh2Tg40YPH_9VQ/s4032/PXL_20220621_111632010.MP.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2268" data-original-width="4032" height="360" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjDkzQRUnOVeoglTUZXL8bNjblXn0aE1sPrXDkOJ9bt1LedAIQbbtyyqbq4eyBNuM_anyhqUe6FEbXz8eyeYN7Ln_Im6iNJIJfFcJuteDOzcI-68Dhbwlnqh9dKk11t_eH5-LRZe8WGEGvkyXf_fmDrS_Q5eAY1CKKTtP9tVX3trngLvh2Tg40YPH_9VQ/w640-h360/PXL_20220621_111632010.MP.jpg" width="640" /></a></div><p style="text-align: justify;">I was always amazed by how much information was crammed into each Bulletin edition. For a film and cinema enthusiast, it's very nourishing to realize that cinema buildings that no longer exist can still provide such a wealth of education and enjoyment.</p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhzU7Ilh7oUENbp9UZNNR42Q8IOexgb9I3YtnoBJTzx3ACbG2WC9xeqgcGqyNCo1p-76mSP4PGzzBuhMy9kzaIdpCuL5c3v27EMBGpTwILgBz_8k-Cb-I8xVvoJeMffJQ2YYmyXgLlTkMRhXllLx4dl_x772qHAdK8e-CS2ikmazGGzWIELb67QlrA_EQ/s4032/PXL_20220621_111729010.MP.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="4032" data-original-width="2268" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhzU7Ilh7oUENbp9UZNNR42Q8IOexgb9I3YtnoBJTzx3ACbG2WC9xeqgcGqyNCo1p-76mSP4PGzzBuhMy9kzaIdpCuL5c3v27EMBGpTwILgBz_8k-Cb-I8xVvoJeMffJQ2YYmyXgLlTkMRhXllLx4dl_x772qHAdK8e-CS2ikmazGGzWIELb67QlrA_EQ/w360-h640/PXL_20220621_111729010.MP.jpg" width="360" /></a></div><p style="text-align: justify;">This labour of love and wealth of information is taken to a whole other level with the annual edition of the CTA's annual magazine, Picture House.</p><p style="text-align: justify;">Whereas the Bulletins are much more stripped down and simplistic in their presentation, Picture House has the polish and effort of a full-fledged magazine. </p><p style="text-align: justify;">Unlike the Bulletins that supplied a multitude of brief updates and information about cinema buildings new and old, Picture House selects a few of them and expands on the histories of their buildings, the people who ran them and the patrons who used them. </p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiwI9MZV50ZPDuVdMj5D0vMiPhH1-NKnhsnbQGUF6D4dAWEkUlG7PbrHp6-JmyzQX3CbRCQHtA3MIVu_M0HgE500zGLH9EPq3gNVl1kAPcN8H9Sz_7nHh52ph7gyHclIr0Z21Jqk6xWpRBnX-3IfvvzFhINbrcLXHtJW6i8Nht4Wg2fH-3UljFdNenrgg/s4032/PXL_20220621_111922731.MP.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2268" data-original-width="4032" height="360" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiwI9MZV50ZPDuVdMj5D0vMiPhH1-NKnhsnbQGUF6D4dAWEkUlG7PbrHp6-JmyzQX3CbRCQHtA3MIVu_M0HgE500zGLH9EPq3gNVl1kAPcN8H9Sz_7nHh52ph7gyHclIr0Z21Jqk6xWpRBnX-3IfvvzFhINbrcLXHtJW6i8Nht4Wg2fH-3UljFdNenrgg/w640-h360/PXL_20220621_111922731.MP.jpg" width="640" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhhu2MJ8yc1O502qxel14NTqZyeg7SFLEv-en7RGG-tIclFAclgCXTDR0v0BJNJbbUrS05bsaYqYiJAiIaL4QVeGgrBTahtdQ0xKlZCU643joC_RjIqtZFbFFrVp5whhqDZSJxcSg3IdcYQkLW_omgze2AQiBvOKP0rkTYk3F06k6UeTLyZru3vnoUW-w/s4032/PXL_20220621_112008904.MP.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2268" data-original-width="4032" height="360" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhhu2MJ8yc1O502qxel14NTqZyeg7SFLEv-en7RGG-tIclFAclgCXTDR0v0BJNJbbUrS05bsaYqYiJAiIaL4QVeGgrBTahtdQ0xKlZCU643joC_RjIqtZFbFFrVp5whhqDZSJxcSg3IdcYQkLW_omgze2AQiBvOKP0rkTYk3F06k6UeTLyZru3vnoUW-w/w640-h360/PXL_20220621_112008904.MP.jpg" width="640" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgNGALOZek_0mVHxVWzZgEqKdes99L7R6heachnfQTxwCkYWsE49QZ267dkJjPN6H-XVzrIIlKIqmGbly8mU47xkmK3njfcYEghsLShH-RRc_9vF-N9xm-nL-s6vtFgdOxFpRhT4LkwYL9vV8AXGiwIhebspGontGfbn9zuzBbT32dmMk_wHqY_gi7t-Q/s4032/PXL_20220621_112036999.MP.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2268" data-original-width="4032" height="360" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgNGALOZek_0mVHxVWzZgEqKdes99L7R6heachnfQTxwCkYWsE49QZ267dkJjPN6H-XVzrIIlKIqmGbly8mU47xkmK3njfcYEghsLShH-RRc_9vF-N9xm-nL-s6vtFgdOxFpRhT4LkwYL9vV8AXGiwIhebspGontGfbn9zuzBbT32dmMk_wHqY_gi7t-Q/w640-h360/PXL_20220621_112036999.MP.jpg" width="640" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhRg8qgymnQgLpklI6XL2l0FhI3pq7HewRm_gyagLNAkwrbIXTyUdCwbKfJ-diU1sMGkAlbnf5sGRK4pXhIDONp9JOLqDD63i-hozVDsvRPO_vjBDTvgdZ2bF82Lo9FKUIWm-XzEzsKPCz-L84eX83jSnNCEjFPaWXE0BtlE1CoK-2fPso4ykGsJXeEpg/s4032/PXL_20220621_112108925.MP.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2268" data-original-width="4032" height="360" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhRg8qgymnQgLpklI6XL2l0FhI3pq7HewRm_gyagLNAkwrbIXTyUdCwbKfJ-diU1sMGkAlbnf5sGRK4pXhIDONp9JOLqDD63i-hozVDsvRPO_vjBDTvgdZ2bF82Lo9FKUIWm-XzEzsKPCz-L84eX83jSnNCEjFPaWXE0BtlE1CoK-2fPso4ykGsJXeEpg/w640-h360/PXL_20220621_112108925.MP.jpg" width="640" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjnSKr5Nlj8PDsLkk5pU87vJ2NoJxEqeEsVRIQ3VWy0JlaHx-aMHMvy17XtfVc6dUMMdsg-asqpeNzpr1cwYt4PDGdEVg0t4UUVPMqeb0-cnJy2Z5eDkQrCWEuV3k-IqDjKQnX8D65g5AXNe7aGEkXPzVn9eFSdXq9Q_rNMeAqYmS2pu42rwNI6IjptnQ/s4032/PXL_20220621_112146286.MP.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2268" data-original-width="4032" height="360" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjnSKr5Nlj8PDsLkk5pU87vJ2NoJxEqeEsVRIQ3VWy0JlaHx-aMHMvy17XtfVc6dUMMdsg-asqpeNzpr1cwYt4PDGdEVg0t4UUVPMqeb0-cnJy2Z5eDkQrCWEuV3k-IqDjKQnX8D65g5AXNe7aGEkXPzVn9eFSdXq9Q_rNMeAqYmS2pu42rwNI6IjptnQ/w640-h360/PXL_20220621_112146286.MP.jpg" width="640" /></a></div><p style="text-align: justify;">I read each publication when I first received them, but now they are just taking up space and gathering dust. I'm thinking of sending them back to the CTA because that would be a better way of recycling them. </p><p></p>Peter O'Brienhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16331786661079602602noreply@blogger.com0Bristol, UK51.454513 -2.5879123.144279163821153 -37.74416 79.764746836178844 32.56834tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8587490949640116357.post-10330941029443153912022-06-14T17:04:00.000+00:002022-06-14T17:04:05.172+00:00Bonding an Edit: My first time editing... and I tried to create a new James Bond film<p>The very first piece of editing I ever did was when I was about twelve or thirteen years old. I tried to create a new James Bond film by cutting together different pieces of the Sean Connery Bond films. </p><p>I've been a massive James Bond fan since first seeing all the films on a television marathon at the age of nine. When DVD format first launched in the UK, one-by-one, I collected all the James Bond special edition DVDs. </p><p>It was the DVD set that created the OO7 logo on their spines...</p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjVCpfbA8dYAwFeTMQ_bb9JRCdXKrVM4NwEWxMWBDbDMU75BHD3LKFenoAx69xMb33Ajg-tfjzKTMUDNjGMWnBF-JSvvCUG_SbMAibpGyIg_C5VWXpVjuzQOdBXvgmz7-Mp9n0w-KsRnohM0NpCzvx_nGCV0LtZLOmAHnIAwrn4XJwC7bVTYi2d6Bs6Rw/s400/James-Bond-DVD-Box-Set-Collection-Tin-007.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="300" data-original-width="400" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjVCpfbA8dYAwFeTMQ_bb9JRCdXKrVM4NwEWxMWBDbDMU75BHD3LKFenoAx69xMb33Ajg-tfjzKTMUDNjGMWnBF-JSvvCUG_SbMAibpGyIg_C5VWXpVjuzQOdBXvgmz7-Mp9n0w-KsRnohM0NpCzvx_nGCV0LtZLOmAHnIAwrn4XJwC7bVTYi2d6Bs6Rw/w400-h300/James-Bond-DVD-Box-Set-Collection-Tin-007.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">I managed to acquire the full set, minus the tin case.</td></tr></tbody></table><p>The special edition James Bond DVD collection was very important to me. Not just because it meant that I owned my own copy of each Bond film that I could watch whenever I wanted, but because each DVD came loaded with extra special features. </p><p>All these extra goodies, which included making of documentaries, franchise featurettes, audio commentaries and original advertising, were a gold mine of film education. </p><p>At the time, the James Bond DVDs were slightly ahead of the other DVDs on the market, because they were the only ones offering such a wide range of immersive bonus content. Ultimately, my Bond DVDs were my first exposure to the moviemaking process.</p><p>I gained an introduction to filmmaking from my Bond DVDs and it was an education that opened my eyes to studying Film Studies and making my own film content. </p><p>So it's not surprising that the first piece of filmmaking I would attempt would be a James Bond project.</p><p>This was at the very tail end of the VHS era and I used to have a TV VHS combo with a DVD player plugged into it.</p><p>You can see my old TV VHS combo and DVD setup...</p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjd-eVC_E6NrqdtECJKvPeeam7dkl_6PFRRRC5S9Jl-ChXBI8kiixDKxYRNf7K_jgilQlz2wfzze1vyHzkt87YrwDWFTxDj0lS9WOgZdMEyS1enyoVW80z_6HgJx5aImYAVby_oVraeePE7s3MOLKmg2-eRyYh8EJDMptvAD_CjhwiDoGFagSjfw2Cqxw/s1991/img114.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1439" data-original-width="1991" height="461" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjd-eVC_E6NrqdtECJKvPeeam7dkl_6PFRRRC5S9Jl-ChXBI8kiixDKxYRNf7K_jgilQlz2wfzze1vyHzkt87YrwDWFTxDj0lS9WOgZdMEyS1enyoVW80z_6HgJx5aImYAVby_oVraeePE7s3MOLKmg2-eRyYh8EJDMptvAD_CjhwiDoGFagSjfw2Cqxw/w640-h461/img114.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">I was ten years old when this picture was taken.</td></tr></tbody></table><p>Anyhow the gold DVD player I had was not copy protected and it was possible to record what the DVD was playing onto a VHS tape. </p><p>Then, one day, I had the idea of creating my own Bond film from all the bond films I had collected.</p><p><br /></p><h3 style="text-align: left;"><span style="color: red;">Creating the edit</span></h3><p>I created my edit by stopping and starting the recording VHS while I searched through the current DVD or swapped DVDs for the next desired clip.</p><p>I wanted my new James Bond film to feature only one actor as James Bond. I settled on the Sean Connery James Bond films because he had six films (seven if you include the unofficial Bond film <i>Never Say Never Again</i>) and therefore a lot more footage to work with.</p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEioTjz6FtgHFeD4PZC_5xP8VDozxT2rxpOhklxvbb40yquoUXQJlz3xSzE62Zl8PQBb6cs_o9T68oijB-ZigPBr0yDXBpaxKM7Aa0DGqw0SPbpKyI8zzXdbp2Jxt1t-NOOxax99ENsFeZ2xEeoQWxSy31PCH0fPu8YfnyT12_brB2dt0e-JhrAWx8qFsA/s2500/181019-james-bond-sean-connery-al-1250.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2500" data-original-width="1936" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEioTjz6FtgHFeD4PZC_5xP8VDozxT2rxpOhklxvbb40yquoUXQJlz3xSzE62Zl8PQBb6cs_o9T68oijB-ZigPBr0yDXBpaxKM7Aa0DGqw0SPbpKyI8zzXdbp2Jxt1t-NOOxax99ENsFeZ2xEeoQWxSy31PCH0fPu8YfnyT12_brB2dt0e-JhrAWx8qFsA/s320/181019-james-bond-sean-connery-al-1250.jpg" width="248" /></a></div><br /><p>Equally, I could have used Roger Moore because he has seven Bond films. But, by this point, I had started to read the original Ian Fleming James Bond novels which had educated me to take the James Bond character more seriously... and you just don't get that gritty and brutish character in the very camp Moore films. </p><p>Daniel Craig hadn't yet made his debut in the <i>Casino Royal </i>at this point, Timothy Dalton only had two films to work with, so that led me back to the Connery films.</p><p><br /></p><h3 style="text-align: left;"><span style="color: red;">The structure of the edit</span></h3><p>I don't recall putting much planning into the full structure of my edit. I just knew that I would follow the typical James Bond film formula of... exciting pre-titles sequence > title sequence > mission from M > heading out on the mission... so on and so forth. </p><p>I also didn't even know how long my eventual edit was going to be. I already had the first couple of minutes planned out in my head. Beyond that, I was just going to keep building it until I had something I was happy with. After all, if there was something I was not happy with, I could just rewind the VHS tape and record a new clip over it.</p><p>Basically, I just made it up the edit as I went along and I only got about ten minutes in before I gave up on the whole thing.</p><p>What I did manage together was...</p><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px; text-align: left;"><p>Section 1: Pre-title sequence (from Thunderball)</p><p>Section 2: Title sequence (from OO7 Racing PS1 game)</p><p>Section 3: Spectre briefing scene with Blofeld (from Thunderball)</p><p>Section 4: Bond coming out of lift and walking along corridor to Moneypenny's office (from Dr No)</p><p>Section 5: Bond coming into MoneyPenny's office > going to crisis meeting with M and the other OOs > Personal briefing with M in M's office (from Thunderball)</p></blockquote><h3 style="text-align: left;"><span style="color: red;"><br />Problems with the edit</span></h3><p>The first problem I encountered is that I realised I couldn't use any of the title sequences from any of the Bond films. I wanted to create an original Bond film so I needed an original title sequence. As with my DVD player, I could also use my television to record whatever my Playstation 1 was playing, so I recorded the title sequence from the OO7 Racing game. </p><p>The OO7 Racing title sequence is far from a perfect fit because it immediately breaks my one Bond rule by featuring Pierce Brosnan's Bond. Plus, it's not a title sequence in the traditional sense because it doesn't contain any titles or graphic Bond girl imagery; rather, it's just a montage of Bond car clips from the films. </p><p>However, it was the only so-called title sequence I had access to that wasn't assigned to any of the other Bond films or Bond film videogame adaptations. So the OO7 Racing title sequence was included.</p><p>As I built my edit, it quickly became obvious that it fell apart from the lack of consistent continuity between visuals. </p><p>A clear example is between the clip of Bond exiting the lift and going over to the door to moneypenny's office (from Dr No) and Bond entering Moneypenny's office (from Thunderball)...</p><p></p><ul style="text-align: left;"><li>Bond's clothes are completely different between edits </li><li>Connery has physically aged and put on more weight between edits</li><li>Bond's jump into his hand between edits</li></ul><p></p><p>I only wanted to include that short clip of Bond exiting the lift and walking over to Moneypenny's office because it was something we had never seen in any of the other Bond films. We've only ever seen Bond already in Moneypenny's office or entering through the door into Moneypenny's office. </p><p>In hindsight, it's no surprise we have never seen that elevator or corridor show up in any other Bond film... it's a completely useless piece of visual information. Even if deleted that short clip from Dr No, it would not upset the point or narrative of the film, because that hallway clip serves absolutely no narrative purpose. It is literally just filler. </p><p>But I thought the hallway clip was a quirky little detail that amused me, so I included in my edit. </p><p>The cuts between footage and soundtrack were also very jarring because all I had to work with were a record and stop button, I didn't have access to editing with digital editing software. </p><p>Finally, I realised that it would actually be really hard to construct a consistent narrative that makes sense from lots of clips with unchangeable visuals and audio from different films that featured different plots and character names. </p><p>This is why I gravitated towards using the narrative spine of Thunderball. But the problem with using Thunderball is that I was just creating an enhanced version of Thunderball, opposed to an original Sean Connery Bond film. </p><p>So I dropped the project after cutting together about 14 minutes. </p><p><br /></p><h3 style="text-align: left;"><span style="color: red;">My Bond film edit</span></h3><p>I no longer have the original VHS copy, but I have recreated my basic edit for this blog post...</p><p style="text-align: center;"><iframe allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture" allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/FnNo5fNAIV4" title="YouTube video player" width="560"></iframe></p><p><br /></p><h3 style="text-align: left;"><span style="color: red;">Takeaway</span></h3><p>I learned a lot from that brief first editing experience. Especially in regard to continuity and maintaining visual and narrative continuity. </p><p>This thinking was very much in my mind when I was making my first film, <i>The Better Villain</i>, and later when I was making my first student films for my BA (Hons).</p><p>That crazy and hugely impractical idea I had to make an original Sean Connery James Bond film may not have come fully to pass, but I'm still glad I went through the process of trying to do it. </p><p>I'm also especially glad that my first editing experience was with the James Bond films because I've always loved the Bond films and will always be grateful to them for getting me investing in the filmmaking process. </p>Peter O'Brienhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16331786661079602602noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8587490949640116357.post-6797534316506673922022-05-10T07:07:00.003+00:002022-05-10T07:07:23.203+00:00A Menu of Living Cosmology: An unfinished video meditation on the renewal of life<p style="text-align: justify;"><i>A Menu of Living Cosmology</i> is an unfinished video essay I created for an assignment for my master's degree.</p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhQIl-yaP9jVPCHYUcAqDBfXNsVKSFHJxPWLzZqMLyXj_0a_QQI8v21GUFAqf3rgJ9MhIx9Fl5uN3yMujhBNO5LUR0HFqT90WtYFIQQ-dxMciQvjtyJxFENaSDADntlDBaa0DEs3R2SvqQQa3W8kgWBRs6nysgYApK4yICfQLdAiyzxhtcv4dpBbNvKeQ/s4032/A%20Menu%20of%20Living%20Cosmology.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2268" data-original-width="4032" height="360" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhQIl-yaP9jVPCHYUcAqDBfXNsVKSFHJxPWLzZqMLyXj_0a_QQI8v21GUFAqf3rgJ9MhIx9Fl5uN3yMujhBNO5LUR0HFqT90WtYFIQQ-dxMciQvjtyJxFENaSDADntlDBaa0DEs3R2SvqQQa3W8kgWBRs6nysgYApK4yICfQLdAiyzxhtcv4dpBbNvKeQ/w640-h360/A%20Menu%20of%20Living%20Cosmology.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Ideas for A Menu of Living Cosmology</td></tr></tbody></table><p style="text-align: justify;">It was produced for a sequence of Coursera courses titled <a href="http://ibuiltmyown.education/mta-learning-modules/journey-of-the-universe/" target="_blank">Journey of the Universe: A Story for our Times</a> that reside in the Environmental Sustainability concentration of my MTA Portfolio.</p><p style="text-align: justify;">Journey of the Universe has three key learning outcomes...</p><p></p><ul style="text-align: left;"><li style="text-align: justify;">Demonstrate an understanding of the unfolding of the universe, Earth, and humans by drawing upon both science and the humanities.</li><li style="text-align: justify;">Understand what cosmological events contribute to our existence. </li><li style="text-align: justify;">Assess the history & development of cosmological thought as it has unfolded over time & as it spans multiple disciplines in science & humanities.</li></ul><div style="text-align: justify;">Journey of the Universe (which is also a film and a book) is adapted from the writings and lectures of Thomas Berry who was a Catholic priest, cultural historian and scholar of the world's religions. </div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Berry was also immensely concerned with the effects of environmental degradation and argued that we needed to adopt a new environmentally conscious and caretaking cultural narrative.</div><div><br /></div><div style="text-align: center;"><iframe allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture" allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="360" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/oOOjwMG_twE" title="YouTube video player" width="640"></iframe></div><div><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">The goal of the Journey of the Universe courses is to make the learner much more aware of the living environment around them, how they are a part of that larger reality and how their actions can either benefit or worsen the world around us. </div><p></p><p style="text-align: justify;">There are <a href="https://www.coursera.org/specializations/journey-of-the-universe" target="_blank">three Journey of the Universe courses</a>, but there was originally also a fourth capstone course called Living Cosmology. </p><p style="text-align: justify;">The entirety of that final capstone course was concerned with creating and submitting a final project that expressed my understanding of the concept of living cosmology...</p><p></p><blockquote style="text-align: justify;">"This is what is intended by “living cosmology”, namely how do we live within a universe story in ways that transform us? How can we dwell within a broadened consciousness of a new story of evolution? How can this empower a new context for education, art, spirituality, and ethics along with ecology, politics, economics, and business?" </blockquote><blockquote style="text-align: justify;">- Living Cosmology course overview</blockquote><p style="text-align: justify;"> </p><p></p><p style="text-align: justify;">Ultimately, I decided to produce a video essay to explore and promote my understanding of living cosmology in relation to my love of food. </p><p style="text-align: justify;">Throughout 2015, 2016 and 2017, I had been greatly developing my cooking skills so I thought it would serve as a good visual canvas to us to convey my understanding of living cosmology and the renewal of life in the grand scheme of our universe.</p><p style="text-align: justify;">It remains an unfinished video essay because between when I originally submitted my rough cut, which didn't pass, and when I was preparing to make the final cut for re-submission, the creators discontinued the Living Cosmology capstone course. </p><p style="text-align: justify;">Why they did that, I don't know. Maybe they just were not getting enough learners engaging with it and submitting projects.</p><p style="text-align: justify;">But because I'd lost the opportunity to submit my video essay as a marked assignment, I never bothered to finish the final cut. </p><p style="text-align: justify;">Regarding my original thinking behind my video essay and more specifics on its subject matter, I will let the introduction to my original submission explain the rest...</p><p style="text-align: justify;"><br /></p><h3 style="text-align: justify;"><span style="color: red;">Living Cosmology Project Submission - A Menu of Living Cosmology: A taste of things to come</span></h3><p></p><blockquote style="text-align: justify;">“When we today remember that the energy of our lives comes from the original flaring forth of the universe, and that the atoms of our bodies come from the explosion of ancient stars, and that the patterns of our lives come from many ancestors over billions of years, we begin to appreciate the intricate manner in which life remembers the past and brings it into fresh form today. Life adapts. Life remembers. Life learns.” </blockquote><blockquote style="text-align: justify;">– Brian Swimme & Mary Tucker, <i>Journey of the Universe</i>, 2011:60-1</blockquote><p></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><br /></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><i>A Menu of Living Cosmology</i> is a seven-and-a-half-minute video meditation which I have produced with the goal of further propagating the topics of living cosmology and to encourage the enjoyment and health benefits of ‘mindful eating’. </p><p style="text-align: justify;">Initially my idea for this final project was to produce an actual food menu that would boast a global selection of cuisine designed to evoke the themes and ideas of the Journey of the Universe, e.g. the Thomas Berry Smoothie, Primordial Soup, Interstellar Stir Fry, Milky Way Pizza, etc. </p><p style="text-align: justify;">In addition to drawing on the teachings of Thomas Berry and the Journey of the Universe specialization, A Menu of Living Cosmology is derived from another of my projects – The Universe Café – which I developed for a social enterprise initiative as part of my postgraduate studies. </p><p style="text-align: justify;">The idea for the Universe Café is concerned with establishing a community hub that is focused on cultivating ethical, sustainable and mindful food and drink experience that uses the evolution of the universe – from the big bang up to the emergence of our postmodern civilization - as its thematic and aesthetic inspiration. </p><p style="text-align: justify;">I am very health conscious and deeply concerned for the poor state of public and environmental health which currently exists because of ‘mindless eating’. Currently there is an epidemic of overeating and eating food that is neither good for the consumer or good for the environment from which it was taken. </p><p style="text-align: justify;">I not only see this as a major environmental problem which needs to be solved, but I see the lack of widespread mindfulness towards what we are eating as an individually damaging problem which needs to be solved for the benefit of every human being on this planet. </p><p style="text-align: justify;">I feel that one of the most effective ways in which to get people to take notice of living cosmology of which they form a part is to get them to take mindful notice of the food they eat and which is also a creative expression of that living cosmology. </p><p></p><blockquote style="text-align: justify;">“Nearly everything of fundamental importance in life depends upon the power of adaptation and of memory. Everywhere we look we find evidence of this process. Consider our foods. Grains, for example, are composed of many different sorts of complex organic molecules. When we eat them, they need to be carefully broken down and then woven together in a new way if they become part of our bodies. This complicated physiological process was worked out by trial and error hundreds of millions of years ago by cellular ancestors who are now long gone. But their accomplishments are not lost. They were remembered. As we eat, the grain is transformed into our skin, our muscles, and our organs only because life remembers its central achievements.” </blockquote><blockquote style="text-align: justify;">– Brian Swimme & Mary Tucker, Journey of the Universe, 2011:57-8</blockquote><p></p><p style="text-align: justify;">Originally, my thinking to bring about this transformative change was to create and showcase A Menu of Living Cosmology as a taster menu of the Universe Café. However, while I did brainstorm and begin to design the menu, I realised that I would achieve more direct transformative change if I showcased the process of realisation I had gone through to conceive of the notion of A Menu of Living Cosmology. </p><p style="text-align: justify;">I am a big advocate and practitioner of mindfulness meditation and two of the most mindful activities I have discovered are food preparation and food consumption. When I am being mindful while cooking or while eating, I find that I not only attracted a great deal more fundamental pleasure from the process culinary preparation and consumption, but I have come to make vastly more health food decisions. </p><p style="text-align: justify;">Essentially, this mindfulness food headspace of meditation in relation to the themes of Living Cosmology is what I have sought to convey in the ‘video meditation’ I have produced. </p><p style="text-align: justify;">However, I have only managed to complete a rough cut of the video. </p><p style="text-align: justify;">Currently, I have been taken ill with a cold virus which has seen fit to take my voice hostage and I am not yet able to record any narration for the video. </p><p style="text-align: justify;">Visually I think the video already does plenty, but I want to include narration as a series of questions and ponderings to further contextualize the broader themes of the content; as a well as providing greater direction of the ‘mindful food preparation and eating process’ which the video conveys and which it is my aim to cultivate in the viewer as well.</p><p style="text-align: justify;">As the video is currently lacking my narration, I have not bothered to construct the final sound mix or to perform the final colour grade. When I do get my voice back and record the narration, its inclusion is liable to necessitate the adjustment of shot lengths and maybe even warrant a few additions besides. Already I have ideas for how I can further develop the video into its final form. </p><p style="text-align: justify;">But, for now, here is the rough version without narration…</p><p style="text-align: center;"><iframe allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture" allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="360" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/j538lhp-R1s" title="YouTube video player" width="640"></iframe></p><div>You can find the original <a href="https://www.coursera.org/specializations/journey-of-the-universe">Journey of the Universe courses here</a>.</div>Peter O'Brienhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16331786661079602602noreply@blogger.com0Bristol, UK51.454513 -2.5879123.144279163821153 -37.74416 79.764746836178844 32.56834tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8587490949640116357.post-55334422536644000362022-05-10T01:31:00.001+00:002022-05-10T01:31:43.356+00:00Microfilmmaking: Cameos & daily vids<p style="text-align: justify;">Successful short form filmmaking or video making is also a hugely valuable competency to possess in today's mass consumption of online content. </p><p style="text-align: justify;">People only have so much time and they already have so much other information demanding their attention. </p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgxz7_QFPVJImtzVeCPQKEhgOcJwzBcQh7ygzoMSNA_0bAecUPka08KRZWTsD4_OodHT1LuB38c0VWUTaI3CDG_2BCG-u1KBmrLMP6JGqH9IxVk-ZGMPCOgvMZycwCN1SYgyhyuOGh_kcw5AobWV-WK6BMIc0q0XCeEl3Coj9Hi8uLrGlm5lOq7KWT00Q/s1920/365%20FRAMES%202015%20-%20Day%20038%20-%2007.02.2015.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: center;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1080" data-original-width="1920" height="225" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgxz7_QFPVJImtzVeCPQKEhgOcJwzBcQh7ygzoMSNA_0bAecUPka08KRZWTsD4_OodHT1LuB38c0VWUTaI3CDG_2BCG-u1KBmrLMP6JGqH9IxVk-ZGMPCOgvMZycwCN1SYgyhyuOGh_kcw5AobWV-WK6BMIc0q0XCeEl3Coj9Hi8uLrGlm5lOq7KWT00Q/w400-h225/365%20FRAMES%202015%20-%20Day%20038%20-%2007.02.2015.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><p style="text-align: justify;"></p><p style="text-align: justify;">You only have 10 seconds to be the video to capture their attention, if that.</p><p style="text-align: justify;">There are a lot of creators creating a lot of online video content and to gain a competitive edge for your particular brand, you need to produce video content that is high-quality and very concise.</p><p style="text-align: justify;">I never felt like I had mastered short form filmmaking during my time at university, when it was a huge focus of my filmmaking studies. </p><p style="text-align: justify;">One of the first examples of microfilmmaking I did at university...</p><p style="text-align: center;"><iframe allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture" allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="360" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/TTOEDz4GOfI" title="YouTube video player" width="640"></iframe></p><p style="text-align: justify;">So getting a good hold of microfilmmaking was a key priority of my postgraduate studies. </p><p style="text-align: justify;">2015 was the year in which I decided I was going to place a large focus on practicing at being a microfilmmaker.</p><p style="text-align: justify;">The first thing I did was orchestrate my <a href="https://somethingtodowithfilm.blogspot.com/2022/05/365-frames-2015.html" target="_blank">365 Frames 2015 project</a> in which I produced a short video a day for a whole year.</p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi0g049jM0DjxyLCxXb2Qr45o-TwAs7jGzxomrR6Dk0eq8scznDCAwj1356ZwriCevxeB4CDvYiYVenIIJk477DYIYrrNX0BCw_9i8feqQCEjmvD65BQy6eYVOgFtTTjBR1dpJIDNDXq6-W5H8YaAVCyKL-tx1TMmX13EZcBlXSxBMzP7twYd8NKsXUqQ/s1200/365%20FRAMES%202015%20-%20Banner.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="525" data-original-width="1200" height="175" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi0g049jM0DjxyLCxXb2Qr45o-TwAs7jGzxomrR6Dk0eq8scznDCAwj1356ZwriCevxeB4CDvYiYVenIIJk477DYIYrrNX0BCw_9i8feqQCEjmvD65BQy6eYVOgFtTTjBR1dpJIDNDXq6-W5H8YaAVCyKL-tx1TMmX13EZcBlXSxBMzP7twYd8NKsXUqQ/w400-h175/365%20FRAMES%202015%20-%20Banner.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><p style="text-align: justify;">Then I took my microfilmmaking practice further by producing even more polished microfilms from the footage I shot for my 365 project. </p><p style="text-align: justify;">During 2015, I discovered Vimeo's now defunct Cameo app. </p><p style="text-align: justify;">Cameo was a video editing app that included a library of licenced music you could use in your videos. In many ways, Cameo was a precursor to TikTok and Instagram Reels. </p><p style="text-align: center;"><iframe allow="autoplay; fullscreen; picture-in-picture" allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="360" src="https://player.vimeo.com/video/130116799?h=ce55bcdf67" width="640"></iframe></p><p></p><p style="text-align: justify;">The inclusion of the licenced music was encouraged as your completed videos served as a further promotion for the creators of the music. </p><p style="text-align: justify;">The main feature I loved about the Cameo app was that you could only produce videos with a maximum length of two minutes. </p><p style="text-align: justify;">The two-minute limit was a godsend in regard to honing my microfilmmaking discipline.</p><p style="text-align: justify;">I ended up producing <a href="https://somethingtodowithfilm.blogspot.com/2022/05/cameo-microfilms.html" target="_blank">twelve Cameo microfilms</a>.</p><p style="text-align: justify;">These are probably my two favourite Cameo microfilms, because they both tell a short story and do it in a visually engaging way...</p><p style="text-align: center;"><iframe allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture" allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="360" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/04hLoV6dRbU" title="YouTube video player" width="640"></iframe></p><p style="text-align: center;"><iframe allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture" allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="360" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/qxdtq3WDyao" title="YouTube video player" width="640"></iframe></p><p style="text-align: justify;">I had produced many short videos for my 365 Frames 2015 project, but many of them had been well over two minutes long!</p><p style="text-align: justify;">The ability to convey meaningful information in two minutes or less is a formidable skill to possess when you're trying to capture people's limited attention spans. </p><p style="text-align: justify;">During the final year of my BA (Hons), I had to produce a short 30 second teaser for the Fencing documentary.</p><p style="text-align: center;"><iframe allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture" allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="360" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/ptPYon11p4w" title="YouTube video player" width="640"></iframe></p><p style="text-align: justify;">I ended up producing a 40-second trailer which served the purpose of being a trailer for the documentary, but I always felt like I really struggled to cram everything I thought was relevant into that trailer. Hence why it ended up being 40 seconds, opposed to just 30 seconds. </p><p style="text-align: justify;">However, by the time I started to produce my Cameo microfilms during my 365 Frames 2015 project, I felt immensely more confident with conveying key information in shorter time periods.</p><p style="text-align: justify;">As I said in video 100 of day 100 of my 365 Frames 2015 project, the key to getting good at producing successful short films or vids is to practice at making one each and every day...</p><p style="text-align: center;"><iframe allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture" allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="360" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/DN9Et9UCXOI" title="YouTube video player" width="640"></iframe></p><p style="text-align: justify;">Ultimately, I feel like a very competent microfilmmaker now and I am so glad that I put a special focus on refining that skillset throughout 2015. </p><p style="text-align: justify;">The key to being a successful microfilmmaker is to give your short form videos the same love and attention you would if you were producing a longer form film. </p><p style="text-align: justify;">Short form video makers are still filmmakers, they are just microfilmmakers.</p><p style="text-align: justify;">Being a microfilmmaker is a skill that is going to be strategically invaluable as I further develop my creative career.</p>Peter O'Brienhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16331786661079602602noreply@blogger.com0Bristol, UK51.454513 -2.5879123.144279163821153 -37.74416 79.764746836178844 32.56834tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8587490949640116357.post-25480540263851636012022-05-06T00:35:00.005+00:002022-05-10T09:06:38.937+00:00Random Video Making: How I cut my teeth editing<p>Editing was a skill I acquired through many years of dabbling and cutting together different bits of footage I had shot. </p><p>I started digital video editing when I was seventeen and the majority of my editing practice was done by cutting together humourous videos of my me and friends. </p><p>The period from 2007 to 2011 was a productive time in terms of my editing output and I really felt like I cut my teeth editing during this period. </p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiYTK-2XK9eiTExiTOplrcDr6Hol5CqiQwKQlYWENq1Ft3c_YbSp5htearZHl__CcBGAxzIBkHYf3TsoQE-Mhe46GHIIgucwA_Z3gONmQmVaNFN7_ppuaghAQzeBqQJprpoW4d-l91lgI4gMn5Kphj-LxSBu6sD22JMBovUrJ-S1ZMbYMA6Z5iCnMyRpw/s2592/IMG_3966.JPG" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1936" data-original-width="2592" height="478" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiYTK-2XK9eiTExiTOplrcDr6Hol5CqiQwKQlYWENq1Ft3c_YbSp5htearZHl__CcBGAxzIBkHYf3TsoQE-Mhe46GHIIgucwA_Z3gONmQmVaNFN7_ppuaghAQzeBqQJprpoW4d-l91lgI4gMn5Kphj-LxSBu6sD22JMBovUrJ-S1ZMbYMA6Z5iCnMyRpw/w640-h478/IMG_3966.JPG" width="640" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="text-align: left;">I used Magix Video Editor Pro to edit all my videos during this period</span></td></tr></tbody></table><p style="text-align: justify;">Three key projects I edited were <i><a href="https://somethingtodowithfilm.blogspot.com/2017/05/the-better-villain.html" target="_blank">The Better Villain</a>,</i> <i><a href="https://somethingtodowithfilm.blogspot.com/2020/10/the-not-even-gay-trilogy.html" target="_blank">The Not Even Gay Trilogy</a> </i>and<i> <a href="http://somethingtodowithfilm.blogspot.com/2020/10/down-a-word.html" target="_blank">Down A Word: The Story of NEXT FRIDAY</a>.</i></p><p style="text-align: justify;">But outside of these larger projects, I edited together a good number of shorter videos.</p><p style="text-align: justify;">Some of these short vids were just bits of footage I trimmed down to make the vids more snappy and interesting to watch. </p><p style="text-align: justify;">However, as my editing skills developed, I got more ambitious and created more dynamic compilation and narrative driven videos.</p><p style="text-align: justify;">Some videos even blurred fiction with fact, as can be seen with the many Doctor Who references in my vids. </p><p style="text-align: justify;">I haven't included every random video I made, just the more interesting ones, all in the order in which they were made.</p><p><br /></p><h3 style="text-align: left;"><span style="color: red;">Pirates of the Caravan</span></h3><div style="text-align: justify;">This was made from some of the footage shot for <i>Not Even Gay</i>, the first film in <i>The Not Even Gay Trilogy</i>. </div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">It was actually the first thing I edited from the footage shot and it went down very well with my friends when I first showed it to them.</div><p style="text-align: center;"><iframe allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture" allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="360" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/mS3iGY3pCL8" title="YouTube video player" width="640"></iframe></p><p style="text-align: left;"><br /></p><h3 style="text-align: left;"><span style="color: red;">The Adventures of Coop and Hammy</span></h3><div style="text-align: justify;">This compilation was made because I realised I had quite a bit of footage of these two from various different filmed events. </div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Plus, Coops had sent me some phone footage of them clowning around as well, so I very casually edited together this tribute to their double act friendship.</div><p style="text-align: justify;"><iframe allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture" allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="360" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/P6DMSWg9GbA" title="YouTube video player" width="640"></iframe></p><p style="text-align: center;"><br /></p><h3 style="text-align: left;"><b><span style="color: red;">Buckeroo Coops</span></b></h3><p style="text-align: justify;">This one came about after Coops got very drunk at Reading Festival 2009 and fell asleep on my tent. I then proceeded to tie his shoelaces together, he woke up and then hobbled back to his tent with his shoelaces still tied together... and it was one of the funniest things I had ever seen!</p><p style="text-align: justify;">Unfortunately, I did not have my camera recording when he hobbled back to his tent. But that was not going to stop me from getting creative to expose the truth. </p><p style="text-align: justify;">Buckeroo Coops is spread across two videos because back in 2009 Facebook would not allow video uploads that were longer than eight minutes. Again, I got a little creative with the split in the videos.</p><p style="text-align: justify;">I also made this in the last week before I moved to university to undertake my BA (Hons).</p><p style="text-align: center;"><iframe allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture" allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="360" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/1gP9iRODZ-w" title="YouTube video player" width="640"></iframe></p><p style="text-align: center;"><iframe allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture" allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="360" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/wmCKJAk-UAk" title="YouTube video player" width="640"></iframe></p><p style="text-align: left;"><br /></p><h3 style="text-align: left;"><span style="color: red;">Puke Hard</span></h3><div style="text-align: justify;">This was filmed on New Years 2010 and three us played a drinking game called Centurion which is when you drink a shot of alcohol every minute until you reach one hundred. </div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Obviously none of us reached one hundred and the video is pretty self-explanatory...</div><p style="text-align: center;"><iframe allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture" allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="360" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/eUjBXEDjjuY" title="YouTube video player" width="640"></iframe></p><p style="text-align: center;"><br /></p><h3 style="text-align: left;"><span style="color: red;">Adios Morocco</span></h3><p style="text-align: justify;">I made this video from footage that was shot when one of my university housemates returned home from the airport and informed us that his trip to Morocco had been cancelled because the Spanish had cancelled his plan or something. </p><p style="text-align: justify;">I don't fully remember, I just remember him being pissed, wanting to get very drunk and, well, the rest is a video...</p><p style="text-align: center;"><iframe allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture" allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="360" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/xABNVzSUDjA" title="YouTube video player" width="640"></iframe></p><p style="text-align: center;"><br /></p><h3 style="text-align: left;"><span style="color: red;">Doctor Who: The Experience</span></h3><div>This was made from footage I shot with two friends at the Doctor Who Experience exhibition when it first launched in London. </div><div><br /></div><div>I didn't just want to cut together a boring compilation of the footage I shot, so I got quite creative with the final project...</div><p style="text-align: center;"><iframe allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture" allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="360" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/v1fEajtp0FY" title="YouTube video player" width="640"></iframe></p><p><br /></p>Peter O'Brienhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16331786661079602602noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8587490949640116357.post-22516137512728551832022-05-05T22:55:00.002+00:002022-05-05T22:58:02.752+00:00My Cameo Microfilms <p>My cameo microfilms are twelve experimental short films I made using Vimeo's now defunct Cameo editing app.</p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: justify;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhAL2QAzBGq4sdhreDH1az4OI-rLqYs_OSAGHy6NatQ76TLx7rew55eGMpDIdn5ht2oPznJUt-apXGrTwdT5mdA6s95z-EN_mFmFqYpeO-nT2s0cC4ULRT2KLB3qTs6tV9XpjzOY4VQ4BwcrhfI8MLZaZzlUPDWpNDs3IRn7fTOZsqKjyejL6YVOYMCKw/s1920/365%20FRAMES%202015%20-%20Day%20078%20-%2019.03.2015.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1080" data-original-width="1920" height="360" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhAL2QAzBGq4sdhreDH1az4OI-rLqYs_OSAGHy6NatQ76TLx7rew55eGMpDIdn5ht2oPznJUt-apXGrTwdT5mdA6s95z-EN_mFmFqYpeO-nT2s0cC4ULRT2KLB3qTs6tV9XpjzOY4VQ4BwcrhfI8MLZaZzlUPDWpNDs3IRn7fTOZsqKjyejL6YVOYMCKw/w640-h360/365%20FRAMES%202015%20-%20Day%20078%20-%2019.03.2015.jpg" width="640" /></a></div><p>The Cameo app included a library of licenced music for use in your videos. In many ways, Cameo was a precursor to TikTok and Instagram Reels. </p><p>I don't think all my microfilms are great, but I'm still glad I made them because they allowed me to hone my craft as a short form filmmaker.</p><p style="text-align: center;"><iframe allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture" allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="360" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/04hLoV6dRbU" title="YouTube video player" width="640"></iframe></p><p style="text-align: center;"><iframe allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture" allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="360" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/4D6KQ2jc8YY" title="YouTube video player" width="640"></iframe></p><p style="text-align: center;"><iframe allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture" allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="360" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/uZxQPrKi6Lo" title="YouTube video player" width="640"></iframe></p><p style="text-align: center;"><iframe allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture" allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="360" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/w6BH4lOUom4" title="YouTube video player" width="640"></iframe></p><p style="text-align: center;"><iframe allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture" allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="360" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/uBXepdmQXas" title="YouTube video player" width="640"></iframe></p><p style="text-align: center;"><iframe allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture" allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="360" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/qxdtq3WDyao" title="YouTube video player" width="640"></iframe></p><p style="text-align: center;"><iframe allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture" allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="360" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/kCOOsOvwZbc" title="YouTube video player" width="640"></iframe></p><p style="text-align: center;"><iframe allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture" allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="360" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/dWmtk1w_EoY" title="YouTube video player" width="640"></iframe></p><p style="text-align: center;"><iframe allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture" allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="360" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/zMy0i0tel-c" title="YouTube video player" width="640"></iframe></p><p style="text-align: center;"><iframe allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture" allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="360" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/IlPKLAyfAtU" title="YouTube video player" width="640"></iframe></p><p style="text-align: center;"><iframe allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture" allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="360" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/6xix_VLm4hs" title="YouTube video player" width="640"></iframe></p><p style="text-align: center;"><iframe allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture" allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="360" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/LL_DxSntDww" title="YouTube video player" width="640"></iframe></p><p>I produced my microfilms from the footage I shot for <a href="http://somethingtodowithfilm.blogspot.com/2017/05/366-frames-2012.html" target="_blank">my 365 Frames 2015 video a day project</a>.</p>Peter O'Brienhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16331786661079602602noreply@blogger.com0Bristol, UK51.454513 -2.5879123.144279163821153 -37.74416 79.764746836178844 32.56834tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8587490949640116357.post-44174638960913739762022-05-05T21:59:00.013+00:002022-05-05T22:18:38.619+00:00A Video a Day for a Whole Year: 365 FRAMES 2015<div style="text-align: left;">
</div><i>365 Frames 2015</i> is an experimental filmmaking project in which I made a video a day for a whole year. <br /><br />It ran from 1st January to 31st December.<br /><br /><div style="text-align: left;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg-Gwt86AR7tDyWNoiRJiw7kik2n7xYVEpUj3-GtH9bE0sY2BQCotWgZW_GN72-UiiBWrJPs4cHKrT9kWqAJIL3A5MfmOZ_HteY1Ilj3lhu1g6un2cN7Y9ZGVrG-tYXZPOhHPZop5QjQmDLwT702VRafrCZLOo2VHsgJMeHo645dFDLym8pQ2DD5GopCg/s1200/365%20FRAMES%202015%20-%20Banner.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: center;"><img border="0" data-original-height="525" data-original-width="1200" height="280" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg-Gwt86AR7tDyWNoiRJiw7kik2n7xYVEpUj3-GtH9bE0sY2BQCotWgZW_GN72-UiiBWrJPs4cHKrT9kWqAJIL3A5MfmOZ_HteY1Ilj3lhu1g6un2cN7Y9ZGVrG-tYXZPOhHPZop5QjQmDLwT702VRafrCZLOo2VHsgJMeHo645dFDLym8pQ2DD5GopCg/w640-h280/365%20FRAMES%202015%20-%20Banner.jpg" width="640" /></a></div><br />It isn't quite 365 videos, because I skipped a few days, but it is made of 317 videos.<br /><br />All the videos can be viewed in this playlist...<br /><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><iframe allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture" allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="360" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/videoseries?list=PL4kZfir5chRiMiazVm-f-29LZ1r2aWE5s" title="YouTube video player" width="640"></iframe></div><br />Alternatively, you can check out <a href="https://365frames2015.wordpress.com/" target="_blank">the blog website I created for the project</a>.<br /><br />Not all the footage I shot has been posted online. That would have been a lot of very long daily vids. I shot a lot of footage!<br /><br />Instead, some of the vids are made up of heavily edited narratives with others just being a presentation of a single or couple of shots from a particular day.<br /><br />2015 was a very immersive and experimental time for my filmmaking, so my 365 project is very much a representation of that. <br /><br />In my 365 project, there are many references to other projects I was working on at the time, including <i><a href="http://somethingtodowithfilm.blogspot.com/2020/10/the-miracle-of-crowdfunding-the-miracle-mockumentary.html" target="_blank">The Miracle Mockumentary</a></i> and the <i><a href="http://somethingtodowithfilm.blogspot.com/2020/10/breaking-cinema-podcast.html" target="_blank">Breaking Cinema Podcast</a></i>.<br /><br />I also produced <a href="https://somethingtodowithfilm.blogspot.com/2022/05/cameo-microfilms.html" target="_blank">my Cameo microfilms</a> from the footage I shot for my 365 project. In fact, you can view alternative versions of my Cameo microfilms as daily videos I posted.<div><br /></div><div>Original footage...</div><div><br /></div><div><div style="text-align: center;"><iframe allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture" allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="360" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/AfYBjUk-WXs" title="YouTube video player" width="640"></iframe></div><br />The two cameo microfilms I produced from it...</div><div><br /></div><div style="text-align: center;"><iframe allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture" allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="360" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/uZxQPrKi6Lo" title="YouTube video player" width="640"></iframe></div><div><br /></div><div style="text-align: center;"><iframe allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture" allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="360" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/uBXepdmQXas" title="YouTube video player" width="640"></iframe></div><div><br /></div><div>I used my 365 project as a sandbox in which to actively play around with my filmmaking style.<br /><br />My 365 project has a very Avant Garde aesthetic. <br /><br />Collected here are some of the more standout vids I produced for the project...<br /><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><iframe allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture" allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="360" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/DN9Et9UCXOI" title="YouTube video player" width="640"></iframe></div></div><div><br /></div><div style="text-align: center;"><iframe allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture" allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="360" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/MIviP9UtTIs" title="YouTube video player" width="640"></iframe></div><div><br /></div><div style="text-align: center;"><iframe allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture" allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="360" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/DzpQSZ26Fxc" title="YouTube video player" width="640"></iframe></div><div><br /></div><div style="text-align: center;"><iframe allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture" allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="360" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/YFVOM69fdpc" title="YouTube video player" width="640"></iframe></div><div><br /></div><div style="text-align: center;"><iframe allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture" allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="360" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/e4AHVb-n2_E" title="YouTube video player" width="640"></iframe></div><div><br /></div><div><div style="text-align: center;"><iframe allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture" allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="360" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/PtDNfmXBhHg" title="YouTube video player" width="640"></iframe></div><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><iframe allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture" allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="360" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/tRzT09WeyCQ" title="YouTube video player" width="640"></iframe></div></div><div><br /></div><div style="text-align: center;"><iframe allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture" allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="360" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/LZEfma4Jwe4" title="YouTube video player" width="640"></iframe></div><div><br /></div><div style="text-align: center;"><iframe allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture" allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="360" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/7IGei_h0oIM" title="YouTube video player" width="640"></iframe></div><div><br /></div><div>People asked if was going to produce a feature length documentary from the footage I shot for my 365 project. <br /><br />I did toy with the idea, but as a presentation of 'a year of my life' or 'a slice of my life' I don't feel like there is much of a story.<br /><br />The subject matter gets very repetitive and, while 2015 did end up being a very productive year, nothing came to a definite conclusion at the end of it... so there's no real story resolution for the story of my 2015.<br /><br />Of course, there is the argument that not having a conclusion is more representative of the story of a year, because how many people reach a conclusion at the end of the year?<br /><br />Also, after video 200 I started to lose interest in the project... and you can tell.</div><div><br /></div><div><div style="text-align: center;"><iframe allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture" allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="360" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/Mz1OgK91AC4" title="YouTube video player" width="640"></iframe></div><br />I think if I was to produce a longer presentation from the videos I produced for my 365 project, it would be based around another theme. <div><br /></div><div>Maybe even our relationship with screens because that is something that comes up a lot in the 365 videos.</div><div><br /></div><div><div style="text-align: center;"><iframe allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture" allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="360" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/cxK_CheXUAU" title="YouTube video player" width="640"></iframe></div><br />Possibly that is something I might put together at some point. But I can't imagine there would much of an audience for that idea. <br /><br />I don't know. Maybe it might just be something I do for my own pleasure. <br /><br /><i>365 Frames 2015</i> is also the follow-up to <a href="http://somethingtodowithfilm.blogspot.com/2017/05/366-frames-2012.html" target="_blank">my <i>366 Frames 2012</i> project</a> in which I took a photo a day for a whole year. <div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><br /></div></div>Peter O'Brienhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16331786661079602602noreply@blogger.com0Bristol, UK51.454513 -2.5879124.203224334835941 -37.74416 78.70580166516406 32.56834tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8587490949640116357.post-76783241204474757032022-05-02T04:03:00.002+00:002022-05-10T10:03:56.669+00:00EYES of a Storyteller: Project portfolio & blog - The lost year of Something to do with Film<p style="text-align: justify;"><i>EYES of a Storyteller</i> is the blog/portfolio that I created to chronicle and reflect on the development of the entirety of <a href="https://somethingtodowithfilm.blogspot.com/2017/05/e-y-e-s-audio-visual-rubik-cube.html" target="_blank">my EYES web series project</a>, which was the creative enterprise project/practical dissertation for my BA (Hons).</p><p style="text-align: justify;">After I abandoned building a separate website to host the primary web series project elements, the blog also ended up becoming the main portfolio for the overall project. </p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj_0GMsVWlAIpqntfWLVY3busKxBT23BLVI_GJbzgF2HaK9tpENnWk9ODyZEvV_4CV2jKXLC9AUlz757IhgaB1VWk6Q3P7OxihirWP4BSQ2y_KzdFMbtSNWzdJaBrDOcPz524iAXxTEuhC8P7CvthqPfIhNeROFl73XMhsKTnEfkYiXTzaGMyKeoJP30g/s1589/EYES%20of%20a%20Storyteller%20-%20NEW%20banner%20-%2010-08-2013%20-%20v3-001.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1156" data-original-width="1589" height="466" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj_0GMsVWlAIpqntfWLVY3busKxBT23BLVI_GJbzgF2HaK9tpENnWk9ODyZEvV_4CV2jKXLC9AUlz757IhgaB1VWk6Q3P7OxihirWP4BSQ2y_KzdFMbtSNWzdJaBrDOcPz524iAXxTEuhC8P7CvthqPfIhNeROFl73XMhsKTnEfkYiXTzaGMyKeoJP30g/w640-h466/EYES%20of%20a%20Storyteller%20-%20NEW%20banner%20-%2010-08-2013%20-%20v3-001.jpg" width="640" /></a></div><br /><p style="text-align: justify;">The overall EYES project is comprised of...</p><ul><li style="text-align: justify;"><span face=""Trebuchet MS",sans-serif"><b><a href="http://eyesofastoryteller.blogspot.com/2013/09/eyes-series-bible.html" target="_blank">A Series Bible document</a></b> that provides an overview for the EYES web series concept proposal. It details the story-world rules, storylines, characters, target audience, format, thematic focus and artistic/film formulaic style.</span> </li></ul><ul></ul><ul><li style="text-align: justify;"><span face=""Trebuchet MS",sans-serif"><b><a href="http://eyesofastoryteller.blogspot.com/2013/09/eyes-pilot-episode-one-search-me.html" target="_blank">A Pilot Episode (Episode One: "Search Me")</a></b> that is a seven-minute introductory episode that establishes the form, tone, story and main characters of the EYES web series story-world. Ultimately, the pilot is an expression of the dramatic, surrealistic and cognitive ideas detailed in the Series Bible.</span></li></ul><ul><li style="text-align: justify;"><span face=""Trebuchet MS",sans-serif"><b><a href="http://eyesofastoryteller.blogspot.com/2013/09/eyes-planning-portfolio.html" target="_blank">A Planning Portfolio document</a></b> that is an 11,000 word detailed overview of the research, planning and administration I conducted for the project. </span></li></ul><ul><li style="text-align: justify;"><span face=""Trebuchet MS",sans-serif"><b><i><a href="http://eyesofastoryteller.blogspot.com/" target="_blank">EYES of a Storyteller</a></i></b> is the blog/portfolio that I have been using to chronicle and reflect on the development of the entirety of the EYES project; as well as hosting the plethora of materials generated for the project.</span></li></ul>
<div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Also included are details about two additional primary elements that were abandoned due to lack of time...</div><ul>
</ul>
<span face=""Trebuchet MS",sans-serif"><ul style="text-align: left;"><li style="text-align: justify;"><span face=""Trebuchet MS",sans-serif"><a href="http://eyesofastoryteller.blogspot.com/2013/05/mock-up-trailer-to-sell-idea.html" target="_blank">A Mock-Up Trailer</a> that would have served as a selling pitch and vision (just like the pilot episode) for season 1 of the web series. </span></li></ul><ul style="text-align: left;"><li style="text-align: justify;"><a href="http://eyesofastoryteller.blogspot.com/2013/05/video-centric-eyes-website-that-nearly.html" target="_blank">An original Video-Centric Website</a> that would have hosted the portfolio, with the EYES of a Storyteller blog only serving as an adjunct. </li></ul></span><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Additionally the blog includes...</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div><ul style="text-align: left;"><li style="text-align: justify;"><a href="http://eyesofastoryteller.blogspot.com/2013/09/the-complete-vlogs.html" target="_blank">Vlog posts</a> about the development of EYES</li><li style="text-align: justify;">Project specific update posts</li><li style="text-align: justify;">Project specific reflection posts</li><li style="text-align: justify;">General creative practice posts</li><li style="text-align: justify;">General inspiration posts</li><li style="text-align: justify;">Film, filmmaking and storytelling posts</li></ul></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">I created the <i>EYES of a Storyteller</i> blog in October of 2012 and kept it running for the entirety of the <i>EYES</i> project. I finally brought the <i>EYES</i> project and the blog to a close in October of 2013. </div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: center;"><iframe allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture" allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="360" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/EdQIgKNo_as" title="YouTube video player" width="640"></iframe></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">I put <i>Something to do with Film</i> on pause while I made <i>EYES of a Storyteller</i> my main blog.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">As much as <i>EYES of a Storyteller</i> is a blog and portfolio in its own right, it is also an adjunct to <i>Something to do with Film</i>.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Essentially, <i>EYES of a Storyteller</i> is the lost 2012-13 year of <i>Something to do with Film</i>.</div><div><div>
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</ul>
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div></div></div>Peter O'Brienhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16331786661079602602noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8587490949640116357.post-1173205113619316972022-05-02T00:00:00.003+00:002022-05-10T06:50:02.298+00:00Something to do with having too many blogs: All my film-related blogs...<div class="separator" style="text-align: justify;">I've had a few different blogs and here I want to provide a brief outline of each and how they interrelated with or have been absorbed into <i>Something to do with Film.</i></div><div class="separator"><i><br /></i></div><div class="separator"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgrq4N9gZmcXW5S8bv6Y51uFg_s18pxK19wIjswUQ6DwkPkH3qUpNIi_i768a_LOzdnjYTRz3jVP49ladn9vIKGczKpTm3h2EA4y4MCOp-krbUbppe2rvMNOJlQZo86EbpTwQZ3r-in3qoB67eRLdkcTJIayzN0D3U0JGf99NcZa78S48UjlW_UzBvADg/s840/Making%20Films%20-%20Main%20Banner.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="449" data-original-width="840" height="214" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgrq4N9gZmcXW5S8bv6Y51uFg_s18pxK19wIjswUQ6DwkPkH3qUpNIi_i768a_LOzdnjYTRz3jVP49ladn9vIKGczKpTm3h2EA4y4MCOp-krbUbppe2rvMNOJlQZo86EbpTwQZ3r-in3qoB67eRLdkcTJIayzN0D3U0JGf99NcZa78S48UjlW_UzBvADg/w400-h214/Making%20Films%20-%20Main%20Banner.jpg" width="400" /></a></div></div><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEish3WJ-B2-4Sw8FXEEIL7TU-VEzUzmOQsdJQB4-y0FWvaVmKpRfpKC2EDjwQkhBPdMqjw0muRoGsl1SXkyACeF5yH3jNDMssfX6gkHa_5G8t3-hBBjhrSxfpslPPPIqzPixXPDqL7RQUorHncCEdV_RA-mIOTmFLOVg5JlCRXnIFIxCqUb96UeikOfAQ/s840/Banner.JPG" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="350" data-original-width="840" height="166" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEish3WJ-B2-4Sw8FXEEIL7TU-VEzUzmOQsdJQB4-y0FWvaVmKpRfpKC2EDjwQkhBPdMqjw0muRoGsl1SXkyACeF5yH3jNDMssfX6gkHa_5G8t3-hBBjhrSxfpslPPPIqzPixXPDqL7RQUorHncCEdV_RA-mIOTmFLOVg5JlCRXnIFIxCqUb96UeikOfAQ/w400-h166/Banner.JPG" width="400" /></a></div><p></p><h3 style="text-align: left;"><span style="color: red;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi9d3UQCSxT6LWFhYSdnAzLtYBgwz22h4S-9qsIR_P8ld9BEU48Bvi8m3tph8phdkgvjzEgZNHcbWwoOvuNqHAIWZQTdZ8yrYNE4QgnZUA5EgUYoG8hqrPx22pM6v5x17nd305nZn0Oxo0VKfYAOAkbBj2o183Yn6MK1_dW0lTGXMBB4key5XboF3XV6A/s770/Film%20Was%20My%20First%20Fixation%20-%20366%20FRAMES%202012.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="152" data-original-width="770" height="79" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi9d3UQCSxT6LWFhYSdnAzLtYBgwz22h4S-9qsIR_P8ld9BEU48Bvi8m3tph8phdkgvjzEgZNHcbWwoOvuNqHAIWZQTdZ8yrYNE4QgnZUA5EgUYoG8hqrPx22pM6v5x17nd305nZn0Oxo0VKfYAOAkbBj2o183Yn6MK1_dW0lTGXMBB4key5XboF3XV6A/w400-h79/Film%20Was%20My%20First%20Fixation%20-%20366%20FRAMES%202012.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi9ojGUZ-z26HRVGIDcXVbFZ8E83ZXFbXpK8wTV8hG4hYAjGVqaEnAHNCaT7gUskg47swVOjnP0T_JTo1ontFBRgZ8ic66OLnBAvHeoN98l7DCm5L8Ku7Bb9NtDXzCss6ADYa7-i1jtPIvV2mwXcBS1Kc49wkkl85w0RzEtePhsmEpTBvgnhOk-Kl7cAw/s1589/EYES%20of%20a%20Storyteller%20-%20NEW%20banner%20-%2010-08-2013%20-%20v3-001.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1156" data-original-width="1589" height="291" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi9ojGUZ-z26HRVGIDcXVbFZ8E83ZXFbXpK8wTV8hG4hYAjGVqaEnAHNCaT7gUskg47swVOjnP0T_JTo1ontFBRgZ8ic66OLnBAvHeoN98l7DCm5L8Ku7Bb9NtDXzCss6ADYa7-i1jtPIvV2mwXcBS1Kc49wkkl85w0RzEtePhsmEpTBvgnhOk-Kl7cAw/w400-h291/EYES%20of%20a%20Storyteller%20-%20NEW%20banner%20-%2010-08-2013%20-%20v3-001.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhoZ8Tjj6fVNOCGfJPGthZj-hqEqf-EzWwKxfmrnoDUzKUZTqP6u6a2ygsB04easuZP_EypMtMP54qfaqyYwFGsApe1CvGw1xaIL7D-prxm4frHjzy8ZKyhH7NL_7e86uESXKmiMUfhHhqZogCkLTRsUzekBsHljI1n5lfaaLcXTyGhugBny7WPY0jeQQ/s1436/W2I%20Banner%20Template%20-%20January%202016%201.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="397" data-original-width="1436" height="110" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhoZ8Tjj6fVNOCGfJPGthZj-hqEqf-EzWwKxfmrnoDUzKUZTqP6u6a2ygsB04easuZP_EypMtMP54qfaqyYwFGsApe1CvGw1xaIL7D-prxm4frHjzy8ZKyhH7NL_7e86uESXKmiMUfhHhqZogCkLTRsUzekBsHljI1n5lfaaLcXTyGhugBny7WPY0jeQQ/w400-h110/W2I%20Banner%20Template%20-%20January%202016%201.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgf_yBlO1RELbWSUhMUu3AccFtwtpBhvxcafYqOD3zC6Y5KUGrvAQwNHzYDyJfaH29l8LpzwwvDFXGG3BrFLqY6HQFnS0CFwCIgGMNjsnjShin_MzUCTBSyMEvu7BDqGfSIh5KZS3A2N9hsjOa09Yb8eEDrQDzlY6-y9OiLl3OQQ1nnXJCXEtCu2uysRA/s1200/365%20FRAMES%202015%20-%20Banner.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="525" data-original-width="1200" height="175" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgf_yBlO1RELbWSUhMUu3AccFtwtpBhvxcafYqOD3zC6Y5KUGrvAQwNHzYDyJfaH29l8LpzwwvDFXGG3BrFLqY6HQFnS0CFwCIgGMNjsnjShin_MzUCTBSyMEvu7BDqGfSIh5KZS3A2N9hsjOa09Yb8eEDrQDzlY6-y9OiLl3OQQ1nnXJCXEtCu2uysRA/w400-h175/365%20FRAMES%202015%20-%20Banner.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><br /><i><br /></i></span></h3><h3 style="text-align: left;"><span style="color: red;"><i>Something to do with Writing</i> and <i>Something to do with Making Films</i></span></h3><p>When I first started <i>Something to do with Film</i> all the way back in 2011, I also started two sister blogs to go with it... <i>Something to do with Writing</i> and <i>Something to do with Making Films.</i></p><p>I had never started a blog before and my thinking at the time was to have a blog to cover each focus of my BA (Hons). Those being a writing focus, a film theory focus and a filmmaking focus.</p><p>Looking back on it now, it was a complete mistake to start three blogs all at once, because it just tripled my workload!</p><p>It would have made more sense to just have one super blog or, at the very least, merge the film and making films into one blog and keep the writing one solely for my writing.</p><p>Ultimately, all the posts I did manage to post on my writing blog and making films blog ended up being reposted on this film blog.</p><p>So my film blog did end up becoming the super blog that covered my BA (Hons) studies; as well as some of the filmmaking I have done as part of my self-directed master's degree. </p><p>I have now deleted both <i>Something to do with Writing</i> and <i>Something to do with Making Films</i>.</p><p>Both <i>Something to do with Writing</i> and <i>Something to do with Making Films</i> had identical layouts and similar design aesthetics to this blog. Although, the look of <i>Something to do with Film</i> has shifted since I first launched it. </p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjOkSHXL7S92-441wo3UFof8vW4kBgTdquPYzThJmWFNbqjYdB_w0R_6B5_nmffVervdVp0C0W2xqn9JaXgOFG0r26tiN8iyUNT7dJW-kcLv85iIw_hadmNUCN4lEDfYJj7q_NlFN-g3cVi_dNjnzizSv0Z1ofnBKsqiLzScpfclqPx9oAviklC5BrhnQ/s1901/Something%20to%20do%20with%20Writing%201.png" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1047" data-original-width="1901" height="352" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjOkSHXL7S92-441wo3UFof8vW4kBgTdquPYzThJmWFNbqjYdB_w0R_6B5_nmffVervdVp0C0W2xqn9JaXgOFG0r26tiN8iyUNT7dJW-kcLv85iIw_hadmNUCN4lEDfYJj7q_NlFN-g3cVi_dNjnzizSv0Z1ofnBKsqiLzScpfclqPx9oAviklC5BrhnQ/w640-h352/Something%20to%20do%20with%20Writing%201.png" width="640" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i>Something to do with Writing</i></td></tr></tbody></table><p>This is what I wrote in the intro post of <i>Something to do with Writing</i>, which was titled 'Me, My Blog & the Unbearable Existence of Not Writing!'...</p><blockquote>“If you are an aspiring writer – write! Don’t think about writing. Don’t plan to write. Don’t hope to write. Just write…”<br /><div style="text-align: right;"><span style="font-size: xx-small;">- Neil Gaiman, Doctor Who Confidential (2011).</span></div></blockquote><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">A student of creative writing, film studies and film production, I am currently studying at Bath Spa University in my second year. Fortunately, for my sanity, these three subjects are the holy trinity in my life. Although, it does have to be said that Doctor Who features on par with the trinity, but Doctor Who is a whole other belief system in itself! At the moment, it feels that not a second of my Uni life is being wasted, as it centres on developing everything I love. Hence, the reason for this blog – just another step forward in that development.</div><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://www.blogger.com/blog/post/edit/8587490949640116357/117320511361931697#" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-loi4zeAuD8k/Tp9dIQTha0I/AAAAAAAABUQ/OBu79v8KK6k/s200/DSCF5887-1.JPG" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Me in the TARDIS.</td></tr></tbody></table><div><br /><div style="text-align: justify;">There are three purposes for this blog:</div><ol style="text-align: left;"><li style="text-align: justify;">To act as a journal to chronicle my development as a writer in my Creative Writing Degree.</li><li style="text-align: justify;">To act as a canvas on which I can present any observations, or anxieties, or suggestions, or anecdotes about writing, obviously. I will also post reviews of things I have read and any other writing related stuff that can be cooked up into a blog post, it’s too early list everything I haven’t thought up yet.</li><li style="text-align: justify;">By far, the most important - to keep me writing! There are periods, especially as a student, when writing is as rare as a money tree. No more! There is no reason for me not to be writing when I have a blog to update!</li></ol><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">In relation to my writing, the blog will be concerned, primarily, with Scriptwriting and Life Writing, as these are the two that I enjoy the most. Of course, I will endeavour to touch upon other types; it may even be that I start taking a shine to another type of writing, but, these will be the two that I focus most on, for the time being.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Comments, criticisms and suggestions are absolutely welcome, but should be expressed politely and with a positive attitude. Naturally, as this is a writer's blog, I would like it to have a writers' workshop feel.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Alongside this blog I will also be running two others: <a href="#">Something to do with Film</a> and <a href="#">Something to do with Making Films</a>. As their names suggest they will be focusing on the other areas of my degree: Film Studies and Film Production. And, yes, I am mentioning them, purely, for advertisement.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Finally, I would just like to finish, with something that links up with Neil Gaiman’s quote, by saying that writing can be an absolute pain in the behind. But, once you start writing and then keep yourself committed to writing, it’s surprising how quickly you start to enjoy both the process and the outcome. So, blog, here goes…</div></div><div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><br /><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEism3qBukUOl_lkRsPygB-Q-b-c1mQsnfQe3wB60WEq3A1wb-9T2R5aET6u7HrUrhKukhJJRjAUOg2ZeK5XPRhlv6F_DBAuPpzD29obNtC3vsVChHSImM-XyKsmLr99zqAxWPlYr9q6VPYNtu3Vi1bK6CMiFpuX--szSR6oxBdjn5vwDhLQvlbi7_W86w/s1901/Something%20to%20do%20with%20Making%20Films.png" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1047" data-original-width="1901" height="352" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEism3qBukUOl_lkRsPygB-Q-b-c1mQsnfQe3wB60WEq3A1wb-9T2R5aET6u7HrUrhKukhJJRjAUOg2ZeK5XPRhlv6F_DBAuPpzD29obNtC3vsVChHSImM-XyKsmLr99zqAxWPlYr9q6VPYNtu3Vi1bK6CMiFpuX--szSR6oxBdjn5vwDhLQvlbi7_W86w/w640-h352/Something%20to%20do%20with%20Making%20Films.png" width="640" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i>Something to do with Making Films</i></td></tr></tbody></table><br /></div><div>This is what I wrote in the intro post of Something to do with Making Films, which was titled 'Me, My Blog & the Destructive Urge to Create'...<blockquote><div><div class="MsoNormal"><i>“Making movies is the most wonderful thing in the world. Working with friends. Entertaining people.”</i></div><div align="right" class="MsoListParagraph" style="mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-align: right; text-indent: -18pt;"><span class="Apple-style-span" face="'Trebuchet MS',sans-serif"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-small;">-<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal;"> </span>Ian Mckellen as James Whale, <i>Gods and Monsters</i> (1998).</span></span></div></div></blockquote><div><div align="right" class="MsoListParagraph" style="mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-align: right; text-indent: -18pt;"><span class="Apple-style-span" face="'Trebuchet MS',sans-serif"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-small;"></span></span></div><div align="right" class="MsoListParagraph" style="mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-align: right; text-indent: -18pt;"><br /><span class="Apple-style-span" face="'Trebuchet MS',sans-serif"><br /></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-jZp7tApeStM/TqQAIpm4xUI/AAAAAAAABb4/4x5QQ_JyQLI/s1600/DSC03073-1.JPG" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-jZp7tApeStM/TqQAIpm4xUI/AAAAAAAABb4/4x5QQ_JyQLI/s320/DSC03073-1.JPG" width="320" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" face="'Trebuchet MS',sans-serif">Me and my trusty JVC hard disc camcorder</span></td></tr></tbody></table><span class="Apple-style-span" face="'Trebuchet MS',sans-serif"><div style="text-align: justify;">Currently, I am studying Film Studies with Creative Writing with Planning and Making a Film in my second year at Bath Spa University. In terms of my career aspirations and general interests these three subjects cover both, and I’m very much loving Uni life because of this. The process behind the creation of a film has always been something that has fascinated me. While I have certainly studied many aspects of film production, up until now, the only practical experience I have had has been on my JVC Hard Disc Camcorder and has been incredibly amateurish (but, that is not to say I haven’t enjoyed it). </div><o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span" face="'Trebuchet MS',sans-serif"><br /></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span" face="'Trebuchet MS',sans-serif">Following in the same vein of my other two blogs: <i><a href="http://somethingtodowithfilm.blogspot.com/">Something to do with Film</a></i> and <i><a href="http://somethingtodowithwriting.blogspot.com/">Something to do with Writing</a></i>, this blog will record my progress and development, inside and outside, of the film production part of my degree (If I am referring to the name of my course, </span><span class="Apple-style-span" face="'Trebuchet MS',sans-serif">Planning and Making a Film, </span><span class="Apple-style-span" face="'Trebuchet MS',sans-serif">I may abbreviate it as</span><span class="Apple-style-span" face="'Trebuchet MS',sans-serif"> PAMAF, as its a hell of a lot shorter</span><span class="Apple-style-span" face="'Trebuchet MS',sans-serif">).</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span" face="'Trebuchet MS',sans-serif"><br /></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><div style="text-align: justify;">The content of posts, primarily, will be reports of what I have been up to and achieving week by week. I may also post reviews or suggestions of any course related books or resources I have used. However, because the three parts of my degree are in quite closely related areas it may be that posts will be spread across blogs, and I will post links where necessary. I’m also blogging about this module on a shared blog: <i><a href="http://maf2011.posterous.com/">BSU Making A Film 2011</a>, </i>again I will post links where necessary.</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div></div><div class="MsoNormal"><div style="text-align: justify;">I welcome comments, criticism and suggestions, but if you should comment all I ask is that comments are expressed politely.</div><span class="Apple-style-span" face="'Trebuchet MS',sans-serif" style="color: white;"><div style="text-align: justify;">j</div></span><span class="Apple-style-span" face="'Trebuchet MS',sans-serif"><div style="text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span" face="'Trebuchet MS',sans-serif">Lastly, </span><span class="Apple-style-span" face="'Trebuchet MS',sans-serif">I have always enjoyed making things - the fact that I have created three blogs in quick succession is testament to that (I also hope they don't all collapse under the strain). But </span><span class="Apple-style-span" face="'Trebuchet MS',sans-serif">is making movies really the most wonderful thing in the world? Well, I believe it is and, this is the important point, I want this blog to illustrate why it is. So, </span><span class="Apple-style-span" face="'Trebuchet MS',sans-serif">let's get started - lights... camera... action!</span></div></span></div></div><p><br /></p><h3 style="text-align: left;"><span style="color: red;">366 FRAMES 2012</span></h3><p>366 Frames 2012 is pretty self-explanatory, it is the blog that chronicles my 366 project in which I took a photo a day for the whole of 2012.</p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhuDDSrDAivWqFyA01nm-Cgo7sAXSnoJhOaByBzPUK-1v7SAZ3O1UKuZU_87mwoLTkecUCz9VebMBkhLk7hgyhVhu-btkTe8_-VMetLS4mVMDGm0Wz3qFxbOc2RmJdJjEBh6qo1MAoE7XuwYcMvJuCun68TtREQx428P2b5Dz6UHbA8JNFnZRQGp5wDlg/s1903/366%20FRAMES%202012.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1080" data-original-width="1903" height="364" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhuDDSrDAivWqFyA01nm-Cgo7sAXSnoJhOaByBzPUK-1v7SAZ3O1UKuZU_87mwoLTkecUCz9VebMBkhLk7hgyhVhu-btkTe8_-VMetLS4mVMDGm0Wz3qFxbOc2RmJdJjEBh6qo1MAoE7XuwYcMvJuCun68TtREQx428P2b5Dz6UHbA8JNFnZRQGp5wDlg/w640-h364/366%20FRAMES%202012.png" width="640" /></a></div><p style="text-align: justify;">The blog also contains vlogs related to the project and two summative videos I produced.</p><p style="text-align: justify;">The blog is still online.</p><p style="text-align: justify;"><a href="http://366frames2012.blogspot.com/" target="_blank">Go to blog</a></p><p><br /></p><h3 style="text-align: left;"><span style="color: red;">EYES of a Storyteller</span></h3><p style="text-align: justify;"><i>EYES of a Storyteller</i> is the blog I created to chronicle the development of my <i>EYES</i> web series concept proposal package that I orchestrated for the practical dissertation/creative enterprise project of my BA (Hons).</p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgcbK676K6rkfK3hVDYCLC59RxPezGrTFB-P77M-rglzS7pfMxDbsp88rynbEUXAV183zQA9jaWSAi4lP0oFoT1vb0tbTj3QdeAm5CwvfLPUKZgVC7re50-UA5L7DRt599GlspdrcC2S-iJBcNRBgKtsn0lKQj3MN4t--7Bv_eBGtqx8uETu9UQ_SStJA/s1901/EYES%20of%20a%20Storyteller%202.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1048" data-original-width="1901" height="352" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgcbK676K6rkfK3hVDYCLC59RxPezGrTFB-P77M-rglzS7pfMxDbsp88rynbEUXAV183zQA9jaWSAi4lP0oFoT1vb0tbTj3QdeAm5CwvfLPUKZgVC7re50-UA5L7DRt599GlspdrcC2S-iJBcNRBgKtsn0lKQj3MN4t--7Bv_eBGtqx8uETu9UQ_SStJA/w640-h352/EYES%20of%20a%20Storyteller%202.png" width="640" /></a></div><p style="text-align: justify;">Originally, I had envisioned building a separate website to house the portfolio, but time would not allow it. Therefore, the blog ended up doubling as the project portfolio as well. </p><p style="text-align: justify;">This blog is still online.</p><p style="text-align: justify;"><a href="http://eyesofastoryteller.blogspot.com/" target="_blank">Go to blog</a> </p><p><br /></p><h3 style="text-align: left;"><span style="color: red;">Ways 2 Interface</span></h3><p style="text-align: justify;"><i>Ways 2 Interface</i> was my personal journal of mass communications and media studies 2.0.</p><p style="text-align: justify;">This blog is the sequel to my award-winning BA (Hons) theoretical dissertation, <i><a href="http://somethingtodowithfilm.blogspot.com/2014/05/ways-of-being.html" target="_blank">Ways of Being: The Spectator and the Spectacle</a></i>, hence the <i>Ways 2</i>. </p><p style="text-align: justify;">The blog picks up where the larger media focus concerns of my undergraduate degree left off. </p><p style="text-align: justify;">In other words, <i>Ways 2 Interface</i> covers everything media related that is too broad to be covered by <i>Something to do with Film</i>.</p><p style="text-align: justify;">When I graduated with my BA (Hons), I wasn't even sure if I was going to do a master's degree or if I was going to continue the research I had started.</p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiMf0aK5Qw6ZSXbG_OOO41PZBmeaz825UQFvV6V7oBM80ZXLLJWX0JiLJo7kfBt8tfWzaFoj9u4NSmIYh5iMmq4FVg68hY0hBkiEcdFo82EzpC5-yI2WFz34a5263HHVecvXl8h4t_WzA2ewWGQybzA7Yl5_Jb7RMzyOd8ojaN3frq6oMskrIgwRejLpg/s1901/Ways%202%20Interface.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1047" data-original-width="1901" height="352" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiMf0aK5Qw6ZSXbG_OOO41PZBmeaz825UQFvV6V7oBM80ZXLLJWX0JiLJo7kfBt8tfWzaFoj9u4NSmIYh5iMmq4FVg68hY0hBkiEcdFo82EzpC5-yI2WFz34a5263HHVecvXl8h4t_WzA2ewWGQybzA7Yl5_Jb7RMzyOd8ojaN3frq6oMskrIgwRejLpg/w640-h352/Ways%202%20Interface.png" width="640" /></a></div><br /><p style="text-align: justify;"><i>Ways 2 Interface</i> was just my way of keeping that research focus alive while I figured out what I wanted to do with my postgraduate studies.</p><p style="text-align: justify;">Ultimately, my research focus morphed into my desire to build my own transdisciplinary postgraduate education and <i>Ways 2 Interface</i> slowly became defunct.</p><p style="text-align: justify;">Although, it did serve as something of a blog for the building of my postgraduate education, until I brought the blog to a conclusion.</p><p style="text-align: justify;">Now anything related to my self-directed master's degree or media-related concerns is being covered on my main <a href="http://petebecreative.com/blog/" target="_blank"><i>Pete Be Creative</i> blog</a>.</p><p style="text-align: justify;"><i>Ways 2 Interface</i> is still online.</p><p style="text-align: justify;"><a href="https://ways2interface.blogspot.com/" target="_blank">Go to blog</a></p><p><br /></p><h3 style="text-align: left;"><span style="color: red;">365 FRAMES 2015</span></h3><p style="text-align: justify;">Like 366 Frames 2012 before it, 365 Frames 2015 is the blog that chronicles my 365 project in which I made a video a day for the whole of 2015. </p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg4JdfSeUYTucUTo0e2kYllBYfGJA2-6SNuBwron4Y0x2y6iJvjEeyCwCrsIV-n4DMlOT4-tonT2EmbpwcYM3JWr9ZFq9cppXAYiiPLcNEenNm-MNN3M63YyU9WiL8F-aeOolGaKU_4SxmBUwKz7pSJzREGs3j_P6KhPIyLCtRn-aGP_IoGVWw-5XyCiQ/s1899/365%20FRAMES%202012.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1045" data-original-width="1899" height="352" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg4JdfSeUYTucUTo0e2kYllBYfGJA2-6SNuBwron4Y0x2y6iJvjEeyCwCrsIV-n4DMlOT4-tonT2EmbpwcYM3JWr9ZFq9cppXAYiiPLcNEenNm-MNN3M63YyU9WiL8F-aeOolGaKU_4SxmBUwKz7pSJzREGs3j_P6KhPIyLCtRn-aGP_IoGVWw-5XyCiQ/w640-h352/365%20FRAMES%202012.png" width="640" /></a></div><br /><p style="text-align: justify;">The blog is still online.</p><p style="text-align: justify;"><a href="https://365frames2015.wordpress.com/" target="_blank">Go to blog</a></p><p><br /></p><h3 style="text-align: left;"><span style="color: red;">Cinema Breakdown</span></h3><p style="text-align: justify;"><i>Cinema Breakdown</i> was a private blog I created to organise the development of <i><a href="https://somethingtodowithfilm.blogspot.com/2020/10/the-miracle-of-crowdfunding-the-miracle-mockumentary.html" target="_blank">The Miracle Mockumentary</a></i> and <i><a href="https://somethingtodowithfilm.blogspot.com/2020/10/the-cinema-complex.html" target="_blank">The Cinema Complex</a></i> documentary with my colleague, George Oram.</p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: justify;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhKG4mBcYA_Jxqx3SdoPaVj0MOC5-DY0AlRer2-oX_zS0hTGXXSF3ioyOM8HDpM_oi6Lryei9TKKODSZcs0h7yDKAAIJ5iVJwgO9mkZ_E7JXJ8PHs8s2kHE3opmGzpfYX3Xo_WbS-jtIbUGsF-Z1u4efKwFDCGXqLyGWZ4kPZUUS4xxePfOPy4cvdw5NQ/s1903/Cinema%20Breakdown.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="955" data-original-width="1903" height="322" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhKG4mBcYA_Jxqx3SdoPaVj0MOC5-DY0AlRer2-oX_zS0hTGXXSF3ioyOM8HDpM_oi6Lryei9TKKODSZcs0h7yDKAAIJ5iVJwgO9mkZ_E7JXJ8PHs8s2kHE3opmGzpfYX3Xo_WbS-jtIbUGsF-Z1u4efKwFDCGXqLyGWZ4kPZUUS4xxePfOPy4cvdw5NQ/w640-h322/Cinema%20Breakdown.png" width="640" /></a></div><br /><p style="text-align: justify;">All the posts from this blog can now be found on <i>Something to do with Film</i>.</p><p style="text-align: justify;">This blog has now been deleted.</p><p><br /></p><h3 style="text-align: left;"><span style="color: red;">Breaking Cinema Presents...</span></h3><p style="text-align: justify;"><i>Breaking Cinema Presents...</i> (a very confusingly similar name to <i>Cinema Breakdown</i>) was a private blog I created to organise the development of the <i>Breaking Cinema</i> Podcast.</p><p style="text-align: justify;">All the members of the podcast had access to this blog.</p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi8UK5BwgF1hrG-Is68uGx9QI7NdUkL0d7oCHxPE4vWCStvmoD6yNKf4dszw6P9WYy1JgGD2y0SVK8s43gSPW-spMKbHrRP0rz1fWQQWpMBzh21GJ5IZBPY4-1nCWmdPgNAsxX4YqBAmwcGZ4-DGn7fbzJRHJU9-Xv1F9HhEwUB214iBHiGsEr2FIrOmA/s1902/Breaking%20Cinema%20Presents.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1047" data-original-width="1902" height="352" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi8UK5BwgF1hrG-Is68uGx9QI7NdUkL0d7oCHxPE4vWCStvmoD6yNKf4dszw6P9WYy1JgGD2y0SVK8s43gSPW-spMKbHrRP0rz1fWQQWpMBzh21GJ5IZBPY4-1nCWmdPgNAsxX4YqBAmwcGZ4-DGn7fbzJRHJU9-Xv1F9HhEwUB214iBHiGsEr2FIrOmA/w640-h352/Breaking%20Cinema%20Presents.png" width="640" /></a></div><br /><p style="text-align: justify;">All the posts from this blog can now be found on <i>Something to do with Film</i>.</p><p style="text-align: justify;">The blog has now been deleted.</p><p style="text-align: justify;"><br /></p><h3 style="text-align: left;"><span style="color: red;">Pete Be Creative</span></h3><p><i>Pete Be Creative</i> is my personal website that includes a blog, which is now my current and main super blog.</p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgQSvqq3OdurWEcaRGQtI1JhDPDn_kYpdiM98y61bb5TyOc01nnvIGFMluNeFCSbArrkkQ0UxmtnCfOcokrEU0T1oOKCfauaHmI6FbbHj6bkAIhxuHrfT--t2ZYmAIDSlvTCHbIcGQB-VDKP0AWNIhDJtG5c-w6e2J7VEDTO7nL4wPEWfL3Bx4ctK7Wfg/s1902/blog.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1045" data-original-width="1902" height="352" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgQSvqq3OdurWEcaRGQtI1JhDPDn_kYpdiM98y61bb5TyOc01nnvIGFMluNeFCSbArrkkQ0UxmtnCfOcokrEU0T1oOKCfauaHmI6FbbHj6bkAIhxuHrfT--t2ZYmAIDSlvTCHbIcGQB-VDKP0AWNIhDJtG5c-w6e2J7VEDTO7nL4wPEWfL3Bx4ctK7Wfg/w640-h352/blog.png" width="640" /></a></div><p>Being a polymath who is interested in many different focuses, which extend far beyond film and media, I have always felt restricted by what I can write about on my previous blogs.</p><p>Therefore, I was always keen to launch a personal website and blog that would have a very loose focus and would allow me to post about whatever my heart desired... that's Pete Be Creative.</p><p>As soon as I have <i>Something to do with Film</i> fully tied and concluded as my pre-2022 film-related blog and filmmaking archive, <i>Pete Be Creative</i> will take over for any future film related blog posts. </p><p><a href="http://petebecreative.com/blog/" target="_blank">Go to my personal blog</a></p></div>Peter O'Brienhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16331786661079602602noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8587490949640116357.post-6232193908385676502020-10-27T21:09:00.009+00:002020-10-28T10:25:54.547+00:00The NOT EVEN GAY Trilogy - My first experience of documentary making<p>Between 2007 and 2012, I made three comedy travelogue documentaries about the ultimate pursuit of intoxication with a group of friends. </p><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px; text-align: left;"><p><i><span style="color: red;">Not Even Gay</span></i> – 30 mins. Filmed in May 2007. Edited in 2007 and 2009.</p><p><i><span style="color: red;">Not Even Gay: The 2ND Coming</span></i> – 60 mins. Filmed in November 2007. Edited in 2009.</p><p><i><span style="color: red;">A Not Even Gay THRE3SOME</span></i> – 150 mins. Filmed in June 2009. Edited between 2009 and 2015.</p></blockquote><p>Making these three films is not only how I cut my craft as an editor, but it was a great opportunity to get my head around the process of being a documentary filmmaker and crafting a narrative from the chaos of everyday life. </p><p>The films do not have over-complicated plots, each film documents a trip me and my friends took to the south coast of England, where we get fantastically intoxicated and then usually managed to cock things up.</p><p>We ended up making three because we had tremendous fun each time and we kept trying to improve on the previous attempt.</p><p>These three films will never see the light of day because, well, I promised the other participants that I would not broadcast our sometimes questionable teenage antics to the world, which is fair enough. </p><p>Instead, I have edited together a somewhat censored 13-minute showreel of the trilogy. This is adapted from the prologue and epilogue of the third film...</p><p style="text-align: center;"><iframe allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture" allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="360" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/Pt4FJSBrDUQ" width="640"></iframe></p><p>Legends are told of the c-van Artifax.</p><p><br /></p><h1 style="text-align: left;"><span style="color: red;"><i>Not Even Gay</i></span></h1><p>The first film came about not long after finishing the filming on my first short film <i>The Better Villain.</i> My friends asked me to bring my JVC camcorder along on our trip so we could film anything stupid that might happen. </p><p>It was a big deal bringing my JVC along because this was a few months before the first iPhone hit the market, so smartphones with high quality video cameras had not come along yet. </p><p>The film grammar of microfilmmaking - producing short narrative videos on a smart device - had also not been established, so I didn't really know how to go about filming the day's events.</p><p>I also didn't think that anything interesting would be filmed, I honestly thought we would be too drunk to film anything comprehensible. Plus, I didn't actually think we were that interesting!</p><p>But I bought my camera along anyway. </p><p>We were at my friend's caravan for one day, the weather was good, we all got drunk, did a few stupid adolescent things, for the most part had a really good time and then we all went home the following day.</p><p>Everyone else filmed bits here and there. I filmed the majority of stuff, anything I thought was remotely interesting or funny, but I still didn't think we had filmed anything riveting.</p><p>And then, after my hangover had gone, I watched through all the footage. </p><p>We hadn't filmed everything that had happened throughout the day and I had about 90 minutes of footage overall.</p><p>But when I laid all that footage out in my desktop editing suite and watched it back through chronologically, I was very surprised with what we had filmed!</p><p>Not only was there a lot of funny material, full of quirk and character and different points of view, but I started to see a narrative forming from the events captured. </p><p>So I started to edit the footage into a tighter and cohesive narrative structure.</p><p style="text-align: center;"><iframe allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture" allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="360" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/MM5oe_vVevM" width="640"></iframe></p><p>One of the biggest challenges of documentary filmmaking is crafting a narrative from the chaos of life. It's not always obvious what the narrative is or how to your material to best convey it.</p><p>However, if you really want to get practice as a filmmaker and as an editor then I can not under emphasize the usefulness of just going out into the world, filming some random stuff and then setting yourself the challenge of turning it into a compelling filmic story.</p><p>I was very fortunate with the <i>Not Even Gay</i> footage because me and my friends are very witty (if only in a very crude way a lot of the time), so the footage was full of recurring and related gags that acted as narrative links and developments.</p><p>One of the recurring gags was the, "I'm not even gay though," line, which kept coming up again and again. Hence why I ended up titling the film <i>Not Even Gay</i>, it perfectly summed up the day, not to mention the homoerotic undertones of five young men drunk in a caravan together. </p><p>The first edit was 60 minutes long and I finished that one in 2007. </p><p>It was actually the first film with a fully formed narrative structure that I completed. I had yet to finish editing <i>The Better Villain</i>, the first film I had filmed.</p><p>Being my first finished yet, it was very crude.</p><p>My biggest gripe with that first edit is that the transitions between events and time jumps in the day's events relied heavily on cross-fades, which mostly just look really tacky. I didn't yet have the confidence as an editor to cut straight into and than back out of a key moment. </p><p>Also, I discovered that when you are working with hand held camcorder footage, you're editing options are often quite limited. </p><p>Quite often something would be happening that the camera was not looking at, but you could hear the off camera dialogue conveying what was happening... so then you have choice do keep it in or cut it out?</p><p>Obviously, there is a third option which is to take that dialogue and place it over some other footage that is related to what is happening off camera, if you have any footage and if it doesn't jar with what is already happening in that hypothetical footage. </p><p>I didn't feel comfortable about doing that because I felt like it destroyed the integrity and authenticity of what was captured, so I left visual storytelling rough and ready. </p><p>One of my friends said we should film some interview footage at the fact.</p><p>I did think about doing recording some interview footage, but ultimately I didn't feel it was necessary to have our talking heads explaining what is happening in the film, when the film does a perfectly adequate job of telling the story, even if the camera is sometimes looking away from the main event.</p><p>Editing the first film was a great opportunity for me to be really experimental with how th film was going to tell the story</p><p>The first edit told the story, so I let it be.</p><p>The first edit also had opening and closing title sequences that I had made and cut to some music. </p><p>I even made a few trailers for that first edit, that I showed my friends in anticipation for the release of the film. </p><p>I also edited together a short video, <i>Pirates of the Caravan</i>, using footage from one of the day's amusing occurrences involving pirate hats and swords, which went down well with everyone. </p><p>When my friends finally saw the film, they all seem pretty pleased, so pleased in fact that we all agreed that we should do it again.</p><p>Only this time we would do it bigger and better.</p><p><br /></p><h1 style="text-align: left;"><i><span style="color: red;">Not Even Gay: The 2ND Coming</span></i></h1><p>In November 2007, with a few new additions to our troupe, on a reading day we had off from college, we set off to the coast again. </p><p>This time, we knew that we were making a narrative film so we all put much more effort into the filming and the content of what was being filmed. </p><p>I also did not have to do the majority of the filming this time around, because everyone else wanted to do some filming. I was actually quite pleased about this because it meant more varied points of view and that I could actually appear in more of the footage this time around. </p><p>In hindsight, going to my friend's caravan on the coast in the winter was a really stupid thing to do because it was bloody freezing. But when your 17 with loads of alcohol and weed... screw it,we still had a fantastically good time. </p><p>We were all still very hyped up about the first film and that fed into the collective energy and frivolity of the day's events. </p><p>Again, we did not film everything, but we did manage to capture all the main occurrences and we were heading towards a pretty epic evening... and then we were kicked off the caravan site. </p><p>I don't know if it was because it was November and supposedly no one is supposed to be on the carvan site out of season or if it was just because the site manager was worried about a group of drunk adolescent males getting up to no good on the camp site, but he kicked us out regardless.</p><p>After that we headed to the beach. It was cold, it was getting dark and it ended up being a real downer.</p><p>Nearly a year went by before I got round to editing <i>The 2ND Coming</i> together. I wasn't able to do it straight away because I was either at college or working my part time job, so I just didn't have time to edit. </p><p>However, once I had graduated from college and sorted myself out with a job that was only a ten minute walk from my house, I had much more spare time, so I jumped into editing in November and December of 2008 and finished it in January 2009.</p><p>I found the second one exceedingly easier to edit. </p><p>The fact that we had approached the second one with the enthusiasm generated from the first one and with the intention that another narrative film would emerge from it meant that we had footage full of pace, character and narratively designed intentions.</p><p>Presented together chronologically, the raw footage already had a very strong and cohesive structure and narrative. </p><p>Also, the fact that we had been kicked of the caravan site meant that we had a very different and downer ending compared to the first one. </p><p>Visually the ending was very strong because I had captured a great fade out shot of us all being miserable and lost on the beach.</p><p>Overall, the ending felt much more like a decisive and appropriate ending for a film about a group of wasted teenagers who are the architects of their own demise (something the events in the first film had already established). </p><p>The ending also felt like a bit of a cliffhanger, so it left things open for another one. </p><p>It did not actually take me that long to edit the second together, it was more just a case of tightening up the narrative by deleting footage that was not needed to tell the essential story beats. </p><p>By this point, I had grown much more confident as an editor so I was much more ruthless when it came to deleting padding and cutting straight into and out of the main story beats. </p><p>My biggest challenge was constructing the ending.</p><p>Between discovering that the caravan's electricity and water had been cut off and us ending up at the beach, there was a huge gap where the site manager actually kicked us out that was not captured on camera. </p><p>Ultimately, I used some intertitles to fill in that gap.</p><p>Later when I edited a shorter and censored version of the film that was on my original YouTube channel, I recorded some narration bridging the gap. </p><p>My narration skills are a bit hammy because I was trying to sound like a proper narration artist, but really I should have just used my own voice and accent. </p><p>Personally, I prefer the intertitle version because its quiet and fits with the downbeat mood at the end of the film and the end of our day that had not gone to plane. </p><p>However, there is also an argument to be made for including the narration because it acts as booked with narration that is already present at the beginning of the film. </p><p>The title sequence of the second one is a play on the iconic title sequence of <i>The A-Team</i>, which caused no end of joy and laughter from everyone who saw it. </p><p>I didn't cut together any trailers for the second one because there was no need for them. </p><p>I finished editing the second one a few days before my friends came over to my house, so I just showed it to them then. </p><p>While I thought the second one was definitely better than the first one, I still didn't think it was that good. </p><p>Then I showed it to my friends and their response blew me away, they thought it was amazing!</p><p>So amazing, they made me show it to them again straight after we had watched it the first time.</p><p>I was intially not that happy with second one because it always felt incomplete. The downer ending, thematically it feels like an appropriate ending for our wasted group - it still comes across as incomplete.</p><p>It feels like a cliffhanger.</p><p>This is why, immediately after I showed the second one to my friends, we started making plans for a third one.</p><p><br /></p><h1 style="text-align: left;"><span style="color: red;">Re-editing <i>Not Even Gay</i></span></h1><p>I was never happy with the first 1-hour edit of <i>Not Even Gay</i>, it was too long, not nearly as good as it could be and I wanted to redo it.</p><p>When I got round to editing <i>The 2ND Coming</i>, I also used it as an opportunity to jumped back into re-editing the first one. </p><p>It wasn't a case of taking the first edit and cutting it down, I went back to the raw footage and re-edited the entire film from scratch. </p><p>The fast paced editing and high energy content of the second one inspired my approach to re-editing the first one. </p><p>I was editing the second one and re-editing the first one side-by-side. When I was getting bored with editing one, I would jump over and edit the other.</p><p>I was relentless with re-editing the first one. </p><p>The new edit was 30 minutes long, half the length of the first edit and it still convey the exact same story.</p><p>I created a new title sequence and new end credits sequence. </p><p>The most crucial change I implemented was the opening scene.</p><p>The first edit had begun with the opening titles and then told the story of the day chronologically.</p><p>I was never comfortable with telling the story in a nonlinear because I thought that would be to confusing and would take away from the authenticity.</p><p>However, after I had finished the first edit, I started to see that a better way to open the film would be to use a bit of footage from the middle of the day. </p><p>It was a bit of footage where we were in the caravan, already drunk and it was where the recurrent, "I'm not even gay," line was first established. </p><p>It was perfect for starting the film, it was full of energy and it perfectly summed up what the film was all about - a group teenagers getting absolutely wasted in a caravan and making complete tits of themselves.</p><p>I further ramped it up by cutting in a few more "I'm not even gay," clips from elsewhere in the film together with some intertitles establishing the context and purpose of the film. </p><p>Then it cuts into the opening titles and the rest of the film plays out with a much faster pace. </p><p>The rest of the film plays out more or less chronologically; I did move a few things around and cut back and forth between a number of events in order to allow the overall film to play with a faster pace.</p><p>I was very pleased with this second edit.</p><p><br /></p><h1 style="text-align: left;"><span style="color: red;">The DVDs </span></h1><p>My teenage explorations and experimentations of what you can do with a desktop computer included how to create desktop published DVDs and DVD packaging.</p><p>When I was editing <i>The Second Coming</i> and re-editing <i>Not Even Gay</i>, I also edited together some menu videos for the DVDs.</p><p><i>Not Even Gay</i> had one disc which included the new tighter edit with chapter points, a chapter menu and a main menu. The disc also included all the deleted footage in a separate compilation with chapter points and its own chapter menu.</p><p><i>Not Even Gay: The 2ND Coming</i> had two discs. On the first disc was the film with chapter points, a chapter menu and a main menu. The second disc included all the deleted footage with chapter points and a chapter menu.</p><p>I invested in some DVD cases, made some covers and gifted a copy to each of my friends who had been involved in the making of the first two films.</p><p><br /></p><h1 style="text-align: left;"><span style="color: red;"><i>A Not Even Gay THRE3SOME</i></span></h1><p>The point of these films was to tell the story of a group of teenage lads who go to the coast to get fantastically drunk - the ultimate pursuit of intoxication. </p><p>In <i>Not Even Gay</i> we went there, we got drunk, we did lots of stupid shit and it ended up being a really good day... but we did not really know what it was we were doing when it came to making a film about it. </p><p>Hence <i>Not Even Gay: The 2ND Coming</i> when we went back to do it bigger and better... but we got kicked off the caravan site, so we didn't actually get that drunk and the end of the day just ended up being a huge downer.</p><p>When we started to talk about doing a third one, the way I pitched it to everyone was that it needed to be the first one but the way we had done the second one. </p><p>The third one had to be the one where we got it right, we needed to be like a pheonix rising from the ashes.</p><p>About five months later, we headed back down to the coast.</p><p>The setup on this one was slightly different. </p><p>This time we were down at the coast for three days, opposed to just one. </p><p>There were even more people involved and each day had a different set of people because people kept coming and going. </p><p>I had a new digital photo camera that also recorded reasonably good footage. I brought it along so we could have a two camera setup.</p><p>I invested in some bigger batteries for my camcorder and an external battery charger so that we could film for long and also have a spare battery in reserve.</p><p>I also brought my laptop with me which meant we didn't have to worry about 30GB harddrive on my JVC or SD cards for my digital camera filling up, because I could just empty their contents onto my laptop.</p><p>I was adamant that we should film everything non-stop and we did, we ended up with about 36 hours of footage. </p><p>With the third one, we achieved what we set out to do. We did not get kicked off the caravan site again and we ended up having a fantastic time.</p><p>The problem with the third one arose when I sat down to edit the thing, because we had shot 36 hours of footage on two cameras. Not only did it take forever to review all the footage, it took even longer to edit my way through!</p><p>It was good though, because suddenly I had so many options as an editor about what material to use, from what angle and how to structure it all. </p><p>I decided to structure the film into three parts to reflect each day that we were there. </p><p>This is how the name of the film came about - <i>A Not Even Gay THRE3SOME</i> - it was the third film comprised of three parts.</p><p>I knew it needed a prologue to encapsulate the first two films, recap the cliffhanger of the second film and establish what it was we were trying to achieve with this ultimate pursuit of intoxication. </p><p>I also knew it needed an epilogue to wrap everything up - this film and the first two as well - because we had achieved what we set out to do with this one and it was very likely this would be last one we did.</p><p>I started with cutting down the three days into three narrative structures that had many links and references between the three days, because, like the first two films, me and my friends were very good at introducing lines, jokes and happenstances that all built on each other as we went through our time there. </p><p>Then once I had the three days edited in reasonably good shape, I jumped into making the prologue and epilogue. </p><p>My intention with the prologue was to make it epic beyond belief. </p><p>It needed to feel like summer at its finest and it had to elevate what we had done to legendary status.</p><p>By the time I had included the material from the third film necessary for setting up the third film, plus summarising the first two films, and then added the opening title sequence onto the end of it, I had a prologue that was 15 minutes long. </p><p>I used some pretty epic and euphoric music to ramp it up even further and I recorded narration which I did in the style of your typical film trailer narration. </p><p>I wanted to get the third film off to a rocket blasting start. </p><p>I did start to piece together the epilogue, but I couldn't finish it because I didn't yet know what exactly to include and how exactly to wrap up the <i>THRE3SOME</i> and the trilogy.</p><p>The problem was that I had spent so much time cutting the three days down into narrative structures - it had taken me a year - that I had become so accustomed to the material that I could no longer see it objectively. </p><p>I figured the best thing to do would be to show it to my friends and get their input, so I compiled everything I had edited, plus a very short and very quickly edited "epilogue" together into a 5-hour final cut.</p><p>Yeah, 5-hours! </p><p>I had so much footage, I even made the trailers for the rough cut 7-minutes long.</p><p style="text-align: center;"><iframe allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture" allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="360" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/b_8cwnucPHE" width="640"></iframe></p><p style="text-align: center;">Trailer 2 for the rough cut</p><p>The length of the rough cut was a problem. </p><p>I knew it was too long and that it needed to lose some material, but because I could not longer see it objectively I wasn't able what needed to be cut in order to tell the essential quirky story. </p><p>Showing it to the other participants was the absolute best thing to do, because it became immediately obvious what needed to be cut based on their reactions to the material and the pacing. </p><p>I still didn't have a strong feel for the epilogue, but I wasn't worried because once I had removed all the material that needed to go and I had massively brought the runtime down I had a feeling that the epilogue would present itself. </p><p>Before that, I needed a break from editing it because I was exhausted and a little sick of doing it. I did little bits of trimming when I could but it wasn't until 2 years later that I got back to editing it. I was at university during this time and the only time I could devote to projects outside of my studies were during the summer holidays.</p><p>During the summer of 2012, I removed anything that was not needed or had not received a good response. I was absolutely relentless and surprisingly quickly I managed to turn the 5-hour rough cut into a new 2-hour and 25-minute cut. </p><p>Then I focused on editing together the epilogue which I still wasnt entirely happy with, but I did manage to do a better job than the one in the rough cut. </p><p>My biggest issue with the epilogue is that it needed to re-address that we had been kicked off the caravan site at the end of the second film and that we hadn't been kicked off this time. </p><p>One of the reasons we all wanted to do the third one was because it would be like a redemption and the epilogue needed to bring all of that together into a satisfying conclusion. </p><p>There were a few instances where us being kicked off last time had been referenced, so I put those in the epilogue and together with my voiceover narration, I established that we had avoided being kicked off this time and had restored our legend. </p><p>But even so, it still felt very thin and tacked on at the end. </p><p>The solution was to re-establish the threat that we could easily be kicked off as a recurrent spectre within the main bulk of the film. </p><p>I did this by taking the footage from the second film where we discovered the water and electricity were cut off. I split this footage into two segments. I placed one segment in the transition between the end of day one and the beginning of day two and the other segment placed between the end of day two and the beginning of day three. </p><p>Both segments I tinted in grayscale, I set them back into a reduced screen size against a black background and altered the sound to give it a far off echo of the past quality. </p><p>The incident these two segments convey had already been established in the prologue, so now I had a narrative thread that started all the way back in the second film, was picked up in the beginning of this one, carried through via various references and two significant punctuation segments as a background spectre and was all brought together and resolved in the epilogue. </p><p>Now I was very happy with the epilogue and the 2-hour and 32-minute film as a whole.</p><p>However, it wasn't actually until 2015 that I finally burned off the final cut for the other participants to see, what with university, graduating and setting myself up after university, the <i>THRE3SOME</i> just fell to the back of the queue.</p><p style="text-align: center;"><iframe allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture" allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="360" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/KBkx_nigM4E" width="640"></iframe></p><p style="text-align: center;">The trailer for the final cut</p><p>I had produced some video clips to act as DVD menus in 2011, but I never got round to producing the DVDs because, well, what with age of online streaming and cloud storage taking off in the second decade of the 21st-century, I didn't need to. </p><p>Aside from fixing an export error in the 2015 version for when I wrote this post in 2020, the only other time I returned to the third film was in 2017. </p><p>I briefly toyed with refining the 2-hour and 30-minute, but ultimately abandoned it. </p><p>Theres a point where you have to move on from these things and just let them be.</p><p><br /></p><h1 style="text-align: left;"><b><span style="color: red;">The stuff of legend</span></b></h1><p>This blog post has been a long time coming and I am glad to be able to finally include <i>The Not Even Gay Trilogy</i> as a part of my film portfolio.</p><p>Making this trilogy of travelogues was a hugely valuable experience for me.</p><p>Not only because it allowed me to grow as a filmmaker, but because the trilogy chronicles some of the best times of my life, from long ago, in a caravan far, far away...</p><p style="text-align: center;"><iframe allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture" allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="360" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/mS3iGY3pCL8" width="640"></iframe></p><p>We are the stuff of legend.</p><p>For more on my early documentary filmmaking and to see the sister project of <i>The Not Even Gay Trilogy </i>and where the "NEXT FRIDAY" joke comes from, check out <i><a href="https://somethingtodowithfilm.blogspot.com/2020/10/down-a-word.html">Down A Word: The Story of NEXT FRIDAY</a></i>.</p>Peter O'Brienhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16331786661079602602noreply@blogger.com0Bristol, UK51.454513 -2.5879123.144279163821153 -37.74416 79.764746836178844 32.56834tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8587490949640116357.post-65083578890071026472020-10-27T12:46:00.009+00:002020-10-27T17:52:31.854+00:00Keys / Busybody - An award-winning script I wrote<p> </p><p><i>Keys</i> is a short film screenplay about the dangers of private renting and how our obsession with watching other people can sometimess go a bit too far.</p><p><iframe class="scribd_iframe_embed" title="Keys - A Short Film Script by Peter O'Brien" src="https://www.scribd.com/embeds/481803808/content?start_page=1&view_mode=scroll&access_key=key-aegysoAv4yWRTYv1gzOM" data-auto-height="true" data-aspect-ratio="0.7729220222793488" scrolling="no" width="100%" height="600" frameborder="0"></iframe><p style=" margin: 12px auto 6px auto; font-family: Helvetica,Arial,Sans-serif; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; font-size: 14px; line-height: normal; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; -x-system-font: none; display: block;" ><a title="View Keys - A Short Film Script by Peter O'Brien on Scribd" href="https://www.scribd.com/document/481803808/Keys-A-Short-Film-Script-by-Peter-O-Brien#from_embed" style="text-decoration: underline;">Keys - A Short Film Script ...</a> by <a title="View Peter O'Brien's profile on Scribd" href="https://www.scribd.com/user/233332775/Peter-O-Brien#from_embed" style="text-decoration: underline;">Peter O'Brien</a></p></p><p>The original script was called <i>Busybody</i>.</p><p>I wrote Busybody for one of the filmmaking assignments of my BA (Hons) in Creative Writing with Film and Screen Studies, and it was awarded a first. </p><p>The adaptation of that first script won the Critics Choice Award at the end of year showcase.</p><p>Busybody went on to be used as the university's go-to practice filmmaking script and it now has something like twenty different adaptations made from it.</p><p>However, I was never happy with the intial and rushed <i>Busybody</i> script. </p><p>Eventually I got round to revising it into <i>Keys</i>, the new (and better) script that is featured here. </p><p>The story between the two scripts is exactly the same, the <i>Keys</i> version just presents it in a polished way that I would be very happy to film. </p><p><a href="https://somethingtodowithfilm.blogspot.com/2014/09/busybody-short-film-script.html">You can read the original Busybody version here</a>.</p><p>The idea for the script was developed from a true story I heard about a landlord in Bristol who had installed secret cameras in his properties. </p><p>It is also written as a partial homage to Alfred Hitchcock's <i>Rear Window</i>. </p><p>In the video below, which I recorded shortly before I jumped back into finishing the <i>Keys </i>script, I talk about how I developed and wrote the <i>Busybody</i> script...</p><p style="text-align: center;"><iframe allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture" allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="360" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/T5Z7GQBX8XA" width="640"></iframe></p><p style="text-align: center;">Google stabilization algorithm went a bit haywire on my vid.</p><p>To find out more about the development of the <i>Busybody</i> script and the various adaptations that have been produced from it, check out..</p><p><a href="https://somethingtodowithfilm.blogspot.com/2014/07/writing-a-script.html">Story is everything: developing and writing a script - Busybody</a></p><p><a href="somethingtodowithfilm.blogspot.com/2012/03/developing-script-part-1-outline.html">Developing a Script, Part 1: Outline - Idle Time</a></p><div><a href="https://somethingtodowithfilm.blogspot.com/2012/03/developing-script-part-2-rough-draft.html">Developing a Script, Part 2: Rough Draft - P.S.</a></div><div><br /></div><div><a href="https://somethingtodowithfilm.blogspot.com/2012/03/developing-script-part-3-submission-busybody.html">Developing a Script, Part 3: Submission Draft - Busybody</a></div><p><a href="https://somethingtodowithfilm.blogspot.com/2014/07/the-first-adaptation-busybody.html">The First Adaptation: Busybody</a></p><p><a href="https://somethingtodowithfilm.blogspot.com/2015/08/busybody-other-adaptations.html">Busybody: The other adaptations</a></p><p><a href="https://somethingtodowithfilm.blogspot.com/2017/05/busybody-martymachlia.html">Busybody: Martymachlia - The best adaptation yet!</a></p><p><br /></p>Peter O'Brienhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16331786661079602602noreply@blogger.com0Bristol, UK51.454513 -2.5879123.144279163821153 -37.74416 79.764746836178844 32.56834tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8587490949640116357.post-64985047695460942442020-10-27T09:42:00.008+00:002020-10-28T18:43:28.360+00:00Living With Hammy - A documentary about being homeless<p> </p><p><i>Living With Hammy</i> is an abandoned documentary I filmed in the Summer of 2010 and ultimately never ended up editing together. </p><p>To make my friends laugh, I did edit together a short teaser trailer. </p><p style="text-align: center;"><iframe allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture" allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="360" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/jILrxyzYsb0" width="640"></iframe></p><p><i>Living With Hammy</i> told the story of a week I spent living with my friend Nick Hammond, a.k.a. Hammy, during my university summer holidays in 2010. </p><p>I was living with Hammy because, outside of my university housing, and due to the loss of my family home after my stepfather's death, I did not actually have a home to go back to during the holidays. </p><p><i>Living With Hammy</i> was envisioned as being something of sequel to <i><a href="https://somethingtodowithfilm.blogspot.com/2020/10/down-a-word.html">Down A Word: The Story of NEXT FRIDAY</a></i>. </p><p>In the footage I played a very annoying version of myself who was constantly winding Hammy up, so this documentary is slightly edging into being a mockumentary. </p><p>I portrayed myself as being hugely annoying partly because that was just the way I was, but I also did it as revenge for how annoying Hammy had been to me over the years and because I knew it would provoke some amusing responses from him. </p><p>The reason why I had returned home during the summer holidays was, firstly, to see my friends and family and, secondly, to show my friends the rough cut of <i><a href="https://somethingtodowithfilm.blogspot.com/2020/10/the-not-even-gay-trilogy.html">A Not Even Gay THRE3SOME</a></i>. </p><p>I never planned on shooting a documentary. </p><p>The idea only occurred to me when I got to Hammy's house and I started to think that maybe there was something in filming my week living with him.</p><p>Plus, I wanted to flex my filmmaking skills a little further. </p><p>Ultimately, I didn't edit the footage together because it got buried under all my other university commitments and, after viewing all the footage, I didn't think what I had filmed was all that interesting. </p><p>If I was to redo it, I would certainly think out my intentions for the end product beforehand. </p><p>Also, to give the overall documentary a more enthralling narrative, I would much more so have focused on the fact that I was homeless and the reasons behind me being homeless.</p><p><br /></p>Peter O'Brienhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16331786661079602602noreply@blogger.com0Bristol, UK51.454513 -2.5879123.144279163821153 -37.74416 79.764746836178844 32.56834tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8587490949640116357.post-90218894621707448572020-10-26T17:04:00.011+00:002022-05-05T05:47:43.734+00:00Breaking Cinema - A podcast about experimental filmmaking and our relationships with multimedia<p> </p><p><i>Breaking Cinema </i>was a documentary storytelling podcast project I started developing in 2014 and abandoned in 2016. </p><p>My vision for <i>Breaking Cinema</i> had been to do something experimental, educational and entertaining that would break new ground.</p><p>A considerable amount of work went into developing the format of the podcast. I recorded a great deal of content for it and even had some theme music made before I abandoned the project. </p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-rAVeharnkuU/Vg8bpI6BT-I/AAAAAAAAlss/dcAMd6AGTzQh27dybRC-KauPEAeUlGHswCPcBGAYYCw/s2048/IMG_0594-002.JPG" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1530" data-original-width="2048" height="478" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-rAVeharnkuU/Vg8bpI6BT-I/AAAAAAAAlss/dcAMd6AGTzQh27dybRC-KauPEAeUlGHswCPcBGAYYCw/w640-h478/IMG_0594-002.JPG" width="640" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">A rough sketch and colour palette indicator of what I wanted the final logo to look like</td></tr></tbody></table><br /><p>The project was heavily influenced by my own creative relationship with film and my experiences as a film studies student. It picked up a few of the loose ends in my BA (Hons) theoretical dissertation, <i><a href="http://somethingtodowithfilm.blogspot.com/2014/05/ways-of-being.html">Ways of Being: The Spectator and the Spectacle</a>,</i> and its more broadly media focused successor blog, <i><a href="http://ways2interface.blogspot.com/">Ways 2 Interface</a></i>.</p><p><i>Breaking Cinema</i> mainly developed out of my frustration with the dominant complacent thinking of film theory; as well as my dissatisfaction with the lack of film podcasts that went deep into analysing the workings of cinema and our relationships with multimedia. </p><p style="text-align: center;"><iframe allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture" allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="360" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/t5a2L2OmjLI" title="YouTube video player" width="640"></iframe></p><p>I didn't want to listen to yet another film podcast where a group of people sat around discussing topics and ideas that have been discussed before.</p><p>I had listened to a lot of film podcasts that were group discussions, some good, some not so good. <i><a href="http://hollywood-gauntlet.blogspot.com/" target="_blank">The Hollywood Gauntlet</a> </i>is a REALLY good one!</p><p>I wanted to get away from simplistic group discussions and, if it was going to be a group discussion I wanted it to be a group discussion that was at the level and quality of podcasts like <i>The Hollywood Gauntlet</i>.</p><p>I just wanted to say something new and I wanted to be highly experimental in the way that I did it. </p><p style="text-align: center;"><iframe allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture" allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="360" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/qR6hUCcQyX4" title="YouTube video player" width="640"></iframe></p><p>I didn't know exactly what form it would take when I first hit upon the idea of creating a podcast, but I started recording material to help me focus my thinking and decide upon the style of the project.</p><p>I recorded sixteen test epsiodes, varying between 30 minutes all the way up to 90 minutes in length.</p><p>Some episodes I did solo and others I recorded with colleagues who I thought would bring insight and differing perspectives to the discussion. </p><p style="text-align: center;"><iframe allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture" allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="360" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/FLFnc8dgRVo" width="640"></iframe></p><p>For the most part, the test episodes started out as a group of people discussing cinema, but my approach was to be increasingly controversial. </p><p>So if we were discussing a film or topic that I felt was just regurgitating film theory or film thinking that had been said before, I would jump in with a curve ball to inspire the discussion to go in a fresh direction.</p><p>Sometimes this worked, but quite often I would experience a lot of resistance. </p><p>The most infamous example of my controversial style can be found in the episode about Christopher Nolan's Memento in which I claimed the film was a one hit wonder, much to the annoyance of my co-hosts.</p><p style="text-align: center;"><iframe allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture" allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="360" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/sJdoqtCkNqo" width="640"></iframe></p><p>As I have grown older, I have come to learn that human beings are very good at holding onto their deep-seated beliefs... and are very rarely willing to step outside their comfort zones. </p><p>I have also discovered that it is incredibly exhausting trying to get someone to step outside of the comfort zone. </p><p>As I progressed through the test episodes, my thinking for the format of the podcast shifted from moderating fatigue-inducing group discussions to individual interviews that would be interspersed amongst a bigger, constructed audio documentary presentation. </p><p>By this point I had transitioned onto listening to more storytelling podcasts that used dramatic narratives to explore their topics. </p><p>Two of the absolute best film storytelling podcasts I had listened to (and I still think are the best) are <a href="https://www.attaboyclarence.com/the-secret-history-of-hollywood" target="_blank"><i>The Secret History of Hollywood</i></a> and <a href="http://www.youmustrememberthispodcast.com/" target="_blank"><i>You Must Remember This</i></a> by Karina Longworth. </p><p>I wanted <i>Breaking Cinema</i> to be much more of a storytelling podcast in the vein of <i>The Secret History of Hollywood</i> and <i>You Must Remember This</i>.</p><p>But I didn't just want to tell the stories of the people in front of and behind the film camera</p><p>I also wanted to tell the stories of the people watching the film content and interfacing on their smartphone.</p><p>This is how I came up with the first ten episodes of <i>Breaking Cinema </i>as an experimental documentary storytelling podcast that constructively explores cinema, multimedia and human psychology from a lucid and lateral, but highly entertaining and quirky perspective. </p><p>The first ten episodes were a varied mix of topic focuses and presentation formats...</p><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px; text-align: left;"><p>Ep. 1. <span style="color: red;"><i>My First Education</i> </span> </p></blockquote><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px; text-align: left;"><p>A self-reflexive documentary about my relationship with film interspersed with an examination of the 1998 film <i>Gods and Monsters</i>, that was a key milestone in forming my understaning of cinema.</p></blockquote><p> </p><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px; text-align: left;"><p>Ep. 2. <i><span style="color: red;">Triumph of the Willful Blindness and its Great Dictator</span></i></p></blockquote><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px;"><p style="text-align: left;">A documentary that would have used the rise of Nazi Germany to explore the concept of willful blindness in relation to mass media. </p></blockquote><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px;"><p style="text-align: left;">Being polar opposites portraying the same set of events surrounding the allure of Adolf Hitler, Leni Riefenstahl's <i>Triumph of the Will</i> and Charlie Chaplin's <i>The Great Dictator</i> were the two film texts that would have been analysed in relation to larger mass media, cultural, historical and psychological relevancies and media text references.</p></blockquote><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px;"><p style="text-align: left;"> </p></blockquote><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px; text-align: left;"><p>Ep. 3. <i><span style="color: red;">Pride and Prejudice and Smartphone Zombies</span></i></p></blockquote><p></p><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px;"><p style="text-align: left;">A documentary that would have explored the mass communications phenomenon and technological obsession of the smartphone. It wouldhave touched on how the smartphone has become an additional and inseparable limb-interface of the human body and what impact this is having on our ways of being. </p></blockquote><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px;"><p style="text-align: left;">The smartphone revolution would have been explored in relation to the biases around using or not using a smartphone; as well as in relation to the smartphone as a new form of cultural artefact, lifestyle connector and status symbol. </p></blockquote><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px;"><p style="text-align: left;">The episode would primarily have been a central group discussion with cutaways of vox pop material and other relevant media content. </p></blockquote><p></p><p> </p><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px; text-align: left;"><p>Ep. 4. <span style="color: red;"><i>In an Auditorium Darkly: The Terror of the Eye-Phone</i> </span></p></blockquote><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px;"><p style="text-align: left;">An audio drama that would have been made in the style of old time radio dramas with vintage 1950s advertising included.</p></blockquote><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px;"><p style="text-align: left;">The plot would have taken place in a cinema 1953 during a screening of <i>The War of the Worlds</i>. Specifically, the plot would have concerned the protagonist being on a date, popping out for a toilet break during the film, wandering off to have a bit of an explore in the dark recesses of the cinema and then finding the terrifying "eye-phone" and its orchestrator therein... </p></blockquote><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px;"><p style="text-align: left;">This would have been the first of a planned five In an Auditorium Darkly episodes that all take place in cinemas at different points throughout the 20th-century. The point of including fictional audio drama episodes was to use the fictional storytelling format to stimulate original thinking and to explore the concept of hypertextuality.</p></blockquote><p> </p><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px; text-align: left;"><p>Ep. 5. <i><span style="color: red;">Gamer Girls Galore</span></i></p></blockquote><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px;"><p style="text-align: left;">A documentary that would have explored the topic of adult females who play video games, a demographic which now comprises the largest collection of gamers. It would also have explored female objectification in the media and how the empowered female gamer stands in contrast to that objectification. </p></blockquote><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px;"><p style="text-align: left;">The female point-of-view is far too often overlooked in regards to media research and I wanted to open it up and present a thorough exploration.</p></blockquote><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px;"><p style="text-align: left;">This episode would have been a combination of my linking narration, contributions from the interviewed guests and excerts from other related media texts. </p></blockquote><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px;"><p style="text-align: left;"> </p></blockquote><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px; text-align: left;"><p>Ep. 6. <i><span style="color: red;">Spectators of the Spectacles</span></i></p></blockquote><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px;"><p style="text-align: left;">A documentary that would bring film theory into the real world by starting with an analysis of the spectator, not the spectacle. It would have explored the larger psychology of the film experience, as being heavily determined by the psychology and personal history of the individual spectator.</p></blockquote><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px;"><p style="text-align: left;">This episode would have been a combination of my linking narration and contributions from a range of interviewed guests who would all have varying interests in film. It probably would also have included clips from other related media texts and some vox pop as well. </p></blockquote><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px;"><p style="text-align: left;"> </p></blockquote><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px; text-align: left;"><p>Ep. 7. <i><span style="color: red;">The Slow Motion Picture Entity</span></i></p></blockquote><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px;"><p style="text-align: left;">A documentary that would have used a very thorough analysis of the 1979 film <i>Star Trek: The Motion Picture</i>. Often referred to as <i>The Slow Motion Picture</i>, due to it's slow pace, the first Star Trek film would have been used to emphasize the point of slowing down our thinking and expectations when analysing a film text.</p></blockquote><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px;"><p style="text-align: left;">Another key point of the episode would have been establishing the difference between a film text, the two-dimensional images on the screen, and the film entity, the larger culturally embellished version of a film text as it exists in the collective consciousness. </p></blockquote><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px;"><p style="text-align: left;">This episode would have been my narration analysing <i>The Motion Picture</i> that would have included clips from the film as well as other related media texts. </p></blockquote><p> </p><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px; text-align: left;"><p>Ep. 8. <i><span style="color: red;">Microfilm in a Day</span></i></p></blockquote><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px;"><p style="text-align: left;">A documentary that would have chronicled a group of participants being brought together and set the challenge of going off to make a short film in a single day using nothing but their smartphones.</p></blockquote><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px;"><p style="text-align: left;">The point of this episode would have been to explore the idea of using practical filmmaking to better understand film theory and increase the effectives of the education of film. </p></blockquote><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px;"><p style="text-align: left;">The episode would have been a combination of my linking narration and the reflections of the participants of the filmmaking challenge. It probably would have included some vox pop.</p></blockquote><p> </p><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px; text-align: left;"><p>Ep. 9. <i><span style="color: red;">The Media is the Mentality</span></i></p></blockquote><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px;"><p style="text-align: left;">A documentary that would have been structured somewhat like a news report and would have analysed how mass media and "the news" voices and dictates the status quo and collective consciousness in both a negative and positive sense.</p></blockquote><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px;"><p style="text-align: left;">The episode would have been a combination of my linking narration and contribution from a range of interviewed guests; as well as excerpts from other related media texts and probably some vox pop too.</p></blockquote><p> </p><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px; text-align: left;"><p>Ep. 10. <i><span style="color: red;">This is Breaking Cinema</span></i></p></blockquote><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px;"><p style="text-align: left;">A self-reflective documentary that would have brought together all the threads of the nine previous episodes and, together with an overview of the development of the podcast and its episodes, would have presented my intentions for the <i>Breaking Cinema</i> podcast. </p></blockquote><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px;"><p style="text-align: left;">My intention was to orchestrate the podcast in this particular fashion in order to illustrate and inspire a broader and more flexible approach of thinking about cinema, the media landscape and how human beings play into and grow from these things. </p></blockquote><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px;"><p style="text-align: left;">This episode would also have established anticipation for the next season of <i>Breaking Cinema</i>. </p></blockquote><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px;"><p style="text-align: left;">It would have been a documentary analysis using a combination of my narration and excerpts and elaborations of the nine previous episodes.</p></blockquote><p><br /></p><p><a href="https://docs.google.com/document/d/1W7KoqkiQHv529iSF7XOZqxjNPyZpYT3o/edit?usp=sharing&ouid=105609058117949873490&rtpof=true&sd=true" target="_blank">You can read my highly detailed 48-page podcast overview document that includes the outlines for the first ten episodes right here</a>. </p><p>I also started writing another document, <i>Pulling Teeth & Breaking Blindness: The Detailed Overview & Vision Document for the Breaking Cinema</i>, that focused and presented my thinking for the podcast as a long-term project that would have successive seasons of episodes after the first ten. </p><p style="text-align: center;"><iframe allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture" allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="360" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/Aiy9dhqQLv4" width="640"></iframe></p><p>In this overview document, I started to think much more broadly about the potential of the <i>Breaking Cinema</i> brand as being something that could eventually develop into a YouTube channel that would feature experimental filmmaking content and video essays that would expand on the podcast.</p><p style="text-align: center;"><iframe allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture" allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="360" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/xJa0lo_vrtk" width="640"></iframe></p><p>I never finished writing the document because I shifted to turning it into a video essay that illustrated my thinking. </p><p>I never finished that video essay either, but you can view what I did make of it...</p><p style="text-align: center;"><iframe allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture" allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="360" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/onJbpO8Y5p4" width="640"></iframe></p><p>Ultimately, I abandoned <i>Breaking Cinema</i> because my focus shifted more so towards the mammoth studies of <a href="http://ibuiltmyown.education/" target="_blank">my self-directed Masters of Transdisciplinary Application</a>.</p><p>It was just a case of being economical with my time and energy.</p><p>The production and postproduction on producing the first ten episodes would have been hugely time-consuming. </p><p>The podcast was not a commission and I would not have generated an income stream that I could have used to me support me through all the time it would have taken me to produce its content. </p><p>It's not that I did not want to produce the podcast, I just didn't have the time, energy or financial resources to prioritise it above everything else I had going on.</p><p>Abandoning the project was not an easy decision to make.</p><p>I was incredibly passionate about this project and I felt that I had crafted it into something that would have been quite ground-breaking. </p><p>But I had to let it go. </p><p>So here it now rests. </p><p>My thinking for the <i>Breaking Cinema</i> podcast and my ideas about what I term as being "constructive film studies" are explained and summarised in a random 40-minute reflection I made while I was still developing the podcast and was experiencing a bit of the flu...</p><p style="text-align: center;"><iframe allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture" allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="360" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/otpSLsCXrxI" width="640"></iframe></p><div><br /></div>Peter O'Brienhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16331786661079602602noreply@blogger.com0Bristol, UK51.454513 -2.5879123.144279163821153 -37.74416 79.764746836178844 32.56834tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8587490949640116357.post-3434959988360399582020-10-23T04:20:00.011+00:002020-10-27T05:37:25.931+00:00The Miracle of Crowdfunding & The Miracle Mockumentary - A masters campaign and a film about survival<p> </p><p><i>The Miracle of Crowdfunding</i> is a crowdfunding campaign package I created for covering the tuition fee of a masters degree I never ended up undertaking.</p><p>Later, I reformulated it into a feature-length mocukumetnary about someone trying and struggling to crowdfund the tuition fee for their masters degree.</p><p>The original campaign was an ambitious package that included...</p><p></p><ul style="text-align: left;"><li>A social media campaign</li><li>A website called www.miraclemasters.me</li><li>A campaign pitch film</li><li>10 additional campaign videos</li></ul><p></p><p>The campaign was primarily filmmaking focused, because that is what I knew and had been the dominant focus of my BA (Hons).</p><p>I created the campaign content with my colleague George Oram, who I had worked with on a number of projects during my undergraduate studies.</p><p>We spent the spring and summer of 2014 filming footage in Bath and Bristol.</p><p style="text-align: center;"><iframe allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture" allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="360" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/WLXSjAdUc1A" width="640"></iframe></p><p>I had secured a place on an MSc in Creative Technologies and Enterprise at Bath Spa University and the plan was to secure my £6,250 tuition fee on a now defunct student crowdfunding platform called StudentFunder.</p><p>This was before the UK government introduced state-funded postgraduate student loans, so the only option I had was to fund my degree myself.</p><p>I was very keen to have a crack at crowdfunding my tuition fee because my prospective masters degree was creative enterprise based and I figured orchestrating an ambitious crowdfunding project would be a brilliant way to kickstart my postgraduate studies.</p><p>My vision was to have a very open campaign message that would take you through what crowdfudning was and my creative process of bringing the thing together.</p><p>So you wouldn't just see the end product, but you would also see all the hard work I had put into producing it.</p><p>This is why the main campaign pitch film had a very meta tone to it that very consciously examined what crowdfunding was and why it is a brilliant way to get passionate and value-creating projects off the ground.</p><p>My campaign pitch angle was that if you contributed to my campaign you would be investing in me, not my masters.</p><p>The positioning of the marketing of my campaign was all focused on selling me, my prior creative portfolio and the new enterprises I was proposing to ignite with the opportunities my master's degree would open up for me. </p><p>I never got round to editing the campaign film together because we never finished filming all the footage for it.</p><p><a href="https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B03T9xrsoj0acTF6ZUwtZF9vbG8/view?usp=sharing" target="_blank">You can read the script for the campaign film here</a></p><p>Ultimately, I didn't go through with the crowdfunding campaign because, during the course of constructing it, I had been studying a number of MOOCs (Massive Open Online Courses) and the more of these courses I studied, the more I came to realise that I could just build my own master's degree.</p><p>As I had been excited by the prospect of orchestrating my own crowdfudning campaign, suddenly I was even more psyched at the prospect of building my own postgraduate studies.</p><p>I had got into the habit of working for myself and I was loving it.</p><p>My self-directed Masters of Transdisciplianry Application in Sustainable Globalisation and Creative Enterprise, a.k.a. my MTA Portfolio, was born out of <i>The Miracle of Crowdfunding</i>. </p><p>Not only has my MTA Portfolio proven to be a vastly more ambitious enterprise than what my crowdfunding campaign was promising to be, but it also covered the curriculum of my original master's degree and has launched more projects than what I would have been able to do with the scope of my original master's degree.</p><p><a href="http://ibuiltmyown.education/" target="_blank">You can find out more about my MTA Portfolio at IBuiltMyOwn.Education</a></p><p>It was great that <i>The Miracle of Crowdfunding</i> enabled me to study my ideal master's degree, but it never sat well with me that all the material that George and myself had spent four months creating for the campaign was now going to be unused. </p><p>We had filmed a lot of really good material and I wanted to use it.</p><p>It wasn't until the beginning of 2015, while I was undertaking my <i>365 FRAMES 2015</i> experimental filmmaking project, that I started to think much more ambitiously about how we could salvage all the material we had created.</p><p style="text-align: center;"><iframe allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture" allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="360" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/aTYLvjDvamA" width="640"></iframe></p><p><i>The Miracle Mockumentary</i> was to be a film about me and George playing exagerated and self-mocking versions of ourselves while we went around Bath and Bristol filming material for <i>The Miracle of Crowdfunding</i> campaign. </p><p>However, the real focus of the film would have been the struggles of surviving and thriving as a young person in today's complicated world... based upon the real life financial and personal struggles George and myself had had to overcome while filming the original crowdfunding material in 2014. </p><p>I wanted <i>The Miracle Mockumentary</i> to tell that story, or one very close to it. </p><p>It's the story of how do you stay relevant and follow your dreams in a complex world that demands so much of young people today. </p><p>My incentive for wanting to undertake a masters degree has always been one of relevancy and basic survival.</p><p>As I have said with my MTA Portfolio, I built my own postgraduate education because I wanted to future-proof my life. </p><p>You survive and thrive by being a flexble thinker and proactive problem solver who can always create new opportunities out of the personal, professional and planetary challenges we will all face in the fast-evolving 21st-century.</p><p>I felt that with the similar but differing perspectives of George and myself - George was setting himself up with a new job, living situation and sorting out his interpersonal relationships whereas I was trying to reach for the sky by asking random people to fund my masters while ignoring my interpersonal relationships - we had a good canvas on which to tell a quirky and relevant story that would resonate with any young individual trying to find their way in the world. </p><p>I pitched the idea to George and he seemed pretty sold on the prospect of doing more filmmaking.</p><p style="text-align: center;"><iframe allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture" allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="360" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/KWnI1RVYHmk" width="640"></iframe></p><p>Then I started to outline a rough script that would integrate with what we had already shot, but would leave a lot of room for improvisation. </p><p>The plan was to head out in the spring and summer of 2015 to film the new material.</p><p>However, it never came to be.</p><p>I never actually finished the new script because the building of my MTA Portfolio kept getting in the way.</p><p>Plus, George became uncomfortable with putting himself out there. He didn't want to portray himself on camera, even an exaggerated version of himself. He wanted to keep his personal life private, which is fair enough. </p><p>Ultimately, <i>The Miracle Mockumentary</i> was put on the shelf and now it is completely dead in the water.</p><p>However, the material shot for <i>The Miracle of Crowdfunding</i> campaign and the idea of conveying how bloody hard it is to survive and stay relevant in today's world may yet still see the light of day. </p><p>I've been developing another feature length documentary project - <i>Outside the Box Inside the Box</i> - as part of my MTA Portfolio. </p><p><i>Outside the Box Inside the Box</i> is envisioned to tell the story of my MTA Portfolio and - like how the <i>Miracle Mockumentary</i> was about <i>The Miracle of Crowdfunding</i>, but also not actually about <i>The Miracle of Crowdfunding</i> - <i>Outside the Box Inside the Box</i> is the story of the struggles and breakthroughs I have gone through to future-proof my life while undertaking my MTA Portfolio.</p><p style="text-align: center;"><iframe allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture" allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="360" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/dkO6qYbfPPo" width="640"></iframe></p><p>I should stress that while I have a rough and fluid narrative structure plotted out as well as a fair bit of new material already filmed throughout the course of building my MTA Portfolio, <i>Outside the Box Inside the Box</i> may not happen.</p><p>It's a potential candidate for either my MTA thesis or another of the portfolio's final projects. I need to finish a few of my MTA Portfolio's other projects before I can even begin to look at maybe bringing <i>Outside the Box Inside the Box</i> to full actualisation.</p><p>However, it would be nice to because then it would mean that <i>The Miracle of Crowdfunding</i> footage was finally used for something.</p><p>What I love about <i>The Miracle of Crowdfuding</i> is that even though I never finished or went through with using it to crowdfund the tuition fee for my masters degree... it has still empowered me to study my ideal masters degree which is allowing me to future-proof my life. </p><p>Far from being a failed project, <i>The Miracle of Crowdfunding</i> has been a huge success!</p>Peter O'Brienhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16331786661079602602noreply@blogger.com0Bristol, UK51.454513 -2.587915.9336854948095024 -72.90041 90 67.72459tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8587490949640116357.post-91652535383172113382020-10-22T03:41:00.010+00:002022-05-09T10:28:27.138+00:00Down A Word: The Story of NEXT FRIDAY<p> </p><p><i>Down A Word: The Story of NEXT FRIDAY</i> is a 1-hour accidental documentary I made with a group of friends in 2009 and 2010. </p><p>It chronicles a night when I got drunk - far too drunk, don't ever get this drunk - lost my mind, went on a verbal rampage, proceeded to destroy the porcelain of my friend's toilet and completely blacked out with no memory of what a complete idiot I had made of myself.</p><p>Fortunately for the existence of this film, but unfortunately for my conscience, it was all captured on camera. </p><p style="text-align: center;"><iframe allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture" allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="360" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/JRK7d2CcrHE" width="640"></iframe></p><p>Being the creative and self-mocking person that I am, I decided to make a documentary out of it.</p><p>In January 2010, I invited my friends over to my house so that I could record some interview footage, which I then cut together with the original incident footage and delivered the film in February 2010. </p><p>The original incident came about during the editing process of <i>A Not Even Gay THRE3SOME</i>, the third film of <i>The Not Even Gay Trilogy</i>. </p><p>Me and my friends had shot about 36 hours of footage for the third film and editing my way through it was causing me no end of stress. </p><p>Not to mention, I still had two months before I started university and no current job together with no money.</p><p>Basically, I just wanted to have a nice relaxing party with my friends, which I suggested and which we did over my friend Matt's house. I assumed we would all get fantastically drunk, maybe play some drinking games and it would be a great night. </p><p>Clearly, I misread the situation because I was the only one who got massively drunk.</p><p>I think at one point I dared myself to finish the entirety of my bottle of Jack Daniels and after a certain point, I can't remember anything.</p><p>Watching back the footage was absolutely bizarre because, from my point of view, I can only remember about the first ten minutes... and then waking up ther next day.</p><p>Just imagine my shock and surprise when I watched the footage me making a complete drunken tit of myself. </p><p style="text-align: center;"><iframe allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture" allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="360" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/7wCja3WEGCA" width="640"></iframe></p><p>I wasn't annoyed with my friends, because I can see the funny side and I'm pretty hilarious in the footage.</p><p>Whenever I would film my friends and they hated it, I would always say that, "It makes great footage!"</p><p>So they were just returning the favour this time.</p><p>Plus, the footage of this incident allowed me to fill in the massive gap in my memory... even if I would rather have fogotten the fact that I put a massive crack in the porcelain toilet. I never did get round to replacing it, whoopsie-daisy!</p><p>Watching the footage, I was mostly just amazed with how utterly insane I became after finishing a whole bottle of Jack Daniels.</p><p>As my friend James comments in the film, "I think we've broken Pete."</p><p>Seriously, though, don't ever try to drink a whole bottle of Jack, or anything else with a high alcohol percentage, in a single go. It's really not a smart thing do for your dignity or your wellbeing! </p><table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-i1lXuaO7Z64/X5D1HKt4NXI/AAAAAAABYq4/5yZzjyFEY84WNlTeuYaZlK6TQnVNkx2vwCLcBGAsYHQ/s600/jack%2Bdaniels%2Bblank%2B-%2Bfull%2Band%2Bred.jpg" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="600" data-original-width="600" height="640" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-i1lXuaO7Z64/X5D1HKt4NXI/AAAAAAABYq4/5yZzjyFEY84WNlTeuYaZlK6TQnVNkx2vwCLcBGAsYHQ/w640-h640/jack%2Bdaniels%2Bblank%2B-%2Bfull%2Band%2Bred.jpg" title="A piece of unused art I generated for the film" width="640" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">A piece of unused art I generated for the film<br /></td></tr></tbody></table><br /><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p>The film is called <i>Down A Word</i> because that is something I said while we were in the kitchen playing a drinking game. </p><p>I was completely misunderstanding how to play the game and at one point I suggested that to spice things up we should all, "down a word."</p><p style="text-align: center;"><iframe allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture" allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="360" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/sjDq6c8vWB8" width="640"></iframe></p><p>Oh, down a word!</p><p>Judging by the response of my friends in the footage, it was definitely one of the highlights of the night and, by far, one of the funniest things I said.</p><p>I have never lived it down either.</p><p>The film has the subtitle <i>The Story of NEXT FRIDAY</i> because that is all to do with me editing <i>A Not Even Gay THRE3SOME</i>. </p><p>In the footage and in my heavily drunken state I claimed to be able to get the editing done within two weeks so that film would be ready to view next Friday... "Not this Friday, but next Friday."</p><p>Which, of course, was ridiculous considering it actually took me a full year to finish the rough cut of <i>A Not Even Gay THRE3OME</i>.</p><p>But in <i>Down A Word</i>, I was adamant that I could have it finished by next Friday, so much so, that I keep saying it, over and over and over again. </p><p style="text-align: center;"><iframe allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture" allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="360" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/VjPJB5RnQtQ" width="640"></iframe></p><p>"NEXT FRIDAY," was definitely another highlight of the night and something else I have not been able to live down. </p><p>But even I embraced the joke, I used it in the trailers for <i>A Not Even Gay THRE3SOME</i>. It's why I gave <i>Down A Word</i> the subtitle <i>The Story of NEXT FRIDAY</i>, I wanted to link the two projects together... </p><p style="text-align: center;"><iframe allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture" allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="360" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/jYrjQ364or4" width="640"></iframe></p><p>As with the making of the three travelogues that make up <i>The Not Even Gay Trilogy</i>, the spontaneous production of <i>Down A Word </i>was an invaluable exercise in documentary making. </p><p>The film doesn't need to be an hour-long presentation and had it been made for a more general audience, I would have cut it down into a much shorter form. </p><p>However, I promised my friends that they would be able to enjoy the footage again, so, aside from a few eliminations here and there, I presented the majority of the footage. </p><p>I was very keen to film some interview footage with my friends. I wanted to have their points of view to tell the story of the night. </p><p>I typed out the questions I wanted them to answer in relation to the rough structure I had already assembled from the original incident footage. </p><p>The questions were...</p><p></p><ol style="text-align: left;"><li>Who are you and how do you know Short?</li><li>How did this series of events begin?</li><li>Why was Short determined to finish a whole bottle of Jack?</li><li>Can you fill us in on Short’s relationship and history with Jack Daniels?</li><li>Beerfest and Anchorman?</li><li>What was so special about next Friday?</li><li>Steve Carell sitting in a tree with a banana?</li><li>How did the drinking game fiasco begin?</li><li>My house has four corners?</li><li>Down a word?</li><li>In what state would you describe Short’s condition when you were in the kitchen?</li><li>What was going through your mind immediately after he smashed the bottle of Jack Daniels?</li><li>Why did you stop filming?</li><li>Can you describe the sequence of events that then occurred once you stopped filming?</li><li>Black Puke?</li><li>How did Short manage to break a porcelain toilet?</li><li>What was Short’s reaction the next day?</li><li>Anything else about that night you would like to point out?</li><li>What have you learnt from this experience? </li></ol><p></p><div><br /></div><div>I let the other guys give it their own spin by filming the interview footage themselves in my living room. </div><div><p>I think the interview footage of the other guys gels brilliantly with the original incident footage and, a lot of the time, intercutting what happened together with my friends' comments actually makes the original footage even more amusing. </p><p>It is also handy having my friends' testimonies of the night because it enabled me to fill in the gaps when the camera had not been rolling. </p></div><p>I wasn't interviewed and I didn't want my point of view included with the original incident footage because...</p><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px; text-align: left;"><p>A) How would I even justify how crazy I became that night.</p><p>B) I was an unreliable source of information because I couldn't remember what had happened.</p></blockquote><p>That being said, I did include myself at the beginning and at the end of the film. </p><p>The beginning was just a bit of voiceover narration essentially saying how I had a habit of causing ball aches and broken toilets for my friend Matt.</p><p>The ending was a short interview with myself in which I admitted I would forever be haunted by that broken porcelin toilet! I also said how I wanted my experience in this film to act as a cautionary tale about what happens when you drink too much.</p><p>When in doubt and when getting drunk, always remember the guy who thought he could down a word. </p><table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-xbdwbducpsE/X5Du0u2YbBI/AAAAAAABYqs/5Cs8BtImnxIKIbQb5d7ib-caumlS4biXgCLcBGAsYHQ/s1839/Still%2Bfrom%2Bself-interview%2Bat%2Bthe%2Bend.jpg" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1034" data-original-width="1839" height="360" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-xbdwbducpsE/X5Du0u2YbBI/AAAAAAABYqs/5Cs8BtImnxIKIbQb5d7ib-caumlS4biXgCLcBGAsYHQ/w640-h360/Still%2Bfrom%2Bself-interview%2Bat%2Bthe%2Bend.jpg" title="From my self-interview concluding the film" width="640" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">From my self-interview which acts a conclusion to the film</td></tr></tbody></table><br /><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p>I would just like to add at this point that I very rarely drink alcohol these days, I've learned my lesson, promise.</p><p>My gripes with the film are mostly technical and aesthetic ones. </p><p>After having now used more advanced filmmaking gear and practice, things I don't like stick out like a sore thumb. </p><p>The sound could use a lot of work and the standard definition image with its really bad unbalanced lighting looks horrendous.</p><p>In hindsight, I should also have got the other guys to interview me for the conclusion. I feel like it would have been in keeping with the rest of the film and it would have generated some quite funny responses from me. </p><p>However, I am still pretty happy with the 1-hour cut of the film. It's a good representation of where my craft and thinking was as a filmmaker in 2010.</p><p><i>Down A Word</i> was another handy exercise in learning how to edit and construct a documentary narrative.</p><p>I still think I could do a bit of work on the opening and ending. I don't actually think they set up or close of the film in the right way. To me, they feel a bit tacked on. </p><p>Maybe at some point I will jump back into the editing suite and do a refined and shorter cut of <i>Down A Word</i>. </p><p>But for now, here's the full first edit...</p><p style="text-align: center;"><iframe allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture" allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="360" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/PxkwzHOMtVo" width="640"></iframe></p><p>For more on my early documentary filmmaking and to see the sister project of <i>Down A Word</i>, check out <i><a href="http://somethingtodowithfilm.blogspot.com/2020/10/the-not-even-gay-trilogy.html">The Not Even Gay Trilogy</a>.</i></p>Peter O'Brienhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16331786661079602602noreply@blogger.com0Bristol, UK51.454513 -2.5879123.144279163821153 -37.74416 79.764746836178844 32.56834tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8587490949640116357.post-48615825389758097552020-10-09T05:22:00.001+00:002022-04-18T06:06:16.187+00:00The Cinema Complex - A documentary about the cinema building and the love of going to the flicks<p> </p><p><i>The Cinema Complex</i> was a feature length documentary I started developing in 2014 and abandoned in 2016. </p><p>The film would have examined a number of cinema theatre buildings - their architecture, their mechanics, their history and their future - to determine what role they play in our love of film and why going to the pictures can be such an enjoyable experience. </p><p>Ultimately, I think the eventual documentary would have featured three cinema theatre buildings...</p><p></p><ul style="text-align: left;"><li>A large format cinema theatre building, such as the BFI IMAX</li><li>A multiplex cinema theatre building, such as your standard Cineworld or Odeon complex</li><li>A small scale independent and heritage cinema theatre building, such as The Little Theatre Cinema in Bath or The Everyman in Clifton, Bristol. </li></ul><div>The documentary would have presented each building and explored how each compliments and threatens the existence of the others all while presenting the case for viewing films in the cinema.</div><div><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj4FzZSU4mCOe13DYdahhcJ3_uZkmc1-6khWrcoFzJF-20eQVVWN7dTq6lHpIChJ5f81QG1RV4ZSTQYBX8VBYINe3fA6IVMe9DD89U6eNub_1Y3asyTXAvJanD9UbQwRfn-lka54wPX7gpc7IG3CrRKd6ptxrFp7qciWjVDDkFSQzJYjZXT8UHSknZcWQ/s4032/PXL_20220418_053833621.MP.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2268" data-original-width="4032" height="360" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj4FzZSU4mCOe13DYdahhcJ3_uZkmc1-6khWrcoFzJF-20eQVVWN7dTq6lHpIChJ5f81QG1RV4ZSTQYBX8VBYINe3fA6IVMe9DD89U6eNub_1Y3asyTXAvJanD9UbQwRfn-lka54wPX7gpc7IG3CrRKd6ptxrFp7qciWjVDDkFSQzJYjZXT8UHSknZcWQ/w640-h360/PXL_20220418_053833621.MP.jpg" width="640" /></a></div><div><br /></div><div>The idea for the documentary developed out of my theoretical dissertation, <i><a href="http://somethingtodowithfilm.blogspot.com/2014/05/ways-of-being.html">Ways of Being: The Spactator and the Spectacle</a></i>. </div><div><br /></div><div>Specifically, the idea found its life in <i>Chapter Two - Hypercinema: The Implications of the Spectacle as a Hyper-Immersive Commodity</i> and what was originally Chapter Three, but for various submittable word count reasons, which I won't go into here, ended up being <i>Appendix F - The Multiplex is in Trouble: The Aesthetic Downfalls of Low Standards and LieMAXes. </i></div><div><br /></div><div>Between these two chapters I did a lot of research into the different types of cinema theatre buildings and the different film experiences they can give to the film viewer.</div><div><br /></div><div>Viewing a mind-blowing experience of being catapulted through a wormhole on a massive IMAX screen, as was the case with <i>Interstellar</i>, is a very different experience to watching <i>Fantastic Mr Fox</i> in a small and intimate and retro setting like The Little Theatre Cinema in Bath. </div><div><br /></div><div>Furthermore, I found the writing of these two chapters somewhat frustrating because all the time I was describing these different cinema settings with their different architectural mechanics, I kept thinking to myself, "This would be so much easier to convey if I just went and filmed then and cut together an illustrative video essay."</div><div><br /></div><div>Plus, I love cinema theatre buildings, I have always been fascinated with all their nooks and crannies. </div><div><br /></div><div>So the idea of making a documentary about the cinema building was an obvious filmmaking project for me to pursue.</div><div><br /></div><div>I developed the documentary alongside <i>The Miracle Mockumentary, </i>my <i>365 FRAMES 2015 </i>experimental filmmaking project<i> </i>and my <i>Breaking Cinema</i> podcast project (which also developed out of my theoretical dissertation).</div><p></p><p>As with <i>The Miracle Mockumentary</i> and the <i>Breaking Cinema Podcast</i>, I developed <i>The Cinema Complex</i> with my colleague George Oram, who I had planned to film it with. </p><p>The initial development period was concerned with focusing the original idea into a filmable end product; as well as looking at various different cinema building filming candidates. </p><p>Throughout 2015 I was a member of Cinema Theatre Association which is an organization that draws attention to all cinema and theatre buildings that have ever existed, from the humblest converted hall to the most modern multiplex. </p><p>Membership in the association gives you access to their archive; as well as a number or magazine publications that are delivered to your door and proved invaluable for further immersing me in love and enthusiasm for cinema theatre buildings. </p><p>Ultimately, the project just never came together. </p><p>But it's still a good idea that may yet see the light of a cinema projector!</p><p><br /></p>Peter O'Brienhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16331786661079602602noreply@blogger.com0Bristol, UK51.454513 -2.58791-0.97476934359941225 -72.90041 90 67.72459tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8587490949640116357.post-46113887570524534642020-10-02T06:40:00.009+00:002022-06-21T15:05:04.173+00:00A Machine to Listen to the Sky... and a videographer to film it all<p style="text-align: justify;"><i>A Machine to Listen to the Sky</i> an audio-visual installation revealing the unheard sounds of the earth’s ionosphere and beyond through custom built Very Low Frequency (VLF) antennas elevated through the use of a tethered weather balloon. These antennas reveal the electromagnetically produced sounds of lightning, the northern lights, Jovian radio, sun activity and man-made technology.</p><p style="text-align: justify;">I was lucky enough to be invited to film this project one day in May 2013.</p><p style="text-align: center;"><iframe allow="autoplay; fullscreen; picture-in-picture" allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="360" src="https://player.vimeo.com/video/66274329?h=ebe8d3f157" width="640"></iframe>
</p><p><a href="https://vimeo.com/66274329">A Machine To Listen To The Sky</a> from <a href="https://vimeo.com/dantappersound">Dan Tapper</a> on <a href="https://vimeo.com">Vimeo</a>.</p><p></p><p>A Machine to Listen to the Sky was orchestrated by my peer Daniel Tapper as his final year project for his BA (Hons) in Creative Music Technology. </p><p>Daniel also served as the sound designer on my <a href="http://eyesofastoryteller.blogspot.com/" target="_blank"><i>EYES</i> web series project</a> and in return for his services I agreed to film his final project event. </p><p>Daniel then took the two hours of footage I had shot and edited the above two and half minute overview video.</p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiyPHtqYBqgAnkH_MspO8buc0IOEJcyMgpGLB04asgM156axe4nXVaZ0Q2AD8V5qITc3pB45dWp3Py8KSF413FtO-FyklEiS6HjtyqxtJRD8BZxsdjvKe39YYfuDV0Bs6sEk1Zf40cTQGigtNv_pmNpn2w3cyCI6R9-EQKTC1N4hkiC5zBXFozuFS0mKw/s1934/IMG_4810.JPG" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1934" data-original-width="1934" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiyPHtqYBqgAnkH_MspO8buc0IOEJcyMgpGLB04asgM156axe4nXVaZ0Q2AD8V5qITc3pB45dWp3Py8KSF413FtO-FyklEiS6HjtyqxtJRD8BZxsdjvKe39YYfuDV0Bs6sEk1Zf40cTQGigtNv_pmNpn2w3cyCI6R9-EQKTC1N4hkiC5zBXFozuFS0mKw/w400-h400/IMG_4810.JPG" width="400" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Dan and his father setting up the balloon antenna </td></tr></tbody></table><p style="text-align: justify;">I really enjoyed filming Daniel's project! Firstly, because it was a super interesting and super quirky project to film. Secondly, it was an insanely nice day to do some filming. </p><p style="text-align: justify;">Overall, I found it a very relaxing experience where I could just take my time filming the subject and further honing my videography skills.</p><p style="text-align: justify;">You can find out more about A Machine to Listen to the Sky <a href="https://dantappersounddesign.wordpress.com/a-machine-to-listen-to-the-sky-3/" target="_blank">on Dan's blog</a>.</p>Peter O'Brienhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16331786661079602602noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8587490949640116357.post-246270579544960982020-10-01T10:06:00.065+00:002022-06-21T14:40:40.579+00:00Remember This<p style="text-align: justify;"><i>Remember This</i> is a short film I co-produced during the final year of my BA (Hons).</p><p style="text-align: center;"><iframe allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture" allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/kLlvrZl1Seo" title="YouTube video player" width="560"></iframe></p><p style="text-align: justify;">It was written and directed by my peer Matt Coot for his final year creative enterprise project/practical dissertation.</p><p style="text-align: justify;"><i>Remember This</i> was produced in co-operation with my <a href="http://eyesofastoryteller.blogspot.com/" target="_blank"><i>EYES</i> web series project</a>, from October 2012 to May 2013. I served as the co-producer on <i>Remember This,</i> in return for having Matt serve as the co-producer on <i>EYES</i>. </p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgl9gdGQjNhMmoxL_f2aoRY__wL8lDe4kAVNVqmmIcwQZW02yv8nHTam98kr4rySMa_QmZqUnbnFf1Hgfw8hCb7sDwQg_tylykLzmXqXgGYJ6mV18crv-MpuAAzilWoI8ax8D5ynTBEJCt3DhQWSNyWXoTustGNvHZc9ODhRZYJkmaoI_B4jla7XA1aeA/s2592/IMG_1369.JPG" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1936" data-original-width="2592" height="239" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgl9gdGQjNhMmoxL_f2aoRY__wL8lDe4kAVNVqmmIcwQZW02yv8nHTam98kr4rySMa_QmZqUnbnFf1Hgfw8hCb7sDwQg_tylykLzmXqXgGYJ6mV18crv-MpuAAzilWoI8ax8D5ynTBEJCt3DhQWSNyWXoTustGNvHZc9ODhRZYJkmaoI_B4jla7XA1aeA/s320/IMG_1369.JPG" width="320" /></a></div><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgxxRtNWQdk0jyBH4aicIj0C5ac7esBQZ1deySv10GOsBUrJe0GUXE50M-_T732f3R3fzDRGvdgllfJbc2CLtd6OmkUxJVIbH6wMO7sOASML68ZI7-YcUIaCTbe_RJf_Esk8QxFpGKxlT4ikpbMXR2M4q3UWCQ6QATdAwFtr8j77ydPB3ClyzB3yJz3-w/s2592/IMG_1367.JPG" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1936" data-original-width="2592" height="239" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgxxRtNWQdk0jyBH4aicIj0C5ac7esBQZ1deySv10GOsBUrJe0GUXE50M-_T732f3R3fzDRGvdgllfJbc2CLtd6OmkUxJVIbH6wMO7sOASML68ZI7-YcUIaCTbe_RJf_Esk8QxFpGKxlT4ikpbMXR2M4q3UWCQ6QATdAwFtr8j77ydPB3ClyzB3yJz3-w/s320/IMG_1367.JPG" width="320" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Two photo props... in case we lost one</td></tr></tbody></table><p style="text-align: justify;">Mykel and Claire who play the main characters in <i>EYES</i> also appear in <i>Remember This</i>. I pinched them for <i>EYES</i> after I saw their rehearsals for <i>Remember This</i></p><p style="text-align: justify;"></p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiAsT1FtMvsWhix-DaTumIsQ24lhaaVTpBVqfghyVtDv4RRUdbXDdq3PpxFdciu6zxykeIhroyJkmjmQ_60w_wc6k-Q0yZlxAOoX9LAFQlrBR5fosc3AN5B0s0Y2zkCTcU5at39yGhLd_WbgS5TAdyvrLRkFtZZ1j2ii6qnaPxAz1uyQ46ze3U3Xw2MQA/s1564/Mykel%20&%20Claire.JPG" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1168" data-original-width="1564" height="239" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiAsT1FtMvsWhix-DaTumIsQ24lhaaVTpBVqfghyVtDv4RRUdbXDdq3PpxFdciu6zxykeIhroyJkmjmQ_60w_wc6k-Q0yZlxAOoX9LAFQlrBR5fosc3AN5B0s0Y2zkCTcU5at39yGhLd_WbgS5TAdyvrLRkFtZZ1j2ii6qnaPxAz1uyQ46ze3U3Xw2MQA/s320/Mykel%20&%20Claire.JPG" width="320" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Mykel, Claire & Sarah</td></tr></tbody></table><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="text-align: justify;"><br /></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: justify;">It was also based on his work on <i>Remember This</i> (and <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5-39msMTgzY&t=8s" target="_blank">a version of <i>Busybody</i> he made</a>) that I decided to recruit George Oram, the cinematographer for my <a href="https://somethingtodowithfilm.blogspot.com/2020/10/the-miracle-of-crowdfunding-the-miracle-mockumentary.html" target="_blank"><i>Miracle of Crowdfunding</i> project</a>. </div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: justify;"><br /></div><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhnMCystMfVFfxCe66MPbIS4wS4cnCN-780EGtZkcO-xO5DPOQ4bDDi236dOXQZxuUh_38AQVp8JyTSSMBZXDAka3y371oSWiKCnOsZBlUxxukM4AmaMu4WvvffS00LaMpVMNl0iM38fvLIqJ_5fCNrGzcEuOnhniqVWi5aseiwGueHYiuuH7nNFr4U7w/s2592/IMG_1371.JPG" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1936" data-original-width="2592" height="239" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhnMCystMfVFfxCe66MPbIS4wS4cnCN-780EGtZkcO-xO5DPOQ4bDDi236dOXQZxuUh_38AQVp8JyTSSMBZXDAka3y371oSWiKCnOsZBlUxxukM4AmaMu4WvvffS00LaMpVMNl0iM38fvLIqJ_5fCNrGzcEuOnhniqVWi5aseiwGueHYiuuH7nNFr4U7w/s320/IMG_1371.JPG" width="320" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">George getting the focus right</td></tr></tbody></table><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><span style="text-align: justify;">I was heavily involved with the organising and co-ordination of </span><i style="text-align: justify;">Remember This</i><span style="text-align: justify;"> during the pre-production phase before Christmas (Oct - Dec 2012). Throughout 2013, I devoted more of my time to my own projects.</span></div><p></p><p style="text-align: justify;">My producing role on <i>Remember This</i> was consistently concerned with motivating the members of the project and keeping everything on schedule. </p><p style="text-align: justify;">I also offered additional technical support during the production phase. </p><p style="text-align: justify;"><br /></p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhiLBXpWOsvW0FTM14kyIbEvaxeMhF9WPnSAC9h7AGbHS46ST_SjkpqbUAbriIzVhEHK6gb-k76AeRHxClrHhg6BSDXkIe8ukmAppvM-_g9jqsGp6DyCDsRwUdYHhZr0ZssLrzr-b_CF5bAf68ESUluHYUCeJXWphYCLYTyEiaw38c0LOVokJSVPdA3Jw/s1280/IMG_1202-001.JPG" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="960" data-original-width="1280" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhiLBXpWOsvW0FTM14kyIbEvaxeMhF9WPnSAC9h7AGbHS46ST_SjkpqbUAbriIzVhEHK6gb-k76AeRHxClrHhg6BSDXkIe8ukmAppvM-_g9jqsGp6DyCDsRwUdYHhZr0ZssLrzr-b_CF5bAf68ESUluHYUCeJXWphYCLYTyEiaw38c0LOVokJSVPdA3Jw/s320/IMG_1202-001.JPG" width="320" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Me, Matt & George</td></tr></tbody></table><p></p><p style="text-align: justify;">Overall, it was a refreshing and focusing experience wearing (mostly) only having to wear one producing hat in the making of <i>Remember This</i>. With <i>EYES</i>, I was all over the place!</p>Peter O'Brienhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16331786661079602602noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8587490949640116357.post-34137526048273172362020-05-08T07:20:00.010+00:002022-05-05T23:25:47.458+00:00Ricardo's Cut: AS-Level Media Studies<p>Ricardo's Cut was an assignment I had to complete for my AS-Level Media Studies course, which I did in 2008. </p><p>Unlike my other A-Levels, I only completed an AS (first year) in Media Studies because I was only allowed to undertake four courses and in my first year I had to re-do my GCSE in mathematics, which took up one of my course slots. By my second year, I had complete my maths GCSE and had a study slot free, so I undertook Media Studies. </p><p>I don't remember enjoying Media Studies all that much. To me (back then), it was just the boring version of Film Studies.</p><p>All that remains of the work I produced for Media Studies is Ricardo's Cut.</p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj17ZruToEc__XR1g_7WEgWN3cQqkE0Yy3SJvVtGw4KBOxNb4eB62XgUQ9dE4QvyMjmz5YqfodzJLXthgT0Yo9QDsniZKc7dSaYQVBFRIsMYD55bB1yoeHyNgean-JHzfRGomal6owYME_rkdvHtB2-DE1ZMikoSCiNCsIYyQ7oaAOF524nSFEwPWSNGA/s2048/Ricardo's%20Cut%20-%20cover.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1536" data-original-width="2048" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj17ZruToEc__XR1g_7WEgWN3cQqkE0Yy3SJvVtGw4KBOxNb4eB62XgUQ9dE4QvyMjmz5YqfodzJLXthgT0Yo9QDsniZKc7dSaYQVBFRIsMYD55bB1yoeHyNgean-JHzfRGomal6owYME_rkdvHtB2-DE1ZMikoSCiNCsIYyQ7oaAOF524nSFEwPWSNGA/w640-h480/Ricardo's%20Cut%20-%20cover.jpg" width="640" /></a></div><br /><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiMlEaRi6DEoLc082MI992WueBynX3t9di2YxzvYjPQbdmw-aX5PGhFf7r6_f7j9uBC_KmoSwFyVXCo1IFY--HOM7xmxjkgRUHLsPN3UN-xXyJcrKYxDpqRGJsH5hRcK5vl9hZwXkN58MTSw6zRQ0mwaQppcTxxaeABJYw1uGPmCHpwK7MO2hit4uPyyA/s2048/Ricardo's%20Cut%20-%20poster.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2048" data-original-width="1536" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiMlEaRi6DEoLc082MI992WueBynX3t9di2YxzvYjPQbdmw-aX5PGhFf7r6_f7j9uBC_KmoSwFyVXCo1IFY--HOM7xmxjkgRUHLsPN3UN-xXyJcrKYxDpqRGJsH5hRcK5vl9hZwXkN58MTSw6zRQ0mwaQppcTxxaeABJYw1uGPmCHpwK7MO2hit4uPyyA/w480-h640/Ricardo's%20Cut%20-%20poster.jpg" width="480" /></a></div><br /><p>As you can see, I produced some graphics - a Playstation 2 game cover and a poster - for a fictional game about South American gangster out for revenge. </p><p>I got my friend James to be the model for Ricardo.</p><p>I can't remember the specifics of the assignment, but I do remember not spending very long on putting together these two artifacts. </p><p>I remember having fun playing around with the visuals in Google Picasa. Notice how his briefcase has no shadow!</p><p>As the inclusion of the Rockstar logo will indicate, the idea for Ricardo's Cut was heavily influenced by the Grand Theft Auto and Max Payne games. </p><p>I had also just discovered The Godfather films about this time, so that Coppola aesthetic played into it as well. </p>Peter O'Brienhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16331786661079602602noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8587490949640116357.post-76795140423366649512020-05-06T04:33:00.001+00:002022-05-05T23:41:28.997+00:00The Importance of Lying: Documentary idea<div><i>The Importance of Lying</i> was a documentary idea proposal I produced for my Short Form Documentary module in the final year of my BA (Hons). </div><div><br /></div><div>It was one of the ideas I considered before I partnered up with my peer Tom and we co-created <a href="https://somethingtodowithfilm.blogspot.com/2014/05/fencing-documentary.html" target="_blank">the Fencing documentary</a>.</div><div><br /></div><div>I produced a few ideas for the module, but I've included this one here on my blog because it deals with the theme of 'What is authentic'. This is a theme which crops up again and again in the projects I produced after I graduated, most notably <i><a href="https://somethingtodowithfilm.blogspot.com/2020/10/the-miracle-of-crowdfunding-the-miracle-mockumentary.html" target="_blank">The Miracle Mockumentary</a></i> and <i><a href="https://somethingtodowithfilm.blogspot.com/2022/05/365-frames-2015.html" target="_blank">365 Frames 2015</a></i>.</div><div><br /></div><div>The idea is very thin and is mostly theoretical; containing very little substance or subject matter that could have been filmed and made into a short documentary.</div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><h2 style="text-align: left;"><span style="color: red;">Documentary Proposal: The Importance of Lying</span></h2><div><br /></div><div><br /></div>Visual<div><br /></div><div>Maybe</div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div>Local</div><div><br /></div><div>Yes</div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div>Do you have access?</div><div><br /></div><div>Potentially</div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div>Why is it interesting?</div><div><br /></div><div>I believe lying is an integral component of the Human makeup; I think anyone who believes they don't lie is lying to themselves. It would be interesting to explore the role lying plays in day-to-day life, why we do it, why we need to do it, do we need to do it and how Humans are still able to establish a form of trust which transcends beyond the very basic forms of a lie or a truth.</div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div>What will you add or what will we learn?</div><div><br /></div><div>It would be great to do a character study of a con artist for this, but I don't know any con artists (although, you could talk to an MP or a sales person instead). Therefore, interviewing various people from different backgrounds (you decide) you could present their opinions on "the importance of lying" and determine one or more of the things I said in the previous box. At the moment, I can't really think of a way to make it more visually interesting. Although, you could do a reflexive documentary and look at how the documentary is presenting a truth of reality through a lie (something along the lines of 'F for Fake'), a documentary is never going to present reality 100% authentically.</div>Peter O'Brienhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16331786661079602602noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8587490949640116357.post-91850391238498362042020-04-16T03:48:00.001+00:002022-04-18T05:53:25.779+00:00Film Studies in New York<p><br /></p><p>In October of 2007 I travelled to New York for a trip as part of my A-Level Film Studies course.</p><p>It was amazing!</p><p>First time I had ever been across the Atlantic and my first real independent experience of being a photographer.</p><p>Granted the trip was film focused and we did visit many filming locations and film-related locations, such as the New York Film Academy (I think I still have the hoody they gave me).</p><p>But my main takeaway from New York was the photography experience I gained using my little digital camera. </p><p>This post is about my photographic memories of New York.,</p><p>I remember being very conscious of not running out of memory space on the memory card. I only had a small memory card and I did eventually run out of memory!</p><p>Also, some are very blurred and the composition in some of the images could use some work.</p><p>But I present here in a video slideshow one of my first forays into the visual medium.</p><p style="text-align: center;"><iframe allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture" allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/OEL0qmQotlY" title="YouTube video player" width="560"></iframe></p><p>You can also see the full album <a href="https://photos.app.goo.gl/286xQfTjDTh4JDHQ8">here</a>.</p>Peter O'Brienhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16331786661079602602noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8587490949640116357.post-22089874251615327352017-05-19T00:22:00.003+00:002017-05-19T00:22:58.000+00:00Breaking Cinema: The podcast is on the shelf<div style="text-align: justify;">
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Between May 2014 and October 2016 I had very gradually been developing a podcast, <i>Breaking Cinema</i>. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">The development period had been a combination of brainstorming, recording practice episodes, lateral thinking, working on other projects, investing in sound recording equipment, writing a highly detailed document about the overall focus of the podcast and then another detailed document outlining the first 10 episodes of the podcast. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Make no mistake a lot of work, which I now intend to collect together and present on this blog, went into the development of <i>Breaking Cinema</i>. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">My concept for the <i>Breaking Cinema</i> podcast had been to do something highly experimental, educational, that would break new ground, but would also be highly entertaining.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">And then, after having already recorded some material for the first batch of episodes, I decided to put the project on the shelf.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">And since October, 2016 on that shelf <i>Breaking Cinema</i> has remained.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">I have no plans to pull it off the shelf, not because I do not want to produce and present the podcast, it is because I can not justify the investment of time and energy it would demand... and the very small amount of returns it would deliver. At the end of the day, in its drawn out and fully produced form, it actually has very little to contribute to my MTA portfolio and career development.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Developing <i>Breaking Cinema</i> was by no means a waste of my time and energy, as, like its sister project <i>The Miracle of Crowdfunding</i>, its development was very much tied up with the focuses and growth of my MTA portfolio. If anything, the process of developing the podcast helped me figure out the direction of my MTA portfolio and career development. the Breaking Blindness overview document for the podcast reads more like a personal mission statement for myself!</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">I have now decided to acknowledge that, like <i>The Miracle of Crowdfunding</i>, the <i>Breaking Cinema</i> project will probably never come to full realisation. However, this is not to say that many of its ideas have not been incorporated into my postgraduate studies and career direction endeavours, so the seeds it planted have grown and continue to develop and live on.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">But <i>Breaking Cinema</i> the podcast is over.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">All of the materials I produced as part of the podcasts development will now be presented on this blog as a chronicle its development and of my continuing growth as a creative strategic thinker and practitioner.</span></div>
<br />Peter O'Brienhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16331786661079602602noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8587490949640116357.post-55601251647554390452017-05-18T22:51:00.004+00:002020-10-27T12:33:14.425+00:00Busybody: Martymachlia - The best adaptation yet!<br />
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<span face=""trebuchet ms" , sans-serif">It is very flattering when you receive an email out of the blue inviting you to a screening in which you will see three new adaptations of a script you wrote many years ago. </span></div>
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<span face=""trebuchet ms" , sans-serif"><a href="http://www.somethingtodowithfilm.com/2014/09/busybody-short-film-script.html" target="_blank"><br /></a></span></div>
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<span face=""trebuchet ms" , sans-serif"><i>Busybody</i> is a script I wrote </span><span face=""trebuchet ms" , sans-serif">back in 2012 </span><span face=""trebuchet ms" , sans-serif">during my BA (Hons) in Creative Writing with Film and Screen Studies at Bath Spa University as part of the Planning and Making a Film module. </span></div>
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<span face=""trebuchet ms" , sans-serif">I have written about <i><a href="http://www.somethingtodowithfilm.blogspot.com/2014/09/busybody-short-film-script.html" target="_blank">Busybody</a></i> and <a href="http://www.somethingtodowithfilm.blogspot..com/2014/09/planning-and-making-film.html" target="_blank">my experiences in the Planning and Making a Film module</a> before, but suffice to say that <i>Busybody</i> proved to be a very popular script in that module. It has proven so popular that it has now been adapted by students from three different years resulting in a grand total of 16 different adaptations of my original script.</span></div>
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<span face=""trebuchet ms" , sans-serif">I have not seen all of the adaptations and I can not showcase them all on this blog because I can not locate them all online, but, by far, the best adaptation to date was one I watched at the end of year showcase in May of 2016. </span></div>
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<span face=""trebuchet ms" , sans-serif">Re-titled <i>Martymachlia</i> and with a storyline somewhat altered, <i>Martymachlia</i> left a strong impression on me after viewing last year, I was very impressed with the effort that had gone into it.</span></div>
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<span face=""trebuchet ms" , sans-serif">The overall quality of the production, directing and acting is impeccable and, after speaking to the team of students responsible for making Martymachlia, I know that a great deal of effort went into this adaptation. </span></div>
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<span face=""trebuchet ms" , sans-serif"><i>Martymachlia </i>is all the more startling because it shares some uncanny similarities to a second draft of the <i>Busybody</i> script I wrote in 2014 - re-titled <i>KEYS - </i>a script I had not shared with the university, because my original intention had been to produce <i>KEYS</i> myself. I have since put that idea to bed, but I was shocked to watch <i>Martymachlia</i> and the changes they had made because they so closely aligned with the changes I had implemented in the second draft. </span></div>
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<span face=""trebuchet ms" , sans-serif">Obviously, it is not exactly the same and I feel that a lot of character is lost in <i>Martymachlia</i> and the story has been simplified too much because it now completely turns both the Natalie and Geoff characters into purely sexual stereotypes; whereas in Busybody and especially so in <i>KEYS</i> there was great deal more depth and complexity to each character - they both possessed a psychology you could imagine a real person having. </span></div>
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<span face=""trebuchet ms" , sans-serif">This is my only complaint against the <i>Martymachlia adaptation</i>, I only wished it had maintained the original storyline and character motivations of both Natalie and Geoff. If it had, <i>Martymachlia</i> may have been even more uncannily closer to the version of <i>Busybody</i> which now exists in the <i>KEYS</i> script. </span></div>
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<span face=""trebuchet ms" , sans-serif">However, <i>Martymachlia</i> certainly has the tone and impact I was going for in the <i>Busybody</i> story, but never felt I adequately conveyed until I finished the 2nd draft in <i>KEYS</i>. I had always complained that I was never happy with the 1st draft of <i>Busybody</i>, it always felt rushed and unfinished! </span></div>
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<span face=""trebuchet ms" , sans-serif">To this end, I have now let the university have the <i>KEYS</i> script because, when I sent it to them last year, I no longer had any plans of making it myself (the <i>KEYS</i> draft is more like a shooting script), but that may change next year because I have always wanted to see my script done right. </span></div>
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<span face=""trebuchet ms" , sans-serif">Don't get me wrong <i>Martymachlia</i> comes very close, but it is still not quite the quirky and dark and twisted tale I have story-boarded inside my head.</span></div>
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<span face=""trebuchet ms" , sans-serif">While I do not have all of the adaptations on this blog, you can also view <a href="http://www.somethingtodowithfilm.com/2014/07/the-first-adaptation-busybody.html" target="_blank">the first adaptation</a> and <a href="http://www.somethingtodowithfilm.com/2015/08/busybody-other-adaptations.html" target="_blank">three others adaptations</a>.</span></div>
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Peter O'Brienhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16331786661079602602noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8587490949640116357.post-83642663689842462792017-05-18T21:37:00.000+00:002017-05-18T21:41:03.333+00:00NeuroPsychoCinematics<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">NeuroPsychoCinematics is a research focus in which I hold a great deal of interest and which deals with the characteristics of film and other audio-visual content and their production in relation to perception, cognition, narrative understanding, emotion and neurobiology.
Neuropsychocinematics is not currently an official field of study in its own right, but the groundwork for it does already exist in two other relatively new fields of study, neurocinematics and psychocinematics, which will undoubtedly combine in the not too far distant future in order to form neuropsychocinematics.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">"Brain activity was measured using functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) during free viewing of films, and inter-subject correlation analysis (ISC) was used to assess similarities in the spatiotemporal responses across viewers’ brains during movie watching. Our results demonstrate that some films can exert considerable control over brain activity and eye movements. However, this was not the case for all types of motion picture sequences, and the level of control over viewers’ brain activity differed as a function of movie content, editing, and directing style. We propose that ISC may be useful to film studies by providing a quantitative neuroscientific assessment of the impact of different styles of filmmaking on viewers’ brains, and a valuable method for the film industry to better assess its products. Finally, we suggest that this method brings together two separate and largely unrelated disciplines, cognitive neuroscience and film studies, and may open the way for a new interdisciplinary field of “neurocinematic” studies."</span> </div>
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">- <em>Neurocinematics: The Neuroscience of Film</em></span></div>
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<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-_H1DBonOFnQ/VqM0n8zQHzI/AAAAAAAAl5Q/jcwlypq-JPM/s1600/Neuropsychocinematics-001.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="638" src="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-_H1DBonOFnQ/VqM0n8zQHzI/AAAAAAAAl5Q/jcwlypq-JPM/s640/Neuropsychocinematics-001.jpg" width="640" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="text-align: justify;">My engagement with neuropsychocinematics began with the orchestration of my award-winning theoretical dissertation, </span><em style="text-align: justify;">Ways of Being: The Spectator and the Spectacle. </em></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">"the human body as a complex organic whole comprises a major variable that has been missing from all film theories’ understandings of the spectator and spectacle relationship... Perhaps the reason previous film theories have been unable to adequately factor actual audience members into their paradigms is precisely because they have deprived their ideal spectators of a physical presence and a body that can influence the filmic experience! Cognitive theory only incorporates the body as far as being an experience simulator driven by perceptual data sourced via the eyes and ears. However, what if the body was actively influencing the filmic experience as a perceptual membrane on a basis equivalent to the eyes and ears?"
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">- <i>Ways of Being</i>, 2013:55</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">My speculations in this area of research have since<em> </em>continued with my <em>Ways 2 Interface</em> blog. When I concluded my BA (Hons) I felt compelled to continue down the path that I had started in <em>Ways of Being</em>, but I instinctually felt that I would need to adopt an innovative transdisciplinary approach in order to actually get anywhere with it, hence my Postgraduate 2.0 Studies.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">Whether or not I will go back to a traditional academic path in order to progress this research remains to be seen, but I have a hunch that a real opportunity lies in doing it independent of academia and I suspect that this focus will form a component of my entrepreneurial practice.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">At any rate, I am a huge supporter of neuropsychocinematics (or whatever it gets called) and I believe it has it has a bright future.</span></div>
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Peter O'Brienhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16331786661079602602noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8587490949640116357.post-12456976956414821662017-05-18T21:27:00.000+00:002017-05-18T21:29:00.318+00:00Slapstick Studies - TCM Presents Painfully Funny: Slapstick in the Movies - Completion Reflection<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">Between August and October 2016 I undertook the <i>TCM Presents Painfully Funny: Slapstick in the Movies</i> MOOC as part of my postgraduate MTA portfolio and I successfully completed and passed the course.</span></div>
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<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-SP7jFh1nwgc/WR4Nb1l6XEI/AAAAAAAApn0/er7hUTlykPQUzprTT_IcPy8NGREY8pndQCLcB/s1600/Slapstick%2Bin%2Bthe%2BMovies%2Bcertificate.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="490" src="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-SP7jFh1nwgc/WR4Nb1l6XEI/AAAAAAAApn0/er7hUTlykPQUzprTT_IcPy8NGREY8pndQCLcB/s640/Slapstick%2Bin%2Bthe%2BMovies%2Bcertificate.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">My Certificate of Completion</span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">In 2015 I had undertaken <i><a href="http://www.somethingtodowithfilm.com/2015/08/tcm-presents-investigating-film-noir.html" target="_blank">TCM Presents Into the Darkness: Investigating Film Noir</a></i>, a highly thorough and informative online offering which I had immensely enjoyed. The instructor Richard Ls Edwards was even kind enough to message me and thank me about the completion reflection I wrote on my experiences of undertaking the course and the points I had raised regarding where I felt the course was lacking. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">However, I found my experience with <i>Painfully Funny</i> to be even more lacking and I believe there are two reasons for this...</span></div>
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<li style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><i>Painfully Funny</i> was too brief both in length and in content; it was severely lacking the thorough depth of its film noir counterpart</span></li>
<li style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">Being an avid slapstick fan, I already knew a great deal about slapstick cinema; especially early slapstick cinema.</span></li>
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">In terms of providing a overview of the development and evolution of slapstick cinema in accordance with the slapstick season film programming TCM broadcast alongside the MOOC's duration, the course did a very good job of acting as a companion piece. However, for someone who, as with <i>Investigating Film Noir</i>, can not access TCM, the experience of taking the course on its own was immensely underwhelming. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">At the conclusion of <i>Investigating Film Noir</i>, I felt as though my knowledge of cinema and particularly so of film noir had been greatly nourished and I even went so far as to compare the experience of undertaking <i>Investigating Film Noir</i> to undertaking a full-length learning module as part of my BA (Hons) in Film and Screen Studies. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">Ultimately, like this completion reflection, <i>Painfully Funny</i> felt painfully short and agonisingly underwhelming because there is so much more it could have offered. I only hope the next TCM Presents offering about Hitchcock will make up for the deficiencies of <i>Painfully Funny</i>. </span></div>
<br />Peter O'Brienhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16331786661079602602noreply@blogger.com0