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Category Archives: Digital Film Productions
The making of ‘Silent Whispers’
The team involved discuss how they went about making the short film ‘Silent Whispers’.
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Posted in Showreel
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Silent Whispers
A short film I directed, working with BTEC National Diploma in Media Production students back in 2008.
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The Beauty of Black & White Photography
Today was a struggle, almost every hour, but my eyes saw images to capture.
Today had it apprehensions, uncertainties and worries. One by one, I faced the tasks that required to be done. Not pleasant, as many were frustrations brought upon me from outside. One telephone call after another did not resolve the problems but speaking to others did give a better perspective and I felt calm.
Some financial burdens were being imposed that were not of my doing. At one point it felt like goodbyes were due, yet I felt reassured to not give up.
Ebay had proof fruitful last week by presenting a 32 year old camera that had a minor fault of running down its batteries overnight. The solution was to not keep the batteries in the camera and to only install them when the camera was to be used. This camera, a 35mm SLR film camera, was available for just £10. About 5% of its original cost.
So today, having found some extension tubes, I decided to go into the garden and go in close. The films was out-of-date by 5 years. I had loaded about 24 frames of film via a bulk loader. Captured a few images and then processed the film. Processing took 5 minutes in Ilfosol 3 developer, 1 minute in stop-wash, 8 minutes in fixer and then 20 minutes washing. After drying for about half-an-hour, I cut the film into four strips of 6 frames, then scanned them.
Then another phone call came that resolved the finances and as quickly as it had come, the burden was taken away once more. At least we pray.
I decided to ring home and received some more worrying news. Again consolation came from focusing on the images from the SLR camera.
These images in this article are those that I reworked in Photoshop Elements.
Sometimes it is just good to look at the world from a different perspective, to take the mind away from the problems of the world. Hopefully, tomorrow will be better.
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Posted in News, Photography
Tagged 35mm slr, black and white photography, Minolta XD-7, photography
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Logorama.
Logorama from Marc Altshuler – Human Music on Vimeo.
A ‘must-watch’ 2010 Academy Ward Winning Animation that’ll have you giggling all the way through (Caution – Some bad language).
Directed by the French animation collective H5, François Alaux, Hervé de Crécy + Ludovic Houplain. Read more about the film on Wikipedia.
Thanks Rebecca McKevitt for forwarding it on to Tim.
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Final Cut Pro – Capturing DV Footage in FCP
This video tutorial is designed for novices using Apple’s Final Cut Pro for the first time.
(You can click on the button on the lower right hand corner of this video tutorial to allow you to see it full-screen.)
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Final Cut Pro – Introductory Tutorial
This video tutorial is designed for novices using Apple’s Final Cut Pro for the first time.
(You can click on the button on the lower right hand corner of this video tutorial to allow you to see it full-screen.)
Panasonic-Camcorder AG-3DA1 and AG-AF100
When it came to produce Monty’s Quest, Canon had just brought out the Canon EOS 500D which gave shallow depth of field due to having a larger chip. The only downside was that that camera only recorded 20 frames per second (fps) instead of 25fps. However, we shot about 60 minutes worth of the finished film using the 500D during the summer of 2009.
A year later Canon released the EOS 550D which extended the camera’s capabilities to include 25fps and manual controls for shutter and f-stop in movie mode. This enabled us to capture images a full 1080p at 25fps for the new material shot in the Summer of 2010.
Panasonic had already released a superb digital stills camera in the form of the Lumix GH1 but the camera was beyond my own budget at the time of shooting Monty’s Quest. It is interesting to now see that Panasonic have gone that extra mile to produce video cameras with all the regular features one would expect on a professional camcorder but now with the inclusion of a 4/3 CMOS chip.
The future of digital filmmaking is becoming more exciting. I look forward to my next digital feature film production and using a camera such as the Panasonic AG-AF 101.
For an excellent site for seeing these cameras in use visit Phillip Bloom‘s webpage.
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Sintel
1,860,580 viewers have seen Sintel, the 3D animation produced using Blender 3D 2.5. It is a great movies and really shows what can be produced in Open Source software. The Sintel Open Movie DVD box is worth getting for the addition tutorials and the actual scene in Blender format. This invaluable resource will be used to help develop Monty’s Quest to the next stage.
Enjoy Sintel and we will bring you more up-dates both with the way our film is moving forward and how this amazing 3D software is developing.
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Posted in Blender 3D, News, Videos Spots
Tagged 3D animation, Blender 3D 2.55, Sintel
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Sintel Documentary.
This is the newly released documentary by Blender Foundation, directed by Ali Boubred, covering the development and production of the new Blender 3D animation, Sintel. You can see how the project uses Blender 3D 2.5 Beta to produce this wonderful 17 minute production. The documentary lasts 58 minutes and 27 seconds.
Find out more by visiting the Blender Foundation and official Sintel websites. You should also download the latest version of Blender 2.55 Beta.
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Live-action edit and animatic production
Funny how time flies. It has been over ten weeks since I last wrote anything on my site. It has been busy. To start with the new semester began and I have had to get to know a whole new intake of students. This year the standard of work being produced is much higher. I am also teaching performing art students a unit on Film & TV Acting. This is great research and development for all future feature films I have in mind.
The last two days of August were taken up filming Monty’s Quest, I was such a joy to have the main live-action completed. Over the past few weeks, whenever I had a spare few moments I continued on with the editing. Now I am avidly watching the rough-cut on DVD and noting where I want to make changes. I showed two group of student what I had so far and got some good feedback. One of my sons also saw the film and made a few blunt comments, which I have taken on board. All in all, though, there has been a lot of useful feedback and I am tweaking things here and there. Some scenes have become shorter and have more punch. I have also begun to generate animated sequences for the animatic. With each shot produced I have been fitting them into the film. When the animatic is finish it should help piece together elements that did not make sense in the earlier version of the film. We will also be able to share out sequences for other animators to work on some time after Christmas.
If that was not enough, I have also been working on Billy Dixon’s book ‘Striping It Back’. Billy was enthused over the Summer and produced a lot of written material. We are now editing this and setting it up in the DTP. So it will not be long before we have our first non-fiction book ready for publication. Things are looking good and are definitely getting exciting.
Posted in Monty's Quest
Tagged animatic, Billy Dixon, DVD, editing, live-action, Monty's Quest
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