LOOKING BACK    Reflecting on your first assignment. List the most important things you have learnt?    How can this help you in future projects? 1.Team work is the foundation of every successful piece. By making sure that everyone is busy and working together closely.  2.Planning is the glue and the drive behind the pieces. By working out where,what and when  we are going to be working helps keep us working at maximum efficiency and this makes good pieces the best they can be. 3.Effort is key and having people who put in effort makes a good team. I say this with caution as I don’t wish to offend anyone. But what I say is true to me. If you have a group of people who are enthusiastic and want to work to make the best they can will generally work well together. But I know there are some people who do not like to try too hard and it drags a good group down. 1) With the overall assignment, identify what it is you are most pleased with and why? I am not going to lie. I am not particularly pleased with any of the work I have done so far. This stems probably from the way I always envision something much greater then I can create. But even then when I try to drive something towards being the best as possible it gets diluted by others input and ends up not looking like I initially envisioned, but that’s to be expected in group work without a set director which leads to an equal input.  2) What do you think you could do better if you had the chance to turn back time? Make my voice louder and push to be in a more directorial position. I know its harsh but I hate letting people add to an original idea without asking the original ideas creator first. All I really want is to do well and I feel that In the future I will have to be more forceful in my ideas and fall to peer pressure less times to keep ideas from diluting. 3) Look back at the work you have undertaken in this first assignment and think of three different occasions where you have hit a problem, and discuss how you overcame that problem.   1. Working in an equal group with no leader- Basically solving this problem at this point was to just go with the majority vote until I take a Decisive role and have the final say. 2.  Loss of group communication in the vertical pixilation work- When this happened our production slower by a large amount. This was overcome by basically gaining everyone’s attention and making sure they are communicating with each other and doing the work 3. Bringing together everyone and planning the piece for the vertical pixilation was a problem- Mainly what happened was we had half a group with a lot of interest and input, then half with some or no interest at all. These people spent most of the time talking only to each other and when specifically asked to help they acted like it was a chore. Really we can’t overcome this but we basically just managed to work through them and give them things to do. 4) Look back at your blog.  What do you think of it?  How does it tell the story of your first weeks of learning? Looking back at my blog I think it paints my first few weeks quite well. I think it looks great and the work is to a good standard. But it is up to you guys to decide that properly when you grade it.

My Vertical Pixillation- Was it Good Enough? You Decide!

I think on a group as large as us, with only 2 hours to work with, we did really well. The way we all worked together was alright. Not the best it could have been but we got it done and done well enough for it look good. What did go well for us was the moving of objects around the two actors. Objects like the podium and the fish had specific people that were in charge of making sure they moved each shot. Probably one of the most important things for the group was making that props that we needed for the shots look good. the center piece of the work was the Olympic torch that really looked great in the video.

As a group we could have done a few things better such as communicating better with each other. As the Director Of Photography I had to make sure that things were moving and people were not it shot. This is not easy when most people are talking to each other and not listening.  We probably only just managed to move past that and carry on. It might have been an organisation thing as some people were unsure what they were meant to be doing. If we had made sure people had something to do I think we would have moved faster and more effectively as a group.

Overall I was a little annoyed with some of the individuals in the group but as a whole we worked well and made the piece work look good and flow nicely. I may be quite critical of the group but I know that no production is ever smooth and that in a short space of time we did work really well.

Vertical Pixillation- My Thoughts and Findings.

This is a very simple explanation of Vertical Pixillation. Its normal Pixillation but from directly above and with the people laying on their sides. Its that simple on the surface but it can be made into a really complex and beautiful piece's of art and film in one. The moving of  all of the individual pieces is the key to the success of the piece and the more detailed in the movements you can be the better. Its a mark of quality when the frame rate can stay the same and the movement of the pieces looks clean and smooth.

Watching pieces Like Her Morning Elegance and Sorry I'm Late are really good examples of pieces of work that focus very much on the detailed movements. It shows in these two pieces due to the fact that all of the movement is executed with very little drops in frame rate, that shows that there was a lot of dedication to the precise movements of the actor and the props. The dedication is what makes these pieces look so good. The ideas behind it are fairly standard and nothing spectacular but its the way its executed. Any one could replicate this piece with some time and effort but its still a joy to watch because of the effort and clarity of the pieces.
Sorry Im Late by Tomas Manskovsky is a very interesting piece as I really don't understand its goal other than to look fun and interesting. I can only assume from the title that he is late to seeing someone important to him. Possibly his Girlfriend but it is not entirely clear. While I cannot comment on the story and its direction I can comment on the piece on a whole. Watching the piece itself is enjoyable. as mentioned before quality is the main aspect here but other then that the way the video progresses is what is enjoyable.

The props they are using are a great variety for the small animation. My personal favourite is the car that is used at the end. What I like about the car is how they use it. They were not afraid to have a hand showing moving the car. Because of this the piece still looks really nice and I just personally enjoy the effect.

Over all I really don't think much of the piece. Its great but it just doesn't draw me in like Her Morning Elegance does. But that has nothing to do with its superb quality just how I just don't really get it.

With Her Morning Elegance you can see that there is a story to the movements and the setting that it is based in. When looking at the piece you may not initially get this but if you look at the setting of the bed and the fact that she is asleep during it possibly shows that this is a physical manifestation of her dreaming. It's revolved around her traveling through many different places, the ocean and the sky included, and eventually ending with her curled up to an unknown male who then vanishes as she awakes. I interpret this as her longing to find the Ying to her Yang. As evidenced by the Ying and Yang symbol made from their bodies.

But because she is reaching out only in her dreams. As soon as she wakes her dream is shattered leaving her alone on the bed. The journey she takes in her dream symbolizes how she will search high and low to find that one man to be her other half. Its a very deep and meaningful story performed spectacularly and the style  of vertical pixilation was very key to its success.

Shutter Speed, What Is This Nonsense.

Shutter Speed very briefly is how long the shutter on a camera stays open to accepting light. On DSLR and SLR cameras this means the amount of light that reaches the film or image sensor is proportional to the length of time the shutter is open. Normally shutter speed is used in conjunction with the ISO, which changes the sensitivity to light, to capture either really long images that give a blurred effect or really fast images that give clear images of something in motion with no blur. Much like you see in sports news of footballers or runners.

Or in the case above a pin wheel in motion. The shutter speed above shows that the faster speeds make the image pinwheel look still. Where as at a longer speeds show that the pinwheel is in motion and blurs depending on the most prominent colours.

I know this as I studied Photography at callington for a year.

We Got Time by David Wilson-My Opinion

When watching We Got Time by David Wilson you can see that he has an immense range of skills as a director and an artist, seeing as he created and drew all the turntables himself over the course of the months they were planning it. As an example of turntable animation its probably one of the best and one of my favourites because of its creativeness and the way it challenges what is normally used on turntables.

Praxinoscopes are one of the pieces of equipment that David Wilson uses in the video. A Praxinoscope is simply the mirror atop the disc thats spinning that allows the image to be flipped an seen at an angle instead of always from above. It was adapted from the Zoetrope by animator Charles-Émile Reynaud.

From watching the "making of" David mentions that he discovered that you could make levels of Praxinoscopes and then combine separate discs with common images that give an extended version. like the one in the picture above, the leaf starts on the lowest one then raises up flowing into the two next mirrors almost seamlessly. This was developed from an earlier version that saw a deer running between different discs while shrinking and getting larger.

I think the multi-level one was developed from here and its a very good starting point as it shows off the skills of David very well. Watching the different discs spin shows how detailed they are. The discs themselves are spun on a recreation of the turntables used by DJ's at parties or discos. Hence why all the paper discs are designed like the vinyl ones that are normal used.  All thats required for the images to move  is that they are redrawn in the next segment in a different place or position. so that when the disc is spun at speed it will move and rotate.

My Initial Inspiration

Anyone that has been on Youtube should recognise this face. If not let me fill you in. This is Thomas Ridgewell or more well known as Tomska,to the Youtube Community anyway. He is an Animator,Musician,Actor, Director and one of my inspirations. He first started on his path with a friend from his Secondary school Edd Gould, who sadly died of cancer in early 2012, working on a series of animations called Eddsworld that mainly focused around Edd Gould, Thomas Ridgewell, Matt Hargreaves and in the earlier series Tord Larsson

(Blue-Tom. Red-Tord. Green-Edd. Green/Purple-Matt)

 These adventures were centred around Edds four friends mainly and their adventures outside of school. All of these Episodes, dubbed Eddisodes, Were all made using flash. Many of their adventures were just random things that Edd would dream up and animate with his friends. Tom mainly took the role of voice acting but also dabbled in directing a few episodes including the episode "movie-makers".

From his beginnings with Edd Gould, he Studied at The University Of Lincoln, which is where he met many of his friends that are featured in many of his early videos. Tomska's most popular series is called "ASDF movies" these Animations put Tomska on the map for millions of YouTubers. The first video of the ongoing series has amassed a view count of 44,706,759 on its own. He has so far gotten 2,123,857 subscribers on his main channel and 409,215,969 views altogether. He is by far My favourite YouTube up-loaders because of his consistency to provide new videos that always make me laugh and entertained over multiple time of viewing.

My reason for him being my inspiration is that he is not afraid to create his own humour and even if its complete gibberish take consolation that he has made one person happy. He has a lot of talent and has inspired a lot of people including myself.

tutorial questions

1.      Have you handed in all your qualifications?  If not, what is missing?

 I have handed in all of my results. i am in talks with my secondary school in getting my actual result for maths as it is currently at a C but before Christmas I took the last exam to increase my grade and I got a higher grade. I just don't have a formal slip with it on. 

2.      What were you doing before this course started, and why did you choose Plymouth College of Art?

I was at Callington Community College studying Drama,Photography and ICT. while studying these I performed the plays Hairspray and an adaptation of the Tinderbox. The later of the plays was performed at the royal hall for Cornwall in front of an audience of 1000 customers including other schools and the public.

3. Have you given us your Emergency contact details?   YES

4. Have you received feedback from your Preparation for Learning tests? YES

5. Do you have any long-term goals regarding what you might want to do after this course finishes, or regarding a career?

 I have two career idea's. Firstly from Here at Plymouth I am aiming to go to St Mary's Twickenham and Study Film Management. From There I will decide whether I either go into being a film director or choosing to be a Cameraman for BBC sports. These are my two choices but if any opportunity to work on sets as a cameraman turn up i will jump at the chance.

6. What do you need to achieve whilst on this course to progress your goals?

I want to achieve a Distinction or Distinction* as I want to be the best I can so that I can have my choice  of career paths.

7. Do you think you might need any support to achieve this? I only see some moral support and some guidance on how to get the best grade possible. 

Turntable Animation

Yesterday on Monday 16th 2013 we created our very own group turntable animation which includes my own piece involved in it.

It was a very big group work task and it showed off effectively how simple and fun turntable animation can be. I for one really enjoyed making mine and seeing mine turned into a video. Annoyingly I can only see mine as a bad example in this as my animation was not as smooth as most of the videos. Most of my video is lost to the speed of the frames per second and only about 6 frames out of all of them can be seen properly. But it was a learning experience and I know that I will do better if we do it again. 

Mobius- My Thoughts on the Piece

When watching Mobius my initial thoughts were a mixture of confused and astonished as I had no idea what to expect from the piece and how smooth the quality is. After watching the making of the video you can see that a lot of time and effort went into making sure that each of the various triangle shapes were positioned correctly and quickly. This was done to insure that the video disrupts the public for the least amount of time and keeps the quality of the video at its very highest. Its clear that a lot of dedication on the teams front made the video very smooth and enjoyable to watch.

Some really important factors the director had to consider while planning this shoot was the time of day and how long it will take to take the necessary amount of pictures for smooth quality. The location to insure that the public is not going to crowding around it and hindering the on site team in their efforts to get it done. 

Possibly the most important things to consider is the angle at which the camera is taking the images and weather. 

How they created this video was to very simply use a whole set of triangles the were designed to go from fully formed to almost a strip of green. this gives the effect, when strung together, of the triangles melting into the floor and then, when reversed, rising and rotating out of the ground.

From watching both how its made and the actual finished product I know that this is a very accomplished piece of animation and is worthy of being shown all over the world to aspiring stop motion animators and directors.

Wire and Flashing Lights by Professor Cliq- Review

The Opening shot of Wire and Flashing Lights is of what looks like a wooden model sat leaning against a block and in jeans and a hoodie. It then proceeds to transforms into a wire figure of similar size and proceeds to walk to the right of the screen while many blocks of varying sizes pump in and out of the ground in time to the beat of the music.

When looking at the video you can see no slip in the synchronization of the music to the animation and that's truly stunning to see as its such a beautifully complicated stop motion animation that took them a very long time to make and it clearly shows. One of my favorite parts of this video is the way the wire is molded and moves so fluently,from position to position, it could easily be mistaken for a CGI animation of very high quality. The different positions and moves the figure morphs into are so very intricate that its amazing to watch again and again. like when it punch's the floor and sends a ripple of wire away from the contact point. 

 The technique behind making the animation is just the very simple stop motion animation that is normaly used by animators and what we have been using at college for our last few videos. The difference is that these are some very dedicated and very talented animators that have taken thousands of photos per every 10 seconds of this piece that are painstakingly taken every center-meter.

Wire and Flashing Lights by Professor Cliq is to me a stunning piece of stop motion animation. The quality of the animation its self is one of the best I have seen in a long time and the fact that the quality is not effected by the length is a testament to the dedication of the team. I give the video 9/10 for pure quality and amazing effects that could easily be mistaken for CGI.

Norman Mclaren and the Video Neighbours- My Thoughts

Norman Mclaren is a Scottish born Canadian animator and film director who was born on April 11th 1914. As it stands today he is most famous for the work he created for the National Film Board of Canada.

One of his most famous piece's is called Neighbors that was created in 1952 as an anti-war film that is rather oddly set two neighbors fighting over a flower that has grown in between both of their houses. It starts of rather innocently with them sharing a match for their respective pipe. It then takes its first step away from normality when a flower sprouts from the grass between their houses. This is the first example of stop motion as the actions of the plant are taken in the traditional way of picture by picture. The flower then proceeds to effect each of the neighbors by putting them into a euphoric state every time they sniff it. It then begins to make them fight over possession of the flower, by trying to decide whose side of the field is theirs they start drawing up lines of fencing using pixillation and some wooden planks. It then descends into mayhem as it then sparks a full out fight between them. As they fight their faces change in a form of pixillation as they revert back to primitive man for nothing more then a flower. The darkest part of this video is both of them in turn destroy each others houses and murder each others wife and child. This is all caused by one flower that has sprouted between their houses.

Obviously the idea is to be an anti-war film and to show how fighting over petty things is exactly what we did as neanderthals and that if we do fight we are no better then them. It is a very strong point that has been said by many philosophers over countless years and always with no avail.

The video won both the Canadian film award and an Academy award in the fields of short reel (one-reel)and best documentary (short subject). It was then said by a press release from AMPAS that it was "among a group of films that not only competed,but won academy awards in what were clearly inappropriate categories". Its clearly an interesting statement but it wouldn't have won an award if it didn't deserve one. I do think it deserved the award it got because it shows off how our human nature can effect our lives and make us become savages over the smallest of things.

Gisele Kerozene Jan Kounen-Review

When I first watched Gisele Kerozene I didn't like it, and after a few watches I still don't like it. It is a video that is very confusing, frighting and overall makes no sense. That to me seems to be the problem. I am put off by the video purely because I just don't understand it properly. The only things for sure I understand is that it is based around some sort of Religion or possibly witch's that worship a skull.

Looking at some of the scenes ,like the starting of the 3 brooms, you can see the effort being put into each picture. Its the same with every picture in the short film, they take the picture as they jump and are in midair. This creates the illusion, when stung together, of flying on a broomstick. This effect is something that cant be done with regular film unless you are using a green screen or are great with video effects.

Jan Kounen clearly took a long time in creating this video as it was by far the smoothest Pixillation of this length by far. The dedication to the picture quality and timing is very much to the credit of Jan Kounen. As said in a previous post while I may not be a fan of this piece of work I can wholeheartedly say I very much appreciate the time and effort put into creating a piece that is very abstract and shows of the potential of Pixillation.

Pixillation

When you first hear the word Pixillation you would assume its to do with a the pixels on a screen or on a picture. When told that its a form of animation that is used with peoples bodies I was pleasantly surprised as its a form of animation that looks great when done correctly. The effect of Pixillation is that it allows you to create a video that looks completely different to a normal video in the sense you can create the illusion of floating and teleporting,unlike you would in a normal video that would require greater editing skills. 

When you looks at some works, like Gisele Kerozene by Jank Kounen, you can see that it took a lot of time and effort to collect all of the images that made the video as smooth as it is. While I am not a fan of this particular piece of work I can appreciate the work put into creating it. 

By simply typing in pixillation into youtube you can find a whole host of different videos ranging from massvie studio productions to one man groups. Like Animation/Pixillilation By Joe  Weller.

The process of making a video like these is to simply take a picture, move, take a picture and move again.Either In the same position or a different one. If you choose to stay in the same position in all of the images then it will give the effect of gliding forwards. something that cant be achieved by a normal video.

In my opinion the use of Pixillation is something to be admired as it does take alot of work and time to look good. when a Pixillation is done correctly it can look really good. Its a art form that I would love to use in films later on.

Metronomy-The Bay 2011 Review of David Wilson's Work

For the first time viewing Metronomy- The Bay by David Wilson its easy to distinguish that its a music video as the actions that involve the camera are often synced with the music and transitions of the video.The very first shot that is show is of the water rushing under the camera as it tracks and then pans upwards in time to the song breaking out to full melody as the town of Torquay is brought into full view. The next shot is of the main singer of the band walking towards the camera singing, all the while the camera is tracking backwards, that gives the effect of prolonging the look and class of the video. When the video then brings a column up from the center of the video and a shot of the singers shoes as he walks along. While i cant say i understand why David has included the shot, i can only speculate that its linked to the lyrics "Its sensible, Its sensible" as the particular variety of shoes are a common sensible brand. One of the best transitions, to me,happens at 0:55 seconds in when a four piece column is cut from the black covering most of the scene video and then cuts the black to reveal the normal video and the band members with their respective instruments.This effect gives the video a very professional look and keeps the viewers interested as in that split second its become an enigma about what is behind it.

An interesting addition to the videos are the use of some very glamorous models for some glamour style shots that do add a very interesting feel and look to the video. The way the glamour shots are included into the overall video give the video a very stylish and glamour feel that is often found in a variety of expensive and popular videos. Filming these shots in Cornwall must have been a hassle due to our frequently cloudy weather, this is to the credit of David as they are on a set schedule and the weather cant be controlled.

Over all when I watch the video its clear that a lot of it is inspired by "Im Still Standing" the song by Elton John. The transitioning effects in some cases are near on identical to "Im Still Standing"' but its a very good use of the transitioning and it makes the video look spectacular. I give this whole video a 8/10 for quality of shots and use of transitioning skills. The tracking and panning landscape shots were magnificently done and looked absolutely stunning.

  

Klaus The Forklift Driver

Klaus is a very silly man. I mean really who manages to kill themselves and 5 other people by pure negligence while driving a forklift. But i get why we were shown the video. It was to show how were are to look around your surroundings when using particularly dangerous equipment. Not sure if that applies for a camera tripod but i will be looking for my surroundings to make sure I don't kill anyone. I'll promise to not kill anyone for a long time(should be ever but I cant control everything).

What I Feel About College Genuinely

When I started here on the 2nd of September I am hoping for a new start, new friends and a good kick start into getting my self inline for the years to come, as my goal is to be a director I would need to know a variety of skills. That includes the editing of the shots and how they are taken as well the practical elements like animating. So far I have been correct as already after a week i have been thrown right into the thick. Taking turns acting,animating and filming with people who want to also be directors and camera men like me,which is so refreshing as most from my previous education where still just understanding the consequences of passing their GCSE's after they failed them.
I am glad to finally be in a group of like minded people who also have similar ideas when filming and are happy to listen to opinions and make changes if they need to.

My only problem is that some people do seem eager to just coast by and not give input even when specifically asked which is annoying when you try to make it a group effort but end up leading it. While I love leading a group when no effort it given then you are urged to make all the choices and feel bossy. Which is nothing but a good trait in directing, its just something that I will have to get used to doing.

The One Hour Photo

Well the One Hour Photo film was an interesting one to interpret from just looking at a set of pictures on a page. But with the group relatively awake we were able to mix and match the different pictures with some interesting effects like having a on rail medium shot of the body closing into a close up of Keirans face, the effect of doing this makes the video less boring for people to look at while also giving us very valuable practice with the camera and tripod.

When it came to editing the piece we were each given the choice of putting a quote of our on onto the video. when it came to it i put the latin quote "morituri nolumus mori" which is from the book The Last Hero by Terry Pratchett. It means "those who are going to die dont want to." Its a rather silly quote but its on that i do enjoy from reading Terry Pratchetts Discworld Books.

The only problems we encountered were, just working with new people. But that was easily overcome by just talking and getting to know each other as we worked.
Trying to find areas in the college that matched the pictures as close as possible but a little searching revealed  a few areas that would work nicely for it.

Overall when we were working on collecting the footage we needed it was being headed by Tanye as he had some techniques that we didn't know so we spent the filming in a sort of trial and error fashion as Tanye. We basically all did a little bit of everything including modeling and taking the shots.


This takes you to my video on Vimeo!

The First Day- My Thoughts

Well last Thursday was at the least, very daunting. Coming to Plymouth on my own and having to make new friends was possibly the most frightening thing about Thursday. Now that its Wednesday its no longer such a daunting task as I have found my little lot in the group and my band of merry friends, as I have called ourselves in my mind. I think Thursday was the most daunting day of my education as i am fairly self concious about how people perceive me, but after Thursday I was fine with how people saw me and how they reacted to me.

When it came to the Homesick blues videos, I was fairly happy with the group I was in and I had taken on the leadership along with another and spent most of my time behind the camera recording the others. But when my time came I stood in front of the camera and looked rather sheepishly at the camera. which was one of the reasons I didn't put myself in the video as I don't really like being on on camera because I get really self conscious. That is one of my aims, to be behind the camera and not in front of it.

When it came to the editing the clip it did seem that i had to take the lead on the editing front, due to the lack of experience with use of Adobe Premier for all of the group members, including myself, but I can and love to play around with effects on video editing software. So taking some initiative from my use of Adobe Photoshop at secondary school. I was able to learn fairly quickly how to overlay some music and add some nice transitioning effects that increase the look of the clips quite nicely.

Do not play full-screen until this notice is removed

Quote Of The Month-New Beginnings

When I read this quote, I get the sense that starting at Plymouth has possibly been the best idea of my life so far. Just wondering where my life will go is enough to keep me hooked on film making for years to come. But the overall meaning of this quote, to me, is that no matter how small you start, you are a director.

"Pick up a camera. Shoot something. No matter how small, no matter whether your friends and your sister star in it. Now put your name on it as Director. Now you're a director."- James Cameron 

IT IS 1AM!

Well Its 1am on the 3rd of september 2013 and I am pretty tired and stressed from trying to get at least one blog working (It was Tumblr's fault) and I thought I would share my favorite cinematic of 2013 this far!

Dying Light Official Trailer-Run Boy Run