An amazing last day!
Today we reviewed the final cuts for our films in the NFTS Cinema, which are looking great! With the final sound mix, ours should come out really well. Afterwards, we got to talk more to our sound designer, Luke, who's job is to mix and edit the sound in our film ready for its screening at the BFI IMAX, London, tomorrow.
We also had talks from Yen Yau (from Into Film) and alumni students from 2013's BFI Academy on networking and skills for a more successful future, as well as taking a look at other films the alumni students had been working on over the last year.
In the afternoon, we went to Ealing Studios (where they're currently filming Downton Abbey) to visit the Imaginarium Studio, Andy Circus' motion-capture facility, where the motion capture for a lot of films, games and even some TV programmes is done. The room has dozens of infra-red cameras lining the walls, which are able to 'see' the white balls on the motion-capture suits worn by actors. The data is then sent to various computers, which track the points on the suits and transfer them over to a CGI character. If facial expressions are needed as well, a small camera (that looks like a GoPro) is attached to a rig in front of the actor's face, which films smaller, coloured dots on the person's face.
While we were there, two actors wearing motion-capture suits acted out a short sketch based on "Poiro". This was rendered in real-time on a screen in front of us and we were able to see the CGI environment and charcters alongside the actors.
Another feature they had was a handheld device designed to act as a camera. It was tracked by the infra-red cameras and used as the camera for the CGI scene.
At the end of the day, we recieved our references from our lead tutors and were asked to write a general review on our experience in order for the BFI to improve it for next year and to help Pete Fraser to write his references for us.
In the evening, we skyped Nathan Johnson, composer for films such as Brick, Looper and Don Jon. He was talking about how he went about writing the music for films like Brick and Looper. The music for brick was done in his flat with a single microphone and his MacBook, recording instruments separately and creatively- for example, he attached various nails, keys and skrews to the strings of a piano to give it a more gritty, grinding sound. For Looper, the rhythms were largely based on the sounds of everyday objects being used percussively and recorded- for example, one of the things he did was drop several TVs from the roof of a warehouse. The sounds would then be manipulated on a computer and transferred to a MIDI keyboard to give Nathan full control of the sounds.
Finally, we ended the day with presentations in our production groups on what we had learned and enjoyed during the last two weeks. A lot of these presentations included mantages of photos and videos taken during the course. At the end, the Irish girls did the "Irish BAFTAs", a kind of 'spoof awards'!
It's been an amazing last two weeks! Can't wait for tomorrow, when all our finished films will be shown at the BFI IMAX in London!
Wednesday 16 April 2014
Tuesday 15 April 2014
NFTS Residential- Day 10
It's nearly over! :(
Today we watched the rough cut of the films, and to be honest I was really stressed about my sound! However, we got to speak to a professional sound designer, who'll be doing the final mix for us about what we want and found some music etc, and I'm now more confident about it!
We also had a load of amazing masterclasses from top industry professionals. First was from Tim Webber, Oscar Award Winning Visual Effects Supervisor from Gravity (which apparently he was also the 1st AD on), Dark Knight, Children of Men etc and VFX Artist for Avatar, Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire... the list is endless! He spoke a lot about how he achieved the amazing effects seen in films such as Gravity and Dark Knight- in particular "Two Face" from Dark Knight and pretty much everything in Gravity! It was really interesting listening to him speak about it, and he also gave advice on how to get in to VFX as a career today as well as his own story (which was based in art and physics).
After this, Actor and Comedian Lenny Henry decided to drop by at NFTS and also gave us a short talk on equality and diversity within films and the film industry, which was really interesting (and funny)! It was awesome! We weren't told who we were going to have a talk from when we were urgently called back into the cinema, so while we were waiting for him to talk, we were all saying things like "that's really funny, he looks like Lenny Henry"- at which point he stepped forward and said "My name's Lenny Henry"!
After this we received a joint masterclass from Pawl Fuker, pre-visualisation artist for films such as Skyfall, Harry Potter, Fast and Furious, Sherlock Holmes, World War Z etc alongside filmmaker Jake Wynn, who has done many big music videos for Robbie Williams, The Spice Girls etc! Both people were really interesting and started off from very similar backgrounds, both being taught media studies by Pete Fraser (the project leader of the BFI Film Academy) at the same college just a year apart!
Overall, this was an amazing day!!! Can't wait to see the final cuts of all the films tomorrow!
Today we watched the rough cut of the films, and to be honest I was really stressed about my sound! However, we got to speak to a professional sound designer, who'll be doing the final mix for us about what we want and found some music etc, and I'm now more confident about it!
We also had a load of amazing masterclasses from top industry professionals. First was from Tim Webber, Oscar Award Winning Visual Effects Supervisor from Gravity (which apparently he was also the 1st AD on), Dark Knight, Children of Men etc and VFX Artist for Avatar, Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire... the list is endless! He spoke a lot about how he achieved the amazing effects seen in films such as Gravity and Dark Knight- in particular "Two Face" from Dark Knight and pretty much everything in Gravity! It was really interesting listening to him speak about it, and he also gave advice on how to get in to VFX as a career today as well as his own story (which was based in art and physics).
After this, Actor and Comedian Lenny Henry decided to drop by at NFTS and also gave us a short talk on equality and diversity within films and the film industry, which was really interesting (and funny)! It was awesome! We weren't told who we were going to have a talk from when we were urgently called back into the cinema, so while we were waiting for him to talk, we were all saying things like "that's really funny, he looks like Lenny Henry"- at which point he stepped forward and said "My name's Lenny Henry"!
After this we received a joint masterclass from Pawl Fuker, pre-visualisation artist for films such as Skyfall, Harry Potter, Fast and Furious, Sherlock Holmes, World War Z etc alongside filmmaker Jake Wynn, who has done many big music videos for Robbie Williams, The Spice Girls etc! Both people were really interesting and started off from very similar backgrounds, both being taught media studies by Pete Fraser (the project leader of the BFI Film Academy) at the same college just a year apart!
Overall, this was an amazing day!!! Can't wait to see the final cuts of all the films tomorrow!
Monday 14 April 2014
NFTS Residential- Day 9
Today we had three talks on "The Film Business" with various film producers, including one from Nik Powell, Principal of NFTS and (apparently) a co-founder of virgin records with Richard Branson. The talks were really interesting and I learned a lot about getting a short film off the ground in every aspect- including rights, finance and marketing.
After this, we worked on our marketing campaign for our films, preparing for our pitch to editors from 'Total Film' tomorrow! We also completed our film's poster, which will be displayed at the IMAX for its screening on Thursday!
Finally, we had a masterclass from Colin Vaines, producer of films such as 'Coriolanus' and 'Gangs of New York'!
During all of this, the editors began to put together a first cut of the film, which will be shown to all the other groups tomorrow morning. At the end of the day, we got to watch a screening of Noah (for free) in the NFTS cinema! Overall, it was a great day!
After this, we worked on our marketing campaign for our films, preparing for our pitch to editors from 'Total Film' tomorrow! We also completed our film's poster, which will be displayed at the IMAX for its screening on Thursday!
Finally, we had a masterclass from Colin Vaines, producer of films such as 'Coriolanus' and 'Gangs of New York'!
During all of this, the editors began to put together a first cut of the film, which will be shown to all the other groups tomorrow morning. At the end of the day, we got to watch a screening of Noah (for free) in the NFTS cinema! Overall, it was a great day!
Sunday 13 April 2014
NFTS Residential- Day 8
One of the most amazing days of my life!
Today was the 2nd and final day of shooting "French Cricket". We started off the day back on location, shooting the exterior shots of the house, including shots of the car pulling up in the driveway. To do this, we used two radio mics in addition to the boom, in order to catch Will's dialogue inside the car and his conversation with Jim more clearly. For one shot, we placed the camera inside the car and filmed the scene from this position. This meant taping the mic to the inside of the car out of shot, and having me curled up in the boot recording and mixing it (which was surprisingly good fun)!
After this, we spent the next few hours setting up the TV Studio at NFTS ready for the car journey scene. This was amazing! Brian Tufano acted as DP for this shoot, and also came up with ways to create the illusion of the car driving on a country road, as opposed to sitting still in a studio. The solution was to darken the room and hang black curtains around the walls, giving the impression that the scene was taking place at night. From there, our Gaffer (who worked on Star Wars) placed two smaller studio lights on a low T-Bar and had them swung from right to left (facing the car) every so often, giving the illusion of passing car headlamps. The effect of traffic lights was also created by placing red and orange gels on studio lights and shining them at the car. All the way through each take, the camera rig was gently rocked back and forth to add movement and a sense of realism to the shots. To light the actors in the car, small rectangular LED lights were taped to the inside of the car, pointing at the actors' faces, giving a subtle, natural light. Brian also came up with a way of giving the illusion of passing countryside; by taping large branches together, he was able to make a couple of 'bushes'. These were then attached to a dolly and rapidly wheeled across the back of certain shots at certain points. The effects combined looked very realistic!
To mic the actors, we placed a radio mic near each actor (we didn't use the boom until we recorded wild tracks of a car boot, a car door and a slamming door at the end of the day). I wrapped (after wild tracks) just before 7 in the evening.
It was a very long and tiring day, but definitely the most enjoyable and rewarding!
Today was the 2nd and final day of shooting "French Cricket". We started off the day back on location, shooting the exterior shots of the house, including shots of the car pulling up in the driveway. To do this, we used two radio mics in addition to the boom, in order to catch Will's dialogue inside the car and his conversation with Jim more clearly. For one shot, we placed the camera inside the car and filmed the scene from this position. This meant taping the mic to the inside of the car out of shot, and having me curled up in the boot recording and mixing it (which was surprisingly good fun)!
After this, we spent the next few hours setting up the TV Studio at NFTS ready for the car journey scene. This was amazing! Brian Tufano acted as DP for this shoot, and also came up with ways to create the illusion of the car driving on a country road, as opposed to sitting still in a studio. The solution was to darken the room and hang black curtains around the walls, giving the impression that the scene was taking place at night. From there, our Gaffer (who worked on Star Wars) placed two smaller studio lights on a low T-Bar and had them swung from right to left (facing the car) every so often, giving the illusion of passing car headlamps. The effect of traffic lights was also created by placing red and orange gels on studio lights and shining them at the car. All the way through each take, the camera rig was gently rocked back and forth to add movement and a sense of realism to the shots. To light the actors in the car, small rectangular LED lights were taped to the inside of the car, pointing at the actors' faces, giving a subtle, natural light. Brian also came up with a way of giving the illusion of passing countryside; by taping large branches together, he was able to make a couple of 'bushes'. These were then attached to a dolly and rapidly wheeled across the back of certain shots at certain points. The effects combined looked very realistic!
To mic the actors, we placed a radio mic near each actor (we didn't use the boom until we recorded wild tracks of a car boot, a car door and a slamming door at the end of the day). I wrapped (after wild tracks) just before 7 in the evening.
It was a very long and tiring day, but definitely the most enjoyable and rewarding!
Saturday 12 April 2014
NFTS Residential- Day 7
The best day so far!
Today we shot half of "French Cricket" on location in a house in Beaconsfield. We were shooting in a really cramped hallway, which meant trying to keep out of the way as much as possible when not shooting! I was on the boom for the majority of the day, although about 3/4 of the way through my arms gave in and I swapped jobs with the sound recordist for the remainder of the day, mixing the various input tracks and keeping records of how each take went from a sound point of view.
It was amazing getting to meet all the cast after all this time, as well as getting to meet our professional crew members, such as Aden, our 1st AD (who apparently wwas the 1st AD for the first series of "Horrible Histories", a popular kid's program!). I also got to talk to Brian Ward, our mentor in more detail about how he went from art and painting to doing a course at the NFTS, eventually resulting in him doing all the music videos for ACDC's album "Fly on the Wall", which were designed so that, when put together all create a short, half hour film.
Can't wait for tomorrow, when we'll be shooting the rest of the film (the car scene) in the TV Studio at NFTS, working with legendary cinematographer Brian Tufano (Trainspotting, Shallow Grave, Billy Elliot) and a Gaffer who worked on Star Wars!
Today we shot half of "French Cricket" on location in a house in Beaconsfield. We were shooting in a really cramped hallway, which meant trying to keep out of the way as much as possible when not shooting! I was on the boom for the majority of the day, although about 3/4 of the way through my arms gave in and I swapped jobs with the sound recordist for the remainder of the day, mixing the various input tracks and keeping records of how each take went from a sound point of view.
It was amazing getting to meet all the cast after all this time, as well as getting to meet our professional crew members, such as Aden, our 1st AD (who apparently wwas the 1st AD for the first series of "Horrible Histories", a popular kid's program!). I also got to talk to Brian Ward, our mentor in more detail about how he went from art and painting to doing a course at the NFTS, eventually resulting in him doing all the music videos for ACDC's album "Fly on the Wall", which were designed so that, when put together all create a short, half hour film.
Can't wait for tomorrow, when we'll be shooting the rest of the film (the car scene) in the TV Studio at NFTS, working with legendary cinematographer Brian Tufano (Trainspotting, Shallow Grave, Billy Elliot) and a Gaffer who worked on Star Wars!
Friday 11 April 2014
NFTS Residential- Day 6
Another great day today! We spent today looking at key skills to help give us more successful careers and learnt to build on these skills in various forms. For example, we had to 'pitch' each other to various leaders from the Academy, trying to persuade them to 'hire' us- which helped us to appreciate various different methods of communication and presentation skills. We also created a timeline of our lives, looking at what events had led us up to this point and learning how we can channel these things to direct our futures.
Besides this we also got to speak to Shola, the alumni officer at the Academy individually, discussing with him potential future career and work experience opportunities in order to get ourselves actively out there in the film industry.
We also looked at giving advice to future applicants to the Film Academy, looking at various examples of good and bad applications. One of the major things that we noticed everyone here had was a wide selection of other skills, meaning everyone was more well-rounded outside of film; the big hobbies seemed to be music and drama. Another piece of advice we came up with was to come across as more of a sociable, friendly person who's prepared to network with others (which is pretty much the whole point of the Residential). Another piece of advice was not to say "I'm really passionate about film"; the NFTS know that! The key thing was to be more specific as to why this was.
After another brief production meeting, we got to go to the first screening of first years MA Cinematography, Production Design and Animation NFTS students' short films, which used stop motion- but with real people! They made the films over the last week, creating full-sized sets in a day on the main soundstage and shooting/editing over the rest of the week. They were really interesting (and funny) to watch and gave a great idea of what to expect during a first year there.
Overall, it was a really good day- can't wait for tomorrow, when we begin shooting "French Cricket" on location!
Besides this we also got to speak to Shola, the alumni officer at the Academy individually, discussing with him potential future career and work experience opportunities in order to get ourselves actively out there in the film industry.
We also looked at giving advice to future applicants to the Film Academy, looking at various examples of good and bad applications. One of the major things that we noticed everyone here had was a wide selection of other skills, meaning everyone was more well-rounded outside of film; the big hobbies seemed to be music and drama. Another piece of advice we came up with was to come across as more of a sociable, friendly person who's prepared to network with others (which is pretty much the whole point of the Residential). Another piece of advice was not to say "I'm really passionate about film"; the NFTS know that! The key thing was to be more specific as to why this was.
After another brief production meeting, we got to go to the first screening of first years MA Cinematography, Production Design and Animation NFTS students' short films, which used stop motion- but with real people! They made the films over the last week, creating full-sized sets in a day on the main soundstage and shooting/editing over the rest of the week. They were really interesting (and funny) to watch and gave a great idea of what to expect during a first year there.
Overall, it was a really good day- can't wait for tomorrow, when we begin shooting "French Cricket" on location!
Thursday 10 April 2014
NFTS Residential- Day 5
Had an amazing day today!
We got to go up to London today, stopping for a talk by BAFTA-nominated Producer/Writer/Director Caroline Harvey at BAFTA. She showed three of her short films (one of which starred Christopher Eccleston) and spoke about how she went about making the films and getting them noticed in Film Festivals.
After this, we visited the National Gallery to have workshops about the importance of composition, lighting and symbolism in art, studying examples of paintings in the Gallery and the ideas and techniques behind them.
Overall, an amazing (but tiring) day!
We got to go up to London today, stopping for a talk by BAFTA-nominated Producer/Writer/Director Caroline Harvey at BAFTA. She showed three of her short films (one of which starred Christopher Eccleston) and spoke about how she went about making the films and getting them noticed in Film Festivals.
After this, we visited the National Gallery to have workshops about the importance of composition, lighting and symbolism in art, studying examples of paintings in the Gallery and the ideas and techniques behind them.
Overall, an amazing (but tiring) day!
Wednesday 9 April 2014
NFTS Residential- Day 4
We spent today largely working in our production group, discussing practicalities for the shoot on the weekend, and preparing ourselves for the Green Light Meeting later on in the day. While most other groups were able to go on a Location Recce, we were unable to as the owner of our Interior location was away- giving us extra time to plan our storyboard for legendary DP Brian Tufano, who will be working on our film to help realistically bring our car scene to life!
The day began with a talk on "What to look for on a Location Recce", which, although our group didn't attend one, will be useful for future reference nonetheless.
The Green Light Meeting consisted of ourselves and two other groups explaining our proposed film to a panel of professional. We included factors such as our budget, schedule and ideas for creative elements (for example, sound/music and cinematography). This helped us to get used to talking about our films and identify problems and obstacles for our films in order to help solve them. Overall, a very good day.
The day began with a talk on "What to look for on a Location Recce", which, although our group didn't attend one, will be useful for future reference nonetheless.
The Green Light Meeting consisted of ourselves and two other groups explaining our proposed film to a panel of professional. We included factors such as our budget, schedule and ideas for creative elements (for example, sound/music and cinematography). This helped us to get used to talking about our films and identify problems and obstacles for our films in order to help solve them. Overall, a very good day.
Tuesday 8 April 2014
NFTS Residential- Day 3
We started off the day with a talk from Ian Knox on Set Etiquette. He basically gave us a run down of all the basic procedures and protocols for working on a professional shoot, including the general 'rules' for working with other crew members. These included things from reading the day's call sheet to knowing exactly how to say the word "action".
We then spent the next 5 hours working in craft workshops according to what skill we will be doing for the film; mine will be sound, so I was taught by Fraser Barber (Silent Witness, Confetti) along with NFTS graduates about how to practically use a boom pole, radio mics, a mixer etc. We spent a large part of the day working in smaller groups mastering the basics of using microphones to capture a simple two-person conversation, before working up to some of the more complex stuff (for example, using an additional radio mics to capture the sound from a long distance). One of the big things I learnt was that it's not as easy as you think- it's actually really difficult (certainly not just holding a stick)! As Fraser Barber said, holding the boom is probably one of the "most skilled job on a set".
At the end of the day, we watched three NFTS student films, followed by chances to talk to the Directors and Writers of each about the processes they went through to achieve such high standards of film- in some cases in a similarly short amount of time to what we have. We also watched another short film, the Director of which was unable to be there (he was working on a project with Sky TV).
Overall, fantastic (but very long) day!
We then spent the next 5 hours working in craft workshops according to what skill we will be doing for the film; mine will be sound, so I was taught by Fraser Barber (Silent Witness, Confetti) along with NFTS graduates about how to practically use a boom pole, radio mics, a mixer etc. We spent a large part of the day working in smaller groups mastering the basics of using microphones to capture a simple two-person conversation, before working up to some of the more complex stuff (for example, using an additional radio mics to capture the sound from a long distance). One of the big things I learnt was that it's not as easy as you think- it's actually really difficult (certainly not just holding a stick)! As Fraser Barber said, holding the boom is probably one of the "most skilled job on a set".
At the end of the day, we watched three NFTS student films, followed by chances to talk to the Directors and Writers of each about the processes they went through to achieve such high standards of film- in some cases in a similarly short amount of time to what we have. We also watched another short film, the Director of which was unable to be there (he was working on a project with Sky TV).
Overall, fantastic (but very long) day!
Monday 7 April 2014
NFTS Residential- Day 2
Great day!
We started off the day with an insight talk from Director and Actor Brian Gilbert, who spoke to us on Working with Actors (continuing on from David Morrissey's theme yesterday). It was so helpful! He gave us loads of great tips on how to get the best, most natural performances out of actors, including the idea of relating an emotion to a particular story personal to the actor and how the Director can help evoke these emotions. He also taught us how actors respond best to being given physical tasks as opposed to 'psychological maps' or other such complex devices a Director might use. According to Stanislavsky, he said, an actor feels most relaxed when performing a task as opposed to a feeling. Overall, I think it was the best talk we've had yet!
After this, we spent several hours in our production teams discussing both the tone and style of our films and the production/practical issues involved, including those of actors, locations etc. By the end of the day, we felt a lot readier than before!
This was followed by a 'sharing session' at Lane End Conference Centre (our accommodation), in which all, say, Directors, Editors, Production Designers etc from the various groups got together separately and discussed each others plans for the films- including a basic synopsis, the practical implications, production tasks and parts we were most looking forward to. I think this helped us gain confidence in talking about our own films, ready for the Green Light Meeting later on in the week!
We started off the day with an insight talk from Director and Actor Brian Gilbert, who spoke to us on Working with Actors (continuing on from David Morrissey's theme yesterday). It was so helpful! He gave us loads of great tips on how to get the best, most natural performances out of actors, including the idea of relating an emotion to a particular story personal to the actor and how the Director can help evoke these emotions. He also taught us how actors respond best to being given physical tasks as opposed to 'psychological maps' or other such complex devices a Director might use. According to Stanislavsky, he said, an actor feels most relaxed when performing a task as opposed to a feeling. Overall, I think it was the best talk we've had yet!
After this, we spent several hours in our production teams discussing both the tone and style of our films and the production/practical issues involved, including those of actors, locations etc. By the end of the day, we felt a lot readier than before!
This was followed by a 'sharing session' at Lane End Conference Centre (our accommodation), in which all, say, Directors, Editors, Production Designers etc from the various groups got together separately and discussed each others plans for the films- including a basic synopsis, the practical implications, production tasks and parts we were most looking forward to. I think this helped us gain confidence in talking about our own films, ready for the Green Light Meeting later on in the week!
Sunday 6 April 2014
NFTS Residential- Day 1
Awesome day today! Today I was back at the National Film and Television School for the main residential fortnight for the BFI Film Academy.
As well as discussing more about our short film (which will be shot in a few days time) in our production teams, we got to meet David Morrissey (who's had major roles in things like State of Play, Doctor Who and more recently the Governor in "The Walking Dead)! He lead a masterclass on working with actors- it was really helpful in showing all the various tricks for getting the best performance out of an actor (as a Director).
Met some more really great people also on the course, can't wait for the next two weeks!!!
As well as discussing more about our short film (which will be shot in a few days time) in our production teams, we got to meet David Morrissey (who's had major roles in things like State of Play, Doctor Who and more recently the Governor in "The Walking Dead)! He lead a masterclass on working with actors- it was really helpful in showing all the various tricks for getting the best performance out of an actor (as a Director).
Met some more really great people also on the course, can't wait for the next two weeks!!!
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