Thursday 26 May 2016

1500 word reflective account of the year.

My aim in my final year at university was to work on a wide variety of films focusing primarily on Documentary. Having worked in a variety of genres over the previous two years I had decided that documentary was my preferred format. Over the course of this reflective study I will walk through the processes and decisions that led to my final piece of work, looking at not only the process of my university work but also the extra curricular activities I undertook to help gauge a wider knowledge of film.

I started the opening few weeks of the year, admittedly in the wrong mindset after a long summer working full time in a kitchen I was lackadaisical in my work. After this short break I chose to knuckle down, I began attending various exhibitions, talks and screenings re-engaging myself with my work. I knew I wanted to make a documentary or ‘mockumentary’ film as my major film. Looking at various topics I played with the possibility of making a mockumentary based around a Sunday league team, the idea was something I was at first keen on having played in a number of teams form the age of eight up until I was twenty and thought it would be an interesting way of getting back involved with a sport I have loved for years. During this time I also spent a lot of time talking to my grandmother who put me onto the idea of making a film about ‘tea dances’ having grown up in Sheffield, and her mother having work at the dances, it was something I decided to start looking into. This is where my process began.

I started by attending the Cinematography and Documentary workshops as part of our research and development unit. My interest in cinematography stemmed from my college a-level in Photography, and has always been something I have thoroughly enjoyed. I found the workshops to be interesting and engaging, gaining a wider knowledge around lighting and creating atmosphere. The knowledge I gained in lighting helped vastly with work I did in the fashion films I worked on as it gave me a strong base to work from when being asked for my opinion on how best to light a set/shoot. Whilst attending one of the documentary workshops we were shown a film called ‘Cutie and the Boxer’ which focused around the lives of Ushio and Noriko Shinohara, and their relationship. Having already looked at the prospect of making my film around tea dances this filmed sparked my first idea, which was to make a film with the similar themes of love, relationships and life.

Over the course of the year I made a concerted effort to view less mainstream films and look at films made on, smaller budgets and with a smaller number crew of members. I started attending screenings and exhibitions at ‘HOME’, going to the Jarman awards, and the Manchester Animation Festival. The Jarman awards was a fantastic experience, some of the films were harder to engage with however some of them I particularly enjoyed. After the screening Seamus Harahan whose work was featured did a talk, and after which, thanks to Chris Daniels who was one of the curators of the show, we got to go for a couple of drinks with him, that led to some fantastic conversation about the whole process of his work.

In late January/early February the university organized a trip to the IFFR, (international film festival Rotterdam) which I was lucky enough to go on. At first I didn’t think I would be able to go due to my lack of funds, despite the money provided on my met card, however I managed to pick up more shifts at work, which enabled me to go. This was an experience I am very pleased I was a part of the opening night Sion and myself attended a night called ‘Throwing Shadows’ which was a night of Japanese expanded cinema we were informed of by Chris Daniels. I found myself not understanding the work in the slightest, however really enjoying what I was seeing/hearing, and finding loads of interesting ideas pop up throughout. I then went on to attend three viewings of different short selections some of which I were really difficult to engage with and some incredibly engrossing.

This year I was found myself with a great opportunity to work with a textiles student called Amber, having been introduced towards the end of second year, I started working on a number of fashion films with her. For me this was a brilliant way of working further on my abilities as a cinematographer. We worked on six short fashion films over the course of the year. For me it was important to work on separate projects aside from my work directly linked to the course. As I was working as a solo filmmaker in my other projects, it was a good change to take on a role where I was taking in information and then using my knowledge to provide a solution. It was also an interesting way of looking at a different form of dance, in some of the films we worked with a contemporary dancer called Ina, I found out a lot about movement through these shoots which certainly helped in the filming process when looking at ballroom/sequence dancing. I gained a lot from this work and am incredibly pleased with how the films came out after post-production. I also had the chance to work as the cinematographer on Sion’s research and development project, which focused on memory cue’s this was an interesting project as memory and old age are two things that are tightly linked together.

The contextualizing practice essay was something that really helped me engage further with the film I would eventually make I chose to pay attention to the older generation and their roles and representation in modern day society and specifically in documentary film. I did a lot of research around representation and opinion focusing on a selection of films and other media formats. Through this essay I learnt a lot about how isolated the older generation can feel within modern society, and how their representation in mainstream media can have a strong effect on this. I also found however that there was a good amount of material out there for older people to engage with films such as ‘Ping-Pong’, ‘Iris’ and ‘Beware of Mr Baker’ naming a few the go against the mainstream grain on portrayal, despite this the access to such films for older generations potentially less savvy with modern technology, is still very limited. Overall this unit was very eye opening and had a very dramatic effect on my work as a filmmaker and my perception of the older generation.

My work throughout the year starting with going to the cinematography and documentary workshop, to attending dances in Sheffield led to my final piece. I started the process by going to as many different dances as possible large and small, having met Neil Gibbons during my research and development unit I attended a number of his dances in Heywood and Rochdale at the same time I was starting to go to Sheffield. Having had the idea of filming and elderly couple who dance together. My attention shifted once I started regularly attending the dances in Sheffield, and I chose to make my film revolving around George. The process was one I thoroughly enjoyed the outcome of the film I was disappointed with as I felt there was a lot more I could have done in the edit but more specifically with the sound and not having someone there with me was something I regret. This said the pre-production of the film was thoroughly entertaining, I met and became friends with a lot of people who I look forward to visiting over the summer when I go back with my grandmother. I was greeted at the dances very openly, the people there were very willing to tell me their stories and I was eager to listen.


Overall this year I feel that my practice has come on a long way. I still need to work on my organization and time management, however I have been pleased with how my work has gone. I have made a more conscious effort to spend time around creative people and attend events I have not made the effort to in previous years. I have managed to engage with work outside of my own, which has allowed me to improve my abilities as a cinematographer whilst continuing my work as a solo practitioner. I feel I have learnt a lot this year and hope I can apply it in my future projects.

Tuesday 24 May 2016

vimeo account

Below you will find a link to my Vimeo account, due to upload restrictions I have been unable to place all my films on there at this time however i intend on uploading the rest of my work over the coming weeks.

https://vimeo.com/user52542646

Showreel

The above film is a showreel I have put together. It contains some of my favourite clips from the work I have made since I started at the Manchester School of Art. It also features on my website and will be uploaded to my Vimeo account once I my weekly upload limit has been restored.

The Degree Show

As of the moment due being over run with university, work and other commitments I haven't been as involved with the degree show as I would like to have been. Following a conversation with the organiser Emily Steele, I have agreed to design to catalogue for the show, alongside this I will be helping form the rota for invigilators. I have thoroughly enjoyed designing my own website and business cards so far and am excited to have finally got involved, and hope to produce something everyone is happy with. I will proceed with designing it on the 27th of May following a degree show meeting with Emily, where I will be given the relevant content for the show.

ΔT& Exertion

This fashion film was made as part of Ambers final unit submission. I used three point lighting with the read heads in order to create an almost spotlighting effect. We shot in the smaller of the screen rooms in the downstairs of 70 oxford road. The film aimed to show off the garment worn by the dancer which had print on it that changes colour as it heats up (as the dancer danced for longer). I shot on the canon 5d mark 3. Having hung up and pinned together two large black bedsheets in order to cover the white cinema screen, the combination of the lighting and the cameras ability to pick up light meant we could shoot without the creases being too abundantly obvious. I was under the direction of Amber who had a very clear vision, this was a large help she told me exactly how she wanted the lighting to look, I gave my opinions on the best angles to shoot from in order to best show the garment whilst also using a few shots that she had previously planned out. This is the sixth project we have worked on together and I feel we work fantastically as a team, and hope we will work together in the future, on work outside of university.

Monday 23 May 2016

Business Card


The above image shows a screenshot of the business card i designed through Vistaprint. I have used the same image as can be found on the background of my website, this is in order to create a synergy between the two formats.

Saturday 21 May 2016

Poster

The above picture is my poster for my Major Film 'George. The Dancer'