Dirty windows, rolling clouds

My new cable arrived a few days ago. I have been taking my camera and mini tripod with me and filming an hours worth of sky and clouds. I plan also to do some of the city. Then speeding it all up into a few seconds of footage in Final Cut. The clouds and sky footage is incredible. I got some great footage of the sky and city through a window at one of the study towers at work but the fucking window was dirty and now that I've got the footage home the dirty window is ruining the whole shot. I'm petitioning my boss to get some of those high-climber window cleaner guys to abseil down our towers and fix that crap. The rolling grey clouds look great though.

Looking forward to using this footage, and gathering more.

New Book

Picked up a new book today while browsing the bookstores. Teach Yourself Film Making (from the Teach Yourself series). Seemed like a good intro to the beginner, and had some good segments on lighting. I've still got a lot to learn so I picked it up.

But then on my lunch break at work, with the book barely 15 minutes old, I managed to spill a big glob of chilli con carne on the opening pages.

Fucks sake.

Yet more delays til I can get SHINY on the new iMac

The new iMac has a firewire 800 port, my old firewire 400 cable is now defunct.

Bought a firewire 800 cable online.
Next post should hopefully have some video!

Additions, appendices, PSs and blah.

If you see a new post go up, probably best to wait two hours before actually reading it, as I seem to be failing at proof reading and end up editing the shit out of it repeatedly and writing lots more paragraphs.

I think it's because I'M AWESOME.

Back from my footage gathering expedition

Mein Gott, this mini tripod is a revelation. Packs right up in my rucksack and sets up in a second. It also makes a pretty good shoulder brace when you attach it to the camera at a 90 degree angle (holding it like a rifle with the tripod feet butted up against your chest/shoulder). Got some lovely footage of moving clouds, the in-the-distance city of London taken from the hilltops, leaves blowing in the wind, planes in the sky, odd angles of flowers and weird structures. So much better with the tripod.

Love it.

I realised today that I could easily have spent hours gathering this footage. I didn't have enough tape or batteries for that, but it is a great way to spend a free day. I think maybe I soon will!

I feel a tremendous sense of pride and ownership over this footage, even if it is just of random crap. Hopefully I can put it to good use in the video.

Also, we were walking the dog while doing this, and our 7 month old kitty, Sir Digby Chicken Caesar, joined us as we walked round the block before setting off on our urban hike. He followed us for a good ten minutes, walking alongside the dog. I've never seen anything like it before. Cats and dogs walking together! Madness! I filmed some of it, will put it on youtube!! Link coming soon.

x x

UPDATE: just checked youtube and there's dozens of videos of this phenomenon. But hopefully mine will be better because my cat is small and my dog is huge! Which makes it automatically awesome. There is an equation somewhere which proves that. I'm sure of it.

Computer - dead.

My iMac has passed away.
Long live the new shiny 27" iMac which we bought to replace it. I love Final Cut, so I wanted to get another iMac, and I managed to plump up for the 27" model, which is fucking huge. When working with video the bigger screen allows you to see more, especially with the Final Cut layout. That's my justification. Plus when we get our new place I'm hoping to set up a spare room with the iMac in that can double as an entertainment suite. Plus Dee didn't need much persuading to get the bigger one! It's so shiny!!!!!!

shiny shiny

Now, I'm not made of money, far from it. Living in London isn't cheap and I'm not earning a lot. But we'd always agreed to upgrade our iMac every five years and the time was almost upon us... then the old one died. Plus Dee works as a scientific researcher for UCL, and I work for a university, so either of us are able to get a 10% discount on Apple machines as we work in education.

It's obscene how nice this machine is. I can't get enough of it.

Working on a new video at the moment for another band. This one is very different to what I have done before, no narrative or story, the music has no lyrics and is a sublime dark dance/dubstep/ambient/electronic song and I'm going to construct a video of abstract shots that progress along a theme with visible colours and shapes and images working in time to the music, so it's going to be something that should hopefully work with the song. Or be totally shit. This is all new for me, the previous videos have had an easy narrative that helped me structure the shots, but this time it's going to be a lot more freeflowing. The more freedom you have on a project, the harder it is, barriers and limitations can be a good thing, they can help you focus. So I'm setting myself some limitations in this video to help keep me centered, and to (hopefully) stop me disappearing into a cloud of directionless pretension.

A lot of videos from this genre feature kaleidoscope effects, mirroring effects done in post, and stock footage. I'm going to try to avoid using these myself, and although I like the idea of working with stock footage, I feel like I want to be more involved in the process, so I'm shooting all my own video of skies and cities and lakes and forests. It feels good to be getting out there and building up a library of these shots. I bought a mini tripod so I can travel easy and get some footage, as everything I've recorded so far is just too shaky and disappointing, especially the shots that are supposed to be smooth. I'm off now on a trip to the woods to get some footage. I'm taking this video very slowly. I've been dipping in and out of it for months, but now that Half A Glass is (so very nearly) finished I can devote myself to it. I don't want to rush it, and the things I want to do with the editing will take some time too, so I'm doing some more practice with keyframing and colour correction. I hope the video works, but it could fail completely. I won't know until I'm finished! This is my first attempt at anything like this, an experiment basically, and I'm still a total fucking greenhorn with video directing, so this could end up being a mis-step, especially as I have so little experience working with effects and footage, which so many music video directors are amazing at. Ah well, learn by doing! That's what this is all about! The band are really cool about it though, and are giving me free reign to explore. I love the song too, which is a definite bonus. You may notice me being secretive about this project, I'll spill more when I've finished :-)

The mini tripod is cool, it is versatile and the legs and body can all be extended like a regular tripod, but it fits in a rucksack which my full size tripod certainly doesn't. It came packaged in a massive cardboard box and I almost swore at the postman when I saw him holding it, but it was just some russian doll style packaging and the actual tripod is very svelte and petite. I'm looking forward to using it.

Half A Glass is still being finished off and I should be able to show you the video soon. It's rough, but it's okay!

Well, I'm off to film some blades of grass and clouds and shit! Dee is blasting the Velvet Underground and the sun is shining. I feel good! Shame I have to work tomorrow. I think I'll bring the camera, there's some interesting rooms and motifs in the building I work in. It was built in the 1850s and used to be the public records office, it is an impressive building with lots of old nooks and crannies and books and trannies. Well, no trannies. Not YET. A good place to get some more of my own "stock footage".

Editing the video - Half A Glass 2

So I'm putting the video together, and have just about finished the first version. It's a lot more ropey than I expected, but it (hopefully?) possesses a weird, DIY, thrown together charm. I think this is going to be a downright weird video.

As expected, logging the footage from the tapes to the computer was a bitch, owing to my utter lack of note-taking. But I got it all on, and I put the first edit together. At first it was a good fifteen seconds longer than the song itself but I've managed to whittle that down. I've got my very few lyric/visual cues in the correct place. The mad scientist scene had so much great footage but in the end I couldn't use much at all. I managed to use enough to tell the story but it's a shame we can't use some more of the great footage we got.

Added a few small pieces here and there, some breaking glass, some blood spatter, getting used to compositing images and footage together. Entry level stuff at the moment, I'm trying hard not to over-extend my abilities because it will look awful, so taking simple steps at the moment.

The story isn't necessarily as obvious as I first intended. Maybe I can retrofit the story to match the footage, and compromise and meet in the middle. The basics are all in place, but it wouldn't hurt if the whole thing was a lot more accessible to an audience, because right now I think this story makes sense only to me, the narrative isn't that clear just yet.

I'll work on this, and butcher it some more!

Tuesday after the long shoot

My nails are still pink.

Got the footage on the computer last night. No editing done yet. Won't have time til Wednesday.

Being back at work feels like being a prisoner. Man. I need to discover that an unknown uber-rich distant relative died and left me their fortune, Brewster's Millions style.

DAY 4

Sunday.

The final slog. Woke up this morning feeling pretty good. Even got some time in the AM playing some Xbox before getting ready, my favourite way to wind down and relax. I was playing the Lost and Damned -  GTA4. Great stuff!

I felt better about today. Because the pressure would be off. I know exactly what scenes I need to shoot and none require complex special effects. A couple require some bloodied band members to walk the streets, which could be problematic.

We meet at Pat's studio to shoot some scenes in and around the studio, the alleyways, and some of the high street. We also shoot the bloody violent ending to the video. The guys were incredibly well natured about being doused in blood. Especially Neil who was being repeatedly painted up. He is slowly turning pink.

Some great shots and angles and the weather held up for us too! I especially enjoyed the performances delivered to camera, especially as the band members are all non-actors. I wonder if I will ever work with actors? What a terrifying thought. Neil and Frazer were both perfect in the outdoor scenes, although bumbling pedestrians appear from nowhere to make their presence felt every time I yelled "action", or more accurately "Um, go!"

Back to Mark's to shoot some simple outdoor scenes and time for a brief director's cameo, spattered with pink smears and dropping a cup of coffee as cyborg Neil strides towards his date with destiny. We also shot Neil's scenes with a large prop rifle outside on the street to keep the continuity and we didn't get shot by armed police. I kept the camera close to the rifle at all times to try and convince everyone that we were here for art, not war. We also filmed Mark's scenes, his desperate escape by Neil which ends in bloodshed. This time I was careful with the lighting and exposure. Fucking careful.

We were completely wrapped by 3 o'clock. What a beautiful change of pace. The last day was heavenly, pressure free, and fun. When we had everything "in the can" I felt an enormous sense of relief, and headed home intent on having the last of the weekend to relax with Dee and the dog and the cat. As Dee was out at the flower markets, I took a long pink-stained shower, put on my comfy pants and booted up the Xbox and Johnny Klebitz and his loveable band of outlaw brethren kept me company until she returned.

You're an interesting man, Mr Klebitz

My fingernails are still pink from all the fake blood. It looks like I've been wearing nail varnish.

DAY 3

Saturday

The big one.
Today bopped from being exciting and endearing to being unbearable, slow, and a complete failuire. At times I wanted to rip my hair out. All of the big scenes I planned didn't come off anywhere near as cool as I was hoping. Some failed completely. It turns out that we couldn't use the rooms we planned to at Pat's studio so we had to improvise. This curve ball threw me a bit and I did my best to make the scenes work in the other spaces. To be honest, I don't have much experience set dressing and lighting, and it was beginning to show. I was beginning to feel like an idiot. I didn't have my storyboards or more paperwork. I didn't even use my clapperboard. I felt stupid and pretentious using it in front of Ryan, who had come down to the deliver an absolutely incredible robotic hand covered in ragged latex skin. The fingers were articulated and hooked up to pulleys so it could be controlled and it could move around a bit. It was perfect. I was lacking in confidence today. Whereas working with Ryan yesterday was a joy, today I felt a little suffocated by having him overlooking the shoot, and I also felt bad that he had to hang around and watch me fuck up a video shoot beyond repair. It must have been frustrating as hell for him.

Ryan and I are opposites, but very good friends and we go back a long way. Ryan is outspoken and confident, and I am utterly non-confrontational. During the filming of a fight scene I really wanted Ryan to wait outside so I could concentrate on the scene without freaking out, but I couldn't think of a way to tell him that without sounding like an ass. I think we might have clashed a bit on the set. Every piece of advice he offered made me bristle up with anger, and every lighting problem I had or every special effect which didn't quite work made me more and more tense. I had to leave the set twice, just to try and chill out. I passed it off as toilet breaks or getting a drink but really I just had to get some air. I was suffocating. At no point did Ryan try and take control, but I could feel him frowning over my shoulder watching me. I need to man up and speak to people and tell them what I want from them. I have always admired Ryan for being the kind of person who can do that and I need to learn to be more open with people. I felt like I was being a control freak who had no control.

It's not that Ryan and I share incompatible visions or that he was telling me what to do, the worst thing he ever did was make some useful and reasonable suggestions. At one point he recommended that I should have got someone to choreograph the fight scene as it wasn't working and I nearly exploded. I had to leave the room. The shoot was always meant to be a quickly-shot, fluid event, something that we bish-bash-boshed into shape in a matter of days. I didn't want it to be professional, I wanted it to be agile, and I wanted to be in control of everything. It's really early days for me, and I want to make my own mistakes in peace. I don't care if it's a shitty video, as long as it's MY shitty video (sorry to the band who are hiring me!). When I get more confident, I can start working with more people. Until then, I am enjoying running these shows solo. I think the problem was that I had lived this video and the story for months. I knew what I wanted, (I thought) I knew how I wanted to achieve it, I knew what I was capable of and what the limits of my knowledge are. Ryan, having not worked with me before, doesn't know these details, so I found his input infuriating rather than helpful. Had we worked on this together from the start then obviously things would be different, but as he was someone who was only seeing the project on the final moment of it's birth, I didn't want to hear what he thought because I already had mountains of information in my head. I just wanted to be left alone because despite my shaky unconfident demeanour, if I could be left alone with the band, I would get these scenes done.

I guess I just need to be alone with the guys while filming. No help, no friends, no family, no-one. I guess I can't help thinking that they are seeing a (subjectively) better way of doing things. Like doing a Sudoku or playing Minesweeper with someone watching. You just KNOW they're bursting to tell you about something they've spotted and it's distracting.

Ryan and I had a good heart to heart after the video shoot. I think we're cool. I hope we are. (Ryan if you're reading this, I love you man. I got a gift for you and Priya to say thank you!) I reckon my bristly yet silent demeanour drove him a little crazy that day, and I apologise. I really need to speak up for myself and tell people what I want from them. To his credit, this video could not be made without Ryan. His robotic hands and blood/gorework as well as the props he supplied were invaluable. He worked hard and solid. He never actually set a foot wrong. The problem was entirely mine. I was feeling crushed by the weight of the project. More scenes had been shuffled to Sunday, my last day of freedom before going back to full time work, and I was beginning to resent the workload. My confidence was crumbling and I wanted nothing more to fly this ship solo to get to grips with it. I found parts of this shoot to be hellish. Things weren't conforming to my expectations. I was going crazy and I was getting incredibly stressed out. I wanted to put down the video camera and just walk on home.

But I knew I had to get it done. And I did. Some scenes came off a little rushed, but that's kinda how my shoots have always gone so far. We sprayed Pablo in the face with fake blood so much he looked like an extra from Splatterhouse, but it looked good. He kept on with the scene even though his eyes were stinging from the blood. The fight scene looked okay and I think it's gonna work when I put all the pieces together. On their own each shot is a weird little dance but edited correctly it could work. The room was small and it was hard to move the camera around while keeping the subject in frame and the lights and equipment out of it. But I think I got it. Maybe this will be okay after all. But as for the whole shoot, it was very unprofessional, no clapperboard (my beautiful new clapperboard! Sitting in its box!), no notes, I was running everything off the top of my head. The last shoot I did was really organized. This one was crazy. The thing is, I got everything. I had spent so long on the storyboard that I knew every shot. Every one. But it's a jumbled mess. The tape is going to be a bitch to log. On the plus side, maybe that will teach me that it really does pay to be organised. Maybe it would also be less stressful. Maybe I was punishing myself. Pyschobabble.

Also, to their credit, the band were absolutely amazing. Utterly helpful and selfless and amazingly good sports. Even when I bucketed blood in their faces and got them to reshoot tedious shots again and again, they never lost enthusiasm. Even in the face of my crumbling ego. Thanks guys. A very wise man came down to play our mad scientist, Doctor I.M Crazed, and he went beyond performance and actually began to live the character. It was terrifying. The scenes with the doctor all came out really well and I'm looking forward to seeing the whole thing together!

Poor Dee must be forgetting what I look like. She picked me up from Pat's studio late at night completely covered in pink and red blood stains, red hands, ruined clothes, carrying ripped carrier bags full of props and fake blood ingredients
"Those are your new jeans."
"I know."

I got home late in the evening and collapsed into bed again. Ready for Sunday, the day I didn't want to use, which is going to be filled with lots more filming than I ever intended.

So far this week has been a bipolar rollercoaster, jumping from delight to despair. I honestly wonder how some people can do this for a living, and I'm only shooting crappy little 3 minute videos! Maybe I need a team. But first I need to make sure I "play well with others" and that will only come with experience and confidence. But I like the idea of working on my own. It has the romanticism of the extreme auteur. But that's probably just naivety.

Lessons learned? Be more organised. Give myself enough time to shoot everything, because everything ALWAYS takes longer than it should. Don't overstretch. And for God's sake, I need speak up for myself. I need to be able to confidently tell people what to do, overwise I'm going to go mad.