Category: video
Showreel
I’ve uploaded my new showreel to a number of platforms and link to it here. It contains drawings and two storyboards based on the Greek Myths:
Since completing this, I have made a number of new storyboards and illustrations: it’s funny how once a new showreel is completed and uploaded, it feels dated compared to the work I’m completing now. But it’s a nice record of work done so far.
The walks, part two
The following day I trekked to Bostall Woods, where I shot some video in the forest. I tried to avoid shooting people there, mainly dog-walkers and ramblers, but caught a few of them, partially on camera and definitely on the soundtrack. Also on the soundtrack were tripod noises from the various camera moves I was attempting: definitely some practise and different equipment testing needed there.
I also returned to the river, this time near the Thames Barrier and surrounding warehouses. Some buildings were derelict: I wondered what would be in their place the next time I visited. These were areas that only cyclists and walkers could pass through.
As I carried the heavy photography equipment around the Thames path and surrounding neighbourhoods, I remembered the advice in a guide for wannabe Magnum Photographers: buy comfortable shoes. I’d like to visit more on foot and by bike in future.
Later I shot more video with one of my softbox lights. Following a YouTube tutorial, I tried techniques for video lighting that I hadn’t understood before: I enjoyed the results and will work on them with my own camera. There is still so much to learn.
On returning the equipment, it was a shock to use my mirrorless camera again: it felt light and manageable with familiar controls; almost like a toy. I will shoot with another rental next month; definitely a different camera, just to see how it works with videography and photography, and I’ll be one step closer to finding my regular videography camera.
The walks, part one
A few weekends ago, I did some test shooting with a new camera. Following a digital videographer’s advice, I rented a Canon 5D DSLR, with a microphone, tripod and a 50mm lens.
Having shot for over ten years with mirrorless film and digital cameras, the DSLR was a beast: big and heavy, the camera intimidated me from the moment I took it out of the box. Sat on a bench near the Leadenhall building, I tried taking my first picture: one of the skyscrapers nearby. A few mistakes later, I got it.
My aim was to go to the Royal Exchange, because it tended to be pretty deserted on a weekend. This Saturday, however, it was hosting a thousands strong march for the environment. A number of photographers and videographers were documenting the event, but I decided to duck out until I had an at least rudimentary knowledge of this camera.
Once at home, I transferred the camera to a case of my own and headed out to shoot some video at the Woolwich riverside. From there, I shot tests at a railway crossing in Charlton and on the South Bank.
What struck me on this excursion was what I saw as I walked between and around these sights, looking for something to photograph. I’ve been on photo walks before, both with friends and by myself, but I was really fascinated by the things I didn’t see when I had driven or taken public transport past them many times before.
Building, shops and accommodation I had barely glanced at before were there in all their detail. Different neighbourhoods with their residents and visitors. Different topography and sounds. As I walked, I thought about the photographer Don McCullin’s advise to photographers who wanted be war photographers:
“I say, OK, if you want to be a war photographer, go to the inner cities in England. You don’t have to get on a plane to the Middle East or wherever. There are social wars in our cities: homeless people, poor people, people begging outside of banks. You will find the most incredible poverty and that is a war as big as any other.”
While I didn’t feel as if I were documenting any kind of war, I did feel like I was walking through parts of the city that were ignored: the alleyways and neighbourhoods considered not pretty enough for an Instagram story; the people I may avoid, or who may avoid me; the unobserved. I wondered what I’d learn if I visited these areas more rather than just passing them by.
I finished the my first day shooting video on Waterloo Bridge and the South Bank, before bringing the gear back home.
Short film: Sisyphus
Having shot tests and short films on a variety of cameras, it was interesting and reassuring to return to shooting a short film with a familiar camera: my Fujifilm X-Pro-1.
While this model is now supplanted by superior updates, I enjoy using this camera for its manageable size, simplicity of control and terrific image capture, which served me greatly when shooting with it before.
The project this time was “Sisyphus”, a short film about an endless quest, which I shot on green spaces near my home in south east London.
As a filmmaker, I’ve been very interested in writing and directing dialogue-free stories: it was enjoyable to build a story with just sound and vision, and excluding words.
If I were to do it again, I would aim to record better sound. The in-camera microphone caught a lot of wind distortion. While the camera has no socket for an external microphone, I could have recorded clean atmosphere tracks with my digital sound recorder.
Editing in iMovie was enjoyable. While I have the rudiments down on this tool, I’d like to experiment more with sound post-production on future projects.
According to Zanah Thirus’ excellent and informative microbudget indie filmmaker’s podcast, the most welcome compression for festivals is an H264 compressed MP4 file. Getting to this with iMovie was difficult: for some reason, when exporting, my settings button didn’t show. It was sheer luck that I clicked on a certain part of a grey area on the export window that brought up the menu I was after.
I’ve been editing some other videos; mainly test shoots and home recording, but in every shoot and edit I have aimed to learn something. Whatever the mistakes or learns in this, I enjoyed this production and look forward to my next.
Realities
I’ve just completed a short film that I’d been working on for a few weeks.
“Realities” takes an idea from a science fiction feature screenplay I’m currently writing and imagines it in another setting. While I may not have brought complete clarity to the idea, I enjoyed making this short film and may rework aspects of the feature script as a result of making this.
Realities from Burning Details on Vimeo.
Two of my favourite aspects of this short film were building props and recording sound, the latter of which has been a problem in previous shoots. My next hope is to use more lighting, which I have also found difficult previously: short films offer great opportunities for experimentation.
Now “Realities” is complete, I’m going to make another short science fiction film, from a screenplay of about equal length. I have a few other ideas mulling around, as well as the opportunity to try some new editing platforms: I’ll see what new aspects I can bring to these productions.
The Outer Limits
On a filmmaking course at Raindance, the lecturer Elliot Grove talked of the abilities of the equipments that we could get our hands on to make our films.
He talked of instruction manuals and encouraged us to read and test our equipment by them. Then he stated an extraordinary fact: the instruction manuals did cover a lot of what the equipment was capable of, but not everything. The cameras, sound mixers and editing platforms we would use could do up to 50 per cent more than these manuals were letting on, and we would be well-advised to experiment with these as much as possible.
A musician friend once told me of the myriad ways he could work with a newly acquired mixing software package. I paralleled this with my photo editing gear: with so many features, how could one know exactly what to use in one’s work? Experiment, he answered.
Acquaintances introducing me to photo editing software talked of their experimentation: slowly working through all the features and finding out what worked best for them. I’ve continued doing so, and I think that my digital darkroom skills have improved as I’ve done so.
With my cameras, I continue to work my way through instruction manuals for years-old equipment. There always seems to be something new to discover. I find it hard to imagine buying more equipment if I haven’t reached the limits of what I’m currently using, be they a still camera, a handycam or a phone camera. “Better” photography could result as much to skilful use as well as better equipment.
In his terrific book Digital Film-Making, director Mike Figgis talks of using a camera often enough so that it becomes an extension of your hand, like a pen or a paintbrush. I love this approach. The idea of really knowing a piece of equipment and taking it to the limits of its capabilities is far more appealing to having a new piece of kit.
New filmmaking
After making my environmental short, I have started work on a new short film.
I wrote the script some months ago, but put it to one side as I had started writing a feature screenplay that expanded on this short’s idea. As writing progressed, I returned to this short as I found myself more and more interested in playing with its ideas.
Although realising this short film is a daunting prospect, the shoot has been enjoyable so far, with props and shot set ups I haven’t used before. Where I think things will become complex is with the sound, which will be a huge part of this film.
In any case, I’ve greatly enjoyed the process. I’m looking on short films more as sketches or practice and I’m enjoying making as many as possible, on any media I can use. And the more I do it, the less daunting it will be.
TikToking
The social media platform TikTok, with its short form videos displaying stunts, humour, music, politics and mischief, has amused and fascinated me for some time, so I’ve decided to make a few short films for the platform myself.
While the features of the platform allowing you to upload and edit phone videos are straightforward and simple to use, some content creators have done some fantastic work with transitions and camera moves: all very inspiring.
Most inspiring for me are the people I’ve come across on this platform. I’ve learned about design, architecture and cooking. I’ve listened to varying views on politics, economics and cinema. I’ve been fascinated by historians and polemicists. All these individuals, with their interesting, at times irreverent but always well put together videos.
Every social media platform seems to have a “moment”: Facebook’s first flurry in the early part of the century; Tumblr’s glow up a few years later; Twitter’s intersection with politics and culture a few years after that. All these moments have been extraordinary, and all have soured somewhat, whether with content problems or algorithm issues. Even as the platforms themselves have gone on from strength to strength financially, much of the same user affection from those earlier highs evaporates.
TikTok is having such a moment, with users trolling the former president and content creators building careers off their micro-short uploads: maybe bigger moments are to come. But in the meantime, it’s great fun to use.
The air around us
Following my WHO Health for All film festival entry, I decided to follow up on another idea I had for an environmental short film.
The idea was concerned with air pollution: I’d read news stories about people suffering respiratory illnesses near busy carriageways like the North Circular Road and Park Lane; also Ella Adoo-Kissi-Debrah’s case had been in the newspapers for some time.
On researching air pollution’s effects on the body’s organs, I depicted these with watercolour paints on a pristine white shirt, intercutting them with images of road traffic.
I enjoyed making some work around the subject of the environment, which is becoming ever more urgent as time progresses. As usual with any creative endeavour, there are many things that I’d do differently next time. Nonetheless, I learned a lot, which I hope to bring to my next short project.
WHO Health for All Film Festival
Late last year, I saw by chance that the World Health Organisation (WHO) was organising a short film festival.
The WHO Health For All Film Festival has been running for two years: this year, it requested short films on three possible categories. Universal health coverage, health emergencies, and better health and wellbeing were the topics on offer and I chose the first, as it was partially concerned with non-communicable diseases.
Having had personal experience of Alzheimer’s disease through family and friends, I made a film about this illness’ effects. I remember thinking that it was like having parts removed from something familiar, so I took my idea from there.
Alzheimer’s from Burning Details on Vimeo.
Recently, I received an email detailing the competition’s finalists. My film was not among them, but the shortlisted films displayed a standard of craft in storytelling, sound, photography, editing and design that I found wholly inspiring.
The craft of filmmaking is an ever deepening field. One of the many pleasures I get from making films is discovering more of it. I hope to bring some more of this craft to my work when I enter this competition next year.
Burning Details 
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