Category: video
Trailer
Fluid trailer from Burning Details on Vimeo.
My micro-budget feature, Fluid, was screened one morning at the Rich Mix cinema in Shoreditch, London to an audience of cast, crew and friends. It was the last step of an extraordinary year-long adventure, in which I’d written, produced, directed, photographed and edited a science fiction film with a crew of professionals and non-professionals: fuelled by enthusiasm, a low budget and hope, we completed this film to the best of our ability. I had never felt more fulfilled.
My wish was to see a project through to screening and, while it didn’t make it into the festivals I entered, I considered it a rewarding project that taught me a great amount about filmmaking. There’s much I wish I could have done differently, but that’s for the next film.
As part of putting the production to bed, I wanted to make a trailer for it. Friends who come with me to the cinema know how much I love trailers and I wanted to do the same for this film: as an exercise it was as eye opening as making a feature.
When I was at college, I met a musician who told me of his experience in editing down an album track to release as a single. I kept thinking of this as I ended Fluid down on iMovie; trying to distill the essence of the film, its story and themes from 75 minutes to under two minutes. Many notes were written before I edited a single image.
On completion, I shared the trailer with the cast and crew: their responses were positive and I’m pleased with the result. But I’m left with one nagging feeling: I want to do more. I want to tell another story. I want to make another film. Onto the next.
From the end to a beginning
I bought the very first Independent on Sunday and continued to do so for many years. Its mixture of reportage and great photography was a great tonic and highly influential in the newspaper world.
Time went by and I moved from the IoS to the Observer and then to Saturday’s Guardian for my weekend news, but my affection for the IoS remained, which is why it was with some mixed feelings that I bought the last edition of the Independent on Sunday in March 2016.
Re-reading this last edition recently, with its mixture of news and reminiscence, was a bittersweet experience. Articles by writers, photographers and cartoonists on what they enjoyed most about the paper were a delight. News articles on the then forthcoming EU referendum, Earth Day and environmental concerns brought feelings of despair at where we are now.
One interview stands out: David Cameron sharing his fear that apathetic voters would hand victory to the Brexit camp. It’s over three years since then: Cameron and his successor have both left Downing Street and the current Prime Minister continues to work on squaring the circle of what the Brexit camp want. I’m not sure where this will end, or indeed if it is an end.
Depending on the current negotiations’ results, years of negotiations could follow as this country finds itself in an entirely new place in the world: a new beginning that no one may have wanted. Or things may only be slightly altered. But the fabric of this country will be changed nonetheless. We will find out by how much soon.
Virtual reality
I was invited to the magnificently appointed Canada House recently for an evening of performance and virtual reality, curated by Montreal’s Phi Centre. I remember a little of the former virtual reality boom in the 90s, but seeing new promotions in recent film festivals points to this technology entering a new wave.
The slightly odd-looking glowing boxes at the bottom of the picture played images into headsets. I got to use one: it showed work by Vincent & Paul Studios, depicting Nomads: Herders – nomadic yak herders in Mongolia. It was like watching a 360 degree audio-visual representation of another world: everywhere I turned; the ground; the sky; left; right, was depicted. What next? Walking through these landscapes? Tactility? Memories of Wild Palms came to mind.
We were then invited to a function room for a musical event: artist Myriam Bleau using wireless acrylic spinning tops to play samples a piece called Soft Revolvers…
After a panel discussion on VR, we returned for another performance by laptop DJs playing music and motion graphics…
Sadly, I couldn’t remember the artists names (help, anyone?) but it was a riveting end to a fascinating evening.
The virtual reality garden will continue at Canada House (visits are free) with periodically changing artists, until mid-March next year.
Time lapse test 1
This is going to be warts and all.
There are a number of time lapse shots that I want for the film and recently I’ve been learning how to make them.
My first practical information came from Illustratographer’s tumblr, so following the information therein, I shot my own.
On looking at my results, I did a little more digging and found some links such as this. Very informative. Anyway, this is my first test:
So, what have I learned for next time?
- Get your timing right: I decided to shoot from one hour before sunrise to one hour after, so why did I start shooting two hours before instead? Oh. Which leads neatly to…
- Make sure your battery is fully charged: mine ran out partly through the shoot; changing the battery meant a slight shift in the camera’s position.
- Keep your camera’s settings the same throughout: I went with a wide open aperture, which was great for the darkness, but not so smart in the light. I compensated with neutral density filters of increasing strength that unfortunately resulted in odd light and colour changes between shots.
- I need to experiment more with editing.
- It’s all in the planning: I can’t emphasise it enough; consider what you want to see, how long you want it to last and plan accordingly.
- Test, test and test again before signing the project off. I’m near the end of the film’s first cut, but I imagine I’ll be doing many more time lapse shots before any of them make it into the edit.
As I say, this is a first effort. Between now and the next, I’ll be looking at a lot of other people’s work for guidance.
Burning Details 
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