Tagged: editing

Radical!

I remember watching Lindsay Anderson‘s “If….” at the old Cornerhouse cinema in Manchester on a Saturday afternoon in the early 90s. I didn’t know much about the film, beyond its influence from Jean Vigo’s Zero de Conduite (still one of my favourite films) and that it starred Malcolm McDowell. By the time the closing credits rolled, I was stunned by what I had seen. I couldn’t move from my seat until the lights came up.

Since then, however, I had seen little of Anderson’s work, beyond some free cinema screenings at the ICA and a TV broadcast screening of “Oh Lucky Man”, so it was with pleasure and enthusiasm that I accepted an invitation from a friend to attend a seniors free talk on Lindsay Anderson at the BFI.

LindsayAnderson

A five man panel, including film critic David Robinson, film makers Mammon Hassan and Kevin Brownlow, producer Andrew Eaton  and writer Charles Drain, entertained the audience with anecdotes about Anderson’s work, interspersed with clips of documentaries and films by Anderson. The portrait that emerged was of a radical, revolutionary director who didn’t suffer fools, but inspired loyalty and some great film making from his colleagues.

An extraordinary moment occurred when the floor was opened to questions from the audience: more colleagues showed themselves. Old friends, collaborators, actors, relatives of crew members, critics… a plethora of individuals, all with their own view of Anderson and his work. They talked with such warmth and detail that I couldn’t help but want to turn to some of Anderson’s work in future.

More time-lapse

Editing on the film continues: I’m near the end of the second cut. I shot a number of time lapse sequences; here’s one I rejected for a number of reasons:

  • The climate wan’t too good; this was supposed to go with a late-Summer’s day… No.
  • Again, there was a slight shifting of position: very noticeable in time-lapse; the tripod has to be super-steady!
  • The time between shots was about two minutes. Pre-visualisation’s the thing: for sequences I’ve been using in the film, I’ve been shooting one image a minute. I may shoot some more with an image every 30 seconds.

Time consuming as they are, I’ve really enjoyed shooting time-lapse. In a way, they’re a symbol of the production process on this film so far: lots of little, steady steps; insignificant in themselves, but adding up to show real change. On with the second cut.

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.