Dark Days - Documentary Inspiration

After viewing the documentary about the making of Dark Days, I was interested in the film itself and decided to give it a watch. I was struck by the personal accounts given by subjects, and the way in which the filmmaker got to know them so that they shared intimate aspects of their lives on film. The low-budget approach is one to be admired, especially knowing the background of how the filmmakers acquired 16mm film and edited on the Avid.

A prominent feature of the documentary is its minimal use of sound, one which allows the viewer to concentrate on what is being said and to be emotionally involved on their own terms, without having to be guided by an intrusive soundtrack. The quietude also reflects the quiet lives of the interview subjects.

The end of the documentary shows both crisis and then solution, in an uplifting sequence. Emulating this in the New Bird edit is something we would do well to achieve.

Although interesting and pioneering, I did feel that the documentary contained a lot of stretched out moments without anything to keep the viewer particularly engaged. Knowing how to avoid this will be crucial in editing my own documentary, but due to the short length of the project, I can't see this being an issue.

Progress Report on New Bird - End of Shoot Day 2 (6/3/12)

Today, we have had much more success on every element of the shoot. At Lost Art we were able to speak to Mackey, who agreed to give us an audio interview at 5pm. Later, I convinced him to interview on camera, which will prove instrumental in us being able to represent skateboarding in Liverpool on a more personal level.

Meanwhile at New Bird, Jordan and Robin managed to speak to a skater who was involved in the building of the park. We were particularly lucky in finding him, as he lived in Austria was only back in the UK for 2 days! Without his interview, we only had VOX Pops from various sources, most of which were not very useful to our project.

We have found that the story of New Bird contains less straightforward conflict than was portrayed in the media, and that they received support from the council after a local business helped them win the park back. We'll see how this affects the edit.

Again, the GoPro footage is limited! Jonny had it for most of the day (he brought it along in the first place), and shot a relatively small amount of material. He also took little direction from Jordan, instead choosing to shoot unnecessary and wasteful material while missing important moments of skateboarding, and spending a great deal of time sitting idly on the sidelines. And for the second time, after complaints from the whole group yesterday, many of the files he gave to me were either from the hostel, or included one or more moments in which he shoved the camera in crew members' faces. After a pre-production process in which he did nothing but send a few emails out, this has been highly disappointing. Robin shot some additional GoPro material because of this, making sure to get close-ups of skateboarders in action. Unfortunately, this material was missing from the files I received from Jonny - what went wrong is a mystery.

Dan Walsh joined our group today after having problems with his own. This has proven to be highly beneficial to the producing side of things, as he has been willing to speak to the public much more than Jonny, the producer. He has supported the production as a whole, filling in various roles at different times, and along with myself has handled most of the interview material (although VOX pops were handled by Robin). He is also intending to help out with the post-production process.

Progress Report on New Bird - End of Shoot Day 1 (5/3/12)

Today's shoot has helped us to become accustomed to the skate park's location, and to practice our camera techniques relevant to the project. We first approached the Lost Art skate shop, in order to speak with Mackey and to follow him up on his offer to provide contacts in the city. Unfortunately, he was not there and we'll have to wait until tomorrow for him to return.

As we arrived at New Bird, we scoped out the area and proceeded to shoot (with permission granted) some of the local skaters in action. Sadly, they were not willing to interview, but were quite happy for us to capture what we needed and to skate around us.

This evening, I have been able to begin transcoding 7D footage in Compressor on my Macbook, a process which will save a great deal of time in post-production. On the experimental film transcoding was extremely problematic and took up a lot of time, so it has been a relief to be able to get much of the process out of the way here without any difficulty.

Having viewed some rushes, the 7D footage is looking great, although I cannot look back very easily at the PD170 tapes, for obvious reasons. However, the GoPro footage captured by Jonny is very minimal. There are only 6 files, 2 of which are of the camera being shoved in people's faces in the hostel. I'm told that as a result of this, the battery died when we actually came to shoot.

Hopefully tomorrow there will be more GoPro footage available.

Skateistan - Inspiration for the Documentary

Out of the films we watched in our initial project briefing session, the one that stood out most to me was Skateistan. This is also perhaps the most relevant of the documentaries to our own project.

I was particularly impressed by the careful staging of the skateboarders in order to create visually-pleasing compositions, and the use of relevant inserts of military vehicles and destroyed buildings to provide social context to what was being shown.

The use of voiceovers over the top of skate footage is something we will definitely be implementing in our own project, in order to smooth out the changes between action shots and interviews, and to cut down on length by using some interview material as VOX Pop only.

The advertisement style of Skateistan is something that provides some controversy, as it may take away in this case from the serious social implications of the skateboarders and their environment. In our case, however, we will be able to present a more 'fun' style and pacing without any problem, due to the optimistic and light-hearted tone we will be leaning towards.

New Bird - Post-production Software Choices

For the New Bird edit, it is worth taking the time to consider the options available when it comes to post-production.

Final Cut Pro 7 first comes to mind, as it is available on all Harmer edit stations and I am most familiar with it out of all the available systems. It is well-integrated within a package of software including Apple Color, and perhaps crucially, Motion; interviews may require some motion graphics explaining who each subject is. There is also the potential for an opening sequence using motion graphics, if it seems relevant.

I could attempt to utilise Final Cut Pro X alternatively, although this would require a learning curve before using to its full potential, and may be difficult to gain access to/obtain. Its poor compatibility with Final Cut Pro 7, despite the recent emergence of third-party plugins dealing with this issue, would render any need to transfer to a Harmer edit station near impossible.

Adobe Premier's main advantage is its native compatibility with the H.264 codec. As we will be using the Canon 7D as one of three cameras on the shoot, this could prove to save a great deal of time that would otherwise be spent transcoding files with Compressor, to ProRes 4:2:2. AfterEffects would provide a strong platform for colour grading and motion graphics, reducing the time taken up transferring between three or more separate applications. It would also provide the opportunity for further effects or manipulation if necessary.



Avid Media Composer, while again requiring a learning curve, is a powerful application, and another that I have access to outside of Harmer. Along with the Adobe and Apple systems, this is also available on the Harmer edit stations, making it relatively easy to move between stations if needed for any reason.

Of all these options, I am leaning towards Final Cut Pro 7; although I would like the opportunity to work with each of these systems on at least one project, in this case it seems late to learn any new software fully enough. The abundance of edit stations in Harmer with FCP7 is another deciding factor, due to past experiences moving from station to station frequently due to tutorials taking place or other disruptions.

Archive materials - New Bird Documentary

As mentioned in my previous post, below are some examples of the archive materials I have been able to find online.

The New Bird blog chronicles the building process of the park, through a series of photographs. It is these images we hope will feature largely in our documentary.

A couple of examples of the available YouTube footage.

Our first glimpse of Mackey, owner of the Lost Art skate shop!

Camera systems for New Bird

On the New Bird documentary, we will be shooting with 3 cameras.

For static/slow-moving shots such as inserts, introductory sequences and interviews, we will be using the Canon EOS 7D, due to its strong rendition of colour, shallow DOF and HD quality.

When shooting skateboarders in action, we will primarily use the PD170, due to its versatility, quickly-adjustable controls and capacity for long recording (DV tapes allowing much more footage than the 7D can handle at once). The lower quality will reflect the "skate video" aesthetic and add energy and excitement to the footage. Its handheld stability is also a strength due to its larger size, and due to the CCD sensor it does not suffer from rolling shutter like Canon's CMOS DSLRs.

Thirdly, we will be using a GoPro. As a highly portable and stable, sturdy HD format it will be perfect for high-quality action shots up close with the skaters; we plan to mount in onto a boom pole to extend our reach. Its lens also gives a fish-eye perspective, which is a popular convention of skate videos and allows for a second purpose: high-angle wide shots of the skate park.

Audio Equipment for the Documentary

On the documentary shoot, we are planning to use a Marantz PMD660 (or 661 if stores are feeling generous!), coupled with an Audio Technica rifle mic. So standard fare for this year's work, and will be foregoing tie-clip mics due to the short time frame and in order to preserve the aesthetic (skateboarders wearing tie-clips would look very out of place). I've recommended taking an extra rifle mic and elastic bands or hair bobbles for a stereo setup when capturing atmosphere.

We're recording separate sound for the sync, as the interviews are to be shot on DSLR and most things will be foley and atmosphere anyway.

News Articles for the documentary

Following our change of plan for the documentary, here are the aforementioned news articles I managed to dig up online about New Bird skate park in Liverpool.

This above article was found at http://www.clickliverpool.com/news/local-news/1214305-liverpool-skateboarders-half-pipe-dream-becomes-reality.html. It deals with the victory skateboarders won in regaining their skate park. Following on from this, I researched further and came across this earlier news story:

At this point, this looks to be a strong story for our documentary, as it already contains a narrative arc and plenty of split opinions.

A change of plan - Documentary

Although our initial concept has surrounded the owner of an independent skate shop in Liverpool, we have encountered some difficulties. Having contacted the owner of the shop by email, we have had a negative response, and will not be able to interview him in the shop, or possibly at all. As Jonny, the producer, contacted him very late, we have only just discovered this and will need to change our plans.

Fortunately, I stumbled upon a news article online about a DIY skate park, the only outdoor skatepark in Liverpool city centre, that has been threatened by the council only to be won back by the skaters. This provides a strong narrative arc, and with any luck we will be able to organise interviews at this late stage with those who skate the park, and get a broad enough coverage to convey the varied opinions of those it affects.

I have also noticed a good supply of archive images and videos associated with the park and its construction, and have begun contacting these sources to attempt to get permission to use them alongside what we are able to obtain on Monday and Tuesday.

Our new working title, to match the name of the park, is New Bird.

Documentary Inspiration - Another Look at Philip Bloom's Booths and Bodies

Previously on the blog, I briefly analysed Philip Bloom's Sony NEX-5N short, Booths and Bodies, in relation to my experimental film project.

During the documentary planning stages, I have been researching examples of editing and other ideas, and found that this short is again relevant to our project.

Taking place in an independent shop and focussing on a shop owner's passion is a theme shared in common between our documentary and Bloom's; the simple and contained approach centring around one location allows for a large amount of coverage and safety in the edit, a great strength of our idea. The way in which Bloom transitions between a light-hearted look at the business of a vintage camera shop owner, and the sad elements underpinning parts of his life, is one which I hope we can emulate during our documentary.

Implementing a classic 3-act structure into our film will provide perhaps the strongest emotional response from the viewer, and so it will be important for us to become familiar enough during the two shooting days with the skate shop owner to delve into his personal life as well as professional.

The cinematography Bloom employs is inspirational through its focus on the subject within his environment, using a wider shot for the main interview that purposefully places him as a small part of the frame along with the cameras he so loves.

In terms of post-production, Booths and Bodies also stands as a strong example of the potential for colour grading from a DSLR-type camera system. I will definitely utilise tools such as Apple Color, or even simply Magic Bullet Looks, in enhancing our raw images.

Documentary Project - Ideas, and Roles

Our first set of ideas for the documentary have been varied. Initially, our ideas revolved around myths and legends in Liverpool, to a documentary about modern music in Liverpool, to interviewing the owner of an independent skate shop. This last option seems the strongest, and we have begun to try and arrange a shoot at the shop.

The roles for the project are as follows:

Alex Withers - Editor
Jonny Copeman - Producer
Jordan Deakin - Director
Poppy Stanton - Sound
Robin Booker - Camera

Rear Projection Tests for Likeness

As mentioned in a previous post, for our projection effect we first tested rear projection as a method. In the end, we used greenscreen, which proved a more effective method; below you can see the issue of light from the projector falling on the subject in a close-up staging, and the lack of clarity in the projected image.

Me slating a take at SIF

Stills photography by Elizabeth Sinfield

Pile of 'Instant Photos' in its entirety

Stills photography by Elizabeth Sinfield

A low-angle DIY dolly setup at SIF, made possible by the small size of the 7D

Stills photography by Elizabeth Sinfield

Joe (right) and I (left) review audio at SIF

Stills photography by Elizabeth Sinfield

Pile of 'Instant Photos'

Stills photography by Elizabeth Sinfield

From left to right: Ciara, Jordan and I prepare for a take

Stills photography by Elizabeth Sinfield

Jordan lines up a shot in front of the greenscreen

Stills photography by Elizabeth Sinfield

Our greenscreen camera setup

Stills photography by Elizabeth Sinfield

Ciara Sherry performs in front of greenscreen

Stills photography by Elizabeth Sinfield

Jordan reviews a shot in the photobooth scene

Stills photography by Elizabeth Sinfield

DIY Track Dolly Tests With the 7D

For Likeness, we chose to shoot on 7D, due to its portability, shallow depth of field and performance in low light situations.

Using the camera we shot a series of dolly and track tests before starting principal photography.

You can see an example of the results below; I was pleased with the stability of the dolly once weighed down slightly.

Super8mm Projection Effect - Likeness

The most interesting and successful part of the Likeness shoot has definitely been the chroma keying with the super 8mm projection effect placed behind each character. In order to achieve this we considered two options; we conducted several tests with a video projector in EMB, but found that it lacked definition and clarity, while limiting our post-production choices in terms of which moments of the film were projected behind the characters. In addition, the proximity of the projector to the screen was very limiting in terms of our specific camera angle, and so we felt that the use of greenscreen was a preferable option.

Fortunately, we were able during our time in SIF to utilise their greenscreen; I was very pleased with the end result. The lighting provided at SIF allowed for a consistent exposure on the screen while the space available to us allowed separate lighting on the actors. The process was very efficient as the shots were easy to obtain, and the shoot fit in nicely with the sequence we were shooting against SIF's black walls.

The projection effect itself used a layer of super 8mm-style footage over the top of our 7D video; we then colour graded it to give a vintage film aesthetic. This was completed in Adobe AfterEffects, using mostly shots that didn't make it into the final cut of the other parts of our film.

More Inspiration - Copy Shop

A while back, I was watching one of the Cinema16 collections when I came across a quirky short called Copy Shop, by Virgil Widrich. The film is experimental, using visual effects throughout to sell the idea of multiple copies of the same character on screen. In Likeness, we have attempted to duplicate this technique in a small way, in order to convey the idea of the mass-produceable nature of photographic images. In this way, our core themes resemble in some ways those of Copy Shop.

The film focusses strongly on repetition of the same day, similarly to the way in which time repeats itself in Maya Deren's Meshes of the Afternoon. From both this film and Deren's films, I was inspired to include in the story a sense of manipulated time, so that the narrative we have chosen is somewhat circular.
While our own attempt at the Copy Shop effects are drastically smaller in scale, I feel that it effectively conveys the meaning we were hoping for.

More Storyboards! - Experimental Film

Although I initially intended only to produce loose storyboards for Likeness, I have decided to go into further details with the drawings and to roughly sketch out the shots to appear in the film. This has helped me to 'edit' the film before shooting, cutting down the amount of time wasted in production and post-production.

The boards are subject to small changes, and some of the drawings aren't too accurate, but they do serve as a good reminder of intended shots and as a communication tool.

Casting Call for the Experimental Film

For Likeness, we will be requiring an actor to play the part of the protagonist. In order to find one, I have placed a casting call on Mandy.com, a website I highly recommend for getting hold of cast and crew, and one that I have used before to great effect. The listing is below:

Vacancy :	Likeness
Production Type :	Short Film
Country/State :	UK England/ Wales
Town or Area :	Sheffield
Start Date :	24/1/12
Duration of job :	3 days spread out over 2 weeks
Payment :	lo/no/deferred payment
Displayed for :	7 days ( = starts 16-Jan-12 and expires 23-Jan-12)
Company Name :	SHU
Contact :	Alex Withers
Responses :	Applicants will fill in a form, with the results sent to - this address will not appear on mandy.com .
Web Page :	http://www.mandy.com/home.cfm?c=wit061
Address/Fax :	(none)
Artist Contracts :	non-Equity
General Text :	Director: Alex Withers. Likeness is a short experimental film exploring the nature of photography and the way in which a separate reality is created by a photograph. Synopsis: A photographer become lost in the separate reality of her own photographs. Through a series of surreal explorations of time and space we question the truth that seems inherent in photographic images. This is a student film, shot around the central area of Sheffield and in Sheffield Hallam University itself. We are casting for the protagonist, a photographer overwhelmed by the weight of her work. LOCAL APPLICANTS ARE PREFERRED; This is an UNPAID role, as there is unfortunately no budget for the film, but will provide interesting showreel material, and if the film is successful there is potential for submission to experimental film festivals. Shooting dates are subject to change and so the ideal applicant will have a flexible schedule. However, preliminary dates are Tuesday 24th, Monday 30th and Tuesday 31st January.

Production Design update: Instant Photographs

In one of the scenes of Likeness, instant photographs are required to dress the set, in order to create what appears to be a mass of photographs that the protagonist must wade through. For the very top of the pile, prints are needed to sell the illusion that the pile is made entirely of photographs.

For this, I retrieved a number of public domain images, and using a Photoshop action acquired at http://www.smashingmagazine.com/2008/10/20/the-ultimate-collection-of-useful-photoshop-actions/  each photograph was framed in a Polaroid-style frame. For this, I have to thank my girlfriend and her Photoshop wizardry for advising me on the quickest and most effective method to do this.

Below are a couple of the images, which will be ordered through Snapfish at a great bargain of 1p per print. I have primarily selected images which represent nature, in order to draw a contrast between the reality from which they were obtained and the questionable level of truth relating to how real these images in fact now are, as photographs. Secondly, to take it further, images were selected which purposefully could not in fact have been taken as instant photographs; a direct comment upon the reproducible and malleable nature of modern photography and the resultant questionable fidelity inherent in any given photograph.

Maya Deren's 'At Land', and its influence on our Experimental Film

Having completed a presentation on an article by Maya Deren for the Approaching Research module, I became familiar with the various concepts she deals with in her writings and the techniques utilised in her films. As part of the research process, Jordan and I also watched several of these works.
Among these was At Land, an experimental film using Deren's own technique of 'creative geography', linking separate locations together through cleverly-hidden transitions in order to create a continuous sense of movement through them. The protagonist (played by Deren herself) journeys across these scenes in a manner suggesting she is searching for something. The closing of the film reverses the order of these locations as she returns to the beginning scene of the film.
This sense of circular chronology appealed to me, and so I wrote Likeness with the intention of creating a similar loop in which the opening and ending of the film take place in the same location, and potentially at the same point in time.

A belief of Maya Deren's as argued in her writings, is that the photographic process results not in a capturing of reality, but the creation of an entirely new and separate one. The image is a representation of the mental process relating to what the viewer identifies as its subject, and the context in which it is viewed changes entirely its meaning. In this way, a cinematographer chooses aspects of reality to photograph that serve the purposes of their film and the meanings they wish to create. In At Land, this attitude is shown in the surreal blending together of carefully-chosen locations and scenarios, including a particularly surreal scene in which the protagonist crawls along a table, without drawing any notice from those sitting at it. Often throughout the film, an object (such as a chessboard) is used in order to link two locations together more cohesively and suggest no change in time but only a change in space.

In doing this, Deren exploits the unique ability of film to deal with time, and to represent time as required by the filmmaker.

In Likeness, we hope to channel some of these creative elements in order to produce our own piece of work that takes advantage of the qualities exclusive to filmmaking, and manipulates the viewer by using editing to alter real-life space in order to create an entirely new one existing only in the world of the film.

Experimental Film - Some Inspiration

When developing the initial concept for Likeness, some of the first sparks of inspiration came from a short documentary piece by Philip Bloom.
The below film was shot using the Sony NEX-5N, a Micro 4/3 camera that has joined the trend of HDSLR filmmaking despite not technically being a DSLR. Regardless of any limitations this small camera has in terms of creative control, Bloom has created a truly interesting and beautiful piece of work.

The opening shot was immediately one that appealed to me, and I wish to recreate it in our own upcoming film. From this, the idea of a story surrounding a photo booth stuck, and the rest of the film idea stemmed from this.
Once this was decided, the works and writings of Maya Deren were a massive influence, and the structure and style of Likeness was intended to reflect and comment upon some of the ideas and questions she raises about the photographic process.

Storyboards for Experimental Film

Having developed the concept for our experimental film, Likeness, with a strong sense of the visuals in mind, the storyboarding was a fairly rapid process. I decided to keep the storyboards loose, focussing on communicating ideas visually more than choosing each specific shot.
While some of the images include frames to determine rough compositions, many of the sketches simply show the layout of objects and characters, and illustrate some initial thoughts about motifs and sequences. An important note is that some of the angles are not necessarily accurate, and are likely to be different in the final shoot.
You can see the results below; I'm not the best drawer in the world and the scanning quality is questionable, but the scans should give an overview:

A Few Quick Points - Experimental Film

Just FYI, here's some more info on the experimental film project.
My group for the project consists of myself, Jordan Deakin, and Joe Butterworth. We have divided the roles as follows:

Alex Withers - Producer/Director

Due to my previous experiences producing and directing a 15-minute short (Mysterious Ways, currently in post-production), I felt that I was in the best position to co-ordinate our creative efforts and to develop an initial vision for the film.

Jordan Deakin - Camera/Edit

Jordan's interests lie primarily in camera work, and based upon his previous assignments it was clear that he would excel as cinematographer for the film; his strong compositional choices and smooth camera movements will lend some great visuals to the work.

Joe Butterworth - Sound/Edit

Listening to raw audio from Joe's previous work, it was an obvious choice for him to handle the sound elements of the experimental film. He has great imagination when it comes to recording, creating clear foley tracks from such actions as smashing a pumpkin to produce the sound of a man being hacked to death with a sharp implement. Sound editing is also a strong point for Joe, as demonstrated in his audio skills exercise.

A Script for Likeness

Following the nailing down of a concept for the experimental film, I've put together the first draft script for Likeness. Although the script is relatively short, it contains mostly actions and so should stretch out further per page than a conventional script.

INT. PHOTO BOOTH DAY

A young woman stares into the photo booth’s camera, waiting for the flash. When it arrives, it catches her a little off guard, temporarily blinding her. She stumbles out of the booth, rubbing her eyes.

INT. OUTSIDE PHOTO BOOTH DAY

A strip of photographs is printed by the machine, and she removes them. Upon doing so, however, she notices a presence behind her and turns to see a strange man wielding a super 8mm cine camera. The man observes her through the lens.

WOMAN

Hello? Everything ok?

A pause. The man does not reply.

WOMAN (CONT’D)

What are you doing? Do I know you?

ECU: THE WOMAN’S EYE AND THE CAMERA’S LENS ARE COMPARED.

She approaches the man, but he flees. 

WOMAN (CONT’D)

Hey!

Rounding a corner, she finds that the man has all but vanished, with no conceivable exit in sight. Taking notice again of the photo strip she holds in her hand, she discovers that it has faded; all of the images are blank. Returning to the booth, she inserts the photo strip into the printer slot. To her great surprise, stepping out of the booth is her exact duplicate. She goes unnoticed by the copy as it walks away, and takes up pursuit once again. 


INT. CORRIDOR DAY


Just like the man, the duplicate vanishes around a corner. This time, though, the woman finds herself in an entirely different location. What’s more, the copy has been replaced by a life-sized print of itself, seen from the back.

WOMAN

(To herself)

What the-?

The woman inspects the print, before stepping through, tearing the paper and emerging again in an unusual place.


INT. STAIRWELL DAY


Finding herself at the top of a long flight of stairs, she descends cautiously into darkness. The stairs appear to grow longer with each step, and it seems as though there is no end to them. Eventually, instant photographs begin to appear along the floor and on the wall behind her. As she continues to descend the numbers of photographs increase until she is wading in a sea of prints. Behind her as she continues, we see the projected moving images of the earlier events at the photo booth, seeming to have originated from the mysterious man’s cine camera. While most of the photographs are of an ambiguous nature, one in particular captures the woman’s attention. As she stoops down to pick it up, however, she notices the threatening presence of the man, and turns to see him standing uncomfortably close, unmoving, camera trained on her and breathing abnormally heavily. After an unbearable pause, she reacts, lifting the photograph in her hand to see it properly for the first time; the image shows herself, stood in front of the photo booth.


CU: INSTANT PHOTOGRAPH


INT. OUTSIDE PHOTO BOOTH DAY


REACTION SHOT


After viewing the photograph, we find that the woman has been transported back to the very photo booth it portrays. She enters the photo booth.


INT. PHOTO BOOTH DAY


The woman again stares into the booth’s camera, and the flash goes off.


FADE TO WHITE.

Experimental Film Concept

In the Approaching Research module, my group created a presentation based upon an article by Maya Deren. In this article, Deren outlines the arguments surrounding the 'truth' of photographic images, and expresses her view that they create their own separate reality based upon their resemblance of mental concepts relating to the subjects they portray.
Playing with these ideas and having viewed two of Deren's films: At Land and Meshes of the Afternoon, I have developed a concept that takes these arguments somewhat literally, and explores the relationship between reality and the photographic image. In future posts I will talk in further details about the films that have inspired this narrative.
For now, though, you can find below the first draft treatment for the concept:

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Likeness

Synopsis:

A photographer become lost in the separate reality of her own photographs. Through a series of surreal explorations of time and space we question the level of truth inherent in photographic images.

Treatment:

A photographer has her image captured in a photo booth. Emerging, dazed by the flash, she absent-mindedly removes the strip of photographs printed by the machine, and finds that she is the object of a filmmaker’s interest; a strange man watches her with a Super 8mm cine camera. In extreme close-up, the lens of the camera and the photographer’s eye are compared. Upon pursuit the man seems to vanish into thin air. As the photographer contemplates this mystery, she takes notice of the photo strip for the first time. To her great confusion, the images are blank.

Returning to the booth, she inserts the strip into the printer slot, reversing the process. But rather than fulfilling her vague hope of the photographs re-printing, the booth has another surprise in store. Stepping out of the machine is her precise and flawless duplicate, as dazed as she herself was when emerging earlier. The duplicate does not notice her, and leaves; the photographer takes up pursuit, turning a corner on which is hung an image of an empty corridor. Turning the bend, she finds herself transported to this very corridor. What’s more, her duplicate has vanished, replaced by a life-sized image of the copy seen from the back, as if continuing to walk away. She inspects the image before stepping through, tearing the paper it is printed on. 

She emerges, once again, in a different location; a long stairwell leading downwards. The descent seems almost infinite, and soon instant photographs begin to appear on the walls and lying in piles on the floor. The numbers continuously increase until she reaches the end of the stairs, and wades through a sea of photographs in the following corridor. Projected on the wall behind her are the events taking place earlier at the photo booth, seen from the perspective of the unknown cinematographer. One photograph in particular catches her attention, and upon picking it up she sees behind her the man with the cine camera, uncomfortably close, unmoving and intimidating. She is frozen to the spot, we see close-up the lens zoom in towards her, and she lifts the instant photograph up in front of her. It is revealed to be an image of herself in front of the photo booth, and cutting to a reaction shot and then a wide, we see that she has been transported back to the booth and to safety. She enters, and the flash goes off once again; we return to the beginning of the action.

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The implementation of these ideas will be challenging, but if done effectively should pay off well. Having researched the practicalities of printing for all of the required purposes, I feel there is enough preparation time for this to be carried out. The hope for the film is to shoot on DSLR, due to the cinematic quality it produces and its capacity for manipulations of depth of field, as well as the array of lens choices it provides.

The remaining challenges are casting appropriately, scouting locations and obtaining permissions (in particular for the photo booth), and obtaining a projector for one of the scenes. I will continue to update the blog with news of any developments regarding this, along with further work on the concept and any planning materials that are implemented.

Just Released: My Second Project With Free Running Films!

Before I went off to Stoke-On-Trent in October for my third work with Free Running Films (see my earlier post), back in August in Nottingham I recorded sound for this, a short promo documentary about another band, JD and the FDC's. 
And now, in no time at all, the doc is complete and released. It's very well put together, and I'm proud to have been a part of the production.

While I'm at it, here's the first project I worked on with Free Running Films, back in June(ish?) and again in Nottingham: a music promo for Stereo Juggernaut with their song, Defeated by the Sea. My role was lighting and additional camera work.

This one was a fantastic opportunity to work on some lighting and to practice shooting, safe in the knowledge that Felix, the director and mastermind behind the production, was shooting the primary footage. It was also my first practical experience shooting with a greenscreen, the results of which you can see in around half of the shots above. The most interesting part involved pyrotechnics, with the use of fire bins (those aren't visual FX!); that drummer was rather toasty by the end.

Last Weekend - Cinematography on a Music Video in Sheffield

On Saturday, I joined a filmmaker from a new local media production company, Make Mine Media, on a music video shoot in Hillsborough Park along with a nearby flat in the area.

My role was as cinematographer, lighting the locations and operating one of two cameras. The promo was shot primarily on 7D, with myself lending some Z1 footage into the mix.

The most beneficial element of the day was the opportunity to practice lighting a range of rooms and spaces. Outdoors I placed a white circular reflector to bounce as much sunlight as possible in order to provide a balance between key and fill. The position of the sun in relation to the staging of the cast allowed for a small amount of backlight to be present, separating the actors in a subtle way from the grassy area behind them.
When indoors, I lit using 2 Kino Flo's (1 x 400W and 1 x 200W) along with a small LED battery-powered light. In order to produce a morning sunlight aesthetic, I made use of Lee lighting gels; a 1/4 CTB on the Kino 400 mixed with a small amount of bounce from the Kino 200 with a cooler hue, using a Full CTB.

I tried to bounce the lights where possible, as I prefer sources to be as soft as possible, but in order to provide more exposure the soft light given out by the Kino's allowed for some more direct lighting.
A hint of light around 5600K was provided by the small LED lamp, which I used to clip the sides of faces and shoulders as subtly as possible with backlighting.

I'm looking forward to seeing the finished results, and if possible will share them here in a later post.

Some Inspiration for our Prison Riot

In researching the prison environment, the following two videos were particularly helpful and inspirational:

The first is coverage of a real-life riot in an American prison.

The second is a short fictional scene from the film Death Race (2008), directed by Paul W. S. Anderson.

One of the most prominent features of each is the overbearing sound of shouting from the inmates. This is then permeated by the sounds of destruction and fighting, and this is the approximate mix we have tried to imitate in our own prison sense of space.

The latter video illustrates the way in which a personal conflict can spark an uproar, and we felt that this was something that would fit in well with the narrative we were trying to construct.

Timeline for Sense of Space Audio Project

Here's a quick breakdown of our narrative for the prison-themed sense of space, as initially planned.

A warden walks through a corridor, and stops in front of a cell. - The door is opened and an inmate emerges. - The two characters continue together. - The hustle and bustle of the prison canteen rises up. - The inmate sits at a table. - Another inmate jeers at him, leading to conflict. - As bystanders cheer and laugh, the first inmate stands, approaches the other and lands a punch. - All hell breaks loose as all the other inmates stand and begin fighting violently. - guards attempt to calm down the inmates, and an alarm sounds. - Finally, as inmates continue their anarchy, shots are fires by the guards and the riot is dispelled by force.

An Unfortunate Turn of Events, and a Change of Plan

In order to record the sounds for our audio project, we had hoped to record in a school, adding a further layer of depth and meaning to our prison theme.
However, due to problems with not being able to contact a school after having our proposed recording accepted by them, we had to make the decision not to wait any longer, and to use the time remaining in order to record the sounds we needed around the university campus.
This has made it difficult to maintain a precise list of sounds, and led to some improvisation on our part. We have, though, been able to record a large variety of tracks from a range of different spaces and create the desired end result well. This has been made easier by our planning of the specific sounds needed for our prison narrative, allowing us to seek out raw recordings to suit them and save a lot of time.

Mind Maps for Audio Project 1

In our initial planning for the Audio Project, we drew up the following mind maps: