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After a brief rundown of what continuity editing means, and an explanation of the 180 degree rule, we got a brief assignment:

Shoot and edit a non-dialogue scene consisting of not more than 10 (production) shots (ie, set-ups) in which one character (‘A’) enters a location and gives an object to a second character (‘B’). The scene must begin and end with character A in a separate space from character B. The scene is to be shot in continuity style.

This is what I did during reading week, originally intended to be my solo project.

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However, I couldn't let my group down! So we made this as our official Continuity Editing hand-in.

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My new filmmaking gadget: Lilliput 7" monitor

Reasonably priced with a good display. I'm looking forward to testing it in the field.

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The Five Minute Short

We assembled the same team we had when we did our recreation, with the new addition of Stephen, for this final MDA1300 project. It's safe to say this was our most ambitious project so far, and we did get a fair amount of praise during the screenings.

But that's not for lack of effort, I can tell you that. We spent an insane amount of time, discussing and debating over every single little element in the film, trying our best to make something we could all be proud of.

We received yet another bollocking from Eddie though, again with the naming of the roles, and the this time, having the correct paperwork. And yet again we went out of our tutorial, determined to put our best effort into the film. I guess we're just motivated by lack of faith. (heh)

We were lucky enough to get an actor who could pull of the demanding part we'd written for this short, and a lot of credit should go to James Laing for helping us make the film the way we wanted it to be.

Bring on 1400, we like a challenge.

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Lighting Workshop

This week we learned about lighting, and got a wake up call from Eddie. Supposedly his "producer"- speech is somewhat famous among BA film students.

It was an interesting lecture though, learning about classic three point lighting. How to properly handle the equipment. He taught us some basic terms used in the industry, and how you need to know all of these things if you ever want to work on an actual film set.

We were set a lighting exercise as this weeks brief, one portraying natural light, and one for artificial light. I'm not happy with our results though, and I'm thinking we need more practice. Although the monitor on the HM100 really played a trick on us. Everything was a lot darker once we'd imported all the raw files, than what they were on the camera's playback.

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Unity of Action

I thought the assignment text was vague at best, but we thought about it for a long time. Alex and I insisted by the end of it to just prop the camera up on a tripod, and just point it at a tree outside of the Halls. 

Apparently we were one of very few who have ever managed to get the assignment right, which just makes it even more obvious that the actual point of it was to trick us into doing something elaborate and complicated with just one shot. Lucky guess I suppose.

I do think the text should be revised though.

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Norwegian Short Film Teaser Trailer.

Directed and written by Espen Meling Sele.

I was location manager for a couple of scenes and overlooked parts of the production.

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Piffany - Llama Asylum

Music video production I helped out on.

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Recreation of a scene.

Now this was a challenging, but fun project. We spent a lot of time deciding on which scene we were going to try to replicate, and at first we thought of doing a scene from Raging Bull. We were instantly shot down in the workshop when we presented our ideas, and the fact that we hadn't yet labeled someone producer gave us an earful. So we went out of the lecture determined to show what we could do.

Once we'd decided on the opening scene of Kill Bill, we knew it was ambitious, but now we had a clear idea of what we wanted to do. We went prop hunting and found some similar clothing and accessories, and set up the shoot.

After a lot of trials and errors and making our own little tracking contraption out of a slider and a piece of string, we finally got things rolling. It was funny really, every stupid idea we had, we tried and ultimately it was in our favor.

We couldn't have been more lucky in our choice of actress. Lowri did a splendid job, and we were happy with the results. We pooled our resources together and made the first thing we were really happy with. At least I was.

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This week we learned about sound recording and how to use the cameras directional microphone correctly.

For the brief we were to make short interviews, where sound was the main thing to worry about. Don't mind the actual contents.

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The HM100

http://www.luminous-landscape.com/reviews/camcorders/jvc-hm100.shtml

This voices out some of the concerns I have regarding this camera, and some of the good parts. I am fairly comfortable using camcorders like this one and have previously been using this Sony HDV camera. http://www.sony.co.uk/pro/product/hdvcamcorders/hvr-z5e/overview

However I like the image quality you can get out of a DSLR and I am more confident using them to get the shots I want when I’m making films.

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The Modules

Lectures, seminars, screenings. Classes have started, and with it comes the work. Although, you can't say it's started in earnest. We've been asked to do a bit of light reading in Communicating in Film and Television, and we are to invent a story for Storytelling for the Screen.

The Communicating in Film and Television module is basically about breaking a film down and putting the pieces in their respective categories. Reading the visual images and understanding choices made within cinematography, mise-en-scene, editing and sound (music, dialogue and effects). We're supposed to pick up the book Film Art - an introduction by Thompson and Bordwell, which turned out to be an interesting read. At least it's something to recommend to other filmmakers out there!

Storytelling for the Screen is all about understanding and writing stories. However there's also a great deal of discussion going on in the Storytelling lectures. For instance we have discussed such points as ´why do we need stories?´

Lastly we also have these things called workshops. My guess is that these classes tend to be more practical, and is where we will be doing some of the actual production, a class I am very much looking forward to. So far we have only gotten to camera induction, and been set a new brief.

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The result of one and a half hours of filming a bit of downtown London, and our very first brief. The Spirit of London.

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Piffany Music Video: Production stills

Producer, Director and Cinematographer: Sander Eriksen

Stills: Jesper Tobiassen

These are a couple of photos that I took during the production of a music video for the Norwegian band Piffany. I was part of Sander Eriksens film crew as a runner.

Sander Eriksen is a talented Norwegian student filmmaker who is working freelance at the moment. Check out his work!

His portfolio: http://sandereriksen.com/

His vimeo page: https://vimeo.com/eriksen

I will set up a link to the video once it is released in November.

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Ran the same shot through Adobe After Effects as a practice for basic grading, motion tracking and stabilizing.

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Testing out the Flycam Nano in a corridor in Platt Hall.

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Cameraman: Andreas Drange Jensen feeling just a bit silly while holding his camera upside down, near the London Eye.