Reunion.

Hello...

Due to my hiatus, this post is essentially the blogging equivalent of going on an incredible holiday...without telling your friends you left; or phoning them when you get there...or bringing them back any souvenirs...or even worse, bringing back shark tooth necklaces.

But fear not! I'm back now with plenty of news updates and general waffling to keep you entertained before desperate housewives is on.

For anyone who hasn't clocked on to the metaphor yet, my holiday was actually an intensive 2 months of balancing university, freelancing, students union work and a social life.  People really weren't kidding  when they said that second year wouldn't be the easiest, although it has definitely been the best in my filmmaking career.

First order of business is we finally completed the short film for our Drama Production module 'Damp Patch'. Which can be found here:

 Overall, I am incredibly happy with how the project turned out. The level of intensity our team poured into pre production, the tightness of the shoot, brilliant performances and the way we pulled together in the manic post production phrase (the 3 days I had to learn an entire media composer and edit a short film would not have been possible without my friends keeping me sane) makes this my proudest achievement so far.

The Cast and Crew of 'Damp Patch'

My aim for the project was to set a new standard for myself in filmmaking when compared to previous work. This has been reflected in our feedback for the film which has been hugely positive, with the main praise being overall level of quality in the production. We have been awarded a First for our efforts, and hope that our next production fairs even better and continues to this new high standard we have set for ourselves.

Editface.

Another aspect of 'Damp Patch' I am proud of is the editing, which was one of my main roles in the production. I was originally going to use the familiar software 'Premier Pro' for the job, but due to an abundance of time constraints, technical errors and screens-falling-off-laptops-errors, I was tasked by my lecturer to learn new software. So I spent hours learning 'Avid 6' and completed the film with the software, subjecting myself to the banter of the technicians who have been dealing with my 'Avid Attitude' for over a year. However, the new version is actually, dare I say, quite good. I enjoyed learning the software and facing the challenge, which whilst frustrating has pushed me to become a more efficient editor.

Award, what award?

So, whilst the technicians have been hailing me as an 'Avid convert' I will simply say that it does its job, like any good tool should, and it does it very well. I just prefer using my new chainsaw: Final cut X.

(The change of heart was in no way influenced by the 'Most original short' Award they sponsored a while back, I promise...). 

Money raised for Children In Need: Over £150, Steve's pain: Priceless.

Partying it up with Lauren Flynn for her debut music video. 

The various dance societies at LJMU prepare for the Xmas showcase.

Alongside all of this I've been taking on various jobs as part of my new role as 'digital content producer' for the students union, so far consisting of dance photography, charity filming and promotional videos. I will be posting more in depth about this at a later date. I also worked as on a music video with Dean Cammack (Robbie from 'Damp Patch') and Joe Woolf which should hopefully surface soon. These outside opportunities have been great fun, practice and above all, a great way to meet great contacts and friends. 

Christmas came early.

The final order of business in this lengthy catch up is the unveiling of my new 27' iMac and newly installed Final Cut X. This is by far the most powerful computer, best editing software and largest investment I have ever made, but I confident that with this new tool at my disposal my filmmaking especially post production work, will improve even more. I will be posting more of my thoughts on Final Cut X at a later date although the short time I have spent with it has been nothing but amazing. It's fast, easy to use and intuitive. Which is exactly what I have been looking for in an editing software. To test the software I created an edit of my trip around Europe which can be viewed below (no shark tooth necklaces unfortunately). 

Thanks for reading this post, I'm going to try and keep on top of the blogging in the new year (one of the resolutions i'm more likely to keep, unlike 'look like Bane by August'). I have a few more projects in the to back catalogue to finish up before the next semester and I'm still waiting on feedback from a few essays, but its been a great year in all. I'm looking forward to a great year in 2013 with my friends, the crews I work with and my new drive for filmmaking.

From here on out, its: 'Make awesome things, and be awesome too'.

Thanks guys.
Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year.

Joe C.

The First Creative Day.

Hey everyone.

Last Saturday myself and my group of friends from Media professional studies decided to get our creative juices flowing by having an appropriately named 'Creative Day' at Becca's flat in the center of town. 

The aim for the day was to create an open forum where ideas for our individual projects could be discussed with friends, and new ones can be born.

Pipes and bobble hats are of course a crucial part of the creative process.

We began the day by taking a part in an excersie that involved us listing as many scenarios as we could think of one by one as fast as we could such as:

- A man walking a dog finds a treasure box.

- A woman falls into a painting.

- A detective discovers he can only concentrate around pies.

- An artist robs a bank.

We then decided to develop some of these scenarios in a story formatting exercise. In particular the girl falling into the painting, which became a complete narrative by the end of the day and may even be shot in the future, perfectly illustrating how ideas were born.

Mark Nugent on the prowl for his 'Photo of the Day'.

After this warm up, people who wanted to could present their ideas for projects and have the rest of the group challenge, develop and give feedback on the ideas. For example we helped James Dunn work on his new stand up routine and helped Mark Nugent in deciding how the final battle between two characters in his upcoming project should be conducted. I also presented small idea I've had for the 'Guardian Shorts' competition involving paper and creativity.

After the feedback circle, the rest of the day was used by everyone involved in different ways, some built a fort to test for an upcoming short, others filmed a new short sketch and some of us continued to develop the story of the painting girl. All of this was concluded with takeaway, banter and of course, the x-factor (sigh). 

All in all, I think the first creative day was a huge success, it's exciting to think of the possibility's of future days, and also what we can achieve as a group when we sit down to dedicate our time to our ideas.

The guest appearance of Slenderman was also surprising, although if anyone has seen James Dunn though contact me because he is still missing. 

Hopefully as more of these days happen, even more ideas will develop and grow in this space.

Thank you to everyone involved, and to you for reading this post!

Joe C

Practice Makes Perfect.

Hey guys.

So its been a busy fortnight. Over the last two weeks I've done everything from attend meetings, produce test shoots, attend awards nights and begin to plan a few new projects. This post is sort of like a diary of whats been going on, with some more dedicated posts about the individual projects coming over the week.

Smiles at the awards night soon vanished upon discovering the trophies were not edible.
(Pictured with Becca Fadden, winner of 'Best Factual Film').

The first order of business was the 'Avid awards' night, hosted by the university, where various awards were given across a wide range of categories to young film makers. My production team from last year received three nominations during the night, walking away with 'Most Original Short' for our film 'Dead on Time'. Which you can view below.

'Dead On Time' Is actually the first short film I have ever made, so it was looking back on the project, and how far I have come since then as a film maker that made the entire evening a real pleasure. (Besides seeing my lecturer in a tuxedo, that was priceless). It was also really nice to get together with friends and celebrate our successes from last year, before we all began to enter the fun, but admittedly stressful cycle of production again in Autumn 2012.

Myself with fellow producer on Dead On Time: Jamie Morris.

When attending university, meetings become a huge part of your life. Over the last few days I have attended the 'board of study' where I converse with university staff as a representative for students in order to improve the quality of the degree. Whilst this isn't strictly relevant to film making practice, I enjoy my role and as it allows me to practice professional and social skills which will contribute to my personality in the industry such as voicing others opinions and articulating ideas to others. 

Tea is a vital part of meetings.

Meetings are also an important part of production, as without them all shoots would be a complete mess. 

During the weekly planning sessions with my new production team '5F5' we produced a screenplay, character profiles, shot lists and research notes in order to prepare for our short film 'Damp Patch' we then as part of our assessment produced a test shoot for the film.

A test shoot is almost like a draft of an essay, we filmed a scene from our screenplay in a standard location, using ourselves as actors just to test our script, shot lists and lighting. The shoot went according to plan, and feedback from our tutors was mostly positive. We are now looking to cast actors and find a location to bring the real drama piece into the desired time period, combining the positives with needed improvements from the feedback in order to make our best short yet. 

The shoot was also the first time we have used a Camera frame to stabilize our shots, which will help us achieve smooth camera motion and make difficult shots possible without resorting to a tripod, this has really helped our freedom in cinematography and it shows in our shoot. 

I will be posting the test shoot up online after the finished film is released in order to write a comparison between them. I am also working on some brand new projects that I will outline in a more dedicated post, but I am really excited to be on some really exciting teams. 

Thanks for the catch up.

 Joe.

Playing Catch Up.

Hey all.

Originally I intended to launch this blog when I moved up to Liverpool, where I am currently studying my degree in Film studies. However, virgin media decided it would be much more fun for us to not have internet, so this post is serving as a catch up for all the media related things that have happened over the last few weeks.

Unboxing the Canon 600D proved to be little challenge after years of retail experience. 

First of all, I purchased my brand new DLSR camera, a Cannon 600D. One of my aims this year is to greatly improve my own sense of cinematography and to learn to operate a camera with complete manual exposure settings for both video and photography. 

Right now though I am currently in love with my DSLR and here are some of the photos I have taken with it below using a mix of automatic and manual settings (No editing). 

Alongside coming to grips with a new set of gear. I have also began attending lectures, this semester I will be covering European Cinemas, Modern American Cinemas, Film Adaptation and Film Drama production.
In terms of the theoretical modules I will occasionally be posting my thoughts on interesting things I pick up from these lectures, although the purpose of this blog is mostly to document the practical side of my work.

Currently 'Damp Patch' looks like this. Cinematic I know.

For Film Drama Production I have began work on a new short film 'Damp Patch' alongside my new production team: Jamie Morris, Chris Hughes, Nancy Green and Olivia McAvoy. The film currently looks like a mess of paper, but will be a beautiful motion picture by November with this blog providing plenty of insight into the production process.

Cast and Crew for the Video Ink production 'Everybody Stand In Line' 

Outside of university I partook in an internship with Manchester based company 'Video Ink' as a production assistant on various music video shoots. I intend to write a proper reflection on my time with the company at a later date, but for now I'll just say it was insane and I've learnt a huge amount from the directors Adam Barker and Oliver Price during my time there. (Thank you guys).

The new SpacecatTV features outdoor sections. Evolution.

I have also been reunited with my online sketch group 'SpacecatTV' and we are working on brand new and ambitious content for our exciting second year run. 
The group consists of myself, Mark Nugent, James Dunn, Ian Gardner and James Mc keown. We have also welcomed Jamie Morris into our ranks as a producer and look forward to working with him on some awesome content this year. Together we have already shot one brand new untitled short which is under wraps for now, although I can promise it is our biggest production yet.

Outdoor segments AND mirrors? It's almost like we are trying.   

More production photos and notes relating to Spacecat will be uploaded to the SpacecatTV blog throughout the year, which you can check out here: http://spacecattv.blogspot.co.uk/

So there you go. That's almost everything I've been working on in the last few weeks, and there is only more to come.

Thanks for reading.
Joe.

Welcome

This is my blogging face. I'm Pulling it right now.

Welcome to my brand new blog.
I decided to move from tumblr because...well it's tumblr.
On this exciting new blog I will be posting production insights into the short films and sketches I help produce, reviews of films I've seen, and thoughts on my new venture into the world of DSLR photography.

Please bookmark this page if:
A. You still bookmark pages (seriously do people still do that?)
B. You actually want to check this stuff out.

Okay, so thank you Mum for bookmarking.

To everyone else, I hope you will at least check back again once this is up and running!

Cheers Guys.
Joe.