Eh, that's a wrap.

Well it's taken many hours of planning, discussing, travelling, filming and editing but our Liverpool project is just about finished. Jordan and Sam have spent hours if not days in the edit trying to tidy up the footage and make it look as good as we can get it, as I speak they are composing the musical score and with a bit of luck it should be burned to disc by tomorrow. Today I have been there supervising the edit, offing a bit of input and I was also able to see a rough edit of the film, which considering what we had to work with I think was very good.

However, our sound man seems illusive today and left Jordan with a good deal of work to do in his absence.

Overall, this project has been a huge learning experience: we've been in a city many of us are unfamiliar with and as such we had to face up to problems as they occurred rather than retreat from them into our comfort zone. It was a very advanced location shoot with more crew and equipment than we've used before. I do wish I wasn't ill on the first day and subsequently more of an idea of what we were going to do on the second day but I suppose it couldn't have been avoided.

Parashoot form

This is a section of the ParaShoot form I filled out in preparation for our trip to Liverpool.

Some pictures of Liverpool

Whilst we were preparing to go to Liverpool I was tasked with looking for locations that would convey not just the deprived and derelict areas of the city but also it's rejuvenated and modern buildings associated with its culture and heritage. (These were taken with Google Street View.)
The recently redeveloped and heritage heavy Albert Dock.
The new Liverpool Echo arena, a symbol of wealth and culture as it hosts a lot of events.The Metropolitan Cathedral, a symbol of religion with a modern design aesthetic. In contrast, Liverpool's Catholic Cathedral has a much more traditional and maybe Gothic appearance. The derelict and rotting Edge Lane is the first thing that people see when they enter Liverpool via the motorway and is off putting. Most of these houses were undergoing demolition when we arrived, however some were still standing and created a nice juxtaposition with the new houses which had taken their place. The Liver building and Titanic memorials both hold significance for the city, the former being one of Liverpool's most recognisable buildings and the Titanic memorial being a symbol of a disaster that claimed the lives of many Liverpudlians. Liverpool One, a vast redevelopment of the city centre illustrates the amount of money that the city had when it became the city of culture and is a hub for retail and social activity. This marina is close to the Albert Dock and usually has some watercraft in it, some vintage.
Some more wealthy and up market residential streets not far from the Catholic Cathedral and Chinatown. These industrial units are further out of town and have just been left to rot.
Lime Street is awash with large victorian buildings including the train station, Empire theatre, Walker Gallery and City Museum.

A Review of a review (paradox?)

As a rule I don't listen to a lot of radio as I don't believe that a lot of the programming caters to my interests and enjoyment. One programme that I will willingly sit down and listen to though is Kermode and Mayo's Film Reviews, broadcast on Fridays between 2pm and 4pm on BBC Radio 5 Live.

The show features interviews with filmmakers who might be promoting a new film or just in the public eye at that time, a list of the top 10 films at the box office, letters from viewers and of course reviews of the latest films, both mainstream blockbusters and smaller independent films.

Mark Kermode is the main film critic on the show and certainly has his own style of presenting and criticism, making him unique and often fun to listen to. Though at times he can come off as picky, opinionated and on the odd occasion slightly immature, it is still interesting and entertaining to listen to his thoughts. Where most critics will judge a film solely on its visual elements and story, measuring a movie's pros and cons, Kermode does not just this but also analyses the film as an experience and whether or not it was forfilling enough and worth your time to go and see.

Simon Mayo makes less of an impression, seeming a lot like Kermode's right hand man or dare I say 'sidekick', although he offers his thoughts on some films they very rarely have the same comic or thought provoking nature of Kermode's. That being said it is still a lot of fun to listen to the banter between the two critics and how they play off eachother really makes the show special, you couldn't have one without the other, they're almost like a double act.




Unlike most reviews this show doesn't take itself too seriously and isn't scared of adding humour, as previously mentioned the banter between the two critics is fun to listen to and reminds me of Siskel and Ebert to a degree. They even dub their show "Wittertainment", they know what they are and they embrace it. They even have running gags such as: Kermode's hatred of 3D, impressions of actors and film characters (done by Kermode), Kermode's apparently large hands, the duo's comic attempts at avoiding spoilers and they have even created their own code of conduct for cinema patrons.

What's also great about the show is that blockbusters at the multiplexes aren't always the main focus and independant films likely to be shown in local independant cinemas are given more focus and generally get better reviews than the mainstream films, this is brilliant because they're using their large audience and popularity for the good of the smaller budget filmmakers struggling to make a name for themselves and a positive review from this show is likely to make more people enclined to go and see it.

This show is unique amongst radio schedules dominated by current affairs, music and sports programming and whiles I'd be lying if I said I listened to every episode it is still an entertaining show and podcast which is a must listen if you have an interest in film. (I usually only listen if there's a particularly interesting film being reviewed or discussed, perhaps I should listen more in case a gem that I could enjoy gets mentioned).

My final piece from last year

This is the final film that I produced for my course last year; a parody of the opening of the CSI programmes. Fast paced and colourful, featuring many forensic images and songs by "The Who" these title sequences have been spoofed time and time again. My version, like many of the episodes begins with a "Previously on..." segment, which features random clips that are seemingly unrelated to anything cohesive and structured, making it confusing. A small segment of the "episode" follows with the main character suspecting a murder, putting on his sunglasses before the opening titles roll. In retrospect I wish it was a bit longer and polished than it currently is, the fact it was filmed on an OLD Sony Handycam didn't help and I wish I could have synced the sound up better (rerecording the sound on a marantz). But on the whole it was well received by tutors and the rest of the group.

(sorry for the poor quality, i lost the original file and had to rip this off the DVD)

Possible inspiration:

http://flamin.filmlondon.org.uk/showcase/assets/showcase_items/sea_change

This is one of the inspirations for how our Liverpool documentary could be structured in terms of editing, showing transitions between various locations from day to night or showing minor similarities between places that otherwise contrast with each other.

However, since the editing for this project is quite experimental in terms of what we're trying in terms of structure, pace and so on this may change at some point.

Post Documentary shoot.

I'm just going to come clean and say that I don't think I contributed enough to the actual production stage of our documentary project, the main reason being I was ill and unable to attend the first day of filming, when I arrived the day after quite a bit of footage had already been shot, I had missed the production tutorial and from what I can gather the idea had been altered slightly to resemble a sonic postcard style.
Yet despite these problems I think the production went relitively smoothly and we got done what we needed to in good time, mostly thanks to the director knowing what he wanted to accomplish and took charge very well.