St Bernards Abbey

Two days ago, on my day off university, i visited a monks church called St Bernards Abbey. After observing the fascinating lifestlye these monks lead, i have become inspired to film their self sufficient way of life for my university coursework when we have to shoot a documentary.

I think it will be a great idea for our documentary as the sheer amount of material we can use will make calculating shots and content so much easier. A good concept for the documentary would be a "day in the life" idea, following the monks on their daily chores and lifestyle.

Additive Primary Colours.

Today we were told to read about the additive primary colours, so i have decided to post a picture of an additive colour wheel i found on an article hosted on DevX.com. After reading about how these colours are created through mixing lights, i read that LCD technology uses additive colours to project an image. The LCD screen can only transmit the 3 primary colours, but it makes up the different shades by mixing them. Interesting!

MALAC RECCE SHOTS

After discussing today with my group for the MALAC task, we have decided we should shoot the scene in an area that will reflect the dark and tense atmosphere which we are hoping to achieve throughout the composition. The perfect area which fulfilled this criteria was the basement in our house. At present, the basement is dark and would not be suitable for filming ( this is reflected in the current pictures ) however with a few strategically placed lights, the dark and menacing looking room would be the perfect setting for the scene to take place. I particuarly like the withered and run-down look of the brickwork on the walls and i think if we can successfully light the scene to create focus on the subject, then this will be the perfect location for our shoot.

Possible Practitioner for essay

Simon King, a wildlife cinematographer, has caught my attention as being an ideal candidate for my practitioners essay. I can think of nothing more inspiring than following in his footsteps, travelling the world and filming the natural world.

I first discovered about Simon King after watching through one of my favourite documentaries, Planet Earth. At the end of each episode there is a section where the viewers are shown how particular sequences are shown. On episode 9, shallow seas, Simon King uses a high-speed camera to capture footage of Great White sharks totally leaping out the water and capturing their prey. I found this footage so influential and inspiring that i had to look at some of Simon Kings other sequences that he had shot. I logged onto his website and looked at his show-reel and this week i shall be watching many of the other projects he has worked on.

Here is simon king in his zone

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vnfK7nlY9AM

Following a lecture i attended in the week, i have been further reflecting upon Jurgen Wolffs ideas on connections and creative writing, especially the broadening idea which was mentioned. Wolff described that the more diverse a persons knowledge and experiences, the more there creativity can blossom through different connections.

I find this idea particuarly inspiring, and i like to think throughout my life i have experienced many different things. Throughout my time i have travelled to many places such as Mauritius, South Africa, Dominican Republic. I have been walking across the peak district and climbed many mountains. My background as an athlete provides me with emotionally fuelled memories that i have lots of opportunities to write about, and my current lifestyle as a student is certainly not without its drama. I suppose this post is more of an observation that there are always opportunities to broaden my creativity, it's just a case of stepping out and living a little bit.

BACK IN ACTION

After being back into the swing of university lifestyle for a few days now, i think it is about time i published something on my blog, more of a reflection really than anything really exciting, about Location Research and Risk Assessments, a topic we covered in todays lectures.

We were asked to provide a recon-report and a risk assessment on the crossroads outside the Waverley building to judge the suitability and safety of the area for a shot required of someone "hastily" crossing a road. After a long discussion and many points raised between our group the general feeling was that unless the director was adamant on the area being used, then a different road would be more suitable. Points raised were:

• The traffic on the crossroads was hazardous, so many directions the cars could go etc.
• There is an active tram route through the shot. The tram is scheduled to pass through every 10 minutes, which means there is a small window for actually setting up and shooting the scene.
• The pavement surrounding the road was very narrow, this was a hazard to any pedestrians wishing to pass by and also our equipment as a tripod would not comfortably be able to sit on the sidewalk.
• In an ideal situation the road would be closed off, and this is important to remember, however due to our student budget and if the film was going to be shot under our control, the location would simply not be suitable.

After being paired with people who i do not know so well and introducing myself to them, i found the group-work to be very effective. We were all bouncing ideas off eachother and came up with some very interesting ideas which may not nessacarily have been generated by each of us had we worked alone.