Alarm: One Minute Film – David Thomas

Over the past month or so I have been working on a one minute film. It is surprisingly hard to pull off. The time restriction is the thing that makes it so hard, sixty seconds is not a long time so its difficult to overcome overly ambitious narratives. I can’t tell you how frustrating it is to draw out a storyboard, then realise as your adding up the seconds of each scene that its not going to fit. However it has been a good experience for me and became very rewarding.

I thought that instead of writing narrative in a traditional manner, I would base it entirely on a random sound. I went around with a sound recorder then later sketched some ideas from my imagination. It hit me how far away you can distance yourself from the real object if you are only given the sound. My best idea was listening to an alarm clock and sketching out a life resusitation machine. This became the device of my choice, so here it is.

Actors: Josh Webber (Patient/ Dreamer) & Ian Thomas (Man in Suit). Also a big thankyou to University Hospital of Wales

Funky New Website – Up and Running!

After a few months of niggling it in spare time between other projects, it is finally here! YESSS!

Its in a very early stage at the moment (not much content), but I am happy with the design for now. Let me know if you love/ hate it.

P.S – Hate is not a bad thing in my World

Negative Thoughts – Film

With most of my projects taking on a fairly cheerful and happy look, I decided to explore how you could visualise something more negative. In my case, I am using a mind as the ‘implied space’ and the words are negative thoughts. To gather the words, I picked out things I considered negative from conversations with people

Most of this is the result of projection experiments. The idea is that your thoughts are sort of dictated by memory and things being experienced. For me memory (in everyday life) comes in short bursts, experiences are projected through my eyes.

So that’s the concept. I originally photographed my projection experiments, but decided in the end it would work better as a mini-film piece. The sound is influenced by Eraserhead which used no music, instead relying on the sounds produced from the World around us. Music and sound is a strange thing, because it can totally change the concept of what you are watching. It was important for me to keep the sense of disorientation. In their case it was a very industrial dominated soundtrack, mine takes more from city life.

As far as future improvements and additions go, I may well make another version. Its been suggested that I use some digital effects, because its all been done in camera up until now.

Negatives Video – Youtube

Film Workshop – The Godfather 4

For the past four weeks we have been doing a film workshop at University. Me and two others decided it would be fun to do another Godfather film, but make it more like a ‘how not to do’ take.

I created most of the used storyboards, so ended up directing a lot of it (which I enjoyed). There is still part of me saying that I enjoyed directing the actual photography rather than the actual film as a whole. Creating the storyboards and camera angles/ set ups were definitely the most engaging for me.

Working with Mitch Oram and Nick Stamp was also enjoyable. Together we helped solve the technical problems and produce the actual film’s ideas. I did however find it quite stressful directing the acting, which I have had no experience of dealing with before. Our main actor (Nick) has also never acted before, which made this part even more strenuous. I found the best way to direct our actor was to show him what we wanted rather than just say what we wanted.

Another lesson I ran into was: Don’t film at night! Its difficult to pull off and everybody is more tired than usual! If I ever have to again, I will film at noon and just make it look like night in the editing phase!

Anyway, here’s the film: