Sitting at the back of class, vaguely dazed and recovering from three nights of hardcore logging action. Not the lumberjack variety - more picking and choosing from 14 hours of footage to set up the edit on a project. The irony was, as I realised, that due to other commitments I'm not actually going to get started on the actual edit for four or five days - but because I had to borrow this to do the logging, (DVCAM footage [Edit: In response to Dave's comment, it was all filmed in HDV but is being output as DVCAM and then converted to straight DV PAL for edit, because...]) time was against me.
Which is a pity, because I've spent all week actually really wanting to work on the my PGCE media assignment - something I've actually had quite a lot of trouble finding inspiration for. Still, as the photo above testifies, I've finally got a bit of an idea...
News is literally just breaking that the man who was, among other things, going to take the revitalised Batman franchise and make it even more ridiculously amazing, Heath Ledger has been found dead at his apartment in NYC. At the moment, police are working along the lines of an overdose. I never realised he was so young (only 28) and it only goes again to highlight that, despite being heavy on the talent and success, another young man might have found it just too hard to deal with when it came to his private life being ripped apart and pored over by the media at large.
It's probably fitting at this time to unashamedly admit: I think A Knight's Tale rocked. I wonder now if The Dark Knight, and Ledger's final curtain call will ever see the light of day - we live in hope.
In order to somewhat polish off the narrative arc begun in the last post below, I thought, what the hell... so I digitised up the epic that is DoubleCross as well. I've got to admit, for me watching back all the outtakes (that no-one will ever see... well, not for a while anyway) has actually been the fun bit - not so much a trip down memory lane as a cruise along recollection road in a battle tank constructed of things I'd blanked from my consciousness.
DoubleCross began life... actually, it's probably more relevant to pick up the story where we left off with Discarded. [Still with me? You really should try getting out more. Anyway.] If you haven't read the bit from last time, scroll down and do so now. We'll wait until you're done.
SO... despite the lack of a narrative or any real skill whatsoever, Discarded did actually start something. The following summer, after several nights in a row spent immersed in film (regularly racking up five a night, stats fans... it was reckoned at the time that we watched at least 30 more during the course of making DC, which probably explained the number of script changes to incorporate swiped lines) I sat down and hacked out a script called Blown Away. The expletive-laden draft read somewhere between Snatch and Mallrats. Either way, it was pretty much unfilmable. I blame the rage on the fact that I did most of the writing whilst waiting for Russ to wake up in the morning, regardless of how many objects were hurled at him.
So we took it, and I started rewriting. I'd write a few pages, and we'd work out how to film it. The other two 'actors' Matthew and Martin, were roped in pretty early on - Russ subsequently used them both in legitimate short films over the next few years: Matthew's now something of a cult figure, I suppose.
Anyway, long story short, it turned out pretty great.
a) The police car at the start is, as previously hinted, a real police car. The Gardai resided across the road, and the local sergeant was usually warned before Russ started blowing things up to avoid any confusion. However, someone further up the street rang in to complain that some young hooligan was sprinting down the road with what appeared to be a handgun, and they came around just to make sure. Russ decided to leave the camera running to see what would happen, and got the perfect shot. It's pretty hilarious with the original audio. ("Howya lads... what's going on today then?" "Ah, howya Pat...")
b) The sound dips a lot in the YouTube cut for the obvious reason. Didn't want anyone to be offended.
c) The narrative is actually pretty understandable. There's a bit of a dip in quality in the middle, as some of the dialogue seems to have been swept behind Bob Marley at one point. A great pity if you're a fan of wordplay.
d) As in all productions, Puddles appears. Spot for a prize.
e) Early on, it was decided that for the look of the thing, we would film at the "Magic Hour" every day to try and get that really soft lighting as the sun goes down. It meant we could only really film for an hour and a half each day, and made rehearsals a mad panic. And we did rehearse!
f) The shoot out at the end was meant to have flash-and-smoke added, but we ran out of time in the edit - so it looks a bit wick.
g) Check out the irony in the "No Dumping" sign just at the end. Genius.
h) The graveyard featured is the same graveyard mentioned in another famed tale of decadence from this stable; it will however, not be discussed here.
So without further ado, ladies and gents... the two-parter that is DoubleCross
Every now and again, it comes up in conversation: at what point did I decide to get into film? I remember a great conversation had at my enrollment as a fresher for QUB Film: something around the area of, "Your A Levels are in... I'm sorry, what?" [For the record, Maths, Chemistry and Physics (ABB, don't be pedantic.)]
Anyway, I could cite lots of vantage points along the way. But really, my cousin Russell is to blame more than most. I spent two summers in a row sleeping on his floor and pestering him to let me do stuff. The second production, DoubleCross has moments in it that I can honestly say remain among the most special I ever had anything to do with - come on, it's REAL cop car and a graveyard shootout in a REAL graveyard! With fleeing spectators! - but the first, Discarded was, well... different. In all honesty, it was buried pretty quickly at the bottom of a deep pile of shame. But tonight I finally managed to get the VHS copy digitised. But perhaps I should explain a bit more about the production.
a) It was made on one of those big ass '80s cameras. You put a VHS-C straight into it, taped what you want, and never even imagined editing existed. The picture quality is something to behold - believe it or not, a lot of the 'damage' - e.g. light distortion and glare - was there on the original.
b) We circumvented the editing issue using two VHS machines. About as accurate as trying to hit a paperclip with a custard pie. From 100 yards.
c) Sound? No sound. Weeeelll.... we opted to have no dialogue (bad move - narrative is completely incomprehensible) and instead used pillaged film music throughout. How did we get it on tape? Used a HiFi turned up really, really loud...
d) Colour filters? What colour filters... went to the hardware shop, bought some coloured bulbs.
e) There's actually a truckload of our homemade fake blood - it's a bit lost in the graininess of it all though. Look out for it on the tree near the end.
f) The exploding grave shot makes me squeal with joy. I might upload the blooper reel, which gives away how it's done.
g) I had never acted before. I had never written anything before. I was, in fact, 13.
h) I mentioned the lack of a coherant narrative. To find out what the film is actually about, check out this page I built about it on my old, old website (geocities-tastic).
And so, ladies and gentlemen... surfacing for its first viewing in at least five or six years... I give you, the genesis of it all: Discarded.
For whatever reason, former roommate/scourge Dave has decided to transfer his rantings, (formerly available through his bebo page) to blogspot. I dunno, and people tout the internet like it's a good thing?
Anyway, people (and by people I mean John) appear to be using this as an excuse to pick on him via the medium of vaguely embarassing photos. I have lots, but decided to restrict them to child friendly ones. (Don't look at the one of him with Puddles the Wonder Dog too closely.)
Speaking of that same Wonder Dog, someone asked me the other day about getting the long forgotten Discarded on YouTube. Discarded was the first 'film' I ever participated in, and where I got the bug from at the tender age of 13 or so. The website's from when I was at school at plugging such things like mad - deprived of attention or something. I'm going to try and digitise it tonight, but I fear the VHS (it was edited using two tape players - glorious! The credits were on sheets of paper stuck to the wall!) might be too far gone for restoration. Watch this space.
This all feels a bit too much like a shrine to Dave now, so I'm going to stop. He is getting married though, so I doubt he's gay. Most of the time...
Had a random happening as I flicked through lots of free handouts at a Citizenship conference last week. Turned a page in The EEF'sTeacher Resource Guide to be confronted by my own photographs. Turns out, of course, that Alyn at the Kilbroney Centre decided to use some of the Camp Alliance publicity shots along with some of Rob's work to front all the publicity for the educational programs - which is nice.
In other news, been playing around with some fun new recording gear this week... so far, setting up and recording a drum kit is the hardest bit! (Doesn't help when it's a heap of crap anyway...) Hoping to be able to build enough motivation to eventually get enough stuff together for some online releasing... trying to get a collaborations thing off the ground that's been circulating among a select few for a while. We shall see!
This guy doesn't actually want to be president of anything (though I'd still back him)but Johnwould like to know how it is possible for bumblebees to fly. Among other things. I also swear that he can go for days subsisting purely on a combination of hammerheads and Football Manager. So his new blog should make pretty interesting reading from time to time.
You are Steven Spielberg. Your medium of choice is film. Your touch is magical because everything you take part in has reached greatness. One of the most influential people among your peers, you are liked for your imaginary vision.
