rob blake

warp

2010-05-25T03:44:00.002-07:00

Perhaps the greatest output of quality films from the Yorkshire area come from the brilliant “Warp films”, though they won’t help you make films they are a lesson in great local film making, using very regional actors/crew to create enjoyable yet challenging films with international appeal.

warp films include...

this is england
bunny and the bull
donkey punch
dead mans shoes
4 lions

among many others

northern exposure

2010-05-25T03:44:00.001-07:00

“Northern Exposure” is a partnership between “Northern Film and Media”, Northwest vision” and “Screen Yorkshire”. It is another talent and networking site that shows crew and companies operating in the North. It’s slick website promotes the higher end of Northern film and TV production such as “Married, single, other” ITV’s new high budget sitcom.

BBC Films

2010-05-25T03:43:00.004-07:00

“BBC Film Network” is more a showcase than a funding body but is worth a mention here because of the social networking style profile you can set up. Their guide to making film - http://www.bbc.co.uk/filmnetwork/filmmaking/guide is almost ridiculous in the rudimentary the advice it gives.

british film council

2010-05-25T03:43:00.003-07:00

“British Film Council” have a site called www.BritFilms.com , there is more information here about larger productions, and funding for features. It is also a UK wide organisation, and is more useful for its list of festivals than funding opportunities.

shooting people

2010-05-25T03:43:00.001-07:00

“Shooting people” is a UK wide organisation for film makers that is essentially a network where people can share jobs, ideas and listings. The organisation helps users by devising networking events and putting forward opportunities. Like Propeller4film it costs to join - £30 per year here, though there are obvious disadvantages to this, in some ways the fee is good because it means people are serious about film when they join it.

propeller tv

2010-05-25T03:42:00.001-07:00

“Propeller4Film” are an interesting company (that were based in Leeds) in that they charge for the information they give out, though at £9.50 for 3 months the fee is nominal when set against the standard cost of most shorts being about £20,000. I have not paid to join this mailing list as yet so have little information about it, though what they claim to do is to categorise funding lists so that one can see the funding available from certain organisations or for certain types of film maker etc.
Propeller is also a TV channel which used to play short films and music videos on Freeview, now though it is on Sky 195 and has been bought out by Mr Ye Maoxi, and while channel will continue to play indie short films…

“Propeller TV will also promote cultural exchange and mutual understanding between the UK and China”

Liu Kerui, Director General, Propeller TV.

We’ll see how that one works out.

http://www.propeller4film.com/about
Propeller funding site

http://www.propellertv.co.uk/
Propeller short film and Chinese relations channel site

screen yorkshire

2010-05-25T03:41:00.001-07:00

The most famous film organisation in Yorkshire is undoubtedly “Screen Yorkshire”. Screen Yorkshire funds short films through it’s “Digital Shorts” programme which has run since 2003 and helped make several award winning films.
They also run a “Business Investment Fund” which is to help assist in setting up new business’ in film and the motion sector. Through this there is plenty of advice and some grants/cheap loans. To make a short film is a considerable investment and setting up a company around a project is a good to way to move on after toward further projects and create a buffer between the project and personal bankruptcy.
What Screen Yorkshire does very well is in supporting film-makers with such information as the tenability of locations, crewing and logistical help, I talked to them recently and though they weren’t about to give me any money they were certainly enthusiastic, and by the end of the call I had a long list of names and websites to visit.

One of those sites was SYFN - “South Yorkshire Film Network” a cheap and cheerful site that links South(/)Yorkshire film makers. It seems like a great place to find local crew and talent, particularly for short films. They run their own competitions from time to time and invite industry professionals to come and give talks locally.

Another is “Bradford City of Film” which funds films made around Bradford. Bradford is UNESCO’s “First City of Film” and boasts the National Media Museum. They offer £1000 a year to local projects (filmed in Bradford, though this is divided between all the projects) and links to other funding bodies. It seems quite disappointing in terms of what they say and what they offer – in the most part it is links to other organisations – national and local, though they have some strong sponsors and some great venues to show film.

http://www.northernmedia.org

2010-05-25T03:40:00.000-07:00

“Northern Film and Media” is another Regional development funded project, also funded by Film Council/Lottery funding. An interesting sponsor they have is “Skill Set” who are a creative sector skills funding organisation – i.e. to fund training and skills advancement, career development etc.
“Northern Film and Media” seem very similar to “Vision+Media” but with a less attractive website. They also seem more interested in commercial success

“Northern Film & Media will be looking to invest in projects with commercial potential.”

They offer £7000 toward a feature in a programme called a “Film Development Package”. They donate lots of different amounts; upon downloading their funded projects form - http://www.northernmedia.org/?pageid=108 you can see the variety of projects they’ve funded – from £130.30 to Clayport Film Club to £200,000.00 to Optimum’s “Rafta Rafta”.
It is interesting how geared toward commercial success this organisation is, though this makes economic sense in the depression, it is not necessarily the best way to fund the arts. Creative new work is a gamble; and success is never guaranteed, though when these things work they open a lot more doors than predictable, money spinning projects – such as “The Full Monty” in comparison with Emmerdale.

2010-05-25T03:37:00.000-07:00

“Vision+Media” are a private company funded by “Northwest regional development agency” (a government/EU funded business support organisation), the “UK Film Council” (which is funded by the “Lottery”/distributes “Lottery” funding), and the “European development agency”. Essentially they fund creative projects and businesses. They offer several strands of funding.

- “Seed funding” is to fund projects with a written feature script, a budget and cashflow, a team and interest in the project. It seems to be for larger productions – such as feature films. Funding is up to £5000, though there is a possible maximum of £20000 (with 30% match funding).
- “Completion Funding” which seems to be to distribute a nearly completed short film – such as getting it into film competitions/short film market.
- “Digital Shorts” is perhaps the most useful to a beginner short film maker – as it is a simple fund to support a short film.
- “GreenShoots” is very similar to the Digital Shorts funding, only with less funding.
- “Development Funding” is to fund projects in the early phase of production – such as to help writers or producers.

It all sounds very exciting, though the amounts they offer would not cover even a modest production, they seem to be a place to get additional funding from but mainly they offer advice and provide events to network at and surgeries for productions already in progress.

http://www.visionandmedia.co.uk/index.aspx
Vision+Media home page

good site

2010-02-18T09:13:00.001-08:00

http://www.thereel.net/

2010-02-09T05:34:00.001-08:00

http://abduzeedo.com/amazing-design-freebies-2?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+abduzeedo+%28abduzeedo+blog+-%29&utm_content=Google+Reader

textures etc

2010-02-02T06:45:00.000-08:00

http://everything2.com/title/Who+owns+the+moon%253F

who owns the moon?

http://www.wired.com/wiredscience/2009/01/et-life/

http://www.wired.com/wiredscience/2008/12/enceladus/

DANDAD

2010-02-01T07:04:00.000-08:00

http://www.hrbghj.gov.cn/upp_web/upp_en/d_en/d_18.htm

http://walkerlindley.com/research/poster2.pdf

http://vimeo.com/666317

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Erewhon

http://www.victorycities.com/resguide/future.html

http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/jerry/loveland-round-11

http://articles.sfgate.com/2006-11-05/business/17320566_1_web-sites-o-reilly-media-mob-rule

2010-01-26T10:57:00.000-08:00

http://www.longnow.org/seminars/02009/oct/09/rethinking-green/

http://vimeo.com/8411097

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Metroplex

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RPT7xbhqodo

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

http://www.ted.com/talks/lang/eng/carolyn_steel_how_food_shapes_our_cities.html

http://blog.ted.com/2008/02/with_maverick_f.php

2010-01-26T05:48:00.001-08:00

2010-01-26T05:33:00.001-08:00

2010-01-26T05:30:00.001-08:00

2010-01-26T05:20:00.001-08:00

http://grainedit.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/01/vintage-calendars-910.jpg

2010-01-24T06:19:00.001-08:00

development

2009-12-16T08:37:00.000-08:00

evaluation

2009-12-16T08:12:00.000-08:00

Evaluation.

For this project I have been working with Tom Thiel. We chose the lifeline campaign because it seemed like the most serious brief on the list. There seemed a lot of scope to create something polished powerful and professional. Some of the other briefs seemed quite jokey and throwaway; not to say there was not interesting projects that could come from them.

I initially thought about a serious photography or print campaign, creating quite filmic images suggesting greater narratives (this is very close to what I was working toward in the alibi project). But this being a moving image brief we needed to work in time based media, and those same ques could be used here as well.

We spent a lot of brainstorming time for this – we needed to really get the ideas down before shooting because they needed to be powerful and sincere. A major issue throughout this project was creating something that would communicate the message (that calling lifeline could help with depression) without being patronising, too shocking, whimsical or insincere. And that would also look good/striking.

In the run up to making the films we created some mood boards and designs for brand identity, I worked on a logo that was made from scanned telephone cables, but this hit upon the issues mentioned above – it seemed too playful. In the end we decided the best identity would simply be text, the font we chose was Tw Cen MT, which is fairly similar to Helvetica, it is clean, clear and authoritative without being too loud or cold. We decided on using blue to show depression contrasted with a bright red telephone to be the answer/salvation for our characters. This would be a continuous theme throughout the campaign. We also decided the films would use simple abstract metaphors to illustrate the emotions and information in the pieces.

We also did some tests using the XD cam in the studio and built a Snorricam rig to get a shot for a story board we wrote (based on a swing). In the end we didn’t use the “Snorricam”, it wasn’t right for what we were after, though the effect is really interesting and definitely something to use in the future.

The first film we shot used a shop opposite the college as the location, it was handy and ideal in terms of setting. We got permission to shoot there after helping the manager carry a fridge into a property next door, after we asked to film he said

“ after that you can do whatever you want”

So that worked out perfectly.

For the shoot we used the XD Cam with 18-70mm lens, 1 redhead light and a Dedo fill light, the dolly and tripod. We made labels for cans which we put on the shelves, these contained facts and advice; the film went from shots of these to the final shot of a red telephone, with our protagonist then talking through it.

The big mistake we made during this shoot was to do with shutter speed, which I didn’t know even affected video. We wanted a shot where the camera tracked along the shelf and picked out the cans with text by slowing down and pausing on them using twixtor, obviously doing this for real using the supermarket trolley wheels on the dolly would have been a nightmare, so we shot at 60 frames a second so we could slow to at least half speed. The problem was we shot with a shutter speed of 50 when we really wanted to use 120. Matt the technician enjoyed telling us how stupid we were for not doing this right. Now though neither of us would ever make that mistake again.

The shoot went quite smoothly, Ash the shopkeeper was very relaxed about the whole thing and it went off well. It would have been nice to get some more establishing shots, because we didn’t have much to work with in the final edit.

The music was mainly written and played by Alex ……. Though I had to spend a lot of time getting her to play what I wanted, and I ended up playing some of it. It was originally very frilly, but needed to be much simpler. I’d liked to have used some pop music in the backgroud (as if it was on a radio) instead of music on the top but I still think it works quite well. I produced it (bit of reverb, compression, bass part etc).

I think this ad works quite well, it has a hint of the surreal, I’m pleased with the grading and the final edit is effective.

We then shot the film on the bridge, Tom was very good here in getting us up in the morning and organising the shoot. We wanted to get the rush our people traffic in town, so we had to start at 8 am. We shot on FX7 because Matt wouldn’t let us have the XD camera without a car, this is a bit of a shame because we really wanted to get a tighter depth of field.
The effect we were going for was a long exposure on a stills camera. We set the shutter speed to 25 to get the effect though this turned to be not enough at all. Because of this I had to do a lot of post production - masking and splitting the layers then putting effects on the background layers (a mixture of echo/CC time sequence and fast blur). I then used looks on the footage to get the grade.
We came up with several grades for this, originally a teal blue, which looked really nice but we felt it was too sci-fi, then a de-saturated “brown mix” which is what we settled on. We also made a “blue and white” mix, but felt we’d stick with the brown one. The weakest element of this piece is the text, it could be so much stronger and really feels like an add on, We learnt from this and decided to us a voice over in the final film.
I’m not convinced by the sound design for this, I was going for a Kubrick-esque feel (I just saw The Shining for the first time and was blown away) with high pitched synth sounds and bass tones, I also put in a bassdrum to build tension and pace. It uses some piano chords I took from Logic Pro’s database, that make it a bit more human then give it a more optimistic ending. I think this is quite weak, I was originally pleased with it but now I think it sounds cheap.
Some nice parts are the fake contrazoom effect, the blurred people effect (which took a long time) and the casting – Ash looks great here – he really fits the demographic we were targeting.

The final film we made was shot in Barnsley Metrodome diving centre. This was the most difficult but ultimately most rewarding. We ended up getting a really good deal with the centre (£10phr ) to shoot there, which we’d never have got had we been a professional shoot. We went over a week before and did a test using the FX7, the footage came out well, though was not an accurate test because the XD takes so much more light. We put two redheads through portholes (these were a constant stress because we thought that the windows were going to crack because they got so hot) to pick out our protagonist – James.

Direction was difficult here because the cameraman couldn’t be heard by the director, and the director couldn’t see what the cameraman was filming. To make matters even more difficult even James couldn’t see the cameraman to get direction from. In the end though, using Graham as a go between, the messages got across and we got the shots we wanted.

The film used drowning as a metaphor for depression and isolation, with the red phone again being the answer or physically a lifeline from this state. Conceptually I think this is some of the strongest work I/We have done so far on this course.

The post production here took a long time, I had sift through the clips, twixtor them, then re-process them with looks, the original cut I finished looked fine but on other machines, particularly PCs, you could see the frame where I’d shrunk certain clips, or the windows in the background. This is not a problem I’d come up against before though it is a big issue in Audio, so it was not a major surprise. To solve this I used Keylight to remove the bulk of the background before running Looks and a bit of extra exposure. The text (in all of the films) was made in after effects then recomposited in FCP.

The sound was inspired by a documentary on the BBC radiophonic, they only used sounds that existed and manipulated them. So here I didn’t use any effects, the build up metallic sound is a cymbal crash backwards, the high pitched sound is one note, then some bass tones underneath. In the final mix I put in a quiet bit of foley of underwater sounds to reinforce the setting before overlaying the vocal.

The vocal here was written to sound like a documentary style interview – that we’d pulled from this the concept of using drowning as a metaphor (though we both know this is not true). A major learning element from this whole project was to do more primary research. The whole piece should have started with interviews and genuine, frank conversation. I personally was too nervous to do this at the start, though you have to get over yourself if you’re going to do serious work.

samaritans ad

2009-12-16T08:09:00.000-08:00

good. animation really lends itself to the theme, the sound is really good too. Animation is a good way to go because it isn't so bleak and depressing.

http://www.barnardos.org.uk/

2009-12-16T08:07:00.001-08:00

have a watch of their advert.

good. it's something i think we could have done, not a very difficult project at all, but still effective.

task2

2009-12-01T08:46:00.000-08:00

TASK_2

I’m looking into maybe getting some work with a company like

http://www.thisisbrandnew.com/

I don’t really want to work for another firm for long, but I really need to get a working knowledge of large firms as opposed to working in my room or hot desk offices.

Right now I’m really unprofessional. I’ve got a really out of date website, zero web presence, a shoddy hotmail account, no money, a stupid haircut, no business cards, no business address and an undefined business practice.

Currently I’m finding work around the leeds/Yorkshire area, though I’m getting a few jobs from London. The bulk of work in the UK will be in London. Though Sheffield has a big film scene and there is a big push in the creative industries in Yorkshire – see Steve Smith.

PEST.

Politically.

The UK seems like the best place for me to trade from, I know the Laws, speak the language and have almost all my contacts here.
The bulk of work is in London, though there is a drive to bring work to the North which could make staying here work well. London is expensive, Leeds is cheap. London is international, Leeds is almost provincial. Pros and cons.
Most work will come through online channels, and there is very little physical ephemera/ product so legally it is quite simple. I need to learn about tax – self employment etc, but at the moment don’t earn enough for that to be an issue.

Econoically.

See above.
There is local consumer demand in the short term, particularly for smaller companies, realistically though the work is in London or abroad. Despite that most work is online it is important to be in the right places and they are generally not in leeds.

Society.

The UK seems like one of the best places to be because society is relaxed here to controversy. Having said this many other countries are just as relaxed and offer great places to work. I understand British people and their tastes, which are obviously different than the European or American audiences. It seems like the UK is the best place to start and probably stay.

Technology.

Technology is very important, particularly software and computer power. Luckily I have most of the equipment that I need at home. The issue is cameras as the hire of cameras/lights/track/tripods is so expensive that any shoots are going to have to be very planned/limited. I’m going to look into some organisations such as

http://lumen.org.uk/

To hire equipment through.

Also places such as

http://www.ntileeds.co.uk/old-broadcasting-house/

http://www.umbrellacreative.co.uk/index.html

for office space and subsidised hire charges.

task1

2009-12-01T08:45:00.000-08:00

TASK_1

I am called Rob. Currently I’d describe myself as a freelancer in motion graphics, editing and post, I’d like to work more on direction with the ultimate aim of becoming creative director for my/our own advertising/interactive arts firm. I’m also a fine artist, illustrator and musician.

I have a wide range of digital and analytical skills. These skills are necessary from the lowest level (i.e. mine) to the biggest companies. I don’t want to be a geek that sits in front of a machine all day. I reckon that learning all this stuff will be invaluable when it comes to directing projects. What is lacking from my skills portfolio is 3D design. I never learnt Maya properly, but I’m looking to invest some time into Cinema 4D or 3D studio Max.

I’m working toward setting up a company/collective, the idea being to make interesting/cutting edge immersive advertising and art. Such as

http://www.exyzt.org/

http://www.uva.co.uk/

http://www.sjavascript:void(0)agmeister.com/index.html

http://www.leoburnett.com/

http://www.blitzagency.com/

http://www.fallon.com

I’m currently in meetings with some old friends about setting up such a company/organisation. The trouble is working out exactly what it will do and how it will work.

The reason I wish to go into advertising is that although there has to be some element of logo/branding it is much more open that the pure art field. There is the money and need to create large exciting projects that can have a wide reaching and powerful impact.
Essentially I’d like to create projects that make your head spin and me a bit of money.

http://www.hazazah.nl/#/yani/showreel

2009-11-26T09:44:00.001-08:00

cool dutch ad agency

http://www.synthgear.com/2009/music-misc/cybraphon/

2009-11-25T03:15:00.000-08:00

holy shit!.

this is the best thing i've seen all year. watch this. both vids. particularly you annabeth.

http://www.serialcut.com/?project=17

2009-11-23T12:53:00.000-08:00

love the way this company makes things for real as well as using 3d software. particularly like this ad for nike air (if the link works - you know what flash sites are like.) would be a much more interesting place to work than the more digital/programming side of things - in between sculpture art and advertising.

http://www.rainfallfilms.com/

2009-11-23T12:46:00.001-08:00

this is good too. check out showreel

http://www.digitaldomain.com/

2009-11-23T12:42:00.001-08:00

this is just depressing to watch. the showreel is full of some interesting stuff.

http://evb.com/

2009-11-23T12:34:00.001-08:00

production company and a half.

heavy.

2009-11-23T03:48:00.001-08:00

they were the days.

2009-11-23T03:29:00.001-08:00

slow mo cars hit inflatables. footage could be a lot better

2009-11-23T03:12:00.000-08:00

christ on a bike!. this is off the hook.

2009-11-19T06:54:00.000-08:00

Scan Processor Studies (excerpts pt.1) from Brian O'Reilly on Vimeo.

sick.

2009-11-19T06:37:00.001-08:00

http://www.wonderhowto.com/how-to/video/how-to-create-a-pond-ripple-effect-in-after-effects-212708/

2009-11-17T07:37:00.001-08:00

ripple tutorial for the text in lifeline project.

letter to the pool supervisor

2009-11-16T07:23:00.001-08:00

Dear Mr. Healey,

My associate and I are BA students at Leeds College of Art and Design, and we are currently working on a project creating a campaign for a suicide help line, similar to the Samaritans, called Lifeline. Northern Ireland has one of the highest suicide rates in Europe, and this campaign is aimed at people there who are in despair or distress who need somebody to talk to. We were hoping to use your facilities to film a short sequence of a clothed man underwater for this campaign. I believe you have windows into the side of the pool, which would eliminate a lot of technical problems for filming. We would like to discuss the possible use of your facilities, and any health and safety issues that would need to be considered. Naturally we would pay for the use of your facilities if you agree to us using them, and/or credit Barnsley Metrodome's help in the making of the film. Thanks for taking the time to read our proposition.

Regards,

Tom Thiel
Rob Blake 07814459032

http://www.exploretalent.com/search2.php?sex=Male&agemin=18&agemax=32&heightfeetmin=&heightinchesmin=&heightfeetmax=&heightinchesmax=ðnicity_url=s%

2009-11-16T05:17:00.001-08:00

actors - leeds

http://leeds.gumtree.com/leeds/24/44459424.html

2009-11-16T05:05:00.001-08:00

actor?

http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?pid=2510854&o=all&op=1&view=all&subj=22055161280&aid=-1&id=501911634&oid=22055161280#/photo.php?pid=1079956&o=all&op

2009-11-16T05:00:00.001-08:00

leeds university dram a group (for actors)

http://trunk.me.uk/site/

2009-11-12T07:32:00.001-08:00

impressive animation company

this is more where it's at.

2009-11-12T06:42:00.000-08:00

more anti suicide stuff

2009-11-12T06:25:00.000-08:00

i can't believe this shit is for real. i'm depressed now.

anti suicide bomber commercial. mad.

2009-11-12T06:16:00.001-08:00

lifeline adverts

2009-11-12T05:56:00.001-08:00

http://photojojo.com/content/tutorials/create-your-own-panorama-planets/

2009-11-12T05:36:00.000-08:00

this could be a cool effect. could it work with video. reminds me of the clever use of two lenses in this dizzee rascal video

evaluate and entertain.

2009-11-11T05:46:00.000-08:00

As yet i am undecided as to which brief to follow. I'm interested in "staycation", "life-line" and "make museums sexy".

staycation is an interesting brief because it is calling out for an interesting take on british holidays. one thinks of adverts such as this -

a clever and entertaining homage to 60's advertising. My initial ideas were of a close up of someone enjoying/suffering english weather and doing all the cliches that we know and love about british culture - icecream, seaguls, caravans, walking.

the brief is called staycation - i.e. holidaying at home. a take on this could be leaving the front door to find yourself instantly in different exciting locations. the door could become a motif for the campaign as a whole. This is a predictable take however.

making museums sexy?

the brief i'm thinking about undertaking seriously is the lifeline one. Suicide has touched too many of us, and this needs a high level of sensitivity. It also needs to be effective and compelling.
My initial thoughts here are for a cross platform interactive film. Based around a central character - possibly not the character considering suicide but a friend or relative, the audience is able to alter the outcome of of the video piece, which will be on facebook, twitter, youtube etc.

As i said i've not got an idea i'm excited about running with. and am still coming up with new directions.

audio experiments_3

2009-11-11T05:14:00.000-08:00

audio experiments_2

2009-11-11T05:13:00.002-08:00

audio experiments_1

2009-11-11T05:13:00.001-08:00

http://work.soundsbutter.com/?s=p&work=VisibleSound

2009-11-11T05:01:00.000-08:00

nice bit of design/model making

http://library.creativecow.net/articles/park_michael/3d_Earth/video-tutorial.php

2009-11-10T10:00:00.000-08:00

mapping earth using cc sphere.

thinking about using this for a short film. haas to be done well or it will look really naff

the best film ever made?

2009-11-08T11:24:00.001-08:00

the best film ever made?

2009-11-08T11:24:00.000-08:00

the best music video of all time

2009-11-08T07:59:00.000-08:00

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h5qII4d9hl8

2009-11-08T07:34:00.000-08:00

UFOS!. the most sketchy fake footage you can imagine.

http://blog.limeexchange.com/2009/08/25/10-useful-tools-for-choosing-the-right-color-palette/

2009-11-06T14:06:00.000-08:00

colour picking websites. kuler sounds like a great idea.

http://designerscouch.org/show_article/100/26_brilliant_social_ad_campaigns.html

2009-11-05T04:37:00.001-08:00

sociall ad campaigns, teh neglected children one is particularly good.

TEXTURES

2009-11-05T02:18:00.001-08:00

free textures

http://www.cgtextures.com/

http://www.geeksucks.com/freebies/77-exclusive-free-texture-pack-collection.htm

research

2009-11-04T07:30:00.000-08:00

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Suicide_prevention

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Volunteer_Emotional_Support_Helplines

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/health/3538886.stm

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/this-britain/northern-irelands-suicide-epidemic-claims-young-lovers-as-two-more-of-its-victims-555275.html

http://www.prologuefilms.com/#

2009-11-04T04:59:00.000-08:00

similar company to DVEIN, incredible stuff. i need to up my game.

http://www.dvein.com/

2009-11-04T04:49:00.000-08:00

these people are amazing, check out the diesel show, this is where i want to go with work. well impressive spread of work - quality across the board

specialist area decisions.

2009-11-04T01:41:00.000-08:00

i like to do a bit of everything.

i want to work in advertising, particularly in direction and post. in connection to this i want to make music videos, interactive digital art, music and eventually short films.

My main skills base is in post production. I enjoy post and VFX but really don't want to end up a technician so i want to go toward direction. The only direction i've done was for the alibi project, but I'm a cocky shit with a big gob so it should work out. I'd like to learn a bit of 3d software, but Maya is an awkward, depressing and PC based program. So i'm looking to get a copy of cinema 4d or 3d studio max. I'd also like to get better on photoshop. I feel confident in After effects, FCP, Logic and a few other programs.

I need to get more professional - business cards, new website, linked in, twitter, haircut, company name. And most importantly a more defined notion of what it is i actually do.

so film then

thanks.

really exciting projection work.

2009-11-01T08:22:00.000-08:00

this is amazing, erally impersive tracking. it's also quite artistic not just technical.

waned. shit film, but the bullet graphics are well done.

2009-10-28T09:08:00.000-07:00

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

Final Alibi. Mini Mp4 version

2009-10-28T09:01:00.001-07:00

write up

2009-10-28T08:58:00.001-07:00

Alibi TV Ident project

This project was the first in a while in which I’ve had writers block. It took me a long time to get started on the idea I finally chose. The plus of this procrastination meant I did a lot of research, of which I should (and will) do more of in the future.

The focus here was about filmmaking, I wanted to create what appeared to be a crucial moment from a film, I wanted to create a back-story and strong characters in one shot, as great filmmakers seem to do so effortlessly. In this it went through many incarnations, I even wrote a couple of short scripts, and some character studies. One of the original characters I had was a woman, 30’s ish, attractive but not looking attractive, in an office skirt, make up smudged, running and falling with a briefcase round a corner. Where had she been? Where to? What had just happened? What was in the briefcase? Etc etc. I even tried to find a stuntwoman to play the part. I was never happy with the character and casting proved difficult.

From the outset I’d been very impressed with a promo advert that had been done for the bill, it used a mixture of green screening, people stood still and track camerawork. I really liked the effect and thought it a great way of showing a great deal of character and back-story without dialogue and in a short space of time (20 seconds).
So after lots of messing around getting nowhere I talked to Anna and she pointed out that what I wanted to do was look at paintings. The medium has been showing entire stories in a single frame evocatively for 1000’s of years. From that I started looking at painters and how they solved the problems I was having, and wanted early on to use one of the Italian painters that heavily employed Chiaroscuro. I found one Caravaggio’s paintings perfect (see previous blogs). I needed to make it more contemporary to keep with the alibi brand, it’s sad but I took the obvious choice of gangsters, particularly the scene in Goodfellas where he shoots the waiters feet. This picture is actually very similar to the Caravaggio in composition; if not theme, so the two gelled well.

To achieve this effect, I used the XDcam with dolly on a semicircle of track, and 4 redhead lights. The footage was shot at 60 frames a second. Post was done on After Effects using Twixtor for time remapping and Magic Bullet Looks for colour and fake depth of field. The bullet was created in Maya, with help from (though to be honest - by) Matt, it’s a program I appreciate the possibilities of but have not the patience or inclination to learn. There were various attempts at using the third party plug-in “Matchmover” to track the scene to create a 3d camera to create the bullet in space effect. I kind of always knew this would be a nightmare, and your eyes are often the best way of doing these things. It was relatively easy to put the bullet in space, and all things considered a lot quicker than using Matchmover, which was only good at crashing really.
The trail on the bullet uses a mask with turbulent displacement. The banner strip was created using shatter with time remapping to reverse and slow the effect.
The audio foley was created using chatter from soundtrack pro slowed and sped up, and the music was something I wrote to give the piece more of a film feel using Logic pro.

Props included a gun (BB gun painted black), playing cards some empty bottles of rum, glasses apple juice, 4 chairs and a table. Thanks to Szymon for driving us with the furniture and Tom for coming gun shopping with me.
The actors are all friends, Szymon (who has a career ahead of him in this), Wendy, Luke, Louie and Reese. They had to do a lot of sitting around and I’m very grateful for their patience and generosity.

In summary, it looks amateur; which is a shame as I set out to do something that you would see on TV. There are problems with the keyframing of time (it’s a bit jerky). The footage is badly lit on Reese’s head (the victim) and is really blown out. The music is badly played as I can’t really play the keyboard and I wince when I hear it, though it does fit. The bullet doesn’t quite turn enough so it looks like it will miss and at points it is aimed a bit down. The footage probably needed stabilising before I started but I was far too into it before I really noticed, though it’s something learnt for the future.

All in all I’m disappointed that the quality is it’s late for the hand in which is a shame, but I’ve created something I’d use on a Showreel and show prospective clients so in the end I think it was worth spending the time getting the idea right rather than rushing into something.

some sketch book scans

2009-10-28T08:53:00.000-07:00

i didn't watch this (it costs 40 quid) the trail on the bullet is really imprssive, i'm not sure how they did it - probably displacement maps

2009-10-28T08:49:00.000-07:00

i didn't watch this (it costs 40 quid) the trail on the bullet is really imprssive, i'm not sure how they did it - probably animated displacement maps with turbulence. i was also impressed by muzzle flare. something i failed to put into my project.

even though this tutorial is shit, the compositing and colour match was useful

2009-10-28T08:47:00.000-07:00

http://ae.tutsplus.com/tutorials/vfx/put-together-a-realistic-district-9-composite/

this is how it should be done.

2009-10-28T08:43:00.000-07:00

companies

2009-10-27T09:01:00.000-07:00

interesting design company. check out the office! nothing revolutionary but solid useful web/advertising design in leeds.

http://www.home-ad.com/Home.aspx

another interesting company, more up my street (Armley), met their accountant a while back, they're doing some interesting stuff.

http://www.thisisbrandnew.com/

nice effect

2009-10-26T10:06:00.001-07:00

microorganism (Particular experiment 01) from llcheesell on Vimeo.

alibi rough.

2009-10-23T08:48:00.000-07:00

sorry this hasn't been handed in.

slow motion footage.

2009-10-21T06:35:00.000-07:00

intersting footage. who'd have thought that your face would do that.

2009-10-21T06:17:00.000-07:00

the alibi ident was based on a mixture of this sequence from goodfellas and the carravaggio painting.

the film is loosely based on this carravaggio painting, theres a real sense of narrative, even in a still image. i also really like the lighting and colour.

battlestar poster - based on the last supper, annabeth pointed this out to me, it's an interestin idea, could have been done a lot better...

the bill

2009-10-21T05:46:00.000-07:00

some of the inspiration for alibi project

poppy proposal

2009-10-09T08:45:00.001-07:00

yet more typography what i like

2009-10-08T05:22:00.000-07:00

more typograpy what i like

2009-10-08T05:21:00.000-07:00

typography what i like

2009-10-08T05:20:00.000-07:00

2009-08-18T11:17:00.000-07:00

http://designlenta.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/08/spider.jpg

2009-08-18T11:15:00.001-07:00

let yourself feel. from Esteban Diácono on Vimeo.

this is a cool effect

crazy interactive AI

2009-06-07T06:27:00.000-07:00

how mad is this? very impressive interaction. i wonder how staged and linear it actually is (notice he said "everyone reaches down and catches the glases). the impression is given that the character has its own character, whether this is true or not the sharpness of the connection and interactivity is superb.

in a minute

2009-06-02T04:51:00.000-07:00

This video might feel like a bit of a cheat. it's made of footage i took in february during the snowy season, but was left on hold until now, due to difficulty in finding a voice over artist. Originally it used my voice, but the tone didn't have the authority and maturity needed to carry the piece. I wanted to use a friend called euan, he has an edinburgh accent that is quite soft, but the scottish voice is too easy to swear in. It needed the posher sound that colin could bring to set against the gritty content of the poem.
The poem was written as a free writing piece (unedited improvised writing) then slightly edited, for the creative writing elective i did in the winter months. It felt like something that would go really well in a narrative documentary style and i think the final product is effective.
The film is shot in HD (1920/1080) widescreen, it was edited in FCP and coloured using the magic bullet plug-in, which i found to be a very effective way of bringing life and a continuity to film. It is a lot more effective than the built in FCP colour functions (colour 3-way for instance). The titles were done in After Effects, because it handles text in a much more precise, easy to use and clean way that FCP. Then exported as a 16:9 full quality MP4. I converted this large file (260mb) down to 11mb using the highly effective ipod .h264 converter in compressor.
The film was shot with no tripod, this gives the viewer more of a feeling of being there - a much more candid approach. i used the ND filter on some of the shots to change the aperture and thus affect the depth of field, this is a really effective technique and something I'll definitely use more in the future. The clips mainly cut at pauses in the vocals to help the video flow better and be less jarring.
The foley track is slightly cleaned and edited, the vocal track has a touch of compression and the tiniest amount of room reverb and EQ applied in Logic Pro 8.
The techniques used and learnt in this project are entirely transferable to many elements of time-based media, the use of camera techniques are immediately apparent, but also use of depth of field and editing pace can be used in such diverse applications as .swfs and after effects projects.
I was pleased with the overall standard of the filming, it was not a difficult project to organise. A phone call to george for company and the dog, as mentioned before finding the right voice was difficult, and organising the recording was tricky - i have a busy work schedule with two jobs and various commitments, and Colin is a professional corporate psychologist so he was difficult to corner. eventually though we came to an agreement and the best time and 5 takes an 1 cup of coffee later the job was done.
This particular piece was very personal, and i needed very little help. Tom and Szymon's input was invaluable during the planning process and as spare eyes to test versions that i created. This is more of an extra-curicular work than perhaps anticipated, but it was made in the most efficient way that it could be; which meant using the prescribed group system would have been counter-intuitive. However a group is not only important if the work is split equally, we all have different skills to bring to a partnership, and these should only be used in accordance with merit and suitability.

As a group we worked much more cohesively on "Slug Sumo". It was Tom's concept. we worked effectively as a team, with various specialisations yet authorship over the whole project. It was created in a technical manner much the same as "snow", although the editing took place on Premier.

As a group we have worked together to create one piece and as a community (in terms of advice and expertise) to create 3 others. I think this is a very pragmatic and efficient way of working. As a group we have several future projects in the pipeline in film and other media. This is testament to the effectiveness of our group, we have the tact to step back and allow other ideas and skills to supersede our own, using our collective time productively.

rob.

Second Life Gym.

2009-05-18T06:09:00.000-07:00

SECOND LIFE GYM.

Our idea was to create a workout space, which would directly appeal to our target audience - people that use SL. It seemed pointless to do something that, though good in the real world wouldn't appeal to the people that use it (the government department responsible for attempting to use second life to communicate to pensioners and indeed much of the computer literate public is deluded).
So with this in mind we have worked on exercises that are important and accessible to people prone to spending many hours at a computer screen. You don't need equipment for any of the exercises in our zone, and many of them can be done without even leaving your chair.
We built the space to appear professional yet welcoming. It's strange how difficult it is to ignore conventional rules of architecture - such as gravity. We had several ideas for the space - such as floating islands held aloft by birds and giant spheres with their own gravity. Interesting as it would have been to try these ideas out, they were not suitable for the client and target audience - what any public service like this needs to be is simple, clear and accessible. We hope we've achieved this, we've tried to make navigation and immersion as intuitive and clear as possible (with large signs, easily identifiable entrances and easy to use assets.)
The project could carry on or a long time - we outlined many ideas in our presentation - live workout events, dietary advice, menus, timed reminders, more exercises, forums. We are all really excited about the film project though and are eager to finalise this, and without some serious networking and government permissions, there seems little reason in pushing this any further. it's in it's infancy, but it's got legs.
We work well in a group. We all pulled our weight in and out of the studio, with different skills and expertise brought to the group. So no complaints.
I think we all learnt a bit, even about other programs such as photoshop/illustrator/avimator. There's some coding in there too.

rob. szymon and tom

http://slurl.com/secondlife/The%20Collective/174/185/31

science artist.

2009-05-09T04:10:00.000-07:00

really interesting stuff.

Goldfish

2009-04-28T07:59:00.000-07:00

Goldfish

2009-04-28T07:58:00.000-07:00

Goldfish show

2009-04-28T07:52:00.000-07:00

An Exhibition done with the brilliant Pete Shadbolt. Went really well. created exactly what we wanted. It all worked (which was a minor miracle) . It's been booked by Brahms Gallery for the end of July. And we have some work for Leeds Autism (sensory rooms).

The show used and arduino processor, solenoids, windscreen wiper motors, drums, and various other components.

Video soon

Goldfish show

2009-04-28T07:49:00.001-07:00

2009-04-28T07:25:00.000-07:00

darkstar from rob blake on Vimeo.

new film made ofver the last few days. been hardcoring it in learning MAYA and After effects. Quite pleased witht the result, the track still needs work (going to put an old funk loop on teh breaks). The video parts with the orbs needs work. i quite like the strobe effect but sometimes it looks like a mistake.

Loving text in after effects - how is it so good when FCP is so shabba?

thoughts please

some visres for seaspray poster

2009-04-28T07:22:00.000-07:00

2009-04-27T08:48:00.000-07:00

love this design. ace font. the real weathering is nice - always like that as an effect but it's better real.

2 rough posters for a theatre production in Edinburgh - sea spray and cuckoo spit

2009-04-23T13:40:00.000-07:00

these are rough versions that may or may not be used. made to a very tight schedule (2 nights - while doing the Goldfish show)

my new favourite painter. these are amazing.

2009-04-20T04:10:00.001-07:00

http://www.byroglyphics.com/gallery/gallery.html

good blog site

2009-04-20T04:03:00.000-07:00

http://ffffound.com/image/d14238f038c0929c99f743b31d557373685cd89a

Skream Vid

2009-03-24T16:13:00.000-07:00

this is the maddest video i've seen in ages. love the model, it's really nice how you can see the guys moving it. some nice animation too. the nature/city theme is a bit weak but the treatment is so hot it doesn't matter.

skraper

2009-03-23T13:41:00.000-07:00

skraper from rob blake on Vimeo.

film and track made over the last few days. first attempts at maya and aftereffects. vocal from the brilliantly talented sarah johns, from mr beasley - myspace.com/mrbeasleymusic which was originally recorded for another track then time shifted to meet this one. track uses an expander side chain based on a drum to make it breathe.

given me a much better grasp of maya nd aftereffects cos i enjoyed making it and endeavoured to find solutions to problems rather than ways round them.

really not impressed by vimeo at the moment, facebook compression sees to be much better which is strange, this is really stuttery and rank, seeing as the video works off being smooth and clean.

i'm off to get good at after effects