Amy Styran's film blog!

Showing posts with label excited. Show all posts

UPDATE: contributor confirmed!

I am extremely pleased to say that Sam Briggs won the Crossfit Games 2013 competition, and is officially titled the fittest woman in the world.... AND Sam has kindly said yes to being my contributor!

This is a fantastic opportunity for myself and my crew, as we will be able to interview and make a short film about the fittest woman in the world - bet you can't say you've ever done that before?! She is recognised world wide and has a huge fan base in America, so no pressure, eh?

I'm extremely excited and cannot wait to get started in the pre-production over the next few weeks. I've already started with idea generation and some research. You can never be too prepared!

I'll keep you all updated in the near future, but for now, here's a picture of Sam doing what she does best...winning!

It's never too early to start planning, is it?

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I should use my summer holidays to go out, party till I can't feel my feet and eat everything in sight, but nope, I can't help myself but to think of more film ideas for my first 3rd year film!

These are all brief and need lots of improvement, but these are my thoughts so far...

IDEA 1:
My mums friend, Sam Briggs (American fitness fanatics will know her), is currently taking part in the Reebok Crossfit Games in USA, and is ranked #1 in the WORLD for women's fitness.
If she wins, she will win the title of 'worlds strongest woman' (and just to think a few years ago she was helping my mum put a fence up in my garden!).

At university, we get taught two main things: network, and use your contacts, so I think this would be the perfect opportunity to use my contacts and get a fantastic film out of it. Let's face it, no one else can say 'I know the strongest woman in the world'.

Audience wise, the primary target would be fitness fanatics, and fans of Sam. Bob Harper (trainer on The Biggest Loser USA) took a picture of himself at the Crossfit games whilst he was watching the events, so you never know, if he's a fan of her, he might become a fan of the film!

At the moment, I haven't decided what the short film will include, and what you'll see. Maybe some staged exercise routines, maybe some creative shots of the food she eats to stay in shape. Who knows? But as stated previously, it's just an idea.

IDEA 2:

Chocolate! A bit of a difference from the first idea, I know. But after seeing the recent Tesco advert of the strawberries and summer, I was thinking about other foods that connect us as a nation, and can make you feel happy.

One of my biggest downfalls in my challenge to be healthy is my love of chocolate. I love it. I love chocolate cereals, cake, chocolate drinks, dark chocolate, white chocolate, all of it. And I know there are millions of people like me. As a nation, we love chocolate! (except the odd fellows who are savoury lovers...weird). So why not make a feel-good film about it?

What would it include? On a recent trip to York, I found a little shop called 'York Cocoa House'. It was stunning: such an old and traditional place with a chef in the back making the chocolate by hand. Everything had a vintage feel to it, including the decor. So when I got home, I googled the place. The person that owns the shop is a young woman who started the business herself due to her chocoholic obsession, and decided to spread her love around! The story behind it is lovely, and so is the shop, so I think I'd like to use her story and the location to narrate my film.

I think this film would be a visually driven film, which draws me to making it. I really want to focus on my cinematography skills and play with different lenses, and this idea would give me the opportunity to do so. But would it make an interesting film? I guess a lot of development is needed for me to say so. But as a chocolate lover, I'd say yes!

So they are my most recent film ideas. They're basic and need some work, but a great starting point and both have outside connections, meaning the production value will be high. I don't know which would be more interesting - maybe I could make both!

editing, editing, and more editing.

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Here I am, trying to develop my cinematography and camera skills for the 3rd year, and I decide to film my mum making Tapas. It's an easy, simple idea that can literally be stitched together in post production, except for of course.... my lack of editing software!

I'm stuck with iMovie. Not even the HD version, which I used in sixth form. You'd think it would be easy, especially because I work on Final Cut Pro to edit my films at university, but for some strange reason, I'm finding it ridiculously confusing and tedious to do.
I love editing, and I love the process of it, but oh how I wish I had a laptop new enough to install final cut pro! My macbook is so old I'm having to delete precious photos and all of my work from previous projects to make room for the new ones. *sniffles*

So whilst I try learn how to use this bloody software, here are a few screenshots of what I'm doing. Some shots need a little colour correction (if I ever find out how to do it on iMovie), but other than that, I'm really happy with the outcome. The quality of my cinematography has improved greatly, and my thought process whilst filming is more productive! Instead of thinking 'I'll just film it like this and hope for the best', I found myself thinking 'okay, the lighting is a bit dark, so I'll do this, oh now it's a bit grainy, so I'll lower that' and so on.
Watching shorts on how to use my DSLR and researching things has helped me so much in my journey to becoming a DOP - and I'm hoping I'll get to develop those skills even more in my 3rd year at university!

Playing with the 50mm

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Whilst filming my mum doing some cooking (which will be ready for people to see within a few weeks), I decided to take some photographs of my dog, Millie, and my cat, Ebony. I also took some standard wildlife pictures too. Enjoy! (P.S, I'm really happy with the quality of these photos. I feel like I'm progressing a lot since I got my camera at Christmas. Yey!)

4Talent: a day of free stuff, education, opportunities, and more free stuff

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So I applied for a 4Talent day in Lincoln, and to my suprise, I got it!

For those who don't know, a 4Talent day is the only way you can get work experience, placements, apprenticeships and internships at Channel 4. There are only a few talent days a year, and a limited amount of spaces.

Both me and George got a place, which made the whole experience less nerve-wracking. Thank god!

The day started by registering, choosing your workshop (out of four options; the art of documentary film-making, acting, presenters and standing out), then we got our goodie bags! I love free things... who doesn't?

The day itself was a bit like Industry Week at my university. We spoke to people in the industry, had a Q&A, learnt about how to get into Channel 4 and more. In the workshop, we were taught by Rad Miller (a fellow Yorkshire man!), who lectured us about documentary film making. Then, 5 camera ops were given an old style video camera, and they chose people for their crew. In our crews, we had to make a 3 min documentary, not to be edited, that had specific shots in it. I took the role as Assistant Director, and came up with the idea for the film. We used Theory books to find out whether people who have passed their test still remember the answers, and whether they think it's relevant. It was a simple but do-able idea, which was vital as we had just 1 hour to film it. It was successful - we learnt that people still do remember their theory, and think it's vital for driving.

So, now what happens? Well, we get to sign up for any work experience, crews and placements we want. We get to see what happens at Channel 4, and get internships. Basically, by going to a day full of education, fun and free things, we now have opened the door to hundreds of opportunities! Woooohooooo!

(Spot the George and Amy!)

I'd highly recommend all aspiring film makers to go to a 4Talent event, you just never know who you might meet!

"Great minds discuss ideas; average minds discuss events; small minds discuss people."

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One of my ideas for a module I did in Year 2 has made me think that it could actually be a brilliant production.

Amelia Dyer - a sadistic woman who killed around 400 babies in the 19th Century - was dubbed as the Angel Maker. (http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2283302/Britains-worst-serial-killer-The-Victorian-angel-death-murdered-400-babies.html)

She managed to carry out her plans for years, killing innocent babies unknowingly to their mothers. She preyed on single mothers who had no money or home and led them to believe she was adopting them to give them a loving home. She then strangled the infants and disposed of their bodies.

The story of the Angel Maker is gruesome, heart breaking and tear jerking - henceforth, why it would be a brilliant narrative for a short film or one off documentary.

But who would watch it? Pretty much everyone. Parents, teachers, politicians, bin men...quite literally everyone. It's a story that not many people have heard of (the records for Dyer were only published a few months ago, so not many people know about her yet) and it's a story that will stay with you for years to come. Even in modern society, you do not hear of people killing over 400 babies without anyone noticing.

What would the narrative be like? In my eyes, I can see it either being a documentary or a biopic. A documentary would be a bit more watchable for the viewers, as they would simply see archive footage/photos, interviews with historians etc. However, a biopic would be dark, dismal and unforgettable. In a style such as Mrs Biggs (a recent ITV production), the viewers would watch the biopic in disbelief that anything like this could actually happen. You could make the storyline heavy with brutality (although you couldn't show the children actually being killed, you could use the power of suggestion to make it seem more real).

I think this production is slightly out of my reach at the moment - if you're going to do it, you've gotta do it right. High production value, a great crew and brilliant actors are just a few of the things you'd need to make this a successful production. It's definitely something I'd want to do in the near future!

Excited!

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Okay, so lets start with a little backstory first. Coming onto my university course, I wanted to be an editor - it seemed to be the only thing I was good at whilst making films on a tiny flipcam in Sixth Form. However, on arrival, I learnt that my 5 GCSE's and 2 A-Levels in Art and Design have helped me to develop a visual style and how to make a shot look pretty with content and meaning - thanks art teachers!

My ideal role is to be a Director of Photography. I love the idea of being in control of what the shot looks like, and developing a close relationship with the Director. It's great for me, because I like to tell people what to do, but I want an input in the creativity of a production, so this role is the best of both worlds.
But I'm not going to lie, these past few weeks I've felt like I've been tested as a DOP. I feel like my extremely naive knowledge into lenses and cameras has stopped me from being crewed for my year group (my lens knowledge = the 18-55mm lens does an okay job of things).

So, what am I going to do about it?

Well, I'm so glad you asked! Firstly, I took the role as Camera Assist on Jamie Sergeants production, Tent. Initially I was shitting myself. I was scared to even touch a lens - what sort of DOP would I have been? Anyway, I plucked up the courage and just simply got on with it. I asked questions, learnt things about lenses and what they do, if I didn't know what something was I just simply asked (who'd a thunk it, eh?) and I even did some filming on a shoulder mount for the first time! You could tell I was nervous - the first take I did was so shaky, I'm pretty sure it looked like there was an earthquake. But the 2nd take I did, I took a deep breath and calmed myself down. And - hopefully - it looks great!

Okay so that's the first thing I've done. The second is to finally learn about lenses, what they do, purchase some and test them out for myself.

I spent a whole day with George reading up on what lenses mean, the difference between macro tubes and lenses, what ISO, aperture and Shutter Speed means (yes, I knew THAT little!) and how to get rid of grain. I also learnt about lighting; how to set up standard lighting, what lights you would use in specific locations, what coloured gels do, electricity usage in locations, what all the lingo means and more. I wrote everything down and got tested on it (I remember almost all of it!). I found that watching videos online really helped, it was pretty much like getting a lesson on camera/lighting, except I could pause them to write stuff down.

DSLR Lenses from Vimeo Video School on Vimeo. (A great way to learn about lenses. Check out all of the other videos too, especially the general introduction to cameras)

Now, I feel like I know loads! Obviously not as much as a professional DOP, but I think I know enough to get me onto crews, get me noticed and to start me off on my career.

The next step: I've booked out the shoot studio at my university to practice how to do standard lighting, mood lighting, change things on my camera (canon 650D) and actually use it. I've booked a dolly and a lowboy too, so it will be good to try those out!
Oh yes, and here's the reason why I started this post in the first place: I bought stuff! Yes, you heard correctly, stuff! I bought camera batteries (exciting), a big camera bag, macro extension tubes and a 50mm lens. I nearly bought a shoulder mount too, but the one I want costs over £100 so I'm going to wait until I learn more about cinematography to buy one.

Once my purchases arrive, I'm going to test them out and learn how to use them. I'm so excited to get started, I feel like it's the push I should've given myself a long time ago.
So, here's my plan for the next few months:

Test out my camerawork/lighting this friday (3rd May).
Make a little short out of the footage and make it public for the world to see
Develop my photography skills - go take some photos to look at my style of cinematography.
Practice, practice, practice!
Rent out a wide lens and test out some filming with it.
Make a short film during summer to show everyone what I've learnt.

....let's hope this works! I'm hoping that if I put 110% of my effort into my DOP work, people will give me a chance and let me prove to them that I am a good Director of Photography, and I will be successful.

Watch this space!

i don't know what to call this post, so lets just get down to it.

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So, these past few days I have been extremely proactive with my career path.
I've created a CV, I've emailed people for my Professional Practice report, and I've even rang an executive producer from a well respected company!

A CV, you say?
I procrastinated a lot with my CV. There's a lot of debate as to whether it should be professional, short and simple, or chatty, light hearted, and 'stand out' material.
Me being me, I obviously chose the latter - in my mind, it's better to stand out and seem creative than be boring with my CV. It needs to catch the attention of the director/company, so something that is set out in a boring manner, with boring context and a boring layout would make me chuck it away straight away! Still, there's a little part of me that's wondering whether I should make my CV more professional...I guess only time will tell.

Pro-pro-pro....practice?
I'm at that stage in my University degree where you have to decide what career you want to pursue, and actually (wait for it).........talk to people! An admittedly terrifying thing to do for me, as I struggle to even call a taxi or a takeaway.
My topic if choice is Director of Photography. I chose this because I have such a passion in cinematography and everything involved in making a shot look utterly stunning, that this role seems perfect for me.
The essay made me realise how much being a DOP would suit my preferences whilst being on set. I love the rush of being in control of what's happening around me and working with the camera man/woman. The controlling side of me gets what it wants, and the 'make everything look pretty' side to me gets what it wants too, a win-win situation for my inner me!
I'm nearly finished with my report, which is a great triumph for me as I had to re-do it all and I've had an operation recently so I'm still recovering from that - which is a definite set back. But have no fear, I've manned up, conquered on and caught up on all of my work.

Ring ring ring ring ring ring ring, banana phone...
Nerves are a terrible thing. I hate nerves! It stops me ringing taxis, takeaways, doctors, hospitals, production companies and work possibilities. I'm always being a nervous ringer.
Even though they can't see me, my face goes bright red and I sweat in places I didn't think was possible. However, today I looked at my fears in the eyes, and defeated them - hoorah!
I rang an executive producer for a huge production company based in Leeds, and it was a refreshingly light and cheery interview with a more than happy contributor. I was given invaluable advice regarding my career, how to get into the industry and how to stay there, as well as answers for my report. It gave me such a rush (nervous energy, but energy regardless) I felt like running around for hours to burn the energy off! Why did it give me such a weird rush? I have no idea. Maybe that's something I should look into. But today was a stepping stone for me, and I'm happy that I did it.

So that's my day for you. Because you obviously wanted to know...