EYES Pilot - The Finished Sound Design

I now have the finished sound design in my possession. Extra special thanks to my Sound Designer, Daniel Tapper, for all the hard work he put into this! 

I will put these to good use next week, the final cut of the Pilot is not far away!

EYES Vlog Update 24 - Postproduction

EYES Facebook Page

Quite early on in the development of EYES, I made of point of getting the project's social presence established; my thinking was to use the social platforms to work for the project. However, I underestimated how much time and forethought a successful ongoing social media marketing campaign would require. Therefore, the twitter account and more so the facebook page have fallen by the wayside.

EYES Facebook Page

If you're reading this then you should like the Facebook page!

However, now that the project is coming to a close I am actively changing that; my thinking now is that the social media platforms can work for the projects after it is completed, if I put a little bit of work into them every now and then. Over the past two years I have learnt a great deal about the Internet through my participation in it with my blogs and my overall online identity. Now, I feel that I am in a better position to effectively exploit the reach of the EYES social media profiles. My reasoning for making the entirety of the EYES project available online via this blog/portfolio is so that I can share it with other people and expand its audience.

Encounters 2013 - Launch

This year I am volunteering at the Encounters Short Film and Animation Festival in Bristol. I did this for four reasons:

1. I love film. 
2. I wanted an opportunity to network and build up my contacts for future projects.
3. I wanted an opportunity to do some hands-on research.
4. I am moving to Bristol and I figured it would be a good way to get to know some other like-minded individuals. 

Encounters 2013 Launch Event @ Creative Common

The main festival itself does not happen until the latter half of September (17th - 22nd) and at the moment the festival is having some fringe events. 

The full festival guide can be seen here.

Aside from volunteering for the whole of the main festival events, do not ask me how many of the fringe events I have volunteered for because I can not remember, but I will endeavour to go to as many as I can! 

Creative Common is a part of the re-development that is happening next to Bristol Temple Meads.

There was not much for the other volunteers and myself to do at the Launch event and we were told that this was really just a chance to get everyone together. However, I used it as an opportunity for research (see Ways of Being and Ways 2 Interface) and observed the audience habits as they experienced the films.

It was a surprisingly good turn out.

The screenings were held in the Creative Common circus tent.

The Encounters milk float.

Encounters 2013 looks set to be a very promising experience and I look forward to doing more work as part of it!

EYES Pilot - Rough Cut 12

Here is the new rough cut I completed on 20/08/2013.

In terms of the content, this is one is the same as the last one. What I have done here is brighten the image to compensate for the darkening that occurres when the YouTube servers process the videos, but it has worked. Now, I need to go back in and accordingly adjust the contrast - tedious, but it's worth it.

Also, I am just waiting on Daniel to send me the completed sound and the Pilot will be done.
The Blog/Portfolio is also in good shape as the remainder of its posts are ready to be published, I'm just waiting on the Pilot.

Useful Resources

While I was orchestrating the EYES project, the following resources were invulable in helping me achieve the project's success. I would highly recommend each of them!

The writer's guide to making a digital living

IPF Marketing Guide: How to Build and Audience for your Web Series

ReelSEO - The Online Video Marketing Guide

Getting Started in Transmedia Storytelling

Visual Storytelling: The Digital Video Documentary

Directing the Documentary

Directing: Film Techniques and Aesthetics

The Filmmaker's Handbook: A Comprehensive Guide for the Digital Age

The Digital Filmmaking Handbook: The Definitive Guide to Digital Filmmaking

Vimeo Video School

Youtube Creators

Remember This

Remember This is a fellow creative enterprise project/practical dissertation orchestrated by my peer Matt Coot. Matt's creative project was concerned with producing a short film - Remember This - and then submitting it into various film festivals. However, as was the case with EYES, Matt's project was not completed at the time of the final module submission; that said, it did not prevent the potential of the project from being awarded a First! 

And here (a year-and-a-half later) is the final cut...

While does tell a good story, I do still have a few issues with the final cut (mostly technical), but, meh, it's Matt's film at the end of the day, he can do what he likes.

You can find out more about Remember This on Matt's website.

Matt Coot - the orchestrator of Remember This.

As a means of support to double each of our effectiveness, Remember This was produced in co-operation with my EYES web series project, from October 2012 to May 2013. As such, I served as the co-producer on Remember This, in return for having Matt (writer, director, co-producer and co-editor) serve as the co-producer on EYES. 

In addition to producing (nagging) and providing technical support, I also took many photos of the production.

I was heavily involved with the organising and co-ordination of Remember This during the pre-production phase before Christmas (Oct - Dec), but in the New Year I devoted more of my time my own projects. However, throughout the whole process of making Remember This, my producing role has consistently been concerned with motivating the members of the project and keeping everything on schedule. I also offered additional technical support during the production phase. The documentation I produced for Remember This can be viewed here.

For more information on my role in the making of Remember This, please see the feedback videos below. I made these videos as feedback for Matt's portfolio, but they also act as my reflections on my producing role for Remember This.

 

EYES Vlog Update 23 - Influences and Intuition

EYES Pilot - Rough Cut 11

I forgot to this new rough cut when I exported on Friday.

You might notice something significantly different with this one.

 

It's Made of Wood: Cardiff, The TARDIS and all of Time and Space

On Sunday 18th August, I was very fortunate to be able to go to Cardiff and have a set tour of the actual TARDIS set that is used in the television show Doctor Who. Anyone who knows me will tell you that I am a huge Doctor Who fan, so this opportunity was like meeting royalty!

Behind those doors are all of time and space. Do you want to come with me?

In addition to the tour of the TARDIS set, we also received a location tour of the Cardiff Bay area and were shown various locations used in the show and its spin-off Torchwood, locations ranging from New York in the 1930s to the Boeshane Paninsula of the 51st Century. While in the Bay area we were also fortunate enough to see the BBC filming some of episode 3 of the third series of Sherlock - two for the price of one!

Lestrade walks into an off licence - spoiler alert!

We were also admitted into the Doctor Who Experience exhibition, but this was less of a surprise for me as I had already been to the Experience when it was first established in London in 2010. 

The Doctor and the Master. I tried dying my hair blond... it didn't work.

Three years ago, such a long time ago.

That said, they have added a few new items to the exhibition since then and it was pretty cool to be able to see these up close; of particular note was the Doctor's crib from A Good Man Goes to War!

When I was little I dreamt of the stars.

An Ice Warrior a.k.a. a Martian.

Even Timelords need to shave.

The Doctor and the monsters: you can not have one without the other.

The biggest revelation for me was discovering that the current TARDIS set and console are made from wood! This came as a huge surprise because the show is filmed in full High Definition and I had always assumed that in order to maintain the illusion that it was constructed from metal the set was in fact made from fibreglass. 

Looks can be deceiving... but this is the genuine article!

 

A replica of the first (wooden) TARDIS set.

However, the revelation that it was made of wood was by now means a let down; rather, it only strengthened my perceptions of the shows legacy. Like the TARDIS sets of the 20th century, even the 21st century ones can be made from wood; inside the show it also has a nice connection to the exterior police box as that is made from wood and much is made of that fact! 

The exterior of the TARDIS set. Clearly, the chameleon circuit was having a bit of a glitch.

 It actually feels and looks a lot smaller on the inside.

While in the TARDIS the tour guide was telling us how much power the set used... I wasn't really listening.

John and Amie (far right), two friends who invited me to see the TARDIS with them.

Everywhere and anywhere at just the touch of a button.

Under those panels are more of the TARDIS!

It turns out the TARDIS also has its own BBC sound stage!

I did not want to say goodbye and the time I had with the old girl was very brief, but it was fantastic, absolutely fantastic! One day, I shall come back. Yes, I shall come back...

EYES Documentation

As EYES was a final year creative enterprise project, there is a great deal of extra material that was generated during the course of orchestrating the project. When I submitted the project back in May, together with the primary elements (Series Bible, Pilot, Pilot Script and this blog), I also submitted a hard copy appendix.

I submitted the project on the 20th of May.

As this blog is also the projects portfolio, I was very keen to include all of the project materials on it; as such via a Google Drive folder and I have digitised other documents where necessary. To access the folder, follow the link below:

 EYES Documentation

I have arranged the documents into relevant folders.

The documents included are: Series Bible, all drafts of the Planning Portfolio, all drafts and variations of the Pilot script, my marks and feedback, reference guides (free e-books), risk assessments, shot lists, filming permits, Survey Monkey feedback results, Time Investment Log Sheets, weekly project sync documents and other (general) materials.

I want to put the entirety of this project on this blog/portfolio so all the world can see it.

EYES Pilot - Rough Cut 10

Here I have done colour grading on all the shots, but I still need to have a fiddle because some of them are still not quite right and some still need brightening up slightly. You probably will not be able to tell the difference, but I promise you I have done the grading and the shots look a hell of a lot better than they did originally. Also, YouTube darkens the picture somewhat after they have processed the video on their servers, so that is something I am going to have to compensate for in future.

There is also a new addition, right around the 4:30 mark - it looks unreal! 

 

EYES Vlog Update 22 - Feedback for the Actors

Part 1

 

Part 2

EYES Vlog Update 21 - Preproduction (Recap)

Birth to Death as told by Cinema

I came across this hugely influential video yesterday, this is the power of cinema in 3 minutes.

Updated Blog/Portfolio Banner Graphic

The updated blog/portfolio banner graphic.

As I am in the process of bringing this project to its conclusion, I have updated to the banner to include slightly more information than was on the first one. I believe all the information I have included on this new banner graphic is enough to get any new visitors off and running in relation to what the EYES project entails. It still retains the slightly disjointed aesthetic of the previous banner, as this dis-jointed aesthetic is an integral component of the entire EYES web series concept. As I was not able to build a separate website to act as the project portfolio, the blog now fulfills that purpose and, as such, the banner graphic has also become a hybrid of the 'EYES Web Series' and 'EYES of a Storyteller' components and identities. Ultimately, I am pleased with this result.

I did also receive some feedback that the banner graphic was too tall and occupied too much of the screen; therefore, making it difficult to tell when a new page on the blog had loaded, because the graphic appears on the header of each page. While I did try to re-crop the image, it remains (mostly) the same dimensions because compositionally it just did not work any other way. In this case, I have reverted to and trust the photographer mindset I employed when I first photographed this self-portrait back in October 2012. However, to counter the problem of someone not being sure as to whether the page has changed, I have included "scroll down to find out more" in the bottom left hand corner, as an incentive and reminder to scroll down.

The previous blog/portfolio banner graphic.

EYES Pilot - Colour Grading

Before and after.

Following Nolan: A Way Into the Industry

If you are still wondering how the hell it is we get into this damn industry, I would urge you to watch this video.

If you have not seen Following then you need to get your hands on a copy!

EYES Pilot - Rough Cut 9

This rough cut is almost identical to the previous, aside from a few very minor tweaks. 

This is the edit Danial, our very talented sound designer, will use as a reference while doing the sound design.