Final major projects are done!

A couple of days ago I finally handed in my final major projects. it was a massive push right up to the last few minutes of the hand in window and I don't mind saying, a stressful experience.

I have been very fortunate to have worked with some very gifted people on the two projects I have been involved with for this module. looking back over the last 5 weeks I think we have done incredibly well and produced to very different but engaging documentaries.

As a director on this course you have to be a bit of a 'jack of all trades'  filling the gaps on shoots and within the edit because you work in small teams and as the director the ultimate responsibility to bring the documentary home relies on you. For the BMX documentary "Living the dream" I was the director, sound engineer and dubbing mixer and found it hard to juggle all the roles and find time to do dissertation and production paperwork. Its a learning curve though and overall I am very happy with the outcome and look forward to hearing the feedback from the contributors.

All thats left is to write my dissertation then my Masters is over, its amazing to think that in a few weeks time I will be handing in my dissertation and thats it! It only seems like yesterday that we were all working in small groups producing little one minute films week by week - how time flies........

My First Camera Role

The unthinkable truth, a documentary about the APFU was my first camera role since embarking on my Masters back in October. I have quite a bit of experience of filming but I wanted this piece of work to really stand out and emulate television as much as possible, to give me something great to show potential employers and add to my showreel.

I used two cameras for this shoot, the Panasonic P2 and the Canon 1D Mk1V, the combination of these cameras allowed me to film the different shots I needed and be able to include timelapse as well.

I had a lot of experience of using these two cameras from a three month expedition to Borneo where I documented the expedition through film and photography. From this I knew that the footage from both cameras can be matched. With a little colour work the Panasonic P2 footage can look as nice as the Canon 1D Mk1V.

In the edit I was really pleased to see the documentary come together, on this project I was really fortunate to work with a very gifted Director and Editor and I think it shows in the final piece how well we worked together. One thing that I did suffer from was a dust spot on the sensor of the Canon camera. on the screen shots, above, you can see it just above the contributors head.
This is one of the many pitfalls of shooting on a digital SLR camera, having to change lenses frequently exposes you to dust getting into the body of the camera and causing these types of issues.

In a future blog I will be writing a feature on problems with DSLR shooting so take a look if you are a keen DSLR user!

Crit Screening

Crit screening time came around quickly but it was great to see all the projects in their various states.
The BMX documentary that Im directing wasn't quite complete, it was at a very good stage but still required an opening sequence and credits. The UFO Documentary was a finished piece and both were received very well with only minor and specific comments from the course leaders.

We can take those comments and implement them in the coming days before the final hand in. I think the team are positive that we have worked hard, the editor, directors and camera operators have all stayed available in the edit to make sure these projects stay on time and have the the necessary support to help the editor bring two large projects together.

Keep your eye out on here for the links to watch these documentaries through my vimeo page!

Doc two filmed, we are ready for the edit....

Another crazy drive around the country has ended and the second of the two documentaries I'm working on has finished filming. We drove to manchester to film the olympic development programmes BMX riders which was an amazing experience and they were all great on camera and very good in the interviews. There coach Marcus Bloomfield was very kind and allowed us access for two days which gave us ample opportunities to film their training and gain some great cutaways and actuality. As the Director I'm really thankful to British Cycling for allowing us to film and visit there amazing facility so close to the Olympics.
After two days in Manchester we travelled down to London for the next leg of the filming, we visited the Peckham BMX club which has development and trained two of England's brightest talents, Quillan Isidore and Tre Whyte. and then travelled to Mitcham and Sheen to film with a very talented young rider called Flo who had her first World Championships experience this year in the 12-14 category.
Finally on sunday we filmed with Rob Reed who was one of our earliest contributors and very instrumental in helping me to develop this story, we filmed him training at his local track, Hayes Hawks, and then filmed a master interview. before driving back to Cornwall!

 Filming with Quillan and CK Flash at Peckham

Michaela Rose filming Flo at their home in London

 This documentary has been a Fantastic experience, we have filmed at the biggest event on the BMX calendar, filmed with the coach and riders of the Olympic development team, meet and worked with CK flash the coach of Quillan Isidore the world number one rider in his class and young talent such as Flo. Throughout the filming we have meet a great many people and I have become completely hooked by BMX riding and I look forward to cheering on our Olympic riders Shanaze Reade and Liam Phillips 
in the up coming weeks at the 2012 Olympic Games here in London.