I got a call this morning from Paul Diffley – Hot Aches productions to go and help on a shoot for a project of his. All I know is it’s in the Peaks somewhere and there will be a climber and probably a really hard route!.. More on this soon..

At least the weather is looking ok!

Weather for Buxton Friday 4 Dec

I took part in this round table at the weekend. http://www.formcontent.org/projects/theory-and-practice-re-imagining-grammar-filmic-co/

Hosted at no.w.here in Bethnal Gn, it aimed to situate the theoretical context of FormContent’s exhibition project The Filmic Conventions around problems and issues of language in relation to moving image artwork. As well as the screened video/film works, we used texts by Badiou, Metz, Noel Carroll and Gregory Currie as a starting point for discussion.

It went well. I got the chance to watch a lot of video work, some of it in fast-forward, I accidentally went to a Super 8 workshop by mistake, and then I think we had an interesting discussion.  Sorry to everyone if I was speaking too fast. It was a cold day and I was constantly drinking coffee to try and keep warm. When I saw Jean-Luc Nancy give  a lecture last year, he was drinking red wine from an Evian bottle, which I think I may do next time instead, or brandy from a Thermos. There’s something very cool about making your fix socially acceptable but then just bathetically bringing it back down to the dirty earth of a cheap vessel again. Anyway, I’m going to write up some of my thoughts that emerged around a vague idea of the necessity of alienality as a productive counter to the assumed critical subject position implied by contemporary reworkings of modernist strategies of self-reflexivity. I’ll put them up here.

In the meantime, I was reminded, for some reason, of some lines from a J.H.Prynne poem:

He wanders in-

ertly, with a shrewd

unattending absence,

his being on a thin

stalk: he twists

from reluctance to

keep to the one plane

when his name comes

in sound, to him.

To wander in-

ertly

is still, I think, my favourite poetic line-break as adverbial conversion ever, but, even more so, it’s just the ‘ertly’ that I prefer.

Upcoming Jazz super star Parry Ray asked us (at KASH) to come up with some supercool viral videos and concepts. This was landmark project for me as I got to direct live action with real actors, and we shot on RED so it was all a bit cinematic. Videos coming soon.

like the video!

“1428″ is a documentary by Du Haibin focussing on the stories of the people dealing with the aftermath of the earthquake in Sichuan. It just recently won the Best Documentary at 2009 Venice Film Festival.

It touches me to see filmmakers, usually documentary filmmakers, using the art form of film to tell the true stories of the people, more often than not, tragic stories. It keeps me wondering what is the source of the motivation of these filmmakers when they go out to capture those stories. Was it the pure intention of wanting to expound the truth and show the audience how we should be appreciating our current lives; or it could be simply to tell good human stories, illustrating their struggles and their triumphs?

I hate to admit that being one who champions documentary filmmaking, I do not watch enough documentaries, for the reason that (1) it is not easy to get hold of them (2) with the so-called weight of life that one goes through, it takes courage to WANT to see “truth” illustrated, most of the time, pessimistically or with a solemn tone. But if everyone chooses to watch films for the sake of escaping from reality, that does not do justice to the art form.

List of documentaries I told myself I should watch:

(1) Man on Wire

(2) The Cove

(3) The Inconvenient Truth (yeah.. I haven’t seen it)

(4) Sicko

(5) Sepuluh Tahun Sebelum Merdeka

(6) The Corporation

(7) Food, Inc.

—– will continue to expand this list and hope to include more smaller documentaries.

Found this earlier today and I’ve been thinking about it ever since.  “Black Bones,” by Rhett Dashwood, is a creepy short film that makes your skin crawl.  Similar to a documentary about a serial killer, Black Bones is hard to watch, but you just can’t look away.

Song: Black Bones
Artist: Teenagersintokyo
Director / Producer: Rhett Dashwood
Cinematographer: Ari Wegner
Editing: The Butchery
Post Production: Digital Pictures

Die Rechte auf den Tatort-Vorspann klagt eine Grafikerin gegen den Bayerischen Rundfunk ein: Nicht die Produktionsfirma, sie alleine habe die Titelsequenz erfunden und das Drehbuch umgesetzt. Laut “Süddeutsche Zeitung” bekam sie damals knapp 1300 Euro. Der Streitwert liegt laut Klägeranwalt bei 150.000 Euro. Zudem soll der Name der Klägerin als Erfinderin im Abspann genannt werden. Der Vorspann kündigt seit 1970 die Tatort-Krimis an und löste schon mehrmals Streit aus.

Via derstandard.at/Etat

(film)

Follow a stray dog for a few days, filming every thing it does. (Voice over use possible, but be careful with that.) Ideally this would be a dog that likes to move around and who generally ignores you. Cut all the good parts into a film.

This will probably have to take place in a country (unlike mine) where there is an abundance of stray dogs.

There are a lot of “tools” that go into the art and design process.  Paint, pencils, brushes, mouse buttons, fingertips, music, etc, etc, etc.  But how about your eyes?  Isn’t that tool #1, aside from your brain?

The eyes, (Tool #1) is finally getting some technologic attention these days and it’s brought a tear to mine.  Let me introduce to you Mr. Tony Quans a.k.a. the legendary LA graffiti artist TEMPTONE.

Tempt, suffering from Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis (ALS), is a phenomenal artist.  But the disease has left him completely paralyzed…except for his eyes.  A new advancement in technology named, “Eye Writer” has enabled art to be projected anywhere solely by the mapping of eye movements.  Art is classified as an individuals contribution to society and the developers behind the Eye Writer are making sure complete paralysis doesn’t stop people like Tempt from making their contribution.  If you’d like to find out more, visit Eye Writer Initiative or check out the following articles; The Eye Writer – F.A.T., Eye Writer Allows Man To Paint Despite Paralysis and a collection of videos by Evan Roth.

Made and now distributed absolutely free via a creative common license, Sita Sings the Blues sets a benchmark for ‘open source’ film. Many are sceptical with her distribution model and wonders how she can make the money back. Similarly, I am attracted to the idea of sharing but perplexed and eager to find out if the audience are participative with her “creator-endorsed” model whereby promotional materials or the film that carries that logo voluntarily gives its portion of profits to the creator. No doubt it is a brave move and I salute to that!

Faris Badwan van The Horrors werkt aan een nieuw soloproject, genaamd Lumina. Vodafone volgden hem terwijl hij zijn eerste videoclip aan het regisseren was. Uit enthousiasme had hij al twee dagen niet geslapen. Je kunt hier zien hoe het hem is vergaan:

After an epic journey through the elements, I eventually got to Kendal.

I found a car park, next to the river, and parked up. This would be my base for the next 3 days.

Friday was host to the “adventure film makers summit day” Through a series of talks and presentations, I got to meet the experts in the field of adventure film making. This was a very valuable experience and I took a lot away from it.

The premiere of the lasted climbing film, the Asgard project, showed on Friday evening. This is a major new film that follows Leo holding’s ambitious expedition to make the first accent of Mount Asgard in the Arctic Circle.

Saturday morning, there was a seminar on the new Final Cut Studio Pro7. The talk went through some on the new feature of the software. Including demonstrations on how to use motion and soundtrack pro. I want final cut studio now! If only I had the £600!

Through out the weekend I got to talk to a number of cool people. I met a guy called Charlie. He works in TV as a camera assistant and is also a freelance film maker. He made a film that was shown at the festival as part of the lucky dip category. His film follows adventures, Tim Emmet on a first attempt Ice climb in the French alps. Here is a link to his site. http://www.charliechambers.co.uk/

I also had the privilege of talking to the founder of Hot Ache productions, Paul Diffley. Paul had a number of his latest films showing at the festival. After a chat, it looks like I might be able to get some work experience with Paul. I am hopefully going next weekend to help on a shoot in the Peak district. Here is a link to his site. http://www.hotaches.com/

All in all the Festival was brilliant. There was a lot of very cool people, a lot of very good films and a lot of beer!

The festival has inspired me to want to follow this career and I hope to be entering in to the world of adventure film making soon.

I am in the process of making a little video podcast of the event so that will be up soon!

This is a 6-minute CGI short done by writer/director Lucas Martell.  The film, “Pigeon: Impossible” took nearly 5 years to complete and the detail shows it.  This is Martell’s first attempt at CGI animation and it’s a solid performance that leaves his viewers standing in line for more.

“Walter, a rookie secret agent, is faced with a problem seldom covered in basic training: what to do when a curious pigeon gets trapped inside your multi-million dollar, government-issued nuclear briefcase.”  Read more about Martell and his film at Pigeon: Impossible.

Watch it here!

Ladies and gentlemen… at the moment it’s a bit quiet round the Beton Blog, we just have so much things to do that we hardly get the time to post something up here. But to give you a little bit of infotainment, here’s a video about bringing print and screen design together… enjoy.
(And if you might noticed, we changed the post language to english, to reach all the people around the world

tim burton’s haunting, yet whimsically fantastic characters and dreamscapes fascinate me. watch this video and get inside tim’s head for 7 minutes. he discusses drawing, motivation for his works, why he wears striped socks!, and his loyalty to hands-on, tactile creative processes.

(via swissmiss)

“Everyday the news is transmitted to us across the globe. We’re left saddened, scared, inspired, skeptical, hopeful, angry, or simply numb. But the next day brings a new set of stories painting over the memories of yesterday’s events.”

10 Days by Ripo. i love this. you will too.

(via boooooom)

“Everyday the news is transmitted to us across the globe. We’re left saddened, scared, inspired, skeptical, hopeful, angry, or simply numb. But the next day brings a new set of stories painting over the memories of yesterday’s events.”

10 Days by Ripo. i love this. you will too.

10 DAYS from ripo on Vimeo.

(via booooooom)

Dialogue Editing for Motion Pictures A Guide to the Invisible Art By John Purcell 384 pages Trim size 7 1/2 X 9 1/4 in Copyright 2007 USD 47.95, Softcover, Reference

Key Features

# A veteran sound editor shows you how to produce a flawless dialogue track
# Covers organization and time management so you can work efficiently
# Must-have information for sound editors, dialogue editors, and assistant editors
# Foreword by Dominick Tavella, who mixes films in New York (some of his films include: Chocolat, Far and Away, Vanity Fair, and Chicago)
Description

Dialogue editing is a crucial yet invisible part of filmmaking. Do it right, and no one notices. Do it wrong, and your film or video sounds messy, distracting, and unrealistic. This is a book for people who need to edit production sound for film, TV, or video but were never taught how to do it. It goes step by step through the process and covers all the workflows you are likely to encounter. Efficient working practices are emphasized throughout, so you learn to save time and avoid needless repetition.

Many dialogue editors are hobbled by a lack of understanding of the non-sound aspects of filmmaking. Unlike editors who cut effects, backgrounds or Foley, a dialogue editor’s work is directly affected by what has gone on before. How a film was shot, recorded and edited will dramatically influence the dialogue editing process. Much of this book, then, deals with things which at first glance don’t appear to be dialogue. You will find overviews of film picture and sound postproduction–film, tape, NTSC, PAL, 24p, and HD. There are summaries of film picture editing, OMF manipulation, and ADR management.

Readership

Film and television sound editors, dialogue editors, postproduction supervisors
Quotes

“The premise of the book is true: it is a necessary but usually overlooked part of film sound.” – Larry Blake, supervising sound editor/re-recording mixer: films include “Traffic”, “Erin Brockovich”, “Ocean’s Eleven”, etc.

“John Purcell’s excellent book is a concise and detailed text on the aesthetic and techniques of dialogue editing in the digital age. He brings a wealth of knowledge of the entire production sound arc and how dialogue editing significantly contributes to the process. Any filmmaker who follows Mr. Purcell’s methods will have gone a long way to producing a very polished and professional sound track for their film.” – Bill Dannevik, Professor of Digital Media, USC Cinema-TV/Savannah College of Art & Design and Technical Manager of World Wide Dubbing, Disney Character Voices International

“John Purcell’s book is a comprehensive and detailed guide to the arcane craft of dialogue editing. Both instructors and students will benefit from his thoughtful examination of each stage of the post production sound process as it relates to this crucial component of the soundtrack.” – Harry M. Cheney MPSE – Supervising Sound Editor – Associate Professor; Chapman University Dodge College of Film and Media Arts

“This is a great subject matter and I and my colleagues would have loved to have had a book like this 10 years ago…there is very little information on the specifics of dialogue editing available.” – Todd Hooker, film editor

“I am very happy to endorse this book. I have not previously seen a book that has realistically dealt with the professional responsibilities of a dialog editor. Dialog is the focus of a successful soundtrack. It not only contains the majority of the intellectual arch of the film but the timbers and tempos of the actor’s voices are instrumental in establishing the critical relationship between the audience and the viewer. Without the Dialog editor’s well-prepared session it is difficult and costly, (in terms of time spent in the dub) if not impossible, for the mixer to do what is necessary to establish or enhance that relationship. I look forward to being able to use this book as a required reading for my students.” -Professor John Sisti, Savannah College of Arts and Design/Department of Sound Design. Formerly with Columbia Pictures/Sony Entertainment Supervising Sound Editor and Dialog Editor “Mad About You”

“Purcell has written this book for people who need to edit production sound for narrative films but were ‘never taught how to do it.’ Unlike music and effects editing, dialogue editing operates under a different set of rules. There are certain fundamental procedures that are absolutely essential to know and, unless one has been fortunate enough to work with an experienced editor in different situations, the information is not available. Purcell’s book will fill in the gaps.” – Editor’s Guild Magazine
Contents

What Is Dialogue Editing; Things You Need to Know about Postproduction; A Quick Look at Picture Editing; The Sound Department; Getting Sound from the Picture Department to the Sound Department; Files, Back-Ups and Burn-Ins; Screening the OMF; Managing Your Time; Getting Started; The Editing Begins; Image, Depth and Perspective; Repairing Damage; Conformations; ADR; Preparing for the Mix
Download

www.mathlib.org

In this series BBC’s Channel4 has produced a number of episodes whereby nature’s giants are dissected, studied, and broadcast like never before. The theories proposed aren’t particularly new but they have uncovered substantial empirical evidence regarding evolution. The sheer incredibility of being able to see up close real inner parts of these giants is, to me, a treat in itself. I’ve only finished watching the whale episode but can’t wait to see the rest. They are all on youtube, broken up into 5 parts. I’ll post the first parts to each episodes here for you to start off with, you’ll find the sequel parts probably in the ‘related videos’ section.

The Whale

The Crocodile

The Giraffe

The Elephant

Joy, the whale expert who does pretty much all the work in the episode from slicing the whale open to begin with and later delving deep inside to retrieve various organs (looking almost swallowed by all the bloody blubbery mess) has got to be one of the coolest women out there. When asked by the presenter what she thought was the next step in evolution for whales she said,

” you could never make those predictions because evolution isn’t directed, it has to respond to the environment, who knows what’s going to happen? maybe global warming will turn our whales into something else “

I think I’m going to do some really big blown up photocopy drawings inspired by these giants’ innards. I’ll post them here for you when I’m done so keep a lookout.

On Thursday I went to see Duncan Campbell’s latest film at the Chisenhale Gallery. It wasn’t a mockumentary but it wasn’t exactly a documentary either. I thought it was both witty and fascinating. Below is an excerpt from Chisenhale Gallery’s description of the exhibition.

For his first major solo public exhibition in London, Chisenhale Gallery premieres a new film by Glasgow-based artist Duncan Campbell, co-commissioned by Chisenhale Gallery; Film and Video Umbrella; Tramway, Glasgow and The Model, Sligo. Make it new John (2009) tells the story of the DeLorean car, its creator John DeLorean and the workers of the Belfast-based car plant who built it. The film deftly contrasts the DeLorean dream with its spectacular downfall during a critical period in Northern Ireland’s history, and the canonisation of the car – the DMC12 – as a symbol of the American myth of mobility.

The son of an immigrant Romanian foundry worker, John DeLorean’s natural talent for engineering took him to the top of Chevrolet, General Motors’ most important division. Leaving this behind he persuaded the British Government to back his new venture – building a factory in Dunmurry in Belfast to produce a new sports car. Almost immediately beset by financial difficulties and allegations of embezzlement, DeLorean’s attempts to keep the factory open became increasingly desperate and corrupt, eventually leading to his arrest by the FBI. The factory – which employed 2000 workers – closed in 1982, having produced just over 9000 cars.

As with the earlier works such as Bernadette (2008) and Falls Burns Malone Fiddles (2003), in Make it new John Campbell fuses a documentary aesthetic with fictive moments, using existing archive news and documentary footage from the 1980s as well as new 16mm footage which imagines conversations between DeLorean factory workers. Campbell questions the documentary genre and reflects here on broader existential themes and narrative drives.

Make it new John lasts approximately 50 minutes and will be screened on the hour during gallery opening times.

The exhibition is on until 20 December 2009. I highly recommend it.

shh. don't tell anybody i doctored up this flyer...just a little

hey folks, i’m proud to be part of this incredible show. Please come thru to the opening reception tonight or stop by some time between now and dec 12 to experience the mythic world of filipino folklore…where enchanted forests and philippine shantytowns collide with the streets of san francisco. these artists are BRILLIANT.

Tabi Tabi Po
A Filipino Folklore Exhibit and Sound Installation
1:AM Gallery 1000 Howard St. San Franicso, CA 94103
Nov 13-Dec 12, 2009
Curator: James gaNyan Garcia

Tabi Tabi Po is dedicated to celebrating Filipino folklore through urban contemporary art. The Kapre, Manananggal, Duwende, Tikbalang, and Aswang are just a sampling of the haunting creatures that are brought to life in this exhibit. A percentage of the art sales will be donated to the victims of typhoon Ondoy and Pepeng through BAYAN Philippines and BALSA (Bayanihan para sa Sambayanan).

The curator, James “gaNyan” Garcia, has put together a killer lineup that includes Filipino artists from the US, Philippines (he partnered with Pablo Gallery in the PI), and even Norway.

The artists include:

Stateside:
Angry Woebots, Stuter, gaNyan, Marikina, Gem Mateo, CeCe Carpio, Pancho Abalos, Mark Canto, Miguel (Bounce) Perez, Darvin (Boohi) Vida , England Hidalgo, Jerrell Conner, Nic Cowan, Andre Sibayan, Ciriaco Sayoc II, J2, Marc Aure, Peabe, Marlon Sagana Ingram, Minette Mangahas, Dyno, Christopher de Leon, Cat Chiu Phillips, Isabel (Pepper), Roxas, John Yoyogi Fortes, Allison Torneros, Mel Vera Cruz, Simbulan, Ray Haguisan, and me!

Philippines:
Manuel Ocampo, Analog, Boy Agimat, Dex Fernandez, Bru, Nelz Yumul, Katwo Puertollano, Jigger Cruz, Sam Ramos, Okto, Abi Dayacap, Melancholy, Liza Flores, Luis Lorenzana, Jon Jaylo, Mica Cabildo, Bjorn Calleja

Norway: Jet Pascua

This exhibit aims to not only bring Filipinos of all generations into the gallery, but also welcome the greater SF Bay Area community. Since SF Bay Area has the largest population of Filipinos in America to date, Garcia and 1:AM gallery invite all to come celebrate and learn more about the colorful traditions of the Filipino culture and help raise money for the typhoon victims.

The month long event includes:

-Opening Reception: Nov 13th from 7-10:30pm
-Bindlestiff Puppet Show: Dec 5 from 5:30-8pm
-Closing Reception: Dec 12th from 6-9pm
- Live performance by Baliktad
-Ongoing screening of “Tabi Tabi Po” companion Film Documentary. Interviews from several artists participating in the exhibit. Filmed by Maya Santos, Glenn Aquino, James (gaNyan) Garcia, edited by Aiza Bonus