I Failed But It's Fine, You Can Too.

So I failed.

Not in the traditional sense, I just failed to do what I wanted to with my film when I moved to University, but strangely I'm okay with that.

The grand idea was that I'd move to Uni, but keep on producing content in a steady stream with my creative partners, however since then things haven't happened and I haven't put out anything new, heck, I haven't even finished editing what I shot at the end of summer with Liam & Co.

However, though this may seem like a negative at first it's given me the chance to reflect and not to be cliche'd but it's been somewhat of a journey, before moving I don't think I understood the magnitude of what I was doing, but since moving I've gone through a massive transition where I've had a plethora of new experiences and grown as a person, and I feel that no matter what happens in the future I'll never be the person I was prior to University. Though woeful it may seem at first it's definitely not a negative thing, leaving friendships behind has taught me the value of such things, how much it cannot be taken for granted and how important it is to make new bonds, and though I've gotten closer to many people and further from some, I feel fine. Additionally I feel like the experiences and the characters I've met during my time in Uni will be an aid to my future projects and forays into film, though at the start of this post I said that I'd failed, what I really think is I failed to understand the importance of transitional periods in life, what I learnt is that I don't need to be working at 100% capacity all of the time, sometimes in life as a person it's important to take a step back from what you're doing and experience life from a different angle, it eliminates a monotony of artistic vision, and creativity are sourced from experiences, and since this massive change in my lifestyle I feel like I've only benefited.

So what can you take from this? Well, if you're going to make a massive transition in your life, acknowledge that you need time to make that transition, and during that time embrace life, for life is the giver of characters, story and fantastic experiences that make you rich, definitely not financially rich if you're a student (That comes after your degree I hear), but in more important ways such as emotionally and spiritually rich, trust me, I'm in one of the best places I've been in my life right now.

Merry Christmas

- Geraint

P.S. Less than two weeks Liam - Chin up old sport!

My Latest Project

Hey!

So todays post is slightly different, as rather than talking about film I'll be sharing my latest film in which I was Director of Photography and Editor on, it's called Hood and here it is!

A new article will be coming in the next few days so follow my blog, or come back soon!

Keep on filming!

-Geraint

Using Social Media As Marketing

Hey Filmmakers!

So the title of this post doesn't look very interesting, but stay with me a second!

For the past few weeks I've been in a creative rut in terms of this blog, whenever I have had ideas it's been inconvenient and forgotten (I must start jotting ideas down), or I've lacked the passion to sit down and write, but this morning whilst on Twitter I had a brainwave! So here I am, writing about using social media in terms of film marketing/promotion!

Now I am going to open with the obligatory statement - Social media is incredibly important to your film/production, it gives you an interactive audience (Which is mostly a good thing, for an opposing example see why Joss Whedon recently closed his Twitter account), but I think there's a key element a lot of similar articles to this I've seen miss out!

So usually large blockbusters will have a twitter account and they'll drearily release information and links about the film, which is great as it acts as an information hub on that movie, but the key in film promotion are the personal Twitter accounts of the Director & Cast.

Take X-Men; Apocolypse as an example, all the big reveals have been taking place on Brian Singers Instagram account, we've had a chance to see all the stars of the film announced on there, often as our first confirmation. This method is increasingly taken off as Directors are creative people, and creative people are interesting! Combine the interesting nature of these people and their work with the (mostly) unfiltered social interaction they have on these accounts and you have a whole new field of marketing that is far stronger than the traditional advert and the "Official" (Boring) company and film pages.

Another example of the personal marketing revolution is the fantastic James Gunn, interacting personally with fans on his Facebook, Twitter, and Snapchat he regularly interacts with fans, and takes time out to do it all personally, this is helped by the fact Gunn is also a fun, intelligent, and rational man, which may explain how he's already building up excitement for his 2017 film Guardians Of The Galaxy 2 in 2015!

So you may be asking, how does this apply to your project? Well the important thing is to be yourself. There's no point inventing a personality, even if it's online, or in person people will be able to see through you eventually, obviously apply a filter to what you say at times, you do have to have a certain degree of professionalism, but the important thing is to remain yourself, and be exciting! Talk to any fans you may get, retweet their drawings/costumes etc. As well as posting photos from the set, even if it is you and your cast having fun/goofing off!

If you promote your film in a very personal way, you'll find you have a lot more success, and the process of making a movie is more enjoyable!

Keep on filming!

-Geraint

Personal Film-Making

Hey

So todays post is going to be a slight change of tone. Usually I try to post content relevant to film-making in some form, usually involving some technical aspect of film-making, but today I'm going to talk about the personal aspects of making films.

For a long time in my early attempts at becoming an Indie film-maker I found myself making more excuses for not making films than actually making films, and I find that it's a common issue with film-makers I know and socialise with, I'd always have an excuse not to do something, not having a good enough camera, or not having a mic port on the camera I did have.

All of these excuses were just that - excuses. As of late I've been out filming a lot more, and recently I've really been thriving as a film-maker and becoming much more of a professional with my filmic vision becoming clearer with every project, and it's mostly due to the realisation that even if I'm making films with basic equipment, I'm still making films, and that technological limitations aren't something to lament over and use as an excuse to give up before you start, but something to embrace enthusiastically as a challenge as a film-maker.  There really is nothing more satisfying than overcoming a challenge and getting lovely shots which people assume you had better equipment for.

Another benefit of just making film regardless of what gear you have is that you dramatically improve technically as a film-maker - You get to understand what the settings on your kit do and you learn to manipulate them to get the right set up for the shoot conditions, and you get a better eye for what to do, you learn what shots work well, and what looks horrible, and you get the opportunity to develop your style as a film-maker, some of your first films will be awful, yet as a film-maker they're some of the films you'll love the most, and the films that you will learn the most from.

Pick ideas you're interested in - If you love Film Noir but you think your lack of resources only allows you to make a low value chick flick, don't make the chick flick! Make projects you're interested in, even with a lack of resources doing a project you have enthusiasm has more of a chance of actually being made. There's plenty of ways of making almost anything on little/no budget, just look in  second hand shops, or even fancy dress stores for basic fake blood etc.

Collaboration is key! If you need help with a production, from editors to actors you can usually find someone online who will be willing to help, and with everything in Indie Film, if you don't ask, you don't get. There's plenty of places you can look for help online, such as film forums (See my personal favourite IndieTalk)

Once you've made your film, get someone to critique it! The best way to develop as a film-maker is through criticism, get someone who knows what they're talking about (Even if it's a lecturer if you're doing a film/media course in school/college) and ask them to pick out the issues, then once they have go back and re-edit with their suggestions, see what works and what doesn't, you may get some criticism that sounds good, but when applied it doesn't actually fit into your creative vision, this usually means that it's not right for your project, and the likelihood is that the flaw is just a film technique you need to practice more, and the more you do it, the better it will look!

Keep On Filming!

-Geraint

Camera Operation & Fitness

Hello again!

So as the title of this article suggests today I'm going to be talking of camera operation, but more specifically I'm going to talk about how it fits together with fitness.

Few people enjoy fitness, many despise it, personally I like the idea of it, but actually doing it is a lot of effort, recently however I've began to do more exercise in my free time, this is due to a rather recent bout of battling with a recurring knee issue I have, and the only way I've ever found to get rid of it is to exercise it, it also coincides with a philosophy I've held for a few months without acting upon.

My argument is that the fitter a camera operator is the better they will become, if you have an amazing operator technically, but his body simply can't keep up on the day of a shoot, then he'll be restricted by the limits of his physicality, if you have the same camera operator who's at a good fitness level then his body will be able to keep up, and he'll be able to do his best work all day.

Having worked on a couple of Indie film sets and spontaneous film shoots I can say it's no surprise that it's a lot of running around, and as a camera operator you find yourself having to run in front of someone, backwards, with steps or other objects behind you which you have to doge, whilst concentrating on the camera, making sure the framing is perfect and everything is in focus. If you didn't quite get my point it's that it takes a lot of effort working on a camera, and on an Indie Film set you'll often find directors and DoP's taking the role of camera operator as we have a lack of funds, and it's also something we enjoy doing!

If you can remove the physical strain of being active all day you primarily make shoots a lot easier for yourself as a film-maker due to the removal/mitigation of the physical strain, and it can also help you creatively, especially if you're running on a treadmill or even going outside to run, it's a menial task, so put on some music and you may find that the time with yourself will enhance your creativity, even if it is as a means to mentally procrastinate from the running!

I'm sure some of you will disagree with me, so feel free to comment with your take on what I've discussed today!


Keep on filming!

-Geraint

Editing - 50% Fun, 100% Enjoyable

Hey!

So lately with various jobs/coursework assignments I've been doing a lot of editing, now don't get me wrong, it's not that I dislike editing, in fact I love editing; it's one of my strongest talents as a film maker, and one of the few that I'd say I'm most competent and confident in, but editing can be tedious, I'll explain...

Most people think of editing as adding in CGI monsters, and making epic montages. Yes these things have a home in editing, but what I've found is that editing is 50% preparation 50% actually doing work, yes you can get a bunch of random/off the cuff shots and edit them together to make a good sequence, but I'm confident in saying that nobody has ever edited together a good sequence just by pressing random buttons, it's the Infinite Monkey Theorem, yes it's possible in theory, but in practice it simply won't happen, editing takes time, and editors have the hardest job in the film-making process, as they're there to eliminate the flaws that have gone on during the production, and effectively have to make up for the mistakes of others, and if they fail, that then becomes their responsibility and their failure.

The editing process almost always begins with reviewing the footage, you can check what's good and what's bad, and what I tend to do if working on a scripted piece is separate the files into good takes and bad takes, I keep all the good takes I can use in one folder, and all the unusable takes in another folder, these aren't deleted as sometimes there are elements from them which can be used later if needed. Now I'm not saying you need to utilise the folder method, I personally find it a much more hassle free system for editing, as there's less clutter when you get to your composition, I know editors that don't adopt the filing method, and their work is just as good, so find what suits you best! But always make sure you review your footage so you know what you're working with!

After the organisation and/or review it's time to go into your composition!

For composing films/videos it's helpful to have good editing


I'm going to quickly list my experience of how editing works for a pre-planned production:

• Watch over all the footage
• Separate it into two folders, good takes & bad takes.
• Sit through hours of meticulously cutting everything into the right order and length on the timeline. And transitions, lots of transitions.
• Colour correction, so much colour correction.
• The added extras - Tracking objects, overlays, etc. 

Obviously this isn't to be followed to the letter, but generally this is what I find to be the case, especially when putting together shorts, and especially Indie-Film which tends to be less CGI heavy, so the editing process is more about the cuts and colour.

Now, how do you become a good editor?

It's a question I've been asked a few times, and even though I struggled to answer it the first time, I think I have the answer now. A good editor is a person who can make themselves a hybrid between a film maker and the audience. Let me explain, if you look at the film Skyline it's a good film if you just look at the technical aspects of it, the CGI, cinematography, and editing are very good and there's no arguing against that.  But as a viewer it's very tedious to watch (As seen in the reviews) mainly due to the pacing etc, but I feel that the film could have been cut in a more interesting manner, it would have helped make up for the god awful story, and dry acting, editing would not have completely saved this film.

The best way for an individual to get into the hybrid mindset is to watch a lot of films, and get involved in a lot of productions, by watching films you will pick up on good editing, and another good method is to watch parts of films with no sound, that way you're completely immersed in the visuals and it's easier to watch how a film is cut (This also works to analyse cinematography). 

The other part is to get involved in productions, the more you understand how films are made, the more you can talk with the director and achieve your goals as film-makers, and make something that is visually fantastic! And you just have to make lots of film, the more you edit the better you'll be at it!

Thanks for reading!

-Geraint

Practical Film School: - Pre-Production - Scripting! (Lesson 2)

Hey guys! Welcome to Lesson 2 of Practical Film School! Today we're going to look at the process of drafting scripts, this may seem rather general, I'll try to be specific but it's important to remember every script is different, though the core elements are the same.

Formatting

The first thing I notice when I'm reading a script is the formatting, if a script is poorly formatted it is the worst thing to read as a producer as it looks extremely amateur, and it looks like you don't know what you're doing as a screenwriter, a good tip is to use the software CeltX (Click to take you to the website), I've used it for every episode of the web-series I produce, and it's fantastic, it makes formatting easy, and it can make a script well formatted which is half the battle!

Another useful tool to use is this info-graphic on script formatting, it tells you all you need to know in order to make any script well formatted! And what to include in your script:

Content

Apart from formatting the other obvious category for what makes a good script is the content, there are a few questions you should ask when writing your script:

• Would I watch this?
• Does the dialogue sound natural?
• Have I got enough technical information? 
• Does it flow, and have I kept continuity?

If you answered yes to all four of these questions then it's more than likely the content of your script is rather good! You'd be surprised by the number of people who write scripts for a genre they don't like, or a concept they just can't get into, if you do this it's immediately obvious to any director/producer reading it, and the audience will pick up on it straight away and will drop it, if you don't have a passion for your script/wouldn't watch it yourself, then why should the audience even consider investing their time into your production? 

If your dialogue sounds robotic, or overly theatrical you'll lose the audience in the first couple of lines, but if your dialogue is logical for a real human and flows well then you can really engross the audience in your text and make your production a success which is what we all aim for as film-makers, not necessarily to be popular, but to engage and engross the audience in our texts!

Technical information is also important in a script as it tells the crew what they need to be doing, and allows actors to plan their delivery of said piece. E.g If you use a long shot during an argument an actor could be very animated physically, whereas if there's a static Medium Close Up (MCU) then the actor can choose to be less animated and put more anger in their voice, it can also be used to give the scenes different tones to make it more sinister, or more comical depending on what you're aiming for. It also helps the crew when you're shooting, though especially if you'reworking on an indie production you may not know your space until the day of the shoot, in which case put down a variety of camera shots you could use for a scene, don't be afraid to write a few things, from a technical stance I've always used scripts as guidelines more than something to mindlessly follow, sometimes and idea will only come to you on the day of the shoot, but embrace the technical directions in your script, they save your crew a lot fo stress on shooting days and show the cast you've got a plan!

Continuity is key! I remember reading a script where someone was punched in the rib cage and in the action below that they clutched their stomach in reaction to the previous punch, the script was pretty poor anyway, but continuity errors like that are beyond excuses, as a writer it's your job to make sure that your script has good content which flows well, the hallmark of a bad screenwriter is the inability to keep basic continuity, if someone is punched in the ribs they don't clutch their stomach, they react to where they were hit, if someone gets into a car and the car engine starts, then don't show them turning the key in the next scene. (Unless you're doing parallel editing between character, if so then do it!) Keep the script flowing well from scene to scene and remember - Continuity Is Key!

Get A Partner

The best thing to do when writing a script is to have a partner working on them with you, during this stage of Holmes myself and the lead writer Liam devised a system where he would produce the draft of the script, he'd then share the script with myself, I'd annotate the script with any notes I felt were relevant, then I'd hand it back to him and he'd produce the next version, it's a system we used for all six scripts and it was incredibly useful, Liam is the most talented writer I know, but screenplays are collaborative projects, especially when you're working on a series with a team, the script for Episode one went through around 16-18 drafts before we were both happy with a "Final" version (Which has had minor edits to it since), but by the time Liam finished the script for Episode Six we only had 2 drafts, as we got to a point where we both knew the tone of the show and Liam could write a near perfect script by his first submission. 

The most important element of the "script editor" system is that the writer and the editor both constantly communicate and know all the characters and have a fairly uniform view of the concept, so that the script can be improved, both parts also need to put their egos aside for the sake of getting the best script, not every idea you have will be gold, but it's up to you as a creative team to put the best ideas together in a flowing narrative, and if you can do that you'll have a fantastic script!

That's all from Practical Film School today, keep working on them scripts and make them great!

Thanks for reading!

-Geraint