Mango Infused Spiders

This morning we helped to produce a campaign video for Joe to use in the upcoming election. For this, we set up the lights, arranged a microphone, provided a prop to later synch audio with. There was no script provided to Joe, it was just whatever he felt was suitable for the video. After shooting the campaign video, we did a brief, behind the scenes interview with him and interviewed one of the cast members. This was less organised to give it more of a casual theme. Later in the day we are working on writing up a plan for the music video.

The video I have chosen to analyse is 'Thirty-Three' (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AYSbztCCTlA)  by The Smashing Pumpkins, the music video was directed by Yelena Yumchuk. The song is in the Alternative Rock genre, a common characteristic of a rock video is that they are usually darker in tone than a music video for a pop song. This tends to be because rock songs tend to focus more on a darker tone, both lyrically and tonally, and this is usually reflected in the videos. The song and the video are themed around a plaintive soul's struggles with the pursuit of happiness. I feel that the tone of the song and the video manages to capture the essence of being lost in reverie, however, throughout the daydream, the reality that the character in question is trying to steer clear of is ever present. The desire to gambol and live free is oppressed by the inexorable, harsh reality that awaits the character once they step free of the daydream. I feel this is portrayed in the video

Over the first two days on the course, a second year has demonstrated how to properly assemble the camera and some of the other filming equipment. I now know how to set up the regular tripod, attach a camera to it, set up a microphone and headphones onto the camera, set up the steady cam and the boom microphone. I have recorded some small shots in a team, whilst doing this, I have learnt how to use the camera to achieve different shots and record, arranged the set and use the boom in a position where it can be fully utilised. 

I decided to sign up for this course as often find myself wishing to create something, and put those ideas out there for people to see, but I have lacked a medium for this. I feel that by doing a film course, I can develop the skills required to put my ideas in front of people. There are certain movies that I feel inspire my creativity. The themes present in Donnie Darko often come up whenever I come up with stories. I like the quirky nature of the characters present in Frank. I tend to favour flawed characters over the standard action hero. I like seeing the internal struggle of characters in films and TV, it allows me to connect more with the characters on screen when they are more fleshed out and realised. I am looking forward to being able to work on small movie productions, I feel it will be an interesting opportunity. I would like to avoid being in the movies, if possible. I understand that at times I may have to be, but I would much prefer to be behind the camera. If at all poss

hi tom