My University Life In Word Form

Video Diary for my band

2011-03-02T16:30:00.000-08:00

I did a lot of casual filming the last few days whilst my bands been recording. built up a little video diary.

primarily used for entertainment to be honest, filmed with iphone 4, edited with final cut pro.

Warning! Heavy usage of strong language!

New "to do list"

2011-02-21T06:29:00.000-08:00

decided to construct a big TO-DO-LIST today to help me get everything prioritised.

About 30 things needs doing! better crack on with it!

FInal Cut Express

2011-02-19T05:04:00.001-08:00

So I've finally got a chance to start editing the footage after being ill for a week or so. I wanted to edit the footage at uni since they have Premier CS4 and what I assumed to be faster computers...Guess I'm worng, takes about 20 mins just to get the computer and CS4 started. So with that in mind now, I decided to get hold of Final Cut Express which is promised to handle .mts HD files. That was also not as easy I thought but after trying to figure it out the past 2 days I finally managed to get it running. Firstly there was an update that was essential, and abother thing is that you have to import footage specifically through log and transfer, drgging and dropping does not work. Also you have to import the files along with all the supporting files too. But now its all sorted out its time to edit!

I plan to have it by Monday.

Keep an eye out.

Client project - 1 day of shooting

2011-02-09T08:36:00.000-08:00

The first day of shooting was on Tuesday 8th Feb, it went really well, the guys from monster, Steve and James, were really helpful, had a good laugh and it was generally really fun. Everything went to plan, picked up alot of good shots from lots of different angles, should be a nice once edited.

Also thanks to Tom Neal who helped me with the filming, he was a great help!

Next shoot on Thursday 10th Feb.

CV

2011-01-17T13:53:00.000-08:00

Started to dig up all my old school achievements and certificates to write this CV up. I looked on the net for CV templates, especially for ones specific to multimedia. Seems pretty easy, will hopefulyl get it all done by weekend and check by a tutor.

Once its got the thumbs up, I will start sending it off to companies.

Studio ghibli Game!

2011-01-03T13:27:00.000-08:00

When I was looking up information on studio ghibli and came across some news about a game that they are releasing. The game is called Ni No kuni (Second Land). It is a role playing game developed by studio ghibli and level -5 game developer.

This is the plot of the game, pulled diretly from wikipedia.

"The player assumes the role of a 13 year-old boy named Oliver, a resident of Hotroit City, whose mother, Arie, dies suddenly. A doll, previously given to Oliver by his mother, reveals itself to be a male fairy named Shizuku, who gives Oliver a magic book that allows him to go to the world of "Ninokuni," a reality parallel to his own, where the fairy states the boy may be able to revive his mother. There, he encounters alternate versions of people he knows."

There is 2 versions to be released, one on the Nintendo DS and one on the Playstation 3. The PS3 version will have gaming graphics strongly replicating the traditional animation art form of Studio Ghibli therefore this will definitely be a treat for anyone who appreciates that style.

Studio Ghibli produced some of my favourite films so I am very excited to see what they will make of this game. The brilliant animations and wonderful storytelling capabilities shown in past films makes me believe that this will be an amazing game and a huge success.

Photoshoot

2011-01-03T13:11:00.000-08:00

I did the bands photoshoot for my band the other.

I used a sony alpha 200 and ran it through photoshoot for some basic editing.

I hightened the shadows slightly, increased the contrast and lowered the saturation. This give the photo a darker touch and a eerier feel.

Taken in derby out the music shed.

Band recording!

2011-01-03T13:01:00.000-08:00

Our band With Silent Eyes is recording in the last week of Febuary through to mid March. We are planning to release a 7-8 track mini album. This will hopefully help the band gain some publicity and acknowledgement.

This means that I need to start organising my time a lot better to fit everything I need to do into my schedule!

It also means that artwork for the album needs to be done which will my job! goodtimes!

Heres the link if anyone wants to check us out

http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=492527748814&set=a.436272373814.238651.154219273814#!/pages/With-Silent-Eyes/154219273814

www.myspace.com/withsilenteyesband

writing CV and looking for internship or job

2011-01-03T12:28:00.000-08:00

I've been recently looking around for jobs for whenI graduate or an internship where I can start in the summer. I've found a few decent companies, one was amazing but required a decent understanding of 3D studio max which is a shame because I'm terrible with that program.

Theres a few designer jobs thats very tempting too so i'm going to write up a good CV and send it off to a few companies within the next 2 weeks and hope that I get an offer somewhere.

Scott Pilgrim vs. the world

2010-12-30T18:05:00.000-08:00

Scott Pilgrim vs. the world, 2010, directed by Edgar Wright. Starring Michael Cera and Mary Elizabeth Winstead.

I watched this film because many friends told me it was good and I'm still not sure what I really think about it.

Michael Cera again plays the nerdy quiet guy but this time with the ability to fight!?

Story is based on comics of the same name, tells a tale of a young adult fighting his way through enemies to win the heart of the girl of his dreams. This literally means fighting and with the girls "7 evil exes".

As soon as the film starts, retro gaming references appears such as old game music and sound effects. If you are into retro gaming (nintendo, sega etc) then you might enjoy the whole film more than those who don't. For me, thats the only reason I kept on watching till the end. Since the film is based on a comic series, I expected it to be packed with special effects and stupidity but not to the level it displayed. Even for a viewer as myself who understood the jokes and references it was still too much. they tried too hard to make it work and it just becomes irritating and silly.

Although it was meant to be parodies, it still is not that interesting to watch. The fights are especially bad and cringing at times. Michael Ceras and Mary Elizabeth Winstead's characters arent really likable which doesnt help.

The sound of the film was something that stood out for me though, good choice of music and use of sound effects. Again the gaming references were a nice touch and I think the best character in the film is Scott's sister and the gay room mate, his characters is just brilliantly dry and wonderful to watch.

The film is worth a watch for retro game lovers, and also if you want an over-dramatic comedy that isnt really that funny.

Ponyo on the cliff by the sea

2010-12-30T06:22:00.000-08:00

Ponyo on the cliff by the sea, 2008, Studio Ghibli, Directed by Hayao Miyazaki

This was one of my favourite out of all the films I watch this holiday, I'm actually ashamed of myself for not goign to watch this when it was out in the cinemas.

This film tells a wonderful story of a 5 year boy falling in love with a girl-goldfish that he saves and how the goldfish wishes to become human to be with the boy.

Studio ghibli played a big part in my childhood and now is playing a big part in my adulthood. This film is visually stunning! Everything from character design to the amount of detail that goes into the background. The colour they used is so vibrant and beautiful, it highlights the fact that this was meant for children but any adult would appreciate the beauty in the visuals.

The storyline is very sweet and romantic yet also very exciting at times such as when the tsunami hits the village. The story ends perfectly with the girl having her wish granted and becoming human to stay with the boy.

I advise everyone to give this film a watch. It is a treat for the eyes and mind.

How to train your dragon

2010-12-30T05:45:00.000-08:00

How to train your dragon (Dream works) released in 2010 directed by Chris Sanders and Dean DeBlois tells a fantastic tale of a viking teenager from a dragon slaying tribe befriending his natural enemy.

I really enjoyed this film, the story was well written and the main characters were very likeable from the moment you saw them, especially the dragon. The development of the story was paced nicely, it allows the audience to enjoy the bond of the teeanger and dragon growing stronger gradually. The bond between Hiccup (boy) and Toothless (dragon) is the main reason why this film is so interesting to watch, the progress of their friendship is one that will make every child who watched this film want a dragon. Every scene is packed with little comedy that will keep you laughing and smiling all the way through. The romance between Hiccup and Astrid is also fun to watch, the awkward chemistry in the air is portrayed very nicely. The flying scene with Hiccup, Toothless and Astrid is like a modern day equivilent to Aladdin and Princess Jasmine on the flying carpet.

The epic battle scene at the end with the fantatic battles a visual display will keep you on the edge of your seat, especially when you think Hiccup died and although its cliche, the happily ever after ending scene just makes you walk out of the cinmea smiling.

Definitely worth watching and especially if you want something to cheer you up.

Film reviews!

2010-12-30T05:37:00.000-08:00

Since the start of the holidays Ive been doing nothing but working, writing my essay and watching films on a daily basis.

I think the excuse I'm going to use why i wasted my days away in bed watching films is that its for research.

But jokes aside, I have watched some amazing films and will be giving a brief review about some of them films on here.

Heres the list of films I've watched through the holiday period so far

How to train your dragon
Step brothers
Prince of persia
Scott pilgrim verses the world
Harry potter and the deathly hallows
Get him to the greek
Zoolander
Oceans 11
Clash of the titans
Ponyo on the cliff by the sea
Princess mononoke
Fight club
Kick ass
Robin Hood - didnt finish watching.

Christmas was great!

2010-12-29T18:49:00.000-08:00

Christams this year was amazing, spent it with my partner and had a lovely time. Actually had wrapped presents and a big dinner! I'm so going back next year!

One of my gifts was a book on typography which is so useful and interesting. Will definitely be using it to help with further designs1

Hope everyone else had a lovely holiday

PRP research

2010-11-26T13:46:00.000-08:00

So I've been doing alot of readign recently and finally getting motivated about the PRP, filling in all the parts bit by bit now and hopefully have the draft done very soon. Theres been alot of interesting things I've learnt from my readings. For instance I found out that they had interactive movies back in the early 1900's called "phantom rides".

These movies were made by placing a camera on the front of a train and filming the ride, so when the audience views it in a cinema, it would be like they were on a train themselves. The idea is widely used in theme park rides etc but made more interactive by using moving seats and surround sound.

Simulated Client Project Feedback

2010-11-26T13:41:00.000-08:00

So just got the feedback, got straight B's on this project which I'm happy enough about, obviously getting straight A's will be alot better but I can understand that there wasnt enough thought put in to deserve an A. i will use this as a motivation to do beter on the actual Client Project.

Client Project

2010-10-29T05:24:00.000-07:00

I have been researching into where I can do my client project and decide to go to the screen printing company I use.

The company is called Monster Print, I came across this company when looking for a place for my bands TShirt printing. The companys website does the job for providing information to its customers but I think it could alot more with a video advert and a tutorial to give the customers a deeper insight to the process of screen printing the company itself.

With big social network groups such as Myspace, Facebook and even Youtube, these videos which I propose to make will be a great source of advertising and will hopefully bring on more business for the company.

I will be finalizing some ideas and will be posting on here in the near future.

Digital piracy advert

2010-10-21T17:44:00.000-07:00

for my simulated client project I have done an advert to deliver the importance of digital piracy.

Shot in an hour, edited in about 1 hour.

Simple stuff :) hope you like it.

Back to uni...again

2010-10-21T17:41:00.000-07:00

Right since I havent blogged at all, this summer, I thought its time to do it properly.

Over the summer I have been working hard designing.

Heres my portfolio.

http://emptees.com/tees/designed/14151-joewse

There's Something About Mary Title Sequence Remake

2010-04-20T02:55:00.000-07:00

Film review The Wolfman

2010-04-20T02:38:00.001-07:00

This film is directed by Joe Johnston, the film stars Benicio del Toro, Anthony Hopkins, Emily Blunt, Hugo Weaving and Geraldine Chaplin. The film is about werewovles and the horror that comes with it.

I was not in too impressed with this film, as soon as the film started, the font they used made me cringe, it didnt fit at all and the voice over made it sound like a kids horror film. so with the terrible start aside, I continued watching and it started getting quite interesting. There were many nice angles for shots and the location was beautiful....Wait..thas about it for nice words, thats really all the film had for it, the rest of the film just got worse as I watched it, when you finally get to see the wolfman, it looks just like a man wearing a wolf costume...it is! I felt the make up was going to fall off at one point, it just looked so unconvincing, it was terrible. The film had a twist which was quite expected, they gave away most of it from scenes before, so when you finally realise it wasnt much of a shock. The ending wasnt great, werewolves die, theres still a man whos been bit, what do we do? blah blah blah.

But been a bit more serious, the filmd lacked climax, the film makes so you feel on the edge of your seat all the way through it that you interest very quickly. you seem to be expecting something all the way through and you don't realise it when it actually happens.

Not really worth watching, maybe once and never again.

Documentary

2010-03-17T07:42:00.000-07:00

The documentary is near its end, just rendering and exporting to do, I feel that it has turned out well, theres a vast amount of information, nice visual and I would say a good choice on sound...apart from the voice (in my opinion).

the roles i took on was camera man and editing, me and james split the job because we were unavailable at certains times so had to over each other.

the rest of the group really pulled their weight too, really glad we had this team and it was a pleasure working with them.

more detail on the project will be in the evaluation.

Another new animation

2010-02-28T18:44:00.001-08:00

Another new animation

2010-02-28T18:44:00.000-08:00

New animation for documentary

2010-02-28T18:43:00.000-08:00

Another animation finished

2010-02-07T18:43:00.000-08:00

Heres another one, its now 2.43am, I really need some sleep!

Animations for the documentary

2010-02-07T09:56:00.000-08:00

I've been working on the animations for the documentary for the past 2 days and these are my results so far.

Todays filming

2010-02-07T09:50:00.000-08:00

Today I went to film a few more B-roll footage, I went to a few parks around the village to film, then I went to film the powerstation on J24, near Donnington park, then I went over to the airport to ask permission to see if I could film on the landing strip of planes taking off. I found out that would be impossible so went to the aeropark, this is apparently the second best place to film planes. I grabbed the flight timetable and watched out for planes to take off, although it took me 3 times to actually get a decent shot it was worth it.

In total the money spent today was,

£10 for petrol
£1.90 for parking

Documentary

2010-02-06T10:12:00.000-08:00

Just had first bit of B-roll filmed, I got the shot of the motorway, but todays really foggy so everythings not very clear at all, might try again tomorrow to make sure we get a good clear shot. I also have to film a desserted park tomorrow, missed it today because it went dark during the time I went to get tapes. Now going to be working on the animations for a long time, nice!

Death

2010-02-06T07:37:00.000-08:00

This is the poetic documentary on death we did a couple of weeks back as a short project. Filmed and Editied by me within 3 hours.

Documentary proposal

2010-01-30T06:18:00.000-08:00

The proposal went really well the other day, really impressed about it. i am happy about the subject we're covering and how the teams been working together, we have moved from idea to idea and finally came to this final idea. The history of global is a decent subject and I believe we will do a good job of it.

I will be doing research into the animation that we need for our project now and post research up when I have done.

Documentary

2010-01-30T06:11:00.000-08:00

The other day we had to go out and make a poetic documentary on death in 3 hours, I liked the idea of very quick tasks and producing something decent in a short time, its a good challenge and I love challeneges. I feel that more impulsive lessons like that one would definitly be benificial, because you need to think on your feet. The end product Is actually not bad, and I had a feel of what it'll be like as a director. I believe that these short projects stimulate the brain and increase our creativity.

The Proposal Film Review

2010-01-11T13:46:00.001-08:00

The proposal, a Romantic Comedy starring Sandra Bullock and Ryan Reynolds, directed by Anne Flecther.

The film basically revolves around the boss and her assistant, the boss needs to deported back to canada because her visa is out of date and she decides to get married to her assistant in order to stay in the country for her job. This then leads the immagration office to look into this fake marriage they're going under. Andrew then takes Margaret back to Alaska to meet his family where the marriage is about to take place. Obviously the relationship between the 2 is awful at the start, simnce Magaret has been a really harsh boss to Andrew for 3 years he more or less despises her at the start. Despite all this he still knows evrything about her and she still has to learn everything about him. As the couple spends time together in alaska they start warming up to eachother and theres the chemistry and where all the comedy is. At the end the marriage is cancelled, she doesnt want to drag him down etc and as they now both love eachother he has to do everything in his power to get her back and its all a happy ending in the end.

Basically just a typical Rom-Com

On terms of the production this film was fantastic, good choice of shots and composition, nice lighting, location was beautiful. I did notice that they were times when the camera were out of focus, to think that a $40 million budget film would make an error like that?

The film itself is pleasent to watch, nothing really bad to say nor anything in particularly great. Its an average film worth watching once in a while.

Paranormal Activity Film Review

2010-01-11T13:07:00.001-08:00

So the film that everyone had been going on about : Paranormal Activity, a film made out to be found footage of what is said to be real ghost/demonic happenings.

When I first saw this film I already have been told that its obviously fake but went and sat down in the cinema forgetting this point to see how I'll react.

At first I didn't realise it was shot similar to the "Blair Witch Project", I had in mind that it was shot like "The Haunting in Connecticut" which is an supposedly a reenactment of a real event.

I feel that the film started off quite boring, with the way it was introducing the characters and everything, everything was fine etc I guess they used thi to lure you into a false sense of security first, and as this boring daily life situations went on you come to the night vision camera mode.

When the camera is set in the bedroom at night the timecode starts at the bottom of the screen and its when most of the "paranormal activities" starts happening. After the first time it you start to understand that that is when you're supposed to get scared so you start to brace yourself for it but since each event that happens different each one comes as a schock still.

The major reason it is actually freaky is because it looks real and especially because of how it looks like any other household you can relate to it. Another thing that helps is the very unsettling camera movement, since the camera is mostly moving about when male character "Micah" is holding it, it makes the viewers very comfortable.

This film is mostly creepy, since most of the things that happen are slow, you don't know whether it will suddenly make you jump etc. for instance, the scenes where the female character "Katie" is just standing over the bed watch Micah is probably the creepiest thing ever.

Its not a new idea but its done really well, with the all the supernatural occurances looking very realistic, the cuts were not smooth but obviously intended to add to the unease of the viewers.

In general a very good film, the only points that weren't realistic were the actions of the 2 characters. I believe that Micah's actions were especially not believable, for instance filming all day long and actually filming it when his girlfriend goes missing. If my girlfriend were to be missing after knowing theres paranormal activities in the house, first thing I'll do is definitely not to grab the fucking camera, but to actually find her first! but I guess they had to use it to get the footage for all the scenes, only solution were to say they had CCTV installed too to catch footage from other areas of the house without the his camera.

I think that the sound played a big part to the film, since most of the sound were backgroudn noises it makes you think that you hear things that aren't mentioned etc. its mostly the voices of the 2 characters, although they did use a demonic voice at some parts I think it was done well, conventional but creepy.

I believe the ending was fantastic, also unbelievably creepy and in general a very powerful film.

The budget of this film is apparently only $15,000 but had a tremendous gross revenue of $141,870,499. Its said that this film did so well because of internet virals, it was only firt viewed in selected towns and cities of America for people to review, then social networking websites such as twitter and facebook came into the equation and because of the good feedback it was getting they brought it out for a worldwide release. It began to get people really intrgued to its authenticity so many people went to watch this film allowing this massive gross revenue.

Newcastle and Igloo

2010-01-09T04:39:00.000-08:00

I ventured up Newcastle the other day and ended up building an Igloo! There was at least a foot of snow on the fields so we thought theres nothing better than spending a whole afternoon making a fullsize igloo. We made it out of indivual bricks too, we shaped the bricks with paper bins.

The photos right here :)

Video blogs

2009-12-09T07:19:00.000-08:00

Recent problems

2009-12-09T04:03:00.001-08:00

As some might know, the last month or 2 has not been a great time for me, lots of personally problems in my life that I had to sort out, alot of stress kicking off which led to my motivation in everything to drop drastically.

But I'll like to say everything is fine now, and that its all well and I'll be working very hard to get back on track and up to date with my work. I need say thanks to all those who stuck by me and helped me out during the times when I was down :) You know who you are, no need for names :)

Editing More Knives

2009-12-09T03:51:00.000-08:00

I am the editor for our production More Knives , I've been working on the edit for about a week or so now, first part is obviously too get all the right footage together to develop a rough edit and then the next part is tidying it all up. This consists of making sure all the footage is clear and usable, any tweaks like brightness and contrast and colour is undertaken in this process.

Next, after all the footage is good, we then get all the sound levels, backing tracks and any sound related problems fixed. This is really important because many people usually miss out the importance of sound which usually leads to a unsatisfying edit for the audience.

I would say that everything is going well so far, just needs going over and over again to make sure that everything is perfect. For people who know me, I am a perfectionist in a sense so I do pick our really small things and spend an awful lot of time tidying little things up.

Hopefully it will all go well.

News on PSP GO!

2009-12-09T03:15:00.000-08:00

Okay so another good point about the psp go! has been found, Sony has brought out a reward scheme for people who are upgrading from psp to psp go! You get 3 games from choice of 17 to select and download, there are new games and old games in the selection but I must say that it is a very bad list of games, that is my personal opinion though, heres the list.

Killzone: Liberation
MediEvil: Resurrection
WipEout Pure
Buzz: Brain Bender
Buzz: Master Quiz
SOCOM U.S Navy SEALs: Fireteam Bravo
Ratchet & Clank: Size Matters
Everybody's Golf
Resistance: Retribution
Syphon Filter: Dark Mirror
Lemmings
LocoRoco
Patapon
Syphon Filter: Logan's Shadow
echochrome
Pursuit Force: Extreme Justice
Daxter

You have to have your old PSP to do this! so this throws the "selling old psp to get new one cheaper" idea out the window, You'll need wireless connection, you first register your old psp, register an old game then you get an email then you register your new psp, then you use the redeem code that you get with the email and YES! you finally get to download some stuff!

Bad points already, PSPs dont have the "download in background" function, that means you have to just sit there and wait for your PSP to finish downloading a game before you can do anything else, so make sure youre entertained, because it takes a while!

Secondly don't download it onto your PS3 first then transfer it over, yes it maybe quicker, and you can play on the ps3 whilst downloading, but, rumor has it that if you download it off PS3 first it doesnt work, so I won't risk it.

Apart from that I think that the scheme is pretty decent, just a bad selection of games which could be tidied up and I also think that you should be able to transfer all the games you bought for the old PSP onto the new one.

After all this you can finally sell your old one to get a bit of money back!

Production photos

2009-11-25T14:59:00.000-08:00

PSP GO! review

2009-11-25T06:33:00.000-08:00

I recently bought the new PSP GO! let me do a review here for all you contemplating on buying a PSP.

First things first, the pain of carrying games around with you all the time is gone because the new PSP cannot accept UMDs! this is because all the games are stored on the new 16GB built hard drive. first problem, you only get 14GB because 2GB is already used for system files etc. So thats at least 2-3 games less that you can store!

The new PSP is alot smaller so it actually fits into your pocket, unlike the old PSP which was literally the size of a brick, the new one is also alot brighter, longer lasting battery and faster WiFi. The screen on the new one is smaller but the resolution is the same so no loss of graphics or quality.

The major downfall so far is that all your old games for the PSP is no longer usable of course and the old one doesnt sell for much either so if you wanted to trade in old for new you still have to pay abit for it!

The new one is £224 from GAME, you cant use you student card for discounts though! which was a big let down for me when I found out, its the same price in HMV but comes with a case! haha what a deal!

I got mine from CEX which is £190, second hand but never used, due to people selling them as soon as they get it free with a contract phone, so its practically brandnew.

They take in the old PSP for £65 trade-in which is more than what the other stores take in for, and they sell it cheaper so its the only place to go really.

The other the downside is obviously the games, if you buy games from stores you can get discount from student cards, which was always nice, but now you buy online you cant get any discounts at all! not can you buy second hand games which is kick in the balls!

Good sides are that the new one is really slick and good looking and easy to carry around and also you dont really need to spend money on memory cards.

I dont believe the price will go down too much niether will there be deals because they cant come with games! There is a good deal though, if you own the old PSP then you can get 3 games free if you buy the PSP GO! which is quite a deal before you realize that you can only choose from a selected list.

In conclusion, if you have many games for your PSP and if your old one is not in very good condition then I would stick with it for a while to see how it turns out, but if your a big gadget fan like myself then I would advise to get it since it is nice!

More Knives Production

2009-11-25T06:09:00.000-08:00

So yesterday we went to film our short film, the production was delayed by an hour due to having a new actor last minute, and the sound on the camera messing up, we spent the first hour rehersing and fixing the problem on the camera.

But then we redeemed ourselves by speeding through it all straight away and actually ended with 1 and half to spare and even fitted in the lunch break on time.

Everything went smoothly and I can say the sound, lighting and framing were all very good.

When we were all very content with it all we came across something that wiped the smile straight off our face. The camera was not on HDV! we were too far into the production to have actually refilmed when we realized, we had a discussion with the director and producer and decided to continue with filming in DV.

When we met and discussed with Deborah Tuck she said that it was the right dicision but we were still total idiots for not realize which is too true!

We will learn from this and edit the film into something fantastic even if it is in DV!

production pictures will be up very soon.

Viral

2009-11-09T10:01:00.000-08:00

I heard that This was clover viral or a games viral, not sure which one, but it looks good to me :)

Fairy Tail Revised

2009-11-09T09:44:00.000-08:00

after watch a few more episodes, my opinions of this anime has gone down abit, due to the fact that I'm seeing alot of characters being copied from other animes.

In episode 4 theres a character in Fair Tail called "kageyama" the first thing that came to my head was that he looked like "Shikamaru" from Naruto.

I thought ok, fine theres characters that look alike, although there were very alike they still could be very different, but then when he used his powers, which were shadows, its the exact same as "Shikamaru"!

Also theres a character called "Loke" who looks very similar to "Ichigo" the main character of Bleach.

I mean its good to get influence but not to copy, uncool!

The Fourth Kind

2009-11-08T13:55:00.000-08:00

The trailer looks quite good, and its based on real studies, not quite sure how it will be but I want to see it.

The fact that its supposed to be based on real events and footage intrigues me alot, although it seems its already had a lot of bad reviews from "Rotten Tomatoes" and "Metacritic" scoring "15% and 34%" respectively.

New Anime!

2009-11-08T13:45:00.001-08:00

Theres a new anime series out called Fairy Tail and its really worth watching :) The drawing style quite similar to the old series "Rave Master" but I think the storyline is better.

They seems to have used some same characters from "Rave Master" in this new anime, which is quite nice to see for fans :)

Still not as good as the good old ones such as "bleach, One piece, Naruto! etc but I would recommend anime watchers to have a look into it :)

MALac filming

2009-11-02T11:44:00.000-08:00

The filming in general was fine, but the lighting was tougher than we thought, we wanted a dim lighting to make the whole piece look spooky, but it might have been too dark, but it still looked pretty good at the end, heres some production pictures.

another problem that we had was the actors that we meant to be using were busy so me and james had to do the acting for it, which was fn in a way since we havent really acted before.

the editing is yet to be completed but I'll post once its done

Film Review - Sorority Row 2009

2009-10-17T14:17:00.000-07:00

Ok here it goes, watched this film the other day, one word can sum it up, and excuse my language, WANK.

This film was terrible, not only does it lack in a strong storyline the actors were worse than primary school actors. seriously extremely dissapointed about this film.

I'll now run through it quicky and point out all the bad points and any good points I can think of.

So at the start, the film already is just boring, long intro sequence of a party going on not much to see, then it introduces the characters in a very bizarre manner, just basically, the characters are explaing why they love eachother etc. Then the horror kicks in, they try to play a prank on someone by faking a girls death and blah blah blah, at this point you think it could be good but then the real horror ( which is the storyline + filming of this film )kicks in. they started scaring this boy sayin "o we killed her we need to cut her up etc" so the lad not knowing what hes doing goes to cut her up with a car tool? makes no sense that he used that also no sense that he goes straight for the chest, so now bad joke ends in tragedy one dies, they throw her body in a well to hide it etc but during that scene no seem to realise they killed someone, they acted like they just seen a dead pigeon rather than a human, extremely bad acting apart the geek who managed to squeeze out a drop of tear.

What I particularly dislike is the blonde one aka the bitch, her acting is that bad and cheesey it makes cheddar smells like flowers. no one ever in history could really act as calm as she did when seeing a person die, not only that, she manages to squeeze some sarcasm into it.

anyway, all goes well they hide the body, say that the dead girl just went missing and managed to stay out of prison. they all get boyfriends, some of them tell them and so on so secrets not only between the girls now.

story goes on, people dying, they think its girls ghost blah blah blah, obviously not, they then introduce the dead girls sister... woah! person who most likely been taking revenge? well you would like to think that but it ends up being a twat who goes out with one of the girls, and cause he dont want her get caught he starts killing people off...NO ONE EVEN BROUGHT THE EVENT UP FOR A WHOLE YEAR TILL THAT DOUCHE BAG STARTED KILLING PEOPLE! totally uncalled for.

Another bad thing bout the acting is that I reckon all the actors were failed models since they refuse to walk like normal human beings, they all had to do the whole cat walk thing where they put one foot right in front of the other and shake their hips about etc. ok its sexy, but really no need, especially when they're walking on their own with noone around. second the obligatory showing of the boobs! not that the male species will mind at all seeing that but its irrelevent to the plot! its almost as if they put it in just to attract the men to watch, but let me tell you now, I would rather watch a dog doing it with a tree than watch that again!

now it comes to the climax most people dead, killed with the tool they first killed the girl at the start with...dunno why they had to use that becuase first it dont have any relevant and second he altered it so it had knives and hooks! WTF?

and also seem to have an unlimited supply of them too, he also throws them like batman which pissed me off immensly.

so they reveal who it is all the girls are shocked and the guy now wants to kill them all off, so he runs around and all this jazz and the owner of the house, an old lady comes through with a gun and starts acting liek rambo! that part just made me cringe.

so the old woman dies and the house is on fire, and the actors still doesnt see it as a problem, with the floors collapsing they still yet to reveal any fear, only calmly saying to eachother "we need to get out" for fuck sake the house is on fire! the floors are crumbling! at least act scared.

now the guy falls through you think he dies and blah blah blah, house explodes and burn to the ground o and the worst is just now. 3 girls, model like, not much clothing strutting out of the house, everything slows down just seeing these 3 attractive girls come strollling through, THEY NEARLY JUST DIED, HOUSE BEHIND THEM IS ON FIRE! any fucker with common sense will run. And yes I was swearing alot whlist watching this!

so right at the end the next year party is on and you see a hand with the same tool walk into shot only bearing a few scars....omg....hes a alive *clap* clap *clap* did not see that coming.

no offense but shit like this should not be allowed to be shown, the camera shots were nothing special, most of them were hand held, seems like they have tripod-aphobia! poor lighting, nothing special about the sound or sound effects, bog standard suspense and ambient backgroudn noises, the supsense was also appauling, didnt even make me jump and I jump easily!

in general terrible film if the cast, or filming crew ever get to read this then it is my pleasure to tell you that you suck!

I'm too angry to write reviews haha

Reviewing the film - Orphan

2009-09-20T14:49:00.000-07:00

The film orphan struck me as being very weird. you watch it all the way through thinking that its one thing but then the twist at the end is a real shock, in general a good film but extremely creepy.

so the story is basically a mother who is an alcoholic coping with the loss of a child due to her alchoholism, the husband is also a cheat which doesnt really add to the storyline but there it is.

her drinking also caused her to fail in saving one of her other child quick enough whilst she was drowning which led her child now to be mute and mostly deaf.

so she loses her child and wants to make up for it by adopting, they go to a orphanage and gets attracted by a russian (or something liek that) girl who seem alot more mature than most others. they adopt her, the daughter loves her new sister but the son dislikes her greatly.

as she settles in they notice that she wears ribbons continously round her neck and wrist, no one knows why at this point but when the adopted girl goes to school she gets bullied by her dress sense and her ribbons, and when one of the bullies try to remove them thats the first time you see this adopted child to be crazy as she screams uncontrollably. she also has a bible looking book on her most of the time.

so as time goes on, the girl settles in, things goes smoothly until one night when the mum and dad get it on she walks in, when the mother tried to explain to her what was going on, she calmy reply "you fucked". really unexpected at this point, child barely 10 using such language an all that.

at the start she also said that she didnt play piano, whereas the mothers very good, so she takes lessons with her. when one day the mother walks in a finds that the girl in fact is playing at proffessional level on her own, questions start to arise.

at this point the girl is also answering back alot and starting to act up to the mother but staying a good girl to the father.

so far the film is nicely shot and the suspense is good, everything is working nicely.

you then see the adopted girl mercilessly killing a bird off that the son shot with a pellet gun saying that "we need to put it out of its misery" still strange for a young child to do.

now the real shit comes in, the nun from the orphange comes along trying to inform the parents that somethings up with this child and she ends up killing her and hiding the body, sweet talking the poor sister to not tell anyone.

and then more crazy things happen, she threatens the son and end up cauging him to fall from his tree house injuring him serious and the mother starts to really hate this child and and wants to find out about her past more. this is the part when the mother finds out that she came from a mental asylum and that shes actually a midget! shes actually an adult posed as a child who tries to suduce the father of the family by driving away the mother. this is the time when you find out that all the paintings she been doing are all satanic under UV light and everything just goes really far, she kills the father off mother comes back, has a massive fight with this midget, saves her daughter, but her sons now in coma in hospital and her husbands dead..very grim ending and the midget sinks into a deep pond.

in general and well made film but seriously where did they get the storyline from?

6th - uni soon

2009-09-20T14:46:00.000-07:00

o yay uni starting again, it is quite boring without it, and it seems that we payed all that money to have little education time is pathetic but o well, i get a degree out of this, who cares *shrugs*

I might socialize with more people this year....maybe :p

5th - coping with loved ones moving

2009-09-20T14:43:00.001-07:00

now with the new uni term starting few mates going back to uni, some moving away including my partner.

shes currently in newcastle and its difficult to have her so far away but things will be fine when my loan comes through so I can afford train tickets to see her haha

I'm sure good few people will have similar problems, not nice is it :(

4th - the band

2009-09-20T14:38:00.000-07:00

well my bands (with silent eyes) been going ok but since I came back from holiday it seemed to have slowed down and everything was falling to pieces, our practise place got knocked down, we havent practised in a month and people were out of contact.

After some meetings and looking aroudn we found a new place and is now happily pracitsing there with a few good gigs behind us we're ready to move forward again. New songs been write and in process of writing more new ones, new recordings to be arriving soon, and merch to be out on sale very soon too.

if you like your metal, hardcore, metalcore etc then visit our myspace :) we'll be playing notts soon too so come see us :D

www.myspace.com/withsilenteyesband

p.s merch designed by me obv (Y) ;)

3rd - holiday

2009-09-20T14:34:00.000-07:00

whilst on my break I've been around the U.K abit and went to france, Normanide. really opened up my eyes seeing the remains of the D-day landings such as the floating habour and war graves etc. Also had a chance to try out some exquistit french food which I'm very happy about. About from that it was lazy holiday which consisted of me cooking alot, but I love cooking so its all fine :)

photos from france would be up on my facebook and also my flickr account

www.flickr.com/photos/jylphotography

2nd - Company

2009-09-20T10:58:00.000-07:00

I recently teamed up with my friend back from college to help him with his company "ctrl alt defeat". It's a T shirt company, we've recently got the website up and running so everything is all good :)

www.ctrlaltdefeatclothing.com

On top of that I've been selling alot of my work too which is all on here

http://emptees.com/people/14151-joewse

and topped up my photography on flickr and heres the link to that

www.flickr.com/photos/jylphotography

thats about enough

1st - T-shirt designing

2009-09-20T10:44:00.000-07:00

First of all I'll talk about my new found income making hobby. I have first discovered that I can draw when I was about 3 but never really put it to good use until a few motnhs back. I started looking into T-shirt designing and found a website called "emptees" this website is a collabaration of artists work and is really useful for rookies like myself to have they're work reviewed and criticized.

I started off by posting a few old re-vamped designs up and starting really hooked onto improving which lead to endless nights of working into early hours of the morning. As weeks went by I can already feel that my skills were improving as a designer and so I took a step further and bought myself a graphics tablet which is now essential for my drawings.

This lead onto competing with big desginers on that website. theres a award everday for the best design called "T of the day" and ive been wanting to win that award for so long but still not good enough yet. I've come close to winning top tees ( which is awarded any other designs that are extrodinarily good that day but still not achieved it yet.

After continuos failure at achieving any awards I started feeling down and had a massive debate online about how only the popular designers get awarded not even for their work but for the populariy etc. This lead to many insults and critcism. Now I think back and realize it was really dumb to say it so I've just decided to keep creating designs everyday and improve till I get an award :)

It's not like my designs arent good because I've been making a steady income from selling them so I'm all happy again :)

It's been so long

2009-09-20T10:21:00.000-07:00

Right to start things off, hope anyone whos reading this had a good summer holiday, if not then tough, try better next yeah.

A lot has happened in my summer holiday, got a business going, started down a new path, which is currently really successful, been continuing my photography, band and so on, seen alot of new films and old films etc. too much to talk about in one go so I will break it down into a few entries to try and cover it all.

Really have been too busy to keep up with this blogging business.

Laterz

Thirteen

2009-05-26T08:40:00.000-07:00

I've finally been tied down to watched this "Thirteen" film my partners been yapping on about for ages, and to be be very honest, I was right about not wanting to see it in the first place.

ok its not that the film is bad, its fine but just not my cup of tea. the film is another one of them deep meaningful films that portrays girls in America and how they want to be popular and all that, its an autobiography so we can't really fault the storyline but you're watching it and you're there thinking...."just hit the slag" kinda thing... mind my language but those were exact words that came to my head. I think its good though how it can deal that sort of impact onto the audience, its nice how it plays out and demonstrates how kids can grow out of their
"sweet mummy's girl" into drug using street whore just by hanging out with the wrong people and the craving for attention. very deep film...very deep

worth a watch...just one watch though, nothing more

Da Vinci Code

2009-05-26T08:33:00.000-07:00

Right, I've heard alot about this film and so i thoguht i might give it a chance and watched it the other day, not the best film, not the worst, in terms of the visual side of things, it was great, loved the shots, loved the edit, but didn't quite follow the storyline.

The whole concept was good, it was believable that something as such could happen but the point was that everything was just abit out of hand, as in some things they do was way far fetched and how he solved the clues and mysteries was just weird.
It's portrayed as a real life film but things in that make it seem too unreal....Maybe just me being a prick about things but it seemed like "ooo look at this banana lying on the floor, its just a banana but I'm sure it has a deep meaning that can lead me somewhere and bang! there it is, solved everything" not quite like that but im sure you get what I mean. And when he used the bullet to stop the van door from closing? come on!!! would anyone really think of that? seriously.

good film though haha

designing

2009-05-26T08:31:00.000-07:00

ok....week off, what to do? I know! something unrealted to university work lol, well anywayz I've been designing T shirts on a website called "emptees" and been working on stuff for a few weeks now and heres the work for you to look at at :)

http://emptees.com/people/14151-joewse

follow that link and have a gander at my work :D

target audience

2009-05-18T05:58:00.001-07:00

Music video target audience

The research I took allowed me to basically come up with this conclusion my target audience, my target audience aimed mostly at teenagers, because there is violence in the video so parents won’t appreciate children watching it, but apart from that it also aimed at anyone who enjoys this genre of music, you’ll see videos like this on MTV and people ranging from age will watch whatever’s on.

Videos in my box

2009-05-18T05:29:00.000-07:00

just in case the videos won't load in my box i will upload them all here for you to watch :)

Too much work

2009-05-17T16:38:00.001-07:00

leaving work to the last minute aint fun i tell ya, its all becuase that stupid flash box being a prick and won't work half the time, finalyl got it done though now so still quite happy about myself :)

Interactive showcase

2009-05-17T16:36:00.002-07:00

heres my interatcive showcase, I'll advise you to leave it for a little while after its loaded before using, because the files so big, it will take time to properly load.

Interactive Showcase by ~Immolated-angel on deviant ART

cheers

Personal skills audit

2009-05-17T16:36:00.001-07:00

Skills Audit for music video shoot

For this music video are crew has to be aware that each one of us has to play an individual role in the process, so to ensure that we will have to assign each one to their most suited position.

Here are my skills and why I have been chosen to be an editor

Camera work – I have had quite a lot of experience in camera work, I have been studying at Chesterfield College for 2 years in Media (moving image) but since I will be doing the acting in this camera work for me is no good.

Directing – Personally I have good ideas and know what I want when making a production but I don’t like having to tell people what to do, I feel uncomfortable and I prefer keeping my head down whilst working so directing is not too great for me either.

Editing – I have been interested in editing ever since college, it seems to be the right job for me because I have the patience to be sitting behind an editing suite for days and continuous working on the same thing. I am quite creative when it comes to editing and I can work quite fast too. I’ve had previous experience with Final Cut Pro on the Mac suites but this is my first time editing a big piece on premiere, so im quite excited about it.

In general editing is the only job that’s suitable for me in this production so I’ll be taking that job, but I won’t mind taking on one of the other roles during future projects. Also I won’t be working on the editing alone; the others will be helping me along and giving their input during the process.

Risk assessment

2009-05-17T16:35:00.002-07:00

Risk assessment for music video shoot

Location is Walton Woods assessed by me.

As it is a wood, the obviously would be plants tangling feet, nettles etc. but since we’re not too sure what could actually be there, there could also be things like used needles, you’ll never know, so we preferably need to wear trousers and keep legs covered, and maybe even hard boots or just shoes with good soles to not let anything go through the bottom easily.

Slipping and falling can always be a problem, there are fallen braches and stumps with moss on them, if stood on would make you slip right off.

There’s a golf course very near by, on the off chance there could be a golf ball flying across, a very small chance but you’ll never know.

If any small item is dropped in the woods it will be hard to find because the woods are quite dense and the floor is covered in leaves, twigs and tall grass.

Recce report

2009-05-17T16:35:00.001-07:00

Recce Report for music video shoot

The location is Walton Woods near Chesterfield

There are no near power sockets so extra batteries will be needed, no lighting, natural lighting only, might consider generator if possible or torches.

Refreshments are available in the near by petrol station but there’s no toilets.

Accessibility is low, the car park from the actual filming location is about 5 minutes, with drum kit and guitars would double that, so I would give it extra 10 minutes in schedule for transportation of equipment.

Permission to film is not needed, the woods are unattended and barely anyone goes through it.

This place is perfect because the drum sound won’t affect anyone this far in.

There are also no interrupting sounds that could affect our filming process.

Proposal and treatment

2009-05-17T15:56:00.000-07:00

Proposal

We propose to make a music video for a metal band With Silent Eyes, for the song Never Be Forgotten; the music video will be filmed using 2-3 cameras, with mini DV and mini DVD. The footage will be edited using Adobe Premiere.

The estimated budget will be around £20. That included price for props and petrol with money to spare. Equipment will be our own or borrowed from university.

Treatment

The basic storyline of the music video is that a male character is burying a female character after killing her in the woods; this will consist of chase scenes, killing scene and scenes where the male actor is preparing to bury her. The band will be filmed at many angles to try and get a good variety of cuts in. the footage will be edited in a non linear format so the viewers are lightly disorientated but still get the storyline through watching. The cuts will be rapid and fast to keep the viewers attention. The colours of it will be edited to make it look dark and grimy to give it a more gritty feeling.

The cook, The Thief, His Wife and her Lover

2009-05-11T15:12:00.000-07:00

I watched this film last week and I really enjoyed it, theres something about it that makes you want to watch more, theres so many little messages in the film that I cant quite get the meaning of.

I like the way how the Wifes dress changed to white when she walks in the toilet, white signifies cleanliness and purity in a way but she goes into the toliet to cheat on her husband so thats quite nice contrast. I think the purity in that is the love between the Lover and the Wife though.

I still need to watch the rest and maybe watch it again, but I do find it very intersting.

Editing the music video

2009-05-11T15:07:00.000-07:00

Woah! finally down to the editing, I cant count how many hours I've been staring at that screen in 105 for now but its a lot. I love editing but I do get pissed off when premiere freezez for no reason and delete things for no reason, its happened a few times now, its not as if I dont save often, but it just decides to delete random things or take it back to a earlier save. Getting really annoyed at it at the moment but it will look amazing when its done :)

I get more and more excited as the video progresses and develops, its nearing the end now and I really hope that viewers will enjoy it, especially the band since they're picky bast*rds!

Hopefulyl it can help them out alot :)

Planning and other evidence

2009-05-11T15:04:00.000-07:00

At the moment I am very busy with finishing Jool's essay and my identities project, I will have all the evidence and planning put on here in a short while, it jus needs scanning in and typing up, hopefully will be up in next 2 days.

Filming on the 5th May

2009-05-11T14:58:00.001-07:00

the second day of filming, that days main aim was to get all the cut shots filmed and get planty of it too. In general it was a success, I had all the equipment and props prepared days before so I knew exactly what to bring etc.

Everything went well and again it was a nice exprience, only downfall was the walk from the car to location, always a tiresome walk, it wasnt as bad this time round thought, since last time we had to carry drum kits and guitars down the little muddy road, this time was jus a few garden tools and backpacks.

We thought we knew exactly what we were filming but then inspiration bloomed on the spot and we started debating about shots etc. this made the whole process take alot longer than it should have. On top of that, we thought we had filmed alot but it ends up that we only filmed about 10 minutes worth of fottage which was quite dissapointing.

In general it was still a good shoot, everything went more or less to plan and we got what we needed so its all down to me in the edit suite then :D haha

Filming on the 3rd May

2009-05-11T14:45:00.000-07:00

Right first day of filming, that day aim was to film the band a few times at different angles and get some individual shots of each member, it went according to plan at the end but the start was like working with children. The band refused to co-operate at start and messed about for ages before we could get some decent footage, not only was it time wasting but also getting the crew fed up and demotivated. The cameras we took was also running out of battery and although we had a car charger to charge it up, the car was parked quite a while away so time was tight.

In the end it got done but not as smoothly as it could have been, the crew worked really hard and helped eachother out. It was a nice day in general to film, we got some decent footage, only shmae was that the footage from each camera looks different in colour and exposure which could have been sorted with more care in white balance and camera setting. that was probably the only error we made, apart from that, its not really us to blame that band was immature.

Massive F*ck Up

2009-04-28T15:01:00.000-07:00

At the moment I am absolutely fuming after finding out the band has let us down having not rearranged their times and having some members working on Sunday, the day of filming. After finding that out I quickly decided to have a chnage in plans to do some other filming on the sunday but it happens that the actress is also busy that morning so we couldn't do that either.

After alot of shouting and stressing, we found out that the 2 members should be free after 4pm, so therefore we plan to film at 4pm onwards, quickly move ourselves to location and get it out of the way. I have already checked the Weather for Sunday, it says it will be sunny and it shouldn't go dark too soon.

Tiday it was still bright when I last looked at the clock it was 7pm, so it should be fine...I hope.

I tried organising it to the next day, Bank Holiday Monday, but the crew can't make it this time, so as the main organiser of the shoot I'm about to hang myself.

Idents

2009-04-27T15:52:00.000-07:00

The past few days I've been working hard and created a few pieces of work including my idents :)heres 2 I've already finished, working on somemore soon.

This first one is a pixilation very, very simple made up of 15 images but it works well :)

This second one is the newer one and is made in flash :) really nice and comical :)

Stop Motion Influence

2009-04-27T15:42:00.000-07:00

A few days ago I came across a very interesting piece of work on youtube, by a japanese practitioner called "Takeuchi Taijin" his piece of work really inspired me and made me think a little more about how I can approach pixilation/ stop motion in a different manner.

This piece of work is a 3 part pixilation, the image in the photo, the photos themselves and the movement of the photos around the room, it is fancinating how someone came up with this. Absolutely stunning to watch :)

Pixilation

2009-04-26T16:44:00.000-07:00

Finally finished abit of pixilation work, I called it "my typical mornings" and no joke, thats how my mornings usually are like, here it is anyways, enjoy.

I think it still could be alot better, liek weirder and crazier stuff, but I do like my first person view pixilation, abit different to others I guess.

Demo Filming

2009-04-25T15:11:00.000-07:00

Today me and Ben Thorpe went out to the woods to do some demo filming for the Music Video, intentions were to try out the colours and lighting etc but when we got there the camera batterys died before filming coul be done, we had also brought with us alot of the items for the scene including pick axe and spade so we were determined to get something from it.

Thinking on the spot I realised my Mobile Phone camera was a 5Megapixel camera so we filmed with that and I went home and edited a demo intro for the music video, and to be honest it actually looks good :D

and here it is

Today

2009-04-21T15:33:00.000-07:00

Today I had a few talks with Debs and Jools about equipment and the shoto in general and recieved some good advice, from then on me and the crew started planning out shots for the music video and completing the list of essentials etc.

I will be writing the proposal idea and treatment soon and blog it on here, for the time being when I'm not workign on the group prject I will be continuing private work such as the box, avatar and idents etc.

experimenting with my camcorder at present and will upload any interesting footage when I can.

Research

2009-04-20T07:32:00.000-07:00

Now that I have decided to do a music video for my AV piece Ive been doing some research into other music videos.

back in college I have already made a music video before and it went really well so I have confidence that this one will go just as well.

The music video I'll be making is of a full band so the transportation of the the musioc instruments is needed, therefore that needs to be organised. We were comtemplating if the guitar amps are needed within the music video, some videos do use guitar amos and only the big stack amps too because they look a lot more impressive but the band only has small amps, so we're not sure about using them, maybe we can borrow some big amps from someone, but that is yet to be confirmed.

I've been watching a few other videos that are same genre to the band im filming, and the basic rule for it is to keep the video very active, theres abour a cut every 2-3 seconds, but I guess thats the same for any fast music. I'll keep researching to develop more ideas.

So far I have discussed with a crew member about the items and equipment we need, and we're going to look at the availability tomorrow with few others.

I'm done now, will blog tomorrow.

Videos researched -

Still Remains - The Worst Is Yet To Come
In This Moment - Prayers
Sky Eats Airplane - Numbers
Cancer Bats - Pneumonia Hawk ( This ones especially important because this video is closest to the style I want mine to be filmed like )
Parkway Drive - Boneyards

It's been a while

2009-04-16T16:50:00.000-07:00

Its been a while since I posted a blog but it doesnt mean that I havent been working, infact its quite the opposite, I have been bsy with a lot of things recently, from my freelance photography work to my band and obviously the identities project.

I have decided to make a music video for my band so planning for the shoot is undergoing at the moment, I have found locations and actors for the shoot, just needs to be fully organised and it can be shot.

all my recent photography work has been uploaded to my myspace and flickr account so if you're interested please have a look :)

http://www.flickr.com/photos/36842944@N03/
www.myspace.com/immolationinprogress

avatar complete

2009-03-18T11:39:00.000-07:00

This is my avatar, the design was based among several things, my clothing style, my accessories and my logo that I designed.

the face is primarily the logo's face just without the crossbones.

the outfit hes wearing is something that I would usually wear and I think it quite resembles me, the cigarette in the mouth, the stretched ears with the red plugs, the jacket, skinny jeans and pumps.

only differnce is the face obviously, but even the idea of it was taken from an anime series I talk about often.

the only thing left is for me to give it some movements which will happen shortly

box designs

2009-03-18T10:10:00.001-07:00

Here you see the drafts of ideas i came up with for the box.

There is the idea of a ship wreck, all the treasures get washed ashore, and thats the objects you can click on for the interaction to lead on to my work.

The next idea was a plane flying in the sky, the comopany logo would be the logo I design and the objects to click on would be the passenger windows which would disply different items relevant to what it leads to.

The next idea was for a seed to grow into a tree, and the fruits of the tree will be the objects to click on.

At first I thought it will have to be the first 2 ideas because I couldnt think of a way to link my logo to the latter, but then I decided to have the logo as the logo for the seed packet which now works really well.

I like trees and the ocean anyway, and in this design I could link them both together which I'm very happy about. its also got the cartoon feeling i aim for too.

so far i have used a TV and a hanging person as objects, as well as the logo on the tree. these might still change, I'm sure as of yet though.

will update if anything changes

curiosity box completed, avatar also completed

2009-03-16T17:17:00.000-07:00

the box has finally been completed on flash, didnt take too long to make, it was the design process that took longest i thought.

had alot of decision making for it, and also changing my mind after having started on an idea already etc.

i did lots of brief drawings in my sketch book before working on them on software. i feel that it helps me get a feel of the idea better if i draw it out before hand.

also my avatar have also been finished...ish, its not animated et but the sculpting of it is done so hopefully it wont be too long till it is all walking and running etc.

will post the drafts for my designs up very soon

Ideas

2009-02-25T15:53:00.000-08:00

lately ive been working hard to come up with ideas for my box, finally narrowed it down to the few possible ones, now currently working on them ideas to try and finalize it by tomorrow.

I've also redone my logo so its in good resolution to be printed at any size, more on the matter soon

Im off to bed now, too tired

Avatar - part 2

2009-02-08T13:59:00.000-08:00

Here in part 2 im going to be talking about a alot simpler system for avatar making. It is the nintendo wii system, the "Mii".

In Mii making avatars is not easier but just alot more cartoony so its abit more difficult to make a character resemble you.

This is my me, it sort of looks like me, with a bit of imagination, but the features provided are limited so its difficult.

although saying that, it is also a major point about Mii Channel that you use these limited supplies to create something amazing with imagination and creativity.

These are some characters made by adding random bits together, it is really difficult to make so Nintendo even brought out a contest channel for peopel to enter their proud creations into.

There thousands of funny characters made that freakishly resemble actors, cartoon characters etc, it just shows how far you can go by that little bit more of effort.

Avatars

2009-02-08T07:26:00.000-08:00

Whilst designing for my avatar, I looked into other places where I have already got a avatar to compare what Im going to do for this project. Im also looking into the environment it's in.

Playstation Home

This is my character on playstation home, it highly resembles me (apparently).
Theres lots of choices on the edit screen for facial and body features so you can make it look quite like yourself, or exaclty liek yourself, if you have that much time on your hands to go through it all.

here we see the edit menu where you can edit your character to how you like, if you was to enter the head or torso section you will find precise editing controls for individual features of that part.

here is a shot of me standing in the virtual city of plystation, around the city and in the shopping area there are little entertainment gimics laying around for users to enjoy.

here Im standing in front of the bowling arcade, theres not also bowling to play but also pool and arcade games such as asteroids etc. this shot also shows a text conversation going on at the bottom left of the screen.

here is a chess game that can be accessed through tables around the environment, inside shopping areas, in the park etc.

here is me dancing with random people in the shopping centre, there is also alot of other little gimics you can do, such as hand signals and other body language.

logo

2009-02-06T07:28:00.000-08:00

These are versions of my logo im workign on, the basic design is same as before, ( jolly roger ), heres the first version -

this is the basic layout of the logo, quite simple, on 3 of the 4 bones tickign out there are my tattoos on the end, just to add abit more personality to it, the hair and the stretched ears also add to the effect. thought on it for a while about the cigarette, and i thought since im do smoke abit, i might as well add it on. the smoke is just to look pretty :D

this is the the edited version of the first one, a scarf has been added on to give it more colour and also i do wear scarves often so i thought it would be nice to add it on.

this is the third version, the only thing added on is headphones, i think it just makes it look that little cooler than before. i'm not sure if i might do variations from the first design, if not then this third design might be the chosen one.

moodboard

2009-02-04T17:00:00.000-08:00

well heres the first attempt at a moodboard, hopefully I've done it correctly, alterations will be made later on after I get some more opinions on it

Identites

2009-01-27T03:30:00.000-08:00

We went through deisgn a avartar and a logo last week and ive started coming up with some ideas now for the logo side of it.

I was thinking along the lines of either a crest, or jolly roger to represent myself. Both of these are down in history of items to prove your identity so I see them as befitting for a logo, I did think of a flag but I thought it was less appropriate because I think it represents a group of peopel ratehr than an individual.

Das Cabinet des Dr. Caligari

2009-01-27T03:07:00.000-08:00

Last week we watched the film - Das Cabinet des Dr. Caligari, this German Expressionist film is one the earliest examples to tell a story through flash back.

This film is also very influential to films made after, Tim Burton being one that has taken the style of this film into his work. Although this film is a silent movie, this film gives the viewers as much impact as if it would have had spoken dialogue. The intertitles work well with the peice, especially by the font they have chosen.

The of color and eerie backing tracks creates the tension and the surreal environments used for set is amazing. The shadows are painted for this film makign actors walk on set to the already laid down shadows, this is the first itme ive seen a film using artificial shadows.

The actors make-up is als overy interesting, especially on Cesare the Somnambulist which is now seen as Tim Burton's Edward Scissorhands.

In general this film is very ionteresitng to watch and is said that everytime you watch it you can pick something new up.

Lasse Gjertsen

2009-01-18T15:33:00.000-08:00

Lasse Gjertsen is a norwegian teenager famous for a few videos he made on youtube, his most famous piece probably "hyperactive" which is a mixture of beatboxing and pixilation.

The work i want to discuss though is the piece he labels as "self portrait"

This is made with green screening and animation, it not only tells the viewers who he is, it also let the viewers in on his thoughts on society and his other ideals etc. I feel it is a powerful piece and works really well with the narration, especially with the echo effect he has on.

He is one of the people who inspire me becuase i jsut really liek his style,the other work he has done is also very worth watching, his editing skills and excellent in "hyperactive" and "amateur".

Identities

2009-01-10T08:42:00.000-08:00

on hearing about the online 3D environments, and creating your own avatars, it made me think of Playstation 3's new software known as Playstation Home.

Playstation Home is an online 3D environment in which you can communicate with friends or strangers in the virtual world built for PS3 owners. In this world you can design a character to resemble yourself and go around the town to buy new things for you house and play mini games around the city. This is very similar to the secondlife 3D online environment.

This is a screen shot of people in a group having a chat on Playstation home, it also seems that some of them are dancing. Speech bubbles pop up above your character when you wish to communicate with others.

I think that this software is great on terms of individuality, when creating your chararcter you can edit the physical appearance to a very detailed degree, you can, if made right, look alot like yourself. The lack in choice of clothing and accessories can be fixed by going into town to shop for new clothes, I haven't tried out that function yet, but soon will. apart from appearance, all characters created have set movements, not much else you can change.

you can check other players information althoguh it is only very brief due to laws on not exposing too much personal details etc. This mostly tells others about games you've played and achievements you've made, at the end of the day, it is a gaming environment.

more to come soon...

flash finally finished

2008-12-12T19:23:00.000-08:00

okay so I finally managed to finish, after 2 weeks stayin up till 3, it has paid off, and I like the outcome, shame that I submitted the copy with dogey sounds, hope lecturers find their way here to see this completed version

anyway, have a play on it, its fun, you'll like it...honest :D

Mystery Mansion by ~Immolated-angel on deviant ART

flash

2008-12-08T04:44:00.000-08:00

woah, ive been working on this flash thing for ages now, stayin up late every night to do it aint good ya know.

its enjoyable but really boring at the same time, hopefully i'll get it done within another 2 days or so, still got jools's essay to write.....crap lol

well thats that, need to get back to work

Photographs

2008-11-24T16:50:00.001-08:00

I have taken 2 photographs from my previous work that has a significant use of colour for my project

Please note: before you ask,yes these are taken by myself, as a freelance photographer so they are copyrighted by me, see the watermark

also, both pictures below have not been edited with any software

Gloomy Day B&W

This picture was taken on avery dull day, black and white fully brings out the beauty of it on picture

Tibshelf Night Trails

Taken at night with a low shutter speed, capturng the movement of vehicles on the motorway, the contrast between the black night sky and the red and white lights of cars is wonderful

One Shot Short Film

2008-11-24T16:41:00.001-08:00

I'm not even sure if we've done ours to the matching criterias, but sod it, heres the film

it is about a undercover police officer meeting a drug dealer for a pick-up to catch the drug dealer, obviously you don't know that there is 2 cops until the end when the other one pops out to arrest the dealer.

Colour and Light

2008-11-22T05:34:00.000-08:00

Colour and Light

The piece of art work I chose to discuss is by Rebecca Partridge - The Dreaming

The Dreaming
oil on canvas, 155×185cm, 2008

The artists main colour is black in this painting, the other bright colours used is befitting for the title. Dreaming is a night activity therefore associated with the colour black, or dark colours, but as you dream deeper, the night fades away and you get less and less wary of the night and fall deeper into sleep. That is why the colour gets more and more vivid towards the center of the painting signifying what I explained earlier. The many different colour overlapping each other on most of the painting is to visually demonstrate the idea of dreams having many different things going on and connecting with one another. That is also why the colours blend in rather than overlap. Although I'm not sure on this, I think the colours that are put together are the ones that compromise each other, in some cases they are not but again it fits the title. another thing that fits the title is the randomness of the layout of the painting.
the painting is once again fully black at the center, just right after the colour being the brightest, this could mean the end of a dream when your just about to wake up or just fallen out of one dream and about to go back into a different one.
The artist also has a high usage of tints/shades her paintings which is interestingly displayed via the overlapping of different colours.

Adobe premiere editing

2008-11-22T05:05:00.000-08:00

well last time we was in, we sat down and had a go at editing some footage from some film, on Adobe Premiere, wasnt very interesting and a lot harder to use than final cut, still feel that final cut pro is a lot better but I'll just haver to deal with this.

Filming Today

2008-11-17T15:51:00.000-08:00

Went out to film today in a dodgey back alley in town, well funny.

productive day, got the short film nailed, in 3 takes, everything went to plan, all went well, good day in general :D

p.s also went to that gallery thing.....it was crap lol

3 point lighting and one shot short

2008-11-15T05:01:00.000-08:00

Last lecture we did about 3 point lighting which was very boring tbh, ive done it all before so I guess thats the reason, not sure about everyone else though, they might have found it interesting :)

On top of that, we managed to come up with an idea for the one shot short and I advised a location to film it :)