festivals
Ok – I’ve now pitched “how to colonise the stars” to 10 or so festivals. I have no idea what to expect. There are a couple of festivals dedicated to scientific programming, so they’re the ones I’m thinking I’ve got the best chance with. Still, anything (and nothing) is possible.
I did have a bit of good news. My distributor’s just returned from Mipcom and gave me a call to say they’ve had more requests for screeners for “how to colonise the stars” than for any of their other titles. That’s about 45 channels considering buying it – which is good news – and one airline has already taken it up.
That’s even though they’ve decided to market it as SD rather than HD. It seems as though HDV is no longer good enough for the HD market.
Lucky I’m now working in full HD for the next projects I guess…
My next documentary – the vegas, bug digging one without a name – is now coming on faster. I’m actually getting to the stage where I can see the whole production. And it’s even a bit over length – which is great considering it was shot over just a week. I always like to be able to trim down rather than pad out whatever I’m working on.
I’m hoping to have a rough edit by the end of next week, and start working on the animations.
It’s about time too…
And another piece of good news is that I’m going to be able to use the new version of Max, so things should be faster and smoother.
Max 2010, I can see already is a great step forward in subdivision surface editing – if that makes any sense at all to you….
I also got a chance to visit a big animation studio this week (Darkside Animation). It’s always good to see how the other half of the industry live… and how they work on very large projects (projects which I can’t tell anyone about right now, but which will hit the limelight later in the year). Anyway, the one thing you do notice is the very specific skills of the animators – each person seems to specialise in a small part of the process – very different from my work where I do everything from modelling to texturing animation, rendering and editing…
I can see why they work the way they do, and they certainly produce very good work, but I’m pretty convinced I’d rather work my way because I can bring in specialists for certain areas of a production when I need to, but at the same time I do have a pretty good overall understanding of every part of the job, so I can be flexible.
Pirates
There’s been a lot of discussion on documentary forums about the decision by the courts to imprison the owners of Pirate Bay – the bit torrent site which allows users to swap everything from music to films…
The discussion was mainly around whether it was right or wrong that people can now download pretty much anything they like regardless of copyright – and as my living depends entirely on copyright, I’ve got a bit of a vested interest.
However, it seems to me a bit of a pointless argument – copyright is on the way out. It’s not dead yet, but it’s not going to survive the internet revolution, and the best we can do as filmmakers, writers and animators is look for ways to make it work for us.
I’m not entirely sure how that will work out – or even whether TV and film will eventually become things that only get produced by people willing to do it for nothing… However, I’m pretty sure there will still be production one way or another because if there’s one thing that will stop file sharing dead in its tracks, it’s if there’s nothing being produced to share….
Friday, May 8, 2009
Wednesday, April 29, 2009
I’ve had a pretty disrupted couple of weeks, with the Easter long weekend and Lisa’s trip to Krakow meaning I didn’t have that many working days – Plus, a couple of short notice deadlines suddenly appeared meaning I had to do some newsletters for Pinnacle, an illustration for a company hiring nannys and a couple of reviews (although the reviews do mean I’ve now been able to play with up to date copies of Lightwave and Softimage!).
Anyway, having decided that fine editing is best done in half day stints because it’s so demanding, I’ve made some pretty good progress with the Vegas documentary…
Which I may be going to call “Bugdig”, “the search for Bristolia Insolens” or “the best way to dig a hole”… hmm… not sure.
However, I’ve now got it to the stage where the first half is now in manageable, playable segments. Each of the stories involved has been laid down and sliced into 1-2 minute scenes.
What I have to do now is assemble these into an overall story that makes sense. Which should be fairly simple. I’m not sure if having scenes of 1-2 minutes is going to work or whether they’ll feel too bitty, but we’ll see.
The second half of the documentary is more a single strand so I’ll be able to edit in a more linear way.
Either way, I can see it beginning to take shape now, so I’m a bit more positive about it. I’ve written and recorded the script for the second half, and now need to start building the shots around it.
Overall, it’s looking good – running a bit over time, but only because I’ve included a lot of material I can cut out later. It’s better to have more than you need rather than less….
Withoutabox
I’ve just signed up to withoutabox and I’ve discovered how easy it is to use. I’m launching my latest (finished) project (how to colonise the stars) at a few festivals – just to see how I get on and how difficult it is.
Early results seem to suggest it’s rather easy with all the hard work being done by the website. All I have to do is make some DVDs and put them in the post – which even I should be able to do.
I’ve given myself a budget of a couple of hundred pounds to spend on entry fees, and applied to about 10 festivals all in all (in a bit of a rush because for some reason I don’t understand, all the deadlines seem to be may 1st).
Anyway, this has really pointed up just how little I know about the whole documentary selling business. What are good and bad festivals? What happens at festivals anyway? who goes? Should I go if my film is chosen? What kind of films appear? I’ve got this feeling that my project is a bit too traditionally made and not arty enough– but again, I really don’t know.
All this stuff I’m reading about pitching meetings and getting industry people to attend your showings – I really don’t know anything about it. The top five documentary commissioners (if that’s even a job title, which I’ve no idea) in the world could walk right past me and I wouldn’t recognise them or know their names – should I? should I have a list of them in my top pocket along with a pile of ideas to throw at them if I ever bump into them at the groucho club (ha! I know what the groucho club is at least)?
Do I need to turn myself into some kind of frantic, coked-up cross between a film nerd and a used car salesman just to get… to get… umm…
And there’s the rub.
What exactly do I want to get out of the documentary business? Sure, I’ve got this great idea for a documentary I want to make – but nothing’s stopping me making it apart from time… and sure, I’ve got a few series I’d love to get off the ground if a broadcater came up to me and offered me a slot – but that’s not going to happen without immersing myself entirely in an industry I think is a bit… well, crappy…
Hmm.. I guess what this whole festival submission thing is about is just seeing where it takes me. When I finish my current project – the trilobite digging one, I’ll want to put it into some festivals because that will be one way the guy funding it will be able to see it’s a successful project.
When I do the feature documentary I’ve got in mind, festivals will be crucial – I’ll be shooting high and looking for cinematic release, but that’s a way off yet – and I need to insure myself all the way along the line so that if at any point it doesn’t hit the mark, I haven’t wasted a lot of time on it with no return at all.
And there are ways of doing that – ensuring that the research phase, the filming, the editing all pay for themselves as parts of other projects… but I’ll take you through that as it happens…
Right now, I’ve made a small foray into the festival world just to see what’s out there….
Anyway, having decided that fine editing is best done in half day stints because it’s so demanding, I’ve made some pretty good progress with the Vegas documentary…
Which I may be going to call “Bugdig”, “the search for Bristolia Insolens” or “the best way to dig a hole”… hmm… not sure.
However, I’ve now got it to the stage where the first half is now in manageable, playable segments. Each of the stories involved has been laid down and sliced into 1-2 minute scenes.
What I have to do now is assemble these into an overall story that makes sense. Which should be fairly simple. I’m not sure if having scenes of 1-2 minutes is going to work or whether they’ll feel too bitty, but we’ll see.
The second half of the documentary is more a single strand so I’ll be able to edit in a more linear way.
Either way, I can see it beginning to take shape now, so I’m a bit more positive about it. I’ve written and recorded the script for the second half, and now need to start building the shots around it.
Overall, it’s looking good – running a bit over time, but only because I’ve included a lot of material I can cut out later. It’s better to have more than you need rather than less….
Withoutabox
I’ve just signed up to withoutabox and I’ve discovered how easy it is to use. I’m launching my latest (finished) project (how to colonise the stars) at a few festivals – just to see how I get on and how difficult it is.
Early results seem to suggest it’s rather easy with all the hard work being done by the website. All I have to do is make some DVDs and put them in the post – which even I should be able to do.
I’ve given myself a budget of a couple of hundred pounds to spend on entry fees, and applied to about 10 festivals all in all (in a bit of a rush because for some reason I don’t understand, all the deadlines seem to be may 1st).
Anyway, this has really pointed up just how little I know about the whole documentary selling business. What are good and bad festivals? What happens at festivals anyway? who goes? Should I go if my film is chosen? What kind of films appear? I’ve got this feeling that my project is a bit too traditionally made and not arty enough– but again, I really don’t know.
All this stuff I’m reading about pitching meetings and getting industry people to attend your showings – I really don’t know anything about it. The top five documentary commissioners (if that’s even a job title, which I’ve no idea) in the world could walk right past me and I wouldn’t recognise them or know their names – should I? should I have a list of them in my top pocket along with a pile of ideas to throw at them if I ever bump into them at the groucho club (ha! I know what the groucho club is at least)?
Do I need to turn myself into some kind of frantic, coked-up cross between a film nerd and a used car salesman just to get… to get… umm…
And there’s the rub.
What exactly do I want to get out of the documentary business? Sure, I’ve got this great idea for a documentary I want to make – but nothing’s stopping me making it apart from time… and sure, I’ve got a few series I’d love to get off the ground if a broadcater came up to me and offered me a slot – but that’s not going to happen without immersing myself entirely in an industry I think is a bit… well, crappy…
Hmm.. I guess what this whole festival submission thing is about is just seeing where it takes me. When I finish my current project – the trilobite digging one, I’ll want to put it into some festivals because that will be one way the guy funding it will be able to see it’s a successful project.
When I do the feature documentary I’ve got in mind, festivals will be crucial – I’ll be shooting high and looking for cinematic release, but that’s a way off yet – and I need to insure myself all the way along the line so that if at any point it doesn’t hit the mark, I haven’t wasted a lot of time on it with no return at all.
And there are ways of doing that – ensuring that the research phase, the filming, the editing all pay for themselves as parts of other projects… but I’ll take you through that as it happens…
Right now, I’ve made a small foray into the festival world just to see what’s out there….
Friday, April 24, 2009
I’ve had a pretty disrupted couple of weeks, with the Easter long weekend and Lisa’s trip to Krakow meaning I didn’t have that many working days – Plus, a couple of short notice deadlines suddenly appeared meaning I had to do some newsletters for Pinnacle, an illustration for a company hiring nannys and a couple of reviews (although the reviews do mean I’ve now been able to play with up to date copies of Lightwave and Softimage!).
Anyway, having decided that fine editing is best done in half day stints because it’s so demanding, I’ve made some pretty good progress with the Vegas documentary…
Which I may be going to call “Bugdig”, “the search for Bristolia Insolens” or “the best way to dig a hole”… hmm… not sure.
However, I’ve now got it to the stage where the first half is now in manageable, playable segments. Each of the stories involved has been laid down and sliced into 1-2 minute scenes.
What I have to do now is assemble these into an overall story that makes sense. Which should be fairly simple. I’m not sure if having scenes of 1-2 minutes is going to work or whether they’ll feel too bitty, but we’ll see.
The second half of the documentary is more a single strand so I’ll be able to edit in a more linear way.
Either way, I can see it beginning to take shape now, so I’m a bit more positive about it.
Withoutabox
I’ve just signed up to withoutabox and when I’ve got time, I’m planning to launch my latest (finished) project (how to colonise the stars) at a few festivals – just to see how I get on and how difficult it is.
Early results seem to suggest it’s rather easy with all the hard work being done by the website. All I have to do is make some DVDs and put them in the post – which even I should be able to do.
I’ve applied for a couple of free festivals already and I’ve been invited to submit to one in Paris, so we’ll see how that goes.
Anyway, having decided that fine editing is best done in half day stints because it’s so demanding, I’ve made some pretty good progress with the Vegas documentary…
Which I may be going to call “Bugdig”, “the search for Bristolia Insolens” or “the best way to dig a hole”… hmm… not sure.
However, I’ve now got it to the stage where the first half is now in manageable, playable segments. Each of the stories involved has been laid down and sliced into 1-2 minute scenes.
What I have to do now is assemble these into an overall story that makes sense. Which should be fairly simple. I’m not sure if having scenes of 1-2 minutes is going to work or whether they’ll feel too bitty, but we’ll see.
The second half of the documentary is more a single strand so I’ll be able to edit in a more linear way.
Either way, I can see it beginning to take shape now, so I’m a bit more positive about it.
Withoutabox
I’ve just signed up to withoutabox and when I’ve got time, I’m planning to launch my latest (finished) project (how to colonise the stars) at a few festivals – just to see how I get on and how difficult it is.
Early results seem to suggest it’s rather easy with all the hard work being done by the website. All I have to do is make some DVDs and put them in the post – which even I should be able to do.
I’ve applied for a couple of free festivals already and I’ve been invited to submit to one in Paris, so we’ll see how that goes.
Friday, April 3, 2009
This week I’ve been writing articles – a new 3d artists magazine has appeared which is great news because it looks like good regular work – and fairly flexible.
I’ve also been doing another feature for a magazine aimed at school children and focuses on general science issues – which is also good news because means there’s potential to partially fund the research of some of my documentary ideas by writing features about the same subjects. That means I can justify spending more time on them… which has to be good.
I’m almost there with the boat safety video – although the last few bits are taking a long time…
Aside from that, I still haven’t got the edit done for the debut of my latest documentary project at 10x10 next week. And there’s a problem.
Because the safety video and the documentary are on different disks, I’m having to swap every time I swap projects. Now, Premiere ought to be able to take this on board, but it can’t – each time I swap, I have to re-locate all the footage files before premiere will load. And that’s a pain.
Worse still, when I tried to switch back to the documentary this time, it wasn’t having any of it – it keeps asking me where all the files are, then when I locate them, it crashes.
I do hope I can solve this because there’s a couple of months of editing work in those files!
I’ve also been doing another feature for a magazine aimed at school children and focuses on general science issues – which is also good news because means there’s potential to partially fund the research of some of my documentary ideas by writing features about the same subjects. That means I can justify spending more time on them… which has to be good.
I’m almost there with the boat safety video – although the last few bits are taking a long time…
Aside from that, I still haven’t got the edit done for the debut of my latest documentary project at 10x10 next week. And there’s a problem.
Because the safety video and the documentary are on different disks, I’m having to swap every time I swap projects. Now, Premiere ought to be able to take this on board, but it can’t – each time I swap, I have to re-locate all the footage files before premiere will load. And that’s a pain.
Worse still, when I tried to switch back to the documentary this time, it wasn’t having any of it – it keeps asking me where all the files are, then when I locate them, it crashes.
I do hope I can solve this because there’s a couple of months of editing work in those files!
Monday, March 30, 2009
I managed to get precisely nothing done to my documentary this week – except that I’ve volunteered to show some of it at the 10x10 documentary evening in London on the 7th. It’s a great forum to show your half finished documentaries, and get criticism from other documentary makers. However, you need something that’s in a good enough shape to watch, and right now, what I’ve got is a collection of clips and snippets of voiceover. I’ve no idea what I’m going to show or when I’m going to get to edit it….
The main reason is that I’ve had a couple of jobs come in that I really needed to spend time on. One is the yacht safety video from last year, which now needs a few tweaks (tweaks which are taking far longer than I thought they would). The other is that following last week’s autodesk press launch, I got an email from the editor of a brand new magazine for 3d artists. He was looking for freelancers and had some reviews which needed doing for an issue due to go to press on Monday.
it started off as three small reviews, but by today, that had grown to four pages of copy – two of which are on Softimage – one of the most complex pieces of software on the market which I’m not up to date on and which didn’t arrive until Friday afternoon.
Deadlines aren’t always this tough, but sometimes events conspire against editors and freelancers….
Anyway, that’s why I haven’t done any documentary work this week!
The main reason is that I’ve had a couple of jobs come in that I really needed to spend time on. One is the yacht safety video from last year, which now needs a few tweaks (tweaks which are taking far longer than I thought they would). The other is that following last week’s autodesk press launch, I got an email from the editor of a brand new magazine for 3d artists. He was looking for freelancers and had some reviews which needed doing for an issue due to go to press on Monday.
it started off as three small reviews, but by today, that had grown to four pages of copy – two of which are on Softimage – one of the most complex pieces of software on the market which I’m not up to date on and which didn’t arrive until Friday afternoon.
Deadlines aren’t always this tough, but sometimes events conspire against editors and freelancers….
Anyway, that’s why I haven’t done any documentary work this week!
Friday, March 20, 2009
Over the last couple of weeks I’ve gone to two software company dos – Adobe’s and Autodesk’s. These are both well worth attending for me as the companies tell me all about what they’re adding to the new releases of their software… it’s very enlightening and it’s also a good chance to catch up with people I work with or for, but only ever see at press events.
They’re also usually a chance to eat minaturised versions of proper food arranged painstakingly and artistically onto little china spoons or cut into bite sized cubes…
Plus I get to hear about all the free foreign trips other, better connected journalists are getting to go on, and, in recent cases, see how the credit crunch/recession/depression/global armaggeddon is affecting the various bits of the industries I’m connected to.
The answer to that last one is that it’s affecting them pretty badly, or at least most people are expecting it to. The media seems to be locking down right now with nothing much going ahead anywhere (although I’m not close enough to it to really be able to say that with any authority).
On the other hand, I’m choosing to see a couple of positive sides: Firstly, everyone in the creative industry has a whole list of personal projects they’d really like to be getting on with if it wasn’t for all this damned paying work.
Now the paying work is drying up, those exciting projects should be coming out of the closet and everyone in the industry should be working for free on what really fires them up…. At least if they’re not having to get jobs as waiters, that is.
Secondly, if you’re able to be a shark (see my previous blog), there should be new opportunities appearing around every corner as things change suddenly.
Personally, I’ve taken a quick dart back towards writing articles and proposed a few pieces for magazines which should support me for a couple of months (along with all the other bits and pieces I’ve got on).
Voiceover
I’ve recorded the first part of my voiceover for the Vegas documentary. It’s a big test for me as it’s the first time I’ve done my own voiceover work (or, the first time since I did a couple of packages for BBC radio 5 years ago and had my confidence as a presenter shaken by a producer who quite rightly didn’t think I was up to the job).
Anyway, my two big personal projects for this year, really do depend on me being able to be a strong and credible presenter, so recording the voiceover for the vegas documentary is crucial
What do I think of my performance? Well it’s hard to judge. I’m not at all sure I’m any good, and even if I am, I still need to find a tone of writing and a tone of speaking that work together. I feel a little like I’m PRESENTING too much and need to be more energised and conversational. At the same time, I feel I need to slow down and enunciate better – and I think the two are contradictory. You don’t have conversations at 60 words per minute, do you?
Anyway, until it all gets edited in, I won’t know. In fact I still won’t know then until other people hear it.
I guess the real problem is that even if I do get to be good at presenting, I’m going to be critical of myself as I edit, so I’m not going to have full confidence in the project…. Hmm… I need to get over it.
They’re also usually a chance to eat minaturised versions of proper food arranged painstakingly and artistically onto little china spoons or cut into bite sized cubes…
Plus I get to hear about all the free foreign trips other, better connected journalists are getting to go on, and, in recent cases, see how the credit crunch/recession/depression/global armaggeddon is affecting the various bits of the industries I’m connected to.
The answer to that last one is that it’s affecting them pretty badly, or at least most people are expecting it to. The media seems to be locking down right now with nothing much going ahead anywhere (although I’m not close enough to it to really be able to say that with any authority).
On the other hand, I’m choosing to see a couple of positive sides: Firstly, everyone in the creative industry has a whole list of personal projects they’d really like to be getting on with if it wasn’t for all this damned paying work.
Now the paying work is drying up, those exciting projects should be coming out of the closet and everyone in the industry should be working for free on what really fires them up…. At least if they’re not having to get jobs as waiters, that is.
Secondly, if you’re able to be a shark (see my previous blog), there should be new opportunities appearing around every corner as things change suddenly.
Personally, I’ve taken a quick dart back towards writing articles and proposed a few pieces for magazines which should support me for a couple of months (along with all the other bits and pieces I’ve got on).
Voiceover
I’ve recorded the first part of my voiceover for the Vegas documentary. It’s a big test for me as it’s the first time I’ve done my own voiceover work (or, the first time since I did a couple of packages for BBC radio 5 years ago and had my confidence as a presenter shaken by a producer who quite rightly didn’t think I was up to the job).
Anyway, my two big personal projects for this year, really do depend on me being able to be a strong and credible presenter, so recording the voiceover for the vegas documentary is crucial
What do I think of my performance? Well it’s hard to judge. I’m not at all sure I’m any good, and even if I am, I still need to find a tone of writing and a tone of speaking that work together. I feel a little like I’m PRESENTING too much and need to be more energised and conversational. At the same time, I feel I need to slow down and enunciate better – and I think the two are contradictory. You don’t have conversations at 60 words per minute, do you?
Anyway, until it all gets edited in, I won’t know. In fact I still won’t know then until other people hear it.
I guess the real problem is that even if I do get to be good at presenting, I’m going to be critical of myself as I edit, so I’m not going to have full confidence in the project…. Hmm… I need to get over it.
Friday, March 13, 2009
The last couple of weeks feel quite bitty – as though I’ve done lots of work, but it hasn’t really got together into anything substantial.
I’ve got a little further forward with the documentary – and I’m now writing a first draft of the commentary. This started off being quite tough to do, because I haven’t really edited yet – I’m at the stage where I know what all the stories are that will combine into my finished programme, and I know broadly what shots and voice clips I’ll use to tell those stories. It’s now time to write the first draft of the linking narration.
However, once I really convinced myself that this wasn’t a final version of the narration, writing became much faster. I know I’ll have to add to it and change things, but that will come much easier I think, once I’ve got a roughly working programme.
I hope….
Anyway, my plan is to finish writing the narration next week and record it using my own voice. This will be a bit of a test for me. I’ve half decided to go with my own voice for the narration this time, because the whole programme feels like it needs to be me talking. I can’t quite explain why, but my previous two productions have felt like they needed a dispassionate narrator, whereas this one somehow feels as though the camera is more part of the action…
So, this is a test of my narration skills as much as anything, and it’s a test I need to do because I’ve got a couple of other projects in mind (one of which I did a treatment for this week). And these other projects will NEED to have me as a narrator.
I’m actually really excited about the project I wrote the treatment for, but it’s big and ambitious ( a feature length doc – which has elements of a drama to it) and most significant of all, it will depend on my ability to be a convincing narrator….
More of that later….
Still no work
Still no work from either of the mailouts I’ve sent – which is a bit worrying. Still, it’s promising that despite having turned off my advertising I’m still getting (around) 50 visitors per day to www.anachronistic.co.uk.
I’ve got a little further forward with the documentary – and I’m now writing a first draft of the commentary. This started off being quite tough to do, because I haven’t really edited yet – I’m at the stage where I know what all the stories are that will combine into my finished programme, and I know broadly what shots and voice clips I’ll use to tell those stories. It’s now time to write the first draft of the linking narration.
However, once I really convinced myself that this wasn’t a final version of the narration, writing became much faster. I know I’ll have to add to it and change things, but that will come much easier I think, once I’ve got a roughly working programme.
I hope….
Anyway, my plan is to finish writing the narration next week and record it using my own voice. This will be a bit of a test for me. I’ve half decided to go with my own voice for the narration this time, because the whole programme feels like it needs to be me talking. I can’t quite explain why, but my previous two productions have felt like they needed a dispassionate narrator, whereas this one somehow feels as though the camera is more part of the action…
So, this is a test of my narration skills as much as anything, and it’s a test I need to do because I’ve got a couple of other projects in mind (one of which I did a treatment for this week). And these other projects will NEED to have me as a narrator.
I’m actually really excited about the project I wrote the treatment for, but it’s big and ambitious ( a feature length doc – which has elements of a drama to it) and most significant of all, it will depend on my ability to be a convincing narrator….
More of that later….
Still no work
Still no work from either of the mailouts I’ve sent – which is a bit worrying. Still, it’s promising that despite having turned off my advertising I’m still getting (around) 50 visitors per day to www.anachronistic.co.uk.
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