Version-101

Hidden Short Stories

2010-11-10T12:21:00.006Z

Short stories seems to have become newly fashionable. Long a staple of starting-out writers and the American creative writing scene, they are becoming so in vogue that established novelists are re-learning how to write the form.

And it is very different from the novel, which is as little appreciated as how different a short film is to a feature. You could start with Checkov, Chinua Achebe, Tolstoy, Kipling, Guy de Maupassant, Dahl.... or my dear friend Victoria Taylor Robert's Hidden & Other Stories.

It's an awkward and difficult form, and Vicky is completely in control of the effects it can achieve - the time spent in the company of very different, often very difficult characters - their situations, their outlook, their place in life, but especially their view out and towards the 'life' that's generally swirling around them in careless and damagingly carefree ways. In her hands, the story tends to creep up on you, you are in a mind, and as the gloom slowly dissipates, you perceive clearly a life, a person you thought could never imagine being, but now are fully imagined within, the contours, shapes and feeling of that life clear, in sparse, carefully controlled detail.

And the endings? Vicky controls her endings with clarity and economy - never the cheap, over-obvious reversal, but a sly dig, a ping back into the story that led up to it, a re-shaping or re-casting of the story in a subtly different light, giving a resonance beyond the end, causing the life to reverberate just a bit further and longer than you expected.

Of course there are some stories I didn't take to, some that left me cold, but more that left me slightly shaken, slightly disturbed from the main flow of 'life' as most of us live it. And that's where her characters come from - the edges, the margins, the lost and forgotten, and are the more powerful for that.

Highly recommended.

Motion text design I wish I had designed #99

2010-06-09T11:52:00.007+01:00

... and it doesn't hurt to have the voice of the great Mr Stephen Fry narrating it. It almost makes me wish I had a good start up idea. That's not going to happen any time soon, but in the meantime, I'm looking forward to the commission that enables me complete design work like this.

A couple of useful camera sites...

2010-05-12T13:44:00.004+01:00

Just to share - excellent Sony EX1 set of tips from Sony here

... and very useful forum for the XDCAM series.

and here's a 3d view

What the F**K is Issuu?

2010-02-27T22:27:00.007Z

I feel obliged to try this out, now that I've accidentally sent an invitation to everybody I know, everybody I've ever been spammed by, and everybody I don't know, plus a few random services thrown in for good measure.

I can only say SORRY SORRY SORRY.

If it makes you feel better, I invited myself at least three different ways and posted an automatic facebook status update.

So, ahem, Issuu. It makes stuff like this possible:

... and it might be a possible tool for sharing documents. So far the content on it is pretty pants. But then you can embed your own stuff, they share their API so if it takes off people will build interesting applications on the top of it (is the theory). You could use it for a private archive of important documents, you can use it to design your own documents (so far untested by yours truly). So - maybe some good points.

Or alternatively, it's just a home for sad people to self-publish to themselves and their mums.

One person has already put up their whole archive of punk / post-hardcore fanzines. Great effort. And how many subscribers have they got so far? None. Bless.

I can't find anything useful to read on it (though would be very happy to be proved wrong), but I can see great potential in it.

So - either curse me for the spam email, or, remember it was me, when it really takes off and helps you share documents in a stylish and effective way. Here's hoping it's the later.

In praise of Karen

2010-01-24T23:57:00.000Z

"In praise of Karen" OR "How do I keep all this stuff safe?"

Karen is female. Apparently.

Ok - not the most earth shattering statement on the face of it. But at the deepest recesses of my geeky side, there's something delightfully, elegantly well designed, useful and thought-through about Karen's Power Tools and I was curious about the name.

If you don't know them you are missing something highly useful to you, and that's any 'you' who uses a computer. This isn't specific to video.

Her tools do seriously useful stuff under the bonnet of a computer in an elegant, safe, clear and easy to use way. They are for anyone who's ever wanted a computer to just work, dammit. Or who wants and easy way to copy and archive stuff. or move large amounts of data around. or - why can't I just have a list of those files to print out? Is that website working (yours or any other)?

Ok - so we're talking hard-core teckie stuff? So is that unusual coming from a woman? Is that what's surprising about Karen being, er, Karen?

It's not that unusual to have female about in nerdy land. not these days, so that's not my first reaction.

It was more like you can see that where Karen is coming from feels like a female point of view. Maybe I'm imagining something here. But can there be something specifically 'female' about a bunch of computer tools?

It feels like she's looked at her Windows computer and wondered why it doesn't just do stuff that are blindingly obviously stupidly necessary.

So you want me to keep backups - why doesn't it come with a good utility to do just that?

So, she seems to be saying - I could do that - make some utility that will do that solidly and well. And, hey - I've got a good idea - why not throw in a way to keep a check on two different changing sources and work out what needs to be copied between them to keep both up to date, without wiping anything useful? Neat.

Want to keep track of stuff? Why can't Windows just print out a list with all the files on the computer, or on a particular area or folder of the computer? Hey, why not be able to customise that list?

Ok, ok, I'll quit with the list before your eyes glaze over. Those are my two favourites. Net monitor is pretty useful. There's other stuff. Snooper is classic Mom keeps an eye on the kids stuff. On the other hand, I have no idea what Hasher does. Have a look for those and more.

So is there something clear, practical and female about that? Do Gates et al need to get a bit more in touch with their feminine side?

There's inconclusive research to explore about gender and styles of learning, preferences for right and left hemispheres and modes of perception, language or communication strategies, multi-tasking, subject area preferences, 3d perception and manipulation. All that kind of stuff. Perhaps at most it adds up to a random pattern of tendencies that just about remain just about discernibly constant between cultures and through history?

If there's anything in those kind of differences, I don't know. I'm reluctant to stray into essentialist explanations, as I think you can tell. ;-) They probably have a quality that's also shared by a lot of men.

Whatever - it's a useful suite. And free. Which is good. And here's the lady in question. All hail Karen. Praise Karen.

Which reminds me.

I'll have to sing the praises of the delightfully named CCleaner at some point in the future. Yes that's "Crap Cleaner", and no, it's not one of Karen's tools. I can't see her choosing that name, somehow.

Dreamed up by one of the lads, then. ;-)

And sure enough - it does what it says on the tin, without fuss, in a straightforward way. Just like a man. Also free. Also highly recommended. And this one does it's share of the housework. In fact, that's exactly the point of it. How's that for surprising?

Audioboo

2009-06-16T10:17:00.004+01:00

... and what is an audioboo, I hear you ask?

Jeremy of Wicked Days posted this minutes before birth of his (ahem) fourth. Busy man. ;-)

Listen!

Kinda worrying for the teenager to come in 16 or so years - not just embarrassing baby pics, but sharing your pre-birth heartbeats with random contacts across the interweb...

And auidoboo - it's some kind of iPhone thingy. Record, hit button, uploads to Twitter. Now, I wonder if anyone wants to hear my kitten snore?

Lee Camp's moments of clarity

2009-06-16T10:01:00.005+01:00

Lee Camp's moments of clarity is one of those reasons I'm glad YouTube exists - not for cute kittens and that ever-so-funny moment when your mate happy-slapped some tramp - but a cheap, quick, witty, snappy and above all fast response to things going on. Why aren't there more?

(perhaps there are - links welcome)

For example, his latest response to GOP's response to funding healthcare

Or taking the longer view:

... AND you get bluegrass - what more can you want?

THIS is what video blogging should be - quick fun, informative and cheerful. Go Lee!

2009-04-30T19:24:00.004+01:00

Class one in any Film 101 course usually involves some kind of 'edit in camera' task. Like - forget loads of takes shot out of sequence, let's decide what we're gonna film, then film it in order, one take straight into the camera, take the film out, hit play: there's your film.

So what's the equivalent for class one on the Music Video 101 course?

If you were good. Like very good. It might end up like Nyle captured by Last Pictures. Filmed in one take, with the audio captured at the same time. The film is superb, Nyle's performance is superb, the singing and playing is superb... shame the song is a bit lame. But whatever - ENJOY:

Nyle "Let The Beat Build" from Nyle on Vimeo.

(Thanks to Alexandra Lexitricity for the recommend)

Spoiler alert

2009-02-17T22:29:00.004Z

If you have a Scientologist friend. Now is the time for that friend to watch this video. You'll curse yourself if you don't show it to them before your friendship should end.

Missed opportunities and all that. ;-)

Of course, once they watch it the friendship will certainly end! ;-)

It's posted on the youtube channel called 'church of scientology'. I'm guessing that's not the official site.

Who's flashy?

2009-02-12T16:19:00.004Z

Looking through web-examples for inspiration, I came across this. I both like it and don't like it. I don't know whether I'd use a similar approach, but it might be good for photogrpahers?

ImFlashy.com

What do you think?

Maybe you prefer shoes? ;-)

ImFlashy.com

2008-09-23T21:01:00.002+01:00

Whatever happened to ShootingPeople? This question was sparked off by Scriptmonster's latest blog.

A simple email digest, that then grew and grew, it used to be required reading. I used it to develop services, learn, network, crew shoots... But somehow it fell behind the curve.

I realised how clunky it was once I came across forums. As soon as you get used to things like - hey, people replying in near-real time - threads of conversations (not strained day-late replies), chat, private messaging... the whole deal, suddenly a daily email digest seems like a system designed in the age of steam. And they're still at it.

Back in the day there was a debate about setting up a forum. The owners / moderators refused. Real filmmakers are too busy to waste time on fora, or some such argument. One brave soul set up a forum with nil support, and without being allowed to post about it. It failed (as far as a I know - I can't even remember the name of it now).

I put a post on there about a year ago - I needed an 'attractive woman' to play the part of someone getting married. That was considered offensive and I wasn't allowed to post 'attractive' (I kid you not).

Without the 'attractive' the post went ahead and I got millions of replies. Including one from an Italian male, who couldn't speak English and who wasn't based in the UK. This was for a one-day shoot. I was curious, so I asked him (via Babelfish) why the hell he thought it was a good idea to waste my time - oh, I'm thinking of moving to london in a few years and thought I should build up some contacts....

We also got some good replies - but the sheer effort of wading through them, including about half that were wildly inappropriate, plus more that came three days late (those who don't pay for the service), plus more from agencies who then spam you for ever more...

That's why I don't use or read Shooting People any more. About time to cancel my subscription, methinks. It's a shame - I have a real affection for a service that was a strong part of my development in video. But it just didn't keep up.

meanwhile, the latest on the Mac Vvs PC wars...

2008-09-21T10:12:00.002+01:00

I said I'd blog on switching to a Mac. But meantime here's a little something from sound engineer Mike Peter Reed. Sums it up really.

They are both good and bad for different things. Both have their frustrations and their joys, and we couldn't live without them. Doesn't mean that the PC "let's cobble it together from a bunch of junk" and the Mac "let's get smug" approaches don't grate...

Hello to a new camera - Sony EX1

2008-09-10T21:07:00.022+01:00

Exciting times in planet video. New editing system. New camera. New clients.

But let's start with new camera.

I have used the Sony EX1 camera three times in anger now, and I have only had it four days, so it's been a bit of a rush getting up to speed enough with it to feel secure enough to use it for serious jobs. That they were event filming jobs, adds to the pressure... as we all know - there is no second take. *

There is a huge buzz about the camera, and has been for a while since it came out. It uses Sony's SxS cards, there's no tape, and it leaps a couple of format levels from standard definition video - not just HDV but a higher type of High Definition called XDCAM.

There were three major issues (and this isn't going to be a 'review' as such - just my first impressions)

- getting to know the camera well enough (which would be the same for any new camera)
- getting to grips with a tapeless workflow
- switching from PC to Mac

The first is not as huge as it might seem, given that my previous main camera was also a Sony and this one is set up within the same paradigm, with a set of modifications that are interesting and useful, rather than irritating. Most of the keys you want are outside rather than buried in a menu. Not a standard layout (that would be asking too much of Sony), but one that is learnable perfectly easily.

If I didn't think I'd be comfortable with it, I wouldn't have used the camera - event stuff is way too demanding for that.

Knowing that there simply are not any tapes, never were any tapes, never will be... "Er, so what about my fail-safe archive?" is the first question that will occur to any camera operator, editor or producer (or, all three if you're like me). It's a breathless moment for anyone involved in video. It's a jump that happened has simultaneously (just about) with consumers and with professionals, and it's a huge liberation as well as a huge worry.

I'm fine with setting up a good data back up system, and am paranoid enough to know that only two external and one internal copy of the data is enough. However, a new format means new applications, making sure they work, that the workflow is clear and foolproof...

Actually the stakes are no higher than they were with tape, but they do feel dramatically more scary.

It doesn't help to think it through logically. After all, if a tape failed that's all the footage lost. If a unique copy of the data fails, that's all the footage lost. The only safe way to archive tape is to copy to tape or capture to data. The only way to safely archive data is to copy. Plus ca change. But still that cliff-edge feeling is there.

And what about that strange third reason - surely that has nothing to do with the camera, you might have thought. Well, there were a number of (obvious) reasons for the (partial) switch to Mac, but the clincher was the EX1, which I know might seem bizarre. Basically Final Cut Pro handles XDCAM well, and Premiere (my PC application) doesn't is the short story.

I ought to blog about Mac some time. Basically, even as a Mac user myself, I hate the whole "it just works" Mac thing. No it doesn't - no computer does. Sure it falls over less often, but it does still fall over. I'm going to be using PC and Mac aproximately 50/50, and not with the usual office / video split - but using both for both. Which is not my choice necessarily or a good thing necessarily - but it works for me.

The death of tape will, inevitably, be happening to everybody in video. It's already perfectly acceptable in many walks of technological existence, so in some respects video might seem a bit behind. But the sheer size of video data, and the need for a continual, frame-by-frame, verified, safe, secure flow of the stuff, has meant that computers have had to develop a lot to get us there.

So - I'll put this up, but will be adding my thoughts about the design of the camera, the price, the controls, the format, the workflow and geeky stuff like that in due course.

* One event combined Rory Stewart, Orlando Bloom, Pippa Small and my mate Kate, but that's another story.

We say hello...

2008-08-07T18:34:00.002+01:00

The current Meconopsis Films showreel via Vimeo (see below for the YouTube version), with some of the stuff we do.

Meconopsis Films' showreel from Ben Bruges on Vimeo.

"I suffer from English teeth..."

2008-08-05T16:45:00.006+01:00

So starts the video on the front page of Dentaprime.

Getting a commission to interview people about their dental experiences might not sound that exciting - but it was a real pleasure to meet the four people featured in the video. They had diverse experiences and reasons for traveling all the way to Bulgaria to have serious amounts of dental work completed but one theme ran through all the interviews - the truly appalling and expensive experiences they had at the hands of dentists in the UK.

Dentaprime from Ben Bruges on Vimeo.

Terri Colley was left with a phobia of dentists. She was lectured about the state of her teeth every time she visited - far from the sympathetic service you might expect. Her visits became fewer and fewer until she needed serious treatment.

It made for good testimonials, as all of them were genuine people who wouldn't have given a testimonial if they hadn't believed in it. And that meant that they gave good interviews - you can't fake sincerity (albeit a lot of people try).

An interesting comparison is the German version created by a German video producer. (Or click the German flag at the top of the page) It seems Germans have dental work for cosmetic reasons - the type of people and the reasons they gave for having work is completely different. Is that because their national dental service actually works?

Anyway - a lovely little job, and we're pleased with the end results. Any comments or feedback welcome, as always.

It was an ironic experience for me: I too suffer from 'English teeth'.... maybe I should be saving the pennies for a trip to Bulgaria? I certainly couldn't afford the treatment I need in the UK.

2008-06-24T22:55:00.003+01:00

Surely no one sane thought this was a good idea. Go on - try clicking it for the full sized disaster, then hit the back button.

As Photoshop Disaster say, "Red Bull in Hungary makes you wish you had never seen this image. Scrubbing your eyeballs doesn't work, I tried."

for the hell of it...

2008-05-15T21:07:00.001+01:00

Some things are made just for the hell of it. So, for the hell of it, I thought I'd share.

The derelict radio station. from Druskq on Vimeo.

If you're interested in 3d creation and motion detection software have a look at the user comments below the vimeo page, and Druskq's comments in response. Interesting stuff.

Textual events

2008-04-12T21:41:00.004+01:00

And now for some BOOKS (remember them?). THREE of them.

One. Or, rather, one hundred and one: "101 Screenwriting Tips". I met Alexis Nikki through an on-line writer's group. We were the only two scriptwriters, and quickly realised that feedback from prose writers was actually not that helpful. They got hung up on commenting on irrelevant things (objecting to the use of the present tense, the lack of description, the apparent lack of internal life of the characters, the lack of their thoughts, the lack of shading on how to deliver dialogue) or suggested adding things like camera movements, character's thoughts or various other no-nos. Nor did they help with aspects that really needed their input. So the two of us ended up playing script ping-pong.

Meeting up on London's South Bank would have been great, but she'd brought along some third person, so we couldn't get down to as much of the shop talk, writer's discussion and gossip that we wanted to. And then we lost touch when the writer's group folded. As you do.

Now she's surfaced again (to my attention, I'm sure she was around all along) with a new book, 1o1 Screenwriting Tips and screenwriting and film review blog The Third Draft. She describes her approach thusaway:

"The merit of my book comes from the very fact that I'm a relative beginner in the business. I'm the rookie whose struggles are still fresh in her mind and whose enthusiasm remains undimmed. These pages don't contain a complete philosophy or method, but practical tips that you can consume. If you're a beginner, this book provides encouragement, motivation, and a wealth of information. If you're more advanced, you'll discover some new angles amongst the usual advice."

Which is refreshingly honest or a great spin, depending on your level of cynicism. It looks interesting and I'm sure I'll return to it to do more of a review. The timing seemed apt - just as I was going to do a screenwriting workshop for my local IOV meeting. So I bought it forthwith. (Well, clicked a button, forgot about it, then it arrived weeks too late to be useful. Thanks Amazon.)

Two. Me mum! My copy of Alison Wilson Smith's book Nature's Playthings arrived today and it's fantastic - the company have done a really good job with it! I was 'proud son' material anyway - but here's yet more reason to be so. It's a hard book to define adequately. On the one hand a manual for the games children can play with things they find in nature. It's also a memory of three or four generations of bringing up or being around children. On another level it's an oblique commentary on the 'thing'-obsessed, sedentary, overly-protected, TV and computer-focussed childhoods we provide our children. I'm not sure the cover conveys all that, but the inside certainly does.

I have to declare an interest (apart from the obvious filial one), there's some lovely pictures of my son Tom, and I took a few of the photos in the book, including this portrait of her on her boat on the Cam. Given that I only had a point and shoot camera, I'm quite surprised at how well they have printed. Meanwhile Tom (at four years old) is completely unfazed at his 'Nanny-on-the-boat' writing a book - after all she writes him lovely letters so why not a book? And it's not as if it's the first book his picture has been in - he also appears in Colin Barratt's Digital Video for Beginners with his other nan.

Three. My dad! (Yes, this is getting silly.) James Bruges first brought out The Little Earth Book so the obvious sequel The Big Earth Book is a sumptuous coffee-table update and revision of the little one. A former architect, he's been a green activist for a while now, and both books are highly recommended for direct, positive, big-picture solutions to our current ecological crises. And more power to his elbow: let's hope they make a difference.

So, as former writer's group colleague, son and son all I can say is, "BUY! BUY! BUY!"

Web video

2008-03-27T19:49:00.001Z

It's not really there yet, is it. I'm currently testing the various services to see if I can get something half decent through one of the 'sharing video' services...

And so to this one. Frankly, I'm appalled. How can the blue (of the Mec petals at the beginning) change colour? It's a different blue! How can that be an encoding issue? And that's before we get onto the rest of the quality issues. Well, see for yourself:

... and this is following best advice. I encoded to a high bitrate MPEG2, square pixels, Main Concept codec care of Adobe Media Encoder - which looks stunning played directly. Then I uploaded to Google and let them do their worse. Hence the above.

I'll do the video-geek thing of putting up a few more tests, to see what you think. Next is Google via MP4, and I'll try latest advice for encoding for YouTube and I also try, yet again, to see if I can get Vimeo to work (reaches for the rolleyes smiley... )

This is so far away from being an acceptable consumer experience though....

Cab Calloway re-mixed by Remyyy

2008-03-20T13:12:00.001Z

I stumbled upon this by accident (via the dad of the band of another track this user re-used... I think). Anyway - a re-mix of an old Cab Calloway number (with a link to the original) that is just somewhat surreal - particularly when it's a near-close lip synch. Just thought I'd share!

Just make sure you hang around until the main vocal comes in, it's worth it...

You don't know me from Remyyy on Vimeo.

How sweet is that?!

2008-02-26T11:11:00.000Z

If you ignored the 'it's just a message and will only irritate' message and actually listened to the 'utter' at the top of the page (and sorry to waste your time with an answer phone greetings message, but I did warn you). But if you have, you'll hear how professional it is.

I like it. Even more, I like the fact that it's an introductory present from a couple of voice over artists. In fact, I'd go so far as to say, that it's the nicest business-related present I've yet had. As they said

Emma’s done a custom phone greeting for you. We’ve attached it as an mp3; hope you can find a use for it. It’s a small bribe to make you feel warm and gooey towards us! (Maybe you never use voiceovers – it’s ok, use the greeting anyway.)

How sweet is that? See Emma Thurston's website and Colin Day's website.

At the same time David Petherick introduced me to utterz.com, hence the new widget on the page. Hence the test. Hence the irritating bit of audio you listened to (don't deny it). Hence this explanation.

Utterz seems like an interesting combination of radio, conversation and messaging. You can post a message, pic or video from your mobile phone to use it on their site, or to post out to your own site. It might be something we use with our media simulation work, when we have to feed back from a muddy field in the middle of Wiltshire.... but that's another story.

In the meantime, I need to work out the video equivalent of Emma and Colin's present. Is there one? Answers on a postcard. Or via an utter. Or maybe even a video postcard. Now there's a thought...

[Stop press: utterz doesn't seem to be working so i've removed it for the minute until I work out what's wrong.]

Videographer

2007-10-17T16:37:00.001+01:00

"Videographer" - wots one of them then?

I've always had problems with this term. Firstly that it's just plain ugly ugly ugly. It doesn't smell, but it sounds bad. To make it work you have to change the 'o' from 'owe' to, er, however you phonetically spell the short /o/ and then put the stress there, just to emphasise the difficulty. Another is status. It's not 'director', 'producer' or even 'editor' or 'script-writer'.

Next it's confusing. The Wikipedia entry was written by someone who confuses 'Videographer' with 'Cinematographer' or with 'DoP/DP', ie. the one who actually touches the camera and only touches the camera. Wrong.

It points to the key aspect of videography - it's misunderstood because people don't know where to place it. It's not part of the film industry (whether Hollywood, left-field, low-budget or whatever) and it's not part of the broadcast industry. And, typically, your videographer is not even part of a team.

In terms of sector - the videographer creates and delivers video product direct to the client. That could be community, event, wedding, corporate, in-house, or whatever.

In terms of mode of operation, typically the videographer works alone or in a small group, perhaps of cascading freelancers who have a similar 'videography' background. The key difference here is that the videographer deals with the whole process themselves. They are not a small cog in a big system (like with the film world or broadcast) typically they work on the whole process from getting the client in the first place, working out the brief, writing the script (if there is one), organising pre-production, filming (rarely as part of a 'film crew'), editing, working on drafts with clients, then purposing in whatever way is required.

When you are dealing with 'the big boys' (yes, usually men) they tend to denigrate this sector - with their 'you don't wanna do it like that' attitudes and more expensive toys. What they miss is the strength and interest of the videography sector. This is not a set of people who are specialist in one tiny aspect of production. This lot do the whole process, and often to a economical budget.

There's got to be some status or class in that. Surely. Which would you prefer - control of the whole process, or to be one small part in a juggernaut? I know what I've chosen. I'm even coming to terms with the term... until someone comes along with something better, that is.

For more of us, see the IOV - there's even a 'find a videographer' function.

I'm a Porsche 911!

2007-04-30T21:15:00.000+01:00

"You have a classic style, but you're up-to-date with the latest technology. You're ambitious, competitive, and you love to win. Performance, precision, and prestige - you're one of the elite,and you know it."

... is what they say. I'm a Porsche. Is that cool? I mean, I'd take the test drive, sure, but other than that they don't do much for me. Most sports cars are out-classed by their ads. ;)

Of course I'm one of the elite - they've got that bit right. How about you? Which Sports Car Are You?

But I'm hoping the "911" isn't a disguised warning. Bad choice of model name, guys.

Eight competing video formats?

2007-03-29T09:21:00.001+01:00

Jack Schofield presents a lists of eight competing formats for the attention of video consumers. Eight? Isn't that just nuts, even for video?

But is it less or more confusing than that? He gets 8 by adding up all the storage mediums - miniDV tape, small format DVD disks, built in hard drives or flash memory - then doubles it (HD vvs standard definition) to get eight.

Which is grandstanding just a little, if you ask me. And why stop there? Why not look at the types of High Definition, or windows versus Quicktime formats, or the different codecs... Suddenly the 8 is looking a little slim. Perhaps like chaos theory, the answer comes down to the level of detail you choose to look at - like the classic problem of measuring a coastline. Do you measure around every peddle, at low tide or high tide? How much detail do you include?

Anyway, Jack's 8 does point to a basic truth - turbulent times are upon us. For the consumer and for the video professional both.

However, his article contains the basic fallacy number one of people brought up in the analogue era. The existence of competing formats, he says, "raises the question of whether you will still be able to view your movies in 10 or 20 years' time."

Er, nope. That's one question that it doesn't raise. However you capture to the device you hold in your hand the destination is always the same - onto a computer hard drive. Edit. Back out to - well, whatever format is available at the time.

Once in the digital domain we are far freer from formats and devices than we ever were in the analogue era. Maybe Jack will join us at some point?

Meconopsis make-over

2007-03-08T14:43:00.000Z

Justin Morgan followed the discussion about the idents, and added some thoughtful comments (see this SimplyDV thread). One thing led to another, and Justin has ended up doing an entire makeover for Meconopsis! Good news indeed.

When the first draft design came through, we just knew this was perfect. He'd taken the Meconopsis idea, thought about the purpose and image of the firm, and produced a simplified, clean design that summed up the kind of image we want to present to the world. So, instead of just a new ident, we've got a whole corporate feel and design - letterheads, business cards, library box and on-disk designs... the whole shebang.

For those who don't know Justin's day job is for a large corporate graphic design company (which I'll mention if he wants me to!) and he's interested in writing scripts and producing his own short films, hence his input into Simply DV. Hopefully he'll go independent some time - in which case the space for his website will go here:

... with a strong recommendation from us. He handled the whole process with consumate professionalism, listened closely to our feedback, incorporated ideas, and above all was able to produce clear clean visual design. As you can tell, we're happy bunnies.

Some feedback:

"That's a lovely piece of graphic design, folks. It gives the business a "million dollar" impression. Excellent! (I'm jealous - looking for more business Justin?).

Colin Barratt, video journalist and boss at Simply DV

"Strong, bold, stylish, clean lines, beautiful font, high impact whilst retaining all the classic subtleties you originally aspired to. Shall I go on? (I could (easily) - simple, blue, deep, elegant ...) "

Fiona, video-stills artist

Lewisham Holocaust Day 07

2007-01-29T11:23:00.000Z

Meconopsis Films was honoured to be chosen to film Lewisham Borough's Holocaust Day. Rabbi Dr. Ze'ev Amir and Steve Bullock, Lewisham Mayor (see pic) shared some closing thoughts but most of the event was thoughtful, moving and beautifully prepared work by talented Lewisham children on the theme of 'the dignity of difference'.

No still pictures of the various drama, singing and theatrical performances as we were too busy filming - they tend not to stand still!

We'll be producing a DVD record of the event for the Borough and for the participating schools and groups that took part.

We used HDV for the wide camera for the first time - so more thoughts about that after the edit. However, Avid Liquid captured it like a dream and the picture quality is stunning. We'll use it to scan and crop to match the standard definition camera we were using for the details.

2nd version of Mec ident

2007-01-24T23:50:00.000Z

Ok - same again. Following some very helpful feedback here's a new version. Thanks due to Graham, Fiona, Fly, Colin, BM, Justin and others. I hope it's quicker, snappier but has some of the same feel. No audio this time.

(In fact - this time I'll have to find audio to fit the visuals, not the other way round. Help!)

Comments gratefully received> Again.

Meconopsis video logo

2007-01-21T19:22:00.000Z

Meconposis needs a new logo for a wider set of clients which has to work at the end of different types of video. Obviously it shouldn't draw too much attention away from the main film, but it would be nice if potential clients remembered the name. Or at least didn't think we are too naff.

Mood tones - understated, calm, tension in the sound (did I say remember to have audio switched on?), classic-but-current kind of thing.

God knows whether it achieves any of that - so that's why I'm asking you to play god for a moment. ;)

I'm trying to make it work for the 'YouTube' sized screen as well as for full-screen DV. Does it? On this web page the text is slightly smaller than the text in the blog - but hopefully the eye is drawn in. Do you agree?

Comments welcome.

new Meconopsis Films logo design

2007-01-21T00:00:00.000Z

This is the print logo to go with the video one. The discrimination between the blues might not pass the print hurdle. We'll see. Any thoughts?

Hair-care and the Holocaust

2007-01-19T10:26:00.000Z

Two filming jobs coming up - one to film a glitzy show night to mark the end of a 'get the punters involved'-type competition and a London Borough's Holocaust Day. Talk about varied.

No images in this post - it just wouldn't be right. ;)

St Pancras

2007-01-08T21:40:00.000Z

If you don't know the Midland Grand Chambers then shame on you. Or maybe you don't live in London, or have more interesting things to do, or... (aka St Pancras aka "that huge neo-gothic pile on top of St Pancras station between the new British Library and Kings Cross station").

There seem to be a fair number of people asking about the building. See this thread at Urban75 , continual requests (via the derelict sensation) from bands, theatre groups, artists, chancers and dancers, urban explorers, and even Vicky is setting a story there (so she claims).

I guess everybody's curious because they can't get in as the developers have taken over. As a semi-derelict building thousands got in through Open House. We and others organised art events as well. The clip is a record of an event organised by TDS, Pangaea with Michael Czerwinski and Luna Nera and others (too numerous etc).

Mind you - I'd be curious to know how Paul Holmes got in recently. I have asked him, but he's not saying. Perhaps he works for Manhattan Loft Company? ;-) Anyway - his pictures are worth a look, as are Mike Slocombe's. Or see Jonathon Hall's 'unofficial tour'.

If the video doesn't work try here

Resolution

2007-01-07T20:00:00.000Z

I know, I know - a bad idea to make NY's resolutions, so I won't. So it's just coincidental that I'm starting this blog in the new year, ok? I'm going to avoid defining it as I'm fairly clear how I'd like to use it, but want to leave it develop on it's ownsome for a while in case I'm wrong about that. Plus that makes for an overly obvious first post. ;-)

Ok, closer to being a NY resolution - I've been concentrating so much on making video for clients, that I've allowed my own stuff to fall a little by the wayside, so I must change that. Btw, how cool is it to discover that there's a Meconopsis variant called 'horridula' (this very one).

I've started work on a kind of disposable throwaway videoart approach to creating a music video that will work for YouTube type spaces. I've already chosen a track, but I can't mentioned it until/unless I get permission.

An interesting possibility with site-specific theatre group Crying Out Loud that might or might not come to anything, who got in touch via the derelict sensation (if you've seen Punch Drunk's take on Goethe's Faust in Wapping you'll know what kind of theatre we're talking about).

I've got a couple of urban exploration trips planned with Bartolomy so who knows what'll come out of that. We're supposed to do some time-based collaboration on his collection of Brian Haw photos. The whole 'Parliament Square' issue is throwing up interesting actions like the lone mass protests and free speech border posts - great that he's recorded some of it. We must make time for that. Sorry.

On the 'resolution' front - there's the on-going nightmare of 'shall we? / shan't we?' upgrade to HD going on for everybody in video. I'm going to have to come back to this one, sorry. It's a bad enough decision for 'early adopter' consumers - for content providers its far far worse. Even if we're only delivering in SD for the moment, there's that nagging feeling that we need HD archives for future use. So there's the whole triple-nightmare camera / computer / delivery set of issues. My resolution on this resolution thing is to use HD when a client requires it (and wants to pay for it) otherwise give it a year to wait for prices and formats to bed down. Remind me to tell you about my home-cinema-buff neighbour on that one. Ok, don't. Be like that.

Let's hope that resolution, at least, is a wise one, and let's hope I stick to the other "sort-of" resolutions. Happy 2007.