More 35mm

Here's some from the second roll of film I got developed- I'm really liking this camera! I'm still only getting used to it e.g. how it works in what light etc, but I can see a lot of potential here. Plus, because it's so small and light, I can basically carry it with me everywhere, which is what it was intended for on purchase...

Portrait of Myself

A while ago (December 2014) I was asked by some old university friends to do some rotoscope animation on a music video they were making. Since this video they have now set up a production company, with website soon to be released- will link when I have the go ahead!

Because of the work I did on their video, they kindly asked me to be part of the 'associated artists' section of their website and for this, I was to take an Instax (modern day polaroid) picture of myself.

This is the result. I quite like a portrait of myself every so often, especially when it's a fairly 'artsy' one, like so.

It says 'animator' at the bottom and I really wish I had the time to do more animation these days, so if any of you guys do want to hire me for anything animation related (or just anything creative), then please feel free to do so #gettingdesperatenow 

Photo credit goes to Ben Fuller.

I Finally Got Some Photos Developed

...pretty much self explanatory blog post due to the title!

Anyway, HELLO! How are you? Even, who are you? I've not blogged in so long, I have no idea who you even are anymore or who I am, for that matter.

I haven't been doing much creative things lately, because I have a day job which consumes most all of my time these days. Fun.

Saying that, I have been taking quite a few photos with my new camera (see last blog post) and here are some of the results:

I went to Southend on holiday in November, so sue me.

My [fairly] New Toy

Isn't she lovely?!

I've been wanting to start shooting on film again for a long time now and the other week, I decided to get myself a 35mm.

I wanted to scale down from my analogue SLR, because I want something I can carry around all/ most of the time and one of my main reasons for getting rid of my previous one was because it was too big and heavy, especially when you were carrying it for more than a couple of hours.

I also wanted something that wasn't fully manual. Why??? Because I wanted something a little more "fun", I suppose and something I didn't have to think about all that much. Also, so friends who don't necessarily know all that much about photography can use it too.

I've yet to get a film developed, but I have been taking a few pictures. Watch this space for the photos (providing they turn out well)!! 

IWONAPHOTOCOMPETITION

I saw advertised on Twitter, a photo competition to design the cover of the Autumn/ Winter menu of a fairly local pub I go to.

I thought I may as well give it a go, because as it's free entry I've nothing to lose [besides around five minutes of my time whilst I attach a photograph to an email, but I'm sure I can live with that]. I wasn't expecting to win or anything, but I received an email about a week or so later *spoiler alert* telling me I had won! 

It was pretty nice news to hear, especially amongst all the rejections I've been getting lately. 

Here's the design:

And here's a link to the place, if ya wanna go check it out: http://www.newcontinental.net

Peace xo

TBT #6

Apparently I was meant to post this last week, but clearly didn't. How I love lack of time...

Anyway, posting it now, so read up, yo! 

I thought this one is slightly appropriate to post today, because this morning I have been editing something similar:

I made this almost two years ago now. I was commissioned by a local arts cafe/ bar to film and edit their Christmas/ winter solstice event to put on their website to act as a promo for the venue. It was filmed across three days.

It was a fun film to make as I think bands are really interesting to film, because of the style of shots you can get when filming a band, especially when there's nice lighting like this. BOKEH. BOK-YEAH. SORRY.

I always hate looking back on a film I've made, because I think of so many ways I can improve it, but at the same time I'm always slightly impressed with my achievements. Makes sense? Nope, didn't think so either. For the time that I made it, it was probably the best attempt, but if I made it now, I reckon it'll look a lot, lot different. Maybe not "better" as such, but definitely improved both stylistically and technically.

Look! I made more cakes!

As you may remember from a couple of posts ago, I made a cake. As in, I (me) actually actively bought some ingredients and went in the kitchen and made them so they don't look like just ingredients anymore and walked out of the kitchen with a cake in my hands. That.

I really enjoyed making the cake and enjoyed sharing it when done (and getting good feedback on the taste), so I continued to bake a cake every week from then on. I also started watching GB Bake Off (yes I know I just admitted to watching a TV programme) for inspiration. And it's been working.

It's a really fun hobby to get into as for me it's a new challenge each time, as these are mostly cakes I've either never made before or if I have made them, I haven't made them since I was about twelve. It's also creative, but not in the way I usually do creative, such as art or filmy stuff and it's nice to have a change from that.

I've even started an Excel spreadsheet for all of the cakes I make/ things I bake. This includes date made, the cake made, score out of ten and any comments or improvements. Yep, I'm a full on geek.

Here's some I made earlier:

Pineapple Upside-down Cake 

Coffee Meringue Crunch Cake

Ginger Cake

Any suggestions, throw them at me! ...But I'm not promising you'll get a slice ;)

TBT #5

Apologies for this being on a Friday instead of Thursday, but who's counting?

I did sort of hint at this one in my last tbt post, so here goes:

It's the first music video I made, completed in December 2011. A lot of blood, sweat and tears went into this and I'm not exaggerating!

The idea came about a while before carrying out the project, but that was a much simpler idea, just with text (and all in Adobe Flash). That probably would have looked AWFUL. This was the first time I used Adobe After Effects and also the first time I did rotoscoping (besides those tests previously).

I am still proud of what I achieved here, as to do this in such a short space of time (I think I did the bulk of the animating in three weeks) and to have used a lot of new techniques, I think I did alright.

I remember the day I finished it and needed to screen it to three university lecturers, along with a small presentation. It was my last day of term before the Christmas break. I think I was just so tired as had a lot of late nights/ early mornings to get it done and I really just wanted a rest. I think I remember saying that I hated it! Which, at the time of presenting it, was probably true. I don't especially like it, as such, but I don't hate it. I appreciate my achievement and it's probably one of my most notable projects to date. Not that I'd ever use it as self promotion anymore or show it anyone for that matter(!), but more of the fact that it showed me what I could do and capable of doing.

Rejection Rejection Rejection

A bit like Location Location Location, but you don't actually get a new house and you just cry more.

I'm an artist, therefore rejection is something I know only too well. I'm sure there's many of you out there whom also feel the same/ share the same experiences so I thought I'd focus this blog post on that, so we can all have a cry as one big rejected artistic collective.

It's also because earlier this week, I was unsuccessful for some funding (probably not going to say which funding I applied for) for an animation I'd really like to make. I put a lot of time and effort into the application and also towards researching and writing the animation and so on and so forth. On Monday it was submitted and on Wednesday it was rejected. At least I was put out of misery quickly! Silver linings and all that...

I also just received an email regarding a film festival submission. That too, was rejected. COME AT ME REJECTION. I AM HERE FOR YOU.

I was annoyed directly after I received the email, because it felt that all my hard work, time, effort and future plans had been put to waste. Despite this, my despair/ annoyance faded away fairly quickly, as I know I can't do anything about it and I just have to move forward.

If this happened one year ago, then I'd probably be dwelling on it for a while, but over the past six months, I've been changing my outlook on life/ my thinking pattern and have learned to deal/ cope better with things that occur in my life which are out of my control. Also, I've had more rejection that ever this year, due to that task of job-hunting. 

I think one of the main things to help dealing with rejection is acceptance. If you can at least accept how you're feeling or can accept that what's happened has happened, then you're on the right track. If you continue down the "woe is me" path and let these setbacks knock you down, then you're going to have trouble getting over them. Yes, it's annoying, especially when it's a project one is so passionate about (or you have a constant stream of rejections), but if you let things out of your control get to you, then you'll never make what you want to make or be happy or satisfied with your situation. You can't control life, but you can control how you deal with life #preach

Another thing I find useful in dealing with rejection is not having any expectations or hopes. Wait, that's not meant to sound so depressing: "have no hope"- really, it wasn't! What I mean is don't get your hopes up or expect that because you believe in your project (can be applied to anything i.e. relationships, jobs etc), it doesn't mean someone (or everybody) else will. And you've got to understand this. Nobody owes you anything and not everybody thinks like you, however nice that may be if they did...

I believe if you want to do something badly enough, then you will be able to do it. It might not be what you've originally had in mind because of time or budget for example, but if you let go of your idealisms and free fall into the future and ride with everything life throws at you, then it's actually quite exciting! Maybe you'll realise through rejection, you choose a completely different path to go down and you end up preferring that one. Who knows...

So go forth, embrace rejection and make some amazing art!!

Apologies for how happy and cliched this blog post sounds! MAYBE. But positivity is good, amiright.

TBT #4

I missed last weeks one of these, see last blog post.

So today I have you this:

This was the first bit of rotoscoping I did, back in 2011, for a music video which may or may not be the next one of these tbt posts!

I did it with a trackpad mouse- this was before I had a graphics tablet and it took AGES!

I'll admit that it's not the most exciting of animations to watch, but it's the foundations to where I am now with rotoscoping. I guess it also shows how tentative I was, perhaps, to experiment with the medium at first, whereas now if I tried rotoscoping for the first time, I think I'd just go all out!

At this stage, I was also fairly new to Adobe Flash, too. 

I haven't actually done any animation/ rotoscoping for a while now- something I'd like to get back into- and plan to do so, soon.

With this tbt posts, I think I'll start doing them every other week from now on, as I don't want to run out of old films before I've made a new one!! 

Look I Made A Cake!

Apologies for lack of posts recently- I missed #tbt, too :( 

I have been insanely busy, working on a couple of videos alongside my "proper" job- which is working in a bowling alley (it's not as glamorous as it sounds!), so unfortunately, blogging had to take a short hiatus. But I am BACK, so never fear! Or maybe DO fear. I might be about to scare you.

I think baking counts as being creative, does it not?

I've been saying to my housemate for a while now, that I'm going to make a cake and on Thursday of last week, I did just that:

It's an apple and cinnamon cake, one of my favourites from when I was younger (I often used to bake when I was a child).

For having not baked in about four years, it turned out really, really well. It was cooked for the right length of time and it was a good consistency. If I made this again, I think I'd use one more apple to give it a bit more moisture (the recipe said "three or four" and I used three- being tentative and not as confident as had not baked in quite a time) and I would also add a bit more cinnamon. Besides those points, it was a job well done! I think I'm going to make it a weekly thing, but a different cake every week. Maybe one day I'll make something super extravagant! We'll see...

Fantastic Mr. Fox

Here's my next piece in the low poly style I wrote about in my last post.

As you can see, the low poly head is "better"/ more developed than previously, as is the concept and overall look of the piece. It also took a lot longer!

I really like the minimalist background- definitely something I'd like to use in my further works, but I have mixed feelings about the style used on the shirt. I think mixing styles like this works well, but I wished I had used a solid brush rather than having the pressure sensitivity turned on. I feel the variation in brush size puts too much detail into something that I didn't want especially detailed. Perhaps I'll redraw it and see...

Maybe a slightly textured/ noisy background wouldn't go a miss either. It might bring the foreground out a little more. I think this can pass as a finished work, but there's plenty more room to play around. Criticisms aside, I do actually like it! 

Illustrator Fun

I've been playing around with Illustrator and Photoshop of late to touch up on my digital art/ design skills- always useful to keep actively creative and learn new techniques. 

I must admit programmes such as these are hard to get to grips with at first, but once you know all the amazing stuff they can do, you'll never want to be away from your computer again. There's so much stuff to try, it's crazy! 

I was searching the good old internet to look for some tutorials to try out, especially ones that get me out of my comfort zone and I found this one. I loved the look of the end result and it's also something I'd have no idea how to go about doing it.

I found a fairly old photo of my brother and decided to go about dissecting his face with triangles. Here are some screengrabs of the piece at various different stages:

...And here's the final result:

I'm impressed with it for a first one- I really had no idea how it would turn out or if it would look any good or have any resemblance of the original photograph (or my brother, for that matter!), so in that respect, I'm happy. On the whole though, I can see room for major improvements (and potential) and it's definitely a style I'd like to develop and do more of...

Watch this space!

TBT #2

It's Thursday once again, which can only mean one thing: THROWBACK TIME!

I thought I'd choose this as my next one, because I made it around this time four years ago, again 2012, but it's very different from my last #tbt video.

It was for Film4's Scene Stealers competition (please comment with link to film if you entered!), where you were to recreate a two minute scene from a Film4 film, from the list they provided. I decided to do mine of Submarine:

Due to illness, I unfortunately missed the deadline, but I finished it off regardless as I thought it was such a cool idea for a competition/ project. Please do another one Film4, if you're reading!!

Anyway, I gathered my family together (sorry guys!) to star in my rendition of the film. I reckon they did alright...

I didn't copy the scene or style of film directly, because I wanted to put my own twist on it, but as the original film was set in the 1980s, I decided to give it an analogue feel, by overlaying parts of it with some Cine Film, which I telecine transferred. My friend Richard Holmes also kindly composed the music for it, which is ace.

I definitely should have worked on the colouring of some of the shots, plus I wish I had used an old fashioned looking TV for the penultimate shot. Also the sound at the beginning is awful- definitely should have used ADR.

Besides the above comments, I think I achieved something quite good considering my circumstances at the time. Be really cool to recreate something like this again these days so I can see how much I've progressed, have a bit of fun and get out filming again...

TBT #1

Because of current internet trends and for a bit of fun (I know- crazy aren't I!) I thought I'd start a series of these #tbt posts- or "Throwback Thursday" for anyone who doesn't internet as much as everybody else.

I think as a creative, it's good to sometimes look back on previous work to see how much you've developed and/ or improved over the years, as sometimes you don't see any progress in your work until you actually look back.

It's also an appreciation of old ideas etc and of course to have a little laugh, reminisce and get a little nostalgic over "the good old days".

I'll start with this one:

This was the second music video that I made, May 2012. It was a university project (I was nearing the end of my second year), for the 'pop promo' module.

Although cringey in places, I am still really pleased with the editing and perhaps even a little bit amazed with my achievement here. I remember having a distinct style I wanted to portray/ create in this video, somewhat like 'On To the Next One', Jay Z ft. Swizz Beatz and also similar to the Azealia Banks video for '212', ft. Lazy Jay. I think I did just that, but on a really, really tight budget. I mean, just look at that flag!

Nevertheless, I did learn a LOT of new skills with this video, such as chroma keying out the green screen I painted onto the canvases, scouting and following up various locations, how to do some of the type animation in After Effects and also the first (and last) time I used Final Cut Pro X, or shall I say the final time! Sorry.

I think this was the beginning of me using this style throughout my work. As you can see in my later films, they take essences of what I was attempting here, but in a more refined way. I'd say this is one of my more significant pieces of work I've made in terms of concept and style. I wouldn't include it in my showreel anymore, but it helped me decide what route I wanted to take my filmmaking down and also experiment with new techniques. I also burnt a teddy bear #yolo

Enjoy! ...and in the meantime, I'll see what I can find in the vaults to dig out next.

GIF #2

To mark the (sort of) first day of the football season, I made a GIF:

View more of my GIF work here.

GIF #1

I GIF you this:

Would like to develop this style more, so watch this space! 

...In the meantime, check out my Giphy page HERE.

Art #2

Here are a few more manipulated photographs (ink on 35mm film):

...more to come!!

A Few Photographs

Yesterday, I went to Beacon Fell, Lancashire with intent on taking some photographs (and to rid the obligatory Sunday hangover!!). Unfortunately I forgot my SD card for my DSLR- just why?!! So instead, I used the camera on my phone and edited them on Instagram. Here are some of the the results:

Art

In the last few days, I have been getting back into drawing and painting again, which has been ACE! Long may it continue... (hopefully!!)

Here are two recent images, both acrylic paint on 35mm photographs:

Also, apologies for this blog lacking pictures of late...

Killing Facebook

I have been a user of Facebook for around nine years. And during that time, I have logged in to it almost every day, which, when you think about it, is just crazy! I remember being skeptical about it and avoided getting it for a while to begin with (because I had MySpace and why did I need both?!!), but then I finally opened an account and since then, I was hooked. 

I'm not one of these internet obsessed people and I try to spend my time online in a meaningful manner and with purpose, but perhaps more recently, I have found myself slipping into the habit of aimless scrolling. I admit this probably has something to do with me feeling a bit down/ frustrated due to me being unemployed and I haven't been feeling all that creative anyway, but Facebook has almost become the default.

When I was young and up until when I left home at eighteen (and even my first year living alone), I didn't have internet access in my home and my default then was to do a drawing (or similar, but whenever I was bored, it was "do a drawing" from both my parents(!), and that's what I did). I'd like to go back to that mindset, because creativity fuels creativity and I'd class myself as a creative, so why am I not creating?

I logged out of Facebook on all of my devices about one week ago now and have not yet felt the need to log back in. I still currently have the Messenger app on my phone, but limiting the times I look at my messages and don't have notifications turned on either. This also applies to text messaging and Whatsapp. I am now in control of when I choose to receive messages, rather than the messages controlling me. This allows me to make better/ more productive use of my time and when I'm doing something (say drawing, for example), then I'm doing drawing and when I'm doing some animating, I'm doing animating and so on and so on...

Don't get me wrong, Facebook isn't all bad- it's a good free marketing tool and also a free and quick way to contact people who you don't get to see very often, but then what's the point in free marketing if I've nothing to market, because I've been too busy online and not spending enough time making stuff?

I also feel it's more of an anti-social network. The more time you spend on Facebook, the less time you spend seeing people in real life and put less time and effort into real life friendships, which I think is sad (because life is real!), along with the reduction of social skills. People are actually ok(!) and I think I'll begin to realise this more when I start meeting up with people in the flesh!

For now, I'll stick with the using Facebook-just-for-Messenger thing, but I think soon, I'll let go of it completely. I am still using Twitter and Instagram for now also... These two social networks (for me) feel like less of an obligation or tie- I can basically just post something and leave it at that, without worrying about likes or comments.

Let me know your thoughts below!

Films ...and LOTS of them!

I watch a lot of films. The medium of film (and animation) is one of my main interests.

I love watching films I've not yet seen and genuinely get excited when pressing 'play' on the DVD player (or Netflix!) because of what to expect: what the story will be, the characters, the cinematography/ editing/ style etc and so on and so on. It's sort of like leaping into the unknown, but without having to leave the sofa!

I used to be [to an extent] narrow minded in what I watch (often veered towards gritty, social dramas or European films by critically acclaimed directors), but these days I'm open to watching all sorts, providing it has some credibility behind it. For example, I watched 'Moneyball', Bennett Miller (2011), a few weeks ago, along with Seven Psychopaths (2012) and also Burn After Reading (2008). Three films I never would have dreamed of watching at the time of their release.

A lot of how I choose what I watch stems from the extensive research I do using a mix of my favourite website ever: IMDb (check it out if you have not already) and also through other means such as Twitter, Film Festivals, Amazon suggestions and recommendations by other people- scary, I know, but sometimes it's OK!

I think this open minded way of watching films is better, or at least for me it is anyway, because you get to know what's out there and always learn something from a film you watch, whether that be a new way of editing, a new actress/ actor whom performed amazingly, a director who's work you'd like to check out more of or never to watch that film again! Either way, there's always something of benefit by watching something different.

I know it's a huge cliche, but I've also learned not to judge a film (yh, book, but still the same applies..!) by it's cover, or even reviews. One example of this is 'In Bruges', Martin McDonagh (2008). I had this DVD on my shelf for a few years before deciding to watch it and I'm pleased I did- definitely one of the better films I've seen in the last few months. The DVD cover looked like it would be an action drama with bits of stupid comedy, but it was more of a drama, with a needed (standard third act) action sequence, well written dialogue, likable characters and moments of intelligent comedy/ wit throughout. Sometimes it's hard to force oneself out of a comfort zone due to our fears/ apprehensions, yet this clearly shows they are sometimes irrational. Even if you're not crazy about watching films like I am, this analogy fits with a lot of things in life itself, so if in doubt, just go for it! Not always this positive, but while I am, ima embrace it!

Some films of note I've watched (fairly) recently are:

Wendy and Lucy, Kelly Reichardt (2008) 

Old Joy, Kelly Reichardt (2006)

American Splendor, Shari Springer Berman, Robert Pulcini (2003)

Mommy, Xavier Dolan (2014)

The Savages, Tamara Jenkins (2007)

Garage, Lenny Abrahamson (2007)

Alps, Yorgos Lanthimos (2011)

I think you should check them out, or leave a comment of any recommendations...

Peace xo

Pho Tog Graph Fee

Today I went out taking photographs with my DSLR (Canon 550d, 50mm lens, for those who wanna know). Something I haven't done in ages. And ages. And ages.

Even though it was fairly gloomy/ overcast out, it felt great to be out taking photos again. I really enjoyed it, so it'll be something to try and keep up- definitely a little out of practise! I used to ALWAYS have my DSLR on me. Hope to bring that habit back.

Above are two of the results.

Photo Fun!

Recently I've been minimalising my [material] possessions. This is to free up space, make a little bit of money (maybe) and most importantly, to focus on the NOW and what I've already got.

After doing quite a bit of reading on the subject of minimalist living, I decided it was a road I'd like to be on.

Something I got rid of was my analogue SLR camera. WAITWHAT?! I used to enjoy using this, but recently it's been feeling more of a burden than something of a benefit. It's fairly heavy, so taking it on long walks isn't all that fun and developing these days isn't how it used to be- and I'm not even talking about thirty or so years ago, I'm speaking around about six.

I've got an Instagram account and I use it for less serious photography, but I have a side of me where I still really enjoy using analogue equipment. I suppose this is my passion of photography shining through.

I bought an Instax Mini 70 {modern day Polaroid} and it's really, really fun!

Not a great photo of some photos!

It's small and light, so fairly portable and you don't have to wait for it to get developed- goes without saying! The downside is the cost of the film, but that's also an advantage as you tend to waste less shots and consider what you photograph more carefully.

In the future, I'd like to go back to using film, but for now, I don't need anything more.

Music Video

Look! It's Monday and I'm doing the blog like I said I would!

Sooo *I MADE A VIDEO* here's the video, mentioned briefly in last post:

First of all, it feels nice/ good to have finally completed an animation from idea to end product which wasn't just a thirty second or so test piece- something I haven't done in a while. I remember having this idea last November-ish as I felt I was in some kind of a "rut"- I was in a job that I disliked and I needed to be doing something creative..! 

The film panned out (no pun intended) a little different than I initially planned (for the better)- I was going to do the whole thing like the start section, but when editing I realised it needed more. I had loads of footage/ painted animation frames left over from a previous project that I didn't finish and I didn't want it to go to waste so I decided to use it here instead #recycling

I love the style in the video and it's definitely something I'd like to develop even further and in different ways. It's interesting to see what I do now with the medium of rotoscoping- an animation technique I've been using for almost five years now- crazy!! If you'd like to have a look at my past (and current) work from way back when, head over to my YouTube channel here.

Hello!

Hi, hello, how are you?

I'm starting a blog. Again. And hopefully this time I'll keep it up..!

I'll be writing mainly about filmmaking, films, art, animation, poetry, photography and anything & everything creative and maybe even a few things that aren't... We'll see.

Monday mornings will be the main day/ time when I plan to post something new WITHOUT FAIL (public note to self!) and perhaps I'll enjoy the process so much that I may end up posting more frequently. Today is a Thursday in fact, so I'm already one step ahead! Go me.

So, who the hell am I (and what am I doing here)?!!

I wonder this frequently too, but for the purpose of this blog and the fact of this being my first post, I don't want to scare you off straight away. Existentialism can wait for another day.

I live in the sunny [joke] North West of England with no pets, but one teddy bear.

I mainly make animations/ films, but I also do lots of drawing/ painting/ graphic design/ photography... I'm guessing you've got to this Blog through my website, so I guess you may already know that stuff, but if not, please click on the link to view my work.

I'm currently working on an animated music video, deadline this Sunday :O help! I will let you know how it goes...

I want to use this blog as a way of narrating my life so I can pretend that I'm in a film like Stranger Than Fiction, but also [and by no means limited to] discuss and evaluate my work/ the makings of my work/ other people's work I find interesting/ inspiring etc and hope we can all get something useful from this blog, whether it be reading/ writing/ contributing in any way, shape [triangle] or form...

My favourite film is Buffalo '66, Vincent Gallo (1998), though my favourite directors overall are Ken loach and Michael Haneke; I play Tenpin Bowling on my own and my favourite music to listen to at the moment is Bright Eyes. Check 'em oot. I'm in the process of becoming a minimalist (is there an end point?)/ leading a minimalist lifestyle and I go walking for fun. I write more than I read and the majority of the books I own are A-Z street atlases to various places around the UK.

I also wish I was Tim Vine:

Why was the typeface thrown out of court?

Because it was in the wrong case.

Peace + love xo