Vox Pop Samples

Here are the vox pop samples that me and Andy shot the other day. As you can see we got a variety of answers.

Been in touch with Lift today, no word on the specific schedule yet. They did however say that we will be starting next week. I really hope we do, otherwise there will be big, big time problems!

Also, if anyone has any good remedies for compressing HDV in FCP down to a youtube compatible format please let me know. It has been driving me crazy over the past two days. It either stretches the video and it looks rubbish or it ends up pixellated like the above video. Annoying.

Long, Long Day!!!

Today has been a long one! We started filming at around 10am with and interview with Roma Patel for the Lift project. Whilst filming, all day I have been inspired by the Channel 4 idents in which their talent are interviewed about random and personal things. I have used this style in the way that I have framed shots today, high angles and with the subject standing up. I think this seems to create a less formal atmosphere allowing the viewer to connect with the interviewee. This was one thing that was discussed with Lift in our meeting last Friday. Someone mentioned the Channel 4 idents, and had the idea of asking questions to the average Joe on the street that do not directly relate to the project. So, today me and Andy spent the afternoon doing vox pops on the market square. We asked two questions, "Where would you have your perfect conversation?" and "What type of event could bring a community together?". We had mixed results to say the least!!! Some answers were great, and really hit onto what Lift is all about, however I think in some cases... let's just say we asked the wrong people.

If that wasn't enough for one day, I went on to shoot David Sexton performing some ident shots for his upcoming DVD, illusions of grandeur! We went to a beautiful members only library which I never even knew existed. Apart from it taking about twenty minutes for him to throw a card at the camera lens from a spiral staircase everything went well. To catch up on the progress of this project that I have been involved with check out davidsexton55.blogspot.com

So, I finally got home at 7.30pm tonight and began capturing footage. I have managed to cut out the bits of the vox pops that I think will work in the project, and have identified what we need to ask next time to make it better.

Bed time now.

Lift Meeting

Today me and Andy spent the day in London for a two hour meeting with Lift. The meeting went very well and I feel that we will work well with them. We sent down an initial pitch to the director who read through it and asked us further questions at the meeting. We soon began bouncing ideas and coming up with new ones in the process. We now both feel that we have a good idea of the direction that we would like the film to go in. I had the idea of presenting personal emotions and feelings towards the project rather than just relaying facts to the viewer. The benefit of this should be a more compelling film that the viewer will be able to connect with rather than just watch in situ. Inspiration for this came from the PDP method that the BBC use in which the filmmaker immerses themselves more in the film and has an actual relationship with the subjects. I hope to use this to allow the emotions of the individual people involved with the project tell the story.

Now, after the meeting, we have to write an invitation for possible interviewees. This will be sent to Lift they will invite the people that we discussed with them and come up with a schedule for us. So we should be starting to shoot in London very soon!

The enormity of this project has really hit me and Andy, and we are excited to be a part of such a massive event.