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Satellite State

Satellite State
Originally uploaded by _Meyer_

Its been a while since I've posted here, my apologies.
I've had an idea floating around for a new {Satellite-State} video, and after various messages back and forth, its finally going ahead. Not giving too much away here, but SS is one of my fav bands, and I cant wait to get started for them.

Photography is NOT a crime

London Underground 1
Originally uploaded by nickcummins

I found this post http://thomashawk.com/2008/08/simon-blint-director-of-visitor.html
And have been reading it, and have been amazed and outraged at this guys story. If you don't want to read the linked article, then I'll sum it up for you.
The museum he visited had stopped it's 'no photography' policy, and the guy had also paid for a family membership to the museum. He was shooting from a balcony making art when the head of the museum abused his powers and had him forcibly removed from the building.
The full details are in the linked post above, but the main thing that this all screams out to me is the fact that photographers get targeted unfairly.
While on an industry visit to London in Feb of 2008, I was taking pictures of the London Underground, as there is some amazing architecture there, when this random guy taps me on the shoulder and says 'no flash photography down here mate' to which I pointed out I wasn't using a flash at all. He then decided to try and pass himself off as a police officer in normal dress, and he was going to 'nik' me unless I stopped my photography.
Not only did he insult my intelligence by assuming I was a naive tourist who would fall for his 'I'm gonna nik you' routine, but impersonating a police officer as well.
If I hadn't of been using a Fuji Finepix S6500fd (which is big and looks like a DSLR) I doubt he would have said anything to me in the first place, but some people seem to have a prejudice against photographers. Photography is NOT a crime people!

I'm a rebel

rulebreakerbanner
Originally uploaded by nickcummins

I'm breaking all the rules I learnt in film school in my latest film.
I have a work-in-progress name for it - 'under', and I really think its going to be quite innovative.
I'm going to be using all of my equipment on this project, which will require quite a bit of rehearsal.

Basically, I'm going to have audio and visual linked together at the start of the film, split them, and tell 2 versions of the same story (one via visuals, and the other via audio) then make them come back together at the end of the film

'Spider' has been finished

Still from 'Spider'
Originally uploaded by nickcummins

I handed in my final year film named 'Spider' today.
After about 2 years of development, re-writes, shooting and editing, 'Spider' is finally finished.

The total length is 15 minutes, and is too long for YouTube, but WILL be available on my website. www.filmsbynick.com as soon as I have finished the mini-site for this film.

Its been a long road developing spider, and this film has had more work gone into it than any other film I have done to date.

NIN Ghosts

NIN Ghosts
Originally uploaded by nickcummins

NIN (Nine Inch Nails) have released an instrumental album under a Creative Commons license.
The beauty of this is the fact that filmmakers, animators, musicians, and anyone who is creative are being encouraged to use these tracks, re-mix them, or do anything they want with them.

Ever since NIN broke away from their record label, Trent Raznor has wanted to work closely with creative minds, and this is the perfect opportunity. It is also a huge help for me, as it means I could use tracks from 'Ghosts' in my film 'Spider', as long as I release the film under the same license as 'Ghosts' is released under.

For more information, go to ghosts.nin.com

'Spider' shoot almost done

'Spider' screenshot 2
Originally uploaded by nickcummins

Just finished the third day of shooting for 'Spider'.
I've also started the post work on the rushes I've gathered, theres going to be a LOT of post work in this film, not a single scene will survive without SOMETHING being done to it, be it CGI overlays, colour correction, or a total transformation of the sequence.

As it stands now, I only have 4 scenes left to shoot (with a few pick-ups, and some ADR to be done too)

I'm getting a good feeling about his film

First day done

On set
Originally uploaded by nickcummins

Finished shooting today at 5:30, we had arranged to meet at 9:30, and start shooting.

I got the final scene (which is also the first scene) wrapped, and also some dialog shots in a corridor, and a the scene where both main characters arrive at the BCCTU headquarters.

Looking forward to tomorrow...

Filming next week - FINALLY!

Well after what seems like years of organising, setbacks, walls being thrown up in my face, equipment not being there when I've booked it etc... I've finally seemed to get everything together on the same 3 days!

 

I start shooting on Monday, filming pretty much all the scenes which I use the uni's campus for, then moving all the gear up to the countryside, where I also have a few buildings lined up for use. As before, I will be using a total equipment tally of: 1 Sony PDX10, £200 Tripod, £1,500 Lighting Rig, 20M Extension, My new invention of 'sk8cam' - I might put a picture up sometime, oh, and 2 cars to transport my actors + all the equipment.

 

This is going to be a big shoot, and there's a lot that could go wrong, but I'm still hoping to get a lot shot, if not all of it.

I'm back from London, baby

Me, the photographer
Originally uploaded by nickcummins

I arrived back in North Wales yesterday, after a 5 hour coach ride.
We went down to London with uni as part of an industry visit, talking to post-production houses, and other places.

I visited BBC TV Center on the Tuesday, and stood on the roof, I got an amazing skyline shot I'll be using for my 'Spider' film, I also found out that there is a hell of a lot of creative freedom when working for the BBC, it's not like 'do this, no, no, thats wrong', its more like 'we want this type of thing, but if you have an idea, go for it'.

Also visited some post companies which do a lot of work for Sky, Channel 4, BBC etc... also do a lot of TV ads too.

On the Wednesday, we were suppoed to be going to 3 Mills Studios, but they pulled out at the last minute, due to a client demanding absolute privacy, so my group went into the heart of London, armed with our cameras (most of us are in the uni's photography society).

I got some amazing shots, I tried to approach my photography not from the stereotypical touristy shots, but more from a personal point of view, how London works, and the people who live there.

Good Voice For Radio

Sound Studio
Originally uploaded by nickcummins

I've bee thinking yet again about how I could make my film stand out even more...and I think I have yet another brilliant idea.
Radio Articles!
I need to find someone who has a really good voice for a radio broadcast which I will be using in my film. I'm also going to use the radio segment in the brand new trailer/viral that I'm making for my film too.

Health + Safety - Does no-one do ANYTHING any more?

Boiler Room
Originally uploaded by nickcummins

I've been having conversations for the last few months about getting access to the Boiler room at the Regent St site of NEWI, to shoot a scene for my film, 'Spider'
Up to now, there's been no objections to going down there, especially seeing as how other students and film crews have used the same location in the past, however, the official line from the Estates department, and the head of H+S is a resounding 'NO'. - Even though no-one from the H+S dept has even bothered to get off their lazy ass, and come down to have a look. Just sitting in their cozy offices, saying 'NO'.
This is really throwing a spanner in the works, as this location is paramount to my film, I've been scouting locations all over the place, and this location has the best feel and look, not to mention being perfectly geared up for the scene.
What this whole thing says to me is this: 'Fuck you boy-o, I'm fine' - as to say, 'I'm comfy here in my office, I cant be bothered to get up off my lazy ass and walk the 5 mins it takes to go and have a look, and I'm prepared to screw around with a student's final year film'.
I was thinking that this situation reflects the state of H+S laws at the moment, as they seem to be growing out of all control, (They'll be banning thumb tacks on notice boards soon) but then I realised that this stinks of NEWI's attitude towards art students (this includes animation, film, photography etc...) It's always the creative students that get screwed around, hell, we dont even have appropriate software on the computers here.

Painting with light

Painting with light
Originally uploaded by nickcummins

I've been thinking about why I like long exposures in photography. I came to a conclusion in bed the other night. Its the fact that with a long exposure, you can capture up to 30 seconds or longer in a single image, a single frame. Its almost as if you can film something for 30 seconds or so, then compress everything into a split-second of photography.

This comes to my mind, as I am a filmaker, to which photography goes hand in hand.

I'll be doing more experimental photography with longer exposures very soon, especially in the winter with the long nights

His Infernal Majesty in Manchester Apollo

H.I.M in Manchester Apollo #5
Originally uploaded by nickcummins

I went to see HIM at the Manchester Apollo on Sunday 9th Dec, 2007. What a night it was. A friend named 'Lee', his brother and I caught a coach in Chester at 4.20PM to go up to Manchester. Arrived at Manchester Apollo at 6.00PM, and waiting in line until 7.15PM.

When we got in, we saw the setup for the supporting band 'Kill Hannah' - this was their first time playing at the Apollo, but they sound amazing. I've heard their stuff before, but the energy they put in to the live performances is amazing.

After Kill Hannah played, there was about a half hour wait until HIM came on, and oh, my, did they come on!

The building shook to its very core as soon as they came on, and what a great playlist they had, they did almost every great song right back from 'Razorblade Romance'. It was well worth the money to go and see, I'm just waiting until they play again.

Updates...

Well, I'm sitting in the Student Guild bar, waiting for the train home, and thinking 'I haven't updated my blog in a while' so here it is.

 

Firstly, I've just joined a band! Technical Hitch is the name, and although I've only had one session practising with them, we sound good!

I've wanted to be in a band since I realised I could drum, and have been looking around since then.

 

Second, The NEWI Photographic Society. I joined the NEWIPS about 3 weeks after it started, and already we have a display up at the campus library, and are having professional judges looking at our work closer to Christmas!

 

Which brings me on to the Third point - My New Camera!

I bought a Fuji Finepix S6500 on Tuesday, and I love it! The best part is though, the price! £200 originally, with £50 off, and a further 20% discount, as I work in the place I bought it from. Amazing saving!

 

Well that pretty much sums up all I have to say in this blog post, bye for now.

Boiler Room

Boiler Room
Originally uploaded by nickcummins

I went down into the Boiler Room again today, this time with my tutor to look at lighting, camera angles, and positioning. This will be the opening shot, and the final shot of the film, so not only does it have to be good to capture the viewers attention, it has to be good as it will be the last thing the viewer sees. And they will remember the last scene in the film.

I have a good feeling about the film, especially as the news channel sequences have turned out so well.

News Reports Finished

My gear all set up
Originally uploaded by nickcummins

As part of my 'Spider' film, I have a series of news reports. I filmed them in the Sound Studio at the Plas Coch campus of NEWI.

I also had a sound student named Ben helping me out on the day as well. We recorded the audio and the visuals separately, and linked the two up afterwards in post. Ben has also been adding some special sound effects to the last report, when the news studio gets attacked by the 'Spider' virus.

Ben sent the final audio over this morning, complete with sound effects, and I have to say... I nearly crapped myself when I watched it for the first time. The sounds and effects used really reflect the situation, and is exactly what I was after. I have a really good feeling about using Ben for the rest of the film.

Script Meeting

Went over to the acting studios today.

Met the lead male and lead female, both are great for the parts in the film and we went over the entire script today. The most important thing is the suitability and professionalism of the actors, and I have to say that both of them are professional enough to be able to go straight into the lines which I provide.

 

Also worked out logistics for the 4 days of shooting as well. We had a discussion about which bits were still to be filmed, and I realised that I'm about half way there with everything I need in the film.

 

I'm hoping to get the shoot finished my Christmas, then I can edit over the holidays, provided I get some time off from work, that is.

News Channel Sequences

Tracy looking at script
Originally uploaded by nickcummins

I wraped the news channel sequences shooting last thursday.

Tracy (who works with me) was the top notch news presenter on the day, and she did a real good job. There were 3 main sequences to shoot, with the final report ending in chaos as the studio being used gets infected by the virus.

It took most of the afternoon of the wednesday beforehand to transport all the equipment I used over to 'The Wall' sound studio at the Plas Coch campus of NEWI (I'm based at the Reget St site, and we have no studio, even though we have all paid studio fees - but dont get me started, thats another blog post away)

A sound engineering student also helped out on the day, named 'Ben'. He took charge of the audio recording, using the very very expensive mixing desk in the gallery above the stage. - He did an ace job as well, helping me lug stuff around, too.

Some fly-on-the-wall footage will be posted on YouTube as part of my latest v-log very soon.