Posters

The Call to Adventure

The Call to Adventure from James Tubb on Vimeo.

This is my final film for this project. I am very happy with it but it may need to make some small changes after getting feedback. Overall I like how stylish it feels and I like the visuals. My one major concern is whether the music track is distracting and or monotonous to the audience or not, I personally can't decide so I'll see what feedback I get.

Ashen Wireless

Ashen Wireless from James Tubb on Vimeo.

As I have stated in a previous post, over the course of this project I have taken out camera equipment in order to familiarize myself with it. On one such occasion I was feeling pretty down, I felt a sense pointlessness, emptiness and felt distanced from everything. Rather than wallow in my room, I decided to put these feelings to constructive use and decided to make a film that captured those feelings.

The resulting film is Ashen Wireless and I am very pleased with how it turned out. I am particularly fond of the 'bad-TV' aesthetic, which creates a sense of distance between the audience and what is happening on screen. I also like how the film is designed to perfectly loop and I think I would make a good instillation piece. Overall I find the film darkly hypnotic and I can watch it on loop for quite some time, losing myself in the visuals and atmosphere.

I found the method I used very liberating, it was inspired by the method my friend Isaac had been using: Go to a location, film what seems interesting and then make an atmospheric film out of it. After shooting I spend sometime in a sound suite and created a suitable atmospheric audio track. I like this method, it's very relaxing, and I may use it again in the future.

Evaluation of Creative and Professional Development

Over the course of this project both my skills as a creative professional and my practice have developed and improved significantly. One of the important ways in which my practice has developed is the discovery of a new method of storytelling. At the beginning of this project I was attempting to create a fictional world by focusing on the setting, history, politics etc, but I eventually came to the realisation that this method wasn’t working for me. I had become so bogged down in the details of the back-story and setting that I was neglecting the story itself, so I decided to leave the back-story for a while. I have recently decided on employing a different approach to telling a story that is inspired by the web-comic Homestuck, something that has swiftly become one of my favourite narrative experiences. The story of Homestuck starts out very simply, with a character in a simple location and a straight forward premise/motivation. The back-story and setting then builds organically as the main narrative progresses, the story of Homestuck now being a truly epic and complex tale. This approach is very different to that which I had at the beginning of this project and I believe it is an approach that will serve my practice well. The moral or lesson here basically is: Start out simply and then build from there as the story goes on.  

I have also improved my skills of characterisation through the use of two new techniques s. The first technique is to use a character’s home or personal belongings to describe their personality, thoughts, feelings, desires, passions etc. I began using this technique after a friend suggested it and I found it to be very effective when developing characters. It help make them feel more like real people by adding the essential little details that seem unimportant but mean the difference between a fiction person and simple words on a page.  The second technique is one I like to refer to as ‘Blowin’ the Amp’. This technique is to create a simple moment early on when introducing a character that perfectly sums up and communicates to the audience what makes them tick and what kind of person they are, preferably with saying anything. This technique shows the audience what kind of person the character is instead of simply dictating it to them and allows for a more cinematic aspect to the film. Both these techniques help to create well developed characters and I intend to make great use of them in the future.

I have also begun to develop a personal visual style and feel for my films. Often in the past I have been guilty of neglecting a film’s visuals in favour of the script but this time I made a conscious effort to also pay close attention to how I wanted the film to look. Through experimenting with the equipment and editing software I have manage to begin forging what I hope to become an individual style and feel to my films. I intend to continue experimenting with slow pace, high contrast monochrome, close-ups and static camera shots further, as well as other techniques, in the hope of creating a style that is all my own.

I have also developed my professional skills considerably over the course of this project. At the beginning of this project I had little experience of using a camera, so one of my goals was to make myself familiar with the equipment. I made a point to taking out the camera a number of times in order to experiment with it and familiarise my style with using it, manipulating focus and depth of field etc. Not only did this result in me become very familiar with using a camera but it also resulted in the creation of an experimental film that I’m am very happy with. I have also experimented with the editing software, Adobe Premiere Pro, and music creation software, Logic Pro, and in doing so have become confident and familiar with using the software.

For this project I had to organise both shooting on location and finding and working with actors, these were both very new to me and as such I was quite nervous at the idea. However, I knew that with a location and professional actors my film would be a lot better than otherwise. Finding a location proved to be a lot easier than I had expected, most of the places I asked were very co-operative. Finding actors was somewhat harder but not as difficult I had envisioned, I found casting call pro to be very effective, posters on the other hand was not and I doubt I’ll use that method again. Once I found actors, working with them went well and I found it quite easy. I really like what a professional can bring to the characters and how they can bring the characters to life.  

There are a few things I plan to do, regarding to my practice, after the course is finished. The main thing is that I plan to build an audience, primarily through the use of online media such as YouTube and podcasting. I feel that my practice is well suited to online media like YouTube and I think that it will be a great way to build a loyal audience. I also plan to read more and further develop my writing style by analysing and appropriating the techniques of my favourite authors, such as Jules Vern and H.P. Lovecraft. Lastly, I plan to write more and experiment with creative outlets other than film. I feel that my practice is suited to more than just film, particularly books. I love film and still intend to make films but i think writing books can afford more creative freedom in a number of ways.  

Positioning your Practice - 2nd Version

Position your Practice

I am a storyteller. “Why, whatever do you mean by that James?” I hear you cry. Well, I mean that my practice is primarily, if not entirely, focused toward a film’s narrative. The stories I like to tell are mostly character driven along with some sort of message or theme. Although I like stories with a meaning, it’s not nearly as important to me as the characters and narrative. I enjoy making use of humour and comedy but I also take great delight in mixing it with horror and darker more serious themes, creating a wonderful juxtaposition that complements both the comedy and the horror.  I like a story to take it’s time and not rush things, I find this helps to create tension, atmosphere and helps to immerse the audience into the piece.

My favourite film director is not Kubrick or Tarantino, although I am a big fan or both. No, my favourite director is Kevin Smith. Ever since watching Clerks I have wanted to make films like him. His dialogue is a particular love of mine, it is the exact kind of ‘over-written’ conversations, often picking apart pop-culture, that I love, and often do, have with my closest friends and also the kind of conversations I enjoy writing. I’m also a big fan of his static camerawork, I think it’s both charmingly simplistic and helps focus the audience on what the heart of his films are, that is that interaction between the characters. However, Smith’s films tend to be smaller scale than the films I aspire to make, but regardless the interaction between characters and the use of static camerawork is a big influence on my practice.

 Throughout my childhood I watched a lot of British sitcoms, Red Dwarf and The Young Ones being two of favourites. Watching these played a big part in shaping my sense of humour and as such influenced my practice a great deal. At their best, or at least in my humble opinion, these shows revolved around a small cast of unique characters interacting with one another, often in a single simple location with little to no outside influence. It’s these shows that made me and my brother pick up a camera and start attempting our own ‘T.V. Shows’ as kids and without this I doubt I would be making films today.  However, being sitcoms, these shows are very episodic in their storytelling, with little narrative flowing from episode to episode. This means that they’re are not able to tell as grand or epic a tale as I would like to make.

Homestuck has recently been a big influence on my practice. Having been introduced to in earlier this year by a friend it has quickly become one of my favourite stories to experience. There are many things I love about Homestuck but it is the characters that I love most, each is very well developed and feels like a real person with thoughts and feelings. The audience, here meaning me, cares very much about the characters and becomes intensely immersed in the story, something that I wish to bring into my own practice. Homestuck’s method of storytelling is also of particular interest, the story starts out simply, with a character, a simple location and a straight forward premise/motivation. The world, narrative and back-story are all then aloud to organically grow/build as the story progresses, until the point where it is now a truly epic tale. This method has been a great influence on me, my own method of focusing too much on back-story and setting proving not to work for my practice. I intend to use a similar method for my own storytelling in the future.

Over the past year I have begun to read a lot more and have discovered two of my favourite authors, Jules Vern and H.P. Lovecraft. Jules Vern’s 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea is what got me into reading. Vern’s writing, to me, perfectly creates a feeling of adventure, scientific curiosity and a love of exploration that I have grown very fond of and would like to bring into my own practice.  H.P. Lovecraft’s stories are a very different beast and are my current favourite brand of horror. His dark tales aren’t just horrifying, they are drenched in an overwhelming feeling of dread and evitable doom. His tales often warn of an unimaginable and unknowable terror that is beyond the feeble comprehension of man and it is this fear of the unknowable that is at the heart of his horror. I would say that Lovecraft is my main influence in regard to horror and I certainly intend to bring some of his influence into my own practice.

Serio Leone, the director behind The Good, The Bad and The Ugly and Once Upon a Time in the West, has also notably influenced my practice. His westerns feel epic and I really admire how they take their time and never rush though the story. They are a slow and quiet build of tension until the final climax of the film that puts you on the edge of your seat. It’s because of him that I wish my films to take their time and have a slow pace.

I feel that my practice is suitable to more than just film. I am also keen to pursue other creative outlets, for example writing books and music. I wish to read more and bring more of what I like about authors like Lovecraft and Vern into my own practice by experimenting with writing stories in their style. I intend to maintain the creative network I have found whilst at college and fully intend to keep creating in order to improve my skills. I intend to explore a number of methods of ‘getting my work out there’, for example podcasting, film festivals. My primary intention to build an audience through the creation of a YouTube account, not only do I think that YouTube is a great method of creating an audience, I also really enjoy it and think that my practice will suit the format. 

Experimentation

One of the goals of this project was to get more familiar with using the equipment, particularly the cannon 5D. To achieve this I have got out the camera a number of times for experiments. As a result I got a lot better at using the camera as well as manipulating depth of field and focus.

Editing

I've been editing The Call to Adventure, and although I really like to footage, I think it still needs work.

I still need to film the shot of the watch being smashed, I've got the equipment now, ready to shoot.

So far it's looking pretty stylish, which I like. I spent some time in a sound suite and created a jazzy soundtrack for the film but the volume levels still need work.

I've been thinking that the voice over of carol may not be needed, I feel that the visuals can easily communicate what the voice over dialogue says and letting them do so would give the film a more cinematic feel. One of my flaws filmmaker is to rely too much on dialogue and not enough on visuals, so relying a little more on the visuals I think would be good for both me and the film.

All in all the film is coming along nicely, but it's not finished yet.