The magic of filmmaking

So here it is at last.  Watch it fullscreen in HD - it's lush. 

Neil Osman, has done a fab job with Rick of pulling all the footage together and making it work. Neil's very talented, works very fast, and has hidden a few quirks in the video to find about the course.

He's also working on his next feature - see http://www.darksideoftheearth.com/.  He's on his way to Cannes right now to drum up some investment.

We're going to spread a few different versions of this around, and if anyone would like mash it up a little themselves, get in touch.

A preview

The viral is edited and ready to go.  Here's a little preview:

It's done with a split screen - the camera is fixed on a tripod and the scene is shot twice, with care to keep the moving elements on either side of a line across the screen. A nice bit of magic and plenty more to come...

Full drafts for all the weeks handed on

There are still some rough edges, but I just passed weeks 9+10 on to the curriculum assistant to put into the correct template for the website.  This is quite an arcane process and full of pitfalls as it falls somewhere between an author's job, an administrator's job and something an editor would do.

It's been so great to have someone else who can take care of this, not least because the laptop I've been using to write on doesn't work with software that's needed for the job.

In related news, I've now got glasses.  The eye strain from long hours of fiddling with text finally got to me and I got a prescription while I was in Hungary.  So here's the new look for T156.

Coming up soon: The viral has been edited and I get to look at it this afternoon.

Gadget Show Video

Here's the film we made at the Gadget Show.  Great camera work from John in difficult conditions, and a credit to his microphones that we can hear anything at all.l  I do regret that we couldn't spend more time filming: the whole place is heaving with great stories. I'm going back tomorrow, but just to be on the stand this time.

The Gadget Show

I’ve just spent 2 days at the OU stand at the Gadget Show, which has been quite an amazing experience. It’s heaving with technology, not all of it very serious.  There’s a good spirit, and I’ve even managed to pick up some good tips on the Panasonic cameras I want to buy.

Yesterday was all about exploring, as well as spending time on the stand, signing people up to receive a prospectus.  We’ve also had a sheaf of the T156 leaflets to hand to show people.  

Today we did some filming and I spent part of the afternoon editing it.  My first AVCHD project and some early snags left the footage looking a bit blurry in preview (Sorry John – you filming was as good as ever).  Will finish it tomorrow if there’s time, but some course writing looms tonight still. We’re getting through it and the hard week’s are done, but it’s not all in the can yet and it should be.

Live at the Gadget Show

We're sharing a stand at the Gadget Show in 10 days time with the Digital Audio course, and we'll be there from April 13th-17th.

The plan is to make a short film about the event (using a shot list from one of the course projects, of course), and then edit it at the stand.  Please come and visit us if you're at the show.