Category: film making
Far From The Madding Crowd – PHOTO RELEASE
Photo: Alex Bailey
After landing on cinephile radars with 1998’s “The Celebration,” Thomas Vinterberg went on a weird and wild cinematic journey. From pictures that didn’t or barely got a release stateside, to disappointments like “Dear Wendy” or “It’s All About Love,” Vinterberg failed to match the acclaim of his Cannes Film Festival Jury Prize-winning film. That’s until this year’s “The Hunt,” the gripping tale of community persecution that earned rave reviews, and more Cannes awards (an Ecumenical Jury Prize for Vinterberg, a Best Actor trophy for Mads Mikkelsen). And the helmer isn’t wasting a moment riding that momentum.
Last month production started on his star studded adaptation of Thomas Hardy’s “Far From The Madding Crowd,” and today Empire brings us the official first images from the movie, and yes, we will buy all the tickets. Carey Mulligan, Matthias Schoenaerts, Juno Temple, Michael Sheen and Tom Sturridge, the movie tells the tale of Bathsheba Everdene (Mulligan) who is courted by three men: Gabriel Oak (Schoenaerts), a shepherd; Sergeant Troy (Sturridge), a handsome soldier; and William Boldwood (Sheen), a farm owner. Naturally, there are heartbreaks and feelings and stuff.
No release dates yet, but we’d put good money on this being in competition at Cannes in the spring.
Photos: Alex Bailey
Philomena poster released
The Weinstein Co. should have no trouble positioning Stephen Frears’ latest as a sleeper success.
A howl of anti-clerical outrage wrapped in a tea cozy, “Philomena” applies amusing banter and a sheen of good taste to the real-life quest of Philomena Lee, an Irishwoman who spent decades searching for the out-of-wedlock son taken from her by Catholic nuns and sold into adoption overseas. Smoothly tooled as an odd-couple vehicle for Judi Dench in the title role and Steve Coogan as Martin Sixsmith, the British journalist who brought Lee’s story to international attention, this smug but effective middlebrow crowdpleaser boasts a sharper set of dentures than most films of its type, shrewdly mining its material for laughs and righteous anger as well as tears. With an awards push for Dench likely in the works, the Weinstein Co. should have no trouble positioning director Stephen Frears’ latest as a sleeper success, certain to rouse audiences not put off by its genteel calculation.
Black Sea – current project
PRODUCTION BEGINS IN THE U.K. ON KEVIN MACDONALD’S
THRILLER BLACK SEA FOR FOCUS FEATURES AND FILM4;
JUDE LAW CAPTAINS CAST
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
LONDON, August 8th, 2013 – Two-time Academy Award nominee Jude Law captains the cast of Black Sea, the suspenseful adventure thriller being directed by Academy Award winner Kevin Macdonald (One Day in September) and produced by Charles Steel for Cowboy Films. Black Sea, which will be released in 2014, is co-produced and co-financed by Focus and Film4. Focus CEO James Schamus and Focus co-CEO Andrew Karpen made the announcement today. Focus holds worldwide rights – excluding U.K. free-TV rights, which are held by Film4 – to the movie. Focus executive vice president, international production Teresa Moneo is supervising Black Sea for president of production Jeb Brody. Filming has commenced in the U.K. Black Sea is being produced by Mr. Macdonald alongside Mr. Steel, who reteam following Mr. Macdonald’s latest film as director, How I Live Now, starring Saoirse Ronan and George MacKay, which will be released this fall. Cowboy Films also produced Mr. Macdonald’s The Last King of Scotland, for which they shared a BAFTA Award and for which Forest Whitaker won the Academy Award for Best Actor. Film4 has made four previous movies with Mr. Macdonald, including Touching the Void, The Last King of Scotland, and the Roman epic adventure The Eagle, also with Focus. Dennis Kelly, creator of the cult television series Utopia, wrote the original screenplay for Black Sea. Black Sea centers on a rogue submarine captain (Mr. Law) who, after being laid off from a salvage company, pulls together a misfit crew to go after a sunken treasure rumored to be lost in the depths of the Black Sea. As greed and desperation take control onboard their claustrophobic vessel, the increasing uncertainty of the mission causes the men to turn on each other to fight for their own survival.
Movie Photos – Digital Workflow by Alex Bailey
The original idea, and the inspiration for the bulk of the content for my first publication Movie Photos was born out of questions that I was repeatedly asked by students and young photographers interested in my area of photographic specialization: Producing images for movie marketing and publicity. I therefore embarked upon a journey to describe, through my own experiences of shooting on film and TV productions and how a photographer fits into the whole scheme of filmmaking. This required me to describe in detail as much about the basic structure of a movie production as the mechanics of performing the actual assignment itself, in order to set the scene and understand the influences and opportunities that a photographer might encounter when working on a film or TV set. At that time I made the conscious decision not to tackle in too much detail the technical side of performing stills assignments, working on the basis that the majority of my audience were already at a stage where they were relatively competent with the technical basics of photography. In retrospect now I am very glad that I did not delve too deeply into the nuts and bolts, as the world of photography was on the verge of a revolution, the digital revolution! Arguably the greatest change since photography was conceived. Digital Photography now is as much about working practice and ‘work flow’ as it is about F Stops and ASA. There is no doubt that digital has opened up the realms of photography due to the plethora of image capture devices available, sometimes to the point where it is almost impossible to clearly define the boundaries of still image making especially in the wake of Digital Single Lens Reflex filmmaking and frame grabbing. In the same way, Movie Photos was inspired by the desire for information by an audience interested in my area of photography. This publication has built on that interest and has subsequently been guided by the range of questions I have been asked many of which I would describe as generic, not necessarily specific to producing images for film and TV marketing and publicity but general to those wishing to earn a living by producing commercially creative photographic images in the performing arts arena. I have therefore used my movie photography experiences and working practices as a narrative to tell the wider story of how a professional photographer producing creative imagery for financial gain is influenced, operates and makes decisions in light of this new digital era. I have also endeavored to relate this, when appropriate and relevant, to traditional areas of image making, namely the use of film, in response to requests and the regrets expressed by some of my students in not having an understanding of traditional wet photography techniques, particularly where there may be some creative or practical benefit. Not an easy thing to do, but at least I am trying to pass the knowledge on! The rapid decline of wet photography and the advent of the darkroom on a desk phenomenon has certainly resulted in an increased workload for the jobbing photographer but in turn created some fantastic opportunities and the chance for greater profit margins. For me the digital revolution came at a really good time. I have embraced it with a passion believing that it is a positive influence on my photography and extends my creative boundaries. I fully appreciate the chicken and egg scenario in relation to the advantage I have of a solid grounding in traditional photographic practices (film and wet processing). Not that I think it really matters if you start off working in digital only, after all, the mechanics of a camera have not changed only the recording medium, with film being replaced by an image sensor, nor has the theory and spirit of photography. Painting in light! However, I now sit firmly in the digital camp. I have sold all my traditional film cameras except for my 35mm panoramic Xpan, due to the fact that this particular format is not replicated in digital and lends itself to some scenes on film sets, in particular anamorphic. This does not mean to say that I am not grateful for the knowledge I amassed whilst working with film and wet processing, only more creatively liberated and a lot less stressed nowadays due to the re-assurance that comes with working in a digital medium with the benefit of instant playback. The chances are that if you still shoot on film it is going to be digitalized anyway, en-route to publication or even for art prints. So why not make it easy on yourself and shoot digitally to start with? No doubt a number of purist fine art photographers will cringe at me saying this but they probably won t be reading this publication anyway as this book is intended for creative working photographers earning their living from photography on a daily basis or those who intended to. Power to the Pixel!
As commercially creative artists utilizing a technically based medium we are only limited by our imagination and the knowledge of the tools at our disposal.
Contents
- Early impact of digital
- Cameras
- Colour Temperature
- Exposure
- Metering
- Shutter Speed
- Aperture
- Light Sensitivity – History
- Light Sensitivity – Application
- Low Light
- DSLR
- CF Cards
- Raw Recording
- Sensor Cleaning
- Lenses
- Lightin
- In Camera Editing at Image Capture Stage
- Selecting and Editing Overview
- Edit Technical
- Edit – Composition Moving Towards Creative
- Selecting
- File Management – Pre-Production
- File Management – Sorting and Numbering
- File Management – Jpeg Conversion
- File Management – Post Production – Delivery
- Charging for Digital Services
- Printing
- Marketing
- Marketing – Website and Hard Copy Portfolio
- Marketing – Digital Extras
- The Studio Shoot on Digital
- Summary
Nikon not convinced on DSLR film making!
Revealing comments from Robert Cristina – Nikon professional services manager Europe – in his own words: In my opinion the jury is out on whether D-SLRs will make a major contribution to the video industry. Yes they are finding a place as a second unit camera or a temporary lightweight compromise for heavier duty professional video gear. And the large format FX sensor offers some cool depth of field effects, but by the same time they are somewhat comprised by the need for extra rigs to manage focus accuracy. It’s easy to get confused by forum chatter and ‘ case studies ‘ from well-known broadcast cameramen, or paid for testimonials from Hollywood directors about how and why they like a certain camera. The reality is that these cameras are primarily designed for stills photographers who are increasingly being asked to provide moving images as well. And no- one certainly not in these times of austerity is in a position to turn down an assignment just because it includes some video? I’m not surprised by his comments.
Should Stills photographers shoot video as well – a few conclusions
Well ….. It conjured some strong debate and opinions – Personally I feel there are a number of issues at play firstly: The technical – The reality is different kit is required … Assuming that the stills photographer is going to be shooting with his video enabled DSLR then immediately there are extra bits required here – A Tripod or monopod, ancillary microphone, follow focus? – So I would argue that in order to juggle this extra kit successfully and efficiently then one would require an assistant at least. – Just so much gear on the go!! Alternatively one could have a dedicated video camera – Then that is directly just taking on some else’s job. The dilemma emerges immediately do pick up the stills camera or the video camera?. However… The most persuasive argument must be the creative confusion that is looking for definitive single images that define a production and then trying to get your head around the narrative of shooting moving images – I am totally of the opinion this is not possible to do at the same time with out compromise. I defy any one person to do this to the best of their ability in either discipline if concentrating on one area only. Another factor also worth chucking into the equation is Artist co-operation!! Certainly at the ‘A’ list level actors are very conscious if video opposed to stills is being shot – There are certainly place’s I can go and many times when I can shoot when the EPK – crews can not – Actors often do not like the intrusion that video brings. So my conclusion – We might be asked but my answer is a resounding NO thank you or rather it tells me about your production- If you are cutting corners that hard then your not for me!! Thanks for joining in.
London becomes filmmaking hot spot
London has grown to become the third busiest city in the world for filmmaking after LA and New York. The news comes after the Mayor of London, Boris Johnson, announced last week a new investment in London’s film, TV and animation industries to boost jobs, support home grown talent and attract high-end productions.
Johnson is expanding the remit of Film London, to bring in £200m worth of additional expenditure through TV and animation production and create 1000 industry jobs. He will invest £2m to broaden Film London’s reach, with £750,000 ear-marked to promote the development of these sectors.
“We are at the dawn of a new golden age of TV production in London,” Boris Johnson, Mayor of London said while visiting Ealing Studios. “We have an unprecedented opportunity to make London the city of choice for TV and animation production. It’s time for London to fulfil its potential as the world leader.”
Over the last four years Film London, already working to facilitate major motion pictures shot in the capital, generated £770m in investment and there are hopes that the agency’s scope will be expanded into high-end TV, such as dramas, mini-series, franchise shows, international co-productions and animations.
With additional funding, the city can now set its sights on new investment opportunities from markets such as US, India, China and South America.
Producer Gareth Neame, responsible for Downton Abbey, said: “We are fortunate to have one of the most vibrant TV production industries in the world here in the UK and much of that work has traditionally been located in the London area, which also boasts many of our most iconic locations.
“Britain is the second biggest exporter of TV content in the world and a tax incentive to boost local production and encourage incoming content is long overdue. As British producers we welcome this commitment by the government.”
Make an effort…. For your own sake…
I did a lecture the other day to a group, about 20 +, of media students, degree level so aged early 20’s . Over the last few years I have done a few now so I am fairly relaxed about my approach. I tend to make it up a bit as I go along with a collection of images, posters and stills on my computer displayed onto a screen that I keep up to date so relevant. This approach allows me the freedom to engage with the students and adapt it to their particular needs. Fortunately I have a large repertoire to draw on!!! From a media students point of view particularly as I can talk photography and I can talk film making, lots to talk about, lots of questions? Or so you would think? Working on the basis the talk had been billed as interactive an opportunity to meet and engage with a film industry insider there was plenty of time for them to do a little research. Hell its not hard to find me on the internet and lets face it in these days of youngsters face down into computers and mobile devices all day how hard can it be to find 5 mins to take an interest???? … Make a little effort … Obviously to tough as after 2 hours of wading through mud ….. few if any questions (other than from 3 people in the class) I eventually asked the class how many had looked me up, looked at my work? Checked me out on the internet… the dismal and disappointing answer was NO hands up … Nil points . yes that’s right a hole class who are pinning their hopes on a career in media and paying £6000 ($10,000) + plus in fees a year. They had not made one moments effort to find out more about a person who has made a success in their own chosen area. What hope? NONE! So that’s it for me… No more lectures.. No more wasting my time preparing a lesson and driving across the UK to deliver it to a group of people that make no effort in return. The only benefit I gained was a reminder to myself as to why I have got where I am today and all those in a similar position to me. We make an effort and continue to do so. We work at it and keep working at it to get on in this world with our chosen profession.
A bright Future!
Published today, ‘UK screen based industries: Powering ahead’ offers a well-timed insight into the significant opportunities and challenges facing the UK’s creative industries. The report, (which can be downloaded here) was commissioned by Pinewood Studios, produced by PwC and supported by Creative England, highlights the sector’s current dilemma: whilst global demand is growing rapidly and offering avenues for significant growth, so are the numbers of nations actively beginning to expand their own creative economies.
ALEX BAILEY 