The line-up for the 53rd London International Film Festival was announced today, and you have not just one opportunity to see Cherry on the Cake, not just two.... actually, I'm not quite sure how many times they'll be screening it. But there's certainly a lot of opportunity to engage with it!
Read moreCherry on the Cake - coming soon to a festival near you
Cherry on the Cake (2009)
Writer/Director/animator: Hyebin Lee
Producer: Michelle Eastwood
Production Designer: James Spencer
Cinematographer: Felix Wiedemann
Editor: Judith Allen
Sound Design: Gunnar Oskarsson
Sound Editor & Dubbing Mixer: Linda Brenon
Composer: Jon Opstad
Mother, Mary, Cherry and Berry voice : Michelle Archer
Father and Policeman : Rupert Degas
[IMDb]
.... yes, Cherry's been doing fantastically well on the festival circuit, and I'm very much hoping to be able to go to the London Film Festival's screening at the very least.
Director Hyebin Lee is now represented by Casarotto. Expect very interesting and fantastic things.
... I haven't had much to say lately largely because of a lack of editing work. A lack of freelance work (owing in part to the recession, no doubt in part to my lack of contacts having just emerged wide eyed and blinking from the NFTS) means that I've taken a staff job as a tech/ edit assistant at a small post-production house in Soho. I've learnt more about the technical side, advised people on how to set up what they need, and generally been "of use" to those who are working here. Plus it's a regular wage, which just wasn't happening on the freelance side. Hopefully soon I'll be able to get back into the paid editing/ assisting work.
Festival Season!
It's that time of year.
'Cherry On The Cake', the NFTS graduation animation I edited is playing at the 12th Shanghai International Film Festival in the International Student Shorts Award section this month (incidentally competing against another NFTS graduation animation from the year before which just won a Welsh BAFTA), and 'The Love Bureau', the NFTS graduation documentary, is at Archipelago in Rome next week.
Other graduation films which I wasn't involved in are also doing really well - another animation called The Incredible Story of My Great Grandmother Olive was nominated for a Student Academy Award (Best Honorary Foreign Film), and one of the fictions went to Cannes (Cinéfondation) - see producer Michelle Eastwood's account at FilmLondon.org.uk.
There are also three animations, a documentary and a fiction screening at Edinburgh this year, with 5 graduates who worked on them named amongst Skillset's Trailblazers for 2009.
It all seems as if it's finally starting, that our yeargroup which officially finished in December is starting to make an impact and become known. People are passing on work to each other through word of mouth and being asked to recommend people from other disciplines for future work, we're getting involved in small collaborative projects with each other... exciting times indeed.
Read more'Cherry On The Cake', the NFTS graduation animation I edited is playing at the 12th Shanghai International Film Festival in the International Student Shorts Award section this month (incidentally competing against another NFTS graduation animation from the year before which just won a Welsh BAFTA), and 'The Love Bureau', the NFTS graduation documentary, is at Archipelago in Rome next week.
Other graduation films which I wasn't involved in are also doing really well - another animation called The Incredible Story of My Great Grandmother Olive was nominated for a Student Academy Award (Best Honorary Foreign Film), and one of the fictions went to Cannes (Cinéfondation) - see producer Michelle Eastwood's account at FilmLondon.org.uk.
There are also three animations, a documentary and a fiction screening at Edinburgh this year, with 5 graduates who worked on them named amongst Skillset's Trailblazers for 2009.
It all seems as if it's finally starting, that our yeargroup which officially finished in December is starting to make an impact and become known. People are passing on work to each other through word of mouth and being asked to recommend people from other disciplines for future work, we're getting involved in small collaborative projects with each other... exciting times indeed.
The creative impulse
Last night I went to a reading of "Wall" by David Hare. I've enjoyed several of his plays, and there was a £5 offer on, so I went along.
"Wall" is about Hare's own experiences with the Middle Eastern conflict between Israel and Palestine, and is being presented as a companion piece to "Berlin". I think it may be a testament to the fact that I'll never be a true theatre-type that when people start talking about the walls we build around ourselves, I'm more likely to think about Pink Floyd than the Pyramus and Thisbe reference that followed last night.
Nonetheless, amongst several astounding pieces of commentary last night from both the subjective and objective viewpoint, I feel compelled to share the following paragraph - a quote from the reading last night:
I don't entirely understand this. People always ask: how do you choose the subjects you write about? I have a glib answer. Why did Bacon paint popes? Meaning: the artist doesn't choose the subject, the subject chooses the artist. 'Go to Rwanda,' said my American agent, when ten years ago I first proposed a play about Israel/Palestine. 'Better still, go to Kashmir. Now there's a dispute nobody understands. Throw some light on Kashmir.' But unfortunately it doesn't work like that. Recently, I found myself writing about Berlin because I don't understand it. Now I want to write about Israel/Palestine because I do. No, hold on, let me rephrase, that's a preposterous claim, nobody understands the Middle East - but put it this way: I recognise it. It answers to something in me.
I found editing whilst on a degree course which had absolutely nothing to do with media at all. I joined the student television station and tried all sorts of roles - camera, floor managing, sound mixing, vision mixing, co-producing... but when I got my first chance to creatively put something together at my first year - a trailer out of an evening's recorded event at the university - something was answered in me. From that point on, I knew I never wanted to do anything else. And with each project that I look at - some will inevitably stir more passion than others, and those are the ones which will really work.
Editing can often be seen as a technical vocation by the people who don't understand it - but it's truly anything but.
Still struggling on...
According to the majority of agencies, it seems that to really get onto their books (and therefore have access to the types of jobs which don't get advertised), then either I need to get more broadcast experience or there needs to be less recession. And since the former is somewhat of a catch-22 and the latter is out of my control... it's on with the unpaid work whilst continuing to apply for the jobs which are advertised and trying to build up my connections.
I do certainly have a few interesting side-projects on the go - of which there will be more news as it comes. And two of the films I edited whilst at the NFTS are now on the IMDb, so I now have my own page there on which I am described as an editor... which feels good. Almost as if by being described as an editor on that site means that I really am a professional editor from an external point of view. And in such early stages of my career at a really difficult time in the industry, the validation is comforting.
In any case, I have updated my excerpt reel. I'm in the process of making a documentary reel to go alongside it, but this one is for drama and animation:
I do certainly have a few interesting side-projects on the go - of which there will be more news as it comes. And two of the films I edited whilst at the NFTS are now on the IMDb, so I now have my own page there on which I am described as an editor... which feels good. Almost as if by being described as an editor on that site means that I really am a professional editor from an external point of view. And in such early stages of my career at a really difficult time in the industry, the validation is comforting.
In any case, I have updated my excerpt reel. I'm in the process of making a documentary reel to go alongside it, but this one is for drama and animation:
[vimeo]http://www.vimeo.com/4258165[/vimeo]
As usual, any feedback is appreciated.
A Pirate's Life : Not for me.
The story so far: A copy of the upcoming X-Men spin-off 'Wolverine' gets put onto the internet in its unfinished state. Because this is the internet, it spreads like wildfire. Other copies get uploaded, it seems that everyone's talking about it and has an opinion.
Then a FoxNews columnist reviews the film in its non-finished form with incomplete VFX and sound (link to article on WorstPreviews). Possibly with the best of intentions - he says in the article (which has since been removed from the FoxNews site) that 20th Century Fox should have no concerns over the leak because the film is so good.
But within that, he's endorsing the series of events which led to him being able to see it. Not only that, he's significantly denying the contribution that possibly hundreds of VFX artists whose work had yet to go into a full cut of the film. He's denying the impact that a full sound tracklay and mix will have on the film. And he's saying that it's fine for people to go out and download films before they've even opened.
Now whatever your views on current definitions of piracy (there are certainly business lessons to be learnt from how the release of media can encourage purchases once a passion for a product has been built), this is a very bad thing to start legitimising. A lot of people who've worked in a very creative capacity (directors, cinematographers, editors, actors) on a film can be very insecure about the part they've played and will try to minimise the number of people who'll see it before a certain stage. Endorsing leaks would take that decision out of their hands and invite judgement before the product looks anything like it would otherwise have ended up as, and may even influence the rest of the post-production process and distribution. The 'released' version would doubtless be compared to the leaked version(s) without any understanding of the processes which took them from A to B to C.
Of course there are test screenings. Of course films change massively from script to production to edit. But these are all controlled by a much much smaller number of people. Whether these people are the best people for the film is often a subject of debate amongst the fans.... but any editor will tell you how having more than a couple of key decision makers commenting on a cut can often lead to as many different opinions as there are people in the room. Imagine that multiplied on a global level. Not only is there never a way to please everyone, but any film which aspires to do so will often lead to utter blandness on screen.
So let us hope that this doesn't become a trend. News sites indicate that the FBI is following the trail in an attempt to catch the origin of the Wolverine leak, and whoever did it is certain to never work in the film industry again. And if nothing else, the rest of us have been reminded that once out, these things can spread really quickly - irrespective of any original intention.
Then a FoxNews columnist reviews the film in its non-finished form with incomplete VFX and sound (link to article on WorstPreviews). Possibly with the best of intentions - he says in the article (which has since been removed from the FoxNews site) that 20th Century Fox should have no concerns over the leak because the film is so good.
But within that, he's endorsing the series of events which led to him being able to see it. Not only that, he's significantly denying the contribution that possibly hundreds of VFX artists whose work had yet to go into a full cut of the film. He's denying the impact that a full sound tracklay and mix will have on the film. And he's saying that it's fine for people to go out and download films before they've even opened.
Now whatever your views on current definitions of piracy (there are certainly business lessons to be learnt from how the release of media can encourage purchases once a passion for a product has been built), this is a very bad thing to start legitimising. A lot of people who've worked in a very creative capacity (directors, cinematographers, editors, actors) on a film can be very insecure about the part they've played and will try to minimise the number of people who'll see it before a certain stage. Endorsing leaks would take that decision out of their hands and invite judgement before the product looks anything like it would otherwise have ended up as, and may even influence the rest of the post-production process and distribution. The 'released' version would doubtless be compared to the leaked version(s) without any understanding of the processes which took them from A to B to C.
Of course there are test screenings. Of course films change massively from script to production to edit. But these are all controlled by a much much smaller number of people. Whether these people are the best people for the film is often a subject of debate amongst the fans.... but any editor will tell you how having more than a couple of key decision makers commenting on a cut can often lead to as many different opinions as there are people in the room. Imagine that multiplied on a global level. Not only is there never a way to please everyone, but any film which aspires to do so will often lead to utter blandness on screen.
So let us hope that this doesn't become a trend. News sites indicate that the FBI is following the trail in an attempt to catch the origin of the Wolverine leak, and whoever did it is certain to never work in the film industry again. And if nothing else, the rest of us have been reminded that once out, these things can spread really quickly - irrespective of any original intention.
Graduation film update
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SXFx0YnzYoM[/youtube]
From the TV graduation project, 'TV or Not TV?', some clips have been uploaded to YouTube by the producer/director, Guy Press. Please rate and/or comment them!
TV or Not TV? YouTube Channel
And the animation which I edited, 'Cherry on the Cake', has had its DVD packaging finalised and it looks glorious. It's now ready to be sent off to festivals.
Please follow the embedded links above for further information about the projects and how to contact the producers for any enquiries you may have.
From the TV graduation project, 'TV or Not TV?', some clips have been uploaded to YouTube by the producer/director, Guy Press. Please rate and/or comment them!
TV or Not TV? YouTube Channel
--
And the animation which I edited, 'Cherry on the Cake', has had its DVD packaging finalised and it looks glorious. It's now ready to be sent off to festivals.
--
Please follow the embedded links above for further information about the projects and how to contact the producers for any enquiries you may have.
NFTS '09 Graduates - links
With the graduation ceremony at the start of the month came a lot of new websites (or at least placeholders) from my yeargroup at the National Film and Television School. We have profiles on the NFTS website for the next year or so with links where available (a lot of people don't seem to have sites yet), but I thought I'd collect them all together in one place in case anyone reading this is interested in seeing what other people from my year are up to. Or you've found my site via searching but want to know more about someone from a different discipline.
I find it interesting that the Cinematographers and Composers seem to be most on the ball with this, whilst some courses (directing fiction, screenwriting, production management diploma) don't seem to be represented at all... and because of course changes we had no digital post production or sfx/vfx diploma graduates in our 'class', but the courses are alive and well.
So here we are, for your investigative/ hiring purposes:
I find it interesting that the Cinematographers and Composers seem to be most on the ball with this, whilst some courses (directing fiction, screenwriting, production management diploma) don't seem to be represented at all... and because of course changes we had no digital post production or sfx/vfx diploma graduates in our 'class', but the courses are alive and well.
So here we are, for your investigative/ hiring purposes:
"How do I get into the NFTS?"
I'm starting to get a lot of emails and questions from people who are considering applying to the National Film and Television School this year or next, asking for tips and advice on the application procedure.
I can't really say anything specific, mostly because I just don't know. They'll be looking for different things each year, depending on the general skill level and interests of the applicants (there's no point in having a class of 8 people who are all at completely different levels of experience, technical knowledge etc). I have a fairly limited knowledge of the procedures outside the post-production section, and the knowledge I do have is three years old. Some of the things I'll say may be more relevant to some courses than others, and the knowledge I have related to the applications procedure comes from having been at the school for two years and talking to the other students rather than being involved in or enquiring in-depth about the selections.
However, I'll pass on some notes expanding on the points I try to mention to everyone else who asks me, so that I can direct people to this page in the future. This is more of a guide to things you may want to think about before you start your application than what to actually write - above all, be yourself. Don't assume that what I'd write is in some way more likely to get you a place than what you'd write. Not only do things change, but you're the one who's going to be going through the stages of the applications - and potentially up to two years at the place.
---
1. Do your research
The school's website is at http://www.nfts.org.uk . From there you can view course information, an online copy of the prospectus, information about the school's history and alumni (famous and recent), details of the application procedures for each course.... just about everything you need.
By having found this page, this probably isn't something that I need to be saying to the people who are reading it - but the number of job interviews I've been to when I've casually mentioned something I've seen on the company''s website that interested me and the astonishment it has sometimes caused.... I've learnt to not just assume that it's taken for granted that I've taken even 10 minutes out of my Facebook/ Twitter/ sleeping time to read up on a company or specific role before an interview.
This isn't just a tip for the applications process - it's to make sure that you know that you want to go. The majority of courses last two years. That's two years in which you're not earning money (and have to pay fees), two years in which you're handing your life over to the projects you're doing at the school on some very intensive courses, and for some students at the school who I knew, two years in which you may not be able to even visit your home country or see your family (international students are a huge part of the NFTS, don't let the 'National' in the name put you off!). This the structure of a typical UK undergraduate arts degree where there are two hours of lectures and then a lot of time in a bar - this is a 5/6/7 days a week 8-20 hours a day undertaking at the really busy periods for some courses.
2. Why do you want to do the course you're applying for?
Why do you want to do cinematography/ directing/ producing/ sound design etc. rather than anything else? How did you find it? Where would you like to end up in your career? What would you do if you didn't get into the school? What steps have you taken towards your goals so far? How is the NFTS course suitable for your specific needs? Do you have any concerns or questions about the contents of the course and how suitable it is for you?
3. Why do you want to go to the NFTS?
The research you've done into the school will help here. Consider which other options were open to you - other film schools, employment, even waiting a bit longer and applying another year. Have you considered the implications of the time/ financial/ personal/ residential commitment?
Again - this is something you should be able to answer for yourself, and as a secondary consideration as part of an application process. Film School isn't the be-all and end-all of working in film or television. There's no obligation to go. A lot of the courses run week-long selection workshops during which it's stressed that it's as much for you to find out about the school as it is for the school to find out about you. This is a graduate degree programme, and a degree of maturity is expected. If you see the course solely as a means to an end then you're going to have a very rough two years, and you definitely won't get the best that you can from the experience.
---
.... and that's all I can really think of to say. You can read the rest of my blog for some of my further experiences at the school (specifically the most recent ones for the overviews). I've met some great people there, and had some good times. Is it for you? That's not something I'd want to comment on for anyone. But hopefully I've given you something to think about before you make your application.
Good luck!
I can't really say anything specific, mostly because I just don't know. They'll be looking for different things each year, depending on the general skill level and interests of the applicants (there's no point in having a class of 8 people who are all at completely different levels of experience, technical knowledge etc). I have a fairly limited knowledge of the procedures outside the post-production section, and the knowledge I do have is three years old. Some of the things I'll say may be more relevant to some courses than others, and the knowledge I have related to the applications procedure comes from having been at the school for two years and talking to the other students rather than being involved in or enquiring in-depth about the selections.
However, I'll pass on some notes expanding on the points I try to mention to everyone else who asks me, so that I can direct people to this page in the future. This is more of a guide to things you may want to think about before you start your application than what to actually write - above all, be yourself. Don't assume that what I'd write is in some way more likely to get you a place than what you'd write. Not only do things change, but you're the one who's going to be going through the stages of the applications - and potentially up to two years at the place.
---
1. Do your research
The school's website is at http://www.nfts.org.uk . From there you can view course information, an online copy of the prospectus, information about the school's history and alumni (famous and recent), details of the application procedures for each course.... just about everything you need.
By having found this page, this probably isn't something that I need to be saying to the people who are reading it - but the number of job interviews I've been to when I've casually mentioned something I've seen on the company''s website that interested me and the astonishment it has sometimes caused.... I've learnt to not just assume that it's taken for granted that I've taken even 10 minutes out of my Facebook/ Twitter/ sleeping time to read up on a company or specific role before an interview.
This isn't just a tip for the applications process - it's to make sure that you know that you want to go. The majority of courses last two years. That's two years in which you're not earning money (and have to pay fees), two years in which you're handing your life over to the projects you're doing at the school on some very intensive courses, and for some students at the school who I knew, two years in which you may not be able to even visit your home country or see your family (international students are a huge part of the NFTS, don't let the 'National' in the name put you off!). This the structure of a typical UK undergraduate arts degree where there are two hours of lectures and then a lot of time in a bar - this is a 5/6/7 days a week 8-20 hours a day undertaking at the really busy periods for some courses.
2. Why do you want to do the course you're applying for?
Why do you want to do cinematography/ directing/ producing/ sound design etc. rather than anything else? How did you find it? Where would you like to end up in your career? What would you do if you didn't get into the school? What steps have you taken towards your goals so far? How is the NFTS course suitable for your specific needs? Do you have any concerns or questions about the contents of the course and how suitable it is for you?
3. Why do you want to go to the NFTS?
The research you've done into the school will help here. Consider which other options were open to you - other film schools, employment, even waiting a bit longer and applying another year. Have you considered the implications of the time/ financial/ personal/ residential commitment?
Again - this is something you should be able to answer for yourself, and as a secondary consideration as part of an application process. Film School isn't the be-all and end-all of working in film or television. There's no obligation to go. A lot of the courses run week-long selection workshops during which it's stressed that it's as much for you to find out about the school as it is for the school to find out about you. This is a graduate degree programme, and a degree of maturity is expected. If you see the course solely as a means to an end then you're going to have a very rough two years, and you definitely won't get the best that you can from the experience.
---
.... and that's all I can really think of to say. You can read the rest of my blog for some of my further experiences at the school (specifically the most recent ones for the overviews). I've met some great people there, and had some good times. Is it for you? That's not something I'd want to comment on for anyone. But hopefully I've given you something to think about before you make your application.
Good luck!
I am a Master of Editing!
... at least that's what the certificate says. If you remove certain words.
My time at the NFTS culminated in 3 days of graduation screenings at the British Film Institute on the South Bank in London. Wednesday and Thursday were industry days - where various members of the film and television industry were invited to see the graduation films and some other selected films from the two year course, and then we could discuss them over drinks afterwards.
Of course, this also means that we got to see each other's films for the first times in many cases - when the films were shorter in the first year with more regular deadlines, we used to all attend reviews and screenings to give feedback and see what everyone else was doing with their brief. But in the second year we all got a bit too busy and had our own films to be concentrating on, and the tradition lapsed - but it was great to see how they'd all turned out after hearing varying amounts during the filming and editing processes.
In addition to the four graduation films, I had two other films which I'd edited in my first year (a fiction - Brixton 85, and a documentary - Davey's Last Order) screened at the industry days, which gave me a new audience reaction to notice and a chance to evaluate the editing decisions I'd made over a year ago... which was both illuminating and painful in certain respects, as self-examination tends to be!
The graduation films themselves all went extremely well - the animation Cherry on the Cake had laughs and 'aww's in all the right places and looked fantastic on a huge screen. The Love Bureau went down extremely well with the right humour - and perhaps in retrospect an overabundance of cats... although it was fairly representative of the rushes! Park Close again went down very well in front of a new audience, although I was double-booked with the screening of TV or not TV which was unfortunate as the cast and writers were also in attendance and I thought it would be more useful to get the fresh audience reaction there.
Friday was the friends and family day and the actual graduation itself - which may have been more nerve-racking in many respects! Although in true NFTS tradition it was all rather informal... we corrected Nik's (the director of the school) speech en masse, got called scruffy by Michael Kuhn, had official photos taken with the stage party, and given sparkly certificates.
So on with the search for further employment! Whilst waiting for the less official 'wrap' party...