Frame by Frame » work

Cherry on the Cake – coming soon to a festival near you

Judith Allen — Tue, 08 Sep 2009 11:57:55 +0000

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.

Still struggling on…

Judith Allen — Tue, 21 Apr 2009 13:04:52 +0000

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:

Click here to view the embedded video.

As usual, any feedback is appreciated.

New uploads – showreel, two sketches

Judith Allen — Sun, 28 Dec 2008 20:21:49 +0000

Having just joined vimeo (username jaaed), I’m using the handy embedding feature to self-promote. Which of course is what blogs are for…. sort of.

So here’s my new showreel, updated from the previous to include my graduation films from the NFTS and some of the animations I’ve worked on at the school:

Editing Showreel Jan 2009 from Judith Allen on Vimeo.

… and here are two of my favourite sketches from my most recent editing project, ‘TV or Not TV’:

TV or not TV – ‘Corporate Woman’ from Judith Allen on Vimeo.

TV or not TV – ‘The Facts of Life’ from Judith Allen on Vimeo.

End of an era, and the freelance fear

Judith Allen — Sat, 27 Dec 2008 11:11:24 +0000

Barring the usual paperwork, signing-offs and graduation itself, my time at the NFTS is just about over. The cafetiere and coffee bean grinder have been taken home, the relevant exports have all been done – and copies made for me to be able to advise remotely on any unclear points. The animation is still going via Avid, as each shot is worked on seperately in the animator’s After Effects and then exported in HD whenever we need to see the entire film or a sequence of shots, but I now have that on my own MacBook Pro and we can FTP new material whilst it’s still being completed.

So now comes the fear. The freelance fear, of course. I’d like to think that by having a website, showreel of sorts, and profiles on the usual networking and jobseeking websites that I’m getting a good start on the background self-promotion, but as just about everyone says – it’s the contacts that count. I’m certainly building them up – in no small part thanks to the NFTS, but they mostly seem to be the type which could be more useful in a few years’ time once I’ve had a bit of experience. Agencies all want broadcast credits, and there’s always the danger of getting stuck in a genre which isn’t where I ultimately want to be.

The first step certainly seems to be the hardest right now. But by continuing to work on my online presence whilst keeping my eyes open and monitoring job-seeking and professional development websites, I’m keeping calm and not worrying too much….. yet.

Showreel now online

Judith Allen — Thu, 19 Jun 2008 12:00:00 +0000

In what some would call an extraordinary feat of self-publicising (whilst others may point out that that’s sort of what a blog/ website is anyway), here’s my present showreel:

http://reel-exchange.com/members/cc8e25f7/profile/

I intend to do another one in a few months’ time once all of the grad projects are over, since they should technically be my showcase pieces… but I find it useful to at least know that I’ve got something up before the great (and quite probably eternal) job search begins. There’s just no way of knowing what time I’ll have free between now and then – though my documentary edit has at least now resumed after reshoots. Which means yet more digitising… in many ways I can’t wait for everything to go tapeless, but if it could hold off for just a bit longer whilst I’m not relying on digitising jobs to eat, that’d be fantastic…. Though my recent frustrations with exporting and uploading to network (for backup) a 22,000+ HDCAM resolution TARGA sequence suggest that there’ll still be jobs around for a while yet. Also that my WD 1TB firewire drive was indeed a good investment. It’s turned out to be a vital piece of kit in the last few weeks.