Roger Deakins

I've just recently joined Roger Deakins website and I have been browsing the forum, if you sign up as a member you can also gain access to his lighting diagrams from films such as No Country for Old Men, Jarhead, Hudsucker Proxy and The Man Who Wasn't There, its definitely worth checking out if your into cinematography and lighting, he even replies to most people's questions in the forum which is very helpful.

http://www.rogerdeakins.com/

http://www.rogerdeakins.com/light/lightIndex.php?cat_id=4

Follow Focus

Decided to do further research of cameras as i was wondering what the small attachment on the side of the camera was on the previous post's picture, turns out to be a follow focus.

Taken from Wiki:

"A follow focus is a piece of equipment that attaches to the focus ring of a manual lens via a set of rods on the body of a film or video camera. It is ergonomic rather than strictly necessary; in other words it does not contribute to the basic functionality of a camera but instead allows the operator to be more efficient and precise. It is usually operated by a focus puller (often called the 1st assistant camera, or 1AC) but some camera operators prefer to pull their own focus (the act of changing focus is called "pulling" or "racking" focus)."

Depth of Field

Ive recently joined a cinematography forum and have been researching the technical jargon associated with cameras, as brought up in my review. One thing that has interested me is trying to get that cinema look, where a background is highly out of focus whilst the object or character is sharply in focus. Having done some still photography for sometime now I know that this technique is produced using f-numbers, affecting the depth of field. The lower the f-number say f/2.8 the larger the aperture would be, this creates a shallow depth of field, giving that blurred background look. larger f-numbers would keep an entire scene in focus, ideal for long shots, however this would give a smaller aperture, therefor less light would enter.

Above is a picture of a redrockmicro system attached to what looks like a sony hvr-z1e, this allows 35mm lenses to be attached to dv and hd camcorders through the use of stepdown rings and lens adapters so long as they arent over 72mm. They can give greater lens control allowing for a more cinematic look to a piece of film. I've seen some videos on youtube of them in action and some of the shots look great and really do look quite like 35mm film. Something I would defintly consider using if only I had the cash!

Music Production

Below show's a track I have been working on recently, the percussion was programmed with multiple samples edited, messing with adsr setting's and compression. I have recently been trying to learn some very simple piano chords and scales from websites.

I created the piano sound using a plugin called LizardLounge, the chords where played using a midi keyboard this recorded the notes into Ableton Live, this plugin basically replicates the sounds of old Fender Rhodes, Wurli's, and Hammond Organs, as well as standard pianos. This suits the deep house sound, which primarily relies on old soul and funk samples, such as vocal edits and guitar/piano loops. I created the bass using Spectrasonics Trilogy and a basic Sine Wave I programmed in a synth.

I would really like to work with a vocalist one day to get some original material down rather than sampling old records as well. Other software that was used was the Waves Package, which includes compressors, limiters, eq, reverb and various other effects.

Music Production

Bit of a catch up

Decided to post a link to myspace as I've put a couple of tracks up that I done a while ago, although these are still not finished I thought it would be suitable to post, as I've had a serious lack of updates on my blog. Style: House/Techno

www.myspace.com/davidgowansmusic

I've had a few DJs requesting me to finish them so they can play them out, mainly extending intros and outros for mixing purposes and putting a few variations in the beats and a bit of filter play to build areas and drop them. Im trying to get my tunes so they sound as though they are all the same style without sounding samey. Im quite pleased with them so far and think they are a good basis to work from.

They were produced in Ableton Live 7, plugins used where mainly Simpler for messing with samples using the lfo envelopes, pitch attack etc. Impulse for programming the beats and the Waves package for compression, EQ, Delay and Reverb, using Automation to bring the Dry/Wet of effects to build parts and drop them.

Luckily I've had the benefit of producing from two different computers with there own monitors, Tapco S8's and Yamaha HS50Ms, this has given me the ability to realize that monitor speakers can sound completely different, I realizied the bottom end on my speakers (Yamaha) was too much so when I tested my tracks on the Tapcos they barely had no bass at all!

Film Analysis

Ridley Scott's 'Alien' (1979) Quick synopsis:

The crew of a spaceship are taking there payload back to earth only to be interupted by Mother (the computer of the ship) of news that a non human signal has been identified and must be investigated. Upon arrival of the planet an Alien attaches itself onto one of the crew members and ends up loose on the ship, picking off the members of the crew one at a time.

I chose this particular scene because it is at the point in the film where you realise the crew are in danger and begin working together, where as at the beginning of the film there are a number of conflicts and differences between crew members, particularly betwen Ripley and Ash.

Scene Breakdown: (Ship Enters) this shot shows the actual scale of the ship as they head off into space I love this que as you know that the crew are now in danger and things are about to begin.

In this scene they are having to use and adapt materials onboard the ship to hunt the Alien. At this point in time the crew believe the Alien to be tiny but infact it is of a larger scale and is constantly growing as they speak.

Above shows the crew testing out the equipment before they split off to hunt the alien. The shots are very simple medium shots, flicking between Dallas, Lambert and Brett, to Ripley, Ash and Parker. The lighting in the scene is quite dark casting shadows across there faces and giving the feeling of claustrophobia, the captain in this scene is acting very cool and collected and the crew are working together well, as they know they have a problem.

The next shot shows Ripley, Brett and Parker searching the corridors of the ship for the alien. As you can see from the screenshot the set is darkly lit with only the flash light providing light. The corridor looks complex and industrial, and because it is a long shot it invites the feeling that something is going to jump across the screen. The scene is long and drawn out creating tension as we move along.

Once Parker has fixed the lights Ripley picks up a signal on the motion tracker and they slowly begin walking towards the next room where the signal is coming from. The beeping noise from the machine is a fantastic device that creates a lot of tension.

This next shot is from the room that the signal is coming from, I quite like how Ridley Scott decided to keep the camera angles quite low down to give the feeling that the alien may be looking up towards them, it also gives a feeling of false security towards the characters as you know what they are dealing with is a lot more sinister than what they think. Instead of using a shot that follows them from behind entering the room he has decided to let the actors slowly walk in, as the door moves up it brings in rays of light that sillouhette the crew, they move very slowly and the scene is incredibly drawn out creating even more tension, it is a medium long shot and yet again invites the feeling that something could jump out, the set almost engulfs the characters with its low ceilings and minimal lighting giving a feeling of danger.

Searching the Room:

The next shots shows the crew searching the room where they finally isolate where source of the movement is coming from, it is a small box, as they open box there is a lot of tension created as to whats inside it; eventually we see a cat scream and then run off, Brett holding the netting up to capture it lets the cat go, not realizing that they will pick it up later on the tracking device. Parker and Ripley laugh and tell him to go and get the cat, I particularly like this scene as the audience know that Brett has made a mistake and he doesn't realize it until Parker and Ripley laugh at him in a degrading fashion, making him look stupid.

This next shot is quite possibly one of my favourite scenes of all time, the tension created in it is brilliant. The que as Brett walks into the big room is timed brilliantly as the audience then realize that he is going die. Once again the shots in this room are timed brilliantly and are long and drawn out to create tension.

Remix Competition

I have decided to enter the Sasha remix competition advertised on beatport. The deadline is the 11th of February and the remix can be any genre you like. The winner wins a copy of Ableton 7 and will be interviewed by Beatportal, it will also feature on Sasha's emFire label, a label that currently only holds his solo work.

I've never entered a competition or done a remix before come to think of it, this is more of an exercise to get me to play with sounds and change them into my own style.

Details here:

http://www.beatportal.com/news/item/remix-sasha-for-emfire