So far . . . .

A bit of a gap since my last post so I apologise for that – if you have fervently followed me of late you will know that I have been working on a film all by myself which has been taking my time.

My aim – my experiment – is to edit it on MovieMaker, which is free software from Windows. I am also making it on a very reasonably priced camera from Sanyo and on Monday the film will go to the Edinburgh Film Festival, The Los Angeles Film Festival and the Brooklyn Film Festival. That will be it for now and after this I will probably get Final Cut Pro or one of the other cheaper downloads; I think Avid, which is what most editors use over here, will be too expensive for me.

Everything has been going quite well but the one thing, when you do everything yourself – and I mean everything from the music to the sound editing, acting, shooting and writing – you have some mishaps. What I do is to put the camera on the tripod, get on to my mark and then, to make sure, I look through the lens with a mirror. I also record the sound on a separate sound system (with a film called SoundZ the sound has to be good) so I usually start that, then do the bit with the mirror and start the camera.

The other day I was doing a fairly close shot of me sitting in a chair and I had to step over the microphone lead. The camera was on a tiny tripod on a book which was on the desk. As I stepped over the cable, I touched the book which knocked the camera on to the floor.

This hurt the focus and the rest of the shots from that day were out of focus. That is the problem with the small cheap camera – if it had have been a camera with a lens I would have been able to see the focus but it wasn't till I transferred it to the computer that I could see it properly.

I looked on the Internet but couldn't find the same type of camera; I saw some, but they weren't what I wanted. I eventually found that lots of the shots are now in focus as long as I don't use the zoom – today out of 24 shots one was out of focus so that's not bad; I can live with that. The zoom, by the way, when shooting yourself, is only to save moving the camera closer as you would never show a zoom shot in a drama – maybe some of the movies of the 80s but not now.

Having said that there is an excellent series on the BBC here – first episode last night – called Line of Duty where the director used a few zoom shots; when that happened I was reminded of the old series here The Avengers.

The other mishap on my movie – which happened yesterday when I couldn't shoot anything because of the horrendous weather – was that I broke the computer!!!! Yes I broke it. I previously wrote on here that I had problems saving stuff on High Definition; I know what is causing it and it is the background programmes that run and take up a load of space – you know useless things to me like Instant Messenger and the like.

So I got rid of some programmes and one of them I got rid of was something that ran the computer – I don't know what it was but it ran Windows the system that runs the whole shooting match – so when I put it back on I couldn't open anything. BOIIINNNGGG!!! It went; like a great clanking iron bar banging on my head; just like the character in my movie!!!!

So here I am on my lap top typing away whilst my computer bloke (computer guy to all my American friends) mends the big one.

And isn't the weather terrible.

SoundZ

Wow it's been a week or two since I wrote anything on here; I've been busy making a film – that one above. Now don't get too excited out there as it's only a short one – although it gets longer by the day like Pinocchio's nose each time I work on it – but the idea is to get the movie in to the Edinburgh Film Festival in June which means it has to be ready for February 28.

I am getting on well with it especially as the object of the exercise is to do everything myself and make it for less than – well, what can I say? Less than £100 which is about $150; okay let's say less than $100 – although I might be pushing it at that as I'll have to buy blank DVDs.

I'm writing, editing and shooting as I go along. I've done a lot of the sound editing and music and the only thing I am having a bit of trouble with is rendering on to HD!!! In English that is saving the film in High Definition. My computer keeps telling me that it's running out of memory even though I did bigger projects with my music videos before Christmas.

So if anybody out there has any ideas?

You know where to find me.

Here is a still from the film, by the way:

 

which looks more like the reaction I had to the first listening of my love song for Valentine's Day, I Love You. (still on YouTube).

The other thing I have to do is to not make it look like a vanity project but I suppose that is what it is; the same with the one man shows I have done in the past. One was the Irish show and the other my one man play.

The Irish show I did from the year 2000 to 2010 in Los Angeles; not all the time, you understand, just on St Patrick's Day, a few colleges and the Irish Fair at Santa Anita Racetrack; I would say it was very successful as it played to full houses but it didn't really work in London – there we are.

When the time came to do any of these shows I would get on with it but in the hiatus, if I thought of them at all, I would wonder at the gall I had to actually get up and do them; I'm not thinking of that now I am working at getting the film completed – tomorrow I have to learn more lines.

Now you may wonder how I can do a one man film – or a one person film to be boringly politically correct – without making it look barmy or even talking to the camera but there are loads of devices and techniques that have been used in movies over the years and I'm using some of those.

There is a trailer which was on You Tube for a couple of days but I've taken it down as the film itself has not to be on the Internet before the festival – if you missed it sorry!!

So wish me luck and if you have a solution to my little problem of rendering let me know.

Oh and here is another still from the film where I am looking a bit more intelligent.