A Day of Melting and Crushing

The title? No, I didn't have a terrible assessment with Ray - that actually went pretty well - I am of course referring to the film that myself, Murdo, Paul, Phil and Charlotte made over the weekend for the Stanford Innovation competition. Thanks to you guys for the efforts you made, by the way. It was loads of fun! Anyway, you can see the film below if you haven't already seen it!



This experience was exactly what I needed. Not that I felt anything was wrong before-hand, but the making of this film reminded me of why I'm on this course. It was the least stressful shoot I've ever been on, and the editing was far simpler than it should have been. We had quite a lot of crazy random happenstances that worked out perfectly for us, giving us more time for tweaking and animation. But I really enjoyed the whole time doing it. Maybe I'm too fond of the final film, but making it was the first time that I've felt at home in Glasgow... or perhaps more like I have a purpose in Glasgow. I know that sounds strange, but that's how it felt! You see the actors acting, the musicians music-ing, the TPA people TPA-ing, so it was great to finally be DFTV-ing! And I will never forget my favourite moment so far whilst here - Vasso running up and down Buchanan Street, shouting about bottles in front of the public. It was priceless. I've watched the full recording so many times, and it's so very, very funny having been there when she did it. She was fantastic! This clip is a part of the out-takes that I've put on YouTube. As to not clog this blog with too many embedded-videos, you can click here to see it. (It has some bad language, but who gives a f**k?).

Sorry, that was tasteless.

Anyway, we talk so much about films - both in and out of class - that what we want to do (the actual film-making) can seem almost forgotten. What we do in class is essential, of course, and we have to remember that we are working towards the practical. But if patience is a virtue then I'm not particularly virtuous! It just felt great to make something! It was also nice to see everyone enthused more about film-making than films on Monday, with those who didn't enter the competition planning a potential film-making scheme... Is it a scheme? Or a project? Well, no need to be so specific; it's a thingy. Yes, much better. A film-making thingy. I think maybe a YouTube channel would be a good idea if it all goes ahead. But we'd need a name! I quite like "Rogue Directors"... and a quick google (in the verb-sense) shows that it's not already taken, on YouTube or otherwise.

So, what was this particular post about then? Well, there is no real point to this one. A bit of reflection, a bit more of my personal thoughts. I'm just trying to encourage myself to post more often, as I'm really into this whole blog thing but I'm so terribly busy that I've barely posted about things in class, let alone my own thoughts! So I'm just letting myself type what I feel like, rather than my normal way of doing things, where I slave away over the whole thing! Unfortunately, this week is my busiest yet; I've got to be in Glasgow during the day on Wednesday, Thursday and Friday, but in Edinburgh in the evenings!! So most day's I'll be leaving straight from the Academy to a bus or train (depending on where in Edinburgh I'm to be, and how fast I need to get there), and coming back in the mornings. Expect a very tired Gavin.

Also, do you think I can ask Richard Attenborough if his brother was jealous that he got to work with dinosaurs? Though I've read rumours that he may be reprising his role in Jurassic Park IV. That'd be great, if the script was right! That way he could get his brother a cameo! The Attenbrothers! Ba-doom.

PS - Sorry for the long post and lack of pictures. Just google (verb, again) something relevant yourself!