Johnny Cage and The Voodoo Groove

Johnny Cage and The Voodoo Groove are the inhouse band for What The Butler Saw. Heres one of their newer songs from the event I filmed at the Globe. The sound is completely out as it was mixed for live performance instead of for video. However I hope to re-shoot the band and to get a cleaner copy of this song. Its a slower tune and doesnt reflect the nature of the band, but it was very pretty so I created this more for me than anyone else.

JC&VDG Song1 from Natalie Clements on Vimeo.

Burlesque

So, for university I was required to do a simple interview scenario on location. So I decided to do a documentary with lots of interviews and live footage. I decided to work towards the theme of Burlesque. Its something that only seemed to have hit Cardiff in a more mainstream way over the past three years since a small group of people started a night named 'What The Butler Saw'.

I attended some of the first events at Buffalo bar and a few at Minskys over the years. However they are growing and developing all the time and are now holding events at The Globe in Cardiff and have aspirations to head into the London Scene and hold Festival events.

I began with contacting the organisers through their site and over facebook to discuss the idea of creating a documentary on them, they loved the idea. Then attended an event at Minskys to get a look at how the performers are today and chat to the crowd. I created a list of performers willing to be filmed and interviewed and collected as many contact details as possible.

I have already undertaken interviews with the key organisers of What The Butler Saw and attended their xmas event.

I've manage to get myself a small crew to include a second camera person, two sound men, one to work on live sound and the other to do my boom and a photographer. Unfortunately the lve sound techy wasnt available for the globe event so we ran an XLR straight into the camera, which worked, but wasnt great. There was also a projector over the band which comprimised lighting for both of my cameras and the photographers.

My next task is to get into studio with the main band and one or two dancers to get some really nice nice clean footage to work alongside the live stuff.

I've also asked to attend events at other venues, specifically Minskys and any new places they discover.

I've got a list of people I need to interview at some point, to include The Siren Sisters, a female singing trio, an erotic writer, owner of a new Burlesque clothing store in Cardiff and various dancers.

Back to IronClad

So I managed to get back in for another run of IronClad as Locations Assistant. I was required to assist on several different locations spanned over the month of November. We ended up back at St Donats, on a farm with castle ruins and on a beach. The beach was the most enjoyable. I had a wonderfull view of all the extras in the hazy sunlight walking coming out of the sea, although they weren't too impressed as it involved being freezing cold all day :/

Overall the experience, despite being extremely exhausting, was very enjoyable. I just have to cross my fingers now to see if I made it onto the credits!

Bogiez Halloween

Halloween is almost here, its the biggest night for the rock club I used to work in so I've done a quick teaser promo wiv last years footage as a gift to them.

IRONCLAD

I have just spent the past two weeks working on IronClad as a locations assistant. I got the job through a fellow student from uni who had been there for some of the pre-production.

I spent the first 4 days in St Donats at Atlantic College where they filmed the beginning of the film with rain effects, horses and lots of mercenaries. We then went onto Tretower to another little castle which was dressed up as a market place (it looked amazing!) Then from there we went over to the main studio near Bridgend where they have built a huge castle out of wood and scaffolding, it looks amazingly realistic until you see the back of it..

My role basically involved ensuring access and directions to all locations and sets, getting all the trucks parked up and setting up base locations. There were nasty parts of the jobs, including collecting all the bins and standing around in the pouring rain and mud. But my position meant I was able to communicate with every department such as special effects, art dept, set design, grip, camera, catering, sparks, rigging, transport and steve the chippy. I've met a lot of very talented people and chatted to a few of the big actors, eaten some lovely grub and learnt how to fill and move water bowsers and big trailers.

The heads of our department have been very impressed with my enthusiasm and allowed me to do some things I would never ordinarily get a chance to do. `unfortunately I was let go by the production due to money, I was expendable and the last on in on the job. But they shall be returning to St Donats and a few other locations outside of the set next month and I am confident I'll get called in on those events. As well as that I have been promised more work from my unit manager in a seperate company that provide big vehicles to many other productions, although its not what im training to do its still another foot in the door of the higher end stuff :p

So yeah, hopefully there'll be more news on that :)

ITV Wales

I caught heard of some filming going on in my universities TV studio last week from my course leader. It was for a band I'd helped film previous music videos with before, 'Dirty Goods', with local record label 48V, so I promptly made myself available and requested to attend the shoot as a student. Shortly after freeing up my time the boys at 48V got in touch and asked me to sort lighting out for it anyway, perfect!

So I went along earlier tonight expecting to do a bit of lighting and meet a few staff from ITV, which I did :) Once the lighting was all set up and I'd chatted to the guys for a while the cameraman asked if I'd like to operate a camera, I jumped at the chance!

I'd used the cameras before last year and was quite familiar with them.

So I got a camera on a jib, locked off for some shoots and allowed to go crazy on others :D

Anyway, the music vid of the band and interview will be shown on the Wales Show this Thurs night and I'll have a credit on it.

Quite happy with that result :)

'The Three' complete

Heres a couple of pics of 'The Three'. It is being entered into this and shown on Halloween!

'The Three'

I mentioned recently I was going to work on a short with an acquaintance of mine doing some lighting. Thats come up pretty fast and the two day shoot is nearly upon us. The Crew is tiny, I'm doing all of the lighting, day for night (meaning we film during the day and make it look like night) and have been very strict on insisting on being able to get all equipment. Having such a small crew does mean I dont really have any help, and theres a lot of stuff to set up. So I'm stealing one of the actors (who has also done some camera work with me in the past) to help me out.

Its going to be a messy event as theres lots of zombie gooey slime monsterness going on, which should be interesting....

So, I have the script, I've reccy'd the locations and got all my equipment together. The only thing I'm low on is gels, which is my task for tomorrow.

Only thing left after that is to remember to take my camera and lots of pics when I get a chance :p

Identity Crisis

I had a last minute call today to go cover a camera assistant role in Cardiff (thanks to Luke!) for a short called Identity Crisis. It was only a few hours of basic camera assistant work on the very last day of the shoot, so the crew were all very comfortable with one another and were happy to share one anothers roles when needed, which was nice.

The work was with the new Red Camera, a camera I have seen but not had a chance to use. I had a quick look at how the camera fits together and had a few of my questions answered on some technical bits and pieces I had been curious about. Basically though I was there to do some focus pulling, and with only 1 scene and 4 shots to complete  there wasnt a great deal to do but I did my bit and made a couple of contacts along the way.

which was nice :) 

still doing Stuff

Since Devils Bridge things have been reasonably quiet, however I have still been able to keep myself busy. The documentary I was working on with Gavin Williams has been picked back up since my absence, I have gone out and done a few extra interviews and gained a little extra b-roll. I hope to get this all edited and finished myself within the next month.

Ate Logo Mama english version documentary is almost complete, I'm currently attempting a sound edit and using all the skilled people I know to learn as much as possible in that department to get it right. We have a deadline of mid October and there has been a request for a Portugese version to be sent to Maputo in Mozambique to coinside with the anniversay of Samora Machels death. I for see a few late nights over the following months to get that done :/

Im also off to do some lighting for a short with an acquaintance of mine, we worked together on the DJ Skillkid videos and vowed to work together at some point, he's got a script and intends to put it up for some competitions so I figured now was a good opportunity to work with him.

And between everything for this month I'm looking for more paid work, hopeing something will come up soon, wish me luck! 

And here is the rest of it.

Devils Bridge

So, I had a last minute offer from a former tutor of mine asking if I would like to be a camera assistant for a feature film he has written. I had about three days notice to re-arrange my jobs and ensure I was financially able to run away for three weeks.

The majority of the shoot was based in Cardigan and a few days in St Clears. We were housed in two cottages near the centre of Cardigan, about 20minutes from our main location with actors in one cottage and crew in the other. After being acquainted I pretty much started work as soon as possible.

Once the DoP arrived we sat with the camera and went through all the details like rigging it to hold the matte box, changing the lenses and focus pulling. I went through all the kit (there was a lot) and organised it so I knew where everything would be.

The camera we used was the EX3 with a Letus lense adapter and many different lenses. We used the adapter at the beginning and end of the shoot, however there were a few problems in the middle and unfortunately it had to go back to London for repair due to some gunk on the mirrors causing constant vignetting on various shots :/

Anyway

The following weeks were hectic and long, but lots of fun. I got stuck into a bit of everything, my main duties were the clapper board, loading and unloading, taking care of batteries and following instruction on lighting setups. I also helped out with the Jib, set up dolly tracks and rigged up the car with both lights and bonnet mounts. 

The experience was amazing, I have taken so much away from it all in both technical skills and also personal development and I hope I impressed a few peeps along the way.

The trailer for the movie and information can be found here

Im not currently on the crew list, but then neither is the runner and makeup person, I should probably enquire into that. But it shall be released next year some time on DVD and I'll get my name on the credits :D

There was also a blog with some photos from one of the producers here

Enjoy!

Fiction Factory/Tinopolis

I had a call from DoP Luke England at Tinopolis recently to be involved with another short to be made with some of the staff from Fiction Factory. The shoot was based in Porthcawl both outdors and in a dated house. It was a 2 day shoot over a weekend and I was to be assisting in lighting and general camera stuff where needed. 

The piece is

 called 'The Cornet Player' and was about a man who turned himself into h

is elderly father, thats about as best I can describe it. 

The organisation was great, I was given all information on the shoot in order to pre-light each shot under the direction of Luke and of my own accord w

hen he was busy. As I am familiar with all of the equipment we were using it was extremely simple to just get on with things, even changing a bulb on an awkward lamp without having to ask for help :p I pretty much got on with what needed to be done and apparently made a very good impression. Everyone was very appreciative for my assistance and the crew as a whole were a pleasure to work with. 

The final piece is still currently in grading but once 

completed it shall be submitted to a number of film festivals. I cant wait to see it :D

cyfle

Through my course leaders contacts I managed to get involved with the production of a short video piece with the students involved on a Cyfle course. I was introduced to John Shackleton, the director of the piece who arranged for me to assist with the filming process and a brief part of the pre-production. The piece was called 'Sleep Tracks' and was about a girl awakening in a dream state where she travelled through various doors to different scenarios from a bedroom which linked through audio to resolve in her awakening from a bicycle accident. 

The shoot had a number of locations, a large part was played within the Atrium in Cardiff then moved onto an outdoor shoot in a large open disused space and finally at a hospital. In order to create the bedroom the art dept had created a set out of flats in a small studio at the Atrium where I assisted in altering the set for each shot and special effects. The lighting was preset but I also helped out in re-lighting in a small part when needed. I assisted in a similar manner throughout the shoot in each location.

My main role on the shoot was to pretty much help out where needed, moving gear, rigging and de-rigging. I took instruction from the 1st AD and the Art Dept. It was a 2 day shoot and passed quickly. I had been involved with one days pre-production where I watched the casting decisions for the actors and helped source some props.

 Overall it was a simple set up for myself, I got to observe much of what the other students were learning and found my skills from my previous degree very helpful with regards to the art dept.

The final video is to be submitted to the BBC to be shown on the big tv screen in Cardiff city by the St Davids Centre and I'm assusming it may hit some film festivals at some point. I guess I'll find out soon enough.

Anyway, you can find it here

Showreel 2009

Ate Logo Mama

A friend I made during my FCP course last year contacted me recently and asked if id like to be involved in an editing job. He was leaving the job due to gaining employment elsewhere yet had done all of the ground work leaving final editing left to be done.

I took up the opportunity in order to create a few more contacts and stretch my editing skills. After viewing the footage it was apparent the enormity of the work that had been done previously in simply capturing and laying out a rough cut. There were 60 tapes recorded and a large number of archived files and images. 

My task is to bring the rough edit into a final piece. Although the foundations were laid and it looked like a fairly straight forward task it has become quite challenging to go through, not that that puts me off at all, i've found it very interesting.

The documentary is about the life and history of Samora Machell, the first president of Mozambique who was killed in an aeroplane crash in 1986 that was never explained. The documentary features key political members from the time, close friends of Samora and his widow Mama Graca Machell, now married to Nelson Mandella.

The process of editing on my own projects has normally involved working either on my own or with one other person after filming together and constructing the concepts and ideas together.

For this project I was arriving half way through and into a subject I was completely unfamiliar with. As well as that, there is a very large percentage of the documentary spoken in Mozambican and Portugese. I have a translater available to me and will eventually need to subtitle everything. The biggest challenge is refining the whole documentary directly alongside its creator.

 
My input is welcomed very much in every aspect of the project, and seeing it with 'fresh eyes' enables me to be more constructive and opinionated. I feel I do spend a lot of time explaining what and why I request to do certain things and have often chagned things drastically back and forth to demonstrate the effect of certain editing techniques, or just simply changing the narrative slightly in places so that it fits better to a viewer who may not be very familiar with the subject. 

However, the creator of the piece has worked through the entire documentary from start to finish, when one is so involved in a project it is easy to try and 'over edit', this is really what I feel is the most difficult thing in honest. In a sense I am employed by this person to edit his work and follow his instructions, and despite his PhD and indepth knowledge of the subject, there have been occasions where I have had stop and discuss particular ideas and put forward my feelings that certain things may be 'too much'. Luckily I dont see this as such a bad thing, the experience itself has been invaluable, all of my opinions seem to be highly regarded and so far every discussion has been discussed, each idea tried and tested and an outcome agreed. 

Mentally it has been challenging yet very interesting in working in this manner as I have not had to do this to such a level in recent months. Currently the documentary has had its first half hour completed and there are a further 20-30minutes left to do. Ultimately the plan is to take the documentary to festivals and be credited for them, any money made has also been offered to myself although nothing is on paper yet. At the moment I see this as an opportunity to gain some experience and credit whilst making new contacts of which I do hope to work with again in the future.

Working with Sarah Campbell

On my course at University there are two students, myself and Sarah Campbell. Where I am simply just a student doing part time work on the side to support myself, Sarah works as a Digital Media Co-Ordinator with Torfaen County Borough and uses her training at university to develop her role at work.

It had been discussed previously that I would be welcome to attend some of her filming events and to work as camera man. The orgional project that I was going to attend has not yet made it to a stage where I would be able to be involved. However, after working with our tutor on a different project and being present for the discussion on how the filming had not yet been completed, I advised that I could be available to help her continue the piece.

The project was to advertise a secondary schools peer mentoring scheme. The video would be written and acted out by the students and staff from the school. It would be sent to primary schools in the area in order to encourage younger pupils to attend the secondary school knowing that they would not be alone and people would be there to help them throughout their education in all matters.

 On the evening before I contacted Sarah to confirm I would be available, she arranged to pick me up with all equipment already in her car.

During the car journey she filled me in on all of the scenes that needed to be completed and a brief over view of the project. I was shown a story board and well plan out timetable for the the day. With these things in place, everything from arrival went very smoothly. I did all of the filming on that day, we both shared sound and lighting, with Sarah on boom when needed and us both agreeing lighting setups. The students were wonderful and everyone was extremely co operative. For a short period some students came to watch and together we got them involved with holding reflector boards, boom sticks, listening to sound and guarding lights!
It was a different experience to be working with younger people, I was pleasantly suprised at how attentive they were and full of ideas and suggestions as well as understanding concepts such as 'consistency'. In the past, working with younger people was not something I was concerned about but at the same time I had not gone out of my way to work with anyone from schools. From doing this I would welcome children to participate more and will consider working with them more than I did before.

The Royal Albert Hall with 48V

I was approached by Eliot from 48V in March asking wether I would like to travel over to london and be part of the camera crew filming a large choir at the Royal Albert Hall. Well of course I would! The event was on the 25th April, we would collect equipment and travel down the day before, do a full day at the RAH and then travel back at night. I booked all the neccesary time off from work and even had my younger sister re-arrange her family birthday visit so that I could attend this fab opportunity.
However, in the weeks approaching the 25th April Eliot got in touch with me and told me that the budget had been reduced for the event and that he would be unable to involve me in the project.
I very nearly accepted this as an unfortunate loss of opportunity and carried on about my business, but since I had re-arranged my sisters birthday plans I decided that I couldnt let this one go. I contacted Eliot and explained that I had made a number of sacrifices to get to this particular gig. He agreed that it would be shame not to take me and offered to look into it as there was still one more place on the sound crew, either he could move onto sound or I could go and learn that area. I was happy with either since the work experience in either department would be of great use to me.

So i got in on the gig, we confirmed travel arrangements and Eliot organised for me to help with sound and rigging, woohoo!

On the day itself we arrived early and had a look around the venue. Nick was to be my 'boss' for the day and he instructed me where to run XLRs and where we should put various microphones. My biggest issue was not being so familiar with sound, I struggled with remembering names of certain microphones but was open about it and asked for assistance whenever needed. The set up was huge, XLRs had to be run from the subbasement, up to the basement then out onto the stage and to each microphone. we also had mics hanging above the crowd and an additional person setting up a PA who needed to split off from all of our feeds. It did take a while. 

Once everything was set up we stayed in our recording studio backstage during rehearsal do make sure everything was working properly. As soloists came out to practice I went out to coach them on where to stand to get the best sound. We also discussed any movement with the artists and arranged for microphones to be moved during the gig. Nick drove the desk for the gig and I moved microphones around between listening in. 

The event ran smoothly and de-rig was done as quickly and then we headed home, back to Wales. Being involved in this event in a department I have never really delved into before really did feel very daunting at times. I had mentioned to Eliot and Nick that I would take on some training before the event if needs be, despite assuring me I wouldnt need it I do feel that i could have taken away a lot more from the experience. I did however get a good look at what happens in the sound department, when working with cameras it can be easy to gloss over the sound when theres someone else to do it. I now take a lot more interest in whats going on. My assertiveness when on my own hasnt changed as much but I am more capable of helping out with sound when needed, which is never a bad thing :)

Tinopolis

I've recently been undertaking some work experience with Tinopolis, a large independent media company that produce content for the Welsh TV channel S4C. I have been working alongside lighting cameraman, Luke England, a contact and friend I have been introduced to through working with the music videos at 48V.

I was extremely privileged to gain this opportunity as the channel it makes programmes for and the business itself is almost completely Welsh speaking and, more often than not, will only allow Welsh speakers to work with cameramen and with general content of the production. This is due to the fact that everything both behind and in front of the camera is predominantly in Welsh, without knowing the language you are not only unable to communicate with colleagues and talent but are unable to pick up cues in dialogue or understand fully exactly what is going on in the shot without translation.

Being from England I have very little knowledge of the language and had picked up a series of podcasts for beginners to get an idea of the language and pick up some niceties so as not to come across as completely ignorant to the language.

I met up with Luke on the first day at Tinopolis and had a quick tour of the premises. The building itself contains a tv studio on the lower floor which is in use twice a day broadcasting local news and general interest, Wedi3 and Wedi7. There is also a second smaller studio for a Welsh childrens programme and an animatronics department working alongside this. There was also all the neccesary areas such as main gallery, editing suites, props, stock and lighting dept. The area I was to be operating in for the majority of my time at Tinopolis would be the camera crew dept. I was to be part of a team of cameramen and soundmen who would go out to various locations throughout the day filming short pieces to be aired on Wedi3 and Wedi7. Location shoots would also include SNG's (Satellited News Gatherings) which would be fed live through satellite in the evenings for Wedi7.
Luke, myself and our sound bloke spent the first day working on two stories, one of which was in a school and another at a writers house in Camerthenshire, both were about international Book Day. I jumped to action straight away and helped set up the tripod/sticks and asked about lighting requirements which was apparently quite impressive, woohoo!
For the following weeks everyshoot had the same sort of layout. Pick up and check equipment from the Tinopolis Office, head out to the location, set up, shoot and de-rig and go onto the next plece until it was time to pack up and head back to the office. Every location would hold a differnt challenge, from sleet to too much sun then smallest room ever to huge places with power points too far away. Whenever lighting was required Luke would tell me what he wanted and I'd get on with it, he would discuss the layout with me and I'd identify possible shots with him.
Whenever Luke was unavailable to go out on location with I would spend time in the studios observing. I found this a little tiresome as I prefer to be more involved and hands on, however previous work experience people at Tinopolis have very much taken a back seat and watched everything happen around them, therefor the staff at Tinopolis, at times, would disregard me and just leave me to watch. I would make an effort to try and get involved but unfortunately the language barrier would also get in the way, so on a few occasions I was left on a couch watching rehearsals and live shoots with a radio and no idea what was going on. However, I did manage to get upstairs to the main gallery to watch some chromakey. The gentleman I was with at the time mostly worked with graphics and computers and was continously getting green bounce back on the talents face and couldnt figure out the problem. I quickly demonstrated my skills by piping up and telling him it was lit badly and how to rectify the problem very simply by moving the talent further away from the green screen as she was too close, unfortunately that involved resetting all of the lights in a short time and the studio staff weren't up for doing that so the talent was left with a green face. In voicing my opinion and explaining such a simple fault I did gain the respect of that staff member who has since seen me around Cardiff and asked me to return. Which is nice.
All in all my time at Tinopolis was lots of fun, I feel that I came out of the experience with a lot more confidence in both areas of camera and lighting. 

In working with Luke I really learnt the pace of the job. I was aware of how quickly a shoot can be and the time constraints involved at times but that doesnt prepare you for the real thing. I adapted very quickly though and made sure that I kept up with the pace and, at times, pleasantly suprised people at how quickly I could help de-rig. The variation of camera shots and techniques I learnt with Luke really helped develop the way I work, I've seen a huge improvement in myself with both technique on the day and end results am very pleased with how quickly I took on board all advise and made it my own.

With lighting I think confidence was really the key, i've been full of it since begining University but I took a bit more away from Tinopolis purely from seeing how quickly and easily things can be done when needed, its comforting to know that although taking time and really getting indepth with lighting is something that is hugely important at times, its still just as good to trust in your instincts, wack a light up and get the job done and having it work just as well.

I loved the pace, the environment and the staff at Tinopolis. This is most certainly a field of work I shall be trying to get into as soon as possible!!

Mickey Gee

So, a friend of mine, Gavin, asked me if I could help him out with filming a gig at the Globe. It was for a memorial gig to remeber local guitarist Micky Gee. I jumped at the opportunity and arranged for plenty of equipment and organised a crew of my own to help out. Clive joined me to do sound and I asked Rhod and Andy (both of whom worked with me on DJ SkillKids videos) and Gavin had all the contacts so I left him to arrange interviews and he requested to do all of the editing. I also arranged to use this as a final project towards University.
So the night was fairly random, Gavin had arranged for some guy named 'Steve' to record sound seperate to us, turned out though he was useless and didnt know how to work his own equipment. Luckily Clive sorted mine out as soon as he realised Steves desk wasnt recording anything. To go with this, Rhod and Andy didnt show up, despite telling me they'd be there. So i did all the filming pretty much on my own. I had two cameras, one static and one for me to roam with and do interviews.
The interviews we did turned out very nice, and the live shots were mostly good although the persone in charge of stage lights kept using a horrible blue light which kept flattening everything. Overall though we got some good footage and Gav took it off to edit. We also met up later n the month to get some more interviews at peoples houses, which looked lovely. Unfortunately, despite arranging deadlines and stressing the fact that I was using this to help with University, Gavin has not done any editing so far, partly due to some personal issues he's dealing with at the moment, but after not meeting the deadlines I have become seriously concerned about his commitment. So I was forced to sit down and edit a taster piece on my own.. I have also sourced footage of Mickey and arranged voice overs with Clive, but there is still a huge amount to do. Theres a disc full of old photos of Mickey that we need to get our hands on, I need to make sure we can get rights on footage acquired and do a full edit of the thing. The idea was to approach local tv stations and to distribute the footage to friends and family of Mickey. We'll see how it goes I guess!

more with 48v

wow. I have been super busy.

So my work with local record company 48v has continued. I have had a few sessions with them doing various things. We have worked on a green screen vid for a very silly song, which featured Tony Blair, some Pilots, sexy dancers and a fisherman. It was loads of fun and more importantly I learnt very quickly how to light for green screen. When i say learnt all i really did was a quick read up and discussed it with my tutor at university, then the rest was just practice. The video has not been edited together yet as far as i am aware, but  I hope to get a copy of it when its done, just for laughs mostly.

Another project we have been working on is a video for new band 'Dirty Goods'. The track is amazing and to go with it the guys at 48v came up with a concept of having dancers but lots of big close ups and out of focus shots so you couldnt tell that your looking at the female body all too often, so nice and abstract. We did two shoots, one with a single girl, then another with a group of girls and a couple of different lighting set ups. The video has been completed and looks awesome. see for yourself :p

48v videos

here are some of the videos that were done with local record label 48v at the Atrium. I've been doing camera and lighting with em :p

DJ Skillkid

So I agreed to do some more stuff with DJ SkillKid (one of the boys in the 'I aint drunk' video). He requested a location shoot at Raffles Bar in Treforest. I foresaw this as turning into complete chaos if it wasnt managed correctly.

The director for the shoot was the same guy who didnt show up to the last one.  He showed up to this one, although despite two meetings of running through what was going to happen on the day he managed to confuse the hell out of all of us. The actual shoot was a mess.  The director messed up his bookings with the cameras so the whole thing very nearly didnt happen as well.

There was no clear direction and no one was managing all the guests and crowd that we

re walking all over the place. The caera men didnt know what they were doing, I was struggling constantly to find out what was being shot so I could move my lights, it was hell.

I was doing the lighting, I took more than enough HD lights with dimmers, plus 2 red heads, reflectors, trace, gaffa and sandbags. Over all my job was succesful, everything was lit despite the chaos and no one got hurt and nothing was broken. My 

worst fear was seeing one of the lights being knocked off a balcony onto someone head :/ luckily that never happened. 

The shoot was completed though and poor SkillKid (real name Reggie) had managed to get through it all despite the fear and panic he was suffering from the thought that it would not get completed.

However the 'director' has run off with the tapes and Reggie feels he needs more for the video, I've arranged for some camera and lights for him to do a shoot in the music studio in March and he wants to do some rooftop shots as well. I'm off on work experience in March so I may not be available to help out. But everyone has agreed never to use that director ever, ever again. 

Heres the final video for 'I Aint Drunk'. I did some directing and lighting. not overly impressed now I look back on it at the lighting. But then it was my first time in the studio and I can see where improvements are needed.

I have the music for the Diem/ Resonance video to start editing too and have a few personal and uni work vids to post shortly.

Diem

music video which was recorded and blogged in octoberish. all edited and done. the band were called diem, then resonance and now they've gone back to 'Diem'

so here is 'drain me' by Diem.