Camera Angles & Shots

During my instructional video I used a lot of extreme close up and close up shots. Before shooting the footage, I did some research by watching various 'how to' videos on vimeo and youtube that used a lot of close up or extreme close up shots. Here is one example:





The clip above also used a birds eye view angle. On a large scale this can be done by mounting a camera onto a crane to achieve the best results. In films CU or Close up is known for capturing the whole of the subjects head and face where as XCU or extreme close up is known for capturing facial features and small detail.

Here's an example image of basic camera shots:

6-12-11 Lecture Notes PPP

These are the lecture notes I wrote on the lecture about Evaluations, the lecture was conducted by bridget March.I picked up some really important tips on the lecture and I shall be using them to my advantage.

One min Instructional Video

On this brief I was required to produce a 1 minute instructional video about anything.
I had a series of ideas in my head but i decided to go with the most interesting one about the candle. The final outcome of the video isn't exactly what i wanted as i couldn't access the equipment i needed due to security reasons. I developed more skill in film production as i handled everything myself, from pre-production to post-production. What I did not like about his video is the environment and the lighting behind it, I filmed everything at home so I couldn't get access to professional lighting nor backdrop. Non the less, during my Crit I received a positive response about the video, I guess we're all our own worst critics.


Watch the video below, go & try out the trick for yourself and enjoy.

The Weeknd : The Knowing

I came across this music video by a new up and coming artist known as The Weeknd. His video is directed by a visionary director named Mikael Columbo. The video uses cutout animation techniques using flat two dimensional photographs taken from a Canon Camera scanned into a computer & then animated. What intrigued me about this video is the way they told the story. It is a bit difficult to understand at first so I will also post the full analysis right after the video.






Part 1 : In the distant future the year 16311(666) Abel (the weeknd) (depicted as a reincarnation or descendant or genetic recreation of Hailie Selasi) is the world leader after Ethiopia became the planets super power, and he was given power by aliens (Anu Naki?). ( Arc of the Covenant which is still rumoured to nest in Ethiopia)

Part 2 : He is betrayed by an un-loyal woman,(who sold her body and soul to the devil for wisdom and power)(or chose to be the flesh rather than the spirit as the entity was also half man half beast) and as a painful revenge turns his body guards on her to do as they please (to her and her two clones?). The woman's scorn divides the planet into two placing them worlds apart 233km (666)

Part 3 : After successfully stealing his heart the Anu naki return and revive him so that he may retrieve what is his, and continue to be the king to the people that he is.
Now depicted as a Christ like figure even the animals submit to him. (Silasi was said to ride a lion as a child) His heart was strong and only knew love, thus it was stronger than the woman's scorn and hatred.

Part 4 : Some symbolism that may get overlooked.
-A Centaur is a symbol of the enlightened, those who are aware of the true self. (Those who know everything)
-The Arc of the Covenant is a symbol of ultimate power. The one who controls it controls all.
-Selasi is the embodiment of a black king, and viewed by many as a Christ
-Owl's represent wisdom (not evil)
-Horns represent the devil.

Part 5 : 666 is NOT an number of evil, rather reference to melanin (carbon) which consists of 6 protons 6 neutrons and 6 electrons. (Melanin frequently viewed as a powerful substance in metaphysical teachings)
-When separated his phallus fell and her valley's blew baron and cold

-The seal over the mouth represent silence being broken, now he's telling what he knows. "he knows everything"

Part 6 : A few hints at what roll Caucasians played in this story, when the seal over their mouth was broken people we murdered.
-Three glowing rings on his hand represent the holy trinity. (Haile Selasi means "Power of the Trinity")
-More obvious are references to the lion of Judah
-A brief clip of an assassins knife passing by as the temple crumbles indicates a set up of sorts.
This video deserves a university case study.

Source : Ishmil Waterman

PPP : Uncharted 2 Review

Due to the release of the third game in the Uncharted series, I thought I'd review the second one as I've just completed playing it. Yes I know, I'm late.


This game has a massive 26 gripping chapters of which I enjoyed them all, it takes at least 12-15 hours just to complete the story mode alone. It took me exactly 12 hours to complete it on the hard level so I feel proud of myself. The first Uncharted, Drake's Fortune was enjoyable but it lacked a certain spark necessary to make it an instant classic. This sequel takes everything it has and enhances it to a whole different level.


The Animation & Graphics : 

The animation and graphics to this game are defiantly one of the best in terms of realism that I've scene being run on the PlayStation 3 engine. For example when you decide to to dip in a pond or a river, your clothes get saturated and the light bounces against the material in such a realistic way. You can see the individual threads on the garments. They also added a snow engine to this game & it works perfectly with the mountain environments. The frame rate runs smooth on the screen as I did not witness any lagging, very important for online players and the screen resolution used is 1280x720p.

Game play : The most important part of any game is obviously the game play and this game definitely delivered. It featured gun play of course, as you will be battling with Lazarevic's army, it offered stealth missions, Prince of Persia style wall climbing and also of course the puzzles. Just like on the first Uncharted, you get a surprise of non human creatures attacking you, this time they were protecting the Mountains of Shambala. There are other things added to this game that made it seem like it was a blockbuster movie such as battling enemies while you're on moving vehicles, huge explosions, battling a chopper while you're escaping a collapsing building or trying to rescue yourself from a train which is literally hanging off a cliff.  

Characters & Voice Acting : 

The voice acting from all the characters is stunning, all the emotions they portrayed were on point and I can gladly say it is one of the best voice acting i've heard in gaming so far. During most cut-scenes, It felt like I was watching a live action sequence, I like how they used a mixture of accents such as, American, British, Russian and Australian accents.

Overall Verdict : The best way to describe this game is it is literally a blockbuster film, only you get to control the actions of Drake. The story is very engaging, it includes suspense, romance, thrills and light banter every now and then. I high recommend it to any PlayStation 3 owner and i'm fully confident that the third game will deliver an even better experience. 10/10

PPP : 127 Hours Review

On my recent visits to the library, I encountered a film that I've always wanted to watch. 127 Hours is a spectacular true story about a man who went to seek adventure in the wild, alone, without telling anyone. I think you can pretty much sum up what's going to happen after that. He emerged after five long days without an arm and dangerously dehydrated. The film spends a considerable amount of time engaging the audience with the character to show what exactly had happened during his time alone in the wild.


This is a true story of Aron Ralston portrayed by James Franco in this plot driven film. The question imposed in my mind was how is the director (Danny Boyle) going to fulfill the plot, considering that 90% of the film has only one character on screen?


What they did was clever, you'd expect to go to the cinemas expecting to see James Franco cut off his arm off with a dull knife for a considerable amount of time, but instead that is not the case. That scene was under a minute long. I was quiet fascinated by how they used juxtapositioning on that scene, they used a feel good song on an un-relating scene. The film is filled with flash backs of himself showing how he neglects his family and how he would change all of that if he had a second chance, the film almost has no dialogue.


The camera angles used where the most interesting part to me, the character's habitat was a very claustrophobic place and seemed impossible to achieve some shots using a very large camera rig. The director even mentioned that some shots had to be filmed on the actual location of the event, which was in the middle of Canyons in Utah. He stated that it took at least 2 hours to transport the cast, crew and equipment by helicopters to get to the actual location, though some of the footage was filmed at the studio.

Below are some of the screen shots I took that show good elements of camera angles : 

Studio Brief 4 : Build - Floorplans

When i started the floor plans I wanted the building to be better than it seems, there's more to it than meets the eye. For example above the building there's an open compartment which helps bring electric power to the building, almost like how solar energy works. The floor plans helped me achieve a different view that you wouldn't normally see when viewing from a simple 2 point perspective view. The blue prints are below :

Studio Brief 3 : Flip-book Animation

After painstakingly crafting my artwork frame by frame onto my flip book, I've finally finished a 12 frames per second animation which ended up being a one second long video. The video below shows my character engulfing flames onto the victim, I hope you enjoy it 

Studio Brief 3 : Animate - Storyboard

Before animating my character, I was asked to create a storyboard which shows the key elements of a moving image sequence, therefore i created three actions. the full animation which i'm going to do on a flip book will be based on this storyboard and it will feature the full in between frames of these three actions.
The first image show my character pointing his weapon of choice at the victim, the second image shows the victim in terror of the pain he is about to endure and finally the last image shows the victim engulfed in flames. 

Jerad S. Marantz

Jerad S. Marantz is a movie and video game concept design artist that has worked on the characters of Zack Snyder's Sucker Punch. His work has influenced me a lot on my character as he also drew Zombie Nazi characters. He mentioned that as he was working on this film he felt like he was designing for four different movies at once, this is because the film has different themes to it as it goes. In this case the Zombie Nazi's theme influenced me the most. Below is a link to his blog where he posts the rest of his work for other projects :

Jerad S. Marantz Blog

Jaime Jones : Concept Artist

Jamie Jones is an experienced illustrator and concept design artist. He's worked for companies such as Warner Bros, Paramount, Blizzard, National geographic and more. His portfolio contains outstanding work that has influenced me in terms of painting my character on photoshop. I particularly like the way he uses colour to make his work look like its been done on traditional canvases. I will use his work as references for my future projects.

Jamie Jones

Lecture Notes :

Studio Brief 2 : Final Character

Below is my final character that i sketched, scanned and painted on photoshop. I also used illustrator on one of them, it was time consuming but the final outcome was a clear and well drawn character. My character is a Nazi scientifically brought back from the dead, he has super human strength and a flame thrower as a weapon.

Back-view of Character

Front-view of Character

Side-view of Character

Studio Brief 4 : Build - Character Space

Below is the development of my environment, i first sketched it on my sketch pad, I then scanned the image on to photoshop for painting it. The environment of my character is a Scientist lab with a capsule in the middle of the room where the character is experimented on. the room is dome shaped and it has a number of controls on the walls that control various features in the room. The capsule has its own power source as it conducts a lot of power.

This is the character space from a different perspective 

Character Development

Below is my character in development, I sketched my character on a plain sketch pad using a mechanical pencil, i find using this sort of pencil easier because it allows you to put more detail into your sketch. I drew a range of character before i ultimately came to a final one I wanted to work on.

Studio Induction : Lighting

On our lighting induction we were shown how to mount enlincrome studio lights, soft-boxes and tripods. we then took a series of images to show our understanding on how lighting can work affect imagery. I was also given a chance to use canon macro lens as the objects I was using as my models were small. The macro lens helped me gain small detail on the images, also it helped me achieve differential focus on my images. Non of the images below have been manipulated on photoshop.


Below is a series of raw images I took using the Canon 1000D

 Above : Differential Focus

 Above : Differential Focus, Macro Lens

 Above : Differential Focus, Macro Lens

 Above : Differential Focus, Macro Lens

 Above : Differential Focus, Macro Lens

Above: Light hitting from the left, creating strong shadows 

Steve Simmons : Concept Artist

Steve Simmons is an influential concept artist, illustrator and storyboard artist. His previously published art is for films such as A Clockwork Orange, 7even Lives & Star Wars. His artwork has influenced me to draw environments which are dark and horror like. Most of his concept art is based on horror films with a lot of blood, gore, heavy rain and dark skies. I'm basing my character in these type of environments. 


Below is the link to Steve Simmons work :

AirWorkArt : Home

Studio Brief 3 : Animate

On this brief i'm required to produce a short story-board which identifies the key elements of moving image elements.

I found an inspiring sequence by a story-board artist called Mark Kennedy. His blog is called Temple of the Seven Golden Camels. He posted story-board art from a scene in a movie from Disney called Tangled. This inspired me to do the same for my flip-book animation


Tangled Story-board Art

Studio Induction : Photography

On this brief I was asked to produce a range of images to demonstrate my ability to effectively use photographic equipment in the resource. I brought in my Japanese origami which originates from the video game called "Heavy Rain", I also used my iPhone which has a Nintendo GameBoy Case on it to use as models. I took a series of 52 images but i'm only going to use 6 of them.


Below is a series of images I took using a Canon 1000D digital SLR camera :

These are raw JPG images & have not been manipulated in anyway