OUDF602: Upcoming Event | ASFF: Aesthetica

November has a number of relevant events to attend, the next one I'm attending being ASFF: Aesthetica Short Film Festival in York St John University. 

ASFF is an established and dynamic player on the UK film festival circuit, the Aesthetica Short Film Festival (ASFF) is a celebration of independent film from across the world, and an outlet for championing and supporting short film making. The festival champions film making talent from across the world, spanning all genres from Comedy to Drama; Animation to Documentary and Art to Experimental Films.

There is a 3 day weekend festival that features a lot of screenings. Student tickets are available to full & part-time students & the prices are 

• £27 for a 3 day pass
• £13.50 for a 1 day pass
• £8.50 for individual masterclasses

Masterclasses include:

• BAFTA nominated Supervising Sound Editor Joakim Sundström, he will discuss the principles of sound editing and design, drawing upon his extensive experience working on Oscar and BAFTA winning films. 
• Barry Ryan on Warp Films
• Tom Leggett n Film Production
• Alice Lowe on Screenwriting
• Hussain Currimbhoy on Documentaries
• Lisa Bryer from Cowboy Films
• Tandem on Animation
• Susie Wright from Channel 4
• Maggie Ellis from Film London
• Craig Mcneil on Music Videos
• Chris Thomas on Directing
• & there will also be panel discussions from all of them.

I'm looking forward in purchasing tickets to some of these masterclasses, sadly a few of them have already been sold out as there were high demand for them. 

OUDF602: Writing Invoices for Freelance Work | PPP3

During the summer holidays I was working as a freelance photographer at 3 different locations. These locations were Halo, Space & Bar Room Bar, I was working for a client called Voodoo events who organise one of the biggest nights for students in Leeds. 

To get paid, I had to provide them with an invoice that included such details as my name, address and VAT number (not registered) plus the name and address of my client. Also I included the date! This ensured that if payment was not received, I'd have proof of when I submitted it to them.

Item/Description was another factor to concisely describe exactly what work I had done for them, in this case it was for photography services, editing & sharing the pictures on their social page for promotion. 

This was my first time doing this type of practice & I believe it has helped me prepare for the professional world as a post graduate if I decide to be self employed & own a small business. 

OUDF601: Structure / Chapter Plan

Are Visual Effects Improving or Damaging Film? 

My Extended piece of writing will consist of the following possible chapters.

Abstract: This part will be the whole essay condensed into a paragraph, it will consist of the main problem addressed, the solution offered and the conclusion reached. 

Introduction: Are Visual Effects Improving or Damaging Film? This will be the central driving question and theme of the essay. This is where I will present the question or problem that the essay will try to solve, I will demonstrate my competence at researching a topic at a professional level and present my findings in an appropriate manner. 

I will also explain how and why my essay is structured the way it is (chapters). This will insure that reader understands why I'm giving particular information. 

Main body of essay | First discussion. 

How do Visual Effects Improve Film?: Here I will talk about numerous films that have been successful due to the beauty & art that visual effects provided.  I will talk about films that can't be done practically without the use of VFX.I will also talk about the companies who work tirelessly to make this happen, I will have to include the industry practitioners who are willing to provide information about how they go about doing their job to constantly improve the quality of the computer generated imaging we see on screen. These will include, directors, VFX supervisors, compositors, animators, editors, actors etc. The films I wish to talk about are Pans Labyrinth (Pale man, Fann, the subtle use of VFX & mostly SFX), Life of Pi (Using a CG tiger as to using a real one), Gravity, Elysium, Avatar, Transformers trilogy, 300, Sin City and more.

Second Discussion.

How do Visual Effects damage Film?: Here I will present the argument and explain how visual effects actually damage film instead of improve it. Finding information on published material for this argument has proved tough, this is where research methodologies come in. 

Quantitative & qualitative research will be useful at this point, I will create questionnaires which do not have leading questions but refined questions that will genuinely engage the people with my research. The responses will enable me to evaluate what others think & they will help me construct my argument with more validity as to what other people's views are on the subject. 

Conducting Interviews is one of the best ways to conduct this investigation, by interviewing appropriate people such as industry practitioners through emails and also interviewing my fellow colleagues and my tutors will help me with this investigation. 

Criticism of VFX

Third Discussion.

The Progress of VFX & what it can achieve:

OUDF601: Level 6 CoP3 | The Beginning.

Before we broke up for the summer holidays, we were briefed on a new module for our third year study called Context of Practice 3. In this module we are to write a 6000-9000 word essay which is the same as a dissertation but it's an extended piece of writing due to the fact that we have to produce a synthesised practical with it. 

We were given a massive head start to begin our research, this was 3 months prior to handing in our final proposals. What i liked about the brief of this module is the fact that we can write about anything that interests us, it doesn't have to relate to any studio concerns. To make the most out of my study, I had to relate it to what I'm specialising in on my my 3rd year & my speciality is Visual Effects & focusing solely on digital compositing in post production for Film & TV.

My initial essay proposal was 'The Evolution of Visual Effects in Media', the feedback I received from this was that the subject matter was way too broad. So over the summer this led me to do a lot of research that would help me conclude to a good topic. This led me to read a number of undergraduate dissertations to learn styles and structuring of writing an appropriate extended piece of writing. I also Read journalistic articles and various academic papers  from Academia.edu & some on Google Scholar, as well as  blogs. Doing observation research such as watching relevant films also help to an extent, these were past & present films, this also led me to watching various interviews of industry practitioners.

I was recommended a good book to read over the summer & it's called 'Special Effects : An Oral History by Pascal Pinteau', the book is a good read & it features interviews with the practitioners who worked on big films such as The Matrix, Jurassic Park, Terminator 2, Star Wars, E.T to name the least. It covers a series of interviews from the big names in the industry, Early movie SFX to today’s big blockbusters VFX, it’s a good read, it’s filled with great history & good insights that are otherwise hard to find. 

With all the reading & thinking during the holidays, I came up with a new title for my extended piece which is less broad & has a much focused question. My new title is 'Are Today's Visual Effects Improving or Damaging Film'. I feel much better writing about this essay as I now know exactly what to focus on, my mission now is to think of an appropriate practical idea to combine with this essay for synthesis.