Men of Convention 2012 cut - Launched on Youtube

This is a directors cut of 'Men of Convention' dedicated to the global uprisings against oppression 2011 - 2012 and beyond. It has been launched today on Youtube for the first time on the significant date of 11/11/11.

This original film was cut for the Virgin Media Shorts 2011 and entered into several film festivals. It screened at the Walthamstow International Film Festival (E17) 2011 and the Portobello Film Festival 2011.

This film is an expression of activity and associations that have been left open to the viewer. You may see that an unseen hand orchestrates a series of covert meetings in remote places or you may just see that unknown men are communicating. Is this a parallel community enacting their plans of deep purpose and unshakable intent or is it normal association and interaction that we would witness if watching unknown people? Like the title 'Men of Convention' the scenes are ambiguous but apparently serious and synchronized.

The cameras used were Canon FS200, Panasonic SDR-S50, Kodak Zi8 (with WVGA setting not HD)

The film was edited entirely through the Linux operating system with open source software, Kdenlive being the chief video editor used. All actors are first time actors and they were filmed in one day at little notice, none of them knew what type of film was being constructed.

For further info on the work of Zayd Depaor see:-

http://zayd-depaor-films.blogspot.com/
http://depaor-art.blogspot.com/
http://depaor-symbolic-photography.blogspot.com/
http://www.facebook.com/zayd.depaor
http://twitter.com/Zayd_Depaor
http://www.youtube.com/user/ZaydDepaor
http://www.youtube.com/user/PathUnseen
http://www.flickr.com/photos/zayd_depaor/
http://www.myspace.com/zayd_depaor
http://www.art-3000.com/artist/zayd_depaor/
http://www.artbreak.com/zayd_depaor

Inspired Thought - Production Still chosen for Portobello Film Festival 2011

Perhaps the largest independent film festival in UK, the Portobello Film Festival selected one of the production stills from 'Inspired Thought' for its 2011 printed and online catalogue/programme. Here is the still:-

You can see why it would have been chosen, it is a beautiful, atmospheric and mysterious location still. Its composition is highly symbolic and a good glimpse at the nature of the film.

This image is suggestive of the wayfarer travelling through one of the corridors of life indicating direction and the light in this symbolic corridor alluding to a guidance and an end purpose. The traveller is surrounded by the ugliness and the necessity of man-made construction and the beauty and necessity of the natural (Divinely Made) world. Note that the trees form an arch, a shelter and a shield whereas the man-made fence is full of gaps and provides no shelter. The path itself falls into shadow and light, but not darkness with brilliant light beckoning at the end of the visible journey.

Sadly, I had not yet launched this blog when the catalogue was published, otherwise the production still along with my film synopsis would have been linked to the blog from the online catalogue.

You can see the online programme here (Inspired Thought is no.275 on page 13):-

http://www.portobellofilmfestival.com/2011/2011-programme.pdf

Inspired Thought - Unseen Version of Jungfrau Director's Cut

This is an unseen version of "Inspired Thought - Jungfrau Director's Cut" This particular version has only been seen by the Smalls Short Film competition, but due to youtube not allowing the Dolby Digital audio codec, the audio has been transferred to MP2. The video codec on this is libx264 (that's H264 for Linux) and unlike the Smalls competition that required .MOV (Quicktime) format, this has been rendered into MP4. Unlike the full version and the other Jungfrau Director's cut, the resolution was set at rendering time to 1280 x 780 with a Pixel Ratio of 64:45, due to competition specifications. The film was originally filmed in PAL (720 x 576 & 25fps) so is not in reality HD. This version was also rendered with Progressive Scanning as opposed to Interlaced Scanning of previous versions. This results in a smoother image but removes the symbolic obscuring of the interlaced scanned image that was deliberately upheld in previous versions.

The Jungfrau Director's Cut was also screened at the Walthamstow Film Festival 2011. The longer version of Inspired Thought can be seen with a Production Still in the catalogue (p.13) for the Portobello Film Festival 2011.

Please do leave your comments and questions concerning anything about this film. Do give me your interpretations of what you have seen. This is a symbolic film aimed at opening doorways within the viewer.

What is the benefit of Film?

There are a large amount of possible benefits to film as well as a large amount of potential harms.

Many will think it a trivial activity and a waste of time and indeed it can be that. But regardless of that reality in many cases, online video takes up much of people's online activity time. I read in an article today that 84% of online activity is video.

Clearly video can be the lazy passive option, no effort of reading and perhaps less pause for thought. Can also be over quickly, eaten quickly like fast food, rather than the more lengthier process of taking in the elements of a painting, diagram or photograph.

A film though can be cleverly constructed to speak to the mind on several levels - by colour, by impression, by suggestion, by movement, by context, by narration, by sounds, by composition, by sequence etc. Once we start to look deeply to the possibilities even within a short video we see many possible paths present themselves. It is similar to the corridors of the mind that are opened on reading a book which inspires contemplation, self analysis and discovery.

The benefits of a film depend not only on the outlook of the filmmaker but also upon the place that film is given within a particular community in addition to the outlook of the individual viewer. Perhaps a filmmaker intends something yet the viewer discovers something even more valuable.

I believe a film is likely to have greater impact and meaning not just with the quality of film made but with the comprehensive approach of the filmmaker concerning objectives and depth of symbolism and communicative imagery and sequencing. If more thought is put into all aspects of the film as language to be understood or even learned by the viewer than the more likely the viewer can have a deeper interaction with the film.

Some well known directors such as Stanley Kubrick are well known for their seemingly obsessive perfectionism on how a scene should be shot and composed so that it would not be abnormal to do dozens of takes to the frustration and fatigue of the actors and crew. This though can be understood by the one who has a very precise message to deliver or a precise atmosphere to create with a medium which possesses so many elements and possibilities and configurations.

A painting is dramatically changed by the introduction of one colour or one object, similar is the case with sketching and the introduction of one element or shade. This dramatic shift in impression is not only concerning the aesthetics but also with regards to the narrowing or expansion of possibilities of meaning.

This takes us to the issue of the viewer understanding what he is watching. If you watch a film with no knowledge at all of its subject matter, style, intent, history and background then it may be like trying to read a book without possessing the language which the book was written in. This is often not the case, a film depending on its type can reveal itself through its own introduction of context and meaning. But some films, especially silent artistic films or deeply symbolic films may be appreciated better when having some idea of the metaphorical language and processes intended. Perhaps a film that was originally considered shallow and meaningless is later discovered to be a masterpiece in its field.

SURFACE BLUR now available on Youtube

SURFACE BLUR - 2.2 Directors Cut

Surface Blur - Jungfrau 2.2 Director's Cut has now been uploaded to youtube, it was screened at the Walthamstow Film Festival 2011.

This film is an example of Abstract Expressionist style in filmmaking/cinematography.

Meaning and symbolism can be explored in the textures, movement, objects and tones.

Decision Time - My Latest Short Movie

I have just finished my latest short movie, its called 'Decision Time.'

I had the idea for this a few months ago, it was one of several ideas for shorts I planned to enter into the Depict short film competition. I ended up running out of time and this was the only one I had a chance of entering as I left it until deadline day.

I shot the film, still planning to enter the competition but as soon as I got it into the editor and saw the length of the opening scene, I abandoned the film competition, as I didn't fancy another hyper hatchet job panic session, like I had with 'Men of Convention.' 

I thought it better just to make the movie with more freedom, rather than squeezing it into the 90 second restriction of the Depict competition.

If I had known that I wasn't going to be shooting this for Depict, then I would have added more scenes but cut them all shorter. I also would have delivered the lines again and spent a bit more time on the camera angles, but overall, as seeing as it was all done in one day, and improvised on the spot, I'm quite pleased with it. And as you all should know by now, as soon as you see those words on the screen 'a Zayd Depaor film', you know you will be seeing something stylish, different or meaningful. See what you think and do let me know.

Men of Convention - Screened at Portobello Film Festival 2011

 

Thanks to Jonathan Barnett, festival director, my film 'Men of Convention' screened last night at the opening party for the Portobello Film Festival in West London.

(click on for larger image)

It was excellent to see Men of Convention on a large cinema screen for the first time.  Festival Director - Jonathan Barnett's verdict on 'Men of Convention': "That was a mad film" ('mad' being insider code for cool/good) But maybe he was just being polite and encouraging a new filmmaker. 

In general the film looked good. Due to my inexperience in anticipating interlaced/progressive scanning compatibility issues, there were some interlacing scan artefacts on the moving images, but it doesn't really hinder the overall impression and style of the film, and it can easily be adjusted with forced progressive scan in post production editing (I hope) if someone demands those artefacts to be removed. The interlacing artefacts are not a problem in my eyes in my other two films (Surface Blur & Inspired Thought), where the effect adds to the symbolism of the films.

The Pop Up cinema, for those who haven't seen it, is a cross between an open air cinema (a bit like the old American drive in) and a normal indoor one. It sits under the Westway (A40) and it has been cleverly fitted to its surroundings.

I'm sorry to say I was a bit too excited to see my film on the large screen and so didn't take any photographs (also as seeing as my film is only 2:20 mins long, doesn't help when you regularly fumble, struggle and panic with camera settings!) of my film but I did take a shot of another film:-

(click on for larger image)

Filmmakers were welcomed by the film festival team/volunteers (such as the very friendly Maysa Gabrielli and co-ordinator Leona Flude) and free drinks were served, that helped as I'd been fasting for the previous sixteen hours. There was light rain outside which didn't detract from the event (I love the rain anyway).

I also need to give special thanks to Technician Greg Edwards who allowed me to distract him in the projection booth and had my film up and running at short notice.

The Portobello Film Festival which starts properly on September 1st is an excellent opportunity for new and independent filmmakers to get their films screened and unlike most other festivals, there are no fees to pay. The festival also has free entry.

My film 'Inspired Thought' should also be playing at the festival on 6th September between 6-11pm at Westbourne Studios, like the Pop Up cinema its also on the Acklam Road. I will try and get 'Men of Convention' to get another airing along with my other film 'Surface Blur - Jungfrau 2.2 Director's Cut'

[a scene from 'Inspired Thought']

Filmmakers who get their films shown at the Portobello Film Festival need to be grateful to the organizers for a number of reasons:-

1) Film festival submissions are extremely costly, pricing a lot of potential low budget film makers out of the circuit. This is free, big difference.

2) The festival has a relaxed atmosphere unlike some of the more formal festivals which can intimidate newcomers.

3) The festival has volunteers contributing their time, expertise and talents so that filmmakers can exhibit and develop.

4) The festival allows you to connect with a lot of fellow filmmakers, film fans and other industry contacts.

5) The festival allows you to see your movie on cinema scale and discover issues that may not have been initially apparent.

6) The exhibiting of your films allows you to get some non-biased feedback.

7) The festival allows you to watch a lot of new films from diverse filmmakers, this can influence, inspire and encourage your own ideas and visions. 

So once again, thanks to Jonathan and the rest of the film festival volunteers for facilitating this motivational event and opportunity.

Twilight Gathering in True Colour (Men of Convention)

This is a frame from the final twilight gathering scene in Men of Convention. This is how the sky looked in real life and how it was accurately captured by the Kodak Zi8. [NOTE: you can click on the image above, as with all the images on the blog, to display them full size]

I loved the sky colour so much that I considered abandoning my original intention to render the final film into black and white. The scene still looks great in black and white, but there is no denying the added atmosphere and beauty the scene possesses in its original true colour. Compare with the same scene below:-

There is nothing like the twilight to inspire creativity, reflection and the atmosphere of mystery.

It is capturing scenes like these and a sky like this that makes photography and cinematography such a joy. We are treated to a thousand moving paintings a day in the changing colours and patterns in the sky but we are so busy with our lives on the ground with our focus directed down and not up, so we miss the continuous beauty that is formed above us. 

I know this is a filmmaking blog and not an art blog, but the original twilight sky colour reminds me of the atmosphere in one of my paintings 'Faaliqul Habbi wan Nawaa' [Cleaver of the Seed and the Fruit Stone]. See what you think:-

Cameraman Gymnastics for Twilight Gathering scene (Men of Convention)

This shot of the final gathering or 'convening' at twilight  (Men of Convention) was not the most comfortable to film. Like I mentioned in my 'Twilight Gathering' post earlier, this was filmed from three angles, this one above the main angle. 

To get this particular angle, you can see by the raised foreground at the bottom of the picture that the camera is actually positioned on the downward slope of a river bank. This was from the Kodak Zi8 on a cheap but decent tripod. I was positioned below that camera having to stoop down low so that the I would not enter into the frame from the overhead shot of this scene taken from the Canon FS200 positioned at the top of a hill opposite (actually about 2 o'clock from the Kodak's position). 

The main danger was falling into the river, visibility was low and I had to keep in an awkward position and the river bank was laden with loose stones, rocks and soil. It was easy to slip and fall in the river, but my main concern was the camera not falling in the river! 

The other issue, was that I had to direct this scene too and this meant at a certain point the gathering disperses (the very last scene of the film). For that dispersal I had to give a signal which would not be seen on any of the cameras. I had to run along that river bank while stooping down and trying not to fall in and run out of any possible frame and circle the side view camera and then give a hand signal to lead actor Amir Ejaz to disperse. I almost fell into the river but held my footing, does this make me a stunt man for this movie too?

The Twilight Gathering - Men of Convention

 

This is one of my favourite scenes of the film, Men of Convention. To be honest, I thought many of the scenes were excellent, but let us concentrate on this one for now.

For this scene, there were three camera angles, the one above being the main one. It was not intended that we film in such conditions, but we met late for filming (like I said all the actors were called up without any notice nor any knowledge of what they were walking into), and sunset came and then the twilight. I didn't expect the cameras to be able to pick up much and I had brought no lighting along.

This angle here, obviously did not capture much as the camera was distant, up a hill and aimed at the 'gathering' with the grass as the background, so all the ingredients for a barely visible shot, in fact I had to brighten the image in post production editing. However, the murkiness of the picture does not destroy the sequence as again, it adds to the implication of surveillance and the symbolism of covert activity, as well as the multi-dimensional and multi-layered scene portrayal. This was shot on the Canon FS200, but I had not chosen the optimum light capture settings.

This angle above was captured on the Panasonic SDR-S50, and again optimum light capture settings were not selected. The background of thick trees and bushes obviously created the conditions for an even darker picture and less discernible figures. I had to brighten the picture in post production editing.

This though, is the main angle above, captured on the Kodak Zi8. Although the Kodak Zi8 is a high definition pocket camcorder, I did not use its high definition settings, I used it in WGVA (wide VGA) mode, the picture is still good quality and it performed well in the low light conditions. 

The aim of this shot was to capture the gathering silhouetted against the twilight sky and it did that perfectly. Amazingly though, on some displays the brightness of the picture nullifies the silhouetting and all four actors can be made out clearly. When I saw that I was baffled and worried that this shot might be ruined for some viewers if they have bright displays perhaps combined with some software issue that ends up brightening the shot. Therefore, due to this possibility in my final editing of the film I have darkened this shot a little more to lessen the possibility of the silhouetting being lost.

Snapshots of the Cast - Men of Convention

Amir Ejaz - Lead Actor

Amir Ejaz (pronounced 'Aamir' not 'Ameer'), is the main player on the ground in this film, he's the guy introduced in the opening scene, moving with purpose and urgency, the camera zooming on his riverside walk to meet his first contact.

I found his phone conversation portrayal so convincing, I had to ask him whether he was on a genuine call during the filming. He wasn't, it was just a good performance.

Amir is also the first of the four figures convening on the elevated riverbankin the final scene.

Ibrahim Khan - Supporting Actor

Ibrahim Khan, in the real world a fine footballer, who makes a cool looking job of shaking hands here (figure on the left), was pulled in at zero notice but went about his work with good humour and quality delivery. Ibrahim also is one of the four silhouetted figures gathered under the twilight sky in the final scene.

Qasim Ejaz - Supporting Actor

Qasim Ejaz, brother of lead actor Amir Ejaz is a civil engineering undergraduate at the University of Surrey (Guildford). His improvised gestures and expressions here were expertly performed. He made this role his own and now it goes down in history as a five second masterpiece. Qasim appears also strolling to the final twilight gathering of four in the final scene.

Saqib Ali - Supporting Actor

Saqib Ali, fitness fanatic and strength conditioning expert, again, as with the rest of the cast, was pulled in for his acting debut at about five minutes notice. He is our second character to appear in Men of Convention, being our lead character's first contact. Saqib was feeling a bit cold so he commandeered my jacket (he didn't really, I offered it to him, but I have never used the word 'commandeered' in a written sentence before) and it suited his character here well, he also in the second take of his scene put my shades on, and that clearly added to the nature of the meeting and its suggested implications. Saqib is also one of the four figures in the final scene silhouetted against the twilight sky.

Zayd Depaor - Supporting Actor

Well this is me, playing here Mr Stripe Shirt (as seeing as none of the characters in this film have names). I had to shoot all these indoor scenes the night before the film was completed, I thought these indoor scenes up at the last second as a gel to bring the outdoor scenes together. Mr Stripe Shirt seems to me like a No.2 in a hidden hierarchy. The man in the shadows in a hat being No.1

I meet a sinister looking figure in a black leather jacket, at the beginning of the film and again towards the end (in this scene above), who remains faceless for the whole film. In the scene above I stare across at him as I receive the notebook, a look to confirm the seriousness of the work and the mutual desire to see the next phase smoothly implemented.

Why do I keep praising Linux & Linux based apps in my movie credits?

If you have seen any of my movies or youtube 'half baked videos', you will notice there will often be credit given to Linux operating systems or computer applications for Linux.

Why do I do that? I do it because we often take for granted the efforts of those programmers, designers and developers who are facilitating so many things in our lives these days.

Programming and coding is a long thing, takes precision and expertise to be done well and takes a lot of work. But there are those out there who do this for the love of it. Takes all sorts to make a world, thank God.

If you have not taken a look at Linux as an operating system for your computer, I suggest you do it, you might be pleasantly surprised and wonder why you did not try it sooner. Whenever I turn on my pc now, as 'sad' as this seems, I look forward to it. Why? Because I have Linux and I like it. My computer starts up fast and it closes down fast and I don't get any of those hanging shut downs, no waiting for minutes as the computer struggles to close down....in short, Linux is fast, efficient and stable. But not only that, its free (in monetary terms) and open source....meaning the code is open for all to modify, improve etc. Now being open source does not directly excite me because I am not a programmer and wouldn't be able to tell the difference between morse code and C++ code. But indirectly, it does relate to me, as it means all the coders and whizz kids out there are constantly improving and correcting the various Linux operating system distributions and all of the programs that are developed to operate on it.

This means if you want to do graphics, video editing, image editing and all sorts of other things through a computer, then there are hundreds or even thousands of free and quality options available through the platform of Linux. In Linux Mint or Ubuntu, just open up the software centre and you have access to thousands of safe, secure and free  categorised software applications that will be fully integrated with the operating system.

After my third harmful computer crash on MS Windows I decided to make a clean break, a fresh start and look into Linux. Before I had looked I'd always assumed it was only for computer geeks, professionals and programmers. But no, they have developed several (in fact, dozens) strands of it into highly user friendly versions. You can go to the website of any Linux distribution and just download an ISO file which you can burn onto a DVD or CD (or even you can download some versions onto a USB) and can try it out. 

Linux is so cool that you can even be installing it and be browsing the net at the same time (a bit different from being glued to your computer for two hours having to spoon feed info to it every couple of mins as the install program takes over your whole computer, as is the case with some well known dominant operating systems).

If you want to go ahead and install Linux then I advise doing it as a dual boot. That means, keep windows on your machine (just in case you need it for anything, due to its market domination and all things being made to be compatible with it). And you can use Linux for most things while not having any of the hassles and dangers associated with Windows. e.g. On Linux you don't get viruses, this is for a few reasons such as the structure of Linux and administrator permission needed to change key parts of the system. Imagine browsing the net and not having to worry about viruses. You don't have to imagine it, just install Linux.

I am waffling on so that this entry is becoming neither this nor that, not a good listing of why you should have Linux nor a good explanation of its link with my filmmaking. Anyway, the point is all of my film editing as all my other computer related stuff is being done through Linux.

I believe in giving credit to those unknown designers and developers who have made the various Linux distributions (especially my two chosen ones Ubuntu and Mint) so flexible, effective, efficient, stable and cool.

There are quite a few video editors on Linux, keep in mind the developers behind them are usually not getting paid for what they do, they don't have large corporations behind them. Nevertheless, some of these Linux video editors are quite impressive and will probably serve most of your video editing needs.

The main two I use are called OpenShot and Kdenlive. Kdenlive is the more advanced of them but OpenShot is very good and does have its advantages. As seeing as this is not a video editor review, I will just let you take a look yourself if you have a Linux distribution installed. They are both available through the software centres in both Linux Mint and Ubuntu, but you may be better off installing the latest versions by following the installation instructions on the respective websites:-

Here are all the relevant links:-

http://www.kdenlive.org/

http://www.openshotvideo.com/

And for the coolest operating systems:-

http://linuxmint.com/

http://www.ubuntu.com/

And if you need more convincing about the computing reasons to try Linux, then look here:-

why linux is better

Final word of warning, some Linux distributions are so cool and exciting, that with some of their enhancements, such as Compiz desktop effects (hundreds of useful, cool & customisable features like writing fire on your screen in any colour, wobbly windows, desktop cube workspaces etc), you might end up playing with the effects and desktop features all day and not get any work done. This may give you some idea:-

Inspired Thought - How was this flower filmed? And what did it mean?

In Inspired Thought & Inspired Thought - Jungfrau Director's Cut, there is the scene where the 'hat guy' runs past a flower, the flower being in focus and himself and the background trees being a blur. This was deliberate symbolism alluding to beauty in this life becoming the focus for many of us while everything else in life can become a blur. This can have a negative material meaning, i.e. when someone concentrates on the outward beauty and attractions in life and neglects the soul of life or more important deeper issues. It can also have a positive spiritual meaning when the flower is taken as a symbol for true spiritual beauty. When someone discovers the true beauty, meaning and purpose in life or recognizes matters, people or things of genuine value and inward beauty all other matters can become part of the background and almost invisible.

In photography, cinematography this can be achieved by manipulating the aperture, filming distance and zoom. However, when in automatic settings on auto focus (depending on scene mode, [try portrait first], and some other auto settings) you can simply bring the foreground subject to fill the frame and bring it into focus, then just move the frame to include the background which will now be blurry. To achieve the opposite (blurred foreground and focussed background) then do the opposite, frame the background into focus, then pull the foreground into frame.

To be honest though, if you have the time, doing this with manual focus and varying a few other manual settings will be more satisfying to you and will help you understand the underlying reasons better, concerning depth of field etc.

Inspired Thought - What is this in his hand?

In Inspired Thought - Jungfrau Director's Cut and the longer version, there is a scene where there is silence as the sole character runs over the second bridge. A few scenes earlier he had removed his hat while running along the river pathway.

The scene here although appearing in the film 'Inspired Thought' & 'Inspired Thought - Jungfrau Director's Cut' was not actually filmed for those titles. Rather, this filming was extra unintended filming from the film 'Men of Convention'

The assumption on seeing this scene, in the frame above, is that the character has removed his hat and is still carrying it in his hand. In the film, because the scenes change so fast and the character is running, you can't tell what he is holding in his right hand, but you naturally assume it is his hat, removed from the previous scene. But in real life this filming had no connection with the scene of 'hat removal river run.' 

So this was unintended footage, so why is Mr ponytail running? In real life, simply to quickly turn off the camera, it saves memory space on the SD card. And why is he running in the movie? The same reason he is running in all the previous scenes.

I'm quite sure that, if I didn't mention it no-one would ever know. But what is the guy holding in his hand in the frame above anyway?

Men of Convention

This is a link to my film 'Men of Convention' at the Virgin Media Shorts 2011:-

Men of Convention

 

 

 

I would like to know what you think about this film, please register as film fan at the Virgin Media Shorts website, and leave a comment on the film page for Men of Convention. 

Please leave any comments or questions on this blog also. Thank you.

Surface Blur - Jungfrau 2.2 Director's Cut

This is a link to my film 'Surface Blur - Jungfrau 2.2 Director's Cut' at the Virgin Media Shorts 2011:-

Surface Blur - Jungfrau 2.2 Director's Cut 

Please register as a film fan at the Virgin Media Shorts website and let me know what you think of this film. Also leave a comment or question on this blog. Thanks.

Inspired Thought - Jungfrau Director's Cut

This is a link to my film 'Inspired Thought - Jungfrau Director's Cut' at the Virgin Media Shorts 2011:-

Inspired Thought - Jungfrau Director's Cut

Please register a film fan account on the Virgin Media Shorts website and leave a comment, letting me know what you think, or what you get from the symbolism, scenes of the film. Its very interesting for me to know what different people think and what people from different backgrounds think. 

Please leave a comment or question on here too.

Hello everyone, someone, no-one or just myself

Hello to you all, or myself, if no-one is there. This my blog dedicated to issues around my filmmaking.

So far, I have made three short films or four if you include two different versions as two different films. The films I have made are:-

1) Inspired Thought 

2) Surface Blur - Jungfrau 2.2 Director's Cut 

3) Men of Convention

I made another version of 'Inspired Thought' namely, 'Inspired Thought - Jungfrau Director's Cut'. It is significantly cut in size and has a few different sound edits and a couple of scenes have been removed and the beginning differs, the moment of 'Inspired Thought' differs.


This is my first blog page, so I don't really know what to do, it feels like I'm writing a diary or speaking to myself. Well no, it doesn't feel like that, rather that's exactly what I am doing at the moment. This is gradually veering towards some sort of auto-psychotherapy.

Another thing, Ramadan has just started, no food or drink from dawn 4:10am-ish until Sunset 8:50pm-ish.....that's long and in this heat it's quite a mission, likely I will be lacking a bit of energy and stamina for this month, so perhaps a good job, most of this year's film festival dates have passed.....as again today, for the tenth time, I struggled for (all my film entries this year have been last nanosecond dot com) cycling like mad to the latest collection post box to get my entry in on time to be postmarked to meet the latest festival deadline.