I was motivated to put finger to keyboard after being shortlisted for the GFF trailer competition for which I owe a big thanks to the folks at ISO and GFF for being able to read my handwriting and for seeing some potential in my ideas. I hope once I get together with Mark and Clyde at ISO I’ll be able to push the concept in new and interesting directions.

We just had our first project meeting today where we met the lovely ladies of the GFF and the equally lovely Paul from DigiCult who talked us through the aims of the project and how things would progress over the coming few weeks. We also had the chance to share the ideas that got us shortlisted and to hear what the GFF people liked about them. I won’t reveal any of the other entrants ideas as I’m sure they’ll be posting them themselves here on cSta soon, but I will say that they’re all pretty damn good. I have to say I have my work cut out to be in with a chance of winning this!

So, what is my concept for the trailer I hear you all ask!? Well, in the spirit of this website I’ll post my entire pitch for you to read through.

Concept

Glasgow Film Festival – Film bringing colour to Glasgow / life

Pitch

The Glasgow film festival is a celebration of film. Film brings us closer to events we would otherwise never experience. Film exposes us to emotion, drama, knowledge, excitement and unforgettable experiences; film brings colour to our comparatively limited and boring lives (ie when was the last time you dropped into Charlie’s chocolate factory or boated up the Mekong to take on Colonel Kurtz!?). The trailer I am proposing aims to illustrate this simple concept by showing a series of recognisable views around Glasgow; filmed in high contrast black+white. Over the duration of the 30 second trailer, elements within each view; ie buildings, furniture, people, etc flicker in and out of colour and pattern in time with the soundtrack; increasing in frequency and intensity until the end when the once mundane black and white scenes have become a cacophony of colour and sound amongst which the GFF logo will form along with the requisite text; dates, website and title(with sponsors logos beneath).

I’ve prepared a rough example of one approach to this colour and animation which you can find in the .mov file accompanying this document. I should point out that the music I used was not representative of the style I would prefer for the final work as it’s too much of a 4×4 rhythm; the aim of this was merely to demonstrate how footage could be chopped up and animated. In terms of a stylistic approach, for this example I used the colours of the GFF logo as a starting point which led to the neon colour scheme. .

As for locations, I would propose a mixture of classic Glasgow views (Buchannan St, Central Station, the Motorway, and views of the venues that will be used for the GFF.

Sound

The soundtrack would be positive and uplifting. Beginning from a humble beginning but growing in strength and depth towards the climax. The music of Forss (eg http://soundcloud.com/forss/journeyman) is probably the closest example to the style I have in mind. Electronic, melodic and contemporary.

Technique

The trailer would be created using a mix of live action footage; shot either at normal speed or timelapse, and digital motion-graphics. The graphic elements will be added using the compositing package After Effects. Given the festival is featuring a Japan retrospective, it could be relevant for the graphics to be inspired by Japanese graphic styles/conventions.

Artist Biography

Patrick Macdonald is a CG motion-graphics artist and illustrator specialising in photo-realistic 3d imagery and animation. Patrick trained in both the Edinburgh and Glasgow schools of art as an architect before becoming a freelance artist and animator. Although largely working in the commercial sectors of construction and marketing, Patrick is currently looking for more artistic opportunities in film and broadcasting.

Does each character provide the right function to the story/shot?

Is this character too cliche?

Casting can change and develop a character for better or worse… keep an eye out for this.

Is this really the lead character’s story? During development, you will/should always ask this.

The more personal you make your script, the more universal it will be.

What is the meaning behind the action? Listen to feedback and always be flexible to allow for emergency changes.

Editing:

Director – Am I being over defensive about the work? Always be as open to suggestions as possible – they may save the film!

Editing is almost like writing a story all over again.

Editors need to be involved from the start in discussions because it can give them an inside view about the reasons behind a shot or part of the story. Treat a short film like a feature film and bother to have planning sessions and discussions!

Cinematography:

A cinematographer must know the director’s vision and must have open line of communications with all involved. Without that relationship, their perception and visual interpretation of the story will not work in the direction that the script and director is wanting to go.

Does this movie have a colour theme to match the moods of each scene or the story?

As a director, can I provide more direction and visual focus to my cinematographers? But am I also allowing them to make suggestions and allow my shoot to adapt to those impromptu ideas?

25.05.10

Edit polish

So that is the last polish of the edit done before Andy gets a shot at the music.  The changes that made were a few compositional changes, timing changes for a couple of camera moves, order changes so Roddy felt happy with the juxta position of images, and a few additional images.  I can’t wait to see what Andy will do with the score.

////

17.05.10

rough edit

Based on discussions with Roddy I put together a rough cut of the piece.  I also did a short test of just presenting the photographs for a couple of seconds punctuated by a second of black.  Roddy liked elements of both approaches so I made another cut using the roaming camera as well as the still photos separated by black.  This seemed to have a variety and texture that worked well not only to display the photos clearly but it also provided interesting visual rhythms that the composers could work with.   The next stage is to polish the edit…

////

15.05.10

beginning editing

I have worked with Gaia before so she contacted me about the job.  I had an initial meeting with Roddy and Gaia to discuss what was needed and how I could contribute.  On the strength of that meeting I was made responsible for the editing and motion graphics side of the tattoo project.  I began by putting together some ideas for animation and transitions.  I explored a few techniques on how to present the photographs and how to transition from one to another.  Roddy and I discussed them and although some of the ideas were interesting, a simple approach seemed to work best.  Roddy wanted the camera and editing to be as objective as possible so how the camera acted needed to be unostentatious.

Next stage: rough edit…