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.

I’ve also been shortlisted for the GFF trailer competition for which I’m so grateful as it’s going to kick my butt back into the short film making world. I moved up to Glasgow from Manchester after university and whilst working as a camera assistant up and down the country never had time to find the same contacts and wealth of skilled collaborators to call upon up here, yet seeing constant amazing work come out of every corner of Scotland.

I enjoyed listening to the other 3 proposals yesterday in our first meeting with GFF. All ideas I’d love to help out on when they get through to the making stage (if they need the help!) Also hearing about all the different disciplines they choose to work in and how it differs to my approach.

I learnt in the meeting that GFF actually shortlisted me for my 10 second sting idea rather than my original pitch for the 30 trailer, and would prefer if I worked the idea into the full length trailer. So I’m going to put up my original proposal then add a few further ideas I’m preparing for our meetings with Mark and Clyde, two senior designers at ISO, to help develop the ideas.

Original Proposal:

Straight on, symmetrical shot of a traditional Glasgow tenement building.

The square formation windows, characteristic of Glasgow tenements can be seen.

Within a flat a figure walks towards the window on the bottom left and draws the blind down, filling the frame with a flat purple colour. The same happens in the window diagonally above right to the first window, this time the blind is pink. Another is closed to show a letter.

This process continues until the Glasgow Film Festival logo is complete.

Ta-daaa

The idea was influenced by Avril Paton’s “Windows in the West”, (thanks Kim for reminding me of the actual name!) paintings of tenement building exteriors, where each window has it’s own separate life happening within.

(see the image here:
http://www.avrilpaton.com/paintings/glasgow/windowsinthewest.html)

The evolved idea is going to happen along these lines where the camera is moving between and coming up close to each window. The action that is happening inside was influenced by the Stella Artois ad campaign that came out a couple of years ago that they called the “cinema sudoku”, where there was a normal looking scene of a park or a beach but iconic film images were added into the scene.

(You can find them here:

http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/2005/jul/17/davidsmith.theobserver)

Each window will have a reference to a classic film, such as a the boy with the red hoodie bringing his bike in the house so it doesn’t get nicked or a man in a wheel chair and a broken leg spying with binoculars. Each character pull down their window blind and the camera zooms out it see the GFF logo made up by the blinds.

This is a brief version of the idea so far, once I’ve spoken to Mark and Clyde about it tomorrow I’ll update me blog on ways that the idea can be achieved.

Check out the other shortlisters yo!:

Kim Stewart, paddymac and Alburt

This is my first blog post for the Glasgow Film Festival Trailer Competition. We had our first meeting yesterday and it was exciting to meet everyone and hear all the great ideas for the trailer! I’m looking forward to my first meeting with Mark and Clyde at ISO Design tomorrow morning!

My idea involves a literal play on the Glasgow Film Festival’s ever expanding presence and growth. With the GFF winning multiple awards (including Best Large Event at The Scottish Event Awards 2009 and the GAGA Audience Development Award), the amount of screened films and events increasing every year, along with rising attendance figures, it seemed appropriate to portray this in my trailer idea.

SYNOPSIS
A young couple walk through Glasgow and enter Glasgow Film Theatre. They reach their cinema seats and are astounded as they look up towards the colossal-sized seats. They strain to sit on them.
Line reads “GFF10… Now Even Bigger.”

SCRIPT

SCENE 1

EXT. GLASGOW SQUINTY BRIDGE – EARLY EVENING

Amazing view of Glasgow’s squinty bridge looking towards the city centre from the Southside of the river. WOMAN and MAN enter screen from bottom left. They walk across the bridge holding hands.

CUT TO:
Side view, WOMAN and MAN walk across screen. Finnieston Crane and Armadillo can be seen in the background.

CUT TO:
WOMAN and MAN walk down Sauchiehall Street. Art Deco Beresford Building seen in this shot.

CUT TO:
WOMAN and MAN enter Glasgow Film Theatre.

SCENE 2

INT. GLASGOW FILM THEATRE – SAME EVENING

WOMAN’S face engulfs screen. She looks up at the camera above her and drops her jaw. She looks utterly bewildered.

CAMERA pans around from her face to reveal enormous cinema seats. The seats are three times the size of the MAN and WOMAN. MAN stands next to WOMAN and both stare up at the seats in amazement.

CUT TO:
MAN assists WOMAN with a leg up. WOMAN struggles and clambers onto giant cinema seat.

CUT TO:
MAN and WOMAN sit on the huge cinema seats and look exhausted.

SCENE 3

TITLE: GLASGOW FILM FESTIVAL 2010

CUT TO:
TITLE: NOW EVEN BIGGER!

Overall Look & Style:

Fun, vibrant colours to reflect GFF10’s style.

Preferably filmed in full high definition quality.

Strong, well-composed shots to advertise and promote Glasgow.

MAN & WOMAN to wear casual stylish clothes.

NOTE:
The 30 second sting will include all 3 scenes.
The 10 second sting will only include scenes 2 and 3.

If you have any suggestions for this idea, please feel free to comment.

In the very early days of Central Station, we asked members within the community to submit their ideas for our GFF Trailer competition. The call was open for one month and we were looking for proposals along with simple sketches, storyboards and materials to support the application.

We, and our partners the Glasgow Film Festival 2010, were delighted with the quality and the number of responses from the network. The shortlist worked with representatives of GFF, GFT and ISO Design, for their commission. They were: Allistair Burt, Lucy Elliott, Patrick MacDonald and Kim Stewart.

All four worked on the development phase on their project ideas with GFF and Central Station’s supervision, at the end of which one proposal was commissioned.

Read these blogs from the shortlisted creatives, find out about their processes and see the winning trailer:
Glasgow Film Festival 2010 – development by Alburt
Glasgow Film Festival… Now Even Bigger! by Kim Stewart
Glasgow Film Festival Trailer development by Kim Stewart
And they’re off by Paddy Mac
Glasgow Film Festival – cinema sudoku by Lucy Elliot
Iso-tonic by Paddy Mac
More GFF trailer development by Lucy Elliot
Glasgow Film Festival trailer…revised script by Kim Stewart
The Barter system by GFT
GFF final submission by Kim Stewart
GFF2010 Trailer – sound and music by Alburt
Gff submission yo by Lucy Elliot
Gff submission by Paddy Mac
Disbelief by Paddy Mac
Friday ramblings by Paddy Mac
It’s a Wrap! by Paddy Mac

No project would be complete without a last minute clash of opinions and technical complications, and this one was no exception. Dispite these, I think the end reuslt holds together well. Ofcourse there are a few things I would have liked to do differently or spend more time on to improve the technical quality, but unfortunately there just wasn’t the time available.

I have to say I was blown away by the musical composition Charlie from “Eardrum Productions” put together for the trailer. I think it really enhances the visuals and will sound great when the great unwashed get to experience it in theatres around the country. I met up with Jen from GFF and Charlie (Charlie’s partner in crime) down at Savalas to produce the 5.1 Dolby stereo mix. What a treat! Over 5k of surround soundsystem and a very nice technician, Chris, pulling all sorts of nuance out of the music to achieve maximum impact in the theatre.

Well, it’s been a fun ride, but it’s finally over. Now I just can’t wait to see how the 35mm print will look on the big screen!

I’ll leave it to the cSta guys and GFF to release the full trailer, so I’m afraid this blog post is just a tease…. All I can show is a collection of frame captures.

First off; the launch weekend! By the time I’d gone to my office to pick up my camera and trudge along Argyle Street in the pouring rain, I was generally soggy all over with a fully water-logged foot curtesy of the hole in my shoe. To add to my woes the coffee machine in Mono was out of order! Not the best start to what turned out to be a fascinating, entertaining,worthwhile weekend.

I really enjoyed Saturday, with it’s mixture of arts and crafts (in the true meaning of the word); I discovered a few gems I’d not been aware of before. I was particularly moved by the photographic exhibition in the Street Level Gallery which depicted the life of the photographer’s parents before and after his mother’s stroke and subsequent death. Not sure how I feel about the fact that the artist posed his parents for alot of the images, but guess it shows the level of trust between himself and his parents that this didn’t seem an uncomfortable thing to do.

Sunday was the business end of the launch weekend with some great presentations by artists and designers from an eclectic mix of backgrounds. I saw a good number of familiar faces at the drinks after as well as meeting many new people. Great stuff.

Congratulations to the cSta team for a successful implimentation of a what could have been a logistical nightmare! Just as their logo promised, the events ran like clockwork!I look forward to future events like this and hope it can become a bi-yearly, or more frequent, event.

The trailer is taking shape; the gods looked kindly on me and gave me two days of good weather to coincide with my filming the various sites. As usual, I had to waste a fair bit of time battling the inevitable tecnhical difficulties of transferring HD footage to my workstation, but in the end all is well and the results look good. As for the music, I’ve met up with Matty to discuss the approach I am looking for and we made some good progress developing the idea. I’m quite excited to hear what he and Charlie can rustle up!

And for my links of the week….
some incredible vfx and particle work with “Fire”

http://motionographer.com/media/sehsucht/sehsucht_fire.mov

Not particularly new, but this is a sweet piece of stop-motion animation to music.
http://www.maxhattler.com/aanaatt/

This is just nice and weird :-
http://motionographer.com/2008/05/27/koichiro-tsujikawa-cornelius-omstart/

I want to make something like these ! all paint on plywood …
http://www.artbbq.nl/ron/menu-eng.htm

Enjoy yer weekends….

p.

At my last meeting with Iso, my treatment was met with much head scratching and an uncomfortable silence. I left it resigned to the fact I’d blown it, becoming bogged down in narrative and losing touch with the graphic approach that got me shortlisted in the first place. Dispite this, there were some interesting suggestions that were worth persuing. Stripping the idea back to its core and throwing out any visual complexity seemed to be the only way I could put my proposal into a workable form. Thanks are due to the guys at Iso for leading me in this direction.

In the end my trailer is all about the history of cinema in glasgow. The forgotten screens that used to shine across the city. The sad loss of so many venues that entertained thousands, and the lasting legacy of film in the minds of the city’s inhabitants. It’s alot to ask from 25 seconds of film I know!

Thanks to all the other shortlisters for their support and to those who offered to help with the audio. I will be gettings in touch with the musician I’ve chosen shortly and look forward to hopefully developing a kick-arse soundtrack to test the soundsystems of cinemas across the country!

So, I’ve got a busy few weeks ahead… I’ll be keeping you posted with how the trailer is progressing, so watch this space

This is a bit late as was meant to go up on Friday but I thought I’d shove it up just to complete the GFF trailer competition experience! So here’s the material of my final submission with treatment and storyboards and stuff yo!

TREATMENT

The trailer involves a classic Glasgow tenement building and its inhabitants. The first shot begins by looking straight at the exterior the ground floor flat; it’s night time with orange street lamps illuminating the dark windows. To the beat of the music the lights in the flats turn on in sequence. This reveals the people inside carrying out an array of activities. These activities hint at stereotypical and iconic shots, scenes and concepts from famous films. One example is a red hoodie clad man pedalling furiously on an exercise bike with a large circular lantern behind him. The camera journeys at a constant speed up the tenement building staying locked straight on. More dark windows come into view and the lights come on to the beat. The hints become more abstract and some don’t involve people at all. The camera reaches the roof of the building carrying on to reveal the streets of Glasgow behind finally coming to a rest as the GFF logo appears.

The tenement building itself will either be a layered photo or a photographed and lit miniature model, similar to the technique used in my previous film Grandma & the Monster all the while keeping in mind Avril Paton’s iconic paintings of Glasgow’s tenements. The camera movement up the building will be achieved using After Effects. Rather than being filmed the action sequences will be created using looped photographs, forming gifs, a jolting style of animation. The people will be shot against a green screen and the sitting room sets slipped in behind them. The gifs will be animated to the beat of the music coherently fusing the audio-visual elements. The overall feel will be that of an automata sculpture; a multitude of miniature interlacing cogs, springs mechanisms working as one to create the rudimentary yet pleasing action.

Susan Boyle (of local band Vendor Defender) has agreed to collaborate to make the track for the piece. She has made a very rough mock up which hasn’t been mixed that she is thinking about using.

Window 1
A man wearing a red hoodie and sports gear peddling on an exercise bike in front of a round lantern lamp shade on his light – E.T.

Window 2
A woman watching a exercise video, one of the moves is to move your arms with fingers in ‘V’s across her eyes – Pulp Fiction

Window 3
Birds in a birdcage and birds hanging out – The Birds

Window 4
A man stands at the back of the room while in the foreground is a silhouette of a woman putting on her tights – The Graduate

Window 5
A shadow of a giant rabbit crosses the floor – Harvey

Window 6
3 People in red tracksuits – The Royal Tenenbaums

Window 7
This window is underwater, a squid floats by – 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea

Window 8
A flashing television with static on it – Poltergeist

Window 9
The blind is down and there is a faint, distorted shadow of a hand holding a knife – Psycho

Window 10
This window is entirely bricked up – Brick

Window 11
A man wearing pyjamas with banages on his leg looking out with binoculars
– Rear Window

Window 12
A man taking off his glasses and ripping open his shirt – Superman

Cheers my dears

Well, there’s been a bit of radio silence from me whilst I feverishly worked on my proposals….

As usual I took some prettty radical departures from my original idea before pulling myself together and distilling it all into something which I hope begins to form a concise idea! The video attached is just a little test I did to demonstrate the approach. I didn’t have enough time to produce a complete animatic of the whole trailer!

Good luck to the other guys… look forward to seeing the winners film on the big screen!

p.

ps, just testing out the image uploading, so apologies if the resolution of the storyboards is too low to read the text…

So I’ve been frantically trying to get everything together for the final submission by noon today. (Not an easy task considering I’m currently in Sheffield for the Doc/Fest!)

I’ve managed to get a studio space for filming in Film City Glasgow! Also managed to source a green screen and lights and a great rate! I’ve met my three actors who all seem brilliant! Below is a revised script (not too much changed here)…

SCENE 1

INT. GLASGOW FILM THEATRE – EVENING

Everything is in darkness. A beam of light suddenly reveals glimpses of ambiguous shapes and details. The stark contrasts of light and dark create an eerie atmosphere amongst the forests of gigantic cinema seats.

Another light flickers sporadically. This flickering cinema screen light shows the silhouette of a COUPLE holding hands. An USHER, whose torch emits a strong beam of light, leads them.

SCENE 2

INT. GLASGOW FILM THEATRE – EVENING (CONT.)

The COUPLE pass what appears to be a giant piece of paper crumpled on the ground. The USHER impatiently signals to the COUPLE to keep following him. The COUPLE appear worried and look back uncertainly towards the paper. They meet one another’s eyes and their mutual anxiety is clearly demonstrated.

The USHER continues, walking underneath the giant cinema seats, with the COUPLE following, until he abruptly stops. He checks the two tickets in his hand, looks up and nods to the COUPLE.

SCENE 3

INT. GLASGOW FILM THEATRE – EVENING (CONT.)

The COUPLE reach the USHER and look up in astonished confusion. The USHER looks very irritated, sighs and rapidly signals for them to climb onto their seat.

The MAN helps the WOMAN by offering a leg up. The WOMAN groans, removes her high heels and struggles to climb up onto the seat.

The COUPLE are seated comfortably and the MAN attempts to put his arm around the WOMAN. She pushes him away almost instantaneously and the line reads: “GFF10… Now Even Bigger!”

NOTES ON STYLE OF TRAILER

The trailer will be in black and white with a film noir feel. The music score will build up the suspense and eeriness of the unknown giant landscape the COUPLE are in. A rough scale of 1:10 will be used for shrinking the actors in After Effects. (Think ‘Honey I Shrunk the Kids’ and ‘The Incredible Shrinking Man’).

The trailer will be a combination of wide and tight locked shots (with a couple of moving point of view shots from the actors looking up at the chairs). The action will be filmed on a green screen and superimposed on pre-specified detailed stills of cinema seats. The whole sequence will include a continuous flickering light source to emulate light from the cinema screen.

ACTORS:

Actress Role: WOMAN – Vivien Louise Taylor

Actor Role: MAN – Jonny Boag

Actor Role: USHER – Alfie Wellcoat
Venue: Film City Glasgow

I have managed to arrange payment in kind through an arrangement with Glasgow Film Theatre for the hire of this venue. I visited the space on Tuesday evening and it’s perfect for what I require. It has a stage which will help when it comes to filming the shots from above the actors.

Equipment Hire: Progressive Hire

I have provisionally booked lights and a big green screen from Donald at Progressive Hire. I got a really great deal (thanks Yvonne!) and they are going to deliver the equipment on Wednesday 11th November for filming. I have also arranged separate insurance for this equipment.

Taster Images