Thursday, 29 July 2010
Tron Evolution game
Just found this YouTube video after some further research on Tron Legacy. I couldn't tell whether the start of the clip is from the actual film or is a sequence from the game. There seems to be elements of racing, driving, tank-shooting, light-cycle and a platform beat'em-up. Hopefully they haven't spread themselves too thin with all sections being below average.
Tron Legacy trainers!
After seeing the recent preview of Tron Legacy merchandise (which I believe Amazon will soon sell), Disney has gone one better with these trainers! Watch the video and prepare to drool.
Monday, 26 July 2010
New Tron Legacy film trailer (3)
There's some more Daft Punk sound clips going around which you can listen at 107.7 The End blog. These a very much soundtrack scores which will be disappointing to those expecting banging club tunes.
The trailer below introduces the story better and a lot more Tron world. Enjoy!
The trailer below introduces the story better and a lot more Tron world. Enjoy!
Thursday, 22 July 2010
Secret Cinema - Blade Runner photos
The director who did the TV show about photography I was on told me about this. Being a huge Blade Runner fan, I was so jealous but at least someone took these photos. Its like a party with film sets to walk around, scenes to watch, live bands, actors playing parts, the film played and an experience to never forget. See the Secret Cinema website for more details.
If the photos don't impress, check out their YouTube channel.
If the photos don't impress, check out their YouTube channel.
Wednesday, 21 July 2010
Stunning finish (Day 3 filming)
Martin had already done his intro bit so we had to flick through our photos from our assignment and comment on them whilst being filmed. Despite using the Panasonic camera provided (which I bitched about on Monday) the photos ranged from ok to brilliant. The director had already picked his favourite dozen which I couldn't argue with. A few 'noddy' shots again from behind and the side before we met Martin again.
Slideshow
The second scene was to show Martin our selected photos in front of a huge Panasonic plasma TV (can you guess who sponsored this programme). Behind the telly was a guy pressing the laptop key to go show the next photo. The feedback was fair with a few constructive improvements suggested but a few more compliments would have been nice. One tip that I will take with me is it's vital to see the subject's face so to get down low for the shot.
The reveal
After Susie's own collection we switch positions to do the 'reveal'. At some point, either the night before or in the morning, Martin had picked his favourite photos from behind both our selections and they were printed in A3 waiting behind a black cloth (as pictured). The idea was to record our reaction of which I was certainly surprised but they were all good.
Susie's photos were really good as she concentrated on the pier again for her assignment. Like me she found one busy spot at the Dolphin Derby capturing some colourful tourists. She had some better light than me being in the late afternoon when the cloud finally burned away.
Parr-ting comment
The director asked us to step outside as he filmed Martin do a final comment on our photos and perhaps ourselves. Well, we're assuming that and when Martin stepped out to say goodbye and invited us to the launch party of his photography festival in October, he said something slightly odd. I couldn't remember the exact words but it was something like he was tried to do his best to compliment us but he may not have succeeded. I couldn't quite see whether his tongue was actually in his cheek if you know what I mean. Susie suggested that maybe he thought we were both amazingly inspiring and his confidence in his own artistic expression has taken a cruel blow. We all know he was thinking that!
Final Lesson
The director decided to do the very last scene on the beach. I knew this point was coming and I still couldn't quite work out what to say. Reading back through my previous entries, I know I've learnt something more than I summarised and perhaps I had subtly been inspired by his presence and teachings. I found more confidence in myself when approaching people for photos and learnt the aspect of introducing a storyline concept for a collection to tie the pictures together, plus a few little tricks. However, I feel my main point for travel and holiday photography is that you don't want to hang around one single place but move on to see more. For Martin he may well travel alone and have the patience and time to concentrate on one area. Whereas for me, as well as taking photos, I also enjoy spending time with whoever I'm travelling with i.e. my wife and its unfair to her if I selfishly snap away.
Air time
'How to take stunning pictures' will be aired in mid to late September 2010 on Channel 5. 13th September was mentioned, a Monday which would tie in nicely with the Suzi Perry's Gadget Show being the channel's most watched programme. At the time, the production team did not know which order the episodes were in. They seemed stressed at the wedding filming episode with doubts of an actual wedding!
- Brighton Photo Biennial 2010 curated by Martin Parr
- British Journal of Photography - News of PPB 2010
- Susie Harrison's blog - Some things we did
Tuesday, 20 July 2010
Spyke to the rescue (Day 2 filming)
Sleep eluded me from a combination of worry and the stuffy, warm conditions. 8am was supposed to be the start time. Met the crew at Jury's Inn hotel and the day did not bode well as Toby, the director admitted he woke up feeling for the first time in the 4 week shoot he felt genuinely unmotivated for the day. Great, no pressure then.
Kensington Gardens
I had originally in mind to take photos around St. James Street, Kemptown with the chance to see some colourful gay characters but wanted to capture a particular Brighton character. I had a hunch I'd see him and it paid off. Thank god 'Spyke' appeared as my first subject around 9:30am. I thought he'd only brought his pug dog but thankfully his white rat was inside his zip-up top. It was a rare day for him not to cycle with his rabbit in the basket. Lovely guy to meet who loved his animals.
Shops were still mainly closed at this point and not much else was going on so we stopped for a coffee. As we headed for the cafe I spotted none other than Martin Parr who'd been checking out a gallery for his exhibition to start in October. He joined us for a coffee and seemed to be less grumpy today.
I was getting used to the camera, looking to the left or right (never into it) plus my sound-bites were getting better. After a mis-start of someone objecting to the camera, a couple of guys were setting up their shop and stall of day-glow shirts and dresses. They spotted the TV crew and gave the ok. Scored about 3 really good photos here so I was buzzing with confidence.
Smoking photos
The director wanted another break spotting a cool t-shirt shop so he must have felt good about the progress we'd made regaining most of his sanity. With a present bought for his girlfriend we walked around the corner to Gardner Street. Apart from a lot of excited foreign students the director wasn't really feeling it so we went back using the cafe with the balcony overlooking the narrow lane. Just before going in, a cafe waitress was spotted having a crafty fag break. She looked perfect for the story I was telling (of life in the North Laines) and she happily posed for the camera.
The balcony cafe didn't turn out as good as we thought so headed back out for a last time grabbing some lunch along the way. The crew were a great laugh to be around joking about how to pull stunning girls or me doing a Naked Gun scenario with the mic still in my pocket going to the toilet.
The last photo session was another stroke of luck. We came across a cheeky little girl with her hippy-like parents eating lunch at a cafe, the other end of Kensington Gardens. They were so photogenic and friendly, it was easy to capture their best looks.
Photo finish
The final summary shot was around the back next to the main graffiti art murals. Although I was getting used to talking to the camera i.e. not waffling, the snappy sound bites weren't coming out. Trying to say whether Martin's advice had helped through the day was difficult. It took me a number of times (plus the sound levels from seagulls and traffic adding to the takes) to say something I was happy with. By 2pm, I was finished for the day.
I was looking forward to the results and confident that the photos would please Mr. Parr. Also, I'd have a small lay-in with filming starting at 11:30am.
See Day 3 of filming, the 'stunning' results
Kensington Gardens
I had originally in mind to take photos around St. James Street, Kemptown with the chance to see some colourful gay characters but wanted to capture a particular Brighton character. I had a hunch I'd see him and it paid off. Thank god 'Spyke' appeared as my first subject around 9:30am. I thought he'd only brought his pug dog but thankfully his white rat was inside his zip-up top. It was a rare day for him not to cycle with his rabbit in the basket. Lovely guy to meet who loved his animals.
Shops were still mainly closed at this point and not much else was going on so we stopped for a coffee. As we headed for the cafe I spotted none other than Martin Parr who'd been checking out a gallery for his exhibition to start in October. He joined us for a coffee and seemed to be less grumpy today.
I was getting used to the camera, looking to the left or right (never into it) plus my sound-bites were getting better. After a mis-start of someone objecting to the camera, a couple of guys were setting up their shop and stall of day-glow shirts and dresses. They spotted the TV crew and gave the ok. Scored about 3 really good photos here so I was buzzing with confidence.
Smoking photos
The director wanted another break spotting a cool t-shirt shop so he must have felt good about the progress we'd made regaining most of his sanity. With a present bought for his girlfriend we walked around the corner to Gardner Street. Apart from a lot of excited foreign students the director wasn't really feeling it so we went back using the cafe with the balcony overlooking the narrow lane. Just before going in, a cafe waitress was spotted having a crafty fag break. She looked perfect for the story I was telling (of life in the North Laines) and she happily posed for the camera.
The balcony cafe didn't turn out as good as we thought so headed back out for a last time grabbing some lunch along the way. The crew were a great laugh to be around joking about how to pull stunning girls or me doing a Naked Gun scenario with the mic still in my pocket going to the toilet.
The last photo session was another stroke of luck. We came across a cheeky little girl with her hippy-like parents eating lunch at a cafe, the other end of Kensington Gardens. They were so photogenic and friendly, it was easy to capture their best looks.
Photo finish
The final summary shot was around the back next to the main graffiti art murals. Although I was getting used to talking to the camera i.e. not waffling, the snappy sound bites weren't coming out. Trying to say whether Martin's advice had helped through the day was difficult. It took me a number of times (plus the sound levels from seagulls and traffic adding to the takes) to say something I was happy with. By 2pm, I was finished for the day.
I was looking forward to the results and confident that the photos would please Mr. Parr. Also, I'd have a small lay-in with filming starting at 11:30am.
See Day 3 of filming, the 'stunning' results
Monday, 19 July 2010
Meeting Martin Parr (Day 1 filming)
Monday morning was the start of the 3 day filming in Brighton for 'How to take stunning pictures'. The meeting point was a cafe called I Gigi on Western Road where Susie, myself and Martin Parr would be filmed. It was a typical yummy-mummy Hove cafe and shop for kitchen and interior design.
My first impressions of Martin Parr were that he could have doubled as a strict headmaster having a very distinctive and assertive voice. The director/cameraman, Toby (or Tony as Martin called him for the rest of the day) set up the scene that we'd met Martin to show our favourite travel photo and one that we were disappointed with. We had no idea of which would be chosen as we'd submitted 3 of each. Here's an exclusive: Favourite shown and the one I was disappointed with.
I'm not sure if it was favouritism or the difference in mine and Susie's photos but I got a bit more criticism than I expected. He said that my missus, in the background of the NZ mushroom field had an 'odd shape' and even after some further banter from myself, Martin couldn't quite convince me of what he was trying to get at i.e. playing down his comments of my wife's shape!
Martin's main mantra for travel photography was to capture your own relationship with the country/city/place. We, his students had to take this principle in the next two days and NOT as I was quickly corrected by Martin, a technique masterclass which I had expected.
Be a fly
After some dead time waiting around for transport we headed down to the seafront (avoiding the This Morning shoot with Christopher Biggins doing a swimsuit competition!) where we would do a warm-up exercise of pretending to be a fly. He felt we needed to loosen up and just click away at anything that a fly would be interested in like food, bins and dog turds (but no one dare say that on camera). Bit bizarre but I could see his point. Martin disappeared at this point to go to his hotel and get his camera.
The camera crew followed Susie then myself doing this fly exercise. At one point I headed for a souvenir shop, landed on a captain's hat saying Ancient Mariner and suggested on camera that it would suit Martin. After quite a few shots including some normal framed pictures just to get used to the Panasonic Lumix provided, Martin reviewed my results. I said maybe I was pretending to be a bee instead, interested in strong colours but when he noticed the more rigid, straight photos he complained on film that I wasn't getting it. I had to swallow my pride knowing that I had actually done exactly as he said since he didn't go back far enough through the previews - git! At lunch, off camera, I couldn't let it go and showed him some photos of sauces that flies would really be interested in. Didn't actually get an apology but at least my point had been made.
The sun was really beating down and I could feel myself burning. It was annoying that I'd brought my own camera with lens in my backpack but the crew wouldn't let me use it and had to carry it throughout the day. I also had to wear the same clothes as Friday (tight jeans) and wasn't allowed to wear sunglasses!
Listening to your pier
I wasn't the only person getting annoyed with Martin. I sensed that Toby (still known as Tony) was being dictated by Martin's direction having to change his plans before the next scene. Before we set foot on the pier, Martin set up the lessons we had to learn which involved portrait photography. He instantly spotted some old ladies eating ice-creams and cast his 'magic' he's so well know for. He did this a few times just going off without us, sharing only a few scraps of genuine expertise such as using a 'kiss' of flash where light is poor or in shadow. Another tip was to never have the lens cap on and prepare the lens to around 30mm for optimum results. However, the main point recorded on film was to ask the subject not to smile.
We headed into the arcade section and as we exited being filmed, pier security swooped in to stop the filming. The management objected to the fruit machines and gamblers being on film so it had to be deleted instantly, another headache for the director. Susie and I both tried portraits having to overcome our nervousness and approach our subjects direct, something we'd admitted earlier we never do in our own photography. A teenage couple wouldn't agree to my advances but I found a cool dad with son posing on a coin-op ride.
Stealth photography
Towards the end of the pier where the main rides were, Martin taught us the subtle art of body positioning taking photos of people concentrating on something else and recording their expression. People were starting to get wise of us and it all felt too chaotic getting no good results. This lasted for around an hour though I would guess when edited will be about 30 seconds.
Lesson over
The filming was almost done for the day with only a summary from both of us to reflect the day's events. Before this, a Channel 5 photographer took some PR shots for the show. He positioned us behind the seaside photo wall where both of us put our heads through the holes in front of Martin Parr.
My end of day report was a waffling, uncertain affair. I hope the editing process will make it look better! The director simply asks you to summarise how the day went and its not easy to just spout off sound-bites especially with people either staring at you or just walking right in front on purpose. After the filming, I was bit miffed and slightly stressed at the thought of where to shoot especially as Martin jokingly said before leaving, 'Don't f*ck it up'.
See Day 2 of filming when Spyke saves the day
My first impressions of Martin Parr were that he could have doubled as a strict headmaster having a very distinctive and assertive voice. The director/cameraman, Toby (or Tony as Martin called him for the rest of the day) set up the scene that we'd met Martin to show our favourite travel photo and one that we were disappointed with. We had no idea of which would be chosen as we'd submitted 3 of each. Here's an exclusive: Favourite shown and the one I was disappointed with.
I'm not sure if it was favouritism or the difference in mine and Susie's photos but I got a bit more criticism than I expected. He said that my missus, in the background of the NZ mushroom field had an 'odd shape' and even after some further banter from myself, Martin couldn't quite convince me of what he was trying to get at i.e. playing down his comments of my wife's shape!
Martin's main mantra for travel photography was to capture your own relationship with the country/city/place. We, his students had to take this principle in the next two days and NOT as I was quickly corrected by Martin, a technique masterclass which I had expected.
Be a fly
After some dead time waiting around for transport we headed down to the seafront (avoiding the This Morning shoot with Christopher Biggins doing a swimsuit competition!) where we would do a warm-up exercise of pretending to be a fly. He felt we needed to loosen up and just click away at anything that a fly would be interested in like food, bins and dog turds (but no one dare say that on camera). Bit bizarre but I could see his point. Martin disappeared at this point to go to his hotel and get his camera.
The camera crew followed Susie then myself doing this fly exercise. At one point I headed for a souvenir shop, landed on a captain's hat saying Ancient Mariner and suggested on camera that it would suit Martin. After quite a few shots including some normal framed pictures just to get used to the Panasonic Lumix provided, Martin reviewed my results. I said maybe I was pretending to be a bee instead, interested in strong colours but when he noticed the more rigid, straight photos he complained on film that I wasn't getting it. I had to swallow my pride knowing that I had actually done exactly as he said since he didn't go back far enough through the previews - git! At lunch, off camera, I couldn't let it go and showed him some photos of sauces that flies would really be interested in. Didn't actually get an apology but at least my point had been made.
The sun was really beating down and I could feel myself burning. It was annoying that I'd brought my own camera with lens in my backpack but the crew wouldn't let me use it and had to carry it throughout the day. I also had to wear the same clothes as Friday (tight jeans) and wasn't allowed to wear sunglasses!
Listening to your pier
I wasn't the only person getting annoyed with Martin. I sensed that Toby (still known as Tony) was being dictated by Martin's direction having to change his plans before the next scene. Before we set foot on the pier, Martin set up the lessons we had to learn which involved portrait photography. He instantly spotted some old ladies eating ice-creams and cast his 'magic' he's so well know for. He did this a few times just going off without us, sharing only a few scraps of genuine expertise such as using a 'kiss' of flash where light is poor or in shadow. Another tip was to never have the lens cap on and prepare the lens to around 30mm for optimum results. However, the main point recorded on film was to ask the subject not to smile.
We headed into the arcade section and as we exited being filmed, pier security swooped in to stop the filming. The management objected to the fruit machines and gamblers being on film so it had to be deleted instantly, another headache for the director. Susie and I both tried portraits having to overcome our nervousness and approach our subjects direct, something we'd admitted earlier we never do in our own photography. A teenage couple wouldn't agree to my advances but I found a cool dad with son posing on a coin-op ride.
Stealth photography
Towards the end of the pier where the main rides were, Martin taught us the subtle art of body positioning taking photos of people concentrating on something else and recording their expression. People were starting to get wise of us and it all felt too chaotic getting no good results. This lasted for around an hour though I would guess when edited will be about 30 seconds.
Lesson over
The filming was almost done for the day with only a summary from both of us to reflect the day's events. Before this, a Channel 5 photographer took some PR shots for the show. He positioned us behind the seaside photo wall where both of us put our heads through the holes in front of Martin Parr.
My end of day report was a waffling, uncertain affair. I hope the editing process will make it look better! The director simply asks you to summarise how the day went and its not easy to just spout off sound-bites especially with people either staring at you or just walking right in front on purpose. After the filming, I was bit miffed and slightly stressed at the thought of where to shoot especially as Martin jokingly said before leaving, 'Don't f*ck it up'.
See Day 2 of filming when Spyke saves the day
Friday, 16 July 2010
How to take stunning pictures with Suzi Perry
After a chat with the researchers a slightly stressed 16 year old work experience girl (who will be doing Latin and 3 other A levels) walked us over to the warehouse-like flat studio where we'd film the very short intro of ourselves in the company of the Queen of Channel 5, Suzi Perry. We were asked to be quiet next door in the grandest, film-set like kitchen, where Suzi's make-up and wardrobe took most of the space. Bit more standing around getting mic-ed up then the director/camera man brought us in. It was a ridiculously short section with Ms. Perry introducing us and asking how excited we were to meet Martin Parr. This took 3 or 4 takes, one of them due to me talking too soon after her question. Oops.
We thought that was the finish until Suzi Perry announced we had to re-shoot as she'd worn the wrong dress! Suddenly, you got the impression of who was really in charge. I cheekily suggested that she got changed in front of us to save time which she took in good jest. Later I broke the awkward silence and asked whether the Gadget Show were to the Worthing Birdman again. No was the answer and some comment about her being asked to do it in a catsuit. She was quite impressed about the stag day out/Inspector Gadget story I told her though.
I was quite happy with the previous shoot having not fluffed up my response but after another 3 attempts I had the feeling I added a tiny bit more waffle than I wanted. Nerves were kicking in by then as I noticed my knee jigging away.
All was done but my return to work and my annual appraisal was in doubt. It was at this point I had to explain to my boss the day's event and postpone our meeting.
See Day 1 of filming in Brighton with Martin Parr
Sunday, 11 July 2010
Wednesday, 7 July 2010
Photo call
The basic concept is that I'll spend a day in the company of a famous professional photographer around Brighton learning tips and tricks along the way. Then I get two days on my own to snap my best shots with my much improved technique.
According to the TV researcher, the programme is a series of six each dealing with two amateurs in different types of photography. Travel being my show (with another amateur) where others are action, portrait, nature, wedding and maybe another. So, who will be my mentor? Pictured below, Martin Parr's recent work has focused on more closer travels such as traditional, run down seaside resorts and their tourists. However, his portfolio and previous work assignments suggests a lot of similar countries that I've visited i.e. Japan and Peru.
This French blog, Saint Sulpice features some very typical images of English seaside. I love the almost tropical warmth of the pictures of subjects that look quite unglamourous. He also has a strange humour which suits me as well.
Filming starts on the 20th July for three days.
Tuesday, 6 July 2010
Wireless Festival 2010 - LCD Soundsystem & 2ManyDJs
This was our only festival this year. Over the past few months I'd been hoping the line-up would add a few decent, up-and-coming dance acts but instead they added Missy Eliott and Snoop Dogg for the Saturday. Still the festival has the best organisation and location in Hyde Park plus some new and old friends were coming along for a laugh.
We'd planned to see AutoKratz but didn't make the start time and there wasn't a lot on for another 2 hours so headed for the bars until UNKLE came on. I'd seen them years ago at Glastonbury and they were still flogging their rock style. By now we expected the tent to be over-flowing like previous years but today you could tell ticket sales were low as there was plenty of room.
It wasn't long until 2ManyDJs were on the main stage and all our friends had made it on site. The Belgian boys played well, perhaps their best performance in awhile playing their biggest fun party set yet. Funniest moment was a naked guy invading the stage on his moped.
LCD Soundsystem were good in their own way though James Murphy couldn't quite tame the restless crowd when talking in the technical problem interlude. He also tried humouring the crowd after some missles were fired, a small gas cannister perhaps.There were plenty of beer bottles being chucked which you had to duck every now and then. After their last, slow track you got the impression that 2ManyDJs should have been the headliner.
After a few drinks back at Steve and Sam's, we left for Brighton. It was hassle-free journey on the roads at 3am in the morning until halfway down the M23. The over-head signs suggested the outside two lanes were shut further on. I expected to see some merge cones ahead as we overtook in the middle lane only to see a crashed car blocking the two lanes! My instant reaction at 80mph was to peel off just in time. You could say Kerry and Julian were slightly freaked out at this point. Anyway, lesson learnt that night, obey the traffic signs immediately!
We'd planned to see AutoKratz but didn't make the start time and there wasn't a lot on for another 2 hours so headed for the bars until UNKLE came on. I'd seen them years ago at Glastonbury and they were still flogging their rock style. By now we expected the tent to be over-flowing like previous years but today you could tell ticket sales were low as there was plenty of room.
It wasn't long until 2ManyDJs were on the main stage and all our friends had made it on site. The Belgian boys played well, perhaps their best performance in awhile playing their biggest fun party set yet. Funniest moment was a naked guy invading the stage on his moped.
LCD Soundsystem were good in their own way though James Murphy couldn't quite tame the restless crowd when talking in the technical problem interlude. He also tried humouring the crowd after some missles were fired, a small gas cannister perhaps.There were plenty of beer bottles being chucked which you had to duck every now and then. After their last, slow track you got the impression that 2ManyDJs should have been the headliner.
After a few drinks back at Steve and Sam's, we left for Brighton. It was hassle-free journey on the roads at 3am in the morning until halfway down the M23. The over-head signs suggested the outside two lanes were shut further on. I expected to see some merge cones ahead as we overtook in the middle lane only to see a crashed car blocking the two lanes! My instant reaction at 80mph was to peel off just in time. You could say Kerry and Julian were slightly freaked out at this point. Anyway, lesson learnt that night, obey the traffic signs immediately!
Thursday, 1 July 2010
New Mixcloud DJ mix from GingerDJ
Tracklisting
- Metro Arena - Miura
- Nick Chacona - Mariacha
- Round Avenue - Vision of you (Angelino & Taz Dub Mix)
- Cyro - Afrodisiac (Dirty Disorder Remix)
- Tapesh - 5 Days
- X-Press 2 - London Xpress (Caged Baby Chateau Remix)
- Pete Folder - Hate Myself (Sasha Remix)
- Tracey Thorn - Grand Canyon (King Unique Wrong Road Dub)
- Cyro - Afrodisiac (DJ Vocal Tool)
