How to be a Student Film Maker

Lamp-lit alley - Canon Rebel T1i/500D

2010-03-07T17:24:00.001-08:00

Lamp-lit alley
Originally uploaded by Max Williamson

I took this, on the first night i spent with my new love that is my Canon 500D.

I pass by a certain seedy pub most nights, the only light that resides outsides its scabby exterior is this little lamp. Although i don;t like the pub or the alleyway it dons, I've always quite liked how this lamp seemed to be the only charming thing about it.

The image itself was edited on a combination of different software which consisted of iPhoto and 'Acorn'. Mainly Acorn.

Weekend in the City

2010-02-19T19:41:00.001-08:00

Weekend in the City
Originally uploaded by Max Williamson

My latest Pic on FLICKR

BBC Radio Derby / First night out with my new Camera

2010-02-10T03:51:00.001-08:00

My new love

2010-02-10T03:49:00.000-08:00

Last Wednesday I purchased the Canon 500D

I've been checking this out for 4 months now and can honestly say...

It's amazing.

Expect many,

many pictures

Max.

My First Film

2009-11-23T16:36:00.000-08:00

i finally did it, i made my short film, my first one

with a little help from my Friends Deepak Aujla, Parsha Firouzi and Tom Thompson

Thanks Guys

here it is

let me know what you think

A new Month and new idea...

2009-11-17T17:11:00.000-08:00

I haven't really had time to do my blog, i say haven't had time, i have had time, i've just been using it more regarding my future.

That means writing/helping/making Films =).

Little News, it's actually 3D week on Channel four... (this is the art where you yell YAAAAY)

i thought i'd be as enthusiastic as i could be and get some, courtesy of Sainsbury's
Exhibit A:

I then tried them on and it wasn't such a good idea
Exhibit B:

After watching some of the Channel Four Film that they had turned into a 3d Movie i realised that 3D is not something that i wanted to make when i'm older, but it was something hat was commercially successful. Bad times.

So what have i been doing recently? well even though the only people that will read this Blog are my close friends, the amount of which i can count on one hand, I'll tell you ;)

i've been reading a hell of a lot about Italian Neorealism, Film Noir and reading Robert Rodriguez's Book "Rebel without a Crew" it's AMAZING!! it makes you want to make films from the moment you start reading it, EMMET YOU NEED IT!

I'm also writing a short feature film about 3 friends, 2 cities, one night and that's all i'm saying :)

cannot wait to shoot my first short this week with James and Ashton and also cannot wait to shoot one of my friends short film.

Anyway i'm off. Safe. Bless. Zoop!... what?

WILL BE BACK SOON =)

2009-10-15T17:18:00.001-07:00

VERYYYYY BUSY WITH UCAS / UNI / WORK

London London LONDON

2009-09-27T17:03:00.000-07:00

What i love about London is not the shops, not the tourist attractions,

but walking through Hyde Park in the Autumn,

when the leaves are golden.

Hello :)

I saw my Dad this weekend in London, it was nice, taking pictures was really the only interesting thing i did. We went to Westfield London to get me a Jumper from Topman which was a bad choice, in that shop on a saturday i couldn't breathe, and the clothes smelled like sweat.

Anyway i saw Laputa: Castle in the Sky (1986 ), one of the many Studio Ghibli Masterpiece, i'm collecting all of them at the moment and 'm quite addicted to anime at the moment.

While i was in HMV i spoke to a guy who was looking at the same films as me and he mentioned how he had collected all of the Series of Studio Ghibli Films. I'd found a new friend. I immediately went into Media student mode and started explaining in full detail how well it was made, and he suggested to me AKIRA (1988) because it was, apparently, the most critcally acclaimed Anime Movie of all time, even though i thought that was Princess Mononoke (1997), another of my Favorites.

Steph rang me today! YAY and basically said that she wants to meet up next week and start Planning the Europe Trip, next year in July. CAN'T WAIT!! Me, Steph, Ashton, Emmet, Dan and hopefully Deepak if he can, are going.

i'm still waiting for Ashton and the 'gang' to make a blog even though i've ust been informed by him that he will start one as soon as he has a topic, which makes sense.

...

by the way i've been playing Pokemon Ruby for 6 days now and i'm STUCK! it's the hardest of the series, blue, silver and Cyrystal were challenging but this one is seriously difficult.

i'll keep you posted. (Pokemon theme plays in the Background)

Film Courses aren't cheap

2009-09-24T16:12:00.000-07:00

I took this, walking through Darley Park,

there are only so many times i can take picture of this place.

But it's so nice.

I haven't blogged for a day or two because i've been rather busy with work but what i can tell you i've done is what i said i'd do and rang up SKILLSET and found out they were a HUGE waste of time.

The nice man on the end of the phone, even though i'd asked for information on Film Production, let me reiterate that Production, he insisted on letting me know about Film Producing for a good 27 minuets of my time. What did i learn?

Well the conversation went something like this:

SkillSet Man: So let me take a look at some of the qualities that a Producer should have

Me: No wait i actually said Film Produc-

SkillSet Man: -you have to be business minded...

Me: Yea, that's great but-

Skillset Man: -and also very enthusiastic, yea... and good with money.

By this point in, 13 mins, i gave up listening and decided to watch the rest of loose women. The show i actually detest and bitch about to Ashton and Anneliese, but always end up watching. I could write a Blog just about how much that show is not just irrelevant to television but dangerous to television because it discussed important issues for five seconds, and is then moved aside for an innuendo or a joke about one of the women's sex lives. End of lecture.

Tomorrow i am going to London for the weekend and then to BBC Radio Derby with Deepak and hopefully Ashton. I will take loads of pictures in London and see which are good enough for my Blog.

By the way i'm still waiting to see Emmet's, Ashton's and Deepak's Blog. If you are reading this, i will continue to annoy you with reason's for creating a Blog. You know i love you guys.

Bye =]

The Ususal Suspects

2009-09-22T15:37:00.000-07:00

The cool thing about having friends is being able to predict what they'd do, before they do it. Mine are no exception. This picture is brilliant.

As you can see i spent the day with Ashton, Anneliese and Deepak, today was the day that Anneliese finally bought her Playstation 3, I've en waiting for her to get one for a while now, so this picture being used as my "picture of the day" is rather fitting.

Yesterday i mentioned how i was going to call up Skillset and ask about what courses they do. I didn't in the end, i woke up too late from going to bed at half four in the morning. Tomorrow i will, no exceptions. Today, really, was to be spent mainly with my friends, who i see rarely, and even more rarely now that Emmet has gone to University! Emmet if you're reading this i hope you're having a great time and we all miss you.

To less depressing news i spoke with Ashton and as of next week i am going to be meeting up with him to work on these two short films that i have thought of, one i have fullu thought of and the other is half mine half Ashton's project. One will be a rather long short film, about 15 minuets or so, and the other will mainly be a long piece of dialogue over alot of images and clips reflecting the conversation that the protagonist is having ove the telephone to a friend of his.

The book about Film Noir and it's origins is stealing more and more of my time over the course of about 2 weeks now, i hav nealy finished it and have the next book lined up already. Though i am eager to read Dan Brown's latest Novel i've decided to leave the Novel-Reading to the christmas holidays, and focus mainly on Film. The next book i will be reading is on Neo-Noir, and the one following will probably be about French New-wave, seeing as i do not know alot about it as a genre but an fascinated nonetheless after reading "A Movie Maker's Masterclass" which i recomend to anyone that not only loves Film Making, but Films in General.

It's getting late and i'm in the mood for a Hot chocolate... plus the Film Noir book is burning a hole in the back of my head, behind my pillow.

I'll keep you Posted.

Ashton's Film #2

2009-09-21T09:47:00.000-07:00

Can you believe i took that photo with my iPhone Camera? i used the touch-to-focus feature that the iPhone has and the image color was boosted on iPhoto.

I quite like it.

I arranged to meet my friend Ashton this morning to help shoot his short film, what it is fully about i have decided not to let myself discover, not out of ignorance but purely because he's quite an eccentric guy, so i know anything he Films will be interesting and original. This is justified by the fact that at about 3pm i was in his bathroom with him and my friend Sam, shooting a scene where she had to wash Ashton's hair while he was in the bath! Enough said really.

Today was interesting, i had a chance, while ashton was directing and i was the camera guy, to think about the different character in a short film that would be interesting enough to write a script around. We ended up in Darley Park which is little park, nestled into a corner of Derby. Ashton shot most of his film in area's surrounding Darley and Allestree, i think because of how nice it is and how the scenery can be used to image the characters feeling or emotions.

I also noticed that the trees leaves are beginning to wilt, due to the cold weather, bring out the vibrant browny-orangey colors that autumn gives you. This was a clear indication that i need to think of a film to shoot soon because there is something about Autumn and the trees dancing in the wind or the brown and gold leaves blowing on a street that i think would be special to capture in my film.

I won't go over the top and do an American Beauty, and film one leave dancing in the wind to the soundtrack of Thomas Newman's orchestral theme. That would be silly.

By the way i would like to point out i love that scene, and thought Family Guy was evil to take the piss out of it... though it was funny =).

Tommorow i will continue to read my book on Film Noir but also get in contact with the London Film Academy again and sort out participating in the 2-week film course that course 900 POUNDS!!!... and call up Skillset which will point me out to other courses.

in between that all i might have another crisp sandwhich.

Good times.

2009-09-20T15:32:00.000-07:00

I actually prefer, most of the time, to get straight out of bed in the morning, no lie-in's, why?

Okay So today was Sunday, i woke up and had an idea for a film, and that's my problem, people have bursts of creativity spontaneously, i get mine in the morning when i wake up. By the time i've hit the snooze button on my phone it's gone, hen i'll wake up again and think "ahh what was that idea that i had for my film... wait it's coming... nope". Thus the reason i like to wake up early and get out of bed...

I spent most of the day walking to and from my Girlfriend's house which is on the other side of Derby!.. fun fun fun. If i didn't like walking so much and LOVE taking so many Pictures, then i'd catch a bus, or learn to drive. but i take pictures all the time, and the picture you can see is actually taken in Littlover looking over mickleover... i think, well... somewhere, at about 5:30.

Anyway today was good, i wrote down a couple of idea's for a Film/short that i had in mind, mainly my idea's consist of a lone girl, or a lone man. This is because i follow the Student Film Makers guide... you've never heard of it?

okay it goes like this,

to be a student film Maker you must have the following:

1. Camera: Phone camera? Handy Cam? Stolen Camera? anything that shoots video, check.

2. Friends that will Help: You can try and go it alone, but at the end of the day you have to have friends or associates that you will be able to work with and will also be a positive force in creating your Film.

3. A Story to tell: You could be the most creative Film Maker that nobody has heard of, but if you haven't got a good message, a good story to tell the audience (or yourself?) then what is the point? Your Film will be weak and you will be disappointed and wonder "why?"

4. No money: Yep... but don't worry, Francis Ford Copolla actually said once that a Film on a smaller budget can be more ambitious. So you don't have the money for a Tripod? so what? Shoot the film with a handheld effect, even if it does not fit to the genre you have chosen, it doesn't matter, go for it, breaking barriers is the reason NEW genre's are created. Just go for it.

Follow these rules to become a Student Film Maker.

Personally i create film idea's that revolve around one character because of my friend Deepak Aujla, he turned to me when i was 18 and he was 17 and he said, "i wanna become an Actor", whilst i was supportive i didn't think he would get so far so quick, he's signed to n agency, been to the National Youth Theatre, appeared in many short films, works for BBC Radio Derby and so on. I knew as soon as i started making films he would be in them. I think i need to think outside the whole "One character" thing that i'm doing at the moment, there are only so many things that one character can portray, but a whole cast of varied characters?.. that's a different story.

My next Project is Going to involve more than one character, instead, i'll be a bit more creative and i think it will help me create more idea's.

The First Day of a Gap Year is always Slow

2009-09-19T19:19:00.000-07:00

So here i am,

I decided to become a blogger after some friends of mine convinced me it was something worthwhile doing whilst on my Gap year, not that I have nothing to do. See i'm actually an aspiring Film Maker, I don't just love films i want to make them, I want to give people the same feeling when they see a movie as the many Directors and Writers around the world give other people, I want to meet new people who are as passionate about Film as I am and i want share my creativity with the people.

So i've set up a Blog to document and share with people the Life of a Student Film Maker is like, in this blog you will read my thoughts about the world, life, my idea's for Scripts, any projects that i will be working on and eventually any of the Films that i will make.

I'm 19 now and by the end of this Gap Year i hope to start University, i say hope but... to be honest, i don't know which path to take, i mean you read about directors who have gone University, then gone to Film Schools and from there they've got into the industry, then the rest is history.

I don't know if that's the right path for me.

Then you hear about Film Makers who do it alone, raise money and shoot a film and break into the industry that way.

Again i don't know if that's for me. That's why i took a Gap Year, to find out not only what to do with my life, but to find myself, i think.

I surround myself with creative people, pretty much all of my friends are creative in some way or other, wether it's through Fashion, Music, Drama or Film.

Anyway this is my first post, of many, so i just wanted to Introduce myself...

wait did i mention my name? ...

My name is Max.

i'll keep you Posted.