The two things that stand out the most for me are the camera’s low light performance which means you can capture night scenes as you see them. I’ve written about this before but it’s great to have this performance in such an unassuming camera. Then there’s the crazy weather! Stifling humidity and frightening thunderstorms. Bring on September.

The season finale of House aired about two weeks ago but I only caught it last night in HD on iTunes. I was keen to watch this one because it was shot on the Canon 5D SLR using photographic lenses, the first time anything like this has been done for a major TV show.

I’m a big fan of shooting HD with these Canons, I use a 7D after changing over from a Sony HDV. There’re compromises, pros and cons between the two. However the convenience, ease and quality of output from Canon’s HD SLRs wins it for me.

So I settled down to watch House and see what a pro crew could get out of the 5D. I gave up after a few minutes. I’ve never watched House before and the story totally absorbed me. I just forgot about the camera aspect of it, it didn’t matter. Straight away that’s a good thing. Camera heads can discuss the colours and pixels and artifacts, but the story stood head and shoulders above all of this.

In particular, the portability of 5D heightened the claustrophobic feel of some scenes, such as below:

The main reason the director and his D.O.P. chose to shoot on an SLR was to get some very shallow depth of fields that are easily achievable with these cameras. Take a look at the first picture of Dr. House above, and this one here (higher quality images are below along with the first 2 minutes of the episiode):

Now that is a shallow depth of field. For me though, it’s a bit too much and I’m a fan of shallow depth of fields. The front of his face is in focus while his ears are blurred. The human eye doesn’t see things like that. If you were to stand in front Hugh Laurie, the same distance from him as the camera, your eyes would see all of his head as in focus.

The D.O.P. used 1.0 and 1.2 lenses to achieve that look. For me, 2.8 nicely represents the shallow depth of field the human eye sees, but it’s all a creative choice. Philip Bloom has more on the background of the shoot and an interview with the director here.

Overall, things are changing fast camera wise. There’s a real democratising happening of how things are shoot. As I type this, Steve Jobs of Apple is announcing the new iPhone that shoots 720p HD. While there’s nothing new about a phone that can do that, the movie edit program iMovie is now available on the iPhone, meaning you can shoot, edit, add music, transitions and titles to your film, right on your phone.

But all of these doesn’t matter if there isn’t a brilliant, well written, directed and acted story to tell, such as with the House finale. It’s a great episode, do check it out.

Click here to view the embedded video.

Ok, I’m a bit late to the game with this one but I’ve only come across these colour pictures of Ireland taken in 1913. Now we can see how miserable we all looked…in colour!

The stills are part of a collection of autochrome pictures taken worldwide at the time. I find them fascinating, partially because as a child I thought the world was literally black and white up until around the fifties (yeah yeah yeah, look the logistics of the presumed changeover to colour didn’t weigh heavy on my mind at the time), but also because true colour pictures from that part of the century are rare. We are just so used to seeing the past in black and white.

The story behind the collection is that between 1909 and 1931, Albert Kahn, a French banker and philanthropist, spent a fortune sending photographers with this new colour equipment to countries across the world in order to compile a “kind of photographic inventory of the surface of the earth as it was occupied and organised by Man at the beginning of the 20th century.”

So to Ireland he sent two French women, Marguerite Mespoulet and Madeleine Mignon-Alba, on a two-month journey from Connemara to the Boyne Valley. Below is a gallery with some of the pictures taken by them. It may be an obvious thing to say, but everything from then seems more real in colour. Red and green in particular are two colours that stand out for me.

I also included pictures of London, Paris and New York (with the wonderful Plaza Hotel) because when the photographers noted about the dying Irish villages that “the young men leave for North America, the young women too and when the old die the house is abandoned and falls into ruin” I can’t help but wonder did they wish they’d pulled a different assignment out of the hat.

You can check out more about the collection here.

Meanwhile, when you think of colour pictures from the past, what’s the first thing that springs to mind? That’s right, Hitler!

I came across these pictures that Hitler had commissioned of his homes and offices. Again, seeing this era in colour is fascinating, but in more in an errie way with these.

]]> http://www.theclancyconnection.com/2010/05/sorry-for-the-absence/feed/ 0 http://www.theclancyconnection.com/2010/05/listen-to-everyone-but-trust-yourself/ http://www.theclancyconnection.com/2010/05/listen-to-everyone-but-trust-yourself/#comments Wed, 05 May 2010 14:58:12 +0000 Andrew Clancy http://www.theclancyconnection.com/?p=596

Alan Gilsenan is the acclaimed Irish documentary director whose work includes The Asylum, The Hospice and I See a Darkness. Last week in The Irish Times he listed the 10 most important rules he adheres to when making documentaries.

While it’s aimed at documentary makers and other media heads, it’s an appealing and humorous read with  some good life lessons in there for everyone!

1. OPEN YOUR EYES AND EARS

Call me old-fashioned, but you don’t make documentaries sitting at your desk. You’ve really got to get out of the house or the office or the pub. But once you manage to finally shrug off your inherent apathy and venture out into the wild blue yonder, you need to look and listen.

Really look and really listen. Listen to people. To their stories. To what is said and what remains unsaid. Listen to the sounds of the wilderness and the hum of the city. See what is actually there before your eyes, not what you imagined was there or what you had hoped would be there. See the beauty in the ugliness and the ugliness in the beauty.

Then ask yourself what is all this really telling me? What is this not telling me? And when you realise that you don’t understand any of it, that none of this makes any sense at all, but yet you still instinctively feel that it may have some inherent importance, then record it.

Document it. Preserve it. You can sort it out later and maybe even begin to understand it (this is called editing and it is a dark and secret art).

2. THE GREATEST STORIES ARE NOT IN TASMANIA OR IN THE GALÁPAGOS ISLANDS (ALTHOUGH THEY MAY BE)

Great documentaries are not necessarily made from the most exotic or freakish subjects. It is not always essential to go in search of the one-legged, autistic transsexual high-wire artist currently detained in Guantánamo – with an Irish mother who is an ex-nun, of course – when the genuinely interesting story may actually be next door or down the road or in your Auntie Peggy’s attic. The greatest stories are often right there in front of your eyes.

3. NEVER PUT WORDS IN PEOPLE’S MOUTHS

Never ask people to say something that they have not said, even if it makes your life easier or your pathetic film more interesting. In particular, never ask people to put the question in the answer (think about it for a moment). This is one of the easy DIY tips that they will tell you in film school. (Important additional rule: strenuously avoid film schools, media courses and film-types in general). Don’t inflate or hype up the story. The real truth is never simple and always more fascinating.

If someone is good enough to share their life with you, their sole responsibility is to tell you the story as they see fit. The rest is up to you. (And trust your audience). Furthermore, don’t use charm or lies or bribery to ingratiate yourself in to any situation. Be honest with your subjects about what you all are embarking upon. Trust and honesty are essential to a good documentary, but this works both ways.

4. SOCIAL WORKERS ARE THE ENEMY (UNLESS THEY’RE THE NICE ONES)

Social workers have all sorts of notions about “managing the media” (much of which is well-intentioned and understandable, as mostly the “media” are mean-spirited and exploitative of the vulnerable people in their care). However, if you’re trying to make a decent documentary, truth and honesty are your only tools, and participants in that documentary are best served by being honest and true to themselves rather than spinning some politically correct platitude dreamt up by the dreaded social worker. (Other key enemies in this vein are PR consultants, media managers, spin doctors and other fraudulent professions.) And, while we’re on the subject, remember that documentary-makers are not social workers either. Their films may shine a light on an important area or even, occasionally, effect some social change, but documentary-making is not social work.

5. SOME THINGS DESERVE TO REMAIN PRIVATE

Enough said.

6. WORK WITH GREAT PEOPLE

Despite beliefs to the contrary, directing is not about getting what you want. It is, however, about focusing the considerable talents of a diverse group of people in a meaningful direction. You need great people around you because their talents enhance and enlighten your own. In short, they make you look good. The production people and the film crew hugely affect the mood of a shoot and a good team can create the essential atmosphere of trust in which others feel happy to share their lives. Also, if you’re going to be delayed for 12 hours in Jakarta airport with them, then you’ve got to love these people. And I do.

7. IT’S NOT ABOUT YOU (UNLESS, OF COURSE, IT IS ABOUT YOU)

Making a documentary can be a hugely privileged and engrossing experience. But that experience is not the film. Keep that to bore your friends and family with. It’s not about you, it’s about the tale that you are documenting. You may become a small part of that story by dint of simply being there but, really, we aren’t that interested in you at the moment.

Be honoured that you have been allowed to go along for the ride but never forget that you aren’t the main event. Except, of course, when you really have a story to tell. Then tell it with honesty, integrity and with joyful abandon of all other considerations.

8. LISTEN TO EVERYONE BUT TRUST YOURSELF

Everyone has an opinion (particularly sad television executives), and some of their views may actually be – surprise, surprise – valid and perceptive. The good director knows how to separate the wheat from the chaff. In sensitive issues, remember your legal and ethical obligations. Listen to the lawyers but always trust your own moral compass. There is no glory in making a legally watertight film if it transgresses the boundaries of decency. Ignore critics, especially Irish Times reviewers, particularly when they love you. Be your own best and sternest critic. Your finest film is always your next.

9. IT’S A CLICHE, UNDOUBTEDLY, BUT THERE ARE NO RULES

Fact and fiction are shifting sands. The dividing line is uncertain. Documentary is a very uncertain discipline. Remain open to new ideas. Think freely and creatively. Read WG Sebald. Read a lot of books. Watch other people’s films. Watch the films of John T Davis. Be generous in your criticisms and respect your peers. Slag off Michael Moore, in particular. Above all, remember that you’re supposed to be a film-maker. Once again, always keep your eyes and ears open.

10. BE TENDER, BE KIND

Someone once said to me in a homeless shelter in Drogheda (oh dear, I think it may have been a social worker): “Always remember that we are all very vulnerable.”

It struck me as simple but very profound advice. Respect people and their experience of life. Do not be judgmental or dismissive. Remember, to use the beautiful phrase of the English poet and biographer Andrew Motion, to “honour the miraculousness of the ordinary”.

It is a profound privilege to enter into someone’s life, to intimately share their most intense experiences and their most heartfelt emotions. Honour that privilege and then simply pass it on to your audience.

Oh, and get a real job. And then, maybe even your own life.

However, instead of a time-lapse showing people scurrying about the place, I wanted to show the earth itself rotating, because when everyone is done moving for the day and stationary at home in bed, the world continues to spin.

Digital cameras make it easier to do these slow-shutter lapses, so I pointed my camera at the clock tower of the Kilkenny Design Centre and then directly across the road to the entrance gate of the castle itself. Photography like this is slow, it can take an hour to get enough pictures to make 5 seconds of video and that’s why the clip is so short.

To break it down, depending on the time-lapse picture you’re capturing, it can take up to 30 seconds to get one picture (you leave the shutter open for 30 seconds to let enough light in to capture the stars). In turn, it takes 25-30 pictures to make 1 second of video.

I was lucky last night. The redesign of the area outside Kilkenny Castle means the harsh orange street lights that usually populate urban areas, and drown out our view of the stars, have been removed in favour of more subtle lighting. While that helped, the subtle lighting then shut off shortly after midnight. Whether that was for energy saving reasons (which I applaud) or whether they went on the blink (which wouldn’t surprise me!) the area was left covered by moonlight which was unusual but perfect!

Click here to view the embedded video.

Meanwhile, staying with northern Europe and, of course, sniffer dogs, this four legged explosives expert joined his handler recently as they took part in a NATO exercise in Norway.

Man, cats seem really useless now…

In it he talks of how the inherent creativity in young people is curbed by education systems worldwide that put academic subjects like maths and science ahead of the arts and vocations. He describes how the school system we know today came about in the 19th century to provide useful, productive workers for the industrialism at the time (you can watch the talk here).

And things haven’t changed. I was out recently with a group of friends who are secondary school teachers. They talked about how important it was to enforce rules regarding the school uniform because it prepared the students for the office place uniform of the shirt and tie. Which is a worrying thought for 2 reasons.

1. If school is to prepare young people for the workplace, why is it that taxpayers fund schools and not the large employers that students are being prepared for?
2. What kind of workplaces are students being primed for that make the mindless, rote learning which dominates education, a good preparation?

Well perhaps the Young Explorer answers that. Boy oh boy you can start deflating your child’s optimism for a cheery future early with this toy. A cubicle bound desk-jockey my son, that’s what your schooling will train you for.

The Young Explorer manages to make the McDonald’s Drive-Thru Food Cart look aspirational.

I present to you the four slowest driven cars on the road. If this pattern hasn’t stood out to you in the past, it’ll jump out at you now.

So much so that if you find yourself in the middle of a sluggish convoy, you can bet that it’s one of these cars in front. If you have a chance to overtake one of these cars, do it, DO IT! And avoid the inevitable frustration coming down the road.

Indicators? They’re optional for these drivers. An awareness of the traffic around them? Nope, not a chance. A constant 60 km/h in both 100 and 40 km/h zones. You bet!

Here’s a little glimpse into the minds of these drivers.

Click here to view the embedded video.