Other Films I Worked On

As well as working on my own film I also worked on the films of two other students. The first film I worked on was the film Darkon written and directed by Tina Dadds. My role as a crew member was the Sound Man where I captured the sound. We filmed in locations such as West Woods in Thundersley, Essex, the street adjacent to West Woods and Coal House Fort in Tilbury. All had variant conditions to capture good sound.

In West Woods there was wind to contend with so using a blimp and a ‘dead-cat’ was essential so that minimum amount of wind and in almost all cases, no wind could be heard on the captured takes.

When we filmed in the street I was able to capture good sound, however the sensitivity of the microphone picked up many sounds from a great distance. At one point a road-sweeper passed and I called for the shooting to cease so that the sound of the road-sweeper could not be heard in when we started to shoot. It was some time until the road-sweeper was out of range for the microphone even though by human ear it couldn’t be heard!

In Coal House Fort the conditions were cramped and cold and in the tunnels and rooms of the underground building had an echo. The sound bounced off the walls and to combat this, the sensitivity was turned down on the audio input settings, and I ensured that I got the microphone as close to the speaking actors as possible at the same time ensuring the boom pole and microphone were out of shot.

I feel that the sound I captured on Darkon was of a high standard as all the dialogue can be heard in the shots where I contributed as a sound man. This enables the viewer to hear what the actors are saying in the film.

Darkon can be seen here: [LINK COMING SOON]

I also worked on the film Angel Freak written and directed by Sarah Shea. For this film I was requested to do the camera work. The director required me to capture some shots to make the opening sequence appear disorientating. To enable me to get this effect I increased the shutter speed of the camera which then made the shot jutted, wobbly and give a slow-motion effect.

Other shots that I was required to take for this alternative film included pointing the camera up at a spinning disco ball and spin round in the opposite direction, to give the sense of disorientation and several shots of murals on walls. Some shots were deliberately not framed properly, were out of focus, and the lighting made poor to get the effect the director was trying to achieve. 

I also, where I could, helped with some of the editing.

Angel Freak can be seen here: [LINK COMING SOON]