Last night I journeyed to Nottingham for a Q&A session with Danny Boyle, Alex Garland and Andrew MacDonald, the director, writer and producer of 28 Days Later respectively.

The Q&A followed an early screening of their new film, and was an excellent opportunity to hear about the process of making a mainstream horror film using miniDV camcorders. The Q&A has been uploaded here

In other news, Jeff Day gave me a script which he has been working on for the last week. The script was written in response to an idea I had recently for a 30 minute film. The film's working title will simply be: FILMONE (however this is obviously not the final title) and will be shot together with two extra films in the next quarter (one 10 minute film for BBC TALENT and one six minute film for Six Minute Cinema). It will act as my final preparation for directing the feature.

My little beauty of a camcorder was sent back for repair today because the two burned out pixels will not help matters when it comes to entering competitions in the future. The pixels have been dud for a while, but I wanted to ensure that I got to film the 60 second movies before the camera was sent back.

Depressing news aside, today Frank Felker of Six Minute Cinema notified me that he had uploaded my film Opportunity Knocks to his site. This will hopefully provide other 'have-a-go' filmmakers with the inspiration required to make their own DV films.

Today I hit on a cool idea for a short film, although the film (Which I hope to squeeze into 10 minutes) might end up being a bit longer and is actually a feasible idea for a feature. Stuart Folley (Another work colleague interested in writing films) and myself will attempt to script something out over the next two months. Depending on how flexible we make it, I might be able to direct two versions of the script so we can enter it into numerous short film festivals - this is because some stipulate short films should be 30 minutes or less. Others say 10 minutes or less.

In other news, the judging has finished for Gone in 60 seconds and it appears the three entrees failed to make the last 10. The good news, however, is that a filmmaker approached me today via e-mail whose film actually managed to get into the last 10. I am unable to play the film because of some 'quicktime' error I am getting, but some of you might, so here it is. You might also be interested in the related web site which has a filmmaking diary similar to my site.

I've owned the Cyber Film School CD Rom for what feels like a year now. I've always promised to write a review but have really not had the time. I get a hell of a lot of enquiries on my site about it, so I feel it is time to talk about this so-called filmschool on a CD.

My experiences with this product have not been very positive. The first time I ordered it, it never even showed up. I informed the Internet Film Group about this (Who own the CD) and they dispatched another one. This one finally arrived but one of the demonstration videos on it didn't work no matter how many upgrades I made to my video playback software.

Once I did get it working I ran through it sequentially as a novice filmmaker would. I found that The Cyber Film School CD has everything you'll need to get into the basics of filmmaking - or at least the theory of it anyway. Sounds good? Well it is until remember you paid over 50 dollars for it. Everything that is useful on this CD can be found through a combination of using the related web site, which is free to access, and by looking through the plethora of free resources on the web aimed at young filmmakers.

A lot of the video interviews on the CD are nice to have. I enjoyed the one with Lawrence Bender talking about how he got into producing and how he produced Reservior Dogs for Tarantino. But other than these few novelties, you'll find the CD is pretty basic. When I used the CD I wanted to see if there was any material on achieving high quality sound.

Did I find this?

No! All I found was an interview with a sound man who was not yet embracing digital sound. I had hoped for info on how to record good sound and how to achieve that richness of the voice you hear in films with the minimal budget.

To make matters worse, there were no direct comparisons of shot-gun microphones or any tips on the various software packages available for making and editing sound. Nor was there much information on copyright free music.

Overall I would strongly recommend you save your money and spend it on a good book from amazon. I will put up a recommended reading list soon.

Features 4/5 | Value For Money 1/5 | Overall 2/5

Disclaimer: The opinions expressed in my 'review' are solely my own and are based on my own personal experience of using the Cyber Film School CD-ROM.

Production notes for the films can now be found in the screening room.

Origins, Opportunity Knocks and The Big I Am have all been uploaded. The files are approx 3.5 megabytes each so even if you have a modem you will be able to view them with not too much of a wait. Click on the titles to view the films. In time I'll shift all this over to the appropriate place in the screening room.

IMPORTANT: If you do not have broadband, please right click on the link for each file and select 'save target as'. If you attempt to stream it down your modem line unsuccessfully you may not then be able to save to your computer afterwards!!

Initial feedback is slowly trickling through the site and from work colleagues who have seen all 3 films on S-VCD. The feedback has been:

• Opportunity Knocks
• "The best of the lot"
• "Liked the humour"
• "Consistency of camera-work a litle confusing"
• "Nice directing at end when the joke kicks in"
• "It was great!"
• "I actually liked the shaky camera"
• "Color temperatures varied too much"
• "Should have seen more of the bag in the hallway"
• Origins
• "Good but very deep"
• "Would appeal to film people but maybe not to general audience"
• "Really good - thoroughly enjoyed"
• "Different lighting (maybe?) affected coloration of blood"
• "Photographs could be ordered chronologically"
• "Very stylish"
• "This film's too good for 60 seconds - needs to be longer"
• "A bit too dark, but that did make it good"
• "All films impressive - but Origins is my favourite"
• "Excellent use of sound"
• "By far the best"
• "Could have maybe shown images of conflict"
• "How can I put this without saying it's crap? - could have benefited from using split screen to show the lives of both the husband and wife "
• The Big I Am
• "The Worst of the lot"
• "The thunderstorm roared over the dialogue"
• "Liked the camera movements to the blood on his shirt"
• "Liked all the multiple angles - worked well"
• "A bit predictable!"
• "Convincing police cell!"
• "There is no real point to this film. When the big revelation comes no one actually cares of sympathises"
• "This films needs a hero. A good guy we can relate to. How can anyone relate to this guy - he's an asshole."

Late on Sunday 29-Sep-02 I completed the last of the three films. I have worked so hard that my head is spinning. Today I used my entire 2 hour lunch break to get down to Gospel Oak in London to hand in my entry for the Camcorder User 'Gone in 60 seconds' competition. I'm not sure if the films will get into the top 3 prizes, as this is my first attempt, but I am going to attend the showing of the final 10 (in just 17 days I believe) regardless as I am looking forward to seeing the cream of the crop.

It's just gone 3:20am as I write this. The great news is that after spending almost half of the day locked in my room, I finally have an S-VCD of 2 of the films for the 'gone in 60 seconds' competition. I worked from about 5pm to 7pm to get Opportunity Knocks edited (the film based on the script by Jeff Day). I then worked from 8pm to 11pm on my film, Origins. My fiance - who was understanding enough to let me get on with it all day - viewed the films and was impressed, although she did have strong reservations about Origins when she sneaked a peak at its early development. Thankfully the finished piece won her over! I still have one more film to edit tomorrow (or later today depending on how you look at it) and then I have to journey into London to drop the S-VCD in to the headquarters of Camcorder User as the deadline is Monday 30-Sep-02.

Today I called Frank Felker, founder of Six Minute Cinema, after I noticed that he mentioned my site in his newsletter. Frank was interested in my motivations and experiences as a young filmmaker embracing the digital medium. I also had the opportunity to talk to him more in-depth about the competition and the opportunities it will provide for young filmmakers out there.

One thing I would stress to all my readers is that Frank will compile a DVD of the best entries to his film festival. This DVD will be viewed by some top producers in the states, so view this competition as a chance to show off your skills.

Sunday 22-Sep-02 was a great day! Having shot both of Jeff Day's scripts the weekend before, this was the first time I had ever directed from my own script. The short film in question is set in two places - a lecture theatre and a house. I decided to rent the auditorium at the Tourist Information Centre in Rochester High Street, Kent to shoot the scenes in the lecture theatre. The scene required about 6 or 7 audience members and a lecturer. Unfortunately only about 4 people turned up, in addition to my lecturer. I had the place booked for an hour, and after waiting for half that time for late people to arrive, I had to begin. Then something odd happened...

About 10 extra people suddenly swaned in! Unknown to me, my mum (Who had given me a lift and gone off to park the car) had accosted people in the street. It turns out she was telling people that a local director was shooting a film that was going to be shown at the Cannes and Edinburgh film festivals!

Classic!

So with the auditorium packed, I did a number of takes, with and without my Azden mic so we can have some better examples in the screening room. I went for an orangy/warm look for this film, as opposed to the clinical blue tint that I had used on both of Jeff Day's. The shoot was wrapped up quite quickly and then I moved on to shoot the next part in Gillingham.

The shoot in a house in Gillingham went brilliantly. My friend Kevin Barraclough and his wife, Michelle, knocked up some fake blood which looked really good and I did two takes consisting of a number of shots. One take was done in low-light (Which my MV30 holds up very well in) and the other in bright light. The low-light take was the best as the use of reflected light gave the film a more cinematic feel. Things were wrapped up in about an hour, and hey presto - another film shot and ready for edit!

In additon to Kev and Michelle who worked doggedly to help me complete the Gillingham shoot, I would like to make a very special thankyou to Amy and Matt Dallas, who rounded up the actors for me in Kent; and of course my Mum who rounded up the extras :)

I now have three evenings to edit the three films. Wednesday is my fiancee's birthday, so I will skip that day. If things go really bad I could always use one of those 'same day' couriers on Monday 30-Sep-02 which is the actual closing date - that would then buy me the weekend.

Today was awesome. I met up with Peter Fleming, Dougles Harding, and Philip Bell to shoot two of our entrees for the 60 second film competition. Both films were based on scripts by Jeff Day, the work colleague who has joined my venture. Sadly, Jeff has now moved away to Nottingham to be with his fiancee, so he was unable to attend the shoot. In Jeff's absence I decided to change one of the scripts heavily to make it more believable; the actors all agreed that it was the right decision. As soon as the films have been edited they will be uploaded to the screening room. This should be done by 30-Sep-02, which is the closing date for the competition.

I also looked into booking a lecture theatre in the Medway towns (My place of origin back in Kent) to film my script. This seems to have been sorted now - all I am waiting on is confirmatin from the actors.

To round the day off, I downloaded two wicked pieces of software to help me burn a S-VCD (Which I subsequently played on my DVD Player). My editing software exports finished movie files as .AVI files. In order to get these to become S-VCDs, two steps are required:

1. Convert the AVI file into an MPEG2 file.
2. Burn the MPEG2 file onto a CD in S-VCD format.

Step 1 is achieved with a piece of software called TMPGEnc which is available for DEMO from here.. Step 2 is achieved with a piece of software called Nero Express, which was on my NERO Burning ROM Demo. Remember that not all DVD players will play S-VCDs, but more and more are being made these days to do so.

Today Peter Fleming, Douglas Harding, Philip Bell, and Diana Evans visited my flat in Letchworth to see the final edit of the play we shot back in late June. The segment we shot lasted just over 6 minutes. I asked everyone to be as blunt as possible and not hold back any criticism.

I was very pleased by the reactions, as everyone basically agreed with me on what was done well and what was done badly:

Criticism:

• Hand-held documenary look was too 'shaky'
• Fast pans between actors should have been avoided
• Should have had a long shot occasionally to remind viewers of the spacial relationships between the characters and environment

Praise:

• Good use of shots - well thought out and complimented actors
• Good cinematography - looked almost like real film
• Cuts were clever given small number of takes

The actors read Jeff Day's scripts for the 60 second film competition, and agreed that we should shoot both of them. We will shoot these on 14-Sept-02. This means there will be a mad rush to get everything finished for the deadline, as the films to be shot back in Kent will be moved to 21-Sep-02. I will have a lot of editing on my hands, but relish the chance to work under pressure.

Of the six shortlisted films for the Orange FilmFour prize, possibly the most unimaginative film ended up winning - Veronique. The film, which filmfour describe as 'enchanting and endearing' tells the story of a teenage boy who creates an imaginary love affair with a young girl with whom he shares his bus journey. You can read the screenplay for yourselves, but basically she gets on every day and he narrates to his friend how he met her and creates a host of fictitious situations. No surprises for guessing she doesn't turn up one day and he never sees her again - classic predictable and sentimental hollywood. For those that are still baffled, this is basically a rehash of a moment recounted by Robert Redford's character in the movie Indecent Proposal. The guy who won - Patrik Bergh - has been offered a huge film deal with filmfour to direct a feature. Hopefully Jeff Povey (Author of Blowing It) will get some kind of deal also, as his film was by far the better.

Today the winner of the Film Four/Orange prize for short film is announced. I have taken the screenplays and made them available in the screening room - see this link. Young filmmakers out there would do well to study these, especially if they are considering entering next year.

In my usual political incorrectness, I will evaluate each film briefly:

1. Blowing It: hilarious, well-paced 5/5
2. Hard Little Man: effective, engaging 5/5
3. The FishMonger: dragged on a bit, nice ending 3/5
4. Veronique: predictable, no imagination 2/5
5. Stagnate: unusual, but tedious 2/5
6. A Container: boredom and tedium fused to perfection 0/5

Today I decided that I am going to record all the sounds for my film fresh, and then make the entire library of sounds available to all filmmakers for free. That way, no one will have to pay for sounds ever again. It will be a lot of work, but I have to do this for my film anyway, so what the heck?

Dave Nutley (director of Dark Skies and Storm Ahead) has come up with a solution to my burned out pixel. I will comment on his idea once have tried and tested it. He writes:

In other news, I have arranged to meet my primary actress, Amy Dallas on 08-Sep-02 to discuss a script with her for one of the three up and coming 60 second films. She is part of an amateur dramatics group in Kent, so I will discuss the possibility of meeting other actors with a view to filming another of my 60 second films while I am in Kent.

Today I was looking around on the web for some decent sound effects (I think I'll end up recording all of mine fresh - something M Night Shymalan did for his film Unbreakable.) I found the following mp3s at this URL:

http://www.sound-effects-library.com/free/mp3.html

Not sure if they will be that much use to me, but I must confess to being very taken by the Storm and Rain sound bites.

During the period indicated I was away at Bath University. It's a strange place to have a holiday, I agree, but I had to go because my fiancee had a residential school there as part of her Open University Degree Course. While she was busy doing ghastly things like analysing the art of Andy Warhol, I was working hard on ideas for my feature.

I took the time to look around WaterStones (On-Campus version) and found a superb book on screenwriting theory. The book is: The Art and Science of Screenwriting. It is currently on order at Amazon (3-5 weeks) so you might have to look elsewhere as this is normally an indicator it is about to stop being sold. As always I will extract the most useful parts relevant to low budget film making and include them in my quick-start guide once I have used and abused them.

During my week there I met some really interesting people - an IT expert named Simon who is skilled in burning DVDs with top-end software and an actor from Cumbria by the name of Tony. I hope to work with both of these chaps in the future.

Strange!!!!!!!!!!!!!.

I took this old route66 VHS I had and played a segment which I subsequently recorded using my Canon MV30 mic and the two barrels of the mic (The shot gun and the short barrel). As you can see from the graphics below, the Canon recorded much louder but did have a slightly tinny sound. The Azden recorded very low but with minimal background noise. Now I know why they virtually shove boom mics in people's faces. The test results (in mp3 format) are available here. The results were strange as the boom mic didn't really perform as well as I thought it might. There is an odd hiss, which might be hiss from the VHS I recorded. I'll need to do some more thorough tests soon.

In other news, another pixel has burned out on my MV30's CCD. The graphic below shows a close-up of the anomoly:

I got the playback from my camera through to Jeff's video working fine, so now a widget will be all I need to purchase in order to record any films we work on. (The widget allowing me to get any footage back onto the DV camera from my computer by enabling D-In on my camera). Bad news, though: I noticed one of the pixels was burned out (displaying just white) near the bottom of the screen so I will need to take this back and get it repaired. The goods of sale act means one must go via the retailer and not the manufacturer. It stipulates that all good sold come with a 12 month warranty from the retailer. Retialers, however, try to fob people off onto the manufacturers so that they can avoid any hassle. They try to take advantage of people's ignorance which ends up costing the consumer in both time and money. I will document what happens when I contact the retailer who sold me my camera to show what can happen (assuming they try to take advantage of me also).

I'm currently in a dilemma. My edited segment of the play performed by the Settlement Players is trapped on my PC. I can't seem to find a way of outputting it to VHS! I have an S-Video connector at the back of my PC, and all the appropriate leads to convert S-Video into SCART, but my new video player (which has now been taken back) was unable to receive the signal. I am going to try Jeff's video tonight, but even if it works there is still no guarantee it will record from my computer as the S-Video port may be knackered on my PC. If I can get the s-video-SCART-video working from my camcorder, then I'll purchase a £50 widget from Datavision and record the finished piece from my PC back to my Digital Camera.

In other news, we had some terrific storms up in letchworth recently, so I stuck my shot-gun mic out the window to test how sensative it was (to sound, not lightning strikes). I also ran the Camcorder Mic and Shot-Gun Mic tests so I will upload them soon. Today I'll be arranging a schedule with Jeff Day and Stuart Folley to head into London to shoot one of our 60 second films. The deadline is less than 2 months away!