Best Value Binaural Video ASMR Recording Device (£129)

So my journey has continued from iPhone through Sony offerings and I thought I'd settled on the ZTE Axon 7 (because Dolby Atmos and playback dynamic compression). However the size and weight of the Axon made it somewhat klunky in the pocket which was bugging my airninja-ness.

So I started looked for smaller, lighter phones that weren't the Sony Xperia X Compact (because the binaural mics on that phone are sub-optimally positioned). I happened across the Samsung Galaxy A3 2016 - a refurb at just £129, so I thought I'd take a punt after some critical listening to example video footage.



Bear in mind the A3 2016 does not have any optical stabilisation and is somewhat "stripped down" compared to more current smartphones - no fingerprint scanner, no water resistance, 16GB internal RAM - yes just 16GB internal RAM (ah but expandable by 128GB using microSD so perfect for my video needs!)

The camera is "only" 13MP but it is f1.9 which is great, but "only" records at 1080P @30fps (and does display some minor minor uglies in 50Hz lighting). The camera is however better than the camera in the ZTE Axon 7 (richer colours, snappier autofocus - though nowhere near Sony Xperia XZ snappy).

So for a phone that was released to the world in December 2015 it aint looking too shabby even now almost half way through 2017 - and it's "cheap", I mean £129, I've bought pairs of shoes that cost more than that! (Yes I'm an idiot).

I've been so pleased with the A3 2016 that I have now taken a punt on the A3 2017 model (released January 2017 IIRC) which also includes a fingerprint scanner and is IP68 dustproof/waterproof (can be in a metre of water for 30 minutes). Internal RAM can be expanded to 256GB and it's a USB-C connector.

Using relatively low cost equipment has been a goal of airninja for quite some time and it looks like I can finally put a tick in that box :)

Here's a couple of binaural stereo video recordings I made to test the Samsung Galaxy A3 2016 phone that cost me just £129 -







As always I'm happy to hear your own opinions in the comments so don't be shy!

The iPhone SE has Apple Mojo

So I've had my 64GB iPhone SE a week now.  During the two-week shipping time I re-acclimatised myself with the smaller form-factor by the using my old iPhone 5S before committing myself to selling my 128GB iPhone 6 Plus.

Boxing up my "old" iPhone 6S Plus, filmed with the iPhone 5S whilst my SE was being made at the factory (settle in with headphones for the full ASMR experience):



Whilst using the iPhone 5S I realised I'd only really been chasing the camera and battery tech on the newer iPhone releases. The big screen was nice to have whilst discovering new games but frankly now all the iOS arcade racers and first-person-shooters are the same old tired genres and bore me to tedium. I continue to enjoy classic puzzlers like Scrabble and Words and 10,000,000 and You Must Build a Boat - which play just as well on the SE screen as its larger siblings.

Play a lot of big-name games? Use a console. Categories diverge, always have. For my casual puzzle gaming though, the SE is just fine.

To boot I also sold the 6S Plus at a price that easily covered the cost of the 64GB iPhone SE. The SE is the cheapest iPhone model (if you go for the 16GB model which most people wanting to shoot video probably should avoid) and yet for me it has more mojo than its bigger siblings, it's understated, discrete, just plain stealth.

Unboxing my new favourite iPhone, again filmed with the 5S (and again recorded in a way to maximise any ASMR trigger potential so wear headphones for best effect):



Now obviously the iPhone SE isn't for everyone since Apple will no doubt continue to sell gobs of larger screened phones. I really hope they keep a smaller form-factor in their line-up and this isn't some sort of "one of" Special Edition phone as part of Apple's 40th year.

Right now, for long as 1080P remains a viable consumption format (and I'm sure it will be for another 10 or 20 years or longer) then I don't really have any compelling reason to ever upgrade from the iPhone SE (it can shoot 4K if I can really be bothered) - unless it becomes completely obsolete - which will happen eventually as happens to everything including entire civilisations. (In other words, I'm not going to let that worry me!)

And, did you notice the video above shot with the 5S were 720P@60fps? An ancient phone in technology years.

The iPhone SE shows Apple found some mojo, it didn't wimp out entirely on components and build materials, you could even say iPhone SE is da BOM.

Don't listen to me make up your own mind and exercise your own powers of critical thought. Fink different.

☴ Trendspotting and Avoiding Media Fads

I'm pretty bored of hearing about VR (virtual reality) that I decided to check why it was everywhere in my feeds and streams. It definitely seemed like it was all rooted in some astroturfing PR campaign.

Well I was not surprised to see this trend line:


It's clearly a campaign push media idiot feedback loop bound for a deep deep trough of disillusionment.

Compare that with more steady interest in Deep Learning:


Heck, even the humble old staycation is a safer bet for sustainable growth (which itself may have arisen from a campaign push media idiot feedback loop):


Proof, if any were needed, VR is in a bubble and it's very likely about to come down the other side of its spike. I won't be wasting my time or money on it just yet. I'll see you on the other side.

☴ Book Review - Ishmael by Daniel Quinn

Ishmael is a very simple, quite short, book. Whilst some highbrows deplore the style, I found it highly accessible and slightly whimsy in a Philip K. Dick dark undertone kind of way: a telepathic gorilla instructs the protagonist on how the state of the world came to be, why, and what can potentially be done about it.

The structure of the book is such that it follows the rules of cliffhangers and revelations, withholds key parts of the narrative to keep you reading.

The story presents a concept that will stay with me. The idea that, what if our entire civilised culture is enacting upon erroneous perceptions that are so deeply ingrained in how we do things that to question them is absolute heresy. That there is an alternative, and by the way here is one such alternative you could begin enacting as an individual today; now.

Difficult to go beyond the surface without spoilers, but it presents a hypothesis and suggests a practical, easy, effortless solution. It might even contribute to your well-being and improving positive mental health. And/or put you in the mood to re-watch The Matrix.

If you don't want the toil, why not herd?

Value people and life, not things. Don't seek to conquer; rather participate in nourishing. Prepare the world for the future rather than consume it for the now. The usual hippy shit, then explains why such mind-sets fail to get traction (bear in mind the book was published in the early 1990s).

Whilst this book undoubtedly belongs in the "New Age" section alongside David Bohm, Rupert Sheldrake and, ahem, David Icke - it rethinks contemporary dominant global culture in ways that make logical and rational sense - in the context of a conversation with a gorilla.

Why review this book on a blog about compact capability? Because only the outlaws are truly free.


Ishmael on Amazon UK

Economics of Filmmaking & Finding Your Audience

Hands up if your film has made a net or gross profit.

OK, anyone with their hands up, they can leave the room. You have nothing to learn here (although you are welcome to stay and gloat).

If you want to give up the day job and earn a living through the business of show, you have to have your content make money, right? I mean sure, "do what you love and the money will follow" is something people say to the aspirational but at what point can you make a profit from passion?

I'm not sure I have any answers, but I do have research. Data. 18 months worth of data.

I present to you, Exhibit A - an award winning short film made by a team of dedicated filmmakers with much care and attention - and a passion for storytelling. It was shot over a few nights in November 2014 and cut into its final form and uploaded to the public in January 2016. The film has been marketed to festivals across the world (as well as a lot of admin time this costs real money in terms of entry fees - arguably tax deductible as part of the marketing budget). It's now on Youtube with appropriate metadata tags for SEO.

208 views at time of writing.

Here I present to you Exhibit B - a genre and brand exploiting short video made in a few minutes by a single hack of a filmmaker with a focus on delivering an experience for a defined audience - and a passion for stereo sound. It was shot realtime and uploaded with no editing. Tagged in Youtube within minutes. The film has had no active marketing; only passive metadata tagging for SEO. Arguably someone had to buy the product in this video which is a negative cost - however, it is a tax deductible line item from the marketing budget, right?

423 views at time of writing.

I said I don't have any real answers. I don't. There can be no absolutes when markets are fluid.

Which movie would you rather watch, and why?

Which movie would you rather make, and why?

What I will say at this point is that both of these movies have generated revenue on Youtube - and at time of writing one of them has generated almost 400% more revenue than the other.

Relax. You're Quite Safe Here.

How new interest in VR could re-ignite the music video and album sales.

Not wearing headphones.

There's been a lot of chatter recently about VR (and AR) from the usual suspects. Apparently the tech is a lot better looking now, you know, realistic and immersive.

The immersive part always makes me laugh. I can be immersive with a pair of headphones and a decent binaural recording. I can be immersed reading a book. Imagine! I digress.

The point was, the narrative goes, VR failed in the 80s/90s because it was clunky low resolution shit.

True dat.

VR - then.

VR - now.

It was also true that gaming in the 80s/90s was clunky low resolution shit. It fucking rocked and a new industry was born - well documented in crowdfunded Bedrooms To Billions for one (I particularly like the founder of U.S. Gold admitting that he had no idea what he was doing).

So VR failed, 8-bit gaming skyrocketed through to the consolidated industry we know today. Stay with me.

Sitting passively wearing headphones. And that other thing.

I believe that VR may continue to fail whist it is physically non-passive. It will appeal to paintballers and lots of other people but who will actually prance around all day in that get up? I don't see it being as big as console gaming (famous last words of course). You can sit playing games at a console all day. VR all day? Be my guest.

Gaming, in common with watching movies, or watching a hybrid of the two - a Twitch stream - is largely passive, hypnotic.

Contemporary VR you must be awake standing up looking around bending reaching tripping over your furniture.

So even though today VR may look amazing it's is not a medium to be frolicking in for hours on end around staircases.

So, by my reckoning, VR must become a more passive activity to succeed - whatever success is nowadays.

VR reminds me of 3D in the cinema - it's going to be rolled out every generation to see if it sticks.

Anyway.

Passive VR. Immersive. Remember what I said about headphones and binaural? This has lead to a boom in Youtube videos promoting ASMR - sounds that make you feel good - and discussions around frisson - music that makes you feel good.

Strikes me that ASMR and frisson typically occur when the subject is passive rather than running around having all senses abused and bruised.

Still no headphones.

So if VR is to become a household medium, how could we shoehorn VR with sounds that make you feel good? Music, of course. Ambient soundscapes. More. No doubt over time a grammar would develop more akin to cinema than gaming (but Twitch is evidence that lots of people enjoy watching games passively and this goes right back to the days when computer games were in the arcade at the seafront - I remember watching that guy beat Space Harrier, awesome!).

Music video can be a great experimental landscape, as indeed can music itself.

VR is so fixated on the vision it forgets the wave.

Ignore the tech companies, ask an anthropologist.

Or, of course, not.

Persuading anyone that they need a helmet to listen to the latest album by the current big thing won't be easy. That's why a new category needs to be invented, and a progressive company needs to be first in it. Which is where it all falls apart. No smart money here! (unless the helmet plugs into a lightning port).

'EyePhone' VR, 1989. Note single cup headphone, d'oh.

☴ Watchlist: HFR & ASMR

I've noticed an emerging trend amongst progressive filmmakers. Firstly they treat online as their primary global distribution platform (natch) but secondly I am seeing more and more content produced with HFR and ASMR.

HFR has largely been rejected by cinema going audiences, but I believe long-term it will become de-facto standard and 24fps will be regarded by my grandchildren as I regard the quirky looking 18fps footage of a hundred years ago incorrectly played back at 24fps.

Everyone can be a filmmaker using a single device.

It's ironic that as a young filmmaker stuck with 50Hz PAL video, I hated that horrible 'soap opera' look of 50i. I strived for that 'film look' just as some modern filmmakers strive for that 'VHS look'. Madness! I yearned for D1 720x576 but when it was finally affordable it was basically obsolete. I wish I'd discovered Laver's law in my twenties then it may have all made a lot more sense to me.

I remember reading, I forget where - other than in print in the early 90s - that when developing Star Tours the boffins got great reactions from audiences when subjected to HFR (60fps was trialled IIRC) - not interlaced like TV, but progressive, actual frames, like film. It wasn't to be though, probably due to reasons of expense and available bandwidth in existing technology. Wish I could remember what the article was and where I read it!

Reading that, it stuck with me to this day. So HFR came as no surprise to me. I believe more motion data is just as important as UHD and beyond. Kids growing up on console gaming just see a blur when they go to the cinema. In fact, so do I (and I don't even own a console).

Cinema may stick with 24fps (for that extra stop in low-light during acquisition), but it's doubtful if IMAX will. I firmly believe IMAX will supplant contemporary cinema as the 'narrative event experience' because home cinema is more comfortable (and a whole lot cheaper) than going out to the cinema. Audiences are split about 3D at the cinema but frankly that's a big fat red herring that gets rolled out every couple of decades. If you want 3D go see a stage play, they are awesome nowadays.

There's an argument that the dating scene will sustain modern cinema. I call bullshit on that, as Netflix & Chill has been marketed so successfully to the younger generation who have grown up with choice and abundance.

EXT. Star Tours.

No way home cinema will stick with 24fps, it will cater to the console kids who grew up gaming at 60fps and will demand their own normal when voting with their wallets (well, assuming the concept of a wallet survives ...)

HFR, especially at 60fps, solves a lot of problems for the progressive filmmaker.

ASMR hasn't made it into cinemas, mainly because 'true' ASMR required the listener to be wearing headphones. It's unlikely that traditional production technique will ever cater to ASMR. However, again, I believe my grandchildren may be more au fait with it than the general public of today. Whilst it may never be mainstream, I believe its benefits will ripple out just as Hi-Fi has done over the last 40 years or so.

There's no doubt that ASMR is pseudoscience, however I have definitely experienced emotional and 'tingly' responses to sound and ASMR is a good an explanation as any.

Essentially ASMR boils down to two things, of which in my experience only one needs to be present (but both is better).

POV often neglects audio completely.

Firstly, perhaps most importantly, ASMR is positional stereo. This usually means recorded binaurally POV. Not practical for most narratives (great for first-person-shooters that the kids play on their consoles - are you detecting a theme yet?). However, I believe a good stereo sound stage reproduction will suffice (more practical for production of traditional narrative).

Secondly, frequency response. Not necessarily flat, but it needs to be 'clean' rather than 'muddy'. This is because the ear cannot discern the direction of bass frequencies but higher frequencies can be highly positional. Higher frequencies tend to lend more air, and thus feed into those ASMR tingles.

It's totally possible for ASMR to be mono, but it is far more effective in stereo. Stereo allows the ear to pick out positional details due to time differences in the sound wave hitting each ear.

This is why it annoys me that Apple's iPhone cannot record stereo with its three (count 'em!) onboard mics. In every other way, the onboard audio always amazes me except for this glaring omission. Sure, external mics are available (and very decent M/S mics they are too - see video embedded below) but sometimes the onboard mics are all you have - typical during the frugalwave. Onboard stereo mics on an iPhone would no doubt be thought about and positioned correctly in relation to the camera lens (or the corrective/adaptive DSP would be spot on).



So Apple has 800 engineers working on the iPhone's camera that they buy from Sony - so what about the audio-visual?


UPDATE: Yes, I should have mentioned the digital bits that represent latitude and all that good 4:4:4 stuff but I think something akin to Moore's "law" in CCD / CMOS / NEXT TLA will see better and better low-light performance over time - it's going to happen anyway.

Sound Really Is 50% Of Your Movie

In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was God – it’s the big bang that started it all, not the big picture!

The sound wave, not the light wave.

Sooner or later you’ll hear someone say how important sound is – but rather than wave them on and uttering “we’ll fix it in post”, have you stopped to consider what it is that sound actually brings to your movie?

Here’s a quick test. Watch your favourite movie with the sound turned off.

Does it still engage you fully? Honestly? Would you sit so long through the end- credits (or opening title crawl) if it weren’t for the choice of music?

Does that really constitute 50% of the movie? Well, on a purely “count the senses” – vision and hearing – yes, yes it does. Arguably sound can improve the visual, and even make people see things that aren’t there.

Good sound can really help prop up a substandard visual but bad sound is, well, just bad sound. Our eyes provide vision as a dominant sense, our ears provide sound almost as a secondary sense – a sense waiting to alert us to events rather than continuously inform us in the foreground. Vision gives us actual information – “that bloke is closing a door” – sound gives us implication – “I heard the door shut, it must be shut”.

Seeing is believing; hearing is implication. Implication can exercise far more of the imagination than actual seeing (afraid of the dark? things that go bump in the night?) – yet so much sound today is used with direct correlation to the visual, giving little room for imagination amongst the (im)perfectly rendered CGI.

Imagination is possibly the most visual weapon in your arsenal as a moviemaker – and that can be driven by sound moreso than picture.

It’s not all about imagination though. Most directors agree that a performance recorded on-set will be better than any looping session (looping, or ADR, is the re-recording of dialogue in controlled studio booth conditions), although often certain environmental conditions will mean that the production sound recorded on-set or on-location is not useable.

Sound is also positional in a way that vision is not – the cinema screen is immersive, yet sound allows you to hear things off-screen (given at minimum a stereo soundstage to work with). Even with the latest 3D visual technology, you still need glasses and everything is still contained within that rectangle. Sound is reproduction of actual physical waves in the air, broken free and authentic in ways that photons are not (and, of course, vice versa – arguably – headphones are entirely optional!).

We could get into stereo miking techniques here, but I suspect that’s best saved for another post. Suffice to say I’ve been a convert to stereo recording for several years, yes, even for production audio. It gives so much more depth and spatial precision versus the cost of full sound design – cost usually being a major factor in the indie moviemaker’s world (whether that cost be in time spent or money spent).

“Real” sounds obviously work best at “real” locations and not those recorded in the fakery of the staple studio system. In the late sixties, “Easy Rider” and “Midnight Cowboy” promised to liberate the moviemaker from the shackles of over-engineering. Then Star Wars happened and moviemaking was never quite the same again.

What do you think? Is sound under utilised in modern movies? Can indies get one up on contemporary Hollywood by tapping into imagination drawn from intelligent sound rather than absolute CGI that uses sound as a crutch only?

Since originally writing this article in 2012 for OTTfilm (now defunct), it's interesting to see the rise of popular ASMR related content on YouTube vs the cinemas push for 3D glasses and a general overall industry push to 4K imaging, IMAX, and resolutions beyond.

☴ Review of X Saves The World - (How Generation X Got The Shaft But Can Still Keep Everything From Sucking) - by Jeff Gordinier

This book, published in 2008, has an obvious axe to grind with the demographics known as boomers and millennials (aka Generation Y) which is evidenced by the subtitle alone. However don't be fooled by the author's sharp tongue and self-entitled sense or irony. Falling into the Generation X demo myself there's a lot I related to, and this book really is a call to action to put the culture back into pop culture.

The basic premise is that being sandwiched between the boomers (currently 'in control') and the millennials (will be in control in future) that X is the 'lost' generation, akin to Prince Charles - his situation is likely to see the throne bypass him and go straight to his children. The book hypothesises that the boomers, living longer, continue to have great influence on the media and knowingly or otherwise are curating monocultural mass media (American Idol was singled out a lot). The net result being a docile millennial generation who would rather download a pop song in protest than take to the streets in peaceful marches.

To conclude the book suggests that in order to stop the world sucking, X-ers must "dare". In a way, that is something I took onboard a long time ago - consciously step outside of your comfort zone, speak your mind (or broadcast it), action over inaction - do something to change something even if you may look foolish.

Don't you forget about me.

Personally I did find the book an entertaining read for the most part, although being from the UK it does make me wince that, yes, the book does not acknowledge much of a world outside of the USA (even though the author recounts stories of global travel) - it may even be a thinly disguised advert for the author's involvement in the 'Poetry Bus' which has a chapter dedicated to it. Perhaps that's just the post-modern irony again. I also know from other research I've done that the kind of 'problem' discussed in the book is not new: for example the Romans had the exact same concerns 2000 years ago. So from that perspective the book takes a very narrow view - well, to appeal to the X demographic I suppose!

Quotes from the book:

"Somebody seems to have forgotten to put together the cover stories about Generation X turning forty."

"Douglas Coupland himself had announced the expiration of the generation [X] all the way back in 1995"

"The media refers to anyone aged thirteen to thirty-nine as X-ers. Which is only further proof that marketers and journalists never understood that X is a term that defines not a chronological age but a way of looking at the world." - Douglas Coupland, 1995

"Nothing is more powerful than ice cream."

"The author and editor Thomas Frank has written extensively about the 'commodification of dissent'."

"Sometimes the best way to make people care about money is to give them some."

"The dot-com boom reached out a gloved hand and said: Luke, I am your father."

"Vast numbers of Generation X-ers learned all their moral lessons from a single source: the 1971 film version of Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory."

"Like any good virus, Gen X also produces mutations." - Douglas Coupland, 2002

"This is something I learned from India: When you build something that is beautiful, the community maintains it. People will have pride in where they're living. If you give someone crap, they're going to treat it like crap." - Architecture for Humanity (Kate Stohr or Cameron Sinclair - attribution unclear).

Taking Stock

No, not some euphemism for my Little Shop work on Hayling Island, this is more to remind me what the Deer Studios production slate is at this moment.

Whilst the world must wait for the Provincial's chilling horror short Dark Is A Long Way (coming 2016 ... we hope!), the Airninja movie method has been persistently seeing acquisition and edits through to final production.



1. After successfully collaborating with Mark Handley for Pompey Princess, we are now discussing potential for a video for his Christmas single. If it happens it will happen fast and within a couple of weeks.

2. On the theme of Christmas, I shot the interview with Graham Stansfield (famous keyboardist of Rare Bird fame amongst other fascinating things) to support the upcoming release of his new Christmas album release.

3. Earlier this month we had the first production meeting for another Mark Handley video, this one called Bella Ballerina - expected to shoot Jan/Feb 2016. We have great talent and crew lined up, technically elevating the production away from pure airninja-ry but remaining true to the spirit!

4. The next short film by award winning director Chris Jupp. Currently in pre-prod/development. I expect to be recording production sound and edit producing on this show. Likely shooting Q1 2016.

5. A dementia related project, or two. I have one ambitious project in development and another more practical, smaller, project slated to shoot over-night some time this winter. The one may lead to the other.

6. Longer term, the making of a feature length documentary on the work of prolific low-budget film director Michael J. Murphy. I have gathered several new interviews to augment the FilmRaker interview with the late director. This is an ambitious project in terms of cataloguing the material and assembling it into a coherent, comprehensive narrative without alienating Murphy's fanbase - but also allowing it to be accessible to anyone else.

Below is a small tribute video assembled from this last ever recorded interview with Murphy, and screened at his funeral earlier in 2015:



7. Recently completed edit of found-footage for the video to Owen Troman's single Winter Child (presumably another Christmas release). I worked on Owen's previous single in a similar fashion - finding footage and mashing it up into something symbolic for the track.


There are many other side-projects I am involved with but I am on the periphery or only providing services on-demand. Two most notable are both for Trash Arts, schedules TBA.

A busy season!

Eating Humble Pie - Apple, Pie

So you may remember I was very disappointed with the direction Apple is taking lately, with its subscription model and general smugness. So I switched to a Sony Xperia Z3+ via a refurb Z2 (still a good value phone I reckon).

It's not that Android is bad. Indeed, I am completely won over by Google services once more and thanks to Google Music I am actively listening and rediscovering my music library once more.

Google Inbox has matured to a point where it just seems normal to me, I've always used my email as a to-do list, so it's perfect(ing). I've been centralising my schedule with (Microsoft's) Sunrise Calendar and not looked back. And Google Keep has since been released for iOS.

So the software that sits on Android is not bad.

It's the ...

Well.

Those that know me know that I have virtually zero tolerance for a product flake out in critical working situation.

You guessed it.

The Xperia video camera let me down. More than once.

I can workaround the native camera not recording 1080P video for more than 30 minutes, but some things I can't comes to term with:

1. Camera lag. From activation delay to a delay after pressing record, it is not acceptable to me when one of my primary uses for bothering with a smartphone is to have a reliable and robust video camera on me at all times. The Xperia hardware may be robust and reliable but the software has proven to me over the last couple of months that it is neither robust nor reliable.

2. Fixing the exposure. I mean, c'mon. I want to set an exposure and keep it there, please. I didn't realise how important that feature had become to me on iPhone.

3. Third party camera apps that are a bit flakey. Likely because of that F word.

I just don't have time for this shit. I need something that "just works", shit here I am on my knees begging for iPhone to take me back because in my experience it "just works".

So I guess I've learned a lesson here. I love recording live stereo sound, I really love it. However, moreso I love a reliable and robust video camera that records mono. And there always the Shure MV88 and my credit rating before I bankrupt myself with another round of Apple gear and Lightning cables.

Like I say though, Google services have won me over. Android hardware flakiness is to Apple network services flakiness in my experience - frustrating and somewhat second-rate; mediocre.

My next iteration airninja mojo core kit looks like being a previous generation Apple phone running current generation Google services. Win win, right?

Preternatural - Fresh Dip

I'm sitting here with a Fortean taste in my mouth wondering about the nature of reality. About fuses
and bombs. Turkeys and blockbusters- video. Data about data. A recursive tunnel of life until, ultimately, the black veil of death snuffs the individual.

Nothing lasts forever.

I've just watched Preternatural by Gav C. Steel and Dixon Barker. Or have I? Did I just watch it or was I an unwitting participant?

It's a sharp self-aware pastiche on the found-footage genre with an added twist of lemon - no doubt making it too sharp, too close to the bone, for some.

From breaking the fourth wall as a dramatic device to accenting dialogue with sloppy camera angles reminiscent of lomography, the production values are an un-apologetic punk song.

But this is no musical.

What appears to be wear and magnetic damage on the originating VHS tape runs throughout the film as we follow the exploits of amateur filmmakers Gav and Dixon. Hilarity does not ensue.

The sound design and some graphically striking compositions elevate this well performed tale of malevolence above the average splatterfest. In fact, there is no splatter. Just plenty of chills. Plenty of nested meta.



Why am I writing about a fantasy horror movie on a blog primarily about compact capability? Well it struck me that this movie likely would not have happened so fluidly, or at all, with a union crew of 30 and a video-village in tow.

Similar to Steel's previous feature The Shadow Of Death, this film was shot PSC (that's Portable Single Camera, kids) in a variety of locations that would have hampered large productions with accessibility problems and Winnebagos getting stuck in the mud. Well, except one location - the indie production had to give way at one point to Nick Frost and Chris Hemsworth riding on horseback for Universal Studios filming The Huntsman.

In an odd way, and perhaps this makes me biased, Preternatural reminds me of a cross between my own Crooked Features and the all-improv Halloween spectacular, G.A.I.N. - however, to mere mortals I have no doubt that Preternatural will be a fresh dip into the genre-bender genre.

Recommended for cerebral stimulation in a silent, dark, place.

Never Mind (Here's Boba Fett)

As part of the British Underground Feature Initiative and their educational Motion Picture Arts Academy (not be be confused with that MPAA or this Academy!) this short documentary on Boba Fett was created to take people back to the era of the Original Trilogy.




Some of the most fascinating footage is the "home video" shot in George Lucas' back garden, and the film of an early Boba Fett prototype walking around to promote the upcoming movie The Empire Strikes Back - which was not guaranteed to be a hit at that time.

What really takes me back is the shots of the toyshop (the Cowplain Model Shop was local) and the racks-and-racks of carded action figures for sale (although they were never that well stocked in Cowplain Models!).

As a child I often wondered what the Palitoy factory looked like, and there is also a brief peek inside the UK plant at Coalville, Leicester.

It could be anywhere between 1978 - 1982 once more.

Writers: The Protagonist Is YOU.

It's said that when writing fiction that, consciously or not, the main protagonist is the writer.

I know of a couple of original pop-culture film franchises where that is definitely true, and just think about the genesis of the Marvel superheroes - Stan Lee near starvation wishing he was a superhero.

Star Wars Episodes I - VI are all about phases in George Lucas's life. He is Luke Skywalker in the original trilogy and he is Anakin Skywalker in the prequel trilogy. Whether he knows it or not. The stories the character goes through are a reflection of his stages in life.

Aspirational, analogous, Luke Skywalker became a Jedi just as Lucas became a movie mogul.

Anakin's fall to the dark side parallels Lucas' own journey to becoming the most powerful independent movie producer in the world, and the politics therein. The rebel joined the gentleman's club when he was supposed to be the chosen one.

In an interview with JK Rowling she said that the whole series of books was to provide Harry with a family. This is at a time when her own family was being split apart. By the end of the books and movies, Harry has a family of trusted friends around him.

Philip K Dick wrote about what he knew, from his perspective. He used to hang around with sales guys and obviously sales are full of bullshit and fake authenticity - astroturfing. What was real and what was fake? Who was real and who was fake? Was the author himself being real or fake? Do Androids Dream Of Electric Sheep?

Of course this theorem could be so much bullshit itself, I wrote the story below in 1991 and I struggle to identify with the protagonist. What do you think?

The Death Of Professor Bob by Mike.R 28/11/91

The atmosphere in the classroom was a little slow and thick. After professor Bob had slapped his briefcase to make it belch out the hand-outs, he continued. `As I`m sure you all know, the current trend in organics is the pursuit of the perfection of a biorg or biobot that is capable of abstract thought.` He glanced around the room at the disinterested faces and gave a mental sigh that betrayed his iron expression. `Bax,` he said, `would you care to explain the term biorg to the rest of the class?` Bax, a shaven headed teenager, fumbled to lose his dumb expression and frantically started scanning the textscreen hand-out. Slowly, he read aloud. `Duh, a biorg is an organism constructed entirely from engineered biological materials. The more advanced, thinking types, are capable of logical and rational thought, but have a lifespan of around a year. A biorg given physical human characteristics, usually called a bioid, is indistinguishable from a normal person. Only its linear thought capabilities and lack of sex organs (required by law) give it away. However, even those traits...`

`That will do, thanks.` interrupted Bob. `Ome, what is a biobot?` He rubbed his eye. `And please, make it brief.` Ome, a mature, few hundred year-old student with artificial eyes, gave her answer in a crumbly, modulated voice without hesitation. `A biological robot, sometimes, and mistakenly, called an android. Its technology mixes that of contempory organics with archaic cybernetics.` She slapped her chapped lips with her tongue in contentment. Bob nodded approval. `Thank you Ome.` He turned to focus his attention on a clean-cut square-jawed young man. `Jux, what is the major operational advantage of a biobot over a biorg?` Jux fingered his lip, dribbling a little. `A biobot does not need sleep.` he said finally.

`So why does industry choose to employ a majority of bioids that are susceptible to fatigue?`

`Well, obviously, a bioid is cheaper to produce. What with the mineral shortages and all.`

`Anything else?` asked Bob, casually bringing his sleeve across his nostrils. Deep concentration came across Jux`s face as he stared hard down at his desk. He began to rock then returned to normality as he proudly blurted the answer. `Because they`re self-sufficient. A bioid can look after itself. Cook. Make its own bed. Pull the chain. And sure, they sleep, but it has a self contained digestion system which biobots don`t have. And the living parts of a biobot need to be refreshed. So they have a mobility problem: they either have to keep visiting the refresher or be permanently hooked up. And the mineral parts need maintenance which requires a specialised crew who usually belong to a union and demand to be paid by the hour. A company has none of these problems with a bioid as long as it can rest every few days. And if something goes wrong, or breaks, a bioid can see a doctor to get fixed up, the costs of which can be claimed back in expense rebates from Central.` Jux finished and the momentary silence was rudely broken as he slurped in saliva with his excited breath. Bob jerked himself from his personal boredom retreat. `Excellent. Well done.` he said. An overhead loudspeaker suddenly announced the end of the school day. Bob watched as his class enthusiastically filed out. He slouched in his comfy chair. Privately, he questioned the wisdom of Central Government including organics lectures in the syllabus. Closing his briefcase he stood with a resigned sigh and pulled it across his desk as he went for the door. `Hey, watch it will you?!` it moaned.

`Oh shut up.` moaned Bob, glaring down to his side at the briefcase. The briefcase looked sheepy. Bob`s face softened. `Sorry,` he apologised, `I`m a little on edge today.`

`You aint kiddin`. As the door politely opened Bob returned his classroom`s goodbye. The corridor escalated him to the exit where the caretaker was comforting a distraught chair with a broken leg. `Night Tim.` Bob yawned. The caretaker glanced up as Bob passed on the ripple of floor and nodded a knowing farewell. Bob gave a feeble wave as the exit gracefully swung open and he stepped out into the street. Rush hour traffic buzzed past from all directions. He glanced at his wrist. `Time?` he asked.

`Perhaps if you were to ask nicely.` came the reply. Bob looked to the heavens. Behind him the school was lumbering home so he had no choice but to wait for a transport. Perhaps even strike up a pleasant conversation with his wrist. `Do you have the time please?`

`It`s now. The public transport will be along soon.` Not long to wait then, thought Bob. If his wrist was telling the truth.

He stood, watching the traffic pass, his eyes following one vehicle to the next.

A panda bounded by. A scuttling beetle followed with its foot long antenna dangerously close to the rear bumper of the panda. `That`s unsafe driving.` noted the briefcase, somewhat loudly. Bob smiled with all his teeth and rattled it violently as the beetle driver glared over with a face full of malicious intent. `Time please?` requested Bob politely. His wrist seemed to pause for thought. `It should be here about now.`

`Good. I hate long waits.` Over the sound of the traffic a loud distorted honk caught Bob`s attention. Above his head he saw the familiar registration collar around the neck of his wife`s mosquito. It landed beside him on the pavement and a door in the side slid open. He stepped in, slinging his briefcase on the back seats as he greeted his wife with a kiss. She pulled back on the stick and the craft became airborne once more. `Am I glad to see you, Pet. I thought I was going to be waiting for the transport all evening.` His wife smiled sweetly. `I was just on my way back from filling up this bucket of blood when the wing mirror spotted you.`

`Good thing, too. I can`t wait for the garage to finish working on that damned lemon of mine. Typical colonial rubbish. I wish I`d never grown it.`

`It`s your own fault. You`ve got to remember that driving conditions are different for the colony. For a start, there`s less traffic, so the fruit lasts longer. Here, we need things to be more...` She waved her hand around indicating her vehicle. `More robust.` she finished.

`Yeah. I guess you`re right. Do you think you could talk that salesperson friend of yours into a trade in for something that would last a little longer?`

`Who? You mean Jim? I could try I suppose. But don`t get your hopes up too high. Fruit just isn`t fashionable anymore.` Bob sighed and slouched as he peered down at the ever diminishing city below. He`d be glad when his intoxicating stint as spirit lecturer was over. He just couldn`t handle it. It made his head spin. All that esoteric stuff about the spirit, the soul, the mind. And death. Just why had he picked this as his profession? Surely his underlying soul should have known better. But then, life is a test, as they say.

When he awoke the next morning, Bob hastily scribbled down his dream for later analysis. He laid back and stared at the swirls of the artexed ceiling. The sleeping form of his wife stirred a little. He pecked her on the cheek then sat, pulled on his slippers and matching bathrobe and lumbered to the bathroom. He turned on the tap and ran cold water over his hands as he gazed at his unshaven face in the mirror. His thoughts went back to his dream. It had seemed so real. The room, the people. The appliances. He would have to investigate. Perhaps see if he had been sleeping under the point of the roof of his house, since doing so was supposed to intensify dream images. His thoughts were rudely interrupted by the sink unit kindly informing him that it thought he was wasting water. `Sorry.` he said absent mindedly and shut off the tap.

It was one of the strangest dreams he had ever had, he thought as he stood under the cool waters of the shower. It had seemed so real. Perhaps even more real than now. He considered what he saw, what he had experienced. The dream had only been a short one, as far as he could remember. He had been laid out on a bed, sensors attached to his body, and someone in a white coat had been standing over him holding an appliance he didn`t recognise. Strange that such a simple image should trouble him so deeply. He relaxed and cleared his mind as the soap and sponge danced over his body. The shampoo massaged and lathered itself on his scalp and the cutthroat razorblade glided across his neck, nicking. Bob lurched back from the razor, his eyes full of panic, clutching at his neck. He shook shampoo from his face and frowned at the razor. `Hey, take it easy will you?`

`Sorry about that sir.` piped the razorblade sincerely. The procedure continued until Bob was totally refreshed and ready for the towels to dry him. As he stepped from the shower tray he slipped, and fell headlong. All the bathroom appliances and peripherals realised what was happening and tried to cushion the blow. The sink unit even tried to sway aside. It was no good. He cracked his head against the basin and fell to the sweet smelling floral lino. All went black to Bob. All sensations numbed.

Through the thick black custard that impaired his vision and clogged his ears Bob heard distant panicked voices. `I think we`ve got him.` said one. `All systems now back to normal.` said another. A bearded face fought its way through the custard, forming from swirling oranges, browns and reds and then snapping into real colour. A smiling bearded face that Bob recognised but could not place. It muttered something in a soothing tone. `We had to do it, Bob. We had to. You were becoming too absorbed. Sorry.`

`What?` asked Bob groggily, his tired eyes fighting to remain open.

`The experiment. It almost killed you. You became too absorbed.`

`Wh-What?` repeated Bob blankly, his eyelids feeling stronger. Another figure, Bob noticed, in a white coat beavered with some switches on overbearing machinery. Wires ran from it to nodes on Bob`s body. `No don`t do that.` said the bearded man as Bob tried to pull on the wires. The man restrained him, squinting into Bob`s eyes and squeezing his hands. The machine clicked and hummed as a bank of lights flashed. The technician looked to the bearded man. `It seems he suffered substantial amnesia. There`s been a total reshuffle of impulse paths.`

`Then we shall have to restore it. Fetch the professor`s memory cubes. File 963W.`

`Yes, doctor Lin.` The technician scampered off. `Memory cubes?` asked Bob, his inquisitive mind coming to life.

`The failsafe, professor. They represent a total map of your brain before the experiment took place. You insisted upon it.` Bob was now sure that this was another vivid and real dream. As such, and since he had realised, he knew that he should be able to start to control it. He gestured with the wires. `These have something to do with the experiment, right? And that machine?`

`Yes, yes. It`s the recorder.`

`Recorder of what?`

`Of the experiment. Do you really have no memory? This is...`

`So what was the experiment?` Bob cut in.

`The experiment? To create a new reality within the theoretically infinite space of the human mind. And to record results. Results from your mind, professor. But you became too absorbed. Your body almost died. We had to bring you back.` This was almost becoming too much for Bob. He looked at the antiquated looking machine still churning out data in the form of sugar cubes. `It`s not true!` spat Bob. `Please! Try and control your temper until my technician returns with your original memory.` said Dr Lin sympathetically. Bob wished his body felt stronger so that he could show Dr Lin what he thought. But he was too weak. So he remained there. At the mercy of his environment. The mercy of his dream. He began to cry as he thought of his wife. `I want to see her!` he called.

`See who?`

`My wife. My Pet.` blurted Bob. Dr Lin was taken aback. `Excuse me?` he asked.

`My wife, Pet. I want to see her doc. I want to see her.` Bob sobbed. Dr  Lin straightened himself. `I don`t know what you`re talking about, but I`m sure this woman exists only in your mind.` The technician returned, memory cubes in hand. Bob squinted at them. `What is that?` he asked.

`Your three memory cubes. We`re about to return you to reality.`

`No! I refuse! I don`t belong here and you know it! Why can`t you just wake me up?`

`Come now. What happened to the rational man I once knew?` There was a pause. The technician and Dr Lin looked at each other. `Would you like a coffee to wake you up?` asked Dr Lin softly. At last. Bob finally had control of his dream. For the moment anyhow. `Coffee? Yeah, sure. I feel confused.` said Bob dazedly. `Fetch two coffees, please.` Dr Lin asked the technician. As the technician left, silence fell upon the room. Bob lost himself in spuriously confused thoughts as Dr Lin toyed with the cubes. Soon, the coffees arrived. Dr Lin took them and passed one to Bob. Dr Lin watched intently as Bob brought the cup to his lips. `This is good coffee,` he remarked, `if a little sweet.`

Pet awoke to the bickering of the bathrobe and slippers. The slippers stomped worriedly on the bed as the bathrobe explained the accident. She streaked across the room immediately. Sprawled on the floor, choked on blood, lay Bob`s glistening body. Shocked at the horrific yet at the same time pathetic scene she turned her head, wincing and paying no attention to the pointless apologies of the bathroom and contents.

From #2wkfilm To AirNinja Movie Method

Talking with co-conspirator Evil C about our next January film production, I was reminded about how AirNinja germinated from the tactics used filming and completing "The Original Soundtrack" over a two week period in 2009.

The project was a success, here's a brief trailer:



One other output from that project was an essay entitled "Giving My Movies Away For Free" (reproduced below) which was first published in 2009 by the Royal Baronial Theatre.

I thought I'd dust it off, and see if any insights still stood today. I've reprinted my essay below, but do check out the others that were part of the same project.

The full length version of "The Original Soundtrack" can be viewed for free on YouTube.

--Begin Essay--

A Short Essay: “Giving my movies away for free”.

We live in interesting times. Avatar reportedly is the most expensive film in history and is the culmination of 10 years work. It’s projected to make $1 billion globally. Cameron is advocating 48fps and stereoscopic acquisition. The film is almost three hours long.

How on earth do you get to make films on such a scale?

Let’s start by paraphrasing a piece of Cameron’s advice to filmmakers yet to have made a movie: “Start by making a film. Complete it. From then on you are negotiating budget for your next one”.

But that quote’s probably two decades old or more. From a by-gone era - it’s from the era of scarcity when not everyone had access to the means of making a decent movie. We now live in an era of abundance where punters will accept anything from shakycam smartphone footage to 4K RED, or anything inbetween. Shooting at 1920 x 1080 (the same resolution the Star Wars prequels were acquired at) only requires a modest investment with the huge advantage that you can also go tapeless.

In the era of abundance you need to be able to stand out from the clutter. Cameron largely does this on reputation (“From the director of Titanic, Terminator, Piranha II”, etc). How can you hope to match that reputation? Do you even need to? Zen Buddhism has a good piece of advice, “begin by beginning”, in other words get out there and do it, make a fool of yourself until you’re comfortable with the process. With the technology abundant (therefore affordable), it doesn’t make sense to hold back if all you want to be doing is running around out there making movies. If you want to raise finance and stay warm and dry, study accountancy, wear a suit, go to meetings and act conservative. 

It wasn’t really until April 2009 that I’d realised how things had progressed with the technology - and how affordable moviemaking had become to outlaws such as myself. Having just signed up to Twitter I was invited to take part in the first #2wkfilm aka two week film challenge - shoot, edit, finish a feature length movie in a two week window before the end of May ’09. Up to that point I’d basically been spinning in neutral since the completion of my mockudrama ‘Crooked Features’ which was shot standard definition on miniDV tape with the Canon XL1 and a Sennheiser K6/ME66.

Seeing #2wkfilm as a way to get the fire started once more I started looking around for a means of acquisition. I already owned a Panasonic Lumix TZ which could record 848 x 480 and a bunch of professional boom mics with a Sound Devices 702T. All I needed was a script. And crew. And actors. And locations. Etc. I only had about two weeks to sort all this out if I was to meet the deadline of the end of May ’09. Oh, in that time I also upgraded my Lumix to a TZ 3 which shoots 720p (1280 x 720).

Well, we did it. The result was ‘The Original Soundtrack’ which screened on home turf alongside the other completed #2wkfilm entries at the Portobello Film Festival. The intent was never to make money from this particular venture. It was to make connections with local moviemakers, test a cheap SDHC card tapeless workflow, and chalk another one up in the IMDb. Secondary objective was to promote the local musicians without whose work the ‘Soundtrack’ part would not have been possible.

In aggregate the two versions of ‘The Original Soundtrack’ (700MB and 2.5GB version) on mininova have been downloaded 5,500 times. Somewhat predictably, DVD sales have been anemic (though to be fair it’s not like I’ve given the product any marketing push whatsoever). It was never meant to make me a profit though (the DVD is sold at cost), but it has added considerably to my wealth of connections and experiences.

In comparison I’ve had short film work on Archive.org for several years (always the progressive, me) and the most downloaded there is  ‘Adult Contacts’ at 60,000 times. It’s been there so long I can’t remember when I uploaded it. It’s also my directorial debut (well, with real live actors anyway) if you’re interested in my take on “two people talking in a room” from 1995. The final cut is just under seven minutes but funnily enough I remember the original cut was almost 15 minutes long. Yet, now, I can’t remember what I cut out. I do remember cutting between a Video8 deck and a NICAM VHS deck and some crappy Sony LANC protocol which was not frame accurate; being really jealous of my mate who was editing on Media100 NLE. Anyway, I digress.

Part of my “problem” is that I am a part-time moviemaker. Like many outlaw filmmakers I have a day job, a family, and a life. I just don’t have the energy for self-promotion and I don’t have the bravado to go full-time freelance. I like to eat, and so do my kids. Taking part in the first #2wkfilm has enabled me to re-engage locally and led to my enrollment onto the second #2wkfilm. That, however has turned out to be an entirely different kettle of fish.

‘The Fix’ is my second #2wkfilm effort although currently I disqualified it: although we shot the rushes over just five days, the remaining time was not enough to complete the movie to fine cut (though I did get it to a very rough cut and survive a bout of the ‘flu). The big difference here was bringing a production designer on-board and having access to Rennie Pilgrem’s back catalogue as well as a commitment for some scoring. The production locations were also more ambitious, everywhere from an autumn forest to a small studio space at Ealing. I also shot using a Xacti at 720p and recorded sound single-system (poorly but mostly adequately, the horror) with my recently acquired used Neumann RSM-191 M-S mic. Lesson: my next movie really must be shot double-system and that pretty much precludes it from being a #2wkfilm. It’s expected that ‘The Fix’ will be completed by June ’10 (some way off from the #2wkfilm target of October ’09) but that’s the great thing about being an outlaw - no rules, no deadlines, all my own terms.

To conclude, Hollywood finds itself at a juncture, similar to that when the printing press arrived in Europe in the 15th century. The printing press was a revolution for many reasons, and it put many scribes out of work. The advantages of the printing press were obvious to almost everyone and production costs were 700% less than employing scribes. I guess the scribes weren’t too happy about that.

In the 21st century is it a necessity to spend $300 million to tell a story on celluloid? Will outlaws become organised and create a parallel industry leaving Hollywood to wither on it’s own sick vine. Or perhaps efforts like Paramount’s to keep a slate of $100,000 movies will appease the masses and put the outlaws out of a job. One thing’s for sure. No one can predict the future. Everyone can sidestep the little bits of history repeating. Me? I really enjoy home cinema.

--End Essay--

Imagination and Rejection Letters

A friend of mine recently got his stock rejection letter from a certain very well known b-list British film festival, which addressed him by his surname (weird, rude, amateur hour clerical error?) - as my friend read the text to me over the phone it all sounded eerily familiar - in fact exactly the same as the body of my rejection letter I had received 10 years earlier from the same festival for my flick Crooked Features - which went on to win awards and developed into a stage play.

Think about that.

Ten years of business and the stock rejection letter hasn't changed a bit. It made me realise (again) that festivals are (still) run by change-averse bureaucrats and curators - and that does not infer they have one iota of imagination - imagination to spot your raw talent.

Revolution will not be encouraged from the festival circuit. Jumping the curve is tantamount to being utterly mis-understood by the establishment.

So why continue on the festival treadmill?

Well - you have to keep going too.

A personal example:
Any potential career as an author was cut dead by two handwritten but similar-ish rejections from Interzone over 20 years ago - from that point on, young naive me decided the time and emotional investment wasn't worth the agony and would just stick with ideas, concepts, and screenplays - the barebones of modern storytelling in the age of motion pictures.

BEING WITHOUT
'Thank you for submitting your story to Interzone. It
is not for us, I'm afraid. It is neither a good story
nor a bad story but says too little that is new
and needs (to my mind, at least) a resolution.
What was its point? (Why use insects, for example,
rather than human beings?)'

THE FACEMAKER (A VIRTUAL NOBODY)
'Thank you for submitting your story to Interzone.
It is not for us, I'm afraid. Some nice ideas
though somewhat crudely strung together. The piece
says too little that is new and ends in the
middle of nowhere. Sorry.'