Fighting the rumours by writing another blog post, I’m not dead… yet. Busy I have been incredibly so over the past few weeks. As the Christmas holidays approach, my Uni deadlines start to creep in ever so slowly. As is customary with this time of year, I’ve been running left right and centre like a headless chicken, attempting to meet deadlines. Thankfully I seem to have met most of them for now.

Visual Media Applications, as a few people may be aware, is a module in my course, that teaches the basics of Adobe After Effects. Earlier on in the semester I had to follow a set of course tutorials. These tutorials had room for improvisation and encouraged creativity. They allowed me to get to grips with the powerful software package, whilst allowing me to experiment and play around.

The short tutorials were only a small part of my total assessment. My final assignment was to create a 30 second animation, within After Effects, based on either part of or an entire book. I chose to use the opening paragraph from Stephen Clarke’s “Talk To The Snail”. A video of how the animation turned out is above, feedback is always appreciated.

Chris Leydon.

I feel so overworked recently. I’ve been having to pull all nighters just to get my work done in time. I suppose in one respect it’s my own fault, allowing all of my deadlines to pile up; in another though, why do I have so much work in the first place? By the end of this week I have to have completed all of the Bishops’ College Videos (that Keyone Productions were commissioned to produce), I have a pantomime video scene for OTFM Productions and my University Film Tech work is due in too.

With the first draft of the second Anti-Bullying video for Bishops’ College complete, I now have more time to concentrate on my University work. One thing I must say that I am proud of though, is the video intro that I created for the Bishops’ documentary. Using a lot of the knowledge that I gained from my Visual Media Applications lectures this year, I set forth to produce one of the best intros I’ve created yet. A copy of the video intro is above, should one wish to view it. Feed back is always appreciated.

This is a short post, mainly because I’m suffering from sleep deprivation and am unsure of how to phrase things. Another reason why this is a short post, is because I need to finish my work and meet my deadlines. I also didn’t plan this post, it was spontaneous. This post is basically an excuse to show case my new intro!

Chris Leydon.

Uni work has been hitting me hard pretty recently. It’s that time of year again where everyone finally realises that University isn’t one big social, as their first deadlines start to loom over the horizon. I, yet again, have fallen into the trap of NOT doing my Uni work as I go along my course; instead I’ve let it pile up and a deadline is approaching from around the corner. Admittedly it’s not as bad as I let it get last year, but I really should have learnt not to do this by now.

My modules, for the first semester of year two, consist of “Film Technology 2″, “Visual Media Applications”, “Video Editing Technology” and “Studio Production”. It’s my Visual Media Applications (VMA) work that’s starting to creep up on me.

VMA is a module that explores the use of After Effects within film. Throughout the course and over the past weeks, one has supposed to have been creating animations to upload to MySpace; how to do the basics of each animation was covered in the relevant lecture, one then has to put their own artistic flare on the work. I have yet to finish all of my animations. If truth be told, my mind has been preoccupied with other things; such as a social life, Keyone Productions progression and loosing a job.

The first animation that I’ve had to create for VMA, is one where a bunch of playing cards have to rotate, showing both the face and the back of the card, as well as appearing within 3D space. My take on this animation is displayed above in the video player. This animation has had to be uploaded to “MySpace” so that it can be peer assessed in order to complete my assignment and module.

Chris Leydon.

Well I’m pleased to say that I did indeed sign that new BTPodShow contract, which means that The Podzone is guarenteed for at least another two years. I’ve also been working a bit more on script concepts and I’ve finished University for the year.

Finished, completely finished until September, you have no idea how good it feels to say that. Ahead of me I’ve got one long summer of work, making money and enjoying myself.

In the meantime however, I’ve discovered that my web design skills are so fantastic that the new Keyone Productions site, only works on about 90% of the worlds browsers. Yep, it doesn’t work with IE… oops. My day today will be spent correcting that mistake. I’ve started to learn CSS and I’m hoping to implement what I’ve learnt into the redesign.

Tomorrow, as a favour to my father, myself and Nick shall be headed to Bishops College (Gloucester) to film their Year 11 graduation. It should be fun as we’ll have a multicam set up and various other bits of over kill. We know that a job such as this doesn’t require all of the trims that we’re putting in to it; but I’ve got to do something to keep me amused until September.

Chris Leydon.

Fairly busy week.My Internet & HTML Technology assignment deadline and exam were this week. the exam was incredibly easy, I scored 97% which let’s face it isn’t bad going really; the assignment as perhaps the trickier task of the two.

The assignment was to create a website based around the streaming technologies that the BBC use on their websites. I had to create the website from scratch using a WYSIWYG, if you know me, or have seen my work, you know that I’m fairly capable at this kind of thing. The hardest thing about this assignment was simply the content; the BBC don’t REALLY use that many different streaming technologies, at least not that many up to date ones. They still use Real Video and Windows Media for their news reports, as an example, instead of Flash.

In the end I used a theme that I created for v.4.0 of the Keyone Productions website and customised it to fit my needs. If you want to take a look at the finished site, head on over to www.chrisleydon.com/bbc – I’m quite happy with my work.

I have one more assignment and one more exam left before I finish Uni for the year, the exam is on the 28th of April and the assignment needs to be in by the 2nd of June. My final assignment is for Audio Processing; I have to create an original piece of music and then write a report on the process, pretty much the same thing as last time – apart from this time we’re using Reason instead of Cubase.

I’ve taken this weekend off from working; I know that this isn’t a good plan but I feel as though I deserve it. Next week I’ll be working on Reason and the technical report. If I have some spare time I might even pop around once again, write a post and give you an update.

Chris Leydon.

While the Keyone Productions site was down during the upgrade, I stuck up a test of the Keyone TV “Mogulus” channel. No idea if any of you have seen this service, but it is definitely worth a look at. Mogulus allows you to essentially create your own online streaming television channel, using content from YouTube or your own content which you upload. All, of course, for free – www.mogulus.com

This morning I received the marks and feedback for the Project Elements drama. In all they were very good; as a group we scored a 2-1 with a few pointers on how we could have improved the film. The plot was a little thin, but other than that it appeared to be alright.

No idea what’s wrong at the moment, but my typing and writing skills seem to be lacking today. As a result of this temporary lack of skills I shall bid you adieu.

Chris Leydon.

So much has taken place in the last two months, so much in fact that I’m now going to take up precious minutes of your life telling you what’s been going on.

I’m now in my second semester at Staffs and the work is steadily increasing. I’ve had to hit “panic mode” several times this week, just so that I can get it all done in time.

You may remember that for my Audio Processing module I had to record a radio play and master it in Cubase. Well I’m very pleased to say that I have indeed finished this task and I’ve added it to this post for you to download. – UPDATE: WordPress is being a pain in the arse and won’t let me upload it, go figure…

The second term of the Film Tech module has proved most interesting. If you would care to think back a few months you might recall a little film I was working on called “A Crash Course In Polite Conversation”. That’s now over and done with and so it’s time to start work on a new project… Project Elements.

Project Elements comprises of two films, a documentary and a drama (based on the research that the documentary uncovers) both based on the key elements of our modern society. Find out more information at www.project-elements.com

There is more that I need to talk about but I need to organise train times for tomorrow and write an essay.

Chris Leydon.

It’s been 12 weeks in the making and now it’s finally done, finished, finito; and trust me, it’s a good feeling to have. All of the ups and downs that I’ve had over the past few months working on this project can finally be laid to rest.

So without further ado, Ladies and Gentlemen, I present, for your pleasure, “A Crash Course In Polite Conversation”. The video is a short film highlighting the effect of modern technology on human interaction.

I’d love to know what you think of it,

Chris Leydon.

A Crash Course In Polite Conversation

I spent the Weekend at my parents house back in Worcester, it wasn’t quite my Mother’s birthday weekend but it was close enough. Eitherway I had a great time seeing them all again and catching up, I have been missing them, but not too much.

This afternoon, after lectures, myself and Mr Hargraves decided that it might be a good idea and get some shopping done (Smoked Salmon, Fresh Pasta, Decent Wine and some Devil gear) and do some location hunting for our Film Tech project. It was an interesting shop and a frustrating hunt, as many of the alleyways just weren’t old enough to fit the piece.

Anywho, I’ve got to dash but I shall explain more on this Film Tech Film at a later date, my quiche is ready.

Chris Leydon.

Photo album of the Staffs Location Hunt