CHRISLEYDON.COM

I’m assuming that by now readers to my blog have realised that I take writing posts very casually and only do it ever so often; mainly when I have something to talk about. Nothing has changed, as one can clearly see.

Last time I updated, Keyone Productions had been commissioned to produce two short promotional films for Bishops’ College. The first of these promotional videos was shot last week; this was the Year 6 induction week project.

The aim for the Year 6 Induction video was to create a video that showcased some of the highlights of the week; this video was then going to be shown to the children’s parents and eventually end up on the school’s website as a promotional video. Originally there were going to be two videos, one which would have been shown to the parents and a more polished version for the website. Instead of making two mediocre videos, I concentrated all of my effort on producing one fantastic video; which turns out is what they really wanted all along.

I have more stuff to talk about this week, but let’s leak it out slowly but surely. In the meantime, I leave you with the Year 6 Induction video.

The song used is “Kill The Lights” by David Usher, which can be found on iTunes and on the PodSafe Music Network.

Chris Leydon.

So the story that’s quite important for me today, as it affects me directly, is the news that PodShow (Podcasting pioneering company extraordinaire) is changing its name. What to? I hear you ask… MEVIO.

Yep, they’ve dropped the “Pod” from their name and the “Show” too, but that’s besides the point. There are rumours that MEVIO will be a video network, this has a slight truth to it. From what I can gather MEVIO will be more video orientated in nature but will still support and have audio shows.

This would be the point where I say that myself and The Podzone will still stick by MEVIO no matter what, and I’m sure I will, however I’ve just realised that my contract with PodShow UK expired 2 weeks ago. That’s a bit of a bummer, still here’s hoping that it gets renewed, I haven’t heard anything to say otherwise.

Chris Leydon.

I’m back at University and already I’m up to my neck in work. You might remember the film that I’m working on as part of my University project, if you don’t then let me remind you. My semester two task is to create two 3 minute films, one is a documentary and the other is a dramatisation based on the information gained in the documentary. The documentary has been filmed and can be seen in my Videos page.

Project Elements, the drama, isn’t coming on very well, in all honesty. Over the past three/four weeks we were supposed to have a cast, locations, equipment, storyboard and a shooting script all ready and raring to for this weekend; so that we could commence filming on Monday. I, personally, have managed to find most of the actors and get my part of the storyboards done; I’ve also secured permission to film on location and booked the equipment. What we don’t have is a cast, I was informed of this small huge detail last night, at about 5 o’clock. Naturally I’m now in panic mode and trying to find a cast, with very little success.

Incidentally, if you’re an actor aged 20 - 30 in the Worcestershire UK area and you’re free on Monday and Tuesday to help me out, please drop me an email - address in the Social section. Wage of about £40 per day plus travel expenses.

Urgh! Let’s see if I can get something done about all of this!

Chris Leydon.

It feels great to say that I’m back home early from University. All of my Uni work was finished early on this semester, so there really wasn’t anything keeping me there, and now I’m back in Worcester. I’ve still got bits of preparation work to do for the Project Elements Drama film; but I’ll get that done during my time off.

Today I got around to adding a video page to my blog, now you can see some of the video projects that I’ve worked on in full streaming internet flash quality; you just now it’ll be good. I’m thinking about adding an audio and imaging tab as well, at some point in time.

For some reason I’m not in the greatest of blogging moods today, I haven’t really achieved anything and it just feels as though I’m doing it for the hell of it; which I’m not. Well, I think I’ll cut this thing short then and get around to sorting out some Keyone stuff with Nick, that’s if I can get a hold of him.

Chris Leydon.

Right, that’s it, no more time off for me. New resolution, keep up the blog; after all I have paid for the damn thing, so I may as well use it.

Some work has indeed been done around here, there is a new blog theme, courtesy of wpdesigner.com - I may be a good designer, but programming a WordPress theme is one thing that I can’t do; not yet anyway.

The main page of CHRISLEYDON.COM is also due for some freshening up soon, but that I shall do myself. In the meantime I am solemnly swearing to keep this blog updated, regularly.

Those of you who had read my previous blog over at http://chrisleydon-theblog.blogspot.com may recall that I’d started to post up film reviews after I’d seen a film for the first time. I’ve decided to start this habit up again, as can be seen by the review of “Bridge to Terabithia” below.

My University life is going swimmingly. I’ve now confirmed a place to live next year (which is always helpful), I’ve received my results for my first semester’s work (2-1s all around!) and I’m getting stuck in to all of the work in this busy semester.

Read the rest of this entry »

Bridge to Terabithia was released in the UK in the Spring of 2007, the same time that I was working at Vue Cinemas; so of course I’d heard of this film before seeing it.

I’d seen the theatrical trailer for the film dozens of times and I’d see sections of it when screen checking; so I thought that I’d have a fairly good idea of what to expect from such a film.

Naturally the trailers and the bits that I’d seen, before starting the movie, had led me to believe that this would be a child’s film which would follow the same principle as Disney’s “The Chronicles of Narnia”. This principle being, children get bored, children stumble upon a magical kingdom, children save magical kingdom from evil force, audience leaves the cinema wondering if they’d seen the movie beforehand. What I wasn’t expecting, however, was a story that mixed contemporary adult themes with childhood wonder; this makes “Bridge to Terabithia” in a new fantasy movie genre of its own.

The film works on two levels, not in the way that a Pixar movie does, but whether you’re a child or an adult you get a completely different story. Children will see this movie as a great fantasy adventure between two friendly characters that they can relate to. Adults will be seeing a different movie, one that highlights child neglect, physical abuse, religion, love, loss of childhood, growing up and most importantly a bond between two children that is so strong that it can create worlds.

We begin our story in a modern day setting, a small middle American town; the roads are dusty, the school is overpopulated, people live off the land and it’s a few miles to an urban metropolis. Seems like a perfect setting for a film that explores the strength of children’s imagination. Most of the film’s action either takes place in the local school or around the leading character’s house; this seems a little strange for a film that seems to be about a secret fantasy world, of course it’s much more than that.

The supporting characters in the film seem a little weak in the beginning, but as the story progresses their cliché roles seems to disappear and we get real people. We have the typical school bullies, the whiny sister, the strict teacher, the liberal teacher and the neglecting father and mother. These roles all change without warning during the film, this helps to progress the story in a more believable manner.

Being a protagonist in any story is always a hard performance to pull off, making your performance believable and natural is another hurdle altogether. Which is why whenever you don’t notice or pick up on an actor’s performance capabilities, you know that they’ve done a fantastic job. The mark of a true performer is to make you believe so much in a character that you forget where you are, you are compelled by their performance to such an extent that it enthrals you. Thankfully the portrayals of Jess Aarons and Leslie Burke by child performers Josh Hutcherson and AnnaSophia Robb, respectively, manage to achieve this feat perfectly. Watching these two performances completely engulfs you in the story, if they were any weaker the story being told would not be believable.

Despite the marketing of this movie as a Children’s fantasy, the film is incredibly deep. Do not be put off my the sickening and misleading promotion, this film is a diamond in the rough of fantasy stories. No better fantasy film was released in 2007 that gave so much back to the audiences that went to see it. This is not a children’s fantasy movie in the line of the “Harry Potter” series or “The Chronicles of Narnia”. This is a film that can be compared to none. A REAL family film that does not rely on CGI and a fantasy world to keep the audience paying attention; but instead relies on a great story, fantastic character development and the innocence of a child’s imagination.

Total Rating: 8.5 / 10

Chris Leydon.

Oh it really has been a long time since I was last year, in fact it’s a new year completely since my last post. I guess that this really shows commitment to posting.

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.

God I’m happy, for today marks the end of torture that was the creation of my 3 minute film for Film Production Technology.

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