The Role of the Camera

When planning the film's camera movement and placement, it will be important for us to think about the camera's relationship to the movement of the characters: does it follow them? Or does it anticipate and foreshadow their actions? The former option would give the impression of the camera as casual observer, while the latter would imply the playing out of fate.

Careful What You Wish For

Key idea: sometimes being offered what you want leads to anxiety over whether you really want it (and whether you're ready for it).

Life's Just Networking Photographs, September 2009

Here are some photographs from our first event last night! A big thank you to all those who came along. We were pleased with how it went and it seemed like everyone had a good time, so we've decided to make the evening a regular event, running the first Thursday of every month. Our next event will be on 1st October and we are already open for RSVPs – please see www.lifejustisfilm.com/networking.htm for more details. Hope to see you next month!

Filling up.

About to screen the films.

Director Nick Paton (left) talks about his film 'Pandora's Inbox'.

Break.

Lawrence Carmichael (left) and Brett Snelgrove (right) talk about their upcoming projects.

Uriel Emil talks about his next project.

Networking.

Networking.

'Life Just Is' writer/director Alex Barrett in a quiet moment while setting up.

The Violence of the Cut

When using a long take aesthetic, each cut becomes like an act of violence, rupturing the scenic time and space. This must be used to our advantage.

Casting Director now on board!

I'm very pleased to announce that casting director Jane Frisby has joined the production team. For me, casting is one of the most exciting parts of the filmmaking process; it's the moment when things become concrete and your characters literally start stepping off the page. So, as you can imagine I'm thrilled to have someone with Jane's experience and knowledge to work alongside. To find out more about Jane, please read her biography over on our website.

- Alex

Reorganising

I've recently been giving some thought to the way that we've been using this blog, and I've decided to reorganise things slightly. As you'll see, I've now added some labels over on the right hand side, under the 'About Me' section. The number and name of these labels might shift over the coming weeks, but for the moment I'm planning the following four:

Progress Updates
This will probably be the label which most of our posts will come under. These posts will be about what we're up to behind the scenes, and keep you up-to-date with our progress. Hopefully they'll also include hints that might help other filmmakers out.

Promotional Material
This is where all the posts about our promotional material will go, so expect posters, stills and, in time, behind-the-scenes footage, interviews and trailers, etc.

Life's Just Events
These posts will be about the events that we run. Speaking of which, don't forget about our event on the 3rd September!

Director's Notebook
For several years now I've carried a notebook with me, wherever I go, so that I can jot down thoughts as they come to me. Often these will just be short one-off ideas, though sometimes they're longer lines which I develop – perhaps into a script, a story, an essay or a blog post. More often than not, though, they remain private, copied only from my notebook to my more exhaustive journal. However, I've decided that I'm going to start posting any relevant notes that I make straight onto this blog. I suspect they'll range from thoughts about the style and the filmmaking to some of the ideas and themes which run throughout the script. Sometimes they'll be complete and coherent, sometimes they'll be starting points. Sometimes they'll probably be rubbish. But hopefully they'll be interesting.

Teaser Poster

Here's our first teaser poster. It was made by artist A. Yap, adapted from a piece of artwork he did which is going to be used as a poster on the wall of Pete's bedroom in the film.