Documentary about dog mess left in plastic bags

Thursday, February 25, 2010 at 07:01PM Read and add comments (0)

What a strange phenomenon it is, to find dog mess preserved in plastic bags and hung conspicuously in front of you, when enjoying a walk in the countryside.

I decided to make a short documentary on the issue one afternoon at Ashclyst Forest and interviewed a few obliging dog owners.

New short film - Pass Her By

Thursday, January 28, 2010 at 09:20AM Read and add comments (0)

The story was initially conceived after a phone call with my parent's who live in a house which is surrounded by vast forestry commission woodland. We started thinking about making a short about a unknown homeless character entering the property from the forest. The short would be about the initial conflict between the intimidating trespasser and the apparently vulnerable housewife.

As conversations about the story developed, between myself and a good friend of mine Tom Bates, who has very creative story writing abilities, the character of the house-wife started to develop. She would be in a rather lonely relationship, who's husband left early for work each morning, and she would be left to tend to the house by herself each day. This opened up the potential for the trespasser to fill a need for a new person in her life, after the initial confrontation.

It was then that I realised the trespasser could actually have been created by the house-wife, as a figment of her imagination, as a result of this loneliness and the absence of her husband.

I decided to tell the story as if the trespasser is a real character for the main part, and introduce the idea that he is a figment of the house-wife

Short film featuring Badgers, a Green Woodpecker, a Nuthatch, a Robin and my Parents!

Tuesday, June 9, 2009 at 12:43PM Tags: wildlife, video, sony, ex3 Read and add comments (5)

Over the weekend before last, I shot a short film in the magnificent garden at my parent

Recently completed promotional video for local function band

Wednesday, June 3, 2009 at 11:02AM Read and add comments (0)

Local events and functions band, 'Limited Company Band', recently commissioned us to shoot a 10 minute promotional film. The format for the film is based around short sections of different songs so as to give a good indication of the band's whole line-up.

Using only a single camera for the shoot, I shot each song from several different angles and shot types including a sweeping crane shot and a slow push/pull on our track and dolly for the wide angle shots. All this footage meant I could edit together an exciting sequence and all without having to worry about including any other cameras on stage!

Limited Company Band are very pleased with the results and I enjoyed working with them.

Here's a kind testimonial from them:

We used Phototropic to shoot and edit our promotional DVD. We are delighted with the results and hugely impressed not just with the professionalism and attention to detail shown but also with the creative direction and ideas Ben gave us throughout the process. We would thoroughly recommend using Phototropic and would definitely use Ben again.

iPod speaker review: Logitech AudioStation Express

Thursday, October 25, 2007 at 11:08AM Read and add comments (3)

I've been casually monitoring the portable iPod speaker market for a while, somewhat from a distance though. In fact, the sheer rocketing numbers of devices on the market almost makes selecting a suitable choice an impossible task. Especially with few shops offering both a large enough selection and the ability to hear them before you buy. However, wondering through a supermarket, one which doesn't deserve to be advertised here, I spotted a tempting offer. A nice looking iPod speaker for around £40 - reduced from £79 apparently. It was the Logitech AudioStation Express.

After phoning a friend and asking him to do a quick search for customer opinions on the product it seemed that it was quite quite highly regarded. A bit of deliberating and sudden rash purchase followed.

Getting the Logitech iPod speaker system out of its packaging was quite rewarding, everything looked new and shiny and all smooth surfaces had those little film coverings on, the removal of which always brings a pleasing satisfaction. It comes with a neat little remote, a bunch of adaptors to fit probably all iPods with the dock connector (although check before you buy), and a tough looking fabric case which can be used to protect the speakers while in transit or even while they are in use. All of which is of a high quality. The iPod speaker system itself is cleanly designed, not very large and has a large push button/rotating volume knob on the front. Push it in to turn on the device and an orange glowing ring lights up around it. A nice touch and one that lends to a high quality appearance. The remote can be stored in an area on the back of the speaker system which is a useful feature.

Anyway enough about the looks and features. You want an idea of how it sounds. In short, very good. There are some quirks and things to note however. When I first turned it on I had it placed on a table that I was standing at. Therefore I was a fair bit higher than the speakers. It is important that you are on a level plane with the speakers when listening to them. If you're not you will notice the treble falls off very quickly, leaving the sound sounding quite cupboard like. As with most small speaker systems it sounds much better if its in a corner somewhere. The system has bass boosting architecture to enhance the bass whilst keeping the unit small and using little power. It should also be noted that at very low volumes the treble falls off sharply again. This is very low volumes however and at a normal quiet background level it is perfectly acceptable. However, where it really seems to shine is when you crank it up, to about 90% of its output. The quality and volume of the sound for the devices' size is really amazing. Everything sounds very nicely balanced, with trebles crisp, and bass strong. And to think this is a device that can run on 6 AA batteries.

The speakers have a 3.5mm line input which is usefully if you want to add some kick to your laptop or if you have a non-iPod music player. Although of course you'll need to be using a compatible iPod for the device to charge it up or use the remote control. The charging functionality only works when the device is plugged in with the mains adapter, which is probably for the best. The remote control offers power on/off, play/pause, volume and next/previous track control. The device also has a coaxial video output which I haven't actually tested but shows video output from video capable iPods.