St Fagans 2011

On Saturday 26th February, it was decided that St Fagans was the perfect location for this amateur photographer to break in her new dSLR. Blessed with good company and great weather, (or should that be great company and good weather?) off we jolly trot.

The scenic beauty that awaited us was like nothing one would expect in the modern world, let alone ten minutes from the city of Cardiff. It was like stepping back in time. We were greeted by little wooden houses, complete with smoky chimneys and thatched roofs, a friendly farmyard cat and the history of the Welsh people at our fingertips. An authentic old fashioned sweet shop, seemed to be at the center of a bizarre village, with houses that stepped through time. You could travel from the Victorian period, through the wars and up to modern day in the space of one street.

My favourite place of all was the castle, or more particularly the perfectly kept castle gardens. This provided many photo opportunities, especially around the duck pond.

My task for the day was to take all my photos on manual settings, or at least using the macros, staying away from the automatic switch. Armed with nothing but my Canon 550D, a friends telescopic lens, and just wits about me, I set about completing my task. I thought I'd share a few of my photos here. These are my favourites.

The Castles across the river

This little fellow followed us around

The duck pond

experimenting with shutter speeds

slow shutter speed

 

Otto the dog

All in all it was a fabulous day. The walk is long but well worth it. Certainly a great day out in the fresh air, something the whole family can enjoy.

If you would like to see more of my photos from the day, check out my Facebook photo album.

Robert Miles - Dreamland

My final piece for my Music Video project was finished in time for the deadline despite various technical difficulties. I feel quite proud of it, though as usual it didn't come out quite as I had hoped. I used various techniques, such as motion tracking, green screen keying and a few digital camera moves. This was filed on a Sony Z7 and a Canon 550D dSLR, edited in Final Cut Pro, After Effects and Photoshop CS5.

Robert Miles - Dreamland, Final Cut from Amy Carpenter on Vimeo.

Robert Miles animated posters

I'm producing a series of animated posters to advertise Dreamland by Robert Miles for a university assignment based on creating a music video.

The idea was to link all posters musically as well as physically. Because of this they are all cuttings from different parts of the same song, and I intend to track them into the environment so you can see how they would connect physically.

So far I have created the bulk of the posters, though I am still having issues with colour grading. I was opting for lots of greens and blues to contrast the reds and yellow of the border colour. They're still works in progress and feedback would be great. The final product will see the posters placed in an environment outlining someones journey through the advertisements. Currently you simply see the posters in the order and sound synced as they would be.

Black Swan

When I saw the trailer for this movie, my first impression was that it would be some depressing underdog movie about overcoming all odds. The Rocky Balboa for the female audience with a touch of lesbianism to keep the chaps happy. It was perhaps because of this snap judgment that it took some persuasion for me to see this movie. I can not emphasis enough how wrong I was. There is a reason it nominated for a list of awards as long as my coursework to-do list, and why IMDB has it placed in the top 250 movies of all time. It is spectacular, and nothing will prepare you for what you will see in that cinema. Even if you read a whole host of spoilers you will still sit gob-smacked from start to finish. If you have have yet to see this, read no further, and book a ticket for your nearest cinema for the soonest showing. Despite being out for several weeks now, the cinema tonight was still sold out, and a massive queue had formed for the following show.

This story is about a ballerina, aspiring for perfection and longing for the legendary role of the Swan Queen. She is an innocent thing, with a room filled with stuffed toys in a flat shared with her slightly unhinged, overbearing mother. She is perfect for the White Swan, her company leader tells her, but what about her transformation into the Black Swan? Even early on one could guess how this story will go, yet sitting there watching it unfold before you is still breath taking. It's as if you sit behind our characters eyes, never knowing what is reality and what is her imagination. As she slowly breaks down, becoming this other version of herself things get weirder and weirder, and that is no understatement. By the end I was hanging off the edge of my seat, hand over mouth, not even daring to blink.

What impressed me more than the perfect performances of the actors, the choreography and the incredible story telling; was the camera work. It always seemed to be in the perfect place. A still could be taken from each frame of the dance performances to give a beautiful poster. The visual effects at the end were utterly surprising, yet worked so well. The animation was a piece of art in itself. If I was in the habit of rating movies, I would certainly give this a 10/10. The only movie I could compare this to, is Fight Club, as strange as that may sound.

And yes, there is a lesbian love scene, so ladies I suggest you casually drop this into conversation before asking the boyfriend to take you to see this. ;) 

Outcasts, BBC1 Monday 9pm

From me there is a giant welcome to the new Science Fiction drama on BBC1 this week. I am an avid lover of the genre and in my opinion there is not enough of it on the TV. With the largest show of its kind being aimed more at children (though I am a massive Doctor Who fan particularly with Moffat at the helm) it is refreshing to see something for us semi-grown ups.

This show got off to a great start. It combined stunning visuals, particularly nice work on the the out of space shots; dark government conspiracies and deep character development. It introduces the citizens of Fort Hope, a settlement of humans who have escaped the destruction of Earth and set up a new home on the planet of Carpathia. But already we see that things aren't all as they should be. There are rebellious factions who want to start new settlements, a government who seemingly spies on their subjects and what exactly did happen to Earth and where did all the other transports go?

Looks exciting to me. I can't wait until the next installment and I can not recommend this enough.

Movies of January

On the first of every month I plan to list and write one line reviews on every movie I have seen last month. I have one or two from December in this list as it predates the start of this blog.

December 

• Harry Potter and the Deathly Hollows Part 1

Visual Effects insanely good, particularly the skin of the house elves. Not the best Harry Potter movie, it lacked action, and definitely felt like a set up movie to Part Two, but this is primarily due to the slow start of the book more than the film itself. Amazing performances by the main cast. It's amazing how they have grown.

• Unstoppable 

Very tense, oddly enjoyable. The characters felt real so you really cared what happened to them. Great performances throughout.

• Megamind 3D

Truly hilarious. I laughed a full on belly laugh most of the way through.

• The Chronicles of Narnia: The Dawn Treader (x2)

So good I saw it twice. Amazing in 2D, spectacular in 3D. Can't wait for the next installment.

• Meet the Fockers: Little Fockers

A very funny third part to the story. If you loved the first two, you'll love this.

• Gulliver's Travels

Certainly funny, Jack Black gives his usual hilarious performance. The effects look really good, I need to find out exactly how they did them! Enjoyable, but a shame that I had seen most of the movie already in commercials.

January  

• Tron Legacy 

I don't come from the generation of the original Tron movie, but I realise it has a cult status. I watched the original before seeing this, and I honestly think that they have done it justice. The graphics have been brought right up to date, whilst managing to stay true to the originals. All the major Tron landmarks were seen, and the story was an interesting follow on.

• Season of the Witch

I went to see this primarily because from the trailer it looked like an Assassins Creed movie. It is not.I did enjoy it though, and for most who enjoy the medieval action adventure will enjoy this. Great performances from the cast, particularly Robert Sheehan from Misfits. When he first appeared on screen I thought he was to be the comic relief, but he pulled off a straight role brilliantly.

• 127 Hours (x2)

Intense, terrifying, truly brilliant. I love Danny Boyle, I love this movie, and I want this on dvd.

• The Green Hornet 

I'm not sure as to why it needed to be in 3D, other than for the incredible closing credits. It's probably one to see in 2D. A funny action comedy, exactly what you would expect from Seth Rogen. I have seen the original TV series (though not the comic) and may never accept anyone in the role of Kato other than Bruce Lee, but I did thoroughly enjoy this movie.

• The Dilemma

Everybody's nightmare scenario. Do you tell your best friend that you saw their spouse snogging someone else? There is no correct answer for this, and Vince Vaughn spends 111 minutes trying to work this out. Not my favourite movie. I found it oddly tense and so couldn't fully enjoy the humour.

• Tangled 2D

A very funny and enjoyable movie from Disney. There was singing, dancing, lots of running around and a smattering of romance. I loved this, it brought out the child in me. Not entirely sure on the moral message of "ignore your mothers wisdom, she's probably an impostor anyway."

• The Next Three Days 

Not as action packed as I expected, but very tense. Great performance from Russell Crowe. I'm not his biggest fan so this is high praise from me. Certainly an interesting movie, a little concerned that it's a bit of a how too guide for breaking and entering.

• Morning Glory

Hilarious. The chemistry between characters is perfect. I imagine this to be a true representation of what goes on behind the scenes of morning tv. Not entirely certain this should be dubbed a rom com, as the romantic story is very much a mack seat to the relationship between producer and TV presenter.

• The Mechanic

This is very similar to the Transporter movies in style and execution. Jason Stathom is on fire. Ben Foster was alo brilliant, I was interested to see the length of his filmography as I have never actually spotted him in anything. It was also interesting to note this is a remake of a movie from the 70s. When I get my hands on it, I'll be able to compare.

Movie of the Month
Has to be 127 hours. I can not get over how intense a movie primarily made up of a man being stuck in a hole, can be! Brilliant.