Weds 26th January Filming.

On Wednesday the 26th January I began filming for my personal project which is entitled - 'Matt Partington: The Iron Doesn't Lie'

The location for filming was the Ministry Of Fitness Gym in Bristol.

At this point Matt is 15 weeks out of competition and has been dieting for a couple of weeks but the intensity for training really kicks up from this point.

Throughout the filming for this section you see Matt and his training partner Mike going through a workout and you also see them both interacting with gym owner Tom Blackman. Tom himself is a south west champion. One of the most interesting parts of this shoot was Tom helping Matt with his posing.

Tom is a very renowned poser so for Matt to be able to get advice from someone like him is very positive.



It is a good part for the documentary as a whole as the audience get to see the shape Matt is in at the start of his journey, and will give a good indication of how far he has come when it's competition time.

I am likely to go back to Ministry of Fitness again at a later date in order to shoot some cutaways of the gym and also to film a tour of the gym for Tom for the website.

Over the coming weeks we will be filming in ministry and also City Fitness in Melksham.

It acted as very good experience for me personally as it gave me chance to see what kind of shots work and which ones do not. It also isn't easy to find the best shots as you are constantly dodging through equipment and other people who are training in the gym. Next time I will be more prepared and will be abl to plan the shots I want to get better.

It's also given Matt his first taste of being infront of the camera. We had to film and introduction where Matt and Tom talk into the camera, which was an odd experience for the both of them. We will both be a lot more used to filming these type of shots next time.

Keying - 5002

Link

Individual project proposal.

The project I am proposing is a documentary about the sacrifices bodybuilders take in order to prepare for a show. I will be focusing on my brother Matt Partington as he prepares for his competition in late April/early May. It currently has a working title of 'Matt Partington: The Iron doesn't lie'.

It will be predominantly aimed towards a sports audience. however, I hope with the theme of sacrifice and dedication it will be able to rope in a larger audience who enjoy being inspired to challenge themselves.

The documentary will follow my brother as he approaches his show. So you will see development and improvement in his physique whilst he discusses how he is feeling at different stages, and gives an insight into the diet he has to undergo.

Group Project: Liam Richards The Making Of A Fighter

Liam Richards - The Making Of A Fighter from Simon Partington on Vimeo.

Above is the completed documentary on boxer Liam Richards by me and Edem King.

I'm proud of this piece of work because I think it has a professional feel to it as we took inspiration from shows such as Sky Sports 24/7 and UFC Primetime as well as All Access. Through doing research on programmes and documentaries on sport we quickly noticed similar shots that all directors like to use. There are a lot of slowed down shots and close ups of the fighters faces so we wanted to include this in our piece.

24/7 is also very good at showing fighters personalities in the feature, this makes more entertaining viewing and allows the audience a chance to get to know the fighter better. We were very keen for Liam to be himself on camera and let his personality come out. You can see that in the documentary in the parts were he is looking into the camera and blowing kisses. In the interview he comes across as very natural and relaxed, which is a big positive as we didn't have to retake any questions or even edit down his answers as everything he said was relevant to the question and interesting.

I think we use the soundtrack well. In this kind of programme instrumentals are usually used so you can intercut with soundbites or voiceovers, which is what we did with the former. Without lyrics in the track it makes the viewer focus more on the image on screen, which is ultimately the most important part.

It was a shame that we couldn't have more control over the lighting as we shot all in one day. In hindsight it would have been better to try and get Liam in the gym by himself when we could have experimented with the lighting around him to get some different shots and nice cutaways.

Another way we could have improved is again really down to time management. If we had filmed for example 3 sessions we would have a lot more footage to play with and could have varied the shots more.

A disappointing point is when accidentally used the same cutaway twice in questions following on from one another. We didn't notice this when we proof watched it and it only became apparent when we were writing the DVD.

I really like the mix of still images with video footage, it breaks everything up nicely and offers variation. Plus the images from his last fight were taken brilliantly by Patrick Bethel and fitted in perfectly with the theme of the piece.

Sky Sports 24/7 research

To help out with the group project Edem and I are doing, we researched '24/7' which is a show on Sky Sports which build up to the big fights in boxing. I was first drawn to 24/7 in the build up to the Hatton vs Mayweather superfight in December 2007.



I like this video a lot, it is an inspiring piece of work and in less than 4 minutes really establishes the mentality and differences of both fighters and holds your attention.

I like the idea of a voice-over as it matches up with the images and music very well. The inter-cutting of the fighters own interviews and comments with the voice-over also works really nice.

The change in speed of shots is very effective. For example when the fighters are preparing with their hand wraps the images are slowed then which builds tension with the voice-over. Then images which show each boxer's speed such as skipping, speed ball and target pads are put back to normal pace. The change in tempo of the piece is very effective as it keeps you guessing as to what will happen next making it more interesting.

Before I comment on the music of the promo I would like to discuss it in comparison with this one.



In the first video the music is very much in the background and it works nice as it doesn't take focus off the fighters and it works well with putting the interview and voice-over in. I like the fact that the music is an instrumental piece as well as, again it does not take focus off hearing what the fighters have to say.

The second video (Floyd Mayweather training compilation) has a very loud and dominating soundtrack which immediately gives a different feel to the video. The second video is packed with a lot more energy due to the soundtrack even though some of the images are still slowed down.

Both soundtracks work and I think after watching both videos a blanace of each would be nice to add variation to our video.

Sound & Vision: Individual project proposal

In sound & vision our 7th entry into our portfolio is a 5-8min individual video project, the proposal had to be completed by the 17/3/10. Here is mine.

For my individual project I aim to do a video montage of football tricks and skills.

The montage will be set in various locations around West Wiltshire and will essentially follow the ball all the way. The ball will always enter from the left of the screen and exit to the left, this is to give the impression that the ball is on a continuous journey throughout the montage.

It will be set to music which I will compose using Logic. I aim to produce a samba style music piece as skills and tricks are notoriously associated with Brazilian football.

I have a huge interest in football so it will be an opportunity to express one of my loves in a artistic manner. Football is also a worldwide language therefore it is a popular topic to produce a video on.

I hope people will enjoy watching the video, but I also hope it will give them confidence to attempt some of the tricks themselves as it the video aims to show you don't have to be a pro or even a football freestyler to put the 'beautiful' in the beautiful game.

Storyboard for Maisy and Jim

Last Friday we were instructed to create a storyboard for a scene involving 2 characters. Edem, Mandy and I went to the location and took pictures of each shot we wanted to get.

It was a lot harder than I thought and certainly gave me more respect for film makers and directors as they are so many issues to consider when getting a shot. The position of the camera has to reflect who is the main person in the scene and the 180 degree rule is also a big factor to keep the shots consistent.

You also have to consider objects in the background of the shot especially windows. Also for the first time we were having to choreograph characters movement to give us a better idea of shots. This is difficult becase there has to be a reason behind each movement a character makes to add something to the story.

Below is a quick time video we made of our shots.

Embedding isn't working so click here for link.