2013 Culture Badger review of the year 2013 - @ThomHoffman

Time to review all the tweets, status updates, photos, saved links, and occasionally things in my own stupid mind to unearth those things that I saw this year that, on reflection, still made an impact.

Let’s start with some music, you can play along at home.

I love Soundcloud mixes, here are a few you can select from

Big Deal ID Magazine Slumber Session:

Fleetwood Mac Disco Remix [sounds weird but is amazing]:

Julianna Barwick: Soaring Folk

Laura Marling - When Brave Bird Saved - Beautiful film to accompany her latest album Once I Was an Eagle

So let's begin

Firstly this is the greatest thing I saw all year in the West Hampstead Library. I didn't know we could do this!

Before [During] there was Kickstarter

I hope this INTERNET INNOVATOR/SONGWRITER/POET got the sponsorship they were looking for. It's quite beautiful in a lot of ways. If you are a millionaire you could probably do a lot worse than invest some there.

There’s been some pretty tough times this year, and some people aren’t here that should be. This beautiful, heartwrenching blog written by Ben, a father and widower, who lost his wife in a freak car accident at the start of the year really resonated with me. It’s tough out there, let’s look after each other:

http://lifeasawidower.com/about/

Despite being a vegetarian, somehow I can still find time for the joy in stuffed animals.

'Artist Does Jail Time over Disturbing Taxidermy' -

But I think I prefer Digital animal mashups 

STREET ART

5 Pointz, this back street in Queens NY used to be home to some incredible street art, but now is just a beige lot. It’s a real shame, but I’m glad I got to see it. I think you appreciate street art more when you are away from home. http://www.flickr.com/photos/49103930@N03/10846328644/

5 Pointz

Art/Taste/Graffiti, some of it is breathtaking. Herakut are a duo of artists who blew my mind this year. and their photos decorate my desktop and raise me up.

When we let go of our Fears we are Safe

Some walls aren’t walls.

Herakut - http://herakut.tumblr.com/

I also want to live in a block with the externals designed by this guy. http://www.agostinoiacurci.com/beardwatching/

I massively enjoyed this picture of a monkey drinking milk 

Best Bands/shows of the year

• Big Deal
• Paws
• Finch playing their classic album What It Is to Burn in its entirety
• The Postal Service
• Cribs
• Secret Garden Party
• Basia Bulat
• Adam Buxton’s Best of Bug shows - ACE

OLD SONGS I FOUND THIS YEAR

Midas Touch - Midnight Star - ALL I WANT TO DO IS PUT THIS ON AND DANCE AROUND

I Know It’s Over [Smiths Cover] - Jeff Buckley ALL I WANT TO DO IS CRY

One hell of a session TuneYards Bizness

FILMS OF THE YEAR

The Act of Killing - The absolute best film of the year, possibly the greatest film I’ve seen maybe. Just watch it http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SD5oMxbMcHM

Nebraska, Safety Not Guaranteed, Untouchable, Best Worst Movie, 5 Broken Cameras

I was particularly intrigued by this short[ish] film by Werner Herzog. It’s a kind of public information film/documentary about texting and driving. Really moving. An important reminder to just not do it. That shit can wait.

I wrote a more expansive film review whilst I had a life-threatening cold in November, you can read it here

I really enjoyed this 19 second film of Bill Gates jumping over a chair

PODCASTS OF THE YEAR

I avoided for a while, and then devoured, Analyze Phish; a somewhat weird podcast where someone who loves the band Phish tries to persuade some who doesn’t like the band Phish to like the band Phish.

This is a classic episode #7 yeah that’s right #7 and they’re still going http://www.earwolf.com/episode/a-crazy-moment-in-phishtory/

That is a spinoff of Comedy Bang Bang, still consistently the podcast I consume most voraciously

A good starter episode from the year is The Vicar of Yanks, featuring  'Weird' Al Yankovic and Paul F Tompkins as Andrew Lloyd Webber, what more could you want?  - http://www.earwolf.com/episode/the-vicar-of-yanks/

You can buy a load of live shows that were really funny for a mere $25 well worth it http://store.earwolf.com/products/comedy-bang-bang-live-2013-tour

I ENJOYED THIS GREAT ANSWER ON WEAKEST LINK

Glad to hear Russell Brand’s [and more saliently Matt Morgan’s] radio comeback this year, you can buy it here and it’s all for charity, so you can feel warm and whatnot.

I was psyched to hear some progressive production values stuff on BBC  this year including Jarvis Cocker’s Wireless Nights, and Josie Long’s Short Cuts. These shows have a lot of fun with the medium and are an excellent addition to the more traditional Radio4 stuff.

More trad/modern BBC crossover came up with the first transvestite potter to give the BBC’s prestigious Reith Lectures. Grayson Perry did Lord Reith proud, Informing, Educating, Entertaining and I’d add Inspiring. Let’s do a painting or something.

Speaking of art here are two superb films I stumbled upon this year.

A Brief History of John Baldessari -

A film about an artist who paints on kitchen roll [it’s better than it sounds] http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dOXERZBUA1A

It is often said that ‘the enemy of the artist is the pram in the hallway’ I guess this post says different. Kids are tiny little people you can make do things. What could lead to more creativity? Scientists experiment on their kids all the time! Art learn something from science why don’t ya… This mother has nailed it.

http://www.boredpanda.org/wengenn-in-wonderland-sioin-queenie-liao/

This guy gets the Thom Hoffman Man of the Year award. That is some grade A spectating. http://s3-ec.buzzfed.com/static/enhanced/web04/2012/4/12/13/enhanced-buzz-8465-1334250956-87.jpg

enhanced-buzz-8465-1334250956-87

When searching for Christmas presents, this was the worst thing I’ve seen. I mean why? http://etsy.me/KKBqAn

Of all the articles that made me want to move to Uruguay in 2013, this was undoubtedly the best, The president sounds great. http://t.co/heDiKx6G9L

This Dog Vine of course, just of course https://vine.co/v/bJqjVjdqMQ7

Kid President bloody nails it again. 20 Things we should say more often.

BOOKS

I joined two book clubs this year, to varying degrees of success. I really recommend a bookclub it’s great. My favourite books this year were

If on a Winter’s Night a Traveller - Italo Calvino: One of the best books I’ve ever read, just blew me away, took me away, kind of changed what I thought books could do. Have recommended to lots of people and this has very much split the room...

Notes from the underground - Fyodor Dostoevsky: I read this on a slightly doomed trip to Leeds and I was left harrowed by the experience. Great though, the ultimate manifestation of a scary manvoice that lives in your head, right guys? Guys? Right?

The Beating of his Wings - Paul Hoffman [NO NEPOTISM ALERT KLAXON] Final chapter in the Left Hand of God trilogy. Art. End of an erar.

Unreasonable Behaviour - Don McCullin: spectacular book that chronicles the brutal existence of the war photographer, photojournalist, family man. Fantastic meditation on humanity/art/intervention. There’s a great Storyville documentary on Don, it’s worth digging out if you can find it.

How Proust Can Change Your Life - Alain De Botton: What we can learn from Proust’s unique view on the world. Every few pages is a beautiful thought, or twist of phrase. I bought it from a second hand bookshop in Brixton that has a dog, there’s a nice film of it here

There’s a nice short story called The Critics which can be read here - http://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2013/05/the-critics/309276/?single_page=true

I enjoyed this soap opera filmed in branches of Ikea without permission. Life should be about 80% more this type of thing. 7 episodes, enjoy

This video had a real punch to it. Let’s all use less crap we don’t need in 2014 http://www.upworthy.com/people-should-know-about-this-awful-thing-we-do-and-most-of-us-are-simply-unaware

PHOTOGRAPHY

This guys photography is good https://plus.google.com/photos/+AddeAdesokan/albums/5632530795735286625/5648918287947725346?cfem=1

ALWAYS BE SQUINCHING. This went down pretty well, some good tips for posing for photos. It sounds a bit wanky, but it’s actually good.

http://www.fastcocreate.com/3022472/always-be-squinching-and-other-tricks-from-a-portrait-photographer-for-taking-flattering-pic

Instagrams

Instagram

I loved the overnight ferry between England and Holland with my bicycle

Amsterdam_Collage

I loved the view from the highest place I’ve ever been

 [youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Sr2c4xFwPfc&w=560&h=315]

Mountains_Collage

I loved the Pet Pride march in San Francisco

Pet_Pride_Collage

AMERICA

America_Collage

Tweets of the year

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HAPPY NEW YEAR

Culture Badger's to do list of London

London

This photo I took in the pouring rain sums up London for me

I had to work in Paris recently, it was stressful, but productive. I got the Eurostar back late Sunday night. On this train I met some Canadians and they ended up staying at my house for three days. It was lots of fun, a bit of a gamble on all of our parts I guess, but I'm trusting my judgement more these days.

It led me to the question

'what should I recommend to my new house guests to do in London'.

I love London, but I don't know that London. I don't know, for example, what train station to get off to go to Buckingham Palace [Yeah ok I have now looked it up, but the point stands].

I hypocritically always apply pressure to anyone I know who has been somewhere, or even done a geography GCSE, to give me advice on what I should do in when I go somewhere new.

Considering I've lived within a 20 mile radius of London for 24 of my 27 years, I should probably be able to offer someone an opinion on what they should do in my city.

Anyway. That's a long winded way of saying, I like London, here are the things to do that represent the London I like.

1] 'I need to get me some falafel' - Hoxton Beach falafel - it's not really a thing to do, it's some food; but this little stand pops up every day on Goodge Place in Goodge Street as well as various other locations across East London. If they gave monkeys access to this falafel in some kind of experiment, they would probably eat it constantly until they died. You can take that as a compliment. Hoxton Beach - please use this in your publicity materials, I will do this in exchange for free cauliflower in my next wrap.

2] 'I really want to eat a plate' - Ethiopian Food @ Queen of Sheba - Kentish Town - Probably Ethiopian food is better placed on a blog  about things to do in Addis Ababa. BUT one of the things I love about London is the whole, 'all bits of the world have some space here', thing. This place is great, food comes on a pancake, and you share it, and you get to eat your plate because it's a pancake.

Killer Whale in a Jar

3] 'I would like to adopt some platypi reproductive organs' - Grant Zoological Museum - They have a Killer Whale Foetus, and a collection of moles, in a jar. It's a beautiful little natural history museum, free entry, right in the heart of Euston. Slightly odd opening hours, but really worth a visit.

4] 'I've literally never seen anyone not on heroin in a bandstand' - Bandstand Busking - YES I'M BIASED, as I occasionally direct films for them, but I only got involved by attending first as a fan. I love music, but can't hack big gigs, standing at the back whilst people talk. nightmare. This is music the way it's supposed to be played, plus it's free and all the bands are great. Fall in love with this London.

5] 'I am a non-believer, but I wanna have me some church time' - Gig at the Union Chapel - Probably my favourite venue in London. They needed to pay for repairs to the roof, so started holding events there and it's grown into a massive thing. They do loads of amazing charity work, so it's really a cause worth supporting. I've seen Bombay Bicycle Club, Alessi's Ark, Stewart Lee, and Peter Serafinowicz all perform there. They also do free gigs called Daylight Music most Saturday lunchtimes from 12-2pm, always really interesting. They serve good value food upstairs in the bar area, and tea and coffee on Saturdays.

Erin K and Tash

Party Time - 'excellent'

6] 'I'd like to watch the new Herzhog, or attend a masked ball like the one in Labyrinth, and then watch Labyrinth' - Prince CharlesCinema - I got a membership here for around £10, massive bargain, it's a way to see films reasonably priced in London's Leicester Square. You don't need to be a member to go there. They do loads of great events, I recently went to Schwing Along with Wayne's World. It was cool, people dressed up like their favourite character, really nice silly fun. They also do cool documentaries and non-mainstream stuff.

7] 'I need to work off all the falafel I ate during point #1]' - Ride a bike around - best way to see London, if you wobble around on a Boris Bike like a drunk tourist then motorists usually give you a bit of room, so don't be too scared. If roads are not your friend then I'd advise cycling along Regent's Canal. You could do my 40 mile fun route if you are keen [as described in a previous post], otherwise cycle from Angel to East London, maybe stop for lunch at Broadway market that'd be nice!

Kookaburras Broing Out

8] 'Most Londoners have a mattress in the road as their garden' -Have a potter round Hampstead Heath. I live in London and only have a poorly tended window ledge to call an outdoor space. When I need to get into some greenery, I head to the Heath. There is a beautiful thing called a Pagoda, I don't know what that means, but it's insane. Golder's Hill Park is a park within Hampstead Heath. I like it there too, there's a little zoo. I went there and my ex girlfriend adopted me a kookaburra. One day I went to visit it, it was smashing a baby chick to death against a pole. Elton John never sang about that.

9] 'Gah I'm somereason in central London at night and I need another drink' - Player's piano bar, it's a bar where a guy sits and plays piano and everyone sings along, it's kind of weird and nuts, It's definitely not 'cool' but it's pretty fun.

10] 'I want to dance with somebody, I want to feel the heat with somebody, yes I wanna dance with somebody, with somebody who probably didn't know me before and likes old stuff' - London Swing Dance Society does great classes and sessions where you can do a bit of a class, learn some moves, then dance with people, maybe in front of a wicked swing band! No excuses, beginners class will leave you with enough moves to have a go. Good way to meet nice people and I will often make visitors come and have a go.

11] 'I want to be someone else for a bit' - Improv classes... I love a good improv session. Hoopla improv runs classes every Saturday, each has a different theme, but if you are interested in performance, writing, or just messing around it's a really good no pressure, fun place to do it.

12] 'I need a pint, that's not awful, in Camden' - This is getting an easier dilemma to solve, my best tips are the Black Heart [lovely], near the World's End [not for me]. And the recently opened Brew Dog is a great shout for Independent craft beers.

13] 'I want to see a play in a room the size of that board meeting where the new design of the USB drives were announced' - Pentameter's Theatre - I've seen three great plays out of three here, and the theatre only fits about 30, it's really ace, you could get a crepe from the little famous crepe place beforehand. You can grab a nice pint from the pub underneath and take it up to the play - Perfect.

14] 'I want to do a laugh' - Some of my friends did a stand up comedy course, at the The Comedy School in Camden and they got all good at it, so I've been to a lot of stand up shows across London. Best FREE open mic night in my humble opinion is The Cavendish Arms in Stockwell, nice audience, good MCing and smart set up.

15] 'I want to do a laugh and I don't mind paying' - always great acts, good mix of circuit pros, and exciting newbies! Hooting Broadway, in Tooting Broadway [see what they did there] [[See what I did there]].

16] 'Well I like music, and I like films... but which do I like best?' - See Hear Club. Great, special nights at the Roof Gardens in Dalston, a band plays a show, and they you nestle down and watch a film picked by the band. A really great way to spend a summer's evening out East. Curated by @AnikainLondon #ff

17] 'I LIKE OLD STUFF' Go and see something at Wilton's Music Hall - Europe's oldest working music hall, and an incredible venue, really magic, take a look at the listings and go and go and check it out, I've had some great nights here.

18] 'I like having a reason to drink all day' Day at Lords. Beautiful venue, you can go and watch a nice game of cricket, have a drink and a chat. It can be a bit pricey, but it is a whole days entertainment. My tips are to use 'LateGate' where you can go after tea, for a few good hours cricket for around £10. Also if a test goes to a fifth day, you can sometime get cheaper tickets. Even if you don't like cricket, this is the place to grow to love it. Follow @HomeOfCricket for details on ticket price and whatnot.

I have probably left some things I like out, please feel free to add your own, I love to hear about cool stuff going down.

London's alright isn't it!

@thomhoffman

x

Podcasting

I did some talking, and some listening, at the recent Sounds of Science #talkfest at the Biochemical Society . I thought I'd throw my thinkings down on to internet paper and add some bits from the other panellists who were way more insightful than me. Now could be a good time to bail out, and go listen to the talk which was kindly recorded by Martin Zaltz Austwick. Alternatively I will relink at the bottom. This is kind of like a 'choose your own adventure book'

My first podcast emerged from 2008. I wanted the student news satire radio show, made by me and Sam Wong, to reach more than 3 people. The university had a website where you could stream stuff, which was great [but not download]. Unlike the music shows however we didn't have any rights issues; due to our opinions not being valued by the Recording industry Association of America. We decided we would offer it as a podcast. It got us hundreds of new listeners, which for us, was awesome. We were now accessible to anyone at their whim, for download from RSS feeds and itunes.

papercuts

After that I did work experience at the BBC for a month and then started work at the British Medical Journal, making educational podcasts about Swine Flu. It was an interesting time, and perfectly suited to the quick turnaround medium of the podcast. Especially as the BMJ wanted to increase is online offering; moving toward being an 'online first journal' jabbing at the cutting edge of digital publishing.

It proved to be very popular for us, and gave me a job. After swine flu, we moved on to doing more esoteric, nuanced, debates which we felt would benefit from having someone talk you through the issues.

In educational terms, they're great for debate, and discussion. It's like listening in on a great conversation. Also, a fundamental point is the web-based nature of podcasts allow you to have a landing page with links that build on what has been discussed. These links then point you in the direction of more information giving you a chance to investigate opinions further for yourself. The internet is full of all the knowledge, but we need 'experts and gatekeepers we respect and trust' to direct us toward great content. If you have a trusted brand, or are an expert in something, it's a great way to deliver your message.

During #Talkfest people played some brilliant audio clips, but as these clips played I got anxious about what to do with my eyes, where am I supposed to look? Normally I'm fine, but occasionally I find mid-conversation I think about eye contact and panic about how much eye contact is weird, am I making too much or too little? What is the ratio? Is there some etiquette list out there somewhere?

I just went and looked one up, it said

'E-How - To maintain a healthy level of eye contact, communication experts recommend looking someone in the eye for intervals of four to five seconds, then looking away briefly -- at their mouth or nose or at something nearby -- then re-establish eye contact.

Yahoo Answers- i would say 70% on and 30% brief look aways if im conversing with someone for an extended period of time'

Interesting

Here is one of the clips: An Oral History of British Science, was introduced by Tom Lean. He's working on a project creating a major archive of in-depth interviews with British Scientists. There are some great clips there

Martin created a kind of drum and bass Whale -music influenced podcast intro, made from the sounds of Tottenham Court Road...

I think in the internet age, audio can have a non-compulsory, complimentary, visual aspect. I LOVE soundcloud, something about seeing waveforms is just cool. But it's not just like the dizzy heights of the Windows Media Player visualizations, you can add comments to different sections of your audio, and a little profile picture pops up at the bottom,

LET US compare these two players.

dull_player

VERSUS

MPB

each of those little cubes is a comment which flashes up as the playhead travels along the song. Not essential in order to enjoy the audio, but a nice interactive adjunct.

Interactivity is often thrown around with regard to multimedia, and is something which grinds my gears. Multimedia is not inherently interactive; unless you count pressing play and stop as interaction. Which from an educational/informative perspective reminds me of a quote I read once, it was about documentary but I think the point stands

  ‘an audience that is already sitting back listening may not be persuaded to sit forward and see for itself’

Robert Drew

‘Imagining Reality’

I agree this is possible, but also that, audio particularly, is sometimes the most immersive medium around.

Audio's challenges, are also it's strong points, and I guess that's why the digital era is so exciting, as we can build on these, and start to move away from arbitrary audio/video/text delineations.

Cowbird is a new storytelling startup which looks really cool. You have a large image, which you can kind of pan around, whilst listening to a short-story piece. It could be fiction, or someone interviewing a relative. I think some of these come out beautifully and I will try to make my own one soon.

The phenomenon of the 'produser' and the massive democratizing effect of technology is having a real impact on storytelling. I heard someone recently state that the idea of sitting down to a 90 minute film, will be seen as a real anachronism; a kind of blip in the history of culture. It's an interesting idea, but I certainly feel like a powerful short film, audio piece or poem, or combination of all three has so many different chances to live and be consumed that hopefully the best ones will find an audience.

cowbird

If you want to make a podcast, you probably already have the equipment. Radio Kate, works at Audioboo and this fantastic clip emphasises how you can capture something awesome on a mobile phone.

Another favourite podcaster of mine is Daniel Ruiz Tizon - he recorded probably somewhere in the region of 100 hours of podcasts on his Blackberry, and for the most part it's some of the most original, compelling, podcast content I've heard in a while.

A significant portion of the audience discussion focussed on the quality of audio, and whilst it's definitely an issue, I'm so in the camp that ideas are worth way more than quality. If you consider how we can tolerate a crappy phone line for an hour, if the other end of that line is making us laugh or think then it's not such a big deal.

Michelle brought us back to the skills involved in professional radio production, and creating soundscapes in documentary. Mentioning a #ProTip she heard from a Norwegian producer,

Treat the microphone like a camera, with close ups, mids and wide shots.

It's a really effective way of layering sound, and giving some contextual clues to help people anchor themselves in space, working the subconscious. Michelle also emphasised the importance of the first minute of your audio, but I would also urge listeners to bear with podcasts for a bit, part of the joy is the slow burn potential.

Her lovely documentary on 'the instruction manual' is a beautiful listen

Sepia

GREAT SOUND ON A BUDGET

• Zoom H4n [£250] - Broadcast quality sound equipment
• Audacity [Free]
• Podomatic/soundcloud/ [which feed into] iTunes [Freemium]

MAKING PODCASTS PAY

It's important for people producing stuff to be able to keep producing it. There are a number of different models around and everyone is still finding their feet. I don't think people go into these industries with the idea that they'll strike it rich, but they probably want to buy shoes for their children, and if they make cool stuff that makes your life better, that's got to be worth a bit of a financial-digital high five. Some media outlets [

like the Guardian

] have internal podcast teams, some have links with podcasts [formerly Times and the Bugle]. Some commercial outlets support podcasters [David Mitchell's Soapbox]. Increasingly traditional broadcasters are getting on board with people who tested their ideas in digital media.

Consider Black Cab Sessions - originally a couple of guys filming bands in the back of a cab for one song, for putting on youtube. Several years later, they now have their own Channel4 show which took a Black Cab to America.

Black Cab Sessions USA from Black Cab Sessions on Vimeo.

Robert Llewelyn's video podcast in which interviewed people whlst driving around in his electric car, was originally sponsored by an electric car manufacturer, and finally became a show on TV station Dave.

Ricky Gervais' podcasts went from being hosted by the Guardian, to being turned into animated cartoons for HBO.

Donations and [pay what you think it's worth] are interesting phenomena, and I'd love to see the stats on how these things do. I've donated to a couple recently, and it feels completely right to do so. Something like the

Bugle

has probably given me 100 hours of entertainment for FREE, it would seem bastardish to not feel like chipping in when you think of it like that.

Richard Herring

, a long time podcaster, articulated how people feel inclined to come out and watch his shows because of how much entertainment he's given them via his own podcasts. They don't just see it as £10 for an evening, it's a more nuanced transaction. It's also a great medium for testing material, and getting yourself out there to new audiences.

Other podcasts like Pappy's Flatshare Slamdown, have live recordings and charge a small fee to the audience

MY TOP TEN PODCASTS [these link to my favourite episodes, where appropriate]

1]

Comedy Bang Bang

 - insane improvised comedy, music and games currently my number 1

2]

The Bugle

 - Previous champion - still a huge pull - best satirical news out there right now

3]

Pod F Tompkast

 - my favourite comedian from #1 fastest wit, and best impressions

4]

Off the Wall Post

 - one for the tech and social/new media geeks out there, always good value, funny and interesting, source of #wankywords

5]

NPR All Songs Considered

 - American Music podcasts, always food for thought.

6]

Daniel Ruiz Tizon

 - Half man, half-P45, writer Daniel Ruiz Tizon and his tales of Lambeth living

7]

Radiolab

 - Most innovative science podcast out there, embraces digital technology in it's production - sometimes MAGIC

8]

Pappy's Flatshare Slamdown

 - curveball, comedy, sketches, audience interaction - fun

9]

Guardian Science Weekly

- great balance of proper science and healthy irreverance

10)

Coffee Break Spanish

- learn Spanish - free podcasts, pay for additional worksheets and extras

11)

Interacting Weakly

- bottom of the list because it's only 3 episodes old, and a nepotism warning as I gave birth to some of the words used in it

A lot of these are included in a

less technical blog about podcasts

I wrote last year, with more description of why I like them

These will wax and wane and flux, but I'd hearilty recommend getting stuck in to any of them

Another blog post about the event, by Melanie Hall, can be found here

Great 'How To: Guide' post by Dr Martin Zaltz Austwick about academic podcasting http://sociablephysics.wordpress.com/2011/12/02/academic-podcasting-101/

And Elizabeth Hauke's 5 'P's of Podcasting

People you should follow on Twitter

Dr Alice Bell 

Kate Arkless Gray

Dr Martin Zaltz Austwick

Michelle Martin

and me.... @thomhoffman

As promised, a podcast of the talk...

Point Break: or... what I learned about making a short short film

ME

Point Break in 6.0 Steps

So we made the shortlist for the Empire Done in 60 Seconds Film Competition [Hells yeah!]. The challenge was to remake a film in 60 seconds. So I thought I’d make a little guide to how we made our short film, and a little bit about making short films in general [caveat I know nothing about anything].

[vimeo http://www.vimeo.com/35321098 w=400&h=225]

Point Break - Done in 60 Seconds from Thom Hoffman on Vimeo.

1] Pick a film, and watch that film

When making a short film, which is very unlikely to make you any money, it’s important you don’t go overboard on expenditure. Sure you want some exploding helicopters? Don’t we all, but unless you work for some kind of ballistics company with a penchant for expensive team-building exercises, it’s unlikely you’re going to be able to film one.

You may, however, be doing something cool or weird which you can film. Maybe, you’re uncle trains Killer Whales, perhaps it snowed and you love Scandinavian vampire films, or perhaps you just got fired and want to push your bosses computer out of a window. NOW IS YOUR CHANCE, GRAB YOUR CAMERA. You must take advantage of these natural situations to help work efficiently, and make the best of the other activities that make up the time of your life

TRIP

We were planning on going surfing so naturally we thought of how we could incorporate it into a film. We immediately thought of Point Break, despite no-one being able to recall having seen it all the way through.

We all sat down, watched the film, laughed, threw ideas around, joked and made notes, and ate pizza, naturally.

OOOOHKEANU

2) Write a Script 

Sam Wong took the bull by the horns and started a google document throwing down the ideas we’d discussed the day before. We shared the document with everyone who was to come surfing, and added jokes, vetoed jokes, and started to get a bit creative with our ideas.

The main thing about scripting is that it’s the best time to be editing. The more you shoot, the more time it will take to edit, the more stressed you get about decisions, and the less fun the process becomes. A wise man said if you have a shooting ratio of more than 80:1 you’re effectively a CCTV camera, not a filmmaker.

3) Storyboard

Not everyone likes to storyboard, and it’s by no means essential. Some scenes I storyboarded and some I didn’t. I think it helps loads when making a short film that needs to link together super-smoothely; to think about how your shots will connect to each other. The more times you do this, the more you understand the grammar of film, and how different shots work their way into the narrative. Every decision you take as a filmmaker should have a reason. Kurt Vonnegut said, start as close to the end as possible. I think that’s a good way to look at things. Does this bit need to be here?

I cannot draw for toffee, and not even one of those expensive classy souvenir toffees, I’m talking some kind of Chomp of something. But this doesn’t have to hold you back. See Exhibit A.

scan0001

A storyboard is a great way to show actors, other camera people, editors, etc, and even stick men will go some way to help.

4) Shoot

The advent of Digital SLR cinematography is, if we were wanky-media-types, what we could call ‘a gamechanger’. I have a Canon 550D which set me back around £550. And you could legitimately do everything on that basic kit if you wanted to, it films in full HD. Realistically you are going to want to spend a bit more on some sound equipment, something like a Zoom H4N will work great and is around £200, then you might well want some more lenses to give you a few more options. I love my 50mm prime [fixed] lens it lets in lots of light and allows you to have a really nice cinematic shallow depth of field. I wouldn’t actually have bothered getting the kit lens if I knew what I know now, but it certainly is adequate for the purposes of a short film.

You don’t need to have a DSLR though, this brilliant short film [Thrush] by was made using just a stills camera, and you could get the same results using any decent level compact camera.

[vimeo http://www.vimeo.com/4131811 w=400&h=225]

Thrush from Gabriel Bisset-Smith on Vimeo.

I personally think ideas are way more important than the equipment. These DSLRS are great, and really allow you to tell a story which looks pretty professional to most people’s eyes once squeezed down into Youtube or Vimeo.

I bought a 55-250mm (telephoto zoom) lens, because I like Wildlife photography, and it’s good for filming gigs and things at a distance. It also works great for shooting something like surfing, for when you don’t want to take your shiny new camera too far into the sea…

CRAB

If you are looking to get started in the world of filming I really recommend nofilmschool blog, which has an awesome free DSLR cinematography guide. There are also loads of cool instructional and educational videos on Vimeo which can help guide you. Most importantly, get out there, film something, make some mistakes, as Beckett said, fail again, fail better. You’ll learn about composition, depth of field, focusing, aperture, lighting, sound etc as you go along. Take each trip and play around with one setting until you feel like you’ve mastered it.

We shot the surfing stuff first as we were going surfing in October, it was really fun, we only needed a little bit of surfing so we just tried to get some shots for the montage, and some shots of good surfing. It only made a few seconds in the film, but it gave it a bit of something extra because it had some bona fide action. We then cheated by faking two different parachute jump scenes, with cheeky replacement activities; including one in the doorway of a Sainsbury’s.

RIDE

The deadline wasn’t until January, so naturally we kind of forgot about it for a while until we had a few weeks left to spare, then gathered everyone together to film the rest of the scenes. We storyboarded, then just improvised around what we had in the local area.

I think it’s a good idea to keep a diary of places that you might one day want to film in, with some pictures and moods or genres. They say it’s all about location location location, and whilst that’s probably a bit excessive for filming, choose the right location, and you have to work much less hard to make things look interesting, and struggle against unwieldy logistics.

BANK

Get friends to help you too, my flatmate/ TV researcher Nigel Alred, came and operated the camera and sound when the rest of us where acting. It’s a big help to have people around, and it should be pretty fun so you it doesn’t have to be a massive chore. We basically nailed it in one afternoon.

5) Editing

Once you’ve got all your footage you have to start piecing it together. I recently bought a 2nd hand iMac of Gumtree, which came with software included. The latest version of Final Cut Pro [Industry standard Video Editing Software] is £199, which is incredible considering what you can do with it. You can download a free month trial of most softwares, long enough to experiment with different programmes, see whether you like them [or whether you like filmmaking at all]. And, if you work smartly, long enough to cut your short film. Final Cut [Mac] and Adobe Premier Pro [Mac and PC] are the two main choices here.

I did a first edit of the surfing footage we did, which was helpful in framing what we shot on the last day. You start to develop a pace, and style which informs  how the rest of your movie should feel. You become attached to certain shots, and sometimes you have to ignore that, sometimes you have to embrace it, there’s no certainty behind it. But if it’s your project, back yourself to know what you want.

I watched my footage through and decided if it was worth keeping or not, and whether is was A grade material or B grade material [in relative terms…]. I would raise a note of caution here: if you are doing a 60 second film, the shots will be so quick that even if it’s not a perfect take all the way through; there may be enough there for it to be the best one. So if something has a bit of magic to it but someone muffs a line or laughs; don’t necessarily bin it. That slightly less magical, yet perfect, take may be trimmed to a half a second. I was actually guided by those laughs, and pretty much every scene in the rough edit was one that had me or someone else laughing at the end. Normally very unprofessional and annoying, but in this case it marked it out as having a viscerally funny quality, if we didn't find it funny at the time, chance are the audience won't, and vice-verse. Something it gets hard to appreciate once you’ve seen something 100 times.

Get it down to the size you want, and remember our old friend Kurt, you may feel it’s impossible to cut anything else out but you’ll soon find that you can trim scenes here and there, overlay dialogue, just plain old DELETE. This is where we are really glad we didn’t film way too much, and subsequently have to kiss goodbye to complicated scenes that just will not fit.

An important lesson going back to the writing, is the importance of conveying things using everything that isn’t dialogue. It’s a great skill to learn as a filmmaker, and one that probably develops later in normal film making. In short filmmaking it’s non-negotiable. Everything has to drive the narrative; because there just isn’t time to explain everything in words. Every look, prop, bit of music, sound effect is an opportunity to help you tell your story more effectively.

POWER

Sound is crucial, we had to redo the beach sounds, because of noisy wind and waves and there are probably some slightly dubious dubbing bits, but it’s really important that people can hear what the actors are saying. This is not a mumblecore film, [though I actually like those films] it’s a film equivalent of a street fight, and each blow has to land.

Music helps loads, it tells the story, covers any dodgy recorded-sound, and gives you another avenue for comedic expression. Sound effects are really important, you may have to redo footsteps so they’re not affected by the wind, find some sound clips of waves, or atmosphere. One of the funnest bits of the whole process was having all of us attempting to recreate the sound of a cat being kicked. We wanted to ensure no cats were harmed during the process… I think we used Geoff Marsh's cat sound in the end.

Finally when you’ve chopped it and smoothed it, send it to a friend or two, upload it privately to vimeo and send people links, take feedback. If you want to be in a creative industry you’re going to have to get used to criticism. Bear in mind that you may be blind to the film having watched it so many times, and maybe slightly hate it a bit too [don’t worry this feeling will pass]. Take people’s suggestions if they have them. Think about them, they are more like your audience than you are [Most people will only watch this once, and you could probably reenact it word for word]. You’re decision is final, just make sure you can justify these decisions, even if just in your own mind. You’re always unhappy with your last project because you are a better filmmaker for having made it! As The genius Stephen Wright says.

‘Experience is something you get just after you need it’.

6) Upload and spread the word

This is probably the bit I’m least good at, there has never been a better time to make amateur movies. There is a massive potential audience out there, hungry for good content. YouTube is like the 2nd largest search engine in the world. We’ve tried to spread the word through Twitter, and Facebook, forums and various other bits of internet, and hopefully lots of random people will have stumbled across the website and enjoyed what everyone has done. If you like the film please spread the word, but the important thing is that it was really fun to make. There are some other really cool entries too, making use of varied tools from animation, to mobile phone footage. The most important thing is that it’s fun to do, it’s great to make things, and a competition like this is a really good way to learn some lessons, make some mistakes and practice the art of telling good stories.

Mad props to the following people

THE CREW

Ben Harp - Charlie Hall Johnny Utah - Sam Wong Pappas - Thom Hoffman Tyler - Sam Woolf Bodhi - Geoff Marsh

And Nigel Alred

Special thanks to Charlie Hall who inspired me by doing this last year.

[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qUbG9f1nQBY&w=560&h=315]

Hopefully you’ll feel you can have a go too, and if you need a second opinion or some help get in touch.

Thom - find me on my website thomhoffman.co.uk

Podcasts

I have always loved audio. When I was ten I had several incarnations of a Baseball Cap Radio bought from Boots.

It was a basic AM/FM radio sewn into a baseball cap. And I would fall asleep listening to Caesar the Geezer and James Whale on TalkSport. These are probably not healthy influences to be flying around the mind of a primary school kid; but speech radio has always had the power to take me away. A good podcast puts you in the conversation and flows through you. I still love radio but the flexibility of podcasts is great.

The BBC has a great range of podcasts, with more shows being moved over to podcast each week, but I wanted to put some slightly less familiar stuff on here, so here are a few of my favourites, these consistently make it into my phone, and then into my brain.

The Bugle – absolute weekly staple, the best. I have no idea how this possibly worked with regard to their relationship with the Times [ N.B IT DIDN'T WORK IN THE END] but podcast now independent, and still going. It’s satirical, it’s cutting and is responsible for a worrying contribution to my understanding of international affairs. Andy Zaltzman and John Oliver do it better than anyone else, just download it, snort unattractively on the train and make people jealous that your having this much fun.

From off the wall approaches to jokes, to Off the Wall approaches to media. Off The Wall Post is the audio child of some BBC and freelance digital producers and gives a funny, understated, not-taking-itself-too-seriously take on the latest developments in the social and new media. They have a section on Wanky Words, to highlight any dubious wordology that may be floating around the new media world, and often the show itself. Ideapreneur anyone...?

Daniel Ruiz Tizon has been podcasting for around a year now, originally starting under the name Please Don’t Hug Me, the show was recorded on a Blackberry in various hotels and borrowed locations. It’s now recorded on a laptop in Daniel’s flat in Stockwell which changes the shows sound, but not the style. You won’t hear this stuff on mainstream radio. Describing himself as half man half P45, he has sporadically worked as a writer and a temp, and has charted his difficult last year with humour. For a flavour of his style check out his blog post: Moment’s In my life I could’ve done without part 1. This show always ends up on my mp3 player. If you’ve listened to David Sedaris on Radio4, it’s a bit like that, except if David Sedaris lived off the Lambeth Road in SW8, which is a big exception.

NPR Music podcasts. NPR is the closest thing America has to BBC and it puts out some awesome content.

All Songs Considered – All their ‘best of’ shows from the last few years have introduced me to some great music. And as well as the best of’s’ they have a range of different themes, Songs that make you sad, make you happy, Bands you've broken up with, British DJs, electronic music etc...

Tiny Desk Concerts – NPR looks like a fun place to work, they have a series of ‘Tiny Desk Concerts’ basically gigs played in the office. From Tom Jones, to Edward Sharp and the Magnetic Zeros, It’s the sort of office-fun I can only taste after forgetting to turn my phone to silent on a Monday morning. Video podcast and audio rips. For a video taster check out - HOME

[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GUZOo3pScXY&w=560&h=345]

Radiolab – Science radio with a difference, innovative production style, Radiolab has adjusted to digital audio better than any other science show I can think of. Sometimes it might grate a bit, but it’s the best show for making you think and taking you on a journey. Some of my favourite episodes are Parasites, Detective Stories, War of the Worlds, the full archive can be found here.

So yeah get involved, try out some podcasts, and if you have any other good ones, please share them because I’m always keen to find more. Either that or I might buy another radio hat and try and write a book about my experiences of a year wearing it. I’m banking that idea, publisher’s interested please get in touch.

Daniel Ruiz Tizon @1607WestEgg The @Offthewallpost crew @dogwinters@barrypilling@article_dan

Andy Zaltzman @hellobuglers@zaltzcricket

and me @thomhoffman