Here's the video that I made for King's College in the summer.
Monday, 26 October 2009
Sunday, 13 September 2009
'Sounds Like Teen Spirit' - Review
I have now seen 'Sounds Like Teen Spirit' four times. I'll never forget the first time, it was at a preview screening in London's Soho and I had taken a break from my revision for a crucial exam, failure of which would have caused me to lose my place on my law degree. I was feeling a nervous sense of anticipation about the exam, but, I was curious to find out more about this film after seeing a snippet of it on film '09. My curiosity and general interest in film won out.
I was expecting something a bit like 'Little Miss Sunshine', and this is a good comparison to start with, except that 'Sounds Like Teen Spirit' is a documentary. In fact it is a 'popumentary' by talented new director Jamie Johnson about the Junior Eurovision song contest. It charts the fortunes of several of the young contestants. It differs, too, from 'Little Miss Sunshine' in that the film is about the positive aspects of the contest.
Junior Eurovision is the child of the grown-up version which is now the most watched non-sporting event in the world. Each country selects it's entry from a number of hopefuls. Some of the acts are aimed more at the Tweenagers but there are also some really serious acts who would be appealing to a more mature audience.
It's great to follow their stories. I found myself experiencing butterflies in my stomach along with the young performers as they tried to deal with their nerves ahead of the big performance (after all in a few days time I would be sitting the big exam and facing the music myself).
It is an incredibly moving documentary that will win your heart. I noticed several of my hard-nosed journalist colleagues sobbing quietly during the uplifting and touching ending.
Another reason that I will never forget the preview screening of 'Sounds Like Teen Spirit' is that the director Jamie Johnson was there and he gave a little speech before the start of the film. After the film I went up to speak to him and I asked him questions about the type of camera that he had used and congratulated him on a film well made.
Anyway that was the first time but the other three viewings came after receiving a copy of the DVD for this review. The second time, I watched it with my Mum, the third time I watched it with my friend Hara and I just saw it again now in preparation for this review. It remains fresh, interesting and engaging.
So for that reason I recommend all my friends to grab a copy of the DVD and enjoy it for themselves.
'Sounds Like Teen Spirit' released on DVD from 14th September 2009.
p.s.
Oh and regular readers of domtube.blogspot.com will know that I did actually pass the exam and in a few days time I'll be continuing with the degree!
I was expecting something a bit like 'Little Miss Sunshine', and this is a good comparison to start with, except that 'Sounds Like Teen Spirit' is a documentary. In fact it is a 'popumentary' by talented new director Jamie Johnson about the Junior Eurovision song contest. It charts the fortunes of several of the young contestants. It differs, too, from 'Little Miss Sunshine' in that the film is about the positive aspects of the contest.
Junior Eurovision is the child of the grown-up version which is now the most watched non-sporting event in the world. Each country selects it's entry from a number of hopefuls. Some of the acts are aimed more at the Tweenagers but there are also some really serious acts who would be appealing to a more mature audience.
It's great to follow their stories. I found myself experiencing butterflies in my stomach along with the young performers as they tried to deal with their nerves ahead of the big performance (after all in a few days time I would be sitting the big exam and facing the music myself).
It is an incredibly moving documentary that will win your heart. I noticed several of my hard-nosed journalist colleagues sobbing quietly during the uplifting and touching ending.
Another reason that I will never forget the preview screening of 'Sounds Like Teen Spirit' is that the director Jamie Johnson was there and he gave a little speech before the start of the film. After the film I went up to speak to him and I asked him questions about the type of camera that he had used and congratulated him on a film well made.
Anyway that was the first time but the other three viewings came after receiving a copy of the DVD for this review. The second time, I watched it with my Mum, the third time I watched it with my friend Hara and I just saw it again now in preparation for this review. It remains fresh, interesting and engaging.
So for that reason I recommend all my friends to grab a copy of the DVD and enjoy it for themselves.
'Sounds Like Teen Spirit' released on DVD from 14th September 2009.
p.s.
Oh and regular readers of domtube.blogspot.com will know that I did actually pass the exam and in a few days time I'll be continuing with the degree!
Monday, 10 August 2009
White Lightnin' - Review
It's the holidays and while my course is on hold for a few more blessed weeks, my self-imposed role as a student movie reviewer continues. While I've been dutifully keeping up with all the summer blockbusters, Harry Potter, Ice Age 3, G.I Joe etc, I'd like to take a moment to write about a movie that you might easily miss if you blinked.
In a post credit crunch era, when wealthy bankers are getting paid astronomical bonuses, while others contend with billions in losses, it is good to be reminded that poverty is never far away. The new film White Lightnin' directed by Dominic Murphy is inspired by the life of Jessco White, a man born in West Virginia, one of the poorest states in America. This film is a window into a mind unbalanced by persistent substance abuse who learned the dying art of mountain dancing from his father to try and maintain a grasp on his sanity. It is an unsettling, dark vision with a little dark humor to help the audience cope with the bleakness.
Watch the trailer
Carrie Fisher's turn as Jessco's love interest Cilla should be a big draw. She's a friendly face for many, from the Star Wars prequels, but this Cilla is in a completely different galaxy from princess Leia. Flirtatious, irresponsible and sexually adept, she's what Leia might have become if she hadn't been rescued from Jabba the Hut. Fisher took a break from her work as a Hollywood script doctor and writer because she was attracted to the role for it's originality; "I thought it was the most non-derivative piece of screenwriting I had come across in a long time". The role gave her a great chance to show off her vocal talents as well as her usual acting genius.
The star performance is from Edward Hogg. I can best describe Jessco as a mixture between Jonny Cash, Charles Manson and a self-proclaimed Christ. Jessco, is a fractured trinitarian character and Hogg nails his complexity, charm, madness and wit. The accent is spot on, it would be impossible to guess that Hogg is actually a British thespian with a long line of award winning British stage performances to his credit. Owen Campbell plays Jessco as a child and does a good job of setting us up for the older version.
The photography is raw and beautiful, filmed in black & white, on super 16mm. It has a lot of energy, with a combination of hand-held, telephoto, static crane and aerial shots that suit the tension the audience feels for Jessco as he tries to escape his inner demons. The sound track which is a mixture of music specially composed by Nick Zinner and recordings by Haskil Adkins aka "The Haze" really help to evoke the West Virginian vibe. The death of Adkins was not dissimilar to that of Jessco's father in the film and this makes it particularly sad and appropriate.
This film makes for challenging viewing, it will disturb you and leave you with a unforgettable viewing experience that will haunt you for a long time.
White Lightnin'on DVD 28th September
In a post credit crunch era, when wealthy bankers are getting paid astronomical bonuses, while others contend with billions in losses, it is good to be reminded that poverty is never far away. The new film White Lightnin' directed by Dominic Murphy is inspired by the life of Jessco White, a man born in West Virginia, one of the poorest states in America. This film is a window into a mind unbalanced by persistent substance abuse who learned the dying art of mountain dancing from his father to try and maintain a grasp on his sanity. It is an unsettling, dark vision with a little dark humor to help the audience cope with the bleakness.
Watch the trailer
Carrie Fisher's turn as Jessco's love interest Cilla should be a big draw. She's a friendly face for many, from the Star Wars prequels, but this Cilla is in a completely different galaxy from princess Leia. Flirtatious, irresponsible and sexually adept, she's what Leia might have become if she hadn't been rescued from Jabba the Hut. Fisher took a break from her work as a Hollywood script doctor and writer because she was attracted to the role for it's originality; "I thought it was the most non-derivative piece of screenwriting I had come across in a long time". The role gave her a great chance to show off her vocal talents as well as her usual acting genius.
The star performance is from Edward Hogg. I can best describe Jessco as a mixture between Jonny Cash, Charles Manson and a self-proclaimed Christ. Jessco, is a fractured trinitarian character and Hogg nails his complexity, charm, madness and wit. The accent is spot on, it would be impossible to guess that Hogg is actually a British thespian with a long line of award winning British stage performances to his credit. Owen Campbell plays Jessco as a child and does a good job of setting us up for the older version.
The photography is raw and beautiful, filmed in black & white, on super 16mm. It has a lot of energy, with a combination of hand-held, telephoto, static crane and aerial shots that suit the tension the audience feels for Jessco as he tries to escape his inner demons. The sound track which is a mixture of music specially composed by Nick Zinner and recordings by Haskil Adkins aka "The Haze" really help to evoke the West Virginian vibe. The death of Adkins was not dissimilar to that of Jessco's father in the film and this makes it particularly sad and appropriate.
This film makes for challenging viewing, it will disturb you and leave you with a unforgettable viewing experience that will haunt you for a long time.
White Lightnin'on DVD 28th September
Saturday, 18 July 2009
Dom and Nanny McPhee
Introduction
There are some experiences in life which are so extraordinary that they should not simply rest in the fading memory of one individual without documentation. My visit to the set of the Nanny McPhee film is a prime example.
Where to start
A helpful starting point is to describe the events of the last 11 months as these all led up to the Nanny McPhee experience. I had just arrived back from a 6 week legal mission in East Africa, it was August 2008 and I was due to re-sit a criminal law exam for my degree. My mind was on anything but exams. While on mission I had met someone special. On the flight back home we had been secretly holding hands and cuddling in our seats, under a blanket so that nobody could see. For the first and perhaps the last time in my life there was someone who wanted to be close to me in the same way that I wanted to be close to her. On the day of the re-sit I was due to visit her. I scribbled something on the answer paper, but my thoughts were really focused on being with her and the little criminal law knowledge that I had was sucked away into blackness. That weekend away was intense, physical and exciting; but a month later I found myself dumped. It was early October, there was no relationship, there was an exam failure and there was the prospect of a wasted year. In the darkness of October came the light of another passion that had been burning inside me for a long time, that was my love of film.
There wasn't a day that passed when I didn't carry out some form of research into cameras and the process of making films. During research into the work of my favourite directors I looked up Robert Rodriguez, the director of Desperado - one of the most entertaining films that I have ever seen. Rodriguez teaches film as an accessible art form, he claims that an individual can gain sufficient knowledge to shoot a feature in just ten minutes. This opened up the door for me and helped me to see a way to tell a story visually. I jumped at the chance offered by Ryan Wain to put together a vodcast for the King's bench Magazine. I borrowed a video camera from Jennifer Plummer, a film student that I had met at the University's Christian Union. I made the first ever episode with Chloe Penman who interviewed one of her professors about his latest novel. I really didn't know what I was doing, but I had ideas about visual styles I would like to try and I spent the next few days editing the film on my Macbook. A few weeks later and I was at college documenting a protest led by King's student Jack Farmer, against Israel's occupation of Palestine and this became another episode. Then Jennifer needed her camera for her own work.
I still wanted to continue making programs for the vodcast and after many failed bids on Ebay I eventually managed to win a bargain priced Sony PDX10 professional video camera. Having professional equipment gave me confidence to cover events as a broadcast journalist and after a few telephone calls and emails I became part of a press junket for the feature film 'Awaydays'. At the same time fellow law student and entrepreneur Mark Alexander had kindly provided a copy of Adobe Premiere Pro, advanced video editing software which allowed me to make my finished product a lot more polished. Around this time the university was running a media competition to promote a week of media orientated career workshops for students. There were various ways to enter, one involved writing an article, another designing a poster and a third making a film about King's College and the Careers Service. The prize attracted me, it was a day on the set of a feature film, this was a once in a lifetime opportunity and I had to enter. The idea for my entry came in a creative flash and I enjoyed touring the college getting the footage that was needed. At the end of the event the winners were announced, fellow King's Bench Magazine contributor and final year law student Verity Sharp was there with me, she had been attending some of the media career events and we had discussed various ways of starting a career in journalism and film. I watched her reactions as my entry in the competition was shown. Once you've made a film, you watch for the way that it sounds and looks on different equipment but even more fascinating is to observe the way it entertains people. If it grabs the viewer, you must be doing something right. The film won.
I should probably fast forward over the events between winning the competition and receiving the prize, but one big thing was re-taking the criminal law exam that I had failed in the early part of the academic year. I could also mention that I was commissioned to make a few films. One was 'Is God Just' for the Lawyer's Christian Fellowship, another was for the charity 'Clear' which provides legal aid for poor people in Africa and a third was for the 'Philemon Foundation' that provides a half-way house and support for prisoners in Kenya.
I was unable to get to sleep the night before the visit to the set. I knew that I would need to leave my home early to get the train and then the taxi to the remote location in Oxfordshire. Anxiety about oversleeping was playing heavily on my mind. I took a few guarana tablets for energy when I got out of bed and then I set off. I arrived on set in time for breakfast. On a movie set, the caterers serve the biggest and best breakfasts you could possibly want and food is served throughout the day. One thing is for sure, if you work in the film industry, you might not always be well paid on set, but you will be well fed. I soon got into conversation with a man called Phil Sindall and we chatted about Nanny McPhee and the history of the production. We shared one of the cars that takes cast and crew on shuttle runs from the location production base to the set. Phil was probably one of the most interesting guys I could have met. He was the 'A' camera operator and later in the day I would sit next to him as he framed the shot from a massive 30 ft camera crane. I asked him many questions about the practicality of shooting a film using digital cameras rather than film and he explained that film would still dominate until all cinemas could agree on a standard for digital projection.
I also spent a lot of time chatting to Emma Thompson's charming daughter and her adopted son who was originally from Rwanda. Africa, seems to be a constant thread running through this part of my life, I spoke to him about my experiences in Rwanda last summer, the horror of genocide and the beauty of the country. I never managed to chat to Emma, to Maggie Gyllenhaal or Dame Maggie Smith who were all on set that day. However, I did manage to have a really interesting discussion with the producer Lindsay Doran about what gives a film universal appeal. She started the conversation by asking me which film I wish I could have made. I explained that it would be Terminator II because in many ways I feel that it is a ground breaking film that marked a new era in cinema and which had a tremendous emotional impact on me as I was growing up. I really liked her, in fact I liked everyone I met on the set. The sound person, the stand ins, the grip, the production staff, the best boy, the unit nurse and the runner. What was delightful and different was that I had something in common with every single person there, a common topic of conversation which was a deep affection for film and the history of film. I felt totally at home and content, it was like I had finally found a place where I could be happy working, where the days would fly by and where I felt I had something useful to offer.
There were many challenges on the production, I was there for a scene that is set in the middle of a barley field. The field had to be specially planted for the filming. It took 8 months to grow and each time a section was filmed parts of the field would become noticeably trampled. To avoid revealing this the scenes were shot out of sequence. Filming exteriors has many pitfalls, the light is prone to change constantly and has to be corrected to produce a consistent image quality. Filters and reflectors are used when it gets too bright and harsh, at other times powerful lights have to be used to overcome cloud cover. Then there is the continual battle for the sound person with overhead aircraft and distant crew chatter and the boom microphone operators who need to be close enough to pick up the sound but who continually run the risk of getting caught in the shot. The best shots came near the end of the day. The early evening sun sent a beautiful golden hue onto the back of Nanny McPhee. A hush descended over the set as Emma Thompson worked her magic. It was mesmerizing to watch in the monitors and then turning to see it happening right there in front of the camera with my own eyes. There was no dialogue for this part, it was just Nanny McPhee slowly and deliberately sizing up the situation, but, her concentration and the quietness and solemnity of the moment, with the warm sun beating down made this event sensually charged and unforgettable. At the end of the shot Emma came and sat down exhausted not far from where I was standing. I could have taken the opportunity to introduce myself at that point, but, it did not seem like the right time to me. I did not want to run the risk of distracting her from her work.
I left the set feeling sleepy, sun burnt and content. I really wish that I could go back and spend some more time there, but the prize was just for one day. As I write this I remain happily single, I have the pass in my criminal law exam which gives me an opportunity to continue with a law degree. I have two years of law ahead of me, and then possibly a one year legal practice course and work in a firm of solicitors. However, I'm not so sure about what's going to happen next. Things are more complicated now. Every molecule in my body and my mind seems to be screaming at me. They are yelling 'Film....Film......Film'. I don't know how I'm going to focus my mind on law. This year has taught me about my strengths and talents. I know that I want to work behind the camera, I want to shoot my own feature film and hopefully shoot many more after that. I keep thinking about something someone once asked me. "If you knew that you were going to die tomorrow, what would you want to do on the last day of your life?" After that he said that you should not wait until your last day but you should go ahead and do whatever that thing is right now. For the last twelve months I have been doing just that. It seems that I'm on a roll at the moment, who knows if that's going to continue?
There are some experiences in life which are so extraordinary that they should not simply rest in the fading memory of one individual without documentation. My visit to the set of the Nanny McPhee film is a prime example.
Where to start
A helpful starting point is to describe the events of the last 11 months as these all led up to the Nanny McPhee experience. I had just arrived back from a 6 week legal mission in East Africa, it was August 2008 and I was due to re-sit a criminal law exam for my degree. My mind was on anything but exams. While on mission I had met someone special. On the flight back home we had been secretly holding hands and cuddling in our seats, under a blanket so that nobody could see. For the first and perhaps the last time in my life there was someone who wanted to be close to me in the same way that I wanted to be close to her. On the day of the re-sit I was due to visit her. I scribbled something on the answer paper, but my thoughts were really focused on being with her and the little criminal law knowledge that I had was sucked away into blackness. That weekend away was intense, physical and exciting; but a month later I found myself dumped. It was early October, there was no relationship, there was an exam failure and there was the prospect of a wasted year. In the darkness of October came the light of another passion that had been burning inside me for a long time, that was my love of film.
There wasn't a day that passed when I didn't carry out some form of research into cameras and the process of making films. During research into the work of my favourite directors I looked up Robert Rodriguez, the director of Desperado - one of the most entertaining films that I have ever seen. Rodriguez teaches film as an accessible art form, he claims that an individual can gain sufficient knowledge to shoot a feature in just ten minutes. This opened up the door for me and helped me to see a way to tell a story visually. I jumped at the chance offered by Ryan Wain to put together a vodcast for the King's bench Magazine. I borrowed a video camera from Jennifer Plummer, a film student that I had met at the University's Christian Union. I made the first ever episode with Chloe Penman who interviewed one of her professors about his latest novel. I really didn't know what I was doing, but I had ideas about visual styles I would like to try and I spent the next few days editing the film on my Macbook. A few weeks later and I was at college documenting a protest led by King's student Jack Farmer, against Israel's occupation of Palestine and this became another episode. Then Jennifer needed her camera for her own work.
I still wanted to continue making programs for the vodcast and after many failed bids on Ebay I eventually managed to win a bargain priced Sony PDX10 professional video camera. Having professional equipment gave me confidence to cover events as a broadcast journalist and after a few telephone calls and emails I became part of a press junket for the feature film 'Awaydays'. At the same time fellow law student and entrepreneur Mark Alexander had kindly provided a copy of Adobe Premiere Pro, advanced video editing software which allowed me to make my finished product a lot more polished. Around this time the university was running a media competition to promote a week of media orientated career workshops for students. There were various ways to enter, one involved writing an article, another designing a poster and a third making a film about King's College and the Careers Service. The prize attracted me, it was a day on the set of a feature film, this was a once in a lifetime opportunity and I had to enter. The idea for my entry came in a creative flash and I enjoyed touring the college getting the footage that was needed. At the end of the event the winners were announced, fellow King's Bench Magazine contributor and final year law student Verity Sharp was there with me, she had been attending some of the media career events and we had discussed various ways of starting a career in journalism and film. I watched her reactions as my entry in the competition was shown. Once you've made a film, you watch for the way that it sounds and looks on different equipment but even more fascinating is to observe the way it entertains people. If it grabs the viewer, you must be doing something right. The film won.
I should probably fast forward over the events between winning the competition and receiving the prize, but one big thing was re-taking the criminal law exam that I had failed in the early part of the academic year. I could also mention that I was commissioned to make a few films. One was 'Is God Just' for the Lawyer's Christian Fellowship, another was for the charity 'Clear' which provides legal aid for poor people in Africa and a third was for the 'Philemon Foundation' that provides a half-way house and support for prisoners in Kenya.
I was unable to get to sleep the night before the visit to the set. I knew that I would need to leave my home early to get the train and then the taxi to the remote location in Oxfordshire. Anxiety about oversleeping was playing heavily on my mind. I took a few guarana tablets for energy when I got out of bed and then I set off. I arrived on set in time for breakfast. On a movie set, the caterers serve the biggest and best breakfasts you could possibly want and food is served throughout the day. One thing is for sure, if you work in the film industry, you might not always be well paid on set, but you will be well fed. I soon got into conversation with a man called Phil Sindall and we chatted about Nanny McPhee and the history of the production. We shared one of the cars that takes cast and crew on shuttle runs from the location production base to the set. Phil was probably one of the most interesting guys I could have met. He was the 'A' camera operator and later in the day I would sit next to him as he framed the shot from a massive 30 ft camera crane. I asked him many questions about the practicality of shooting a film using digital cameras rather than film and he explained that film would still dominate until all cinemas could agree on a standard for digital projection.
I also spent a lot of time chatting to Emma Thompson's charming daughter and her adopted son who was originally from Rwanda. Africa, seems to be a constant thread running through this part of my life, I spoke to him about my experiences in Rwanda last summer, the horror of genocide and the beauty of the country. I never managed to chat to Emma, to Maggie Gyllenhaal or Dame Maggie Smith who were all on set that day. However, I did manage to have a really interesting discussion with the producer Lindsay Doran about what gives a film universal appeal. She started the conversation by asking me which film I wish I could have made. I explained that it would be Terminator II because in many ways I feel that it is a ground breaking film that marked a new era in cinema and which had a tremendous emotional impact on me as I was growing up. I really liked her, in fact I liked everyone I met on the set. The sound person, the stand ins, the grip, the production staff, the best boy, the unit nurse and the runner. What was delightful and different was that I had something in common with every single person there, a common topic of conversation which was a deep affection for film and the history of film. I felt totally at home and content, it was like I had finally found a place where I could be happy working, where the days would fly by and where I felt I had something useful to offer.
There were many challenges on the production, I was there for a scene that is set in the middle of a barley field. The field had to be specially planted for the filming. It took 8 months to grow and each time a section was filmed parts of the field would become noticeably trampled. To avoid revealing this the scenes were shot out of sequence. Filming exteriors has many pitfalls, the light is prone to change constantly and has to be corrected to produce a consistent image quality. Filters and reflectors are used when it gets too bright and harsh, at other times powerful lights have to be used to overcome cloud cover. Then there is the continual battle for the sound person with overhead aircraft and distant crew chatter and the boom microphone operators who need to be close enough to pick up the sound but who continually run the risk of getting caught in the shot. The best shots came near the end of the day. The early evening sun sent a beautiful golden hue onto the back of Nanny McPhee. A hush descended over the set as Emma Thompson worked her magic. It was mesmerizing to watch in the monitors and then turning to see it happening right there in front of the camera with my own eyes. There was no dialogue for this part, it was just Nanny McPhee slowly and deliberately sizing up the situation, but, her concentration and the quietness and solemnity of the moment, with the warm sun beating down made this event sensually charged and unforgettable. At the end of the shot Emma came and sat down exhausted not far from where I was standing. I could have taken the opportunity to introduce myself at that point, but, it did not seem like the right time to me. I did not want to run the risk of distracting her from her work.
I left the set feeling sleepy, sun burnt and content. I really wish that I could go back and spend some more time there, but the prize was just for one day. As I write this I remain happily single, I have the pass in my criminal law exam which gives me an opportunity to continue with a law degree. I have two years of law ahead of me, and then possibly a one year legal practice course and work in a firm of solicitors. However, I'm not so sure about what's going to happen next. Things are more complicated now. Every molecule in my body and my mind seems to be screaming at me. They are yelling 'Film....Film......Film'. I don't know how I'm going to focus my mind on law. This year has taught me about my strengths and talents. I know that I want to work behind the camera, I want to shoot my own feature film and hopefully shoot many more after that. I keep thinking about something someone once asked me. "If you knew that you were going to die tomorrow, what would you want to do on the last day of your life?" After that he said that you should not wait until your last day but you should go ahead and do whatever that thing is right now. For the last twelve months I have been doing just that. It seems that I'm on a roll at the moment, who knows if that's going to continue?
Clear International - Joe's Story
A new video, I was commissioned to make this one for CLEAR. It is produced by Christine John, who gave me the script and just let me direct it and edit it myself. I filmed it at home, the editing was done in Adobe Premiere Pro and the motion graphics were created in Adobe After Effects.
Monday, 22 June 2009
A Film For The Philemon Foundation
This is a film I've created showing the work of the Philemon Foundation. When I was in Africa last year I spent a lot of time with Kelvin (the founder of the organisation. This film gives an idea of why the oranisation is needed. www.philemon.org
Monday, 1 June 2009
Depth of Field Adaptors, Clothes Show London, Hara111
Well it's been a busy week since sitting for my criminal law exam and I've been putting together the latest episode of DomTube (click here) and just like my week it is a packed episode.
POST YOUR POUT contest. For a chance to win an exclusive Clothes Show London T Shirt post a video response demonstrating your best catwalk pout to the latest episode of DomTube <click here>
Firstly I attended the "The Clothes Show London". It was all about fashion - it was my Mum's idea to go. I found out something strange. When I looked back at the footage that I recorded from the fashion show I noticed that the models actually look a little less good looking on camera than they do in real like...yes you read that correctly, the models look better in real life. It's definitely influenced me, it's caused me to want to raise the bar, not only in how I dress but also in relation to my body. The male models had no body hair, all of them were nicely tanned and you could tell that they worked out regularly at the gym. So I've changed my routine and I've done a bit of trimming. It is a world away from my mission to Africa last year, which you can read about on my other blog (click here).
There were plenty of opportunities to get a little pampering while there. People were getting free tanning sessions, facials, massages, manicures, hair removal and lots of fashion tips from the experts. Lots of fashion designers and boutiques had stalls at the show and many visitors were buying their clothes from them, freshly inspired by the fashion shows themselves. These were held in an impressive, giant, black marquee tent. Suspended over the catwalk was an enormous glitter-ball and a moving lighting rig. The show was themed on a trip to the seaside, ballet dancers gracefully glided onto the stage, evoking the movement of waves; think swan lake. The dancing style changed with the time of day and by the evening segment the dancers were body popping, break dancing and carrying out backfips, midair somersaults and cartwheels. It was a spectacular display of acrobatic skill. The models themselves were stunning and the clothing itself was also very and there are certain looks which stick in my mind and which I would like to try out for myself. I got to see Erin O'Conner which was nice.
On Sunday I met up with my friend Hara. She's another denizen of the YouTube community who has been following my channel DomTube with interest. However, we also attended the same university, King's College London and we studied the same course, law. I wanted to film her with my DOF (depth of field adaptor) this is a device which allows you to take advantage of the shallow depth of field that is obtainable with a 35mm slr camera lens by recording to your video camera. In the latest episode of DomTube I show the device and share the results that Hara and I obtained when we went filming.
Well I want to go and see the new Star Trek film now with Chris Pine so I'll be going, but enjoy the new video, let me know what you think and don't forget to look at the Awaydays interview if youo've not already done so.
And remember to follow this blog and subscribe to my YouTube channel. Don't miss a trick!
Dom
POST YOUR POUT contest. For a chance to win an exclusive Clothes Show London T Shirt post a video response demonstrating your best catwalk pout to the latest episode of DomTube <click here>
Firstly I attended the "The Clothes Show London". It was all about fashion - it was my Mum's idea to go. I found out something strange. When I looked back at the footage that I recorded from the fashion show I noticed that the models actually look a little less good looking on camera than they do in real like...yes you read that correctly, the models look better in real life. It's definitely influenced me, it's caused me to want to raise the bar, not only in how I dress but also in relation to my body. The male models had no body hair, all of them were nicely tanned and you could tell that they worked out regularly at the gym. So I've changed my routine and I've done a bit of trimming. It is a world away from my mission to Africa last year, which you can read about on my other blog (click here).
There were plenty of opportunities to get a little pampering while there. People were getting free tanning sessions, facials, massages, manicures, hair removal and lots of fashion tips from the experts. Lots of fashion designers and boutiques had stalls at the show and many visitors were buying their clothes from them, freshly inspired by the fashion shows themselves. These were held in an impressive, giant, black marquee tent. Suspended over the catwalk was an enormous glitter-ball and a moving lighting rig. The show was themed on a trip to the seaside, ballet dancers gracefully glided onto the stage, evoking the movement of waves; think swan lake. The dancing style changed with the time of day and by the evening segment the dancers were body popping, break dancing and carrying out backfips, midair somersaults and cartwheels. It was a spectacular display of acrobatic skill. The models themselves were stunning and the clothing itself was also very and there are certain looks which stick in my mind and which I would like to try out for myself. I got to see Erin O'Conner which was nice.
On Sunday I met up with my friend Hara. She's another denizen of the YouTube community who has been following my channel DomTube with interest. However, we also attended the same university, King's College London and we studied the same course, law. I wanted to film her with my DOF (depth of field adaptor) this is a device which allows you to take advantage of the shallow depth of field that is obtainable with a 35mm slr camera lens by recording to your video camera. In the latest episode of DomTube I show the device and share the results that Hara and I obtained when we went filming.
Well I want to go and see the new Star Trek film now with Chris Pine so I'll be going, but enjoy the new video, let me know what you think and don't forget to look at the Awaydays interview if youo've not already done so.
And remember to follow this blog and subscribe to my YouTube channel. Don't miss a trick!
Dom
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