Part 2 following the Ravensbourne 3

Last month in the intro issue I described what I did in the past as a hobby and a hopeful branch of my career.
Time-lapse is an integral part of what I do and I am eager to develop my skills in it. I had such a chance at the end of October when I got my hands on a ‘Dynamic Perception Stage Zero’ 6ft Dolly track with MX2 Controller. I felt this was quite a feat of engineering but it had its flaws and wasn’t always simple to use, but the results trump the ergonomic faults that my associates and I had when using it.
Many Vimeo users and time-lapse enthusiasts will be familiar with a video that was made of the Icelandic Volcano, Eyjafjallajkull. That video was made (I have read and been led to believe) using the set up that you can see in the picture there, a Canon 5DmkII with various lenses and the Dynamic Perception Dolly track. Anyway, it significantly increases the value of the results that you receive when you finish the time-lapse, due to the change in perspective when it moves. I will post the results and a link to see the videos in my next entry.
The more space I have to move in with this medium (which this device has just created a lot of), the more I know I want to follow this particular medium as a skill to be honed.
Alex with Dynamic Perception Stage Zero 6ft Dolly slider
As most people in the industry will know, the pre-production stage of anything being made can take an extremely long time and I am now going through that stage. Writing is something I have done a lot of over the summer in anticipation and preparation for this year, and so I am now working towards getting these scripts made into “shoe-string-budget ”, “no-one-gets-paid” short films.
The centre of attention on this acamedic term has been on writing scripts and nailing the aspects of story telling down to a ‘T’. Capturing the nuiances of character expressions and dialogue, creating a loving or hating relationship is difficult to do originally, especially when one doesn’t want to write what everyone else has already written.
I’m working on this particular skill-set outside and inside university. Outside university I have just been approached to be Cinematographer on a short dance film, shooting on the RED Scarlet. This made me jump through the roof as I am extremely interested in capturing dance on screen and cherish every opportunity I get to work with a RED camera.
I have dived into dance photography over the summer, dabbled in dance rehearsal videography and now I am going to be making a short dance film. My nerves are tingling at the opportunity.
At this stage it also looks like I will be doing a percentage of the script editing too as the entire crew so far are dancers with primarily only a stage dancing background. Neither I or the dancing party have been involved in practicing each others skill set, so the final approach to the visual style will no doubt be intriguing.
Alex Perching below the table to capture the moment in the dance hall.
Another unit of my current circumstances involves being a creative entrepreneur. Looking for a name for a company that revolves solely around Time-lapse cinematography is a working progress, but in the days of writing this some exciting things are happening, so whether there is a name for the company or not, my name: Alex Fine, is beginning to circulate more amongst my university peers and I am starting to make an impact outside of university through the use of Twitter. @alex_d_fine
In my next issue I’ll let you know how the time-lapsing is going, what the state of the dance film is, and whether or not I find a name for the company.
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This column is shared between Alex, Ruth and Alice who were introduced last month (issue 70). Look out for Alex’s next report in issue 74 – February 2013.