Christmas

Hey, quick update on all things G6.

Christmas is quickly approaching the Scottish capital of Edinburgh and I want to document the epic transition into the sparkling Christmas mode. I'm going to capture the construction of the vast german market and the magical winter wonderland complete with big wheel. The epic number of Christmas lights that cling to the many trees of the Gardens and lamposts of the entire city will all be shown. Even the exciting window displays of the prime shopping destination: Princes Street.

What I really just want to portray in what I'm calling a poetic documentary, is the exciting atmosphere that is created when all the decorations come out of that box. And judging by the weather just now; we could be looking at some snow adding to the sparkle of the tinsel.

As always with a G6 production we are constantly experimenting with new technology (to us anyway) and trying to do something creative. This film will feature our very first time lapse and also be shot completely on DSLRs, specifically the Canon 650d.

Taking part in the shoot is as always me (Oliver Watson) and Michael Dodds.

It's been a while!

Holy crap! It has been so many months since I last made an entry in the G6 journal! So you may be asking what exactly has been filling my time so excessively. Well, let's begin our journey from where I last left you.

So we were talking about making that short web series about weird stuff in Scotland. We still haven't got round to that because of a variety of issues which mainly are equipment shortages and the fact our driver sold his car. The good news is that project is still in the pipeline. We are still going to do it.

What's next in the list? We made Michael's documentary 'The Sound of Scent'. This film is quite possibly the best film we have made to date. It was shot in the stunning vividness of my DSLR along with a JVC HD camera. Watch the film on our YouTube channel (www.youtube.com/groupsixproductions). The film focuses on the possibility of making music using plant DNA with the future hope of doing the same with human DNA. We worked with a man called Stuart Mitchell who is at the forefront of this work and the best thing was he lives in Edinburgh. There are some things that given another chance at we would do differently but in all honesty we got a beautiful couple of days to get the shoot done and almost everything went perfectly. The film was also screened at the Edinburgh Filmhouse, which obviously felt amazing. There is definitely no greater feeling than putting in a whole load of work to produce something that we are proud of and then showing it off to people on a massive screen.

Speaking of that Filmhouse showing we also had a couple of other films that were being screened. One being a short documentary called 'Matters of the Heart'. The film is about falling in love, if you believe in love or not and also any losses in love such as a partner passing away or cheating. MotH has got a very defined style in that there is no V/O it is just people telling their story to the camera, letting you into a very private part of their life, sometimes it is funny, other times it was upsetting. The film was written and directed by Del Campbell. Unfortunately there is currently no copy available online so your just going to have to take my word that it was a really nicely shot film especially the outdoor voxpops in Princes Street Gardens.

I helped on another friends film which unfortunately is completely plagiarised from an existing internet series, but nonetheless it was still fun to help out on. I even play a small role. The film is called 'At Home With Dr Devious'. It is basically a drama but made to look like a documentary. It follows a young mad scientist and his pursuit of the love of his life. Here is a link to the film http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fuMzyWSUUTE&feature=g-user-u.

Lastly we worked on a short drama called 'Locked Out'. Fin is a sixth year high school student who has the house to himself for the weekend, and has invited his girlfriend round for a romantic evening. However he returns home to find that the worst has happened... He's locked out. This drama was written, filmed and edited in only a matter of days. We had surprisingly more fun filming this than we thought we would as well which is always a good thing. To see the film click on the link http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=es3gR6Lwkts&list=UUsO-8WqOW5oqn5wQwBDtxVg&index=1&feature=plcp

That pretty much covers what we've been doing for the past wee while. We are working on a few short projects such as: a couple of music videos, a promo video for an open mic night and entering a few competitions. We are also trying to find a venue to run our own open mic night. Anyway cheers!

Oliver Watson

Web Series Incoming!!!

Remember that documentary I was talking about with the strange things in Scotland? Well me and mike were chatting over some Costa-bloody fortune hot chocolates and realised it would work really well as a web series. So that's what we're doing. Same plan as before though; can't film until March.

First post of 2012! Huzzah!

Cool, so we are in 2012 which, of course means that we only have roughly 11 more months to get our names out there and become famous film makers before the world ends. Great!

We've actually been pretty busy throughout the latter part of last year and the freezing start to this one. We made a fancy advert in a church for Kellogg's Crunchy Nut Cornflakes. However, we had to remove it from the Internet in order to continue living our lives without the Cardinal of Scotland on our back.

The shooting of the advert went very well though. Instead of hiring loads of extras to pose as the church's congregation we just asked everyone who had been at the church to stay behind to help us. As expected not too many stuck around but we definitely had enough. They were even kind enough to sing us a hymn whilst we set all the equipment up. A major problem which we still haven't solved is how to use the damn camera. We decided to use the large shoulder cam which we had been shown to use at college but it was so damn complicated we pretty forgot how to do anything with it. Lighting seemed to be a pretty big issue as well with large windows in the back of the room making most of the shots look a bit over exposed. However, with a bit of editing on the mac we got it looking superb.

We used Ross Donnachie, a student actor who is studying at Telford College, to be our protagonist in the advert. Ross has a very elastic face which means that his expressions were pretty much over the top and exaggerated. However, this worked well for a comical advert about holy cornflakes. Whilst we probably wouldn't use Ross for a serious drama, we would love to work with him again for another advert or a comedy.

After filming at the church we moved to Mike's house which was the setting for the teenagers bedroom. The room got pretty crowded after all three us were standing in it and then set up the camera (this time using my DSLR, which is better anyway) and the lighting kit. The idea is that we were filming Ross waking up in the morning and quickly getting dressed in order to run to church. So naturally we managed to film this at night and used the lighting kit to make it look like morning. What we should have done is put a light outside and shine it in the window but, I think it was raining therefore health and safety screamed, "no!" at us. Apart from this slight hiccup nearly everything else went smoothly. We got the shots we wanted: trousers up, t shirt on, jacket on, zip up. And they edited together beautifully.

And that's it I think for the Crunchy Nut ad. The advert was 30 seconds long and was missing a bit of text at the end during the product shot but apart from that I really enjoyed making it.

Time for a new project or three!!!

Two of the projects are documentaries and the other is a short drama.

I'll begin with the latter - The drama. It's about a wee conflict that me and mike had on a bus with some neds/delinquents. The basic premise of the story is that we got on a late night bus around about the time these neds roam free and they started throwing newspapers at us. Yep typical behavior from these unevolved creatures. And then as the newspaper throwing continues Mike's character refrains from brutally destroying their bodies and deleting them from the history books. It's a simple tale and perhaps Mike can explain it better than me considering he is writing it. Although I can tell you the tension that was in the air that night will most definitely be incorporated into the film. We are going to be doing something that we haven't ever done before and that's hold auditions for the actors. We need six actors all together (the 3 of us and the 3 neds). I think the biggest problem we face is getting a bus to use. We are only in the early stages of planning so haven't contacted any bus companies however, I think we will find a way around it.

I can only explain one of the documentaries that we are going to make. Mainly because I can't remember what the other is about (plants and music I think). The one I can tell you about though is something very strange for multiple reasons. One because it's about strange things in Scotland and secondly because it's being written and directed by me. As I said in that last sentence it is about strange things in Scotland. Three oddities to be exact. The Electric Brae in Ayrshire which is an optical illusion. The Secret Bunker near St Andrews which was kept secret for over 40 years. And finally the Egyptian style lighthouse that is well known in both poetic and novel forms for the disappearance of it's three lighthouse keepers. It's going to be shot around about March/April/May because we are extremely busy with other projects. Also access to the bunker isn't currently available until March. Hopefully I will be able to interview experts in the various locations so as to provide a bit more information on the history of each of these extraordinary places.

I think the last bit of news is that I've managed to get a copy of my old documentary about the Sherlock Holmes statue and put it on the Internet. It's called 'The Hunt For Holmes' and you can click it's name to be taken directly to YouTube to watch it.

Alas, that's another post finished. I hope you've enjoyed reading this as much as I enjoyed typing it out (which is very much so). Follow the link to watch the film. Whilst there check out our other classics such as Heraclitus, Castelletti and Flashmob. Keep checking back for more information about the documentaries and drama!!!

Here's our big idea!

Hey!

So it's been two months since the last post, and not a lot has actually happened. Well I say nothing but actually we've finished one film and finished the shooting of another.

The first film is a nice and short documentary about the ancient greek philosopher Heraclitus who is famously known (kind of) for his doctrine of flux. Basically that's the idea that nothing in the world ever stays the same, which is true!

The film was written, directed and edited by Mr Michael Dodds (likes to do as much as he can, clearly). It was filmed by me: Oliver Watson. And I believe we both dabbled with the sound equipment which went great!

We used a friend of ours and coursemate Josh Gajree and another long time friend Connor Doherty for the dramatisations. Josh played Heraclitus whilst Connor played Plato, another ancient greek philosopher who disagreed with the doctrine.

We were pretty lucky being in Edinburgh for the shoot as we had access to some really spectacular locations. One of these locations was the peaceful River Almond in Cramond, where we found a good secluded spot to have Josh don a toga. Connor on the other hand didn't have the luxury of privacy. No, he had to change at one of Edinburgh's most famous monuments at the top of Calton Hill surrounded by Japanese tourists in the typical Scottish weather of rain and hail stones.

Getting to these locations would have been near impossible or at least extremely time consuming without the great help of our drivers. Eve Jarron and Connor.

I feel like its necessary to mention that we celebrated the completion of the shoot by having a lovely meal at Frankie & Benny's where we went in soaked through and made a rather large mess at our table.

Anyway that's enough for that project! You can check it out on our YouTube page! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kFgNDa7cDWI

I'll write a new post concerning our latest quest! An advert for the ludicrously tasty Crunchy Nut Cornflakes!

Bub-bye!

Oliverus Watsonus (I'm Greek now!)

We're aiming bigger and better and even bigger and even better!

So after last year we managed to get extremely little done. We have one film that we are all very proud of 'Buskers' and that will be uploaded onto the youtube channel soon.

However, all the little films that we planned to make were left behind. They were mostly written and planned out but just sort of pushed to the side whilst there were better things to do. Now I'm not saying that we are going to make them, what I am saying is that we aren't going to announce stuff like that anymore and then never get round to making them.

I'm now going to announce our new 'business model'. Basically Michael and Myself both have jobs now apart from Group Six and are going to start creating budgets for our films. We have contacts that can lend us equipment so buying that isn't necessarily an issue, it's more for costumes and locations and things to make our films that little bit better and more real.

If your clever with money you can get things done for very little of it. The two short films based on the video game half life called 'Escape from City 17' show what can be done with little money. Sure the script and actors are pretty terrible but it looks amazing.

Anyway once we have some money and a plan of action for a new film I'll let you know!

Peace Out!

Olly Watson

Everything new!

Buskers is done. Mike posted it on his vimeo account the other day and you can watch it here: http://www.vimeo.com/24664781

It's about 18 minutes long so you better have some time put aside to watch it.

Next up on the news is that I've ditched 'Stolen By Curiosity' or whatever it was. It was becoming a hassle and was getting out of hand, for me anyway, so instead I wrote something completely different. It's a sci - fi kind of thing. It used to have lots of computer nerd dialogue in it but now in the version 2.0 of the script it features none of it and is just a pure and raw story of an amnesiac alien sent on a mission to destroy earth but with recurring visions of his mother saying goodbye forever. It will be 100% finished by 17th June or else.

Anyway back to work!

Olivero Watsono!