Alastair Nisbet
I'm a co-founder of a group called ScreenPLAY based in Dorset, UK. We develop participatory arts and film projects with young people.
Location Dorset UK
Activity
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Alastair Nisbet replied to Stephania Tomas
This is top advice from Siobhan. These are her five key points:
Audio works better for stories than facts and data
Enliven interviews with bridging “scenes” eg: musicians tuning up or arriving. Make the sound help tell the story
Let it breathe - don’t butt things up together too much - get your timing right
Find good people who can talk well - no...
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Alastair Nisbet replied to Janet Pywell
Uploading to Soundcloud is the easy bit - getting people to listen is harder and needs marketing - or at the very least, promoting on social media.
iTunes is trickier and takes time to be accepted, but they do listen to all submissions - and you can link back from your podcast to your website or blog.
But just because your material is up there doesn't... -
Alastair Nisbet replied to Enrico Niemczewsky
"build a community around it" - that's what a podcast should do - great expression
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Alastair Nisbet made a comment
It’s easy to think of a podcast as just another outlet for a piece of audio but I think that’s probably a mistake. I make digital arts projects in Dorset in south west England and have uploaded several ‘podcasts’ over the years - a song for a pop video, readings of diary extracts from 1918 as well as programmes we made for a community radio station but are...
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Alastair Nisbet replied to Alastair Nisbet
Can't remember where I got it from - they're small and light, only need one AA battery which lasts for ages, and not expensive. We use one with a cheap lapel mic as a cost effective alternative to a radio mic which would be way beyond us. It's often easier than using a boom mic and you get decent sound which you can just add or substitute for the camera audio...
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Alastair Nisbet replied to Danni Coxon-Smith
Classic example of something so obvious that you don't think of it.
Problem for me is that where the fish are is usually filtered from the school and youth groups I work with so you have to do both - stream from your website and YouTube or Vimeo.
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The music is a brooding precursor to something that is about to happen - combat or serious drama of some kind. Rivals are encircling and sizing each other up before they battle - in this case compete against each other in business tasks.
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Alastair Nisbet replied to Chris Storey
He's brilliant - of course his guests are usually there to plug their latest project but GN makes it hugely entertaining.
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Alastair Nisbet made a comment
Really good advice here - especially on sound. If the quality is not quite right or if there's other sounds, you have to stop and restart. As he says in the film, "You're in charge".
If you allow yourself to think it will probably be ok, then it won't. Make sure it is spot on and it will be. As a low budget shooter I'm finding that a clip on mic and a...
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Not so much a tricky concept but tricky to do - especially if you're using a DSLR and only using the built in screen. When you look at your shots on the computer screen after a shoot it's a terrible realisation if you've not got the subject quite sharp. I use a clip on viewfinder which helps. It's great if you get it right but sometimes you just have to play...
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Can public interest override your duty of care towards vulnerable subjects ? Maybe.
There was an element of that in Benefits Street. If the filmmakers had been too protective of their subjects, they wouldn't have done justice to their story. The result would have been something bland and boring that nobody would want to watch. It's like any journalism - you... -
Alastair Nisbet made a comment
Beautifully conceived and filmed. I like the way, you're not sure exactly what is happening until near the end. The filmmaker hooks your curiosity very well. He's trying out a few techniques, but they work well - the tight close ups of activity in the pub (making you wonder what's going on) quite a lot of nicely done tracking shots. He punctuates the filming...
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180 degree rule in 8 words: Ant on the left, Dec on the right.
Switch them round and we all get confused. -
Alastair Nisbet made a comment
The media storm at the beginning of the series got a lot more viewers watching who would not have done otherwise. It was the name Benefits Street that upset people most. When they actually watched the programme, they found a fascinating picture of this community. Didn't they ?
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Alastair Nisbet made a comment
I particularly enjoyed the clips from the BBC creative consultant and the cameraman on location. The content is engaging and the way it is presented is very accessible - brilliant !
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Good question. If you are in a public space, do you need consent at all ? You wouldn't need permission to take a picture, so why do you need it to film ? What do you do if you get some nice shots, then ask for permission and somebody says no you can't use it ? It's tricky.
If people aren't clearly recognisable or are in a big crowd, then it's not an issue...
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Alastair Nisbet replied to Halli Burton
Maybe your actors need to think about this as well. If they are amateurs will they be more comfortable/believable using their natural voices rather than trying to change the way they speak ?
The important thing is that people can hear them clearly.
Remember all the complaints (2200 of them) about mumbling on the BBC's production of Jamaica Inn last year... -
and yet are hugely successful films
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Alastair Nisbet made a comment
Vantage Point - a film about an assassination attempt filmed from eight different perspectives. We see the sequence of events eight times over from different Vantage Points, learning more about what has happened as the film progresses.
It works because with each re-viewing of the incident from a different Vantage Point, you see a bit more of the whole... -
Yes but surely this is a story about time travelling - not one where we jump around the timeline to make the telling of it more satisfying for the audience ?
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Does Groundhog day deliberately fracture linearity ? The story is linear - it's just that every day repeats itself.
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Alastair Nisbet made a comment
Who is your audience ? How will you engage with them ? How will you publish and distribute your end product ?
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Good story trumps everything. You can have Super HD but if you don't have a cracking story then it's a waste of time.
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I'm not quite sure what the Dutch angle is - but the wedding ceremony did make me feel uneasy and I wasn't sure why.
Is the intention to show that the drug is bad ? Maybe that is the dominant reading.
I found myself instantly disliking the attitude of the two boys who said: We've never heard of it. It's an Asian thing. It should be illegal.
Was the... -
Alastair Nisbet made a comment
For me it's all about the characters. Do I care about the characters in a film or drama ? If I don't really care about them, I am less likely to enjoy it. If I engage with them emotionally, I am more likely to enjoy it. A story is just a story, what brings it to life is that emotional layer on top.
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Alastair Nisbet replied to J W
Completely agree. Of course you have to be passionate about your work, but do you always start off with that passion ? I'm not sure. Sometimes it comes as you explore and develop your ideas.
