'Born Yesterday' by Maxine Sheppard

Maxine Sheppard (CFFM 2007-8) created her original film Born Yesterday as her end of year portfolio/dissertation project. Maxine worked with her family's archive footage (shot on super 8), and combined it with contemporary video footage of the same scenes revisited, to create a reflective piece on change and memory, in which music plays a key role in evoking the passage of time.

Little Things

An attempt to close-up and capture "domestic images" of my everyday life. Also an experiment on the amount of music an image filled with information can stand. What I discovered through that first project is that though the shots are still and silent (muted their sound), closing up on things on such a level, leaves little room for musical or any kind of sound information. The lower the register and the more the notes (and/or instruments), the less attention I was able to pay to the image.

Near the end of this short film I'm using my one and only moving shot in which I move around some coins. This moving shot is interrupted by bits of all the previous shots so the contrast between them is even more accentuated. The reversed notes used in that part are played on the bits of the "calm" shots that are already introduced and not on the moving coin shot, as one would expect, so that any stressful feeling will not be generated from the money moving around but from the accentuated contrast between that and the "calm" shots.

As very well pointed out in class, I chose the piano because a solo instrument, particularly (as I, that I played in the recording, am a pianist) the piano, gives a more "personal" tone to the film, it points out the fact that "these are my things, my everyday images", underlines the idea of possession and emotional bonding.

In any case, what you get from watching it is more a matter of interpretation than of my actual intentions.

The Waiting

Hello everybody!
Here I post the two versions of my first project. I don't know if appropriate to do, but I wanted to try how this blogg works.
Kind regards.

'An Art of Movement' by Doon MacDonald

Doon MacDonald (CFFM 2008-9) created 'An Art of Movement' by mounting a camcorder to her bicycle and filming her journey to work. She edited her film with Final Cut Express and created the music in Logic.

'Flat' by Robert Stillman

Robert Stillman (CFFM 2007-8) created this short film 'Flat' which observes the rooms he was living in at the time. A short, site-specific film and soundtrack that integrates abstract footage, found sounds, and composed music into an impressionistic ‘document’ of a living space. Drawing from theory of Jean Epstein, the soundtrack seeks to find a sonic equivalent of photogenie that reflects the intentions of the piece’s filming techniques. Robert's website.

Music for film and media

This new blog has been created specially for current and former students of the Composing for film and media MA courses in the School of Media, Film and Music at the University of Sussex. The aim is to provide a place to show and share work done as a result of the course. People are very welcome to discuss the processes involved in making their work, and to ask questions.

The blog is independent of Sussex University and all content is the responsibility of individuals who upload. Please do not infringe anyone's rights. If you have any concerns about any material please comment directly in the site, as the blog will be monitored regularly.