Red or Dead: Creative Choices in Film making

(Cross-posted from Central Station)

So, after a weekend in Edinburgh (fitting in time to celebrate the lovely Miss Thacker's birthday!), i'm home back in Glasgow with some new found knowledge.

Today I attended Red or Dead? A day of discussion about the questions which every film-maker should ask themselves. The talks covered things like story developing, editing, cinematography, animation, sound design and composing and saw people from the film industry talking about how.

I particularly enjoyed the animation talk (of course!), chaired by the wonderfully lively producer, Melanie Coombes (producer of the stop-frame feature, Mary and Max). The discussions on how even though animation is such a visual medium, it still comes down to story in the end, were brilliant. It's so easy, as an animator to get caught up in your style, because the nature of creating animation is so heavy on being meticulous in your medium.

I also enjoyed the sound design and composing talks. When I think of an idea, it's pretty much linked to a certain sound or style of music instantly (and is sometimes the inspiration for the idea to begin with). So to hear the composers/sound designers on the panels, talking about their way of working was something I found fascinating. Especially the discussion on learning how to communicate with a director who might not necessarily speak 'music' language and vice versa. I'm currently going through this with my composer and I'm finding it interesting how we discuss the details of a score through emotion and colour, not technical jargon.

Anyway, I definitely benefited from the panel talks today and it just adds to the whole learning process i'm still undertaking as a first time director. Too bad I couldn't stay for the Censta's Sound:Image:Art event. Animation calls!