Charles originally started filming at the age of 11 making stop-motion shorts with a webcam. He quickly gained a self taught knowledge of Adobe Premiere, After Effects and Photoshop. Allowing him to expand as a filmmaker.
He made his first 10 minute (stop-motion) film with his younger brother (George) at the age of 16. It took them 2 years and involved heavy CGI use. The Curse of the Daleks
During his studies he gained a wide technical knowledge of lighting (Red Heads, Dedo's, Flicker box, magic arms etc), cameras (Sony Fs100, F3, Z7 & Canon Mark III) & software (Final Cut 7, X & Premiere CS6). After working on a range of commercial projects, Charles is now back in the creative mindset.
Cool Club
An animatic of the first scene with sound.
Still Life with Fruit and Sabrina
A animatic of a script we were given to interpret originally called Vegetable Love. The story follows Paul a slightly odd student who loves veg. One day in the kitchen his basket bursts and whilst collecting his fallen food he she's the angelic Sabrina. From then on Sabrina is all thats on Paul's mind.
I based my interruption on Caravaggio's Still life with Fruit on a Stone Ledge. Caravaggio's painting includes lots of sexual images and I thought it'd be funny if Paul was oblivious to the fruit's connotations.
The Joke
I had to create a film based on a joke. I based mine on a long joke story which is only funny the longer you have to listen to it.
For the storyboard I took photo's of my friends against a white wall in our flat. I then photoshopped the backgrounds and made everything black and white to save time. Unfortunately I lost the other images as one of my hard drives broke.
I filmed & edited the following (unless mentioned otherwise) :
Midwifery Promotional Video/ Mini Documentary.
A video about all the elements of becoming a Midwife. I was the videographer for the project, in charge of filming and setting up the lighting. Schoola Hoop Camp
A 3 day Hula Hoop Camp/Retreat/Festival based in Cambridgeshire, UK.
Edited by Lisa Ellipse
Martha Lane Fox interview Martha Lane Fox, Baroness Lane-Fox of Soho, co-founded Lastminute.com and is currently a crossbencher in the House of Lords.
The project was filmed for the charity organisation Just for Kids Law to promote good role models. I filmed (Canon 5d) and recorded the sound (Zoom h4n and radio mic) whilst some youths from the charity interviewed her.
The Growling Mad Scientists live in London GMS (also known as the Growling Mad Scientists)is a Dutch psychedelic trance duo which has attained significant popularity from the early 1990s to the present time. Formed by Shajahan Matkin and Joseph Quinteros in the city of Amsterdam, the duo has attracted a large international fan-base.
I filmed GMS's return to London using a Sony Z1, Josh Littlehales used a Canon 50D. The first video was cut using both of our footage from the event to create a promo video.
Clips from the night cut in the style of a live multi-cam show.
Chiswick Buzz Chiswickbuzz.net is a new local tv service for Chiswick. Its the first of a network of local tv stations which is being set up by Localbuzz Media Network Ltd. Edited by Stefan Vlajkovic, reporter/director Blaithin Kinsella and I filmed using a Sony z7.
The House of Fairy Tales A promotional video forThe House of Fairy Tales kickstart campaign. H.O.F.T is a child-centred, artist-led project which draws on an extensive team to create magical parallel worlds where learning is play and play is directed learning.
I directed with the help of Mark Bayley, Marina Dulepina was DOP and Mark Parker Edited.
The House of Fairy Tales: Cartography Kickstarter Funding Film from Room60 Interview with Arcane Roots Arcane Roots are a three-piece Alternative Rock band from Kingston Upon Thames, England. Founded by guitarist & vocalist Andrew Groves and drummer Daryl Atkins, the band are known for their energetic and passionate live shows.
I filmed the band with a Nikon D3100 and Jordan Noon filmed the interviewer with a Canon 50D.
Research project into Musical Performance in the Recording Studio.
This is a short clip of the project. I was given two days of footage from a music studio recording session. I had to sync all the footage into two 11 hour films. No clip had any accurate time logs (estimations were given), syncing mostly involved listening until I heard recognisable sounds.
Music Video - What Is Life
My entry for the Genero music video competition, first time making a Cut-out animation. The story follows a boy who brings a star for the one he loves.
100 Bullets (Director & Visual Effects Artist)
This was created for my A2 media coursework (last year before University). It is based on a graphic
novel written by Brian Azzarello called 100 Bullets, artwork by Eduardo
Risso, and Dave Johnson.
I got permission to film the event from the manager of G.M.S. and the organizer of event. My partner and I were given free reign of the venue. I captured the event with a Sony Z1 while my partner used a SRL. I cut the footage together in the style of a live multicam show. Unfortunately G.M.S did not start till 5am; despite fatigue from filming with the heavy Z1 all night I was able to stay on task and still capture good quality footage.
Research project into Musical Performance in the Recording Studio.
I was given a large quantity of video footage of a recording session. There were several cameras running simultaneously (for example in the control room and live room(s) plus a screen recording from the ProTools software) and I had to:
Create a timeline of the videos in the session and combine some of them into split screen versions.
Convert all the files to MP4
Strip the audio files from some of them to convert to MP3
Convert them for Vimeo so the other researchers can access them.
I will be mentioned (only recently finished the project) on the Art of Record Production website.
Here's a short section of what I did (control room front and back out slightly out of sync due to different frame rates and cameras):
Victoria Willmott's Animation and shadow puppetry based on Angela Carter short story, The Loves of Lady purple.
The film was exhibited inside a hand painted pink striped tent at Camberwell's Ba show 2012, Mixed Special and Red Gallery.
I was the Camera Technician, Sound Recordists and Editor.
Skills Learnt: Filming a puppet show, organizing files for editing and working to a brief.
The main issue I had with editing this film was the amount of files I had to work with. There were no perfect takes. For example, everything could be going as planned when suddenly I notice there's a hand in shot or one of the puppets have fallen off their sticks. Some issues could not be fixed by simply re-filming so I had to work out what parts of each video I could use. In the caged birds scene the three birds are all taken from three different videos (through compositing).
Spencer's cat (Rosie) has been taken and he won't stop until he gets it back. A trailer for a short filmI made in my first year of university (which I received a 1st for).
Jonathan Schwab and I worked on the story, the storyboard and shared the filming.
I filmed the black limbo scenes, set up the microphones and edited this version
Music credits on my vimeo page
Skills Learnt: filming with a Sony PD 150/170, lighting with Red Heads, Dedos, using colour gels and gobos, setting up microphones, working with actors (who are not friends) and furthered my knowledge of Final Cut Pro 7
Rosie was a chance to put my university knowledge, so far, it into practice.Jonathanand I worked closely together meticulously planning the preproduction (detailed storyboard, release forms, lighting plan, prop listetc.). On the first day of shooting (filming the black limbo scene), we set up the lights before the actors arrived and positioned all our equipment. I replaced the boom holder (Jonathan was directing and I was on camera) with carefully placed chairs and bags(none wirelessmicrophones, connected via XLR leads).
For the chase scene Jonathan was on camera and I looked after the health of the actors (took them through vital stretches, made sure they did not pull any muscles) and directed while Jonathan was busy. The final edit is not as final as I wanted, sound issues, off cutting in places and the colour correction could be better in the chase scene. However the experience was invaluable.
And here's the full film - the story is not quite what the trailer suggests.
I was Director and Editor Camera and Sound - Sam Power Actors - Jennifer Cryan & Robert Martin
Music - Franz Ferdinand - All Along the Watchtower
Skills Learnt: Using a Green-screen, animating and chroma keying in After Effects CS3, basic Photoshop techniques, working to a deadline and practical film-making
Our brief was to create a short film based on our critical analysis (1000 word essay on a subject of our choice). I had written about the influence of graphic novels on modern cinema. Therefore I thought it would be a good idea to adapt a graphic novel which had not already been made into a film. It also had to be a filmable graphic novel. Luckily I was friends with comic book writer Andy Diggle (The Losers, Guy Ritchie'sGamekeeper) at the time so I consulted him. He mentioned Brian Azzarello's 100 Bullets and let me borrow a copy. Similar to the film Sin City, I wanted to make a fully faithful adaptation. In my case it even meant keeping the same layout of the graphic novel and the original artwork (I made a few sets).
A unfinished short film about man who becomes obsessed with writing notes. This clip takes place at the height of his obsession.
I was the Writer, Director, Animator, Actor and Editor.
Camera and Sound - Tom Cross
Location scouting and Set Design - Myself, Tom Cross & Michael Hilton
Music - Homemade Lemonade & The Beatles -I Want You
Skills Learnt: Directing crew, basic animation (rotoscoping), set design, placing lights, problem solving and sound mixing
A simple story, a complicated shoot. After days of searching our town we eventually found an abandoned office. We checked their website and found the building had not been used in over ten years. With a short amount of time, until I left for university, we quickly started decorating. The original idea was to fill the room with only to-do lists. However it was a painstakingly tedious and time consuming task. Thinking practically we decided to rip up some old school note books and use newspaper articles. The end result was amazing, unfortunately the camcorder was not.
Film trailer a peer and I created for AS Media Studies, about a man being haunted by a vampire.
I was Writer, Director, Editor
Camera - Sam Power and myself
Actors - Luke Gallagher, George Willmott, Ethan Westmoreland, Robbie Martin and Jake Edlin
Music - A local band called HomemadeLemonade
Skills Learnt: Basic camera work, acquiring filming permission, working with actors, using a green-screen, basic editing and no budget film-making (Prime Times Productions is a fictional company which we were required to mention)
It may not be a masterpiece but for a first film the ambition was definitely there. We convinced a police officer to speed past with his sirens on, gained permission to film in a hospital and I taught myself how to use After Effects.
