New software!

My new software arrived today! Avid Media Composer 7 is used throughout the editing industry so I wanted to get it. I had a go using it at The Quarry but I really wanted to teach myself the software and to start using it for my uni work as I think it will give me an advantage when it comes to finding a job. Surely not having to teach someone the software from scratch is a beneficial thing for employers?! Excited to have a play around with it!

Looking back at my trip, Contemplating the future

Since coming back from my work experience in London i've been thinking about what I learnt there and what it means for me over the next few years.

I loved the edit house and I know 100% that I want to be an editor..so thats a good start! It's really nice to finally have a plan, to know what I want to do and to know what steps I need to take to get there. I know that I need to start off as a runner, then work up to Assistant Editor (Junior then Senior) and then I'll make it to Editor. It was also really good to know the time frame on this journey to 'the top'. On average (optimistically) I will run for 6 months, be an assistant for 3-4 years and then get to editor. I realise that there is a lot of guess work here and it all depends on the company you're in and how well you do, but its good to have a rough idea.

Looking back at working in London, and looking over my degree (which is now finished..BA anyway!) I can't help but feel like I have done everything possible to give myself the best chance of getting a job when I've finished my Masters in May 2014. I have done work experience every summer whilst being at uni and have learnt so much about the industry and about different jobs in the industry, and I'm just excited that i've finally found my career path!

The other decision I have made since being back from London is that, although I loved living in London for the week, I think I would rather look for a job in Manchester after uni. I know there are more jobs and opportunities in London, but the cost of living is so expensive compared to Manchester and I will be only an hours drive from my family in Sheffield. I don't want my family to be a reason that I don't push myself and take opportunities during my career but I feel that at 22 I won't be ready to live so far away with no way of getting home regularly (not without spending hundreds on train tickets). Hopefully I will be able to find a job in the kind of company that I want, but in Manchester. I haven't researched it yet, but in the new year I will.

London

Ok so I haven't been blogging as I've gone along, to be honest I've been having too much fun!

On Monday I worked with the runners at The Quarry. I really enjoyed running and got to see exactly what this part of the industry is about. A lot of people might think that making coffees and getting lunches might seem a bit trivial but its the first step on the ladder and you get to see and learn so many things from the editors that work around you.

On Tuesday I spent half of the day with the runners and the afternoon with the Assistant editors. The assistants work on projects alongside the editors, basically..assisting them! They log footage and organise all of the media so that it is easy for the editors to do the actual editing. They also send a lot of emails! It was interesting to see what this job entails, as often you work as an assistant for 5 years before being promoted to an editor.

On Wednesday I spent the morning with the assistants again and spent the afternoon in one of the editors studios playing around with some footage from a Berroca advert, learning how to use the software Avid. I learnt on the first day that editing houses mainly use Avid to edit, so I decided that I will buy the software when I get home and teach myself how to edit with it while I'm doing my Masters. I think this will be a real advantage to me when I come to look for a job because universities don't teach Avid.

Today I'm going to be working with some more footage and continuing to play around with Avid.

Then tonight I'm going to be a tourist and go on the London Eye! Really loving it here in London, but to be honest I'm ready to go home and chill with the parents for abit!

Blogging in The Big City

I've decided that the best way to remember my work experience this week would be to blog while I'm there, so thats what I'm going to do! Every night I'll post about what I've done that day along with any photos I take, that way everyone can follow what I'm up to, and I can look back and remember it all!

So excited! :)

Work Experience 2013: The Quarry: London

In a few weeks time I will be heading down to London for a weeks work experience and I'm so excited! A family friend's brother in law works for the editing company 'The Quarry' and he put me in touch with the producer who organised for me to come down and work with them. I couldn't believe how easy it was to set up, I literally said I was looking for work experience and he said sure come on down.

I haven't been told a massive amount about what I'll be doing down there, just a rough itinerary that said I would be working with the runners on the first day and then do a few days with the editors and  few days on the production side. I am so excited to get a taste of what it will be like to work in London, for an editing company. It's literally a dream come true and I can't wait to get down there and learn about the industry and hopefully make a good impression of the guys down at The Quarry.

Below is a link to the companies website. I'll upload photos and give a more detailed account of my experience once I've got back!

http://www.the-quarry.co.uk

Showreel 2013

This is my current showreel, featured on my website www.hannah-saul.com

Showreel 2013 Video Link

Motion Editorial- Third Year final project

For my major project in my third year of uni I produced this motion editorial. A motion editorial is a tool used in the fashion industry as an alternative to a photoshoot to display their clothes. I took this idea and mixed it with a music video theme to create this gothic video.

Photography

During my university third year one module required us to create a Showreel of our work. I decided that I wanted to include some photography that I had done when I was 15, as I have always loved and been really proud of the photos. I used After Effects to create short videos to display the photos in an interesting way.


Photography_1 Video Link

Photography_2 Video Link

Photography_3 Video Link

Photography_4 Video Link

Third Year: Pre Visualisation

This was one of the first projects I have done that was all 3D. I was nervous at first because 3D isn't my specialty and I don't enjoy it as much as compositing and editing but after some really helpful classes with our 3D teacher I was a lot more comfortable with Maya and managed to produce something I was pleased with, as well as being more confident to work on future 3D projects.

Summer 2012: Freelance Work

As we were coming to the end of the second year at university I began thinking about what I could do over the summer, as I decided I wanted to try and do something every summer to gain experience while studying. I spoke with my godfather who worked for the Sheffield Eagles Rugby club at the time and he told me about some work that the marketing area of the club were thinking about doing. He put me in contact with the marketing manager who told me that they were looking to make 'an introduction to rugby league' video for the club to attract and inform new fans. I jumped at the chance, despite not knowing anything about rugby! I worked with the manager for almost 4 months on developing the idea, the planning, the shoot, the editing and the audio and I loved working with a client as I would if I was a full time freelance film maker.

The video was a big success and I received great praise and feedback from the marketing manager and from everybody at the club who saw it. It really boosted my confidence to know that I could make something good enough for established companies after only my second year.


An Introduction to Rugby League with the Sheffield Eagles Video Link

Second Year: Music Video

The band Diagrams gave us a 30 second sample of their song 'Tall Buildings' to make a music video. This project was really tough because the lyrics int he song are really random and therefore there was nothing to base the visuals and story on. I used the pixelation technique along with rotoscoping and changing colour grading.

Tall Buildings Video Link

Second Year: Movie Titles

One of our projects required us to make the opening titles for the film 'Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind'.

Second Year: Green Screen project

We used the green screen studio to film a short 1 minute video that also included some 3D lettering. I had to rotoscope some of the foreground plate as shadows that were cast onto the green screen during filming meant that the extraction wasn't clean enough. It took a long time but it was worth it in the end result.

Second Year: Showroom Cinema videos

We had a client based project in the second year where we met with the client to discuss ideas, pitched a project and then filmed and edited the videos for the client. The Showroom Cinema in Sheffield was our client and they wanted short videos to advertise their restaurant and the new Chef Simon Ayres. We made a series of 8 videos showing Simon cooking different things in the restaurants kitchen. Below are 3 of the 8 videos.

Ice Cream Video Link

Roast Chicken Video Link

Steak Video Link

Second Year film: 'Through the Shot Glass'

One of our second year projects was a short film that included background plates and foreground plates that were shot in the green screen studio. The theme of the film was Alice and Wonderland so we played on the 'Through the Looking Glass' version of the story.

Second Year: Sound Project

This was a sound project in the second year. I was given the visuals and had to design the sound for it. I used GarageBand and Soundtrack Pro to produce this work.

First Year film: Amelia

This was the first time we filmed and edited a short film. We had to use a green screen and in camera effects including 'Pepper's Ghost' and Forced perspective. Looking back at this video now, 2 years later there are lots of things I would do differently and I know that if I re shot this film now it would be 100% better, but as my first project I was quite pleased with it.

Our Course: Practical work

Lighting a green screen and setting up a diffuser in an attempt to make the light look more like realistic daylight.

I really enjoy practical, on set classes as I am interested in the production side of film as well as the post production.

In the ‘Animation Techniques for Visual Effects’ module at uni we looked at the post production side of green screen and in these particular photos we are filming test footage using track points in over to do motion tracking in After Effects.

A little bit of Freelance work

A friend approached me to do some compositing work for the Junior Law Division that she sits on the board of. The society was having a Law Ball at the end of October and asked me to create a 1940’s backdrop for the band at the ball.

I decided to create something digitally rather than in paint as I was more confident of a professional outcome, even though I do have some painting skills from my Art A Level.

I received some reference material to give me an idea of the style that was required. I then went out and photographed iconic buildings in Sheffield as they wanted the backdrop to be a kind of skyline of Sheffield, like the ones that are frequently produced for the New York skyline.

With all the photographs, I edited them and composited them together with some effects and colour grading to create the final back drop.

I was told that everyone loved the back drop at the event and I even had some orders for more, smaller copies for people to keep which was great and enabled me to make a little bit of money along with the money that I was paid by the society to do the original work.

The final back drop below:

Work Experience: Summer 2011

When my first summer as a student rolled around I decided I needed to get into gear early if I want to gain the experience I need to succeed in this extremely difficult industry. I didn’t want to spend all summer lazying around when I could be doing something constructive and helpful to my career.

I got in touch with my A Level Media tutor, who kindly invited me back into college (Hillsborough College in Sheffield) to speak to some of the current students. I showed the students what I had created at A Level and what I had done at university, as well as talking to them about my course and about general college and university life. I also planned and taught a workshop with a diploma group on filming and editing, although technical problems meant that the editing is postponed until September.

As well as working at college, I was put in touch with a director who invited me to work on a shoot in Leeds. Lee (the director) works for a company called Logistik, who work with businesses to promote campaigns or promotions. In this case, the client was Yorkshire Water and we were hired to create a health and safety film for them to show new recruits.

The shoot took 4 days which ran over 4 weeks and I loved it! The days were often long, but I learnt so much about being on a real set and working with professionals who really know what they’re talking about.

I am so grateful to the people who helped me that summer and I was really pleased with myself for taking the initiative to do it.

Photography

Some photographs I took during 2 weeks work experience when I was 15. I worked with an Art & Graphic design company and learnt how to use an SLR camera and photo editing software for the first time. 6 years later I still love these photographs.

My Profile

My qualifications include:

• GCSE Art
• GCSE Graphics
• A Level Media Studies
• A Level Art & Design
• Currently averaging 2:1 in MA Film & Visual Effects

My skills include:

• Cinematography
• Lighting
• Editing
• Compositing- Paint & Roto
• Green/Blue screen extraction
• Audio recording and editing

Software skills in:

• Adobe After Effects
• Adobe Premier Pro
• Final Cut Pro
• Adobe Photoshop
• Maya
• 3DS Max
• MatchMover
• Soundtrack Pro
• Logic

Welcome!

Welcome to my blog. I'm a third year Film & Visual Effects student from Sheffield, UK. This blog will introduce you to my skills, my work and the journey from education through my career. Thanks for visiting!