Romney Marsh Saga

Camber Sands has always been one of my favourite places in the entire world. Ever since I was a kid, I have always loved it there. When the tides out it looks like another planet- particularly to a geeky 8yr old with a lively imagination, and high tide conjures up the rather disagreeable memories of actually swimming there.

So now Camber Sands has become a fairly regular destination for shoots, I decided to explore the area a little more.

Now, the fact is that Camber and it's surrounding area are...well, horrific. Occasionally fabulous in their horrificness, but always breathtakingly horrific. Dungeness for example looks like some post-apcolyptic dystopian beach hut resort. In a good way.

Romney Marsh has a similar eery feeling to it, and the tiny little abandoned church in the centre of the marsh adds to the surreal quality of it all. The complete isolation of the church makes it a tricky location, particularly for a fashion shoot, but I have been desperate to shoot there since I discovered it, and this film project provides the perfect excuse!

So, the plan was to shoot sunset over the church. Perfect! Eery, romantic and surreal. So a few weeks ago I set off with my camera, tripod and trusty Cinquecento to shoot. I figured an hours worth of footage was perfect; 50mins before actual sunset, 10mins after. Problem- the camera only made it for 40mins. I wish I had known that... So this trip resulted in 40mins of rather dull footage of the sun sinking behind clouds, and- once the footage had been sped up- the horrific Disco Sheep. See sheep might not look like they do much..but when you speed a 40min clip up into a 5min one, you start to notice them a little more. End result; the most exciting thing about the footage was the techno sheep.

New plan; shoot sunRISE instead. Sheep will be sleeping and more or less still, and the footage should be generally more spectacular than the pathetic sunsets at this time of year.

Now I'm not one to rehash the details (particularly when they are liable to induce tears), but I managed to lose the footage. It was perfect. But I lost it. Not that I'm bitter...but I cried solidly for say, 2 hours?

Nevermind, today I decided to give the 2am start another go. Weather forcast; clear. Sunrise; 5.44. Camera fully charged (!) All set. I even bought my housemate to keep me company. What could go wrong?

You know what can go wrong? Clouds. I mean really, if BBC tells you it's going to be clear, you expect it to be clear. Not clear except for the EXACT spot when the fucking sun is rising. Bastards.

Attempt 1. The lost footage day, *sob*

Attempt 2. Fuck you BBC Weather.

PostSecret

Now anybody whose ever had the pleasure of listening to me for more than, say 3mins, will know that I don't have secrets. I don't lie and I don't have secrets. There is not enough 'think-before-speak' capability going on here for either one of those.

Maybe this lack of self censorship I have going on that has something to do with my love for the PostSecret project. It's such a beautiful idea; funny and moving in equal parts and frequently inspiring.

I recently discovered his youtube channel, it's definitely worth checking out- even if you havn't heard about the project.

So I might think that Lindsey Lohan is slightly too freckly and certainly far too skanky, this film is pretty lush, and more or less what I fancy for the end of my "The Limerents" film.

It's an overdone heroin chic romance concept, but I still love.

A Thomas Edison porno

So it's pretty tricky making films about something you don't believe in, but things like this help

Cute, no?

Oh, and because of it's sexual nature it was banned on release- which just makes me love it even more...

What big teeth you have

So I'm not 17 anymore, but he's still the love of my life

Surrealism before breakfast

I don't know a huge amount about surrealist film, but I have been reading surrealist love poetry recently so figured I might as well check out some films too...

Hans Richter, Ghosts before Breakfast makes for a stressful morning

I first saw Le Sang d'un Poète by Jean Cocteau at a Lee Milller exhibition (she features in the film), it was pretty much the first surrealist film I had ever seen

Trailer;

Anyone for nightmares?

If I ever need therapy, there are only two people to blame; Robert Smith and Robert Morgan.

We already covered Robert Smith, but check out Robert Morgan

NOTE; I will not be covering therapist fees...

Floria Sigismondi

Well know. Pretty good. Here's some. Enough said.

Turn the volume down and this one shouldn't upset you too much

Leonard Cohen's "In My Secret Life"

(Another amazing Leonard Cohen vid, although not Sigismondi is First We Take Manhattan, it is a little dated though)

If androgynous men in frilly knickers and leg braces are your kinda bag..

I blame this video for my phobia of Robert Smith

The birdman from 1.39 is enough to make this one of my favourite music vids ever

The release of Burton's much awaited adaptation of Alice reminded me of Jan Švankmajer's surreal and nightmarish rendition, which I was shown during one of the many inspiring and bizarrely eclectic lectures of my Foundation year.

Švankmajer is a Czech surrealist who's influence has percolated thought to many of todays animators and directors, few more so than Tim Burton.

Introduction to the white rabbit;

And one more I discovered today; this has to be one of the best films to show his trademark style; exaggerated sound effects, the

personification of inanimate objects and surreal nightmarish humor

Emilie Simon

Words fail me.

There isn't one thing I dislike about this video.

...except that I didn't make it. Does that count?

Nor can I find out who did make it... Working on it though...

Vidrar Vel Til Loftarasa

Sigur Rós create some of the best 'thinking' music of all time.

That's just a fact.

So every now and then, when neither Jeremy Kyle nor Snog Marry Avoid is on, I will sit down and feign deep thought. It is best to set a performance like this to a suitably cerebral soundtrack, and Sigur Rós is perfect for this.

In other news, they apparently do quite nice videos too

Cibo Matto

I think this is universally renowned as one of Gondrys best music videos, but being a music video philistine (I blame my MTV starved youth), I had never seen it before.

I love the layout of the split screen, and the reversed footage of one of the characters works so well. Typically, Warner Bro's have had embedding disabled, but check it out here.

Although you really need to see the movement to get it, these stills are a poor attempt at summarizing the vid..

Final Major What?

Shit. I am officially well into Final Major Project (don't ask me HOW far in, I'm no scientist..) and I have so far spent X amount of weeks, lazing around reading poetry/watching Snog Marry Avoid (I'm a strong believer in cultural balance in ones life) instead of, well, working.

So today, after rigorously tidying/dusting/vacuuming/disinfecting my entire room (any student knows this is an essential prelude to any attempt at work), I have decided the best way to proceed is to revive the sketchblog.

Well, it passes the time, doesn't it?