Behind the Set - Lee Smith

In these series of posts named "Behind the Set" is going to focus around editors and the ones that inspire me. These posts will be put up once a week normally on the weekends. I am on a Television Post-Production course however film is where my passion lies. I want to become a film editor and work on major Hollywood blockbusters and I would love every second of it. I would have to say action films are my preferred type of film therefore it would not be too much of a shock to all of you that my inspirations have mostly made action films. 

Lee Smith

Lee Smith has edited many films that I love to watch again and again. Unfortunately I have not been fortunate enough to have seen the final film in the Batman trilogy "The Dark Knight Rises" however in this post I am going to talk about how the previous movie to this "The Dark Knight" became one of my favorite films ever. You feel the love that Harvey Dent has for his love Rachel, in this emotional love triangle between Dent, Rachel and Wayne. You feel like this is a constant battle whether to hang up the mask in favour of love for Rachel. The editing in the film also helps to portray the most fascinating character, I believe possibly ever in film. I am of course talking about the late Heath Ledgers character "The Joker". He again makes you feel like he doesn't care what happens he just wants to kill people. Lee Smith I feel is largely responsible for how the Joker comes across. I have not seen the full movie of Inception however from what I have seen of it, and reviews from other websites is that of it is a fantastic movie, and I maybe biased but I believe what makes a film is the quality of its editing, and if it does not flow and does not have the correct pace or rhythm then it will be awful. However from what I have seen from Lee Smiths films they are incredibly well edited hence why he inspires me.

Next week: Stuart Baird - edited Casino Royale and Skyfall

Behind the Set - Jon Harris

In these series of posts named "Behind the Set" is going to focus around editors and the ones that inspire me. These posts will be put up once a week normally on the weekends. I am on a Television Post-Production course however film is where my passion lies. I want to become a film editor and work on major Hollywood blockbusters and I would love every second of it. I would have to say action films are my preferred type of film therefore it would not be too much of a shock to all of you that my inspirations have mostly made action films. Also I am going to be writing a short review about any movies I go to see at the cinema from now on, it will focus on the movie overall and also the editing.

Jon Harris

This man first inspired me when I saw his film 127 Hours, this film shows a very calm balance between pace, rhythm while still keeping the audience interested. The film stays in virtually one place for over an hour of the film and the editing, in my opinion, keeps the audience interested and keeps the audience wanting to know what is going to happen next in this topsy-turvy journey of cayoneer Aron Ralston as he goes on a brilliant and emotional journey and has to make the biggest decision of his life, amputating his own arm. Harris makes the audience feel this emotion, pain and the difficulty of his situation. Another film that I have seen that Jon Harris has edited is Eden Lake. This film really brings terror into your veins, I have seen the film only once because it really is truly terrifying. Again, you feel the emotion of Kelly Reilly's character, Jenny. The feeling that you get when she is being chased is that she is so terrified about what is going to happen to her. Also another key moment is when she watches her partner get victimised by the teenagers. They even go as far as to pull his tongue out of his throat and set a young boy on fire, however, I think that the peak of the film and her terror is when she finally gets out of Eden Lake and crashes a pick up truck, she then goes inside and discovers that it is the family and parents of the teenagers that have been terrorising her and her dead partner for the entire film. She gets taken into the bathroom and all we hear is screaming assuming that she too has been murdered. Overall I love the way that Jon Harris builds tension in his work and how he builds the emotion and makes you feel like you are there and that you are the person there in the film. Below are trailers for both films.

Next Week - Lee Smith - editor of The Dark Knight and Inception

127 Hours

Eden Lake

Behind The Scenes

At the weekend I shot a video for my girlfriend, a local illustrator. She wanted a video that she could showcase her skills in a showreel of sorts. For this I filmed her doing screen-printing, drawing and painting. This was my first project using a new camera, the Panasonic HGVX200A. This is a higher quality camera than any of the ones that I have done previously. This was also the first time that me and my friend Chris had worked on a production outside of university, together we are PortProductions, Chris being the main cameraman and me being the main editor of the pair of us. You will definitely hear more about the work that we do over the coming weeks. The final edit of this videos should be on my YouTube channel by the end of the weekend, As should a short documentary about Ancient Egypt that was due a couple of weeks ago however due to program issues there has been a delay. From my Youtube channel you can access my Facebook page as well as check out all of my other videos. Below are some photos from the shoot for you to look at.

Behind the Camera

Panasonic AG-HMC151

I use this camcorder at university for various projects and work that I produce there. It is a very good professional camera that can be used on all kinds of projects because it is lightweight and produces high-quality images. 

Specification:

- 28mm Wide-Angle, 13X Zoom Leica Dicomar® HD Lens 

- Progressive CCD Raises Sensitivity and Lowers Noise Smear

- High-Resolution Native Progressive Scan

- DSP with 14 Bit A/D Conversion and 19 Bit Processing

- 7-Mode Gamma for Richer Gradation

Available to buy for approximately £3,000 from various websites.

DXG-5F0VK HD Camcorder

This is my personal camera that I use mainly for projects outside of university. It is a small camera that would be great for beginners or for travelling around. Watch my video of my holiday in 2012 for an example of how the videos from this camera can look.

Specification:

- 1920 x 1080 HD

- 128MB Internal Flash Memory

- SD/SDHC Expansion Slot

- 1/3.2"5MP CMOS Sensor

- 3" LCD Display

- 5x Optical / 4x Digital Zoom

- Colour Effects

- LED Video Light

- Still Image Capture

- HDMI Output to HDTV

Available to buy for approximately £110 from various websites. 

Hello!

Hello and welcome to my new blog!

My name is Jamie Webb, I am 19 years old and I'm currently studying for a degree in TV Post Production at Southampton Solent University.

I spend a lot of my spare time filming and editing short films, music videos and documentaries.

I have lots of ideas for upcoming videos which I will be working on over the next few months, so watch this space!

I hope you enjoy my work and if you have an questions, please feel free to contact me at webb105@hotmail.co.uk

Take a look at my videos.
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