duckrabbit - we produce photofilms » Production

‘I thought that I was in the belly of the beast’

duckrabbit — Mon, 12 Jul 2010 11:25:45 +0000

This is a powerful photofilm by Eric Johnson. Some strong photographs and perfectly recorded audio, proving once more that a simple approach is often best.

‘The 30th Street Men´s Shelter, otherwise known as Bellevue, is New York City’s largest homeless shelter. A combination of mentally ill, parolees, substance abusers and people simply down on their luck are all housed together in this shelter.’

I was a bit bothered by the music being the same throughout, but listen right through to the end, because there is a magical moment when it all shifts.

There’s also a good lesson in how to record audio here. Listen how clear Carl Foye’s voice is. There is so much history in that voice, history that you just can’t pick up on unless the microphone is very close.

Thanks to @bobsacha for pointing the way on twitter.

UPDATE:

Eric has left the following comment:

‘I was first attracted to the project because of the building itself. The homeless shelter is located in what used to be a psychiatric hospital. Its very interesting visually but what became clear after checking myself in and staying there a few nights is that its all about the people and survival. I always shoot the same, dictated by light, but in this case the photographs were really my reaction to staying there a few nights… David commented “striving to the light” and he is totally right. I think most photographers shoot how they feel in the situation.
Anyway, thanks for looking at the piece.’

THANK YOU ERIC … duckrabbit will be watching out for your work.

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‘Obsession, commitment, love’

duckrabbit — Sat, 10 Jul 2010 22:49:03 +0000

‘Obsession, commitment, love‘, that’s how Anna Carter describes her relationship with Carter’s Steam Fair, the largest original touring vintage fairground anywhere in the world.

And that’s exactly what’s on show at a new duckrabbit exhibition at Reading Museum. Our photofilm ‘Fairground Attraction’, is being projected alongside fifty of Rabbit’s wonderful photos that capture the magic of Carter’s Steam Fair.

If you’re anywhere near Reading please do drop into the museum (see poster at the bottom of the page) and let us know what you think. And if, like the majority of people, you are nowhere near Reading, take three minutes out of your day to watch our photofilm Fairground Attraction below (or embed it to your facebook page or blog from here):

(click on the image below to bring up the photofilm, and click again to play)

duckrabbit would like to thank Damien Drohan for assisting with the audio editing.

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Alzheimer’s, in fresh light

duckrabbit — Sun, 04 Jul 2010 11:29:05 +0000

It’s one of people’s worst fears. To either lose your mind or watch the mind of someone you love slowly disappear. Phillip Toledano explored this photographically in his thought provoking website and book Days With My Father. The work is amongst the best you’ll find on the web.

Cathy Greenblat is another photographer who has been exploring age, though from a more detached perspective than Toledano. Greenblat challenges the notion that people with Alzheimer’s aren’t really, well, people anymore. That’s challenging, especially for those of us who have stopped going to see people we love, because we can’t deal with the pain of feeling that we are unable to reach them anymore.

Cathy was one of the photographers at duckrabbit and Rhubarb’s Photography Still Moving Seminar in London last month. I threw together this EYECUE to show how easy it is to make a short promo of your work.

The interview was ten minutes, I edited it in another thirty five minutes and pulled the whole thing together in IMOVIE in an hour or so. In fact I spent more time trying to get the quality of the compressed video right than I did producing the piece!

The only person I’ve showed this EYECUE to cried. Not because it is particularly emotional or well produced, but because the photos and subject tapped into her own experience of losing someone.

Often, though by no means always, the photography we celebrate, especially in terms of photojournalism, leaves so little to the imagination. The journey begins and ends with the photograph and photographer. The point is to make a big, bold statement. The same goes for photofilms.

I don’t know about you, but I’m pretty bored with statement, it smacks of posturing and rhetoric; give me a beer and a conversation any day.

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Good news for audio editors with Macs…

Adam Westbrook — Sat, 26 Jun 2010 11:51:58 +0000

For some time, Apple’s computers have dominated the creative industry’s workspace; their reliability, fast processing speed and ownership of some of the industry standard software (Final Cut Pro in particular) makes them the must-have for any journalist, writer, film maker, photographer.

Oh and they also look nice.

But Macs have one big flaw which myself and duckrabbit feel more than most: it sucks for audio editing.

Those of you who came to the Photography Still Moving event earlier this month will remember Benjamin editing his audio interviews on a PC and then transferring the file over to his Mac to combine with photographs in Soundslides.

Because when it comes to editing audio it’s almost impossible to compete with Adobe Audition (without spending £2000 on SADIE, or going to PRO TOOLS). And that hasn’t been part of Adobe’s Creative Suite for Macs at all…until now.

Yes, we’ve got wind that Adobe Audtion will be available for Macs in the near future – although probably not until next year. Adobe Labs have announced they’ll be a public beta version, possibly by the winter (according to The Unofficial Apple Weblog).

So soon, we’ll be able to do all our multimedia on one computer – hoorah!

Thanks to @ProducerJoe for pointing it out.

ADAM WESTBROOK

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Kicking Off – my kind of awesome

duckrabbit — Thu, 10 Jun 2010 08:26:00 +0000

One of the great things of being an occasional teacher on LCC’s photojournalism masters is the talented students you get to meet. Much of the work is very inspiring.

This ninety second (that’s all they were allowed) photofilm or Eyecue, by Huiying Hu is one of my favorites and is perfectly timed for the world cup. It also shows that a good story is never far away.

Please do watch and take the time to comment. It means a lot to people when you make the effort to give something back. Really.

(If you too would like to learn how to start making photofilms join us for a day workshop in London on the 19th of June, at ‘Photography Still Moving’)

Kicking Off from Huiying Hu on Vimeo.

In the course of shooting for my assignments during the previous term, I literally stumbled upon a team of young football players training in a park near my house. That was the beginning of a delightful relationship.

Over the last few months, I showed up almost every Saturdays, and documented their training sessions. Even after my assignments were fulfilled, I kept going back, sometimes returning with good photographs, sometimes none at all.

The team is mostly made up of second-generation immigrants. Despite their cultural differences, the universal appeal of football proves incredible in uniting this group of children. Governed by the same rules on the field, the boys learn about sportsmanship, fair play and discipline from the coach and also each other.

As a football player myself, I am familiar with the emotions- anticipation, exhilaration, passion to name a few, related to the game. However, I am unaccustomed to seeing such seriousness from children at tender ages of four to ten. At times the boys seem to mimic the reactions of adult football players, while other times they break down and cry like boys their age.

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Something Beautiful (again), audio slideshow

duckrabbit — Sun, 06 Jun 2010 10:32:47 +0000

A couple of days ago David put up a post about ‘Something Beautiful’, a very personal photofilm by Ore Huiying. At the time I didn’t realize that Ore is one of the students I’ve been teaching at LCC (its a large group). I certainly know her now after she beat me up for not being critical enough of the students work.

The version of ‘Something Beautiful’ that we put up was really small. Here is a much bigger one. Ore’s statement is also a little subtle for thickos like me. The bottom line, this is about love and loss. Letting go of Tasos. It’s about being a stranger in a strange land. Remembering someone who touched your life and learning to let go, or having to let go.

All the pictures are taken from the top deck of a London bus. And really, you need to listen out for Ore’s voice at the end. It wasn’t until I heard her that I felt genuinely moved.

(If you’re interested in producing photofilms join duckrabbit for the Photography Still Moving workshop in London on the 19th)

Something beautiful from Huiying Hu on Vimeo.

Huiying Ore – Something Beautiful:

“I’ve always love bus rides, and appreciate it even more as a newcomer to London.
As the city flipped past me like pages from a book, I slowly lose awareness of my
immediate surroundings and slipped into a dreamlike state. And my mind embarked
on another journey of its own, flowing constantly on a continuum between the
remembered past and the imagined future.

My objective to capture images that are in motion and present them as stills is
akin to that of my desire to halt my chaotic memories, and capture their unsteady
essence. As a passenger in the bus of thought, my imagination runs ahead of the
contemplation of passing events, and travels in the direction of the yet unseen
and unthought.

The result is a cathartic release of emotions, and a realization that the end of
something beautiful is to be treasured, and not to be mourned. ”

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Jonny Be Good

duckrabbit — Fri, 04 Jun 2010 18:12:51 +0000

A few days ago I had the pleasure of watching back in class the work of some of my students on the Masters in Photojournalism at the London College of Communication. Both myself and John Easterby (who chaired the session) were blown away by the quality of some of the work by students who had never attempted multimedia before. I’m going to be sharing the best of it on the duckrabbit blog.

All the pieces were 90 seconds long. This is what David has termed an ‘EYECUE’. What is that? Well it’s a kind of multimedia haiku.

All good documentary makers know that they mustn’t try and tell the whole story because you can’t, and even if you could it would be dead boring. The art is knowing what to leave out.

Jonny Cochrane has got the right idea. He has a wonderful eye for a shot. Don’t try and follow this EYECUE (which apparently he banged off in a night) Just let it roll over you.

‘Michael Mwenso is a musician and historian. He is organiser and compere of ‘The late late sessions’ at Ronnie Scotts jazz club in Soho.

I have considered Michael for many years as one of the biggest and most charismatic characters I know and so thought he would be a perfect subject to explore for my first EYECUE.

In this piece he talks about one of his earliest life-changing encounters, aged only 11, with his hero and mentor James brown.’ Jonny Cochrane

Mwenso – by Jonny Cochrane from Jonny Cochrane on Vimeo.

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The Vanishing Mind: another piece of awesome from the New York Times

Adam Westbrook — Thu, 03 Jun 2010 09:49:51 +0000

If you’re serious about making good multimedia you should really make it your business to spend 15 minutes on the New York Times‘ website every morning. And the Washington Post too for that matter.

Such serendipity led me to stumble upon this superb and powerful story about an entire community of people in Columbia affected by alzheimers as young as 40. Anyone with the same lineage in this small community has a 75% chance of contracting the disease.

The film combines video with stills and audio skillfully. You’re sucked in as soon as the music kicks in at the beginning.

ADAM WESTBROOK

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The Green Book Materials

duckrabbit — Sat, 22 May 2010 14:06:42 +0000

This is a masterclass in documentary production. Nothing is out of place. Watch for the ending. It just crushed me.

The Green Book Materials from phos pictures on Vimeo.

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In Silence

duckrabbit — Wed, 19 May 2010 10:32:33 +0000

“What happened to us should not happen to anyone.”

Photographer Susan Meiselas and reporter Dumeetha Luthra traveled to India for Human Rights Watch to retrace the steps of one woman who died after giving birth to a son.

Powerful and respectful work.

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