Wednesday, 21 August 2013

In the French Alps

I was recently in the French Alps. The landscape is breathtaking and although the weather was mostly glorious sunshine, it was the grey day of drizzle which inspired me to take my camera out - I guess that's an inbuilt 'englishness' which isn't going to be easy to shake!






All images ©LydiaHarris2013

Thursday, 15 August 2013

Final Film

So finally here is the final film I created for my degree. I've been working on this project for a whole year and it was a privilege to be able to visit the farm throughout the seasons, to meet the fantastic workers and volunteers who work there and to be able to talk about the things that really matter to them and their industry. Thanks to everyone at Cusgarne Organic Farm who contributed.

I hope you like the final outcome, I'd love to hear your feedback.



Future Grower from Lydia Harris on Vimeo.

Thursday, 4 July 2013

Incito Exhibition in Bristol

I'm all packed up and ready to go to Bristol tomorrow! I'm part of an exhibition at the RWA running from the 6th-14th July. Please come along if you're around and see everyone's work, it's going to be great! See our website for more details...


Thursday, 30 May 2013

Future Grower Trailer

I handed in all my work last Monday - so I've officially finished my degree!! Wooo!

This is the trailer I made for our exhibition which is opening this Tuesday evening in sunny Falmouth. If you're around then come and see our work! Click here for more info.



I'm also showing my work in Bristol between the 6th & 14th July at the RWA, more info here.

Tuesday, 23 April 2013

Sowing seeds

During my most recent trip to the farm they were planting the seeds for next season's harvest. Here's some stills from the footage I shot...






Saturday, 16 March 2013

My mind.... in cue card form?

So I've finally done it. My tutor has been telling me for the last month to create a story board for the final edit of my film. This is easier said than done as it involved figuring out the following;
a) Why am I creating this film?
b) What is the film about?
c) What is the underlying theme?
d) What is the narrative?
e) How is the narrative going to be told?

You would think these would have been things to have sorted out before I started the project - but apparently I have evaded even thinking about them and have just filmed and recorded what had interested me at the time.

So for the last month I got stuck into reading, watching, researching other artists and generally mulling over all the above questions. It's scary as I have felt like I'm achieving very little while my deadline is looming, but in the end it was entirely necessary. Here is the result;



My breakthrough in creating my narrative came from an excerpt from David Bate's book 'The Key Concepts of Photography';
"... News photographs are perceived as signifying events. Art and most documentary photographs signify states. Some documentary photographs and Muybridge's series in particular are seen as signifying processes. From what we know about minimal narratives, we might say that an ideal minimal story form might consist of a documentary photograph, then a news photograph, then an art photograph (process, event, state)." - David Bate


So I'm following this simple narrative structure by showing the process through the visuals, event with discussion of the current organic debates through interview footage and state through personal stories of the workers.

It is intimidating to have everything that was in my brain now displayed on the wall above my bed, but it is a start and it will be good to get going with the next stage of working on the initial edit.

Wednesday, 13 February 2013

Lunchtime Film

This is the film I shot on the same day as the stills in the last post. Pretty sure the final piece won't have music, but it's a little weird watching it without... so enjoy! And yes that's icing sugar been sprinkled on carrots and parsnips - inspired!

Friday, 8 February 2013

Lunchtime!

At the farm everyone takes a turn at cooking lunch once a week. It's great that they get to eat together and the conversation and stories round the dinner table are priceless!









Monday, 21 January 2013

Life on a Farm Intro

So this is the introduction piece I handed in for the most recent assessment.

I'm not entirely sure what I think of it any more as it turned out a lot more commercial than I had envisioned... I'm hoping that the final piece for my hand-in in May will have gone in a different direction... So yes, enough waffle. Let me know what you think;

 

Thursday, 17 January 2013

AfterEffects Wizardry

So I spent last Friday evening geeking it out and watching AfterEffects tutorials online. I wanted to create a title page something like on this video (Skip to 1:00 for the title sequencey bit)

So after watching this tutorial on repeat for the last couple of hours...

 

 I finally did it! It's still a little rough and I still can't find a font I like - but here it is;

Tuesday, 4 December 2012

Winter Days

Here's a little clip of some footage that I've gathered over the past couple weeks;


It's just a rough edit of some of the footage I've gathered so far which shows the quietness and stillness of the farm over winter. Let me know your thoughts!

Monday, 29 October 2012

Cusgarne Apple Pressing

I returned to Cusgarne Farm last week to record some film footage and an interview with Greg and I managed to catch their annual apple pressing! They make and sell pressed apple juice from their own orchards, and I can honestly say after sampling some freshly pressed that afternoon that its some of the best I've had! Here are some stills from the footage I captured which show part of process;





All images © Lydia Harris 2012

Friday, 19 October 2012

Carrot Portraits

So here's some shots from yesterday's shoot in the studio. I'm not all that used to shooting in a studio setup and I've got a lot to learn. I am looking at comparing the products sold in supermarkets, and those sold from Cusgarne Farm's shop. So here are some of the more weird and wonderful looking carrots that wouldn't have made it to the supermarket shelves but are just as tasty, if not more!








Saturday, 6 October 2012

Cusgarne Farm

So here starts a new year and a new project! I'm looking at organic farming and today was my first shoot. Over the summer I visited Cusgarne Organic Farm, a local family run farm between Falmouth and Truro. They grow fruit and veggies (pretty much every type you've ever heard of and quite a few you haven't!), keep a herd of beef cattle and about 100 chickens. Here's my first selection from today;









It was pretty great to be out shooting again and I'm excited for what this project holds in store!

All images ©Lydia Harris 2012

Saturday, 4 August 2012

Summery Goodness

So its been a while... I'm working a 9-5 office job over the summer so haven't been able to get out much, but I do have a beautiful walk to work everyday;






All images ©Lydia Harris 2012

Wednesday, 27 June 2012

C'est fini!

So here it is ladies and gentlemen, the first preview of the video...



I've still got some time to change some little bits here and there, but it's pretty much there. Let me know what you think!

Saturday, 23 June 2012

Sneak Preview

Here's a clip of part of the final video of this project. I've been spending the last week rendering and re-rendering timelapses and collecting some extra footage. This coming week I'm working with my housemate to make a soundtrack for it, and the final video should be ready to upload by Friday! I can't wait!



All Content ©LydiaHarris

Saturday, 16 June 2012

Website

Hi Bloggers! I'm excited to announce my new website... www.lydiaharris.net
I built it using Adobe Muse which is pretty great to use, let me know what you think.
I'll still be using this blog to give updates on current projects, so have no fears!


Friday, 25 May 2012

Underwater Soundscape

Here's a video I made for a recent assignment showing the sounds of being underwater. Makes me jealous for the warm waters of Egypt...


©Lydia Harris 2012

Saturday, 12 May 2012

Farewell Frogs

I've just spent the evening in the studio filming the frogs. Good to get the amazing detail with the macro lens and I managed to get footage of one of them eating a blackfly! I'm going to release them pretty soon as they've finished their transformation, so this may be my final post as a frog owner! Look at older posts to see them from tadpoles.
Here are some stills from tonight's footage;



A somewhat action-blurred shot...

All images ©Lydia Harris 2012