Movie Star!

What a start to the summer! Basically there has been a lot of hype recently, especially on the southern news about a film named ‘Morris: A Life With Bells On’ being filmed in our area. A big scene is being shot at Sandbanks, and another would be shot in ‘The Lighthouse’, across the road from Poole Dolphin. It was advertised that there was going to be a big stage scene, and that they would need a large crowd to act as an audience. Basically I thought ‘what the hell!’, so I phoned up the council, and they recommended visiting the film productions website to sign up… Little did I know what I was signing up to be, was a featured film extra, other than just someone in the crowd, lol.

It was an amazing experience, especially having a much better job than just a simple crowd member (extra), and I had the chance to mix with the stars backstage. Basically I had to be round back of the lighthouse for 7am…. Once there, there were the production trailers, and costume trailers, and I was welcomed to a cooked breakfast, and eat in the trailer.

There I was, minding my own business in the breakfast trailer, gathering scraps off the table, lol, and I all of a sudden could hear this singing in the background. Took a peer round the corner, to notice that it was who I believe to be the main actor in the film, Chaz, bearing in mind that I don’t think that there are any singing roles in this film. I found that quite amusing… its probably just his way of warming up his voice. Minutes later, im still in the breakfast trailer and he comes in to get a cup of coffee from the machine and walks off, but forgets to turn the machine off… so hear I am with a trailer slowly flooding with coffee, lol. I turned it off, but you should have seen the look the chef gave me, as I walked out, lol, thinking that I purposely let the coffee on the floor, tehe o well.

The time came to be given my first role, and heres me regretting that I had a shave the day before, because at this age, I look like a child without the goatee, lol. This denied me becoming a security guard for a scene or two, but wasn’t a major deal. I was then required to change my clothes so that I was all black, thinking what the hells going on here, tehe…. Onto the first scene. Oh and by the way, actors Naomie Harris and Derek Jacobi are also in the film, woop! The first scene I had to do involved Naomie having an interview backstage and basically my role and the other featured extras was to walk behind her to give an illusion of a busy environment. In the first take, some idiot of an extra decides to walk between her and the camera! Total ponse! So that had to be retaken. After that a quick 10 minute break of mingling with the extras and listening to problems in their lives, lol. Next was a screen test. Basically I stood in for the main character and did some basic acting from the script, so that the cameras could be prepared for when the actors came on set. When the actor came to set I would give them a quick brief on what would be happening, as if they didn’t already know, tehe. Then that scene was filmed, and I happily stood next to the director and Naomie minding my own business as this went on. We then proceeded to another backstage scene. I think I had the choice between being a chappy clapping the characters on, or random guy who opens door.. knowing id more likely be on camera opening the door, I took that role. Basically the main characters were heading onto stage for their big show, which is gonna be filmed later on in the day.. I think they wanted me to smile.. I may have forgot, lol.

30 MINUTE BREAK!! The actors need to relax they say, lol.. so biscuits and tea all round and the coffee spill still hasn’t been mopped up, lol. Onto the next scene.

The film extra chappy calls me and 2 others over because he wants up to be part of a documentary film crew who would interview the lead actors after the big show. Our main roles were to run into shot, get radio microphones on the actors as quickly as possible, and then leave the shot. Ok, doesn’t sound so bad… we get a quick tutorial on how to apply a radio mic, then it’s a group huddle with the actors to see whos doing who, lol.. I get the lead character, whoop!! And we make random conversation about Karl Pilkington.. no objections there of course.. I spose its his way of bonding with ya, lol.. so that’s going on for 5 minutes whilst everything’s being set up.. time for the first bit… ok, characters run down the stairs celebrating, and when we get the signal, we run in and get the job done.. lol, now I don’t know what I did, but because of what I did, my random no body character had to be written into the rest of the scene, lol.. so all of a sudden, the featured extra boss man, drags me to one side, and I got one chap to my left telling me whats happening in the script, 2 girls giving me lots makeup all of a sudden, Chaz standing there getting over excited for no apparent reason, lol, and the extra boss telling me exactly what to do.. turns out this is a bit of a romantic scene, so my ugly mug center frame must really kill the mood, but I aint complaining, lol. FIRST TAKE… I run into shot as planned and get a little bit tangled applying the mic, and by the end of the scene still haven’t got the mic on Chaz… bummer, this will need to be redone.. plus the fact that when Chaz hugged Naomie, he got a tonne of makeup on her… and I chose to randomly prod her cos of the makup mishap, lol.. got to have been one of the most random things ive ever done.. hope it makes the outtakes on the dvd. TAKE TWO… still don’t really get the mic on in time.. and the director calls.. “get more makeup on David please”, im like thanks! TAKE THREE.. I do the job perfectly and get out of shot in time, but Chaz randomly calls Naomies character ‘Karl’, and he looks over to me as if its my fault.. it aint my fault mate, you’re the one going Pilkington bonkers today, lol. TAKE FOUR.. Perfect!!! Its Lunch Time, woop!!! We all get treated to cooked meals, sandwiches etc.. I took a spag bol, yum… all the extras and main actors sat in the trailer together, had some nice conversations and lotsa fun.

This afternoon was the main event scene, so people wanting to be in the crowd were starting to be rallied in.. this is the funny bit.. to make sure the crowd were under control, we were asked to dress up as police men and security, just to fool them, lol, it worked. It took 4 hours to film this 2 minute clip!! We didn’t have much of a role to play in this because it was on stage stuff with the lead actors.. and most of us had to stay as security anyway, lol.. but that’s just about it for that day of filming.. though because some of us were good enough, were now officially registered featured extras with the film company, so if they need any extras, then were be the first in line.. how cool is that ;)

All Done!

Ok then, all work is complete and its down to the examiners to be as kind as possible about my project. I admit that the finished version wasn’t as good as I wanted it to be, but the basic principles are there, and it works! Just wait and see I guess… its rumoured that we should get the results early July, so see what happens. In the mean time, I’m due for lots of sleep and relaxation, tehe.

Nearly There!

What’s new? Hendrix has had an extension on his project, so that should give me more time to prioritise before the deadline. Lindsey’s work is basically complete; I just need to complete some short animations of the water and boat moving. Javascript crossing over with the Unity player has become a real issue and I’m gonna have to revert back to iframes ☹. I have some basic building plans coming in, mainly of ground floors, but it is becoming a real help, in 3D construction, and has taken many hours off my work time. Not long to go, things are looking up… but I fear I may have taken on too bigger job to handle in just the 1 year, so I am going to prioritise in building ground floors, and the university exterior, at least then I will have a working version, no matter how detailed, by the deadline.

What's He Building?

What's He Building In There?
What The Hell Is He Building
In There?
He Has Subscriptions To Those
Magazines... He Never
Waves When He Goes By
He's Hiding Something From
The Rest Of Us... He's All
To Himself... I Think I Know
Why... He Took Down The
Tire Swing From The Peppertree
He Has No Children Of His
Own You See... He Has No Dog
And He Has No Friends And
His Lawn Is Dying... And
What About All Those Packages
He Sends. What's He Building In There?
With That Hook Light
On The Stairs. What's He Building
In There... I'll Tell You One Thing
He's Not Building A Playhouse For
The Children What's He Building
In There?

Now What's That Sound From Under The Door?
He's Pounding Nails Into A
Hardwood Floor... And I
Swear To God I Heard Someone
Moaning Low... And I Keep
Seeing The Blue Light Of A
T.V. Show...
He Has A Router
And A Table Saw... And You
Won't Believe What Mr. Sticha Saw
There's Poison Underneath The Sink
Of Course... But There's Also
Enough Formaldehyde To Choke
A Horse... What's He Building
In There. What The Hell Is He
Building In There? I Heard He
Has An Ex-Wife In Some Place
Called Mayors Income, Tennessee
And He Used To Have A
Consulting Business In Indonesia...
But What Is He Building In There?
What The Hell Is Building In There?

He Has No Friends
But He Gets A Lot Of Mail
I'll Bet He Spent A Little
Time In Jail...
I Heard He Was Up On The
Roof Last Night
Signaling With A Flashlight
And What's That Tune He's
Always Whistling...
What's He Building In There?
What's He Building In There?

We Have A Right To Know...



Tom Waits
Mule Variations (1999)

2 weeks and counting

Ok, where am I and what am I doing… My tutor has been able to make contact with the estates department, and some progress towards getting our hands on the plans has been made. I may get them early next week, fingers crossed. Anyway, lets see what happens, but I really appreciate all the help Joe, my tutor has given me.. I already know getting your hands on plans to a University is one hell of a complicated task, but he has more chance of success that I, being part of the Uni after all.

Past weeks progress includes, registering a domain, finally. I have been producing a new interface, which is currently incomplete. I have combined the page with some pretty special JavaScript, but when placing the Unity 3D player into the scene, the JavaScript seems to become disabled…. So im gonna have to do some fiddling to see if I can get round this, or I shall have to go back to something like the old design, which operates around iframes. Though I want to stray clear of page scrolling as much as possible, which the use of iframes may very well produce. But if I can’t get this JavaScript to work, then I may not have much of a choice. I thought it would be appropriate that the new interface design included the look of the University’s website, as I had intended the finished product to be integrated with the University’s site, for all users to access. I have had a lot of thoughts concerning the design of the website, as the current University’s site isn’t the most glamorous, but discussions with co-workers concluded that I should used the Uni site design. I’m battling on with Hendrix and Lindsey’s 3D pieces and hope to have them both completed by the end of today… I guess you’ll find out when I blog tomorrow, lol. A few screenies are below; I especially enjoyed making the water in Lindsey’s piece.


Im Lovin this water


Concerning the work for Hendrix, its the small details which make his 3D pieces special for me. We still have a few buildings, cars, stereo, bench, and a few other bits to put it. Its gives a lot of realism and atmosphere :)

Back to my project… With the 3D engine, I have managed to complete the coding for simple object interaction, and to query the database to display information. So I have at least the basic side of the project completed. Things are looking up, and with the major deadline just under 2 weeks away, your bound to be nervous, there’s plenty of work to be getting on with.

Backup Plan

Basically I was turned away by the estates office again!!! Copyright Law they say… Sounds like they don’t even trust my word, hmm. Anyway, hopefully my tutors may be able to convince them, seeing as they are actually part of the ‘organisation’… see what happens. In the meantime, I still have plenty of work to do.

- Second Environment for Hendrix.
- Boat for Lindsey
- Object interaction and database query in the 3D engine
- Loading different map locations using global variables
- Map navigation in the 3D environment
- Perfecting the database management system
- Brief Co-Workers to gather room information

Still plenty to do, whilst this building plan business sorts itself out, so lets see what happens.

Tasks Ahead

A list of Jobs to do before the deadline:
At the pitch it was highly recommended that I should locate the Bournemouth University Estates office and try to arrange access to the Building plans. With these in hand, it would be so much better, accurate and quicker to create the buildings in 3D. When building the prototype for my pitch, I had basically spent a day going round a building drawing onto paper the layout. This surprisingly was very accurate, especially after comparing the overhead view of the building to a Google Earth image. Before making the choice to draw out the building on paper, I had actually contacted the BU estates office, but I was denied access to the plans due to copyright. Approaching the estates office again, I guess I have to explain the situation a lot more clearly, and point out that it is for the Uni, rather than for myself. This may be the reason why I was denied in the first place. Either way, when approaching the more complex buildings in the University, it would be preferred to have access to the plans, because I will most likely not be as lucky in accuracy when drawing freehand.

Each process of constructing a building will follow these guidelines. First of all I must confirm an accurate interior and exterior plan, showing where all doors and windows are. Every door designation/name and type of window will be noted. Photos will be taken of every type of door and window, which can be later referred to when creating in 3D. Also as a precaution to make sure what is created is accurate enough, I will be taking shots of every possible angle, in both corridors and rooms.

Other Jobs

As well as doing my own work, I mustn’t forget my other companions, who I will also be assisting, with their work. Im not 100% fully sure of what their projects are, but I am more than certain of what I have to do to help them. First of all im assisting Hendrix Bauyon by placing together 2 high polygon backgrounds for his Dancing Game, project. As a guideline I have been given 2 images to work from (see below). I am rather excited about creating these, as I haven’t really had the chance to explore high polygon and high quality 3D models.




The gym for Hendrix has already been completed and was used in his pitch, presenting the product idea.



Next, I am helping Colin Dean in his project Aurora, by placing together a small 3D animation, showing the people who he will pitch to, what the ideal environment would look like when users will be interacting with his product. The Following are a few screenshots taken from his blog.


The above is a representation of images which will be projected on the wall, when the product is in use.



I am helping Richard Coleman and Kerim Ozsoz with any PHP problems they may encounter when producing their websites. Richard is producing an online magazine, in which users can submit their story’s. At the end of each month the highest rated will be produced into a Flash Based, downloadable magazine, fully interactive. Kerim is producing an online virtual 3D water sports guide for the Canary Islands featuring external XML weather and tide forecast. The island of Fuerteventura is built completely in 3D to give the surfer an informative guide to the island

Going back to 3D, I am assisting Lindsey Nicholls by producing a 3D boat, which will act as a logo/icon, which will rotate. I intend to make this image in super high quality, just as with the work for Hendrix, pushing my attention to 3D detail, once again… quite exciting.

This pretty much sums up the tasks which I have to do for my fellow co-workers at the University, though there is a lot of work ahead for me, it shall prove most rewarding.

Beginning of the end

Just over a month till major deadlines and so much to do. Lets start at the beginning… My main work, of course is the © 3D Virtual Tour. Check this…, Redefining the way in which we see online Virtual Tours. Instead of the standard QuickTime VR’s, I’ve taken it to the next level, where the user can freely explore the environment. In the past, and current present, QuickTime Tours present an Interactive Panoramic of a room or area, the user is limited to only controlling the rotation of the camera and has a handy zoom function, which can result in blurred imagery. Using as much detail as possible, I am creating the environment for the user to explore, totally in 3D. Bournemouth University is my challenge, creating the campus, and adding interactive elements, which would create the perfect tour guide/information resource for students, visitors, and students of the future. The user will be able to explore freely, being able to find their own way around the Uni, if they are unsure as to where a certain room or lecture theatre is located on campus, they will be able to search, and upon viewing the results, have the choice to jump straight to the room in the environment, plot a point on the 3D map to find their own way there, or navigate a route on the system, in a satellite navigation type of way. Users will be able to click on rooms to access popup information referring to which classes take place, or who’s office it is, or whether there is a timetable which can be accessed. This system will be available to view soon at http://www.butour.co.uk. Being 3D, I have considered the fact that file sizes would be very much larger than your standard QuickTime VR. This is no problem…. Mainly because, Internet speeds nowadays are at least 1Mbps, with a further 8mbps soon to become standard in the UK. 63% of the population in the UK have Broadband (Office of National Statistics – Feb 2006), the percentage still grows on a monthly basis. People wanting to visit or study at the Uni are almost guaranteed to already have Broadband, so this shouldn’t be a problem.

Here are a few renders to get things started