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HDR Panoramic/Photomerge Photo Tutorial

Ok, I think it’s about time I actually wrote something a little less self indulging- my first tutorial

So this one is a ‘how to’, and the how to in this case is this;

Click the image for a big version. And in case you’re wondering, it’s Sheffield, UK.

This particular picture is made up of 25 exposures, blended into 5 HDR images, and then merged into one  HDR panoramic. I’m using Photoshop CS4, but I know this is possible in CS2 because I did it

This tutorial assumes you have a knowledge of basic photo editing in Photoshop, and are comfortable using RAW to tweak images. This tutorial covers neither, only HDR and Panoramic photos.

So, I’m guessing if you are reading this you are probably interested in HDR and panoramic images. Unfortunatly you have to know a little technical stuff about HDR at least before you can begin.

HDR simply means, ‘High Dynamic Range’. The dynamic range is the tonal range of the luminesce of an image. Simply put, it’s how much information that can be gathered from an exposure. Unfortunately, the dynamic range of even the top of the range cameras today, is no way near what is seen by the eye. If you expose for one area, there will always be other areas which are either under or over exposed. The HDRs role is to mimic light in the real world, by preserving detail in both highlights and shadows.

So what we do is take multiple exposures, and combine them into one HDR image. That is, we give our image a high dynamic range. To do this we have too take a few shots of the same subject, making sure we take each picture one stop apart. So for these I took five exposures, starting at -2, all the way up to +2. You’ll need a tripod for this, or the images won’t merge properly. You also need to shoot RAW.

Because I was aiming for a panoramic too, I simply rotated my camera around on the tripod, taking five exposures at each new location. You have to make sure the images over lap a little each time you shoot. This is because the way Photoshop merges the pictures later is by comparing pixels which are similar in multiple pictures, and then automatically using a blend mask to merge them.

Ok, so import your images, and have a gander. Not all that special at the moment are they? Should look something like this,

Not pretty huh? Notice the extreme over and under exposing I’ve got going on here.

Open them one at a time in RAW, you should be aiming to bring out the details of each shot, to maximise the tonal range of the area of the picture you exposed for. For example, in the -2 image, play around with the sky. In the +2 photos, you want to be evening out the tones in the darkest areas. Save your files. I’ll leave you to that. you could automate the process with a batch, but that’s cheating and it’ll effect the quality.

In Photoshop again, go to File>Automate>HDR. Select your five exposures you have for each picture. These are about to become a HDR. Click ok to begin. It’ll take a while, so leave it be. When it’s done, yo’ll get the option to play around with a setting I forgot the name of. Just move the slider around until you are happy with the exposure you are seeing. You want to make sure your sky isn’t blowing out in the highlights, although if you did a good job with your exposures, this won’t be a problem. Save it as an HDR.

Ok, now you just repeat that until you have all your HDRs.

Now comes the panoramic part. In Photoshop, go to File>Automate>Photomerge. An option box will appear asking how you want your image to be processed. This depends entirely on the type of shot you want to create, but for me I knew I wanted as much of the image to be shown as possible, and I didn’t mind the curved buildings and skies created by the wide angle lens. Auto works brilliant if you’re less ambitious.

seperatly

Load your files and hit Ok. Then go and get a cup of tea, because this will take an hour or two. Maybe get a bath too, or watch a film or something.

So when it’s done you’ll have your HDR Panorama. Yay! You did it! Now you can tweak it to get the effect you want/desire. If like me you can’t resist editing without the rest of the adjustments under Image>Adjustments, then covert the image to a 16bit image via Image>Mode. You’ll now have access to the options you want. I dupicated the image, and separated the sky and buildings so I could work on each one separately.

Y Not? (amazing pun title)

I highly recommend you play this video whilst reading the post. It will set the mood. Also, I have to get my kicks somehow.

The ‘Y Not Festival’. I went there, and straight from the title, you get a feel at what kind of festival this is. I mean, It’s called the ‘Y Not’ festival. It has a ‘Y’ instead of ‘why’ which I think farmers must think is ‘ghetto’ or something. And without the punctuation the friendly question becomes some scary bullying tactics made by a guy with a field. Never heard of it? Neither had I, but, here was my friend telling me it would be a good excuse to meet up and do various ‘fun’ activities like standing in the rain, and living under a piece of canvas like some kind of canvas troll, spooning beans and tuna (not advised) into our faces. I mean, I went to Leeds Festival in (checks wristband) 2009, and it was pretty damn good. Mostly because the atmosphere is all tingly and there is amazing music (the year of Radiohead!),  and because everyone is in a stupid/happy  alcohol infused zombie state. So why not just go there? Well the ‘Y Not’ festival is £140 cheaper then Leeds Festival. Now I suck at math and even I know thats pretty good value for money, considering you get a full three days festivalling (a real word) and camping thrown in, and apparently a free shuttle bus. But it looks nothing like a shuttle, so we got a taxi instead. Also, as I’m sure the marketing people behind the festival realised…why not? I mean, it’s £50! So very naively I packed my belongings and hauled my ass over there.

So, now a little about the festival. It’s called the ‘Y Not’ festival, and is somewhere very near to Matlock in the Peak District. It has a few biggish indy bands playing, although to be honest I thought the line up was below luke warm, with the main acts being the Futureheads and the Subways. Still, there are a few tents with various festival based fun within. In fact one of the highlights of the weekend was trying to hit my friend in the face with a juggling ball, which I’m sure the festival doesn’t condone, but doesn’t care about either. It was around this time that weirdly I found out my friend had been practicing dodging shots to the face. Either that or I suck at throwing, and there is no way I’ll admit that online. Luckily, he lost his phone whilst dodging super light speed precision ball shots, which made me a lot happier and gave me a sense of worth. The food at the festival is anything you can deep fry, although there was a great vegetarian stand that injected some much needed health into my weekend.

And what a weekend it turned out to be. Why? Because of the atmosphere, music and drunken people? Well I guess it had those three, but not in the formally implied way. It was the primitive British side of me that loves it when things go wrong that was roused into having fun by things just, well going wrong.

Firstly our good friend informed us that he forgot that the festival wasn’t in Matlock city centre, so we had to get a taxi over there. Because I ain’t getting on a shuttle bus that doesn’t look like a shuttle. We met a girl who was alone and trying to find her way, so we got in the same taxi as her…man I just realised how dodgy this sounds written down. Well she was going to the festival and we shared a ride. End of.  Kinda. The taxi driver got stupid lost, nearly took us to a beer festival, and my friends girlfriend was wasted on ‘POWER SHITE’ or whatever they’re calling energy drinks these days. But the taxi was really helpful, and dropped us off at the right spot, helped us with our bags and didn’t charge us for the time he got lost. Lol, not really. He charged us waiting time for HIS mistake. I don’t understand how he got so lost anyway, the venue was clearly marked with an A4 sign that had ‘Y Not’ written on it in biro.

We arrived in the rain, so the first thing we did was find a patch of grass that wasn’t covered in rubbish/excrement. Then we left the cow field and went to the festival. good friends girl freind stood around helpfully and energetically commanding us to put up the tents so she could drink her body wight in Lambruno, which is two letters cheaper then Lambrini.

The next couple of hours was a surreal mixture of cheap wine, a camera, and ‘Take On Me’ by ‘A-Ha’. Sounds like a mixture for disco themed soft porn, but it’s worse then that.

So we ran around in the rain for two hours, had a hazy go on the bumper cars, saw fleeting moments of OK!GO, and found the place where the cool stoner kids hang out, even thought it’s a massive turtle shaped tent. One thing I liked about the evening was the bar. The furniture was straw bales. That sounds incredibly boring and lame, but have you ever sat on straw? It’s so warm! And way comfier then you think. Also, how many bars have you been into where it’s ok to wreck the furniture? Not many I should think.

Commence Sleeping Period.

Oh hi world, it’s…..5am!? wtf?! how and why did we wake up at 5am?! I normally have trouble seeing the mythical hours before noon, and here I am voluntarily waking up at the crack of dawn. Nice sunrise though. Like something out of Star Wars. Or any film with a sun rise come to think of it. By the time noon actually arrived we were all stupid tired, and running on only a sachet of tuna and lime and some blacks bits. Not sure if they’re edible or included in the sachet. Also it looks like cat food. But at least the sun is shining…oh bye sun.

We decided that because we got up at ridiculous O’clock that we’d walk to the nearest shop.Which was ‘only a couple of miles’ but felt like a triathlon. But milk is a cure for anything. Well that was the goal anyway. On the way we met a guy known only as ‘Ant with the field’. His name was Anthony and he owned the field the festival was hosted on. He must have seen our desperate plea in the way we walked, because he scooped us up and drove us to the shop/garage and brought us back. Then my friend ran at a cow like he wanted to hug the damned thing, and look really confused when it shit itself and ran to the nearest bull. Btw, bulls are scary man. They look like cows on steroids. They look like the only two functions that go through their heads are ‘what can I head butt next?’ and ‘what can I hump next?’. I know a person like that.

Day two is fancy dress day! Luckily, and not at all a marketing strategy, there are fancy dress stalls on site! I decide upon browsing that I am way too cheap to buy a costume, and my friend agrees. Then we see matching capes which we immediately buy, and decide we are some obscure but very worthwhile crime fighting duo. Although judging by our conversations, should a crime actually appear, we would probably just a pose a lot and argue about who has the best cape/super name. My friends’ girlfriend wore some flowers on her head and called it a day. To be honest though, any excuse for her to wear flowers is met with enthusiasm.

That evening was a crazy evening of complete debauchery. Not really we fell asleep, woke up, ate a burger, went back too…oh man we had a pretty lame evening! Refreshing though. And filling. Better then the last time I went camping with ‘good friend’ and the only nutrition we managed to get in us was Guinness and Doritos. I am sponsored by neither. But they are both delicious and have great pension schemes.

Anyway, the Peak District is a great place to host it the festival, the festival itself was really friendly and the people were pretty chatty and easy going. No self involved wannabes. The festival is still in it’s infancy, apparently four years old this year. But I can see this one growing in the future. It’s almost like a beginners guide to festivals. You get all the festival fun, without the soul crushing fatigue and thousand of drunk people to contend with. Ok, so there are thousands of people there, but 5000 isn’t a lot compared to the 100,000 of this years Glastonbury. Also it’s £50.

I got some pretty cool pics too, which are on this page.

So to sum it up,

Pros

It’s a festival

It’s £50

Beer

‘Take On Me’

Bumper Cars

Cons

Lineup

Rain

Deep fried menu

Sunburn (it rained for two days!?)

Sandals

NB, Man I just remembered our first encounter with a Matlock resident. We’ll call her Betty. Betty works at a nameless super market called Sainsburys on check out. Someone in the queue asked her why we were wearing camping gear and buying alcohol. Because apparently it’s dangerous to ask a hiker what the fuck he’s doing in case he goes for the jugular with rabid teeth. She informs…Sandra…that we are going to a festival, and then proceeds to, well caution us that we shouldn’t forget to take some lubrication! Seriously! She just very quickly decided that we were promiscuous hippies or something. It took me completely off guard, it wouldn’t have been so bad if she was reminding us to take ‘protection’. But what really got me on the way out was that lubrication was on this woman’s mind the moment she saw us… I blame the sandals.

Android Apps My Life Needs…

…and could definitely live without if I was that dedicated.

none of these apps are especially cool, or fun or mind blowing. I did a mass download when I got my phone, and these are the only apps to survive my mass extinction of useless apps.

3G Watchdog

This is a simple app that monitors your data usage. You set a quote amount each month, and the handy widget will measure how much data you use and display it graphically. It only measures your quota when you are actually connected to 3G to save battery. Handy if, like me your ‘unlimited’ data plan means you are ‘unlimited unless you go over 1GB downloads per month.’

Advanced Task Cleaner

This app is a pretty useful way of checking what apps are running in the background. When you open it, you can create ‘ignore’ and ‘auto kill’ lists. Which is pretty self explanatory. You also have a handy app uninstaller. Doing a proper uninstall of apps ensures you don’t have ghost files clogging up precious memory. You also get a widget with this one, which when you press kills all the running apps except ones on the ignore list. This is a blessing for increasing battery life.

Air Control

Is a free and addictive puzzle/action game where you have to stop aeroplanes crashing. Nuff said.

Rise & Shine Alarm

I’m a pretty heavy sleeper. I’d be a rubbish beefeater. Also the hats are silly. This is basically what would happen if the devil wanted to wake you up in the morning. You get a variety of ‘alerting’ noises such as nails on a blackboard, a baby crying, a fire alarm ect. Although for me the ‘nails on blackboard’ sounds a lot like a melting man screaming into your face and dawn. Then just to add insult to injury, before you can put the alarm on sleep or turn the damn thing off, you have to do a quiz. Gets you nice and awake in the morning And nothing beats waking up to said screaming man and trying to figure out the capital of Zambia with a raging hangover. And it’s free.

Barcode Scanner

It scans barcodes both 2d and 3d. You can also create barcodes to share links and contacts with other phone users. You can scan products in shops and it’ll find them on Google Shopping. Nifty. And Free.

BBC News

Well, its a very low memory news app, with RSS support, and notifications support. Comes with a widget too small to be useful.

beebPlayer

The iPlayer on your mobile glitchy as hell but free. Will definitely eat into your download limit

Compass

Well the phone has a digital compass, but no compass app. Which just seems silly. I have actually used this before, as a real compass. I am still alive so it must work. Also there is an SAS look alike one. Which is default cool.

Facebook

Facebook for Android. This is a much better version of the app then was on my old Moto. Again, surprisingly this doesn’t come with the Hero.

Flashlight

Oh no! A Widget you have to pay for!!! Well it’s only a quid, so don’t panic. This is a…flashlight app. That lights things up. And if you press menu three times then a secret menu appears telling you to put your password in. You can hide all manner of files here. I’d like to think this would go to some honourable use, but we all know it’ll be hiding porn.

Google Sky Map

Wow. It’s like Star Trek in your pocket or something. This is an augmented reality app, which lays the positions of the stars in relation to where you point your camera. Quite handy for finding the sun too, even in daylight. Useful for astronomers. USeless for everyone else. But still damn cool. And free. Works smooth and fast.

Handcent SMS

Now were onto a heavy weight app here. Another freebee though. This replaces your default ‘Messages’ app. Why? Well because this has a lot of cool features, is infinitely quicker and more customisable. And it also abolishes an annoying glitch with the ‘Messages’ app which causes it to never shut down properly, which eats into your battery life. When you get Handcent, be sure to properly shut down the ‘Messages’ app.

Flixster Movies

I can’t live without this. It is the holy grail of cinema. Connection to the internet allows you to find local cinemas, and then see what films are playing, and what times they are on. You can also view trailers and reviews from Rotten Tomatoes, and it links to all the cast and crew IMDB profiles. AND you can login with your flixster account and rate movies, and view upcoming releases. Just awesome. And free.

National Rail (UK only)

Ok, so the first app here that costs good money, but it’s a fiver well spent. You get all the functionality of the National Rail website but it is stripped down and optimised for this app. You also get a uber useful widget which gives you live departures and arrivals at the station of your choice. A life saver on many occasions (including the time I was meant to be going North and realised I was headed South).

Powertime

Free widget, that tells you in hours and minutes how long your battery will last. A godsend!

Some Hints and Tricks

How to Save Battery Life

Mugen Extended Life Batteries

I bought one of these, and it’s a godsend. I used to get about 28hrs of battery life, which was annoying. So I got the 1550mAh battery for £20 which is an extended life one. It goes straight where the old one used to, no other parts needed. Works on the standard phone charger. I now get 58hrs battery life. The proofs in the pudding, and I ate my share.

Why I wouldn’t swap my HTC Hero for an iPhone

No. Seriously, you can stop bribing. I’m not bothered. Not even the shiny new iPhone 4.

So I could tell you why in a long or short way. And because this is the internet and most people want to be playing Gears of Duty instead of reading my blog, I’m just going to write a list. And then also a really exhaustive description after it in the name of…writing/blogging.

Ok, first up, I am in no way an Android or a Mac fanboy/hater either way. Apple make some amazing top of the line products, and then every now and again they make a product which is just stupid. Like the MacBook Air, or iPad. Then they started building products that have been reputably good for years, and they ruin it by adding some stupid form over function design feature that ruins the purpose of the product…I’m looking at you, non removable laptop (and iPhone) batteries… Thankfully they haven’t dicked around with the iMac. Yet.

So whats my beef with the iPhone? Nothing really, it’s just that they claim stuff to be revolutionary and put a big marketing spin on products that are, well, old hat.

Take for example the iPhone 4. An amazing phone that has all the things a year old HTC Hero has. And I got mine free on a £18 contract from 3. Yes, I have been with 3 a while, but still, that’s a pretty good deal. Much better then paying £279 up front and then being tied to a £35 a month contract.

But lets look at some details below on comparable models…

HTC Hero vs iPhone 3GS

Interface

A big difference here. The Hero is shipped with 1.5 Android. The iPhone is running iPhone OS. When the iPhone OS came out, it wowed people everywhere with it’s slick user face and totally different way of being used. Unfortunately, it has not aged well, and seems too restricted and simple in comparison to the Android OS. The final nail in the iPhone OS however, is that you can now run Android 2.1 in a Hero. HTC was pretty busy adding their own spit and polish to the Android interface for the Hero, calling it the ‘HTC Sense’. Which to be honest is a pretty good marketing term, because the Android system makes…sense…with HTC’s input. Everything is where you think it should be, and the transitions and way this phone is organised is a joy to use.

For example, the home screen on an iPhone can only ever really be one thing…a list of program shortcuts. Sense UI on the Hero has SEVEN home screens that are completely customisable with all manner of amazing apps. For example, on my own personal Hero I have a bunch or program shortcuts, a live weather widget, a clock that doubles as an alarm. A calendar app that reminds me if I have any events coming up that day. A music app, a live Twitter app, a live train times widget, and a switch to turn on my mobile browsing. If I switched to the iPhone now, I would find it too restrictive and infuriating that I can’t just have my information as I need it. And live apps work, well live. They run in the background, you don’t need to open the apps to use them. The Android also supports multi-task running, which is something the iPhone has never heard of. Quite often I’ll find myself playing games whilst listening to music and surfing the net. It’s very easy to switch between apps, just hold the home button.

One thing I like in particular is how it deals with contacts. It ships with a phonebook called ‘People’. You use this just like a regular contact list, only it links to Facebook and email and Flickr as well. It grabs the profile pictures of your friends from Facebook and uses them as contact images, it’ll download your friends Facebook and Flickr images to your phone to view later, and it’ll also alert you of updates via Twitter and Flickr. You can also set personal groups and favourites to organise your contacts easily.

Also, did I mention a little thing called ‘Open Source’? Oh yeah, that’s the Android’s calling card. Being open source means programmers and app makers everywhere have access to the code needed to develop. Which means much better made, smoother running apps. It also means you can update your phone to the latest version of Android without a drama, which I’m sure iPhone users everywhere are sniping at. It also means a lot of people are making new apps all the time, and there isn’t an Apple filter stopping most of the them making the market. It does mean there are a lot of duff apps on the Android Market, but the Market automatically ranks apps by user ratings, so the best apps are the ones you’re likely to run into.

Features

Well, both phones have a GPRS, an accelerometer, multi-touch input, a 3.5mm headphone jack, an ambient light sensor, and capacitive touch screens. The iPhone swings a small punch here, having a 3″5 to the Hero’s 3″2. Although the uncluttered layout of the Android OS means it never feels smaller. Both phones have the ability to run apps that can use multiple hardware types at once, for example, Layar is an augmented reality browser which syncs with Google Maps and your GPS and displays it on your screen via your camera. It’s pretty memory intensive.

Camera

Ok, so now we are getting to the Hero’s biggest weakness. Technically, it has a better camera then the iPhone, with a 5.1 to the iPhone’s 3.2. Video quality, however, leaves a lot to be desired. and the iPhone can take better quality video. So overall, this is a draw here.

Even Heros have flaws…

Ok, I couldn’t really write an argument like this without pointing out the Hero’s flaws. Also, I feel a little bit sorry for the iPhone right now. Well, firstly, the iPhone is just a smidgen faster then the Hero. Only a bit. But occasionally, the Hero is prone to lag when doing certain things. One thing, for some reason, is when you rotate the screen during typing a message. It freezes for about 2-3 seconds without fail. And I don’t think anyone has actually figured out why yet. Speaking of keyboard, the extra 0″3 of screen does go on the keyboard on the iPhone, which leaves the qwerty on the Hero feeling a little squashed. Again, speed wise, the iPhone wins again with flash reading. Having an internal flash rather then running on SD cards, the iPhone is bound to be quicker. Although, it does leave you stuck with whatever you have on your phone when out and about. With the Hero, you could easily have more then one card. And although the Hero only supports up to 32GB cards, the iPhone only ever shipped with 32GB of space.

What about the new iPhone!?

So what does the iPhone 4 bring to the table? It is after all, the supreme heavy weight, and the Hero has been around a year or so. Well not a lot really. The only thing I was impressed about with the iPhone 4 was the new Retina Display. It is basically a tiny version of the OLED screens running on the new Intel Core 2 Duo iMacs, and does look stunning. But phones are for using, not looking at right? So what else can it bring? Multi-tasking, Facetime and HD video. Is that it? Really? Well I’m pretty certain something similar to Facetime appeared about 10 years ago when lots of business types were saying that video calling was the new way of communicating. You know what? It wasn’t. Everyone hated it. It died a horrible, lonely death. And no one cared. As for multi-tasking…well I think we covered that already… So what about HD video? Surely that must be really good?! Well no you see, HD video at the moment is just a trigger word for manufacturers to suck people into parting with cash. I have used many many cameras in my lifetime, and I’m telling you there is not point in having HD video if you have a plastic lens. It’s like burying an Armani suit and finishing them of with a pair of Crocs…

So what else can the iPhone offer? Change wallpaper? Really? Apple you have got to be fucking with us. You really put that on your website as a main feature? Even Nokia has been doing that since 1911, and their business is worth less then my underwear drawer at the moment.

So now you see, my exhaustive reasoning as to why I won’t be partying ways with my Hero just yet. It’s chugging along fine thank you

If this interested you then you should really be looking at this link, where I go over some of the best Android apps I have.

‘Unite’ – behind the scenes of a music video shoot.

Ok, so this is the first of a new section of my site, where basically I will try and show a little development behind a few projects.

The first being a music video I got hired to make for a guy I’ll refer to as Carlos. Carlos is an independent musician in Sheffield specialising in Grime/Hip Hop & Drum & Bass inspired music. He found me via word of mouth, and wanted an independent music video to reflect his music and content. Working on a micro budget, this is a no frills shoot consisting of me and my gear. Primarily I’ll be shooting on a Canon 500D (or Rebel TS1 in the states). The majority of work will be to edit and colour grade in Final Cut Pro, and then some special effects in After Effects.

The track is named ‘Unite’ for now, although no one seems to be sure on a definite title just yet. It relates to Carlos and his story of growing up in Sheffield, making and losing friends in the process. Although the track talks about many sad and negative things, Carlos is adamant that the track is a celebration and should remain positive.

We talked through some ideas to begin with, and I tried to figure out a way of reflecting his lyrics in a positive way. So the track follows Carlos in his initial briefing with the content of the track, recording it, and then making his way to the ‘top’ (literally) of Sheffield to perform his track to the streets below. He rises up from the darkness and into the light in the same manner as his track.

So the first day of shooting went well. The sun was shining, the sky was blue, but not too bright, and all the shots we needed to get that day were got. A look at the footage later shows a success. One more meet up to go, and then a final edit.

I’ll be updating this page with info and pics when I find the time to do them.

Until then, head on over to Carlos’ MySpace page

21st Aug, 2010

OK, so it appears that I can be bothered to put those pics on now. Work in progress, as always.

Inception, a film lovers review

CONTAINS SPOILERS!!

Many have heralded Inception as Christopher Nolan’s own magnum opus. The film that may well define everything he makes in the future. Overblown nonsense?

Inception is a intricately told story with a multi layered approach to storytelling that Nolan seems to be a fan of, and which he dealt with expertly in ‘Memento’. But where Memento was delivered with sniper precession, ‘Inception’ pummels through the story, launching huge ideas and visuals at you like some demented runaway freight train.

I had been waiting for Inception to come out in the UK for little less than a year now. As soon as I saw the lineup, and heard the ideas behind the film, I couldn’t help but boil over with anticipation. It has been branded as a heist film set in the mind, and it lives up to that notion. ‘Inception’ takes place in a future where dreams can be invaded by select agents, to extract information and secrets. Cobb (DiCaprio) is hired to take it up a notch and perform Inception; the placing of ideas in the mind. In classic film noir style, a team must draw on their expertise to overcome the goal they have been set, and here on the mind is the only set of boundaries.

I can’t say I was ever a massive fan of Nolan’s work, but here he was making a film which seemed to be made for me, led by the talents of Leonardo DiCaprio. An epic action film, with story and depth and characters and emotion, which I think are all things that are massively overlooked in todays swollen block-buster scene. DiCaprio was always another kettle of fish altogether, making consistently great films since ‘The Departed’, with maybe a small annoying blip in ‘Body of Lies’. The teaser for this film came out, and again blew my mind. The visuals were stunning, and music was a bed of noise which seemed to be raw energy vibrating from the screen. The snippets of script included in the teaser were massively inciting, leaving small hints as to what could be experienced by this film; ‘WAKE ME UP! WAKE ME UP!’ It was at that moment that I made a conscious decision to not read or look at any more press or hype related to the film. I wanted to experience this film with only my own anticipation.

Ok, so I guess you want to know if this film is actually any good, or just a load of overblown nonsense? In a nut shell, this film is mind blowing. It immerses you in the world Nolan has created, and it smothers you in his ideas and then it spreads your brains across the wall with them. Nolan masks his film with James Bond style globetrotting, gunfights and explosions, but underneath, the core of the film is a dark twisted one, with regret and love being the central focus. Nolan is a master of revealing plot points to you when he knows they will have the biggest impact on you. And he throws us straight into the film world he created without a safety harness, leaving you to figure out the plot right from the get go. Sounds exhausting right? Well it isn’t. That’s one of the fascinating parts of the film, it makes you think and try to understand, and by doing this you are pushing yourself further into the film.
Dealing with dreams, Nolan could be standing on fragile ground. It could have fallen foul to the ‘it was all a dream’ type scenario we all loath, but it transcends all this, taking it to levels you just don’t expect.

SPOILER

He also raises some interesting and poignant moments in film. The way the characters have to face suicide to escape the dreams, for example, is quite a powerful idea. What kind or torment would each person go through each time this happens, even thought they know they will wake up ok? The idea of many years spent in your own reality is a disturbing one too, which touches a nerve we all share. What if my idea of the world is false? And his now dead Mal being a powerful protagonist, fuelled by Cobb’s guilt is a disturbing notion. No one would want to have to deal with the emotions the characters feel in this film. Then there are the simple touches. For example, what should have been a simple case of Inception ends up leading every single character on a path of massive psychological turmoil. When the crew wakes up in the aeroplane, trying to figure out if everyone is ok. The expressions on their faces reflect the huge range of emotions felt more powerfully then any script could have. Then Nolan deals one more subtlety, when Fischer makes eye contact with Cobb in the airport after all is done. Fischer looks away, unaware of what a profound impact Cobb has made on his life. Unknowing that his whole relationship with his father is now based on something that never happened. All Because of Cobb and the team. Has Cobb’s team inadvertently made Fischer a happy man?

END SPOILER

DiCaprio carries the film, without a shade of doubt. This wouldn’t be the same film without him. He manages to bring a lot of vulnerability and passion to a character profile which could have been pretty stale. His expression and tone of voice bring depth, and his performance progresses as the film plunges deep into the story. Oscar winning perhaps?

The film is supported by a very well selected cast. Seriously, I think the guy who cast the talent needs an Oscar, because everyone seems to fit together in the film. They look and feel like the rag tag team they are. A bunch of professionals, who each have a specific role to take. Ellen Page is a stand out here, playing her role with conviction and fire, and it is refreshing to see her develop her character range.

So the visuals. Everyone is talking about them. How do they stand up? Well marvellous actually. Again, in a world saturated by bad CGI, it is refreshing to see incredible things done using real props and sets. Don’t get me wrong, there is a lot of CGI in this film, but it takes a back seat to the characters and emotion. When it is used, it is often composited with other live action pieces, which sells the illusions quite nicely. Bearing this in mind, I should say that the film features one of the most ambitious fight scenes ever to grace cinema, again using a set. You’ll know which part of the film it is

Hans ZImmer of ‘The Dark Knight’ fame composed the score for this film. And it is incredible. The score feels organic and gritty, but full of bombast. It pulses with every emotion portrayed on the screen, with broad, sweeping horn arrangements, and a shimmering bed of strings juxtaposing every element highlighted in the film. You can feel everything happening on screen through the music, and the music is integral to the feelings

Any gripes? Any problems with the film. Well no. Seriously. I’m a little concerned about giving my first review a straight five star rating, but seriously this film is incredible. I come away completely washed over and content, amazed by what I just experienced. And it stays with you well after you’ve seen it- always a good mark of a film. Nolan very cleverly crafted an ending which is left open, leaving us questioning everything we believed we saw.

If I was very critical, I would say that the film seems bound by it’s own ideas. The film never delivers the feel of a true dreamlike state. There are snippets of genius here and there, but by and large the dreams seem to be incomplete memories than dreams; it all makes too much sense.
The other gripe I had is with the OTHER protagonist the ‘projections’. They serve no real purpose in the film except as a good excuse to put gun fights in to the film, and they lack any of the terror that the ‘agents’ of ‘The Matrix’ delivered. Saying that, they are an interesting and less literal version of a ticking clock, which keeps the pace of the film taut, and gives everything a sense of urgency.

So in case you haven’t noticed yet, I highly recommend this film. I urge you to watch an instant classic.

The Peak District + Sunshine = win

Pictured: Sunshine.

So apparently this is my first post. So you thought I would be making my first post about something intellectual or…god forbid, useful? You couldn’t be further from the truth. I have in fact decided to spent my first slot on my new blog to brag. Basically.

This rock saved my life. Another misadventure starring said friend.

Being a resident Sheffielder I live pretty close to the Peak District. In fact I’m pretty sure I could get a Domino’s delivered out there. So I take it upon myself to go out whenever possible, and whenever I get up before noon. Which is about as rare as humanly possible. I think it’s around this time I would tell you I’m going camping again this weekend. I panicked a little earlier when I couldn’t find my map. Then I remembered maps are only needed when you are lost, and I’m pretty certain my brain has done something useful in the past year by slowly remembering it. What I’m saying is, I’ve been a lot. But I’ve never really camped near Bakewell. Probably because it isn’t as peaky as the rest of it. But me and my good friend have decided to go to a town called ‘Youlgreave’. Which sounds extremely pleasant and not a bit like ‘You’ll greave’. Ok seriously, it doesn’t quite have the ferocity of ‘Satan’s Layby’, but I am starting to wonder if said good friend will be coming back. Considering last time we tried he thought that bringing a pair of sandals and a bladder full of ‘Perry’ is the equivalent of being prepared, I don’t have high hopes. On a plus side, I got to see his skin turn a shade of red that I can only presume is his mating ritual. Either that or he was turning into a blood clot. Needless to say, I’m looking forward to see what his sandals are capable of. Next week, crushing communism?

I have to be honest. What a party.

Hi

So welcome all to my first ever blog! It’s a bit daunting to be honest with you. I haven’t done this before, so I’m likely to ramble a lot about random stuff and go off topic a lot. Because of this, I have decided to backlog a few important things that have happened recently. I’m sorry, this will happen from time to time. But I will warn you of an encroaching time slip by writing

time slip

on the top of a blog. But seriously, thanks for visiting the blog. Thanks for sticking around if you just read that last bit. And hopefully you’ll be sticking around for a while yet.

On with the random!