Ewa Semenowicz

Ewa Semenowicz

About Ewa Semenowicz

Creative thinker, interested in ethnicity & content marketing, graphic design & media-audience communication. I love portraits, documentaries and most forms of people watching. During my time at Oxford Brookes University I focused on exploring media theories, themes of collective identities, representations of race and gender in the media with strong emphasis on audience profiling in advertising. After completing my degree in Media, Communication and Culture, I started my work in marketing, advertising & graphic design, gaining experience in social media, copywriting, art direction & project management.  

Ewa Semenowicz's blog

Raw Shorts: Painting with Light, Texture, Colour & Tone

As part of my research trip for BFI Sci-Fi late night screenings we are producing, I went to Raw Shorts: Painting with Light, Texture, Colour & Tone workshop organised by BFI Southbank. It kicked off with a panel discussion with Marc Price & Prano Bond-Bailey independent films director and Alex Neville a cinematographer. During the discussion speakers explained how they use colour and light as important elements of creating atmosphere and bold visual themes. Marc Price is known for producing films on a VERY low budget so it was really encouraging to hear him talk about overcoming financial obstacles.

Below you will find some a few links to the clips we watched during the discussion. Prano Bond-Bailey’s The Trip & Man vs Sand trailers are great examples of using colour to set the mood. Tribute to Roger Deakins: Shadows in the valley is a stunning compilation of some of his beautifully photographed movie scenes, well worth 5 minutes of your time.

After the discussion we attended a practical workshop with Marc Price, who showed us how to build a space ship from scraps found at a junk yard and how to animate it to add dynamics to scenes using light.

Although the workshop was mainly aimed at film-makers, most concepts could easily be adopted to events, which is why I was able to draw a lot inspirations for our supporting events. The BFI building itself has quite a sci-fi vibe to it and even their toilets have some amazing lighting ! Both the panel discussion and the practical workshop were a great source of inspiration for creating bold visual themes for our audience and hopefully enhancing the cinematic experience.

20140906_154727 The amazing BFI Southbank toilet lighting

20140906_143718Junk yard spaceship created by Marc Price

 

20140906_112219

Also, it was great to hang out with fellow future producers, exchange ideas and brain storm outside the usual groups.

Shadows in the valley http://vimeo.com/99589995

Marc Price- showreel http://vimeo.com/35509608

Prano Bond- Bailey- http://www.pranobaileybond.com

Alex Neville- Cinematographer http://www.alexnevill.co.uk

Man vs Sand http://vimeo.com/56635161

The Trip http://vimeo.com/81314243

Brain is a bastard

 

Your brain is a bastard

I wanted to share a few thoughts on a great workshop with Kim Plowright – producer & new media consultant for Channel Four, Hide&Seek and Storythings. The workshop focused on digital projects and the importance of ‘user experience’. Firstly, I think Kim is  a great speaker, her frequent use of profanities totally resonated with me. I like clever people who swear, ultimately it makes them so much more human.

We talked a lot about designing an experience for your audience. It’s easy to get extremely hyped on an idea simply because you love it and assume that the rest of the world will love and understand it just as much as you do. Kim mentioned something that in my opinion, is extremely important to keep in mind when thinking of user experience. Your brain is a bastard- it does not show you objective realities, each thought is a narrative created based on your experience. And the experience itself ? It is simply an ‘average’ your brain calculated based on the feelings experienced at the most intense moment and how you felt after the event. #CompleteInabilityToObjectivelyJudgePastRelationships anyone ?

Don’t think about it too much though, as it may just make you question and undermine every single feeling you’ve experienced. The Matrix becomes a little to real and you end up crying in the shower realising your life is just one huge projection.

Coming back to user experience- think of every single step of the journey you want the audience to embark on with you and ask yourself how would you want people to feel afterwards ?

Here’s a mildly related gif referencing an indie film. Because we are young and talking digital.

eternal_sunshine

 

source: http://phatnappy.tumblr.com/

 

Sneak peak at life of a producer and why we shouldn’t be afraid of failure

First day of the Future Producers weekend session was a great way to get to know each other and immerse ourselves in the experience. The day started off with a team challenge to build highest possible construction out of raw spaghetti and marshmallows. It was a great way to get used to working together. Next up was a talk from Sarah Ellis – Digital Producer from Royal Shakespeare Company who talked about the role of a producer & her project Midsummer Night’s Dreaming. Her talk was a perfect way to start the programme- seeing someone being so incredibly passionate about her work makes you go ‘Let’s get some stuff done’ ! Passion really is contagious, it would be interesting to see what generations of creators could we raise if every kid during their education had a chance to talk to someone so passionate about their work.

One of my favourite quotes from the talk was – Don’t be afraid of failure, it’s about how you come back from it. In my opinion it is so important to approach your projects with courage, knowing that no matter what happens it will be an enriching experience.

Second part of the day was led by Tom Metcalfe- designer, resident of the Persuasive Media Studio. Tom took us through the basis of creative process of idea generation. We then put the theory to the test, going through the process in groups and creating a vine, as a prototype of our creative idea. At this point in the day I remembered Jess & Hannah  telling us at the beginning of the day to get comfortable with uncertainty and … discomfort, as working on a project often includes moments where you have no idea where it is going. I sure experienced this during the group challenge. In the end it turned out that once you simply go with the slight chaos, things fall into place as each team member brings their own individual skill to the table.

After the session we grabbed a drink at the Watershed bar, talking about films, music, travelling, role of media in constructing ethnic identity , legalisation of prostitution, sharks and loads of other random topics. At that moment I thought to myself ‘what a brilliant way to finish this wonderfully inspiring day’. In Sarah’s words ‘ be generous and surround yourself with good, exciting people’ !