New documentary...

This project is ongoing for such a long time now. To looooooooooong I would say. But as they say you can't rash good things LoL. Now is in a stage of postproduction. I don't want to revile to much about it at this point. Only thing I can say is that it will be another attempt to unconventional documentary. If I can just plug USB to my brain and project it for you guys that would be awesome!But unfortunately that is not a way...
I just wanted to share with you the poster I made for this film :)

With Gratitude
Magdalena

Bernard & Blue full movie :)

I had a pleasant opportunity to meet an incredible person called Bernard. On my way shopping I always pass an elderly man walking his dog, which by the way, is elderly as well. This gentleman always has a smile on his face and there is no person who would pass him without greeting him and smiling back. And Blue (the dog), despite of the fact that she barely walks, still playfully tosses her rubber frog around.

Bernard is an 82 years old gentleman from Salford who is suffering from dementia. As long as he can remember his life’s motto was to smile and laugh until it hurt. This approach to life made him stronger and helped him to face the struggle of life and cherish every minute of it.

In early 70's Bernard tragically lost his son who was only 17 years old. Last year he lost his daughter and shortly after his wife. Now it's only him, his loyal companion Blue and Karen, a lovely career who helps Bernard out with everyday stuff. They developed a strong bond, which grew in a strong understanding. This film is documenting one day of Bernard's life, his everyday routine filled with memories from the past and longing after his loved ones.

                     (This photo was taken by Sylwia Pawlowska)

Here you can find full movie. I hope you will enjoy this one day journey as much as I did and you will appreciate it :) Thank you all!

With Gratitude
Magdalena

Black hole o_0

I had a quite big break away from bloging. I've been busy working on my final project and then...well black hole o_0
I guess I've been busy with more mundane matters which for some reason  completely overwhelmed my brain keeping me away from things that I love doing. I know excuses, excuses... So during that aspect time I got a lovely gift from my friend. Actually it is a graduation gift which was a nice big surprise! An old typewritter yey!!!You might say why the hell would you want an old ancient device like that?!Well that's me I'm very sentimental and I think there is a soul in all those nowadays antiques. And the fact that some of them are still working and we can still use them is just incredible!

Meet my Olympia, isn't she gorgeous :)

Another think I did was my first professional website. I wanted to do this for a long time but...as I mention before excuses, excuses!
I have dyspraxia which makes simple things and normal tasks or even thinking more complicated then it really is. I can't explain that really. It's just I have certain ways of dealing with stuff and if some little details are missing or just something is not complete then I'm literally F***** o_0 
In this particular case I've been missing my logo, my recognition signature. Therefore I procrastinate with  making my website for such long time. There were other reasons which I did overcome but logo was the key! I've been trying to create it by myself but I wasn't sure so I just reach for professional help. Sylvia Asparuhova  the lady who design poster for Bernard & Blue helped me with that as well as my business cards. Thank you Sisi X

 That's my logo I'm really pleased with that :)

One day I decided to play a bit with adobe adobe illustrator and I add some aground colour which looks like this:

But for now I'm gonna stick with the first one.
There you go Dalegraphy, by clicking her you will be redirected to my website :)

With Gratitude
Magdalena

"Bernard & Blue" is ready :)

"Smile, though your heart is aching

Smile, even though it's hurting..." John Turner & Geoffrey Parsons

I'm so glad to announce that my major project is done! I'm so happy but at the same time I'm sad, because it was a great experiance and I wish it could last longer... I am so grateful to have that chance to be invited to Bernard's life. During shooting and later at editing I just felt like I'm going back in time because of Bernard's music haha. It was just great sweet-sounding journey to 40's and 50's. Even writing this I have a big smile on my face...
That's why I love making documentaries about people because there  is something magical about it.It's like archeology, you can always discover something but not necessarily about that particular person, but about your self as well. Bernard's favourite song "Smile" sang by Nat King Cole (1954), was originally composed by Charlie Chaplin in 1936 for his movie "Modern Times".It was just the music, lyrics was added in 1954 by John Turner and Geoffrey Parsons. Bernard told me that this song was always his motto and that's the way he is approaching his life. And here it is a bit of that magic I spoke about earlier. Charlie Chaplin is one of my biggest inspirations and here we go :)somehow he inspired Bernard as well. 
Movie poster was design by lovely Silvia Asparuhova and drawing was done by my friend Eleonora Asparuhova (here you can find Eleonora's blog). Thank you so much guys xxx
The whole film is around 40 minutes and  will be on line soon...
For now here you can find trailer of my movie.

With Gratitude
Magdalena

Third change to my major project :) This time definitive!

After shooting with Liz few weeks back I’ve got a great deal of footage to work with but I have decided that the film about Liz will not be my major project. It is still coming though. 

After further research and conclusions I have changed the subject matter of my final movie. What if our aspirations are replaced by our loved ones’ dreams? And what if the pursuit of those dreams becomes our life’s goal yet and it brings us happiness?

As before, I still want to make documentary using nonverbal genre. The only conversation will be an accidental dialogs between contributors. I want to go beyond words and tell the story just by using picture, ambient sound and music.

"Bernard & Blue"

I had a pleasant opportunity to meet an incredible person called Bernard. On my way shopping I always pass an elderly man walking his dog, which by the way, is elderly as well. This gentleman always has a smile on his face and there is no person who would pass him without greeting him and smiling back. And Blue (the dog), despite of the fact that she barely walks, still playfully tosses her rubber frog around.

Bernard is an 82 years old gentleman from Salford who is suffering from dementia. As long as he can remember his life’s motto was to smile and laugh until it hurt. This approach to life made him stronger and helped him to face the struggle of life and cherish every minute of it.

In early 70's Bernard tragically lost his son who was only 17 years old. Last year he lost his daughter and shortly after his wife. Now it's only him, his loyal companion Blue and Karen, a lovely career who helps Bernard out with everyday stuff. They developed a strong bond, which grew in a strong understanding.

This film will document one day of Bernard's life, his everyday routine filled with memories from the past and longing after his loved ones.

Here is a sneak peek from the production process thanks to my lovely assistant Sylwia (sjpphotos.weebly.com) who documents my journey.

With Gratitude
Magdalena

Behind the scenes of my major project

Over the weekend I've been filming for my major project. As planed shooting supposed to take place only on Saturday but because of technical problems most of footage had to be reshot on Sunday. Despite having few difficulties I had a very fruitful production :) I had a company of two lovely ladies, Sylwia my personal photographer and a great assistant :D as well as Lili who was my guest camera woman during the shooting on Saturday! There is still much to be done but I can't wait for the final product though! Thank so much guys! Here are some production snapshots from the first day of filming.

You can find some more of Sylwia's work on her website:  www.sjpphotos.weebly.com

With Gratitude

Magdalena

Radiotherapy

"Radiotherapy" it's a short documentary about local community radio station. The film is about how being a radio presenter can be therapeutic for people and how it can build your self-esteem.
Documentary was part of my collaborative project with my colleague Tim Prevett who was a producer and a director. I worked on this film as a DOP and an editor.

You can watch "Radiotherapy": here

With Gratitude
Magdalena