James Ellwood

Winter Thoughts

James — Wed, 08 Feb 2012 15:51:59 +0000

Winter tends bring a change in focus for my work, from hectic shoots and quick turnarounds to a more office-based role planning projects, clearing the hard drives and generally plotting the years activity. However, this hasn’t stopped me getting out to shoot some new projects, including this promo for local D&B act “Unleashed Live”. Additionally I’ve also been delivering an educational project at St Catherines School (a specialist school for children with speech, language and communication disorders) on the Isle of Wight, working with Fotonow and Creative Junction. Check out the projects blog for a taste of what we’ve been up to.

West End Voices

James — Fri, 21 Oct 2011 11:24:42 +0000

Fotonow have been running a temporary photo gallery and studio space down in the West End of Plymouth since August. As part of the project I’ve been working with photographer Dom Moore to produce a series of interviews with traders working in the area around the gallery, simply documenting their stories and combining the audio with Dom’s photography of their businesses. The finished film, “West End Voices”, is going to be premiered on the BBC ‘Big Screen’ in Plymouth city centre next week. Its a vibrant area of town with a variety of personalities and culture, so its been a fascinating project to work on. Also, with Dom handling the photography I’ve been focused on the audio interviews, which has been a refreshing alternative to working behind the camera.

Summer!

James — Wed, 06 Jul 2011 13:53:17 +0000

It’s been very busy so far, thus no updates on here for quite some time. So time for a bit of an overview…

Back in May I directed a promo for the amazing breast cancer awareness charity Coppafeel. We followed their ‘Bikin’ for Boobies’ funding-raising ride from Bude to Lands End over the course of three days, capturing the highs and lows along the way. The film is still in the edit with De La Beche Productions, so check back later for a link!

On to June, and I shot and edited a promo for the Graham Fitkin Band, performing live at Salisbury International Arts Festival. Check out my portfolio for a look.

Then I was on the road for a couple of weeks with the AV3 VJ team, running their live cameras on the dance stages at Beach Break Live and Glastonbury festivals.

All in all a crazy couple of months!

‘Drive in Deco’ Community Film

James — Tue, 19 Apr 2011 13:40:38 +0000

I’ve been working with Fotonow team in Plymouth recently on the editing of a short film screened on a massive outdoor cinema as part of the Hidden City 2011 ‘Drive in Deco‘ event. The ten-minute documentary was filmed by Tim Mills and captures details of the community and history of the Stonehouse area of the city. It’s the second time I’ve collaborated with Tim, who got me in to assist with the editing of a film he shot as part of the ‘Cameras in the Community’ residency which exhibited at Plymouth Arts Centre last year. This time round it turned out to be quite an intensive, but thoroughly enjoyable editing process; you can have a watch here.

All New…

James — Wed, 02 Mar 2011 13:12:26 +0000

So, new website, new blog – all very exciting! I feel like I should be saying something significant, but actually I’m going to keep it simple.

As the site is new, I’d really appreciate any feedback you would like to give – drop me a message below, or here. I’d also like to thank Aidan Rumble for all the work he’s put into designing the site – like what you see? Check him out here.

I’m working on a new cut of my showreel at the moment so that’ll be up here shortly, along with some of my other films that I’ve not uploaded yet. Check back soon as I’ll be regularly recording my thoughts on filmmaking, cinema and probably some other stuff too. In the meantime, have a look around & make yourself at home.