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Posted on 28/01/25 08:31:51 AM |
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DavidMac
Director of Photoshop Posts: 5628 Reply  |
Re: Challenge 1038: The dinner party
Me too. Never heard of him. _________________ The subtlety and conviction of any Photoshop effect is invariably inversely proportional to the number of knobs on it ....... |
Posted on 28/01/25 10:42:06 AM |
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lwc
Hole in One Posts: 3185 Reply  |
Re: Challenge 1038: The dinner party
The only movie I have ever seen of Beauty and the Beast is this one: La Belle et la Bęte (1946) |
Posted on 28/01/25 12:30:54 PM |
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DavidMac
Director of Photoshop Posts: 5628 Reply |
Re: Challenge 1038: The dinner party
Jean Cocteau. I saw that as a teenager in a small privately owned London cinema called the Everyman. It was what I think Americans call an art theatre. Some years later I became a projectionist at the self same cinema. I projected entire seasons of Bergman, Antonioni, Fellini, Truffaut, Goddard, Bunuel, and Kurosawa. It was a hugely important part of my cinematic education. Our lives are shaped by so many chance happenings ............. _________________ The subtlety and conviction of any Photoshop effect is invariably inversely proportional to the number of knobs on it ....... |
Posted on 29/01/25 2:00:49 PM |
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dwindt
Realism Realiser Posts: 892 Reply |
Re: Challenge 1038: The dinner party
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=19bUgiSMKoc&list=PLUuuGxLJ2nHMSk9fQv-xIIDt52mTdc0qZ&index=2 I watched it with my kids 30 odd years ago. It is a musical animated film. Never thought I'd watched it but we all thoroughly enjoyed. _________________ The grass is greener on the other side of the fence because there is more $hit there. |
Posted on 29/01/25 3:11:45 PM |
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Mariner
Renaissance Mariner Posts: 3035 Reply  |
Re: Challenge 1038: The dinner party
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Posted on 29/01/25 3:53:54 PM |
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Frank
Eager Beaver Posts: 1738 Reply  |
Re: Challenge 1038: The dinner party
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Posted on 29/01/25 6:10:18 PM |
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Ant Snell
Specular Specialist Posts: 562 Reply  |
Re: Challenge 1038: The dinner party
For anyone who had a go at my identification quiz, here are the answers as promised. From top left going clockwise around the room; 1. Phil Lynott from Thin Lizzy 2. Freddie Mercury from Queen 3. Steve Harley from Cockney Rebel (My Fav) 4. John Lennon from The Beatles 5. Kevin Godley from 10cc / Godley & Cream 6. Roger Walters from Pink Floyd 7. David Bowie from multiple bands + solo artist 8. In the spirit of ‘How to Cheat’ this is a random hair model but 5 points for Diana Ross, Jill Scott, Nina Simone or Corinne Baily Ray but not Scary Spice! 
So how many did you get? |
Posted on 29/01/25 8:54:28 PM |
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DavidMac
Director of Photoshop Posts: 5628 Reply |
Re: Challenge 1038: The dinner party
I didn't get Phil Lynott. I thought it might be a not very good photo of Jimi Hendrix. He was one of my 50% I got Freddie Mercury, Steve Harley (with some research), Roger Walters and Kevin Godley. (I recognised Kevin as, outside of music, he directed a few TV commercials and we both worked out of the same production house.) Lennon was my eighty percent. I was sure it had to be him - but not a great or obvious photo. Thanks Ant it was fun! My other 50% was Bowie. Which is strange considering I shot Space Oddity with him. But he was very young then. In your photo he is quite recognisable but there was something about him that made me wonder if it might have been have been the actor Eddie Redmayne. With the wisdom of hindsight that seems fairly silly of me. _________________ The subtlety and conviction of any Photoshop effect is invariably inversely proportional to the number of knobs on it ....... |
Posted on 29/01/25 9:07:01 PM |
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DavidMac
Director of Photoshop Posts: 5628 Reply |
Re: Challenge 1038: The dinner party
Michael, despite having been a huge fan of Maggie Smith since my teens (Travels With My Aunt), I have never seen a single episode of Downtown Abbey. So I am presuming you have populated your image with the cast. Frank, no idea if I am supposed to recognise anyone, but the candlelight is beautifully done! _________________ The subtlety and conviction of any Photoshop effect is invariably inversely proportional to the number of knobs on it ....... |
Posted on 29/01/25 11:06:59 PM |
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Frank
Eager Beaver Posts: 1738 Reply |
Re: Challenge 1038: The dinner party
Thanks David, no, just images of people I downloaded from various areas. I'm afraid I wouldn't have done well on Ant's challenge so i wisely abstained. |
Posted on 30/01/25 07:50:13 AM |
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Mariner
Renaissance Mariner Posts: 3035 Reply |
Re: Challenge 1038: The dinner party
David, Downton Abbey was a spectacular success in Britain some years ago. A nine episode series set in the early 20th century just after the Titanic sank, it depicted the life-styles of the very rich Crawley family compared to their average servant. I just checked NetFlix and it is still on there in all 9 episodes. Most people loved it. The film of the series is second rate. Famous faces in my picture are Hugh Bonnington, Maggie Smith, and Lily James. |
Posted on 31/01/25 08:25:52 AM |
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Steve Caplin
Administrator Posts: 7014 Reply  |
Re: Challenge 1038: The dinner party
First to come to dinner this week was DavidMac, with a “pushed for time” entry that’s rather splendid: a perfect choice of people, and great lighting around the candles. The backlit napkin is particularly effective. And I didn’t know you were a cinema projectionist – or that you shot Space Oddity. That song, along with Dark Side of the Moon and ELP’s Tarkus, were key to my musical education. Tell me more! A musical feast from Ant Snell, with dinner guests neatly arranged around the table – I like that you found a photo of David Bowie looking back over his shoulder at us. (Also spotted Freddie Mercury, John Lennon and Roger Waters; thought Phil Lynott was Prince; the other two escaped me, although I should of course have recognised them both.) Perhaps a little colour correction needed to bring them into the same space? I like the musical memorabilia on the walls, and the opened door (although it needs some thickness). A moody mystic from tooquilos, complete with ouija board and ghost s quirking out of her crystal ball. I like the extra elements, and the empty birdcage. A splendid floating ghost in the animated version, with a great soundtrack – but watch out at the end where the ghost appears beneath Madame Kerasia, but above the table. A fine Beauty and the Beast image from dwindt, complete with not only Cogsworth the clock, but the teapot and cup – I forget their names, I haven’t seen the movie since my children were small (and now they both have beards). Very nicely done, and a great Cogsworth model. A complete dog’s dinner from lwc (does that expression travel across the Atlantic?). They’re waiting patiently, but where are the bowls of dog food? A celebration from Mariner, with the cast of Downton Abbey assembled around the table. Very nicely done, although I’m not sure the dowager Lady Grantham would sit down to dinner with her footman. Is that a spot of refraction through the raised wine glass? By the way, Downton was of course nine seasons, rather than nine episodes. I don’t recognise any of the participants in Frank's entry, but I do like the lighting – although perhaps the woman in the foreground could do with a touch more light on the left of her face. I like the neatly filled wine glass. |
Posted on 31/01/25 08:54:29 AM |
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Mariner
Renaissance Mariner Posts: 3035 Reply |
Re: Challenge 1038: The dinner party
Thanks Steve.
Whoops! |
Posted on 31/01/25 09:09:09 AM |
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dwindt
Realism Realiser Posts: 892 Reply |
Re: Challenge 1038: The dinner party
Thank you, Steve. Well done all! _________________ The grass is greener on the other side of the fence because there is more $hit there. |
Posted on 31/01/25 10:59:28 AM |
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DavidMac
Director of Photoshop Posts: 5628 Reply |
Re: Challenge 1038: The dinner party
First of thanks for the kind review. Although I didn't have much time it was my kind of challenge. Projectionist first: The Everyman cinema in Hampstead was for many years London's best known 'alternative' cinema for the kind of global cinema and avant-garde films that never made it onto the main Odeon and other circuits. It was privately run as a paying hobby by a solicitor called Jim Fairfax jones. It was run by a small very loyal team. He lived in a beautiful manor house in the Vale of Health on Hampstead heath. I met him doing some painting and odd jobs in his house while I was still casting about for a job. When he learned that I loved movie he offered me a job as a projectionist because he had just lost one of his. I was there for almost eighteen months while looking for a job in the movie business. I got to see so many films I would never otherwise have seen. Now Bowie: I have been messaging privately with Ant about this so I can simply paste here something I sent him. I was interviewed a few years ago by a gentleman from the BFI (British Film Institute) about some of my early work. I went digging in my files for Ant and found this resumé I sent to them at the time. “Many years ago in 1968 ( I think) I was approached by a director to shoot a little promotion film for a young unknown singer. His manager had conceived the idea of trying to promote him this way. Those of you can remember back then will recall that video clips did not yet exist. the only way pop groups or singers could get exposure was on established programmes like “Top of The Pops”. For that you needed to be already known. We shot on 16mm which is how it was initially shown to record companies in 1969. Later it was released on VHS. Given how many years it was to be before video technology became available outside the major broadcasters and independent promos arrived it is quite possibly the first “video clip” ever made! Recently it was digitally cleaned up to improve the quality and distributed via YouTube. Because the singer was completely unknown the budget was minuscule. I was just beginning as a cameraman and ready to get my teeth into shooting anything I could. I did it for peanuts. We shot in a tiny studio over a pub in Greenwich. Everything, sets, costumes, and so forth was done on a shoestring. David’s space boots were wellington boots sprayed silver with the soles painted in different colours. It was one of the lowest budget productions I ever worked on. You can see this in his “space helmet”!! Because our budget was so small and post production effects didn't exist the way they do nowadays we made David free fall weightlessly in his capsule by turning the set and the camera on their side and shooting so you couldn't see his feet and he walked miming a floating motion ……… It wasn't terribly effective! The opening and closing shots were done by inserting the camera lens into a tube of rolled up mirror plastic. Although the young singer was obviously a very clever and talented young man none of us had any idea whether he or this little promotional film would ever go any further. Little did we realise what our efforts were to create ……. ………. the, then unknown, David Jones went on to become David Bowie, and our simple little promotional film became an iconic video! There is no doubt that this song was what started it all for him.” So that’s the story. I had no idea at the time! Here's the result. Incidentally “Space Oddity” (Major Tom) was part of a longer video called "Love You till Tuesday" which contained several other songs. On some of these he was accompanied by Hermione and Hutch. Hermione had a wonderful head of golden red hair. I thought she was just drop dead gorgeous and was completely and utterly smitten! Sadly I was such a cripplingly shy young man that I was completely tongue tied! All I could was look at her with great big "doe's eyes" ……… It didn't work ………… She wasn't impressed! I still have my original contact sheets from all those years ago complete with their chinagraph pencil markings for printing. Not because of her .......... but it's amusing nonetheless to re-visit a young infatuation. 
_________________ The subtlety and conviction of any Photoshop effect is invariably inversely proportional to the number of knobs on it ....... |
Posted on 31/01/25 11:36:52 AM |
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Steve Caplin
Administrator Posts: 7014 Reply |
Re: Challenge 1038: The dinner party
So interesting to see this early version of the song I know so well! Low budget, indeed. But what a star he was. |
Posted on 31/01/25 12:36:25 PM |
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lwc
Hole in One Posts: 3185 Reply |
Re: Challenge 1038: The dinner party
Fascinating story David, Bowie was my only five points. Thanks Steve! |
Posted on 31/01/25 8:46:11 PM |
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dwindt
Realism Realiser Posts: 892 Reply |
Re: Challenge 1038: The dinner party
One of my favorite artists. Great stuff David...Mac that is. Little did you know but hats off for your "finger in the pie!" _________________ The grass is greener on the other side of the fence because there is more $hit there. |
Posted on 04/02/25 12:38:56 PM |
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Frank
Eager Beaver Posts: 1738 Reply |
Re: Challenge 1038: The dinner party
Thanks Steve -tricky lighting. |
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