University-wise, all is going fairly well. It's all getting into scary dissertation time but I'm trying to keep on top of it. I've got two 8,000 word dissertations, both due in on the 23rd May. Which I make.... 3 months tomorrow. Shoooould be do-able. My first dissertation, the one I'm most confident on and most enjoying the planning of, is for my Sexualities and the Cinema course and revolves around the vampire as sexual metaphor. The dissertation is going to primarily deal with teen sexuality and the depiction of the vampire in the Twilight films, but will also delve into vampire mythology and stereotypes and the subversion of the vampire in contemporary cultural texts, in particular Buffy, Let The Right One In and True Blood. I would say I've done around 90% of the research for that dissertation- as the research is the main bulk of the work I would say I'm fairly happy with that at this stage. My second dissertation is for my Cinema and the Real course, a course that deals much more with complicated theories and psychology than the other one. This makes me slightly less confident with this dissertation, as it will deal with more complex research and the possibility of misunderstandings. I have, however, chosen a topic that I feel will be interesting to write about, so hopefully this will help give me the push I need to write a decent enough disso. I'm going to write about the subversion of the 'real' and Lacanian psychoanalysis in David Lynch's films, particularly Eraserhead, Blue Velvet and Mulholland Drive. This one is in the very early research stages. I aim to start researching this one while also possibly making a start on my Sexualities one (which I think I can probably write fairly quickly, 8000 words or not!). Wish me luck!
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I've been trying to throw myself into university life a bit more this term and it's going pretty well. The Careers and Employability Centre arrange a lot of really useful events and I've been trying to go to as many as possible. A Careers in the Media event allowed me the chance to listen to a few Sussex graduates talk about what they did after graduating and how they built up strong media careers. The most important of these for me was Nik Powell, the chairman of BAFTA, a film producer and the director of the National Film & Television School. I got to meet him briefly and ask him a few questions, which was rather cool! I also went to an Effective CVs and Applications Writing event which was very helpful for me as I've never had to write a CV before and didn't really have any idea of how to sell myself to the world! Now hopefully I can take the information I learned and write a CV that will help to pull me above the competition. Last week I went to a Networking and Building Confidence event that proved helpful in providing suggestions for the building of contacts and the names of some useful websites and organisations. Coming up I have a Postgraduate Study in the US tomorrow (just to keep the options open!), an Effective Dissertation Researching event next week, and then another Media related event later in March in which we will be given talks by recent Sussex media graduates.
One big thing for me in the last couple of days was that I finally got off my bum and emailed the Sussex Uni newspaper, called The Badger, about doing some journalism for them. Why I didn't do it in my first year, rather than leaving it till half way through pretty much the last term of my final year I'm not too sure, but there ya go. Even though it took me a while I'm glad I did it, as I've been tasked with two articles already- a review of Never Let Me Go for tomorrow morning and an article discussing the Oscars results (Oscars are being held Sunday night) for Tuesday morning. I'm really looking forward to getting stuck into the articles, getting my name in the uni paper most weeks, and providing my CV with a much needed 'experience' boost!
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I'm trying to write my script as often as I can. Sometimes it's difficult to find the time for it, though I'm lucky in a way that my 2 hours a day of travelling, 4 days a week allows me some extra time. The train is a good place to write and a good place to think sometimes. The script's coming along OK, though I think I need to step it up a gear. I'm probably not writing nearly enough a day if I want to get it finished within the next couple of months. I think I need the personal satisfaction of actually finishing an 100 odd page screenplay, I think that'll be good for me. Aside from that, I do actually believe in this story and these characters. Once it's finished, I have at least a couple of contacts who I could potentially send the script to in order to get some industry opinions.
I could definitely do with a bit more practical filmmaking experience, though, so I hope to build this up more over the next few months. Hopefully I'll try and get a few tiny little things shot, but also I still harbour a hope to make a short film in June, after I finish uni and before I move into my new flat in Southampton, so we will see if that happens. At the moment I am scouting around various places online for camera hire, trying to work out the best and cheapest option. If I managed to get that in place then I could possibly start searching for actors for the project, and locking a decent script down. I'll also hopefully at a few points in the next couple of months be able to borrow a camera from the Media and Film Equipment Store at Sussex for a day each time and just shoot random things for practice. I've ordered a shotgun microphone from t'internet and that should be coming along soon. After that I should hopefully be able to order more equipment bit by bit, finances allowing.
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On a more social note, I have lots of exciting things coming up! 2011 is already panning out to be a fantastic year. In a few weeks' time I'm off to Paris with my girlfriend to celebrate her 21st. It should be an awesome few days, I haven't been to Paris in a long long time and I can't wait to do everything all over again, plus some cool new stuff too! I've also booked my summer holiday for June, again with my girlfriend- we're off to Portugal! Albufeira in The Algarve to be exact. I've never been to Portugal so I'm really excited. Finally on the holiday front, I'll be spending 11 days in New England, USA in October with my parents, which I'm also mega excited for. There's plenty on the non-holiday front too, but to be honest, I can't be bothered to mention it all now! I'll be back with another blog post soon as I have films to review (The Fighter, 127 Hours, True Grit, Brighton Rock) as well as plenty of other things to discuss.
