On Thursday 21st July I graduated from the University of Sussex at the Brighton Dome. How damn grown up does that sound?! I think when I put on that gown and mortar board I instantly felt about five years older than I had before. It was a lovely day and incredibly surreal experience. I'm pretty sure I never want to clap anyone or anything after it though! Our Chancellor Sanjeev Bhaskar gave some brilliant speeches, mixing some thoughtful advice in with his usual humour. A major highlight of the day was the honorary degree given to the music legend that is Jeff Beck, one of the greatest guitarists of all time. I'd had no idea prior to the day that he was receiving an honorary degree and it was so cool to see him and hear his speech. When it was time for me to go up, I gave Sanjeev a hug and a handshake and was given the certificate of my degree on stage. I had to try and block out the fact that I was doing all that in front of 2000 people! Two days later it was my graduation ball which was another great experience. I love any chance to posh up and wear a suit and this was no exception. The event was again within the Brighton Dome, and they'd made the place look pretty awesome for the occasion, all poshly laid tables and lighting. We had a few professional photographs taken and then took our seats, at which point we were provided with a three course meal. Melon and brandy soaked fruits to start, pan seared chicken as a main and vanilla brulee for dessert. Afterwards, the orchestra playing made way for a live band playing pop songs, and later a DJ. So we partied the night away! -------------------------------------------
I have been very lucky in the last week or so to be able to see two incredible screen actors in the flesh at two different stage plays - Kevin Spacey, in Sam Mendes' interpretation of Richard III, and Sir Ian McKellen, in mafia drama The Syndicate, staged at the Minerva Theatre in Chichester. Kevin Spacey is quite possibly my favourite ever actor and it was just so inspiring to see him doing his thing on the Old Vic stage, bringing something very new and very brilliant to the character of Richard, Duke of Gloucester. The staging of the play, the direction of Sam Mendes and the performances of the cast took Shakespeare's already brilliant words to a whole new level. Richard III displays as well as any Shakespeare play the shattering effects of greed and power upon the psyche of their recipient, and this production successfully highlighted this most effective of character studies. Spacey gave the role his all, and I very much hope this is not the last time I have the opportunity to see him on a stage. Seeing Sir Ian McKellen in Chichester for The Syndicate was a similarly great experience, and he displayed a similar knack for disappearing into his role; it took a matter of seconds before you managed to forget who he was and see him solely as Neopolitan crime boss Don Antonio Barracano. The Minerva is one of my favourite theatres - it isn't particularly beautiful or anything, but it's so small and intimate that the play you are watching feels so much more intense as a result. The Syndicate was no exception, with the audience feeling very much like they were sat in a room in Naples with these characters, involved in their conversations. An effective fly on the wall effect. The cast were largely very impressive, and the story was an intriguing Godfather-esque affair. The majesty and honour that characterizes the mafia family, interspersed with such brutally unaffected violence, is such that it is a wonder that it has not been committed to film and theatre more often. Chichester represents the first time The Syndicate has ever been done in the UK, and I predict it will have a successful run after this, as it moves around the country. -------------------------------------------
I had my first ever film extra job on the 26th July, working on the production 'Now Is Good' in Brighton! The film stars Dakota Fanning, Kaya Scodelario, Paddy Considine and Olivia Williams, and follows a 17 year old leukemia sufferer Tessa (Dakota Fanning) as she looks to complete her bucket list. I had an amazing but very very tiring day - had to be up about 3.45am and on set by 5am. The first part of the shoot took place on Brighton Pier, where we all met up, were dressed by costume and provided with breakfast. We were then provided with our positions and directions on the pier as they shot a number of different scenes there with Dakota Fanning and Kaya Scodelario (Effy from Skins). We were all moved about at various points so that we each got a chance to be closer to the action (and therefore the camera!). If I do not end up in at least one shot of the finished film then it is not for the want of trying! There were at least three scenes over the course of the day in which I was right by the main actors so hopefully come the film's release sometime in 2012 you will be able to at least catch a glimpse of my arm or something. After filming had been completed on the Pier we all collected up our stuff and went on a mass pilgrimage through Brighton to Komedia, our base for the Lanes part of the shoot. Here we changed into new outfits and headed out to the Lanes, where more was filmed. This was a little bit of a logistical nightmare as the filmmakers could not shut down the street we used for filming so it was rammed with ordinary shoppers as well as all us extras, so half the time we had pretty much no idea what was going on (and neither did the shoppers)! After waiting around for a couple of hours we went back to Komedia for lunch, which they provided. We sat on long tables and ate packed lunches out of brown paper bags - it was all rather cute and school canteen-ish! After that we headed back to the street we'd been filming on earlier, and I was positioned further up the street so that I walk into shot (hopefully!) behind Dakota Fanning as she walks up the street. This was the last thing that was shot that day, so we went back to Komedia to pick up our stuff and get our pay slips signed. By then we were all rather shattered! It was a great experience, I met some really cool people and I would love to do it again asap. I will be on the lookout for any new film extra jobs coming up! -------------------------------------------
I finally got round to seeing Terrence Malick's latest, the much-hyped The Tree of Life, yesterday. It's all about the big stuff - it seems to be, essentially, Malick's celebration of life and the universe. By interspersing scenes of the 1950's family (Mr O'Brien, as played by Brad Pitt, his wife, as played by Jessica Chastain, and their three children) with sequences detailing the creation of the universe we are provided with a quite astonishing grounding of the characters. Consider that the majority of mainstream cinema will provide some sort of background to their characters, some suggestion of how they came to be the people that they are, in the places they are, doing the things that they do. It's a vital tool in helping to create empathy. In The Tree of Life, this 'background' now takes on not just the more recent events (e.g. the character's childhoods, a previous relationship, a previous job, etc) but EVERYTHING that has come before the characters' existence in the here and now. Basically, the film tells the story of EVERYTHING that helped make these characters exist, and exist in the fashion they do; without the creation of the universe, without the dinosaurs, without everything inbetween, these people would not have come to exist in the 1950's, in that house, doing the things that they are doing. The film is continually thought-provoking like this. It doesn't attend to the needs of the casual filmgoer who may be crying out for a more linear narrative or for things to be spelt out to them - in fact, the film really does skirt the border of avant-garde at times. It will frustrate people, no doubt about that, but it is also so very worth persevering with. It features some of the very best cinematography I think I've ever seen, and paints a beautiful portrait of so many very important 'things' - life, death, love, grief, childhood, adulthood, family. It's a cinematic journey of sizeable proportions, and one that adequately reminds the viewer of the true power of the film medium. 4/5.
