Writing, Filming, Reviewing

The creative juices are flowing again, and there are a number of different things I want to get stuck into in the coming months. I finished the screenplay for Our Last Summer (see below), and my short film Whirlwind Summer Romance is doing well - I will be attending its screening at Portsmouth's Shorts:Cut 2011 Festival on 24th September, and am looking forward to it greatly. As well as its screening last month at the Ventnor Fringe Festival, Whirlwind may also get a screening slot at this year's Southampton Film Week, as well as this year's Derby Film Festival. Now it's time to move onto new things as I wait to get started on the production of OLS next year, and time to prove that I can write things that don't have the word 'summer' in the title! I am hoping to at some point in the coming weeks make a short film that I scripted and storyboarded a while back, and was originally intended to be my submission to this year's Virgin Media Shorts (for various reasons this wasn't possible in the end, but there's always next year!). The short is currently untitled but is a bit quirky and cheesy and is a project that I have been looking to work on with my girlfriend for some time, so hopefully that will get done soon. I also wrote a script for another short a while ago, entitled 'For Better, For Worse', and I would very much like to get some actors locked in for that soon (it should only take a day or so to film really). Most immediately on my radar, however, is a 'remake' of sorts of Andy Warhol's Screen Tests, which were a series of pieces that Warhol filmed of actors sat looking at the camera for a number of minutes. The effect of this was really quite alarming, triggering a 'staring into the soul' in the viewer. The subjects of these 'screen tests' included the illustrious likes of Salvador Dali, Bob Dylan, Dennis Hopper, Yoko Ono, Lou Reed and Edie Sedgwick. I would like to make my own Screen Tests, edit them together, and see if the effect is similar. Warhol's films had a huge impact on me when I first saw them and were the subject of one of my better pieces of written work while at university, so I can't wait to experiment with some of the things that he did in his filmmaking and see what comes of it. I very much doubt this Screen Tests remake will be the last time I return to pay homage to the work of Warhol.

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The ball is rolling nicely on Our Last Summer, my feature film that I'm making next April. The online casting calls went live, resulting in a huge influx of actors' CVs in my inbox - all very exciting! There's some real great talent wanting to get on board, and it has been a hard job making the decisions over who we should and shouldn't invite to audition at Groundlings Theatre on October 9th. At the moment, despite a large number of applications from experienced and undoubtedly very talented actors, we are mainly targeting local, less experienced actors for the main cast, those with the insatiable enthusiasm of people looking for their big break, much as I myself am. I have had offers from people interested in helping out with camerawork, cinematography, editing, musical scoring, extras work, poster design, logo design, and publicity photography, so a potential crew is gradually building up around me and making me ever more excited for the shoot date. The first draft of the screenplay is finished (finally - what a feeling!) and now requires just a few minor tweaks before it is good to go. I'm really proud of it and think it will hopefully make a fantastic first feature for me, one with heart and one that acts as a fitting tribute to my friends, family and to the experiences I had a few years ago. After that, I think I'll start to get really stuck into the darker side of my writing! Finally getting round to writing the second half of my baby, otherwise known as Behind Closed Doors, is a definite must for the remaining few months of 2011.

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THE ART OF GETTING BY - Expected a little more from this, the indie flick starring Freddie Highmore (all grown up!) and Emma Roberts. Highmore plays George, a disenchanted young man who can't see the point of doing school work (or anything much at all, really) when we're all going to end up in the same place. The film doesn't really go anywhere, or break any boundaries, but the solid performances of its two leads stop it from being a wasted experience. Highmore shows he could yet prove to be a talented adult actor after a successful child career (Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, Finding Neverland). I am a big fan of Emma Roberts (she was the best thing about Scream 4, and I liked a lot of things about Scream 4) and she is as strong here as ever in the role of George's love interest and artistic muse. There are a couple of really nice scenes, but it is let down by our lack of sympathy towards George as a character and by its Friends rip-off ending (at which point it reverts to the stereotypes it seems to have spent the best part of an hour and a half trying to avoid). Harmless enough, though, and the likeability of the leads means that I'll give it 3/5.

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THE INBETWEENERS MOVIE - Absolutely everything you could've possibly expected from a movie version of the hit E4 show. The film moves along like one extended TV episode, and that is FAR from a criticism - in fact, it would've been disappointing had it been anything else. Bringing it to the big screen does allow for some slightly more bravura shots which wouldn't have been financially possible in the TV show - the opening images, for instance, in which we move from above the clouds down to the suburban streets in crisp high definition. The film is full of the embarrassing situations and brilliantly inventive and obscene humour that punctuates every minute of the three series of the TV show. The characters have endeared themselves so well to their fans that it makes it actually rather sad to be saying goodbye, but the film proves a fitting end to The Inbetweeners' screen life, tying up all the loose ends and bringing each character's arc to a satisying end point. I'll give it 4/5.

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In the coming weeks I should hopefully be getting to see Friends With Benefits, Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy, Drive and Crazy, Stupid, Love. So once these are all seen I'll write a new blog post with reviews of all of these! The end of the month sees Lars von Trier's MELANCHOLIA finally released in cinemas, after what seems an age of waiting. To say I am excited would be a definite understatement.

Feature films, Short films and Volunteering

Things are progressing steadily on Our Last Summer, my feature film that I'm planning to make in 2012. I have started a pre-production diary which is helping me to make sure that I do things every single day. Ideally, there should not be a day that goes by when I do not do something (however small) towards the pre-production stage of the film. I am now around 80 pages through the first draft of the screenplay, a fairly advanced stage - although it looks like it is going to be considerably longer than I had first anticipated! For those who are unaware, screenplays usually average out at around a minute of screen time per page. So with what I have currently written, I have around 80 mins of screen time, not too far off an hour and a half. As I don't wish the film to go too far past this mark I will be wrapping the script up as soon as possible and sending it to my producer. After this point it's full steam ahead! Casting auditions will be taking place on 8/9 October in both Portsmouth and Southampton, so if you are local and are interested in taking part in a feature film (main characters, secondary characters and extras all required) then please come along. We have booked Groundlings Theatre in Portsmouth for the 9th October - should provide a great base for the auditions. The Southampton location is TBA. I am also currently scouting out local bands and singers to appear on the film's soundtrack, as well as graphic designers to design the film's logo. So if any of this would be of interest to you or someone you know, please keep me informed! Would be great to get as many people from the area involved as possible. We will be looking for runners and extras in due course, as well as more vital roles in the crew.

I have just started up a Twitter page for Our Last Summer - twitter.com/#!/olsmovie

Please check it out for all updates on the film and to let me know if you wish to be involved in any way.

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I found out the other day that my short film, Whirlwind Summer Romance, was screened at the Ventnor Fringe Festival 2011, Isle of Wight at the weekend, and was apparently well received! Although I was disappointed to only find out about this after the event (as I would've quite liked to have attended), it's still great to know that the film notched up its first festival appearance and went down well with its audience. All a good start! The short film will also be shown at Shorts:Cut 2011 in Portsmouth - its screening takes place on the 24th September at the lovely Kings Theatre, Southsea. I will be attending this particular night and look forward to seeing my film on the big screen, as well as the other films made by local talent. These festival evenings may also provide a great chance to begin promoting my feature film. There should also hopefully be another couple of chances for Whirlwind screenings, too, with several expected to get back to me over the coming months with regards to my submission. I am hopeful of being in some way involved with the upcoming Southampton Film Week, which runs from October 7th-16th. It seems I may have a good chance of seeing Whirlwind screened there too.
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I have recently secured myself a volunteering job with the organisation SoFair, based in Southampton. SoFair, which is run by Southampton Solent University, is a social enterprise that distributes fair trade bags made from organic pure cotton, produced by tsunami affected women in Pondicherry, Southern India. This is my first chance to get stuck into some volunteering work and I am looking forward to the challenge. My main responsibilities will be the running of the organisation's social media, predominantly their Facebook and Twitter pages. In the last few days I have set up both a Facebook page and Twitter page for SoFair, so please get liking and following - although it's early stages, it's very important we start to get their name out there and make people aware of the great things they are doing. If you could make use of some fair trade bags, or even if you just fancy supporting the women of Pondicherry, who could so do with your suppport, then please do get in contact with SoFair. Their various links are below -

WEBSITE - www.sofair.org.uk

TWITTER - twitter.com/#!/sofair2011

FACEBOOK - www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100002227401698


Now if someone would like to give me one of those jobs that pay too that'd be just great!

Eights that are Super, Trailers that are Duper

SUPER 8 - Let's start with the obvious - Yes, this is a quite blatant homage to early Steven Spielberg. Spielberg is on board Super 8 as producer. The film's director JJ Abrams has confessed to growing up watching Spielberg's output and trying to emulate it as a young boy with his own Super 8 camera. In the 'young kids making a film in the 70s' respect, Super 8 seems to draw on Abrams' own experiences of childhood and the effect of cinema, and in particular Spielberg's films, upon his own life and career. It deals with a number of similar themes as early Spielberg, including the obvious (aliens! kids!) to the less obvious (absent parent, family issues). The film is placed within the late 1970's, very much the time at which Spielberg was exploding onto the scene. So it's been done before, and it isn't going to break any boundaries - we know that, we can acknowledge that. What we are left with is a beautifully nostalgic, lovingly crafted dedication to old-school filmmaking and a time in which children gained their entertainment from going outside and making films with their friends, rather than relying on Facebook and their Xbox. Indeed, watching this makes me somewhat regret not taking a camera outside and making films with my friends when I was younger. And if the film does owe greatly to Close Encounters and to E.T, then it surely owes just as greatly to Rob Reiner's classic Stand By Me (1986), the true masterpiece of the coming-of-age story.

Super 8 is set in the fictional town of Lillian, Ohio. A group of friends, led by Joe (Joel Courtney) and Charles (Riley Griffiths), are attempting to make a zero budget zombie film to send off to a local film festival. In the process of filming one evening the group of friends watch as a train is mysteriously derailed, and from then on the film takes a serious turn for the weird. The film in a sense suffers from the same issues of as Spielberg's early films also did - the coming-of-age aspects are infinitely more entertaining and rewarding than the sometimes substandard alien plot. The great pay-off at the film's ending is not the somewhat disappointing conclusion (all very rushed and all very convenient) to the extra-terrestrial goings on, but rather the joy of getting to see the finished zombie film 'The Case' over the end credits - a quirky, funny piece of imaginative storytelling. This is driven largely by the huge likeability of the young leading cast and their characters. During the times in which the friends are kept apart or relegated to the sidelines by the alien and the army trying to shoot it down we as an audience cry out for the next time we can bear witness to the group's sweet dynamics.

Joel Courtney proves a child actor worth keeping an eye out for after his great turn as our hero Joe Lamb, a typically Spielbergian concoction of innocence, wild imagination, an insatiable hunger for adventure and multiple social and emotional awakenings. Newcomer Riley Griffiths' Charles is another nicely sketched character; moving past his initial stereotype of the 'fat kid in the group', Charles becomes wonderfully important, a kid full of caution but also a resourceful nature and a quite mature drive for success. A review that I read online highlighted Abrams' ability to craft a strong female character, an ability somewhat lacking at times from Spielberg's early ouvre, and Elle Fanning's Alice Dainard proves this - a character that is real, believable and yet instilled with a heavy enough air of mystery for her to be a plausible object of pre-pubescent desire for the main boys. Fanning follows up her stellar turn in Sofia Coppola's Somewhere with this equally impressive performance. A number of truly inspiring images within the film show Abrams' true potential as a storyteller after good but not amazing work on Mission: Impossible 3 and Cloverfield, plus his television output. I really can't sum Super 8 up any better than Empire's Kim Newman, who called the film 'something to cherish: a beautifully made homage to better times, and better movies'. I'll give it a 4/5.

I'm off to see The Inbetweeners Movie next week and am also hoping to get to see Captain America at some point soon so I'm sure I will be posting reviews of these and other films in the coming weeks.

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Here is a selection of the film trailers currently on my radar. They aren't all brand new, but they have all got me hooked!

DRIVE - First off, let me be honest. I have a massive man crush on Ryan Gosling. I think he's fantastic. I'll watch pretty much anything with him in, let alone something that looks THIS DAMN GOOD. Drive follows 'a Hollywood stunt performer who moonlights as a wheelman discovers that a contract has been put on him after a heist gone wrong' (IMDb). It looks intense as hell - let's just say, this probably won't be for a great number of The Notebook fans. Gosling looks like he kicks serious butt in a role that signifies a noteable change of direction for his career. Danish director Nicolas Winding Refn has already made a name for himself after well-received works Bronson and Valhalla Rising, and the film also stars the terrific Carey Mulligan, Ron Perlman and Albert Brooks. TRAILER RATING - 4/5

THE AMAZING SPIDER-MAN - Now let's get it clear - yes, it most probably is far too soon after Sam Raimi's efforts for Columbia Pictures and Marvel to be 'rebooting' or 'reimagining' or whatever the hell it is they are doing to the Spider-Man series. Spider-Man 3 was also nowhere near as bad as some critics made it out to be; indeed, emo walks and excessive villains aside, it was a fun enough romp and a worthy addition to the series. I always, despite what some may have said, liked Kirsten Dunst as MJ. I also, again despite what some have said, LOVED Tobey Maguire as Spidey himself, believing him to have near on perfected the 'loveable geek turns hero' schtick that made Spider-Man such a popular comic book character in the first place. So yes, fans, I understand your issues. I am now, however, going to forget all that, and do what should be done - assess this trailer, and the upcoming film, on their own merits. After all, it is hardly the faults of Marc Webb, Andrew Garfield or Emma Stone that Marvel decided to reboot so quickly. Were they but untried and untested amateurs they should be given a chance, but the facts that they represent the very bright futures of both filmmaking and acting while already boasting such impressive CVs should instill some level of excitement. I must admit I have always preferred MJ to Gwen Stacy in the role of Spidey's love interest, but Stone could be an inspired choice to take on a more youthful Stacy. Garfield, meanwhile, seems like he will bring a darker and more brooding edge to the titular hero than Maguire's interpretation. His slim build and already well established ability to act wounded and anguished fit Peter Parker well. The film looks like it may stick closer to the comics than Raimi's did, with a welcome backstory involving Parker's parents that was never included in the last three Spider-Man films. Martin Sheen and Rhys Ifans are superb choices for Uncle Ben and Curt Connors respectively. Yes, the POV swinging-through-the-city shots are awful. But what comes before it provides a strong enough suggestion that come next summer, fans may well do away with their scepticism and embrace this fresh take on Spidey. TRAILER RATING - 3/5.

CONTAGION - IMDb calls it 'an action-thriller centered on the threat posed by a deadly disease and an international team of doctors contracted by the CDC to deal with the outbreak'. The film boasts the hugely impressive cast of A-listers Matt Damon, Marion Cotillard, Gwyneth Paltrow, Kate Winslet, Jude Law and Laurence Fishburne, as well as the directorial talents of the prolific Mr Steven Soderbergh. Contagion looks set to be a hugely relevant release, tapping into the paranoia so prevalent in today's society. Considering the mass hysteria with regards to the Bird Flu, SARS and Swine Flu outbreaks in recent years, it's a wonder that the worldwide epidemic has not been covered more often in contemporary cinema. And you can be guaranteed it'll be better than The Happening. TRAILER RATING - 3/5

HUGO - If you didn't KNOW this was a Scorsese film, if the trailer didn't announce it in big bold letters, then there would be no clues whatsoever. Scorsese's ventures out of his comfort zone are always if not brilliant then at the very least intriguing. Hugo represents his first foray into the family film - the film even has a release scheduled for the weeks before Christmas, a time usually pencilled in for family adventure films and comedies (and the occasional Harry Potter, LOTR or Twilight). It will undoubtedly prove a wildly different beast to the other films currently on his slate, including his much-anticipated return to the gangster genre with The Irishman, starring Robert de Niro and Al Pacino. Anyway, Hugo has a really quite astonishing cast - Chloe Moretz, Jude Law, Ben Kingsley, Sacha Baron Cohen, Ray Winstone, Michael Stuhlbarg, Emily Mortimer, Christopher Lee, Richard Griffiths, as well as relative unknown Asa Butterfield as the titular character - a (though this may go without saying) fantastic director and what looks like a tale full of the sort of old-school magical adventure so rare in cinema today. TRAILER RATING - 4/5

THE AVENGERS - Captain America. Iron Man. Thor. The Hulk. Hawkeye. Nick Fury. Black Widow. The FREAKIN' AVENGERS. Need I say more? TRAILER RATING - 3/5

THE ART OF GETTING BY - This is a trailer I kind of stumbled across, but The Art of Getting By looks just like the kind of American indie, Sundance-baiting dramedy that really appeals to me. The film follows a young guy called George (played by Charlie and the Chocolate Factory's Freddie Highmore - all grown up!) who struggles greatly with school and homework and has fallen off the rails in a certain sense. I think Emma Roberts is a great young actress (particularly after seeing her turns in Scream 4 and It's Kind of a Funny Story) and should bring some quality to her role, while Freddie Highmore looks set to build on a number of great child roles with his first 'grown up' role of note. I'm hoping to catch the UK Premiere of this film at the Chichester Film Festival in a couple of weeks - will update the blog accordingly if I do! The reviews have been mixed but I'm still looking forward to it. TRAILER RATING - 3/5

The trailer I was most excited about? Probably not even in this list. It's probably The Dark Knight Rises. But if I started to discuss my excitement for that particular film I would probably explode.

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Super Cool Week of Awesomeness

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!

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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.

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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!

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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.

July 2011

3 months since I last updated this - where the hell did the time go? Each time I take ages to update this I make some grand promise that from now on it's going to be regular blog posts from me, and each time I not only break that promise but appear to stamp all over it, chop it into little pieces and set fire to it. So I'm going to avoid making such a promise this time, and I can at least console myself with the knowledge that I have a genuine excuse - the last few months have been HECTIC. Hectic by anyone's standards, let alone those of a Laid-back Luke such as myself. So allow me to attempt, over the course of this brand spanking new blog post, to address in writing some of the crazy thangs that have been taking up all my time of late.

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When I last wrote a blog post I was probably right in the middle of serious dissertation research. Well, I powered through them and ended up with two dissertations that I was really genuinely proud of - in my opinion, by far the best things I wrote while at university. I received my marks on the 1st July and got great marks for both dissertations, giving me an overall Second Class Honours, Division I degree, or a 2:1 to you and me. I was so pleased! After I managed to royally mess up my second year (probably a fair consequence of not turning up to anything) it was so satisying to be able to turn myself around this year and get down to my work. As a result I really enjoyed my third year at uni (even though it went by SO quickly!) and the researching and writing of my dissertations was arguably more pleasure than pain. My 2:1 also means that should I one day wish to return to university to take an MA (a distinct possibility), then I have the grades to do so. Anyways, so uni is all over and I'm only just starting to properly realise it. Some things I won't miss, but some things I really, really will. It hit home on 1st July when my student card became no longer valid! No more beautiful discounts - terrifying! My graduation is this Thursday, my graduation ball this Saturday, and after that it will all start to feel even more real. It's so strange no longer being a student after all these years, flung out into the big wide world, from student to unemployed all in the space of a day. So begins the grand job hunt and, alongside that, a real push to get this film career up and running! Thanks for all the good times Sussex Uni, you were pretty swell.

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From the 21st-28th June I enjoyed yet another amazing holiday with my girlfriend, this time to Praia de Oura (not far from Albufeira) in Portugal. It was probably my favourite of the three summer holidays we've been on so far (it's difficult to compare Paris to those kinds of holidays) and both of us had a great, relaxing time and a satisfying amount of sun, sand and sea. The room we stayed in was certainly the nicest of the ones we've had so far - it could've easily slept 4! We relaxed on the beach and by the pool, enjoyed many many lovely meals, took a taxi into the Old Town of Albufeira, and went on a day trip to the Aqualand water park, which was great. We had some more nasty delays on the journey home, but nothing quite as awful as last year! All in all, a brilliant holiday and we're both really hoping we can afford to go away again next year. There are still so many places to go!

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On the 1st July (a busy day!) I began to move stuff into my new flat in Southampton, where I am now living with my girlfriend. After a seriously hectic first couple of weeks sorting out, amongst other things, furniture, council tax, internet, phone line, water bill, gas and electric, TV licence, shopping, and the small matter of being without hot water for far too many days, we are finally able to relax and really begin to enjoy the experience. It's a particularly big step for myself and I'm looking forward to getting the most out of city life - it's a big contrast to what I'm used to! Location couldn't be better, as the flat is five minutes away from the train station, a few minutes from Sainsburys, five minutes from most of the good clubs and bars and ten minutes from West Quays and all the other shops. The flat itself is starting to look really nice and is nearly there in terms of things IN it. Last Tuesday we had friends (Hugh, Kieran, Wigsy, Toby, Bayliss and Lydia) round for our first night out while living together in Southampton. It was great to have people round and I got a couple of awesome flatwarming presents (by this I mean booze). We pre drank at mine and then moved onto Reflex for some wonderful 80's and 90's cheese. Hopefully it will be the first of many such nights out in the upcoming year! So we're getting all settled into the flat, FINALLY have internet after 2 weeks without (enabling me to write this!) and looking forward to a really good year ahead.
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On the 10th and 11th July I made my latest short film in Southampton with two actors, Sally Paffett and Ryan Carter. The film is called 'Whirlwind Summer Romance' and follows a young couple's relationship from its beginning to its end over the course of one long summer, taking in all the high emotions that come inbetween. The shoot worked really well- I got everything I needed, the actors were great and perhaps most importantly it was a genuinely fun shoot. I travelled back to Westbourne on Saturday to spend the day editing the short and it's pretty much done, music added and everything (thank you once again Moby Gratis!). Once it's been put onto DVDs and labelled properly I can move on with getting the film out there, submitting it to festivals around the UK. This was a real motivating factor in making this short, that of creating something that could be sent off to festivals and, potentially, be selected for at least one of them. I consider the festival circuit to be a fantastic way for any young and enthusiastic independent filmmaker to see their film careers take off, and I'm hoping this will be the same for me. I have a long list of festivals (local, national and international) to send Whirlwind off to and will start to hear in the coming months if I have been successful with any of them. In the meantime I intend to continue writing and making short films (I have a few good ideas buzzing around) in the hope that one of them will get me to where I want to be.

I'm also in the process of writing a feature film (around a third of the way through as I write this) that, with any luck, I may actually get to make next spring/summer! The script follows a group of 18 year olds as they look to spend their last summer together before heading off to uni etc, and covers all the 'shenanigans' (LOVE that word) they get up to in the process. If done right, it should be a great mix of happy and sad, providing the audience with nostaglia and memories of their own young experiences. I have a producer on board who I will hopefully be meeting and discussing ideas with in the coming weeks, and he should be integral to the process of getting a terrific cast and crew together. I aim to have finished the script by the end of this summer and hopefully running casting auditions for the film by September/October. It's all very exciting! I can't wait to really get stuck into my very first feature film. If it happens it's going to be a terrific experience, another thing to add to the CV and another film to submit to festivals. So it's full steam ahead in the film department!

Trailers

Two new trailers have caught my eye today.

Melancholia from Zentropa on Vimeo.

MELANCHOLIA - Lars Von Trier's new film is, apparently, a 'psychological drama-cum-disaster-movie'. It looks radically different from anything Von Trier has tackled before, and I can't wait to see how the great auteur works with the themes of apocalypse within the melodrama that the trailer suggests. He has managed to amass an impressive cast for the film (Kirsten Dunst, Charlotte Gainsbourg, Charlotte Rampling, both Stellan and Alexander Skarsgard, John Hurt and Kiefer Sutherland) but really, if this bares any relation to other Von Trier films, then we won't know anything about the film until its release, and possibly nothing afterwards! But it's guaranteed to be an interesting watch- out on July 1st.

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CRAZY, STUPID, LOVE - This comedy/drama caught my eye because it has one of my favourite actors (Ryan Gosling), one of my favourite actresses (Julianne Moore), one of my favourite young acting talents (Emma Stone), and a guy that I loved in Anchorman (Steve Carell). It also looks like it might produce some genuine laughs and some genuine tears. We'll see!

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I watched Serenity tonight. Not Joss Whedon's best. Definitely felt like I needed to be a fan of Firefly to really 'get' it. I did get more and more into it as it went on though. And Nathan Fillion rocks. And it only cost me 99p. Aaaaaand, I love Buffy far too much to ever begrudge Joss Whedon anything. 3/5.

March/April 2011

Seeing as its been around 5012 days (possibly a slight exaggeration) since my last blog post I feel I was due to write a new one. I feel like I start every post at the moment with some sort of acknowledgement of the fact that I haven't written one in ages, so I'm gonna try and actually make it a bit more of a regular occurence now. I figure part of the problem is that each time I go to write one I feel the need to make it some long essay that takes forever to write. So from now on, it's gonna be shorter, but more regular blog posts from me!

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On the uni front, I'm all done for the Easter holidays now and trying to make the most of them. On a more scary note I am also pretty much done lesson-wise at university now! No more university seminars, EVER. Only a couple of little dissertation tutorials to attend in the week or two after the Easter hols and then that's it until my big disso deadline on the 23rd May (after which I may consume my body weight in alcohol). Dissertations are going ok - I'm well on my way with my favourite one, the vampire/Twilight one, and am hoping to get that finished to a certain extent by the end of Easter hols, which should be an achievable target. That would leave me with just under a month to start and finish my other dissertation (for the Cinema and the Real course). That one has proved more difficult - I took ages to decide on a subject, but have finally gone for themes of the real and the surreal within Lynch and Aronofsky films - but is in the planning and researching stage and should be finished on time. Suffice to say, I cannot wait for these dissertations to be done!

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Easter holidays are well under way and I am trying to fill mine with as much productiveness as possible. I feel I can't really justify having six weeks off if I don't try and make the absolute most of it. As well as of course the aforementioned dissertations, I am also trying to keep myself busy with lots more writings of various kinds. That will mean hopefully a fair few of these blog posts. I'm trying to get my CV written up to a decent standard so that I can send it off to a few places in Southampton ready for when I move there in July. Hopefully I'll be able to get something nice to tide me over for that year while I try and build up some film contacts (and some money!). I'm trying to get my film script finished (at least a 1st draft of it) by the end of April - this may be a target too far but I'm gonna give it a go! Seeing as it's an idea that's been buzzing around my head since I was about 15 I think I'd be letting myself down if I didn't ever get it down into a finished screenplay. I'm over a third of the way through it so hopefully it won't be TOO long until it's done and dusted! I'm also trying to get to the cinema as often as possible in these holidays - I saw Limitless (3/5) last week, Sucker Punch (3/5) yesterday and then at the weekend I'm going to be seeing Source Code and Route Irish. In amongst all this, the sun has been shining and I'm trying to make the most of it and my friends through these holidays. Hopefully gonna make it to the beach soon!

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Plenty more blog posts on the way!