It's alive!

The website is finally live! What a long and interesting journey it has been. I think the mistake I made was starting to set it up too early, I was at a point were my work was still based around my student work and I was only just beginning my freelance career. I am still in the starting stages, but at least I have some credited work (which will appear in another blog post). Thank you very much to my web designer/developer Sam Kelham for putting up with me all this time. I definitely recommend him if you need anything like this done and can visit his website here: www.samkelham.com

So if you want to take a look, you can visit my website here!

Also, now I have a website, it is giving me the motivation to keep this blog up and running. The past few months have been a bit of a whirlwind and I have been finding it really hard to keep on top of it all but I will be updating what I have done.

Just a final comment: today marks the day that I have officially registered as self-employed! Ahhhh!

Vikings everywhere!

Since the 8th April this month has just zoomed by! Where the hell has the time gone?!

I've been quite busy again recently, I had my my first day working with 4Crew at the 4Talent day in Ravensbourne. Was so much fun and got to interview Alex Brooker! It was a real learning curve and I'm so excited to find out who my mentor is and get back down to London for some more training!

Also the book trailer 'God of Vengeance' by Giles Kristian went live on Youtube! I was 1st Assistant Director on this with Urban Apache Films and I loved every minute of it and I am so proud to have been a part of it. Link it below if you want to have a look!

A few more things are on the horizon and I am still coming to grips on how to be a successful freelancer, it is consuming my every being at moment as my lovely boyfriend has just secured an amazing full time job and I want to go with him. Hopefully if I get the result I want from an interview, that shouldn't be a problem for much longer. I can dream!

Ugh, just slap my wrists...

I started quite strong when I said I would keep up with this but then from July last year, I just lost it! Ugh, bad Leash! *slaps wrists*

However, there is a very good reason for this. If I was my July 2013 self, I would not believe what has happened in the past 9 months and I'm sure the blogging world would forgive me when I say I have been a very busy bee. Buzz buzz...

So! What have I been up to? I always feel that lists can convey information effectively but I shall start with a picture...

Yes, I am driving a bus! But I assure you I have not changed career paths

So since I last posted I have:

• Graduated with a First Class Honours in BA (Hons) Media Production in September
• Helped out a Cottingham High's summer school
• Worked as a Marketing Assistant Intern at H&H Communications
• Got a job as a Runner on a Channel 5/The Garden Productions documentary about EYMS bus company (hence the photo). Went from part-time to full-time position and worked for over 2 and half months.
• Conducted 6th Form university talks and lectured at Lincoln University
• Held a talk at St Marys school for BTEC Media students
• Became a media mentor for a new university initiative 
• Production Assistant Internship at Warp Films (1 month)
• Made a short film for Sundance London
• 1st Assistant Director for "God's of Vengeance" book trailer with Urban Apache Films
• Gained a place on Skillset Film Trainee Finder as a Locations Trainee
• Became 4Crew Production Manager (but more info on that soon)

Phew! You can see why right? However, I do promise not to forget to blog as I have an exciting year coming up with some possible great prospects also on the cards! Oh yeah, and that damn website- this does not reflect well does it...

I nearly dropped my iPad...

So, after the last post I have had rather a busy and exciting time, so apologies for the lack of blogging!

So in the big news, I got a First Class Honours degree!! I actually did it! I almost dropped my iPad in shock and nearly screamed the house down with joy. Many happy dances were had, I can assure you that.

I also went for an interview with Frequency Festival for a Production Assistant internship, however I was unsuccessful and was very gutted about it. Even though it was not the outcome I wanted, I did come in the top 2 and had such a good experience and made some valuable contacts from this. They have not heard the last of me as I am now applying for other roles within the festival.

And then another blogging activity! I was asked to put my article about my 'This Morning' work experience on my University website. You can view the article here and see all the other talented people at my university! I think I might have this self- PR malarkey underway and I am trying anything just to get a chance to work in my dream industry.

Also I have something on the horizon that I will blog about in the next few days!

Best laid plans...

So we are coming towards the end of June and all of a sudden my life has started to take a change in direction. Just as an update, I went for an interview in Leeds for a Photography Internship which I really wanted, but had to turn it down due to financial aspects *gutted*.

I was randomly emailed the other day too. A member of the university blogging team had found my posts online about the film Forlorn, that was in the last post, and had asked me to write about my experience as a student film producer! Very excited and it went up online very quickly, something of which you can see here.

I have also applied for a lot of internships or summer placements, I have found that I can't just walk straight into a full-time job so will build up my experience while I am back at home in Hull. Got an interview which is on wednesday, as well as waiting to hear from several other ones.

"Almost 40 minutes! You've got to be joking!"

Yes this was my reaction when I discovered how long our final film for university was going to be. We thought we were going to struggle for 20- 25minutes so this was a shock!

I am sat writing this from my hometown of Hull, having a welcomed break from Lincoln and the life I have just left behind. The film 'Forlorn' has been my life for the past 6 months or so and as the Producer, I still cannot get the film out of my head and have been on a promotional campaign for a few days now. No words can do justice to how much this film has tested and strained the resolve of myself and the director as well as how much of my heart, soul and every waking moment has been put into making it a reality. I wish I had kept a blog of our progress but we needed every single second!

So, what is our 37 minute and 50 second epic about? Well 'Forlorn' is a gritty psychological drama which tells the story of aspiring photographer Ben Broadhurst. When an event dramatically changes his life, his world falls apart and he has to deal with the physical and psychological effects. Ben's career and relationship start to fall apart as he struggles to deal with PTSD (Post Traumatic Stress Disorder). When forced to seek help by his wavering girlfriend, he visits a therapist, but things take an unexpected turn for the worse.

Just as a little summary, we had a 14/15 strong cast and crew, which is rather large for a student production, as well as being partially funded by a Kickstarter campaign, thanks very much to our backers! We have also just displayed our work publicly at the University of Lincoln Media Degree Show, a trailer of which you can see here and we briefly appear in it too. Over the 3 days, we received some fantastic feedback about the film and we were over the moon.

This is the dream team of myself, Nev (editor) and Dave (director) outside of the screening.

This is the box file that we submitted for our final piece. Yes, the box file almost didn't close and a lot of that paperwork was completed by me and was all designed by me too.

So, what's been happening since then? Well we put our film online, a link that is displayed at the bottom of this post, and within a few days we had over 200 views, something we were not expecting from a 40min film on Youtube. It was not our first choice of displaying the film, however for other sites we have to pay and we cannot afford anything over than film festival entries. We have also submitted it to the university to be considered to be put forward for the Royal Television Society Student Awards, which we have our fingers crossed for. It's quite crazy the response we have received and are so grateful for all of the feedback we have. I have also been asked quite a lot of questions from other media students and practically had an interview over facebook from an a-level media student!

So, here is the film! I could fill hundreds of blog posts all about every stage of this film, but I wouldn't want to bore anyone to death. Forlorn Link!

#graduateproblems

So, I graduated from my Media Production course at the University of Lincoln around 2 weeks ago. It feels weird to not have a purpose anymore but apply for any sort of job going. I know some very talented and deserving people who walked straight into a job but I thought I would write a blog post based on a few tips that have helped me now I have graduated.

1. Be Selfish

This is your time to get your head together and have some time for yourself. After 3 years of jumping through hoops and working hard it is time to take a break. This could be anything that you want to do; I chose to have a few gaming and film days as well as get myself back into shape after abusing my body with food, alcohol and lack of sleep over the past 3 years. By re-charging your batteries, it really puts into perspective how much you have left to do, but gives you the brain power to do it. Over this time, it’s good to have a think about yourself in general, think about where you want to go with your life, career and all the wonderful things you are going to say about yourself in CV and interviews. If you feel you need more work experience, get it in this time before it’s too late!

2. Don’t be afraid to make the jump

The jump can mean anything such as deciding to move back home while looking for a job, moving away for a job or deciding to stay in the place that you studied. Every decision at this point is a big step so no matter how small you think it is, just take it and embrace it.

3. Get yourself into a routine

One thing that I have been finding is that I love sleep-ins! How amazing are they?! But it comes to the point where you fall completely out of your sleeping pattern and have nothing to get up for anymore. You need a routine, end of. So what I do is get up at a decent time, go to the gym every other day, shower, do some job hunting and then apply to anything I find. The rest of the day is then mine to be selfish with but I have got up and felt I have accomplished something. I think that this is something that a pro-active graduate needs to do and will help when you finally get that job.

4. Sign on

So, we have worked for 3 years on getting a degree and what do we find at the end, becoming unemployed. It is a horrible feeling knowing that you’ve probably spent your last student loan installment and do not have any other money coming in the near future. A misconception is that you must wait until your graduation ceremony (in my case September) to claim, but this is not true. There will be a completion date for your course, which you can find out from your university, and it would be a good idea to sign on at the job centre. This is a way to keep funding yourself and will give you some financial help when it comes to traveling to interviews and general living expenses.

5. Keep positive!

There is nothing more important than keeping positive and this means about everything that you do. Just keep the faith and always keep on eye on the light at the end of the tunnel.