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!

Goodbye 2nd Year, Hello Wonder Twin

I cannot believe how long I have not posted on here, but I have to say it has been a crazy past 2 or so months. Here is a quick update:

- The fiction piece got handed in stupidly close to the deadline and was a nightmare of 12 weeks- I feel I have learnt tons from this (even though our mark was less than good)
- I made the experimental film and I am extremely proud of it! Click here to see it.
- Digital Media was a huge struggle. We spent 1 week non-stop, which included an all-nighter on the last day, to get it done. We vastly underestimated the time that it would take. I have not to that online yet, we are going to re-make it.
- I did my cinematography work all on my own! Got a first for my presentation and my folder is yet to be marked.

So, I have finished my 2nd year at university and I feel quite deflated. It has not been the best year, possibly one of the worst in terms of work I've produced, but I have made some of the strongest friendships in the process and I am glad I went through the rubbish for the glimmers of great things.

I have started work at Cottingham High School again as the Media Arts Technician. Not sure what to say apart from that it is just great and I love every second I spend there.

I also got an amazing opportunity to meet the cinematographer that I studied! I am going next week to film Oswald Morris, a legend in British Cinematography. It is going to be his last ever interview, as his health is deteriorating (pretty good for 98 though!) and it was just so lucky that I chose to study him, and my tutor loved my presentation that I did, so he asked if I would go!

Lots of exciting things coming up, including a reunion with my Wonder Twin ;) the wonderful Matt Needler, one of the Minecraft Duo, FyreUK.

Watch this space!

My first week of being 20

Since the last blog, there has been a lot happening and other blogs to cope with. I have started my digital media blog, mainly for my research and development file to track my progress through the project. That has taken up quite a lot of my time, I just find the topic so fascinating! The blog link is in my profile :)

On the university side of things, I have received some results back. I have definitely been graded a first for the documentary (woop!) I got a first for my Ugly Betty essay and 2.1 for my Prince Essay :) For digital media I got high 2.1s on both my Maya and App projects, still got to hear about the set extension :) So all is good on that front!

An update on the script, I've stopped doing it. I feel the idea was not good enough and another person in my group had a brilliant idea so we're doing that instead. I decided to take on the editing role for the fiction project as I really need to learn avid and doing this will push me into learning it!

I can safely say it's been a great first week of being 20!

Everyone needs a pair of fluffy socks...

Halfway through my first week back and I am writing a script, and I want to tear my hair out. I just feel the pressure of making the script good, as I am the only one actively writing one in our group so far. Bad scripts= bad films and I do not want to be the source of that.

However, this book is a gods send:

Crafting Short Screenplays that connect by Claudia Hunter Johnson is my bible, but I can't absorb myself in the whole writing process because I don't really believe in myself, I just think I'm a bit shit at writing. I think I try too hard.

On a lighter note, my new fluffy socks make my feet feel like they are in heaven =D

"Do not fear mistakes, there are none..." - C.H.J

Happy new year and all that...

So my last post was over a month ago, and who could blame me. I've been stuffing myself with food, alcohol and having a good old rest to recover from the past few months. I am now up, and for the most part, ready to go. I am 20 in 1 week 2 days, so my dreams I had when I was 14 of becoming a media child prodigy have quickly died along with the majority of my years of education behind me. Quite scary to know that in a year and a half I shall be cast out into the world on my own, to find my way into media to do whatever I want with my life.

But I know I am slowly getting there. My last post was a giant rant about people not taking me seriously and all that jazz. However, as I learnt today, my struggles have not been in vain. I was pulled aside at the end of a seminar  to be told that people were very pleased/ impressed in what I had done in the documentary project and complimented me on how I handled such a challenging group. I was also told that as the confident one, I need to take charge and put people in their place more often, which is certainly going to happen. I was also told that my initial grade is a First which i am overjoyed with, let's hope it doesn't change too much in the 2nd marking phase :)

So all in all, so far this year has been good so far :)
(and I won my first ever amount on the lottery: £10 woop!)

Blogging with beans

While I am sat here eating my very student stereotypical bowl of beans and sausage (so, it's bloody cold outside and I'm working!) I have had a realisation.

Today was our presentation of our final documentary. To be very honest with you I am not happy with it, at all, but that is because I know it could have been something much better, if people would have actually listened to me. This is the biggest problems I've faced over the past few years. At first, when I started doing media properly when I was about 13, I actually just thought  I was trying to be a control freak and should step back because other people know better/more. Now I'm at uni, I am quite young in comparison to some of the people I work with, but I have been doing media much longer than them and it just makes me want to scream when I do not get listened too. I may be younger, but have you thought that I actually know what I'm on about?! I am now one of the people that knows something.

To take the most recent example, this documentary for my single camera project, this has happened yet again, but not because I wasn't assertive (believe me, I was). I have been saying from the beginning about certain things not going to work or not having enough screentime etc. I kept repeating myself practically everyday, and in the edit this didn't change.

So as I sat in my presentation hearing feedback on our film I had to hold myself back. My tutor was picking out everything that I had warned the group about and been saying was not going to work. If anyone was to look at me they would have thought I wanted to tear the room apart with my mind, I was holding back that much. I just wanted to burst out!

But I've realised how I've become a bit more professional in the past few weeks because of it all. I have never had to shout at someone I worked with before. I don't take members of my group to the side to 'criticise them as a professional' when I'm actually gonna tell them how awful they are or always tell members of the group to always act professional. (There are 2 types of people: 1: professionals- that don't bang on about being professional and do it   2: idiots- who actually know nothing and have to cover that up by saying the word professional as many times in a sentence as they can)

I am now just sat in my chair, smug in the comfort that I was right and I know that I was. At least I know I have really grown as a person.

But mark my words, I will never be spoken down to again...

What a weekend!

From wednesday onwards it has been a crazy end of the week/weekend. I shall make a little list of what happened:
- Got on the team for the LAFTA's
- My Campbells Soup viral ad has got the final of the competition
- My camera came and I went straight out to take some photos of Hull Fair
- I finished the temple in Maya after 6 hours! Pictured below:

Phew! Been rather crazy. I'm in Lincoln now, chilling for a few weeks, mainly so I've got time to do my digital media project. 1 week to go and my creature hasn't even been built yet! However, I have made my little model to help me build it in the programme. Here he is:

Bring on week 3 of uni!

I'm expecting!

A Canon 550D that is! Ordered it yesterday and I'm so excited. I'm coming back to Hull on thursday to pick it up, just want it to come asap. To be honest, I have an extremely busy week ahead so it'll fly by! Today alone has been really busy, 3 lectures and then making my model for digital media. We have to create a creature to animate for our mini project, i find it hard to think of drawings as 3D so I'm actually making my model out of childrens modelling clay! Photos are going up tomorrow of all the different stages :)

I also went around to my friend Daves to work out Maya. I'm sort of getting through my temple! It's coming along okay, just taking me a really long time to understand it but I started going through it quicker just before I stopped. Here is the screenshot before I saved it:

I also applied for the LAFTAs, Lincoln unis media awards ceremony :) I have my interview on wednesday afternoon so I'm gonna be preparing myself for that tomorrow.

Busy busy week!!!

BOMBASTIC!

I hate that fucking word! It has been the bane of my life for the past week. I have a photography project on environmental portraiture and this was the word I picked out of the teapot (don't ask). Being a very random word, all i can think of is Shaggy- Mr Bombastic. So, 12 photos on the topic in 2 weeks, any idea on what theme I can do for it?

In other news, I have done quite a few other photography projects. I did the alphabet street photography project, as shown earlier in the blog, raggaphotos and an Elliot Erwitt style collection of photos. All can be found on my Flickr site. www.flickr.com/photos/aleyshaminns

Comments are muchly appreciated.