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!

A wise man...

A wise man once said:

"At university, you think you are going to learn how to use the equipment but it is the people that you learn to deal with." - Ronnie Fowler, Single Camera Tutor.

Truer words have never been spoken.

I have learnt this with the single camera project I am doing at the moment. As you may recall from the documentary, I have a rather difficult group, but different from each other in many ways. I am not going into it as I like to keep this blog as a record of events and it is public, but I assure you it is an experience I will never forget. To be fair, it was about time that I was placed with a difficult group. All the way through school, 6th form and my first year of uni, I was very lucky with who I got to work with.

It is 1 week and 4 days now until my deadline. It has gone by too quickly and various shoots have been cancelled or have not gone to plan. I have a few pictures and stuff that i will upload but I just wanted to do a quick update about it.

I also have an exciting prospect that I hope will come true! I am doing my cinematography work on Oswald Morris, an absolute living legend and my tutor Brian has said that he is going to film some interviews with him and since I am studying him, he would like to take me along! Such great news, just hope he remembers/ I can get to do it!

Not long until easter now...

Some people find some weird things...

It has been a while since I posted!

A lot has happened in the past few weeks, we hit week 6 as everyone knows is a nightmare. It sinks in that you are half way through and within a month all the work has to be in. It is the time to panic!

But at the beginning of the month I went to Elstree Studios! We went for a cinematography expo with university and it was really interesting to see all of the different sorts of equipment we could be using in the future. Here are the ugly lot I went with ;)

And I got to try the new canon camera coming out! Look at how happy I am!

I have also been doing lots of work on digital media, the main reason why I haven't updated here in a while as i have a digital media blog (you can access this via my profile). Someone in my class passed on this video to me, it relates to what I am doing but I also feel like I need to share this with the world. I just think it's brilliant!

I have done more too, but I'm just too tired to update now, especially after my work today (pictures will follow)

A big shout out to the people viewing me from around the world, mainly in Russia and Germany! I'd like to know who you are, add/follow me or something =D

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!

Therapist anyone?

So, i am on my phone right now, laying in bed staring into the dark abyss. I have a headache and another reality occupying my brain. I hate script writing. In my post several hours ago i mentioned the perfection quote, i like it but why can't i believe it!
As i have been laying in bed i just keep thinking- how can it be more real? Will it connect? Can the characters have more depth? And these questions are haunting and made me realise i have issues when it comes to believing in my script writing ability.

While ive been sat in bed, ive been thinking about how i can make it more real and the answer is draw on past experiences and feelings. So ive opened my mind. Big mistake. I now have all the horrible and sad feelings i usually use but no way to vent or use them, as this is a completely different style of script. I know i shouldnt be afraid to make mistakes, but when you pour your head and heart onto paper you want people to like it.
Lets hope i can sort this out.
(apologies for bad spelling/grammar, mainly to the frustrated me of the future who will be looking back at this #suckstobeaperfectionist)

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!)