Friday 24 December 2010

Guest Reviewer Spot - Coming Soon!

One of the Writers Block regulars, Mark Harrison - a.k.a. 'The Mad Prophet' - has asked a few of us to take part in his radio show by providing a review of our favourite films.

Not surprisingly to anyone who knows me, I have chosen Point Break, a film I will never tire of and the current 'audio-visual wallpaper' in my room as I plough through all things Christmassy, such as film school coursework and learning lines for the upcoming 'live' project with the second year FdA students.

The piece will be recorded in the new year and broadcast some time after that - watch this space for more details.


Mark's film reviews can be viewed at the following link:
http://undesirablenumber1.blogspot.com/

Mark also writes for 'The Den Of Geek', check it out:
http://www.denofgeek.com/aboutus/272364/dog_honour_roll.html

Friday 10 December 2010

Small magazines are called 'zines' it seems

Tonight was the launch of the second zine co-written by Writers Block regular Tim Marshall and collaborators John Chadwick and michael Hann.
The event featured live music and poetry readings along with film screenings and a fashion show... And I provided the spotlights!?!

Tim was like the 'man of the match' the other night at the concept film event - he's incredibly talented and a terribly nice bloke all round.
If you ask me, I'd say he's wasted teaching at a primary school and thoroughly deserves any and all good fortune that should find him.

Here's a link for the event:

http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=170032709690882

A Day For The Diary

Congratulations to Jennifer Nelson for landing her first role in a feature film today!!!
Jennifer has worked with me on a number of occasions, including in the multi-award winning 'The Woman Who Loved A Tree', as the lead in my micro-short 'Letting Go' and as the severed head in our student reinterpretation of a scene from 'Under Suspicion' - follow this link to check out Jen's professional profile on Spotlight.

http://www.spotlight.com/interactive/cv/4816-3421-5348

Well done Jen, what a big day! I hope to see you in Hollywood soon!

Wednesday 8 December 2010

It's Christmas, by Dickens

Here we are then, representatives of Christmas' Past, Present and Future...
It is one year since I first attended a concept film night; twelve months ago was the Joseph Tan memorial special. Joe, who sadly passed away in 2009, was highly influential in my decision to become a film maker, not just work on films. Joe touched a lot of lives with his gorecartoon films and i have the pleasure of attending my film studies classes with one of his finest actors, a certain craig Samson. We remember you Joe.
This years' concept film night was supposed to have a Christmas theme but only a few films, two in fact, were explicitly relevant.
The night was hosted by Writers Block, once again a positive and enthusiastic performance by Laura Degnan and a late arriving James Harris.

In a surprise entry to the night, our 48 hour film festival entry 'the Woman Who Loved a Tree' was played and Laura invited a few of us up to share a story or two with the audience. I think this put me in good stead with them and allowed me to easily chat with other film makers from the night.
I introduced myself to David Cave, director of 'Day of the Broken Dolls' and it emerged that we knew a lot of the same people from our days growing up in Middlesbrough in the 90s, to attending CCAD as students and now knowing the same Newcastle based film makers - take a bow Dawn, John, Andy and Jimmy!

I feel like I've been on the right path for a year now, so, rather than say the future starts here, I'll leave it as the future CONTINUES here.

Sunday 5 December 2010

Marc's Shark

Following my recent meeting with 'Colin' director, Marc Price, I have been asked to create a shark hand puppet for his next film, to be shot in Cornwall, in the new year.
In preparation for this, I had a Jaws movie marathon yesterday, to see what can be done if you're Steven Speilberg or if you have Hollywood money.
Since neither of these apply to me, I can only hope the results work within the given shot and don't embarrass me or Marc too much..!

Didn't wanna be a cowboy anyway!

The CCAD film and tv production live project finalised casting the other week and sadly and despite my best efforts, the cowboy role went to someone else...
But they do recognise talent when they see it, so I was offered, and I've accepted, the part of Buck Turbine, self styled secret agent and representative of the 'Action' film genre.
I've now read my bit of script, and a few pages either side,and I mist say it's not quite what I was expecting...
Well be having rehearsals soon (last weeks were cancelled due to the venue being closed thanks to extreme weather conditions)and I hope I can throw a little extra into the character and maybe learn a little bit about him myself.

Simulated live tv. Did it last year, doing it this year. Hope I don't have to make up another FOUR minutes this time!