Back to Graphic Novels

While preparing myself for my afternoon cider in the garden I decided that I would probably need something to read. "I could enjoy a good book while taking in the unparallelled beauty of my student back-garden", I told myself. I remembered that Jamie lent me some graphic novels way back in September, I never got around to reading them. Now was the time.

I forgot how quickly I consume graphic novels, I read two in about three hours. 'Batman: Year One' and 'Civil War', these were both superhero comics I just ate up. They left me with a massive itch for more though. Spent a very long time eying up the complete Sandman collection again, it would be the absolute holy grail for me if it wasn't quite so expensive. Nrrrrggh, my Birthday might as well be when we invent self tying shoe-laces.

That's a big jug

It's always an effort to do the weekly shop on your day off. Gotta make an effort to look mildly presentable in public and carry a bunch of heavy groceries around. Imagine my delight when I found something in Lidl that I consider to be a reason to get up in the morning. A jug of cider the size of my head. The thing looks like the stereotypical moonshine bottle probably 95% less likely to make me go blind if I drink some. Got my tomorrow sorted, sit outside in the sun and sip cider like I just raised a barn after ploughing some hay.

My imported DVD of 'Tales from the Crypt' arrived today after nearly a month of waiting; very much worth it though. Mark and myself sat down with our home-made cookies and absorbed some twisted horror stories. This was naturally during 'Earth Hour' so we watched it with all the lights off in the house, this will probably become our standard viewing procedure.

On the set of Wildseed's 'Marijana' shoot

Marijana is a comedy pilot in production with Wildseed Studios.

I was fortunate enough to be a runner during many of the filming days, working alongside our director Andy Mosse, and winner of the Funny Women award 2012: Gabby Best playing the titular character.

Filming lasted a little over a week, the focus of Friday’s shoot was to get some ‘vox-pops’ of Gabby with random members of the public. Hilarity and public awkwardness ensued as Gabby asked passers by to ‘Stop and smell the flowers’ as she, herself posed as an over-grown sunflower; Marijana’s ‘casual’ clothes simply were not outrageous enough. Gabby threw on her signature Eastern European accent (which never ceased to amuse) and just started shouting bizarrely phrased life advice. It really was a sight to behold.

Marijana offering people a whiff of her wisdom

Andy knows two very important things as a director: Where the funny lies in a scene and where the best place to eat in Bristol is - both of his talents were put to very good use and were pivotal throughout the week. Lunch was the ultimate morale boost, we were treated to a home-made toasted wrap and a brownie so delicious it made us regret that we had but one life to live. 
 

The energy on the shoot was exceptionally positive. Gabby and Andy’s comedic fusion was a force to be reckoned with, every gag was a wrecking ball to the funny bone and holding in our laughter to avoid spoiling a take became almost impossible. Our trainee producer, Mark Stopher, once again proved that he had the versatility of a Swiss Army Knife. Simultaneously managing to record Gabby’s sound and book a London look-alike cab, all while dressed up like a hippy Peter Pan for his brief cameo as ‘Gary the nonplussed sound guy’.

Mark Stopher taking one for the team

Between scenes we piled into Mark’s little car, seemingly in perfect harmony with the on and off weather. Whenever the rain appeared to develop overhead we quickly finished our take to sit under some shelter. These breaks allowed us to carefully plan what we had to do next and ensured that we were ready to roll the second the skies cleared with a near military precision.

Obligatory team selfie

Friday’s street shooting continued with the efficiency of production from earlier on in the week. Monday through to Wednesday we were based inside the late Bristol Pilates Studio where Marijana taught a selection of ‘London’s most miserable and unattractive people’ to come to terms with their existence through unorthodox methods. These ranged from woefully unsafe trust exercises to trying eastern European foods which looked about inviting as a bowl of cow snot.

Marijana presenting her unique take on lunch

Although our location was effectively abandoned, in a just a few hours we adorned the walls with muslin cloth and tacky Buddhist scrolls to create Marijana's wacky enlightenment centre. This was expertly organised by Anna Vergano, and our Art Director, Sarah. Intentionally designed for someone who liked the idea of yoga, but has never actually done it - our venue became a natural extension of the Marijana character, even hosting it's own awkwardly named 'Garden of Intimacy'.
 

In order to capture all of Marijana’s shenanigans with the highest of visual fidelity, Wildseed used VMI to hire a C300 camera - the same bit of kit used to film Drew Casson’s ‘Hungerford.’ Additional attention to production value was also achieved through expert use of studio lights. Once armed with a handful of 2k blondes and some reflector boards our tech hand Kris Griffin transformed our derelict venue into a veritable wonderland where the concept of day and night no longer held meaning.

Wildseed’s Creative Director Jesse Cleverly dropped by a handful of times to provide some pitch perfect line suggestions and to inspect the quality of coffee on offer to the crew. I believe it was up to the Cleverly standard. 

I tried my best to keep the three C's going: Compulsory Cleverly Cafetiere

When filming was wrapped inside the pilates studio, Miles Bullough came down to assist in the packing away of kit and check that all was well with the crew. There is just something wholesomely re-assuring about our Managing Directors presence. When you see Miles' smile something deep inside of you just knows that even though the day's filming was rough, everything will work out in the end.

Filming lost none of its humor or momentum by the end of the week thanks to Andy’s patient and calculating direction and Gabby’s natural ability to maintain high morale. This woman radiates good vibes and was a genuine pleasure to work with. In fact, it was actually rather sad to know that filming was complete. 

Something that is seldom noted in the production of films are the strong friendships people create with one another. While our time as a team is fleeting, the memories of working with other like-minded people stays prevalent in the mind long after the final take has been shot.
  
Theo is a student at Bournemouth University studying Television Production. He has previously worked with Wildseed as a runner on their 'Hungerford' shoots. He writes daily blogs, which can be found on his site here: http://cafe-studios.blogspot.com

A game of Cat...

Briskly awoke to tank through the latest Bioshock Infinite DLC, I can't believe it's now been a whole year since my favourite game of 2013 came out - how time flies. Dropped in at uni for a 'Meet the professionals' seminar that lasted the whole afternoon. Essentially it was a great networking opportunity, saw a few names in ITV and broadcast and even got to sit down an chat with some of them about how to get my foot in the door.

When I got home I was high on social adrenaline - it's been a while since I felt so chatty with other people and course mates, it gave me a physical burst of energy that left me running around the kitchen while making stir-fry. Dashed upstairs to finish up on all our documentary per-production work when Lucy let out a blood curdling scream. My mind darted to assume the worst. A bugler?! A Corpse?! Jamie clogged the toilet?!

It was a mouse.

Lucy's knee-jerk reaction to her fear was entirely understandable, I would have done the same if there were a tarantula roaming around. Fortunately, I'm fine with dealing with rodents. At least I told myself that. My memories took me back to one time I was watching Wind in the Willows in our first house when Dad caught a mouse. He made it look so easy that I told myself that this would be a simple task. That was until Lucy told me it scuttled into the cesspit known as 'Jamie's Bedroom.'

Oof. So many places for a mouse to hide in there, piles of dirty laundry, piles of clean laundry, guitar cases, dirty dishes, gym bags and Amazon parcel wrapping. I armed myself with a toy golf club and picked up each object at arms length, gave it a wiggle, then put it up on the bed. Suffice to say, this continued for quite some time.

Riding on the courage I found within myself from watching the Lee Evan's comedy classic 'Mousehunt' I persevered. I stuck my club under a chest of drawers and the rodent shot out behind a cabinet. I knew where he was now. I successfully flushed him out of there are prepped the box my nerf gun arrived in to scoop up the bugger. It dashed into the hallway but was trapped, desperately, it squeezed under the door into the downstairs toilet and made it's last stand behind the toilet brush. Mercifully, I poked around one last time and coaxed him into the box, took him outside to a few streets away and let him out into a bush.

I returned home knowing that I had done something that previously, my Dad would have to do for us. Stepping back through the front door, I felt older somehow.    

Iced Coffee Recipe

Iced Coffee is a tasty treat that we all order in restaurants and coffee shops. It seems to be this mystical nectar of the gods that only baristas can create, but in reality, it is exceptionally easy to replicate without leaving a dent in your wallet. Here's how to do it DIY style!

Firstly, you will need to assemble a few bits and bobs:

• Instant Coffee (1 tbsp)
• Sugar (White or Brown) (1tbsp)
• Milk
• Water
• (Optional) Flavored coffee syrups to mix in later 

Now that you have your ingredients you are ready to rock and roll!

1. Get two glasses and put your dried coffee in one glass and your sugar in another. If you're a student like me and can only afford one glass then you can mix up both the coffee and the sugar in a single container; it will just take longer to mix in.
   
   
2. Boil up some water and pour about a fingers worth into each glass - enough to mix in the contents into an über concentrated form.
   
   Give the sugar water a good little stir until everything has dissolved and then add it into the coffee glass. 
   
   You can mix up the coffee a little bit here too. A recommended way of doing this without dirtying a spoon and causing excess washing up is to pick up the glass and swirl it like an elderly businessman would swirl a brandy while sat by the fire. Smirk and chuckle softly to yourself for added effect. Don't worry if all the coffee hasn't dissolved, that's what this next step is for.
   
3. Pop it in the fridge. 
   
   Some other websites suggest a chilling time of 8 hours. If you're naturally impatient for deliciousness then leaving it for single hour will do just fine. If you need to do some things to occupy your time then consider these options:

• Watch the Firefly pilot on Netflix
• Play this web game
• Do that thing you keep putting off doing - you know the thing I mean.
• Ponder some of life's wondrous mysteries, like where the hell are all the baby pigeons?

          Now that you are a more rounded and productive human being, it's time to reward yourself.

   4.   Remove your glass from the fridge, give it one more quick swirl (remember how we did it?)
         then add some cold tap water and fill it up about 2/3rds of the way.

        Now just fill up the remaining 3rd with milk, add a little bit off ice, a straw and any other  
        ostentatious drink gizmos you own. Add sugar to taste.

        There you have it, a delicious, perk-me-up drink that can be enjoyed anytime of year. If you
        want additional brownie-points/karma then make one for a friend! Oh, hello Pedagogic Pig, my
        you look thirsty!

 

London Underground

For the first time ever, I think I just about got the hang of the London Underground. Rode it into Bank station where all the important financing goes on, or so I was told on a plaque I read. This location was ripe for our film shoot as our main character lamented over the economical state of the country to actual bankers. Once again, I was played the part of 'holding things guy,' this is a role I performed until my final moments with the crew today, it was genuinely quite sad to know that I would be wrapped on a film set; at least for a little while.

Got back home to assist in making brownies with Mark and Lucy. While I didn't help with the actual baking per-say, I did have to go an do an emergency shop for grease-proof paper. This took a lot longer than expected as seemingly nowhere in Winton was open after 8pm so I dashed around a lot until I came across as Sainsbury's, problem solved but quite sweaty. Power showered moments before watching 'Carnage.' I love films that are adapted plays and this one ranks quite highly in my mind, everything just gets worse and worse as all the characters size each other up. It starts out in a passive-aggressive manner but amalgamates into a tense climax where your only release is laughter.

Yay for Post!

*Ding Dong.* That noise marked the end of my dream. I am typically the housemate who needs to answer the door in the mornings. Mark and Lucy are often away and while Jamie's room is mere 6 feet away from the front door, he is in a sleep deeper than a Sports Direct mug. Eight in the morning was unusually early in the morning for the postman to come, while I appreciate their efficiency I was cursing them under my breath after they left - it was such a lovely dream I was having.

Actually. Nice dreams aside. Mail for me? Probably my US imported Tales From the Crypt boxset? No no no. New Nerf gun! Figured I deserved a small personal present after helping out on the film set last week. Played with it all morning too. Whatever misgrievances I had about being rudely awoken by post evaporated very quickly when I pulled the trigger on my new toy. Bless you postmen of the world!      

I was the star student at Uni today, not because I was being especially clever but because I was the only one in the group who had watched 'The Prisoner.' This netted me a lot of brownie points with our lecturer who called on me multiple times to discuss plot and themes of the show - I didn't have the heart to tell him that I only saw a handful of episodes when I was only 8, my knowledge was rusty but apparently serviceable. And by that, I mean he chuckled when I could quote 'I'm not a number, I'm a free man!'

Just finished up a group editing session with a uni pal on our coursework. Together we fought through a lot of grief to get something come out that actually looked part-way decent. Our main issue came from working around our main actor who consistently changed and ad-libbed his lines, every time we wanted to cut into his dialogue with another clip, it would be inconsistent. Every single time. At least he made a lot of dramatic pauses we could splice into. Literally just finished uploading it to Dropbox now, gotta catch some sleep to catch a train. First stop, London Waterloo.

Christmas come early or late

Got up to help Lucy tidy the house so it looked spotless for her parents who were planning on dropping in. They even cooked us some lunch, mash and pork chops which went down a treat. I haven't eaten a roast dinner since Christmas but this was the next best thing. In the evening, Jamie, Mark and myself all got around to watching the final episodes of Band of Brothers, and once again it was perfect. It's such a commendable and impressive piece of film-making and now that I am studying TV production, I can appreciate it all the more. I do not envy the guy who had to do all the risk assessments though - making a "safe" explosion is still a mystery to me.

Aviation Museum

Got to do another recce toda, this time of our local aviation museum where we are basing our uni documentary. When me and Mark first saw this place back when we were shooting our Indie Movie Trailer and we completely laughed it off assuming it was a really naff place where parents think they will be educating their kids. Arriving there today we discovered it was actually really cool! They had cockpits of many older planes including spitfires and helicopters which you could go in and just re-live all your favorite war movies.

After that though Mark and myself justified a lazy day to ourselves. We have been very busy over the past week and video games just seemed so enticing. Unfortunately, we play so many that I didn't leave myself with very much time to write a truly cracking post about recent filming. It will come very soon but I don't want to be in a tired state before writing it otherwise it'll read like guinea pigs autobiography. 

I need a lie-in

Slept amazingly well last night and had an excellent day filming today - really fun and had a lot of laughs. I have been asked by Wildseed to write them up a small blog post about it, I think its for a publicity thing. I've just got back home to Bournemouth and all I want to do right now is crash and sleep for a thousand years so I will write that up with pictures tomorrow. Still playing catch-up with sleep from the previous night but I can have one hell of a lie-in tomorrow.

Early Train

Talk about early starts. Filming last night went a little bit over-schedule so I had to get the very early train from Newbury to Bournemouth. 5am certainly felt early when you get a few hours kip before hand. I have never fallen asleep on a train before, but brother, I was very, very close. Set an alarm on my phone just in case I actually did conk out.As soon as I saw the glaring sun I perked right up, as if I were a flower or a calculator.

After getting into Bournemouth I had 45 minutes to get to uni, bus seemed to be the best option. Had no cash though. Dashed into the nearest Supermarket to buy the cheapest gum just for the cashback. Rushed into uni to complete my assessed TV studio session. I was 1 of 3 camera operators this time around, which wasn't as fun as sound but still pretty cool. 'Fashion Show' was our criteria this time around and despite a few hiccups early on, it went really quite well - I had one hell of an optimistic team.

Catching the train back to Newbury now after this manic day - doing considerably well for someone who only got 2 hours sleep. The trick is to never sit down or get remotely comfy, I doubt I would have gotten up otherwise.

Ok day on set

Overslept horribly this morning. Had Mark been 15 seconds earlier he would have still found me asleep in bed - instead we cross paths in the landing where I was only wearing my PJ's. Got to set with just enough time to make the cast and crew some bacon sandwiches which went down pretty well. I was also asked to organise lunch in the form of pizza. After some pre-prep, I found a very reasonably priced place, sent my order through with, what I judged to be, ample time for delivery. It showed up 20 minutes into the lunch break so I felt like a massive nuisance to the director. Having said that, I did manage to redeem myself somewhat by performing GOB's Chicken Dance in perfect context (finally!)

Moving forward though, I hope that I can really shine on set tomorrow. 

Neck Pillows

Early starts make me appreciate neck pillows. Had to be up at 6am today to get ready to be taken to Bristol for a days filming and I didn't get a great nights sleep. Felt worse for Mark though, getting in the car I noticed that he had the complexion of a land-locked fish, his first words to me were "You know you've had a bad nights sleep, when you can still taste the toothpaste from last night as you eat your breakfast.'

Although I cannot possibly compete with that, I kept on waking up over and over again having odd dreams about all the little things that could go wrong for me on the film set - thankfully, none of them came true and I actually had a really good time. I was sent out a few times to get tea and coffee supplies as well as helping Mark transport a large heater from HSS. We also discovered that HSS are atrociously awful as we continuously got screwed over by them through dodgy equipment and outrageous delivery costs. They are so naff in fact that Mark is thinking of demanding a full refund from them!

Make a Mental 'To Do' List

Had a little mental 'to do' list to be getting on with this morning. Everyday I do a little day plan just before I get out of bed, I set up a list of goals and try my best to achieve them by the end of the day. Booted up my computer to send some emails when Louis messages me asking to play video games. So much for my day plan.

In all seriousness though, I did manage to get all my little jobs done. Heck, even on the way to Lidl I bumped into someone I really hope wasn't a meth addict and gave them some money, hopefully that scored me some karma. Just finishing off the last of next weeks filming planning with Mark before making the trip back to Newbury. Once again I have been put down to be the first aider on set - fingers crossed that I don't actually have to deal with anything serious though, apparently the worst thing that could happen is someone could slip on a yoga mat. I'd have to stop laughing before springing into action.

Great Food

Developed a big old smile after finishing 'Big Night.' The first half of the film establishes the scenario, a pair of Italian brothers have one last chance to make enough money to save their restaurant and they decide the best course of action is to host a dinner party. The second half includes one of the most celebratory and grin-inducing montages I have ever seen as we see the brothers make and serve dozens meals and the patrons react to each mouthful. It's quite similar to the final moments of 'Ratatouille' as it taps into a very deep seeded human reaction: The desire to share the love of great food with others. Now I just really want to go to 

Organisational is Key

Organisation skills are improving! Phoned up the Bournemouth Air Museum to ask them if they would be comfortable in being the main focus of our uni documentary. Typically before phonecalls with strangers I do a mini rehearsal in my head to psych me up - socialization never has been my strong point. They said yes, not thanks to a wicked, per-mediated charm on my part, but most probably because I sounded overly interested in planes and aviation. I was telling them I had seen the place before and how cool it all looked and will look on camera with passion, and when they guy said they now had a fire-truck I must have sounded like I had a sensory overload.

Mark's shopping list was the second victory of today. Purchasing an electronic cigarette was a lot easier sounding on paper. Nowhere in Winton seemed to sell them, it wasn't until I strolled up the road for a bit I found a shop that literally sold nothing but E-cigarettes. It was like Willy Wonka's chocolate factory for nicotine addicts. But even they didn't have quite the one Mark was looking for. It wasn't until I stumbled into an independent DVD rental shop that I found exactly what I needed, naturally they guy was very interested in films too so when he found out it was going to be a movie prop he got very excited. He even gave me a science lesson on how they function. So now I feel smarter than I did this morning - it was a good day.

I even picked up Mum's Birthday present, makes a change from getting one 24 hours before the actual day. What a good son I am.

A0 Card

Re-watched '10 Things I Hate About You' and fell in love once again with Heath Ledger's character while being transported back to the 90's. Lucy and I were later commissioned to pick up some arts and crafts stuff for some filing next week, effectively we need to find an A0 piece of card which is apparently commercially infeasible. After the shopping I developed a hankering for a really sweet drink, something fruity but also something milky. Clearly, home-made banana milkshake was the only way to go. And I only made a little bit of a mess.

An odd compliment

Last night I made a very spur of the moment decision to attend my uni courses social event. Headed into town at one in the morning with the vague hope of meeting up with some people from my course, and as luck would have it they were all there. I really surprised a lot of people as they didn't expect me to make an appearance. It was fun meeting up with a very hungover selection of them later on today during a screening session of our uni work. To my surprise, my independent project was shown to the group and they all really liked it, laughing at just the right times. The lecturer even complimented it and asked if I had a foot double. I said no. He replied 'you have nice feet.'

'Mmmmkay...'

What a waste

Phone ran out of battery last night so I was free falling without an alarm to wake me from my sleep. My body clock must be finely tuned however as I conveniently awoke with enough time to spare for breakfast and a sprint out the door. Did forget my USB stick though so I had to do the walk of shame back home.

Roped Mark and his car into helping me out in moving some filming equipment for our TV pilot filming. Spent a fair old while checking out all the kit too, some stuff was missing and some more stuff we had extra. Didn't actually matter in the end though as our contributors cancelled last minute for the second week in a row. This meant that I could help Jamie cook the dinner. Spaghetti carbonara was on the menu, we were a bit anxious about the very slight amount of pasta we had left in the house. Jamie even said "I think we have just enough past..."

Why is Napoleon always the victim in our endeavours?

The Grand Budapest Hotel

When I first saw trailers for 'The Grand Budapest Hotel' I couldn't find enough people to show it to. 'This is going to be Wes Anderson's best film since Rushmore, these funny moments look hilarious and what a terrific ensemble cast!' These were thoughts that I held with me months ago until today when I finally walked into the cinema to see it. My expectations were high for this one and it pains me to say that they were not entirely met.

The plot predominantly focuses on the exploits of Gustave H (Ralph Fiennes) after he has been accused of murdering one of his former hotel attendees, supposedly to seize their fortune. Together with his faithful lobby boy Zero (Tony Revolori) they set out to prove his innocence and escape the psychopathic and disgruntled heirs of the deceased inheritance. It's a fun set-up.

Every role is play perfectly, Fiennes was especially wonderful to watch, his every mannerism was honed as if his hotel duties were engrained into his very DNA. While the film does have an exceptionally strong cast ranging from Anderson regulars like Jason Schwatzman, Owen Wilson and Bill Murray, a large handful feel terribly underused, each earning around 60 seconds of total screen-time which was a shame.  

While the film and characters were riddled with the trademark Anderson quirk, a large majority of the actual content felt flat. Yes, the characters and set-pieces were entertaining, but it was occasionally difficult to find substance amidst the action and be engaged on an emotional level. Things just kind of happen, scenes unfold before our eyes but we take away very little from key moments since most of the characters remain the same throughout. They do not develop.

It's crushing because I know that Anderson is up to the task of creating quirky, yet interesting people. 'Moonrise Kingdom' has the beautiful naivety of first love, 'The Darjeeling Limited' has the expertly realized dynamic of brotherhood amidst a crisis and 'Rushmore' has a perfectly constructed schoolboy who makes human decisions for love. 'The Grand Budapest Hotel' felt like a remarkably one note experience in comparison. A lot of fun ideas, but without an emotional core to hold lasting interest in the characters or events, its a little bit difficult to care about what actually happens in the film, which is simultaneously, an awful lot and barely anything.

3 Film Saturday

Another film heavy Saturday. After discovering how to access the Canadian Netflix library my watch-list practically doubled in size. They are now forgiven for Celine Dion. Got through 'The Philadelphia Story', 'A Separation' and 'Laura.' All of which were pretty good, 'A Separation' was especially good thanks to its very raw filming style and near lack of music. It takes a little while to get going, but it quickly throws a sucker punch at you that instantly changes the dynamic of the film in a similar way to 'The Hunt.' It also marks the second Iranian film I've seen, the other being the woefully overlooked 'Children of Heaven.' If your ever tired of the usual American styles of films then try to dabble in forign cinema, there is always a gem to find amidst the subtitles. 

Spring is slowly encroaching

Had a very rare glimpse into Summer today while taking back all the filming equipment today. Shining sun, blooming flowers, warm temperatures, all I wanted to do was sit on the grass and chill for a bit. Sadly, I was running out of time to get the gear back to uni and I thought it would be best to save those Summer times for friends.

I infamously once said that if I was ever on 'Come Dine with Me' I would probably make a really fancy sheppards pie as my main course. Recent events have persuaded me against that decision. Everything that could seemingly go badly happened. Had no onion, beef stock or decent potatoes but I made do with gravy mostly. As I was dishing up I was very conscious that I was essentially shoveling something really naff onto people's plates. Tasted ok though.

Kicking and Screaming

Had a shining moment acting in our film today. One of our people had to drop out so I was asked to fill the shoes of 'Victim #1.' A prestigious role indeed. I got to be dragged away while kicking and screaming by a 39 year old actor we hired out who looked a fair bit like Kevin Bacon. Had a great little day of filming though, I'm now in charge of editing this sucker, I haven't had the chance to look back at the footage just yet, but I think we are gonna be alright.

Poker Animals

High street shopping once again. This time, for our next uni film we're doing tomorrow. Our prop list got us a little bit of scrutiny from various cashiers who were probably wondering what two young adults were doing with tape, rope, cable ties and dog food. Some mysteries as best left unsolved.

After finishing series one of 'Orange is the New Black' (so good) I set dressed our dining room and blacked out our windows to match our stimulus painting.

Enough said really, expect the bizarre.

Happy Birthday Lucy 2014

Got home from uni after finding out my filming day had been cancelled as our contributors couldn't make it. This was exceptionally lucky though as I couldn't book out the equipment due to a server break-down and I really wanted to celebrate Lucy's Birthday at home. Arrived home in good time to blow up a lotta balloons to make a Birthday chair (I think I finally got the hang of tying those fiddly knots) and presented the 'Hugo Hedgehog' cake. We then trekked down to Pizza Express for fancy eating. 6 of us enjoyed a lovely dinner for a very reasonable price after we discovered a NUS card knocks off 40% on Mondays and Tuesdays! Good pizzas/calzones never tasted so good!

I hope Lucy had a fantastic day and I wish her all the best now that she has finally left the realms of 'teenagehood.' Only a few of us left to go now. 

Location Recce

If there's anything that university has taught me its this: Plan your films and do a lot of the work BEFORE you even consider setting up a camera. This process can seem boring at times but I also think it's one of the most exciting times in the creative process. One of the best time to come up with nifty ideas for your film is during the location recce. Then you see your space and can begin conceptualizing actors movements and camera positions. We did one of these very quickly in my kitchen this morning for our upcoming collaborative filming project. Blacking out our windows will probably be the most challenging part but for what we have cooking, it's gonna be worth it.

The Perfect Debate

Before getting to bed yesterday Jenny off-handly mentioned needing to prepare a debate about the cultural significance of video games. I have been waiting all my life for this challenge. Just spent the entire of today brainstorming a bulletproof debate. That and dropping into Bournemouth to do a little bit of shopping. Got myself a replacement key-ring bottle opener in the shape of a penguin. It's sturdy but a bit bulky. This is somewhat problematic since I keep my keys in my backpocket, now all I can feel when I sit down is a giant bird gradually imprinting itself onto my bottom.

Spring Cleaning Bonanza

This morning, Mark came down and stated that walking along the kitchen floor was like walking on velcro - it was very sticky and needed some attention. And hey-ho, it's the first day of Spring so I guess it was the perfect time to dedicate this morning to Spring Cleaning! Oh yeah. It happened. Everything now sparkles. Dusted and vacuumed every nook and cranny of our home. Moped the floor and tidied the bins, tables, video games and even the toilets!

No first of March would be complete without the ritual listing of Noah and the Whales second album, aptly title 'The First day of Spring.' Time to regenerate my soul in preparation for the new year.