The Fellowship

Sent Rebecca back of to London while I stayed back to hold the Bournemouth front. We celebrated what is potentially, our last day and evening all together as a house. Movies were laid down, we started off light with X-Men: Days of Future Past, a film I was almost roped into seeing in first year without any context of the X-Men lore. I'm glad I put my foot down then, because I certainly enjoyed it a lot more having seen all the previous films.

Later on we got through the latest episode of Game of Thrones and then settled into Fellowship of the Ring as our send-off film and it was hard to have picked a finer movie. We made a few jokes about how the fellowship is now disbanding as people are starting to think about leaving. Deep down though, I don't think any of us want to go.

Quiet BBQ

Originally we planned a BBQ event with a bunch if people from my course tonight, but instead we just faniced having a quiet one. Still had the food, but it was just, Rebecca and two of my two housemates that joined in.

Made some pretty legit burgers today though! Classic mix along with some piri piri sauce to add a bit of heat. Slowly getting the knack of making them now, the burger press is quickly becoming my most used Christmas present.

Nerve Awards... Again

Second time now I've been to the Nerve awards, this time last year I want with Rebecca to cheer her on as she hoped to secure a senior position. Last night, after leading Nerve online towards greatness, she passed the torch onto the next generation. She was a little sad to give it up, but I'm sure she will sleep a lot better now that she doesn't have to fret about getting posts written on time and the like. The awards got a little boozy, then we went to a 21st Birthday party and things got even more boozy and I paid the price this morning with a pounding headache. All better now though, and I'm planning our house BBQ for tomorrow now - bring on the burgers!

The Final Submission

And with one click of the mouse and then watching a brief animation of a little wheel turning, that was it. My uni course is over. Earlier this evening I submitted my final essay online, along with the vast majority of my housemates. We all huddled together in my room as I begun to send mine in and I played this song.

It lended a certain gravity and weight to clicking that submit button. And while everyone else cheered in abundance, I just smiled quietly to myself and reflected on the past three years and how much work and fun I've had. And while I didn;t want to bring a downer on the mood, I felt like something had ended in that moment as I reached a point in my life I could only begin to imagine achieving.

An Appetite for Freedom

Tomorrow will be the final push. Got a lot of words sorted today, sitting pretty with 3,900 done in a 4,000 word essay. Bit more to write on top of a few other niggly bits and then its all over. I've already decided on how to reward myself for a year of toil and struggle for my degree - more Witcher content! My housemate and I are both getting the expansion packs at the same time and plan on doing little else over the next few days other than indulge in some more time in the world of the Witcher. I can taste the freedom already!

Work and Friends

Crikey crumbs, I am bored to death of this essay. Went into the library again today, this time with a few friends. Can't say my productivity was enhanced, but it was good to have a chat to them all about the work and generally get to catch up with them again. If its one thing I didn't like so much about this year was the lack time we actually needed to spend in uni. i get the whole independent learning thing, but actually doing stuff together at uni was always good fun in previous year. Now every time I see someone its a bit of a treat and I want to spend as long as possible with them. Not long now til they are all gone.

Karaoke Bar

Been to Bristol and back over the weekend to hook up with Stoph and co for his Birthday celebration. Didn't have too much knowledge of what was planned for us last night, so I was a little surprised to hear that we were all going to a karaoke bar. I had some minor reservations at first, but they dissolved instantly after stepping into the booth. All in all, it was a great time, Louis and I grooving together to 'Cry Baby' was a potential highlight - just good all round vibes! Just got back into B-town, mentally preparing myself now to finish off my final essay, so close to the end of it all now. 

Essay Progression?!

Still up to a standard bit of essay writing. Got a fair bit done today though, sitting pretty at 2,400 words now which is actually a lot more than I expected to have done by now. I'm coach bound to Bristol tomorrow to enjoy a bit of Birthday action with the main man, Mark Stopher. I'll try and get a little bit more work done on the coach, that is if Phoenix Wright doesn't tear me away from my duties.0

One Last Essay Slog

Laid down a bit more work on my essay. I'm basically talking about narrative structure and how I tried to make my audiences like my characters and whether or not I was entirely successful in accomplishing these goals. Boring bit of writing, but its gotta be done. That's basically all I'll be doing over the next few days, after that though its all done. Gonna treat myself to a bit of Witcher when its all over, can't wait to dive into the DLC.

Well Done Rebs

Stood by Rebecca's side as she handed in her dissertation as she did with me many months ago. There was a small hiccup on the printing front as several pictures of hers decided to do that classic thing and jumble themselves up again, that took longer than expected but we got it in with plenty of time to spare.

Well Done Rebs!

The remainder of the day was spent chilling with Rebecca and cooking a roast dinner. Bit of a spontaneous decision to cook one, but I wanted to do something fancy for my housemate's Birthday, which was yesterday, and celebrate Rebecca's hand in. We just about pulled it off too, it turned out quite cheap too, split between the 6 pf us, each man needed to pay £1.50 so there were smiles all round.

A Good Robot

Took a fancy trip up to London very briefly to help shoot a short video insert about a brand new robot. Gist is, the people who made Skype want to make a new delivery service buggy device, essentially a box which wheels and a hell of a lot of cameras on it. We got to interview a company rep about the device and got to see a prototype in action. All I can say is that it was a really cute robot, and if it does find success it would be really cool to tell this story to people.

The Director and I huddled next to the little robot fella.

Glitch in Time!

At long last, I am happy to debut my graduate project: Glitch in Time.

I had a bit of a 'mare while trying to re-edit the audio part of the film so for those of you with keen ears, you might notice the audio distorting during some of the louder moments but after a bit of pestering from Rebecca, and the fact that doing a re-edit is going to be a little tougher than expected I decided to debut it here and make the video public for all to see! I hope you enjoy it!

Please note, there is a little bit of naughty language in this one along with some adult themes.

Also, if you, or anyone you know has a few minutes to fill out a quick survey about the film, it would help me out a great deal. The uni is making us all do an evaluation of our pieces alongside an audience reaction/responses so your answers will actually help me get my degree! Survey here:

Eurovision 2016

Back home in Bournemouth and headed straight for a Eurovision party last night. Pretty hectic few hours for me actually as I was re-united with Rebecca, then I had to dash home to wash the bed-sheets as they still had sand in them from lat weeks beach trip (I'll be damned if I ever had to sleep in a bed that sandy again) then we headed right over to the party for a fun evening.

And what an evening it was! This years Eurovision was possibly one of the best put together shows I had seen in a very long time. The songs themselves were of a much higher standard than usual too, everyone upped their game to make for a really fun and exciting year. Mixed thoughts on the new voting system though, it did make for a very tense finale however.

Started planning my final essay earlier today, got to do a reflexive piece on my grad film, talking about every aspect of its development and if I was happy with it overall. An easy but boring write up essentially, the whole thing is 5050 words but it isn't strictly an academic piece so the words should fly by when I get in the groove.  

Speaking of my grad film, I will finally be posting it on here as of tomorrow!

Last Bradford Day

Final day in Bradford took me on a small tour of the surrounding area, and a full family visit of our director. We interviewed both her Nan and her Father about the Bradford Fire. Things got admittedly a bit emotional today as a recount of past events got a little bit too real for our directors Dad, as a result though, we got an immensely genuine interview which was very powerful.

Packing up my bags at the moment ready to head back down South tomorrow morning, just in time for Eurovision!

Media Museum

Continuing our time documenting the Bradford fire, we took a trip to the football stadium where it all happened. It was a little strange standing in a 'ground zero' of sorts,  at the same time, it was quite cool to be stood within an empty football stadium (I've never set foot in a football stadium properly before.) My sound job was very easy today, mostly just getting ambiant sound tracks of the stadium. I'll have a lot more to do tomorrow as I've got a selection of interviews to gather up.

We wrapped quite early as well, 11:30 to be precise so we had the whole day to just explore the city and the Media Museum which was absolutely fantastic. In top of having some great stuff on how television was developed and became mainstream, there was a class exhibit on videogames, featuring playable versions of Sonic 2 and GoldenEye, both games of my childhood. Hands down though, the best exhibit was the one on animation, specifically stop frame.

So many other museums would be content with showing off Wallace and Gromit and calling it a day, but this one really went all out in showing off several sets and models of stuff from the 80's and 90's. A lot of lesser known and darker films were on show here which was a real breath of fresh air. In fact, I took several notes down for a bunch of shorts I had never even heard of but I am now desperate to see.

Most notably, the museum had the only surviving set from early Wallace and Gromit after the Aardman fire. The Museum jewellery heist set from The Wrong Trousers was proudly displayed in all its glory and it was gorgeous to look at. I was only watching that short with Rebecca the other day and I was telling her about how much love and respect I had for that film, it was lovely to see that set in all its glory. Especially knowing that I had seen it on the screen since before I can even remember.

Another small model that really got my attention was the actual figuring of Shakespeare used in 'Next' one of my all time favourite short films. It blew my mind again, seeing that little man in the flesh, knowing that he has brought me so much joy over the years. Itching to rewatch it now, if only I wasn't stuck on 3g internet.

Bradford Memorial

Attended the memorial service for those who died in the Bradford City fire. It was a truely moving event, despite me not knowing much about football, the memorial transcended the sport and it was powerful seeing a hundred or so people gather to see the families place wreaths in the town square as the public looked on, many wearing the Bradford City football colours. In the words of our Production Manager Matt Winlow as he carried a lump in his throat: 'There's just something about seeing grown football supporters with tears in their eyes.'

Bradford Bound

Big boy coach day today. I agreed a while back to help out on what will be my final grad shoot for another coursemate. Good news is in landed myself into an all expenses paid trip to the city of Bradford. May not be the most flashy of places, and the coach trip was a little over 7 hours, but its fine! Food is paid for so I am a happy bunny.

The doc is about the Fire of Bradford, we are off to the memorial service tomorrow so I'll tell you all about it laters.

Back to the Beach

Day plan involved a big boy trip to the beach today. We brought a few beers and a bit of shandy and just set up camp in a prime location next to the recent landslide that hit Bournemouth beach. We even managed to get a small fire pit billowing after I spotted a handy sign in Winton asking people to take away their bits of wood (the were renovating a home and the debris needed burning). All in all though, the beach sesh was really lovely, the beach is a totally underused commodity for us students and I hadn't really had a good beach day since 1st year - nostalgic vibes were constant.

Guest Blog: Rebecca and Theo's Grumpiness

Theo was going to tell you about his day of grumpiness. But that's boring so here's my take...

I came home from a long day at university doing my dissertation to find a message from Theo Durrant: "I feel grumpy". Oh god. After phoning him where he proceeds to tell me all his woes ("I woke up with a headache", "I ate too many chips", "I have nothing to do"), I suggesting coming over to cheer him up. "I don't know Rebecca, I just want to be grumpy by myself"

Sweet lord *rolls eyes*

In the end, I took a jaunt in the warm sunshine over to Frederica, meeting Theo in Lidl where we spent a good ten minutes deliberating on the type of ice cream to buy. After a 'road ice cream', Theo was perking up (of course food makes him feel better...)

We played some video games (again points points points), Theo had yet another ice cream and the rest of James' pizza and we gossiped about the latest drama in Frederica.

Theo is currently sitting on his bed, looking at Reddit (of course), looking significantly happier and less like a grumpy 22 year-old teenager compared to before.


This is what I call a RESULT.


(this concludes my guest blog xoxo)

Skype Situation

Yesterday I helped out on potentially my last studio show, funnily enough, i was actually presenting in Bournemouth Town Centre for most of it. We sat out in the sun waiting for directions from the peeps back at HQ. In theory, what we were doing was kinda cool, the contestants with me had to 'phone in' to the studio via Skype on their phones so the vision mixer could pump up and image of the guys doing some live vlogging on their phones. I say in theory, because all the phone batteries died relatively quickly so there was a mad scramble to finishing the show on time and get all the footage we needed.

Saw Stoph very briefly today, I would dare say it was the quickest meet-up I've ever had. Mark very kindly said he'd pop into my house before his taxi took him back for his train, as he rung the doorbell though, the taxi pulled up, so we had a nod and a high-five and called it a day. Despite the short meeting, it was still cool of him to go out of his way to say hello, I'm headed his way later on this month for his Birthday so I'm sur we will have a proper catch up then.

Big Burritos

Briefly showed my face again in the uni TV studio to be briefed on my presenting job for tomorrow. Basically going into Bournemouth Town Centre to host some kind of treasure hunt with my housemates so I guess that will be kinda fun.

Rebecca was feeling a bit low today too so I decided to up the dinner ante and went guns blazing with burritos. We are talking black beans, rice, mince, chili, salsa, sour cream, guacamole and cheese. For all intents and purposes, it was a Mission Burrito. And you know what, we actually kinda nailed it too. I made batches for the whole house plus Rebecca and it went down an absolute treat. Definitely be making them again for some future big event, so stuffed when I was done though.

Food is as Good as Overwatch

Food is cute and romantic right? I thought so to, so I prepped Rebecca a small surprise packed lunch today so she could crack on with her dissertation with a happy tummy. Her face lit up when I produced a cinnamon bun and some white choc and raspberry cookies in the library. Her dissertation is actually coming along really strongly, she frequently doubts its quality but I know for a fact that she will do very well with what she's written so far. Immensely proud of her since she is actually writing about a topic that genuinely matters, unlike myself.

Louis and I had a big old bonding session over the new game Overwatch which is absolutely astoundingly enjoyable. I haven't had this much fun online in such a long time, not since my Team Fortress 2 days. Definitely be getting in a few more rounds in with him in the days to come, good way to spend time with my bro long distance too - always great to chill out with him. 

Bank Holiday Mow

Enjoyed a visit from my Mum and Granny this morning. They popped in to do their Bank Holiday grass mowing session (whatever makes them happy) and the garden is looking so much better for it. We later headed to Conto Lounge for a lush lunch that hit the spot, bit noisy in there but the food was very good.

Got back from lunch in time to help Lincoln on his final day of filming. Its been such a long project in the making and for it all to be over and done with today must be a heavy weight off his  shoulders. He was genuenly appreciative of all our efforts on the project and its just cool to say that I was a small part of helping him make his dream project.

Post Audio Fun

Called into uni on a small sound job. I was with Matt once again, assisting with his e-cigerette dicumentary. Did more sound stuff, but this time I actually got to do so.e pist-production sound in the edit. Spent most of my time popping in a few audio transitions just to make it all flow neatly. We even learnt a thing about seperating audio tracks after they had been nested together. It was kinda cool, as Matt recorded everything on 3 mics, so we got to test which recording sounded the best. Totally needing out here, but it was a genuine pleasure to edit it, and I think its really improved the quality of his doc.

Stuck in with Sound

Foley duty for me once again. spent the day with Matt Winlow and his documentary presenter doing some additional voice-over recording. He's doing a BBC3 style doc on E-cigarettes and the vaping culture which is actually shaping up to be rather professional. Had a bit of a mare though early doors however as the foley desk just wasn't working for me, I reckon someone over the past few days did an number on it and I don't have the expertise to re-work it. So I had to run home to grab my Tascam and record in the sound booth directly onto that - quality was identical, but it would have been cool to mix it properly using the big desk.

I also did a few sounds for my housemate, got some lovely punching sounds for his boxing film along with a truly gruesome neck snap sound effect that we achieved by manhandling a head of raw broccoli, proper nasty sound that made.