Screentest 2010 – The Story So Far

So back when we finished the 2009 festival we decided that since we had had so little money and so little time to organise the whole thing that we would get started straight away.  That was all good and well until exams struck and things started to fall apart.

Over the last couple of weeks we have started trying to pull up the slack and get cracking again.  We sent off a sponsorship letter to our equipment hire company and received an almost immediate response from them which is a good sign.  Even received a quote from them today and I am pleasantly surprised.

There is still loads to do including actually booking the rooms for the festival weekend and the important question of sponsorship funds.  This I have no idea about at the moment.  There is a sponsorship manager but so far I am yet to hear of any developments on that front which is not a good sign.  Without money there is no festival.

This is my first break all morning as I have been email people and commenting up documents as well as organising my files on the computer as I was finding it ridiculously difficult to actually find the thing I was looking for.

Home, Shed and PHOTO’s!

As the name of the post suggests I am back home at least for a few more days before I head back.  Its nice to be home with meals cooked for you and people to look after you.  I have eaten better in the last couple of days than at any point in my flat!

So the shed.  I have moved into the shed as a kind of studio as I have loads of photo related work to complete as soon as possible.

Last week we had a day of photoshoots that was the most exhausting 12 hours of my life.  Its hard work trying to get the best out of people and to keep coming up with new ideas for poses.  All in all I think we pulled it off and I am really pleased with the results I have gotten.  Now all I have to do is sort thought the thousand-odd photos that I have in my library to process which is going to take me a while!

An example from one of the shoots is HERE!  The model in the photo was picked off the street by the talent scout we were doing work for that morning on his way to work.  He was told that he would be required for a shoot at 10am and proceeded to go and ask his boss whether he could skip work for it.  She obviously said yes.  This particular shot was my favourite from the shoot with him.  Let me know what you think?

There will be more examples to follow when I have finished working through them so keep checking!

On another less exciting note I got my results for my 2nd year the other day and it wasn’t quite as good as I had hoped as I have two exams to resit in September.  No problems though as I am determined to get them and work my ass off next year!

People

Isn’t it funny how you can know some people for a long time and not really know anything about them at all? And to have know someone for a matter of minutes and to know more about them than you can ever have imagined?

The latter is the one that interests me most.  I have met a lot of people over the last year, some disappear into obscurity but others have become good friends.  Some of these I have had very few contact hours with and yet I feel that I know them so well.

Some of these people I never give enough credit to. They are brilliant people.  What more can I say?

You get chucked into a situation that forces you to work with these people and you get on with it and get on really well at the same time.  You learn more in those few hours working together than years of talking.

(I always have this problem with thinking how to finish the post without such an abrupt ending… so….)

I love you all!

(did that finish it nicely????)

Lost

With all the exams, revision and all the stress that comes with it I haven’t had time to watch some of the TV series that I wait years for.  Lost season 5 has been waiting for me to watch it for months and the other day I sat down and watched all 17 episodes.  All I can say is WOW!

If you haven’t ever watched Lost before it is a “lord of the flies”-esk story of a group of people who survive a plane crash on a magical island.  It sounds far-fetched and it is but feels so real at the same time.

Anyway season 5 is brilliantly written with a complicated plot line that is perfectly executed. There are flash backs, flash forwards and even flashbacks through flash forwards.  All very complicated but brilliant at the same time.

If you have never seen it i recommend you watch all the episodes ever made and you will honestly be hooked.  I am though, slightly sad that it will all be over come the end of season 6 and I have no idea how they plan on ending it.  Anything could happen.

LOST…

Spotify

So whilst I was still back revising for exams I decided to take a little break and download Spotify.  For those of you that don’t know Spotify is a music streaming platform that allows users to listen to almost any music track in the world for free.  This is done with adverts that cut in every 5 or so songs but they are short and unintrusive.  I recommend it to anyone who loves their new music as its a chance to try before you buy and it won’t cost you a penny!

http://www.spotify.com/en/

Life After Exams…

Its definitely been busy times here having finished my exams on Tuesday and obviously went out for the customary celebration drinks.

Since then it has been non-stop with meetings about all of my future projects including PhotoSoc and Screentest.  I am now the treasurer of PhotoSoc and so I am having to do training and such for that.  Screentest is trying to become a society which is harder than you would think but we are working through it.

As for the Music and Comedy gig – I haven’t had time to properly think about it for a little while yet but I will have to sit down sometime soon and really think through the details and talk to some people to see if its really possible (if it is it will be awesome!)  Time will only tell.

Music & Comedy Gig

Plans are afoot…

 

…Watch this space…

Exams!

So its that time of year again – exams!

Not a lot of fun especially when it seems that everyone else around you has finished and you are still left with two weeks of hell in front of you.  Not that I mind too much; I suppose that its a good excuse to go to bed early and get that supposed 8 golden hours of sleep, apart from you can’t actually sleep because of those things niggling away at you (yes you’ve guessed it – exams!)

So what do you do when you have exams, can’t sleep and generally feel stressed? Well I go for a walk.  Which I suppose is good practice since I have to walk 3 miles each way to 3 of my exams.

Patience

So my bank holiday was rather busier than most but I really need to have fun.  I was roped in to help with the Bristol University Operatic Society’s production of Gilbert and Sullivan’s Patience.

Having no idea what so ever as to what to expect from both the plot, since I have never seen this one, or the operatic society, it was quite an exciting experience.

So I arrived on Saturday to start setting up.  You know the usual eat cake and eventually get round to putting up the lights followed by watching Helen and Laura cover themselves in UV reflective paint.  We got all the lights up and the set make up before Keith decided to break the UV light.

We set about taking apart the UV light to see what the damage was (this was 10pm) and by 12pm we had the thing apart (it was incredibly well put together and I don’t think anyone had had it apart since it was made).  We couldn’t check the bulb since it is covered in a purple coating that is not in any way transparent to the naked eye. So we decided to have a good look through the “behind the scenes” electronics stored in the underbelly of the casing.  We couldn’t see any obvious problems so we decided that we would find a multimeter and have a proper go at it.  Eventually we got it working (be it that it now has one less fuse than it used to!).  We finished this at about 1AM!

UV Flowers

Next day (Sunday) was rehearsals.  Spent all the rehearsal time doing my CAD presentation (another long story that you really don’t want to hear about!).  After the rehearsals we set about finishing off the lighting cues and the set.  Helen and Laura started writing things all over the set with the UV pen including all our names so that the cast would have a little surprise when they came back the on the Monday.  They then proceeded to label up all the names with slogans such as “like Owen (Peachey) but better” and “Like Owen but straighter” (these will only really mean anything if you actually know who Owen Peachey is!).  The girls then proceeded to start labelling themselves and each other with slogans and pictures so that when next to the UV light they would reveal these.

We all when out for a meal to Pizza Express that evening (I was really hoping that they had a UV light somewhere to really embarrass the girls but it wasn’t to be!).  It took ages for them to seat us as apparently a couple of chefs had had an accident on the way in to work (whatever that really means!).  We were eventually seated and ordered our food only for it to be delivered to our table with 2/3’s of the pizzas burn because the 3 remaining chefs spent too much time nattering to the waitresses!

Show day (Monday).  We had both a matinee and an evening performance.  Was really odd watching the matinee as this was the first time that I had really seen the thing the whole way through.  Needless to say it was almost flawless.  The girl that played the title role was so small and yet she had the largest voice of the lot of them – truly incredible.

Patience Rehearsal

Mamma Mia

Sorry for being so incredibly lazy recently and not posting anything but I have been doing other things including the topic of the post.

So my family and I when to see Mamma Mia in London about a week ago and I have to say that it was amazing.  I recommend you all go and see it!  Its not cheap but its a really good night out.  Its been running for 10 years in the West End which in itself is an incredible feat.  Couple that with the amazing actors and actresses, fantastic production and most of all an audience that is up for it, it will have you dancing in the aisle.