Thursday 27 March 2008

Resh Samauroo's Workshops.

I’ve been meaning to attend these workshops for awhile but have been occupied with work every time they are on. But I have managed to go to the last two, and I actually wish I attended right from the start. They are great sessions and far better than what I had expected.

An element of the workshop is for people to present an idea or script, that they are currently having problems with and through Resh’s personal advice and the group environment the aim is to help the person overcome it. And if they don’t within the session they certainly have enough to think about afterwards to potentially achieve it.

Through the workshops and post-workshop chats Resh has helped build my confidence as a writer and as a person. A few of the areas that hold equal importance are; communicating a pitch effectively, overcoming shyness and insecurities to put your self out there, and learning to sell yourself through your strengths.

This reality check of industry standards has made me re-evaluate my own attitude and approach to being a writer and being confident in all the aspects that that entails.

The sessions success and Resh’s own, offer an inspirational and productive environment in which everyone goes away more wiser and confident than when they walked in, and you can’t ask for more than that.

Monday 17 March 2008

Media And Identity. Role Models Essay. [A Reflection]

The research was begun early, which is unusual for me and resulted in some great quotes and a nicely structure argument. I had an idea of the structure of the argument and its conclusion, early on, which helped me to write a rough template draft. I gave myself a few days break from that point and just let the research/quotes form in my head. And when it was time to start collating it, the essay and what I was going to use was pretty much formed by itself.

However, all this sounds like it was a success but its actually the opposite. Due to picking a question, which in my mind had extremely limited theory coverage in books, and so I almost solely quoted from websites. But that wasn’t the problem; Wikipedia was. I thought using it to identify television show descriptions and clarify a few facts would be ok, but it wasn’t and my mark reflected that.

I learnt my lesson there.

‘Wikipedia no longer exists.’

Mark: Worst Mark Ever.

Wednesday 12 March 2008

Glowfrog Studios.

After a few weeks writing and perfecting my CV and specific company cover letter, I've sent my first one out. Its to Glowfrog Studios. They're an animation studio who make shorts, commercials, various cgi for documentaries and have recently branched out into feature animations. I sent a sample short animation script 'The Day I Met A Vampire' in the hope of further convincing them to take me on. It's a long shot but would be incredible.

Tuesday 4 March 2008

The 'Not' Bournemouth Writers Circle.

Recently I’ve been attending the Bournemouth university writers group. I’ve been to the last two and have found them very useful. It’s a great session and I highly recommend it. It replies on participation, to state the obvious but is really rewarding whether offering material or giving feedback.

The sessions have made me realise a few things and have given me a much needed confidence boost. But not only in some ideas/scripts, but in communicating effectively to a group and individually. Its helped me over come a once major fear and potential embarrassment of opening up about my ideas and secondly, the fear of talking in front of a group. I don’t have the clearest voice and often talk fast and it probably sounds like mumbling. But I’ve become more comfortable offering up ideas/scripts and feedback in front of a group, which is a major step for me.

I do plan to attend as often as I can and to bring something each time. It would also be nice to carry on the group next year as its organizer will have graduated.

Next week I plan to have an outline or treatment for WWII Drama, my feature script for the third year, if I have time.

Monday 3 March 2008

Giving Life.

A strange thing occurred the other day. I’ve been slightly aware of it before but it's never been as strong as this.

A writer creates characters (to an extent) and creates or portrayals the world they live in. So we give life essentially. But I’ve never had the realisation that it's actually the other way around. Its these scripts, characters and stories that give life to us. It may sound strange but it's true.

It's down to my upcoming war drama feature script for my major in the third year.

It feels good to say that because I know it's true and that’s part of my theory. The script is set during the Second World War and is further from anything I’ve ever written or would attempt to think of writing. But somehow I am. It demands an amount of research that I don’t even want to think about. But at the same time I’m excited about it because it’s a challenge.

I’ve never had this kind of feeling with a script before. I’ve had big feelings but this is the strongest and it's hard to explain. It just feels more right than anything. My instincts tell me that this story is something special and the challenge I’ve set myself up for is without a doubt worth it.

This script has given me more confidence than anything and it seems to be sticking, which is good. For the first time in a while I’m actually happy to be at university and all the things I worried about before and that got me down have just disappeared. I’m now thinking forwards and about making progress instead of the opposite, which is rather cool.

'The writer who possesses the creative gift owns something of which he is not always master- something that at time strangely wills and works for itself.'

-Charlotte Bronte

Saturday 1 March 2008

Espresso.

The other day I asked a friend on television production whether or not she had an idea for her major production yet. I’ve asked a few this same question because the bottom line is ‘I want to write it.’ So I asked and she didn’t have an idea yet. She then joked ‘Write me something and I’ll see.’ I said ‘Ok. I have something already in mind.’

I had been working on an idea for awhile with the specific intention (and hope) it would become somebody’s major production. There’s no saying that she’ll like it but at least she’ll read it, or possibly recommend it to someone else or even ask for something more specific.

It’s called Espresso and is essentially:

‘A case of mistaken identity leads to a romantic meeting.’

The short film was inspired by all the charm and romance of those French films that have scenes in cafes where two people meet and instantly fall in love. And even so I originally wanted it to be filmed like a foreign language film and have English subtitles. I knew from the beginning that if i got it right it would make a great short film. But at the time I didn’t have a clue or thought that I’d be able to pull it off. But now the story is looking good and I’ve got even more drive to complete it. So I’m pretty chuffed that its going to be finished and even if its not suitable then I can just keep passing it around.

‘The universe is made of stories, not of atoms’

-Muriel Reskner