HoKAY so in last week's tutor sesh, Sue gave us a brief for a little ten-minute-or-so presentation on a clip from a drama of our choice.
I was with Emma, and finally on Sunday (yes, we are THAT motivated) we got together in Cranborne for a wee chin-wag.
We chose a clip from Schkinssshhhh (that's Channel 4's 'Skins' to normal people), which was aired during the episode entitled 'Sid' in the second series.
You know the one. The one when Sid's Dad kicks it.
In fact, we chose the before-and-after scenes (that seems kind of sick) of that very event.
The problem with putting Emma and I together is this: we are both dynamite bullshitters.
Good for you, you say?
You're lucky you weren't in our latest tutor session.
Despite the tragic loss of my endless piece of prose worthy of Shakespeare himself that was originally meant to be notes for reference, we hopped up in front of our fellow Telly-ers and played our clip.
Then we talked.
Jesus, we talked.
About three-quarters of an hour later, D1 and 2 were very much aware of Sid's dad's oracle-like quality (courtesy of Propp's narrative theory), and the fact that the final chord of the non-diagetic piano music that fades in to underscore his contented diagetic humming at the end of the night scene is in fact not only a minor key, diverting from the tune's originally major format and giving a sense of foreboding, but is also an imperfect cadence, giving the tune an unfinished quality and therefore complimenting the slow zoom-out and the fade-to-black in giving the scene a sense of 'trailing off'.
Ahhhhhhhh.
So basically everyone got really bored and no one else got to do their presentation.
Lols.
Now. Next brief.
Non assessed: Three characters, three props, one location, character-driven script.
My idea - the favoured one so far: A waiting room in a clinic for people with phobias. The three characters are patients. The three objects are either items they are afraid of or instruments used to shield themselves from the subject of their phobia.
Should be amusing though perhaps a little non-pc. Got to love a bit of that.
Assessed: A scene in the style of a TV drama, basically.
On to the good stuff.
Sam's 19th totally owned mine.
We all dressed up as TV characters/personalities (my Phoebe costume crashed and burned, so I was suddenly a very accurate Paris Hilton. So accurate in fact that the woman in Tesco's thought I was a prostitute), and took Bournemouth by the balls.
Being a blonde is terrifying! Honestly, all I had to do was stick on a bleach-blonde Barbie wig and an industrial-strength push-up bra and I was leered over like a goldfish in a bowl plonked next to a cat.
Then, at the end of the night, I removed my wig and admitted to being a Northener, and suddenly nobody wanted to know!
We had some cracking costumes though. 2 Fonzies, about 87 Mistys, an Ash, a Pikachu, JD and Elliot, Frank Gallagher, Smurfette, Sweep, the Special K lady, The Moon, Jeremy Clarkson, two Simon Amstells (though only one with real hair), Russel Brand, Robin (of Batman and), Borat (who failed, I repeat, FAILED to stay in his mankini...chicken...), the Fresh Prince of Bel-Air, Jack of 'Lost', and many many more.
This was the first night I'd had pure, unadulterated fun. Even my unforgivable dancing to Britney, S Club 7 and Bon Jovi go unregretted. And I'm not even tipsy!
Ha ha, Tesco lady. Ha ha.
x
Showing posts with label general blah. Show all posts
Showing posts with label general blah. Show all posts
Wednesday, 3 December 2008
Monday, 24 November 2008
General oo!
Heheheh yes I just re-read that last post.
Had an ace lecture today with a new lecturer and got my new timetable which I may or may not colour code later.
I now have the Montagues and Capulets theme from the Romeo and Juliet ballet in my head. That's how purposefully random that lecture was.
Woo! We're working on narrative - my bestest area! Character creation and development (I am now the proud creator of a hen named Laetitia who was once human but had a tiff with her genetic engineer husband), story and plot, blah-dy blah.
I taught Lizzie Sykes something.
She was like 'how do people generate ideas?' and I was like 'ahem-ahem. well, some authors prefer to write either very early in the morning or very late at night, because that is when they are the most in touch with their subconscious. thank you, I'll be here until christmas,' and she was like 'whoa, whoa, hold the phone there, what was that?' and I was like 'yeah, you heard me'.
Well, that's how it went in my mind.
And then Jonathan told me he'd just imagined me with udders and it kind of replaced my ego-boost moment with one of those moments when you just think 'whaaat?'.
Yeah, someone else is leaving my floor now! That's two! Is it the smell of marijuana? 'Cos I'm pretty much immune to that now.
Don't get me wrong, that shit ain't ever getting into MY body.
Hmm, what else? Oh yeah, I think we're getting our new briefs tomorrow.
Yeah, that's right, BRIEFS. I'm a grown up, I can say it without laughing. I can also say the words 'shaft', 'crevasse', 'cock' and 'gash'.
They are all perfectly clean words. They are in the dictionary. Their definitions are 100% clean.
Da ting is, showcasing our work won't actually be as exciting as we expect, 'cos we've seen most of 'em online before the event. Like me and all the previous Harry Potter movies.
Hmm. Nothing else to say really.
Oh yeah!!! Man this caused me to make serious lol.
On the third floor of Weymouth House, there is an office, with a sign outside in the same format as any of the other offices. However, if you look very closely, you'll see that the name on it is 'Billy Nomates', and the contact e-mail is 'lonr@bournemouth.ac.uk')
Genius.
Anyway, with that happy thought, I will leave you so I can go and get more food and hopefully talk to my mum about how to resolve the cock-uppage of the end of term, because somehow I'm going to find myself in London.
Much Love
xxx
Oh yeah, and the IT Crowd's back on! Yay!
Had an ace lecture today with a new lecturer and got my new timetable which I may or may not colour code later.
I now have the Montagues and Capulets theme from the Romeo and Juliet ballet in my head. That's how purposefully random that lecture was.
Woo! We're working on narrative - my bestest area! Character creation and development (I am now the proud creator of a hen named Laetitia who was once human but had a tiff with her genetic engineer husband), story and plot, blah-dy blah.
I taught Lizzie Sykes something.
She was like 'how do people generate ideas?' and I was like 'ahem-ahem. well, some authors prefer to write either very early in the morning or very late at night, because that is when they are the most in touch with their subconscious. thank you, I'll be here until christmas,' and she was like 'whoa, whoa, hold the phone there, what was that?' and I was like 'yeah, you heard me'.
Well, that's how it went in my mind.
And then Jonathan told me he'd just imagined me with udders and it kind of replaced my ego-boost moment with one of those moments when you just think 'whaaat?'.
Yeah, someone else is leaving my floor now! That's two! Is it the smell of marijuana? 'Cos I'm pretty much immune to that now.
Don't get me wrong, that shit ain't ever getting into MY body.
Hmm, what else? Oh yeah, I think we're getting our new briefs tomorrow.
Yeah, that's right, BRIEFS. I'm a grown up, I can say it without laughing. I can also say the words 'shaft', 'crevasse', 'cock' and 'gash'.
They are all perfectly clean words. They are in the dictionary. Their definitions are 100% clean.
Da ting is, showcasing our work won't actually be as exciting as we expect, 'cos we've seen most of 'em online before the event. Like me and all the previous Harry Potter movies.
Hmm. Nothing else to say really.
Oh yeah!!! Man this caused me to make serious lol.
On the third floor of Weymouth House, there is an office, with a sign outside in the same format as any of the other offices. However, if you look very closely, you'll see that the name on it is 'Billy Nomates', and the contact e-mail is 'lonr@bournemouth.ac.uk')
Genius.
Anyway, with that happy thought, I will leave you so I can go and get more food and hopefully talk to my mum about how to resolve the cock-uppage of the end of term, because somehow I'm going to find myself in London.
Much Love
xxx
Oh yeah, and the IT Crowd's back on! Yay!
Monday, 17 November 2008
Editing an dat
The assessed piece is looking pretty good!
Apparently, we had un pequeño problemo with the tape - basically, as James lovingly put it, it was completely fucked. We lost a whole bunch of footage, so on top of bad luck, little planning and a stressful day on location, we now had only a small amount of what we'd shot.
Luckily, the shots that were remained were workable.
Couple them with some great and very fitting music, and we had us a nice little film.
Being in the same editing suite as all the other groups is always humbling though, since you can't help glancing over shoulders and getting depressed at the absolute excellence of other peoples' work.
I think our piece has the shock factor, as it features the strong suggestion of rape.
So it could swing either way - we may get praised for being brave and pulling the thing off, OR we may be asked 'was that completely necessary'?
Also, I found out that we may not have been allowed lights, since we hadn't had the lighting workshop. But then I would be redundant, wouldn't I? And I would have missed out on burning myself.
Nah, just joshing, I absolutely LOVED doing lighting.
Essay's finished too, but it's about 500 words too long, and that's minus references and bibliography (shucks!).
Have to get it done tomorrow and handed in by Wednesday.
I think it's pretty crap, but hopefully it'll get me through. It's too late to re-do it all now.
L8rs
x
Apparently, we had un pequeño problemo with the tape - basically, as James lovingly put it, it was completely fucked. We lost a whole bunch of footage, so on top of bad luck, little planning and a stressful day on location, we now had only a small amount of what we'd shot.
Luckily, the shots that were remained were workable.
Couple them with some great and very fitting music, and we had us a nice little film.
Being in the same editing suite as all the other groups is always humbling though, since you can't help glancing over shoulders and getting depressed at the absolute excellence of other peoples' work.
I think our piece has the shock factor, as it features the strong suggestion of rape.
So it could swing either way - we may get praised for being brave and pulling the thing off, OR we may be asked 'was that completely necessary'?
Also, I found out that we may not have been allowed lights, since we hadn't had the lighting workshop. But then I would be redundant, wouldn't I? And I would have missed out on burning myself.
Nah, just joshing, I absolutely LOVED doing lighting.
Essay's finished too, but it's about 500 words too long, and that's minus references and bibliography (shucks!).
Have to get it done tomorrow and handed in by Wednesday.
I think it's pretty crap, but hopefully it'll get me through. It's too late to re-do it all now.
L8rs
x
Saturday, 8 November 2008
The beginning of a masterpiece, our first projects, and how to sabotage a third year minor
Alreet?
Recent news now: production group D1 (aka Cheese on Toast Productions) have shot and aired their first project, and are already prepared for their second.
The first was a non-assessed piece involving interaction between two characters, no dialogue and only ten static shots - no zooms, pans, tracking etc.
On this shoot, I was production assistant, and a pretty poor job I did of it. I storyboarded it (which wasn't my job) and filled out the risk assessment forms, which I did hand in on time. HOWEVER, all you production managers and assistants out there, DO NOT hand in your risk assessment forms until you have secured a location.
I was stupid enough to forget to visit estates, the part of ther university which deals with the management of all different areas of the campus, until the morning of the shoot. Once there, I found that we would not be permitted to film ANYWHERE unless I handed in a signed copy of the risk assessment, which very much existed but was very much in the hands of our group's tutor, Sue Sudbury.
Sooo we were very naughty and shot anyway.
The location was the mens' toilets on the fourth floor of Weymouth House. Luckily enough we weren't discovered, although a sprinting man did voice some disappointment when he skidded to a halt outside and saw our nice little sign.
But yes, all I did the whole time was fill out some forms and not hand them in to the right place, and stand around doing sod all during the shoot. In fact I think I sat out in the corridor for a lot of it.
So, no matter how small your job seems, you can ALWAYS do more, be it to get drinks, to help hold stuff, to shout at people not to cross the room or to shut up please...
Or else everyone thinks you're a lazy arse, and you have this great sense of a lack of fulfillment.
This time, I'm on lighting - a crucial job for our next shoot. And I intend to be THE BEST lighting designer in the world.
The last project was based in an office. Two men race down a corridor into the toilets, absolutely bursting.
HOWEVER, only one urinal is in working order.
Suddenly, it's the wild west. The two men face off, squaring up to each other, flies at the ready.
Then the door creaks open. Western-mode is lost. Cheese on Toast's trademark character, a poker-faced man with strange glasses, walks in, unnoticed at first, and uses the urinal.
The two men finally notice his presence and shake their heads in despair.
Our next project gives us a lot more leeway. We can use any number of different types of shots and go off campus. It is based on a work of art - in our case a photograph entitled 'Insomnia' by Jeff Wall.
I won't release any further details yet, just in case it changes.
Ok, onto my masterpiece.
Having written a skeleton of an introduction (while drunk, which actually helped - not that I suggest you do that...), I am now about halfway through the first paragraph of my essay on the history of documentary. I've always been interested in it, so the difficulty for me is not the actual writing, but the being arsed to get going. Also, I'm REALLY bad at research. My idea is to write the bare bones and flesh it out with relevant quotes later.
And finally - the third year shoot.
I recently volunteered to act as part of a third year's minor, and work began at 6.30 yesterday.
I turned up at the production manager's house about half an hour early, knocked on the door and there was no one there. I went to Waitrose and bought a Galaxy. I came back and knocked again. No one there. I went to the corner shop and bought a cookie. I came back and knocked on again. No one there. I remembered I had his number and called him.
I was at the wrong house.
What followed was a first hand example of how an actor should NOT behave on set.
Afer trying on my awesome 70s costume (I didn't know the film was set in the 70s - lack of research on my part!) I explained I hadn't brought my script because I only had two lines and I knew them, but could I please take a look at it anyway...?
I spoke to no one except the sound guy (and that was only because I had a crush on him).
The other actors were from London and had travelled all those miles together in a Ford KA, so they were having a great time nattering together on set. I sat in the corner and ate custard creams and crisps, and had a little sleep.
I listened to my instructions, but they still had to repeat them about four times as much for me as they did for the others.
When it was my turn to be on camera, I moved like a robot and talked like a robot, albeit a very quiet one. Because I hadn't spoken to the other actor in my scene, I was very nervous around him. Plus, I hadn't told anyone I'd never acted for camera before, so I didn't recieve any tips. In fact, if I'd told them that, they might've gone for someone better.
My last few shots took about five or six takes to do, by which time we were way beyond the designated wrap time anyway. It was 1.30 AM and people were pissed off and sweaty.
In conclusion, don't work with anyone good if you're shit.
It is SO worth it to help out the third years as a runner or something. Watching them set up tracks for a dolly or try to settle things with the owner of a location or give instructions to the actors showed me what it would be like for me over the coming years. The six-and-a-half hours spent preparing and shooting was absolutely fascinating and VERY intense.
I still want to be an actor, but that shoot showed me I need to get over camera fright and general shyness and give people what they want if I'm going to get anywhere.
SO that was the not very brief lowdown. It's Saturday. I'm off to get wankered.
I'll do some more essay tomorrow. Promise.
xxx
Recent news now: production group D1 (aka Cheese on Toast Productions) have shot and aired their first project, and are already prepared for their second.
The first was a non-assessed piece involving interaction between two characters, no dialogue and only ten static shots - no zooms, pans, tracking etc.
On this shoot, I was production assistant, and a pretty poor job I did of it. I storyboarded it (which wasn't my job) and filled out the risk assessment forms, which I did hand in on time. HOWEVER, all you production managers and assistants out there, DO NOT hand in your risk assessment forms until you have secured a location.
I was stupid enough to forget to visit estates, the part of ther university which deals with the management of all different areas of the campus, until the morning of the shoot. Once there, I found that we would not be permitted to film ANYWHERE unless I handed in a signed copy of the risk assessment, which very much existed but was very much in the hands of our group's tutor, Sue Sudbury.
Sooo we were very naughty and shot anyway.
The location was the mens' toilets on the fourth floor of Weymouth House. Luckily enough we weren't discovered, although a sprinting man did voice some disappointment when he skidded to a halt outside and saw our nice little sign.
But yes, all I did the whole time was fill out some forms and not hand them in to the right place, and stand around doing sod all during the shoot. In fact I think I sat out in the corridor for a lot of it.
So, no matter how small your job seems, you can ALWAYS do more, be it to get drinks, to help hold stuff, to shout at people not to cross the room or to shut up please...
Or else everyone thinks you're a lazy arse, and you have this great sense of a lack of fulfillment.
This time, I'm on lighting - a crucial job for our next shoot. And I intend to be THE BEST lighting designer in the world.
The last project was based in an office. Two men race down a corridor into the toilets, absolutely bursting.
HOWEVER, only one urinal is in working order.
Suddenly, it's the wild west. The two men face off, squaring up to each other, flies at the ready.
Then the door creaks open. Western-mode is lost. Cheese on Toast's trademark character, a poker-faced man with strange glasses, walks in, unnoticed at first, and uses the urinal.
The two men finally notice his presence and shake their heads in despair.
Our next project gives us a lot more leeway. We can use any number of different types of shots and go off campus. It is based on a work of art - in our case a photograph entitled 'Insomnia' by Jeff Wall.
I won't release any further details yet, just in case it changes.
Ok, onto my masterpiece.
Having written a skeleton of an introduction (while drunk, which actually helped - not that I suggest you do that...), I am now about halfway through the first paragraph of my essay on the history of documentary. I've always been interested in it, so the difficulty for me is not the actual writing, but the being arsed to get going. Also, I'm REALLY bad at research. My idea is to write the bare bones and flesh it out with relevant quotes later.
And finally - the third year shoot.
I recently volunteered to act as part of a third year's minor, and work began at 6.30 yesterday.
I turned up at the production manager's house about half an hour early, knocked on the door and there was no one there. I went to Waitrose and bought a Galaxy. I came back and knocked again. No one there. I went to the corner shop and bought a cookie. I came back and knocked on again. No one there. I remembered I had his number and called him.
I was at the wrong house.
What followed was a first hand example of how an actor should NOT behave on set.
Afer trying on my awesome 70s costume (I didn't know the film was set in the 70s - lack of research on my part!) I explained I hadn't brought my script because I only had two lines and I knew them, but could I please take a look at it anyway...?
I spoke to no one except the sound guy (and that was only because I had a crush on him).
The other actors were from London and had travelled all those miles together in a Ford KA, so they were having a great time nattering together on set. I sat in the corner and ate custard creams and crisps, and had a little sleep.
I listened to my instructions, but they still had to repeat them about four times as much for me as they did for the others.
When it was my turn to be on camera, I moved like a robot and talked like a robot, albeit a very quiet one. Because I hadn't spoken to the other actor in my scene, I was very nervous around him. Plus, I hadn't told anyone I'd never acted for camera before, so I didn't recieve any tips. In fact, if I'd told them that, they might've gone for someone better.
My last few shots took about five or six takes to do, by which time we were way beyond the designated wrap time anyway. It was 1.30 AM and people were pissed off and sweaty.
In conclusion, don't work with anyone good if you're shit.
It is SO worth it to help out the third years as a runner or something. Watching them set up tracks for a dolly or try to settle things with the owner of a location or give instructions to the actors showed me what it would be like for me over the coming years. The six-and-a-half hours spent preparing and shooting was absolutely fascinating and VERY intense.
I still want to be an actor, but that shoot showed me I need to get over camera fright and general shyness and give people what they want if I'm going to get anywhere.
SO that was the not very brief lowdown. It's Saturday. I'm off to get wankered.
I'll do some more essay tomorrow. Promise.
xxx
Friday, 31 October 2008
HAPPY HALLOWEEN!!! / Getting in the Mindset
Hello!
After a brief lapse in the general doing of things, and the complete deterioration of my health, I'm just about back on my feet.
I've landed myself the small part of Agatha in the Uni musical Guys and Dolls - hopefully a fun stepping stone on my way to superstardom in next year's show - and am now obsessed with getting my hands temporarily on a trombone and teaching myself to play one necessary tune from said musical, as that's what Agatha does. She plays the trombone. I don't play the trombone.
My birthday on the fifth - BUY ME PRESENTS. And come to my sparkler party.
Right. Ok. Onto work.
I'm really finding lectures fascinating, since they're delving into things I only touched on at A Level. The materials used are also really interesting.
The only problem I find is the amount of information I daily find myself attempting to force into my mind.
I desperately need an Athens account, because I need to get essaying.
Tomorrow, I'm going to write my introduction, and on Monday during one of my breaks, I'll be setting up an Athens account and reading up on Bruzzi (I think that's right...or is that the First Lady of France? I dunno) and stuff like that, and finding quotes.
I also need to get googling. I've noted down a number of theorists names that I think is pushing triple figures now, with the intention of looking them up.
I also really want to google my lecturers (makes me LOL when lazy people on my course pronounce it lechers) and have a look at some of the work they've done.
I bet they're on IMDB.
That's one of my lifetime ambitions. To be on IMDB. And to have my own wikipedia page.
Although wikipedia is actually pure evil. Don't ever go on it. And do NOT quote from it.
What I'm loving at the moment:
80s Documentaries from our man Hugh Chignell about weird swimming people and obnoxious children who like ducks,
Complaining about fly-on-the-shite 'documentary' The Family because it's just...well, it...to use truly classy critical and analytical terminology...it sucks balls,
People getting stressed out in lectures because they're just trying to make a point and everyone gets so bitchy and no one else seems to understand their point of view!!!,
Marian's tights (where do you get them???),
And my family coming down and making me all happy and helping me live on when I was on the brink of death from fresher's plague...all good!
Watch this space - soon to come: things that are even more helpful and academic.
PS. Leave your sink dripping, just a little, for a day. I know Gordon won't be happy, but I did it - accidentally - and this like black fungal shite formed round the drippy area. Dad said: 'That's carbon. This must be an area of really hard water'.
You heard it from Dr Dad. But is this bad?
Here is your homework: Find out if carbon kills you, and if so, how fast. Then do the drippy test.
Happy learning!
After a brief lapse in the general doing of things, and the complete deterioration of my health, I'm just about back on my feet.
I've landed myself the small part of Agatha in the Uni musical Guys and Dolls - hopefully a fun stepping stone on my way to superstardom in next year's show - and am now obsessed with getting my hands temporarily on a trombone and teaching myself to play one necessary tune from said musical, as that's what Agatha does. She plays the trombone. I don't play the trombone.
My birthday on the fifth - BUY ME PRESENTS. And come to my sparkler party.
Right. Ok. Onto work.
I'm really finding lectures fascinating, since they're delving into things I only touched on at A Level. The materials used are also really interesting.
The only problem I find is the amount of information I daily find myself attempting to force into my mind.
I desperately need an Athens account, because I need to get essaying.
Tomorrow, I'm going to write my introduction, and on Monday during one of my breaks, I'll be setting up an Athens account and reading up on Bruzzi (I think that's right...or is that the First Lady of France? I dunno) and stuff like that, and finding quotes.
I also need to get googling. I've noted down a number of theorists names that I think is pushing triple figures now, with the intention of looking them up.
I also really want to google my lecturers (makes me LOL when lazy people on my course pronounce it lechers) and have a look at some of the work they've done.
I bet they're on IMDB.
That's one of my lifetime ambitions. To be on IMDB. And to have my own wikipedia page.
Although wikipedia is actually pure evil. Don't ever go on it. And do NOT quote from it.
What I'm loving at the moment:
80s Documentaries from our man Hugh Chignell about weird swimming people and obnoxious children who like ducks,
Complaining about fly-on-the-shite 'documentary' The Family because it's just...well, it...to use truly classy critical and analytical terminology...it sucks balls,
People getting stressed out in lectures because they're just trying to make a point and everyone gets so bitchy and no one else seems to understand their point of view!!!,
Marian's tights (where do you get them???),
And my family coming down and making me all happy and helping me live on when I was on the brink of death from fresher's plague...all good!
Watch this space - soon to come: things that are even more helpful and academic.
PS. Leave your sink dripping, just a little, for a day. I know Gordon won't be happy, but I did it - accidentally - and this like black fungal shite formed round the drippy area. Dad said: 'That's carbon. This must be an area of really hard water'.
You heard it from Dr Dad. But is this bad?
Here is your homework: Find out if carbon kills you, and if so, how fast. Then do the drippy test.
Happy learning!
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