Oh wow it's been nearly 3 months

I apologise for the lack of updates! First there was nothing to update for ages, then there was lots and it was just like "OH GOD"

Anyway, the first semester ended, and with it, we said goodbye to the Digital Media, Photography, and Script, Screenwriting & Realisation modules. Choices was filmed, edited, finished, and handed in. When they've finished the marking, we'll get the tape back and I'll be able to put it on the internet and show you lovely people. I also handed in my projects for the other two modules, but to be honest they were nothing really amazing or worth showing. My original idea for Photography fell through so I had to do this whole guitar playing thing, and I wasn't very happy with it. Digital Media I was pleased with, but the photos I took of my house were definitely the coolest/best things about it, before I drew all over them and ruined it, haha. I'm pretty sure I got a good mark for that one.

So now we're doing three new modules, and for the most part they're incredibly fun. First up is Production Planning, which is pretty much just another way of saying TV. We get to use the small TV studio (Students who carry it on next year get to use the large studio, which is one of the biggest in the country) and the final assessment is for the entire group to work together on a children's TV show based on a certain geographical area. Despite the deadline not being for weeks, our group's getting a head start. We've already chosen China for the topic of the programme, and everyone has their parts. I will be assisting in the scriptwriting, as well as one of the three cameraman for the final piece. So far in the workshops we've all done different jobs for certain things, swapping round each week. I've been the sound guy, a cameraman, director (It was a catastrophic failure) and last time around I acted, which was incredibly fun as it was the first week we got to improvise something and not just work from a script we were given.

The second new module is Design & Visual Communication, which is really just what the title says. Our first assignment was to make something that we thought described us. While a lot of people made collages or cartoons or something, I booked out the photo studio and went a more slightly traditional route:


I was pretty happy with it, and people seemed to like it, so yay! The final assignment is to make a press packet/poster for a film or CD or various other things. I would do the Mute album but Ben already did that when he did the module last semester (more on that later), so maybe I'll just make up a fake Dogme film as an excuse not to put much effort into it. LOL!

Then there's the final module, Radio & Sound. I'll admit to not being massively interested in radio as a whole, but I've enjoyed this so far. I'm in a group with Bing, Jason, and Luke, and our first project has been to make a soundscape. Bing came up with the idea of making one that gives off the feeling of being underwater, and a sort of harmony that can be found there compared to above ground. This should be finished within the next couple of days, and then I'll post it up here. After that, we have to make a 15 minute radio show and present it live. It'll be interesting.

That's about it for Uni, but there's more to report on. I've recently started writing for Projectorheads, a movie blog, along with some of my friends from Ugmo. It contains reviews, features, and occasional videos. I'm currently writing a segment on my top 10 directors for it, so be sure to keep checking it out.

In January, I discovered Xtranormal, an odd site where you write a script and little robot people act it out. No good for making movies or animations you want people to take seriously, but the idea is comedy gold, so I used it to make a short web series called Excellent Jim. You can watch all the episodes by clicking on these links:

1 2 3 4 5

I stopped after episode 5 because, well, once you start to make jokes about ejaculating in Madeline McCann's eye, you've taken things as far as you can in the "tasteless" category, really. Some of my friends have made other videos though, which are pretty damn fantastic.

I guess the final thing to update you guys on is Mute. We've played a few gigs, and have a couple more videos up on youtube:

The Escape - Live at The Black Market 10th December 2008
Pennyword - Live at The Black Market 10th December 2008

We also have some new videos from our latest gig, but they're not up yet. The next couple of gigs we have lined up are with some fairly big local bands, so I'm quite excited for them.

Oh yeah, we also finished the CD.


Catch you guys later.

I TOTALLY STARTED FILMING A MOVIE also pretty pictures

I'm writing this in the early hours of Friday morning because tomorrow is probably gonna be busy-ish, but more on that later!

Tuesday night was when we started filming "Choices", and, of course, as well as controlling the camera and writing down a ton of timestamp thingies I managed to take my own behind the scenes pics!

Denise sorts out the camera. I probably would have helped, but I was too busy taking this picture for you lovely people.

Denise directs Lou (Who we cast for the part, btw! I meant to get a pic, but I forgot) and looks like a common prostitute.

Jenny has the time of her LIFE recording sound.

A shot.....OF a shot? Oh, fourth wall, consider yourself broken!

All in all, it went well. We didn't get too much done, but we got a lot of great shots from a lot of different angles, which will make editing really cool, and there were no massive problems! Quite a few homeless people, though.

The morning after that, I went down to the Uni's photo studio and met up with Bing and Tom. They took some pictures for Bing's photography project, and then used the rest of the time they had taking a massive amount of pics of them for the up-and-coming Cakebomb design. Obviously the individual ones the other took, but what could they do when it came to pics of them together??? Enter BOWN:

Someone photoshop sunglasses into this pic plz.

Tom was going for a bit part in the live-action "Dragonball" movie, apparently. Bing just looks like the world's worst zombie.

Yes, this was meant to be a high-five. A successful version of this shot exists, I believe.

....also they took some pics of me.



I really wish I'd shaved now. You can find more of these pics, and in much higher quality, at Bing's Cakebomb blog right here!

Earlier on today I (finally) went back home and took some pictures of parts of my house for my upcoming second storyboard. These have to be finished for sooner than I thought, so my deadline is pretty tight. I have Photoshop and After Effects on my laptop now, though, which will help immensely.

Here are the pics!

(Random side-note: I LOVE this pic. It's so Twin Peaks.)

Those pics will be drawn over and edited to hell and such. It'll probably look pretty shocking, as my drawing skills are ridiculously lacking.

That's all for now! Tomorrow, if all goes well, I should be starting my own Photography project, where I remake films very, very cheaply. Pics from that will, as always, be up soon.

Updates on "Choices", and other such fun.

As I mentioned in the previous blog, me and Denise went location scouting on Monday night, and found a couple of locations that looked great. Because I had forgotten to bring the tape so we could test film stuff, we just took pictures of some of the places. Here's a couple of pics of one of the places we found:



The last picture there is how the shots looked through the camera we're filming with, and shows the colour sceheme we're hoping most of the film will look like. Look at those colours. Them is some sexy colours.

Then, the next day (Which would be yesterday), in our seminar, we learnt to use Avid Media Composer, which we'll be using to edit the short. Here you can see Jenny, Denise, and Lisa learning by editing footage of swans and boats:


I can't say the program's really my cup of tea, but it should be alright once I get the hang of it a little more. Principal photography on the short starts Tuesday 25th November. Hooray!

Yesterday, I found a video from one of Mute's earlier gigs on Youtube. It's from mid-October time, and although it's not an amazing video, here it is anyway.

That's all there is to update for now. Be sure to check back soon!

The VERY FIRST ENTRY OH YES

So, here we go. I've tried to start many blogs in my time, on livejournal, myspace, and other blogspot ones. The difference between them and this is that I plan to use this one to provide updates on things I do, media-wise, rather than just talk crap about my life and eventually get bored.

I'll start by introducing myself. I am Tom Bown (Or just Bown), currently 18 years of age, born and raised in Lincoln, England. It's a nice but dead-end town, about 30 or so years behind the rest of the country. Luckily, thanks to the internet, my options are opened up quite a bit.

I've always been interested in media things, writing, filming, making music, etc. My ambition is to one day be a film-maker, however, I pretty much lack the determination. Luckily, I'm now doing Media Production at the University of Lincoln, which, as well as basically forcing me to have to do things, gives me access to a load of awesome equipment.

Here's a list of things I will most likely be updating on in the future, University-related or otherwise:

A short film. In the "Script, Screenwriting, & Realisation" module of the course, each person in the group had to write a short film, five minutes long, based around one character. For the sake of actually having something to show people in my first update, you can read it by clicking here. After handing them in, we got into groups of four and chose one to film. We're not filming mine, but have chosen to film "Choices", written by the very talented Denise Barry, who's also directing it, which I take on the role of main camera operator. We're still working on casting the main character on that right now, however, earlier tonight me and Denise went scouting for locations and found some great places to film. Hopefully principal photography (Yep, I'm using professional terms now. Just cos I rule and that.) will start soon.

Photography. In the module of the same name, we first had to dress up in a costume for an alter ego type thing, although we didn't take the pictures ourselves. My genius plan was to splash lots of water over myself and post with my guitar. I might upload it for a later blog entry, but it looks stupid so maybe not! The current project is to take a series of 8-10 pictures that reflect our identity in some way. My idea, being a massive film buff, was to reenact scenes from films in some way. At the moment, I'm a little short of ideas. I'd quite like to do "There Will Be Blood", but I dunno if the bowling alley would really let me use one of their lanes. We'll have to see! Actually, any ideas for what scenes I could do would be appreciated. Comment with your thoughts! I can't say this is a project I'm incredibly enthusiastic about, mainly due to having to use 35mm SLR cameras, which I am not a fan of.

Digital Media. In this module, I've so far learnt very basic skills in both Photoshop and After Effects, which we are using to make two title sequences for films. We're given the title and 3 main actors, and have to make them two different genres. I have completed a very, very rough draft of my first one, which I probably won't show here due to it looking very Paint + Powerpoint, and storyboarded my second one, although it's proving troublesome as I need to take some pictures of my old home to trace over in Photoshop. I have been home several times since coming up with this idea, and have forgotten every time.

Mediation & Representation. The fourth module we do, which lasts all year rather than the half a year of all the rest. It's basically the side of it that fits with more sociological stuff. I'm only really mentioning it here for the sake of completing, but we have to hand in a 1500 word essay in just over three weeks. I might post it here.

The band. I am in a band. We are called "Mute". Here is our myspace. Currently, we're playing quite a few gigs, mostly in Lincoln (Although we have a couple lined up in other cities), and are recording a 12/13 track LP. It's a very alternative rock, early Foo Fighters, early Biffy Clyro, Pixies-esque sound. I play guitar and occasionally do backing vocals. We have a gig tomorrow, although I'm not sure whether I'll really talk about gigs in this blog, unless I have pictures, video, or recordings to share. I'll definitely post when we have new songs up, though.

Ugmo. The name for a big group of friends I have on the internet, mostly from Australia. They've got me into many of my favourite films and directors, and have as much of a passion as me. The difference is, they've actually done something; a series called "Free Quay st", which will theoretically involve a TV show (A proposal, with a pilot script and character designs, has been sent off to an Australian TV station) and many series of novellas. These have been planned out, and are the main reason I mentoned Ugmo; I'm going to be writing for them. Work on all the novellas has been slow recently, but may pick up soonish depending on everyone's schedules. I could also hopefully end up writing for the TV show, but that's far in the future.

Cakebomb. An awesome bunch of friends I've met while at Uni. They have a website, and it's regularly updated with brilliant videos and such they've made. I'm possibly gonna be involved with some of their stuff in the future, whether just as a camera operator, or maybe more. But probably just camera stuff. I have previously helped them with recording the amazingly talented Elliott Morris at one of his sets, which you can see here (I was the camera on the right.)

Other Shit. I want to do so much more. I want to write more fiction. I want to write more screenplays. I want to write something for my best friend, Liam Brocklehurst, to make on some sort of animation program. I want to start a more punk-y band. I want to start an acoustic project with Liam. I want to rip off Cakebomb and make a site where me and Liam post our stuff. I also want the resolve to do these things. Still, if any of this ever ends up happening, you'll be able to read about it here.

Now is probably a good time to end. Hopefully there should be updates soon, unless the lure of Guitar Hero: World Tour is too much.