Well this sucks.....

I just received a phone call from my mum tonight letting me know my granda has just passed away. Ive been quite lucky where death is concerned I haven't had to deal with it as a kid just now really. I dont really know what to say or why I am even writing it on here but.... I think its just hitting me a little harder because I am over here and the rest of my family are back home and the fact I dont get to say a proper goodbye to him.

R.I.P Granda

Essay update

I have been to see my dyslexia helper Denise and she has went through the brief in detail with me and I have been to the library to help me reference evidence in my essay.

Practise Documentary

Yesterday Ashley Kay and myself filmed at the Coffee shop for our practise documentary. We had everything well planned in advance which made the actual shooting day flow a lot smoother. We got as much footage as we could possible in the time we had at the location. Today Dave and I started and finished the final edit of the documentary and we are both very happy with the final outcome.

Narrative and Genre Essay

Today I have started my first draft of the essay. I am using the cult classic film Donnie Darko to base my essay on. I am calling to the library on Wednesday to get some books out to help with evidence for my findings and I will be meeting my my dyslexia helper in the coming week to have a look through my first draft.

The Plane Crash Documentary

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tm68PK8GCuk

You can watch the full documentary here:

http://www.channel4.com/programmes/the-plane-crash/4od

The plane crash was a one hour twelve minute documentary following  a crew of scientists, pilots and air crash investigators who plan to fill a Boeing 727 full of cameras and crash test equipment and crash it into the desert. 

The test took 4 years to plan and develop in order to get permission to crash the plane. There has never been a test like this in the world that has so much scientific apparatus on board the plane including slow mo cameras to see what happens inside the plane when it collides with the earth. 

The documentary has large amounts of scripted elements to reconstruct what was not possible on the day to shoot. It also had a wide mixture of sit down interviews and actuality shots and interviews.  The documentary also has a large amount of graphics, them being text and also moving computer animated simulations of the crash itself. Is shows archived footage of airplane crashes and has interviews with some of the crash survivors.

This documentary would have come across a lot of boundaries for example they had a permit that only lasted till a certain date and if they went over that date then the experiment and the production would not have been able to carry on. As well as risk of death, the pilots had to parachute out of the plane not long before the impact. The plane could have lost control and created an explosion or ended up in a populated area. 


This was a bold and risk taking documentary but it work out brilliant in the end and completely worth the money that was spend on it, as it has helped manufacturers of aircrafts see their build flaws and to show them what they could do to help reduce any more air crashes in the future.

Documentary Unit: Development

I originally planned on traveling to Cornwall to get an interview with the staff in the witchcraft museum but after I contacted them I found out they are not open from the start of November. This segment was going to be about the history of witchcraft and how it is not what people still today think it is.

With this out of the question I began to think of what could I have in their instead. I asked Sal the witch who I am basing my documentary on, if it would be possible to film one of her classes that she does every month or so to show what she is doing to help the community and to show people the real meaning of witchcraft, but she quickly turned me down as he clients would not like to be shown on camera as a lot of them still do not want people to know that they have an interest in witchcraft as it can effect their jobs etc. I respected her wishes.

Now I am stuck on what I can use to fill out the documentary. I plan on doing some reenactments not of Sal's life but just of witchcraft things in general such as rituals, spells etc but this will not be enough. The only other thing I can think off is maybe I talk about the difference between witchcraft and Wicca. Wicca is a pagan religion that also incorporates witchcraft into its believes, and witchcraft is doing spells, raising energy etc but you do not need to be wiccan to be a witch.

I have also been watching a lot of documentaries online about witchcraft including Hexon from the 1920s. Most of these documentaries focus on the stereotype of witches or only talk about the burning times of Europe and the Salem witch trials. With this research this shows that the direction I al taking my documentary in is unique and has never been done before.

Documentary Unit: Contact

Today I contacted the woman I know in town who is a Witch, and thankfully she has agreed to allow me to do the documentary about her and her life. This is great news as she would have been the hardest person to have found and the face that she is so up for the project is great and she has given me the full go ahead.

I have also contacted the witchcraft museum in Cornwall to discuss if I could film some of the artefacts that they have in their wonderful museum and also if I can get an interview with one of the knowledgeable staff they have working their. I am just waiting to hear back from them on what they think about the project and to see if they are going to give me the permission to film some shots there.

Documentary Unit: First thoughts

Today we had our first lecture on our documentary unit. We were given our briefs and our theme for the doc. which is "The day that changed my life". I think this unit is going to be amazing! I already have 2 ideas which I am very happy and excited about and I brain stormed these today in my group with Lizzie Sam and Gemma.
My first 2 ideas are:

Idea 1: The paranormal, I want to try and find someone who has been effected by the paranormal which has changed the way they see life, death religion and what it has changed in their everyday life. So I began to look up some haunted places in the Kent area and to try and see if I could find and names of people who these storys are about to see if it would be possible to contact them and to hear from them what happened. But this became a lot harder than originally thought, on the first bit of research we did not come up with anything really to give us a lead on who and what story to go ahead with.

Which brings me to,

Idea 2: Witchcraft. I know a lady who is a with that lives in a small village in kent where she runs a pagan/witchcraft shop. My idea was to find out how she became a witch, what in her life made her decide this was the route she wanted to take. while also going into the history of witchcraft and what people think it is and what it actually is.

When I presented these ideas the one that got the most conversation was the witchcraft idea. So I am going to do a bit of research into it and see if there are the beginnings of a documentary in their.

Watch this space.

Seven Minutes New updated Poster

Here is the new updated poster for Seven Minutes. Enjoy

Direction Unit: Stills

Here are a couple of stills from my episode. Enjoy!

 

Direction Unit: Editing

I shot my 3 minute episode on wednesday afternoon, everything went really well despite people coming out to trim the hedges half way through one of my scenes and my actors falling into dog poo. I have been editing my footage for the last 2/3 days and I am pretty much finished I am just waiting for us all to decide what font to use for the credits and dot the finished intro to come through. I think my edit has exceeded my expectations but there are still a couple of things I dont like about it. For one I could not think of a better way to show the effects of them on the drugs, and the Episode NEEDS music but I cant make my own to fit it. So no music for me :/
Other than that I believe I have stuck to the brief and done what was asked. It may not be the high standard I usually put on myself but it is close enough for missing the first 2 weeks into the unit.

Seven Minutes Continued

I just received an e-mail letting me know my film has been short listed to play at the Cardiff film festival!

Seven Minutes

So this morning was an interesting one! I woke up to around 60 comments on twitter about my film, all of which were positive! from other horror film companies and directors that are on twitter. 

I have also received a couple of reviews on the film also. 

http://havenofhorror.tumblr.com/post/32446269155/review-seven-minutes

‎"Seven Minutes delivers an unexpected twist amongst a creepy atmosphere in a tight short film." DreadCentral.com

As well as a couple of small reviews to add to my poster from a horror film review website Promotehorror.com and also a horror film magazine called Shock Horror Magazine.

Also! I have been asked by an online Horror TV show If they can show my film on their website called Indiehorror.tv and I am now in talks with another internet TV show called Shiver TV about getting it played on their website too.

This was all amazing to wake up to this morning and so I thought I would share it with you all :)

Neill

DIRECTION UNIT: Story

Today I finished the script for my 3 minute episode of "A Park Story" I found it quite hard to write as it is something I have never attempted before and it was out of my comfort zone. However I am glad of this and now I have tried it. I am now waiting to hear back from a couple of different actors and then its all systems go from there on!

My New Film

So I released my new film "Seven Minutes" which I made over the summer. It has quickly gotten around the horror film websites and it is also getting quite a name for itself also. So far the film has gotten into one film festival and I am waiting to hear from a couple more.

Seven Minutes (A Short Horror Film by Neill Morris) from Neill Morris on Vimeo.

Direction Unit: Story

Ok so after our group crit session on Monday my idea has completely changed from the original unorganised idea I had in my head.

My theme is Speed and my prop is Teapot

I want my characters to be a new age bohemian style and their main interest is having a good time, loving each other and drugs. They go for a tea party in the park where the tea is laced with vodka. After a couple cups of "tea" the man pull out a bag of speed and empties some of the power inside. This will be the first time the female character has tried speed. The male character pushes the cup at her pressuring her into drinking it. After a couple of cups each the effects of the speed start to take effect. Everything starts spinning and getting quicker. The man looks over at the girl she is smiling but her face quickly drops. The girl looks at the man and reaches out to him before dropping to the ground. The man rushes to her side, her eyes are rolled back and she is motionless. He checks that she is still breathing and starts to preform CPR. The girl doesn't respond. He runs over to his bag and pulls out a bottle of water and starts pouring it down the girls mouth. The girls eyes flicker slightly open. The man reaches into his pocket and pulls out the packet of speed and throws it away. He picks up the girl and quickly makes his way out of the park yelling for help.


I went for a walk in the park and I have found the perfect place to shoot my episode. It has the bohemian look to it that I also want my characters to have.

Production of my new short film

So after two months of writing and raising £200 with crowd funding,  production has just finished on my new short film "Seven Minutes".  For the last two days I have been on location in the woods and in the flat shooting the scenes for the film. I had great help from everyone involved. I am now currently editing the film which will be sent to the Yellow fever productions film festival in Belfast including many more. 

Website!

I now have my own personal website for all my films and work that I make. Kind of an online portfolio.


So here it is enjoy!


www.neillmorrisfilms.com

First Semester and the SUMMER!

So today marked the end of my first semester at UCA I have loved every minute of it and am already looking forward to getting back in September. BUT I do have a lot of plans to keep me going over summer. I will be remaking my sound project Journey into the Great Unknown but as a 90 second short film for an online competition. I am also in the middle of drafting my 2nd short film Seven Minutes and will be casting people in the coming weeks. I plan to shoot Seven Minutes on the 2nd week of july and have it ready to be sent to a couple of horror film festivals by the end of July / August. I will be trying to make this new film as professional as possible and I am still raising money to fund it so far I have reached £95 which is amazing considering I didn't think I would get any! I will keep updating this over the summer to keep everyone up to date on the films.

MY NEW SHORT FILM!

So I have decided to make another short film during the summer break. The film is called "Seven Minutes" the name will make sense when you watch the film. I have started a project profile on Sponsume.com to try and raise money for my new project. If people donate to the project they receive a lot of extras that the general public will never see. So far I have raised £70 of my £800 target on the first day which I think is amazing. Even if I ended up with £1 I would be happy that even that one person wanted to help with my project. 
My profile can be seen here.


http://www.sponsume.com/project/seven-minutes


Please Share or Donate if you would like. 

RODE VIDEOMIC

So my most recent purchase for my filmmaking antics is the RODE Videomic. I know there is the RODE Videomic pro but after researching into it and watching reviews of both products the RODE Videomic proved itself to be more what I am looking for as the sound quality is exactly the same and the wire has better build quality and its UNDER £100! I have this plugged into my Zoom H1 and the quality is incredible. I will be using the set up of the Videomic and the Zoom H1 in pretty much all my uni projects and productions I do outside of uni.

SOUND UNIT: Experimenting

I have been experimenting with making different FOLY sounds for my sound project. I wanted to make my own rather than take them form the internet. I made my muddy footsteps by beating cereal with water mixed in to give it a slushy sound. I also got my actress Jennie to say a couple of lines of dialogue for the story also. I have been recording all my sounds with the ZOOM H1 a handheld recorder that records in stereo it is a great piece of kit and it has done me wonders for this project. I have also been editing my sounds on Adobe Audition which is great software for mixing sounds and music and dialogue. 

The Meeting Full Film

So here it is, my first every attempt at a short film. I hope you all enjoy it!


Click the link and watch in HD :)


http://vimeo.com/41386669

SOUND UNIT: Development

When I was taking my photos in the forest for "Journey into the great unknown" I came across a man made Faerie Circle. This put the idea to incorporate forest folklore and mythology into my sounds. So I researched folklore and mythology and found that in many legends, the fairies are prone to kidnapping humans, either as babies, leaving changelings in their place, or as young men and women. This can be 
for a time or forever, and may be more or less dangerous to the kidnapped. So after my research I am going to have a section of my story where my character is being loured away by the faeries in the woods. Symbolizing that she is getting deeper into the  with the ears and tails of horses or assewoods and more lost. I have been hugely influenced by director Guillermo del Toro and his movie "Pan's labyrinth" and his use of mythical creatures such as a faun in the story. The faun is a half human - half goat (from the head to the waist being the human half, but with the addition of goat's horns) manifestation of forest and animal spirits which would help or hinder humans at whim. Romans believed fauns inspired fear in men traveling in lonely, remote or wild places. They were also capable of guiding humans in need, as in the fable of The Satyr and the Traveller, in the title of which Latin authors substituted the word Faunus. Fauns and satyrs were originally quite different creatures: whereas fauns are half-man and half-goat, satyrs originally were depicted as stocky, hairy, ugly dwarfs or woodwosess.

SOUND UNIT: Journey into the great unknown Development.

I decided to change the character of my story to a girl as my Fiancee Jennie said she could model for me.
So today myself and my Jennie set off to Shorne Woods to take the forest section of my photographs. It was raining out of the heavens as we arrived which made taking some of the photos a pain but in the end the rain added more atmosphere to the shots. When I got back I decided to edit my favorite shots on Adobe Photoshop. I also started experimenting with different sounds and layering them together on Sony Vegas Pro 11 for a trial attempt to then take what I have learned here to Final Cut Pro. 

SOUND UNIT: Idea Pitch

Journey into the great unknown

Journey into the great unknown will be about a young man in his early twenties, living in a busy, loud, stressful town. He is rundown and tired so decides to take a trip to the quiet woods for some peace. When walking through the woods the man becomes lost and travels deeper into the woods. The further he travels the strangers things start to become, the atmosphere becomes more alive. He hears his name called in the wind and goes searching to find who is calling him, only to find himself. 

The meaning behind the story is that sometimes we have to become lost in order to find ourselves. 

SOUND UNIT: Sound Development

Today I was put into a group with Sam and Lizzie. We had to take a 2 min piece of film with no sound and create our our sound for the clip. We decided to recreate the sound with the theme of war in mind. we added in guns, bombs, air raid sirens etc. I think we worked really well as part of a team and that we stuck to what the brief told us and came to a great outcome!
Here is what we came up with.

Live Music

I was asked by local musician  Richard de Soussa Silva to create a live video for two of his songs. After being asked to created the videos I also asked Dave if he would like to help me create the videos and he did sound and helped in the editing stage of the video also. 
I directed, filmed and edited the videos and created it under the name of Mozz Films.


Here is one of the videos I produced for Richard de Soussa Silva.

STORY TELLING UNIT: "The Meeting" Film Poster

Student Ambassador

Today I worked as a videographer for UCA at a conference in London. Throughout this I learned how to work in a very busy environment where I had to work around other people. I also got to meet Martin Smith one of the people who invested the money to make movies such as Avatar, Die hard 4.0 to name a view which was a great opportunity for me. 

STORY TELLING UNIT: "The Meeting" Trailer

STORY TELLING UNIT: "The Meeting" Filming day 2

Today was the 2nd and final day of filming. It was originally meant to be shot on location at The Deaf Cat but after arriving at the cafe it was too noisy to get any good audio to go along with the video, so I had to make a decision on the spot to keep the shoot going. I decided to take the shoot outdoors to a park in Rochester and do the exact same scenes there as I had planed in the cafe. This change actually worked out a lot better for the film as it sounds and looks a lot better than the cafe did.  I am confident in myself that I made the right decision for the film. I couldn't have finished this film if it wasn't for Jennie Douglas , Francesca Goodman, Craig Voller , Bella Clairmont and Brandon Henry. They did a great job in acting and crewing the shoot and made my job of directing and camera operator a lot smother. I am now looking forward to editing my trailer and also making the final short film. 

STORY TELLING UNIT: "The Meeting" Filming day 1

The fist day of filming went to a a great start I got through all my scenes set in the flat done. I set up all the scenes with the lighting and for the sound. I had some help from a couple of my friends to do clapper board, sound op and set design. I used the Samsung NX11 and the ZOOM H1 to film and get professional sound for my film. Everything went as I had planned I did a couple extra things that weren't on my script and got more angles than I had done on my storyboard which was a massive learning step. I got my actors to sign an Actor Release form which I wrote and I will put the unsigned form on here as a reference. I am looking forward to filming on location at the Deaf Cat in Rochester to get my last couple of scenes.

STORY TELLING UNIT: "The Meeting" character mood board

This is the costume mood board for Eli

The costume mood board for Alexis

STORY TELLING UNIT: "Spaced" pitch

A depressed young man and a quirky girl in their twenties cross paths resulting in a shocking twist involving their past.

STORY TELLING UNIT: "The Meeting" Synopsis

“The Meeting” will be a ten minute short film set in present day Rochester and will be based around a meeting of ELI and ALEXIS, two completely different people which results in their pasts colliding.

“The Meeting” begins with Eli a young man in the heart of the recession; unable to get a job and struggling to pay his bills and his rent he finds rescue at the bottom of the bottle. He wakes in his bed with no recollection of how he got home or in bed for that matter. He finds a note saying “You’re welcome” which adds to the mystery. Hung-over he goes to a café and a girl in a pink hat catches his eye. Unable to recall where he knows this girl from he sits alone in the café until she walks over to Eli and is taken shocked when she finds out he cannot remember her. She introduces herself as Alexis. She is a free spirit in her early twenties and a happy, fun loving, quirky and impulsive individual who would do anything to help anyone.

Throughout their meeting Eli and Alexis talk about how she helped him home the night before and tell each other stories about their lives and their past. Such as Eli looking for work, Alexis’ car crash she was involved in when she was younger and Eli’s relationship with his parents. Eli builds up the courage to ask for Alexis’ phone number.  

Later in the day Eli decides to face the feelings he has for Alexis. He finally calls her after numerous fights with himself. After an alcohol filled night together their true feelings come out about each other and a dark secret from Elis past slips out which collides their lives together in a shocking twist.

 “The Meeting” will be aimed at an audience of fifteen to late twenty year olds. The short film will incorporate different genres such as drama and romance. The overall theme of the story is that honesty is the best policy. 

ITV WORK EXPERIENCE

On Friday I did my first work experience for ITV working behind the scenes as a cable basher and runner. I got to see how the tv show was shot and made and also gained so much information that I will take with me into my future career. I am so grateful for the opportunity to work on the show and I hope to get the chance again in the future.

STORY TELLING UNIT: "The Meeting" storyboard

Today I finished my storyboard for the first five pages of my script. It was challenging to begin with but I got their in the end. 
I am almost ready to begin shooting my film, all that is left is to confirm my female actress for the role of Alexis. I have both locations confirmed for filming and all the equipment ready. 
I cant wait to get filming and start my first short film.

STORY TELLING UNIT: Storyboards

I have done the 2nd draft of my script and I have now started drawing out my storyboard. I learned a lot about them in our lecture we had with Simon and this helped me understand how to do my own for my story. I also learned a lot about the camera descriptions and movements to write under the storyboard.

STORY TELLING UNIT: "Soft" Trailer

Over the last two day We had to make a trailer on Final Cut Pro for the short film "Soft" I was paired with Dave. I think we where a great team and worked very well together.  Below is our trailer.

STORY TELLING UNIT: "The Meeting" Video Blog 1

STORY TELLING UNIT: "The Meeting" pre writing

 Title: “The Meeting”

Genre: Drama/Romance

Location: Medway, Kent

The Idea: Opening yet another rejection letter Eli finds himself in the heart of the recession unable to get a job. Struggling to pay his bills and his rent he finds rescue at the bottom of the bottle, he stumbles around the high street of Rochester. On the verge of passing out he is approached by a girl in a pink hat who offers to help him home.

Eli wakes up the next morning in his bed with no recollection of how he got home or in bed for that matter. He finds a note saying “You’re welcome” which just adds to the mystery of how he got home. Hung-over he goes to a café and a girl in a pink hat catches his eye. Unable to recall where he knows this girl from he sits alone in the café. She sees Eli and walks over to him and introduces herself expecting Eli to know who she is.

Throughout their meeting Eli and Alexis talk about how she helped him home the night before and tell each other stories about their lives, their past and what they want for their future. Such as Eli looking for work, Alexis’ car crash she was involved in when she was younger and Eli’s parents who refuse to help him in any way. Alexis constantly tells Eli to keep trying for a job and to not let it get the better of him. Things can only get better. As he is about the leave the cafe he gets the courage to ask Alexis if she would like to meet again the next day.

Eli is awoken the next day by his buzzer when he gets to the door there is a bundle of letters scattered on the floor. Opening the letters which are a mixture of bills and rejection letters one in particular catches his eye and he quickly rips open the envelope and reads the letter that is inside. To his amazement it is an acceptance letter for one of his top priority jobs. In the ecstasy of the moment Eli runs up the stairs and phones Alexis. While on the phone he pours out the left over’s of his booze into the sink and tells Alexis to get ready and meet him at the café in one hour. Eli gets into his car with the acceptance letter in his hand to show Alexis. On the drive to the café Eli still can’t believe his luck. He has a job and has met a girl that he likes. Everything is finally fitting into place for him. He takes another quick look at the letter taking his eyes off the road for a split second. Everything goes black. The sound of screeching breaks and crushing metal is heard.

Theme: Live everyday like it’s your last.

Characters: Eli in his early twenties is another victim of the recession. Trying to find a job in a jobless market he is struggling to pay his rent and bills. Unable to get any support from his family and rejection letter after rejection letter Eli has turned to drink to help with his pain.

Alexis a free spirit in her early twenties is a happy, fun loving, quirky and impulsive individual who would do anything to help anyone. When she was younger she was involved in a car crash and has been living off the money she received ever sense she turned eighteen. She does a lot of volunteer work for charities.

Setting: Present day Rochester In a small café and in Eli’s flat.

STORY TELLING UNIT: "The Meeting" story development

With today's lecture I realised that even with my revised version of "The Meeting" that it would still be a struggle to fit the whole story into 10 minutes. So I went back to the drawing board and have managed to slightly change the story to make it a lot more achievable in 10 minutes by making the story more about the writer and the meeting only lasting a couple of hours in one day. I also changed the main characters name to Eli as I noticed there was another story in the class with the main characters name being Sidney. My third change for "The Meeting" can be seen below.

 When Eli, a young writer in his early twenties struggling with writers block and trying to get his previous book off the ground, opens yet another rejection letter he hits rock bottom. Finding rescue at the bottom of the bottle, he stumbles around the high street of Rochester. On the verge of passing out on a bench Eli is approached by a girl in a pink hat who offers to help him home.

Eli wakes up the next morning in his bed with no recollection of how he got home or in bed for that matter. He finds a note saying “You’re welcome” which just adds to the mystery of how he got home. Hung-over he goes to a cafe and a girl in a pink hat catches his eye. Unable to recall where he knows this girl from he sits alone in the cafe. She sees Eli and walks over to him and introduces herself.

Throughout their meeting Eli and Alexis talk about how she helped Eli home the night before and tell each other stories about their lives, their past and what they want for their future. Such as Eli's writers block, Alexis’ car crash she was involved in when she was younger, Eli’s parents rejection of his writing career. As their meeting progresses and they get to know each other better. The story of Eli’s career is quickly develops in his head he suddenly realises that Alexis is his muse. Needing to immediately write it down Eli jumps from his seat in the cafe and kisses Alexis on the cheek and runs towards the door. When he gets outside he decides to takes a leap of faith and runs back into the cafe to ask Alexis out. 

STORY TELLING UNIT: "The Meeting" story development

After much thought I have decided to change the start of my story from Sid losing his job to him being a struggling writer who is annoyed and fed up of getting his manuscript rejected. I have also changed the time scale of the whole story from a couple of months to one major week before jumping ahead two weeks at the end. By doing this I believe it will make my script more achievable in a ten minute time period. 

STORY TELLING UNIT: "The Meeting" development

Today I got a very exciting e-mail. I got given the go ahead from local Kent record label tinrobotrecords.co.uk/ stating that I can use their band The Zoo Community Jazz Band for a song for my short film. They have also stated I can also use the same band for my trailer. All they asked in return was that they and the band get credited in the film. 

STORY TELLING UNIT: "The Meeting" development

After getting some feedback from Simon about my first story for "The Meeting" I took his advice and developed it into more of a story.

When Sid gets fired from his job; losing the only thing he had left in his life, he hits rock bottom. Finding rescue at the bottom of the bottle, he stumbles around the high street of Rochester. On the verge of passing out on a bench Sid is approached by a girl in a pink hat who offers to help him home.

When Sid wakes up the next morning in his bed with no recollection of how he got home or in bed for that matter. He finds a note saying “You’re welcome” which just adds to the mystery of how he got home. Hung-over he goes to a cafe and a girl in a pink hat catches his eye. Unable to recall where he knows this girl from he sits alone in the cafe. She sees Sid and walks over to him and introduces herself.

They immediately hit it off and decide to meet up every weekend at the same cafe. They meet up every weekend for a couple of months and quickly fall in love with each other.

One day Sid is in the cafe alone waiting for Alexis who never shows. Upset Sid turns to his old ways and goes to buy a bottle of vodka. But at the last minute he decides not to go back down his old path and to face the problem head on. He travels to Alexis’ home to find out why she never showed up. When Alexis lets him into her home she reluctantly tells him that she is pregnant. Expecting Sid to be mad she is taken back when Sid celebrates his joy of finding out the news that he is going to be a dad.

STORY TELLING UNIT: "The Meeting" development

My first idea for "The Meeting"

When Sid gets fired from his job; losing the only thing he had left in his life, he hits rock bottom. Fighting depression after his parent’s death three years ago, he can’t seem to see the light at the end of the tunnel.

Numb and alone in a dirty dark flat Sid tries to commit suicide by taking an overdose. Staring at a photo of his parents he lets life slowly slip away. Sid’s best friend and roommate Max finds him passed out on the sofa just in time to save him from the brink of death.

During Sid’s recovery Max can’t take it anymore, he is a nervous wreck always worrying about Sid. On a whim Max decides to take Sid away on vacation for a couple of days to a small town outside London. Secretly, Max wants to keep a closer eye on Sid. But unfortunately for Max, Sid is having none of it and when they arrive in Rochester Sid walks off leaving Max to book them into the B&B alone.  

Walking through the town centre Sid comes across a quirky little cafe and decides to go in for a coffee. When he walks through the door a girl wearing a bright pink hat catches his eye. Sitting drinking his coffee Sid can’t stop staring at the girl and she turns to look at him. Embarrassed Sid quickly looks away hoping she hadn’t seen him staring at her. Luckily for Sid she did see him and without saying a word comes and sits in the chair opposite him. For the first time in years Sid smiles. 

STORY TELLING UNIT: "The Meeting" development

I have decided to film my whole script for "The Meeting" and I am going to edit and finish it on the side to make my first short film. Coming from Belfast I want to use local unsigned band from Northern Ireland to be the soundtrack to my film and for the song in the trailer. I created an account on a Northern Ireland music form chordblossom.com and made a topic stating what I was looking for http://chordblossom.com/messageboard/topic/426-songs-needed-for-short-film/ By the end of the day I have already had four submissions from bands already which is amazing!
Two of the artists have stated they would write a song specifically for the film. I want 3/4 songs for the whole film one of which is going to be my own band. I have stated that there will be no payment for being in the film and all the artists so far have been happy with this as being in the film and credited is payment enough.
I am looking forward to this collaboration as it will benefit both me and the artists that get involved. 

STORY TELLING UNIT: "The Meeting" research

Here is a short film I found on Youtube. Its by a new director called Mathieu Ratthe and the short film is called "LOVEFIELD"
He tells the whole story in just over five minutes with very little dialogue but still manages to shock the audience with an amazing ending!
I love this short film and it has given me some more insight into making short films.


Everyone check this out!

STORY TELLING UNIT: Pre writing practice

Today we got put into groups of two. I was put into a group with Jonny. We had to come up with all the information for the story by practicing pre-writing to make the story full and the characters more realistic.
This was our attempt

Title: Race

Genre: Drama/Action

The Idea: Set in London 2018, the government has set forth an act to separate all races into different areas in which they are not allowed to leave. The penalty is death. 


Daniel and Nikki are a happily married couple until they get separated due to the act. In the heat of the moment Daniel swears he will see his wife again. After Daniel gets transferred to the “White District” he quickly becomes friends with another man; Matthew who has also went through a similar experience. Secretly meeting underground in London Daniel and Matthew create an army to fight back against the government in order to get back to their families and restore order. In a desperate attempt for freedom, Daniel and Matthew’s army devise a plan to attack the government. This turns into a full-blown riot against White District and the government.


Unknown to Daniel and Matthew the other districts have also created secret armies and when they see the images on the news they break out and join in the fight for freedom. As Nikki watches the news in shock she sees a familiar face and breaks down in sadness unable to do anything about seeing her husband Daniel being beat to death by the authorities. Through the monumental riot the world see what Britain has come too and the government is forced to step down, Nikki continues in her husbands footsteps and takes control of the fight to restore order.

Theme: It takes one person to truly believe in something worth fighting for but their message never fully gets across until someone dies for their cause.

Characters: Daniel – White British male ex army in his 30's. Daniel is a hardworking, brave individual who loves his wife, and wants to have a family. He left the Army after finishing his last tour of Iraq where his brother was killed.

Matthew – White British male in his 20s. Matthew was adopted at a young age by a family of a different race and was separated from them when the new government came into power. Matthew is a smart individual who has just finished university-studying Law.

Nikki – Black British female who is married to Daniel. Nikki is very protective over her husband and wanted him to leave the army before he actually did. Nikki is an experienced midwife and good with kids, she also wants to have a family.

Setting: London 2018, the BNP have taken over the government and forced all races living in Britain to be separated into different Districts around the country according to their skin colour. 

STORY TELLING UNIT: "Spaced" synopsis

Strangers “Tim” (Simon Pegg) a struggling comic book artist and “Daisy” (Jessica Stevenson) a wannabe journalist, cross paths in a Cafe in North London. After meeting they find out that they both are looking for a new place to live. Tim is looking for a new home after splitting with his girlfriend and Daisy wants to leave the house full of wasters she currently lives with. They meet every day in the cafe looking for new homes in different newspapers, magazines and advertisements until they find the perfect home. But there’s a catch, “Professional couples only.” Tim and Daisy decide to pretend to be a couple in order to try and get the flat.

On arriving at the flat for the viewing Tim and Daisy meet Landlady “Marsha” (Julia Deakin) an older woman who is a lot younger at heart than her actual age. After the viewing Marsha accepts Tim and Daisy’s story and agrees to let them rent the flat. Tim and Daisy quickly move in with the help of Tim’s best friend “Mike” (Nick Frost) an army fanatic who cannot join the British Army due to a retina injury he received by Tim egging him on to jump from a tree.

 

During the move Tim comes across one of his neighbours “Brian” (Mark Heap) a psychotic artist who lives in the flat under Tim. The group of five soon become close friends and all sit at Tim and Daisy’s table sharing stories of each other’s lives over some drinks and a couple of cigarettes. Creating what will soon become a continuous setting throughout the series.  

 

“Spaced” is a thirty minute long, seven part series situation comedy which also brings in elements of drama, romance and surrealism into each episode. It follows five twenty somethings through their everyday life of trying to get by and their relationships and life adventures. Throughout the series a lot of pop culture references come into play, showing links to television shows, movies and sci-fi comic books such as “Scooby Doo”.

 

The fashion, music and the references to cannabis throughout the series reflect the late nineties era in which “Spaced” is set, giving a realistic feel and touch of the time to this surreal series. Throughout the series we see the characters go through a lot of different scenarios that allow you to see more of their personalities in their own individual stories that exist alongside the major story, making it more interesting.

 

Bursting with new young talent, director Edgar Wright is as unique and individual as the series itself. Combined with the writing of Simon Pegg “Spaced” is new, fresh and unique.

 

STORY TELLING UNIT: "Spaced" The Pitch

“Spaced” is a thirty minute sitcom based on five individuals who live in a flat, who get into mischief involving romance and life adventures.

Diary 02/02/12

Today was our first proper day in uni that wasn't an introduction! We got given a brief to make a 3 minute film in 3 hours. We got put in teams I was with Dave, Tory and Mel. We came up with the idea to do a drama/horror. We made a really good team and we worked really well together. We were faced with a couple of problems during filming, the main one being time management as we ran out of time towards the end. Through this short assignment I learned a lot about shooting and making films/TV shows and how to become better at structuring a shoot.

STORY TELLING UNIT: "The Meeting" update

Today I have started on my script for "The Meeting". It will be my first and very rough draft. I am only getting used to the Final Draft 8 software as it is the first time I have ever used it.


Neill

STORY TELLING UNIT: "The Meeting" research

16/01/12

Today I researched how to write a screen play. I read through the book “Scriptwriting; A practical manual” by Dwight V. Swain. I read how to structure a script and how to begin to write my own. However I felt let down by this book it did not help me in ways that I would have hoped. I was hoping to see some actual scripts and for the author to go through them bit by bit explaining how the script was laid out. With this let down in mind I decided to take my research to the next level. I search on Google for the script of one of my favourite movies “Garden State”. After about a twenty minute search I finally found a PDF file that was put onto a website for educational purposes. http://www.simplyscripts.com

I began to read through the “Garden State” script and started figuring out myself how to actually write my own script. Seeing the layout of this script and in the same stage it was to start filming was an amazing find and it has helped me a lot.

For “The Meeting” so far I have my ideas done, a basic character description for my main characters and also a first draft of the plot summary. I plan on having a start on my script done in the next couple of days.

Neill

"Nature" by Neill Morris

Here is a very short cinematic piece that I made a couple of days ago.


PS. Watch in HD


Enjoy

Introduction

Hey everyone! My name is Neill Morris I'm from a small town called Carrickfergus in Northern Ireland but I moved to Chatham, Kent, over a year and a half ago to be with my fiancee. I am about to start my first year at UCA studying Broadcast Media and I couldn't be more excited! I have played drums for 11 years and have been in many bands. I have also toured the UK and Ireland and played on Radio one. I am currently playing for an acoustic indie band called Meet me at the masquerade. I have also started playing American football. I'm into a lot of different types of TV shows and films. My favourite TV shows are "How I met your mother" , "Supernatural" , "The walking dead" , "Scrubs" , "Big bang theory" just to name a few. My favourite movies are "Garden State" and "Donnie Darko" my two favourite styles of film and TV are horror and romantic comedys.


I look forward to meeting everyone on the course and if you some how find me on here then please feel free to add me. :)


Neill