Redesign

The keen eyed among you may have noticed that I've redesigned my blog.

Part of that redesign is a new header image, which I've also used on my website and twitter.

In this, I've tried to keep things fairly simple, but to convey what I'm all 'about'.

The header image uses a typewriter font to list lots of my interests, with my blog/name layered on top in a 'horror' font. Not that I'm all about horror, but I do like it and I liked the contrast with the typewriter.

I'm going to make my list of interests a bit more of a feature on the blog itself. I do love blogging, but find it quite difficult to write about writing, film and tv all the time. I've decided, therefore, to write a few more blog posts that are a bit more general. For instance, I might do more posts on my inspirations, the books I'm reading - or the yummy vegan cupcakes I've baked.

Hopefully this won't be too annoying for those of you who only want writing posts!

Those who are interested can check out my new design on my website.

Coming Up / Going Down

I've been working on an idea for Coming Up since mid-May, when I first heard about this year's competition.

For quite a while now, I've had a notion to write a modern version of one of my favourite dark fairy tales, and decided that the Coming Up competition was the place to pursue this. I came up with another story to layer on top of this, which made use of the Coming Up requirements for minimum cast, locations and shooting time, and which I was confident could be told within 30 pages.

It was all going great guns, even more so when the deadline for Coming Up was extended to 28 July. Then at the weekend, as I was trying to finish and polish my two page outline, it hit me.

It's not a 30 page piece - it's a feature.

I know, a lot of people will instinctively disagree with that. They may well be right, and it's not something I normally feel about projects. I do believe that a skilled writer can made a good feature into a short, a book into a feature, a short into a concept that can spiral into a series. Whatever the medium, I think the core of a story can often be told.*

That said, this just felt wrong. I was already coming in to the story as late as possible (two weeks into the 'action'). I had so much backstory that it was going to be hard to avoid blatant exposition. Worse than that, though, I just felt like I was rushing the story, skipping out bits, and not drawing out the horror or the joy that I wanted to display.

In this instance, though, I just wasn't telling the whole story that I wanted to. When I'm writing a piece for myself, for my portfolio, I need to follow my gut and be selfish.

So instead of making this a 30 minute, it's turned into a feature. On the minus side, this means I have not entered Coming Up this year, despite having an idea.

On the plus side, I have a new proposal ready for a steampunk, futuristic, fairy-tale which requires minimal locations and a small cast.

Steampunk is so hot right now, isn't it? Isn't it?


*I don't think it can always be done. That's experience of reading scripts which have tried to change the format talking, so it may well come down to the writing.

Brave

The trailer and teaser poster for Disney/Pixar's Brave have been released.

From imdb: "Set in Scotland in a rugged and mythical time, "Brave" features Merida, an aspiring archer and impetuous daughter of royalty. Merida makes a reckless choice that unleashes unintended peril and forces her to spring into action to set things right."

Nice to see some familiar Scottish names in the cast - Kelly Macdonald (as Merida), Robbie Coltrane and Billy Connelly. Safe to say that it looks like it's going to be a film about Scotland from the Tartanry school, but I'm excited about it. The poster hints at darkness, and it's going to be good to see a Pixar film with a strong female lead.

Everything is a Remix

Found these really interesting videos on my internet travels, and thought I would share.

Everything is a Remix is about the idea of remixing and creativity, but this one looks specifically at film. It is part two of four (three have been released so far). Made by Kirby Ferguson, with brilliant editing.

Everything is a Remix Part 2 from Kirby Ferguson on Vimeo.

As you wish

Sad to hear that Peter Falk died the other day. While many will remember him for his brilliant performance as Columbo, for me he'll always be the grandad from the Princess Bride, bringing me to tears at the end of the film.

(This clip is from the start - spoiler free for those who have inexplicably not seen the film yet)

I also loved him in The Great Race, a family favourite in the Anderson household. I have a tendency to shout 'Push the button, Max' at traffic lights because of this.

I particularly love Jack Lemmon in this film. It's strange to think that none of the main cast of the Great Race are alive now though. No more great pie fights.

It is a silly place...

I watched the new series Camelot on channel 4 last night.

I'm a bit of an Arthurian nerd, so feel compelled to watch anything like this. My verdict on the first two episodes are that there were too many lady bits on show, Merlin was too creepy (both of which they were probably going for), the fighting wasn't very good, and some of the continuity was terrible (the landscapes, outfits, and blood on faces in particular). It was all a bit fluffy and smelled like The Tudors, but I still rather enjoyed it and I'll no doubt watch a few more episodes.

It also made me want to watch the far superior Monty Python and the Holy Grail, never a bad thing.