Counting down to summer!0

Can’t wait for summer break, seriously – I want to be able to write more stuff here, but it seems that school decided to put every concievable test in a three week period. Still two weeks to go though, but with only two tests left and one speech in film class (more on that later), I should manage just fine. So what have I been up to the past couple of weeks? It’s been quite a while since I posted a “real” newspost here, as the last three posts were reviews. Well, on to the good stuff I guess!

I’ve been writing down a lot of stuff concerning “Derby” and it’s script. It’s pretty much all finalized now, and I should be able to film it during the upcoming summer break. I’ve found some cool locations for a few scenes – thinking about taking a still camera and shoot a few images of them before we go shooting there. I’ve started to look for actors and actresses for the film, and some roles are already decided! I reckon “Derby” will be a pretty fun filmmaking experience – not only because it’s pretty different story-wise from anything I’ve done before – but also because I won’t have to think about guns, effects and explosions, which is nice for a change.

I’ve started to think about what I want to do for my one-year school project in my third and final year in high school. I’m sure I want to do some kind of film – currently thinking of something completely greenscreen-based. I don’t think it’ll be a very long film, as the visual effects work will be quite demanding – I will probably be able to get the whole thing filmed in two or three days. The most obvious route and the one I’m currently on would be to do something film noir-inspired, but like I said, I’ve only just started to think about the film.

While I was out and found a few nice locations for “Derby”, I also shot a rather cool thing. Can’t talk about it anymore than that, but keep your eyes peeled on the internet as well as here, as it’s pretty spectacular stuff!

Watched a lot of films the last couple of weeks while I wasn’t studying. I’ve been working my way through my big unwatched DVD pile, and I’ve watched a few rather good films, mostly classics. Among these are “I am Sam” (featuring Sean Penn) and “Basic Instinct” (Michael Douglas, Sharon Stone). I was actually surprised when I realised how good a thriller “Basic Instinct” really was. Sure, it’s probably most famous for that Sharon Stone interrogation scene, but look past that and you’ll find a very good and interesting thriller. It’s also directed by Paul Verhoeven, who has done a lot of…well, interesting (both really good – like Starship Troopers, and slightly worse – RoboCop doesn’t age very well) films in his career.

So, well, gaming. I’ve obviously been playing a whole lot of Grand Theft Auto IV, which I got on the release day. Trust me when I say this, it’s a very, very good game. The story is probably the best I’ve ever encountered in any form of interactive media, the voice-acting is fantastic, the gameplay is the best it’s ever been – to sum it up, it’s probably one of the better games I’ve ever played. Might write a review on it once I’ve finished the story-driven missions, although try to look past the fact that it’s going to mean that you’ll see another review with a 10 out of 10

I’ve been trying to figure out Microsoft PowerPoint for a presentation I have in film class next Thursday. Each student got to choose either a genre or a director to do a small (15-30 min) presentation on. I decided to go with Robert Rodriguez, one of my favorite directors who has a truly diverse portfolio, with everything from “Spy Kids” to “Planet Terror”. As I almost hadn’t used PowerPoint before making this presentation, it was quite hard to understand how everything worked at first. It does have some really cool stuff that it does presentation-wise though, and I’ve now incorporated 3D-like text and images with reflections that bounce up and down when I talk about them. I’ve also managed to connect my mobile phone to the computer via Bluetooth, so I can control the entire thing wirelessly. As you might have realised by now, I’m pretty proud of it!

That’s all I’ve got for you guys and girls today! I promise, the wait won’t be as long for the next news post. School is slowing down, which gives me more time to…work on other, more fun filmmaking-stuff! Take care everyone, and I’ll talk to you again soon!

P.S. Go see “Doomsday” in theatres. It’s awesome.