Tips for Tuesday: Plan of Action

Hey Guys

This is Tips for Tuesday. Here is where I give you the tips that I, loosly, follow or think that I should follow. These are either life tips or tips to do with work, maybe even specific tips to something. It may help you with something you’ve been trying to over-come or maybe it will just inspire you to try something new.

We all need to plan out what we are doing. From the simplest of shopping lists to the major deadlines.

I have done a guest post once about writing tips, which went into both how to prepare and planning. So I thought I would extend on the Plan of Action.

So heres a few steps to help you plan and set out things so you get them done on time, or, if you are like me, before the deadline.

Tip One: Buy a Diary and Use it Wisely

What could be better for your deadlines than a diary? Lets say you need to finish a book by September. Set it in your diary, write it down. Once the deadline is written down, that means it is stuck. Theres no changing it, you’ve just got to make sure you work towards it.

Tip Two: Stop calling them Deadlines

The worst thing to hear, or think is along the lines of ‘Oh here’s the deadline, it has to be done by this point.’ Instead, set goals and targets. Lets use the same example of the book completion. So say you want it finished by September, work out how many pages you would have to write a week, how many chapters, and so on. Put down a target and a goal. The difference between a target and a goal is as follows.

Target: Your average amount that you can hit. The bare minimum you know you can do in that week. – This has to be what you know you are capable of, what you can achieve.

Goal: Above your target, what you want to be hitting, but you know it will take a little more effort. – This has to be a realistic goal, nothing too far fetched that its never going to happen.

Tip Three: Plan Your Day.

This task that you are trying to figure out and finish (The book by September) will not be the only thing you have to focus on at that time. You have to give room for your other commitments and tasks. So say if you work, or you have children, you have to make sure that all this is fit in also.

Now this might sound difficult. You are think, ‘I have so much to juggle I couldn’t possible do it all.’ Well for a start, wrong attitude to have, and secondly if you plan your day out, with all your targets and goals you might be quite surprised.

If every night, before you settle down to sleep, you plan out your next day; or every Sunday night, before you catch up on your shows, you write down what your goals are and plan out your days, then you’ll be surprised at how much free time you might actually have.

Tip Four: Make a List.

I don’t know what it is about lists, but we just can’t seem to get enough of them. We love to crete shopping lists and all sorts. So why not crete a list of things you need to do with the project (in this example list what needs to be done for your book). Such things like what the characters are up to, what happens. Even a breif step by step account. This way you know what’s coming next and you know what you need to do to get there and you aren’t going to feel as stuck when you come up to a more tricky task.

Tip Five: Reading and Research:

Reading seems to be the theme of the week this week, (as it is mentioned tomorrow in the guest blog, and my writing updates blog) but to set up your plan of action, you first need to research everything. You need to find out which directions you could take with your task and the best thing that would suit you.

If you are writing a book, then read afew books that are similar style or genre. This will help you with your layout, which in turn will help with your planning. (I will be going over this in much more detail in Writing Update Wednesday: You’ve got to Read to Write).

Finally:

Tip Six: Enjoy the Task.

If you have followed all these steps you should be doing quite well and should be well on your way to having it all figured out, but if you are not enjoying what you are doing and you don’t make the excersises or tasks fun, then you aren’t going to get into the task and lose motivation.

You need to stay motivated and enjoy the task at hand, this way you will get the task done much quicker than you first expected.

So if you follow these tips you should be able to get your plan of action all set up and should be able to get the tasks, and work done even before the ‘deadline’ you originally set.

If you have any other tips you would like to share on this subject, or any tips you think I should discuss for next week then let me know.

Stay safe,

Matt

Mull-Over Monday: Do special effects and CGI, improve films, or make them worse?

Hey Guys,

Welcome to Mull Over Monday, This is the day where I pick something that people discuss and have different opinions about. These things will normally be to do with film or writing or something that obviously affects my life directly.

So something to think about and discuss this week is special effects and CGI. Do they improve films or make them worse? How much is too much?

I’m going to view my opinions and obviously, as normal, if you have other views on this topic then let me know underneath.

This may be a very one sided view on special effects and CGI because unfortunately I’m not really the biggest of fans, but I shall try and be as open minded as possible.

This subject has come about due to the fact that lately I’ve been watching a lot of comic-book films, such as The Amazing Spiderman, The Avengers Assemble and The Dark Knight Rises, (which I will be reviewing on Film Thursday blog.)

So first of all what do you class as special effects? Well truthful anything from a simple lighting effect all the way up to your big explosions and CGI creatures are known as special effects, SFX for short.

So in some ways without SFX a film would never work. There would be no light or sound SFX and it would just look extremely boring and unappealing. So SFX are needed to make, and improve a films quality.

The question is: How much SFX and CGI is too much? For me this is simple, when you start creating things that don’t look realistic at all and spoil the film; that is when you know you’ve gone too far. Take King Kong (2005) Directed by Peter Jackson. This remake of an old classic used so much CGI that there was not one shred of truth left by the end of the film, all relationships with characters were uninteresting and 187 minutes of pure CGI just was too much.

Looking through the archives over at TotalFilm.com I looked through what they rated the worst CGI film moments and why, so I thought I would give you a little taster, so you can see what might be a step too far with Computer Generating.

Here’s the link if you want to check out all of the list, or the scenes themselves:

http://www.totalfilm.com/features/the-20-worst-movie-cgi-moments

20: CGI Sharks – Films such as Deep Blue Sea (1999) and Shark Attack 3: Megalodon (2002) have some of the worst CGI shark attacks I’ve probably watched. There is just no realistic sense to them at all.

17: The brawl in The Matrix Reloaded (2003). Total Film gives a note saying ‘The Golden Rule of CGI: Just because you can, doesn’t mean you should.’ This is an extremely good rule, and some directors do need to learn this one.

 12: The Scorpion King: The Mummy Returns (2001). When The Rock turns into a half scuttling Scorpion is one of the worst, most unbelievable things I’ve seen. This is when you lose faith in sequels and franchises.

9: The Lions and the Infected: I am Legend (2007). All the street clearing and lighting SFX in the world could not improve these hordes.

6: Troll Attack: Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone (2001). Just watch a clip of the troll, not only do all the actors look really young in comparison to how they are now, but that troll is just unbelievably unrealistic.

1: Well we’ve mentioned this once before. I had a feeling that King Kong would be in this list. The whole medley of Giant Apes, Stampeding Dinosaurs and other over the top creations. Not only are the badly made, but badly dubbed also with the wrong Sound FX.

Now I’m not saying all CGI is bad, because sometimes there are some great moments created. What I’m saying is, sometimes the SFX teams might take things a little too far, get a little bit carried away and just decide that they will have a children’s drawn troll or way too many bomb explosions.

A film should not be about the action, the CGI and the SFX. It should be about the story and the relationships built between characters and audiences.

If you have any views on this, let me know and keep the discussion going.

Stay safe,

            Matt

Flash Fiction Friday: First Attempt

Hey Guys,

Okay Flash Fiction is a new thing I’ve been told about so let’s see how this pans out and works. Apparently the aim of Flash Fiction is you look at an image of something and you write for an allotted time, or until you reach a certain amount of words. Maybe once or twice I might change these Flash Fiction entries into short films so watch out for them on my film YouTube channel which I have set up for my short films.

The following picture is what I have decided to base this week’s Flash Fiction on. To make it fair, I wrote this out on paper and set myself to four pages. My writing it rather big and messy so might not be that long one here, but here is what I created from this picture below.

It was a crisp, dark night. The sky was a winter’s blue and the air held a certain chill; it tickled my fingers and me nose. I should not have even been out at such a late hour on such a night like tonight. I was going against every rule my father had taught me to strictly follow.

Tonight was one of those magical nights, when the moon is full and the tide was at its highest. This is when everything happened in this place; when the Elders met together. Rumours about what happened on these nights flew round, yet only the Elders and those closest knew.

That was why I was here on this frost-filled December night. I wanted to find out the truth and why there were so many rules and secrets between our people. I walked towards the stables, where I had discretely followed the Elders. The candles dimly lit the pebbled path and gave an ominous glow to the barn where the Elders were holding these meetings.

I waited for my time and kept my distance, whilst also keeping a look out for anything suspicious as I still wondered over the rule that I had broken; that no woman under the age of 18 should be allowed out on a full moon and a high tide.

Suddenly I heard chanting from the stable barn and a flash of red light. Smoke started to rise from somewhere inside.  I could not see clearly so I risked a closer look. I peered through a small hole, trying not to get noticed or caught.

Inside was a group of tall hooded shadows whom where all chanting around a cauldron of some sort. I was unsure of what they were chanting or what was happening, but I did not like what I saw.

I carried on watching; wondering what was going on, when suddenly I noticed one of the hooded Elders pull over a girl, dressed in pure satin white. He dragged her by the hair into the light and I instantly recognised her. She was the Farmer’s daughter, Elizabeth. I could tell by the small mark she had on the right side of her face.

The hooded man then grabbed Elizabeth by the chin and placed the back of her head on the hot cauldron. There came an instant sizzling sound from the girls flesh. This was followed very shortly by screaming from the poor tortured girl.

As soon as this happened, I winced away and instantaneously the chanting became louder. This made me look back, not wanting to take me eyed away from this evil; but knowing, in my mind, that I should stop, and run away.

The same hooded member turned Elizabeth round so that her marked cheek was over the opening of the cauldron. The girl continued to shrill and wail as her flesh blistered, singed and fell away. Then in one quick swoop of a knife to her throat, it was over. Her cries turned into gurgles and choking as the bright crimson blood gushed and spurted from her wound and her mouth  into the pot. As this happened I shed a few tears for the poor Famer’s daughter.

As Elizabeth struggled on her last blood filled breaths she was shoved away from the pot and left to wilt and rot. One of the other masked murders then picked up the cauldron and immersed his hand into this mixture of blood and other unknown substances.

For any normal human, putting their hand into a boiling pot would scold them and burnt the skin off their hands, but the hooded shadow took his hand out of the cauldron and it was fully in tacked without any marks or scaring visible. Instead it was covered in the blood mixture the Elders had just created.

After this the other masked Elders immersed the hands in this concoction and started placing it on the far wall whilst chanting. I could not see what they had done until they had evaporated away from the wall they had just spread blood onto.

When they dispersed, I saw what had been written; the words, ‘Like a Fire That Commands all.’ These powerful, black-magic filled words meant nothing to me. I did not understand what was going on.

I wished right then that I had never left the house or followed the Elders to this slaughter house. I took myself away from the hole where I was watching and away from the suffering and horror inside. I just wish I never looked.

As I turned round to sneak back to the house, there stood one tall hooded dark shadow of an Elder staring back at me. No defining facial features were visible.

‘I believe you’ve seen enough Rose.’ He cackled.

Hope you liked this. If you have any photos you wish me to looks at and write a flash fiction story on, then send them my way.

Stay safe,

Matt

Film Thursday: Like Water for Chocolate

Hey Guys,

It is Thursday Film Day.

Here’s the part of the week where I will either review a film or talk about how film can affect us in certain ways. Each week I will ask you what you feel should review next or what area of film I should look into.

This week I had a request to talk over how certain objects or scenes in films convey a different meaning than what they first represent and how things aren’t always as they first seem.

I’ve been told to watch the film Like Water for Chocolate (1992) a Spanish film, Directed by Alfonso Arau. Now apparently to Tonya, the friend who recommended this to me, it has a lot of symbolism and representation about food and cooking with-in the story.

First I will give a short Synopsis of what the story is about, followed by what symbolism means to me and how to understand why actions may represent something completely different. It is all about Semiotics.

The story is about life in Mexico and how it used to be. This is a story of love and passion between two people, Pedro and Tita; who could not marry due to Tita’s mother, who wanted her eldest daughter to marry and have Tita stay and care for her. The story shows how marriage used to be imposed in the times and how love between two people can change the views of others, which eventually changes everything.

I will try not to put any spoilers in, so if you do wish to watch this film and see what I’m chatting about and help you understand you can.

This film starts by the old myth of onions and how they make you cry. It speaks of how to stop yourself from crying. ‘Once you have started crying it is difficult to stop.’

This film shows that food is a natural part of life and growing up. It explains that different things tickle our taste buds and that love is just like eating chocolate.

The narrative explains how Tita is feeling and always refers to her feelings as if they are like food items. The way Pedro looks at her burns like oil burns skin, the way it makes her feels like dough melting and rising.

As she has grown up in the kitchen and all she has understood is how food and ingredients react when they are blended together this explains why she expresses her feelings in this manner.

As in films such as Fight Club when the character, who goes by the name of Jack, explains his feelings of rage and anger as if it was an illness or a wound ‘I am Jack’s raging bile duct.’ This was set out due to the fact that the film is based around violence and him getting injured. It is also about the character’s mental state and how he collapses as a person.

In Like Water for Chocolate it explains that she knits a blanket as she cries, because she is upset. ‘Yet the she could not clear the cold’. This explains how her heart is broken from loss of love and it has grown cold.

The phrase I liked the most from this film was the one the cook/Nana spoke ‘Only the pot knows the boiling point of the broth, but I can easily guess yours’ This basically means that she is telling Tita to stay strong no matter what happens, as what is happening it is not down to her own doing but what her mother has done to her.

When Pedro gives Tita roses as a sign of her love, she uses them in her cooking. She wants to spread the love and make everyone feel full of joy as she has felt from these roses given to her. She says that her whole self had dissolved into the food she had prepared. In other words she had put her whole life and soul, including her love into this dish as the roses made her feel good again.

This continues through the film, explaining more about the food and how it represents the passion and love behind the relationship and how both intertwined together.

Other films that have symbolism in them are such films as American History X, where all of the flashbacks are shown in black and white, while the present day scenes are in colour. This is symbolic of Edward Norton's character's changes, as he becomes reformed and has progressed.

There is also a lot of symbolism in Shindler's List. One I can remember is where the girl in red who represents the struggle that all the Jews went through during the Holocaust.

Over all, the importance of symbolism shows the audience that objects and actions can mean more than what they show at face value. We as an Audience should watch for such things and try to understand what they mean, but we have to be careful because eventually everything can become a semiotic symbol and then what the director actually wanted to be meant may be lost by us looking too deep into things.

If you have any films that you recommend me looking at, or any themes that you feel need going over then please let me know.

Stay safe,

Matt

Welcome Wednesday: Guest Blog: Joseph Eastwood:Why Branding is Necessary

Hey Guys,

Welcome to Wednesdays. Every Wednesday I will introduce a new person who has a simular interest to myself who I think that both myself and you guys can learn from, understand and take things from. Each week I will post a short intro to the person, what they have to say and their important links. Maybe even do a response once or twice.

This week my guest is a good friend of mine from university. His name is Joseph Eastwood, he is 19 years old and studies English and Creative Writing at University. He is an aspiring writer who's book, Lumen, is coming out very soon. This is his blog about writing and how 'indie' writers should have a brand and a genre.

Hope you enjoy it:

Why Branding is Necessary

I feel that as an indie author you need to have a brand, you need to have a genre, you need people to remember who you are---being another self-published author is hard.
I'm going to kick this off by telling you that if your Facebook page doesn't have your name in the title, then there isn't much point in having it.
Book pages are useful, but they are also very boring and don't offer as much as author pages do. I find that author pages are more personal, where book pages just have pictures of the book...or random pictures of people they want to fill the characters etc. and yeah, that's fun and everything, and you want people to "like" your book, and unless that's the only book you're ever going to write, I would delete it!
I believe that if you want to be indie you will not become successful over just ONE book! So quit promoting it to hell and back! Instead, I think you should focus on your writing, Amanda Hocking did not become famous for that one book, nor did Stephen King, or anyone else for that matter. They all wrote several books and have a backlog.
Just like an musician must build a repertoire of songs because lets face it, if they listen to the same song over and over again it just gives you earache and you start to hate it. I think the same thing goes for an indie author who keeps on pushing their book everywhere you look and I've actually said to myself..."No, you're not buying that, it's just spam! The author has done nothing to try and sell it to me, just forever posting it and the reviews they've received."
You need to hone your genre and you need to write, write, write! Not everything you write should be published for money, some things you write can be free! You know, like in your notes that people can read because there aren't a lot of people who are going to be taking a chance on an indie author.

For more information on Joe, his writing or any of his blog posts, check out the following links below:


Blog: www.josepheastwood.com

Twitter: @JoeEastwood

Page: www.facebook.com/josephswriting

If any of you fancy writing me a guest post for next Wednesday, could you please get in contact with me. Either on here, or on Facebook/Twitter. Links below:

Page: www.facebook.com/MattThomFilm

Twitter: @No1MattThom

Stay safe,


Matt

Writing Update Wednesday: Mysery and Photoshop, Book Cover

Hey Guys,

So you've been wondering how my writing is going? You want to know what I’m getting up to on my stories or what’s going to happen next? Well, let me update you on everything so far.

This week I have been playing around with Photoshop and been trying to create a few front covers, now I don’t want to be showing them all off at once and give the game away before it’s even started but I want to talk about how it may help your story progress more and maybe even give you a few more Ideas.

Now recently I’ve been paying most of my attention towards Mysery, (A story about a girl who ends up in a large city that she has never been to before; she has no clue how she got there and knows she does not belong. It is a story of adventure and love.) Now even though I know exactly how I want the story to go and what I want to happen to the girl, Mysery, there are still little bits that are still to be discovered as it is a story of discovering and adventure. I’ve been working on it for quite some time so it tends to change shape quite often.

So I have been sat here pondering over what to do with the character and where to take the character and it has been slightly more testing than normal, but I found that playing around on Photoshop and trying to create something that explains how the character feels has helped me dramatically. Not only do I now have two drafts for my front cover but I have two more chapters and two more added ideas to place into the story.

This hasn’t just helped with the one story either. It has helped me with a few others and made me think about trying to write a series of books. Now that I have the cover, which has made me think ‘The character is this kind of person’, I feel like the stories are just going to flow afterwards.

The reason I have two drafts for Mysery is because I made my first draft, and had a perfect idea of how I wanted it to be set out, but unfortunately I was using images off Google to edit and was told about copy-write, and didn’t want to risk it, so decided to start again and try and create the look and style myself, which has been rather testing.

So here for you are my first two drafts of my book covers for Mysery:

This was my original idea, using images. I really liked this idea as she is a girl from 1920 who has somehow ended up in the modern day. I thought this showed that idea perfectly, but unfortunately the only way I could have truly created this with my own images was to go to London myself and, from where I am, it’s rather far and rather expensive just for one photo.

So my second Idea was as follows:

I tried to stick with the original idea of the girl in black with the long grass, whilst having a coloured background, but I wanted the colour to stand out more so decided to have contrasting colours put together.

As I said before I have created other covers for other books, but seeing as some of them have only got a tittle and a basic layout, I’m not as willing to start handing out all the information for them.

These are just first Drafts and I may change them or play around with them a little.

So overall I believe that playing around with Photoshop and editing, Even if it’s just to create a basis or just an idea. You don’t have to be a Photoshop wizard, but I believe that it will help you with your writing and make you think of ideas you never had before.


Stay safe,


Matt

Tips for Tuesday: How to Get Out of 'One of Those Moods'

Hey Guys,

This is Tips for Tuesday. Here is where I give you the tips that I, loosely, follow or think that I should follow. These are either life tips or tips to do with work, maybe even specific tips to something. It may help you with something you’ve been trying to over-come or maybe it will just inspire you to try something new.

Today the tips are about how to cheer yourself up when you’re having ‘one of those days’.

Now let's not lie, we all have them. We all wake up in the morning and feel down, or a bit rough. Sometimes we aren’t even truly sure why. It’s just ‘one of those days’ where whenever anyone says anything at all, like ‘would you like a cup of tea?’, you snap.

So here are my tips on how to get over those days. I’m not saying they’ll work for everything or that it’s a miracle cure for down days but it tends to cheer me up. So here goes:

No1: Make yourself a nice hot brew, with some sugar, and a nice slice of cake or a snack of some kind.

Well we all know sugar is bad for us and that if we have too much it gets risky, but you're in a bad mood, and things like that are the least of your worries. Sugary drinks and snacks will cheer you up and obviously you’re gunna pick your favourite snack or desert, so its going to taste even better. Then we focus on the brew. Now whether it’s tea, coffee, hot chocolate, whatever you fancy, the brew is going to warm you up inside and make you feel nice and cosy. that's just what you need for the mood swing.

No2: Put something on that you know will make you laugh no matter what.

I’m talking about your favourite comedian’s stand up show, or a film that makes you giggle every single time you watch it. Maybe even a sit-com. It doesn’t matter what it is, as long as it’s full of laughs and will take your mind off your bad day blues.

No3: Have great company.

Now I know what it’s like, you wake up, it’s ‘one of those days’ you want to be left, pardon my French, the fuck alone. Yet more likely than not, what you actually want more than anything is somebody to be with you to cheer you up.

Now obviously don’t pick the friends that gas on about things that annoy you, or the ones that are a little attention seeking. (And yes we all have a few friends like that, it’s natural) Pick the ones that make you smile and you can have a laugh with and never take much seriously. They are the kind of people you need around when you’re a little down.

No4: Pamper yourself.

We all love a god pamper. Yes even us guys. We love to sit in the bathtub and soak away our troubles. Nice glass of wine, some candles, a bit of music. Perfect.

If you’re not a bath person, fine. You can still relax; maybe you could moisturise, or take care of something that you’ve been meaning to do. Like, for example, a tan, or shave, or something that makes you look, and feel a million times better.

This will help because when we look better, we automatically feel better. It boosts our confidence and makes us think ‘Hey why am I down, I’m looking good and fresh. Let's forget about it’

No5: Put some really happy music on.

Now I don’t mean this stupid happy go lucky, everything is perfect music. I mean stuff that has a good beat and gets you going, makes you feel like you want to get up and dance and have a good time.

Last thing you want to be listening to is something depressing or sad, like Winehouse or Anthony and the Johnsons. That’s never going to help. You want some club mixes, some dance music. Whatever cheers you up.

Finally, 

No6: Spontaneously go out on a night out.

Now don’t be silly and get steaming drunk, now that is not going to help you at all. You truly don’t need to drink much at all. (Remember you had a few glasses in the bath as well).

It is just the vibe you get from a night out, the lights and the atmosphere. Plus if you’ve chosen the right people to go out with, which you should have, then this spontaneous night out will be amazing.

We all know that unplanned events are always the best also. So get your glad-rags on and get your party shoes on. We are going to have a great time.

So These are just six ways that I would try and cheer myself up, and seeing as I’ve only done two so far and I’m already feeling better I can say that most of the time they work.

If you have any other ways of cheering yourself up, or things that help you in everyday life, then let me know. I want to see how different people cope in similar situations to their bad days.

What do you do when you’re having ‘one of those days’?

Stay Safe,

Matt

Mull Over Monday: Are Films to Blame For Actions?

Hey Guys,

So after having numerous problems with accounts and emails and other things, all linked into losing my phone. I have finally got myself back on track. I’m back making YouTube Vlogs, I’ve got my writing going and been playing around on Photoshop for different covers and so on. Now I’m back on here and here are some of the things I’ve created and made whilst unwillingly being away.

Welcome to Mull Over Monday, This is the day where I pick something that people discuss and have different opinions about. These things will normally be to do with film or writing or something that obviously affects my life directly.

This week the topic is going to be quite a delicate matter. Now if I say anything that you don’t agree with, then just remember it is a discussion and is open to other opinions, but let’s remember to try and keep it above board.

The reason I’m saying this is a tricky, risky subject is because it is quite fresh in the news. Now I know I’m from Brittan and obviously this news does not affect us as much as the people in America, where it happened, but I thought I’d talk about it all.

If you haven’t guessed already I want to talk about how media blames films for Certain actions. Now this has sparked back up again due to the recent shooting at a premiere of Batman, The Dark Knight Rises, in Colorado.

Now I am not going to act as if I know all the facts or act as if anything I say is right, because it affects America, and not really anywhere else. Yet the media blames the film itself for the shooting.

Seeing as the film had just been released over there, it was a first premiere and that nobody had yet seen this film, already puts this theory into a bit out of place.

Secondly the gunman himself, not the most reliable of references I understand; but still, said that it was not down to the film, or religious views (as some media teams are saying) but still will not fully explain why.

Now if it was down to the film, then why just in one place? Why just one guy? Why did he burst into a random screen? Why did people in the opposite screening, which was a family film, also get shot by bullets he fired? None of these make sense.

This is not the first time that media itself has blamed a film for creating violence or destruction. We British have had a few cases, maybe not as rough and devastating as this case, but still not all that nice. Where children have gone to see a film out of there age range with their parents and then allegedly gone and re-enacted that scene and managed to hurt or kill people in the process.

First off, if you are a parent and you think that allowing your child of, let us say, fourteen to go and see a film rated 18 (not sure what that is over in USA) then you are asking for trouble from the start.

Secondly the group I’m talking about, who apparently saw the film Child’s Play then tied another child to a railway track. I have seen this film and for all I can remember I can truly say I don’t think there was a scene where this happened. Tell me if I’m wrong because it was a while ago.

Yet because these kids had seen this film, it got blamed. Some films get blamed for things before they are even released or seen by audiences. Films such as Blade Runner and Natural Born Killers where not even allowed to be shown in certain places due to the media hype, saying that they were bad films that glorified violence and would lead to problems.

These media nuts do like to take things out of hand and twist the real reason behind things. They like to do it with everything and they have gone and done it with the Batman film. They have made both the cast and crew feel bad about the film and given it a bad name, when it was not even the fault of the film.

Some media teams apparently even made up the rumour that the killer called himself ‘The Joker’. Now me wanting to be a director and want to create films that make people think about things would not understand why the Media would make up such lies and rumours?

 These lies will not sell more papers, more than often people like to know the truth about these situations. They want to know what went on; they don’t need to be told that if you see this film it will lead to violence.

If it was true that films affected your actions and that people truly go around killing people after seeing a film or due to seeing something, then don’t you think we would have many more problems such as these? There would be utter chaos every time somebody brought out a new film.

As I said at the start, I’m not pretending to know all the facts or saying that I’m right and all Media is wrong and judgemental and should be band. I am just viewing my opinion, and that is that the Media have twisted this out of proportion, as normal when something like this happens, and they have made people scared. They should be making people calm about the situation, shouldn’t they?

If you have any views at all about this incident, or any others that Media blame films for, let me know. I want you to update me and I want you guys to get chatting about this. Do you truly think that a film could make somebody act that badly? Or do you think the Media have it all wrong? Are they just blaming the film because they don’t know the real reason? Let me know what you think.

If you’ve been to see the Dark Knight Rises, then let me know what you think also.

Stay safe,

Matt

Artists Who Base Their Work on Their Life

Hey Guys,

Artists have always based their work on either personal life or things that have happened close to them but there is a difference between basing your work on your life and completely immersing your life in your work.

Now, for a start let's define the role of an artist. I am not just talking about painters such as Van Gogh who immersed his life into his work. I'm also talking about artists as in singers, musicians, writers and even Directors.

An example of a singer who immersed their life into their work is Amy Winehouse. Now I know there is a lot of controversy over her music and the way she lived, and yes I get she made major mistakes that eventually led to her downfall, but this is what I'm trying to explain. We all have history, and a past: Let's say we've all made mistakes.

I'm not trying to put people off having their lives and work connect, it is a very powerful thing to do, but very dangerous at the same time, as Winehouse did you can start to take it too far and even start searching and creating trouble in your life to work with. In her first album she speaks about failed relationships and friendships, she also speaks of how she had a drug habit, in the second album she speaks of her demise and how she does search for trouble and how her problems became more serious. Then she fell dramatically and it killed her work, killed her visions and then finally, unfortunately killed her.

As I said I'm not trying to put people off basing their work on their lives, it's when their lives are then based on their work; and Amy Winehouse did try and turn her life around, she quit the drugs and although she did not do it the correct way and it was a little too late, she wrote the start of her first album based on the facts that she wanted to change and how she wanted to make herself better. The third 'Hidden Tracks' album is one of the most beautiful albums I've heard in quite some time and each time I hear it, by the end I am bound to be in tears, half of joy and half of upset and fear.

All artists, classing the role of a director as an artist, want to be able to effect people and make people who are suffering, or have suffered from the same problems as they are showing feel better, or make them think and of course, me wanting to be a director, I do want to add personal happenings of my life to my films. But how far do you take it? How much of your own life would you add? If you're too much involved then your life and work collide. Yet if you're not involved enough then it feels empty and has no meaning behind what is being portrayed.

A director whose old work used to be based a little bit on his life is Tim Burton, his themes use to be about main characters loneliness and they would always have some sort of resemblance toward Burton. He would use dark colours and spirals to simulate the downward spiral of a character. His work has changed as he has become more involved with his wife Helena Bonner-Carter and his work has become slightly more colourful, yet with little flashes of his old life and how he got to the way he is today.

So In a way basing your work on your life will get you more noticed than if you just work for the sake of it but it is when the life is based on the work, or the work and the life both get tangled and cause problems. The thing is, even if this does eventually happen, isn't it more the work that gets attention than the person? The work will live on forever, so if you base it on your life and give it a more personal touch then if you think about it, you will therefore metaphorically 'live forever' and isn't this what everyone wants? Not just artists.

Stay safe,

Matt

Can a Film Change Somebodies Views?

Hey Guys,

I have always been interested in film and how everything works. I've always loved the use of story-lines and cinematography and how a film can take us away from our own lives or makes us feel powerful but can films really change our views? Can a film make you sit down and think about what you believe in and make you think about them, or even change those beliefs all together?

 As you will know, there are a lot of different types of films, some are there to just entertain, and you don't need to be overly involved with them, such films as pure action films or comedies. These films that we know are just basically sit down, we watch and we don't need to take much in, or away from the experience. As my father likes to call them, they are 'remove brain' films.

These aren't the films that I want to focus on; they do not tend to affect us all that much. The films that can affect us are more the emotional dramas or the love stories, but also sometimes films that we would not expect to affect us do touch is in the most peculiar ways.

Now there is a difference between a film affecting us and a film changing our views. Neither of these are easy to do, as there is such a wide audience range and it is hard to affect each one individually. To effect or touch somebodies heart you have to have a theme or content that people understand or have been through themselves, or even a theme that people would hate to go through and are scared of, such things like love, life and death are very high in effecting people but is there other ways? Could people be affected by things that are not as obvious?

In respects of changing somebodies views, now this is a very different case. It is very difficult to turn round to somebody and say 'I think you should feel this way about this topic.' It does not work that way, you can't tell people how to feel or how to view things, all you can do is show them and hope they understand it the way you hoped.

An example of a film I studied once that changes views was Natural Born Killers, Directed by Oliver Stone. Now this film gets a lot of mixed reactions, and that is the point of the film. It was created to effect people and it makes them feel differently about the media, law enforcement and criminals. This film puts a spin on serial killers, making them into more of a hero figures as the media glorifies them and makes them into a respected couple who are mistreated by the corrupt law enforcement.

The question is though; does this film change your views? Well whilst watching it, you do feel for the couple and you do find yourself on the other side with the criminals, hoping that it will 'end well' for them. I would not say it fully changes your views forever though. Yes it makes you more wary of the press and of law enforcement, but many films do this.

What I really want to know is, if you can make a stunning film, which changes peoples' views, and makes them think. Now I'm not saying that some views are wrong and others are right, obviously everyone thinks differently, but what I want to know is if it is possible to watch a film and come out thinking 'maybe my view on this subject was not clear' I want to know whether you would go home after a film and think over what you saw and how it could affect your views and even yourself.

All directors and writers strive to affect the audience in many different ways. Each of them have probably also tried to change peoples' views and tried to make people think a certain way, the thing is I don't feel like you should be made to feel a way, I feel that if you show somebody something in a different light than they are used to, maybe that will affect something.

I guess, for now, I will just have to keep wondering, until I find a film that makes me change all my views or, hopefully even better, create something that effects people in more ways than one.

Stay Safe,

Matt Thom

A Few Film Ideas

Hey Guys,

Wanting to become a film director I have had a few ideas in the past as to what type of films I would like to create; some ideas are based on books, myths and ideas and others based loosely on moments that happened in my life and that I have worked with and edited.

These are some of my small ideas that I have had in the past and an example of my style:


The Book Thief - Markus Zusak

The book is narrated by Death, whom tells the story of a young girl growing up in Nazi Germany around The Second World War. Death tells the story of his involvement in this war and also tells the story of a young girl who is growing up and getting used to living with her foster parents and her neighbours after her mother leaves her. The young girl gets a habit of stealing books from those who deserve it and the story tells of what happens to her and those around her as the war becomes more serious.

I believe that this book should become a film due to the fact that that the book itself has some beautiful imagery and how it is narrated by Death whom explains vividly how his job works and the views he sees around him. I believed that it had an essence of a fantasy, or even fairy-tale style to it whilst it was still realistic and emotional enough to affect people from all ages.

Mysery - Own Story

This story is based on a young girl named Matilda Mysery Downes, Mysery for short, who lives in the 1920's. She is sat in an abandoned field of corn when something mysterious happens and she ends up in a mysterious time and place. She has no idea how she got here or what will happen but decides to explore and discover, she bumps into a friendly gentlemen who shows her around. He gets her use to the area so that she does not want to go back. The story tells of her becoming use to this new world and everything involved with her travels.

In the writing I have made it so that the future world is in colour and Mysery stays in grey-scale, giving it a great effect about her change of location and the fact that nobody will accept her for who she is. I wanted this to be the same in the film. I saw this story progress from a story of discovery in herself and her world and move towards more of a love story. It has hints of fantasy in it with the mystery behind how she got to this world

Back To Black - A story of Amy Winehouse's life

Somebody else will probably end up releasing this story before I even get to where I want to be, but I would love to release this myself.

My idea for her story was to mix both real clips and acted scenes together to create a realistic as possible film as possible. The idea was to have most of the action in a dark black or grey-scale and then having one or two items/objects in the scene in colour, the items of importance would then look highlighted. I wanted to show how Amy's based her music on life and how her music therefore effected and changed her life as she would try to better herself with creating new problems to overcome.

This story would show Amy as a hero in the end as her music and life had affected so many others and had changed peoples' lives.

Transformation - Own Story

This story is still under construction but the basis is that a middle aged, married man becomes addicted to cross dressing; he therefore ends up leading two separate lives. His two lives start to spiral out of control and he doesn't know which way to turn. This story is about how he accepts himself and how others view him in his two separate lives.


There are a few small ideas I've had for this on film but at the moment they have not been narrowed down and refined.

Bitter Shandy - Own Story

This story has not been completely thought out yet, but I have had a few visions and ideas.

Basically this story about an actor who gets in a relationship with an actress, Shandy, that he has been working with, they go away together. The story follows how their relationship falls apart and how the guys actions effect Shandy and what it causes her to do to save her life and how everything that happens is a chain reaction towards something else.

This film would break my normal style and be a mixture between fantasy and reality; it is a story of how their work seems to crash into the couples lives. The stories that they act out seem to happen to them in real life and cause things to get worse.

I have had other ideas for this, but they are being refined.

There are also other stories and films I would love to make, using such authors such as Roald Dahl books and Darren Shan, but at this moment I am focusing on writing these stories and perfecting them whilst also working on short films also.

I am also focusing on my studies and making sure I complete my masters in Directing for film.

Stay safe,

Matt

A Note to All

Hey Guys,

Quick note for you, so you know.

I had a Blogger account before this one and I did post some blogs on it.

Now unfortunately, due to me being stupid and losing my phone and also Google not replying back to me to let me back on my account, I've decided to create another Blogger.

Very annoyed that I have to do this, but it might turn out that this is better, let's see.

Well I hope you enjoy re-reading the blogs I have and the new blogs I have created.

We shall speak soon.

Stay safe.

Matt