Mull-over Monday: The Use of 3D in Film

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 this week we are going to discuss the use of 3D in films. Is there any difference between a normal 2D film and its 3D version?

Well I still remember the first thing I ever saw in 3D, it was not a big blockbuster film or anything you would watch at a regular cinema. Instead it was a documentary on at an art/theatre gallery.

This 3D documentary was about fish, and the depth of the oceans. It informed of creatures far in the undiscovered parts.

Now this documentary was probably one of the most realistic, most Three Dimensional film I have ever seen. The creatures and fish seemed to swim, float and glide out of the screen towards the audience.

In places this film even shocked and scared the audience when certain fish and creatures’ jaws splashed out of the screen.

Ever since seeing this realistic 3D documentary/film I have struggled to find 3D entertaining or realistic. Either Directors don’t use enough of it, or they only use it in certain places.

I find that some ‘3D’ films just do not reach the expectation. Certain films say that they are 3D, but instead they have a few minor scenes with depth of perception and not much else going for them.

Think about it this way, why pay around £8, plus your expensive cinema food, for a 3D film which has one pathetic 3D moment in it? That is quite a lot of money for something that doesn’t come out of the screen.

When 3D is done right though, it can be amazing. A lot of people and reviews enjoyed the 3D spectacular Avatar (2009) by James Cameron. Now my own view: The story line; not the best, The Idea: Great, The imagery: Amazing.

Another film where I thought the 3D was great was The Final Destination (2009) by David R. Ellis. Even though once again the story was the same as the rest, just in a different location and with different characters, the objects that killed the characters did actually seem like they flew out of the screen in certain scenes.

So 3D is not always a waste of time and money. Some films are great and spectacular, but I don’t think we are all the way there yet. We need to focus on impressing the audience and making the feel as if everything is flying towards you, Instead of just having the depth of perception.

If you have any opinions of 3D films that were great or others that were not worth the ticket price then please comment below and discuss your views on the growing trend of Three Dimension Films.

Stay safe,

Matt

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Film Thursday: Batman: The Dark Knight Rises - Review

Hey Guys,

This is Film Thursday.

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 we are going to review the new Batman film, The Dark Knight Rises (2012) directed by Christopher Nolan.

This is the third; and final, film in The Dark Knight trilogy. It is the last film that both Christopher Nolan and Christian Bale will both work on, but Nolan has left it open ended for other people to take up the chance.

The story is that Eight years have passed since the last film, The Dark Knight (2008), and everything is quiet, safe and calm. Yet as they say, ‘all is quiet before the storm’.

This storm starts when a new terrorist leader, Bane, overwhelms Gotham, and the Dark Knight is forced to resurface to protect the city that branded him as the enemy.

I did enjoy this film a lot and there was somewhat a wait between The Dark Knight and The Dark Knight Rises. However for some reason, unknown, I felt that maybe something was missing.

For a start, I wish they would have explained how Selina was Catwoman, and referred to her more that way.

I also thought that, in parts, it was very slow to get into and a few unnecessary scene. In other parts it was very crammed up and too much seemed to be happening. Maybe they could have separated the film up into two?

The performances of Anne Hathaway (Selina), Tom Hardy (Bain), Joseph Gordon-Levitt (Blake), and Marion Cotillard (Miranda) were all at the top end. A few times there were certain things Hardy, Bain, said that were lost, but that may have been down to speakers in cinema instead of performance?

I thought that it could have been a little bit darker than it was also. As The Dark Knight seemed very dark, maybe due to it being released after Heath Ledger’s death, but in this one, even though still quite dark, did not seem as it should have been.

With all these things in mind and the fact that I liked The Dark Knight better I would still highly recommend going to see this film. Just for the pure fact that it is Batman. You can’t go wrong with a good comic book film.

Another thing, after my blog on Monday (Mull-Over Monday: Do special effects and CGI, improve films, or make them worse?) I can honestly say that the SFX and CGI in this film were outstanding. Loved the new Batman toy, 'The Bat'.

Finally, without giving spoilers because I know you are all dying to see this, (if you haven’t already, why the hell not?) I can truly say that the end sequence is one of the best cliff-hangers I’ve seen in an action/comic book film. With the fact that they have left the film open-ended, so that if another director to come in and play around with it or even wanted to create something different.

So all in all I do recommend the Dark Knight Rises and think it’s a good film, which contradicts what I’ve said, but what the hell. I think you should all go out and watch it, if you haven’t already.

Stay safe,

Matt

Welcome Wednesday: Tonya Polk: Movies Vs. Books

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 weeks guest post is my American friend, Tonya Polk:

Tonya is a fourty one year old housewife and mum, who ‘refuses to ever grow up’. She lives in Bangor, Maine, USA. She is very proud that ‘It’s also hometown of famous author Stephen King’. She considers herself to be ‘an unofficial expert’ on such things as movies and books, which is what her guest blog is about. Hope you enjoy what she has to say:

Movie vs Book. 

Hey Guys,

This is something I never gave any thought to as a teenager or young adult.  I remember sitting in a packed movie theater anxiously waiting to see my favorite Stephen King novel brought to life in front of my eyes.  

Having read just about every book he ever published, I didn't care that the movie didn't exactly follow the book~ who would care when your hometown author has just filmed an entire movie in OUR hometown?!? 

Many years later, after I re-discovered the joy of reading again (I have to thank Stefanie Meyer for that, and yes, I am a proud Twihard) was when I discovered how a director and screen writer can ruin a great love story, or any story for that matter.

Don't get me wrong, not all screen adaptations are BAD (Harry Potter was spectacular)  but for ME, reading is an escape from reality, like a little personal vacation into a fantasy land.  Using your imagination, getting your own personal vision of what the characters look like, visualizing the scenery, smells, sounds...all are very different and personal to each reader. 

Do the directors and screenwriters actually READ the book (s) ? Or do they just read the back cover and get some input from the author?  Do they understand that readers have a very personal connection with the characters and the storyline? Do they even know HOW WELL we know the book, every detail, every love scene, every detail of every place the characters have been?  Do they even care? Who is to blame? 

As talks are in the works and directors are being talked about,I am very nervous about my beloved "Fifty Shades" being made into a film.  Will the actors be good enough?  Will they pay attention to the LOVE story and not just the "other" stuff in the books?  Will I even WATCH the movie? Or let MY Christian and Ana live in my head?  Seems silly to stress over fictional characters in a book, but if you are like me, and love to read, you will understand exactly what I mean. 

So now, my thinking is, maybe it's better NOT to read the book first, that way all expectations are gone (well, except that the movie is at least GOOD) and you don't find yourself stressing over the screenwriter leaving out your favorite scene or changing dialogue that make you want to get up and walk out?  Or will the screenwriter be so amazing and blow all my expectations away? ( Hunger Games comes to mind on that note). 

So which would YOU choose? Book or Movie?

Stay safe,

Tonya

My Response:

Most, if not all, movies are based on something. Such things as books, stories, poems or even other movies (postmodernism). So this is a good thing to look at.

When basing a film on a book you have got a lot riding on the end result, most of the time there is just too much in the book to possibly fit into the movie. Other times the auther themselves says ‘look I’m not that keen on that part, can we not place it in?’ but this does make the fans of the books unhappy.

As Tonya said, we all have our own imagionations and will read a book differently; we all pick out different immergry that effects us the most. So when we are getting shown how to feel, it is much different.

A good film, based from a book, that does not get much credit is Charlie and the Chocolate Factory (2005) Directed by Tim Burton. Whenever I mention this film I get ‘oh it’s not as good as the original’ but how can it not be better, when it follows Rhoald Daul’s creation to the last T, even including the original songs that Daul wrote?

So I do agree with Tonya, when reading a book you have your own vision and imagionation on what is happening and directors should take this into consideration more. They need to make sure that they try and read the book and consult with the Author, or as close as possible.

Let me know what you think? Do you agree with Tonya? Is there any films you can think of that are as good, or maybe better, than the book? Is there any film that ruined the books for you?

Check Tonya out on Twitter:

@Summersunluvr

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

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

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