Writing Wednesday: Tuesday's Catch Up

Hey Guys,

This is the part of the week where I update you on the work I have been creating for the week and what stage everything is up to.

It will also include the area that I have been focusing on the most and how helpful it has been to me.

So as you have probably noticed, I did not post a Talk Tuesday post yesterday, instead I used all my time on Monday and Tuesday to work through, and catch up, on some of my writing.

This week i have been focusing on the more intense chapters of Mysery. I have also placed the book on Goodreads for all to see, at present it is just the tittle and an estimated release date of early next year but it's a step forward.

I also have a front cover update for Mysery. Please tell me what you think of it.

Old Cover:

New Cover:

There are only small changes:

• Blue background - added grey to make London scene look more polluted
• London Eye - Slightest change in colour, slight hint darker
• Mysery text - Different font, larger, different blend
• Name text - Different blend, darker.
• Size difference
• added birds

Not only have I been writing more of Mysery and editing the front cover to suit the book,, I have also been editing a new short film called The Duckling. It's only a small piece I made when my sister came round a few weeks ago and I've been meaning to piece it together.

This piece is mainly focusing on Cinematography and Location. It is about a girl who is trying to escape from her daily life in a park and she tries to find comfort in her surroundings. I will place in the link for you to check it out. 

What's more, on my Monday and Tuesday, instead of writing a blog, I've been working on a brand new idea for a book. This has some very magical essences to it and is inspired by such books as The Hunger Games, Suzanne Collins, 2008.

The title of the series is Tournaments and lately I have been working on the ideas for the first book, Ernest Island. I will place more information about this book in a later Writing Wednesday post.

So now you know. Instead of writing a Talk Tuesday blog I decided to spend two whole days to my writing and Photoshop editing. I have had so much fun writing all this new stuff also as most of it is the scenes I have been dying to write for quite some time.

If you have Goodreads and want to add Mysery to your 'To-Read' list, here is the link:

http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/15835115-mysery

If you would like to check out my new short film The Duckling, he is the link:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XXFNy4ZhP24&feature=youtu.be

Please let me know your views on my new cover in the comments below.

If you have any handy writing tips, then leave a comment below and let me know

Stay safe,

Matt

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Movies for Monday: A bit of Rock & Roll

Hey Guys,

This is the part of the week where I will be looking into films and reviewing certain aspects or even a whole film. I will be viewing my opinions whilst also asking what you feel about it.

The films I look into may be new releases, or films that I have just watched on DVD.

I thought I would focus mainly on music and how it affects people. What better way to focus on music than a film about rock stars, right?

This week’s film is Almost Famous (2000) Directed by Cameron Crowe.

Based in America in 1973, this film is about a high-school boy who is excelling in life. His mother is an over-protective teacher who has lied to her son and made him skip grades. His sister walks out and rebels against the mother because she felt that music was ‘speaking to her’.

The story follows the boy, William, and his story. He gets a chance to write an article for The Rolling Stone Magazine about an ‘up-and-coming’ rock band, Stillwater. William accompanies them on their concert tour, confronts life and befriends ‘the enemy’.

This was a rather funny, feel good movie about a band, their fans and how they connect. It is also about the tensions between the band members, as they reach their big moment of fame.

This film focuses on the raw talent and characteristics of a band, looking into the way they tour and focusing on how ‘The man’ (record companies, etc.) is trying to change rock and roll and make things much more mainstream.

William’s adventure goes further than he first expect, with him travelling the full tour and seeing things nobody else would ever see. Listening to the same music that was inspiring this band to tour and perform.

The long list of songs used as both diegetic and non-diegetic is endless. I was originally going to place the full soundtrack on here, but that would have made the blog go on for quite some time. I mean it is a film about a rock band. What do expect?

There is mention of some great names such as Iggy Pop, David Bowie, Black Sabbath (who Stillwater are touring alongside.), Neil Young, Lou Reed and many more (check out the amazing soundtrack at the bottom).

So this story, based on true events is one of charm and classic rock music, but what makes it so intriguing? Why do we watch these films telling us about how a certain band or person became famous?

Take Walk The Line (2005) directed by James Mangold and staring Joaquin Phoenix, for example, the story of Jonny Cash and June Carter; about the darker side of fame and of love.

We want to watch these films because they are real life stories. Stories where people have a raw talent, whether it be singing like Cash or Stillwater, or it be Journalism, they have a talent and they want the world to see this talent, they find difficulty in their journey and also might find love but eventually the bright lights of fame get too much for them and they stumble.

So do we watch these films for the stumble and the good music? Not at all, we watch them because it gives us courage to get out there and show our talents and skills, because no matter how bad they stumble, Cash ending up in Prison and Stillwater almost breaking up, they always seem to pull through and it’s their dedication.

This is why the music in films that are based on real stories are so important, because each band, each singer, has a story to tell. They will all inspire somebody in a different way, so overall it’s more than just the music. It is about inspiration.

Almost Famous (2000) Soundtrack: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0181875/soundtrack

If you have any films or film topics you would like me to look into the comment below. If you have any views on what has been discussed this week, also let me know.

Stay safe,

Matt

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Tips for Tuesday: Five Top Tips

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.

This week I'm going to tell you my five top tips that help me on a daily basis, they are loosely linked with work and writing, but they help in all aspects.

Now I'm not saying I follow my own rules, and I'm not trying to be hypocritical or condisending in any sort but I know when i follow these tips it does help.

So here's my tips, some of them may contridict themselves, but lets see what happens:

Tip One:

The way I work the best is to have a set deadline. 

Even if it's not as important as, let's say a university essay deadline, or a work deadline. It is still important to think in the back of your mind: 'I should have finished this much work by this time'

Not only will you get more work done than normal but you will have more time to do other tasks and finish the tasks quicker than normally.


Tip Two:

Enjoy what your doing.

If your not enjoying it? why not, think it over, make it more fun. 

Now for me I like to listen to music whilst working, and also in life, I try and have fun, keep young and not get too involved in situations unless I really have to.

Tip Three:

Base your work on things you know or have seen.

It's going to come to you easier.

Of course you still may stumble on some of the finer details, but there's a difference between writing a story about a character who feels lost when you have, at one stage, felt the same; than writing about a character who is lost and you don't know how it feels properly.

Tip Four:

Don't try and rush into anything, 

don't rush your work, or your life. 

It does not help, if anything standards start to drop and things get a little bit out of shape.

And Finally

Tip Five:

Live for the moment. 

I know how cheesy that is, but you should understand what I mean. 

There is no point in sitting around, compalaining that nothing happens and you don't do anything and it upsets you. 

If your bored, go out, find new friends or join a club. 

If you want to go somewhere or do something, just go and do it. 

I'm not saying drop everything and put other people out by doing these things.

So, as I said, I'm not saying these are the hints and tips for a perfect life, not even saying it may help and I'm guessing you already knew all these hint, but isn't it obvious? 

It's what we already know but we forget them all the time, I know I do, so not only am I trying to remind and help you, I'm also trying to remind myself and keep myself inspired.

If there is any tips you would like to share, or any advice you would like for next week, let me know.

Stay safe,

Matt

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Film Thursday: Mysery - Short Film (2010)

Hey Guys,

This week for Film Thursday I have posted a short film.

This short film was created for my A level, Film Studies, piece. It is one of my first ideas for the Character Mysery. In this film she is a young girl who is upset about where her life is and wants to escape. She manages to finds happiness in her dreams, but knows that dreams can't last forever.

Song: Antony and the Johnsons - Another World (2008)
Mysery: Rebecca Hughes: https://www.facebook.com/Huuughes

MattThomFilm:
Blog: http://mattthomfilm.blogspot.co.uk/
Page: https://www.facebook.com/MattThomFilm
Twitter: @no1mattthom

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

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

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