Hi, this is my first blog post and I just thought I'd write this to give a small introduction of myself.
I studied and graduated from a TV and Film Production course which I joined because I noticed that one of the modules was scriptwriting, something I had been trying to learn more about and get into.
During the course I had a lot of fun learning many skills that would come in useful in many areas of my life, one of which being how to properly use a camera, compose and light shots and then edit the collected footage. With that I began creating music videos for my band, aswell as making small short films either for fun or to enter into competitions.
The course was very practical, we did have a good amount of theory, but were graded higher for projects involving making things and evaluating them, than we were for any essays. Alot of the time we would sit down and evaluate a scene, talk about how it was filmed, cut, lit and listening to the sound design to work out what it is that gives you a certain feeling. After our discussion we'd be broken up into small groups and sent to get equipment and shoot the scene. It was cool because each group would usually come back with very different films, which would usually give us a lot to talk about and learn from.
Quick film tasks like that were great for a few reasons, one of which being able to think while moving and work under time constraints. But, another skill I took from it which I started using alot in my own projects outside of collage was guerrilla filmmaking. Which is essentially working with little to no budget or crew and filming in locations without permission.
After graduating, everything was going good, in two aspects. The music videos I had been making for my band had started getting us noticed more, leading to bigger and better gigs and using those videos I was able to approach and show other bands what I could do which built up a client base. From 2018-2019 I had started working with a bunch of new bands which gave me more work to show people. Aswell as writing scripts for short films to make.
My band played our first gig outside of Ireland in october 2019, we headed to London to play in The Underworld in Camden for a benefit gig. Then the next month we played two more big gigs supporting Electric Six in Belfast and then the next night in Dublin, which was brilliant, couldn't of gone better and is the largest crowd we've played to.
Then 3 months later Ireland went into lockdown and the support gig in Dublin was the last time we played together, we couldn't even jam because we had a noise complaint around the time of our last gig, so there we were no gigs and no practice, so we all kind of came to the agreement that we'll just leave it and call the band off, happy about the last gig we played being such a good one. The music videos had stopped completely at this point too, so the only creative thing I had that I could do was write.
I started working on a sci-fi noval during the lockdown which I finished, but after I completed it I couldn't stop thinking about the world I'd created and thought where the story starts isn't the start, if anything it was the second book in a series so I started writing another one, now from the true begining, which I'm currently working on. Aswell as that I had written many short film scripts, some better than others. But, then I wanted to test myself and write a feature film. Which I did and really enjoyed, I passed it around to a few friends one of which being the drummer from my band, who along with his girlfriend, acted out the whole script in their house while they were stuck inside, each of them took 6 or 7 characters and said they had a lot of fun during it. I was happy to hear it gave them some entertainment value.
Everything got a bit brighter as the restrictions lifted I started work as an extra for the show Vikings: Valhalla... suppose it was a good thing all the barbers were closed down. Also I got a call and shot my first music video in nearly two years, for a new client, which I think turned out really good.
While doing the extra work I got talking to some people who wanted to make a short film, we put our heads together came up with an idea and I wrote a script. With the actors cast I got in touch with some friends from collage who got involved and helped make it, it's shaping up to be a really good short action/ comedy short film.
On an even brighter note, my band got contacted about playing a really small gig in our hometown as a mini wrap party, which even though we hadn't practiced in two years we decided to do it and just wing it. We could only remember 9 songs and surprisingly we were able to play them all with little to no mistakes.
This got a bit too long I think so I doubt anyone will have made it this far, but I actually had fun writing this so I don't mind. If you did and if you like it follow me and I'll try write another one that focuses on less of a broad subject range. Cheers.