Spiderstu's World

Moving Day

2007-12-19T23:46:00.000Z

Spiderstu's world has moved, it is now called Stuart and the Blog. Read all about it here. And update your bookmarks while you're at it.

goodbye blogger.

Simpsonized!

2007-07-31T22:57:00.001+01:00

How I would look as Simpson character. Try it yourself at simpsonize me

Know when to hold em and Know when to Fold em

2007-07-30T15:25:00.000+01:00

So on Friday I went up to the casino at Star City to play poker. I've played quite a few times before online but mainly just round other peoples houses. So for me this was my first time playing in a tournament or casino for that matter.

I wouldn't say I was nervous about it just a little apprehensive because I haven't played properly for a while so I felt a bit out of practice and didn't want to end up looking like an inexperienced fool. That alas was not to be.

There was about 170 odd people playing in the tournament which meant there was about 15 tables that would eventually be rounded down to one table of ten . To get a taste of the prize fund you had to get onto that table, and the top prize was at 1500 quid for a ten pound buy in. We started playing for the first hour and a half where you can still buy in as many times as you want at the cost of ten pounds. After that stage though you can't buy in anymore. I'll tell you now that I made it through that round with no buy ins. Yeah!

So, we're in the aforementioned first round and i'm holding my own, i've won a few good hands and my chip stack is above average for the table. I get dealt my hand and it's Jack ten on suit. you better believe i'm playing that shit! By the time we've gotten to the river card i've got king, queen , ace on the table. Thats one sweet straight right? there's gotta be no fucking way I could really fuck this up, right? Wrong!

Somehow...I found a way.

I don't know if it was because I had such a good hand my head went somewhere else or if I was just to eager to show my hand. When the dealer (who lets say was not the best and it seemed the general consensus at the table that she was new.) looks at me and and says something that I don't hear I must have subconsciously read her aiming her hand at my cards and turning said hand over as turn your cards over.

So I turn over my cards to a bunch of groans around the table who couldn't really believe that I had just folded that hand . And, to be honest, neither could I! A simple case of miscommunication guess, but I really did feel like a tit.

Although if i hadn't been struck with such disbelief and embarrassment I might have said a fsomething to the dealer. When I first turned over my cards I said " I thought you said turn over your cards." more as a slight on my own hearing than anything else. But the Dealer quickly responded in quite a defensive tone "I didn't say nothing!" First of all that statement is a double negative, so if I had been on the ball I could have confused her this fact and insinuated something along the lines of " Ah so you admit that you did in fact request that I turn over my cards because if you didn't say Nothing that implys that you did in actual fact say something, and in light of the situation that we find ourselves in it would be very likely that the very thing that you did say was to ask me to turn over my cards." But I wanted to retain whatever respect/humility I could so I didn't say that. Also it was an after thought.

As for the rest of the evening as I said I made it past the first round despite my error in judgment and I lasted about an hour into the second round mainly because I bet on too many 50/50's that could have paid off on any other day . As my colleagues managed to last longer than I, I decided to walk around the casino drinking, losing more money on roulette and slot machines while taking full advantage of the free cheese and ham toasties.

The Bird

2007-06-03T15:29:00.001+01:00

So I went round to my buddy Roy's the other night celebrate his return after an absence. We watched the painfully average performance from England, but hey at least we didn't lose.

After some drinks I ended up sleeping on the sofa. Then in the morning I could feel something crawling up me. My first reaction was a spider and I was just about fling off the covers and dance around the room while screaming like a girl, when I decided to look before I leapt. Luckily for Roy's Budgie Petey I did.

There he was just cocking his head back and forth and clicking away. Kind of brings a whole new meaning to waking up next to a strange bird!

New Look

2007-05-31T18:01:00.000+01:00

So I thought that as i've decided to start blogging again and take it a bit more seriously, the blog could do with a new look. As always the template is in no way designed by me, I found it from a quick Google search. Although I was looking for something quite specific this time round. I found a nice template that has tabs at the top because i'm in the process of opening a few other blogs for various projects that i'm working on, and I want to be able to link to them but have it look more like a website rather than a blog. One will be for the final film I made at Kidderminster North and South. In hindsight I felt that it would work better as individual episodes, so i'm planning on splitting that up and making some more of them eventually. I mean they're pretty easy to make. It's basically me and Liam, improvising about a random subject. Not much to think about from a camera point of view either, really it's just one angle, which works well because it affords us the ability to just go with it until it loses steam. Although I may play about with more angles in the future. It's always gotten a good response for it's content, but I think that because theres no change of location and camera work is very minimal it's a bit much for people to sit through for half an hour. So this is probably the right call. Also for people who have seen North and South there were a few conversations that didn't make it into the final cut mainly because of time, so they'll be available in the new format.

Also stay tunned because i'll be posting a new film on here very soon.

Who Will Watch The Watchmen

2007-05-22T23:05:00.000+01:00

The Watchmen, possibly one of the greatest graphic novels of all time. Written by Alan Moore who in my opinion is a genius in this field. If your a fan of comics and you haven't already you really should read it... fuck it if you're a fan of good things read it, i don't think you'll be let down.

Well you may have heard that there is a film being made of said comic, Which i'm all for. Zack Snyder of300 fame is at the helm to direct.

Now that this baby is just starting to take it's first steps, we finally get some news on casting. AICN reports that three parts have been offered to actors.

So far it breaks down as Patrick Willson as Night Owl, Jude Law as Ozymandias and (sigh) Keanu Reeves as Dr Manhattan.

I mean come on Keanu (Whoah) Reeves. Don't get me wrong I don't think he's as bad as a lot of people make out, in fact I think he's a very commendable actor and I have enjoyed some of his performances, but come on the guy is just wrong for Dr Manhattan. If you're unfamiliar with the watchmen Dr Manhattan is the big blue guy on the picture, if you are familiar come on you've got to agree with me, say no to Keanu.

Besides if Keanu is in the Watchmen, doesn't that put him out of Point Break 2? Swayze and Reeves back in the saddle, now that is something I would pay to see Mr Reeves in...

...Well that and The Lake House 2...

...what?!?!

Coincidentally Numb

2007-05-22T16:08:00.001+01:00

Would you flinging flanging believe it, a new blog entry. It's been just over a year since I last wrote anything for this blog. I'm not entirely sure what happened I just seemed to lose my blogging mojo. Anyway i thought rather than doing a boring post bringing you up to speed on my life i'd talk about something else.

I brought the first series of Life On Mars the other day, which is very good, if you haven't watched it, you really should. It's a very well made program and it puts a nice spin on what might seem to be a cliche. Anyhoo, every now and again throughout the show the main character, Sam Tyler, played by John Sim has a bit of a freaky dream concerning this:

So the other night while watching I thought to myself something along the lines of "hmmm i wonder what the girl looks like now." I continue to watch Life on Mars and the sleep for then night.

The next morning when I arose I eventually clambered downstairs and switched on the T.V. After I had flicked through enough channels to ascertain that there wasn't really anything on, I ended up at Sky News. Where to my slack jawed surprise I find a story about the original girl from the test card!

Maybe you'll know what I mean when I say that this sort of thing can happen quite regularly. Obvious example, you think of a song and then it comes on the radio. Or sometimes you find out about something you didn't know about before and suddenly you see it everywhere. I have to admit that this test card one is quite a random occurrence, what are the chances of it?

Well I just thought I'd kick off a new season of blogging by informing you of that coincidental if not slightly odd happening.

More blogs to follow. I promise!

2006-05-04T18:21:00.000+01:00

ok quick update post. At present i'm working on my final film that I will do as part of the course in Kidderminster. The script is the longest i've written so far at 30 pages so if the one page of script equates to one minute of screen time rule holds true (which it almost never does) it should be about half an hour long. The story centres around two main characters one of which (vincent) is a very repelent charcater and is intent on alienating everyone in his social circle as part of a pathetic little game he is playing. The other character (kenny) is the final conquest in vincents game, but has figured out the what he's trying to do and has decided to play him at his own game.

The style of the film is quite experimental and i'm not sure if the audience will accept it but i'm going to try none the less. basically the film plays through from one characters point of view then we see the same story again but from the others persepective. I think it's success will lie in the editing part.

I'm filming on the week comencing the 8th may through until the 15th may, so right now i'm going through the script coming up with a shot list and rough story board ect.

I will get my other films online but not until the summer i'm going to re edit them in final cut pro, so you can look forward to that. Also if anyone is interested I might be offering certain films on dvd for a very small and reasonable price, i'd expect something like that in the next year. Mainly because my good freind Gareth Holton has agreed to work on scoring them which frees up any leagal issues involving music and sales. Also that means I can enter my films into festivals too and get my work out there a bit more.

I'll do my best to keep you posted on the progress of this latest film.

Word

Stu

BTW sorry about any spelling mistakes NOrmally i would check it but time is a luxury i'm not going to have for the next three weeks, I knew yo'd understand.

21 Grams

2006-03-27T21:59:00.000+01:00

I said in my last post that I was working on a scene from 21 Grams and I finished it today. I used this as an experiment to try a few things so i'm not sure if they all actually worked, but overall i'm happy with it.

I played about with grading for the first time to try and correct a few issues with the light. The only source of light was from an ordinary light bulb and it made the walls look pink. So I put a slight blue/green tint on it which made the walls look white again. it also gives it a more grainy feel to which works well because its supposed to be a prison cell.

Anyway have a watch and let me know your thoughts good, bad or otherwise.

As Promised...

2006-02-05T15:14:00.000Z

... Heres my documentary.

It's called Catching Up, kind of a lame title but I was very tierd when I came to that part. It's about a few of my old friends from when I did the drama course at Sutton College and how the dreams and expectations we had when we started the course have changed. It's also touches on how despite being so close we've all driffted appart in the last four years. I'm not sure how the text will transfer over to the smaller web version, so if you can't read i'm sorry.

I'm editing a scene from 21 Grams at the momement. I should have that finished and up on the site by the end of the week. It's the bit where the Reverend goes to visit Benicio in prision. I filmed it in our basement (which looks scarily like a prision cell) with Liam and Dan. Liam was well into playing the part of Benico, a little too much if you ask me!

I'll try and get my other films up soon, I got rid of the project file ages ago because I needed the space, so i'll probably have to re-edit them which may take a while. But that ok because it gives me more time on final cut pro.

Well hello there, it's been a while.

2006-02-01T18:26:00.000Z

I realise that this has probably been my longest hiatus, but it has probably been the busiest i've been for a very long time. I've just been so swamped with work for the last 4 months that everytime i've thought about sitting down and writing a new blog entry it's just seemed like more work. But all my work is more or less out of the way for a little while now so it's finally time to sit down and write about my life.

So first thing I should probably tell you is, i'm an uncle! Yep my sister gave birth to a little girl named Lilly Grace on the 21st of November. Here's a pic of her

Isn't she adorable. She's just getting to that stage now where she's laughing which is cool because now when I make stupid noises she reacts instead of just looking at me like i'm and idiot. to be fair she's probably got a point.

I'm getting my ucas form all filled in again so that I can go to Canterbury next year, assuming I get accepted that is. Although I asked a magic 8 ball and it said the outlook looks good, so nothing to worry about there then! Seriously though I can't wait to go there now. I feel like Kidderminster is eating a little bit of my soul each day. So... there's that.

What was the other thing? Damn it I know there's something else. It's on the tip of my tounge if only i could remember. Oh yeah thats it, this

It's great though, i've got a copy of final cut pro 5 so now i've started steps towards becoming Apple certified. I was thinking about my options for when I finish uni and although I love writing, directing and acting i've got to be realistic. The chances of getting a break in one of those fields is slim, so I figure editing is a good way to get my foot in the door. Although I hear you don't see the light of day too much i've been told it's fairly easy to get your foot in the door presuming you know your stuff and the pays not too bad either.

So with my new Ibook i'm going to re-edit amost of my films and make them available online. I've finsihed my documentary too, i'm fairly happy with it. It's about a few of my old friends from sutton college and how our dreams and expectaions have changed since we first started all those years ago. It also deals with how nobody really speaks to each other anymore. I should be able to get that online fairly soon.

There's probably other stuff i'm leaving out but i'll get to that in anoher post when I remember. Keep checking back, even though updates have been few and far between lately.

Heres a link to a film made by a mate of mine on the course. He's actually the first one us to get off thier arse and put something online, so I may as well pimp him for it.

Fear Not...

2005-12-31T23:46:00.000Z

... There's an update a coming!

The Lack Of Production Is That Guys Fault

2005-09-23T17:15:00.000+01:00

So at the moment I'm preparing to go back to uni and get back to it all. I had planned to make a few films over the summer, but there was a ban placed on booking out any equipment which has only just recently been lifted. The ban was put in place because a guy on the course called Dave (not my Housemate) took an xm2 (1500 quids worth of camera!) to a house party that quite a few chavs had decided to invade. Well long story short Dave didn't leave with the camera. The ban pissed me off because the way I looked at it I was being punished for someone else's stupidity.

Anyway all that aside, the ban turned what should have been a summer of film making joy and happiness, into the summer that time forgot. But now that the ban has been lifted I'm going to jump straight back on the film making horse.

Firstly I'm going to spend the next few months making a film called Ezekiel and Me. This is basically a remake/follow up to the film I ended up making for my ten minute film. Technically I wasn't happy with the film and story wise I felt there was more to explore. This was mainly down to it being rushed, but I'm not going to get into that again, you can read the original post about that here.

So now I've started work on a revamp, or as my housemate Dan put it "Your Evil Dead 2 version." I've decided to take a different approach to writing the script, purely as an experiment. I'm going to write out the whole thing as a short story and then adapt it into a screenplay. I'm not sure if this will work, however I've already noticed that it's given me a lot of insight into all the character's mindset that I might not of discovered in the first place.

Anyway here's the first part of that short story that will ultimately become a screenplay. Think of it as the first chapter.

Overhaul

2005-09-22T21:02:00.000+01:00

So you may have noticed that the look has changed somewhat. Yeah well I just thought it was about time I decorated. I'd love to say that the reason I haven't posted in ages is because I've been working on the new look, but alas I cannot tell a lie. In reality it took me all of an hour to revamp the look. I shamelessly found a free blogger template I liked, added a few necessities like links and whatnot, changed a few settings on blogger, heat for 40 minutes and tada a brand new look.

But With the new look comes a slight content change also. Going back to what I said before aboot* the lack of posting I have been somewhat lacking in the inspirational department of late. I just don't think my personal life is interesting enough to write about at the moment.

So what can you expect from me now?
Well I've decided the content will now mainly revolve around projects I'm working on be they University related or to do with Well Dirty Films and Mookrog Productions. I'm planning to post exerts from scripts I'm writing, Video diaries charting the progress of particular projects, general updates and anything film related I think may interest the general public. Also you can expect to be able to download web versions of completed films (eventually!)

What Do I expect from you?
Well nothing really, except to bear with me this time and keep reading. However if you want to comment on anything project related please do, Although please keep it constructive. I don't mind if you thought something was shit, just tell me why. One thing I feel I don't get of enough of is brutal honesty when I show a script or film to someone. I'm always looking for people's honest opinions about my work, because they really do help a lot.

So is spiderstu's world is just about your films now?
No I'm still going to post about my life if I feel something worth writing about arises. Unless something inparticular happens posts about my personal life will more than likely be in the form of an overall commentary.

I also realised that I've been blogging for just over three years now. In that time Spiderstu's World has had six different looks, can you believe it! I'll do a post soon looking back over all six eras of Spiderstu's World, I just have to locate them all first.

* This was actually a typo but then it reminded me of South Park the movie so I kept it in based purely on that fact!

More London Bombings

2005-07-21T16:25:00.000+01:00

London's been hit again, thankfully it's no where near the scale of the attack's two weeks ago.

The Tube has been plunged into chaos and several stations evacuated after minor blasts on three trains and a bus.

Met Police chief Sir Ian Blair said three Tube lines were suspended but it was time London returned to normal.

The minor explosions - just two weeks after blasts killed 56 - involved detonators only, a BBC reporter said. There was only one injury.

Police sources say there have been two arrests after the incidents and a number of fugitives are being sought.

Birmingham Metroblogging

2005-07-21T16:16:00.000+01:00

Birmigham Metroblogging has been launched today and I have the great honour of writing for them. So you can now read more from me and many other great bloggers over there.

Presidential Reflection

2005-07-13T19:53:00.000+01:00

I'm a big conspiracy theory fan, I don't know what this is covering up but it makes for very interesting reading

Have a history teacher explain this if they can!!

Abraham Lincoln was elected to Congress in 1846.
John F. Kennedy was elected to Congress in 1946.

Abraham Lincoln was elected President in 1860.
John F. Kennedy was elected President in 1960.

Both were particularly concerned with civil rights.
Both wives lost a child while living in the White House.

Both Presidents were shot on a Friday.
Both Presidents were shot in the head.

Now it gets really weird.

Lincoln's secretary was named Kennedy.
Kennedy's Secretary was named Lincoln.

Both were assassinated by Southerners.
Both were succeeded by Southerners named Johnson.

Andrew Johnson, who succeeded Lincoln, was born in 1808.
Lyndon Johnson, who succeeded Kennedy, was born in 1908.

John Wilkes Booth, who assassinated Lincoln, was born in 1839.
Lee Harvey Oswald, who assassinated Kennedy, was born in 1939.

Both assassins were known by their three names.
Both names are composed of fifteen letters.

Now hang on to your seat !

Lincoln was shot at the theatre named "Ford."
Kennedy was shot in a car called "Lincoln" made by "Ford."

Booth and Oswald were assassinated before their trials.

And here's the "kicker":

A week before Lincoln was shot, he was in Monroe,Maryland.
A week before Kennedy was shot, he was with Marilyn Monroe.

Lincoln was shot in a theatre and the assassin ran to a warehouse.
Kennedy was shot from a warehouse and the assassin ran to a theatre.

Weird Huh?!

Another Hard Day On The Planet

2005-07-07T16:34:00.000+01:00

What can you say when something like happens? It's senseless, it's pointless and it's down right evil. Innoccent people are dead, many more injured and everyone is scared. I know you have to stand up and say "I'm not going to let these bastards stop me living my life." But it's not that easy. I was planning on moving down to London after I finished university because, well thats where the work is. But now I really don't know if I want to.

I really can't think of much else to write about this now so i'll just leave with the words of Wainwright Loudon:

The dollar went down and the President said
“Who’s in charge, now?” I don’t know, take your pick.
A new disease every day and the old ones are coming back
Things are looking kind of gray, like they’re going to black

Don’t turn on the TV, don’t show me the paper
(I) don’t want to know he got kidnapped or why they all raped her
I want to go on vacation ‘till the pressure lets up
But they keep hijacking airplanes and blowing them up

(Refrain)
It’s been a hard day on the planet
How much is it all worth?
It’s getting harder to understand it
Things are tough all over on earth.

It’s hot in December and cold in July
When it rains it pours out of a poisonous sky
In California the body counts keep getting higher
It’s evil out there, man that state is always on fire.

Everyone has a system, but they can’t seem to win
Even Bob Geldorf looks alarmingly thin
I got to get on that shuttle get me out of this place
But there’s gonna be warfare up there in outer space
(Refrain)
I’ve got clothes on my back and shoes on my feet
A roof over my head and something to eat
My kids are all healthy and my folks are alive
You know, it’s amazing but sometimes I think I’ll survive

I’ve got all of my fingers and all of my toes
I’m pretty well off I guess, I suppose
So how come I feel bad so much of the time?
A man ain’t an island—John Dunn wasn’t lying
(Refrain)
It’s business as usual; some things never change
It’s unfair, it’s tough, unkind and it’s strange
We don’t seem to learn; we can’t seem to stop
Maybe some explosions would close up the shop

You know, maybe that would be fine: we would be off the hook
We resolved all our problems, never mind what it took
And it all would be over, finito, the end
Until the survivers started up all over again
(Refrain)

Life Lesson No: 4278

2005-06-13T00:41:00.000+01:00

If your gonna have a wee with no hands, do not under any circumstances sneeze while doing so!

In The Pipeline

2005-06-08T18:08:00.000+01:00

So my ten minute film is done. Unfortunately it's not he one I wanted to make, I couldn't get the location that I wanted and the actors I wanted weren’t as free as I had hoped. Sure I could have recast and probably found a new location. But the problem was that the film is very dialogue heavy and I don't honestly think that the lines could have been learnt well enough in a short space of time to give a solid performance. I just feel unless your 100% off script you can't give a believable performance because your more worried about getting the lines right than performing them. Then when your on set half the battle is getting a take where nobody stuffs up their lines and you end up settling for something which is less than what you wanted.

That spelt out the whole thing for me. If changed locations actors just so I could get this film made, I would be settling. I wasn't prepared to do that for this film. I'd spent too much time on the script, storyboarding and planning out technicalities of the film to do that. This was the first thing that I’d felt passionate about and also transmitted part of my own beliefs onto the screen.

So I decided, fuck it! I'll wait until I can make it the way I want to make it. So now I had a new problem I needed a film. I came up with an idea in a day, filmed it in two and edited it in two. The film was called Ezekiel's Window. It's basically about a four guys who live together, one of them has gone mentally ill and keeps doing fucked up things around the house. It uses flashbacks as the guys are sitting around talking about all the things he's done to them recently.

I'm not really that pleased with it. It was rushed and it defiantly shows when you watch it. There are some cuts and certain shots that really embarrass me. I've still got a bit of work to on it; I've only edited the uni cut so far. I want to add some music and reshoot certain bits of it. I had to use my own camera to film a few pick-ups. The problem with that is the microphone is so close to the tape you get a horrible constant whir on the audio.

Although, for something that was made in pretty much five days from start to finish, it's not all that bad. I just know I can do so much better. Which is why I've decided to try and make four films over the summer. This way I can make them just as I like them with no restrictions the assignment briefs usually come with. Here's what they are:

Woken - This is a to be a 10 minute short about a guy who keeps waking up at the same time every night. He can't for the life of him figure out why. It goes on for a while with various ways of him trying to break this cycle, his friends think he's mad and he starts getting a little obsessive about it. Until one night when he decides not to go to sleep and he find out the reason for his regimented wake up.

After - This is the film, I should have made for my 10 minute film assignment, It's a good thing really because I wanted it to be about half an hour in length. Jack is an average guy with a fairly average Joe life, until something very inconvenient happens... He dies. Jack finds him self in a sort of limbo/purgatory place. He finds out that most of the morals and designs we lead our lives by are all bullshit. He gets a little more pissed off when he finds that despite leading what he would define as a good wholesome life, he might actually be screwed.

As yet untitled project #1 - This mostly based around my own experiences with a relationship I had not too long ago. I haven't really worked out a structure yet, but it shouldn't be too hard because I lived it! Although I’ll need to add in a few things to spice up the story and give it a bit of an edge so it doesn't turn into another run of the mill chick flick!

As yet untitled project#2 - When I was deprived of sleep for the most part of the other week, I was in one of those surreal states you often get into when you've gone without rest for a long period of time. You know the type of thing, you feel like you’re in a David Lynch film. Well in the short space of time I spent feeling like a character in Eraserhead I thought I might try and make something that was quite Lynchian. Again I haven't really worked out the specifics, I've just got a rough idea of story and mainly a lots of avant-garde editing and camera styles.

Hopefully I’ll be able to make all four but I’m not holding my breath, I'll get them all made at some point though.

Four

2005-05-31T21:51:00.000+01:00

That's the amount of nights in the past week i've gone without sleep. I'd love to say all of them were for work, but it just ain't the truth. Two were for work the other two were for plesure. First off there was Wednesday, that was work. It was spent getting on top of all the paperwork I had to do for my film, that wasn't easy keeping my head from bobbing up and down but somehow I made it with out any caffine related drinks either.

As Friday was the hand in date for everything Thursday was spent Editing both mine and Liam's films on my PC, which to be honest isn't really fast enough for editing but neither of us trust the PC's at uni, so we soldiered on. That night was aided by many caffine related products, namely two bottles of Sainsbury's own version of red bull... B L U E B O L T ! ! !

Friday was technically the day we broke up, so Saturday was the day of a break up party mainly to say goodbye to all the second years, who now get to leave Kidderminster (Luky bastards!) and do thier third year somewhere that's actually worthy of the title of University. Barbeques and beer were what kept me going through that night. Although I hadn't intended staying up all night, it was just one of those nights where it was always gonna happen.

Which brings me nicely on to Monday. Now me and my mate John have spoke about doing something for many years. Something that we only had one chance to do in the way we wanted. Something that when it came around seemed dammed never to happen due to neither of us being able to fit it in. Our origional plan for Monday was supposed to go as follows:

Go for a simple starbucks.
Have a catch up chat as we haven't really spoke for a while.
John Would then take me back to Kidderminster.

But just before we were due to leave for Starbucks, We suddenly saw something on the television that reminded us of our fantastical plan. That was it now we had to do it, there no choice we couldn't wait any longer. And so it was set we would start at 2 pm and end around 5 am.

Not 1, not 2, not 3, not 4, not 5 but all six count em six Star Wars film in one day. Oh yes my friends I have been to the promised land and it looks damn fine. What an experience though, I always dreamt of doing it this way when the final chapter finally came out. For the longest time I didn't think it would happen, but I guess some things are just written in the stars! This time it was Tessco's own version of red bull... K I C K ! ! that got me through the night.

So four days, one week, no sleep. It's been a bitch, but it's the type of bitch you just can't stay mad at no matter what!

Production update

2005-05-04T21:35:00.000+01:00

Thats me at the moment. My brain feels abosotively frazzled. I've got the script finished, storyboards and and the shot breakdown are mostly finished, i'm getting my shooting schedule together which isn't easy. Trying to find the right balance for everyone involved has been a right pain in the arse. The guy playing my main character can't do it because of time constraints, which means i've had to juggle about a few people and now i'm acting in it as well as directing and pretty much producing, so now i'm learning lines as well as everything else. Not to mention trying to do my camera and lighting assignment, production resources pack, post production assignment, 1000 word evaluations for all of the above, trying to edit a weekly video diary on the progress of my film and working on the tittle sequences for the film.

So yeah i've been a little busy lately, but then again then i'm not one to moan about it!

Here's a little test shot I did for my film the other day

Clark Kent

2005-04-16T17:45:00.000+01:00

Just found the first pictures of Brandon Routh as Clark kent in the new Superman Returns film, check em out here

My opinion, I don't think he looks too bad as Clark, in some shots he quite resembles Christopher Reeve as Clark. And lets face it Christopher Reeve is pretty much the benchmark to reach. But there's still a lot more to come before we can tell if Brandon routh is brilliant casting or just a poster boy.

I'm Really, Really, Really, Really...

2005-04-16T16:14:00.000+01:00

...Sorry everyone,

Once again I seem to be starting a post with an apology for not posting for a few months. In light of this let me now say this: There will no longer be anymore apologetic openings to blog entries on this site. From this point onward you may take it as rent that I am sorry for any blogging hiatus that I have taken, whatever the reason may be. Or you could just accept that my blogging pattern seems to go in cycles of posting periods and non posting periods. However Spiderstu's World would now like to take the opportunity to promise (as we have on many occasions) that we will now be making more effort to post on a regular basis. It should also be noted that this apologetic disclaimer type thingy is about 90% in jest and shouldn't really be taken too seriously. It was only really meant as a short funny opener to a blog entry that got really out of control because the writer has had too many caffeine based beverages today.

Yeah anyway, I've actually been fairly busy of late. Firstly my film I was working on "A Superheroes Day Off," Is completely finished and marked. I got a merit for it I must admit I am a little disappointed not to get a distinction, but the reasons for the merit were fairly justified. I'm confident that my next film will be a hell of a lot better in all areas.

Which brings me onto my next film quite nicely. It has to be 10 minutes exactly to the frame, it can have no music and show no violence. I've decided to expand on an idea I've had for a while about a fairly average Joe type guy who dies and ends up in puratory, but he finds out that the afterlife isn't really what society has led him to believe it is.

I've got my actors sorted, my locations and my crew. I've got about half of it scripted too, it's the second half that's giving me one or two problems though. I just seem to hit a complete wall and it's put me back about a week now. By this stage I was really hoping to be storyboarding and doing a few location and camera rehearsals. But without a finished script that's not really possible.

It's typical too, whenever you want to use something that you haven't used in ages there's always a problem. I've already got a production company that all my uni work goes under "Mook Rog Productions," formed by myself and Roy. But Me, Dan and Liam from Uni have decided to form our own production company "Well Dirrty films." which gave me a spark to create a website for each to showcase the work of both companies. But as luck would have it the weekend I decide to this my dad tells me he's canceling the broadband with Telewest, which means the free web space goes too. So time to start looking for some new web space I guess, but watch this space for Well dirrty and Mook Rog web sites.

Annoyance on a stick!

2005-02-15T22:32:00.000Z

Ever have one of those days you wish you could just erase? Well I certainly did last Saturday. So we have a party at our house, nothing big just a few people from uni and a few of our friends. Now I don't know about you guys but when you have different sets of friends and you decide to mingle them, one of your worst nightmares is that they don't get on, or worse...They fight!

Now the catalyst in all this was a guy called Dave from uni. Things were getting ever so slightly out of hand. People were starting to be sick, others were going in the garden for the toilet because people were in the toilet being sick, glasses had been smashed and despite my efforts to keep the music at a reasonable level it kept miraculously creeping up.

Dave and a few others emerged from our kitchen/bathroom soaked because they thought it would be oh so funny to spray each other with the shower hose! All this was fine, yes the house was a mess and yes i was a little bit peeved, but it was all water under the bridge as far as I was concerned (or on the bathroom floor in this case.)

In a bid to gain so revenge for his soaking in the bathroom, Dave decided to soak the girls who had soaked him. The closest wet soaking material to hand for Dave was a bottle of *sigh* cherryade!

I'm sure by now you can see where this is going, but please bear with me for a moment longer. As Dave held the bottle of brightly coloured fizzy liquid over the girls sitting on the sofa, I laughed. "there's no way he's going to actually throw it in the middle of the living room" I thought to myself. "I'll give him the benefit of the doubt." Then *sigh* he threw it.

I was so shocked that he actually did it that I closed my eyes in disbelief. You know the sort of thing, like when you do something really stupid and you just stand there because you can't believe you've done it. Well by the time I'd opened my eyes my mate John had already opened the front door and was dragging Dave out by the scruff of his neck. Of course Dave's mate Ben (also from uni) jumped up which caused Adam (John's brother) to jump in to.

The next part is a bit of a haze to me, because everyone was shouting and scuffling, But somewhere in it all Dave got hit or something because his lip was bleeding. Undoubtedly Dave was bang out of order he went too far and took liberties in someone else's house and showed he had no respect for me, Dave, Dan or Lori (my other house mates.) I support What John did 100%, and he knows that. He did what I should have done because I didn't do it. Like I say weather it was through disbelief or plain just not knowing how to handle the situation I didn't act quick enough.

Only problem now is I'm left in a right doozy of a pickle, I'm the middle here. I feel I've got nothing to apologize for I did nothing wrong and I'm certainly not going to apologize for John. But as it stands I have to work with these people for the next two years. i haven't spoke to any of the guys from Uni yet, but the vibe I got on the night as they left was that they harbored quite a bit of ill feeling towards me.

I don't know... Any advise would be greatly appreciated.