Ramblings of a Geek

I just had the best conversation ever. Needless to say, can’t reveal much at the moment, but details will emerge soon!

I’m a geek, I admit it. My favourite film is RoboCop, or perhaps My Dinner with Andre. I’m not your typical geek though - technology is the bane of my existence, and as a filmmaker/student, I have to put up with it pretty often. It’s not that I hate technology, more that it hates me. I think if I’d have been Dave in “2001: A Space Odyssey”, HAL would’ve attempted to kill me much, much sooner. Although, to think of it, a homicidal computer would be pretty cool, and it’s happened to me before.

I’m not even joking, a computer has tried to kill me on more than one occasion. Episode 1: It was year 7, or grade 7 if you’re American. 2004 to be exact. I was doing work in the library, and I had gotten up to go to the printer. When I got there the printer was out of paper, although this being 2004 it was probably on a giant roll that took 18 very skilled Chinese workers to lift into place. Anyway, I’m getting away from my point - so I put paper into the printer, and my hand gets stuck! It was clearly trying to kill me! I hadn’t seen it happen before, and I haven’t seen it happen since - suspicious.

Episode 2 was even more recent. I take you to my bedroom, but be careful not to touch anything. It was April 2011, my computer monitor had been making noises for days, though I just put it down to age. I’d ordered a new one anyway just to be safe, but I was watching a film and all of a sudden, it EXPLODED! An actual explosion. If it was a scene in the A-Team, little people would’ve climbed out of the explosion, because it was so magnificent. I was watching Batman Begins at the time, which probably explains the reason the screen exploded - because it was so bad!

I survived both of these events, but I’m expecting technology to strike again soon when a T-800 comes from the future to try to kill me and stop me from becoming the leader of the resistance against Skynet. Hang on, that all sounds very familiar. James Cameron, you ripped me off, you free-loading, hippie-loving, smurf-stealing bastard!

No, I’m not talking about what I like to do to the hopes of children; I’m on about a feature film I’m currently working on, “Broken Spirits”

It all started a few months ago when we thought it would be good experience to start working on something - our film teacher, Geoff Harrison, mentioned that he had written a play in 1997 titled “Broken Spirits”, which received rave reviews at the time. Exploring the psychological thriller genre, with elements of horror, action and drama - Broken Spirits is sure to be the biggest film ever shot within St Helens.

Once the rest of the media department got wind of this idea, production began. It started around November 2010 on a dark Thursday night, when we began shooting some corridors (exciting stuff!)

After the Christmas break, production soon sped up and we began shooting every Thursday afternoon, with a production meeting during Wednesday lunchtime (we say Production meeting, but we usually just insult each other for 45 minutes)

So, we’re now steaming ahead with production, with a fantastic cast and crew - we’re small but dedicated. Hoping to finish principal photography during the summer holidays, we’re hoping for a world premiere in the last quarter of 2011, if all continues to go well.

More links:

Official Twitter: @BrokenSpirits11

Official Website: www.brokenspiritsfeaturefilm.com

My Twitter: @JohnQuigDirects

Yes, it’s that time of year, and once again the Awards season is upon us. It all kicks off majorly with the Orange BAFTAs tonight, held in the glitz and glamour of London’s Covent Garden. Known as the pre-runner to the Oscars, it’s generally safe to say that the BAFTAs are a good indication of who might win or lose at the Academy Awards, later on in February. So, the BAFTAs will be on BBC1 tonight from 9pm, with red carpet coverage starting at 7.30pm on BBC 3. Hopefully, if Technology permits me, I’ll be updating this post every 5 to 10 minutes with my thoughts on the winners and the ceremony so far.