2012 - The Start of my Life...well career at least!

Hello fellow bloggers! Firstly let me just start by saying that I hope everyone's had a fantastic Christmas and Happy New Year 2012! Now 2012 will be a very special and important year for me, as it is in this year that my career will be fully launched, as for me, it'll be one small step for man, one giant leap into Hollywood!

Firstly, I will be finishing my degree and my time at university. I will also produce small videos, show reels and even short films while still at university. I also hope to be working with my Dad's friends who are hoping to become professional actors and who are hoping to make it big.

Along with this and in the very first part of this year, in early January, I will be attending the premiere of "War Horse", with the aim of meeting a person who I can only describe as a living legend. What a better way to start the year than by meeting simply the most famous movie director in the history of cinema itself! The one and only Steven Spielberg! Everyone's heard of him and most probably are able to name at least 3 of his films; namely Jaws, Indiana Jones and Jurassic Park, which I would think would be the first films which come to mind when the name Spielberg is mentioned.

Along with that and still in January, I will also be going on a 2-day intensive film school course to, for the first time in my life, get a full hands-on experience of filmmaking, including the chance to direct professional actors as part of the production of a short film. This will take place at Ealing Studios. And as I have already said earlier, I am aiming to become a film director and as yet, I haven't even made a proper film before! Well in this year, I will be taking the first steps into the industry as I will be making my first film ever, and what a better way to start off making my first proper film than at a proper film studio, with professional actors, a talented crew and awesome equipment, such as Final Cut Pro, the industry standard editing software. I am thoroughly looking forward to this!

Along with this, I have also mentioned earlier that I have also never been to Hollywood! Well, in this year I will experience the magic of Hollywood for the first time in my life, as I venture to Los Angeles, California, on holiday this summer. A taster, no doubt, of what is to come!

This is all very inspiring and exciting stuff! I often think to myself, why on earth am I choosing to do this? Why on earth am I going for the most competitive and challenging job on the planet? And then I think, quite simply, why not? Take a chance, risk it, be daring, because with perseverance, commitment, dedication and a little bit of luck, in the words of Gareth Edwards, the first movie director I ever met, "It'll happen!" Those were his words of advice to me and I keep reminding myself of them day to day. So as you welcome in 2012, just stop and take a moment to think that you have the power and opportunity to do whatever you can possibly dream of doing. You just have to set your heart and mind to accomplishing it. This is my philosophy in life. I shall leave you with that.

UK Premiere of Mission: Impossible - Ghost Protocol

Hello fellow bloggers! This is my first post from back home; I am home for the Christmas holidays. Like the post I wrote a while back, about my experience of the premiere of Johnny English Reborn, here is a post documenting my experience of arguably the best premiere I have been to so far! I now realise more than ever that this is what I want to do...becoming a film director is arguably one of the best jobs on the entire planet! Notice how I'm restricting it to the surface of the Earth, as in my opinion, an astronaut is the best possible job...it's quite simply out of this world! Ha ha ha. Well anyway, back to the best premiere I have been to so far.

The UK Premiere of "Mission: Impossible - Ghost Protocol" or "Mission: Impossible 4" as it is also known, took place at the BFI Imax Cinema in London on 13th December 2011. Tom Cruise and Simon Pegg, along with other actors and celebrities, are currently touring Europe, taking the film and premiering it in several European countries; the UK is just one of many. The day started out not so normal, with a 5:30am start. I was planning on meeting a friend from university at Waterloo, to go together to the premiere. Ready with my video camera, still camera, autograph book and phone (in the hope that Mr. Cruise would talk to my mum, which he has been known to do!), I set out for a half an hour walk to the station. It was still dark, being practically the middle of the night, so I can only describe it as a very eerie, deserted walk to the station, with only a couple of low flying pigeons to dodge. I arrived at the station at around 7:00am, with the aim of catching the 7:10am train to London Waterloo. However, national rail decided that this was the day when they would mess up any travel plans the UK public had, specifically on the day when the earlier you were, the more likely chance you'd have of being next to the red carpet. Thus, the 7:10am train was appropriately cancelled. And to rub it in even more, the train after that was cancelled. So after about 1hr 15mins of annoying announcements, along with not being able to get on the third train due to a high density of humans, I finally got the 8:25am train to Waterloo, which arrived at 8:50am. I met up with my friend and walked across the road to the BFI IMAX Cinema. To my surprise, we were still early enough to be one of the first one's there! We secured our spot right against the barriers which, at this time in the morning, ceased to exist; we were then ready for the 9 hour wait for the premiere to start and the stars to arrive! As I said in my post about the previous Johnny English premiere, call me a geek. But in the end, it was very much worthwhile, as I got the opportunity to meet one of the most famous Hollywood superstars on the planet!

So we spent a good portion of the day watching the event being set up. We watched the red carpet being rolled out, the barriers put up, the posters put up and the appropriately placed BMW cars with the registration "M:I GP" being driven into the area. Pretty cool stuff! One thing which occurred to me while watching everything being set up was that I bet the stars don't fully appreciate the time and effort involved with the setting up of a premiere; the whole cinema has to be transformed into a dazzling spectacle of lights, stages, and carpets. They practically have to create a miniature tinsel town right in the heart of London! Excuse the pun, with it being Christmas time and all. Overall, it was very interesting to see everything being set up. With persistence and a little bit of luck, I will hopefully have my own premiere in London or Los Angeles in the future. I have a dream, that one day this nation will rise up , and let me into Hollywood.

So I'll skip forward to around 5:30pm; the stars were due to arrive at 6pm. As we were right in the front and quite a lively bunch, the press started to gather and to my enjoyment, we were interviewed by several presenters and camera crews! First was an American woman for Sky News Movies who asked us what we think of Tom Cruise! I simply replied, "Awesome! An amazing actor!" Second was a live interview, but I don't know who it was for. And finally, a film channel wanted a reaction shot from the crowd, so we did 3 takes of putting our arms in the air and screaming like there was no tomorrow. We were all very excited that a true Hollywood legend was about to grace us with his presence.

Then came the time when the man himself arrived, followed a little while later by Simon Pegg. Cool music was playing, the guy with the microphone announced he had arrived; things were starting to liven up. I saw Tom round the corner of the cinema; the IMAX is a round cinema, so he had to make his way around a circle. Tom adhered to his normal protocol (excuse the pun), of taking his time with his fans, making sure he met everyone! At this point I phoned my mum and kept her on the phone until he came to us, in the hope that he would speak to her! However, at the time he did come to us, I had to do something no man has ever done before. Multitask. It may have been too much for me to try to do, but I tried to get his autograph, have a picture taken with him, film him and get him to talk to my mum! I was successful with 3 out of the 4 things. I wasn't able to get him to speak to my mum on the phone. That gives me another opportunity to go to the next premiere which he's in so that I can try once more! Overall however, it was fantastic to meet and talk to him and I would like to say that Tom Cruise is truly a gentleman and should set an example of how celebrities should interact and engage with their fans. I managed to get a photograph with him, which I will keep as the best souvenir of the evening, along with his autograph.

About 15mins later, along came Mr. Simon Pegg. Also a very nice guy, I talked to him for a few minutes and also managed to get a photo with him along with his autograph. The two of them together are a very funny duo, as Simon had a thing going on with Tom, where he was trying to teach Tom how speak with an English accent. It's hilarious! I'm sure there are a few videos on YouTube that show them together.

So after they both passed and moved onto to the rest of the crowd, a few other celebrities came past, out of which, I only recognised one. The hamster himself, Richard Hammond was there. However, I now know from personal experience that he's a bit of a [insert rude swear word here] type of guy, practically ignoring us as he passed. But as soon as the cameras were on him, of course he was signing things for the crowd on the opposite side of us! In my opinion, Tom Cruise should teach him a lesson...on how to be human.

So that was it for the evening! A fantastic time with Tom Cruise and Simon Pegg at the premiere of Mission: Impossible - Ghost Protocol. But that's not all, folks! Just as we were leaving, one of the officials can over to us with spare tickets to the premiere itself! Apparently the film was moving from this cinema over to the BFI Southbank Centre. She told us if we ran fast enough, we would get in to see the film. However, we should have checked the ticket itself before running like headless monkeys to the BFI Southbank Centre, as the ticket stated we needed to arrive at 6pm and be seated by 7pm. We were given the tickets at 7:20pm. It was potentially a fantastic opportunity, but overall was false hope. So there we go. At least I have a ticket to the premiere to keep as a souvenir!

Well that's pretty much it for my experience of the premiere, but there was one last thing. After leaving the BFI Southbank Centre, having been turned away by security who told us the film had already started, my friend and I wondered onto a film set, right in the centre of London! They were in the middle of shooting on location for a brand new feature film, the title of which I've forgot but will surely remember when it comes out, as I'll remember the name when I see it! So I got talking to the director and a few of the camera crew, along with the grip guy. That was pretty fantastic, albeit short! I'll definitely go see the film when it's out in summer 2012, along with of course Mission: Impossible - Ghost Protocol, when it's out on Boxing Day!

So that really is it for now folks! If I don't blog until after Christmas (I should write a few posts before Christmas, as I am hoping to go to a few film studios for my dissertation), then have a very Merry Christmas! I'll leave you with a few photos of the premiere, along with this: If you want to succeed in life...there is one simple thing to do...be there!

My First Production for Fraser Films!

Hello fellow bloggers! Here is an update to say that I have filmed and produced my first video for my new YouTube channel and soon to be professional film production company, Fraser Films! I have filmed, for my university's Christian Union, their production of "The Nativity" and have uploaded it as the premiere video for my channel! The video is called "The Nativity by the Pond" and was filmed on 2nd December 2011. So far, it has gained over 250 views and will hopefully gain many more! I would like to take this opportunity to say that it was great to work with my CU to produce this short film. I would also like to state that although not intended to be part of my showreel or a fully planned out short film, this production was purely intended to be a memento of the evening, to give others the opportunity to see the Nativity, who weren't able to attend. I will hopefully be making many more productions for the CU during the short but precious time I have left, here at university. I will finish university in May 2012...to pursue and to chase my dream.

I would also like to say here that I have also successfully produced another short film, between now and the last post below. I have made a short film documenting my experience of the last space shuttle launch, "STS-135 Atlantis: The Grand Finale". Like the above production, this is also intended to purely be a memento for me and my family of the day when we witnessed history in the making. However, I could also consider it something which could be seen as a short film. That's for the audience to decide! I am debating whether to upload it to FraserFilms135, as I have used three songs to which I do not own the copyright. If I am to upload it, I would have to clearly state that I do not own the copyright to the songs used in this short film. However, ignorance of the law is no excuse and I fully understand that. I also understand that on a day-to-day basis, people all over the world upload music videos of songs they do not own. So to sum up, you might see this video on YouTube...you might not. I hope to get permission from the copyright owners to upload it, so that I can show more people my shuttle launch production, other than just family and friends!

So I'll leave you with this...anything is possible...when you believe. Subtly quoting SeaWorld Orlando? Or something far greater? (again another SeaWorld quote!) I'll leave you to figure out the rest. God speed. Whoops, just given away the answer!

Launch of the Mars Science Laboratory - Curiosity!

Hello fellow bloggers! Now I don't normally post anything else on my blog, other than film stuff. But I found today so awesome that I felt I just had to write about it!

As you may or may not know, I am a NASA geek! I've been to Florida twice and have been to NASA's Kennedy Space Center more times than I can recall. I've also had the honour of experiencing, first hand, the last ever launch of the space shuttle, STS-135 in July 2011. Today has been a very eventful day in Florida, as the Mars Science Laboratory, a.k.a. the Mars Curiosity Rover, launched today from Cape Canaveral, atop an Atlas V rocket, bound for the red planet! I watched it on NASA TV today and continued watching after the launch until the end of the coverage, along with a few extra news conferences and programmes about Mars and it's future new inhabitant, Curiosity. After today, I feel even more interested in space science, planetary science and science in general and have even considered going along the path of doing something scientific in life, instead of a job in the arts, as a film director. However, I still think I'll go into the film industry, as its a possibility for me to potentially involve my interest in space and in science, by making a film about NASA for example! It's been done before (Apollo 13, Transformers: Dark of the Moon) to name but a few. So there is that cool possibility to combine science and the arts!

Well that's pretty much all I wanted to say for this post! All that's left to do to climax this awesome day is to listen to David Bowie - Is there Life on Mars, go outside and admire the red planet, assuming a clear sky of course and finally say...

GOOD LUCK CURIOSITY!!! I hope there ain't any cats on Mars...

My Brand New YouTube Channel

Hello fellow bloggers! This is an update to say that I have created a brand new YouTube channel!!!

Simple called, "Fraser Films", I have specifically designed it to showcase my short films and showreels on. I feel that I can potentially go very far with it! I have been thinking for a while now, since deciding to become a film director, that one good thing to do would be to create an independant film production company, with a group of friends, all of whom are like minded individuals who are hoping to also break into the film industry. I have also had this name in mind for a while. Short, sweet and to the point (excuse the pun...I'll be making "short" films...yep...ha ha). Anyway, this is just a quick post to say that I have created my all new YouTube channel. I haven't uploaded any videos to it yet, but that will soon change, from early December, as I have been given the opportunity to film my University's Christian Union nativity play. This will most likely be the first video premiered on my new channel!

So that's all for now folks! I will keep updating my blog when I'm home during Christmas, as I hope to be visiting a wide range of film studios in the UK, mainly to gather data for my dissertation. I'll also take the opportunity while I'm at these studios to have a look around and maybe get to talk to a few people in the business! Namely, directors, producers, even actors! So that's it for now!

I'll leave you with this...love life and live it to the fullest! Also love the one's around you, your family, your friends...and during this festive season, remember this...your family are the most important thing in the world, the best gift you've been given. Far better than the latest iPhone 4S, PS3 game or film. All I want for Christmas is my awesome family and friends around me. I hope you do too.

(Instead of ambitious, inspirational advice, which I normally give, I personally believe, above all else, family and the people around you are your number one priority in life. Your career goals, aspirations and dreams come second. There we go people!) God bless.

My First Big Idea

Hello fellow bloggers!

I write today after having created an idea which I think has the potential to be a great success! However, this film will be very hard to make with the equipment I have at my disposal at this moment in time. It will therefore be an idea I will keep throughout the development of my career as a film director and will be made when I will hopefully become successful enough to be able to direct a multi-million dollar feature film. I have high hopes for this film; it is an original idea that hasn't been done before, combining popular genres of action, adventure and comedy, all mingled into what, in my opinion, I believe to be a recipe for success. I may be getting way too ahead of myself, as I am just starting out. However, it's good to think big!

For now, I won't release any details of the film until much later, just in case anyone out there decides to go with this idea and make it into a film before I get the chance to! I have a pitch, a plot outline and 2000 words of notes about the film, which I won't disclose on here or anywhere on the internet. All I will say however, is that it relates to my interests and travel experiences, combined into one story. The only other thing I will say about it is the genre, which I mentioned above as being a combination of action, adventure and comedy. For now, I'll leave you to guess the rest!

So with that short post, I'll leave you with these awesome words of advice...

Dream big, because you never know where life will take you!

My First Short Film

Hello fellow bloggers! Since I last updated my blog, I have been thinking long and hard about ideas for films, both feature length and short. My friend James and I were having a brainstorming session and one idea has come about, inspired from reading a script of a classic comedy film, Ace Ventura! I won't disclose the title of the film just yet. That'll have to wait until it is finished. But for now, for this very short but awesome post, I will say that the film is currently in development; we're writing the script, casting the actors, many of whom are close friends, and working on composing the music, of which my musical friend James Brown will lead.

I've also just heard about the new James Bond film, Skyfall, which will be filmed at Pinewood Studios, starting monday! This is very exciting to hear; I may also have an opportunity to potentially play a small part. From my first visit to Pinewood Studios, I gained two contacts. I will therefore try to send an email to ask if it's possible to visit the studios this coming monday! This would be fantastic. I will keep you updated about whether or not I succeed in future posts.

So that's what's been happening in my world for the last few weeks. I leave you with this...quite a powerful message on a poster I have.

If you don't go after what you want, you'll never have it. If you don't ask, the answer is always no. If you don't step forward, you're always in the same place. Powerful words right there.