The Week Where I....Partied, Again

Hello once again, in a week that feels like it has ended before it properly began…

In the three weeks since I last wrote, I’ve been assigned two back-to-back film projects (a documentary and a fiction film, respectively), as well as a filmed interview to conduct and an essay on the analysis of film. The documentary so far however has only highlighted the shitty organisational skills of my university’s lecturers, as while all other film groups have seven members, my lecturer has somehow managed to arrange it in a way that means my group only consists of two people..yes, you read it right. This means that the two of us are expected to film a documentary alone, as well as complete seven people's worth of written work (around thirty pages) all as part of one of our larger graded assignments. So all in all university is great, £9000 well-spent if you ask me.

Aside from education, I was asked out for valentines and thought that there would be no harm in going. The two of us had a great time together (although I’m not interested in pursuing a relationship) and after a few drinks, we headed back to my accommodation to pick up our two friends before heading to a club. Cut to 4am and I arrived back at the flat, only to wake at 7am for my first lecture of the day with (yet another) dreadful hangover. In the session, we all gathered in the television studio and were expected to direct two actors through a short script. It’s not easy. You doubt your own ability when thirty others in the class are watching you and when two seasoned actors, who are used to experienced directors, are made to follow your directions. I’ve started to learn that faking confidence puts the actors faith in you and what you’re asking, and so pushing through the self-doubt is key even if you don’t believe in yourself. A bit of information you may find interesting is that you shouldn’t direct an actor by saying things such as “Use more body gestures”, which seems the obvious way right? Instead, for example, we had a script involving a man of a nervous-disposition (Actor A) trying to convince a gang leader (Actor B) not to kill him. Rather than saying to Actor A “act more desperate for him to forgive you”, you can give their character a motive for the scene such as telling the actor that their character is “chasing empathy” off the gang-leader, which then allows the actor to imagine ways that their character might do this (whether via body language or their vocals) and overall it gives them more leeway in how they perform the scene. I feel this also shows a greater respect to the actor in allowing them to do what they're trained to do. Although their actions may not come across how you initially planned too, many times it comes out better than you could have expected or even planned yourself, and so you have to be willing to adapt your initial ideas rather than getting everybody to stick to your plan in stone. I think it’s the ability for an actor and a director to learn to communicate as one that produces the best work on-screen.

After that day’s lessons, I arrived back at the flat to find the kitchen being set up for yet another party. Despite still feeling like crap, I guessed I’d get no sleep from the noise and so got dressed up and decided to tag along. A few hours in and a familiar face walks through the door, my valentine date’s best friend who came clubbing with us (and perhaps the absolute gayest person you’ll ever meet). Upon seeing me at the party he grabbed my hand and that was it, off we headed to the nearest gay club…who would I have been to refuse? A secret I can let you in on is that these clubs are some of the best as you can get complimented by guys who you know have no intent to get with you, something that I feel makes it hard for any girl to trust a guy's actions now-a-days as you never fully know where their intentions lie. A guy approached me with his boyfriend just to tell me that I had eyes that “he could get lost in” and that he hoped I had a great night, then after I thanked him (and joked that he should be telling his boyfriend things like this instead) they left me alone just as they had came with no strings attached. After much dancing, I decided to head home early as I had to be at the train station the next morning to meet a friend and that’s where the night ended.

So that’s been my rush of a week. I’m now home for the weekend so I can head to the doctors tomorrow in search of some peace of mind from the pain I’ve been having for the last two weeks, and then it’s back to university for another enthralling week.

Until next time,

Victoria.