The Reluctant Blogger

David Warner, best known for his roles in Titanic, The Omen, Star Trek V: The Final Frontier, Planet of the Apes and TRON, shared his experiences, acting history and his opinions on competing for acting roles with the audience at Comic Con in Cardiff earlier in 2014. Q:‘Who do you admire most out of your fellow actors?’ “What I admire about my fellow – I’m in a very interesting group, of my age group, of competition, (which is not the question you asked) but my competition at the moment when we compete for parts – and that’s why I don’t do so many anymore – are, my age group: Patrick Stewart, Ian Mckellen, Michael Gambon, John Hurt… well, you know what I mean? As we get older there aren’t so many parts for people like us. But these are all people that I know and I admire. I have no problem with admiring my contemparys even though they might get the jobs that I might want, cause I’ve been round long enough to know that that’s how business works. They’re the t...

Nicholas Briggs, known particularly for his role as 'The Voice of the Daleks', shared a few experiences with the audience at Comic Con in Cardiff earlier in 2014. Nicholas Briggs - On Re-watching Episodes of Doctor Who and Jon Pertwee: “I watch them all regularly on DVD. I’m just having a bit of a renaissance with Jon Pertwee, actually, at the moment, and he’s a much underrated Doctor. I was particularly down on him as a kid, because, when he left Doctor Who, the headlines read: Jon Pertwee – ‘I-can’t-stand-the-Daleks’- quits Doctor Who. And I thought, because he’s – and I love the Daleks – so I thought, ‘The man’s an idiot! He’s rubbish! He’s a terrible Doctor Who!’ But of course I think it’s the best performance of Jon Pertwee’s career actually; it’s a beautiful piece of subtle, naturalistic acting. I think he did a tremendous job, and I’m watching some of these old episodes again and there’s a beautiful, reassuring quality about him." Nichol...

Amy's Eton Mess - a quick video guide to making the perfect Eton Mess. In the height of summer the best dessert is considered to be  strawberries and cream, however this alternative is without a doubt a popular favourite.   ( https://vimeo.com/103262182 ) Eton Mess is a classic British dessert made up of a mixture of strawberries, meringue and cream. The dessert has been known since the beginning of the 19th century, and is traditionally served at Eton College's annual cricket game. "I always thought that the Eton Mess was 'invented' around the 1920's when, during the annual cricket match at Eton College, a rather giddy labrador sat upon the picnic blanket containing the strawberry pavlova, squashing it. The plum-mouthed boys didn't care a single jot that their dessert had been essentially ruined (and probably covered in dog hair) and ate the thing anyway, preferring it to the pavlova. And so the Eton Mess was born and served up as a summertim...

"The Angels are coming and they are fast! Faster than you could ever believe! Don't turn away, don't turn your back and don't blink!" Doctor Who is perhaps one of the best TV shows of all time - 50 years in the running is by no means an easy feat. But one of the best episodes as rated by the fans  is 'Blink' - known to most as the Weeping Angels episode. The Weeping Angels have been considered one of the most scariest enemies of all the Doctor Who villains and monsters,( http://onepopz.com/doctor-whos-top-20-scariest-monsters-get-behind-sofa/4/ ) n ever moving when you look at them, but as soon as you blink or turn away they are at liberty to move. And they are fast. As part of an editing experiment, I was given an idea by Lifeline which was to make a short video edit of the Weeping Angels to the music of ' The Blue Danube ' in an attempt to see if the creatures were still just as scary when accompanied by ridiculously contrasting musi...

"When his peaceful life is threatened by a high-tech assassin, former black-ops agent Frank Moses reassembles his old team in a last ditch effort to survive and uncover his assailants". Directed by Robert Schwentke and written by Erich Hoeber, RED is an action-packed adventure, full of mystery, suspense and comedy.  Although t his movie may not be the action-packed film one might expect, it still manages to shine with its undeniable wit, classic style and a star cast including Bruce Willis, Helen Mirren, John Malkovich and Morgan Freeman.   RED is not a fast-paced film, but neither is it slow; in comparison with the characters, the film is set at a steady speed with insane action sequences that intertwine throughout and leave the audience wondering where the story line will take them next. As for the characters themselves, they are all brilliantly written with a good dose of humour, wit, romance, regret and sobriety . For some, the comedy may make up for t...

'A short film about how, when the world seems a dark place, and the weight of your sorrows are on your shoulders, there is always hope'. http://vimeo.com/91173313 This idea came from looking into what people do when life gets rough. Some take it on the shoulder, others to heart, but when all else fails there seem to be only two options: You chose to live, or you die. But there are too many deaths in the world today, and far too many suicides.  “Did you really want to die?" "No one commits suicide because they want to die." "Then why do they do it?" "Because they want to stop the pain.” ― Tiffanie DeBartolo, How to Kill a Rock Star If one is willing to look for it, 'hope' is not far away from any of us. This film looks into this, but there is no narration or speech. The film starts with a black screen and a cupboard door is opened. This is the introduction to the main character, (who happens to be the only...

'Here today. Gone tomorrow. Rain doesn't last forever'. This is a short video I made by experimenting with a Canon EOS 7D. It was shot within the space of 2 hours, and mainly concentrated on focusing techniques. https://vimeo.com/82570588 Due to lack of experience, many of the shots that were taken were not smooth. Difficulties arose in focusing from one object to another. However, over a short period of time, the focusing became easier and relatively smooth transitions could be made.   The footage was not colour graded or changed in any way because - even though some of the shots are a little on the dark side - the video was then able to retain a natural look. I also like the soft edges that the camera was able to achieve, and found that turning the contrast up would  sharpen that effect. Rain and raindrops are perhaps difficult to capture because they are so small and fragile, but what was most interesting was the abilities of not only the camera, ...