mollykathleens

[mollykathleens]

✿Update✿

Soooo,

Todays the day - filming premier day! And our film isn’t done. Pressure is high, Andy is uncertain and so am I but we are working it out. I’m excited to show the film when it’s done. Vitória has such a unique perspective when it comes to films. Her editing skills are great, I could never do anything like that. I really enjoy working with her. I found everyone good to work with except for the actresses. It’s interesting working with new people especially considering I was part of the term two year group last year and as well as a global pandemic occurring whilst trying to shoot. I’m enjoying the experience with working with others.

I will say though it is such a pain trying to organise filming times with everyone. Especially from me. I am a manager at a pub and work full time there as well as being a full time student. I also moved into my own flat at the middle of last year so I’m trying to make it my own. On top of this my dog had to have very expensive and intense surgery on one of his legs and has just had the same surgery on the other 5 days ago he’s not allowed to walk on it so he has to be held basically 24/7. It’s very busy time at the pub as well as deadlines so I have been very overwhelmed with everything.

I have missed a few lessons due to multiple reasons but one of the main ones was my work schedule. I commute to uni so depending on if I have to go to Holloway or Aldgate, I have to travel for about 2 to 3 hours a day. I also work about 38-42 hours a week. It’s a very stressful job and my hours vary from working from 6am to 4pm or 7pm to 1:30am or even 2:30am I end up having very little time to myself to even do the basic things like food shopping.

From last week I reduced my hours at work. The stress was getting too much and I ended up sitting down with my mum to work out my weekly outgoings and if I can afford this with my student loan. I worked out I can just about afford it if I drop down to 30 hours. It’s a relief in some ways as it means I have more time to do the things I want however it adds more stress in terms of disposable income. It also gives me more time to focus on uni work and with a set rota I know in advance which days I have off.

14:30 and we are still editing. Vitoria is very stressed. I went and grabbed us a meal deal while she edited. She’s unhappy as Alan did not record the audio she wanted. Because our actress decided to make her own dialogue up instead of following the script, Vitoria read her own dialogue instead. This was not recorded however. We should have checked this at the time but it was a silly error.

15:00 every editors nightmare happened. Everything we had edited in the last two hours did not save.. We lost a lot of work and Vitoria is feeling defeated. It’s a shame because we were almost done. I think we’re going to have to just edit together what we have and send it in. It’s a formative assignment which means that although we’re not going to have a good grade, we are able to resubmit this work.

Final update - We ended up speaking to Andy in class and explained what had happened. He told us just to get it done by the end of the week and submit then. This was a relief and means we have more time to perfect the editing. For now I am going to focus on submitting for todays essay. 

★★☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆

[mollykathleens]

✿Jennifer’s Body✿

2009

Director - Karyn Kusama

So I have been wanting to rewatch this film for the longest time. Vitoria came over today and we ended up watching it and I’m so glad we did. I love this film so much. It’s funny watching it years later and recognising actors. I had no idea who Chris Pratt was back when I first watched it. Its good such a good script and so funny. Megan and Amanda are gorgeous and amazing actresses. 

Jennifer Check: You're lime green jello and you can't even admit it to yourself. I just want to mention I will be continuously saying continuously from now on. 

★★★★★★★★★★

[mollykathleens]

✿Euphoria; Seasons 1 & 2✿

2019 - Present

Creator - Sam Levinson

So I recently had tonsillitis and I finally decided to watch Euphoria. I have been hearing great things about the show and with the recent release of the second season I was excited to see what all the hype was about.

So I am going to give you my opinion of the show so far. I have not finished season two and I have two episodes left but I will update if my opinions change.

This is HBO’s first teen drama series and has had a lot of buzz surrounding the show. It does cover some very important subjects including transitioning and actually has a real transgender woman (Hunter Schafer) to play the role. Although I don’t like character herself (Jules) I think it is very important for the trans community to have some real representation. I think the way the other characters behave with Jules, with some some exceptions is great. They treat her with respect, and like she’s the same as every other person. I think this is a great representation and normalises trans people for viewers that may not have any experience with this.

From a technical standpoint I think the series is amazing. The mise-en-scene is immaculate and their attention to detail is incredible. One of the things the series is most known for is its makeup. Everything online is people trying to recreate the iconic looks. I like how the makeup is tailored to each character. For example Cassie: Cassie is first mentioned by Nate who is trying to convince McKay she is a ‘slut’. Cassie’s makeup is nothing amazing, but she looks like the girl next door. She does her makeup for others. She wants to present herself in a specific way. Her makeup predominantly is simple and soft. She wants to perceive herself as the ‘girl next door’ however as the series progresses we realise she is a snake in sheep's clothing.

★★★★★★☆☆☆☆

[mollykathleens]

✿Don’t Drive in London✿

Okay so we did some shooting lately for our fiction project and let me tell you, it was an experience. So I live in Essex and the journey to Holloway is about an hour and a half by train. Our film is set outside at night so to get the shots we of course had to film at night. This wouldn't have been a problem for me. My last train is around midnight to get home; I wasn’t the problem, it was our actress. 

Vitoria had arranged an actress for the film. Before we had even started she was an issue. She was sent a script with only one piece of dialogue. She sent Vitoria her own version of this dialogue as she felt Vitoria’s made no sense due to English not being her first language. I read through hers and helped rewrite a couple of words and it made sense however she was still unhappy about this. She eventually agreed to the dialogue we had redrafted. 

The next issue was her transport. She did not want to get the bus home and her last train would have meant she would have to leave early. I offered to drive to London for the day. I figured it would mean easier transport of equipment as well as solving the actresses problem plus we could all stay as late as needed and I could drive everyone home. 

The day came and I drove. Before even getting there I had to pay low emission and congestion fees. I of course knew this would be the case so I had no issue with this (I would have had to buy a train ticket if I didn’t drive anyway.) I drove to Vitorias as she told me I could park by her flat. When I got there I realised it was residential parking only. I accepted the fact I would likely get a ticket but we were running late for class and I don’t know London well enough to figure out where else to park. So we just headed to uni. 

While walking to class Vitoria informed me the actress didn’t want me to drive her home because she was in fact going to get the bus. This was annoying of course as this was one of the main reasons I had agreed to drive in the first place. We got to class and then ended up leaving about 20 minutes later due to lighting issues for the screening of Chinatown. This meant we got to start filming earlier. 

The filming wasn’t too bad but the price of parking near Soho was soul destroying - £55 for 6 hours is extortionate. We had decent crew and managed to get a few good shots but due to the actresses being too cold we cut filming short. This lead to even more issues as almost everyone has jobs and couldn't attend certain days, myself included. 

After cutting filming short, the remainder of us went and grabbed food. I was so excited about this because we went to Wok to Walk. This is one of my favourite chains. I haven't had it since a trip to Amsterdam and it was still as good as I remembered. I thought that even if the day had been a bit of a mess at least we were ending on a high. That was until I dropped everyone home. 

On my way to drop Vitoria home I saw a camera flash. I could not figure out why I had been flashed until the letter came home. I had been caught speeding. I now have to attend a speed awareness course and pay a fine for going 27mph in a 20mph zone. Unbelievable. I hope no one else at the course asks how fast it was. 

Oh, I also received another fine that week for driving in a bus lane in Colchester which isn’t really significant but I thought I would add it anyway. 

In conclusion, I will never be driving to London ever again in my life. Not that I could afford the price of the petrol to drive there but my point still stands. 

★☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆

[mollykathleens]

✿The Crazies✿

Director - Break Eisner

2010

I decided to rewatch The Crazies today. I haven’t seen the film for a good few years and didn’t remember much of it, only a few shots so I thought I’d give it another go. This film is a horror/thriller. I am not the best with scary movies so this isn’t my usual film but I had a friend to watch with in case I got too scared.

Although I did jump a few times, this time round it wasn’t as scary. I think in terms of plot this film is great. Although jump scares are the my main issue with horror movies I do find a lot of them lack story and substance. I think The Crazies has both.

The plot is that a plane crashed in a lake in Iowa that had some form of chemical that causes a toxic virus to enter the water supply of a quaint farming town. There are hints at the beginning that the government are aware of this, when the people begin to show symptoms the phone signal goes down for the whole town. We also see a non descriptive black car drive off when the main character David looks at it. As more people are affected the government get involved and thinks take a turn for the worst.

I am aware this film is a remake but I have not seen the original. The reviews all express that the original film was better however as I have not seen it I cannot compare the two. I think the acting is great for a horror film and the killing scenes are very creative. I won’t spoil it but there is one scene with a carwash that is horrifying.

★★★★★★★★☆☆

[mollykathleens]

✿Conversations With a Killer: The Ted Bundy Tapes✿

Creator - Joe Berlinger

2019

I am a big fan of documentaries. My favourite kind are crime docs. I find them fascinating. I can talk about them for hours. and I often put Bailey Sarian’s YouTube show Murder, Mystery, Makeup, Monday videos on while I'm cooking or doing housework. I recently rewatched the Ted Bundy tapes after talking to a friend about it. He like most people knew who Ted Bundy was but not much about his crimes or his life. I suggested we watch it and he loved it.

This series has interviews with Ted Bundy on death row and is split into four parts. The first episode gives a backstory to the series as well as Teds life and relationships. The second discusses how the police managed to catch Bundy and the victims as well as a survivor of an abducting that later testifies against Bundy. The third talks about Teds two escapes from custody. and finally the fourth talks about the trials and the circus that unfolds due to Bundy’s erratic behaviour.

I think the series is great and it’s interesting to hear Ted himself discuss the crimes even if he does talk about it in the third person. I am currently reading Anne Rule’s book: The Stranger Beside Me so I will say that although the series is good, there is a lot more information in Anne’s book. I think in the series a lot of the victims are overlooked and this book sets the scene of each victim's disappearance and sad demise.

★★★★★★★☆☆☆

[mollykathleens]

Hi, I’m Molly. I’m a Film and Television Production Student studying and London Metropolitan University. I’ve created this blog to post about my journey, inspirations and opinions. Hope you enjoy!