Slept in really late, only really rising about 1pm. Really needed the sleep, because I'm not sleeping so good at the moment. I think that's the main reason I've been feeling so crappy lately. It's stress of course, worrying about money and the future mostly. But there are a few bright things on the horizon, so I shouldn't be too bleak.

Went down town with Ted, my son, to do some Christmas shopping. Well Ted shopped and I dropped.

Hattie had her friend Chloe over for a sleepover, so she was out of the frame most of the day. Ted was playing some online pirate game and Mia was designing Christmas stuff on her computer. So all in all a pretty quiet day.

I spent a bit of time talking to Matt Kelland on Yahoo messenger, mostly about the film. Basically hammered out a basic synopsis from which I can develop a more detailed one.

The story is kind of being evolved by me, my friend Brent Jackson, Matt Kelland a little bit and Mia. They'll get a "story by" credit on the movie... :) So far it's shaping up very nicely. I have to do that proposal for my 3D book tomorrow some time. I need to get it in so they can chew it over over the holidays, then with any luck we can sign a contract in January and I can get started on the book. Should only take about 4 months to do, if I write up a really tight schedule. I should have time next term, apart from the student video project and planning for the shoot at Easter break which might get in the way a little bit.

Believe it or not I'm thinking about my next movie already. I know it's stupid being as I haven't even got this one done yet, let alone written, but I reckon if the vampire movie gets made I'll be chomping at the bit to do another one before too long. I have it in mind to do a sci-fi one next time. My favourite kind of sci-fi movies are the ones that are basically submarine movies - some people trapped in a space ship and either they have to get to safety or they have something in there with them which they have to destroy. What's brought this on? Well I found an old photonovel from about 1979 containing the movie "Alien" and it got me thinking. "Star Wars" the original movie, not all the sequels, and "Alien" are probably my favourite sci-fi movies of all time. They pretty much changed the way all sci-fi movies are made forever. Maybe I can try to get at the essence of what made both those movies groundbreaking and try and do something which builds on that essence rather than just copies it. Hmm, food for thought.

After a week and a half of feeling non-specifically rotten, I finally gave up.

Went in at the normal time to the school, but really apparent even by nine thirty that I wasn't going to make it all day. I still had the huge headache, running a temperature and I had stomach cramps. Told a co-worker around 11am that I couldn't continue and went home. I say went home but actually I have a one and half hour drive home so I had to weave my way through traffic feeling really rough for an hour or so.

Went to bed but couldn't sleep so I surfed the Internet doing research for my film script. God bless the wireless Internet. Finally fell asleep around 4pm just in time for the kids to come home from school and wake me up. (sigh)

Got some good ideas for the script. While I'm home alone over Christmas I'm going to write the script. The kids are going to their mum's house in Cornwall, and Mia is going to Finland to visit her folks. So I'll be in blissful isolation for a whole week. Should be enough time to thrash out a first draft, and frankly I'm really excited about the story as it's shaping up really nicely.

More about that tomorrow.

Spent the whole day pretty much at the theatre today. The Redgrave Theatre in Clifton, Bristol is host to our annual christmas production, this year predicably it's "The Lion The Witch and the Wardrobe". It's my job to film it for the archive, and for interactive video. The filming went well, but the dress rehearsal was a bit difficult. There were a number of technical problems with the set, but it is a pretty ambitious show. Lots of scene changes and special effects, and it's a real challenge. But I guess you could say if you can do that then you can do anything, which as we are training these guys for being professionals can only be a good thing.

Got home really late. Feeling really under the weather still. Thinking I might not make it in to work tomorrow as I have a huge headache. I got lots of things to take care of so I'll see how I go. Maybe go in for a bit and then come home after everything's sorted.

I've been obsessed by Technicolor today.

My friend Matt Kelland (of the hugely cool cutting edge digital filmmaking company Short Fuze) idly mentioned that he's a huge Fay Wray fan and that she wasn't a natural blonde and all that blonde hair was actually a wig. I read I biog on IMDB to check this out, and noticed that Fay Wray was in some early "2 colour" Technicolor films. That set me thinking. One of the things I wanted for my horror movie was really lovely saturated colour, like the old Hammer movies, or that two colour process they used to use in the 1930s, or combination of the two.

It turns out that the two colour process is called Technicolor Process 2, and the three colour one is called Process 3. It's really cool actually, as the real process involves two or three black and white film strips with colour filters at the filming end, which were combined at the print stage after being dyed the right colour to make a projectable colour film. I did a little bit of research, well two hours or so off and on, and it turns out it is in fact possible to simulate these processes, using modern digital compositing packages. Wow. How cool would it be to have the film look as though it was done in real Technicolor? Maybe I can say it was filmed in glorious Techiecolor or Technidigicolor. :)

You can do it in various compositing programs like Fusion and Shake and After Effects, and I actually found someone on the web, Patrick Sheffield, who had made free plugins for doing the same thing using Final Cut Pro. Fortunately for me I was going to use FCP to cut my horror movie so that was a really good fit. I'll be testing the filters out as soon as I get FCP sorted out on my computer.

IN any event, I'll be using SOME kind of process to make my film look like the old Technicolor horror movies, whatever that might be.

Done loads more work on the plotting of the movie, plus I've chosen my dream list of cast and crew from the pool of current and past students at the School, all trained by me. Mwah hah haaaaah. Now all I have to do is finish the script and shoot it.

"All."

Tsk!

Took Hattie to work with me today, because having a big white bandage on her hand meant she couldn't write or do any useful work anyway.

She busied herself in the staff room on the Internet doing her school project, printing out stuff and pictures she could write up later in the week when she has her hand back.

Then she watched "Once Upon A Time In Mexico" and all the extras, as I have that and "Sin City" on an almost permanent loop in my office anyway.

We had a good time hanging out all day, and we returned home and I gave her that copy of The Sims 2 on PS2 that I've been keeping a secret from her. She was really jazzed and played it till about 8.30pm when she went to bed. Mia wasn't feeling so good so we all had an early night, falling asleep to a few episodes of "CSI".

I don't like Mondays.

Today was no exception. I had it all worked out, do a morning's work, go and see the school chaplain at home and reformat his computer which is going nuts at the moment, then back for an afternoon's work, then home early. Well I got home early but not for the reasons I thought I would.

I got a call at the Reverend's house saying my daughter Hattie had burned herself during a DT lesson and could I come back to take her to the A&E department at the local hospital. Drove home like a bat out of hell with all kinds of Darth Vader style images of her burned arm whizzing through my mind. Got there and she had really minor burns on her thumb and fingers through picking up a hot metal thing from the forge without a glove on.

Took her up to the hospital and they dressed the wound with special bandages. We have to come back tomorrow and get them changed.

Basically Hattie's fingers and a whole afternoon of useful time got burned.

Arse!

Ok if you missed yesterday's entry then check it out, it was a lulu. Big rant about movies, and if I asked you by text or msg to read the blog in the last 24 hours then that was I one I was talking about not this one, ok?

Not much doing today, another late night followed by a late morning. Watched TV most all of the day including all the nine back episodes of "My Name Is Earl" I didn't see yet. Then we watched the Disney movie "Home on the Range" which was pretty funny. Then we watched Penn and Teller's brand new TV special "Off The Deep End" where they do a whole magic show underwater. Really cool.

Tonight we are I think watching the latest episode of "Medium" from season 2 plus season 2 episodes of "Desperate Housewives", I think 6 and 7. I just burned them to disc so we're all set. Someone spark up the divx player...

Really looking forward to Christmas, at this point, which is surprising as I'm really broke and have a lot of shit jobs to do before the festive season really kicks in. I dunno, some people hate Christmas, but me? It doesn't matter how crappy a time I'm having I always have a ball.

Laters.