A series of shorts

After being slowly introduced to the course during the week one, it's safe to say that week two, and three and four, came as quite a shock. One fateful weekend, after being lulled into a false sense of security, and expecting a nice relaxing weekend reading books and watching films, we received out first batch of deadlines, and as such, I've not blogged in a few weeks.

Since the last post, I've completed two drafts of a ten minute film and am currently working towards draft three. I've pitched an idea for a feature film to the class. And I've written the first and second draft of a thirty minute film treatment, in which I have 23 days left to write. We've been given film analysis assignments, one due in November and the other in December. And if that wasn't enough, it's about time we really thought about the feature we want to write over Christmas, and think about completing our development logs. But I'm not complaining. This is why were here, and it's awesome!

The first two weekends were spent writing my scripts, and I didn't exactly sleep either. I felt like a paranoid insomniac, aka, a writer.  But now we've reached a natural lull, where the first few drafts are in and we have a few weeks without lectures to get them written and to get our films analysed. I've been doing my own analysis too and reading lots of scripts. My personal favourite so far has to be The Visitor, written by Tom McCarthy and How to Train Your Dragon. The best part of the course has been helping each other out. Reading each other's scripts and giving feedback. Without this feedback and constant re-writing the scripts would never develop to their true potential and I'm glad to have these guys in our own little (or actually rather big) writing circle.

Down by the lake

Still, we've found a little bit of time to unwind. Last week it was Anja's birthday, and so we all decided to humiliate her by singing happy birthday in the bar followed by lots of beer and karaoke! Not a bad way to spend Wednesday night! I've also managed to get out and about and explore a little more of Tampere. I reached the lake at the North of the city and found a nice spot to sit and watch the world pass by. This weekend, we're heading out to Petra's summer cottage (in the autumn, of course) and are set to spend much time in sauna and lake. Too bad there wont be any snow to roll in, but I'm sure there will be plenty of beer and much fun to counter the intense weeks gone and intense weeks to come.