My final images from Toronto (until I get my film developed):

Mirrored from James Sharpe.

As part of the Short Film Movement Notes will be screening, amongst other films, at the 10 Gales in London tomorrow.  Here’s the beef:

‘I must Create a System, or be enslav’d by another Man’s; I will not
Reason and Compare : my business is to Create.’ William Blake

The Short Film Movement+
Film/ Art, Philosophy, Politics, Life & Literature

Many great short films are made and go unnoticed. Most of the time
they can be just as exhilarating and poignant as any feature.
The Short Film Movement+ not only celebrates short films, but also
recognises the importance of interrelating the language of film with
other art forms such as, poetry, music, dance and so forth.

The second series of gatherings will interpret and discuss Free Will/
Predestination.  Where will your opinion reside?

The cinematic debates will take place at the following:
07/01/11 10
Gales / www.10gales.co.uk  8pm
Housmans Bookshop  /  www.housmans.com
(R.S.V.P. required)

Come and be part of it theshortfilmmovement@gmail.com

Did you check out the 10 Gales site? Does this place not look awesome?  I will be in attendance, as will Ben Crystal (hopefully) so come and say hello!

Mirrored from James Sharpe.

Early in December the Cíclope international advertising craft festival took place in Buenos Aires, my video for Dan le Sac Vs Scroobious was chosen by Rae Ann Fera to be part of the unsigned directors showcase, which was a real honor.  Earlier this week I discovered Rae Ann had actually blogged about the festival and the unsigned showcase and thought it would be appropriate to share some of her thoughts here:

During my years at Boards, we regularly reviewed the reels of up-and-coming directors for our Directors to Watch and First Boards Awards features. These directors were in the early stages of building their careers, newly signed to production companies and benefiting from the expertise and infrastructure of a professional shop. So, when I took on this search for unsigned directors, I wasn’t sure what to expect. Well, I actually expected to find quite a lot of dreck. I won’t comment on some of the lesser quality reels, but I will say that I was more than impressed by the calibre of work that was put forth by the so-called “unsigned”.

You can read the rest of her post here as well as view all of the videos chosen for the showcase.

Mirrored from James Sharpe.

Mirrored from James Sharpe.

Mirrored from James Sharpe.

So 2010, farewell.  You were very good to me, I had a great year and I hope you did too.  I took a lot of photographs, spent a lot of time in Edinburgh, York, London and Canada and produced a great many more videos than I had in the past.  I progressed a great deal in 2010 with regards to actually being a "director".  I feel I can rightfully call myself a director in actual conversation now and not feel like I am slightly lying to people.  December was my busiest month ever; shooting, prepping and pitching.  The looming red suited fat beardness of xmas became a pain in the arse as it meant things had to grind to a halt for 2 weeks.

In 2011 I hope to progress further still and become a signed director for music videos and commercials and finalise my feature film script (which is close).  2010 for me was the year of the notebook – my most invaluable tool!  I have always used them but I write up everything in them now using a comfy retractable pencil.  Even this blog post originally.  It turns out my brain actually works surprisingly better when I write things out, opening my mind up for further ideas and inspiration.  Perhaps it has something to do with me not growing up typing at a computer.  I can type super fast, at least at the speed I can think, but that is somehow the problem and blocks creative thinking.  Writing things out you have to think about every word.  I believe Neil Gaiman hand writes everything.  It works for me anyway and I am about to embark on a rewrite of my feature film script and this time I am doing it off the top of my head (from an outline) into A4 notebooks.  We shall see how that goes.

To round of 2010 (rather than waffling about notebooks and pencil…on the internet!) I would like to say thank you to a lot of rather super people who have made this year particularly excellent: Adam Etherington: for his patience, superb skills and dedication.  I owe you.  Owen Davies: for all the work through difficult circumstances together this year and for being a fantastic collaborator.  Darius Powell: For all the courses, help and freedom you have given me and for being lovely all the time. Sam Jordan: For the wicked camera / editing skills and all the general help and support over the past year.  Ben Crystal: for all the support and advice with regards to Notes and for writing a great book.  Rob Newman and Jamie Cattermole: for their amazing ears and minds for the music they created this year.  Matt Stronge: For being an awesome, calm producer in the face of impending chaos.  Carl Bryan: he knows how awesome he is.  Matt Clark for all his work on the Cauliflower video and for being Matt Clark.  Peter Emery: for continuing advice, help and pints.  And of course Lizabeth: who gets thanked in person everyday and does not need me to write down here how special she is.

Honorable mentions go to anyone who has helped me in any way this year.  Be it advice, passing my videos around or simply retweeting things.  Greggles: for opening his new home to us.  Simon Arnold: for all his help at various points throughout the year and for being nice through it all.  Caroline at Radar.  Followers on Flickr and Twitter.  And Mum and Dad for being the best.  And you if you are reading this or have watched of my work or supported me in anyway go and have some chocolate.  Go on.  No, the nice chocolate.

Also, good luck to all the students I taught in 2010.

All the best!

J

(PS sorry if I forgot someone!)

Mirrored from James Sharpe.

Ah, my yearly look back on my music listening habits courtesy of a screen cap from my Last.fm stats.  I do not have a huge amount to say about the list.  Sadly I have purchased a lot less music this, money being an issue but also accessibility and lack of recommendations (except from Kirk, who recommended me Adebisi Shank and El Ten Eleven back in October, in Canada).  I attended less gigs as well.  Although seeing Los Campesinos! twice was a highlight, especially the London Wichita show.

Mirrored from James Sharpe.

Mirrored from James Sharpe.

Back on the blog: still trying to get the last of my photos from Canada online as I’ve got some lovely long exposures of the recent snow, or FROZEN BRITAIN as the media have been referring to it as.  Anyway, Toronto:

Mirrored from James Sharpe.