Author Archives: Aidan

Preview: This Is England '86 {TV}

Posted on by

Set three years on from Shane Meadows’ Bafta winning film This Is England, Chris de Burgh is top of the charts and over 3.4 million britons are unemployed. This Is England in the year 1986. A four-part serial for Channel 4 revisiting the original gang from the acclaimed film.

.

Hapless Shaun (Thomas Turgoose) has just finished his final school exam and is a magnet for trouble and bullys. A chance encounter reunites him with Woody (Joe Gilgun), Lol (Vicky McClure), Smell (Rosamund Hanson) and the others and soon the past is forgotten. The gang are back together and they’re all looking for love, a laugh, a job and something that resembles a future.

.

This is filmmaker Shane Meadows’ television debut and speaking at a Q&A after the preview screening he made it clear that he didn’t see Television as a stepping stone into film and that he’d grown up watching great made for TV films. He did however say

“UK telly has gone to s***. It really has it’s appalling, but American TV, the new type of shows they’re making like the Sopranos and the Wire are great. That’s how people want to watch TV today, several episodes back to back. They want to sit with the missus and watch a 12 hour film. It’s an event.”

Meadow’s brought in help to bring the much anticipated follow up to TV. That help came in the form of co-writer Jack Thorne (The Scouting Book For Boys, Skins) and sharing the directing of the series with Tom Harper (Misfits). It’s no suprise then that the series is packed full of both hilarious and touching moments.

.

Judging by the preview clips of the rest of the series, it looks to become edgier and darker as it progresses. Meadows hints at a dramatic turn of events midway through the series and looks at it as “sort of like two separate films”. The soundtrack was evolved from music the actors were listening to on their mp3 players to get into character and from a stack of discs that the two directors shared between each other leading to a soundtrack that’s not cliche or packed full of well known 80’s chart toppers.

.

This Is England ’86 looks to be a hit for Channel 4, another beautiful and gritty flagship show with a lot of potential. Who knows, maybe we’ll be seeing This Is England in the 1990’s in the future…

This Is England ’86 starts on the 7th September on Channel 4


Dress your iPad – Best iPad Cases {Gadgets}

Posted on by

So you bought an iPad…then the shop assistant tried to upsell to you a boring ‘executive’ case that’s so uninspiring the only thing you could think of to say was “errrm”.

Well we’ve scoured the internet to find the best-est (-sic) cases around at the moment so that you can dress your new friend.

LaCie Vegetal Sleeve, £34.99

For the eco-friendly iPad owner, LaCie’s Vegetal Sleeve is made from plant materials sourced from Europe. They feature a soya–based memory foam cushion to protect your gadget from everyday bumps, a linen exterior, and bamboo jersey lining. Comes in different sizes for laptops.

.

Byrd & Belle iPad Sleeve, $48

Chic 100% Felted Wool sleeve with a simple leather fastening. This high quality felt is a sustainable and renewable material and offers strength while remaining soft to the touch.

Simple, low fuss and ooh it also comes in ‘graphite’.

.

.

.

M-Edge Trip Jacket, $49.99

Pretend your iPad is a Moleskine sketchbook if you like. The Trip opens like a book and fastens with elastic. Made from canvas with a leather trim and comes in a variety of colours.

.

.

Pro-Tec Bamboo iPad Case, £24.95

Covers the back and edges of the case so you’re still going to need to find a way to protect the screen if you’re going out and about. If you’re using it only in the comfort of your own home then this slick eco case is ideal.

.

.

.

Cool Bananas Envelope Case, £24.95

It’s in the shape of an envelope! OK, it’s not fooling anyone but at least it looks good. White leather with a soft velour lining and magnetic clasp.

Prefer it in a different colour? they’ve got it in black leather as well.

.

.

If these don’t tickle your fancy then there are bucket loads of amazing cases on Etsy.com. Here’s just a few that will sell out really quickly…

Great Wave off Kanawaga Sleeve, £46.28

Print onto leather, lined with wool blend felt from Tinderbloom

FARRAGO Leather iPad Case with Strap, £55.54

Don’t be put off by the berry pink, it also comes in manly and neutral colours. No magnetic fastenings so you don’t need to worry about your screen going funny.

Thin Leather Case, £29.99

Really testing the definition of handmade, this one is so unique it comes in ‘Blown’.

New HD video DSLR – Nikon D3100 {Electronics}

Posted on by

Nikon have announced a new entry level DLSR with HD video recording capability. The camera features a guide mode that helps users capture images just as they intended.

D3100 with AF-S DX NIKKOR 18-55mm f/3.5-5.6G VR

D3100 with AF-S DX NIKKOR 18-55mm f/3.5-5.6G VR

Ok, so DLSR cameras have been able to record video for a while now and are more and more often being used on professional indie productions. The Nikon D3100 has something up its sleeve. The AF-F mode allows autofocusing during while recording video without the need to keep refocusing manually. Capturing images at 14 megapixels and video at 1,920 x 1,080; 24fps and 1,280 x 720; 30fps, it also has a built in microphone.

For the moment there are more specs on the Nikon D3100 here but no word on a price or release for the UK market.

Google Alerts, Market Research for Actors | The Film Set

Posted on by

There, I said it…market research.

It’s not called Showbusiness for nothing, there are plenty of amazing Actors out there who are incredibly talented but have never had a paid acting job and there’s nothing wrong with that but if you want to make a career from Acting it makes sense to treat it as a business…That means doing all the boring stuff like tax returns, PR and market research.

(yeh yeh Gen, what about this Google Alerts thing) Chill out inner monologue, I’m getting to it.

What is Google Alerts?

Google Alerts are email updates of the latest relevant Google results (web, news, etc.) You enter the topic you want to keep tabs on and they send you an email when there’s a new result.

The alerts get emailed to you at a frequency you chose or you could opt to receive it via an RSS feed if you have a Google account. Users with Google Accounts can also view, create, edit and delete their alerts using the “Manage your Alerts” page.

What can it be used for?

You can have an alert for yourself (err, it’s not vain), any competitors, any productions that you are really keen on, open auditions in your town, casting directors, that TV show you’re owed repeat fees for, your mates, your mum…the list is endless. (Actually I just learnt the list is limited to 1000 per email address but that’s still a fair few)

Let’s take this scenario for example…there’s a Hypothetical Theatre down the road in the town of Blah where you live. They put their castings up on their website but checking their website everyday is absurd. So, you set up a Google Alert for [“Hypothetical Theatre” Blah Casting] and hooray! When they announce their next casting on their website you’ll be the first to know.

That’s a bit sly isn’t it?

You might think it’s a bit sly but PR companies get paid tons to collect clippings for companies and Google themselves suggest using Alerts for the following things:

” – monitoring a developing news story

– keeping current on a competitor or industry

– getting the latest on a celebrity or event”

What about if there’s more than one person with the same name…

There are folk in the world who have completely unique names…Google Alerts for them are simple and straightforward. However, if you’re searching for a person that has a common name and you don’t want updates on everyone with that particular name, Google have thought of this too and have help guides with some advanced tips.

So for example if you’re searching for someone called thingymabob, and there’s another thingymabob who’s a high profile baker, all you need to do is put a minus (-) sign in front of a keyword attached to the other thingymabob you don’t want to know about. Your search would look like this [“thingymabob” -baker]

My top tip

If you haven’t already got a Google account then head on down and get one. Then instead of choosing to have the alerts sent to you vie email you can receive them to your Google Reader as an RSS feed.

[Google Alerts]

Genevieve Sibayan is a London based Actress, you can find Genevieve’s blog here and get updates by clicking on her rss feed. If you’d like to subscribe to The Film Set on Frost Magazine then click here.

Advice Blogs for Actors {The Film Set | Genevieve Sibayan}

Posted on by

Like every actor out there, I have a stack of books sitting on a shelf gathering dust becoming more and more irrelevant by the minute. There are some good informative books, but they’re becoming the exception rather than the norm. Sometimes I look at my stack of irrelevant books and resent them for costing me (taunting me with their perfect spines) especially as there is so much fantastic advice and information out there on the internet. Here’s a few below, these are just the ones I subscribe to so there may be tons more. Let me know if you find any.

 

Bonnie Gilespie’s Blog – The Actor’s Voice

There is so much amazing info here, all for free. Everything here is positive, inspiring and useful. Casting Director Bonnie Gilespie has clearly put a lot of time into this column on Showfax and even though she’s US based, it’s relevant internationally.

rss feed: http://more.showfax.com/columns/avoice/index.xml

The Actor’s Voice – POV

Showfax, wiz all zis information your are really spoiling uz. This time it’s Bonnie Gilespie and friends. Friends being people in the biz, and there’s quite a few. By a few I mean tons.

rss feed: http://more.showfax.com/plus/pov/index.xml

The Casting Corner

Another column on Showfax, this time from Casting Director Mark Sikes. Mark posts some great advice on a weekly basis…he’s there every week.

rss feed: http://more.showfax.com/columns/corner/index.xml

The Actor Cast Blog

Yet more great advice. ActorCast is a US based web service allowing Actors to submit directly to Casting Directors existing services. Their blog has articles, How to guides, Q&A’s and Open calls.

rss feed: http://actorcastblog.com/blog/?feed=rss2

Backstage Magazine

A US trade journal for Actors proving just how much of an industry this actually is. They have a regular advice column.

rss: http://feeds.feedburner.com/Backstage-Columns

Playbills vs. Paying Bills

Advice and insight from three actors from across the pond. Ben Whitehair, Joe Von Bokern and Emily Beuchat share their stories, resources, recommendations and stuff from their respective acting scenes in LA, Chicago and New York. Read it, you will be entertained and you will learn things!

rss feed: http://playbillsvspayingbills.com/?feed=rss2

The Film Set – Frost Magazine

Brought to you by a couple of London actresses…Catherine Balavage and Genevieve Sibayan. Ok! ok, you caught me, this suggestion’s a little biased but we do have some interviews with fantastic casting directors and people involved in Film and TV.

rss: http://feeds.feedburner.com/FrostMagazineTheFilmSet

Know any more blogs that I’ve missed out? Leave me a comment below and I’ll update the post.

Update:

Minimum Wage Actors [Thanks Pete Jenkinson for this one]

News about National Minimum Wage stories affecting or having affected Actors and Performers.

rss: http://actorsminimumwage.wordpress.com/feed/


.

Genevieve Sibayan is a London based Actress, you can find Genevieve’s blog here and get updates by clicking on her rss feed. If you’d like to subscribe to The Film Set on Frost Magazine then click here.

What is an RSS feed? And some (probably) useful feeds for Actors {The Film Set | Genevieve Sibayan}

Posted on by

I don’t want to patronise you…so if you already know all this then scroll down for some (probably) useful feeds…if you think “hmm, feed, omnomnom” then keep reading.

What is an RSS feed?

RSS stands for Rich Site Summary Really Simple Syndication. It’s basically a way of subscribing to a blog or website or any number of things that publish content on a regular basis.

The RSS feed tells your RSS Reader that you’d like to receive updates as and when they happen. By subscribing to a site’s feed in Reader, you will automatically be notified when that website contains new posts or entries. Instead of checking sites repeatedly for updates, RSS feeds bring your favorite websites to you.

This means that you can be kept up to date with a web site and you don’t need to use your bookmarks or clutter up your email inbox with newsletters. Those of us who are Blackberry owners know the feeling of newsletter-overload-itis.

Err…what’s an RSS Reader?

An RSS Reader works a little like an email account. You can subscribe to all the feeds from different sites or sources you like and star, label or organise them into folders just like you can your email account. If you have a Google account then you are already set up for Google Reader, you just need to click on the text link at the top of your Google account page.

If you don’t want to use Google Reader then there are loads of readers out there (here’s a short list) and you can also get them in app form.

Right, got my Feed Reader…now what?

Go to the website you want to receive updates for and look for the feed icon…

When you see it on a website, clicking will usually direct you to that site’s feed. From there, you can either copy and paste the link to subscribe to the feed in Reader, or in the case of many browsers, click a button to subscribe directly.

If that doesn’t happen then right click on the icon and copy the link address. You can then use that address in your reader if you look for the Add Subscription link.

What’s the point again?

Ok, yes you have Twitter and Facebook and email newsletters and people telling you Eastenders spoilers over BBM (yeh, er thanks for that) but with social media and time differences you can miss things and a huge amount of the info isn’t relevant. Cue distraction and reading about peoples lunches and kittens. Readwriteweb.com has a great post on why feed readers rock.

Yeh but…what’s the point again?

You can use RSS feeds to get updates from Casting Directors blogs, updates for productions that are casting, industry news, Google Alerts (which I will go into in more detail about in the future), advice columns and even Youtube Channels.

If you want to follow a youtube channel the feed address is as follows: http://gdata.youtube.com/feeds/base/users/[insert username here]/uploads

You can also use feeds to publicise your own stuff, your blogs, news updates on your website, your webseries channel etc.

Can you give us some examples?

Firstly I have to point out that these question headers are coming from my inner monologue who has just refered to itself as “us”. Should I be worried?

And yes, I can give you some examples…

The Stage – News Headlines and Features

UK pride and joy of the theatrical society The Stagehas almost 600 subscribers via rss alone proving it’s still relevant.

News rss: http://feeds.feedburner.com/TheStageNews

Features rss: http://feeds.feedburner.com/TheStageFeatures

ScreenTerrier

A great new UK blog with news on young british actors. Breaks the occasional story about castings. The feed isn’t even publicised on their site but already has plenty of followers.

rss: http://screenterrier.blogspot.com/feeds/posts/default

The Casting Scoop

USA based with lotsa info and insight but how else would I know that Twilight CD Lana Veenker is holding a workshop in London…

rss: http://castingscoop.blogspot.com/feeds/posts/default

Nancy Bishop’s Blog

Casting director Nancy Bishop’s blog mostly contains updates about events, seminars, links to webinars and projects she’s casting all in THE BIGGEST FONT EVER. I picked up her book recently and I recommend it to any screen actor. Nancy is based in Prague but works internationally.

rss: http://nancybishopcasting.blogspot.com/feeds/posts/default

Bafta Events Feed

Even if you’re not a member you can still go to some of the Bafta events. If you do go…remember to ring the doorbell. Or just hang around outside for a few minutes and giggle at people tugging at the door handles in vain. Not that I do that…honestly!

rss: http://www.bafta.org/events.xml

The Film Set – Frost Magazine

Subscribe to this feed…this actual feed that you’re reading now. A UK based column with interviews with Casting Directors actors etc…run by a couple of Actresses that go by the names of Catherine Balavage and Genevieve Sibayan. Errr…yeh that’s us.

rss: http://feeds.feedburner.com/FrostMagazineTheFilmSet

 

Genevieve’s Feed

That’s me! I’m the one writing this. Subscribe to it…if you like.

rss feeeeeed: http://feeds.feedburner.com/GenevieveSibayan

I don’t wanna overwhelm you so I will stop but rest assured you WILL be getting more suggestions on ace blogs to follow wether you like it or not. Blogs from people who have much better advice than little old me! Tata for now folks!

.

.

Genevieve Sibayan is a London based Actress, you can find Genevieve’s blog here and get updates by clicking on her rss feed. If you’d like to subscribe to The Film Set on Frost Magazine then click here.

Coffin Helps Screw Your Dead Relatives, into the Ground {R&D and Inventions}

Posted on by

Californian inventor Donald Scruggs has been granted a patent on the most morbid gadget you might ever not experience. As burial space in cemeteries runs thin with all the horizontal resters, Donald wants you to remain on your feet to conserve precious burial space.

Scruggs’ has been granted a patent on a giant, screw-shaped coffin into which is loaded your inanimate corpse, ready to be twisted into the ground. The patent application was filed back in 2006, you probably don’t need to read it to get the idea but take a look at the drawings.

One of the main problems was making a shell that could withstand the twisting forces involved. While the patent has been granted, Scruggs is still working on prototypes to overcome this. No digging is needed as the coffin displaces dirt as it is screwed into the ground. This might even be a comfort to those with a fear of being buried alive as the lid could be made with an emergency exit, this also ruins many movie plot devices.

Easy Inter Burial Container [Google Patents]

Screw It, You’re Dead Anyway [Discovery News]

Inventor Donald Scruggs and the Screw-in Coffin [Discover]