48 Hours of Furious Film-Making: Over

Well, we didn't make the final cut. We put something quite unique together but it seems the judges were going for jokey rather than thoughtful and quirky.

Our film 'Out of the Storm' presented fantastic camera work, precise editing, an original soundtrack and two promising young actors. We know we produced a quality product and WE ROCK!!

Sandra Toornstra Art

I fell in love with one of the mixed media artworks displayed recently on Sandra Toornstra's Dreamswork page. I contacted Sandra immediately with regards to purchase and soon it will be mine!

The moodiness of Sandra's figure work really appeals to me. This particular piece will be included in her Waihi exhibition over Queen's Birthday weekend. Not too long after that, it'll be hanging on my wall - which wall, I wonder? Deciding where to hang it could take a long, enjoyable time ...

Another fantastic meeting of romance writers yesterday. This time we met in the Waikato in New Zealand's rural heartland. Writer Gracie O'Neil gave a great presentation about critiquing. Lots of questions were asked and I'm sure we all went away newly inspired.

Our chapter of New Zealand Romance Writers is spread out across a large area so the journey to meetings can be quite lengthy - for some, a five-six hour round trip. For me anyway, the effort is always worthwhile and I return home encouraged, rejuvenated and with another layer added to my store of writerly knowledge.

The final cut of our short film was submitted on time. The first heats have been screened and we're waiting to see whether we step up to the next level. The genre we received was 'Nature Run Amok'. We took a serious approach to it rather than the comedic delivery we thought other teams might go for. Random elements that had to be included were a character called Alex Puddle who is an exaggerator, a rock, and this line of dialogue: "It doesn't fit". The MovieTime Productions team stayed up all night of Friday 8 May (first time I've stayed up all night since I don't know when - I think I've only achieved it once in my entire life) to write the screenplay.Only the producer and editor saw the final cut before it was submitted but the whole team was treated to a showing after the heats. Our local Basement Theatre kindly let us use their venue. Not specifically, but especially, because we're all first-timers at film-making we think we did a great job. The filming took place at Hells Gate, Andrew's camera work is fantastic, the music by local band Harvest is awesome, Carla's final edit is precise and the two young actors were naturals. On Tuesday 26 May at 10:00am we'll know whether we've gone up to the next level. WATCH THIS SPACE!

48 Hours of Furious Film-Making!

Where did April go?!

We're now shooting towards the May 8 beginning of the 48-hour Furious Film Making Competition. From 7:00pm May 8 to 7:00pm May 10 a small team led by MovieTime's Layla Robinson will be furiously making a short film. The genres have been posted and if you have a look you'll see they're endless! We won't know until 7:00pm Friday night what our genre will be so it's going to be a fast, furious and challenging weekend indeed! My involvement will mainly be with the screenplay which we have to complete Friday night - an all night session coming up.

Also fast and furious is whitewater rafting. Check out my latest Suite101 story about four whitewater rafting adventures in the Central Plateau.

Romance Writing? I haven't done very much of this at all and I need to get my act together to meet my 23 May deadline of having first chapter of my WIP completed. I thought my life would be slowing down about now, but it's definitely speeding up - hope my brain can keep up with the pace!