I come from an artistic family, and we would often have themed birthday parties. For example, a vivid memory from my childhood is my Indiana Jones themed birthday, when my family and I replicated scenes and sets from this film series: the monkey brain dessert, the giant boulder, the trials from the Last Crusade etc. Because of this childhood, I find it easy to imagine a world that’s more exciting than our own, and I have the ability to develop these ideas.
I have been encouraged by all my teachers to develop my artistic skills, as well as excel in my academic studies. During my childhood, my artwork and creative writings were submitted to national competitions, winning prizes in the Texaco Art Competition and the Write a Book competition.
Along with writing scripts for films, I also write poetry. Here are two poems from my first collection “Daughter Earth, Mother Milky Way.” The poems are called “Pounce” and “Sleeveless Heart”, my poetry deals with themes of loneliness, love, and family.
To practice creative fiction writing, I wrote a short story based on the prompt “Isn’t that funny, and sad, too?”.
For an example of academic writing, here is my essay on the impact of the film “Birth of a Nation” on race relations in the USA.
Here is my first essay at BFS “Breaking the Binary: How the Queer Gaze is enacted in Celine Sciamma’s Tomboy(2011) & Sally Potter’s Orlando (1993)”.
During a work placement with the Irish Independent, I wrote an opinion piece entitled “Green Wave is not a trend” which was published, and also an unpublished article about the granting of an “Offshore Exploration licence”.
My Film Concept Work
As I go about my day I get ideas for films, which I capture in my notebooks.
I enjoy developing concepts for films, developing characters, sets, the purpose of the film and much more. I intend to develop these into films, when I have the means.
For example, here is the initial concept for a feature film in the science fiction genre, entirely set in a ‘lighthouse’ in space (click to expand image). One of the two lighthouse keepers dies, and the film explores the isolation and dangers faced by the remaining keeper.
Another example, I read a science fiction novel called “The Long Way to a Small Angry Planet”, and it fired my imagination, so I developed concept art for a film and developed some of the characters (click to expand image):
I like to write the script when I know the beats of the story. I write the scenes separately, and then put them in the order that makes sense for the narrative arc.
For example, the script, storyboards and other materials for the short film Witch Hunt, along with the lessons I learned, can be found on the page critical analysis of Witch Hunt.
Similarly, for the short film The Inspector there are scripts, storyboards and other materials on the page critical analysis of The Inspector.
As my mother was an art teacher, I have always had access to art supplies. She taught me many different techniques and I was able to develop my own style, preferring bold colours and contrasts over realism. As a child, I also used to create stories in a comic book format, I think that experience has made me more comfortable with story-boarding today.
I particularly enjoy drawing and painting portraits (click to expand image), and I am drawn more towards the human figure in my art, over landscapes and still-life.
In school I have worked on a lot of development drawings to explore themes and concepts, below are some examples:
