So many exciting things

A lot of things are going on right now, and a lesser man would be struggling to keep on top of things.

I am struggling to keep on top of things.

This time of year is always rather stressful at work with deadlines approaching for my students, only this time round I have my own deadlines to contend with too. However, I'm always up for new challenges and projects to keep me on my toes, so in the last couple of weeks i've also taken on a couple of freelance projects. Both I find truly enthralling, challenging too, which is something I've been enjoying putting myself through this year.

The first project is called 'Yarris' A film maker from London has been working on a film for the past 3-4 years, a powerful documented interview with Nick Yarris. A man who was charged with a crime he didn't commit and found himself on death row for 23 years. Eventually he was released as new evidence was discovered.

My role in this project is to complete the trailer for the film, with the goal being to then use it to find funding for the completion of the feature. Whether or not I'll play any role in the project after this initial work is unknown, but the opportunity to be part of this project is something I just couldn't turn down.

Here's the trailer so far:

Yarris - trailer from Chris Riley on Vimeo.

Strong stuff I feel.

The second project is even fresher in it's creation process. A student who studied on the Media Production MA at the University of Lincoln about 3 years ago got in touch with me on monday this week. I taught him for maybe 3 hours during his time at the uni, but back then we clicked as we shared the same goals in terms of production, plus he's a thoroughly nice chap. Well he remembered me, and the things i'm capable of producing and wanted to bring me in as a Visual Effects supervisor / creative mind on his next short. He now runs his own film production company based in Lincoln called Red Dog Film. I met up with him for an hour yesterday to talk through the idea and to see what I could bring to the project. It was all very positive, and the timeframe of this works really well for me, as the bulk of the work will take place during the summer after all my deadlines.


Oh and I've got a few mini photography project ideas on the go too. Nothing that is related to this course at present, just some practice and portfolio potential. Things that don't require too much research and development. Just an idea and a camera.

Yet I find myself loving this process, so there is always R+D somewhere in all the work I produce.