May 04, 2008
Busy Busy Busy...
In preperation for bigger things and to also expand my knowledge
I am training myself in an area that I thought I would never really revisit properly and would want to seriously do for others....
Web Design.. I'm going beyond the WYSIWYG approach and exploring deeper into the coding side of things. I have an understanding of various web coding from the many times I have played with making sites for myself in the past and present. But now I'm learning more about how to use the knowledge I have to understand fully how things work and how to solve problems that have stumped me in the past.
I'm currently exploring other websites, looking at their source code and working out how they are built whilst also going through tutorials on the W3schools site.
I am rather enjoying this, I'm taking it serious as if I was back in Uni attending lectures, making notes and putting it into practice.
Expect to see more news on my progress later, attached under Jammy Custard
Posted by Matthew at 10:20 PM | Comments (0)
April 10, 2008
Site Update and Stuff
Ok so things are looking more professional around here. Firstly the website is now www.matthewcreed.co.uk and secondly.. the site looks really sweet in my opinion. I am still working on the portfolio page there's only images and a little comment for 2 sections on there at the moment but eventually i'll have more of my own work showcasing on there.
In other news, JammyCustard is happening...
Posted by Matthew at 02:19 PM | Comments (0)
February 24, 2008
New Design and Motivation
It's been a while since making a post here.
I have been busy working full time, and working on various projects, but more on that another time. Things are happening at the moment, i'm really motivated and pushing towards bigger things. So to start this new year and to show how things are moving on, I have started by redeveloping my website, giving it a look and feel that I am happy to leave it at, as I have no intention of going back to redevelop it again.
I want it left with this design as it will only be something on the side now with only the Blog being updated.
later on I will reveal more about a big project I am working on, but in the meantime keep checking the website for updates as its being developed
Posted by Matthew at 03:40 PM | Comments (0)
August 03, 2007
Shenanigans
So yea,
Lately I have been sorting my life out, finding a full time job and enjoying time with my girlfriend, whilst also working on other projects.
The main project I am working on which I reckon will be on for a few years is titled as 'Magna-Opus', I'm not revealing too much yet, but its basically a form of experimentation for now.
I'm now just getting back into doing some animation and drawing again, trying to get back into my old habit of making sure I do at least one creative thing a day. So now i'm looking back into Armature construction to work on some tests
But the majority of developments film wise will progres around november time onwards I should imagine once I have some money behind me to fund these other projects
Also, Optimus Prime is going to Iraq? Clicky Here
Posted by Matthew at 07:51 PM | Comments (0)
June 25, 2007
General Larking About
I havn't posted in a while or made any general updates due to alot of stuff going on.
Lately I have been working on completing my bedroom. tidying, reorganising and setting up new furniture to make it a better working environment. I've been working on another project collaborating with Paddy, whilst also at the same time working on building a website for an established book Author.
But when I'm not working I have been out and about, been spending time with my girlfriend and friends, been to see Muse at Wembley Stadium and also hunting for a job to get me some income.
Also recently I attended a small awards ceremony, where my film 'Dave' was nominated for 'Best Structure/Script'.
The film didn't win, but to be nominated at least is an achievment in itself, so i'm quite pleased
So that's all for now. just need to complete this website by adding new links for my films and any other content that isn't finished yet
On another note, I gave blood today for the first time, so i'm quite pleased with myself
Posted by Matthew at 10:43 PM | Comments (0)
June 02, 2007
Wesbite new design
Stay tuned as the site goes under major changes
Posted by Matthew at 05:59 PM | Comments (0)
November 19, 2006
Ray Harryhausen
Inspiring
Posted by Matthew at 09:34 PM | Comments (0)
October 18, 2006
Nightmare in 3D
Whoa.. Just whoa!
The Nightmare Before Christmas is one of my favourite animated films, and it's coming back to the cinema! but in 3D! i.e. 3D glasses!
I'm very excited about that at the moment, I remember when it first came out in the cinemas back in 1993 I think it was. I hope it's not just in selected cinemas when its out for nationwide release (have to wait and see)
Either way I shall be seeing it
Posted by Matthew at 08:21 PM | Comments (0)
October 07, 2006
Pipe Dream
How cool is this?
Posted by Matthew at 10:25 PM | Comments (0)
September 05, 2006
Torchwood
So after a night of social drinking with a friend, we decided to go home and have an early night. Where on our journey we encountered an area of film crew filming for the Doctor Who spinoff series Torchwood.
we stayed there for nearly 2hours, watching the same scene get redone over and over. With Oz's loud talking we managed to get "Captain Jack's" attention and we began talking to him and then to the sound guy of the set (Oz does music tech in uni). It was quite fascinating being on set and seeing things come together. Watching the actors acting and watching the crew do there jobs. On set I noticed that I knew one of the film crew so that was cool. It was so good being on set and talking to these people and getting tips on how to get into the industry. Oz managed to come away with the sound guy's phone number, so he's now got himself a contact for if he wishes to pursue into this direction for his career.
Well anyway the scene that was being filmed involved a woman on some sort of date? with a guy, they were talking but I couldn't hear what was being said.
Captain Jack then runs over saying something along the lines of: "hey we gotta go"
The woman gets up to go where her date? gets up and retaliates "who's this?"
Woman: "this is jack, he's my boss"
Dude: "you can't go, sit the fuck down"
Jack "Hey! Hey!"
some more dialogue and Jack and the woman run off
Really interesting being there, especially when we saw a dude come on waiting to do his scene. He was in makeup as a monstor called a "Weevill" (spelling?). Was really impressive seeing the makeup done on this guy
Well that's about it really, I asked Jack somethings about the tie-ins to Doctor Who and he said that he wasn't allowed to say, so we shall have to wait and see when it comes on tv soon
Posted by Matthew at 10:52 PM | Comments (0)
August 19, 2006
Sorry..
Sorry for the lack of updates, my PC is currently out of commission. so for now I am reporting from another one.
I had a new video to upload soon, another Muse parody (oh no another one), this was more of a test to see if I could do what I wanted to do in After Effects. So as soon as my computer is back I shall finish it and upload it.
In other news, my Reading Festival Tickets came this morning. Woo! So i'm quite excited at the moment :D
Posted by Matthew at 10:22 AM | Comments (0)
July 27, 2006
I am Optimus Prime!
Peter Cullen!
I have watched this so many times, it sends shivers down my back everytime he says "I am Optimus Prime"
At least we now know that there will be at least one good thing in the new film with having the original Optimus Prime voice
Posted by Matthew at 10:15 AM | Comments (0)
July 25, 2006
Die of Meteor
Ever dreamed of wanting to die by a meteorite crashing into the earth? no?
Well this guy has and is asking for donations to help fund his cause. He wishes to end his life with a colliding meteorite, using the donations it will help fund him to travel and whatever is needed to get him to his goal.
Think he's mad and just stealing your money? I see him as a man with an original goal and I wish him goodluck with it
For more info and if you want to send a donation, visit his website here
Posted by Matthew at 09:31 PM | Comments (0)
July 09, 2006
Stop Slacking!
Ok so I woke up today and it all just felt right. Idea's came to mind, the visuals, the feel of it. My final film for the 3rd year. It all just came to me, I had the idea already, but it all seemed so clear.
So expect some images and photos of models soon. I have been working on developing the story and storyboard today so I may put up some drawings soon. I have an idea for the look of the characters so i'm going to have a go at making them later on
About time that I started doing something..
Posted by Matthew at 01:56 PM | Comments (0)
June 20, 2006
Transformers The Movie Trailer Countdown
The trailer set for release online July 4th and then July 7th with the new Pirates of The Carribean film in cinemas
Posted by Matthew at 03:05 PM | Comments (0)
June 12, 2006
Black Holes and Waiting...
Muse's 4th album, Black Holes and Revelations
has been leaked... as of a few days ago, the album has been available for download. Loads have downloaded it, loads have offered it to me. But I have refused and decided to wait for its official release on July 3rd. To prove to those that I will not download the album, even though it's so easy to get hold of and within arms reach practically.. I have decided to not listen to any muse at all until the albums release.
A task I thought would be quite easy, and yes in part it is. I can easily restrain myself from downloading the new album.. But the want and need to listen to anything muse is horrible. I wanna listen to something as simple as Plug In Baby and cause of the silly thing I have decided, I can't, and it's only been 3days.. I got 20 more to go. I didn't think it would start to affect me so soon.
But anyway.. this will all be worth it in the end. All those I have spoken to about the album, I have got them all to tell me in one word their opinion so as to not spoil the album for me.
I have had many replies, alot breaking the one word limit. Replies have varied from: Incredible, the best thing you will ever hear, and the best thing muse have ever done.
This just adds to my excitement and the need to listen to the muse tracks I already own.. curse this dawn holding out.
It will be worth it as I wait outside HMV for it to open on july 3rd, get my copy of BH&R and run home to listen to it.. really looking forward to it
Posted by Matthew at 07:17 PM | Comments (0)
June 07, 2006
Cooper Temple & Alton Towers
Sunday 4th June, the plan was to travel to Stoke-on-trent to see The Cooper Temple Clause.
and in this we succeeded. It was a nice drive, the furthest I have ever driven so it was a good experiance. The gig however, it was good, just not as good as when we saw them at last years Reading Festival. We managed to buy the "Damage" limited edition single which was a bit of a let down as it was supposed to have been designed by one of the band members with some artwork or something. Turned out it was a cardboard case with the word "damage" sprayed onto it.. oh well..
Whilst at Stoke we took advantage of how close were to Alton Towers and took the AT bus there.
From oz's previous experiance, you buy the ticket on the bus and it covers entry fee and bus travel. When asked about the tickets, the driver informed us that they had stopped doing that, but if we see him at the end of the trip he would give us 2 for the price one 1... so we sat down and had to ask eachother if we had heard him correctly.
So we waited at the end of the journey for everyone to get off the coach, spoke to the driver who was on his phone who then pulled out 2 tickets... 2 for £15 each instead of the single price of £30.. so we took them, both of us mentioning the possibility of being conned. The moment of truth, we went in with the ticket, got it scanned by the dude at the entrance, and we got in no problems!
The day turned out completly amazing. The queues were quick, the longest was about 20 mins. We managed to do all the rollercoasters in the park along with some other rides. About 11 rides in total, which is pretty damn good for a day in Alton Towers
So here is a photo of myself and Oz on Rita: queen of speed. 0 - 100mph on 2.5 seconds.
(by the way.. oz is enjoying himself, even though the facial expression says different)
Posted by Matthew at 11:40 AM | Comments (0)
March 22, 2006
Magic Magic E!!
Isn't it great when people make forum posts hunting for your work?
Well this has happened to me twice now. On muselive.com two threads have been made by people requesting as to where to find my "Timewarp" and "Magic E" video.
This is what one post said:
Moss: Hey people... Theres a spoof video of TIRO thats edited to a song called something like "magic magic e"! I cant find it anywhere on this site nor can i find it on the official site, or unomuse, or microcuts!! It's GONE! Any help?!
Now that made me laugh. The effort this guy went to get the video. It's actually on Muselive.com but he didnt search properly. Oh well, I went and directed him to where to find it.
It's just great to see people looking for my work and to imagine how far its gone, it makes me wonder as to how many people have seen it and how it may have been passed on, how people may have come across to find the video.
It's great to see my videos circling like that :)
Posted by Matthew at 10:43 PM | Comments (0)
March 10, 2006
and im back..
On Wednesday, my computer randomly decided that I had no hard drive.. I have no idea why, the last thing I did on the computer was play EVE online. So I phoned up the nice expensive tech support line, where they sent me out a new hard drive which arrived at 9.30am today. Which was nice...
So from 9.30am to now, which is about 2pm, I have nearly got the computer back to how it was. Just need to install some more software eg Photoshop, after effects, etc
But otherwise I'm back, the biggest loss I had was my Mp3 collection. Oh well.. Could have been much worse, its just lucky that I back things up recently
Posted by Matthew at 01:53 PM | Comments (0)
March 01, 2006
Website update: Forum for Guestbook
Well the title is kinda self explanatory. I scrapped the Forum, it wasnt being used, so whats the point?
so instead I put up a guestbook for if people do really want to leave a message.
So there you go, no more forum. Welcome the new guestbook
Posted by Matthew at 08:11 PM | Comments (0)
February 25, 2006
Firefox & Black Spidey Suit & Tommy
So I have finally reverted back to Firefox. I had it once before, but I got rid of it to try out IE7 beta.. but then reverted back to IE6.. So from a CD my uncle had from PCFormat, it had Firefox on it, so I decided to give it another go. I'm happy with it so far, only criticism so far is that it refuses to load the background image of the "Videos" page of this site.. oh well, not a big problem really.
So yes.. Spiderman Black Suit. I got an email from the Spiderman mailing list and it contained this image:
WOW I say as pure excitement engulfs me with the idea of seeing Venom in the 3rd Spidey film, or at least setting him up for a sequel, as there is rumour that 6 films to be made?
absolutly amazing.. its gotten my hopes up now for the new film, as after hearing of one of the villains being "Sandman" it gave me doubts as to what to expect.
In other news, I have recently bought "Tommy The Movie". If you are interested in the weird and surreal art of film making in the form of a rock opera, and happen to be a fan of The Who, then this film is for you.
Written by Pete Townsend from the Who, the story is of a young boy who witnesses the death of his father by his mothers new lover. They tell him that he never saw it, never heard it, and will never speak of it again. Thus taking it to the extreme and the young boy(tommy) becomes deaf, dumb and blind.
interesting eh? but it goes on.. He then becomes a pinball wizard and beats the champion (elton john) and eventually becomes a cult religious icon.
A must see film, with other stars including, Eric Clapton, Tina Turner, Oliver Reed, Jack Nicolson.. and The Who.. of course.
The soundtrack is amazing, I have just bought and downloaded The Who's version of all the songs which are sang by the other actors in the film, truly brilliant
Posted by Matthew at 12:54 PM | Comments (0)
February 07, 2006
Victor Camera Angel Test
Another test video. After watching Corpse Bride on DVD, I wanted to animate something.
Playing with the figure, trying different poses and movements. I planned out a scenario of victor reaching out and/or realising that he has failed in getting victoria. The idea being that when his arm extends, I imagined him putting his hand on a picture of her and moving his hand across her face whilst feeling regret and depression for failing to do anything.
Thats the motive behind it anyway..
Posted by Matthew at 12:37 AM | Comments (0)
February 06, 2006
Corpse Bride DVD
YAY got the dvd today, the special gift set one.
It's pretty cool, I havn't watched the film yet (am going to later on), but I have watched all the special features and there great. I knew alot of how the film was made anyway so nothing was really new to me, but its still amazing to just see the scale of the sets and the amazing detail in the armatures.
I laughed to myself seeing Tim Allen working on a scene.
(i just looked up my old posts and it looks as though i never wrote about who Tim Allen is... very strange)
Tim Allen was an animator on the Corpse Bride, he was mainly responsible for the character "Lord Barkis". Being that he is a friend to one of the tutors in uni, he was asked to come and give a talk about his time working on the film and how he became an animator and how he got to where he is now.
Really really amazing stuff, the videos he showed us from early test animations, photos from behind the scenes. it was amazing. So yea.. that kind of sums up who he is.
So back to the dvd...
The dvd exta features are pretty damn cool, especially the gallery section seeing the original artwork and animation tests for each character.
Also with the Limited Edition DVD, you get a Book and 8 postcards. The book i imagined to be a piece of crap, but i took the chance and it turns out to be great. It goes through the film from beginning to end talking about each scene, showing storyboards/sketches and behind the scenes photos and comments. Really interesting stuff
This is a page from the book to give an idea of what is in there
Posted by Matthew at 05:57 PM | Comments (0)
February 04, 2006
Website Update and Festival news
Well, I have spent quite some time now and have added a page for each video with a short description about what it is and some comments about each one about how I felt making it and such.
Also I took each video and played around with the filesizes, so some have reduced in size and some have increased.. only slightly but hopefully enough for best performance
Apart from that, I have been reading up on E Festivals about rumours for Reading/Leeds festival this year, Even though nothing is confirmed yet, it's rather exciting to see the rumours so far
Reading Festival - Friday 25 August until Sunday 27 August 2006
Main Stage
unknown day
Alice Cooper - strong rumour
Arctic Monkeys - strong rumour
Flaming Lips - strong rumour
Franz Ferdinand - strong rumour
Kaiser Chiefs - strong rumour
Muse - strong rumour
New Order - rumour
The Strokes - strong rumour
Tool - strong rumour
unknown stage
unknown day
Boy Kill Boy - strong rumour
Clap Your Hands Say Yeah - strong rumour
Dirty Pretty Things - strong rumour
Editors - strong rumour
Gogol Bordellos - strong rumour
Hard-Fi - rumour
Secret Machines - strong rumour
Sunshine Underground - strong rumour
The Used - strong rumour
Wolfmother - strong rumour
¡Forward, Russia! - strong rumour
Taken from E Festivals
Posted by Matthew at 03:51 PM | Comments (0)
February 03, 2006
New videos
New videos uploaded, click the images to be taken directly to them
Uni Projects> Soundscape
Tests> Victor Light
Note: Corpse Bride DVD out on Monday 6th february
For info on dvd, click here for the HMV site
Posted by Matthew at 06:28 PM | Comments (0)
February 02, 2006
From 3D to 2D
From the model I made, I have begun to sketch out ideas to develop it furthur. These is a sketch of what he could possibly look like
Click to goto DeviantArt page
Posted by Matthew at 12:28 AM | Comments (0)
February 01, 2006
Model Making
Recently I have been trying to get myself into model making, it's something that has fascinated me for years, and seeing that I am now deciding to specialise in Stop Motion.. I should be pushing myself even more with it.
So I began to work on a model. At first I wasn't too pleased with it, so I decided to test my paints on it.. and now it seems to have some personality and i'm starting to like it now.
Posted by Matthew at 01:42 AM | Comments (0)
January 31, 2006
Site Changes
Well well.. Just a brief update to say what's going on.
I felt the blog wasn't getting enough attention as it deserved, so how do I get around this? I make it the homepage!
So here it is, still working on the design of it (theme and layout), but its pretty much ready to use.
The navigation to my portfolio is on the right, i'm hoping to make it a bit more noticeable. But please continue to use the site as normal
Posted by Matthew at 05:37 PM | Comments (0)
December 31, 2005
Christmas and New Years
Well, christmas is out of the way now
This christmas has been great, just as it always is. There were some great gifts and some nice surprises. I got alot of what I wanted and more. I asked for so many dvds and although i didnt get all the ones i asked for, i got the main ones I was hoping for of which i'm thrilled with. I got: Charlie and the chocolate factory (tim burton), War of the worlds (speilberg), Ed Wood, Beetlejuice, The Dark Crystal and StarWars Episode 3. I havn't watched them all yet, but theres no rush. Some of the surprises I had where: A Freeview Digibox, Nintendo DS and a tube of 60 Jaffa Cakes. Amazing!
The DS is also amazing, I only wanted one for "Advance Wars", now I have that, I also got Mariokart which uses the DS' wireless feature that picked up my wireless internet and I was able to play with people on the internet. Really impressed me.
I could go on to talk about the gifts, but I won't. The time over christmas was great, watched films, got so full with food, had an overall great time.
Today is New Years Eve, I'm not going to be doing anything for it, I went out last night as it was easier to meet up with friends. So we celebrated new years eve eve. It was a fantastic night, it was my last day of work in virgin (christmas temp) so I went to barfly afterwards at 9pm where I met with friends and stayed till 3am, where we went to Burger King for an hour just chatting away and eventually got to pontprennau at... I can't quite remember. But we ended up watching Starwars 3 and falling asleep through it. All I can remember of that film is the intro and being woken up by Anakin skywalker on fire screaming, then waking again at Darth Vader shouting NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO
so now i'm home, my ears are ringing, i'm jobless and i'm happy knowing what a great time I had and I have some extra cash to last me for a while.
Great end to 2005
Posted by Matthew at 12:50 PM | Comments (0)
December 20, 2005
Run up to christmas
20th december, means two things
1: its 5days till christmas
2: its a year anniversary since seeing muse at earls court
Ahh the memories, I shall watch the new Muse DVD later on after work as it contains footage from that show.
Speaking of work, its going great.
I love working in Virgin, ok I havn't got a uniform yet, but im not complaining. I get to be around music, i get to see whats available, i get to help customers and have conversations with them about music. its amazing, and best of all, when the shop is closed we can have a choice of any cd available in store to listen to. When i thought this job couldnt get any better, last night we had "Corpse Bride" posable figures come in, so with my handy 20% discount, i bought myself a Victor doll today.
I did a test animation with it to see if its possible to animate... well i'm happy with what it can do, here is a test
http://www.deviantart.com/deviation/26634257/
I'm going to be buying more to complete the set.
On another note, my brother is back from the Domincan Republic.. well not just my bro, my dad and co aswell, but anywho, there all home now. Sounds like they had a good time, I havn't regretted not going, I have had a great time here, i'm glad James had a good time, i was worried he wouldnt so much as I pulled out thus leaving him on his own, so im glad things worked out.
well.. got to goto work now
Posted by Matthew at 04:09 PM | Comments (0)
November 17, 2005
MMORPG Addiction
The first step in overcoming an addiction is admitting you have one
For those who don't know: MMORPG stands for Massive Multiplayer Online Role-Playing Game
It started a few years ago when playing Diablo, back in the days when all online games were free to play.
Diablo, good game but limited, i wanted something more...
Thinking back furthur, the earliest forms of RPG that i played was Dungeons & Dragons, loved it, falling into character and believing that each decision you made, made a difference.. and it did!
So I have been looking for a game to capture that kind of feeling, I stayed away from the paying games, although they looked good, i didnt really want to pay. A friend had "The Matrix Online", He showed me around the game.. I had to get it. £5 on Ebay, £8.99 for a month to play plus the free month you get with the game.
I enjoyed it, I got really into it, made some friends.. but it lacked what i wanted, although it was really cool and fun to play, it lacked what D&D had
Then came along "Guild Wars", a free game (yes!) and had a bit of what D&D had. I'm currently playing this at present and am really enjoying it, although I am finding limits and boundries.
My brother got a trial of "World Of Warcraft", the creators of "Diablo"... wow.. its like GW but more!
so.. I'm stuck in this addiction.. surrounded by these games and temptations.. then all of a sudden.. D&D online!
its coming...
In the meantime, I have just cancelled my MXO subscription and am only playing GW, we may get WOW eventually.. but we will have to see
D&DO.. quite excited for that
Posted by Matthew at 12:43 PM | Comments (0)
November 13, 2005
A Mission For Foo
Wow two blog posts in one day... Reason being that I wanted to split them into two different sections
Anywho..
The title sounds a bit wrong, but there is a logic in it. As it turns out I'm going to be home for december now and not going away with my dad and co, I thought... I may aswell try and get tickets for the Foo Fighters in Cardiff for the Noise & Confusion gig. It's on a saturday so it won't interfere with uni.
So now I am watching ebay and too my surprise, some tickets are selling at a resonable price. I am prepared to pay around £60 for tickets that the original price was about £40. Tickets are being sold in 1's, 2's, 3's and 4;s
I have asked some friends on who is interested and I found one who is willing to pay mroe than me to get tickets. So with talking about funds and such, we have enough to get 4 tickets, he has got someone in mind to take along, I need one more person of whom I will ask once I get the tickets.
So in advance... I have one ticket for sale :p
Posted by Matthew at 11:38 AM | Comments (0)
November 01, 2005
Halloween
My costume is kinda like Robert Smith (the cure) dressing up as jack skellington
i had an amazing night. All night I had people screaming and pointing at me "oh my god, jack skellington!!", i got hugs off girls, photos with people, spoke to so many people aboout it who loved the costume. Then, another Jack turned up and stood me up, really tall guy with a suit i heard that he made, but he had bought a jack mask which was really cool. I shook his hand and told him it was awesome, nice guy.
Turns out there was a fancy dress contest. The winner gets £150 worth of stella. Loads of people said I would win... hmm
The winners were:
1st place: Salad Fingers
2nd place: Frank (donnie darko)
3rd place: Jack Skellington
not me! the other dude got 3rd place. I went to see him and told him well done. Others spoke to him and he said he was sorry for me that we were dressed with the same idea. Oh well, it was an awesome night, I wasnt dressing up to win anything, I was going for the fun of it
Posted by Matthew at 12:07 PM | Comments (0)
October 23, 2005
The Corpse Bride
Finally got round to seeing it...
and it was worth the wait! Really enjoyed it.
Although the film was short (running time 77mins) it had alot in it, it grabbed me straight away from the opening credits. Immediatly hit with Burton trademark swirly line thing.
The story although highly predictable, was none the less enjoyable, the music complemented it, in comparison to the nightmare before christmas, it isn't so much of a singalong type soundtrack, although good. Main highlight of the soundtrack being all the piano pieces especially the duet of Victor and Emily The Corpse Bride.
Animation was just as great, so many things moving, facial expressions, soft skin moving with weight applied to it, really good. Only comment I have to make is the amount of CG used, it was quite disapointing as it was obivous at times, except for the butterflies.. they were done really well
Overall, a great film and I look forward to seeing it again
Posted by Matthew at 11:00 PM | Comments (0)
October 15, 2005
Studio 7 Is Born!
Sickweirdos has gone, and from its ashes arose Studio 7
The idea behind the site is that I want a place where people can share artwork and get constructive criticism from others. In this way we all learn from eachother, pick up new tips and tricks in order to develop artistic skills. The site is for anyone with any knowledge of art even if it is nothing but they have a desire to learn, then this place will help those to learn and to exhibit there work without embaressment.
The Sickweirdos name I have been wanting to get rid of for a while, it gives the wrong impression of my work. With Studio 7, it gives a better impression of what I am trying to give, with a new look it also makes it a much better place to be than with the previous dark themes.
I hope this really kicks off...
Posted by Matthew at 09:38 PM | Comments (0)
September 26, 2005
Howl's Moving Castle & Uni year 2 day 1
Date: Sunday 25th September
Time: 8.35pm showing
Where: UGC Cardiff
Showing: Howl's Moving Castle
A new film by the one Hayao Miyasaki, previous work being Spirted Away and Princess Mononoke.
It was such an incredible film, the animation blew me away within the first 20seconds, seeing that "castle" moving around was amazing!
The whole story and style of the film had Miyasaki written all over it, truly impressive and i recommend all going to see it with an open mind. The characters were fun and loveable including "Turnip Head", he was so cool, the story was brilliant and kept myself trying to piece everything togetherall the way until the end.
Also got me a cool poster of the film from the cinema :D
Day 1 of uni:
I thought to myself that I would arrive early to give the first day a good start to the term. So before I leave the house, i turn the tv on to watch for 5mins.. turned out MTV2 had a program on called "Thressomes" where they play 3 videos by an artist.. turns out it was Muse.. so i had no choice but to watch all 3 videos. This resulting in leaving later than expected. I leave and I nearly get to the uni when I am told to pull over for a census... so close yet so far. The census only took about 2mins, so that was alright. I turn up at the uni.. nowhere to park, so i parked on the pavement like some of the other cars about. I get into uni and wander round for about half an hour looking for my class, I then goto see one of the tutors for a timetable, turns out that people where given one at enrolment and knew to prepare for Life Drawing class. So i rush to the shop to buy an A3 sketchbook, then I decide against going to life drawing as I had missed a fair bit of the class so I'll goto nextweeks class instead, which is the same as todays, just for a different group.
so... i go back to the car, turns out i had been fined £30 for parking and causing obstruction.. at the time of parking it didnt seem like a problem, until i started to drive off and realised my mistake. I get home, I goto reverse park into a space, I had thought I hit the pavement so i goto do the manouvere again and it turns out i was hitting a parked car.. so quickly i drove away and found a much better spot to park in, but it meant i had to walk from another street to my house. So that is my morning of things going wrong, and it isnt midday yet.
Afterwards I went and bought a new CD player for the car with my birthday money, so that made things a bit better :D
Posted by Matthew at 04:15 PM | Comments (0)
September 24, 2005
Twenteen Years Old and one day
Well, i am now 20 as of yesterday
Had a good day and night especially. got to see some friends i havn't seen in a long time, got to have a huge gathering of friends aswell. Spent the majority of the night at metros. Great night! I'd like to thank all those who made the effort to come out and make it such a good night
With my birthday money i have bought two new albums:
Soft Hearted Scientists - Uncanny tales from the everyday undergrowth
and
Tool - Lateralus
Tomorrow i am off to get a new CD player fitted for my car :D
all in all, a good birthday
Posted by Matthew at 05:23 PM | Comments (0)
September 15, 2005
Back to school
Well all the schools are back now, I start Uni next week, well I enrol back next week.
Friends are starting uni for there first year, one being Oz, a close friend who i wont see until the christmas break, unless i travel up to see him at stafford uni, which i will be doing.
So, i start back soon, and next friday i become Twenteen(20) years old
wow, two decades old!
i don't know if i will be going out or not, after last night and my bad encounter with alot of vodka.. well i don't know, i'll just avoid the vodka next time.
So I might go out with some friends next week, doubt i will stay to early hours of morning, just stay out for a social drink for a few hours.
Back to uni, hmm, that means i got to get this summer project done. i have to watch a film and write about the sound or something.. i should get it done soon
Posted by Matthew at 10:27 PM | Comments (0)
September 12, 2005
Forum
Ok so, I decided to create a forum for my website.
the idea of the forum is a way for people to discuss and comment on my work and to be a place for people to share and discuss there own work.
Let's hope it kicks off..
Posted by Matthew at 06:54 PM | Comments (0)
September 11, 2005
War Of The Worlds Live!
I found this on thursday 8th and bought the tickets the following morning without hesitation
i cant believe this is happening. Jeff Wayne's War Of The Worlds Musical LIVE!
its in april and iv bought tickets for my mum for her birthday in April cause she loves the Jeff Waynes version just as much as i do, in fact she is the one who got me to love it.
The tickets were at £37.50 each.. which i thought was a bit much, but it's going to be worth it. I paid for 4 tickets at the CIA box office, first time iv ever paid for tickets costing £150 in cash at the box office. I really can't wait, from what I gather they will tell the story live.. have to wait and see
Posted by Matthew at 02:36 PM | Comments (0)
August 24, 2005
and we're off
bags packed, food bought, all ready to go to Reading festival tomorrow morning.
I was worried about the luggage and packing, but after careful organising with packing and watching what we bought, everything fitted into the car boot like a game of Tetris.
Muse ready to play for the journey and we are sorted, i bet we forget something...
Posted by Matthew at 07:15 PM | Comments (0)
August 19, 2005
Tis The Season of Festivals
25th August I shall be driving for the first time to Reading Festival
Getting even more excited by the day. Really looking forward to the Foo Fighters and Iron Maiden, but most of all, the actual campsite. its just incredible, it cannot be described, best way to find out is to experiance it for yourself.
Helen Love is finished, just waiting to hear about if it will be aired on tv, the video will be on the Helen Love Website on Monday and on mine around the same time
nothing new really.. just getting ready for Reading, when I get back I shall get back to work on Lego S4A to finish before I go back to uni
Posted by Matthew at 09:25 PM | Comments (0)
August 09, 2005
MySpace...
I have been turned to the power of MySpace. I have made an account on there and joined in with various friends who are listed. If you are interested, you can see my account here
Posted by Matthew at 04:12 PM | Comments (0)
July 30, 2005
Willy Wonka, The Amazing Chocolatier
Whoa... I was like a little child, bouncing in my seat, it was fantastic.
I love tim burtons work, i love his style of thought and his visual work. Watching the film you could definatly see a mixture of "Ed Wood" and "Edward Scissorhands" in Johnny Depp's performance and the design of the film.
For those who loved the original film and swear by it, you may not enjoy this film as much. I know my mum is going to see it soon, I don't think she will enjoy it as much becuase she doesnt really appreciate Tim Burtons style and she didnt like "Big Fish"!! how can you not like that film?!
well overall, it was well worth the wait, although it was slighty aimed at kids a bit more, ther was still the dark essence and the tim burton feel all the way through. It was also good to see a trailer for "The Corpse Bride" aswell. Burton's next film which is to be released, next month I believe? well it's soon anyway
I'm currently listening to the soundtrack of the film, one of the things that impressed me was the oompa loompa songs because Danny Elfman used the actually lyrics from the book and put music to them. I never noticed until the end credits when they credited Roald Dahl for the lyrics
well, I can't wait to see it again on sunday :D
Posted by Matthew at 12:37 PM | Comments (0)
July 18, 2005
XFM dont trust muse fans
well, XFM.co.uk decided to make a vote for the best band.
This consisted of voting for Best Guitarist, Bassist, Drummer etc
so.. all the muse obsessives on the messageboards joined together and voted muse for everything, but if that wasnt enough, we (i say 'we' cuz i was apart of this) deleted our cookies and voted again and again.
so muse won everything.. the funniest thing is the comments of the results by xfm:
And vote you did, in your thousands. And thousands. And the results were surprising, if not entirely predictable. Judging by the votes, the World's Greatest Indie Band would feature Matt Bellamy from Muse on vocals and guitar, Chris Wolstenholme also from Muse on bass, and (would you believe it?) Dom Howard from Muse on drums and anyone else rather than Bez on maracas. So, essentially, it's Muse.But we have reason to believe that certain Muse messageboards had been encouraging people to fiddle with their computers so they could multiple vote. Thus things may have been a little Muse-heavy. So disregarding their votes, the band would be formed of Thom Yorke on vocals, Jonny Greenwood from Radiohead on guitar Oasis' Andy Bell on bass and Dave Grohl on drums. Which sounds a little more interesting.
this is what cracked me up:
As a personal tip from us, if there's ever Radiohead and Muse fanclub conventions in the same city on the same day, avoid the area, it'll almost definitely turn violent. In fact, don't trust a Muse fan
just goes to show the dedication us fans have towards muse compared to other fanclubs
Posted by Matthew at 12:08 PM | Comments (0)
July 12, 2005
Helen love
i just want to say... for those looking forward to Lego Sing for Absolution
i regret to say that i have to put it on hold. :(
a welsh band called Helen Love have gotten hold of me to make a video for there new single.
WOW FACTOR 10+!!! :D
so iv put S4A on hold so i can do this, you can listen to there new single on there website, iv been told there is a possibility this video will get aired on mtv :D
so im sorry again for putting S4A on hold, iv enjoyed making it so far and i look forward to getting back to it as soon as possible
Posted by Matthew at 09:07 PM | Comments (0)
July 01, 2005
War Of The Worlds
Wow, iv just come back from the cinema. Im really impressed with what speilberg has done..
*caution: spoilers*
the film was done so well, the story, ok it was changed a bit but it still followed the original story, eg
the ships land in cylinders on horsell common and twist open, in the film they are already underground, put there a long time ago, when the martians travel down inside them and reactivate them, the ground twists like a corkscrew.
the characters: nathaniel, the artillery man and the scientist are all portrayed through one character which is done really well
the design of the tripods and the heat ray!! wow the heat ray was impressive. in the original story it tells of people burning from the heat ray, but in this it was like a disintergration leaving only there clothes behind. the way it is done is fantastic
i was so happy to hear narration in the beginning and the end, done by morgan freeman saying the famous lines "no one would have believed in the years of the 21st century etc"
only bad thing i have to say is the ending, ok it followed the story with how the martians lost, but the way the family was reunited and the son not being dead, that kinda spoilt it for me. but if u forget that one thing then the rest is fantastic
i look forward to getting it on dvd, but before then i shall be going to see it again
Posted by Matthew at 11:22 PM | Comments (0)
Pinch Punch
1ST of July which means, 1 day till Live8 (im not going unfortunatly)and War of the Worlds tonight
Main highlights/recommended viewing for Live8:
Muse at Paris at 4.40pm (MUST SEE!)
The Cure at Paris (legends)
Pink Floyd reforming for London show (legends)
Coldplay at London (they put on a good live show)
Snow Patrol at London (they were great at the tsunami show in cardiff)
U2 at london (apperently there show was amazing in cardiff recently)
REM at london (im gonna check them out since im goin to see them july 10th)
for more info goto Live8 Website
Posted by Matthew at 01:12 PM | Comments (0)
June 26, 2005
Glastonbury newspaper scans
Here is the result of the storm at glastonbury. kinda makes you glad you didnt get a ticket (not that i wanted to go this year)
now the thing that cracks me up is the fact that there is someone with a canoe! Only at glasto wud this seem a natural thing
Posted by Matthew at 08:43 PM | Comments (0)
Home Sweet Home
After a break away, i am home
The weather didnt spoil the weekend, it got hotter as the days went on which resulted in me burning my arms in the final hours.
Friday when we arrived, the second we got out of the car, it rained so heavily on us that when we got the tent up, the rain stopped. It was like we were victims to mother nature after she had been playing with those poor folks at glastonbury.
Turns out that the storm that scared the crap out of me on friday morning was the remains of what hit glastonbury and flooded the festival
Tomorrow I am off to town to get my photos developed for the weekend, i doubt i will do a 1hour processing, so expect the best photos to be up on the weekend.
All in all, a nice break away and im glad to be back to continue working on my film
Posted by Matthew at 08:25 PM | Comments (0)
June 24, 2005
sunshine through the rain
Well i was woken with the shit scared out of me twice this morning.
Around 5am there was a huge thunderstorm, i have never heard anything so loud before, so it kinda put doubt into the camping trip. But as the morning has gone on, the sun has been trying to come through so things are looking better.
also through the post today i got a letter from the uni. It was my end of year grade. My overal grade is C9 which is a Merit! so i passed! :D
I shall be drinking to that tonight
Posted by Matthew at 10:32 AM | Comments (0)
June 23, 2005
Holiday in the...rain?
Nearly ready for the camping trip tomorrow, just got to check a few things and we are sorted.
Really looking forward to it, except there is talk of rain? but after talking with my dad who lives near the location, he says that yes there will be rain, but not around the gower, and if we do get any, it will only be for friday and won't be enough to spoil the weekend.
The food we bought today, i've never seen so many pork pies been taken for a short amount of time. oh well, we got jaffa cakes to counter the amount of pork pies. also we got alot of chocolate milk and alot more budweiser aswell. Should be fun
Posted by Matthew at 10:27 PM | Comments (0)
June 21, 2005
distractions...
well since downloading Battlefield2 demo, i have been heavily addicted to its online multiplayer game. I havn't been so impressed and addicted to a game in a long time, i will definatly consider buying it.
But because of downloading this game, i have been behind with my Lego S4A video. so I made sure i got alot done today. Today i have accomplised the scene where the ship takes off
i like how that scene has come out. The smoke that is shown was taken from an image of a chimney, by rotating the image 180 degrees and then distorting the image, it gives the impression that smoke is coming from the ship
Posted by Matthew at 07:04 PM | Comments (0)
June 19, 2005
Upcoming Break
Next Friday (24th June)I shall be embarking on a weekend away with two friends camping at LLangenith. Really looking forward to it, unfortunatly due to the loss of my car it had set us back a bit, but luckily my dad and a friends parents are willing to help us out to get there and back.
It's gonna be a great weekend, right on the beach, lots of snack food, cooking out in the open, alcohol, and an accoustic guitar.. how can it get better?
I have to bring this image to your attention. Fantastic photography that i stumbled upon by accident when searching for scenary in my current animation
This is LLangenith, with Worms Head in the distance
Posted by Matthew at 01:17 PM | Comments (0)
June 17, 2005
so much yet so little
well i have got my dads video camera now... but before i begin filming, i have begun to free up hard disc space by putting my work to dvd...
my videos are few but the filesizes r huge, so im having to go through each video and compressing them to fit on to dvd... looks like il be needed to buy more dvds to get everything on there. The important files are the videos i have made. Everything else i want to save to disc is a huge collection of muse videos and various bootlegs which may spread over 2 dvds.. il worry about it once i start to save them.
As soon as my videos are backed up (not including the muse vids) i shall begin with this lego movie, im going to be constructing the city thats shown at the beginning of the S4A video which leads onto showing the spacecraft ready for take off
Posted by Matthew at 02:43 PM | Comments (0)
Jimmy Eat World
Last night i saw a band in the Student Union, 'Jimmy Eat World' who were supported by 'Apartment'. I have heard of the support before but none of there music, they impressed me with there sound and attitude on stage with enjoying to play for us. JEW where also great, the opener was really good. Starting with music playing from some unseen place, the lead singer came on and sang some lyrics by himself, got his guitar and played along, then the bassist came on, and one by one the band slowly came on stage joining in with this song which was different from the one the lead singer sang at the beginning. A good night, a good crowd, i got close to the front and had a really good view. Afterwards waiting to meet with james, i found his mate who handed me the support bands drumstick james has gotten from them. Turned out he was somewhere inside the building drunk... idiot.
we eventually found him, i keep telling him to never drink at a concert as because of this he missed the encore and was up all night throwing up. I hope he's learnt his lesson.
All in all it was a great night. To top things off my dad phoned me to say the insurance company valued my car at £1550 but are taking £600 off so leaving me with £950 to go towards a new car.. so luckily in a few weeks i shall be back on the road again :D This then solves our problem for getting to Reading Festival this August, as since the crash we had no idea for how we are getting there.
Posted by Matthew at 09:41 AM | Comments (1)
June 16, 2005
waiting...
Ok tomorrow i should be getting my dads video camera so i can get a good quality when filming for 'Lego S4A'
The only thing im stuck with is a background. i cud film it and then go into everyframe and put in a background.. which is gonna b a pain in the ass to do, but it may be the best way with the best quality as apposed to painting a big space looking background
In other news... i had a letter 2day from this girls solicitor from the car crash i was in last week.
Also it doesnt seem like the police are taking the facts into account and the finger is still being pointed at me. I'm not gonna mention much of this as i dont like talking about it really and im still confused as to what is going on,
In other other news. I am joining with many muse fans with donating money to get a rare Muse Demo Tape. I am a bit low on funds at the moment, so the more people we can get involved, the less we all have to pay
Posted by Matthew at 11:26 AM | Comments (1)
June 14, 2005
Hmm What Am I Upto?
Where am i going with this idea?
click the image
Posted by Matthew at 04:15 PM | Comments (0)
New movie?
A project i'v been wanting to try all week, i began doing tests last nite to see if it was worth going into.
Here is an image from the test, to give you an idea as to what im doing
The test proved successful... so expect more soon
Posted by Matthew at 01:09 PM | Comments (0)
First Post
Well I have a weblog now. This is where I will post the news comments from the website for archiving along with more in depth random babbling from myself. Stay Tuned!
Posted by Matthew at 11:12 AM | Comments (1)