What I've Been Watching | January

I've been planning this blog series for quite a while now. I'm a huge fan of Netflix, and myself and Connor have Cineworld Unlimited Cards, so we often go to the cinema. I personally love recommendations of things to watch, so I thought I'd talk a bit about What I've Been Watching this month.

Friends

Considering all ten seasons were released on Netflix on New Years Day, there's no surprise I've basically been watching Friends all. The. Time. I'm enjoying it almost as if I were watching the series for the first time instead of the 99999999th time. I'm thinking of doing a little post about reasons why I still love Friends, as there's some controversy going around. Let me know what you think in the comments!

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️- It'll always be there for me

Grimm (Season 6)

I have a love/hate relationship with Grimm. I love the first three series (I think), and then the storylines became absolutely mental and I didn't like it. I stopped watching it for a year or so, then caught an episode that Connor's mum was watching (the penultimate one of Season 6). When the recent series was released on Netflix, I thought I'd give it another try, as I am attached to the characters and I was curious to see where it goes. I'm glad I've finished the series, but I also feel like I will never get that time back. I don't understand the ending to it AT ALL. Grimm, what are you playing at??

⭐️⭐️- How powerful can a stick be?

Victoria

I didn't get a chance to catch this on ITV, and I've been loving The Crown and I quite like Jenna Coleman. I basically watched the first series over a couple of days. I was addicted. The portrayal of Victoria and Albert was so adorable and romantic. I did not start to belt out the Gloriana theme tune every time it played...I learned a lot considering I'm not mad about the Monarchy, I just love films and television shows about them. I now need the next series! Please Netflix??

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️- More of Victoria and Albert's romance please.

How To Get Away With Murder (Season 3 and 4)

I. Love. This. Show. I've been hooked since I first watched it at university. I love Viola Davies, she is a queen. The way they mix the present and the future makes me binge watch each series as I HAVE TO KNOW what happened. I'm a huge lover of crime dramas, I love trying to figure out who did it, or who died. Although, I did think they were going to end it at Season 3, and I'm not quite sure where they are going with it in Season 4, but I'm holding on.

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️- Pass the popcorn

Black Mirror (Series 3 and 4)

This series is absolutely incredible. When Connor recommended it to me when it was on TV several years ago, I couldn't believe how relatable the episodes are to real life. Even though it's science fiction, I feel like Charlie Brooker has analysed human behaviour and society, dissected the evil that's already there, then twisted it into futuristic fictional drama. Some episodes are centered around technology; like implants, virtual reality, a world where you get jobs, houses etc based on the amount of stars your peers give you for photos/your personality. But, some display just how brutal society is, by blackmailing the prime minister or people through your webcam. It is amazing, but I do warn you that some episodes can be tough to watch, especially the first one of the first series.

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️- Let's not bring these stories to life...

Riverdale (Season 2)

I loved the first season of Riverdale, but I feel like they are losing me now. I have no idea where it's going or why. I love the cinematography and the neon colours, and how it looks like it should be set in the 1950's but it is actually present day. In the second series, they wrap up one of the storylines and we're now just watching some of the characters unravel? For what reason??

⭐️⭐️ - Archie's changing ginger hair colour is infuriating

The Crown

I was hooked on the first series, but I'm finding I'm not watching the second series at the same pace. I'll get there, as previously mentioned I love learning about the royals so I will stick with it! Clare Foy's portrayal of the Queen is really good, I barely even recognise Matt Smith as Prince Charles! He does such a good job of capturing his essence.

⭐️⭐️⭐️ - More corgis please

The Post

I've heard some reviews that people don't like The Post. I really enjoyed it, I was fascinated by how the American press worked and I do love a film with Tom Hanks in it. I also loved the portrayal of women in the 1970's, especially the response to a female publisher. The film is set in America, where the Vietnam war is still ongoing. "When American military analyst, Daniel Ellsberg, realizes to his disgust the depths of the US government's deceptions about the futility of the Vietnam War, he takes action by copying top-secret documents that would become the Pentagon Papers". (Imdb)

I'm really in love with factual films at the moment, I enjoying learning more about the world's history!

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ - The lead up to President Nixon's tapes being released

Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri 

This. Film. Was. Incredible. I loved the black comedy writing, a lot of the character's dialogue was so brutal, but amazing. It's no wonder this film smashed the awards season this year! 100% recommend seeing this, although I do warn you of some gory scenes if you're a bit squeamish. Frances McDormand's performance was really good, I loved her as the protagonist.

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ - ...And still no arrests?

Hook

I feel ashamed to say I've only just seen Hook. I must've been living under a rock because everyone else has seen it! I loved the animation of Peter Pan and absolutely worshiped the live action version growing up...I had a huge crush on Jeremy Sumpter, who plays Pan. I feel my childhood was deprived of Robin Williams and only as an adult am I appreciating his work. Although, I feel that watching Hook as a twenty two year old in 2018 was a bad call. The filmmaking is completely ancient! I know I was a film student so I tend to over analyse, but come on! Some of the shots just didn't make sense? Aside from the cinematography, it was an interesting portrayal of a live action grown up Peter Pan.

⭐️⭐️ - Since when was Skrillex available in 1991? Bangerang.

The End of the F***ing World

I'm not even going to lie, I watched all of this series in one evening. No regrets. I knew I had to binge watch this series and it felt so good. Alex Lawther plays James; a teenager with a tendency to kill animals. He decides he's ready for something bigger than a rabbit or a cat. A human. When Alyssa approaches James, he thinks he's found the perfect kill. This comedy drama had me hooked on the relationship between two dysfunctional awkward teenagers. Thoroughly recommend!

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️- At first I thought this was set in America...How did they make England look America??

Let me know what you think about this blog series, and if you've watched any of the above. I love a good discussion!

The Truth About Uni | Finishing My Degree

So this is possibly my last post with the student collab. The reason being that I've finished my degree, I've had all my grades back and I'm now preparing for graduation. I've really loved being a part of this collaboration and talking to the other bloggers involved.

Even though my last deadline was well over a month ago, there's no instant relief when you hand in your last piece of work. Yes, there might not be any actual work to do anymore but I had nightmares about my grades, and which units I passed etc. Not fun. But now that I've got all of my concrete grades, I do have a bit of relief that I've officially passed everything and got the grade I wanted. I'm sure it'll hit me when I'm walking across the stage in my cap and gown!

Now that the hard part is over, the even harder bit is round the corner. Getting a job! I've applied for countless jobs and even training schemes to not hear back. There's so many other graduates, previous graduates and even those who didn't extend their education going for these roles. What matters a lot to employers is your experience. There's some stressful times, but it's figuring out how to use your time wisely and effectively which could help you get employed.

It is nice to have a bit of freedom, I can work more or less if I want to. I can blog more, spend time with my parents and my friends. But there is the worry of money, of wanting to get into the film and TV industry hanging over my head, but I'm trying to enjoy myself and unwind a little bit. It's been really hard for me to complete my degree, and I do need to accept that I'm a little fragile and probably shouldn't jump into anything too soon.

I'll admit that sometimes I look back on university, and I have rose tinted glasses on. I have hated university so much that I've wanted to quit, at times it's been too much for my mental health and I've struggled to cope. If I hadn't gone to a university close to home, then I'm sure I would've quit. By being close to my family they supported me and helped me complete my degree. I do have to laugh at myself when I think I'll miss university, I'd rather be in the real world moving on with my life than do more further education.

I have learnt a lot whilst being at university, about myself and life lessons. I found out that I shouldn't be turning away from my parents, that actually it's ok to lean on and need your parents. I've been in and out of debt, and I know that I never want to be in debt again! I've also learnt a fair bit about the TV and film industry and luckily by using the university resources I got to experience being on a film set, at a production company and work with the university filming and editing videos for clients.

Even though I really didn't enjoy university, I worked hard to make the most of it, and to find the opportunities I needed in those three years to build my portfolio.

I still have a few university related posts up my sleeves, so this won't be the last one I assure you!

I wish the rest of the lovely bloggers in the collab all the best and look forward to reading the rest of their journey's!

Jasmine from Thoughts From Jasmine (she brought us all together)

Jen from Velvet Spring

Becky from The Owlet

Annaleid from Actually Anna

Sophie from The Glamour Reel

Katherine from Millennial Rants

Tori from Legally Brunette

Love Saffron x

My "Day" Job #1

This post will hopefully give you guys a bit of insight to what I do on a daily basis with regards to my university life as a third year. I've mentioned previously I study Film Production at the University of Portsmouth.

I've mainly been a Producer across the majority of my units at university, this means I basically have to organise everything to ensure the project is finished. I assist the director and help bring their vision to life through the logistic side of things, sorting locations, budget, actors, props etc.

It's not an easy role, I do find it rather stressful, but I also can't imagine not being a Producer. When a project finishes and you see the end product you'll get a sense of relief and hopefully you'll be happy that all the hard work has paid off!

If you follow my social media you might have seen me talk about and try to promote my upcoming film; "Burgundy". I'm the Producer (if you hadn't guessed already) so I've been trying to get a bit of a buzz for our film, and also help get some funding as well. It's quite a task to make a good professional film with no budget, we are using professional actors so that costs A LOT. We've tried seeing what we can cut from our film to make it less expensive, but that would make the quality of the film suffer.

As this is our last film at university, we want it to be the best possible film we can make. We are planning to submit the film into film festivals across the UK, Europe and US. This will give Burgundy good exposure and would be an amazing experience to go and see our films on the big screen, and mingle with other professionals.

I live and breathe this film every day, I don't get a day off from trying to organise our shoot days and clearing up any issues. It's really exhausting, but I'm hoping all the work will pay off and that this will be the best film I've made yet! When you have creative projects they kind of feel like your children, that's how I feel with my blog as well. You have to water and feed it everyday to see it grow, and that's the same with filmmaking, you have to work on it more or less everyday.

Here's a little summary of what our film is about: "Sophie is an overworked crime scene investigator who becomes obsessed with the murder of a local young girl. After being forced to take an evening away from work, her boyfriend Peter creates a romantic meal and set the scene for relaxing evening. But everyone has secrets; love, lust and murder.

Two people, one room, an obsessed detective and a murder weapon, who said romance is dead."

I have been planning to write a little blog series about what it's like being a filmmaker and especially being a film student at university. This can give you some insight to a topic you might not know the ins and outs of, but might help current or potential students as well!

Now, I do have a little proposition for you guys. As I've mentioned I'm trying to get money to be able to complete our film. Our lowest reward on Indiegogo is £1 it would help so much if you are able to donate. It's just £1 and you'll get your name credited in our film which will be shown around the world! But, if you also tweet me that you've donated, I will give you a shout out across my Instagram and Twitter social media as a huge thank you for helping us!

We have many other rewards when you donate as well, it'd be great if you could take a look! There's more information about our film and a cheeky video as well. If you can't donate but would like to help our project, if you could share our crowdfunding page, or even this blog post would be a huge help!

https://www.indiegogo.com/projects/burgundy-a-short-film/x/15738780#/

I hope you've liked my little introduction so far, if you have any questions you can leave a comment or tweet me @SaffronWatson_ and I'll get back to you, or I'll answer them in my next post!

Now it would be silly if I didn't leave the links to Burgundy's social media (I'd be a bad producer if I didn't).

Burgundy Facebook - https://www.facebook.com/burgundyfilm/
Burgundy Twitter - https://twitter.com/BurgundyFilm
Burgundy Instagram - https://www.instagram.com/burgundyfilm/

If you'd like to keep up to date on the film's progress and see some snazzy behind the scenes, please give our pages a 'like' or 'follow' it'd be much appreciated by the whole team! We have some exciting news coming up so keep checking our pages for when we reveal!

Saffron x