Hello and welcome to my 50th blog post! To celebrate this milestone, I thought I’d share with you the journey I went on to become the filmmaker I am today, as well as sharing some wonderful archive footage of my old films. Be warned, there are examples of awful acting, questionable camera techniques and several bad Austin Powers impressions. ENJOY!
I have always enjoyed messing around with cameras, and I think this stems from Dad always filming our family at events, holidays and outings. I would always walk up and stick my face in the lens, and ask to have a go (which Dad allowed, hesitantly). However, I never made a full on narrative film until 2008, where, with the help of my dad, I made a short story using Doctor Who action figures. It was a film I really enjoyed making, and you can see it here for the first time fully on the internet! I hope you enjoy the awkward pauses, distorted audio and amazing remote-controlled dinosaur.
Following on from this, I created a YouTube channel in 2010, where I began to create silly animations. Some highlights include two rocks falling in love, Morph learning how to skateboard, and a Monty Python Parody. Here they are:
While at secondary school, I joined the Woodbrook Media Association. We created videos for the school, as well as participating in the yearly BBC Young Reporters. However, in Year 10, me and two mates, Chris and Lawrence, began creating silly skits and short comedy films. One particular highlight included an Austin Powers parody film that advertised the school, which the head teacher actually showed at welcome events for new students! The full video was three minutes long, but heres a condensed section of a few highlights.
All our work at the WMA culminated in a five-part series, titled Woodbrook Wow. A sketch show of sorts, this series was part travel guide, part complete farce about our school. There were loads of parodies, stupid jokes, and the three of us had such fun making it. Unfortunately, YouTube copyright would have a field day were I to upload the full series, so you’ll have to make do with this ‘best of’ compilation we made at the end of the series (we made it overly cringy on purpose, don’t worry.) Enjoy this mini compilation of random in jokes that probably make no sense out of context.
In the summer before starting A-levels, my family and I went on a holiday around America, which culminated in a week in New York. I had the best time there, and while in Times Square, we were lucky enough to stumble across the premiere for Mission Impossible: Rogue Nation (which if you’ve seen this post, you’ll know has since become one of my favourite films). At that premiere, I witnessed first hand the power and excitement the film industry has on the public. It was at that moment that I definitively decided this was the industry I wanted to work in. When I returned home, I got a job working at my local Odeon cinema. While working there, I made a short training video about how to manage queues in cinemas. The head of Odeon then watched it and said it was one of the best videos submitted by branches across the country! Unfortunately however, due to it being an internal video, I’m not able to show it here.
The next major film I made was a 23 minute film celebrating my twin sisters 18th birthday. It included family videos, specially filmed pieces and birthday messages, and because I was working at the Odeon at the time, I was able to show it to my sister in an actual cinema! My personal highlight was a Lion King parody I made, which depicted our dramatic birth!
In January 2017, I was invited along to an interview at Coventry University (one that obviously went well). Before the interview, I was asked to create a four minute video about myself. I decided to showcase some of the work I’d done before (which I have now spoken about in this post), as well as experiment with a couple of new things. I made it in two days, and I was very happy with the result.
It was also in 2017 that I created the best video I’d made up till that point. Studying Media A-Level at college, I was tasked with making a video that reflected Hollywood’s habit of rebooting old franchises with modern twists. For this reason, I created an Austin Powers Parody trailer, in which Dr Evil took over the world by becoming Donald Trump. With the help of my friends, I created a stupid video I am immensely proud of, and one that got me an A in the coursework module. Enjoy!
So that’s it, you’re now all caught up on the evolution of my film-making. Already at uni I’ve made two films, and have plans to make many more. Watch this space, because I’m only just getting started! Thanks for an amazing 50 posts, your continued support is massively appreciated. See you at 51!
Daniel Robinson: From Reel to Real 