Angel Heart and other stories

Hey guys, I've not posted in ages I know. I've been really busy and stuff but now I have something to blog about so here we go!

As I am back at Uni now, I have a massive project to do. I've decided to make a film which I am going to write, direct and edit.
I have started to look at different films for some inspiration as I normally get writers block, and because the films I like to write are always a bit mystical and psychological they aren't the easiest to churn out.
My film will be a bit like Donnie Darko, Jacobs Ladder and Angel Heart, which brings me to the point of my blog,

My tutor recommended that I watch the film Angel Heart, directed by Alan Parker. It is a very dark visual piece with fantastic editing and camera work. It amazed me just how close the story is to the film I am writing too!
It's a film about Identity and the devil. It's very cryptic and have a deep story which is fantastic! The visuals are fantastic too! For example, the opening shot if of a dark alleyway with a blue light cast over it. We see a silhouette of a man walking down the alley while the camera remains static. A dog begins to sniff around and there are cut aways to an observing cat. There is no dialogue in this scene as the visuals tell the story. This is how I want my film to be.

If you havent seen Angel Heart I really suggest you watch it! It is fantastic! It also has Robert De Nero in it.

check it out!

The Playstation Move

So the Playstation Move is out and naturally because it came out at Loan time, I bought myself one...

Now when I first heard of the move, I instantly thought it was going to be a glorified Wii remote. But it doesn't use infrared to connect with the playstation...instead it is made up of a number of things which detects motion...

For starters, there is a large orb on the end of the remote. This orb lights up to a colour that contrasts with your background, so the Playstation Eye camera can clearly see it. Because of the camera looking at the orb, it can detect the remote's position in 3D rather than just a 2D plane.

It is very accurate in it's detection. Fluid movements, quick detection and a lot better than the Wii remote! I don't mean to constantly compare them but they are the same thing really, but the Move being the better option.

Now we just have to wait for the games to come out for it! Heavy Rain has already had the patch to enable Move controls...which work fantastically well, and the few launch games that are available are pretty good too!

Check out EyePet Move Edition. It's fantastic!

The Story of the RMS Titanic - Part 13

At 12:01pm, Titanic's wireless operator Harold Bride, the only one to survive the disaster, assists Carpathia's wireless operator Cottam wit his work. Cottam has been working all night, sending messages from Titanic's survivors, as well as his own workload and other official messages. Even though Bride has badly frost bitten feet, he is determined to do what he can to help, probably to take his mind off the loss of his work partner Jack Phillips.

Captain Arthur Rostron requests that a complete list of survivors is compiled and sent as soon as possible.

More news slowly gets to New York, but there is still no definitive details of what happened. Speculation still circulates around New York. The families of the passengers on Titanic crowd at the White Star offices demanding news.

Finally, the R.M.S. Olympic sends a message to New York simply saying, "Titanic has gone down". Panic ensues throughout New York. Families demand to know if their loved ones are safe. Newspapers go wild with headlines. Survivor numbers are corrected, names omitted and edited as more reports come through. No one will know the full facts until Carpathia reaches New York.

To be continued...

The Story of the RMS Titanic - Part 12

April 15th 1912, 9am in New York, White Star President, Phillip Franklin learns of Titanic's distress call! He immediately begins to panic and the news spreads through out the offices and eventually on the street.

Without any real news, Newspapers begin to speculate. One newspaper's headline says "All Titanic Passengers Are Safe; Transferred in Lifeboats At Sea"

Another says "New Liner Titanic Hits an Iceberg; Sinking by the Bow at Midnight; Women Put Off in Life Boats; Last Wireless at 12:27 A.M. " Slightly more accurate but no real details of what happened.

People begin to panic and the White Star offices are mobbed.

On the Carpathia, J. Bruce Ismay, still shaken from the disaster, sends a wireless message to his bosses. "With deep regret I inform you that Titanic sunk this morning after a collision Iceberg, resulting in serious loss of life. Full particulars to follow. Bruce Ismay."

This message makes it's way to New York.

To Be Continued.....

The Story of the RMS Titanic - Part 11

April 15th 8:30am, for the past four hours, Carpathia has been recovering Titanic's lifeboats. The final lifeboat has been picked up and Carpathia makes a final search of the area, finding nothing other than wreckage and one body. The women aboard still don't fully realise that they are widows. They believe that their husbands are on another ship or are still in the sea alive.

The S.S. Californian sails in from the north. Wireless Operator Evans has just recently turned on his Wireless to learn of Titanic's sinking. Captain Stanley Lord recalls of the reports his crew gave him of 8 rockets fired in the distance. He has never publicly admitted, but he surely can't deny now that the ship 10 miles away from him was indeed the Titanic.

At 8:50am, The Carpathia makes preparations to return to New York. As they make their way, an iceberg is spotted with a mark of red paint along the base.

Prayers are held in the lounges for the survivors while Carpathia heads for New York.

To be continued ...

The Story of the RMS Titanic - Part 10

About 45 miles away, the S.S. Carpathia steams full speed at 17knots to try and reach the Titanic and rescue the survivors. They do not know that the Titanic has already gone down and approximately 1500 people are now desperately swimming in the freezing water.

The lifeboats drift around the wreck site. They won't return to the people swimming in the water. The survivors in the boats are too scared that the people in the water will swamp the boats, even though many of the boats are less than half full. There seems to be no hope left for those who didn't find a lifeboat.

The screams and cries from those in the water die down after about 2-3 minutes. Fifth Officer Lowe begins to round up several lifeboats and begins to distribute his passengers, leaving a couple of crew members in with him. He discovers a man dressed as a woman.

After emptying his boat into the others, which shows just how much more room the lifeboats had, he heads back to the people in the water, hoping to find any survivors. When he arrives, there is very little movement. There is a horrible silence to where the hundreds of frozen bodies bob around in the water. Lowe manages to rescue 4 more people from the water, two of which die shortly after. Lowe also rescues the people who cling to the slowly sinking boat A before rejoining the other lifeboats. Most of the women in the lifeboats are now widows, but they will not realise this until the reach New York.

Finally, after hours of drifting around the sea in freezing conditions in uncovered lifeboats, at 4am, the S.S. Carpathia steams into the wreck site to find the lifeboats scattered around the sea. Lifeboat 2 is the first to be recovered.

To be continued...

The Story of the RMS Titanic - Part 9

At approximately 1:28am, the S.S. Californian, only around 10 miles away, sees Titanic's distress rockets. They believe that she is a tramp steamer heading to the south west. They attempt to call the Titanic with the morse lamp, however Titanic does not respond. The Californian can easily reach the Titanic in time to help, yet the do not do anything, and since their wireless operator has already gone to bed, they do not know of Titanic's distress calls.
Bewteen 1:30 and 1:35, lifeboats 9, 12 and 11 are launched. They are filled with 50, 30 and 70 people respectively.
At 1:40am, Lifeboat 13 is the 13th to be launched, it dips forward as it is lowered, nearly tipping out some passengers, It slowly reaches the black sea, only to drift under lifeboat 15 which is also being lowered, Passengers shout to stop the lowering but the crew on the boat deck can't hear them. Some passengers fumble to cut the falls which still hold the boat to the ship. They try to hold up boat 15 but eventually drift out of the way just as boat 15, overloaded with 70 people, hits the water.


At around1:42am, Captain Smith orders Lifeboat 6 to return to the ship to pick up more passengers. Margaret "Molly" Brown is in boat 6, she demands to go back but the sailor in charge refuses. Only one boat will return to look for survivors that night.
Boat 2 is launched with only 25 seats occupied.

The steerage passengers attempt to reach the lifeboats by running through unfamiliar parts of the ship. Some make their way up the grand stairs while others try to rush up from the promenade deck, only to be restrained by the crew. It's now 1:48am, there are only 5 lifeboats left for the rest of the 1500+ passengers left onboard.
1:50am, Lifeboat 4 is the 16th boat to be launched from Titanic. It leaves with 45 seats occupied. The last distress rocket is fired to no known response from the near by ship. The sea soon approaches the A Deck Promenade.

At 2am, Collapsable Boat C is launched from the starboard side. White Star Director J. Bruce Ismay steps into the boat just before it's lowered, an act he will be criticised for for the rest of his life. The boat leaves full with 39 seats occupied.
At 2:05, Collapsable Boat D is the 18th and final boat to be launched from the Titanic. It leaves with only 24 seats occupied. Shortly after at 2:07, Captain Smith relieves the wireless operators of their duty. Captain Smith announces that it is now every man for himself and he heads down to the slowly flooding bridge. This is the last time people remember seeing Captain Smith. To this day no one knows what happened to him and his body was never recovered.

2:12 am. Officers attempt to release Collapsable boats A and B from the deckhouse roof. Boat B flips upside down as it falls while Boat A is lowered to the deck on some ores which snap under the boat's weight.
The Band begin to play "Nearer My God To Thee", which band leader Wallace Hartley had selected for his own funeral. To the passengers that hear it, it is like a final prayer for them. Thomas Andrews is last seen in the 1st Class Smoking Room stood before the painting of Plymouth Harbour.
Water sweeps along the boat deck which makes Collapsable A drift off the deck. The forward funnel begins to fall crushing those beneath it, including John Jacob Astor. The wave it creates washes upturned Collapsable B away from the ship. Some cling to it, including 2nd Officer Lightoller.

Many passengers gather on Titanic's Poop Deck as the stern rises higher. Father Byles listens to confessions and gives solace to those left on the ship.
As the ship gets lower, Water floods the once elegant grand staircase. The glass dome above is engulfed as water crashes through, ripping up the staircase from it's foundations. Furniture and cargo crash to the forward end of the ship as it rises out of the water. Titanic will remain afloat for another 3 minutes.

At 2:18am, the Titanic's lights flicker then go out for the last time. A loud roar can be heard as the ship strains. She suddenly breaks apart, the stern falling back into the water. The bow, still attached to the stern, pulls it slowly downwards. After rising once again, the Stern bobs around for a minute or two, then slowly slips below the waves carrying around 1500 people with her.

To be continued...

The Story of the RMS Titanic - Part 8

The Titanic is sinking lower and the wireless operators stay at their post sending more distress messages.
At 12:55am, Lifeboat 5 is the 3rd boat to be launched. Only 41 of it's 65 seats are occupied. Shortly after, the first distress rocket is fired and Boat 3 is launched with only 33 people on board.
At 1:10am, Lifeboat 1 is the 5th to be launched. This boat leaves with only 12 seats occupied, among them is Sir Cosmo Duff-Gorden and his Wife Luceile. It would later be said that Cosmo bribed the other people in the boat with £5 to not return and rescue people, a story he would never be able to live down.
The owner of Macey's Department Store, Isadore Straus, attempts to put his wife into a lifeboat, however she refuses to leave him. "Where you go, I go".

Lifeboat 8 is then launched with only 28 people. The officers do not realise how they are affecting the number of lives that will be lost.
Thomas Andrews has noticed the lack of people in the lifeboats and at around 1:15am he demands that the boats be filled. He stresses that the boats were tested with 70 men back in Belfast so there is no reason to not fill them.

The steerage passengers below begin to panic. They are still not allowed up to the boat deck and they sense their time is running out. The water is rapidly filling the lower levels and they have no way out.
1:20am, Lifeboat 10 is the 7th boat to leave the Titanic, it is launched with 55 seats occupied, an improvement on the other boat's load of 20 or more.
1:24am, the Titanic is resting lower in the water. Passengers begin to panic as the deck tilts more and more. A lot of people try to storm the boats. 2nd Officer Lightoller threatens to shoot any passenger who tries to climb into the boat. Lifeboat 16 and 14 are the 8th and 9th to be launched with 40 and 45 seats occupied respectively. First class passengers try to rush boat 14 which is commanded by 5th Officer Lowe, a seaman pushes passengers back with a tiller and Lowe fires 3 warning shots out to sea for those who have already jumped into the boat. The Titanic is not as safe as it once felt.

To be continued....

The Story of the RMS Titanic - Part 7

At 12:17 am on April 15th 1912, The Titanic lies damaged and sinking in the middle of the North Atlantic. Captain Smith has ordered the Stewards to inform passengers to put on their life jackets and come to the boat deck, in first and second class that is. Things are more hectic down in Steerage. Stewards bang on the doors and shout at passengers as there is a lot more cabins and passengers down there than in the other classes.

In the wireless room, the ship Frankfurt responds to Titanic's distress call, then shortly after at 12:19am, the Cunard ship Carpathia's wireless operator Cottam picks up his headset before going to bed, he hears the Titanic's distress call and immediately askes for their position. He wakes up the captian who immediately orders the ship to be turned around and headed to assist the Titanic.
It is also around this time that the ships Mt. Temple and Berma hear the Titanic's call for help, they relay the news to other ships in the area and it also reaches the listening station in Newfoundland, who then relay the news inland which will eventually reach New York.

In 3rd class, the passengers prepare to leave the ship only to realise that they must wait to go to the boat deck. Gates close off stairwells which are guarded by stewards who do not allow any 3rd class passengers up to the lifeboats until the order is given. Things, however, are much different in 1st class. Passengers are not alarmed, they stay in the smoking room and the lounge while drinks are still served. Thomas Andrews is amazed at the situation.

At around 12:25, the Carpathia responds to Titanic with a simple message "Coming Hard". However the Carpathia is around 58 miles away, and with a full speed of about 17 knots it will take around 4 hours to reach the Titanic.

Captain Smith is informed of the Carpathia's approach. He is worried as he knows that the Carpathia will not arrive in time.
At 12:35am, 4th Officer Boxhall sees some lights in the distance just off Titanic's port bow. It looks like the lights of a tramp steamer, he signals with the Morse lamp but does not get a response. He decides to fire distress rockets. Around this time, a few passengers such as the Astors keep warm inside the Gymnasium. It is too cold outside, and with the ship venting off steam there is too much noise for the passengers to cope with, and since they think the Titanic is unsinkable, they have no rush to go outside.
At 12:40am, one hour after hitting the iceberg, 2nd Officer Lightoller asks the captain if he should load the lifeboats with women and children. The men have to stay behind. Many passengers hesitate to board the lifeboats, Titanic still feels too safe to leave.

At 12:45 on the starboard side, lifeboat 7 is the first boat to be launched, and with a crew unfamiliar with the new davits, the boat dips heavily to starboard, scaring the passengers in it. It slowly is lowered into the water with only 28 of it's 65 seats occupied.
Quartermaster Rowe is stood on the Poop Deck when he sees boat 7 in the water rowing aft, he is confused so he telephones the bridge. Officer Boxhall answers and realises that Rowe is the last crew member to know of the collision, the iceberg to him looked the the sail of a small ship. Boxhall asks Row to get the distress rockets and come to the bridge.

At 12:50, the venting steam stops and a silence falls across the boat deck. Lifeboat 6 is the 2nd to be launched. It is launched with only 24 seats occupied. The band then begin to play on deck.

To Be Continued.........

The Story of the RMS Titanic - Part 6

At 11:39, The lookouts Fredrick Fleet and Reginald Lee are scanning the horizon when Fleet suddenly sees a massive dark shape directly in the Titanic's path. He strikes the warning bell three times before telephoning the bridge. "Iceberg right ahead!"

6th Officer Moody recieved the call and responded with a simple "Thank you" and told First Officer Murdock who instinctivly ordered "Hard-a-starboard!". He then orders the engines to be stopped and reversed. The watertight doors are then closed as the Helmsman spins the wheel as far as it will go.
It seems to take forever, but the Titanic slowly starts to turn port (left) but it is too late, the Iceberg scrapes along the Starboard side of the ship, causing the rivits holding the hull plates together to pop, creating small seperations in the hull which allow the sea to pour in.
The impact is not felt by many of the passengers. To many it felt like a quick pause in the rythem of Titanic's engines. Around 37 seconds has passed since the sighting of the berg. Captain Smith comes to the bridge and hears what happened from 1st Officer Murdock. He asks Thomas Andrews and the Carpentor, John Hall Hutchinson to inspect the damage. They discover that water has poured in and risen 15 feet in the forward compartments.

At around 12:00am, Thomas Andrews comes to the bridge and explains the damage to Captain Smith and his crew. Bruice Ismay is also present. Andrews says that the ship is taking on water in the forward part of the ship. 5 watertight compartments are now flooding. The Titanic was designed to float with up to 4 compartments flooded but not 5. The flooded compartments were the Fore Peak, Cargo Holds 1, 2 and 3 and Boiler Room 6.

Andrews reveals that the Titanic will only last for about two hours. The watertight bulkheads only went as high as E Deck which meant that as the ship got lower, the water would begin to spill into the other compartments. Smith tells Third Officer Pitman to check the water levels below and to take some armed guards with him to keep the stokers and firemen at their posts. The order to launch lifeboats will not be given for another 5 minutes.

Captain Smith orders the Wireless Operators, Jack Phillips and Harrold Bride, to call for help. "C.Q.D" Was the conventional distress call at the time, but later, one of the first S.O.S calls would be made. The Titanic's estimated position was 41o 44'N, 50o 24'W. They do not know that this position is inaccurate. Phillips and Bride sent this message:

"Titanic to any ship: C.Q.D. 41.44 N 50.24 W"

At 12:05am, the Boilers are shut down and exess steam is released which creates a deafening roar over the boat deck. The order is given to waken the passengers and to uncover the lifeboats. There are over 2,200 people onboard the Titanic, and the lifeboats only have a capacity of around 1,200.

To Be Continued...

The Story of the RMS Titanic - Part 5

The Titanic heads West into the Atlantic to begin it's crossing to New York, carrying around 2,200 passengers and crew, the Titanic is only 2/3 full.
April 11th to April 12th. Thursday and Friday were uneventful. Everything was normal on board. First class enjoyed tea in the Lounge and cafe's, the First Class men enjoyed brandy and cards in the Smoking room. Titanic covers 386 miles.
Once again, Friday 12th is an uneventful day, calm seas and passengers going about their every day routine.
The wireless operators, Jack Phillips and Harold Bride, send and receive passenger messages all day.

Titanic also recieves her first ice warning from the steamship Rappahannock. The Titanic covers another 519 miles.
Saturday, April 13th 1912. Chief Engineer Joseph Bell reports a coal fire blazing in boiler room 6 on the starboard side of the ship, the side that will hit the iceberg later in the voyage. The stokers were concerned as the fire was pretty bad and they feared it may get out of control. Two men from each Stoker's shift spent four hours each to try and put it out. They were ordered not to say anything about it as none of the passengers knew of it. Areas of the boiler room were draped to try and contain the coal dust, which is easily ignighted from friction sparks from the shovels.
Because of this fire "The Black Gang" or coal trimmers had to stay in the boiler rooms instead of having their shore leave drinks in the saloon. Much of the coal was removed from the starboard side which may have contributed to Titanic's list during the sinking.
At around 3pm, Captain E. J. Smith and Bruice Ismay discuss the crossing in the 1st Class D Deck Reception Room. Ismay talks about beating the Olympic's crossing time. He urges a reluctant Captian Smith to speed the ship up and light the last four boilers. He aims to get the ship to New York on Tuesday night instead of Wednesday morning.
Later that night, a burnt wire cause the wireless system to short out. This will take Bride and Phillips up untill 5am Sunday morning to fix which causes a huge backlog of messages.

Sunday April 14th 1912.
A life boat drill was schedualed for 9am this morning, however the captian decided to cancel it because of the church service that was to be held in 1st and 2nd class at 10:30am. Captain Smith would hold the 1st class service in the Dining Saloon. It was optional to attend and hyms would be sung, including "For Those In Peril On The Sea", an ironic choice.
Titanic also receives her 2nd ice warning from the steam ship Caronia. It read "Bergs, growlers and field ice in 42oN, from 49oN to 51oW". This gets passed onto the bridge where it is posted in the chart room.
At 11:40am, Titanic receives her 3rd Ice warning from the steamship Noordam simply saying "Much ice". Again this is passed onto the bridge.
At 1:42pm, Titanic receives her 4th ice warning from the Baltic. "Icebergs and large quantities of field ice in 41oN 51'N, 49o 52'W...wish you and Titanic all success"
Captain Smith passes this message onto Bruice Ismay who shows the message to some passengers making them uneasy. However, Ismay still does not want the ship to slow down.

Captain Smith swings the ships bow slightly south to try and go around the rapidly approaching ice field. He does this further south than was planned, hoping that this will clear the ship of the ice.
At 7:30pm the Titanic receives her 5th ice warning from the S.S Californian however this message does not go to the bridge as it is not addressed to Titanic, the warning read "42o 3'N. 49o 9'W. Three large bergs 5 miles to the southwards of us".
At around 9:40pm, Titanic receives her 6th ice warning from the S. S. Masaba. "42o to 41o 25'N, 49o to 50o 30'W saw much heavy pack ice and great number of large icebergs, also field ice, weather good, clear". This was probably one of the most important ice warnings, however it failed to reach the bridge as the wireless operators were so backed up with work they decided to leave it until later when they had cleared a lot of the messages out of the way. If this message had been posted in the chart room, Titanic may have been slowed down and may even have altered course some more and avoided collision altogether.
At 10:30pm, the Californian, only about 10 miles away, sent Titanic this message:
"We are stopped and surrounded by ice." However this message was interrupted by Phillips replying with "Keep out! Shut up! You are jamming my signal. I'm working Cape Race" this meant he was sending ship to shore messages for the passengers, much of it the back log. This was the last message about ice that Titanic received.

To be continued.....

The Story of the RMS Titanic - Part 4

The R.M.S. Titanic arrives in Queenstown in the early afternoon of Thursday 11th April. As the docks at the harbour were not big enough to accommodate the Titanic, she was anchored approximately a mile away from port. Two White Star tenders, America and Ireland, ferried passengers from the ship to the dock, among them were a crew member who just used the Titanic as a free trip home and Francis Brown where he took his last photo of the Titanic and also the last known photo of Captain Smith alive.

The tenders then brought more passengers and mail to the ship. She then stayed docked for a further hour as Captain Smith allowed local lace merchants to come aboard and sell quiality Irish lace to the first class passengers.

Finally at 1:30pm, the Titanic raised anchor for the last time and headed out into the Atlantic. To the passengers, the crossing so far had been uneventful besides the near miss back in Southampton, however for the Crew there were a few problems. Since the Titanic arrived in Southampton, a fire had be burning in one of the coal bunkers which won't be extinguished until the day before the disaster. This was seen as a waste of coal as there had been a coal strike before the Titanic sailed, threatening to cancel her trip, however the coal strike was solved on the 6th April but this meant that there wasn't enough time to get fresh coal for the Titanic, so coal was taken from other ships and the left overs from the Olympic, this meant that the other ship's crossings had to be cancelled and their passengers transfered to Titanic.
The Titanic leaves Ireland and heads into the Atlantic, never to see land again.

To be continued...

The Story of the RMS Titanic - Part 3

Tall as an 11 story building, 882ft 9" long, the R.M.S. Titanic is the largest moving object ever made by the hand of man. She was the pride of Belfast, Harland and Wolff and the White Star Line.
Now that the Titanic is complete and has finished her sea trials, she makes her way down the Irish Sea and on through the English Channel where she will arrive in Southampton to begin loading cargo for sailing on 10th April for a 7 day crossing to New York.
The Titanic boasted many facilities not found on any other ship, such as a Gymnasium:

A Turkish Bath:

A squash court, a swimming pool and even 3 different restaurants in the 1st class areas alone. It also offered smoking rooms and lounges for 1st and 2nd class passengers. An opulent Grand Staircase in 1st class which reached from A Deck all the way down to F Deck. This would become the most famous part of the ship.

Here, people such as John Jacob Aster and his newly wedded wife Madeline would make their entrance. A large glass dome topped the staircase allowing natural light into the room, adding to it's splendour.
1st class passengers could enjoy exquisite accomodation decorated in many different styles. Two parlour sweet rooms were on board, one of which, B54, was booked by Bruce Ismay, the White Star Line's chairman. These rooms consisted of a sitting room, private promenade, a bathroom, a wardrobe and 2 bedrooms. This was the most expencive room on board.


Passengers began to arrive from around 9:30am on Wednesday 10th April to board the liner. Boat trains from London and all over the country would arrive, bringing passengers to the ship, including Francis Brown, the man who took the last known photographs of the ship before she sank.
More cargo arrived including mail sacks, golf balls, fresh food, wine, fresh water, eggs and even ostrich feathers. Another interesting piece of cargo was a brand new Rennault owned by William Carter.
Many famous and wealthy people boarded the ship in Southampton such as John Jacob Aster, Colonal Archiebald Gracey and many others.
At 12 Noon, the Titanic cast off the ropes tying her to the dock. She started her engines and slowly started to move, however, several loud bangs could be heard. A smaller ship, The New York, was being pulled towards the Titanic, her mooring lines snapped due to the suction caused by Titanic's massive displacement. Immidiately the Titanic stopped and reversed her engines and the New York drifted out of the way, inches from coliding with Titanic's stern.



The tug boat Vulcan towed the New York safely away from the Titanic, avoiding a repeat of the incident between the Olympic and the Hawke back in 1911.
Now, after a delay of about an hour, the Titanic heads out of Southampton harbour and into the English Channel where she will arrive at Cherbourg, France at around 6:30pm to pick up more passengers, including the famous Margaret "Molly" Brown and the Astors. After a stay of about an hour and a half, the Titanic raises anchor and leaves Cherbourg, heading West to it's last stop in Queenstown, Ireland, before heading across the Atlantic to New York.

To be continued....

The Story of the RMS Titanic - Part 2

March 1909, The Titanic's Keel is laid.
In those days, ships were constructed from the bottom up. The Titanic's keel was double plated giving the ship extra protection incase of a collision.
Over the next two years, the Titanic would slowly be built on the slipway, however she was only an empty shell. Much more work would continue when the Titanic will eventually be launched in 1911.
On October 20th 1910, the Olympic is succesfully launched and is towed to the Dry Dock to begin an extensive fitting out process.

Construction on the Titanic continues for another seven months. Titanic's hull is painted and her superstructure is built. Thousands of workers help to create the largest ship in the world.
Finally on May 31st 1911, the R.M.S. Titanic's hull is launched into the water. It was this moment where the Titanic claimed it's first victim. A falling support beam collapses and kills a worker instantly, however this wasn't enough to distract the thousands of onlookers watching this massive piece of metal slowly slip down the greased slipway and slide gracefully into the water.

Titanic was towed to the dry dock to begin outfitting. It was during outfitting that Titanic recieved updates which distinguished her from her Sister ship Olympic. These modifications included the forward part of the A Deck Promenade to be enclosed and also the aft B Deck promenade was shortened to accommodate more cabins as this space on the Olympic was reletavely unused. These extra additions made the Titanic heavier than the Olympic making her the largest moving object in the world.

In June 1911, the R.M.S. Olympic embarks on her maiden voyage from Southampton to New York, stopping at Cherbourg in France and Queenstown, now Cobbh, in Ireland.
In September, Titanic's luxurious interiors were well under way with over 100 carpenters carving the Grand Staircase, the woodern pillars and all of the other ornate fittings and fixtures that would make up Titanic's first class areas. However on the 20th of the same month, the R.M.S. Olympic suffers a major accident. She collided with British Royal Navy cruiser H.M.S. Hawke tearing a huge hole in her side, however, both ships still remained afloat. Work on Titanic had to stop so repairs to Olympic could be made, this took 6 weeks, delaying Titanic's Scheduled sailing date by a month. Some said that the new ships were just too big.

In January of 1912, Titanic's 16 woodern lifeboats were fitted along with 4 collapseable boats. This amounted to 20 lifeboats in total, the 16 wooden boats had a capacity for 65 people each and the collapseable boats had room for 40 people each, a total of 1200 spaces, however the Titanic was capeable of carrying up to around 3000 passengers and crew when fully loaded. The laws regarding the number of lifeboats were out of date as ships of this tonnage had never been made before, and it's because of this that the number of lifeboats the Titanic carried actually exceeded the amount required by the law.

The law's in those days didn't aquisition a number of boats due to the amount of passengers carried, but rather to the ship's tonnage and as the Titanic weighed over 46,000 tons and the laws didn't go anywhere near that mark. It was orginially planned to have 64 lifeboats onboard however this was overlooked and people said that amount of boats would worry passengers and make the ship feel unsafe, so it was agreed that 20 lifeboats would be sufficient.

In February, R.M.S. Olympic once again returned to Belfast after losing a Propellar blade, once again delyaing work on the Titanic.
On March 31st, 1912, 3 years after her first keel plate was laid, the R.M.S. Titanic was finished and began only a single day of sea trials before making the journey down to Southampton where she would set sail at 12pm on April 10th...

To Be Continued...

The Story of the RMS Titanic - Part 1

So I have decided that I am going to re-publish the Titanic historical thing I wrote last year. I sadly left it unfinished so I am going to republish it and finish it. Some of you might find it interesting, some wont but I'm bored so I am going to do it. So here is part one.

In the late 1890's to the early 1900's, The White Star Line, owned by J. P. Morgan, was one of a few shipping companies which competed in the industry of the Trans-Atlantic passage to Europe and America. In the height of Emigration, there was more demand for new ships which were capable of taking passengers quickly and comfortably across the atlantic to America.
The Cunard Line had been creating new ships for the Trans-Atlantic passage, one of which was the Lucitainia, one of White Star's major competitor ships. Cunard had focused on Speed to bring in customers as a quicker route across the Atlantic was very appealing. The White Star Line however decided that Speed wasn't everything, and that passengers should enjoy their time at sea and be as comfortable as possible, so they decided to compeat with huge, luxurious ships.

In the spring of 1907, J. Bruice Ismay, chairman of the White Star Line, enveloped an idea of a trio of super ships which will be the biggest and most luxurious ever built, yet still have the speed for a trans-atlantic crossing. This idea came about at a party hoasted by Lord William J. Pirrie, President of Harland and Wolff shipyards, the purpose of which was to discuss the construction of two large liners. Ismay was the head of the discussion. They would be named Olympic, after Mount Olympus, the home of the gods, Titanic, after the Titans who challenged the gods, only to be cast down for their arrgance and Gigantic, purely after the ships size. Little did they know how much this Greek Mythology would mirror the events that would happen in the next 8 years. It was from this point on that one of the greatest and most tragic stories in history was set in motion.

Thomas Andrews began designing these super liners and in July of 1907, White Star approves the designs for the ships and in December 1908, the keel of the first of the trio was laid down. Construction begain on the R.M.S. Olympic in Belfast at the Harland and Wolff shipyards which White Star had commissioned to build the ships. In order to acommodate for the size of these ships, they had to convert 3 of their already large slipways into 2 larger ones.
No ship of this size had ever been made before and because of the scale of it, it provided much of Belfast with employment. It was the start of an economical boom for the town and with the second, Titanic, due to begin construction the following year, many more jobs will have been created.

In March of 1909, Construction on the Olympic was well under way and on the 31st, Titanic's first keel plate was laid. The Gigantic would begin construction in 1911.

To be continued...

Back on Antibiotics + Wisdom Teeth

So....The other day my gum started to hurt and feel swollen and horrible and it ached a hell of a lot when I tried to open my mouth. As you can imagine this made eating horribly painful.

I knew it was Wisdom Teeth because it's happened before! Wisdom teeth are so stupid and pointless, I mean they either grow in wrong OR there isn't enough room in your mouth for them! So they cause pain, and overall, annoyance.

So now because of my top teeth are too far back and are cutting my gums, which have now gotten infected...AGAIN! So I'm on Penicillin which makes me feel sick and now I may have to get my wisdom teeth taken out.....which terrifies me.

So I've got a week with these antibiotics and feeling ill, but if it helps then I can't complain....I just hope that I don't have to get them taken out......

Video Games are an Art Form

So these days, video games are in the same league as films and TV shows. But why is that? 10 years ago, Video games weren't considered as much as an art form as they are today, and 15 years ago, they weren't even looked upon that much other than the people who played them. But video games have made such an impact on the entertainment industry that they have become a huge part of every day life.

Games are like films these days with their epic story lines and solid characters while 15 years ago a video game had a central character with not much back story to them with the aim of the game to get through different levels with very little story.

So why has the video game medium become so popular and so big? I think it's because games offer more escapism for people. A film only allows you to watch events of a character, while a game lets you be the character. You chose what you want to do, you can save people in certain games, blast your way through enemies in others....it allows freedom of choice.

However games have caused controversy for a long time. The growing concern that video games influence children to be violent is continuously around. However the people who make these accusations have very little knowledge of games themselves.
Take a look at this video. It is a clip from the Alan Tichmarsh show where they are having a debate about violence in video games.



As you can see the argument is ridiculous as they are blaming parents for giving kids the games yet they fail to go into how children watch films which have high age classifications.

At the end of the day, games are an art form, with a colaboration of people making them what they are, just like films are art. I feel the only difference between films and games are the fact that we can play games. They should be treated as such rather than being pushed aside and shunned for "causing violence".

Games are art, and will remain such for a long time.

Silent Hill 2

Following on from the success of Silent Hill, Konami set to work on a second game. This would be released on PS2 as the console was brand new and it seemed like a great idea to bring one of the scariest games of 2000 to a better platform and with breath taking graphics.

In 2001, Konami released Silent Hill 2 on Playstation 2.


The story of Silent Hill 2 is not a continuation of the first game, but rather a stand alone story which isn't tied to any other game in the series.
It follows the story of James Sunderland, a man in his late 20s who has lost his wife three years prior to the events in the game. He comes to Silent Hill after receiving a letter from her saying she is waiting for him in their "special place"

The game features the radio and flash light from the previous games which still serve their purpose of detecting monsters and lighting the environment slightly. However, this game's otherworld is only featured twice in the game and it is not bloody and rusty like in the first game.

The game also takes place in a new area of Silent Hill, south of Toluca Lake which features Blue Creek Apartments, The Silent Hill Historical Society and Brookhaven Hospital among other scary environments.



The graphics in this game was fantastic for PS2 at the time. Sharper images and more polygons allowed for more detail in the characters and the environments. This also allowed for a scarier game experience too, and indeed it was. Silent Hill 2 gave a more psychological experience as everything in the game was constructed from James' mind and subconscious. Through the monsters and events we get to know the character and sympathize and even hate him, something the previous game didn't do. It also gave birth to Pyramid Head, a firm fan favorite but sadly very over used.



The ending has a superb twist to it and has landed this game one of the best in the series. It's beautifully written story is so sad, so depressing, yet fantastic gave this game a great feeling, as well as the environments and fantastic music from Akira Yamaoka, this has to be the best Silent Hill game in the entire series.

It was a firm success which lead Konami to go ahead and make the next game in the series.

Silent Hill

With Silent Hill 6's big reveal only hours away at E3, I thought it would be nice to do a blog about the Silent Hill series, having a brief look at the games and how they redefined Survival Horror.

In 1999, Capcom's "Resident Evil" was pretty much dominating the survival horror genre in video games and with Resident Evil 3: Nemisis just around the corner, Konami wanted to try and create their own survival horror game.
They came up with a game that was completely different to Resident Evil and other previous survival horror games. Previous games had an emphasis on fighting and shooting monsters with the occasional "jump scare" tactic to frighten the player, Silent Hill decided to take the atmospheric route and have a psychological scare.

So in 1999, Konami delivered Silent Hill.



Silent Hill followed the story of Harry Mason. He travels to Silent Hill with his daughter Cheryl for a holiday. While driving at night on the outskirts of town, a police officer roars past on a motorbike, shortly after, Harry sees the motorbike discarded on the side of the road with the police officer no where in sight. As he looks back to the road, a figure of a girl steps out in front of the car, Harry tries to avoid the girl and crashes into a gully.

Awaking from the crash, he sees fog is all around him, he turns to check of Cheryl is ok, but she is nowhere to be seen. Panicking, Harry leaves the car and heads to a deserted town in the distance.

This is where you take control, following what looks like Cheryl into town and down an alley. Once in the alley, the true feeling of Silent Hill's horror sets in. A dead dog lying in a pool of it's own blood, darkness quickly growing and an ominous siren lowly wailing in the distance all add up to a feel of unease and confusion.

Further down the alley, a loud squeaking can be heard, a broken wheelchair lies on it's side with one wheel slowly spinning, next to that, a hospital gurney with a covered body lying on it. The concrete fades away to reveal wire mesh on the walls and floor, and a dead body strung up with barbed wire hangs in front of Harry's lighter, the only source of light he has. And after that, there is nowhere else to go. Turning around reveals 4 monsters coming towards Harry, completely defenseless, Harry succumbs to their attacks and passes out....

Playing this for the first time scared the hell out of me! Thankfully Harry wakes up in a cafe and then the game really begins. But that opening section really defined what survival horror really could be! The atmosphere and uncertainty of what was happening made the game a terrifying experience. The fog severely hindering the players view also added to suspense and unease as you couldn't see any monsters coming, but you knew they were around due to the radio emitting static whenever they are near.

Silent Hill offered less emphasis on combat and more on story and atmosphere, it created a truly terrifying experience and once it finished, it left us begging for more!

The Monster Ball

So I went to see Lady Gaga in Manchester last night with my boyfriend and my god it was amazing!!!
We were right at the front so we could see Gaga clearly and the show she put on was just fantastic!!!!

Amazing sets with keyboards everywhere, a HUGE Fame Monster and Gaga with her amazing outfits.
At one point she looked right at me and Richard and leaned over to touch us! We were INCHES away when a security guard stopped her. But my god it was fantastic! She also managed to tell off the entire security staff for not allowing people in with coke cans in their hair. Thankfully security listened to her and let people keep the cans in their hair.

I absolutely adore Lady Gaga. She is down to earth and really cares for her fans! I would deffo go and see her again!!!

Beautiful Thing

So I have just finished watching a really good film. It's called Beautiful Thing and it was made through Film Four, so you know it's gonna be a good British film.

It's quite old I have to say, and you can tell it looks dated. It was made in 1996 and it's got a very strong 90s feel.
It's set in the Thamesmeade estate in London and it's about Jamie who lives with his mam and her strange hippy boyfriend. He has two neighbours, there is Ste who lives with his abusive father and brother and find himself sleeping at Jamie's to get away from them. There is also Leah who spends her time listening to Mamma Cass records.

Ste and Jamie become close and eventually become lovers. It explores teenage boys coming out in the 90s and the struggles that come with it, however it's not all bad. Once Jamie's mother gets over it everything is fine, besides the fact that Ste has to hide it from his dad.

Overall I'd say it was a feel good film because it is what it's title says, a Beautiful Thing. Visually it's stunning, it breathes life into the grey urban look of Thamesmeade's concrete tower blocks and shows just how nice gay love actually is.
Just a shame there is so much homophobia around.

If you haven't seen it before then do check it out, it is a gem of a film and I'm sure you will like it.

10 Reasons To Chain Smoke - Update

Just a quick post to update you on the latest film I am producing called "10 Reasons to Chain Smoke" written by Richard Gilroy.

We have halted filming for a week or so as our actor James Baxter was filming for ITV but now his schedule is clear, filming will start at the beginning of next week. I am aiming for a April 30th release date. And by release date I mean the date I upload it to youtube.

We also have the first 4 minutes edited and it is looking VERY good. James is a brilliant actor.

I don't think I will be making a trailer for this one as there is not enough footage to make a decent trailer without spoiling the story.

I'll give you another update nearer it's completion.

Heavy Rain

Heavy Rain is the new PS3 exclusive from Quantic Dream and it is not like any other game I have ever played!

It revamps and totally advances the style of an oldish game called Fahrenheit which was also made by quantic dream, however that game wasn't as directly interactive as Heavy Rain.

When I look at Heavy Rain I see it more of an interactive movie, or "Interactive Drama" as the developers call it, rather than an actual game. This is because the entire game is like a quick-time event where you press the right button at a certain time. However when I say that, you may be thinking about the Resident Evil 4 quick-time events but this isn't like that at all! Rather than have it tell you to press a certain button at a certain time, it asks you to press a selection of buttons in different ways depending on the action.

For example, at one part of the game, you have to disinfect someone's cuts. You do this by slowly moving the right analogue stick in the direction it asks you. Do it too fast and you cause pain to this person.

Another example is when you are grabbing something or preparing for a run up to something, the game asks you to press and hold one button, then while keeping hold of that the character takes a step back, then you press and hold another button, while keeping hold of the first, to take another step back, then release the two to take the run up.

It is fantastic! It is so immersive and the storyline is brilliant. There were numerous occasions where I was on the edge of my seat, and even parts where I didn't want to do certain actions because I felt so strongly for the character.

There is also no game over! You play 4 main characters, each have their own sections throughout the game, and if you kill one of them, the story continues but changes to that character is dead. Kill all of them off and that is one of the endings. This games the game so much re-playability as every action you do takes the story in a different direction. Not drastically but it gives it variation. It also allows you to play again to get all the trophies too!

It has a fantastic and emotional storyline and brilliantly executed controls. The only problem I have with it is that the sound kept cutting out now and again, but pausing and unpausing the game fixed it.

Seriously, if you have a PS3, then get this game! It's like nothing you have ever played before!

District 9

So I had the pleasure of finally watching District 9. Now, a lot of people seem to think it's Peter Jackson's film, HOWEVER he was only the producer. The film is actually that of Neill Blomkamp as he was the director. Obviously Peter Jackson will have had input as all Producers do but I won't divulge into that as quite honestly, I don't know how much input he had.

Anyway, onto the film itself.

It has a VERY different take on your average alien film. First off, it's not about an alien invasion. It's rather the Aliens came to earth accidentally and landed because they ran out of fuel. Us humans being territorial and all that jazz intervened and decided that they had broken their ship and were here to stay, so they imprisoned them in a large shanty town-like place called District 9, where they live.

The aliens are portrayed as animals who have a thing for cat food, and the humans aren't portrayed much better tbh. The humans go in trying to get the Aliens, or Prawns as humans call them, to sign eviction agreements as they want the aliens gone from Johannesburg.

So pretty much it's a nod to concentration camps and essentially racism. All the Aliens want to do is go home. They don't attack humans unless they are under threat, and even then they seem pretty harmless.

I thought it was very well done as you sympathized for the aliens rather than the humans. Also the visual effects were very good! The Aliens looked very real as did the hovering mothership.

This film was rather weird but very good non the less! Check it out if you haven't already, and I will certainly look forward to seeing more films by Neill Blomkamp in the future...

10 Reasons To Chain Smoke

Hey guys!

So I've been working on a new film called 10 Reasons to Chain Smoke. We began filming yesterday and it's going pretty well! I also have an awesome cast too! We have a guy from Emmerdale who is fantastic! A right laugh which is always great to have on the shoot. We also have a girl from my drama society who is pretty awesome too.

So two days of filming have been done. Got a couple more lined up for next week! Hopefully we will get everything sorted by then as we still have a fair few things to shoot. Time is against us as we can't really film over easter due to the lack of staff at Uni but it's all good :D

I'll get a trailer together once we have enough footage