first things first

I can't explain it, but I've had a lot of trouble thinking of what to post first on this, the new blog page. Which is very silly, as no-one will read it anyway [other than those who see it in their facebook notifications and click on it out of boredom.] As a new project, it doesn't feel like you can just continue on with previous strings and waves of thought, but like you have to start again.

So I thought I'd go for an explanation. Someone working beside me just leant over and asked, "Why are you giving the impression that you're speaking on behalf of an organisation or something, when it's your own personal blog?" That sounds like as good a place to start as any.

I've been a volunteer youth worker for nearly six years. It sounds very long, but I spent the first four of those usually getting it drastically wrong. No court cases though, so it's all good. [Dangerous jokes, last of those I'll make...] I've spent the last three 'reading' Film Studies at Queen's University, Belfast - for many, an enormous waste of time, but there was something useful imparted every now and again. Through a long-time interest in film - completely extra-curricular - I've been making films for, interestingly, about as long as I've been with the youth work, and luckily, in the last couple of years the two have intersected every now and again; even expanding to photography and radio on occasion.

Mediatree is really an umbrella to combine all these things. Right now, I'm about to begin a year of teacher training. It'll be a tough old year, but if I still like working with teenagers by the end of it, it's a very good sign. By working together all the different elements of media stuff and the youth work, I hope to someday fulfill the Mediatree ideal, working resourcing, corporate media work, and youth work as facets of a single setup. It's a big ask, but it does have a bit of a calling/obsession element to it.

Make sense? Probably not.

I'd really like to be able to earn some kudos back at this point, and stick a couple of film clips up to win your undying approval; I'm kinda worried though that if I put up any of our final uni project, it'll get me in trouble with Film Festival people who are funny about that kind of thing the world over. And I can't put up any of the youth work stuff because of Child Protection legislation.

So instead, here's one from a couple of years ago with some chop socky.



[If you can't see the video, click here instead.]