Blaze Festival 2014

07.09.14 — Preston

So I’ve finally made it into my own bed after a super-busy extended weekend of Blaze Festival 2014 events!

The programme of events took place was centred around the Harris Museum & Art Gallery in Preston, but with many other satellite events taking place in Burnley, Accrington and Skelmersdale. Check out the events programme online here to get an idea of what we had going on!

As far as my design work for the festival went, I created five of the six “festival strand” icons; Portable Projection, Masquerade, Blaze Lounge, Level Up and Culture On A Shoestring — as well as the poster for the festival. Check those out in a blog post from a while back here!

After spending the weekend pretty much live tweeting the whole event (check out my Twitter here or search #BlazeFestival2014), here’s some highlights and photos from the festival!

Here’s Ant, Jakub and Sarah chilling out in the library after a hard night of eating pizza and dumping balloons on people! Speaking of dumping the balloons on people (Ant’s idea to add an extra dimension to a Portable Projection screening of Indiana Jones!), here’s a photo…

My greatest contribution to the actual running of the festival was to man the front desk, where could be found many, many copies of Culture On A Shoestring Issue 5! They arrived by the box from Newspaper Club…

It was strange to be sat in the Harris Library at night – quite eerie in fact! After a long day of festivities, me and Sarah thought it best that we nip down into Preston City Centre and treat ourself to frozen yoghurt and crêpes…

Continuing on our culinary quest, Sarah also introduced the Blaze team to the wonders of Sue’s Ice Cream in Market Square! I opted for a sherbet-covered cone, whereas Laura went all out with “the works”, and ended up with this marshmallow-clad monstrosity! (Which caused marshmallowgate, but that’s an inside joke.)

By today (Sunday), the third day of the festival, we’d all gotten pretty tired – Jakub especially so after making porridge at 3:30am!

But no fear, for me and Shona still had the energy to treat the Harris Museum Staff to a rousing rendition of Cher’s “Believe” at 9am!

In the afternoon I also took an hour to see Shona’s contribution to the festival – Masquerade’s Murder Mystery. Skeptical of the format of the interactive theatre production, I headed into the room where it all began and was blown away by the whirlwind hourlong performance, during which I struggled to differentiate reality from what was being acted out — even after I had dropped by on several rehearsals previously!

The performance really was a credit to Shona and the whole cast. I was so immersed in the experience that I didn’t have chance to take any photos, except this one that I snapped just after the Murder Mystery began…

Shona and the team kick off Masquerade's Murder Mystery

After the festival came the AGM, which consisted mostly of chilli con carne, nachos, cheese and milkshakes served in huge jugs and washed out Nutella pots!

With that delicious thought, I think I’ll end here. It’s been a long, tiring weekend, but it’s been so much fun and an absolute delight to see and work with everyone again. I’m also sad to see Laura leaving Blaze, but she’ll soon have an MA in tow and be on her way to bigger and greater things, so I wish her all the best!

Signing off now – Alton Towers tomorrow! I had better sleep!

Update: You can have a giggle at photos of me and my mum at Alton Towers here.

Florida

05.09.14 — Orlando

So this was the sight that first greeted us as we set off on our Florida adventure – SeaWorld’s beautiful entrance! In case you hadn’t gathered, this summer saw the Briggs family jet off to Orlando for a fortnight in the (what I’m told is enjoyable but I find to be oppressive) sun!

We arrived and set straight out to find a WalMart (which is a bit like Tesco, B&Q, Primark & PC World Combined) to fill up our trolley with suspiciously neon food, all of which was saturated in high fructose corn syrup. Yum.

Anyway – after that, we found our way to our first theme park, SeaWorld, and I had some fun taking photos around the park…

My sister demanded that we try some “Dippin’ Dots”, which take the form of either sorbet or ice-cream formed into small balls – a bit like those Calippo Shots but without the faff of trying to remove the solid ice block of balls from their stupid container…

Neither of those facial expressions are necessary

We also managed to sneak in three rides on one of my favourite coasters out there in Florida, Manta! After two rides though, my mum fell victim to the high-G pretzel loop and decided she’d had her fill.

Towards the end of the afternoon, however, the American weather did a decidedly English thing – and it began to rain. But I’m talking monsoon-style rain here, so much so that we decided to make tracks and head back to our condo. Ellie decided to go for a paddle in the road…

After that, we made our way to The Magic Kingdom, a family favourite of course! Ellie seemed to really enjoy carrying the backpack…

The day started out beautiful as ever, but sure as hell descended into a downpour by mid afternoon! We made a second visit, highlighted by Ellie’s change of clothes…

We managed to get on all the rides thanks to Disney’s FastPass+ system which worked a dream – including, of course, Big Thunder Mountain. Here’s my parents enjoying one of it’s many lift hills!

We did, of course, stay around for the nighttime parade – but before that, there was a marching band from a local school/high school/college/university! (My grasp on the American Educational System is poor, even after a lifetime of exposure to American Films..)

Then as the day turned to night, it was time for SpectroMagic! But wait – it was not to be. Turns out Disney have decided to eschew SpectroMagic in favour of the parade which preceded it – Disney’s Electrical Parade. Although the music was catchy (click here and play it for the rest of this blog post) and it was breathtaking, I did prefer SpectroMagic.

As for the rest of Disney, I made sure we hung around at Hollywood Studios to catch the Frozen Fireworks display – which was totally worth it, as it was more of a sing-along accompanied by fireworks! But then came the finale – and it snowed!

It was truly beautiful, especially after cast members had been dropping subtle hints all day, such as “I hear it’s forecast to snow for tonight!”. Which beats their excuse for the rain: “I hear Elsa was practicing her snow powers but it’s so hot that the snow melted!” I just thought that one was pushing the cheesiness a bit too far.

At Animal Kingdom, I made a new friend.

We also made reservations to see the Lion King show, which from our front row seats (courtesy of FastPass+) was particularly breathtaking.

Now away from Disney and towards Universal – we made a true weekend of the Universal resort by staying for a night at the Hard Rock Hotel! This meant we had two days worth of free Express Passes for all the rides at Universal Studios and Island Of Adventure. We also had a free boat ride in to the heart of the action! Needless to say we made good and proper use of these perks!

We headed straight to the Harry Potter areas of both theme parks, and I had my first ButterBeer – then a second, then a third… But the best thing was the ButterBeer flavoured ice cream we managed to get in Diagon Alley! I’d post photos of all the Harry Potter stuff, but it’d take up so much room, so here’s just a teaser of Hogwarts…

I leave you with two anecdotes from the trip.

Firstly, after leaving the Hard Rock Hotel, we rolled back up at our condo and we were soon called into the living room by my mother, livid that in our rush to leave someone (no names mentioned) (my dad) had accidentally put the Hard Rock Hotel’s hairdryer in the suitcase. Twenty minutes later I was walking up the Hard Rock Hotel’s lavish driveway in my Crocs with a hairdryer in my hand, left to explain to the hotel receptionist why I had it in my possession. Mortifying.

Then, at Islands Of Adventure, we went on the Jurassic Park ride, during which I thought it would be a good idea to store my sunglasses up the leg of my shorts. This was effective throughout the duration of the ride, even keeping them secure during the 84ft drop, that was until I stood up to exit the boat at the end. My sunglasses then suddenly managed to skimp across the entire boat only to fall down the only hole in it and become trapped in the restraint mechanism somewhere. I pointed this out to a ride operator and then moaned and groaned about having sensitive eyes, until the guy said “I may have some spare sunglasses that have been found on the ride hanging around”… He rolled up with these beauties, saying “I don’t think they are what you’d go for, but I think you can rock them!”

I hope I sure as hell did.

I’m Back

05.09.14 — Burnley

After a summer-long hiatus during which I’ve been awfully busy with other all-consuming commitments, I plan on updating my blog with all the shenanigans from this summer over the coming days!

Coming up we’ve got pictures from my holiday to Florida, news on Culture On A Shoestring, Burnley Arts Centre and much, much more!

My blog will also very shortly be blessed with a much needed redesign, shortly followed by the launch of my portfolio and the rest of my site! Watch this space…

Burnley Arts Centre Site

21.08.14 — Burnley

Another bit of news to impart with you all today! After working for Burnley Youth Theatre/Arts Centre for over two and a half years, I can reveal that I have been approached to spend time working full time to both design and build a new site for them.

When I first began working at the youth theatre, one of my first self-appointed tasks was to bring the coding of the old Burnley Youth Theatre website up to scratch. The previous construct, although relatively new, had been built with very outdated techniques (geeks among you, I’m talking tables holding images…) and which left little room for updates. I overhauled the entire back end of the site, with new images, text and structure which made for easier updates.

But of course, with the new Burnley Arts Centre brand and the amazingly rapid expansion of the organisation, a new site is now needed. I will be working alongside the Artistic Director and Artistic Producer of the organisation to build the new site, which is set to launch before the beginning of the new term next year.

I have also, of course, overseen the visual identity creation for the new Burnley Arts Centre brand which envelops the Burnley Youth Theatre brand as part of it. I will be continuing the new visual design language with the website, with a clean and simple layout which is adaptive for every imaginable screen size.

As you’ll notice, the Burnley Youth Theatre site is currently down, whilst I continue to prepare our server for all the shiny new pages to come. Once the site goes live, I will return with another blog post and an entry on my portfolio outlining everything.

For now, I am going to eat some caramel popcorn and listen to some music way over the recommended volume limit. Goodnight!

Ruddigore & Rent

02.06.14 — Leeds

So, here’s the (severely delayed) followup to my last blog post, in which I’m gonna have a quick overview of LUU Opera Society’s “Ruddigore” and Devonshire Hall’s “Rent”! Sit back, relax, listen to this very song and excuse the total lack of specialist thespian knowledge…

Ruddigore

So almost a month ago, on the 7th May, I and some graphics friends (Izzy, Charlotte & Rhea to be exact) went along to see Leeds Uni Union’s Opera Society‘s performance of Gilbert & Sullivan’s “Ruddigore”, which was showing at LUU’s Riley Smith Hall, in which fellow designer Emily was playing the starring role!

I must admit that I was a bit apprehensive about going to see an opera – I was only persuaded to go along when Emily promised that it was a comedy and would make me giggle.

Even then I was still wholly unconvinced as to the need for opera, but I decided to go along and try something new, half-expecting hour upon hour of unintelligible yodelling and boredom… but how wrong I was!

I shan’t regurgitate the storyline, but let’s just say that it was hilarious, and I was told that I could be heard laughing from the audience up on the stage… (sorry, Em!)

The cast were all fantastic, I couldn’t fault the singing at all – and coupled with a hilarious strolling and some questionable dancing by Em’s boyfriend, it was an absolute treat, and well worth the pittance that I paid to go and see it! I know I’ll be there to watch next year’s performance – and I have to congratulate Emily for convincing me to go along, and of course the whole cast of Ruddigore for rousing my appreciation of opera. I also have to congratulate LUU’s Backstage Society for their tech work on the show!

The only regret I have was not taking more photos. The above one is the only one I managed to get, but if you want to read more about it from Em’s perspective, and check out a few more photos, she’s written a fabulous blog post on her own blog about it here. Go check it out!

Rent

My next tidbit of culture was a trip with Izzy and her flat to see Devonshire Hall’s performance of “Rent”, at Canal Mills, a renovated space which is sometimes used as a club venue, but whose funky decor provided an opportunity to take a few photos…

So, after encountering the above interesting sign, we headed in and were greeted with a fully-rigged stage in the centre of an old warehouse!

The performance was amazing – I was blown away by the sheer amount of talent that could be cooped up in one Halls of Residence! The singing, dancing and acting was impeccable, and the storyline kept me wanting to know more – which was why I was especially annoyed when I managed to get myself locked out of the theatre during the interval – hell, only I could manage that.

After being saved from certain death by Martin, who let me back in, I managed to get in and watch the second act, and take a few more photos after having learned my lesson after Ruddigore…

In the course of a week, then, I managed to get out and see two amazing performances. It was such a great experience, one which I hope to replicate over and over again in the future, and I can only thank all those involved in each performance for putting on a couple of fabulous shows!