Jon Ellison

Hello everybody, I hope everybody is having a great month and ready and looking forward to Christmas. Speaking of which, I have a special treat for you for Boxing Day next week. A feature film which I worked on, as a boom operator, will be hitting the screens on Amazon Prime. Yesterday, I attended a private cast/crew screening event for one of two features produced by Creativ Studios in Leicester, England. For both of those features, I was one of the boom operators. The film was called Ripper's Revenge, loosely based on the events that involved the famous historical murderer Jack The Ripper. The screening went really well and it was followed by a tour around one of the studios based in the Phoenix, conducted by one of the company directors who works with Intrepid Media. However, the film which will by broadcast via Amazon Prime is another film produced by Creativ Studios. This one is called The Mummy Resurrection, which is a horror/mystery/thriller movie inspired by the Ancient Egy...

 One weekend per year, a film-making challenge is held in the Midlands - where local filmmakers team up to produce a film in relation to the genre provided to them and within two days precisely. Being how dedicated I am to film-making, I had developed my experience within the field and so far this year, I've worked on three films (one short), all of which I worked on as a boom operator. Despite this, and due to the two years before then, it felt longer. Because since early-July, I had not worked on another film... Until this weekend gone by. Because I was one of those who participated in the challenge. I worked with a few other fellow filmmakers from Leicester on a short film which for this year had to be an "urban fairy-tale". I had a go at writing a script for the short and I was thinking to myself what could count as an urban fairy-tale. Could it be like E.T. The Extra Terrestrial which is a sci-fi family feature with a sort-of fairy-tale feel to it? Or one of the more...

 Hello, once again. There were other topics I intended to discuss for this month. However, since I've recently returned from a short vacation in what I would roughly say is my second favourite location in England behind Skegness, those topics will be brought up another time. Note that I'm not limiting it down to a maximum of one post per month. The minimum of one post per month is the intended target. Leeds is currently the most populated city in Yorkshire which is the largest English county. But when I was a kid, and before I conducted general research, I had always assumed that it was York. Maybe it's because the county is known as York-Shire, like my hometown, Leicester being in Leicester-Shire and Derby being in Derby-shire. It was also because York was the most talked about Yorkshire-based town during my youth, which comes to no surprise, due to the many historical aspects associated with the location.  As a matter of fact, this was the second time I visited York. The ...

  Hello everybody. I thought I'd share an important update with you. Before I do so, those who read my previous blog posts will know that I studied a master's course in Creative Writing. My graduation ceremony would've taken place on January 2021. But thanks to you-know-what, that didn't happen. But last month, one of the most exciting events of my life occurred; our latest graduation ceremony. No matter what the reviews have said about the university, I am thankful to De Montfort University for the education they provided us and for not forgetting about us. I am now an official master's Creative Writing graduate.

 As this is a monthly activity, the intention was to write a blog post sooner, but very important business stepped in, hence the delay. However, I would like to introduce to any fellow writers reading this, a Guild which I recently joined that may come in useful. The organisation I'm referring to is the Writer's Guild of Great Britain . It is a trade union that was formed to unite writers of films, TV shows, radio plays, books and so forth. This one was recommended to me by a mentor I know from Northampton. Of course this is early days and I've just started getting the hang of it. But it's been a good impression so far. I've even spotted well-known creatives on the website including Tony Robinson whose credits include as the actor of Baldrick in Blackadder and as a writer for a few children's history-based TV shows. There are a few sources of membership you can sign up for and these include Full Membership, Candidate Membership, Student Membership and Affiliate ...

 Everybody, I would like to announce that one of my short films has won an award for both Best Fictional Short & Best Comedy Short! Three months ago, I entered one of my films to the festival Best Global Shorts . Best Global Shorts screens short films internationally and is now in its ninth season. In case you're wondering, the film I am referring to is The Jock & The Chav ( screened on YouTube on October 2021 ). Here's a reminder of what the film is about; An American martial arts expert enters a street fighting tournament with a British urban hooligan who possesses the power of speech. And here it is below. Yes, the film was written and directed by myself and it's the first film with me as director and/or writer to actually win an award. I would like to thank producer, Roger Emmanuel, DOP, Manoj Anand, sound recordist, Billy Bannister, composer, Andrew Leaf, and the whole cast who were involved, for making this possible.

Hello once again. Before I start, just a few updates. Firstly, I've taken part in a mentoring scheme set by Screen Northampts, a film-making-related organisation based in Northampton. Basically, what happens is that Screen Northampts arranges for a staff member to mentor those who are pursuing a career in the film industry whether it be sound production, editing, writing and so forth. My main career ambition is of course writing and my mentor has offered me some great advice so far on which sources to try for script promotion ideas. Also I've started some counselling sessions due to recent mental health issues. These related not only the impact that the lockdown had on me, but what has happened since then, residential life and work life. Either that or I maybe experiencing a quarter-life crisis. But that's another story for another time. Last Friday evening, I was watching a documentary feature at the Phoenix in Leicester, my hometown. This film in particular contained a se...