Film Recommendations 2024

Like last year, here are my top 25 film recommendations out of all the feature films I watched during 2024. In total I watched 143 (including 2 rewatches), up from 91 last year. My target is generally 104- which is two (new to me) watches a week. As a filmmaker, I appreciate the importance of watching feature films and look at them not only as entertainment, but also material to study.

As ever, it was a very hard list to compile- there are just a lot of good films aren’t there?! I feel this list is a nice overview of the films I have enjoyed during the year, so there’s a mix of live action, animation, documentary, bigger budget, smaller budget, British cinema, World cinema and so on. Which actually reflects my taste anyway- I’m up for watching a whole plethora of films.

This year I also did something unprecedented: I delved into the world of unlimited cinema! For a several reasons I have never looked into this (financial and not having a local cinema which would justify the cost- only screened the very mainstream/ high budget films), though since moving to Sheffield and being blessed with a choice of 6 cinemas (plus several alternative cinema offerings in the form of Kelham Film Club and Film Unit Sheffield), as well as being in a better financial situation, I decided to dive right in.

The first (yes, I did this more than once) cinema I chose was The Light. I selected this cinema because of it’s dedication towards supporting independent film, plus the chain hosts film festivals (Sheff Doc Fest and Bolton Film Fest- maybe more as well), I wanted to put my money towards something good. The viewing experience is great: large screens, decent audio, as well as comfortable, spacious seats. It was also very reasonably priced at just £15.99 a month for as many films as you like- and I really did indulge! I watched 45 with the 6 month membership, justifying the price and then some. Because I could see what I wanted, it made me pick several films I likely would not have seen without the pass, so it really opened me up to watching films I might not have picked to watch otherwise. Top marks!

Despite enjoying the pass immensely (as well as The Light cinema itself), once the 6 months was up, I decided not to renew the membership. The main reason: I live 3 miles from the cinema and to just watch a film, I was taking a whole afternoon out my day- an hours walk each way, plus the duration of the film. It also meant evening screenings were a little difficult and it felt like I wasn’t just paying for the cinema pass, but often bus fares to/ from home. Which added up cost-wise. If I lived nearer, I’d snap up the membership again in a flash.

After a couple months off, I was definitely craving cinema visits again, plus with it heading to ‘awards season’ it meant there would be loads of good new releases. The closest cinema to me offering a pass is Cineworld- it’s literally a 20 minute walk from my house, so super convenient. It’s slightly more expensive and the cinema experience isn’t quite as nice as The Light, plus it’s a much bigger corporation, meaning I don’t feel my money is going to something quite as ‘good’. But I am grateful to have a cinema so close to me offer an unlimited deal. It also shows a lot of the films I want to see, which is obviously a positive! When this pass runs out, I am likely to renew, because I love watching films in a cinema environment, and as I said, it’s so convenient with it being so close.

Wow, that was a bit of an essay, wasn’t it?! Right, back to why we’re here: the list…

These are listed in no particular order. The title of the film is in bold, followed by the the date which it was made according to IMDb (in brackets) and then the name of the director(s).

1. Last Resort (2000) Pawlikowski, Pawel
2. How to Have Sex (2023) Manning Walker, Molly
3. Hello My Beautiful Creatures (2024) Bernhagen, Eric; Haver, Joel
4. The Holdovers (2023) Payne, Alexander
5. All of Us Strangers (2023) Haigh, Andrew
6. The Zone of Interest (2023) Glazer, Jonathan
7. Perfect Days (2023) Wenders, Wim
8. Robot Dreams (2023) Berger, Pablo
9. Copa 71 (2023) Erskine, James; Ramsay, Rachel
10. Sometimes I Think About Dying (2023) Lambert, Rachel
11. Monkey Man (2024) Patel, Dev
12. Blue Giant (2023) Tachikawa, Yuzuru
13. Reality (2023) Satter, Tina
14. Anatomy of a Fall (2023) Triet, Justine
15. Any Other Way: The Jackie Shane Story (2024) Mabott, Michale; Rosenberg-Lee, Lucah
16. We Can Be Heroes (2024) Mia Wong, Carina; Simmons, Alex
17. Fancy Dance (2023) Tremblay, Erica
18. Strike: An Uncivil War (2024) Gordon, Daniel
19. Wilding (2023) Allen, David
20. Silver Haze (2023) Polak, Sacha
21. Sky Peals (2023) Hussain, Moin
22. The Outrun (2024) Fingscheidt, Nora
23. Threads (1984) Jackson, Mick
24. A Different Man (2024) Schimberg, Aaron
25. Memoir of a Snail (2024) Elliot, Adam

Hope you enjoy and I’m always open to any watch recommendations, so write ‘em in the comments! xo

2024 in Bowling

As 2025 fast approaches *checks notes* urm, tomorrow, then I guess it’s time for all my usual end of year round up posts- which I’m sure you’re looking forward to! As the title suggests, this one is about all my favourite bowling alleys I’ve visited this year, so without further ado, let's get into it!

I have been to a whopping 34 different (and all new to me) bowling alleys this year, which is my highest in a while. Unfortunately it did taper off towards the end of the year, the last one I visited being mid November (King Pins Manchester Arndale for anyone wondering). The best month was February, where I visited 6, closely followed by both September and March where I visited 5 in each month. My total is now up to 188- pushing towards the big 200! Though the more I do, the harder it gets to find new ones locally, which is why on holidays/ days away we tend to hammer it pretty hard. And contrary to how it sounds on here, I do actually really enjoy bowling as a sport/ activity in itself and I don’t just play in order to add it to my spreadsheet. I do get a load of enjoyment out of it, which is why I started attempting to go around them all in the first place. I absolutely love walking in to a new place to bowl and taking in the decor, characters, quality of the lanes and so on. I must admit the chain bowling centres such as your Hollywood’s and Tenpin’s sometimes do feel like a chore as they’re all quite similar, but I still find visiting each of those somewhat a unique experience, because there’s usually something of note between each one, such as the exterior/ architecture, the carpet, the staff and so on.

My bowling this year in terms of scores have been on the whole very good, though I did manage to get a couple under 100, which I am ashamed to admit out loud! My highest was a 203 (which I actually achieved twice), plus several scores in the 190-somethings. Which ain’t bad for an amateur! Hopefully I can continue this going into 2025 and look to improve further, though this will mean going more regularly…

Here’s my top 5 visited this year:

Hive Bowling (Concordia Leisure Centre), Cramlington 18/02/24

Freedom Bowl, Hailsham 20/03/24

Richardson’s Family Entertainment Centre, Lowestoft 25/09/24

JR’s American Diner + Bowl, North Walsham 04/10/24

Strikes Bowl, Dereham 07/10/24

Though it’s always hard to pick a top 5- there were wayyy more I could have chosen! Below are some pictures from this years bowling escapades- just a random selection, some from the bowling alleys mentioned above, though some just because I liked the image! See you at the lanes for a game, yes?!

Short Film: Update #13 nothing much to report..!

Hello hello and Merry Christmas Eve! I know I should be indulging myself in mince pies and other such merriments instead of blogging, but this weekly update is already two days behind and to be honest, I really rather enjoy writing on here, so there’s that!

I don’t have all that much to report this time as unfortunately I was unwell last week, so not a lot of animation was completed. However, I am probably about two hours away from completing the last shot I have footage for, which I will aim to achieve by the end of today. Then I am breaking for Christmas for a few days, so I’ll likely be back on this properly early next week- maybe, though New Years is in amongst all of that too and I have football watching plans for then… So let’s see what gets done.

Once the festive period settles down and the days become more defined again, I am planning another batch of filming, plus I will start on the colouring and development of the background styles. If I get the filming done first though, the outlines will take priority until complete, but if for any reason I don’t manage it right away, then I will start on the other bits. Essentially, I am reiterating what I wrote in the previous update, but failed to act on because of illness. So I am really hammering home how the next few weeks on this project will be panning out!

Think that’s it for this post- there will not be one of these next week, so please don’t expect it! Instead, there will be bowling alley, football grounds and feature film yearly round ups as usual and anything else I do in between I feel is worthy of a blog post. No tracker screen grab this week as there wasn’t much change from last time, so enjoy this nice little wintery scene alongside the River Don. See you in the next one- hope you have a lovely Christmas for all those who celebrate it, and for those who don’t, have a lovely few days anyway! xo

Embroidery- Soluble Stabiliser Test

I didn’t think I’d be doing any more embroidery this year, but I clearly underestimated my creative endeavours!

I had been reading about Solvy (brand name) Fabric Soluble Stabiliser of late: a wash off/ water dissolvable stabiliser that you can transfer your design to and put on the front of your fabric whilst you embroider. This to enable you to stitch onto darker or thicker fabric in which the usual means of tracing your design won’t be possible (or a lot harder at least). It’s hard to find an appropriate pen which shows up on dark fabric, or even if you can, it’s difficult to trace your design on, as seeing your design through dark (or opaque) fabric even with a lightbox or up against a window, is not easy!

The stabiliser, hoop and the fabric

The stabiliser above the pattern- you don't even need a lightbox to trace it

Anyway, with this stabiliser, you can trace your design with ease onto it: it is a thin, translucent, white material. You then put the fabric and the stabiliser in the hoop together (stabiliser on top) and stitch your design as normal. When fully stitched, rinse your design in water (I think both warm and cold work- though cold just takes a little longer), leave to dry and then enjoy your embroidery!

The stabiliser (with the traced design) atop the fabric in the hoop

I wanted to test it on a small scrap of fabric, as I didn’t want to go into anything too extravagant or complex without having tested the stabiliser myself first and understand its properties. So I chose a bit of denim I had as an off cut from a previous project (and piece of clothing), and the design I selected was a quite basic star. I wanted something I thought would look nice when embroidered, plus something that wouldn’t take too long to stitch. This definitely satisfied both those requirements! The design was from the DMC website, where they have a load of free downloadable patterns for both cross stitch and embroidery. I should say at this point I purchased the Solvy from a UK based online shop called embroideredjust4u.

The fully stitched design, before washing away the stabiliser

Because denim is a fairly bulky fabric, plus the added thickness of the stabiliser, stitching onto it took some getting used to as I usually sew on cotton, which is much more lightweight. It was also a little harder to hoop and stay taught- again because of the thickness of the material. Though I think this would be the case when using denim regardless of whether I used the stabiliser or not, because on the whole, the stabiliser is extremely thin. These comments aside, it was pretty much just straightforward from there on in.

I was a little apprehensive before rinsing away the stabiliser- I was concerned that it might ruin my design or the stitches would come out bad. But when I washed it away, there were no issues with the stitches- I think they sometimes can turn out a little baggy though- because if they aren’t pulled tightly enough, then once the stabiliser is washed away, then there might be a little spare tension in the thread making up for the extra layer that the stabiliser provides. So just make sure if you’re using something like this, then pull your stitches a little tighter than you would do otherwise.

Cutting away the stabiliser before washing off

I would say though, that after washing the Solvy off, the design feels harder as opposed to the silky feel that embroidery usually does. This might be because I hadn’t washed it thoroughly enough, or maybe that’s how it just turns out- I’m not yet sure as I’m still quite new to the process. It doesn’t affect the look of the design, but it definitely does with the feel of it, so that’s one thing to bear in mind. Though I would say this as an advantage in some circumstances, such as if it’s for a clothing patch, or on a piece of clothing, then you might actually want a tougher feeling design as it might be more durable. Anyway, something to think about…

Overall, I think it is an excellent piece of material to have in my sewing drawer and I will be making a lot of use out of it. It feels like a bit of a game changer for my embroidery and how I don’t need to feel constrained to only a few types or fabrics or colours.

The finished design, after washing

Short Film: Update #12 the animation continues...

This week has been spent mainly animating:

I completed three shots in total and made good headway on a fourth. As these things always do, the shots took a lot longer than I was expecting: I was hoping to have completed this sequence by now. But, I still have 2.5 shots remaining going into next week.

I also did the organised but daunting thing of writing out every shot/ sequence I still have to shoot and animate. Which has kind of made me reconsider the deadline I set for myself last week, as it might not be all that achievable. Though time will tell…

There’s obviously a balance I have to straddle between the quality I want to achieve of my film in terms of both look and story (plus sound design/ score) and how much time to spend making it/ the work life balance I want. In my mind, there is no doubt I would like to have it completed in time to submit to next years festivals, but I feel the compromise will have to be that I will likely not be able to submit it for the earlier, nicely discounted rates unfortunately. I also do not want to forsake the quality of my film for a, essentially arbitrary, submission deadline- that is something I am going to be stubborn about, so if, on the chance that it looks like I might not hit any of the festival deadlines in 2025, then so be it. The film is more important than that and I can then have it at least ready to submit as soon as the festivals open for submissions the following year.

All the above said, I do feel I need to be ramping up the amount of hours I’m spending animating on my film each day. I’m currently averaging around 5 hours daily most weeks, which isn’t really good enough- I would ideally like to be at 7 hours. It always feels like time just eats away for some reason, especially in the run up to Christmas: I’ve had various other commitments/ things that need doing as well. I still want to retain a good work-life balance and don’t want to be working silly hours on my film because that’s not healthy, but I think around 7 hours animating a day is a more than reasonable target, especially if I want any chance of the film not dragging too far into next year.

So what’s in store for the coming week? More filming, hopefully, as well as the completion of the shots from the sequence I filmed last week. If for any reason I’m unable to get the filming done, because of the weather for example, then I will start to look at colour ideas and background style development. I definitely need to be thinking of those things in the upcoming weeks as I am on the final third of the outlines, so the next stages are not that far off. Seeing that written down is both exciting and frightening all in the same breath! But if it scares you, do it, as the saying goes, so I guess that’s what I’ve got to do…

Below is an image where I upped the contrast and lowered the saturation of the reference footage to assist me to pick out some of the lines on the hospital gown a little more clearly:

And a pic below of the fantastic Grace Petrie gig myself and my boyfriend attended last night in Sheffield. Just to prove that I do other stuff aside from animate, skate and watch football! Anyway, it was a super fun (and empowering/ inspirational) time and would totally recommend watching her if she has any tour dates near you. Was also a nice surprise to see that one of the support acts was a poet (the fabulous Molly Naylor- I shall be checking more of her stuff out for definite in the future)…

See you same time next time xo

Christmassy Cross Stitch

A little thing I made using a cross stitch kit I purchased from Hobbycraft a few weeks ago. I know I usually do my own designs, but I wanted something not so serious/ fun to do on the side. Plus I do quite like getting myself these little cross stitch kits from time to time as it feels like a nice, relaxing, cosy activity. I decided to make it circular and use some felt to back it, which I attached using a blanket stitch. So it's now a Christmas decoration- the felt backing was red and I used gold thread for the border, so it definitely gives Christmassy vibes! I have a few more ideas for some embroidery projects in the works, so watch this space as usual, though likely not for a little while...

Short Film: Update #11 getting back on track (again)!!

You can probably tell by the optimism in the title that the film is going a little better than last week… I came back to it on Monday with fresh eyes (as I said I would) after having had a couple of days off from it over the weekend. I did a little further editing, then exported it again and watched it through and wow, it’s so much better! It’s a lot more aligned with the story I want to tell, but without any of the bagginess of the previous versions. The clarity is almost there- yes there are still a few tweaks I feel I’ll need to do such as adding a scene here and there, where there are gaps, but on the whole, it is much, much better.

I actually feel full on excited about it again and I’m extremely motivated to continue with it. Which probably explains why I had such a productive week: I did some more filming, animated a few shots and tied up a few loose ends on a couple of other shots which previously I hadn’t quite finished in full.

I didn’t expect to go into this week and film anything, but I felt fresh and therefore needed to strike when the iron was hot and get on with it. I’m really pleased with the footage I got, too- I must admit I actually quite like the acting I did in one of the shots, if I should say so myself! I plan on editing what I have over the weekend and then hopefully have animated all of those shots in full by this time next week- we shall see…

I also have more of a fixed deadline in mind now actually, which is end of Feb/ start of March next year. Which gives me 3 months. Eek!! It might be a little too tight and I am not going to rush it if it gets near the deadline if I’m still way off. There’s a ridiculous amount to get done, such as colour and backgrounds, voice records and sound design/ score, plus compositing etc. And to finish animating the outlines, of course! But that’s the date when some of the festivals I want to submit to close their cheaper submission rates. And as a person who has created this film independent of any funding, cutting costs down such as festival submissions is an important factor to consider. Submission fees really do add up and to be honest, I kind of loathe paying them as it’s a complete gamble whether your film gets in anyway, so often it’s just money wasted. Yes, of course I believe in the work I create and always think positively that my films will get in, but being realistic, myself and I expect a lot of other filmmakers, have more rejections than success when it comes to submitting to festivals. That’s just the way it is. Lot’s of the time, it doesn’t even reflect the quality of your film- it might just be down to programming or something like that.

I know you don’t have to submit to festivals at all and you can just upload it online or something, but I’d hate to put all this time and effort into making my film, for it to get 235 views on YouTube. I have a fairly small online following, so for it to break through organically is not that likely (again, not trying to sound super negative here- just speaking rationally). At least with festivals, there’s a chance of potential collaborators/ producers/ funders seeing it and liking what you do, which could lead to positive things in the future. My goal after this is to make my feature film, so if this film does well at festivals, then it opens up my chances of realistically looking into funding options for that.

I’ll add a few images below as there’s been a lot of words here. At first, it was actually a quite minimal post in that respect, but then I remembered I should mention the potential deadline I have in mind and then my hands couldn’t stop typing! I’ll also chuck in my Spotify wrapped while I’m about it, so you can see what kind of music I listen to while I animate!

These first two are from the footage I shot this week. PSA: hospital gowns are not warm- and I must have been in it for at least two hours at a time. But I suppose being so cold probably spurred me on to getting the footage quicker as I just wanted to get the clips done and then some warm clothes on!

And below is the rotoscoped outlines of the 3D fan I modelled several weeks ago which I (at long last) got round to animating:

...And then, I give you Spotify wrapped:

See you next time xo

Short Film: Update #10 averting crisis | changing direction

Gooooood morning! Or whenever you are reading this and happy December!

As speculated last week, I have pretty much finished the majority of what I can animate for the while, without filming further footage. There’s little point putting the screen grab of my tracking spreadsheet up this week, as to be honest, not much new stuff was done- there were only a couple new shots completed.

I exported the film thus far on Thursday morning- so that was a combination of all the animated shots, coupled with the animatic/ storyboard. So it was about 50% animated and the other, just static images. And I was not happy. The story felt extremely disjointed and didn’t make an awful lot of sense. I honestly felt like giving up and/ or scrapping it, or making something else with the footage, or changing direction completely. All of which, I appreciate, are pretty drastic measures!

But it was great to have picked up on all that at this current stage, rather than having filmed and animated everything as per my storyboard, only to realise that many shots would need to be cut and it would have been a whole lot of time wasted. Some shots which I had already animated I have deleted, but luckily it’s not been many and some, I’ve been able to salvage/ repurpose in different areas of the film.

This feeling of disappointment after the export has sort of been a ‘blessing is disguise’ (I hate that term, but not sure what else to call it) if you like. It’s made me become more critical (in a good way) of the story I’m trying to tell and made me have a lesser attachment to certain shots/ scenes/ scenarios which I had liked previously and wanted to keep in for one reason or another. This can only be a good thing. I really want the film to work and tell a good, relatable and cohesive story, and with such a strong desire to achieve this goal, I have been happy to cut/ change/ edit my film, until it satisfies my aim of creating a solid short.

Since exporting, I’ve been extremely ruthless cutting scenes and shots which don’t work/ fit and had a bit of a rethink how I can go about the rest: mocking up several scenes and writing/ sketching out what else needs to be done. After having done this, I feel a lot better than I did about it the other day, knowing that the film does hold potential and if I put in the hard work, then I can turn it around. I’m going to give it a bit of a break over the weekend, while I go and enjoy some football watching, taking my mind off it all and come back tomorrow morning with fresh eyes and a fresh mind.

Come on Flora, you can do it!!

Remember I put an outlines clip up last week? Well I decided to give it a mocked up temp background, so I could stick it on my socials (still in two minds about how much I want to be engaging on Instagram these days, but whatevs) and also kind of take in and appreciate all the work I have put into it so far. Which shouldn’t be glazed over- creating a film by oneself like this is no small feat! It also gives me a glimpse of how my film could end up looking once complete and acts as a little motivational tool to encourage me to carry on and keep at it, especially when you can see some sort of results/ reward for what you have put in.

And finally, the usual bit of AOB in this blog, as I’m sure you all look forward to reading(!)- I performed my poetry again for the first time since 2019! I had been meaning to get back into this for a while, especially since moving to Sheffield last year, but had never got round to it before now. It was when I learned of a new spoken word open mic night at The Showroom Cinema, was when I thought, well I’m familiar with that venue (and I like it), so I signed myself up. I did this in advance, so I couldn’t bottle it on the day and you know what, I am so pleased that I went! I had such a brilliant time and met some super lovely people and heard some great stuff performed- all in different styles. A wonderful mix.

I can’t lie, I was pretty nervous in the lead up, but that all settled down once I started performing. And I’m quite looking forward to going again- not just for the performance side of things, but also because it was such a nice event. It’s also given me a good reason to start writing again- if I can aim for one new poem each month (as it’s a monthly event), then that would be excellent…

Short Film: Update #9 with clip- finally!

Hello there, the angel from my nightmare, the shadow in the… and so on. I’m back from the excellent Manchester Animation Festival and I had an absolutely wonderful time- mostly watching films(!), but also catching up with a load of people and chatting about projects and animation and all that good stuff! So, same time next time then. Ps. Go watch Adam Elliot’s ‘Memoir of a Snail’. You will be better for it. That is all.

My oh my the weather this week has been pretty bleak, hasn’t it?! Though miraculously the skatepark I frequent the most stayed dry, so I was able to get several decent sessions in. In true northern fashion, I layered up and got on with it. Have to put the hours in to keep improving…

Ok, small talk over. How is the animation going?? I’d say another productive week, considering I had a few other commitments going on. I managed to get 3 full shots complete and finished the big one I referenced last week (it ended up taking a whopping 18.5 hours). I also prepped the next shot ready to animate. I’ve actually nearly finished all the stuff I shot about a month ago, so there isn’t a whole lot left to animate without shooting more footage. I’ll check back here next week with a clearer idea of steps going forward as I might well have completed it by that point. Hopefully.

I think at that stage, I’ll export the film again and see how it’s looking with a significant amount of it animated. I’ll be able to see clearer where the holes are in the story and get an idea of how it’s all flowing. I already know at this point there’s a few shots which need changing the location of, so I’ll need to re-board those I expect, or at least in a loose way. I have also identified some gaps where a scene or two needs adding- some of it feels a little disjointed and I feel I need more of a thread to tie it together. So, the coming week I’m to focus on animating what’s left of the footage and I imagine the following week will be more of a troubleshooting/ ironing out stuff kind of week.

You know what, I’m in a good mood, so here’s a little clip:

Obviously it doesn’t have a background or colour or anything as I haven’t got to that stage yet, but it’s nice to be able to share something from it as it’s been absolutely ages! Enjoy!

I think that’s about all for this week- though this post feels really short like I’ve forgotten to write about something, but meh, maybe not. See you next time xo

New Old Stuff

Whilst preparing for an upcoming 'artists talk' presentation I'm doing at a university, I've been looking back over old projects to decide what to include in the talk. This has lead me to unearth previously unpublished works of mine- probably because I didn't see them as especially impressive at the time or maybe just left them be for reasons unknown... Anyway, thought I'd stick 'em up on here, because why not (and I actually quite like them)!

As a side note, it's been great to look back over my body of work thus far and appreciate the achievements and quality of the stuff I've created over the years, which at the time of creating, I don't always acknowledge. I've spoke on here before about disliking or not thinking much of my work immediately after finishing projects, but with time and distance, I can often appreciate what I've created in a better light. My older work has also given me fresh ideas and inspiration for more things I want to try- and that I also want to get back into making more music videos and experimental works- so watch this space!! So, if you are ever asked to do an artists talk, I would highly recommend taking up the opportunity- it will do something good for you and therefore this should (hopefully) translate to the students you are presenting to...

The clips are below- both created around 2019/ 2020 and I'll be back soon with another update on my current project xo