This is probably the first, last, and only time I’ll ever mention the former “Bad Boy” of “Pop”.

A common motif scattered around the Academy campus is the visage of Robbie Williams. Site-based stage innovators TAIT have built scenery for his prior productions, with the larger than life result donated afterwards to make an effective fire assembly point. In wintry weather I observe it’s not the first time he’s had snow on his nose.

On a smaller scale, a 3D-fabricated sculpture of his face provided a challenging projection mapped surface as my Visuals module heads toward end-of-term assessment. Indulging a desire to integrate facial projection into future projects, this was the ideal static subject to try things out over a few hours of experimental studio time.

Despite any knowledge of his career purely culled by cultural osmosis (really!), I was able to piece together a collage of clips to represent the journey. With a simian base layer invoking the Better Man biopic, I swiftly incorporated his more recent cartoon appearance on a certain cat food commercial. Going back to the KISS-inspired makeup from “Let Me Entertain You”, the montage was topped off with the skin-stripping coda to the “Rock DJ” video. Looping that segment through the projector’s tinny speaker was sufficient to get everyone’s toes tapping – whether they wanted to or not.

Sourcing the elements in short notice was a challenge within itself, necessitating some quick thinking across many resources and creating new ones on the fly. But for a dabble it did the job nicely – despite a few imperfect keystone masks and off-centre aspects.

Although my studies and assessment focus on mastering Green Hippo media servers, I took the opportunity to try something different. Cracking open the case for the first time on our prized Troikatronix Isadora server, I soon found myself a quick learner.

Green Hippo has a warm, organic user interface that sometimes seems counter-intuitive despite its obvious power. Isadora presents a more familiar building-block style of boxes and properties, allowing links to be dragged between outputs and inputs to visualise how everything is hooked up.

My familiarity with node-based workflows such as DaVinci Resolve Fusion, combined with my coding background, made getting to grips with Isadora a cinch. Although I can understand how the blank starting screen can seem intimidating to non-techies.

Although there are likely far more efficient ways to structure my little throw-together, I was able to coax the effect I wanted by combining smaller known sub-processes. This combination of nodes and lines offered mathematical means to make it work where I may have floundered with an artier interface…

… so I guess I’m loving angles instead.

On the surface, the back end of 2025 appears a curiously quiet coda to an explosive summer, with nary any evidence nor scandal to show for it. Yet the last few months have become some of the most fulfilling of my life.

Returning to the Academy for the second year of my Foundation degree, I realise how much I have changed since I first started my studies. Doubtful uncertainty has been supplanted by self-assured belonging, and I have become a familiar, welcome presence on campus. Often dropping by on the off days to see how the new cohort is settling in.

This year’s Freshers have been eager to learn and especially keen to socialise, already embracing opportunities brought by the many international crews passing through our studios. Through my twin roles as Mentor and Wellbeing Executive, I offer what support and guidance I may to help keep their heads above the craziness – sharing advice, wisdom and empathy in every act. Although Daryl’s Daily Affirmations are delivered with tongue wedged firmly in cheek, they are no less sincere in their intent to embolden the best.

For my studies, I can honestly state I have never felt as supported, encouraged, and especially challenged before. All with a will to push my academic potential further, towards deeper understanding and ability to express my intent. A credible credit to the wonderful lecturers I have engaged with so far.

Things will knuckle down to more practical endeavours as January continues, when I return to the studios to hone my skills in Live Audio mixing and Visual Production design. Subjects I’m already exploring in the time between terms, a routine I find ever-easier to sustain as I indulge my ongoing will to learn.

My course comes to an end in June, but mechanisms are in motion towards Postgraduate progression. Having already submitted a draft Masters proposal, I seek to embrace the potency of Creative Technology to explore the narrative of who we have become. How society has evolved through mass interconnection, and how best we can tell immersive stories reflective of the age.

This is an opportunity to combine my many disparate interests into an area of formal research. Looking back to my tech career, combining it with what I currently study in the live space, and sprinkling more than a little mojo from my esoteric escapades. All of which demands advance reading across multiple disciplines, if not planning how to finance it all!

This focus has taken necessary toll on my travels and external interests. Save a handful of shows, I have barely socialised off-campus this year, increasingly distant from the music and culture that sustains me. Time and money are both at a premium and I must ration my excesses carefully, with the money stashed by prior to this already funding my future. Saying that, I’ll still ring in the New Year with a sneaky trip to Hamburg and The Ruins of Beverast before term resumes.

Despite this paucity of travel, I have been no less prone to injury. From fracturing my toe in September to undergoing unrelated surgery in November, my body has sustained its fair share of scrapes and slashes amid the stress of study. Recovery continues, and although further attention may be needed in the weeks ahead, I’m at least back on my feet again – attending to an inadvertently burgeoned waistline with every step forward.

As I look ahead to 2026, I know it will be a profoundly cumulative year of great achievement and higher ambition, as lifelong plans finally fall into place. Yet I cannot help but frame the months to come within the greater concerns of the moment.

Despite a necessary detachment from most online distractions, the shrill, escalating calls to war and treachery resound, echoing in the uncertainty of my peers and the futures they strive to forge for themselves.

Lies, betrayal, and abject mockery cast down from elected officials through controlled media present little more than provocation – the final recourse of those without principle. Further amplified by pundits, embodied and programmed, in the cultivation of despair. In this Age of Illusion, perception is truth and gaslighting blatant, with no solution offered beyond futile, simmering strife.

There is no counter but to sustain authentic, human connections, and continue my work on campus and beyond. Helping others grow into themselves through compassion and integrity, building bridges between the like-minded, and nurturing alternative means of communication beyond such divisive, manufactured polemic.

And that is my challenge for the year(s) to come.

Project Caligari

As the days tolled ever onward to All Hallow’s Eve, an opportunity arose to make use of a new creative space on campus – just by our CentR Stage bar and just in time for the Academy’s Halloween party. Despite only receiving full access and equipment on the morning of festivities, a hastily scribbled tribute to the legacy of cinematic horror was set in motion.

Knowing partygoers were there to chill, chat, and indulge appropriately themed cocktails, there was no expectation they would sit down to watch a full film. Instead we planned a minimalist immersive area to relax in, with low-slung sofas encircled by rear-projected screens showing multiple silent movies. A central plinth would hold an object of focus and contrasting colour from the cold scenes on display.

Implementation demanded a different design – not least a lack of haze, incense, and human remains – with a trio of floor-sat units forward-projecting onto a curve of black drapes. The plinth then sat behind the sofas, adorned with a plastic pumpkin pilfered from the bar – ideally replacing it with the winner of the party’s carving competition.

Vintage horror sourced from archive.org provided the (cunningly Public Domain) vibe, with many films planned for each screen through the night. Technical difficulties, however, meant we had to lock each projector down to a single looping movie – controlled by a laptop behind the curtain running Resolume Media Server going into an HDMI splitter.

The chosen films presented a journey through the early years of macabre movies. An era where the steadfast rules of cinema had yet to be written, inspiring a vibrant visual imagination lost in a later generation of sedate talkies.

The vivid expressionism of The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari (1920) was an essential choice. The first feature-length horror committed to celluloid, and one which many have not been aware. Director Robert Wiene’s eye delivers a pioneering dream-like ambience to a tale of grisly murder, with hand painted backdrops enhancing this unreality.

Next, F. W. Murnau’s Nosferatu (1922) – another German Expressionist classic. Despite drawing the ire of the Stoker estate for obvious plagiarism, this film offers its own interpretation. Max Shreck‘s Count Orlak presents an iconic image of vampyric horror as a monstrous being, a presence revisited in subsequent remakes.

Completing the triptych with another tale retold through the generations, James Whale’s Frankenstein (1931) was filmed with spoken dialogue. However, the rich gothic design still offers strong visual storytelling, with Boris Karloff‘s taciturn performance as the monster just as captivating in silence. A cornerstone of Universal Studios’ shared monster cinematic universe.

All crew work is collective, and we could not have done this without the aid of veterans Nick and Max, who helped to set up and put the final pieces together while I was embroiled in all-day lectures. Their efforts ensured the project was finished to schedule.

Freshers had their chance to contribute too, with new student Ruby curating a masterful multi-genre playlist to accompany proceedings. Although I was obliged to throw in a few extra tracks at the end, we all agreed to remove ‘Monster Mash’ after the shuffle spookily reprised it over and over.

Nothing can ever happen without some form of improvisation, and the taming of wild ideas into practical necessity manifests many happy accidents. The surreal imagery of early experimental cinema, especially in Caligari’s twisted set design, was thrown further off-kilter by the warp of the drapes. An abstract unease accentuated by imperfect focus and inconsistent framing. It is important, at times, to let go of perfection so things may find their own form.

Overall, it went down very well. Revellers in various costumes drifted in and out to watch and take photos, enjoying my eager explanations. The client and crew working in the main studio also popped in to take a look around in appreciation. The only complaint from some was the installation wasn’t ‘scary’ enough…

… but the True Terror was throwing it together on time!

https://heathenstorm.com/2025/11/01/project-caligari/

#academyoflivetechnology #caligari #cinema #expressionism #frankenstein #halloween #horror #immersive #installation #nosferatu #projections #resolume #samhain #vintage

Back to Skool

Kit bag eagerly shouldered, I prepare to start my second year at the Academy of Live Technology. Returning to finish off my Foundation degree in Live Event Production, I’ll be specialising in Audio and Visuals instead of doing a little bit of everything. Although it seems, despite the long summer, that I’ve barely ever left campus.

After surviving a wild three weeks in Denmark, I came back to teach an early-teens Creative Skills summer school in whatever space we could sequester. Showcasing a bit of audio but mostly lighting, with a Willy Wonka theme indulging my penchant for psychedelia. The kids enjoyed getting to play on professional kit with nary a rhyming mishap, and I picked up a few tips and tricks myself – as well as working on some new Trismegistus Hex material during the downtime.

The big news, of course, is that Production Park are currently hosting The Voice UK in our studios. The campus has been aflurry with ITV’s production crew, necessitating flexibility all around the shooting schedule. The crew have offered plenty of work openings, with a few of my fellow students learning the Production Runner ropes. My own contributions were wisely relegated to keeping the car parks running smoothly once the audience rolled up.

Smaller scale, but thinking forward, I’ve been lurking at seminars presented by our CoSTAR LiveLab facility, a Research and Development lab in association with the University of York. In recent months, film industry professionals and researchers have visited to discuss the encroachment of AI (generative and otherwise) into the creative process. With such disruption self-evident, questions of ethics and responsibility have come to the fore as the industry seeks a more holistic, nuanced solution.

My own projects still tick along, with various collaborations outside of campus coming into the fold and new opportunities escalated to interested ears. I confess there have been many conflicting commitments drawing my attention, and the challenge of late has been to coax all these spinning plates into proximity. Working on one aspect now advances the others, and it is prudent to remember that – unlike the wider world’s indifference – they want me to succeed here.

By example I offer everyone my own encouragement and support. With my position as Wellbeing Executive ratified, this past week I’ve assisted freshers in finding their feet to navigate a campus very different to expectations. New blood is vital for the event industry, especially as many veterans changed career or retired during the ‘House Arrest’ years, and it is important to be welcoming.

This generation are as bright, enthusiastic, and eager to achieve as ever – although they do seem a bit quieter than our rowdy lot!

There’s always something going on at the epicentre of opportunity, and I’m thrilled to dive back in and embrace the adventures to come. For the next three terms and maybe, hopefully, beyond.

https://heathenstorm.com/2025/10/06/back-to-skool/

#academia #academyoflivetechnology #ai #costar #crew #filmmaking #freshers #livelab #productionpark #student #thevoice #wellbeing

After the triumphant experience of managing the main stage at Metal Magic, I lingered around Denmark for another fortnight. Working on a gruelling festival tour that took me around the country and to the limits of endurance.

Celebrating its forty-third summer, Grøn Koncert is a mainstay of Danish Pop Music, raising money for Muskelsvindfonden – a support charity for Muscular Dystrophy. Uniquely, the festival shifts to a new city every day, with four consecutive shows each weekend and a few days respite in between. A schedule that demands a two-stage site build and take down at every location, starting way before the crack of dawn and finishing well past the Witching Hour – before the convoy rolls along to the next destination.

A challenge of such intense insanity needs an extensive extreme crew, of which willing volunteers were recruited from the Academy back in blighty. A hand-picked cadre of adventurous souls offered free flights, board, and beer in exchange for honest labour across long hours. Earning experience and bragging rights along the way.

Each volunteer was asked to pick their preferred crew schedule. Up Crew for the morning shift, building the site then additionally working bars and entrance. Down Crew got the evening shift, with some bar work up until the headliners stepped off the stage for the take down. Not one to ever test myself lightly, I chose both.

As part of the renowned Multi Crew, our days became a blur of Rock and Roll excess and accumulated fleshwounds. While other crews slept off site at schools, we lived from our bunks on a cramped yet cosy “Hotel” bus. Rolling onto site at about 3am to launch straight into a build that wrapped by midday, then relaxing with a few hours hard drinking before crawling back onto the bus for some bass-pounding sleep behind the main stage. Re-emerging in the evening to tear it all back down, then hitting the road around 1am to drive to the next stop.

Assigned to the main stage, I found the challenge overwhelming at first. Twice as old and sometimes half as strong as most of my peers, I felt myself a liability. Clambering comically over truss to get out of the way and working at tiptoe heights that others took in their Danish stride. My concerns were not that the work was too harsh, but rather that I could not contribute effectively to the team’s expectations.

In time I got over myself. Learning the process with rote familiarity so I knew where I needed to be in advance. Proactively grabbing tools and getting to work before being told what to do, and generally applying myself to the best of my ability. By the end of the first block of four dates, I was giving my all with pride and determination.

Admittedly, the music was not to my taste. Although I found Benjamin Hav’s occasional foray into sax-heavy Ska a jolly throwback to my youth. Hip-hop headliners Suspekt were definitely not my thing, but I absolutely admire their enthusiasm and decency towards the crew – even inviting a few of my ‘fellow kids’ up on stage to join them. It is no surprise some members had also worked Grøn themselves in the past, and their respect shined through in deed.

Relying as ever upon the international ‘Daryl Support Network’ to keep me sane under pressure, I took solace with occasional off-site escapades. The opportunity to meet up with friends old and new across the country was eagerly taken, and I am grateful for the grounding conversations which grew from such connection.

Resting midway at a sports hall near Aalborg, the wind down was appreciated – along with slightly better food options. A chance to connect more with the various crews, sharing drinks and dance away from work and expressing my ultimately unwarranted concerns.

An Academy crew meal at a nearby pizza restaurant offered chance for the students to decompress and take stock of how things were going. For some, it was their first trip overseas for any length of time, and although others were veterans there was still a hint of homesickness in the air. The Danish way of doing things a culture shock for many, not least in recalling their accommodation’s communal showers.

Showers of a different ilk came later that evening. With the news of Ozzy Osbourne’s passing a shock to all in the restaurant, the heavens opened up in response. Splashing our way back to the hall in sombre reflection, a few of us recalled our favourite songs in tribute.

That night had a maudlin pang to it, with a troubled air mostly unexpressed beyond unhealthy coping mechanisms. Although not everyone present held the man in as much reverence as others, there is no denying his influence on music and culture as a whole. For my part, it was important to remind the younger generation that Rock and Roll would be far less potent without a hellraising legacy of such renown; and the man most knew from MTV had first inspired countless multitudes through song and stagecraft. Tears were quietly shed and respect given as folk flitted through the corridors and quietly went their way around.

The breakneck pace offered little time for reflection, and a return to better weather in the morning took us straight to the fifth location, Esbjerg. Where all crews had an extra night to set everything back up after the break, with the reward being an evening of partying on the main stage itself. More fun to be had with a cover band led by one of Multi Crew themselves.

However, the clear skies were not to last, and the next day saw dark clouds ominously encroach as main stage popsters Alphabeat launched into “10,000 Nights of Thunder”. The rain fell incessantly within minutes, flooding the festival site and city itself, forcing an unprecedented show stop and site evacuation.

Surveying the damage a few hours later, it’s fortunate that everything mostly survived. With relay towers moated by newly formed lakes, it was obvious cleanup would take far longer than expected. But we still managed to get everything packed down and loaded onto the trucks at a reasonable hour – even if driving them off the site required the aid of heavy duty tractors.

It is often said that stage rigging has its roots in seafaring tradition, with the ropes, chains, and pulleys required of the trade hearkening back to the age of sail. This was made blatantly clear during moments of less-than-perfect weather such as this, as manually sewn-and-strapped side skins billowed in the slightest breeze – demanding steady hands on the rope to lash them down.

The shock of the flood took a fair toll on my immune system, not least by a barrage of mosquito bites, and I had to sleep out the next day’s build in recuperation. Thankfully the minor gripes weren’t anything too serious, and with a boost of electrolytes and a few extra cups of coffee I was able to get back to work that night. There was no time to be poorly!

The last few days went by smoothly, with any residual uncertainties quashed by will, graft, and camaraderie. As the last sing-a-long site check in Valby ensured the grass was mostly how we left it, the tour was over. The final formality being a get together with the organisers to debrief and congratulate ourselves on a job well done.

Would I do it again? The first few nights were a slog, but as I got used to the process things got easier. Had I been offered opportunity to go home on the first few days I would have considered it.

But even in the struggles of self-doubt there was a determination that kept me going. Not so much shallow pride, but unflinching authenticity. We don’t know our limitations until we push beyond them, and there was nothing I couldn’t do without a bit of effort. An investment in introspection and a reckoning of my capabilities, with every cut and bruise betraying a deeper truth.

With hindsight I would prepare better. Not just in matters of strength and stamina, but packing more appropriately for crew bus life. Any discomfort was fleeting, and the personal rewards absolute.

Would I recommend it to others? Free beer, although alluring, is seldom free. I would not downplay how difficult it was at times. The lack of sleep, the physical intensity, the long hours, the sometimes curious catering. It was not for the faint of heart nor those unwilling to endure. But perseverance brings subtle reward – the quiet triumph of accomplishment in the chaos of the unknown, and the realisation of oneself beyond the comfort of convenience.

Some didn’t make it through. Dietary concerns, injuries, or the sheer weight of the experience compelled early flights back. This is no failing of those who departed. Everyone follows their own path towards the person they need to be, and there is purpose in every choice.

But ultimately, tempered by storms weathered within and without, we each found our way home.

For the Magic of Metal

I never had “Backing Dancer for Arthur Brown” on my 2025 Bingo card…

Metal Magic has always been one of my favourite festivals, having only missed out on a single accessible year since 2014. I’ve always found the chilled out ‘Garden Party’ atmosphere to be appealing, a reflection on the friendliness I’ve experienced in all my visits to Denmark. Many friends and more have been made on these grounds, each sharing sincere love for the music and the collective camaraderie of the moment.

Given I would be over here for most of July with my fellow students from the Academy of Live Technology, it only took a polite request to reschedule my flight to an earlier day so I could get to Fredericia first. And then from there volunteering to crew Metal Magic for more experience, with the expectation that I’ll just be a stage hand or similar.

I did not expect an invite to manage main stage backline for the final night.

Although intimidated at the start, not least by the stage size increase this year to over 150 square metres, (needed for plenty of pyros), I managed my festival time cautiously. Reserving Thursday for a no-holds-barred “Party” day, reconnecting with dear, missed friends over many beers while indulging an incendiary set by Venom. Friday would be for “Paying Attention”, sneaking backstage to shadow the crew and see how things are done even if it meant missing a couple of bands – but not German titans Destruction reprising their ‘Infernal Overkill’ opus.

Then, from 10am sharp on Saturday, I was locked on the clock to do it myself.

With the industry-level training already given in my first year at the Academy, I soon got to work at keeping things organised. With the right amp heads finding their way to the right musicians; stage schedules kept on time and ticked off on the clipboard; and of course, a hearty bellow of “Truss Moving” whenever raising or lowering the backdrop. No longer overwhelmed by the unknown, everything was possible in an equally calm cadence. Even if the weather occasionally took a nasty turn, requiring timely safety measures to keep the straps tight and stage dry.

The first band, Sweden’s Dun Rignill, offered many kind acts of support as I got up to speed. Their folk-fuelled Doom Metal an ideal thematic start to my tenure. With subsequent sets by Switzerland’s Amethyst and Sweden’s Portrait, everything moved to a swift pace – even if the latter’s additional stage props proved an entertaining packdown challenge.

And then the highlight of my day, and a dream come true, the opportunity to work with living legend Arthur Brown. With his shows moreso a Live Multimedia Experience than just another gig, there were extra complications required of my role. Not least the creation of an impromptu backstage dressing area to allow Arthur to change his outfit between songs. With a video wall integrated into the staging, some cunning curtain swaps were required, as well as an entertaining debate with their visuals tech on the relative benefits of SDI and HDMI.

Arthur’s set was a joy from start to finish, and looking out into the sea of happy faces was a thoroughly heartwarming experience. Much love and smiles were shared in the wings, culminating in the Creative Director dragging the crew out onto the stage proper to dance along with ‘Time Captives’.

Alas, I missed out on closing veterans Pentagram due to a necessary backstage audit to account for every errant drum and amplifier. Barely having enough time to pilfer a celebratory sneak photo with the stars before getting back on with it.

Finally finishing fourteen hours later, any fatigue was soon swept away in gratitude for the entire experience. With thanks to Martin and Clark for their trust in me to keep things moving behind the curtain; and to Rowan and Rasmus for their able expertise and assistance. Thanks also to Jacob at Grøn for agreeing to fly me out early, and to all at the Academy for the training and support required to take such opportunities in my stride.

Rumours claim this will be the last year that Metal Magic will be run at the current site, but there are plenty of other locations to be had. I am proud to have done my part in service to everyone in attendance.

Now onwards to Grøn Koncert…

https://heathenstorm.com/2025/07/14/for-the-magic-of-metal/

#academyoflivetechnology #amethyst #arthurbrown #backline #crew #destruction #dunringill #heathenstormproductions #livemusic #management #metal #metalmagic #multimedia #music #pentagram #portrait #venom

Magna cum Loudly

As I take pause to commemorate another year round the sun, it is the right time to reveal just what I’ve been up to these past months.

A secret to most, although obvious to many, l have returned to the hallowed halls of academia with a suitably Rock and Roll twist. Last year I began studying a full-time Foundation degree in Live Event Production at the Academy of Live Technology in Yorkshire. Literally a ten minute drive from my front door.

The campus is part of Production Park, a world-class staging facility where the big tours plan and rehearse their productions. Making non-music headlines for supplying studio space to Netflix’s Adolescence production; but also paying pre-tour host in recent weeks to the likes of Ghost, Sleep Token and The Hu.

Adolescence of a later ilk was not as challenging as expected. As a “mature” student (on paper at least), I came to campus with the trepidation of an outlier and rigid in my expectations. Thankfully, my “fellow kids” swiftly embraced me as one of their own, appreciating the worldy wisdom and post-corporate planning I could bring to group assessments.

Specialising in Visual Production and Audio Mixing, the first year has been an enlightening experience – although it took some effort to coax an academic rigour out of my usual florid prose. It has been refreshing to see the practical aspects of the craft taught properly, and I can honestly say I learned more in the first three months of applied study than I did in three decades of ‘making do’.

My joyful gratitude abounds every day. I am energised at the epicentre of opportunity, and rub shoulders with some of the greatest professionals in the industry. Learning, unlearning, experiencing, and especially giving back.

I can make a difference here.

And make a difference I do! My profound appreciation for this second chance carries forward in all my acts. Having squandered an initial scholastic foray a lifetime ago, my retirement funds could only stretch to a two-year course instead of a full degree. As much as I nourish this hunger to learn and excel, and yearn to study further, I must use the limited time of my position to guide others.

Ruminating on Crowley’s notion of “True Will”, I consider how mine has refined and unveiled itself over the years. Where once I thought my soul’s calling was in the written word, that later expanded to communication as a whole, and now it is more a will to empower others to communicate. Individual purpose stepping forward to selflessly enrich the collective.

I find myself donning the aspect of facilitator in all forms. Rejecting a dependence on top-down authority for more collaborative growth. The Emperor turned becomes the Hierophant.

This manifests in how I give my all on campus. Volunteering as Student Ambassador and Mentor, I share my sincere enthusiasm with newcomers to the Academy. Offering campus tours and support to individuals, and interactive demonstrations for visiting groups. Showing how arena-grade equipment is operated through the encouragement of play and hands-on experience.

Ascending to the student body politic, (at the whim of the ballot), I will become the Academy’s Wellbeing Executive Officer in my second year. Understanding how harmful unchecked coping mechanisms can be to those in the industry, I aim to help students develop a robust mental toolset to pack alongside their podgers and gaff tape.

I see a lot of myself in my fledgling peers. An energy, an enthusiasm, a determination to achieve and succeed. Often unfocused in anger, doubt and frustration, but made of solid stock. Through what guidance I may, I help secure both my stake in the future and theirs.

The kids are, most definitely, all right!

Summer will shine, and with it an extended tour around Denmark, crewing both Metal Magic and Grøn Festival next month. Upon return, I will assist a summer school at the Academy for younger students. A course of creative design and confidence building, where the lessons I’ve learned over the years may be repurposed to the benefit of others.

I’ve drifted a lot through life, flitting from whim to whim and country to country. With the typical whimsy of the universe, it is on my doorstep that it all comes together. My strengths are repeatedly acknowledged and rewarded, and everything is locking into place.

I am exactly where I need to be.

https://heathenstorm.com/2025/06/14/magna-cum-loudly/

#Blog #academia #academyoflivetechnology #adolescence #birthday #crowley #gronfestival #hierophant #metalmagic #music #productionpark #student #truewill #videoproduction #wellbeing

The ORPHAN shoot continues with a trip to the Academy of Live Technology in Yorkshire. There we hosted an ‘Introduction to Film Making’ Workshop for the students’ Enrichment Week.

The session opened with an introduction to the project and sneak preview of the storyboard, then covered inspirations and techniques to balance big ideas with a low budget.

With a reasonable ramble through my own experiences before explaining the expectations of film extra work, the group relocated to a campus backlot to put theory into practice. Together we tackled a scene where the title character emerges from a crowded mass of people.

Although only a handful of students could attend, we were able to make it work through multiple takes and creative composition. Swapping hats and hoodies between shots and overlaying the end result.

The raw footage has been roughly graded, keyed, and incorporated into the assembly cut with a simple background, to be refined once other elements are complete. Most importantly, Aida’s performance captures the intent and determination required of the scene. An essential humanity shining through all the technical trickery to get it there.

Tremendous gratitude to faculty for allowing this to happen, and especially to everyone who turned up.

We will call again…

https://heathenstorm.com/2025/02/15/crowd-control/

#academyoflivetechnology #cyberpunk #enrichment #filmmaking #orphan #sciencefiction #workshop