About me....in a nutshell.

Today, I thought I'd make a different sort of blog post. I've realised after what? 7 Blog posts, that I haven't really introduced myself to the internet and anyone reading this blog (most readers are 'friends' anyway).

So that's the plot of this post today, to give a little introduction, what I do and/or plan on doing with my life and maybe some facts of me!

First of all, who am I? From the right hand side of the page and my not-so-subtle profile picture, you'll find my name is Scott Burns. I was born and raised in the humble land of Scotland - a land of poor weather and many grassy hills. There was also a very well-known Mel Gibson movie based on our history, which some argue is not accurate but whatever. 

Currently at the ripe age of 22. I'm of a husky build and I'm slowly watching as my hair thins every year! Am I depressing you yet? (sorry)

What do I do currently? Well, I'm not very good with jobs and job searching an all of that magical jazz, but I currently work in an airport as a "Customer Host" for a Cafe. It's okay, it pays and I can buy the little pleasures in life, no complaints. As of 2014, I finished college, graduating with a HND in Sound Production. What does that mean? I'm just decent with Musical software and stuff. When I do stuff regarding that, it's more of a hobby than a passion. When I started college, I wanted to become a composer. Composed music in movies, TV and videogames is something I find an interest in, but over the years, my interests have changed and shaped for what may be the better!

Beyond having a job, what I also enjoy doing is drawing and writing. When I was younger, all I used to draw was Sonic the Hedgehog. I'd draw the characters on my school jotters, on my folders, on the corners of my tests and so on. For the last 4-5 years I've been drawing and improving on my own characters for my own novels! (like I said, I enjoy writing too)

For example: 

The inception of "Matthew Gray"

One of the more recent drawings featuring

the updated look of today!

With time, you develop your skills and your results show. I feel the same about my writing. I wrote the novel that features Matthew in 2012, titled "Descendants of Honour" and it has since seen a re-write and is sitting stored away till I do the final re-write. It's a story I know like the back of my hand and based within Falkirk, a town local to me. Since then I've gone on to write many more personal projects. 

I've written a Justice League script that one day, I'd like to utilize into a Youtube video in-time for the eventual Justice League movie!

I've written a script for a KFC Horror short. I loved every bit of it, it's crazy, it's hilarious and insane. 

I've written part of a Pilot for a TV show idea I had called Strangemouth. It's something that really brought me into a dark place that when writing, I'd get these killer goosebumps and just imagining my words as visual pieces, I could feel the horror of what I was writing, exciting stuff. 

There was also a time where I was writing a script for a Deadpool short movie but abandoned when too many suggestions and ideas were getting thrown at me, that I lost interest. I love Deadpool, I love and know the character well enough, but wasn't willing to chuck a cameo from every Marvel character under the sun...ugh, 

And there's my Formidable Three scripts..more on that at another time. 

Why do all of this? Simple - it's fun :D I take enjoyment out of it and hope to eventually finish all of these scripts and bring the projects to fruition. Usually I end up doing them myself because other people aren't interested, don't bring anything to the table or don't see the potential. But there's a potential in everything. So usually I pursue my projects on my own. I don't mind though, like I said, I enjoy it :)

I've collaborated in some form before. You see, I also have a Youtube Channel which I mentioned in the beginning blog posts. I called on others to voice characters on an audio comic adaptation of Space Detective. Below you can see the last video of the Space Detective series:

It's a right campy experience!

There's a mish-mash of different vids on my Youtube account. If you haven't, be sure to subscribe, you never know when I do something new, out from the blue ;)

What do I want to do with my life? 

Well currently, I'm writing and collaborating with a friend and partner on my first comic, titled "The Formidable Three: Origins" It's a cartoony-slapstick adventure that I'll speak more of in a later post!

So for 2015, I want to see that progress and hopefully finished as well as doing a short Batman film that aims to achieve what no Batman film has done and provide a thrilling and scary psychological approach to the caped crusader. It will be filmed on a Super 8 camera which will hopefully give it that extra unsettling edge in a visual manner. 

After which, I will focus on possibly more Formidable Three stories and more importantly, the third rewrite of Descendants of Honour which will be followed by a heavy campaign of looking for a publisher or/and an agent. Should this not prove successful, it shall be followed by an even heavier promotional campaign. 

From there? Focus on a sequel perhaps? Or start with a new novel? Who knows...

Some facts about me!

Lastly, I thought I'd end this on a fun note, Five little facts about me. So if you bump into me in the street, you'll have a nice wee ice breaker to use ;)

1. I have a permanent scar on my left elbow from a time I fell as a child

2. I'm definitely more of a DC fan but Spider-man is my favourite Superhero. 

3. When I was a kid, the Singing Kettle team came to my hometown and picked me (along with a select few others from my primary class) to be featured on a video, singing about keeping our teeth clean. 

4. Despite only watching it last year, Twin Peaks is my favourite TV show and nothing's gonna change that. 

5. I'm a big fan of NIN and How to Destroy Angels, but a favourite song of mines right now is "Doing it right - Daft Punk". 

That's that for now! Goodnight everybody!

Support Indie Media!

Indie Media - I'm simply narrowing that down to Comics, Movies and Videogames. Read on for what I have to say in regards to the future of media and how supporting Indie creators will help that!

Today this symbol will be used

in a rebellious cliché method

I'm a child of the 90's. I was born in ol' '92. It was a good year. Sonic the Hedgehog 2 came out, Batman Returns and Wayne's World hit theatres and Miley Cyrus was born...wait, what? 

From my young perspective throughout the 90's, whenever I saw a movie or played a game, I thought nothing of it. The gaming scene was the latest and long-lasting thing among kids in those days (among many hip fads!) Suddenly we were breaking from mere 16-Bit games to fully 3D games that opened a new world and gave us a much more realistic approach to how we interact with a virtual world.

Basically this...but kinda not

So from my young perspective, it really seemed the gaming world was booming with interest, sales and new ideas. 

Comics! We had a Golden Age, a Silver Age and a Bronze Age of comics. But the 90's, man...comic's were trying new things. Some titles had "experimental phases", new publishers were created and with them came new IP's for the coloured funny-book industry. You could chalk it up as semi-modern underground phase in comics. But while we saw new ideas and so-so, it wasn't all money and success for everyone.

The industry still had interest and that's what mattered to a fanbase of ageing-awkward nerds growing up in the height of awful fashion. 

Just your average 90's gamer

waiting on his mail-order set of DOOM Floppy Disks

Now the Film industry. An industry that has been going strong since it's inception, the 90's saw a butt-load of cheesy movies. It wasn't the 80's no more, you couldn't get away with it! It wasn't all doom & gloom, we saw some compelling drama movies rise from this glorious decade. 

On a side note, the 90's gave us Jurassic Park, The Matrix, Pulp Fiction, The Shawshank Redemption and heck, even Toy Story! New ideas were aplenty in this splendid era and it was a business that could still surprise the market of modern viewers.

As the world we knew changed, creative media

began "falling with style" (sorry)

BOOM - The Internet happened. When the internet grew bigger, it started becoming available in more and more homes. Sooner or later, most 1st class and 2nd class citizens and families began having internet readily available in their own premises to explore the big wide web. While the process started slow, it was soon to change the creative outlet forever and all forms of media would indeed be effected...

As time passed, computers and the internet became something we used in our lives almost daily! In the last few years, all forms of media have began to experience a sloping decline, in a sense. 

YES, movies, comics and videogames are readily available at many retail stores where we can find them at our own leisure, but not in the same way we used to....

Let's start with Comics! Today, Comics are still readily available in certain stores. You won't find them among traditional magazines in your local convenience store, but rather only in shops that tailor towards the nerdy user-base. As far as the collectable comic-book market goes...it's very much declined, per se'. True, if you manage to own like the first Superman/Batman/Spiderman/Etc. issue, then yeah, you'll be in the big money. But with the inception of Digital Comics, the industry has changed completely, forever. 

Now people can purchase comics from the beginning till the present day, essentially killing off the value and validity of it's physical counterpart. 

What's changing this industry also? Indie comics - Comic's created by individuals with a story to tell. Indie comic-book creators are creating more unique and interesting titles than Marvel or DC. Thankfully, most if not all indie creators want their titles to be physical, giving a new lease of life for physical comics and digital as an afterthought. Unlike Marvel or DC, a good amount of Indie comics usually have a conclusion set up, whereas with most/all superhero comics by the "Big Two" continuing for decades with characters being killed, then brought back constantly. But in the end, an Indie comic is only as good as how much effort and money the creator(s) put into it. 

Films! Films are readily available in a variety of ways - Physically bought on store, bought online to download, streamed on a subscription service (Netflix, Now TV) or watched in the Cinema. Now when people want to watch a film, they usually turn to one solution - illegal streaming/download. In the good ol' days, when you wanted to see a new movie, you went to the cinema. When you wanted to see a movie that was already out, you either bought it or went on a quick trip to your local Video Store to borrow a movie for a day or two. 

Now, with everybody turning to online streaming of movies illegally, the business is limping along. Companies have closed, movies have bombed and Video stores have closed because of illegal streaming of movies and why? Because it's free! Because people feel entitled.

It isn't every consumer's fault though. With online streaming, companies in Hollywood may see new ideas as too much of a risk. The solution? Churn out a remake!

Remakes, remakes, remakes...If it's not a superhero movie or a comedy, it's a remake. Where are the ideas I hear you say? In Indie creators! There are generations of individuals out there who yearn to bring their ideas and stories to the screens in any way they can. The indie film fanbase is filled with devotion and commitment unlike any other and some indie films can really surprise you in ways blockbuster films haven't for a long time. Look into it, get involved. 

Videogames are a little tougher. Unlike simply putting a pen to paper or pressing record on a camera, to make any kind of progress in creating a videogame, its required that you have a good idea of what you want to create and some knowledge of coding in general. Todays games are a sad affair when you compare them to the games of yesteryear when we had variety! 

Now? If it's not Call of Duty, Assassins Creed, Fifa, Far Cry or Battlefield, it usually isn't given much attention. Like comics and films, videogames have also moved to being available both physically and digitally - unlike other media, not resulting in being any cheaper. With new generations of consoles comes new updates in graphical quality...and not much else. It's become a cliché market of DLC available on the disk and sold to idiotic consumers later, micro transactions you 'should' buy to win, multiplayer-focused titles and remakes!!! (Taking a page from the film industries book?)

You know what is giving us variety? Indie games! You know what isn't simply tacking-on DLC? Indie games! You know what isn't shoving micro transactions? Indie games! 

Unlike Comics and Films, most teams/individuals in the Indie gaming scene can't bring their idea to a physical format, usually relying on something like Steam or Android's app store to make their game readily available. Indie dev's are certainly bringing the meat of "what makes a game a game" with them in their titles, some reminding you of your favourites and some reminding you why you enjoyed games in the first place. 

That's not to say blockbuster games are dead or that all are boring. It's just not a good time at the moment? I dunno. 

  

But there's something that can be learned here! The market could change, depending if the masses were able to organise and make it happen.

If an artist creates a comic, he/she can easily get it stocked in his/her local comic shop. What if you make a game and can pay to make it physical and work on a console (in that very unlikely situation)? Well to start, there should be an ability to apply and submit your game to a console manufacturer who for a fee will make it physical and with a payment plan, put your game on say 100, 500 or 1000 Xbox 360 disks with options for old consoles too, such as the Dreamcast or the Snes. Why not? right? And with that, it would be on the shelves of local game stores. It would surely benefit anyone. I also acknowledge it would need a more thorough plan than that. 

Films could also take a page from this book too. It's a lot easier for someone to bring their indie movie to dvd and yes, they can sell them on their own. But to mass-market like blockbuster movies? 

It seems almost unachievable. If we still had videostores, this could help keep them open, maybe? 

Imagine - your head down to your local Blockbuster, your having a movie night with the other half, you grab some popcorn, but now for the movie. You acknowledge there are plenty of blockbuster movies that you have and haven't seen. What's this? an Indie section? Sure, why not? You see a movie with an awesome cover, a nice title and your interest is piqued. You read the back and you like the sound of it. You go home with your companion, watch it, love it and your sold! Another Indie movie to go!

Seems possible, right? I would like to believe that!

Now comics can already be stocked in comic stores. But what if this industry took a page from the Videogame and Film market. Sure you get Comic-Con where creators can show and sell their unique idea(s) but what about a Comic-book festival? Similar to Videogame and Film Festivals. Have Comic creators submit their Comic book creation into a festival. Albeit, this would need more planning to it than I am prepared for, as Videogame and Film festivals have content you can watch. At the same time, motion comics exist and I suppose that would be a smart way to submit your comic in a festival-like manner. 

But with a festival and a prize for the best comic sounds like a good way for creators to get exposed as opposed to Cons. 

So that's it everybody, just a few ideas from myself. But in the end, I'm just a fan of many movies, comics and games and would love to see the businesses survive and get better! 

Have a good day everybody!