Tag Archives: Social Networking

A Connected World: 4 Top Social Activities to Enjoy Online

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social networking, coronavirus, social media, covid-19, staying in touch, staying connected.

Source: Pxfuel.com

Staying in touch is harder than ever. But in times like these, social interaction is essential for a healthy lifestyle. Fortunately, the digital world is well-prepared to keep you communicating and entertained. There is a range of platforms out there dedicated to bringing people together as much as providing great services. While many of them were already popular, their value to consumers is especially apparent now. 

Below are four examples of online activities that have gathered very happy audiences. What is just as impressive is the variety of social entertainment actually available. Whatever your hobbies and interests, you will find something to connect you with friends, family or complete strangers with common interests.
Video Chatting

Demand for telecommunication software that can handle several users at the same time has skyrocketed. Can you imagine the pressure put on brands like Skype and WhatsApp, their status and expertise tested as rivals surge to cover group chat needs? Many would say that Zoom is the most effective of the lot, as it supports everything from conference meetings to fitness classes. Its competitors are on the offence, though, helped by reports that Zoom is not doing so well in terms of the security and privacy it affords users. All these apps are sucking up the attention and striving to maintain, if not improve, users’ experience.
Dating

It is not just about meeting someone special. Several people go on dating apps to simply chat and connect with new faces in their area or even around the world. This friendly, straightforward attitude is what the Badoo Android audience enjoy, for example. A simple design that gives you the chance to filter straight to the kinds of people you want to talk to, with so many opportunities for stimulating conversation. It’s one of the many perks of digital connectivity that make socialising remotely more fun and comfortable.
Video Gaming

When you run out of things to talk about, what do you do? Play games! Social media and video chatting platforms have loads of entertainment for multiple players, whether casual or more intense. But there are bigger titles too that allow a far more exciting way to connect. A great example at the moment is Animal Crossing, Nintendo’s simulation series that is constantly adding new members. Why fight dragons when you can build a home in a virtual world populated by cute animals? It was perhaps the social elements of this game that have made it such a hit, paired with a wholesomeness many gamers appreciate.
TV and Movies

For more laidback fun at home, streaming services are gradually introducing group-watching features. As if Netflix was not popular enough, it now allows for access to a party mode. You simply start by picking a programme and then share the link with a bunch of friends so you can enjoy it together – perfect for a remote Star Wars marathon. Keep in mind, though, that Netflix Party only works on Google Chrome browsers. Apart from minor details like these, great evenings of laughs and popcorn are still very much on the table.
Your day can be as calm or epic as you want. Try out these highly-rated options or explore what other fun you can have with your friends online. You can at least be sure that your entertainment needs are covered. Whether you are in the mood for World of Warcraft or a coffee chat, the digital world is here to serve.

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Jane Frisby On ‘The Fighter’s Ballad’ | Film Interviews

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Jane Frisby is without a doubt one of the nicest people in the film industry. I met up with her to discuss a superb film she had just produced –  ‘The Fighter’s Ballad‘. We had a brilliant chat and anyone who wants to work in film can learn something by listening to her advice.

Frost: What made you want to go into producing?

JF: ‘I was getting a lot of low-to-micro Budget Film scripts, wanting the same commercial
actors attached, either urban hoodie ‘gangsta’ films or Horror / Zombie type scripts,
usually not very original or amazing.

“I met Peter Cadwell putting ‘The Fighter’s Ballad’ on as a play. It received the ‘Best of 5 Theatre Plays’ in the Independent Award, and the Play’s Writing by Peter Cadwell and his acting got fantastic reviews, so the writing had already been much appreciated by Critics and the Public. Peter had already done the play to great success at the ‘Actor’s Church’ with great Actor Jack Shepherd playing the Priest, but to a limited Audience, it needed to go bigger, it had been done as a ‘theatre piece already, and I put my producers hat on. It just happened like that. It wasn’t a conscious decision.”

What was the hardest thing about making the film?

“Getting the money… I started with wealthy friends that I knew, public funding, private investors and it just wasn’t happening. Then luckily our Director Tony Ukpo’s father, had investor contacts in Nigeria. That is where the money came from. We were very lucky.”

Did you cast it?

“Peter Cadwell was cast as he had written it, and is also a WONDERFUL actor, but I cast Clive [Russell] and all of the rest.”

What drew you to the script?

“It had so much to say. It was very relevant of life these days. The youth – what have they got now? Education isn’t up to scratch, lack of work, mental health, people on the streets, violence, drugs. Where do they channel that energy? The fact that this guy ends up in a church and has this confrontation with the Priest. It’s controversial and asks questions of the Audience and it challenges Religion and the Church – there were so many issues I felt were very thought-provoking”.

What was the initial first step?

First Step: there were actors who really loved the script, but were unavailable, Clive’s Agent called me and said he wanted to meet as he was interested, we all met him a few days later and he came on board the project, Which was amazing news, this is how the project started.

How are you going to get it out there?

“The easy part was shooting it actually! Then obviously the post-production, the colour grade, the sound, the music. Getting it out there has been very difficult. We went through the usual channels of trying to get into festivals, we did a BAFTA screening, which was fantastic – a good friend of mine managed to get BAFTA for half price. We invested in that and invited a lot of people. We also did a screening at Soho house and invited people to come.

“The public response has been amazing. We put it up online and in the past few weeks we have had 600 people come to the website from all over the world. I am now looking at doing charity screenings – there are a lot of deserving charities out there – and religious screenings, going down that route. I want to do more screenings, as when the public sees it, it creates a lot of buzz. We are doing that as well as going down the normal route of sales agents.”

Do you have any advice for people who want to make their own films?

“Do it. Just do it. If you have a project and you feel like it should be made and you are passionate about it, then somehow you will get it done. Somehow, you will find a location you will get for nothing or cheap. Just get a group of people surrounding you who are as passionate as you are about it.”

How hard was it to juggle doing the film and working as a casting director?

“It has been very tough actually. There have been times when I have been pulling my hair out trying to get people to screenings. I didn’t realise how hard it would be. Trying to work and do my job while casting a corporate or a commercial at the same time, whilst also looking after my daughter who is 15 – It has been a massive amount of balls being juggled – but sometimes you work well under pressure.”

Would you ever want to direct?

“Never. I love casting and I would love to do even more producing. I like working with actors that I rate and having control of the project from script stage to final edit”.

What made you choose the actors?

“When I read the script I had a vision of someone like Liam Neeson. I also thought of the priest as being a big man. I had a vision of this man being a mountain of a man, and he would be quite weathered because of his past. I have always remembered Clive from the RSC. He is a very subtle actor and also 6′ 4” and big.

“I think with him being Scottish as well, there is that sort of Celtic lilt to his voice. Talking to a fellow Scot. [CB: I’m a Scottish actor] Well, I’m not Scottish but I love Scottish actors, Irish actors – I have an apartment in Dublin – and the Welsh. The Scottish are great actors. There is something about Celts. The way the speak is just lyrical.”

What changes have you noticed in the film industry?

“The biggest change is the digital cameras. They have been absolutely massive and you can buy them for £1,000. We shot on the Canon 5D. It’s a stills camera, but the quality is good for film. That has opened up a lot of people being able to make films. I think that is a good thing because it enables a lot of people with not a lot of money to make good quality films. The independent filmmaking scene should be really buzzing now. The one thing I worry about is people trying to make indie films with little money, but trying to make them commercial as well.”

What advice do you have for actors?

“Learn as much as you can. Read screenplays, do workshops, go to masterclasses, go to the theatre, go to the cinema, There are loads of social networking events you can go to. Watch other people’s short films, especially if you really like the director. You never know where they are going to end up. That happened with me on a film that I did and I loved it.

“A short film I cast got into the North London Film Festival and I got in touch with the director/writer of this lovely short I saw there. Two years later, he got in touch and asked me to cast his short. It is social networking, keeping in touch with what’s going on.

“The first person to give me a commercial casting was Mel Smith. My dad had been around Soho handing out plastic frisbees with ‘Jane Frisby Casting’ on them. I got a phone call one evening and this guy said it was Mel Smith. He said., ‘I am doing a commercial and I want you to cast it. I loved the Frisbee’. So I started working with Mel. It’s things like that.

“It’s hard. There is a lot of work there for very little pay, but I think that is across the board – acting, casting, everything. I am casting this short with a wonderful Director Jack Price who I have worked with many times in the past in Bristol. There is lots of talent there. I did that just for my train fare. It’s not all about making money. If you are passionate and you want to work, you just have to keep doing it.”

Like ‘The Fighter’s Ballad’ on Facebook.

The Fighter’s Ballad OFFICIAL TRAILER from Tony Stark on Vimeo.

http://www.thefightersballad.com/

The Unpaid Acting Work Dilemma by Professionally Resting.

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Casting call: ““Unfortunately we’re not able to offer a fee on this occasion.”

Sadly this type of casting call is one that I’m all too used to seeing. At least 75% of castings will
contain the above sentence or a wonderfully inventive version of it (such as the incredible ‘This is
a no-pay experience!’) It’s unfortunately become a fact of acting life and I’ve become as skilled as
sifting through castings as I have at rifling through sandwiches for rogue tomatoes. Directors will try
and soften the blow by telling you that you’ll get a credit to put on your CV (gee, thanks) and that
they’ll be providing you with food on set. On-set catering can be a thing of beauty (pizza) but it can
also be an utter horror made of stale sandwiches. Apparently actors can live on credits and bread
alone. If only landlords, phone companies and councils could be fobbed off in the same way.

Unpaid work has become a rather aggressive disease in the acting world. What was once the domain
of film students and wannabe filmmakers; it has now entered the world of television. And this is
a worrying development. I understand that however much they’d like to, students and smaller
production companies can’t always afford to pay people. The ethics bother me because I believe
that if you can’t afford to pay everyone then you probably shouldn’t be making the piece in the first
place but that’s an argument for another day. Unpaid work happens and sadly, just like the damp in
our flat, I have to deal with it for now and watch it ever so slowly ruin me. I should also admit that
I’ve taken on my fair share of unpaid work in the past. Unfortunately there are times when you have
very little choice and so you can either do nothing or take on some unpaid work in the hope that
it might just get you spotted. It won’t, but you never know when that top agent is going to turn up
at a secondary school in Northampton to watch you prance about telling kids about the dangers of
heroin. But now the bigger companies have jumped on the bandwagon and suddenly everything is
starting to topple over.

There have been a string of very high-profile companies that have recently started advertising
unpaid or expenses only work. And when I say ‘high-profile’ I mean the type of companies
that produce widely watched primetime programmes that air on terrestrial channels. These
are companies that clearly have plenty of money, or at least enough cash to make sure that all
performers are fairly paid. When they start offering unpaid work, what kind of message does that
send out to all the other companies? Apparently it’s now perfectly acceptable for these businesses
(one of whom made a profit of £471m last year) to get performers to work for free. But these
companies forget that actors often have a lot of time on their hands so it doesn’t take too long
before they’re ousted via the beauties of social networking. But what happens when they get found
with their devious trousers around their tight-fisted ankles? Well, what has happened recently
is that they make like George Osborne and u-turn. However, they don’t then promise to do the
honourable thing and actually pay actors. Oh no. Their reaction is to say that they will instead be
casting friends, family or employees. That’s what this profession has been downgraded to. Actors
are now regarded so poorly that we can be instantly replaced with the make-up artist’s cousin and
the focus puller’s university mates the second we start to complain. We find ourselves so low on the
career ladder that we’ve now been downgraded to the lackey that just holds the ladder and watches
everyone else climb up it.

So what this means is that actors will yet again be forced into unpaid work as they desperately try
to keep hold of a career that’s more slippery than a greased-up seal. We continually find ourselves
being held to ransom where we can either ‘shut up and put up’ or keep fighting and risk the chance
of never working again. Just like the next actor, I’d love the exposure that a primetime programme
would offer but never at my own expense and certainly not just so an exec can save a few precious
pennies and ensure that their bonus is intact for another year. Why should they get to go on exotic
holidays when I’m left wondering how to survive for the next week on a tin of chopped tomatoes
and a rapidly ageing nectarine? It’s at its lowest, meanest level and until all actors make a stand against these companies, all we’re doing is encouraging them to turn our already fragile
industry into a laughing stock.

Mike Jagger: “I spend too much time on Facebook”.

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Mike Jagger has revealed that he is addicted to social networking.

In an interview with USA Today, the legendary singer admitted that he spends too much time on Facebook and not enough time making music.

“I spend way too much time on the computer and not enough time playing the guitar. There’s an underlying problem of this screen life taking over all of your life,” he said.

“It’s easy to keep in touch with people, some of whom I wish I’d never kept in touch with. But there they are on Facebook! You can spend a lot of time on that when you should be doing something else.”

The Rolling Stone star is also on Twitter, but admitted that he doesn’t update the account himself, adding: “But, really, who does?”

Jagger said that a rumoured 2012 tour by the Rolling Stones is “not on the table”. He is focusing on Superheavy, the group he started with Dave Stewart, Damien Marley and Joss Stone.

Facebook to add facial recognition to tagging {Social Networking}

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Following the news that Mark Zuckerberg has been named Time Magazine’s Person of the year 2010, Facebook are continuing their “we’re developing it whether you like it or not” mission and have announced their latest development.  Facial recognition tagging for photos will make it easier and quicker to tag people in photos. Similar to the facial recognition software in photo editing tools, the function will learn your friend’s faces and suggest them when you upload new photos.

You can turn off facial recognition if you’re really panicking about being tagged on that bender-you-never-went-on-honest-boss. To disable suggested tags go to your Privacy Settings. Just click “Customize Settings” and “Suggest photos of me to friends.” Your name will no longer be suggested in photo tags, though friends can still tag you manually.

Hands up who’s thinking “will it work on my dog?”