On Friday, our filmmaking society held its first ever event, a lock-in. A lock-in is where you are locked into a place overnight and you generally cannot leave. We planned to watch as many films as possible during this time.You wouldn't believe how much work went into planning it. I've so many people to thank, but I'll save that for this post's conclusion.

For those who don't know, Michael Boyle, Maoilíosa Lydon, myself, Brendan O' Loughlin, Liza Krudde, Sinead Cryan, Hatem Abnoun and Evan Mcternan make up the Filmmaking Society committee. A number of us have been working since 2014 on trying to get this society set up. Finally in September 2015 we succeeded. It's been a work in progress, we're trying to find our feet, solidify our place in the university and we're slowly but surely getting there! We want to have a society where people with varying talent, interest and willingness to learn filmmaking are all catered for. So if you have any interest at all we'd love to have you.



First we had to set a day that suited everyone and this isn't as easy as it seems! We wanted to hold it on a Friday, a day where people wouldn't have to get up for lectures the next day. It was gonna be a late one. Finally we settled on November 20th, a day that is significant to me for a few reasons but it suited those wanting to attend. We had to book a day that allowed us stay in the Student's Union overnight. Committee members were scurrying around the place on Friday, organizing the projecter and sound, getting the films in order, myself and Liza walked for ages sorting out our MUNCHABLES and I had to drag them all the way home sweating like a mad thing (COUGH). Complaining aside haha, it was absolutely worth it. Maoilíosa and Brendan helped with the organizing as did Liza, meeting various UL staff to make sure we were doing everything correctly. Michael helped organize the projecter and equipment for that and promoting the event itself.

Just some of the food, which included over four microwaveable bags of popcorn,  four packets of Haribo gummy bears, 8 litres of fizzy drinks, guacamole, nachos, Maom, and many others.

The committee members all arrived at 7pm to set up the SU. I set up the food in bowls and got the popcorn ready. Naturally I was eating as I was going along and I am genuinely hungry RIGHT NOW as I type this blog post. A BIG THANK YOU to Anthony Carey who generously set up a blue-ray projecter and screen so we could watch films on a huge screen. We couldn't have asked for more, it was perfect. The SU common room had plenty of couches and chairs so we made them into a semi circle. What was great about having the lock-in in the SU was that it had free open wifi, and that made the experience that little bit more enjoyable. The place was lovely and warm also. We're honestly so grateful to everyone for helping out.

It was a really cozy set up.

And now, the films we watched. We watched "Me, Earl and the Dying Girl", "Police Academy", "John Wick" and "Tarzan". A diverse collection of films, are they not? My stand out favourite was "Me, Earl and the Dying Girl".

Olivia Cooke (Rachel) and Thomas Mann (Greg)