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Ryan O'Riordan

Life of Ryan

Hello - my name is Ryan Ciaran O'Riordan, a name I discovered had assonance about a year ago which made me start using my middle name a bit more.

My dad is from Dublin, my mum is from Derby and I was born in Grimsby, referred to as the 'fishing town' though I can't really remember it because I moved to Derby soon after. But then I moved again; I spent a few years in Torquay down south and returned to Derby when I was 8 and have been here ever since.

听So apart from moving up, down and back around, you may like to know that I love to write, specifically fiction, that another of my projects this summer is to start an satirical advice book, a book of short stories and develop the plan for a novel idea I've come up with.

I also like to make short films, the most professional ones I've done being a human reinterpretation from the book 'Bambi' (that's right, the book; not the film) of the mother's death and in June of this year I finally made 'Emo/Chav Love', which was insanely fun to do and I'm very proud of. Having a budget of zero, I rely on my fantastic friends to let me puppeteer them, it can be quite a challenge sometimes but they know they love it really. I use a Mini DV camera at the moment which I'm perfectly happy with currently, though I would like to experiment with more professional standards within the next year.

The way I see it, I've always loved to write stories - making films is taking it to the next level because you realise your vision, fully. You have to create the full image for the audience whereas in writing you can often let the reader come to their own conclusions more - not so much on the screen. The gratification is instant if its done right, and its a fantastic feeling to finish a film, stick it on a DVD and say 'yep, I made that.' It's even better when others agree with what you knew all along - that the idea was good and that the film is amazing!

I'd like to think I can still be objective about what I film - some of what I've done isn't as snappy, it doesn't have the oomph and the technical quality isn't my best work. Which is why I only have 'Bambi' and 'Emo/Chav Love' as my favourites - because they're the ones that worked best. But if you're ever interested in seeing my hour-long documentary about my friends and family's Christmas experiences through all of December last year, or my recent parody of a kids horror show where the characters main concern is how popular they appear on a certain social networking site, then let me know.

I love creating fun, having 'bad dance-move competitions', 'rave time' and 'lunch club' with my friends, and up until 12 months ago I couldn't tell the difference between a pepper and a chili. A year down the line though, we've all matured as people and there probably won't be a cooking disaster quite like that again.

I've just finished sixth form which annoyingly I only seem to be able to appreciate fully now in hindsight - I miss seeing nearly everyone I know 5 days a week and my lessons in Media, English and Drama were probably the best of my entire school experience. There were some good times, but everyone knows going into it what time you finish.

It looks certain that I'm going to enjoy my time as a Blast arts reporter - I'm hoping to bring you some stuff you knew vaguely of and other things you'd never heard of while I'm here, because believe it or not - there's quite a bit of talent in ol' Derby.

You'll see.