brettinthecity101 - Tumblr blog

[brettinthecity101]

I hate showreels. This is not a showreel.

[brettinthecity101]

https://soundcloud.com/brettinthecity/the-residue-of-a-relationship-trailer

[brettinthecity101]

https://soundcloud.com/brettinthecity/do-you-have-a-place-somewhere

[brettinthecity101]

THIS BLOG IS DEAD.

PLEASE VISIT MY NEW WEBSITE INSTEAD: www.brettinthecity.com

[brettinthecity101]

Our new website is nearly finished and I can't wait to get it live!

[brettinthecity101]

Naples Postcard

[brettinthecity101]

Sheffield Coach Station // 2015 Ebba and I had just returned from Italy and had to wait in Sheffield Coach station for our ride. I love this city at night. The lighting and the buildings all come together to make something really special. 

[brettinthecity101]

How I beat my depression

[brettinthecity101]

Excited that @scapricorn and I have a six page feature on #vlogging and #inthecities in this month's Digital Filmmaker Magazine. Check it out if you get a chance! #filmmaking #filmmaker #magazine #ebbaandbrettinthecities #travel

[brettinthecity101]

A Father’s Day Film

I've always wanted to me a filmmaker but I only recently figured out why. Since it's Father's Day I figured now is as good a time as any to tell my dad that it's all because of him and a plastic tractor. Thanks Dad.

[brettinthecity101]

VIDEO: The Conservatives just won the UK General Election. I’m Heartbroken. What now?

I know this isn’t strictly related to what I usually post here but the Conservative Party appear to have won the UK General Election despite the best efforts of the left and I’m heartbroken. It looks like, thanks to these poll results, David Cameron will get another go at Government.

There were also lots of votes for UKIP which has left me feeling pretty deflated today about the state of our country and the futures of the most vulnerable in our communities and in our society.

I think the liberal minded of this country need to have a long hard think about how we can create real change in the way our democracy works and the say that we have in the running of this country.

Today is a sad day.

[brettinthecity101]

How to celebrate in the city of Sheffield

I just turned 27. That was pretty scary. Actually, it wasn’t - but everyone else says that it is and I know I’m supposed to think that. I don’t. I feel like I’m about to become who I’ve always wanted to be and to celebrate that I did the only thing that made sense: Laser Quest.

At the end of the year I’m going travelling with my girlfriend - I don’t know if I’ve mentioned that before... It’s really exciting for me to hit the road and see if I can make it as a travelling filmmaker. This year is a good chance for me to try that out as I try and juggle my full time job and preparations for the trip of a lifetime. 

If you want to keep up with more of our adventures as we prepare to travel the world, please subscribe here.

[brettinthecity101]

I’m leaving my job to make films and travel the world

At the end of the year my girlfriend and I are going to hop across the water and start travelling the world - and we're going to make films every step of the way!

Ebba and met in a hostel in Amsterdam last year whilst backpacking around Europe and had a shared dream of dropping everything and going on an adventure.

If you want to know more about how we met, you can see it here:

So, we're spending this year preparing in England before we pack our bags and see if we can survive backpacking around the world.

We'd love for people to join us on our journey, share in the stories we find and tell us about the stuff we should be checking out.

There'll be loads of videos and news coming out over the next few months so this little intro is just the beginning.

If that sounds like fun, please hit subscribe, share our videos and tell us what you think!

[brettinthecity101]

The Swedish Car Cemetery - VIDEO

Kyrkömosse is just outside of Ryd in Småland and is a pretty amazing find.

If you head along the county road 119 towards Hässleholm you should see a small hand painted sign and a little area to park.

There are all kinds of decaying cars, little huts and random bits and bobs, so it’s an amazing place to take pictures or just explore. 


When I visited there was no one else there so it has a really unique and kind of eery atmosphere. I’d say it’s a must visit if you’re in the area!



Ebba and I made a film about the place which we’ll soon be uploading to the YouTube channel here.

[brettinthecity101]

The Swedish Car Cemetery

Kyrkömosse is just outside of Ryd in Småland and is a pretty amazing find.

If you head along the county road 119 towards Hässleholm you should see a small hand painted sign and a little area to park.

There are all kinds of decaying cars, little huts and random bits and bobs, so it’s an amazing place to take pictures or just explore. 


When I visited there was no one else there so it has a really unique and kind of eery atmosphere. I’d say it’s a must visit if you’re in the area!



Ebba and I made a film about the place which we’ll soon be uploading to the YouTube channel here.

[brettinthecity101]

Where do you find an audience for your work?

If you’re artistically minded one of the key driving forces behind anything you do is probably the indescribable desire to make things. There’s something fulfilling about taking a part of yourself, turning it into something else and then putting it out in the world. 

The simple act of making something can provide a rush or a release that you don’t get anywhere else. For some people this is a primal act that they don’t understand and have no desire to. For others though, their work is an attempt to be understood or to connect with other likeminded people in some way. That’s where an audience becomes important. A lot of people say that they don’t care if just one person enjoys what they do but the truth is, that after a while, if you consistently put out work that doesn’t find an audience, it can start to feel liked a rejection. And that’s not just a rejection of your work but more pressingly a rejection of you, the person who created it. Why is your world view not connecting with people? Are you wrong? Do you lack the talent to be understood? Or is it that you lack the capacity to connect with people? Often, I think, it can be down to the simple fact that the world is flooded with ‘content’ on a daily basis so getting in front of the potentially small group of people who might relate to what you’re doing, can be a challenge. I work mainly in creating films and videos and I’ve had a little bit of exposure at film festivals with my short film Lilly and on YouTube and Vimeo with my other work - but the base of people who watch what I make is, realistically, tiny. 

I do appreciate every single person who watches what I make. That anyone would spare a few minutes to make what I’ve made is heartwarming. It can, though, occasionally feel like it’s impossible to break out of the small group of acquaintances and friends who view my films. 

No one wants to be the loser churning out work that has people questioning why they bother or ‘who does this guy think he is?’ You have to be self aware enough to know that what you do is not ‘important’ to anyone but you. I don’t have a right to an audience. No one does. It has to be earned - I know that. I guess it’s just disheartening when you keep on trying to make interesting and connectable work and it doesn’t seem to catch anyone’s gaze. 

I suppose this is a crisis that all creative people face? When is it time to give up and when is it worth battling through the doubt and just keep making the work that is true to you? I’ve recently been working on a travel series that I shot last year and I’ve put a lot of hard work and time into making a series of films that I think try and explain how life changing seeing more of our world can be. I’m on episode three now but the truth is that the views on each episode are becoming fewer with each release.

So, is this down to a failure of content, a failure of marketing, just bad luck or something else I’ve not even considered? I can’t say for sure. The feedback I have had back has been good but it’s very often from people I already know and I can’t help but feel that they’re somewhat obliged to stroke my ego!  It’s heartbreaking (in that way that only a young privileged white male can be heartbroken) when you put all of your true self into something, launch it out into space and then get no message back. 

It’s all too easy to grumble and moan about these things and it does seem silly when there’s so much important stuff going on in the world but I suppose each of us do live in our own subjective little universes where it’s our own outlets of expression, whatever they may be, that mean the most to us.  I always say, and I think it’s broadly true, that art doesn’t exist until it has an audience so if you do, by some chance, want to see any of the work I’ve made that has lead me to this crisis of confidence, you can find it here  

[brettinthecity101]

It's Been Four Years: Episode 3 - Berlin // @brettinthecity

Four years ago my friend Conor and I agreed that no matter what we were doing or where we were, in four years time we'd have an adventure. Well, it's been four years.

In episode three we visit Berlin, meet up with our friends Emma and Ebba, battle to find a wifi connection, visit the Berlin Wall and witness a pretty creepy party trick!

I'll be putting out one episode each week, focusing on one of the cities we visited, so if you want to follow the story and find out what happened and why it was so life changing, please subscribe here!