| THE
TOWN ON THE TORRS - Video Crew |
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The Video Crew
of New Mills Sixth Form students and professional video photographer
Heather
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Philip
Berry's Filming Diary
- Well, this week has been busy, busy, busy for some us sixth
form students!! After volunteering to help on a DVD for New
Mills, we set off early on Saturday morning in the freezing
cold to trek up to the Volunteer Centre in New Mills.
After a brief by
our broadcaster, we set off to learn how to use the very expensive
filming equipment that Heather, our camera-woman, had brought
in. Some of us - some more keen than others! - set about finding
out what all the buttons were for and how to set up interviews.
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A lunch break here,
a cup of tea there and we embarked into New Mills to film. It
was all very new to us, as we had never done anything like this
before. Some strange stares and questions later we retired back
to the Volunteer Centre as the sun was going down.
The next day was
a later start as we met Rosemary, our broadcaster, to discuss
how we were progressing with our assigned research topics. Some
of us jogged off to the Heritage Centre to do some research
on the town and some went down the Torrs for a bit of light
relief!
After a few days
back at college, late one afternoon, me, James and Catherine
together with the crew went to interview a man about his experiences
in New Mills. His stories were fascinating to listen to and
all of us went away feeling good about the interview. We then
returned to the Cyber Café in New
Mills for bacon butties and coffee to prepare for the all-important
shoot at the Art Theatre that evening.
We then discovered that
our camera-woman, Heather, had locked her keys in her car. But
after about 45 minutes of trying several techniques to unlock
it we finally broke off the lock and got in. Finally we made it
to the Art Theatre in time and got the all-important footage and
interviews. After a long day of filming we finally understood
what the unpredictability of filming involved. |
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| James
Andrew Filming Diary - Having been granted the exciting
opportunity to film and research for the New Mills DVD funded
by the Local Heritage Initiative, we were all filled with anticipation
into what the following weeks would hold for us. With studying
art at AS level we have an interest in wanting to produce work
that looks interesting and is well composed, filming the DVD
has definitely allowed us to provide our 'artistic input' but
also to learn a lot more. Our professional video photographer,
Heather, helped teach us the basics and gave us insights into
how filming works conventionally on real TV.
On the first day
of filming we attracted a lot of interest in the town as we
dodged cars to get the perfect shot, which in itself took
several attempts. We had to adapt quickly to the difficult
light conditions as fog set in but luckily we were spared
from the rain.
On the following
Wednesday afternoon, having proved our control on the first
day, we tried some hand-held techniques on a walk through
the town and the Torrs Riverside Park. We were all pleased
with the results when we watched the footage back.
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The next day we watched an old cinefilm of the renovation
of the New Mills Art Theatre from 1959. It was interesting
to see the advance of technology from then compared to the
equipment we have been using today for the DVD. We interviewed
the man who made and starred in the film and who still works
at the Art Theatre. The story of community dedication in renovating
the theatre was an enchanting experience being retold by someone
actually involved in it. We also watched a film of the first
visit to Alsfeld, Germany - the town with which New Mills
is twinned - and the warm welcome the English visitors were
given, which was quite remarkable considering the war had
only been a few years previous. Our school benefits from this
strong link with annual school exchanges organised by the
languages department.
We followed this
with an interview with a former New Mills councillor who made
the film and who talked of the determination of the community
and the future of the town. The evening was taken with filming
the crowds gathering for the current production of 'Hello
Dolly' at the Arts Theatre, and short interviews with the
staff of the theatre.
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The project as
a whole has made us consider our town and its part in the
past and future much more than we would have, and has allowed
us to connect more across the generations. I have thoroughly
enjoyed all that I have learned and enjoyed the experience
immensely, I am without doubt that the final product will
be well received by New Mills and beyond.
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| Rosemary
Richards, Town on The Torrs Project Director
- Rosemary has many years experience of producing TV, video
and live events. She recently moved to the New Mills area and
previously was Managing Director of Six TV, The Oxford Channel,
a local commercial television station for Oxfordshire. While
in Oxford she was also Festival Director for a company which
produced the city's Millennium
and Jubilee festivals. She has also been extensively
involved in Oxford's festival planning as part of the Capital
of Culture bid. While Oxford lost out to Liverpool for the title
it still plans a series of major festival events leading to
a year-long festival in 2007, with which Rosemary is still involved.
Rosemary's background is as a television and radio producer,
initially with the BBC, and she has worked as a producer of
documentary films, blue chip corporate communications for clients
such as BT and Honda, and worked with community groups producing
film and video projects. She has run video community and training
projects as far apart as Northern Ontario and East London and
now New Mills. |
More to follow...
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