the mantelpiece - mark waddington blog

Raynville School film crew

Today I was at Raynville School in Bramley giving a couple of sessions about working in a film crew to year four children. The chief reason for doing this was to encourage the children to think about their own hopes and dreams for the future. What are they good at, what are they passionate about?

The film making process is quite good at connecting with young people and helping them to work through their own skills preferences. I met one girl who has consistently said she wants to be an artist and I'm pretty sure she has it in her to succeed, and a couple of chunky lads who wanted to be rugby players.    When I was their age I wanted to be a vicar, I'm not sure why, and then at ten or eleven I decided radio, TV or the theatre was going to be my thing.

The routine we used was to talk to them about the various jobs required to make up a film crew - camera, lighting, sound, interviewer and so on.  Within these categories we broke down into key responsibilities.  After a period of deciding whether their preferences were around people skills, creativity or technical skills we allocated roles to the volunteers. 

In the classroom we had a number of pieces of equipment - camera, microphone, light, headphones, reflector and other props. We didn't actually do any filming but it was clear that by using tools as props we were able to more effectively discuss and role-play the different jobs quite effectively. They looked really professional.

Getting the kids to use the space and to assemble the pieces of equipment and look like a crew worked extremely well. I'm only sorry I don't have any photos because they looked great. Many thanks to Raynville, you're all brilliant.

more thinking on the workshops

Regional news returns to ITV.com

When Erik Huggers joined the BBC he said that the BBC's internet service tended to be a lonely experience, meaning he wanted to be aware of the other users on the site an interact with them.

ITV Local Yorkshire, when it existed, was not a lonely experience. The comments and interactions over the death of an Emmerdale star, the demolition of a local landmark and the inclusion of viewers photos and films made it a space of genuine interaction and participation.  At the time the service was running we had a stream of visitors to Kirkstall Road and even a dedicated studio for viewers to have their say. I witnessed some real passion.

The internet has come a long way. Once upon a time it was a place to put information that was already available on other services, but now it has become a medium in its own right with its own way of doing things. ITV Local was an attempt to respond to this trend.

And so I was interested to see the return of Calendar News to ITV.com  I wanted to find out whether it is old fashioned TV being recycled on the internet or a new offering from Calendar News. Perhaps a complementary service that extended the value of their excellent TV journalism?

To its credit, the site is simple. It's a list of reports that you can see again if you happened to miss them on the evening news. A catchup service. So far I haven't been able to find a comments section nor a way of watching the reports on my iphone. There doesn't seem to be a way of adding my own version of events. In fact there isn't even the obligatory "contact us" button.   All in all disappointing as this is just an old fashioned web site in the model of old fashioned broadcasting. A lonely experience.

All this is a shame because ITV's big strength has been its relationship with audiences.  When I was at the BBC we were for a time aware that the corporation had the image of a distant authority figure - reliable but dull, intelligent but aloof, high quality but slow, unapproachable, behind closed doors etc.  ITV, on the other hand, was daring, fun, risky, approachable. Above all it was someone you could talk to - not distant and forbidding.

It was for these reasons that I'd hoped that ITV could be a people channel through services like ITV Local, offering points of contact and engagement. I'd thought that it could offer an open door to its audiences and be a place where people could really meet one another and have a bit of fun. That does sound a bit like Britain's Got Talent and X Factor doesn't it, but perhaps not much else. It would be great if participatory thinking could permeate through to other areas of the output even to the regions. 

trees, they move

Love this. such a simple idea.

invitation to ascend

Tomorrow night sees the continuation of Ilkley's alternative worship services - yes it's true, even respectable ilkley folk are rocking the liturgical boat.

A small group are committed to meeting once as month to grow ideas for creative worship.  The group is made up of people who are involved Churches Together in Ilkley and so it's supported not by just one church but nine churches in the town. Can't believe that there are that many.

There are many such groups around the country but each of them is quite different - the styles of worship grow around the creative talents, needs and inspiration of those involved rather than being imposed.

Tomorrow's service is called Ascending/Descending and responds to the space in which we are holding the event.  Because we haven't settled a permanent venue we decided to hold the service in entrance hall of our house and use the stairwell as a vertical labyrinth.

The stations of activity will include - personal preparation for the journey, sustenance, difficult decisions, sanctuary, companionship, the top and the return. The stations will include video, music, projected images and ritual.

If you would like to visit us tomorrow or join the mailing list please drop me a note and I will give you more details  markwadd1@googlemail.com

st mary's ealing

came across this fab shot of our old church st may's taken by H4SS4N*STills

character of bradford

I spend quite a lot of time in either Leeds or Bradford. One thing I've noticed is that people in Bradford go round in groups or couples much more than they do in Leeds. Usally there is a lot more interaction between people - smiling, laughing, joking, arguing, fighting.

In Bradfoird there seems to be quite a lot of alternative and interesting people - much less uniform and much more individual.  

fireworks

Camera: Canon EOS 350D Digital Exposure: 0.5 sec (1/2) Aperture: f/4 Focal Length: 10 mm

misty morning

can't resist a bit of mist so had to get out of the house this morning. this is from just below beamsley beacon looking towards ilkley.

believe in sheffield

realising wildness

I came across Realising Wildness on Vimeo today. The videos are refreshingly simple and underproduced, but the quality of the photography and the subtle inclusion of movement and sounds makes them very powerful. How often do we think that a video has to have jaunty camera angles, effects and music. In these films you feel transported to the location and connected with the mood of each place. Here's the blurb from the project:

REALISING WILDNESS is a film project hoping to reach and inspire anyone (via the internet) who is perhaps spending too much of their life working on projects, or on the internet.

REALISING WILDNESS is about wandering and wondering.

REALISING WILDNESS is about going outside- going somewhere different, or somewhere familiar- and exploring. It is about taking a really good look around. It is about noticing everything else- everything that is real and everything that is really beautiful. It is about discovering more of your senses, and sensing more and more. It is about finding a place, and a moment, and your self.

And it is really about something so much clearer than all of this...

THAW from REALISING WILDNESS on Vimeo.

streamclip demo

A few people have asked me about converting video files to other types and codecs, and about resizing. It's not a particularly exciting aspect of video production and can be very frustrating so I thought I'd try my hand at making a video demo.  This one is for Mpeg Streamclip, a small piece of free software that has become very valuable. It is simple to use an offers a way of preparing clips for both for editing and for compressing them ready for output to the internet. 

much wealthier than you ever imagined

Having been part of the branding and marketing world I have come to appreciate the way advertising, brand and 'spin' often have very little to do with actual content and much to do with perceived value. I have also been aware many people in advertising see their world as having a close association with art; the changing or challenging of perceptions.

"Poetry is when you make new things familiar and familiar things new", "we are perishing for want of wonder not for want of wonders"  These are a couple of GKC quotes picked up by advertising man Rory Sutherland in his TED talk. He has some interesting things to say about the way value is subjective and has some great illustrations from history.

He says that if you live in a world of fewer material goods, intangible value can be a pretty decent substitute. "when you place value on love, health, sex and other things, and learn to place a material value on what you have previously discounted for being intangible - a thing not seen - you realise you are much, much wealthier than you ever imagined".

He says we should spend more time appreciating what already exists and less time agonising over what else we can do.

Watch it here:

on the spot

At the Ilkley Flickr group we have occasionally discussed the way constraints can often lead to creativity.

When you have a free reign originality is often more difficult to find than when there are limitations; somehow a constraint sets us off on a different path and we see things differently.

There's also the idea of using what we have in front of us. Sometimes we feel that we wish we had more than we've got. We might wish for better tools, a better viewpoint and so on. There is something quite refreshing about seeing what is in front of us and making the best of it.

These two thoughts about embracing constraints and looking at that resources we have (rather than those we don't have) can be very constructive.

At the ilkley flickr meet-up in November we have in mind to take photos on a pre-designated spot. The challenge will be to make the best photo we can with the given situation.

The door with no name

Last night we held the first of what we hope will be a monthly alternative worship services in Ilkley (as yet un-named). The theme  was "the door". 

The Door seemed a good place to start as this kind of service represents a new entrance for the church here.  There were some good ideas and we had a very interesting discussion on what worship actually is.

My questions was, using the idea that "less is more" what would be the minimum you could get away with in an act of worship.  We discussed the Quaker silence and whether that really constituted worship, or whether it required something more elaborate.  We also considered whether or not the worship was the starting point - as one said, the life of the church is like a jam dough-nut with Christ encountered in the worship at the centre from which everything else grows.

One particularly good idea to come from Stuart Jenkins was a small cardboard door held open by a rubber band. You could choose whether to keep the door open or to close it - but if you closed it the door could not be opened again. A confession, or something you wanted to close the door on, can be written inside and then you can decide if or when you want to close the door.

This was very pleasing as a gift for everyone to take away and more meaningful as Stuart had made them himself.

The next service will be on Thursday November the 12th at our house. We have the title "ascending-descending" and were going to use the stairwell with the three or four different levels as stations. As yet we have no name for the group.

If you want to follow our progress you can visit the Fresh Expressions section of the Churches Together Ilkley website.  The site itself is new and so a bit sparse at the moment, but I hope will blossom.

Of course you're welcome to join us.

.

Out walking

I'm using the typad application in my iPhone to write this post. I'm still amazed by how easy it is to do all this without being tied to a desk. Here I am on the moortop taking photos and writing to you.

Creative technology used to be something you had to spend years leaning and now anyone can snap away and publish at will - without being restricted by talent, place , time.

I went to see Vic Reeves last night who was talking about his art. I must say I was impressed with his passion for art and enjoyed the illustrations from his new book. One of the pictures he said took him about minute to make - no, less than that, he said. It was a shot of a railway line taken on his iPhone.

Do you think it's all too easy? Perhaps because the technical aspects are easy a whole new set of values come into play where the ideas are more important than the physical creation.

Anyway it's getting cold sitting on this rock and the dog is showing an interest in some sheep, best be off.

crunchy nut clusters

This is an update to tell you what I’m up to in case you're interested.

My main thrust at the moment is to finalise a pitch for some participatory workshops for schools and other educational groups.  This is part of a growing interest in looking at how media production can be more open to genuine participation, locally driven and better connected to life as we know it.   The workshops will give small groups a chance to work together planning and filming video portraits and stories.  The films will be a bi-product of relationship and confidence building rather than an end in themselves.

I suppose this springs from my experience of groups like Mediabox (youth media) and Grace (alternative worship) and ITV Local (citizen journalism).  In these places the emphasis is not so much on controlling the end product but on the way individuals engage with each other to express their individual stories, beliefs and responses. The expression grows out of the life of the community rather than from a vision given to a team whose sole purpose is to deliver that vision. In such teams relationships are often of secondary interest. I’m much more interested in outcomes that can’t be controlled or predicted, but can be much more meaningful.

The media at a national broadcast level is highly controlled and marketed and so working in that environment you have to accept that you are manufacturing a product in much the same way as packet of breakfast cereal – crunchy nut television. By the way, have you seen the ads? customers complained the clusters appeared larger than in real life.

The more local and impoverished you get, the more relevant, free and creative it can become (although with rough edges).  Creative that comes out of small communities of people with passion and independence can be very exciting but not necessarily of mass interest unless a big player supports it.  The challenge, it seems to me, is to help grow a broader interest in these diverse stories and for big organisations of all sorts (not just media) to be brave about where they look for ideas and creative talent.

Anyway the upshot is that I am looking for support to pilot a workshop for vulnerable teenagers. I’m hoping that there’ll be a chance for a pitch for some real funding in the next few weeks. Maybe using some of my knowledge and contacts I can help be a bridge to help get some of the work noticed.

Alongside this I am working with Churches Together in Ilkley to set up a regular alternative worship event which I hope can be creatively liberating. This has thrown up some conversations about the use of visuals in worship. I think that a church community that embraces creativity can give the opportunity for people to grow through working together. Many churches are focus on the worship as an event in much the same way as Kelloggs produces breakfast cereal - as if the box bits is the reason for being there.  I’m hoping that I can pull together some crunchy nut clusters of a different sort.

Back to Church Sunday

This weekend is Back to Church Sunday - an initiative to encouraged lapsed churchgoers to resume attendance. I blogged about this before, read it here.

BBC Radio Wales carried an interesting discussion about forms of church and asked the question of what the church is offering those people who are being invited back. You can download it here (right click, save as). Note there's a preceding piece about jazz vespers.

A comment was made that there are many thousands of people who would like to be involved in a church but are simply too afraid to come near. People feel the need to dress up - to be sinless, on good behavior.  The subject of dressing up to church is sometimes a contentious subject as far as my parents generation is concerned, but the discussion suggests that it's OK to turn up in jeans and work boots, indeed the slogan for Back to Church Sunday is, "come as you are"

This evening we are holding the first meeting in Ilkley to discuss the formation of an alternative worship community. Individuals representing most of the nine churches will be supporting the move. "come as you are" I hope will mean something deeper that what we wear but be a complete opening up of our talents and vulnerabilities; a true welcoming.

I miss my involvement in grace and am looking forward to getting something off the ground here. I agree with the comment in the RWales discussion that church should be formed where people are and in a way that can inspire them to participate. I hope we've picked the right time to start something up.

ideas for street photography

The Ilkley Flickr group met on Sunday morning. One of the things we have been talking about has been street photography and was also dealt with in a photo-camp event in Bradford. Photographing people in the wild, in their natural habitat, is a great sport but one which is fraught with danger. The attraction for me is that it is about people and stories.

Looking thought he street photography groups on flickr there are some wonderful images but many seem to lack a vital ingredient. While many are beautifully lit and composed there is often a lack of story. A story for me is when you engage with the characters and ask questions - what are they doing? What has just happened? What is about to happen? Often a photo will capture a particular action - Henri Cartier-Bresson called it "the decisive moment".

The raising of questions and the possibility that there are actions beyond the photograph - either in time or space - creates a lively reading; it makes you want to stay and look into the photograph. A photo can be beautiful as a composition and that of course is a lovely thing, but for me I hanker for stories and action. I love it when there is an interplay between the characters and the environment. A street photo is, in this respect, not a portrait but a piece of photo-journalism. We not only need to relate to the characters in the story but to see something of their setting and and what's going on around them.

The mechanics of taking street photos is rich with possibilities for success or failure. Do you use a long lens to avoid being noticed? Do you use a wide lens and get up close? What about asking for permission - before or after you have taken the photo. I don't have an answer to these questions but I would say that the photos that have come out best are when I have been quite open about taking them. The subjects have noticed me taking the shots but have not had time to pose; they look at the camera but otherwise have not reacted to it. I have usually smiled and waved in a self conscious way as if to say thanks.

Another question for me has been monochrome or colour. I like black and white but I struggle to believe that it is flexible enough for street photography. Back in the days of Cartier-Bresson you imagine much of the world to be in black and white. Today colour is an essential part of out identity. I don't feel black and white can cover the richness of how people dress. In the photo I have published the red and green of the women's clothes would not register and yet they are essential to their personality.

An aspect of colour is processing. In my line of work I have sat in on many film colour grading sessions. In TV or cinema colour grading is an art and good colourists are highly valued. One of the aims of colour grading is to arrange for a limited colour palate which enhances skin tone. A blue/green shade makes most skin tones jump out of the screen and many feature films adopt this colouring to enhance the presence of people's faces. You'll see blue/green teal colour in the blacks and shadows. I'm no expert in this but the point I'm making is that no-one on TV or cinema would present images straight out of the camera without some expert grading. With the above in mind I have been experimenting with a cinema/tv style grading for my street photos designed to bring out the skin tones.

I'd be interested to know what you think.  see some more photos

game over by john green

An interactive installation by John Green at the Keighley Arts Factory from Friday 11th September to Wednesday 30th September 2009. The artist gives us a tour of the piece and explains his motivation. I liked John and after we shot this he told me how he had come to art late in life and a year out studying had been transforming for him - the best year of his life, he said. He's clearly a man with a passion for what he does.
This was shot on my Canon 5D. You'll notice John is holding a mini disc recorder - in fact this is recording his voice. Getting the tracks in sync was easy. In order to make sure he was in focus I did some calculations on my iphone hyperfocal distance calculator which came out at 1.2m. In order to get a wide enough depth of field I had to set the camera to F8 but required a very high ISO setting. The picture noise was evident. Shutter speed was set to 50th (on a 60th I got a terrible flicker from the lights).

sausage

Camera: Panasonic DMC-FX37 Exposure: 0.003 sec (1/400) Aperture: f/2.8 Focal Length: 4.4 mm

From the Ilkley festival. This family bought a large and expensive sausage. It fell to the floor and was pounced on by a small dog - I wasn't quick enough to get the dog.