tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-48994634920904614612024-03-13T00:55:34.535-07:00docologyrosswhitaker.tvhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14983732834839138003noreply@blogger.comBlogger43125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4899463492090461461.post-49348402230449754922013-08-13T05:21:00.000-07:002013-08-13T05:21:29.830-07:00WHEN ALI CAME TO IRELAND - what happened next?
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgpYF8t1OA1UlhvTlIxUFd_iJqZ8CQ4clRlGYKOJhXzpaiU1qEbiWh9itjsuK1RI77MLP2uc-r_ksQ6IdkEka1x7Hs4dDy8OyW-rKCtj4Dzd84wiGxAPN-UfFzB04xtly9rXlyiQzW1lL8K/s1600/Ali-Butty+pic+must+credit+Irish+Post.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgpYF8t1OA1UlhvTlIxUFd_iJqZ8CQ4clRlGYKOJhXzpaiU1qEbiWh9itjsuK1RI77MLP2uc-r_ksQ6IdkEka1x7Hs4dDy8OyW-rKCtj4Dzd84wiGxAPN-UfFzB04xtly9rXlyiQzW1lL8K/s200/Ali-Butty+pic+must+credit+Irish+Post.jpg" width="186" /></a>It’s not much more than six months since WHEN ALI CAME TO
IRELAND first previewed in the IFI and then screened on RTE One but so much
good stuff has happened since then. This film was such a pleasure to make and
the reaction of people to the screenings has been phenomenal. It’s a bit of a
cliché but we really do feel lucky to have made it. </div>
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First, the reviews were pretty good, which was a huge
relief.</div>
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<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="color: #262626; font-family: Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: Verdana; mso-bidi-font-size: 13.0pt; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;"><br /></span></i></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #262626; font-family: Calibri;"><i><br /></i></span></div>
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<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">“an evocative, informative and wholly engaging documentary,
which managed a nicely wry tone before finally becoming genuinely elegiac…”<o:p></o:p></span></i></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">IRISH INDEPENDENT <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;">
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-family: Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">“Hugely entertaining… a glorious cast of
characters.”<o:p></o:p></span></i></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">SUNDAY
BUSINESS POST <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-family: Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">“The work to piece the story
together is visible in every frame.”<o:p></o:p></span></i></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">SUNDAY TIMES<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-family: Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">“An excellent documentary… </span></i><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">the cast of characters is rich and deep.”</span></i><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-family: Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;"><o:p></o:p></span></i></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">IRISH TIMES <sup><o:p></o:p></sup></span></div>
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Then the next thing that happened was that we were
completely shocked to win an IFTA!</div>
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<a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MvogkZ_K__k">http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MvogkZ_K__k</a></div>
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Then the most mind blowing thing happened when we had a
small screening of the film in Chicago.</div>
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Jamilah Ali, daughter of the great man himself, came along
to the film. I was actually really worried that she wouldn’t like it or would
feel that there was something in the film that misrepresented her father. After
the screening, she took the microphone and paused before saying anything. </div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhCGDNiVApt2zd8rng7tg4yPKfuy1bIeX6BXzjhLB5q9U6y8m9N9xqrOYvO1IPsnqdaL0ZpTKg7v7mmNmoGBv95FulmQCT_GnTB1jE_QAcB83jznG3T5t6AmeWIEerVRawCJn4OnsRk0azd/s1600/Jamilah+Ali+photo1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="150" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhCGDNiVApt2zd8rng7tg4yPKfuy1bIeX6BXzjhLB5q9U6y8m9N9xqrOYvO1IPsnqdaL0ZpTKg7v7mmNmoGBv95FulmQCT_GnTB1jE_QAcB83jznG3T5t6AmeWIEerVRawCJn4OnsRk0azd/s200/Jamilah+Ali+photo1.jpg" width="200" /></a></div>
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“I just want to say…” Pause (Ross is really worried now). “…
I loved this film from the beginning to the end.”<br />
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She went on to say, “I’ve seen so much footage of my father
over the years but the amazing thing about watching this film was that I had
seen NONE of the footage of him in Ireland.” </div>
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<o:p><br /></o:p></div>
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We hadn’t really thought that it would have that impact, so
that was pretty fascinating. She then asked if she could have a copy because
she would “love to show it to my father.” Hopefully some day we’ll find out
that he liked it too.</div>
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The next amazing thing to happen was that we had a screening
at the Archive Festival in London and having met a member of Ali’s family, we
tried to put the word out to Butty Sugrue’s family that there would be a
screening happening. When the film ended, two young women came up to us and
introduced themselves as Butty’s granddaughters. </div>
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They said they really enjoyed the film and told us an
amazing thing, which we hadn’t really thought about… It was the first time they
had ever hear their grandfather speak! They were really thankful to have heard
his voice. </div>
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Next up is a repeat screening on RTE One tonight at 22:05
and we hope the film goes down well again. Here’s the trailer in case you’d
like to see what’s in store:</div>
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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wA8_th5nYBU</div>
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And in October, the film will screen for the first time in
New York City. We’re really hoping to get to go to that one!!</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgvuL6Jh6KEboGdSwh8A3FlIqEoVuz98sMDfnb-d_5ZMzS_mmZbdovN8gHaHvP_j0SL1OByK9YZ2Nm7Ob2510yRHRytqL8vVG2CmI9Vs-50iW3M_asDmZgKHzSpjtadkjPd1tlfMS5_UnmK/s1600/Ali+New+York.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgvuL6Jh6KEboGdSwh8A3FlIqEoVuz98sMDfnb-d_5ZMzS_mmZbdovN8gHaHvP_j0SL1OByK9YZ2Nm7Ob2510yRHRytqL8vVG2CmI9Vs-50iW3M_asDmZgKHzSpjtadkjPd1tlfMS5_UnmK/s320/Ali+New+York.jpg" width="240" /></a></div>
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<!--EndFragment-->rosswhitaker.tvhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14983732834839138003noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4899463492090461461.post-85107463479244481182013-04-26T08:28:00.004-07:002013-04-26T08:28:53.948-07:00THE POWER OF THE PROMO
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<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 13.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;">I was on a panel recently at the Jameson Dublin International Film
Festival (JDIFF) on which we were talking about how to succeed in the world of
documentary making.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjtTkZ4lQHiW1oUJllXNrLfJhr_EC095MnZhpUevertafJ_R0Zs5twXKiesJ4jnVQlutx2EO9c4wsEor8xj7tFTdACSVYWbsFtEUkwe-nfMGU1awa1i6lCUywnJRnaIrC7Rcy8mOmdPS7Lg/s1600/Screen+shot+2013-04-26+at+16.27.27.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjtTkZ4lQHiW1oUJllXNrLfJhr_EC095MnZhpUevertafJ_R0Zs5twXKiesJ4jnVQlutx2EO9c4wsEor8xj7tFTdACSVYWbsFtEUkwe-nfMGU1awa1i6lCUywnJRnaIrC7Rcy8mOmdPS7Lg/s1600/Screen+shot+2013-04-26+at+16.27.27.png" /></a><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 13.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;">It was amazingly well attended and when the gathered crowd was asked to
raise their hands if they had made a documentary, most people raised their
hand. It was great to see so many people were out and about making stuff. The
next question was something like, ‘how many of you have been funded to make
your documentaries?’ and in response to that I think there was just one hand
raised.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 13.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;">I always feel a little bit weird about doing talks and I wouldn’t be
surprised if the other serial doc-makers on the panel – James Kelly and Paul
Duane – feel the same way. Just because I’ve made a film or two certainly
doesn’t make me feel that I’ve made it, or that I’m in any way guaranteed a
career in this area. Getting documentaries funded is really tough and while it
gets a little easier when you develop a track record and a few connections,
it’s still tough. For every commission I’ve received, I’m sure I’ve been turned
down at least five times, so I don’t have any magic formula or easy answers.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 13.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;">One thing that I feel that I’ve learned in recent times is the
importance of making a good first impression. It might sound obvious – and it
is – BUT I still get it wrong regularly and I see others making the same
mistake…<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 13.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;">The first impression I’m talking about is the first time that you tell
potential funders about your project or show them a proposal or play them a bit
of footage. Increasingly, showing footage is the done thing and a strong
‘promo’ or ‘sizzle-reel’ (terminology I’m only getting to know myself) can make
a lasting impression and increase greatly the odds of getting funding or
building a relationship. Conversely, and almost more importantly, a bad promo
can be very detrimental to your hopes. If you’re sitting in front of RTE or the
Irish Film Board or BBC or Channel 4 you really want to be giving it your best
shot and if your project isn’t ready to show then don’t do it!! If they don’t
like it the first time why would they watch it again? They are managing large sums
of funding and the competition for their time and money is immense, so you have
to make every second of every meeting count.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 13.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;">There are two things that I immediately think to add to this. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 13.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;">Firstly, be ambitious with your promo. Find ways of making it look great
and really sing. Keep it short and leave the viewer wanting more. Load the top
of it with wonderful things. If your key moment is 20-minutes into your promo
then the chances are it will never be seen. I know that you probably have
little or no funding at the promo stage of your production, and the funders
probably understand that too, but it’s hard for them to make the leap to
imagining the HD, cinematic, gripping film that your project could become if
your promo looks ropey. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 13.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;">Secondly, something that is important to consider from the start is
insurance. Many insurers won’t cover you if you’ve commence filming already and
funders require insurance, so it’s an easy way to shoot yourself in the foot at
the beginning. It’s often not too expensive and it’s better to have from the
start.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 13.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;">All of the above leads me to another point. Try to build up a small
development budget for yourself. If possible put some money aside to help you
pay for insurance or to hire a good cinematographer and camera for that key day
of shooting. If it’s an interview-based film and you’ve five key interviewees
for your promo, could you rent a nice space for a day too and make everything
look amazing? It could be an outlay of a grand but it might help you to get 100
grand down the line. It’s something worth thinking about. I worked a three-day
week in a travel agent while I was making my first two films and it meant I
could survive and do what I wanted to do at the same time.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 13.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;">Final point in this, that I think is related, is completion funding. If
you haven’t got funding at the beginning of your project but you’ve decided to
go ahead with it anyway then this is something to consider. (Completion funding has been a big part of my career as it helped me to make SAVIOURS and BLIND MAN WALKING). You might feel you
have something really special in the can. You might not have got funding at the
outset but hopefully you made a good impression with your promo and you
shouldn’t be afraid to go back to funders before your edit. Acquisitions of
completed films are probably in the region of 5k generally so better to try to
get 20-40k to help you finish the film and do a good job in the edit. At this
point you’re going to need a rough cut. Again, my advice is to be ambitious.
Get together a few quid and a few favours to cut a brilliant 20-minute version
of the film. At this stage, you’re most likely exhausted, you’re sick of
working for peanuts BUT this could be the way to get some real money to finish
your film to the highest possible level. And if you do a great job, it might
line you up to get your next project funded from the start. </span><span lang="GA" style="mso-ansi-language: GA;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<!--EndFragment-->rosswhitaker.tvhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14983732834839138003noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4899463492090461461.post-57439789552433094432013-04-05T03:56:00.000-07:002013-04-05T03:56:56.746-07:00Making 'THE GAMBLER' Documentary
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<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjnhz6XOUVmtXqmEFJrObcoRPJEE4xJPNp3M60CR3BK3Wv70LomTHq_tvHp0-vSIL3vaYK4G5ra4E9-aIRaPyDsEzGp_G8589zq2kiNxgGWtOI1RhSsMJnimw6ir48kMnU1cOsiNaXPn7u_/s1600/Johnboy.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="256" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjnhz6XOUVmtXqmEFJrObcoRPJEE4xJPNp3M60CR3BK3Wv70LomTHq_tvHp0-vSIL3vaYK4G5ra4E9-aIRaPyDsEzGp_G8589zq2kiNxgGWtOI1RhSsMJnimw6ir48kMnU1cOsiNaXPn7u_/s320/Johnboy.png" width="320" /></a></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b>The documentary THE GAMBLER that I directed for Motive
Television and was funded by BAI will be screened this tonight on Setanta
Ireland (Freeview) at 10pm!!</b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<o:p><br /></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
I can’t wait.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
I really enjoyed making this one – we followed a great
character John O’Shea who gave us total access to his life and thoughts as he
punted thousands of euros on sports events and played poker at the Irish Open,
European Final in Monte Carlo and World Series of Poker in Las Vegas.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b>Here’s a blurb and trailer:</b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b>http://thescore.thejournal.ie/heres-what-its-like-to-be-27-irish-and-gamble-e5-million-in-one-year-852333-Apr2013/</b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
There were a couple of things I learned from making this
one. </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
After one day of filming I realised there was a problem! It’s
extremely hard to film poker with one camera when the game is in play. For hours, nothing might
happen to your protagonist and then, suddenly, there would be a huge hand where
he would win or lose loads of his chips. To capture these moments you need a
lot of patience and more than one camera. In some of the poker documentaries I
had seen, they simply hadn’t bothered but I thought it was important drama and
I wanted to capture it. </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
To film it properly you have to have an idea of what your
protagonist is up to, what his opponent is doing and then also be able to see
what the dealer is doing. It’s pretty complex.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Believing, as I do, that an important part of documentary
storytelling is capturing key moments of drama, I wanted to capture these big
hands that John was playing. It meant having two cameras beside the table,
sometimes standing for hours on end but poised to quickly start filming if John
got involved in a hand. We would then film him and his opponent and try to get
a sense of what the dealer was doing too.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
To add to this we tried to build even more around the key
hands by filming additional elements later. So, having taken note of the cards
that were played, we reshot close ups of players looking at their hands and of
the cards hitting the table as if dealt by the dealer. And of the players
revealing their hands to decide who won. These were extreme close-ups so that
they would be different enough from the footage and would, therefore
(hopefully) cut well with the footage as a result. I think it worked, mostly
thanks to having a really good editor who found a stylistic approach that
suited.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
We also did interviews with John to recap what happened in
the hands and encouraged him to speak in a sort of past continuous style. We
wanted him to tell us the story of each hand gradually, just giving us the
facts of the hand as they unfolded. It meant we could build the story of the
hand without getting ahead of ourselves. As the final card was turned we would
cut back to the live action to see John’s real reaction and that would jolt us
back into the present. In many cases he was losing big money, so there was
drama in that.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
It definitely cemented in me the idea that it’s important to
work really hard and long sometimes to just capture little moments. They’re
worth it!</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Overall we wanted to make a non-judgmental film in which
John told his own story. We followed the action and tried to capture the real
drama of winning and losing major sums of money. One thing that was important
was to always capture the beginning of a bet so that we would later be able to
have the pay-off. Sometimes small moments lead to much bigger moments. </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
As John progressed through his year of gambling we followed
him and by piling each scene on top of the last we built a sense of a poker
player’s career unraveling. There was no need for VO or a third party voice.
Seeing it happen was enough to tell the story. </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
In the end, I feel it made a pretty compelling documentary.
I hope people enjoy it!</div>
<!--EndFragment-->rosswhitaker.tvhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14983732834839138003noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4899463492090461461.post-44628096361609276042013-03-07T09:59:00.000-08:002013-03-11T14:37:09.903-07:00THE ROUGH CUT STAGE<!--[if gte mso 9]><xml>
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<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgGe1Bixx4dMFiKaSoD2xYy9ptr14ZV7B4t5-txJh5McypcD_yk8sXUd7F0lrhrtA4bC5RgyqTRUlW5S-S-Jk_J-IdVARDjIgKz3uhLn5V_NOXpg9Z6z1WU12jxsf6fzDRsuXzjfMJ3j11r/s1600/HELP.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="190" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgGe1Bixx4dMFiKaSoD2xYy9ptr14ZV7B4t5-txJh5McypcD_yk8sXUd7F0lrhrtA4bC5RgyqTRUlW5S-S-Jk_J-IdVARDjIgKz3uhLn5V_NOXpg9Z6z1WU12jxsf6fzDRsuXzjfMJ3j11r/s200/HELP.png" width="200" /></a></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Just off the back
of a very interesting 36-hours in Chicago. Looking out at snow on the runway of
O’Hare Airport as I write this. Really hope this plane is going to take off.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="GA" style="mso-ansi-language: GA;">While here in
Chicago, I had the great experience of dropping into KarTemQuin films, one of
the most lauded documentary film production companies in the world, having made
Hoop Dreams, The Interrupters, The New Americans and many more amazing
projects. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="GA" style="mso-ansi-language: GA;">KTQ is located
about 5-miles from central Chicago in a large house with many many rooms. There
seems to be numerous edits ongoing at one time and Tim, who gave me a tour of
the place, told me that at some stage in the next few months the company will
have nine edits ongoing at the same time. Wow. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="GA" style="mso-ansi-language: GA;">What really
struck me about their approach is their reverance for the edit stage of the
filmmaking progress. The film is found in the edit through hard work, time and
inspiration. They really put the time in and try to make every film as good as
it can be.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="GA" style="mso-ansi-language: GA;">One thing that I
think a lot of us filmmakers could learn from is the collective approach that
they seem to employ. I got the impression that during the editing process they
will show the film to many of the other folks who happen to be in the building
at the time. The film will be watched several times over the course of the edit
by many people and will be honed with the help of their colleagues. Even after
the festival premiere of a film, they’ll chip away at it.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="GA" style="mso-ansi-language: GA;">They also offer
the opportuity for filmmakers to come in and show rough cuts once a month.
They’ll project the film in their basement and sit back and watch it and offer
their advice. They just seem to love the rough cut stage.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="GA" style="mso-ansi-language: GA;">Many of us are
exhausted by the time we get to a rough cut and just want to polish off the
film and get on to the next thing but at KTQ they recognise what a crucial
point that is. They’re dedicated to honing the film and energised by the
prospect of making it better through watching and rewatching it. They
definitely benefit from the sheer quantity of filmmakers that are hanging out
and working in the building. It really made me think to show my cuts to more
people, get more advice and really try to make the edit count. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="GA" style="mso-ansi-language: GA;">And hopefully
someday I’ll be lucky enough to get some edit notes from the very friendly folk
from KTQ.<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<span lang="GA" style="mso-ansi-language: GA;"><br /></span>
<span lang="GA" style="mso-ansi-language: GA;">(photo courtesy of Fionnuala Ni Chiobhain)</span></div>
<!--EndFragment-->rosswhitaker.tvhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14983732834839138003noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4899463492090461461.post-15903064295840443612013-02-06T01:26:00.002-08:002013-02-06T01:26:56.883-08:00Digital Biscuit Review<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg6RYopmIyg4ADN9pAYwoOa1ZU4fv06xp_UtVX3wxVvk8rcx-Zt_hUI2ocjwQc9eDnLTZn3vmBD1CNYBr0MWSI7AwxkUIqU17OqVEtqIpxGA_B3hCTI7BHHDGrpmmV5yvPmnQyilRZ89v_k/s1600/Digi+Biscuit.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="113" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg6RYopmIyg4ADN9pAYwoOa1ZU4fv06xp_UtVX3wxVvk8rcx-Zt_hUI2ocjwQc9eDnLTZn3vmBD1CNYBr0MWSI7AwxkUIqU17OqVEtqIpxGA_B3hCTI7BHHDGrpmmV5yvPmnQyilRZ89v_k/s320/Digi+Biscuit.png" width="320" /></a></div>
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<br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="GA" style="mso-ansi-language: GA;">There are two
distinct elements to the digital revoluton. The first is in the the creation of
content and the second is in distribution. The first has been a huge enabler,
making it cheaper and easier than previously to make quality films. But the
second is one of the biggest threats the industry has ever seen.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="GA" style="mso-ansi-language: GA;">There are more
films being made each year than ever before. Supply and demand suggests that
the value of those films will be decreased by the wealth of content available
to distributors (and audiences) and the fact that it is so easy now to pirate
that material has left the film community in a seemingly constant state of
worry in recent times. Movies are in trouble.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="GA" style="mso-ansi-language: GA;">Enter Digital
Biscuit, a timely annual event presented by the Screen Director’s Guild of
Ireland featuring equipment workshops, panel discussions and inspiring talks
with creators like Chris Nee (Angela Anaconda, Blues Clues, Deadliest Catch), David
Yates (Harry Potter), Jim Sheridan (In The Name of The Father) and Richard
Baneham (Avator). Alongside the seminars was a Kinoplay area, a room that
allowed attendees to get hands-on with the latest digital equipment.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="GA" style="mso-ansi-language: GA;">Sometimes these
kinds of events can descend into so-called experts lazily telling the audience
things they already know and generally despairing for a doomed industry while
uncovincingly arguing that there will always be a market for content.
Thankfully, Digital Biscuit, by contrast, was refreshingly energetic and all of
the speakers had at least a couple of relevant nuggets that those in attendance
could take away from it. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="GA" style="mso-ansi-language: GA;">Deftly hosted by
celebrated director Dearbhla Walsh, the day benefited from the fact that each
presentation was restricted to 30-minutes with each speaker essentially invited
to offer the ‘greatest hits’ of their experiences with digital filmmaking and
distribution.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="GA" style="mso-ansi-language: GA;">The event
launched with a Thursday night screeening of Side By Side, a film about the
science, art and impact of digital cinema before settling into the main event
on Friday morning with a series of short seminars. Over the course of the day
I, for one, picked up a lot of new information. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="GA" style="mso-ansi-language: GA;">The point was
made by Neil Leydon from the International Digital Services Centre that with
video content in all its forms moving online, huge new opportunities are
created and that Ireland, <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>much like
we did in financial services, can create a similar ecosystem for large
companies to deliver media content to Europe, the Middle East and Africa.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="GA" style="mso-ansi-language: GA;">To do that, it’s
important to understand the changing landscape and Phillipe Brodeur of AerTV
gave a quite fascinating overview of the digital world. Amongst his most
interesting observations was that, despite the overriding feeling that
everything is moving online, most people still watch TV when it’s broadcast, so
in our rush to panic about the online world we mustn’t forget the large
audience still watching on television. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="GA" style="mso-ansi-language: GA;">He contends that
content makers, pipe owners and screen makers have the greatest opportunity in
the digital age. They are all necessary parts of the process and middlemen
might well be squeezed out. That perhaps explains Netflix beginning to create
their own shows.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="GA" style="mso-ansi-language: GA;">Brodeur went on
to point out, that 70-85%of data traffic to mobile phones will be video by
2017. Anyone creating video content needs to be thinking about what form that
will take. Former Apple worker and all around digital genius Anton Nelson
confirmed that we’re going mobile. And to prove his point, he reported that Intel
is winding down the division that manufactures motherboards within the next
three years.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="GA" style="mso-ansi-language: GA;">The Online
Distribution Panel, hosted by the dashing Patrick O’Neill of the IFB extolled
the future virtues of VOD as a money-making platform and antidote to piracy. But,
said the experts, it will only work if you have an audience. A short called Sea
Wall by a pair of unknowns did much better online than a Guardian-backed Terry
Gilliam short film because the filmmakers engaged their audience. One of the
biggest changes we face is that the digital universe is a two way conversation.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="GA" style="mso-ansi-language: GA;">For more see
www.digitalbiscuit.ie <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<!--EndFragment-->rosswhitaker.tvhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14983732834839138003noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4899463492090461461.post-14019484130563928462013-01-26T09:04:00.000-08:002013-01-26T16:07:54.559-08:00NEWSTALK PANEL<!--[if gte mso 9]><xml>
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<!--StartFragment-->
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjioDGIqH1baZo7Fc87UBwhyZSkJWkzeoaGEOOW0dHfmHkQlM2SWmLxlnVSpN5pSpry7jIH2aQ0SkO8eKC_MudAK64pnDcEQWw3pT2e1YxkGMwGR94PP_2FPbNigMZncnaw7aY8aVamH1rS/s1600/Black+Power+Mural.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjioDGIqH1baZo7Fc87UBwhyZSkJWkzeoaGEOOW0dHfmHkQlM2SWmLxlnVSpN5pSpry7jIH2aQ0SkO8eKC_MudAK64pnDcEQWw3pT2e1YxkGMwGR94PP_2FPbNigMZncnaw7aY8aVamH1rS/s320/Black+Power+Mural.png" width="297" /></span></a></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The Wider Influence of Sport...</span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I'm tongue tied at
the best of times, so being faced by the eloquent and intelligent forces that are
Ken Early and Declan Lynch is probably not the best forum for me to be at my
most articulate - but I gave it my best shot today on the Newstalk Panel hosted
by the ever pleasant Ger Gilroy.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="GA" style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; mso-ansi-language: GA;">The (below)
striking short doc - part of the ESPN 30 for 30 series - was the jumping off
point for a discussion on the wider influence of sport in society. The film is
about how Muhammad Ali came to the rescue of western hostages in Saddam
Hussein’s Iraq in 1990.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="GA" style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; mso-ansi-language: GA;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="GA" style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; mso-ansi-language: GA;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><a href="http://www.grantland.com/story/_/id/8849155/the-latest-offering-new-30-30-documentary-series"><span style="color: #2e52b5; mso-bidi-font-family: Helvetica; text-decoration: none; text-underline: none;">http://www.grantland.com/story/_/id/8849155/the-latest-offering-new-30-30-documentary-series</span></a><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">As the most recent person (along with my brilliant colleague
Aideen O’Sullivan) to have made a film about Ali (well, until they released the
above short film) and certainly the most recent person who also happens to live
close to the studio, I was wheeled in to give a few opinions on the subject. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">You can listen to it on the Newstalk player as the first
hour of Newstalk Sport today (Saturday 26 January).<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><a href="http://media.newstalk.ie/">http://media.newstalk.ie/</a><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">( The title of our film was When Ali Came to Ireland and it
screened on RTE One in Ireland on January 1<sup>st</sup>. We’re hoping that
we’ll have the chance to broadcast it in other countries. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Here’s the trailer:<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wA8_th5nYBU">http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wA8_th5nYBU</a> )<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">While I never met the man himself, it’s pretty obvious to
anyone who has read about Ali or has seen footage of him that he was a uniquely
magnetic human being. Anyone that I’ve spoken to that was lucky enough to spend
time with him attests to that but it was more than his magnetism that made
him such an important figure.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">The place of sport at the forefront of our consciousness is,
in my opinion, a given (something that Declan Lynch argued quite strongly on the panel). During the discussion, I
remembered that as part of my college studies I read some compelling
anthropological papers that convincingly argued that because society has made
human beings more individualised, sport has replaced our instinctive need to be
part of a tribe.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">A football team, like Man Utd for instance, can easily fill
that void, providing us with tribal colours, brethren to unite with and a
common foe to battle against (Man City - ha). It gives us the opportunity to go to war every
weekend and behave in a way that the rest of our lives rarely provides. How
often do we get a chance to scream and roar consistently at a screen and for it
to be completely acceptable?<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Try it at the cinema. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">And the figures bear out the notion that sport is a special
obsession for us. Two of the three most watched television shows on Ireland
last year covered live sports events (Katie Taylor’s Olympic final and the
Ireland soccer team’s opener in the Euros).<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">The popularity of sport gives our athlete heroes the
platform to be heard. Muhammad Ali (then called Cassius Clay) took the boxing
world by storm and the combination of his fighting skills, looks and persona
made the world take notice of him long before he controversially converted to
Islam and refused the draft to Vietnam in the mid-60s. It was because he took
those actions at the height of his fame and as new World Champion that they
held such significance. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Ali was unique but he didn’t operate in a vacuum. The 1960s
was a time of protest and he certainly wasn’t the only public figure to make
sacrifices in that decade. The 60s seems like it was a culmination of sorts for
the black community in fighting for their human rights in the US. In 1955, Rosa
Parks refused to give up her seat during the Alabama Bus Boycott and Martin
Luther King’s influence was growing, perhaps culminating with his famous
‘Dream’ speech in 1963. All of this was before Ali’s actions in the mid to late
60s. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Even Ali’s famous line, “I ain’t got no quarrel with no Viet
Cong… he never called me nigger” had a strange forerunner. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 13.0pt; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: Helvetica; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">"Hitler didn't snub me – it was FDR who snubbed me. The
president didn't even send me a telegram.” <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 13.0pt; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: Helvetica; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">Those are the words of Jesse Owens in 1936. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 13.0pt; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: Helvetica; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">Both men (Ali and Owens), it seems, we’re rightly more concerned by
the problems they faced in their home country. Owens was banned from running
soon after his incredible four gold medal haul in the Berlin Olympics for
trying to cash in on his success. He would never run in international
competition again. While he lived in the same accommodation as his white
teammates in Berlin 1936, Owens wasn’t treated so equitably back home. He was forced to use
the freight elevator </span><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">in the Waldorf Astoria Hotel when he was attending a victory
reception back in New York. And Owens wasn’t invited to the White House or
acknowledged by his own President despite being the star of the Olympic Games.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Ali followed in the footsteps of people like Owens, Parks
and King. He was obviously influenced too by Malcolm X. And, you would think,
he can only have been encouraged further by the solidarity act of John Carlos
and Tommie Smith in 1968 when they raised gloved hands and bowed their heads in what
came to be known as the Black Power Salute.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">I mention all of this not to take anything away from Ali but
more as a lead in to talking about athletes of today. The idea that
sport should be kept separate from politics is often stated but when sport is
so prevalent how is this possible? Sportspeople ignoring the ills of society
and human rights problems are already being political by choosing to stay
schtum. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Ali was attacked for the actions for which he is now lauded.
Smith and Carlos were derided for the salute that is now so admired. Owens is
criticised sometimes for not doing enough for human rights...</span><br />
<span style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Avery Brundage was
the head of US Olympic Sport who insisted on America attending the 1936 games where Owens' excelled. Brundage then withdrew two Jewish athletes from the US 100m Relay Team so as not to
embarrass Hitler. Brundage always said that sport and politics should be kept
separate. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Brundage was the man who banned Owens in the aftermath of the 1936
games.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Brundage later became head of the IOC and banned Smith and
Carlos after their salute in 1968. He was still in the job in Munich in 1972 and was
the man who said the games must go on even after Israeli athletes were
murdered. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Sport and politics must be kept separate, said Brundage. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">It’s just not possible, I think... sport and politics are
intertwined. Sport has a massive impact on society and that can’t be ignored. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><br /></span>
<span style="mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I
admire Kevin Prince Boateng for standing up to racists and I think footballers
can be leaders in fighting racism and homophobia in society. They will no doubt
be criticised by their contemporaries but perhaps some time in the future their
actions will be acknowledged for having an impact. Today’s sportspeople might
not have as many influential forerunners as Ali did but maybe they can look at
the legend of Ali himself and take inspiration.</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Helvetica;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<!--EndFragment-->rosswhitaker.tvhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14983732834839138003noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4899463492090461461.post-11510713118273056762012-11-21T14:20:00.001-08:002012-11-21T14:20:22.718-08:00GOOD HOME TURF NEWS<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgDg_Fikt3N3m3re2OXxdiFN4bd-lY9VYpKiRPutt93hqvYLeybyZOZGosP09PtgoeJgW3YL2H7z52Sk4ehSFustfPcHvWIdxsMxT5ILi-B2vhJok2Oss05VUu5HX7Xc3ER2v7cVk1zGvUK/s1600/HOME_TURF_Eamon.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="180" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgDg_Fikt3N3m3re2OXxdiFN4bd-lY9VYpKiRPutt93hqvYLeybyZOZGosP09PtgoeJgW3YL2H7z52Sk4ehSFustfPcHvWIdxsMxT5ILi-B2vhJok2Oss05VUu5HX7Xc3ER2v7cVk1zGvUK/s320/HOME_TURF_Eamon.jpg" width="320" /></a>We had some good news there a couple of weeks ago:<br />
<br />
Home Turf won Best Short Documentary a the Kerry Film Festival!<br />
<br />
We were delighted because we made a Kerry film - shot in Kerry, featuring Kerry people and produced by a Kerrywoman.<br />
<br />
<br />
Our poster pic (above) even features a picture of a Kerryman - Aideen's dad... Mr. O'Sullivan.<br />
<br />
We're really happy that the film is connecting. It's a simple film about cutting turf but we feel there are also a few more layers to it.<br />
<br />
The juxtaposition of hand turf-cutting and machine methods visually tell the story of progress and we think, too, that the film reveals a certain type of masculinity that deserves celebration but is perhaps often overlooked.<br />
<br />
With winter coming, the film really makes me long for a good turf fire. And a nice cup of tea!<br />
<br />
More info on the film here:<br />
<br />
http://www.hometurffilm.com/<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />rosswhitaker.tvhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14983732834839138003noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4899463492090461461.post-76676214448308768882012-11-21T14:04:00.000-08:002012-11-21T14:04:03.262-08:00LOOKING BACK AT THE BAILOUT
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgjrlezZknX4jAeygAdFJv5YhLtwlszHDYSkQtLu9IPmePciGlpr-ddvYInEn28TtuWXkCqJMz-Nz3CTnZpi5M0UbZM5XwUhyphenhyphenYbU6Bl8_enzCDrnVMhgQM9gvbTEdCW3VUGBd1L-nfr3DfW/s1600/Chopper.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgjrlezZknX4jAeygAdFJv5YhLtwlszHDYSkQtLu9IPmePciGlpr-ddvYInEn28TtuWXkCqJMz-Nz3CTnZpi5M0UbZM5XwUhyphenhyphenYbU6Bl8_enzCDrnVMhgQM9gvbTEdCW3VUGBd1L-nfr3DfW/s1600/Chopper.png" style="cursor: move;" /></a></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="GA" style="mso-ansi-language: GA;"><o:p> </o:p></span>The Bailout was a
documentary I did last year while working in Prime Time that used eye-witness
accounts to tell the story of how Ireland came to be in the EU/IMF financial
programme.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="GA" style="mso-ansi-language: GA;">It’s almost
exactly a year since we made it and it reared it’s head again this week when it
won Best Business Feature at the Smurfit Business Awards. Here’s a pic of
reporter Robert Shortt picking up the award:<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="GA" style="mso-ansi-language: GA;"><a href="http://www.rte.ie/news/2012/1119/two-rte-journalists-win-smufit-business-awards-business.html">http://www.rte.ie/news/2012/1119/two-rte-journalists-win-smufit-business-awards-business.html</a><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="GA" style="mso-ansi-language: GA;">It was a
documentary that changed in form on a few ocassions during the making of it. At
first, it was to be a shorter report that would allow in-studio discussion
afterwards but halfway through filming an hour-long slot became available and
suddenly we were under pressure to deliver a one-hour programme in a total of
four-and-a-half-weeks. I think I had a pretty extreme look on my face for those
few weeks!<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="GA" style="mso-ansi-language: GA;">I suddenly
realised that I’d never done a full hour of interview-driven TV before. I’d
done long documentaries driven by observational scenes and I had done plenty of
short interview-based pieces but never a full hour. How to pace it? How many
shots would I need?<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="GA" style="mso-ansi-language: GA;">So, I decided to
resort to what I know... it was an unfolding story so I divided the documentary
into scenes and thought about the relationship between those scenes and how
they would drive the narrative on. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="GA" style="mso-ansi-language: GA;">I wanted the
documentary to work as a drama that had an “and then and then and then” flow
with each scene being motivated by the last. I was working with the excellent
and thorough reporter Robert Shortt and we both felt that we didn’t want
commentary in the documentary and that really helped. Retrospective analysis
would have interrupted the flow. We wanted the audience to stay in the moment
and not to be pulled out of it by opinions. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="GA" style="mso-ansi-language: GA;">We also had to
think about how the reporter’s narration would work in that situation and I
felt it was important to make sure that our interviewees revealed the important
information, so we looked closely at each piece of voiceover to ensure that it
didn’t give away the key information in the upcoming scene. If the audience
knew what was coming up, why would they stay interested?<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="GA" style="mso-ansi-language: GA;">The Sunday
Independent said the programme was “gripping” and hopefully that was a
reflection of the way we approached it.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="GA" style="mso-ansi-language: GA;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="GA" style="mso-ansi-language: GA;">The documentary was on the RTE Prime Time website but seems to have disappeared today, so hopefully it'll reappear there soon.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="GA" style="mso-ansi-language: GA;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="GA" style="mso-ansi-language: GA;"><br /></span></div>
<!--EndFragment-->rosswhitaker.tvhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14983732834839138003noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4899463492090461461.post-61819674990005989532012-10-07T11:05:00.000-07:002012-10-07T11:05:05.062-07:00EXCITING TIMES<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiLakn_w4CErRhyphenhyphenfB2fUqjA26d9aQneUzHvNBFRTpE1lEGiA4a-_Pp0rBD94JQ1HxJZfIayEfUotFFI9LEyqJRDejnTOjpriF-GhedqLtj5sNDn0iuRD0oZCX17eBm-962pSeDBN8_z1tMp/s1600/HOME_TURF_Pike.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="180" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiLakn_w4CErRhyphenhyphenfB2fUqjA26d9aQneUzHvNBFRTpE1lEGiA4a-_Pp0rBD94JQ1HxJZfIayEfUotFFI9LEyqJRDejnTOjpriF-GhedqLtj5sNDn0iuRD0oZCX17eBm-962pSeDBN8_z1tMp/s320/HOME_TURF_Pike.jpg" width="320" /></a><br />
<br />
In the last month or so there has been a flurry of activity. First, I was delighted to programme the IFI Dublin Documentary Festival, Stranger Than Fiction, which was opened by the sensational THE IMPOSTER. Director Bart Layton joined for a post film Q&A and he turned out to be a very sound man - staying until late as audience-members quizzed him about the film well into the night.<br />
<br />
HOME TURF won the 'Man and Nature' award at Film Festival Della Lessinia in Italy and then screened again in Los Angeles last week.<br />
<br />
LINK: http://www.iftn.ie/news/?act1=record&aid=73&rid=4285271&tpl=archnews&only=1<br />
<br />
At the same time, BYE BYE NOW has had a bit of a revival and had its Irish television premiere on RTE. A week later it was selected to represent Ireland at the EU Film Festival in China where one film from each EU film will be screened.<br />
<br />
LINK: http://www.thejournal.ie/video-film-disappearance-public-phoneboxes-ireland-620475-Oct2012/?utm_source=twitter_self<br />
<br />
With all of the interest, we decided to put BYE BYE NOW up on YouTube:<br />
<br />
LINK: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=agRwRf6JoyE&feature=player_embedded<br />
<br />
SAVIOURS - a blast from the past - has been invited to screen at a film festival in Madison, USA and BLIND MAN WALKING might also be going stateside with a screening in New York for an event Mark Pollock, the film's star man, will be speaking at.<br />
<br />
We've been busy this week working on the next film. The story of how Muhammad Ali came to fight in Ireland. The idea is to get it done for broadcast before Christmas. Wish us luck!<br />
<br />
<br />rosswhitaker.tvhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14983732834839138003noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4899463492090461461.post-19061253880469515842012-06-14T02:51:00.001-07:002012-06-14T02:51:38.234-07:00Recent WorkI haven't done this for a while but I intend to get a new site up and running very soon.<br />
<br />
For now, here is some of the stuff I've been working on recently...<br />
<br />
THE BAILOUT<br />
A Primetime Special for RTE that explores how Ireland lost its economic sovereignty.<br />
http://www.rte.ie/news/av/2011/1128/primetimespecial.html#<br />
<br />
HOME TURF<br />
A documentary for the Irish Film Board about the dying tradition of cutting turf by hand in rural Ireland. After debuting in Cork, the film recently had its International Premiere at Hot Docs, screened at Krakow and will soon have its US Premiere at the AFI Discovery Channel Silverdocs Documentary Festival.<br />
www.hometurffilm.com<br />
<br />
BYE BYE NOW<br />
The little film that could, continues to be invited to screen all over the world after touring festivals successfully for the last two years or so, including winning at Silverdocs, Nashville and elsewhere.<br />
www.byebyenowfilm.com<br />
<br />rosswhitaker.tvhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14983732834839138003noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4899463492090461461.post-78342165728232849012011-07-06T14:18:00.000-07:002011-07-06T14:21:19.906-07:00Film Ireland Galway Edition Editorial<!--StartFragment--> <p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="GA" style="mso-ansi-language:GA">It seems this industry of ours is rarely out of the news. Recent articles in major media both question and justify the continued support for Irish film by the public purse. The relevance and importance of Irish films differs depending what newspaper you pick up and with the economy continuing to struggle<span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>the pressure is increasingly on the film community to prove the investment is good value.<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="GA" style="mso-ansi-language:GA"><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="GA" style="mso-ansi-language:GA">The argument put forward so often is that there was a type of Golden Age of Irish film in the early 1990s when films like My Left Foot and The Crying Game were winning Oscars and competing at the very highest level in the worldwide film industry. The same questions are asked time and time again. Where are the new Neil Jordans and Jim Sheridans? Why are filmmakers no longer punching above their weight in the way that actors and authors do? And, what is the point of investing in Irish film if it doesn’t compete at the highest level?<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="GA" style="mso-ansi-language:GA"><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="GA" style="mso-ansi-language:GA">So how can we provide value for money, for this investment that the Irish public, via the goverment, passes to us? <o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="GA" style="mso-ansi-language:GA"><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="GA" style="mso-ansi-language:GA">It would be wonderful to turn a profit but that’s difficult in a world where more films than ever are being released and the bulk of the audience veer more towards blockbuster fayre and away from the kind of personal, complex tales that we tell best. And, anyway, even for the most famous filmmakers, profit can be elusive – there is no magic formula and the competition is fierce. Some say we should make bigger films so that we can ‘compete’ but what if they don’t succeed? Bigger failures are not something to aspire to.<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="GA" style="mso-ansi-language:GA"><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="GA" style="mso-ansi-language:GA">All that we can offer financially is that we are doing our best. We will, as much as is humanly possible, sell our films, distribute them, convince people of their worth and return what we can to the pot. And we will push our films to the four corners of the globe in the hope that we can sell some kind of idea of Ireland and hope that somehow this feeds back into the exchequer in tourist dollars.<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="GA" style="mso-ansi-language:GA"><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="GA" style="mso-ansi-language:GA">What can the Film Board do? <o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="GA" style="mso-ansi-language:GA"><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="GA" style="mso-ansi-language:GA">They can develop numerous talented, diverse voices that represent the full variety of Irish experience, they can investigate appropriate distribution strategies that give small films a chance of connecting with the right audience and they can seek out international partnerships that bring more money into Irish film and give our films more chance of spreading. <o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="GA" style="mso-ansi-language:GA"><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="GA" style="mso-ansi-language:GA">It seems to me that this is exactly what they <i style="mso-bidi-font-style:normal">are </i>doing. At this transitional time in Irish film they deserve some credit for that.<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="GA" style="mso-ansi-language:GA"><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="GA" style="mso-ansi-language:GA">Some of that talent that has come through recently is already punching above its weight, winning awards at major festvals and putting bums on seats in cinemas. Sweeping cuts would stunt the growth of the emerging filmmakers that might just be the next Neil Jordan. It’s easy to forget that <i style="mso-bidi-font-style:normal">The Crying Game</i> was Jordan’s eighth film. Instead of looking backwards, let’s look forward to increasingly skilled filmmakers making more and better films of value and some that turn a profit.<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="GA" style="mso-ansi-language:GA"><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="GA" style="mso-ansi-language:GA">Irish film does its best to represent those who fund it and it seems to me that films like <i style="mso-bidi-font-style:normal">Once</i>, <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal">Kisses</i> and <i style="mso-bidi-font-style:normal">His & Hers</i> do that very well. This magazine will launch at on of the world’s great festivals, the Galway Film Fleadh, a traditional birthing place for new Irish films. Keep an eye out, you might just get a glimpse of the future.<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="GA" style="mso-ansi-language:GA"><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="GA" style="mso-ansi-language:GA"><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <!--EndFragment-->rosswhitaker.tvhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14983732834839138003noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4899463492090461461.post-63105779824521671452011-04-19T05:03:00.000-07:002011-04-19T05:05:47.979-07:00Film Ireland Cannes Issue<!--StartFragment--> <p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="GA" style="mso-ansi-language:GA">When One hundred Mornings is shortly released, audiences will no doubt be wowed by the wonderful performances, the stunning photogphy and the subtle direction. <o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="GA" style="mso-ansi-language:GA"><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="GA" style="mso-ansi-language:GA">They won’t, for a moment, think about the budget. The film was originated under the Catalyst Scheme and was thus made for limited funds. Yet, it is good enough to stand beside any quality film out there. And it has – at festivals around the world and on release in the United States. <o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="GA" style="mso-ansi-language:GA"><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="GA" style="mso-ansi-language:GA">A couple of years ago at an Irish Film Board panel, one of the panellists was asked what had happened to the Micro Budget Scheme. The answer, only partially in jest, was that almost all of the films made here could be considered very low budget,<span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>so perhaps there was no need for a specific scheme. <o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="GA" style="mso-ansi-language:GA"><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="GA" style="mso-ansi-language:GA">I think we can sometimes get hung up on budgets but when a film like One Hundred Mornings, or His & Hers or The Fading Light comes along, we are reminded that films can be great films regardless of budget. <o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="GA" style="mso-ansi-language:GA"><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="GA" style="mso-ansi-language:GA">His & Hers, in particular was a fantastic example. I’ve heard many in the film community marvel at the limited budget and the impressive box office return but when I went to see it in the cinema, I only heard the audience chat about the humour, charm and emotion as they left the theatre. <o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="GA" style="mso-ansi-language:GA"><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="GA" style="mso-ansi-language:GA">These films are stand alone works of art and storytelling and I think we in the filmmaking community, in these times more than ever, need to spend our time focussing on our creative vision and making daring, innovative films that surprise and delight audiences. <o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="GA" style="mso-ansi-language:GA"><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="GA" style="mso-ansi-language:GA">And when remarkable films come along, let us in the community support them and celebrate them. We should tell our friends and drag them along. If we don’t support these films, then who will? If we don’t support them, then we can’t expect others to support ours!<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="GA" style="mso-ansi-language:GA"><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="GA" style="mso-ansi-language:GA">As the summer approaches, Europe’s greatest film festival looms on the horizon and some wonderful Irish filmmakers will be bringing their films there and we wish them well. In this issue, we have Cannes and Irish filmmaking at the front of our minds.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="GA" style="mso-ansi-language:GA">We talk to Ireland’s Cultural ambassador, Gabriel Byrne, about his visions for Irish film and the upcoming season at MOMA in New York. We have an interview with the legendary French filmmaker Agnes Varda who recently attended the Cork French Film Festival and we look at ways in which Irish and French filmmaking talent have intersected on film projects. <o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="GA" style="mso-ansi-language:GA"><o:p>We focus, too, <span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>on some emerging creative talent, some of whom will be at Cannes, and some of the many wonderful locations that we have at our fingertips in Ireland.</o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal">I hope you enjoy the issue and, as always, keep in touch. If you have something to say, let us know, we have a Sounding Off section after all!</p> <!--EndFragment-->rosswhitaker.tvhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14983732834839138003noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4899463492090461461.post-31666932228728849552010-08-19T02:12:00.000-07:002010-08-19T02:24:37.630-07:00HOW TO MAKE AN EPIC DOCUMENTARY FOR 25K<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi7OsmHLyXAZHd1zICRUhQMFfbqMg21yjt8NYZ5_HlCeRnxDdpmbk9pWVQU_rqNFnIaVdMFanUh0NM9WGYyNVJcauzjbPRdgIPFqQBSCyXq0H24udAmhn14vj02JXe-r7cyStioes2Ma1e9/s1600/Austria+Close+Up+Mark+Pollock+With+Reflection+In+Shades.JPG"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 200px; height: 112px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi7OsmHLyXAZHd1zICRUhQMFfbqMg21yjt8NYZ5_HlCeRnxDdpmbk9pWVQU_rqNFnIaVdMFanUh0NM9WGYyNVJcauzjbPRdgIPFqQBSCyXq0H24udAmhn14vj02JXe-r7cyStioes2Ma1e9/s200/Austria+Close+Up+Mark+Pollock+With+Reflection+In+Shades.JPG" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5507046484815994162" /></a> <!--StartFragment--> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:0cm;margin-bottom:.0001pt"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#333333;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:-webkit-xxx-large;"> <!--StartFragment--> </span></span></p><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#333333;"><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:0cm;margin-bottom:.0001pt;mso-pagination: none;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:-webkit-xxx-large;"> <!--StartFragment--> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:0cm;margin-bottom:.0001pt;mso-pagination: none;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#000000;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: -webkit-xxx-large;"> <!--StartFragment--> </span></span></p><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#000000;"><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:0cm;margin-bottom:.0001pt;mso-pagination: none;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none"><span style="font-family: Calibri; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#FFFFFF;">Well, first things first: if you want to make money, go into sales. If you put your head down and push yourself you can really make a good living. </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#FFFFFF;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:0cm;margin-bottom:.0001pt;mso-pagination: none;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none"><span style="font-family: Calibri; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#FFFFFF;">You’ll probably even get a free car if you’re on the road and each year a few weeks paid holidays.</span></span><span style="mso-bidi-font-size:16.0pt;font-family:Calibri;mso-ascii-theme-font:major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font:major-latin;mso-bidi-font-family:Georgia"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#FFFFFF;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:0cm;margin-bottom:.0001pt;mso-pagination: none;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none"><span style="font-family: Calibri; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#FFFFFF;">If you want to make documentaries, you probably won’t have any of those things. Not for the first few years anyway.</span></span><span style="mso-bidi-font-size:16.0pt;font-family: Calibri;mso-ascii-theme-font:major-latin;mso-hansi-theme-font:major-latin; mso-bidi-font-family:Georgia"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#FFFFFF;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:0cm;margin-bottom:.0001pt;mso-pagination: none;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none"><span style="font-family: Calibri; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#FFFFFF;">When I started out, I tried hard to get a project commissioned. I submitted scripts to all of the normal funding rounds and documentary proposals through established production companies to broadcasters. It seemed to be one rejection after another.</span></span><span style="mso-bidi-font-size:16.0pt;font-family:Calibri;mso-ascii-theme-font:major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font:major-latin;mso-bidi-font-family:Georgia"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#FFFFFF;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:0cm;margin-bottom:.0001pt;mso-pagination: none;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none"><span style="font-family: Calibri; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#FFFFFF;">Before long, I couldn’t hold myself back any longer. I got a loan, bought a camera and started filming. The idea was to make films and sell the finished work to broadcasters afterwards. The revenue from selling the first film would fund the next and so on. It was a great plan. But then I learned nobody wanted my early work and even if you could sell the films it wouldn’t be for much.</span></span><span style="mso-bidi-font-size:16.0pt;font-family:Calibri;mso-ascii-theme-font:major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font:major-latin;mso-bidi-font-family:Georgia"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#FFFFFF;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:0cm;margin-bottom:.0001pt;mso-pagination: none;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none"><span style="font-family: Calibri; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#FFFFFF;">A few years on and things have changed. A little. With a few documentaries in the bag, it’s slightly easier to get an audience with commissioning editors but that doesn’t mean they’ll fund you.</span></span><span style="mso-bidi-font-size:16.0pt;font-family: Calibri;mso-ascii-theme-font:major-latin;mso-hansi-theme-font:major-latin; mso-bidi-font-family:Georgia"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#FFFFFF;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:0cm;margin-bottom:.0001pt;mso-pagination: none;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none"><span style="font-family: Calibri; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#FFFFFF;">Still, when Mark Pollock asked me if I’d be interested in making a documentary about him, I knew we had a task on our hands. I always felt that Mark’s story was fascinating. He lost his sight at the age of 22 but refused to let it ruin his life.</span></span><span style="mso-bidi-font-size:16.0pt;font-family:Calibri;mso-ascii-theme-font:major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font:major-latin;mso-bidi-font-family:Georgia"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#FFFFFF;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:0cm;margin-bottom:.0001pt;mso-pagination: none;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none"><span style="font-family: Calibri; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#FFFFFF;">He created a niche for himself doing adventure challenges and giving motivational talks to businesses. Then on the tenth anniversary of losing his sight, he came up with an adventure challenge far beyond anything he’d done before.</span></span><span style="mso-bidi-font-size: 16.0pt;font-family:Calibri;mso-ascii-theme-font:major-latin;mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;mso-bidi-font-family:Georgia"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#FFFFFF;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:0cm;margin-bottom:.0001pt;mso-pagination: none;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none"><span style="font-family: Calibri; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#FFFFFF;">He wanted to prepare for and take on one of the hardest races on earth. Like Scott and Amundsen almost 100 years earlier, he was racing to the South Pole.</span></span><span style="mso-bidi-font-size:16.0pt;font-family:Calibri;mso-ascii-theme-font:major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font:major-latin;mso-bidi-font-family:Georgia"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#FFFFFF;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:0cm;margin-bottom:.0001pt;mso-pagination: none;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none"><span style="font-family: Calibri; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#FFFFFF;">From my point of view it would be a challenge too. To do it right, filming should take place for nine months before departure and for close to two months in Antarctica. Anyone I asked suggested that I’d need a huge support crew in Antarctica and the race organisers told me that it would cost EUR50k per person traveling – and that’s before you paid the crew!</span></span><span style="mso-bidi-font-size:16.0pt; font-family:Calibri;mso-ascii-theme-font:major-latin;mso-hansi-theme-font:major-latin; mso-bidi-font-family:Georgia"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#FFFFFF;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:0cm;margin-bottom:.0001pt;mso-pagination: none;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none"><span style="font-family: Calibri; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#FFFFFF;">Then I got sick. Without getting into the details, it soon became clear that it probably wouldn’t be a good idea for me to travel. And the EUR300k budget wasn’t exactly prompting commissioning editors to reach for their chequebooks.</span></span><span style="mso-bidi-font-size:16.0pt;font-family:Calibri;mso-ascii-theme-font:major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font:major-latin;mso-bidi-font-family:Georgia"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#FFFFFF;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:0cm;margin-bottom:.0001pt;mso-pagination: none;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none"><span style="font-family: Calibri; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#FFFFFF;">So we created a Plan B. Rather than spending my time searching for funding, I spent it filming the preparations. I contacted the race organisers and a Norwegian crew that would be following the race and they agreed to help me out with footage. Mark’s teammates would film as much as they could during the race and we’d figure out a way of putting it all together when they got back. It would still be a great story, even if this wasn’t the ideal way of telling it.</span></span><span style="mso-bidi-font-size:16.0pt;font-family:Calibri;mso-ascii-theme-font:major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font:major-latin;mso-bidi-font-family:Georgia"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#FFFFFF;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:0cm;margin-bottom:.0001pt;mso-pagination: none;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none"><span style="font-family: Calibri; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#FFFFFF;">When they returned from Antarctica I was almost afraid to look at the footage. And when I did, I found a mixed bag. There was some ropey stuff but, thankfully, there was some amazing stuff too. The video diary feel to the footage captured in the tent felt really immediate and powerful. There was definitely something there.</span></span><span style="mso-bidi-font-size:16.0pt;font-family:Calibri;mso-ascii-theme-font:major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font:major-latin;mso-bidi-font-family:Georgia"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#FFFFFF;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:0cm;margin-bottom:.0001pt;mso-pagination: none;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none"><span style="font-family: Calibri; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#FFFFFF;">A few months later, I had a meeting with Mairead NiNuadhain in RTE Diversity about the possibility of completion funding and she agreed to try to help. A little while later, I got a call from a nice man in RTE’s finance division, who wanted to go through my budget, line by line. “Does this,” I asked him, “mean the project is financed?”</span></span><span style="mso-bidi-font-size:16.0pt;font-family:Calibri;mso-ascii-theme-font:major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font:major-latin;mso-bidi-font-family:Georgia"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#FFFFFF;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:0cm;margin-bottom:.0001pt;mso-pagination: none;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none"><span style="font-family: Calibri; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#FFFFFF;">It did.</span></span><span style="mso-bidi-font-size:16.0pt;font-family:Calibri;mso-ascii-theme-font:major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font:major-latin;mso-bidi-font-family:Georgia"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#FFFFFF;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:0cm;margin-bottom:.0001pt;mso-pagination: none;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none"><span style="font-family: Calibri; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#FFFFFF;">So, after filming for nine months in Ireland, making agreements with other film crews, putting a camera in the hands of adventure athletes with little idea what would happen, praying that funding would come through and numerous weeks editing, we have a completed documentary about the first blind man to race to the South Pole. It’s an epic, of sorts, and it cost just EUR25k.</span></span><span style="mso-bidi-font-size: 16.0pt;font-family:Calibri;mso-ascii-theme-font:major-latin;mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;mso-bidi-font-family:Georgia"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#FFFFFF;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:0cm;margin-bottom:.0001pt"><span style="font-family: Calibri; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#FFFFFF;">Now, where can I get a job in sales?</span></span><span style="mso-bidi-font-size:13.0pt; font-family:Calibri;mso-ascii-theme-font:major-latin;mso-hansi-theme-font:major-latin; mso-bidi-font-family:"Lucida Grande";color:#333333"><o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:0cm;margin-bottom:.0001pt"><span style="mso-bidi-font-size:13.0pt;font-family:Calibri;mso-ascii-theme-font:major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font:major-latin;mso-bidi-font-family:"Lucida Grande"; color:#333333"><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:0cm;margin-bottom:.0001pt"><span style="mso-bidi-font-size:13.0pt;font-family:Calibri;mso-ascii-theme-font:major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font:major-latin;mso-bidi-font-family:"Lucida Grande"; color:#333333"><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <!--EndFragment--> </span><p></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:0cm;margin-bottom:.0001pt"><span style="mso-bidi-font-family:Calibri;mso-ascii-theme-font:major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font:major-latin;mso-bidi-Lucida Grande"; font-family:";font-size:13.0pt;color:#333333;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:0cm;margin-bottom:.0001pt"><span style="mso-bidi-font-family:Calibri;mso-ascii-theme-font:major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font:major-latin;mso-bidi-Lucida Grande"; font-family:";font-size:13.0pt;color:#333333;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <!--EndFragment--> <p></p> <!--EndFragment--> </span><p></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:0cm;margin-bottom:.0001pt"><span style="mso-bidi-font-family:Calibri;mso-ascii-theme-font:major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font:major-latin;mso-bidi-Lucida Grande"; font-family:";font-size:13.0pt;color:#333333;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:0cm;margin-bottom:.0001pt"><span style="mso-bidi-font-family:Calibri;mso-ascii-theme-font:major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font:major-latin;mso-bidi-Lucida Grande"; font-family:";font-size:13.0pt;color:#333333;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:0cm;margin-bottom:.0001pt"><span style="mso-bidi-font-family:Calibri;mso-ascii-theme-font:major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font:major-latin;mso-bidi-Lucida Grande"; font-family:";font-size:13.0pt;color:#333333;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:0cm;margin-bottom:.0001pt"><span style="mso-bidi-font-family:Calibri;mso-ascii-theme-font:major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font:major-latin;mso-bidi-Lucida Grande"; font-family:";font-size:13.0pt;color:#333333;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:0cm;margin-bottom:.0001pt"><span style="mso-bidi-font-family:Calibri;mso-ascii-theme-font:major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font:major-latin;mso-bidi-Lucida Grande"; font-family:";font-size:13.0pt;color:#333333;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:0cm;margin-bottom:.0001pt"><span style="mso-bidi-font-family:Calibri;mso-ascii-theme-font:major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font:major-latin;mso-bidi-Lucida Grande"; font-family:";font-size:13.0pt;color:#333333;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:0cm;margin-bottom:.0001pt"><span style="mso-bidi-font-family:Calibri;mso-ascii-theme-font:major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font:major-latin;mso-bidi-Lucida Grande"; font-family:";font-size:13.0pt;color:#333333;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:0cm;margin-bottom:.0001pt"><span style="mso-bidi-font-family:Calibri;mso-ascii-theme-font:major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font:major-latin;mso-bidi-Lucida Grande"; font-family:";font-size:13.0pt;color:#333333;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:0cm;margin-bottom:.0001pt"><span style="mso-ascii-theme-font:major-latin;mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latinfont-family:Calibri;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <!--EndFragment-->rosswhitaker.tvhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14983732834839138003noreply@blogger.com7tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4899463492090461461.post-74027215947946146272010-07-19T06:04:00.000-07:002010-07-19T06:06:16.432-07:00Documentary Longinotto Style<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEinVRodbPAQuXI5H2GV8Rn00YgU_l8v_6EXkJE77n4VXhQ1osRlT_Qz2HpdCQO_UJfnL0NoW0WZbpXEti2NjcfYIOUcZKet8-nqUZW9NxDv-WoTtkcljYDkWk2SF7xZEaIicVg7RGgZytIX/s1600/kim-longinotto.jpg"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5495602733967573394" style="FLOAT: left; MARGIN: 0px 10px 10px 0px; WIDTH: 200px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 141px" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEinVRodbPAQuXI5H2GV8Rn00YgU_l8v_6EXkJE77n4VXhQ1osRlT_Qz2HpdCQO_UJfnL0NoW0WZbpXEti2NjcfYIOUcZKet8-nqUZW9NxDv-WoTtkcljYDkWk2SF7xZEaIicVg7RGgZytIX/s200/kim-longinotto.jpg" border="0" /></a><br /><br /><br /><br /><p>Ross Whitaker took a trip to Guth Gafa film festival to talk to an extraordinary documentary maker, Kim Longinotto. The director tells us about her unique approach and the difficult decisions she’s made whilst making her films. </p><p><br />Guth Gafa is fast becoming one of Ireland’s most enjoyable festivals. Locked away in the north west corner of the country, it is delightfully small yet perfectly formed and screens some of the world’s most exciting documentary films, always with the filmmaker in attendance.</p><p><br />One of this year’s undoubted highlights was two screenings and a masterclass with Kim Longinotto, whose marvellous films have been gracing festivals around the world for over thirty years…</p><p><br />Kim Longinotto refuses to be unequivocal. She has done these masterclasses before and as she begins to speak to the group, she is just a little careful about what she says. ‘I promised myself I’d never do one of these things again,’ she says with a smile.</p><p><br />But everyone here is glad she didn’t stick to that promise.</p><p><br />Longinotto has a way that she likes to make films and it has served her well. For many years her films have been greeted by critical and audience acclaim and she was given an Outstanding Achievement Award at this year’s Hot Docs. Major awards at festivals like Cannes and Sundance and a European Film Award prove the world likes the way she makes films too.<br /><br />Generally speaking, Longinotto doesn’t use interviews in her films, uses little music and rarely uses any kind of voiceover. She never wants to ask her subjects to repeat anything or act in any particular way and she doesn’t shoot cutaways. But she doesn’t want people to think that she is against these things, she just doesn’t want them in her films. She is at pains not to generalise about how films should be made.</p><p><br />‘What we all do is make films that reflect who we are,’ she says. ‘What you make shows so much of what kind of person you are and how you see the world and you just have to go with it really.’<br />Longinotto’s personality seems reflected in the films that she makes. She seems unassuming, quiet but confident and very open. You can see how the subjects of her films might warm to her.<br />In her films, she doesn’t tell the audience what to think but instead creates a narrative with complex, human characters. She does all her own cinematography but she is not a fly on the wall, rather she’s another person in the room. The audience becomes a witness in the world she portrays rather than a passive observer.</p><p><br />‘It’s a different kind of information that you’re getting. I remember sitting through documentaries that were on before a fiction film and everyone used to talk through them because documentaries were the boring bit where you were told something and it was supposed to be good for you somehow. What I’m trying to do is make a story where you’re being drawn into a world and you’re watching a story unfold and you stop thinking about what type of film it is and just follow the narrative.’<br />The full article is printed in Film Ireland 133</p>rosswhitaker.tvhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14983732834839138003noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4899463492090461461.post-59427534747658381742010-07-19T05:47:00.000-07:002010-07-19T05:51:29.129-07:00100 Mornings - COMING SOON!<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjKdwkNXTXVnzEq6BQ6fxro4m4OyycCx-_lqnbL8g2_NBYfleV3e91bMDH_c62Exi8duYD0H_-io8BR0bUo5LUAVUdds5NQbtT7Sr4novx6jNFI_juBJW2lQhttgoLt9bCEGyHMjgp5pqGd/s1600/100mornings.jpg"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5495599046851162418" style="FLOAT: left; MARGIN: 0px 10px 10px 0px; WIDTH: 200px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 97px" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjKdwkNXTXVnzEq6BQ6fxro4m4OyycCx-_lqnbL8g2_NBYfleV3e91bMDH_c62Exi8duYD0H_-io8BR0bUo5LUAVUdds5NQbtT7Sr4novx6jNFI_juBJW2lQhttgoLt9bCEGyHMjgp5pqGd/s200/100mornings.jpg" border="0" /></a><br /><div>Conor Horgan is a man in a hurry. He squeezes me in for a chat in a Dublin café the day before he is due to fly to the Slamdance festival in Park City, Utah where his debut feature - One Hundred Mornings - will have its World Premiere.<br /><br />For his first film to be chosen for Slamdance is a creditable achievement in itself but over the coming days the film makes a substantial impression at the festival, where it receives a Special Jury Mention and is described by Filmmaker Magazine as, "Achingly humane and stringently observed".<br /><br />One Hundred Mornings was one of three films green-lit by the Catalyst Project to go into production with a €250k budget. The other films were the festival favourite Eamon and the as-yet unreleased Redux but the scheme was also responsible for incubating other fine films like His & Hers and Savage, that weren’t funded by the project itself but were developed to the point that production was almost inevitable, and was ultimately successful.<br /><br />What comes across so strongly in conversation with Horgan is just how much he enjoyed making this intense, moving film. His eyes light up when he thinks back to the process, holed up in a Wicklow location for four weeks.<br /><br />“The film is quite bleak, you could say, but the set was the happiest set I’ve ever been on. Perhaps that was a reaction to the material. We were a group of people doing something that we believed in and believing it was something we could do well. There was a strong feeling amongst the cast and crew that we had the potential to make a good film.”<br /><br />The film imagines a world where society has broken down and the population is struggling to survive with no energy and limited resources. At the centre of the film, two couples form an uneasy alliance, hiding out in a remote lakeside cabin and hoping things will somehow improve.<br /><br />Time passes. With precious little information from the outside world and an increasing amount of external threats to their survival, tensions rise between the characters, leaving the audience gripped by the action.<br /><br />To make the film, it was vital that Horgan find a location cut off from the external world, both from the point of view of isolating his characters and also creating a quiet world away from the sounds of daily life.<br /><br />“Writing the film, I thought I was being very clever because we only needed one location but when I actually broke it down I realised that the location had to provide a very long and specific list of requirements. It took us an awful long time to find it. We were at the top of a hill looking down at Lough Dan and we saw this place. I remember walking down the hill and looking in the windows and thinking, ‘this is it!’”<br /><br />“It was just in the middle of nowhere but because of the film it needed to be in the middle of nowhere. It needed to have no lights, no noise, not even a road nearby or even livestock. And it had to big enough so that we could shoot four people in it and make it visually interesting.”<br /><br />The film is definitely that. At times watching it, I was reminded that Horgan has a background in photography; so many of the frames could have been stunning photographs in themselves.<br /><br />This visual strength allied to the bleak but beautiful location makes this film the best looking of the recent lower budget Irish films, in my opinion at least, and Horgan explains that he had a strong collaborative bond with cinematographer, Suzie Lavelle.<br /><br />“Suzie was just a really great ally to make the film with. We spent two weeks on the set before filming, looking at everything and storyboarding. She has a document somewhere with photographs for every scene from the film but when it came to filming we just put that in the back pocket and were open to what would happen in front of us. There was a spontaneity and an energy about how things happened on set that gave the film life.”<br /><br />Horgan has achieved a taut, compelling drama that sucks you in and won’t let go. Central to achieving this outcome is his choice of bravely long takes held in wider shots that drag the viewer into the centre of the unfolding human drama.<br /><br />“I didn’t want to make a cutty film,” he says. “I started off in commercials where you cut so often. Where possible, I wanted to make the scene work in one take. I wanted to block the scenes and set the frame and create something that held the attention and held the drama without needing to cut to another angle. It just makes the film feel more real.”<br /><br />Test screenings confirmed that the intensity of film could emotionally engage viewers. Horgan sat delighted amongst the punters while post-screening debates about the film unfolded. People were engaged and passionate about it. The film’s domestic premiere at Galway continued the trend and success at Slamdance suggests it has a bright future.<br /><br />“It isn’t a film that’s everyone’s cup of tea but then it wasn’t intended to be. I think the people that get it, really get it. I certainly hope that it’s thought-provoking and, so far, it seems to be.” </div>rosswhitaker.tvhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14983732834839138003noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4899463492090461461.post-50077908721712719692010-01-05T07:35:00.000-08:002010-01-05T07:40:11.516-08:00JAPANESE CINEMA GEMS CURRENTLY @ IFI<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjCWS1SySwicaXxfiVuLUMIh0HTTC4uNsNop93Q0iyBXTNnj9KEmnUahUFWfFDChFlb0ux38Z7KIlVPsBl6ddudci6Qrvl7LDg6AAYo-9aHizYQVISvSnMqMslk6pwbNixITz0n_o1KGf_t/s1600-h/Departures.jpg"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5423280873416534546" style="FLOAT: left; MARGIN: 0px 10px 10px 0px; WIDTH: 200px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 133px" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjCWS1SySwicaXxfiVuLUMIh0HTTC4uNsNop93Q0iyBXTNnj9KEmnUahUFWfFDChFlb0ux38Z7KIlVPsBl6ddudci6Qrvl7LDg6AAYo-9aHizYQVISvSnMqMslk6pwbNixITz0n_o1KGf_t/s200/Departures.jpg" border="0" /></a> <div><strong>Departures</strong> - until Jan 7thWinner of the Oscar for Best Foreign Film, director Yojiro Takita’s drama conjures an arresting story from unlikely subject matter: the travails of a cash-strapped cellist who takes on a new job preparing corpses for Japanese funeral rites.This fundamentally warm-hearted film finds a balance of humour and sobriety in its touching exploration of both the pain and the catharsis involved in saying our farewells.<br /></div><br /><div><strong>YASUJIRO OZU SEASON</strong> - until Jan 29thRegarded by many critics as the greatest of Japanese directors, Yasujiro Ozu (1903-1963) is celebrated in this short season built around the re-release of digitally restored versions of Tokyo Story (1953) and Late Autumn (1960). </div><br /><div></div><br /><div><strong>SCREENINGS:</strong>An Autumn Afternoon (Sanma No Aji) until Jan 7th Tokyo Story (Tokyo Monogatari) until Jan 14th Floating Weeds (Ukigusa) Jan 16th & 18th The End of Summer (Kohayagawa-Ke No Aki) Jan 17th & 19th Late Autumn (Akibiyori) from Jan 29th.</div><br /><div><br /><strong>Coming soon</strong></div><br /><div>Still Walking - Jan 15th - 28thHirokazu Kore-eda’s previous work (After Life, Nobody Knows) has been impressive, but this family drama is so wise and true that it affirms his position at the forefront of Japanese cinema. It revolves around a single family gathering, in which elderly parents host their grown-up son and daughter, their respective partners and children. Ozu is a reference point, obviously, but you might as well say Jean Renoir or Chekhov. It’s that good.<br /></div>rosswhitaker.tvhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14983732834839138003noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4899463492090461461.post-46582099809121863052009-12-14T04:15:00.000-08:002009-12-14T04:19:38.040-08:00SPOTLIGHT ON COLONY<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhI9EXAbZNU66iqj2rbB2Wp4T3dYTdlrNd8KJg_V6d3xMWn2RRmaWMvW2_SCK1sUJ3Ds2IKfXlqjOKTIYX-8QfujPvsM4RersraSwMVzQjuxNW1veNPJ2xZsws8aKu-22tJL2g0Z3neZZF0/s1600-h/BEES.jpg"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5415065300636792978" style="FLOAT: left; MARGIN: 0px 10px 10px 0px; WIDTH: 130px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 104px" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhI9EXAbZNU66iqj2rbB2Wp4T3dYTdlrNd8KJg_V6d3xMWn2RRmaWMvW2_SCK1sUJ3Ds2IKfXlqjOKTIYX-8QfujPvsM4RersraSwMVzQjuxNW1veNPJ2xZsws8aKu-22tJL2g0Z3neZZF0/s200/BEES.jpg" border="0" /></a><br /><div>NOT JUST ANOTHER BEE MOVIE</div><br /><div>Ross McDonnell - co-director of Colony – meets me in Dublin fresh from the Toronto International Film Festival, where the buzz around his debut feature was great.<br /><br />"Colony may be one of the most aesthetically beautiful documentaries of the season, as well as one of the more urgent and intelligent,” wrote Variety.<br /><br />“The movie constitutes a satisfying addition to the blooming, buzzing field of social issue documentary,” wrote the New York Times.<br /><br />In addition to the compliments of the newspapers at Toronto, McDonnell has recently heard that his debut film will also play at IDFA, one of the world’s most important documentary festivals. But, despite these successes, his biggest concern at present is that he is smashed broke - welcome to the world of documentary filmmaking.<br /><br />One hopes, though, that the financial challenges of making documentaries won’t discourage McDonnell and his co-director, Carter Gunn, from pursuing future projects in the medium. This is a mature, intelligent, informed piece of work from two young filmmakers who clearly have more to give.<br /><br />Colony is one of a number of bee movies that are emerging at present. These documentaries are prompted by the clear and present danger facing bees as Colony Collapse Disorder (CCD) leaves landscapes of empty beehives across America and beyond.<br /><br />Now, those of you who spent your primary school education getting stung by bees and falling asleep in biology class might be surprised to hear that honeybees are actually quite important. Because they pollinate our plant-life, these noble, industrious creatures are central to our own survival on Earth. Einstein reputedly said that if the honeybee became extinct then man would only have four years left to live.<br /><br />“It was actually falsely attributed to him,” McDonnell tells me. “It turns out that a bunch of disgruntled French beekeepers made it up and credited to him. Anyway, I read that and it’s a pretty powerful statement and I read all the statistics about the American beekeepers who ship bees back and forward across the US to pollinate every third bite you eat and I thought it was interesting material for a film.”<br /><br />While the film interviews numerous beekeepers, it concentrates mostly on veteran beekeeper, David Mendes, and Lance and Victor Seppi, two young broth­ers starting out as beekeepers in tough economic times. As Mendes campaigns on behalf of all beekeepers, the Seppi’s try to keep their own business afloat.<br /><br />The Seppi family is very much the emotional epicentre of this film. The observational footage of the family’s struggles is enthralling and one of the strongest aspects of the documentary. The story of their collapsing business, affected both by the struggles of the bees and the world economy allows the filmmakers to subtly get across the message that perhaps we have more in common with bees than we realise.<br /><br />“When we met the Seppis they had seven children, they’re a home-school family and they’re actually really natural environmentalists - they live in the middle of the country, they grow their own food and they eat an almost entirely raw vegan diet. We started to think that they were a colony in their own right. We went with the thought that they were a colony, the United States was a colony and that the bees were a colony and we then looked at ways of interweaving these stories.”<br /><br />One of the strengths of the film is its openness to all sides of the story. While CCD could have catastrophic effects on nature and society, nobody is fully sure what has caused the problem. Rather than standing back and pointing the finger at pesticide manufacturers, the filmmakers patiently pursued access to the corporation and let them put forward their side of the story. It turns out they might not be to blame.<br /><br />Perhaps we are all to blame. One is left with the feeling that bees are more important than we realise, that our cavalier attitude towards them might lead to their demise and that our tendency to undervalue their importance might lead to a reduction in the beekeepers that look after them.<br /><br />Colony is a tribute to what can be done with time, talent and a little money. Gunn and McDonnell spent the guts of two years immersed in the project, with McDonnell on camera and Gunn taking care of the edit. The film is stunningly shot and the two-man team clearly made the effort to develop the relationships and access necessary to tell the story well.<br /><br />“If I can draw a parallel with feature filmmaking, what we wanted was to see the change come from within our characters. We were very lucky that we were given the time and the support to be able to see the change over time in our subjects and in the story. We were fortunate that the Irish Film Board and our producers at Fastnet Films gave us the support to do that. They never said, ‘where are you going with this.’ They were with us the whole way along.”<br /><br />They all should be proud of this clever, powerful film. </div>rosswhitaker.tvhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14983732834839138003noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4899463492090461461.post-22071064740091142542009-11-11T05:49:00.000-08:002009-11-11T06:13:09.459-08:00AWARDS NEWS<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiRt4Bjz1rlFAjkByrp1hmUBUSgcahXVYmmMjgW0P32TlAmYdllbKeTOor1c9lbvi4GVkM5Q6Qp2IjS9txrnKSACyaFfo_wRoK_6H9MxPRn9649zRQaKfya5C5Yy2VmQ9zELNsjBO9BNMDP/s1600-h/Malin+Group.JPG"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5402846978576403186" style="FLOAT: left; MARGIN: 0px 10px 10px 0px; WIDTH: 150px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 200px" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiRt4Bjz1rlFAjkByrp1hmUBUSgcahXVYmmMjgW0P32TlAmYdllbKeTOor1c9lbvi4GVkM5Q6Qp2IjS9txrnKSACyaFfo_wRoK_6H9MxPRn9649zRQaKfya5C5Yy2VmQ9zELNsjBO9BNMDP/s200/Malin+Group.JPG" border="0" /></a><br /><div><div><div></div><div>IFB Funded Shorts Win at Irish Film Festivals Over the Weekend<br /><br />IFB funded short films have had a successful weekend picking up a total of seven awards and honorable mentions at the Cork and Kerry film festivals.</div><br /><div>The 54th Corona Cork Film Festival saw wins for Bye Bye Now and Moore Street Masala and two honorable mentions for A Film From My Parish - 6 Farms, a short which also won at the Kerry Film Festival along with The Man Inside and The Wednesdays.</div><br /><br /><div>The Reality Bites BYE BYE NOW directed by Ross Whitaker and Aideen O'Sullivan picked up the Audience Award for Best Irish Short Film at the Corona Cork Film Festival after its premiere in the Opera House on Saturday. The short documentary looks at how the phone box has gone from the centre of Irish life to the verge of extinction through the stories of those who remember it fondly.<br /></div><div>David O'Sullivan's MOORE STREET MASALA picked up the Audience Award for Best International Short Film. The musical love story was filmed in Dublin earlier this year and mixes the colour of Bollywood with the diversity of modern Irish culture. The film was produced as part of the Short Shorts scheme which premiered at the Galway Film Fleadh in July.</div><div></div><br /><div>The Framework short A FILM FROM MY PARISH - 6 FARMS directed by Tony Donoghue received two Honorable Mentions at the Cork Film Festival in the Best Irish Short Film and Best International Short Film categories for its imaginative and emphatic look at a rapidly disappearing rural world. The film also picked up the Best Documentary Short award at the Kerry Film Festival.</div><br /><div></div><div>Meanwhile Rory Bresnihan's Signature short film THE MAN INSIDE was awarded the Best Film title in Kerry. The short film has had a successful year having been named Best European Dramatic Short at the European Independent Film Festival in Paris in March and winning the Best Live Action Short Under 15 Minutes Award, 2nd place at the renowned Palm Springs International Film Festival. </div><br /><div></div><div>The short comedy THE WEDNESDAYS directed by Conor Ferguson picked up the Best Irish Short Film award at the festival. The film has already won acclaim and awards at prestigious festivals such as Clermont Ferrand and the Aspen Shortfest in the US.</div></div></div>rosswhitaker.tvhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14983732834839138003noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4899463492090461461.post-8994891541403070552009-11-11T05:43:00.000-08:002009-11-11T06:09:24.478-08:00BYE BYE NOW PLAYS CORK FF<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjjquQ0txHQEr8uANUKLaKW_gl-VoXSKyCvyU5PtxoxFYBowdcKhX1LPMGD75bRyzZq22iP4Pbgve_xaOc88yRtBGhrfckzZAPtZ5RIke0VJv1m9fkTznwsdUu69jpI3F_-NyB5jD6Ceceh/s1600-h/Paddy+Leonard,+Cape+Clear.JPG"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5402847525023907410" style="FLOAT: left; MARGIN: 0px 10px 10px 0px; WIDTH: 150px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 200px" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjjquQ0txHQEr8uANUKLaKW_gl-VoXSKyCvyU5PtxoxFYBowdcKhX1LPMGD75bRyzZq22iP4Pbgve_xaOc88yRtBGhrfckzZAPtZ5RIke0VJv1m9fkTznwsdUu69jpI3F_-NyB5jD6Ceceh/s200/Paddy+Leonard,+Cape+Clear.JPG" border="0" /></a><br /><div>Bye Bye Now! is an amusing, poignant documentary about the fate of the Irish phone box which has gone from the centre of society to the verge of extinction.<br /><br />We Irish are known for the having the gift of the gab. As a nation we love to talk, But until the 1980s most houses in Ireland were without telephones. Until this time, the humble phone box was our chosen method of instant communication. It was at the heart of our lives.<br /><br />Now, however, the phone box is on the way out. First came the house phones, then the e-mails, then cell phones and texts - evolving technology which led the way for the demise of the phone box.<br /><br />This short documentary intertwines wonderful anecdotes with the warmest of characters as they recount their memories of the small concrete structure that was so important in rural Ireland.<br /><br />Bye Bye Now! is a bitter sweet tribute to the phone box, a historical document and a barometer of how much we've changed with the times. Light-hearted, sensitive, engaging and entertaining, each character tells a different story.</div>rosswhitaker.tvhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14983732834839138003noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4899463492090461461.post-33982725134483081792009-09-04T04:15:00.000-07:002009-09-04T04:23:23.137-07:00SPOTLIGHT ON SWANSONG<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhtRQugHzDYojjFvJg0MbpCLWC4ShseHKqY6ZOBRbZdhcueSyHYrRgAZTWKZ6U_qL-INlssraqrZQLoL2qEZA60JLgEohP8OWGIPZcHNymkQI2TtAryim8C1VYLUCtPMq1UM3FzmDuX6R_E/s1600-h/Swan+Song.jpg"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5377571203432980498" style="FLOAT: left; MARGIN: 0px 10px 10px 0px; WIDTH: 50px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 50px" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhtRQugHzDYojjFvJg0MbpCLWC4ShseHKqY6ZOBRbZdhcueSyHYrRgAZTWKZ6U_qL-INlssraqrZQLoL2qEZA60JLgEohP8OWGIPZcHNymkQI2TtAryim8C1VYLUCtPMq1UM3FzmDuX6R_E/s200/Swan+Song.jpg" border="0" /></a><br /><div>An article I did for Film Ireland on the new film Swansong. </div><br /><div></div><br /><div>Swansong, Story of Occi Byrne director Conor McDermottroe’s debut feature, premiered at the Galway Film Fleadh earlier this year to great acclaim and the runner-up prize in the best feature category.<br /><br />Screening Swansong in Galway was the satisfying completion of a journey full circle for McDermottroe - he had performed the same narrative himself as a one man play almost exactly five years before in the same Town Hall venue.<br /><br />I speak to McDermottroe on the phone from London, where he is based. It was there that the play was originally written as a monologue in just seven weeks back in 2003. Also called Swansong, the one man show was acclaimed from the start and the audience reaction to it prompted McDermottroe to see the possibilities for the story beyond the stage<br /><br />“The lead character, Occi Byrne, was really touching people,” he tells me. “People loved the character. In the play he was an older character, feeding the swans and telling his life story. People told me that the play was very picturesque, very cinematic, so I decided to write a screenplay of the story.”<br /><br />Around that time, McDermottroe was working as an actor on a TV series and he invited the German producer of the series to come along to see the play.<br /><br />“It was an achievement in itself to get a TV producer to come to a play,” he says with a chuckle. “Sometimes those worlds just don’t mix but Herman Florin came and watched the show and really loved it. He asked me afterwards if I’d considered making a film on the same subject. I reached into my bag and took out the screenplay.”<br /><br />Before Swansong, McDermottroe had made three successful short films and he appears to have moved smoothly and confidently on to the longer form. The film is atmospheric and very moving with fine performances from the cast and it is easy to imagine the film finding an audience internationally.<br /><br />The film was made as a German/Irish co-production, funded by the Irish Film Board, ARTE, RTE, Eurimages and Kinowelt, with The Little Film Company taking care of sales. It was filmed on the unusual format of 16mm Cinemascope in Sligo for six weeks with a cast of 47 actors and over 50 crew and the locals were delighted with the economic boost the film brought and how the area was captured on film.<br /><br />Swansong is the story of Occi Byrne, a boy born to a single mother in an uncompromising garrison town in the 1970s. His fatherless beginning is the worst start possible in this conservative landscape and Byrne travels a road of misfortune from a young age.<br /><br />In a world where any difference is ruthlessly exploited, Occi is mercilessly bullied by schoolmates, culminating in him being rolled down a sand dune in a barrel and sustaining minor brain damage that makes him prone to violent outbursts when angered.<br /><br />McDermottroe’s script draws from his memories of growing up in Sligo where he observed how children in his school without both parents were immediately treated differently and ultimately marginalized. Later, when McDermottroe lived in London, he came across one such child, now grown-up.<br /><br />“I was working on a Frank McGuinness play in the Royal National Theatre and I was walking to the theatre along Bayswater road when I saw someone wrapped in blanket on the side of the street. We both froze for a second and I realized that each of us recognized the other. He used to sit beside me in school. It was he that turned away, I’m sure out of shame. I walked on and I thought about it for the day. Later, I went back to the street and he was gone.”<br /><br />Having lived with his lead character for so long, it is no surprise that Occi is so well achieved in the way he is written and directed by McDermottroe. Martin McCann is thoroughly convincing as Occi, truly inhabiting the role and capturing skillfully the vulnerability and violence of the young man.<br /><br />“Doing the one man play first was a luxury as a writer because I got to know the character so well. I had a deep, three-dimensional treatment in my head and I knew how the character would react to each situation. I could ask myself, ‘What would Occi say here? What would his attitude here be?’ All of that information was readily available to me, which was great.”<br /><br />“Martin brings his own energy to it, his own performance and persona. It’s miles away from the actors that played Occi on the stage. He brought amazing qualities to it and his instincts are bang on. We went on the journey together and he trusted me and I think that shows in the end result. He and the camera signed some deal with the devil. He’s an instinctual actor. He really feels what Occi feels. It was inspiring for me and I learned from it.”<br /><br />McDermottroe hopes to use the lessons learned in making Swansong as soon as possible and is moving on to his next film. He is one of a seemingly endless line of burgeoning Irish talents that has directed one or two films and he hopes to direct many more. He is frustrated, however, by the current threats to indigenous film funding.<br /><br />McDermottroe was forced to leave Ireland for Australia in the early 1980s when funding was cut to the theatre company he was working with and he lived and worked there for over ten years. Considering the benefits of Swansong, Story of Occi Byrne – in terms of culture, economics and the physical depiction of the west of Ireland – one hopes he, and others, won’t be cast adrift again.</div>rosswhitaker.tvhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14983732834839138003noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4899463492090461461.post-32329947771548203172009-09-03T11:23:00.000-07:002009-09-03T11:44:50.601-07:00<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg19UtpHSFVTq9YWKK5TGUjM6RNaC-ij3luJm4dxosuFtJb2WaGPNmU5b8P1qskUAPW6CGX3e3X3jzbJ-2nCIAPF9bXXnZ57OhKW1ifTSc5SMekzePUc8aB6yBvJAtVjp0FAKAck5fjx1aP/s1600-h/Liam+Clancy.jpg"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5377313432606838594" style="FLOAT: left; MARGIN: 0px 10px 10px 0px; WIDTH: 112px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 127px" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg19UtpHSFVTq9YWKK5TGUjM6RNaC-ij3luJm4dxosuFtJb2WaGPNmU5b8P1qskUAPW6CGX3e3X3jzbJ-2nCIAPF9bXXnZ57OhKW1ifTSc5SMekzePUc8aB6yBvJAtVjp0FAKAck5fjx1aP/s200/Liam+Clancy.jpg" border="0" /></a><br /><div>THE YELLOW BITTERN</div><br /><div></div><br /><div>Went to see the new Alan Gilsenan directed documentary about Liam Clancy last night. The full title is The Yellow Bittern - The Life And Times of Liam Clancy. It's a really beautiful film. It was well shot by the always brilliant DOP Richard Kendrick and looked great. The visuals and the editing style create a really rich, layered aesthetic that gave a great sense of the man and also the times he lived in.</div><br /><div></div><br /><div>Gilsenan chose to interview Liam Clancy in Ardmore Studios and used the large space for wider shots that allowed him to bring in archive footage on screens behind Clancy. It made the film an enjoyable visual experience but also gave a variety to the film and maintained the context. For example, when Clancy would be talking about coming to New York in the 60s there were iconic images from that period taking place in the empty frame behind him (I'm not sure if that exactly happened but that was the general idea).</div><br /><div></div><br /><div>The use of archive on a variety of formats and the texturing of photographs gave the film a lovely feeling that has become quite fashionable in recent times and I'm very fond of this style. The use of screens and backgrounds, too, wasn't reinventing the wheel but I still enjoyed it and it was appropriate.</div><br /><div></div><br /><div>Overall, a wonderful film that opened my eyes to a great story and a great character and very cinematic. The film was chronologically structured and quite traditionally paced and it took me a while to leave the outside world behind and really get into it but by the end I was disappointed it wasn't longer. Go and see it soon because it might not be around for long.</div><br /><div></div><br /><div>One, small, criticism was that a vox pop archive interview with Bob Dylan seemed as if it was shoehorned in a little. It was the only such interview in the film and seemed like an attempt to bring Dylan's star power into the production. Dylan was a giant admirer of Clancy, so it makes sense to try to get him into the film but it still seemed funny. Having said that, I think most filmmakers would have done exactly the same thing, myself incuded.</div><br /><div></div><br /><div>The film was produced by Crossing the Line and funded by RTE and the Irish Film Board. It's another success for the Board in a year of many notable achievements - over 20 films in production, seven films in Toronto, record-breaking documentary Waveriders and numerous international awards for Irish films.</div><div> </div><div></div><div>Check out the trailer:</div><div></div><div><a href="http://www.liamclancyfilm.com/">http://www.liamclancyfilm.com/</a></div>rosswhitaker.tvhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14983732834839138003noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4899463492090461461.post-59167113063048977792009-08-11T23:58:00.000-07:002009-08-12T00:06:20.834-07:00AV Sector a Key Growth AreaI remember filling out this survey last year and the results have since been published. It's good news if you work in TV and film because this area has great potential for growth - that's what we want to hear in these straightened times.<br /><br />Shame then that Bord Snip are talking about canning the IFB, which provides something additional to our TV channels. The IFB, uninfluenced by the need to bring in advertising, fullfils a truly crucial cultural remit in my view. Hopefully the government will think so too.<br /><br />Here's the survey...<br /><br /><br />Bord Scannán na hÉireann/the Irish Film Board (IFB) and PWC carried out a survey in 2008 which reveals that the Irish audio visual sector is valued at over €557.3 million, employs over 6,000 individuals and represents 0.3% of Gross Domestic Product (GDP).<br /><br />The survey is the first of its kind to represent such a broad range of disciplines in this sector, ranging from film and television through to animation, commercials, corporate video and online digital content. The survey identifies the people working in content production whether individually, in a company or in a broadcasting organization, the resources employed in the making of content and the total value of audio visual activity.<br /><br />The results illustrate that the audio visual industry is a dynamic, highly educated and flexible sector, capable of demonstrating significant growth and value in the future. The results of this survey also played an important part in making the case to the Department of Arts, Sport and Tourism to introduce new improvements to the tax incentive for film and television Section 481.<br />Key findings in the survey show that this growing sector employs over 6,905 individuals, 85% in the independent sector and 15% in broadcasting, which equates to 5,440 full-time equivalents (FTEs). The results also testify that this sector is vibrant with strong growth activity, with over 47% of companies interviewed in the survey established in the last 5 years.<br /><br />The survey indicated high levels of convergence within the sector comprising of production companies, post-production companies and service providers, many of whom demonstrate a high crossover of activities. This particular report has gone beyond a normal sample level with very significant levels of response from companies and individuals and as a result the information is very significant.<br /><br />This is the first time that a survey like this has looked beyond the annual production statistics, at the companies and individuals who are responsible for producing all the content, in order to understand the dynamics and significant trends in the sector itself. Interviews with freelancers working in the industry reveal that practitioners working in this area are very well educated, with over 59% of freelancers interviewed educated to degree level or higher and only 2% have no formal qualification at all.<br /><br />Findings also show that funding from the domestic broadcasters is hugely important to the sector and is an essential component of the financial underpinning of the sector as a whole.<br />With the completion of this survey the IFB will now be looking to facilitate a sector wide Strategic Forum to assist the sector to produce a blueprint for the future policy in this industry for the next five years.rosswhitaker.tvhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14983732834839138003noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4899463492090461461.post-27349694590886440662009-08-11T02:55:00.000-07:002009-08-11T02:57:58.293-07:00Review of Stranger Than Fiction Doc Festival<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEim7SP6zvC3MvcfzwoKxuP7ee8aJFNfqGEtDNdGOcXPf_wCNxDQZUHQVgJuE_fICv_0L0pNjvJFL5kCvtetRraS2pCMsJhG4LlylDFfzsNUqxQEHSQrXxNx0wzVcJQFILGi4rGpOr6YmY5a/s1600-h/frontpage2%5B1%5D.jpg"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5368643261357901634" style="FLOAT: left; MARGIN: 0px 10px 10px 0px; WIDTH: 200px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 135px" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEim7SP6zvC3MvcfzwoKxuP7ee8aJFNfqGEtDNdGOcXPf_wCNxDQZUHQVgJuE_fICv_0L0pNjvJFL5kCvtetRraS2pCMsJhG4LlylDFfzsNUqxQEHSQrXxNx0wzVcJQFILGi4rGpOr6YmY5a/s200/frontpage2%5B1%5D.jpg" border="0" /></a><br /><div>STF REVIEW<br /><br /><br />Stranger Than Fiction had a ‘Best Of Fest’ feel to it this year with all of the international films having previously screened at major festivals and most of them having shown at probably the world’s top doc festival, Hot Docs in Toronto.<br /><br />The outstanding programme opened with The Yes Men Fix The World, a doc following the stunts of the Yes Men, two giddy political activists who pose as corporate spokesmen to create bizarre situations that make us question the ethics of the corporate world. It’s fun stuff, with an edge, and does exactly what many modern documentaries seek to do: please the crowd while making them think.<br /><br />The international programme proved diverse and fascinating, both in subject material and tone. There were films about a heavy-drinking 53-year-old's attempt to swim the Amazon, the oldest newspaper columnist in the world, the export of Indian Hair, Pop Idol Afghani style and the story of the worst film ever made. And much much more.<br /><br />But the stand-out film for me, and the one I’m still thinking about many weeks later, was Dear Zachary: A letter To A Son About His Father. In many ways I don’t want to say a thing about it other than, ‘find a way of seeing this amazing film.’ There are so many twists and turns in this enthralling plot that it is hard to say much without giving the game away. Essentially, it’s a filmmaker making a film about his murdered best friend to give to his unborn son when he arrives to tell him what a great guy his dad was. But it’s much more than that. The audience were gobsmacked. Buy the DVD.<br /><br />While there were no Irish feature-length documentaries in the festival this year, there were a number of shorts. The Liberties – a programme of 14 shorts about the Liberties area of Dublin – sold out twice, proving there’s a definite hunger for Irish content among the festival-going crowd and it was certainly popular with the audience (for podcast with directors, see Film Ireland website). The festival also showed three short documentaries from the past about Irish communities abroad<br /><br />In the shorts programme, the highly entertaining and perfectly judged Forty Foot proved you don’t need a giant budget to make a beautiful and engaging film and it was the favourite with both the audience and the judges.<br /><br />Overall, a festival with many great stories told in a variety of ways and all very enjoyable.</div><br /><div></div><br /><div><a href="http://www.strangerthanfiction.ie/">http://www.strangerthanfiction.ie/</a></div><br /><div></div><br /><div><a href="http://www.dearzachary.com/">http://www.dearzachary.com/</a></div>rosswhitaker.tvhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14983732834839138003noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4899463492090461461.post-64698650144293401462009-08-10T09:54:00.001-07:002009-08-10T10:03:19.389-07:00What Albert SaidWriting about The Tudors reminded me of something that Albert Maysles said. The documentary maker is not a director or controller - more an author or observer.<br /><br />I checked out his website <a href="http://www.mayslesfilms.com/">http://www.mayslesfilms.com/</a><br /><br />On it, he talks about what it is to be a documentary maker. I hope they don't mind if I quote below. May I clearly state that this is from the website <a href="http://www.mayslesfilms.com/">http://www.mayslesfilms.com/</a> dedicated to one of the greatest documentary makers of all time and if you're into documentary you should check it out.<br /><br />Why<br /><br />As a documentarian I happily place my fate and faith in reality. It is my caretaker, the provider of subjects, themes, experiences—all endowed with the power of truth and the romance of discovery. And the closer I adhere to reality the more honest and authentic my tales. After all, knowledge of the real world is exactly what we need to better understand and therefore possibly to love one another. It’s my way of making the world a better place.<br /><br /><br />How<br /><br />1. Distance oneself from a point of view.<br />2. Love your subjects.<br />3. Film events, scenes, sequences; avoid interviews, narration, a host.<br />4. Work with the best talent.<br />5. Make it experiential, film experience directly, unstaged, uncontrolled.<br />6.There is a connection between reality and truth. Remain faithful to both.<br /><br />Some Do's and Dont's<br /><br />• Hold it steady.<br />• Use manual zoom, not the electronic.<br />• Read as much of the PD 170 manual as you can.<br />• Read book or chapter in a photography book on how to compose shots.<br />• Use the steady device that’s in the camera.<br />• Never use a tripod (exception: filming photographs, for example).<br />• You’ll get a steadier picture the more wide-angle the shot. In a walking shot go very wide angle.• Hold the beginning and end of each shot. The editor will need that.• Use no lights. The available light is more authentic.<br />• Learn the technique but equally important keep your eye open to watch the significant moment. Orson Welles: “The cameraman’s camera should have behind its lens the eye of a poet.”<br />• Remember, as a documentarian you are an observer, an author but not a director, a discoverer, not a controller.<br />• Don’t worry that your presence with the camera will change things. Not if you’re confident you belong there and understand that in your favor is that of the two instincts, to disclose or to keep a secret, the stronger is to disclose.<br />• It’s not “fly-on-the-wall”. That would be mindless. You need to establish rapport even without saying so but through eye contact and empathy.rosswhitaker.tvhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14983732834839138003noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4899463492090461461.post-3232002163578496592009-08-10T06:51:00.000-07:002009-09-04T04:24:04.850-07:00A Day on The Tudors<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjHJSLMHXWnLKKZmWVwKNq5Ill33gAGeNZR09EA88KXc5u7lSqLWLUt7womGCVIH6bIq1OHtPsJtexOfqymCnSwbLbVQKlGaCKRlb5ZvsKvgm_YnGHwMUU333WKAhkk1bIOohoe0gWmGGVX/s1600-h/The+Tudors.jpg"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5368332877708516082" style="FLOAT: left; MARGIN: 0px 10px 10px 0px; WIDTH: 90px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 90px" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjHJSLMHXWnLKKZmWVwKNq5Ill33gAGeNZR09EA88KXc5u7lSqLWLUt7womGCVIH6bIq1OHtPsJtexOfqymCnSwbLbVQKlGaCKRlb5ZvsKvgm_YnGHwMUU333WKAhkk1bIOohoe0gWmGGVX/s200/The+Tudors.jpg" border="0" /></a><br /><div><br /><strong>A Day Following The Director on The Tudors</strong></div><div> </div><div></div><div></div><div></div><div>When exec producer Morgan O’Sullivan calmly leads me on to the set of The Tudors I’m immediately struck by the scale of things. It’s more people than I’ve ever seen on a set. But then, as somebody who devotes most of his time to documentaries, I haven’t been on that many sets.<br /><br />I’m told it’s not the biggest production you’ll see but I’m still impressed by the number of people around and the amount of organization that goes into making the production run like a well oiled machine.<br /><br />‘Machine’ is a word I hear frequently throughout my day on The Tudors - most of this team have been through a few series of the Tudors and a feature film together and they know very well what it takes to keeping the production moving. There’s a great atmosphere on set and people are immensely friendly, going out of their way to make me feel at home.<br /><br />In the driving seat of the machine on this particular day is Ciaran Donnelly, the easy-going director of George Gently, Stardust, Proof and numerous other TV dramas. As I arrive, they’re picking up a scene from the previous evening. I immediately show my naivety by asking Ciaran if there’s much of a light difference overnight. He gives me a tour a few minutes later and I realise that the lovely natural light coming from outside is all lights and the trees outside the windows are blowing in the wind due to a fan.<br /><br />In my own defence, drama is entirely new to me. My background is documentary and my preference is for observational documentary. Sometimes when making a documentary the best approach is to cede control, to let the action proceed naturally and not intervene in anyway. The notion of ‘direction’ is almost counter-intuitive - sometimes it is better not to direct at all.<br /><br />I recently shot a three-minute short and a massive amount of prep went into it. I couldn’t help thinking that you have to have a completely different approach to how you control things in drama. When I say this to Ciaran, he says, “control is everything.”<br /><br />Before each scene, Donnelly does a rehearsal with only the actors where they quietly work through the scene and the elements that concern them, then the first team (heads of department) will watch what he has in mind before communicating that through the ranks.<br /><br />The mood is relaxed but this is presumably only the case because of all of the structures that are in place. A lot of preparation has gone into this and it very much feels like a team are working through a prearranged plan. Donnelly tells me that he will prepare three or four ways that a scene might work in advance before arriving on set.<br /><br />Having said that, it is clear to see the creativity and collaboration unfold as the first team rehearses the scene. In a scene that involves a fight that breaks out during a card game, little elements are added every time they work through it. In this case, the suggestions add tremendously to the scene but it must be difficult sometimes to know which suggestions to listen to and which to ignore.<br /><br />Two cameras are rolling simultaneously on each scene. The purpose of this is to pick off little story beats where available and Donnelly is on the lookout for little details that add to the story.<br /><br />The second camera is used first to get reaction shots from a major character in a crowded scene. In another scene it’s used as a steadicam to give another option and in a third scene it’s a wider view of the tighter main camera. Donnelly watches them all carefully and chooses the ones he likes.<br /><br />The Tudors is part-funded with Canadian money and Donnelly explains to me that the footage goes to Toronto for the edit. As I understand it, by the time he gets to the edit, it’s about 60-70 percent cut. He then does a cut for story and one for character and works out the best solution.<br /><br />After spending the day on The Tudors, I have a much better understanding of the work that goes into a major drama like this. So much of it is preparation but a director must also be open to the little bits of magic that happen on the day.<br /><br />Thanks to all on The Tudors and the folks at SDGI for making this available. It’s definitely an experience that helps you understand TV drama better. </div>rosswhitaker.tvhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14983732834839138003noreply@blogger.com0