Sunday 4 October 2015

An opportunity of a life-time...



Someone has just played Purcell's funeral march for Queen Mary on her Desert Island Discs, and Cro has just mentioned a film he was in, so I am going to air my Video-Mapping film again whether you like it or not. I can be glimpsed taking a slug out of a large Gin and Tonic right at the beginning.

There has always been talk of showing it again at Christmas - projected on the pub front, I mean - but neither I or my co-producer have the energy or will that it takes to go through all the bloody logistics of getting it organised, so we are going to see if the pub itself wants to put it on. They are so bloody untogether, that I don't think they will get it together, so we may have to delegate like we wanted to in the first place.

We have just enough money in the account to cover the cost of the projector hire, but having got a video-mapping project under my belt, I am more interested in doing something different and new - quadracopter drone photography.

We wandered into a darkened room in one of the Rome museums and watched a little documentary drama made on the ancient sites, using drone and Steady-Cam. It was truly breath-taking. The high-definition film of the ruins was obviously taken in very early morning (no people about) and as the camera rose into the sky, it was smooth and steady with no vibration at all - no wheels or even train-tracks to have to deal with.

There is one big problem, though. There have been a few incidents over the last year when some idiots have been flying camera drones right into the paths of airplanes at places like Heathrow, so they are just about to regulate their use even more stringently than at present.

You can buy a top-quality drone and camera for about £900, and they have a controllable range of about 2 miles, so in the wrong hands they can be very dangerous. Already it is illegal to fly them within a mile or so of people and buildings, so if I am to make a film using them, I will have to be licensed and insured up to the hilt, and use a licensed and qualified operator. This could end up being even more expensive than the video-mapping.

I already have a professional cinematographer friend who has guardedly said that we should talk about this project at some point in detail before he agrees to get involved (he films the 'Doc Martin' series down in Cornwall - super-successful in the States, I am told), but I am well aware that there are plenty of true professionals out there who would love to do the same thing, given the opportunity - and funding.

Want to invest? You'll never see a return!

11 comments:

  1. I've just received the very first Christmas gift catalogue of 2015 (they come by the bucketful from now on), and inside was a child's drone and camera for just €50. Obviously just a toy, but even so.....!

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    1. They are so damned cheap. That is one of the problems! There have been many incidents of neighbours from hell flying them up to bedroom windows etc, and I was wondering about the legality of shooting them down if they are over your property.

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    2. The one I was in was made in about 1965-ish, it starred Oliver Reed; but I can't remember much more about it.

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    3. We called them helicopters in my day.

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  2. I saw you blending in nicely in the background with the drink so no worries there then. The French that can clearly be heard above the noise illustrates the wide diversification of nationalities in Bath although the pronunciation of the words used is a little unusual, n'est-ce pas?

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    1. 'Mercy Bucket' - he was collecting for the Nepal Disaster. A good joke from a Frenchman.

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  3. Yet another reason for not flying abroad for a holidaynext year. The list gets longer.

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  4. Go for it! Get this new project off the ground. Heh. (sorry) Passion, passion, passion!! You'll have a great time. But sorry, no investment from me, even though your sales pitch is overwhelming. But if you make it, I will definitely watch it. I loved your Bell project.

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    1. Yes, I think so, Mel. You would be amazed at the professional resentment someone like me encounters with even a video-mapping project. You would also be amazed at how much a 5 minute one costs. I have decided it would be best to film it in the late Spring, but logistics will determine which one - I think probably 2017.

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