joyful shepherds

And another editing session 4-9 February. Despite the equipment continuously crashing the first couple of days and slowing up the editing process dramatically, it decided to behave itself thereafter, and much was achieved. Charles always complains he's under the cosh when hyperactive Libby arrives - no time allowed for contemplation, listening to wireless programmes or CDs, let alone R&R!

The film has developed in so many ways, the educational, intellectual and secular side of Patrick's work gaining ascendancy over the religious and militaristic (perhaps this is sub-conscious since both of us hate conflict and are atheists) so we had suggested changing the working title of From Coventry to Cochem to something broader. However John and Charlotte are adamant that this title should remain so top of the agenda was how to rework the beginning of the film using the footage from the promo we showed last year. Having decided what to do, the next problem is how to do it - we're now working in High Definition and although the promo was filmed in HD, it was edited in Standard Definition, so Charles is going to have to put together the entire sequence all over again. Libby's also got to add a suitable introduction for the mellifluously voiced, almost nostalgic tones of Jeremy Irons.

So, what did we achieve this time round? Well, amazingly enough Dame Edna including the very amusing Australian interlude, Southwell Minster, Patrick's sketchbooks, the Moore Memorial at Much Hadham and Commedia del Arte including some wonderful lively footage we took of Patrick before this film was even a twinkle. We also added up the running time from the sequences completed to date - a rather scary 77 minutes! I'm going to have to lose some of my darlings doubtless!

And we even managed a quick trip to the rather wonderful Harley Gallery (http://www.harleygallery.co.uk) near Worksop to see Nora Fok's amazing creations - the exhibition curated by Charles' friends Ken and Brochocka Baynes. The special opening was to celebrate the Year of the Rabbit - I'm one of them! We're supposed to be creative, hardworking and ambitious, with an eye for colour and line, and apparently this year promises hopes, positivity and fun! Good, good!

Some wonderful dramatic sunsets whilst at EKH (hence the happy shepherds) a couple of which bookend this blog. I'm off to London tomorrow to help son the younger move into his new house, then to Yorkshire next week to visit mea mater, back to Kent for more London removals before returning to Film Farm 21 February. It's all go!

editing and Oundle

24 January and Libby was back at Film Farm ready for the next editing instalment. Finished off the Burleighfield Education segment but realised we needed more images of the place - have emailed Ray King to see if he can come up with some goodies.
25 January we did a short interlude about Patrick's autonomous panels based on the stories in Ovid's Metamorphoses and completed Education 2 which is about Patrick's time at Central - the ex students we interviewed were great, good lively debate which led irrevocably to the influence of Cecil Collins and thus to the stained glass he designed for Basingstoke.
26 January edited Basingstoke (despite the equipment having a really stroppy day and crashing every five seconds) - an absolutely beautiful section, Charles produced some wonderful photography (aided not a little by the angle of the sun shining through the silvery yellow colouring). Quite ethereal and spiritual and perfectly suited to Cecil Collins.
27 January Charles was dragged kicking and screaming out of bed long before his normal waking hour and we charged off to Oundle to do some more work on the chapel and school exterior. Stephen Forge the School Archivist took us in hand and found some wonderful old engravings of the school, a film of the Queen Mother at the opening dedication of the windows in 1956, and the piece de resistance - a film of the school and schoolboys dating back to 1913. Priceless stuff. Including footage of the OTC marching and presenting arms and then leaving on a train, happily waving - considering that about 1/3rd of all the old boys who joined the forces were killed in WW1, this is quite tear jerking stuff. The 2nd floor edit suites were set to work overtime and process the material overnight. Photo of the chapel seen through a screen of silver birch trees and of course Libby got sidelined by the first sign of spring, celandines (unfortunately not open since there wasn't sufficient sun to coax them open). 28 January - well we just had to re-edit the Oundle section with all our wonderful new material. Excellent and adds a new dimension to the film.
29 January - we found some software which shows breaking glass - but at some phenomenal cost - Charles investigated to see if he could find something similar but cheaper - he's not too happy with the chapter endings as they are. The day was otherwise spent in reviewing the work to date and calculating how many more days we can squeeze into our already packed agendas in order to finish the film by the end of March.
30 January at some god-forsaken hour (certainly before Charles had even surfaced) Libby waved au revoir to Film Farm, driving to Bewdley where she spent a couple of days making notes on an extensive Brangwyn collection (over 150 works which all need to be written up as formal reports ASAP!) Aaaargh!
SMARTIES - fiddlesticks, we didn't have time yet again for the smartie experiment.

... and we're off

A mere 2 days into the New Year and Charles and Libby are back to work again editing the Reyntiens film. We started on Coventry but got bogged down because Libby is more word based and Charles more visual based and he wanted some beautiful film where the protagonists weren't saying anything constructive, whereas I wanted some good words where the protagonists were standing in the wrong place! Much discussion over dinner after which we compromised and understood each other's approach!
The following day we finished Coventry amicably, but decided we required Smarties (you've no idea how difficult these are to purchase these days, and they don't even appear to sell them in the traditional round tube. Appalling, what is the world coming to?!) Why did we need Smarties? Wait until the next episode when we might have time to experiment!
We edited an interlude wherein Patrick paints a stained glass panel and, aware of his predilection for painting to the accompaniment of banjo music, Charles moved into garage band and composed a jolly piece there and then! What a hero!
Thence to the Liverpool sequence, but decided to leave this until we've interviewed David Kirby. To which end we phoned him and have booked for February 24th, and have also gained permission to film St Mary's, Leyland on the 25th - so excellent news.
Then decided that we needed a recognisable way of ending each chapter (the important stained glass windows) and played around with images of glass breaking until we got what we wanted. Added some interesting sounds of wind playing in wires, quite eerie.
More amusing interludes, plus serious chapters on Sanderson window and Education and before you can say Jack Robinson, it was Sunday and Libby had to return to Kent.

good news

Well, we're back just before the New Year after all! Sorry about that, I'm sure you all deserved a break! Anyway, the reason is this:
I had wanted to interview David Kirby for the film since he was tremendously important in helping construct the Lantern Tower at Liverpool Metropolitan Cathedral, but none of my contacts had any snail mail, email or telephone number for the gentleman in question. So imagine my delight when just before Christmas John Reyntiens sent me David's email address. We were soon in telephone contact. Not only does he sound very enthusiastic, but he's also emailed a whole slew of archival photographs detailing Liverpool work in progress at the Loudwater studio - AND he told us that Patrick's design and use of dalles-de-verre for St Mary's, Leyland (which David also helped construct) was pivotal in deciding whether to undertake the Liverpool commission. We didn't even know about the Leyland project, so this is all a huge boost.
The film would not be complete without an interview with David, so despite the fact that he lives in Herefordshire and every trip eats into our miniscule profit margin, I think we're going to have to take some time off from editing! 'Go the extra mile' should be our motto!
Happy New Year to you all. :-)

frost, fish, Film Farm

Tuesday 7th saw me on my travels once more, this time to lecture near Aylesbury. As noted the snow on my side of Kent had melted away, but come Sevenoaks it was all snowy again which finally gave way to the most beautiful hoar frost I think I've ever seen. Thence across to Bristol area for the night and the following day a drive down to Truro for another lecture - again fabulous frost sparkling in the low sunlight - the sheep were snapped during this trip (reminds me of a dreadful painting my grandfather had above his fireplace, always struck me as odd, the miserable looking half frozen sheep marooned above a blazing log fire!). Stayed the night with a lovely lady in St Agnes, an old tin mining village.Thursday a Reyntiens research day, first to see the five amazing Piper/Reyntiens windows in St Andrew's, Plymouth (the fish are a detail from the Trinity window in the south transept). And on to Devizes to see the spirited Piper/Reyntiens panel in the Museum of Wiltshire Archaeological Society, from which the pots are a detail. Night at a B&B north of Oxford and then the following morning a drive to Film Farm arriving in time for luncheon of scallops wrapped in pancetta (a FF Favourite).Charles' friend Alan had been delighting himself night fishing off the east coast beaches (must be barking!) and presented the director with a cauldron full of whiting (see photo). Luckily Charles undertook the fiddly filleting process whilst I faffed around putting together tomatoes, spinach, carrots, celery, chilli pepper, grated cheddar, some prawns and smoked fish and mash to make a Jamie Oliver style fish pie. Followed by fish soup and Gruyere toasts the following day, and gallons and gallons of fish stock for the freezer.

And then it was back to editing work until Tuesday when I drove back to Kent. Wednesday went to Christie's to witness the auction of Brangwyn's Cider Press and Brass Shop, both woefully undersold to my mind, especially considering the prices some rather worthless pieces attracted. Hey ho, c'est la vie. Cheered myself up no end by then not only 'doing' the Glasgow Boys at the RA (wonderful except for the labelling, one room was decorated in gold and the writing was impossible to read) but also Gauguin at Tate Modern (he was one of my earliest artistic passions so interesting to note that I still found the work fascinating and compelling some 45 or so years later - my love of art started at a very precocious age you understand!)

Now to contemplate Christmas - and do some organising! Have a good one - we'll be back in the New Year.

the snow show must go on!

Well, although the footie briefly but tiresomely intruded on the news, you will all have realised that SNOW took centre stage this last week, not least in Lincolnshire and Kent (see photo of a table outside the breakfast room). When the snow falls heavily and drifts my house becomes completely cut off from the world, so I took the necessary precaution of leaving my car in the village 1/4 mile away. Conditions in Kent became progressively worse, the M20 motorway was again turned into a lorry car park c/o Operation Stack, roads were hazardous, normal trains not working, Dover completely cut off by rail, road or sea - but we do have one excellent advantage nearly on our doorstep - High Speed Rail, Ashford to St Pancras. So, come Wednesday's lecture in Theydon Bois, despite a hacking cough and redder nose than normal, at 7am I released my car from its blanket of snow in the village and drove to Ashford, thence the train to Stratford International, bus to Stratford tube and central line out to Essex. Not my best ever lecture but I did give it my all! Still shivering I then made my way to Finchley Road station to see a Brangwyn watercolour in a private collection, which cheered me up no end because it was one of the most beautiful ones I have ever seen. And the lovely lady gave me a warming cup of tea and some yummy lemon polenta cake which slightly revived my spirits (having had no breakfast or lunch). Thence back to chilly Kent and I was still shivering and shaking until the following morning.

Postscript: the day after I took the photo, i.e. yesterday, the snow melted overnight, as if by magic, but the weight of it on the poor old roof, and then the subsequent floods of water, infiltrated the tiling and and a few ceilings with the result that by morning all the clothes in the wardrobe were sopping wet, an old Mongolian carpet was similarly affected and huge lumps of plaster have detached themsleves. UGH!

2nd edit session

Returned to Film Farm 22 November for the next session which went pretty well although working with so many different format films, archival stuff and VHS is hurting the brain of the new system which decides to crash periodically. Have devised the time lapse chapter headings and progressed on to Oundle but realise need more footage of the school so am trying to organise that for early next year - at least it is just down the road from FF.Whilst in residence I wandered down to the greenhouses one day to check out the remaining tomatoes and discovered this absolute beauty which weighed in at 1lb11oz (the establishment works in old fashioned Imperial despite the modern technology) and tasted pretty darned good when sliced and teamed up with mozzarella, olives, capers, avocado and home grown chillies with a drizzle of unfiltered and balsamic.

As correctly predicted by the weather men the snow fell on Thursday and the house grew progressively colder (they didn't predict that consequence) - by Saturday morning my bedroom windows were iced over INSIDE! Aaaargh! Returned to Kent Sunday (almost coincidentally) with a burgeoning cold which does not bode well for Wednesday's lecture. UGH!