Our Mansfield

Here is a classic video short made in Mansfield in the 90′s…

 

 

Here is footage of a video workshop I attended last month

 

Here is something to tug on those heartstrings. “When will I be Famous” the latest dance show by Julie Shacklock is dedicating profits from the show to the “PATCHES HEART GROUP” charity, to aid the families of children born with congenital heart defects (CHD). There is about 1 sufferer in every 140 births.

Maria is the founder of the charity and is singing Somewhere Over the Rainbow on behalf of PATCHES HEART GROUP. The video shows some pictures of local children who have the disease.

If you like the video please feel free to leave a comment at the bottom.

Charity website patchesheartgroup.webs.com

Filmed at Ashfield School – Kirkby-in-Asfield

Last night my little girl asked me to help her play the next movie she wanted. I was in the bathroom.

I teased her, “If you count to 99 from 19, I will come out.”

The little girl wailed, “99 is a big number. I can’t do it!”

I said, ” Then I will not come out.”

She cried, ” It will take ages! I don’t want to do it.”

I insisted, “No counting, no movie!”

The little started sobbing and banging the door.

I opened the door and  grabbed her hands.

“It’s naughty,” I said. “and I don’t like it!”

“I am sorry. But I still want to watch the movie!”

“How about counting to 98?”  I suddenly had a twist in my mind.

“Ah, that’s easy! I can do it, Mama.” the little girl cheered. Then she dried her tears and sailed through to 100  ^_^

What  is the difference between 99 and 98?  As an adult, it’s 1 number difference.  As a child, maybe it is a matter of how much they want to make compromise.

It’s the first day of 2012.

I woke up at 07:13 by alarm clock and eventually got up at 08:00. It’s a breaking record since the holiday began.

The weather was good for a while and then rained for a while. Typical England weather.

I am not a great fan of films but I sat down to watch two films with my family, one then the other.

Suddenly I thought about Helen.

Helen is a librarian. She is going to give up her job and to be a foster parent.

Remember the horrible man I mentioned on one of my posts? I am so glad to that Helen and her husband make such a generous decision. They have brought up two great children and I am sure they will inspire those unfortunate children.

Make a change.

It’s New Year. Let’s say good bye to 2011, try our best to live for ourselves and our family. When you think you are a better person, and you will be.

It’s Christmas Day, but I am depressed.

Firstly, I am tired. These days I couldn’t sleep properly as I usually did. Yet, I still have to work, discipline and educate my little girl and bear the noise in the house all day long.

Secondly, I am stressed. There are 7 coursework I should have submitted for my course but I have done none. It’s been 2 months but I only finished the first chapter. I need time of my own but I just can’t let my little one watch telly all day…

And then, I feel no family and no friends. The man of the house doesn’t have any friends and he doesn’t like to socialise with my friends. What can I do?

At last, I was told a related 17-year-old boy is going to be a father. That made me feel very disappointed. The father of the boy said he was proud of it. This made me feel disgusting. How can such a young boy be responsible to a family? He is just one of the many. They don’t realise but they uses the resources of the nation and disadvantage their own children. It’s the parents’ faulth. The generations in the UK seem to go downhill further and further. I am losing faith on this land.

What shall I do?

Here is a short video I made on the 17th November for the Mansfield Lights switch on. We didn’t get anywhere near the stage because of the sheer volume of people there, ans we were quite late, but got some lovely shots of the fireworks and lights, and hopefully some of the atmosphear….

Mansfield Christmas Lights Switch on 2011 from GreenwoodVideo on Vimeo.

 

There is room for all types of wedding videos, and a market for all the many different types and budget ranges. Some brides just want some sort of video record and will try and get it for nothing (family member with a little camera), while others want a full film crew at their wedding and will pay about 8K for it!

I spent 20 years producing what I regard as the traditional type wedding video. It was a formula that never varied in all those years because it worked. Brides loved it, it was easy, mostly edited in camera stuff.

But since joining the IOV I have changed my views somewhat. The IOV hasn’t made me do this, it’s a choice I made on my own because I wanted to start doing something different. I wanted to produce something I was even more proud of, that compared to what you would see on TV, something that would bring a little respect to my company name GreenwoodVideo.

No longer do I use handheld shots, no longer do I use the entire ceremony (usually I edit it down to 15 minutes) unless the bride wants it, the photo call is usually edited down to about 7 minutes (from an hours footage) plus a few interviews and little montages I make with the bride and groom on their own.

I use sliders, glidepod, monopod, I’m just starting to use DSLR… and use different techniques picked up from watching work freely available throughout the Internet… I have a car boot full of stuff, carry a bag around with me with my slider and Steadicam, a utility belt with batteries and cards and gawd knows what else that I may need… I’m like a combat commando rather than a videographer!

At the end of the day I have left my job and now just do video production full time, something I wanted to do for 20 years but had never dared too before joining the IOV.

Now that I have entered the Cinematic Wedding Film realm I actually enjoy doing weddings much more than I ever have because I can put much more thought and style into the work. I love colour grading and adding flares and all the rest of it during the editing stage. Sometimes it takes me a full day to just produce 2 minutes of video! But I love it!

For me, it’s all just so much more rewarding, even though it’s more work. It’s a choice I and others have chosen. There is a market for it but it’s not for all brides because of the higher price tags involved, some would rather spend 1k on a cake!

The advancement in large chip cameras with lens that can (and more importantly are) interchanged throughout the job in-hand, the new editing skills, plug-ins and techniques just make the top end of the wedding video market more and more outstanding!

I love what i do and love the challenges before me, and those I have beaten behind me. I am thinking of the IOV fellowship next, and have some ideas to get it using my new skills. I may never achieve it, but I am still going to try, just like I am going to try for the IOV awards next year… and the year after that….

So for all those who love doing the traditional wedding video, your doing an excellent job. There is a huge market for it and it has worked for over 20 years and will continue to work long after you retire!

For those that are challenging new techniques, good luck and welcome to a whole new world!

 

Both yesterday and today are duplicating days. I am using a brand new duplication tower connected to one of my computers burning copy protected DVD discs. The idea behind this is for my Dance show filming campany Dance Show Filming (visit) to offer “Child Protection” copies of shows or plays.

There is an additional cost to this as the protection works on a “per” disc scheme, but we feel that it’s worth absorbing this additional cost into our product. Making the discs virtually uncopyable is a great way to help prevent images of the children getting into the wrong hands, or been uploaded onto the Internet (e.g. youtube, facebook etc) without other parents consent.

Of course nothing is 100% and for the really determined there’s always a way past the encryption, but at least there are some barriers in the way to slow them down! The protection is actually better than on DVD movies from Amazon, and we are more confident to assure parents that their children are safer on our DVDs than any of the competition.

What are your views on this? Please use the comments below….

 

 

Just finished the Tate Furniture promo video, changed a few little details to get it looking just right. Hope you like….