Camera Moves – Progess

We’ve been continuing with our #cameramoves experiments over at MDI studio for a few weeks now. It’s been great working with the different groups who have been open and interested in our experiments and it’s been fantastic working with Jennie Hale to develop the idea.

I was initially nervous about how people would take to the idea – it’s an unusual concept, crossing movement and camera work but everyone we have worked with so far has really run with the idea.

Marketing the open call out sessions proved harder that anticipated, mainly I reckon because we are working with two different disciplines, film making and performance. These genres are usually kept separate, so bringing them both together in an experimental workshop may have made some people wary of getting involved. Once people are able to see how the process works and the collaborative nature of it, they got it.

It’s been particularly interesting working with the different age range and seeing what people make of the opportunity. With each group you can really feel the concentration in the room after shouting ‘Action’.

Camera Moves

There’s also been lot’s of interesting discussions around how it feels to be creating something in a room with so many cameras. It seems that when lot’s of people are filming, it takes the pressure off – it’s impossible to avoid the camera – it’s everywhere, so you just have to go with it.

What has been interesting is taking the footage from each of the sessions and mixing them up. As most of them have been shot in the same location, it looks as though everyone has been performing together.

We’re having a final showcase event this Friday 5th July at METAL in Liverpool from 6pm – 8pm to show some of the footage we’ve collected and chat about our findings. We’ll also be running another workshop with live music provided by Germanger – it’s free – you should come – and you can book tickets here.

Camera Moves

Camera Moves tests at METAL

Last year, I was lucky enough to do a short ‘Time & Space’ residency at METAL in Liverpool which I used to explore ideas I had been floating around for a while based on connection, loneliness and solitude and how mostly the idea of being alone is regarded as something to fear.

I think I’ve always been a bit of an introvert so one of the things that attracted me to filmmaking was it enabled me to dip into new worlds and collaborate with different people while remaining safely at a distance behind the camera. In fact, I have often thought of the camera as ‘The Shield’, a way to be part of something while remaining at a safe distance.

As the residency came to a close, one of the ideas I chose to develop (with METAL’s generous support) became ‘Camera Moves’. The concept is a simple one. Everyone involved has a camera and is either filming each other or a particular performer/event. I’ve filmed performances and music gigs before as part of a team, trying to keep each other out of the frame – there’s a certain amount of excitement and energy that goes into that collective approach. This is different – it’s about keeping everybody in the frame, no hiding. It’s an attempt to break down barriers between filmmaker and subject, audience and artist.

I also wanted a quick turn around time for watching the completed film, so rather than use conventional editing techniques, I’ve been working with live editing software Isadora which uses a database to hold the footage (rather than a timeline) and where clips can be selected in different random ways, such as audio or movement.

I thought it would be good to collaborate with someone skilled in movement and dance and I approached Jennie Hale at Taciturn who was keen to get involved. We then put the project to the Arts Council and we’ve been given a small grant to develop the idea and run a few small workshops. Our first session at METAL proved fruitful, just in terms of testing out the tech and how feasible this all was, but also just in terms of how it felt.

Camera Moves – live edit test from Tim Brunsden on Vimeo.

Some of the things we noted during the tests were:-

  • When everyone has a camera the energy in the room becomes very concentrated and about chance encounter.
  • People tended to explore the environment but were generally respectful of each others space.
  • We were all trying to create some form of creative visual connection.
  • There was some interesting discussions with regards to how much time we spend looking at our devices rather than at the real world.
  • If you are wearing a cameras such as a GoPro, the experience is completely different to using one hand held.
  • Watching the live edit is very addictive, there’s some often beautiful moments that may never be repeated.

Next week, we are running a couple more free workshops at MDI, one of them being an open session, so if you want to come along, book a slot now at the link below. Be interesting too see how this develops with different groups.

https://www.eventbrite.com/e/camera-moves-workshop-tickets-60418657832

The Old Steam

For the last couple of years, I’ve been working with Duckie on The Slaughterhouse Club, a workshop project with Thames Reach Hostels for homeless vulnerable Londoners struggling with booze and addiction issues.

The project is running for five years from 2015 until 2020, forty weeks per year. Every Thursday we are at Robertson Street Hostel in Battersea, and every Friday we are at Graham House in Vauxhall.

I collaborated with one of the residents Chris Argent on this film, which explores his passion for steam trains.

Food For Real Festival Trailer – Spring 2016

Food For Real Festival Trailer 2016 – Spring from Tim Brunsden on Vimeo.

We made this at a short film making workshop with the growing group from Squash Nutrition. Filmed on my iPhone, at 240 frames per second with some lovely cheap lenses attached. It was fun experimenting.

Claire House Children’s Hospice

Towards the end of last year, I made a short film for Claire House, highlighting the work they do with families whose children won’t live to be adults. It was shown as part of the ‘It’s Glam Up North’ exhibition, (curated by the Photographer Rankin). It was an interesting film to make, my approach being to make it an overall positive and empowering experience, celebrating life through the families personal stories. More information about the exhibition can be seen here.

The exhibition ran until the 5th December and their will be a slightly shortened version of the completed film on-line which I will post online soon. In the meantime, here’s a short trailer.

You can find out more about the work Claire House do here.

My Clockwork Heart

I filmed Patrick Dineen‘s new show at the Unity Theatre a month ago and we’ve since put together this short trailer for the piece. It was a tricky show to film just because it was performed in the round and it was quite difficult to find a filming location that wasn’t an obstruction for someone. Really interesting show though – lets see where is reappears.