You’ll like this – not a lot…
This is one of Paul Daniels’s favourite catch phrases. Along with ‘Say yes Paul’, Mr Daniels is still one of the worlds most famous magicians. Paul and his wife Debbie McGee live near the river Thames. Living next to the river Thames has its advantages. Renowned magician Paul Daniels and his wife, the lovely Debbie McGee can indulge in their passion for local interest, river life and adhoc magic.
Now Paul has an idea. He wants to share his magical entertaining talent by hosting a series of shows in the local village halls along the path of the river. Riding on his antique electric wooden canoe The Lovely Debbie McGee, Paul and Debbie will share a journey from Oxford down to Teddington Lock, stopping along the way to explore the local history, speaking to some of the amazing characters who live the river life, performing adhoc street magic and treating the locals to a world class magic show in their local village halls.
Often controversial, Paul will also share with us his point of view on life, the universe and everything in it with surprising and often witty points of view. A chance to experience the mind of a character who has often been dubbed the most famous magician of modern times.
This six part series, shot and directed by renowned filmmaker Claudio von Planta, promises to get under the skin of one of the countries’ best known, but least understood, entertainers.
We’re currently pitching this concept to several broadcasters in preparation for filming in the Spring of 2010.
Cavewood Productions
Headed up by Jackie Herd and Tim Maloy, they have a track record in corporate work, Equestrian documentary and event coverage.
This is all fine, and as my daughter is learning to ride, I’m quite content to learn more about the equestrian lifestyle.
In actuality, they have a history in the sport of Carriage Driving. This is a minority sport in the UK, but in Europe and especially Holland, it’s quite well supported and followed.
So I’ve found my self out on a Quad Bike with my little Sony A1 in the ruck sack, interviewing the competitors as they get around the course. As you can see, I have to wear a daft helmet, but at least I fit in with the rest!
The results are pretty good and we’re happy with the way the final edit has turned out. You can see the first 15min episode here.
Production Notes
The workflow is simple. We all shoot in HDV on A1, Z1 and Z7 (for the slow mo) and down convert when we ingest into the edit suite. So Cavewood use a Quad Xeon PC with Adobe Premiere Pro and edit in DVCAM. After a simple online edit for colour correction, broadcast safety and graphics, the whole thing is output as a Quicktime file and sent to Red Bee Media for broadcast on Sky Horse and Country Channel.