Doing the Lambeth walk
I was approached through my church connections in May 2008 to make a short film for the Church of England. It is to be used to start a dialogue between certain factions in the congregations of the Church. Between those who approve of gay and lesbian relationships and those who do not. A sensitive area full of political indecision, as you can imagine.
The Archbishop of York, Dr John Sentamu, wants this film to be watched by all the parishes in the Diocese of York in the format of a discussion evening. It will be accompanied by printed notes to help a ‘balanced’ discussion to take place. There can be a few militant, hard line members of the Church that talking about this sort of thing would be difficult thing for them to do.
Here is the background to this film:
The Lambeth Conference of 1998 resolved to listen to the experience of gays and lesbians within the Church. The resolution was called “Resolution 1.10″.
Resolution 1.10, Human Sexuality
This Conference: commends to the Church the subsection report on human sexuality;
In view of the teaching of Scripture, upholds faithfulness in marriage between a man and a woman in lifelong union, and believes that abstinence is right for those who are not called to marriage.
Recognises that there are among us persons who experience themselves as having a homosexual orientation. Many of these are members of the Church and are seeking the pastoral care, moral direction of the Church, and God’s transforming power for the living of their lives and the ordering of relationships. We commit ourselves to listen to the experience of homosexual persons and we wish to assure them that they are loved by God and that all baptised, believing and faithful persons, regardless of sexual orientation, are full members of the Body of Christ;
While rejecting homosexual practice as incompatible with Scripture, calls on all our people to minister pastorally and sensitively to all irrespective of sexual orientation and to condemn irrational fear of homosexuals, violence within marriage and any trivialisation and commercialisation of sex;
Cannot advise the legitimising or blessing of same sex unions nor ordaining those involved in same gender unions;
Requests the Primates and the ACC to establish a means of monitoring the work done on the subject of human sexuality in the Communion and to share statements and resources among us;
As you may imagine, making of the film was relatively easy. The interviews were all fixed up and it was just a case of showing up, getting the shots and asking the correct questions in the correct manner.
The edit however, that was a completely different matter. It was a delicate procedure that required the necessary time and space for everyone to express their opinions, re-edit and then submit the changes for approval. In the end though, we arrived at an edit that got the message over and still retained your interest.
Technically, this was shot with my Z7, IDX X3 light, radio mics. Editing was in Final Cut Pro and the DVD authoring was done in DVD Studio Pro.
England reach the finals of Euro 2008… really
Now, I didn’t know this and I bet you didn’t either. The FA not only support the main England football squad, but they also support a host of other England football squads. They also host a number of Euro 2008 Championships for these squads as well.
The FA supports eight international disability squads for players with differing kinds of disabilities. These are: Blind, Partially Sighted, Deaf and Hearing Impaired, Cerebral Palsy, Learning Disabilities, Amputee.
The teams all receive official England kit, a physio, a fully-trained technical advisor, and money towards travel costs for attending European and World Championships.
I was booked to cover the gameplay so the FA could analyse the performance of the referees. You can read all about these different teams here INAS-FID Euro2008
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.