Back To The 80s completed...

The epic primary school leaver's musical "Back to the 80s" was completed today, weighing in at an epic 2 hours and 19 minutes.

Similar to Hereford's Got Talent, it was a challenging project what with trying to get the sound as best as you could (e.g. fighting against the large differences in dialogue and music volume), and shooting from far away from the stage, and in addition with this project having a long running time the final render had to be compressed in order to fit on the DVD. Plus being single camera you have nothing to cut away to - so the actual filming in such a situation takes a lot of concentration to keep the frame as steady as possible, while also providing some movement and a range of shots - all without cut aways. It is tough, it can limit you, but it can also work.

Even with technical issues, and the set-up not being a filmmaker's ideal position from which to film, it came out well and I hope those involved enjoy being able to see it again and relive their onstage epic.

Back To The 80s...

The other day I got a last-minute call to do a shoot & edit job on a project called Back To The 80s - a musical put on by Year 6 students from three primary schools (Year 6 being the final year of primary school before you enter Year 7 and High School).

So I was back in the main theatre at the Hereford Courtyard Theatre, where I'd only been a few weeks prior doing a shoot & edit on Hereford's Got Talent, and I'm now off to edit the whole thing together.

Compared to my Year 6 leaver's shindig, now fifteen years ago (blimey!), it was a big old affair. Our gig was a random show that we put on (mostly left to our own devices) ... I can barely remember it, but I was reminded that I was part of a duo doing corny jokes and funny voices, and then we all got book tokens. Times change I guess, but then again I went to a quite small primary school - and our year was a mere 9 people.

Onwards to the edit!

Sweeny Todd...

I'm not generally one for musicals - although I certainly appreciate the genre - heck, I even did an entire course one semester on The Hollywood Musical, which proved rather informative and quite enjoyable. It was nice to learn about something I didn't really know much about, something I hadn't paid much attention to in the past.

Then of course we now have Sweeny Todd. My first exposure to this being in Kevin Smith's Jersey Girl, and once I found out it has as it's tie-together-theme, essentially murder and cannibalism, my interest was piqued.

Pretty much, if you dig Tim Burton flicks - you'll no doubt lap this up. Sweeny Todd fans will also no doubt dig it, even musical fans in general will probably dig it ... even if it is all a bit uber-goth. Speaking of which, you do wonder how many 'goffs' were sniffing around this flick like it was the second coming, be they posers or not.

Anyway, amidst all the wonderfully drab and dark design, lies a slice of the classic musical...which in this day and age of *sigh* Never Back Down and all the other 'Fast & The Furious, but with...' popcorn escapades, is a nice change of pace.

Finally, I myself could certainly be labeled (one of many labels, surely) as a gore-hound - and this certainly taps into that vein. A horror musical with lashings of the red, red kroovy.