15th May 2012
I’m still not sure how best to create/curate a weekly collection of links that is useful to others. The process, however, is important to me as a way of gathering together pieces that I find useful or stimulating and so I am going to persevere. Adding new links during the week also seems to work well for me, so again I am going to continue with that for the next few weeks – sometimes jumping this page back to the top of the blog and alays keeping it as one of the blog’s ‘top three’ throughout the seven days. Across the jump you will find interesting stuff about experimental film, early photography, contemporary television and the history of colour in film. [Updated Friday 6.00am.]
Image: a framegrab detail from The Great Blondin, a triptych film by Phil Solomon (see David Bordwell link below). read more »
14th May 2012
To Shakespeare’s Globe on a sunny Sunday morning. This is my first live encounter with the Globe to Globe season of all 37 plays by 37 companies in 37 languages. (I have also been watching recordings of some of the productions on The Space.) There are only the three today: Henry VI parts 1, 2 and 3, performed in Serbian, Albanian and Macedonian. These plays are among the most under-performed and under-valued in the canon, the latter adjective a judgement that once again has been confirmed nearly ten hours after we start. By which time we have seen two strong, innovative productions and one that disappoints. Once again, too, I have found that after all these years (I have been going to the Globe since 1998) I remain ambivalent about it as a place to watch plays. read more »
12th May 2012
So, Shakespeare lovers, just how great a time is this! Generations to come shall likely think themselves accursed they were not here. In the theatre we have the World Shakespeare Festival 2012 and the Globe to Globe season (which may or may not be linked – it’s hard to tell from their respective websites). Having sampled Two Roses for Richard III from the former (some great moments but also a bit hard going at times), tomorrow I’m off to Shakespeare’s Globe for the Henry VI trilogy played – in Serbian, Albanian and Macedonian – by companies from the Balkans. Remember too that recordings of all the Globe to Globe presentations are appearing on The Space – Pericles from the National Theatre of Greece has just been posted. And as you may also have noticed the BBC is more than doing its bit with the Shakespeare Unlocked season. Today’s post rounds up my reactions to some of the recent offerings, including The King and the Playwright, Shakespeare in Italy and Shakespeare’s Restless World. read more »
8th May 2012
I know it’s early days and there is still the best part of six months to go, and there is a ton of great stuff to come, and cool new features are on the way including personalisation, and that I shouldn’t rush to judgement, but… a week in I have to say I am a touch underwhelmed by The Space. I recognise too that there’s a great team working incredibly hard to an impossible schedule and that, in many ways, it is extraordinary for Arts Council England and the BBC to have achieved this collaboration at all. But at the same time what comes off the screen needs to be taken on. I’ll continue to be a dedicated follower of The Space, and I’ll continue to blog about it, but these are initial thoughts after seven days. read more »
7th May 2012
Working intensively on our BBC film of the RSC’s Julius Caesar over the past few weeks, I’ve missed out on a lot of reading and viewing – not to mention blog recommendations. Today’s column of links (to which as usual I’ll add during the week) is part of the catch-up, and it starts with Epithet, a fascinating short drama with Patrick Stewart directed by Angus Jackson. Written by Mark O’Rowe and inspired by the experience of Stewart and Jackson working together at the Young Vic on Edward Bond’s Bingo, it features the great actor playing ‘an admired and respected poet of middle years’ who is also a womaniser. For background, see also Jackson’s Shakespeare, bear-baiting and bad language – how we made Epithet. Further links in the jump.
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7th May 2012
It takes a while to wind down and warm up after a shoot like ours for Julius Caesar. We were away from Oriental City by 6.30pm on Saturday, although there are two further days of clearing up and ‘restitution’ still to do this week. As I blogged, we wrapped ten minutes before our planned 5.30pm end of day, by which time we had seen Brutus dispatched and every scheduled scene complete. The clapperboard, presented to DOP Steve Lawes, showed that we had shot 213 slates across the twelve days – that’s a lot! There are the usual small worries about quite what we’ve got, but overall we are thrilled and delighted with the rushes. As we said goodbye to everyone the prosecco tasted pretty good. read more »
5th May 2012
Our last day, and it’s fair to say that none of us will be sad to say goodbye to Oriental City, which is where we have been filming Julius Caesar over the past fortnight. According to its Wikipedia page, Oriental City ‘was a shopping centre in Colindale [which] closed for redevelopment on 1 June 2008, but no demolition or building work has yet taken place.’ As you might expect from the name it had an Asian theme with resturants, shops, a Sega World and a casino. But now it’s a sad and delapidated shell which, during the past weeks, has all too often felt damp and cold and truly miserable. But it has been a brilliant location for us – as I’ll try to explain as I update this post during today. Meanwhile, following is a selection of images from the site. Welcome to our world… read more »
3rd May 2012
We are three-quarters of the way through the Julius Caesar shoot, with just three days to go. Paterson Joseph (our wonderful Brutus) reflects that, for all the cold and discomfort of the shoot, we will most definitely miss this when it’s over. It is hard to explain why, but there really is nothing like a film shoot – perhaps it is something to do with a shared sense of purpose (at least when things are going well), with satisfaction at the collective creation of something, and with the smooth playing out of comforting processes and rituals. Against all this, the rain and the temperature and dodgy loos are as nothing.
This morning we are back with Act IV Scene 3 and Brutus’ encounter with Caesar’s ghost (seen in an early nineteenth century version above). One of the frustrations of doing this blog is that I am trying not to give away much (anything?) about how we are shooting these scenes – I don’t want to spoil in any way the film for our eventual audiences. But believe me, as I watched it being filmed just now, it was a true tingle-up-the-spine moment. Instead of any details today’s post continues with the tale of a complaint to the Guardian, after which I’ll try to reflect on quite what it is that a producer does on location. read more »
2nd May 2012
‘… Shall this our lofty scene be acted over
In states unborn and accents yet unknown?’
There is a slate-grey sky over the Edgware Road this morning. But at least it’s not raining. Inside the location the sparks have hung out to dry over a scaffolding frame drapes which got soaked over the last few days. We are finished with the staircase to the Senate House, and Mark Antony has (wonderfully, thanks to Ray Fearon) cried Havoc and let slip the dogs of war. Everything that we are filming on location to the end of Act III is now complete and we have re-set at Brutus’ encampment for the two-hander that is Act IV Scene III. Taking its cue from Cassius above, this post – written across the day – starts to consider some of the eight (!) previous BBC productions of Julius Caesar. Plus, I want to thread through this a few other thoughts about The Space which I started to consider yesterday. read more »
1st May 2012
Day 8 of the Julius Caesar shoot, and we continue to film the assassination scene. On set it’s still really cold and outside it’s raining hard once again. What more do you need to know (apart from what’s for lunch)? So I am taking a May Day break from blogging the shoot, and turning instead to today’s launch of The Space. This is the ‘pop up’ online arts offering from Arts Council England and the BBC that went live this morning and that will run across the summer. Go here and here for background, and (in the interests of full disclosure) here and here for the story of our rejection; for the latest follow @thespacearts. Plus, Tony Ageh marks the launch on the About the BBC Blog. There is no question that this is a hugely significant and exciting initiative for arts media, and my aim is to write about it extensively as it unfolds. I would also be delighted if this blog becomes one of the key places where a critical dialogue about its successes and failures is played out. What follows are preliminary thoughts on first looking into The Space. read more »
