Britain's Got Skiers

A few months ago I was browsing newchoolers.com and came across a competition for British skiers. The competition was to produce a 3 minute or less video of your best clips from the past season. For me, I had only been on one trip to Japan in January so my content was limited. The competition was just as much about the filming and editing as it was about the standard of skiing so I thought why not, Il submit my work and see what happens.  

During the month of October two finalists were announced every week and would be included in a DVD that would premier at the London Ski and Snowboard show at the end of the month. 12 entries made the final out of 30 or so entries and mine got picked on the final week! On the 31st of October the DVD was premiered and the next day the winners were announced on their Facebook page.

I WON!! I couldn't believe it!, it was completely unexpected! I was watching all the other edits as they came out and had picked a few that I thought would be the winners! 

From Britain's Got Skiers Facebook page: 

"A big thanks to everyone who came to watch the premiere of the DVD and a huge thanks to the sponsors and most importantly you guys for entering to make this one of the strongest years for BRITAIN'S GOT SKIERS. Hopefully we will be able to do the same next year, keep your eyes peeled over the season as we still have prizes to give away and we will run some more comps."

So the winners were:

- Robin Lee, best overall 

- Best under 16, Cal Sandison

 

- Judges special prize, Ski The Kingdom

- Best female, Anna Vincenti 

 

And this final edit is by Iona Fulton, who despite wasn't one of the winners was my pick to win. I thought this edit was so well put together, had a great song and great vibe and the skiing was awesome as well. 

Memories of War

For two years now I have been working on documenting my Grandad's stories from World War II. The idea came about when he wrote a book about his experiences. There were three main parts in the story which stood out the most for me and so I decided I wanted to make three short episodes about each one.  

The first two were recorded in the summer of 2012 when I went back to the UK to visit my friends and family. I only went back for two weeks so organising a time to see my Grandad was hard as I had so much to do in such a small amount of time. So when I did manage to see him there was only enough time to record the first two stories. 

The first story was about his capture by the Germans while fighting in Africa. And the second is about being put up in Hospital in Italy where he learnt how to speak Italian and recover from his horrible sicknesses. These two stories are the beginning and middle of his adventure and are a fantastic buildup to the final and most incredible story.

The third and final story of my Grandad's World War Two experience is about his escape. I shot this story this summer as it was the only time I managed to get back to the UK after the last time. This story begins where the last one left off, in hospital trying to find a way out.

While in hospital he saw a noticeboard with a message saying "Wanted: British POWs to work in the neighbourhood", so he took the chance and ended up in a farm with two of his friends from hospital. From here it was a matter of finding a way to escape the farm and make his way to Switzerland. Along the way he and his two friends encountered more than a few problems and the tale of his escape is one that leaves a lot of emotion and hardship behind. This is my favourite part of the story, and one I won't ever forget.

My aim with these videos was to take the very surreal stories of my Grandfather and mix them together with footage of his life to day and how he remembers the past through old pictures and memories. It's quite incredible what he went through and hard to imagine as life today seems far easier.

Each story could have lasted half an hour or more as he remembers so much, even the smallest details. So as a film maker is was a challenge to condense these stories into much shorter timeframes where a wider audience could appreciate them and I think that I managed to achieve what I set out to achieve. 

I hope you enjoy his stories as much as I do and feel free to share his stories with whoever may be interested. 

 

The Knickerbocker Glory

For the past year, I've been documenting my Grandfather's story of his experiences in WWII. He has been writing a book and I chose three key points in that book I wanted to document and share. The first two episodes are completed and can be found on my main website here. The third one will be released soon and is shaping up to be quite the climatic story. I will post it up here when its done.

However, this post is about my Grandmother. After filming my Grandfather, my mum came to me with a story of her mother she wanted to be filmed. In comparison its a much more lighthearted story, even though it still contained bombs and explosions. As my mum finished the story, instead of being taken aback by the experience like I did with my Granddad, we both laughed. I wont spoil the video for you, but the ending was not what I was expecting to happen.

With these videos I wanted them to have a very homemade feel. I wanted them to feel personal and while listening to stories from a long time ago, you are seeing what their lives are like today.  

Enjoy 

 

Vintage Glass

Recently I've become quite obsessive about old vintage glass. The latest piece I've acquired being a Carl Zeiss Ultron 50mm 1.8 (Pictured far right). The other two lenses pictured are both Pentax lenses and ones that my Dad used on his old camera when he was taking photos. I've shown quite an interest in old lenses but it never clicked to him that he had some until quite recently. I've got them now and have used them in a few projects and I'm extremely happy with the results. 

Old glass is great for many reasons the first being price. Buying the best new glass these days can run you thousands of dollars, thats quite a lot to splash out on, but old glass like these you can find for under $100. The Zeiss lens being an exception to this rule but I was lucky enough to have been given it by  friend of my Dad's. The optical quality of these lenses is amazing as well, super sharp and with great contrast. 

The only downside to these lenses are that they are fully manual. For photographers, having autofocus is super helpful, especially in action sports where the subject is moving so fast. However for me as a videographer I never use autofocus and everything is manual, therefore I don't have any issues. Perfect!  All you have to do is buy an adapter ring so you can use the lenses on your modern cameras, for me that's Canons DSLR's and your all set and ready to shoot. 

When my adapter ring for the Zeiss arrives il be sure to take some sample images and test out this beauty of a lens! 

Left to Right: Pentax SMC 50mm 1.7. Pentax 28mm 2.8. Carl Zeiss Ultron 50mm 1.8

Tsing Yi Hike...

Last night I decided to go out and take a time-lapse of Hong Kong from a new location I had never been before. Its about 2 hours away from where I live so I wanted to go on a day which was worth it. Clear, sunny, all the signs of a good evening. At about 4pm I set of and everything was looking good. However when I got to the spot, rain clouds had rolled in and the picture was looking grim. I thought since I got this far I have to carry on and get to the spot.

After getting lost, walking into many spiders webs and having the torch on my phone die I reached the end of the trail. Nothing... There was no view, only a big bush blocking everything... Brilliant. So I set of back, grumpy at my misfortune and extremely tired. However I got back to a spot with a very nice view, not the one I wanted but was nice enough. I set up and started snapping away. During the shoot I could see flashes of lightning and the heavens opening up on Hong Kong, but where I was was completely dry. In the end the time-lapse I got was not the one I went all that way for, but what I got was just as exciting. Below is a pic from the start of the shoot, just before the rain came through.

Joe & Charlotte's Wedding

This summer I got the chance to film my first wedding. Luckily for me it was for a good friend of mine in Hong Kong and made the whole experience a lot easier. I felt comfortable the whole day, I wasn't too stressed and the whole experience was great. 

Prior to the actual day I had sat down and made plans on what I wanted to capture and where I wanted to be. I found this very useful however there were still occasions where things happened unexpectedly and I had to react accordingly. Even though you can't plan for these moments I often find them the most rewarding as they are truly unique.  

The wedding was the first time for me to try out some new equipment as well. I had never used a wireless lav mic before, I was testing my new external recorder and although I had used it once before I was really starting to see the benefits of using a monopod in some situations. When things happen so fast you don't have much time to set up each shot, the monopod made it super easy and I was able to squeeze into some small areas that a tripod would never be able to do. 

One unexpected moment was during when the bride and bridesmaids were getting ready. I somehow managed to snap the handle off my tripods fluid head... The thing was old and falling apart already but I never though a bolt would completely snap off in half. The fluid head was still usable but not in ideal shape, luckily I had my new monopod with me to save the day.  

As always, afterwards I find that I say to myself ''I wish I had done that'' or ''damn, I forgot to do this'' but in reality, sometimes not everything is possible.

Below is the highlight reel. For my first wedding I am really happy with the way it turned out and thankfully, the bride and groom were too. Enjoy.