Filming for Against The Clock finished

On Saturday we shot the last day of footage for my documentary on drag racer Nigel Holland. We were really lucky; the weather was bright and clear and Nigel and his car got the all clear to race. And this time we had a car, three cameras and we dressed properly for Santa Pod– thick sock, hoodies and jackets with lots of pockets.

Very important to have pockets – you can stuff ‘em with tapes. And it’s very important to have hoodies, because when it’s cold, or should I say colder, you can flip it over your bonce for added protection.

But perhaps the best garment was Rhys’ bobble hat. Everyone agrees to an interview when the cameraman filming sports a bobble. It just seems impossible that the experience will be a bad one.

Once again, Santa Pod proved to be a place full of positive people only too eager to share their stories. Even Rick and Carla - who it seemed, had a bit of shit day - were only too happy to take time out from swapping a gearbox for a quick portrait.

We filmed for about 11 hours, right into the fading light, when the racetrack began to look quite magical and you could clearly see the flames from the exhausts.

Once again a massive thanks to Nigel Holland and his family for letting us film him and ask silly questions.

Here’s what we learnt:

•    Top fuel cars – depending on what they’re running will spew a crude form of tear gas out of their exhaust. Nice!

•    Shooting from the island in the centre of the track is do-a-bit-of-wee scary, but that’s where the best shots live

•    My camera shoots natively to .mov whereas Rhys’ records in .dv format fans!

•    But my camera is smaller

•    Don’t forget gloves

•    Bike drag racers have the biggest balls on the planet

•    The smell of Santa Pod reminds me of my Dad’s shed

•    I think I actually did the job of director this time, as opposed to someone who kept saying ‘well, what do you think?’

•    Faulkner’s fish and chip shop on the Kingsland Road ain’t all that

So that, as they say, is a wrap. Now uploading all the footage for Rhys to edit in Final Cut Pro, so I’m going to use this bit to say an absolute massive thanks to Rhys Thwaites-Jones of Cox & Jones for basically working for food. What a gent.

Looking to finish the film for Christmas

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Writing soundtrack 20-28 Sept

Kem Nunn's Endless Summer

More on Kem - he's worth a read.

Guilty pleasures: Quiet by Smashing Pumpkins, Drown Me by Soundgarden, Melvins and Helmet <Volton supertransformation: jeans expand, emerica trainers, Fuct t-shirt (sorry Mum)>. Suburbia. Drop D tunning Epiphone SG.

 

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The zen teachings of Bobby Finstock

What a great character, and beautifully played. What else do you expect from a guy who wrote The Muppets Take Manhatten?

 

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77 New York Blackout Mix

  
Download now or listen on posterous

77_NYC_Blackout_Mix.m4a (97027 KB)

Mp4 with chapters for skipping and the such, but for everyone else, here's the playlist - it's mixed with the Radio 4 Archive Hour documentary of the same name. You can get the pure version at the superb Speechification. 

Gotham
Glenn Branca - Sym.No1
LCD Soundsystem - Dance YRSF Clean
Power Failure
Sister Sledge - Lost in Music
City in Shock
Suicide - Cheree
No Money New York
Richard Hell & The Voidoids - Blank Generation
Bum Mayor
Talking Heads - Once in a Lifetime
Glenn Branca -  Sym.No1 - Movement 3
Creative Accounting
Save New York
Nico - These Days
Key Sectors
The Wu Tang Clan - C.R.E.A.M.
Get a Good Lock
Glenn Branca - Sym.No1 - Movement 4
Cannibal Ox - Pigeon
Son of Sam
Bush Tetras - Can't Be Funky
City of Sin
ESG - You Make No Sense
Total Power Failure
Glenn Branca - Lesson No 1
Television - Marque Moon 
The Mood Turns
Sonic Youth - Shadow of a Doubt
Looting
El P - Deep Space 9mm
New York Dolls - Courageous Cat Theme
The New York Times coverage
Dinosaur L - Clean On Your Bean
Power Returns
The Velvet Underground - Beginning To See The Light

I think all the music is from the city. Chicago Public Media also has a good documentary show each week, free for download from here. I really liked this one, great stories, but they're all pretty solid.

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My 26 second film: Uruguay vs. Ghana

Last night members of 26 and the IVCA gathered in a screening room below the Sanctum Soho Hotel to show what they'd been up to for the past three months. Back in May we had met at Elmwood to be given the brief: 'make a 26 second film'.

I was nervous: this was supposedly a collaborative effort and I hadn't collaborated with anyone (well, I did but they jumped ship to a more polished crew. They were helpful though - thanks!), and the film I was showing was different from my original proposal.

Nobody minded and I think they liked the film. They laughed, they clapped, but perhaps they were being kind. Especially as some of the films shown were amazing and professionally put together. They're not online just yet, but expect a link on the 26 homepage.

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iPad light animation

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It's been around, but I've been meaning to post it for a while now.

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Push Cycles doc & bike art Friday

<p>Push from Saeed Taji Farouky on Vimeo.</p>

Nice little doc about my local bike shop. Ciaran the owner has created a sweet little bike nirvana with none of that attitude you sometimes get now biking is the new golf. He sells plenty of sweet rides too.

I used to work with Ciaran's brother Pete, who's a talented designer. He's got some bike related art work showing in London this Friday if that's your idea of fun.

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