Pro Moviemaker Sept/Oct 2020 - Newsletter

ROUNDTABLE

THE ROUND TABLERS

DANIEL PETERS Writer, director, cinematographer and composer. danieljohnpeters.com

PERCY DEAN Commercial and documentary filmmaker. percydean.com

July, and it was very odd working in an almost-deserted Milton Keynes business park, not being able to use lavalier mics. Last month I did five days on location filming railways. I lived in my camper van and stayed at official campsites. I have also done one day of wildlife filming and will be back at that location to film two interviews next week. JO: Over the last few weeks, there has been an increase in work requests, but it’s still very low and I think there will be a drop-off later this year and early 2021. DP: I had some clients book in, then cancel again due to Covid. Some corporate clients are trying some green screen work, so it might go that way for a while. A location for one of my films allowedme to book, which is good news, because the first time I asked they said no due to Covid. PD: At the end of June there was a definite lift. I had a few good jobs confirmed and it felt like it was all teetering back to normal, but since the second lockdowns in the north west at the start of August, it’s lulled a little. But that gives me faith that supply and demand is really just down to restrictions. I think it’s easy to send yourself under without these glimmers of hope and reason on the horizon. SS: Filming is possible again, even though you now have to wear a mask on set for ten hours a day and there’s the constant threat of the second shutdown. As we create international productions, we’re also affected by travel uncertainty, but we found solutions for this by forging relations with local freelancers and production companies. Although it’s not the normal we all used to know, it allows us to plan ahead and focus on what’s really important to us.

MM: I sat at my desk and wrote news for 40 hours a week. I took my dog for two walks a day and lost weight. I spent time properly learning what my DJI Ronin-S can do, and exploring the potential of my Atomos Ninja V and Sony A6400 combo. JO: For the most part, it’s out of my hands. I can talk about socially distanced working practices, but really they have little impact on paying work. SS: We’ve not been able to travel as much and had to postpone a working trip to Austin in Texas, but also stopped attending meetings and event conferences. As a result, we took this time as an opportunity to develop new ideas, but also focus on post-production. On the other hand, we made changes to the format of our Factual America podcast, which used to be recorded in a studio in London, but we started doing this remotely via Zoom. Are you finding things getting back to normal yet? MM: Yes, slowly. I shot one filmon a building site when the rest of the country was in lockdown. It was the first hot week of the year and I got a suntan. Then my daughter caught Covid-19, so I had to self-isolate for 14 days. The client, after suffering a coronavirus-related panic attack, imagined he could film the remaining day-and-a-half himself and sent me the clips to edit. That didn’t go well. I also shot one interview in early “Filming is possible, even though you now have towear amask”

SEBASTIAN SAUERBORN Executive producer at UK-based production company Alamo Pictures. alamopictures.co.uk

MATTHEW SHERWOOD Development executive at Alamo Pictures and host of Factual America, a podcast on documentary filmmaking. alamopictures.co.uk

MARTYN MOORE Independent producer at NorthLight Media and writer on filmmaking. northlightmedia.co.uk

JOHN OWEN Independent filmmaker and photographer specialising in fitness. johnowenphotography.co.uk

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