Event Reports > Location Experience : Making a Documentary of the AONB
"Bittern Country - Our Heritage". Club Members take part in filming
A film is being made about the beauty and heritage of the area covered by the Arnside/Silverdale Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty.
As part of the costing for the film a sum of money has been included for the involvement and training of local people in video production techniques. The SDF committee of the Arnside/Silverdale Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty agreed with the director of the film that Morecambe Bay Moviemakers would be a suitable candidate to be included in the production.
With this in mind, several members from the club formed a production unit and, on the 11th July, filmed the Director of the Arnside/Silverdale AONB being interviewed on location at Trowbarrow Local Nature Reserve by club member Chris Abram, who is also the films Director. Those taking part were Geoff Ducker, Fred Dibden, Peter Parker and Dave Weatherly and they all turned up looking very smart in their club sweatshirts. It was quite a learning curve and several of the members had to do unfamiliar jobs such as shot logging and sound monitoring. Most club members are used to going out with their cameras and not having to worry about other things, but when it comes to professional filming, something like an accurate shot log being taken of the days shoot can save hours in the editing suite.
It was a successful day, with only a few reshoots due to a faulty camera, needed a few days later.
It must be said that one of the highlights was when Dave Weatherly divested himself of some of his clothes and dropped his trousers to reveal a rather fetching pair of Lycra shorts. He then attached carabiniers and another motley selection of mountaineering ironmongery around his body and promptly began climbing up a rock face for the cameras.
On the 25th July, there was a second day's filming, this time in Leighton Hall. The crew for this day were Chris Abram, Fred Dibden, Graeme Isherwood and Ken Russell. The task was to film a tour of the house given by its owners Richard and Susie Reynolds with a strict time limit of two hours. The house is magnificent and Richard Reynolds was interviewed as he related information about each room, plus stories about his ancestors and about the history of the house. Suzie Reynolds, ever the busy hostess, dashed off after the first scene to attend to next days wedding preparations and then reappeared as the final scene was shot in the Music Room. The interview at that time was interrupted for a short while, as all those in front of the camera seemed to get an attack of the giggles.
We were all impressed by the outstanding pieces of Gillow furniture that the house contains. The host and hostess could have not been more charming and it was certainly a day worth remembering, not least I suppose when we all retired after the highly successful shoot to The New Inn in Yealand and allowed Chris Abram to buy us all a pint!
The above shoots are a good example of how Morecambe Bay Moviemakers can make a positive contribution to our local community and, at the same time, makes people aware of our club. The Editor of The Lancaster Guardian, Sue Riley, has asked us to provide details and video footage to be made available for their website.