Spring forward!

This is a short edit of footage shot in Lambley, Nottinghamshire between January and March 2012. The footage gives an idea of the kind of transition scenes I want to use in the film I am currently making about Lambley.


Permission to use the music – 'Lannigan's Ball' (Trad) and a little of 'Herbert the Sherbert '(Martin Ellison) – has kindly been given by John Crawford of 'Sheepish Grin'. On the CD that the music comes from the tracks are described as:


'A slow version of a popular jig which seems to sit well with Martin Ellison's great tune.'


I have clumsily faded the music to fit the footage I had - in the finished version I intend to edit the film to fit the music.


John has kindly offered to let me use any tracks on the CD for my 'Cowslip Sunday' film project - and is happy to record something specifically for the film - what a star!


'Sheepish Grin' are Richard Mecia (fiddle) and John Crawford (melodeon) and they play traditional British folk music – below is a short piece of film showing them performing at Cowslip Sunday in 2010. They can be contacted at:


sheepishgrin.moonfruit.com/

Lambley and the stocking-making industry

Painting (housed at Leicester Polytechnic) commemorating the 300th centenary of the invention of the 'Stocking Frame' machine. 

The rehearsals for this year's 'Cowslip Sunday' play - 'Lambley Jack and the Golden Stockings' are continuing to take place. I filmed about an hour or so of yesterday's rehearsal. 

The plays themselves are a kind of 'spring pantomime' and this year's weaves together some local history with the fairy tale 'Tom Tit Tot' (which is itself an English retelling of 'Rumpelstiltskin' by the Brothers Grimm').

The historical link that the play makes use of is the fact that the 'stocking frame machine' was invented in Calverton, a village only a mile or so away from Lambley.

A stocking frame was a mechanical knitting machine used in the textiles industry. It was invented by William Lee of Calverton near Nottingham in 1589. Its use, known traditionally as Framework knitting, was the first major stage in the mechanisation of the textile industry, and played an important part in the early history of the Industrial Revolution.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stocking_frame

The play gleefully romps through this historical connection - William Lee is shown (as he did in real life) demonstrating the operation of the device to Queen Elizabeth I, hoping to obtain a patent. When he was refused (the Queen apparently fearing the effects on hand-knitting industries) he transported his machines and workers to France. Although he initially received support from the Hugenot Henry IV - who granted him a patent - his fortunes faltered after the King was assassinated (in the 'Wars of Religion' in 1610) and Lee eventually died destitute, in Paris in the year 1614.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Henry_IV_of_France

Historically, Lambley is 'intimately connected with the hosiery trade' (http://www.nottshistory.org.uk/Brown1896/calverton.htm) and at the time when the original Cowslip Sunday would have been at its peak, stocking making would have been a major part of the Lambley economy:

In the year 1844, 381 stocking machines frames were being operated in the village. Many of the cottages and house's still bear the marks of the specially designed windows that were needed to allow the right light to enter the room where stocking frames were located.

http://homepage.ntlworld.com/g1htl.johnfoster/lambley/lambley.html

Obviously the play is intended as light-hearted family entertainment - but at the same time it makes a very deliberate point of depicting a Lambley family who are involved - no doubt for low pay and long hours - in the 'stocking-making' industry at the height of its popularity during the 19th century. They would have been the kind of people for whom the arrival of Spring - as well as the chance to join in a spontaneous and unique local folk festival such as 'Cowslip Sunday' - would have been a very welcome relief from what seems likely to have been a hard existence.

I was hoping to include some footage of a very short experimental edit of some of yesterday's filming on this post - but vimeo has currently got some gremlins; hopefully I'll upload some film tomorrow. Below is a photograph of yesterday's events.

Vitae summa brevis

Vitae summa brevis from alex mckenzie on Vimeo.

The above is another short experimental 'Poetry Seen' film.

What I'm interested in exploring with these films is finding a visual element to accompany a poem - to allow that poem a presence in the digital age.

The challenge is to find or create filmed footage - ideally with some subtle link to the text of the poem - that doesn't then bury the poem under the weight of that visual element.

Another concern I have is that poetry can and should create images in the mind of the reader - and so by attaching a visual element to a poem there is the danger of interrupting that process. I don't think there is a way around that problem other than to say the 'poem film' can only ever be a personal interpretation of the poem. The reader retains the right to use the image or images that their own mind attaches to the poem.

To some extent once you read a poem you then own your own version of it anyway. I have been to poetry recitals (one memorable occasion was by the Poet Laureate Carol Ann Duffy) where I have listened to the poet read their own work - and be adamant that they were reading it wrongly; that the rhythm was slightly wrong, or that the emphasis had been slightly misplaced at a certain point.

Who was that 'mask' man?

Here Comes The Sun from alex mckenzie on Vimeo.

Having talked about this year's Cowslip Sunday play with its writer, David Longford, I discovered that he was having the Sun and the Moon created as props - and that the actors would then carry these across the stage, at certain points in the play, to evoke the passing of time.

It occurred to me that filming the creation of these props (particularly the Sun, which would be based on the 'Sun' graphic I created for the leaflets and posters - see below) might be a nice 'detail' segment of the film I am making about the event. The intention of this filmed extract would be to suggest that the Sun was an object that needed to be created anew for the forthcoming Spring.

So yesterday afternoon the artist Stephen Jon was kind enough to let me spend a few hours talking with him - and filming him at work on the prop - in his house and studio in Sherwood, Nottingham. You should be able to see a very short extract of the footage I took at the top of this post.

Stephen Jon's studio - March 14 2012. Photograph by Alex McKenzie

Stephen's main area of practice is the creation of masks - for theatre and street performance - as well as running 'mask-making' workshops. Here is how, on his website, he describes his interest in masks:

As an artist I seek for ways by which to address contradictions and paradox. “The Mask” has given me a form with which I can play with the paradoxical nature of human experience. “The Mask” is an object of concealment which will also reveal. 

“The Mask” acts as a doorway into the world where the imagination is free to wander among mythic beings that transform and transport the mask player to where the unexpected can and will occur. I use “The Mask” as a utilitarian object, not as a piece of decoration. This tool of theatre might draw upon the sister arts of poetry, movement, sound and music to support some kind of ritual or drama.

http://www.maskaviz.com/page2.htm

My intention now is to return to see Stephen next week - and film his work on the Sun as it progresses.

Everything turns away

Photograph by Thomas Hoepker

On my last post I uploaded a short film I'd shot, showing the clouds of steam created by Ratcliffe-on-Soar power station, billowing away in the background - like the explosion of a bomb. This was filmed from a great distance and from the tranquility of a rural landscape. I like this contrast, this incongruity.

It reminded me, admittedly at quite a tangent, of the controversial '911' photograph (by Thomas Hoepker) I saw a year or so ago - see above. This photograph seems to show a group of young people oblivious (or perhaps just ambivalent) about the tragic historic event occurring behind them.

Not the least of the people offended by the image were some of the people in it. Though at first sight their relaxed attitude seems shocking, one said: "that they were in shock and did not know what to think about what happened." Another declared: “it was genetically impossible not to be affected by this event.”

http://www.foxcrawl.com/2011/09/12/video-most-controversial-photo-of-911-attacks-5-people-indifferent-to-flaming-wtc/

I don't have any reason to suppose that they were experiencing anything other than shock. The photograph simply catches an extraordinary instant when that doesn't appear to be the case. But to expect them to be constantly weeping and wailing at the sight seems a little unreasonable.

Anyway when I saw the photograph it brought to mind, for me, W. H. Auden's poem 'Musee des Beaux Arts'. The title refers to the Museum of Fine Arts in Brussels, which Auden apparently visited in 1938 and where he viewed the painting 'The Fall of Icarus' by Pieter Brueghel. Here is the poem:

About suffering they were never wrong,
The Old Masters; how well, they understood 

Its human position; how it takes place 

While someone else is eating or opening a window
or just walking dully along; 

How, when the aged are reverently, passionately waiting 

For the miraculous birth, there always must be 

Children who did not specially want it to happen, skating 

On a pond at the edge of the wood: 

They never forgot 

That even the dreadful martyrdom must run its course 

Anyhow in a corner, some untidy spot 

Where the dogs go on with their doggy life and the torturer's horse 

Scratches its innocent behind on a tree. 

In Breughel's Icarus, for instance: how everything turns away 

Quite leisurely from the disaster; the ploughman may 

Have heard the splash, the forsaken cry, 

But for him it was not an important failure; the sun shone 

As it had to on the white legs disappearing into the green 

Water; and the expensive delicate ship that must have seen 

Something amazing, a boy falling out of the sky, 

had somewhere to get to and sailed calmly on.

Copyright © 1976 by Edward Mendelson, William Meredith and Monroe K. Spears, 

Executors of the Estate of W. H. Auden.

The Fall of Icarus by Pieter Brueghel

On the website where I found a copy of 'Musee des Beaux Arts' there is the following quote from W.H. Auden:

"In so far as poetry, or any of the arts, can be said to have an ulterior purpose, it is, by telling the truth, to disenchant and disintoxicate."

http://poetrypages.lemon8.nl/life/musee/museebeauxarts.htm

Raw Power

Raw Power from alex mckenzie on Vimeo.

This is a short and very rough experimental piece of film - showing Ratcliffe-on-Soar Power Station from about 12 miles away (seen across some fields in Lambley, Nottinghamshire).

I filmed this on Friday February 3rd 2012 - at about 7.30am. A few days earlier I had noticed this cloud being created at the power station - visible only on bright, extremely cold mornings. I thought it was worth trying to film.

In the end I was disappointed with the footage I took. I only let the camera run for 6 minutes - and it didn't look very well focussed. Whilst I didn't think I could use this footage in my film - I still wanted to play around with it. In the end I speeded the film up, cutting its duration down to 10 seconds (from the original 6 minutes) - to emphasise the billowing clouds. To sidestep the quality issue I applied a 'sharpen' filter - which I think gives the footage an unusual quality. I have then looped the footage four times - just to make it last a little longer.

I felt that this surge of power - seen visually - as Nottinghamshire wakes up and pops the kettle on (and 'Good Morning Britain' or whatever dreadful breakfast TV show is currently doing the rounds) seen remotely, from the peace and calm of a countryside field, provided an interesting contrast.

I have left the audio run at the same fast speed - but I actually think that it might work better in real time, hearing the chattering birdsong whilst the distant power station seems to exist in a completely different, speeded-up world.

I now need to wait until next winter to try to capture the scene again.

Lambley Jack and the Golden Stockings

Cowslip Sunday 2012 - first 'play' rehearsal March 11 from alex mckenzie on Vimeo.

Yesterday was the first rehearsal for this year's Cowslip Sunday play – 'Lambley Jack and the Golden Stockings'. This rehearsal took place in Lambley Parish Church – because the Village Hall was otherwise engaged.

I filmed the occasion – and have perhaps one and half hours of film to work with. It may be that none of this footage ends up in the final film – though I think it likely that a few minutes will find their way in.

Although the film I'm making isn't about the play, I think that the play will provide a nice focal point for the film. This footage allows us to meet our players more informally. In the chronology of the film I envisage that the viewer will have already seen the actors on stage at the performance on May 6th – the film will then cut away to January 1st and the days and weeks that follow – leading up to Spring. 

This footage should give a little insight into the preparation that went into the events of Cowslip Sunday.

Here I have simply strung together three pieces of footage (edited from longer extracts) just to give a glimpse of the content I'm working with. 

Room Inside from Broadway Nottingham on Vimeo.


I wanted to embed the short film that I recently made (that I've posted on Vimeo) and I've just found out how to do that - see previous post.


On an earlier post on this blog (about the 'Speak Up Film Fund'):


http://poetryseen-in-lambley.blogspot.com/2012/03/speak-up.html


I mentioned a local film-maker who I had contacted with a view to collaborating with on my Cowslip Sunday film project. That film-maker was Roger Knott-Fayle. Here is a link to his own website:


http://www.arkayeff.com/


Roger combines his film-making with working as a hypnotherapist:


http://www.hypnottik.com/


I haven't had an opportunity to experience Roger's hypnotherapy - but something tells me (subconsciously) that, in his efforts to hypnotise people and get them to change whatever aspect of their behaviour they are looking to change, Roger will succeed.


Anyway meeting Roger was one of those serendipitous occasions for me - because it turned out he had been involved in creating a film (in collaboration with Broadway Cinema) celebrating National Poetry Day last year.


I'm not sure by what route I came across that film but I actually watched it online last year (on National Poetry Day - October 6th) and I remember really liking it - and that for me it confirmed my conviction that poetry had a place in the arts outside of its traditional domain of inside the pages of a book.


You should be able to view the film above - and for your information Roger Knott-Fayle is the first person you see in the film.

A kind of statement from alex mckenzie on Vimeo.

Speak Up

After speaking about my film project to some people involved with Cowslip Sunday, I was forwarded some information about a thing called the 'Speak Up Film Fund' - run by The Community Film Unit (via The Arts Council).

The Community Film Unit aims to support voluntary organisations across England who have a film-based project that shows dedication towards their local communities. It will support between 20-50% of the costs of a film-based project.

There are various criteria for eligibility for the fund but for the purposes of my project the relevant one would be that the film aims to:

Preserve local history, and educates residents about their local area.

It has all been a bit last-minute (having only heard of the fund a couple of weeks ago) but I have cobbled together an application for the fund – which I emailed on Friday 2 March (the application deadline date). The process was slightly complicated by the fact that my own film project had no actual budget. To qualify for the fund I felt I needed to contact some experienced film-maker(s) to see whether they might be interested in collaborating on the project – and if so they're involvement might be an expense that the Speak Up fund could help with.

So I emailed the Head of Film Production at Broadway Media Centre in Nottingham – Owen Davies. He was kind enough to express enthusiasm for the project – and suggested another local film-maker who he felt would also be interested in the project; the memorably monikered Roger Knott-Fayle. I met with Roger and he was indeed interested – so we will wait to see what happens with our application.

If the project I'm involved with is lucky enough to receive some funding, it will mean that myself (along with anyone else the village who is interested) might get the opportunity to work with a professional film-maker - to develop film-making skills that might prove useful now and in the future. Obviously from my perspective this would be another ideal example of a 'creative collaboration'.

If the Speak Up fund comes to fruition my idea would be to still press on with my own 'experimental' film – but also to hopefully be involved with an additional (and possibly overlapping) film produced in collaboration with an experienced film-maker.

Spring In The Air

At various points on this blog I have talked about the film project I am currently working on. Here I want to outline what I think that film might consist of.

As I've explained elsewhere I was beginning to get frustrated by the lack of progress on some of the other ideas I had for my Masters (An exploration of poetry as a visual form) and subsequently decided that creating a film documenting what I was doing, particularly in relation to the 'Cowslip Sunday' event I am involved with, seemed the only viable way I had of challenging myself artistically - and of creating work that was appropriate to my Masters. It is also important to state that the actual process of being able to create (hopefully interesting and high-quality) work - using equipment that is fairly easily available - is as important to me as the actual finished film.

Again as I've mentioned elsewhere, the film project is (for various reasons) still evolving to some extent, but here is the basic structure as I see it.

Sunday 6th May (this year's 'Cowslip Sunday) will obviously provide the focal point of the film (and the filming). I particularly want to film some of the local landscape early that morning. The morning will also be the opportunity to film the people and participants in the days activities as they make their final preparations.

There will then be the procession through the village – with people decked-out in appropriate costumes.

Photo above (and top) by Jane Williams & Mel Smith

This procession will be followed, mid-afternoon, by the performance of the free, open-air 'Spring pantomime' – Lambley Jack and the Golden Stockings:

"Combining a well-known fairy tale with the history of the stocking-frame industry in Lambley, this year's cowslip play is the usual mix of fun, frolics and audience participation."

I think the activities mentioned above are well worth documenting in themselves – for their links to 'Britain's Ancient Folk Traditions':

http://poetryseen-in-lambley.blogspot.com/2012/01/oss-oss-wee-oss.html

I'm especially interested in Cowslip Sunday as the revival of a celebration of 'Spring' - the kind of celebration that goes back deep into the history of civilisation. Equally I'm interested in the way that the arrival of Spring seems to be greeted with joy and elation by the natural world itself - a celebration of the survival of Winter and of the rebirth and new life that Spring heralds.

So for the purposes of my film I want to capture some of those changes - to the local landscape and the natural world - occurring between January and May - and make the connection between that process and the kind of Spring festivals that human societies have long created.

Elsewhere on this blog I refer to some comments David Hockney has made about his recent work - and his attempts to capture the arrival of Spring:

'It's a great subject for artists, but how do you record it? It is too slow for movies, but too fast for a single picture, so it takes quite a few pictures to show the changes. But that's true of most things.'

http://poetryseen-in-lambley.blogspot.com/2012/01/so-get-new-way-of-looking-at-it.html

The rehearsals for 'Lambley Jack and the Golden Stockings' begin next weekend (March 11) so I want to start filming those - and blend that footage with film of the local landscape over the next couple of months.

Below are some photographs (of Pussy Willow and Hazel Catkins, as well as a landscape shot) taken in Lambley this afternoon.