One day at the end of January 2003 I had dragged my Director to the
cinema to see Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers for a second time.
I suddenly remembered to switch my mobile phone back on.
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| Chains,
whips, and er..rubber tips |
Almost
instantly in came a message from Screen West Midlands - our idea
for a documentary, Chains, Whips 'N' Rubber Tips, had been short-listed
for UK Film Council funding.
We
pinched ourselves over and over for the next few days, and we talked
and talked about it… That was the start.
We
had the idea of making a documentary about a local fetish night
because it was something unusual and something we had recently got
involved with.
Because
we had a 'toe in the water' we knew regulars like Taxman, Paul and
Wendy and they were used to my being around with my Mini DV camera.
Jackie and I had the usual, insane brainstorming sessions: I suggest,
you suggest; you suggest, I fall about. One embellishes the idea,
then the other runs away with it.
 |
| If
you go down to the fetish club today, you're sure for a big
surprise... |
Both
of us had very strong views on how to make and present our programme.
Visual imagery comes quite readily to me and the images I saw for
Chains were very strong, especially the style and camera angles.
As
an artist, Jackie works very quickly and storyboarded then scripted,
referring closely to our original ideas. We revised and edited the
project with suggestions from Carlton via Screen West Midlands.
There
was a good working relationship and we weren't forced to do anything
we didn't feel would enhance the enjoyment of the documentary for
the viewer. We kept the whole thing fun and light and a teeny bit
quirky.
 |
| The
wonderful world of 'Skindeep' |
The
technical specifications were going to be the most daunting thing
during the programme making, mainly post-production. But with experts
on hand to guide us with such as our EDL, the online and sound dub
the final technical assessment was a piece-of-cake!
I loved
the sound dub with all the insane sound effects we used - John Catlow,
worked on Tiswas and Spitting Image and helped us realise our ideas,
as did our graphic titles man, Mike.
I enjoyed
pre-production, ensuring we had a good array of props, large fruits
included, as you can see from the cheekier moments like the crew
end credits. It's all melons, coconuts and plenty of sauce.
|
