Showing posts with label northern ireland. Show all posts
Showing posts with label northern ireland. Show all posts
Tuesday, October 14, 2008
Beyond Update.
When trying to update the script for this weeks class, a number of issues have cropped up that have led to a rethink on the show's focus. A trip North at the beginning of October saw the Beyond production team interview several more contributors for the punk documentary. With now over 10 hours of recorded interview with 8 different contributors has led to a problem most documentary makers would sell their grandmothers for; too much great stuff. How does one tell this story in just 60 minutes, and do it justice? The thought now is to concentrate on the Belfast and leave the Derry story for another time. The Belfast story illustrates the non-sectarian nature punk in a much better manner, as Derry scene consisted of the Undertones and very little else.
Beyond - Why radio?
Why radio?
2 reasons really.
1. Have background in radio. I have no experience, nor much love for TV/Film
2. Way cheaper than TV/Film from a number of perspectives. No archive footage to purchase. Royalties (music) covered by radio station's fair use policy. TV contributors usually look for guest fees, where as with radio the norm is for guests to provide their interviews for free.
2 reasons really.
1. Have background in radio. I have no experience, nor much love for TV/Film
2. Way cheaper than TV/Film from a number of perspectives. No archive footage to purchase. Royalties (music) covered by radio station's fair use policy. TV contributors usually look for guest fees, where as with radio the norm is for guests to provide their interviews for free.
Monday, October 6, 2008
Punk Archives
Although there seem to be no web pages devoted specifically to Belfast punk, sites such as punk77.co.uk and the Punk in Derry pages provide me with some very useful background. Band web sites SLF.com, theundertones.com also provide some useful background. More relevant sites exist on myspace.com for some of the less well know bands, many of whom were far more important to the story of NI Punk than Stiff Little Fingers or the the Undertones ever were. That being said, the Virtual Pub discussion board on SLF.com is extremely useful, as here one can make contact with some of the old punks who were involved in the very beginnings of the North's most successful period in modern music.
For context the CAIN web site (http://cain.ulst.ac.uk) provides all sorts of demographic and socio-political data which is very important to highlight the economic and social conditions during the relevant time period. Population/census data, for instance, paints a clear picture of a society in decay as thousands fled the dole queues and sectarian violence to seeks better lives in mainland UK, the US or Australia.
Monday, September 22, 2008
Punk: Beyond the Wire
A documentary chronicling the punk movement in Northern Ireland from 1975-1983, and its lasting legacies.
This is a human interest archive piece documenting those times in Ulster's troubled history, when the much maligned punk culture was in fact one of the very few positive lights, bringing people together regardless of their background (religious/class etc).
We have no political agenda, and see ourselves as apolitical storytellers, nothing more. The piece itself is aimed mainly at music fans and social history buffs, and of course those who have an interest in the history of this island, particularly the bit with the good roads ;0)
When we talk of 'fans' i am using the term (maybe wrongly) to indicate fans of punk, who may or may not have been involved in running fanzines, managing, promoting, running indie labels, playing in bands, all of which represent the DIY ethos of punk. In other words, the people who got off their arses and did something. We're not terribly interested in talking to SLF, or get into the 'rockstar' bullshit feuds they had with the Undertones. We talk to the guys and girls that started bands and got up on stage just to have a bit of craic, or promote their anarchistic political agendas, or just to relieve the boredom. We wish to highlight that DIY attitude, and indeed applaud it. We also wish to tell people's interesting stories of battle with the spidermen (local hoods), paramilitaries, the army, cops etc. We will be focusing on the Clash's aborted gig at Ulster Hall in 1977, that seemed to inspire people to get together as one of the opening points of the story. We also wish to tell the story of lasting friendships that grew between people in this most improbable of environments across the sectarian divisions, because of punk.
The story will be told using contributions of people that were involved in the beginnings of Northern Ireland's infamous punk scene. We will be interviewing, filming and recording all using digital media. Archive footage and music from the era will also be used to propel the story along all of which will be mixed using a digital editing suite. Research for the project will be almost entirely an on-line effort, using bulletin boards, web sites and email to contact these old punks.
Production will require the use of a data base management system in order to store all data relating to the project; interviewees, time code, index, transcript and the audio files themselves broken down by subject and cross referenced. This will speed up the editing phase considerably.
Animation, graphics, old documents, concert and other archive footage will form the basis of the visual aspect of the project (expand)
A web site will also need to be created for both the marketing of the program and also to provide more information on the bands who's music was played in the show, the people interviewed and further background on the subject. The show should be available either as a vod/podcast, or else streamed from the website.
This is a human interest archive piece documenting those times in Ulster's troubled history, when the much maligned punk culture was in fact one of the very few positive lights, bringing people together regardless of their background (religious/class etc).
We have no political agenda, and see ourselves as apolitical storytellers, nothing more. The piece itself is aimed mainly at music fans and social history buffs, and of course those who have an interest in the history of this island, particularly the bit with the good roads ;0)
When we talk of 'fans' i am using the term (maybe wrongly) to indicate fans of punk, who may or may not have been involved in running fanzines, managing, promoting, running indie labels, playing in bands, all of which represent the DIY ethos of punk. In other words, the people who got off their arses and did something. We're not terribly interested in talking to SLF, or get into the 'rockstar' bullshit feuds they had with the Undertones. We talk to the guys and girls that started bands and got up on stage just to have a bit of craic, or promote their anarchistic political agendas, or just to relieve the boredom. We wish to highlight that DIY attitude, and indeed applaud it. We also wish to tell people's interesting stories of battle with the spidermen (local hoods), paramilitaries, the army, cops etc. We will be focusing on the Clash's aborted gig at Ulster Hall in 1977, that seemed to inspire people to get together as one of the opening points of the story. We also wish to tell the story of lasting friendships that grew between people in this most improbable of environments across the sectarian divisions, because of punk.
The story will be told using contributions of people that were involved in the beginnings of Northern Ireland's infamous punk scene. We will be interviewing, filming and recording all using digital media. Archive footage and music from the era will also be used to propel the story along all of which will be mixed using a digital editing suite. Research for the project will be almost entirely an on-line effort, using bulletin boards, web sites and email to contact these old punks.
Production will require the use of a data base management system in order to store all data relating to the project; interviewees, time code, index, transcript and the audio files themselves broken down by subject and cross referenced. This will speed up the editing phase considerably.
Animation, graphics, old documents, concert and other archive footage will form the basis of the visual aspect of the project (expand)
A web site will also need to be created for both the marketing of the program and also to provide more information on the bands who's music was played in the show, the people interviewed and further background on the subject. The show should be available either as a vod/podcast, or else streamed from the website.
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