VIDEO JUNQUE

I feel such a sense of accomplishment just seeing two of my films on Virgin's site. There were over 1,000 entries this year and among them were some terrific films. In order to qualify, entries are to be no longer than 2:20. It may sound easy to make a two-minute film,  but it's much harder than you might think!

Market Town

When rumours were being spread about my local market closing and moving to another town 20 miles away, I took my trusty camera along to investigate. The town's market began trading some 800 years ago, and like so many traditions, may soon be disappearing into the globalisation void- which will be a great shame.  After interviewing the stall keepers, I came to realise there's much more that will be missed than just fresh produce, brick-a-brack and granny slippers: it's the town's lively character and soul that will be lost. 

The film was shot over and assortment of week-ends from January through February (determined by the weather forecast: rain and cold temps keeps some of the traders and customers away and the camera is especially sensitive to the elements!) The film's end time-lapse sequence was shot from 6 to 9 am one day and it was freezing. A lovely shopkeeper who was restocking her shelves while I was filming plied me with hots cups of tea. 

TRIVIA

For my fellow film geeks, I shot this on a Canon XHA1, edited in FCP7 and used AE (Twixtor plugin)for speed manipulation.

When I was interviewing one of the market traders for this film, I discovered that 'Lee the Hat Man' (Lee Branson) is 2nd cousin to Virgin's founder, Sir Richard Branson. A small world indeed! 

Have a look - it's two fun minutes - perfect for short attention spans like mine - and please vote for me in September if I get shortlisted!

Click on the link or picture below to watch the film on the Virgin Media Competition site.

http://www.virginmediashorts.co.uk/film/1089/market-town