The Great City

Storytellers

Hi

I am posting this on the filmmakers network as well but I think its relevant to anyone logging in here as well.

'I am working on putting a project together (or group of projects) that we could all potentially contribute to. The traditional problem of getting these projects together in the past has been simple logistics – getting the right people together in the right place at the right time.

I abandoned a project a while back because it was proving a logistical nightmare despite the fact that I started it knowing I would have total control over every aspect of it. It was a feature on a day in the life of Dublin done as a montage utilising a classic voice over and interviews with ordinary people on the street. I really wanted to get a feeling of what it felt like to wander the streets of Dublin - to live, work and play here in the first few years of the new millennium. I also wanted to get across the idea of what a city is and could be, using Dublin as a case study. But getting and editing the footage proved to be a nightmare and I just didn’t have the time.

Now I am looking on it as a full on feature, a cross between ‘Julien Temple’s Glastonbury and a David Holmes album. I am going to shoot and edit as much as I can at home, and then take that to the Film Board for completion funding. This will allow me to shoot some stuff on film, pay a proper editor, do a proper sound mix, etc. All going well it will be festival fit for 2008.

But again I am getting trouble collecting all the specific footage this requires. I think this is what this forum is perfect for. I’ve lived in Dublin on and off for 10 years now but there are obviously characters and personalities on the streets I don’t know that would be an essential part of this story. There are places other people have access to that I don’t, events I never even heard of, and places I’ve never been. One person making suggestions, collecting footage and doing interviews would not be able to build up a picture entire. A group of people with their own particular knowledge of the city’s highs and lows would be able to build up a very comprehensive visual picture of the capital and its ‘inhabitants’ from the point of view of the people living there. Its easy to shoot, just montage stuff, and the sound doesn’t have to be great (although obviously the interviews need to be heard).

Of course Dublin is only one place in Ireland. So we could get similar projects going around the country, organised in the same way but with their own particular themes and contributors. Get them online at youtube and organise a few mini-festivals around the country.

So to start off, this thread will be for suggestions and to organise people to go out and shoot what they think should be included. They can cut this down to a reasonable size and get it off to me so I can continue the edit. In the end everyone gets a credit and the film will be produced in association with the filmmakers network. This innovative production style will be guaranteed to grab peoples attention, and with the Film Board money I can make it all look as good as possible.

I am in the process of cutting down the footage I have already shot, and building up a list of places I will be including. I will be cutting it on Premiere so I am open to suggestions as to the best way of getting the footage to me.

Any takers?'