Calling All Cave Videographers

Caver Keith

Active member


For the last few years there has been an annual video workshop. These successful workshops were run in South Wales by Antonia and Andy Freem, and the Forest of Dean by Paul Taylor, but this year there won?t be one,  :( unless we have a virtual/online one.

I?m working on the script for the second film in the series, My Caving Videos: How I Make ?Em. It is based on the 5 phases of film production and I?m mulling over the idea of uploading it to UKC, perhaps one chapter every fortnight. The aim would be to hopefully stimulate discussion amongst videographers and budding videographers, and be a sort of online workshop. I would then like to incorporate as many different people?s ideas as possible into the final version of the script.

It would be fantastic if the video, when it?s finally made, could be illustrated with, not just my own clips, but with video taken by a range of other people so it becomes an online collaborative project showing a range of styles and techniques.

If this is successful then my proposal for a second online workshop is to look at how films entered in competitions are judged, perhaps leading to an online video competition. As well as judged 1st, 2nd and 3rd places we could peer review each others work and see if we agree with the judge(s) decision, or at least understand how the decision was arrived at. It would be great to have a best newcomer award too.

Before I stick my head above the parapet, is anyone interested? To register your interest please either message me and/or give this post a like. Unfortunately if there?s no interest then it probably won?t stop me making the film.  :-\
 

Caver Keith

Active member
Brains said:
Hope it works...
It works, and it's brilliant!
Unfortunately I took a gulp of tea as I began watching it and I'm now cleaning my keyboard with a tissue and cotton bud.  ;)
Thanks for sharing.
 

ttxela2

Active member
You'd be welcome to use any clips from my videos - not that I have any particular technique to speak of.....
 

Brains

Well-known member
Caver Keith said:
Brains said:
Hope it works...
It works, and it's brilliant!
Unfortunately I took a gulp of tea as I began watching it and I'm now cleaning my keyboard with a tissue and cotton bud.  ;)
Thanks for sharing.
Sorry about that - hope all is OK now  ;)
 

Caver Keith

Active member
Brains said:
Caver Keith said:
Brains said:
Hope it works...
It works, and it's brilliant!
Unfortunately I took a gulp of tea as I began watching it and I'm now cleaning my keyboard with a tissue and cotton bud.  ;)
Thanks for sharing.
Sorry about that - hope all is OK now  ;)
Thanks, I'm back online now.  :)

Things are progressing. Andy, Antonia and Sid Perou have read through and commented on my draft script and, although there is broad agreement with the approach I have taken, their comments show that there is no such thing as a definitive rule book for videographers. We have decidedly different approaches and this bodes well for a lively discussion on this thread. It's still very much a case of going out there and doing and what you want, trying things out and experimenting. That's what I have done.

Proposed Timetable
Part 1: Development Monday 22nd Feb
Part 2: Pre-production Monday 8th Mar
Part 3: Production/filming Monday 22nd Mar
Part 4: Post-production Monday 5th Apr
Part 5: Distribution Monday 19th Apr

Please let me know if you have any specific requests.
 

EFRESHW

New member
Hi Keith, this sounds really interesting and I'd be happy to help out. I would feel very humbled and awesome if I got to help out with other cave videographers. I'm always looking to improve and I really admire your work along with the other videographers I have seen. Not only this, I had no idea that there was a caving videography workshop each year and am excited to learn more about it!
 

mrodoc

Well-known member
I a think an online competition/critique group would work well. Many years BCUP (Bristol Circle of Underwater Photographers) had a slide competition/ critique set up. By today's standards it was very cumbersone as you circulated sheets of slides and score sheets among the members by post (no internet then). But it worked so nowadays this should be a doddle!
 

ttxela2

Active member
Yes, great stuff, I had no idea there was an annual workshop either, mind you I also had no idea there were 5 phases to making a video!
 

JoshW

Well-known member
ttxela2 said:
Yes, great stuff, I had no idea there was an annual workshop either, mind you I also had no idea there were 5 phases to making a video!

https://ukcaving.com/board/index.php?topic=22607.0 managed to find the old thread where it was discussed.

Keith, I'm interested in these and have stuck them in my calendar, so have semi-committed to them.
 

Caver Keith

Active member
Thanks to everyone who has responded. It's all very encouraging.

I hope people will find it informative, educational and thought-provoking. My intention is to encourage and support anyone starting out on the journey, to give them a few tips and pointers, things to think about and consider, things to discuss, agree with or disagree with. It would be great if established film-makers could join in the debate too.

As for the 5 phases of film production, it's new to me too, but I've found it a useful framework for structuring my thoughts and putting them in some sort of logical sequence.
 

Caver Keith

Active member

[size=12pt]
6 days to go to the first film production workshop session so there's just about enough left time to get yourself prepared for studying.

There are still places available. Please spread the word.

On the day of the workshop, situate yourself in a nice quiet room with no distractions and ensure that you have all of the following available:
  • [size=12pt]Nice new notebook
  • [size=12pt]Biros - black, blue, red and green
  • [size=12pt]Set of mathematical instruments consisting of self centring compass and pencil, ruler, protractor, set squares, stencil, eraser, sharpener & timetable/maths fact sheet. My preference is the Helix/Oxford set which comes in a nice hinged metal box.
  • [size=12pt]A set of highlighter pens.
[size=12pt]The classroom will be completely Covid secure and will meet all of the current government regulations and guidelines.

See you on Monday 22nd February.
 

Caver Keith

Active member
JoshW said:
Caver Keith said:
JoshW said:
How do I sign up properly?
There's no sign up, just join in with the discussion.

ah gotcha, thought it might be a video call type thing. fair enough

I think this workshop can be delivered quite satisfactorily via chat, and the resulting video. If we get on to editing which would be the subject of another workshop then I think we may well have to look at technologies like Zoom to deliver it.
 
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