get on with it!

as ever, the need to pay rent etc. has curtailed activity on the doc. however, i should be getting back to it in a couple of weeks time as well as finally sorting out an edit system. next stop will likely be another showcase gig at notting arts club with another great line-up. also there will be a chance to get a sneak peak behind a new sta project and some members of the sta family we haven't met yet. oh, and the web diaries will soon re-appear!

rock (and indie electronic...) legends

last week i was lucky to be able to head along to the bbc's amazing and legendary maida vale studios to shoot a special sta session for the doc. alanMX and fighting with wire each performed sets in front of a small invited audience. the sessions will be broadcast on Huw Stevens' show in the coming weeks when sta will also be his label of the week.

andrew and daniel did their label business thing, supporting alan and fww whilst charming the radio 1 folk with their eloquence and enthusiasm whilst i busied around with the camera, trying not to get in the way. alan and fww rocked the place (fww's cahir narrowly avoiding choking to death on a sweet during a song - bet that wasn't in the beeb's risk assessment...)

so big thanks to andrew and daniel, fww and alanMX, the audience, the engineers at the studio and of course Huw and his peeps, all for letting me film and being dead nice.

keep her lit!

After a frustratingly long time since we went to see Alan MX, I convinced Ciaran to help me out with the second shoot for the doc. last saturday, we went along to notting hill arts club for an STA showcase event. 4 acts, some STA family and friends to chat to. i wish i wasn;t making this doc so i could've supped a few beers and enjoyed the music without having to think what shots would look good or would it be too loud and distort! so a huge thanks to all the bands as well as Daniel from STA for finally commiting some thoughts to tape - more to come from him methinks. and a certain other STA luminary has promised to let me come and film him in a few weeks time.

well, its off to the legendary Maida Vale studio tomorrow to see fighting with wire and alanMX recording a session for Radio 1. can't wait!

Diary Episode 04

I've posted a new diary on youtube. boringly, i've tried it in a wmv format to stop it being distorted like all my other cips which originated from mp4. yawn.

aside from that, progress is slow at the minute as i've been busy with real world work. yawn. gots to pay those bills and finance this thing though...

more exciting things next time! i promise!

xac

finally!!!

AH, finally, tomorrow I'll be picking up my shiny new shooting kit. its been a long wait to get it sorted out but tomorrow i shall be trundling over to the supplier and getting the camera and bits and pieces that i'll be using throughout the documentary production before pensioning it and myself into filming weddings and bahmitzvahs (apologies for the spelling on that one - despite "appearances", i am not jewish!). so expect a video diary very soon from a happy and excited me playing with my new toys!

We've started!

The first day of shooting went well - AlanMX mixing his album at Southern Studio. I brought along a friend, Ciaran to take on Camera duties - he is afterall a real-life professional camera operator and he provided the imagination and expertise to make the pictures look pretty. I was lucky enough to get the loan of a shotgun mic (cheers Paul!). Here's episode 3 of the video diary of production: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y84AHgs4lpE

First Shoot

Well, it's all about to happen. The first shoot for the Smalltown America documentary takes place tomorrow. We'll be going to visit STA artist AlanMX in the glorious surroundings of the prestigious Southern Studio in London where Alan will be mixing his debut album for Smalltown America. So that's it - it's real and it is all going to happen. I look forward to bringing you these reports to mark the progress of production. I will also be posting video diaries for the production which I'll link to from here.

To get to this point, I need to thank Andrew and Daniel at STA, AlanMX, Harvey at Southern and Ciaran. so, thanks!

cheers,
aaron